Smackdown
Date: February 11, 2011
Location: Resch Center, Green Bay, Wisconsin
Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews, Booker T
We’re a week closer to the Elimination Chamber and tonight the world title is on the line for the second week in a row. This time it’s Edge vs. Ziggler again but the twist this week is that Vickie is the guest referee. I like how they’re doing a mini Austin vs. McMahon here, but they’re not taking it too seriously which is why it’s been enjoyable. Let’s get to it.
Freddie Blassie seems kind of out of place in the opening. Not really sure why.
We open with a recap of Kelly getting fired last week after she successfully defended the world title by pinning Layla to keep Edge’s world title from Dolph. It says a lot when a storyline is out there even for pro wrestling.
Theme song brings us into the show.
First off it’s time for another party thing for Alberto. I like segments like these but they’re getting a bit repetitive. During his entrance we get a clip from last week with the piñata and Kofi getting beaten down when he tried to make the save. I always expect Alberto to start singing when he says his name.
Alberto talks about the things he loves since Valentine’s Day (the point of the ring decorations) like his cars, his country, the fact that the six guys he might face are going to destroy each other in the Chamber, but there’s one thing he loves more. He pulls the sheet off a heart and it says Destiny. He pulls that off and there’s a picture of him, because destiny loves Alberto Del Rio.
Aaron Rodgers may have won the Super Bowl but at Wrestlemania, Alberto won’t have to pretend to be the World Heavyweight Champion. Cue Kofi who says Alberto is always talking about the future. Kofi wants to talk about the past though. He remembers Alberto beating him up with a kendo stick. As for the present, this is Alberto’s destiny. With that, Kofi grabs a kendo stick from under the ring and is about to drill Alberto with it.
Like any idiot though, Kofi holds off just long enough for Alberto’s begging to change Kofi’s mind. Ah good he hit him anyway. Maybe Kofi is as smart as he’s supposed to be. Kofi destroys all the stuff that Alberto had in the ring and Del Rio runs. We take a break to clean out the ring. Kofi looked like a serious character here which is something he needs to do more of.
Kofi Kingston vs. Alberto Del Rio
I would have expected this later but I like having it right here. Del Rio is holding his arm due to the kendo stick shot. Kofi fights off some early adversity to take over with his fast paced offense. A missed kick in the corner lets Del Rio get a backbreaker for two. Del Rio works on the back with some basic stuff. Booker gives a rundown of Mexican athletes that had backbones unlike Del Rio. Decent little add-in there from Booker.
Kofi knocks him to the floor and takes Del Rio down as he comes back in. Superman clothesline sets up the Boom Drop. Top rope cross body gets two. Fireman’s carry by Del Rio is countered and the SOS gets two. That would be two of Kofi’s signature moves that Del Rio has avoided being pinned by. Trouble in Paradise misses as Del Rio tries to hide on the floor.
I say try because Kofi follows him out. Del Rio is able to reverse though and sends Kofi into the steps on the floor to work on the arm. Apparently he injured it last week so there’s a chance it’s not at 100% at the moment. Back in the ring the Cross Armbreaker ends this clean at 4:51. Kind of surprising there.
Rating: C+. Quick match here but it’s exactly what Del Rio needed. He needed a clean win over an upper midcard guy to establish himself as more of a credible main eventer. It also makes the armbar look a lot better as it got a clean win over Kofi after not much arm work. Decent little match here with Del Rio getting a nice rub.
Todd is with Edge who says of course Vickie isn’t going to play fair tonight. He doesn’t know how he’s going to keep the title tonight.
We talk about Aaron Rodgers and the Packers a bit. David Letterman gave Rodgers a spinner belt on the Late Show earlier in the week. A bunch of Packers are here and they all have World Heavyweight Championship belts.
Vladimir Kozlov vs. Justin Gabriel
Corre and Santino are out at ringside for this. Kozlov immediately grabs a kick and takes over with pure power and dominance. Gabriel takes over with kicks including a sequence of them for two. Gabriel is getting treated almost like a jobber here. Slater gets in a shot while Jackson has the referee. He gets the Cobra for his troubles but gets kicked by Gabriel for it. Kozlov misses an elbow in the ring and the 450 ends it at 2:16. No rating but this was mostly Kozlov dominating.
Corre beats down the champions post match.
Barrett vs. Rey later.
Chris Masters vs. Drew McIntyre
Booker isn’t sure how much Masters wants it here in WWE. Just after the bell Drew grabs a mic. Drew blames Edge for Kelly being fired. This match is dedicated to her, so of course as he slides in Chris takes his head off. Sky High powerbomb gets two for Masters. A middle rope splash misses though and here comes Drew. Backslide doesn’t work as Masters counters into one of his own. Drew however backflips out of it and keeps the arms locked to hit the Futureshock for the pin at 1:55. Slick counter but again no rating due to being short.
We talk about the Cody nose thing which could wind up being something cool. Cody’s surgery went well and he’s recovering. Rey says it was just a broken nose and that injuries happen. He says tonight his focus is on Barrett and then getting the title back. Rey throws in a Michael Jackson-esque CHOW as he leaves.
Wade Barrett vs. Rey Mysterio
Barrett says that the Corre is still equal even though only he’s in the Chamber. The Corre’s master plan to revolutionize Smackdown has its next step tonight. After a break here’s Rey. We’re told Smackdown has the third most episodes of any TV show in history. Oh not this again. Barrett hammers him down to start us off. Rey tries to get things going but gets caught by a knee.
Booker is far better this week than last. It’s clear that he’s more comfortable out there and can just be himself. Running seated dropkick by Rey in the corner but a sprintboard move is blocked, giving Barrett control again. Barrett hammers away with his standard big man/power offense but Rey counters and sets for the 619. Wade avoids it though and we hit the floor.
Rey gets a seated senton off the apron as Booker talks about how much that hurts. We need more announcers that are former wrestlers to tell us they’re former wrestlers. A lot of new fans might not know who Booker is as they may have gotten into the company after he left a few years ago. Booker saying that he knows what it’s like to wrestle Rey lets younger fans know he’s been a wrestler recently.
Anyway, Barrett picks Rey up in the position for a belly to back suplex and drops him back first on the railing. Very back and forth match here. That drop takes us to a break. Back with Barrett working on the back with a bow and arrow which is broken by some kicks from Rey. Cross body gets two. Rey fights Barrett off the top and gets a seated senton.
Time to speed things up as a kick gets two. Wasteland is blocked but a Boss Man Slam (complete with a Big Bubba Rodgers reference from Booker) gets two. Pump handle slam is countered into the setup for the 619 but Rey has to take out Gabriel on the floor. Big boot sets up Wasteland which ends this at 7:23 shown of 10:53.
Rating: B-. Nice little back and forth match here with Barrett reestablishing some dominance that he has been missing since he got here from Raw. The mild interference from Corre was a good thing as we got to see them working together to get a win just like earlier. Pretty good TV match here and it did its job.
Corre comes in for the beatdown but here’s Show for the real beatdown. Jackson is stopped for a bit but he isn’t kept down and the beating is on again. Jackson manages a suplex on Show and a decent one at that.
Kane vs. JTG
If you can’t figure out the ending here, why are you reading this? Basic offense by JTG results in him getting kicked in the face. The beating is on, the low dropkick hits, there’s the clothesline and the Chokeslam ends this at 1:45. Total old school squash here.
Laycool complains about Eve stealing their win at the PPV. Michelle says she would have been the new champion which Layla has an issue with. Vickie gets in their faces about messing up last week. Ziggler says they’re losers and leaves.
Eve Torres vs. Layla
Eve may be about as average as you could ask for in the ring, but she looks great in those gold shorts. Layla hits the floor almost immediately and says she can’t do this. Eve is tired of waiting and the fight is on. Layla takes over for a bit and a dropkick to the back gets two. Some dropkicks by Eve as there’s a Go Pack Go chant. Standing moonsault gets two. Downward spiral by Eve who sets for the top rope moonsault but Michelle saves, knocking Eve to the mat. Layla covers but Eve just rolls through it for the pin at 2:55.
Rating: D. I feel bad about rating almost nothing tonight so here’s one for this match. This was again way too short and nothing special. I like how they’re kind of planting the seeds for the split of Laycool, but how many times can they lose before they lose any and all credibility? Pretty weak match all around as Kong can’t get here soon enough.
There was a video on the Chamber somewhere in this show but I don’t have it due to watching early so excuse me for not saying “video on the Elimination Chamber.”
Smackdown World Title: Edge vs. Dolph Ziggler
Vickie is referee here. Big match intros are interrupted by Vickie who does them instead. The spear is still banned. Dolph grabs a rollup almost immediately for two. Naturally, Vickie counts fast for Dolph but Cole says that might be the way she counts both ways. Edge hammers away in the corner and Vickie breaks it up. Naturally Dolph does the same thing and Vickie stands around.
Sleeper can’t go all the way on and Edge reverses to get us back to even. Nice dropkick by Ziggler puts Edge right back down though. Edge keeps fighting back but hasn’t covered yet so we’re not sure about her speed on his covers. Ziggler gets that Downward Spiral Stunner but can’t get the Zig Zag. Edgecution hits so Vickie puts Dolph’s foot on the rope.
Fameasser gets two. Edge gets a forearm to take down Ziggler. Cole is getting annoying here as he keeps ranting about how great this is and all that jazz. Vickie channels her inner Edge and spears her ex-husband. She actually bounces off Edge and falls to the mat. Her ankle might be hurt so the doctor takes her out.
With Vickie gone there’s the spear! No referee though so Edge spears him again. The problem is that Vickie is right there and sees it. With no referee still, Clay Matthews, a huge linebacker for the Super Bowl champion Packers, comes out in a referee shirt and counts the pin. Somehow this counts and Edge wins at approximately 8:45. Uh….ok? Vickie waves it off as the show ends and Cole says there’s a new world champion. Odd but cool ending.
Rating: C. This was just there to set up the ending, but I really hope they follow up on this. There’s no reason why that fall should stand but at the moment at least it does. Odd indeed but having Matthews there was a cool thing to do. It doesn’t make any sense at all, but again it was cool, which was the point.
Overall Rating: C. This was a very average show. No matches stood out in the slightest, the ending was rather stupid and nothing really happened. They clearly have it in cruise control until the PPV and then we’ll do the heavy lifting for Mania. That being said, this was still a pretty weak show for the most part as everything we had already established was just reinforced. Nothing special in the slightest here and the weakest Friday show in a long time.
Results
Alberto Del Rio b. Kofi Kingston – Cross Armbreaker
Justin Gabriel b. Vladimir Kozlov – 450 Splash
Drew McIntyre b. Chris Masters – Futureshock
Wade Barrett b. Rey Mysterio – Wasteland
Kane b. JTG – Chokeslam
Eve Torres b. Layla – Eve pinned Layla after rolling through a pin attempt
Edge b. Dolph Ziggler – Spear
