WWE Smackdown results: Cesaro & Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens & The Miz

– Air Date: May 12, 2016
– Location: Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, IA

– The Big News:

Chris Jericho laid out Dean Ambrose, Rusev laid out the Lucha Dragons, Gallows and Anderson laid out The Usos, and Fandango and Tyler Breeze laid out Goldust and R-Truth. Also, the main event ended with some guys getting laid out.

– Show Recap:

They announced The Usos vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson for tonight, with Roman Reigns and AJ Styles banned from ringside.

Dean Ambrose came out to start the show.

Ambrose said he has owed a lot people money before, but Jericho wanted $15,000 for his jacket and he’s not getting it. They’re even as far as Ambrose is concerned after Jericho destroyed his plant.

More importantly, Ambrose was pissed about Jericho trying to take his career away. Ambrose’s wrestling career is all he has because he won’t be interviewing Carrot Top on some podcast. Ambrose wondered if he should destroy more of Jericho’s clothes or shave his hair, but instead would destroy his ego. When Ambrose is done with him, Jericho is going to wonder if wrestling is even for him anymore.

Jericho’s music hit and the lights went out for his entrance, but when they came back on, Ambrose was laid out as Jericho stood over him. Jericho pulled a straight jacket out of a bag and strapped on Ambrose. Ambrose tried struggling out of it as Jericho mocked him for being “crazy.”

Jericho then beat down a helpless Ambrose as the crowd booed. Ambrose tried fighting back, but Jericho resorted to an eye poke and hit a Codebreaker. Officials finally ran down to assist, but as Ambrose slowly got to his feet, Jericho gave him another Codebreaker.

Jericho stood on the announce table and gave the crowd the gift of Jericho. Really good angle. My only nitpick was that Ambrose suddenly being laid out when the lights turned on felt pretty fake.

Backstage, Rusev yelled and pushed stuff over, and Lana yelled too while following behind.

Rusev (w/Lana) beat Sin Cara via submission

Lana did Rusev’s introduction, and Kalisto was on commentary. As they showed a replay of Sin Cara defeating Rusev on Raw, Kalisto said Rusev is always relying on Lana and he’s tired of it. Oh really? Kalisto continued about Rusev’s anger and was just awful. It was beyond stupid putting him back on commentary.

As Sin Cara made his comeback, Lana chucked water in Kalisto’s face, so Kalisto got up to confront her. Rusev (the hero) left the ring, ran up behind Kalisto and kicked him, jumped back in the ring, hit a side kick on Sin Cara, and applied the Accolade for the win. Rusev single-handedly picked apart the Lucha Dragons. The match itself was over in about 2 minutes. Rusev stood over Kalisto with the US title.

Backstage, Renee Young asked Emma about Dana Brooke, who suddenly showed up. Brooke said Renee obviously doesn’t watch the Network and called herself a bodybuilding champion. Renee wanted to know why she attacked Becky Lynch. Brooke basically said the fans don’t appreciate Emma even though they adore Lynch. Brooke told Renee that after tonight, she wouldn’t be asking who Dana Brooke was, but would be asking “Whatever happened to Becky Lynch?” This was fine.

Dana Brooke (w/Emma) beat Becky Lynch via pinfall

Jerry Lawler was happy to hear that Brooke is from Cleveland. With Lynch draped over the bottom rope, Brooke distracted the referee, allowing Emma to poke Lynch right in the eye. Brooke followed with a jackknife cover for the win after about 3-4 minutes. This wasn’t good, and the finish was weak even with Lynch’s eye injury. Still, Emma deliberately poking Lynch in her bad eye was pretty damn funny.

Backstage, Styles told Gallows and Anderson that he’ll be out there if Reigns decided to show up at ringside. He told them to take care of club business.

New Day came out for a promo. Kofi Kingston said the Vaudevillains put their noses where they didn’t belong on Monday. Big E was about to say they put their noses up their asses, but Kingston and Woods stopped him from swearing. He tried to swear later and they stopped him again.

New Day tried to make jokes about Kanye West and the crowd was dead silent. They were interrupted by the Vaudevillains who said they would outsmart their loudmouth opponents, and Aiden English sang that they would be the new champions. This came off really poorly for New Day, and this has to be the least a crowd was into them in a long time.

Aiden English (w/Simon Gotch) beat Kofi Kingston (w/Big E & Xavier Woods) via pinfall

As Kingston made a comeback, there were some light “New Day rocks” chants. Big E and Woods stopped Gotch from interfering, so the referee tossed them all out. Moments later, Kingston tried a sunset flip, but English dropped down for the cover while grabbing the rope for the pinfall win. Lame.

Backstage, Roman Reigns told the Usos to represent the “bloodline” and said he would be there if Styles showed up.

The Usos beat Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson via DQ

As they worked over Jimmy Uso, Mauro Ranallo did a terrific job putting over Gallows and Anderson and their accolades. Jey made a hot tag and ran wild, but was cut off by a Gallows big boot outside the ring as Anderson distracted the referee.

After a break, the Club worked over Jey as some young fans chanted “Let’s go Usos,” which was met with an “Usos suck” chant by a different segment of the audience. Jey caught Gallows with a superkick and made the hot tag.

Jimmy ran wild on Anderson and hit a superkick and splash. He had the match won but Gallows pulled him out of the ring (just barely on time). Gallows tossed him over the announce table for the DQ, so the Jey hit him with a dive.

Anderson tossed Jey into the steps and followed with a rocket kick. Jimmy jumped him from behind, but Gallows nailed him with a chair. Anderson followed by hitting Jey with the chair. With both Usos down, the Club posed and Gallows yelled, “This is what the club is all about!”

There was no explanation for Reigns not coming out here to save his family. It didn’t matter that he was banned because the the match was over. Otherwise, this was good for Gallows and Anderson.

There was a new vignette with Darren Young and Bob Backlund.

Backlund asked Young what time it says on his watch. Young pulled out his smartphone to get the time, which Backlund couldn’t comprehend.

Young said he has everything on his phone (email, alerts, calendar) and nobody wears watches anymore. Oh, come on. Backlund said Young should put his mail in the mailbox and his calendar on the wall. Young reiterated he has it all on his phone, so Backlund made him do squats. This is still really bizarre, but Backlund yelling about the mail was amusing.

Tyler Breeze & R-Truth beat Goldust & Fandango via pinfall

A few sad fans still do the Fandango dance during his entrance. Truth tagged in immediately, so Fandango tagged in Goldust. Goldust reluctantly got in the ring as the crowd chanted “Golden Truth.” They faced off but didn’t touch, as Tyler Breeze yelled at Truth to hit Goldust.

Truth tagged in Breeze, who pushed Truth out of the ring. Breeze was about to go after Goldust, who had his back turned, but Fandango saved him. It was a swerve though, as Fandango blindsided Goldust with a clothesline. Breeze seemed surprised, but smiled and covered Goldust for the pinfall win.

Afterwards, Fandango and Breeze beat down Goldust. Truth tried to make a save, but they cut him off immediately and beat him down too. Goldust tried to cover Truth to take the brunt of the beating. Fandango and Breeze stood tall as the crowd booed. This was a perfectly acceptable low-card angle.

They announced “The Shining Stars,” Primo and Epico, would debut on Raw.

Backstage, Charlotte told Renee that what they did to her father (Ric Flair) on Raw was a travesty. Flair said he’s taught Charlotte everything she knows, that he would be there in spirit (at Extreme Rules), and she would go on to another Flair victory. Flair was perfect here, reminding us this match is to be taken seriously.

Kevin Owens & IC Champion The Miz (w/Maryse) beat Cesaro & Sami Zayn

The Miz came out last. Lawler really hates Zayn’s hat. Also, Lawler quipped that Owens hates to lose so much that he doesn’t even want to lose weight. As Miz made his entrance, Owens grabbed Byron Saxton’s headset and said he was giving Miz one last chance to be a good tag partner, but at Extreme Rules, he was taking his title back. He then demanded Saxton talk good about him.

Cesaro and Zayn both wanted to start the match. Cesaro got his wish and immediately used some impressive offense on Miz. Owens told Miz he could do better, so he tagged in, but Cesaro tagged in Zayn. Owens tried to tag out but Miz jumped down and told him to do better.

Zayn hit punches in the corner but Miz tagged himself in. Zayn got the better of him too so Miz escaped the ring. Owens and Miz argued, so Cesaro hit Owens with a cannonball off the apron and Zayn nailed Miz with a dive.

After a break, Zayn went after Miz on the outside but Maryse got in his way, allowing Owens to knock him down from behind. They worked over Zayn until he came back with a big clothesline and blue thunder bomb on Miz.

Cesaro made the hot tag and hit Owens with uppercuts, uppercuts, a dropkick and crossbody for two. Miz jumped in to attack Cesaro. Zayn tried to hit Miz with the Helluva kick, but Miz moved and Zayn caught Cesaro instead. Miz pulled Zayn out of the ring, and Owens hit Cesaro with a Frog Splash for the win. Good match and I liked the finish.

Afterwards, Owens gave Zayn the pop-up powerbomb and Miz gave Owens the skull crushing finale. Miz stood tall with the Intercontinental title to end the show.

– Final Thoughts:

Not a bad show. It reminded me a bit of Raw in that there was good action but the angles were repetitive, just in a different way.