Sunday, January 13, 2013

1/11/13 Smackdown

Booker T starts the show in the ring. He makes some matches for tonight, promoting Cesaro vs. Orton. Booker also says Rock's in the building. Finally, a Last Man Standing match for the World Heavyweight Title between Del Rio and Big Show. Show to the ring and pissed off. And the Latino card comes into play. How funny that Show uses the "he's beneath me" line on Del Rio, something ADR's said for a long time. Show lays his hands on Booker to make Booker change his mind. ADR sprints to the ring and knocks Show to the outside.

Randy Orton vs. Antonio Cesaro: Cesaro has to be one of the strongest guys in the locker room, pound-for-pound. Cesaro added another move, the Michinoku Driver II, to his WWE moveset. Orton comes back for a bit but then Orton's tossed up and eats the Euro uppercut for two. Orton with a backbreaker and hangman's DDT. Shield interferes (of course) and the ref tosses the match out. Shield with the triple powerbomb to Orton. **

3MB all entering the Royal Rumble. Hey JBL, do you think 3MB has a chance to win the Royal Rumble? "No." Thank you, JBL.

Punk at the University of Miami's football field and home of WM 28 last year. Punk has a 94 jersey that Rock wore for college football. Yup, the Orange Bowl field is gone, and Punk reminds Rock of that. Rock can go back to Miami but can never go home. Love it.

Great Khali & Natalya vs. Dolph Ziggler & AJ Lee: Mixed tag match because Khali somehow has to keep active as an in-ring performer. Khali moves so damn slow in the ring and has maybe two moves that are believable. They left the AJ "wardrobe malfunction" in, which in the PG era means AJ's shirt got pulled up and we see her black bra. AJ bites Natalya to get out of a potential Sharpshooter. AJ now bites Natalya's ear. We have a female Mike Tyson on our hands (or "Michelle Tyson," according to JBL). Sliced Bread #2 from AJ and we get three. And that was a waste of my time. DUD

Big E Langston and Ziggler take Khali out after the match. Hornswoggle comes in at the wrong time and Langston plants him with his finisher. Complete with Langston literally licking his fingers in delight. Big E definitely fits in the group now.

Another Punk promo. Punk's made a career out of stomping people's dreams. It doesn't matter what Rock's vision is. Punk takes off the 94 Miami jersey and drops it on the turf.

And here comes Rock for his promo. Huge pop made bigger because he's in his hometown. Rock's got the orange-soled shoes. Finally, the Rock has come back...home. Flo Rida is in the building. He mentions all the college football days and the big-name NFL players he played with.

Rhodes Scholars interrupts Rock. They're out to help and correct him. RS will become tag champs and Rock doesn't deserve the ring time. Dead caterpillar on Cody's lip. That'll be trending now. Cody's an adult, dammit! Sandow wants to see if Rock can answer his three questions. Answer them all correctly, Rock stays. If not, Rock leaves. Just bring it! Rock knows 19th-century Presidents and compares Sandow's face equals Abe Lincoln getting busy with a gremlin. Rock gets the second question right and we get more caterpillar stuff. Rock with one question for a great prize: combine a geological aggregate with its lowest form. Rock Bottom! Correct! Spinebuster and People's Elbow to Cody. And Rock layeth the smacketh down on Rhodes Scholars. Loved the segment.

Sheamus vs. 3MB: Yeah, it's a 1-on-3 handicap match. Shemaus quickly dispatches Slater with a Brogue Kick and gets three. Josh Mathews and JBL missed the call live and on the replay. Oops. N/A

Team Hell No vs. Primetime Players: Announcers mention DB tweaking his knee in the RAW tag match against Rhodes Scholars. Basic tag here. DB comes off the top with a double knee to PTPs. Kane chokeslams D-Young and it's over. *1/4

Alberto Del Rio vs. Big Show (Last Man Standing; World Heavyweight Title): Lots of time given to this one. ADR comes out to a good pop. Main event intros, and Ricardo introduces Del Rio. Doesn't take long for the weapons to arrive. Show sets up a table on the outside and slams ADR through it. ADR still gets up at six. ADR gets a chair and tees off on Show. ADR cross armbreaker on Show in the ropes and Show has to use power and the ring apron to get out. Show sets a table up in the corner of the ring; ADR dropkicks Show through that one, but Show gets up. Sleeper on Show works only temporarily. Big Show chokeslam hits and ADR up at eight. Back to the outside and Show spears ADR through the barricade. ADR still gets up at nine. Back in the ring, KO punch to ADR. ADR slides out of the ring onto his feet to stop the count at 8. Nice move. Technicalities! Show with the steel steps now, but he misses ADR and the steps go back into Show's head. Show's dazed. ADR with the steps three times to Show's bad left shoulder. Show's down by the announce table! ADR rolls the announce table on Show and collapses. Ref counts. ADR gets up at 7 or 8. Ref counts Show down and new champ! Crowd goes nuts. ADR and Ricardo celebrate in the crowd. Well played. ***1/2

Was expecting Ziggler to crash the party with the MITB briefcase, but I guess WWE wanted the crowd to go home happy.

Regarding the 20th anniversary of RAW next Monday, now I'm reading the show may not be stacked with legends as originally planned. We'll see what happens.

No comments: