Smackdown
Date:
September 13, 2013
Location:
Canadian Tire Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Commentators:
Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
It's
the go home show for Night of Champions and for the first time in
months, things are looking good for Bryan coming into tonight. Bryan
finally got the better of Orton on Monday night after Orton took too
long yelling at Big Show, allowing Bryan to knee him in the head.
We're still in Canada, meaning Edge is here again tonight. Let's get
to it.
Theme
song gets us going.
Here's
Big Show to open things up. He reads an apology for his actions on
Raw from a piece of paper. Show also apologizes to HHH for not doing
a very basic job as well as failing as a locker room leader. It
doesn't sound very sincere though so here's HHH to complain. He
wants Big Show to come off like a professional businessman, which
means doing what HHH asks. Since Big Show hasn't, his job is in
jeopardy but instead of firing him, HHH is just going to suspend him
for the night without pay.
Show
goes to leave but here's Shield before he can get out of the ring.
Show has to fight them all off at once and does as well as you can
expect one guy to do in this situation. A single Ambrose dropkick is
enough to send him to the floor but Big Show climbs onto the announce
table.
Show
punches a chair into Rollins' face and dives off the table to take
Reigns down with a clothesline (called a spear) before throwing him
back into the ring. Rollins breaks up a double chokeslam but gets
swatted out of the air. Show loads up the WMD but Reigns comes in
with a chair to finally take Big Show down. A decent TripleBomb
leaves Big Show laying.
Alicia
Fox/Aksana/Layla vs. Brie Bella/Natalya/Naomi
AJ
is on commentary again. Brie stomps on Aksana to start before
talking trash to the champion. Everything breaks down a few moments
into the match but it's quickly off to Fox vs. Naomi as AJ rails
against the Divas show. Fox avoids the Rear View and puts on a front
facelock, only to be suplexed down. Off to Natalya for a quick
Sharpshooter attempt on Aksana but AJ runs in for the DQ at 2:25.
The
Total Divas beat up AJ.
Here's
Vickie to introduce a dance off between R-Truth and Fandango. JBL
shouting WHAT'S UP during the entrances is rather funny. Before it
gets started, here's Miz in a huge afro which only Cole finds funny.
He calls himself Misco Inferno (JBL: “He looks more like
Horshack.”) and Vickie allows him to enter the contest. We're
still not ready to go yet though as Great Khali wants to join in too.
Truth and Fandango (with Summer) do their usual stuff, Miz (now in a
pink jacket and costume jewelery) twerks a bit before Khali does his
arm swinging. Miz wins, Fandango protests, Fandango gets beaten up,
this took nine minutes.
Los
Matadores need to get here already.
Ryback
interviews a guy named Robert Evans (indy wrestler Archibald Peck)
who says he's 6'4 and 185lbs. Evans says his dream is to be a WWE
Superstar one day and compete at Wrestlemania. Ryback likes that
Evans has dreams but slaps the taste out of his mouth. It's Ryback's
dream to beat up everyone like Evans.
Ricardo
Rodriguez comes in to see Vickie who tells him that he can't be in
RVD's corner at Night of Champions. They argue in Spanish with
Vickie saying she's his boss. It's Ricardo vs. Alberto tonight and
that's all.
Damien
Sandow vs. Santino Marella
Time
to put a comedy character over a guy whose potential has been wasted
for months on end. Sandow runs from the Cobra to start before
headbutting Santino down and dropping some knees. The legweep sets
up the Wind-Up elbow for two and we hit the abdominal stretch.
Santino hiptosses out and hits the saluting headbutt, only to have
the Cobra broken up again. Sandow misses a charge into the corner
and the Cobra gets the pin at 2:05. Just go with it people.
Here
are Heyman and Cole for an interview with Michael Cole. We look at a
video recapping Heyman vs. Punk which is just a Night of Champions
ad. Cole asks how Heyman and Axel plan to prevent Punk from getting
his hands on Paul. Axel says that Heyman is under a lot of pressure
to the point of hyperbole. However, Punk won't get his hands on Paul
because he can't beat Axel.
Heyman,
still looking pretty shabby, says that he's being persecuted and begs
for a boycott of the PPV. The fans have something better to spend
their money on instead of the show, like sending your kids to college
or buying your wife shoes. If you buy the show, you're going to see
Punk get his hands on him because Heyman has taught Punk how to get
around the system.
It's
not because Punk is a better wrestler than Axel, but because Punk
spent so much time with Heyman over the year. If you don't boycott
Night of Champions, Punk is going to give him such a beating that
Heyman can't even finish his sentence. This might be the last time
you'll get to see Paul Heyman and he'll never forgive the people for
putting him through this. Cue up the Goodbye song from the fans.
Standard hard sell here but it still works.
We
recap the opening segment.
Alberto
Del Rio vs. Ricardo Rodriguez
Del
Rio kicks him down to start and hits a running knee into the ribs.
Ricardo comes back with a quick dropkick for two but Alberto hits the
low superkick to put him back down. Ricardo gets up two feet in the
corner and hits a tornado DDT for two but gets crotched on the top.
A reverse superplex gets the pin for Alberto at 2:23.
Post
match Alberto puts on the armbreaker but RVD makes the save and hits
a quick Five Star.
We
get a video on Bryan vs. Orton, complete with portions of a sit down
interview with HHH. There's nothing new here: he's doing what's best
for business, Orton is the face of the WWE because he's the best
option, Bryan will see the truth at the PPV, Cody Rhodes was just a
sacrifice to keep people in line, he'll admit it if Bryan proves him
wrong.
Dolph
Ziggler vs. Dean Ambrose
Non-title
but if Ziggler wins he gets a title shot at the PPV. Ambrose shoves
him into the corner to start but Dolph comes back with some forearms.
Dean pounds him down with ease and slams Dolph's head into the mat a
few times. Back up and Ziggler takes him down with a cross body and
some right hands send Ambrose to the floor. Dean gets back in and
puts on a quick reverse chinlock but Dolph dropkicks him down and
hits the ten elbow drops. Ambrose avoids a Stinger Splash as we take
a break.
Back
with Dean stomping on the ribs as Cole tells us nothing happened
during the break. Dean traps the legs and cranks back on Dolph's
chin some more before jumping into Dolph's raised boot. Now it's
Dolph's turn to pound away in the corner and a running clothesline
gets two. The Fameasser misses but Dolph gets two off an O'Connor
Roll. Dean's sleeper is countered with a jawbreaker and the
Fameasser gets two, drawing in the Shield for the DQ at 6:10 shown of
8:40.
Rating:
C+. This was going ok but
Ziggler as a US Title contender doesn't really work when he was world
champion just a few months ago. Ambrose continues to look great in
the ring but there's still value in Shield as a team. The match
picked up after the break but the ending hurt it a good bit.
Shield
beats up Ziggler but here are the Usos for the save. Vickie confirms
that Dolph gets a title shot and makes it six man tag after a break.
Usos/Dolph
Ziggler vs. Shield
This
is joined in progress with Ziggler getting the tag but being dragged
into Shield's corner for the triple teaming. We go to a wide shot
for some reason as Dean works over Ziggler. Back to Rollins to stay
on Dolph's arm and some stomping in the corner. Reigns gets the tag
and puts on a front facelock before it's back to Dean for some right
hands to the ribs and trash talk.
A
running dropkick to a tied up Ziggler has Dolph in trouble but he
backdrops Dean out to the floor. Reigns breaks up the hot tag but
Ziggler avoids a charge, sending Roman's shoulder into the post. The
hot tag brings in Jimmy who speeds things up and hits a Bubba Bomb on
Rollins. A Samoan Drop is good for two but Dean makes the save.
Things break down again and Reigns spears Jey down, only to have
Jimmy superkick Rollins. The Superfly Splash hits knees though,
giving Seth the pin at 4:33 shown.
Rating:
C. Nothing great here but the
Usos are more than capable of speeding things up when they need to.
It wasn't a good match or anything and it doesn't really set up a tag
title match on Sunday because we have to see who wins the turmoil
match. Then again, this isn't related to Punk vs. Axel or Orton vs.
Bryan so it's not like it matters.
Time
for the Cutting Edge. Edge talks about HHH bringing him back in for
one week because it's good for business. The fans chant Good For
Business but Edge says he's here because of all of them. Edge also
isn't going to forget what happened to Christian on Monday. When
Christian comes back, it's not for one more match but to take Shield
out. Edge brings out his guests: Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton.
First
question: “Randy, how does it feel to be a sellout?” Orton says
Edge is jealous because he's just a washed up talk show host who
can't wrestle anymore while Orton is a ten time world champion. Edge
says he's an eleven time champion so it's not a big deal. Randy
talks about being the face of the WWE and how we needed a change
after ten years of John Cena. Daniel Bryan is a nice wrestler with a
good following but he's not best for business.
Edge
thinks he knows what's best for business, just like the fans know
what's best for business. Bryan says he doesn't know what's best for
business but he knows what he wants. Orton calls him naive so Bryan
tells him to shut up. It's not about being best for business or the
WWE balance sheets. It's about passion, love and dreams. His dream
is to be WWE Champion, not to be the face of a corporation. Orton
jumps him but Bryan counters into the YES Lock, making Orton tap.
Randy bails to end the show.
Overall
Rating: C-. This is one where
your tastes will vary depending on what you're looking for in a show.
There was very little wrestling here and what we got was nothing
special at all. On the other hand though, they did a solid job of
setting up the two major matches on PPV. I'm not sure how many
people are interested in seeing the Punk vs. Axel/Heyman match but
it's been well built which is a good sign. There isn't much on the
card though so maybe more will be added on Sunday. Not much of a
show this week though.
Results
Natalya/Naomi/Brie
Bella b. Aksana/Alicia Fox/Layla via DQ when AJ Lee interfered
Santino
Marella b. Damien Sandow – Cobra
Alberto
Del Rio b. Ricardo Rodriguez – Reverse superplex
Dolph
Ziggler b. Dean Ambrose via DQ when Shield interfered
Shield
b. Usos/Dolph Ziggler – Rollins pinned Jimmy after blocking a
Superfly Splash
Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for just $4 at:
http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6
The Miz match was his first singles win on Raw or Smackdown since June.
ReplyDeleteThe arguing in Spanish for anyone who cares. And of course nobody does, was actually hilarious. Ricardo "I can fight, I'm in good shape." Vickie. "No, You're a fat cow."
ReplyDelete