Skip to main content

Smackdown - January 25, 2013

Smackdown
Date: January 25, 2013
Location: Sleep Train Arena, Sacramento, California
Commentators: Josh Matthews, John Bradshaw Layfield

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

It's the final show before the Rumble and most of what we're getting on Sunday is set in stone. Tonight is likely going to be the final push towards the Rumble which probably means a big brawl at the end of the show with people being thrown over the top rope a lot. Other than that I wouldn't expect much more other than the weekly tag team main event. Let's get to it.


Rock is going to be here again tonight to address his attack by the Shield.

Here's HELL NO to open the show. Before they say anything though we get a recap of the hugging celebration from Raw. JBL: “I even heard a report that a lion was hugging an antelope on the Serengeti.” Kane says the champions have plenty of anger in them still (Bryan: “YES!”) and they'll prove that on Sunday when they retain the titles (Bryan: “YES!”) and then he's going to win the Royal Rumble (Bryan: “YE....”).

Kane talks about how many Rumbles he's been in and his eleven eliminations, but Bryan chops his legs off by saying “Yeah, but you've never won the match.” That sums up the argument against Kane for Mr. Royal Rumble in one sentence. Bryan says that he'll win and an argument breaks out, which draws Big Show to the ring. Show says HELL NO has a 1/30 chance of winning the Rumble while Show has a 100% chance of getting his title back.

Bryan points out that he beat Show for the title last year (it was the year before that) but Show yells him down. He says that he'll beat both of the champions which makes Kane stand up to the Big Show. This brings out the Rhodes Scholars with Sandow talking about how Kane and Big Show are underestimating others in the Rumble like Goliath underestimated David.

Sandow proposes an alliance with Big Show to take out HELL NO. Cue Del Rio but before the brawling can start, Booker makes a six man tag main event. Oh and it's elimination rules. Show charges at Del Rio but gets his leg kicked out and the Scholars run, sending Show to the floor as well.

Sheamus vs. Wade Barrett

Why does WWE insist on giving us the same match six or seven times in as many weeks sometimes? They slug it out to start with Sheamus getting two off a clothesline. Wade comes back with a dropkick of all things for the same result and we head to the floor for a bit. As they come back in Sheamus loads up the forearms in the ropes but Wade comes back with a guillotine on the ropes and a big boot to send Sheamus to the floor.

We take a break and come back with Sheamus getting clotheslined to the outside again. As Barrett pounds away on him as he comes back in, Sheamus comes flying back in with the slingshot shoulder. Now the ten forearms hit and a Regal Roll gets two on Wade. The Irish Curse gets two but Barrett blocks White Noise. Sheamus goes up top only to get slammed down to the mat and superkicked down for two. Barrett goes to the middle rope and jumps into Sheamus' boot but he blocks himself before he connects. Sheamus trips him down though and hits White Noise for no cover. The Brogue Kick finishes clean at 7:48 shown of 11:18.

Rating: C+. The usual hard hitting match here from these two but how many times can we see these two do the same stuff over and over again? Also nice job of having your IC Champion job clean yet again. I know it's a worthless point anymore but for goodness' sake can you go a little while between their losses?

Video on Rock being attacked by the Shield on Monday.

Heyman and Punk are here.

Natalya vs. Rosa Mendes

Epico, Primo, Horny and Khali are all on commentary here. Rosa takes Nattie down to the mat with a headscissors as JBL makes short people jokes. A hair pull puts Natalya down again and it's off to a modified bow and arrow hold. Primo asks if we can focus on the match instead of JBL's WWE.com show as Rosa gets to the rope to avoid the Sharpshooter. Rosa dances in the ring so Horny dances on the table. The distraction is enough for Natalya to hook the Sharpshooter for the submission at 2:46. I think this was supposed to be funny.

Here are Punk and Heyman with something to say. The champion talks about how everything that's coming up is just the surface that he's about to scratch. However, one thing can make 432 days go up in smoke, and that's.....not The Rock. Actually it's the Shield that Punk is worried about because of the stipulation that Vince put into place on Raw. Heyman pulls out a letter that states if the Shield interferes, Punk loses the title. Punk talks about how The Shield is a threat to his title reign because he has no control over them.

The champion calls The Shield to the ring and says he's not leaving until they come to the ring. Cue The Shield who Punk preaches to as usual. He talks about how he's going to beat Rock on Sunday in the biggest match of his reign. He's never asked for or needed Shield's help because he's the best in the world. The Shield surrounds the ring so Punk picks up the chair he was standing in, causing the trio to back down and head through the crowd.

Punk says that's how the champ takes care of business and on Sunday you're going to see him take care of The Rock. On Sunday Punk is going to prove that he's the best in the world and the greatest of all time. He says it again and here's Rock to a huge ovation. Rock says that he doesn't care about the Shield because his boot is going inside Punk on Sunday. There's clearly an audio edit as Rock says this so maybe he flubbed the line.

On Sunday Rock is going to wrap his arm around Punk's chest, lift him in the air, and then time will stand still. At that point the thought in Punk's head won't be about how he's the WWE Champion or the best in the world, but only that it's over. The Rock has promised that he's going to end Punk's reign and on Sunday, it's over, if you smell what The Rock is cooking. This was AWESOME and has me really wanting to see the match for the first time.

Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton

Drew pounds him into the corner to start but Orton hits a bit harder to take over. There's the powerslam followed by the backbreaker, but as Orton loads up the Elevated DDT, Mahal runs in for the DQ at 1:06. He didn't touch anyone but it's a DQ anyway. All three 3MB members get RKO's. Was there really a need to protect Drew McIntyre there?

The Miz vs. Darren Young

Cesaro is on commentary here. Young pounds away to start and gets two off a fast clothesline. We hit the chinlock in about twenty seconds as Cesaro talks about Albert Einstein. Young pounds away in the corner but Miz comes back with left hands in the same corner. There's the running clothesline as Titus keeps blowing the whistle. Miz gets sick of it and kicks him in the head before hitting the top rope ax handle. The Finale is countered and the Figure Four ends this at 1:54. The Figure Four was at least passable this time but Miz still doesn't need to be using it.

Rumble By The Numbers. I love this.

30 superstars
1 winner
36 Hall of Famers who have competed in the Rumble
25 main events of Wrestlemania those HOF'ers have competed in
754 losing entrants
39 eliminations by Shawn Michaels, a record
35 eliminations by Kane, good for second place
13 consecutive Rumbles for Kane
11 eliminations by Kane in 2001
201,497lbs that has competed in the Rumble, or over 100 tons or 457 Big Shows
440,004 people that have attended the Rumble
62:12 that Rey Mysterio stayed in the 2006 Rumble, another record
3 wins for Austin, the most ever
2 seconds that Warlord lasted in 1989
1 second that Santino lasted in 2009
2 is the number of wins for both #1 and #30
4 is the number of wins for entrant #27, the most ever
58% of winners that win a world title at Wrestlemania

HELL NO/Alberto Del Rio vs. Big Show/Rhodes Scholars

This is elimination rules ala Survivor Series. Rhodes and Albeto start things off with the champion flipping out of a wristlock and hitting a headscissors out of the corner. A BIG kick to Cody's head gets two and it's back to the armbar. Off to Sandow vs. Bryan with the latter firing off a bunch of kicks before it's off to Kane for a chokeslam to eliminate Sandow at 2:19.

Big Show comes in and is immediately pounded into the corner by Kane. A running DDT gets two and there's the top rope clothesline followed by a regular clothesline to put both giants on the floor. Kane charges into the knockout punch and is eliminated by countout at 3:40. Big Show counting along with the referee is a nice touch. We take a break and come back with Bryan fighting out of some hold by Cody as Big Show offers encouragement to Rhodes. Didn't they use to hate each other?

Cody hooks a bow and arrow hold but Bryan escapes pretty quickly. Simultaneous cross bodies put both guys down but Big Show gets the tag before Daniel can make one. Bryan fires off kicks to escape a chokeslam and takes out Big Show's leg. He goes up top but jumps into a chop before being sent over the top. Bryan skins the cat but walks into the KO punch to send him to floor for another countout (and count from Big Show) at approximately 10:00.

It's Alberto alone vs. Big Show and the giant knocks him out to the floor for a nine count. Del Rio gets back in but slides back to the floor to get himself a breather. Show throws him back in so Alberto kicks him to the outside for the third countout of the match at approximately 12:00. So it's down to Cody vs. Del Rio with Rhodes jumping Alberto from behind. Alberto comes back with a bunch of clotheslines and a superkick for two. The corner enziguri is enough for the pin though at 10:02 shown of 13:32.

Rating: C+. The countouts were a nice idea but having three of them was probably too much. It is good to have the guys in the title match square off before the title match though and having Del Rio get a countout win is probably the best thing they could have done. This was a pretty good idea although more of the tag teams interacting would have been nice.

Post match Big Show lays out Alberto and covers him with the announce table just like Alberto did to him. Show counts to ten in both English and Spanish for good measure to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. This show was all about setting up the Rumble and I can't fault them there. The world title matches were well pushed and we covered the Rumble itself back on Monday. The wrestling here was the weakest part of the show and even that wasn't all that bad. The show show didn't add anything new but it did a good job of reenforcing what was already there. Pretty solid but not great show here.

Results
Sheamus b. Wade Barrett – Brogue Kick
Natalya b. Rosa Mendes – Sharpshooter
Randy Orton b. Drew McIntyre via DQ when Jinder Mahal interfered
The Miz b. Darren Young – Figure Four Leg Lock
HELL NO/Alberto Del Rio b. Rhodes Scholars/Big Show – Enziguri to Rhodes

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com

Comments

  1. If you don't know what you're ordering when you go to dinner with The Great Khali and Jinder Mahal, YOU'RE GONNA HAVE A BAD THAI

    ReplyDelete
  2. HowmuchdoesthisguyweighJanuary 25, 2013 at 8:41 PM

    Correction (not being a douche).... Bryan did beat Show for the title in 2011 but also beat him (and Henry) at royal rumble 2012. I think that is what Bryan was alluding to

    ReplyDelete
  3. That's hilarious but the pedant in me doesn't understand why Jinder or Khali would know anything about Thai cuisine. I'm sorry.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's amazing to me that they gave the figure four to sorry ass Miz and he doesn't even know how to put it on properly. What the hell can Miz do right in the ring? Lord almighty...

    ReplyDelete
  5. As a Cleveland boy, I'm compelled to defend Miz. Yes, his figure four has not been good, but he is definitely not a botch artist or business exposing worker. Pedestrian moveset, sure. Aggravating personality to many, check. But as a worker he's competent. Not saying elite or even great, but good enough.

    ReplyDelete
  6. In 2013, he's good enough, I guess. Even 10-12 years ago, Miz doesn't sniff JTTS at best. And who cares if you're both from Cleveland?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yeah, Thai and Indian are really different...

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hugely! It's like referring to pizza as Greek cuisine...

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm tired and misread that, "Wow I didn't know JTG and Miz are gay! Good for them!"

    ReplyDelete
  10. I really wish they'd just ship his ass to Orlando. Guy is just awful in every way.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I swear I'll never complain about Rock's sharpshooter or Cena's STF ever again.

    ReplyDelete
  12. That was a nice bit between Punk and the Shield. Even if they're going to end up going the opposite way, I could buy Punk actually NOT being involved with them and the Shield simply acting as random vigilantes.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Uh, I'd say most workers today are better than the workers 10 years ago.

    Lets do this.


    2001: 2013:


    Triple H John Cena
    Steve Austin CM Punk
    The Rock The Rock
    Chris Benoit Daniel Bryan
    Chris Jericho Claudio Castagnoli

    ReplyDelete
  14. I think at the top of the card, today's guys are comparable or better but 10 years ago, they had way better depth. Ryback is a main eventer and 10 years ago, he'd be in Rhyno's spot. Mid carder at best.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Greek pizza does exist. And at least Italy borrowed heavily from Greece.


    Indian cuisine (a somewhat ridiculous term cause India is one of the most culturally diverse areas of the globe) and Thai cuisine both use coconuts, I really don't think there was much cultural interaction.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I agree there, 2001 was the cusp of wrestling's popularity and it's been on a downslide of star-power ever since, but I think that the workers of today are better than those of 2001 years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Miz got over pushed, yeah. 2001 had bigger stars, yeah. But 2013 has better wrestlers. That's the point I"m arguing, not star power or Miz's talent. I"m choosing one aspect of what you said and disagreeing with it.


    Seriously, let's do this.


    There are a shit-ton of good workers on today's roster. Sheamus, Cena, Punk, Bryan, Kidd, Gabriel, Ziggler, Claudio, Generico, Black, Ohno.


    There were a shit-ton of good workers 12 years ago too, but honestly I believe today's were better, I'd like to year your counter.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Oh, totally, the Roman empire was totally gay for Greece, for instance. And as you say, Indian cuisine isn't really a sensible term. I live in Britain and there are a large number of people from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan in my vicinity. SO many different 'chef speciality' dishes. Why? Because that specific style is only used in specific part of e.g. Bengal. If I was to ever go in and ask for a Thai curry, most of them would just politely refuse, and a number would be deeply offended...

    ReplyDelete
  19. Word.


    I think we're the only foodies on this site.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Yeah, I thought he was alright to decent two years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Saturn=crackhead.


    Bagwell=egomaniac.


    Venis=what does he do in a PG environment?

    ReplyDelete
  22. Well yeah, Saturn is broken down old crack head now. But that is not the version I'm talking about.


    He isn't an egomaniac.


    I'm not talking about Val Venis the gimmick, I'm talking about the wrestler.


    WWE is so dumbed down now, that a ton of guys from that era would thrive. Both promo wise and wrestling wise.

    ReplyDelete
  23. I dunno, I once read a fact-based true story about Scott and his love for poutine. Something about kidnapping HHH. Anyway, so, that makes three!


    Really though, every time I'm in the UK, I get mad cravings for Mexican food! And Cheez Its. And every time I'm in the US I long desperately for a decent curry! And Marmite.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Would've been cooler if they attacked Punk and then later helped him and revealed that he was behind the whole thing. It would go to show how far he'd go to keep his belt.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Great idea! But I feel it would be a waste of the Royale Rumble.. sounds like something HHH would book in his glory days. I'd rather see Big E Langston challenge Alberto to a match and purposely get himself DQed with the same outcome.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment