By Chris Shore

WWE Smackdown on SyFy
Taped on 6/5 in Columbia, S.C.

[Q1] The opening video aired, followed by the pyro, and Josh Matthews, Michael Cole and Booker T welcomed us to Smackdown while Booker and Matthews mocked Cole and promised to show video later. Booker T is going to be in rare form tonight, isn't he?

Alberto Del Rio's music hit and he drove out in a luxury sports car. I missed the type. The announce team hyped Del Rio's match with Sheamus at No Way Out. Del Rio played played video of attacking Sheamus at Raw last week. Del Rio said he would break Sheamus's arm at the PPV.

Sheamus's music hit and Ricardo Rodriguez came out dressed as Sheamus. He wore a white body suit, fake hair painted orange, and a baby title belt. He came to the ring doing all of Sheamus's taunts.

Shore's Slant: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Ric Rod got in the ring and Del Rio started laughing. Del Rio admitted it wasn't Sheamus, but he and Ric Rod made fun of the character. Del Rio said anybody could be Sheamus because anyone could be a hooligan. He asked "Sheamus" if he was going to Brogue kick him. Ric Rodd pounded on his chest, and then took a back bump when trying to do the kick. Del Rio laughed at him again.

Sheamus's music hit again and this time it was the real guy marching tot he ring. Shea,us hit the ring and both men attacked him. Sheamus tossed both from the ring and attacked Del Rio up the ramp. He slammed Del Rio on the WWE logo, but Ric Rod grabbed him from behind so Del Rio could kick Sheamus and take control. The heels beat on Sheamus until refs came out and broke it up.

Teddy Long came out as Del Rio went back to the ring. He said John Laurinaitis wasn't there, he was preparing for his evaluation with Vince on Monday, and had ordered him to act in place. He booked Sheamus vs. Kane and Del Rio vs. "This man." Khali's music hit and he made his entrance...[C]

Shore's Slant: Ric Rod was HILARIOUS here. Del Rio was flat and boring. He really has lost his touch. I'm not sure what it is, but he doesn't feel cool anymore. It hurts me to watch Khali walk. Why would you put him in the ring with a guy you are trying to get over? Oh wait, maybe they aren't trying to get Del Rio over. Maybe I've been misreading this all along. But...then why is he in the main event. This rambling brought to you by WWE Creative.

[Q2] 1. Alberto Del Rio (w/Ricardo Rodriguez) vs. Great Khali. Khali shoved Del Rio in the corner and did the big giant chop spot. Khali telegraphed a kick in the corner. Del Rio ducked and kicked Khali in the back of the leg. Del Rio assaulted the leg with stomps and submission holds. Del Rio jumped off the second rope, but Khali chopped him out of the air. Khali hit clotheslines and looked for the Punjabi plunge. Ric Rod distracted Khali and Del Rio hit the arm breaker on the knees. He locked on the cross armbreaker and Khali tapped after a moment...

Alberto Del Rio defeated Great Khali at 3:29.

The Big Show heel turn video aired... Teddy Long was on the phone with somebody. The Funkadactyls danced in and Teddy hung up. Brodus Clay walked in and Teddy said he had good and bad news. The bad news was, Clay was banned from Raw to "protect him from Big Show." Clay got upset, but Teddy jumped in and told him he was now a permanent member of Smackdown. Clay said to tell his opponents he sees Big Show and he is going to "eat them up." He and the dancers left ith great fanfare and attitude...[C]

Shore's Slant: Making Great Khali tap is a nice gesture and all for Del Rio, but it;s too little too late. He has to be rebuilt before he will feel special again. Also, see the Big Show video. WWE production does the best work, we say it again and again, but this was great. I completely bought his new character with this video package. Seeing that they are keeping Show and Clay apart on purpose gives me hope for this storyline. It could be a good feud if done right.

Clay made his full ring entrance after the break.

[Q3] 2. Brodus Clay vs. Derrick Bateman. Clay went right at him and tossed Bateman to the floor. He hit his headbutt on the floor and then tossed Bateman into the time keeper's area. He rolled Bateman back in the ring and hit the fall away suplex, followed by the splash for the win... [C]

Brodus Clay squashed Derrick Bateman at 1:07.

Shore's Slant: Well, they gave us a good reason for the brand switch, and then a more aggressive Clay. All steps in the right direction. Short match, but hey, I'll count this as a win for Clay.

Booker T's favorite Raw moment was he vs. Buff Bagwell in the main event for the WCW Championship... Sin Cara made his ring entrance to a big pop, but it could have been piped in. Drew McIntyre slid in the ring with no entrance...

3. Sin Cara vs. Drew McIntyre. Drew tried to attack quickly, but Sin Cara fought back with speed. He dropped Drew to the floor with a kick, but Drew kicked Sin Cara to take control for a moment. Sin Cara slipped out of a lift and hit the handstand elbow. McIntyre faked an injury and the ref checked on him. Sin Cara fell for it, so McIntyre hit a big boot that Cara sold huge.

Cara flipped out of another lift into a head scissor that sent Drew into the post. Cara jumped off the top rope and either there were some great covered bothces, or they tried to get several reversals over as Cara won with a tilt a whirl tornado DDT...

Sin Cara defeated Drew McIntyre at 3:16.

Shore's Slant: Not sure why you have Sin Cara show weakness here. He needs to squash treatment for a couple of weeks because he was out for so long. Interesting they would have him sell, and so much, so quickly.

[Q3][C] Back from commercial, the two Ryback jobbers were introduced. Not exactly sure who was who, but the one in the turquoise is Pro Wrestling Evo regular John Skylar. The did a heat promo thing and then Ryback made his ring entrance...

4. Ryback vs. Tony Andriotis and Kevin Mahoney. Ryback made short work of both men, hitting a double spear in the corner, a sick clothesline using one guy as a the low part of "hi-low." Ryback hit the sickest powerbomb on Skylar I have ever seen. He then did the double muscle buster for the win...

Ryback defeated Tony Andriotis and Kevin Mahoney at 1:46.

The Peep Show with Cody Rhodes was hyped for next...[C]

Shore's Slant: Oh my God that powerbomb. It's nice to see the Evo guys, and I'm glad they are able to get a rub from this, but enough is enough. It's time to do something with this guy. Tragically, the longer he goes, the more he'll be compared to Goldberg. He doesn't really want that.

Back from commercial, the stage crew was still setting up the Peep Show. Cody Rhodes music hit and he came out and chased the guys off and trashed the set. He took a mic and said he wasn't Christian's guess because Christian was the one who needed to answer some questions. He said Christian stole the title from him and was pandering to the masses.

Christian's music hit and he came to the ring. He said he was the guy who beat Cody for the title and for all his peeps. Cody called him out about not caring about the fans before. Christian put over putting Edge in the Hall of Fame and how it made him realize it was a privilege to wrestle in front of the fans.

Cody said that was a load of crap and Christian took advantage of a situation and got lucky. Cody said at No Way out, "his" title was coming home. Cody asked if he could share something and Christian said he did and told Cody to shut up. He thanked Cody for starting the Peep Show off, but he was going to end it by wiping the mat with him. Dolph Ziggler's music hit and he came to the ring. He said he was cutting the show off because he was there to showoff and beat Christian. Cody joined commentary and we had the bell...

5. Christian vs. Dolph Ziggler. Both men started hit and the fight spilled to the floor. Ziggler hit a knee lift to send the match to commercial... [C] Back and Ziggler hit a back kick for two. Ziggler hit a slingshot move that put Christian in the corner. Ziggler attacked his back and hit a spear, but Christian hit a pendulum kick.

Ziggler tried to recover with the Fameassor, but Christian reversed into a great sit-out powerbomb for two. Christian went for his pop-out sunset flip, but everybody rolled through and Ziggler hit the Fameassor for two. Christian hit a reverse DDT and charged for the spear, but Ziggler hit a drop kick for two. Ziggler went for the Zig Zag, but Christian grabbed the rope. He hit the frog splash for the win...The announce team hyped the Cole video for next...[C]

Christian defeated Dolph Ziggler at 10:47.

Shore's Slant: That match was very good. But more than anything, it showed what could be a great title feud in the future. But not for the IC please. A world title feud would be great. I don't know if it's "go out of your way" good because there wasn't much drama about who would win (and I could gripe about Ziggler being misused but I'm having a pretty good day), but it was an extremely well wrestled match.

The Raw Rebound was John Cena beating Lord Tensai, and then the whole Michael Cole fiasco. When they came back, Matthews and Booker were giggling their asses off. Cole popped his headset and asked for our attention. Cole said he had heard all the laughing, but Raw was a traumatic experience and said he knew everyone would move on.

JR's music hit and Hornswoggle came out dressed as JR saying a bunch of catchphrases. He had the truck play a recap of the "high" spots and laughed. He continued rambling in catchphrases and started to leave, but Damien Sandow's music hit. Sandow cut a promo about characters like Hornswoggle being elevated and that it made the people ignorant to watch it. Sandow said he could not allow this ridiculous content to continue. He said he was going to teach Hornswoggle a lesson. He bent over and said, "You're welcome" to Horny.

Horny dodged around and Tyson Kidd ran in. Sandow escaped and acted like he was going to get into the ring, but left. As Hornswoggle left, Sandow ran back and attacked Kidd from behind. He hit his neckbreaker and made his arrogant pose before cutting a cartwheel and leaving...[C]

Shore's Slant: Alright, the Cole thing is what it is. That said, Hornswoggle as a foil for Sandow with other wrestlers doing the work could be great feud for a while and get Sandow over without killing anyone of importance. I like it if it continues.

Kane was getting ready in the back and Matt Striker to ask him about his feelings about being able to defeat the World Heavyweight and WWE Champions in the same week. Kane said he didn't have any feelings, so ask Punk how it felt to be chokeslammed on Raw or ask Sheamus how it feels when he does it shortly. Kane said he was only interested in winning the WWE Title on Sunday. Striker asked about the look Kane and AJ shared and Kane stared him away. Kane walked off, but AJ popped out from her hiding place...

One of the Usos was in the ring. Teddy long was forced to introduce Antonio Cesaro and "his lover" Aksana. Claudio still has his shitty music...

6. Antonio Cesaro (w/Aksana) vs. Jimmy Uso. Jimmy hit a superkick and hit several splashes and went to slam Cesaro, but Cesaro slipped out and hit the Very European Uppercut. He followed with his finisher for the win. Post-match, Teddy had to get in the ring and raise Cesaro's hand. Cesaro kissed Aksana, so Teddy threw his hand down and stormed out...

Antonio Cesaro defeated Jimmy Uso at 0:59.

Sheamus's favorite Raw moment was his winning a battle royal in 2009. Sheamus made his ring entrance. A video recapped the attack on Sheamus earlier from Del Rio...[C]

Shore's Slant: Again, not sure why you have Cesaro sell to a guy like Jimmy Uso, but it was still a sub one minute match. That makes it extra weird. If you do it for that short, shouldn't it be a total killing?

Kane made his ring entrance...

7. Sheamus vs. Kane. Kane started out in control and drove Sheamus to the floor for the commercial break...[C] Kane hit a side slam for two. He worked several rest holds. He set Sheamus on the top and Sheamus fought away to hit his diving shoulder tackle. He hit Kane with a hundred strikes before finally taking him down with a double axe handle. He powered Kane over with a body slam for two. Kane reversed a whip and hit a low drop kick for two. The crowd died.

Out of nowhere, Sheamus hit the Irish Curse back breaker for two. Kane rolled to the apron and took the forearm shots. Sheamus tried to suplex him back in the ring, but Kane hit a hangman. Kane climbed to the top and Sheamus met him up there. Kane knocked him down and went for the clothesline. Sheamus ducked and Kane grabbed his leg on the landing.

Sheamus ran over and hit White Noise. He setup for the Brogue kick and charged. Kane caught the foot and spun Sheamus away. Both men ending up hitting clotheslines on each other.. Del Rio and Ric Rod ran out. Del Rio never made it to the ring, and Sheamus hit Ricardo. Kane punched Sheamus and setup for the chokeslam. AJ walked out and smiled at him. Kane stared at her, confused, until she left. He turned around into a Brogue kick. Ricardo got one as well to close the show...

Sheamus defeated Kane by an apparent disqualification at 13:42.

Shore's Slant: Wow, a real snooze fest of a match. The last couple of minutes before Del Rio ran out were OK, but as a whole I was disappointed. Kane has had some good matches of late with Bryan and Punk, and I was hoping to see another good match here. Again, not terrible, but clunky and sleepy.

Overall an OK show that had some minor, but very important moments that give me cause for a little hope. I like the Clay transition, and I like the idea of Hornswoggle vs. Sandow. It was good to see Cesaro again, even if Teddy is still involved. It would appear the undercard had the best stuff tonight. Well alright! I'll have more tomorrow in the hitlist and All Access audio review. 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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