Opinion: WWE Future Endeavoured - King Barrett, Damien Sandow, El Torito, Alex Riley, Santino Marella, Zeb Colter, Hornswoggle & Cameron

WWE has released El Torito, Alex Riley, Zeb Colter, Hornswoggle, Cameron from their contracts. Here's the low down on their WWE careers and just why WWE might have decided to let them go.

king barrett 

Formerly known as Stu Sanders, Stu Bennett, Lawrence Knight, Wade Barrett and Bad News Barrett throughout his time under contract for WWE, Barrett joined WWE in October 2007. Having debuted for developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling in dark match against Ace Steel that same month, Barrett would move to Florida Championship Wrestling in April 2008, teaming with Drew McIntyre on his debut in a losing effort against The Puerto Rican Nightmares (Eddie Colon (Primo/Diego) & Eric Perez (Eric Escobar)). He held the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship with Paul Burchill and the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship twice with McIntyre as part of The Empire. A main roster debut came in April 2008 in a loss to Funaki in a dark match for Friday Night Smackdown, but a full TV debut wouldn't come until March 2010, where he defeated Daniel Bryan on the 2nd episode of the original NXT. Despite main-eventing PPV's like SummerSlam, Night of Champions, Bragging Rights, Survivor Series, TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs as part of the major storyline involving The Nexus in 2010, Barrett was never able to capture the main strap during this time and found himself shuffled down the card for the remainder of his career. 

A couple of injuries hampered his progress, although he did win the WWE Intercontinental Championship on five occasions, with his most recent run ending in March of last year. He also won the 2015 King of the Ring, defeating Dolph Ziggler, R-Truth and Neville in his run to the crown. He was part of a number of memorable matches, including Money in the Bank ladder matches in 2011 and 2013, an Elimination Chamber in 2011, the 14 man Tag Team Elimination match from SummerSlam 2011, the Seven-Way Ladder match from WrestleMania 31 and a singles match with John Cena at Hell in a Cell 2010. 

Managing just two WrestleMania matches (XXVII & 31) in his six years on the main roster, Barrett's final WWE match came on this years post-WrestleMania Monday Night RAW in April, where he teamed with Sheamus as The League of Nations in a failed attempt to take the WWE Tag Team Championships from The New Day's Big E and Kofi Kingston. Across his time with WWE he teamed up with his League of Nations' partner Sheamus and Nexus and Corre buddies Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel most regularly, whilst spending most of his time opposite Randy Orton, Sheamus and Kofi Kingston.

Reason For Release - According to a Twitter post, Barrett had decided not to re-sign with the company and requested an early release from his contract. I guess that Barrett had had enough of repeatedly hitting the glass ceiling and being unable to break it.

Future - There's plenty of options for Barrett right now. The British Indy scene is bristling with talent and the most the popular it's been in years and Barrett would be a big draw across the country, with a trip to join pal Drew Galloway in ICW possible. Galloway's other main haunt right now, TNA, would also offer plenty of opportunity for growth for Barrett as it has provided Galloway and other WWE talent in the past. If he fancies some travelling he could be a good fit for NJPW's current product and help to beef up their roster that WWE has picked apart in recent months. He's said he'll return to the ring after a short break.

damien sandow

Formerly known as Damien Mizdow, Macho Mandow and Idol Stevens during his most recent run with the company, Sandow had previously been employed between 2002-2007 using Aaron Stevens, The Easter Bunny and The Idol as names. Re-signing with WWE in July 2010, Sandow spent time in Florida Championship Wrestling, debuting in a six man tag team bout alongside Jackson Andrews & Ryan O'Reilly (Konnor) and losing to Devin Allen, Rhys Ali & Wes Brisco on a August live event, before going on to capture the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship with Titus O'Neil from Marcus Owens and Xavier Woods in 2010 and the FCW 15 Championship from Seth Rollins in 2011. 

Sandow lost to Tyson Kidd on his re-debut on a Smackdown House Show in December 2011, before returning to television in May 2012 with a victory over Yoshi Tatsu on Friday Night Smackdown. He infamously failed to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase on John Cena during an October 2013 episode of Monday Night RAW. The peak of his time with the company was arguably his time spent as The Miz's "stunt double", Damien Mizdow, when the pair captured the WWE Tag Team Championship from Goldust & Stardust in a Fatal Four-Way match that also included Los Matadores & The Usos. Despite, the popularity of Mizdow the title reign only lasted just under a month. 

Sandow counts amongst his most memorable bouts the 2012 & 2013 Money in the Bank Ladder matches, a six man tag bout alongside Antonio Cesaro & Jack Swagger against Cody Rhodes, Goldust & John Cena from Friday Night Smackdown in 2013, a ten man tag team Elimination bout from Survivor Series 2012 and the 2013 Royal Rumble match. Regular tag team partners included Cody Rhodes as part of Team Rhodes Scholars, Curtis Axel and The Miz, whilst Brodus Clay, Heath Slater & Jimmy Uso were Sandow's most frequent opponents. His final WWE match will air on tomorrow's Main Event, where he faces former FCW Tag Team partner, Titus O'Neil.

Reason For Release - Clearly, WWE didn't see a whole lot in Sandow and refused to feature him regularly on their main television shows, despite him getting loud reactions whenever he did appear. Sandow was clearly unsettled and wanted to make the most of his popularity by heading elsewhere.

Future - Similar to Barrett, I could see Sandow turning up in a lot of places. His strong mic-work and character will see him well on pretty much any wrestling television show. I expect a tour of the Indys first though to make the most of autograph signings, merchandise and what have you. 

el torito

Signed with WWE since April 2013, El Torito debuted for the company as the sidekick to a repackaged Epico & Primo, Los Matadores, with his first match coming a month later. Having previously wrestled for CMLL and AAA in Mexico, but was mainly kept at ringside for Fernando and Diego. His only in-ring PPV appearance came in the 2014 Royal Rumble match, but he did also spend time opposite Hornswoggle, Heath Slater & Titus O'Neil, whilst teaming with Diego, Fernando and Sin Cara. His final WWE bout came in January, teaming with Kalisto to defeat Los Matadores at a WWE Live event in Monroe, Louisiana.  

Reason For Release - Los Matadores reverted back to Epico and Primo with vignettes currently aired for their return. What else can you do with a tiny bull? 

Future - Most likely a return to Mexico, probably with AAA. I wouldn't be surprised to see him turn up in a future series of Lucha Underground either, back under his original name, Mascarita Dorada.

alex riley

Alex Riley had also been signed since 2007, but didn't make his debut on the main roster until 2010. During his run in developmental he held the FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship, but failed to capture any gold in WWE. His most highly regarded matches included a Tornado Tag Team match with Rey Mysterio against The Miz & Jack Swagger from Monday Night #RAW #944 and a Fatal Four-Way over the WWE United States Championship at Night of Champions 2011, that also featured Swagger, Dolph Ziggler & John Morrison. He spent a while teaming with Mason Ryan, The Miz and Primo whilst regularly squaring off with the likes of Michael McGillicutty, Primo and David Otunga. 


Reason For Release - Riley hadn't been seen on WWE's main block of programming since way back in April 2013 and stopped touring with the main roster in January 2015. Apart from an appearance in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal on the Kick-Off show for WrestleMania 31, Riley has been down in NXT. He tried his hand on commentary and then got back in the ring, he clearly didn't do enough during this run to impress anyone in WWE management. His last match was against Shinsuke Nakamura at a recent NXT TV taping, that will air later this year.

Future - If Riley's still got his heart in the wrestling biz after a turbulent couple of years with WWE, then I'm sure TNA would be interested in giving him a run. Personally, I don't think Riley has the talent to be a major star for the company, in the same way that Ethan Carter III had and has really lost any name value that he might have had a few years ago, but hey, this is TNA we're talking about, he wrestled for WWE that's good enough for them!

santino marella 

Arguably the most decorated of those released today, Marella had been signed with WWE since 2005. Originally in developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling, after making his OVW against Mo Sexton under the name Boris Alexiev, Marella won the OVW Television Championship twice before debuting on the main-roster in a Friday Night Smackdown dark match against Jamie Noble in January 2007. Going on to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship twice, as well as the WWE United States Championship and WWE Tag Team Championship (alongside Vladimir Kozlov), Marella had a fairly fruitful WWE career, up until a neck injury forced him into retirement in July 2014. His final bout for the 'E came at house show in Portland, Maine in June 2014, where he teamed with Emma to defeat Fandango & Layla. Following retirement he appeared in two films for WWE, as well as making occasional appearances on WWE television. His best remembered matches were probably his appearances in multi-man matches like the 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013 Royal Rumble's, an Elimination Chamber and Money in the Bank Ladder match in 2012. His most regular opponents were Jack Swagger, David Otunga and Cody Rhodes, whilst he frequently teamed with Vladimir Kozlov, Carlito & Beth Phoenix. 

Reason For Release - As stated above he'd been officially retired since the summer of 2014, so it was only a matter of time with the company running out of projects for him to do. 

Future - He will most likely continue to run Battle Arts Academy in Mississauga, Ontario. With him being done with wrestling, I wouldn't expect to see him appear for any other major promotion, but could definitely see him being popular at autograph signings and conventions.

zeb colter

Zeb Colter had been with the company since 2013, in his latest run, having previously worked with the company between 1994-1997. Returning on a February 2013 edition of Friday Night Smackdown, Colter was portrayed mostly as a xenophobe with strong beliefs on immigration and quickly became one of the companies most controversial characters since the Attitude Era. Having once held the WWC Universal Championship, Colter was mostly utilised as a manager for the likes of Jack Swagger, Antonio Cesaro and most recently, Alberto Del Rio. He had a brief in-ring run on television during April 2013, facing Del Rio, Ricardo Rodriguez and Big E. Langston and tagging with Swagger. His final appearance for WWE came on the 7th December 2015 episode of Monday Night RAW when his Mex-America gimmick with Del Rio came to an abrupt end.

Reason For Release - After the Mex-America gimmick bombed, WWE creative have been unable to find a role for Zeb Colter. After a lengthy period off television as they tried to come up with a new role for him in the first place, it's obviously been decided that Colter is surplus to requirements.

Future - Whilst he may decide to seek work in the creative department elsewhere, I'd expect to see Colter join the Legends convention circuit in North America and potentially a trip to the UK also.

hornswoggle

Formerly known as The Little Bastard, Hornswoggle had been with the company since 2007 and held the WWE Cruiserweight Championship on one occasion, wrestling at both Royal Rumble and Survivor Series and featuring in major storylines like becoming Vince McMahon's illegitimate son after his "real" Dad, Finlay, had faked a DNA test. He teamed frequently with Heath Slater, Finlay and Titus O'Neil and took on the likes of El Torito, Diego & Fernando most regularly. His final match for the company came in August 2015, where he defeated Heath Slater in a dark match before the taping of Main Event.

Reason For Release - Hornswoggle was suspended for 30 days for violating WWE's wellness policy back in September 2015 and hasn't been seen in the company since that point. I guess creative had just run out of ways to take the piss out of small people. 

Future - Umm. Honestly, I don't have a clue.

cameron

Also known as Cameron Lynn during her WWE career, Cameron signed with the company in April 2011, having been the first competitor to be eliminated from the Tough Enough reality show, after infamously claiming her favourite match of all-time was Melina vs. Alicia Fox. First heading to Florida Championship Wrestling, she teamed with Naomi in her debut to defeat Caylee Turner & Kaitlyn at a September 2011 TV taping. It didn't take long for her to make her main roster debut, as she appeared as Brodus Clay's valet, alongside Cameron, on a January 2012 episode of Monday Night RAW, with the pair being collectively known as The Funkadactyls. However, Cameron wouldn't make her in-ring debut on WWE TV until December 2012, appearing in a Santa's Little Helper Battle Royal on the Pre-Show for TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs, that would be won by Naomi. Her most-notable achievement with the company was starring as a regular on the season one to three of reality series Total Divas.

She spent most of her in-ring time taking on Emma, Naomi and Natalya, whilst also teaming with Naomi as the aforementioned Funkadactyls, Summer Rae and former idol, Alicia Fox! Her final match with WWE came in March 2016, where she teamed with Team B.A.D. (Naomi & Tamina) to lose to Alicia Fox, Paige and Sasha Banks on a WWE Live Road to WrestleMania event in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Reason For Release - Cameron was sent back down to NXT in October 2015 and spent four months performing on TV tapings and house shows for the brand. Despite returning to touring with the main roster in February and March this year, she hadn't shown enough improvement to warrant her place on the roster, alongside talented new additions Sasha Banks, Charlotte and Becky Lynch. 

Future - Anything but wrestling please. Girl bye.

Rightio, all that's left to do now is wish all of these guys and girl the very best in whatever they choose to do outside WWE! Thanks for entertaining us over your time with the company, or at least trying to!

WWE Battleground Kick-Off Review

We're going to try a different format for these show reviews and see how it works out. If it doesn't work we'll flip back to the “Match of the Day” format, but for now we'll simply be running through each show and giving thoughts.

So, Battleground Kick-Off started with Josh Matthews welcoming us to the 1^st Niagra Centre in Buffalo, New York, USA. Matthews was the host of the specialist panel for tonight's Kick Off show, which featured an underwhelming collection of panelists, with The Miz, Titus O'Neil and Tensai all on hand. They ran through a collection of bouts including Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton for the vacant WWE Championship, The Rhodes Family vs. Tag Team Champions The Shield and Rob Van Dam going after Alberto Del Rio's World Heavyweight Championship in a Battleground Hardcore Match. This panel was painfully awkward, with only Tensai seemingly knowing what he was talking about, with a lot of hesitation and confusion from both Miz and O'Neil. They finished up this segment, by really pushing the idea that Damien Sandow could cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase tonight to become World Heavyweight Champion, but after the booking he's received over the last few months, I'm wondering why I'm supposed to care if this happens. They quickly skimmed over the random bout that was occuring on the show, with Sandow facing Dolph Ziggler, despite the two having very little interaction on television, like ever!

We then head to Renee Young, in the “Social Media Lounge”, which is essentially a sofa and a television. Young capably leads us through how to use a hashtag on Twitter, before talking about how both Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella could walk out of Battleground with gold (or a butterfly atleast) around their wastes. I'm not a massive fan of them using Brie as part of Bryan's storyline, for a number of reasons, firstly because Brie can't act to save her life, secondly it shows that WWE don't really know what their audience likes, and placing a popular character like Daniel Bryan, with a shall we say not so popular character like Brie Bella, just doesn't work. Yes, I know they are a real life couple, and that WWE wants to promote Total Divas more, but I'm not sure if theres much crossover between the viewers of Total Divas and WWE's other programming. The segments finished with Young introducing a WWE.com poll to find out who was WWE's best power couple, with the options being Triple H & Stephanie McMahon, Edge & Lita, Randy Savage & Miss Elizabeth and King Booker & Queen Sharmell. I find it's best not to think too much into these selections.

Josh Matthews then moved discussion onto the CM Punk vs Ryback later on, with them showing a replay of last weeks tremendous Raw segment where Paul Heyman “proposed” to Ryback, followed up by an attack from Punk. Matthews went onto interview Heyman who was accompanied by Ryback, with Heyman once again giving a top quality promo, attempting to portray Ryback as an underdog, claiming that Punk was a bully and that the WWE fans had been brainwashed to follow him. It was short, but sweet and gave a good idea of what to expect later on when Ryback got in the ring with Punk.

Dolph Ziggler 

vs. 

World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank Winner 

Damien Sandow 

(10 minutes, 22 seconds)

It was then time to head down to ringside, where our commentary team for the evening would be Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and JBL. They briefly talk about Rob Van Dam and Alberto Del Rio's World Heavyweight Championship bout later on, before seguing onto the idea that Damien Sandow could cash in his briefcase tonight, they're really pushing that idea tonight after weeks of ignoring the fact. Out comes Damien Sandow, mic in hand and cuts the kind of promo we've come to expect from the Intellectual Saviour of the Masses. Sandow quoted Benjamin Franklin, before moving onto to talk more about potentially cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase, personally I would've preferred to hear him talk more about his opponent, rather than everyone continue to sign post a cash in, the promo only proved that this match was entirely pointless.

I can't say I was particularly enamoured with this contest, Sandow and Ziggler just didn't seem to connect in the ring, in what was there first singles match together. The early part of the match especially just didn't seem to flow correctly, with a slow motion replay of a Sandow clothesline that obviously didn't connect and a botched swinging neckbreaker from Sandow not helping the situation. This bout needed some kind of story to draw me into the match straight away, seeing as it had no storyline heading in, and it just wasn't present. The bout did pick up towards the end, when the action gathered some pace, with a succession of pin variations getting near falls for both men. I thought the finish was also strong, when a remnant of a story appear with both men tweaking their knees, before Ziggler slipping out of a powerslam attempt by Sandow, landing a kick to the knee before hitting a Zig Zag to pick up a pinfall victory. Personally, I think Sandow was the one most in need of a victory here, as he's been made to look pretty rubbish since winning the briefcase, and at the most will not make a realistic World Heavyweight Champion, and the loss wouldn't exactly harm Ziggler who is already over with the audience.

After a replay of The Shield's attack on the Rhodes Family on last week's episode of Raw, which was oddly for WWE pretty poorly edited together, we headed back to Josh Matthews for the opinions of the panel. Once again, it was a pretty cringeworthy experience, with Miz and especially O'Neil completely butchering what they had to say, luckily Tensai kept his words short, wishing the Rhodes Family good luck. It seemed a strange decision to have an all face panel, especially with Triple H in charge of WWE, it would have given more balance to the panel.

Then we moved on to the always exciting “Social Media Lounge” where Renee Young read the most generic tweet I have ever heard about Daniel Bryan. She was then interupted by Los Matadores miniature bull, El Torito, who ran around the lounge and appeared to be making sexual advances on Young. It was a little bizarre, and I really want to hate Torito, but this was pretty funny, with Young doing a good job of awkward confusion, although she may have just been awkwardly confused. The segment finished with a reveal of the results of the WWE.com vote for WWE's best power couple, with Edge & Lita winning with 43%, Triple H & Stephanie McMahon coming second with 30%, Randy Savage & Miss Elizabeth in third with 23% and King Booker & Queen Sharmell bringing up the rear with 5%, like I said before it's best not to think about these too much, it's just a bit of fun.

They finished up the show by replaying Randy Orton's attack on Daniel Bryan from last week's Raw, where Brie Bella looked on, with each of the panel giving their opinions on who would pick up the victory, with Tensai even donning a fake beard and failing at getting the crowd to chant “YES!” which is quite an achievement in today's WWE.

Overall, I didn't think Battleground Kick-Off was much good, a difficult bout between Dolph Ziggler and Damien Sandow and a biased and un prepared panel didn't exactly make me want to watch Battleground anymore, although they did do a good job of promoting that the first match would see Rob Van Dam face Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship.  

WWE Main Event 25th September 2013 Review

This week's Main Event was a bit of a mixed bag for me. Whilst the action in the ring was solid throughout the show, there wasn't really anything that made me sit up and take notice, and on paper there wasn't anything that anyone would particularly go out of their way to see.

Justin Gabriel 

vs. 

Intercontinental Champion 

Curtis Axel 

with Paul Heyman

This bout went on last and was by far the most interesting of any of the matches on the show. Justin Gabriel has been getting some what of a push recently, as part of the group of wrestlers standing up for Daniel Bryan. Even if that push has been mainly so he can used as fodder for The Shield he has been featured in main event slots on both Raw and Smackdown and has become prominent on both shows, a lot more than what he was getting a few months ago. Therefore, I was intrigued to see how competitive he was in this bout with Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel and how long the match got, as the show, has generally been used to test out talent before giving them a stronger role on the two main television show.

The match started slowly, with Axel dominating, I found it really hard to get into at this point. Whilst Axel's technical skills are sound, and it did make storyline sense for him to work over Gabriel, there was no interaction with the audience. Whilst Paul Heyman generates heat from just being at ringside, Axel himself really needs to start stepping things up with his crowd interaction, if he really wants to get taken seriously. The strongest part of the earlier part of the match was a nice series of roll ups and pin variations from Gabriel, which were well executed with Gabriel even managing to correct an earlier botch at one point, but it still wasn't enough to make me think Gabriel was going to pick up the win.

There was, however a really nice near fall for Gabriel heading towards the conclusion of the match. Axel attempted the Running One-Armed Swinging Neckbreaker, which Gabriel slipped out of delivering a swift Roundhouse Kick to the head, before hitting a springboard Moonsault off the top rope for a two count, the swiftness of the delivery felt like it could easily have finished off the match and was the first moment that really got me interested in what I was watching, with Paul Heyman's reaction on the outside really selling the moment for me. The finish saw Gabriel closing in on victory, attempting to get Axel to re-enter the ring, only for Axel to pull Gabriel into the ring ropes allowing the Intercontinental Champion to slide into the ring and hit the Hangman's Facebuster to pick up the pinfall victory. It was a decent enough finish, it wasn't anything special but it did it's job here, in allowing Axel to look credible in the ring.

So, how did Justin Gabriel do in this one? Given as this match was of a decent length, in fact if it's longest he's had on WWE television, with only a couple of NXT battles with Tyson Kidd coming close, so it's the best look we and WWE have had at Gabriel when the lights are on bright. I really like Gabriel in the ring, I think he's capable of putting on some really watchable and exciting matches, and at times we saw flashes off it in this one, with the false finish being really well worked by the Cape Town Werewolf. He could potentially be moved into a spot higher up on the card, possibly even have runs with the United States Championship (we've seen him get a couple of shots at that title on PPV), but I just can't see him moving further up than that, or past the “good little hand” stereotype. Maybe it's because he hasn't been in real feud since his day's in Nexus, but he just doesn't seem to have enough about him, the It Factor if you will, that would capapult him into a more important role for the company.

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Elsewhere on the show, the number one contenders to the Tag Team Championships The Usos were put up against the bizarre pairing of Fandango and Big E Langston, who were accompanied by Summer Rae. On paper, the team of Fandango and Big E Langston sounds atrocious, but for this one match they were fairly entertaining. The story running throughout the match, was the way the two teams operated, with The Usos sticking to the team work that they have become known for, whilst Fandango & Langston would use blind tags with Langston doing the majority of the work on one of The Usos, before Fandango would tag back in. There was some nice spots, such as Langston catching an Usos in mid air on the outside, only to be taken out by another flying for inside the ring. At times, Fandango didn't look particularly interested in this one, and never really got going in the way we've come to expect of him, with a dodgy looking suplex that could have easily injured Uso.

The finish saw The Usos begin to get rolling, with Fandango feigning a leg injury on the outside of the ring, The Usos managed to get a tag before, Langston could gain any momentum from the distraction and the Superkick/Superfly Splash combination got them the win. I'm not too sure about this ending, whilst The Usos worked it well, seeing Langston go down in such a situation doesn't exactly help his monster character that has barely even got going, whilst Fandango's continued cowardly nature, isn't exactly making him look like a threat to anyone, so what is the reason we are supposed to care about him? It was the right decision to give The Usos the win and they are looking really good at the moment, after a strong showing on Raw in the Eleven-on-Three main event, I wouldn't be surprised to see The Usos snatching that tag team gold from around the waist of The Shield's Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns some time soon.

The other match on the show saw an angry Big Show take on World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank Winner Damien Sandow. This was essentially a squash match, with Show pulling apart Sandow within a few minutes. Sandow did get some offence in, in terms of a David vs. Goliath style fight back, but seeing as Sandow was playing the heel it didn't really work. Big Show went on to win the match with a Knockout Punch for a pinfall victory. After the bout, Show removed Sandow's briefcase that was handcuffed to the ringpost and placed on Sandow's chest. I thought this was a nice touch to show how Big Show is being effected by Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, but apart from that this match didn't really impress. 

Finally...

My final thoughts on this week's Main Event.

1. Curtis Axel needs to up his game and start bringing the crowd into his matches.

2. Fandango & Big E Langston worked as a one off tag team, but I wouldn't want to see them team up on a regular basis.

3. When Big Show finally flips on Triple H it should be an epic standout moment.

WWE Smackdown 6th September 2013 Review

Similar to last week's episode, this week's WWE Smackdown used the opening segment to book or at least set up, the majority of the matches on the show. I quite like this approach, as you know exactly what you are getting for the rest of the show, as well as giving a reason for the two or more competitors to be having a match, which can only ever be a good thing.

Rob Van Dam 

with Ricardo Rodriguez

 vs. 

WWE Champion 

Randy Orton 

Smackdown this week kicked off with what was termed a “Town Hall Meeting”, firstly, I'd like to say that they really should've been able to come up with a better name than that! Basically, what this entailed was Chief Operating Officer Triple H standing in the ring, flanked by Raw General Manager Brad Maddox and Smackdown General Manager Vickie Guerrero (who did nothing throughout the segment) asking wrestlers to step up and speak their minds. I thought Triple H played his role fantastically throughout this segment, his character is really developing nicely and he suits the role they've given him, really playing up to the internets perception of The Game. A number of different wrestlers eventually stepped up, first was Damien Sandow, voicing his agreement with Triple H firing Cody Rhodes, only to be instantly be put down by Triple H. I'll talk about the others that stepped up as their matches come along. The final person that stepped up was Rob Van Dam, with his usual relaxed promo style, discussing when Triple H signed him to WWE and how he expected things to be different. Whilst Van Dam isn't the great promo guy in the world, I liked the content here and thought it worked well on some forgotten WWE continuity. For his part in the segment, Triple H gave Rob Van Dam a match against WWE Champion Randy Orton!

Personally, I thought this match with Orton, was Van Dam's best match since returning to WWE. The match started strongly, with Van Dam looking energetic and taking control, until they repeated the excellent Rolling Thunder into a Snap Scoop Powerslam spot from their 6th August Smackdown contest and it just built from their. Orton spent most of the bout in control, but never in over long spells, with Van Dam getting bursts of offence for a near fall, like one off a Split Legged Moonsault, but Orton would quickly gained ground. The match used a number of spots that allowed the bout to grow naturally, with Van Dam missing his spinning kick off the apron with Orton draped over the barricade and Orton tripping Van Dam as he scaled to the top rope standing out for me. For a match that used a lot of spots, there was also a fair amount of chain wrestling, with Van Dam and Orton styles really matching up nicely with good section that saw Orton building for an RKO, only for Van Dam to hit Orton with a Roundhouse Kick and use his legs for a roll up for a near fall.

The finish saw World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio, who Van Dam will face at Night of Champions on 15th September, and who was on commentary attack Van Dam's manager Ricardo Rodriguez by sending him into the ringpost in what looked like a really nasty bump for Rodriguez. With Van Dam cannonballing over the top rope onto Del Rio, with Orton taking advantage by hitting an apron hung DDT onto the arena floor on the Whole F'N Show. Orton went on to hit Van Dam with an RKO to pick up the pinfall victory and continue his winning streak. I quite liked the ending, usually I don't like champions or challengers for championships losing, but the way this was done really worked for me, helping to add a little fuel to the simmering Van Dam and Del Rio rivalry, as well as building the relationship between Van Dam and Rodriguez, whilst allowing Orton to look good at the same time and not really costing Van Dam anything after a competitive match against the WWE Champion.

Randy Orton continues to look very good as a heel at the moment, he could easily come across as Triple H's underling, but I don't think he does. Mainly due to the string of strong and exciting matches we've seen him placed in on Raw and Smackdown, against the likes of Van Dam, Christian and Cody Rhodes, which have allowed Orton to look really good, whilst also allowing his heel role to really developed. He comes across as someone who doens't need Triple H to stack the deck for him, but it's much easier when he does. With just one week to go until Night of Champions, the Van Dam and Del Rio feud is actually starting to build quite nicely, it probably isn't quite ready for a pay-per-view match, but with that's one of the downfalls of the WWE schedule. It will be interesting to see if WWE continues the story past Night of Champions, at first I didn't think it would have the legs to do so, but I'm beginning to change my mind.

Daniel Bryan 

vs. 

Tag Team Champion

Seth Rollins

 with The Shield

One of the matches that Triple H made in the opening segment, was Daniel Bryan versus a member of The Shield, with Bryan being able to choose which one he wanted to face. Bryan made his decision in a backstage interview with Renee Young. Bryan, who was at the “Town Hall Meeting”, said he was told by management not to be there, before saying that he knew The Shield wouldn't allow the contest to be one on one later, so there would be no point chosing an opponent, instead saying The Shield could chose who would fight him. It was a decent promo from Bryan, not exactly anything we haven't heard before, but set up what would become the main event of the show well and leaving his opponent open gave the viewer a reason to stay tuned for the closing segments of the show.

Later in the evening with Bryan standing across the ring from The Shield, it was teased that Bryan would be facing Tag Team Champion Roman Reigns, only for fellow Tag Team Champion Seth Rollins to attack Bryan from behind Reigns and reveal himself as the opponent. After two fantastic Bryan vs. Rollins matches on Raw on 10^th June and 26^th August (in a Gauntlet match) I had fairly high hopes for this bout, and unfortunately the match didn't quite live up to those expectations. This bout was much more ground in storytelling than it's predecessors with Bryan attempting to overcome The Shield at ringside, who were always close to Bryan. There were some nice spots like Rollins powerslam to Bryan over the top rope, but the match didn't really have enough time to tell the story it wanted, going just over five minutes.

The finish saw Bryan catch a diving Rollins in the Yes Lock, but with Reigns and United States Champion Dean Ambrose attempting to interfere Bryan turned his attention to them, taking out Ambrose with a dropkick and levelling Reigns with a Suicide Dive. With the playing field now even, Bryan hit a charging Rollins with an elbow, before hitting a Running Single Legged High Knee to pick up a pinfall victory. It was a nice energetic finish, with Bryan looking especially good on his way to picking up the victory. I don't want it to seem like this match was rubbish, far from it, all the in ring action was sound throughout and the match was extremely pacy, it just needed more time to let it breath and simply couldn't compete with the other match Bryan and Rollins have had against each other in WWE. Giving Bryan a convincing win however was a good decision, as having him beat down every week would have gotten old quickly, so he needed to remind us that he could actually win!

With Bryan celebrating up the ramp, it looked like Bryan would close the show. However, this was not to be the case, with Randy Orton catching Bryan by surprise, hitting him in the back of the head with the WWE Championship. I'm still undecided on this ending the show. I sort of like the idea of Orton continuing to get the upperhand on Bryan heading into Night of Champions, but at the same time I feel that leaving Bryan to celebrate would have been beneficial to the storytelling, as it would give Bryan momentum and hope heading into Night of Champions, which would allow the story to continue even longer. If Bryan continues to end up coming of worse for ware at the end of every show, and then loses at Night of Champions, there isn't anywhere else for the story to go. If Bryan begins to build momentum, and is then screwed out of the title again, then you have something to run with heading into the next pay-per-view.

Best of the Rest (In The World)

After 3MB's Heath Slater spoke up during the “Town Hall Meeting” about Big Show standing by why friends get beaten up, Triple H later granted Big Show a match, with all of 3MB. In a backstage segment, Triple H continued to play on Big Show's emotions, after putting him in the match with 3MB, telling him to ball up his fist and take out his frustrations on 3MB. I quite liked this backstage segment, it continued the story with Triple H and Big Show well, and Big Show continued to do a good job of the big angry giant trying to contain his emotions stuff that we've seen him do recently. Triple H's deadpan delivery didn't quite sit well for me, it was as if he was trying to play for the laughs, when this is where we need him to be at his most serious.

The match was as you would expect, similar to a handicap match 3MB had with Kane on 6^th August Smackdown, Big Show just threw Heath Slater, Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal around the ring and ringside area for a couple of minutes, looking like a destructive machine. Big Show picked up the pinfall victory after a Double Chokeslam to McIntyre and Mahal, and a Knockout Punch to Slater. It won't be appearing on any Best of... DVD sets anytime soon, but the match was effective in reminding the audience that Big Show is a monster and showing all the pent up rage in that giant. The audience should have been thinking of what Big Show could do to Triple H, when he finally loses it with the Chief Operating Officer.

Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel, accompanied by Paul Heyman, was in action against Kofi Kingston in a good match. The bout started with a lot of mat grappling, before building up nicely with some pacy offense from Kingston. With the hometown crowd really getting behind Axel, we saw Paul Heyman's client show a vicious streak that we haven't seen too often in his match, clubbing away on Kofi in a tree of woe position. The finish saw Axel setting up for the Hangman's Facebuster, only for Kingston to counter with S.O.S to pick up the surprise pinfall victory. I liked the finish, it seemed to come out of nowhere and I didn't expect Kingston to win at all. It looks like they're working on the idea that Axel will most likely lose to CM Punk at Night of Champions in attempt to build up anticipation for when Punk get's his hand on Heyman. Later on Renee Young tried to interview Paul Heyman, who was clearly worried about Night of Champions and ended up walking out of the building

After Ryback had said at the “Town Hall Meeting” that he didn't like being called a bully, he placed in a rematch from this week's Raw against Dolph Ziggler by Triple H. The bout was similar to the one they had on Raw this week, but with more offense from Ziggler seeing as he hadn't been attacked by United States Champion Dean Ambrose beforehand. Talking of Ambrose, he turned up on commentary, and one of my least favourite things about WWE, when the camera is too busy showing the commentary team than showing the action in the ring! With Ziggler looking to gain momentum, he was distracted by Ambrose on commentary chasing him around the announce desk before walking into a clothesline from Ryback, in an enjoyable spot, which led to the finish with Ryback hitting Shellshocked to pick up the pinfall victory. It was decent match between these two with the dynamic working well, hopefully this is leading to a United States Championship match between Ambrose and Ziggler, although Ziggler will have to pick up a win from somewhere to really justify it.

There was also women's action on Smackdown, starting with Diva's Champion AJ Lee approaching Layla, Aksana and Alicia Fox backstage, apparently completely forgetting when Layla and AJ Lee were skipping around ringside about a month back, as they all seemed reluctant to speak to AJ. The match saw The Funkadactly's Naomi taking on Brie Bella, and after some okay action came to a close with a horrible looking spot that saw both women tumble to the outside, Lee, Layla, Aksana and Fox made their presence known by attacking both women and causing a double disqualification. With the heels eventually come off better, AJ Lee celebrated with her Diva's title. Personally, I don't know why Layla, Aksana and Fox need to be involved, and having Aksana as part of the group only helps to dilute the power of Lee's promo on Raw a few weeks ago.

In tag team action, The Real American's Jack Swagger and Antonio Cesaro, accompanied by Zeb Colter, took on The Usos, in decent tag team action. It was pretty basic stuff, mainly due to the time constraints, with Swagger and Cesaro working quick tags and dominating Uso, building up to a hot tag. The finish saw The Usos rolling with some nice pacy high flying action, with an Uso hitting a Superkick on Cesaro, he headed to the top rope, and after some back and forth between the other Uso and Swagger on the outside, Swagger dodged an attack, sending Uso into the barricade, allowing Swagger to push Uso off of the top rope into an Uppercut from Cesaro to win the match for The Real Americans. A good finish, with The Real American's picking up a much needed victory, and keeping the tag team division competitive. It was a decent match, but these teams have had better on Raw before.

They also played the same vignette for Los Matadores, and I cared even less than I did before.

Finally...

My final thoughts on this week's Smackdown.

1. Randy Orton is his best in ring form in quite some time, with top notch matches against Cody Rhodes and Rob Van Dam this week.

2. Just because a match looks good on a paper, for example, Daniel Bryan vs. Seth Rollins, doesn't mean WWE will give it enough time to be any good.

3. The stuff with Big Show and Triple H is beginning to cloud the story with Daniel Bryan.

WWE Main Event 4th September 2013 Review

This week's WWE Main Event was a bit of a funny one for me, for a number of reasons. Firstly, the match that I was most interested in, wasn't place in what has been considered the “Main Event” slot on Main Event (the first match on the show), neither was it the longest match, it actually went on last. I'm not quite sure if I like the change of format for Main Event they used this, the old format is what made it stand out from other WWE programming and made me want to watch in the first place. It risks going the same way as WWE Superstars if they carry on this way.

Tag Team Match: 

The Prime Time Players 

vs. 

The Wyatt Family (Harper/Rowan) 

with Bray Wyatt

As I said in my opener, this was the match that really caught my attention when I noticed it was scheduled for this week's Main Event and for a number of reasons. Firstly, both of these teams have been a role as of late, with Luke Harper and Erick Rowan still undefeated as a Tag Team on main roster WWE television, and The Prime Time Players were on a decent run as well, with victories over The Real Americans and 3MB on Raw and Smackdown recently, so who would WWE chose to go over here. Secondly, I was interested to see how the two teams fitted together in the ring, with The Shield possibly dropping the Tag Team Championships at some point soon, it would seem logical that these two teams could end up feuding over the belts, I'm guessing that WWE might have been interested in that idea to, which might have been the reason for this bout in the first place.

The match was shorter than I imagined it would be, running at around three minutes, but it was probably the most competitive match we've seen someone have with Harper and Rowan. With Titus O'Neil and Rowan having a nice big man exchange to kick off the match, before it settled into you usual beat down from the heels, who worked over O'Neil pretty well. I was really impressed by Darren Young in this match, as he has really taken to his new role as a face, he worked the corner nicely, really helping to sell the need for the tag from O'Neil. Young certainly seems to be enjoying himself in the ring again, which was something that he seemed to miss during the later stages of The Prime Time Players heel run, which is understandable, seeing as they finally have some upward mobility in the tag team division again.

I thought the finish was also strong, with Rowan looking to interfere, during Young's frenzy off of the hot tag, only to be shoulder barged over the top rope by O'Neil. Just when it looked like The Prime Time Players might be going over, they pulled the switch with Harper hitting a big boot on Young and Rowan sending O'Neil into the barricade. Harper went on to hit a Discus Clothesline to get the pinfall victory for his team. I enjoyed the quickness of the switch they used here, really pulling the rug from underneath the viewer. The match was too short for either of these two teams to really show us what they could do, but they did the best with the time available. To close the show, Bray Wyatt entered the ring and hit Young with Sister Abigail before posing and reminding us to Follow The Buzzards! It's becoming a signature of The Wyatt Family's matches now to have Wyatt come in to take out the opponent again, I'm interested to see what happens when they lose.

So, it looks like The Wyatt Family is going to continue to roll on for now, but where exactly to. It would be difficult in their current state to have them go after the Tag Team Championships from The Shield, yes they could do heel team vs. heel team, it's been done before, but with The Shield so close to the Triple H/Randy Orton/Daniel Bryan storyline that's dominating WWE at the moment, I don't think it would really work right now. Yes, they could turn The Wyatt Family face, we've seen from their last appearance on NXT that it can work very well, but so soon after their debut, I just don't think it would feel right, especially with the feud with Kane still left open. I imagine they're going to be treading water for a while, until Kane is ready to return. The Prime Time Players on the other handed have been rumoured to be getting a Tag Title shot at Night of Champions, personally I think this match puts that match out of question, as if WWE were planning to have O'Neil and Young challenge for the titles, surely they wouldn't have them lose so close to the pay-per-view.

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Elsewhere on Main Event, R-Truth took on World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank Winner Damien Sandow. Before the match, Sandow cut a nice little promo about Cody Rhodes' firing on Raw, which I thought was a nice touch. We've seen this match a handful of times before, most recently on Raw in June, and unfortunately this felt like the pair going through the motions. It's something I've noticed a few times with Sandow, and it's even more frustrating because I know when he does turn up he can put on a very good match, and I'm sure with the time given here with R-Truth they could have done so. That's not saying the match was awful, it was a decent contest, with a nice series of roll-ups being the highlight for me, but it just didn't seem like the effort was being put in to elevate this match from a decent match to a good match. Josh Matthews and Alex Riley on commentary didn't help the match much either, spending most of the match talking about Big Show. 

The finish saw Sandow go for Terminus, with Truth pushing him into the ropes for a roll up for a near fall. Sandow then ran straight into a Little Jimmy to give R-Truth the pinfall victory. It was a nice finish, but I have absolutely no clue why they had R-Truth going over Sandow. They've done literally nothing with R-Truth on television for months, and it's obvious to anyone that R-Truth is going nowhere in WWE at the moment, and Sandow is holding the Money in the Bank briefcase and a possible future World Heavyweight Champion, so why would they have R-Truth win here? WWE seems intent on having Sandow lose to everyone on the roster before he cashes in his briefcase, and they'll have the same problem they had with Jack Swagger and Daniel Bryan when they were given similar runs with the briefcase. It would be nice if WWE would learn from their own mistakes in booking, and at least have Sandow looking competent in the ring. 


The match that took the usual “Main Event” slot was Fandango going up against Justin Gabriel. No offence to Gabriel, I think he's a terrific in-ring talent but he just doesn't have the name value some of the usual wrestlers that get put in this spot have, mainly due to the fact he usually loses on television. The match itself was pretty sloppy throughout, including a horrible looking bump where Gabriel somersaulted over the top rope and landed on the back of neck and head, Gabriel certainly didn't look the same after that moment and was favouring his head for the rest of the bout. The finish saw Fandango hit a Pele Kick for a near fall, before heading to the top rope to hit the Diving Leg Drop for the pinfall victory. Personally, I would have rather seen Fandango go straight from the kick to the Leg Drop to get the pin, but the finish was decent enough. These two have had better matches on television before, and seeing as they've worked a few house shows together as well I was expecting a little better, but I guess a lot of it has to do with the head injury Gabriel suffered pretty early on.

Finally...

My final thoughts on this week's WWE Main Event.

1. The Prime Time Players are really growing on me as a face tag team.

2. Damien Sandow should be winning more matches, although continuing to go through the motions won't help him.

3. I really, really don't like Josh Matthews on commentary