Smackdown
Date:
September 26, 2014
Location:
Verizon Arena, Little Rock, Arkansas
Commentators:
Tom Phillips, Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
Things
are in a state of flux right now with Roman Reigns out of the picture
for the time being, leaving Dean Ambrose to take his spot. Dean has
already been dealing with Cena, which puts him in about as big a spot
as you could ask for. Ambrose still needs to rack up some wins
though so hopefully that starts tonight. Let's get to it.
Opening
sequence.
We
open with a recap of the events from Raw with Ambrose, Cena and the
Authority.
Dean
Ambrose vs. Miz
This
is due to Ambrose attacking Miz on MizTV on Main Event. Miz bails to
the floor to start before getting caught in a headlock and rollup for
two. Ambrose sends him outside again but chases after him this time,
eventually taking him down in the ring and hammering away. Miz begs
him not in the face so Dean rakes at the Moneymaker. A bad looking
Reality Check gets two for Miz and he stomps away as the fans are all
behind Dean.
Ambrose
comes right back with a dropkick to send Miz to the floor, followed
by a big plancha. Mizdow offers a distraction though and Miz takes
over as we take a break. Back with Dean blocking the corner
clothesline with a forearm to the face. Cole actually gives us an
explanation for how Dean got out of the room on Raw: “He went out
the back door.”
Dean
sends him to the floor and hits a suicide dive before a tornado DDT
gets two. A missile dropkick is countered into the Figure Four but
Dean is right by the ropes. The Rebound Clothesline drops Miz but
here are Rollins and Kane for a distraction. Thankfully Dean is too
smart for that and hits Dirty Deeds for the pin at 10:13.
Rating:
C-. The match was fine and Dean
getting a clean pin over a former World Champion is nothing but good
for him right now. Miz
isn't exactly John Cena but he's a guy that Dean should be beating
like this. Also how nice is it that a good guy comes off looking
smart for a change? Nice enough match.
The
Authority comes in for the beatdown but Ambrose fights both of them
off and runs off with the briefcase.
Stardust
and Goldust are all insane and say the Gemini Usos can't have the Tag
Team Titles. The rematch is tonight.
Battle
Royal
Cesaro,
Heath Slater, Diego, Titus O'Neil, Fernando, Bo Dallas, Zack Ryder,
Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston, Sin Cara, Damien Mizdow, Justin Gabriel,
Jack Swagger, Big E.
The
winner gets an Intercontinental Title shot later tonight. Fernando
is quickly tossed out and Bo dumps Cara. Cesaro tosses Diego but the
new Nation can't eliminate Dallas. Instead Kofi low bridges Gabriel
out before Cesaro dumps Woods. Big E. has the power battle with
Cesaro and is lifted up in a very impressive gorilla press. Titus
breaks it up for no apparent reason so Cesaro lifts him up, only to
have Big E. return the save. Cesaro is tired of all this and just
muscles Big E. out.
We
take a break and come back with no eliminations during the break.
Titus and Ryder fight on the ropes and Zack gets tossed. Swagger
eliminates Titus a few seconds later, leaving us with Cesaro, Slater,
Swagger, Dallas, Mizdow and Kingston. Swagger throws Heath out and
everyone surrounds Mizdow. The big beatdown is on and Mizdow is
quickly out.
Kofi
gets thrown over the top but skins the cat to pull Dallas to the
apron with him. A kick to the head is enough to eliminate Bo as
Swagger hits the Vader Bomb on Cesaro. Kofi tries to come back in
with a hurricanrana but Jack catches him and drops Kofi into the
opposite corner. Another Vader Bomb is blocked by Cesaro to send
Swagger to the apron. Kofi hits a springboard shot to Jack's head
but has to save himself from Cesaro. Swagger gets back in but Cesaro
throws Kofi at Swagger to eliminate both guys for the win at 11:25.
Rating:
C. This wasn't bad and
thankfully they kept things moving with only about eight minutes
shown on TV. Cesaro is becoming a beast in these battle royals which
could become a thing for him going forward. Also those displays of
strength of his are hard to ignore with the gorilla presses and
ending sequence being very impressive.
Network
talk.
The
Usos have everything ready to get their titles back.
Tag
Team Titles: Usos vs. Goldust/Stardust
The
Dusts are defending in a
rematch from Night of Champions. We
get some big match intros and start with Jey and Stardust. A rollup
gets a quick two for Jey and he slams Stardust down before sending
him outside. Goldust is sent outside as well, setting up the double
dive from the Usos as we take a break. Back with what
looks like a hot tag to Jey
who backdrops Goldust for two. Jey
is sent into the buckle and out to the floor so Stardust can get in a
few cheap shots of his own. Stardust: “WHERE'S THE KING???”
Back in with Goldust dropping an elbow and cranking on the arm.
Jey
loses his shirt and gets beaten on even more until he nails a forearm
to drop Stardust. Goldust gets backdropped to the floor but he
charges back in to a Samoan drop. The hot tag brings in Jimmy to
clean house with a t-bone suplex to Stardust. The superkick misses
though and Stardust sends him to the floor. Goldust tries a dive but
the Usos catch him and toss him into the barricade. Stardust dives
backwards onto both of them and all four are down. Back in and the
Usos nail a Doomsday Device of all things on Stardust. Jimmy hits
the Superfly Splash but Goldust comes in with the title belt for the
DQ at 10:13.
Rating:
C+. These
teams have good chemistry and the match was working here. It sets up
a third match, likely at the PPV, which should be just as good as
this with extra time. The Usos are getting close to being a great
team and having opponents like this and the Wyatts are only going to
make them better.
We
recap Ambrose stealing the briefcase.
Rollins
is ticked off but Kane says the briefcase doesn't matter because it's
all about the contract. Seth
gets that but says if the briefcase isn't returned, the cinder blocks
will look like child's play.
Layla/Summer
Rae vs. Natalya/Rosa Mendes
Summer
runs from Natalya to start so it's quickly off to Layla. They
trade rollups and Layla has to kick away from the Sharpshooter. Off
to Summer who gets suplexed down and kneed in the corner but Layla
makes a blind tag. She nails one kick and immediately tags back out
to Summer. The villains ask Natalya if she's going to cry as Rosa
tries to play cheerleader on the apron.
Layla
hooks a figure four neck lock and bends back over the ropes before
hitting a dropkick to the side of the head. Summer comes back in for
a bodyscissors and slams Natalya head first into the mat. Natalya
kicks Summer away and makes the tag to Rosa (Cole: “Latina Heat!”)
for a bad dropkick on Layla for two. Everything breaks down and
Natalya kicks Summer to the floor, allowing Layla to roll Rosa up for
the pin at 4:16.
Rating:
D. There are a bunch of
problems with this whole story. To begin with, why did Natalya wait
about three months to go after Summer? Second, it's really hard to
care about these catty fights the girls are having, especially when
some of them are capable of having good matches. The words “some
of them” is the final key point. Rosa Mendes is about as worthless
of a Diva as there has ever been. As far as I know, she has never
won a singles match on TV. Why should I think it's a big deal when
she comes back?
We
look at Main Event where Mark Henry wasn't going to apologize to
America again because he thinks they don't appreciate him. Big Show
came out and promises to knock Rusev out on Smackdown.
Big
Show says he and Henry are brothers from another mother so he'll
knock Rusev out in Henry's honor tonight.
We
get the video on Reigns in the hospital and hear from the doctor on
his prognosis.
Intercontinental
Title: Dolph Ziggler vs. Cesaro
Dolph
is defending. Feeling out
process to start with Ziggler taking him up against the ropes.
Cesaro actually tries a
monkey flip but Dolph lands on his feet and hiptosses him down.
After a quick trip to the floor, Cesaro cranks on a chinlock and
drops the champion with a belly to back suplex.
Ziggler
gets caught in an abdominal stretch to stay on his ribs before a
middle rope elbow gets two for Cesaro. Off to a modified cobra
clutch on Dolph but he jawbreaks his way to freedom. A
nice dropkick puts Cesaro down but he counters the Fameasser into a
powerbomb, only to have Dolph climb
over the shoulder into a
rollup for the pin at 6:22. Cesaro clearly had the rope at two so
there's likely going to be a rematch.
Rating:
C. Nice power vs. speed match
here with Cesaro keeping the champion down and using his power to
negate the high flying. The ending is a good way to keep Cesaro's
credibility and set up another match down the line. They could do
better with more than six minutes so hopefully they're given a good
deal of time later.
The
announcers point out the rope grab and Cesaro yells at the referee.
WWE2K15
stuff.
Lana
and Rusev say their usual.
Rusev
vs. Big Show
Show
goes right at him to start and nails a running clothesline in the
corner. There's a loud chop and another clothesline but Rusev blocks
the whisper chop. Big Show comes back with a sunset flip for two and
knocks Rusev out to the floor. We take a break and come back with
Big Show hitting a few loud
chops in the corner but getting his leg taken out.
Rusev
goes after the leg with some elbows before cranking on it on the mat.
Show fights up with a side slam for two but misses the Knockout
Punch. The jumping superkick drops Big Show for two and it's off to
a side choke. Back up and
the giant hits some clotheslines followed by the chokeslam but Lana
grabs his foot before the Knockout Punch. The distraction lets Rusev
hit him with the Russian flag for the DQ at 9:52.
Rating:
D. This
was ten minutes of “Big Show chops, they do nothing, Big Show chops
again, they do nothing, finish.” Rusev
beating up Big Show next is another good win for him as he's getting
closer to the top of the card with these wins. He's still waiting
for the big feud but he's still working well enough. As for Big
Show, anything that keeps him away from the main event scene is a
good thing.
Big
Show knocks him out and Lana is stunned to end the show.
Overall
Rating: C. Tonight
was a different kind of episode as some stuff seemed to matter. We
set up a new challenger for Dolph and had Ambrose steal the briefcase
which will likely be dealt with on Raw. The wrestling was nothing to
see but more than anything else Smackdown needs to have stuff that
actually matters. Smackdown needs to be a show that people want to
see and two title matches and a battle royal are good ways to get to
that point. Granted I have
little reason to believe this is going to last as it almost never
does but it was an easy show to sit through.
Results
Dean
Ambrose b. Miz – Dirty Deeds
Cesaro
won a battle royal last eliminating Kofi Kingston and Jack Swagger
Usos
b. Goldust/Stardust via DQ when Goldust hit Jimmy with a title belt
Layla/Summer
Rae b. Rosa Mendes/Natalya – Rollup to Mendes
Dolph
Ziggler b. Cesaro – Rollup
Big
Show b. Rusev via DQ when Rusev hit him with the Russian flag
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