WWE SmackDown TV Report 5-28-15: Kevin Owens interview, Rusev hurt, Dean Ambrose & Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins & Kane
By Steve Khan, WrestlingObserver.com
– Air Date: May 28, 2015 (May 27 in Canada)
– Location: Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre, PA
News:
Kevin Owens made his first SmackDown appearance, Rusev is hurt, and Seth Rollins laid out Dean Ambrose with a pedigree.
Show Recap:
They announced that the Raw opener would be the main event of SmackDown.
Dean Ambrose came out to a good reaction. He said The Authority always has a Plan B and their plan was to get him arrested. Ambrose knows from experience that jail is not a fun place to be. He considered using his one prison phone call to order pizza, but instead called his only friend Roman Reigns, whose name got a big pop.
Ambrose also considered digging his way out of jail but instead used WWE’s own YouTube clip against the Authority to get cleared. He said NYPD were big fans of his and let him drive the paddy wagon back to Raw (and Reigns bought him enough time to get there). Ambrose said there was going to be a fight on Sunday for the richest prize in the business, he would end Seth Rollins’ reign and the Age of Ambrose would begin.
(Ambrose never cut to the screen to show replays. Instead, they showed pictures and clips as he spoke. This wasn’t really an improvement however, as the clips with sound completely distracted from Dean’s promo.)
Lumberjack Match: Lucha Dragons beat Tyson Kidd & Cesaro w/Natalya via pinfall
The lumberjacks were the Prime Time Players, Los Matadores, Ascension and New Day. On the Canadian airing, they introduced the lumberjacks and the commentators cut to commercial. Except the commercials didn’t air. The screen went black for a second and they came back.
Really good, lengthy match. With two babyface teams, they didn’t do the usual tag match formula. Kidd countered a Kalisto hurricanrana into a sharpshooter. Sin Cara broke up the cover so Cesaro hit him with a superkick. Cesaro was tossed over the ropes onto a few lumberjacks. Woods grabbed Kidd’s foot as a distraction and Kalisto hit Salida del Sol for the win. Lots of “New Day sucks” chants.
Backstage, Rollins complained to Kane about having to face Ambrose and Reigns again. Jamie Noble told a story about his old Aunt Baby. Kane told Rollins not to worry because he has a plan. Rollins believed him.
R-Truth beat King Barrett via pinfall
Truth did a completely serious in-set promo pushing the Chamber match, saying he doesn’t worry about danger, danger worries about him. That was refreshing. Barrett also did an in-set promo, saying he’d win back the IC Title. Barrett controlled the match for a couple of minutes but Truth won rather quickly with a reverse STO. Afterwards, Sheamus laid out both men with brogue kicks.
Backstage, Lana told Renee Young that she almost believed that Rusev could change, but she realized his ways and said she belongs to no man. Renee asked about her relationship with Ziggler and Lana said she has no relationship with him. Rusev showed up. Basically, Rusev was unbothered by Ziggler. Lana didn’t believe that Rusev wasn’t jealous. Rusev said Lana has dug her own grave and now has to lie in it.
Ryback beat Rusev via DQ
Ryback worked over Rusev for while and hit a nice delayed vertical suplex. Rusev came back with a kick and clothesline. Rusev used a fallaway slam on the outside and they went to commercial.
After the break, Rusev visibly limped around and Jerry Lawler pointed it out. Ryback tried a power slam but Rusev slid to the outside, favouring his ankle. Ryback eventually went after him but Rusev slammed him twice into the ring post for a DQ. Rusev tossed Ryback into the steel steps for good measure.
Rusev leaned against the ring to take pressure off his ankle/foot. Ryback’s music played and he got to his feet and began walking away, even though the guy who attacked him was still just standing there. The referee checked on Rusev and they cut to the announcers who moved on to the women’s title feud.
The match was enjoyable until the finish, where they obviously had to call an audible. I’m not sure if they ever do any editing once the show airs in Canada, but they might want to edit out Ryback getting to his feet and walking away.
Paige beat Naomi w/Tamina via pinfall
They both did good in-set promos before the match. Paige won after kicking Tamina in the face and hitting Naomi with Ram-Paige. It was fine but short. Afterwards, Nikki Bella came out with Brie to pose with the Divas title.
Michael Cole brought out NXT Champion Kevin Owens. They showed replays of Owens powerbombing John Cena twice. When they came back from the replays, Owens was laughing and pointing at the screen to make sure Cole was watching. Cole said Owens has been in WWE for 2 weeks and Owens interrupted him immediately to say he’s been in this company for 2 weeks but has been in the business for 15 years.
He’s been dominating for years and will dominate Cena. Owens knows Cena’s list of accomplishments: 15 world titles, 52 terrible t-shirt designs and a thousand different ways to suck. Owens doesn’t have to prove anything to Cena, Cena has to prove himself to Owens. Owens showed his apron powerbomb to Sami Zayn from NXT. He explained that Zayn was his best friend, so imagine what he would do to Cena. Owens ended the promo by saying the real champ is here.
As Owens left, Dean Ambrose entered for the main event. Ambrose walked right by Owens without looking at him, but Owens did stop to look at Ambrose.
Dean Ambrose & Roman Reigns beat WWE Champion Seth Rollins & Kane w/J&J Security via DQ
The story of every this match was the heels using the numbers game to their advantage. They worked over Ambrose forever. Ambrose knocked J&J over the announce table and used a tornado DDT on Kane.
Reigns made a hot tag and hit Rollins with clotheslines, a forearm and Samoan drop. Ambrose took out Kane with a flying elbow and plancha. After a quick back-and-forth exchange, Reigns hit Rollins with a superman punch but J&J broke up the cover for the DQ.
Ambrose took them out with a dive and began pummeling Rollins. Kane executed his plan, calling out The New Day who attacked Ambrose. Reigns knocked them all down with a dive over the top.
Xavier Woods managed to avoid this, but Ambrose jumped in the ring and hit him with Dirty Deeds. Ambrose hit Big E with a rebound clothesline, Reigns took out Kingston with a superman punch and Big E with a spear.
I thought this was the end with Ambrose and Reigns standing tall, but no, there’s more. Kane chokeslammed Reigns (without help or distraction), Rollins attacked Ambrose from behind and hit him with a pedigree. Rollins and Kane stood tall to end the show.
Final Thoughts:
Overall, this was a fine show that had some noteworthy stuff. I could have done without the DQ in the main event and overbooked finish, but with just 2 weeks between big shows, they’ve had to cram a lot in. That also explains why we got the Kevin Owens interview here as well. The main story from the main event is that Rollins and his crew are on the same page and that means trouble for Ambrose.
Match Results:
- Lucha Dragons beat Tyson Kidd & Cesaro via pinfall
- R-Truth beat King Barrett via pinfall
- Ryback beat Rusev via DQ
- Paige beat Naomi via pinfall
- Dean Ambrose & Roman Reigns beat WWE Champion Seth Rollins & Kane via DQ