Jonathan Dehn
WWE Smackdown
03/14/2014
Little Rock, Arkansas
-HHH is out to begin the show and rebut Daniel Bryan. Also, these WM XXX graphics kind of suck. HHH tells the fans that he’s so happy that they had their moment on Monday. He warns that now that they had all of their fun, he’ll kill it. HHH takes credit for Bryan’s ascension starting at SummerSlam, by protecting him for the fans to give them hope to bring back to their pathetic lives. I can’t stop looking at HHH’s wrinkled forehead. He goes on to say that like the WWE Universe, Bryan just isn’t good enough to succeed. HHH declares that he will end it all at WrestleMania. He promises that there won’t be a happy ending. “At WrestleMania, I put an end to your dreams, and I BURY Daniel Bryan!” Nicely placed line, there. HHH then asks Sandow to come down to the ring and berates him for not getting into the ring on Monday. HHH tells him to give an apology. Sandow shows no backbone and quickly apologizes. HHH sets up him to get beaten down by The Shield. HHH cut a terrific promo that was not convoluted and left no doubt to his intentions. It only took about six months, the #2 wrestler on the roster walking out, and Batista legally changing his last name to Bootista to get there, but we made it! And who says that the destination isn’t what’s important?
Damien Sandow vs. Seth Rollins
We join in progress with Sandow being pummeled. JBL and Cole yell a lot as Rollins and Sandow battle on the apron, with Damien knocking him outside, but kept at bay by Ambrose and Reigns. Back in, Damien stomps away. Rollins flips out of the corner and trips Damien into the corner. Seth follows with an enzuigiri and hits a corner splash. Seth hits a leg lariat and goes to the top. Sandow bails but is cornered by Reigns and Ambrose, allowing Rollins to hit a dive. This is over as Rollins gives Damien a Curb Stomp to end it. Afterwards, Ambrose isn’t ready to put his fist into the fray until they hit the old triple powerbomb on Sandow. “Now we do the fist thing,” says Dean before putting his fist in and headbanging to their theme music.
Final Thoughts: I was going to say that Sandow got off easy, but Ambrose saw to that. This was nothing more than a squash, but The Shield looked quite impressive and on the same page. I’ll wager that the hushed up encounter between Reigns and Wyatt might have convinced WWE to keep The Shield together for a little while, as Roman isn’t quite ready yet.
Big E vs. Fandango
Fandango slugs away to begin, hitting a quick knee drop after Big E drops. Big E hits a couple of clotheslines and a powerful belly-to-belly suplex. Big E hits that impressive big splash. Into the corner, Fandango goes for the tornado DDT, but Big E slips out and runs over Fandango. THE STRAPS ARE DOWN, and Big E hits The Big Ending to squash the man who beat Chris Jericho at WrestleMania last year.
Final Thoughts: There’s no one else to feed Big E with? I understand that Fandango is a comedy worker, but there has to be another option.
-Bad News Barrett returns! I guess that it took a few weeks to get his podium fixed after it failed to rise. Barrett puts over Taker’s streak, but has some…BAD NEWS. Wade says that Brock Lesnar will win and the parents will go to work exhausted after their children cry all night. They will then be fired for poor performance.
The Real Americans vs. The Rhodes Bros
This should be a highlight of our show. Goldy and Jack begin. Swagger hits a shoulderblock but takes a hiptoss on the return. Cody is in. Swagger gets tripped up and takes a quick knee drop. Swagger fights back and gets Cody into the corner. Cesaro enters and slugs with some uppercuts. Cody flips out of a suplex and hits a misdirected clothesline. Cody goes up, hits Swagger off of the apron, sends Cesaro out of the ring, and vaults out. Cesaro catches him, because he’s beastly, and tilt-a-whirl slams him back into the ring like a beast does. We go break with Cesaro springing back into the ring with a double stomp.
We return with Cody fighting back against Swagger, but Cesaro entering. Cody breaks up the double team and dumps Swagger. Cesaro catches Cody before he can make the tag, and drops him down. Cesaro hits THE GIANT SWING. Swaggerbomb is countered with some boots to the face. Cody goes for the sunset flip, but Swagger gets the tag to Cesaro, who stomps and stomps away at him. Cody is limp, and Swagger tags himself in. This displeases Cesaro. Swagger hits a suplex, and Cesaro gets his own blind tag. Zeb shakes his head before Cesaro shows up Swagger with a stalling vertical suplex. Jack tags himself back in and they argue. Cody tries to crawl for the tag, but Jack cuts it off. Goldy is knocked down, but Cody rolls up Swagger for the win after not being able to make the tag. After the match, Swagger and Cesaro brutalize Cody and Goldust before The Usos run down to send Jack and Cesaro scurrying.
Final Thoughts: **. The dissention between Cesaro and Swagger was fun enough, and hopefully, all three of these teams are in the title hunt soon.
-We get a Bray/Cena video package that leaves out the segment in time in which Cena made fun of Bray’s gimmick, running him down a bit. It just doesn’t make good for selling a match. Bray is so screwed for feuding with Cena. The rub that Cena gives him looks good on paper, but Cena’s “comedy” gimmick is going to run Bray’s momentum down to the Mariana Trench.
Bray Wyatt vs. Kofi Kingston
Kofi dodges a corner charge and gets a right hand on Bray. Bray just smiles about it and charges Kofi, hitting a slam after absorbing some strikes. Bray gets kicked in the face and spills outside. Bray returns with some right hands and slugs Kofi in the corner. Kingston gets the boots up in the corner and hits a springboard clothesline for just one. Bray blocks a monkey flip out of the corner and dumps Kofi over the top and to the floor. Back in, Bray hits a running senton splash. Kofi hits a jawbreaker and follows with a dropkick and a couple of corner clotheslines. Kofi gets caught in flight and Bray hits a uranage. Wyatt drags him into the corner and stalks him from the center of the ring. Bray hits a corner splash and finishes it with a Sister Abigail.
Final Thoughts: *. Bray may need to tone down his facial expressions, as his wide-eyed; mouth agape expression is a bit too cartoony. It just feels like something from 1995.
-Kane is in the back with The Shield, where he congratulates them for their recent successes. Dean is unnerved by Kane’s hand on his shoulder. Kane orders them to come to ringside to see how to properly handle business, and promises them some scraps. Seth cuts through it and says that they’re just there to prevent Big Show from knocking him out. The Shield will protect Kane, although they aren’t too pleased to be errand runners at this point.
Tamina Snuka vs. Nikki Bella
Before we go any further, AJ and Nattie’s match on Main Event is very much overrated. I would have given it *3/4 and cited that it unfortunately suffered from sloppiness towards the end. It was fine, but not in the same league as Emma vs. Paige from NXT Arrival, or even AJ’s battles with Kaitlyn. AJ is on commentary for the match. Nikki dodges a couple of charges and grabs a headlock. Nikki trips Tamina into the ropes, but gets shoved down. Kipping up, Nikki takes down Tamina and gets on. Nikki gets knocked from the apron. Outside, Tamina hits the jacket throw and throws Nikki back in. Tamina hits a Samoan drop and goes up. Tamina misses a stomp and Nikki hits a flurry, finishing with a backdrop. Nikki gets two with a knee to the head, but then eats another Tamina superkick. AJ gets up from the table, and Brie presses her. Tamina runs outside and throws Brie into the barricade. Nikki hits Tamina with her backbreaker for the win.
Final Thoughts: *. This was fine. Now, Nikki is the number one contender, and why not? She has a modest winning streak.
Dolph Ziggler vs. Alberto Del Rio
I suppose that this is the blow off. Del Rio grabs a headlock to begin, and kicks away in the corner. Dolph sells the kick like death, almost using a “Wilhelm Scream”. Dolph dumps Alberto to the apron, and dropkicks him outside. Del Rio goes into the apron and back inside. Dolph hits the big elbow after nine smaller ones. Dolph gets caught in the corner, and then double stomped by Del Rio, although it doesn’t connect as it usually does. We go to break.
We return with Del Rio dodging a Ziggler corner splash. He gets two from the impact. Del Rio shoves Dolph into the corner and hits the enzuigiri for two. Del Rio goes up, but takes a Ziggler dropkick to the face on the way down. Cole sells the impact, but JBL just kinda talks about The Rock and John Cena. Dolph hits a crossbody and some punches, and then follows with punches in the corner. Dolph gets a neckbreaker for two on the way out. Del Rio gets out of the Zig Zag and hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two. Dolph ducks the Si Kick and hits a big DDT for a nearfall. These guys are good together. Del Rio drives the knees into the arm and hits that old Si Kick for just two, Dolph kicking out of the finisher that he put over.
Ziggler fights back to his feet, ducks the corner enzuigiri and hits the Fameasser for two. The crowd starts to buy in after that slick sequence. Ziggler goes to the top, but gets crotched. Del Rio snaps him off with a reverse super-plex. Such a badass move gets two, however. We get a nifty finisher reversal sequence with Ziggler getting the Zig Zag for the win. After the match, Dolph is in the ring with Renee, and can’t hold in his excitement for WrestleMania XXX. Dolph then goes on to add that he will compete in the Andre The Giant Memorial and emotionally states that he’ll finally have his WrestleMania moment after stealing the show at smaller venues. He points at the sign, so I need to go grab a cheap beer.
Final Thoughts: ***. I failed to mention some of the subtle work that Del Rio and Ziggler were doing in calling back to previous points in the match and how they both adjusted. These guys just have terrific chemistry. As for Dolph, it seems like his contract might be coming up soon. With him being marginalized since last summer, I think this might be WWE dangling a carrot in front of him. “Oh wait, we might need this guy!” Still, given the chance, Dolph performed very well tonight and cut a good, solid, “this is real!” promo.
-The Wyatt Family interrupts a WWE Network promo by Cole and JBL. Bray never sleeps, but is always dreaming, and lately about John Cena. During the fight with him, there’s a woman’s voice that talks of how she loves Bray and believes in him. So, he wakes up, and sees John as an old man, withering with regrets. Bray tells John that he’ll make it quick for him.
Kane vs. The Big Show
Let’s just keep an open mind on this match. There may be plenty of Shield interference. Something weird is that The Shield were seen following Kane before the break, but are not ringside with him to begin the match. Kane grabs a headlock, but then goes down from a shoulderblock as The Shield walk down the aisle. They trade shots in the ring for a little while. Show gets the upper hand and delivers the shushing chop. Kane rolls outside, where The Shield subtly make fun of him. Back inside, Kane chops the knee and stomps away. Kane hits a running dropkick for two. Kane works at the left knee. Big Show fights out but gets caught with a running DDT for two. Kane readies the chokeslam. I doubt that is going to work. Big Show puts a hand on Kane’s throat as well.
They break, and Show hits a couple of clotheslines. Big Show hits a spear and eyes The Shield before entering the ring. Big Show climbs to the top, but Kane hits a chokeslam for two after catching him. Kane calls in The Shield to help him. They stand at the apron, but don’t go in. Kane yells at Seth to enter. Seth signals for them to leave, and they drop from the apron. Kane turns back to Big Show, who hits a chokeslam for the win. Afterwards, Kane pulls Seth back into the ring and goes for the chokeslam. Reigns has none of this and spears Kane to end the show.
Final Thoughts: Yeah, this was never going to be a wrestling clinic and served as a nice angle to put The Shield over more as faces. They certainly have moved into being tweeners, with more of an emphasis on the comedy between the three. Still, a decent little segment.
–There wasn’t too much happening tonight, and certainly felt like a B show in parts. The match of the night goes to Alberto Del Rio and Dolph Ziggler. As for the storyline progress and that affecting viewing habits, HHH’s opening promo was worth checking out and goes well into WrestleMania build. The Shield emerging as anti-heroes is entirely the right direction to take them, instead of breaking them up and abandoning all of that hard work before actually reaping all of the benefits.
