Smackdown
Date: May 21, 2015
Location: Norfolk Scope
Arena, Norfolk, Virginia
Commentators: Tom
Phillips, Jerry Lawler, Byron Saxton
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
We're already coming up
on Elimination Chamber and the top of the card is already set. It's
pretty clear that we're getting Rollins vs. Ambrose for the title.
However, tonight is more about Payback fallout as we'll hear from
Roman Reigns for the first time since he lost yet another main event.
Let's get to it.
We open with a recap of
the end of Raw with Ambrose fighting the Authority and coming up a
bit short.
Opening sequence.
Here's Reigns to open
things up. Reigns has some bad news and some good news: he lost at
Payback but he had a great time. Anytime you punch Seth Rollins in
the mouth, it's a great night. The Shield Triplebombed Orton through
a table and he got to go toe to toe with his brother. However,
Payback is gone so it's time for some big news: he's entering the
Money in the Bank ladder match and you can believe he's going to win.
This brings out Dean
Ambrose, who heard Payback mentioned so his ears started burning.
After finding a bucket of ice to dunk his head in and making a wrong
turn at catering, here he is. He heard Reigns mention something
about Money in the Bank though, and that doesn't sound like a bad
idea. Reigns saw what happened Monday and wants Ambrose to have an
exit strategy against the Authority next time.
Kane comes out before
this can go anywhere, but Reigns says he barely recognized Kane off
his back. Kane chuckles but says Reigns isn't in the Money in the
Bank ladder match, because Reigns has lost his last two title shots.
If Roman wants another title shot, he has to prove his worth to Kane.
Ambrose calls Kane the Authority's redheaded stepchild and wants to
know if Kane eats from a bowl like the lapdog he is. That's not cool
with Kane, who makes Ambrose vs. Wyatt again tonight. Reigns can
have the night off.
Los Matadores vs.
Lucha Dragons vs. Cesaro/Tyson Kidd vs. Ascension
Prime Time Players/New
Day are all on commentary (with only Woods talking) and the Players
get Lawler to do the Millions of Dollars dance. New Day has some
special clapping gloves for the commentators. Could these guys be
any more awesome? Cara and Kidd get things going with Tyson trying
some kind of a double arm hold but getting lifted up into a powerbomb
for his efforts.
We look at the
commentators for about fifteen seconds before cutting back to Viktor
slugging Tyson down. Fernando replaces Viktor and almost gets caught
in the Sharpshooter but Torito and Natalya get in a fight to distract
Kidd. Off to Konnor for a Dominator into a DDT and we take a break.
Back with Konnor keeping Tyson in trouble but Kidd stumbles over for
a tag to Cara. Things speed up as Titus promises sweaty and musky
guys in the Chamber. Cara wristdrags Konnor down but Viktor comes in
and stomps Cara into the mat.
A nice tiger bomb
plants Kalisto but Diego tags himself in for the cover. Everything
breaks down and Woods is way too excited. Cesaro comes in for the
first time to a very nice reaction, setting up the running European
uppercuts to Viktor. Kidd comes in with a dropkick but Cesaro has to
stop Diego from stealing the cover. Kalisto gets a quick two off the
hurricanrana driver but Ascension makes the save. A big series of
dives is capped off by Cara corkscrew diving onto a bunch of people,
only to have Kalisto jump backwards into hurricanrana to Fernando for
the pin at 8:41.
Rating: B-.
Total insanity here and that's exactly what it should have been. I'm
digging the Dragons a lot lately as they're exactly what's
advertised: high flying and fast paced offense where you can actually
tell them apart. However, the more interesting thing here was the
commentary. Titus and Woods were GREAT at hyping up the Chamber
match here as they spent the whole match talking about how they can't
wait to get to the match and all the violence and carnage that's
coming in less than two weeks. That's exactly what guest
commentators are supposed to be doing here and they nailed it.
We
look back at Rusev dumping Lana and her hooking up with Ziggler later
in the night.
We
get a clip from WWE.com where Rusev promises to eat Ziggler's
American heart.
Ziggler
is used to girls kissing him
and dealing with ex-boyfriends, but he's never been locked in a
Chamber with one of them. Tonight he has King Barrett....and here's
Lana to wish him good luck. Dolph asks Renee to give them a minute
and tells Lana that he knows the game she's playing. He's fine with
it because she's good at the kissing thing.
King
Barrett vs. Dolph Ziggler
No
entrance for the King. Dolph
tries to take him to the mat to start and gets a boot and headbutt to
the face for his efforts. The
Stinger Splash and neckbreaker put Barrett down and the bit elbow
drop gets two. Barrett
comes right back with his spinning suplex out of the corner for two
and Dolph is in trouble.
Back
from a break with Ziggler
fighting out of a chinlock but missing another
Stinger Splash. Wasteland
gets two and Barrett takes
Dolph outside for a toss into the barricade. They
head back inside and a boot
to the face gets two but the Bull Hammer is countered by a superkick
to the arm. The Zig Zag connects on the staggered Barrett for the
pin at 8:02.
Another day, another clean
loss for Barrett.
Rating: C.
Nothing to see here but it was a way to set up more of the Chamber
match. At the end of the day, you can only watch so many of these
matches that mean nothing before we get to another big match later
on. It doesn't help that the same midcarders have been fighting each
other for years now and the matches are almost interchangeable.
Lana
comes out to watch, drawing speculation that she's trying to get
inside Ziggler's head for Rusev's sake.
We
look back at Paige coming out to help the Bellas, only to nail Nikki
with a Rampaige. Thankfully
that doesn't come off as a heel turn.
Here's
Paige with something to say. Paige
says the last time she saw us, it was in her hometown of
England....of London! She
won a battle royal to become #1 contender to the Divas Title, but
then this happened. We see
a clip of Naomi attacking Paige after Paige won a battle royal last
month, and that's when Naomi finally became relevant.
Then
Naomi found herself a boyfriend in Tamina, but isn't she competing in
the wrong division? This is
Paige's division, this is her ring and this is her house. Cue Tamina
and Naomi, with the latter
saying she deserves the top spot in this division because of her
natural talents. All Paige can do is scream a lot. Naomi
says you have to take opportunities when you can and it's her turn
now.
She
removed Paige from the equation, quite easily she might add. Paige
says she did more in one year than Tamina and the dancing dinosaur
have done in their careers. Being a Diva means you have to has
personality and good grief enough of the whining. Naomi needs to get
over herself but she threatens to clean Paige's house. The beatdown
is on and here's Nikki Bella for the save. Paige
loads up the Rampaige on Naomi but Nikki forearms her down and hits
the Rack Attack. I like the story here, but my goodness never let
Naomi talk again.
Bray
Wyatt talks about people thinking Dean Ambrose was possessed by
demons. People used to talk that way and you know what? They were
right. Tonight, Bray is going to prove that Ambrose has his inner
demons. Dean is in his way so run.
Nikki
vs. Naomi vs. Paige for the Divas Title at Elimination Chamber.
R-Truth
vs. Stardust
Gah
stop having these two fight already. No
entrance for Stardust, which at least saves some time. Stardust
jumps him to start and scores with a springboard dropkick for two.
We're already in the chinlock which is quickly broken, followed by
another chinlock. Truth
fights up but gets sent into the buckle for two. Dark Matter gets
the same so Stardust takes off a glove, which Truth throws into the
air, setting up Little Jimmy for the pin at 3:30.
Rating: D-.
This gets a hearty helping
of “well at least it was short.” These two are stuck in the
vortex of having nothing else to do so they're thrown into the same
match over and over again with no one getting anywhere. At least
there isn't a bag of plastic spiders deciding the finish this time.
Ryback
talks about being in the Chamber the first time and promises to
devour anyone who stands in the way of him and the Intercontinental
Title. Oh and he has some
high protein vegan recipes for Renee because the Big Guy is quite the
cook. That sounded like a
line that wasn't meant to make air.
We
recap Cena and Owens from Monday.
We
look at Owens vs. Zayn from NXT last night
Tough
Enough videos.
Mega
Powers vs. Adam Rose/Heath Slater
Mandow
and Slater get things going with Heath being sent face first into the
buckle but Adam and Heath hit a double suplex in the name of good
taste. Mandow finally
suplexes out and tags in Axel for the big boot and legdrop to pin
Slater at 3:22.
Rating: D.
It's not funny, it's not
interesting, it's not creative, it's not getting either guy anywhere
and my goodness I don't
care. At least it's over a pair of nothing guys like Slater and Rose
and the Ascension got to beat these guys. It's another case where
the guys are doing the best they can but they're in a dead gimmick
that isn't going to help anyone.
Bo
Dallas isn't pleased with Neville bringing up the NXT Title loss but
he's amused about attacking Neville on Monday. He tells a story
about a colorful bird flying around his yard when he was a kid, but
one day that bird hit a power line. Bo nursed it back to health
because he Bo-lieved. Neville has a broken wing, but with Bo's help,
he can fly right.
Bray
Wyatt vs. Dean Ambrose
Dean
takes him down by the leg to start and wraps the leg around the
ropes. Bray gets out in
just a few seconds though and nails a running right hand to stagger
Dean. That doesn't last long as Ambrose knocks him to the floor for
a suicide dive, only to get sent hard into the barricade as we take a
break. Back with Dean
fighting out of a reverse chinlock and having to avoid the
backsplash. Dean counters
the hanging suplex to the floor into a tornado DDT. For some reason
that doesn't knock Bray cold so Dean clotheslines him back inside and
fires off those back and forth punches of his.
Bray
is draped over the middle rope and knocked to the floor, where he has
to escape Sister Abigail into the barricade. Back
in and the release Rock Bottom plants Ambrose for no cover but Dean
dropkicks the knee out. Cue the Stooges for an attempt at the same
ending from Monday, but Dean is ready for them this time. A double
clothesline puts Dean and Bray down so here's Rollins. Before he can
get to the ring though, Roman Reigns comes through the crowd for some
Superman Punches. Bray gets
one of his own and Dirty Deeds is enough for the pin at 11:47.
Rating: C-.
I wasn't feeling this one for the most part, but a lot of that is due
to there being no real reason for these two to be fighting again.
However, it seems to set up
Reigns vs. Wyatt, which could be a good feud for Roman. He needs
someone to conquer, but unfortunately it means Bray gets another big
loss.
Overall Rating: D+.
This show died about halfway through and never recovered. The
Elimination Chamber build is similar to the Royal Rumble build: once
you establish the people involved, there's not much to do other than
have matches between the participants that have no bearing on the big
match itself. That's the point WWE has hit here, but thankfully
there isn't a lot of time before the pay per view.
Results
Lucha Dragons b. Los
Matadores, Tyson Kidd/Cesaro and Ascension – Hurricanrana to
Fernando
Dolph Ziggler b. King
Barrett – Zig Zag
R-Truth b. Stardust –
Little Jimmy
Mega Powers b. Adam
Rose/Heath Slater – Legdrop to Slater
Dean Ambrose b. Bray
Wyatt – Dirty Deeds
Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:
http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6
"He tells a story about a colorful bird flying around his yard when he was a kid, but one day that bird hit a power line. Bo nursed it back to health because he Bo-lieved. Neville has a broken wing, but with Bo's help, he can fly right."
ReplyDeleteI love that. It's the exact opposite of what Bray would say. I think there's money in Bray revealing that Bo is his brother, and used to be a Bray disciple, but left him and tuned to motivational type stuff because he wanted to be normal, but didn't know what normal was, so he turned to self-help.
"Then
ReplyDeleteNaomi found herself a boyfriend in Tamina, but isn't she competing in
the wrong division?"
Good lord, really? We're doing tranny jokes? THAT'S the best anyone can do? And just because Tamina doesn't look like a Barbie doll, it's okay to call her a man? F*** that. The ANTI-DIVA of all people should be above that.
Was it just me, or did Reigns look like he actually had a personality and character motivation in the opening promo?
ReplyDeleteJust Watched Lucha Underground Someone Here Should Review It. This episode was kind of flat but that Mund .line about catering was cool and the main event sucked except for angelico killing himself for my pleasure. I dug konnans promo as well.
ReplyDeleteI've been accused of being sexist for calling the NXT women girls so this should be a field day.
ReplyDeleteIf you want a hook into the Elimination Chamber while giving the fans someone to root for, why not bring up the fact that Ryback has never won a title in the WWE while all the other participants are former champions of some kind. This creates an underdog in Ryback for the fans to root for. At the same time you could have Sheamus make fun of Ryback for constantly choking whenever he gets a title shot, thus providing a justification for their feud.
ReplyDeleteNot bad at all.
ReplyDeleteHoly crap, Ambrose actually got a pin over Bray??
ReplyDelete"The Zig Zag connects on the staggered Barrett for the pin at 8:02. Another day, another clean loss for Barrett."
ReplyDeleteThe more they repackage him, the more they just keep doing the same shit.
Also, Reigns/Wyatt is the exact kind of feud they should have been running last year, because that's the kind of deal where both guys can elevate each other.
ReplyDeleteI actually thought Naomi was better on the mic than Paige.
ReplyDeleteThe butthurt over Paige's interview is reaching critical levels. I've gone so far into calloused fuck mode that apparently it's over my head. If anything, Paige is guilty of committing a stupid promo, resorting to heel lines when Tamina is supposed to be the heel. But if people are getting butthurt over the Tamina lines, they need to change the channel because I don't think the WWE is right for them.
ReplyDeleteIt's WWE, where Nikki and Brie have been put on the same level as Lita and Trish.
ReplyDeleteIf Paige has promo issues, that's on the WWE. Paige is a great talker during interviews. Surely that can be worked with.
ReplyDelete