By Chris Shore

WWE Smackdown on SyFy
Taped 3/4 in Detroit, Michigan.

[Q1] A video recapped the Daniel Bryan, triple H, and Stephanie segment from Raw, and the main event finish from Raw... Batista made his ring entrance to start the show. Batista repeated his "real men" question, which drew good heat. He said Dolph Ziggler was the first to answer the question and he paid for it. He said the same thing happened on Raw with Bryan. He said he beat Bryan down in the ring on Monday. The fans booed and Batista said he was their hero, but was humble and didn't need their cheers.

Bryan's music cut him off and Bryan made his entrance to a thunderous response. Bryan asked if Batista really thought he was a hero. The crowd screamed "No!" Batista asked if Bryan thought he was. That got "Yes!" chants. Batista said wrestling got bad when they let fans in the locker room, fans like Bryan. He told Bryan to buy a ticket and see him headline WrestleMania and win the title. Bryan said Batista was correct that he was left lying in the ring, but that was after he had Batista beat and everyone interfered. He said Batista should be embarrassed that a "fan" nearly took him out Monday night.

Batista told Bryan to never presume what he thought. He said he would always be one step ahead of Bryan. He said once he came back the WWE Universe became his and he was allowing Bryan to exist out of the goodness of his heart. He said he had no problem ending that existence if Bryan continued to mouth off.

Bryan said that sounded like a threat and mocked Batista's look. Batista got pissed and went after Bryan. Bryan kicked him out of the ring. Kane's music hit and he came out taking his shirt off. Batista attacked Bryan from behind and they put the boots to him. Big Show's music hit and he ran to the ring to a huge pop. The heels powdered and Vickie came out to book the tag match for later...

[Q2] The announce team hyped a Shield Summit for later...

Shore's Slant: The segment went a little long for my taste, but it was well done. The Detroit crowd is super hot and bought into Bryan so much that Big Show sounded like the most over guy in history when he ran out to save Bryan.

Christian finished his entrance as a video showed his attack on Sheamus. Alberto Del Rio joined the commentary team. Ziggler made his entrance as they showed a tweet from Sheamus with a pic of him bleeding after Christian's attack...

1. Christian vs. Dolph Ziggler. The match went to the floor quickly and Christian hit a slingshot onto the stairs on Ziggler...[C] Christian was still in control after the break, but he went for his pop-out Sunset flip and ate a super kick.

[Q3] Ziggler started his comeback and hit an X Factor off the top rope for a near fall that got Del Rio standing on the announce table. He started yelling at Ziggler, and Christian no sold the last move to pop up and hit the "worst finisher in all of wrestling"® for the win...

Christian defeated Dolph Ziggler at 9:48.

Post-match, Renee Young tried to interview Christian. He yelled at the fans to be quiet and Sheamus ran out. He attacked Christian and went for a Brogue kick, but Christian slid out of the ring...[C]

Shore's Slant: Eh, most of that match was in the commercial break so I really don't have much of an opinion on it. It was OK, I guess. The repeat of the finish from Monday was a little blah too, but it's an undercard feud at this point so who really cares?

2. The Usos vs. Rybaxel. The match broke down and the Usos hit a combo dive on the floor and splash from the top rope for the win...

The Usos defeated Rybaxel at 4:21.

[Q4] A video recapped Brock Lesnar killing Mark Henry on Monday, and then Michael Cole hyped Undertaker responding this coming Monday...[C]

Backstage, Bryan Saxton interviewed Kane. Kane said Bryan didn't beat him on Main Event, he got lucky. Kane said Bryan has anger issues and an inferiority complex. He said he had a solution for that, and that was to rip his beard off and shove it down his throat...

3. Natalya and Eva Marie vs. AJ and Tamina. Eva Marie and Tamina started. Eva had a hard time selling convincingly at first but found a little grove as the heel women worked in and out. She finally made the hot tag to Natty, who reversed a Black Widow attempt into a Sharpshooter for the win...

Natalya and Eva Marie defeated AJ and Tamina at 3:55.

The Paul Bearer Hall of Fame video aired...

[Q5] The Shield, minus Seth Rollins, made their entrance for their summit...[C]

Shore's Slant: Eva Marie is greener than goose shit, but it wasn't terrible. She's a beautiful woman so she has a chance to make it in WWE, I just hope she gets better.

A video recapped what happened with the Shield on Monday. Ambrose said they can handle getting beat up, but he can't handle getting lied to and he feels like he has been lied to. He said they were supposed to have each other's backs but Rollins walked out in a war. He called out Rollins to explain himself and said based on Roman Reigns's face, he had 30 seconds.

The Shield music hit again and Rollins came out from the back beside the ramp. Reigns took the mic and said before Rollins opened his mouth, he had better thought about what he was going to say and it better be good. Rollins said he may have picked the wrong time to prove a point, but the truth was the war wasn't with the Wyatts, it was within the Shield.

Rollins said he sacrificed himself to help the Shield because they haven't been a unti in months. Ambrose mocked him and Rollins pointed out that Ambrose and Reigns were side-by-side for the first time in months and that proved his points. Rollins finally got in the ring and said they could end it right here, but for months they kicked down walls and they could do it again if they wanted to. Ambrose shoved Rollins down. Reigns shoved Ambrose down. Rollins said he knew what would make him feel better. He slapped Ambrose and said it made him feel great. He said now that it was out of his system, he bet Ambrose needed to get something out too. He kept talking and Ambrose punched him in the mouth.

Rollins stood up and asked if they were done here or done and stuck out his fist. Reigns stalled and then put his fist in too. Ambrose mouthed off without the mic for a minute and then put his fist in too. Rollins and Reigns looked at the camera as their music played, but Ambrose kept looking away...

Shore's Slant: A weird segment. The logic was flimsy there, but they delivered it well. I'm guessing Ambrose refusing to look at the camera in the fist pose is pointing to them still having issues. I don't know. This is one of those weird segment where I need to chew on it a little more.

[Q6][C] 4. Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio. Sheamus was selling the arm, which was bandaged heavily. Del Rio went right after it and slammed it on the stairs and hit a dropkick on the arm into the stairs...[C] Del Rio hit a kick on the arm again as soon as the show came back from commercial. Del Rio did his missed dropkick through the ropes and took a clothesline on the apron.

Sheamus started his comeback and hit the 10 Beats of the Irish Drum (that's what he calls those forearms across the ropes), but Del Rio dropped his arm across the rope and hit a superkick for two. Sheamus avoided the cross arm breaker at first and hit the Irish Curse. Del Rio came right back with it and Sheamus powered out into a power bomb. Del Rio hooked it again immediately and Sheamus used the ropes to break. Del Rio attacked, but Sheamus hit a surprise Brogue kick for the win...

Sheamus defeated Alberto Del Rio at 10:36.

Shore's Slant:Pretty good match. I didn't care at first because we've seen these two work 274,585,294,698 times, but they got me interested by the end. I don't know that Sheamus gains anything from beating Del Rio, but I'm also happy we didn't get a Christian run in.

[Q7] The Wyatt sound popped and Harper asked Cena why he did it when it was all for nothing. Brya appeared upside down and said it was happening. He said the legacy of John Cena was starting to weigh on him. Bray said he had a legacy too. He said the world was his teacher and he was what we made him. He doesn't want to save Cena, he just wants to warm his hand as he watches it all burn. Follow the buzzards...

Backstage, Saxton asked Batista about Bryan. Batista said after he destroys Bryan a real man will take the WWE Championship...[C]

Shore's Slant: Great promo from the Wyatts. Bray continues to be the best promo in all of wrestling, and the entire family are the most interesting characters. I'm sick with the idea that they might screw this up by feeding him to Cena, but maybe there is hope.

Cole plugged the Smackdown postshow and tossed it to Josh Matthews and the panel: Booker T, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, and Alex Riley... Lana came out and introduced Alexander Rusev, who came out and stood on an Olympic type podium. he said a few words and his name was shown in Cyrillic letters...

Backstage, Young interviewed Bryan and Big Show. Bryan said Triple H hides behind people all the time, including his wife's skirt. Show asked if he should get some skinny jeans to be a man. Bryan said no. Show said they were fear the beard and fear the giant. Bryan started a Yes chant...

[Q8][C] Batista and Corporate Kane stood in the ring. Cole called him that. I wish they would stop. Show and Bryan made their entrances...

5. Batista and Kane vs. Daniel Bryan and Big Show. Show and Kane started out. Batista ran in to help Kane and Show hit a terrible looking double suplex on them. They rolled to the floor and Bryan hit a dive on them...[C]

Show was still in control, but he tagged in Bryan and Bryan took a spine buster from Batista. The heels worked in and out on Bryan. Batista setup for the Batista Bomb, but Bryan escaped and tagged Show. Show cleaned house and Bryan tagged back in. Show chased Batista to the floor and took him out. Bryan hit a sunset flip on Kane, but Kane grabbed the ropes to stop him. Show knocked out Kane from the floor for Bryan to rollup and win...

Daniel Bryan and Big Show defeated Kane and Batista at 11:08.

Shore's Slant: Paint by numbers sort of match that didn't stink, but didn't excite me either. Bryan is super over, and I enjoy his act, but he seems to just go out there and wrestle in-between Yes chants. It's a little stale to be honest. Don;t get me wrong, I'm not turning on the guy and I still think he's the best guy in the company right now. But if Bryan is going to have long term success at the top, they need to advance his character a lot more than we are getting right now.

All in all an uneventful episode of Smackdown. The Shield drama was probably the biggest moment of the night and it wasn't all that big. I'm sure Raw Monday will have more fireworks. I'll have more tomorrow on the Hit List and All Access audio. Thanks for watching along tonight.

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