WWE Smackdown Review – 5/4/12

Welcome to the Weekly Smackdown Review here on The Daily DDT.

This is exactly what you think it is: a review of WWE Smackdown. So with that complicated explanation out of the way, let’s get on with a look at last night’s show.

1. Sheamus defeats Daniel Bryan by DQ after Alberto Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez interfere

– I absolutely love the fact that they continued where they left off at Extreme Rules with Bryan working on the injured arm of Sheamus. If the WWE would realize that it’s the little things like this that really make wrestling fans invest in characters and a feud, then they would offer a much better product on a consistent basis.

– We knew the match wouldn’t go long as there was no way they could top their PPV match. Alberto Del Rio is obviously next in line for the World Heavyweight champion, and that’s fine, since it allows Bryan to move onto his feud with CM Punk. The post-match shouting match between Del Rio and Bryan was interesting.

Backstage: Sheamus’ arm is screwed up. He is not happy. And, well, that was pretty much it.

2. Kofi Kingston and R-Truth defeat Camacho and Hunico

– It’s very sad to see the state of the tag team division. Kingston and Truth are a thrown together team and I simply cannot get into Hunico and Camacho’s gimmick.

– Epico, Primo, and Rosa Mendes sitting on the stage with Abraham Washington and watching the match was a cool touch. Epico and Primo bore me, so perhaps their alliance with Washington could lead to an interesting stable.

– This match wasn’t terrible. Your basic TV match.

3. Brodus Clay defeats Jack Swagger by count out

– I remember back when Clay first debuted this gimmick. I didn’t think it would last three weeks. But dude is totally over right now. He’s growing on me.

– Dolph Ziggler is in a class of his own right now in terms of taking bumps. He could make a pinky punch look good.

– Swagger intentionally getting himself disqualified is the path they should have taken with Ziggler when this feud first started. Instead, Clay scored pins over Ziggler. They would have been much better off letting Ziggler be the coward countout guy and letting Swagger be the pin guy. Why Ziggler continues to be involved in this, I have no idea.

Video Package: A recap of the Lesnar/Cena/Laurinitis drama. Cole says Johnny is taking a personal day and isn’t at Smackdown. Speaking of another guy that’s grown on me. Laurinitis’ character is awesome these days.

Backstage: Bryan and Del Rio continue to argue and Bryan says Sheamus should wrestle tonight. Eve says she’ll make that decision. This was fine, although Eve’s non-secretary look was hotter than her current look. I understand the change though.

4. Damien Sandow refuses to wrestle Derrick Bateman; Ryback defeats Bateman

– This Damien Sandow character is terrific. His pre-match promo was great and refusing to wrestle someone like Bateman just gets his character over even more.

– So of course, Bateman still wants to wrestle and issues an open challenge. Ryback proceeds to squash him. It sounded like there were “Goldberg” chants again. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Ryback is a future world champion given this push.

5. Randy Orton and Big Show defeat Kane and Cody Rhodes

– A solid match that drew a lot of heat. The Orton/Kane and Show/Rhodes rivalries have been better than I expected them to be.

– I’m not sure where these four go from here but it would seem like both feuds are going to continue. It was a REALLY cool touch for Michael to add on commentary after the match that Big Show would be getting his IC Title rematch at WWE live events this weekend. That’s old school.

Backstage: Sheamus is taped up and tells Matt Stryker that he wants to fight. And that he will.

6. Layla defeats Natalya

– Natalya doesn’t even get a TV entrance? Wonderful. This woman is so underutilized.

– A quick match that the crowd didn’t care too much about, but it wasn’t half bad. These two could have a solid PPV match if they wanted them to.

Backstage: Antonio Cesaro is participating in a photo shoot. Eve says he’s a little dry. Eve instructs Teddy Long to rub oil on him. He does. What a segment…..

Backstage: AJ apologizes to Kaitlyn for slapping her last week. Kaitlyn tells her the Bryan pity party has to stop. AJ slaps the taste out of her mouth. This was good.

7. Sheamus defeats Daniel Bryan

– Yes, we got this again. After their Extreme Rules match, I could watch these two wrestle every week. ADR worked commentary.

– Great match and I loved the finishing sequence with Sheamus hitting the Brogue Kick to a flying Bryan. It looked fantastic and was done very well.

– The interference from ADR makes the Bryan loss look better, and even though some will argue that Bryan shouldn’t be losing clean as the number one contender to Punk, it’s not like he lost to a midcarder. He lost to the world champ and there’s nothing wrong with that. At this point, fans understand how good Bryan is and certain losses are just irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

Overall Show Thoughts: This was a very enjoyable episode of Smackdown with a lot of positives. Bryan/Sheamus, Orton/Show vs. Kane/Rhodes, Sandow’s debut plus Ryback, and AJ’s anger were all well done. There were a few bad segments but an otherwise solid show.