Tougher Than Sudoku – A Smackdown Recap

June 2nd’s Smackdown came to us from Rockford, Illinois.

After a lame RAW, Smackdown felt refreshing.  I’m not sure if it’s because the former was so bad this week or if Smackdown was legitimately better.  One thing is for certain, the matches were of an actual significant length.  Again, my observations are not in chronological order.

Rusev Vs. Enhancement Talent Jack Swagger

After taking down dude bro from space, Rusev turns his sights on another easy target.  What better victim than Jack Swagger?

I’ll be honest.  I wasn’t expecting much from this but Rusev delivers again.  And…Swagger put on a much better showing than I expected.  Rusev wasted no time and attacked on Jack on the way to the ring.  A brutal attack to the shoulder that led to referree Charles Robinson to ask Swagger if he wanted to continue.  The bell rings and Rusev charges with a superkick…into the Patriot Lock.  This is the moment where I realized that this wasn’t going to be just a 2 minute match like we had on RAW.  Swagger also slipped out of Rusev’s first attempt of The Accolade into the Patriotic Lock again.  Rusev returned the favor by putting his knees up during the Swagger bomb.

They told a story in the ring and it’s something I enjoyed a lot.  Points off on Swagger for not bending back on the Accolade like Kalisto and Ryder.

Rusev wins with a submission on Swagger. RUSEV CRUSH

After the match, Titus ran off Rusev, who was refusing to break The Accolade.  I’m not psyched about this rivalry.

Dudleys Vs. Golden Truth with Fabreeze at Ringside

The 6 months of vignettes was worth it to get the Golden Truth remix of “What’s Up” with a bouncing Goldust head.  It’s ridiculous how much I enjoyed this.

“There’s no selfies in sports entertainment!” – Mauro

The match is what you’d expect with the inevitable selfie distraction leading to a rollup on Dust.  There was a nice double suplex on Bubba.

Dudley Boys win via Pinfall

Bizarre Promo of the Night: Baron Corbin

This was just weird to me.

Becky Vs.Charlotte w/ Dana

Besides being very pro-Rusev, I’m also a #StraightFire booster.  I wake up to Becky’s theme.  But I have to say I was a little worried.  In the last month, it seems we’ve taken a bit of a step back in the Women’s Division.  Matches have been short, screw job/DQ finishes in every match, and most importantly, Stephanie stopped by to berate Charlotte on RAW this week.  That’s normally not a good sign.

“Becky is showcasing more game than the Up, Up, Down, Down YouTube channel” – Mauro

Only one of those three issues were in play tonight, which I call a win.  We had a decently long match with a lot of good work from both women.  The match started with some good technical wrestling!  It’s amazing to think that a year ago we had a lot of hair pulling and slaps in the women’s devision.  Now we have this!

But…we get the inevitable DQ finish when Becks tries to put on the DisArmHer as Dana drags Charlotte to the edge of the ring.  As Charlotte and The Dirtiest Sidekick in the Game tried to leave, Nattie comes at them from the ramp.  The weirdest thing to me is that they all went back into the ring to brawl.  Shouldn’t this have just happened on the ramp or at ringside?

Neverending IC Money in the Bank Competitors Tag  Match

Tonight’s combination is Sambrose Vs. Del Owens in a standard tag match.  On one hand, it’s easy to make fun of creative/Vince habit of putting these guys in constant combinations of tag matches.  On the other hand, they never seem to disappoint.  It’s like the TV show equivalent of a house show match.  You know how it’s going to shake out but it’s always fun to watch.  It’s crazy that the PPV matches always feel fresh.

“Dean Ambrose is so crazy, he gets fan mail from Gary Busey!” – Jerry “The King” Lawler

When Del Rio, Owens, and Zayn were in the ring, the crowd was chanting “USA, USA, USA!”  Why? It’s two Canadians, one of whom is a face, and one Mexican.  Are they trolling these guys?

The match ended when Del Rio missed Ambrose with an enzuguri and ended up nailing his partner on the apron.  Ambrose got the hot tag and Zayn hit the Helluva kick for the pinfall.

After the match, Owens decides that he wants to get the briefcase but is stopped by Cesaro with a vicious European uppercut in full suit.  IN FULL SUIT!

AJ Vs. Kofi Kingston

This is a match I didn’t know that I wanted.  The New Day and the Club bookended RAW.  After a somber opening from the New Day, The Club and AJ quickly challenged Kofi to a match for that evening.  AJ as a heel…he’s all in.  The way he carries himself is completely different.  I love it.

“AJ is tougher than Sudoku!” – Mauro

I honestly stopped taking notes on this.  I was enthralled by it.  The great thing about this is it gave Kofi more to do with more capable opponents.  They were both a great match for each other.

• Nice hurricanrana on AJ.  Looked flawless.
• Vicious pendulum backbreaker on Kofi
• Crazy monkey flip to AJ.  AJ got so much air on that.
• Styles Clash on Kofi for the pinfall 

The other thing that I liked is that it took quite awhile before The Club and The New Day went at it at ringside.  It’s refreshing.

I also realize that I actually like The Club.  I got super bored of them constantly fighting The Usos.  I hope Uce are off TV for MITB.  PLEASE GOD.

Bonus:  WWE Game Night – Twister