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MAYLE’S WWE SMACKDOWN REPORT
JUNE 5, 2018
CORPUS CHRISTI, TEX.
AIRED LIVE ON USA NETWORK
Announcers: Corey Graves, Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton.
[HOUR ONE]
-Tom welcomed everyone to the show and hyped the 6-man tag match tonight between New Day and Rusev, Miz, and Samoa Joe. Corey hyped the mixed tag match between Lana and Aiden English and Jimmy Uso and Naomi. Byron hyped Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte.
-Carmella made her entrance. She stood in the ring with her title and microphone and demanded to be cheered. The fans booed. She said tonight is not about her, rather it’s about her opponent Asuka. She said that Asuka is not who everyone thinks she is. She referred to the screen and a video aired highlighting Asuka’s undefeated streak up to the Royal Rumble win. Carmella faked being excited by it. Then she said, “Let’s remove the mask.” And she referred to the screen again. A video package aired of Asuka losing to Charlotte at WrestleMania, then her loss against The Iconics, then her being ambushed last week by Sonya Deville. Carmella said, “Asuka’s devastating loss at WrestleMania shattered her.” She said, “That’s why I have nothing to fear because Mella is Money and the age of Asuka is over. Asuka was undefeated and now she is just… defeated. It used to be nobody is ready for Asuka, but now everyone is ready for Asuka!” She had all the fans get involved raising their hands yelling they are ready for Asuka. Asuka’s music hit and she made her grand entrance. Fans cheered.
(Mayle’s Analysis: I love that she tried to get the fans involved yelling everyone is ready for Asuka. Nice touch.)
Mandy Rose’s music hit and out she came with Sonya. Mandy said she was a second away from beating Asuka last week, but now that she knows the truth, she knows she can beat Asuka tonight. Then Sonya retorted saying that it is her turn to fight Asuka tonight. Carmella agreed, but told Asuka to just give up and get an uber to leave. Paige’s music hit. She came out a bit frustrated saying that no one makes the matches besides herself. She gave Asuka the choice to pick her opponent for tonight. Asuka laughed and said, “Give me both!” Paige declared Asuka will face Mandy and Sonya in a handicap match next. (c.)
(Mayle’s Analysis: This was a good dynamic between Asuka and Carmella. Carmella is the perfect trash-talking heel to make the solemnly spoken Asuka look good.)
(1) ASUKA vs. MANDY ROSE & SONYA DEVILLE – Handicap match
Carmella was on commentary for the match. Sonya and Mandy exchanged tags as Asuka put in offense against each of them. Carmella continued touting about herself fantastically on commentary throughout the match. Corey did a great job of setting her up for the vanity-spewing. Meanwhile in the ring, Asuka gained more momentum and attacked Mandy with her hip attacks. Fans were into it very much. Carmella came to ringside taunting Asuka with her championship. Asuka was distracted and Sonya capitalized with an elbow, picking up a slow heel offense. (c.)
Back live, Asuka rallied against Mandy and got some kicks in. Mandy tagged in Sonya. Asuka hit her with a knee and hip attack for a near fall. Mandy broke it up, but Asuka threw her out of the ring. Sonya and Asuka both then went for a head kick at the same time and knocked each other down. Asuka got up first and was met with a spear by Sonya for a near fall. Sonya delivered some knees and was reversed into an Asuka lock.
WINNER: Asuka via submission in 13:00.
(Mayle’s Analysis: As enjoying as it is to watch Asuka work in the ring, I found myself glued to Carmella’s work on commentary. She is incredibly comfortable in her heel champion role, so much so that I almost want her to retain at MITB. This match did great work at building both Carmella and Asuka. Asuka is shown as a fighting challenger in this great television match, while Carmella is shown as a vain heel.)
Carmella came in the ring and raised her title above Asuka. Mandy attacked Asuka from behind and Asuka threw her off while Carmella attacked from behind and hit Asuka with a superkick. She posed after.
-Miz was shown backstage practicing “Miz-Jitsu”. New Day showed up saying they wanted Miz to choose which one of them will compete in the MITB ladder match by drawing a name from Mr. Bootyworth’s hat. Miz went to draw but was stopped and had a blindfold put on. Woods switched the hat with one filled with pancake batter. They laughed hysterically. Miz got angry and said he would beat them with the skull crushing finale tonight. He then wiped his hand on Mr. Bootyworth.
(Mayle’s Analysis: I really don’t think of Miz as a serious heel. He’s just too fun and likeable. However, put him against Daniel Bryan, I can see him shine like the serious heel I know he can be.)
-The announcers hyped that A.J. Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura will be signing their MITB match contract tonight. (c.)
-Back live, The Bludgeone Brothers were making their ring entrance.
(2) HARPER (w/Rowan) vs. KARL ANDERSON (w/Luke Gallows)
Harper picked up quick offense against Anderson and maintained it for the majority of the match. Suddenly, Anderson got a quick rollup for the win.
WINNER: Anderson via pinfall in 2:00.
-The announcers talked about Lana and Naomi’s dance contest last week and how it turned into a brawl.
-Naomi and Jimmy stood backstage cutting a promo on Lana and Rusev, saying that they will show which married couple runs Smackdown Live. (c.)
-Jimmy and Naomi made their ring entrances. Aiden English came out and did a terrible rap to introduce Lana.
(3) JIMMY USO & NAOMI vs. AIDEN ENGLISH & NAOMI – Mixed Tag Match
English and Jimmy started the match. Jimmy punched English in the throat and English oversold it. He and Lana attacked Jimmy and Naomi, but they avoided it and sent English and Lana out of the ring. Naomi then dove out of the ring onto them both. (c.)
[HOUR TWO]
Back live, Lana was showing offense on Naomi. She held Naomi in holds for the most part. Naomi finally fought out and got the hot tag to Jimmy. Jimmy attacked English and got a near fall that was broken up by Lana. Naomi came in and took out Lana. English took down Jimmy when his back was turned. He had him in the corner and was going to do Jimmy’s hip attack, but then Naomi hit English with a body splash and Jimmy hit him with a superkick for the win.
WINNERS: Naomi & Jimmy via pinfall in 10:00.
-Paige was standing by backstage at a desk with Shinsuke Nakamura and Styles. She explained to them the rules of their last man standing match. Styles told Nakamura that he feels like they’ve been at this war forever. But, now he knows that Nakamura cannot beat him because he hides behind low blows. He told Nakamura that the dirty tricks won’t work this time because he will leave the champion. He signed the contract and gave it to Shinsuke. Shinsuke yawned and refused to sign it. Then, Styles demanded Nakamura act like a man and stand up to him. Styles slapped Nakamura and was taken away. Then, Nakamura signed and smiled saying, “Last man standing!” (c.)
(Mayle’s Analysis: I was wishing this to take place in the ring, but then I understood when I saw it play out. I really loved it. That was a great bit Shinsuke did at the end. Very creative. This is why Shinsuke is the best heel WWE has right now.)
-Back live, Charlotte made her ring entrance. Becky Lynch then made her entrance.
(4) CHARLOTTE FLAIR vs. BECKY LYNCH
Charlotte and Becky traded offense. They soon took each other down. (c.)
Charlotte went for a diving moonsault but was kneed in the stomach coming down. Becky was then able to get her in her disarm-her for the win.
WINNER: Becky via submission in 8:00.
Becky and Charlotte hugged out of respect.
(Mayle’s Analysis: Finally! To me, this shows exactly what the truth is. That being that Becky has the qualifications to be in the limelight as Charlotte is, but just isn’t given those opportunities. Now, she was given the opportunity. I’m glad she won. It doesn’t necessarily mean she is better than Charlotte, but that also doesn’t necessarily mean that Charlotte is better than her.)
-Samoa Joe was interviewed backstage. He said that all the horrible things people say about him are true. He reminded us of what he did last week, that he climbed the ladder and took down that MITB briefcase. He said that whoever will call himself WWE Champion will be a marked man.
-The announcers hyped the 6-man tag match still to come. (c.)
-Renee Young introduced Big Cass in the ring. Cass made his ring entrance in his suit. He walked to the side of the stage to Renee. Renee asked what he would do to defeat Bryan at MITB. He noted that she has to hold the microphone very high for him to speak into it. He continued that he is 7-feet tall. He then talked about when he saw Daniel Bryan as the WWE Champion years ago at WrestleMania. He couldn’t help wondering why such a small man was the champion. He then referred to the screen for a playback of what he did to Bryan last week. He said that, “I almost feel bad for him, but he brought that upon himself. He asked to come back to WWE. But, little did he know he would have a 7-foot shadow following him every single place that he went. Daniel Bryan has never been in the ring with anybody as big as me.” He continued, “Daniel Bryan has never been in the ring with somebody who holds a grudge like I do.” He exclaimed that he is going to take his scrawny little arms, rip them off, and beat him over the head with them so he could never put the heel hook on him again. “Daniel Bryan is going to come to the slow realization that a pathetic little man like him could never beat me.”
(Mayle’s Analysis: As great as Cass’s promo was, the fans in attendance were probably upset they didn’t get to see Bryan. As far as television goes, this wasn’t a bad progression in the feud.)
-Backstage, Sin Cara was interviewed asking about his issue with Andrade last week. He said that he knew Andrade since he was fourteen years old, but then something happened. Zelina Vega interrupted and said that she was what happened. She said that she opened his mind to the great competitor he is, unlike Sin Cara. Then, Andrade attacked Sin Cara from behind.
-New Day made their ring entrance. (c.)
Rusev, Miz, and Samoa Joe made their entrances.
(5) NEW DAY vs. THE MIZ & RUSEV & SAMOA JOE – 6-Man Tag
Woods and Miz started off the match. Woods was able to soon tag in Big E. Big E took great offense on Miz, but Miz soon tagged in Samoa Joe. Joe quickly subdued Big E with powerful moves. (c.)
Back live, Miz held Woods in a headlock. Woods soon fought out and was able to hit Miz with a dropkick from the top rope. Miz tagged in Joe and Joe went to take out E, but E hit Joe. Rusev then ran outside and attacked E, while Joe was kicked by woods in the ring. Woods tagged in Kofi who subdued Miz. He hit the New Day Boom Drop and rallied for an SOS. Joe came to the apron, but Kofi took him out. Miz then got a DDT on Kofi for a near fall. He went for the skull crushing finale, but Kofi reversed and tagged in Big E. Miz tagged in Rusev. E hit a belly to belly, but Joe broke the pin. Miz was then tagged in and E was able to tag in Kofi. E picked up Miz for a double team, but Joe put Woods in a clutch. Rusev took out E and Kofi. Miz then had Joe and Rusev grab Big E. Miz took pancakes to throw in his face but accidentally threw them at Joe and Rusev. They got mad and attacked Miz. Rusev and Joe left the match. Kofi and E hit the Midnight Hour for the win.
WINNERS: New Day via pinfall in 15:00.
(Mayle’s Analysis: Every man for himself at MITB. This made sense. It was a fun finish.)
Final Thoughts: Solid show here. I love when there are more than three matches. It felt like a real wrestling show. See? It is possible to produce a great wrestling show without sacrificing the wrestling for segments. The highlight of the night, for me, is the Asuka match. Not only was it a good television match that showcased Asuka’s in-ring talent, but it showcased Carmella’s ability to successfully run wild as a great heel champion. I also loved the WWE Championship contract signing segment, as well as the Becky Lynch victory over Charlotte. The Becky-Charlotte angle will be interesting to see play out later.
I share a lot of the same opinions as you on Carmella. Some people are so overly critical of her wrestling, I think they forget she’s a heel, and that she’s not really supposed to please the crowd. She’s fantastic on the mic though, and has an greater confidence to her with the title on her now. I really, really hope she retains the championship at MiTB. I want to see her continue to grow, and what she does. They can always shift to Asuka as champion at Summerslam, and still have way more than enough time to work in the inevitable rematch with Charlotte, that I assume they want, before Charlotte moves on to Rousey at Mania.