4/29 Shore's WWE Smackdown Live Coverage: Go-home show for Extreme Rules, Post-draft debut of Sin Cara, Mark Henry and Randy Orton and a Tag Title match

By Chris Shore

Smackdown on SyFy
Taped on 4/26/11 in Greensboro, NC.

[Q1] A video recapped the WWE Draft…The opening video aired, followed by the pyro, and Josh Matthews, Michael Cole and Booker T welcomed us to Smackdown. The World Title was shown above the ring. The announce team hyped the Tag Title match as Corre tries to reclaim their titles and Rey Mysterio vs. Mark Henry…

Randy Orton's music hit and he came out to a monster pop wearing a Smackdown shirt. Wow, way to represent Greensboro. Even Orton seemed to be digging it more than his character would normally allow. A "Randy" chant broke out and he let the crowd play it out for a while before starting his promo.

Orton said, "For those who don't know me, I'm Randy Orton." The crowd ate it up. He put over being back on Smackdown, but said he had some unfinished business involving C.M. Punk.

Drew McIntyre's music hit and he came out in a Raw shirt. He said the good news was Orton on Smackdown, but the bad news was he was moving to Raw. McIntyre said it seemed the Universe would have to wait a little while longer for Orton vs. McIntyre.

Orton stared doing his freaky stare thing and McIntyre took a step back. He said he just came out to say hello, and goodbye. He kicked Orton and grabbed for the DDT. Orton slid out and hit a RKO.

Orton started to talk again and more music hit. Alex Reilly came to the ring and took a mic. He stormed over to Orton, but before he said anything, Orton hit the RKO. This shit is terrible.

Orton picked up the mic again, but this time Alberto Del Rio's music hit. He and his crew came to the ring while Del Rio cut a promo about how he felt bad for the people because they were losing him to Raw. He said he would also be taking the World Title with him. Del Rio and his group got in the ring and squared off with Orton. Christian ran out and they all stared off.

[Q2] Teddy Long's music hit and he booked Del Rio and Clay vs. Orton and Christian for the main event. Del Rio winked at Orton, and Orton chased him off the apron. Christian dropkicked Clay off the apron…[C]

Shore's Slant: Did they have to make Clay look stupid at the end? Dear lord. And did they really have to have Orton just slaughter McIntyre and Reilly? Other than that it was a decent segment, but it could have been done without making so many look poor.

Kofi Kingston's music hit and he made his entrance in a Raw shirt. He got halfway to the ring and Sheamus attacked him from behind. Sheamus whipped his ass all over the ringside area and then rolled him in the ring. He hit the brough kick and then posed over Kofi with the belt. A video recapped the beating…[C]

Shore's Slant: Good impact from Sheamus, and I assume we'll see Kofi vs. Sheamus at the PPV now. But Kofi has been marginalized for so long it doesn't feel as big as it should. Shame.

[Q3] Michael Cole stood in the ring with a big black eye. Couldn't tell if it was real or makeup. Cole ran down JR, even saying he responded to hog calling. He introduced Jack Swagger who came out in his Raw shirt. They did a victory lap, and Sin Cara made his trampoline entrance with a Smackdown shirt. A video recapped Sin Cara's attack on Swagger three weeks ago…

1. Sin Cara defeated Jack Swagger (w/Michael Cole) at 3:19. Swagger went right at Cara with power. Cara came back with kicks and hit a spinning arm drag from the top. Swagger hit a shoulder tackle and did pushups on Cara. Swagger went for a Swagger bomb, but Cara got his feet up and went on the attack.

Swagger shoved Sin Cara away and Cole handed him a foreign object. Cara jumped up from behind and hit a forward hurricanranna into a pin. Post-match, Swagger ran at Cara, but he pulled the rope down to send Swagger to the floor, and then followed with the sick cross body from the top. A video replayed highlights, and Cole told Swagger to get it together before Sunday…Bog Show and Kane were shown heading towards the ring…[C]

Shore's Slant: Decent match, but nothing spectacular. It does make Swagger look beatable before Sunday, but it makes Swagger look beatable by the new little guy. And he's been marginalized for too long for it to make much difference to Sin Cara.

The Kharma video aired…Ring introductions occurred for the Tag Title match as a video recapped Kane and Show winning the titles last week. The announce team pointed out the tag titles were crossbranded so Show and Kane retained the titles after the draft…

[Q4] 2. Big Show and Kane defeated The Corre (Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater) to retain the WWE Tag Team Championships at . Show and Slater started out. Slater hit several kicks on Show and tagged in Gabriel. Gabriel hit a missile dropkick and then a big boot to Show. He covered, but Show kicked out so hard he sent Gabriel to the floor…[C]

Back from commercial, Gabriel reversed a chokeslam attempt into a DDT for two and locked on a sleeper type move from a piggy back position. Show slid out and hit a sidewalk slam. Both men made hot tags and Kane destroyed Slater. He grabbed both men for a chokeslam, but they stopped him. Show ran in and both men hit chokeslams to win the match…

Backstage, Khali and Runjin Singh were talking. Rey walked up and Khali wished him good luck on Raw. Rey walked off and some Indian guy was there. They talked for a while in…Hindi maybe?...and then the guy walked off…[C]

Shore's Slant: Put me to sleep match for the tag titles. It wasn't bad, but we've seen it enough. And the Khali thing was really strange. I have no idea who that guy was. I hope he isn't a local celebrity.

[Q5] Rey Mysterio made his ring entrance a video recapped his match and altercation with Cody Rhodes last week. He cut a promo about leaving Smackdown. He said "we" had a lot of fun together. He said "we" won the World Title last year, together. He said "we" will celebrate together when he beat Cody on Sunday.

Shore's Slant: Somewhere Dot Net Member Kid Mojo just died on the inside. "We" send him our best.

Mark Henry made his ring entrance while a video showed his heel turn on Raw. Henry said it was unfortunate for Rey that his farewell was Henry's debut…

3. Rey Mysterio defeated Mark Henry by disqualification at 8:51. Mysterio hit several kicks and ran around Henry. Henry hit a shoulder tackle and Rey sold it like he was shot. Henry beat Mysterio all over the ring, but Rey moved on the floor and Henry slammed into the stairs…[C]

Back from commercial, Rey went to the top and Henry swept the legs. He had him tied to the tree of woe and hit a corner splash for two. Henry manhandled Rey and set him up for a leg drop. Rey moved and went on the attack. He hit the 619 and went to the top, but Cody Rhodes attacked him causing the DQ.

[Q6] Cody tossed Rey over the railing and dragged him through the crowd before tossing him back over the rail. He rolled Rey into the ring and Henry hit the world's strongest slam to leave Rey laid out. Henry left smiling, and Rey put his paper bag mask on an unconscious Rey…

Shore's Slant: Pretty good match. Enough to remind me that Mark Henry isn't actually a complete waste of time, you just have to find the right person for him to work with. I sure hope Cody goes over in this match on Sunday because he is the best character on Smackdown right now, and I don't want to see him lose that heat.

Also, thanks to Dot Net Reader Casey who sent along that the guy talking with Khali was Jinder Mahal who has been in FCW.

4. Michelle McCool vs. Layla ended in a double countout at 0:55. Both women went right at each other and they rolled to the floor. They continued to battle on the floor until the ref counted them out. Another ref ran out to break it up as the Greensboro crowd chanted, "Let them fight." Layla took a mic and challenged McCool to a no countout, no DQ match at Extreme Rules. McCool accepted, but said the loser would leave WWE. Layla accepted…[C]

Shore's Slant: Well they dubbed in WWE at the end of McCool's speech and it sounds like they did it in the locker room in Greensboro. But that's serious news as we were told she said Smackdown that night. I'm interested to see what happens here.

[Q7] A video recapped the European tour…Backstage, Matt Striker interviewed Christian. Christian cut a promo about Edge retiring and how he felt when he was hurt. He said he had never so much as touched the title before a few weeks ago because he never felt like he deserved it. He said all that changed Sunday and he would win the World Title at Extreme Rules…

Shore's Slant: Holy crap. That was my favorite Christian promo ever. He wasn't that stupid silly babyface I hate so much. Awesome.

The announce team ran down the current PPV card…Ricardo Rodriguez was introduced and he introduced Alberto Del Rio while Brodus Clay was already in the ring…[C]

5. Randy Orton and Christian defeated Alberto Del Rio and Brodus Clay in 15:00. Del Rio and Christian squared off, but Del Rio tagged out instantly. Christian tried to work some offense, but Clay just slammed him around. He hit a head-butt and tagged in Del Rio who went right after the arm.

[Q8] Christian hit a kick and tagged in Orton. The crowd popped for every move Orton hit, but Del Rio hit an armbreaker and tagged in Clay who slammed his body into Orton…[C]

Back from commercial, Del Rio tagged in and worked strikes on Orton. Orton escaped a sleeper hold and both men made hot tags. Christian hit a missile dropkick for two, and then hit his jump over the top rope punch. He climbed to the top and jumped off, but Clay caught him and hit a fall away slam.

Del Rio tagged back in and worked the arm again. He whipped Christian to the corner and ran in. Christian tossed him over in a Ric Flair type bump. Del Rio slid back in the ring and tagged Clay who stopped Christian from tagging.

Clay hit slam after slam on Christian and tagged in Del Rio. Del Rio hit a senton to the arm for two and then yelled about the belt before covering again for two. Del Rio set Christian in the corner, and Christian hit a tornado DDT to leave both men down.

Orton made the hot tag and worked his offense on Del Rio as the crowd got super-hot. He hit the Angle slam and his second rope DDT. He knocked Clay to the floor and setup for the RKO. Del Rio shoved off and tagged in Clay. Clay took the RKO and Orton covered for the win…

Shore's Slant: Standard decent TV main event. Nothing awesome, nothing terrible. Other than Brodus Clay deserves better. Those of you who didn't see his promo on the episode he lost NXT can't begin to understand. I would have made him a god if I was booking it.

Not a lot of hype for the PPV either. It seems with UFC on Saturday, WWE has just given up on Extreme Rules. It almost feels like the hype for some of the TNA PPVs: virtually non-existent. I'll have more to say tomorrow on the hitlist. Thanks for reading and I'll see you then.

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