Jonathan Dehn
I’m going to hand out star ratings, tonight. I’ll try not to embarrass myself.
WWE Smackdown
08/02/2013
Houston, Texas
-Del Rio is out first to reveal his opponent for SummerSlam. Del Rio teases his selection, even claiming that he would select Brock Lesnar if he weren’t busy. He offers to fight Booker T, but has second thoughts, insulting Houston at the same time. Finally, Alberto Del Rio selects his buddy Ricardo as his opponent. Vickie is none too pleased, and comes out to insult his choice. Del Rio offers to change his choice to….The Brooklyn Brawler! Vickie nixes that idea, and says that he’ll face the winner of the triple threat match featuring Rob Van Dam, Christian and Randy Orton.
Cody Rhodes vs. Jack Swagger w/Zeb Colter
Zeb babbles some heelish nonsense before the match. Funny line from Riley to start, saying that it would disgust him to carry around the MITB briefcase for someone. Swagger is in control in the early going, hitting a slam and following with a short armed clothesline for two. Swagger clubs down Cody when he goes the Disaster Kick and follows with a Swaggerbomb for two. Cody gets a sunset flip off of the gutwrench powerbomb and gets the quick win.
Final Thoughts: It’s a win for Cody and this was quick and without much to it. ¾*
-Cody is backstage with Josh after his match. Cody talks about how he doesn’t fault Damien for how he won the case, but was just fed up with him, after a while. As expected, Sandow rushes into the picture and delivers a quick beating on Cody, slamming his head into a crate until being pulled away by road agents. Hey, Mike Rotundo!
Sin Cara vs. Big E Langston
We have mood lighting, and Big E hits a big shoulderblock in response. Sin Cara comes back with an enzuigiri for two. Langston hits a backbody drop and latches on a side headlock. Cara fights out, but Big E nails him with a clothesline. Langston batters him on the apron and puts on a chinlock at the bottom rope. Big E puts on an abdominal stretch, using the ropes for leverage. Big E follows with a punt to the ribs. E takes a couple of kicks from Sin Cara, but catches him on the moonsault attempt and hits The Big Ending for the win
Final Thoughts: Impressive squash by Big E. *
-Renee is backstage with Kaitlyn…and Layla. Kaitlyn is going to repeat history, she says, winning the Divas Title again in her hometown. Layla says that Kaitlyn is the real deal. They hug…so you know that Layla turns on Kaitlyn tonight.
-Backstage, Del Rio and Vickie argue about his decision and Vickie’s response. Brad steps in to give Vickie support, causing Del Rio to storm out.
Fandango vs. CM Punk
Fandango dodges a strike and dances, but then gets kicked and slammed. Punk follows with some chops and the two battle over side headlocks. Fandango hits a shoulderblock, but takes a kick and a back elbow for two. Punk takes a moment to leer at Summer Rae and Fandango fights back. Punk hits a leg lariat and goes for the GTS. Fandango bails out and we hit a break.
We return with Fandango getting the upper hand and throwing Punk into the stairs with help from Summer. Back inside, Fandango whips Punk around into the corners. After a couple of strikes, Fandango puts on the rear chinlock. Punk fights out, goes for the sunset flip, but Fandango drags a boot across the face and follows with a kick to the back of the head for two. Fandango goes back to the rear chinlock. Punk fights out and hits a double armed chop and throws forearms in the corner. Fandango gets a boot up on the corner and gets two. Fandango misses a knee drop from the second rope.
They cross in the ring, and Punk hits a forearm and a neckbreaker. Punk charges with the corner knee and hits a short armed clothesline. Punk goes up, and Fandango rolls to the apron. Fandango comes back with a kick from the apron and hits the Falcon Arrow for two. Fandango goes up, but Punk pops up and crotches him. Punk blows a kiss to the crowd then hits the super-plex and rolls over into the Anaconda Vice for the quick submission victory.
Final Thoughts: Good stuff. Punk gave Fandango quite a bit and made him look pretty good out there. It was a different match where you weren’t sure where they were going next. Punk looks good and healthy out there, and Fandango proves that he can deliver with the big boys on television. ***
-Renee is backstage with Rob Van Dam. He feels fantastic about his chances in the triple threat. Christian interrupts and welcomes Rob back, but is then interrupted by Orton, who reminds Christian that he owns him in title matches. Cute segment between the three finishing each other’s catchphrases.
Diva’s Championship Match –Kaitlyn w/Layla vs. AJ Lee ©
Big E is not allowed out in the ring anymore, per Brad and Vickie coming to a consensus. AJ charges to start and climbs atop of Kaitlyn. She gets pulled off, but charges again, this time getting caught and driven in the corner. Kaitlyn follows with a clothesline, but gets tripped up into the ropes. AJ locks on a sleeper, grounding Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn breaks out but takes a kick to the jaw. AJ hits another kick, but takes a dropkick on a charge. Kaitlyn hits a gut buster that takes AJ outside. Kaitlyn takes AJ into the barricade, but then Layla turns on Kaitlyn, blocking her progress. AJ is able to attack her from behind, toss her back into the ring, and then lock in the Black Widow for the win. That was predictable. Layla and AJ skip away.
Final Thoughts: The match was fine until the weakest heel turn of all heel turns. You’re better off going with Layla kicking Kaitlyn in the head before she can hit the spear instead of Kaitlyn tapping out again after Layla just getting in the way of Kaitlyn and shielding AJ. ¾*, as the match was on its way to being good, but was ruined.
Triple Threat Match – Randy Orton vs. Christian vs. Rob Van Dam
Alberto Del Rio comes out before the match and taunts the competitors. They circle to start, with all three attacking each other to start. They trade blows, with Christian sending Orton out and slugging away at Rob. Van Dam hits a side kick, but Orton pulls him out before he can connect with Rolling Thunder. RVD drapes him over the barricade and hits the spinning legdrop from the apron. Christian comes out to great Van Dam with a spear and we go to break with all three down on the outside.
We return with Rob and Christian dueling, with Christian getting the better of the exchange with a tornado DDT for two. Orton returns and beats on Christian. Orton gets a Thesz press but eats an elbow. Up top, Orton hits a super-plex. That gets two. Van Dam comes back, kicking both down. He hits the monkey flip on Christian and hits the split-legged moonsault on Orton for two. Van Dam thrusts the shoulders in the corner, but takes a knee. Christian reverses the hanging DDT and dumps both men out. He follows with a baseball slide on Orton and slams him to the floor. Rob reverses a scoop slam into one of his own. RVD heads back in and then flips back out onto both Orton and Christian as we hit another break.
Orton and Christian slug it out as we return, with Orton hitting the back body drop. Christian and Orton trade pinning combinations. Christian dumps Van Dam and misses the spear. He still comes off the second rope, though, and hits the back elbow. Christian looks for the Killswitch, but Orton fights it. Van Dam comes off the top with a kick on Orton and Christian rolls him up for two. RVD kicks Christian down and hits the Five Star Frogsplash, but Orton breaks it up at two. Randy slugs away on Van Dam in the corner and hits a couple of clotheslines. Van Dam avoids the powerslam and goes for Rolling Thunder…but Orton catches him in mid flip and powerslams him! Sweet.
Van Dam fights out of the hanging DDT but gets dropkicked out of the ring. Christian goes for the Killswitch, but Orton reverses and hits the hanging DDT, finally. Van Dam walks in but gets the RKO, utilizing the slinky spine like a champ. Christian reverses another RKO and gives Orton a backslide for the win. After the match, Orton and Christian stand in the ring and shake hands. Van Dam finally climbs to his feet and also shakes Christian’s hand. Sportzmanship! After the match, Del Rio enters the ring and attacks Christian, giving him the Si Kick and standing over him to end the show.
Final Thoughts: Despite the constant commercial interruptions, this was a damned good match between three veterans who can still go. For me, the defining moment is Orton reversing Rolling Thunder with his powerslam. Terrific. There was a good flow, and the match didn’t stray too far into being one singles match. The post-match angle with Del Rio beating down Christian was a nice touch. I’ll take a stab and give this thing ***3/4. Too much quality.
–This was just a good wrestling show. We were treated to a couple of good, long quality matches, with one of them meaning something. Big E was impressive in his squash of Sin Cara, and Cody picked up some momentum, but needs to be hitting finishers on the likes of Swagger. Punk and Fandango did well together, and I fear that I might be underrating the main event. It’s a bonus when major storyline developments occur on this show, so I’ll take that. However, the AJ and Kaitlyn story took a turn for the worse, with Layla turning on Kaitlyn in such a weak way. Kaitlyn is starting to have people turn on her in an alarming way that would remind some of Sting’s historical troubles. We might as well let Kaitlyn wear some face paint and let her no sell some offense from time to time. Alex Riley was filling in for JBL and did a good job, for the most part, putting over both competitors, being invested in the matches, and dropping a few humorous lines with great timing. I found that he and Cole had surprisingly pleasant chemistry.
