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3/15 Shore's WWE Smackdown live coverage: Sheamus and Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow, Ryback vs. Mark Henry, Chris Jericho vs. Jack Swagger

Posted in: WWE TV Reports, MUST-READ LISTING
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Mar 15, 2013 - 07:00 PM

By Chris Shore

WWE Smackdown on SyFy
Taped on 3/12 in Fort Wayne, Indiana.


The show opened cold with Sheamus's ring entrance. Michael Cole, Brad Maddox, and Josh Matthews checked in on commentary and a video showed The Shield fighting with Sheamus and Randy Orton on Monday. Orton made his entrance next. Rhodes Scholars made a team entrance with Sandow cutting the expected promo. He called their match with the New Age Outlaws that Brock Lesnar interfered with an abomination. He started to tell a story about his uncle, but Cody said they didn't deserve the story…

1. Sheamus and Randy Orton vs. Rhodes Scholars. Cody and Sheamus started. He quickly tagged out due to Sheamus's power, but Sandow fared no better. Sheamus hit his forearms over the rope on Sandow and then a clothesline on Rhodes. Sandow used the moment to knock Sheamus to the floor, and Cody hit a Disaster kick off the table…[C]

The heels were still in control on Sheamus, but he had several hope spots. Sheamus skinned the cat onto the top rope and hit the shoulder tackle to get the hot tag to Orton. Orton ran his comeback, adding in a t-bone suplex before hitting the rope DDT on Rhodes. Sheamus hit the Brogue kick on Sandow, and Orton finished Cody off with the RKO…

Sheamus and Randy Orton defeated Rhodes Scholars in 10:00.

Post-match, The Shield appeared on the big screen and cut a promo about how John Cena and Rock continued to take from them by taking their WrestleMania spots. They told Orton and Sheamus to find a partner and face them at Mania. Orton and Sheamus agreed. Ambrose closed by saying at WrestleMania, they would believe in the Shield…[C]

Shore's Slant: Whatever for the match, but a good exchange between the two groups. The Shield act is getting a little stale, but it isn't hurt yet. They need to make sure this match does something to further explain why they do what they do, or at least makes management take notice to "right the injustices" if that's all there is.

A video recapped Brock Lesnar's response to Triple H and hyped Hunter's response on Monday…Backstage, Sheamus and Orton agreed they had picked the right guy to be their third. Big Show walked up and said he would be their partner. He said he didn't like them, but he wanted to get his hands on the Shield and they needed a partner who was unstoppable. Orton agreed and Show said they wouldn't regret it. Sheamus said they agreed and that was why they were picking Ryback. Ryback stood face to face with Show for a moment before Show left…

2. Layla and Kaitlyn vs. Tamina and Aksana. Tamina and Layla started and Layla bumped around for her. The Funkadactlys were shown watching the match backstage. Kaitlyn got the hot tag and hit a spear on Aksana, but Layla tagged herself in and hit her crossbody from the corner for the win…

Layla and Kaitlyn defeated Tamina and Aksana at 3:48

Backstage, the Bella twins walked up on the Funkadactlys. The dactyls put over idolizing the Bellas, and the Bellas called them hoochie mamas. The dactyls got mad, but the Bellas stuck their hands out. Before anything could happen, the twins attacked and beat the crap out of the dancers in a nice brawl…

Shore's Slant: Fair match and very nice segment backstage with the women. We've heard that WWE knows they have a problem in the women's division. Could they have actually decided to make it a division worth having? That was a good start if so.

A video recapped the Paul Bearer tribute incidents…Kane and Daniel Bryan made their entrance…[C]

3. Kane (w/Daniel Bryan) vs. Dolph Ziggler (w/Big E Langston and AJ). Kane went right at Ziggler as the announcers put it over as Kane still being angry. Ziggler came back with a missile drop kick. Kane came back with stall suplex for two. He went for the side slam, but Ziggler rolled through and hooked on the sleeper. Kane drove Ziggler back into the corner and hit an uppercut when Ziggler jumped off the second rope.

Kane hit the top rope clothesline and setup for the chokeslam. AJ jumped on the apron and distracted the ref. Bryan attacked Langston from behind, but Langston destroyed him. Kane came to the floor and hit a big boot on Langston. Ziggler hit the Fameassor when Kane climbed back in the ring. He hit the Zig Zag for the follow-up and win…

Dolph Ziggler defeated Kane at 7:16.

Shore's Slant: Good match and they protected Kane while giving Ziggler a much needed win. I liked it a lot.

Post-match, Ziggler yelled at Kane and Kane grabbed his throat. Langston ran in before the chokeslam and knocked Kane down. He hit his finisher to leave Kane out…Another "We the people" parody from Ricardo and Alberto Del Rio aired. They picked on Canadians and Maple Syrup…Chris Jericho and R-Truth were shown laughing at it backstage. Zeb Coulter and Jack Swagger walked up and Truth walked away.

Swagger took pot shots at Jericho for being a foreigner. Jericho mocked Coulter and said Swagger needed to forget about politics because he needed to focus on his title match with Del Rio at WrestleMania and his match with him tonight. He said until then Swagger needed to, "Shut the hell up."…[C]

Khali and Natalya danced in the ring. A woman came out from the back as Fandango's music hit. She danced alone on the stage for a moment and then Fandango came out. He posed with her a little while Natalya and Khali continued to dance. Fandango took a mic and said their dance was not worthy. He asked if Kahli knew his name. Khali said his name, but not correctly. Fandango led him through each syllable, and then Khali still didn't say it to his liking. Fandango said the people would have to wait to see him…[C]

Shore's Slant: Not that I was all that plugged in to this segment from the beginning, but as soon as he asked Khali to say his name they lost me. It's Khali. You can't understand him in general, let alone for this gimmick. It came across as a shortcut to the gimmick.

The Rock vs. John Cena hype video aired…Matt Striker officially announced The Shield vs. Sheamus, Orton, and Ryback. He started to ask them about it when the Shield attacked and left both men laid out, even putting Sheamus through a table…

Shore's Slant: More of the same from The Shield.

Booker T and Teddy Long were backstage with Sheamus and Orton. Ryback walked up and asked what happened. Long told him it was The Shield, but Booker took over the conversation. He told Ryback to handle his match and they would handle Orton and Sheamus. Mark Henry made his ring entrance. Ryback was out next…

4. Mark Henry vs. Ryback. The men locked up and held it for over 30 seconds. Suddenly the Shield's music hit and they came through the crowd. Mark Henry left the ring and the Shield hit the ring…

Mark Henry fought Ryback to an apparent no contest at 1:33

Ryback fended off all of the Shield. Henry tried to sneak up on him from behind and Ryback saw him. Ryback dared him to attack, but the Shield attacked from behind and took Ryback out. Henry quickly split and the Shield hit the triple powerbomb on Ryback. Again. After they left, Henry went back to the ring and hit three World's Strongest Slams in a row. Henry yelled that he wasn't like the other punks Ryback had run through and Ryback wouldn't run through him He yelled, "Welcome to the Hall of Pain."…[C]

Shore's Slant: Er, I like what happened between Henry and Ryback, but I think it muddies the waters a little for WrestleMania with the Shield. My guess is they go back to Henry vs. Ryback after Mania, but I'm not sure why you set it up like that now. Odd decision on the front end, but maybe it will all make sense down the road.

A video recapped what just happened. Swagger and Coulter made their ring entrance. Jericho was out next…

5. Jack Swagger vs. Chris Jericho. Swagger slammed Jericho almost immediately to take a break…[C] Swagger continued to work on Jericho's head as Maddox put over how honorable Coulter and Swagger were for making a stand. Jericho started a hope spot that Swagger turned into a Patriot Act. Jericho immediately kicked away and hooked a roll up for two. Swagger quickly recovered and hit a belly to belly for two…[C]

Swagger lifted Jericho in a northern lights lift, but Jericho reversed into a DDT just as the show came back from break. Cool visual. They traded reversals until Swagger got the ankle lock again. Jericho reversed that into the Walls of Jericho that the crowd popped huge for. Coulter distracted Jericho and Swagger made the ropes.

The fight spilled to the floor and Jericho slammed Swagger into the stairs. Jericho hit a high cross body back in the ring and the ref had to stop his count because Swagger didn't quite kick out in time. Rough spot. Jericho went for a Code Breaker, but Swagger toosed him back into the corner. Jericho took the bump had and Swagger followed with the gut-wrench powerbomb for the win and celebrated to end the show…

Jack Swagger defeated Chris Jericho in 17:00.

Shore's Slant: A good win for Swagger in general, but not one that adds anything to his feud with Del Rio. Of course, I'm not sure they could have done anything that built that feud. It has been a shit burger from the start, and I had such high hopes for it too. What a shame. Overall a decent show, and it was nice to see The Shield story get some significant build by way of Smackdown. I'll have more tomorrow in the All Access Podcast, and Jake Barnett will be along as well with the Smackdown Hitlist. Thanks for watching along tonight.

Questions? Comments? Anyone, anyone? Let me hear from you. Email me at css3238@gmail.com or tweet me @TheShoreSlant with whatever is on your mind.

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