5/25/12 Smackdown

Ratings:
Christian vs. Hunico: *3/4

Titus O'Neil & Darren Young vs. Jimmy Uso & Jey Uso: *1/2

Ryback vs. Brian Edwards & Kevin Bendl: N/A (squash)

Santino Marella vs. Ricardo Rodriguez: 1/4*

Sheamus vs. Jack Swagger: **3/4

Damien Sandow vs. Yoshi Tatsu: N/A (squash)

Alberto Del Rio vs. Randy Orton vs. Kane: **3/4
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Eve starts the show. Johnny is not in the building due to a business trip, so she's in charge. Eve will deal with Sheamus for "bumping" Laurinaitis on Monday. Alberto stakes his case to be Sheamus' opponent for No Way Out. Orton does the same thing. Kane as well? Sure. Cool, it's Smackdown episode #666! Simple solution for Eve: triple threat match.

Christian faces Hunico as Captain Charisma begins his most recent IC title reign. I'd like to see more high flying in matches, so Hunico fits in that category very well. Killswitch, followed by frog splash gets another win. That frog splash is getting major airtime as a new possible finisher.

Titus and D-Young face the Usos. Backstage altercation from earlier that day shown. Jimmy gets the hot tag. Titus distraction leads to that Demolition Decapitation-like move for three. Love that tag finisher. Simple, yet so effective.

Sin Cara returns next week on Smackdown. He's been out for months with a severe knee injury, so it's nice to see him back.

Woohoo! Ryback in action next! He nukes two small-ish jobbers. Holy crap, Ryback has a black eye. Wonder what nukage he got into to get that. The two guys can compete at the same time against Ryback, but that didn't matter. YES, finishing move to BOTH guys at the same time. Very impressive. Ryback buildup is outstanding so far. Keep it up!

And to think, this all started when the man formerly known as Skip Sheffield broke his leg at a Honolulu house show. Got repackaged into Ryback. It worked out pretty good, I'd say.

Santino and Ricardo segment on RAW was hilarious. Ricardo is competing in his suit?! Man, at least remove the jacket! Just a comedy-filled match that did its purpose. I'll give it a quarter-star just for that.

Is Sheamus out to publicly apologize? Of course not. Sheamus wants Orton at No Way Out, if he had it his way. Vickie introduces Swagger as the Great White's opponent tonight. Vickie provides distraction and Swagger takes out Sheamus' ankle. Swagger focuses on that for the rest of the match. Very good match, with numerous counters and a nice flow.

Damien Sandow again. Will he really face Yoshi Tatsu this time, especially after last week? Yoshi is an ignoramus! A squash for Sandow here. He's pretty agile, that's for sure.

Big Show promo. He doesn't feel like he had the backing of anyone, and he explains Laurinaitis gave him a call to get re-hired. They made a deal. And you know what? It's perfectly fine with me. No need for some super elaborate explanation. Just use Show's love for the business, plus extra money. Good enough. And for some added benefit, it got the crowd buzzing.

Nice brief staredown between Kane and Show as the main event triple threat match begins. YESYESYES, Daniel Bryan with a chair! A zillion chair shots. Crowd loved it all. Kane's a tough guy so he'll compete anyway. Note all the guys in the front row with the Daniel Bryan shirts. YES!

Orton mentioned to people on Twitter that his punt is now "banned." They ban a punt but not stuff like non-chair shots to the head? Arbitrary much?

Very good triple threat. DB came back out after Kane chokeslams ADR. DB distracts Kane enough here. RKO to Kane. ADR does his own punt to Orton, then covers Kane for three. Oh, now ADR can do a punt-like move, but Orton can't? And wouldn't that "concussion" reasoning ban Sheamus' Brogue Kick or any superkick? Lovely. Anyway, ADR predictably is the new #1 contender.

Sheamus ambushes ADR on the stage afterward to close the show.
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In other news, Chris Jericho has apparently been suspended indefinitely for his actions in Brazil. Basically, Jericho disrespected the Brazilian flag during his promo, which is a serious felony there. According to one fan report, Jericho even had to make a public apology during the match. If true, this postpones his scheduled feud with Orton, and likely will allow him to travel with Fozzy after all.