WWE Smackdown TV Report 4-16-15: Daniel Bryan & John Cena vs.Tyson Kidd & Cesaro
By Steve Khan, WrestlingObserver.com
– Airdate: April 16, 2015
– Location: O2 Arena in London, England
The Big News:
Daniel Bryan and John Cena beat Tyson Kidd and Cesaro in a non-title match, and two matches were announced for Extreme Rules.
Show Details:
John Cena entered and immediately sucked up to the London crowd again. Cena talked about his upcoming match with Rusev and explained the rules of a Russian Chain match. He said they would be chained together with “unbreakable Siberian steel” and the match wouldn’t end until one man touched all four turnbuckles. Cena admitted he may not even be champion at Extreme Rules because he was issuing another open challenge tonight.
Tyson Kidd, Cesaro and Natalya came out. Kidd said they were not there to accept Cena’s challenge, because they wanted to leave that to fellow non-American Rusev. Kidd and Cesaro called themselves the greatest champions in WWE. Fact. They also said London doesn’t deserve a WrestleMania. Fact. Kidd and Cesaro loved the “please retire” chant from Raw but wish it was directed at Cena. They again called themselves the greatest champions in WWE. Cena challenged them to a fight which brought out Daniel Bryan to monstrous Yes chants.
Bryan asked the crowd if Kidd and Cesaro were the best champions in WWE, which brought a big No chant. He asked if Cena was the best champion in WWE, which got a mixed reaction. Bryan asked if he was the most handsome man in WWE, which also got a mixed reaction. Bryan challenged the tag champs to prove they were the best and they accepted.
R-Truth vs. Bray Wyatt
Jerry Lawler said Bray Wyatt was having a rare Smackdown match (he’s had matches on three of the last four SmackDowns). Bray won very quickly with Sister Abigail.
Lawler told Michael Cole he was glad to have him back. Cole recapped what happened with Naomi/Paige and Show/Reigns on Raw. Cole said Show wanted to keep putting Reigns down until he can’t get up. They showed a clip of Reigns from the website saying he would keep getting up.
The Miz vs. Bad News Barrett
The Miz said Damien Mizdow got lucky on Raw. Miz said he made Mizdow, he made Summer Rae and he made all of us. Barrett interrupted to inform Miz that they weren’t in Hollywood, they were in London. Barrett said he’s going to end the Yes movement at Extreme Rules and become the new IC champion. The match started, Miz took off his sunglasses and Barrett immediately followed with Bull Hammer for the win.
Backstage, Renee Young interviewed Mizdow and Summer Rae. Damien said beating The Miz felt like going outside and feeling the summer… rays. Miz showed up and told Renee to leave. Miz called Damien’s win a fluke and challenged him to a rematch. He also demanded Damien stop using the Miz’s name and entrance music. Damien said they can have a match on Raw with the Miz name and rights on the line.
Miz didn’t like that idea, but Summer goaded him into it. Miz said when he wins, Damien will be left with nothing. Miz also said Summer would have to go back to wearing her Lingerie Football League helmet, which would be an improvement in her case (his words). Summer slapped him. (Damien was also mimicking Miz through some of this segment, specifically to annoy him.) It’s probably not a good thing that Miz was the least hateable person here.
Sheamus vs. Neville
Before the match, Sheamus told Neville he thought Neville would be taller, but he’s small like Ziggler and Bryan. He also said the Irish don’t like the English. Neville had nothing to say again.
Neville knocked Sheamus to the outside and hit a crazy corkscrew plancha, but Sheamus came back with a side slam. Sheamus was in control during and after a commercial but Neville came back with kicks and a standing moonsault for two. Neville hit a Red Arrow off the middle rope but Sheamus kicked out. Neville went to the top rope to try again but Sheamus knocked him off. Neville clotheslined Sheamus to the outside but Sheamus tossed him on to the announce table for a DQ.
Sheamus kneed Neville repeatedly until Dolph Ziggler made the save. Ziggler said he knows why Sheamus doesn’t like the English — because the English don’t like him either. Ziggler said nobody likes Sheamus, including the Irish. Ziggler challenged him to a match right there, but Sheamus said “kiss me arse.” Ziggler thought that was pretty lame, but Sheamus clarified that they would have a match at Extreme Rules and the loser would have to kiss the other man’s ass. Ziggler said he would stretch Sheamus so bad that Sheamus would kiss his own ass. Hopefully this is one of those times when SmackDown actually occurred in an alternate universe and this stipulation doesn’t actually happen.
Los Matadores w/El Torito vs. Big E & Kofi Kingston w/Xavier Woods
Before the match, New Day basically gave the crowd every reason to chant “New Day sucks” but the reaction was pretty tepid. Big E picked up the win after he and Kingston hit Midnight Hour.
Backstage, Fandango told Rosa Mendes that they were done. He left and the Rosebuds danced by. Adam Rose told Rosa something (I zoned out). I think maybe he likes her. Or maybe he doesn’t.
Big Show came out to the stage for a long promo. Show said nobody could stop him, not even Roman Reigns. He announced a Last Man Standing match at Extreme Rules. Nobody cared about this at all. No “please retire” or “you sold out” chants. Everybody just sat there silently.
Natalya vs. Alicia Fox vs. Cameron
They did a tower of doom spot with Natalya powerbombing both girls. Natalya had Cameron in the Sharpshooter for a long time but Alicia hit the ring. Natalya ducked a scissors kick and applied the Sharpshooter to Alicia. The match should’ve ended there, with Nattie outclassing her opponents, but it didn’t.
Cameron knocked Natalya down from behind. Alicia knocked her out of the ring and hit Natalya with a boot and the worst scissors kick ever. Cameron jumped back in, tossed Alicia out, and stole the pin on Natalya. This was a complete fucking mess. Cameron posed with her mirror not selling a thing and Alicia had a temper tantrum.
Adam Rose w/Rosebuds vs. Fandango
This is the third match between these two on SmackDown since February. Fandango won with a rollup after Rosa distracted everyone.
Bray Wyatt promo. “You should be more careful, friend, because the reaper walks in the daylight. Run.”
I-C Champion Daniel Bryan & U.S. Champion John Cena vs. Tag Team Champions Cesaro & Tyson Kidd w/Natalya – Non-Title
The heels worked over Cena. He tried to tag out but Cesaro cut him off and hit the deadlift gutwrench slam. Cena almost made a tag again but Kidd pulled Bryan off the apron. Cena applied the STF but Kidd broke it up. Cena then tried an AA on Kidd but Kidd landed on his feet and hit a dropkick. Cena hit a backdrop and finally made the hot tag.
Bryan kicked the shit out of Kidd and hit a hurricanrana for two. With both heels in the ring, Bryan hit Yes-kicks to both. Bryan got Kidd ready for the running knee but Natalya jumped on the apron to distract him. Kidd tried to run at Bryan but he moved and Kidd knocked Natalya off the apron. Fortunately, Cesaro was there to catch her. Bryan applied the Yes-lock to Kidd, so Cesaro dropped Natalya (which was funny), jumped in the ring and ran right into an AA from Cena. Kidd tapped to Bryan and the show ended with Bryan and Cena celebrating.
They obviously protected Bryan here, and he was being very careful. He used a baseball slide instead of a suicide dive (and landed on the ropes instead of on the mat) and never landed on his back. The only bumps Bryan really took was falling off the apron twice.
Final Thoughts:
A pretty bad show with five nothing matches and a shorter than usual main event.
Quick Match Results:
- Bray Wyatt beat R-Truth via pinfall
- Bad News Barrett beat The Miz via pinfall
- Neville beat Sheamus via disqualification
- Big E & Kofi Kingston beat Los Matadores via pinfall
- Cameron beat Natalya and Alicia Fox via pinfall (Triple Threat match)
- Fandango beat Adam Rose via pinfall
- Daniel Bryan & John Cena beat Tyson Kidd & Cesaro via submission – Non-Title