WWE SmackDown Live #927 (23/05/2017) Review

On 23rd May, WWE aired the 927th episode of SmackDown Live from the Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio. The show saw Shane McMahon announce the competitors in the Money in the Bank Ladder match and Shinsuke Nakamura team up with AJ Styles to face Dolph Ziggler and United States Champion Kevin Owens in the main event, with Natalya, Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, Naomi and Fandango all making appearances. But was it any good. Let's take a look.

• ICYMI - Jinder Mahal is the new WWE Champion after defeating Randy Orton at Backlash on 21st May. 

• Mahal and the Singh Brothers arrive backstage with a police escourt, with Jinder pulling pantomime villain-esque facial expressions as the crowd chant "USA". 

Shane McMahon Announced the Participants in This Year's Money in the Bank Ladder Match

Coming out of Backlash, SmackDown didn't waste anytime in setting out it's shop for Money in the Bank on 18th June. The opening segment had Commissioner Shane McMahon making a pair of matches for the event, firstly a rematch between Jinder Mahal and Randy Orton over the WWE Championship and then the Money in the Bank Ladder match competitors. It's a pretty straightforward line-up with the competitors from the three big non-WWE title bouts from Backlash, AJ Styles, Baron Corbin, Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler, United States Champion Kevin Owens and Shinsuke Nakamura getting the nod for WWE's annual high-spot spectacular. Certainly not a shabby line-up, but you've gotta feel for Luke Harper and Tye Dillinger who actually won their matches at Backlash! However, these six lads have the potential to put on a special contest at MITB, with a good mixture of powerhouses, work horses and guys willing to pull off the big memorable spots that the match is known for. 

The segment itself was fun stuff, with everyone getting a little bit of mic-time, as faces and heels took shots at each other and set up a pair of matches for later in the show. Styles and Nakamura stood out here for me, with Styles getting a pop for a South Park reference and generally just bringing some energy to his promo, whilst Nakkers is just Nakkers and fascinates me every time he speaks words out of his beautiful mouth. It wasn't all roses though as Owens initially not being part of the bout would have been a nice development, but Shane McMahon gave into his demands so easily that I'm not quite sure why they even bothered with that direction. Corbin demanding the briefcase be lowered and he be declared winner, just two days after staring at the lights against Zayn was a head scratcher also. 

Lynch & Flair def. Natalya & Carmella

  

A decent tag bout here, that was arguably more entertaining than the six man tag from Backlash two days earlier. After a sloppy start between Carmella and Becky Lynch, that played out in front of a dead crowd, the bout managed to turn things around after the ad break with Lynch's hot tag to Charlotte Flair getting a big reaction. The match actually stayed on the screen during the break, but it was difficult to focus on the action with various fast-food adverts blaring away at the same time, so I'm not quite sure what got the crowd so invested, although considering this was the opener it perhaps took Toledo a few minutes to get warmed up. The finish was done well with lots going as Naomi, Tamina and James Ellsworth got involved at ringside, Natalya threw Flair across the ring with a German suplex and eventually Lynch got Carmella to submit with the Dis-armer to bring a frenetic few minutes to a close. Flair, Lynch and Naomi all celebrated their victory together with no turns, so who knows where the SmackDown Women's division is heading right now.

• Sami Zayn got a flash win over Baron Corbin in a matter of seconds, but then got brutalised by Corbin post-match. The vicious nature of Corbin's attack and the fact that it took place mostly in the crowd made The Lone Wolf look like a real scary dude, helped by the fact he kept yelling at the referees and crowd.

• AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura touched on their history in Japan in the locker room, with Nakamura threatening to turn AJ's house into his playground. 

• Shane McMahon made his debut on the Fashion Files, with Breezango continuing to make the most of every second their on the screen, as McMahon convinced them not to hang up their water pistols. 

Mahal Held a Punjabi Celebration

JINDER MAHAL IS WWE CHAMPION AND HE IS FROM INDIA! That was this segment in a nutshell as WWE came out all guns blazing with a Punjabi Celebration for the Maharajah, with lads playing the dhol drums and dancing and what have you, the Singh Brothers mugging about, shit loads of pyro. Just like the assertion that the entire of India was watching and losing their minds for Mahal and having JBL throw out ridiculous comparisons to Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Theresa, the whole segment was about making Jinder look like a big deal and the segment definitely hit that aim. Mahal's promo wasn't anything special and wasn't helped by the champ losing his voice, but it got over his character and his issues with the audience and then talking in Punjabi managed to conjure a "USA" chant. Whilst I'm pretty sure WWE did the exact same angle when The Great Khali won the World Heavyweight title in 2007, the segment had it's own charm and I doubt most of WWE's audience remember Khali's run almost ten years ago.

Breeze def. Jey Uso 

Fandango def. Jimmy Uso

The Usos def. Breezango to retain SmackDown Tag Team Championships

A brilliant piece of booking here, that had Toledo completely invested in Breezango as first Tyler Breeze got a quick roll-up victory on Jey Uso, before Fandango took advantage of Jimmy being distracted by Breeze's out of the ring antics to do the same on the other brother. Breezango asked for a title shot and with a masterstroke of having the referee get on a headset to confirm things with Shane O'Mac we had a SmackDown Tag Team title bout there and then. The Usos controlled most of the bout, but the reactions for two near falls for Fandango were something special. The first came off the hot tag as The Ballroom Brawler hit a tornado DDT and simultaneously kicked out at the other Uso, before the second topped it as Deputy Dango got his knees up to block a Samoan Splash that came after a barrage of super kicks. The finish featured some lovely ideas as Fandango hit Beauty in Motion and then got caught with a Samoan Splash (Uso #2 had sneakily tagged in moments earlier). The camera work and timing could have been better, but that didn't stop this from being a strong finish to a terrifically entertaining tag bout. I'm hoping against hope that this isn't the end of Breezango's push as both lads deserve a reward for their stellar work over the last month or so. 

• Natalya, Carmella (and James Ellsworth), Becky Lynch, Tamina and Charlotte Flair went to Shane to ask for a title shot, with the Commish making a Five-Way Elimination match to decide a #1 Contender, next week. 

Nakamura & Styles def. Ziggler & Owens 

This match had more than a few similarities with the RAW main event (Samoa Joe & Bray Wyatt vs. Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins) the previous night, mostly in the general feel of having four top level since stars in a tag bout for the reason that they needed a main event. I preferred the RAW match, mainly because the storytelling was much stronger, as parts of the booking here didn't quite work. Having Nakamura as the initial face in peril was questionable choice, because it exposed more than was necessary on his TV debut, yet the crowd was into it and began chanting for Styles. Also Styles not selling the leg injury that was major part of the storyline of his match with Owens the previous night was a real waste, as having him hit Ushigoroshi as part of his hot tag, only to have his knee give out and the momentum switch would have helped drive the later half of this 25 minute plus contest. The bout did have some cool moments though, like Ziggler counting along with an Owens pin with his back to the ring and Owens assault on Styles with a Senton on the floor and then running football kick to the spine that knocked AJ off the apron. 

After the second hot tag the match really came to life as we got Nakamura cleaning house, finally beginning to look like the bad ass he's been pushed as on SmackDown, before a great sequence involving all four guys. After Nakamura hit the inverted exploder on Ziggler, Owens blocked the Kinshasa to the Show-Off, Styles hit a Pele Kick on the New Face of America, Ziggler blocking a Styles Clash to Owens with a superkick before taking a running single leg dropkick from Nakkers, who then finished off Owens with a Kinshasa to pin the United States Champion. The last stretch was a great advertisement for Money in the Bank as it showed what the four could do in a spot-based environment, it was just a shame that it took so long to get to. Owens taking the pin, whilst being United States Champion, especially after only getting a countout win on the PPV, was a strange decision, but I suppose the thinking was that Owens is more than capable of covering for it on the mic and Ziggler was guy in the MITB that most needs building up.

• Renee Young and Shane McMahon opened the show, talking a little bit about the Money in the Bank competitors, including Shane giving the most boring description of how someone could cash the brief case in. 

The New Day Interview 

It was so good to see Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods on my TV screen again! After over a month and a half away, their words felt as fresh as a big bowl of Booty-os. The boys chatted about what they'd been up to away from WWE, with Big E talking about performing a marriage ceremony, Kingston talking about healing up his ankle and Woods talking about his new baby. The stuff they were talking about was hardly ground-breaking but the chemistry and relaxed nature of the interaction gave it a certain charm with a couple of laugh out loud quips along the way. The chat about actually being on SmackDown and the tag team division was overall pretty generic, although a throw-away line about JBL calling the Usos "the greatest team of the last half-decade" did provide an interesting potential storyline for their full-time return.

• Young and McMahon discussed the Punjabi Celebration, with all the dancing and the drums and such. McMahon also got a chance to talk about Mahal's title victory, being careful not to call Mahal's victory "lucky" as he hyped up the rematch at Money in the Bank. 

Naomi Interview 

I like how understated Naomi is on the mic, she sounds confident, but not in an over-the-top or exaggerated way, she feels real and that makes it easy to connect to her story. The SmackDown Women's Champion turned up to discuss next week's #1 Contender bout, talking about the possibility of facing Carmella, who has pinned her twice recently, using her history to explain why she will never underestimate an opponent. The chat moved into Naomi's outside life and her journey to become a professional wrestler, a story that I knew very little about. It's the fleshing out of backstories and creating a rounded picture of performers lives that Talking Smack really excels. It wasn't must see, like some of the previous interviews, but I think it will add an extra dimension to Naomi's bouts for anyone who did see it.

Finally... 

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.46/10 

A solid episode of SmackDown heading out of the PPV, setting up the direction for the next few weeks as we move towards Money in the Bank next month. The main event under delivered, but I feel like almost every other segment on the show over performed. Breezango and The Usos was entertaining as fuck and had the crowd believing Tyler Breeze and Fandango could take the tag titles, whilst Jinder Mahal's Punjabi Celebration felt fresh and benefitted from know run in from Randy Orton. This show did it's job in shifting stories along and setting up two marquee bouts for the next PPV and remained a comfortable watch across the hour and half.

What a Difference A Year Makes - Fandango

Welcome to a brand new series of articles, looking at the fortunes of a number of WWE wrestlers following on from Wrestlemania XXIX, heading into Wrestlemania XXX

Name: Fandango
Wrestlemania XXIX Opponent: Chris Jericho
Feuds following Wrestlemania: The Miz, Wade Barrett, The Miz (again), The Great Khali & Natalya, Tyson Kidd, Santino Marella & Emma
PPV Win Loss Record: 1 win, 4 losses
Raw Win Loss Record: 12 wins, 21 losses
Smackdown Win Loss Record: 9 wins, 10 losses, 1 draw
PPV Kick-Off Win Loss Record: 1 win
Main Event Win Loss Record: 4 wins, 7 losses
Superstars Win Loss Record: 2 wins, 2 losses
Tribute to the Troops Win Loss Record: 1 loss 
NXT Win Loss Record: 1 loss

Overall TV Win Loss Record: 29 wins, 46 losses, 1 draw

What better way to start off than looking at Fandango (pronounced: FAHN-DAHN-GOO....you have to let the A's breath apparently) the man who made his in-ring WWE debut at last year's Wrestlemania. Okay, so technically it wasn't Curtis Hussey's WWE debut, after he spent some time working as Johnny Curtis, both down in FCW, and then NXT, including winner Season 4 under the original NXT format, and technically it wasn't even Fandango's WWE in-ring debut after working numerous house show dates with the likes of Ted DiBiase, Jamie Noble and Yoshi Tatsu, however we all know, that it doesn't mean squat dibbly if it ain't on the television screen! So yes, it was Fandango's WWE in-ring debut, so DEAL WITH IT! Anyway's Fandango's opponent on the grandest stage of them all, was none other than Chris Jericho!

The storyline was that Fandango was refusing to wrestle a number of opponents, due to them being unable to pronounce his name, therefore when Jericho pronounced his name intentionally incorrect on a March 18th episode of Raw. This enraged Fandango who would attack Jericho on the following episode of Smackdown, with the two trading attacks from then up until Wrestlemania 29. It wasn't the strongest build-up to a Wrestlemania match, but there was certainly some intrigue in how WWE would handle Fandango's debut match and WWE clearly had big plans, with the ballroom dancer taking part in the Wrestlemania Press Conference, debuting new dance partner, Summer Rae. Below is the review of Fandango vs. Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania 29 taken from our review of that event. "The Fandango and Chris Jericho match was marred with a number of errors in a match that did neither men any favours. A lot was expected from these after WWE held off the former Johnny Curtis's début until the Granddaddy of them All and against a competitor of Chris Jericho's standing, it's understandable that the pressure was huge on the two to perform. However that performance never came and the match felt like the two going through the motions, with the awkward ending not helping towards this. It also seemed an odd decision for Jericho to kick out of Fandango's finish on his début, and Fandango to still win." Yes, the match itself wasn't that great, but it was the night after that people would remember. Whilst Fandango made his Raw debut in a bout with Kofi Kingston, the audience in attendance began to sing and dance along to Fandango's entrance theme, and continued to do so even when the music had stopped, in one of the bizarrest moments in Raw history. This would continue, with a campaign building in the UK to get the theme into the UK Top 40, just falling short.

Fandango's feud with Jericho would continue, with the pair continuing to trade attacks during an after matches, while Fandango went on a winning streak on Raw and Smackdown seeing off, Santino Marella, William Regal, Justin Gabriel and Zack Ryder. The highlight of the feud, came on the May 13th episode of Raw, in a dance off segment. In what should have been a fairly awful segment, Summer Rae quickly feigned an ankle injury, and whilst Jericho and his partner looked tried to help, this allowed us to see a more vicious side of Fandango, as he sent Jericho into the steel steps, before clobbering him with a bit of the dance floor, which looked superb. This set the pair up for a rematch at Extreme Rules. The Extreme Rules encounter (although just a regular match) was a much better bout than the one the pair put on at Wrestlemania 29. Fandango looked a lot crisper in the ring and the match made a lot more sense. Jericho picked up the win with a Codebreaker catching Fandango after a dive from the top rope. This pretty much finished their two month feud, allowing Jericho to move into a feud with CM Punk, whilst Fandango wasn't particularly hurt from losing to a veteran in competitive fashion. 

Fandango then moved into the Intercontinental Championship picture, being inserted into a feud between then champion Wade Barrett and The Miz. The feud started on 20th May Raw, with Fandango teaming with Barrett to take on Jericho and Miz, however Fandango left his partner high and dry to dance with Summer Rae, allowing Miz to get the victory over Barrett. After Fandango got involved in a Intercontinental Championship bout between Barrett and Miz, Fandango got a match of his own with Barrett. The Miz served as Special Guest Referee and allowed Fandango to ultimately pick up the victory with a Skull Crushing Finale to Barrett. After walking out on a bout with The Great Khali on the next Raw, Fandango ended up suffering a concussion whilst defeating Zack Ryder on Smackdown and was there for removed from the Intercontinental Championship Three Way at Payback, being replaced by Curtis Axel.  This for me was the turning point for Fandango over the last year. The smart money would have been on Fandango picking up the Intercontinental Championship at Payback and continuing his ascent up the card, however with the concussion costing him just shy of a month of TV time, meant that any momentum that the he had more or less disapearred and he hasn't really recovered since this moment, as you'll see as I continue to look at his year.

After being announced as a contestant in the World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank Ladder match on the 28th June Smackdown, Fandango made his return to WWE on 1st July Raw, facing off against Sheamus. It was a bizarre choice of opponent and lengthier TV bout than usual for Fandango, who ended up walking out on the contest. In the build up the bout, Fandango squashed Justin Gabriel on 5th July Smackdown, before recieving a Bull Hammer Elbow from Wade Barrett in an interview segment on 8th July Raw. This was followed up with a disapointing match between the two on Smackdown, that saw Fandango get the victory, due to a distraction from The Real Americans on commentary. Fandango wasn't much more than a bit part player in the Money in the Bank match, and bar an interesting section that seemed to tease a possible feud with Barrett heading out of the PPV, ending with Fandango hitting a Springboard Legdrop onto a Ladder, and taking a Cross Rhodes from Cody Rhodes, he really wasn't that involved in the bout that was eventually won by Damien Sandow, as his star continued to fall. It was then that Fandango then embarked on a lengthy losing streak, suffering his first TV pinfall defeat to Randy Orton on the 15th July Raw. This would be followed up with losses to Christian on the 17th July Main Event, Cody Rhodes on the 22nd July Raw, CM Punk on the 25th July Smackdown, Rob Van Dam on 29th July Raw (via countout, at least) and Kofi Kingston on the 5th August Raw. Fandango had essentially became a jobber for the stars (and Kofi), with most of these matches being set up through an altercation earlier on the show (like Fandango interrupting Orton during whilst Orton was talking to John Cena). 

Fandango was getting a lot more time for his matches on TV and it certainly helped the in-ring quality of the matches which for the most part were entertaining and easy to watch, but so many loses in a row harmed Fandango's credibility for sure.  The losing streak came to an end on 9th August Smackdown, with Fandango getting a return victory over Kofi Kingston, in a classic exampe of WWE's even steven booking. It would then seem like WWE were planning him a feud with R-Truth, after Fandango re-entered a battle royal on the 12th August Raw, to eliminate The Suntan Superman. 

Instead, it would seem that Fandango would be renewing his stop start feud with The Miz, after interfering in Miz's bout with Wade Barrett on  19th August Raw. I never really understood why Miz and Fandago were feuding, and with Miz being perhaps the most miscast babyface in WWE history, it did nothing at all for Fandango. The feud continue the next week, with The Miz coming out during Fandango's bout with Cody Rhodes, dressed as Fandango, alongside Rosa Mendes (I have no idea), allowing Rhodes to pick up the victory. After Damien Sandow got involved as well, Brad Maddox morphed into Teddy Long and made a TAG TEAM MATCH! After Fandango left his partner again, The Miz picked up the victory for his team. After a botched finish cost Fandango a 28th August Main Event bout with Kofi Kingston by DQ, it seemed that the feud with The Miz concluded on Raw on 2nd September, however due to a broke nose suffered by Fandango, the feud continued until Night of Champions. Fandango went over Justin Gabriel in a sloppy bout on 4th September Main Event, cost The Miz a bout with Damien Sandow on 9th September Raw and lose a dance off to The Miz that also included The Great Khali and R-Truth on 13th September Raw, meaning that the excitement to see Miz v Fandango at Night of Champions was at an all time high(!) Unsurprisingly, the PPV bout between the two fell flat, with no one particularly caring who picked up the victory. 

It wouldn't get much better for Fandango as he competed in a series of short and ultimately pointless matches. Whilst his win-loss record wasn't terrible, with victories over R-Truth (16th September Raw), Santino Marella (23rd September & 14th October Raw), Zack Ryder (7th October Raw) and Justin Gabriel (25th October Superstars) balancing out defeats to Kofi Kingston (18th September Main Event & 30th September Raw), The Usos (teaming with Big E Langston, 25th September Main Event),  Rob Van Dam (4th October Smackdown) 

The next feud for Fandango was one with The Great Khali, also involving the pairs valets Summer Rae and Natalya. After Khali had defeated Fandango in a messy bout on 16th October Main Event, the pair engaged in another on 25th October Smackdown, ending in a No Contest after less than two minutes, when Rae and Natalya brawled on the outside (Yes, I don't know why that's a know contest either). Somehow this earned them a Mixed Tag Team bout on at the Hell in a Cell PPV, with Fandango and Summer Rae coming out the victors in a match that was more entertaining than it deserved to be. The feud was over by the 29th October with Fandango defeating Khali on Raw. 

Whilst the Khali feud was over, it seemed Fandango hadn't seen the last of Natalya, as her real life fiance Tyson Kidd returned, with the defeating Fandango and Rae in Mixed Tag action on the 4th November Raw. Fandango would get revenge on Kidd in under three minutes the following week, and after a victory over Kofi Kingston on 20th November, the feud was over with a victory for Fandango on the 22nd November Superstars.  It was then time for another losing streak for The Ballroom Brute, with defeats to Kofi Kingston (27th November Main Event), Zack Ryder (29th November Superstars), Mark Henry (2nd December Raw), Big E Langston (6th December Smackdown) and Daniel Bryan (9th December Raw - The Slammy Awards). 

With the expection of Bryan, it was clear that quality of opponent Fandango was losing to was decreasing, and the majority of these bouts went no longer than four minutes. Therefore it was some what of surprise when Fandango, not only faced Dolph Ziggler on the TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs Kick Off, but defeated the two time World Heavyweight Champion, even if the match itself wasn't much to write home about.  Ziggler got his win back the night after on Raw, with Fandango picking up a victory over Kofi Kingston on 20th December Smackdown, before bettering Ziggler to come out on top of their mini-feud picking up the victory in a "Christmas Present on a Pole" match on 23rd December Raw, earning himself an Intercontinental Championship shot in the process, with a Christmas Day Main Event victory over Kingston seemingly confirming that Fandango was back on the rise, even if a defeat to R-Truth at Tribute to the Troops on 28th December halted his momentum slightly. 

Unfortunately for Fandango, things returned to normal as he succumbed to Big E Langston in his Intercontinental Championship bout on 30th December Raw, the bout however was impressive, with Fandango looking great in a lengthy title contest, this could easily have been built upon. However, WWE decided against it once again, with Fandango falling to R-Truth in quick fashion on 3rd January Smackdown.  Fandango didn't have the greatest of starts to 2014, losing three matches on the bounce on Smackdown, the afforementioned 3rd January bout with R-Truth, followed up by quick loses to Xavier Woods & Big E Langston on 10th and 17th January respectively. However, he did even the score with Woods in just over a minute on 20th January Raw, before falling to Kofi Kingston once again on 24th January Smackdown, heading into the Royal Rumble PPV. Entering the Royal Rumble match on 27th January at Number 19, Fandango lasted just under three minutes before being eliminated by El Torito. It was clear here that WWE had no plans of making Fandango a big player for the company.

Fandango and Summer Rae began to engage in a feud with Santino Marella and Emma on January 27th on Raw, when Emma was present in the crowd for Fandango's defeat to R-Truth. On January 31st Smackdown, Emma was involved once again, with Summer Rae removing her fan sign, as Fandango defeated Xavier Woods. After Santino pulled Emma out of the crowd to face Summer Rae in a dance off on the 3rd January Raw, with Emma picking up the victory, both Marella and Emma were on commentary, as Fandango fell to The Miz on 5th January Main Event. Fandango and Marella then battled on February 10th Raw, with Fandango coming out the victor in a dull encounter.  The feud continued onto 14th February Smackdown, with Marella's Cobra costing Fandango a bout against The Miz, whilst Emma and Summer Rae got physical (calm down) at ringside. However, Fandango quickly got revenge on Marella with a victory on Raw on 17th February, however due to the focus on Emma and Santino's blossoming relationship, came away looking more like an after thought than anything else. The feud was not over just yet, with Emma and Summer Rae battling in a dance off on Smackdown on 21st February, ending in a brawl that saw Emma dropkick Fandango out of the ring. The 24th February edition of Raw saw Emma picking up a submission victory over Summer Rae in a stellar diva's contest, leading to a Mixed Tag Team Match on Raw on the 3rd March, that saw Emma pick up another submission victory for her team, in another short bout to end the feud. Whilst I was fairly entertained by this feud, and was more than happy to see Emma promoted from NXT, this really didn't do a lot for Fandango and whilst he technically didn't lose to Marella at any point, the focus was clearly on Emma and Summer Rae, which harmed Fandango even more. 

With Wrestlemania XXX just over two weeks away, Fandango is currently on a four match losing streak, being put away by Big E (14th March Smackdown), Dolph Ziggler (14th March Superstars), Goldust (17th March Raw) and even Fernando (21st March Smackdown), which really can't bode well for Fandango heading into the Show of Shows, as he takes part in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, sharing the spotlight with 29 other wrestlers.  It's been an interesting year for Fandango, and I have to wonder what could have been, if he had not suffered that concussion in June. What if he won the Intercontinental Championship as planned? I'm not quite sure what can be done with the Fandango character at the moment, I mean he is still appearing on Raw on a regular basis, and has had a number of good matches with various competitors and has a decent amount of feuds throughout the year, even if most of them were with The Miz. I can't see much changing for The Ballroom Brute heading past Wrestlemania, I expect more of the same, although I'd like to be surprised.  But remember let the A's breath and keep Fandangoing and who knows what could happen.

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 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

WWE Main Event 28th August 2013 Review

This week's Main Event was helped by two strong supporting matches, after the main attraction didn't quite deliver as I had expected. Main Event continues to be an entertaining hour of WWE television, and in allowing those wrestlers poised for the real main event scene in WWE, such as Cody Rhodes to experiment in these longer matches, they can only end up coming off better than when they entered.

Cody Rhodes

vs.

Intercontinental Champion

Curtis Axel

with Paul Heyman

With a highlight package of Paul Heyman and Curtis Axel's attack on CM Punk on Raw starting the show, the Intercontinental Champion was in action against Cody Rhodes. This was a rematch from last week's Smackdown, where Axel got the victory following some distraction from Paul Heyman, so I was interested to see how this one would go, especially with Axel and Heyman now booked in a Handicap Elimination Match with Punk at Night of Champions. It seemed odd that the commentary team of Josh Matthews and Alex Riley didn't really mention the match they had on Smackdown, which would have allowed them to build up the contest more and make it feel more important for Rhodes to get his victory back, instead they focussed on the build to Night of Champions, making this bout feel pretty inconsequential.

Similar to the match on Smackdown, this one wasn't particularly anything special and I think the extra time it was given actually hurt the match. Rhodes is taking longer to adjust to his current face role, than I originally expected and hasn't quite got the psychology of being a face down yet, a longer period of holding Axel in a chickenwing was not going to help the crowd get behind him! After a nice period of amatuer style wrestling at the beginning, things did look promising for this contest, but it quickly fizzled out. Axel looked good in control, with his slow methodical approach picking Rhodes apart, but what was needed was a pacy comeback from Rhodes, which really would have got me interested in the bout. This however didn't really come, as when the time came for Rhodes' comeback, he was visibly winded, after a good looking Diving Moonsault. It was a shame really that conditioning played apart here, as this match could have worked extremely well. Rhodes is definitely going to need more of these longer matches to build his conditioning for a potential main event push.

The ending of the bout saw Rhodes trying to drag Axel back to the centre of the ring, but Axel holding onto the ring apron. The referee tried to get Rhodes to move away, only for Axel to hit a duo of kicks, one to the gut, one to the face, before jumping to his feet and hitting the Hangman's Facebuster for the pinfall victory and to go 2-0 over Rhodes. It was a bit of an “out of the blue” ending and seemed to come out of nowhere, blink and you'd have missed it. It was good however, to see Axel pick up a victory without having to rely on Heyman, who was pretty much a non-entity at ringside, as that was the main problem with Axel's match with CM Punk on Raw, without Heyman at ringside Axel never seemed like he could win, this will go some way to making Axel look like a more legitimate competitor in his own right.

So, with Axel heading to Night of Champions already (as you'd expect, him being Intercontinental Champion and all) where does that leave Cody Rhodes. A month ago, Rhodes was closing Smackdown with his Gulf of Mexico segment with Damien Sandow, now it feels like Rhodes is back to treading water. I'd suspect Rhodes will pick up on his feud with Damien Sandow at some point, but if WWE are planning for the two to be feuding over the World Heavyweight Championship, then why are they having both lose these kinds of matches? Yes, Axel needed a big win heading towards Night of Champions, but there are plenty of others that could have been thrown into this bout, that WWE don't seem to have any plans on having in their World Heavyweight title picture anytime soon.

 

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Elsewhere on Main Event, Kofi Kingston was in action against Fandango in what was essentially a rubber match for their series, with the two picking up victories over each other at the start of the month on Raw and Smackdown. This was by far the longest match the two have had on television and they were clearly relishing the opportunity. The match was quick paced from the lock up, but really got going with a nice spot, that saw Kingston land on his feet off a monkey flip from Fandango out of the corner, and go on to land his own version of the move. Both men had spells of control, with a number of quick paced reversals along the way, Fandango looked incredibly comfortable in control and you can see he has improved a lot since his days as Johnny Curtis on NXT.

With Kingston making the comeback that Rhodes' needed to make earlier, hitting a Boom Drop and building for Trouble in Paradise, the match was strangely cut short, when Summer Rae grabbed Kingston's leg and the referee called for the disqualification handing Kingston the victory. It was odd because both Kingston and Fandango continued to wrestle and everyone looked very surprised by what had just happened, it certainly felt very sudden and definitely wasn't the satisfying ending that the bout needed. Hopefully, they'll have a rematch soon, so we actually get to see the ending of the bout. Kingston's comeback from injury has been pretty disapointing, he's quickly been relegated to Main Event and Superstars, and this entertaining match will hopefully remind WWE that he still has something to offer, I'd much rather see Kingston feud with Fandango than The Miz!

There was also tag team action with Prime Time Players taking on Jack Swagger and Antonio Cesaro of The Real Americans. We've seen these two teams have a rivalry of sorts over the last two weeks, with a number of technically sound matches all won by members of the Prime Time Players. This was more of the same, with a basic yet entertaining contest. Cesaro and Swagger looked good working over Darren Young, before the hot tag to Titus O'Neil. O'Neil is great in this role, as he looks really impressive when ploughing threw his opponents. His Fall-Away Slam still impresses me, he seems to do it with ease. The finish saw both Young save O'Neil from being pinned by Swagger, with Cesaro taking out Young with a nasty looking dropkick, before Swagger walked straight into Clash of the Titus and with Cesaro unable to make the save, Prime Time Players picked up the pinfall victory. Hopefully, both teams feature in future plans for the Tag Team Championships, with a tag team scene which is really coming to life lately, although I'd much rather see Cesaro in singles competition.

Finally...

My final thoughts on this week's Main Event.

1. Cody Rhodes needs to be working longer matches and picking up more wins, if WWE expect him to be a convincing main event competitor.

2. Kofi Kingston's return has produced nothing, but a costume change.

3. Alex Riley is actually quite informative on commentary, when he isn't talking about The Miz.

WWE Smackdown 2nd August 2013 Review

WWE have done the seemingly impossible and made Smackdown actually feel important again! With three top matches that had been well promoted and featured some of WWE’s top stars, Smackdown was great watch this week. This is definitely the route WWE should be going with the show and I’d like more of the same in the coming weeks and months.

World Heavyweight Championship Number One Contenders Match: 

Rob Van Dam 

vs. 

Christian 

vs.

 WWE Championship Money in the Bank Winner Randy Orton

The show kicked off this week with World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio heading to the ring to announce his decision on who he would pick to face him for the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam. It was pretty obvious that Del Rio would be choosing someone not quite up to the standard of a real number one contender, as he eventually went on to choose Ricardo Rodriguez, in a decent heel promo. He was interrupted by Smackdown General Manager Vickie Guerrero, who wasn’t too happy with Del Rio making a mockery of her SummerSlam match. She announced that instead of Del Rio facing Rodriguez or his second choice of the Brooklyn Brawler, Del Rio would face the winner of a triple threat later on in the evening. The triple threat would include Rob Van Dam, Christian and WWE Championship Money in the Bank winner Randy Orton. It was pretty much the guys I had been talking about in regards to Del Rio’s challenger. The only thing that let this segment down was Guerrero attempting to play a face, against Del Rio’s heel, which didn’t quite work, because Guerrero is able to get a lot more heat than Del Rio.

In build up to the match there were a few backstage segments, firstly with Alberto Del Rio visiting Vickie Guerrero in her office, to complain about her decision. Guerrero accused Del Rio of being scared of competition, before Brad Maddox came in, agreeing with Guerrero and reminding Del Rio who was in charge on Monday Night’s. I’m not quite sure what the segment was trying to achieve, other than to make the World Heavyweight Champion look a bit rubbish. Later on in the night, Renee Young interview with Rob Van Dam, was interrupted by Christian and Randy Orton, as they each put forward their case to why they would win the triple threat later on in the evening. Whilst Van Dam’s promo was puzzling, Christian and Orton both delivered strong attempts, with Orton really impressing me, bringing an edge to his character that hasn’t been seen for sometime.

The match itself was a pretty exciting triple threat and worked well as television main event. It didn’t really use the triple threat concept to it’s advantage for most of the match, as we saw different combinations of the three men involved, which was helped by each man having history with the other two. As with a lot of WWE triple threats, there were a number of good spots throughout, which were strung together well and the match had a really nice flow to it, a highlight for me saw Van Dam somersault over the top rope onto Christian and Orton on the outside. For me the best work of the match came between Orton and Van Dam, who had an excellent sequence of reversals which ended with Orton reversing Rolling Thunder in a spinning powerslam, which was visually impressive.

The end sequence saw Orton building up for an RKO on Christian, but with Van Dam attempting to take advantage, Mr Friday Night ended up getting an RKO of his own. However, with Orton going for another RKO on Christian, Captain Charisma reversed into a backslide to pick up a victory and the chance to face Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam. I really enjoyed the finish here as it looked like anyone could win up until the final moments, keeping me guessing who would get the title shot. With Orton and Van Dam shaking Christian’s hand after the match, Alberto Del Rio who was at ringside, took advantage of Josh Matthew’s interviewing his new number one contender, knocking Christian over with a punch to the back of the head and finishing him off with a Superkick. With SummerSlam having a number of well-built up rivalries and feud going into the show, Christian and Del Rio have a lot of ground to make up.

CM Punk 

vs. 

Fandango 

with Summer Rae

After Fandango interrupted CM Punk last week, leading to the Ball Room Dancer receiving a GTS, it was nice to see WWE use some continuity, and bring us a match between the two this week on Smackdown. It was also nice to take a bit of a break from CM Punk’s rivalry with Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar. Whilst the story has been fantastically well crated and a pleasure to watch throughout, it is important that WWE don’t over expose the characters and ideas of the feud, which has been going on for almost two months, and has a further two weeks until Punk and Lesnar finally clash at SummerSlam.

I said a few weeks ago, that CM Punk needed to stop the talking and pick up a strong convincing victory, to help him look like the arse kicker he needs to be to look convincing against Lesnar. This match certainly brought that as CM Punk looked very impressive throughout. With Fandango, who was accompanied by Summer Rae, just getting in enough offence to make the match seem competitive, it was clear that this was the CM Punk show.  Fandango played his role well, using enough classic heel tactics to get the fans even further behind Punk, and keeping him grounded with a headlock, allowing Punk to build to a come back.

Punk eventually picked up the win, with Punk hitting a Superplex and immediately locking in an Anaconda Vise to get the submission victory. It was a well-paced ending, and an original one, as Punk showed he meant business heading into SummerSlam. It wasn’t a particularly long match, but it didn’t need to be, it did its job of making Punk look impressive, whilst also allowing Fandango another opportunity to work with another of WWE’s top names and not look completely out of place. Punk could do with one more match like this to really help to push the idea home that he is in a different mindset to what we’re used to and make him look like a legitimately threat to Brock Lesnar.

So, Punk and Lesnar is only two weeks away now, and it will be interesting to see if WWE can keep the momentum of the story continuing into SummerSlam, personally I think they will, as Punk and Heyman seem to be heavily involved in the crafting of the storyline and I’m pretty sure two of modern wrestling’s greatest minds will have come up with how the next couple of weeks will run months ago. Fandango on the other hand looks like he is going to miss out on the SummerSlam card this year, however it would seem that WWE has a long term plan for him as they keep putting up against top talents, even protecting him on Raw against Rob Van Dam. Personally, I think the gimmick can only go so far, but time will tell. 

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Elsewhere this week Diva’s Champion AJ Lee defended her championship against long time rival Kaitlyn. Before the match, Renee Young interviewed Kaitlyn and friend Layla about their friendship, with Layla spouting some awkward speech about Kaitlyn being the most dedicated Diva she had ever seen. It kind of sign posted what was going to happen later on in the evening, mainly because we hadn’t seen Layla for a few weeks, and therefore her randomly turning up this week made instantly think that something was going to go down.

The action in the match was good, with Kaitlyn’s aggression having an opportunity to shine through as she really took it AJ Lee. It wasn’t long before the action spilled to the outside with Kaitlyn throwing AJ into the barricade. It was here that Layla made her presence felt, when stepping in front of AJ Lee with Kaitlyn about to hit a spear. With Kaitlyn distracted AJ took advantage, throwing Kaitlyn into the ring and locking in the Black Widow to retain her title via submission. The Layla turn was fairly obvious, but I’m glad she’s back as a heel, as she skipped away with AJ, as her face run has been pretty forgettable. This match could have done with another five minutes to really build to the ending moment, but the girls did well with the time they were given.

Cody Rhodes’ face run also continued this week on Smackdown, as he faced Jack Swagger. After knocking the microphone away from Zeb Colter, Cody really went after Swagger looking fairly impressive in the process. Cody picked up a quick victory after a reversing a Gut Wrench Power bomb attempt into a sunset flip variation for the pinfall. It was decent television match, but obviously these two could have done a lot better given some more time to develop. Time is something that Cody needs at the moment to develop his face character, but with SummerSlam just around the corner he might not have time to do so. Talking of SummerSlam, Cody’s SummerSlam opponent Damien Sandow attacked him during a post-match interview with Renee Young, it was a vicious side of Sandow that we rarely see, and I have to say I am very much looking forward to their SummerSlam bout.

Big E Langston was also in action this week, as he ploughed throw Sin Cara. Big E looked impressive as he methodically tore apart Sin Cara with a number of impressive power moves. Big E picked up a quick victory, after catching Sin Cara from a springboard crossbody attempt and hitting the Big Ending for the pinfall. After watching Langston in NXT for so long, I know we’ve only just scraped the surface of what Big E can do for WWE. Personally, I think that Big E is a much better face than he is a heel, as he seems like a naturally good natured and humorous person, whilst his heel portrayl has been limited to almost a generic big guy at times. I’d also like to see him given more time in the ring sometime soon, hopefully his match at SummerSlam will provide that opportunity, whether it’s one on one with Dolph Ziggler, or teaming with AJ Lee to take on Ziggler and Kaitlyn. 

Finally...

What did I learn from this week's Smackdown?

1. Christian and Del Rio have a lot of ground to make up to make their rivalry SummerSlam ready.

2. Even when something is as good as Punk/Heyman/Lesnar, it's still good to have a break sometimes.

3. Alex Riley is work in progress on commentary, but looks promising.