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Smackdown
Date: May 31, 2013
Location: Rexall Place, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield
It’s the final show of the Canadian tour and the main story tonight is of course Shield vs. whomever they can find to face tonight. Other than that we’ve got Ryback trying to get people to care about his feud with Cena and the three guys fighting for the Intercontinental Title. Right now is a pretty lame time in the WWE as they’re in a very slow mode so tonight’s show probably won’t change much about that. Let’s get to it.
We open with a list of names that Shield has taken down in the last week. Tonight Shield is in singles matches against various people.
Seth Rollins vs. Kane
Rollins pounds away on Kane to start but all the speed only gets him taken down by a shoulder. Seth jumps over Kane in the corner but gets kicked in the head for two. A delayed vertical suplex gets two more for the big man and it’s off to the chinlock. The fans are really into Kane here for some reason. Rollins finally gets in a shot and goes after Kane’s knee with some solid kicks and elbow drops. Kane comes back with some right hands, only to have his knee kicked out again.
Rollins cannonballs down onto the knee but has a leg lock blocked before it can go on. Seth goes to the middle rope and kicks away a chokeslam attempt before hitting a tornado DDT for two. Back from a break with Kane slugging Rollins down and hitting the top rope clothesline. Reigns gets on the apron, only to be shoved to the floor. The distraction lets Rollins hit a dropkick, but Reigns’ distraction lets Bryan shove Rollins off the top and a chokeslam ends this at 9:22.
Result: Kane b. Seth Rollins – Chokeslam (9:22)
Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan
This starts immediately after the previous match ends. Bryan sends Reigns into the corner and kicks away at the arm to take over early before tying his legs into Roman’s and dropping forearms to the face. The fans also love Bryan which isn’t all that surprising. He fires off more kicks in the corner before hooking a dragon screw leg whip to put Roman down again. Roman hits a hard clothesline to take over as we take a break.
Back with Bryan trying to speed things up but getting caught by another clothesline for two. Bryan gets all fired up and hits a hard set of kicks to the chest followed by a running dropkick in the corner for two of his own. Reigns drills him in the stomach to slow Bryan down but Bryan hooks the NO Lock out of nowhere. Reigns crawls over to the ropes but only gets there with Seth pushing the rope towards him. Kane goes after Rollins but hits Reigns for the DQ at 9:20.
Result: Roman Reigns b. Seth Rollins by DQ when Kane interfered (9:20)
Post match Bryan yells at Kane for costing him the match. Bryan is completely right here but Kane walks off anyway. Bryan follows, shouting that he doesn’t need Kane’s help.
Here’s Damien Sandow with something to say. He says that last week he proved that his mental strength is superior to Sheamus’ physical strength. Apparently Canada has limited mental strength because they gave away Wayne Gretsky. When it comes to intelligence, Sandow is the real Great One. To prove his intellect, he has a simple challenge in the form of a shell game. There are three cups and a ball on a table. The idea is to put the ball under a cup and shuffle them around. It should be easy to win, but here’s Sheamus to interrupt.
Sheamus congratulates him for tricking him with the knot last week, but now Sandow is out here playing with his little balls. Sandow lets Sheamus play the game and shuffles the cups pretty slowly. Sheamus guesses wrong, thereby renewing his idiot license for another year. Sandow allows him to try again with just two cups but Sheamus gets it wrong again after a lot of thinking. Sheamus wants to see the ball under the third cup but Damien seems reluctant. Fans: “SHOW YOUR BALLS!” There’s no ball but Sandow says it was magic, earning himself a Brogue Kick. Are we really building towards a big match between these two?
Curtis Axel vs. Sin Cara
Man they drop the level of competition for Axel on Smackdown. On the way to the ring, Heyman says that he always tells the truth about his clients. In his first two weeks, no one has accomplished what Axel has done. Axel says that Cena and HHH have 26 world titles between them, but in two matches he’s made HHH refuse to continue and made Cena get himself counted out. When you’re a Paul Heyman guy, life is perfect. Cole: “That was cute.”
Axel hits a quick backbreaker and dropkick to take over before ripping at the mask a bit. After a quick chinlock Sin Cara comes back with some kicks of his own, followed by a springboard crossbody. A Tajiri elbow is countered by a forearm to the back of the head though and a PerfectPlex ends Cara at 2:00.
Result: Curtis Axel b. Sin Cara – PerfectPlex (2:00)
Big E. Langston vs. Alberto Del Rio
Langston pounds him into the corner to start and fires off some shoulders, but Del Rio comes back with a kick to the ribs. Big E. drapes him across the top rope and Del Rio is right back down. Del Rio comes back with more kicks and a running clothesline, only to walk into a belly to belly for two. The Backstabber staggers Langston and a German suplex puts him down again.
A hard kick to the face gets two more for Alberto and there’s the armbreaker but Langston picks Alberto up to escape. Langston runs him over for two but gets caught in the armbreaker over the ropes. Del Rio falls to the floor and gets posted after an AJ distraction, allowing the Big Ending to finish Alberto back inside at 4:50.
Result: Big E. Langston b. Alberto Del Rio – Big Ending (4:50)
We look at Cena’s challenge for a 3 Stages of Hell match from Raw.
Kofi Kingston vs. Ryback
Kofi charges right at him and pounds away in the corner before getting two off a springboard dropkick. There’s the Boom Drop but Ryback catches trouble in Paradise in mid air. Kofi rolls through that as well and hits a middle rope cross body for two. Ryback blocks a kick in the corner though and slams Kofi down to take over. The Meat Hook sets up Shell Shock for the pin at 2:48. This was better than I expected, although Kofi injured his elbow somewhere in there and will be out 4-8 weeks.
Result: Ryback b. Kofi Kingston – Shell Shock (2:48)
Post match Ryback powerbombs Kofi through three tables.
Jericho talks about all the diseases Punk has from sleeping with dogs like Heyman.
Chris Jericho vs. Cody Rhodes
Jericho starts fast and takes Cody to the floor, only to walk into a front suplex onto the top rope for two. A boot to the face gets two more for Cody and it’s off to an armbar. Jericho comes back with a top rope ax handle but the Walls are broken up. An Alabama Slam gets two for Cody but he jumps into a right hand to the ribs. Cross Rhodes are countered into a Walls attempt which is countered into a small package for two. Now the Walls get the submission at 4:46.
Result: Chris Jericho b. Cody Rhodes – Walls of Jericho (4:46)
Wyatt Family video. These guys are awesome.
Randy Orton vs. Dean Ambrose
Dean takes it to the corner to start and goes Anderson by raking Orton’s eyes across the top rope. Orton comes back with right hands of his own in the corner, only to have Ambrose fire off some knees to the chest to take over again. They head to the floor with Orton dropping him on the barricade, only to be sent into it himself as we take a break. Back with Ambrose in control with knees to the back followed by stomps in the corner.
Randy comes back with a quick suplex to get himself a breather and they trade headbutts and right hands. Orton gets the advantage but has the Elevated DDT countered by Ambrose. Dean goes up but jumps into a dropkick followed by the Elevated DDT. Ambrose bails to avoid the RKO and here’s the Shield for the DQ at 11:55.
Result: Randy Orton b. Dean Ambrose via DQ when Shield interfered (11:55)
Post match HELL NO comes in for the save, with Bryan down almost all of the work himself, and Shield is sent running. A HUGE YES chant ends the show.
This concludes our coverage of Smackdown. Make sure to join us on Monday for Raw at 8PM EST.
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