WWE: Smackdown
May 19, 2016
Greenville, SC
Bon Secours Wellness Arena

The current WWE champions are as follows:
WWE World Heavyweight Champion: Roman Reigns (4/3/2016)
WWE Intercontinental Champion: The Miz (4/4/2016)
WWE United States Champion: Kalisto (1/24/2016)
WWE Tag Team Champions: The New Day (8/23/2015)
WWE Women’s Champion: Charlotte (4/3/2016)

Your hosts are Mauro Ranallo, Byron Saxton, and Jerry Lawler.

• Kevin Owens vs. Cesaro
  

We’ve got the IC champ the Miz, Maryse, and Sami Zayn all joining us for extra special commentary. Owens has all sorts of trouble with Cesaro for quite a while. Of all people, it takes Maryse to distract Cesaro so that Owens can knock him off the apron into the announce table. Owens sends Cesaro into the steps and heads back in for a running senton for two. He stays on Cesaro until he tries another running senton which hits knees. Owens stops a comeback as he trips Cesaro up top. As he crumbles down into the corner, Owens delivers his cannonball splash for another nearfall. Commercials! When we come back, Cesaro mounts his comeback. During a struggle on the top rope, Cesaro gives Owens a GUTWRENCH SUPERPLEX! Awesome. Here comes the European uppercuts. Flying body press to Owens gets two. Owens avoids the Cesaro Swing and bails to the floor where he pops Sami Zayn in the face. When we turns back around, Cesaro wipes him out with his own cannonball splash from the apron. Cesaro rolls Owens back in the ring before going over and shoving the Miz down. Back inside, he hits the springboard European uppercut and starts the CESARO SWING when Miz shows up on the apron. Cesaro nails Miz and turns around into a superkick from Owens for 1-2-NO! Zayn shows up in the ring as well looking for Owens, but Cesaro punches him down to prevent a DQ. Owens then goes over to Cesaro and rolls him up for the win. (11:16 shown) Zayn lands the HELLUVA KICK on Cesaro while Miz lays out Zayn with his SKULL CRUSHING FINALE. KO watches on from the ramp smiling staring down Miz. I still say Miz retains at Extreme Rules. ***

• Dana Brooke vs. Paige
  

Becky Lynch is on commentary. Paige gets to shine here until Dana trips her up on the apron. After Dana works her over in the corner (with a handstand foot choke!) and applies a body scissors down on the mat, Paige fires back with knees in the corner and a running knee strike for two. SAMOAN DRIVER to Paige ends this fairly quick. (3:15) With wins over Becky Lynch and now Paige, they must really believe in this Dana Brooke character to do something interesting. *

In the back, Renee Young asks Rusev and Lana about what he did to Kalisto last week on Raw. HE BROKE HIS BACK. HE MAKE HIM HUMBLE. The US title is coming back to Rusev at Extreme Rules.

• Sheamus vs. Dolph Ziggler
  

Both guys trade blows to start. Sheamus knocks him to the apron and tries to pound on Dolph’s chest, but Ziggler snaps his neck on the top rope only to leap back into the ring and eat a Polish hammer. Commercials. When we return, Sheamus is still in control and lays in the forearms on the apron. Dolph escapes a chinlock and avoids the Brogue Kick before landing the Famouser for two. There’s a couple Stinger Splashes to Sheamus, but Sheamus catches him coming off the ropes and delivers the Irish Curse backbreaker for two. Zig Zag out of nowhere misses. Sheamus launches Ziggler into a hotshot, but Ziggler still manages a superkick for the random three-count. (7:48 shown) Well that was a weak finish. Sheamus was held back by being in the League of Nations they said. Mmhmm. **

Baron Corbin shows up afterwards and tells Dolph that he’s going to hurt him this Sunday at Extreme Rules in a no DQ match and there’s nothing Ziggler can do to stop it. The man really has a way with words.

Chris Jericho comes out to talk about the Asylum match he and Dean Ambrose will compete in this Sunday at Extreme Rules, which I believe is a match concept we can credit to Raven. It was called the Bowery Death match in WCW, the Clockwork Orange House of Fun in TNA, and now it’s the Asylum match in WWE. Jericho puts over the weapons hanging from the cage that they have set up in the rafters (at least somebody in WWE understands is what you do when you want to introduce a new gimmick match) and adds up all the days someone would spend in the hospital if every single one of the weapons are used properly. The weapons are like a barbed wire 2×4, a fire extinguisher, a strait jacket, a kendo stick, and a mop and pail (?) for comic relief. It comes to about 40 days in the hospital. At this point, the cage has been lowered onto the ring. At Extreme Rules, he’s going to give Ambrose the gift of Jericho. DRINK IT IN, MAN. All of a sudden, a man wearing a fake beard and beanie appears in the ring. Looks like security is being pretty lazy tonight. OH, IT’S DEAN AMBROSE! While we are supposed to be drinking in Jericho, Ambrose gives us a taste of what the Asylum match will be like until Jericho makes it out the door.

LIFE LESSONS WITH COACH BOB BACKLUND: Darren Young wants to take notes for everything Bobby B tells him, but Bobby B says notes are for schoolchildren. He needs to use his brain to remember what he tells him. Backlund wants him to recite the American presidents in order, but Darren doesn’t think anyone can do that. IT’S BORDERLINE IMPOSSIBLE, BRAH. When Bobby B starts rattling them off, Darren Young drops a hard D-bomb because he’s so impressed with Backlund’s memorization skills. Bobby B is exacerbated that Darren would use such language and orders him 100 jumping jacks. Wait no, Young argues with him. Better make it 200 jumping jacks.

• The New Day & Big Cass vs. The Vaudevillians & The Dudley Boyz
  

Ranallo tells us that Enzo Amore will be back soon. It’s a very vague timeline, but whatevs. The New Day take turns owning the Dudley Boyz to start. This continues until we go to commercial. When we return, the tide turns and Xavier Woods becomes *your* New Day in peril. The Vaudevillians don’t seem to want to tag in the Dudley Boyz though, which causes a few moments of loud talking from Bubba Ray. Hot tag to Cass. He cleans house and hits D-Von with a Dusty Rhodes elbow drop for two. Big E throws the Vaudevillians out of the ring and launches Kingston onto English. Cass avoids the 3D and hits Bubba Ray with the EAST RIVER CROSSING. Bubba flubs it up pretty bad so Big Cass connects with another Dusty Rhodes elbow drop for the win. (7:38 shown) I’m wrestling over whether or not the Vaudevillians are taking the tag straps this Sunday at Extreme Rules. I’ll decide by the end of this show. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I think New Day ought to go for the Demolition tag title run and hold onto the belts until mid-December. But that’s just me. *½

JOHN CENA RETURNS TO RAW ON MONDAY MAY 30.

Video package to hype Charlotte versus Natalya at Extreme Rules.

• Roman Reigns (w/the Usos) vs. Luke Gallows (w/Karl Anderson & AJ Styles)
  

Folks, we have a hoss match going on here. Early on, Reigns eats an elbow and gets shoved out to the floor. He regroups for a minute, but comes back inside and hits a Samoan drop. Gallows slides out, but takes the sliding dropkick on the apron. Commercials! When we come back, Gallows drills Reigns with a clothesline and delivers a series of elbow drops. Chinlock time! Reigns fights up and hits a flying clothesline for two. Bunch more short clotheslines in the corner and Reigns boots him down. Reigns sets up for the Superman Punch when Karl Anderson shows up on the apron. As Reigns gets distracted, Gallows rolls him up for 1-2-NO! Superman Punch to Gallows. Time for the SPEAR, but Styles grabs Reigns by the foot to mess with him. Here comes one of the Usos to leap on AJ. This gets ugly as Anderson and Styles start brawling with the Usos. Reigns saves his cousins by hitting Styles with the sliding dropkick on the apron. Back inside, Gallows boots Reigns back into the ropes and hits the GALLOWS POLE! Cover, 1-2-NO! When that doesn’t work, Styles sends Anderson into the ring to go after Reigns for the DQ. (8:47 shown) BOOT OF DOOM to Reigns. Styles hands out chairs to BC boys. In come the Usos, they superkick Anderson and Gallows down. Now AJ saves the day by getting rid of the Usos and kicking Reigns out of the ring. Styles sets up the announce table for something bad, but Reigns puts Styles on the table instead. Anderson and Gallows help out, but then they have to deal with the Usos again. AJ leaps off the table into Reigns to further this fight and leave us in total chaos as we close the show. EXTREME RULES~! **

Just because I feel like doing it, here are my picks for Extreme Rules this Sunday.

• WWE title: Reigns (c) over Styles
  
• IC title: Miz (c) over Cesaro, Zayn, and Owens
  
• US title: Rusev over Kalisto (c) NEW CHAMP
  
• WWE tag titles: New Day (c) over Vaudevillians
  
• WWE women’s title: Charlotte (c) over Natalya
  
• Asylum match: Ambrose over Jericho
  
• Anderson/Gallows over The Usos
  
• Corbin over Ziggler
  

Until next time, so long for now.