Smackdown
Date: March 28, 2014
Location: TD Bank North
Garden, Boston, Massachusetts
Commentators: Michael
Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
It's the last regular
Smackdown before they head to the Crescent City. The main stories
are all set at this point so this show is just going to be about
firming up the plans for Wrestlemania. The only match announced for
tonight is Big Show vs. Bray Wyatt which should be a good win for the
monster. That would be the monster with hair in case that's not
clear. Let's get to it.
Opening sequence.
Here's Batista to get
things going. Batista wants to know why the fans are booing a six
time World Champion, the winner of the 2014 Royal Rumble and the
headliner of Wrestlemania XXX. They boo him, but they cheer for
Daniel Bryan? This brings him to a clip from Raw with Batista
implying Stephanie is shall we say, friendly, and getting slapped as
a result. Batista thinks Stephanie hits harder than any of his
opponents, which brings out HHH.
The boss suggests
leaving Stephanie out of this but Batista asks why we should do that.
She's responsible for the suit and for HHH being COO. HHH wouldn't
have anything without marrying the boss' daughter. Triple H says
this is the Reality Era and it doesn't matter why he has what he has
and all that matters is what he has. He asks why Batista wants to
make this personal. Batista says it's because HHH has accused him of
living off his past glories, which includes never losing to HHH. Now
HHH is trying to take Batista's title and that's not cool with Big
Dave.
HHH agrees that he's
never beaten Batista but that was a long time ago. Batista has
gotten lazy after getting all that success and he's been in Hollywood
letting his stuntman doing all his work. Now he's back in WWE and
HHH has yet to see the Animal. HHH has shown what he can do a few
weeks ago against Daniel Bryan. You know, the little guy that
Batista couldn't finish off. However, HHH is willing to help Batista
again tonight. Maybe he can find that Animal in his match against
Sheamus.
We look back at the
fourway from last week, leading to Shield being beaten down by Kane
and the Outlaws.
Shield vs. 3MB
Rollins/Ambrose vs.
Mahal/McIntyre and Seth starts against Jinder. JBL brings up a good
point: the Shield has dominated the last year but three guys from the
Attitude Era took them down. Rollins hits Two Amigos before bringing
in Ambrose for the third. Back to Rollins who gets taken into the
corner and pounded by McIntyre. Drew thrusts his hips at Reigns for
some reason but it allows Seth to roll over for the tag to Ambrose.
The running dropkick against the ropes has Drew in trouble and Seth
hits the big dive to take out Mahal. The bulldog driver, now named
Dirty Deeds, is enough to pin McIntyre at 3:04.
Rating: D+.
You can only be so entertaining in a three minute match. At least
Shield didn't sell too much for 3MB as they're already going to have
to sell for a team that couldn't remember if they were good or bad a
month ago. It's nice to see Ambrose getting a clean pin as well.
Post
match Kane and the Outlaws come out and say they'll end Shield at
Wrestlemania. That's unlike what Shield is going to do to their next
opponents.
Shield
vs. Ryback/Curtis Axel
This
is joined in progress after a break with Ambrose taking Curtis down
with a drop toehold. Ryback offers a quick distraction though and
Axel knocks Dean to the floor. Dean gets caught in the corner as the
announcers do their usual bickering. Ryback loads up a suplex but
gets countered into a nice DDT. The hot tag brings in Rollins to
clean house with a Blockbuster to Axel. A
series of kicks takes Axel down and Ambrose jumps off the steps to
pound on Ryback. Rollins unleashes the dive to Ryback before
countering a PerfectPlex into the Peace of Mind for the pin on Axel
at 4:14.
Rating: C-.
More entertaining match here with Rollins stealing the show again.
I'm still not sure why we need extra proof that the Shield can
dominate when they're coming into a match against the Outlaws. But
hey, Gunn and Dogg were awesome in the Attitude Era and that means
the match will rock now right?
Post
match Shield points at the Authority members on stage and lays out
Ryback with the Superman Punch and Triple Bomb.
Sin Cara vs. Damien
Sandow
The maskless one takes
him into the corner to start and drives a knee into his ribs for two.
We're in a chinlock thirty seconds into the match but Sin Cara rolls
him up out of the corner for the pin at 1:04.
Big Show says what the
Wyatts did to Cena on Raw was very disturbing. However, some of the
stuff Bray has been saying makes sense. That's how they suck you in,
but tonight they have a giant problem on their hands.
Fandango vs. Goldust
No Cody for this one.
Summer is looking great tonight in an outfit similar to Jasmine from
Aladdin. Fandango takes him down to start and puts on a very early
chinlock. Goldust fights up with a belly to back suplex followed by
an atomic drops and right hands in the corner. The powerslam gets
two for Goldust and they head outside where Summer distracts Goldust
long enough for Fandango to kick him in the head and grab a handful
of tights for the pin at 3:16.
Rating: D.
Summer was the only interesting thing to see in this match. She
looked great and was so goofy when she was distracting Goldust that
she was kind of adorable. The match was barely long enough to rate
and the first minute or so was spent on a chinlock and laying around
after the suplex.
Batista
vs. Sheamus
HHH
is watching from the back. Batista hides in the corner to start
until Sheamus nails him with a shoulder block to send the Animal to
the floor. A chase goes badly for the Irishman and Batista drives
shoulders into the corner. Batista scores with a big clothesline
before dropping Sheamus with a knee to the ribs.
There's
the spinebuster but Batista walks around instead of following up.
The delay lets Sheamus nail Batista with a clothesline and come back
with his usual high powered offense. Batista fights out of the ten
forearms but Sheamus makes the second attempt work. A powerslam
looks to set up the Brogue Kick but Batista bails tot he floor.
Sheamus follows but walks into a chair to the right for the DQ at
5:33.
Rating: C.
This was a nice power brawl and more importantly, Sheamus looked like
an equal to Batista. Batista was in trouble at the end and that's
how you make Sheamus look awesome. This is the kind of stuff that
Batista should be doing a lot of the time and it worked well here.
Batista
sends Sheamus into the post and hits the Batista Bomb. He asks if
HHH is happy now and promises to leave Wrestlemania as champion.
The
Raw ReBound looks at the Wyatts attacking Cena on Monday.
Bray
Wyatt is holding a mask and says if you give it to a man, he'll
reveal his true face. Every man wears a mask at some point John,
whether it's to to hide his intentions or not. Cena has hidden
behind a mask for so long that it's become him, but when he removes
it he removes his own skin. Bray's sword has left a scar on Cena's
soul that can never heal. Can't Cena hear the song? Bray will never
forget what the woman singing first told him. A man's secret comes
to life underneath the shade of the cypress tree. He sings part of
He's Got The Whole World In His Hands and we're done.
Bella
Twins vs. AJ Lee/Tamina
Vickie
Guerrero is on commentary to explain the 14 Divas match at
Wrestlemania. Her explanation: it's going to be awesome. Brie
quickly takes AJ down to start but it's quickly off to Nikki for a
middle rope kick to the face. Tamina comes in and nails Nikki in the
face before it's back to the champion for a two count.
We
hit the guillotine choke from AJ which transitions into a sleeper
until AJ lets go and brings Tamina in again. Snuka misses a middle
rope splash and it's back to Brie for some dropkicks. A middle rope
dropkick sends Tamina to the apron where she nails AJ in the face and
tags her in, setting up the Bella Buster for the pin at 3:27.
Rating: D+.
The Bellas looked good in their outfits, most of the focus was on
Vickie, AJ loses again. Next.
Santino
and Emma are on a sound stage that is supposed to look like a
restaurant for a date. She calls him the ultimate friend with
benefits but means benefits like going out together instead of the
usual meaning. We get a staring contest for a bit before Emma says
she feels the same way he does: they'll always be best friends.
Santino freaks out and says he can't eat. He chokes on something and
makes it worse by trying to drink wine. The wine is spat out on Emma
and thankfully the segment ends.
Jack
Swagger vs. Jimmy Uso
Jack
takes him into the corner to start but Jimmy knocks him outside and
hits the big dive over the top. Back in and a high cross body gets
two followed by something resembling a Whisper in the Wind for the
same. Not that it matters as Swagger takes out the knee and the
Patriot Lock is good for the win at 1:58.
We
look at Undertaker and Lesnar brawling on Raw.
Mark
Henry vs. The Miz
Henry
takes too long pointing at the sign and Miz nails some kicks to the
ribs to start. A dropkick to the knee puts Henry down and Miz goes
to work on the leg. He cranks on the ankle a bit but lets Henry up
and charges into a boot to the face. Mark misses a Vader Bomb and
bangs up his knee again. The Figure Four is easily broken up but Miz
throws him over the top and out to the floor. Miz gets sent hard
into the steps for his efforts and a whip into the barricade has him
in trouble as well. Back in and the World's Strongest Slam gets the
pin at 3:30.
Rating: C.
Much better than I was expecting here, even though that doesn't mean
all that much. Miz working on the leg made sense and the throw over
the top was a surprising visual. I can also forgive the leg work
here as it only lasted a few moments and Henry's legs are thick
enough that some basic stuff from Miz wouldn't have very long term
effects.
Razor
Ramon Hall of Fame video.
Big Show vs. Bray
Wyatt
The giant shoves him
into the corner to start but Bray smiles at him. Wyatt is sent out
to the floor so he sits in front of the announce table and says that
was nice. Back in and Bray tells Show to show him all his might.
Big Show hammers away in the corner and knocks Bray around with a
headbutt. Wyatt charges into a boot to the face but avoids an elbow
drop.
It's Wyatt in control
now and kicking away at the giant but being launched off a cover.
The Spider Walk looks good but only gets Bray clotheslined down. He
comes back with a splash in the corner but has to stop before running
into a boot to the face. Something like a Stunner to the leg puts
Big Show down and Harper gets in a shot of his own. Sister Abigail
gets the pin at 4:10.
Rating: C-.
This is the kind of win that Bray needed going into the pay per view.
You don't often get to see him wrestle but he always puts on a good
show when he does. Big Show is still someone who can give a rub and
that's what we got here. Nice main event and thankfully it didn't
last too long.
Overall Rating: C+.
Tonight was a night of wrestling and did a nice job of firming up
things for the show in nine days. Other than Sandow vs. Sin Cara and
Fandango vs. Goldust, most of the matches had some storyline
development, but even those four guys are all in the battle royal.
It's a good show to set up Wrestlemania and that's the kind of thing
WWE needs right now.
Results
Shield b. 3MB – Dirty
Deeds to McIntyre
Shield b. Ryback/Curtis
Axel – Peace of Mind to Axel
Sin Cara b. Damien
Sandow – Rollup
Fandango b. Goldust –
Kick to the head
Sheamus b. Batista via
DQ when Batista used a chair
Bella Twins b. AJ
Lee/Tamina – Bella Buster to Lee
Jack Swagger b. Jimmy
Uso – Patriot Lock
Mark Henry b. The Miz –
World's Strongest Slam
Bray Wyatt b. Big Show
– Sister Abigail
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