Smackdown
Date: September 13, 2013|
Location: Canadian Tire Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield

It’s the go home show for Night of Champions and for the first time in months, things are looking good for Bryan coming into tonight. Bryan finally got the better of Orton on Monday night after Orton took too long yelling at Big Show, allowing Bryan to knee him in the head. We’re still in Canada, meaning Edge is here again tonight. Let’s get to it.

Theme song gets us going.

Here’s Big Show to open things up. He reads an apology for his actions on Raw from a piece of paper. Show also apologizes to HHH for not doing a very basic job as well as failing as a locker room leader. It doesn’t sound very sincere though so here’s HHH to complain. He wants Big Show to come off like a professional businessman, which means doing what HHH asks. Since Big Show hasn’t, his job is in jeopardy but instead of firing him, HHH is just going to suspend him for the night without pay.

Show goes to leave but here’s Shield before he can get out of the ring. Show has to fight them all off at once and does as well as you can expect one guy to do in this situation. A single Ambrose dropkick is enough to send him to the floor but Big Show climbs onto the announce table.

Show punches a chair into Rollins’ face and dives off the table to take Reigns down with a clothesline (called a spear) before throwing him back into the ring. Rollins breaks up a double chokeslam but gets swatted out of the air. Show loads up the WMD but Reigns comes in with a chair to finally take Big Show down. A decent TripleBomb leaves Big Show laying.

Alicia Fox/Aksana/Layla vs. Brie Bella/Natalya/Naomi

AJ is on commentary again. Brie stomps on Aksana to start before talking trash to the champion. Everything breaks down a few moments into the match but it’s quickly off to Fox vs. Naomi as AJ rails against the Divas show. Fox avoids the Rear View and puts on a front facelock, only to be suplexed down. Off to Natalya for a quick Sharpshooter attempt on Aksana but AJ runs in for the DQ at 2:25.

The Total Divas beat up AJ.

Here’s Vickie to introduce a dance off between R-Truth and Fandango. JBL shouting WHAT’S UP during the entrances is rather funny. Before it gets started, here’s Miz in a huge afro which only Cole finds funny. He calls himself Misco Inferno (JBL: “He looks more like Horshack.”) and Vickie allows him to enter the contest. We’re still not ready to go yet though as Great Khali wants to join in too. Truth and Fandango (with Summer) do their usual stuff, Miz (now in a pink jacket and costume jewelery) twerks a bit before Khali does his arm swinging. Miz wins, Fandango protests, Fandango gets beaten up, this took nine minutes.

Los Matadores need to get here already.

Ryback interviews a guy named Robert Evans (indy wrestler Archibald Peck) who says he’s 6’4 and 185lbs. Evans says his dream is to be a WWE Superstar one day and compete at Wrestlemania. Ryback likes that Evans has dreams but slaps the taste out of his mouth. It’s Ryback’s dream to beat up everyone like Evans.

Ricardo Rodriguez comes in to see Vickie who tells him that he can’t be in RVD’s corner at Night of Champions. They argue in Spanish with Vickie saying she’s his boss. It’s Ricardo vs. Alberto tonight and that’s all.

Damien Sandow vs. Santino Marella

Time to put a comedy character over a guy whose potential has been wasted for months on end. Sandow runs from the Cobra to start before headbutting Santino down and dropping some knees. The legweep sets up the Wind-Up elbow for two and we hit the abdominal stretch. Santino hiptosses out and hits the saluting headbutt, only to have the Cobra broken up again. Sandow misses a charge into the corner and the Cobra gets the pin at 2:05. Just go with it people.

Here are Heyman and Cole for an interview with Michael Cole. We look at a video recapping Heyman vs. Punk which is just a Night of Champions ad. Cole asks how Heyman and Axel plan to prevent Punk from getting his hands on Paul. Axel says that Heyman is under a lot of pressure to the point of hyperbole. However, Punk won’t get his hands on Paul because he can’t beat Axel.

Heyman, still looking pretty shabby, says that he’s being persecuted and begs for a boycott of the PPV. The fans have something better to spend their money on instead of the show, like sending your kids to college or buying your wife shoes. If you buy the show, you’re going to see Punk get his hands on him because Heyman has taught Punk how to get around the system.

It’s not because Punk is a better wrestler than Axel, but because Punk spent so much time with Heyman over the year. If you don’t boycott Night of Champions, Punk is going to give him such a beating that Heyman can’t even finish his sentence. This might be the last time you’ll get to see Paul Heyman and he’ll never forgive the people for putting him through this. Cue up the Goodbye song from the fans. Standard hard sell here but it still works.

We recap the opening segment.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Ricardo Rodriguez

Del Rio kicks him down to start and hits a running knee into the ribs. Ricardo comes back with a quick dropkick for two but Alberto hits the low superkick to put him back down. Ricardo gets up two feet in the corner and hits a tornado DDT for two but gets crotched on the top. A reverse superplex gets the pin for Alberto at 2:23.

Post match Alberto puts on the armbreaker but RVD makes the save and hits a quick Five Star.

We get a video on Bryan vs. Orton, complete with portions of a sit down interview with HHH. There’s nothing new here: he’s doing what’s best for business, Orton is the face of the WWE because he’s the best option, Bryan will see the truth at the PPV, Cody Rhodes was just a sacrifice to keep people in line, he’ll admit it if Bryan proves him wrong.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Dean Ambrose

Non-title but if Ziggler wins he gets a title shot at the PPV. Ambrose shoves him into the corner to start but Dolph comes back with some forearms. Dean pounds him down with ease and slams Dolph’s head into the mat a few times. Back up and Ziggler takes him down with a cross body and some right hands send Ambrose to the floor. Dean gets back in and puts on a quick reverse chinlock but Dolph dropkicks him down and hits the ten elbow drops. Ambrose avoids a Stinger Splash as we take a break.

Back with Dean stomping on the ribs as Cole tells us nothing happened during the break. Dean traps the legs and cranks back on Dolph’s chin some more before jumping into Dolph’s raised boot. Now it’s Dolph’s turn to pound away in the corner and a running clothesline gets two. The Fameasser misses but Dolph gets two off an O’Connor Roll. Dean’s sleeper is countered with a jawbreaker and the Fameasser gets two, drawing in the Shield for the DQ at 6:10 shown of 8:40.

Rating: C+. This was going ok but Ziggler as a US Title contender doesn’t really work when he was world champion just a few months ago. Ambrose continues to look great in the ring but there’s still value in Shield as a team. The match picked up after the break but the ending hurt it a good bit.

Shield beats up Ziggler but here are the Usos for the save. Vickie confirms that Dolph gets a title shot and makes it six man tag after a break.

Usos/Dolph Ziggler vs. Shield

This is joined in progress with Ziggler getting the tag but being dragged into Shield’s corner for the triple teaming. We go to a wide shot for some reason as Dean works over Ziggler. Back to Rollins to stay on Dolph’s arm and some stomping in the corner. Reigns gets the tag and puts on a front facelock before it’s back to Dean for some right hands to the ribs and trash talk.

A running dropkick to a tied up Ziggler has Dolph in trouble but he backdrops Dean out to the floor. Reigns breaks up the hot tag but Ziggler avoids a charge, sending Roman’s shoulder into the post. The hot tag brings in Jimmy who speeds things up and hits a Bubba Bomb on Rollins. A Samoan Drop is good for two but Dean makes the save. Things break down again and Reigns spears Jey down, only to have Jimmy superkick Rollins. The Superfly Splash hits knees though, giving Seth the pin at 4:33 shown.

Rating: C. Nothing great here but the Usos are more than capable of speeding things up when they need to. It wasn’t a good match or anything and it doesn’t really set up a tag title match on Sunday because we have to see who wins the turmoil match. Then again, this isn’t related to Punk vs. Axel or Orton vs. Bryan so it’s not like it matters.

Time for the Cutting Edge. Edge talks about HHH bringing him back in for one week because it’s good for business. The fans chant Good For Business but Edge says he’s here because of all of them. Edge also isn’t going to forget what happened to Christian on Monday. When Christian comes back, it’s not for one more match but to take Shield out. Edge brings out his guests: Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton.

First question: “Randy, how does it feel to be a sellout?” Orton says Edge is jealous because he’s just a washed up talk show host who can’t wrestle anymore while Orton is a ten time world champion. Edge says he’s an eleven time champion so it’s not a big deal. Randy talks about being the face of the WWE and how we needed a change after ten years of John Cena. Daniel Bryan is a nice wrestler with a good following but he’s not best for business.

Edge thinks he knows what’s best for business, just like the fans know what’s best for business. Bryan says he doesn’t know what’s best for business but he knows what he wants. Orton calls him naive so Bryan tells him to shut up. It’s not about being best for business or the WWE balance sheets. It’s about passion, love and dreams. His dream is to be WWE Champion, not to be the face of a corporation. Orton jumps him but Bryan counters into the YES Lock, making Orton tap. Randy bails to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. This is one where your tastes will vary depending on what you’re looking for in a show. There was very little wrestling here and what we got was nothing special at all. On the other hand though, they did a solid job of setting up the two major matches on PPV. I’m not sure how many people are interested in seeing the Punk vs. Axel/Heyman match but it’s been well built which is a good sign. There isn’t much on the card though so maybe more will be added on Sunday. Not much of a show this week though.

Results

Natalya/Naomi/Brie Bella b. Aksana/Alicia Fox/Layla via DQ when AJ Lee interfered

Santino Marella b. Damien Sandow – Cobra

Alberto Del Rio b. Ricardo Rodriguez – Reverse superplex

Dolph Ziggler b. Dean Ambrose via DQ when Shield interfered

Shield b. Usos/Dolph Ziggler – Rollins pinned Jimmy after blocking a Superfly Splash

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Smackdown
Date: September 6, 2013
Location: Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Commentators: John Bradshaw Layfield, Michael Cole

We’re almost three weeks into the new Corporation and not a lot has really changed. Daniel Bryan is still getting destroyed every week, the roster still won’t help him and it still makes all the good guys look like cowards who won’t stand up for anyone. The other main story is Punk vs. Heyman which is set for a handicap tag at Night of Champions. After that I could see the two stories merging with Punk helping Bryan in his war with the Corporation. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Cody getting a match against Orton and losing his job as a result. No mention of Bryan and Big Show in the intros here.

Opening sequence.

HHH and the GM’s are in the ring (with a red carpet) and the roster on the stage with Shield standing guard at ringside. HHH says as of Monday, Cody Rhodes is no longer a WWE Superstar. He talks about Cody being insubordinate to the COO of the WWE, making him disrespectful to the fans since HHH is the WWE. How long do you think he’s wanted to say that line? He gave Cody a chance to fight for his job but Rhodes lost, meaning Cody Rhodes fired Cody Rhodes.

That was hard since HHH is friends with the Rhodes Family but as COO he has to make some hard decisions. However, tonight he’s going to allow for an open forum for any superstar to air their grievances. No one says anything so HHH begs them to open up to him so he can work hard for everyone here. Damien Sandow supports the firing of Cody Rhodes because Cody embodied everything that was bad for business.

HHH says he appreciates that but doesn’t want this to be all about kissing up to him. Kofi Kingston goes to the mic and says the entire locker room has been living in fear since Cody was fired and that’s not good for business. HHH took Cody’s livelihood away and that makes everyone else live in fear. HHH is about to respond but 3MB cuts him off to complain about Big Show just standing around watching everything. Oh and thank you HHH for having an awesome management style.

RVD comes to the mic and says HHH brought him back to WWE a few months ago. Rob expected things to be better now but the vibe isn’t very cool around here. HHH: “I’ve been waiting since 2000 to have RVD call me dude.” HHH thinks Rob is still cool and asks to hear from someone else.

Ryback is tired of being called a bully and HHH agrees because it wasn’t Ryback’s fault Ziggler was hurt on Raw. Therefore tonight it’s Ryback vs. Ziggler again. HHH stops for a minute to say that Daniel Bryan isn’t here because Bryan thinks he’s above everyone else on the stage. Tonight it’s Bryan vs. a member of the Shield of Bryan’s choice. HHH thanks the stars for their honesty and gives Kofi a non-title match against Curtis Axel. RVD gets a non-title match as well against Randy Orton. Orton gets his big introduction to end this segment.

Time for a sidebar. This segment shows a lot of what’s wrong with this whole story: it’s a HHH story and everyone else is just there. A few weeks ago after Bryan destroyed the Escalade, HHH said Orton was just holding the WWE Title for him. Tonight HHH said he was the WWE. The guys that all said stuff were treated to HHH’s unfunny jokes as HHH tries to be a cool heel.

Much like the far too long feud with Lesnar, this is a HHH story which we don’t need. Everyone else is just there in the background but it’s HHH front and center every week. More people are going to be elevated throughout the story but so far it’s only pushed HHH. It’s still entertaining and has potential, but there’s too much HHH dominance so far and it’s hurting things.

Randy Orton vs. Rob Van Dam

Del Rio sits in on commentary. Rob starts with some shoulder into the ribs and a kick to the face for two. Another kick to the face gets two more and a slingshot legdrop has Randy writhing around on the mat. A top rope kick to the face gets two for Rob but Orton counters Rolling Thunder into a powerslam for two. Orton stomps Van Dam’s head but Rob comes back with yet another kick for two. The fans chant for ECW as Randy pounds away at Rob’s head for two.

Rob comes back with the fifth kick to the face of the match as Del Rio says Ricardo was stealing money from him, hence the split. We head to the floor with Orton being draped across the barricade, only to move from Rob’s kick to the back. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that move miss before. Back in and Orton goes after the leg with a Robinsdale Crunch before stopping to pose.

Randy throws him back to the floor and we take a break. Back with Rob fighting out of the chinlock and getting two off a superkick and a standing moonsault. A spinwheel kick in the corner staggers Orton but he avoids a monkey flip and kicks Rob’s leg out for two. The Elevated DDT puts Rob down but the RKO is countered with, say it with me, a kick to the head. A rollup gets two for Rob and now Rolling Thunder connects.

The Five Star misses and Rob rolls to the floor for a second, only to come back in for another kick to Randy’s face. Alberto gets off commentary and sends Ricardo into the post, drawing Rob into a dive to the floor, taking Del Rio out. Randy sends RVD into the announce table and hits the Elevated DDT on the floor (the same move that wrote RVD out of the WWE six years ago, not mentioned here of course) before the RKO gets the pin at 10:18 shown of 13:18.

Rating: B-. Good match here with Orton continuing to turn his usual spots into heel moves quite well. I’m not wild on the booking idea of having both the champion and the challenger losing as we head into the PPV but such is life as the World Heavyweight Champion in the WWE anymore. At least Orton is still looking strong.

Post match Del Rio beats up Rob and puts him in the cross armbreaker.

Daniel Bryan says that he wasn’t invited to the town hall meeting and the only attitude problem he has is that he wants to be WWE Champion. Shield can pick a member to face him because any of them are fine with him.

AJ runs into Layla, Aksana and Alicia Fox (who is at least six inches taller than all three of them) and says that she’d rather face any of them rather than the Total Divas because the three of them are actual wrestlers. AJ has a plan.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Ryback

This is a rematch from Monday where Ambrose jumped Ziggler before the match. Ziggler escapes a quick gorilla press and low bridges Ryback out to the floor. Back in and Ziggler hits a quick dropkick but misses a splash into the corner to give Ryback control. Dean Ambrose jumps in on commentary out of nowhere and goes into that creepy voice of his.

Ryback puts on a bearhug and gets a two count out of it before lifting Ziggler back into the air. A BIG DDT gets Dolph out of trouble and he pounds away on Ryback in the corner. Dolph gets two off a neckbreaker and the Fameasser gets the same. Ryback knocks Ziggy to the floor but misses a charge into the steps. Ziggler goes after Ambrose but walks into the Meat Hook to take his head off. Back in and the Shell Shock ends Ziggler at 4:32.

Rating: C. This was more angle advancement for Ziggler vs. Ambrose than anything else but it’s good to see Ryback getting some wins in his new persona. Ziggler’s fall from grace continues but I guess a US Title shot is better than nothing. The fans did seem more into Ziggler than usual so maybe the fighting against odds idea might work for him.

Curtis Axel vs. Kofi Kingston

Non-title. They fight over a top wristlock to start and the fans are entirely behind the hometown boy Axel here. Axel takes him to the mat as we open with some nice chain wrestling. Off to a headlock by Axel but Kofi fights out for the double leapfrog and jumping back elbow to the jaw. Curtis has a quick consultation with Heyman and walks right into a headscissors.

Kofi dropkicks him to the floor but Axel steps to the side before Kofi can launch the suicide dive. Instead Axel tries to send Kingston into the steps, only to have Kofi jump over the steps, turn around and use the steps as a springboard for a clothesline. A Heyman distraction lets Axel shoulder Kofi to the floor and we take a break. Back with Axel holding a chinlock but Kofi comes back with kicks to the ribs. Axel will have none of that though and hits a clothesline to the back of the head for a close two.

The fans want to see a PerfectPlex but instead they get Axel jumping into Kofi’s boots to put both guys down. Kofi speeds things up but walks into a great looking dropkick for two more. The dueling chants begin but Kofi misses a charge into the corner and gets caught in a quick Tree of Woe. Not that it matters as Kofi escapes and hooks the SOS out of nowhere for the pin at 6:44 shown of 9:44.

Rating: C. This was nothing special and the ending came from way out of left field. I guess the idea they’re going for is Axel could lose at any time to Punk and leave Heyman alone but it didn’t do this match any favors. Also it’s not like this does much for Kofi as he’s perpetually in the midcard title hunt. Not a bad match but the sudden ending hurt it a bit.

We get the Bray Wyatt promo from Raw on Kane disappearing while talking about Icarus. The myth, not the indy guy.

Heyman is panicking over what might happen at the PPV when Renee asks him about that very thing. Paul calls tonight an error in judgment and takes the blame instead of putting it on Axel. Renee says that Punk has promised to give Heyman the beating of his life which freaks Paul out even worse.

Naomi vs. Brie Bella

Have we ever gotten an explanation of why she’s Naomi in WWE and Trinity on Total Divas? Brie kicks her down and puts on a chinlock while shouting that she’ll be Divas Champion. Trinity fights out and hits a flipping clothesline for two before they tumble to the floor where AJ, Alicia, Aksana and Layla run to the ring for the DQ at 1:39.

The Total Divas are beaten down and AJ declares herself Divas Champion. This is somewhat booed, which makes me chuckle as they’re really going with the Total Divas as the good people here.

Los Matadores are coming.

Real Americans vs. Usos

Antonio now has a We The People cape, making him even more amazing than he was before. Cesaro charges right at Jey with a dropkick at the bell to send him to the floor. Swagger gets the tag and runs Jey down with a clothesline on the floor before heading back inside. The Vader Bomb crushes Jey and a double stomp from Cesaro makes it even worse. Back to Swager for a double arm trap but Jey fights up and backdrops Jack to the floor.

The hot tag brings in Jimmy who throws Antonio to the floor and hits a big dive to take him down again. Back in and the running Umaga attack in the corner gets two as Swagger saves. Jey superkicks Cesaro down and loads up the Superfly Splash but Swagger shoves him right into the European uppercut for the pin by Cesaro at 3:37. Jey sold that perfectly by stopping cold on impact and looking like he ran into a building.

Rating: C. This started slowly but the ending helped a lot. I’m glad to see Cesaro winning again but he needs to get away from Swagger. Jack is such damaged goods at this point and it’s dragging Cesaro down. Antonio could be a great choice for the corporate enforcer if treated as a serious threat, but instead he’s having to drag Swagger along with him.

HHH comes up to see Big Show and gives him a handicap match against 3MB for what they said earlier. Big Show can use the like stress balls.

The Raw ReBound covers the Big Show/HHH/Bryan stuff that closed the show.

Big Show vs. 3MB

Slater is the first lamb to be slaughtered and Show takes out the knee. The other two are knocked to the floor and the carnage begins. Show unleashes the chops on Mahal’s chest and spears Drew in half. Back in and a double chokeslam takes out Mahal and McIntyre but it’s the WMD to pin Slater at 2:35. Exactly what you would expect here.

Shield comes out as Show leaves but HHH takes the giant to the back.

Seth Rollins vs. Daniel Bryan

Reigns steps forward to distract Bryan and give Seth a cheap shot to start. Bryan comes back with a knee to the ribs and fires off the kicks to a kneeling Rollins. A Cactus Clothesline sends both guys to the floor but Bryan heads inside with Shield closing in on him. Rollins knocks him back to the floor and kicks Bryan in the side of the head for two. Off to a chinlock for a bit before Bryan comes back with forearms and a release German suplex. Bryan hits the corner dropkick and its missile cousin for two.

Back up and Bryan fires off more kicks but the Rollins ducks the roundhouse kick and shoves Daniel to the apron. An enziguri puts Bryan on the floor and Reigns gets in a cheap shot to take Bryan down. Bryan is whipped into the steps but Rollins’ top rope knee is countered into the YES Lock. A Reigns distraction breaks it up though and Bryan hits the FLYING GOAT to take out Roman. Not that it matters though as the running knee to the head pins Rollins at 6:06.

Rating: C+. This was the usual fast paced match these two are expected to have but the limited time they had kept it from being great. It’s good to see Bryan get a clean pin over one of the guys that has tormented him for weeks now so at least he didn’t get crushed again. Nice main event here but it needed a few more minutes.

Bryan bails to escape Shield and poses on the stage…..but Orton lays him out with the belt to end the show. This would be the seventh consecutive show to end with Daniel Bryan laid out since he won the WWE Championship.

Overall Rating: C. This was just ok. We didn’t get much development tonight and the show ended with Bryan laid out yet again. They have to do something by Night of Champions but they kind of put the brakes on Big Show’s story tonight. Instead of being all upset he was given a bone by HHH and was on screen for about five minutes all night. Nothing to see here but it was an acceptable use of two hours.

Results

Randy Orton b. Rob Van Dam – RKO

Ryback b. Dolph Ziggler – Shell Shock

Kofi Kingston b. Curtis Axel – SOS

Naomi vs. Brie Bella went to a double DQ when Layla, Alicia Fox, Aksana and AJ Lee interfered

Real Americans b. Usos – European Uppercut to Jey Uso

Big Show b. 3MB – WMD to Slater

Daniel Bryan b. Seth Rollins – Running knee to the head

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Smackdown
Date: August 31, 2012
Location: Resch Center Arena, Green Bay, Wisconsin
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews

After last week’s huge mess, hopefully Smackdown can turn things around tonight. Last week was one of the worst shows I can remember in a long time, which is a shame as I used to love Smackdown. Anyway, we’re getting very close to Night of Champions now and unfortunately, Del Rio hasn’t been hit by a bus or anything like that to keep us from having to sit through another title shot for him. Let’s get to it.

Do You Know Your Enemy? Mine at the moment is Del Rio vs. Sheamus. I can’t stand this feud and about 80% of that is on Del Rio.

Orton vs. Ziggler later. Gee I wonder how that’s going to end.

Here’s Sheamus to open the show. First up, he needs to praise HHH. Sheamus isn’t sure what HHH’s future holds but he has Sheamus’ respect. HHH is the embodiment of a champion, which is everything Del Rio isn’t. This brings out Damien Sandow of all people. He talks about how Sheamus is as ignorant as he is enormous because of his praise of HHH.

He goes on about Sheamus and HHH promotes a stereotype to the WWE Universe but Sheamus cuts him off. The champ doesn’t want to hear Sandow yap for twenty minutes so why not come into the ring right now and have a fight. Sandow says Sheamus isn’t worth his time but here’s Booker with a dissenting opinion. He makes Sandow vs. Sheamus for later, which is already more exciting than anything else from last week.

Rey Mysterio vs. Cody Rhodes

Cody talks about how Rey is just like Sin Cara, hiding behind a mask. Rhodes uses his power advantage to start but he ducks his head, letting Rey get in a kick to the face. Cody sends him out to the floor and we take a break. Back with Cody hitting a spinning suplex for two. A release gordbuster gets two followed by some knees to the back and a chinlock.

Cody goes for the mask but gets sent face first into the buckle. Rey speeds things up and hits a seated senton followed by a big kick to the head for two. A knee to Rey’s head gets two but Mysterio kicks Cody into 619 position. Cody catches Rey’s legs but Rey counters the counter into a sunset flip for the pin at 5:31 shown of 9:01.

Rating: C. This was fine. It’s nice to see Cody having an actual story on Smackdown instead of doing nothing on Superstars every other week. I didn’t catch anything being mentioned about Rey and Cody’s history, although at least we’re hearing about how Cody used to be obsessed with his looks to give a reason to the Sin Cara feud.

Cody beats up Rey post match until Cara makes the save and puts a Sin Cara mask on Cody.

We get the first anger management segment from Monday.

Kaitlyn vs. Natalya

Eve is on commentary. Nattie takes her down with a headlock to start and the place is eerily quiet. Kaitlyn shoulder blocks her down and they head to the floor where Kaitlyn gets her head slammed into the floor. Natalya hooks an abdominal stretch and slaps Kaitlyn’s side which has to hurt bad. Kaitlyn comes back with some armdrags but Natalya clotheslines her down. The Canadian runs her mouth and gets small packaged for the pin at 2:45. Getting extra time is helping the Divas a tiny bit but this was more about Eve, who spent the whole match being the corporate suckup, which does nothing for me at all.

Booker is worried about the pressure of being Raw GM is getting to AJ. He says the match between Jericho and Ziggler never should have been made. Vickie comes up and says this is more proof that AJ needs to go. Sweet Christmas enough with the power struggle storylines already.

Raw ReBound talks about Punk/Lawler/Cena from Monday.

Anger management segment #2.

Sheamus vs. Damien Sandow

Sandow is taken into the ropes to start and requests that the referee does his job. Sandow tries to take it into the corner but Sheamus grabs his beard. To avoid getting punched in the face, Damien drops to the floor and things slow down again. The champ starts running him over with shoulders and Sandow heads to the floor again. This time Sheamus is tired of waiting so he goes out after Damien, only to have his knees sent into the steps by Sandow.

That gets an eight count and Sandow stomps away back inside. Off to a chinlock which Sheamus breaks pretty quickly. A regular neckbreaker (as opposed to the double arm version) gets two for Sandow and it’s back to the chinlock. This one is broken even faster and Sheamus starts his hard hitting offense.

Damien bails to the floor for the third time but Sheamus throws him right back in and hits the ten forearms. A slingshot shoulder block to the back gets two and Damien heads to the floor for I think the fourth time. White Noise is escaped and the Brogue Kick is ducked. Sandow rolls to the floor and sprints up the ramp for the countout at 6:51.

Rating: C. This wasn’t a great match, but it was a logical one. The idea of Sandow not being able to hang in a fight with Sheamus makes perfect sense and having him constantly trying to run and clear his head was a nice touch. This is exactly what Sandow needs: to be able to rub elbows with bigger names. He didn’t need to win here and certainly shouldn’t have, but having him in there is a good step in the right direction.

Prime Time Players vs. Justin Gabriel/Tyson Kidd

Kidd and Gabriel have matching yellow shirts which look like dresses on them. Kidd and Titus get things going as the Usos Tout about how they should be #1 contenders. Off to Young vs. Gabriel after the starters do nothing of note. Justin takes Young to the mat after making a blind tag, allowing Kidd to kick Darren in the face.

Off to Titus who powers Tyson down and brings Darren back in. The Players are very good about tagging in and out quickly. Tyson sends Young into the corner and tags out to Justin. An STO puts Darren down and Justin loads up the 450, only for Titus to distract him. Darren crotches Gabriel and hits the fireman’s carry gutbuster for the pin at 3:13. This one looked better as he launched Gabriel into the air and Justin was in free fall when he hit the knees.

Rating: C. I know I’ve used that rating a lot tonight but this was exactly what the rating implies: it was ok and right in the middle. I do like that the guys in the tag division are actually getting a little time every week. If nothing else it lets a lot more guys get on TV as opposed to showing up every other PPV and have a title defense that means nothing. These matches don’t exactly equal the Harts vs. the Bulldogs but they’re an improvement over what we’ve been getting the last few years.

The final anger management segment airs. Kane’s explanation of his history is still hilarious.

Here’s Del Rio with something to say. Alberto brags about beating Orton last week but doesn’t care to be reminded that Sheamus has beaten him every time. Del Rio threatens Josh but here’s Kane for protection I guess. Kane says he’s here to apologize for attacking Josh at Summerslam. Teddy comes out and makes Kane vs. Alberto.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Kane

This is joined in progress after a break but it doesn’t look like we missed much. Kane pounds on Del Rio in the corner but Alberto comes back with some kicks to the legs. Kane comes back with a low dropkick to the head for two and an uppercut that sends Del Rio to the apron. Del Rio rams Kane’s arm into the buckle and follows it up with a kick to the shoulder. Kane will have none of that and hits a sidewalk slam to set up the top rope clothesline for no cover. Kane loads up the chokeslam but Ricardo pulls Kane’s leg. The distraction lets Del Rio hit a Backstabber for the pin at 2:46.

Post match Kane snaps and chokeslams Josh, but he apologizes while he does it.

HHH video from Raw.

Randy Orton vs. Dolph Ziggler

Ziggler dropkicks Randy down to start and struts a bit. Dolph shows off a bit so Randy dropkicks him down as well in a nice touch. A slingshot suplex gets two on Dolph but Ziggler comes back with a neckbreaker and some elbow drops. Orton wins a slugout and fires off his clotheslines. The powerslam sets up the elevated DDT but Ziggler counters. Ziggler doesn’t get back inside though and Orton pulls him to the top rope for a superplex.

That only gets two and Ziggler comes back with a jumping DDT for another near fall. The crowd is starting to get into this. Dolph charges at Randy but gets caught in the Elevated DDT for another two. Orton was laughing while he hit that which was kind of a nice touch. They head to the floor with Ziggler being thrown over the announce table. Back inside and Ziggler misses the Zig Zag, allowing the RKO to pin him at 7:10.

Rating: C+. This was a fast paced main event style match, but man alive did they have to have Ziggler lose AGAIN? Orton is leaving for a few months to film whatever the next WWE movie is. Ziggler is indeed Mr. MITB and probably will win the title before the year is over, but as always in WWE, the idea seems to be to have him lose time after time so he can surprise everyone and win it all back at once. You know, because no heel can look strong in WWE and they all have to be cowards that steal every win they get.

Vickie immediately announces that Dolph is still Mr. MITB and says he did a good job. Yes, make sure you hammer in that the guy who is going to get a title match is such a loser.

Overall Rating: C+. This wasn’t a great show at all but man alive was it better than last week. It’s amazing how much better things are when you don’t have Alberto and Sheamus interacting. Seeing Sandow getting a match against the champ, even when he was mostly dominated and lost, was a good sign that there are big things in his future. This show toned down the stupid stuff and they got a better show out of it.

Results

Rey Mysterio b. Cody Rhodes – Sunset Flip

Kaitlyn b. Natalya – Small Package

Sheamus b. Damien Sandow via countout

Prime Time Players b. Justin Gabriel/Tyson Kidd – Fireman’s carry gutbuster to Gabriel

Alberto Del Rio b. Kane – Backstabber

Randy Orton b. Dolph Ziggler – RKO

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews, and pick up my new book of Complete 2001 Monday Night Raw Reviews at Amazon for just $4 at:

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Smackdown
Date: August 30, 2013
Location: Thomas and Mack Center, Las Vegas, Nevada
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield

We close out August with Daniel Bryan on a bad run of luck. For four straight shows now he’s been left laying by Randy Orton and the new Corporation, but luckily for him the fans are still WAY into him. That’s only going to last for so long though until the fans start to view him as a guy who got lucky against Cena instead of an elite level star. Let’s get to it.

Theme song opens us up.

We get things going with MizTV featuring guests Big Show and Dolph Ziggler. Miz says the three of them were all on the stage along with forty other superstars while Daniel Bryan had to run the Shield gauntlet. They were all told that if they said anything, HHH would make them miserable. However, Miz thinks it’s time for them to speak up about how the WWE is being run. Big Show says that was one of the hardest things he’s ever had to do. Ziggler is nervous to say anything and says let Big Show keep going. Miz is about to say something when HHH cuts him off.

HHH thinks MizTV is cool but wants to hear what Miz was about to say before he came to the ring and why Miz isn’t in a suit. Miz says you never know when a fight could break out and wants to know if he can ask HHH a question. HHH says no he can’t and asks why these three are taking the Daniel Bryan route and making it personal. They shouldn’t be jealous of Randy Orton. After all, Orton isn’t a guy who talks a lot but can’t back it up or a guy who just happens to be big, but (to Ziggler) at least he’s big enough.

HHH talks about how Orton being champion is what’s best for business, meaning it makes more money for all of them. Miz is jealous because he can’t get near the WWE Championship again, but since HHH is in a good mood he’s giving Miz a shot at Randy Orton tonight. HHH saw Ziggler looking miserable because he lost to the Shield in a 3-1 handicap match, so tonight he gets a rematch with all three guys. That leaves Big Show, who gets the night off. Instead he gets to sit next to the announcers and do nothing about it whatsoever. Show looks like he wants to chew through steel but goes and sits down.

Randy Orton vs. The Miz

Non-title of course with Big Show at ringside. Orton takes Miz into the corner to start and we get a clean break. Miz jumps over Orton in the corner and clotheslines him down but Orton easily escapes a Figure Four attempt. Orton staggers him with a headbutt and gets two off a dropkick. Miz is tossed to the floor as Orton is doing a good job at making his usual spots into heel moves. Miz is dropped back first onto the barricade for two back inside.

We hit the chinlock but Miz fights up and pounds on Orton in the corner until the referee pulls him away. The running clothesline in the corner sets up Miz’s top rope ax handle, only to have Orton kick him out of the air. The Elevated DDT is countered into a backdrop to the floor….and here comes Shield as we take a break. Back with Shield standing between the ring and the ramp as Orton sends Miz into the barricade.

The fans chant for Big Show as Orton throws Miz back inside for two. Orton does the circle stomp and hits another chinlock but Miz fights up with some elbows. A neckbreaker gets two for Miz but Orton escapes the Skull Crushing Finale. Now the Elevated DDT connects but Miz counters the RKO into a backslide for two. A dropkick to the knee sets up the Figure Four and Orton is in trouble. Randy finally makes a rope and jumps to his feet for the RKO and the pin at 10:02 shown of 13:02.

Rating: C+. Nice match here as Miz can have a decent performance against the right kind of opponent. The Figure Four still needs to go though as it just doesn’t fit the rest of Miz’s offense at all. As has been said many times, the guy used one move to get to the WWE Title and to the main event of Wrestlemania, so why would he need to change things? Good match here and a good win for Orton who got a clean pin.

Shield comes in for the post match beatdown but Bryan makes a save with a chair, sending the place into a frenzy. THIS is what they’ve been needing to do for weeks now.

Los Matadores are still coming.

Vickie yells at Bryan for what he just did and gives him a match with Ryback as a result.

We recap the Punk/Heyman/Axel segment from Raw. Thank goodness the fans were chanting Walrus instead of Boring because that was a great segment.

Rob Van Dam vs. Damien Sandow

Sandow says he’ll win and win and win until he’s world champion. Other than the winning part, he might be right and that’s kind of scary. Rob hits a quick kick to take over and jumps up top for a legdrop of all things, good for two. Sandow comes back by sending him shoulder first into the post followed by the Russian legsweep and the Wind-Up Elbow for two. Big Show is still at ringside in case you were wondering. Sandow hooks the chinlock but Rob quickly fights up and snaps off a hurricanrana. Damien slows RVD down with a big boot but Rob hits a springboard kick to the face and the Five Star gets the pin at 2:37.

Post match here’s Alberto who insults both Ricardo and RVD. Del Rio warns RVD to not sleep with the dogs because he’ll wake up with fleas.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Shield

Rollins starts for Shield but Dolph knocks the other two members off the apron before going after Seth. A cross body gets two for Dolph and he pounds away on Rollins’ head. Rollins gets him into the Shield corner for some stomping and it’s off to Reigns. A Samoan drop from the Samoan gets two and Ambrose comes in to talk trash and pound away. The fans chant for Ziggler as JBL is having a great time watching this destruction.

Dean shouts at Ziggler in the corner so Ziggler slaps him in the face and backdrops the US Champion to the floor. Ziggler can’t follow up though so it’s back to Rollins who counters the Fameasser into the always awesome looking buckle bomb. Reigns comes in off a blind tag and spears Ziggler out of his boots for the pin at 4:00.

Rating: C-. What else could they have done here? Thankfully this doesn’t hurt Ziggler and I could see him getting the US Title shot at Night of Champions. That spear from Reigns continues to be awesome as I don’t remember anyone ever throwing their legs in the air like he does. It looks like he’s almost flying through the other person and it looks great every time.

Post match Shield chokes Ziggler on the ropes and taunts Big Show. The Triple Bomb leaves Ziggler laying and Big Show seething.

Here are Heyman and Axel with something to say. Axel introduces us to another clip of Heyman attacking Punk on Raw. Heyman wants to know what the fans want from him. Are they mad at him for the beating he gave his prodigal son on Monday? He isn’t sorry for what he did because the fans voted him into that situation. Did they think he was going to take his beating like a man?

For 434 days he and Punk were the reigning WWE Champion and every single one of their opponents were put down using Heyman’s plans and Punk’s implementation. Every time Punk has come up against Heyman, it’s been Punk on his back, looking up at his mentor. This brings us to Night of Champions, where Heyman might have to face Punk on his own again.

If that happens, the fans are expecting to see Punk beat Heyman into the ground, and Heyman is indeed afraid. If Punk gets his hands on him, you won’t see Paul Heyman again. However, that fear could be Punk’s worst enemy. Look at what Heyman has done to Punk out of love and think about what he could do if he was facing a beating at Punk’s hands. More greatness from Heyman here.

Wyatt Family vs. Tons of Funk

Harper starts with Tensai and the fat man knocking Luke to the floor. Tons of Funk hit a double standing splash to Harper but Rowan breaks up the big splash. Harper kicks Tensai in the face and it’s the discus lariat and splash combination for the pin on Tensai at 1:13. This was pretty sloppy for a seventy five second match.

Wyatt hits Sister Abigail on Tensai post match.

Los Matadores are still coming. That hasn’t changed in the last hour.

We look at the AJ promo against the Total Divas from Monday.

Ryback vs. Daniel Bryan

Ryback has a new split color singlet. Thankfully we only hear about the Escalade for the first time during Bryan’s entrance. Bryan charges right at him but gets shoved across the ring with ease. A slam puts Bryan down as Big Show looks on with a worried look. Ryback fires off some hard shoulders into the corner for two but after staggering Bryan with a headbutt, Ryback misses a charge into the post.

Bryan starts firing off the kicks and hits a running dropkick to the chest in the corner. Ryback rolls to the floor for the FLYING GOAT as Orton strolls down to the ring. The distraction allows Ryback to run Bryan over as we take a break. Back with Bryan fighting out of a chinlock and firing off kicks to the legs.

Daniel loads up the running clothesline but gets caught in a hard spinebuster for no cover. The Meat Hook connects for two s Ryback loads up a belly to belly superplex. Bryan doesn’t feel like dying today so he headbutts Ryback down and hits the missile dropkick. Here come the kicks and the big one to the head is good for two. There’s the YES Lock but Orton comes in for the DQ at 6:25 shown of 9:25.

Rating: C+. These two have good chemistry together as Bryan knows how to play the David role to Ryback’s Goliath as well as anyone else. Bad character development and horrid win/loss record aside, there’s potential in Ryback as a monster heel. Good match here as I’m come to expect from these two.

Bryan is ready for Orton and catches him in the YES Lock but here’s Shield for the save. Big Show is out of his chair and looks like he’s about to explode. He finally slides into the ring but doesn’t touch anyone. HHH comes raving down the aisle, demanding that Big Show get out of the ring. Show stays in the ring and stares down at HHH before finally climbing out. He looks like he’s about to cry as HHH demands he go to the back.

The beating on Bryan continues as the announcers go into serious silent mode. Orton has Shield hold Bryan for more punishment and walks Bryan around the ring to look at all the people. The Batista thumbs up/down thing sets up the Triple Bomb and in case we haven’t channeled enough heel stables for you yet, Orton spray paints NO on Bryan’s chest to end the show. This would be the fifth consecutive show where Daniel Bryan has been left laying since winning the WWE Championship.

Overall Rating: B. I really liked tonight’s show as they treated it like things mattered. I’m liking the main story more and more as it’s reminiscent of 1998 when Undertaker refusing to fight Kane as Kane destroyed more and more people. At least we can almost guarantee the matches will be better this time around though. Overall though the show came off quite well with almost everything being at least good.

They could be on the verge of something huge here if they play their cards right, but they can’t keep having Bryan get destroyed forever. The silver lining though is Bryan isn’t losing matches and is being beaten down by impossible odds, so once he gets backup (which is clearly coming), he can fight Orton on level ground and get his big win.

Results

Randy Orton b. The Miz – RKO

Rob Van Dam b. Damien Sanodw – Five Star Frog Splash

Shield b. Dolph Ziggler – Spear

Wyatt Family b. Tons of Funk – Splash to Tensai

Daniel Bryan b. Ryback via DQ when Randy Orton interfered

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews, and pick up my new book of Complete 2001 Monday Night Raw Reviews at Amazon for just $4 at:

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Note that this is very old and the quality isn’t what it would be today.

Smackdown (Debut Weekly Episode)
Date: August 26, 1999
Location: Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Missouri
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

Well, since I just reviewed Summerslam 99 for the series, I figured I’d throw this in as well. It’s four days since Summerslam, and all you really need to know is this: HHH won his first world title three days prior to this on Raw. That’s about it.  This is also the debut of one Ayatollah of Rock and Rollah.  Let’s get to it.

We open with what else, a recap of the end of Summerslam and then the next night on Raw where HHH breaks JR’s arm, followed by Shane demanding that Foley defend the title that night. Shane gives him a chair, and he hits Rock who for some reason was doing commentary.

A pedigree ends the epic reign of Mankind, and puts HHH one step closer to Flair. This was the big eagle belt too, so it looks amazing. For some reason, Ross is fine after having his arm snapped three days ago. You have to love pro wrestling. The music and pyro go off as I remember everything from this, which is used perfectly in the game series which I like.

We open with a video in which there naturally are no Smackdown clips. That’s likely the only time in history that’s happened. I miss the old setup and intro actually. Also, you may be thinking the first Smackdown was months before this, but that was just a special. This is the first regular weekly episode.

Anyway, we start with HHH coming to the ring for the first time as world champion, which is kind of a cool moment I guess. HHH winning the title was actually very well done, as he had built himself up for over three years at this point, and delaying it one extra day was brilliant. We get a loud vulgar chant as HHH says he has four words for them: I am the World Wrestling Federation Champion. Yeah, I have no idea how that’s four words either.

This is actually a bad promo as he’s rambling quite a bit. He more or less calls out Rock, and since HHH is a person, the People’s Champion comes out. It’s pretty cool that the show was named after one catchphrase. The fans are insane for this guy. You know, I think I used to be a Rock mark. I love his lines but back in the day I didn’t. That’s just kind of odd. Oh, Rock challenges for a title match tonight.

HHH says he’s not in his league. They turn this into a war of words and Rock just owns him on every line. Despite being a former world champion, you can really see that this is like his first time going for the belt, as his character was completely reinvented in just 6 months. Oh crud HBK is coming out. I forgot he was commissioner at the time.

He makes the match tonight, and somehow takes two minutes to say the match is tonight. Anyone that wants to criticize Vince for taking too long should go after HBK. It’s horrid. Oh and he’s the referee tonight. This was in a period where you couldn’t have a match without there being a guest referee. I couldn’t stand it.

Since this hasn’t gone on long enough, SHANE comes in as we reach 15 minutes for the opening segment. He makes himself the second guest referee for the match. HBK says that can’t happen because Shane will be busy in a match. Apparently it’s against Foley, who ALSO has to come out. Naturally he has a mic.

Apparently all the talk about stroking and screwing has his excited. He messes up some words (intentionally) and rips off some Rock stuff which always makes me laugh. I was always one of the dozens and dozens, just so it’s known. Rock says screw this and hits the ring and we’re on.

The Posse runs out to help Shane but X-Pac runs out to beat up the Posse, then the Pope runs out to fight off Pac, followed by Wolverine because he just doesn’t like the Pope, but he’s countered by the entire population of Uruguay. Literally, ten people were involved in that one segment. We’re twenty minutes in and that’s all that’s happened so far. This isn’t going to be easy is it?

Apparently there’s a triple threat tag title match tonight. Also some guy named Jericho has his first match. Test might get an answer to asking Stephanie to marry him, and we all know how well that winds up.

Jarrett is dragging Debra and Miss Kitty (who debuted Monday) to…some undisclosed location that I guess was supposed to be the ring. Billy Gunn is coming to the ring too.

Jeff Jarrett vs. Billy Gunn

Ok, so Jarrett won the IC and Euro belts on Sunday but on Monday he gave the Euro one to Mark Henry. Also, there was an open contract to face Jarrett for the IC belt and Gunn ran off to find a pen. In between Chyna signed it, kicking off her and Jarrett’s great feud. On Monday though, Jeff hit Chyna with a guitar, and Billy hit Jarrett, leading to this match.

See how nice it is to have two shows in a week where stories can be built up? See how nice that is? This is non title. I’m not a fan of Billy, but his running leapfrog was always pretty cool. Chyna comes out as Kitty gives Jeff a guitar. She accidentally nails Debra, allowing Gunn to roll up Jeff for the win. Chyna gets in and he starts to moon her but Chyna low blows him.

Rating: B. This is the first match in the history of Smackdown (technically) and Billy Gunn wins it? Wow, that’s a trivia answer no one wants. Anyway, this was actually a pretty good match. You have to judge TV and PPV matches differently due to time, and I’m doing so here.

Just keep that in mind: what I call a good match on TV doesn’t mean it would be good on PPV, which is what the majority of my scale is based on. Anyway, this was short but sweet with a lot of high impact moves in a very short timespan.

Lillian Garcia (WTF?) is with Al Snow in the back, saying that Pepper has been kidnapped by Bossman. Snow is freaked out over this.

Jericho has Finkel polishing his boots. That’s just funny.

We cut to Test who is pacing around nervously.

Tag Titles: APA vs. X–Pac/Kane vs. Big Show/Undertaker

APA lost the belts to Pac and Kane who lost them to the two tall guys, so there’s your backstory. The first thing that I notice here is that for the majority of his career, Taker simply has not cared about belts. Aside from his time with the WHC, do you ever remember him wearing a belt? On his way to the ring here as a tag champion, Paul Bearer is holding his belt for him.

It’s like Taker just doesn’t care, which can be good, but at the same time, I prefer someone like Austin who would throw the belt around and make sure that you KNEW he was the champion of the world. Anyway, just as the match starts, Taker sits down at the announce table, saying that this is going to be hard love for Show. Apparently Show wants to learn to be like Taker and he’ll do whatever it takes to do so.

This starts off fast and never stops being fast. Like I said in the Summerslam review, the problem here is that X-Pac is just out of his league here. Think about it. There are 6 people in this match. Aside from X-Pac, the smallest is Ron Simmons, who is a tank. X-Pac just doesn’t look right in there. This match really could be split into two parts.

Early in the match, we have the stereotypical Big Show, who is powerful, but can’t put together a good offense if his life depends on it. Kane and Bradshaw knock him to the floor and Taker calls him over. He slaps him in the head to begin the second half of the match. After this, Show dominates and once Kane is sent to the floor, Show chokeslams the tar out of Pac to win.

Rating: B. This was another good TV match. It’s about 5 minutes long but there are no slow periods in that 5 minutes at all. It is nonstop action the whole time which makes it very good. On TV you have to hold your audience as they have a bunch of other channels to watch. On PPV you don’t have to worry about that as you have their money already. This was well done and fast paced, making it a good match.

Test is still walking around. Stephanie arrives but doesn’t answer him yet.

Bossman comes out and says that Snow needs to come out. He says that Snow gets his dog back for a title shot. If not, he’ll kill the dog.

Commercial. There have been others but this is the only one where you can really tell that it is. Lawler pitching Magic cards is kind of funny.

Hardcore Title: Al Snow vs. Big Bossman

I guess he stole the dog on Monday. Yep, the dog is nervous and Jerry is no longer dry. Yeah that’s not really funny. Snow only cares about getting his dog back so he’s distracted. This is all of three minutes long and ends with Bossman slamming Snow in the head with the nightstick.

He of course leaves, stealing Pepper again in the process. A week later they would meet in a hotel room where Snow would be given dinner that was, you guessed it, Pepper. It ended up being decided in the Kennel From Hell match. If you from to see something awful, go look that one up.

Rating: C. I’ll go with average because it’s just too short to really grade. Snow did next to nothing, but that fit with the storyline of him being nervous and upset. I really don’t know where they thought this would wind up going, but whoever thought the Kennel match was a good idea should be shot.

In the back, X-Pac leaves, yelling about how he’s tired of losing. Yep, two losses to a dream team really is a horrible thing Sean. Kane calls out for him, and Ross says the rather dumb line of was that Kane? No JR. It was Elvis.

Jericho is on his way to the ring for his first match.

In the arena, Snow wakes up and is told that Pepper is gone. He SPRINTS to the back. I’ve never seen someone in wrestling run that fast.

Commercial.

Rock and HHH are shown on a split screen getting ready, as Ross says another brilliant line: it’ll never get any bigger than this. Well thanks JR. Now I know there’s no point to watching the future shows since this one will be the best ever. Seriously, how is he in the HOF and Solie isn’t?

Snow is frantically looking for Pepper and Bossman.

Road Dogg vs. Chris Jericho

As I said in the Summerslam review, Road Dogg was perfect for Jericho as he was someone that was equally good on the mic and therefore could match Jericho on the mic. Also at this time, Jericho was using the double power bomb for his finisher. We get some generic insults, but as predictable as he was, Road Dogg had all kinds of energy and charisma which no one can deny.

At this time, Jericho was the internet god who was being wasted in WCW forever and when he was signed, the IWC collectively orgasmed. Ross says this should be something. Yes JR, it’s called a wrestling match. If it wasn’t something, nothing would be happening. Jericho gets his Canadian teeth kicked in early on by Road Dogg, until the warrior Howard Finkle (I didn’t name him that) comes down and sprays something in Roadie’s eyes.

This lets Jericho just go nuts on his back, eventually turning into a Dudley and grabbing a table. He sets it up for Road Dogg but it gets countered into a DDT. We get a short comeback before Jericho counters into the double powerbomb with the seconds through the table. You know, if Roadie hadn’t grabbed Jericho’s hands, Jericho might not have been able to lift him for the second. Just a thought. Walls of Jericho follows as the suits run out for the save.

Rating: C+. It was ok I guess. I don’t get the point in having Jericho lose his first match other than to make Jericho look insane. That works I guess, but the in ring work wasn’t great for me.

Back from commercial, we see Jericho talking to Howard about how he had his job stolen by Tony Chimmel, and that Howard is a warrior and should go get it back. We cut to the arena where Tony is introducing a match, only to be interrupted by the music of the Ullllllllllllllltimate Warrior.

Fink runs down, hits the ropes and pounds on his chest as I try not to hurt myself from laughing so hard. He yells at Tony, which is weird to hear in that velvet smooth voice. He shoves Tony down, but of course gets the tar beaten out of him for it by Tony. This was hilarious, but the fans aren’t sure what to make of it. Jericho comes out and gets Fink and they leave.

Ken Shamrock vs. Val Venis

This never happens and Val is never seen. Ken passes Jericho and Fink on the way out and Jericho sends Fink after him. You can guess how this goes, but he distracts Ken long enough for Jericho to nail him with a chair and kick off Jericho’s first feud. Shamrock would be fed to Jericho and never be heard from again.

Stephanie comes out next. She needs to heave her hair straightened more often. Test is getting a very solid pop here. For the life of me I don’t get why they just threw him in a tag team. I heard rumors they were going to actually put the belt on him for all of a week but instead it stayed with HHH.

Granted this was about 5-6 months later. The fact that Stephanie said that doing this in the ring was perfect is just funny to me. I guess wrestling runs in her blood. Anyway, Test gets on one knee and she says yes immediately, completely no selling the question. Shane and the Posse run out, breaking their word from Sunday’s stipulation. Mankind comes out and chairs all of them for the save. He grabs a mic and says that they need to have their match right now.

Mankind vs. Shane McMahon

Before we start, Mankind says that Shane can have one good shot first. He turns his back and Shane hits him, but Foley is down for about 5 seconds before popping up and beating the tar out of Shane. The Posse is still out cold in the ring while this is happening. Just as I say that Mick rolls them out. Shane tries to run but gets caught because Foley is the fastest man alive. Just making sure you were paying attention.

Foley hits a side Communist legsweep but the Posse beats on him. Test conveniently gets up at the same time to fight them off as the Stooges run out to also help beat on the Posse. This is just flat out fun. Even Stephanie gets in on it, beating on one of them. Back in the ring, Chyna and HHH run out and hit Mankind in the….some undeterminable area with a chair to let Shane win. This just further proves my Foley is a career jobber theory, now available in the Old School section.

Rating: C-. This was just a big brawl and Shane’s offense was a clothesline I think. It was meant to just kind of progress the feud without actually doing anything, so I can’t really grade it fairly.

Jericho and Fink are running away, but Jericho leaves him behind so Shamrock can beat on him.

Cole is following Tori down the hall as she’s topless. For no apparent reason, she takes her pants off and walks down the hall in just a thong without saying anything.

Cole interviews Austin from something that happened earlier in the week. Austin says that he’ll be back from the knee injury that HHH caused at Summerslam in about a month or so. Austin is asked about how HHH has been a lot more aggressive lately, which he has been, and whether or not he stole it from Austin, which he did.

Evening Gown Match: Ivory vs. Tori

You know the drill here: get them to their underwear to win. These two had one of the worst matches of all time at Summerslam, followed by Ivory trying to make Tori lose her clothes. This was just weird. I forgot how much I hate Ivory’s music.

We cut to the back where the suits won’t let Tori come out. For some reason King doesn’t understand the difference between various states of undress, which isn’t really that complicated. She comes out in a tshirt over her thong. The announcers call Ivory Tori about 5 times which is annoying. It’s over in about a minute as Ivory is stripped. Luna comes out to pull Tori off Ivory.

Rating: N/A. Not enough to grade, but it was just completely pointless.

Lillian is with HHH and Chyna. The booing is so loud you can’t hear Lillian talking. HHH threatens Shawn to stay out of his way or else.

Rock is walking down the hallway towards the ring. Shawn is walking down the hallway towards the ring. Al Snow is still looking for Pepper. Test and Stephanie are congratulated as they leave.

WWF Title: Rock vs. HHH

Like I’ve said, Shawn is guest referee. His shorts are downright absurd. HHH comes out first and I think I like this music more. Rock comes out and they start very fast. It’s HHH getting his head handed to him early on and after a brief comeback, Rock gets him ready for the Rock Bottom. He doesn’t get it though because he has to drag HHH to the middle of the ring so the move happens at a good camera angle.

Pedigree misses too, so that’s 1-1 on missed finishers. They brawl up on the ramp for awhile with Rock just beating the heck out of him. They brawl in front of the announce table and with HBK looking right at them, Chyna low blows Rock. She gets ejected and then spends at least a minute arguing, costing Rock a chance at a can’t miss near fall. I mean really, how rude. Rock could have gotten a solid two there.

Shane comes out as HHH is in control here in the main event of the night of run ins. The rest of the match is mainly Shawn and Shane arguing. Rock starts his comeback as Lawler keeps thinking Shawn is going to screw HHH. Shane finally gets punched. Rock Bottom leads to the elbow, but as he turns to drop it, he gets kicked in the face by Shawn. This is shocking for some reason, despite the fact that HHH and Shawn used to be best friends. Pedigree ends the show as Chyna, Shane, HHH and Shawn celebrate.

Rating: B. By far and away the match of the night. It was like a PPV main event but moving at fast forward speed. It was good and there was a decent flow to it. No one thought Rock had a legit chance at winning, so they did the best they could and it came out pretty well. The chemistry these two had was off the charts to say the least and this was just paving the way for the classics they would have next year.

Overall Rating: B. This is a show that benefited from one thing: it was just an extension of Raw and painted blue. By doing this, it more or less inherits the Raw juggernaut upon being created. This feels like an episode of Raw which means it’s great. If you like WWF at this time, you’ll love this. It’s a packed show, but it never feels rushed, which is a good thing. Find it if you’re interested. It’s not great, but it’s certainly not dull.

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Smackdown
Date: August 23, 2013
Location: Rabobank Arena, Bakersfield, California
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield

It’s an interesting time in WWE as we have our first heel super stable in several years and they can do whatever the like because “we own the place.” The two questions at the moment are what will Daniel Bryan do to fight these guys off and who will step up to help him in the war. Odds are we won’t find out until Monday. Let’s get to it.

We get clips from the main events of Summerslam.

Theme song.

Here’s Vickie Guerrero to open us up. She’s cleared the air with HHH and brings out Randy Orton, actually pronouncing the T for a change. Orton talks about being a role model and about how he didn’t lie at all during this whole thing. He said he would be cashing in MITB very soon and that’s exactly what he did. No one should have been surprised when he won the title on Sunday. The only person who should have been surprised was Orton himself, as he didn’t expect HHH to do what he did, even though he didn’t need the help. Orton says he’s the face of the WWE but here’s Bryan to disagree.

Before Bryan addresses the face of the WWE, he wants to say what he was trying to say on Raw: thank you John Cena for giving him the chance at Summerslam and for wrestling with a torn tricep. That one chance let him know what it feels like to be WWE Champion. As for the face of the WWE, it’s already time for that face to change. Bryan doesn’t look like Randy Orton. Orton is tall, chiseled and just pretty.

Bryan sees why HHH likes him so much, but Orton is also arrogant. He’s been handed every opportunity because he’s a third generation wrestler and it’s been his Golden Ticket. Bryan can’t get over how pretty Orton is and asks the fans to cheer for Orton because of it. Randy is so pretty that it makes Daniel want to kick him in the face.

Bryan has had to work his way up through the high school gyms wrestling on infected mats to get where he is today because he isn’t tall and isn’t pretty. However, he can wrestle and beat Orton for the WWE Championship. Bryan is entitled to a rematch and he wants it tonight. Say it along with Orton and I: Wait until the pay per view. They stare at each other and Orton tries an RKO, only to be dropkicked to the floor. Solid segment here with Bryan sounding like a natural rival to Orton and laying out the basic story. Orton saying he didn’t know HHH was going to help him is interesting as well.

Vickie rants about Bryan on the phone and says someone needs to teach him a lesson. Wade Barrett comes in and says he doesn’t like Bryan either, so he’d be willing to take care of him tonight. Vickie says ok and makes it a no holds barred match. No make it extreme rules. Or inside a cage. Wasn’t Vickie supposed to be all mega evil this time or something?

Cody Rhodes vs. Curtis Axel

Non-title. Feeling out process to start with Cody tripping Axel down to the mat. Curtis comes back with a great dropkick but Cody heads to the apron for a springboard dropkick of his own. Curtis rolls outside but moves before Cody can dive on him. Cody’s back is rammed into the apron as we take a break.

Back with Curtis dropping elbows for two before hitting a Hennig necksnap for the same. We hit the chinlock for a bit but Cody avoids a middle rope fist a few seconds later. The Disaster Kick misses but Cody gets two off a sunset flip out of the corner. Heyman’s distraction breaks up the moonsault press and Axel hits his neckbreaker into a faceplant for the pin at 3:55 shown of 6:55.

Rating: D+. So we build Cody up for weeks and then have him lose in less than seven minutes with the title not even on the line. To be fair though, Cody had almost a month of wins under his belt so it was long past time to bring him back to earth. He might jump to TNA or the UFC or Hollywood and we wouldn’t want to make money off of him while we could right?

Post match Heyman wants to talk about CM Punk. He talks about being in emotional pain along with his physical pain because he made Punk the best in the world and then was betrayed. Punk lost to Lesnar at Summerslam and now Punk is in a downward spiral. Under Heyman’s leadership, Axel has notched victory after victory and no one has been able to take the title from him. Axel challenges Punk to an Intercontinental Title match on Raw because he can’t lose with Heyman in his corner.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Big E. Langston

Langston jumps Ziggy before the bell and throws him around the ring with ease. The bell rings and Dolph avoids a charge in the corner, only to be slammed down for two. Langston gets two off a splash and we hit the chinlock. Dolph fights up and sends Big E. into the post before taking him down with a neckbreaker. A dropkick drops Big E. again and Ziggler counters a powerbomb into an X-Factor for two. AJ gets in a cheap shot on Ziggler and Langston runs him over for two. The Big Ending is escaped and Ziggler hits the Zig Zag for the pin at 2:01. Langston loses with a pre-match advantage and interferance. So much for him.

Christian vs. Alberto Del Rio

Non-title here. Del Rio pounds away in the corner to start but gets backdropped out to the floor. Christian sends him into the barricade and Del Rio walks up the aisle as we take a break. Back with Del Rio kicking away in the corner but getting punched in the face to give Christian a breather. Christian is shoved to the floor to counter a tornado DDT, possibly injuring the shoulder that made him give up on Sunday.

Back in and the champion cranks on the arm before getting two off a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Alberto misses a charge into the ropes and gets dropkicked out to the floor. Christian pounds away back inside the ring but misses a high cross body, allowing Alberto to dropkick him in the face for two. Christian’s spinning sunset flip out of the corner gets two more but Del Rio avoids a middle rope dropkick and tries the armbreaker.

The Canadian rolls out and hits a tornado DDT out of the corner for two in a nice sequence. Alberto bails to the floor to avoid the spear and catches Christian with the running enziguri for two back inside. Christian blocks the low superkick and tries the Killswitch, only to have Del Rio send him shoulder first into the post. Alberto goes to the middle rope and rolls Christian into the armbreaker for the submission at 8:17 shown of 12:57.

Rating: B-. Another good match from these two and now the series is at 2-2. I’m guessing we’re supposed to ignore the two losses by Del Rio because he won the next two, though I don’t think many fans see it that way. The match itself was good stuff though with both guys building on spots they’ve used in their previous few matches.

Post match Del Rio talks about how awesome he is and how everyone else is a peasant. Is Del Rio being rich even a thing anymore? Del Rio says to follow him to greatness but Ricardo interrupts him. He says no one is going to lead him to greatness but now he’s hanging out with RVD. Rob comes to the ring and Christian dropkicks Del Rio down, allowing Rob to hit Rolling Thunder. That was a pretty non-good guy move there from Christian.

We recap the opening segment of the show.

Big Show/Mark Henry vs. 3MB

Slater gets to start with Big Show and is launched into the corner before it’s off to Henry. A big boot puts Slater down but Heath avoids a seated senton and brings in McIntyre for some stomping. Mahal comes in for the same but Slater is tagged in and run over by a BIG shoulder block. Big Show comes in and cleans house but Slater breaks up the pin after a chokeslam to McIntyre. JBL: “Dumb, dumb move.” The World’s Strongest Slam ends Slater and the WMD is good for the pin on Drew at 3:11.

Rating: D. The match was nothing and you can’t complain about it too much. It did its job, though either monster could have done the same thing in the same amount of time. It would help to have some midcard tag teams for Henry and Show to beat but there’s just not enough depth in the division to do that.

Post match Shield asks if beating 3MB is supposed to mean something. Seth says they’re going to have fun knocking Show down again. Reigns will never respect Mark Henry and Rollins adds that they’re just better than the monsters. BELIEVE IN THE SHIELD, even though Ambrose wasn’t in this interview.

Antonio Cesaro vs. Darren Young

Young gets taken down seconds into the match and Cesaro pounds him into the corner. There’s the gutwrench suplex but Cesaro charges into a boot in the corner. Antonio comes right back with the standing chinlock and a clothesline for two. Darren comes back with right hands and an overhead belly to belly followed by a northern lights suplex for two. A hot shot and the Gut Check are good for the pin at 2:31. Nothing match as Young’s push continues.

Ryback signs an autograph for a fan’s son but the fan doesn’t know what his name is. Ryback rips up the picture he signed as a result. I’m with Ryback here. How did the fan not know his name when it’s in big red letters on the front of his vest?

Punk has accepted the match with Axel for Raw.

The cage is lowered.

Daniel Bryan vs. Wade Barrett

Barrett pounds him into the corner to start but Bryan blocks a ram into the steel. Daniel pounds right hands in the corner but charges into a boot to the jaw. Now the ram into the cage works but Barrett can only get a two count. Bryan comes back with a backdrop into the cage and Daniel fires off kicks in the corner. There’s the backflip over Barrett in the corner but the running clothesline is countered into the Winds of Change for two.

We take a break and come back with Barrett kicking Bryan’s head into the cage. Now it’s Barrett having the back of his head rammed into the steel and Bryan adds the running dropkick to crush Barrett even more. A missile dropkick gets two and Bryan fires off the kicks to Wade’s chest. The big one to the head misses and Barrett sends him into the cage before clotheslining him inside out for a close two.

Wasteland is blocked via a grab of the ropes but Bryan gets caught in an electric chair for two. Barrett goes up the cage but Bryan makes a save. He can’t German superplex Wade down and gets kicked to the mat, only to charge up the corner and pull Barrett back inside. Bryan hits a rolling powerbomb to bring Wade back to the mat and the running knee to the face is good for the pin at 8:58 shown of 11:58.

Rating: B. Good match here with Barrett looking like he could hang with the big boys. It’s amazing how far he fell while being Intercontinental Champion because when he has a good opponent he can put on an entertaining match. Bryan was his usual good stuff here and the fans are still into him after Summerslam. Hopefully that holds up.

Post match Bryan celebrates on the floor but walks into an RKO.

Overall Rating: B. This was a really solid show as WWE continues their roll. We had good matches throughout the show with the bad stuff being pretty short. I’m not wild on the ending though. That’s three times now that Orton has stood tall over Bryan in three shows and that’s going to catch up with them. Bryan doesn’t need to beat Orton down or anything, but he needs to be standing when a show ends soon. It’s still very early in the story though so it’s not like it’s already dead or anything. Good show tonight.

Results

Curtis Axel b. Cody Rhodes – Neckbreaker into a faceplant

Dolph Ziggler b. Big E. Langston – Zig Zag

Alberto Del Rio b. Christian – Cross Armbreaker

Big Show/Mark Henry b. 3MB – WMD to McIntyre

Darren Young b. Antonio Cesaro – Gut Check

Daniel Bryan b. Wade Barrett – Running knee to the head

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews, and pick up my new book of Complete 2001 Monday Night Raw Reviews at Amazon for just $4 at:

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Smackdown
Date: August 16, 2013
Location: SAP Center, San Jose, California
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield

We’re two days away from Summerslam and the card is finally set. The main matches have gotten the best builds, which makes the most sense given that they’re selling the show entirely. There isn’t much to talk about tonight as we’ll mainly be focusing on a final push towards Los Angeles and Summerslam. Let’s get to it.

Theme song gets us going.

Here are the Wyatts to open things up. After a video recapping the Wyatts vs. Kane, Bray says the Family’s actions have been misinterpreted lately. Once upon a time there was a special little boy who went to school but the kids there were cruel. The boy was bigger than the other kids so they made fun of him and beat him up for being himself. One day that boy decided to change the world, but instead he ran away and hid behind another crutch.

He hid behind a mask and thought it would make everything better. That boy was Kane and everyone eats up his lies. Well Bray Wyatt says no more while crawling around on his knees. He walks on water just because he can and bites the head off a snake just to taste its poison. This Sunday in the City of Angels, Bray will prove that one man’s nightmare is another man’s paradise, so follow the buzzards.

Kane’s pyro goes off and Kane runs in from behind, taking out the Family before going in to fight Wyatt himself. Bray charges at Kane but gets punched down in the corner. The Family comes back in again and Bray runs Kane over, allowing the Family to beat him down. Bray is in the corner, bending over backwards so he can watch this upside down. Sister Abigail lays Kane out. Bray continues to be so eerily creepy that the character is perfect.

Damien Sandow vs. Christian

Jobber entrance for Sandow as he handcuffs the briefcase to the post again. Sandow headbutts him down to start but gets his neck snapped across the top rope. A middle rope dropkick gets two for Christian but Sandow drapes him over the top rope to take over. Off to a body vice before Christian is thrown to the floor again. A whip into the steps puts Christian down again and we take a break.

Back with Sandow holding a chinlock but Christian fights out with elbows to the ribs. Sandow fires off some knees to the head to take over but gets backdropped down moments later. The reverse DDT gets two on Sandown but he ducks a cross body to put Christian down again. Christian’s sunset flip out of the corner gets another near fall but Sandow cartwheels out of the Killswitch. The Russian legsweep sets up the Wind-Up Elbow but Christian small packages Sandow for the pin at 5:20 shown of 8:05.

Rating: C. The match was ok but the same problems are here as they are in all Sandow matches: he never feels like a favorite to win anything and his offense isn’t building to anything because he doesn’t have a big finisher. I know he has the Terminus, but when is the last time that won a match? Sandow needs some big changes to his in ring work if anyone is going to buy him as a threat. The worst thing is most of his problems aren’t even his fault. He’s been booked as a loser and it’s really hard to get out of that downward spiral.

Post match Sandow goes after Christian again and gets speared down, just in case you thought he had some dignity left. Del Rio comes in from behind and lays out Christian. He says Christian will never be champion and loads up the cross armbreaker but Christian counters into the Killswitch. So Del Rio and Sandow just both got laid out in the stretch of a minute, yet WWE will still wonder why no one is impressed by either guy.

Renee Young asks if RVD is worried about the other members of Shield interfering. He looks over his shoulders and sees Big Show and Mark Henry. “No, not really.” The giants say they’ll be watching RVD’s back on Sunday.

Kaitlyn/Natalya vs. AJ Lee/Layla

Natalya gets us going with Layla with Nattie taking over with a headlock on the mat. Layla keeps getting taken down but she kicks out of a Sharpshooter attempt. An AJ distraction lets Layla get in a cheap shot and it’s off to AJ for a choke. Natalya finally snapmares out of it and brings in Kaitlyn to clean house. A backbreaker gets two on AJ and she charges into the fireman’s carry gutbuster for two. Everything breaks down and Layla trips up Kaitlyn, allowing AJ to hit a Shining Wizard for the pin at 4:18.

Rating: C-. Not much to see here but Kaitlyn’s fall down the Divas’ ladder continues. At least her feud with AJ is pretty much done after this Sunday as we’re moving towards Layla vs. Kaitlyn and AJ vs. Natalya. I don’t know if someone has taken over the division but it’s been much better lately.

Ryback laughs off the question of why he isn’t on Summerslam. He says he lives for brutality and beats up a backstage guy to show how mean he is. Ryback has a spiffy new vest.

Video on Punk vs. Lesnar on Sunday, focusing on Punk’s time as a Paul Heyman Guy. I think some of this is from Punk’s documentary. Punk asked Heyman to not accompany him to the ring anymore and Heyman cost Punk the MITB case. Heyman brought Lesnar back in and Brock destroyed Punk, setting up Summerslam. Really good video here, highlighting everything in the feud and doing a good job of making the match feel like it’ll be a war.

We recap the opening with the Wyatt Family and Kane.

Shield vs. Mark Henry/Big Show/Rob Van Dam

Rollins ducks a right hand from Henry to start and is easily shoved into the wrong corner. A hard slam puts Seth down again and Van Dam comes in with a kick off the top rope. The standing moonsault gets two but Ambrose comes in off a blind tag and clotheslines RVD in the back of the head. A loud WE WANT BIG SHOW chant starts up as Reigns comes in with a big slam of his own. We hit the chinlock for a few moments before Roman just stands in front of Rob and looks at him.

A quick spin kick puts Reigns down and it’s off to Big Show off the hot tag. Big Show cleans house until Roman low bridges him to the floor. Show seemed to be grabbing his hamstring or hip. Henry runs over Reigns and throws him at the announce table but Rollins dives over the top to take Mark out. Big Show beats the count at nine and knocks Ambrose out cold with the right hand. Rob comes in with the Five Star for the pin at 4:48.

Rating: C. Remember when Shield was stealing the show and having all those great matches against all star teams? Now they’re losing in five minutes to another all star team on Smackdown. This combination could have had a good match with Shield if they had the time to work a tag team formula, but with less than five minutes and a third of that being spent on the floor and on the ending, it didn’t get to go anywhere. It was fun while it lasted though.

The Miz vs. Jack Swagger

Colter calls Miz a phony and blames Hollywood types like him for allowing the destruction of America. Miz takes him straight into the corner and rains down right hands before going after the leg. Jack kicks him away and sends Miz into the corner before doing pushups on Miz’s back. A shoulder block puts Miz down but he catches Swagger in the reverse DDT backbreaker and a neckbreaker. The short DDT gets two for Miz and he goes up top, only to be distracted by Cesaro and shoved off the top. Colter and Cesaro are ejected, allowing Miz to get a quick rollup for the pin at 3:18.

Rating: D+. For some reason I still like Miz. He’s nothing special in the ring and would be better suited as a commentator, but I still like him. This was just a way to remind us what Miz does before he’s host of Summerslam, which I’m guessing means he’ll have authority of some sort at the PPV. Swagger continues to be nothing of note.

Curtis Axel vs. Zack Ryder

Non-title. Feeling out process to start with Ryder grabbing an armbar. Axel comes back with right hands and sends Zack into the corner to take over. Ryder gets the knees up in the corner and dropkicks Axel down, only to miss the Broski Boot. Curtis ducks a high cross body and a hard clothesline puts Ryder down again. A quick belly to back suplex puts Ryder down as a CM Punk chant starts. Axel hits his neckbreaker into a Diamond Cutter for the pin at 2:59. Pretty much a squash.

Post break Heyman says he was outsmarted on Raw by CM Punk. Punk snuck up on them and hit Lesnar in the face with a camera, so congratulations. Heyman talks about the marketing for Summerslam shifting from Punk wanting revenge to being hunted for revenge. Punk goes down this Sunday.

Video recapping Cena vs. Bryan. The idea of having Cena pick Bryan as the opponent was brilliant.

Wade Barrett vs. Daniel Bryan

No DQ. Bryan takes him to the mat and hooks Barrett’s legs for a surfboard but stomps Wade’s knees into the mat. Wade comes back with a shot to the head but Bryan backflips over him in the corner and hits the running clothesline. Now a clothesline from Barrett puts Daniel on the floor and Wade whips him into the barricade. A big boot misses and Barrett gets caught on the barricade, allowing Bryan to fire off some kicks.

Goat Boy pulls out a table but gets rammed into the announce table and sent into the steps to put him down again. The table is sent into the ring but Barrett brings in a kendo stick for some shots to the back. Bryan gets the stick away and Barrett bails to the floor, only to get caught by the FLYING GOAT. Back in and the missile dropkick puts Wade down….and here’s Vince. In a PLAID SUIT.

We take a break and come back with Barrett getting two off a neckbreaker. Vince is looking on from ringside. The table is set up in the corner but Bryan hurricanranas out of a powerbomb. The flying knee off the apron puts Wade down but Barrett sends him into the post to take over. Vince: “YES! YES! YES!” Back in and Wade drives the chair into Bryan’s ribs but a middle rope chair shot only hits mat.

Bryan Hulks Up and hits the running dropkick in the corner before picking up the kendo stick. He alternates between stick shots to Wade’s shoulder and kicks to the chest. The big kick to the head misses and Bryan puts on the YES Lock but Vince pulls the referee out before the submission. Barrett hits the Bull Hammer and Brad Maddox comes out for a regular speed two count.

Bryan escapes a pumphandle slam and kicks Wade in the head but Brad won’t count. Daniel stares him down and Vince slips the kendo stick to Barrett. Wade knocks Brad out by mistake and Bryan puts Barrett through the table. Vince puts on the referee shirt but here’s HHH to referee. Bryan hits a swan dive on Barrett for the pin at 13:15 shown of 16:15.

Rating: C+. Did we really just have four referees (if you count Vince) for a Smackdown main event? This was getting close to the Attitude Era style of so insane it’s entertaining. However, this match makes me worried about what Cena vs. Bryan is going to be like. Those two could have a masterpiece but they might have Vince and HHH take the match over and drag it down. If Cena’s arm is that badly hurt though, that might be all they can do.

Orton comes out and holds up the briefcase to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. The matches weren’t all that great but this show was about getting us ready for Summerslam. They did a great job at hyping up Punk vs. Lesnar with some of the videos and I’m looking forward to Wyatt vs. Kane more than I was earlier. That being said, Cena vs. Bryan is looking shakier and shakier every day with Vince and HHH being there because there’s nothing wrong with making the main event of Summerslam a pit stop in their big story. This was a good enough show though and did its job of promoting the PPV.

Results

Christian b. Damien Sandow – Small Package

AJ Lee/Layla b. Kaitlyn/Natalya – Shining Wizard to Kaitlyn

Rob Van Dam/Big Show/Mark Henry b. Shield – Five Star Frog Splash to Ambrose

The Miz b. Jack Swagger – Rollup

Curtis Axel b. Zack Ryder – Neckbreaker into a faceplant

Daniel Bryan b. Wade Barrett – Swan Dive

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of Complete 2001 Monday Night Raw Reviews at Amazon for just $4 at:

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Apparently it’s a possibility.  I sit through that show for years now and THIS is my reward?

Seriously though, WWE does NOT need more television.  If they want Smackdown to look like a bigger deal, stop making its wrestlers jobbers to the stars for the Raw guys.  Bad idea all around.

Smackdown
Date: August 9, 2013
Location: BMO Harris Bank Center, Rockford, Illinois
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield

After Monday we have a lot more set up for Summerslam. The primary addition for the Smackdown side of things is Rhodes vs. Sandow in a match that isn’t going to do much as both guys’ stock is so low right now. Other than that we’re likely to get some more build for Del Rio vs. Christian which didn’t get a ton of time on Monday. Let’s get to it.

Randy Orton vs. Rob Van Dam

If Orton’s actions on Monday were supposed to be a heel turn, the crowd here didn’t get the message. This match makes sense but I would have bet on it being at Summerslam. Randy takes him down to the mat to start before grabbing a standing headlock. Van Dam comes back with a spin kick to send Orton into the ropes for a standoff. Back to the headlock from Orton before a dropkick gets a quick two. Still in first gear so far.

Rob misses a cross body and crashes out to the floor where he rams Orton head first into the steps. The spin kick to Orton’s back puts both guys down on the floor and we take a break. Back with Orton dropping a knee and pounding away in the corner. Van Dam goes up top but is shoved off the top and into the barricade in a big crash. Randy belly to backs him onto the barricade again for two back inside and we hit the chinlock.

Van Dam fights up and plants Randy for the split legged moonsault, good for two. A top rope flip attack gets two more but his attempted roll into a monkey flip is blocked. The backbreaker gets two as the crowd is getting into this. Orton hits his clotheslines followed by the powerslam for another near fall. Rob counters the Elevated DDT into a northern lights suplex for two of his own.

RVD loads up a springboard but Orton dropkicks him out to the apron for the Elevated DDT. JBL: “Do the repetitive call Michael!” The RKO is countered by a kick to the face and a rollup gets two. Another kick sets up Rolling Thunder (Rob overshot it and only his head hit Orton) but the Five Star misses and it’s the RKO for the pin at 10:37 shown of 13:22.

Rating: B. This was better than I was expecting with both guys moving very well out there. I’m surprised this wasn’t at Summerslam since both guys are hot right now and neither has anything to do at the show. This was reminiscent of the Orton vs. Christian matches with some good counters and a nice flow to the match. Good stuff here and I’d like to see some more from these two.

Time for MizTV with guests Big E. Langston and AJ. Miz asks Langston what their relationship is but AJ says Langston is a nice friend and a good guy. That’s not good enough for Miz and Big E. doesn’t look too pleased. Miz says cool and gives Langston a thumbs up before accusing AJ of having a lot of “friends.” Miz lists off the guys that AJ has had around here and suggests that the problem is her, not them.

AJ blames it on them and says they’re not heroes. They got her to fall for them and dumped her. Then Kaitlyn wasn’t even there for her so she had nothing at all. At the end of the day, the only thing that will never abandon her is the Divas Title. This brings out Ziggler who says no woman can get over him. A Ziggler chant starts up but the fans don’t seem to be as into it as they sound.

AJ says they had something special and Ziggler isn’t over it. He’ll never be able to touch her again but here’s Kaitlyn to interrupt. Ziggler may not be able to touch AJ but she can. The arguments begin again but Miz cuts them off. He’s tired of the arguing so he makes a mixed tag for Summerslam which apparently he can just do. The brawl breaks out and the heels both take finishers.

The Raw ReBound talks about Punk vs. Axel and the post match brawl with Lesnar. I was having a hard time believing I could buy into the physical aspect of the match but they made me believe with that brawl.

Del Rio wants to know why he’s fighting Christian tonight. That’s a good question actually. Vickie goes into her rant about how Del Rio needs to respect her and she’s willing to risk him getting hurt. We’re apparently still in the “Vickie is acting like a good GM before going all evil” stage of her job. Wasn’t she supposed to be all mega evil and vindictive against the fans this time?

Fandango vs. Kofi Kingston

The fans sing the Fandango song to start but Kofi knocks him down and stomps away in the corner. Fandango avoids Trouble in Paradise and low bridges Kofi to the floor. Back in and JBL calls Fandango a cross between Mr. Bojangles and Randy Couture. Off to the chinlock for a few seconds before Kofi counters a belly to back into a cross body for two.

Fandango charges into the post but rolls to the floor to avoid the Boom Drop. Kofi baseball slides him down but Summer Rae blocks a top rope dive. Instead Kofi runs the apron and dives onto Fandango, injuring Summer’s ankle in the process. Fandango posts Kofi and of course Summer is fine. Back inside and the guillotine legdrop is good for the pin on Kofi at 4:44.

Rating: C. First and foremost, this was MUCH better for Kofi than the Raw match as he looked like his old self out there tonight. This booking makes me roll my eyes though as the 50/50 stuff doesn’t do anyone any good and makes both guys look weak. Maybe that’s why almost no one goes up from the midcard without a briefcase.

Daniel Bryan says he likes the way he looks and asking him to cut the beard was his breaking point. He won’t change for anyone but he’ll change history by winning the WWE Championship.

Wade Barrett vs. Daniel Bryan

Barrett is clean shaven again and starts fast by pounding Bryan down. Bryan flips over Wade in the corner and hits the running clothesline. There are the kicks but Barrett hits a hard clothesline to send Bryan to the floor. Bryan is whipped into the steps and slammed down for two. Off to a chinlock but Bryan sends Wade forward into the buckle to escape. Winds of Change get two but Wade is more interested in cutting the beard instead of winning. Bryan kicks him away and hits the running knee off the apron. Back in and the swan dive sets up the YES Lock for the submission at 4:08.

Rating: C-. Not much to see here and Barrett continues to be the same guy with a slightly different look. He either needs a completely new character or to get used to being a jobber to the stars for the next few years. This was a fine match for Bryan as he continues to be on fire and keep the fans interested in him.

Sandow looks at a clip of Cody throwing the case in the Gulf of Mexico and pulls out a new leather briefcase which has a brand new contract. He’ll be cashing it in to become world champion of the unwashed masses. Wow it’s almost like the entire deal with Cody throwing the case in the water means absolutely nothing not.

Video on the Wyatts vs. Kane.

Kane vs. 3MB

Cole tells us about the Ring of Fire match, which is going to be a regular match but the ring will be surrounded by fire to prevent interference. All of the Band is in the ring at the same time but Kane easily throws them around. They head to the floor with Slater and McIntyre being thrown into various objects. Back inside and a chokeslam finishes Mahal at 1:33.

The Wyatts pop up on screen to talk about the Ring of Fire match. Bray likes the idea of Kane thinking he’s a demon but thinks it’s funny that Kane believes fire will stop his brothers. The fire is smart enough to be afraid of Wyatt because it can’t hurt him. Bray’s secret is that he’s already dead.

Brock Lesnar says he’s allowed Punk to live this long out of respect for Paul. The Beast is the Best and there’s no professional jealously from Brock. Why should there be? Punk was never an NCAA Champion or the UFC Heavyweight Champion. Being WWE Champion for 434 days is impressive, especially for someone like Punk. Good heel promo from Brock here, similar to the one before his match with Cena.

Christian vs. Alberto Del Rio

Non-title of course. Del Rio gets a quick two off a shoulder block and Christian isn’t sure what to do. After clapping a bit he runs Alberto over a few times as well and puts on a headlock. Del Rio takes him into the corner for some shots to the ribs but gets caught in a drop toehold into the ropes. Alberto avoids the uppercut from the floor but Christian knocks him outside instead. A baseball slide puts the champion down and we take a break.

Back with Christian pounding away in the corner but having his tornado DDT countered. A double stomp to the back gets two for Alberto but gets rammed into the post while trying to crotch Christian against the steel. Christian’s dive off the top hits the barricade and both guys are down on the floor. Back in and Christian is tossed into the air and crashes down before Del Rio hits a low superkick to the head. Christian is sent into the corner and a USA chant starts up to get under Alberto’s skin.

Alberto puts him in the Tree of Woe for some shots to the ribs before the Canadian goes up top. Del Rio goes up to meet him but Christian shoves him off, sending both guys to the floor as we take another break. Back with Alberto getting two off a middle rope dropkick and starting his attack on the arm. Alberto gets crotched on the top and taken down by a top rope hurricanrana, getting two. Now the uppercut connects and a jumping back elbow looks to set up the Killswitch.

Del Rio counters and hits a quick tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two before sending Christian into the corner. Cole ignores most of the action to recap the rest of the show. Christian escapes from the corner and tries the Killswitch but gets caught in the Backstabber for two. Back up and Christian spears him down for two but a second attempt hits the post.

Christian escapes the armbreaker into a rollup for a close two (I believe the same move he pinned Alberto with a few weeks ago) but the low superkick gets two for the champion. Del Rio pulls him into the middle of the ring but gets caught in a small package for the pin at 13:35 shown of 19:20.

Rating: B+. This sums up WWE’s thinking in general: you have a match that could be a nice addition at Summerslam and they put it here on Smackdown for free instead. Hopefully they change the match at Summerslam now by adding someone else to it (Orton and Van Dam would be candidates given how much the announcers have been raving about the three way) because right now we’re looking at Del Rio retaining, because that’s how WWE works: Christian has beaten him clean twice so it’s time for Del Rio to win and then wonder why people don’t buy him as champion.

Post match Del Rio goes after Christian but gets caught in the Killswitch……AND HERE’S SANDOW! He hands the case to the referee but turns around into a cross body from Cody. Cross Rhodes lays Sandow out to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. We got some good matches here and some build to the PPV so what more can you ask for from Smackdown? The interesting thing is where some big names land on the card. There are still no matches for Mark Henry, Ryback, Shield, RVD or Orton and the card is already filling up. The show tonight was entertaining though with good long wrestling and storyline development which is what Smackdown should always focus on.

Results

Randy Orton b. Rob Van Dam – RKO

Fandango b. Kofi Kingston – Guillotine Legdrop

Daniel Bryan b. Wade Barrett – YES Lock

Kane b. 3MB – Chokeslam to Mahal

Christian b. Alberto Del Rio – Small Package

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Smackdown
Date: August 5, 2011
Location: Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky
Commentators: Josh Matthews, Booker T, Michael Cole

We have two more shows before Summerslam and this is the first of them. I’d expect a lot of build for Christian vs. Orton V and also some more from the midcard stuff that Smackdown has gotten good at. The big thing though is the freshly face Sheamus continuing Mark Henry. I’m giddy over that one. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is about Sheamus vs. Henry. The crowd popped huge in the arena for the line of “I’ll fight him.”

Sheamus vs. Great Khali

Here’s a test….kind of. I was confused at first because the tron video said Jinder Mahal, which would have surprised me. Josh immediately gets on my nerves by saying they’re on the campus of the University of Kentucky, which is flat out not true. The city owns Rupp Arena and it’s not on the campus. The only affiliation it has with UK is the basketball team plays there. Everyone makes that mistake that isn’t from here though so it’s understandable. For some reason it’s like they’re afraid to say Lexington.

Sheamus vs. Henry is announced for Summerslam. Khali takes him down quickly with the power game. Sheamus gets him tied up in the ropes so that Khali is facing the crowd and pounds away on the chest. He goes up top but gets chopped in the chest to send him back down to the floor. Time for a nerve hold since Khali isn’t that versatile in the ring, nor does he need to be.

Khali chops away in the corner and Sheamus fires off some double axes to the chest. Sheamus is all fires up but a chop to the head stops the Brogue Kick. It only gets two, despite being the finisher of a former world champion. Vice Grip goes on but Sheamus breaks that too. He elbows Khali in the ribs and the Brogue Kick hits for the pin at 5:22.

Rating: C. Yes it was kind of boring, but what are you expecting here? Khali is a giant and Sheamus is a power brawler. If they had done technical stuff or anything else, it wouldn’t make any sense and would probably be awful at the same time. Not sure what else to say here but this was fine.

The Rewind is Beth eliminating the Bellas and turning heel on Kelly. This was the Slam of the Week in the arena. No idea why they changed it.

AJ vs. Natalya

What an odd choice for a match. Commentary goes silent for some reason and until Josh says something about AJ being the Diva next door or something similar to that. AJ takes her down with a headlock and Natalya can’t figure her out. And never mind as a crucifix is countered into the Sharpshooter for the tap at 2:00. This was nothing.

Post match Nattie turns on AJ, beating her down and hitting a snap suplex on the floor. She says she’s with Beth: no more pretty princesses.

Ryder will be giving the State of the Showski later. The reaction to this is fake as the fans didn’t move for that graphic other than a few people.

Orton gets a big pop and we see a video from last week where Orton hit an RKO on Truth on the table and then a second to go with it. He’s not worried about Summerslam because he knows Christian can’t beat him clean.

Video on Justin Gabriel in South Africa. This is different from last week’s and it has more wrestling in it.

Tyson Kidd vs. Daniel Bryan

Barrett is on commentary. Bryan has new music which sounds like it’s out of a thriller movie trailer. Bryan’s pop was barely there when he came out. Some chain wrestling starts us off and Bryan does his moonsault out of the corner. Kidd is sent to the apron and then to the floor where Bryan hits a big dive through the ropes, shoving Kidd to the floor. Kidd gets a shot in on the knee and starts the attack on it.

Figure four around the post goes on and Bryan is in trouble. Barrett talks about how he doesn’t think Bryan is going to cash in. That makes sense as it would be surprising if he made it that far. We take a break and come back with Kidd working on the knee. I’m not sure if anything actually changed in that break so they might have just picked up immediately where they left off.

A quick leg lock goes on until Bryan starts his comeback. He goes up top but gets crotched instead. Cole and Barrett ramble about how much they hate Bryan. Good to see them talking about the match at all. Kidd hasn’t been talked about once. Bryan fights Kidd off the top and hits a missile dropkick but can’t follow up due to the knee.

He fires off some kicks but has to pause because of the pain, allowing Kidd to hit a (American) dragon screw leg whip and a half crab. Bryan escapes but can’t get the LeBell Lock. Pinfall reversal sequence doesn’t go anywhere but Bryan gets all fired up and hammers away with forearms. BIG kick to the head sets up the guillotine choke and we’re done at 7:00. I timed the match at 7:45 live so we didn’t miss much at all.

Rating: B-. Solid match here that would have been better with more time. The just under 8 minutes wasn’t enough time to get going but Kidd has been able to put on some good stuff over the last few months and I’ve been liking him pretty well. Good stuff here and it’s the kind of win Bryan needs: physical, come from behind, submission wins.

Barrett and Bryan stare each other down post match. There’s a match teased but not officially announced.

State of the Showski is up next.

Here’s Ryder who got a small reaction but it was there. Ryder takes credit for the ratings going up because he’s the assistant GM. He says he’s going to change a lot of stuff but Big Zeke cuts him off. He got zero reaction at all. Zeke says Ryder must think he’s here to beat up Ryder for being in the handicap match last week. Jackson isn’t happy but Ryder says he thought they had an agreement.

They’re cut off by Cody’s music and here’s one half of the biggest rib in wrestling history (think about it: the sons of Dusty Rhodes were a metrosexual and whatever Goldust was. How could that not be a massive rib?) along with Ted who is in wrestling gear. Cody says Jackson has sour grapes and is unbecoming of a champion. He says Jackson is making the championship look bad so Cody should just take it from him and resurrect it, just like he’s resurrected Ted’s career.

Jackson says he’s merely using DiBiase. Cody says Ted has free will and Ted should come out and beat Jackson right now. That’s up to Ted and Ryder though. Ryder says cool but here’s Teddy (who got a surprisingly good reaction) to protest. Ryder is NOT the assistant GM but rather Teddy’s assistant. Teddy makes Ryder vs. Jackson for right now. Gee it’s a good thing they’re both in wrestling gear.

Ezekiel Jackson vs. Zack Ryder

Cody and Ted are banned from ringside. Cole hates Ryder so I’m really not sure if he’s face or heel here. Ryder takes over and gets some kicks to the head. Front facelock doesn’t work at all and Jackson catches a middle rope cross body to start up the slams. Rack and we’re done at 2:30 with the tapping coming on Jackson’s head.

Teddy is in his office and here’s Aksana, now with long black hair and a leather suit. There’s bad romantic sounding music in the background. She wants to talk business with him so he gives her one of his cards. She asks for his personal number which he gives to her. That was rather odd.

Mark Henry is up next.

At this point the show stopped taping and HHH came to the ring and talked about having stress. Ryder was still in the ring and HHH got in some one liners about various wrestlers. He asked the crowd if they could keep a secret and dropped Ryder with a Pedigree. Awesome moment and the pop of the night.

Mark Henry vs. Vladimir Kozlov

Vlad fires away but can’t really get anywhere. He manages the trapping headbutts but Henry remembers that he’s a monster heel and plants Kozlov with the World’s Strongest Slam for the pin at 1:15.

Post match he Pillmanizes Kozlov’s leg, which explains him leaving since Kozlov was released today. Sheamus comes out late for the save with a chair. Henry bails, not wanting to fight until Summerslam. Kozlov goes out on a stretcher.

After a break Sheamus says that Henry isn’t just beating people but rather is taking their ability and will to do what they love. That won’t happen to Sheamus though because no one can take away his passion to compete here. There are many reasons but the biggest is because he’s Irish, which means he has the Luck of the Irish. The following is a near direct quote of the next few things he says: “And that means I was born with a 24 karat horseshoe up me arse. And if need be I can rip that horseshoe out and leave hoofprints on him.” Oh and Henry is a whale that belongs in the ocean with Shamu.

Michael McGillicutty/David Otunga/JTG vs. Trent Barreta/Uso Brothers

The Usos do their rhythmic dance thing. Remember when they were all sophisticated or whatever it was? Jey vs. JTG to start us off. Off to McGillicutty and then Otunga rather quickly. And now let’s talk about what the announcers are tweeting at ringside. Apparently Booker said Cole is a tool. Jimmy is getting beaten down at the moment and there isn’t much else to say as far as the match goes. Hot tag to Trent who is someone I’d like to see more of. Everything breaks down and the champions hit that elbow drop/backbreaker combo to end Baretta at 3:43.

Rating: D+. Just a six man here and nothing interesting at all. I have no idea why Baretta and JTG of all people got picked. They’re not bad or anything but why them? Anyway this was fine but the Usos need to get their title shot already, hopefully winning the titles. I’ve liked them recently and some fresh champions would be nice.

Johnny Curtis sees the writing on the wall and will be in action next week.

Raw ReBound is about the Cena vs. Punk vs. HHH moments from Raw and how the match at Summerslam was made.

Christian says he isn’t surprised that the match with Orton is now no holds barred. Everyone has been on Orton’s side. Truth pops up to say it was a conspiracy. He says not to let the Little Jimmys fool him and that tonight Orton is gonna get got. Christian still doesn’t know who Little Jimmy is.

Randy Orton/John Morrison vs. R-Truth/Christian

When did Morrison lose his pyro? Oh ok that part wasn’t on the broadcast. Kind of surprised they didn’t have that for the live crowd though. Orton and Truth start us off and Truth hammers him down into the corner. Morrison comes in and Truth runs so he can tag in the Canadian. There’s that big spinning springboard kick for two.

Christian takes him down though and it’s off to the coward crazy R-Truth. Suplex into the Stunner is countered (called that move by Booker) and Morrison goes all angry JoMo on him, hitting the running knee for two. Christian breaks it up and Orton chases him to the floor and into the crowd where we take a break. Back with Morrison and Truth hammering away on each other. During the break Orton stared Christian down a lot while the other two laid down in the ring.

Truth works on the neck which is logical. Good thing that when he went nuts he didn’t lose his wrestling psychology. Christian comes in and gets a neckbreaker for two. Have one of those ever broken a neck? Middle rope headbutt misses but Christian is smart enough to take Orton out before John can make the tag. Truth comes in and does a little dance which makes it look like he wants to make a little love to Orton.

Morrison comes out of nowhere with the C4 to put both himself and Truth down. Hot tag brings in Orton and the fans are all fired up. Powerslam puts Christian down and Orton gets a jackknife cover for two. Killswitch is blocked into the backbreaker for two. Orton grabs a rollup out of the corner for two. Christian hits a spinebuster that Booker calls a sidewalk slam. Spear misses but Christian avoids the RKO.

Instead Orton gets him in punting position but Truth and Morrison come back in. Morrison sends him to the floor and dives out onto him. Christian jumps Orton but gets caught in the elevated DDT. Truth comes in and takes the RKO but Christian grabs the Killswitch and pins Orton 11:55 shown of what I thought was closer to 20 minutes but whatever.

Rating: B. I liked this a lot as the ending was rather intricate with all of the spots intertwining very well. The whole point of this was to make it clear that Christian could get the pin on Orton in what you could call a clean method and that’s what he did here. This worked well and was a solid main event that did a few things well. Good stuff.

Overall Rating: B. This was a moving day episode of Smackdown. Not a lot actually happened here but a lot of stuff for the future was set up. You can see most of Summerslam now which you could only see pieces of a week ago at this time. The stuff that we got was pretty good and the show is shaping up pretty well. Also Aksana being back with those abs of her is never a bad thing.

Results

Sheamus b. Great Khali – Brogue Kick

Natalya b. AJ – Sharpshooter

Daniel Bryan b. Tyson Kidd – Guillotine Choke

Ezekiel Jackson b. Zack Ryder – Torture Rack

Mark Henry b. Vladimir Kozlov – World’s Strongest Slam

David Otunga/Michael McGillicutty/JTG b. Uso Brothers/Trent Barreta – Elbow drop/backbreaker combination to Barreta

Christian/R-Truth b. Randy Orton/John Morrison – Killswitch to Orton

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of Complete 2001 Monday Night Raw Reviews at Amazon for just $5 at:

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