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Smackdown - November 22, 2013

Smackdown
Date: November 22, 2013
Location: Phillips Arena, Atlanta, Georgia
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

It's the final show before Survivor Series and we've more than doubled the announced matches since Monday. The main story coming out of Raw is the return of Rey Mysterio ahead of schedule from his knee injury. He'll be the fifth main in one of the Survivor Series elimination matches on Sunday even though the word on the street is he's not ready yet. It's hard to say if we'll see him tonight or not. Let's get to it.


Opening sequence. We haven't had that in awhile.

Mysterio is in a six man tag tonight with the Usos against Shield. Makes sense to give him a lighter load like that.

Tag Titles: Cody Rhodes/Goldust vs. Real Americans

Cesaro and Swagger are challenging. This is due to the Americans winning a match over the champions last month because it takes WWE awhile to get around to such things. Goldust and Swagger get things going with Swagger sending him in the corner but getting caught by a dropkick. Off to Cody for a missile dropkick and the release front suplex for two on the now legal Cesaro. Back to Goldie as the champions start working on the arm.

The champions make some fast tags to stay on Cesaro's arm before a running knee the chest gets two for Cody. A pair of rollups get the same but Cesaro backdrops him to the apron where a Swagger distraction lets Antonio kick Cody to the floor. We take a break and come back with Cesaro holding a standing chinlock. A clothesline puts Cody down and it's of to Swagger for a belly to belly suplex for two. The running Vader Bomb sets up Cesaro's double stomp for two before Cesaro catapults Rhodes into a Swagger suplex/powerslam for two more.

Cesaro hooks another chinlock but Cody backdrops an invading Swagger to the floor. Rhodes is about to make a hot tag but Jack pulls Goldust down to the floor in a smart move. Swiss Death gets two on Cody and the challengers are getting frustrated. Cody tries his sunset flip out of the corner but Cesaro powers him back up onto the ropes in a very unique counter. Rhodes kicks him away and hits the moonsault press to put both guys down. Nice sequence there.

Double tag brings in Goldust and Swagger with the champion taking over via his signature stuff. He rains down punches in the corner and gets two off a powerslam as Cesaro makes the save. Both Americans are on the floor so Goldust backdrops Cody down on top of them. Goldust goes up top but gets slammed down on his face, setting up the Patriot Lock. Swagger drags him away from the ropes but Cody breaks it up with the Disaster Kick. Cesaro comes back in with the Cesaro Swing to Cody for a ridiculous 27 seconds. Goldust clotheslines Antonio to the floor and hits the Final Cut on Jack to retain at 9:44 shown of 13:14.

Rating: B. That might be a bit high but I was digging this match. The ending had me thinking the titles could change when Swagger pulled him away from the ropes and the kick was timed perfectly. Cody and Goldust are on fire right now and having great matches with anyone they work with. Really good opener here.

Ryback is in the ring to issue an open challenge. He says being a bully isn't a bad thing and he enjoys being one very much. Ryback issues the challenge again and some music hits before he can even finish.

Ryback vs. Great Khali

Khali wins a quick chop off before taking Ryback into the corner for some chops to the back. A clothesline puts Ryback on the floor but he comes back in to stomp Khali down in the corner. Ryback runs into an elbow in the corner followed by some clotheslines and the big chop for two. The Meathook puts Khali down and the Shell Shock is good for the pin at 3:20.

Rating: D+. Not a terrible power match here as Ryback is getting more and more impressive with that Shell Shock every time. That being said, it's not going to matter if he keeps alternating wins and losses. Also it's not like beating Khali means much. Heath Slater pinned him nearly clean a few months back which should tell you everything you need to know about him anymore.

Vickie comes up to AJ in the back and blames Brad Maddox for everything on Raw. She reiterates everything AJ should know about Survivor Series and puts AJ in a handicap match against the Funkadactyls. AJ claims an ankle injury but Vickie makes the match anyway. It's best for business you see. Apparently so is mocking someone who works harder than anyone in the division and collapsed at a show in a match where she's supposed to be the heel despite being cheered over the soulless Bellas who come off as the most stuck up evil women imaginable every time they're on their reality show which most wrestling fans don't watch.

We get a clip from the History of the WWE DVD with Bruno Sammartino talking about the peak of his career, including comments from Ivan Koloff and Ken Patera (looking nothing like he did as a wrestler).

Video of John Cena at Oxford University. This didn't air on the American version of the show for some reason.

Funkadactyls vs. AJ Lee

The Funky ones don't have to tag so they dropkick AJ out to the floor. AJ tries to leave but the Funkadactyls knock Tamina down and drag AJ back to the ring. Tamina takes Cameron down and AJ gets a near fall off a neckbreaker to Naomi. The announcers ignore the match because JBL accidentally said “Funkerdactyls”, which apparently is the funniest thing ever. Naomi hits an enziguri and the Rear View gets the pin at 2:25.

Bray Wyatt talks about seeing memories that aren't his own. The world needs more revolutionaries and more revolutions, but no one can understand that because Punk and Bryan make eyes light up whenever they enter a room. Punk and Bryan are just men who breathe and bleed like anyone does but the people revere them like they're some kind of saviors. Bray's father told him as a child that the meek shall inherit the earth, but they are the reapers who walk. Follow the buzzards. Creepy and bizarre as always but it made sense.

Shield vs. Usos/Rey Mysterio

Dean and Jimmy start us off with Uso winning a slugout in the corner and dragging Ambrose over for a tag of to Jey. JBL talks about the great debuts in Atlanta and lists off the NWO as starting here. He's usually better at history than that. Shield starts their fast tags with Rollins and Ambrose taking their shots until Jimmy tags in Jey so the twins can clear the ring. The stereo dives take Rollins and Ambrose out in the usual cool visual.

Back inside and Jey misses a high cross body to give Rollins two and we take a break. Back with Rollins hitting a knee to the head to knock Jey into the Shield corner. Ambrose hooks an arm trap choke before Reigns comes in with a suplex for two. Rollins whips Jey into the corner and talks some trash, only to miss a charge into the corner. Reigns breaks up a hot tag attempt and lays Jey out with a spinout belly to back suplex for two.

Roman misses a charge into the post and the hot tag brings in Mysterio to clean house. Everything breaks down and Reigns spears both Usos down but Rey hurricanranas him out to the floor. Ambrose comes in with a clothesline as Rollins dives over the top rope to take out the Usos. Rey sends Ambrose into the ropes for the 619 and the top rope splash for the pin at 8:47 shown of 12:17.

Rating: C. Just a welcome home match for Rey who looked decent but not much more than that. Shield still looked good out there and there's no shame in losing to a Hall of Famer like Mysterio. As usual though, Reigns looks like a star out there with the spears to both Usos and some nice power displays throughout the match. He's going to be huge.

Here's Big Show (who has changed his clothes since he was seen standing in the hallway) to say he came back to torture the Authority. The best way he can do that is rearranging the face of the WWE and become the new WWE Champion. He'll lay it all on the line at Survivor Series but here's Orton to interrupt before Show can elaborate. Orton promises to hurt Big Show on Sunday and end his career, but Big Show wants him to come say that in the ring.

We get a clip from Raw of the Authority telling Orton that he has to win on his own to gain their confidence. Big Show talks about how Orton has all the talent in the world and should have been a locker room leader years ago. Instead it's always been about what's best for Randy Orton. On Sunday, Orton is all alone and Big Show will prove how much of a spoiled brat Orton is. Randy says he can beat him, so Big Show pulls up a video of him chokeslamming Orton through the announce table. The segment was well done, but I still don't care to see the match at all.

R-Truth turns into Pretty Ricky to shill merchandise. To say this is a bad stereotype is an understatement.

Big E. Langston/Dolph Ziggler vs. Curtis Axel/Damien Sandow

Axel gets his rematch on Sunday. Ziggler dropkicks Sandow down to start but gets taken into the corner so the heels can double team. Axel goes after Langston because he's not that bright, allowing Dolph to hit a jumping DDT to put Curtis down. The hot tag brings in Langston to clean house but Axel breaks up the Big Ending on Sandow. Ziggler lays out Axel with a Fameasser and the Big Ending finishes Sandow at 2:38.

Post match Langston chases Axel off again.

Video on the Wrestlemania ticket launch party.

Various celebrities are here.

Del Rio is in the back and we get a video recapping his feud with Cena. This includes clips of Cena getting the better of Alberto on Raw, but Del Rio says he wasn't ready. He'll be ready on Sunday though and will bring the World Title home.

WWE fans think Natalya has the most devastating submission hold over Punk, Bryan and Del Rio. That sounds very odd.

There was a Prime Time Players vs. 3MB match taped and scheduled to air here but there's no reference to it at all.
Daniel Bryan vs. Luke Harper

Harper drives him into the corner to start but Bryan scores with a few kicks to send the big man outside. We take a break and come back with Bryan being whipped into the barricade. Harper sends him into the steps as well before slowly taking it back inside. Bray shouts at him to stay on Bryan but Daniel takes him down with some kicks and a dragon screw leg whip. Bryan tries to keep up the momentum but charges into a Michinoku Driver of all things for two.

Daniel moonsaults over him in the corner and hits the running clothesline to put Harper down. The kicks have Harper in trouble but he counters the big kick into a sitout powerbomb for two. The Gator Roll keeps Bryan down and Harper has some scary eyes on display. Bryan scores with a kick to the face to send Harper to the floor for the FLYING GOAT. Bray distracts Bryan, allowing Harper to get in a cheap shot from behind. This brings out Punk, but his distraction lets Daniel roll up Harper for the pin at 7:02 shown of 10:32.

Rating: C+. They've got something special with Harper. The guy can hang with anyone in the ring and he's got a quick finisher that looks awesome. Rubbing elbows with Bryan and Punk is going to do nothing but help him which is the exact idea behind the story. Solid power vs. speed match here and a good sign going forward.

Post match the Wyatts lay out Punk and Bryan to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. This is a tough one to grade as they did a good job building up the PPV but there's very little on the PPV that sounds interesting. The title scene has nothing at all going for it as Del Rio has no chance to win and Big Show vs. Orton is clearly just a means to get to Big Show vs. HHH. The midcard stuff could be interesting and the show could be pleasant surprise but I'm not going into it with very high hopes.

Results
Cody Rhodes/Goldust b. Real Americans – Final Cut to Swagger
Ryback b. Great Khali – Shell Shock
Funkadactyls b. AJ Lee – Rear View
Rey Mysterio/Usos b. Shield – Top rope splash to Ambrose
Big E. Langston/Dolph Ziggler b. Curtis Axel/Damien Sandow – Big Ending to Sandow
Daniel Bryan b. Luke Harper – Small package

Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for just $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Comments

  1. I knew Harper would work well in WWE after seeing a good chunk of his work in the indies. Wish he would use his Black Hole Slam finish though. I understand him not using the running sitout powerbomb since that move was phased out after the D'Lo/Droz accident.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Pat Patterson Prolapsed!November 22, 2013 at 8:23 PM

    Remember when Smackdown had stuff like this?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEzT-OeOcns

    There used to be a high quality version. Oh well.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I don't dig Harper. His matches with Bryan aren't anything exceptional and his matches with people that aren't Bryan or Bryan level are pretty shit.

    ReplyDelete
  4. 3 things I got out of this show
    1. Between his feud with Cody last year and Randy this year, Big Show has become the king of playing highlight reels.
    2. It looks like Ziggler has fallen so far down the totem pole that he can't even get his Titan Tron wall graphic.
    3. Looks like Brie train Daniel her way of winning matches.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Pat Patterson Prolapsed!November 22, 2013 at 9:07 PM

    At this point I'd give anyone the benefit of a year or two to learn pacing and psychology with the big boys, because the alternative is guys who are more than adept in the ring but are too boring for television (Swagger, Del Rio, etc.).

    I've been saying it for years, but Samoa Joe should have his run in WWE before it's too late. He's a shoo-in for success because he already has all of the tools.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Harper is way more boring than ADR. That was a ten minute match and half of it was in a Harper resthold, motherfucker didn't bump and he did like 5 offensive moves. His cardio sucks.


    I get the idea of what you're saying. The only way to learn how to wrestle is to do it, and developmental can only teach you so much. But Harper has zero upside, he can't talk, he can't work, his look is massively overrated (his muscle tone is minimal and he's pretty pear shaped).


    Sorry, but the Wyatt's have shit the bed with their multitude of opportunities.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Pat Patterson Prolapsed!November 22, 2013 at 9:27 PM

    As far as pure action goes ADR is more exciting, but nobody has cared about any of his matches ever. There may come a time when Harper is half the wrestler he is, but at least has the crowd's interest.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The Meathook puts Khali down and the Shell Shock is good
    for the pin at 3:20. The booking of Ryback makes negative sense. The dude jobbed to a clothesline a few weeks ago and now he beats Khali in three minutes.



    Didn't Big E. and Dolph have a falling out a few months ago? I just don't know why they won't put this show out of its misery.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I know I sound like a broken record - and haven't seen this show - but, Bray Wyatt has a really interesting and aggressive style. It's a shame that he hasn't had a chance to show it yet, but I promise, he's interesting!


    And aggressive.


    The gimmick is good, too. Unique and well-acted. It really hasn't been delivered as well as it should just yet, but I sorta kinda have faith that it will.


    Or, we could just have the big dumb brutes of the gang take over and ruin any of the mystery and weirdness and uniqueness of the whole Wyatt thing before Bray even has a chance to get a toehold.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Bryan has the crowd's attention. Not Luke.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Bray Wyatt's NXT run and Bray Wyatt's WWE run have been very different.


    I see the potential in Bray, but that potential has not been actualized.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Actually, Dolph turned face...and Big E was a heel for a while. I think that Dolph and Big E were still friends but there was women problems in the way.

    ReplyDelete
  13. More or less. Dolph split from AJ, Big E stayed with AJ and they wrestled a few times, even once on PPV IIRC. Then he left AJ for no reason (or no reason ever shown on TV). Now they're bros again?


    It's pretty obvious nobody in the company cares. Then again, I went from super cheerleader of the product 2 months ago to completely apathetic right now so I'm with the writers. Who cares.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Pat Patterson Prolapsed!November 22, 2013 at 11:13 PM

    I didn't say he did.

    ADR is the sushi of wrestling, except the chef forgot to supply wasabi.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Yeah, the Discuss Clothesline really depends on an opponent like Kofi Kingston selling the bejesus out of it. When he's fighting bigger opponents who can't go 360, it just isn't as impressive. The Black Hole Slam looks more reliably like a finisher to me as well.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Pat Patterson Prolapsed!November 23, 2013 at 1:30 AM

    Some would say it was... spicy.

    YEEEEEEEEEOOOOOW

    ReplyDelete
  17. Good sushi doesn't need wasabi...

    ReplyDelete
  18. Pat Patterson Prolapsed!November 23, 2013 at 2:11 AM

    I'm sure you've eaten it at all of the best places.

    Look, ADR stinks. He's a fine wrestler, but there have always been great wrestlers and the ones that stood out had the decency of having character and unique motivations that they could adapt into their wrestling psychology.

    Alberto Del Rio, whether as a face or a heel, is a wealthy Mexican who puts armbars on people. Whoop dee doo. He might be a good wrestler, but he's not a Daniel Bryan who is genuinely one of, if not the greatest wrestler of his generation. He's not CM Punk who can innovate new ideas for great matches. He's not even Cena who can generate that Main Event Aura.

    Among greatness, he's mediocre. If it wasn't for the ethnic angle, he wouldn't have lasted two years in the company.

    ReplyDelete
  19. "...the soulless Bellas who come off as the most stuck up evil women imaginable every time they're on their reality show which most wrestling fans don't watch."
    I keep hearing similar sentiments about how the Bellas (and almost everyone else on Total Divas) come off as so unlikeable on the show, but I watch the show and I just don't see it. Nikki Bella is definitely the "mean twin" and can be whiny, but I really can't think of anything Brie has done on Total Divas that's been so bad other than get drunk in Vegas. Am I missing something?

    ReplyDelete
  20. As well-written and acted as the Bray character is, I'm still waiting for him to do something other than wrestle and beat people up. I thought the Wyatts were supposed to be some kind of cult. So why have they only ever tried to recruit one new member (Kane)? And why did we never hear anything about what happened when they (presumably) took him off to be converted? At this point he's just saying some creepy, charismatic stuff that ultimately doesn't mean anything.

    ReplyDelete
  21. ADR doesn't have complexity of character, he doesn't cut deep promos, he's not incredibly charismatic, his moveset doesn't vary that much. And you're right, he wouldn't be where he is if he wasn't hispanic.


    But he has incredible intensity, great workrate, an awesome set of moves, and fantastic psychology. He will kick you in the head and break your fucking arm. That's all I need.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I hear you. This is a new low even for them. The fact that they don't care just makes it that much harder for me to keep caring.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Big E and Dolph have the worst explained friendship in WWE history. No idea why they were friends to begin with. The friendship ends with no explanation. Now they are partners again with no explanation.

    ReplyDelete
  24. They're Eskimo Brothers.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I had to go google that cause I'm old.

    ReplyDelete
  26. They're not really mean, but they never come off as warm and likeable either. The Bellas seem very focused on The Bellas.


    In their favor, they seem to do a lot of signings and appearances for Special Olympics and interact well with the participants, so there's that.

    ReplyDelete

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