Smackdown
Date: November 23, 2012
Location: Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Commentators: Josh Matthews, John Bradshaw Layfield

It’s the night after Thanksgiving and we’re just after Survivor Series. Big Show is still champion and it looks like we’re getting Show vs. Sheamus III in a chairs match at TLC. Other than that it’s hard to say what we’re going to get at that show, but I have a feeling it’ll be a lot of rematches. Let’s get to it.

It’s the voiceover deal to start, recapping Raw with the Cena/AJ stuff. You know, in case seeing it five times on Raw wasn’t enough for you. We also see the ending with Ryback getting beaten down again.

We open with MizTV. The guest tonight? John Cena. Well you can’t say they’re being weak with the guests on this one. Cena sits on a couch and says this is awesome. Miz talks about how Cena is more famous for his in ring stuff but lately it’s been like a TMZ story. To prove it, we see the Cena/AJ kiss for the second time in five minutes. Miz asks how the kiss was and how Cena’s knee is after the attack by Ziggler. Apparently Cena has a tweeked knee but it’s nothing serious.

Well that’s enough about wrestling, so let’s talk about AJ some more. Miz wants to know if Cena and AJ are more than just friends, but Cena is tired of hearing that question. Cena does admit that AJ is a good kisser though. Riveting stuff here people. Miz again asks if they’re more than just friends and here’s AJ before Cena can answer. AJ says Cena was just doing that to prove a point to Vickie but Cena seems to dispute this. Miz makes fun of them for being in love, but Cena calls Miz an idiot.

This brings out Ziggler because this segment needs to keep going for some reason. Ziggler says that it’s AJ’s fault that Cena hurt his knee because she burst into the men’s locker room. Pay no attention to the fact that Cena hurt his knee jumping out of the ring after Ziggler which we already saw a video of today I guess. This of course leads to ANOTHER video from Raw with AJ going into the locker room and yelling at Ziggler, leading to a brawl between Dolph and Cena.

Since we haven’t covered this entire storyline yet, here’s Vickie to run her mouth a bit more. Vickie says Dolph kisses real woman which Cena calls a lie because there’s no proof Vickie is an actual woman. Guerrero insists their relationship is just professional and Dolph says he’d bring the woman out of AJ. Cena says Vickie is nuts and Dolph is still looking for his. The segment finally ends with nothing at all new being added.

Ryback vs. Darren Young

Young comes out second which is kind of odd. Titus sits in on commentary. Young pounds away to start but Ryback casually shoves him down. Young gets his head slammed into the mat and Titus blows the whistle at him. Ryback takes Young’s head off with a clothesline on the floor and we head back in. Titus: “Somebody get that boy some medication. Something’s wrong with him.” Meat Hook and Shell Shock end this in 2:03. I’m sure Young will in a title match soon after this and WWE will be confused when no one buys him as a title contender.

Titus yells at Ryback post match and gets a Shell Shock too.

R-Truth vs. Antonio Cesaro

This is non-title and is happening because Cesaro has only beaten Truth clean once so far, which means absolutely nothing in the modern WWE. Cesaro insults Thanksgiving before the match as you would expect him to do. Cesaro immediately hits the gutwrench suplex followed by a double stomp and a body vice. Truth comes back with punches and a side kick before countering the Neutralizer with a backdrop. Little Jimmy hits for the clean pin at 1:33.

Just to recap: Cesaro pinned Truth 100% clean at Survivor Series, then Truth gets another match with him and pins him in under two minutes. I SO want to see another match between them now and this certainly doesn’t hurt Cesaro’s credibility at all. My goodness they bring so many problems on themselves it’s unreal. Have Truth beat ANYONE else to earn another shot and this problem does not exist. Is it any surprise that Cesaro is a total afterthought at this point?

Sheamus arrives and Booker stops him from going to the locker room. Due to the attack at Survivor Series, Sheamus can’t compete tonight. Instead Booker gives him a chairs match for the title at TLC. Sheamus gets to go to Booker’s personal suite and watch the show. Big Show has a handicap match later against HELL NO.

Sin Cara vs. Alberto Del Rio

The lights are back. JBL says Del Rio is a former AAA champion but I can find no record of that anywhere. Cara immediately knocks him to the floor and hits a big dive on Del Rio and Rodriguez for two back inside. A big running kick misses Del Rio and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker gets two for Alberto. Cara’s right shoulder goes into the post and we take a break.

Back with Alberto pulling on the mask before shifting over to a chokehold. Del Rio fires off kicks to the back as JBL continues to amuse me. Josh talks about how he and JBL watched the 2/3 falls match earlier today, but JBL makes sure to point out that they were in separate rooms so people don’t think they’re friends. Back to the chinlock by Alberto but Cara comes back with a rana for two. Del Rio hits a kick to the side of the head, drawing a big gasp from the crowd but only getting two.

Things slow down a bit as JBL rips into Mil Mascaras a bit more. Alberto slams Cara down as the announcers stay in their argument. At least this one is entertaining though, unlike Titus and Jerry’s debate about washcloths on Raw. Back to the chinlock for a bit but Cara speeds things up and hits an armdrag and cross body for two. The Tajiri Elbow looks to set up the Swanton but Del Rio arm drags Cara off the top and the Cross Armbreaker gets the tap at 6:21 shown of 9:51.

Rating: C. The commentary was more entertaining than the match here but the match wasn’t bad. Seeing Del Rio ground Cara and work the arm over was another example of the solid psychology that Alberto has, which is one of the things that makes him so fun to watch. Pretty decent little TV match here.

Bryan tells Kane to stay out of his way tonight because he can beat Big Show in 45 seconds. Kane asks Bryan if he thinks that’s going to happen again. Guess what Bryan says. Kane says he and Show used to be tag champions and thinks Bryan and Show could be a team called No Show. Bryan: “Is this because I didn’t invite you to my house for Thanksgiving?” Kane: “…….maybe.” Bryan says it was great because they had vegan turkey. Kane wants to know what the point is. If they win tonight, Kane gets to come over for Christmas and beat up Santa Claus. These two are still hilarious.

Big Show vs. HELL NO

The champs (as in the tag champs) have to tag here and Bryan starts with Big Show. Bryan’s trunks are partially black tonight which is a new look for him. Bryan fires off kicks to the leg but Show shoves him down with ease to take over. Show sends him shoulder first into the buckle and works over the arm a bit which isn’t usually his custom. Show lifts him up in the air by the beard as JBL kind of rips into Josh for calling Bryan a goat face.

Bryan comes back with more kicks but Show casually shoves him back down. Back to the arm as Show drops a knee on it and shouts at Kane a bit. Do all the shouting you want as long as we don’t have to sit through another Show vs. Kane match. Show misses a middle rope elbow as Regal and Sheamus are watching from the sky box. Bryan has a chance to tag but shouts NO instead and fires off kicks to Show.

A big kick to the head puts Show down but Show LAUNCHES Bryan off of the cover at two. The chokeslam is countered into a guillotine choke but Show (who is supposed to have a knee injury isn’t he?) throws him off. It’s a sleeper now from Bryan which lasts for over a minute without Show going down at all. There’s the hot tag to Kane who dropkicks Show’s knee out and hits a top rope flying body attack (it was supposed to be the clothesline) but the chokeslam is broken up. A DDT puts Show down but Bryan tags himself in. Bryan tries the NO Lock and Kane walks. The hold is broken and the chokeslam ends Bryan at 10:02.

Rating: C. Not bad here but did this need to be against the tag champions? That’s the problem with the way they’ve set up the roster: there are only a handful of teams that could challenge Big Show, but Show has been booked so strong that no one can give him a legit fight. Also you don’t want Show vs. Kane again as that might be considered torturing the audience. At the end of the day, there wasn’t much they could do here but job the champions. Again.

HELL NO beats up Big Show post match, because we need to make sure everyone stays strong. I know the idea of DON’T HAVE THEM FIGHT IN THE FIRST PLACE is hard to grasp, but it might be a better way to go.

Show yells at Sheamus, saying that he’ll have a chair too. Sheamus is all BRING IT ON!

Barrett comes out for commentary for the next match.

Intercontinental Title: Kofi Kingston vs. Damien Sandow

Damien hits a quick suplex for two but Kofi rolls out of a belly to back suplex and sends Sandow to the outside. Kofi gets sent into the buckle and to the floor as well as we take a break. Back with Damien holding a kind of crossface chickenwing before hitting a knee to the ribs to keep control. Apparently Barrett has earned an IC Title shot from his win on Monday. What exactly did Damien do to get this show?

The Wind-Up Elbow gets two for Sandow followed by the running hip attack to the back of Kofi while he’s in 619 position (you come up with a name for it) for two. Off to a chinlock which doesn’t last long. A quick slugout goes to Sandow because of Kofi’s bad eye and Kofi’s back gets rammed into the apron.

Sandow stomps away but Kofi gets up top for the cross body for two. Damien sends him into the middle buckle for a rollup for two, followed by the SOS for the same result for the champion. Kingston speeds things up and fires off chops and a dropkick to put Sandow down. There’s the Boom Drop and Trouble in Paradise for the pin at 5:57 shown of 9:27.

Rating: C+. As usual, the midcard champion is in need of a win to get any kind of momentum back. You know, because we had to have him lose on Monday to Barrett. The better idea would have been to have Barrett win by referee’s stoppage, making it so that Kofi didn’t get pinned but acknowledging that he’s in danger against Barrett. But instead let’s just have him get pinned and have him lose some credibility because, you know, who cares about stuff like that. The match was fine.

Barrett says he’s coming for the title.

According to my watch, we’ve gone a whole twenty minutes since we talked about something on Raw, so here’s a recap of the end of the show with the Championship Celebration and Ryback getting beaten down again.

Reigns, Rollins and Ambrose will speak on Raw.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Randy Orton

Main event time here. Orton pounds away to start and Ziggler hides in the corner. Ziggler takes him to the mat before pounding away on Randy’s head in the corner. Orton comes back with his dropkick for two and a slingshot suplex for the same. They head to the outside with Ziggler trying to hide in the crowd, but it’s kind of hard for a large man with blonde hair and pink trunks to hide, even in a mass of people.

Ziggler gets knocked down on the concrete as we take a break. Back with Dolph breaking out of a chinlock before Orton suplexes him right back down for two. With Ziggler laying on the apron, Orton stomps away and hits a slingshot to send Dolph throat first into the bottom rope and out to the floor. Ziggler throws Orton into the announce table and dropkicks him down, but Dolph might have injured his own knee in the process.

Back in and Ziggler erupts on Randy, pounding away on him with kicks and punches. The jumping elbow gets two and it’s off to a chinlock. Ziggler’s knee seems to be fine. Orton fights up and gets that rolling cradle out of the corner for two. We get a dueling chant from the crowd as the chinlock goes on again, this time resulting in Orton punching his way out of it. Ziggler stops the comeback dead with a DDT for a close two. This is starting to get better.

Dolph goes up top and is immediately superplexed right back down. It’s cool to see Orton expanding his moveset with stuff like the superplex and the slingshot suplex he used earlier. There’s the powerslam followed by the Elevated DDT but the RKO is countered into a rollup with trunks for the surprise pin at 9:37 shown of 13:07.

Rating: B-. Solid TV main event here but it’s a match we’ve seen several times before. It’s nice to see Dolph win here and a little bit of cheating never huts a good heel. Orton is one of those guys who isn’t going to be hurt badly by a loss so there’s no problem on his end. Dolph seems to be getting a push lately, which is nice to see as it seems that he’ll be cashing in his case soon. Then again it’s felt like that for months now.

Post match Ricardo and Alberto try to run in but Orton hits the RKO on Ricardo and Alberto stops on the apron. WHY IS THIS STILL GOING??? Cena comes out and puts Ziggler in the STF on the stage to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. Did I miss something or did almost nothing happen on this show? It felt like a supplement to Raw, and while it usually feels like one of those, this was even worse than usual. There was just nothing going on here at all and the booking made limited sense at best. The main event stuff seems to be pointing to a tag match which is fine, but other than that I’m not sure what the point of this show was. Nothing to see here at all.

Results

Ryback b. Darren Young – Shell Shock

R-Truth b. Antonio Cesaro – Little Jimmy

Alberto Del Rio b. Sin Cara – Cross Armbreaker

Big Show b. HELL NO – Chokeslam to Bryan

Kofi Kingston b. Damien Sandow – Trouble in Paradise

Dolph Ziggler b. Randy Orton – Rollup with a handful of trunks

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Smackdown
Date: November 16, 2012
Location: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio
Commentators: Josh Matthews, John Bradshaw Layfield

We’re two days away from Survivor Series and did you know Sheamus is fighting Big Show again? That’s a serious question actually as it’s been passed over even more than most Smackdown main event matches have been in recent memory. Other than that this is likely going to be used to talk about Foley vs. Ziggler some more, because there’s no real reason for that match to happen, but it’s happening anyway because WWE has no idea what they want to do right now. Let’s get to it.

They do the voiceover nonsense again to preview the show. It’s a recap of Raw and a quick discussion of Sheamus vs. Show.

Sheamus is in the parking lot and waiting on Show I think.

Here’s the freshly face Miz to open the show with MizTV. This will help the face reactions but it’ll be interesting to see what happens when he’s not in his hometown. He gets a Miz Is Awesome chant and welcomes us to his show before talking about his match on Sunday. Miz sucks up to the fans about voting him into the PPV but thinks it might be because he’s on the poster.

He talks about how he’s accomplished more than anyone else in the match, including Ziggler. This brings him to the guest of the evening: Mick Foley. Foley immediately goes for the cheap pop but Miz says this is his hometown so he gets the cheap pop. After a cheap plug for Foley’s new book, Mick talks about how Miz is a new person at the moment. However, he isn’t sure which Miz is going to show up at Survivor Series. Will it be the one that beat Cena in the main event of Wrestlemania or the one that is always taking vacations and growing a weak beard?

Miz thinks there’s no point to asking that question because Miz is the last person who Foley has to worry about. There’s the guy that stole the Intercontinental Title from Miz and tag champions that don’t like each other. Foley brings out those three people (Kofi and HELL NO) along with Orton, which is all of Team Foley. Foley tells someone to start the conversation, leading to an argument between Bryan and Kane.

Kane says his back feels better from not having to carry Miz on Monday. Bryan says because of him, Kane isn’t roaming basements and scaring little children. Kane: “I roam basements and scare little children regardless.” Kofi breaks up the argument so Miz yells at Kingston for playing peacekeeper. He didn’t like Kofi kicking him in the face last week and Foley has to break up another argument.

Orton talks about his history with Foley but says he likes Foley more than anyone else on the team. Orton shoves down part of the set and here’s Team Ziggler. I completely forgot Barrett was on that team at all. Ziggler says that team is pretty sad even for Foley, which is kind of a stretch I’d think. Dolph talks about team unity but keeps having to call down Del Rio for talking to Ricardo too much.

Del Rio wants to be team leader and an argument breaks out until Foley says he has match making power tonight. Well sure, why not. It’s Ziggler/Del Rio vs. Miz/Orton. Ziggler says Barrett is better than Miz so it’s Barrett vs….Kane? Bryan yells NO a lot but Sandow demands SILENCE. He runs down the team but Kofi cuts them off and it’s Kingston vs. Damien right now.

Damien Sandow vs. Kofi Kingston

Non-title of course and the pink trunks are back. Kofi snaps off some armdrags as we see the backdrop that hurt Cody. Kofi sends Sandow to the floor and hits a dropkick back inside for two. More kicks put Damien down for two and we head back to the floor for a suicide dive by Kofi. We take a break and come back with Kingston hammering away but Damien hitting a running flip neckbreaker for two.

The Wind-Up elbow gets two more and it’s time for Kofi’s comeback. He fires off forearms and a Boom Drop for two, followed by the top rope cross body for the same. Sandow kicks him in the knee and rolls Kofi up with trunks for the pin at 6:05 shown of 9:35. It’s just as quick and out of nowhere as it sounds.

Rating: C-. Sandow getting another win is only a good thing for him, but the problem with having so many champions on a team is that someone has to lose at some point. Sandow looked fine here and it’s a good sign that his in ring work is where it is, as he’s mainly a mic based character. Any good stuff in the ring is a bonus.

Sheamus is still in the back.

We recap (as in reair) the AJ/Cena/Vickie stuff from Raw.

Natalya/Layla/Kaitlyn vs. Alicia Fox/Eve Torres/Aksana

We start with Natalya beating on Aksana before Layla beats on her a bit. Off to Alicia for a mat slam by the hair for two before it’s off to Eve for a flip splash on Layla for two. JBL tries to talk about the Kaitlyn attack storyline as if anyone cares anymore. Off to Alicia who gets kicked away and the tag is made to Kaitlyn. House is cleaned and the crowd is dead. Kaitlyn dropkicks Alicia into Eve and hits the reverse DDT for the pin at 3:42.

Rating: D. That’s becoming my standard rating for Divas matches anymore. They’re fine I guess but man alive I don’t care about this storyline. I don’t think they really know what the story is anymore other than someone attacked Kaitlyn like two months ago and a bunch of other girls are involved also. It’s not even four minutes though so I can’t complain much.

Booker comes up to Sheamus and says Big Show isn’t going to show up with Sheamus in the parking lot. Sheamus says if Show has any guts he’ll meet Sheamus in the ring. Booker threatens consequences if anything happens.

Randy Orton/The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler/Alberto Del Rio

Miz and Ziggler start things off at a fast pace with Miz hitting a flapjack for two. JBL and Josh continue to be hilarious. Josh: “Of course Orton was the sole survivor of JBL’s Survivor Series team.” JBL: “I’m about to be the sole survivor of this commentary booth if you bring that up again.” Miz misses a charge and hits the floor as Del Rio knocks Orton to the outside as well.

We take a break and come back with Orton fighting out of a Ziggler chinlock. A knee to the ribs and elbow drop get two for Dolph and it’s back to Alberto. After he does nothing of note, Ziggler comes in for a foot on the chest for two. Orton starts another comeback but gets kicked in the face for his efforts. A clothesline puts Ziggler down and it’s off to Miz. The hometown boy pounds on Ziggler in the corner and hits the top rope ax handle for two.

Miz goes up again but a Ricardo distraction lets Alberto shove Miz off the top and out to the floor. Ziggler and Del Rio take some cheap shots on Miz and Alberto hits a running kick in the corner to Miz’s arm. Miz avoids a charge and sends Del Rio to the floor, allowing for the hot tag to Orton. Both heels take powerslams and there’s the Elevated DDT to Del Rio. Miz tags himself in though and hits the Finale on Alberto for the pin at 7:24 shown of 10:54.

Rating: C. This was your standard main event tag match which was only decent. They’re pushing the idea of the teams arguing a lot but it’s not really coming through on the Ziggler side. Orton and Miz looked fine here as Miz is basically his old self but with a leapfrog now. It’s too early to tell how his face push is going to go, but they need to change something about him other than who he fights.

Orton is annoyed at Miz post match and gives him an RKO to a good deal of booing.

Here’s Sheamus to confront Big Show. Sheamus rants about Big Show attacking Regal on Raw and being a bully. Well Sheamus wants to BE A STAR and wants to fight. Maybe he isn’t being a star after all. Here’s Show who says Sheamus should thank him for not coming down there. Sheamus comes up the aisle but Booker says no and tells Sheamus to leave the building. Sheamus goes for Show again and we go to a break.

In the back, Show acts like he’s Booker’s buddy but Booker doesn’t see it that way. Booker puts Show in the main event against a surprise opponent. It’s not Sheamus though. Booker says no one is bigger than the show. Ok then.

Kane vs. Wade Barrett

This has potential. Barrett immediately pounds away and hits the Winds of Change for no count. Kane boots him down and clotheslines Barrett to the floor….and here’s Team Ziggler for the DQ at 57 seconds.

Bryan comes in for the save and there are no other partners with him. Oh wait here’s Kofi but the numbers are too great. Orton finally makes the save and it’s RKO’s all around for Team Ziggler. Miz comes out to glare at Team Foley.

We recap the Raw World Title stuff from Raw.

Antonio Cesaro vs. Sin Cara

Truth comes out for commentary. Cesaro takes him to the mat to start but Cara grabs his arm and hits a rana out of the corner. Antonio immediately comes back with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two followed by the gutwrench suplex. A European Uppercut to the back of Cara’s head puts him down but a big spinning headscissors takes Cesaro down. West Coast Pop gets two for Cara but Cesaro throws him into the air for the uppercut followed by the Neutralizer for the pin at 2:20. Just a squash for the most part.

R-Truth quotes Jim Duggan and starts a USA chant.

Big Show vs. Great Khali

Non-title of course. This is going to be your standard battle of the giants with a lot of slow offense. Khali stomps him down in the corner but Show slugs away at him. A spear puts Khali down for two but Khali breaks up the chokeslam and chops Show down for two. The Punjabi Plunge is broken up and the KO Punch gets the pin at 3:32.

Rating: D. Was there any real doubt about how this was going to go? Nothing match here with Khali basically being a body for Show to beat up and bump from a bit. If nothing else, it’s good to see Khali back in the ring after having brain surgery or whatever it was he had done. Not exactly a quality main event here though.

Sheamus’ music plays but he doesn’t come out so it’s back to Show’s music.

Post match Show walks to the back but Sheamus jumps him as he gets on his bus. Show fights back and shoves Sheamus through the windshield of a car, but Shemaus dives off the car and rams Show into another windshield. Booker pulls Sheamus off to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. This is one of those shows where it depends on how you look at it. From a quality standpoint, it was nothing at all of note. It was full of nothing of note matches and nothing new being added for the most part. From the standpoint of a go home show, it pushed the two main Smackdown matches which is what the final show before a PPV is supposed to do. That being said, I still don’t care about the show because we have no reason to care about Ziggler vs. Foley and the world title match has been done before. Not much here but it’s not horrible. As with most WWE at the moment, it’s just kind of there.

Results

Damien Sandown b. Kofi Kingston – Rollup with a handful of trunks

Natalya/Kaitlyn/Layla b. Alicia Fox/Eve Torres/Aksana – Reverse DDT to Fox

Randy Orton/The Miz b. Alberto Del Rio/Dolph Ziggler – Skull Crushing Finale to Del Rio

Kane b. Wade Barrett via DQ when Team Ziggler interefered

Antonio Cesaro b. Sin Cara – Neutralizer

Big Show b. Great Khali – KO Punch

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Smackdown
Date: November 6, 2012
Location: LG Arena, Birmingham, England
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield

This is one of those cockamamie live Smackdowns that almost no one watches because there’s no reason to care about Smackdown. The main event for tonight is Del Rio vs. Orton, because we need it hammered into our heads that we wasted our time watching the three Barrett vs. Orton matches. Other than that there’s nothing announced for this week. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap from last night with the Survivor Series elimination match being shifted around.

Here’s Sheamus in the ring to open things up. Apparently there was an incident in a pub last night and we’ve got footage of it. It shows Regal, Sheamus and Big Show in a pub and a brawl breaks out. Show destroys Sheamus using various furniture. Back in the arena, Sheamus tells Cole to get out of the ring. He doesn’t respect Show because of Regal getting attacked in the pub, so Sheamus wants to fight right now. Not for the title, but just to fight.

Instead Show pops up on screen and calls Sheamus an ungrateful ginger. Show held back in the pub but at Survivor Series Show is going to go at Sheamus full speed. Sheamus calls him out again but here’s Barrett instead. Barrett says that Sheamus already has to face him on Main Event so don’t even worry about Big Show tonight. Sweet goodness just make the tag match already. Sheamus calls him to the ring again but Barrett leaves.

Barrett is in the back post match and Booker makes the tag match. Why do they bother having these ten minute openings when that’s the match announced every time? Seriously, that’s good TV time being totally wasted on pandering when you know the outcome the second the names are mentioned. It’s Sheamus/Regal vs. Show/Barrett if that’s not clear.

Intercontinental Title: The Miz vs. Kofi Kingston

Kofi is defending. Now remember: Miz has lost three straight times to Kofi but he got a pin in a tag match. That pin after a Show punch was apparently enough to convince Booker to give us this match. The first thing said during this match is that Kofi has Miz’s number. They’re not even hiding that there’s no reason to believe Miz can win here. The ropes seem extra loose here for some reason.

After a headlock by the champion he hits a monkey flip and clothesline to put Miz on the floor. A baseball slide misses for Kofi and Miz puts him on the barricade. Kofi is fine with that and walks the barricade like Jeff Hardy used to do, hitting a clothesline to take Miz down. Back in and Miz drops Kofi out of the corner and might have hurt the champ’s knee. We take a break and come back with Miz getting two off something we didn’t see.

Miz holds onto the ankle in a hold that really doesn’t look like it hurts. During the break Miz dropped Lofi’s knee on the steps and back live a dropkick to said knee gets two. Miz hooks a weird kind of standing Figure Four before going to the mat with a generic leg lock. Kofi’s solution? Kick him in the face. Why overcomplicate things? Kofi fights back and hits the Boom Drop but Trouble in Paradise is countered. The Finale is countered into a series of rollups before Miz hooks a half crab. Kofi goes up again but gets crotched. Miz’s superplex attempt is blocked and Kofi hits a top rope cross body to retain at 11:29.

Rating: C+. We get it: Kofi can beat Miz. Now why did we need to see this for a fourth time? I’ve heard the plan is to move Miz to the main event again, so the solution is to have him lose FOUR TIMES? The lack of drama hurts this, as the announcers kept harping on the 3-0 that Kofi has been since this feud started. Not a bad match but it was beating a dead horse.

Post match Miz offers a handshake (you read that right) but Kofi dropkicks him to the floor. Jerk.

Prime Time Players vs. Sin Cara/Rey Mysterio

Young vs. Cara to start with Darren taking control. Titus adds his power stuff before it’s back to Young with a cravate. Titus breaks up a hot tag for a second before an enziguri from Cara lets him tag Mysterio. Rey speeds things up and ranas Titus into 619 position, only to have Darren break it up. Titus grabs a charging Rey and hits the Clash of the Titus for the pin at 3:13.

Rating: D+. At least with this feud that keeps going the teams are alternating wins. Titus and Young have charisma to them where they’re fun to watch. Mysterio and Cara are going to be popular no matter what they do, so there’s nothing for them to lose here. This was short but it was competitive enough to not be terrible.

Post match Striker tries to interview the Players, but the Players interview themselves with every answer being millions of dollars. They make Striker say it too but he’s not so enthusiastic. They try to get Striker to do the millions of dollars dance but he gets whistled at for having no rhythm and a bad mustache. The Players do the dance instead.

As this is being written, Linda McMahon has officially lost her race in the Senate.

We recap the Cena/AJ/Vickie stuff from last night and by recap, I mean show the whole thing. We’re going to get MORE footage on Raw. Good grief END THIS STUPID STORY ALREADY!

Booker and Teddy talk about the tag match tonight with Teddy saying that he made a lot of tag matches too. This turns into Booker implying Teddy is sucking up to him. Oh wait Booker is just kidding.

Big Show/Wade Barrett vs. William Regal/Sheamus

After the break, we look at the video from earlier again in case someone forgot it. BIG pop for Regal. Sheamus chases the heels to the floor before the match starts and we stall a lot. Show wants to start with Regal but both guys tag to bring in Barrett vs. Sheamus. It’s their usual power brawling stuff to start with Sheamus finally getting two off a clothesline. Off to Regal in his one piece women’s swimsuit for his usual hard stuff to Barrett’s chest. Sheamus hits the slingshot shoulder for two.

Show yells at the referee a lot and it’s back to Regal, who gets a pop on his second tag instead of the first. Regal gets his legs swept out from under him and Big Show comes in to pound him down. The heels double team the home country guy but Regal keeps fighting back. Show shoulders him right back down and puts on a nerve hold as we take a break. Back with Barrett still working over Regal before bringing Show back in.

Show works on Regal’s arm and Regal yells a lot while having an EVIL look on his face. I think JBL said that the Souvenir has been changed to the Bull Hammer now. I wouldn’t be complaining about the name change. Barrett hooks a front facelock but Regal shakes him off. That and a forearm to Barrett’s face are enough to make the tag to Sheamus who fires off a bunch of ax handles to drop Show. The top rope shoulder looks to set up the Brogue Kick but a Barrett distraction allows Show to spear Sheamus down. Off to Regal who fires on Show with everything he’s got, but the WMD knocks him silly for the pin at about 14:00.

Rating: C-. This was your standard main event tag match for the hometown audience. I’m kind of glad they didn’t have Regal get a win over either of these guys because it would have been silly to have a guy never on the show get a win over a top guy. If this were a house show it would have been fine but on TV Regal losing was the right call.

We recap the food fight last week with Orton and Del Rio.

Del Rio doesn’t have much to say but Rosa wishes him luck.

We get the Brad Maddox segment from Raw. This one is clipped though.

Orton says he’s crazy and doesn’t mind being called names by Del Rio.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Randy Orton

This is falls count anywhere and anything goes, since I guess Hardcore is on the not cool list of terms now. We come back from a break but WAIT, before the match we have to look at some SyFy show to fill in more time so we don’t have a 25 minute main event. Here’s Alberto, but here’s ANOTHER recap before the bell can ring. If anything goes here, why doesn’t Ricardo come in and help Alberto?

He hands Del Rio a chair but Orton knocks it away from Alberto. The chair gets wedged between the top and middle rope in the corner but Orton dropkicks Del Rio to the floor. Alberto sends him into the barricade and has to escape the Elevated DDT. They head into the crowd with Randy giving chase. Del Rio whips him into some big metal cases. They head into the concourse and we take a break.

Back with the brawl continuing in the back before they head into the arena again. Del Rio drapes him over a barricade and hits a knee lift for two. They fight back up the steps with Orton pounding him in the head. A cameraman goes down as we go to a flat area where Del Rio hits a superkick and a chair shot for two. We take another break and come back with Del Rio having steps placed in the ring. Orton fights back and they go to the floor by the stage where Orton backdrops Del Rio from the floor to the ramp for two.

Ricardo tries to choke Randy a bit and is immediately shrugged off. Orton throws Ricardo into the British phone booth on the stage and pounds on him a bit. It’s about time some of those props up there were used. Orton hits the clotheslines back in the ring and sends Del Rio into the chair that Alberto set up earlier. Del Rio sends Orton to the apron but Orton comes back with a headbutt.

There’s a table set up at ringside but Orton can’t suplex Bertie through it. Instead Alberto hits an enzugri to send Randy through it VERY slowly. That gets two on the floor and Alberto grabs a mic. He says he’s the new Apex Predator of the WWE and there’s the armbreaker. Apparently rope breaks don’t count here (yet they count in the Cell I believe) so Orton has to hit Del Rio in the head with the mic to escape. Alberto sends him shoulder first into the post and pulls the steps into position. Del Rio tries an Elevated DDT onto those steps but Randy escapes and it’s the RKO onto the steps for the pin at 21:45.

Rating: B. For a main event on free TV, this was a solid hardcore match. Does Orton ever lose matches with rules like this one had? They beat on each other really well with Orton getting the better of it for the most part, but Alberto didn’t look bad at all. Hopefully this ends the feud like traditional storytelling would dictate.

Josh’s line to close the show: “Who is the Apex Predator of the WWE?” SO WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THIS FREAKING MATCH??? Orton just beat him in a brutal match but we’re still not sure? And they wonder why no one is interested in their stories anymore.

Overall Rating: C. The main event was good but the rest of the show was only ok. Te real problem here is that Smackdown adds absolutely nothing to WWE anymore. It’s a lot of matches you different versions of on Raw and a big tag match that doesn’t mean anything outside of England. On top of that you get long recaps from Raw and that’s it. Seriously, what else is there on Smackdown? Oh there’s that wacky Teddy and Booker bantering.

This show is worthless anymore and the rating is going to bomb with the election being tight at the moment. But hey, when you have a ton of bad stuff on Raw, the solution is to just air it again right? Tonight’s episode did not need to be on Tuesday and it’s not going to mean anything, as these feuds are the same ones you get on Raw. Why the WWE thinks people want to see them again on Tuesday/Friday is beyond me, but what do I know?

Results

Kofi Kingston b. The Miz – Cross Body

Prime Time Players b. Sin Cara/Rey Mysterio – Clash of the Titus to Rey

Big Show/Wade Barrett b. Sheamus/William Regal – WMD to Regal

Randy Orton b. Alberto Del Rio – RKO onto steel steps

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Smackdown
Date: November 2, 2012
Location: Crown Coliseum, Fayetteville, North Carolina
Commentators: Josh Matthews, John Bradshaw Layfield

We’re in the Big Show Era here and for the life of me I’m not entirely sure why. Sheamus was doing ok as champion (other than the three months that Del Rio sucked the life out of him) so they put the title on Big Show of all people? At least the match was good though so that helps a bit. Other than that we’re going to have to speed through the build to Survivor Series in three weeks. Let’s get to it.

We start with a kind of commercial for the show, talking about what we’re going to see. Most of it is related to Raw of course, because being bored by that stuff on Monday isn’t enough anymore.

We open with MizTV and Miz talks about Ryback a bit before moving on to Sheamus getting knocked out. Sheamus is the guest tonight and as he comes to the ring, we see another clip from Raw of Sheamus hitting White Noise on Big Show. Miz asks Sheamus about being a loser, but Sheamus asks him about losing to Kofi on Sunday. Miz says the difference between the two of them is that he can beat Kofi and will do it again to get back the IC Title. Sheamus agrees that he’s never beaten Big Show but he’s not going to hide.

Miz cuts him off and says he doesn’t want to hear cliched stock answers. See, it’s Miz that can be blamed for Sheamus losing the title. He won the match at Wrestlemania that got Johnny Ace power, which led to Show getting his job back, which led to Show’s change in attitude, which led to Show winning the title. Sheamus: “So it’s you whose head I should be kicking off?” Miz backs off and says he’ll win his title back from Kofi.

Before Miz can say his catchphrase, here’s Kofi. Kofi says Miz hasn’t been on the Real World in awhile, but apparently Kofi has kicked the sense out of Miz, because Miz can’t beat him. Miz says he’ll beat Kofi at Survivor Series, but here’s Big Show for another interruption. He isn’t happy with Miz taking credit for Show’s victory, so he’s siding with Kofi in saying there’s something wrong with Miz. Why is Sheamus getting interviewed instead of the new champion? Why ask Sheamus what it’s like to get knocked out when you can ask Show what it’s like to knock him out.

Miz asks him just that but as Show starts talking about euphoria, Sheamus cuts him off and asks what it felt like to take White Noise on Monday. Show laughs it off and says no rematch at Survivor Series. Miz tries to jump Kofi and is immediately knocked to the floor. I’m pretty sure you can figure out the main event already.

After a break, Big Show is in the back and runs into Booker who makes the tag match with the four guys in the opening segment.

Sin Cara vs. Darren Young

Things start fast and Cara spins Young around with a rana and armdrag off the middle rope. Darren wisely slows things down and hits a neckbreaker for two. Off to a chinlock but Cara fights up and grabs a small package for two. Back to the chinlock by Darren which doesn’t work again as Sin fights up and hits a middle rope dropkick to take over. A jumping back elbow gets two for the dude in the mask but Young knees him in the ribs to put Cara right back down. The gutbuster gets the pin for Young at 3:37.

Rating: D+. Not bad here but the time hurts it. It’s nice to see these guys doing something other than having the same tag match over and over again as it’ll keep the feud somewhat fresher. I’m still amazed by how much better Young and O’Neil are than when they were on NXT, just by doing some stupid dance.

Post match Titus starts blowing on a whistle and talks about beating on a pinata in the ring. Those little dogs tried to get in the ring with some big dogs and Titus is going to give another little dog that chance. He calls out Mysterio and we’re getting another match. Before we get to that, quick sidebar about something Titus said: regarding pinatas, is there a more bizarre tradition ever for children? “Here son, here’s your favorite cartoon. NOW BEAT HIM WITH A STICK UNTIL HE BREAKS IN HALF AND EAT WHAT FALLS OUT OF HIM!”

Rey Mysterio vs. Titus O’Neil

We get the bell after a break and Rey fires off kicks to the leg. Titus gets in a single shot to knock Rey down and the beating begins. A slam gets two for Titus and it’s time to stand around. O’Neil misses a running boot to Rey who was against the ropes. The partners fight on the floor as Titus catches the 619. He takes Rey to the corner and gets down in a three point stance, only to hit the middle buckle, allowing Rey to roll him up for the pin at 2:55.

Cara and Rey do the Players’ dance on the stage.

We get a recap video from the end of the PPV with Maddox hitting Ryback low to give Punk the pin, followed by the Shell Shock on top of the Cell.

Maddox will be on Raw on Monday.

We get the full ending segment from Raw, starting with Heyman introducing Miz as Punk’s first team member.

Teddy and Booker are in the back and Teddy thinks there’s going to be mutiny in the Raw locker room. Natalya comes in and wants to be the assistant since Eve is on the European tour. Otunga comes in and says he’ll do anything Booker needs. Booker says he needs Otunga to compete against a returning superstar. Otunga says ok but Booker says it’s Great Khali. Otunga spits his coffee on Nattie. After an insult from Otunga, more coffee goes flying at Teddy. This was supposed to be comedy I believe.

Wade Barrett vs. Randy Orton

Del Rio is on commentary. While Orton is doing his pose on the ropes, Del Rio tries to run in and jump him, only to get knocked right to the floor. Ricardo rams Orton into the post and a double beatdown ensues as we take a break. Back and the scheduled match is in progress with Orton clotheslining Barrett to the floor. They head back in with Barrett taking Orton down upon reentry.

Wade chokes away on the middle rope and does the same on the top rope so it doesn’t feel left out. There’s the running big boot while Orton is sitting on the middle rope, knocking him back to the floor. After ramming Randy into the steps a few times, it’s back inside for ye olde chinlock. Orton tries a comeback with a belly to back suplex but immediately after taking Barrett down with it, Wade kicks him in the ribs to slow Randy back down.

They slug it out and Orton takes over, which even Josh thinks is very surprising given that Barrett is a bareknuckle fighter. Barrett comes back with a kick to the face and a middle rope elbow for two. Back to the reverse chinlock followed by Barrett slamming him down. Wade goes up for another elbow but Orton crotches him and hits a superplex to put both guys down. Orton busts out some clotheslines and the powerslam followed by the Elevated DDT. Before the RKO can be loaded up, Del Rio shows up on the stage. Orton has to knock Ricardo to the floor and Wade gets a rollup win at 8:43 shown.

Rating: C+. The match was pretty good here but I’d like for Barrett to be more than a prop in someone else’s feud, which is all he is anymore. These two have fought three times now and have alternated wins every time. It’s hard to get behind either guy, especially when Barrett isn’t even getting any of the focus. Has he even gotten an entrance in any of the matches?

We get the segment from Raw of everyone talking about breast cancer and a clipped down version of Cena presenting the million dollar check to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Striker asks Alberto why he keeps tormenting Orton. Orton comes up from behind and they brawl. They head to the catering table and Orton throws hot coffee on Ricardo. Once Alberto is down, Randy pours what looks like barbecue sauce on Rodriguez as well. Alberto gets thrown over a table. The desserts are spared and when Del Rio runs away, Striker tries to talk to Randy, earning him a trip into a cake. When did Striker become the whipping boy of Smackdown?

Great Khali vs. David Otunga

Khali recently had to have some kind of surgery on his brain so it’s a good thing to see him back. During Otunga’s entrance, we actually recap the scene that set this match up. Teddy and Nattie having coffee spat on them deserved a recap? Seriously? Otunga takes him down but Khali chops him from his knees. More chopping in the corner follows and Natalya is watching in the back. Khali misses a boot but comes back with the big chop for the pin at 1:35.

Post break Natalya thanks Khali for beating up Otunga. They shake hands and Nattie thinks his hands are big. Ok then.

R-Truth vs. Justin Gabriel

Feeling out process to start and Truth starts gyrating. Gabriel avoids a shot of his own and gyrates a bit as well. Truth hits the spinning forearm for two but Gabriel dropkicks him down and kicks away a bit. Off to a chinlock by Justin as JBL is talking about Shawn Michaels. A spin kick puts Truth down and since it worked so well the first time, Justin does it again. Gabriel tries a springboard I’m assuming clothesline but Truth ducks out of the way and hits Little Jimmy for the pin at 3:23.

Rating: D+. Wasn’t Gabriel supposed to get a push? Now he’s losing to R-Truth clean of all people? This was a rather random match between two faces with no tease of either guy turning or anything. This whole show has felt like it doesn’t need to exist and this is another match that would fit on the same list. It wasn’t bad or anything though.

ANOTHER recap from Raw, this time about the AJ/Vickie/Cena/Ziggler segment. You know, WWE’s PG version of TNA’s horrible Clair Lynch story.

Show tells Miz to follow his lead tonight because Show is in charge out there.

We recap Alberto and Ricardo costing Orton the match earlier as well as the brawl. Next week on the live Smackdown (as in taped earlier in the day) it’s Del Rio vs. Orton in a falls count anywhere match. In other words, the Barret matches meant nothing at all.

Sheamus/Kofi Kingston vs. Big Show/The Miz

During Sheamus’ entrance, we get I believe the sixth video from Raw of the night, this one being Sheamus hitting White Noise on Show. Didn’t we see that already? Miz and Show keep changing places to decide who faces Sheamus. It’s eventually Miz with Sheamus hammering away to start in the corner. I’m so used to calling Sheamus the champ but I can’t do that anymore, so it’s just Sheamus working on the arm.

Off to Kofi who comes in off the top with a shot to the arm, only to be clotheslined down by Miz. Kofi hits the same move to knock Miz to the floor, followed by a suicide dive to take over. Show and Sheamus stare at each other on the floor as well and we take a break. Back with Show slamming Kofi down before doing some amateur stuff (yes you read that right) to take Kofi to the mat.

A side slam puts Kofi down for the third time and Show keeps looking over at Sheamus. Off to Miz to work on the downed Kofi. A knee drop gets two and Miz puts on a reverse chinlock which doesn’t last long. Kofi tries to dive over Miz to get to Sheamus but the right route is apparently going through the legs instead. Sheamus gets the hot tag and destroys Miz, hitting a powerslam and the ten forearms in the ropes. The Regal Roll takes Miz down and it’s off to Kofi for his top rope cross body. Show gets knocked off the apron but as Kofi pounds on Miz in the corner, Show knocks him cold, giving Miz the pin at 6:42 shown of 10:12.

Rating: C-. Standard main event tag match here that wasn’t anything great. Thankfully Show didn’t lose in his first match as champion and Miz FINALLY pins Kofi to give us a reason to care about a fourth match between them. Other than that though, this was a pretty dull match with nothing significant happening at all.

Miz poses over Kofi post match and Sheamus kicks his head off. Well he was too busy yelling at the referee while Show punched Kofi so he had to do something good here.

Overall Rating: D-. This is officially a Raw supplemental show. They recapped EVERYTHING that happened on Raw and nothing here was anything new. Between meaningless matches (Gabriel vs. Truth and Khali vs. Otunga) and the same match we’ve seen on the last two TV shows which apparently is just to set up Del Rio vs. Orton again, what’s the point in watching Smackdown anymore? I certainly can’t think of why anybody would sit through this.

Results

Darren Young b. Sin Cara – Double Knee Gutbuster

Rey Mysterio b. Titus O’Neil – Rollup

Wade Barrett b. Randy Orton – Rollup

Great Khali b. David Otunga – Chop

R-Truth b. Justin Gabriel – Little Jimmy

Big Show/The Miz b. Kofi Kingston/Sheamus – Miz pinned Kingston after a WMD from Big Show

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Smackdown
Date: October 26, 2012
Location: Dunkin’ Donuts Center, Providence, Rhode Island
Commentators: Josh Matthews, John Bradshaw Layfield

It’s the final show before the PPV and I think everything major is set. We finally know the tag title match so you can probably expect to see some more about that. After the disaster of a Raw this week, maybe Smackdown can redeem things a bit. If nothing else, Sheamus vs. Big Show is probably the best feud going in the WWE right now. Let that sink in for a minute. Let’s get to it.

Here’s Orton to open the show. As he comes to the ring, we get a history of Orton vs. Del Rio, including the graphic for their match on Sunday. Does anyone else find it stupid looking when they have the video game graphics in the background? It takes away how serious the feud is supposed to be. Orton says he doesn’t hate Del Rio for attacking him last week, but rather why the attack happened. If it was because Del Rio was embarrassed for losing to Sheamus over and over, that’s one thing. But doing it and pretending to be a tough guy was a mistake.

Orton says he’ll be honest with Del Rio: on Sunday, Alberto is getting the most brutal beating of his life. Alberto cuts Randy off and says they’re doing this on Del Rio’s terms. Randy isn’t a viper but rather a garden snake. Orton says no one here knows what Del Rio just said. Apparently Del Rio is all talk and is a spineless bottom feeder with no cajones. Randy’s words, not mine. Del Rio starts to come to the ring with Orton saying bring it on, but here’s Barrett from behind to jump Orton.

Post break Del Rio is in the back when Teddy comes up. Before anything can be said, Barrett comes up and asks if that was what Del Rio was looking for. It’s Barrett vs. Orton tonight.

Kane vs. Cody Rhodes

Bryan and Sandow are on commentary. Kane takes him into the corner to start as Bryan and Sandow argue back and forth. There’s the top rope clothesline followed by an uppercut to put Cody down. Cody escapes a side slam and hits a running knee to the face of Kane. A Disaster Kick winds up being a dropkick for two and Cody goes for the knee. Sandow and Bryan argue over whose beard is better. Josh: “Damien what is your IQ approaching?” Sandow: “It’s approaching infinity. I become smarter merely by sitting here.” Cody tries that uppercut from the mat of his but Kane grabs him for the chokeslam and pin at 3:15.

Rating: D+. This didn’t have time to get anywhere but the champions dominated for the first time in this feud that I remember. This is an interesting feud as the champions completely dominate on an individual basis but when they combine it’s not so one sided. That makes for an interesting match on Sunday if nothing else.

Booker comes in to see Show, who is face to face with Sheamus tonight. Booker requests professionalism tonight but Show cuts him off. Show won’t cause any trouble because he’s got nothing left to prove until Sunday. I keep forgetting how tall Booker is.

The Miz vs. Yoshi Tatsu

There’s a name I haven’t seen in awhile. Feeling out process to start with Miz taking him down via a shoulder. They head to the floor with Tatsu having his back rammed into the barricade. A boot to the side of Yoshi’s head puts him down and Miz puts on a reverse chinlock with a hand full of face. Another running boot to the face takes Tatsu down. A belly to back suplex is countered into a cross body for two for Yoshi. Miz’s short DDT puts Yoshi right back down and it’s the Skull Crushing Finale for the pin at 4:02.

Rating: D+. Another squash here but even less competitive. Like I’ve said for a few weeks now though, WWE is finally starting to use its army of wrestlers in spots like this instead of someone that’s currently being used in a story. Yoshi losing here doesn’t mean anything and doesn’t hurt him at all while giving Miz a boost before the PPV. It’s not hard.

Video on the Egyptian tour.

Raw ReBound is Ryback destroying Punk on Monday.

We also get a video from Main Event with Heyman talking (on the monitor) about how Ryback isn’t in Punk’s league. Now when Miz (who is in the ring at this point. On Main Event that is) faced Ryback, he took his beating like a man. Ziggler losing to Ryback has no correlation with Punk because Punk is a much better strategist than Ryback.

It’s ANOTHER recap about the Divas situation with Kaitlyn saying she has proof of Eve being behind the attack at Night of Champions.

In Booker’s office, Aksana says it was a text from Eve and not an e-mail. Teddy tries to make sense of this whole story, which boils down to Eve is behind everything. Booker says if this is true, then Eve is off his staff. Eve says she’s too trustworthy and leaves her iPad and iPhone out with no pass code on it. More yelling ensues between all four girls in the office until it’s announced as Eve vs. Layla vs. Kaitlyn for the title. Tonight it’s a tag match though.

Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett

Barrett is sent to the floor very quickly with Orton following and in full control. Back in and Orton does his circle stomp before hooking a chinlock. Barrett comes back and sends Randy into the buckle but Orton clotheslines him down and drops a knee. They head to the floor with Orton being rammed face first into the apron a few times. As they come back in, Orton’s Elevated DDT is countered and Barrett sends him back to the floor.

Randy gets sent into the table and we take a break. Back with Barrett holding a chinlock, only for Orton to elbow out of it. Scratch that comeback as Orton gets taken right back down by Wade. Barrett puts Orton in the ropes and hits that running big boot to the face that looks awesome. A backbreaker gets two for Barrett and it’s off to a reverse chinlock. Barrett fires off knees to the ribs of Orton followed by a clothesline for two.

Barrett tries going up top but gets crotched and eventually superplexed down for two. Randy starts his finishing sequence with the clotheslines and a powerslam. The place freaks out over the RKO coming up but Barrett comes back with the Winds of Change for two. Barrett misses the Souvenir and gets caught in Orton’s over the back backbreaker. Now the Elevated DDT hits and Orton loads up the RKO, but here’s Del Rio. The distraction lets Barrett hit the Souvenir for the pin at 9:12 shown of 12:42.

Rating: C+. The more I see of Barrett the more I like him. He’s got a good physical style and looks like he could take down anyone in any given match. Orton losing here is fine as it advances his feud with Del Rio before the payoff on Sunday. I’m already digging this feud WAY more than the Sheamus one, mainly because there’s a chance Alberto could win.

Post match Del Rio attacks but neither the cross armbreaker or the RKO can hit.

Aksana/Eve Torres vs. Kaitlyn/Layla

Layla and Aksana get things going but it’s off to Kaitlyn. Aksana continues to be the current worst worker on the roster so thankfully it’s off to Eve. She pounds on Kaitly a bit but a backsplash hits knees. Eve blocks the tag to Layla so we get more Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn runs over both heel girls and Layla kicks Aksana in the ribs. Layla misses a high kick and knocks Kaitlyn out, giving Eve the pin on Kaitlyn at 3:43.

Rating: D+. To be fair, the girls aren’t as terrible as they used to be as Kaitlyn is at least passable in the ring. Layla and Kaitlyn….eh not so much. Aksana continues to be there for looks only but someone has to do that I suppose. Not horrible here, but the NXT Divas matches are much more entertaining lately.

Raw ReBound sums up the Vickie/AJ/Cena stuff.

Sheamus doesn’t believe Show will be calm tonight.

Kane tells Bryan that he won his match so if Bryan loses, it’s clear that Bryan is the weak link.

Daniel Bryan vs. Damien Sandow

Sandow offers the audience some better words than YES to use, such as undoubtedly his beard is better than Bryans and absolutely the Rhodes Scholars will win the titles on Sunday. Kane and Bryan are in on commentary now. They start on the floor before Bryan takes over with kicks in the corner back inside. Bryan works on the arm as we take a break. Back with Sandow on the floor and Bryan firing off kicks.

Back in and Sandow hits the Russian legsweep and the windup elbow for two. Off to a chinlock before Sandow fires away right hands to the head. Kane won’t say a thing. Bryan starts firing off the YES Kicks and backdrops Damien to the floor. There’s a suicide dive and Cody gets in Bryan’s face. Kane goes after Sandow but no DQ has been called yet. Cody posts Bryan and Sandow slides in for the Terminus and the pin at 5:00 shown of 8:30.

Rating: C. Sandow getting a pin on Bryan is a big win for him and splitting up the wins tonight is a good move for the tag match. Nothing great here but seeing Damien hang in there with a guy like Bryan is a great sign. The guy could be a big deal for years to come, and having him get wins like this is a good idea.

Here are Sheamus and Big Show for their face to face time. There’s a ton of security here just in case. Show lists off a lot of famous finishers that the KO Punch is stronger than, including the Brogue Kick which they’ve proven scientifically. Sheamus says the KO Punch has to connect to work, so Show gives us some footage from a few weeks ago where he blocked the Brogue Kick.

Show says the Kick can’t get high enough and it’s a matter of physics that says Sheamus can’t beat him. If Sheamus thinks he can win, he’s either stupid or delusional. Sheamus there there are two thinks he loves: cold ale on a hot day and a good fight. The idea of fighting Show has his mouth watering. Sheamus again says that the title he holds today is the same as the WCW Title.

The champ is looking forward to fighting Show because he’s the ultimate fight. Show says Sheamus is scared but Sheamus says he doesn’t care how many Brogue Kicks it takes. Sheamus shouts that the time for fighting is now and it’s on. The security all gets tossed out but Show leaves before fighting Sheamus. Good hard sell for the title match here which you don’t get enough of anymore.

Overall Rating: C+. This was a solid go home show as the main matches all got a focus. The show isn’t going to be great but they’ve done enough here to make me interested in seeing it, which is exactly what they were shooting for here. I’m pleased by how Big Show vs. Sheamus is looking, as they’ve done a great job of building up the idea of can Sheamus beat him. I’m not at all saying it’s a great feud or that the match is going to be awesome, but they’ve done well with what they’ve got. Good show tonight.

Results

Kane b. Cody Rhodes – Chokeslam

The Miz b. Yoshi Tatsu – Skull Crushing Finale

Wade Barrett b. Randy Orton – Souvenir

Eve Torres/Aksana b. Layla/Kaitlyn – Torres pinned Kaitlyn after a high kick from Layla

Damien Sandown b. Daniel Bryan – Terminus

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Smackdown
Date: April 13, 2000
Location: Ice Palace, Tampa, Florida
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler

It’s another request and like most of them, I have no idea why it’s on my list. We’re on the way to Backlash 2000 but this isn’t the final show before it quite yet. Other than that there isn’t much going on here other than Wrestlemania being over recently, which means that HHH is still champion and is feuding with the Rock. Since it’s 2000, I’ll bet that this show winds up being awesome. Let’s get to it.

Actually I’ve done the Raw before this. Here it is if you’re interested:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2012/09/24/monday-night-raw-april-10-2000-i-cant-believe-it-but-2000-actually-had-some-bad-shows/

We open with a recap from Raw where Rock beat Boss Man and Bull Buchanan in a cage to earn his title shot at Backlash.

Opening sequence, which is still pretty cool even today.

European Title: Rikishi vs. Eddie Guerrero

Eddie is defending and only won the title a few days ago. He gives the Mamacita (Chyna) a vase of flowers and makes fun of Rikishi a bit (“WHERE IN THE WORLD IS SAMOA ANYWAY???”). Chyna’s distraction allows Eddie to get in some shots which are promptly no sold. A powerslam gets two for the fat man but he hits the referee on the kickout. He loads up the Banzai, but Chyna hits him in the face with the vase, shattering it. That only gets two for Eddie so he knocks Rikishi to the floor. Chyna cheats AGAIN with a clothesline and still doesn’t get caught, allowing Eddie to hit the slingshot hilo for two.

With no Chyna to help him now, Guerrero goes after the knee. This isn’t that great so far. A Samoan Drop sets up a splash in the corner for Rikishi but Chyna distracts him again to prevent the Stinkface. Eddie dropkicks Big Kish into Chyna, crushing her in the corner. Rikishi no sells the dropkick and superkicks Eddie down before Stinkfacing Chyna. You can feel the STDs spreading just watching that. The Rikishi Driver is loaded up but Chyna hits Rikishi low to FINALLY draw the DQ.

Rating: C-. Nothing to see here. Rikishi would rise up the card very fast over the summer, culminating in one of the biggest WHAT WERE THEY THINKING moments in company history as he would turn heel and be revealed as the guy that ran over Austin. Eddie and Chyna did their thing for a few more months before splitting and doing very little else for a good while.

HHH, Shane and Stephanie think they’re going to make Rock’s night a nightmare. Rock arrives in the back and the games are going to begin soon.

Here are the three evil ones from the previous segment to the ring with something to say. Shane reminisces about Rock getting busted open on Raw and is proud to be HHH’s brother in law. They hug it out even though they’re friends, which makes that line incorrect I think. Stephanie says that Vince has a surprise for HHH but who cares about that, because let’s spoil it: Vince wants to be in HHH’s corner when he defends against Rock.

HHH is flattered but doesn’t want Vince there because HHH wants all of the spotlight. Vince can be in the front row though. Gee that’s nice of him. Seriously, HHH’s levels of smug here are great and one of the top reasons he was so awesome back in 2000. Rock can keep coming back time and again but no matter how much blood and sweat he gives up trying, HHH will crush him every time.

Here’s Rock who has something to say (duh). The pop for Rock is absolutely insane and it’s amazing how over he is at this point. HHH cuts him off before Rock starts talking and says they’ll be having the match at Backlash. I love how we need announcements about where matches are going to be when it’s obvious where they’re going to be no matter what.

Rock talks about being beaten down but coming out with the shot and he’s going to be happy to win the title in front of Vince. HHH says Rock lost a lot of blood Monday (not really) and tonight it’s Rock vs. HHH….with respective partners the APA and Boss Man/Buchanan. Rock says it doesn’t matter if this is the best HHH can come up with because he’ll win the title at Backlash. He promises to win the title at Backlash and that’s it. That took fifteen minutes plus somehow.

Earlier today, Al Snow and Steve Blackman went to a retirement home, presumably for a personal appearance. The surprise is that Snow has booked Blackman, the most bland wrestler in the history of bland wrestlers, as a stand up comedian. More on this later apparently.

Hardy Boys vs. Dean Malenko/Chris Benoit

This is pretty shortly after the Radicalz debuted and Benoit is IC Champion. Oh and Dean is Light Heavyweight Champion. Matt and Dean start with the Hardy hip tossing the Radical. Matt takes him to the mat but misses a charge in the corner to give the villains control. Off to Benoit who whips Matt into a corner and Dean into Matt but Dean’s charge misses as well. Nice little mirroring bit there. Benoit grabs Matt and starts rolling Germans but the third is blocked. Matt has to take out Malenko (is Jeff asleep or something?) and Benoit dropkicks Matt to the floor.

After a beating from the Ice Man (we’re in the Ice Palace so that fits quite well) on the floor, Matt gets an elbow up to stop a charging Benoit and it’s off to Jeff. It’s also off to Malenko who is immediately taken down and caught by a regular legdrop from Matt and one between the legs by Jeff. Benoit comes back in and tries to powerbomb Jeff but it winds up being a modified Doomsday Device (Benoit as Animal and Dean as Hawk with a powerbomb finish) for no cover as the referee is with Matt.

Benoit comes in and suplexes Jeff down and hits a backbreaker for two. Back to Malenko for a clothesline and some pounding. This is all hard hitting stuff which makes it a lot better. The Radicals take turns hammering away on Jeff and Jeff gets to show off his amazing selling abilities. Benoit drop toeholds Jeff down so Dean can hit a dropkick to the side of his head.

Jeff escapes a German but gets chopped immediately to slow him down. A belly to back superplex by Chris is countered into a cross body for two for Jeff as things speed up a bit. A double tag brings in Matt vs. Dean, with the latter kicking the former’s head off for two. Everything breaks down and the Hardys counter a near collision into Poetry in Motion on Dean. Benoit throws Jeff to the floor and Malenko puts Matt down, but Jeff comes back with the Swanton to Dean’s back, giving Matt the pin.

Rating: B. For a tag match on free TV, this was pretty awesome. The speed of the match was great and they never stopped moving. That whole thing was less than seven minutes and that’s probably twice what I would usually write for a match that long. The Radicalz breathed fresh life into the WWF, which is even better when you consider the WWF didn’t need fresh life in the first place. That’s why 2000 was so great: they had all this talent AND THEY USED IT!

Angle is with Shane in the back and is told that since he was screwed at Wrestlemania, tonight he and Show are getting a tag title shot. Angle leaves and Shane and HHH chuckle.

Hardcore Title: Crash Holly vs. Perry Saturn

Crash is defending. Saturn brings in a barrel of weapons which Crash tries to empty out. Saturn is sent into the steps and we head inside. A headscissors gets two for the champion but Saturn counters a rana attempt into a powerbomb. A trashcan lid to the head gets two for Saturn and we get a short pinfall reversal sequence.

Saturn hits a flapjack and breaks a crutch over Crash’s back. Crash comes back with a tornado DDT for two but a superkick gives Saturn the title. Taz comes out with a cookie sheet to the head to win the title but Crash hits Taz with it to win the title right back and runs away. When Saturn was champion, all four of the Radicals had titles at the same time. This was your usual hardcore mess and not really worth rating. The joke was getting old and would stay that way. Taz and Saturn brawl a bit.

We head back to the nursing home for the actual comedy performance from Blackman. He reads some terrible jokes than only Snow laughs at.

Angle comes out for the tag title match but he has something to say first. He’s going to win the tag titles tonight because Show is all dominant. Here’s Show…as a Scotsman, complete with Roddy Piper music. Scratch that. He’s doing Fat Bastard from Austin Powers 2. After promising to break those “wee fairy sissy boys”, we’re ready to go.

Tag Titles: Edge/Christian vs. Kurt Angle/Big Show

The champs come through the crowd as is their custom and goes right after Big Show. Considering they combine to weigh what Show had for lunch that day, this goes about as well as you would expect with Christian being picked up in the air and slammed down. Edge tries to come off the middle rope but jumps into a chokeslam which Christian has to break up.

A double headbutt staggers the champions but Angle tags himself in due to Show dancing too much. Angle vs. Christian officially start things off but Edge comes in quickly. Show dances more on the apron while Angle wants a tag, allowing Edge to hit a German for two. Angle suplexes Edge down and yells at Show, resulting in a slap to Show’s face. Show destroys Angle and the champs retain via countout.

Rating: D+. This was all about setting up a story and a PPV match between Show and Angle, meaning the titles here meant nothing at all. To be fair the champs had just won them in the forerunner to TLC so they probably were still healing. Nothing to see here but Show vs. Angle would wind up being absolutely hilarious.

Jericho is in the back and sees two women. He asks if they’ve seen the Godfather, but they’re Stephanie and Tori. Well Stephanie isn’t wearing a bra so she is being kind of hoish. If I remember right, this is what started the long running Jericho vs. Stephanie feud.

Albert vs. Bubba Ray Dudley

Albert put Bubba through a table on Raw to set this up. This is when Trish was all about her looks, which she lives up to tonight by wearing a schoolgirl skirt with her outfit. Bubba gets jumped coming into the ring but Albert charges into a boot in the corner. A middle rope shoulder gets two for Bubba but a Trish distraction lets Albert kick Bubba in the face for two of his own. The future Tensai misses a middle rope leg and Bubba kicks him in the face, only to get caught jumping (yes Bubba jumped) into a powerbomb for two. Bubba ducks a clothesline and hits the Bubba Cutter out of nowhere for the pin. Short and surprisingly not terrible.

Post match the Dudleys get beaten up by Test but come back to put Albert through a table to pop the crowd. To put it mildly, Trish’s chest looks awesome here.

Jericho tries to apologize but calls the girls fat. He gets a handicap match as punishment.

Back to the nursing home and he’s getting booed out of the room. Blackman makes a your mama joke and gets cursed out.

Terri Runnels/Fabulous Moolah vs. Mae Young/The Kat

It’s going to suck, it’s not going to be funny, let’s get this over with. The young girls start with Terri tagging in Moolah. The Fabulous one gets slapped in the face by Kat so Kat gets snapmared. Back to Terri for a victory roll which is countered into a rollup by Kat for two. When I say these moves are being done, I mean that in the stretchiest of stretches of the word. Kat and Terri go to the floor where Kat has a glass of water thrown on her, much to King’s delight.

The old chicks come in and have a MUCH better match than the young girls. Moolah is 76 and Mae is 77 at this point. Moolah monkey flips Mae a few times and everything breaks down. Mae and Kat hit stereo Bronco Busters before Kat spears Moolah down and a Mae elbow gets the pin.

Rating: S. As in seriously or screw this or shame on whoever thought this was a good idea to do. You do not have women in their mid-70s out there doing something like this, no matter how sure they are that they can do it. Show some responsibility and say no, this isn’t going to happen. Let them be managers or something like that, but this is ridiculous.

Chris Jericho vs. X-Pac/Road Dogg

Before the match, Jericho says that he insulted Stephanie (Tori is ignored) and he was going to apologize, but since he’s getting screwed, he’s getting his money’s worth. Apparently he and Rock were correct in calling her a ho, but that’s not enough. Stephanie is the filthiest, dirtiest, most disgusting, skankiest, most brutal, bottom feeding trashbag ho he’s EVER seen. And thus two years of feuding are born.

I miss the King of Rock theme DX had at this point. I also miss Tori in those shorts of hers. Roadie starts for his team but Pac tries to sneak in a shot. Jericho tries to fight them both at once but gets spin kicked in the face to take him down. Jericho comes back with a spin kick to Road Dogg but Pac interferes again.

The Bronco Buster misses as do Road Dogg’s dancing punches. The Walls are put on Road Dogg but Pac breaks it up. X-Factor is countered into a powerbomb and the Lionsault gets two on Pac. Chris is rolling now, hitting all of his signature stuff. Tori gets in and is put in the Walls but Road Dogg kicks Jericho into the X-Factor for the pin. Too short to rate but this was very fast paced while it lasted.

Shane EXPLODES on Hebner in the back for mistakes he’s made. He didn’t do anything tonight that I can think of. Hebner is on probation now.

Blackman apparently pulled nunchucks on an 84 year old woman. Bad timing here.

Here’s Stephanie with some chick in pink. Stephanie talks about how hot the Divas, led by her, are. The chick is apparently her new personal trainer Muffy. This is one of two appearances Muffy would make before disappearing and never being referenced again.

The APA won’t tell Rock if they’ve been paid off or not.

Acolytes/The Rock vs. Bull Buchanan/Big Boss Man/HHH

Rock and Boss Man start things off with Rocky sending both him and Buchanan to the floor so he can stare down HHH. Boss Man saves the Game (drives me crazy when I forget to do that) and it’s off to HHH who is punched in the face. HHH comes back with a knee to the face and brings Buchanan in again, which goes about as well as you would expect Bull to do against Rock.

Off to the APA for a double spinebuster on Buchanan and a top rope shoulder for two for Bradshaw. Bull comes back and kicks Bradshaw down before it’s off to Farrooq. A Shane distraction gives Bull the advantage again and it’s off to Boss Man. After some double teaming, here’s HHH to stomp Farrooq down in the corner. Earl Hebner breaks it up, causing Shane to freak out. Earl BLASTS Shane and HHH snaps, allowing Farrooq to make the comeback. That goes nowhere but Rock breaks up a Pedigree attempt, giving Farrooq the chance to tag Rock.

The Great One goes off on HHH with punches and the high impact clotheslines. Everything breaks down as Rock loads up the Rock Bottom. After some brawling, it’s only HHH left against all three guys. The fans freaking out over HHH’s impending destruction is great. Unfortunately it doesn’t happen because DX runs in for the big brawl and the match is thrown out somewhere in there.

Rating: C-. This was your usual main event tag match with a screwy ending. The fans were erupting for any sign of fighting between HHH vs. Rock, which is why it was even better when the title match at Backlash was great stuff. There’s a reason this was the top feud for years in the company and it never gets old. The other guys being there didn’t help anything though.

Rock Rock Bottoms Shane through the announce table to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. Just like Monday there wasn’t anything great here but this was a better show with some better matches. Announcing the title match always makes things feel bigger and this was no exception. 2000 was a great time for the company but it wouldn’t really hit its stride for a few more weeks. After Backlash though it’s great stuff (save for King of the Ring) until the end of the year. Watchable show here but nothing great at all.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Smackdown
Date: October 19, 2012
Location: FedEx Forum, Memphis, Tennessee
Commentators: Josh Matthews, John Bradshaw Layfield

Back to the blue show after things have taken a fresh turn on Raw. We’re closing in on the Cell where apparently Show vs. Sheamus isn’t in the Cell, likely leaving them open for a rematch next month. I’m enjoying this story way better than I likely should but having a clash of two titans like this is always fun. Hopefully things pick up a bit on here. Let’s get to it.

Do You Know Your Enemy? Mine is a barn that my uncle fell off yesterday.

Here’s the now non-Intercontinental Champion Miz for MizTV. He has a NASTY looking gash above his eye from where Kofi kicked him on Monday. He’s cashing in his rematch clause and he’ll prove why he’s must see. No date is given but presumably it’s at the PPV. His guests tonight are HELL NO. Yeah the match is officially at the PPV. Miz says if they were a real tag team, they would come out together. Bryan offers to separate Miz’s teeth from his mouth. Miz makes fun of the Goat Face and says the lack of continuity is going to cost them the championships.

Kane says that he’s won tag titles with giants, psychopaths with multiple personalities and a dead man so Bryan is no problem. Bryan says that he’s the reason they’ll keep the titles because he’s the world’s toughest vegan. Kane says that’s like being the world’s tallest dwarf, but Bryan has that covered too. Miz: “Can I say something here?” Kane and Bryan: “NO!”

The champions argue again with Bryan mentioning the MITB cash in over Big Show, drawing out the big man for a rebuttal. Show says he has no issue with Kane (even though they’re fighting on Monday) but he has one with Bryan. He doesn’t want to hear about Bryan beating him in 45 seconds again or he’s going to knock Bryan out. He says he’ll knock Bryan out now but Kane gets in Show’s way, saying they don’t have to wait for Monday. This brings out….Dolph Ziggler?

Ziggler talks about how talking about Bryan and MITB is so last year and he should be the focus because he’s cashing in on either Sheamus or Big Show. Ziggler says if Bryan can do it to Big Show, how hard can it be? An argument breaks out and Booker comes out but Miz says that Booker can save his time because he knows what’s coming. Instead Booker makes HELL NO vs. Show/Ziggler and Miz vs. a surprise. When they have this huge tag division all of a sudden, do we need to have these one night only tag teams to fight them? Here’s Miz’s surprise.

The Miz vs. Randy Orton

Orton is looking a bit more like he did in 2004. I think it’s the not being orange and having a bit more hair. This is joined in progress after a break with Randy clotheslining Miz down and stomping away. Del Rio and Ricardo are watching from a sky box. Miz pounds away in the corner but Orton comes right back and pounds away as well. A belly to back suplex gets two for Orton but Miz comes back and knocks Randy off the apron and into the barricade as we take a break.

Back with Orton in a chinlock which Miz follows up with a Reality Check for two. Striker is in the sky box to talk to Ricardo and Alberto. For all we know, right now Miz and Orton are doing the Charleston. Del Rio says he’s the new Apex Predator in the WWE and that’s about it. Back in the ring Miz hits the corner clothesline but Orton crotches him on the top. Orton superplexes Miz down for two and a clothesline puts Miz on the floor.

Back in and Orton glares at Del Rio before dropkicking Miz down for two. Miz comes back with the short DDT for two of his own. Orton comes back with a quick elevated DDT before going insane and loading up the RKO. Miz avoids it and tries the Finale but Orton rolls away and hits the RKO for the pin at 7:30 shown of 11:00.

Rating: C. Well at least Miz isn’t a champion anymore. The match wasn’t anything great but these two have never had the best chemistry. Miz seems to be the latest victim of of writers being bored syndrome as he came back, got a quick push, and then the push just stopped for the sake of someone else getting a push. It’s stuff like that which causes no one to be over or credible anymore.

Del Rio says they’re going to do this on his terms at HIAC.

Sheamus runs into Teddy in the back and the champ wants Barrett tonight. Teddy says he’ll talk to Booker about it and he’ll try to make it a lumberjack match. Sheamus: “I feel you playa.” Eve is lurking in the background.

Rhodes Scholars vs. Tyson Kidd/Justin Gabriel

Gabriel and Cody start but it’s off to Tyson very fast with a kick to the back for two. Cody and Sandow head to the floor with Gabriel taking Damien out with a dive. Cody gets in a cheap shot and we head back into the ring for some heel beating. Sandow takes him down and drops the windup elbow for two. Gabriel gets in a kick to the face to take Rhodes down and it’s off to Kidd. He cleans a few rooms of the house with a dropkick to the side of Sandow’s head but as he puts Damien in the Sharpshooter, Cody gets a blind tag and hits the Disaster Kick for the pin at 3:20.

Rating: C-. Nothing much to see here as it’s just another Rhodes Scholars squash to set up the tournament final on Raw. This was a squash but it was nothing interesting. Also, we have another case of the back and forth booking as Kidd and Gabriel had good competitive matches with Cesaro but here’s they’re jobbers for a tag team. Either push the guys as good, tough opponents or make them full on jobbers.

Eve is sucking up to Booker in the back when Teddy comes in to pitch the lumberjack match idea to Booker. Eve says she’s been talking about that for weeks and Teddy stole his idea. Since apparently Booker doesn’t watch the show and no one with a brain in wrestling ever WATCHES THE TAPE FROM EARLIER WHICH THEY KNOW EXISTS BECAUSE THERE WAS A CAMERA RIGHT THERE, Teddy has no defense. Instead he looks at an iPad after the other two leave.

HELL NO vs. Dolph Ziggler/Big Show

No entrances for either team. Bryan and Ziggler start things off with Bryan being taken to the mat in a bit of a surprise. A dropkick puts Daniel down and it’s off to Big Show. The other monster gets the tag and they slug it out with Show spearing Kane down. Show pounds away in the corner but misses a charge, allowing Kane to bring in Bryan for the NO kicks. The big kick to the head is blocked though and Show gorilla presses Bryan to the floor.

We take a break and come back with Ziggler ramming Bryan’s face into Show’s boot for one. Off to Show but Bryan avoids the chop in the corner. He tries to dive for Kane but Show easily throws him down. The chokeslam is countered into the DDT but Ziggler breaks up another tag with a neckbreaker on Bryan. Ziggler drops a bunch of elbows including a jumping version which gets two. Back to Show who punches Bryan in the ribs and puts on a stomach claw.

Off to Ziggler but he misses a Stinger Splash in the corner and there’s the hot tag to Kane. The Fameasser misses Kane but a big boot gets two on Ziggler. Bryan tags himself in of course, and hits a running clothesline on Dolph, followed by a running dropkick in the corner. Bryan dives at Big Show and gets shoved down as everything breaks down. Kane takes Show down and the NO Lock submits Ziggler at 10:02 shown of 13:32.

Rating: C. Dolph tapping out was the only way they could go here. I mean, he didn’t get beaten on Monday and by law he absolutely must job once a week so that his cash in will be as shocking as possible, and by shocking I mean really freaking obvious. Also I could go without having these random teams facing HELL NO every week.

The champs argue on the stage when Rhodes Scholars jump them. They’re not even pretending that the tournament is up for grabs anymore.

We recap the end of Barrett vs. Sheamus from Raw.

Antonio Cesaro vs. Ted DiBiase

Before the match we get a vignette of Cesaro at Sun Studio (where Elvis recorded a lot of his stuff) and criticizing country music. These kind of things are way better than seeing the people in the back all the time. Ted starts with a dropkick but gets sent to the floor almost immediately. Antonio drops Ted face first on the apron and we’re entering squash mode. Cesaro hits the gutwrench suplex and puts on a cravate. DiBiase makes a quick comeback with a clothesline and sitout spinebuster, but he jumps into the uppercut to stop him cold. There’s the Neutralizer for the pin at 2:39.

Raw ReBound is about the end of the show with the contract signing and Ryback killing Punk.

Heath Slater vs. Brodus Clay

The Band continues to look hilariously stupid. Slater jumps Brodus in the corner to start but the big man will have none of that. A suplex puts Slater down but Brodus charges into a boot in the corner. A middle rope missile dropkick staggers Clay but Slater gets killed by the overhead suplex. Clay has to chase off the Band and Slater hits that falling cutter of his for the pin at 1:55. It was nice looking at your girls Brodus. Sorry you had to die this badly.

Barrett isn’t sure Sheamus is a tough guy but he’s certainly stupid. Why fight Barrett tonight when you have to defend against Big Show? Wade hopes that Show remembers the beatdown tonight and wants the favor repaid once Show wins the title.

Layla vs. Natalya

They head to the mat and then the floor almost immediately with Nattie taking over. Eve continues to talk about the attack on Kaitlyn because that’s still a thing for some reason. Natalya hooks a modified abdominal stretch which is quickly escapes and a kick to the face gets Layla the pin at 1:55. It’s really hard to take Layla seriously when her song is about not being able to get enough sex and her video is of her dancing.

Teddy is with Kaitlyn and the iPad apparently belongs to Eve. Apparently there’s information on there that proves Eve is evil and needs to be stopped. Gee, who would have seen that coming? Kaitlyn takes a picture of the iPad screen. She says keep this quiet for now. You know, BECAUSE DOING THIS IN FRONT OF A CAMERA ON NATIONAL TELEVISION IS GOING TO KEEP THIS A SECRET!

Here are the lumberjacks for the main event.

Wade Barrett vs. Sheamus

Non-title of course and Show is a lumberjack. Barrett pounds away in the corner but the champion slugs right back. Barrett comes back with a kick to the ribs and a pumphandle slam for two. Sheamus gets sat on the ropes for the big boot, knocking the champion to the outside. Back in that gets two as Big Show is just standing there watching. Sheamus is sent chest first into the buckle as the dominance continues. Matthews says it’s a stalemate. I’d hate to see a beating then.

We take a break and come back with Sheamus making a comeback and hitting a Regal Roll for no cover. There are the ten forearms in the ropes followed by White Noise. Sheamus loads up the Brogue Kick but the 3MB pulls Barret to the floor. The champ dives on all of them to take them out but Barrett hits a running back elbow and a big boot for two back inside.

Wasteland is escaped and the Brogue Kick misses too. Barrett clotheslines Sheamus to the floor and it’s time for the big lumberjack brawl. Back in and Wade charges into the Irish Curse….and here’s HELL NO to get the Rhodes Scholars. Brogue Kick ends Barrett at 7:24 shown of 10:54.

Rating: C+. I usually love the brawls these two have but this was the short and not that great version. The focus was on the lumberjacks and while Sheamus got beaten up, it never felt like he was in any real danger. That made the main event more about waiting for the ending rather than being an interesting match. That’s not good but the match still wasn’t bad.

Post match Ziggler knocks Sheamus down and tries to cash in but Big Show knocks Ziggler out cold with the punch. Show says he’s taking the title at the PPV.

Overall Rating: D+. This show didn’t do anything for me. Aside from how uninteresting the Eve stuff is, now it’s just getting stupid as they have the evidence they need to prove she’s lying on tape and they won’t use it, and then they do something in front of a camera and say keep this secret. On top of that, the tournament final on Monday looks like a waste of time given what we saw here. Smackdown is just worthless at this point and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

Results

Randy Orton b. The Miz – RKO

Rhodes Scholars b. Tyson Kidd/Justin Gabriel – Disaster Kick to Kidd

HELL NO b. Dolph Ziggler/Big Show – NO Lock to Ziggler

Antonio Cesaro b. Ted DiBiase – Neutralizer

Heath Slater b. Brodus Clay – Falling Cutter

Layla b. Natalya – Kick to the head

Sheamus b. Wade Barrett – Brogue Kick

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Smackdown
Date: October 12, 2012
Location: HP Pavilion, San Jose, California
Commentators: Josh Matthews, John Bradshaw Layfield

We’ve got three shows left before HIAC and things are starting to shape up. The main thing is that tonight Orton is going to be here, likely confronting Del Rio. Other than that we’ll likely see more from Sheamus vs. Big Show. The calendar says it’s time to lock them in a cage so the story better be ready for it, no matter how big of a jump it may be. Let’s get to it.

Do You Know Your Enemy? Mine is a house guest at the moment.

No Cole tonight? Ok then.

Tonight there’s a KO Punch vs. Brogue Kick Challenge which starts right now. Here’s Booker to explain what’s going on. He talks about how everyone is wondering about which is stronger and we have the power of the punch machine from long ago on NXT. Both guys come out and Show thinks this is stupid. He won’t go first and says if you want to know how strong his punch is, ask everyone he’s knocked out. The fans boo which ticks Show off. Sheamus says he’ll go first if Show won’t.

Sheamus didn’t hit it perfectly but gets a score of 1322 pounds per square inch. Show thinks shenanigans are afoot and won’t do it. He rants some more and Sheamus asks if he needs a hug. Is it that Show is afraid of losing? It can’t be more embarrassing than Show’s last time as world champion. That’s enough to tick Show off and he gets 1809 pounds per square inch to destroy Sheamus’ score.

Sheamus says that’s impressive but the machine is standing still. Tensai jumps Sheamus but Booker sends him to the back.

Sheamus vs. Tensai

This is after a break. Tensai does a full entrance while Sheamus is still in the ring. They start brawling in the aisle with Sheamus pounding away on the bald one. Sheamus blocks a shot into the post and sends Tensai into it instead. They get inside for the bell and Sheamus charges into the corner and starts pounding away. Tensai gets in an elbow to the face but Sheamus takes out the knee for two.

A clothesline puts the champion down and we’re told that Tensai means destruction. Why did it take that long to tell us? It could be because no one cares. Sheamus hits his ax handles and a powerslam for two. Tensai clotheslines him down again but the backsplash misses. White Noise sets up the Brogue Kick for the pin at 3:36.

Rating: D+. This was just a step above a squash which is about all Tensai is good for anymore. I’d be stunned if he still had a job around Wrestlemania time. Sheamus and Big Show should have an entertaining brawl and they’ve done a good job of not letting either of the finishers hit, which is the main point of the feud. That’s a good idea for the feud and it’s got me interested in seeing the match.

We get a video from two weeks ago after Smackdown with Orton getting beaten down by Del Rio.

Ricardo and Del Rio are in the back and Ricardo is nervous about Orton finding them. Alberto says it’s cool and sends Ricardo to find Orton.

Ricardo is looking for Orton in the back and he hears something hissing. He finds the Cobra with a Santino attached. Santino warns Ricardo of the Viper being somewhere around here and Ricardo storms off.

Heath Slater/Jinder Mahal vs. Santino Marella/Zack Ryder

Slater, Mahal and McIntyre declare themselves The Band and proceed to play air guitar together. This is as dumb as it sounds. Also they come out to “I’m a one man band” for their theme music. JBL freaks out over the idea of Rock Paper Scissors picking if Ryder or Santino start. It’s Ryder vs. Mahal to start with the guy from Long Island taking over. Off to Santino who comes in off the bottom rope to go after Mahal’s arm. The saluting headbutt misses and it’s off to Slater.

Heath and Jinder pound away on Marella in the corner but Santino rolls away and dives for a tag….but he comes up short. That’s a nice twist. The second attempt works though and Ryder hits the knees in the corner and a middle rope dropkick. Broski Boot gets one and everything breaks down. Ryder has to take out McIntyre and the distraction lets Slater hit a falling forward cutter (can we outlaw new variations of that move already? There must be six people between WWE and NXT using some form of a cutter or some form of a neckbreaker) for the pin at 3:51.

Rating: D+. Well assuming they’re going for a low level comedy act for The Band, they’re hitting it perfectly. Slater is much better suited for the comedy putz role than as the leader of a faction, and the air guitar thing is dumb, but I think that’s the point. They’re fine for stuff like this and for getting destroyed by a guy like Ryback or Brodus too.

We get a clip from Raw of HELL NO surviving somehow against Del Rio and Ziggler. Ziggler has touted a challenge to a match with Kane tonight.

Kane vs. Dolph Ziggler

Ziggler goes right at him but Kane throws him down into the corner. Dolph keeps charging at Kane in the corner but he gets shoved back every time. Kane sends him over the ropes but Ziggler skins the cat. That goes badly for him as Kane kicks him to the floor as we take a break. Back with Kane getting guillotined on the top but Ziggler jumps into a choke. The chokeslam is countered into a Fameasser for two and Dolph takes over.

A swinging neckbreaker gets one on Kane and Ziggler stomps away for a bit. A series of elbows gets two and Josh talks about Ziggler being champion for five days. Wasn’t it more like an hour? Kane comes back with a clothesline for two and a low dropkick for the same. Kane hits a side slam and goes up for the clothesline, only to get crotched by Dolph. Ziggler gets knocked off the top but grabs the briefcase to knock Kane out of the air, drawing the DQ at 6:03 shown of 9:33.

Rating: C-. This didn’t have the time to go anywhere but Ziggler was wrestling like a face for the first half of the match and it was working. He’s a guy that could be something similar to Shelton Benjamin from back in 2005 who was more athletic and talented than almost anyone else on the roster, but with some charisma unlike the vacuum that Benjamin was.

Bryan comes in for the save and Striker comes in to talk to the arguing champions. It’s a NO Lock and a chokeslam for the annoying interviewer.

Ricardo is still looking for Orton. He walks past a door and hears an electronic version of Orton’s voice. It’s Hornswoggle playing with a Brawling Buddy. Ricardo steals it and beats it up.

We get a clip from the Larry King segment on Raw.

Kofi Kingston vs. Big Show

Miz is on commentary. Kofi charges into the corner which goes about as well as a small guy charging at Show in the corner can be expected to. Miz runs down his long resume and Show chops Kofi down. JBL talks about hazing Miz when Miz started in hopes of making Miz get better. JBL: “Josh when I haze you it’s because I hope you quit.” Kofi gets in a kick in the corner and actually drops Show. Boom Drop hits but Trouble in Paradise is easily blocked. WMD gets the pin at 2:12.

Miz comes in to talk some trash to Kofi post match. No attack though.

Ricardo is with Del Rio again when Bryan comes in again. Trash is talked and they have a match later.

Layla and Kaitlyn are with Booker and they’ve found a blonde wig in Eve’s bag. Apparently Aksana found the wig. Eve comes in and says she found a blonde wig in Teddy’s bag. Booker, Layla and Kaitlyn leave and Eve and Teddy don’t like each other. This is so stupid.

Damien Sandow vs. Sin Cara

Cara fires away with kicks to start and there’s the spinning armdrag out of the corner. We head to the corner with Sandow coming out with a Russian legsweeo and wind up elbow. Cara armdrags and ranas Sandow to the apron and enziguris Sandow to the floor. A big dive from the top takes Cody down as he tries to help Damien. Back inside there’s another enziguri to Damien and Cody gets ejected for being attacked. Damien yells at the referee, allowing Cara to hit a West Coast Pop for the pin at 3:17.

Rating: C. Nothing great here but it sets up the tournament final on Raw a little bit better which was the point here. Sandow has a lot of potential but I’m not liking him in the tag team. It’s taking the focus off of him which is something he doesn’t need when he’s still pretty hot at the moment. The match was just ok.

Bryan tells Kane not to come help him no matter what.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Daniel Bryan

JBL goes on a rant about how stupid it is to try to manage anger in wrestling. Both guys go after the shoulder to start with Del Rio taking over by pounding Bryan down into the corner. Bryan changes his strategy and kicks out the knee for two. Bryan moonsaults out of the corner and hits a clothesline as the crowd is getting fired up. There are the YES kicks but Del Rio comes back with a kick of his own in the corner.

Bryan sends Del Rio to the floor but misses the running knee strike. Alberto sends him into the barricade and we take a break. Back with Bryan charging into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two. Del Rio works on the arm but can’t hook the cross armbreaker. Bryan counters into the NO Lock but Ricardo has the referee. Alberto crawls from the middle of the ring all the way to the rope for the break. Alberto grabs the cross armbreaker while they’re still in the ropes and sends the arm of Bryan into the post. The armbreaker goes on in the middle of the ring and Bryan taps completely clean at 6:54 shown of 10:24.

Rating: C+. Not bad here and it’s nice to see the armbreaker actually get a win. That’s one of Del Rio’s (numerous) problems: his finisher rarely wins anything so it’s hard to take it seriously. I’m not sure what this does or why Ziggler and Del Rio are feuding with the tag champions in the first place other than to give the champions something to do, but I really don’t see the point in having Bryan lose to a member of a team that won’t even be number one contenders after Monday.

Alberto says that he doesn’t think Orton is here (even though multiple people told Ricardo they had seen him) and we see clips of the attack from a few weeks ago and of Show beating on Orton on Main Event. Del Rio says that Orton is just a garden snake and that Randy is smart to hide. Alberto mocks Orton’s pose and mocks the twist into the RKO position, only to find himself face to face on the mat with Orton. That was pretty cool. Orton destroys Alberto and sends him into the steps. Ricardo breaks up the Elevated DDT off the table as Del Rio runs. Orton RKOs Rodriguez onto the table to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. This was a somewhat awkward show. There’s enough stuff on it to advance the feuds we’ve got going on, but the main angle didn’t quite work for me. The main idea of this show was that Orton is back. Ok, that’s fine but it would have been a lot better if Orton hadn’t been in a match two days before this (which he lost) on Main Event. That’s the big problem with having so many shows: it makes things you see elsewhere seem a lot less important. We’ve reached the point where a lot of HIAC is set so there wasn’t much new added tonight, and that’s ok. Decent show this week.

Results

Sheamus b. Tensai – Brogue Kick

The Band b. Santino Marella/Zack Ryder – Falling Cutter to Ryder

Kane b. Dolph Ziggler via DQ when Ziggler used the MITB Briefcase

Big Show b. Kofi Kingston – WMD

Sin Cara b. Damien Sandow – West Coast Pop

Alberto Del Rio b. Daniel Bryan – Cross Armbreaker

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Smackdown
Date: October 5, 2012
Location: BOK Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews

We’re closing in on the Cell and we have our main event now. Sheamus will defend against Big Show and they had a debate on Raw to set the match up. The debate wound up being almost as a big of a waste of time as the entire Del Rio feud, but at least the match should be more interesting. Other than that there isn’t much going on so we’re almost going into this blind. Let’s get to it.

Do You Know Your Enemy? Mine is Bud Selig. Why does he feel the need to keep changing everything that was was working fine?

Here’s Big Show to open the show. Show talks about Sheamus having a plan for their match, but a punch in the mouth can change any plans. We get a highlight reel of Show knocking people out. Here’s Sheamus who says he knows the fight at the PPV is going to be the fight of his life. He offers a handshake and says may the best man win, but Show walks away.

As Show is leaving, Sheamus talks about the plans that Show mentioned. He says Bryan had a plan at TLC and we see a clip of Big Show losing the title in 45 seconds. We also see Bryan’s plan from Wrestlemania and the 18 second title change. Show gets back in the ring and extends his hand again but this time Sheamus walks away. This was already more entertaining and interesting than the last two months of Sheamus vs. Del Rio and it was just ok.

Tag Team Tournament: Kofi Kingston/R-Truth vs. Prime Time Players

The winners get Mysterio and Sin Cara. Kofi and Young get things going and Kofi hits a dropkick for two. Off to Truth as the former champions take over. Truth hits his spinning legdrop for two but Young powers him into the corner and it’s off to O’Neal. Titus has a great look and the power but he’s not quite there yet in the ring. Off to Young for their suplex drop onto Truth for two.

Young hooks a bearhug of all things which gets him nowhere. Wouldn’t that be a better move for someone like O’Neal? Anyway Truth gets in a shot to take Young down and there’s the hot tag to Kofi. Things immediately speed up and after running around a lot, Kofi hits the Boom Drop for no cover on Young. Titus distracts Kofi before Trouble in Paradise can hit. Two kicks miss but O’Neal trips Kingston up and Young’s gutbuster gets the pin on Kofi at 4:23.

Rating: D+. This didn’t have time to get anywhere but at least the Players finally beat these guys after losing for months on end. Kofi and Truth have probably outlived their shelf life as a team but the Players facing the masked guys is a good idea for a feud. This wasn’t awful but the time killed it.

Here are the final four matchups:

Rhodes Scholars

Zack Ryder/Santino Marella

Prime Time Players

Sin Cara/Rey Mysterio

Primo vs. Ryback

Cole says Ryback said he’s looking for his next meal with Punk. Primo gets launched into the corner and a big boot puts him down. Ryback slams Primo into the mat a few times but Primo gets in some jobber offense. Primo is then launched across the ring, clotheslined down and sent to the floor. Ryback beats up both cousins on the floor, clotheslines Primo down in the ring and Shell Shocks (Josh actually called it that for the first time I can ever remember) him for the pin at 2:52.

Punk and Heyman are in the back and looking for Dolph Ziggler.

Layla vs. Alicia Fox

Layla’s music just does not fit at all. They do basic stuff to start and Alicia shakes her hips a lot. She works on Layla’s leg and puts some holds on it but Layla kicks Alicia from the corner, hits her bouncy cross body, and finishes Alicia with a high kick to the head at 3:26.

Rating: D. Not only was the match uninteresting, there was no selling at all from Layla. Alicia worked on Layla’s leg for almost two minutes before Layla hit three moves that all involved her leg. Then again, I don’t think anyone has ever accused Layla of being what you would call a ring general.

Layla says that it’s going to be all the sweeter to take the title from Eve because of how Eve got the title in the first place.

Ziggler and Vickie are in the back and run into Heyman and Punk. Punk yells at Dolph for walking out on the tag match on Monday, which Ziggler points out that Punk did a few weeks ago. All four of them get in an argument until Booker shows up and makes Punk vs. Ziggler in the main event.

Wade Barrett vs. ???

It’s a jobber whose name isn’t worth mentioning. In an inset interview, Barrett says that he likes toying with the people he fights. A pumphandle slam puts the jobber down and Barrett shoves him off the top to the floor. The Souvenir gets the pin at 1:47.

Sheamus vs. The Miz

Cole hypes up this as being a rare champion vs. champion match. That’s true actually. There hasn’t been one in two whole days. Miz pounds Sheamus down into the corner to start but the champ (the world champ I mean) throws Miz into the corner and pounds away. The ten forearms in the ropes are blocked and Sheamus is sent to the floor. It’s nice to see people start countering that as it means Sheamus is going to have to start mixing it up a bit more.

Miz sends him into the post which gets two back inside. Sheamus fights up but walks into the Reality Check (backbreaker into a neckbreaker) for two. Miz hooks a chinlock and the announcers talk about fantasy football. Sheamus starts his comeback with some high powered shots but walks into the short DDT for two. Miz’s corner clothesline is caught in an Irish Curse and there are the ten forearms. White Noise hits and the place gets very fired up when Sheamus loads up the Brogue Kick….and here’s Big Show. Sheamus is ready to go but Show KO’s Miz to give Sheamus a DQ loss at 6:25.

Rating: C-. We’ve reached the point where watching two champions go at it means nothing anymore. We saw this two nights ago so why should it mean anything today? At least Sheamus vs. Show is something new which you can’t say has happened in months now. The match should be a physical one as well which is a perk. The match here wasn’t bad.

Here’s Otunga in wrestling gear. He wants to address something that happened after Smackdown went off the air last week and we get a clip of Del Rio attacking Orton after the end of last week’s show. Otunga thanks Del Rio for having the guts to stand up to Orton, and that brings out the Viper. Scratch that as it brings out Del Rio and Ricardo.

Alberto talks like Orton which is kind of funny actually. That lasts all of two seconds and he says Orton isn’t here because he’s afraid of dying like a snake. This brings out Booker who puts Otunga and Del Rio in a tag match against these guys.

Alberto Del Rio/David Otunga vs. HELL NO

Non-title again. After a break Bryan and Otunga start things off. Bryan gets thrown down and Otunga poses a bit. Daniel comes back and sends Otunga into the corner and poses as well. The NO Lock is avoided and Otunga drapes Bryan over the ropes to take over. A neckbreaker gets two for Otunga and it’s off to Del Rio for a suplex for two. Ricardo chants SI and Bryan drop toeholds Del Rio into the middle buckle.

Off to Kane who gets in an argument with Bryan almost immediately. Del Rio gets in a shot on Kane to take over and it’s off to Del Rio who spinebusts the big man for two. That gets him nowhere though as Kane hits the chokeslam. Daniel tags himself in and hits a top rope headbutt for the pin on Otunga at 4:04.

Rating: D+. Was there a point here other than getting the champions on TV? I don’t know if it’s the crowd but the act seems to have died down a little bit. Granted they’re being treated like a much more normal tag team now which takes away the stuff that got them so popular in the first place so that’s probably it. I’m hoping they go back to what worked for them as it’ll still get laughs. The match was nothing special.

Eve and Teddy are arguing in the back with Teddy saying he never told Eve to suspend Beth. Eve accuses Teddy of losing his memory in his old age. Teddy says he can see straight through Eve and thinks she had something to do with Kaitlyn’s attack. Teddy says that he sees through Eve unlike Booker. Booker pops up and yells at him while sending Eve away. Booker tells Teddy to stop bickering or he might be fired.

Big Show vs. Tensai

Show doesn’t get an entrance but Tensai does. Tensai pounds away to start and beats Show into the corner with punches and headbutts. Show comes back with a chop but charges into a boot in the corner. Big Show shrugs that off and throws him to the floor where he runs Tensai over. Back in and Show misses an elbow and gets hit by the backsplash for two. Show spears Tensai down and loads up the punch but here’s Sheamus to Brogue Kick Tensai to give Show a DQ loss at 2:20.

Raw ReBound.

CM Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler

It’s the rare heel vs. heel main event and Punk comes out first. No Vickie entrance for Dolph either. The crowd is DEAD for Ziggler. They argue a lot over respect before the match starts and Punk grabs a headlock to start. Ziggler fights out and it’s a stalemate as we head to a break. Back with Punk in control on the mat. Ziggler comes back with a headlock as they’re still in first gear here.

Punk goes up but Ziggler is on the apron to meet him. They fight on the top before they both crash to the floor. These guys are mirroring each other so far. Back in and they slug it out a bit before both get two off rollups. Ziggler hits a jumping DDT for two and after ducking a high kick, Dolph hits a Fameasser for the same. This time the high kick hits for a near fall for the champion. Punk slams him down and loads up the Macho Elbow, only to get stopped by Ziggler. Dolph slams him down but misses a Stinger Splash in the corner. GTS hits out of nowhere for the clean pin at 7:10 shown of 10:40.

Rating: B-. They were going for a big match feel here but it didn’t quite get there. The match was entertaining and Ziggler looked like he was hanging with Punk most of the way, but before the break and for part of it after the break they didn’t really hit a higher level. It’s good to see Punk get another clean win, but I could have done without seeing the MITB guy lose AGAIN.

Punk gets on the announce table and says he’s heard it from everyone that he has to enter the Cell to face Cena. It’s still not going to happen though.

Overall Rating: B-. I liked tonight’s show but there were some problems with it. A lot of the matches felt like they were there to fill in time and had no real purpose other than that. I’m digging the basic stuff they’re doing with Sheamus and Big Show as they’re showing that Sheamus can do whatever Show can do and that Sheamus is trying to get inside Show’s head. That basic story is more than we got in the Alberto feud. I know I mentioned it like three times now, but that feud was so boring and even something simple like this is a breath of fresh air. This was a nice upgrade for Smackdown but it’s no masterpiece.

Results

Prime Time Players b. Kofi Kingston/R-Truth – Gutbuster to Kingston

Ryback b. Primo – Shell Shock

Layla b. Alicia Fox – High Kick

Wade Barrett b. ??? – Souvenir

The Miz b. Sheamus via DQ when Big Show interfered

HELL NO b. Alberto Del Rio/David Otunga

Tensai b. Big Show via DQ when Sheamus interfered

CM Punk b. Dolph Ziggler – GTS

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Smackdown
Date: September 28, 2012
Location: First Niagara Center, Buffalo, New York
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews

After last week’s tag team show, it’s time to put some focus on the world title match at the upcoming PPV. By that I mean actually setting up a match there. The main event for tonight is Orton vs. Big Show which would be fine to make a #1 contenders match. Show returned from a brief absence on Monday and beat up various big men so I guess he’s a heel again. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of last week’s events.

Do You Know Your Enemy? Mine is Garrett Bischoff. Why is he back on my TV screen now?

Here’s Big Show to open the show. Show says he wants the world title because he lost the title in 45 seconds last time. Then the guy that beat him lost the title in 18 seconds. Show didn’t get to be in the main event of Wrestlemania and he didn’t get to be champion and that’s not cool with him. He says he’s the only person that can beat Sheamus, but here’s Orton with a rebuttal.

Orton says that to deserve a shot at Sheamus, you have to go through him. That’s perfect as tonight’s match is for the #1 contendership. Show says tonight it’s either going to be an RKO or a KO. Here’s Alberto and please don’t make this a triple threat. Please. Del Rio says the two of them need to go to the back of the line, and there’s an RKO for him to end this segment. THANK GOODNESS.

US Title: Antonio Cesaro vs. Santino Marella

Cesaro pounds him down to start as Matthews talks about how Santino and the Cobra have made up. Some suplexes from the champ (Cesaro) and puts on a cravate before Santino makes his comeback. The gutwrench suplex is countered into a sunset flip but the European Uppercut puts Marella down. The second attempt at the suplex hits but Cesaro talks enough trash to let Santino hit a superkick of all things for two. Cesaro goes up but Santino makes the stop and backdrops Antonio off the top. Santino misses a top rope headbutt and the Neutralizer retains the title at 4:10.

Rating: C. This was by far the most competitive match these two have ever had but they’re almost a month after the point where people buy Sanitno has having a chance at beating Cesaro. This is what I don’t get about WWE’s obsession with endless rematches: there’s no one else they’re willing to try out with a title shot? No one at all? I have trouble believing that.

We get the My Name Is Gerald bit from Raw. Kane is so awesome at these things.

Natalya vs. Beth Phoenix

Before the match, Eve Touts how serious she takes the attack on Kaitlyn. Feeling out process to start with both girls trying to get control. I believe this is their first ever match. Beth controls on the mat with a headlock but Natalya escapes a slam to tick Phoenix off. Natalya slaps her in the face and the fight is on.

Beth, the hometown girl, hits a Russian legsweep to take over and is put in the Sharpshooter two seconds later. She does the fastest crawl I’ve ever seen to make the rope and Natalya freaks out. Nattie charges at Beth and tries a rolling cradle, only to get caught in the Glam Slam….for two. Natalya grabs a fast rollup but Beth rolls forward into one of her own for the pin at 4:15.

Rating: C+. Best Divas match I can remember in a long time here. The hometown thing worked here with the fans being really into Beth. It’s remarkable what you get when you have girls that can wrestle a match and look like they know what they’re doing rather than looking like they’re struggling to remember how to run ropes.

Post match here’s Eve to say that Beth is suspended until the investigation into who attacked Kaitlyn is concluded. Natalya yells at Beth and says not to blame her.

Booker and Teddy talk about a tag team tournament to find #1 contenders for the titles at HIAC. Beth comes in to complain and apparently Booker isn’t even watching the show. Eve pops in and says she has the authority to do that. Booker says Eve doesn’t have that authority and reverses the decision. Eve sucks up as usual and Beth leaves. Booker isn’t happy so Eve blames Teddy. Booker isn’t sure who to trust.

Breast cancer stuff.

Raw ReBound.

Zack Ryder vs. Wade Barrett

No entrance for Ryder and I think you know where this is going. Barrett immediately shoulders him down then kicks Ryder in the ribs. Pumphandle slam gets two as does a slingshot belly to back backbreaker. Off to a surfboard hold but Ryder fights up and hits a facejam and middle rope missile dropkick. Barrett avoids the Broski Boot and hits a clothesline to send Ryder to the floor. Back inside and the Souvenir ends Ryder at 3:15.

Rating: D+. This was your standard Barrett squash since he came back. The problem with that is these matches aren’t really doing anything for him. He talked about being open for business a few weeks ago and then never mentioned it again. Barrett as a mercenary would work fine given how he always talked about how he was here for the money and not titles. Just squashing jobbers with an elbow to the head isn’t getting him anywhere.

Diner skit #2.

Here’s Miz for MizTV. The guest tonight is Sheamus who interrupts Miz’s intro. Sheamus looks about 300% tougher in jeans when you can’t see those white legs of his. He takes the mic from Miz and thinks Miz is suffering from memory loss after the beatdown from Ryback. Sheamus keeps asking Miz questions but won’t let him answer. He runs down Miz and in a way the IC Title by saying the best Miz can do is host a C list talk show. Miz talks about how he’s in a movie and a book now and you’ll have to pay to see it. You can pay to hear him on Sirius Radio and you can pay to see him compete in the ring.

Miz talks about how Sheamus is going to get taken out by an RKO or a WMD at HIAC. I feel like I’m on Sesame Street. Sheamus says no one takes this championship more seriously than he does and while he likes to have fun and joke around, the title means more to him than anything. Since Sheamus is cutting a good promo, here’s Vickie to interrupt him.

She introduces Ziggler and says that he’s the real guy Sheamus needs to worry about at the PPV. Ziggler says the main event tonight as well as Sheamus’ title reign is irrelevant because Ziggler is the next champion. Sheamus says Ziggler may get lucky with a cash-in…and that’s all he says. Then he jumps Ziggler and Miz and launches them both to the floor.

This segment was going well until Ziggler came out and said the exact same thing he’s been saying for four months. It’s really hard to buy Ziggler as a real threat when Sheamus has beaten him so many times. Once he wins the title, it’s going to take awhile to take him serious as a champion, but that’s clearly his fault and not the company’s for having him lose over and over again right?

We get the brackets for the tag team tournament:

Usos

Rhodes Scholars

Marella/Ryder

Gabriel/Kidd

Kingston/R-Truth

Prime Time Players

Epico/Primo

Mysterio/Sin Cara

We get the full Lawler interview from Raw. That’s still awesome. One question though: is it still a Raw exclusive if it’s shown in full on Smackdown as well?

Tag Team Tournament First Round: Usos vs. Rhodes Scholars

Sandow and Jimmy start us off. Sandow would be the Scholar and if I have to explain who Rhodes is, you’re beyond my help. Damien controls to start but walks into a Samoan Drop and both guys tag out. Jey hits the running Umaga attack in the corner for two on Cody as things break down a bit. A superkick puts Cody down but Jimmy’s splash hits knees. Cross Rhodes hits and we’re done at 1:54.

Diner sequence #3.

Video on some global summit that WWE was involved in.

Ryback vs. Tensai

Another good reaction for Ryback. They fight over a lockup to start and Ryback sends him into the corner. Tensai gets in some headbutts and a splash in the corner but Ryback suplexes Tensai down. The clothesline is countered into a Baldo Bomb for a pair of two counts. Now the clothesline hits and Shell Shock keeps Ryback undefeated at 2:06. The finisher was impressive but I’m not sure this proves that Ryback is for real like Cole says. I mean, it’s just Tensai.

Del Rio attacks Orton in the back on the way to the ring. He slams a case into Orton’s knee as well.

Big Show vs. Randy Orton

There’s no Orton due to the attack in the back so here’s Del Rio instead. Del Rio talks for a bit before Orton jumps him and limps to the ring to have the match anyway. After a break we’re ready to go and Orton is very tentative to mix it up for multiple reasons now. Show gets him into the corner but Orton comes out with right hands. Show gets a knee in though and Orton is down quickly.

A second attempt at the chops in the corner is blocked and Show takes him down with a single shot to the ribs. He stands on Randy’s ribs and puts on a stomach claw, which is one of those usually lazy moves that works a bit better for Show. The Final Cut (Eye of the Hurricane) gets two but Orton barely has anything left. They head outside and Orton gets dropped onto the barricade as we take a break.

Back with Orton trying to make a comeback and countering the chokeslam into a DDT for a very delayed two. Orton can’t follow up at all here because of the ribs. His knee seems to be fine after having a BIG FREAKING CASE slammed into it but you can win them all I guess. Show pounds on the ribs some more and beats on Randy in the corner. We head to the floor and Show gets rammed into the post to give Orton a breather.

As Show is getting back in, Orton tries for the Elevated DDT but he can’t find a way around the powers of fat. Instead he hits an RKO out of nowhere but it only gets two. Orton loads up the Punt as a last resort but charges into a chokeslam….for two. A second chokeslam kills Orton dead for the pin at 9:32 shown of 13:02.

Rating: C+. I liked this match for a few reasons. First and foremost, Big Show is not Alberto Del Rio and he’s getting the next title shot. Second, this match was more realistic than most you’ll see anymore. Orton hit one big move the entire match and other than that it was pretty much a squash. Having Orton be competitive in this match after being attacked would have been absurd, so having Show dominate here made perfect sense. Also, since it deserves a second mention, Del Rio isn’t getting another shot!

Show lays Orton out with the WMD post match and says he’ll see Sheamus at the PPV.

Overall Rating: C+. This was another pretty good episode. Not having Kane and Bryan on the show was likely a good idea after last week. You don’t want to run the risk of running the pairing into the ground and giving them a week off is probably the right idea. Ryback got another win over someone who at least looking intimidating and we have a bunch of tag matches coming up. This show built for the future and it did it in a good way. Good stuff tonight.

Results

Antonio Cesaro b. Santino Marella – Neutralizer

Beth Phoenix b. Natalya – Rollup

Wade Barrett b. Zack Ryder – Souvenir

Cody Rhodes/Damien Sandow b. Usos – Cross Rhodes to Jimmy Uso

Rybac b. Tensai – Shell Shock

Big Show b. Randy Orton – Chokeslam

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews