Slammiversary 2007
Date: June 17, 2007
Location: Nashville Municipal Auditorium, Nashville, Tennessee
Attendance: 3,500
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Don West

Back to TNA again and in this case it’s the anniversary show. Since Eric and Hulk aren’t around yet, we have the then signature TNA match in the form of the King of the Mountain. This is for the vacant title because the NWA left and therefore we’re needing a first official TNA World Champion. Chris Harris is in the main event because…..I don’t think anyone knows the answer to that actually. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is a of some shots of old wrestling and then the original TNA logo. We cut to some country/bluegrass style music set to clips of the old TNA stuff. Jarrett beating up Hogan is in there. Hogan never came to TNA until 2010, officially at least. Now we’re looking at someone that looks like Tiger Woods putting a golf ball as West and Tenay do commentary. Jeff Jarrett hits him with a guitar and keeps the ball from going in. Ok then.

Some band performs the theme song for the PPV. Fast forward time.

LAX vs. Rhyno/Senshi

LAX had dominated the company in 07 and this is Senshi (Kaval) and Rhyno’s first time teaming together. The camera seems a bit lower than usual. Maybe it’s a venue thing. Hector Guerrero is with Senshi/Rhyno because Konnan has been blaming him for LAX losing the tag belts. Rhyno and Homicide start us off and a powerbomb is messed up, sending Homicide to the floor I think by mistake.

Off to Senshi who steps onto the bottom rope to get in. Hernandez comes in and Senshi manages to get out of the way to preserve his life. He goes after SuperMex’s leg which doesn’t really do much at all. LAX can’t get anything going here and never mind that as Hernandez picks Senshi up and LAUNCHES him across the ring. I mean that man was airborne. It looked incredible.

Back to Homicide as LAX takes over and beats on Senshi. Rhyno hasn’t really done much so far but I guess they’re saving him for the big hot tag at the end. To be fair he’s good at the big explosive comebacks so I can live with that one. Hernandez throws Senshi around again but a powerbomb is countered and Senshi manages to hit the double stomp to set up the aforementioned hot tag. Rhyno throws everyone around and Hernandez goes to the floor. Senshi hits a HUGE dive to take him out but Homicide hits a cutter on Rhyno. Konnan and Hector get involved, allowing Rhyno to gore Homicide for the pin.

Rating: B-. Fun opener here and the high spots were VERY high. That’s how you open a show as the crowd is now really fired up and it’s due to the proper pacing of a tag match. On top of that, they kept it relatively short (8 minutes or so) which is the idea for an opener. Good stuff here and I liked it quite a bit.

Scott Steiner is legit injured and had to legit have his life saved in Puerto Rico so he might not be here.

We run down the card because that’s what TNA does on its PPVs.

There’s a mystery person in King of the Mountain, which I’ve already spoiled.

Video explaining King of the Mountain. We even recap the qualifying matches to fill in even more time.

Eric Young is all paranoid about getting fired. Traci Brooks, Roode’s associate, comes up to try and seduce him which would eventually work, making him sign with Roode. Gail Kim comes in and snaps him out of it by kissing him.

X-Division Title: Chris Sabin vs. Jay Lethal

Sabin has been champion for like five months at this point. Nash comes out for commentary because he’s molded Lethal into Black Machismo recently. Nash’s headset goes out almost immediately after the bell rings and the fans are split. Lethal gets a pretty sweet headscissors to send him to the floor, followed by an ok suicide dive. Sabin spits in Lethal’s face and hits a jumping knee to the face to take over.

Sabin fires off something like a Garvin Stomp but does it fast enough that I don’t have to think of Garvin. The announcers are talking about Nash beating Backlund in MSG. How exactly can you analyze a match that lasted 8 seconds? We go into a standard match formula with Sabin beating Lethal down until we get to the Lethal comeback and then go to the finish.

I’m not sure what it means when you can more or less call the formula for a match about halfway through it, but I don’t think it’s anything good. Lethal makes that comeback with a few hip tosses and a spinning cross body for two. Nash: “This place used to be called Jonesville. Then I got here.” Lethal hits a unique move which can only be described as a reverse fisherman’s suplex into a reverse powerbomb. Looked good but too complicated at the same time.

Sabin takes over with some rapid fire kicks which is what he would get more famous as soon enough in the Motor City Machine Guns. Lethal grabs a full nelson but can’t hit the Lethal Combination. The second time works a bit better and the big elbow gives Lethal his first of I believe six X-Titles.

Rating: C. Just ok here and nothing all that great. Lethal wasn’t exactly over yet and he wouldn’t be for a long time. At this point he was just a goofy 22 year old who did nothing but imitated a much better guy. Nothing to see here but for a big show they needed a title change so that’s all fine and good.

At the Slammiversary press conference, we set up the football players match. Yeah there are former Tennessee Titans wrestling tonight. Oh joy.

Storm is with Lauren (GORGEOUS) and rants about Wycheck some more.

Frank Wycheck/Jerry Lynn vs. James Storm/Ron Killings

Why is this happening? Oh because Wycheck was at the first shows. Ok then. Truth and Lynn start us off which is probably the best thing they can do. Off to Wycheck for the showdown with Storm….and Storm knocks him down on the first shot. Storm puts on a Titans helmet and dances around a bit and then knocks Wycheck down again.

Frank takes over and throws Lynn over the top onto the heels and the fans think this is good stuff. I guess the TNA stupidity follows them around. Wycheck misses a shot and is in trouble again. He had to retire due to concussions so the heels go for his head. A chair is brought in but the distraction is enough to get the tag to Lynn. Eye of the Storm takes care of him and Storm spits beer in the face of the other football player at ringside.

Truth comes in and doesn’t do as well so it’s a double tag again. Wycheck beats up both heels with celebrity stuff but Storm kicks his head off to cheers. The other football player makes the save and gets in a fight with Jackie. Everything breaks down and Storm has to take the cradle piledriver from Wycheck. Dang I hope he got a nice big bonus for that one.

Rating: D. I hate celebrity matches. I have no connection to Frank Wycheck and the only reason he’s there was he was a big football player in Tennessee. I love the NFL, but this doesn’t mean anything to me and we have to get a bad match that looks like Storm isn’t talented enough to beat a guy with zero experience. I hate these things.

We recap Backlund vs. Shelley. Shelley was one of Nash’s students and Backlund was crazy about Nash beating him back in 94. Shelley said that he could beat Backlund in 9 seconds and there was something about a book being stolen or something like that.

Bob Backlund vs. Alex Shelley

Backlund is one of those cases where I have no idea what they were thinking when they brought him in. We hear the stories of Backlund not signing autographs unless you can recite all of the presidents in order. Backlund takes him down with ease and the fans are mostly on Shelley’s side. They slug it out a bit and Backlund takes him into a short armed scissors. Backlund uses the British Bulldog/Shawn Michaels counter (which should be called the Backlund counter but whatever).

Backlund hits a gorgeous butterfly suplex and then an atomic drop which used to be Backlund’s finisher. Sabin runs in to trip him up but gets crotched on the top. Shelley gets dropped into Sabin’s balls and a bridging O’Connor Roll beats Shelley clean. Yes, Bob Backlund just destroyed the Motor City Machineguns by himself in less than four minutes.

Rating: C-. The match was fine but this is a great example of “what were they thinking”. I mean don’t get me wrong, Backlund is a legend, but this is the year 2007. Who are they really appealing to with him? This one isn’t about me being mad about him being there, but more of genuine confusion. I don’t get this one at all.

The Guns try to double team him but they both get put in the Crossface Chickenwing. Nash comes out to break it up and Jerry Lynn comes out to even the odds. Nash kicks Lynn down and the Guns beat up Backlund. Now Jay Lethal comes down and beats up the Guns as well. I have NO IDEA what just happened.

Christopher Daniels starts calling out Sting and the lights go out. He’s the Fallen Angel at the moment and is facing Sting tonight. Daniels talks about being here to do the Father’s work and how he’s an angel. Again, I have no idea what they’re talking about here and I don’t think they know either.

We recap Christy Hemme vs. the Voodoo Kin Mafia (New Age Outlaws). They basically said you have to sleep your way to the top so she brought in a bunch of teams to face them and I think this is the final one with her bringing in the Bashams. There was a big brawl backstage and Road Dogg gave a big angry promo about it.

Voodoo Kin Mafia vs. Damaja/Basham

At least we can look at Christy’s hottness. Big brawl to start and no one is really all that interested. Christy is chased into the ring and oh hey there’s the bell. Basham (Danny) vs. Road Dogg to start us off. Roadie gets beaten down and it’s off to Kip. He gets double teamed as well as the Bashams set for a double suplex. Roadie spears one of them and Billy gets a small package to Basham for the pin. This was NOTHING, not even lasting three minutes.

Billy chases Christy up the ramp but VKM associate Lance Hoyt picks her off. And then Hoyt beats up the VKM. Jimmy Rave would be added to form the Rock N Rave Infection which would only result in more tiny outfits for Christy and nothing else to note. This should have been on Impact. Oh and Christy kisses Hoyt after the Bashams help for a 3-2 beatdown.

Rick Steiner is mad about not having a match tonight but he has a partner. He whispers it in Cornette’s ear and Jim is very happy, saying the match is on.

LAX beats up Hector Guerrero.

We recap Roode vs. Young which is STILL going on. Jeff Jarrett made a one off return to help Eric and won Young’s freedom which didn’t count. The match is for Eric’s freedom of course but if Eric loses he’s fired, which was what Eric was terrified of at this point.

Robert Roode vs. Eric Young

Roode slaps Young in the head a bit and it fires Young up, making him shout HIT ME AGAIN. Young sends him to the floor and hits a huge dive off the top to take Roode out. Roode takes over quickly and we make jokes about Brooke. There’s the Hennig neck snap and Roode is in total control. Time for a chinlock and I remember why I hated this heel run by Roode.

Eric counters into an electric chair drop and both guys are down. Discus lariat gets two for Eric. Young is sent to the floor so he pulls Brooks’ pants down after dancing with her. Top rope elbow gets two for Eric. Brooks comes in and there’s a double Death Valley Driver which gets two on Roode. You know, because a big and impressive spot like that shouldn’t end a match. And then Roode whacks Eric in the head with a chair for the pin. Seriously that’s it.

Rating: C-. The ending KILLS that match. Young was rather popular at this point and having him lose after a big spot like that is really pretty stupid. Roode was SO freaking boring as a heel and he never really changed anything about his character, which somehow made him even more boring. Decent match until the ending, but that kills it.

It’s a Dusty Finish though. Roode fires Eric but here’s Cornette to say hang on a second. The match is restarted and Roode hits him in the head multiple times. Gail runs out and beats down Brooks. The distraction leads to a rollup pin for Eric.

Team 3D doesn’t care who Steiner’s partner is. They think Scott’s throat problem is because he talked about the Dudleys too much and he’s hiding. D-Von’s head looks like it’s made of old shoe leather.

Tag Titles: Team 3D vs. Rick Steiner/???

And the mystery partner is….Road Warrior Animal. Yeah that’s it. The fans chanting it before he came out kind of hurt the shock a bit. Rick puts on his head gear post bell and it makes a huge difference. Rick vs. D-Von to start us off. I don’t think Scott is in the hospital. I think it’s more like he and Animal cooked him and had him for a late night snack. It would explain those guts on them.

Animal offers to come in and Rick waves him off. Nice partner dude. Oh ok there he is and Ray gets in his face. A piledriver is no sold and we have gimmick infringement from Hawk. I guess since he’s dead it’s ok. Back to Rick and they mistime something, as I think Ray was supposed to hit Rick as he hit the ropes but Rick stopped with zero contact at all. Off to Bubba legally and a neckbreaker gets two.

D-Von misses a middle rope headbutt and there’s the tag to Animal. Something I never get: why can a team that has never teamed together before like Steiner and Animal get a tag title match? There isn’t another team that can challenge the Dudleys? Animal cleans house and it’s back to Rick as everything breaks down. The challengers try to load up the Doomsday Device but Animal gets caught in the double neckbreaker and the 3D ends Rick.

Rating: D. These “dream” matches usually suck because by the time you get teams big enough to have a dream match, they’re old. To be fair though, there was almost no way Animal, who barely wrestled anymore, was going to be able to come out there and have a decent match. Scott may be old and slow but he’s active at least. Bad match, but understandably bad.

We recap Daniels vs. Sting. Sting mentored him which I don’t even remember and Daniels snapped because of it. I remember being excited for this match but thinking the match sucked. I wonder if it’ll still be the case. Wait….that might have been Sting vs. Storm. I think it was actually.

Christopher Daniels vs. Sting

Sting repels from the ceiling for no apparent reason. It looked cool though. Sting takes over to start and speeds things up, which you would think would favor Daniels. He hooks the Deathlock very quickly but Daniels grabs a fast rope. Daniels takes over and has a stupid Mike Tyson style tattoo (paint) around his eye. Sting fights back but neither guy can get a hip toss.

We go old school with an abdominal stretch which doesn’t count for some reason. Daniels and Hebner get into it a bit and then he snaps off a Stinger Splash. This of course fires up the Stinger and Daniels is in trouble. Faceplant gets two. Two Stinger Splashes are broken up and the Last Rites (Cross Rhodes) is countered into the Death Drop for the pin.

Rating: D+. Yeah it was this match that I found boring and lackluster. There was nothing here at all and Sting just beat him up like he was any other guy. Daniels had been built up as the guy that could take down Sting and Sting destroyed him here. I don’t get the point of this one and it didn’t work at all.

We recap Abyss vs. Tomko. This was another part of Abyss vs. Christian’s Coalition. Abyss had taken a huge beatdown from the whole team and Tomko is the first victim for him.

Christian’s Coalition says Christian will win the title tonight. AJ protests because he’s in there too. Christian says AJ will sacrifice himself so Christian can win the title and Styles isn’t sure what to think of that but he goes along with it because he’s an idiot at this point.

Tomko vs. Abyss

This is No DQ. Slugout to start is won by Abyss and they head to the floor. Tomko takes over with the violent tendencies, ramming Abyss into the steps to take over. Back in a bit boot puts Tomko down and TOTALLY misses an Umaga charge in the corner. Tomko sold it anyway because he’s not that talented. Chokeslam gets two. Here are the tacks but Tomko reverses and powerbombs Abyss onto them for two.

Abyss’ arm is busted open so he fires a shot to Tomko and hits the floor to get another bag. This time it’s glass but again he takes too long and Tomko gets a big jagged piece and drives it into Abyss’ head. In a SICK spot, Abyss is kneeling over the glass so Tomko practically curb stomps him into it. FREAKING OW MAN!!! They head to the floor again and Tomko finds a barbed wire ball bat which goes into the ribs and back of Abyss.

They go to the entrance and begin to climb. This isn’t going to end well. Tomko is up top with the bat but Abyss grabs the bat and pulls Tomko down to a big box sort of thing which falls apart. Tomko being up a few seconds later completely ruins the spot. I mean he’s up maybe 8 seconds later. Abyss is down even longer than Tomko was after that flip. Are you kidding me? Back in the ring, Tomko tries to pick Abyss up but walks into the Black Hole Slam onto the glass for the pin. That was pretty anti-climactic.

Rating: B-. This was about violence and on that note it worked, but the big spot of the match completely bombed. Like I said, having him pop up so fast just killed it. Not a great match or anything here but it was fun for the most part and that’s really all they could have hoped for out of this one.

Angle and Joe stare it down in the back. Angle says let’s go have a great match and beat each other up badly. Joe shakes his hand but says tonight it’s real.

Mike Tenay is in the ring for some reason. He shows us an interview with Jeff Jarrett. His wife Jill had legitimately died recently and he wasn’t sure if he was going to keep wrestling. He talks about the history of the company, including stuff like Toby Keith and beating up Hulk Hogan. He talks about founding the company and his wife agreeing that it was ok. Then he gets to the heavy stuff, talking about his wife passing away less than a month ago. Jarrett is in tears almost the entire time while he’s saying this. Being in the ring is the worst place he can be right now though, so his future is unknown.

The fans aren’t sure if they should chant for Jill or Jeff.

Cornette announces the last guy in the match will be Chris Harris.

TNA World Title: Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles vs. Christian Cage vs. Chris Harris

This is King of the Mountain and the title is vacant. Ok so King of the Mountain is TNA’s signature match, or at least it was before Hogan and Bischoff took over. There are five guys and there is a place to hang the belt above the ring. In essence, it’s a reverse ladder match because you have to hang the belt above the ring. Before you’re allowed to do that though, you have to qualify by pinning someone else. When someone is pinned that person has to go to the penalty box for two minutes. Got all that?

Joe goes right after Angle. Cornette is holding the belt. This is kind of a mess at first which makes it really hard to call. Cage and Styles beat up Harris and then Styles lays down for Cage. Angle makes the save but Joe wants to hurt him some more. Styles takes Harris down again and wants Christian to lay down. Christian says no so Styles rolls him up for two. The camera is all over the place, making it really hard to keep up with.

Joe and Christian are in the ring now and down goes the Canadian. Off to Harris but the Cataonic and Unprettier both miss. A full nelson slam puts Christian down but Styles breaks it up. He gets caught in the Catatonic for a fast pin by Harris, making him eligible. The clock for AJ is at 1:30 by the time he gets in the cage. Harris and Cage fight on the floor so Joe throws a ladder at them.

Back to Angle vs. Joe with the fat boy taking over. Angle grabs a boot though and here are the Rolling Germans. Christian comes in and is in an ankle lock/Koquina Clutch combo. Styles gets out just in time for the save. Cage puts a ladder between the ring and barricade like a bridge. Christian falls down onto it due to a right hand by Harris to crotch him. On top of that he’s stuck there.

In the ring, AJ hits the Pele and springboard forearm to put Joe outside. Styles Clash to Angle is countered into the ankle lock but AJ breaks it, sending Kurt to the floor. AJ gets launched onto Christian onto the ladder. Harris goes up another ladder but Angle Slams him off for a pin to become eligible. Joe THINKS and throws the ladder to the floor. He beats up everyone in sight, hitting a MuscleBuster on AJ for two.

We get a ref bump in a gimmick match. Angle gets put in the choke and he taps, but there’s no referee. Christian hits Joe with a ladder and steals the pin on Kurt. Man there are some smart people in this company. The referee can’t let Harris out even though his time is up. Oh there’s another referee so it doesn’t matter. Joe stops Christian from hanging the belt and hits a huge cutter off the ladder onto the belt.

Harris goes up with the belt and people start booing. A belt shot stops Joe and he hiptosses Christian off, but Styles hits a springboard dropkick to break it up. Angle is out of the box. AJ and Joe climb on top of the box for no apparent reason. AJ kicks Joe low but Joe launches AJ off the top and through the announce table. Harris knocks Joe off the top and Christian is tossed back into the ring after climbing up as well. Harris hits a huge clothesline to kill Angle.

Everyone is down so Harris goes Terry Funk and spins around with the ladder over his head. He goes up AGAIN but Christian knocks him over and into the buckle. Christian goes up but Kurt grabs the ankle lock while the Canadian is still up there. No tap though and they fight on the ladder. Harris spears Christian off and Angle hangs the belt to become champion. How bad is it that I don’t remember him pinning anyone? I had to go back and find where he pinned Harris.

Rating: B. Good match here as the King of the Mountain was its usual insane but fun self. This is TNA’s signature match and almost as usual it gets to be a fun match. Angle winning the title and becoming the first champion is probably the right move. They waited WAY too long on pulling the trigger on Joe, but that’s TNA for you. Good main event though.

Overall Rating: C-. This is a really hard one to grade. There’s some good stuff on there for sure and the last two matches are both fun, but MY GOODNESS is this a chore to sit through. The core of this show is just exhausting and it feels like it’s never going to end. Not a horrible show at all but I’d have a remote in hand to fast forward about 60% of it, which isn’t a good thing at all.

Remember to like me on Facebook at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/kbwrestlingreviewscom/117930294974885?sk=wall

Smackdown
Date: November 11, 2011
Location: Liverpool Echo Arena, Liverpool, England
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews, Booker T

Another week, another Smackdown. With Randy having beaten Cody officially to end their feud (at least in theory) it should be interesting to see where they go with it. Also it seems like Bryan and the case have been activated into a possibility of him cashing in so we have that wild card in the title hunt now. Other than that it’ll be more build for the PPV I’d assume. Let’s get to it.

Do you know your enemy? Mine is Winter. The season, not the hot British chick.

We hear about Team Orton (Orton, Sheamus, Kofi, Cara, Ryan) vs. Team Barrett (Barrett, Rhodes, Swagger, Hunico, Christian even though the Canadian is now injured so that might be needing a replacement). To people that say all of the WWE guys are the same, this match has three Americans, an Irishman, a Ghanian, two Mexicans, a Welsh guy, an Englishman and a Canadian. That’s a pretty eclectic mix wouldn’t you say?

Here’s Randy to open the show. Orton has a great tattoo job on his arms. His shirt is roughly the same color as his skin and I couldn’t tell where it ended and where the tattoos began when he did his pose. He talks about how he doesn’t play well with others as every team he’s been on has imploded, usually due to him hurting them. Orton has no problem being the captain so he can beat up Rhodes and Christian again. He talks about not knowing Swagger or Hunico all that well but having no problem taking care of them as well. This draws out Barrett.

Barrett says the problems he’s given Orton before will be nothing compared to the ones he’ll have at Survivor Series. They’ve both been in groups and he’s always risen to the top of them. Orton is a natural born predator that no one will ever trust. Barrett wants the world title and he has to get Randy out of the way to do that. Orton is staring off into space during this. Barrett: “Are you even listening to me.” Orton: “Actually no I’m not.” Well that’s just rude. An RKO is threatened so here’s Christian in a neck brace.

Christian calls Randy the Yoko Ono of his team in Beatles reference #1 of the night (great drinking game). Christian takes credit for Barrett beating Sheamus last week, saying that he inspires people to be better. He was offered the captain spot but he declined it due to his injuries. Barrett has Christian’s full endorsement though. Here comes the beatdown as well as Sheamus for the save. Teddy comes out and I must have a bad ear infection or something because he doesn’t make a tag match for the main event. Instead it’s Christian vs. Sheamus and Barrett vs. Orton. Nice little change of pace.

Christian vs. Sheamus

Sheamus runs him over to start and takes over quickly. Christian begs off and gets the forearms to the chest for his trouble. There’s a gorilla press and Christian bails to the floor. Christian gets back in first and walks into the slingshot shoulder. Christian finally sends him into the post to take over and adds a missile dropkick for two. Out to the floor and Cole gets on my nerves already. Christian tries a dive over the top but Sheamus catches him with ease.

After a break Christian has a chinlock on and is in control. They slug it out and I think you know who wins there. Christian goes up and jumps into a punch to the ribs, which is the same counter I saw on an old tape I was watching a few moments ago. The Canadian tries the sunset flip out of the corner but jumps into the Irish Curse for two. Christian dives into his second fallaway slam of the match but pops up for a dropkick to put Sheamus down again.

Sheamus charges into the corner and gets caught by the Pendulum Kick. A tornado DDT gets two for Christian. Sheamus does the always cool pull yourself up from the corner to the top rope spot and hits the top rope shoulder for two. Brogue Kick and Unprettier both miss but the High Cross is enough to finish this at 10:15 shown of 13:45.

Rating: C+. It’s a good enough match, but how many times can Sheamus beat Christian before it stops meaning anything at all? This is what, the fourth time in a month that he’s beaten him? This was pretty good and Christian continues to have chemistry with almost anyone he works with, but he needs to either beat Sheamus once or get on to a new feud because this is going nowhere.

We recap Bryan almost cashing in last week but walking into the Slam instead.

Bryan talks to AJ and Kaitlyn and says he didn’t know he was almost going to cash in. He has a non-title match tonight. AJ and Kaitlyn imply sexual interest if he’s champ. Henry pops up and says it’s not that easy to be champ. Bryan gets in his face, saying he’s cashing in at Mania and he’ll win. Henry says Bryan has guts, and they’ll be all over the ring later.

Video on Ezekiel Jackson of all people. He’s strong and that’s about it. This comes off almost like a heel video.

Teddy Long is with Charles Robinson and says be on your game tonight in the Usos match. This is rather pointless. Here’s Aksana who hits on Teddy again and innuendo is made. Teddy wants Aksana to be in Alicia’s corner later tonight so she can get experience. Aksana thinks she’s Rihanna. More innuendo is made. Next.

Ted DiBiase vs. Jinder Mahal

Mahal is called mysterious. How is he mysterious? They flat out explained his backstory like two weeks after he started wrestling. Mahal takes over to start and Cole makes fun of DiBiase hanging out with fans. It’s implied that DiBiase has given up his dad’s money. Dream Street ends this at 1:06.

Daniel Bryan vs. Mark Henry

Big Show is banned from ringside. Bryan has Ride of the Valkyries again but it’s a rock version. It’s an improvement over the old song. Booker says Bryan has never had a girlfriend in his life. Oh give me a break. Are we really afraid of the drawing power of Gail Kim now? Henry takes him to the floor and rams him into the barricade then pushes Bryan’s head against the steps.

Back in the ring and the fans try to get behind Bryan. Henry misses a charge and Bryan hits a missile dropkick and Henry is staggered. The kicks put Henry down and Bryan actually gets the LeBell Lock on….kind of. Henry does the British Bulldog/Shawn Michaels counter and pounds Daniel down in the corner. Henry splashes him but pulls up at two. Bryan says bring it on so Henry hits the Slam for the pin at 3:45.

Rating: C. Just a squash here but the road for Bryan seems to have begun. Him getting the Lock on Henry was a nice touch as it’s a single step further than he got last week. It wasn’t competitive but that’s the right idea if they’re going with the long road to Bryan vs. Henry. Have Bryan not be able to hurt Henry and then slowly build him up to the point where he can beat him at Mania, if that’s where they’re going at the end.

Henry goes for a chair to break the leg but Bryan gets it away and hits Henry with it. Three World’s Strongest Slams later, Bryan regrets that chair shot. Henry sets to Pillmanize the leg but the sound of music stops him. Why? I don’t know. I guess he can’t jump while music is playing. Henry gets the chair and Show knocks it out of his hand. They stare each other down and Henry bails.

Show says watch his match and he’ll show Henry something impressive.

Big Show vs. ???/???/???

They’re three unnamed jobbers. They get Show down for a second but one of them kicks him which wakes him up. Two take a double chokeslam and the third tries to leave. Show chases him down and the big punch ends this at 1:20.

Henry says that was nothing and that he’s impressed Big Show, which he’ll do again at Survivor Series.

Video on Mania tickets.

Tamina vs. Alicia Fox

Nattie is on commentary and Aksana is with Alicia. Rosa is with Tamina. Tamina is pounded down in the corner but remembers she’s Samoan and no sells it. After about a minute of beating her down, Tamina gets caught with an elbow. Nattie says she and Beth are now called Pin-Up Strong. What is that, their third name? Alicia hits a front flip legdrop for the pin at 2:00. Is there a point to any of these matches with the girls anymore?

Sheamus is asked if he’s a hot head after seeing clips of his brawl with Barrett last week. He denies it and says he’s about having a good time, be it presenting an award to Justin Bieber at the MTV Europe Awards of hanging out with his cousin Beaker (POP). He pretends to be mad at Striker then smiles.

Hunico/Epico vs. Usos

Primo comes out with the Hispanic team. Booker says they’re like gremlins. Ok so Hunico is in the white shirt. Remember when the Usos debuted and their deal was that there were civilized Samoans out there that weren’t all crazy? Now they do that Siva Tao thing. I love rewritting kayfabe. Epico starts off with we’ll say Jey. Epico is Primo’s cousin which is true in real life and on TV it seems.

The heels take over on Jimmy and take turns beating him down. Why are Mexican/Hispanic themed teams always heels? I think LAX were faces for awhile and that’s about it. Lukewarm tag brings in Jey who beats on Hunico but Epico makes the save. Primo tries to cheat so Jey kicks Epico down. Hunico hits a Swanton on Jey for the pin at 2:45.

There’s a gang beatdown post match as the fans cheer for Sin Cara. He’s not booked on the tour though so the heels beat Jimmy down with ease. Time for the international war period?

Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett

Not much to start but that’s to be expected. Barrett takes over with a headlock but walks into a dropkick for two. Now it’s Orton with the headlock as Cole talks about the bareknuckle thing again. Orton kind of plays heel here, shouting that Barrett is the hometown boy before covering him. Barrett gets a boot up in the corner to put Orton down. That and an elbow drop get two.

Out to the floor for some brawling and in a cool sequence, Orton tries to send him into the steps but Barrett jumps on top of them then kicks the steps into Orton. Wade sends him into the steps as we take a break. Back with Orton in a chinlock and Barrett’s hair is a mess. Pumphandle slam gets two. A big boot puts Orton on the floor and it’s back to the chinlock.

Boss Man Slam gets two. Barrett sets for a middle rope elbow but only one person per company can use the same move so Orton breaks it up and hits a superplex for a delayed two. They slug it out and Orton starts his ending sequence with the powerslam and DDT. RKO is loaded up but Barrett shoves him off. He pokes Orton in the eye and rolls him up for the pin at 9:50 shown of 13:20.

Rating: C+. This was fine for a TV main event and it’s cool to see Orton go down as clean as you’ll see it on TV. Barrett’s push seems to be for real and that’s certainly a good thing. He can be the next big heel on Smackdown once Henry loses the title and that’s fine. Not bad here and cool to see the home country guy win one for a change on the road.

Overall Rating: B. I liked this show a lot as they had a lot of stuff here and a lot of stuff got advanced. Henry vs. Show gets some nice build and we have the seeds of Bryan’s main event push being established. Also they lucked out as they have a backdoor to get them out of Christian’s legit injury. This is what Smackdown is best at: having basic but well put together television. Give us more stuff like this.

Results
Sheamus b. Christian – High Cross
Ted DiBiase b. Jinder Mahal – Dream Street
Mark Henry b. Daniel Bryan – World’s Strongest Slam
Big Show b. ???/???/??? – WMD
Alicia Fox b. Tamina – Flip Legdrop
Hunico/Epico b. Usos – Swanton to Jey
Wade Barrett b. Randy Orton – Rollup

Remember to like me on Facebook at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/kbwrestlingreviewscom/117930294974885?sk=wall

Smackdown
Date: November 4, 2011
Location: BI-LO Center, Greenville, South Carolina
Commentators: Michael Cole, Booker T, Josh Matthews

I’m not sure what we’re going to have tonight as we’re on the road to MSG and Survivor Series but nothing has really been announced. I’m pretty sure you can pencil in Show vs. Henry II so maybe that gets announced tonight. Other than that though the card is pretty blank on the Blue show so maybe we get a little something tonight. Let’s get to it.

Do you know your enemy? Mine is a short little woman that can’t stay out of people’s business and happens to be my boss.

Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton

This is a street fight. Cole talks about how this is going to put the rivalry to an end so I guess this is the official blowoff. The crowd sounds very hot tonight. I guess they got a better audio inputer. The white belt on the crazy man champion is a nice touch. Cody is looking extra jacked tonight. Feeling out process to start until Orton takes over with a headlock. A dropkick sends Cody to the floor.

The brawl heads outside and Cody is getting intense. There’s a knee drop to the Viper and it gets two back inside. Orton is getting all fired up and slams Cody into the steps twice. A clothesline takes us into the crowd as this is looking to be a pretty good fight. Orton hammers away and sends Rhodes into a wall of some kind. One of the baggers gets backdropped and the other takes an RKO. Rhodes cowers on the floor as we take a break.

Back with Randy hammering on Cody on the ramp. Rhodes starts firing back and sets to suplex Randy off the stage. Wouldn’t that pull Cody with him? Randy counters with one of his own onto the steel and pounds down on Cody in the aisle. Back to the ring and Orton brings him in with a superplex. A delayed cover gets two. Both guys get up slowly and Rhodes gets a dropkick for two.

They hit the floor again and Rhodes is all ticked off. Cody charges at Orton but gets backdropped onto the timekeeper. Randy walks into a mask shot to put him down and we take another break. Back with Randy being thrown over the announce table as Cody is all fired up. Good heat for Rhodes as he goes to an armbar. Well it works the shoulder so it makes sense on Orton.

Orton keeps trying to fight back but Cody keeps pouring it on. Rhodes works on the knee and hooks of a Figure Four which is pretty smart. He takes the mask off and drills Orton in the head with it. Counting commercials this match has been going over 20 minutes now so this is one of the longer TV matches in awhile. Orton grabs the mask and drills Cody with it before loading up the RKO.

Cody shoves him off and drills the Beautiful Disaster. This has been an awesome match so far. Cross Rhodes is countered into a backdrop but the elevated DDT is countered as well. They head over the to barricade and Cody gets draped over them. The elevated DDT hits, but this time it’s outside on the floor. Rhodes is DONE. The bonus RKO ends this at 15:56 shown of 22:56.

Rating: B+. Very solid TV match here with Rhodes getting closer than ever to beating Randy. I can understand not putting Rhodes over and at least the loss is to someone clearly higher up on the food chain than him. Randy has a lot better resume when they take the rules away and when the matches are longer with this and his matches against Christian being good examples. Fun match and I was into it by the end.

In a nice cap to the feud, Randy bags Cody. Orton takes the mask with him.

Too long recap of HHH vs. Nash, who is now re-signed. Wasn’t he signed already?

Ted DiBiase vs. Tyson Kidd

Dibiase takes over to start but that doesn’t last long at all. Cole managed to go almost 40 minutes without making fun of Booker and he falls just short of it. The match is completely ignored as we argue over who has the most Twitter followers. Dream Street is countered once but the second attempt ends this at 2:06. Pretty much just a step above a squash.

Mark Henry says he’s tired of answering questions about Vengeance. Henry walks away and finds Daniel Bryan. He accuses Bryan of thinking of cashing in tonight but Bryan insists he’s waiting until Wrestlemania. Henry says it doesn’t matter how long Bryan waits. He’s going to go find Teddy Long and make a match between them tonight. That gets a pop from the crowd.

Alicia Fox vs. Natalya

this is supposed to be retribution for the Halloween battle royal or something like that. Alicia tries early on but Natalya is too much for her. Natalya: “You stuck your nose where it doesn’t belong!” Alicia: “THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH MY NOSE!!!” Natalya was choking her at the time so Alicia’s priorities are a bit out of whack. Speaking of out of, out of nowhere Alicia hits a scissors kick for the pin at 1:24. So she’s the flavor of the month now.

Here’s Big Show who says he’d rather fight than talk. He has unfinished business with Mark Henry and therefore, until he gets his rematch, he’s going to knock Henry out on every Smackdown. Cue Christian who says Show wants one more match. Christian however deserves one more shot because he’s gotten screwed over and over. Show has his hand by his head but says he’s scratching his head. For some reason Christian goes at him and there’s a chokeslam for you. He has a match with Sheamus next too.

After a break Sheamus is here but Christian is too hurt to go. Cue Barrett who says he’ll be a replacement.

Wade Barrett vs. Sheamus

Works for me. This is going to be a power brawl which is almost always fun. They slug it out to start and both guys has a brief advantage through their power games in the opening minute and a half. Sheamus hits the forearms to the chest and the slingshot shoulder for two. Barrett takes over and hits a big boot to send Sheamus out to the floor. That’s not something you see all that often but it happened here.

After a break Christian is still outside selling the chokeslam. Barrett has a bow and arrow hold on Sheamus but the very pale one is fighting out of it. A middle rope elbow gets two. Back to another chinlock as this has been mostly Barrett. Sheamus fires back but can’t hook the High Cross. The fans are split as Sheamus fights up. This would have made better sense next week when the show was in England but Barrett will be a face then. Here’s another High Cross attempt but Christian pops up as a distraction, letting Wade roll him up for the pin at 7:27 shown of 10:57.

Rating: C+. Pretty fun match here as the power brawls are always worth seeing. Barrett’s push continues and I’d love to see him challenge whoever is the face champion after Henry loses it. These two usually have entertaining matches when they pound on each other with reckless abandon and it worked here.

Sheamus is MAD post match following a spear from Christian.

Post break Sheamus is destroying Christian in the back until Barrett comes up for the save. Sheamus beats him up as well. This is probably build for the Survivor Series match.

The Muppets were on Raw and it’s still awesome.

Bryan is in the back (pop) when Show comes in (BIG pop) saying that he’ll be in Bryan’s corner tonight.

Sin Cara vs. Epico

Epico is a Mexican guy that I don’t recognize but is probably out of FCW. Pretty speedy start as you would expect until the Mexican hits a German on the Mexican to take over. There’s a Gory Special but Cara escapes and speeds things up. Cara goes up for the Swanton but here’s Hunico for the DQ at 2:17.

The double beatdown continues post match and Cara is left laying.

Daniel Bryan vs. Mark Henry

Non-title here and Big Show is with Bryan. Bryan has a huge beard now. Henry throws Bryan into the air but gets caught in a guillotine choke. It lasts all of 5 seconds but still, it existed. Bryan gets sent to the floor again and Henry squashes his head against the post. He squashes Bryan’s head, not his own. Bryan has had practically no offense so far.

Off to a chinlock but Bryan fires off kicks, including a series to the knee to take him down. In standard giant vs. small man formula though, the fans pop as Bryan knocks him down but after all that Bryan is launched off during the pin. Back to the guillotine but he doesn’t have his hands locked. Henry casually throws Bryan off in a release northern lights suplex. There’s a running splash in the corner. There’s another splash and here’s Show for the DQ with the big right hand at 6:24.

Rating: C-. This was a squash for all intents and purposes. Henry wasn’t breaking a sweat at all here and I think that was the intended idea. By making Bryan look horribly weak at the beginning of this he can grow and look stronger by the end if he wins the title. Nothing that interesting but it also sets up the Show vs. Henry rematch.

Post match Show pours water over Bryan and says cash it in now. Bryan is barely alive so after figuring out what planet he’s on he tries to cash in, but Henry gets up and hits the Slam. The bell never rang so the case is safe. Henry knocks Show out with the case post match and hits the Slam on him as well. Teddy comes out and makes the match for Survivor Series to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. Good show tonight with a lot going on. We get a pretty definitive ending to Orton vs. Rhodes, the main event from Smackdown set up, the upper midcard rivalry advanced with Barrett joining Team Christian, the midcard match advanced with Cara vs. the Evil Mexicans, and apparently the start of a moderate DiBiase push. This was old school Smackdown and it worked very well. Good show.

Results
Randy Orton b. Cody Rhodes – RKO
Ted DiBiase b. Tyson Kidd – Dream Street
Alicia Fox b. Natalya – Scissors Kick
Wade Barrett b. Sheamus – Rollup
Sin Cara b. Epico via DQ when Hunico interfered
Mark Henry b. Daniel Bryan via DQ when Big Show interfered

Remember to like me on Facebook at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/kbwrestlingreviewscom/117930294974885?sk=wall

Smackdown
Date: October 28, 2011
Location: Toyota Center, Houston, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews, Booker T

Well it’s after Vengeance and not a lot has changed. Rhodes is still IC Champion because he didn’t defend at the PPV. Henry is still champion because he broke the ring. Ace is still annoying because it takes half the show for him to introduce himself. Other than that, there isn’t much to talk about on this show. It should be interesting to see where thing go as we approach Survivor Series. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the ring collapsing at Vengeance. There’s talk of something happening tonight but nothing specific is mentioned. This was a lot more like a commercial than an opening video.

First line of the show: “With Vengeance still a trending topic in the WWE…” It’s going to be a long night.

Teddy is in the ring to open things up and says Big Show, Henry and the status of the title are in flux. Both of them are here tonight though and the future of the title will be addressed tonight. That of course brings out Christian. He says the future of the title will be addressed right now. Vengeance was historic, meaning that it is now history. Since Show has had his shot, we need a new challenger.

Teddy brings up the loss to Sheamus and Christian says he’s resilient. He wants Long to name anyone that deserves the shot more than him. That brings out Punk of all people. Teddy talks about how there will be some Raw people here tonight for a Super Smackdown. The Brand Split’s days are numbered. Both wrestlers run down their respective bosses and Punk says Ace makes Teddy look like Theodore Roosevelt. Long: “Thank you for that player.” Punk: “It wasn’t exactly a compliment.”

Punk says he wants Christian to get one more match and Christian runs him down for some reason. The Canadian says Punk was the guy that stole the title and that Punk doesn’t deserve the title shot. Punk says he isn’t the one complaining and whining, which he uses a more colorful word for. Make that a word he uses about 15 times. Christian says no one wants Punk here, drawing a huge Punk chant. Punk says there are at least 10,000 people that want to see him here in Houston. The main event is made. Punk: “Holler holler holler.”

Air Boom vs. Awesome Truth

I’m not sure how smart this is but that’s WWE for you. We get a lot of clips from the PPV and Raw, showing the Cena beatdowns and the announcement of Rock/Cena, 24 hours after that was told to us on Vengeance. This is non-title. Kofi vs. Miz gets us going. A big knee puts Kofi down and it’s off to Truth. Off to Bourne as well for some double teaming by the champions.

BIG kick to the head takes Truth down but the Shooting Star is avoided. The heels double team Bourne on the floor a bit as we take a break. We get an explanation for Miz/Truth being annoyed because of Mania’s main event being made without them being in it. Back with the heels beating Bourne down again and Truth hooking a front facelock. Evan snaps off an enziguri and it’s a hot tag to the African who lives in America and used to be Jamaican. Everything breaks down and Kofi hits a BIG spinning cross body off the top. Bourne goes to the floor and the Little Jimmy Finale ends Kofi at 4:48 shown of 8:18.

Rating: C-. Not a great match or anything and while I get the point of pushing Awesome Truth, wasn’t there another team they could beat other than the champions? I could easily see Air Boom losing the titles before Survivor Series but it’s going to take more than that to make Awesome Truth into anything remotely close to a threat to Cena/Rock.

Awesome Truth runs down their list of accomplishments and says Cena picked the only guy that dislikes him more than they do.

In the back we see Bryan and Kidd arguing over Bret vs. Shawn. That’s a cool idea for a match actually. Santino (in a WWE All-Stars shirt) says we should have a match to see who the better trainer was.

Hornswoggle is a Broski. Thankfully Team Vickie pops up and brags that Ziggler has the title still. Dolph vs. Orton for later with Swagger banned from ringside. They leave and Aksana appears. DANG those things are big. Teddy sends Horny off.

Overly long recap of HHH and Nash from Monday.

Wade Barrett vs. Trent Barreta

Barrett says the Barrett Barrage continues. Trent tries to speed things up but walks into a Bossman Slam for two. Off to a bow and arrow hold which doesn’t last long. A big boot puts Trent on the floor as we’re in squash mode here. Barrett keeps hammering on him and counters a rana attempt into Wasteland at 2:33. Total dominance which Booker said as I was typing it.

Randy Orton vs. Dolph Ziggler

Before the bell here’s Cody with the Baggers. He jumps in on commentary as a distraction for Randy. These two usually have good matches together so this should be decent. Cody doesn’t want to talk about Vengeance. The match is pretty fast paced to start. Well, fast paced for the standards of these two. No one can get much of an advantage here. Cody takes credit for Dolph’s success so far since he wore Orton down on Sunday.

Orton takes over and drops a knee onto the arm (he missed) for two. Randy uses some psychology though by working on the arm. It would have been better if he was working on the arm he dropped the knee on but maybe that’s too much to ask for. Orton gets all fired up so Ziggler wisely runs. I’ve never gotten why more heels don’t do that. If you see Hogan Hulking Up, GET OUT OF THE RING. Vickie yells at Orton as we go to a break.

Back with Ziggler getting two off a dropkick. Ziggler works on something that looks like the inbred cousin of the Rings of Saturn. Orton escapes but a DDT gets two for Dolph. Booker credits Ziggler, saying he does this with no gimmick or foreign objects. Cody takes offense to this, which means this might be the beginning of Booker vs. Rhodes which I’ve heard rumors of.

Ziggler goes up but Orton pops him in the ribs. Any chance we’ll get a Bob Orton superplex? Oh yes we will. Now for the bonus points will we get a mention of Pappy Orton? The suplex gets two and they slug it out. Orton gets all fired up and hits the powerslam to set up the RKO. Scratch that as it’s just the elevated DDT. Ziggler counters with a NICE superkick for two. Zig Zag is countered and Ziggler charges into the RKO for the pin at 10:27 shown of 13:57.

Rating: B. As usual, these two have a good match. Ziggler doesn’t need to lose anymore though as he’s lost most of his matches or has needed to cheat to win. The cheating is fine as he’s a heel, but he needs to stop losing clean. Even a countout loss would work fine for him. This was good though and I like this pairing more and more every time.

We recap the mask vs. mask match from last week.

Sin Cara Black (Hunico) looks like a stereotypical Mexican now and pants a lot. He calls himself Hunico (in a Spanish speech) and says it’s payback time. Oh joy. Yes let’s make a Mexican themed heel in a place where there’s a large Mexican population. Nothing could go wrong there at all right?

Brodus Clay needs to return already.

Tyson Kidd vs. Daniel Bryan

This is the Bret vs. Shawn Special. Things start off fast and they go to the mat. Bryan can’t hook the LeBell Lock but does manage to hit a running clothesline and a dropkick for two. Kidd rolls through a middle rope rana for two and it’s pinfall reversal time. Tyson tries the sharpshooter but Bryan counters into the LeBell Lock for the tap at 2:37. Short but really fun while it lasted.

Video on the ending of Raw, including the announcement of Rock as Cena’s partner.

Cole gets on the table and goes over the Michael Cole Challenge. We also see the same pictures he tweeted on Raw. Next.

Here’s Show to talk about the title match and what happened with the ring. “Oops I did it again.” That got a chuckle out of me. He says he’s never been in a fight like that. Show says he’s never been right in the head so let’s reenforce the ring and do it again! He’s been in conference with Teddy Long all day and there will indeed be a rematch. That brings out Henry who is a bit ginger. Must have eaten some bad Slater.

Henry says no rematch and that he made Show hurt, not the ring. The challenge is issued to fight right now and Henry bails. This was pretty basic.

Christian vs. CM Punk

The first few minutes goes back and forth with basic stuff and neither guy getting an advantage. Not that you would know that from the commentary as we talk about Herman Cain, Johnny Ace and Cole’s wife. After about three minutes of decent stuff, Christian misses a middle rope headbutt. Punk loads up the GTS and here’s Del Rio with music and Ricardo. The distraction lets Christian escape and we take a break.

Back with Christian in control and getting two on a few things, including the reverse DDT. Cole logically explains how Del Rio didn’t cheat in the last man standing match with the answer of “if there are no rules, how can you cheat?” Booker has nothing to answer that with. Punk fires off some strikes to put Christian down and Punk goes with him.

Back up and Punk starts up his comeback with a swinging neckbreaker for two. The sunset flip out of the corner by Christian is rolled through and Punk kicks him in the face. A middle rope cross body by Christian is rolled through for two. Punk tries a dive but gets caught in a powerslam for two. Punk hits the running knee and bulldog but has to chase Ricardo away. Springboard clothesline gets two so Punk loads up the Macho Elbow. Ricardo interferes and Del Rio is able to crotch Punk and momentum changes again. Christian sets for a spear but here’s Sheamus to distract him and the GTS ends this at 9:36 shown of 13:30.

Rating: B-. The match started off slowly but the stuff after the commercial helped it out a lot. I was wondering where Sheamus was so the run in at the end was perfectly fine. I don’t think anyone expected Christian to win here and that’s fine. Punk needs the momentum going into his title match so a win over a main event jobber is fine. Fun little TV main event.

Overall Rating: B. Smackdown is back with a good show here. The idea of the Brand Split being over on Fridays as well is a nice touch and we should get some good matches out of it in the end. This felt a lot more like a Raw than a Smackdown but Raw’s stars are bigger deals than Smackdown’s so that’s understandable. Once Rock is back things will pick up again, but for now this was fine. Good show but not a classic.

Results
Awesome Truth b. Air Boom – Little Jimmy Finale to Kingston
Wade Barrett b. Trent Barreta – Wasteland
Randy Orton b. Dolph Ziggler – RKO
Daniel Bryan b. Tyson Kidd – LeBell Lock
CM Punk b. Christian – GTS

Remember to like me on Facebook at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/kbwrestlingreviewscom/117930294974885?sk=wall

Smackdown
Date: October 14, 2011
Location: American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Booker T, Josh Matthews

We have our main event set for the PPV and in short, this has to be better than Raw. I mean, I don’t think it’s possible for it to actually be worse. Expect one of the final two remaining pushes to go to the PPV and probably more of Cody vs. Orton. Also with this show, allegedly this is the second longest running episodic television show in history or something, so I’ll set the over/under on mentions of that at 7,000. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the events with Show and Henry last week and Show beating up the champ. He has his title shot at Vengeance.

Do you know your enemy? Mine is being told I have to be somewhere at the very last second. Very annoying.

Here’s Teddy to open the show. Johnny Ace comes out too despite having no power on this show. Teddy says that to celebrate tonight, we’re having the largest battle royal in WWE history. The winner will get a title shot at any champion of his choosing tonight on Smackdown.

Battle Royal

There are 41 people in this and I’m not going to bother listing everyone off. Basically if they’re on the active roster, they’re in this. Cody Rhodes is the first person out. I’m really only going to list off people’s names as they’re out and I’ll only list big names. There’s almost no room to move in the ring so it’s almost impossible to see anything or call it. Striker is in there. We’re about two minutes in and only a handful of people are out.

O’Neil and Bateman are gone as is Striker. Booker: “I really thought Striker could do something special in this.” Cole: “Booker you’re an idiot.” Josh: “Everybody in the ring is in Booker’s Fave Five.” We take a break and the ring has cleared out a little bit. Josh says there are 32 people left in this so it’s still bigger than most Rumbles. Regal is gone. I don’t see Big Show out there but I don’t think he was there in the first place.

Morrison goes out with no theatrics and Ziggler is out immediately thereafter. The title match has to be against Henry or Del Rio. Some of the ring has cleared out a bit now and you can see some of the mat. Blue Cara wasn’t in this either for some reason. An Uso is out and we have 27 left. Orton and Punk fight which sounds like a very boring feud at this point. DiBiase and Kidd are out.

After a break we see Bryan tossed. You can see most of the people still in the match at this poitn. Mason Ryan puts out Hawkins and Reks at almost the same time. Miz and Truth have worked together almost the whole time. There go Drew and Gabriel as well as Ryan to get us down to 19. Of all people, Primo is still in there until Punk kicks his head off. We get some minor eliminations (Santino and Riley) before Swagger manages to dump Kofi. Rider is out too and we have about 13 or so.

Otunga is done and so is the other Uso. Sheamus puts out Jackson and is the only one standing. A big old Brogue Kick eliminates Slater to get us down to ten. Black Cara is powerbombed out as Sheamus has put out like 5 in a row. Christian tries a spear but gets caught in a high cross. That doesn’t work and there goes Captain Charisma. Punk puts out Truth but Miz puts out Punk but Sheamus Brogue Kicks Miz to the apron.

Ok so we’re down to Miz, Barrett, Orton, Christian, Swagger and Mahal. As I typed that Christian put Sheamus out. Punk and Truth are brawling on the floor and Orton puts out Barrett and Swagger. Mahal takes and RKO and is gone but Miz sneaks in and almost puts Orton out. They’re the final two. Orton starts up his finishing sequence but both finishers are countered. They go to the apron and slug it out and Orton is sent into the post. He manages to grab an RKO on the apron and wins at 15:50 shown of 19:20. Orton hit also but Miz clearly hit first.

Rating: C. This was a battle royal with a lot of people in it. I know a a lot of people don’t rate them and I find it very hard to do as well. There wasn’t really anything bad here and nothing was all that great either if that makes sense. It’s just a battle royal for the most part and there isn’t anything else to say.

Orton of course picks Henry.

Del Rio and Rodriguez are leaving but Teddy pops up. They say they’re leaving because Henry is defending tonight. Teddy says not so fast because he has to face Sheamus. Non-title I’d assume.

Beth Phoenix vs. Kelly Kelly

Kelly goes nuts to start but gets caught in a backbreaker out of the screaming headscissors. They’re the Sisters of Salvation now. Tornado DDT gets two as Booker says Kelly makes few mistakes in the ring. No wonder Andy hasn’t done anything yet in WWE. Kelly misses a charge and the Glam Slam ends this clean at 1:51. Remember when no one could beat Kelly? I don’t either.

Sin Cara vs. Justin Gabriel

It’s the blue one but in the back the black one jumps him and takes the mask. The black one takes his mask off and puts the blue one on after saying it’s his. Cole explains the backstory of Cara vs. Cara and while it makes sense, I’m not sure how great of a storyline it’s going to be with blue not being able to speak English. Cara (black in blue’s mask) takes over and dropkicks a jumping Gabriel down for two. Justin goes up again but gets dropped one more time and the Swanton ends this at 1:34.

Air Boom is with Teddy and Evan can’t wrestle due to the powerbomb from Swagger. Vickie comes in and demands a tag title match tonight. Teddy says no and here’s Rider to a big pop. He volunteers to replace Bourne and Vickie calls him the Little Woo Woo Woo Boy. The match is made.

Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio

Sheamus takes over early and hits the ten forearms to the chest. The fans are counting along with him now too. Alberto gets a shot in to the arm and let the psychology begin. The Codebreaker on the arm gets one. Sheamus fires back and I don’t think this is going to be very long. They’re moving way too fast for it to be a short one. There’s the Irish Curse backbreaker and that name is back on now. Sheamus goes up but Ricardo distracts the referee. Here’s Christian to shove Sheamus off the top and a kick to the head ends Sheamus at 3:55.

Rating: C. Not much here but while it lasted it was pretty good. They were in a rush and it hurt things but they were having a coherent match so it balances out pretty well. I think it’s better that they kept this short as these guys don’t seem like they would have had the best match in the world. This wasn’t bad but it was just kind of ok, which is primarily due to how fast they had to work.

Christian spears Sheamus post match. He gets up so Christian spears him again.

Vickie introduces her guys for the next match.

Kofi Kingston/Zack Ryder vs. Dolph Ziggler/Jack Swagger

Ryder’s music now starts with Woo Woo Woo You Know It. Ryder vs. Swagger to start us off. Off to Ziggler who has a bit more luck. So is it Ryan or Rider that is going to be the #1 contender for Ziggy? Kofi gets the hot tag very quickly and he hits a bunch of dropkicks to take over. He loads up Trouble in Paradise but Ziggler rolls to the floor. Why would you roll to the floor with a member of a team called Air Boom in the ring? Kofi hits a dive to both heels as we take a break.

Back with Kofi in trouble thanks to some commercial interference by Vickie. Kofi takes him down eventually and there’s the hot tag to Rider. They’re flying through this match. The Broski Boot gets two on Ziggler. Rider gets a knee to the face but can’t hit the Rough Rider. Off to the sleeper but Rider sends him into the post shoulder first. Swagger breaks up the tag but when the referee is getting him out, Kofi kicks Dolph’s head off and Rider gets another pin at 7:07 shown of 10:37.

Rating: C-. Where is this going? I mean, they’ve been going on with this thing for weeks now and we’re at the same place: the champs or some variation of them never lose to Swagger and Ziggler (fairly that is) and Rider keeps pinning Ziggler. When are we getting somewhere with this? The match wasn’t that great either.

Sheamus tells another Irish story about Christian and it’s something about a bull being bitten by a troll.

Video on Show vs. Henry.

Smackdown World title: Mark Henry vs. Randy Orton

Henry is in trouble early but just shoves Randy away. Orton gets sent into the railing and his shoulder goes into the post. Henry works on the neck and kind of the shoulder so I can’t complain about that. Orton fights back and Henry just runs him over. An elbow gets two and we take a break. Powerslam gets two when we’re back. A splash gets two. This is really boring so far. A Vader Bomb misses and Orton starts his comeback….and here’s Cody for the DQ at 7:05 shown of 10:35.

Rating: D. This felt like the main event of a weak house show. It just wasn’t interesting and it didn’t do anything at all. I really was bored by this and I didn’t see anything at all in it. Orton gets beaten up and then we have the required run in because that’s how house show matches end right? Bad main event.

Show comes out for the save and chokeslams Henry again to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. This is by far the weakest Smackdown I’ve seen in months. I mean NOTHING interesting went down here. There’s a big battle royal and the top face wins it. Then the top face has a house show-style main event against a guy he was feuding with a few weeks ago. I have no idea what we gained on this show so just like with any other big milestone show, this was a disappointment.

Results
Randy Orton won a battle royal last eliminating The Miz
Beth Phoenix b. Kelly Kelly – Glam Slam
Sin Cara b. Justin Gabriel – Swanton Bomb
Alberto Del Rip b. Sheamus – Kick to the head
Kofi Kingston/Zack Rider b. Jack Swagger/Dolph Ziggler – Trouble in Paradise to Ziggler
Randy Orton b. Mark Henry via DQ when Cody Rhodes interfered

Remember to like me on Facebook at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/kbwrestlingreviewscom/117930294974885?sk=wall

Smackdown
Date: October 7, 2011
Location: Mississippi Coast Coliseum, Biloxi, Mississippi
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews, Booker T

This is the first Smackdown after the walk out on Monday so I’m sure we’ll hear about that non-stop. Henry is still world champion so we’re probably looking at Henry vs. Orton III at Vengeance because the Cell is just another match in this feud that probably ends in last man standing or something like that. Anyway we’re in that weird period again where we have to push hard for Vengeance but there is so much from Raw that we need to take care of that first. Let’s get to it.

We open with a long video about the walk out and all that jazz. This eats up like four minutes.

Teddy is in his office (and gets a pop) and is on the phone with HHH. He says he won’t let the Game down. Ryder pops up and Teddy says that he (Teddy) is in charge tonight. Ryder wants to know what’s going on with the walk out and Teddy says it’s none of his business but Raw’s loss is Smackdown’s gain so he has work to do.

Do you know your enemy? Mine is stupid stories that go totally in the face of continuity or character development like Beth, the monster that eliminated Khali from the Rumble a few years ago saying she was just a girl and could get hurt, for the sake of drama.

Big Show is back tonight.

Here’s Vickie to open the show with the disgruntled heels in the ring behind her. Christian takes credit for the whole uprising and the fans chant for HHH. Ziggler says it was a group effort and they were the leaders of the walk out. Barrett is with them too. Otunga says they’ve walked out on HHH and Raw but will be here on Smackdown. Wait….oh never mind.

Anyway if HHH doesn’t quit Monday, they’re leaving house shows and PPVs as well as Smackdown. Barrett says HHH should do the right thing and resign. Cody says he’s part of a united front and now there is hope for change. However they all couldn’t have done it without one (unnamed) man. Swagger says show some respect for Alberto Del Rio. Ok so it was Del Rio’s plan? Here’s the champ and he says he survived the Cell and is champion despite HHH. They’re never going back to Raw until HHH is gone. He’s here tonight to compete.

Cue Teddy who says if these guys keep talking then it’ll be the audience that walks out. The main event is Cody/Christian vs. Sheamus/Orton. Alberto is up next though and has a match against a hand picked opponent (Alberto’s hand that is) and that would be Sin Cara. I’m assuming they mean the blue one because heel vs. heel doesn’t happen.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Sin Cara

Del Rio starts off hot to start and Cara is beaten down quickly with the Mexican hitting a German on the Mexican. It was so good that we saw it on two different replays. Off to a chinlock which Booker says is spectacular. Cara goes up and hits a rana and a tornado DDT as things speed up a bit. Cole blames Lawler for the walk out which is right in a way. And that doesn’t matter as the cross armbreaker ends this in 3:18.

Rating: D+. Not sure what the point of this was as Cara was treated like a total jobber. Don’t get me wrong: he shouldn’t have had a chance in there and shouldn’t have won or anything like that, but I would have expected more than three minutes and change for a guy that had a featured PPV match five days ago. Del Rio looks dominant though and that’s what this was for.

Post match Sin Cara Black comes out to beat up Blue. He works on the arm a lot and hits a Swanton to leave Cara laying.

Cole says he walked out because HHH wasn’t listening to anyone but himself. Booker says he’s neutral and had to go to the bathroom. Little too much information there Book.

Air Boom says it’s probably not HHH’s fault but until HHH steps down, Air Boom won’t be on Raw but they’ll be on the blue show every week. Kofi says it’s due to chaos, but it hasn’t been chaotic at all, at least not more than normal.

Air Boom vs. Jack Swagger/Dolph Ziggler

Air Boom has new music. I guess we’re doing the whole “challengers get beaten time after time but keep getting shots and matches until they win once and can declare themselves better based off that one match” thing. They jump the champs during their entrance and take over early. It’s a big beating in the aisle but I think we’re still going to start the match in a few minutes here.

Bourne takes a Zig Zag on the floor and we take a break. Back and we actually have a bell to start. Bourne is out cold so it’s 2-1 with Kofi starting against Swagger. Evan is sitting up now. Kofi avoids a splash and it’s off to Jack again. Ok make that Dolph. Team Vickie is beating Kofi up pretty well here. A double clothesline puts both guys down. Kofi is still in his t-shirt. Bourne pops up onto the apron and tags himself in but his neck is messed up. Dolph hits a neckbreaker and the gutwrench powerbomb ends this at 3:08.

Rating: C. Not bad here although it was short. The idea here is simple: the heels cheated to win. Why do you need anything more than that at times? The neckbreaker was smart as it played to the injury rather than going with some generic move that doesn’t play to the established injury. Why do so many guys have issues figuring that out? This was fine.

Beth Phoenix vs. Alicia Fox

Glam Slam, pin, 35 seconds.

Post match Nattie puts Alicia in the leg hold and Alicia screams as Beth wants tears. This is kind of disturbing. But can she do that to a chick who is known for spanks and Stinkfaces and has a song about hollering in a club? Apparently not on her own.

Video 9583 on Henry, this one featuring Big Show.

Big Show makes his return and certainly hasn’t lost any weight. He talks about how good it is to be back and praises the fans a bit. We get a clip from MITB which was 4 months ago in WWE time (the show was July 17). Show talks about how he was humbled by Henry which is an image I didn’t need. He’s starting to cry. Henry reached into his chest and tore out his heart. Show couldn’t do little things anymore like putting on his shoes or going upstairs or playing with his dogs. Dude you broke your ankle. You didn’t lose your legs.

The fans chant for him and we actually see them chant. The pain is what fueled the fire in his stomach. He used it to get better and stronger. Henry is going to get the pain and hurt back ten times over. Show says Henry is on a roll, but it’s downhill. At the bottom of that hill is Big Show and all the pain and anger is being loaded up in his fist. He’s going to put that fist onto the side of Henry’s head until Show takes the thing that Henry defines himself by: the World Heavyweight Championship. He’ll settle for nothing less than a one on one match and he wants it RIGHT NOW.

Here’s Henry who says that things have changed since Show was here. The Hall of Pain is getting crowded and now he’s the World Heavyweight Champion. Henry wants to know who Show has beaten recently to earn a shot. They keep saying four months. Can no one in this company ready a calendar or count to three? Henry says he’ll let Show know about when and if Show gets a title shot. Show says Henry has until the end of the night or he’ll break Henry’s ankle and put him through the table. I liked Show here as he kept things simple.

Orton says he doesn’t want to beg for one more match and if he has to go through the entire roster, he’ll do it. As for the walk out, if he had a problem with HHH he’d go take care of it in person. He doesn’t play well with others so Sheamus will have to see how things go tonight in the main event. This was said with a non-evil smile.

Brodus Clay is still coming. As long as he doesn’t run into Johnny Curtis he’ll be fine.

Mahal runs his mouth a bit and is cut off by Big Zeke’s music. He only talked about 4 seconds so it wasn’t anything to see.

Ezekiel Jackson vs. Jinder Mahal

He talks some more and gets shushed and then punched. Jackson overpowers him to start and then runs through him with the slams. Mahal escapes the Rack and fires off with a jumping knee. Jackson shrugs it off and slams him even more before the Rack ends this at 2:06. Just a squash. Did Mahal walk in on Vince practicing Stand Back or something?

Post match Jackson says shhh again.

Johnny Ace comes in to see Teddy and says we’re in uncharted waters. They’re both company men and since HHH isn’t here tonight, Ace is supporting Teddy. If Teddy loses control of Smackdown, the WWE Universe will lose faith and then……well that’s all he says.

Here’s Hornswoggle. He and Booker go into the ring and do Spinaroonis. They get cut off by Christian and it’s already main event time? Wow there’s a ton of time left too.

Christian/Cody Rhodes vs. Sheamus/Randy Orton

They have over 20 minutes for this. Sheamus vs. Christian gets us going but it’s off to Cody very quickly. Cody gets pounded down and we get the forearm smashes in the ropes. The Canadian distracts the Irishman so that the American can hit a Russian for two. The mask Cody wears costs $20,000 according to Cole. Methinks Cody got ripped off. Hot tag to Orton who cleans hour and beats up Christian. Something sounds right about that. Booker: “These guys know each other like a good book and right now Orton is reading him like never before.” Cole: “WHERE DO YOU COME UP WITH THIS STUFF???”

Elevated DDT hits but some Cody distraction lets Christian take over as we go to a break. Back with the heels working over Orton and it’s off to Cody. Oh I forgot we still have Henry’s reply to Big Show so they won’t use the full time. Orton avoids a spear and it’s hot tag to Sheamus. Flying battering ram misses and the Irish Curse is now a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Why do they keep changing the names of moves? Cody escapes the Brogue Kick but an RKO out of nowhere by the illegal man pins him at 6:25 shown of 9:55.

Rating: C. I really wasn’t impressed here but the match was ok. Sheamus keeps looking good and I’m glad he and Orton seem to be sharing the top spot on the show. Good enough for a main event but the shortness of it really hurt things here. This getting more time would have helped it as there wasn’t enough time to build drama or anything like that.

Remember the video about the walk out earlier? Here it is again.

There will be a Raw Monday but we’re not sure who will be there.

Here’s Marky Mark for his reply to Big Show. He talks about how he’s infallible just like Big Show but Show gets no title match. Show comes out and beats down Henry. He beats the champ down and shoves security out of the way. A spear puts Henry down and security gets beaten down again. Henry leaves and holds up the title but for once, someone goes after him while he’s standing there and the fight starts up again.

Henry throws him around (that’s still scary) and sets for the Slam through the table. Show fights back and gets a good chokeslam to put Mark through it. He wraps the chair around Henry’s ankle and (after tossing a huge chair aside with one hand) he pulls the steps over and looks to Pillmanize it but Teddy calls him off, saying Show gets the world title match as long as he doesn’t jump onto the ankle. Show steps down and walks away but then goes back and cracks Henry over the back with the chair. Henry looks mostly dead to end the show.

Overall Rating: C. This was a pretty weak show overall, especially by Smackdown’s normal standards. We have our main event and I really like that it isn’t Orton again. He looks like he’s shifting over to Rhodes which would be a nice breather outside of the main event for him. As far as Henry vs. Show goes, that could be interesting and decent if they keep it short. No more than like 8-9 minutes and it could be watchable, which is the case for most monster battles. Watchable show here, but not great by any means.

Results
Alberto Del Rio b. Sin Cara – Cross Armbreaker
Jack Swagger/Dolph Ziggler b. Air Boom – Gutwrench powerbomb to Bourne
Beth Phoenix b. Alicia Fox – Glam Slam
Ezekiel Jackson b. Jinder Mahal – Torture Rack
Randy Orton/Sheamus b. Christian/Cody Rhodes – RKO to Rhodes

Smackdown
Date: September 30, 2011
Location: Scottrade Center, St. Louis, Missouri
Commentators: Michael Cole, Booker T, Josh Matthews

It’s the go home show for Nigh….oh I’m sorry I seem to have gotten the wrong review. It seems like only a little while ago that it was a go home show and it can’t be another one so soon. Only a bunch of idiots would have two PPVs for 45 bucks with one off week in between them. I mean you would have to be crazy to think that would be a good idea. Since there’s no way this can be another go home show so soon, I’m curious as to what happens. Let’s get to it.

Do you know your enemy? Mine is the Cleveland Indians who can’t win one game to finish .500.

Rhodes vs. Sheamus for the title and Christian vs. Orton 10 later.

Here’s Booker to open the show and he’s going to interview Henry. Booker says he was a fan of Henry since the beginning and that since he’s a 6 time champion, he knows what it takes to get there so congratulations. Henry wants to know if that means Booker thinks he’s six times better than he is. Henry yells a lot and says he could put Booker through that announce table but he’s here for Orton, not Booker.

Night of Champions was about the World Heavyweight Championship. He talks about how at home he has the heads of Lawler, Kane and Big Show mounted on his wall (I guess being future endeavored erases your head from existence) and there’s a special place on the wall for Orton. Booker wants to know why it’s all about the violence and pain. Henry says lower your tone and that for fifteen years he did the good things and took pictures and kissed babies. Now he wants to be dominate.

Booker asks about Sunday (wow they really are that stupid) and if Randy can hit the RKO…but Henry cuts him off saying that won’t happen because it can’t happen. Orton can’t beat him and everyone knows it. Henry is going to beat down Khali tonight like he did on Monday so bring him out right now so we can do it. Henry won’t shake Booker’s hand to end this.

Mark Henry vs. Great Khali

Khali pounds away and Henry is staggered. It’s a heavyweight slugfest and Henry is in trouble. Two chops put Henry down for two and here comes Henry’s comeback. He pounds away and puts Khali down where two splashes only get a two count. I’d have thought that was it. There’s the Slam and we’re done at 2:51. This was a lot more fun than I was expecting but battles of the giants are an old standard and they almost always are worth at least a glance.

Post match Henry Pillmanizes Khali’s leg.

Khali is being taken out on a stretcher and Mahal comes up to yell at him.

Evan Bourne vs. Jack Swagger

Bourne gets the big hometown boy pop. Swagger comes out to Ziggler’s music to annoy me. I’m really liking these guys being on both shows as it lets you keep these stories going. Swagger takes over early as is his custom. Bourne fires off some kicks but Swagger catches a headscissors into a side slam.

Vader Bomb misses and Bourne fires off some offense, including that double knee to the neck thing he does. Ziggler interferes but the powerbomb is countered. Bourne sets for the Shooting Star but Vickie breaks it up and the ankle lock ends this at 2:32. Another fast paced match that sets up the probable tag title match at the PPV.

We get a video on the Sin Cara vs. Sin Cara feud and the match at the PPV is announced.

Sin Cara vs. Heath Slater

Slater has a boring southern rock song as his theme music now. At least it’s supposed to be southern rock. It sounds like bad country. It took me longer to say that than the whole match which ends in 42 seconds with a Swanton Bomb.

The other Sin Cara pops up on screen and takes off his mask to reveal a new black one. He says the other Sin Cara stole his identity as Mistico so now it’s time for him to do the same thing. Cool to hear an actual reason for what’s going on.

Video on HHH and how things are going crazy in the company at the moment. He’s not here tonight.

The group that wants to sue HHH is in the back and there are a lot of them: Team Vickie, Johnny Ace, Rhodes, Christian and Otunga as the lawyer. Otunga has an idea put together that could work. Christian says he’s cool with Otunga doing this. It goes down Monday.

Kelly Kelly vs. Natalya

Well at least Kelly is in the white shorts. No entrance for Nattie. Beth sits in on commentary. Kelly goes off on her to start and hits a Thesz Press off the ropes but Nattie pounds away and hooks a chinlock. A victory roll gets the pin at 1:25. Can we get a match that breaks three minutes?

Post match Beth hits the Glam Slam and Natalya puts her in that freaky submission she used on Monday. Beth talks trash and Kelly screams a lot.

Intercontinental Title: Cody Rhodes vs. Sheamus

This is happening because Christian cost Sheamus the battle royal Monday. Cody says he’s being discriminated against by the WWE, referencing being put in a battle royal after having his head injured by the bell. They slug it out to start and guess who gets the better of that. Sheamus tries his forearms in the ropes but Cody escapes. Sheamus is like ok then and beats Cody down a bit and then hits them the second time.

Cody gets in a mask shot and the Beautiful Disaster for two as we take a break. Back after a video about the Cell and Cody has a hammerlock on. Sheamus fires back but a single arm DDT gets two for the champ. This is a pretty boring match. Sheamus gets sent into the post for two.

Cody keeps working on the arm which is kind of stupid since one of Sheamus’ big moves and the easier of his big moves to hit is a kick. Now Cody goes into the post and Sheamus makes his comeback with power moves and the the shoulder block. Brogue Kick misses but he breaks up the Beautiful Disaster for a close two. He sets for the Celtic Cross but here’s Christian for the DQ at 8:37 shown of 12:07.

Rating: D+. The ending was a little better but man the ten minutes it took to get there were boring. I like both of these guys but this was a very boring match all around. The arm work was really slow and it didn’t add anything to the ending of the match as his arm wasn’t really hurt all that badly (or maybe he’s just bad at selling it) and the match just went on and on. Not horrible, but nothing interesting at all.

Video on HHH’s movie. No one cares.

Zack Ryder vs. JTG

I know I’ve been liking NXT more but I don’t want to see JTG anywhere else! Cole makes fun of JTG who wants to take over the WWE. Ryder is in the Fave Five which is currently at about 28 members. JTG takes over to start and makes fun of Ryder at the same time. Off to a chinlock and Booker has four nicknames for JTG already (and Cole makes fun of them all). Ryder starts his comeback and the Broski Boot gets two. Rough Ryder ends this at 2:56. Just a way to get Ryder on TV as his push continues.

Johnny Ace is texting someone when HHH comes up. HHH wants to know what’s up with the meetings Ace has been having. Ace says he’s behind him but HHH says it’s about trust. Future endeavors are implied.

The same video that we’ve seen a million times on the Cell airs and we run down the card.

Orton says he’s crazy and evil and isn’t afraid of Henry. He doesn’t regret hurting Orton last week.

Randy Orton vs. Christian

Feeling out process to start which is odd since they’ve spent more time with each other this summer than is healthy. A clothesline gets two for Orton but Christian hits a middle rope dropkick to take over. Spinebuster gets two and we take a break. Back with Christian having a neck crank broken so he hits a neckbreaker for two instead. Oh this is Orton’s hometown too. I forgot about that.

Orton comes back for a few seconds but Christian smacks him down (nice touch) again and keeps the advantage. Orton comes back with his usual stuff including that awesome dropkick. WWE developmental can teach a pretty awesome one of those. Orton hits that powerbomb into a neckbreaker which is a favorite of mine and it gets two. In a nice bit of psychology, Christian escapes the DDT and goes to the corner for the sunset flip out of it. Orton jumps for the RKO but Christian fakes him out. Orton counters Christian’s fake out though and gets a fast rollup for two. NICE.

Orton hits his powerslam but Christian misses a cross body. RKO is countered and Christian sets up for the spear. I’m so over the spear that I cant fathom it anymore. It hits this time but it only gets two because Christian is an average sized guy hitting a power move so it doesn’t work as well. Killswitch is countered into the elevated DDT and Orton is all fired up. Christian hits the floor and runs but Orton catches him. He sends the Canadian into the steps and stalks him long enough for the double countout at 10:56 shown of 14:26.

Rating: B-. Not exactly Over the Limit but this is a different kind of match. I did like the incorporation of older stuff into this match as it’s good psychology and stuff you rarely get to see in WWE. The ending hurts it a lot too but these two have very good chemistry together and Christian brings out the best in Orton which is hard to do.

Orton goes after Christian post match and loads up the announce table. Cody comes out to beat down Orton but Sheamus makes the save and chases Christian through the crowd. Here’s Henry and the Slam puts Orton down in just a few seconds. Henry goes to get a chair to Pillmanize him but Orton grabs an RKO out of nowhere to put Henry down and stand tall to end the show. They needed to do that before the PPV.

Overall Rating: B-. Pretty good show here as they had a lot of wrestling on it and a lot of stuff got TV time (take notes TNA). Orton getting in the RKO on Henry is a great thing as they need to give fans a reason to think Orton can beat him. I’m hoping Henry keeps the title but it’s hard to say as WWE might get nervous that a guy is actually over as a heel. Anyway good show, although they needed to add in some new matches for the PPV and they didn’t get much in that area.

Results
Mark Henry b. Great Khali – World’s Strongest Slam
Jack Swagger b. Evan Bourne – Ankle Lock
Sin Cara b. Heath Slater – Swanton Bomb
Kelly Kelly b. Natalya – Victory Roll
Sheamus b. Cody Rhodes via DQ when Christian interfered
Zack Ryder b. JTG – Rough Ryder
Randy Orton vs. Christian went to a double countout

Also like my Facebook page please so I can expand a bit more.  I’d appreciate it.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/kbwrestlingreviewscom/117930294974885?sk=wall

We don’t have much to work with this time as there haven’t been a lot of matches announced.  Here’s what I’ve got for the main events though.I’ll hope Henry gets the win over Orton as it’ll keep him in this roll he’s on.  We haven’t had a true monster heel in forever and a win over Orton is a great way to get him going.  It’ll be a nice touch as faces control the title way too often.

Cena probably retains but I have very little confidence there.  Punk or Del Rio would be the best choice but I see very little reason for this to be in the cage.  A regular match would be fine and the Cell being 2 weeks after NOC isn’t going to pop buyrates like they think.

Also Beth to get the title, Air Boom to keep the tag titles (assuming it happens) and Christian to steal a win over Sheamus.

Your picks?

Smackdown
Date: September 23, 2011
Location: Wright State University Nutter Center, Dayton, Ohio
Commentators: Michael Cole, Booker T, Josh Matthews

We’re in the Mark Henry Era here on Smackdown which is still weird to hear. It’s 9 days before Hell in a Cell which is still stupid to hear as we’re five days past the previous PPV. Orton has already said he’s cashing in his rematch in the Cell which is a stretch but it’s the only match they have given the circumstances. There isn’t much else to say about this show so let’s get to it.

Do you know your enemy? Mine is rain when you’re supposed to be having a vacation.

We open with everyone at ringside and Johnny Ace in the ring, drawing a lot of boos. HHH isn’t here tonight so he’s brought out everyone to talk about the issues HHH has caused. He mentions the firings and says that he’s changed his mind and HHH hasn’t lost control. On Monday he saw determination in HHH’s eyes so everything is cool. HHH will be here later.

Ace brings out Henry. Henry says it took him 15 years to win the title and he’s not going to lose it for 15 more years. He calls out various people for not believing in him and here’s HHH. Nice to see that they let Ace have a full assembly since HHH was five minutes late. Henry won’t shake HHH’s hand. Well to be fair he has the mic in one hand and the belt in the other. He does hand the boss the mic though.

Before the Game can say anything, here’s Christian to interrupt. I guess he brought his own mic. He sucks up to HHH and says he appreciates how Smackdown has been treated. Christian talks about how he’s more marketable than Henry. He asks if you can picture Henry’s face on a box of cereal. I’d eat that. Christian asks for one more match and says you know who is going to choke in his match.

HHH talks about how he’s in charge in a scary calm voice. Later on tonight there’s going to be a lumberjack match with Christian vs. You Know Who (Voldermort?), presumably for the title with the winner facing Orton at Hell in a Cell. Shouldn’t that be the other way around? Why does the champion have to qualify for the title match at the PPV? HHH leaves and Henry gets in Christian’s face, sending the Canadian scampering.

Sheamus vs. Heath Slater

Cole calls it Ronald McDonald vs. the girl from Wendy’s. My money is on the Burger King in a run-in. Sheamus pounds him down and hits those forearms to the chest in the ropes to a nice reaction. Slater fires back with a neckbreaker for two and pounds away a bit. He slaps Sheamus in the back of the head and I’ll give you two guesses as to what happens next. Powerslam, top rope shoulder, Brogue Kick, 4:32.

Rating: C. Just a squash here but Slater’s selling made up for some of the boring factors of it. Sheamus might be the next challenger for Henry which could be interesting as the big brawls they have haven’t had a clean winner either time so it might be worth watching. Slater is officially a jobber to the stars and that’s what he’s best at.

Christian tries to get Khali’s help in the title match later. After a big rant about how Khali would want to face a small person, Khali’s response is “you are small.”

Wade Barrett vs. Justin Gabriel

Booker calls Barrett a British nobleman and a former bare knuckle pugilist. Barrett beats Gabriel down quickly and the fans are almost silent. Gabriel avoids and shot and we head to the floor with Gabriel hitting a pretty sweet front flip dive over the top to take out Barrett. The kicks take Barrett down but he breaks up the 450 and Wasteland ends this at 2:32. That wasn’t quite a squash but it was a pretty quick pin for Barrett.

Orton vs. Rhodes tonight….again.

Orton says he doesn’t want to comment about Rhodes. He talks about where he’s in 9 days and when he comes back, he’ll have the World Heavyweight Championship.

Video on how evil the Cell is.

Christian tries to recruit Big Zeke and insults him. Just like with Khali, Christian leaves thinking he has a partner.

Natalya/Beth Phoenix vs. AJ/Kaitlyn

I forgot how good looking Kaitlyn can be. She starts with Nattie and this goes badly for Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn gets in a shot to Beth and brings in AJ who does a bit better. Shining Wizard gets two and everything breaks down. Beth is against someone not named Kelly though so the Glam Slam ends this at 2:04. More or less just a squash.

Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton

Cody is sent to the floor quickly by a fired up Orton. Orton has a bad left knee but because he’s intelligent, he doesn’t tape it up. Cody goes after it anyway so it wasn’t successful but he tried at least. The knee goes around the post and Rhodes unhooks a buckle. Using the distraction Cody gets in a shot to the head with the mask for two. Orton clocks him with the mask at 3:28 for a DQ, even though it’s been established that the mask is legal.

Rating: C-. Not much to say here as the whole point was for the beatdown that’s coming post match but probably will be edited out. More on that in a minute. The psychology here at least made sense as Rhodes went after the injured body part. It sounds simple but how many people just don’t get that idea? Anyway this was too short to mean much but it wasn’t bad while it lasted.

Post match Orton goes crazy and beats down Cody with his usual stuff. Now what you won’t see is the ending of this beating. Orton pounded away on Cody with the mask and whatever else he could find. He hit Rhodes with the bell, and this was the result:

http://i52.tinypic.com/2mnorj9.jpg

From a friend that was at the show, that was hardway and the announce table was covered in blood.

Christian offers Sheamus a potato because he’s Irish. It’s a peace offering for Sheamus to help him later in the show. Christian offers him the first shot and Sheamus says Christian can count on him. Christian leaves and Sheamus bites into the potato and spits it out, saying it’s from Idaho and not Ireland.

Great Khali vs. Jinder Mahal

Khali has the happy music back and gets a decent pop on his entrance. Mahal says lay down and Khali shakes his head no. The Plunge doesn’t work and Mahal gets a DDT to take over. Khali fights back with clotheslines and the Plunge ends this at 2:05. This wasn’t much.

Sin Cara vs. Daniel Bryan

This one has blonde hair so he’s the real one. When they’re near each other, the easiest way to tell is the fake one is taller. They shake hands so it’s pretty clear that he’s a good guy. We talk about how Bryan has fallen off a bit since winning MITB. He grabs a surfboard but Cara makes the rope. An enziguri puts Bryan down and Booker talks about how Cara has black marks on his boots. Josh says Booker said the same thing about the other one last week so Booker is a little confused.

Cara tries a Tajiri elbow and it looks like it’s edited for a botch. Out to the floor with Cara hitting a rana off the apron to send Bryan into the steps. Back in and Cara goes up but is shoved off by…Sin Cara. The impostor kicks Bryan in the head and hits a bit Swanton Bomb for the pin at 3:00. That one had more torque on it than any one Jeff Hardy has done in years.

Rating: C+. The match wasn’t anything great but some of Cara’s high spots were cool, especially the swanton which was really cool looking. I’m still not sure where Bryan is supposed to go after all this but maybe a heel turn or something is coming up for him. I don’t think he’s holding the case until Mania but it’s a nice thing for a possibility.

Christian knocks on Orton’s door and Ryder comes out. The Canadian tries to recruit Ryder but he says it would be a conflict of interest. Ryder’s phone rings and it’s Hugh Jackman. Orton is in on…something. Christian leaves without knocking again.

Air Boom vs. Usos

Bourne starts with Jey (he has the chest tattoo) but it’s off to Jimmy who hits a spinning Rock Bottom for two. Booker talks about being in Harlem Heat and Bourne gets beaten down as is his custom. Kofi gets the hot tag and hits the top rope chop but Jimmy sends him into the corner. The cross body hits and it’s Trouble in Paradise time. Jey breaks it up, letting Jimmy hit a superkick to put Kofi down. Trouble in Paradise sets up Air Bourne for the pin at 3:30.

Rating: C+. It’s hard to argue with a pair of high fliers against some Samoans. That’s old school style and it worked fine here. Air Boom is getting some traction and I’m hoping they have a lengthy reign with them. I like the speed teams like them and as odd as it sounds, having a name has helped them a lot. Fun little match and I still don’t get how Kofi can jump that high.

Raw ReBound eats up about three minutes and it’s only about Ryder/Jackman/Ziggler.

Smackdown World Title: Christian vs. Mark Henry

This is a lumberjack match for no apparent reason. At least two of the NXT rookies are at ringside plus Watson. Make that all three of them are there. Henry looks sad during Big Match Intros. The bell rings after a break and Christian wants to run but doesn’t want to run at O’Neil, Kingston and Bryan. Christian can’t do anything with Henry so Mark throws him to the floor. Big Zeke says for everyone to stay back then knees Christian in the ribs.

Henry throws Christian into the air like on a backdrop but lets Christian crash down. Off to the nerve hold and then a bear hug. Christian pounds away with all of the offense he can get in, culminating in a middle rope dropkick to put Henry down. He shoves Christian off with ease and Christian is scared. Killswitch is broken up and Christian tries the sunset flip out of the corner but Henry drops down, only to hit mat. They head to the floor and Henry shoves all the faces around when they jump on him. Christian tries to run but Sheamus pops up to throw him back in for the World’s Strongest Slam to end things at 6:19.

Rating: C+. I know I’ve used that grade a lot tonight but this was the kind of win Henry needed: Christian isn’t losing anything here and Henry looks dominant going into the Cell with his first successful title defense. I have no idea what the point of the lumberjacks were here and Sheamus tossing him back in could have worked fine in a regular match. Good logic here though.

Post match Orton comes out to fight Henry and dropkicks him to the floor to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. With eight matches on a show and nothing being bad plus almost everything having a purpose, it’s hard to say this wasn’t at least a good show. It’s not a great show or anything but for a period where almost everything is a transitional show towards the HIAC PPV, that’s all you can do really. This was a good show, but having two weeks to set up a PPV is way too short, especially with not a ton of time to set up the last one.

Results
Sheamus b. Heath Slater – Brogue Kick
Wade Barrett b. Justin Gabriel – Wasteland
Beth Phoenix/Natalya b. AJ/Kaitlyn – Glam Slam to AJ
Cody Rhodes b. Randy Orton via DQ when Orton hit Rhodes with the mask
Great Khali b. Jinder Mahal – Punjabi Plunge
Sin Cara b. Daniel Bryan – Swanton Bomb
Air Boom b. The Usos – Air Bourne to Jey
Mark Henry b. Christian – World’s Strongest Slam

Smackdown
Date: September 16, 2011
Location: Air Canada Center, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jim Ross, Booker T

It’s the final show before Night of Champions and other than the IC Title I think we’re all set for Sunday. I haven’t heard anything announced for tonight but it almost has to be better than Raw was. Orton vs. Henry will get pushed even more and to their credit I’m kind of interested in seeing how that match plays out, which is something I never would have bet on when it was announced. Let’s get to it.

We open with the return of Edge who gets the monster hometown boy pop. He’s here tonight to host the Cutting Edge with Henry and Orton. Edge talks about missing coming through the curtain and it feels good to be back. It feels better to be back here in his hometown of Smackdown. He misses being in the ring and competing and being in the back with his friends however more than anything he misses the fans.

Edge talks about having the Cutting Edge tonight and he won’t pull any punches. That’s later though. Right now….and here’s Cody to cut him off. Cody says Edge is probably here to talk about Haven which airs tonight on SyFy after Smackdown (Cody’s plug, not mine) but since Edge didn’t do that, it sounds like he’s sucking up to the people. He suggests the fans all need paper bags.

Edge says maybe it’s Cody that needs a bag instead of the people. Maybe it’s Cody that is ugly and disfigured. Cody says the last time he saw Edge he was walking out of Mania as world champion but Cody has become IC Champion since then and has gotten rid of DiBiase. Also he beat Orton on Monday. Cody pulls out a bag for Edge and says to take it home and put it in his office because it’s a reminder that Cody is the new face of Smackdown. Edge hands it back, saying Cody needs it more.

Cody says that makes no sense. Edge says no it doesn’t and neither does the idea that Dusty fathered him. That’s rather true. Edge goes to leave but Cody screams to have the music cut off. Cody FREAKS, shouting about how he’s better than the crowd and he’s going to give the crowd paper bags. “You need a bag. You need a bag. You need two bags.” Then a fan with a bag punches him and takes his bag off to reveal Ted DiBiase. Ted beats him up and beats down the baggers as well. Ted’s music plays as Cody leaves. I guess that’s the IC Title match. Good intensity from Ted.

Sin Cara vs. Daniel Bryan

This is the rematch from a few weeks ago where Cara beat down Bryan post match. Bryan says Cara can be all aggressive tonight and he’ll be fine with it. Bryan charges straight at him with a flying knee and Cara is in trouble early. He tries another charge though and Cara gets a shot in to block the suicide dive. Cara sends him to the floor and Bryan is holding a lot of parts in pain.

After a break we have Cara holding a leg lock on Bryan. A flying headbutt to a standing Bryan gets two. Booker: “You can see the anger in Cara’s eyes.” Cole: “HE’S IN A MASK!” Cole 1, Booker 0. Cara tries another dive but jumps into a knee and here comes Danny. Big kick gets two. They go to the corner and Cara gets him in the tree of woe where he stomps away. I mean he stomps a lot. He stomps so much that it’s a DQ at 5:00 shown of 8:30.

Rating: C. Not their best but this was still pretty good. The idea was that Cara was out to injure him instead of being a competitor which is a good change in his heel turn. Bryan at least has something to do but I’d like him to move on to a feud with someone a bit higher up on the card. Maybe that’s coming though.

Cara keeps up the beating until….Sin Cara comes down for the save. There are two Sin Caras and one leaves, I think the imposter.

Ryder doesn’t think Henry can stand next to Orton without attacking him. Teddy implements another no contact order for the Cutting Edge. Ryder has to go tell them. He leaves and Aksana comes in. She gives Teddy a massage, involving him bending over and saying how good it feels. Trish comes in and says she’s been there before. And that’s it.

AJ vs. Beth Phoenix

Total squash, Glam Slam ends it in 1:15. There’s nothing else to say here. Beth says the time is ticking on Kelly.

Video on Sheamus who is Irish and awesome. This is set to a song which says Too Many Lies but in a slower/more rock style.

Edge and Trish are having a chat about MMA/yoga gloves or something like that. Christian comes up to make it a more Canadian party. Christian has been calling him a lot and Captain Charisma says Edge might have cost him the title. They hug and everything seems cool. He asks Edge to put in a good word with Teddy to get one more match for the title and Edge is like dude, seriously? Edge says Christian is whining again and Christian storms off. Ryder pops up and tells Edge to pass along the messages to Orton and Henry.

Wade Barrett/Christian vs. Justin Gabriel/Sheamus

Barrett has the coat again. Sheamus has new music which is a rockier song. Wait maybe he doesn’t. It sounds different at the beginning but maybe I’m crazy. Sheamus runs them both down pre match with his now usual Irish folk stuff. The former Nexus guys get us going. We talk about Gabriel going bungee jumping as he speeds things up. He tries a springboard move but jumps into a Bossman Slam (Booker: “Big Bubba Rogers!”).

Off to Christian who pounds away on Gabriel and gets a small package and clothesline for two each. Back to Barrett while Cole makes fun of Booker for being a boxing fan. Booker is going to be getting his own WWE.com show soon. Gabriel fires off the kicks but Barreett powers him down again. Sheamus hasn’t been in yet. Christian whips Gabriel back into the heel corner as we take a break.

Back with Gabriel getting beaten down again but grabs an STO on Christian. A double tag brings in Barrett and Sheamus to a big reaction. The Great White (again their terms and not mine) goes up but Christian grabs his foot. That doesn’t work long either as Barrett takes the big shoulder. Christian escapes the Celtic Cross and a Brogue Kick takes Barrett down so that the 450 can end him at 7:05 shown of 10:35.

Rating: C+. This was fine and a nice way to make Sheamus look dominant while not having him really get his hands on Christian yet. That seems like a smaller version of when HHH kept trying to Pedigree Stephanie or when 911 kept wanting to chokeslam Fonzie for you ECW fans out there. Granted it’ll be a much smaller scale.

Sheamus calls Christian into the ring but he bails. Sheamus’ music is the same here so I guess I was hearing things earlier.

Great Khali vs. Heath Slater

I’m really not seeing the One Man Southern Rock Band going anywhere. Much like the Divas earlier, what are you expecting here? Mahal comes out partway through it and speaks whatever language that is and then comes in for the DQ at 1:12.

Khali fights them off but can’t hit the Plunge on Mahal. He beats up Slater instead.

Raw recap eats up about 4-5 minutes.

Evan Bourne vs. R-Truth

Miz and Truth freestyle on the way to the ring. Ok Truth does and Miz shouts YOU SUCK at the right times. They start fast with Truth beating Bourne down pretty easily. Kofi and Miz are on commentary here. Miz makes fun of Kofi wearing a t-shirt and jeans. Kofi gets a good comeback with “You see this championship title right here? Because of this, this is how a champion dresses.” That’s something that needs to be done more often: talk about how the title means you’re the best.

Bourne fires off some kicks and a low hurricanrana which drives Truth’s head into the mat. He sets for Air Bourne but lands on his feet. Truth kicks the leg and hits that jumping downward spiral for the pin at 1:54. That’s a pretty definitive loss for a champion two days before a title match but it makes the challengers look like a real threat. I’ve heard that move is called What’s Up so we’ll go with that.

Time for the Cutting Edge and Edge doesn’t even get a full entrance? Whatsupwitdat? Edge talks about how important Toronto is to him and how he was at Mania 6 and how he won his first title in WWE here in Toronto also. The guests are Henry and Orton so here they are. Remember that while the Cutting Edge is on, there’s no contact allowed or the match is off.

Edge says that’s probably a good thing for Orton to be honest because Henry has been running through people. He asks Orton if Orton believes he can beat Orton. Orton brings up a good point in that Henry has never attacked him when he’s fresh and maybe that’s because Henry knows his best isn’t good enough. Randy doesn’t think he can beat Henry. He knows he can.

Edge says that’s the truth and brings up that Henry has never won a world title and doesn’t know how that’s possible. Getting to a world title means reaching a new level and Edge isn’t sure if Mark can reach that level. Henry says the only reason he’s letting Edge walk out is because Edge is right. He’s seen smaller guys, such as Edge, win countless titles. I thought 30 was a very countable number but that’s just me.

Henry is done smiling and showing personality and is here to take what Orton has. Orton says the match Sunday will sum up Henry’s career: he’ll look good but he’ll be the world’s strongest failure. They stare it down but Edge says to remember the no contact rule. He leaves and Edge says the Cutting Edge is now over.

Orton jumps Henry and gets him down to one knee but Teddy sends out the locker room to break it up. Henry gets in some shots and both guys break free of the others at one point. Orton fights them off (they’re holding him, not attacking him) but runs into the World’s Strongest Slam. Henry adds a splash and make it a pair. He stands tall to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. This grade is going to fluctuate considering how you look at the show. If you looked at it as a regular show, it was pretty weak. If you looked at it as a go home show, this was pretty solid stuff. I really want to see Orton vs. Henry now because while I have a hunch who will win, I’m really not sure and it could go either way.

On the Raw side, I flat out do not care about Cena vs. Del Rio because they haven’t given me a reason to care. Beth looked dominant, the tag champions are in trouble and I think it’s pretty safe to assume Ted gets the IC Title shot. That’s a pretty good use of two hours so I’ll call this a solid go home show.

Results
Daniel Bryan b. Sin Cara via DQ when Cara wouldn’t let Bryan out of the corner
Beth Phoenix b. AJ – Glam Slam
Sheamus/Justin Gabriel b. Christian/Wade Barrett – 450 to Barrett
Great Khali b. Heath Slater via DQ when Jinder Mahal interfered
R-Truth b. Evan Bourne – What’s Up