Money in the Bank 2012
Date: July 15, 2012
Location: US Airways Center, Phoenix, Arizona
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, Booker T

It’s amazing how a year can change things. A year ago this was the hottest show in the world but now this is just another show. There’s nothing going on with this show that is going to overshadow what happens on the 1000th Raw. The main events tonight are the two ladder matches and the two world title matches. That’s the extent of the card so all four matches are main events. Let’s get to it.

Note that I’ll be watching this a few hours after it aired so I already know the endings. I had some issues avoiding spoilers, but the final three matches were all reviewed live.

Kofi Kingston/R-Truth vs. Hunico/Camacho

Pre-show match. This is non-title for no reason whatsoever that I can tell. I get that Hunico and Camacho aren’t the number one contenders, but MAYBE THEY SHOULDN’T BE IN THIS MATCH THEN. Truth and Hunico start with Hunico running off Little Jimmy. Hunico’s music starts playing for a few seconds after the bell for some reason. Truth does his dance and works on the arm before bringing in Kofi. Kofi snaps off a rana for two and brings back Truth for a backbreaker for two.

Off to Camacho who hits a butterfly suplex for two. Hunico comes back in with a slingshot hilo for two. Truth hits the spinning forearm to put both guys down and there’s the hot tag to Kofi. He flies around well enough to clean a few rooms but Hunico ducks the kick and takes out Kingston’s knee. Kofi goes for a springboard but Camacho kicks the ropes out to break it up and take over.

Camacho back in now and he pounds down the speedy one (Kofi) on the middle rope. Some headbutts from Camacho (he’s Tongan/Samoan so that has to be expected) puts Kofi into the corner and it’s back to Hunico. He hooks a chinlock followed by a lifting powerbomb for two. Kofi gets sent into the corner but he comes out with a gorgeous rana to send Hunico down. There’s the tag to Truth and he goes nuts. A DDT gets two on Camacho and everything breaks down. Little Jimmy (move, not person) hits Camacho for the pin at 8:22.

Rating: C-. This was a tag match and that’s about all I’ve got for it. That being said, it was a good choice for a pre-show match as it was good enough to get the crowd going thanks to Kofi’s jumping, but it wasn’t good enough that it took away from later matches. Again though, why in the world wasn’t this the tag title match? The belts don’t mean anything so why not put them here?

Time for the real show now.

No video for some reason.

Smackdown World Title Money In The Bank: Christian vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Tensai vs. Santino Marella vs. Tyson Kidd vs. Damien Sandow vs. Sin Cara

The ring nearly clears out to start and it’s Tensai in control. He cleans house and heads out to get the first ladder. Kidd is down in the corner so Tensai slingshots him into a ladder draped over the middle rope. Tensai goes after Christian so Christian and Kidd team up to squash him with some ladders. Christian decks Kidd and goes up but here’s Santino for the save. Kidd goes up as well but Sandow shoves all three over.

Cody and Ziggler come in now and Ziggler gets rammed into the ladder face first. Ziggler will have none of that and sends Cody into the ladder as well. If this was a year ago that would have gotten a much better reaction. It’s Cara’s turn to go crazy now and he snaps off a bunch of ranas. After the one to Cody, Rhodes is holding his knee. Cara goes up after Ziggler and they badly botch something with both guys falling to the mat.

Kidd vs. Cara now and Kidd gets sunset flipped down for a cover because Cara is confused. Cara slams him onto a ladder but Christian takes him down. Captain Charisma tries a frog splash but it only hits ladder. Cody pops up but gets taken down by a springboard dropkick from Kidd. With everyone down, Santino goes up but Tensai grabs him for a powerbomb. That doesn’t actually happen as Tensai falls backwards and Santino almost lands on the ladder. The botches are mounting up quickly.

Kidd sends Tensai to the floor and hits a dive to take out the Big Bald. Sandow goes up but Cara makes a save. That gets him nowhere as Cara is knocked down again and it’s Sandow going up again. Christian makes the save and gets his hand on the case, but Sandow takes him down again. Christian counters being rammed into the ladder in the corner and hits the reverse DDT to take Sandow down. He charges into a knee from Sandow, but hits the spear a few seconds later, sending Sandow into the ladder.

Christian goes up but Ziggler and Cody slams him into the ladder to make the save. They both go up and Ziggler gets rammed face first into the ladder. Tensai pulls Cody down and locks him in the Tree of Woe, only to have Kidd make the save. The Canadian is sent down and it’s Cara/Santino for the save. They get knocked down too so here’s Christian with some ladder shots to put Tensai back on the mat.

Ziggler sends Christian to the floor and it’s time for Santino to go insane. He hits his usual stuff on Ziggler and loads up the Cobra to take out Ziggler. Santino goes up but gets scared of heights. The Cobra makes him climb and takes out Sandow, but Cody dropkicks Santino, sending both him and the ladder down. Cody (whose leg appears to be fine now) throws a ladder at Santino and sets up another one in the middle of the ring.

Cody goes up and Vickie climbs the ladder to stop him. Ziggler makes a fast climb and hits the Zig Zag off the ladder to pull Cody down. Christian makes the last minute save and Sandow climbs another ladder. All three are up there so Kidd springboards in and takes Ziggler down in an awesome spot. Christian slams a ladder into Sandow’s face and they both go to the floor.

Tensai comes back and goes insane, setting up a ladder between the announce table and the ring. Cara gets powerbombed onto it ala last year, followed by Ziggler getting launched over the announce table in a cool looking power display by Tensai. Cody pops up from the middle of nowhere and hits a pair of Disaster Kicks to put Tensai down.

Kidd and Rhodes go up the ladder but Christian climbs another ladder. Cody drops Kidd but Christian spears Cody off the ladder. Christian and Santino go up but Marella is knocked down. Ziggler runs up from out of nowhere, sends Christian into another ladder and pulls down the case for the win at 18:23.

Rating: B-. There was only so much they could do here with eight people and that’s what really brought things down here. With eight people, there aren’t enough spots to go around and it catches up to them every year. Sandow wasn’t needed here and I don’t think Cara was either. Neither guy really did much in the match but they didn’t bring it down either. The botches hurt it too, making this a pretty good match but more of a mess than anything else.

Sheamus talks about how Alberto slammed a car hood on his back. Sheamus’ dad taught him that you can tell a lot about a man by the car he drives. He isn’t much to look at, but he has it under the hood. Oh and Ricardo is a spare tire.

The Miz is back. He has very slicked back hair and talks about being gone due to filming a movie. He’s tired of being overlooked, so tonight he’s adding himself into the Raw World title MITB match.

Mick Foley winning the world title on January 4, 1999 is a Raw moment.

We recap Del Rio vs. Sheamus. The idea here is that Del Rio is finally getting his one on one shot and it’s his destiny. Sheamus has a bad shoulder and some other injuries after being attacked by Del Rio over the last few months.

Smackdown World Title: Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio

After some big match intros (complete with an old school weapons check) we’re ready to go. Sheamus knocks him to the floor and it’s time to stall. Back in and Del Rio gets knocked to the corner but he grabs the arm to take over. Scratch the taking over part as Sheamus hits an elbow to the face for two. Del Rio charges into another boot and a knee to the head gets two. Sheamus lowers his head and gets kicked in the face followed by a dropkick.

The champ still won’t have anything like that as he rams Del Rio into the buckle and suplexes him into the ring. Top rope shoulder gets two. Ricardo earns his paycheck with a distraction, allowing Del Rio to hit an enziguri to put Sheamus on the floor. There’s a shot to the shoulder and Del Rio takes over. A top rope dropkick gets two on Sheamus and it’s off to an armbar. Alberto hits a DDT on the arm for two and he slaps Sheamus in the back of the head a bit.

Del Rio cranks on the arm some more and hits a high kick for two. After a little more time in the armbar, Sheamus hits a neckbreaker to give himself a breather. It’s followed up by some ax handles to the face but Sheamus charges into the post. After a headbutt it’s time for the cross armbreaker, but Sheamus escapes. The slingshot shoulder is countered into a Codebreaker to the arm for two. The champ comes back with a knee lift and powerslam for two out of nowhere.

Sheamus hits the ten forearms to the chest but Del Rio drapes the arm over the top. Alberto charges right into the Irish Curse for two. Regal Roll is broken up and Sheamus charges into a boot. Brogue Kick misses and Del Rio hits a Backstabber for two. The enziguri in the corner misses and there’s White Noise. Brogue Kick retains the title clean at 14:24.

Rating: C+. It’s no wonder this title is treated like a midcard title: there’s nothing here at all. There was almost no heat on this match and while it was ok, this felt like a TV main event instead of a PPV world title match. The feud feels thrown together and that’s not what you want for a match like this. Or maybe it’s that no one cares about Del Rio at all.

Post match Ricardo and Del Rio jump Sheamus, so here’s Ziggler with his case. After Del Rio is sent away, Sheamus kicks Dolph’s head off before the bell so there’s no match.

We get a promo from the pre-show from Bryan, who says he and AJ are soul mates.

Truth and Kofi come out to watch the next match.

Prime Time Players vs. Epico/Primo

Epico and Primo now have massive bibs with their names on them. AW is mic’d up again and it’s Primo vs. Titus to start. Titus takes over as Kofi calls Titus a horse. Off to Young as the crowd is DEAD. Primo hits a sweet headscissors out of the corner and it’s off to Epico. Primo launches himself at Young on the floor and Titus is sent out after him. Epico hits a huge dive to take out all of them.

Back in and Epico hits a slingshot hilo for two on Young. Back to Titus as AW continues to not have much to say. Oh scratch that as he wants a round of applause for his guys. Titus rams Epico into the post and works on the back in the ring. Young comes in again and dances a bit. He gets Epico on the apron and AW stops things to work on Young’s hair. Back to Titus for some backbreakers and a fallaway slam for two.

Titus stops to dance which causes Rosa to dance and get the crowd to make the first noise of this match. It also allows for the ice cold tag to Primo. He cleans house and hits a springboard chop and a springboard flip dive for two on Young. The hip attack to Young while Young is in 619 position sets up another springboard crossbody, but Primo dives into a gutbuster from Darren. Not that it matters as Primo rolls up Young for the pin at 9:30.

Rating: D+. I get that this is filler, but what in the world are they going for with these matches? The Players are the #1 contenders but now they’re losing to the former champions. I mean, it’s not like they’re getting their title shot anytime soon, but why would we want to see that anyway? There’s been almost no interaction between the teams and we barely ever see the champs anymore.

Post match the losers and the champs have a staredown and Truth throws water on AW. No physical contact is made. Again, why would you have the Players lose here, unless you want to make a three way feud?

We recap Punk vs. Bryan. This is all about AJ, as she’s gone nuts and is guest referee here. She seemingly loves both guys and there’s no real way to know who she’s going to side with tonight. Unless you’re on the writing/booking team for WWE but that’s a small group of people indeed.

AJ says both guys have hurt her.

Raw World Title: Daniel Bryan vs. CM Punk

This is now No DQ, Punk is defending and AJ is guest referee. Punk takes him to the mat and fires off some quick kicks. They head outside and Bryan gets rammed into the apron, only for Punk to get rammed into the barricade and kicked in the chest. Back in and Bryan fires off the YES kicks but gets rolled up for two. Bryan pounds away in the corner and they chop it out. That evolves into a strike off and the champion takes over.

A backbreaker looks to set up a middle rope legdrop but Bryan moves, followed by more YES kicks. They head to the floor again and Punk takes over, sending Bryan into the barricade again. Punk accidentally elbows AJ in the face, sending her out to the floor. The champ goes to check on her and Bryan uses the distraction to hit the running knee off the apron to take Punk down.

Punk gets draped over the steps on the floor and Bryan fires off more kicks. Punk comes back and sends Bryan into the timekeeper’s table. This is a back and forth match the entire time so far. The fans want tables because they’re greedy people. Punk pulls one out from under the ring but Bryan slams him down on the outside. Bryan finds a kendo stick and pounds away on the ribs of the champion. Punk rolls away and gets back inside while Bryan is still on the floor.

Back in and Punk gets the stick for a second, only for Bryan to go back to the ribs. Punk loads up a springboard but Bryan hits Punk in the ribs with the stick to take him down. Bryan fires away with stick shots to the ribs, complete with YES shouts. Those shots get two with the regular referee having taken over inside. Daniel goes up but the swan dive misses, putting both guys down.

They trade kicks and then forearms but it’s a leg lariat from Punk that takes Bryan down. Punk comes back with a running knee to the head and the snap powerslam for two. GTS and YES Lock are both countered and another GTS attempt is countered into a rana for two. Bryan kicks the champ’s head off and both guys are down. Bryan pops him in the back with a kendo stick and puts on a surfboard.

Punk manages to get to the kendo stick and beats the fire out of Bryan with it but can only get two. Punk goes up top but Bryan drills him with forearms to the head. Bryan pops up top and hits a superplex to put both guys down again. AJ is back and she sends the regular referee out to the floor. It’s time to skip! AJ pulls out a chair and Bryan crawls to her for it. Instead AJ throws the chair in the middle of the ring and it’s a scramble for it. Isn’t that how the XFL started its games?

Bryan gets in a kick to the ribs and pounds away on Punk with the chair for a close two. Bryan tries to talk to AJ calmly but it gets him rolled up for two by the champ. Daniel fires off more kicks to the chest of Punk and Punk can barely sit up in the corner. Bryan gets a running start but Punk comes out with a clothesline. Now Punk has the chair and blasts Bryan with it before wedging it between the top and middle ropes.

Punk goes to get Bryan to ram him into the chair, but AJ is standing in front of the chair. As Punk yells at her, Bryan comes up from behind and dropkicks Punk into the corner but not necessarily into the chair. Bryan goes to get the kendo stick but AJ is standing on it. She gives him a psycho stare and Bryan gives up. He walks into the high kick though and Punk slams Bryan onto the chair. The top rope elbow misses and the elbow hits the chair. Bryan throws on the YES Lock and grabs the stick at the same time to choke away.

Punk somehow bends back and blasts Bryan in the knee with the stick, followed by a GTS, but the champion can’t follow up. The GTS eventually gets two so Punk brings in a table. Punk loads up the elbow through the table but Bryan crotches Punk and hammers away. Punk slips down off the ropes and crotches Bryan at the same time. He pounds away with elbows and a belly to back superplex through the table FINALLY pins Bryan to retain the title.

Rating: A. This was GREAT at the end as I was hanging on every count of every near fall. That was a great match all the way through, but were you expecting anything else with these two having nearly half an hour? The major problem here though is the lack of AJ involvement. She basically did nothing other than blocking a weapon shot either way, and the ending was about the wrestling instead of her. That’s fine on paper, but we’ve spent two months building her up as the key to this whole thing. Still though, the match was more than enough to make up for that.

Ryback vs. Curt Hawkins/Tyler Reks

This was a pretty obvious pick. The “stars” have to tag here. Hawkins starts and pain follows. He gets sent to the floor and tags in Reks, who manages to take Ryback down for no count. Hawkins back in now and Ryback is actually in trouble. A double team actually gets one as Ryback is being beaten down. A gordbuster by Hawkins gets two. Reks comes in again and Ryback wakes up. The annoying fans chant Goldberg because Goldberg is the only wrestler to ever be pushed as a monster. The clothesline puts Hawkins down and Reks is Shell Shocked for the pin at 4:21.

Rating: D+. Nothing much here but they had to give Ryback more of a challenge eventually and that’s what happened here. Hawkins and Reks aren’t much, but they’re better than random jobbers. WWE has a huge roster, so there’s no reason to not use some of them against Ryback. At least it’s better than squash after squash.

Jericho debuting on Raw is a moment. That’s a good one for a change.

Layla/Kaitlyn/Tamina vs. Natalya/Beth Phoenix/Eve Torres

When you have a seven match card and three are added the day of the show, you may be having some issues. Natayla and Tamina start us off as I guess Natalya is a heel again. Kaitlyn comes in with a cross body for two and it’s off to Beth. They trade slaps so here’s Eve, getting a slap of her own from Kaitlyn. Eve goes to the corner but comes out with a kick to the head for two. Beth comes in and chokes but it’s off to Layla. A sunset flip gets two for the champ (Layla) and everything breaks down. Tamina superkicks Beth into the Layout for the pin at 3:20.

Rating: D. Why do the Divas wrestle? Honestly, I’d like an answer to that question. There are so many people you could send out there that would have something better to offer in the future, but we have to sit through this stuff instead. The girls are hot but they can’t wrestle. Cut down the roster to a few good looking ones and stop having them wrestle. Make two divisions if nothing else: models and wrestlers. It can’t be that hard.

Raw World Title Money In The Bank: John Cena vs. Kane vs. The Miz vs. Big Show vs. Chris Jericho

Main event time. So the ideas here are that Cena has never been in one of these before, Show is “unstoppable”, Jericho is the originator of these matches, and that’s about it. Jericho, Miz and Kane go to the floor quickly and Cena clotheslines Show to the outside. Show sends Jericho into the ladder and Miz goes for the case, only to be stopped by Cena. Show clears the ring but here’s Kane to slow him down. That gets him nowhere and Miz goes down too.

Jericho comes in and grabs a quick Codebreaker to put Show down and Miz hits a DDT on him too. Kane boots Show to the floor and Cena is waiting. He hits a HUGE AA through the table and all four guys bury Show with ladders. All this has happened in the first four minutes of the match or so. Jericho is like screw this teamwork stuff and hits everyone with a ladder before going for a climb. Miz makes the save but gets put in the Walls for his efforts.

Kane breaks that up for some reason and Jericho has to fight him off. Miz goes up but Jericho makes the save after knocking Cena off the apron with a ladder shot. Jericho is going up but Cena makes the save. Now Miz goes up but Kane throws a ladder at his back to put him down. Jericho stops Kane but Miz and Jericho combine to suplex Kane onto a ladder. Cena lays both of them out with shoulders and it’s a double Shuffle.

Kane comes back in and tries a chokeslam, but Cena escapes and hits the AA onto Miz onto a ladder. Chris takes Cena down and lays out everyone else, but here comes Big Show again. Show literally snaps the braces off the middle of the ladder with his bare hands and crushes Jericho between the legs of the ladder. Kane gets a ladder thrown on him and Miz gets chopped in the chest through the ropes. Cena gets crushed behind a ladder and Show throws a second ladder over the top rope and down onto Miz. There’s a pile of about eight ladders at ringside.

Show goes to the floor and pulls out the jumbo ladder from last year. After taking forever to set it up, Show makes the slow climb up, but Kane goes up the other side. Apparently he uses his powers of mesmerizing because Show stops dead when Kane is looking at him. Kane gets chokeslammed down but here comes Cena. John gets sent down as well so here’s Jericho with a chair.

A trio of shots finally takes Show off the ladder and it’s Jericho vs. Cena on the ladder. They bat the case back and forth until Cena loads up an AA on top of the ladder. Jericho escapes and hooks a sleeper, causing Cena to climb down instead. Actually scratch that as Cena climbs back up with Jericho on his back, but he finally goes out. Miz tries to sneak up but Jericho knocks him back down. Cena gets a hand on the case but he goes down again. The hold is broken and Jericho goes up, but Miz runs up the ladder and they’re fighting for the case.

Jericho is higher up so Miz knocks him back and Jericho is dangling. Miz pulls him back to the ladder and loads up a superplex, but here’s Show again. Jericho looks terrified so Show drills him in the head. Miz takes a punch as well but Cena runs the ladder and blocks the punch with the case. He blasts Show in the head with it enough times to knock Show down and Cena wins at 20:07.

Rating: B. This was as good as you would expect with the talent in there. The ending with everyone not named Kane fighting on the ladder was very cool, with someone being on the ladder for the better part of five minutes. Blocking the punch with the case was a good idea too, and Cena is really the right choice for this as no one else would have made sense. Good stuff here and a good way to end the show.

Cena’s face when he wins is hilarious as he looks so happy.

Overall Rating: B+. The matches that needed to hit did so very well, but there were some dull parts here. When you have a seven match card and three of the matches are added the day of the show, you can tell that there’s something going wrong. That being said, the show was very entertaining and that’s what a show like this is supposed to be. It’s nowhere near what last year’s show was, but given the lower level Raw and Smackdown are at at the moment, I can’t complain here at all.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Smackdown
Date: July 20, 2012
Location: Valley View Casino Center, San Diego, California
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews, Booker T

It’s just after MITB and the only major change is that Ziggler is the MITB case holder for this show. Other than that we’re just in a holding pattern tonight as everything is likely to be shoved forward on Monday at the 1000th Raw. I’d be surprised if we found out anything about Summerslam tonight but it’s possible. Let’s get to it.

Do you know your enemy? Mine is currently Pandora charm bracelets.

Here’s the freshly returned Rey Mysterio to open things up. We’re in his hometown tonight so you know the pop is big. We get a quick recap of Alberto injuring him in this arena a year ago but now he’s back here with his family. He couldn’t wait for tonight to get back which is why he was there on Raw, and Alberto being there just made the whole thing sweeter.

Cue Alberto who calls Rey a chihuahua and says that Rey is back, only to get hurt again. Alberto says that he could hurt Rey all over again but instead he’ll just let Rey leave. Rey says no way so Alberto says whatever and starts talking about Sheamus. Rey says that at MITB, Sheamus beat up Del Rio. Del Rio says that he’ll be the next world champion, and here’s Ziggler.

Dolph talks about winning the case and about how he was going to cash in on Sunday which would make him the World Heavyweight Champion right now. Del Rio says that he’s loco and challenges Dolph for a fight right now, along with his burra (female donkey) Vickie. Rey says get it on right now but Dolph suggests he and Del Rio team up against Rey. Cue Sheamus and I think I know where this is going. Sheamus says that if Ziggler takes another step towards Rey, the briefcase is going up his trunk and he’ll drive Dolph into the Pacific Ocean. Del Rio runs so Ziggler gets an ax handle to the face and almost a 619.

After a break the tag match is announced. If you don’t know what I mean, go read something else.

Prime Time Players/Hunico/Camacho vs. Primo/Epico/Kofi Kingston/R-Truth

Hunico and Epico get things going with things moving very quickly. Hunico slams him face first into the mat but is quickly pulled down into an armbar. Off to Primo for a dropkick and more armbaring, this time on Camacho. A blind tag brings in Truth for some gyrations and a spinning legdrop. Everything breaks down and we take a break. Back with Kofi getting tagged in to beat on Camacho. The Boom Drop hits but Hunico breaks up Trouble in Paradise, allowing Camacho to hit a spinebuster on the flippy Jamaican.

Off to Hunico with a slingshot hilo for two. Titus comes in and slams Kofi down for two before hooking an abdominal stretch. Young comes in but Kofi takes him down with a shot to the face. Hot tag brings in Primo who cleans house. A spinning flip dive off the top takes down Darren and everything breaks down. Titus knocks Primo off the top into the gutbuster from Young for the pin at 6:50 shown of 10:20.

Rating: C. This was fine when you consider how many people were in it. The tag division is actually growing a bit here with four teams to fight each other which is a nice change of pace. Also it’s nice to see at least some of them on TV almost every week. This wasn’t a great match or anything but at least it’s better than nothing.

Big Show comes out post match and cleans house on everyone but the Players. He leaves them all laying with punches and chokeslams before asking for a mic. He says “and what” and leaves.

Jeremy Piven was on Raw once.

We get a LONG recap of Cena’s path to MITB and his promo on Monday, announcing that he’s cashing in at Raw 1000.

Don’t be a bully.

Damien Sandow vs. Zach Ryder

Sandow yells during Ryder’s entrance about how stupid it is so Ryder charges into the ring and it’s on. Ryder pounds him down but Sandow gets in a shot to the head and takes over. Sandow puts Ryder on the apron to drop an elbow as the fans cheer for Zach. Back in and Sandow fires in knees to the ribs, followed by the double arm neckbreaker for the pin at 1:25. Basically a squash.

Time for the Peep Show with Bryan and AJ as the guests. Christian talks about the situation and we get a clip of the proposal from Monday. Here are AJ and Bryan with AJ now in a Bryan top. There’s a ring now on her finger now too. Christian asks about the wedding planning and we get a video of the pair going to various places set to classical music. I miss little videos like this one. Christian asks if Bryan is serious and if AJ has forgiven Bryan for what he did, both of which receive a yes answer.

Christian asks the fans if they think this is true love or if AJ knows what she’s doing. The fans say no, so Christian asks AJ if she knows what she’s doing. That earns Christian a slap and the marriage participants go to leave, but Christian says hang on a sec. Apparently Bryan has a match tonight and it’s with AJ’s psycho ex-boyfriend.

Daniel Bryan vs. Kane

We start the match after a break so that the set can be cleared out. Bryan fires off some YES kicks but Kane knees him in the ribs to break that up. Kane kicks him down for two and puts on a bodyscissors. A backbreaker hits Bryan and Kane bends Bryan’s spine over the knee. Bryan finally gets up and does the backflip out of the corner before taking out Kane’s knee. Here are more kicks but Kane grabs him by the throat.

Chokeslam is broken up and there’s a BIG kick to the head for two. Bryan goes up but jumps into an uppercut for two. Side slam gets two for Kane and the big man goes up, only to jump into a YES Lock attempt. Kane escapes and they head to the floor with Kane accidentally knocking AJ over. Kane goes off on Bryan and sends him into the announce table. Back inside and Kane loads up the chokeslam but AJ jumps on him, drawing the DQ at 5:13.

Rating: C+. I was getting into this one by the end. The ending is annoying but there’s no need to have Bryan get a win before the wedding as that is likely going to end in chaos. These two have some chemistry together and it was here again, which is always a nice thing to see. AJ still being psycho is a good thing too as it’ll play into the wedding on Monday.

AJ stays on Kane’s back and rips at his face. Bryan charges at Kane but gets chokeslammed with AJ still on Kane’s back. AJ gets down in Kane’s face like she’s about to kiss him and gives him the freaky look. Kane looks confused and Bryan pulls AJ out to the floor. Bryan and AJ kiss on the stage.

Here’s Slater again and he has a new legend to face, which is the first time he’s done that on Smackdown. We get a quick video about Heath’s experiences against legends.

Heath Slater vs. Animal

Yes of the Road Warriors. Animal looks OLD. He isn’t fat but he has no muscle definition at all. The match runs 45 seconds and Animal wins with a powerslam and elbow drop.

Ricardo and Vickie are arguing in the back and Vickie screams a lot.

We run down the stuff for Raw 1000.

Alberto Del Rio/Dolph Ziggler vs. Rey Mysterio/Sheamus

During Dolph’s entrance we get a clip from Monday with the Codebreaker to Ziggler. Ziggler and Sheamus start things off and the champ runs him over with a shoulder block. Ziggler goes after Sheamus’ arm which I guess is still injured. Sheamus picks him up and hits a quick Regal Roll for two. The fans want Rey and here he is, hitting a slingshot legdrop for two. Rey is in a t-shirt here which is a different look for him.

Ziggler takes Rey’s head off with a clothesline for two and it’s off to Del Rio. Rey rolls away from Alberto and tags in Sheamus, sending Del Rio to the floor in fear. Ziggler gets caught in the ropes with the ten forearms and is sent to the floor. Sheamus goes out after him but gets dropkicked coming back in as we take a break. Back with Ziggler getting thrown off Sheamus and there’s the tag to Mysterio.

Rey kicks Dolph in the face for two and it’s 619 time. Del Rio kicks Mysterio in the back to break that up though and comes in with a chinlock. Back to Ziggler for some rope choking and an armbar. Alberto comes back in and works on the arm again but allows Rey to get close to a tag. That doesn’t connect though and Rey gets sent into the corner. Rey backdrops Del Rio to the floor but Ziggler comes in and breaks up the tag to Sheamus.

Ziggler picks up Rey but gets caught in a spinning DDT to put both guys down. There’s the hot tag to Sheamus and Del Rio comes in again. Sheamus cleans house on everyone, including sending Del Rio into Ziggler, knocking Ziggler into the announce table. White Noise takes down Del Rio but Ricardo breaks up the Brogue Kick for the DQ at 9:46 shown of 13:46.

Rating: C-. Not much to see here, especially with an ending like that. That’s not much of a return to the ring for Rey as he never even got a hot tag. The ending was stupid too as it’s the second DQ ending in a big match we’ve had tonight. The match wasn’t even that good either as it was a slow paced version of the main event tag. Not horrible though.

Del Rio puts the Armbreaker on Sheamus again before leaving. Ziggler looks like he’s going to cash in but Rey breaks it up. Sheamus kicks Ziggler’s head off to end the show.

Overall Rating: D. And that’s being VERY generous. There was nothing tonight that means anything as Rey’s return was pretty much wasted and it looks like we’re getting more Del Rio vs. Sheamus. That would be fine if it was set up by something different. Instead, Del Rio is going after Sheamus’ arm AGAIN, because that’s how this feud is set up I guess. This show was worthless, but Monday should have a few things on it. Bad show this week and one of the worst in a long time.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Smackdown
Date: July 13, 2012
Location: Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado
Commentators: Michael Cole, Booker T, Josh Matthews

This is the final show before Money in the Bank and most of the show is set. For the short term, tonight Zach Ryder is in charge after winning a battle royal last week. We have another week or two before we get a permanent GM so putting Ryder out here like this is a good idea as it gives him some TV time to remind people that he’s still alive. Let’s get to it.

We open with a clip from Z True Long Island Story of Ryder celebrating his win in the battle royal.

Do you know your enemy? Mine is that extra day off after the All Star Game. What was the point of it?

Here’s Ryder to open the show. He welcomes us to Zach-Down and leads us in a huge fist pump.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Sin Cara

Del Rio makes fun of Ryder so Ryder makes this match. Cara avoids a charging Del Rio but gets taken down by a fast knee for two. The stupid lights are off again. Del Rio takes him down before bending Cara over the middle rope for some choking. Cara avoids a charge in the corner and fires off some kicks. A DDT gets two on Alberto but he comes back with a chop to put Cara down.

Now Del Rio misses a charge of his own and Cara kicks him to the floor. A suicide dive sends Del Rio into the barricade as we take a break. Back with Cara hitting a running kick to the chest for two. Del Rio shrugs that off and grabs the arm as is his custom. He hooks an armbar and cranks on it for a good while. Del Rio misses a charge in the corner (a theme in this match) and Cara snaps off a rana to take over. A spinning DDT gets two for Cara but a Swanton misses. Cross Armbreaker finishes this at 6:40 shown of 10:10.

Rating: C+. This was a better match than I was expecting and Cara looked pretty good in it, but the big issue: why does Cara need to be in here? He’s in the MITB match on Sunday and therefore may be a world title contender in the very near future, but he has to job here. Why? Was there NO ONE else on the roster that Del Rio could have made to tap here? I know I say this a lot but WWE keeps doing it.

We get a quick Tout video from Cena, talking about his favorite Raw moment, which is the night when he was drafter to Raw. This is followed by some fans’ videos. This is going to get old REALLY fast. All of these favorite moments are from the last two years.

Big Show complains to Ryder about how the show is being run. He threatens to knock Ryder out but Khali stops it. Ryder makes a match between the two of them tonight. Khali does Woo Woo Woo.

Primo vs. Darren Young

Young pounds him down to start but Primo comes back with some punches. The running hip attack hits Young while he’s in 619 position but Primo walks into a hot shot. AW is on a mic all of a sudden and says this beatdown is courtesy of All World Enterprises. Young chops away and drops a leg on Primo while he’s on the apron. Back in there’s a regular legdrop and an elbow gets two. AW is playing this role perfectly. Off to a cravate to kill some time but Primo makes a comeback. Young knocks him right back down but he wastes too much time, getting small packaged and pinned clean at 4:08.

Rating: D+. Nothing to see here, but AGAIN, what is the point in having one of your #1 contenders lose here? Young isn’t great on his own, but why did he need to lose here? What does this gain? If my memory is right, the match on the preshow is non-title, so you don’t need to keep the Colons strong. Also why isn’t the tag title match happening there? This makes next to no sense on all fronts.

Did you know: Raw has aired 300 more episodes than Monday Night Football. Yes WWE, it means something that when you air 50 episodes a year, you can beat a show that airs 17 a year. Good job.

Another Raw moment is Edge retiring.

Ryder and Sheamus are doing nothing in the back so Jericho comes up and runs his mouth. Ryder makes them the main event.

Christian/Santino Marella vs. Cody Rhodes/Dolph Ziggler

Christian and Cody start us off and the Canadian is taken down by a shoulder block. Christian comes back and brings in Santino, causing Cody to runs away. Off to Ziggler whose hair is slicked back enough that you could barely tell it was there from behind. Ziggler takes him to the mat and we have no commentary. Santino cranks on the arm and I’d assume the audio being gone is a production thing that will be fixed during the broadcast.

Santino works on the arm and brings in Christian, but it’s back to Cody who takes over. Ziggler comes in and we hit the chinlock for a bit. Back to Cody whose Alabama Slam is countered and Christian hits a flapjack to take over. Hot tag brings in Santino and he cleans house, but Cody breaks up the Cobra. Cody and Christian brawl up the ramp, allowing the Zig Zag to hit Santino for the pin at 4:32.

Rating: C-. Not much to see here and while it’s annoying to have another big name and in this case a champion get beaten here, at least it was by someone that would be in the same match as them on Sunday. Santino is there for comedy anyway so it’s not that big of a deal. Ziggler and Cody are the favorites for the match too so if one of them win, that makes it a bit better.

Raw ReBound is the ending to the show with the tag match and AJ slapping both Bryan and Punk.

Great Khali vs. Big Show

Commentary is back now. They circle each other for a bit and the WMD gets the pin in 33 seconds. I’m so glad they did this aren’t you? One good thing though: Khali has nothing to lose here so the win means something (I guess) and Show looks dominant going into Sunday. Why can’t that be the case in every match?

Ryback vs. Tyler Reks

Makes sense after Hawkins getting beat last week. Ryback throws him around to start and sends Reks to the floor, only to get stunned coming back into the ring. That’s the extent of Reks’ offense here though, as Ryback suplexes him down. Reks gets a right hand to Ryback’s ribs but gets clotheslined right down. Shell Shock gets the pin at 1:50. Handicap match next week?

Hugh Jackman was on Raw once.

Rock will be on the 1000th Raw.

Some fans Tout their favorite Raw moments. They’re all from the Attitude Era other than one from 2007. Again, why am I supposed to care about this stuff?

Justin Gabriel vs. Damien Sandow

Sandow takes him down quickly and hooks a chinlock. Justin makes a short comeback with some strikes but he walks into some knees to the face and the double arm neckbreaker gets the pin at 1:30. Total squash.

We recap the reveal of the Anonymous Raw GM because once just wasn’t enough I guess.

We run down the card for Sunday, all four matches of it.

Sheamus vs. Chris Jericho

Non-title here. Sheamus shoves him into the corner and Jericho slaps him. Sheamus pounds him into another corner and Jericho bails to the floor. Back inside and Jericho gets drilled down again. Jericho gets a boot up and hits a middle rope missile dropkick for two. Sheamus is having none of that and hits the ten forearms before knocking Jericho off the apron and onto the announce table.

We take a break and come back with Jericho kicking Sheamus in the chest. Jericho hooks a chinlock but Sheamus gets up and avoids a charge, sending Jericho’s shoulder into the post. Irish Curse gets two as does the Regal Roll. Jericho tries a quick Codebreaker but Sheamus counters. Brogue Kick gets Sheamus caught in the ropes and Jericho hits the springboard dropkick for two.

Sheamus knocks him down again and loads up the High Cross but Jericho counters into the Walls. Sheamus makes a rope but gets put right back into the hold. Jericho pulls him back into the middle of the ring but Sheamus escapes and White Noise gets two. Brogue Kick misses and the Codebreaker gets two. Sheamus kicks Jericho away and pulls himself to the top but jumps into two knees to the face called the Codebreaker. THAT gets two and Jericho is furious. Jericho tells Sheamus to get up but walks into the Brogue for the pin at 12:00 shown of 15:30.

Rating: B. This was your usual good Smackdown main event. I can live with Jericho living here because he dominated the match and lost on a Hail Mary Brogue Kick from Sheamus. They beat on each other for a long time until it was hard to say who was going to win at the end. That’s hard to do anymore but it worked very well here. Good stuff.

Post breaks here’s Del Rio’s car but Del Rio pops up behind Sheamus and puts him in the armbreaker over the stage. You know, exactly what he was supposed to do a few weeks ago before their other match. Sheamus is in trouble to end the show.

Overall Rating: C. This wasn’t bad, but Smackdown continues to be completely not required wrestling to watch anymore. With all of the recaps on here and the quick squashes other than the main event, there wasn’t much worth seeing. MITB looks like it’s just a bump in the road before the 1000th Raw which is the real major show this month. After that though, it looks like they could be in big trouble. Nothing to see here but it’s nothing too bad. Also, what did Ryder do here other than make like 2 matches?

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Smackdown
Date: July 3, 2012
Location: American Bank Center, Corpus Christi, Texas
Commentators: Booker T, Josh Matthews, Michael Cole

It’s another live show here and in this case it’s the Great American Bash. The main event tonight is a 20 man battle royal with the winner getting to be GM next week on Friday. That’s up in the air and only offers a few interesting options, which means one of them is likely going to win. These shows are very hit and miss so hopefully this is the former of the two. Let’s get to it.

We open in the back with a big party. There are girls in small outfits, Hornswoggle in the tub and Teddy in a Kiss the GM apron. Eve is going to be the cleaning lady tonight. Santino is brought forward to light the barbecue to officially start things off. Teddy and Santino back off from lighting it as Kane is here. He lights the fire for them in a cute bit.

Do You Know Your Enemy? Mine is having guests that are going to keep me from seeing Dark Knight Rises for another week.

Cole says he’s going to get inside AJ’s head tonight.

Here’s Del Rio to open the show. He’s going to talk about himself, namely his match at MITB with Sheamus. Sheamus is going to be sent back to Ireland because he’s just like all these people: a hooligan trying to take advantage of people like Del Rio. Alberto came here legally and is making money both here and in Mexico, unlike everyone here. He wants to send everyone here to the place where they belong, so he asks to see some people’s papers. One guy doesn’t have them so Alberto asks for security to take him out. The guy says this is Texas, not Arizona.

Cue Sheamus for the save and they brawl in the aisle. The champ throws Del Rio off the stage and into the barricade a few times. Ricardo keeps trying to help and eventually it allows Del Rio to kick Sheamus in the head. Ricardo opens the hood and Del Rio slams it down onto Sheamus’ back over and over.

Post break we look at most of the attack all over again. Sheamus is taken out and has some blood coming down his head.

Great Khali/Layla vs. Aksana/Antonio Cesaro

This is punishment from Teddy because he’s a sore loser. The guys start and it’s time for a chop in the corner to Cesaro. Khali misses a big boot and Antonio takes him down in the corner. Khali throws him aruond some more and it’s off to the girls. Layla isn’t exactly Trish or Lita but she’s by far the better in ring worker of the two here. Cesaro breaks up a cover and is thrown to the floor. Layout gets the pin at 1:45, and that means Layla pinned Aksana in case you can’t figure out that LAYla uses the LAYout and you can’t check the results below if you’re not sure.

Cody brags about having another qualifying match later tonight but Teddy informs him that it’s against Christian. Cody isn’t happy.

Raw Moment: Foley wins the title. They spend about as much time talking about WCW spoiling it and 600,000 people changing the channel than about the title change itself.

Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: Cody Rhodes vs. Christian

Non-title. The idea is that Cody has never beaten Christian so he’s in over his head here. Cody sends him to the apron and hits a Disaster Kick for two. Rhodes looks at the case a lot and we take a break. Back with Cody holding a hammerlock before hitting a release gordbuster for two. Christian comes back with a middle rope missile dropkick and gets fired up.

He slingshots to the floor and uppercuts Cody followed by a running seated dropkick. Top rope cross body gets two for the champ. Cody’s Alabama Slam is countered into a sunset flip for two. He goes to unhook the buckle but Christian grabs him with a reverse DDT for two. The spear is countered but Cody misses the Disaster Kick. Killswitch is countered into the Cross Rhodes for the completely clean pin at 9:12.

Rating: C+. Well that was kind of anti-climactic. Naturally there was NO ONE that Cody could beat other than Christian to qualify right? I mean, there was no one else that could job out there other than a champion. The match was good but it makes the title look weak again which they had been changing for awhile.

Backstage Ryder starts a dance party after Slater is run off. Brodus takes center stage.

Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: Dolph Ziggler vs. Alex Riley

Riley immediately hits a great dropkick for a fast two. Ziggler DDTs him down for a fast two and takes over. Riley makes a fast comeback with a clothesline in the corner and a spinebuster for two. The crowd continues to be into Riley which is interesting. Inverted DDT is countered but Ziggler’s Stinger Splash misses, giving Riley a rollup for a close two. Zig Zag gets the pin at 2:28.

Cole is in the ring to interview AJ. That theme song of hers’ is catchy. Cole says he’s fair and balanced, unlike AJ who is clearly unbalanced. We get a long video recapping everything AJ did last night. Cole cuts her off and says AJ wasn’t thinking. He calls her a teenager (she’s 25) and asks if she’s ever thought about pursuing a real man. One with power and influence and a former war correspondent who became the voice of the WWE.

Cue Bryan before this gets too weird. He calls Cole a sexist and says AJ didn’t mean for him to go through a table last night. It was all a misunderstanding. Cue Punk who angrily throws Cole out. He says AJ did something last night that directly affected both Bryan and himself last night. Punk isn’t going to pretend it didn’t happen just because AJ is guest referee. She’s not in a good place mentally and maybe some of that is Punk’s fault. Punk says AJ needs professional help but Bryan cuts him off.

Bryan says that Punk is trying to be tricky because AJ is the guest referee. The only thing Punk cares about is having AJ as guest referee because he needs her to retain the title. AJ kisses Bryan for awhile and Punk shakes his head and leaves. She goes after him and kisses him too. Bryan looks stunned and Punk looks confused. AJ skips off and does a YES chant on the stage.

Santino Marella/Sgt. Slaughter/Jim Duggan vs. Hunico/Camacho/Drew McIntyre

Camacho and Slaughter start things off and it’s quickly off to Santino. He gets in trouble in the evil dirty foreign corner and Drew pounds away a bit. A slam is countered and it’s hot tag to Duggan. There’s the Three Point Clothesline but everything breaks down. The ring is mostly cleared and the Cobra gets the pin on Hunico at 2:25.

Back to the party where Little Jimmy is jumping up and down. Sandow comes in and unplugs the cord. He says this isn’t what our founding fathers fought for. Ryder gets in his face but Sandow has a speech ready. A fight breaks out with the people chanting Ryder. Zach gets the punch bowl but it goes onto Eve. Everyone laughs at her and it’s time to keep dancing.

Hawkins and Reks both think they can beat Ryback but Hawkins won the coin toss and gets to face him.

Ryback vs. Curt Hawkins

Hawkins tries a sleeper but gets caught in the Over the Shoulder Boulder Holder. Ryback slams his head into the mat and hits an overhead choke suplex. Hawkins gets his head taken off by a clothesline and the Shell Shock gets the pin at 1:08.

Sheamus is out of the battle royal tonight.

Raw Moment: Vince Appreciation Night. Donald Trump made it rain money.

Here’s Teddy to thank the fans for letting him be the GM this week.

Battle Royal

Alberto Del Rio, Kane, Jack Swagger, John Cena, Heath Slater, Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, Big Show, Great Khali, Brodus Clay, Damien Sandow, Tensai, Ezekiel Jackson, Justin Gabriel, Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston, Zach Ryder, Santino Marella, Cody Rhodes, Christian

Only the big names get entrances as per usual. At the moment I’m probably missing some names but i’ll fill them in as we go. Show throws out Justin and Brodus quickly. A bunch of people team up to throw out Khali. I’m missing one guy but I’m not sure if Sheamus was replaced or now. Ryder knocks out Sandow and Cody throws out Santino. Oh Christian is #20. Show shoves out Kofi and Cody as we take a break.

Back with ten guys to go as Bryan and Punk slug it out. Bryan stands in front of the ropes and Punk charges at him, eliminating both guys. Ok so we have Kane, Ziggler, Cena, Christian, Del Rio, Tensai, Ryder and Big Show to go. Big Show chokeslams Cena but Kane chokeslams Big Show. Tensai goes after Kane and pounds him into the corner. Cena erupts and beats up everyone before tossing Del Rio. Kane takes an AA but Tensai slows Cena down.

Christian and Ryder work on Big Show but that gets them nowhere. Cena dumps Tensai but Show dumps Cena immediately thereafter. So it’s Big Show, Ryder, Christian, Ziggler and Kane. Show spears Ryder down and easily tosses out Christian to get us down to four. Ziggler puts Show in the sleeper but Kane kicks Show in the head to put them both out.

It’s Ryder vs. Kane now which isn’t the pairing I was expecting. Kane pounds him down but runs into the corner knees and the Broski Boot. Ryder tries the Rough Ryder because he’s not that bright, but he escapes the chokeslams and low bridges Kane for the elimination and the win at 10:50.

Rating: C+. Why not? Seriously, why not? You can’t say this was predictable and it was pretty fun at the same time. Ryder has nothing to do and it’s good to give him a featured spot on next week’s show. This is probably Ryder’s second biggest win ever and maybe it’ll be the start of a new push for him. Nothing special here but I had a good time with it.

Overall Rating: C+. This is one of those shows that’s more based around fun than quality. That’s ok but I’d kind of like to see something that actually matters on Smackdown once in awhile. This felt like any other episode and the live aspect didn’t really change anything other than the day it was airing on. As for the American aspect of it, there was almost nothing here other than some standard comedy bits and Duggan/Slaughter’s required appearances. Nothing to see here but it was nothing particularly bad so we’ll go with a little above average.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Smackdown
Date: June 29, 2012
Location: Ford Center, Evansville, Indiana
Commentators: Michael Cole, Booker T, Josh Matthews

It appears to be time to start the MITB build as they did that over on the Raw show. Now over there we had people that had only been WWE Champion, but there aren’t that many candidates for the Smackdown World Title. Also I’m not sure if there are going to be more people in the Raw match or not, but they have more time to change it if they want. Sheamus defends against Ziggler and Del Rio in a triple threat tonight too. Let’s get to it.

Do You Know Your Enemy? Mine is yet again this heat wave. Four straight days of over 100 degrees in Kentucky? That needs to be destroyed.

We open with a recap of the triple threat elimination match from Raw.

AJ vs. Layla

Layla has Tiffany’s old music now because….I have no idea actually. AJ takes her to the mat but Layla runs her over and blows a kiss. A rollup gets two for the champ (non-title here though) and she works on the arm. AJ comes back with a dropkick and corner clothesline for two. Layla comes back with a spinning facejam but AJ kicks her head off. Cue Bryan to shout YES a lot and skip around the ring ala AJ. Layla rolls up AJ for the pin at 3:31.

Rating: C-. This was better than most Divas matches. The ending was another advancement in the story as now Daniel is tormenting AJ. Both girls were looking good here too, although I still don’t like the new music for Layla. Then again I didn’t like the song back when Tiffany had it either. It’s amazing how much better these matches are when they have time.

AJ snaps on Layla post match. Bryan tells her to calm down and says there’s something that needs to be done. He demands to talk to Vickie and threatens to hold the show hostage unless she comes out here. Bryan says YES a lot and AJ does the same. We take a break for a Raw Moment of Tyson joining DX and come back with dueling YES shouts. Vickie comes out and says everyone is tired of hearing Bryan’s catchphrase over and over again.

Bryan says he’s the #1 contender to Punk’s title and he thanks Vickie for getting him that shot. He proposes an alliance once she becomes GM. He wants AJ banned from ringside because she’s a liability. Vickie yells at AJ a lot but Bryan says this is about him, not AJ. Vickie talks about some poll on WWE.com and based on that, AJ is going to be guest referee.

This comes off as incredibly lame to me, as it’s taking WAY too long to make this announcement. Instead of wasting time like this, just announce this stuff and say the Board of Directors made the decision. It saves like ten minutes that you can use on other stuff. Bryan yells NO and leaves. Vickie STILL isn’t done because she announces that there will be MITB qualifying matches over the next two weeks and everyone is eligible to enter.

Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: Zach Ryder vs. Damien Sandow

Sandow does his usual stuff on the way to the ring. Booker says that Sandow needs to stop idolizing Leaping Lanny Poffo. So there is something to that theory I guess. Anyway Ryder takes him down to start but Sandow reverses him into the corner and stomps away. A Russian legsweep puts Ryder down and Sandow drops an elbow which has some Latin name apparently. Sandow ducks his head and gets caught in a facejam followed by the knees in the corner. A kind of powerbomb gets two for Ryder and there’s the Broski Boot. Rough Ryder is countered into a hot shot and that double arm neckbreaker gets the pin at 2:25.

Bryan goes to the Divas locker room looking for AJ but finds Kaitlyn instead. She doesn’t know where AJ is but suggests that Bryan find her and get on AJ’s good side because she’s a bit crazy.

Summerslam hype video.

Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: Jack Swagger vs. Tyson Kidd

Swagger quickly takes him to the mat but gets caught in a pair of rolling cradles for two. He bails to the floor in frustration but gets dropkicked in the face for his troubles. Back in and Kidd charges into a wheelbarrow suplex for two. Jack works on the arm and drops a leg on it for two. Vader Bomb gets two. Swagger hooks a Fujiwara Armbar but Kidd quickly gets up and hits a DDT to put both guys down. A dropkick to the side of the head gets two. A victory roll attempt is countered and there’s the ankle lock but Kidd escapes. Another dropkick sets up a Blockbuster for the pin at 4:30.

Rating: C. The match was fine but the ending was a nice surprise. Swagger would be in the match as a warm body, while Kidd can at least add some dives and high spots which is what makes those matches work. Also it’s nice to see some new faces getting pushed like Sandow and Kidd. They won’t win, but it’s nice to see them getting to rub elbows in a match like this. That’s how you get them pushed which is something WWE really needs to do at this point.

We get the McMahon in the hospital moment AGAIN.

We recap the mess that was the contract on the pole match from Monday.

Ziggler wants to know why Vickie isn’t doing anything but she can’t because the Board is watching her. Dolph wants the Brogue Kick and Cross Armbreaker banned. She says that’ll make her look bad which makes Ziggler freak out. She slaps him in the face but agrees to be out there with him tonight.

Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: Christian/Santino Marella vs. Cody Rhodes/David Otunga

The winning team will both get into the match. David gets a fanfare of music while he poses in the ring now. Santino and Cody start but it’s quickly off to Christian. Christian gets in some right hands but Cody takes him down with a knee to the ribs. Off to Otunga who hits a seated shoulder block for two. Off to a chinlock for a few seconds, but Cody jumps into a punch to the ribs.

Off to Otunga vs. Marella with the champion hitting his usual stuff. He loads up the Cobra but Cody pulls Otunga to the floor before Santino can cover. Rhodes comes in legally and gets a few two counts before throwing the Cobra sock to the floor. Otunga comes in and drops an elbow for two, followed by a modified camel clutch.

Santino suplexes his way out of it and tags in Christian who cleans house. A flapjack and jumping back elbow to Cody look to set up the Killswitch but Cody escapes. Another attempt is countered but the reverse DDT connects. Otunga breaks up the spear but heel miscommunicatio lets Christian spear Otunga down for the pin at 6:23.

Rating: C-. This was fine and we have a warm body and a comedy character into the match now. To be fair, either team could have won and the results would have been about the same. Otunga is just barely above being a comedy character anyway and Cody and Christian probably have about the same chance to win the case. This was fine but nothing great at all.

Sheamus says he could win tonight and make it to MITB, only to get cashed in on. Or he could walk outside and get hit by a car driven by Lindsay Lohan. He doesn’t live by what if’s, and therefore he doesn’t worry.

Time to waste another minute and a half by talking about This Is Your Life Rock.

Bryan comes up to AJ in the back and says he’s worried about her well being. AJ attacking Layla isn’t like her and maybe she should seek professional help. Bryan knows a doctor that could help her, because people that care about each other help each other out. AJ says she’ll take the number. Well actually she says YES a lot but you get the idea.

Dan Barone/Brendan Burke vs. Ryback

The jobbers are from Kentucky (YAY!) and they combine to weigh 350lbs. Where do they find these singing jobbers? Is there a farm where they’re grown? Barone takes a HUGE powerbomb and Shell Shocked (that’s the official name for it) ends this at 1:50.

Aksana and Cesaro are kissing in the back when Teddy interrupts them. He’s the GM for both shows next week and on the live Smackdown this Tuesday they’re facing Layla and Great Khali. Teddy has power again for 20 seconds and he’s already made a tag match.

The Raw ReBound is about the ending and the MITB match.

Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: Justin Gabriel vs. Tensai

This is quite the downgrade for Tensai. Cody is officially protesting not being in the MITB match because he didn’t lose. Tensai runs him over with his usual stuff and hits a butterfly suplex for two. A bearhug is quickly broken up as is Gabriel’s sunset flip. Gabriel fires off some kicks but can’t even drop Tensai. A springboard missile dropkick puts him down though and a Lionsault gets two. Not that it matters as he jumps into the Baldo Bomb and the running backsplash gets the pin at 2:45.

The THIRD Raw Moment of the night is HHH returning from his quad injury in 2002.

Smackdown World Title: Alberto Del Rio vs. Sheamus vs. Dolph Ziggler

Del Rio still wants a one on one match and doesn’t like competing in this little town. Vickie interrupts him and does Dolph’s intro. We go to a break before the match and this is either something only on the international version or they’re REALLY going overboard, as the fourth Raw Moment is Barker on Raw. Sheamus knocks them both down to start and sends Ziggler to the floor. Del Rio jumps the champion from behind but walks into the Regal Roll for one.

Ziggler tries to jump Sheamus and gets glared at. Sheamus chases him around the ring and runs over Del Rio on the way back in. Del Rio hits the DDT on the arm to take over and hooks an armbar. Sheamus gets sent to the floor and Ziggler follows him out, beating up both guys on the floor. He covers Alberto for two in the ring and dropkicks Sheamus to the floor again.

Del Rio misses a charge into the corner and Ziggler gets two off the collision into the buckle. The fans are behind Sheamus even though he’s on the floor. Del Rio breaks up a superplex attempt but gets knocked off the top to the floor. Sheamus comes back in and hits an electric chair drop on Dolph as we take a break. Back with Del Rio knocking Sheamus to the floor again. The challengers both fall outside on their own and work over the champion at the same time.

They beat on him behind the announcers’ desk and send him into the steps before going back inside for more beating. Alberto double crosses Dolph and tries to steal the title, resulting in a slug out between the two of them. Sheamus comes off the top with a double shoulder block and everyone is down. Ziggler gets thrown to the apron for the ten forearms to put him down. The DDT to the arm is countered and the Irish Curse gets two. Ziggler comes back in but the Fameasser is avoided and there’s White Noise.

Del Rio breaks up the Brogue Kick and gets two on Sheamus. The Armbreaker is broken up but Sheamus charges into the post. Ziggler dropkicks the arm into the post but Del Rio kicks him to the floor. There’s the Armbreaker but Ziggler makes the save. Fameasser gets two on Alberto but Ricardo gets on the apron. Ziggler rolls up Del Rio but Sheamus kicks his head off for the pin at 11:15 shown of 14:45.

Rating: B. This was a solid TV main event with a ton of near falls at the end. Unfortunately it probably sets up Del Rio vs. Sheamus for the title at the PPV because that’s the match they want, even though it’s been moved twice already, one of which I believe was a sign from a higher power not named Vince. This was good stuff though with a ton of near falls and chances that the title could have changed. Sheamus winning was in doubt at some points, which is a very nice touch.

Overall Rating: B-. Given the insane amount of time wasted on this show, they got a lot done. If they had any sense of time management this could have been an even better show. Still though with a good TV main event and some build to MITB including some nice surprises, it’s hard to complain much here. Teddy as GM should be keeping the course just fine so the live show might actually be good.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Smackdown
Date: June 22, 2012
Location: 1^st Mariner Center, Baltimore, Maryland
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews, Booker T

We’re past No Way Out and we have the same world champion in the form of Sheamus. We’re starting the build up to MITB as well so maybe we’ll have someone added to the ladder match here. If I understand it right we have eight people in it again, but I’m really not sure if they have enough people to put 16 guys in two ladder matches. Besides that’s too many in a single match anyway. Let’s get to it.

Do You Know Your Enemy? Mine is this heat. It’s way too hot to be early summer.

Bryan vs. Kane later tonight plus Sheamus vs. Ziggler in a non-title match.

Here’s Teddy to open the show. Ace is officially fired and tonight, Mick Foley is in charge. Here’s Big Show instead though for a chat. He doesn’t care that Ace is fired because he didn’t care about him. Show doesn’t care about the fans either and now he can do whatever he wants. He congratulates Cena for the win on Sunday but doesn’t care about that anymore. Yep, another main event loss is being written off.

Instead Show is moving on to something, but the fans have to chant for Cena first. Since Show doesn’t care about them though, he’s moving on to the MITB match. He says there are no five men that can stop them, which is a great sounding thing as it might mean that there are only going to be six people in the match. Once he wins the case and cashes in, he’s going to be champion for as long as he wants to be. He’s going to win the title for himself instead of the people in the back or the fans, because it’s all about him.

Cue serious Brodus who is a little hard to take seriously when he has the girls with him. Brodus charges in and is immediately taken down by knee strikes. Brodus hits the headbutt and Show goes down fast. He pounds on Show in the corner but Otunga comes out and hits the bad knee to put Clay down. Show hits him in the knee a few times as the fans chant that Show can’t wrestle. The WMD leaves Brodus laying. Otunga gets in the ring and says someone should call Brodus’ mama. He’ll do it himself and tell Mama Clay that Brodus can’t get up. Otunga does the Carlton Dance and the Thriller Dance. Ok then.

Ryback vs. Frank Venanzia/Jared Walker

Booker says Walker is Brickhouse Brown’s cousin. There’s a name out of the past. Ryback calls them stupid a lot and powerbombs Walker onto Frank. Double Samoan Drop gets the pin at 1:43.

Foley is in the back with Yoshi Tatsu when Vickie comes up. She’s the guest GM of both shows next week. If Foley doesn’t behave, she’ll make him her assistant. Foley likes the idea and offers Khali as an assistant instead. Khali and Foley dance.

Bryan’s memorable Raw moment is Jannetty beating Shawn for the IC Title.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Christian

Non-title of course. Christian hits a shoulder block to take Del Rio down and hooks the sunset flip out of the corner for a fast two. Del Rio responds by kicking him in the head to take over but Christian sends him to the floor. The champ dives onto Del Rio as we take a break. Back with Del Rio holds Christian in an arm lock. During the break Christian’s shoulder went into the steps to start the attack.

Elbow drop gets two for Del Rio and he stays on the arm. A kick to the arm gets two. Alberto goes up but Christian gets in a right hand and a top rope rana for two. With Del Rio in the rope Christian hits his uppercut but the top rope cross body misses. The corner enziguri misses and Christian hits the tornado DDT for another two. The Codebreaker to the arm slow Christian down again but he shrugs it off and hits a missile dropkick for two.

The Killswitch is countered into a Stunner on the arm for two. Christian takes him down and loads up the spear but he charges into a kick to the face. Cross armbreaker is countered into a countered Killswitch. They go to the corner but Rodriguez interferes, allowing Del Rio to hit the corner enziguri and the Armbreaker for the tap at 6:14 shown of 9:44.

Rating: B-. So to be clear, Del Rio has now beaten both midcard champions in four days. Shouldn’t he still be #1 contender by default, or do they really need to have him crush the champions in order to get there? At least this wasn’t a 90 second long match like the one against Santino was. Christian is still solid here and I’ve been liking his face run a lot.

Cody comes out and beats up Christian post match because this feud isn’t done for some unexplained reason. Cody shouts that he is Smackdown and that Christian is stealing his time.

We get a recap from Raw on Monday with Bryan/Kane/Punk/AJ.

Kane vs. Daniel Bryan

AJ is guest timekeeper for this for no apparent reason. Bryan fires off kicks to the legs but charges into a slam. Kane pounds away but charges over the top by mistake. That doesn’t seem to matter much as he keeps beating on Bryan on the floor, only to get sent into the post. Bryan loads up the knee off the apron but Kane gets back inside instead. Running dropkick in the corner gets two and it’s time for the kicks.

Kane comes back with his low dropkick for two and follows Bryan into the corner with a clothesline. Bryan comes back with more kicks but Kane grabs the leg. That gets him nowhere as Bryan sends him into the buckle. He slips coming off the top with the dropkick but a second attempt at it gets two. Kane gets all fired up and pounds away in the corner. Big boot looks to set up the chokeslam but Bryan dropkicks the knee.

A hard kick to the head gets two for Bryan but his Swan Dive is caught in a choke. That gets countered into a failed YES Lock but the chokeslam is countered into a guillotine. Kane powers out of that too but Bryan gets the YES Lock. AJ rings the bell without a tap at 7:25. That gets waved off because Kane didn’t tap and the chokeslam gets the real pin at 7:54.

Rating: C+. I was getting into this at the end until we got to the psycho AJ segment of it which was also fine. The near falls at the end were getting good and I was wondering if Kane was going to tap or not, which is a good thing. Another interesting thing here is that Bryan is on the verge of being turned face by crowd reaction alone, which usually results in a monster push. This was a nice surprise.

AJ skips off of course.

Here’s Foley for a chat. He’s glad Ace got fired so he can come back for one night only in Baltimore. Cue Heath Slater to a big cheer from Cole. Slater complains about what happened on Raw with Lauper and Piper, but Foley says there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Foley makes a match for Slater here tonight though.

Heath Slater vs. Zach Ryder

You know, because the LONG ISLAND GUY couldn’t be on Raw in LONG ISLAND right? Ryder takes over quickly but Slater hides in the corner. He comes back with a neckbreaker for two but walks into knees out of the corner. Rough Ryder gets the pin at 1:12.

Foley and Ryder celebrate in the back but run into Sandow. He’s disgusted by what he just saw and says that Ryder has brought the WWE Universe down to new levels of stupidity. I guess Sandow has his first feud.

Usos vs. Prime Time Players

Darren and Jey start things off with the Uso taking over. They head to the corner and the brothers double team Darren. Titus avoids a double superkick and it’s off to Jimmy. Darren drives him into the corner and it’s off to Titus for some power. We hit the chinlock which Jimmy escapes pretty quickly. Hot tag brings in Jey but he and Darren go to the floor quickly. Jimmy goes up for the Superfly Splash but Titus pulls him down and hits the Clash of the Titus for the pin at 3:24.

Rating: D+. Nothing to see here but the Prime Time Players getting another win is a good thing for them. With the tag champions being gone for awhile now until Truth’s foot heals, Young and O’Neal need to be built up as much as they possibly can. The match was nothing of note but it did its job pretty well.

Post break Epico and Primo jump the Players in the back.

Here’s Santino for Sign of the Night. Most of these signs suck. Some chick has an I Love Santino sign and he invites her into the ring. She’s dressed like Santino and their Cobras kiss. Then she kisses him and Santino faints.

Jerry Lawler likes Vince in the hospital. This is the third time I’ve seen this in a week.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Sheamus

Non-title here. Ziggler gets behind Sheamus to start but Sheamus easily powers out of it. Sheamus takes him down to the mat with a headlock followed by a shoulder for two. Ziggler gets a boot to Sheamus’ face and sends him to the floor. Dolph is hitting and running here which makes sense. What doesn’t make sense is diving at a power guy, resulting in him getting caught in a fallaway slam into the barricade as we take a break.

Back with the guys in the ring and Ziggler putting on a chinlock. They go to the floor and Sheamus sends Dolph into the steps but he stops to yell at Vickie. Dolph comes back with a sweet Fameasser off the steps to take over. Neckbreaker gets two as does an elbow drop. A quick sleeper is countered but Dolph dropkicks him down for two. Another neckbreaker gets two so let’s hit the chinlock again.

Sheamus breaks out of that one just as easily as he has all of the other ones. He starts running over Ziggler and loads up White Noise but Ziggler escapes into a rollup for two. Dolph comes back with a jumping DDT for two and Sheamus goes to the apron. He goes up top and knocks Ziggler out of the air when Dolph tries to run the ropes. The top rope shoulder gets two and there are the ten forearms in the ropes. Irish Curse is broken up but Ziggler charges into the Brogue Kick for the pin at 10:00 shown of 13:30.

Rating: B-. I liked this one more than the PPV match. Ziggler used a lot of sleepers and chinlocks, but there’s something about him where you think that he could pull off an upset here. He can hit that Fameasser from anywhere and it would do him a lot of good to make that his primary finisher. This worked well though and for a TV main event, this was fine.

Overall Rating: C+. What an improvement over last week. This show felt like it was actually decent even though nothing really happened. The main event was good and we got another good match in Bryan vs. Kane. Above all else though, nothing was really bad and we got some good matches too. That makes this about ten times better than last week’s show which is the best thing that could happen for Smackdown this week.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Smackdown
Date: June 15, 2012
Location: Verizon Wireless Arena, Manchester, New Hampshire
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews, Booker T

It’s the final show before No Way Out and most of the show is set I believe. Tonight we have a tag match between the guys in the world title matches which is a nice touch. Other than that I’m not sure what else there’s going to be, but I’d bet on there being some Johnny Ace talking time, which is some cross between hilarious and awful. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the ending of Raw and the punch not hitting Vince in the face.

Do You Know Your Enemy? Mine is the Cincinnati Reds. Those pesky people sweeping the Indians.

Here’s AJ to open the show. She says there’s a very simple reason why she kissed Kane on Raw. Before she can get it out though, here’s Vickie to interrupt her. She says that AJ isn’t the story tonight, because the story is Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler talks about yelling at Vickie and saying he’s better than this. He goes into one of his fast paced insult barrages at AJ, who responds by saying “I stopped listening about halfway through that but I guess I was supposed to be offended?” The huge smile on her face and the voice she says it with make that awesome.

AJ thinks the bleach in Ziggler’s hair has gotten into his brain if he thinks he’ll win the world title. She calls Vickie his grandma and gets slapped. AJ gets the psycho eyes going but here’s Punk to make her all smiley. He says that just because Vickie says excuse me doesn’t mean we have to. There is no excuse for Vickie because every week she comes out here and talks about Dolph Ziggler but he never comes through. If he’s the voice of the voiceless, Vickie is the voice of the pointless.

Ziggler is about to offer a rebuttal but here’s Bryan. AJ looks half scared and half angry. Bryan says Punk is a hero for having AJ make out with Kane on Monday and hiding behind him here tonight. He says AJ has Punk wrapped around her finger and she doesn’t realize it. AJ cost Bryan at Wrestlemania and if she’s in Punk’s corner on Sunday, it’ll mean Bryan wins the title.

Cue Sheamus because five people talking in this segment aren’t enough. Sheamus can’t believe Bryan still believes AJ cost him the title. He admits Ziggler had a great showing on Monday, but that means nothing on Sunday. Let’s do the tag match now. AJ charges at Vickie but Punk pulls her back. The match starts after a break.

Sheamus/CM Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler/Daniel Bryan

Bryan and Sheamus get us going and the speed attempt gets caught in a Regal Roll for two. Off to Punk who comes off the top with an elbow to the arm. Off to Ziggler and it’s time for more arm work. Sheamus works over the arm a bit and Punk hits a slingshot hilo on Dolph. A delayed vertical suplex gets two. Sheamus comes in and Ziggler literally runs to the corner for the tag.

Ziggler comes back in almost immediately and pounds Sheamus down. A knee drop gets two. Back to Bryan who walks into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Back to Punk for the springboard clothesline and he goes to the apron. Ziggler distracts him and Bryan knocks him off the apron. That seems to be the same sequence they’ve used to change momentum in Smackdown tag matches for weeks now.

Bryan hits the running knee of the apron and we take a break. Back with Bryan missing a swan dive and it’s a double tag to bring in Ziggler vs. Sheamus. Irish Curse gets two as Bryan makes the save. Everything breaks down but Punk and Bryan go to the floor. Zig Zag is countered and Sheamus hits White Noise. He loads up the Brogue Kick but the girls come in. Ziggler uses the distraction to get a rollup with a handful of tights for the pin at 8:43 shown of 12:13.

Rating: C. This was just a regular main event style tag match. The ending was certainly the right call as they had to give us a reason to think that Ziggler has a chance on Sunday. He doesn’t but it’s nice of them to try to give us a reason to think otherwise. Punk and Bryan were barely involved in this match, but they’re all set up already anyway.

Post match the girls get in a fight and Vickie rams her into the apron before running off. AJ’s back is hurt so Kane comes out to carry her away. Punk goes after him but gets a chokeslam for his efforts. Bryan gets the same. AJ is on her knees on the stage and looks all cuckoo eyed at Kane.

Here’s Brodus Clay for a match but before the match he talks about how he can’t go near Ace’s prized possession or he’s immediately fired. That’s ok though because John Cena is going to take care of the prized possession on Sunday. All he wants now is competition, which Ace has promised him.

Brodus Clay vs. Heath Slater

Dang it and I was getting my hopes up for a second there. What a shock: something with Ace involved is a letdown. Splash finishes in 22 seconds.

Post match Brodus is about to dance when Otunga, the guy Clay is facing on the pre-show on Sunday, takes out Brodus’ knee. The leg work goes on for awhile.

Alicia Fox vs. Beth Phoenix

Layla is on commentary. Alicia takes her down to start but misses her flipping leg drop. Glam Slam ends this in 50 seconds. Yeah and this REALLY makes me want to see the Divas Title match Sunday.

John Cena says don’t try this.

Hornswoggle’s favorite Raw moment is the Muppets episode. I love the Muppets, but this is literally longer the previous two matches combined. When matches are relegated to getting 30 seconds each, maybe it’s time to cut down on stuff like this.

Now to waste more time, here’s Ace to show us a recap of the ending to Raw. As in the SAME THING WE SAW AN HOUR AGO! After wasting three minutes on that, Ace talks about how he’s put his job on the line more than once before and has always come out on top. He brings out Big Show who talks about how he can say and do whatever he wants here because he’ll get paid no matter what.

Back in WCW, he was never able to be pushed over the faces of the company like Hogan, Flair and Sting. Once he left there he came to WWF and everyone gave him advice. Vince’s advice was to put on a show, so he named him the Big Show. So for fourteen years (how is February of 1999 to June 2012 14 years? That’s bad math even for WWE) he did it Vince’s way. For 10 of those years, he cracked jokes and laughed. That statement actually made me close my eyes and shake my head from how wrong it was.

Show talks about how he’s proud to not be like Cena anymore and how he can do whatever he wants and doesn’t have to care about what the fans think. What he does to Cena will be calculated and uncomfortable. He’s looking at this sunday as his first match, where he will be victorious. He guarantees it. The two of them go to leave but Cole stops them. He says that he’s heard Cena is on his way here tonight (big pop). Show says if Cena is looking for him, he won’t be hard to find.

Christian comes out for his match so of course we have to look at a recap of his feud with Cody, as in an Over The Limit recap. The rematch is at No Way Out.

Christian vs. Jack Swagger

Swagger pounds him into the corner but Christian gets a kick into the ribs to break up the momentum. They go to the floor and Swagger runs him over with a clothesline. Back in and Jack hits a legdrop for two. An attempt at a second misses and Christian takes over again. A spear misses but the ankle lock is countered. Jumping back elbow out of the corner puts Jack down and Christian goes up. Swagger tries to run the corner but gets shoved down and the Frog Splash gets the pin at 2:47.

Ryback vs. Ari Cohen/Mike Testa

The fresh meat tell a knock knock joke before the match. What are you expecting here? Double Samoan Drop ends this at 2:03. We get it already, now find him someone we’ve actually heard of.

Damien Sandow vs. Tyson Kidd

This is a result of the latest JR trolling by the troll last week. Sandow went after him but Kidd made the save. Damien jumps him to start, Kidd gets some offense in, the Sharpshooter is countered and the neckbreaker gets the pin at 1:02 in ANOTHER FREAKING WORTHLESS MATCH!

We run down the PPV card.

Now we see Big Show’s talk from forty minutes ago.

Cena arrives and goes into Ace’s office but it’s empty.

Don’t be a bully, but buy our PPV with a pair of bullies in the main event.

Cena FINALLY shows up to fire up the show a bit. He talks about getting a phone call saying that Big Show called him out, so here he is. Wait so why have they been hyping up the idea of Cena calling out Big Show all night if Show apparently called him out? Whatever as this show is almost over. Cena says he’s not hard to find and the Big Show shouldn’t be either, so here’s Ace to waste more of our time.

Ace says that Show has been sent home to make sure the match takes place on Sunday, as well as so we could hype up Show and Cena face to face all night and then not deliver it. Cena says that puts Ace in the #1 spot on the to be knocked out list. Ace lists his job titles and says that if Cena touches him, he’s fired. Cena points out that the match has to take place on Sunday so Ace can’t fire him. John makes fun of him even more and gets ready to beat him up but Ace tells him that if he beats Ace up, then Cena will be fired. Cena blasts him in the head and says someone gets fired on Sunday to end the show.

Overall Rating: F. This show was the definition of a failure. There was NOTHING on here that was any good and nothing at all was added to the PPV. Someone gets fired in the main event. So we might get the Ace firing that we’ve been promised for weeks now or another Cena firing which we’ve seen how many times now? This was a total waste of my time and one of the worst TV shows I’ve seen in a very long time.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Smackdown
Date: June 8, 2012
Location: Colonial Center, Columbia, South Carolina
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews, Booker T

Back to the blue guys again for another Smackdown. The only thing announced so far is that Del Rio and Sheamus will do something. Whatever that something is has yet to be announced but that might be for the better. The whole company is almost at a standstill at the moment but hopefully things pick up soon. Let’s get to it.

Do You Know Your Enemy? Mine is people that won’t return e-mails.

Here’s Del Rio to open things up. He shows us a clip from Raw and his attack on Sheamus’ arm, because we haven’t had an arm injury angle in two full weeks now. After some basic threats of taking the title, here’s…..Ricardo dressed as Sheamus. He even has white leggings and arm covers to make himself look pale. Del Rio says this isn’t really Sheamus, because anyone can pound their chest like a caveman, spike their hair like a stupid kid and act like a hooligan. Ricardo tries a Brogue Kick and falls down.

Cue the real Sheamus who looks ticked off. Both guys jump him immediately but Sheamus throws Ricardo out with ease. Rodriguez comes back in and Del Rio kicks Sheamus in the head. He goes for the arm but Sheamus fights him off and clears the ring. They go to leave but Sheamus chases them down and runs them over. He tries to load up the High Cross off the stage but Ricardo makes the save. They go for the arm again but referees break it up. Teddy comes out and says that since Ace isn’t here, he’s in charge tonight. He makes Sheamus vs. Kane and Del Rio vs. this man.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Great Khali

Khali starts with the chops in the corner but misses a big boot in the corner, allowing Del Rio to go after his legs. He puts on a leg lock but Khali punches him in the head to escape. Why over complicate things I guess. A kick to the head of Khali gets two. After some more knee work, he switches to the arm for no apparent reason. Del Rio goes up but jumps into another chop to the chest. Ricardo distracts Khali to stop the Punjabi Plunge and the Cross Armbreaker gets the submission at 3:29.

Rating: D. Nothing to see here other than a near squash. Khali is fine for roles like this as he wasn’t in there long and his size alone makes beating him seem impressive. Del Rio isn’t interesting still, but at least with Ricardo out there we’ll get some decent comedy moments. The match was just ok.

We get the Big Show piece from Raw where he talks about being tired of being seen as a joke.

Teddy is in the back when Brodus’ girls and Brodus himself come in. Brodus is now officially on Smackdown permanently but can’t be on Raw because of Big Show. Ok then.

Brodus Clay vs. Derrick Bateman

Apparently Clay sees Big Show when he sees Bateman. Clay pounds Bateman down with ease and we head to the floor for the headbutt. Back in the ring there’s the splash and suplex. Splash and we’re done at 1:05.

Video on the Mexico/South America tour.

Booker’s favorite Raw moment is his match with Buff Bagwell for the WCW Title. Oh what a disaster that was.

Sin Cara vs. Drew McIntyre

Drew immediately knocks him down but Cara comes back with his kicks. Drew gets in a shot and takes over, sending Cara to the floor for a second. Back in and it’s a chinlock for a big but Cara comes back with some ranas. A BIG boot sends Cara flying, but Drew charges into two boots in the corner. Cara goes up and tries to jump into his finisher but Drew blocks it. Cara never hits the ground and comes out with a spinning DDT for the pin at 3:15.

Rating: C. Cara has looked WAY better since coming back. He’s not botching anything of note and he’s mixing up his finishing moves which is a nice touch. He’s beating up jobbers pretty easily which is a good sign also. That’s something the company has improved on in the last month or so: its use of jobbers for squashes.

Tony Andriotis/Kevin Mahoney vs. Ryback

Double MuscleBuster/Samoan Drop, 1:43. Next.

The crew sets up the Peep Show set but Cody Rhodes comes out and breaks it up. He talks about how he was going to be the guest on the show tonight but Christian should be pandering to him instead of Cody pandering to the host. Cue Christian who says he’s the one that beat Cody, not the other way around. Cody wants to know who Christian thinks he’s fooling, because before then he didn’t care about any of the people.

Christian says he had a moment of clarity. He missed most of the year with an injury, and while he was out he inducted Edge into the Hall of Fame. While Edge was giving his speech, it occurred to Christian that a career can end in an instant. He didn’t want to be remembered a the guy that whined about wanting one more match all the time. He wanted to come back and win championships and put together a Hall of Fame career on his own. Cody laughs about Christian being in the Hall of Fame and says that at No Way Out, the title is coming home. Christian says shut up and wants a fight, but here’s Dolph Ziggler.

Christian vs. Dolph Ziggler

This should be good. So Christian was going to do the talk show and wrestle? That’s quite a night. Cody sits in on commentary. Feeling out process to start with Ziggler throwing Christian to the floor. Christian comes back quickly and rams Ziggler into the barricade. Dolph knees him down and we take a break. Back with Ziggler holding a chinlock which Christian easily breaks.

Ziggler takes him right back down and hooks the same hold as Cody complains about not getting a fair shake at Over the Limit. A slingshot sends Christian into the corner but the Fameasser is countered into a powerbomb for two. Christian hits an uppercut while Ziggler is on the ropes but the spinning sunset flip is rolled through and the Fameasser gets two. Christian puts him back down but his spear is countered by a dropkick for two. There’s the sleeper but Christian counters quickly. He goes up and knocks a charging Ziggler down so that the Frog Splash can get the pin at 6:34 shown of 10:04.

Rating: C+. This was the match you would expect these two to have. Ziggler is basically a jobber to the stars at this point, which is pretty stupid given the lack of main event talent they have at the moment. With Jericho and Orton both suspended, Ziggler could be a solid fill-in guy, but instead they have him jobbing left and right. The good thing is they haven’t had him look weak in these losses, which will help him a lot in the long run.

We get the ENTIRE Cole vs. Cena segment from Raw.

Cole speaks about the incident but gets cut off by JR……being imitated by Hornswoggle. We get some slow motion replays of the beating and Horny laughs a lot. Thankfully Damien Sandow cuts this off to save us. He runs down Horny and goes after him but Tyson Kidd makes the save. He dropkicks Sandow to the floor and Sandow walks away. When Kidd turns to look at the leprechaun, Sandow comes back in and beats Kidd up, hitting his neckbreaker.

Kane only cares about winning the triple threat match tonight. AJ’s look means nothing to him. Kane walks away and AJ is watching him from behind some crates.

Jimmy Uso vs. Antonio Cesaro

Teddy has to do the entrances for Antonio and Aksana. Cesaro pounds him into the corner to start but Jimmy comes back with a superkick to the ribs. A headbutt gets two but Cesaro throws him into the air and down into the European Uppercut. The falling Cradle Piledriver gets the pin at 58 seconds.

Sheamus’ favorite Raw moment is the Breakthrough Battle Royal.

Sheamus vs. Kane

They fight over a lockup to start with neither guy getting an advantage. A shoulder puts Sheamus down so the champ goes after the arm. Kane throws him into the corner but Sheamus comes back with some punches. That gets him nowhere as Kane rams him into the corner and works on the bad arm. A brief comeback is stopped and Sheamus is thrown to the apron and booted to the floor as we take a break.

Back with Kane getting one off a move we didn’t see. Kane hooks a neck crank followed by a side slam for two. Back to the crank which is broken a bit slower this time. Sheamus comes back with some kicks to the ribs and hits the top rope shoulder to put Kane down. A running knee to the ribs and a double ax get two for Sheamus. Powerslam gets the same. Regal Roll is countered and Kane uppercuts him down.

The low dropkick gets two and Sheamus grabs the Irish Curse out of nowhere for the same. Sheamus is getting a little frustrated so he drops a bunch of knees on the back of Kane. Here comes the Brogue Kick but instead he opts for the ten forearms. A suplex back in is blocked and Kane goes for the clothesline. A superplex attempt is blocked but the clothesline misses. White Noise hits but Kane tries the chokeslam. Sheamus fights out of it and they clothesline each other, followed by Ricardo running in for the DQ at 9:34 shown of 13:04.

Rating: C. This was getting decent but it was clear they couldn’t have either guy go over leading up to PPV title matches. That being said, while the ending was predictable it doesn’t mean it was bad. It’s good that they don’t have either guy lose clean, but at the same time, why would Del Rio want to interfere here when Kane could do more damage to Sheamus?

Kane takes Sheamus down post match and here’s AJ to smile at Kane. The distraction lets Sheamus Brogue Kick Kane’s head off. Ricardo gets up and Sheamus does the same to him to end the show.

Overall Rating: C. This wasn’t bad and it did its job of furthering the main event match. We also got another match added to the PPV with the IC Title in it, as well as got some TV time for some of the new characters. Adding Brodus to Smackdown is probably a good idea as there’s only so much room for him on Raw at the moment. This wasn’t a great showbut it certainly wasn’t bad, which is pretty good anymore.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Smackdown
Date: June 1, 2012
Location: Riverside Centroplex, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Commentators: Michael Cole, Booker T, Josh Matthews

Tonight we have a Raw World Title match on Smackdown for the first time in a few years as Punk defends against Kane. I’d assume that Bryan has gotten the title match for No Way Out but it’s hard to tell with this company anymore. Other than that we’ll probably have some more stuff with Big Show as he continues to take over the stories everywhere. It’ll also be interesting to see how they work around the Orton suspension. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is about the title match tonight. It looks more like a TV commercial than a normal opening video.

Do You Know Your Enemy? Mine is the weather tomorrow for my neighborhood yard sale.

Here’s Sheamus to open the show and we get a clip of him kicking Del Rio’s head off to end the show last week. Sheamus talks about how Del Rio has been waited on hand and foot for years, but it’s not going to matter at No Way Out because he can’t buy the World Heavyweight Championship. Cue Otunga who again demands that Sheamus apologize for running over Ace. Sheamus says this isn’t Starbucks where you order someone around. If Ace wants an apology, he can come out here and get it himself. Otunga: “You may be the whitest bulb, but you’re not the brightest.”

Cue Del Rio who calls Sheamus a peasant and a street hooligan. People like Sheamus wind up working for people like Del Rio and Otunga. Otunga thinks Sheamus should be in a match tonight, with the opponent being chosen by Del Rio. The champ kicks Otunga’s head off and Del Rio runs. Sheamus says never trust a hooligan.

Sin Cara vs. Heath Slater

No trampoline and he’s in red and white not instead of blue and gold. The lighting is back too. Slater grabs the arm to start but Cara grabs the arm and hits his spinning wrist drag. Out to the floor for a BIG dive but Slater jumps him coming back in. Off to a chinlock but Cara fights out and hits some kicks to the leg. A jumping back elbow puts Slater down as does an enziguri from the apron. The La Mistica mat slam gets the pin at 2:24. I didn’t see any botches here and Cara looked pretty good.

Damien Sandow vs. Ezekiel Jackson

Sandow’s Titantron graphic has a theme of a curtain being pulled back like at a theater. Sandow says he won’t be in this match and goes to leave but Jackson pulls him back in to get us going. The Torture Rack is countered and Sandow goes psycho. Russian legsweep puts Jackson down and the neckbreaker ends it at 1:36. Sandow gets in the Thinking Man position during his cover. I’m liking the 2012 Genius a bit more.

Del Rio and Ricardo are in the back when Ziggler comes in and asks to be put in the match tonight. Del Rio says okey dokey.

Ryan Shelton/Chris Lyons vs. Ryback

The jobbers are from Alabama so the Louisiana fans HATE them, due to them saying Roll Tide. It’s the exact same match as last week with the double MuscleBuster getting the pin at 2:02.

Raw ReBound chronicles Show’s destruction. Apparently Brodus has a concussion and bruised ribs.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Sheamus

Non-title. Ziggler cuts off Vickie’s intro and says tonight he beats the champion. He’s serious tonight. If the reaction is to be believed, Sheamus is getting verypopular. Ziggler tries a headlock to start but gets run over very quickly. He dropkicks the champ down and hooks an armbar which gets him nowhere at all. Ziggler punches Sheamus in the corner but gets sent to the apron. Top rope cross body is caught in a Regal Roll for two.

Sheamus launches him over the top and to the floor as we take a break. Back with Sheamus breaking a top wristlock. Dolph runs to the apron and has to grab the ring skirt to keep from getting a worse beating. He suckers Sheamus in and guillotines him on the top rope. Sheamus gets dropkicked off the apron and onto the floor for awhile. Neckbreaker gets two back in the ring.

Off to the chinlock and Ziggler does the handstand. Booker: “That’s just showing off.” Now he’s getting it. Sheamus starts to fight up but gets caught in a DDT for two. Ziggler hooks an ugly sleeper but Sheamus dumps him onto the apron for the ten forearms. Irish Curse is countered twice so Sheamus uses a regular backbreaker (which Cole calls the Irish Curse anyway). He loads up the top rope shoulder but gets crotche. A top rope X Factor gets a close two and a good reaction from the crowd on the kickout. Zig Zag is countered and it’s White Noise, failed Swagger interference and the Brogue Kick for the pin at 10:06 shown of 13:36.

Rating: C+. These two always have good chemistry together and they did again here. The ending is good too as it furthers the Ziggler split from Vickie and company, but it also keeps Sheamus looking just as strong because he had Ziggler beaten without the interference going wrong. Little things like that can make a match so much better.

Punk says he’ll beat up anyone that Ace throws at him, including Kane. Kane is going to sleep tonight.

Darren Young/Titus O’Neil vs. Santino Marella/Zack Ryder

An inset promo says that O’Neil and Young want to be known as the Prime Time Players. Young and Santino get us going but it’s quickly off to Titus. Ryder comesin to break up a double team which gets him run over by Young. Then Santino gets a rollup out of nowhere on Young for the pin at 1:13. What in the world was the point of that? They spent the pre-match stuff and the match talking about how awesome Young and O’Neil were and then the ending comes from out of nowhere. Marella and Ryder had no offense at all other than the rollup. Literally, none.

Post match here’s Big Show to destroy everything. Make that just Ryder and Santino as Young and Titus escaped. Ryder tries to fight back but it gets him nowhere. The beating goes on for awhile. Show is in the same kind of stuff he was wearing before his turn. Santino gets put in a camel clutch on the steps on the stage before getting punched in the back of the head and knocked out. So in four days he’s been punched out and made to tap out in 45 seconds. Another champion is made to look like a joke.

We see Punk in the back but it’s actually AJ in a Punk shirt. Bryan pops up and asks why AJ thinks Punk cares about her. He pretends to care about her again and you can see her knees get weak. Bryan is only joking though.

Cody Rhodes vs. Tyson Kidd

Christian is on commentary and Kidd has full tights now. Kidd gets in a quick legsweep but Cody is too fired up for Kidd to be able to do much. Tyson keeps fighting and tries the Dungeon Lock but Cody shrugs it off and Cross Rhodes ends this at 1:20.

Cody and Christian stare at each other a lot post match.

Raw World Title: CM Punk vs. Kane

They have a lot of time here. The announcers talk about how Kane hasn’t been champion in 14 years. Cole thankfully points out the mistake and reminds Booker of the Smackdown World Title that Kane won like a year and a half ago. Out to the floor and Punk drops a double ax off the top onto Kane to take over. Back in and the uppercut drops Punk, but he dropkicks Kane’s knee out to send him into the middle buckle.

Punk wraps Kane’s arm around the post and drops some elbows onto it as well. He works on it some more and hooks on a top wristlock. Kane throws him off and sends him tot he floor as we take a break. Back with Punk in control but quickly getting knocked to the floor. Here’s AJ to check on the champion. Back in and Kane slams Punk and drops an elbow for two. Chokeslam is countered into a DDT but Punk can’t follow up.

Punk hits two knees in the corner but still can’t hit the bulldog. High Kick misses but the spinning neckbreaker gets two. Kane tries to slam him but Punk slips out and hits the High Kick for two. Punk tries the GTS but Kane falls on top of him. Low dropkick gets two. Top rope clothesline is countered by a dropkick and now it’s Punk going up.

AJ gets on the apron to try to get his attention. She’s pointing at Bryan who is coming to jump Punk. The champ dives on Bryan on the floor but that’s not a DQ. Punk kicks Kane from the apron and drops the Macho Elbow for two. Cole: “The championship almost left Punk there.” Punk goes up and jumps into the uppercut. Kane loads up the chokeslam but Bryan comes in and dropkicks both guys for the DQ at 12:00 shown of 15:30.

Rating: C+. For a TV main event this was fine. It’s pretty clear where they’re going for No Way Out so the ending here was fine. It sets up the likely triple threat title match at the PPV which needed to be done one way or another. They were going back and forth pretty well here and the arm work made sense from Punk. Pretty good little match here.

Bryan DESTROYS Punk with kicks but both guys get chokeslammed. Ace and Eve come out to make the triple threat match.

Overall Rating: B-. I liked this show for the most part. Nothing was really bad on it and they had something big in the main event, which is what Smackdown needs. It’s basically a supplement to Raw anymore so throwing a big match into the main event is the right idea. The show wasn’t great but with nothing bad and a main event that had something on the line, this was about as good as Smackdown is going to get at this point.

Results
Sin Cara b. Heath Slater – Spinning Mat Slam
Damien Sandow b. Ezekiel Jackson – Neckbreaker
Ryback b. Ryan Shelton/Chris Lyons – Double MuscleBuster
Sheamus b. Dolph Ziggler – Brogue Kick
Santino Marella/Zack Ryder b. Darren Young/Titus O’Neil – Rollup to Young
Cody Rhodes b. Tyson Kidd – Cross Rhodes
CM Punk vs. Kane went to a no contest when Daniel Bryan interfered

Remember to like this on Facebook and follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Night Raw
Date: May 28, 2012
Location: New Orleans Arena, New Orleans, Louisiana
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler

It’s Memorial Day which means that not a lot of people are going to watch here. Hopefully that doesn’t mean they put on a horrible show which they’ve been known to do at times. The main story is still Cena/Ace with the occasional mention of Lesnar vs. HHH, because who would want to see Brock Lesnar when we can have a dynamic skateboarder? Let’s get to it.

The opening video is about Memorial Day and the military as you would expect.

The regular opening is about Cena/Ace/Show from the PPV and last week.

Here’s Show to open things up. He says that while he’s a giant, he’s a businessman first. What he did, he did it for the sake of business. The bonus he got has set him for life, meaning that he doesn’t have to please the fans anymore and he can beat people up as he pleases. No one can match him, be it an NFL player, a UFC fighter, or a WWE superstar.

Two weeks ago he was made to beg, but immediately after it, this happened. We see a clip of Brodus, Kofi and Truth dancing with kids from immediately after. Where was his sympathy? Then at the end of the night, Cena made jokes while talking with Ace, so maybe that’s all Show is: a big joke. At No Way Out, Cena will get a real beating and have the real embarrassment that Rock and Lesnar tried to give him. And that’s it. No Cena or anything, just ten minutes of Show talking.

Punk vs. Bryan tonight? Cool.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Santino Marella

This is I guess fallout from Santino vs. Ricardo. Alberto beats him down very quickly but gets caught by the hiptoss and headbutt, but the Cobra is broken up and the US Champion taps to the cross armbreaker at 45 seconds.

Alex Riley sucks up to Eve when Big Show pops up. Show gets to pick his opponent tonight and looks at Riley, who begs off. Show says it’s ok and that Riley won’t be his opponent. There’s a message he has for the locker room though, and he rams Riley into the wall. Ok then.

Tag Titles: Kofi Kingston/R-Truth vs. Jack Swagger/Dolph Ziggler

Truth and Swagger get things going and it’s off to Truth quickly. We get some hip thrusting and Swagger charges over the top. Kofi and Truth kick Ziggler in the head and send him to the floor. Stereo baseball slides take us to a break. Back with Swagger holding onto Kofi. During the break Kofi was knocked to the barricade, which Lawler says meant we almost had new champions.

Dolph comes in and drops an elbow for two before working on the arm. A Stinger Splash misses and it’s off to Truth. A rollup and DDT both get two on Swagger as the fans are into this for some reason. Truth launches Kofi onto Dolph and they head to the floor. Little Jimmy to Swagger retains the titles at 7:11.

Rating: D+. These matches are getting more and more worthless. It’s obvious that Truth is there as a replacement for Bourne and that Kofi is there just to give him something to do. That translates to something very uninteresting, but then again the tag titles have had that distinction for years now.

Post match Dolph yells at Swagger that he’s better and walks out on his own. Thank goodness.

Santino is getting help in the back when Show comes up. He puts his hand over Santino’s face and yells when Brodus comes up. Brodus wants to be the opponent and Show says it’s on.

Here’s Ace and his administration. He says that tonight it’s Show vs. Brodus and at No Way Out, Show vs. Cena is in a cage. There’s something covered up behind him under a sheet. Ace talks about WWE ’13 (video game) and unveils the cover which has him on it of course. “It’s going to be bigger than Pac-Man!” Cue Punk who says exactly what you would expect him to say. He says that someone a lot more handsome will be on the cover.

Fireworks go off and a banner with Punk on the cover comes down. Punk: “Mine is a lot bigger than yours.” He talks about how great it is to have a wrestler on the cover of a wrestling game, and knows that he’s got Bryan tonight so there’s no point in making some “never before seen” match. The administration leaves and Punk breaks the Ace poster.

Daniel Bryan vs. CM Punk

This is non-title. We get a video about the Kane aspect of this feud so you know what’s coming at the end. Punk controls the arm to start and Bryan does the same a bit later. Bryan misses a knee drop and Punk drops some knees of his own for two. Off to a bodyscissors which is broken pretty quickly. Backslide gets two for both and Bryan goes up, hitting a top rope knee to send Punk to the floor. Baseball slide misses and Punk hits a dive to take Bryan out. Cue AJ in a Punk shirt as we take a break.

During the break Bryan hit another knee to the head, this time from the apron. It doesn’t seem to matter as Punk is in control. Bryan moonsaults out of the corner and Punk misses his spinning cross body, crashing to the mat. Bryan hits a dropkick to the side of the head and another in the corner for two. Punk fires off kicks from the mat but gets caught in a northern lights suplex for two. Punk comes back with some strikes and the spinning neckbreaker for two. Knee/bulldog in the corner of course doesn’t work but Bryan’s high kick does as well, getting Punk two off a rollup.

Springboard clothesline gets two for Punk and both guys are down. The Macho Elbow drop is broken up and Bryan superplexes him off the top. That only gets two and the fans are getting back into it. I’m not sure why they got out of it in the first place. Bryan takes the buckle pad off and AJ protests, but that just lets Bryan do more. Punk hits the High Kick for two. He charges at Bryan and gets dropped face first onto the exposed buckle for the pin at 15:10.

Rating: B-. I didn’t like this one as much but at least Punk didn’t lose clean. This felt more like they were just doing their signature moves for awhile until they got to the ending. AJ didn’t really add much, but her in an outfit like that is never a bad thing. Pretty good match here but nothing compared to the PPV one.

Kane beats up Bryan with a chair post match and chokeslams him onto said chair. AJ slides one in to Punk before Kane can hit Punk with it and Punk beats Kane to the floor.

Christian vs. The Miz

Before the match we hear about Jericho not being here because of the Brazil incident. Cody is on commentary. Christian tries a sunset flip out of the corner but Miz rolls through and hits a boot to the face of the champ. Corner clothesline hits as does the top rope axhandle for two. Off to a chinlock and then a camel clutch. Christian fights back and loads up a spear but charges into a boot to the face. Cody gets off commentary and distracts Christian for two. The Finale and Killswitch are countered but Miz misses a charge and it’s Killsiwtch and Frog Splash for the pin at 4:14.

Rating: C-. Miz is pretty firmly entrenched as the jobber to the stars here and that’s ok. Setting up Cody vs. Christian is fine but I’m hoping it leads to Cody moving up. He’s gotten the IC Title about as far as he could and there’s nothing left for him to do with it. The match was fine.

Ace sends Teddy away and yells at Otunga and Eve. Otunga volunteers to face Sheamus tonight as penance. Teddy comes back with Eve’s coffer and she spits it on him because it’s cold. Everyone but Teddy leaves. Teddy: “It’s supposed to be cold. IT’S ICED COFFEE.”

After a break, Miz is in the ring. He wants the match stricken from the record because it wasn’t for the title. He got the pin for Ace at Wrestlemania but can’t get a title match or a guarnateed contract. Orton comes out, RKOs Miz, and that’s that. I guess Miz is replacing Jericho.

Ziggler is watching in the back and says he wants out of the tag team. He wants to be on his own so Vickie says she’ll see what she can do.

We get a video with comments from Cena about Memorial Day. Just put a big VOTE FOR MCMAHON graphic up already.

Kane vs. Punk for the title on Friday.

Sheamus vs. David Otunga

Otunga uses the strength that he has to pound Sheamus into the corner but the champ takes his head off with a double ax. There are the ten forearms, White Noise, Brogue Kick, 2:45.

We get the same recap that opened the show but a slightly shorter version.

Brodus Clay vs. Big Show

It’s 11pm so it’s time for Show to talk. He says that he thought he was a sellout when he put on a diaper against Akebono at Wrestlemania. That’s nothing compared to Brodus though, who embarrasses himself nightly. Brodus comes up the aisle and gets speared down. Show destroys him as well as the tag champions when they run out.

He breaks the announce table and hits Brodus in the back with it before beating up the champions a bit more. Trouble in Paradise is caught in a choke until Kofi is thrown through the barricade. The beating goes on for awhile and Brodus gets punched. No match of course and Show and Ace pose on the stage to end the show. Cena is back next week.

Overall Rating: D. The show was decent enough from a technical standpoint, but my goodness I do not care about Big Show and whatever his latest heel turn is about (yes I know what it is). It’s about as by the numbers as you could get and it couldn’t be clearer that they’re just dragging it through to the summer for whatever their big idea is there. I was sitting here tonight waiting on this show to end. That’s not a good thing.

Results
Alberto Del Rio b. Santino Marella – Cross Armbreaker
R-Truth/Kofi Kingston b. Jack Swagger/Dolph Ziggler – Little Jimmy to Swagger
Daniel Bryan b. CM Punk – Hot Shot onto an exposed turnbuckle
Christian b. The Miz – Frog Splash
Sheamus b. David Otunga – Brogue Kick

Remember to like this on Facebook and follow me on Twitter @kbreviews