WWE Smackdown
April 1, 2011
Chicago, IL/Atlanta, GA
Report by: Mike Tedesco of Wrestleview.com
The Smackdown video plays and we’re brought into the arena with a big fireworks display. Josh Mathews, Booker T, and Michael Cole, in the Cole Mine, welcome us to the show. We’re going to open up with an Intercontinental Championship match.
Intercontinental Championship Match
Wade Barrett (c) vs. Kofi Kingston
Kingston ducks a clothesline and hits Barrett with some kicks. Kingston sends him to the ropes but Barrett holds on, avoiding a Trouble in Paradise attempt. Kingston charges and Barrett back body drops him to the apron. Kingston punches him away and goes for a springboard but Barrett big boots him in the face, sending him to the outside. Barrett follows him outside and drives him into the ring apron. Barrett bounces him off the steel steps and the barricade before sending him back into the ring.
Barrett gloats in the ring and hits a pump-handle slam for a two count. Barrett applies a neck vice and is looking for the submission. Kingston punches out of it but Barrett cuts him off with some knees. Kingston comes back with some slaps and a nice dropkick. Barrett ducks a superman punch and blocks an SOS, pushing Kingston to the corner. Barrett runs into a pendulum kick and Kingston hits a nice cross-body block off the top rope for a near fall. Kingston kicks him in the ribs and hits the Boom Drop. Kingston sets up and goes for Trouble in Paradise but Barrett counters with a nice big boot for a near fall. Barrett waits for him to get up and goes for The Wasteland but Kingston grabs the ropes. Kingston punches him away, jumps over him, and hits Trouble in Paradise! Kingston covers but The Corre runs down to the ring and causes the DQ.
Winner by Disqualification: Kofi Kingston
Wade Barrett is still the Intercontinental Champion
Match Rating: * 3/4
Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov run down to help Kingston out but The Corre outnumbers them. All of a sudden Kane’s pyro hits and he makes his way to the ring with Big Show. They clear the ring of The Corre and stand tall in the ring.
They show a replay of Cody Rhodes attacking Rey Mysterio last Friday on Smackdown. Rhodes used his facemask and knee brace to beat down Mysterio.
Matt Striker is backstage with Cody Rhodes. Rhodes is in the shadows with a towel over his head. Striker asks why he viciously assaulted Mysterio last week. Rhodes says it’s an “eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” Several months ago, Rey Mysterio intentionally mashed his knee brace into his face. Rhodes says he shattered the bones and changed him from rugged and handsome. He’s embarrassed and he doesn’t want to look at himself in the mirror. He doesn’t want to be looked at by others. He’s a bitter man but last week was only the beginning. At WrestleMania, Rey Mysterio is going to have to contend with him. Rhodes takes the towel off and shows the facemask. Rhodes then holds up a knee brace and says he’ll have to contend with that as well.
-Commercial Break-
Todd Grisham and The Bella Twins welcome us back to the show. They’re in Atlanta, Georgia at WrestleMania Fan Axxess. They show Hornswoggle’s house under the ring and the limousine Mr. McMahon was blown up in… or so we thought. The Bella Twins talk about how much fun Axxess is and how the WWE Superstars will sign over 25,000 autographs over the weekend.
That tremendous video package plays for Undertaker vs. Triple H at WrestleMania. I love the song they play for this. Later tonight we’ll see the Undertaker/Triple H face off on Raw.
-Commercial Break-
Todd Grisham and The Bella Twins talk about CM Punk vs. Randy Orton at WrestleMania. They talk about how Orton took out all the members of the New Nexus. They then show a video hyping up their match at WrestleMania. This was another tremendous video by the WWE Production team.
Jerry “The King” Lawler will appear on Smackdown to respond to Michael Cole later tonight. We’ll take a look at the Road Warriors, the final inductees into this year’s Hall of Fame class, next. Ohhhhh what a rush!
-Commercial Break-
They show some more of the awesome exhibits at Fan Axxess. They have an exact replica of Vince McMahon’s office at the WWE Headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut. The guy has the skull of a Tyrannosaurus Rex hanging on his wall. He’s the man. They also show people doing the WWE Superstar’s entrances and show off Shawn Michaels’s famous ring gear.
That gets them talking about the Hall of Fame induction ceremony. They then show the video for the Road Warriors and “Precious” Paul Ellering. WELLLL!! I miss Hawk’s promos. Seriously, how awesome was the Doomsday Device??
We’ll check out the confrontation between John Cena and The Rock later tonight.
-Commercial Break-
Josh Mathews talks about Jerry “The King” Lawler taking on Michael Cole at WrestleMania with Stone Cold Steve Austin as the referee. We then see a quick replay of Jerry Lawler vs. Jack Swagger on Raw. King cracked Swagger on the back with a chair a few times and almost got Cole but he managed to get away in the Cole Mine. Cole splashed him with some soda, further angering the King. I can’t wait for this match.
Jerry “The King” Lawler’s new music hits and he comes out the ring. Lawler looks at the empty Cole Mine before looking directly into the camera, talking right at Michael Cole. King says Cole has been running his mouth for weeks. Cole talked about King’s mother, who recently passed away, and brought his son out to try to humiliate him. Then he took his private family photo album and disrespected the memory of his father. Cole will have to learn that when you say hurtful things, there are consequences to pay.
Cole leaving before he came out was the best thing he could have done. If Cole was out here now then King wouldn’t have made it WrestleMania but neither would Cole. King says he knows Cole is scared because he realizes that everything he’s done to him up until now has been with the help of Jack Swagger. At WrestleMania, Stone Cold Steve Austin will take care of Jack Swagger and that will just leave him and Michael Cole. No one will help him and he can’t hide in a fortress. Then he won’t just beat him, he’ll do what the entire world wants him to do – King promises he’ll shut Cole’s mouth!
They show a video highlighting the press conference at the Hard Rock Café in New York City this past Wednesday. That had to be awesome to be at.
-Commercial Break-
They show some more exhibits at Fan Axxess. They show some classic costumes from the 80s. They also show the 4-Wheeler Stone Cold drove out to the ring at WrestleMania 25. They then show Undertaker’s graveyard.
They show the Undertaker/Triple H face off on Raw that was crashed by Shawn Michaels. What an amazing segment that was. The buildup wasn’t the best in the weeks prior but this segment sold me on the match. Just brilliant.
-Commercial Break-
Keri Hilson will perform America The Beautiful at WrestleMania. They show the Georgia Dome and then talk about the WWE Hall of a Fame ceremony, brought to us by WWE All Stars. They then show some footage from the game.
Todd Grisham and The Bella Twins talk about the video game. They then show footage of The Miz on Conan.
They’ll show the electrifying confrontation between John Cena and The Rock later tonight.
-Commercial Break-
A video for Sin Cara plays. I can’t wait for him to debut.
They show a display at Fan Axxess of all the past and present WWE Championships. They show Fabulous Moolah’s Women’s Title. They also show the Honky Tonk Man’s costume and guitar. They then show the ring jackets of Trish Stratus. That of course leads us into the Snooki hype.
We’ll take a look at the match between Edge and Alberto Del Rio next.
-Commercial Break-
They show a video hyping up Edge vs. Alberto Del Rio at WrestleMania.
Cody Rhodes will be in action next.
-Commercial Break-
Cody Rhodes vs. Chris Masters
The bell rings and Rhodes immediately snaps into action, viciously punching away at Masters. Masters comes back with a chop and goes for a suplex but Rhodes lands on his feet and runs to the corner. Rhodes kicks him in the knee and hits the Beautiful Disaster. Michael Cole makes his way to the ring with security. Cole gets back in the Cole Mine. Rhodes rubs Masters’s face into the mat and punches away. Rhodes works on the arm and applies a chin lock. Masters gets him on his back and backs him to the corner. Rhodes quickly takes him back down and stomps his face. Rhodes goes for a DDT but Masters counters into a Samoan Drop.
Masters hits an inverted atomic drop. Rhodes ducks a clothesline but gets caught in a Masterlock attempt but Rhodes gets to the ropes. Rhodes head-butts him with the facemask. Rhodes hits the Cross Rhodes from there and picks up the win.
Winner by Pinfall: Cody Rhodes
Match Rating: 1/2 *
Rey Mysterio runs down to the ring and kicks at Rhodes. Mysterio dropkicks him into position and goes for the 619 but Rhodes cuts him off with a kick. Rhodes goes for a powerbomb but Mysterio counters into a hurricanrana. Mysterio again goes for a 619 but Rhodes escapes the ring. Rhodes slowly goes to the back and Mysterio points at the WrestleMania sign.
They show Chris Jericho on Dancing With The Stars.
We’ll see the confrontation between The Rock and John Cena next.
-Commercial Break-
They show an exhibit of all of John Cena’s muscle cars at Fan Axxess.
Todd Grisham and The Bella Twins talk about the rivalry brewing with John Cena and The Rock. They then show the confrontation between John Cena and The Rock. They’ve failed to mention all night long that WWE Champion The Miz was also involved in this segment. I can’t wait to see what happens at WrestleMania.
Quick Match Results
Kofi Kingston def. Wade Barrett by DQ; Barrett is still the IC Champion
Cody Rhodes def. Chris Masters
Bump of the Night: N/A
Match of the Night: Barrett vs. Kingston * 3/4
Mike’s Thoughts
This may be the best Smackdown of the year. April Fool’s! Yes, that was a lame joke but so was this show. We had the same amount of matches as we did on Superstars but double the time. There were just way too many videos. At first I didn’t mind because the videos are actually really tremendous and I give tremendous credit to the WWE Production team that put them together. But then after the first hour I was going nuts. I would’ve been happy if they gave us two matches that had some time given to them but these matches probably went a grand total of eight minutes. That’s eight minutes of actual wrestling and one hour and fifty-two minutes of videos and commercials. There was a Lawler promo thrown in there somewhere that was actually really decent. Still, now that this is out of the way our last stop is WrestleMania and I cannot wait!
Final Rating: 3/4 *
E-Mail – MikeyT817@hotmail.com
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