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Smackdown - July 27, 2012

Smackdown
Date: July 27, 2012
Location: Sprint Center, Kansas City, Missouri
Commentators: Booker T, Michael Cole, Josh Matthews

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

With Raw 1000 over now we can actually start building towards Summerslam and we'll begin that with finding a new #1 contender. There's a fourway tonight and the winner gets Sheamus at the PPV. Other than that it's hard to say what we'll get tonight as things will have to be reset from MITB but we had a throwaway show last week. Hopefully things pick up from last week. Let's get to it.


We open with a long video about Raw 1000, which I believe is the same one from NXT.

Do You Know Your Enemy? Mine is the distance to my nearest movie theater.

Here's Miz to open the show. Miz says he's the new face of the IC Title and he'd love to thank every one of Christian's fans, because they voted for him to defend the belt on Monday. He gets ready to say his catchphrase and here's Christian. Christian says he's using his rematch clause tonight so here we go.

Intercontinental Title: Christian vs. The Miz

Miz hits a quick slam and punches away in the corner. Christian sends him to the apron but charges into a shoulder to the ribs. Miz gets knocked to the floor and a baseball slide takes him out. Back in and the champ punches Christian right back down and hits the corner clothesline. Top rope double ax gets two and we hit the chinlock. Christian fights out of it quickly and hits a flapjack, causing Miz to roll to the apron. For the second time though Christian charges at Miz on the apron and again it goes badly for him as Miz backdrops Christian to the floor.

We take a break and come back with Miz still in control but Christian fires off some right hands. A cradle gets two for Christian but the Reality Check gets two for Miz. Another corner clothesline runs into a boot to the face from Christian. He loads up what was probably the frog splash but Miz gets up before Christian can jump. They fight on the top with Miz getting knocked down, but the splash hits knees for two.

Christian comes back again by knocking Miz backwards and hitting a missile dropkick from the middle rope. Christian makes his comeback and slams Miz's back into the top rope. A cross body gets two as does the reverse DDT. The sunset flip out of the corner is countered by Miz but a big kick to the face misses as well and Christian rolls him up for two.

A middle rope back elbow puts Miz down but the Killswitch is countered into the short DDT for two. Miz goes up but gets slammed off the middle rope. Christian sets for the spear but Miz bails. Back in and both finishers are countered but Miz pokes Christian in the eye and rolls him up to retain at 10:38 shown of 14:08. He had some tights in the rollup too.

Rating: B-. This worked well as they had time to get things going. The idea here that Christian was 100% tonight and Miz still beat him (albeit with cheating) is fine. It makes Miz look good as he gets another victory over a pretty big name and lets him get some more relevance, which he's been lacking horribly since losing the title last year.

Ryback vs. Jinder Mahal

Mahal gets in some shots but runs into a big boot to the chest. Ryback suplexes him to the apron but Mahal gets a knee to the head of Ryback to take over. A jumping knee to the head actually gets one as Mahal is in control. Mahal works on the back with knees and an elbow followed by the camel clutch. Ryback will have none of that though and hits the Over the Shoulder Boulder Holder to escape. A spinebuster puts Mahal down but he ducks the clothesline. Mahal bails and takes the countout loss at 2:45. Nice to see them give Ryback something that isn't just a 90 second squash.

We watch the end of Raw, and now it's time to TOUT IT OUT BABY!

Bryan is in the back and looking sad when Sheamus comes in with a present. Sheamus lists off everything that happened to Bryan on Raw but Bryan yells about AJ not being done with him and about Rock being gone for six months and how no one cares about Charlie Sheen. Sheamus hands him the gift and says it was for Bryan's wedding night and leaves. Bryan complains about the wrapping job and opens the gift. He slams it down and leaves. The camera shows us that it was a book with a picture of Sheamus kicking Bryan at Mania. The title: How to Last More Than 18 Seconds.

Sheamus vs. Cody Rhodes

Non-title. Feeling out process for the first minute or so. Sheamus has a big black eye. A big shot to the chest puts Cody down for two and they fight over arm control. A tilt-a-whirl backbreaker puts Cody down for another two. Cody escapes the ten forearms in the ropes but after a chase, Cody gets caught in them anyway while standing in the ring. They both go to the apron and Sheamus is sent into the post. That gets a 9 count on the floor...and here's Ziggler.

We take a break and come back with Cody working on the arm that went into the post. A dropkick gets two on Sheamus and a running knee to the head gets the same. Cody tries a full nelson which is quickly broken up. A dropkick to the knee slows Sheamus down but he puts Cody down with a backdrop.

Sheamus hits a knee lift and powerslam but a charge into the corner misses. Cody misses a moonsault press off the top and the Irish Curse gets two. Sheamus gets sent to the floor to give Cody a breather. Back in the Disaster Kick gets two but an attempt at a second one is caught in mid air into White Noise. Brogue Kick ends this at 9:38 shown of 13:08.

Rating: C. This was a good TV match and another win for Sheamus. Cody is still in limbo but he can still put on some decent matches like this one. He desperately needs a feud or a character change soon though as he's floundering where he is now. Either way this was fine and Sheamus being on TV every week is a good way for him to stay over like he does.

Ziggler thinks about cashing in but backs away. Chris Jericho runs out and throws Ziggler in and Dolph gets a Brogue Kick. His head looked like the mannequin on Conan. Jericho is wearing a Ziggler shirt for some reason. Sheamus leaves and Jericho hits a Codebreaker on Ziggler.

Santino Marella vs. Antonio Cesaro

No entrance for Cesaro. Cesaro immediately takes him to the mat and smacks Santino in the head. Gutwrench suplex puts Santino down and it's off to a chinlock. Santino makes his comeback with the usual stuff and he survives an Aksana distraction. The Cobra is countered into a hot shot and the Neutralizer gets the pin at 2:07. Basically a squash.

We get the HHH/Stephanie/Heyman segment from Monday. I'm still impressed by Stephanie in that dress.

Yoshi Tatsu vs. Damien Sandow

Sandow attacks immediately and sends Tatsu to the floor. Back in and a Russian legsweep puts Tatsu down followed by some elbows. Sandow fires off the knees to the chest and the neckbreaker gets the pin at 1:16.

Sandow says that he is the martyr of everyone that was glad he got beat up on Monday. It didn't air on this video I'm watching but apparently HHH came out and Pedigreed him. That may have just been for the live crowd.

Kane vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Alberto Del Rio

Winner gets the shot at Sheamus at Summerslam. Kane and Del Rio are sent to the floor. Bryan hits the suicide shove on Kane an\d Rey hits the seated senton on Del Rio. Back in and it's Rey vs. Bryan with Rey being taken off the top so Bryan can take over. Kane is sent into the steps as Bryan fires away the kicks to Rey. Rey takes Bryan down and loads up 619, but Del Rio breaks it up because why would you want one of the four people in the match to take a finishing move?

Kane comes back in and takes down Del Rio before hitting the top rope clothesline on Bryan for no cover. The smaller guys escape the double chokeslam but they can't escape a double suplex. Everyone is down as we take a break. Back with Del Rio stomping down Bryan in the corner. Bryan comes back and fires off kicks of his own in the opposite corner but Del Rio kicks him in the arm to break the momentum.

The cross armbreaker goes on but Mysterio breaks it up. Kane comes back in and cleans house, getting two off a clothesline to Rey. He charges into some boots from Rey in the corner but Rey counters a powerslam into a DDT to put both guys down. Del Rio comes back in and beats them both down before focusing solely on Kane. A Backstabber gets two as Bryan is back in with kicks. There's the LeBell Lock on Del Rio but Kane makes the save.

Bryan is sent to the floor and Del Rio hits a Codebreaker on the arm. That gets two as does the chokeslam with Rey making the save. Bryan sends Kane into the crowd, leaving Del Rio and Rey in the ring. A kick to the head gets two for Rey but Bryan breaks up the 619. Rey hits a 12 2 18 on Bryan and Del Rio and the top rope splash gets two on Bryan. Ricardo pulls Rey to the floor and Del Rio steals the pin on Bryan at 9:45 shown of 13:15.

Rating: B-. This started off slow but after the commercial break it got much better. They picked the pace way up and never let there be the same two guys in there for very long at all. The ending was a nice touch too as Del Rio came out of nowhere to steal the pin. This was a good TV main event which is the right idea, and it sets up a match later on which is the more important thing.

Overall Rating: B. With three matches that went over ten minutes each and were all good, it's hard to call this anything but good. This was a very wrestling heavy show and a lot of stuff was addressed. We had a title match, a furthering of Jericho vs. Ziggler, a world title announced for the PPV, and two matches with upcoming midcarders. That's a good use of two hours and makes this one of the better Smackdowns in a long time.

Results
The Miz b. Christian – Rollup
Ryback b. Jinder Mahal via countout
Sheamus b. Cody Rhodes – Brogue Kick
Antonio Cesaro b. Santino Marella – Gotch Style Neutralizer
Damien Sandow b. Yoshi Tatsu – Double Arm Neckbreaker
Alberto Del Rio b. Daniel Bryan, Rey Mysterio and Kane – Del Rio pinned Bryan after a splash from Mysterio

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Comments

  1. The Love-Matic Grandpa!July 27, 2012 at 8:24 PM

    "Back in and both finishers are countered but Miz pokes Christian in the eye and rolls him up to retain at 10:38 shown of 14:08. He had some tights in the rollup too."

    Jesse Ventura would be proud.

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  2. "Do You Know Your Enemy? Mine is the distance to my nearest movie theater."Wow, another Aurora joke.

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  3. I hope Del Rio actually wins the title at Summerslam.  Not sure how long he should keep it though due to Ziggler more than likely cashing in later in the year.

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  4. Wow, Alberto Del Rio challenging for the title.  Again.  Yay.

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  5. Any bets on how many times Sheamus is put in the armbreaker to end a show?

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  6. Glad to see you gave the Miz/Christian match a good rating - they had great chemistry together, and I'm definitely looking forward to more.

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  7. Or, they have Del Rio win and have Ziggler cash in on him to set up a Ziggler face turn.  If Ziggler went over Jericho and won the belt on the same night, boom, instant major star (if it's followed up properly, of course).

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  8. I've deleted Smackdown without watching the last two weeks, and things aren't really looking good for this one either. 

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  9. I actually like Del Rio a lot, I think he's really good in the ring and decently charismatic, but I think he's in the wrong position as a perennial title-contendor - I think he'd do much better if he were dropped one rung lower, where he can bully smaller guys like Ryder, Santino, Christian, Rey, Kofi, etc. Give him a run as IC/US champ, where he can look strong and be portrayed as more of a ruthless killer, instead of a JTTS to Cena and Sheamus.

    I also think a run as tag-champ with Jinder Mahal would help the tag division. Yes, I know, Mahal is pretty lame, but I like the idea of a team of the foreign aristocrats, constantly proving their superiority over blue-collar American workers. Plus, ADR can do most of the in-ring work for the team. I think that would work really well.

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  10. This was a great show. The opener and the main event ruled and the sandow stuff was awesome as always. The 18 second joke was kind of stupid, but whatever.

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  11. Hey you're missing some good matches and you're missing the rise of sandow. Smackdown has been pretty good lately.

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  12.  Um..ok.  Thanks for the comment?

    Do you not like watching wrestling matches?

    The main event was awesome!   And Miz and Christian worked the crowd to perfection.

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  13.  Well I like the idea of seeing Sandow and Cesaro winning matches, I'm just ready for them to step up and start getting longer and more consequential matches. I might FF through it, but honestly, if I missed it I'm not sure I'd care.

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  14. They aren't really doing anything with cesaro (but holy shit his valet is hot) he's not even on every week. I don't think he's ever cut a promo. I'm not familiar with his indy work so I don't know what to make of the guy.

    But sandow...killing it. He's putting on a great squash matches (he fucking flung yoshi into the barricade) and his mic work his second to none. If you like heels, and I know you do, Damien sandow is your man.

    Also there's always a three star match on the show.

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  15. I'm a pretty smarky iwc party line wrestling fan but I don't get the adr hate. He's got a great character, good look, plays heel well, is solid in the ring and didn't come from the wwe homogenized indys, he made his bones in mexico. I blame Vince shoehorning him into the sop for the backlash.

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  16. I'm with you man. More people on this blog need to watch smackdown. It's been the wwes best show for 10 years.

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  17. Yeah, gotta love the Internet: "We want wrestling! We want it like the '80s!"

    *Smackdown provides great wrestling and little to no useless filler*

    "BORING!"

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  18. Agreed here. Not a Del Rio fan, though he's good in the ring. Would've rather seen a DBD or Rey win (which could lead to an interesting face-face match at Summerslam or a Mania rematch).

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  19.  TO BE FAIR! I'm not saying I've found Smackdown boring, I'm saying I've been deleting it without watching it. The wrestling might be good but since I know nothing really consequential happens in the main storylines, I've been skipping it. Between Raw, TNA, ROH, and Smackdown that's 8 hours of wrestling I need to fit in a week, and sometimes something's gotta get cut. Lately, it's been Smackdown.

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  20. The show we should all drop is raw, but it just can't be done because you never know....

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  21. I'm glad they are giving the miz a chance to work long matches on tv against Christian. It will do wonders for him.

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  22. I really want a rey vs db feud.

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  23. Yeah, that doesn't make sense as an Aurora joke. If the distance is his enemy, than the joke is that he lives in the middle of nowhere. 

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  24. So using the original Jericho "Unified Championship" template of having him lose 95 percent of the time? What's your definition of proper because I'm going with the McMahon one.

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  25. The only thing I don't like is the cars. I think the gimmick is getting old. The personal ring announcer is great and works for me. Now if they would only let Ricardo get off a few hurricaranas to help Del Rio win a match or two we'd be in business.

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  26. I liked it though I thought DB could have played it better. Scoffing a bit more. 

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  27. More or less.  I live in the corner of town and the nearest is at another corner of it.

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