WWE Smackdown Review (06.09.13)

This week’s Smackdown begins with the WWE roster standing on the stage area, as has become usual in the last couple of weeks, and Triple H is in the ring with Vickie Guerrero and Brad Maddox, which is guarded by the three members of The Shield. Hunter talks about the “firing” of Cody Rhodes that occurred on RAW, he then asks for the WWE roster to speak up, open up to him and tell him how they truly feel. The roster sheepishly looks around, only a couple of guys speak up. Kofi Kingston and Rob Van Dam. We also hear Ryback, Damien Sandow and Heath Slater sucking up to “The Game”. The segment ends with Triple H announcing that Daniel Bryan will have the chance to pick any member of The Shield to wrestle later on in the show. Kofi Kingston versus Curtis Axel and Rob Van Dam versus Randy Orton are also announced for tonight’s show. These segments that we’ve seen recently with Triple H abusing his power and the roster being on the stage reminds me of the 90’s and early 00’s, it’s nice to see Smackdown with most of the big names too.

We come back from a break for Randy Orton’s match against Rob Van Dam. Alberto Del Rio is a guest on commentary. The match is decent, much like many of Van Dam’s and Orton’s matches have been through the years. They have decent chemistry in the ring. A back and forth match, featuring most of the usual and popular spots from both guys, ends after Del Rio attacks Ricardo Rodriguez at ringside, causing a distraction, allowing Orton to get the win on Van Dam after hitting the RKO. Del Rio then hits the ring and locks the cross-arm breaker in on Van Dam. Sadly, I’m already bored of this feud. I think it’s time they took the World Title from Del   Rio and let someone else run with it.

Renee Young talks to Daniel Bryan backstage. Bryan says he wants to be WWE Champion and that he can beat any member of The Shield, and that he can beat Randy Orton.

We then go to a segment with WWE Divas Champion AJ Lee talking to fellow Divas Alicia Fox, Layla and Aksana. AJ says that the “Total Divas” are getting unfair chances. The segment ends, leaving us with a feeling that the four of them will group together to face the Total Divas at some point.

Dolph Ziggler heads to the ring next, to face Ryback, another match set up by Triple H in the opening of the show. Ryback is in charge for most of the match, eventually Dean Ambrose causes a distraction, allowing Ryback to hit the meat-hook clothesline on Ziggler and score the pinfall victory with a match-winning Shellshock.

Next, Kofi Kingston comes to the ring to little reaction from the crowd, for his non-title match against the Intercontinental Champion, and son of the legendary late Curt Hennig, Curtis Axel, who is of course accompanied to the ring by his agent/manager Paul “E” Heyman. Some fun high spots from Kofi during the match, as well as some good chain wrestling from the both of them. Axel is good in the ring, and he’s improving as a character with the help of Heyman, but I sadly don’t see him being the heel or star that he father was. Kofi is a victim of the stop/start pushes that WWE seems to be addicted to in recent years. A real shame, Kingston is a great talent who gets the fans on his side easily once he starts showing his abilities in the ring. A fun back and forth contest comes to a close when Kofi scores the upset victory over Axel, leaving Heyman and his protégé looking flabbergasted.

We go to a Wyatt Family promo, with Bray Wyatt talking in riddles and bizarre quotations, making mention of Kane. The Wyatt Family are one of the most interesting things in WWE right now, and Bray is fantastic in this role. Not sure where it’s going, and if we’ll see Kane join the group at some point, but it’s certainly intriguing.

We come back from the adverts to see Renee Young talking to Paul Heyman, asking if he is concerned about his and Axel’s match against CM Punk at Night of Champions. Heyman says that his “worst” is a lot better than CM Punk’s.

Now, Brie Bella is in the ring with Naomi and they have a singles match. Neither Diva is really over, but Total Divas, the show, is a lot more entertaining that I expected and at least it gives these women something to do now, and brings the women’s division into more of a spotlight again. Naomi is athletic and decent, but the match is still sloppy and the Bella’s offence is pretty dire. AJ Lee, Aksana, Layla and Fox storm the ring and attack Brie Bella and Naomi. I’m happy to see Alicia Fox in a storyline again, because I like her. Aksana also deserves a chance to shine considering the effort she’s made to improve in the last couple of years.

Next, we have The Uso’s versus The Real American’s in a tag match.

The Uso’s are over and their entrance, look and ring ability is excellent, I hope they eventually get to hold the Tag Titles. We see high-impact moves from Cesaro and some high flying from the Uso’s. It’s more of less the same as the other matches they’ve had over the last month or two. Cesaro scores the pinfall for the win. Decent, but they need to add some new teams to the mix.

Big Show is backstage with Triple H, and he sets up a match between Show and…erm…3MB. And it’s next. Okay…

Big Show flattens the entire group of 3MB in nothing more than a squash. We’ve seen Big Show do this hundreds of times since he debuted in the wrestling business in 1996. He hits a double chokeslam on Mahal and Slater, before nailing Heath with the KO Punch for the easy victory. Blah. I believe we will see Show turn on Daniel Bryan at Night of Champions and reveal his recent inner-turmoil to be a big old ruse. I could be wrong, but it’s how it seems to be heading.

The Shield come out now, for a match in which one of them will face the challenger for the WWE Championship and the most over guy on the current roster, Daniel Bryan. Bryan gets a massive pop as usual, with the crowd chanting “YES” in unison. Roman Reigns steps forward to face Bryan, but Rollins attacks from behind, giving us Rollins versus Bryan. These two had a match on RAW a couple of months back that remains to be one of my favourite matches of the year so far. Rollins has the early advantage as the crowd chant “Daniel Bryan”. Everytime Bryan punches, kicks or hits an offensive move, the crowd pop and chant along, it’s a wonderful thing to see and hear. The “American Dragon” hits a missile dropkick for a near-fall. Rollins takes advantage again and throws Bryan into the ring steps. Ambrose and Reigns begin to get involved, and Bryan wipes them out with a plancha and a dropkick, before nailing Rollins with a flying kick to the face to score the three-count win.

Bryan and the fans chant “YES” as The Shield stand defeated in the ring. Orton then comes out and hits Bryan from behind with the belt, and the show, much like every show has in the last few weeks, goes off the air with Randy Orton standing victorious over a fallen Daniel Bryan.

SD: Best of the Night: Daniel Bryan

SD: Dud of the Night: Brie Bella

SD: Best Match: Bryan/Rollins