By Jake Barnett

WWE Smackdown on SyFy Live Coverage
Taped Tuesday 3/25 in Boston, Mass.

Note: Due to a technical error, tonight's report will not be formatted with the usual bolding and italics. We should have the error fixed soon and apologize for any inconvenience.

[Q1] Cole plugged Big Show vs. Bray Wyatt for the Main Event. Batista's music hit in the arena and he entered to a chorus of boos. Cole spoke about electricity in the air in Boston. I must say it didn't translate to my couch. Batista said for years, since the day he left, people begged him to come back to WWE. Now that he's here, they boo him. He reminded the crowd that he is a six time champ and the winner of the 2014 Royal Rumble Winner, and a headliner at WrestleMania. He then said that it doesn't make sense that crowds boo him and cheer a sawed off wannabe like Daniel Bryan.

Batista said he considers that a personal slap in the face, and that brings him to Monday Night at Raw. Batista then rolled footage of Stephanie McMahon slapping the piss out of him. Batista then asked the crowd if they thought it was funny. He said Randy Orton wasn't laughing, and that Triple H and Daniel Bryan wouldn't be laughing at WrestleMania. He said out of all of his possible opponents at WrestleMania, Stephanie might hit the hardest. That prompted Triple H to come out to the ring.

Triple H asked to leave his wife out of it. Batista asked why he would do that. She's the reason for this. She's the reason for the suit, the reason he's the COO of the WWE, and he's not sure he'd have any of it had he not married the bosses daughter. Triple H said everyone is always concerned about things they shouldn't. This is the reality era, and he shouldn't be so concerned with how he got it, just that he has the power.

Triple H asked why he's trying to make it personal between them? Batista said that was what Triple H did by saying he is only reliving his former glory. He reminded Triple H that his former glory included beating him every time they faced one another. Triple H said that was true, but that was a long time ago. Dave was fresh off the heels of being by his side in evolution. Then, he got lazy and decided to quit. Since then, he's been on Hollywood getting lazy in a chair. Triple H went on to say that since he's been back, he hasn't seen the animal.

He asked the crowd of they've seen the animal. They screamed no. Triple H then said that Dave would get chance to show us who the animal is, because he'd have a match. Batista asked him if he really wanted to do that. Hunter said that he would have a match with someone who reminds him of the Animal, and someone who loves to fight. He would have a match against Sheamus. Hunter then left up the ramp.

Michael Cole introduced a video package of Kane and The Outlaws beating down The Shield last week on Smackdown. In the arena, The Shield made their ring entrance...[c]

My Take: A decent opening segment that played up some of the history between Triple H and Batista. They went with the cliche standbys of Batista being a lazy Hollywood part timer and Hunter sleeping his way into his job, but I appreciate the attempt to personalize the drama between them. The performances were good, and it did the job to set up a match for Batista later in the show.

[Q2] Match 1 - 3MB vs. The Shield: Rollins and Mahal opened up the match, and Rollins hit a nice dropkick to start the offense. He followed up with a pair of suplexes, and tagged in Ambrose. After a bit of offense, Ambrose made a quick tag to Rollins. Mahal immediately attacked Rollins and made a tag himself. McIntyre hit a clothesline and taunted the crowd. Ambrose went into some wild man offense and hit a flurry on both Mahal and McIntyre. Rollins dove on Mahal at ringside, and Rollins hit his finisher, which Cole called Dirty Deeds, for the pinfall victory.

The Shield defeated 3MB at 3:40.

Kane came out post-match and said he was impressed. He wondered if they could do the same thing to their next opponents. Rybaxel headed out for a match...[c]

My Take: Wasn't much there in that match. I'm not terribly interested in this story, so these guys have a lot of work to do to win me over. We'll see if they can do it as this goes on.

Match 2 – The Shield vs Rybaxel: The match joined in progress with Ambrose and Axel trading blows. Ambrose knocked Ryback from the apron, but Axel hit a clothesline to the back of the head that spilled Ambrose to ringside. Ryback tagged in after Axel retrieved Ambrose and hit a body slam. He tagged in Axel and dove on Ambrose from the second rope. Axel followed up with a second rope elbow.

[Q3] Rybaxel double teamed Ambrose with punches and Ryback made a cover for two. Ryback picked him up for a vertical suplex, but Ambrose reversed into a DDT. Rollins go ta hot tag and hit a blockbuster on Axel. He followed up with a splash and a single leg drop kick. Rollins kicked both Ryback and Axel, and then dove over the top with a somersault and landed on Axel on the outside. Ambrose hit the curb stomp and picked up the victory.

The Shield defeated Rybaxel at 5:29.

Reigns speared Ryback in the ring, and then The Shield hit a triple powerbomb on Ryback. They talked trash to Kane and The Outlaws on the ramp. Cole plugged Sheamus vs. Batista for later...[c]

My Take: Well, that was fun, but I'm still not excited to see this match at WrestleMania. It's not that I have any particular issue with any of the talent involved, it's just not exciting me in the slightest. If Kane had been joined by Luke Harper and Eric Rowan, I'd probably be more interested.

Damien Sandow was in the ring. Sin Cara got a televised entrance. They showed a preview of the Scooby Doo movie before the match.

Match 3 – Damien Sandow vs. Sin Cara: The match started pretty slowly, with Sandow grounding Sin Cara. Just as it seemed things were picking up, Sin Cara rolled up Sandow for a win.

Sin Cara defeated Damien Sandow at 0:49.

Renee Young asked Big Show about his match later with Bray Wyatt backstage. Show said that what The Wyatt's did to John Cena on Monday was disturbing. He said some of what Bray Wyatt says has some truth to it, and that's what makes you begin to question yourself. He concluded by saying that he had a big problem on their hands, but so did they...[c]

My Take: Poor Damien Sandow. I hope this losing streak doesn't end with a face turn.

[Q4] Footage was shown of Cody Rhodes and Fandango's match from Monday. They also showed the antics from Goldust and Summer Rae.

Match 4 – Goldust vs. Fandango: They traded offense to start until Fandango held on to a chin lock. Fandango controlled the match with strikes and chin locks until Goldust hit a back suplex. He followed up with an inverted atomic drop and ten punches in the corner. Fandango walked into a powerslam and Goldust covered for a near fall. Fandango retreated and both men battled by the announce table. Summer Rae bought him some time after Goldust threw him into the ring, which allowed Fandango hit hit a Yakuza Kick for the win.

Fandango defeated Summer Rae at 4:09.

Cole plugged Batista and Sheamus as next...[c]

My Take: Yawn. Lots of matches on this show, but none of them feel particularly important. I enjoy action as much as the next guy, but lots of these have been short and are largely repeats of things we've seen recently.

Batista made his ring entrance. Sheamus followed.

Match 5 – Sheamus vs. Batista: Sheamus hit a nice shoulder tackle,and Batista rolled to the outside. The crowd fired up for Daniel Bryan. Batista hit a kick and went for some shoulder thrusts in the corner. He then whipped Sheamus hard into the opposite turnbuckle. Batista continued to work power offense. Sheamus got a boot up when Dave charged him in the corner, but Batista got right back on offense with a spinebuster.

[Q5] Batista taunted the crowd, and Sheamus woke him up with some clotheslines. He followed up with a big knee lift, and Batista rolled out to the apron. Batista hit a stunner on the ropes to avoid clubs to the chest, but Sheamus hit them anyway a moment later. Sheamus called for the Brogue Kick, but Batista slid to the outside. He grabbed a chair and bashed Sheamus in the gut with it.

Sheamus defeated Batista by DQ at 5:14.

Batista continued the beating with the chair, and threw Sheamus into the ring post. Batista then tossed Sheamus into the ring and hit the Batista bomb. He grabbed a mic and asked Hunter and the crowd if they were happy. Batista said he was leaving WrestleMania 30 as the new WWE Champion, and everyone should deal with it. A Raw rebound then aired, that showed John Cena and Bray Wyatt's legacy video. It included additional footage from Monday of Cena's bathroom panic attack from Monday.

Bray Wyatt was shown and he said that when you give a man a mask, he will reveal his true face. Wyatt said we all wear a mask, and whether we do it to hide behind our own doings or to fit in doesn't matter. If you do this for long enough, the mask becomes you. To remove it, is to remove your own sin. He said he's broken John Cena, and the mark on his soul will be there forever. Tonight, the sword slays a giant, and it's a gift for John Cena. He asked Cena if he hears her calling him. He remembers what she said to him the first time he hear her. All lies will be revealed, under the cypress tree. Bray then began singing “He's got the whole world in his hands”. AJ Lee and Tamina were shown walking to the arena...[c]

My Take: More excellent stuff from Bray Wyatt. It will be interesting to see what happens when someone gets inside of Bray Wyatt's head, instead of the other way around. We have yet to find out much about him specifically, and that really is the source of his power. Batista vs. Sheamus was just kind of there. It wasn't bad, but I don't really feel like it advanced anything besides the character they've already established with Batista. I'm a little concerned we haven't seen Batista for a decent length of time in a singles match yet.

[Q6] The Bellas were shown towards the end of their ring entrance. AJ and Tamina were already in the ring. Vickie was on commentary.

Match 6 – The Bella Twins vs. Tamina and AJ: AJ made a blind tag to Tamina, who hit Nikki Bella with a nice looking Samoan Drop. The commentary was insipid and distracted from the match, with Vickie refusing to define what kind of match the divas were in at WrestleMania. AJ cinched in a sleeper, and as soon as it appeared she was going to break free, Tamina tagged in and booted her. Nikki avoided a splash from Tamina and tagged in Brie.

Brie hit a nice knee lift and a knee to the face of Tamina. She followed up with a missile dropkick, and then Tamina bailed to the outside. After a bit of arguing, Tamina bailed on AJ, and Brie hit a facebuster for the win.

The Bella Twins defeated Tamina and AJ at 3:18.

Cole introduced a date video between Emma and Santino. Midway through, Emma said Santino a friend with benefits. She called the wine and food the benefits. Santino said he wanted to look into her eyes. She interpreted that as a staring contest, and stared at him. He said he wanted to tell her something, but it makes him queasy. She said she knew what he was going to say, and she agreed. They would always be the best of friends. Santino tried to get out what he actually wanted to say, but then said he was going to puke. She offered him wine, but he spit it out at her and then went off camera and gagged.

Cole plugged footage of The Undertaker from Monday, and Mark Henry for later...[c]

My Take: The divas match hype was basically Vickie giggling over AJ losing her title at WrestleMania. Emma and Santino was as bad as you'd expect. Can Emma wrestle at some point?

Video was shown of The Shield as they got revenge on the Real Americans on Monday.

Match 7 – Jimmy Uso vs. Jack Swagger: Jimmy sent Swagger to the outside and dove on him to get a nice pop from the crowd. He then followed up with a splash in the ring for a two count. He lined up for the butt splash, but Swagger went low and took out a leg as Jimmy charged, and then applied the Patriot Lock for the victory.

Jack Swagger defeated Jimmy Uso at 1:58.

[Q7] Cole showed footage of the confrontation between Lesnar and The Undertaker from Monday...[c]

My Take: Wow, these quick matches interspersed with long video packages is really not conducive to a very interesting wrestling show.

Mark Henry made his ring entrance, followed by The Miz. They ran through a roll call of the superstars in the Battle Royal at WrestleMania, and Cole recalled Mark Henry telling him what a fan of Andre the Giant he was.

Match 7 – The Miz vs. Mark Henry: The Miz avoided an early World's Strongest Slam, and went to work on Mark Henry's knee. Miz followed up with a boot to the face for a one count. Henry picked up Miz and hit a big power slam. He then hit a JYD head butt, before climbing to the second rope. Henry missed a splash, as Miz rolled to the outside.

The crowd was amazingly silent during this match. Miz rolled Henry to the outside over the top rope, and then taunted the WrestleMania sign. Henry grabbed him and pulled him to the floor, and tossed him into the steps and barricade. Henry tossed Miz back in and hit the World's Strongest Slam in the middle of the ring for the win.

Mark Henry defeated The Miz at 3:56.

Cole plugged the next Hall of Fame member as next...[c]

My Take: Unreal silence during that match. Both of these characters are pretty aimless, and the match reflected that. The Battle Royal needs the cumulative star power of all of it's competitors to mean anything.

[Q8] Razor Ramon's Hall of Fame video replayed from Monday. Big Show then made his ring entrance...[c]

Bray Wyatt made his ring entrance, along with Harper and Rowan.

Match 8 – Bray Wyatt vs. Big Show: Show pushed Wyatt around early on, and threw him out of the ring to the floor through the second rope. Show slapped Wyatt in the chest and hit a head butt. Wyatt kept eating Big Show's offense and charging back at him. Wyatt got out of the way of an elbow drop, and then went after Show with kicks and elbows.

Wyatt hit a running senton and covered for two. Wyatt hung upside down in the corner and crab walked. He then charged at Big Show and ate a clothesline. Show missed a charge into the corner and Wyatt came back and splashed him. He went for another charge, and hyper extended Big Show's knee when he tried to get a boot up. Wyatt hit a splash and distracted the ref. This allowed Harper to to take a free shot from the apron. Wyatt followed up with Sister Abigail for the clean pin.

Bray Wyatt defeated Big Show at 4:50.

The show closed with Bray Wyatt laughing over Big Show's body.

My Take: Well, that was an interesting close to the show. I like Wyatt winning clean, and it gives me hope that WWE is serious about having him beat John Cena at WrestleMania. I'm more interested in that mostly because of what it could mean for John Cena more than anything. He needs a character evolution and this feud could be of great help. Overall, this was another fairly boring show. The opening and closing segments were pretty good, but what came between was a brutal reminder of what WrestleMania is shaping up to be in little more than a week. Tune in for the All Access Smackdown Podcast tomorrow.

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