‘WWE Smackdown’ Results & Review (20.09.13)

Welcome to this weeks WWE Smackdown review and results column. It’s an interesting time for fans of wrestling, so let’s get going.

The show opens with a video package showing the recent happenings of the big Orton/HHH/Stephanie/Shield/Bryan/Locker Room storyline, bringing us all up to date with the angle.

Vickie Guerrero is in the ring as the show opens and she says she is here to introduce the laughing stock of WWE, Daniel Bryan. Vickie, as I’ve been saying alot since she debuted years ago, is one of the best non-wrestler heels of all time. Bryan comes out after being dissed by Vickie as the fans applaud him loudly with chants of “yes”. Bryan calls Vickie a “shrill corporate suck-up”. He says he did nothing wrong at Night of Champions, in which he is being accused of conspiring against Orton. Vickie tells Bryan to “tell the truth”. Bryan says he kneed Orton in the face and knocked him out and the referee could have counted to twenty. Bryan says he should “still be WWE Champion”. Vickie calls Daniel a liar and says she hopes he never becomes the face of WWE. Bryan says that Vickie doesn’t have “any real power”. Vickie goes over the names of the wrestlers who saved Bryan last week on RAW and says they’re all going to be eliminated when Bryan and his friends will wrestle The Shield in an elimination style match later on in the show, where each member will wrestle alone against The Shield and will have to survive. Vickie laughs and leaves as Bryan looks irritated.

We come back from break as Naomi is in the ring and Natalya is on commentary. Naomi’s opponent is the WWE Divas Champion, AJ Lee. Random thought, I like that AJ wipes her feet before entering the ring to wrestle. Old school. Nice respect shown there. Naomi is athletic and hits a nice kick before getting kicked herself after trying a springboard move. Nattie talks about Total Divas and how they are revolutionising the industry. AJ is one of the best workers in women’s wrestling and deserves credit for her work in the last few months. Naomi hits a nice jumping kick and atomic drop, followed by the “rear-view” butt bash. AJ regains control with a sleeper hold followed by the “Black Widow” submission, causing Naomi to tap out. AJ wins. Decent women’s match, the best on TV in weeks. They tease a match between AJ and Nattie, which I can’t wait for, should be great.

Zeb Coulter and his tag team of The Real Americans (Antonio Cesaro and Jack Swagger) are out next, with Zeb cutting a promo about Santino being an “illegal”. The fans, ironically chant along with them “we the people”. Santino comes out to a medium-pop. I wish they’d make him stop the speed walking and be a serious character for a change. Santino is up against Swagger. In the ring, Santino has changed it up a bit and seems to be attempting more amateur wrestling and judo moves which are cool. The cobra though, has to go. The match, in which Santino wins clean, is very little more than a bland television match designed to help Santino get over more since his return.

Ryback comes out to some decent heat from the WWE Universe, along with the I-C Champion, Curtis Axel and Paul Heyman. Nick Nardone is in the ring, obviously ready to job to Ryback. Nardone has worked on the indies as well as OVW recently and is a pretty decent worker. Heyman grabs the microphone and declares himself as “the best in the World”. Axel, I feel, actually looks like a star tonight, standing in a suit beside Heyman with the I-C belt over his shoulder. Very nice. Heyman calls Ryback his “hero”. Ryback talks now, complementing Heyman and saying how he can’t stand bullies. Michael Cole, unprofessionally, buries Nardone on commentary. It wasn’t needed and is a silly move. What if they sign this “nothing wrestler” in the future? Cole is an idiot and will never be a worthy successor to Jim Ross. The match is quick and Ryback beats Nardone easily. A message to CM Punk from “The Beautiful Beast” Ryback.

Randy Orton makes his way to the squared circle next to a large amount of boos and thumbs-down from the fans. Orton gets on the stick and talks about being who he really is and how HHH and Stephanie showed him who he really was. The fans chant “boring”. Randy talks about how be beat the living daylights out of The Miz in front of his (terrible at acting) parents last week on Monday Night RAW. Randy ends his promo by putting himself over. The Shield come out now, making their way through the crowd drenched in their championship gold. The announcers put over the “11 on 3” gauntlet match as a “first in WWE history”.

Darren Young is the first opponent of The Shield and he gets a nice cheer from the crowd. The Shield, who are allowed to work “tornado style” attack Young and beat him down with punches and kicks as the fans boo. Reigns nails Young with a spear to pin him quickly and easily. Titus is out next, and he gets a few hits in on the three Shield members but is soon taken down and nailed with the triple powerbomb, getting eliminated. Dolph Ziggler, who gets a good pop, is up next and looks concerned as he runs to the ring. He nails The Shield with a few moves before being beaten down by Reigns, Rollins and Ambrose who rip his shirt off his back and kick him in the guts. The fans chant “let’s go Ziggler” and Dolph hits a flurry of moves and spots that make it look like he might possibly beat The Shield. Ziggler, though, is eventually counted out following an attack outside the ring from The Shield. Kofi Kingston is the next man who has to try to beat the “hounds of justice”. Kofi hits a few decent kicks and even gets a near-fall with the “trouble in paradise” kick on Reigns. Ambrose takes Kofi down and pins him. Rob Van Dam is next and gets a great reaction from the fans, as he always does. The fans chant “RVD” as Rob hits some signature spots and kicks on each Shield member. Van Dam hits an explosion of springboard movies and the “rolling thunder” but as he goes for the frog splash, HHH’s music hits and distracts Van Dam, who gets knocked off the top rope by Reigns. HHH comes to the ring and yells at Vickie and tells her to shut the match down. The Shield grabs their title belts and hightail it out o’ there.

HHH tells Vickie, backstage, to make a match with Bryan and The Uso’s against The Shield later, in the main event of the show. Justin Gabriel and Zack Ryder are with HHH now, and he tells them to go to the ring for some competition.

The Wyatt Family make their way to the ring, their excellent entrance theme playing as Bray Wyatt walks in the dark with a lantern beside his face, Erick Rowan and Luke Harper following behind. Gabriel and Ryder look intimidated in the ring as they start the match against Rowan and Harper. Ryder attempts to get momentum with some dropkicks but it soon stopped in his tracks by a Harper boot to the face. Rowan enters the fray and manhandles Gabriel. The brawly and messily angry offence of Harper and Rowan is perfect for their characters. Harper nails Ryder with a lariat for the pinfall victory. Wyatt then leaves Ryder lying after hitting the “Sister Abigail” drop. As Jake “The Snake” Roberts might say, “Short ride, bad landing”.

Backstage we see Alberto Del Rio attack Rob Van Dam as he is being checked up on by medical personnel. Referees intervene on Van Dam’s behalf as Del Rio walks away angrily.

R Truth sings his way to the ring next. The fans sit on their hands. It’s a dated gimmick that is no longer over in the slightest. Alberto Del Rio comes out as Truth’s opponent, his World Title in hand. They further the aggressive character of Del Rio that they’ve been giving him recently. R Truth gets some offence in but it’s mostly an exhibition for the World Champion. Del Rio kicks and stomps truth, clasps in the cross arm breaker, and gets the win via submission. Like I said, exhibition match.

Now for the main event of the show. The Shield are already in the ring awaiting their opponents. The Uso’s come out to a nice reaction, and I am really happy to see this team getting a little push up the card now, they’re incredibly talented and energetic in the ring. Their partner comes out to the usual great reaction next, Daniel Bryan. The match is underway. The exchanges between Bryan and Rollins are exceptional as usual, these two have a tremendous chemistry in the ring. Bryan hooks Rollins into the surfboard submission before tagging in his Uso partner. The Shield and The Uso’s have some good back and forth interactions. Cole and JBL put Bryan over on commentary, talking about how he worked so hard to get to WWE. Bryan tags in and hits his signature kicks on Reigns for a while. These six men work really well together and if this was given forty minutes and put on PPV it would be an exceptional contest between three excellent talents. Still, this is great and promotes every single performer strongly. The crowd go wild for Bryan’s spots as well as the Uso’s suicide dives, followed by a similar dive from Rollins. Brilliant stuff. Bryan locks Ambrose in the “yes lock” for the submission victory in a top notch main event on the best episode of Smackdown in weeks. The show goes off the air with Bryan and The Uso’s celebrating in the ring.

SD: Best of the Night: The Shield

SD: Dud of the Night: R Truth

SD: Best Match: Bryan/Uso’s vs. The Shield

SD: Best Spot: The plancha/dive spot with The Uso’s & Rollins