Smackdown - September 21, 2012

Smackdown

Date: September 21, 2012

Location: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Commentators: Michael Cole, Josh Matthews

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

Night of Champions is over and not a ton has changed on Smackdown. Sheamus is still the champion after pinning Del Rio with a Brogue Kick. This is of course more exciting than the other two times he pinned Del Rio with the Brogue Kick because in this, the move wasn't legal until seconds before the match. Hopefully someone new challenges the champ before HIAC. Let's get to it.

Do You Know Your Enemy? Mine is a hospital that is letting its service to customers fall apart because it let a ton of its workers go to cut costs.

The main event is a tag match of course. In this case it's Ziggler/Del Rio vs. Orton/Sheamus.

We open the show with EDGE! It's Philly so you know the fans erupt for him. He has really short hair now which is a look that kind of works for him. Edge says coming out here like that never gets old. He's here because Philly is the home of the Broad Street Bullies and because it's been 18 months since his retirement. He's been able to sit at home and watch WWE as a fan again, but he's never seen anything as crazy as he's seen lately.

We get a clip from Monday with Bryan and Kane arguing over the titles and then hugging it out before shouting at each other that they're the tag team champions. He doesn't understand how this could happen and would like an explanation, which leads to him being cut off by Bryan. Bryan corrects Edge on his use of pronouns. THEY didn't become tag team champions. Bryan is the tag team champions.

Bryan starts yelling again but Edge says chill. He asks Bryan about the little world Bryan lives in now but Bryan says he's a rock and at one with his emotions. Edge says excuse me when Bryan says all this, which Bryan interprets as repressed thoughts about Vickie. Bryan says Edge's theme music (You think you know me) tells the whole story: no one really knows Edge. If Bryan really knew Edge, he would know that hasn't been his theme music in years.

Bryan says there is nothing anyone can do to make him snap. Edge: “Well played grasshopper.” Edge says that wasn't his intention but it sounds like a challenge. It turns into the Bugs Bunny/Daffy Duck routine of yes it is/no it isn't before Edge turns the tables and Bryan goes into a rant of NO IT WASN'T which draws out Kane.

Kane and Bryan argue over the same thing they always argue about before Edge shouts them down. Kane: “Edge, calm down buddy. You know Dr. Shelby has some great relaxation exercises.” Edge snaps again because while he gets Bryan being at peace and such, he doesn't get Kane at all. Edge gives us a quick history of himself vs. Kane, including the weddings and the torture they've put each other through. He leaves out the time that he caused Kane to seemingly murder his father but there's a lot of history to get through.

Kane wants to rectify this right now and steps back as if to fight. Edge takes his jacket off but Kane opens his arms to hug it out. Edge is a combination of reluctant and shocked but he eventually hugs Kane. Bryan SNAPS, shouting NO over and over again for no apparent reason. Edge and Kane open their arms for a group hug and Bryan looks like it's Christmas morning.

This draws out Sandow for no apparent reason. He's here to help of course because for the last fortnight, this serial has been brought down by the attempts at hugging it out. He blames the fans for bringing down the show before Edge cuts him off. Edge talks about how he'd rather watch the champions hug it out for the whole show instead of listening to Sandow for thirty seconds. Edge says Sandow should come out and fight one of these two and after a lengthy audience poll, Kane is picked as the opponent.

Kane vs. Damien Sandow

This starts after a break and at the end of the previous nearly 20 minute segment. It was entertaining and got the job done though which is all that matters. Kane knocks Sandow to the floor with a shoulder to start and an uppercut knocks Damien to the floor. Back in and a big boot takes Sandow down again.

Damien bails to the floor but runs into Bryan. Sandow guillotines him on the ropes to take over The offense only lasts a few seconds as Sandow walks into the side slam and there's the top rope clothesline. Bryan gets on the apron as Kane is loading up the chokeslam. The distractions lets Sandow hit his neckbreaker for the pin at 3:05.

Rating: C. As I've said for a few weeks, the idea of Sandow getting ring time with these bigger names is a great thing for him. While it wasn't clean, a pin over Kane is by far the biggest win of his career so far and it's a great sign that he was put into a segment with a hall of famer and the hottest act in the company. That's a great sign for Sandow and the match wasn't terrible. Another good thing here: Bryan didn't attack Kane. It was Sandow's finisher alone that got the pin on him.

Back from a break....and it's more Kane. He's freaking out looking for Bryan but finds Dr. Shelby. Shelby tries to calm him down but Kane calls Bryan a goatface. Bryan pops up for ANOTHER argument until Dr. Shelby snaps. Shelby wants to try a trust exercise. Kane promises to not rip Bryan's beard off in exchange for his title back. That's not enough though as Bryan cost Kane a match. Shelby offers to talk to Booker and get Bryan a match tonight. That makes Kane feel better and he says he's the tag team champions before leaving.

I'd like to note we're about 35 minutes into this show and we've seen NOTHING but Bryan and Kane stuff. They're going to run this into the ground and they're going to do it soon.

Tonight the Brogue Kick controversy continues. WHY DOES IT HAVE TO CONTINUE? It's over.

Booker comes into his office to find Del Rio. Alberto calls Booker a coward and wants to know why the Brogue Kick was reinstated. Booker says his investigation was over. The kick is dangerous but it's legal. If Alberto doesn't want to get hurt, don't mess with Sheamus. PREACH IT BOOKER MAN! Alberto asks for another title shot but Booker says Alberto has to earn it. He can do that in the tag match apparently.

Eve comes out for commentary.

Layla vs. Natalya

Layla easily takes Natalya down to start but she keeps pointing at and glaring at Layla. Natalya gets in a shot to the ribs and puts on an abdominal stretch which Layla rolls out of. Sharpshooter is countered and the Layout gets the pin on Nattie at 1:30.

Alberto Del Rio/Dolph Ziggler vs. Sheamus/Randy Orton

Pretty early for the main event. This is joined in progress after a break but it doesn't look like we missed much. Sheamus and Del Rio start things off and Alberto pounds Sheamus down into the corner. Sheamus shrugs him off and brings in Orton for a dropkick for two. Back to the champ to pound on Del Rio some more, only to be sent into the corner and get caught by a running kick to the shoulder.

Cole talks about JBL climbing a mountain because Sheamus vs. Del Rio isn't capable of holding his interest. A shoulder block takes Del Rio down but the managers get on the apron, letting Ziggler get in a shot to take over. Off to a chinlock from Dolph before it's back to Del Rio. This is dull stuff so far. Del Rio hooks a chinlock of his own but Sheamus gets up with ease.

A powerslam puts Del Rio down and it's off to Orton who cleans house. Both heels get powerslams but Del Rio hits a Backstabber for two. It's Ziggler vs. Orton now with Ziggler hitting a dropkick for two. It's back to Del Rio but Orton dropkicks him to the floor almost immediately. Hot tag brings in Sheamus who cleans house again but Dolph avoids the Brogue Kick. Irish Curse gets two on Ziggler and there's an RKO to Alberto. Brogue Kick takes out Ziggler for the pin at 8:19.

Rating: C. Standard main event tag here but the most important thing is that Del Rio didn't get to prove anything. Hopefully that means a new opponent will show up for HIAC which would be great news. Ziggler losing again is annoying but that's what you have to expect in WWE. The match started slow but it picked up by the end.

Daniel Bryan vs. Cody Rhodes

Feeling out process to start with Bryan taking over, only to yell at the crowd and let Cody get in some offense. Bryan moonsaults out of the corner and clotheslines Cody down followed by a dropkick in the corner. He loads up the NO Lock but here's Kane. The hold never goes on and Cody uses the distraction to hit Cross Rhodes for the pin at 2:10.

Back from a break and Kane and Bryan are fighting some more. Well it had been a full ten minutes so it's to be expected. Bryan wants to know why Kane did that but Kane has no idea what Bryan is talking about. Kane says they're even so Bryan says Kane belongs in a basement. Kane says Bryan belongs in a petting zoo. They yell some more until they see Sandow and Rhodes standing off to the side. A tag match is made for later tonight. The champs argue over who the other guys are more scared of.

We recap the end of the PPV and Raw.

Brodus Clay vs. Heath Slater

Brodus does his full intro again. It's a dance off to start as you would expect. Brodus takes over with his usual power stuff and there's the release suplex. And here are Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre to jump Brodus for the DQ at 1:10. So is Brodus feuding with these two now instead of Cesaro which was teased on Monday? Or is it the rest of the world vs. Planet Funk?

Santino Marella vs. Antonio Cesaro

Well of course Brodus can't fight Cesaro. It's time for Santino to fight him for the 95^th time this month. Cesaro immediately takes him down and hits the gutwrench suplex. Off to the cravate but Santino comes back with his usual. There's the Cobra but Aksana distracts him again. Aksana tries to get the sock but falls into the ring. Cesaro hits the European Uppercut and in the distraction, Santino rolls him up for the pin at 1:50. Well of course since there is NO ONE ELSE IN THE COMPANY that can fight Cesaro.

Cesaro dumps Aksana post match in five languages.

Kane/Daniel Bryan vs. Damien Sandow/Cody Rhodes

This is a lumberjack match for no apparent reason with the Usos, Kidd/Gabriel and the Prime Time Players at ringside. The non-champions don't even get an entrance. Kane and Cody start things off with Rhodes being pounded down very quickly. Cody brings in Sandow but Kane has to pull him into the ring. There's the low dropkick but Bryan tags himself in before Kane can cover. Guess what that leads to.

Cody got tagged in during the argument and Bryan fires off kicks at the chest. Bryan goes to tag Kane but shouts NO instead. The Disaster Kick gets two on Bryan and Sandow jumps Kane on the floor. Cody and Bryan collide in the ring and it's off to Kane a few seconds later. Sandow avoids a chokeslam once but the second attempt works, but here's Cody with a chair for the DQ at 4:09.

Rating: C. Another match that didn't have time to go anywhere but wasn't horrible. I guess we have a fifth team now which is ok, and it's good that this wasn't long and didn't have a definitive ending. It's good to see these guys having something to do, which has been the problem for guys like Cody for awhile. When all else fails, throw them into a tag team. It can work a lot of the time.

Post match Bryan stops Cody from using the chair but can't bring himself to hit Cody with said chair. Instead he hands it to Kane who blasts Cody out of the ring. Bryan gets his own chair and they take turns destroying Sandow with it. They probably hit him twenty times between the pair of them. Kane puts his chair down and beats up the other three teams, feeding them into Bryan for chair shots. Bryan and Kane stand in the ring with their titles and chairs as bodies surround them. They argue one more time to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. Well.....that was certainly different. Throughout the show I was thinking that this was a bad idea as it was all about Bryan and Kane. Then it occurred to me that the biggest complaint I've had for months about Smackdown is that it's the same stuff week after week. On this show, Sheamus and Del Rio were an afterthought and that was a nice change of pace. I'm worried about them running this angle into the ground, but man the ending here was fun. Now that they've got a hot act, they need to use that to build up the division as a whole. Fun and different shot tonight, which might be what they needed.

Results

Damien Sandow b. Kane – Double Arm Neckbreaker

Layla b. Natalya – Layout

Sheamus/Randy Orton b. Alberto Del Rio/Dolph Ziggler – Brogue Kick to Ziggler

Cody Rhodes b. Daniel Bryan – Cross Rhodes

Brodus Clay b. Heath Slater via DQ when Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre interfered

Santino Marella b. Antonio Cesaro – Rollup

Kane/Daniel Bryan b. Damien Sandow/Cody Rhodes via DQ when Rhodes used a chair

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