Smackdown – July 15, 2011 – More Solid Stuff, As Always

Smackdown
Date: July 15, 2011
Location: Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Connecticut
Commentators: Michael Cole, Booker T, Josh Matthews

It’s the final show before Money in the Bank and everything is pretty much set in stone at this point.  The MITB match itself is a pretty open field but I’d look for Sheamus, Barrett or Rhodes to win it (what a limb I’m going out on with those picks).  Probably just some last minute pushes for the show here as expected.  Let’s get to it.

Do you know your enemy?  Mine is a bad internet connection.  And popcorn costing $7 at a theater.

Orton vs. Kane tonight.

DiBiase gets a shot at Jackson too.

Josh is in the ring and brings out the dude that hears voices in his head.  Orton says he won’t get disqualified and that he thinks this is a cheap attempt by Christian to try to steal the title.  Christian pops up on screen and says that clause was his lawyers’ idea.  He has a gift for Orton which is a portrait of Christian standing over Orton with the title.  Orton says that isn’t going to work to make him mad.

Christian starts talking about Orton’s family, namely Bob Orton Jr., who was only a glorified sidekick.  His dad is in the Hall of Fame in the wing with guys like Drew Carey and the other cheap jokes.  He’s in the HOF to keep Randy happy.  Orton says come say that to his face, which Christian says he’ll do once he wins the title on Sunday.  He calls Orton pathetic and Orton calls Christian a pathetic excuse for a man and a superstar.  After Sunday, Christian will be exposed as a flash in the pan that needed Edge to help him win the title for five days.  Simple segment but the emotion was there.

Video on Show vs. Henry which I think is the same one from Raw.  They face off tonight.  Not a match, just a face off.

Intercontinental Title: Ezekiel Jackson vs. Ted DiBiase

 

New ring announcer tonight who looks a bit better in a blue dress than Chimmel does.  DiBiase hits Jackson and that doesn’t go well for him.  Out to the floor as Booker rambles about his Fave Five as is his custom.  Jackson is rammed into the post which gets two in the ring.  Cody is watching and the referee, the former Nunzio, is really loud here.

DiBiase takes over and throws on a chinlock.  The following clothesline is countered by Jackson.  How has no one else ever countered that?  Apparently Ted has blown all of his money and it’s implied that it was on Maryse.  Here come the slams but DiBiase counters into a Dream Street attempt but Jackson shrugs it off and slams Ted again.  Rack doesn’t work but the second attempt does with the submission coming at 3:45.

Rating: C. See, this is what Jackson needs more of: wins where he gets in some trouble but eventually uses the power game to make his comeback and set up his finishing stuff.  Nothing fancy here and it worked just fine.  Also helps when he actually, you know, wins his matches instead of losing them.

Most of the MITB people are in matches later.

Ted is in the back and Cody says he’ll bag him if Ted loses again.

Daniel Bryan vs. Cody Rhodes

 

We get a quick recap video of this feud during the introductions.  It’s almost shot like its from the mind of a crazy person so it looks really cool.  Ok make that a long one.  Bryan hammers him into the corner to start us off and he escapes an Alabama Slam attempt.  LeBell Lock doesn’t work and Cole puts a bag on and imitates Booker.  Ok that was kind of funny.

Rhodes takes over for a bit but Bryan sends him to the floor and takes over with a dive.  We take a break and come back in the ring with Cody in control.  Cody throws on a half crab which doesn’t last long.  Like you can put a submission on Bryan.  Cody works over the ribs as the fans keep coming in and out of this one.  Booker gets asked about being in a MITB match and somehow he starts talking about Daniel Bryan.  Apparently it’s too brutal to talk about.  I give up.

Anyway it’s back to the half crab as the announcers totally ignore the match other than Josh when he can get a word in edgewise.  Bryan fires back with some forearms and a leg lariat/running kick for two.  Some light Cody chants start up.  Not we’re talking about Booker being a drum major.  Alabama Slam gets two and the commentary is really starting to get old.  Talk about MITB or ANYTHING of importance, but drop the bickering.

Cody tries Cross Rhodes but Bryan climbs the ropes to get behind Cody.  Bryan gets put on the top but kicks Cody away and manages to grab the LeBell Lock while on the ropes.  That gets broken up of course so Bryan settles for the missile dropkick for a long two.  Running dropkick in the corner puts Cody down again.  They both go up and Bryan gets crotched badly.  That positioning allows the Beautiful Disaster to end this at 7:29 shown of 10:59.

Rating: B. I liked this one a lot actually.  Cody can be really good when he gets some time and Bryan of course is capable of having a good match with anyone.  This has been a pretty solid mini feud and I’d like to see it get a title involved.  Good stuff here and a rather fun TV match indeed.

Teddy is on the phone talking about getting protection or something.  A referee comes in and Teddy tells him that if there’s any physicality in the Big Show/Mark Henry showdown, their PPV match is off.  The referee leaves and Teddy talks about gambling a lot.  This seems to be a running theme with him.  Kane comes in to thank Teddy for giving him a match with Orton as he requested.  Kane isn’t happy because he’s starting to feel human instead of like a monster.  Teddy says if it makes him feel any better, he’s scaring Teddy right now.  Kane says if Teddy was really scared, Teddy wouldn’t be able to tell him.

Jinder and Khali are in a photo shoot and Jinder isn’t happy with the photographer paying attention to Khali.  They both yell at him and that’s about it.

Christian is looking at Orton’s bus and there’s spray paint on the side talking about Christian being the uncrowned champion.  He says he’ll find out who did this.

Sheamus vs. Sin Cara

 

This should be interesting.  Wade Barrett is on commentary here.  The match starts after a break.  Cara takes over to start with his high flying stuff.  Barrett admits that the Corre was a disaster.  Sheamus can’t get anything going as Cara gets an armdrag out of the corner.  And let’s talk about the Fave Five because it’s been a full 4 minutes since we did.  Apparently Booker sees some of himself in Sheamus.  Uh….ok?

We talk about the drum major stuff as it’s kind of interesting to see how long they can go without actually talking about the match.  Barrett is talking about how he’s going to win as Sheamus gets a running knee lift while Cara is draped in the ropes.  Off to a cravate as we’re probably two minutes without talking about the match now.  Now let’s look at Booker and Barrett talking because the match isn’t important I guess.

Josh finally mentions Cara being grounded here, which apparently has NEVER happened to him before.  Honestly, is there something in the water in the announcers’ water cooler?  Cara sends him to the floor and Sheamus may have hurt his knee.  Back in Sheamus catches Cara in a dive and hits a fallaway slam for no cover.  He loads up the High Cross but Cara counters into a rana for the surprise pin at 6:00.

Rating: C+. Not a great match but by far and away Cara’s biggest win to date in WWE.  I’m rather surprised that they would have Sheamus lose here but it looked like a fluke win which is probably the best way to have it happen.  It doesn’t really hurt Sheamus as he had Cara beaten but took too much time to end him, which is good for both guys.

Barrett takes Sheamus down post match and hits Wasteland.  He looks weird in a collared shirt and slacks.

Christian is in the casino with a wallet.  Naturally it belongs to Orton and it’s time to gamble with the $1000 he finds in there.  He says Orton is going to need the money for anger management and his daughter’s college.  Christian puts it all on 1 in a game of roulette and loses it of course.  Christian says Orton’s luck just ran out.  I liked this as it was something outside of the ordinary which you hardly ever see anymore in promos.  Just having something different in the background makes it more interesting.

Time for the showdown which is just the two big guys talking.  Teddy moderates it for lack of a better term.  Henry isn’t going to come farther from the stage though because he can’t hold his temper well enough apparently.  They talk about pain and how it’s Show’s problem apparently.

Show says everyone has been waiting for Henry to wake up and Show finally did it.  Henry asks if Show thinks bigger is better.  Without waiting for an answer, he says stronger and meaner are better.  Both guys say the other has no idea what they’re capable of.  Teddy has to stop a fight and says we’ll see who wins Sunday.  I still don’t get the appeal of this feud.  Scratch that.  I get the appeal, but I just don’t care about Mark Henry at all.

Rosa Mendes vs. Kelly Kelly

 

Non title here.  I have absolutely no idea what to talk about here.  Match is over and there’s just nothing to say.  Kelly wins with the K2 at 1:49.  The majority of the match was spent talking about jobs Rosa has had.  Nothing else to say at all.  Oh and Alicia was at ringside and did nothing at all.

Johnny Curtis pulls an elephant out of a bag which is supposed to be a cat.  Apparently it’s the big elephant in the room.  They’re really running out of ideas aren’t they?

Justin Gabriel vs. Heath Slater

 

Both guys have their own music now.  Slater says he’s tired of being held back and that he’ll show he’s better tonight.  Nice technical stuff to start as they know each other really well.  The crowd doesn’t seem to care at all but you can’t have everything I guess.  Gabriel starts fighting back but can’t hit the 450.  Cole runs his mouth some more as Slater misses a moonsault.  The 450 hits and we’re done at 2:52.  Well Slater looks like nothing now.

Video on Punk vs. Cena, which is the same from NXT.

Randy Orton vs. Kane

 

For some reason I’ve wanted to see a proper feud between these two for years.  Just seems like it would be good.  Orton hammers away to start which doesn’t really work.  Christian is on the stage.  Kane hammers away as he is known to do.  The clothesline hits and he calls for the chokeslam about 75 seconds into this.  Orton counters with right hands but he can’t take Kane down.  He manages to get the powerslam and the elevated DDT.  RKO is countered and Orton sees Christian, allowing Kane to send him to the floor.  Christian throws a drink at Randy and runs into the crowd.  It’s enough for the count out at 2:58 though.

Orton chases after Christian and gets him near Kane and the beatdown is on.  Kane doesn’t like Christian though and chases him off.  Orton pops up and hits the RKO on Kane but Christian hits a spear and pounds on Randy.  Christian gets a chair but Orton gets it away from him as the Canadian runs.  Kane takes a chair shot.  Make that a lot of them.  Orton goes all bugged eyed on Christian to end the show.

Overall Rating: B+. Good show but it was a step behind what the others have been recently.  That being said, they had some good matches and a story going throughout the show.  Also they had some nice build for the PPV so maybe it wasn’t all that bad of a show.  It’s not as good as some others they’ve done, but still for a go home show, this was really pretty good.

Results

Ezekiel Jackson b. Ted DiBiase – Torture Rack

Cody Rhodes b. Daniel Bryan – Beautiful Disaster

Sin Cara b. Sheamus – Hurricanrana into a pin

Kelly Kelly b. Rosa Mendes – K2

Justin Gabriel b. Heath Slater – 450 Splash

Kane b. Randy Orton via countout