Smackdown – February 1, 2013: I Can’t Believe It But Del Rio Is Awesome

I won’t be home on time tonight so this is the Smackdown review early.  This contains full spoilers so be forewarned.

Smackdown
Date: February 1, 2013
Location: Valley View Casino Center, San Diego, California
Commentators: Josh Matthews, John Bradshaw Layfield

We’re past the Rumble and a Raw guy won, meaning we need a #1 contender for the world title. Odds are that’s going to be decided in the Elimination Chamber but we’re still a few weeks away from that. Anyway, the main story tonight is likely going to be Del Rio going after Big Show for what he did to Ricardo on Monday in what I thought was a solid heel moment from Big Show. Let’s get to it.

We open with the ending of Raw with Lesnar returning and beating up Vince. There’s also a clip of Del Rio retaining the title.

Del Rio is pacing in the parking lot with a ball bat in hand, apparently waiting for Big Show.

Booker is in the ring with HELL NO, Khali, Sheamus and Orton. Ziggler and company are on the floor. Booker talks about how all of these people are former world heavyweight champions and they can all get the title back. All they have to do is win the Elimination Chamber which has six spots. This is perfect since there are six people here but this brings out…..Jack Swagger?

He says he’s a former world champion as well (oh yeah he was wasn’t he) and wants in the Chamber. Booker says the six spots are already filled, but Ziggler volunteers to drop out since he’s got a guaranteed title shot already. Apparently it’s Del Rio vs. Ziggler later tonight. Right now though, WE GET A TAG MATCH!!!

Rey Mysterio/Sin Cara vs. HELL NO

Non-title. Mysterio (in green pants and an orange top) and Kane start things off as JBL says Rey and Cara have both worked for AAA. I can’t find any evidence of Cara ever working there at all but whatever. Rey takes out Kane’s knee before the small masked guys hit double kicks to the monster. Kane shrugs it off and brings in Bryan to a nice reaction. Cara launches Rey into a seated senton on Bryan for two but it’s back to Kane.

Kane throws Rey around as is his custom before it’s back to Bryan for a corner dropkick. Daniel avoids a 619 and we take a break. Back with Bryan working on Cara’s arm but as Daniel goes up, he gets kicked in the head. That doesn’t do much good though as Cara gets kicked down and a middle rope dropkick puts him down again. A quick surfboard has Cara in trouble and a tag to Kane puts him in even more.

Kane loads up what might have been a superplex but gets kicked away. A cross body is caught in the air but Cara spins into a tornado DDT to put both guys down. The hot tag brings in Mysterio and things speed way up. Bryan counters a rana but gets kicked in the head by Rey for two. Kane breaks up the 619 and kicks Cara down, only to get sent to the floor by a rana from Mysterio. There’s the NO Lock to Rey but Cara comes in for the save. Sin takes out Kane on the floor and it’s 619 and the top rope splash to pin Bryan at 8:07 shown of 11:37.

Rating: B. This was getting really good by the end which makes me wish we had gotten to see this pairing a lot more often than the champions against the Rhodes Scholars. It’s nice to see Mysterio get a big win in his hometown instead of getting crushed as he has in the past. Now if only he and Cara can stick around for more than six weeks at a time.

We recap Big Show vs. Del Rio from Sunday and Ricardo’s beating from Raw.

Del Rio is waiting on Big Show and tells Striker he’s getting some fresh air.

Great Khali vs. Jinder Mahal

This is fallout from Raw. Khali chops him a lot to start but Mahal takes him down and hooks a front facelock. That goes about as well as you would expect on a guy like Khali as Mahal is thrown off. Slater and Horny chase each other around as Khali hits the Punjabi Plunge for the pin at 1:52.

Teddy tells Booker that he brought Swagger back. The Rhodes Scholars interrupt the conversation and talk about splitting up the team. Sandow quotes some French author and the Scholars hug. The end result of this is Sheamus vs. Sandow.

We recap the ending of Raw from Monday and see an exclusive of Vince being taken away on a stretcher.

Alberto is still waiting. These segments alone are letting him show more emotion than he’s had in the last year and a half combined.

Now we recap the end of the Rumble.

Sheamus vs. Damien Sandow

Sandow immediately bails to the floor but gets run over from behind by Sheamus. Back in and Damien gets in some stomps and a choke with the knee as Sheamus is in a bit of trouble. A Russian legsweep sets up the Wind-Up Elbow for one. Sheamus starts firing back but Sandow pounds on him in the corner to take over in a surprising comeback. The real comeback by Sheamus starts with the usual and even though Sandow escapes White Noise, he gets caught in the ten forearms in the ropes. Not that any of it matters though as Shield comes out for the DQ at 3:00 or so. No rating due to length but the match was ok.

Sheamus hits the Brogue Kick on Rollins as he comes in but Ambrose trips him up and the Irishman is beaten down. Rollins gets back in and the TripleBomb hits.

Wade Barrett vs. Randy Orton

Cheese and crackers haven’t we seen this enough lately? Orton starts fast and knocks Barrett to the floor early on. Back in and Wade hits a kick to the ribs and one to the jaw as well for two. A neckbreaker gets two for the champ (non-title here of course) and Orton is in trouble.

Barrett puts him in the ropes for his running boot to the face but it only gets two. Off to a chinlock but Orton snap mares out of it. Here come the clotheslines and powerslam but Barrett heads to the floor. Barrett loads up the Bull Hammer but it hits the post in a wince inducing miss. Back in and the Elevated DDT hits, setting up the RKO for the clean pin at 4:04.

Rating: C-. The problem here is these two do the same match almost every time so it’s hard to get into them. Also it’s rather annoying to see Barrett lose clean like this, especially after they’ve traded so many wins so many times already. That forearm to the post looked incredibly painful though.

Post break Barrett gets in a fight backstage with Bo Dallas.

Kofi Kingston vs. Jack Swagger

Swagger looks exactly the same other than having his hair slicked back. No pushups here either. Jack immediately takes it to the mat and Kofi is in trouble. Kofi fights out of the corner but gets his head taken off via a clothesline. Kingston speeds things up but gets LAUNCHED to the corner for his efforts. The Vader Bomb hits for one and there’s another beal across the ring.

Kofi fights up but gets caught in a kind of suplex to take him right back down. Off to a half camel clutch by Swagger before he shifts over to a regular armbar. Kofi finally fights up and takes over with his usual stuff. The Boom Drop hits but Jack rolls to the floor. There’s a big clothesline off the steps to take Swagger out but Trouble in Paradise hits the table. Back in and the ankle lock ends this at 7:10.

Rating: C. The match was fine but at the end of the day he’s the same Jack Swagger we’ve seen and been bored by for years now. There’s no new character, there’s no new moveset, there’s no new anything. Kofi continues to be the same guy he’s going to be for the next five years or so and there’s still nothing wrong with that.

Security tries to calm Del Rio down but Big Show’s bus arrives. Del Rio goes after him so Show tries to steal a car. Alberto gets him on top of the car and pounds away but Show kicks him off and runs to a car that just happened to be waiting with the keys in it.

We recap Punk challenging Rock to a rematch.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Alberto Del Rio

Non-title again here. Ricardo is in the back with Del Rio but he’s in a neckbrace so Alberto tells him to stay in the back for his own good. Feeling out process to start until Alberto pounds away in the corner. The middle rope moonsault misses but the champion rolls through it anyway. A kick to the face gets two for Alberto but he charges into the post shoulder first. Dolph DDTs him down for two and gets the same off a neckbreaker. Off to a quick chinlock by Ziggler as we look at AJ a bit.

Del Rio fights up and snaps off a German suplex to break Dolph’s momentum. Alberto loads up a moonsault but an AJ distraction lets Langston break it up. That gets two for Ziggy but even worse his goon gets ejected. We take a break and come back with Del Rio trying to fight back, only to get his leg kicked out from under him. Ziggler goes up but gets crotched as AJ cringes. A BIG kick to Ziggler’s head has him in even more trouble and a superplex gets two for Alberto.

They slug it out and Ziggler misses a splash in the corner. Del Rio fires off more kicks and a low superkick gets two. The cross armbreaker is escaped though and a Fameasser gets two for Dolph. Ziggler misses a charge into the corner and Alberto pounds away on the back before hitting a Backstabber for two. The champion goes up again but jumps into a dropkick for a VERY close two. Out of nowhere Alberto counters the Zig Zag into the armbreaker for the tap out at 10:08 shown of 13:38.

Rating: B. Another solid match from Del Rio here as he is on a huge roll. Ziggler jobs again but at least it’s another great match with a champion. The counters here were getting awesome with both guys nailing each other with some high impact stuff. Great match here and I was really getting into it by the end.

To the shock of no one, Big Show has Ricardo by the neck and knocks him out after yelling at Del Rio. Alberto sprints to the back to be with his buddy as the show ends.

Overall Rating: B. This was a great show with two excellent matches and some solid story advancement to build up to the Chamber. Alberto continues to be awesome on all fronts with his mic work more than backing up what he does in the ring and vice versa. I’m not sure I need to see Del Rio vs. Big Show III but a regular match might be interesting. Godd stuff here.

Results

Sin Cara/Rey Mysterio b. HELL NO – Top rope splash to Bryan

Great Khali b. Jinder Mahal – Punjabi Plunge

Damien Sandow vs. Sheamus went to a no contest when Shield interfered

Randy Orton b. Wade Barrett – RKO

Jack Swagger b. Kofi Kingston – Ankle Lock

Alberto Del Rio b. Dolph Ziggler – Cross Armbreaker

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