Smackdown
Date: August 19, 2011
Location: Rabobank Arena, Bakersfield, California
Commentators: Michael Cole, Booker T, Josh Matthews

It’s the post Summerslam show and we get to see what is going on after Orton has won the title. There’s more or less no reason to have Chrstian get another shot now after feuding with Randy all summer. The match on Sunday came off like a blowoff match and while I could see one more match in the Cell, they need a break between now and then. We’ll also get a lot more stuff I’m sure. Let’s get to it.

Teddy opens the show and here’s Randy. He says the people are used to hearing Christian whine about wanting another rematch. He’s no Christian (SCANDAL!) but he is the World Heavyweight Champion and his name is Randy Orton. He used to respect Christian but now he despises him and it’s over. Teddy says tonight there will be a 20 man battle royal for the #1 contender spot.

Cody Rhodes and Ted come out and the belt looks awesome on him. He says Legacy has reunited and now Cody is a champion too. However, he won his without barbarism. The people here are hideous and he doesn’t care about them. He’ll be in the battle royal tonight and soon he’ll take the title. Cody says Ted has a voice and hands him the microphone.

Ted says they know Orton better than anyone. They know his weaknesses….and I guess Orton got bored because there’s an RKO for Ted. He and Cody stare each other down and Cody bails. Cody yells at Ted and demands he does something about this. Teddy says he’ll make Orton stand in the corner on one leg for ten minuets. Also he’s going to have to write “I will not RKO Ted DiBiase 100 times.” Since Ted can’t compete tonight Cody has to take his place and the title will be on the line.

Intercontinental Title: Cody Rhodes vs. Ezekiel Jackson

Smackdown will be live on Tuesday August 30. The bell is after a break. We get a clip of last week’s title change and the beating of Ted. It’s amazing how much better Jackson looks by just snarling. Jackson takes over with pure power to start as is his custom. Enziguri misses for Rhodes and an elbow gets two. A backdrop gets one and Jackson keeps up his domination. I guess he’s been listening to his own theme music.

Cody finally gets something going and hits a bulldog. That doesn’t last long as we’re back to the floor and Jackson sends him into the steps. The champ dropkicks the steps into the leg/knee and back inside we go. Jackson tries a quick rack but Cody gets another knee shot. The Beautiful Disaster (looked AWESOME as the foot smacked against Jackson’s face) hits and Cross Rhodes ends this at 3:38 totally clean.

Rating: C+. This is exactly what Rhodes needed. He hit the two big moves and planted Jackson for his second clean pin over him in a row. That should end the run for Jackson and he has no justification to challenge for the title anymore. This was decent stuff and I’m still loving that kick to the face.

Ryder comes up to Teddy in the back and says Alberto is on his way. Teddy isn’t happy with this because it was supposed to be Cena or Punk. Ryder says life is full of surprises like tonight when he wins the battle royal. Aksana comes in and more innuendo is made. She offers to watch the battle royal with him and Teddy gets all tongue tied and leaves.

Justin Gabriel is still in South Africa. I think we’ve seen this one before.

Justin Gabriel vs. Tyson Kidd

Well they had a great match on NXT a few weeks ago so I have high hopes here. We get some nice speed stuff to start and Tyson takes over with some shots to the face. Nice dropkick to the back of the head as the announcers are talking about fishing with sharks. A hard elbow gets two. Justin fires off with some kicks which get two. Kidd rolls through a springboard cross body and tries a leg lock but Justin escapes and hits an STO. Justin goes for the 450 and after knocking Kidd off the top the splash ends it at 4:23.

Rating: C+. They’re keeping the matches short tonight but I’m digging them. Justin and Kidd are both getting some solid TV time and the matches are getting better. The little clips from South Africa are nice touches as they’re giving us a reason to care about him which we didn’t have before. Good little TV match here and the 450 is great as always.

Mahal and Khali say they’ll win the battle royal tonight.

Ricardo brings out Alberto. There’s a nameplate on the title now. He says the exact same stuff he’s said for months now. It’s his destiny and he hurt Rey and all that jazz. It’s been a year since he’s gotten here and a lot of things have changed in that time span. We get a clip from Monday where he beat up Rey. Some kid has a sign saying Alberto isn’t champ. Uh, yeah he is. Alberto gives something like an open challenge.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Daniel Bryan

Non-title of course. Bryan wants to know why Del Rio cashed in like everyone else if he’s so special. The bell rings after a break as is usual. Feeling out process to start and Del Rio avoids a big swinging kick. He catches Bryan coming back in and stomps away. The golden banana hammocks are back. Off to an arm hold and a Daniel Bryan chant starts up. Bryan gets all ticked off and fires off some kicks for two.

The announcers talk about the HHH/Nash situation which is fine as it actually relates to the guys in the ring. Codebreaker to the arm off the middle rope takes Bryan down again and it’s back to an armbar. Sunset flip is blocked and Del Rio drops another elbow onto the arm for two. Time for a key lock which is at least a change of pace in the holds. Time for the Michael Cole Show as he rants about Bryan being a nerd and having a Youtube channel.

Now Cole is making fun of Bryan going to a drive-in movie. He goes on and on with it for like a minute and a half, making fun of Josh for going to see Cowboys and Aliens and for always being for the good guy. Bryan fights Del Rio off and rifles off some kicks in the corner. The look on Del Rio’s face is great as his face says “THAT REALLY HURT!”

Bryan fires off a clothesline and backdrops Del Rio over the top. Running knee off the apron hits Del Rio square in the face and looks great. Back inside the Mexican hits a German to the American for two. They go up top with their backs to the ring and Bryan reverses a belly to back superplex into a cross body as we go to a break.

Back with them slugging it out with some loud boo/yay going on. Running dropkick in the corner puts Alberto down. Ricardo is losing his enchiladas. Missile dropkick gets two. A big swinging kick misses and Bryan avoids a belly to back while still selling the arm. Bryan tilt-a-whirls into the guillotine choke but Del Rio manages to ram him into the corner and get a northern lights suplex into the cross armbreaker for the tap at 15:30 total. I’m watchin this one as it airs so that’s total time from bell to bell.

Rating: B. Solid match here as both guys looked good. Bryan doesn’t need to get a win here because he has a ton of time before he has to cash in. Del Rio needs wins like this and the one he got over Mysterio on Monday to give himself some credibility. This was good stuff and both guys looked good which is the whole idea.

Post match Del Rio goes for the arm even more until Sin Cara makes the save.

Henry says he should be #1 contender. He looks at the battle royal like a boat. Things are going to get rocky and 19 men are going overboard.

Kelly Kelly/AJ vs. Natalya/Alicia Fox

Nattie vs. AJ to start and the cute one (in plaid) is in trouble. Natalya is killing it here as we’re just waiting for the hot tag to Kelly to clean house. AJ finally fights her way to the tag and Kelly does her usual stuff. Alicia misses the axe kick and K2 ends this at 4:30. Just nothing to talk about here.

Rating: C. Eh this was fine all things considered. They’re really pushing Kelly strong as a “wrestler” but it’s not doing anything for me. The girls are almost entirely interchangeable other than Beth and Natalya to a degree. The matches aren’t as bad anymore though which is a nice break.

Post match Alicia yells at Natalya and Nattie puts her in a Sharpshooter on the floor to a big pop.

Same video of Axxess we’ve seem all week.

Orton comes out to watch the battle royal.

Battle Royal

Mark Henry, Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso, Sin Cara, Sheamus, Daniel Bryan, Johnny Curtis, Ezekiel Jackson, Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase, Jinder Mahal, Great Khali, Zack Ryder, Yoshi Tatsu, William Regal, Tyson Kidd, Wade Barrett, Justin Gabriel, Heath Slater, Trent Barretta

I think that’s everyone at least. Only Sin Cara (clearly a different guy), Sheamus, Barrett (complete with coat) and Henry get entrances. Everyone goes after Henry immediately and that just fails. Barretta is out in about 15 seconds as is Tatsu. Khali is defending Mahal in the corner. There goes Curtis. Expect a lot of “so and so is out” because there isn’t anything else to say for the most part in these matches.

Slater is down in the corner and his torso is out. Khali chops Regal and the pain is evident. There goes Ryder to a pop. Booker saying Woo Woo Woo is funny stuff. Jackson puts the IC Champ out which I really hope doesn’t mean the feud continues. Jackson goes for Khali and hammers him in the corner which gets a nice reaction. The clothesline in the corner results in him getting chopped in the head and tossed though so Jackson is out.

Now Henry and Khali have the staredown and a Sin Cara chant starts up. They strike it out and Henry goes down from a chop. Punjabi Plunge is broken and Henry puts Khali out with relative ease. Mahal is FREAKING. Sheamus goes after Henry and down goes Henry again, falling under the ropes to the floor. Sheamus fakes Slater out and a Brogue Kick puts Slater out. Henry beats up Slater because he can.

After a break Sheamus and Mahal are almost out but no luck. There seem to be about ten or eleven left. According to Cole there are ten left. Regal was eliminated during the break. Henry is still chilling on the floor. Cara puts Gabriel out with a cross body but holds on. Henry beats Gabriel up as well. Sheamus eliminates both Usos and they’re Henry’s next meal, including one being thrown through the announce table. Orton is just sitting at ringside during this.

Henry is back in now. Ok so we have Sheamus, Barrett, Mahal, Henry, DiBiase, Sin Cara and Kidd. Henry tosses DiBiase and Mahal with ease and Cara eliminates Kidd. We’re down to four: Barrett, Sheamus, Henry and Sin Cara. The fans like Cara. The Europeans go after Henry and stomp him down in the corner. Cara is spent and is trying to get back up. Barrett takes Sheamus down (but not out) with a clothesline. Sheamus to the apron and Barrett joins him. They slug it out on the apron and Sheamus gets a kick to get us down to three.

Cara tries a dropkick to Sheamus but goes through the ropes instead. He dives at Sheamus but lands on the apron. Back in now and Sheamus drapes him on the ropes but can’t eliminate him. He sets for the kick but Henry grabs Sheamus and we’re down to two. Cara is up top and like an idiot tries a cross body which works but he tries a cover because he’s not that smart I guess. Henry presses him through the ropes so we’re back to a one on one match now. Cara tries a spinning cross body and gets caught in the World’s Strongest Slam, letting Henry win at 16:42.

Rating: C. Battle royals are hard to grade but this was fine. Henry winning like this is a good choice because he’s the only one that is in position to challenge Orton. Nice to see Sin Cara getting some time in there as the fans are into him. Nothing great here but it’s a fine way to set up the next main event and that’s all they needed to do here.

Henry stares Orton down post match.

Overall Rating: A. I had a really good time with this show. Nothing is bad at all and the booking I almost totally agree with. Henry is really the only heel other than maybe Barrett that could be plugged into the main event right now so that makes perfect sense. Cody gets another clean win and we get a solid long match in the kind of win Del Rio needs at the moment. No complaints here at all.

Results

Cody Rhodes b. Ezekiel Jackson – Cross Rhodes

Justin Gabriel b. Tyson Kidd – 450 Splash

Alberto Del Rio b. Daniel Bryan – Cross Armbreaker

AJ/Kelly Kelly b. Alicia Fox/Natalya – K2 to Fox

Mark Henry won a battle royal last eliminating Sin Cara

Monday Night Raw
Date: July 11, 2011
Location: TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler

It’s the go home show for MITB and things should be rather interesting here.  It’s probably going to be either Punk’s last or next to last Raw so the talking could be great.  With Vince being around now there’s a chance he might pop up too.  Also we’ll get some build for the MITB match itself.  The interesting thing though is that the guys just got back from Australia so they’re likely going to be tired from the flight.  Let’s get to it.

Here’s Punk to open the show with a bullhorn.  He also grabs a headset and says something to the producer on it that we can’t here.  Punk sits in the ring and asks if he has everyone’s attention now.  He says recapping is in order in case you didn’t watch, which he didn’t because he wasn’t on, so last week he was suspended for what he said a few weeks ago.  Punk sums it up by saying he gets in trouble for saying things that no one else has the balls to say.

He demonstrates the bullhorn in case the mic is cut off.  The fans are totally behind him here and there’s a loud CM PUNK chant.  He says he’s here because Vince wants to sign him to a very long and lucrative contract to WWE.  Oddly enough all he’s ever wanted is a microphone.  I think you can buy one for like 12 bucks at Wal-Mart dude.  Punk says he’s been doing what Vince has wanted to do for years: making the WWE relevant in the real world.

That has only happened twice apparently: when Punk talks and when someone dies (no names mentioned).  Everyone from ESPN to E is calling him for his story.  Punk finds it funny that only now is Vince begging him to stay.  If Vince had treated him like this for the last five years, there wouldn’t be so much ammo built up for him to use.  Punk wants a live contract negotiating tonight in which Vince might have to join Punk’s version of Vince’s old kissing club.

Cue Cena who says cut the music.  Punk thanks him for getting him a job back that he didn’t even want.  He says he’s going to change the look of the title when he wins it because it’s been far too ugly for far too long.  Punk points out that Cena isn’t going to be fire because he was once before and it lasted like a week.  Cena: “You done?”  Punk: “Probably not but would you like to say something?”

Cena says that Punk has been talking about how he’s walking out of Chicago with the title and there’s nothing that can stop him.  Cena is no pushover though and now let’s talk about the word wrestler.  People have said for years that Punk is great and that Cena is what the company thinks is great.  Everyone has said that Punk is great over the years and a lot of names are mentioned including Eddie and Angle.  We’ll see how great they both are on Sunday.  A GM E-Mail says Vince is on the way and Cena is in action next.

John Cena vs. David Otunga/Michael McGillicutty

 

Cena vs. McGillicutty to start and Cena treats the champions like the jobbers they are, sending him to the floor as we take a quick break.  Back with Cena in a chinlock, apparently due to interference from Otunga.  STF attempt doesn’t work and it’s off to Otunga.  The match is completely boring as the announcers rant about how important the title is.  You know, that belt that they made a second version of at the drop of a hat.

Cena takes Otunga down and it’s off to McGillicutty who gets dominated.  You Can’t See Me and there’s the Shuffle.  AA is broken up by Otunga and they hit an atomic drop/dropkick combination for two.  Superplex by McGillicutty is blocked and there’s the top rope Fameasser to set up the STF but Otunga makes the save again.  Well at least it hasn’t been total Cena dominance.  And never mind as the AA ends McGillicutty at 9:56.

Rating: C-. Pretty boring match here but then again the Nexus are very boring to put it mildly.  I really don’t mind the champions losing again because it’s not like they’ve been built up in the slightest anyway.  Not sure why the GM would give Cena a seemingly hard match like that but maybe Punk will get one too.

Video on Henry being all dominant and evil lately.

Vickie is coaching Dolph on how to talk to Vince tonight.  The US Title needs to be the premiere title apparently so Punk and Cena need to be fired.  Vickie imitates Vince before Drew pops up and imitates him.  Dolph makes fun of “Vince” and they all make fun of his breath.  Vickie snorts when she laughs and Vince pops up behind them (big pop).  Tonight they’ll be in a handicap match against Big Show.  They leave and Vince is asks for a message for the people.  He doesn’t want to talk to the people right now.

Kelly Kelly vs. Melina

 

The Bellas are on commentary.  Jerry gets on Cole for saying there’s a way to tell the Bellas apart which they say doesn’t exist.  Kelly is in trouble early but takes over, uses a Stinkface for no apparent reason and hits the K2 to retain at 1:45.  Total nothing match.

Post match the Bellas say Kelly is way to skinny and wears way too much makeup.  They beat her down and Eve comes out for the save.  The Bellas leave her laying.

Quick recap of Miz destroying Riley after losing to him last week.

Here’s Miz and there are ladders everywhere.  He climbs up to the top of one underneath the MITB case.  He knows what it means to win the case and be world champion.  He’s taken that path before and since he’s the future, he’ll do it again.  Miz says he’s used to being above everyone else because he’s the best.  Cue Swagger who points out that he’s won the case and the title before.  Miz: “If someone cashed in MITB and no one remembers it, did it really happen?”

Cue Bourne who says he’s tired of hearing about what they’ve done so he’s going to talk about what he’ll do Sunday.  Bourne gets a running start and slides into the ring feet first with no hands.  Here’s Kofi who says the exact same thing that everyone else in the match is going to come out and say.  He talks about Edge getting hurt in these matches or something like that.  Truth comes out and talks about beating Cena recently.  He’s afraid of heights too, and there better not be any spiders on the ladder because he’s afraid of them too.  If he opens that case and there’s a spider, the grits will hit the pan.

Here’s Riley because six promos about one match isn’t enough.  He comes out at a spring and Miz runs.  Here’s Alberto in a Mercedes.  He got rid of Rey and now has to do all this all over again.  Oh and something about destiny.  An E-Mail makes a six man that starts right now.

The Miz/Jack Swagger/R-Truth vs. Alex Riley/Evan Bourne/Kofi Kingston

 

No Alberto or Rey here.  Back with the match already in progress with Bourne vs. Swagger.  Off to Miz as Cole talks about how awesome Miz is.  Everyone beats down Bourne for a bit with Truth in the ring at the moment.  Bourne gets a knee to the face and it’s hot tag to Kofi.  He comes in off a springboard and starts jumping all over the place.  Boom Drop to Truth.  He loads up Trouble in Paradise but stops to hit Swagger.

There’s the springboard cross body to Truth but Miz saves.  Truth knocks him to the floor as we take a break.  Back with Kofi getting beaten down by Miz.  Off to Truth who gets a two count.  Kofi manages to get a double DDT to Truth and Swagger and tags Morrison.  He hits a bunch of stuff on Swagger and beats on Miz a bit because he can.  Everything breaks down and Riley hits the inverted DDT on Swagger for the pin at 10:45 total.

Rating: C. Just an average match here with nothing of note going on.  You get almost the same match every year and it’s really not all that interesting.  Not a bad match or anything but really just kind of there.  They need to go with six people in the match instead of 8 as there are just too many of them that way.  Not bad, but the same stuff we always see out of these.

Everyone hits their finishers post match until Alberto comes out and destroys everyone with the ladder, including throwing it at Miz’s arm.  Bourne was holding his ankle too.

We recap the ending of Raw last week with Vince and Cena talking about everything involving Punk.   If Cena loses at the PPV he’s fired.

McIntyre/Ziggler vs. Show up next.

Drew McIntyre/Dolph Ziggler vs. Big Show

 

Show is all mad here.  Ziggler starts and looks at Show.  He tags out immediately so Show beats them both up.  Show dominates Drew as Ziggler hides.  Drew tries to leave and gets mauled by Show.  McIntyre gets thrown up the stage and it’s a countout at 2:00.

Show sets to chokeslam McIntyre off the stage but Henry comes out of nowhere and tackles both of them off the stage.  Henry goes flying also.  Drew just kind of disappears.

Henry doesn’t want help to the back.

We get a clip of Alberto destroying everyone earlier, setting up a long highlight video on MITB matches.

We run down the card for the PPV.

Punk and Vince are up next.

Vince comes out three times because the reaction isn’t strong enough for him.  No handshake for Cole.  He shakes hand with someone at ringside that is either famous or really lucky.  There’s a table and a red carpet in the ring.  He doesn’t want to negotiate in person but he’ll do it here.  He wants to get this over with so get out here.  Punk imitates Vince’s walk as is required by WWE law.

Vince’s chair falls down as he sits in it.  The contract has the provision for a Punk collector’s cup in it apparently.  Punk talks about how this contract proves that Vince has no faith in Cena.  Vince says he couldn’t live with himself if Punk somehow wins the title on Sunday.  He actually calls Punk Phil.  Punk doesn’t like the contract that’s made up so he had his lawyers make a new one.  Punk has already signed this one.

One of the provisions is he gets to push Vince.  Apparently Punk wants respect or he’s leaving with the title.  Apparently that wasn’t a provision.  The first is that he wants a jet.  As in a new one, not Vince’s because that one smells.  Punk wants his face on the Tron, the buckles, spoons, knives, forks, cups, everything.  HE WANTS THE ICE CREAM BARS BACK!!!  Punk is officially better than everyone.  That actually gets a HUGE reaction.

He wants CM Punk The Movie.  You can even call it the Chaperone II, although his will be funny and successful.  Oh and the main event of Wrestlemania will be Punk vs. whomever he’s against.  The last major perk is that he wants an apology for the suspension and for Vince being a huge hypocrite.  As far as the anti-bullying campaign goes, Vince is one of the biggest bullies Punk has ever met.  The fans are eating up every word Punk says.

Punk says his friends have worked here and they have been fired.  Vince says they deserved to be fired and Punk says that Vince is out of touch for firing people like Luke Gallows and Colt Cabana.  Vince doesn’t want to apologize so Punk throws the table over.  The fans want something that was either ice cream or wrestling.  Vince doesn’t care what the people want and Punk says that’s the point.

The fans want an apology right now and Vince actually says he’s sorry.  The fans chant for Colt Cabana as Vince picks up the contract to sign it.  Here’s Cena though who points out that even though the fans are cheering for him now, Punk is walking out on them Sunday.  Cena calls him a terrorist and says they’re both like kids.  Cena says he hates Vince too and makes stupid jokes.

Now we get to the awesome stuff.  Cena tells Punk that he’s lost sight of what got him here.  Punk talks about how at Wrestlemania 23 he was riding on the side of Cena’s car with a Tommy gun, saying that he promised himself that one day he would be in the ring with Cena instead of watching him.  Boston prides itself on being the underdog but now Cena is the WWE Champion and has become exactly what he hates.  Now he and Vince are the New York Yankees.  Cena drills him and Punk bails.  Apparently the man Vince shook hands with was Cena’s dad.

Punk sits on the stage and says that illustrates why he wants to leave.  He’s tired of all this and he’s leaving on Sunday.  Say goodbye to the WWE Title, say goodbye to John Cena and say goodbye to CM Punk.  He tears up the contract and does You Can’t See Me to end this.  The ending segment ran a bit too long and it hurt things.

Overall Rating: C+. Well the wrestling was pretty awful but the show got pushed very hard tonight.  The Raw side is built on two matches and those were pushed very hard indeed.  Anything else that happens at the PPV will be bonus material so it’s hard to complain about the lack of wrestling.  Ok no it isn’t but it’s more forgivable here.  Not a great show but for a go home show for this particular PPV, this was fine.

Results

John Cena b. David Otunga/Michael McGillicutty – AA to McGillicutty

Kelly Kelly b. Melina – K2

Evan Bourne/Alex Riley/Kofi Kingston b. The Miz/R-Truth/Jack Swagger – Inverted DDT to Swagger

Big Show vs. Dolph Ziggler/Drew McIntyre went to a double countout

Smackdown
Date: June 24, 2011
Location: Giant Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Josh Matthews, Booker T, Michael Cole

First show after Capitol Punishment which will likely see more continuation in Orton vs. Christian.  Other than that it’s kind of hard to say as there aren’t many other big time feuds going on this show.  Maybe some more Rhodes vs. Bryan which has been solid and perhaps an IC Title match from Jackson.  Unfortunately it’ll probably just be a rematch with Barrett which doesn’t sound all that thrilling.  Let’s get to it.

Do you know your enemy?  Mine is finding a copy of this show this week.

Here’s Teddy.  I wonder how his arms still work with how far he swings them.  He says that the title match on Sunday had a controversial ending and for once he’s right.  Teddy calls out Christian who is all mad about the ending to the match.  We get a clip of said ending and Teddy agrees that it was a bad call.  He apologizes to the fans but the decision stand.

Christian freaks because HE deserves the apology, not the fans.  He says he deserves another title match because of not only that but also what Orton did after the match.  Teddy says Orton committed actions unbecoming of a champion.  The Canadians wants another shot and Teddy says you have to earn it.  The decision was bad, but it was also final.  Christian has to earn his shot tonight against Kane.  Christian yells a lot as Teddy leaves.

I was right.  Barrett gets his rematch tonight.

Shawn will be on Raw.  Also, Sin Cara vs. Bourne due to the votes being messed up.

Sin Cara vs. Ted DiBiase

 

Apparently DiBiase has celebrity friends now.  There go the lights again.  Booker calls Teddy a follower and apparently he’s following Cody because he can’t help it.  Cara speeds things up and the fans are way behind him.  Nice dive to the floor which looked a bit edited.  Back in and DiBiase gets a dropkick to counter a springboard cross body for two.  DiBiase gets a HARD kick to the head to take over even more.

Following clothesline gets two.  Cara gets his feet up in the corner and hits a middle rope dropkick for two.  Things speed up a bit and Cara gets a rana to take over.  Dropkick puts Ted down again and a pretty nice armdrag.  He tries a springboard….something, but is caught in a sitout spinebuster for two.  Cara hits the ropes again and goes into a headscissors, spinning around multiple times before he slams DiBiase down into a crossface position but instead covers for the pin at 5:09.

Rating: C. I know Cara is huge in Mexico and can spin around a lot, but he needs to actually have a story and an actual match rather than just flipping around a lot and doing a collection of moves.  It’s really not a match and it’s getting a bit old.  Not horrible, but it’s getting repetitive.

We get a clip of Bryan getting paper bagged on Raw by Rhodes.

Cody Rhodes vs. Daniel Bryan

 

Cody comes out first and says he loves chocolate.  He calls this town the modern day Sodom because it makes more chocolate than anywhere in the world, making everyone fat and ugly.  Booker is handed a bag, cracking up Cole.  Bryan interrupts and says he’s sick of this.  He makes fun of the mask, saying Cody should put the cup in his pants, not on his face.  Looks aren’t everything and his proof is a picture of Cody’s pop, Dusty Rhodes.  He looked horrible but was interesting and charismatic, which are things that Cody isn’t.  Bryan thinks Cody is a bitter and arrogant jerk who will never live up to his father’s standards.

Those are of course fighting words and as the bell rings, Cole is using a paper bag like a puppet because he’s….uhhh….stupid.  Oh it’s a Booker puppet.  You can tell because it has the word Booker on the top of it.  Bryan reverses La Magistral into a pinning combination for two.  Cody gets sent to the floor and is all ticked off over it.  DiBiase comes out for moral support I guess as we take a break.

Back with Cody sending him to the floor.  Rhodes hammers away even more as Cole argues with Booker.  Off to the arm and then into a Russian legsweep.  Almost all Cody so far in this other than a little bit at the beginning.  Bryan finally comes out of the corner and mostly misses a Pele-style kick.  A rana off the top with Rhodes not looking that good with it gets two for Bryan.

Bryan gets all fired up and throws his kicks.  Booker calling him D Bry is rather annoying.  LeBell Lock doesn’t work and neither does a series of rollups.  The both try cross bodies and collide hard.  Bryan takes DiBiase out but walks into the Beautiful Disaster and his leg is caught in the ropes.  Another one sets up the Cross Rhodes and we’re done at 8:53 shown of 12:23.

Rating: C+. Somewhat better here but DiBiase is weighing Cody down.  His whole psycho thing worked very well but now with Ted out there they come off like an uninteresting tag team who doesn’t team together all that often.  It’s nice to see Bryan have a feud and getting ring time though instead of just coming in and out at times.  Not bad here but I think they could do better.

Bryan is bagged again post match.

Johnny Curtis has ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise in front of him but leaves the mustard, because he can’t cut it.

Show is in the back to talk about the attack from Mark Henry, saying he’s fine.  He doesn’t have much to say to Striker.  Show says Henry was in the wrong place at the wrong time.  This results in a video about Henry for some reason.  As Show is talking some more, Henry pops up to spear him through the set and says better is better.

Intercontinental Title: Ezekiel Jackson vs. Wade Barrett

 

Barrett jumps him in the aisle to take over.  This is pre-match I think.   The referee says he’s not ringing the bell until Zeke is on his feet.  Here we go and Barrett has a big advantage.  Neckbreaker gets two.  Jackson gets in some kicks but that’s about all as Barrett takes him down and throws on a chinlock.  Boss Man Slam gets two.

Jackson catches Barrett in a release Rock Bottom to get us back to even.  And never mind as Barrett takes over on the floor again and gets two back inside.  Barrett tries Wasteland but Jackson easily counters it into the Torture Rack and we’re done at 4:35.  Dang it I wanted to see those slams!

Rating: C. Nowhere near as good as their match Sunday but hopefully this ends things and we can move onto something else.  I wouldn’t be opposed to Jackson vs. Rhodes for awhile as Jackson is more or less all looks so there’s your story.  Barrett is in a weird place now as I don’t want to see him vs. Orton but he’s a bit bigger than the midcard.  Should be interesting.

Orton says it’s borderline comical that Christian might get another shot and he’s laughing on the inside.  He’ll face Christian again if Christian wins, but the closest Christian will get to the title is having it go upside his head.

Slater and Gabriel make fun of Barrett, who says he has big plans.  He also wants to know where they’ve been for the last few weeks.  They say they’re going to go win a rematch.

Usos vs. Justin Gabriel/Heath Slater

 

The Usos are embracing their wild Samoan side a big more it seems with what sounds like a tribal chant to start their music and they yell a lot.  Apparently it was a war dance they were doing.  Slater/Gabriel have new music that is pretty generic but not bad.  Gabriel starts vs. we’ll call him Jimmy.  Quickly off to Jey who gets a northern lights suplex for two.

Justin sends him to the floor and Slater adds in a dive to take over.  The former champions tag in and out rather well.  The crowd isn’t all that thrilled here but they’re trying at least.  Booker and Josh have no idea which Uso is which.  Gabriel teases a springboard but takes Jimmy’s leg out instead.  Off to a Fujiwara Armbar which doesn’t last long.  Off to Jey and Slater who is caught in a Bubba Bomb for no cover.  Oh apparently that’s Jimmy.  Does it really matter?  Jimmy pop locks or something before hitting a superkick to Slater but the top rope splash eats knees and we’re done at 4:28.

Rating: C. Just a tag match here that didn’t do much but it’s good to see actual teams go at it more than once at a time.  It won’t go anywhere as far as a feud or a division but it’s an improvement.  Pretty average TV tag match and the Usos looked good.  I don’t want to see another Wild Samoan team though.  Not sure if it would work for smaller guys.

Cena says don’t try this.

Yoshi Tatsu vs. Jinder Mahal

 

Khali comes into the ring but Guido hasn’t rung the bell yet in the first place.  This is a big beating and Mahal leaves Tatsu laying with a full nelson slam.  Khali sends him to the floor and the Indians stand tall.  Match never even started.  Mahal says that was just a sample and that he was born the best.  There will be no more dancing and no more kiss cam because the Eastern Winds will blow through the entire WWE.

Kane vs. Christian

 

I’d assume if Kane wins he gets the shot at the PPV.  Christian has to use speed to start but baldie shoves him around with ease.  Kane sends him into the buckle chest first and the beating is on.  Christian gets a right hand in but it just ticks Kane off so he pops Christian down with ease.  Christian tries some leverage stuff and guillotines Kane’s throat on the top rope.

The Canadian takes over and tries to smother Kane more or less by putting his hands over Kane’s mouth.  That’s one way to put him down.  Christian low bridges Kane and we head to the floor where Kane is rammed into the railing.  Back inside, Christian goes up and hits a swan dive to keep Kane down.  We hit the chinlock and take a break.  Back with Christian still in control and firing off some right hands.

Those don’t seem to work as Kane hits a side slam for two.  Kane takes over and hits a tilt-a-whirl slam for two.  Christian tries to go up and manages to hit the tornado DDT for two.  Kane gets a big boot and heads up.  Christian pulls him off, only for two though.  He throws a bit of a fit and is all upset about the kickout.  The fit ends and Christian goes up, only to jump into an uppercut for two.  Kane goes up one more time and this time the clothesline hits.  Kane calls for the chokeslam….and here’s Mark Henry for the DQ at 10:07 shown of 13:37.

Rating: B-. Pretty good match here for a power vs. speed match.  Christian was jumping and using moves that with the proper momentum he was able to make look realistic, which is a very key thing for a match like this.  Christian has been on a roll lately in the ring and this was no exception.  Fun stuff.

Henry keeps beating on Kane post match and goes after Christian for a bit before they double team Kane.  Teddy comes out and says one more match, this time in a tag team match.  Orton comes out to be the partner.  Nice pop for Randy.

Kane/Randy Orton vs. Mark Henry/Christian

 

I guess whoever gets the pin gets the shot?  It’s not really clear.  Actually I’d bet it’s only Christian that can because there was never any mention of Kane potentially winning the shot.  Christian and Orton start us off after the break.  Orton takes over quickly and hits the knee drop for two.  Christian brings in Henry who runs through Orton and it’s back to Christian.

Ok apparently if Christian’s team wins, he gets the shot.  So what’s in this for Kane and Henry?  Henry misses a drop onto Orton’s chest and here’s Kane.  Kane is sent to the floor but guillotines Henry on the top rope for two.  There’s the top rope clothesline for two.  Henry runs over Kane too and it’s off to Christian.  He hammers on the back of Kane as this has been almost one sided.

The big fat tub of goo comes in again and gets two off a right hand.  Kane gets a chokeslam out of nowhere and both guys are down.  Double tags bring in Orton and Christian and Randy hits his chest sticking out Thesz Press.  Henry comes in but can’t get the World’s Strongest Slam.  Orton counters into an RKO attempt but is shoved into Christian who takes the RKO instead.  Henry is legal though and hits the Slam for the pin at 7:31.

Rating: C. Just a main event tag match here but after the long main event earlier that’s fine.  I just hope this doesn’t end with Henry being a challenger to Orton as he’s certainly not someone I want to see in the main event scene.  Not bad here but it was nothing we haven’t seen a hundred times before.

Christian taunts Randy with the belt to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. I liked it better than last week but not by much.  The main thing here is that the show is lacking that energy that they had before.  I’m not entirely sure why but it feels like they’re kind of going through the motions anymore.  The biggest issue I think is that nearly everything here is stuff we’ve seen before.  Other than Kane and Henry being added, everything has been done before, namely in the last week or so.  Not bad and better than last week but not awesome as I’m accustomed to with Smackdown.

Results

Sin Cara b. Ted DiBiase – Headscissors into a mat slam

Cody Rhodes b. Daniel Bryan – Cross Rhodes

Ezekiel Jackson b. Wade Barrett – Torture Rack

Heath Slater/Justin Gabriel b. The Usos – Slater pinned Jimmy with a small package

Kane b. Christian via DQ when Mark Henry interfered

Mark Henry/Christian b. Randy Orton/Kane – World’s Strongest Slam to Orton

Smackdown
Date: May 27, 2011
Location: Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, Spokane, Washington
Commentators: Michael Cole, Booker T, Josh Matthews

We’re past Over the Limit now and it should be interesting to see where this goes.  After the rather awesome Christian vs. Orton match it’s possible they could go for a third match there but at the same time Orton has won twice clean so maybe it’ll be time for someone else to step in.  Other than that though I’m really not sure what to expect as we gear up for Capitol Punishment.  Let’s get to it.

Do You Know Your Enemy?  TNA’s seems to be wrestling.

Here’s the champ to open the show.  He says he’s Randy Orton and he is still world heavyweight champion.  And that’s all he can get out because here’s Christian.  He doesn’t want to spoil Orton’s moment but Sunday was a great match so thanks and congratulations.  That’s what fruit baskets were invented for Christian.  The match could have gone either way but Christian knows he can beat him.  He wants to issue a challenge for one more match for the title.

Before we get an answer here’s Sheamus.  He wants to know how much Christian needs because he’s acting like an obsessive gambler.  Christian is going to have to wait another seventeen years because on Sunday he became a two time loser.  Sheamus however is a two time champion and he’s here to face guys like Orton for the title.  If anyone is becoming #1 contender, it’s him.

Cue Mark Henry because someone up there hates me.  Christian needs to join Edge on the retirement golf course and Sheamus needs to stop butting in.  As for Orton, Henry says he (Henry) has just butted his way to the front of the line for that championship.  Teddy comes out and asks the fans what they want to see.  They cheer the idea of Christian vs. Orton 3 but Teddy makes a triple threat for the #1 contender spot.

Sin Cara vs. Chavo Guerrero

 

The lights change again and it’s lost its luster I think.  Cole talks about Cara being ungrateful to Chavo and the other announcers blast him.  Chavo gets sent to the floor so Cara teases a dive.  Back in a double knee to the chest of Cara takes him down and a belly to back gets two.  Off to a key lock but an attempt at a Gory Special is blocked.  Cara sends him to the floor and hits a big old dive to take over again.

Springboard rana back in the ring by Cara and he adds a high angle reverse elbow off the middle rope as we speed things up.  Booker talked to Cara apparently and Cara is a big fan.  Top rope cross body gets two as Cole gets all sarcastic again.  The crowd thinks Chavo sucks as he avoids the Tajiri elbow.

Now we get to see what Cara was trying to get on Sunday as he comes around like a crucifix into a headscissors and then back around to Chavo’s shoulder.  Then he slams Chavo down almost into the position for a Crossface but it slams Chavo’s head into the mat for a pin at 4:46.  Not liking that one but it’s not bad I guess.

Rating: C. Far better than their match Sunday but they really need to do something with Cara already.  We can only watch him come in, do some high spots, get in trouble a bit and come back to win with whatever he finishes with that week so many times.  There’s no real story to any of his matches and no real point to what he does.  It’s not bad, but it’s gotten repetitive already, which isn’t good.  The dives are good enough to make something out of, but not in this format.

Cody Rhodes vs. Daniel Bryan

 

This is why I love the midcard stuff: there are so many combinations you can throw out there just like this one.  No Ted here.  Cody says if he didn’t know better he’d be convinced there’s no God because everywhere he goes he prays that he’ll see an attractive face but every time he’s disappointed.  He does the bagging thing and gets in a good line of “Shut up and bag yourselves!”  Bryan’s music cuts him off.

This is near Bryan’s hometown so he gets the big pop.  Bryan speeds things up to start us off and Cody actually tries some technical stuff with him.  Bryan is like dude just no and takes out the knees.  They trade hip toss attempts and Cody finally takes over, tossing Bryan to the floor as we take a break.  Back with Bryan making a comeback but getting caught with a kick between the legs to the stomach ala Hardcore Holly.

Cody throws on a Crossface Chickenwing (what is up with people using that move anymore) and calls a spot to Bryan.  He takes the hold to the mat in a full version and rams the mask into the back of Bryan’s head.  Bryan escapes and makes his comeback with strikes as Booker says this would be a breakout win for Bryan.  Even Cole corrects him so you can tell Booker screwed up there.

Bryan gets a missile dropkick for a long two.  Cody sends him into the middle buckle for two.  Bryan grabs a rollup for two.  This is moving as fast as it sounds.  In a SWEET spot, Bryan does his backflip out of the corner but Cody runs underneath him and hits his rope walking spin kick to take Bryan down.  Cross Rhodes is countered into the LeBell Lock (which Bryan put on a bit differently it seemed, twisting Cody’s forearm around too) for the tap out at 6:04 shown of 9:34.

Rating: B. I rather liked this.  It’s good to see Bryan get a win here as he could certainly be a solid midcard guy if not made to be a jobber.  Cody looked like he got caught rather than beaten which is a good way to end it for both guys, especially after a long and competitive match.  No complaints here at all as this was a quite good match.

Post match Cody beats up Bryan, hitting Cross Rhodes and giving him a paper bag.

Here’s the Obama press conference thing again.  It wasn’t funny the first time and it’s stupid by this point.

Heath Slater vs. Ezekiel Jackson

 

Booker goes WAY old school by mentioning the One Man Gang and Devastation Inc, saying Jackson is both.  He’s Inc?  As in I can buy stock in him?  Slater tries to use speed and that doesn’t work well in the slightest.  Jackson keeps throwing Slater around so Slater keeps charging at him.  Well he is from West Virginia.  Here come the slams and after only two of them there’s the Rack.  And there’s Corre for the DQ at 2:37.  I’d assume this will lead to a gimmick match of some kind…..gauntlet maybe?  Jackson fights them off this time.  Somehow they work bullying into this.  I’m so fed up with that I’m out of jokes for it.

Christian says he was the last one picked for kickball but at the end of the game he’d kick more home runs that anyone.  Apparently he was a Canadian Kickball Champion four times in a row.  He was the last one of his friends to hit puberty but when he hit prom he had the prettiest girlfriend in the school.  He was also the last person anyone thought would reach the top of WWE but he did it, and he’s going to do it again.  I’d have put that on someone like Shawn Stasiak but ok.

Great Khali vs. Kane

 

Before the match we get a recap of Jinder Mahal smacking Khali last week and making him all evil again.  Singh is here again this week.  This is billed as the Monsters’ Brawl.  Khali overpowers him to start, taking him into the corner.  He chokes away, kind of wrestling heel here.  Off to the nerve hold as I guess 1:40 of action was too much for Khali.  That’s getting into Dusty territory there.  Big chop misses and they both grab for chokeslams.  Khali sends him to the floor but Kane guillotines him on the top rope and the flying clothesline ends this at 2:33.  No rating but this was pretty bad, even for a battle of the giants.

Mahal comes out again, this time with music that is similar to Khali’s original song.  He yells at Khali more and smacks him before going after Singh.  Khali defends his brother but then puts the vice grip on Singh. Khali is a bully now.  For the love of all things good and holy, FIND SOMETHING NEW TO MAKE PEOPLE HEELS!

We get a clip from Raw of Show being injured.  Apparently he’s going to need several weeks of rehab.

Booker is in the ring, complete with some theme music.  He wants Cole to get into the ring which Cole begrudgingly does.  Booker wants to talk about the Kiss My Foot match and we get a clip of the toe being in his mouth.  Booker says he was just playing and puts his arm around an annoyed Cole.  He starts a Kiss My Feet chant and that’s it for this segment.  Uh yeah…because this warranted TV time.

Sheamus doesn’t want to answer Striker’s questions but says he’s tired of hearing about Christian winning the title and Henry has won a total of nothing since he’s been here.  Sheamus won his first world title in a few months, which is very true.

After a clip of Kharma’s breakdown on Raw, it’s time for a tag match.

Alicia Fox/Tamina vs. AJ/Kaitlyn

 

AJ!!!  Seriously, that girl is too cute for words.  Natalya is with the NXT chicks.  We get an inset clip of them talking as Kaitlyn doesn’t like Tamina/Alicia because there are too many A’s in their names.  AJ vs. Alicia to start us off and that doesn’t last long as it’s off to Kaitlyn.  She’s downright passable in the ring now which is a miracle by comparison.  Kaitlyn gets a side slam for two and everything breaks down.  Never mind though as Alicia gets the axe kick to Kaitlyn and we’re done at 1:37.  That was the only major move the heels hit the entire time.

Henry says he’ll win and he’s NOT boring or irrelevant.

Macho Man tribute video.  That’s the only one that has ever gotten to me.

Sheamus vs. Mark Henry vs. Christian

 

Winner gets Orton next week apparently and not at Capitol Punishment.  Booker picks Sheamus.  Everyone goes at it at once to start but the monsters take Christian down quickly.  Cole is being a jerk again here and picks Sheamus also.  The double teaming continues but Christian slides to the floor.  Sheamus goes after him but is sent into the steps.  I’ll give him this: Sheamus isn’t a cowardly heel.  That’s a big plus for him.

Henry takes over on Christian with his basic variety of move, standing on his chest.  The referee can be heard saying he can’t break it because there are no rules and therefore no counting.  Sheamus pops back in and rolls up Christian for two as Henry is knocked down to the floor.  Sheamus sets for the Brogue Kick but Christian hits the Killswitch out of nowhere, only for Henry to make the save.

Here comes Orton after about three and a half minutes and we take a break.  Back with Henry pounding on Christian.  Josh makes an interesting comment that this is Henry and Christian against Sheamus.  Bear hug to the Canadian but Sheamus comes back in.  The monsters go at it until Henry grabs a belly to belly and heaves Sheamus back out to the floor.  Cool looking move.

Christian is taken down by Henry just ramming into him which gets two.  Christian avoids a drop down and hits a pair of middle rope dropkicks to take the big fat tub of goo down.  Sheamus pops up to take Christian down off the top and then hammers on Sheamus.  He’s an equal opportunity heel I guess.  Christian and Sheamus hammer away at each other on the top and down goes the pale one, but Christian jumps into a World’s Strongest Slam for two.

Booker says we’re like 18 minutes into this.  By my math it’s more like 12 but when has wrestling ever had adequate watches?  Henry is sent to the floor and the High Cross (name changed again) is countered into a pendulum kick.  Tornado DDT gets two.  Henry takes out Orton for no apparent reason but gets sent into Sheamus by Christian.  Spear takes down Sheamus but Orton comes in for an RKO to Henry.  The distraction lets Sheamus kick out and Christian yells at the referee just long enough to let Sheamus kick his head off for the pin at 11:38 shown of 15:08.

Rating: B-. Not too bad here as they kept Sheamus kind of in the middle and gave us a nice surprise at the end.  This not being for the PPV title shot is a nice touch as it’ll probably set up Christian running in to set up Christian vs. Orton III at Capitol Punishment.  Either way, not bad at all here with a decent triple threat match, even though I’m beyond sick of them.

Overall Rating: B. I liked it here as Smackdown continues their no nonsense road (more often than not) which works rather well.  A key thing to Smackdown: their pacing is great.  You never go more than about five minutes between matches and even though they’re short, they all have a point and address something else.  They had six matches, same as Impact, two of which didn’t last two minutes, and yet they had more wrestling and nothing stupid.  It’s the difference in how you run a TV show and the differences are striking.  Pretty good show but not great here, as is usual for Smackdown.

Results

Sin Cara b. Chavo Guerrero – Headscissors into a mat slam

Daniel Bryan b. Cody Rhodes – LeBell Lock

Ezekiel Jackson b. Heath Slater via DQ when Corre interfered

Kane b. Great Khali – Top rope clothesline

Alicia Fox/Tamina b. AJ/Kaitlyn – Axe kick to Kaitlyn

Sheamus b. Christian and Mark Henry – Brogue Kick to Christian

Smackdown
Date: May 20, 2011
Location: American Bank Center Arena Corpus Christi, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Booker T, Josh Matthews

We have one more show before Over the Limit and this is it.  I wouldn’t expect much tonight other than a final push to the PPV as the card seems to be mostly set already.  Orton and Christian will likely have some more interaction tonight but other than that I don’t know of anything that’s likely to happen.  Anyway, let’s get to it.

Do You Know Your Enemy?  Mine at the moment is a bad cough that I’ve had all week.

Orton vs. Henry tonight.

Christian vs. Sheamus

 

We get an old school inset promo from Sheamus as he comes to the ring where he says it took Christian 15 years to win a world title and it took him two months.  Rather true actually.  Sheamus uses power to take over early and Christian is in trouble.  Christian manages to send the pale dude to the floor but gets caught by a shoulder through the ropes.

Christian speeds things up as we hit the floor.  And never mind as we go back into the ring and Sheamus shoves him off the top to the floor and we take a break.  Back with Sheamus getting a powerslam for two.  Off to a chinlock by Sheamus as they rest a bit.  Reverse DDT gets two for Christian as does a cross body.  Middle rope elbow looks to set up the Killswitch but Christian walks into the Irish Curse for two.

Tornado DDT by Christian as this is a rather nice TV match so far.  That only gets two though because regular moves can’t get pins remember?  Finishers only.  Sheamus is knocked to the apron and hits a slingshot shoulder block to get two as well.  And scratch what I said about finishers only as Christian grabs a small package for the pin at 8:43 shown on 12:13.

Rating: B-. The ending was a bit abrupt but this was a pretty solid opening match.  Sheamus tends to work rather well with guys a bit smaller than him and this was no exception.  Solid back and forth match here but the ending left a bit to be desired with it seeming to not follow the buildup it had for the most part.  Still good overall though.

Henry comes out for the double beatdown post match.  Orton comes out very slowly for the save but watches a bit first.  So Orton is a voyeur now?

Long video on Miz vs. Cena on Sunday.

We run down the rest of the card for Sunday to fill in more time.  Brie Bella is defending against Kelly Kelly apparently.

Speaking of the Bellas they’re in the back and Grisham asks them about the beatdown on Monday from Kharma.  Brie is asked why she let Nikki get beaten down and they get in an argument about why they let each other get beaten down.  They agree that they would have done the same thing in each other’s place so this is totally pointless.

Natalya vs. Brie Bella

 

Non-title here as I guess Natalya is now just there to fill in a space.  Booker rambles on about biscuits and butter and Kharma as even Josh laughs at how out there he sounds.  Natalya takes her down with relative ease and gets two.  What looks like a Boston Crab can’t go on so Brie takes over, working on the arm.  Discus lariat gets two for Natalya as this is a rather boring match with the fans totally dead.  Delayed vertical suplex gets no cover.  Brie sends her shoulder first into the corner and gets a horrible looking X-Factor for the pin at 3:01.

Rating: D-. Yeah shockingly enough a match with one of the Bellas was junk.  The only thing they’re good for is shaking their hips and their in ring work proves that.  This was another weak Divas match as Nattie is now losing clean to Brie Bella of all people.  It never ceases to amaze me how fast a long running champion can fall like that.

We talk about Big Zeke getting thrown out of Corre and he’ll be here next.

Here’s Jackson who says he came to SD to write a new chapter in the Book of Ezekiel.  He joined the Corre to make an impact and talks about how Corre took over.  Not really but we’ll go with that.  He wants to know if Corre needed him or if he needed Corre.  The last two weeks he’s taken a beating but they can’t break him.  He’s not going to sleep until they’ve all suffered.

Here comes Corre for the beatdown but Teddy interrupts them and makes a six man tag.

Corre vs. Ezekiel Jackson/Kane/Big Show

 

Slater is in tights now instead of trunks.  Show starts for the Bald Brotherhood to face Gabriel.  The title match on Sunday is against Ryan and Punk.  Why would it be against them when McGillicutty and Otunga beat the champions?  Why am I trying to make sense of this?  Kane comes in as this has been one sided so far.  Off to Slater whose luck is about the same.  Booker wants to step outside with Cole.  I guess he’s afraid to cross the street and needs Cole to hold his hand.

Barrett gets the tag and is rather skeptical to face Kane so he gets Jackson instead.  Barrett beats him down but can’t suplex him.  Jackson clotheslines him to the floor as we take a break.  Back with Jackson running over Gabriel and it’s off to Big Show.  Showstopper (standing leg drop if I remember the name correctly) puts Gabriel down as does something resembling a superkick.

Back to Jackson as the beating continues.  Totally one sided so far.  Barrett comes in and has the best luck so he tags out to Slater immediately.  Jackson runs over Slater now and Kane adds the top rope clothesline.  Sidewalk slam gets two but Barrett pulls the top rope down to send Kane to the floor.  Corre takes over as Slater throws on a chinlock which gets him nowhere.

Kane suplexes his way out of it but Barrett stops the tag.  Double big boot puts both guys

down and it’s back off to Slater again.  Big uppercut puts Heath down and a double tag brings in Gabriel and Jackson.  All Big Zeke here but everything breaks down quickly.  Jackson slams Gabriel about four times and a torture rack (love that move for Jackson) ends this at 8:10 shown of 11:40.

Rating: C. Just a six man here with the good guys dominating almost the entire time.  I’m skeptical about who wins both title matches on Sunday but it’s not like this told us anything about the tag champions really.  Either way, not a terrible match but just kind of there really.  Zeke having a new finisher is definitely a good thing for him though as he really needed one and a Torture Rack is perfect.

 

Christian suggests we look at some tape from earlier which is Orton taking his time getting down there for the save.  He’s going to be 100% on Sunday.

This isn’t from the show but as I’m reviewing this news broke that Randy Savage died in a car wreck.  That completely blew me away and I have no idea what to even think about it.  Sad indeed.

Chavo Guerrero vs. Daniel Bryan

 

Pre match Chavo says that he brought Sin Cara here and how he’s going to beat Bryan in five minutes as opposed to the fifteen it took Cara to do it last week.  Chavo vs. Cara is confirmed for the PPV.  There’s a countdown clock on screen for this.  First minute passes with nothing more than basic stuff.  Bryan gets a dropkick and drop toehold to take over.  Chavo gets his feet up in the corner to get two with 3:25 to go.

Booker and Cole get into it again as has become a tradition on Fridays anymore.  Chavo locks in a reverse chinlock which doesn’t last long.  They exchange rollups and things speed up a bit with about two minutes to go.  Here come the kicks and it’s LeBell Lock time.  He can’t quite get it on so he hits the floor with a minute left.  Big dive to the floor takes Chavo out and the missile dropkick misses with thirty five seconds left.  Chavo goes with Three Amigos with very little time left.  Frog Splash only gets two and the clock runs out at 5:00.

Rating: C+. Pretty clear that we were going with the time limit but that was the point in this case so it’s nothing to complain about.  Chavo as usual works rather well out there and with a guy like Bryan it’s not like they were asking much of him.  This was absolutely fine and it worked rather well indeed.  Good match and nice to see Bryan not get pinned again.

Chavo throws him to the floor post match and Sin Cara comes out for the save, hitting a rana to send Chavo to the floor.

 

Here’s Cody with Ted for the paper bag thing.  PLEASE tell me they’re not reforming Legacy and messing up Cody’s push for the sake of a weak tag team.  Cody gets a bag especially for Ted who doesn’t want to put it on but does anyway.  It turns out to be a joke for the sake of making fun of Corpus Christi as Ted speaks in a bad Mexican accent.  The fans boo and Cody yells at them to put the bags on.  Ted takes the bag off and says bring out his opponent.

Ted DiBiase vs. Trent Barreta

 

Ted hammers him back into the corner as I think we have a squash on our hands here.  Apparently Cody called Ted a shrub or something, meaning his career has fallen apart.  Trent takes Ted down with a standing Swanton for two.  Enziguri has Ted staggering but a tornado DDT is countered into a sitout powerbomb.  Dream Street ends this clean in 1:25 for no rating of course.  Trent gets paper bagged post match.

Great Khali vs. Jey Uso

 

What do you think is going to happen here?  No Singh with Khali here.  Jey tries to get some kicks in but Khali throws him around.  A dropkick sends Khali into the corner and here’s Jinder Mahal to yell at Khali some more.  Khali goes to the floor to stare him down and almost gets counted out because of it.  Back in the chop and Khali Bomb ends this at 2:05.  Total squash for all intents and purposes.  Someone, perhaps Jimmy Uso, comes in and gets chopped also as he checks on Jey.

Apparently Christian said he’ll be 100%.  Orton says that’s not going to be enough.

Randy Orton vs. Mark Henry

 

Henry takes him back into the corner to start and the power game takes over rather quickly.  The less orange than usual Orton is sent to the floor and the beating continues.  Back in and Orton gets a few shots in and a dropkick sends Henry to the floor.  Back with another dropkick doing the same.  It was one of those commercials where nothing changed so I’m not adding the time to the clock.

Back in and Henry gets a powerslam for no cover as Booker freaks out.  Oh there’s the cover but there was a delay in between.  Henry shouts that he owns Orton.  I wonder if he sees fried chicken when he looks at Orton.  Off to an armbar because when you think big, strong, mad, ticked off Texan, you think armbar.  Orton hits the rope and runs over Henry and adds some knee drops to take over.

The Garvin Stomp begins as it amazes me that he’s stealing stuff from Ronnie Freaking Garvin.  Dude, were there no Kansas Jayhawk moves available?  Henry hits the floor to avoids the RKO but gets caught in position for the elevated DDT.  And never mind as here’s Sheamus for the DQ at 5:45.

Rating: C-. Not much of a main event at all here but at the same time they were just doing this for the save at the end which is fine.  Henry is a guy that I do not get the point in but he’s gotten pushes for nearly 15 years now so there you are.  Anyway, weak match for the most part and nothing of note at all as it was more there to set up an angle rather than be a match but whatever.

Christian does the same thing that Orton did earlier and waits a bit on the stage before coming in for the save.  Randy is all ticked off about the delay but Christian is like dude I was having an awesome game of Parcheesi with Corre.  Anyway the monsters come in again and get beaten down.  RKO to Henry sets up a handshake to end the show.

Overall Rating: C. Not much here but we did get two additional matches for the PPV.  There was no real feeling here of needing to see anything but they played up some of the PPV matches with the emphasis being on the world title, which is exactly what they needed to do.  I can’t imagine that Christian will get the title back on Sunday but they’ve at least made it seem possible which is the right idea.  Not bad, but nothing special at all.

Results

Christian b. Sheamus – Small Package

Brie Bella b. Natalya – Faceplant

Ezekiel Jackson/Kane/Big Show b. Corre – Torture Rack to Gabriel

Daniel Bryan vs. Chavo Guerrero went to a time limit draw

Ted DiBiase b. Trent Barreta – Dream Street

Randy Orton b. Mark Henry via DQ when Sheamus interfered