Smackdown – December 10, 2010

Smackdown
Date: December 10, 2010
Location: Nutter Center, Dayton, Ohio
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews, Matt Striker

Another week comes for Smackdown and hopefully we can get another match scheduled for TLC. If my memory is right we have the world title match, Rey vs. Alberto and Kofi vs. Ziggler, which I assume is at the PPV. Actually maybe that’s enough but maybe not. Sorry for rambling so much on this but I need to fill in space. With all that being said, let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Edge vs. Kane and Rey vs. Alberto, which is your tag team main event tonight. That makes as much sense as anything.

Kane comes out and does his usual stuff: please give me my father back, I’m begging you, this needs to end and all that jazz. Edge pops up on the screen and says this doesn’t end tonight but rather at the PPV. Bearer is next to him and Edge pulls out a chair. He says that he hasn’t swung a chair in awhile so he needs some practice. Edge keeps teasing the chair shot until he finally drills Bearer with it, freaking Kane out.

The champion runs to the back where Edge says don’t take another step or he’ll give him a one man Conchairto (not those words but that’s the idea). Kane for some reason comes forward and there’s the Conchairto to, say it with me, a mannequin. Edge has Bearer in the wheelchair again and they run off. How does he get all these wheelchairs and mannequins to the arena every week?

Jack Swagger vs. Kaval

Kaval isn’t someone I was huge on but he’s growing on me a bit. Striker rambles on about some urban poet and staying true to your roots or something. Apparently Kofi vs. Dolph is tonight. Swagger gets a shot in to the ankle/leg which apparently was a legit injury that he had to get looked at. Swagger works on the knee as Cole makes fun of Kaval. We get into an argument over who discovered Swagger like he was fire or electricity.

Kaval fights out of the powerbomb but hurts his leg even more on the landing. We unleash the kicks which luckily for Kaval it’s his left leg that’s injured. Cole: why is everyone from Brooklyn bald? Modified rolling Liger Kick puts Swagger down. He hits almost a Shining Wizard off the middle rope for two. Kaval goes up but can’t get up for Warrior’s Way. Swagger pulls him down and throws on the ankle lock for the submission at 5:26.

Rating: C+. Just a quick TV match but it was pretty decent actually. Swagger getting simple wins like these is a good thing as it builds his credibility and Kaval isn’t ready to beat a former world champion or anything like that. This was absolutely fine for what it was and we had some psychology to go with it too. Nothing wrong with this.

Swagger says he should be the #1 contender to the Intercontinental Title because Kofi hit Trouble in Paradise when he was in the ropes which is illegal. He’s the future fifth face on Mt. Rushmore. That’s kind of a cool line. He’s going to protest the IC Title match later tonight.

And next up it’s an eagle vs. a leprechaun. Aye aye aye.

Hornswoggle vs. Soaring Eagle

Rosa comes out with Horny. The Eagle is billed at 6’0 tall and with a wingspan of 5’0. This is so stupid. Please make this be quick. Striker lists off facts about eagles before Horny pulls out a bag of, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, ACME (spelled wrong) birdseed. The eagle (allegedly Chavo) goes for it and gets kicked in the head. Rosa hands Horny a napkin which he tucks into his shirt and bites the Eagle’s leg.

Would anyone be opposed to some fast forwarding here? The Eagle misses Ballin (shoot me now….please) and the Tadpole Splash ends this at 2:28. Cole gets in two good lines at the end though. As Horny goes up for the splash, “GET OUT OF THE WAY! YOU’RE ENDANGERED!” and the second being singing Fly Like An Eagle by the Steve Miller Band, even though the Eagle wasn’t the one flying. Was there ANY point to this?

Back from a break with Santino and Kozlov in Teddy’s office. Santino busts into a chorus of We Are the Champions and Kozlov pulls out a lighter and waves it back and forth which legitimately cracked me up. Chavo comes in because he wants a title shot. If he gets a partner, “we will rock you”, followed by two stomps and a clap. Santino: “Cause we are the champions…..of the tag team world!” Kozlov: “Holla Holla.” I don’t know if it was because of how bad the previous segment was but I had to stop the video from laughing so much at Kozlov’s last line.

Cole asks if you know what happens when the Cobra hits. “Another One Bites the Dust”.

We get a quick video on Kofi because of his IC Title match tonight.

Dolph says that he’s a champion and Kofi is a lifelong contender but not a champion.

Intercontinental Title: Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston

Vickie does the intro which makes Striker say she looks like Greg Valentine from Rhythm and Blues. Actually that’s accurate. What’s with the music theme tonight? Kofi gets a pair of rollups for a pair of twos very early. Dolph gets a Hennig necksnap for two. Could they push him as the new Mr. Perfect any harder? Monkey flip by Kofi gets him some momentum.

Trouble in Paradise misses as we take a break. Back with Dolph holding a chinlock. Off to a Cobra Clutch which can put people out in seconds but Kofi can hang on for multiple minutes with it on. We finally get out of that with Kofi blocking a dropkick and getting a slingshot into the post, which is another Hennig trademark. SOS is blocked and we crank things up again.

Ziggler gets out of the way of the Boom Drop but gets a Pendulum Kick. Missile dropkick gets a delayed two due to Vickie interfering. Top rope cross body gets a long two. Kofi goes for something but Ziggler counters into the sleeper. Kofi gets the rope and hits Trouble in Paradise out of nowhere. He gets two as Swagger runs out to break it up and throw on the ankle lock for the DQ at 9:30 shown of 13:00.

Rating: C+. Good stuff while it lasted but the ending hurts it a bit. It fits the storyline but I would have liked Ziggler to get a pin with the cheating. I get why they went this way though and if nothing else it gives us more Swagger vs. Kofi which is almost always good stuff. Pretty good match but it could have been better.

The hold stays on for a good while and Kofi’s ankle is hurt badly.

To the back where Edge is standing on top of something with a guy in a wheelchair. Kane comes up and Edge swears it’s the real thing this time. Kane has finally grown a brain and comes at him and of course it’s a dummy that Edge shoves off whatever he’s standing on and it crashes through a table.

Back and it’s time with a Masterlock Challenge with the Dashing One challenging. Kind of random. Before we start Cody wipes down the chair. He then insists on Masters using a nail file which is thrown into the crowd. Masters slaps Cody in the face which he says was given to him by Ric Flair. Ok so he called him God but you get the idea. Cody yells so Masters grabs his face and Cody yells some more. He tries to leave so the Masterlock goes on anyway and it’s over in maybe 20 seconds with Cody passing out/giving up.

Santino Marella/Vladimir Kozlov vs. Chavo Guerrero/Drew McIntyre

This is non-title I think but Striker says the non-champions are going to try to wrestle the titles away. It wasn’t announced as a title match. Yeah Matthews confirms that if the non-champions win they’ll be in line for a title shot. Josh gets on Cole for a bit which is some funny stuff. Double teaming slows down the Russian and Drew pounds on him for a bit. Off to Chavo now which isn’t going anywhere.

The announcers argue about language for some reason until Matthews yells at them to be quiet. Isn’t the point that they’re supposed to talk? Drew sets Santino up for the Futureshock but Chavo tags himself in so he can hit the Frog Splash. At least that was the idea in theory as Santino rolls away. Santino manages to get the Cobra out of nowhere to pin Chavo at 3:10. Nice little first win as a team.

Rating: C-. Nothing special at all here as they flew through this but to be fair it’s not like they were going for Rock N Roll Express vs. the Midnights here. Quick little matches like these are fine for the most part as a comedy team has the titles so they won due to heel miscommunication between heels that hadn’t teamed before. This was fine for what it was.

Futureshock to Chavo post match.

We recap the Kane/Edge stuff so far tonight which hasn’t been exactly interesting stuff.

Quick Raw recap of Miz and Orton setting up the tables match.

We run down the main matches at the PPV to fill some more time. Rey vs. Alberto will be a Chairs Match.

Laycool is up next.

Layla vs. Natalya

I like Laycool’s song for some reason. Beth comes out with Natalya. Striker does his British accent to crickets. Cole says Beth and Natalya are like the Jumping Blonde Angels which Striker corrects him on. The Squatting Suplex gets two. Michelle: “Lay are you ok?” Layla: “NO!” Natalya’s chest may be hurt. Where’s Jerry to make the jokes?

You can tell Josh is getting annoyed with Striker and Cole which is kind of funny. Sharpshooter ends Layla despite Michelle trying to make the save at 2:00. No rating due to this being really short and a lot of it being Natalya on the floor rubbing her ample chest.

Rey Mysterio/Edge vs. Alberto Del Rio/Kane

The entrances kill off about five minutes or so. Big pop for Edge. And we have no Kane. Here’s Teddy Long instead. Is this going to turn into a tuxedo match between him and Rodriguez? Teddy makes it a handicap match. Is there a reason why there’s no Kane? Apparently it’s due to him being on a fat man scavenger hunt. Rey starts for the former tag champions.

Kind of an odd choice to have two faces be a handicap team but it fits the storyline. Edge is called the Master of Puppets as we continue that musical theme tonight. Baseball slide has Del Rio in trouble. Kane comes out about two minutes into the match and Edge meets him in the aisle. Edge lures him to the back and it’s more or less a one on one match now.

Rey tries to speed things up but gets caught in a body scissors. That gets him nowhere for the most part an the running enziguri sends him to the floor. Rey cranks it up one more time and gets his sitout bulldog for two. Sunset flip doesn’t work for Alberto and the 619 plus top rope splash ends it clean for Rey at 6:44. I don’t think Edge was ever legally in the match so this was a singles match for all intents and purposes.

Rating: C. Hard to grade this as officially it’s a tag match but it really can’t be called that. The match was ok but felt like something that was there as a backdrop for the other stuff that was going on which isn’t something I’m a fan of at all. This was ok but really just the epitome of average, hence the grade.

Edge has a pair of ladders with a table set up on top of them like a platform with a wheelchair on top but we can’t see who’s in it. Kane comes up and Edge says you don’t want to do that. Kane says there’s another dummy up there and shoves them over. He then looks over the edge that he shoves it over and sees Paul laid out on the concrete a good 25 feet below with people screaming they need help. Edge says I told you so and we go off the air.

Overall Rating: C+. This was ok but it was kind of off a step if that makes sense. It’s decent stuff and finally the Edge vs. Bearer thing went somewhere which took a month and a half but it’s better than nothing. No match really stood out here but everything was pretty much solid. Decent enough show and stories were developed so I can’t say I’m complaining much here. Good stuff for the most part.