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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match: Kofi Kingston vs. Drew McIntyre

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

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

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

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

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

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

Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match: Rey Mysterio vs. Jack Swagger

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match: Chavo Guerrero vs. Kane

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

Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match: Big Show vs. Wade Barrett

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Results

Drew McIntyre b. Kofi Kingston – Futureshock

Rey Mysterio b. Jack Swagger – Rollup

Kane b. Chavo Guerrero – Chokeslam

Wade Barrett b. Big Show – DDT

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

Smackdown
Date: January 28, 2011
Location: US Bank Arena, Cincinnati, Ohio
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews, Matt Striker

It’s the final show before we hit the Rumble so I think I know what we’re going to be talking about.  Tonight’s main event is Rated RKO facing Miz/Ziggler.  Also I’d bet one a lot more from the Corre as on Monday the main focus was on Nexus so therefore the same thing needs to be done here.  Ok so it’s not that bad but it does happen a good bit.  Anyway, let’s get to it.

Oh and before I forget, I won’t be here next week for NXT or Smackdown.  I’ll be back the following week for at least Smackdown and maybe NXT but I’m not sure.  Have fun without me.

The opening is about Corre and their interaction with Teddy.  A lot of this is about how Corre might have been the guys that did it.  There’s a clock theme to it which doesn’t seem accurate by comparison to what I remember from last week, as in the timing is off from when it actually happened.  We also see Gabriel beating Edge.

No theme song again.  Instead we get to hear Vickie’s voice to open the show properly.  Teddy can’t be here tonight so she’s in charge.  She gets cut off by Orton’s music and the pop is still solid.  I love these times where people go back and forth from show to show.  Vickie cuts the music off with an EXCUSE ME.  I guess she didn’t like what the voices had to say.

Randy says he doesn’t know Vickie very well, “so you’ll have to excuse me”, for what he’s going to do to her boyfriend later tonight.  That was clever.  Miz will have to excuse Orton for taking the WWE Championship from him as well.  He puts his arm around Vickie and says by the way, nice hair.  This is oddly funny for some reason.  There is no excuse for Vickie though.  Orton’s delivery here was some of his best in awhile and I was liking it.

Here comes Dolph to stand up for Vickie.  Well at least he’s not standing up for WWE.  Dolph demands respect for himself and Vickie because after Sunday he’ll be World Champion.  Orton says around here you have to earn it, and there’s an RKO for Dolph.  This is going to sound odd, but I think the blue on Smackdown agrees with Randy.  His skin is so orange that the red on Raw makes him look weird.  As odd as it sounds I’m being serious when I say that.

Laycool vs. Kaitlyn/Kelly Kelly

Striker sings Laycool’s song which is rather disturbing.  The non-Flawless ones jump Laycool during their entrance and the beating is on in the aisle.  Is this Kaitlyn’s non-NXT debut?  She starts with Michelle and is clearly green.  Layla distracts Kaitlyn though and Michelle kicks Kaitlyn’s head off to end this at 43 seconds.  AWESOME kick and if that hadn’t ended it there was no way I would have believed it.  The replay makes it look even better as that kick was spot on.

Drew McIntyre vs. JTG

Kelly hangs out at ringside for this one.  Cole wants to know how she can criticize Drew for being aggressive when she jumped Laycool pre-match.  That’s a totally fair question but we get no answer of course.  That face pop for Drew is still slowly growing but it’s growing nonetheless.  They start off kind of staring at each other until JTG goes after him, sending him to the floor.

Drew suddenly realizes he’s fighting a jobber and starts mauling him.  Back into the ring and it’s all Drew who hits three neckbreakers in a row for two.  Since that didn’t work he switches to hammering away in the corner with clotheslines.  Drew even channels his inner John Cena and throws a decent dropkick for one.  JTG gets some jobber offense in until Drew runs him over.

After some more pounding we hit the ground for more pounding.  He adds in that modified crossface chickenwing that Sheamus has also been using recently.  Must be a UK thing.  Another neckbreaker attempt is countered into a backslide for two.  JTG gets a bit of momentum going and tries another backslide.  Drew casually rolls through it and grabs the Futureshock to end it at 4:35.  That was a nice counter to end it.

Rating: C+. Just an extended squash here but they let Drew show off a bit.  JTG is fine in this jobber role he has.  Every generation has had its share of jobbers but I guess this one has their own theme music.  They put on a fairly decent match here all things considered though and it worked fine.

Drew plays nice this week and leaves just as Kelly gets in the ring, apparently not seeing her or looking up as he leaves since the big screen shows her in the ring.  She looks at him and seems uncertain.

We recap Cody vs. Rey last week where Cody got his nose broken.  The point of this is that Cody exposed the knee brace that hit him in the face and caused his injury.

In the back Cody is interviewed and won’t turn to face the camera.  Cody has it on good authority that Rey didn’t even want to win that match.  He has a broken nose and will need extensive reconstructive surgery and is out of the Rumble.  Cody says that it’s what you do that defines you and he’s going to keep swinging.  He sounds like he’s almost crying.  A kid told him he wasn’t dashing anymore, and the kid is right.  He can’t talk anymore.  This gave me flashes of the Elephant Man, which will make perfect sense if you’ve seen the movie.

Some overly happy interviewer talks to Edge.  Edge says he doesn’t want to talk about the tag match but rather Corre.  He even remembers all of their names, including DJ Gabriel.  I never thought I’d hear that name again.  The only thing he’s going to say about the tag match is he’s going to spear Ziggler.

Del Rio says hi to Tarver who is suddenly one of the more interesting mysteries.  Why is he always standing around?

Here’s Alberto who has promised a Rumble exhibition.  Even though he has very little chance to win the Rumble, they’re making me kind of believe it’s possible, which means they’re doing the right thing.  Apparently he has 39 fighters from all over the world ready for an exhibition.  Every 30 seconds another will come out, meaning this should take about 20 minutes.

The first guy is Seth Allen who according to Striker is a former Western States Heritage Champion.  This is like a challenge mode on SvR or something.  And he’s gone.  Next up is Mike Stevens, a former Brass Knuckles Champion.  They’re speeding up the clock here.  He can’t get him out in thirty seconds so here’s Kane as a penalty.  Alberto gets the corner enziguri but charges into a chokeslam position.

Kofi comes out as I guess the clock thing is still going on.  Why did Kofi bring the belt with him?  Either way he dumps both guys out and stands tall.  The villains surround Kofi so Rey comes down to even the odds.  You know, because it’s not like he would want a guy the caliber of the Intercontinental Champion to get beaten down two days before the Rumble or anything like that right?  You know come to think of it, scratch that.  As annoying as Rey can be, it’s nice to see a pure face once in awhile instead of someone that is a face when it suits them.  Anyway, Vickie comes out to make the obvious tag match.

Kofi Kingston/Rey Mysterio vs. Alberto Del Rio/Kane

Well you knew there would be a tag match somewhere since it’s Smackdown.  Back from a break and there’s the bell.  Kane and Kofi start us off which could be an interesting midcard feud.  The power takes over and it’s off to Alberto.  Off to Rey now as Kofi has taken over.  Nice double teaming allows Kofi to get in a jumping elbow before he leaves.  Rey looks different for some reason.

We start talking about Cody and Striker has sympathy for him.  Josh of course is the voice of reason.  Oh joy: it’s Rey vs. Kane.  619 is teased but Kane hits the floor instead.  Back off to Kofi as Alberto gets in Kane’s face.  The good guys get a baseball slide to send Alberto into Kane and then a dive and seated senton put Alberto and Kane down respectively.

Kofi sets for the cross body back in the ring but Alberto shoves him off.  They double team Kofi even though I’m pretty sure Striker said Rey was the legal man.  Kane drops a leg for two.  Kofi tries to fight him off but runs into a side slam to take him down.  Alberto is back in and they work on the back for awhile.  Kane back in as the heels are tagging very fast.

Kane catches the foot of Kofi who has to now hop over to his corner.  In something that felt anti-climactic in a weird way, Kingston is able to get the tag and here comes Rey with a seated senton off the top to Kane.  That only gets two though so we reset a bit.  Rey tries a springboard move but Kane kicks him in the face and to the floor.  He also kicked us into a break.

Back with Alberto hitting a back elbow to Rey for two.  Now we hit the chinlock and Rey is in trouble.  Sunset flip by Del Rio is countered into that kick that Rey has been using recently to put both guys down.  Del Rio doesn’t tag but beats on Rey come more.  Kane back in as they’re tagging so often I don’t even notice it anymore.  Granted that could mean I’m getting sucked into the match which is possible as this has been good.

Kane gets Rey up in a powerslam position but Rey is able to spin out into a DDT to send both guys down again.  Tag on both sides and Kofi comes in with the springboard cross body.  Del Rio gets a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two out of nowhere.  He goes to tag but there’s no Kane due to a kick from Kofi a second earlier.  Top rope cross body gets two as Kane saves.

Del Rio gets in Kane’s face, yelling at him in Spanish.  The amusing thing is that Kane, being born in Spain, might have a better grasp of the language than Del Rio.  Alberto shoves Kane, who responds in my favorite way: KICKING HIM IN THE FACE!  Sorry that has to be caps.  There’s something so awesome to me about kicking a guy in the face to end an argument.  That could solve so many real world problems.  Anyway the 619 sets up the Trouble in Paradise to end this long match at 12:23 shown of 15:53.

Rating: B+. Probably a bit high but I got into this.  It’s a long formula match and that’s usually the best kind of tag match.  I always get a kick out of throwing two heel s and two faces together and seeing what happens.  They shifted momentum a lot here and it worked rather well I thought.  Fun match.

We get a clip from Raw of Edge vs. Miz which set up the tag match later.

Big Show comes out and seems to be in a good mood.  He talks about how when you’re 7’0, 440lbs and a former WWE Champion, sometimes people want to use you to make a statement.  Naturally he’s talking about the Corre and we get a clip of them beating him down.  That did two things: made him angry and reminded him of what it’s going to be like in the Rumble.  As he talks about never having won a Rumble, here they come.

The shirts aren’t working for me as they look like they’re in beauty pageants.  Show asks if this is how it’s going to be, always 4-1.  He challenges any of them one on one but seems to want Jackson the most.  Slater comes in from behind and we have a bell and a referee!

Heath Slater vs. Big Show

Cole: “This shows you how much heart this kid Slater had.”  Josh: “Or that he’s an idiot.”  I love listening to those two.  Slater goes for the knee but Show chops him down from his knee.  Striker points out that all four members of Corre are from different continents.  There’s a Captain Planet joke in there somewhere.  Chokeslam ends it in about 1:15.  Nothing to see here.

Show goes after the other members but Jackson takes him down with a single clothesline.  The beatdown is on but the Smackdown locker room (read as JTG, Masters, Santino, Kozlov and Bryan.  In other words, a jobber, a jobber to the stars, the tag champions that are more commonly associated with Raw, and a Raw champion.) comes out to clear the ring.

All About the Numbers and a rundown of the card eat up five minutes.

Rated RKO vs. The Miz/Dolph Ziggler

Miz is out first and wants to talk about…The Truman Doctrine?  Yeah, he talks about a foreign policy doctrine from the late 40s.  What does this have to do with anything?  Nothing according to Miz.  It doesn’t matter at all.  It also doesn’t matter what Randy Orton does; the Miz is leaving the Rumble with the WWE Championship.  Another decent Miz promo.

Orton vs. Ziggler to start us off.  Basic back and forth until Orton takes over with a clothesline.  He pauses to chase Miz though and Ziggler gets the advantage.  Off to Edge who puts his head down and takes an X-Factor for two.  Over to Miz who gets an assist from Riley to take over.  Randy gets in a quick shot though and gets into RKO position!  He stares down Miz…and we take a break?

Apparently there were technical difficulties and that wasn’t a scheduled break.  That explains a lot.  Either way, Ziggler pulled Randy out before it could hit.  Back with Miz holding a chinlock on Orton.  Randy tries to fight back but Miz gets a nice combination (has Orton in a reverse DDT position and drops his back down like a reverse Facecrusher before hitting a neckbreaker.  Kind of like a modified Reality Check).

Corner clothesline is attempted but Orton lands one of his own.  Off to Edge and Ziggler as we’re getting close to the ending it seems.  Edge sets for the spear on Ziggler but Riley interferes so he has to settle for the Edge-O-Matic for two.  Zig Zag is blocked and there’s the spear for the clean pin at 7:50 shown of 11:20.

Rating: C. Basic main event tag match here but I was surprised as to hoe it ended.  It’s not bad but I couldn’t get into this one.  The ending really didn’t work for me as it takes away a lot of the drama for Sunday, like can Edge pin Dolph?  Well yeah apparently he can.  Granted I don’t think many people are buying the show to see that match so I can pretty easily forgive them there.  That being said, not a great match at all but still decent enough.

Post match Vickie bans the spear and says that if he uses it on Sunday, Ziggler is champion.  This earns Dolph three straight spears to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. Much better show this week.  They covered a lot more stuff here and it worked better than the previous one.  This built up the title match and the Rumble at the same time which is good.  There was no point to just doing the Rumble as we got that on Raw so they focused on both world titles here.  Couple that with some decent wrestling and it’s definitely a good show.

Results

Laycool b. Kaitlyn/Kelly Kelly – Big Boot to Kaitlyn

Drew McIntyre b. JTG – Futureshock

Kofi Kingston/Rey Mysterio b. Alberto Del Rio/Kane – Trouble in Paradise to Del Rio

Big Show b. Heath Slater – Chokeslam

Rated RKO b. Dolph Ziggler/The Miz – Spear to Ziggler

Smackdown
Date: January 21, 2011
Location: BOK Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Commentators: Michael Cole, Matt Striker, Todd Grisham

With only two weeks left before the Rumble, things should be starting to get interesting.  It should be interesting to see where the new-but not new because we already gave the other team the name New-Nexus goes from here.  Other than that we’ll also get the next step in Edge vs. Ziggler which hasn’t been built badly at all so far.  Let’s get to it.

The opening video recaps Barrett vs. Show from last week and the whole Caesar concept of Barrett, which oddly enough makes sense.

Here are Barrett and company to the music that I’m still not sure what to think about.  Barrett says that Big Show won’t be here this evening.  You may know him from his time on Raw leading the Nexus, which he led until they threw him out.  Now he’s learned his lesson and now it’s about the team, not just him.  This is the Core.  Not thinking I like that name.

Jackson speaks for maybe the first time ever and has a slight French accent.  He’s proud to be part of the Core.  Slater says he’s the One Man Rock Band.  I guess he didn’t have enough friends to play Xbox with him.  Gabriel says he has a great finisher.  Barrett says that what the original Nexus did will pale in comparison to what the Core does.

Here’s Teddy and he more or less says he’s the boss.  Barrett says they respect him and will be representing Smackdown in the Royal Rumble.  Teddy says he doesn’t buy what they’re saying and he isn’t going to let Barrett just lead these men.  Barrett says he’s not the leader and the Core is about equals.  Teddy basically says no more gang attacks and if you don’t like that then you’re gone.

After Teddy leaves and the Core is still in the ring, here’s Alberto of all people.  He welcomes them to Smackdown, but lets them know that Smackdown is his show.  Alberto says he’s going to win the Rumble which is his destiny.  That’s all he saws, making this a very short promo.  I like how they’re making it seem like he actually has a chance to win and while it’s very unlikely, it seems like it’s possible actually.

Alberto Del Rio vs. R-Truth

Has Del Rio fought anyone other than Truth or Rey this year?  Striker sings with him and Cole has his head in his hands.  Del Rio gets him into the corner to start and strikes away.  They head to the ring for just a bit and Truth locks on an armbar.  We cut to the back where Teddy is laid out on the floor of his office.  Vickie, Ziggler and someone that looked like Michael Tarver standing near him while paramedics look at him.  To be clear, Tarver, Vickie and Ziggler weren’t being accused of having done it but were apparently the people that found him.

Back to the ring now with Truth in control.  Alberto gets sent to the floor as we take a break.  Back with Truth getting a boot up to stop a charging Alberto and that’s about it for his offense in this part of the match.  We start talking about the Rumble and Alberto’s chances to win it.  To the back again where Teddy is being put on a stretcher and being taken to the hospital.  The medics throw Ziggler, Vickie and Tarver out.

Back to the ring again and a sitout Gordbuster by Truth gets two.  Running enziguri in the corner by Alberto gets two.  Cole gets information from a source on the scene that Teddy has suffered severe trauma to the back of the head.  Could this be the return of the vegetative state?  The undefeated Ricardo distracts Truth so that Alberto can drape the arm over the top rope.  Cross Armbreaker ends it moments later at 7:53 shown of 11:23 total (as always assuming 3:30 for commercials).

Rating: C. This is a hard one to grade as a lot of it was thrown to the back where the scenes took about a minute or so each.  The match was nothing special at all but it wasn’t terrible.  These two really need to find some new opponents though as I’m getting tired of seeing them against each other.  With Rey and Alberto the matches are at least pretty good.  This on the other hand was nothing special at all, albeit decent.

Teddy is loaded into the ambulance.

Back from a break with Vickie and Dolph being nervous.  They come into an office and the Core is standing there.  They had nothing to do with it apparently.  If they need anything tonight, the Core is at their service.  Vickie uses her incredible acting skills to say one of them will face Edge tonight.  Two things to note here: first is that Tarver was nowhere to be seen so based on this alone he may not be associated with Ziggler and Vickie.  Second, where else but in wrestling would it be ok for a woman to walk into her office and find four adult muscle men in their underwear, telling her they’re at her service tonight?

We get the Rumble numbers package which I always love.

40 participants

24 winners

656 entrants

39 eliminations for Shawn, a record

26 Hall of Famers in the match

183,932 pounds in total, equal to 409 Big Shows

2 women in the Rumble, including Beth who eliminated Khali

11 eliminations by Kane in one Rumble

62:12 is Rey’s record for length in the Rumble which is a lie if you believe the 92 Rumble’s commentary

1 second is the record for fastest time for an elimination

3 is the most wins by a single man, in this case Austin

1 is the worst number but it has produced the most winners as the #30 spot (Shawn and a guy not listed who would be Benoit)

70 which is the percent of winners that have won the title at Mania

Music video about the Rumble follows.

Rey vs. Cody later tonight.

Layla vs. Beth Phoenix

Laycool’s entrance is weak tonight as there’s no snap to it at all.  Pretty decent reaction for Beth.  Layla charges to start which gets her nowhere.  She tries a running dropkick and gets caught in a giant swing.  Striker has a crush on Beth.  Glamazon’s arm gets sent into the buckle and Layla a tornado one arm DDT (as in the DDT on the arm) out of the corner.

Key Lock/Short Arm Scissors by Layla as she’s using decent psychology here.  Beth does the Davey Boy Smith/Shawn Michaels spot and lifts Layla up with one arm.  She hammers away with forearms and sells the arm like a good girl.  Slingshot suplex takes Layla down for two.  Backbreaker sets up the Glam Slam to end this at 3:32.

Rating: C+. The arm work was good here and again I’d like to point out that the Divas are looking far more competent in the ring lately.  They’re seeming far more natural out there instead of going step by step and Layla has improved dramatically.  Not a terrible match at all for three minutes.

Stand Up For WWE won some awards.

Rey Mysterio vs. Cody Rhodes

Josh thinks Rey will win the Rumble.  I think I’d have to shoot myself if that happened.  Question for you guys: is Cody the best self-obsessed/I’m better looking than you/fashion dude character ever?  Naturally the talk is about the Rumble which I can live with for once here.  I usually can’t stand a match being ignored but this is one of the instances where I think it’s ok.

Cody works on the legs to start and we take a very quick look at the crowd which may not have been intentional.  Rey tries to speed it up again but gets kicked in the gut and thrown to the floor in a heap.  Cody charges again but gets caught in a drop toehold to send him face first into the steps.  We may need the ambulance again for Cody if he goes into convulsions from his face getting messed up.

Cody gets a sunset flip back in the ring but Rey rolls through.  A swinging kick misses but the seated dropkick hits.  619 connects and the top rope splash ends this at 4:05.  What in the world is going on with these quick matches tonight?  This is Smackdown, not Impact.  Also, kind of a squash here, and no that does not mean a burial.

Rating: C+. Again I’m surprised by the quickness of this match but it was ok.  I don’t remember the last time Cody got this little time in the ring and he’s a guy that definitely takes some time to get going.  Nothing bad here though and it came off pretty well I thought.

Cody may have a broken nose due to the knee brace of Rey hitting him in the face.

Grisham has an update on Long but is interrupted by Alex Riley.  Miz is here and Cole hits high notes by shouting HE’S HERE!  Miz says he’s here because he can be.  This is really just to establish that he’s in the building.

After a break the trainer says that Cody has a broken nose.  We never see his face but when he looks in a mirror he almost cries.

Kofi Kingston vs. Jack Swagger

This is under amateur rules where it’s either a pin or the most points after three minutes.  The scoring system is two points for a takedown, one for a reversal, one for an escape, if you get your opponent on your back for two seconds that’s good for two points and if you get a pin you win here.  So it’s points or pin to win.

This isn’t something that’s easy to talk about.  Swagger gets a quick takedown for two points.  Kofi got a point from something that wasn’t explained but I think is an escape.  Another takedown and one point for an escape, which is from Swagger standing up.  4-2 Swagger with two minutes to go.  Another takedown makes it 6-2 but Swagger let him up so it’s 6-3.

We stand around and Swagger tells the referee he needs two more points so he gets them.  8-4 for Swagger and he adds on two more to make it 10-4.  Less than 20 seconds to go as this has been one sided.  Kofi gets a reversal and a quick takedown and a two count which makes it 10-9 and the time runs out.  Was there a point to this?  They fights post match and Kofi hits the Trouble in Paradise and the cross body.  I’m not going to rate this due to it being such a different format but it wasn’t incredibly entertaining at all.

We recap the Cutting Edge from last week where Ziggler beat up Edge to save him from spearing Vickie.

Last week’s show was the highest watched show in five years on Syfy.

Trent Barreta vs. Drew McIntyre

We get a clip of last week’s incident between these two and Kelly telling Drew to grow up.  Drew hammers him down to start and gets a snap suplex for two.  Drew throws him into the air but Trent gets a dropkick to take Drew down.  A springboard dropkick is caught in a sitout powerbomb for two which ticks Drew off.  Trent goes up and Drew him the Kurt Angle running up the corner suplex to win it at 2:17.  Drew beats on him a bit afterwards and Kelly comes out to break it up.  Too short to grade but Drew looked good.

After a break here’s Miz.  He says there’s a saying that says Awesome is as Awesome Does.  That means if you do awesome things you are awesome.  We get a clip from Raw where Miz beat up Orton.  He sets for the catchphrase but here comes Edge.  He’s tired of the Raw rejects coming here and bragging so much.

Edge says that Miz is like #27 on things that he has to do and he’ll deal with Miz on Raw.  Now get out of his ring, which Miz and Riley do.  Actually Riley comes back to run his mouth and gets speared before he can get much out.  Miz teases going after him but changes his mind.

After a break here’s Core to announce the opponent for Edge.  All four members get into the ring but before they can say anything here’s Vickie.  Ziggler is going to be a guest commentator for the match.  He’s a funny guy so I can’t complain there.

Edge vs. Justin Gabriel

He’s the only one that stays in the ring and might be the most entertaining main event.  After a brief skirmish Edge hits an Edge-O-Matic for two.  Gabriel gets him into the corner and hits a nice spin kick which gets him nowhere.  The commentators argue again and Ziggler gets them back on track.  Edge sends Gabriel to the floor as we take a break.

Back with Gabriel getting a pair of covers for two.  During the break Justin went after the ankle of Edge.  Koji Clutch by Gabriel has Edge in trouble.  STO takes Edge down.  WWE has been doing a nice job with expanding the movesets recently.  Gabriel goes for the 450 but Edge is up so he has to settle for a cross body.  It gets feet though as Edge gets a dropkick and both guys are down.

Flapjack puts Gabriel down and then sends him to the floor.  Back in Gabriel gets a jumping enziguri as Edge is going up top.  This is a nice back and forth match so far.  Edge fights him off and gets a top rope cross body for two.  Here comes the spear but Barrett gets up on the apron.  Edge takes him but as the referee is distracted, Jackson drills Edge and Gabriel gets the pin at 7:20 shown of 10:50.

Rating: B-. It was good while it lasted but I really wanted another three or four minutes here.  Nice way of getting the Core over on their first full night together and Edge saves some face here as he doesn’t lose clean.  They’re letting Gabriel look good in the ring when he’s in there and it’s working pretty well for the most part.  Good match but not great for the most part.

Core beats Edge down post match of course, including the majority of the finishers.  Ziggler comes in and puts his foot on Edge’s chest to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. This show was more like Impact of all things and that’s not typically a good thing.  The wrestling was way too short tonight with no matches getting over ten minutes of air time.  It’s not a bad show but it’s really nothing special.  It’s like they were stalling before next week, which I’d assume to mean they’re going to do the same thing next week.  I wasn’t thrilled with this, but it wasn’t anything awful.

Results

Alberto Del Rio b. R-Truth – Cross Armbreaker

Beth Phoenix b. Layla – Glam Slam

Rey Mysterio b. Cody Rhodes – Top Rope Splash

Jack Swagger b. Kofi Kingston by a score of 10-9

Drew McIntyre b. Trent Barreta – Belly to Belly Suplex Off the Top Rope

Justin Gabriel b. Edge – Pin after a clothesline from Ezekiel Jackson

Smackdown
Date: January 14, 2011
Location: Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex, Birmingham, Alabama
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews, Matt Striker

We continue on the path to the Rumble with this week’s Smackdown.  The main story will be Dolph building up to his title match with Edge which the website confirmed would be there.  I like them giving a guy like Ziggler a quick test run in the main event.  Also this goes to show you: never let a bad gimmick convince you that a guy can’t succeed.  The WWE Champion was a chick magnet and the biggest star in the company was a rapper.  At least he wasn’t saying Yo Baby Yo Baby Yo.  Let’s get to it.

The opening video is about Barrett vs. Show which I had completely forgotten about.  That can’t be a good sign.

Cue theme song.  Something tells me the Insurgency is never going to rise as there is no blood to sacrifice in WWE.

Dolph and Vickie will be on the Cutting Edge tonight.

Here’s Alberto to open the show.  It’s a 59 Jag this week.  Seeing Del Rio live gave me a new respect for him.  He talks about how Southerners are slow but there is no one like him in WWE.  Also he’s still going to win the Rumble and go to Mania.  It’s nice to see them build up a few people this time as it’s boring when they don’t.  Truth comes out to interrupt him and says Del Rio has a rabbit mind.  What the heck is this guy on?

He says Del Rio can’t win the Rumble because of having cars or a creepy ring announcer or because of destiny.  Actually if it’s his destiny, yeah that would make him win.  He says that Del Rio steps up by beating the one guy he can’t beat….who is named Lucy.  WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS GUY?

They’re interrupted by Cody Rhodes who says that Dashing is in the Rumble this year.  He’s only 25 and has been in three Rumbles so he’ll win.  Cue Rey who says it’s not about looking like a Diva or destiny but about what’s inside you.  If this turns into another I HAVE A BIG HEART speech I’m going to be sick.  Also shouldn’t he get a heart that big looked at by a doctor?

Anyway, he and Albert make fun of each other some more and Rey says that he’s won a Rumble while Alberto has won zero.  Oh that’s so cute.  He still thing that he won that Rumble and not Eddie.  Such a delusional masked annoyance.  Cody says that’s What’s Up.  Truth asks if Cody is stepping on his pinkie toe.  Rey says he’s stepping on your pinkie toe.  Is this some new language that I don’t understand?  Truth drills him and the fight is on.  Teddy pops up and we get a tag match.  Truth and Rey hug at the announcement.

Rey Mysterio/R-Truth vs. Alberto Del Rio/Cody Rhodes

The match starts after a break.  Rey vs. Cody to start us off.  Rey dominates to start and it’s off to Del Rio.  Alberto is officially an arch-nemesis so you know he’s awesome.  Cole asks a good question: how many times do Truth and Mysterio have to lose to Del Rio before they shut up?  Alberto sends Rey to the floor and rams him into the barricade.

Cody comes in and misses a knee drop.  I love his old school style.  Top rope cross body by Rey takes him down.  That move has been coming back lately which is a good thing.  I love simple moves like that.  Off to Truth and Del Rio now.  Sitout Gordbuster (dang it Striker stop saying the same things I do) by Truth.  He sends both of his opponents to the floor where Rey kills them both with a big moonsault and we take a break.

Back with Truth holding a chinlock on Del Rio but Cody is in seconds later.  It’s confirmed that all four guys will be in the Rumble as I think everyone expected.  For some reason the commentators keeps speaking Spanish seemingly at random.  Del Rio gets two on Truth with a move that isn’t important enough to make note of.  That and I was typing and didn’t see it.

Cody beats on Truth a bit more and gets two off a Russian leg sweep.  Crossface Chickenwing (what is with so many people using that recently?) and a body scissors makes Bob Backlund say “Oh, to be dashing”.  Truth fights out of it with an Electric Chair and gets the tag off to Rey.  For no apparent reason Cody doesn’t tag and gets a seated senton for his troubles.

Rey cleans house and we get a pinfall reversal sequence, won by Rey into a sunset flip for two as Del Rio saves.  Truth sends Del Rio to the floor with a side kick and it’s down to Cody vs. Rey now.  I don’t like the Dashing one’s chances.  Cody almost counters a headscissors into an Alabama Slam but gets caught anyway.  619 sets up the Springboard Splash at 10:28 shown of 13:58.

Rating: C+. Not the best tag match here but these guys have no history as teams so that makes up for it a bit.  This was the usual decent Smackdown tag match of the week which means it was at least good.  They have the formula for these things down pat and this was no exception.  Fun match to start off the show.

Time for Straight Out of the Hood with JTG as I refuse to butcher English like the title card does.  Basically it’s his take on recent events in WWE which is actually kind of entertaining.

We get a clip of Barrett costing Show the #1 contender spot last week.

Barrett says he came back to Raw as a conquering hero like Julius Caesar but was thrown out.  He came to Smackdown to continue his dominance and picked the Big Show because he’s the biggest star on Smackdown, and Barrett only goes after the best.  When he’s done, all will hail Caesar.  I’d rather Hail Sabin but whatever.  Also, please not another British gladiator character.

Video package on Ezekiel who talks about the Book of Ezekiel.

Trent Barreta vs. Drew McIntyre

I liked Barreta last time he was on Smackdown so this should be good too.  Drew gets a semi-face pop.  Trent goes straight for him to start but Drew takes his head off with a clothesline.  He still isn’t completely healed from his big dive two weeks ago apparently.  Drew destroys him here, taking him to the floor and possibly knocking out a tooth.  Trent is more or less dead a minute into this.  The fans are cheering for Drew here.

Dropkick gets two as Drew adds something new to his arsenal.  He must be emulating Mr. Cena.  Off to an armbar now and Cole plugs the video game by saying Trent is only going to win there.  Trent makes a brief comeback and gets a one footed dropkick for two.  Drew counters into a belly to belly and the referee is thinking about stopping it.  Drew goes for a gorilla press instead of the Futureshock and gets countered into a sunset flip/rollup for the shocking pin at 3:24!

Rating: C+. I like this Barreta guy.  He’s likely not going to go anywhere and this is probably just a plot device for the Kelly/Drew story but at least they’re letting someone new get some TV time and even a clean win here.  This wasn’t quite a squash but it was kind of close to one.  Trent got beaten badly here but he hung in there and it became a good match.  This was fun and the ending wasn’t contrived, which is always a big plus.  Fun stuff.

Post break Trent is walking in the back and gets jumped by Drew.  Before the beating gets too bad though Kelly comes up and glares at Drew.  He throws Trent aside in an unintentionally funny moment and goes after her.  Drew says he was only going to ask for a rematch but that’s not what Kelly saw.  She says that she was starting to believe him but now that’s not what she sees.  Kelly says she doesn’t want to be with someone that takes pleasure in beating on people and tells Drew to grow up.

Big Show vs. Wade Barrett

As Show makes his entrance, Josh plugs the Hall of Fame introduction ceremony.  He says it’s the most prestigious night of the year, the night before Mania.  Wouldn’t Mania be more prestigious.  Wade has his own music now and….yeah not feeling it.  It’s fast paced and almost techno-lite.  I’m not liking it but maybe it’ll grow on me.  Show goes right at him and the beating is on early.

We talk about Otunga and his jumping of Show on Smackdown as Barrett takes Show down.  Show of course shrugs off the offense and tries for the Chokeslam.  Barrett manages to block it twice though so at least this isn’t a two and a half minute match.  He tries a third time but Slater and Gabriel run in for the DQ.  Show tries to fight them off but the numbers catch up to him.  Only for a bit though as he fights them off again.

Big Zeke of all people pops up on the apron and stares down Show.  Slater tries to jump him again and Gabriel brings in a chair.  Show DRILLS it into his head but Zeke runs in to beat him down further.  The 4-1 assault happens with Zeke getting a nice delayed slam on Show and the 450 capping it off.  The new team raises their hands up.  Replays take us to a break.  No rating as this was like 2 minutes of an actual match.

Michelle McCool vs. Beth Phoenix

Layla looking incredible in a blue dress here.  Beth looking great too.  Sorry, hot women make me write in choppy sentences.  The Divas on Smackdown have gotten a lot better recently so we’ll see if that stays true here.  Michelle beats her down to start as we make NFL predictions and comparisons.  Josh as usual gets us back on track.

Beth fights back but Michelle gets a slick rollthrough to hook the leg and take Beth down again.  That was cool looking.  Crowd does not care for the most part here.  Beth’s knee is killing her here but she manages to get a rollup for two.  Blast it I’m getting tired of Laycool’s song getting stuck in my head every time they have a match.

Michelle tries to cannonball down onto Beth’s knee but gets launched to the floor.  Beth hammers away and gets a slingshot suplex for two.  She tries for the Glam Slam but Michelle counters.  Big boot is blocked into another attempt into the Glam Slam.  Michelle rolls through but Beth rolls backwards to get the pin at 4:10.

Rating: C+. Wow I’ve used that rating a lot tonight.  Everything has been above average tonight but nothing has been incredibly good.  This was good enough though and another passable match from the Divas.  The main thing with them lately has been that they’re looking much more confident in the ring.  Instead of looking like they have to plan each move out individually we see them looking smooth out there and that it’s instinct, much like a seasoned competitor.  That’s a very good thing indeed and something I haven’t seen since Lita and Trish.

Shawn Hall of Fame video.  The line of “I’m going to give you a show you’ll never forget.  Why?  Because I can” sums up Shawn as well as anything ever could.

Vickie is yelling at Teddy who is mad because of some decisions she made last week.  Teddy gets a phone call and has to leave because of something involving the Barrett situation.  Ziggler tells Vickie to not let Edge get to her in the interview segment later.  He also apologizes for yelling at her last week.  They rub noses in an awkward moment.

Here’s Kofi for a match but there’s no opponent yet.  Kofi is another guy that has incredible energy live.  I saw him in his first defense after the televised title change and he was probably the highlight of the show after Edge.  Everything he does he looks like he’s giving everything he can which is a nice this to see.  We get a clip of the title change and defense last week which was a cool moment.

Before the match against whomever, he says that he had the fans in his corner last week and because of them he’s the Intercontinental Champion again.  He learned about himself last week and the first thing he learned was check one two.  Here’s Swagger in case you didn’t get that.  Swagger says he’s proud of Kofi for learning something but 2011 is the year of the All-American.  I still have never heard his lisp that is constantly talked about.  Swagger warns him about the ankle lock so Kofi says let’s go right now.

Kofi Kingston vs. Jack Swagger

Non-Title it seems.  Even though there was a bell before the entrance of Kofi and he was introduced with his weight and all that, this seems impromptu.  We hit the floor almost immediately and Swagger drops him on the announce table as we take a break.  Back with Swagger stomping away as he’s in total control.  Vader Bomb gets two.

All Jack so far.  Another Vader Bomb misses though and here comes Kofi.  Sunset flip gets two.  Kofi can’t get the SOS but Swagger can’t get the Gutwrench Powerbomb.  Out of NOWHERE, Kofi gets the SOS for the pin at 5:00 shown of 8:30 total.  That really was a surprising ending.

Rating: B-. This was probably the best match of the night so far.  Nothing great here but these two work well together which seems to be the case of everyone that Kofi faces.  The SOS is a great secondary finisher for Kofi and this was no exception here.  Good little match and a great way to start the reign of Kofi.

After a final break it’s time for another cutting Edge.  Before Dolph and Vickie come out, Edge says that last week he wasn’t sure if he was going to survive the last man standing match, but he did and is still champion.  There’s something cool about a champion holding up the belt slowly like that.  He’s going from facing one monster last week to another this week in the form of Vickie Guerrero.  Cue the challenger and the creature that hangs out with him.

Edge says there was controversy with the victory last week which Dolph and Vickie deny.  Edge accuses Vickie of giving him the eye or something but Dolph says they’re leaving.  The champion makes fun of Vickie with some good lines.  Vickie says she was young and crazy when she married Edge.

Dolph says Edge owes his career resurgence to Vickie.  This is almost a therapy session.  Vickie has a clip to show them which is Edge making out with his wedding planner (not identified as Alicia Fox).  Dolph gets a jab at Edge, saying he looks about 14 in that clip.  Vickie lets loose the screeches.  Edge of course has his own clip which is Dolph making out with Kaitlyn.

Edge asks Vickie who that was and as she’s shaking, Dolph DRILLS Edge who fights back.  Vickie yells that it was their wedding day and slaps him three times.  She jumps on Edge so Edge looks for a spear.  He changes him mind and leaves then changes his mind again.  Dolph pulls him out for the save though and the beating is on.  Great heat on Dolph as he and Vickie stand over Edge to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. This was still a good show but it wasn’t great.  The wrestling was a bit down this week but after last week it was still pretty decent with no real bad matches.  The main point tonight was two fold in that we had Show vs. Barrett as well as a good focus on Dolph vs. Edge.  The world title match seems like it could be very good and likely will be.  Vickie adds a nice dynamic to it so overall, this should be a fun Rumble.  Either way, good stuff this week but not their best.

Results

Rey Mysterio/R-Truth b. Alberto Del Rio/Cody Rhodes – Springboard Splash to Rhodes

Trent Barreta b. Drew McIntyre – Sunset Flip

Big Show b. Wade Barrett via DQ when Heath Slater interfered

Beth Phoenix b. Michelle McCool – Rollup

Kofi Kingston b. Jack Swagger – SOS

I took in the Smackdown house show this evening in Lexington, Kentucky. The show is five minutes from my house and I won free tickets in a radio trivia contest. Anyway, after paying $10 to park, I figured I needed to win tickets more often as these were great seats, roughly eye level with the middle turnbuckle and on the same side as the entrance which was on my left. There were two rows in front of me, an aisle, and then three or four more rows of seats before the barricade. Great seats.

The  show itself was great, definitely the best house show I’ve ever been to. The house shows have zero nonsense to them, with the music of one match finishing and then Chimmel (who handled all the attire and titles etc) saying “The following contest is scheduled for one fall!” There were 9 matches and a ten minute intermission covered in just about two hours and 15 minutes, so you can tell they’re flying through this, but nothing seemed rushed at all.

This is merely going to be a brief recap and not a full on review with grades and all that jazz as I only took basic notes since I was watching the show for the most part.

Alberto Del Rio vs. R-Truth

Truth came out first and for some reason there was a long delay after his music started to play. He finally got there but wasn’t singing along. He did the What’s Up part and got a great reaction almost every time. Way over to say the least. Del Rio is clearly having a blast being a jerk to people and it shows in his talking and mannerisms.

He cut a quick promo talking about how Truth belonged on Raw but was here anyway. The mic kept cutting out, prompting the guys next to me to start a brief You F’D Up chant which stopped when all the parents with little kids around gave them evil glares. This was a relatively short match with Del Rio working on the back for the most part for some reason.

It’s amazing how much more fake punches clearly are at house shows. That running enziguri in the corner is awesome looking in person. Anyway, in a surprising upset, Truth got the win with the axe kick in about 5:30. The match was rather basic but well done and it worked as an opener with the surprise ending. Post match Del Rio caught Truth in the cross armbreaker and left him laying.

Chavo Guerrero vs. Percy Watson

Chavo got a big face pop and Watson got silence as I don’t think the vast majority of the audience had any clue who he was. There was a loud Chavo chant before the match and he turned it around easily by saying “Thank you for the cheers, but I already know I’m great.” Chavo is another guy that you don’t get to see enough of on TV but in front of a live audience he knows how to have a crowd wanting to kill him in seconds. Great heat magnet and got the people hating him quickly.

After a long stalling session we got started with a rather basic match. Watson has a presence about him but he isn’t incredibly sharp in the ring. A lot of his stuff was somewhat sloppy while Chavo was crisp with everything he did. Not a terrible match but definitely a step below the first. Watson won after a spinning splash set up by Chavo missing the Frog Splash. Ran a little over 8:00.

Rosa Mendes, who is incredibly good looking in person, asked a fan what the next PPV was and he got to ring the bell for the next match. Always a cool thing to do.

Tyler Reks vs. Ezekiel Jackson

This was just a step above a squash and ran less than 3:00. There was a pose down and then Reks tried basic stuff to no avail. Jackson won with a Rock Bottom and looked impressive like he’s supposed to without being exposed at all. The kids seemed into him somewhat too.

Cody Rhodes vs. Chris Masters

We got some dueling promos to start. Cody is so awesome in his role it’s unreal. He got a face pop for some reason too. That mirror on his jacket is certainly real too as it reflected light into my eyes a few times. Cody cut a basic heel promo, running down UK basketball (in their home arena) and talking about how Masters has never won anything. Masters said that today was his birthday (which it was) and that as a birthday promise he was going to slap Cody.

Cody is so old school in his style it’s not even funny. He uses basic stuff like the jumping stomp with the ropes to help him and knee drops and it looks like something out of the early 80s. Needless to say I love him right now. Masters surprised me here, busting out a Sky High and a Samoan Drop, both of which looked rather good. He needs something besides the Masterlock so maybe he’s testing some stuff out.

Anyway Masters kept teasing the slap all night and finally got it to a great pop. After that the crowd was far more into the match and it helped a lot. I was really surprised that Masters vs. Rhodes had the crowd into it as much as they did. After about 7:45, Cody hit a really bad looking Cross Rhodes to end this. Better than you would expect and probably the match of the night to this point.

Drew McIntyre vs. JTG

I have never heard a crowd as quiet as they were for JTG. Drew is awesome at working the crowd. After every little thing he would do he would hold up a finger, signaling that he was up 1-0, 2-0 etc. He played to the crowd all match and got them riled up very well. JTG got in a surprising amount of offense but got caught in the Futureshock for the clean pin after about 6:50. Not bad but certainly nothing special.

Intercontinental Title: Kofi Kingston vs. Dolph Ziggler

These two are awesome together and this was no exception. I would have liked to see them get more time but they wound up getting just shy of 10:00. Both guys got to do a lot of their big spots and there were some good near falls. Kofi has incredible energy and never stops going the whole time. They were hammering on each other and it’s clear that they’ve had a lot of time working together. Kofi won with the Trouble in Paradise just shy of 10:00 in the best match of the night so far and probably all night.

Intermission

Divas Title: Natalya vs. Layla

First things first: Layla is one of the most stunningly beautiful women I have ever seen in my life. TV does not do these girls justice whatsoever and they are indeed as gorgeous as they’re built up as. Anyway, Layla brought out an exercise ball and did a routine on it which every straight man or lesbian in the audience loved very much.

To my lessening surprise, this was a good match. The Divas on Smackdown have been getting much better in the ring and this was no exception. Layla hooked a reverse Indian Deathlock and got a rollup out of that for two. The focus of the match was on Natalya’s knee and she never could get the Sharpshooter. Instead she rolled over on an O’Connor Roll for the pin. Post match Layla went after the knee again but Beth came out for the save. Match ran roughly 10:00 and felt like half that, but in a good way.

Wade Barrett vs. Big Show

Show got the loudest pop of the night or at worst the second loudest and just a step behind Edge. Probably the loudest though. On his way to the ring, Barrett jumped him. Wade said he didn’t need Nexus anymore and that he was the new big man on Smackdown. Interesting indeed. For some reason this match had far more flash bulbs going off than anything else all night. Show won with the Knockout Punch in 4:50 and Barrett sold it like he was shot. Two referees helped him to the back.

Smackdown World Title: Edge vs. Kane

This was fan’s choice, with the options being 2/3 falls (I think 5 people in the arena cheered for this, myself included), or a street fight. I think you know what won. I forgot to time this but it was definitely the longest match of the night at maybe 13-15 minutes or so. Good stuff indeed with them brawling up by the entrance and using a few weapons. Kane hit the Chokeslam for two after avoiding the Conchairto to the knee. Edge hit the spear to win it and then high fived a ton of fans to end the show. He was incredibly over to say the least.

Overall, this was a GREAT show. When you can get that many matches on a show and in just over two hours without anything bad, what more can you ask for? The crowd was hot all night long with lots of chants and pops/heat at the right times. The upper arena was tarped off but the lower arena was about 80-90% full. Keep in mind that Rupp Arena is one of the biggest basketball arenas in the country and can hold over 20,000 people at maximum capacity. Very fun show and I’m quite glad I went.

Smackdown
Date: January 7, 2011
Location: Tucson Convention Center, Tucson, Arizona
Commentators: Michael Cole, Matt Striker, Josh Matthews

In the first show of the year we have the World Heavyweight Championship on the line in a last man standing match as well as Alberto vs. Rey in a 2/3 falls contest.  The most intriguing thing to me is if Kane vs. Edge is finished tonight, what does that mean for the Rumble?  Hopefully this doesn’t see a double countout or a tie etc as that would make me rather irritated.  Let’s get to it.

The opening video is more or less what I just told you.  Now why can’t I get paid to do something like that?  I said more or less the same thing minus a few basic lines.

Do you know your enemy?  That’s a good question actually and I certainly don’t know mine.

After a brief opening statement from the announcers, it’s time for the main event!

Smackdown World Title: Edge vs. Kane

Edge has the red sunglasses back which I think he’s had recently but not for very long.  This is last man standing remember.  We get the big match intros here which isn’t something you see that often in WWE anymore.  It might be the angle of it but the belt looks quite different for some reason.  Kane puts Edge down in the corner with powerful strikes to start us off.

Edge gets a swinging neckbreaker to put both guys down for about a three.  Sideslam by Kane gets another three on Edge.  The champion hits a spear to Kane while Kane is on the apron and the bald man is down on the floor.  It only gets a six though and we hit the floor.  Up the ramp they go with Kane in control.  Isn’t it amazing how a single shot in one of these matches can send one or both guys off for a good 8 feet?

They go into the back towards the concourse and Edge is slammed into a wall.  Why are the concession stands closed?  Back into the arena in the crowd with Edge blocking a chokeslam off the stands.  They fight up the steps into the luxury suites which have their own concession and merchandise stands.  Dude that’s kind of awesome.  Trashcan to the stomach of Edge breaks his momentum.

With Edge down after being rammed into various things and hammered a bit, Kane finds a flight of stairs and a wheelchair.  I think you know what’s coming here.  Edge counters at the last second and only the chair goes flying.  A big boot puts Kane down for 5.  We take a break with Edge in firm control.

Back with Edge in control still and the fight going on in the crowd near the announcers’ table.  Kane clears off the announce table but Edge manages to reverse to send Kane into the steps.  That gets a 9 which sounded a lot like ten but they kept it going anyway.  Edge does one of those jumps off the top that exist only to jump into a shot from their opponent, in this case an uppercut.

The uppercut is good for 8 and here comes Kane.  Top rope clothesline misses though and Edge gets the Edgecution to put both guys down.  Cole informs us that if it’s a tie then we keep going.  That makes me feel all tingly.  Chokeslam out of nowhere has Edge and the title in big trouble.  Edge is up and 9 and heads/falls to the floor.

Kane wants a Tombstone on the steps but Edge counters into an Edge-O-Matic onto the steps and the big fried freak is in trouble!  Kane gets up at ten but is down at eleven.  Edge sets for the spear but runs into a huge boot to the face to put him back down again.  That gets 9 but Kane gets a chokeslam onto the table to half kill Edge!  Striker was sent flying and is partially pinned under the table in a funny looking visual.  Edge uses Striker to pull himself back up and beat the count.  That was kind of funny actually.

The challenger is all fired up here and he throws a chair into the ring.  Make it a pair of them.  He goes up but Edge pelts a chair at his head to take Kane down one more time.  That looked sick.  BIG chair shots to the knee have Kane in big trouble.  The spear hits but Edge isn’t happy yet.  He goes out and gets the pelted chair and hits a Conchairto to the knee of Kane, which is enough to end this at 17:20 shown of 20:50.

Rating: B. This was a fun brawl with some fairly creative spots, namely Edge using Striker to get up.  I like the ending as instead of the spear it was instead the spear that set up the Conchairto to end Kane.  That’s a nice touch and it prevented the match from ending stupidly with a spear ending Kane when nothing else could.  I liked it rather well and the ending only made it better.  Good match.

Intercontinental Title: Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston

They’re certainly pushing this as a huge show with the title matches and all that jazz.  Striker calls Vickie the female version of Rosie O’Donnell.  Why are so many people obsessed with Rosie?  What has she ever done?  Nice reaction for Kofi here.  We get a quick video of last week’s match where Dolph more or less stole the win from Kofi which is true only to a degree.

Kofi hammers away to start as Cole says that Kofi needs to move on instead of trying to get the title back time and time again.  Neckbreaker by Dolph gets two.  Off to a clear choke that they’re going to call a chinlock because they want to I guess.  Splash in the corner misses though and here comes Kofi.  These two have some solid chemistry together to be sure.

A rollup by Ziggler with some tights gets two.  They’re moving very fast out there.  Trouble in Paradise misses and it’s off to the Sleeper!  Kofi simply grabs the hands and rips the hold off and gets the SOS for an incredibly close two.  Middle rope suplex is blocked by Dolph.  I know it seems like I’m flying through this but there is almost nothing between these fast moves.  After Kofi knocks Dolph off the ropes to block the suplex, the HUGE crossbody ends this perfectly clean at 5:31.  That came out of nowhere!

Rating: B. Ok, this grade is going to require some explanation as to how it can be equal to the first match and I think it might clear up a bit about my grading system in general in case some people think I’m a bit inconsistent.  While I’m giving this match the same grade, it’s certainly not as good as the first one.  There are two key differences though.

The first is that the opener was meant to be a long brawl, as evidenced by giving it nearly four times as long to work with.  That match had time to work out spots and to be a brutal fight, whereas this was supposed to be fast paced and exciting.  Different styles of match, but both well done.

Second, which ties into the first, was the ending.  Dolph literally turned around to get hit by the cross body.  Kofi is already horizontal when Dolph sees him.  I love matches that end very quickly and with moves that aren’t finishers.  To the fans it looked like another big move that Kofi would hit to get a two count.  Instead it’s over and the fans are surprised.  That’s an excellent touch and it keeps the matches interesting.

As for the match itself, one important thing to make clear is that this was NOT a squash.  Dolph was definitely in this the whole time and Kofi got a big shot in to get the win.  That’s very important as it keeps Dolph looking strong while still switching the title.  This was a very fun and fast paced match which is what you come to expect from these guys.  Good stuff.

Dolph, ever the villain, destroys Kofi post match.  Vickie gets on the mic and says that since Teddy isn’t here tonight, Dolph gets a rematch RIGHT NOW!

Intercontinental Title: Kofi Kingston vs. Dolph Ziggler

LOUD Kofi chant but he’s more or less d…..and screw that as he hits Trouble in Paradise and it’s over in 43 seconds!  That kick looked great.

Rating: B-. Well the opening 13 seconds were very weak but they picked it WAY up in the next 19.  The final 21 were completely awesome though and it definitely was good enough to make this a passable match.  Dang man those final 21 seconds with Kofi rolling Dolph over for the cover were more exciting than the entire Flair vs. Steamboat trilogy.

After a break Dolph is yelling at Vickie and telling her that was a boneheaded move.  Vickie blames him so Dolph says that maybe she should get a new boyfriend.  He leaves and she screeches in a terrifying voice.  I’ll be sleeping with the lights on tonight after hearing that.

Long recap of the cage match Monday.

Kelly is on the way to the ring when Drew stops her.  He says he’s a different person than he is out there.  This was allegedly supposed to be used for Tiffany and not Kelly, which means absolutely nothing but this is a short segment and I need something to talk about.  Drew wants to earn her trust and wants her support in his #1 contenders match tonight.  She smiles and says thanks and leaves.

Cody vs. Drew vs. Show for the #1 contender spot up next.

Cody Rhodes vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Big Show

See I told you it was up next.  Cody does look good in the jacket.  I have to give him that.  Could Drew look any more like a natural face than he does?  And here’s Vickie of course.  She makes it a fatal fourway with Dolph thrown in too.

Cody Rhodes vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Big Show vs. Dolph Ziggler

Drew has a headache and is still tired from the previous two matches.  Show looks very ticked off about the extra person being added in.  They all surround Show who is like screw it and beats up all three guys.  Drew is tossed to the floor first and then the other two get beaten on a bit as well.  Down to Show vs. Cody which is a mini-feud at least.  Dolph breaks up a pin by Show which gets him picked up by the hair and slammed down.

All Show for the first two minutes or so.  Channeling his inner Bobby Heenan, Cole says Show could have won this five minutes ago.  Stinkface to Cody has him gasping for air.  Show is busting out some of his old spots here like the Final Cut (Nightmare on Helm Street) and the one where he lifts up his leg and drops it onto the other guy’s chest like a standing legdrop (Wiki calls it the Showstopper but I’ve never heard that name for it before)

Drew has been in the ring maybe 20 seconds so far.  Big chop in the corner misses Dolph and Cody teams up with Dolph to beat down the Giant.  And that fails completely as Show blocks a double Irish Whip and sends both guys flying over the top with a simple tug.  Out on the floor Show is triple teamed and sent through the time keeper’s area.  He’s down but so is everyone else as we take a break.

Back with Cody vs. Dolph in the ring.  Cody goes for a moonsault but Drew shoves him off the top into the waiting arms of Big Show.  Cody gets back in to stop Drew from destroying Dolph and shouts that he’s #1.  He’s Paul Jones all of a sudden?  Drew back in now but Show is back up to a big reaction.  He picks off Drew and sends him flying on the floor and I think we’re about to pick up again.

Cody gets crushed in the corner and down goes Ziggler.  Show calls for the Chokeslam and out of nowhere Wade Barrett comes in to destroy Big Show!  A few big boots and a top rope elbow take down Show and Wade leaves.  Something to note there: Barrett just took down Show when three guys couldn’t.  Cody can’t steal the pin after the Beautiful Disaster but Ziggler manages to get the Zig Zag for two.

Futureshock gets two as this is ridiculous.  Show took a beating from Barrett, Cody’s second best move, Ziggler’s pin finisher and Drew’s finisher and is up a few seconds later.  We get that he’s a giant but don’t make him look invincible.  Cody and Dolph team up again but Dolph grabs the Zig Zag on him out of nowhere and gets the pin at 10:12 shown of 13:42.

Rating: C+. Fun match and told a decent story, but for the love of heck I can’t stand Show being made to look invincible like he does with those power kickouts.  Doing that to one move is ok, but how weak does the Futureshock look when it can’t get a pin after all that softening up mere seconds before it?  This still was more good than it was bad though so points for that.

Michelle McCool vs. Kelly Kelly

Kelly looking GOOD tonight.  They’re flying through this show too with maybe two backstage segments so far tonight.  Michelle charges into the corner to start but Kelly gets a choke with her legs while hanging upside down over the ropes.  Michelle fights that off with ease and goes after Kelly’s leg.  Kelly manages to get a headscissors to take her down and sets for the K2.  Michelle casually counters into the Faithbreaker to end this in 1:42.  Not quite a squash but you could call it that pretty easily.

Laycool beats down Kelly post match until Drew runs down for the save.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Rey Mysterio

2/3 falls here.  This show has been PACKED with wrestling so far at a level I haven’t see in a long time.  Before we start Alberto says that it’s his destiny to win the Rumble.  He talks about how there are pure Latinos and then the rest of them, who are car washers, gardeners, and Rey Mysterio.  I like that.

Rey starts us off here with some speed moves and wants the 619 maybe 75 seconds in.  Alberto ducks and the Cross Armbreaker makes it 1-0 in 1:37.  I was under the impression that there would be no math.  We get a graphic telling us that it’s 1-0.  Are fans really that stupid?  After a quick break we’re back with Rey in an armbar and then taking a big backbreaker to put him down again.

Rey gets sent to the floor as we debate if Rey tapped out just to break the hold, which would make sense.  A big rana takes down Alberto but Rey can’t capitalize immediately.  Alberto gets up and goes for the armbreaker again but Rey turns into it and gets a rollup for two.  619 can’t hit again but a cradle gives Rey the 1-1 tie at 8:12 (total time elapsed) and we take our second break of the match.

Back with Alberto holding another armbar as Rey is in more trouble.  Del Rio gets caught by the usual speed and leverage moves from Rey but Del Rio fights Rey off with a Codebreaker to the arm.  The fans chant 619 over and over and Rey gets a body scissors into a DDT for two.  Rey tries to go up but Del Rio gets to the ropes and down comes the masked man.  He’s caught in the Tree of Woe so Del Rio hammers away.

Alberto goes up for a suplex while being on the outside.  In other words he’s trying to suplex Rey to the floor.  Rey’s arm is really hurting him here.  I’m not sure why Alberto isn’t getting back in the ring but rather is fighting from the apron.  Rey gets a 619 around the post to take down Alberto.  Rey gets a big dive to take out Alberto and Ricardo and get a big reaction from the crowd.  Del Rio gets back in but Ricardo grabs Rey’s ankle and it’s a countout to give Del Rio the win at 11:53 shown of 18:53 total.

Rating: C+. This was pretty good for the most part but I wasn’t feeling it for some reason.  Rey losing on the countout to end the match doesn’t do it for me at all.  If you’re going to have Rey lose in the end, have it be to the armbreaker.  Del Rio still looks good but at the same time the ending feels kind of silly.  Decent match but I didn’t like it for some reason.

Rey beats up Ricardo a bit post match including a 619 and the springboard splash.

The announcers recap the show and announce Show vs. Barrett next week.

Overall Rating: A. This show was packed and it worked the whole night.  With two nearly 20 minute matches plus a title change and a new #1 contender, how in the world can you argue against this one?  Oh and I forgot that Barrett is here now too which is good as the show is dying for star power.  I really enjoyed this show with it being so wrestling heavy.  Good stuff indeed and a great way to kick off the year.

Results

Edge b. Kane – Conchairto to Kane’s Leg

Kofi Kingston b. Dolph Ziggler – Top rope Cross Body

Kofi Kingston b. Dolph Ziggler – Trouble in Paradise

Dolph Ziggler b. Cody Rhodes, Big Show and Drew McIntyre – Zig Zag to Rhodes

Michelle McCool b. Kelly Kelly – Faithbreaker

Alberto Del Rio b. Rey Mysterio two falls to one

Smackdown

Date: December 21, 2010
Location: AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews, Matt Striker

It’s the beginning of Edge’s tenth title reign which doesn’t have much of a ring to it when you think about it.  I think they’ll probably set up Del Rio vs. Edge at the Rumble but we’ll find out.  This is on Tuesday for the first time as they didn’t want to have Smackdown on Christmas Eve which makes sense to say the least.  This should be a good show but it’ll be fun to see it live.  Let’s get to it.

Oh and NXT is on at 11 so I’ll have that up as soon as it finishes as usual.

Edge will address the crowd tonight.

Randy Orton vs. The Miz

Dang jerking the curtain this fast?  How the mighty have fallen.  You can figure out which one I’m talking about.  I was thinking the GM would make Miz vs. Lawler tonight but this is probably a better option on all fronts.  Orton goes OFF on Miz to start, beating the tar out of him on the floor.  Riley is of course here also.

Miz gets a guillotine clothesline over the top to take over and a boot to a seated Viper gets two.  Orton comes back and looks like he wants the RKO but settles for a powerslam.  They’re kind of flying through this.  Elevated DDT is blocked but Orton lands on the apron.  Riley interferes and here comes Miz again.  We take a break with Orton ramming into the steps and holding his arm.

Back with Miz holding a chinlock on the Viper which is reversed while the TVPG logo is still in the corner.  Miz goes up but is crotched as we’re talking about Money in the Bank for no apparent reason.  Suplex from the middle rope puts the champion down for two.  This match is getting some time as we’re past ten minutes already.

They slug it out with Orton hammering him down in the corner so he can stomp a mudhole (he does the two fists in the air pose on the corner now, he stomps people in the corner, he uses a quick strike finisher and he’s named after a snake.  He reminds me someone but I just can’t place it.  I’ve got it: The Rougeau Brothers) in the champion.  Miz fights back with a Reality Check for two.

Orton sets for his powerbomb which I guess along with the Angle Slam are his new signature moves now but Riley’s distraction interrupts it.  Clothesline in the corner and a DDT gets both a smile from me (it’s my favorite move) and a two count.  The Finale and the RKO are both countered as Miz gets a backslide for two.

There’s the elevated DDT and Orton sets for the RKO.  Riley gets up AGAIN and there’s the RKO, but Riley runs in for the DQ at approximately 11:00 shown of 14:42.  This was a lot longer than I expected but was still good.  We’re not done yet as Orton sets for the Punt.  Riley comes in at the last second and runs into an RKO for his troubles.

Rating: B-. This was much better than I was expecting.  Miz held his own but escapes again.  For people that complain about making him look weak, have you ever seen a Miz match?  When has he EVER been a dominant guy?  He’s a heel.  He’s not supposed to look all awesome (no pun intended) and get a perfect win.  He escapes with the title and can still point to it and say look what I’ve still got.

I don’t get why so many people complain about heels not looking strong.  Heels have been doing it for years and only recently have I heard them get heat for it.  What’s going to be more annoying/evil, which is what a heel is supposed to be: a guy that is all big and bad, or a guy that you want to see get his beating and finally lose, ala Honky Tonk Man back in the 80s?  He was an incredible heel and never once looked dominant.  Heck how often did Flair look dominant against a big name?  He almost always cheated to win and he’s praised for it.

Show is still Santa and he and Rosa are giving out action figures.  Blast it Hornswoggle is an elf.  Can’t we just look at the hotness that is Rosa?

Back with the aforementioned three throwing out presents and DVDs and such.  There’s a Christmas setup in the ring complete with a small tree, milk and cookies and presents.  Oh wait that tree is bigger than I thought as it was positioned kind of weird.  Show breaks the chair as he sits on it.

Show sits in another chair (still taller than Horny) and reads a WWE version of Night Before Christmas.  It’s about TLC which is a nice little thing actually.  “Santa now must leave before it’s too late.  Go out and get the Knucklehead DVD….IT’S GREAT!”  Cole whines about it of course and they throw out more presents….with no heel attack.  I’m surprised indeed.  Oh I knew it.  Here’s Cody who takes out Horny and the Christmas stuff.

Back with a recap of the Cena segment last night which was absolutely hilarious.  To the people that thought it was childish, get the sticks out of your head and have a bit of fun.  The handicap is still later.

Beth says she’s glad she’s not hurt from the SICK fall she took at the PPV.  Santino and Vlad come in and the Italian/Canadian/Russian depending on which company he’s in wants to know how she’s doing.  For old time’s sake he requests a lip lock and more or less snaps his fingers, making Kozlov produce some mistletoe.

Tamina isn’t an issue as she’s on Raw and this is Smackdown.  Santino is a player!  Santino puckers up and closes his eyes, so Beth grabs Vlad and kisses him.  The look on his face is hilarious as his eyes bug out.  Santino sees the lipstick on his lips after Beth leaves and says it’s like they just kissed as he had kissed Beth before.  Funny stuff indeed.

Santino Marella vs. Chavo Guerrero

They’re going to reair this show Friday which makes this airing make more sense.  Smart to offer a reairing of this later but to not try to go against Christmas Eve.  Santino uses his Sambo stuff to start but Chavo uses basic wrestling to take over again.  Santino comes back but the headbutt eats knees.  Chavo does Eddie’s dance and Three Amigos have Marella in trouble.  Third is blocked though and it’s Cobra time, ending it at 3:00.  Basic little match to fill in some time.

Back from a break and it’s time for Edge to address Smackdown. I can’t imagine this won’t be interrupted by Alberto to set up the Rumble match.  He talks about how all the insanity with Paul and Kane is now worth it because he now has his world title back.  Edge talks about how he’s worked his entire career to get here and has accomplished all the goals he’s set for himself.

Kane comes out a bit to my surprise and says no one wants to hear this story.  Edge more or less says shut up and challenges Kane to a world title match RIGHT NOW.  Kane….turns it down?  He wants it to be under his own rules and he’ll get the title back.  PLEASE don’t let that be the Rumble match.

Rey/Kofi vs. Alberto/Swagger later.

Back with a video on Big Zeke who is awesome to look at to put it mildly.  He’s coming soon even though I was pretty sure he was supposed to be on here.

Drew McIntyre vs. Kaval

Drew gets a decent face pop actually.  Drew jumps him before the bell and Kaval is barely able to get up.  A big boot and the Future Shock end this in 28 seconds.  Well that was abrupt.  Maybe Kaval’s ankle isn’t healed up yet.

We look at Tribute to the Troops, which was rather good.  Not sure if it’ll be the same as a 2 hour show but it should be solid still.

Jack Swagger/Alberto Del Rio vs. Kofi Kingston/Rey Mysterio

This should be pretty good as the tag match last week was rather awesome indeed.  Back and we see everyone not named Alberto’s entrance as his had already happened.  Rey vs. Alberto to start us off as Swagger still has his t-shirt on for some reason.  He goes after Kofi before the match really gets going and Alberto gets to jump Rey.  OH SNAP Alberto goes for the mask and we saw Rey’s face!

Rey fights him off and here’s Kofi.  Rey and Kofi clean house and the bad guys are both sent to the floor.  Stereo dives have Swagger and Alberto reeling as we take a break.  Swagger was holding his arm and it didn’t look too good.  Back with Alberto holding a chinlock on Rey.  That double dive was pretty sweet as they show it again in slow motion and from a second angle from facing the stage.  Striker: take two hits and pass it on.

Swagger comes in and hits his Vader Bomb as his arm looks just fine.  Bearhug goes on Rey for a bit but even with some kicks Rey can’t get a tag out.  He does however get one after sending Swagger into the buckle.  Big crossbody and dropkick to bring Kofi in but he runs into boots in the corner and a big boot takes him down.

The announcers say Alberto will be a future world champion but they’re not sure about Kofi.  Interesting debate topic indeed.  Kofi takes Swagger down after a long beatdown and both Spanish speakers comes in and Rey shows off a lot with a tornado DDT after a bunch of spins and flips.  BIG swinging kick to the head gets two for Rey.  SICK tilt-a-whirl backbreaker gets two for Alberto.

Rey gets a dropkick to the back to set up Alberto for the 619 but Swagger gets a blind tag to lay out Rey for a close two.  Kofi has apparently been swallowed by the Earth as Rey gets out of the gutwrench powerbomb.  It’s almost a double 619 but Alberto gets out of the way.  Trouble in Paradise out of nowhere kills Swagger and the springboard splash ends this at 13:40.

Rating: B. Smackdown has this tag team thing DOWN lately as this was another good one.  Also it’s nice to see some tag matches without the team having like two matches and instantly becoming the #1 contenders for the titles.  This was really fun and that double dive with the alternate camera shot is awesome stuff.  Good match again and a big pickup for this kind of lackluster show.

Drew comes up to Kelly and says he’s sorry for last week and acting weird.  She says he wasn’t weird and he says that he’d never hurt her.  She seems a bit receptive this time.

Dolph helps Vickie stretch for her match which is a fairly pointless scene.

Kane/Del Rio vs. Edge/Rey next week.  That should be good, although on New Year’s Eve the ratings are going to TANK.

Dolph Ziggler/Vickie Guerrero vs. John Cena

Vickie is in her EXCUSE ME tights.  She’s all whiny to Dolph as they wait for Cena to come out.  Vickie tries to get to Cena immediately but Dolph holds her back.  They have to tag here.  Dolph beats him down and then Vickie tags herself in to stand on John’s head so he lifts her off the ground by bench pressing her.  Keep in mind she’s standing upright and her feet were on his face and he simply lifted her off from his back.  That is SCARY strength.

Back to Ziggles who hammers away and hits a jumping elbow like Sting always used to miss.  Loud Vickie Sucks chant as Cena can’t get the FU and Dolph hits a DDT for two.  It’s the standard formula for these kinds of matches: the heel destroys the good guy while the weaker heel hangs out on the apron and steals a shot here or there.

To the floor where Dolph eats steps after Cena blocks the same kind of shot.  Yep it’s an overrun while NXT is being advertised as starting now.  Back in and Cena gets a suplex to put Dolph down and they slug it out.  Ziggler finally figures out a counter to the shoulder blocks.  After years of studying mystical scrolls, consulting various monks and reaching near nirvana…….he ducks and lets Cena crash to the floor.

The dueling chants begin as Vickie gets some kicks in on the floor.  Vickie distracts again and Ziggler gets a chinlock before that cool Stunner kind of move.  He sets for a Downward Spiral and then jumps to drop into a Stunner.  Vickie tags herself in AGAIN and misses a splash.

Dolph back in and the ancient scrolls fail him as Cena initiates his ending sequence.  Vickie can’t see him apparently.  Ziggler counters the FU and hits a Fameasser for a close two.  This is getting more time than I expected it to by far.  Ziggler goes for another but Cena steps to the side for the STF but Vickie saves.  Cena kisses her hard and the FU ends it at 13:30.

Rating: B-. Another good match here but it was never really in doubt.  It was all to set up the post match stuff which I’ll get to here in a minute.  Ziggler has gotten one heck of a rub from Cena in the last two nights and it’s made him look great.  He’s quite good on his own but this has been a nice bonus for him.  Good match but no classic or anything.

Post match Cena goes for an FU on Vickie but punk runs in for more chair shots and leaves.  Cena getting up in pain ends the show.

Overall Rating: C+. This was ok and had a lot of wrestling on it, but it came off like an episode of Raw with Smackdown guest starring.  That’s not a good thing as they had a great chance to give Smackdown some extra exposure but we didn’t really get that here at all.  This was rather wrestling heavy with over 45 minutes of action in two hours which is solid for any show.  It was good, but definitely a step down from Smackdown’s usual stuff.  Still decent though.

Smackdown
Date: December 17, 2010
Location: Cajundome, Lafayette, Louisiana
Commentators: Josh Matthews, Michael Cole, Matt Striker

Back to the Friday show this week after a long wrestling week. It’s the go home show for TLC which I liked last year so hopefully they can give us something good here too. This should be a decent enough show I’d assume as it’s Smackdown after all. We’ll get the fallout from Edge more or less being involved in the death of Paul Bearer. That was his second death I believe? Anyway let’s get to it.

Theme song opens us up. It’s getting better every time I hear it.

Here’s Edge to an ERUPTION. He talks about how bizarre the last few weeks have been but has a video about it to truly show us how weird it’s gotten. Cue Benny Hill music. This just hammers in the reality of how stupid this whole thing has been. Anyway Edge says this is all about Kane and it’s all because he’s evil. So says the man that caused a guy to be shoved off a ladder after kidnapping him for a month.

Edge reminds us of how evil Kane has been the year, mainly focusing on the whole Undertaker thing. He wanted to fight fire with fire with Kane so he got down to Kane’s evil level. No one thinks he went to far, at least not the audience. Edge: Kane has lost his mind, even moreso than usual. Fan: HE LOST HIS HAIR TOO! Edge says he’ll win tonight and that’s about it.

Miz vs. Rey tonight. Should be good.

Kane is distraught apparently and might not be at the PPV. Edge asks what we’re going to do as he doesn’t want the title by forfeit. Notice the very subtle face aspect right there. Alberto comes in and says that Teddy wanted to see him. Rey comes in too and says no don’t give him the shot. If Kane isn’t back by Sunday, it’s a triple threat TLC match for the title between these three. That was a bit random. Alberto doesn’t like being a backup plan so Teddy just makes it a fatal fourway for the title in a TLC match. I guess 7 gimmick matches were too many?

Kofi Kingston/Kaval vs. Dolph Ziggler/Jack Swagger

Should be good. Swagger vs. Kaval, who still has a somewhat bad ankle, starts us off. Kaval goes for a Tajiri handspring into a cross body but Swagger catches him in a nice display of power. Kofi comes in and everything goes insane with dives, leaving the good guys in the ring as we take a break.

Back with Swagger holding Kaval on the mat with a double chickenwing. We’re mainly talking about the triple threat IC Title match which is kind of awkward as everyone but Kaval isn’t in it. Off to Ziggler now who keeps it on the mat. Striker picks Swagger for the ladder match as does Cole. Matthews says Kofi will win due to his hunger. Kaval accidentally tries to tag out in the wrong corner which gets a nice reaction from Dolph.

Kaval reverses a German by the American but can’t tag the African. Kaval has been in this for about 90% of the match but he keeps fighting and a double stomp keeps Swagger down. There’s the tag and here comes Kofi. Striker gets a good line: Who needs a ladder when you’re Kofi Kingston? Boom Drop to Ziggler and here comes Trouble in Paradise but Ziggler ducks. SOS gets two as Swagger saves. Kaval takes him to the floor and there’s Trouble in Paradise to end this at 7:05 shown of 10:35.

Rating: B. Fun match here with a shortened version of the standard formula. It was still well done though and the result is a good tag match. Kaval is growing on me every time I see him and this was no exception. Ziggler’s selling of that kick is perfect as he collapses every time it hits him. Good match.

Swagger beats up Ziggler post match, prompting Vickie to reach new levels of screeching.

Some new guy that looks to be about 15 talks to Miz. Miz isn’t sure why he’s here as he already beat Rey to start his week. Miz: How did you start you week Jack? Jack: Actually….Miz: Actually I don’t care. Miz lists off everything he’s done this week which is an amazing list actually. After he lists off all the days, Riley busts out A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE! Good stuff.

JTG has his own segment now where he hypes up TLC. It’s called Straight Outta Brooklyn. See it’s funny because he talks strangely.

Kaitlyn and Kelly are talking when Drew comes up to hit on Kelly. Drew is tall, handsome and has charm. Naturally he’s a heel. Why not? The acting here is pretty awful but Drew says he’s a different person outside the ring. He asks her out but Kaitlyn comes up to save her before there was an answer.

It’s the return of Grooming Tips with Dashing Cody Rhodes! I need these tips! This time it’s about hair, including a special portion on selecting the right hairdryer as it needs to look right and feel right in your hand. It’s going to be spending a lot of time there so make sure it’s the right one.

Cody Rhodes vs. Chris Masters

Decent pop for Masters who now has pyro. Masters takes over with power to start and hits a gorilla press. And never mind as Cody shoves him off the top while he’s getting punched in the corner and the Cross Rhodes ends this in maybe 1:00 at most.

Rey Mysterio vs. The Miz

Should be good again. Stalling to start as Cole praises Miz and how awesome he’s been this year, which is true. Rey slips a bit on a leapfrog and Miz gets a clothesline to take over. Matthews and Striker commend Miz so Cole says there’s plenty of room for them on the Miz Train to Mizville. Miz takes out the ankle of Rey and gets a baseball slide to send Rey’s ribs into the post.

Rey speeds things up but can’t get the 619. Seated Senton to the floor takes down Riley though as we take a break. Back with Miz holding Rey on the mat as the crowd is WAY into this. Rey gets a spinout DDT to take care of the momentum and both guys are down. They slug it out from their knees with Rey winning, allowing him to hit a springboard cross body for two.

Miz stomps away and hits the running corner clothesline to further his dominance. For some reason he goes up though and that of course doesn’t work very well for him at all. Top rope rana puts the champion down for two. He sets for the 619 but Riley distracts. Alberto comes out and trips up Rey to give Miz a rollup for two. Rey gets the 619 and kicks Alberto and sets for the springboard splash. It eats knees though and that’s enough for the pin at 9:30 shown of 13:00.

Rating: B-. Solid stuff again here as Miz gets to rub elbows with guys like Rey. That’s nothing but good for him as he’s going to have good matches with them as well as it makes him look all the more legit. This was pretty good actually as Miz delivers another good but not great match which is certainly his custom.

Alberto beats down Rey again but Edge saves. Teddy makes a tag match for the main event with the teams being exactly who you would expect them to be.

Back from a break and here’s Laycool. They’re here to protest the tables match on Sunday, saying that it won’t happen. They just refuse to do it because it’s barbaric and here come Natalya and Beth with their own table. Natalya asks when Laycool started making the decisions here. Without missing a beat they say in unison: “We run this show.” Laycool says that Natalya and Beth belong in the men’s division based on their looks.

We find out why Beth never talks as she cuts a really weak promo against Laycool. It does amuse me that they find Beth and Natalya masculine when their chests are hanging all over the place. They unwrap the gift table they have and there’s a caricature of Laycool on it. At least I think it’s Laycool. The good girls beat up Laycool but can’t put Layla through it like they want to.

Tag champions in action next.

Santino Marella/Vladimir Kozlov vs. Chavo Guerrero/Tyler Reks

Another non-title match for Chavo here. Santino vs. Reks starts us off and the comedy begins early. Off to Kozlov who gets beaten down with ease also. The camera is rather odd here as they’re filming through the middle and bottom rope rather than the typical shot they have. The two smaller guys come in with Santino beating on Chavo. I would say Santino winds up playing Ricky Morton but that feels too wrong to say.

Santino literally swims over to Kozlov who is pounded on by Chavo. His solution: KICK HIM IN THE FACE. Chavo tries to come off the middle rope but runs into Kozlov’s Cranium. Here’s Santino again and the CORBA pins Chavo. You would think him yelling COBRA right before Chavo turned around would tip Chavo off. Match ran about 3:40.

Rating: C-. Glorified comedy match but that’s all it needed to be really. Santino continues his ridiculously popular run and I have no problem with them giving him a tag title given the pops he’s getting. If the fans are as into him as anything else all night, why not? It’s not like the titles meant anything anyway. Match was filler but it wasn’t aiming any higher than that which is fine.

Ezekiel Jackson will be on Smackdown next week. Odd but ok.

Raw Recap and PPV rundown eat up some time.

Alberto Del Rio/The Miz vs. Edge/Rey Mysterio

Ricardo’s mic isn’t working at first and he seems a good bit ticked off about it. Most of the intros occur during a break which is nice as we get more wrestling. Edge vs. Miz starts us off here. Edge gets beaten down by both guys for a good while until he brings Rey in. It’s Rey’s turn to get beaten down for awhile now also.

We’re five minutes into this now and it’s been one sided almost the entire time. After one of the longest extended heel beatdowns to start a match I can remember Edge comes back in but Riley stops the spear on the Miz. Edgecution gets two instead as Alberto makes the save and Josh coughs a lot. Kane is here!

Edge hits the spear on Miz and here comes Kane. He takes down Edge which would be a lot more dramatic if Kane hadn’t already had two matches with him recently. A bunch of Smackdown guys come out to pull Kane off Edge and a big pull apart brawl ends the show. We’ll say the match ended at about 9:00. Edge gets a spear to Kane to end things.

Rating: C-. Kind of an underwhelming main event with the LONG heel beatdown being the vast majority of this one. The ending hurts it a bit but it’s refreshing to see Kane finally showing some anger rather than moaning and yelling about how mad he is. This wasn’t a great match or anything but it worked fine for a main event with all three guys in the at the time triple threat and then Kane running in at the end. Not bad but nothing great.

Overall Rating: B. Solid show this week and a good buildup to the PPV. I’m really not sure why they nixed Rey vs. Alberto. I know Rey is working hurt so maybe that had something to do with it as Rey couldn’t work a one on one match on his own. The show had some very solid wrestling on it combined with the final push for the matches Sunday. I’m not interested in Edge vs. Kane still, but adding the other two in helps a bit as it opens up some more doors. Good show overall with solid stuff throughout.

Smackdown
Date: December 10, 2010
Location: Nutter Center, Dayton, Ohio
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews, Matt Striker

Another week comes for Smackdown and hopefully we can get another match scheduled for TLC. If my memory is right we have the world title match, Rey vs. Alberto and Kofi vs. Ziggler, which I assume is at the PPV. Actually maybe that’s enough but maybe not. Sorry for rambling so much on this but I need to fill in space. With all that being said, let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Edge vs. Kane and Rey vs. Alberto, which is your tag team main event tonight. That makes as much sense as anything.

Kane comes out and does his usual stuff: please give me my father back, I’m begging you, this needs to end and all that jazz. Edge pops up on the screen and says this doesn’t end tonight but rather at the PPV. Bearer is next to him and Edge pulls out a chair. He says that he hasn’t swung a chair in awhile so he needs some practice. Edge keeps teasing the chair shot until he finally drills Bearer with it, freaking Kane out.

The champion runs to the back where Edge says don’t take another step or he’ll give him a one man Conchairto (not those words but that’s the idea). Kane for some reason comes forward and there’s the Conchairto to, say it with me, a mannequin. Edge has Bearer in the wheelchair again and they run off. How does he get all these wheelchairs and mannequins to the arena every week?

Jack Swagger vs. Kaval

Kaval isn’t someone I was huge on but he’s growing on me a bit. Striker rambles on about some urban poet and staying true to your roots or something. Apparently Kofi vs. Dolph is tonight. Swagger gets a shot in to the ankle/leg which apparently was a legit injury that he had to get looked at. Swagger works on the knee as Cole makes fun of Kaval. We get into an argument over who discovered Swagger like he was fire or electricity.

Kaval fights out of the powerbomb but hurts his leg even more on the landing. We unleash the kicks which luckily for Kaval it’s his left leg that’s injured. Cole: why is everyone from Brooklyn bald? Modified rolling Liger Kick puts Swagger down. He hits almost a Shining Wizard off the middle rope for two. Kaval goes up but can’t get up for Warrior’s Way. Swagger pulls him down and throws on the ankle lock for the submission at 5:26.

Rating: C+. Just a quick TV match but it was pretty decent actually. Swagger getting simple wins like these is a good thing as it builds his credibility and Kaval isn’t ready to beat a former world champion or anything like that. This was absolutely fine for what it was and we had some psychology to go with it too. Nothing wrong with this.

Swagger says he should be the #1 contender to the Intercontinental Title because Kofi hit Trouble in Paradise when he was in the ropes which is illegal. He’s the future fifth face on Mt. Rushmore. That’s kind of a cool line. He’s going to protest the IC Title match later tonight.

And next up it’s an eagle vs. a leprechaun. Aye aye aye.

Hornswoggle vs. Soaring Eagle

Rosa comes out with Horny. The Eagle is billed at 6’0 tall and with a wingspan of 5’0. This is so stupid. Please make this be quick. Striker lists off facts about eagles before Horny pulls out a bag of, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, ACME (spelled wrong) birdseed. The eagle (allegedly Chavo) goes for it and gets kicked in the head. Rosa hands Horny a napkin which he tucks into his shirt and bites the Eagle’s leg.

Would anyone be opposed to some fast forwarding here? The Eagle misses Ballin (shoot me now….please) and the Tadpole Splash ends this at 2:28. Cole gets in two good lines at the end though. As Horny goes up for the splash, “GET OUT OF THE WAY! YOU’RE ENDANGERED!” and the second being singing Fly Like An Eagle by the Steve Miller Band, even though the Eagle wasn’t the one flying. Was there ANY point to this?

Back from a break with Santino and Kozlov in Teddy’s office. Santino busts into a chorus of We Are the Champions and Kozlov pulls out a lighter and waves it back and forth which legitimately cracked me up. Chavo comes in because he wants a title shot. If he gets a partner, “we will rock you”, followed by two stomps and a clap. Santino: “Cause we are the champions…..of the tag team world!” Kozlov: “Holla Holla.” I don’t know if it was because of how bad the previous segment was but I had to stop the video from laughing so much at Kozlov’s last line.

Cole asks if you know what happens when the Cobra hits. “Another One Bites the Dust”.

We get a quick video on Kofi because of his IC Title match tonight.

Dolph says that he’s a champion and Kofi is a lifelong contender but not a champion.

Intercontinental Title: Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston

Vickie does the intro which makes Striker say she looks like Greg Valentine from Rhythm and Blues. Actually that’s accurate. What’s with the music theme tonight? Kofi gets a pair of rollups for a pair of twos very early. Dolph gets a Hennig necksnap for two. Could they push him as the new Mr. Perfect any harder? Monkey flip by Kofi gets him some momentum.

Trouble in Paradise misses as we take a break. Back with Dolph holding a chinlock. Off to a Cobra Clutch which can put people out in seconds but Kofi can hang on for multiple minutes with it on. We finally get out of that with Kofi blocking a dropkick and getting a slingshot into the post, which is another Hennig trademark. SOS is blocked and we crank things up again.

Ziggler gets out of the way of the Boom Drop but gets a Pendulum Kick. Missile dropkick gets a delayed two due to Vickie interfering. Top rope cross body gets a long two. Kofi goes for something but Ziggler counters into the sleeper. Kofi gets the rope and hits Trouble in Paradise out of nowhere. He gets two as Swagger runs out to break it up and throw on the ankle lock for the DQ at 9:30 shown of 13:00.

Rating: C+. Good stuff while it lasted but the ending hurts it a bit. It fits the storyline but I would have liked Ziggler to get a pin with the cheating. I get why they went this way though and if nothing else it gives us more Swagger vs. Kofi which is almost always good stuff. Pretty good match but it could have been better.

The hold stays on for a good while and Kofi’s ankle is hurt badly.

To the back where Edge is standing on top of something with a guy in a wheelchair. Kane comes up and Edge swears it’s the real thing this time. Kane has finally grown a brain and comes at him and of course it’s a dummy that Edge shoves off whatever he’s standing on and it crashes through a table.

Back and it’s time with a Masterlock Challenge with the Dashing One challenging. Kind of random. Before we start Cody wipes down the chair. He then insists on Masters using a nail file which is thrown into the crowd. Masters slaps Cody in the face which he says was given to him by Ric Flair. Ok so he called him God but you get the idea. Cody yells so Masters grabs his face and Cody yells some more. He tries to leave so the Masterlock goes on anyway and it’s over in maybe 20 seconds with Cody passing out/giving up.

Santino Marella/Vladimir Kozlov vs. Chavo Guerrero/Drew McIntyre

This is non-title I think but Striker says the non-champions are going to try to wrestle the titles away. It wasn’t announced as a title match. Yeah Matthews confirms that if the non-champions win they’ll be in line for a title shot. Josh gets on Cole for a bit which is some funny stuff. Double teaming slows down the Russian and Drew pounds on him for a bit. Off to Chavo now which isn’t going anywhere.

The announcers argue about language for some reason until Matthews yells at them to be quiet. Isn’t the point that they’re supposed to talk? Drew sets Santino up for the Futureshock but Chavo tags himself in so he can hit the Frog Splash. At least that was the idea in theory as Santino rolls away. Santino manages to get the Cobra out of nowhere to pin Chavo at 3:10. Nice little first win as a team.

Rating: C-. Nothing special at all here as they flew through this but to be fair it’s not like they were going for Rock N Roll Express vs. the Midnights here. Quick little matches like these are fine for the most part as a comedy team has the titles so they won due to heel miscommunication between heels that hadn’t teamed before. This was fine for what it was.

Futureshock to Chavo post match.

We recap the Kane/Edge stuff so far tonight which hasn’t been exactly interesting stuff.

Quick Raw recap of Miz and Orton setting up the tables match.

We run down the main matches at the PPV to fill some more time. Rey vs. Alberto will be a Chairs Match.

Laycool is up next.

Layla vs. Natalya

I like Laycool’s song for some reason. Beth comes out with Natalya. Striker does his British accent to crickets. Cole says Beth and Natalya are like the Jumping Blonde Angels which Striker corrects him on. The Squatting Suplex gets two. Michelle: “Lay are you ok?” Layla: “NO!” Natalya’s chest may be hurt. Where’s Jerry to make the jokes?

You can tell Josh is getting annoyed with Striker and Cole which is kind of funny. Sharpshooter ends Layla despite Michelle trying to make the save at 2:00. No rating due to this being really short and a lot of it being Natalya on the floor rubbing her ample chest.

Rey Mysterio/Edge vs. Alberto Del Rio/Kane

The entrances kill off about five minutes or so. Big pop for Edge. And we have no Kane. Here’s Teddy Long instead. Is this going to turn into a tuxedo match between him and Rodriguez? Teddy makes it a handicap match. Is there a reason why there’s no Kane? Apparently it’s due to him being on a fat man scavenger hunt. Rey starts for the former tag champions.

Kind of an odd choice to have two faces be a handicap team but it fits the storyline. Edge is called the Master of Puppets as we continue that musical theme tonight. Baseball slide has Del Rio in trouble. Kane comes out about two minutes into the match and Edge meets him in the aisle. Edge lures him to the back and it’s more or less a one on one match now.

Rey tries to speed things up but gets caught in a body scissors. That gets him nowhere for the most part an the running enziguri sends him to the floor. Rey cranks it up one more time and gets his sitout bulldog for two. Sunset flip doesn’t work for Alberto and the 619 plus top rope splash ends it clean for Rey at 6:44. I don’t think Edge was ever legally in the match so this was a singles match for all intents and purposes.

Rating: C. Hard to grade this as officially it’s a tag match but it really can’t be called that. The match was ok but felt like something that was there as a backdrop for the other stuff that was going on which isn’t something I’m a fan of at all. This was ok but really just the epitome of average, hence the grade.

Edge has a pair of ladders with a table set up on top of them like a platform with a wheelchair on top but we can’t see who’s in it. Kane comes up and Edge says you don’t want to do that. Kane says there’s another dummy up there and shoves them over. He then looks over the edge that he shoves it over and sees Paul laid out on the concrete a good 25 feet below with people screaming they need help. Edge says I told you so and we go off the air.

Overall Rating: C+. This was ok but it was kind of off a step if that makes sense. It’s decent stuff and finally the Edge vs. Bearer thing went somewhere which took a month and a half but it’s better than nothing. No match really stood out here but everything was pretty much solid. Decent enough show and stories were developed so I can’t say I’m complaining much here. Good stuff for the most part.