Sage Cortez
This was my first time ever going to a TV taping, and I’ve gotta say, it was the best show that I’ve been to. On the subject of the venue, which was Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, CA, it was really cramped. The seats were shoved together and there was minimal leg room, but that’s to be expected in a 10,000 seat venue. Before the show, they were doing a practice run of their Smackdown pre-shows that will be airing on WWE Network. I believe it was Renee Young, Tensai, Alex Riley, and Booker T offering input. A lot went on, but let’s start with the dark match.
Alexander Rusev pinned Dolph Ziggler – This wasn’t very long at all. Ziggler got in some offense, so there was an opportunity to see Rusev take bumps, but he looked really green. His offense was solid, though. In addition, Rusev got a real reaction, with quite a few boos. I cheered him. I like his gimmick, and his hoss style of wrestling is welcome in a WWE that doesn’t have very much of that at the moment. It looks like his finisher will be the CAMEL CLUTCH. I think he’s going to get a big push, but they should probably hold off on using him until after WrestleMania so that he doesn’t get lost in the shuffle.
Main Event
The Wyatts pinned Sin Cara & Los Matadores – This was a really solid tag match. There were some nice bits with El Torito, and Bray Wyatt hunting him down, only for Sin Cara to get in the way. And in the end Sin Cara got pinned, after a very nice, very rapid finishing segment. This was heated and the Wyatts got a huge pop. I don’t like Los Matadores act very much, but it’s safe to say that kids like it, and El Torito is a decent hand to have around. Rowan looks a little silly at times in the ring, but Bray has star power. His push certainly is merited. In news that people on the board will like, everyone clapped during the Wyatt’s entrance. Eddie and Primo are being wasted in this role, I think.
Natalya submitted Aksana – I was a little surprised by this match. First, it was kind of long. Second, it really wasn’t very bad. I know the Divas matches have that reputation, but I enjoyed this. Some of the reversal sequences were ridiculous, but at this stage that’s just what WWE Divas wrestling is. There were some good spots, but it seemed like people didn’t know who Aksana was. That’s a bit of an issue.
Somewhere in here, they announced that the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony will be shown in full on WWE Network. I really liked that news.
Big E pinned Drew McIntyre – Yes, I didn’t say Big E Langston. That’s because they’ve apparently DROPPED the Langston part of his name. There were two separate matches, so first one first. This match was lengthy, and both guys were laying shots into each other. I don’t know if they both work stiff, but it looked stiff. Of course, Big E pinned Drew after the Big Ending. Crowd was really into Big E. Bear in mind I have no idea how any of this stuff will come off on TV, or if it will be edited, but the crowd was on fire for nearly everything on the card.
Big E pinned Jinder Mahal – After the previous match, Mahal got on the microphone and said that when somebody messes with the band, it isn’t just one, but that the person has to go through whoever else is in their way. I got a good laugh out of that. Big E pinned Jinder very quickly after that, again with the Big Ending. After this, I was thinking that if the show is going to get even better from here, this is going to be a great night. Little did I know…
Smackdown
The Shield pinned Christian, Sheamus, & Daniel Bryan – Now before everyone gets upset that Bryan jobbed, that isn’t exactly what happened. Of course this match was really good, but not as good as the Christian/Sheamus vs. Real Americans match from Monday. Reigns did his apron dropkick bit, which looks lethal live. How the match ended was that after the hot tag, it turned out that Ambrose, Christian, and Sheamus wound up in the ring. Christian held Ambrose up for the Brogue Kick, and Ambrose moved out of the way. So Christian got kicked in the face. After that, Reigns speared Sheamus, and Ambrose covered Christian for the win. I’m not good at rating live matches but this was around ***1/4. Christian was really a non-factor in the match, but the other five guys played the crowd to perfection. Bryan is a superstar, end of story. You can’t say enough about his connection with fans.
Before the next match, Zeb Colter and Vickie Guerrero did a bit where Zeb said he wanted to be Vickie’s valentine. He asked her if Jack Swagger could be the #1 contender for the Intercontinental Championship, though. She said no, and that he had to go through the match which followed. Whoever won would become #1 contender, and I assume that they’ll face Big E at Elimination Chamber.
Jack Swagger defeated Kofi Kingston, Mark Henry, and Rey Mysterio in a Fatal Four-Way – I don’t know how this will come off on TV, but I loved this match. There were some great spots, obviously. These aren’t in order at all, but Kofi did a great somersault plancha onto Swagger. Rey then took out Swagger, and they teased Henry flying over the top rope. Of course he didn’t. There was another corner stack-up spot, where Henry gave Swagger a running powerbomb. I think they were going for something bigger, with a superplex in the equation, but it didn’t come off. Then, they did a double German spot, where Rey was being suplexed by Kofi, and Swagger gave both of them a German suplex at the same time. That was nice, and the crowd was really going after that.
Henry was also launched into the announce table, which looked like a really rough bump for him to take. I don’t think he has much left, which is sad. Eventually, they did the finish, which was Kofi being given the Patriot Lock by Swagger. After it was over, I was a bit concerned about Rey’s knee, because he had ripped his brace off. Then I noticed that he had fallen right in front of Big E, who was on commentary. And the camera was pointed at Big E while Rey was in front of his face, clutching his knee and acting like he had been killed. It seemed like Rey was trying to get Big E to crack up. In the end, Rey walked to the back with no problem.
Somewhere in here there was a Rusev vignette, but Cesaro got to cut a promo too. I don’t know at exactly which point that was, I can’t remember.
Eva Marie pinned Alicia Fox – This match was terrible and should not have happened, should not be on TV either. I don’t know how to describe everything that I thought was bad about this match. That’s our Smackdown reviewer’s job. They couldn’t even do a small package, for fuck’s sake. That was the finish, too. After the beginning of the match, the TitanTron was shut off. As such, I don’t know if this match will be on TV or not to be quite honest. It really shouldn’t be. Right after this was over, BAD NEWS BARRETT talked about Valentine’s Day. His podium was awesome looking, and so was his speech. I don’t know how long the gimmick will stay around, but it’s good in my book.
Rhodes Brothers & The Usos pinned Rybaxel & The New Age Outlaws – I was really hyped up for this match, but the reality of the situation was that one of the teams wasn’t very stacked with in-ring talent. The other one was. Everyone tried their best but this was just lacking something. Not saying it was bad, but it wasn’t what I had built it up in my mind to be. The Usos are very over. Very, very over. Road Dogg got pinned clean with a splash from the top by one of the Usos, to be honest I couldn’t tell which. The other Uso did a dive to the outside over the turnbuckle and ring post, landing on all three of his other opponents. That was seriously impressive. They worked around the commercial, so I think this may come off better on TV than it did live.
Darren Young pinned Damien Sandow – I know people aren’t going to like this, but I thought the whole thing came across very well on TV. It started with Titus O’Neil going on commentary, and everyone around me doing his bark thing. That may have been the highlight of the show for me, if not for how good the matches were. Sandow got pinned in 2 minutes. That’s not good, but he did get to give Young a Russian leg sweep into the ringside barrier. The problem with Sandow right now is that he’s just a guy. His gimmick has been ripped from him, and he has no heat whatsoever. That all equals that it’s time to lose. Young and Titus got good reactions. After the match, Titus ran into the ring to attack Young and my section started doing the bark like crazy again.
Unfortunately, Young ripped O’Neil’s pant leg off. But hey, this got a great reaction, and people enjoyed it. That makes for a good segment in my book. If Young and Titus are going to get pushed I would consider that a good thing. Both guys have some sort of connection with the people, and Titus has something that keeps him over. All it has to be is just one thing to get over, and I think Titus has that. I don’t know if they’ll get a real push, though, but this is an example of midcard guys getting something to do. That is very good.
The Miz pinned Fandango – I missed part of Fandango’s entrance, but he didn’t get a reaction. I was sad. Miz got a decent cheer. I was sad. During this match is when the “CM Punk” chants started, and they started because this just wasn’t any good. However, it got good when Santino and Emma did a run-in. Summer confronted Emma in the aisle, and then they fought. That made me so happy. Unfortunately, Santino hit Fandango with the cobra while the referee’s back was turned, and Miz got the pinfall win after giving Fandango his finisher. While Emma was walking to the back, nearly out of view of most people, she was doing her hand dance at her side. It was like it was habit by this point. That was much better than the match.
Cesaro pinned Randy Orton – This was, by some distance I would add, the best match I’ve ever seen live. Cesaro is going to be his name now, and I’m fine with that. He’s over, and it’s time for him to go full blown face. The “We the People” bit gets a real reaction without Zeb having to coax it out of people, too. People were doing the “CM Punk” chants out of fun, but I assure everyone here, Orton has real heat, not X-Pac heat. The Orton/Cena matchup is what has X-Pac heat. Nobody wants to see that shit anymore and I don’t blame them. But this? I WANT TO SEE THIS. The most concerning aspect of the match when it was announced, was me wondering/worrying that Cesaro wouldn’t be able to get in all his best stuff. He did though.
After Orton did some timely stalling that garnered heat, they did a lot of back and forth stuff. There was them throwing each other into the barricade, a fake injury deal that wound up with Cesaro being back suplexed onto the barrier, and some great European uppercut trading.. The finishing sequence was really hot. They struggled over pretty much every move, and it came off really well. The GIANT SWING got everyone counting the revolutions, and best of all, Cesaro did a FUCKING DISCUS EUROPEAN UPPERCUT. I hope they don’t cut very much out of this match, because they don’t need to. Everyone was into this thing. The finish was something along the lines of Randy going for an RKO, and Cesaro turning around and giving him a European uppercut to the back of the head. Then, they fought over a superplex, and Cesaro gave Orton a flip powerbomb coming out of the corner. After the DISCUS EUROPEAN UPPERCUT, Cesaro gave him the Neutralizer, and pinned him clean as a sheet. Those may be out of order but that’s how I remember it.
This wasn’t presented as a fluke win at all, Orton put Cesaro over really strong, and I loved that. It is time for Cesaro to get a push. He has the look, he has the physique Vince likes, and he’s becoming comfortable with a microphone in front of him. Those are all great things. I’m not sure what I’d rate this, I was into it far too much to be analytical on the subject. At first, nobody thought Cesaro would win, and it slowly progressed into thinking he had the chance to go over. And really, that’s why I like wrestling. Dropping his first name is no issue at all. People will get used to it really fast, and he’s good enough in every aspect that it will never be bothersome. I wonder what they’re going to do with him at WrestleMania, though.
Dark Segment
After Cesaro and Zeb did multiple “We the People” things with the crowd, Kane came to the ring. He asked for Daniel Bryan to apologize for what happened on Monday. I think you guys can figure out what happened from that point. Bryan kicked his ass, and the crowd was going crazy. Kane got a bit of control and grabbed a chair, but he was no match for the YES MOVEMENT, and all the fans went home happy after Bryan kneed Kane in the head.
All in all, it was a great show and I had a lot of fun. There were a few people who I wanted to see, like Del Rio, who weren’t on the show. I’m okay with that. I strongly recommend heading out to a show, as it may change how you feel about the product in some tangible way. It will surprise you who gets real heat and who doesn’t. It may also surprise you that nearly everybody gets cheered loudly, which heads back to the heel vs. face argument that exists these days. Is there really a boundary? I don’t know. Anyone who can get heel heat has to resort to a lot of tricks to get it, and oftentimes people won’t like the wrestler for doing it. Stalling is one of those boring tricks that work. If you don’t like it, I guess…don’t boo? I don’t know what the answer is, but this wasn’t a marky crowd, and everyone seemed really happy. I don’t think very many people were dissatisfied with the product, in fact everyone was happy to be there and looked like they had a great time. But what do I know?
