Smackdown
Date: April 12, 2013
Location: TD Banknorth Garden Arena, Boston, Massachusetts
Commentators: Josh Matthews, John Bradshaw Layfield, Michael Cole

It’s the first show after Wrestlemania but more importantly it’s the first show after Raw where Dolph Ziggler FINALLY cashed in the MITB case and won the world title from Del Rio. Therefore tonight is likely going to be dealing with the fallout from both that and Wrestlemania, which includes an appearance from HHH. Also, given the insanity of the crowd last Monday on Raw, it should be interesting to see how the crowd to night reacts to the show. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is like a movie trailer with the focus on HHH returning to Smackdown to discuss the match with Lesnar at Wrestlemania. We’ll also be talking about Ziggler cashing in the briefcase for the title of course.

Big E. Langston (with no music) opens the show by introducing us to the new World Heavyweight Champion, Dolph Ziggler. Langston can hold a note about as well as Ricardo can. Dolph talks about how he’s the most physically gifted athlete anyone has ever seen and that’s an understatement. He’s been called the future and this championship proves that the future is now. Dolph heard 80,000 people at Wrestlemania cheering his name in a match he wasn’t even in. His voice sounds really hoarse here. He didn’t win the title because of the fans but rather in spite of them.

Cue Swagger and Colter with the latter congratulating Ziggler for being born in Ohio and living in Florida. However, since Swagger is the one who did the damage to Alberto which allowed Del Rio to take the title. Dolph points out the obvious: Swagger blew his chance at the title at Wrestlemania so go to the back of the line. Jack goes to the ring, looks at Langston, and steps down. Colter says Swagger deserves a title shot and they go to leave, but Dolph cuts the music and keeps talking about how awesome he is.

This brings out Del Rio with a bad limp so Dolph invites him to the ring for his rematch right now. Alberto instead congratulates Ziggler on winning the title because he did the same thing in 2011. When his ankle heals and he gets his rematch, he’ll be getting the title back but until then, hasta la vista baby. Ziggler once again says cut the music because this is STILL his interview time. He’s tired of being interrupted so the next person who comes out here will find out why he’s the best in the world.

Cue Jericho to a big ovation with a big grin on his face. He asks Dolph to shut up because apparently Ziggler is crazy. Oh wait it’s AJ that’s crazy, which sends her into a bit of a fit. Jericho says he’s the original showoff and says that he just came from Booker T’s office. He talks about the Jerichoholics and the Dolphins (apparently Ziggler’s fans) getting to see Ziggler’s first match as champion against Y2J himself.

HELL NO vs. Prime Time Players

Non-title of course. Titus and Kane get things going with O’Neil taking him into the corner for an early advantage. Kane slugs him down and hits the top rope clothesline to take over. Young comes in but runs into the kicks of Bryan as everything breaks down. The NO Lock ends Titus at 1:39.

Shield pops up on screen and congratulates the champions on another win. Ambrose says they didn’t back down on Raw but rather weren’t ready to strike. Believe in the Shield.

Santino Marella vs. Wade Barrett

Another non-title match. Barrett runs him over with a shoulder so Santino tries to nip up, only to crash down to the mat instead of landing on his feet. Barrett kicks him in the ribs and Marella fails another nip up. Off to a chinlock by Barrett followed by a good looking Winds of Change for two. Barrett loads up the Bull Hammer but Santino finally nips up and hits his usual finishing sequence, only to get kicked in the face when he tries the Cobra. Bull Hammer ends this at 2:24.

We look at the Wrestlemania Week video from Raw.

Sheamus comes in to see Booker and is mad about everything Booker did on Raw. They get in an argument when Orton pops in. He wants to know why they were put together in a match but Teddy says calm down and don’t yell at him. Booker makes Orton/Sheamus vs. Big Show in a handicap match.

Funkadactyls/Kaitlyn vs. Tamina Snuka/Bella Twins

Kaitlyn and Tamina start things off and Kaitlyn spears down both Tamina and I think Brie within the first thirty seconds. Off to Naomi for a cross body on Nikki and a mostly botched headscissors. The Rear View slows Nikki down but Brie trips Naomi off the top. Everything breaks down and Nikki slams the back of Naomi’s head onto the mat for the pin at 1:30.

Here’s HHH for his first speech since beating Lesnar. He’s in sunglasses here and says he told us he’d be back. HHH had told Lesnar they weren’t going to fight but rather to war….and here’s 3MB. Slater tells HHH to shut up because 3MB wants to get noticed, so they’re here to jump on HHH. Before they can get in the ring here’s Shield of all people. They pull 3MB off the apron and destroy the Band before starting to swarm HHH themselves. Before they can do anything though, here’s HELL NO for the save. No contact made just like on Raw.

Big Show comes in to yell at Teddy and Booker so Teddy ducks out. Show accuses Booker of being biased against him and threatens to walk out because he doesn’t have to do what Booker says. Booker says go ahead and walk if you want, because Booker is tired of hearing about this contract.

Randy Orton/Sheamus vs. Big Show

Orton’s ribs are taped up. During the entrances we get a video on Sheamus vs. Orton from Raw which edits out all of the chants. Orton and Sheamus have an argument about who starts the match until it’s finally Orton. Randy pounds away in the corner to start but walks into a side slam to change momentum.

Show stands on Orton’s ribs and slams him down for good measure, only to miss a middle rope elbow. The hot tag brings in Sheamus to take Show down with some ax handles to the head. Show comes right back with a spear and a right hand to Orton’s ribs. Orton comes back out of nowhere with an RKO and the Brogue Kick puts Show on the floor for the countout at 4:02.

Rating: D+. This is the first match of the night that I can rate and that’s the best they can do? This was more about story development than the match, even though I’m not sure what this exactly advances. Orton vs. Sheamus would be an interesting feud and the winner would likely be the next challenger to Ziggler, assuming Orton doesn’t turn heel in the process.

Sheamus and Orton are in the back after a break and seem to be fine. Orton goes to get his ribs looked at while Sheamus says that he doesn’t mind that it took two people to get revenge on Big Show. He says size doesn’t matter in the WWE, so here’s Mark Henry to run him over and say yeah it does matter. So much for Orton vs. Sheamus I guess.

Antonio Cesaro vs. Kofi Kingston

Non-title yet again. Cesaro overpowers him to start and fires off some forearms, only to get caught in a sunset flip for two. Cesaro hits the gutwrench suplex and the Yodeling Uppercut in the corner for two of his own. Off to a quick reverse chinlock but Kofi fights up and hits some fast chops to take over. Antonio throws Kofi into the air for the European Uppercut to change momentum again but Kofi hits the pendulum kick in the corner. A top rope cross body is caught in a powerslam, only for Kofi to slip down the back and hit Trouble in Paradise for the pin at 3:05. Antonio looked sleepy instead of out cold.

Rating: C-. Wrestlemania has passed, Kofi is still Kofi and Cesaro is still Cesaro. I wouldn’t care for Kingston being champion again as he’s been down that road about five times before, but at least it would protect the title a bit better than Cesaro has been able to do. When did he last get a pin anyway?

We see the end of Raw with Ryback turning on Cena. I’m still not sure if that was a heel turn or not. The video seems to treat it like one.

We hear about Rock being badly injured in the main event of Wrestlemania.

Fandango comes out for the main event. Some fans sing the song but it’s nowhere near Monday.

Chris Jericho vs. Dolph Ziggler

It’s non-title again. Ziggler wears the belt backwards for a bit for his entrance and even JBL thinks that’s disrespectful. Jericho hiptosses him down to start and the fans start singing Fandango’s song. Ziggler sends Jericho into the corner and pounds away before charging into a boot from Jericho. Chris chokes away on the ropes but has to chase AJ off, allowing Dolph to hit a Fameasser for two.

We take a break and come back with Ziggler driving an elbow into Jericho’s face. A neckbreaker gets two for the champion and we hit the chinlock. Jericho fights up and hits some shoulder blocks followed by a top rope shot to the head. Ziggler comes right back with a jumping DDT for two and both guys are down. Chris is up first and takes out Langston before getting two off a top rope cross body.

Dolph comes back with a great dropkick for two but the Zig Zag is blocked. The Walls don’t work either but Jericho bulldogs Dolph down and gets two off the Lionsault. Fandango gets on the apron but gets caught by the springboard dropkick. Jericho blocks another Fameasser attempt but is sent into Langston who blasts him a rollup by Dolph for the pin at 7:37 shown of 11:07.

Rating: B-. This was about what you would expect from Jericho vs. Ziggler. Dolph getting a win, even by interference, is fine as he had to get a win after winning the title on Monday. It doesn’t erase nearly a year of being destroyed by everyone in sight but you have to start somewhere I guess. Anyway, fine match for Ziggler to debut with as champion.

Post match Jericho goes after Dolph but Langston lays him out.

Fandango hits the top rope legdrop on the back of Jericho’s neck and poss to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. This was ok, although I’m torn on the ending. Yeah Ziggler is the new world champion, but this Fandango thing has actual mainstream status at the moment. It’s not going to last long though, so I’d find some way to strike while they can. At the same time it would be nice to see Dolph get the spotlight, but he did win and he won because of his enforcer and not Fandango, so at least he’s got that. The crowd wasn’t as interesting tonight but the show was better overall, so Smackdown is ahead of raw after Wrestlemania so far.

Results

HELL NO b. Prime Time Players – NO Lock to O’Neal

Wade Barrett b. Santino Marella – Bull Hammer

Tamina Snuka/Bella Twins b. Funkadactyls/Kaitlyn – Mat slam to Naomi

Sheamus/Randy Orton b. Big Show via countout

Kofi Kingston b. Antonio Cesaro – Trouble in Paradise

Dolph Ziggler b. Chris Jericho – Rollup

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This could go more than one way.First and foremost this is one of the matches that depends on where it is on the card.  If it’s late in the show, I can’t imagine we don’t see new champions.  If it’s earlier on in the show, I think the champions retain and Ziggler walks out with a title later on in the form of the Smackdown big gold belt.  This is also interesting because it’s the in ring debut of Langston, who has had some very entertaining matches down in NXT.  I’m not sure if we’re going to see the fun Langston or another generic power guy, but either way it should be fun.

Now the main idea here is that one way or another, we need new tag champions.  Kane and Bryan have held the belts for like six months now and it’s WAY past the point where they should have dropped them.  The champions aren’t funny anymore, they’re not really fighting, their matches are nothing special, and the joke is way past over.  I don’t see why we’re sitting around watching them anymore when they’re not doing anything of note and haven’t been for months now.  If Langston and Ziggler don’t take the gold from them, hopefully someone does so soon.

As for the match, I’ll go with the unlikely idea of new champions.  It’s pure instinct which is rarely right but I can’t go with the champions retaining again after all these months.  Ziggler has been on a very small roll so maybe they’ll FINALLY give him something instead of just having him hold up a dented briefcase for nine months and hoping we think that means something.  Then again there isn’t much to the tag titles so it doesn’t fix anything, but in WWE’s eyes the gold is enough to make you mean whatever they want you to mean.  The titles change here methinks.

 

Oh and I’ve heard rumors of making this a six person tag with AJ and Kaitlyn being added to make it winner takes all titles.  If that’s the case, I’d bet on the heels taking the belts even more.  AJ is a good five months past being the best option for the title, but at least she would be better (and look better) than Kaitlyn.

Kind of at least.Ziggler won a Beat the Clock challenge tonight but since he made out with AJ in front of Vickie, he has to pick either #1 or #2.  Odds are he’ll be in there either about two minutes or close to forty five.

Monday Night Raw
Date: December 26, 2011
Location: Allstate Arena, Chicago, Illinois
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler

After last week’s solid show, we close out the year with this one. There are still five weeks before the Rumble so they could easily burn another show here and things would still be fine. It should be interesting to see where they go here because there really aren’t any matches set up for the PPV, other than maybe Ziggler vs. Ryder II. Other than that there isn’t anything really clear. Let’s get to it.

Here’s Punk….and never mind as it’s Ace coming out to his music and in a Punk shirt. He says it’s a microcosm of the unpredictability that you’ve gotten under his leadership. The future begins tonight and here’s Punk. After a loud chant for him, he says that if he didn’t know any better, Ace is trying to antagonize him. Why shouldn’t Punk just kick him in the face right now? Ace says he can’t because he’ll get fired.

Tonight, Punk has the night off. Oh and he’s kidding again. Tonight Punk is wrestling up to three times in a gauntlet match. If any of them beats him, that person gets a title shot next week. Punk wants to know what happens if he wins all three matches. Ace doesn’t know, so Punk suggests he gets a shot at Ace if he does. Ace eventually agrees. Punk’s posing is cut off by the latest video. It says he is coming and that he’ll reclaim what is his. The words this time are The End Begins Next Monday.

Booker T vs. Cody Rhodes

Non-title here. Cole and Jerry has an actual lighthearted argument over who sang Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Hiptoss gives Booker an early advantage and a slam gets two. Snap suplex gets one. Axe kick misses though and Rhodes takes over with a neckbreaker. Out to the floor goes Booker and we take a break. Back with Booker taking over. He spins into the corner though and an elbow takes him down. Off to a crossface chickenwing

Clothesline gets two for Cody. The fans of course chant for Booker and Cody is getting frustrated. Booker fights back and it’s boo/yay tonight. Cody dropkicks him down and works the arm. Camel clutch goes on and Booker gets sent into the corner. He gets his feet up though and looks like he needs oxygen. Side slam gets two. The Jack Brisco sunset flip doesn’t look that good as it gets two. Rollup gets two for Cody. The Beautiful Disaster looks to have been short and it gets two. Cross Rhodes is countered but the side kick misses. The axe kick hits though and it gets the clean pin at 12:06.

Rating: C. The sloppiness hurt it and I’m not sure I like the idea of Cody losing clean. Booker looked kind of old here, but it’s what, his fourth match this year? Not bad and I guess the rematch is coming at the Rumble? Also the booking isn’t bad as he lost when he got beaten down before the match but wins when it’s even. That’s not as bad.

Ryder tells Cena that he owes Cena for everything. Cena says no, you don’t. Everything was Ryder getting here on his own. Cena is going a-Kane hunting though.

Jerry got a note saying that we’ll learn the three opponents for Ace soon. Oh ok he’s going to announce them. The three opponents are Jack Swagger, Dolph Ziggler and Mark Henry.

Kelly has some weird flirting moment with Show when a referee says he’s needed elsewhere.

Ace says Brodus is debuting next week on Raw. Show comes in and Ace talks about Otunga jumping him last week. Otunga says that’s a lawsuit and Show says he can beat Otunga with an arm behind his back.

Swagger and Ziggler trade insults when Vickie comes in and says it doesn’t matter who gets the show. Henry comes in and says excuse me. Ok then.

Eve Torres/Zack Ryder vs. Tyson Kidd/Natalya

….seriously? This is kind of a step down for Ryder isn’t it? Eh well he was getting over and he wasn’t in the original WWE plans so you know they’re not going to be happy with it. Cole says that July 23rd will be the 1000th episode of Raw. Oh my that could be BAD. The guys start and nothing happens so it’s off to the chicks. Eve does her dancing moonsault and it’s back to the guys. We get stereo Broski Boots and the Rough Ryder ends this at 3:00. No idea why Ryder was in this.

Here’s Cena who isn’t well received by the fans. He acknowledges that the fans aren’t happy with him and there’s a Cena Sucks chant. Cena talks about how there’s magic in this building in the form of three Wrestlemanias. Chicago inducted Eddie Guerrero into the Hall of Fame, which draws an Eddie chant. Also, right here in this building, CM Punk beat him for the WWE Championship.

New York is considered the capital of the WWE, but after seeing another show like this here in Chicago, he’s not sure about that. Cena has somehow gotten the Chicago crowd on his side. Right now though, he’s going to call out Kane. Cue Miz instead. Miz wants to face him right now because the win at Mania was tainted. Miz wants Rock to beat Cena and tonight he wants the last image of 2011 to be him standing tall over Cena. Cena wants Miz to shut up and wash the tan off his body. Get a referee out here right now and let’s do it.

John Cena vs. The Miz

The fan that catches Cena’s shirt won’t throw it back. Good, he’d be stupid to do so. Cena controls early with a headlock and the fans are split on him. That’s a step up for him in Chicago. Miz heads to the floor and grabs a mic. The fans are chanting for the wrong person so he’s out of here. It’s a countout at 2:30, most of which happened during Miz ranting against Chicago.

Miz sets for his catchphrase and here’s R-Truth for the on the floor brawl. So I guess Truth is face again. He destroys Miz and says he could finish Miz right now, but there’s no fun in that. It’s like Christmas: once you open the presents, it’s all over. Every Monday Night should be like Christmas, so he’s going to take his time getting to Miz, because Little Jimmy says it’s ok. Truth hits him with a water bottle to end this.

Kane is officially here.

Big Show vs. David Otunga

Show must have an arm tied behind his back. It’s the right arm too so there’s no knockout punch or chokeslam. He’ll be at the relentless mercy of the offense of DAVID OTUNGA. Otunga gets sent to the floor and here’s Mark Henry. The match is officially thrown out at 2:00 despite Henry not touching him.

Henry clotheslines him down and here’s Bryan to distract show. He runs and Henry gets the arm loose. Otunga breaks up a chokeslam and takes it himself. Show officially wins by DQ. HENRY NEVER TOUCHED HIM!!!!

Here’s Del Rio but in a wheelchair. Ricardo, in a neckbrace, does the intro anyway. Jerry makes me laugh by giving us the information of the wheelchair, which is valued at about $200! Del Rio confirms the true rumor that he tore his groin last week. He says he’ll be back and here are the Bellas to berate the crowd. One of them says they’ll throw a party in his honor. It’s Nikki apparently. They get in an argument over who gets to throw the party so Alberto yells at them. He throws them out and blast it as they were looking good tonight. His New Year’s Resolution is that he’ll be champion again.

CM Punk vs. Jack Swagger/Dolph Ziggler/Mark Henry

It’s a gauntlet match and if someone beats Punk, they get a title shot next week. If Punk sweeps it, he gets a match with Ace, presumably tonight. The opponents are in the order listed so Swagger is up first. Swagger hooks a test of strength but Punk stays on his head to keep from going down. Here come the kicks but Jack comes back with a gutbuster to take over.

Punk tries a cross body off the top but Swagger (almost) catches him in another gutbuster for two. At least he has a strategy. He sets for the Vader Bomb but Punk jumps up and catches him in the GTS position. That doesn’t work so Punk kicks him in the head for the pin at 3:27. Here’s Ziggler next but Swagger takes out the knee almost immediately before the bell.

Punk says he can go and we take a break. Back with Ziggler working on the knee. Sweet dropkick gets two for Dolph. Punk fights back with a slingshot and tries a neckbreaker but Dolph goes back to the leg. Off to a half crab which lasts awhile. Punk fights back and the knee isn’t hurting so much now.

Using the good leg he fires off some kicks to the back and a big kick to the head for two. Fameasser is blocked and there’s the running knee in the corner. Vickie breaks up the GTS and the Fameasser hits this time for two. Cue Johnny Ace who ejects Vickie and Swagger. This is happening while Punk has Ziggler covered. The distraction lets the Zig Zag end Punk at 13:27.

Rating: C+. This was the ending I expected actually. It seemed too easy to go the way it was looking. Ziggler vs. Punk could be awesome if they give it enough time, which they probably won’t. Decent stuff here though and it’s good to see Dolph getting a chance to headline a Raw as he’s earned so far.

Here’s Kane to end the show. He talks about how the mask is his real face and everyone else is hiding. Cue Cena but Kane throws up a wall of fire to stop him. Kane says Cena is his target because Cena preaches to rise above hate. This world is a dark place and people should hate. Everyone hates, so why rise above it? He says that there’s hatred in Cena but he’s hiding from it. There’s a Cena chant. In Chicago. Man that’s scary.

Kane talks about how Cena will be free once he embraces the hate. Now the chant is dueling so the world is more correct. The people are going to help Cena embrace his hate. The last thing Cena will hear is them chanting Cena sucks. Kane needs some lessons from the Spirit Squad because they don’t go along with Kane’s idea. There’s a mild dueling chant and Cena has to overact and make it seem like it was deafining. He hangs his head to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. I wasn’t so huge on this show. There’s some ok stuff in here but the show felt like other than the beginning, there was a lot of stuff just thrown in there with no real thinking behind it. I liked the ending as we got a reasonable (by Kane’s standards) explanation of why he’s going after Cena. Dolph vs. Punk should be good and that’s what they’re shooting for here, which is ok. Not a terrible show but kind of weak.

Results
Booker T b. Cody Rhodes – Axe Kick
Zack Ryder/Eve Torres b. Tyson Kidd/Natalya – Rough Ryder to Kidd
John Cena b. The Miz via countout
Big Show b. David Otunga via DQ when Mark Henry interfered
Dolph Ziggler b. CM Punk – Zig Zag

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Smackdown
Date: February 4, 2011
Location: Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, New York
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews, Booker T

It’s the first show since we officially started the Road to Wrestlemania with Alberto Del Rio vs. Edge being the tentative match for the title at the biggest PPV of the year.  Edge/Kelly vs. Ziggler/Laycool for the title tonight which certainly sounds intriguing.  Also expect the beginning of the set up to Elimination Chamber.  Let’s get to it.

Do you know your enemy?  Where I live it’s SNOW.

There’s a fiesta tonight apparently and there’s a Wrestlemania piñata.  Yes let’s take something we love and are looking forward to and beat it with a stick.

Here’s Booker T and he’s apparently the new member of Smackdown’s announce team.  Cool, and based on what he looked like at the Rumble hopefully he’s an occasional wrestler.  We get a Spinarooni to really get the crowd going.  Booker got a good reaction.  It’s like he hadn’t been around since 2007.

Vickie interrupts Booker’s entrance and says that we’ll get qualifying matches tonight for the Smackdown Elimination Chamber which will be for the title.  Ziggler is with Vickie.  She orders Kelly to come out here right now which prompts a bunch of screeching.  Ah there she is.  Booker’s voice is much better than it was when he did some commentary with TNA.  It’s clear and deep instead of hard to understand.

Vickie yells at Kelly, saying that without her interference Dolph would be the world champion.  She’d rather humiliate Kelly instead of firing her.  Kelly is going to cost Edge the world title tonight.  Kelly says Vickie is trying to destroy her character.  Kelly has a character?  Oh she means her personality.  Kelly has a personality?  Ah ok she’s saying Vickie is a bad person.  Makes more sense.

Dolph blames Kelly for the world title loss because she allowed Edge to hit the illegal spear.  We see a clip of it, which makes me wonder why Vickie doesn’t just reverse it since she’s GM and there’s proof Edge broke the rules.  Dolph: “Now Vickie can’t reverse the referee’s decision.”  Wait why not?  She can do ANYTHING but she can’t reverse it?  She can’t make the referee reverse it?  She can’t show the referee the tape and have him do it for her?  I love the ever changing rules in wrestling.

Anyway Ziggler yells at Kelly, blaming her for him not being champion.  The only reason she’s here is because she may be the reason Dolph wins the world title tonight.  Until then she can get out.  Kelly slaps Dolph and shoves Kelly.  Cue Laycool until Edge comes out for the save.

Santino Marella/Vladimir Kozlov vs. Justin Gabriel/Heath Slater

 

Non-title here.  We get a clip from Raw of Orton attacking the New Nexus and putting out Harris.  I missed him RKOing Harris so I thought Harris was down from the Cobra for like three minutes.  That punt looked good too.  I might be missing something but it sounds like Corre’s music is different here.  Kozlov vs. Gabriel to start.  Booker is having some issues getting in on the commentary here but I can definitely give him a break on the first night.

Off to Slater vs. Santino.  Booker says Cole talks a lot of nonsense so he’s definitely a nice guy commentator.  He talks about how there has to be a leader on all teams, but Josh has to lead him into it.  Slater gets a nice reverse DDT to Kozlov and the 450 ends this perfectly clean at 3:03.

Rating: D+. This was just long enough to rate but there wasn’t much here.  The DDT was nice but that’s about all it had going for it.  I really don’t get the idea of having your tag champions constantly lose clean.  Corre could use some titles I guess so I could live with the titles changing down the line.  Very short even at a surprising level.

Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match: Kofi Kingston vs. Drew McIntyre

 

We’re told that Edge and Ziggler are automatically in the Chamber because Edge is champion and Dolph just because.  Booker has no comment on that.  We’re of course talking about the Chamber and since Booker has experience in one, Cole cuts him off every few seconds.  Basic back and forth stuff to start us off.  Booker talked to Drew and he says he’s the Chosen One but Booker isn’t sure.

I know I’m talking about the announcers a lot but it’s one of the main aspects of the show tonight.  Kofi gets a jumping back elbow for two.  Not a lot is going on in the ring anyway so the commentary and how Booker is doing is a bit more interesting anyway.  Armbar by Kofi as they’re seeming to have issues getting off the ground here.  Could be a slow build though which is fine.

Pendulum kick in the corner breaks the little bit of momentum Drew had and a clothesline puts him on the floor.  We hit the floor with Kofi in control until Drew manages to get a modified flapjack to send Kofi into the steps as we take a break.  Back with Drew getting a back elbow for two.  Wisely Drew goes after the ribs with something close to an abdominal stretch on the mat.

Kofi gets dropped on the ribs in a gutbuster which gets two for McIntyre.  Drew gets a nice dropkick to put Kofi down for two.  Cole rants about Lawler for awhile until Drew tries a clothesline.  Kofi jumps up into the air and spins around, catching Drew with a DDT.  That was awesome looking.  Kofi hammers away in the corner and stomps a mudhole in him.

Superman punch/clothesline gets two.  Boom Drop hits and Kofi wants Trouble in Paradise.  Drew manages to avoid the kick though…and here’s Ricardo on the big screen to introduce Alberto?  He doesn’t say anything but just stares down Kofi (remember Kofi beat him in a tag match last week).  The distraction is enough for the Futureshock to end it at 9:42 shown of 13:12.

Rating: B. This picked up in the second half but wasn’t as good as some of their other matches.  Still though, this was pretty solid.  Also if it sets up Alberto vs. Kofi to fill in time until Mania I certainly can’t complain.  Either way, decent enough match and Drew going to the Chamber gives him something to do while the Kelly story develops.

Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match: Rey Mysterio vs. Jack Swagger

 

This should be pretty good.  The push-ups are back!  Apparently Cody Rhodes is going to have facial reconstruction surgery next week.  Swagger’s boots are a brighter color and they’re taking some getting used to.  Rey sends him to the floor as we take an early break.  Back with Swagger sending Rey into the corner which gets him nowhere.

Rey gets a cross body for two.  619 is avoided though so Rey tries what might have been an Asai Moonsault.  Jack blocks it though and Rey’s legs are tied up in the ropes.  Back to the ring with Swagger working on the knee.  The leg goes around the post which gets two.  Back to the floor with Swagger in complete and utter control.  After knocking over a Red Bull we’re back in the ring.

Vader Bomb gets two.  Swagger picks him up and throws him across the ring.  I love basic moves like that.  Another Vader Bomb misses though and here comes Rey.  Tornado DDT takes Swagger down for two.  Rey tries the 619 but Swagger grabs the legs for the ankle lock.  Rey is in the ropes though.  Not that it matters though as Swagger pulls him back to the middle.  Rey sends him into the corner and gets a kick into a rollup to end this at 8:37 shown of 11:07.

Rating: C+. I couldn’t get into this one for some reason.  It’s definitely good and Swagger working on the knee is a good story for the match.  My issue with it though is that Rey didn’t have to do much at all to take over and win here.  That’s not good in my eyes as it makes Swagger look weak.  I get that Rey is the superhero but can they make it look like they’re trying?

We get a clip from Raw of Alberto picking his opponent.

Edge and Kelly are in the back and Edge says he didn’t think his title reign would end like this.  Kelly says Edge has no faith in her and that Edge is just like Drew McIntyre before storming off.

Here are Horny and Rosa who looks a bit different now.  They throw some t-shirts to the fans until Ricardo introduces Alberto.  He says his usual stuff while Horny and Rosa are still in the ring.  Alberto has a present for Horny: the piñata.  The candies and toys are symbols of everything he wants to give to all his fans here in New Jersey, drawing nice heat (show is in New York).

Horny is blindfolded and swings the stick while the piñata is still in the air.  Naturally he misses and hits Alberto low.  Alberto enters a higher level of heelness as he kicks Horny in the head and hammers away.  Kofi runs down for the save.  Ricardo distracts Kofi though and Del Rio beats him up with the stick and throws on the cross armbreaker.

Stone Cold is hosting Tough Enough.  Booker throws in that he’ll be a coach on Tough Enough.  That’s kind of cool actually and something he’d be great at.

Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match: Chavo Guerrero vs. Kane

 

Uh…yeah.  I wonder if this lasts longer than their Wrestlemania match.  Well there’s that record.  Chavo goes up and is caught in the chokeslam.  He counters though by clothesline Kane over the top.  Frog Splash hits but Kane catches him in the chokeslam from the mat and it’s over at 1:02.

 

Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match: Big Show vs. Wade Barrett

 

Yeah Corre definitely has new music here and it’s much better.  It’s a toned down song this time that still has lyrics.  All of Corre comes out and surround the ring.  This is for the final spot in the Chamber.  Barrett has to keep moving and gets a shot to the knee to take over.  Barrett gets sent into the corner where he crushes the referee.  Jackson comes in to run over Show but only gets two.  And never mind as a DDT by Barrett ends it seconds later at 2:00.  This was incredibly quick.

Show tries to fight off Corre post match but gets slammed.  Jackson grabs a mic and says the end has come, it has awakened against you.

That sets the Chamber at Edge vs. Ziggler vs. Barrett vs. McIntyre vs. Mysterio vs. Kane.

 

Smackdown World Title: Kelly Kelly/Edge vs. Laycool/Dolph Ziggler

 

We even get big match intros for this.  Chimmel has cut down on the throat cracking during Edge’s intro.  The genders have to match here.  Vickie says if there’s a spear the title is vacated.  The guys start us off with Edge in control.  He wants the spear and Vickie shouts at him to do it.  Ziggler tags both members of Laycool so we get Michelle.  Off to Kelly to make it Kelly Kelly vs. Michelle McCool for the World Heavyweight Championship as we take a break.

Kelly is all fired up here and beats up both members of Laycool with her gymnastics.  Instead though Michelle catches a rana on the floor and spins Kelly into the barricade.  That gets two back in the ring.  Dolph: “Stay down Barbie!”  Layla in now as Kelly is in trouble.  Belly to belly by Michelle gets two.  Kelly backflips out of a suplex and slaps the heck out of McCool to put both girls down.

Is there a reason why the initials on Dolph’s tights are backwards?  Layla gets a head scissors choke on Kelly for a bit.  Kelly fights back and it’s an X-Factor to break the momentum.  The referee misses the tag to Edge allows Layla to beat on Kelly a bit more.  Edge goes after Ziggler anyway but Michelle misses a big kick to Layla.  Edge is ready for the tag but instead Kelly spears Layla to retain the world title at 6:50 shown of 10:20.

Rating: C. Decent main event here with a nice ending.  Vickie said Edge couldn’t use a spear, not Kelly.  It’s kind of cheap but it worked just fine for the ending to a TV main event.  I’d have liked more Edge though as he was in there maybe a minute.  I guess that was the point though as it made the title seem to be in jeopardy.  This was just ok though as it was really Kelly vs. Laycool for the most part.  Still though, creative way to have Edge be in trouble.

Post match Kelly gets fired.  So Vickie can fire people but can’t coerce a referee to change a decision?  She yells at Kelly about how she never cared about Vickie and how this is her show and all that jazz.  After Kelly is gone, Vickie makes Edge vs. Dolph for next week with her as guest referee.  Perhaps a title change for a quick title reign before the PPV?  Zig Zag to Edge out of nowhere ends the show.

Overall Rating: B-. Not a bad show but a bit different than what they’ve done recently.  Either way this was a pretty good show.  They set up the Chamber perfectly and also gave us more of Ziggler vs. Edge.  They’re doing a decent job of channeling Vince vs. Austin with Austin being put through torture.  The one key thing though: they’re not trying to recreate it but rather use a similar story.  That’s very important.  It’s not Austin vs. Vince.  It’s Edge vs. Vickie.  Let it be that and it’ll be a good story.  Anyway, not bad at all this week.

 

Results

Drew McIntyre b. Kofi Kingston – Futureshock

Rey Mysterio b. Jack Swagger – Rollup

Kane b. Chavo Guerrero – Chokeslam

Wade Barrett b. Big Show – DDT

Edge/Kelly Kelly b. Laycool/Dolph Ziggler – Kelly speared Layla