Smackdown
Date:
September 20, 2013
Location:
US Bank Arena, Cincinnati, Ohio
Commentators:
Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
We're
past Night of Chapions and the main story is that there's no WWE
Champion. Bryan won the title on Sunday but has been stripped of it
due to an alleged conspiracy between he and now fired referee Scott
Armstrong. On Raw however, the roster finally came together to fight
back against HHH and the Corporation, giving us an interesting battle
for the first time since this began, which was somehow just over a
month ago. Let's get to it.
We
open with a look back at Night of Champions and Raw, set up through
an interview with HHH. He compares the scandal with Armstrong to
Pete Rose hypothetically conspiring with an umpire to fix the World
Series.
Here's
Vickie to open things up. She says she has a thrilling and exciting
show planned for us tonight, but first she has to introduce the
laughing stock of the WWE. Bob Backlund held the WWE Championship
for over 2,000 days, but this man held it for less than a day: Daniel
Bryan. Daniel says he'd rather be champion for one day than being a
shrill corporate suck-up for his entire life. Vickie gives him an
opportunity to come clean but Bryan says the truth is he kneed Orton
in the face for three. It could have been a twenty count because
Orton was out cold.
Bryan
says he should still be champion but Vickie says he should be fired.
Daniel says everyone is grateful that Vickie has no real power, but
Vickie would rather talk about the people that got involved at the
end of the night. Those people would be Ziggler, the Usos, R-Truth,
Justin Gabriel, Zack Ryder, the Prime Time Players, Kofi Kingston and
Rob Van Dam. Tonight it's going to be an 11-3 handicap gauntlet
match. The idea is all eleven of them will come down to face the
Shield 3-1 until Shield has defeated them all. Bryan is lucky enough
to go last.
Naomi
vs. AJ
Non-title.
Natalya is on commentary and talks about how AJ is riding the
coattails of the Total Divas who have revolutionized the division.
AJ easily takes Naomi down and hooks a cravate as Natalya calls AJ an
opportunist for how she kept the title on Sunday. A running back
elbow gets two for the champion, though Natalya is FAR more
entertaining, trying to make the Total Divas sound like good people.
Naomi comes back with a dropkick and the Rear View for two. AJ's
sleeper is quickly broken up but she grabs the Black Widow for the
submission at 3:25.
Rating:
D+. The match was nothing but
this story is ranging anywhere from so bad it's hilarious to horrible
depending on how you look at it. The problem is the whole angle
hinges on no one ever watching Total Divas, because there's no way to
cheer for any of its cast, but AJ is being presented as a stuck up
villain who lords her title over everyone in sight.
Jack
Swagger vs. Santino Marella
Colter
tells Santino to take the ravioli out of his ears and asks if he has
the proper papers to own a reptile. During Santino's entrance, JBL
and Cole hype up Billy Gunn as the guests on their show by saying
Road Dogg's catchphrases. Swagger throws Santino down and shouts at
him a lot before hooking a double armbar. Santino comes back with
his usual sequence before hooking a backslide to pin Swagger at 2:02.
When I'm feeling sorry for Jack Swagger, it's a bad sign.
Ryback
vs. Nick Nardone
Nardone
is OVW Champion Jamin Olivencia. Before the match, Heyman talks
about Punk giving him all he could handle at Night of Champions, but
only one of them could come out on top. Ryback says Heyman doesn't
deserve to be picked on by a bully like Punk, so he's going to treat
Nick like he'll treat Punk. It's a fifty second match with the Meat
Hook and Shell Shock ending Nardone, as you would expect.
Here's
Orton with something to say. He talks about Bryan and Armstrong
taking the title from him at Night of Champions, but that was 100%
his own fault. He never should have been in that position but he's
spent two years repressing who he really is for the fans. Orton
locked away the Viper because that's what everyone wanted. But then
Monday night on Raw, HHH and Stephanie showed Orton what he really
should be. We get a clip of the attack on Miz from Raw, which Orton
calls a warning to anyone who gets in his path. At Battleground,
he's going to end the war with Daniel Bryan and be his own WWE
Champion.
Shield
vs. Usos/Prime Time Players/Justin Gabriel/Zack Ryder/Kofi
Kingston/Rob Van Dam/Dolph Ziggler/Daniel Bryan/R-Truth
It's
3-1, one man at a time, no tagging. Darren Young is first and it
goes exactly as you would expect with Reigns getting the pin via the
spear in 41 seconds. Titus O'Neil is in next and has a bit better
luck by throwing the smaller guys around a bit. Reigns runs him down
though and the big beatdown is on. Rollins grabs a guillotine with a
body vice and the beating continues. The TripleBomb ends O'Neil at
1:57 (all times total).
Dolph
Ziggler is in third but he charges in like a nitwit too. Ziggler
speeds things up as fast as he can but Rollins and Dean finally get
him to the ground. Reigns gets to take his shots including a
headbutt. Ambrose takes too much time talking though and Dolph gets
in some solid offense, low bridging Reigns to the floor and hitting
the Fameasser on Seth. A Cactus Clothesline puts Ziggler and Ambrose
on the floor for a second but Rollins knees Ziggler to the floor.
Reigns spears Ziggler down and he can't beat the count at 5:39.
Here's
Kofi Kingston to try his luck but Rollins comes to meet him in the
aisle for some reason, allowing Kofi to snap the other twos' necks
across the top rope. A quick Trouble in Paradise gets a near fall on
Reigns but the numbers catch up to Kofi. The bulldog driver gets rid
of Kingston at 7:13. Rob Van Dam is in next and Reigns is still
down.
A
banged up Rollins and Ambrose jump Van Dam but he kicks both guys
down as things speed up. Ambrose is monkey flipped down and Reigns
is kicked back down to the floor. Rolling Thunder hits both Rollins
and Ambrose at the same time and Van Dam loads up the Five Star on
Dean....as HHH comes out to call the match off at about 9:00.
Rating:
C. The non-finish hurt this a
lot because I was starting to get into it at the end. The idea of
Shield fighting off everyone at once but slowly getting beaten down
made sense and felt like something out of a video game. It was
really doing a good job at building drama to seeing how far anyone
could get without getting beaten but the ending stopped it cold.
Post
break HHH yells at Vickie, asking what in the world she was thinking.
After what Vickie did tonight, ten more of them would revolt next
time, then ten more until we had a full scale revolt. Vickie says it
was good for business, but tonight needs to be about fair
competition. HHH demands Vickie to make the Usos/Daniel Bryan vs.
the Shield, therefore again making Bryan the focus of the show after
saying for weeks that there was no way we could have Bryan as the
focus of the show.
The
Raw ReBound covers the Dusty Rhodes story.
Ryder
and Gabriel come in to see HHH and he gives them a match for no
apparent reason.
Zack
Ryder/Justin Gabriel vs. Wyatt Family
Harper
gives Ryder a freaky look to start but Zack fires off a forearm in
the corner. A big boot takes Ryder down for two as everything breaks
down. Gabriel is sent to the floor and Harper hits a buckle bomb on
Ryder followed by the discus lariat (JBL: “GOOD GOD!”) for the
pin at 1:12.
Bray
hits Sister Abigail on Ryder post match and talks about keeping his
promises.
RVD
has a banged up elbow but HHH comes in and gives him a world title
match against Del Rio at Battleground. HHH leaves and Del Rio comes
in to beat RVD down, including the low superkick. Cole thinks it's
odd that Del Rio was right there at that given time.
R-Truth
vs. Alberto Del Rio
Non-title
again. Truth pounds away in the corner to start and gets two off a
suplex. The ax kick misses though and Del Rio hits a quick
Backstabber for two. Off to a reverse chinlock but Truth comes back
with some kicks to the ribs. The front suplex is good for two but
Alberto hits the corner enziguri for the same result. Truth rolls
out of the armbreaker and hits the ax kick for two, only to be caught
with the low superkick and the armbreaker for the submission at 3:34.
Rating:
D+. This was about what you
would expect out of these two. Truth is a jobber to the stars
anymore but at least we don't have to put up with his matches being
set up by dancing anymore. Del Rio still has nothing to his
character other than being from Mexico as the money has been phased
out, keeping him as average of a heel as you can be.
Shield
vs. Usos/Daniel Bryan
Bryan
starts by firing off kicks in the corner to Rollins' chest before
dropping a knee for two. Rollins tries the jumping knee but gets
caught in the surfboard instead. With the hold still mostly on it's
Jey in off the tag with a clothesline, only to get caught in the
Shield corner and punched by Ambrose. Jey comes back with a backdrop
and brings in his brother who gets two off a clothesline.
Off
to a hammerlock but Dean fights into the corner, only to have Jey
come back in with a big chop for two. The Usos drop a double elbow
for two but Jey is driven into the Shield corner again for the tag
off to Reigns for some stomping. Jey stays out of trouble by pulling
Roman into the corner for the tag off to Bryan. Kicking abounds
until Reigns takes Daniel down with an elbow to the jaw and a tag off
to rollins for a chinlock. That goes nowhere as Daniel jawbreaks his
way out and tags in Jimmy.
Jimmy
does about as well as a career tag team wrestler fighting off three
guys who have been defeating main eventers for over a year now as we
take a break. Back with Jimmy fighting out of a Rollins chinlock and
making the hot tag off to Jey. A few rooms of the house are cleaned
but Rollins enziguris him down, allowing for the real heat segment to
begin.
Dean
hits a running dropkick against the ropes and holds Jey in place for
a slingshot hilo, giving Rollins two. Back to Reigns for a jumping
elbow drop for two and we hit the chinlock. A huge clothesline gets
two for Roman and it's right back to the chinlock. Jey fights up
again and fires off right hands all around followed by a Bubba Bomb
on Rollins. The hot tag brings in Bryan for the real house cleaning
by knocking Reigns and Rollins to the floor.
Two
running corner dropkicks set up a hurricanrana to Dean for two.
Jimmy dives over the top to take out Reigns and Jey does the same to
Rollins. Dean clotheslines Bryan down but gets caught in the YES
Lock, right in front of the ropes. Jey superkicks Ambrose into the
running knee from Bryan at 14:00 shown of 17:00.
Rating:
B. This was the same thing that
you've grown to expect from every Shield match: great action, a bunch
of saved near falls and a hot finish. On top of that the Shield
doesn't lose anything here given that they were coming in at a
disadvantage. Good match here but did you really expect anything
else?
Overall
Rating: C+. This was a hard one
to grade. The gauntlet match was really fun but it was pulled
halfway through for some reason. A solid main event helps of course
and we got some story development, but this show felt like it was
over before it started. I'm not sure if that was a good thing as
only the gauntlet match felt like anything special. Still though,
fun show overall and a good use of two hours.
Results
AJ
Lee b. Naomi – Black Widow
Santino
Marella b. Jack Swagger – Backslide
Ryback
b. Nick Nardone – Shell Shock
Shield
vs. Usos/Prime Time Players/Justin Gabriel/Zack Ryder/Kofi
Kingston/Rob Van Dam/Dolph Ziggler/Daniel Bryan/R-Truth went to a no
contest
Wyatt
Family b. Justin Gabriel/Zack Ryder – Discus lariat to Ryder
Alberto
Del Rio b. R-Truth – Cross Armbreaker
Daniel
Bryan/Usos b. Shield – Running knee to Ambrose
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