WWE Smackdown 19th July 2013 Review

WWE has started making Smackdown feel a little bit more important over the last month or so, starting with The Shield’s first loss, it has steadily began building from there, with news of a new General Manager this week things can surely only get better as the show finally feels like it has a focus again.

WWE Championship Mr. Money in the Bank Randy Orton 

vs. 

World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio

This match was made by returning Smackdown General Manager and Hall of Famer Booker T, making his first WWE appearance in three months at the start of the show (more on that later). For me, it felt like WWE had sort of booked themselves into a corner with this match, as whatever the outcome here, I would have had something to complain about. Firstly, the World Heavyweight Champion shouldn’t lose cleanly in a non-title match, as it devalues the title, and if the World Heavyweight Champion does happen to lose in a non-title match, the victor should be revieving a World Heavyweight Championship down the line, they’ve proven they can beat the champion, if they don’t then go after the title, it makes the belt look meaningless. Secondly, WWE couldn’t really have Randy Orton lose either, holding the Money in the Bank briefcase for the WWE Championship, Orton has to look strong, as repeated losses will make his subsequent WWE Championship reign look like a fluke, as we’ve seen many times before with WWE, with reigns for CM Punk and Daniel Bryan both falling flat.

Therefore, I was fully expecting to sit through this match with very little interest, especially seeing as it’s a match that WWE has used a lot in the past including at match at last year’s Hell in a Cell Pay-Per-View. For the early part of the match, this was true, as it felt a lot like Del Rio and Orton were going through the motions, with a lot of re-hashed spots and rest holds, that made it difficult to engage early on. Having said this the match was technically sound, and it was difficult to complain about what was actually happening in the ring, it just needed a hook for me to be fully invested in the contest.

The match really did pick up towards the end, in both terms of pace and intensity. With a huge enziguiri from Del Rio taking Orton off the apron it felt like the match finally sparked to life, with Del Rio working well as a heel, talking smack to Orton using Orton’s signature build up for an RKO, even attempting Orton’s finisher which was reversed. After this there came a number of nice reversal including Del Rio reversing an RKO in a Backstabber, and the finish which Orton roll out of a Cross Arm Breaker, duck a Superkick and hit an RKO for the pinfall victory. It was quick and snappy ending with Orton’s RKO looking the best it has in a while.

It’s interesting to think that this is the kind of match that Randy Orton would have been losing six months ago, as his star had truly dimmed with WWE seemingly punishing Orton for his second wellness policy violation. Therefore it would seem like the punishment is finally over, as with the Money in the Bank briefcase in hand, and a new lease of life in the character Randy Orton seems to be heading back to the top, he just has to stop going through the motions in his matches and bring the action all the time, if he wants to win back a lot of the fans that he’s lost over the last few years. 

WWE Chairman Vince McMahon announces a New Smackdown General Manager

It was a big week for Smackdown as the opening segment saw the blue show gain a new General Manager. The show kicked off with Smackdown Senior Adviser Teddy Long announcing that Vince McMahon would be on Smackdown tonight to give Teddy a job evaluation, and as Teddy rallied the crowd to see if he was doing a good job, he was interrupted by a returning Smackdown General Manager Booker T. Booker thanked Teddy for stepping in for him, before pulling out his signature catchphrase “Can you dig that, Sucka?” which the Smackdown crowd seemed to love. Of course, Booker was then interrupted by WWE Chairman Vince McMahon who headed down the ring. It’s not often that Mr. McMahon appears on Smackdown, so when he does you know it’s for something big, making the show feel important once more.

Vince said only one person could be in charge on Smackdown and got both Teddy and Booker to come up with a match for the show to help him make his mind up, with Teddy choosing Chris Jericho vs. Curtis Axel with the Intercontinental Championship on the line and Booker choosing the previously mentioned Randy Orton vs. Alberto Del Rio match, but before Vince could make a decision Raw General Manager Brad Maddox headed to the ring, to throw his hat into the ring to become Smackdown General Manager as well, announcing that Rob Van Dam would make his Smackdown return on the show. Vince then went on to make his decision naming Vickie Guerrero as the new General Manager of Smackdown. It was an interesting choice, with Vickie being fired from her role as Raw General Manager two weeks ago, I was glad to see Vickie get a regular spot on WWE television again as I genuinely do enjoy her as a heel character, but it’s a shame we lose Booker T who had only just made his return.

Vickie went on to cut a good promo on the fans being the reason she lost her job on Raw, re positioning herself as a fully blown heel, which is definitely the best role for Vickie to play, as the crowd just loves to boo her. It was good to see Vickie back with the confidence that made her earlier run as Smackdown General Manager so enjoyable in the first place, instead of the beaten down character we saw her playing on Raw a few weeks ago. It will be interesting to see how Vickie fits back into this heel role, and the Smackdown General Manager role, hopefully she’ll be back up to her old tricks to keep the show interesting again.

We got a glimpse of what Vickie will be like as General Manager, with a few backstage segments where she quickly disapatched of some old foes. Firstly, Teddy Long as she suckered him in to believing she could have a job for him before calling security, in a fun segment. Then it was Raw General Manager Brad Maddox’s turn, as he offered a hand shake to Vickie only to receive thunderous slap from the new Smackdown General Manager. I’m hoping that we see Vickie align herself with a wrestler again soon, similar to her runs with Edge and Dolph Ziggler, as this could really bring a lot of spice to Smackdown, making the show must watch television over the next few months. 

Best of the Rest (In the World)

Elsewhere this week, the feud between Chris Jericho and Curtis Axel came to a close with Jericho getting a shot at Axel’s Intercontinental Championship. It’s been an exciting series of matches between Jericho and Axel with Y2J handing Axel his first loss under Paul Heyman’s tutelage on 8^th July Raw, followed up with another victory on the same week’s Smackdown. Both matches have been very well worked building towards the finish well, therefore I awaited this match with anticipation expecting it to surpass the previous two and with the rumour this could be Jericho’s last match in WWE for some time I was expecting something special.

On that count I was not disappointed, with Jericho and Axel putting on a classic Interconintental Championship match, that had me gripped from the beginning. Yes, I knew the likelihood of Jericho winning this one was slim, but somehow the way the story was told had me believing that he might by the end. As the match built with neither man having much control for very long, going back and forth with some nice reversals, including Jericho ducking a clothesline and turning it into a bridging Northern Lights suplex for a near fall. Of course, towards the end the involvement of Axel’s manager Paul Heyman increased, distracting Jericho on the top rope, but Axel didn’t have control for long as he spent two agonising spells in the Walls of Jericho, really helping to cement Axel as a top competitor when he made it to the ropes. The ending saw Heyman distract Jericho again, allowing Axel to hit a big boot, followed up with Hangman’s Facebuster for a Pinfall victory and to retain the Intercontinental Championship. After the match, Ryback headed to ring, and after some struggle from Jericho, finished off Y2J with a Shellshocked, possibly setting up for a rematch when Jericho returns to WWE.

The brand new Number One Contender to John Cena’s WWE Championship was also in action, as Daniel Bryan took on Preston’s Wade Barrett. The match was disappointingly short, as it showed promise of being a really good contest if given enough time to breath, with Bryan and Barrett having good chemistry in the ring with a number of well-worked reversal. This match was basically their to showcase Bryan’s ability as he picked up a quick submission victory after transitioning a crucifix roll up into a No! Lock. It’s important for Daniel Bryan to pick up victories heading into Summerslam against Cena, however it’s still disappointing to see Wade Barrett in the position he finds himself in at the moment.

Miz TV also returned this week, with regular guest Paul Heyman. We’ve seen Miz and Heyman square off in this segment a number of times, and somehow each time Heyman and Miz come up with something different to bring to the segment. Whilst I have been critical in previous reviews of The Miz as a face, I actually think he did a pretty good job here, even if it is strange to see The Miz as WWE’s moral compass. The Miz told Heyman he could say whatever he wanted, with Heyman ofcourse cutting a great promo asking CM Punk to back down from a fight with Brock Lesnar at Summerslam. The Miz then cut a scathing promo on Heyman, telling him he was revolted by him and the fact he swore on his children and still lied. I was really impressed with The Miz here who did a great job with his promo and got the delivery pretty much spot on. I enjoy the Miz TV segments with Heyman, as The Miz isn’t directly involved in the storyline, so is a lot more free to experiment with his role. 

The opening match of the show saw former stablemates Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger face off, with Swagger’s new stablemate Antonio Cesaro at ringside with their manager Zeb Colter. It was a good solid television match, that followed a coherent story, with Colter and Cesaro getting ejected after Cesaro had given Ziggler and uppercut behind the referees back. With Colter and Cesaro gone, Ziggler was able to take advantage after breaking out of the Patriot Lock to hit a Zig Zag for a pinfall victory. After the match, Ziggler cut a quick promo about dumping Divas Champion AJ Lee on Raw, saying he was sorry he didn’t do it sooner. This of course sent AJ into a rage backstage as she threw chairs around, before being calmed down by Big E Langston, who went onto kiss her on the forehead. It would appear that we’re moving toward Dolph Ziggler vs. Big E Langston at Summerslam, which leaves me wondering who Alberto Del Rio will face at the Biggest Party of the Summer.

New World Heavyweight Championship Mr. Money in the Bank Damien Sandow also appeared on Smackdown to explain his actions against Cody Rhodes at Money in the Bank, and Cody’s subsequent attack on Raw. Damien did a good job of playing the obnoxious heel, saying that forgiveness is a trait of the strong, before Cody came down to the ring. Damien offered to allow Cody to be the “Protector of the Case” and that he forgave Cody for his attack on Monday. As Sandow offered Rhodes the briefcase, Cody smashed it over his head instead, with Sandow escaping Cody before any real damage could be done. I liked this segment and I’m really getting into this Rhodes-Sandow feud, if WWE can keep this up they could make two new main eventers in one go.

The Shield’s Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns were supposed to be in action against The Usos, however the match never really got going. After The Usos quickly gained an upperhand, fellow Shield member United States Champion Dean Ambrose entered the ring to help his teammates. As The Shield beat down the Usos, Mark Henry came out to make the save, taking down the Shield after some help from the Usos. Mark Henry seems to fit nicely in this new rivalry with The Shield, I’m just wondering how the payoff for this feud is going to come about, with Henry get a shot at Ambrose’s United States Championship or find himself a partner and take on Rollins and Reigns?

Rob Van Dam made his return to Smackdown in a match against The Prime Time Players’ Darren Young. Van Dam looked a lot more comfortable in the ring than he did in the early part of his match with Chris Jericho on Raw, with The Prime Time Players making good foils for Van Dam’s in ring antics. Van Dam got the majority of the offence in after a swift comeback, hitting most of his signature moves including a huge leap of a Rolling Thunder, before picking up the victory with a Five Star Frogsplash in a decent television contest. I’m waiting to see RVD enter into an actual feud heading into Summerslam, as this will be the real test to see if he can still compete at this level for WWE. I’m also interested that Darren Young has been positioned in a number of high profile match ups over the last few months, against the likes of John Cena and CM Punk, performing well, and am wondering if WWE has any plans of making him a singles competitor full time.

Finally...

What have I learnt from this week's Smackdown?

1. Randy Orton will only put in a decent match on his terms, otherwise he will simply go through the motions.

2. I've really missed Vickie Guerrero as a fully blown heel.

3. JBL does a lot more research than Michael Cole, for their commentary.

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 Smackdown 5th July 2013 Review

It was funny episode of Smackdown this week, with a lot of regular Smackdown wrestlers on WWE’s tour of Japan, we got to see a rare appearance from CM Punk, whilst a few other superstar got a chance to have a little extra time on the show.

CM Punk vs. World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio

In what was billed as a “Special Appearance”, CM Punk turned up this week on Smackdown, kicking off the show with a promo about his chance in the All-Stars Money in the Bank Ladder Match at Money in the Bank, as well as involving the previous days Independence Day. Punk seems to be able to pull off a good promo with absolute ease and even though this was another good showing, at times it felt like he was phoning it in, possibly because this is Smackdown not Raw, which is a shame because some of Punk’s best work came over on the blue brand back in 2009. In an almost mirror image of the Post-Payback Raw, Alberto Del Rio came out to counter Punk’s claim of being Best in the World. Del Rio has settled back into the heel role well, himself talking about Independence Day and criticising the American people. With Punk pointing out WWE’s continuity errors, with Del Rio’s previous “Born in Mexico, Made in America” vignettes for Del Rio. An obviously confused Teddy Long wondered out to the ring and booked a one on one match for the main event.

Leading up to the match, we got a few backstage segment’s with Paul Heyman. Firstly, speaking to best friend CM Punk, attempting to get Punk to allow him to cancel the match later on, as well asking to accompany Punk to ringside for the Money in the Bank Ladder Match. Punk, of course told Heyman that he didn’t need his help anymore. Later on, we saw Heyman go to Teddy Long’s office, in an interesting twist Long said that Heyman could be at ringside for Punk vs. Del Rio later on, as a guest commentator. It would appear WWE are going with a story where Teddy Long is attempting to usurp Booker T on Smackdown, not sure why they are doing this, WWE should be making the leadership situation clearer rather than complicating it. I am however enjoying the slow build for CM Punk vs. Brock Lesnar with Heyman and Punk doing a good job of keeping the story going in Brock Lesnar’s absence.

The match was another decent technical contest between these two, although due to only less than ten minutes, wasn’t close to the match they had on Raw three weeks ago. Del Rio spent a lot of the match controlling Punk, and looked like he might have an upset victory (The World Heavyweight Champion having an upset victory is crazy) when he thwarted an elbow drop attempt from Punk with a huge Enziguiri that looked and sounded impressive. What made this match for me was that there looked to be intent behind the moves, rather than the going through the motions we’ve seen from some WWE wrestlers lately, with both men giving their all in the time they were given.

The ending of the match saw Heyman get involved as the action had spilled to the outside. With Del Rio removing the cover of the announce table, Heyman tried to reason with Del Rio, only to receive a punch from Del Rio. This caused Punk to go over the edge, with some great camera work and facial expression from Punk telling the story before it had even happened. Punk went onto assault Del Rio causing both men to get counted out. The show finished with Punk delivering a GTS to Del Rio, before checking on Heyman. It was a nice piece of development for the Punk/Heyman relationship, revealing Punk still cared for Heyman’s wellbeing and showing their friendship well, making the moment when Heyman finally turns on Punk even sweeter. I’m not sure why Del Rio needed to be involved as it did little for him here and his story with Dolph Ziggler didn’t get the spotlight it needed. I would have much rather seen a different performer get the chance to wrestle CM Punk, who would have gotten more out of the experience.

Christian vs. Randy Orton

Before the match, Randy Orton and Christian were interviewed backstage by Renee Young. Both Christian and Orton talked about the past between the two, with their battles in 2011 lighting up not only Smackdown but the entire WWE. They also spoke about them both competing in the All Stars Money in the Bank Ladder match and how they each believed they were going to win. It was a pretty straight forward segment, with nothing out of the ordinary said between either, it built up the match later well making it feel important, for not only momentum but to settle the feud one last time.

The match took a while to get going with going back and forth, mainly due to face vs. face aspect of the match, with neither man wanting to spend too long on top. I understand that Orton and Christian have got a big match coming up soon, but the amount of rest holds early on in the match was a little silly. The headlocks and similar moves are a staple of Orton’s offence, even more so over the last two years, and it makes it difficult to get into his matches as you can kind of work out what’s going to happen for the majority of the contest. Orton might be bringing a little more passion back to his game lately, but he could really do with mixing it up in ring a bit more often.

The ending saw Orton building for an RKO, really working the crowd well, Christian blocked the RKO and headed to the top rope, Orton ducked whatever Christian had been planning and Christian walked into an RKO to give Christian the victory. It was a nice ending that was worked well by both men. The match here wasn’t quite as good as what we’ve seen in the past from Christian and Orton, mainly because it lacked a lot of the intent that made those matches good in the first place and felt like both Orton and Christian were holding back during the bout.

With both Orton and Christian heading into the All-Stars Money in the Bank Ladder Match on 14^th July, it felt like a strange decision to give Orton the win here. Yes, Orton lost to Daniel Bryan on last weeks Raw, but Christian was the wrestler most in need of a big victory going into the match. He’s only really seen victories over lesser name competitors since his return, with his six man tag victory with The Usos over The Shield not really being capitalized upon, a win here for Christian would have allowed him to look like he was in with a chance, rather than just making up the numbers.

Best of the Rest (In the World)

Elsewhere Number One Contenders for the Tag Team Championships, The Usos faced Team Rhodes Scholars. Before the match, Damien Sandow talked about the World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank Ladder Match, talking about how he and Cody would not turn on each other during the match, remaining best friends. The amount of times this has been mentioned on WWE Television you have to believe that Sandow turning on Rhodes will be a focal point of the match, otherwise there would be no need to mention it, I will be extremely surprised if this doesn’t happen.

The match was a short, simple, yet enjoyable tag team contest, with Rhodes Scholars keeping an Uso (I still don’t know who is who) contained, until they went for a double back suplex with Uso escaping, before sending Rhodes to the apron where he received a Superkick, and Sandow got the same treatment in the ring. The Usos brought back a finish we saw them use earlier in their careers hitting stereo Superfly Splashes for the victory. The Shield were shown on the screen, with Rollins and Reigns have their strongest talking appearance on WWE TV, saying they weren’t shaken by the Usos win last week and they’d retain the tag titles at Money in  the Bank kick off. Dean Ambrose spoke about his involvement with Christian, as well as the World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank match, the idea of Ambrose holding Money in the Bank seems like a really good idea, fitting the groups character well, but I’m not quite sure WWE will give him this opportunity quite yet.

Number One Contender Dolph Ziggler was also in action this week. Before his match with 3MB’s Drew McIntyre, Ziggler had some time on the microphone. Ziggler did a pretty good job of talking about his rivalry with Alberto Del Rio, with only a few minor tweaks to his character, which is how the best turns should work, especially with Ziggler already a popular heel. Ziggler picked up a quick win over McIntyre after hitting the Zig Zag following a massive tilt-a-whirl around McIntyre. After the match, 3MB tried to attack Ziggler again only to be thwarted by him, twice. The 3MB stuff has worked for me, in terms of getting Ziggler over as a face, but it has meant that the rivalry with Alberto Del Rio has gone a bit off the boil, especially with Ziggler having no part in the main event.

Number One Contender to the Diva’s Championship Kaitlyn was also in action in a rematch from Raw against Alicia Fox. Fox dominated from the outset, but with Kaitlyn making a comeback, Diva’s Champion AJ Lee headed out to ringside. AJ skipped around the ring, causing the eventual distraction that allowed Fox to get a role up victory. Surely, a victory over a number one contender puts you into the title picture, or maybe that’s just me. AJ ran away from ringside with Kaitlyn following. Somehow AJ had shaken Kaitlyn and ran into the Bella Twins backstage, who claimed they were coming for the Diva’s Championship. I know The Bella’s have a new TV show to promote but there must be other way rather than muddying the waters of the Diva’s Championship picture, with Natalya and Alicia Fox already holding victories over the champion and number one contender. It was also teased that AJ might split boyfriend Dolph Ziggler as she as Big E Langston left without him.

Also Fandango was in action against Justin Gabriel. It was essentially a squash match, with Fandango getting pretty much all of the offence in. It was enjoyable to watch and made Fandango look good, whilst allowing Gabriel to show off his athleticism. The ending saw Fandango stop a potential dive to the outside from Gabriel with a kick to the head, before heading to the top rope for a Leg Drop. Fandango heads into the World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank Ladder Match, and unfortunately this match won’t do much to convince me he’s going to win the briefcase come the 14^th of July. 

Finally...

What have I learnt from this week's episode of Smackdown?

1. Best in the World is a higher title, than World Heavyweight Champion.

2. Randy Orton vs. Christian was done better in 2011.

3. If you say something isn't going to happen (Sandow and Rhodes turning on each other at the Money in the Bank) so often, it's pretty likely it's going to happen.

WWE Smackdown 14th June 2013 Review

It was huge night for Smackdown this week, as something significant actually happened! Yes, The Shield suffered their first loss as a group.

Team RK-No & Kane vs. The Shield

The show started with Daniel Bryan in the ring, as he cut an entertaining promo about his accomplishments in WWE, including his nine month tag team run with Kane in Team Hell No, calling Kane out to the ring in the process. With the two eventually beginning to squabble after Daniel Bryan revealed he wouldn’t team with Kane anymore as he and Randy Orton were going to win the tag team championships at Payback, even coming up with a new team name, Team RK-No. With Kane about to chokeslam Bryan, Orton came out to make the save. However the three then continued to argue, until The Shield turned up on the video screen. The Shield put over their partnership as a group, as well as the main event and their respective match at Payback. It was a good opening segment that revealed each of the players in the main event well and set up any potential conflicts that might be seen later on as well as at Payback.

The match between the six, was as is now the norm for these six man tag team contest, was well worked and well paced by all six competitors. Some of the spots and sections during the beginning and middle of the match may have be familiar to some regular reviewers but this didn’t make seeing them again any less enjoyable. With The Shield dominating for most of the match, the match was driven by a number of hot tags from the face team, with of course the highlight and final turning point being the hot tag to Daniel Bryan. Bryan has managed to bring something new on every occasion he receives the tag, this time a nice dropkick to Rollins who had just springboarded of the ropes, which certainly helps to keep these matches feeling fresh and exciting.

With number of near falls for both Bryan and Seth Rollins really got the crowd worked up with the match beginning to look like it could go either way. The ending of the match saw the crowd almost red hot, as an exciting ending section began with Kane dodging Roman Reigns’ spear, sending Reigns over the barricade, Kane then choke slammed Ambrose on top of Reigns, which looked effective on screen. With The Shield finally outnumbered, Kane pushed Rollins off the top rope into the arms of a coiled Randy Orton who struck with an RKO, before Bryan had Rollins submit to the No Lock. It felt a fitting ending to match, which told a fantastic story throughtout and the reverse of the outnumbering was a clever move by WWE.

Many will be upset that The Shield lost their first match here, especially on Smackdown. However, I think it was a wise move by WWE, for a number of reasons, firstly it helps to build for the matches at Payback, by making showing the Orton, Bryan and Kane can beat the Shield and therefore could take the championships as well, secondly The Shield’s unbeaten run would have become repetitive very soon with them running out of opponents to face and it’s better to end something while it’s still hot than allow the crowd to grow tired of something, and finally it may not be a PPV or Raw, but because Smackdown is taped it would have meant a lot of people tuned into watch to see The Shield lose for the first time, rather than just another Shield match elsewhere, the ratings will hopefully prove this theory correct. 

Alberto Del Rio & Chris Jericho with Ricardo Rodrigues vs. World Heavyweight Champion Dolph Ziggler & Big E Langston with AJ Lee

This match was set up by acting General Manager Teddy Long, during another blantant advertising segment for some American fast food restaurant. With Teddy munching his way through a burger, he was met by the returning Dolph Ziggler, alongside Big E Langston and AJ Lee. With Ziggler unhappy at being forced to compete tonight, Teddy Long basically told him to go away so he could eat more of his burger. With Ziggler gone, Teddy settled down for his dinner before Big E Langston turned up and stole it. It really was as bizarre as it sounds and I really hope WWE drops the burgers before the next episode of Raw.

The early parts of the match were slow with Langston doing the majority of the work for his team, dominating Jericho and Del Rio, who made quick tags after impact moves. The match picked up a gear with some nice work on the outside between Jericho and Langston, including Langston getting thrown into the steel steps and Jericho going spine first into the barricade. The little of Ziggler we saw during the match looked to be showing very little signs of ring rust, as he performed a nice section controlling Jericho, before the hot tag to Del Rio.

The end came pretty quickly after the hot tag from Del Rio, with another classic tag team breakdown segment. With Del Rio being bulldozed by Langston, Jericho quickly dispatched of him before receiving a good looking drop kick from Ziggler. With Ziggler taking time to celebrate Del Rio capitilized with a nice small package for the victory. It was a solidly worked ending to a solidly worked match that built up well throughout it’s ten minutes or so. Del Rio picking up the victory here gives him good momentum going into Payback, whilst Ziggler’s spree of moves on Jericho showed that he will be more than able to counter any threat shown from Del Rio, keeping both looking good heading into their Payback show down.

After the match, Jericho was interviewed by Renee Young. As we’d expect from Y2J he gave a very good interview his match with CM Punk this Sunday. He built up the connection between CM Punk and Chicago, as well talking about his connections to the city. Jericho then made the claim that this match will be better than their previous contests, which is a brave claim to make after the quality of those matches, Punk-Jericho III (as it’s being billed) will have to have to set the world on fire to live up to it’s high expectations. Punk’s manager Paul Heyman turned up to talk up his client, before Jericho shoved the mic in his face, it’s nice to see Jericho playing a different kind of face than we have been taught to expect from WWE, although without Punk being present his aggression towards Heyman feels a little out of place. The absence of Punk has obviously harmed this rivalry, as it’s been difficult to build any kind of story around it, similar to the absence of Dolph Ziggler, especially with the rumours that Punk might not even turn up in Chicago. 

Best of the Rest

Elsewhere on Smackdown, the build for Intercontinental Championship Triple Threat at Payback continued with Curtis Axel facing champion Wade Barrett. Although with Barrett suggesting the two hold of the fight until Payback, it seemed the match would not happen. That was until The Miz came out with a slightly annoying promo in an attempt to get the two to fight. The Miz clearly has a lot of skill when handed a microphone, but his character and personality do not suit the face role he is currently in and everything he says comes out like a brattish child who really wants you to like them. The childish behaviour continued with the Miz attempted to get the crowd to chant “Fight” on television it seemed like this worked, although I wouldn’t be surprised if WWE added in a few extra chants.

For some unknown reason, Axel and Barrett decided to have their fight. For me, it would have made more sense for the two to leave, allowing them to garner heat for not doing what the crowd wanted. The match itself was short but good between these two, with the two going back and forth throughout. The ending came with Barrett ducking a clothesline from Axel who took out the Miz, with Barrett distracted by Heyman, once he was ready to get back in the ring, Axel was waiting with a Rope Hung Spinning Neckbreaker for the victory. It was a logical ending to the contest involving all parties that will be involved in the triple threat and giving Axel a credible victory over Barrett giving him a reasonable claim to the title. The only problem is we’ve seen Wade Barrett lose so many times as Intercontinental Champion recently, it’s difficult to see him as the credible champion we know he could be.

Kaitlyn continued to show signs of a breakdown in a contest with Aksana. Before the match, the reveal of Kaitlyn’s secret admirer was shown on the screen with Kaitlyn clearly affected by it. She charged at Aksana and a catfight eschewed, all the was missing was Joey Styles over the top. The match never got started, although I’m sure there isn’t a lot of people too upset about that fact. With Kaitlyn battling Aksana to the outside and the referee trying to break up the fight Kaitlyn slapped the referee in the face before Aksana escaped. It was a decent segment, an helped to further Kaitlyn’s new persona, although we’ve seen similar storylines before with the Divas. With Kaitlyn and AJ now showing signs of being a little big crazy, they should have a decent match at Payback, it goes to show that all the Divas need is a little TV time, a storyline and some character development to get the people interested.

The first match of the show saw a rematch from last weeks Main Event, as Sheamus faced Antonio Cesaro. Before the contest there was a promo from Sheamus’ Payback Kick-Off opponent Damien Sandow, who did a good job building the rivalry on the whole and finally appeared to be the heel in the story. If anything it was refreshing not to have to watch another awful games segment as we’ve experienced over the last three weeks. The match was another good match between these two who shared the offence more or less equally throughout the match, with highlight seeing Sheamus catch Cesaro on the outside and send him overhead into the barricade and Cesaro driving Sheamus into the ring steps. The ending saw a Brogue Kick out of nowhere from Sheamus for the victory. These two seem to work well together, with Cesaro’s serious wrestling style bringing out a more serious side of Sheamus which is a lot better to watch than the goofy side we’ve seen for most of his face run. Whilst Sheamus headed to the back Sandow reappeared with a blindside attack. With the rivalry now feeling a lot more serious than in recent weeks, I have high hopes for their contest at Payback Kickoff and hope they keep the serious nature for the contest.

There was also a match pitting The Great Khali against 3MB’s Heath Slater. Khali dominated most of what was a poor match, although if you were expecting anything else from Khali then you obviously haven’t been watching WWE television in the last six years. The end saw an altercation between the other members of 3MB and Hornswoggle which distracted Khali allowing Slater take down the giant, before a thunderous DDT gave him the victory. I’m not sure of the last time Slater won a match on TV, especially on a Raw or Smackdown, but it’s been a very long time indeed. It would be nice to see 3MB move higher up the card, as I think they’re all fairly talented guys and have taken to the poor 3MB gimmick well, but I’m not quite sure where they will fit into current WWE plans.

Finally…

What have we learnt from this weeks Smackdown? 

1. WWE isn't afraid having huge moments, like The Shield first loss, happen on what is essentially the B show.

2. Dolph Ziggler looks ready to go come this Sunday's Payback.

3. WWE should really stop the over the top advertisement of Fast Food product during segments of their show. 

WWE Smackdown 7th June 2013 Review

As Smackdown continues to look like WWE’s “wrestling” show, featuring longer matches and adding more depth to the feuds that are seen on Raw, it continues to grow into a more enjoyable show, this week stuck to the trend, although certain segments continue to bring it down. 

Miz TV: With Team Hell No & Randy Orton

The show kicked off with another edition of Miz TV, which is becoming a regular opener for Smackdown as of late. The usually loud mouth host The Miz was especially quiet for this edition with Daniel Bryan and Kane doing most of the talking, advancing their storyline, with some input from Randy Orton. Daniel Bryan and Kane did an excellent job with lengthy speech that could have caused some other talent to trip up. Randy Orton seems to enjoying himself again, as his role is allowing him to play less smiling face and more of a tweener character as he continued to wind up Daniel Bryan.

With Daniel Bryan exploding in anger at Kane, accusing him of rather tagging with a different competitor, causing Kane to leave the ring. This was a well-played moment from both men, and could have easily come across as a cheesy moment, without the intensity employed by both men. As The Miz teased the end of Team Hell No, Smackdown Senior Adviser Teddy Long came out, determined once again to prove his fetish for a good old fashioned TAG TEAM MATCH, placing Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton together to take on Tag Team Champions The Shield in the main event.

WWE Tag Team Champions The Shield (Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins) Vs. Randy Orton & Daniel Bryan

Further building up to this contest, there was a backstage segment between Orton and Bryan. With Orton informing Bryan of Kane having to go to the trainer’s room after a match with Ryback. Bryan showed little concern for Kane, it will be interesting to see if WWE try’s to turn Bryan in to the heel in the inevitable rivalry, and it will be extremely difficult with Bryan uber-over at the moment. With Orton revealing that he didn’t like Bryan, the conflict between the two would build nicely heading into the tag team contest.

It’s becoming repetitive to have to keep writing about how good The Shield’s matches are, but the fact is they just are that good and when you through in Daniel Bryan who is also on fire at the moment and reinvigorated Randy Orton to mix you’ve got a great combination. With Bryan refusing to tag in Orton near the start of the match, the tension between the two continued to build throughout. With The Shield keeping control of Bryan, until “The Submission Specialist” finally accepted Orton’s helped and The Viper exploded off the hot tag. The Shield soon got control of Orton but it wasn’t long before another hot tag, and this time to man who has turned the hot tag into an art form as of late, Daniel Bryan. This time threw in a beautiful belly to back suplex which turned Seth Rollins inside out. The ending came when Bryan accidentally connected with Orton in the corner with a front kick, Rollins went for a roll up, only for Bryan to lock in the No Lock. This was too much for The Shield as United States Champion Dean Ambrose made the interference. With Bryan using The Shield’s own momentum to take out Rollins and Ambrose, it was Randy Orton who had the final say with an RKO to Bryan. This was one of the best ending’s to Smackdown for a while, as it felt like it would actually have some consequence and has left me eager to see how the storyline develops on Monday. 

Chris Jericho vs. Curtis Axel w/Paul Heyman

Paul Heyman continues to not only talk up Curtis Axel’s victories over recent weeks but also to give Axel the time to talk himself. This time only a sort promo to tie into Axel’s victories over World Champions, this seems to be recycled from 2006 when MVP was going around saying similar things about his cheap victories over World Champions. Axel has begun to finish his promo with the word “Perfect” Axel will need to be careful not to play the same role his father did as similar situations, such as when Ted DiBiase played the exact same character as The Million Dollar complete with Million Dollar Championship and Virgil, it didn’t really work out.

Paul Heyman joined Michael Cole and JBL on commentary, this was a good decision by WWE. It allowed Heyman to continue to talk up his client, as well as explain his motivations during the contest, although at times it seemed to be more about CM Punk that it did about Curtis Axel. Punk’s match with Jericho did need to get pushed, but it did take the focus somewhat off Axel at various points throughout the match.

The match included dominant spells for both men, as it went back and forth throughout. There were some nice sequences included a dive between the rope to the outside from Jericho, who later surprisingly missed a Lionsault, before being hit with Axel’s Spinning Neckbreaker, only to kick out. The ending sequence saw Axel escaped the Walls of Jericho to the outside, and with Heyman jumping on top the announce table, pointing to the tron and CM Punk’s music hitting, with Jericho confused, Axel crawled in the ring for the roll up victory. It was a nice ending, but Axel continues to look like an afterthought in Heyman’s stable, merely giving him something to when CM Punk and Brock Lesnar aren’t around, which is a shame considering his in ring ability.

After the contest, Jericho beat on Axel eventually hitting him with a Code Breaker. This keeps Jericho looking strong heading in to his contest with Punk at Payback. Axel on the other hand is now undefeated in Six since joining Paul Heyman, and his cheap victories are helping him build into his heel role, however he could really do with some clean victories over some mid card talent on Raw and Smackdown to prove he is capable of hanging with the bigger names. He could also do with a new finisher since both the Perfect Plex and Spinning Neckbreaker have been kicked out of in recent weeks.

Best of the Rest

Elsewhere, Alberto Del Rio was supposed to take on Heath Slater. However, with the other member of 3MB attacking Del Rio pre-match the match didn’t start. Del Rio was however easily able to fend off his attackers before placing Slater in the Cross Armbreaker, Slater quickly tapped out. McIntyre and Mahal however weren’t finished off and came back for more. This time however they were met by Ricardo Rodrigues who teamed with Del Rio to take them out of the ring, before heading to the top rope for a flying splash. It’s funny to think that Ricardo is probably more over with the fans as a face than Del Rio, but it’s because he plays a more sympathetic character and looks a lot more comfortable in the role. The segments was fun, but meaningless doing little for either party but it was what happened afterwards that was the real talking point.

Dolph Ziggler appeared on the tron, marking his first real appearance on WWE TV in around a month, which is long time for a World Heavyweight Champion as WWE chooses to circumnavigate the 30 day defence rule once more. With Ziggler cutting a good short promo, before announcing that he’s cleared for competition and will be on the next Raw, it appear WWE can finally stop treading water with the rivalry, but with just a week until Payback it could be a push to develop anything resembling a meaningful rivalry.

As mentioned earlier Kane was also in the action against Ryback. In a segment reminiscent to Ryback’s meeting with Daniel Bryan on Raw. With Kane defending Bryan and asking Ryback if he could put him through a table, surprisingly however the match that followed was a regular singles match. Kane’s work on interviews and promos has been really impressive over recent weeks and his ability to switch between comedic and serious is something not a lot of WWE competitors possess.

I was really surprised by this contest, as I expected something similar to Ryback’s match with Mark Henry at Wrestlemania. However Ryback and Kane put on a pretty good match, not a technical bout no, but it was back and forth, as well as both men landing some heavy hits which certainly added to the match. Unfortunately, it was cut short when Ryback pulled out the table and after some reversals by both parties, just about managed to powerbomb Kane through the table. Ryback has really benefit from his number of longer contest with the likes of Kofi Kingston and Daniel Bryan as of late and WWE has finally built him up into a realistic challenger for Cena’s title at Payback.

As mentioned earlier Kane was also in the action against Ryback. In a segment reminiscent to Ryback’s meeting with Daniel Bryan on Raw. With Kane defending Bryan and asking Ryback if he could put him through a table, surprisingly however the match that followed was a regular singles match. Kane’s work on interviews and promos has been really impressive over recent weeks and his ability to switch between comedic and serious is something not a lot of WWE competitors possess.

I was really surprised by this contest, as I expected something similar to Ryback’s match with Mark Henry at Wrestlemania. However Ryback and Kane put on a pretty good match, not a technical bout no, but it was back and forth, as well as both men landing some heavy hits which certainly added to the match. Unfortunately, it was cut short when Ryback pulled out the table and after some reversals by both parties, just about managed to power bomb Kane through the table. Ryback has really benefit from his number of longer contest with the likes of Kofi Kingston and Daniel Bryan as of late and WWE has finally built him up into a realistic challenger for Cena’s title at Payback.

There was also a quick match between Fandango and Zack Ryder. Ryder got in a surprising amount of offence, probably down to being in his hometown of Long Island, but it was always clear who was going to win. After Fandango reversed the Rough Ryder into a power bomb, he hit a diving leg drop from a ridiculous distance for the win. Fandango is currently trending in the right direction at the moment and with Vince McMahon apparently being high on him, it’s very possible that Fandango could win the Intercontinental Championship come Payback.

Once again Smackdown produced an embarrassingly bad segment, with Damien Sandow and Sheamus. With Sandow introducing a Super computer and proceeding to play it at chess, it got proceeding worse from here. Sheamus came out saying he could beat the computer with one more, which was painfully obvious would be the Brogue Kick. After Sheamus smashed the computer, Sandow took him out, throwing him into a table. These two could have a pretty decent feud, this just isn’t the way to do it.

There was also a random segment with Kaitlyn and Natalya. Kaitlyn revealed she would meet her secret admirer on Raw, with Natalya telling her to be careful. Kaitlyn appeared to turn heel, yelling at Natalya and accusing her of being jealous. This could have been a big moment in the story, if there had been any build up to it at all!

Finally…

What have we learnt from Smackdown this week?

  

1. The old Randy Orton is back (to some extent)

2. Curtis Axel is in desperate need of a finishing move.

3. WWE can finally get going with the Dolph Ziggler/Alberto Del Rio feud, with just a week til Payback!

Announced for Monday's Raw.

Triple H Vs. Curtis Axel w/ Paul Heyman will open the show

Dolph Ziggler will return.

Announced for Payback on June 16th:

Intercontinental Championship Triple Threat Match: Wade Barrett (C) Vs. The Miz Vs. Fandango