Smackdown
Date: September 19,
2014
Location: Mississippi
Coast Coliseum, Biloxi, Mississippi
Commentators: Michael
Cole, Tom Phillips, John Bradshaw Layfield
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
It's the go home show
for Night of Champions and since this is Friday, we're not likely to
see Cena or Lesnar, meaning nothing important is going to happen
tonight. WWE has done a very bad job building up everything other
than the main event for Sunday and it really shows when Cena and
Lesnar aren't on the show. Let's get to it.
Opening sequence.
Reigns vs. Rusev. Just
get to the DQ now.
Jimmy Uso vs.
Stardust
The brothers that look
different say they're coming for the titles. Jimmy and Stardust
fight up against the ropes to start until a neckbreaker puts Jimmy
down. Uso tries three superkicks and connects with the final one for
the pin at 2:00.
Goldust gets kicked as
well.
Sheamus/Dolph
Ziggler vs. Miz/Cesaro
Haven't we seen this
one a few times now? Cesaro tries to ride Ziggler on the mat but the
champion gets away. A slam takes Ziggler down again and Cesaro
cranks on a headlock. Back up and Cesaro counters a sunset flip and
lifts Dolph all the way into a gorilla press. It's an awesome power
display but Ziggler slips down the back and nails a dropkick. Off to
Miz for a kick to the face for two and some posing. He avoids the
Fameasser and hooks the Reality Check for two.
We come back from a
break with Miz getting two off a top rope ax handle and putting on a
chinlock. Dolph counters with a jawbreaker but Cesaro blocks a tag
attempt. That earns him the swinging DDT and the hot tag brings in
Sheamus. Miz gets caught in the fifteen forearms to the chest and
the rolling fireman's carry gets two. The Irish Curse gets the same
and Ziggler backdrops Cesaro to the floor, possibly injuring the big
man's knee. The stunt doubles get into it and Ziggler superkicks Miz
into the Brogue Kick for the pin at 11:43.
Rating: C.
This wasn't bad but did anyone buy Miz having a chance to pin
Sheamus? He has the character down but he needs something different
in the ring. I still think a switch to tights would help him a lot,
though that doesn't seem to be a possibility. Also let him get some
wins with the Finale to build the move back up a bit.
Adam
Rose vs. Heath Slater
Slater
decks him with a right hand and Rose is in early trouble. He gets a
boot up to stop a charging Heath in the corner and a high cross body
gets two. Slater stomps him down in the corner again but misses a
knee drop. Rose comes back with some forearms and a spinebuster but
Titus trips him up. This brings in the Bunny who dives on Titus,
setting up the Party Foul for the pin at 2:55.
We
recap Henry and Rusev from Raw. This
eats up over a minute.
Lana
and Rusev are in the back and Lana speaks Russian about Henry and
Reigns. Rusev does the same and that's about it.
Los
Matadores/Big Show vs. Wyatt Family
I
could have sworn this was originally going to be the Usos. Big
Show does Torito's entrance in a funny bit. This
is joined in progress with Fernando doing OLE to Rowan. Thankfully
Erick picks him up for a fall away slam into the Wyatt corner. Off
to Bray for the backsplash before Harper comes in and gets caught in
a sunset flip. His response is to hit Fernando really hard in the
face, though Fernando is able to get over to the corner for a tag to
Big Show.
Rowan
comes in as well and takes out Show's leg, allowing Wyatt to hammer
on a downed giant. Harper
Gator Rolls Big Show and drops him with a dropkick. The Family
starts some fast tagging but Show rolls to the floor and headbutts
Wyatt. Bray stops a tag attempt though and Harper hooks a chinlock.
That's fine with Big Show who lifts Luke up and slams him down for a
break.
Show
misses a Vader Bomb elbow and it's back to Bray for a chinlock of his
own. Wyatt is slammed down
just like Luke was and the hot tag finally brings in Diego.
Everything breaks down and the Wyatts destroy Los Matadores with
ease. Diego dives out to nail Harper but Sister Abigail takes him
out for the pin at 8:10 shown.
Rating: D+.
The stuff with Big Show in there was good enough, but at some point
you have to get the tag off to a Matadore and there's no way around
that. I'm glad to see Bray get a win again but he needs to get back
to his over the top stuff and a big win over a top guy. He can go in
the ring but that Cena feud ripped his legs off.
We
look at Reigns vs. Rollins from Monday.
Reigns
is ready for tonight and Sunday because the Punch is ready.
Paige
vs. Nikki
Bella
Non-title
and AJ comes out to do commentary. Nikki
shoves her down to start and nails a middle rope spinning kick to the
head for two. Paige gets knocked to the floor but she knocks Nikki
off the apron just as quickly. Back in and Paige kicks her in the
ribs but gets caught with some dropkicks. Not that they matter as
the Paige Turner is enough to pin Bella at 2:57.
Post
match Paige and AJ do their usual with AJ holding the title. Nikki
lays them both out and holds up the belt, despite getting pinned
about a minute earlier.
Bo
Dallas vs. Jack Swagger
Rematch
from Raw where Jack made Dallas tap. Jack
takes him into the corner to start but Bo slaps him in the face. A
chase goes badly for Bo with Swagger clotheslining him hard. Dallas
is sent hard into the table but grabs a neckbreaker to take over back
inside. Swagger comes right back with a suplex and Vader Bomb but Bo
runs to the floor again. Another chase results in Swagger's throat
being snapped across the top rope, setting up the Bodog for the pin
at 2:48. Another short match in a series of them tonight.
Bo says the usual post
match and says Jack will wind up being like Zeb Colter if he keeps
up. Colter stole three packs of sugar and is a TERRIBLE TIPPER!
Jack wouldn't want to be someone like that would he? Swagger chases
him off.
Long package on Cena
vs. Lesnar with clips from the brawl on Monday spliced together with
the sitdown interviews from Lesnar and Heyman.
This week's sitdown
interview was with Lesnar, who called himself a prize fighter. In
this fight, John Cena is going to get another beating.
Henry feels good about
his rally on Monday but admits he lots to a Russian in 1992. Another
Russian defeated him in 1996 even though he was injured. This
Sunday, he will crush Rusev.
Roman Reigns vs.
Rusev
They lock up to start
and fall out to the floor before heading right back inside. Reigns
nails a big running elbow to the face but gets caught with a kick to
his own face. Rusev puts on a quickly broken bearhug before dropping
Roman with a spinwheel kick. We take a break and come back with
Reigns caught in a reverse bearhug. Reigns fights up and hits a
running clothesline to put both guys down.
Rusev charges into a
Samoan drop and Reigns hammers away. The Apron Kick looks to set up
the spear but Rollins comes out for a distraction. Rusev kicks Roman
in the jaw and starts working on the back. The Accolade is countered
with something like Cena's ProtoBomb but with Reigns driving Rusev
down (he basically throws him into the air and clotheslines Rusev's
stomach) but Rollins comes in off the top with the briefcase,
accidentally hitting Rusev for the DQ at 9:27.
Rating: C-.
The problem here was the same one that so many of these matches have:
we were just waiting on the run-in for the DQ because neither of
these guys were going to lose this match clean. Rusev getting the
win is an interesting choice but it's not like it really matters one
way or another.
Reigns
and Rollins brawl into the crowd and here's Henry for the brawl. The
American flag comes down and Henry slams Rusev to end the show.
Overall Rating: D+.
Another week, another basic Smackdown. The
wrestling was fine but most of it was too short to rate. It really
didn't do much as far as making me want to see Night of Champions,
but the show has pretty much been dead in the water for the last two
weeks. This show just came
and went without anything to see, which makes for an uninteresting
show to sit through. It did go by really fast though which always
helps.
Results
Jimmy Uso b. Stardust –
Superkick
Sheamus/Dolph Ziggler
b. Miz/Cesaro – Brogue Kick to Miz
Adam Rose b. Heath
Slater – Party Foul
Wyatt Family b. Los
Matadores/Big Show – Sister Abigail to Diego
Paige b. Nikki Bella –
Paige Turner
Bo Dallas b. Jack
Swagger – Bodog
Rusev b. Roman Reigna
via DQ when Seth Rollins interfered
Remember to pick up my new book of 1997 Monday Nitro Reviews from Amazon at:
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but at the very least the Sister Abigail finisher is still pretty well protected right?
ReplyDeleteSo much for Andy PG's "So for those of you like me who were worried that Swagger's face turn was just to be fed to Rusev, it looks like they're not willing to give up on him yet" after beating Bo on Raw.
ReplyDeleteGreat job pinning two heel challengers: has Miz won a match since becoming #1 contender? Why not have Nikki squash Emma to (try to) show she actually has a chance against AJ/Paige?
How can they continue justifying taping this show. I guess they are the highest rated cable show blah blah blah but still. If they want to cut costs just run a house show Tuesday nights. Save on production. Smackdown is nothing but a glorified house show anyway. House shows are probably more entertaining.
ReplyDeleteI know Cena kicked out of it at Wrestlemania and Bryan might have at the Rumble. That's not too bad of a track record.
ReplyDeleteYou realize they make money on the show right?
ReplyDeleteThe rights for the show more than make up for it. They could tape it on the same night but that's WAY too much for one night of tapings.
ReplyDeleteEh... what this says to me is that the feud isn't over yet. So let's not go getting the shovels yet.
ReplyDeleteThat they invested in a Swagger face turn and Cesaro is a heel shows how truly and completely fucked up the booking is.
ReplyDeleteThe move that Reigns is doing used to be his finisher. Moment of Silence IIRC. Theoretically it's a back suplex into a uranage but as you noted he never did it very well and on the rare occasions it looked like a falling uranage, he couldn't protect the other guy and just drove their head into the mat.
ReplyDeleteThey tried it the other way. Heyman cut the legs out from Cesaro's face turn and in a rare moment of WWE actually thinking on their feet they turned Swagger to feed him to Rusev and managed to get him over better than he'd been in 2 years.
ReplyDeleteExcept it's, you know, Cena.
ReplyDeleteI miss the brand split
ReplyDeleteThis. It's the same stupid idea they did with Rusev having him take forever to set up a Black Hole Slam with the swinging side slam thus killing the move's momentum. Picking a guy up and then holding him and trying to create the momentum from a dead stop into a spinebuster into the mat doesn't work much unless you're Goldberg.
ReplyDeleteIs it just me or is Adam Rose plus the Bunny super entertaining? They had a 3 minute match and I was super into it.
ReplyDeleteYou're not alone, I'm with you on that one.
ReplyDeleteCould be a new tag team.
ReplyDeleteDude, I just came here to say the EXACT same thing. I can't believe it, but I'm really digging it all of a sudden.
ReplyDeleteEh, I don't. I'd rather there not be a wrestling show on Friday night that's must-see (which, if some of my favorites are only on Smackdown, it would be). It's fucking Friday, ain't nobody got time for that shit. Even if I DVR it, which I still do, I usually read the results before I even get to watching it.
ReplyDeleteI think it's just a matter of time before Smackdown is cancelled or put exclusively on the network.
ReplyDelete