Smackdown
Date:
June 6, 2014
Location:
U.S. Bank Arena, Cincinnati, Ohio
Commentators:
Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
As
I'm sure you've heard several times already, the main story coming
into this show is the Shield breakup on Raw as Seth Rollins jumped
from Shield to Evolution in a turn that doesn't make a ton of sense
on the surface but maybe they'll turn it around with some solid
promos. Let's get to it.
We
open with a recap of the elimination tag, Batista quitting and
Rollins turning on Shield the next night. This video doesn't help a
lot of the plot holes.
Here
are HHH and Rollins for their medium speech as I'm sure the big one
will be on Raw. Rollins is in his Shield gear and the fans tell him
that he sold out. HHH says he isn't out here to brag and say he told
you so, but everyone knows that anyway. He talks about Rollins being
the founder of the Shield, a team that crushed legends, giants and
champions. They were the most dominant force in the world, so why
did Rollins turn his back on them?
Rollins
says everyone wants an explanation about why he did what he did to
his brothers. The only person who needs to know and the only person
that he owes anything to is him, which sounds like code for “We
haven't thought this all the way through.” Dolph Ziggler of all
people interrupts him and says he can't fall much further down so he
can say this.
Ziggler
dug the Shield for standing up to everyone and winning. What Rollins
did was worse than anything else Shield did because Rollins is
nothing more than a traitor. HHH says Ziggler is right. Seth did
sell out, and he'll sell out arenas night after night, which Ziggler
will never do. That's not enough though, so HHH makes Ziggler vs.
Rollins right now.
Dolph
Ziggler vs. Seth Rollins
Seth
chokes him against the ropes to start but Ziggler comes back with
right hands in the corner. A quick suplex gets two for Rollins and
he pulls on Dolph's hair for a bit. Ziggler sends him outside and
kicks Rollins through the ropes as things calm down a bit. Back in
and Rollins easily punches Dolph down again before putting on a
chinlock. Dolph reverses into a sleeper but gets caught in a
backpack stunner. Seth kicks him out to the floor and we take a
break. Back with Ziggler fighting out of a cobra clutch but getting
caught in the Downward Spiral into the middle buckle.
HHH
goes over to the announce table to brag about his new man but Rollins
charges into the running DDT. They slug it out with Ziggler getting
the better of it and hammering away in the corner. Dolph throws him
outside and hits a nice dropkick followed by the Fameasser inside for
two. Seth comes back with an enziguri from the apron but takes too
long going up and gets caught in the top rope X Factor for an even
closer near fall. Another enziguri stops a charging Ziggler and the
buckle bomb followed by the curb stomp put Ziggler away at 11:10
shown of 14:40.
Rating:
C+. This was a good but not
great match. The problem here is Rollins had to drop all of the
stuff that was going to get him cheered which leaves him with a less
exciting although still good style. Ziggler continues to be a
completely different wrestler on Smackdown and Raw and it's getting a
bit tiresome. These matches are entertaining but you know not to
expect anything on Mondays.
Bad
News Barrett thinks it's unfair that he has to defend his title
against Cesaro and RVD. Why should he have to do that against two
people far less classy than him? RVD is a flower child and Cesaro
has fleas from sleeping with the dog that is Paul Heyman.
Orton
shakes Rollins' hand and welcomes him to the dark side. Big Show
comes up and says Ziggler was right: Rollins is a piece of garbage.
He'd love to see Rollins try that on him, but HHH makes Big Show vs.
Orton for tonight instead.
Usos
vs. Ryback/Curtis Axel
Non-title.
Jey nails a quick uppercut on Ryback to start but is quickly sent
outside for a shot from Axel to take over. A double suplex gets two
on Jey and the middle rope elbow into a middle rope splash gets the
same. We hit the chinlock from Ryback before the quick tags have Jey
in even more trouble. Jey comes back with a superkick to send Ryback
to the floor and another knocks Axel out of the corner. A hot tag
brings in Jimmy for a Superfly Splash on Axel for the pin at 3:10.
That was the only move he hit all match.
Rating:
D+. This was the Randy Savage
in 1995 formula of having the Usos get beaten down for almost the
entire match before hitting two moves for a quick win. It gets the
Usos back on their winning ways and it doesn't really downgrade
Ryback/Axel as they lost to a team higher up on the totem pole.
Rusev
vs. Xavier Woods
This
week Lana brags about Mikhail Gorbachev and various Russian athletes
and dancers. Woods comes out in a combination of his regular attire
and his old Consequences Creed gear. The kick and the Accolade end
him in 36 seconds, but at least Woods' attire looked better.
A
giant Russian flag comes down behind Rusev after his win.
Intercontinental
Title: Bad News Barrett vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Cesaro
Barrett
is defending of course and this is a result of Cesaro breaking up
RVD's title shot on Tuesday. Cesaro is quickly double teamed to the
floor but comes back with a running uppercut to the champion's back.
Rob kicks them both down with ease for a double Rolling Thunder and
two on both guys.
Cesaro
sends Rob outside and stomps away on Barrett in the corner as Heyman
shuts Cole down every few seconds with one great line after another.
For instance, Cole: “Why did Cesaro interfere in the match on
Tuesday?” Heyman: “It got him into the title match didn't it?”
The split legged moonsault gets two on Cesaro but Barrett pulls Rob
to the floor as we go to a break. Back with Rob fighting out of
Barrett's chinlock and low bridging him out to the floor.
The
big flip dive is blocked by an uppercut but Barrett runs Cesaro over
and puts him on the barricade, allowing Rob to hit the spinning kick
to the back. Back in and Winds of Change get two on Rob and the
German suplex gets the same on the American. Barrett gets knocked
down by Cesaro who is kicked by Rob, setting up the Five Star. Rob
walks around instead of covering though and walks into the Bull
Hammer for the pin by Barrett at 6:50 shown of 10:20.
Rating:
C+. Another nice match here but
nothing we haven't seen a bunch of times before. I would have
thought they would save this for Money in the Bank but there's a good
chance Cesaro is in the ladder match. Barrett has now beaten Van Dam
twice though so there's no real need for them to keep going.
Bray
Wyatt comes on screen and talks about being put in a box at
Wrestlemania. It brought back a lot of memories and he heard Sister
Abigail's voice. She told him that the sharks would circle Bray and
that death was real. He would find his peace in death but his
rebirth would make him much stronger. His voice will soothe their
ears and he will lead their armies. There's nothing left to fear
because he is reborn. Join him.
Videon
NXT: Takeover.
Natalya
vs. Alicia Fox
Fox
is thrown down when trying a headscissors and a dropkick puts her on
the floor. We get a mini fit out there and Alicia shouts at Natalya
a lot for good measure. Now Alicia offers a handshake but Natalya
smacks her in the face instead. Natalya does it again for good
measure and gets thrown throat first into the bottom rope. A
northern lights suplex gets two for Fox but Natalya counters the
tilt-a-whirl backbreaker into a cross body for the pin at 3:18.
Rating:
D+. I'm really not sure what
they can do with Fox now as she's still doing the same stuff but is
now doing bits of it during the match. Again they couldn't have her
beat Paige so the character really has nowhere to go now. It's still
more interesting than anything else the division has going on, but
when there's no one else for her to work with due to there barely
being a division, she's pretty much stuck.
This
week's post match freak out includes Fox yelling at Lillian Garcia.
We
look at Brie Bella quitting at Payback and
Stephanie's announcement about the fate of the WWE Title at Money in
the Bank.
Bo
Dallas vs. Santino Marella
We
get the now traditional armdrag followed by the celebration to start
but Santino scores with two armdrags of his own and celebrates. JBL:
“Why would you do that?” Back in and Bo pulls him into a
clothesline, followed by the Bodog for the pin at 1:58.
Post
match Bo tells Emma to Bolieve.
Big
Show talks about being bullied as a kid and not being able to fight
back because there were so many of them at once. Then one day he was
all alone with the leader and he knocked him out cold. I'm
not sure how this ties into his match tonight as HHH is the bully but
I'm more interested in trying to figure out if Be A Star is still a
thing.
Video
on the Rollins turn. The
Shield will return to Raw next week. WWE needs to work on the
definition of return.
Orton
says he has to take care of Big Show tonight because the giant stuck
his nose where it didn't belong. Things can happen out of nowhere,
like they did to Ambrose and Reigns.
Big
Show vs. Randy Orton
A
quick chop puts Orton on the floor but he comes back by going after
the knee. That goes badly
for him too as Big Show headbutts him out to the floor with ease. We
take a break and come back with Orton holding Big Show in a chinlock.
Back up and Big Show knocks
Orton out of the air but a dropkick puts the bigger man down again.
Orton manages to hit the Elevated DDT off the top but Big Show comes
back with a spear. HHH gets on the apron but Rollins comes in with
the springboard knee to the face for the DQ at 5:50.
Rating:
D+. I don't think this pairing
really needs that much of an explanation. They never have worked all
that well together and this was no exception. Also the ending was
about as obvious as you could get, but that's the kind of thing Big
Show is used for anymore. It looks impressive when a giant is slain
and stood over to end a show, even though that happens so often.
An
RKO sets up a pair of curb stomps onto a chair to end the show.
Overall
Rating: D+. So to clarify,
Rollins is involved in one of the biggest turns in recent memory and
he goes from main eventing a pay per view to not even being able to
main event Smackdown. Rollins felt like a bodyguard for Orton here
instead of being the star and that's a problem with this story. Now
that being said, I don't think anyone thought the big drama would
take place here so you can look at this as a placeholder show more
than anything else.
The
rest of the show wasn't that much better. The matches were just ok
and none of them were required viewing at all. One thing I will give
them though: the Intercontinental Title has
been more active in the last
two weeks than it's been in months. It's not a great or even a very
good feud and story, but there are two people after the belt and the
title is being defended regularly. That's all I ask. Not
a great show this week but much more average and dull than bad.
Results
Seth
Rollins b. Dolph Ziggler – Curb stomp
Usos
b. Ryback/Curtis Axel – Superfly Splash to Axel
Rusev
b. Xavier Woods – Accolade
Bad
News Barrett b. Rob Van Dam and Cesaro – Bull Hammer to Van Dam
Natalya
b. Alicia Fox – Cross body
Bo
Dallas b. Santino Marella – Bodog
Big
Show b. Randy Orton via DQ when Seth Rollins interfered
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
For you folks here that pay attention to the history of buys and such I have a question. I just read somewhere that WrestleMania IV only did 175,000 buys. There is no way that can be right, right? The same sight says that III got 450,000 and V got 767,000. Did the tournament really draw that poorly or is this flat out wrong?
ReplyDeleteI don't know numbers but I remember reading that Mania IV broke some record so I'd assume those numbers are wrong.
ReplyDeleteYeah I think the site I was looking at only had the Closed Circuit Numbers which makes more sense.
ReplyDeleteWeirdly, I've usually enjoyed the chemistry that Orton and Big Show have. Orton is one of the few wrestlers I think Show works good with. They had a real good match on an episode of Main Event back when they loaded that show.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'd like to see Ziggler and Rollins work together some more. They seem like they'd be a good fit. Although, as you mentioned, Rollins needs some time to adjust his moveset and mannerisms back to being a heel because all of his old stuff will get him cheered.
This
ReplyDeleteweek Lana brags about Mikhail Gorbachev and various Russian athletes
and dancers.
Last week some of ya'll gave me hell for calling him Russian.....so....yeah.
Anyone miss Big Show? I mean did one person ever say to him/herself "man, where is Big Show? I really miss him." The answer is NO! just in case you were wondering.
175,000 was the closed circuit amount
ReplyDeleteSeth Rollins motivation is simple: "I kept the Shield together and jump from very high places -- nearly killing myself! -- and all people talk about is what big stars Roman and Dean are going to be. GUESS WHAT? I'm a big star NOW."
ReplyDeleteDone.
The Barbershop segment sucked and that's 100% due to Ed Leslie.
ReplyDelete"So to clarify,
ReplyDeleteRollins is involved in one of the biggest turns in recent memory and
he goes from main eventing a pay per view to not even being able to
main event Smackdown."
Really?? What else are you gonna say? Hogan wasn't even able to main event WCW Nitro the night after he created the NWO? *sigh*
Orton vs. Big Show? Remember when that headlined a Big Four ppv last year? Me neither
ReplyDeleteI don't get the logic behind making Rollins the turncoat heel. His moveset is geared toward popping the crowd. Why not go with Ambrose, the more natural heel and better promo? Ambrose vs. Rollins feud, followed by Ambrose vs. Reigns would be compelling stuff. Rollins just seems like a better babyface at this point
ReplyDeleteThat would work.
ReplyDeleteThey probably turned Rollins because everybody on the Internet expected Ambrose to turn.
ReplyDeleteStill makes my head shake.
ReplyDeleteI remember that because it led to my favourite GIF of all time: https://24.media.tumblr.com/0999006a82b65562fb6493176a9a3304/tumblr_myahlm7XMk1sg31w3o1_500.gif
ReplyDeleteRollins has been the hot one of the Shield for the past couple months... and HHH wants to attach himself to that.
ReplyDeleteAnd you sure as shit don't turn Roman and risk Rybacking him
ReplyDeleteHe's still Bulgarian... but now residing in Russia.
ReplyDelete... What the hell did I just see??
ReplyDeleteProbably the same ones who expected Capt. Kramer to turn on the search lights for Flight 209...
ReplyDeleteWWE around the holidays is just a bad, bad scene man.
ReplyDelete".....but maybe they'll turn it around with some solid promos."
ReplyDelete*blinks*
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That is all.
Please stay gone, Brie.
ReplyDeleteYou wrote a post without mention of Sami. You haven't given up hope have you!?
ReplyDeleteI like her better than Nikki.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. At least Brie tries to get better. Nikki just got fake tits in her continuing contribution to furthering her workrate.
ReplyDeleteI'll give them this, and I doubt it was entirely intentional: having her finishing move be called the Rack and involving her drop to her knees gave me a chuckle.
ReplyDeleteI do too, but that's like saying it's better to be mercy killed than gut shot and left bleeding to death; at the end of the day, avoiding either would be preferable.
ReplyDeleteEsp. since if she leaves, there's a spot open for one of the awesome women down at Full Sail.
Too creative for wwe creative
ReplyDeleteSami!
ReplyDeleteArchie Stackjpuse dropping knowledge
ReplyDeleteI really hope this isn't one of those dumb fake heel turns, like Bryan with the Wyatt Family. Reigns/Ambrose/Zayn vs HHH/Rollins/Orton would be cool; they just need to have Rollins stop wearing Shield gear.
ReplyDeleteThe point is his nationality isn't really important to his character. He could be Ukrainian, Yugoslavian, or something and it wouldn't change anything. Saying he's Bulgarian would be accurate, but it doesn't have any bearing on his presentation.
ReplyDeleteI'd buy that.
ReplyDeleteYeah. If Reigns vs. HHH is the plan for SummerSlam, I can totally see them treating it as "you have to fight your way through Rollins to get to ME!", which of course reminds us that HHH is WAY above Seth Rollins.
ReplyDeleteHe needs a cut-off jean vest over a leather jacket now.
ReplyDeleteBig Show's main event run bombing --> Big Show appearing on WWE TV as baby new year.
ReplyDeleteOne of the rare times when talent getting punished on-air was actually entertaining.
:claps:
ReplyDeleteWonderful...
Ah, good old HHH, leaching off of someone's heat.
ReplyDeleteThere you go...
ReplyDeleteSounds good.
ReplyDelete"I was tired of Ambrose being the only one in the group who could be a titty master."
ReplyDelete585,000 PPV buys for Mania IV at $19.95. 6.0 buyrate. An additional 220,000 closed circuit buys (U.S. and Canada).for $3 million. The WWF ended up taking in about $7 million in profit from the show.
ReplyDelete"Bray Wyatt comes on screen and talks about being put in a box at Wrestlemania." I think you mean, as they said a thousand times, "The Payback Pay Per View".
ReplyDelete