Jonathan Dehn
WWE Smackdown
08/23/2013
This is taped from somewhere in California that WWE is too ashamed to mention because they’re jerks. Oh, it’s Bakersfield.
-Vickie greets us in the ring to start off the show. She says that, after making peace with the McMahon family, she’s happy to introduce Randy Orton. Vickie heads off to let Randy thrill us with his words. Randy promises to be a role model, as champion. He goes on to say that he didn’t expect to have HHH take out Bryan for him. Randy claims that he is the face of WWE, and this brings Bryan out to a large ovation. Bryan first thanks Cena for wrestling him and helping him feel what it’s like to be champion. As for Orton, he understands why HHH hand picked him, as he’s so PRETTY! But, he also understands that he is entitled to a rematch, and wants it tonight. Randy says that he’s short and will have to wait for Night of Champions. Orton tries to sneak in an RKO, but Bryan shrugs him off and gives him a running dropkick that sends him out of the ring.
-Vickie is backstage, and upset at Bryan. Wade steps in and promises that he won’t let Bryan get to his rematch. Vickie sets up a cage match for the main event.
Cody Rhodes vs. Curtis Axel w/Paul Heyman
Curtis gets Cody in the corner to start. Cody gets out of a waistlock but takes a dropkick and gets dumped to the apron. Cody comes back with a springboard dropkick for two. Axel bails to the outside and trips Cody up on the apron and proceeds to ram him back into it as we go to break.
Axel is control after the break, getting two after some elbows. Curtis puts on a chinlock after giving Cody some whiplash. Cody fights back, but takes a clothesline. Axel dodges the Disaster Kick, but Cody gets two from a sunset flip and follows with a clothesline. Rhodes goes up, but is distracted by Heyman and Axel crotches him. Curtis gets his neckbreaker for the win. Hrmph. Paul speaks ill of CM Punk after the match, taking credit for Punk’s success. Axel challenges Punk to a match on Monday.
Final Thoughts: *1/2. We barely saw anything and I’d rather have the match be longer and save Paul the promo. Also, what’s up with Cody jobbing so easily after finally getting going with this face run? Why not throw Kofi in here?
Big E Langston w/AJ Lee vs. Dolph Ziggler
Big E jumps Ziggler to start, tossing him into a corner with one arm. The fireplug of a referee they have separates Big E from Dolph and takes control of the situation. The match starts, and Big E continues, tossing Dolph into the air and onto his face for two. He follows with a splash for two. Dolph dodges a corner charge, and Big E goes into the post. Dolph follows with a corner splash and a standing dropkick. Big E counters the Fameasser with a powerbomb, but Dolph turns it into a facebuster. AJ slugs Ziggler from the outside and Big E runs through him for two. Dolph slips behind and hits the Zig Zag for the win, still wearing his pink entrance shirt.
Final Thoughts: **, as this was just a fun sprint. With the way the match was going, I would rather they have a double count out or double disqualification. I liked the referee. This is the same guy that was calling off Del Rio on Monday. Maybe I shouldn’t be noticing him, but I like him laying down the law.
Christian vs. Alberto Del Rio
ADR backs Christian in the corner to start and stomps away. Del Rio charges, but gets dumped all the way to the floor. Christian follows with a baseball slide. Back inside, Del Rio rolls and walks up the ramp. We hit the break.
Del Rio is back in control after the break. Christian fights off the corner with right hands and goes for a tornado DDT. Del Rio fights out and shoves Christian over the top and out of the ring. Del Rio stomps away and rolls his opponent back in for two. Alberto works on the left shoulder. Captain Charisma fights out but takes a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two. Del Rio goes back to working the arm, working on the wrong arm for a moment, before hastily making the change. Del Rio misses a charge into the rope and gets his back dragging against the top rope.
Christian gets some momentum, and slugs away in the corner. Christian hits a BAAACK body drop and misses a crossbody from the top. Del Rio gets a running dropkick for two and headbutt Christian in the corner. Del Rio misses the corner enzuigiri, and Christian gets the sunset flip for two. Christian rolls through on the cross armbreaker, gets the boot up in the corner and gets the tornado DDT for two. Alberto leaves the ring as he sees the spear coming. Del Rio catches Christian on top with the enzuigiri for two. Christian reverses the Si Kick, but gets run into the post. Del Rio rolls through from the corner to put on the cross armbreaker for the win.
After the match, Del Rio takes the microphone and tells the crowd that he knows they want to become the next ADR. But…they’re peasants, he says with sorrow. Great visual here as a single streak of blood slides down his face as if a tear. Ricardo comes out onto the stage then, and introduces Rob Van Dam as an alternative to Alberto. Rob walks down to the ring, and Christian comes off the top for a missile dropkick, leading to Rolling Thunder that sends Del Rio scurrying up the ramp.
Final Thoughts: ***, good match and I enjoyed the angle afterwards. I like it when the defeated face doesn’t just disappear and gets in a parting shot.
3MB vs. Mark Henry and The Big Show
It’s Heath to start, and he gets mauled. Henry comes in, and absorbs a few shots before running through Slater. Slater takes a big boot out of the corner. Henry misses a squash, and in comes “Bar Room Brawler” Drew McIntyre. He stomps and brings in Mahal, who is unhindered as he stomps away. Heath returns and hits some stomps and jabs before getting turned inside out with a shoulderblock. Drew meets Big Show and bumps around for him. This is fun. Big Show hits the chokeslam, but Slater breaks it up. He gets the WSS from Henry. Show disposes of Jinder and knocks out Drew for the win. After the match, Reigns and Rollins make fun of them for merely destroying 3MB. They remind them to believe in The Shield.
Final Thoughts: BOOM! KAPOW! FLIP-FLOPPITY-DOO! *1/2. This was a fun, fun squash where 3MB just bounced around for a few minutes.
Antonio Cesaro w/ Zeb Colter and Jack Swagger vs. Darren Young w/Titus O’Neil
Cesaro hits a crazy, backflipping dropkick to start and pounds away on Darren in the corner. Antonio hits the gutwrench and makes sure to taunt Young and go back after him. They trade blows before Cesaro puts on a chinlock and follows with a short armed clothesline for two. Young is bleeding from his lip, and comes back with a clothesline. Young follows with a belly to belly, overhead suplex and then hits a northern lights for two. Young goes for the Gut Check, but Cesaro counters with a rollup for two. Young gets a stungun and finally hits the Gut Check for the win.
Final Thoughts: *1/2. There just wasn’t enough here for them to build off of. It was fine for what it was.
-Some dope backstage asks for an autograph from Ryback for his son Billy. Ryback tells him that his son’s name is stupid, since it is, and then signs it. The guy then asks him what his name is. It’s right on his vest, dude. Ryback takes the piece of paper and tears it up, rightfully so. That autograph hound needs to get a real job and stop being such a scrawny wimp! Still, Ryback should have made him begin to eat the paper.
Steel Cage Match – Daniel Bryan vs. Wade Barrett
They lock up to trade and Wade unloads in the corner. Bryan comes back with some strikes. Wade gets the boot up on the whip and fails in putting Bryan into the chain-link. Wade fights out of the corner with some big boots. Wade throws Bryan over his shoulder and puts him into the wall of the cage headfirst for two. Wade misses a charge and goes into the cage wall. Bryan beats away in the corner and flips out of the corner. Wade catches him with Winds of Change for two. We hit the break.
Wade puts some knees and a big boot into Bryan as we return. He gets two from his flurry. Bryan fights back, slamming Wade into the cage, repeatedly. Bryan comes back with a flurry of dropkicks, crunching Barrett against the cage wall. Bryan starts to climb, but Barrett catches him. Bryan kicks him away and hits the front dropkick from the top for two. Bryan chops away with kicks, but misses the buzzsaw. Barrett runs him into the cage and turns him inside out with a lariat for two. JBL loves that.
Bryan looks to escape, but is dropped from an electric chair for two. Wade begins to climb, but Bryan brings him back down. Wade hangs on, lest he get German suplexed from the top. Wade gets one leg over the top before Bryan rushes up. They stand on the top rope, with Bryan kicking away. Bryan spins around and hits a sunset flip powerbomb from the top rope. Sweet. Bryan charges forward and puts Wade down with the Busaiku Knee Kick. I’m going to call it the Cena Killer. After the match, Orton slides out from beneath the ring and hits the RKO on Bryan to end the show.
Final Thoughts: ***1/4. This was a good match here that could have done with a few more minutes to give it a true main event feel. Wade is having the best stretch for him in years, of course. I certainly liked how Orton came out from underneath the ring like a snake in Bryan’s boots. Bryan’s sunset flip powerbomb was amazing; he had to contort himself in such a tight spot to hit the move correctly.
–This was a good, solid wrestling show once again. Sure, the quality came through rematches, but they delivered and expanded upon the originals. I wasn’t a fan of Cody jobbing so easily and it feels like they might be moving away from him if this is a sign of things to come. He’s just starting to get some good reactions, too. But, this was a good show and complemented the stories from Raw, nicely. Meanwhile, PWI released their “Top 500” list. The Great Khali got to #133. That’s above Manabu Soya at #139! Oh, and Jack Swagger was #29 for some strange reason.
