PG Tips #1 - Edge apologises to Vickie Guerrero and a Fatal Four-Way for an ECW Championship shot (22-25/07/08)

On 22nd July 2008, WWE's television output went from being rated TV14 to TVPG. 

This series plans to take a week by week look at how the RAW, SmackDown and ECW on Sci-Fi developed under this new rating, as well as the quality of the PPVs. The era hasn't been particularly romanticised, especially by the older generation of fans, but considering that those who were ten years old when WWE turned PG are now old enough to be attending University, it's certainly time to look back and re-evaluate just how good or bad for WWE the shift was in terms of quality. 

This week's edition see's us feature a Fatal Fourway for a shot at the ECW title at SummerSlam and Edge attempt at an apology to Vickie Guerrero following his affair with their wedding planner, Alicia Fox! 

We join the Universe just a few days after the last TV-14 PPV, The Great American Bash 2008/ Just to lend some context, here's the results from that PPV.

This week's trip to the "Land of Extreme" brings us a main event of The Miz, John Morrison, Matt Hardy and Finlay battling it out for a shot at Mark Henry's ECW title, which whilst sounding like an interesting match, makes little sense considering all four men lost on the PPV...but was the show any good?

Mark Henry received a new ECW Championship belt in Philadelphia 

An eventful opening segment to begin the show, as we get a new ECW title belt, a promo from Tony Atlas and Colin Delaney (who Atlas calls "Collars Delaney" for reasons) explaining his heel turn from two days earlier. It's not a good segment by any stretch of the imagination, but there was something persevely entertaining about watching Teddy Long and Atlas stumble through their awkwardly worded promos. Considering the show is in Philadelphia, the home of the original ECW, Atlas gets very little heat for mentioning that fact and then telling the crowd "for all of you all, who tired to hold onto yester year, you're going to get squash". I would've expected the comparisons between the two ECW brands to met with at least some kind of derision, but this crowd is almost completely apathetic towards Atlas and his charge Mark Henry. Perhaps by after two years of WWE's version of ECW the crowd had gone past the point of caring that it bore zero resemblance to the rebellious company that Paul Heyman used to run. However, they do come alive once Colin Delaney starts burying Tommy Dreamer, eating up Delaney's burial, before Long gets a nice pop from announcing we're getting Dreamer v Delaney next! 

• Tommy Dreamer def. Colin Delaney. An almost complete squash match for Dreamer here as he gets his revenge on Delaney with a flurry of offence, before picking up the victory with a Dreamer DDT. 

• Backstage - The Miz and John Morrison are upset about dropping the WWE Tag Team Championships two nights earlier, but both put each other and their clothing over, before shaking hands and wishing each other luck in the main event. 

• Promo - Actress Jenny McCarthy will be at Saturday Night's Main Event on August 2nd, to promote the organisation, Generation Rescue. This was an organisation that advocated that autism was caused by vaccinations, which is total utter trash and should never have been promoted on WWE's television product or anywhere else. 

• Evan Bourne def. James Curtis [KC James]. Bourne looks pretty good here, even if extended squashes for high-flying babyfaces don't really work all too well, we did get to see Bourne landing on his feet out of a snapmare early doors, as well as a rana out of a pop-up from Curtis, before a shooting star press got the three count. Bourne was then able to dodge a post-match attack from Chavo Guerrero and Bam Neeley, who had been on commentary. 

• Backstage - A weird backstage segment where Assistant General Manager Tiffany [Taryn Terrell] told Ricky Ortiz about her education, before Teddy Long placed Ortiz in a match next week after Ortiz had claimed her was undefeated after just one match on the brand. 

Matt Hardy def. The Miz, Finlay and John Morrison to earn an ECW Championship match

Despite a shaky start and some terrible commentary from Mike Adamle, this ended up being a more than competent television main event. The opening played up the partnership between The Miz and Morrison, but lacked any notable action as we got the four repeatedly splitting off into pairs and not a whole lot else. The action in the first third was dull and slow and despite all four men being in the ring for an extended period of time, not much actually happened. However, once the action spills to the outside things begin to pick up, as Morrison and Finlay brawl on the outside, before Miz & Morrison are able to hitting their catapult into a forearm smash and then elbow drop/backbreaker combination using the barricade on the Irish man. After this things are much better, with Miz and Morrison trying for victories on Hardy, whilst trying to outwit each other at the same time, before we get a couple of sequences with all four men involved that are particularly well-done. The finish is a frenzied affair with Finlay nailing Miz with a Shillelagh, before getting knocked to the outside himself with a roundhouse kick from Morrison, leading into Morrison springboarding into a Twist of Fate from Hardy to take us home. Despite the early awkwardness and the lack of any convincing near falls, the last five or six minutes featured some really good TV action and provide us with the first recommended match of the PG Era. 

• In Arena - Mark Henry comes out to the ramp for a stare down with his SummerSlam opponent. 

ATPW Scale Rating - 3.83/10 

A good main event, but beyond that there wasn't much on this episode and it's clear that WWE isn't putting a whole lot of effort into the brand or anyone on it. Colin Delaney cut a strong promo in the opening segment, but was surrounded by bumbling speeches from Teddy Long and Tony Atlas and then had his feud with Tommy Dreamer almost immediately put to bed. The build towards Matt Hardy vs. Mark Henry at SummerSlam begins next week so it shall be interesting to see how that is handled and where the likes of Finlay, John Morrison, The Miz, Evan Bourne, Chavo Guerrero and Tommy Dreamer find themselves fitting onto the hour long show.

The episode aired on 25th July 2008 on the CW Network, having been taped on 22nd July at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvannia. The episode included Edge's apology to wife Vickie Guerrero after the previous episode revealed he'd been cheating with wedding planner Alicia Fox and an edition of The VIP Lounge (hosted by Montel Vontavious Porter) with Jeff Hardy, but was it any good? Let's take a look. 

The VIP Lounge with Jeff Hardy

I didn't enjoy this segment at all, but the Philadelphia crowd was massively into both men. The main thrust of it was that MVP was being a massive dick to Jeff Hardy, bringing up his suspensions, issues with drugs and the death of Hardy's dog, Jack, whilst Hardy looked uncomfortable with the content, delivered his lines with very little enthusiasm or believability and looked like he'd rather be anywhere else. Some of the dialogue was terrible here, when MVP bought up Hardy saying in WWE Magazine (remember that?) that he wouldn't get suspended again, Hardy replied with "I wouldn't, I'd be released", which, whilst in line with WWE wellness policy rules, is hardly the most inspiring babyface line. We close with Hardy pushing MVP over and shouting "You make me sick", for reasons I'm not quite sure. They'll both be involved in the "Biggest Blockbuster of the Summer" Battle Royal later on for a shot at Triple H's WWE Championship at SummerSlam. 

• United States Champion Shelton Benjamin def. Jimmy Wang Yang - A swifty victory for the US Champ with Paydirt, after cutting an uninteresting promo.

• A nervous Edge congratulated Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder on their Tag Team Championship win, before awkwardly looking at his hands for a bit. 

• Festus def. Curt Hawkins - This went under two minutes with Festus winning with a the one man flapjack, before his lame gimmick of going into a vegetative state when the bell rings for a pinfall allowed Hawkins and Zack Ryder to hit a double-team DDT on the Corn-Fed Colossus. 

The Biggest Blockbuster of the Summer Battle Royal for a shot at Triple H's WWE Championship at SummerSlam 

So when I saw the lineup for this battle royal and knowing the time period, I thought this was going to a car crash and it wasn't. Was it a classic? No. But it was well-booked and made the most of its components. We had Mr. Kennedy, The Great Khali, MVP, Umaga, Jeff Hardy and The Big Show; six men who didn't make it onto the Great American Bash card in an unusually thin over-the-top affair. This took away part of the spectacle of a battle royal, but also negated those early stages where a bunch of no hopers are thrown out. The opening portion was kept interesting with a couple of nice spots, like a Poetry in Motion to Khali from Hardy using Kennedy, a Khali and Show face-off being interrupted by a pair of thrust-kicks from Umaga and a Whisper in the Wind from Hardy to Umaga. The match built well towards its conclusion as Hardy eliminated Show by turning a powerbomb into modified hurricanrana that sent the World's Largest Athlete over the top rope, leaving The Charismatic Enigma alone with The Great Khali. The crowd was super hot for Hardy, with Philadelphia desperate to see the underdog overcome, however despite a Swanton Bomb and a low blow to escape a vice grip, Khali picked up the win, dumping Hardy over the top after a Khali Chop. We get a staredown between Khali and Triple H to end the segment and I am already dreading this match. 

• R-Truth is coming to SmackDown soon and we get a package of him in North Carolina talking about his time in prison. Truth had been having dark matches since March, included one before this episode with Sheamus O'Shaunessy.  

• Michelle McCool def. Maryse - Another quick bout as the first ever Diva's Champion picked up a submission victory with a MADT Heel Hook.

• The Brian Kendrick def. Shannon Moore -  A quick promo from Kendrick about his new persona, as he let the roster know that if anyone had a problem with him they should take it up with his bodyguard Ezekiel [Jackson]. This was followed up by Kendrick quickly going over Moore with The Kendrick. 

Hell Hath No Fury Like Vickie Guerrero

Edge and Vickie Guerrero were both brilliant in this segment as Guerrero took revenge for her husband's infidelity by reinstating The Undertaker and placing Edge in a Hell in a Cell Match with the Deadman at SummerSlam. Edge trying to explain away the footage claiming that "No means no, but she wouldn't listen" in regards to Alicia Fox and then explaining he only got involved with Fox in order to make sure the wedding went smoothly was played perfectly by the Rated R Superstar. Edge gets the cowardly cheat act just right, remaining entertaining and getting a couple of laughs, but also being utterly contemptible as a character and someone who you look forward to seeing getting what they deserve. Vickie seemed to relish getting to say something that the crowd would pop for and paced her lines wonderfully getting a huge pop for almost every word that came out of her mouth. The crowd went nuts for The Undertaker coming back, leaving Edge having to let them get on with it whilst looking terrified and trying to come up with a way out of facing his rival again. The segment could have done with a better conclusion as once the announcement has been made there was a lack of a climax or conflict, perhaps just playing Undertaker's music and a few special effects would've rounded off the segment perfectly. 

Finally... 

ATPW Scale Rating - 4.29/10 

Not a terrible episode, but not a great one either. This is pretty much saved by the strength of it's closing segment as Edge and Vickie Guerrero shone in an emotional climax that both played wonderfully, as the opening segment was dire and the Battle Royal was okay. Elsewhere the show was filled with short, inconsequential matches, that did very little for anyone. 

An interesting start to the PG Era as ECW and SmackDown took the leap first. The ECW Four Way main event producing the strongest action of the week, whilst the closing sequence of SmackDown was a great example of the chemistry between Edge and Vickie Guerrero and just why that feud involving the pair and The Undertaker worked so well. Across the three hours there was a lot of talking, with three of the five major segments being promo based and I noticed that the matches were a lot shorter than what we are used to seeing in 2017. When we begin to include next week, a show that is known to include more talking and entertainment segments, it will interesting to compare that to what the other two brands were offering, as the company moves away from the adult and teen orientated programming that caused it's late nineties boom and more towards the family and children market. 

Next week - RAW features a Tag Team main event pitting John Cena & Batista against John "Bradshaw" Layfield and Kane, ECW sees John Morrison and The Miz take on Finlay & Hornswoggle, SmackDown features a classic segment between Edge and Mick Foley, before the Rated R Superstar faces off with one of his signature foes, Jeff Hardy, on the final Saturday Night's Main Event.

Opinion: WWE Funny vs Standard Funny or How I Learnt to Stop Worrying and Just Watch the Product Damnit (Jozef Raczka)

ADVANCE WARNING: I make no bones about this but I've only watched wrestling properly since 2012. So if I have missed out something that happened during your beloved attitude era, please tweet me and I will add it to the list of things I invariably don't watch and just re-watch Daniel Bryan anger management sessions
again

Wrestling funny is different to standard funny. It's hard to describe how but it is. It's different in the same way that watching a great wrestling match is different to watching a great fight scene from a film. It would make sense that wrestling would have comedy segments, I mean it is a ridiculous art-form. Take the very idea of The Undertaker vs Bray Wyatt, we have an undead necromancer (and one time hell's angel) taking on the leader of a southern voodoo cult but in a ring in front of an audience and with no actual magic but no one bats an eyelid because this is wrestling things like this happen, it gets silly, one time a man fell in love with a mop. But wrestling funny is a complicated thing, especially WWE funny as Vince McMahon seems to love a good body fluid gag. Sorry when I say a good one, I mean he probably loved it when Roman Reigns spiked his daughter's coffee causing her to vomit profusely on Vickie Guerrero in what is perhaps the most apt metaphor for how the WWE treated Vickie after Eddie's death.

Currently WWE, I feel, is trying to change certain reactions to this. I mean look at the big pieces of 'original programming' they've been pushing: The Edge and Christian Show that Totally Reeks of Awesomeness and Camp WWE. The interesting thing is comparing the two. Just before we continue, this isn't going to be a review of either show, not because they don't deserve it but because if they are or aren't funny is far too subjective a discussion for this occasion. But the simple thing is, Camp WWE is the new collaboration between WWE Studios and Seth Green of Robot Chicken and Oz the dreamy werewolf from Buffy fame (not Oz, the failed gimmick of Kevin Nash. Though he'd make a great werewolf). It's kind of your standard post-Seth McFarlane animated show for 'adults': a combination of mildly racy gags (Ric Flair fucks everything) with well-timed swears and occasional cartoon violence. Whether that's your cup of tea or not, the interesting thing about the first episode is how little it needs a knowledge of wrestling to be enjoyed, it's a product that could probably slot in next to Family Guy with little or no difficulty. I want to also take a moment to note that Vince McMahon already after one episode might be one of the greatest missed opportunities for the voice acting world, when he says he's going to hunt Cena down 'like a sexy dog', you believe it.

When you put it next to Edge and Christian Show, it couldn't be more difficult. The main difference is that Camp WWE is the wrestling equivalent of a 'what if...' Comic where they take loose versions of wrestler characters and translate them to a summer camp comedy environment but Edge and Christian are these days, basically Adam Copeland and William Reso. They are just two good friends who used to wrestle and now like to make jokes about it, it is a programme that is 100% built on knowledge of the product and fits in as many in-jokes as it can. As it happens, Edge and Christian's show, if taken entirely by the first episode, feels a lot more forced, it is entirely alienating to a non-wrestling fan. It is as much a show where everything is about wrestling as Camp WWE is a show that is attempting to make wrestling about everything. 

See I think that the Camp WWE approach has the ability to bring in new fans. I mean, Robot Chicken has an entirely different fanbase that can get eyes on the main show, if it worked for Total Divas, it could in theory work for this, if it wasn't hidden away on the Network where only 'we', the beloved few can find it. And herein lies the rub of 'wrestling funny', it's why Edge and Christian Show works if its for you, wrestling funny is only for wrestling fans. Have you ever tried to explain to someone who doesn't like wrestling why Ric Flair is awesome? It's impossible. Even I don't really understand it but then as I've acknowledged, I've heard about all his great matches, I've only seen I think one match of his pre-2004. Wrestling is a thing that you either get or don't and in many ways, the humour goes with that, sure you can have great spectrum crossing segments like Sheamus meeting Beaker or Drew Carey in the Royal Rumble (I still secretly wish they'd have him win) but for the most part, wrestling funny comes under 'it's hard to explain why, but it is'. 

But there are weird exceptions to all rules and just focusing on recent years, there has been one major exception to the rule of 'wrestling funny is only funny to wrestling fans' and that is of course, The New Day. There have been many articles (and many better ones than this) written about how the New Day have managed to get where they are purely off starting to do what they want to do but it is worth noting, they are just genuinely funny people. I defy anyone to not draw even the slightest amount of glee from their Wrestlemania entrance this year, they fell out of a giant box of cereal dressed as Dragonball-Z characters. It's genius, it's the perfect mix of nerdy, stupid and endearingly bonkers. But what works about them is their comedy isn't based on their abilities as wrestlers (in fact it has far more of a link to Xavier Woods' side job as host of YouTube gaming channel, UpUpDownDown), it is just about them making each other laugh more than even playing to the audience. Compare that to whatever the fuck they've been doing with R-Truth for the last few years and it's clear that they're light years ahead of a lot of others.

I'm not trying to say that wrestling isn't funny and can't be funny, it's just a peculiar kind of funny and frequently an alienating one. WWE's attempts to mine that are confusing. Is Camp WWE meant to be a casual animated show for wrestling fans or a casual wrestling show for animation fans? No one knows. All I know is that when I saw NXT Live at Sheffield Arena last year, there was a comedy match between Tye Dillinger and Bull Dempsey. Not only did Tye out-wrestle Bull but he also was funnier, unrelated, but at one point the crowd started a 'This Is Wrestling' chant. Ignoring the fact that no actual wrestling was going on, what we were watching was wrestling. It was a ridiculous, confusing charade that was designed to delight those who got it and baffle those who didn't but I'll be damned if those who got it, didn't seem to be having a ball.

WWE Smackdown 6th September 2013 Review

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

Rob Van Dam 

with Ricardo Rodriguez

 vs. 

WWE Champion 

Randy Orton 

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

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

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

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

Daniel Bryan 

vs. 

Tag Team Champion

Seth Rollins

 with The Shield

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

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

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

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

Best of the Rest (In The World)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Finally...

My final thoughts on this week's Smackdown.

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

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

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

WWE Smackdown 30th August 2013 Review

This week's Smackdown was dominated by the McMahon-Helmsley regime, with WWE COO Triple H punishing a number of wrestlers throughout the show. Seeing the main storyline in WWE carry over on Smackdown, something we didn't get when John Cena was WWE Champion, allows the show to feel much more important, although it does reduce the worth of the World Heavyweight Championship to the brand and the company as a whole as Alberto Del Rio's reign continues to be an afterthought on television.

The Miz vs. WWE Champion Randy Orton

The show kicked off with Miz TV, as The Miz welcomed Big Show and Dolph Ziggler to the show. Over recent weeks, we've seen both Show and Ziggler become victims of Triple H's group, with both forced to watch The Shield and Randy Orton destroy Daniel Bryan on Raw. With The Miz asking the questions, it was clear that he going to get nothing out of Show or Ziggler who were both scared of losing there jobs, with a really awkward atmosphere created because of this. With The Miz about to have his say, WWE COO Triple H's music hit (he's fittingly using Motorhead's King of Kings again) and The Game headed down to the ring. With Triple H began ripping into Miz, Show and Ziggler, with more “Best for Business” schtick that is sure to wind up a lot of the fans. I have to say I actually found Miz fairly likeable in this segment when he stood up to Triple H, for me it was the first time that The Miz has looked comfortable as a face, I thought I would hate seeing him opposite Triple H, but he actually plays the underdog role quiet well. With Triple H throwing his weight around he place Ziggler in a Handicap match against The Shield later on (more on that later), forced Big Show to sit at ringside for the entire show and placed The Miz in a match against WWE Champion Randy Orton. I thought this was pretty strong opening segment, that set up the premise of the show well and put together two big matches, you can't do much more than that.

The match between Miz and Orton was actually a lot better than I imagined it would be. Orton looked great when in control of the match, and knows the little things he can do that will get the crowd to react against him. Whilst The Miz's selling is still questionable as a face, his comeback in the early part of the bout was decent, with a reversal of Orton's Rope Hung DDT into a back body drop over the top rope being well worked. With Miz now in control, The Shield headed down to ringside and we went to commercial break. With The Shield now standing guard, Orton was back in control of the bout, with his regular headlock wearing Miz down. Orton is still over reliant on that rest hold, especially during televised bouts, it would be nice to see him use a few different holds in his matches.

By far the best section of the match, was Miz's last comeback attempt, which was pacy and featured a number of nice reversals and near falls, the best of these seeing Miz reverse an RKO attempt into a backslide for a two count. The ending of the bout, saw Miz begin to focus his attack on Orton's legs before placing him the Figure Four Leg Lock, with Orton spending some time in the hold before finally making it to the ropes. With Orton hanging Miz on the top rope, The Viper slithered back into the ring to hitting an RKO for a pinfall victory. Pretty decent finish, Orton had to win to keep him looking strong, whilst The Miz was elevated by being in the ring in a competitive contest against the WWE Champion, certainly one of The Miz's best performances since turning face. Hopefully we'll see The Miz continue this way, although I feel that without a strong heel to go up against, he'll return to his unlikeable smarmy ways, unfortunately.

After the match, The Shield entered the ring and with Orton looking on gleefully, began to put the boots to Miz. Big Show's reaction at ringside was great, really selling that he couldn't get into the ring to fight off The Shield. Someone who could help The Miz though, was Daniel Bryan, who came running down to the ring with a steel chair in hand, with Orton and The Shield fleeing the ring quickly. The crowd loved it, joining Bryan in a thunderous “YES!” chant. Bryan continues to be ridiculously over with WWE fans at the moment, and his struggle against Triple H, is only helping the fans get further behind, which is great to see. This whole section for me worked really well, with a good competitive wrestling match, as well as the continuation of the main story the company is running at the moment. But this wouldn't be all we'd see from Bryan and Orton on Smackdown...

Daniel Bryan vs. Ryback

Straight after Bryan made the save for The Miz, we headed backstage to fuming Smackdown General Manager Vickie Guerrero, who called Bryan a bully, and placed him in a match with Ryback later in the show. It's good to see Guerrero back as a full blown heel, as that is definitely where she does her best work, she's easy to hate, even if she has less power than we've seen her with before on Smackdown. Ryback also turned up, to further wind up Bryan, with a bizarre promo about how he didn't like bullies. It wasn't particularly the content of Ryback's speech, it was the fact he wasn't looking at Bryan, and was staring in the distance, I don't know, as if someone was holding up his lines for someone to read. It made the segment difficult to watch, and instantly I was out of the storyline wondering what the hell Ryback was doing.

Luckily for Ryback, he redeemed himself with a good match against Bryan. We've seen these two go at on television a handful of times before, their last encounter coming on 22^nd July as part of Bryan's famous Gauntlet Match, and each time they've locked up they've put on an entertaining match. Bryan's size allow Ryback to look completely dominate in the opening stages, with a sick tilt a whirl slam really showing this off, whilst Bryan's selling also allows the fans to easily get behind him as an underdog, as he builds to a comeback. With Bryan mid comeback, following a suicide dive that sent Ryback into the announce table, Randy Orton headed back into the arena but keep his distance on the ramp, for now. This allowed for another ncie momentum shift, with Ryback back to bullying Bryan around the ring, Ryback works pretty well in this role, with him laughing in Bryan's face and taking him lightly, making the fans get even further behind The Submission Specialist.

The finish saw Bryan regain control, delivering a number of signature moves to Ryback, with the crowd behind him every step of the way. After Bryan's Yes Kicks gained him a near fall, he locked Ryback in the Yes Lock, but with The Human Wrecking Ball close to submission, Orton finally made his presence known attacking Bryan to give Bryan the disqualification victory. However, Orton quickly ended up in the Yes Lock himself, showing the fans a quick glimpse of what could happen when Bryan had Orton to himself, only for The Shield to re-enter the fray, breaking the hold and putting the boots to Bryan. Big Show had finally seen enough and entered the ring to state down with Orton and The Shield. Of course, Big Show knew he couldn't do anything, and Triple H made it even more clear. The Game headed down to the ring and forced Big Show to leave, with another great performance from Big Show, holding back tears and emotions to keep his job.

This was incredibly uncomfortable viewing with The Shield and Orton berating Bryan, with The Shield holding Bryan up for Orton to deliver a series of punches and kick to, before The Shield finished him off with a Triple Powerbomb. The deck was so heavily stacked against Bryan once again, so this beating will only help him get even further over with the fans, as we build towards an inevitable triumph for the new ultimate underdog. The humiliation continued for Bryan, when Orton spray painted the words “NO” on his chest to close the show, with Orton holding the WWE Championship above his head. Overall, this was strong closing segment to the show, which was uncomfortable in an uncomfortable way, it's not often in WWE that I'll find myself fully into the kayfabe like this, but who doesn't want to see Bryan kick Orton's arse and get his revenge on Triple H?  

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Elsewhere on Smackdown, Rob Van Dam, accompanied to the ring by Ricardo Rodriguez was back on form as he took on World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank Winner Damien Sandow in a short bout. Van Dam was much better in this contest, than he was against World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio on Raw this week, looking alert and nailing all his moves. Sandow got in limited offence, with the Cubito Aequet his closest chance for victory. The finish saw Van Dam reverse Sandow's attempt to send him into the top turnbuckle, with a stiff kick to the head, before he managed to perform the spot he botched against Del Rio on Raw, with Van Dam placing Sandow on the top rope, for a good looking diving thrust kick. Van Dam picked up the pinfall victory following a Five Star Frog Splash. Sandow is yet to win a match on Raw or Smackdown since winning the Money in the Bank briefcase, in fact, you have to go back to 10th June episode of Raw, where Sandow defeated Sin Cara for a victory from the Money in the Bank holder. WWE has a tendency to give the World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank winner a losing streak after winning the briefcase, we've seen it with Jack Swagger, Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler in the past and none of those had a particularly healthy World Heavyweight Championship reign, WWE need to be careful the same doesn't happen to the Intellectual Saviour of the Masses. 

After the match, Alberto Del Rio came out on the ramp, to cut a promo on his Night of Champions opponent. Del Rio's effort was a solid heel promo, but was certainly more concerned with his former associate Rodriguez than he was with Van Dam, who risks becoming a side show for Del Rio and Rodriguez to play out their rivalry. Without giving the Van Dam or Rodriguez the chance to reply to Del Rio, bar the two getting an RVD chant going, it left me wanting more interaction between the three, which is a good thing, I guess. At least this match has had more build up than Del Rio vs. Christian at SummerSlam, but with two week's of WWE television to go, I'm not quite sure where they are going to take this story. 


Paul Heyman and Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel also turned up on Smackdown to talk about the beating they delivered to CM Punk on Raw. After Axel had delivered a decent short promo, we got into the real meat of the segment with Heyman allowed to really stretch his promo muscles. Firstly, aiming the promo at the WWE fan, blaming them for the attack on Punk due to the WWE App vote, giving him no other choice, getting a ton of heat from the Las Vegas crowd. Then Heyman turned his attention to Punk, revealing he was scared of what could happen in the Handicap Elimination match at Night of Champions, because he could receive the beating of his life. Heyman finished off by saying all his previous action against Punk were merely out of fatherly love, so imagine what he could do when faced with the beating of his life. It's now simply a formality that when Paul Heyman get's a microphone in his hand, that he will produce an excellent promo. Everything here, from the content to his tone of voice, his facial expressions to his delivery was spot on.

The Wyatt Family were back in action this week, as Erick Rowan and Luke Harper took on Tons of Funk. We've seen this match twice before on television, and this was the most competitive bout for Brodus Clay and Tensai who looked to be on a role, before Erick Rowan pulled Clay out of the ring. This allowed Harper and Rowan to take advantage and after a Discus Clothesline from Harper, Rowan picked up the victory with a big splash for the pinfall. Bray Wyatt then entered the ring and hit Sister Abigail on Tensai to close the segment. The Wyatt Family seem to be treading water as of late, with no real direction heading into Night of Champions, I'd expect that WWE creative are waiting for Kane to finish filming See No Evil 2, so the Family can pick up their feud with the Big Red Monster.

In a match made by Triple H earlier in the show, Dolph Ziggler had a rematch against The Shield in a One-on-Three handicap match. It was another top notch contest, that was more entertaining than it should have been. Ziggler works as a great underdog character, because his selling so good, but everytime Ziggler got some momentum it would quickly be cut short by The Shield. Some nice wrestling action throughout, with a section between Ziggler and United States Champion Dean Ambrose being especially good, the idea of seeing those two in one on one action is surely something most wrestling fans are dying to see already, with Ambrose taking a sick bump off a back body drop over the top rope from Ziggler. The finish saw Ziggler attempt a Fame-Asser on Tag Team Champion Seth Rollins, which was reversed into a Buckle Bomb, before Tag Team Champion Roman Reigns hit a thunderous spear to pick up the pinfall victory for The Shield. The only drawback of this match, was the number of times the camera would cut to Big Show at ringside, I know Big Show is there, you don't need to keep showing me! Plus judging by his reaction and the number of Ziggler T-Shirts in the crowd, Ziggler doesn't need Big Show's reaction to help get him over with the fans. After taunting Show, The Shield hit Ziggler with a Triple Powerbomb to close the segment. 


We also got more vignettes for Los Matadores. I say more, it was the exact same promo they've been showing the last two weeks, twice. I'm more hyped up for the repackaged Epico and Primo, than I was the first time they showed the vignettes. Give me some different please, more information on the tag team, when they're going to debut, or why being bull fighter will help them in WWE...anything! 

Finally....

My final thoughts on this week's Smackdown.

1. The Miz can be a likeable face when positioned against the right people.

2. WWE television has been incredibly uncomfortable at time in the last few weeks, but in a good way.

3. We still need to hear more about the Rob Van Dam/Ricardo Rodriguez partnership.

WWE Smackdown 23rd August 2013 Review

For me, one thing and one thing alone gave Smackdown a bigger feel this week and that thing is of course the WWE Championship. It's been a long time since we've seen that title and the main story running through WWE appear on Smackdown, mainly due to John Cena not working Tuesdays. But with the title now on Randy Orton, who is feuding with fellow Smackdown regular Daniel Bryan, it certainly gave you a much stronger reason to catch up with WWE's blue show.

Steel Cage Match: 

Daniel Bryan

 vs. 

Wade Barrett

Now I mentioned WWE Champion Randy Orton in my opening gambit this for this weeks Smackdown, and he appeared in the opening segment, after supposedly being invited to speak by Smackdown General Manager, after she patched up her differences with Triple H off screen. Randy Orton's promo was actually pretty good, it was clear that this wasn't a spontaneous promo, like one we'd see from CM Punk, but it was well written and delivered well by Orton. With Orton asking for the support of the fans, I thought this was good way for Orton to gain extra heat, as clearly the WWE fans aren't going to get behind Orton when he's up against the uber over Daniel Bryan. The face of the WWE idea seems to be sticking with Orton mentioning it a few times, and once Daniel Bryan interrupted it got brought up a few more times as well, it's good to see that phrase attach to the WWE Championship when usually it was simply given to Cena even when he wasn't walking around with the belt. With Bryan now in the ring, he put over John Cena, I'm not quite sure why, Cena is out for six months what is the need to put him over here? Bryan also called Orton pretty, quite a few times, before saying he wanted to kick him in the face with some nice timing. With a championship rematch being set for Night of Champions, Orton went for an RKO, only for Bryan to reverse and send Orton out of the ring with a dropkick. It was nice to see Bryan get the upperhand here, after taking such a beating on Raw.

Later on in the show, Wade Barrett went to visit Vickie Guerrero in her office. With Barrett suggesting that he would like a rematch with Bryan to make sure he didn't make it to Night of Champions. With Vickie reeling off a number of match types, including No Holds Barred and Extreme Rules, which I believe are actually the same match, she eventually settled on a Steel Cage Match, which Barrett seemed very happy with. As was I, Smackdown has a good history with Steel Cage Matches in the past with a number of classic bouts since it's inception including Jeff Hardy vs. CM Punk in August 2009 and Eddie Guerrero vs. JBL in July 2004. I also expect the style of match would suit Barrett giving him another oppurtunity to show of his brawling style, whilst Bryan technically savvy would help to create a good story to build the bout around.

However when it came to the actual match, I was slightly disappointed. The bout was afforded less than ten minutes of television time and the story really wasn't strong enough to keep me interested in what was going on, when the winner was clear. Whilst there were some nice moments, like Barrett reversing Bryan's signature comeback with a Winds of Change, and Bryan smashing Barrett into the cage whilst chanting “Yes!” followed by some good kicks, which the crowd loved, there just wasn't enough stringing them together to draw me into the bout. I think this was mainly down to the length of the match, as it didn't really allow the two to explore the concept of the Steel Cage match fully or include enough potential finishes to build up the excitement as I'm sure they would have liked. The wrestling was strong throughout as expected, and I couldn't fault Bryan or Barrett's wrestling here.

Despite being disappointed by the match on the whole, the ending was very good, with Bryan stopping Barrett escaping the cage at the last minute, managing to hit a good looking Sunset Flip Powerbomb from the top rope, before picking up the pinfall victory with the same version of the Knee Trembler that won him the WWE Championship at SummerSlam. Everything about the ending worked for me, but certainly would've have been more satisfying if the match had had at least an extra five minutes to build. After the bout with Bryan celebrating, he was ambushed by Orton with an RKO to close the show with Orton holding his WWE Championship aloft. It was a good way to remind who was the face of the WWE, and having Orton end the show in control will only help to build the fan support for Daniel Bryan heading into Night of Champions and beyond.

Christian 

vs. 

World Heavyweight Champion 

Alberto Del Rio

Now, this was a rematch from SummerSlam's classic World Heavyweight Championship match, now anyone that read my Smackdown review will know how much I adored that match and it was always going to be difficult going in to be able to equal that match on Smackdown. For me there wasn't really enough build up to this match, and it got lost in the middle of the show, and was certainly overshadowed by the build to Bryan and Barrett's Steel Cage bout, similar to how it was overshadowed heading into SummerSlam. The World Heavyweight Championship has certainly lost some of it's shine over the last few years and has really struggled to find a relevant role on the card, with WWE still trying to find a way to present the belt, after both Raw and Smackdown essentially merged, that makes it feel prestigious whilst it's clear that the WWE Championship is the top title in the company.

Now, if you hadn't seen the match at SummerSlam this was actually a pretty good television contest, however if you had seen SummerSlam, you like me, were probably comparing it to the match they had on pay per view. Now, obviously a television match shouldn't be as strong as a match you're going to put on pay-per-view, it makes business sense, but it doesn't make sense to have a rematch the week after a fantastic match on pay-per-view on free TV! They could easily have built another match around bout heading into Night of Champions and given it even more time, I think WWE might have dropped the ball with that one. There were some nice spots like Christian getting pushed off the top rope to the floor, and Christian's impecable selling of Del Rio's attacks on his arm were once again a major part of the match, as well as some beautiful chain wrestling that saw Christian come out with the upperhand for a number of near falls.

The ending played on Christian's arm injury once again, with Del Rio dodging a Spear to send Christian into the ring post in one of wrestling biggest clichés, before Del Rio used a nice transition into the Cross Arm Breaker, using the top rope, before they played out the same finish they used at SummerSlam with Christian looking to fight out only for Del Rio to gain the upperhand and pick up the submission victory. The victory for Del Rio confirmed that Christian was moving back down the card once more, as the loss was basically a way to write Christian out of the World Heavyweight Championship picture. I reckon this is a real shame, and really shows WWE's stubbornness to change things up, as the Del Rio and Christian match at SummerSlam should have had a rematch on pay-per-view.

After the bout Del Rio cut a similar promo to the ones we saw at SummerSlam and one Raw, talking about how all the Latinos should follow his, as he is their leader. It was another solid promo from Del Rio, even if it was sort of going over stuff he'd already said twice this week. Del Rio was, of course, interrupted by Ricardo Rodriguez, who brought Rob Van Dam with him, and after Christian had gotten a little revenge on Del Rio with a missile dropkick, Van Dam finished off the job with a Rolling Thunder. It would definitely seem that WWE is going with Del Rio vs. RVD for Night of Champions, and whilst I'd have liked to have seen Christian get another shot, I'm sure RVD and Del Rio will put on a good match as well, if given the same amount of time. I'm also starting to like the Rodriguez and RVD partnership, Van Dam certainly works better when he doesn't have to speak with his promos usually either struggling to be serious or just looking plain goofy most of the time, this allows him to just show off his in ring skills and stay quiet.

Best of the Rest (In The World) 

In the opening contest of the night, Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel, accompanied by Paul Heyman, took on Cody Rhodes. Whilst it was only a short bout, the thing that work for me here was that I actually couldn't make my mind up who was going to win. Rhodes has been receiving a push recently with two straight victories over World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank Winner Damien Sandow (who was strangely absent from the show), whilst Axel is being positioned in a feud with CM Punk, so it really could have gone either way. Whilst the bout wasn't anything special, it flowed well and was easy to watch, with dropkicks from both men being the highlight for me as they were so well performed. The ending saw Rhodes look to be attempting a Moonsault, only for Heyman to cause a slight distraction, allowing Axel to hit the ropes and send Rhodes crashing down. Axel went on to pick up the pinfall victory with a Hangman's Facebuster. With the promo that followed it made sense for Axel to go over Rhodes, although it was a shame to see the wheels seemingly halted on Rhodes' ascent up the cards once more.

With Axel and Heyman in the ring, Heyman got the microphone and cut another good promo, talking about his emotional pain due to CM Punk no longer being the Best in the World, as well as putting Curtis Axel over strongly. Even Axel himself got in on the action, and once again showed that Heyman has been helping him with his promos, as this one was solid, as he showed a lot of intensity in putting over his own personal problems with CM Punk, before finally challenging Punk to a match on next's weeks Raw. Axel plays the overly cocky heel role well, and it works great against Punk, because the audience knows what Axel is saying isn't true. Axel has never been put in the same light as Punk, and therefore it should annoy the audience when he puts himself in the same category. The bout on Raw should be an interesting one, I would imagine that Heyman will get involved at some point and hopefully come the end of the night we'll have more of an idea how Night of Champions will be shaping up CM Punk and Curtis Axel.

Elsewhere, in a two on three handicap match Big Show and Mark Henry teamed up to take on 3MB. Henry and Show, of course, dominated most of the match against Heath Slater, Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal, which would have been even more impressive if we hadn't seen Kane do the exact same thing on his own a few weeks ago. After a Chokeslam for McIntyre and a World's Strongest Slam for Slater, Show & Henry got the pinfall victory with Knock Out Punch from Big Show on McIntyre. It wasn't a particularly pretty bout, but it at least presented the new tag team well. With Shield members and Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns appearing on the screen, both cutting good promos about on Henry and Show being past their prime and claiming to be the future of the WWE. It sets up their suspected title match at Night of Champions well, and gives it a nice passing off the torch kind of vibe for their battle.

Dolph Ziggler and Big E Langston, accompanied by Diva's Champion AJ Lee, appeared to have the blow off match for their feud on the show as well, with this probably being the best televised match between the two. It flowed a lot better than their previous bouts, with Langston controlling most of the match with numerous Ziggler fight backs and near falls, including a nice section that saw Ziggler reverse a powerbomb in a sit out facebuster for two, and nice false finish that saw Lee punch Ziggler in the face, allowing Langston to hit a vicious clothesline for just a two. For the ending they simple recycled the ending to the mixed tag team match at SummerSlam with Ziggler escaping a Big Ending to hit a Zig Zag for the victory. For the time it was given the match did well, but this rivalry never really ignited like it should have with WWE losing interest pretty quickly, hopefully Ziggler can move onto something else pretty soon.

Ryback appeared in another backstage segment, however this one didn't quite work for me. Some bloke was asking for an autograph for his kid, which Ryback agreed to, but when the Dad revealed he didn't actually know who Ryback was, because he didn't watch the show anymore, Ryback got pissed off and ripped up the autograph. It didn't work for me, because the Dad came across as the bad guy, who was troubling Ryback without even knowing who he was, and Ryback was deservedly pissed off at the situation.

Darren Young was also in action on Smackdown, accompanied by Prime Time Players partner Titus O'Neil to take on Antonio Cesaro of the Real Americans, who was accompanied by the rest of the group. It was an enjoyable match that was easy to follow, with a good comeback from Young, before the ending sequence saw Jack Swagger try to distract Young, only to get taken out by Titus O'Neil, allowing Young to take control again hitting The Gutcheck for the pinfall victory. I have to say after watching Cesaro face Sami Zayn in that fantastic Two out of Three Falls match on NXT, that this result was a little annoying. Whilst there is no doubt that Young is a terrific all rounder, I would much rather have seen him pushed because of his wrestling ability and not because of his personal life.  

Finally...

What did I learn from this week's Smackdown?

1. Bryan and Barrett could have had a great Steel Cage match, if given longer than ten minutes.

2. Christian's run in the World Heavyweight Championship picture is over, hopefully he'll get ONE...MORE...MATCH in the future.

3. The Smackdown announce team is a lot easier to listen to, than when they have Jerry Lawler join them on Raw.