5/10 Barnett's WWE Smackdown on SyFy Live Coverage Review: Chris Jericho's Highlight Reel, plus lots of action with Kofi Kingston, Big Show, Ryback, Jack Swagger, The Shield and more

By Jake Barnett

WWE Smackdown on SyFy Live Coverage Review
Taped Tuesday, May 7th in Raleigh, North Carolina.

[Q1] The Narrator showed Jack Swagger as he wrecked shop on Monday and destroyed his Extreme Rules opponents. He is booked in match tonight against Big E Langston. The Shield was then shown beat down Team Hell No last week. Daniel Bryan will take on Dean Ambrose tonight as well...

In the arena, Lilian Garcia introduced Chris Jericho, who was in the ring. He welcomed everyone to the highlight reel and said tonight's guest will challenge John Cena at Extreme Rules in a last man standing match. He then introduced Ryback. The announce team recapped Cena's injurty and showed footage of the main event from Monday's Raw. Ryback sneered at the footage that showed him striking Cena with a chair. Jericho said people know he likes to mess with his guests, but tonight was different because he saw where Ryback was coming from in regards to Cena. Ryback said he didn't need Jericho's approval.

Jericho asked Ryback how many times what he wanted was taken away, and how many times he was assaulted by the Shield. Ryback said it didn't matter, and asked what was his point before? He then asked Ryback what his rules were? Jericho elaborated and said that he lived by his rules and he developed enemies all over the company. He thought Ryback was doing the same thing. Ryback then said that he didn't need Jericho's judgement. Jericho responded and said that there is a difference between doing what it takes to beat Steve Austin and The Rock, and beating a one legged John Cena in a last man standing match.

He continued and said that the crowd is judging him, and he risks losing the respect of the entire WWE Universe. Ryback said Jericho talks too much, and asked what made him think he wouldn't drop him right there. Jericho said it's because he's looking in his eyes and he doesn't think he's going to do a damn thing. Teddy Long came out and said that if they had business to settle, they would do it in the main event, and booked the match for later in the show. Ryback sucker punched Jericho and walked to the back. Jericho stewed in the ring, and the announce team plugged Mark Henry going for a world record pulling tractor trailers for later...[c]

Barnett's Brief: Not a bad opening segment to the show. Ryback still isn't getting much of a reaction, so putting him against a guy who is way over like Jericho is a good move. Jericho got the crowd on his side easily and they quickly turned on Ryback as a result.


1. Kofi Kingston vs. Cody Rhodes: They both circled to start, until Kofi hit an arm drag. Rhodes took over with an elbow, followed by a knee lift. Rhodes then followed up with a gutbuster and some stomps. He remained in control with a hammerlock until Kofi reversed. Kofi hit asome chops and a drop kick. He attempted a roll up a moment later for a two count.

They battled back and forth a bit until Kofi hit a cross body from the top for a two count. Rhodes went for Cross Rhodes, but Kofi reversed. Kofi went for a Trouble in Paradise, but missed. Cody then went for a beautiful disaster kick, but Kofi caught him with another Trouble in Paradise.

Kofi Kingston defeated Cody Rhodes at 3:42.

The announce team plugged a recap of Brock Lesnar invading WWE Headquarters....[c]

Barnett's Brief: A match that felt too short to be any good. It wasn't bad for what it was, but just when it was picking up steam it was over.

A video recap was shown of the Brock Lesnar situation from Monday. After the video, Cole plugged a face to face encounter between Triple H and Lesnar on Monday. Backstage, Renee Young interviewed Jack Swagger and Zeb Coulter. Colter disregarded her questions, and told her to hold the mic. Colter said that Swagger served a statement on Monday Night, and will make another one tonight against Big E Langston. He said every step Swagger takes on the ladder at Extreme Rules is one step closer to taking the country back. He said being a real American means holding your ground against all criticism and taking one step at a time. Step one was regaining the World Championship, and step two was taking the country back. Big E Langston then made his ring entrance..[c]

Barnett's Brief: Colter and Swagger came across as repeating themselves again in the promo, but it was well delivered. The Lesnar footage from Monday was just a highlight reel of what we already saw.

[Q3]More footage of Swagger from Monday as he beat down everyone was shown. Alberto Del Rio joined on commentary. Jack Swagger then made his ring entrance. Del Rio picked up a ladder and put it in the ring. Ziggler went to grab the ladder and Swagger leveled him. Langston and Swagger fought over the ladder, with Swagger sending Langston to ring side eventually. Ziggler then drop kicked the ladder into Swagger, who rolled outside. He then kicked the ladder into Colter. Del Rio entered and knocked Ziggler around with the ladder and hit a side kick. He the pulled the ladder outside and threw it at Swagger. Del Rio posed atop the ladder with the World Heavyweight Championship to close the segment...[c]

Barnett's Brief: Good segment, but I would have rather seen a match, honestly.

[Q4] Footage of The Shield vs. The Uso's and Kofi Kingston from Monday was shown. Dean Ambrose made his ring entrance with fellow Shield members. Daniel Bryan then made his entrance with Kane.

2. Dean Ambrose vs. Daniel Bryan: Bryan started early and beat down Ambrose in the corner. Ambrose reversed out of it, but Bryan quickly escaped and hit a knee lift. Bryan kicked a seated Ambrose in the back numerous times. Ambrose was able to get up and hit some strikes is the corner and sent Bryan into the turnbuckle. A moment later, Bryan hit a nice clothesline and more kicks, this time to a kneeling Ambrose. Dean avoided the kick to the head by rolling outside, but Bryan chased with a successful suicide dive...[c]

Ambrose slowed Bryan down with a head lock, and when he escaped he hit a clothesline. Ambrose then locked on a nerve hold. Bryan broke free and landed some punches, but Ambrose quickly took back control with a drop kick, and locked in a chin lock. Bryan fought out again, and ducked a spear in the corner and Ambrose ate the post. Bryan fired up and hit a running kick, followed by more kicks to the chest. He then set up Ambrose in the tree of woe and hit even more kicks and a baseball slide. Bryan covered and got a close near fall.

Ambrose got a backslide, but Bryan slipped out and kicked Ambrose in the face. He then followed up with a missile drop kick after Kane stared down The Shield to keep them from getting involved. Ambrose hit a facebuster and then covered for a near fall. Ambrose hit knees to the face, but Bryan reversed the last one and got Ambrose in the No Lock. Kane stopped Rollins from getting the save, but Reigns ended up breaking it up anyway. Everything broke down, and Kofi Kingston ended up evening up the odds, and the babyfaces cleared The Shield from the ring. Bryan motioned for a three on three between the six men as The Shield escaped through the crowd.

Dean Ambrose defeated Daniel Bryan by DQ at 11:46.

[Q5] Video was shown of the opening segment, specifically Teddy Long making the Main Event and Ryback sucker punching Jericho. They then showed some footage of Mark Henry as he got set up for his tractor pull. He pulled one trailer rather easily. The Prime Time Players cheered him on. They plugged the world record pull of two tractor trailers as next...[c]

Barnett's Brief: Great match between Ambrose and Bryan. If WWE really built up these matches between their talented young guns, they'd really have something. Looks like they might be making another six man for Extreme Rules, but I'm not going to complain.

Footage of Mark Henry's beat down of Sheamus on Monday with a belt was shown, as well as Sheamus' welts, which looked nasty. Cole and Mathews announced a strap match between the two at Extreme Rules. In the Parking Lot, Henry got interviewed by Matt Striker before he pulled the two tractors. Henry said there have been a lot of strong men that pulled trucks, trailers and buses before. He said no other man has pulled two tractor trailers, and it's an example of how he will pull Sheamus around like a rag doll at Extreme Rules. He then attempted to pull the trucks, but failed two attempts. Striker interviewed him again, and Henry accused him and the crowd of not believing he could do it. He finally accomplished the feat, and stood up and screamed “That's what I do!”

[Q6] The announce team plugged a recap of Ryback and John Cena's feud as next...[c]

Barnett's Brief: That was impressive looking, even if they gave Henry a little help. Not showing what was behind the two trucks and shooting in the dark couldn't have been a coincidence.

A video package was shown featuring John Cena and Ryback's interactions from Monday Night. Renee Young was shown backstage with Randy Orton. She introduced a clip from Monday of Big Show's KO punch to Orton. She then asked him what his message for the Big Show was. Orton said he stuck his neck out for Big Show and got burned by two KO punches. He then said there will be no antidote to what he does to the Big Show at Extreme Rules. Big Show then made his ring entrance...[c]

Barnett's Brief: These video packages really kill the momentum of the show. Orton gave a decent interview backstage, but he just does not click as a babyface anymore. He seems completely bored with it.

[Q7] Sweet T and Brodus Clay were in the ring with the Funkadactyls dancing. Cole said Sweet T would take on Big Show.

3. Big Show vs. Sweet T: Sweet T took it to Big Show early, with strikes and a splash in the corner. He grabbed Big Show by the neck and looked for a Choke Slam, but Show shrugged him off and hit the KO punch for the win.

Big Show defeated Sweet T at 0:38.

After the match, Brodus checked on Sweet T, but ate a spear from Show for his trouble. Show went to follow with the KO Punch, but Orton hit the ring and hit a jumping RKO that sent Big Show rolling to ring side. Backstage, Kaitlyn ran into AJ. They got real catty and slung insults at one another. AJ said she was mannish and it was creepy that he could bench press more than her boyfriend. Kaitlyn said her boyfriend could be Dolph, and said he wanted a real woman instead of a girl with the body of a 10 year old boy. Natalya walked up, and AJ said later gentlemen. Natty asked about Kaitlyn's boyfriend, and she said she was frustrated not knowing who he was.

Khali was then shown wearing a Rey Mysterio mask, and sang a bit of Rey's theme music. Apparently he's undercover trying to identify Kaitlyn's boyfriend. Kaitlyn then asked Natty to tell Khali he doesn't have to be undercover, and said it was kind of sweet. Khali was then shown with a Cody Rhodes mustache, as Natty told him he didn't need to be undercover anymore.

Chris Jericho then made his ring entrance...[c]

Barnett's Brief: That was the 9 minutes of the show where I mentally check out.

Ryback made his ring entrance. Jericho must have made Lilian Garcia laugh, as he was smiling and she had laughed a bit as she announced Ryback.

4. Ryback vs. Chris Jericho: Jericho hit a nice drop kick early. He jumped to the apron to avoid Ryback, who knocked him to the floor. Ryback followed and hit some strikes, but Jericho escaped and got back in the ring. Jericho hit a few strikes in the ring, but Ryback took control and started to work in his power. He hit heavy chops to the chest of Jericho and then followed with a chin lock. Jericho fought to his feet and hit a fore arm that sent Ryback rolling to the apron. He then hit a spring board drop kick that sent him to the floor.

[Q8] Ryback went to get back in the ring as Jericho taunted him, and eventually thought better of it and slipped back to the floor to regroup...[c]

Ryback sent Jericho shoulder first into the steel post during the break, and was in control. He stomped on Jericho and locked on a bear hug. Jericho fought his way out, but ate a huge spine buster from Ryback for a good near fall. Ryback slammed the back of Jericho's head to the mat a couple times, and taunted the crowd. Jericho recovered and hit a few shoulder blocks, but could not get Ryback of his feet. Ryback tried to toss him the outside, but Jericho held on and hit an axe handle from the top.

Ryback recovered and worked his power. He held on to Jericho's Code Breaker attempt and slammed him to the mat. He then picked him up directly into a release power bomb. He then hit a body slam. He went for a running splash, but Jericho moved and hit a low dropkick. Jericho went for the Walls of Jericho, but he couldn't get him over. Ryback hit a fall away slam and a meat hook clothesline. He went for Shell Shocked, but Jericho slipped out and locked in the Walls of Jericho. Ryback struggled and eventually made his way to the ropes.

Jericho then successfully hit the Code Breaker, but Ryback rolled out of the ring, so there was no cover. Ryback shoved Jericho into the barricade on the outside, and then picked him up and ran him crotch first into the post. The ref then called for the bell and DQ'ed Ryback.

Chris Jericho defeated Ryback by DQ at 15:02.

Ryback made like he was leaving the arena, but changed his mind and came back to knock Jericho over the announce table with a clothesline. He smiled as he walked up the ramp as the show ended.

Barnett's Brief: Both Jericho and Bryan got decent matches out of Ryback. It will be interesting to see what Ryback is able to do in the ring with John Cena. Overall I liked this show better than last week, and I give WWE credit for all the work they are doing in the attempt to get Ryback over. It doesn't seem like he quite has that instant heat type connection with the crowd, so next week will be crucial.