Smackdown
Date:
November 22, 2013
Location:
Phillips Arena, Atlanta, Georgia
Commentators:
Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
It's
the final show before Survivor Series and we've more than doubled the
announced matches since Monday. The main story coming out of Raw is
the return of Rey Mysterio ahead of schedule from his knee injury.
He'll be the fifth main in one of the Survivor Series elimination
matches on Sunday even though the word on the street is he's not
ready yet. It's hard to say if we'll see him tonight or not. Let's
get to it.
Opening
sequence. We haven't had that in awhile.
Mysterio
is in a six man tag tonight with the Usos against Shield. Makes
sense to give him a lighter load like that.
Tag
Titles: Cody Rhodes/Goldust vs. Real Americans
Cesaro
and Swagger are challenging. This is due to the Americans winning a
match over the champions last month because it takes WWE awhile to
get around to such things. Goldust and Swagger get things going with
Swagger sending him in the corner but getting caught by a dropkick.
Off to Cody for a missile dropkick and the release front suplex for
two on the now legal Cesaro. Back to Goldie as the champions start
working on the arm.
The
champions make some fast tags to stay on Cesaro's arm before a
running knee the chest gets two for Cody. A pair of rollups get the
same but Cesaro backdrops him to the apron where a Swagger
distraction lets Antonio kick Cody to the floor. We take a break and
come back with Cesaro holding a standing chinlock. A clothesline
puts Cody down and it's of to Swagger for a belly to belly suplex for
two. The running Vader Bomb sets up Cesaro's double stomp for two
before Cesaro catapults Rhodes into a Swagger suplex/powerslam for
two more.
Cesaro
hooks another chinlock but Cody backdrops an invading Swagger to the
floor. Rhodes is about to make a hot tag but Jack pulls Goldust down
to the floor in a smart move. Swiss Death gets two on Cody and the
challengers are getting frustrated. Cody tries his sunset flip out
of the corner but Cesaro powers him back up onto the ropes in a very
unique counter. Rhodes kicks him away and hits the moonsault press
to put both guys down. Nice sequence there.
Double
tag brings in Goldust and Swagger with the champion taking over via
his signature stuff. He rains down punches in the corner and gets
two off a powerslam as Cesaro makes the save. Both Americans are on
the floor so Goldust backdrops Cody down on top of them. Goldust
goes up top but gets slammed down on his face, setting up the Patriot
Lock. Swagger drags him away from the ropes but Cody breaks it up
with the Disaster Kick. Cesaro comes back in with the Cesaro Swing
to Cody for a ridiculous 27 seconds. Goldust clotheslines Antonio to
the floor and hits the Final Cut on Jack to retain at 9:44 shown of
13:14.
Rating:
B. That might be a bit high but
I was digging this match. The ending had me thinking the titles
could change when Swagger pulled him away from the ropes and the kick
was timed perfectly. Cody and Goldust are on fire right now and
having great matches with anyone they work with. Really good opener
here.
Ryback
is in the ring to issue an open challenge. He says being a bully
isn't a bad thing and he enjoys being one very much. Ryback issues
the challenge again and some music hits before he can even finish.
Ryback
vs. Great Khali
Khali
wins a quick chop off before taking Ryback into the corner for some
chops to the back. A clothesline puts Ryback on the floor but he
comes back in to stomp Khali down in the corner. Ryback runs into an
elbow in the corner followed by some clotheslines and the big chop
for two. The Meathook puts Khali down and the Shell Shock is good
for the pin at 3:20.
Rating:
D+. Not a terrible power match
here as Ryback is getting more and more impressive with that Shell
Shock every time. That being said, it's not going to matter if he
keeps alternating wins and losses. Also it's not like beating Khali
means much. Heath Slater pinned him nearly clean a few months back
which should tell you everything you need to know about him anymore.
Vickie
comes up to AJ in the back and blames Brad Maddox for everything on
Raw. She reiterates everything AJ should know about Survivor Series
and puts AJ in a handicap match against the Funkadactyls. AJ claims
an ankle injury but Vickie makes the match anyway. It's best for
business you see. Apparently so is mocking someone who works harder
than anyone in the division and collapsed at a show in a match where
she's supposed to be the heel despite being cheered over the soulless
Bellas who come off as the most stuck up evil women imaginable every
time they're on their reality show which most wrestling fans don't
watch.
We
get a clip from the History of the WWE DVD with Bruno Sammartino
talking about the peak of his career, including comments from Ivan
Koloff and Ken Patera (looking nothing like he did as a wrestler).
Video
of John Cena at Oxford University. This didn't air on the American
version of the show for some reason.
Funkadactyls
vs. AJ Lee
The
Funky ones don't have to tag so they dropkick AJ out to the floor.
AJ tries to leave but the Funkadactyls knock Tamina down and drag AJ
back to the ring. Tamina takes Cameron down and AJ gets a near fall
off a neckbreaker to Naomi. The announcers ignore the match because
JBL accidentally said “Funkerdactyls”, which apparently is the
funniest thing ever. Naomi hits an enziguri and the Rear View gets
the pin at 2:25.
Bray
Wyatt talks about seeing memories that aren't his own. The world
needs more revolutionaries and more revolutions, but no one can
understand that because Punk and Bryan make eyes light up whenever
they enter a room. Punk and Bryan are just men who breathe and bleed
like anyone does but the people revere them like they're some kind of
saviors. Bray's father told him as a child that the meek shall
inherit the earth, but they are the reapers who walk. Follow the
buzzards. Creepy and bizarre as always but it made sense.
Shield
vs. Usos/Rey Mysterio
Dean
and Jimmy start us off with Uso winning a slugout in the corner and
dragging Ambrose over for a tag of to Jey. JBL talks about the great
debuts in Atlanta and lists off the NWO as starting here. He's
usually better at history than that. Shield starts their fast tags
with Rollins and Ambrose taking their shots until Jimmy tags in Jey
so the twins can clear the ring. The stereo dives take Rollins and
Ambrose out in the usual cool visual.
Back
inside and Jey misses a high cross body to give Rollins two and we
take a break. Back with Rollins hitting a knee to the head to knock
Jey into the Shield corner. Ambrose hooks an arm trap choke before
Reigns comes in with a suplex for two. Rollins whips Jey into the
corner and talks some trash, only to miss a charge into the corner.
Reigns breaks up a hot tag attempt and lays Jey out with a spinout
belly to back suplex for two.
Roman
misses a charge into the post and the hot tag brings in Mysterio to
clean house. Everything breaks down and Reigns spears both Usos down
but Rey hurricanranas him out to the floor. Ambrose comes in with a
clothesline as Rollins dives over the top rope to take out the Usos.
Rey sends Ambrose into the ropes for the 619 and the top rope splash
for the pin at 8:47 shown of 12:17.
Rating:
C. Just a welcome home match
for Rey who looked decent but not much more than that. Shield still
looked good out there and there's no shame in losing to a Hall of
Famer like Mysterio. As usual though, Reigns looks like a star out
there with the spears to both Usos and some nice power displays
throughout the match. He's going to be huge.
Here's
Big Show (who has changed his clothes since he was seen standing in
the hallway) to say he came back to torture the Authority. The best
way he can do that is rearranging the face of the WWE and become the
new WWE Champion. He'll lay it all on the line at Survivor Series
but here's Orton to interrupt before Show can elaborate. Orton
promises to hurt Big Show on Sunday and end his career, but Big Show
wants him to come say that in the ring.
We
get a clip from Raw of the Authority telling Orton that he has to win
on his own to gain their confidence. Big Show talks about how Orton
has all the talent in the world and should have been a locker room
leader years ago. Instead it's always been about what's best for
Randy Orton. On Sunday, Orton is all alone and Big Show will prove
how much of a spoiled brat Orton is. Randy says he can beat him, so
Big Show pulls up a video of him chokeslamming Orton through the
announce table. The segment was well done, but I still don't care to
see the match at all.
R-Truth
turns into Pretty Ricky to shill merchandise. To say this is a bad
stereotype is an understatement.
Big
E. Langston/Dolph Ziggler vs. Curtis Axel/Damien Sandow
Axel
gets his rematch on Sunday. Ziggler dropkicks Sandow down to start
but gets taken into the corner so the heels can double team. Axel
goes after Langston because he's not that bright, allowing Dolph to
hit a jumping DDT to put Curtis down. The hot tag brings in Langston
to clean house but Axel breaks up the Big Ending on Sandow. Ziggler
lays out Axel with a Fameasser and the Big Ending finishes Sandow at
2:38.
Post
match Langston chases Axel off again.
Video
on the Wrestlemania ticket launch party.
Various
celebrities are here.
Del
Rio is in the back and we get a video recapping his feud with Cena.
This includes clips of Cena getting the better of Alberto on Raw, but
Del Rio says he wasn't ready. He'll be ready on Sunday though and
will bring the World Title home.
WWE
fans think Natalya has the most devastating submission hold over
Punk, Bryan and Del Rio. That sounds very odd.
There was a Prime Time Players vs. 3MB
match taped and scheduled to air here but there's no reference to it
at all.
Daniel
Bryan vs. Luke Harper
Harper
drives him into the corner to start but Bryan scores with a few kicks
to send the big man outside. We take a break and come back with
Bryan being whipped into the barricade. Harper sends him into the
steps as well before slowly taking it back inside. Bray shouts at
him to stay on Bryan but Daniel takes him down with some kicks and a
dragon screw leg whip. Bryan tries to keep up the momentum but
charges into a Michinoku Driver of all things for two.
Daniel
moonsaults over him in the corner and hits the running clothesline to
put Harper down. The kicks have Harper in trouble but he counters
the big kick into a sitout powerbomb for two. The Gator Roll keeps
Bryan down and Harper has some scary eyes on display. Bryan scores
with a kick to the face to send Harper to the floor for the FLYING
GOAT. Bray distracts Bryan, allowing Harper to get in a cheap shot
from behind. This brings out Punk, but his distraction lets Daniel
roll up Harper for the pin at 7:02 shown of 10:32.
Rating:
C+. They've got something
special with Harper. The guy can hang with anyone in the ring and
he's got a quick finisher that looks awesome. Rubbing elbows with
Bryan and Punk is going to do nothing but help him which is the exact
idea behind the story. Solid power vs. speed match here and a good
sign going forward.
Post
match the Wyatts lay out Punk and Bryan to end the show.
Overall
Rating: C+. This is a tough one
to grade as they did a good job building up the PPV but there's very
little on the PPV that sounds interesting. The title scene has
nothing at all going for it as Del Rio has no chance to win and Big
Show vs. Orton is clearly just a means to get to Big Show vs. HHH.
The midcard stuff could be interesting and the show could be
pleasant surprise but I'm not going into it with very high hopes.
Results
Cody
Rhodes/Goldust b. Real Americans – Final Cut to Swagger
Ryback
b. Great Khali – Shell Shock
Funkadactyls
b. AJ Lee – Rear View
Rey
Mysterio/Usos b. Shield – Top rope splash to Ambrose
Big
E. Langston/Dolph Ziggler b. Curtis Axel/Damien Sandow – Big Ending
to Sandow
Daniel
Bryan b. Luke Harper – Small package
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