Smackdown
Date:
August 30, 2013
Location:
Thomas and Mack Center, Las Vegas, Nevada
Commentators:
Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
We
close out August with Daniel Bryan on a bad run of luck. For four
straight shows now he's been left laying by Randy Orton and the new
Corporation, but luckily for him the fans are still WAY into him.
That's only going to last for so long though until the fans start to
view him as a guy who got lucky against Cena instead of an elite
level star. Let's get to it.
Theme
song opens us up.
We
get things going with MizTV featuring guests Big Show and Dolph
Ziggler. Miz says the three of them were all on the stage along with
forty other superstars while Daniel Bryan had to run the Shield
gauntlet. They were all told that if they said anything, HHH would
make them miserable. However, Miz thinks it's time for them to speak
up about how the WWE is being run. Big Show says that was one of the
hardest things he's ever had to do. Ziggler is nervous to say
anything and says let Big Show keep going. Miz is about to say
something when HHH cuts him off.
HHH
thinks MizTV is cool but wants to hear what Miz was about to say
before he came to the ring and why Miz isn't in a suit. Miz says you
never know when a fight could break out and wants to know if he can
ask HHH a question. HHH says no he can't and asks why these three
are taking the Daniel Bryan route and making it personal. They
shouldn't be jealous of Randy Orton. After all, Orton isn't a guy
who talks a lot but can't back it up or a guy who just happens to be
big, but (to Ziggler) at least he's big enough.
HHH
talks about how Orton being champion is what's best for business,
meaning it makes more money for all of them. Miz is jealous because
he can't get near the WWE Championship again, but since HHH is in a
good mood he's giving Miz a shot at Randy Orton tonight. HHH saw
Ziggler looking miserable because he lost to the Shield in a 3-1
handicap match, so tonight he gets a rematch with all three guys.
That leaves Big Show, who gets the night off. Instead he gets to sit
next to the announcers and do nothing about it whatsoever. Show
looks like he wants to chew through steel but goes and sits down.
Randy
Orton vs. The Miz
Non-title
of course with Big Show at ringside. Orton takes Miz into the corner
to start and we get a clean break. Miz jumps over Orton in the
corner and clotheslines him down but Orton easily escapes a Figure
Four attempt. Orton staggers him with a headbutt and gets two off a
dropkick. Miz is tossed to the floor as Orton is doing a good job at
making his usual spots into heel moves. Miz is dropped back first
onto the barricade for two back inside.
We
hit the chinlock but Miz fights up and pounds on Orton in the corner
until the referee pulls him away. The running clothesline in the
corner sets up Miz's top rope ax handle, only to have Orton kick him
out of the air. The Elevated DDT is countered into a backdrop to the
floor....and here comes Shield as we take a break. Back with Shield
standing between the ring and the ramp as Orton sends Miz into the
barricade.
The
fans chant for Big Show as Orton throws Miz back inside for two.
Orton does the circle stomp and hits another chinlock but Miz fights
up with some elbows. A neckbreaker gets two for Miz but Orton
escapes the Skull Crushing Finale. Now the Elevated DDT connects but
Miz counters the RKO into a backslide for two. A dropkick to the
knee sets up the Figure Four and Orton is in trouble. Randy finally
makes a rope and jumps to his feet for the RKO and the pin at 10:02
shown of 13:02.
Rating:
C+. Nice match here as Miz can
have a decent performance against the right kind of opponent. The
Figure Four still needs to go though as it just doesn't fit the rest
of Miz's offense at all. As has been said many times, the guy used
one move to get to the WWE Title and to the main event of
Wrestlemania, so why would he need to change things? Good match here
and a good win for Orton who got a clean pin.
Shield
comes in for the post match beatdown but Bryan makes a save with a
chair, sending the place into a frenzy. THIS is what they've been
needing to do for weeks now.
Los
Matadores are still coming.
Vickie
yells at Bryan for what he just did and gives him a match with Ryback
as a result.
We
recap the Punk/Heyman/Axel segment from Raw. Thank goodness the fans
were chanting Walrus instead of Boring because that was a great
segment.
Rob
Van Dam vs. Damien Sandow
Sandow
says he'll win and win and win until he's world champion. Other than
the winning part, he might be right and that's kind of scary. Rob
hits a quick kick to take over and jumps up top for a legdrop of all
things, good for two. Sandow comes back by sending him shoulder
first into the post followed by the Russian legsweep and the Wind-Up
Elbow for two. Big Show is still at ringside in case you were
wondering. Sandow hooks the chinlock but Rob quickly fights up and
snaps off a hurricanrana. Damien slows RVD down with a big boot but
Rob hits a springboard kick to the face and the Five Star gets the
pin at 2:37.
Post
match here's Alberto who insults both Ricardo and RVD. Del Rio warns
RVD to not sleep with the dogs because he'll wake up with fleas.
Dolph
Ziggler vs. Shield
Rollins
starts for Shield but Dolph knocks the other two members off the
apron before going after Seth. A cross body gets two for Dolph and
he pounds away on Rollins' head. Rollins gets him into the Shield
corner for some stomping and it's off to Reigns. A Samoan drop from
the Samoan gets two and Ambrose comes in to talk trash and pound
away. The fans chant for Ziggler as JBL is having a great time
watching this destruction.
Dean
shouts at Ziggler in the corner so Ziggler slaps him in the face and
backdrops the US Champion to the floor. Ziggler can't follow up
though so it's back to Rollins who counters the Fameasser into the
always awesome looking buckle bomb. Reigns comes in off a blind tag
and spears Ziggler out of his boots for the pin at 4:00.
Rating:
C-. What else could they have
done here? Thankfully this doesn't hurt Ziggler and I could see him
getting the US Title shot at Night of Champions. That spear from
Reigns continues to be awesome as I don't remember anyone ever
throwing their legs in the air like he does. It looks like he's
almost flying through the other person and it looks great every time.
Post
match Shield chokes Ziggler on the ropes and taunts Big Show. The
Triple Bomb leaves Ziggler laying and Big Show seething.
Here
are Heyman and Axel with something to say. Axel introduces us to
another clip of Heyman attacking Punk on Raw. Heyman wants to know
what the fans want from him. Are they mad at him for the beating he
gave his prodigal son on Monday? He isn't sorry for what he did
because the fans voted him into that situation. Did they think he
was going to take his beating like a man?
For
434 days he and Punk were the reigning WWE Champion and every single
one of their opponents were put down using Heyman's plans and Punk's
implementation. Every time Punk has come up against Heyman, it's
been Punk on his back, looking up at his mentor. This brings us to
Night of Champions, where Heyman might have to face Punk on his own
again.
If
that happens, the fans are expecting to see Punk beat Heyman into the
ground, and Heyman is indeed afraid. If Punk gets his hands on him,
you won't see Paul Heyman again. However, that fear could be Punk's
worst enemy. Look at what Heyman has done to Punk out of love and
think about what he could do if he was facing a beating at Punk's
hands. More greatness from Heyman here.
Wyatt
Family vs. Tons of Funk
Harper
starts with Tensai and the fat man knocking Luke to the floor. Tons
of Funk hit a double standing splash to Harper but Rowan breaks up
the big splash. Harper kicks Tensai in the face and it's the discus
lariat and splash combination for the pin on Tensai at 1:13. This
was pretty sloppy for a seventy five second match.
Wyatt
hits Sister Abigail on Tensai post match.
Los
Matadores are still coming. That hasn't changed in the last hour.
We
look at the AJ promo against the Total Divas from Monday.
Ryback
vs. Daniel Bryan
Ryback
has a new split color singlet. Thankfully we only hear about the
Escalade for the first time during Bryan's entrance. Bryan charges
right at him but gets shoved across the ring with ease. A slam puts
Bryan down as Big Show looks on with a worried look. Ryback fires
off some hard shoulders into the corner for two but after staggering
Bryan with a headbutt, Ryback misses a charge into the post.
Bryan
starts firing off the kicks and hits a running dropkick to the chest
in the corner. Ryback rolls to the floor for the FLYING GOAT as
Orton strolls down to the ring. The distraction allows Ryback to run
Bryan over as we take a break. Back with Bryan fighting out of a
chinlock and firing off kicks to the legs.
Daniel
loads up the running clothesline but gets caught in a hard
spinebuster for no cover. The Meat Hook connects for two s Ryback
loads up a belly to belly superplex. Bryan doesn't feel like dying
today so he headbutts Ryback down and hits the missile dropkick.
Here come the kicks and the big one to the head is good for two.
There's the YES Lock but Orton comes in for the DQ at 6:25 shown of
9:25.
Rating:
C+. These two have good
chemistry together as Bryan knows how to play the David role to
Ryback's Goliath as well as anyone else. Bad character development
and horrid win/loss record aside, there's potential in Ryback as a
monster heel. Good match here as I'm come to expect from these two.
Bryan
is ready for Orton and catches him in the YES Lock but here's Shield
for the save. Big Show is out of his chair and looks like he's about
to explode. He finally slides into the ring but doesn't touch
anyone. HHH comes raving down the aisle, demanding that Big Show get
out of the ring. Show stays in the ring and stares down at HHH
before finally climbing out. He looks like he's about to cry as HHH
demands he go to the back.
The
beating on Bryan continues as the announcers go into serious silent
mode. Orton has Shield hold Bryan for more punishment and walks
Bryan around the ring to look at all the people. The Batista thumbs
up/down thing sets up the Triple Bomb and in case we haven't
channeled enough heel stables for you yet, Orton spray paints NO on
Bryan's chest to end the show. This would be the fifth consecutive
show where Daniel Bryan has been left laying since winning the WWE
Championship.
Overall
Rating: B. I really liked
tonight's show as they treated it like things mattered. I'm liking
the main story more and more as it's reminiscent of 1998 when
Undertaker refusing to fight Kane as Kane destroyed more and more
people. At least we can almost guarantee the matches will be better
this time around though. Overall though the show came off quite well
with almost everything being at least good.
They
could be on the verge of something huge here if they play their cards
right, but they can't keep having Bryan get destroyed forever. The
silver lining though is Bryan isn't losing matches and is being
beaten down by impossible odds, so once he gets backup (which is
clearly coming), he can fight Orton on level ground and get his big
win.
Results
Randy
Orton b. The Miz – RKO
Rob
Van Dam b. Damien Sanodw – Five Star Frog Splash
Shield
b. Dolph Ziggler – Spear
Wyatt
Family b. Tons of Funk – Splash to Tensai
Daniel
Bryan b. Ryback via DQ when Randy Orton interfered
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