Jonathan Dehn
WWE Smackdown
06/06/2014
Cincinnati, Ohio
-On the heels of…Seth Rollins’ heel turn, HHH is out to start the show. Oh wait, he brings out Seth with him. Rollins is still in his Shield attire for those scoring at home. I’m guessing that there’s major heat from the fans, but Smackdown has that archaic heat machine that makes it difficult to really tell. HHH says that he’s not the one to say “I told you so!” So, HHH gives Seth the microphone to answer for himself and Seth’s response is…the only person that needs to know that is himself. That’s uh…typical. Dolph Ziggler comes out to interrupt, even though he knows just what HHH is going to do to him. Dolph didn’t like The Shield, but respected them. For turning on his brothers, Dolph calls him a traitor and a sell-out. This gets some chants started. HHH tells Dolph that he sold-out, something that Dolph will never do. Oooh…and now we get Rollins in a match against Ziggler where the outcome is known. I mean, they aren’t going to have Ambrose or Reigns interrupt something on Smackdown.
Seth Rollins vs. Dolph Ziggler
They tussle in the corner to begin. HHH stands proudly to watch the match from the table. Rollins slugs away in the corner. Dolph reverses and gets some right hands, but runs into a knee. Seth follows with a kneedrop. Rollins hits a scoop slam and another kneedrop for two. Ziggler fights back with a crossbody and some right hands. He gets a dropkick and clotheslines Rollins from the ring. HHH walks over to give Seth advice, but does so with the manner of a father watching their offspring tumble around on the living room floor. Back inside, Seth takes control and stomps away. A soccer kick to the back gets two for Seth and he goes to the chinlock. Dolph fights back, and goes from a tilt-a-whirl and into a sleeper hold. Rollins hits a jawbreaker to get out of it. Seth gets a head of steam and kicks Dolph from the apron. We go to break.
We return with Ziggler fighting back, before going headfirst into the second buckle. HHH comes over to gush over Rollins with JBL in a funny moment. Seth runs into an elbow, though. He takes a boot to the face, but gets a sidekick before getting stuck by a DDT. The two trade right hands to elicit the right responses from the crowd. Ziggler gets the better of it with a clothesline and then the punches in the corner, followed by the neckbreaker. Ziggler hits a big elbow drop for two and Seth runs outside. Dolph hunts him down and hits a dropkick that looks just great from a ringside camera. Back inside, Rollins counters the Fameasser into a bucklebomb, but right back into the Fameasser for two. On the apron, Rollins hits an enzuigiri. Seth goes up, but Dolph pops back to his feet and slams Seth back down to the mat with a botch that looks better than his usual facebuster. That gets two. Rollins shrugs off the Zig-Zag and then get obliterated with an enzuigiri. Rollins mauls at Ziggler, softening him up the bucklebomb that segues into a curbstomp for the win.
Final Thoughts: ***1/4. The match was good. It was fresh and worth a look. It meant absolutely nothing that Dolph and Seth delivered a good match, of course. Also, HHH did that thing where he goes off-script while the other guys can’t and makes the segment look weaker, but him stronger.
-Renee is backstage with BNB, who is defending his title against RVD and Cesaro in a triple threat. He’s not happy about it, but he still has bad news for his competitors in that he’ll retain his title.
-Backstage, HHH and Orton walk with their new buddy. Randy is happy that Seth joined the dark side. Big Show shows up and agrees with Dolph Ziggler and wants to fight Rollins. HHH laughs at him and we have Orton/Show, instead.
Rybaxel vs. The Usos
Jey begins the match with Ryback, and hits a side kick to begin. Ryback surprisingly tosses Jey from the ring. Axel hits a clothesline after tagging and gets him back inside for two. Ryback returns and they club away. The table brings up Rybaxel’s tendency to help other tag teams break up. Axel drops an elbow, and brings in Ryback for a splash that gets two. Ryback goes to the chinlock. Ryback cuts off the comeback with a spinebuster for two. Axel returns, but Jey breaks up the double team. He drops Ryback but takes an Axel knee. Curtis dropkicks Jimmy from the apron, but comes off of the top. Jey kicks him on the way down and Jimmy gets the tag and hits the splash for the win.
Final Thoughts: *. Uh, that opening segment ran a little long, I guess. I do like WWE noticing that Rybaxel is a kiss of death for teams. Of course, none of the teams that broke up wound up finding success on their own.
Rusev vs. Xavier Woods
Lana comes out and pays tribute to Mikhail Gorbachev. That’s funny, as Gorby currently lives in Florida. She mentions a couple of other famous Russians before introducing Rusev, who is a month or two away from having his Bulgarian tattoo removed. Rusev wears the medal he received on Monday. I guess that’s a thing now for when Kurt Angle returns. Woods comes out in Uncle Sam garb, and promptly gets his head kicked off. Lana almost cracks up before telling him to crush Woods. This ends it, and after the match, an explosion is followed by a giant Russian flag hanging above the ring.
Final Thoughts: Well, the presentation of this gimmick is getting more and more complex. That’s a good sign. This is gaining steam, but I’m hoping they have a great way to pay off this portion of his run. I’ll just be alone in my fantasy world where Kurt Angle is physically able to return, and WWE is willing to take him on with a sweetheart deal that Kurt would accept.
Intercontinental Title – Rob Van Dam vs. Cesaro vs. Bad News Barrett ©
If you wind up watching this show, do take note of the arch of lights that Cesaro enters underneath of. The three wind up in the corner, where they kick Cesaro from the ring. RVD gets a quick rollup, but Cesaro comes back in to take both of them on. RVD takes his turn dishing out punishment, giving Cesaro a monkey flip from the corner and kicking Wade in the face. He lays them flat and hits Rolling Thunder onto both of them for two. Cesaro tosses RVD from the ring and stomps in the corner. Barrett comes back with a kick and hangs Cesaro over the top turnbuckle. RVD interrupts with a superkick and kicks Cesaro in the stomach. Rob hits a moonsault, but Cesaro drags him out of the ring at two. We go to break.
We return with Barrett with a chinlock on Van Dam. Barrett misses a charge and tumbles outside next to Cesaro, who cuts off a dive with an uppercut. Cesaro puts Barrett into the barricade and drops him stomach first on top of it. RVD hits a moonsault onto Cesaro and then, of course, hit’s the barricade legdrop on Barrett. RVD comes in on Barrett with a slingshot legdrop. The cover is interrupted by Cesaro, who then uses the gutwrench on Van Dam. Barrett pops up and hits Winds of Change before Cesaro breaks it up and comes into the corner an uppercut. RVD kicks Barrett after a leap from the top, but gets caught with a German suplex for two. Cesaro stays at work, pulling Barrett back into ring, before Wade pulls him down over the top rope. RVD comes off with the frog splash, but then is blindsided by a Bullhammer to finish the match.
Final Thoughts: **1/2. This was certainly rushed, but solid. I feel that they’re blowing this off a bit early, and should maybe keep the title off of TV and mix in more segments and auxiliary parties.
-Bray had an out of body experience while entombed by Cena. As it turns out, Bray saw this as his death and rebirth. So, he wants new followers.
Natalya vs. Alicia Fox
Nattie grabs a side headlock to start off with. Fox goes to a leg scissors and Cole thinks she is bi-polar, not understanding what he’s really talking about. Nattie frees herself from a headscissors and hits a double underhook suplex after a running dropkick. Alicia goes outside and meows and hisses at Natalya. She puts up a claw and scares Nattie away with her crazy. Alicia gets paintbrushed and then dares Nattie to do it again. Nattie does and rolls her up, as well. Nattie gets tripped into the bottom rope after a nip up. That looked pretty cool. Fox hits a northern lights suplex, but misses a legdrop. Fox battles out of the sharpshooter, but Nattie falls on top during the backbreaker attempt. She picks up the win, and Alicia freaks out over it. After the match, Alicia has her now normal meltdown…making advances on Lilian. She accuses her of ringing the bell to end the match, which isn’t her job.
Final Thoughts: Natalya is really mixing in some new stuff. Maybe her match with Charlotte is the start of something for her. However, this was really just a comedy vehicle that was just a build up to Alicia’s awkward tantrum.
Santino Marella vs. Bo Dallas
Emma is still doing this thing with Santino. He was just poison to her, it turned out. Santino and Bo have a hardy handshake to begin. Bo gets a fireman’s carry and does his lap. Santino applauds his efforts and they have a handshake. Santino gets an arm drag and celebrates. He comes back for his own handshakes, but Bo Dallas suckers him with a clothesline and runs through him like brother Bray. Dallas clubs away in the corner and hits the Running BO-dog for the win. After the match, he snaps out of his vicious streak and remembers to have his victory lap.
Final Thoughts: I liked the enhancement that Santino did here with Bo, where he was just trying to have an exhibition, but Bo quickly turned to the dark side with jealousy.
-Big Show shares a childhood story with Renee about being bullied as a child and then finding one of them alone and putting his fist through them. So, that’s how he’s seeing Orton.
-Randy is backstage with Byron, who is confident ahead of his match. He’s foreshadowing a beatdown, I reckon.
Big Show vs. Randy Orton
Orton has HHH with him, and I’m suddenly reminded of Survivor Series. Big Show slugs away in the corner. The big chop sends Orton outside. He retreats, and gets a thumb to the eye to break up the next on. Orton tries to work the knee, but gets knocked down and out of the ring. We go to break.
We’re back with Orton dropping a knee for two. It’s time for the chinlock. Big Show fights out, but then finds himself in a sleeper. Big Show counters to a sideslam. Big Show hits a couple of token clotheslines, but eats a dropkick at the end of his flourish. Orton goes for the hangman’s DDT, and nails it. Big Show fights out of the RKO and hits a spear. HHH gets on the apron and they both get a hand around their throat. Rollins flies in and gives Big Show a knee. Afterwards, an RKO hits. HHH grabs a chair and hands it Rollins, who uses it to aid his execution of a curb stomp. Orton holds Big Show up and Rollins hits another.
Final Thoughts: There’s nothing here but an excuse to fit in a decent beatdown to end the show.
–Rusev’s segment featured many bells and whistles to check out and enjoy. Rollins and Ziggler had a match that was good enough to be repeated on Raw for the lack of a better option. Bray’s advertised appearance wasn’t much to write about. Sheamus has been branched off of the story line with RVD, Cesaro and Barrett. That’s a shame, as it seemed like a great way to finally reunify the belts. I recommend watching the first half hour and just the last couple of minutes. You get some good heeling and a good match. Everything else is filler, of course.
