WWE Smackdown is at the University of South Carolina this week. Smackdown starts with Alberto Del Rio. He enters the ring and shows a video of him attacking Sheamus on RAW last Monday. I wonder if Sheamus will sell the attack during the show tonight. Del Rio talks about breaking Sheamus’s arm at No Way Out and he is interrupted by Sheamus’s music. It’s Sheamus…no wait…that’s not Sheamus. It’s Ricardo Rodriguez and he is dressed like Sheamus! That’s funny. Ricardo gets in the ring and Del Rio says that he is not Sheamus. No shit! Del Rio says anyone can be Sheamus and punch his chest like a caveman. Anyone can spike their head like a stupid kid, but there is only one Alberto Del Rio. Ricardo is trying to act like Sheamus and it’s hilarious. Ricardo attempts the Brogue Kick and he falls on his ass. Or should I say “arse”?
Then the real Sheamus comes out and enters the ring. He’s not here to talk…he’s here to fight! Sheamus gets double teamed by Del Rio and Ricardo, but he is able to force them out of the ring. Del Rio tries to get away from Sheamus, but Sheamus attacks him on the entrance ramp. Sheamus tries to slam Del Rio off the stage, but Ricardo stops him. Del Rio starts attacking Sheamus and the referees come out to break up the fight. Teddy Long comes out and says John Laurinaitis is not here tonight. That means Teddy is the General Manager tonight. Teddy announces the two matches made for tonight per Mr. Laurinaitis. Kane vs. Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio vs…. The Great Khali’s music plays and he is Del Rio’s opponent.
Alberto Del Rio vs. The Great Khali
Del Rio won with the Cross Armbreaker. This match was a little bit better than I expected, but it was a very boring match.
Winner: Alberto Del Rio
Rating: *
Smackdown shows a video of Big Show cutting a sit-down promo. It reminds me of the Brock Lesnar sit-down promo from April.
Backstage, Teddy Long talks with Brodus Clay. Teddy says Brodus Clay is no longer allowed to be on RAW to protect him from Big Show. How does that stop Big Show from attacking Brodus on Smackdown? Brodus is now a permanent member of Smackdown. The brands still matter! Brodus is not happy and says that he will eat up his Smackdown opponents.
Brodus Clay vs. Derrick Bateman
Brodus Clay gets a quick win against Bateman. It was the usual Brodus Clay match which means the first two Smackdown matches have been mediocre this week.
Winner: Brodus Clay
Rating: *
Sin Cara is next. Maybe his match will be enjoyable. It can’t be worse than the first two matches.
Sin Cara vs. Drew McIntyre
Drew McIntyre is on Smackdown this week? Yes! Drew should be on Smackdown more often. The finish of this match was awesome. Sin Cara jumped off the top turnbuckle and Drew caught him. It looked like Drew was going to hit Sin Cara with a backbreaker, but Sin Cara reversed out of it. Drew then reversed Sin Cara’s reversal. Drew tried to slam Sin Cara, but Sin Cara reversed out of it again and this time Sin Cara turned it into a DDT. Sin Cara never hit the ground during all of those reversals. It was very interesting. That DDT was enough for Sin Cara to get the win. This was an enjoyable match and in my opinion, this was Sin Cara’s first “real” match since his return. This match was short, but Drew made it very competitive. This was by far my favorite Sin Cara match out of the three matches he has had since returning from his injury. I would have loved to see this match get more time.
Winner: Sin Cara
Rating: **1/4
The Ryback match is next. Ryback’s victims this week are Tony Andriotis and Kevin Mahoney. Another Ryback handicap match? They cut a promo and it’s another awful jobber promo. They get worse every week.
Ryback vs. Tony Andriotis and Kevin Mahoney
Ryback wins again. Enough of this jobber crap. Give Ryback a real opponent and let him have a real match. And stop having the same match with the same finish every week. It’s getting old very fast.
Winner: Ryback
Rating: No Rating (NR)
The Peep Show, hosted by Christian, is back. Christian’s guest is Cody Rhodes. Cody comes out first and starts talking before Christian comes out. Cody talks about Christian and he is interrupted by Christian’s music. Cody wants to know why Christian turned face. Christian talks about inducting Edge at the Hall of Fame and Christian says he realized his career could end at any time and he didn’t want to be remembered as the annoying, whining guy who kept asking for “one more match”. Christian wanted to come back and win championships. Cody says he will take back his title at No Way Out. Christian wants Cody to shut up and he wants to attack Cody, but he gets interrupted by Dolph Ziggler. Dolph will face Christian in a match.
Christian vs. Dolph Ziggler
Cody does commentary during this match and says he is asking for his Intercontinental Championship rematch at No Way Out. Christian won this match with the Frog Splash. The match was slow in the beginning, but the last few minutes of the match were very enjoyable. I think this was one of the best mid-card Smackdown matches I have seen this year.
Winner: Christian
Rating: ***
Smackdown shows the RAW Rebound. This week, it is a video of the John Cena vs. Michael Cole match from last Monday’s RAW.
Michael Cole grabs a microphone and starts talking. Cole gets interrupted by Jim Ross’s music, but it’s not good old JR. It’s Hornswoggle dressed like JR. That’s two imposters tonight! Hornswoggle gets in the ring and does a horrible JR impression. Hornswoggle is about to leave the ring, but Damien Sandow comes out. Sandow says Hornswoggle will be taught a lesson. Before Sandow can do anything, he is distracted by Tyson Kidd. Sandow tries to throw Kidd out of the ring, but Kidd hangs onto the ropes. Kidd springboards into the ring and kicks Sandow out of the ring. Sandow pretends that he is walking back to the locker room and then he attacks Kidd when Kidd’s back is turned.
Backstage, Matt Striker interviews Kane. Matt Striker wants to know how Kane feels about the opportunity to defeat the WWE Champion and the World Heavyweight Champion in the same week. Kane says he doesn’t have any feelings and all he cares about is winning the triple threat match at No Way Out and becoming the new WWE Champion. Kane walks away from Striker and AJ is watching Kane.
Jimmy Uso vs. Antonio Cesaro
Cesaro won this match with his finishing move. That was an entertaining match, but it was very short.
Winner: Antonio Cesaro
Rating: *3/4
Up next is the main event match.
Sheamus vs. Kane
Sheamus’s arm is bandaged so he is selling the injury from RAW a little bit. This match ended in a disqualification after Ricardo Rodriguez ran into the ring. It seems like many main event matches on RAW and Smackdown end in disqualification or have a controversial finish. And most of those matches involve Kane. Why is the WWE preventing Kane from looking bad against the World Champions? I didn’t like this Kane-Sheamus match-up and the bad finish made me dislike this match more.
Winner: Sheamus via DQ
Rating: **
After the match, AJ walks down to the ring and distracts Kane. The distraction helps Sheamus hit Kane with the Brogue Kick. Then Sheamus hits Ricardo Rodriguez with the Brogue Kick. Alberto Del Rio watches from the entrance ramp and Smackdown ends with Sheamus and Del Rio staring at each other.
Matches to Watch: Sin Cara vs. Drew McIntyre, Christian vs. Dolph Ziggler
Matches to Skip: Alberto Del Rio vs. The Great Khali, Ryback vs. Tony Andriotis and Kevin Mahoney, Jimmy Uso vs. Antonio Cesaro, Sheamus vs. Kane
Best Superstar of Smackdown: Christian
Christian had a great performance during the best match of the night. Christian was executing his moves perfectly (so was Dolph Ziggler) and Christian does not look like someone who missed a large amount of time because of an injury. If Christian has a match every week, that will help make Smackdown a better show.
Best Moment of Smackdown: The finish to the Sin Cara vs. Drew McIntyre match
I enjoyed Sin Cara’s match this week because Drew McIntyre was his opponent, but also because the match had an awesome finish. It was fun to watch Sin Cara counter Drew McIntyre’s attempts to execute a move on Sin Cara. Usually Sin Cara’s matches end the same way like Ryback and Brodus Clay’s matches, but this match had a different ending. It’s nice to see a different match from Sin Cara and I wish the WWE would let Brodus Clay and Ryback try to end their matches a different way. I don’t mind seeing those three superstars win every week, but I don’t want the matches to look exactly the same every week.
I did not like this week’s Smackdown as much as last week. Christian vs. Dolph Ziggler was good and I also enjoyed the Sin Cara vs. Dolph Ziggler match, but the rest of the show was bad. Smackdown is trying their hardest to make the Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio match at No Way Out look like an interesting match-up, but so far I am not looking forward to that match. I don’t like Sheamus as champion and I don’t enjoy Del Rio’s matches so I don’t think there is anything the WWE can do that will make me want to see that match. It’s too bad that match will be one of the main event matches because I don’t think it would be good mid-card match. I have seen Alberto Del Rio and Sheamus wrestle each other on Smackdown and I did not like their match. I have a couple questions after watching Smackdown. What happened to the Divas? I don’t really care if the Divas have a match or not, but it seems like it’s been awhile since they have been on Smackdown. The WWE is usually good at getting at least one Divas match on the card every week, but there was no Divas match last week and no match this week. Also, where was Daniel Bryan? I understand he’s feuding with CM Punk and Punk isn’t going to be on Smackdown every week, but Smackdown needs Daniel Bryan to appear every week. Daniel Bryan is one of the few Smackdown superstars I enjoy watching so I think it’s hard to have a good Smackdown show without him. It was nice to see Antonio Cesaro back on Smackdown, but his match was too short. John Laurinaitis was not on Smackdown and I think that also hurt the show. Next week’s Smackdown should be better if Laurinaitis and Daniel Bryan are both on the show.
SD is just beyond too predictable. The winners (Cesaro, Ryback, Sin Cara, ADR) were all job matches like. Christian and Ziggler was pretty good and didn’t even watch Kane and Sheamus, will in a bit though.
Yeah, the Diva’s just disappeared, lol.
Pretty bland show from what I’ve seen.
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Loved the spot where Ryback used the Scott Hall throw(that’s what I call it) and flung jobber A into jobber B. Even though his matches are against the same opponents, I like how they are showcasing different variations to each move he does.
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He is going to run out of ways to throw a Jobber.
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Then he moves on to a non-jobber.
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Proud of myself for watching the majority of the show this week. Haven’t bothered with SD in weeks (may be into months now), but didn’t catch any other wrestling this week, so I had to go out of my way to right the wrong.
Anyway, I see I’ve been missing absolutely nothing. Del Rio/Sheamus…yawn. What’s behind this rivalry, nothing? The Funkasaurus gimmick is almost unwatchable at this point. I’m not saying it should be axed, but I think everyone would appreciate some character development. I got a different vibe from Sin Cara, not sure if it’s just because he’s been gone for awhile, if it’s the red, or something else, but he seems “fresher-ier.” Perhaps, it was that up until this point in the show, I was bored to death.
Ryback…I don’t get what some people like about him. As mentioned on Twitter, he’s nothing but a pathetic Goldberg rip, who stole RVD’s gear. And fifty e-bucks says this “impressive streak” he’s building is just given away to someone who won’t gain anything from it.
The only part of the show I enjoyed was the Christian/Rhodes/Ziggler bit. Might try to keep myself tuning in just to see where the feud goes, but they’ll probably cover it on RAW… Oh, but it’s funny: this time last year “Christian is a good face, but he should turn heel; he’s a much better heel.” Now, “Christian was a good heel, but I’m glad he’s a face again; he’s a much better face.” Hey, I can admit, I even thought this myself while watching.
This was my first time seeing Damien Sandow, and while I think he’s doing a nice job, I’m burnt out on the intellectual character. The Hornswoggle/RAW recap was not needed.
Was nice to finally get to see Cesaro in the ring, but where was Jey Uso? The division isn’t big enough to be splitting them, even it’s just from standing at ringside.
I didn’t watch the mainevent, because I knew it’d end in a DQ. Too predictable.
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I think by moving Clay to SD, it might allow him to get into a feud and help his character out.
I don’t get the Ryback/Goldberg comparisons. They are both bald and do power moves. That’s about it. Goldberg was(for the most part) silent. Ryback yells things at the camera. Goldberg walked through pyro. Ryback just walks down to the ring. Goldberg was unknown. Ryback is not. Goldberg got in the game at an older age and didn’t have a super-long career. Ryback is I think 30, so he has more time to develop. Goldberg shocked people by beating Hugh Morris in his debut. Ryback is getting a more measured approach. There is another thing they have in common. I wouldn’t want to mess with them.
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Forgot about Sandow. I think the reason so many in the IWC love him is he speaks(uses certain words to show how “smart” he is), thinks(puts down the “common” people for not being like him), and acts(pretends to be more important than he really is) like so many of them.
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The IWC likes Sandow? He’s interesting I guess, but I haven’t decided if I like him or not yet. Jericho does better intellectual promos than Sandow, but I guess it’s unfair to compare Sandow to a living legend.
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The IWC I’ve noticed has been verbally jerking it whenever he’s on tv. I’ve never seen a gimmick this new get so popular with the IWC this fast.
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You seem to know more about the IWC than me right now so what are they saying about my guy CM Punk right now? I heard rumors that he hasn’t been as entertaining since he won the title.
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They have been saying that about Punk more and more. It started his second or third week back last summer. That’s how fast some turn on a wrestler. Still minor, but I do notice it.
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You are looking at the little details. Is Ryback exactly like Goldberg? No. There are some differences, but what they have in common is the most important. They have both started their careers by dominating their opponents and building a lengthy undefeated streak.
One of the things I don’t like about Ryback is that he used to be Skip Sheffield. He’s the right guy to play Ryback, but I wish he was more of an unknown. His Skip Sheffield stint doesn’t make Ryback look bad, but it’s hard to think of him as an undefeated guy. I’m sure Skip Sheffield lost some matches.
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Well, the “gimmick” is undefeated.
I know his real name is Ryan Reeves and he used to be called “The Silverback”. They probably just combined the “Ry” with “back” in his real and nick names and called him this.
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Wasn’t really too fond of this week’s episode.
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Jesus Christ, Kurt Angle gone insane on twitter talking about matches with Punk, Bryan, Rock, Taker etc..
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It’s true. Oh, it’s damn true!
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He got hacked again 🙂
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lol
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Angle did face Rock and Taker…
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This is the first full Smackdown I’ve watched it literally years. I wasn’t overly impressed by it. Cara/McIntyre held my interest, and I don’t think Kane/Sheamus was that bad. I’d rather watch 100 of their matches in comparison to one Mark Henry/Big Show match for instance. Damien Sandown? Intelligent, well spoken heel has been done before too many times lately, especially in WWE lately (Jericho, Miz spring instantly to mind).
I just got the feeling that I haven’t been missing much on the Blue Brand, and the best of what is on Smackdown is on the Supershow. You just get the feeling that it hasn’t recovered from losing so much star power of the past couple of years.
Edge: retired
Taker: only comes back at Mania
Triple H: moved backstage
Jericho: appears sporadically but not on Smackdown
Rey Mysterio: Injured and has not been on Smackdown in what feels like forever,
No doubt there are others I’ve forgotten, but losing that amount of talent has hurt it badly. And it hasn’t been shored up from Raw really. Yes they tried to move Orton over to be the top face, but Orton is about as natural a face as Goldberg was a highflyer, which is an experiment that has failed spectacularly in my opinion. Especially given his latest issues which has crippled it even more.
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I haven’t really enjoyed Smackdown since 2000. 12 years ago…yikes!
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2000ish is possibly last when I watched a full episode of Smackdown!!
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That was back when some of the best moments of the year happened on Smackdown. What are the best moments in the WWE in 2011 and 2012. How many of them happened on Smackdown? The Rock’s return. RAW. CM Punk’s epic promo. RAW. Brock Lesnar’s return. RAW. Chris Jericho’s return. RAW. The WWE needs to let Smackdown have some of the historic moments. The best moment Smackdown has had recently is the return of Paul Bearer and that was 2010 I think.
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Bearer’s return was great. Bearer’s “death” was horrible, but funny.
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