Smackdown Reax - 5/17/13

Read on for my thoughts on last night's Smackdown.

Pretty crazy opening segment. They might have gone a little heavy on the interruptions. BUT, it was a good effort at getting over a number of matches on Sunday.

The 6-man tag makes sense. It's VERY "by the book" and done all the time, but it makes sense. Hopefully we get something crazy going into Sunday.

Wow. Quick work of the Usos. It seems like other than Hell No and The Shield (and maybe Team Rhodes Scholars), the rest of WWE's tag teams are "filler". Not that I think the Usos should have given them a run for their money. They just looked like afterthoughts in some ways.

Not bad interference by Kofi to save the Usos. Maybe we finally see Kofi get a bigger role?

Sandow vs. Miz makes total sense. The characters play off of each other well. Weird that they didn't mention Sunday's match with Rhodes, but WWE's not exactly great at building up some of their lower and midcard matches.

Meh. Filler tag match. It's clear that PTP's not going anywhere any time soon (though I think WWE is justified with focusing on The Shield as the top heels instead). I like PTP, but I'm keeping an eye on the big picture.

Jericho vs. Cesaro was pretty solid. I'm glad that Jericho is willing to let someone like Cesaro get in so much offense to build him up.

Fine post-match as long as Cesaro rebounds. Talented guy.

Fine Swagger/Colter stuff as always. I look forward to the "I Quit" match.

I was kind of hoping Rhodes Scholars' trickery would prevail (to set up Miz getting revenge on Sunday), but overall that was a good segment for building Sunday's match. Ultimately, WWE's goal should be selling the PPV and getting people to watch the pre-show.

Fine match between Kaitlyn and Aksana, but it really didn't accomplish much in the grand scheme of things. I'd like some more story development (either for her admirer or towards the match with AJ). Though presumably they're putting that kind of in the background since it's not in play on Sunday.

That main event was pretty good, though with the names involved it almost had to be (Show can be a good "utility player"). As always, I wish there was something to set up Sunday (I was hoping things descended into a brawl all over the arena leading to a No Contest), but the match itself was fine.

More wrestling coming up.