Smackdown
Date:
September 5, 2014
Location:
Pinnacle Bank Arena, Lincoln, Nebraska
Commentators:
Tom Phillips, Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
I
really hope this show is better than Raw as I can't imagine things
getting much worse. This week's episode of Raw was one of the least
interesting and flat out horrible shows that I can remember in a very
long time. To make things even worse, tonight we have Paige vs. Brie
Bella as the story that swallowed the WWE is moving to Fridays.
Let's get to it.
Here's
Cena to get things going. He immediately gets a cheap pop by talking
about wearing red at the University of Nebraska. In less than three
weeks, we're done with lawsuits and what's best for business because
he's going to fight Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight
Championship. He isn't going to come out here and just do the
Queen's wave because it's what the company thinks he should do.
At
Night of Champions, he's going to fight because that's what he does.
The day he comes down here not wanting to be champion again is the
day he walks out the door. The fans actually start a loud CENA chant
(complete with shots of the crowd to show it's legitimate) for the
first time in longer than I can remember. He knows this is going to
be a fight but he's going to take Lesnar on and fight. Then he'll
tell the Authority to line them up so he can knock them down and you
can still get the WWE Network for $9.99.
Cena
is on a roll here but Kane and Rollins come down to interrupt. They
accuse Cena of having a mid career crisis but John isn't going to
take advise from a demon brother of a dead guy who is now the
spokesman for Men's Warehouse. Kane threatens to put Cena in a match
but this brings out Roman Reigns. Roman says he's going to finish
his business with Randy Orton on Monday and would love to start
tonight, but Orton isn't here. Therefore he can focus on Kane and
Rollins, so let's get started right now.
Cena
is ready to go but Kane and Rollins say not so fast. Rollins says
the Authority is one step ahead of them and we've got Wyatts. This
brings out Jericho, Big Show and Mark Henry. We're still not done
yet though as HHH comes out, says “let me tell you something playa”
(seriously) and makes a ten man tag. “Now how about that playa?”
And, complete with a leg in the air and a one armed raising the
roof, “HOLLA!” AND TEDDY LONG'S MUSIC PLAYS!!! This was a very
solid opening segment with Cena nailing the promo and HHH cracking me
up.
Cesaro
vs. Dolph Ziggler
Non-title
and Sheamus is on commentary. Cesaro takes him down and grabs a
quick chinlock, only to get caught by a neckbeaker. Ziggler's
jumping elbow gets two but he walks into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker
to put Dolph down. A European uppercut drops Ziggler again but
Cesaro goes outside to jaw with Sheamus before covering. He cranks
on a cravate for a bit before a gorilla press gutbuster gets two
more.
We
take a break and come back with Ziggler nailing a jawbreaker to
escape another cravate. Ziggler loads up the splash in the corner
but dives into another uppercut for another two. Dolph spins around
Cesaro's shoulders and grabs a sleeper. That goes nowhere so Ziggler
counters Swiss Death with the jumping DDT for a near fall of his own.
Cesaro gets back up and tries the Neutralizer but gets rolled up for
the pin at 6:51 shown of 10:21.
Rating:
C-. The match was the decent
action you would expect from these two, but the booking continues to
make my head hurt. You either job a champion or you job a guy that
is getting a title shot in a few weeks. Why WWE felt the need to
book this is beyond me, but the fact that they see nothing wrong with
pushing the Bellas this much and jobbing Cesaro clean before he gets
a title shot should tell you everything you need to know.
Cesaro
pounds on Ziggler post match but Sheamus makes the save. They yell
at each other until Sheamus throws the belt at Cesaro and lays him
out with a Brogue Kick.
Stardust
talks about needing what they have and about one of the Usos being
hurt. He keeps turning around and changes his tone every time.
Apparently they have a title shot at Night of Champions.
Jimmy
Uso vs. Heath Slater
Jey
is on a crutch. Jimmy
misses a quick superkick attempt and gets caught in a neckbreaker for
two. Slater stomps away and hooks a chinlock before sending Jimmy
into the corner. Uso fights out and nails a Whisper in the Wind for
two. He has to kick Titus down though and walks into a side kick for
two. Cole: “The Gator is down!” JBL: “Call Skinner!” Back
up and the superkick knocks Slater out of the air and the Superfly
Splash is good for the pin at 2:59.
We
look back at the Divas segment from Raw.
Stephanie
announces Nikki vs. AJ vs. Paige for the title at Night of Champions.
Nikki
thanks Stephanie for her announcement and says she's finally learning
what it means to have a real sister. She talks about being treated
horribly by her sister all her life.
Here
are Lana and Rusev to respond to Mark Henry. Lana
says we're in America's heartland but that's an oxymoron because
America has no heart. If it had one though, it would be made in
China. America used to be
great but is soon to be nothing, just like Mark Henry. This brings
out Mark who says he challenged Rusev, but that isn't the question.
The question is whether Rusev is going to accept the challenge or
hide behind the woman that looks like an escort. Lana accepts the
challenge on Rusev's behalf and Henry promises to give him a red
white and blue whipping.
Jerry
Springer will be having an intervention with the Bellas on Raw. Oh
dear.
Paige
vs. Brie Bella
Non-title,
AJ
is on commentary and Nikki
is at ringside. Brie
has her own music now and it's the generic pop rock song you would
expect it to be. Brie takes
her to the mat to start and we're quickly in the catfight. Paige
gets taken down out of a lockup but pulls Brie out to the floor.
Back in and Paige crawls
onto Brie as AJ makes some comments about missing her baby. Brie
comes back with clotheslines and a running knee to the chest. The
fans chant YES but AJ and Nikki are in a fight on the floor. Brie
hits a missile dropkick as AJ beats up Nikki, sending Brie outside
for a save. She heads back in for the Rampaige and the pin at 4:27.
Rating:
D+. The catfighting makes me
think the Bella showdown is going to be an even bigger disaster than
I thought. Brie can be passable in the ring but Nikki has never
proven herself capable of having more than a bad match. This was
nothing special and was more about the drama than the wrestling,
which is better in a way but still bad.
Harper
says Wyatt is a serpent and the rat can't run fast enough. Bray
tells Jericho that he has to pay for his sins on Monday. Rowan adds
in a RUN.
Bo
Dallas vs. Zack Ryder
Ryder
dropkicks him at the bell and nails a faceplant, only to have Bo pop
up for the Bodog and the pin at 43 seconds.
Post
match Bo says everyone must be living in Nebraska because of some
horrible choices in their lives. If Jack Swagger can turn their
lives around, so can everyone else. He's about to start his own WE
THE PEOPLE when Swagger hits the ring and beats him up.
We
see the Rollins/Ambrose/Reigns stuff again.
Roman
Reigns/John Cena/Chris Jericho/Big Show/Mark Henry vs. Wyatt
Family/Kane/Seth Rollins
We
get a LOUD Y2J chant as Big Show starts with Rollins. The
giant hits his loud chop in the corner and brings in Henry for a
splash. Big Show loads up a
gorilla press but Rollins escapes and tags in Wyatt. Bray is quickly
thrown around so it's off to Rowan for the big man showdown. Show
busts out a sunset flip for two followed by a hard shoulder block.
He rips open Erick's
coveralls for a chop before it's back to Henry for another splash.
Jericho
comes in to a big pop and nails Erick with a dropkick to the side of
Rowan's head. We take a break and come back with Kane dropkicking
Big Show's knee out. Off to Wyatt for some stomping before Harper
slaps on a chinlock. Big
Show fights up but gets dropkicked down for two, with the kickout
sending Harper out to the floor. Seth comes in to work on the leg
before quickly tagging in Wyatt. A DDT gets two and it's already
back to Harper for a headlock.
Big
Show suplexes him down and finally makes the tag off to Reigns to
clean house. A Samoan drop
to puts Harper down but they head to the floor where the numbers game
results in Reigns being sent into the barricade. We take another
break and come back with Rowan holding Reigns in the skull crusher.
Reigns is sent to the floor
and Rollins whips him into the barricade while talking trash. Back
in for another chinlock but Reigns powers up, only to get kicked in
the head.
Harper
comes in again as Cena is pacing around on the floor playing
cheerleader. Reigns suplexes Luke down but charges into a big boot
for two. It's back to Kane
who walks into a running clothesline and the hot tag brings in
Jericho. A top rope shot to
the head puts Kane down and the Lionsault connects, only to have Kane
pop up and grab him for a chokeslam. Jericho counters with an
enziguri but can't get the Walls.
Bray
comes in for a save and it's quickly back to Harper as we take an
almost unheard of third break. Back with Rollins working over
Jericho with some right hands. Jericho backdrops Rollins to the
floor but Seth dives back in to pull Jericho away from the tag. Bray
headbutts him a few times and puts on another chinlock.
The
running cross body gets two but Bray is down as well. Wyatt
spiders up but Jericho elbows out of a Rock Bottom. A dropkick puts
Bray down and we FINALLY get the tag to Cena. Everything breaks down
and the parade of secondary finishers begins. With everyone else
down, Cena puts Rollins in the STF but the Wyatts all come in for the
DQ at 17:49 shown of 28:19.
Rating:
C+. The match was decent but it
felt long more than anything else. They're doing a good job of
making Cena look explosive but I still think they're keeping the
title on Lesnar at the PPV. It doesn't make sense to have Brock
dominate that much at Summerslam and then have Cena win just because
he's fighting harder. The match was good enough and was a decent
enough use of half an hour.
The
good guys all hit their finishers with Cena planting Rollins with an
AA to end the show.
Overall
Rating: C. The show was nothing
great but man alive does that one less hour make a difference. It
doesn't drag things down and
makes the show much easier to sit through. That and a lack of recaps
really helps things along. The main event was decent enough but it
took away a lot of matches that could have filled out the card. At
least the ten man match was a fourth of the show so everything else
wasn't left hanging. It
says a lot when a totally average show is miles ahead of Raw.
Granted HHH's Teddy Long stuff was hilarious.
Results
Dolph
Ziggler b. Cesaro – Rollup
Jimmy
Uso b. Heath Slater – Superfly Splash
Paige
b. Brie Bella – Rampaige
Bo
Dallas b. Zack Ryder – Bodog
John
Cena/Big Show/Roman Reigns/Mark Henry/Chris Jericho b. Seth
Rollins/Kane/Wyatt Family via DQ when the Wyatt Family attacked Cena
at the same time
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
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