Ratings:
Mark Henry vs. R-Truth: *1/4
AJ vs. Brie Bella: *
Zack Ryder vs. Jack Swagger: *3/4
Big Show vs. Kane: *1/2
Brodus Clay vs. Heath Slater: N/A (squash)
Great Khali vs. Dolph Ziggler: *
CM Punk & Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan & The Miz: **1/4
__________________
Reviews/Thoughts:
Lilian announces Daniel Bryan at the start of the show. DB is getting booed more and more each week, which is great. YES YES YES! Telling AJ to get to the point. "In a word...it's heaven." That's two words! Caressing, soft lips, and...well, I did NOT need to hear that last one. It's Daniel, not Danny! You can really get the awkwardness in AJ's voice as the time went on. Yeah! Let's hear it for Daniel Bryan! And he threw in a fourth "YES!" for the hell of it!
I now want to call DB "Danny Boy."
Was that Abraham Washington with Mark Henry? *shrug* Anyway, Henry and Truth go at it now. Not too bad, considering it was smaller man vs. big man here. Good finish to showcase Mark's power. R-Truth's not necessarily very small, you know.
Video package confirming Yokozuna is in the HOF this year. He started in WWE billed as 505, but was easily over 600 by the time his WWE career was over. They even showed those PAINFUL Banzai Drops where all his weight came down on the poor guy's chest. Makes me cringe to this day. Anyway, Usos and Rikishi are inducting Yokozuna, from what I read. Very good choices.
Ryder was shown on RAW with the fans. Hornswoggle even has a Team Teddy flag! Hornswoggle is the mascot? WTF, Khali doing Ryder's catchphrase?! Khali's on Team Teddy now as well?!?! Shoot me. Please.
DB still giving a nervous AJ pointers before her match. And a good luck kiss. Give me a bucket as well, Booker. Quite a long, physical match for divas standards. I liked AJ's armbar submission there. Good use of Nikki and DB. All fodder for future storyline use.
Another very interesting segment post-match: Nikki's rooting for Team Teddy. Brie's for Team Johnny. A very awkward segment. Anyway, what does that mean? Bellas are likely splitting later. Why, you ask?
In case you didn't know, Daniel Bryan is legitimately dating Brie Bella. WWE may weave that into the on-camera storyline. Brie goes with Daniel, while Nikki probably could manage someone else. They would be better off as eye candy right now, especially if WWE is unwilling to devote a good match to them. We have divas like Beth and Natalya holding the fort down anyway.
Ryder and Swagger go at it. More interesting tidbits from this one:
If you've been to wrestling news sites, you've probably heard that Lilian Garcia botched introducing Zack Ryder during his entrance, calling him "Jack Swagger." No problem here. Since the show was taped, they edited a new Lilian do-over, with dubbed-over commentary. Crowd was also fiddled with to make it as seamless as possible. The match otherwise went as planned. Cena, Ryder, and Tony Chimel poked fun at Lilian after the show. All in good fun, and Lilian was a great sport.
Still, it's the THIRD time in about a month that Lilian has messed an intro up. Last month, it was the Usos. Not too long ago, she messed up Laurinaitis' intro on RAW, causing Cole to go berserk on the headset. Considering all the mishaps (she also had a bunch during her first run with the company), she's an amazing singer and great eye candy.
Anyway, not a bad match here between Zack and Jack. Swagger really ate that Broski Boot. Big-time ouch. Buckle Bomb and Swagger Bomb gets two. Good stuff there. Vickie up on the apron and Hornswoggle distracts her and Jack. Swagger turns around and eats a Rough Ryder for three.
Cody Rhodes with more promos and videos about Big Show's WM record. Again, Show doesn't have the worst record, although it's not a great one.
Show faces Kane. Kane has that black mask over his red one. Two fairly agile big men here, so not too bad. Pretty basic moves. Nice jumping DDT from Kane gets two. Cody-ference didn't really work. Show pushes Cody and took out a couple security guards accidentally. Keep stirring that pot for the WM blowoff match.
Meanwhile...Orton with an RKO "out of nowhere" to Kane!
Funkasaurus for another squash match! Slater gets to be on TV to get squashed! Slater did get in a couple moves, so it wasn't a total squash, I guess. No more flying splash, but his regular splash looks good.
Eve still playing games with Ryder. Good for Eve's character, but couldn't they have gotten another fool instead of Zack?
Christian on commentary during Ziggler/Khali. Christian gets texts from Johnny as well! Vintage Johnny! Khali might have exclusively inherited the huge Big Show chops; Show has slowly deviated from that. Oh please, no Michael Cole mascot.
Vintage screwjobby finish with Johnny ringing the bell early to get Dolph a "submission" win. Teddy gets involved and overrides all that. Khali gets a countout win. Kofi and Sanitno throw Ziggler back in. Big hand from Khali. Ow. Well, at least we know Teddy Long runs Smackdown.
Tag match with the two big champs was the main event. Going into it, I had a feeling who was getting pinned or submitted -- and I was right. Punk with the hot tag and even gestures to AJ...awesome. Really weird now that DB is the champ and Miz is the guy looking weak. Remember, although a bunch of people knew this would be the case eventually, it's still a sight to see how things have changed in a couple years, four NXT seasons removed.
"Danny Boy" chants. Oh man, that'll be trending worldwide. I'm sure the IWC again loved seeing DB and Punk go at it for a bit. Sheamus got in, and Miz was still out, so DB had to suffer. DB got Miz in, DB escaped, Miz ate a Brogue Kick. Sounds about right to me. Message sent loud and clear.
"Miz disappointed again!" Really, Cole? Really?
Ordinary Smackdown tonight.
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