Smackdown – August 10, 2012: Alberto Did…..What?

Smackdown
Date: August 10, 2012
Location: Toyota Center, Houston, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews

We’ve got this and one more show before Summerslam so we’re likely in the final push stretch now. Sheamus and Del Rio actually had something happen on Raw as Sheamus stole Del Rio’s car and drove it around San Antonio while TOUTING about it. You know, about the felony he was committing. Hopefully we get a follow up on that tonight. Let’s get to it.

Do You Know Your Enemy? Mine is all the dust I inhaled pulling up carpet yesterday. Annoying stuff.

Here’s Booker to open the show, drawing a triple legend/hometown boy/legend pop. He’s even in a tuxedo tonight which is a new look for him. Booker sucks up to the Houston crowd but says they have a problem. We get a clip from Raw of Sheamus stealing Del Rio’s car. My goodness we’re actually getting a follow up on it. Booker says Sheamus crossed the line and needs to apologize for it. That’s quite an expensive apology.

Here’s the champ who doesn’t look as jovial as he usually does. He talks about Del Rio trying to take his dignity, so he took his car in exchange. Sheamus talks about how fun Monday was, but now he has to face reality. He apologizes to Booker and much faster to Del Rio.

Here are Del Rio and Ricardo who are mad. Del Rio has filed charges with the San Antonio police department but Booker says if Sheamus is put in jail, the title will be held up. Del Rio says that he doesn’t care and the champion reflects on Booker. Sheamus says chill because he’ll defend the title tonight. Del Rio says ok and that’s that. This was an odd segment. Del Rio apparently cares about his cars more than the title, Sheamus couldn’t be bailed out in the nine days before Summerslam, and I guess Del Rio is dropping the charges? The segment probably made sense but it wasn’t the best delivery of their message.

Sin Cara vs. Cody Rhodes

What the heck happened to Cody? He was on fire and now he’s forgotten enough to be put into a match with Sin Cara? Before the match Cody talks about knowing what it’s like to wear a mask. He knows why Sin Cara wears a mask: he’s ugly. Cody says there’s nothing special about Sin Cara and that’s it. We get the mood lighting and Cara gets a quick rollup for two. Cody gets sent to the floor but he blocks a baseball slide.

Rhodes goes for the mask and they head back in. Cara’s dive is caught by a dropkick to the ribs for two, followed by a release gordbuster for two for Cody. Cody puts Cara in a Gory Stretch and reaches for the mask again but Cara escapes. Sin hits the Tajiri elbow followed by the corner walk armdrag. A big kick to the face sets up a springboard crossbody for two. Cody goes for the mask again but Cara kicks him in the head and small packages Cody for the pin at 3:51.

Rating: C. This wasn’t bad and we even had a story going throughout it. Considering this was just a four minute match that’s pretty impressive, as you’ll often see matches more than twice this long with barely any story to it at all. Cara and Rhodes are part of a large group of guys that have nothing to do most of the time and are only put in random matches to keep them on TV. That’s fine for awhile but it gets old after awhile. Hopefully this is the start of a feud.

Wade Barrett is returning. I think this is the same video from Raw.

We get a recap of Daniel Bryan’s plights from Raw 1001.

Here’s Bryan for a chat. He says NO and the fans chant YES, much to his dismay. Bryan says he belongs in the WWE Championship match at Summerslam but instead he has to face Kane. He blames AJ for not being in the title match and shouts NO, that’s not right. He deserves to be treated better than he’s being treated by a “skipping, Chucks wearing, power suit wearing broad.” Cue Kane but before he can do anything AJ comes out. Why is she even in the building? Why am I bothering to think about things like this?

She says this is where she and Bryan first met and she’s here because Booker invited her. Maybe I need to learn to be more patient with my questions. Anyway, she says we can’t have Bryan and Kane coming out here all the time. She looks at Kane and says they haven’t had a chance to talk lately but it’s good to see him. AJ appreciates how sweet and understanding Kane was while others treated her miserably.

As for Bryan, she knows he’s always been jealous of Kane and upset that he’s never been able to pin Kane one on one. If Bryan is as sane as he claims, he should prove it, starting tonight by shaking Kane’s hand. “NO!” AJ insists so Bryan puts his hand out, only to get punched in the face. The fight is on but Bryan can’t hook the NO Lock. Kane kicks him to the floor and Bryan runs. This was a very forced attempt to try to make the people care about this match at the PPV but it only slightly worked. AJ looks very happy on the stage.

Booker and Teddy are in the back when Hawkins and Reks come in. They want a shot on Smackdown but Booker tells them to step it up. Booker says they couldn’t beat Ryback on Raw in a handicap match so they’re not A+ talents, which is what Booker wants.

Jinder Mahal vs. ???/???

No names for the jobbers. Apparently this is to prove that he can beat two guys like Ryback can. A clothesline and spinebuster put Jobber A down and the camel clutch gets the tap at 40 seconds.

Post match Mahal puts both guys in the clutch until Ryback comes out. Mahal runs so Ryback beats up the dead jobbers. That’s not nice.

It’s time for the Highlight Reel with Chris Jericho. Before he can say much though, here’s Vickie to interrupt. For some reason Dolph can’t be here so Jericho says he’ll interview Dolph’s mother again. They get in an EXCUSE ME shouting match until Jericho gives up. She says that if Jericho insults her again she’s gone. Jericho says go then but calls her back before she leaves.

We get a clip of the Ziggler vs. Riley match on Monday with Jericho costing Dolph the match. Jericho says that the knock on him is that he can’t win the big one but apparently Ziggler can’t win the little one. Jericho makes fun of Vickie’s hair so she yells about how great Ziggler is.

Chris says his legacy stands on his own but Ziggler got to him by saying that he hasn’t won any big matches lately. Maybe it’s time to bring back Y2J. Ziggler vs. Jericho is set for Summerslam and Jericho will prove that he hasn’t lost his touch. Ziggler runs in from behind but the case shot misses. Vickie slaps Jericho and when he goes after her, Dolph hits the Zig Zag on Jericho. Ziggler hits him in the head with the briefcase to leave Jericho laying. Vickie throws in an evil laugh and says who’s your mother now.

We recap the opening segment.

Kofi and Truth come out for commentary.

Prime Time Players vs. Primo/Epico

Still no Rosa. This is a #1 contenders match. Epico and Young start us off but it’s quickly off to Titus. Truth goes on an anti-spider rant before making horse noises. Off to Primo and everything breaks down. AW throws a drink at the tag champs and the match is thrown out at 1:44.

Antonio Cesaro vs. Christian

Aksana should always wear barely there leather dresses. Cesaro does the victory in five different languages thing. Cesaro grabs a headlock to start but gets sent over the top and out to the floor. Christian misses a baseball slide and Cesaro sends him into the steps to take over. Back into the ring and it’s chinlock time in a hurry as Christian is in trouble. Gutwrench suplex gets two for Antonio. He goes up but jumps into Christian’s boot to start the Canadian comeback.

They trade some counters and Christian hits the sunset flip out of the corner for two. Cesaro jumps into a bridging fallaway slam for two. The Killswitch is countered by some headbutts to the back but Christian counters a slam into the reverse DDT. The spear is countered into Christian being launched into the air and landing on a European Uppercut for two. The Neutralizer is countered and Christian hits the spear for the quick pin at 4:08.

Rating: C+. The match itself was pretty good as they were countering almost everything the other guy threw, but I’m not sure on the ending. I’m not sure why Cesaro would lose this early, but maybe it’ll start something for him. Not a bad match at all as Cesaro actually got to do more than two moves for a change.

Post match Cesaro jumps Christian so apparently this isn’t over, which is a good thing.

Raw ReBound.

Eve goes to see Booker again but she gets turned down for a job. Kaitlyn comes in and asks for a job as well. Booker gives her one so Eve yells. Booker makes a match between them next week with the winner getting the job.

Rey Mysterio vs. The Miz

Non-title here. Miz takes him into the corner to start and kicks Rey in the ribs to take over. Rey tries to speed things up coming out of the corner but gets caught in a backbreaker and sent to the floor. Off to a chinlock by Miz but Rey comes back with some kicks to the legs. Miz sends Mysterio to the corner and hits the running clothesline but his top rope ax handle is countered by a dropkick.

A kick to Miz’s head gets two and Rey goes up. Miz tries a superplex but Rey counters into a sunset bomb which Miz counters with a right hand. A big boot puts Rey down for two but Mysterio headscissors him from the mat into 619 position. The feet get caught by Miz and he loads up the Finale, but Rey rolls through for the pin at 4:47.

Rating: C-. Just like the previous match, the wrestling was fine but I don’t get the idea here. Cole spent the whole match talking about how Miz had gotten better with his aggressiveness and it was translating into success….and then he loses clean. What’s the point of it? To set up Mysterio vs. Miz for the title? Well maybe, but why have Rey get a pin this quickly? I’m not wild on these champions losing all the time though.

BE A STAR!

Smackdown World Title: Alberto Del Rio vs. Sheamus

Sheamus is defending in case you’re reading this 89 years from now for some reason. We only have about five minutes left so I don’t see this going long or going at all. We get big match intros to kill some of that time.

Before the bell, the cops come out to arrest Sheamus. Del Rio says he never filed the report and that he wants the title match now. The cops jump Sheamus on Del Rio’s orders so I guess they’re lackeys. Del Rio gets sent into the corner by Sheamus but the numbers catch up with Sheamus. Alberto kicks Sheamus in the head and sends the lackeys away. The cross armbreaker ends the show. No match obviously.

Overall Rating: C-. This was a very odd show. They were trying some new stuff out there and that’s certainly a good thing, but a lot of the stuff wasn’t clicking at all. I don’t get the idea of having Cesaro and Miz both lose here but as I said more than once, maybe they’re doing something for the future. Now that stuff is all questionable but we can wait and see on it. What makes no sense is the ending.

Del Rio had what he wanted: a world title match. If he had these guys on his payroll, why would he have them jump Sheamus and waste a shot at the title? Why not cheat and try to get the belt tonight instead? I guess the idea is that he wants to hurt Sheamus before the match at Summerslam, but why not jump Sheamus earlier when no one could see, and then have an advantage in the title match tonight? Now Sheamus has 9 days to recover. I don’t get this but I guess I don’t understand WWE logic anymore.

Results

Sin Cara b. Cody Rhodes – Small Package

Jinder Mahal b. ???/??? – Camel Clutch

Primo/Epico vs. Prime Time Players went to a no contest when Kofi Kingston and R-Truth interfered

Christian b. Antonio Cesaro – Spear

Rey Mysterio b. The Miz – Rollup

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