Smackdown
Date:
February 12, 2015
Location:
Nutter Center, Dayton, Ohio
Commentators:
Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, Byron Saxton
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
The
big story coming out of Raw is Bryan and Reigns finally coming to
blows with Reigns spearing Bryan after winning the match. It didn't
come off like a heel turn, but rather Reigns being more aggressive
instead of his usual laid back self. The question now becomes what
happens to them going forward, as this is a pretty hard turn for the
story and could help things out a good bit. Let's get to it.
We
open in the back with Kane and Big Show announcing a tag team turmoil
match for tonight with Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan starting things
off. Show mentions grabbing the bull by the horns and we get an El
Torito cameo. So basically Reigns and Bryan are running a gauntlet?
The other teams include Slater Gator, Usos, Los Matadores,
Miz/Mizdow, Ascension and presumably Big Show/Kane.
Opening
sequence.
Bray
Wyatt vs. R-Truth
You
have to wonder why Truth would keep accepting this match as he's been
squashed by Wyatt about a dozen times now. Wyatt just sits in the
corner waiting until WHOOMP THERE IT IS makes his eyes bug out and
gets him to his feet. A hard clothesline drops Truth early on but
he's able to low bridge Bray out to the floor. That's fine with Bray
as he nails Truth upside the head and takes over again. We hit the
nerve hold before Truth avoids a seated splash. The Lie Detector
totally misses but gets two anyway. Bray hits his big clothesline,
Spider Walks, and Sister Abigail is good for the pin at 4:31.
Rating:
D. What else did you expect
here? Bray continues to squash people and there's nothing to see
here in a match with a jobber like Truth. He does get the fans
reacting though and is likely to have a job for years as a result.
It seems that we're getting Undertaker vs. Wyatt at Wrestlemania, and
there would be almost no logical reason for Wyatt to lose there.
That match could mean some
interesting stories, but I doubt WWE would go there.
Summer
Rae vs. Paige
The
Bellas are on commentary again. Paige
armdrags her down to start and hits a hard kick to the ribs, followed
by Matt Morgan's rotating elbows in the corner. Summer
comes back with something like an Indian Deathlock as the Bellas do
their usual “we're better than you” schtick. Byron: “You are
aware there's a match going on in the ring?” Nikki: “Unfortunately
yes there is.” Paige hits
three clotheslines because there's no other comeback allowed in WWE.
The PTO makes Summer give up at
2:58.
The
Bellas pose and Paige yells after the match. This is being written
about six hours after the fourway Divas match at Takeover: Rival,
which was one of the best Divas matches I've ever seen, topping a
list comprised of almost all NXT Divas matches. I
would pay BIG money to hear someone tell me how the WWE Divas are so
much better than the girls down in Florida without using the words
John, Cena, Bryan, Danielson, reality or total.
Quick
look at Rusev calling Cena an old man and going after his eye. Cena
is 37, looks like he's about 30 and probably has at least four or
five good years left in him. We're a few years away from calling
Cena an old man. He's six years younger than Kane and ten years
younger than Big Show, but Cena is the grizzled veteran?
Sheamus
return video.
Rikishi
is going to the Hall of Fame. I really don't get why people are
freaking out over that. He's a multiple time Tag Team Champion, an
Intercontinental Champion and was around forever. He even had a
brief main event run. That's far better than some people who have
gone in but this one isn't ok for some reason?
Fandango
vs. Adam Rose
Rose
yells at the Rosebuds to start and stomps Fandango down in the
corner. He hooks a bodyscissors followed by a chinlock as this isn't
going anywhere. Fandango pops up and hits a snap powerslam, followed
by the Last Dance for the pin at 1:39. I
have no idea why I'm supposed to care about Fandango now.
Rose
shoves the Rosebuds down again. Is this story ever going to move
forward?
We
see HHH calling out Sting for Fast Lane and Sting accepting. I did
like how clear he made the response. Sometimes
you just need to keep it simple.
Tag
Team Turmoil
Either
this match is going to go nearly an hour or there's something else to
close the show. Reigns and
Bryan start against Miz and Mizdow. Miz
and Bryan get things going with Daniel kicking him in the back and
roughly tagging out to Reigns. Roman
pounds him down in the corner and tags out just as hard. It's off to
Mizdow for the Reality Check but Miz isn't pleased and tags himself
back in. Daniel hits a
running kick in the corner so Reigns tags himself in for the Superman
Punch, but Bryan tags in for the running knee instead of the spear.
Miz is done at 2:18.
Next
up are the Tag Team Champion Usos who
start their section after a break. Bryan
grabs a headlock on Jey to start but has to spin out of a wristlock.
Daniel stays on the arm but
gets taken down for the double elbow drop. It's off to Reigns for a
battle of the cousins and Jimmy is quickly run over with a shoulder.
The Usos finally start
getting together to clothesline Reigns to the floor as they're
clearly in no hurry here.
Back
to Bryan for a leg lock and some hard forearms to Jey's face. Daniel
starts kicking at the leg in the corner as Reigns just glares at both
guys. Jey makes a blind tag
and comes in with a kick to the face for two. The champs start in on
the arm and Daniel bails outside as we take a break. Back with
Reigns suplexing Jimmy but getting annoyed at yet another blind tag
from Bryan. Daniel: “THIS
IS A SUPLEX!” His has a bit more snap but gets the same two count.
The Usos take him into the
corner again and stomp Daniel down with the running Umaga Attack
getting another near fall.
A
running headbutt gets two
for Jey and it's back to the arm. That
goes nowhere as Bryan pops back up with the running clothesline. The
first regular tag brings in Reigns and it's a
big boot and a neck crank on
Jimmy. Back
to Bryan to sidestep a charging Jimmy, sending his shoulder into the
post. Both Usos head to the
floor for a series of kicks to the chest but Roman says lay off of
them because they're hurt. Daniel
gets right in his face and they shove each other a bit as we go to
our third break.
Back
again with Daniel cranking on Jey's
arm and suplexing him down for two. Bryan
is acting a bit heelish but you could also say he's just being more
aggressive and trying to win. Roman
isn't interested in working on his cousin, which wasn't a problem for
him back in the Shield days of course. A
Samoan drop finally puts Bryan down for a breather and the hot tag
brings in Jimmy.
The
kneeling uppercut has Bryan in trouble but
he backdrops Jimmy to the floor. Jey tags himself in on the way over
though and gets two off a high cross body with Daniel making the
save. Jey asks his cousin what's going on (it can't be what's up or
that would be gimmick infringement) and everything breaks down.
Reigns
drops Jey but gets sent to the floor for a big dive. Bryan dives on
everyone not named Jimmy but Jimmy takes too much time, allowing
Bryan to hit the Superman Punch. The Usos hit a few superkicks but
the Superfly Splash hits knees and Jimmy taps to the YES Lock at
31:50 (total, as all
following times will be).
Reigns
yells at Bryan for holding the YES Lock too long as we take another
break. Back with the argument continuing and Los Matadores coming in
as the fourth team. Fernando throws Bryan down and scores with a
headscissors to keep the tired Daniel in trouble. Daniel realizes
he's in there with Los Matadores and throws Fernando in the surfboard
until Diego makes a save. Fernando heads up top but gets butterfly
superplexed down, setting up the YES Lock for the submission at
39:47.
Slater
Gator is in next with new music and Heath appears to have chopped off
his hair. Reigns tags himself in to clean house with the fireman's
carry flapjack to Slater, followed by a big spear for another pin at
41:18. We take what might be a record fifth commercial break in one
match and come back with Ascension as the sixth team.
Bryan
and Viktor get things going with Ascension easily taking over.
Daniel fights out of the corner with forearms but Konnor low bridges
him to the floor. The double beating is on and Roman gets one as
well for trying to make a save. Bryan gets posted and Reigns is sent
over the announcers' table. Back in and Daniel takes Fall of Man but
the Ascension has been disqualified, somewhere around 49:10. A bunch
of referees break it up and Big Show and Kane are the final team.
Cole
informs us that Ascension was in fact disqualified. Normally I would
have a sarcastic line here but since the referee shouted “YOU TWO
ARE DISQUALIFIED!”, I'll be a bit more blunt: Cole sounds stupid.
He makes it even worse by saying they can in fact confirm Big Show
and Kane as the next team. AS IN THE TEAM COMING DOWN THE AISLE. We
take another break and come back with Kane stomping on Reigns. A
shoulder block gets two but Reigns pops back up with a clothesline,
allowing for the tag off to Bryan.
Daniel
busts out the YES Kicks, somehow for the first time in this match.
Show makes a fast save though and sends him out to the floor but
throws Bryan back over the top and back inside. It's back to Kane
for more stomping as he and Show somehow look more exhausted than
Bryan and Reigns. More kicks break up the chokeslam but Kane shoves
Bryan into Big Show, much to the giant's annoyance.
A
double back elbow puts Bryan down and Big Show yells at Reigns a bit.
Daniel kicks out of Show's chokeslam attempt before hitting a DDT.
That's still not enough for the hot tag though as Show gets two off a
splash. He yells at Kane for being negative and chokes Bryan in the
air. Kane wants this to be over but Show says he's having fun. Show
gets on the middle rope for the Vader Bomb but Kane tags himself in
and yells at Show for taking too many risks. Show: “THAT'S RUDE!”
Kane
gets caught in the YES Lock and Show makes a very delayed save. This
time it's Show tagging himself in but has to stop and yell at Kane
again. Reigns gets knocked off the apron but Bryan pulls Show down
into the YES Lock. Kane makes a save but asks Show what he's doing.
That's quite a rude question.
Big
Show thinks so too as he KO Punches Kane and I think we have the
1000th Big Show turn. Well that's quite a milestone if
nothing else. Show's gift is a spear and running knee to FINALLY end
this match at 1:05:15. From what I can find, that's the sixth
longest match in company history. Of the five longer matches, three
were Royal Rumbles and none aired on television.
Rating:
C-. The best part of it all:
the match wasn't even that good. It was a mix of squashes and long,
drawn out tag matches which really isn't enough to carry a match that
length of time. Bryan and
Reigns were trying to one up each other (Bryan had four falls to
Reigns' one, which was over Slater) and they used half of the show to
do it because half the roster is in the Middle East on tour. My
goodness this felt long and I need a rest after this marathon. It's a remarkable performance from Reigns and Bryan but it's a pretty lame match.
Overall
Rating: C. The show was
entertaining enough but much more of a novelty than anything else.
As much as I hate this booking move, there's almost no way to avoid
putting the Tag Team Titles on Bryan and Reigns now, because they
literally just beat most of the entire tag division in one night,
including the champions.
Until the Usos beat Bryan and Reigns, they're the best team in the
company by default and it gives them another way to build to the
match at Fast Lane. There
isn't much else to talk about here due to the main event literally
taking up over half the show, but there was nothing else of note
anyway.
Results
Bray
Wyatt b. R-Truth – Sister Abigail
Paige
b. Summer Rae – PTO
Fandango
b. Adam Rose – Last Dance
Roman
Reigns/Daniel Bryan won Tag Team Turmoil last eliminating Big
Show/Kane – Running knee to Show
Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:
http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6
Oh man, get ready! Can you feel it? Can you smell it?
ReplyDeleteBryan and Reigns are SO winning the tag titles next week!
And then, they'll lose them a week later.
ReplyDelete...Big Show is 47?
ReplyDeleteFUUUUUCK.
He's 43. Kane is 47!
ReplyDeleteWhoa Kane and Big Show at Wrestlemania. They got my money!
ReplyDeleteI get what they were trying to do and since everyone is overseas I'm not even mad but man was that main event boring.
ReplyDeleteAlso I really hope Show isn't a face from here on, just a heel slightly less affiliated with the authority.
Who's left to beat them? Maybe the entire NXT forms a single team?
ReplyDeleteThe match probably wasn't actually over an hour, when you take out the commercial breaks.
ReplyDeleteIt probably wasn't but it sounds better this way and I'll take whatever I can get on a Smackdown these days.
ReplyDeleteAnd then one of them will turn the other, just so we know they mean nothing.
ReplyDelete411 had all the matches adding up to about 40 minutes.
ReplyDeleteBryan and Kane. Reigns and Big Slow. For the eight-hundredth time this month. NXT has made the main roster completely unwatchable.
ReplyDeleteAnd this is why the product sucks - they bury the entire tag team division on show which no-one will remember by the weekend to get over a dumb ass angle which they've only had to start because they screwed up the booking of the Rumble completely.
ReplyDeleteRight now Brian should be calling Brock out for WM title match because he never lost the title, Rusev and Cena should be channelling Hulk and Sargent Slaughter and the Ascension should be reducing teams of old timers like the NAO to stretcher jobs to build them up as mega-heels so that the Fed can match them against ethe Usos or Stardust.
You know I always figured the terms "over an hour" and "Daniel Bryan" so close together would mean something a hell of a lot better had taken place.
ReplyDeleteWhy does everyone assume this is a Big Show face turn? It's two heels being pissy with each other.
ReplyDeleteIt's been a full two and a half months since he last turned. It's long overdue.
ReplyDeleteWWE just has the most ass-backwards, over-complicated and counter-productive ways of trying to get a wrestler/program over. Usually, it shits over half the roster and doesn't get anyone over at all.
ReplyDeleteNXT - simple, uncomplicated and everyone's over.
Because we know how well the last Invasion turned out to go for The Federation (eyeroll)
ReplyDeleteIt's like NXT is old-school ballsy Attitude Era WWE where everyone gets a bit of spotlight while Raw/Smackdown have turned into creaking-with-age WCW where it was a complete mess.
ReplyDeleteGreat user name!
ReplyDeleteYeah I hear you - but the whole comment is fantasy booking so it assumes the current idiots are not in charge. Also don't forget that before they screwed it up the Innvasion angle was money - Invasion remains the non Big 4 PPV with the highest buy rate by miles.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm sure them beating up on the #1 babyface until they got DQ'd just set them back a million squashes.
ReplyDelete