Jonathan Dehn
WWE Smackdown
02/28/2014
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
-Batista’s promised interview starts the show this week. And it’s already so very apparent that he’s turned. He starts by saying that he loves this business and company, but he did not come back to be liked or please the fans. They have to deal with this, as well as the fact that his SPOTLIGHT has returned, if you ask me. Batista puts himself over a few big stars, and then asks where all the real men went. Batista takes a shot at Daniel Bryan and his ilk, saying that they’ll never be him. Batista asks the crowd if their heroes are better than he, taking off his shirt to show off his star appeal. Batista tells everyone to get out of his world as he destroys their darlings on the way to the championship. Batista poses in the ring afterwards, but is interrupted as Dolph Ziggler interrupts him.
We hear those muted “Let’s Go Ziggler!” chants that Ziggler has been tweeting about before he tells Batista that he doesn’t get to decide who is loved. “I got news for you, Jack! You’re a dinosaur,” says Ziggler, bringing back “Jack!” Dolph tells him that if he’s if looking for a man, one is standing in front of him. Batista slaps his knee at the challenge, but gives Dolph the match. Ziggler hits him with a standing dropkick and leaves the ring, winning the exchange. Dolph and Batista looked really good here. Hopefully, the match isn’t the “burial” people claim it to be.
Big E & Mark Henry vs. The Real Americans
Big E and Swagger begin. They wrestle around the ring with a lockup. Big E catches a boot and hits the overhead belly-to-belly. Henry tags in after Big E gets some charges in the corner. There’s a couple of headbutts and a powerslam on Swagger. Big E returns and the two whip him back into the corner. Big E hits the chaining backbreakers on Swagger for two. Swagger gets a boot and brings in Cesaro, who slips out of a press slam and runs Big E into the corner. Cesaro hits that ridiculous suplex to bring Big E back into the ring. Swagger hit a blind tag because he is jealous of the Swiss Superman. Swagger follows with a Swaggerbomb for two.
Cesaro reenters and gets a Swagger-assisted corner splash and clothesline for two. Cesaro goes to a chinlock. Big E fights out of the corner with a BACK BODYDROP. Hot tag Henry and he gets some clotheslines. Swagger takes a running powerslam. Henry goes for the World’s Strongest Slam, but Cesaro kicks his head off. Big E and Cesaro go outside, where Big E eats the post. Inside, Swagger chops the knee and gets The Patriot Lock. Cesaro gets his own blind tag. Cesaro, one upping Swagger, hoists Henry and hits The Neutralizer for the win. Swagger is all, “I’m jealous, but still in awe.”
Final Thoughts: *1/2. This was just fine, and showcased Cesaro so well, once again. Mark was really laboring out there, and it seems that he’s just putting over the next generation on his way out. The slow burn to the breakup of The Real Americans is welcome, as it gives Cesaro something to do while they have no real WrestleMania plans for him.
-Alberto Del Rio is backstage with Vickie in her office. Del Rio was going to ask for a rubber match with Batista, but since that isn’t available, he asks for the night off. Del Rio is dismayed when Sheamus pops in and requests a match between the two for old time’s sake. The match is granted, and I note the amount of solid facial acting from Del Rio.
Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio
Sheamus is wearing rib tape that doesn’t do a very good job of blending in, since it’s black. Del Rio goes after the ribs, but Sheamus just gets pissed and tosses him from the ring. Sheamus hits his Battering Ram off of the apron, and runs Del Rio into the announce table. Cole brings up the stupid angle from the past where Sheamus stole Del Rio’s rental car. Back inside, Sheamus drops some knees. Sheamus gets dumped to the apron, and tries to tie up Del Rio, but instead gets dropkicked to the outside. Christian’s theme hits and he walks down the aisle as we go to break.
We return with Christian at the announce table and Del Rio in control. Del Rio goes up, and Sheamus follows, bringing him back into the ring with an electric chair. Sheamus hits a babyface flourish, finishing with a powerslam for two. ADR ducks the Brogue Kick and hits the backstabber for two. Christian explains his character to the fans, as Sheamus fights back and clubs away at Del Rio in the ropes. Del Rio fights out of a fireman’s carry and chops Sheamus down. The Si Kick gets two. Christian puts over Del Rio nicely, explaining just how tough he is. Del Rio misses the corner enzuigiri, and Sheamus puts on the Cloverleaf. Christian is pissed and interferes. He gets dumped and Del Rio takes a Brogue. Christian pops back in to hit the Killswitch.
Final Thoughts: **, with the DQ ending. However, I’m very much enjoying Christian’s new heel turn where he’s straight forward but then just snaps at Sheamus having success. Furthermore, Christian is just a terrific heel and great veteran when healthy. This is a nice swan song for him if this is it.
-Alexander Rusev steps out onto the stage with Lana, and stand atop of a small podium and declares himself a super athlete.
-Backstage, Roman asks Dean if he’s going to go rogue again. Dean takes exception to this and they argue until Seth rallies them with a rousing speech. God damn is Seth suddenly a great talker. They put their fists together in agreement to take out The Wyatt Family, and I’m suddenly pumped again.
Dolph Ziggler vs. Batista
Dolph slugs away to start and Batista bails. Back inside, Dolph hits a dropkick and Batista rolls out. Batista drags Dolph outside and rams him into the apron. Dolph squirms out and puts Batista into the post, but Batista kicks at Dolph’s knee. Batista continues by wrapping Dolph’s knee around the post. Back inside, Batista hits a suplex and gets two. Dolph bumps his ass off, taking a hard whip into the corner. Batista misses a corner charge and goes into the post. I can’t stop looking at the wrinkled skin atop Batista’s head. Dolph punches away in the corner and squirms out of the powerbomb and stomps at Batista. He gets two from a Fameasser.
Batista shrugs off a Zig-Zag or sleeper hold and hits a spinebuster as it’s apparent he has run out of gas. The crowd feels much muted for Ziggler as Batista hits another spinebuster. He gets the hat trick. And, it’s thumbs down as Batista gets the Batista Bomb for the win.
Final Thoughts: Well, Batista wasn’t embarrassingly blown up tonight. *. This wasn’t a burial of Dolph as much as it was an extended squash where Dolph got a decent hope spot. However, WWE turned the volume way down for Dolph’s offense.
-The Wyatt Family come out to the ring. Bray talks about the commercialization of life, and says that Cena is just part of the system that has women covering their beautiful faces in makeup and men blowing their money on sports cars. You tell ‘em, Bray! Before he can finish, The Shield interrupt and march down the stairs. They have a stand-off, but are then stopped by HHH, who tells them to stop. He doesn’t want this match to happen without promotion, and makes the match for Raw. HHH tells The Shield to stand down. Bray taunts them on the way out, but The Shield just enters the ring anyway. Rollins and Ambrose dive out on Rowan and Harper and pop back into the ring to challenge Bray. Bray retreats with Harper and Rowan. I hope they get twenty minutes or so in Chicago. It’s going to be a hell of a main event.
Divas Championship Match – AJ Lee © vs. Cameron
Cameron sure looks stupid dancing alone at the top of the ramp. AJ slugs away at Cameron to begin, and pulls her down for one. AJ goes to the chinlock, but Cameron hits a jawbreaker and hits some bad clotheslines and a bad bulldog for two. She screams a lot, doing a sad version of fighting spirit or something. Tamina gets tossed for shoving AJ out of the corner. Cameron gets a boot up in the corner and hits a crossbody. AJ kicks her in the head, however, and then throws on the Black Widow for the win.
Final Thoughts: Could something please change? At least toss in Summer and Emma if Paige is going to be at NXT for the next ten years. Cameron had put her hand over her mouth while AJ was putting on her submission hold, breaking character at the end of the match instead of using that arm to at least flail and try to fight out of the hold. Nope, instead she stops caring about where she is because she’s not going over or something.
The Usos and Daniel Bryan vs. Corporate Kane and The New Age Outlaws
Did you know? The combined age of Corporate Kane and NAO is 140.
Billy and Bryan begin the match, and Gunn grabs a headlock. Gunn hits a shoulderblock but runs into a knee. Bryan kicks away in the corner and brings in Jey. Gunn puts Jey into the corner and tags in Kane. Kane hits a few strikes and a whip and brings in Road Dogg. He sticks some jabs but misses the right hand. Jey hits a big clothesline. Jimmy takes in and they hit a double back elbow for two. Dogg bails to the outside, getting consoled with a hug from Billy and we go to break.
We return with Billy missing a corner charge and taking an arm drag from Jimmy. Jimmy slides out and dumps Dogg from the apron. Billy answers with a tilt-a-whirl slam for two. Kane enters and stomps Jimmy. Kane gets a corner charge, and follows with a corner clothesline for two. JBL and Cole bicker and throw a wrench into the match, talking about HHH. Dogg comes in with a stomp for two. Kane returns with a side slam for two. We hit the chinlock. Jimmy fights out with a jawbreaker, but takes a clothesline. Dogg returns, but takes an enzuigiri after getting too cocky. Bryan gets the hot tag and he’s a house of fire.
Billy takes the kicks in the corner and suffers from Bryan flipping out of the corner and nailing the clothesline. Bryan chops away, tossing Dogg from the ring, and countering a Fameasser attempt with a dropkick than sends Billy from the ring. Kane comes in to clothesline Bryan. He catches Jimmy coming off of the top, and Jey too. The Usos fight back and hit a stereo superkick. The Usos splash out onto both Kane and Dogg. Billy hits the Fameasser, and is super shocked when Bryan kicks out. Bryan flips out of a suplex, launches from the corner, and hits the Aberdeen Facebuster for the win.
Final Thoughts: **. This was just fine, and all credit goes to The Usos for carrying this match and making everyone look pretty good. In another year, Billy and Bryan could have probably had a great match.
–There’s really not too much to talk about with this show. The most important part, by far, is Batista’s official heel turn where they brought back the spotlight and everything. In plugging Aaron Paul’s appearance on Raw, I was surprised at WWE actually mentioning his role in “Breaking Bad” as much as his movie coming out. I was worried that WWE wouldn’t want to talk about such a show on their family friendly platform. Still, I look forward to Paul hosting and making a cage match. “Hey, Del Rio… cage match, BITCH!” Or maybe, The Undertaker can pop in to tell Aaron that he is the one who knocks. I’m sure WWE’s writers will find some good material, before Vince vetoes it and orders a show re-write.
