2/1/13 Smackdown

Alberto Del Rio's in the parking lot ready to fight Big Show in the parking lot. Vintage weapon!

Booker T is in the ring with former world champions. Yup, even KHALI is in there, but we all know he's not winning that title anytime soon. Along with Khali, there's Orton, Daniel Bryan, Kane, Sheamus, and Dolph Ziggler. Elimination Chamber match coming up, and the winner of that match challenges for the World Title. Apparently, you have to be a former world champ to qualify.

JACK SWAGGER?! He's been off TV since last fall. Looks like he's put on a little weight and grown some facial stubble. Ziggler doesn't want to subject himself to the Elimination Chamber so he's out. Since Swagger is indeed a former world champ, he also gets to prove himself tonight. Booker makes matches and all the qualifiers have to do is impress Booker and Teddy Long.

Team Hell No vs. Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara: Rey is in his hometown tonight and gets a nice pop. Sin Cara has green attire tonight to match Rey's colors. Masked guys with the lucha moves to befuddle Team Hell No. DB's looking more like a goat face each passing week. Very competitive match. Mysterio gets the hot tag tonight. Kane blocks the first 619 but Rey sends Kane out of the ring. DB with the NO lock and Sin Cara breaks that up. Sin Cara takes Kane out again. 619 to DB and a splash for three. Awesome opener. **3/4

Matt Striker gets all the sucky assignments. Oh, ADR's just getting some fresh air. No biggie.

Great Khali vs. Jinder Mahal: And it's fast-forward time, because this match can't possibly be very good. Bizarre chaos at ringside involving air guitar playing and leprechaun chasing. Khali wins with the Punjabi Plunge after 2 minutes. I'm not gonna bother rating it. N/A

Booker didn't see Swagger's return coming. Team Rhodes Scholars walks in. Sandow says the team is dissolving so they can pursue singles careers. Let's hug it out! Booker says Sandow will face Sheamus later tonight.

We see WWE exclusive footage of Vince McMahon getting carted off on a stretcher after taking Lesnar's F-5 at the end of RAW. Vince is legitimately undergoing hip surgery in the near future. While I don't necessarily agree with this possibly making HHH return to TV, it would again have major WM 29 drawing power.

Sheamus vs. Damien Sandow: Sandow getting more aggressive in the ring these days. Major physicality is one thing you can expect in a Sheamus match. Sheamus with the clubbing blows to Sandow in the ropes. Shield comes down from the stands and attacks Sheamus. Ref doesn't bother calling for the bell. Rollins took a huge Brogue Kick and looked woozy even after the beatdown ended. Triple powerbomb to Sheamus ends that. *1/2

Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett: Typical Orton match here, nothing fancy. Barrett goes for the Bullhammer but hits the ring post instead. SD crowd really came alive for Orton's RKO at the end. *1/2

Barrett attacks Bo Dallas in the back. WWE really pushing Bo hard by giving him an IC title feud for his first WWE storyline (since getting the callup, anyway).

Jack Swagger vs. Kofi Kingston: A good matchup for Swagger to have his comeback. It took Swagger five months to conclude that he was unhappy with WWE's direction? No JBL, I don't think this is the best we've seen Swagger perform. No questioning that he's in great shape, though. Back and forth, very good stuff. Kofi's offense on point as usual. Action spills to the outside. Trouble in Paradise misses and Kofi's right foot smacks the announce table hard. Allows Swagger to get the submission win via ankle lock. **1/2

Big Show arrives and ADR attacks with the lead pipe. Car windows are smashed. Show really can move for such a huge man. Show got on top of the car and took a bump on top of the vehicle. Show squeezed into another car and drove away. Nice segment.

ADR tells Ricardo to stay in the back. Ricardo's got a neck brace. Yup, that won't be a good decision, either.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Dolph Ziggler: Good stuff to start from ADR. AJ has her hair up tonight. She hops on the apron and Langston knocks ADR off the top. Del Rio just about lands on his head there. Ref eventually ejects Langston from ringside. ADR with the comeback. That superkick with Ziggler on his knees sounded insanely lethal, but got just two. Cross armbreaker countered into a Ziggler Rocker Dropper for two. ADR with punches to the back and a backstabber to Ziggler for another two. ADR to the top and Ziggler with a perfectly timed dropkick to ADR to get two. Zigzag countered into a cross armbreaker, and Ziggler taps. Now this is a match, my friends. Hell yes. ***3/4

As expected, Big Show in the titantron and he has Ricardo. After a few threats to ADR, a KO punch to Ricardo. So we're probably getting yet another singles match between Alberto and Big Show at Elimination Chamber.