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.

WWE Smackdown 26th July 2013 Review

Smackdown this week was one of the strongest episodes of the show for a long time. This was for a number of reasons, there were a number of intriguing contests, such as Alberto Del Rio vs. Rob Van Dam, some significant storyline progression with Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow and some top notch promo work from CM Punk, AJ Lee and Dolph Ziggler.

Rob Van Dam 

vs. 

World Heavyweight Champion 

Alberto Del Rio

This match had been announced on Monday’s Raw and I was intrigued from the moment it was announced. Firstly, I’d put Rob Van Dam as one of my picks for a possible opponent for Alberto Del Rio at SummerSlam and felt that this match would provide a lot of the answers heading into the pay-per-view. Secondly, we were yet to see Van Dam lose since returning to WWE, after victories over Chris Jericho, Darren Young and Wade Barrett over the last week and a half, and WWE would clearly want to keep their newest acquisition looking strong for the time being, however Alberto Del Rio is the World Heavyweight Champion and him loosing matches will only help to devalue the Championship around his waste, and after a loss to Randy Orton on last week’s Smackdown, Del Rio couldn’t really afford to lose for the second week running.

We got a glimpse of what was to come in a backstage segment, with Alberto Del Rio meeting with new Smackdown General Manager Vickie Guerrero. Del Rio was attempting to get Guerrero to give him the same chance that Brad Maddox gave John Cena on Raw, allowing him to pick his opponent for Summerslam. Vickie agreed to give him one week to think about it. It was nice to keep the authority on the show very simple, with few shenanigans it allowed the real talent to shine through. Rob Van Dam then turned up, to put his case forward for why Del Rio should choose him as his Summerslam opponent. It was a nice set up for the match later on, that gave an extra reason for Van Dam to pick up a victory.

The match, unfortunately, didn’t really get going, with Van Dam using his strong kicks to beat down the World Heavyweight Champion, with Del Rio running to the outside. It didn’t take long for the match to go for a finish, as after Del Rio came back into the ring, Van Dam once again gained the upperhand, with the referee keeping Van Dam away from Del Rio who was in the corner, Del Rio used the opportunity to hit a Superkick for the pinfall victory. Whilst I felt this match could have been a really good contest given some extra time, it did a good job of keeping both men looking strong and developing Del Rio’s role as heel role, whilst also setting up for a potential rematch later down the line.

Whilst Van Dam’s loss here doesn’t totally rule him out of facing Del Rio at SummerSlam, I’d be surprised if WWE ran with it now. It’s a match up with a lot of potential, if done correctly, but there are more interesting match ups to include Van Dam in on the pay-per-view and I couldn’t believably seeing him winning the World Heavyweight Championship, not at this point anyway. I also wouldn’t expect Del Rio to be allowed to pick his opponent, as his character would surely choose someone he could easily beat, like Zack Ryder or Yoshi Tatsu. So, I’m interested to see how the decision will be made and who will get the nod, hopefully we’ll find out next week on Smackdown, rather than on Raw. 

WWE Championship Money in the Bank Winner 

Randy Orton 

vs. 

World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank 

Damien Sandow

We kicked off Smackdown this week with the two Money in the Bank winners facing off. Whilst the action in the ring was solid, for the most part, I wasn’t really given any reason to care about the outcome of the match. There was no prior explanation as to why these two were facing off on Smackdown and it really could have done with a bit of a build up, similar to what they did with Van Dam and Del Rio, for me to fully invest in the action I was seeing in ring. Orton did his usual going through the motions, something we’ve also seen out of Sandow as of late, and it felt pretty flat throughout as the two basically trod water as they waited for the finish to take place.

That finish involved Sandow’s former tag team partner Cody Rhodes, who came down to ringside and took possession of the World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank briefcase, with the distraction allowing Randy Orton to get in the ring and hit an RKO for a pinfall victory. It was the only way they could end this match, without making one of the Money in the Bank holders look weak, so I was just glad that Sandow didn’t lose to Orton clean. If I’m being honest the finish was the only thing that really caught my interest during the match, and I’m hoping Orton and Sandow both pick up their games big time once they get their pushes with the respective championships.

What followed however was pretty interesting and enjoyable, with Damien Sandow attempting to locate Cody Rhodes, who had absconded with the World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank briefcase. We saw humourous exchanges between Sandow and other wrestlers and personalities, like Sin Cara, Mark Henry and Hall of Famer Booker T, which ran throughout the show. Sandow did a good job of treading the line between comedy and serious here, as while I’m not of the “Funny ain’t Money” school, I certainly think if you over play those moments, people will become disengaged with the angle.

Finally, in the final segment of the show, Sandow went back to the ring in attempt to find out where Cody Rhodes had got to. Rhodes turned up on the big screen, standing by the Gulf of Mexico. Of course it’s some kind of unwritten rule, that whenever WWE is in Corpus Christi there has to be an angle involving the Gulf of Mexico, we’ve seen CM Punk and Chavo Guerrero battle it out in a Gulf of Mexico match on ECW, as well as Kane chokeslam Rey Mysterio into the sea on Smackdown. Sandow, of course, went after Rhodes and apologised for everything he had done in a grovelling attempt to get his briefcase back. I really enjoyed this moment, as it showed Sandow as a really spineless character, which is certainly a role that suits him well. Rhodes threw the briefcase into the Gulf anyway, and Sandow attempted to jump after it, but it was revealed he couldn’t swim! We ended the show with Sandow lying exhausted on the pavement, whilst the briefcase sunk under water. I actually really enjoyed this angle throughout the show, it was a little goofy at points and maybe a little clichéd, but I felt genuinely invested in the feud and wanted to know what will happen next.

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Elsewhere, CM Punk also made a rare appearance on Smackdown, and this time did a much better job than a few weeks ago. Punk delivered a well-structured promo on his upcoming SummerSlam match with Brock Lesnar. Punk once again put over Brock well, before moving onto Paul Heyman. Punk said he would exploit Lesnar’s only weakness and that would be his trust of Heyman. It added a nice extra layer to match at SummerSlam and where Heyman’s involvement will surely be key to the outcome of the match. WWE need to be careful not to have Punk and Heyman repeat themselves in these promos we’ve seen from them in the last few weeks, as we still have three more weeks until SummerSlam, if we see the same thing for the next few weeks, the angle will lose its current red hot momentum. 

With Punk hitting his stride, surprisingly he was interrupted by Fandango, who got seemed to get real heel heat for the first time since the post Wrestlemania Raw, there wasn’t a lot of Fandangoing going on here. After Fandango’s theatrics on the way down to the ring, with valet Summer Rae, Punk quickly took down Fandango attacking him as he entered the ring and finishing him off swiftly with a GTS. I liked this moment, because it showed off Punk’s emotional state and also made him look like an arse kicker, which is something that WWE needs to do, with Punk heading into a match with the much bigger Brock Lesnar. I’d like to see Punk in a number of matches on Raw and Smackdown in the next few weeks, ploughing through mid-card opponents, to help demonstrate his state of minding heading into the pay-per-view.

The AJ Lee and Dolph Ziggler angle continued this week, with AJ Lee giving her “State of my Mind” address. AJ cut one of the best promos I’ve ever seen from a woman on WWE television, bringing a lot of intricacies in to her performances, as she revealed she still had the keys to Dolph Ziggler’s house but wouldn’t use them. Dolph then came out and continued to wind up AJ, talking about new lovers, with some content that didn’t feel very PG. AJ moved onto plan b, as she destroyed items from Ziggler’s wallet and suitcase, with Ziggler batting off the attack on his belonging further frustrating AJ. I think what works well for me here, is that whilst the things Ziggler are saying aren’t exactly face comments, we’ve all had that one crazy girlfriend and it’s good to see Ziggler getting one over on her for us! With AJ angered she attempted to get at Dolph, but ran straight into a spear from Kaitlyn. With Big E attempting to help AJ, he got a Fame Asser from Ziggler for his troubles. With Kaitlyn being added to the mix, I’m wondering if WWE will go with a mixed tag for SummerSlam instead of the rumoured one on one match between Ziggler and Big E.

In what was essentially a squash match, Mark Henry teamed with The Usos to take on Wade Barrett and The Prime Time Players. After Barrett and The Prime Time Players had took control of The Usos, it built to a hot tag to Mark Henry, who quickly ploughed through his opponents picking up a pinfall victory on Titus O’Neil after a World’s Strongest Slam. The match was enjoyable, but it was pretty clear who was going to pick up the win and how the match would unfurl from the outset, as Henry and The Usos sent a message to The Shield. It really is a shame to see Wade Barrett fall even further down the card, WWE really seem to have soured on the Preston man. The Prime Time Players are currently in limbo at the moment, it seems that WWE is going to split them up soon, but if they keep putting them in position’s like this, no one will care when it happens and Young and O’Neil’s singles careers will be no different to their tag team one.

Christian was also in action this week, against Jack Swagger. Of course, Zeb Colter cut a promo before the match again, but I’ve already said all that needs to be said about that in this week’s Main Event review. Anyone who watched WWE’s revival of ECW will know the history between these two and I was actually pretty excited to see them in action again. The bout was a fairly good technical battle that was well paced, and given just enough time to allow Christian to look good. After Swagger’s poor match with Sheamus on Main Event, I was glad to see Swagger could still go, I just think he needs the right opponent to go against, he isn’t someone who can have a good match with a broomstick. Christian picked up the victory, in a nice closing section, after rolling out of a Patriot Lock and sending Swagger shoulder first into the ringpost, Christian hit a Killswitch for the pinfall. Christian has picked up a number of victories following Money in the Bank over the likes of Damien Sandow, Fandango and Titus O’Neil, and therefore I think he is a strong candidate to get the nod to face Alberto Del Rio at SummerSlam.

The Wyatt Family’s Luke Harper and Erick Rowan made their in-ring debut this week, as they took on Tons of Funk. It was quickly over with The Wyatt’s dominating and Erick Rowan picking up the victory with a running splash on Tensai. It was a disappointing generic big guy finish that I think most of WWE’s bigger stars use, including Tons of Funk, so hopefully it doesn’t stick and they get a better finish. After the bout, Bray Wyatt came into the ring and took out Tensai with Sister Abigail, before cutting another disturbing promo on Kane. With Kane in action against Daniel Bryan on Raw this week, could we see The Wyatt Family get involved? I sure hope so. 

Finally...

What did I learn from Smackdown this week?

1. Sometimes, like with RVD and Alberto Del Rio, less is more. As I know want to see a rematch more than I wanted to see the original.

2. Damien Sandow can't swim.

3. Michael Cole reads the same damn facts on every show. I know John Cena is the only person not to cash in Money in the Bank successfully. At least, JBL seems to do some research! 

WWE Smackdown 12th July 2013 Review

In terms of name value in the matches, Smackdown certainly delivered this week with a number of matches that could’ve fitted easily onto a PPV event. This was mainly down to the All-Stars Money in the Bank Ladder Match and with the Money in the Bank PPV just two days away this was WWE’s last chance to get major buys for the show.

Sheamus vs. Randy Orton

Now it seems an age since these two were completely torn apart by a New Jersey crowd on the Raw after Wrestlemania. The reason behind this was not only some poor WWE booking involving the WWE App, but also because Orton and Sheamus were two of the stalest characters that WWE was presenting on television at the time. Now, since then not a lot has changed for either Sheamus or Randy Orton. Orton has fared the better out of the two, featuring in a story involving The Sheild, Daniel Bryan and Kane, that was the highlight of both Raw and Smackdown for a number of weeks. Orton has certainly stepped up his game, bringing a hell of a lot more passion to his performances than we had seen pre-Wrestlemania. I’d say this is mainly down to Orton enjoying the storyline and being put against some top talents in marquee matches, but Orton can not simply choose to deliver a performance when he is enjoying himself, if he wants to stay at top star in WWE he needs to take the rough with the smooth. Sheamus on the other hand has not done particularly, he had a decent series of match with Damien Sandow, but the rivalry surrounding it was mainly full of awful segments, that Sheamus didn’t particularly take too. His comedy is at times painful to watch, which is a shame because we’ve seen Sheamus deliver some great performances when he keeps it serious.

In the build for this we had a backstage interview with Sheamus conducted by Renee Young. Sheamus basically went over old ground with Randy Orton, by mentioning Saint Patrick and the snakes story which we hear pretty much every time these two face off. We then got Sheamus talking about what he’d put in the Money in the Briefcase if he won it, including “corn beef and cabbage”. It particularly help to build either match, as it didn’t look like Sheamus was taking it seriously, so why should an audience take it seriously either? I’m not saying comedy can’t factor into main event storylines, because it can and has worked well before, but Sheamus’ new Irish stereotype character certainly doesn’t make me laugh, so the comedy feels out of place. Sheamus finished up by telling Renee Young she was “pretty cute”. Will this go anywhere? Most probably not.

The match started off pretty hot with some good work on the outside, with use of the announce table and steel steps, unfortunately an Orton back suplex onto the barricade was confined to the WWE App. We then entered a regular Orton match pattern, with a number of head locks and rest holds, I understand Orton used a headlock when heel to build for a comeback from the face, but when Orton himself has operated as a face he has certainly been over reliant on that move. A nice section of the match saw a play on each man’s signature comebacks, with Orton no-selling a Sheamus high knee, a la Davey Richards, before launching into a comeback of his own. It was a good play on moves we’ve seen before and certainly picked up the pace of the match. We got a number of other variations of Sheamus and Orton’s signatures move, with Orton doing some great selling of Sheamus’ clubbering on the outside, before hitting his signature Rope Hung DDT from the corner.

The end saw Orton and Sheamus battling it out on the top rope, before they both took a spill to the outside. Daniel Bryan came to ring, and got a ladder from under the ring, taking out both Sheamus and Orton before ascending the ladder. Christian then came down and all four men attempted to climb the ladder to get the briefcase in various combinations. It wasn’t a bad way to end the show and gave fans a quick preview of the Money in the Bank Ladder Match, but I can’t help but think it suffered from not having CM Punk involved. Eventually after an RKO to Bryan, Orton scaled the ladder to collect the briefcase for the end of the show. I’ve enjoyed the booking heading into the Money in the Bank All-Stars Match, with a number of guys like Orton, Bryan, Punk and Van Dam heading into the match looking like having a strong chance of picking up the victory. 

Christian vs. Daniel Bryan

The other match pitching Money in the Bank All Star competitors against each other saw Daniel Bryan take on Christian. Both have been booked quite differently heading into the contest, with Bryan currently part of a major push, picking up victories over Randy Orton and Sheamus in the last few weeks, whilst Christian seems a little lost after his return to WWE last month, with pinfall losses to Orton and Kane. Christian’s return certainly hasn’t been handled as well as it could have, after the first few weeks of picking up wins over the likes of Wade Barrett and Drew McIntyre, as well as an impressive victory with The Usos over The Shield, the wheels seem to have come off Christian and his momemtum has slowed pretty quickly, which is a shame as he could be a vital asset to WWE who they seem to be wasting.

Christian proved his worth to WWE with this match against Bryan as the two put on a good bout to open the show. Using the face vs. face dynamic to their advantage neither Bryan or Christian spent a prolonged period in control of the match meaning we got to see some fast paced action with a ton of reversals thrown in. Both men had outside dive attempts thwarted, including Christian delivering a hard slap as Bryan was about to fly. The two also brought everything they could to match, which always makes it a lot easier to watch than when someone is simply phoning in a performance, with Bryan delivering a nice basement dropkick with Christian propped against the steel steps a particular highlight.

The match was upped a notch with a near fall for Christian with a Spear out of nowhere that actually made me believe that Christian could be picking up the victory heading in to Money in the Bank, mainly due to Bryan ability to kick out late, and some good commentary from Michael Cole. The end saw Christian attempt to use his signature sunset flip whilst boucing out of the corner, only for Bryan to lock in the No Lock for the submission victory. It was a good ending that was worked well by both Bryan and Christian with Christian’s selling of the No Lock really helping to get the moment over for me.

Heading into the Money in the Bank All-Stars Match, Bryan would surely have to be one of the favourites to pick up the win, not only have we seen him beat Orton, Sheamus and Christian on Raw and Smackdown in the last few week, but he even un hooked the briefcase Monday Night on Raw. Bryan would be a great choice to get the briefcase and really deserves a WWE Championship run, but I can’t help thinking that he doesn’t really need the briefcase to do so and the moment would be a lot of impressive without it. Christian seems to be in the match to simply make up the numbers and take some bumps, which is a shame as I think Christian can offer a lot more for WWE. Having him lose everyone of his warm up matches hasn’t exactly built him up well heading into the PPV, even if Christian has put a lot of effort into those matches.

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Elsewhere, the rivalry between Dolph Ziggler and World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio continued. With Teddy Long telling Dolph Ziggler to take the night off, because Long didn’t want Ziggler to interfere in Del Rio’s match with Sin Cara later on and end up going the same way as Vickie Guerrero. It’s strange for Long to compare himself to Vickie, when the actual General Manager of Smackdown is still Booker T, I really hope they aren’t building to some kind of power struggle between Booker and Teddy, as we’ve got enough of that going on with The McMahons on Raw, and I actually quite like the Booker and Teddy pairing.

As Del Rio waited in the ring, Sin Cara headed down to ring looking more defined than ever, he had also apparently grown a fair bit taller as well. Instead of executing his signature entrance, Sin Cara headed straight for Del Rio, eventually hitting a Zig Zag to take out the Mexican Aristocrat. Yes, a Zig Zag. Of course, it was Dolph Ziggler who even got a few signature taunts in for good measure. It was a nice segment and was enjoyable to watch, but didn’t feel like a great way to finally sell this match heading into Money in the Bank. Teddy Long caught up with Sin Cara backstage, cautioning who he thought was Ziggler for his actions, until Ziggler himself turned up explaining he left his phone in the locker room. I liked this little addition and Ziggler is really settling into to the new face role now.

Elsewhere, Chris Jericho had another match against Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel, as always accompanied by Paul Heyman. It was another solid encounter between these two, with Jericho doing a good job of controlling the match and allowing Axel to look good with a number of near falls and kick outs by each man. I’m still blown away by the kinds of moves Jericho can do convincingly at the age of 42, like a fantastic cross body that men a lot younger than he would struggle to pull off as well. The end saw Jericho hit a Codebreaker on the Intercontinental Champion who fell to the outside of the ring and was unable to make the ten count, handing Jericho a victory. To me, this ending didn’t make a lot of sense, with Jericho picking up another win over Axel, but Axel vs. Jericho isn’t the Intercontinental Championship match at Money in the Bank, it’s Axel vs. The Miz!

There was also the first ever Diva’s contract signing, in what was another impressive segment for AJ Lee and Kaitlyn. With AJ saying if Kaitlyn signed the contract she had even more to reveal about her, things got really heated after Kaitlyn signed the contract and AJ revealed texts that Kaitlyn had sent her secret admirer, also known as Big E Langston. With AJ revealing things Kaitlyn had said about Natalya and The Funkadactyls, Kaitlyn was clearly about to lose a lot of friends, which definitely brought that crazy side back of Kaitlyn, as with probably her best work on the mic so far, she came back at AJ. Kaitlyn said the trigger word for AJ “crazy” and got a slap for her trouble, with Kaitlyn retaliating by pushing AJ in to the corner using the table and continuing to attack her until Big E Langston pulled her away. Kaitlyn then had a slap for Big E. I actually really liked this contract signing, as it took a main event style segment and used it to elevate this Diva’s rivalry into feeling important, both Diva’s have put in a lot of work to this rivalry, which has been refreshing to see and hopefully it pays off at Money in the Bank.

There was also some build for the World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank Ladder Match, with Fandango facing off with Wade Barrett, in a nice follow up from the segment on Raw that saw Fandango get a Bullhamer elbow from Barrett. Most of the match was dominated by Team Rhodes Scholars and Zeb Colter’s Antonio Cesaro and Jack Swagger being at ringside, whilst Barrett and Fandango simply went through the motions, with the Preston man dominating. Barrett got distracted by the argument between the two teams, allowing Fandango to hit Barrett with a kick to the head and get the pinfall victory. This Money in the Bank certainly hasn’t had as much build up as the All-Stars one, but with the talent involved in the ring, and a lot of inter-weaving character work gone into the story, it’s probably the match I’m most excited to see.

Tag Team Champion Seth Rollins of The Shield was also in action against Jey Uso, both with their respective tag team partner at ringside for the contest. I was impressed once again with these two, with Jey proving he is more than capable of putting on a good singles match. The match saw Rollins take control early on, before the highlight of the match for me, saw some classic no-selling from Jey, as he took chops from Rollins, only to shout out the call and response US-O with the crowd happy to join in. Uso was then on a roll hitting a number signature moves, before heading to the top rope. With Jey attempting to warn his twin, Jimmy, of an impending clothesline from Roman Reigns, this was the opening Seth Rollins needed, knocking Jey off the top rope and hitting the Blackout for the victory. It was a well worked singles contest, that used the involvement of their partners well, thus helping to build for Money in the Bank, although I can’t help suggesting that giving Jey the victory here would have helped to make The Usos look like much more of a threat to the Tag Team Champions at Money in the Bank Kick-Off.

In a reverse of the Jericho-Axel match we saw earlier, Ryback faced The Miz in another rematch. Miz already held a victory over Ryback from two weeks ago on Raw, after Ryback had had the match stopped by the referee for an injured knee. This was capitilsed upon well in this match, with Miz spending a lot of the match focusing of Ryback’s knee. With Ryback, using the referee to help himself up, he suckered Miz in for a Meathook clothesline followed by a Shellshock for the pinfall victory. This was a much better match than I had expected, using a good deal of psycology and story which helped propel the mediocre action that occurred in the ring. I’m actually enjoying this development to Ryback’s character as after WWE botched both Ryback’s face push and initial heel turn, there is only so long you can believe that Ryback is an all concurring monster.

Vickie Guerrero also made an appearance on Smackdown this week, claiming Teddy Long had made her by a ticket and paraphrasing Stephanie McMahon from Raw, calling him a “spineless puppet”. Vickie went on to rip up her ticket, before Teddy had her removed from ringside. I’m not quite sure where this segment is heading or even if it will be mentioned again, but one thing is for sure we haven’t seen the last of Vickie Guerrero.

Finally...

What have I learnt from this week's Smackdown? 

1. Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan, CM Punk and Rob Van Dam are the most likely to claim the Money in the Bank briefcase.

2. Christian has been poorly utilised during his return and looks the least likely to win the breifcase. 

3. Dolph Ziggler looks to have finally settled into his role as a face.

WWE Main Event 19th June 2013 Review

Main Event this week may not have delivered in the star power that we’ve come to expect from this show since its inception, bar The Shield, but in terms of match quality it definitely delivered.

The Usos & Justin Gabriel vs. The Shield

The Shield brought the star power to this main event contest, against three competitors who have been underutilized by WWE for some time. The Usos seemed to getting a push a few weeks ago with a victory over The Prime Time Players on Raw, but haven’t been seen on the A show since. Justin Gabriel on the other hand, hasn’t competed on Raw since November, as has become something of a main stay on Main Event since partner Tyson Kidd suffered a torn meniscus. Whilst Gabriel might not possess the promo ability to be a top level star in WWE, his in ring ability certainly warrants a place higher up than current.

The match was well worked and built up well throughout the contest, with The Shield controlling the majority of the match. The contest seemed to be used to give Roman Reigns some more time in the ring, as he received a lot more time than usual. Reigns has certainly improved since being around Ambrose and Reigns, and has been used well throughout his time as The Shield’s muscle but certainly will have benefitted from this time. There were a number of comeback attempts from The Usos and Gabriel during the body of the contests, capitalizing on the athletic ability of the face team to create some interesting visuals in the ring that we maybe don’t get to see in regular Shield matches. With the comebacks being quashed

There was an awkward moment with Jimmy attempting to leap over Roman Reigns, which supposedly would have been the hot tag that lead into the finish, but as Reigns caught Jimmy, The Shield member looked to fall over, dropping Jimmy on his head in an incident that could have been quite nasty. Luckily, the two managed to think quickly on their feet and Jimmy hit a quick Super kick which allowed for the tag. The ending was quick and exciting, as well as doing a good job of making The Shield look in danger, despite the better knowledge of the viewer. After both Uso and Ambrose went for a cross body, Justin Gabriel perched in place for the 450 Splash, with The Usos taking out Rollins and Reigns. But with Gabriel distracted by the action, Ambrose knocked him off the top and hit his Headlock Driver finisher for the victory. I enjoyed this finish as it built up well, as well as getting the crowd behind the face team as it looked like they were working towards a victory.

Although this was a good contest, I’m not sure what it did for either team. The Shield have been built up well enough already and didn’t particularly need a victory like this, whilst The Usos and Gabriel may have looked good at points, without an appearance on Raw or Smackdown they aren’t going to reach a large enough audience to be taken seriously. WWE could do with building some more regular teams up well so the Shield have someone to eventually drop the title to, the teams are already there and they have enough talent that if used properly could not only create good match with The Shield but also be considered a reasonable threat.

Best of the rest

There was also an appearance from the newly packaged Antonio Cesaro, of course with Zeb Colter. Colter cut another good pre-match promo, further explaining his new partnership with Cesaro, along with berating Cesaro’s opponent Sin Cara for wearing a mask. Zeb is very good with these pre-match promos and definitely helps to build up heat for Cesaro within the crowd, not that Cesaro isn’t capable of this himself, although, as we saw with Jack Swagger, Cesaro had been so ill-used by WWE it had become difficult for the casual WWE viewer to take him seriously on his own.

The match was another good contest between these two, with Cesaro seeming like the perfect opponent for Sin Cara, who seems to struggle with the majority of WWE’s other performers. Sin Cara allows Cesaro to show off his power extremely well, whilst Cesaro’s large frame makes it look even more impressive when Sin Cara goes high flying. The only problem with Sin Cara working in this kind of role, is that you can’t see any of his face due to the mask, and therefore when he is put in submission holds, it is difficult for him to look in danger without flailing his limbs in a ridiculous fashion. Cesaro picked up the victory with a Neutralizer, after grounding Sin Cara with a rear chin lock. I still find this finish strange and will obviously need to be dropped once Cesaro faces more difficult opponents.

There was also Diva’s action with former Diva’s Champion Kaitlyn taking on Aksana. Unfortunately, this match wasn’t able to build on the progression we’ve seen in the Diva’s division as of late, we simply haven’t seen enough of Aksana on WWE TV to actually care about what she is doing in the ring. Aksana dominated through most of the match, included a strange looking crawl around the ring, which looked awkward not only for the audience but also for Aksana herself, which resulted in weird kick for a two count. Eventually, Kaitlyn managed to reverse a charging Aksana, and picked up the victory with a Spear. WWE Diva’s division may have come on leaps and bounds in the last couple of weeks, but two divas does not a division make.

Finally…

What have we learned from this week’s Main Event? 

1. The Uso's push didn't last very long.

2. Zeb Colter and Antonio Cesaro have the potential to be a very entertaining partnerships. 

3. WWE need to build up more Tag Teams and Divas to help support the divisions. 

Announced for Friday's Smackdown:

Replacing the previously announced Daniel Bryan vs. United States Champion Dean Ambrose.

Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton: