Jonathan Dehn
WWE Smackdown
06/28/2013
From The University of South Carolina
Dublin Street Fight – Sheamus vs. Damian Sandow
There are small bar setups around the ring. WWE just doesn’t have the budget to stage a brawl at an actual pub, I guess. Of course, this is a much safer, cheaper alternative. Smithwicks and Harp are on tap! Sandow is on the microphone before the match. Sandow tells South Carolina to, once again, secede from The Union. Sandow has visions of his domination in this match leading to the match being renamed to the Sandow Street Fight.
They brawl to start, with Sandow getting the upper hand with a festive kendo stick. It’s green. Sheamus hits a clothesline on the outside and throws Sheamus into the barricade. Sheamus clubbers Sandow over a bar top. Sandow blocks a suplex and hits a dropkick. Still on the outside, Sandow runs Sheamus into a post and tosses him into a mini bar, knocking it over.
Fighting back, Sheamus tears a keg out of the bar and throws it at Sandow. It might have just been full. Sheamus then hits Sandow with a sack of potatoes and spills them on him. He totally does this. Sandow trips Sheamus up on the steel steps and hits him over the back with a little green bar stool. Back from the break, Sandow takes control with a back elbow.
Sandow produces a pair of steel chairs and a kendo stick. Sandow wedges a chair in the corner but takes a bar stool to the face. Sheamus hits the Irish Curse Backbreaker for two. Sheamus hits a shoulder thrust into the chair in the corner. Outside, Sheamus hits the rolling Samoan Drop. Sheamus follows with a shoulderblock from the top and back into the ring, for two.
Sandow rushes forward with a chair to the throat for two. Sandow hits a drop toe hold onto a steel chair, but Sheamus then kicks out of Terminus. It’s kind of weak for a finisher, anyhow. Damian goes at Sheamus with a kendo stick. The poor thing is pulverized. Sheamus still kicks out.
Sheamus comes back, tossing a chair into Sandow’s face. Sheamus takes aim with a kendo stick, himself. Sandow kicks out after the thrashing. Sheamus opens a couple of chairs and puts them together.
Sandow winds up sitting in them after a strike from a stick, and Sheamus cleans up with the Brogue for the win. On the way out, Sheamus tosses a few raw potatoes to the fans in celebration, and takes a big bite out of one on the way out.
Final Thoughts: Fun, fun brawl, with a few rough, dangerous spots. In fact, the legs from the chair were sticking up during the drop toe hold, and Sheamus nearly lost an eye. I’d complain about this being on Smackdown, but it was given some build-up on Monday. Still, a lot of fun, and I wouldn’t mind seeing these guys brawl a few more times. Sheamus didn’t do anything overtly bad, for a babyface. Good times.
-Backstage in the locker room, Bryan whistles a nice, victorious tune in front of Kane. Bryan is too talented of a guy. Kane congratulates him, before teasing him by mentioning that it was an upset victory. Kane bites back after Bryan takes offense. Bryan chalks Kane’s behavior up to nerves and mentions that even though he beat Orton singlehandedly on Monday, he’ll be on commentary just in case Kane needs him. Bryan delivers a hug that is not returned, and awkwardly walks out of picture. This was more humorous than I’m making it seem.
-It’s time for Miz TV, with Paul Heyman as guest. Miz and Paul are both quite sweaty for a talk show segment. South Carolina. Miz is…awful, but stands up for Renee Young. That’s the least selfish thing he’s done in WWE, probably. Miz tells Paul to bully him, instead. Paul declines, saying that he respects Miz as an athlete, but not Renee as a human being, I guess. But, Paul brings out Curtis Axel to interact with The Miz. The Miz takes offense to Curtis Axel being a guest he didn’t invite. Miz makes a bad Star Wars joke…and makes Curtis sure to remember that he is not like Luke, in that he is not his father…or something. Bossman would make it work. Miz wants the IC title, but Curtis mentions that he is quite possessive of the title. Miz challenges him to an IC Title match. Paul says the usual. The Miz attempts to get in his catchphrase, but takes a neckbreaker from Axel before he can complete it. JBL mentions that he doesn’t like the catchphrase anyway.
AJ Lee vs. Natalya
Cole mentions that AJ is loving life these days. I just had a flash back to those bad Michelle McCool vignettes involving her rollerblading on piers and also loving life. I’m not a fan of hearing that guitar squeal and knowing I’m about to watch Natalya job. But, Kaitlyn comes out to mock AJ, dressing in AJ’s normal attire. It’s a pretty good look on her.
Kaitlyn accuses AJ of dating the fifty year old, mustachioed timekeeper, the ringside trainer, and Lillian. This enrages AJ. Natalya is in control, hitting a snap suplex. AJ comes back with a hair pull. Kaitlyn skips around the ring. Big E is kind of checking her out. Natalya rolls up AJ for win. Kaitlyn rushes the ring after the match and plows through AJ with the spear. Big E scrapes AJ out of the ring and quickly carries her up the ramp.
Final Thoughts: Kaitlyn had to get one on AJ some time, and both of them did a good job. I’m guessing that Layla showed her how to fight fire with fire, off-screen. I like that Big E is just AJ’s puppet, and stays out of it unless instructed to do something. Also, the spear after the match was justified based upon previous actions in this feud. Now, just put that into whatever Sheamus is doing.
-Wyatt Family vignette entertains us.
-Vince McMahon himself drops in on Teddy Long to ask him what he plans on doing for his own MITB match. Teddy announces the competitors, which includes Fandango. Vince shows his admiration for ‘Go, attempting to correct Teddy’s pronunciation of the name.
Randy Orton vs. Kane
Bryan is going to be a great distraction on commentary. Bryan actually gushes about being one of the All-Stars in the MITB match. Kane grabs a side headlock to start. Orton reverses, but Kane gets a shoulderblock. Orton slugs away and hits a clothesline in the corner. Kane comes back with a couple of right hands that send Orton to his back. Kane hits the running dropkick to the downed Orton.
Kane hits a corner clothesline, but misses the second, tripped into the corner. Kane hits a powerslam for two. Kane gets caught after coming off the top. Randy hits some stomps and a kneedrop for just one. Kane comes back off the whip with a running DDT. Back from the break, Kane is in control.
Meanwhile, Bryan hops up onto the table and leads a YES chant for Kane. Orton hits the backbreaker on Kane. Bryan now wants the crowd to chant NO. Orton gets the Thesz Press. Randy goes for a charge, but Kane hits a big boot for two. Orton hits a dropkick for two, shortly thereafter. Orton gets the elbow up in the corner, but walks into a stalling sideslam from Kane, that gets two.
Randy catches Kane at the top and goes up. Kane fights him off and hits the clothesline. Orton counters the chokeslam and hits his powerslam for two. Kane gets out of the hanging DDT and they reverse on finishers before Kane knocks Orton out of the ring and to the floor. Kane tosses Orton back in, but gets caught with the hanging DDT. Bryan tries to “help” Kane back into the ring. With the distraction, Orton hits the RKO for the win. Bryan smiles on the way back up the ramp.
Final Thoughts: While this storyline is entertaining, I’m afraid that WWE doesn’t have much of an idea of what to do to have Bryan ascend to the very top of the company. Still, this was a pretty good match that picked up nicely after the commercial break. Orton was certainly motivated and not just walking through the match. It’s good to see. Kane, meanwhile, continues his run of sneaky good matches.
Justin Gabriel vs. Ryback
Ryback is in control to start, hitting a side kick to start and a forearm. Gabriel avoids the big boot and kicks away at Ryback, who is caught in the ropes. Gabriel goes for the sunset flip, but Ryback blocks. Gabriel hits a few more kicks. Gabriel goes for the corner splash, but Ryback catches him and hits Shell Shocked for the win.
Jericho runs out to quickly make fun of Ryback favoring his leg after Gabriel kicked knots into it. Jericho calls Ryback…Cryback, as he whines quite a bit. Oh boy, the fans are going to run with that. Jericho rushes the ring, kicks Ryback in the leg a few times, and sends the big guy running.
Final Thoughts: Well, two former Nexus members in a match was awkward for a moment. Part of the crowd mentioned this. Reducing Ryback into a crybaby character is an awful idea that could spell out his downfall.
-A NEW Wyatt Family vignette entertains us.
Christian and The Usos vs. The Shield
Jimmy and Reigns start. They lock up and stumble outside. And, we go to commercial. We return with Ambrose taking care of business. Reigns comes in and delivers some stomps. He hits a slam, gets two, and goes to a chinlock. Reigns hits the Super punch, but misses a corner charge.
Christian gets the hot tag and hits the second rope elbow on Ambrose. He follows with the reverse DDT. Christian trips up Ambrose and heads outside, bodydropping Rollins after heading out there. Dean takes control with a series of punches.
But, Christian hits a tornado DDT for two. Reigns breaks it up. The Usos take care of Reigns in response. A flipping Rollins then takes them both out on the outside. Ambrose is confused, and looks to take a dive. Christian comes out of nowhere with The Spear for the win.
Final Thoughts: Well, The Shield are just guys with belts now. I’m not happy about this development. It would have better to just have this end with a double DQ.
-It’s time for Fiesta Del Rio! The ring is festive. Arching balloons, mariachi band, red carpet, and a table of chips and salsa decorate the ring. A piñata above the ring has a picture of Dolph Ziggler’s face pasted to it. Ricardo trolls the crowd, mocking their accents before ADR makes his way to the ring. ADR is quite pleased with himself while Ricardo munches away at some chips. Del Rio tells WWE to turn on closed captioning, because he’s just going to speak Spanish. Where was this creativity years ago? Now, WWE should have actually gone through with putting CC on. I’m slow with the control here. But, I understand that Ziggler has no chance at MITB. He stops speaking Spanish. Aww. But, it’s time to take down the piñata. Like a dirty heel, Del Rio doesn’t even wear a blindfold. He did that to show that he will turn Dolph’s brain to tatters at MITB, as well. This brings out Dolph. Zigler loses the wristwatch. He means business. He dispatches Ricardo, tossing him through the table after catching him at the top. He hits the Zig-Zag on Del Rio. Grabbing a guitar, he chases off Del Rio, and makes sure to break it over Ricardo’s back. Ziggler joins the mariachi band as celebratory balloons fall from the rafters.
–There will be no DVR Markers this week, as the entire show is at least solid. The pacing was fantastic, and outside of The Shield losing and just becoming midcarders, nothing was quite a miss. Sure, Ryback’s crybaby gimmick might prove to be disastrous, but it worked tonight. The Dublin Street Fight is a good brawl to start the show, and Randy Orton vs. Kane featured two guys with their working boots on tonight. It was strange to not see Bryan wrestle, but he chipped in well with what he was doing. Kaitlyn has a good skipping technique. Michael Cole can’t tell The Usos apart. And Ricardo took a table bump and a guitar to the back for our entertainment. There is much more substance to Del Rio’s heel character now. Gone are the cars and bland promos, and now he’s just a bitter, merciless prick.
