Smackdown
Date: November 28, 2014
Location: Allen County
War Memorial Coliseum, Fort Wayne, Indiana
Commentators: John
Bradshaw Layfield, Michael Cole, Tom Phillips
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
The Authority is gone,
for now at least, and much like Raw we don't have a permanent boss.
There's a chance that WWE will just use the same rotating boss idea
like they're doing on Raw, because goodness knows wrestling fans just
aren't smart enough to get by without a GM pointing the way. Let's
get to it.
We open with a Sting
montage. That's still so strange to see in WWE.
Opening sequence.
First up is MizTV with
Miz saying he became WWE Tag Team Champion at Survivor Series. The
fans of course cheer for Mizdow. Tonight's guest is Big Show and we
see a clip of Rowan knocking him to the floor on Monday. Miz says a
lot of people aren't happy with Big Show but the only problem Miz
sees is that Show joined Team Cena. Show is so glad that someone
finally gets it. He had to look out for himself because no one else
will and no one knows his situation but him.
Cue Daniel Bryan for an
interruption and a huge ovation. On Monday, Show said that if anyone
has something to say, they should come say it to his face. Well
Bryan has something to say: he's in charge tonight. First of all,
we're going to have Ryback vs. Seth Rollins. That's not all though,
as a title is going to be defended tonight when Luke Harper defends
against Dolph Ziggler.
Miz tells Daniel to
stop stealing his spotlight. Bryan: “Mizdow already did that.”
Show wants Bryan out, but Daniel has something for Big Show too. On
Monday, Rusev refused to say the Pledge of Allegiance, so tonight
he's defending the US Title in a 20 man battle royal, which starts
right now.
US
Title: Battle Royal
Rusev, Big Show, Miz,
Damien Mizdow, Erick Rowan, Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso, Diego, Fernando,
Titus O'Neil, Jack Swagger, Heath Slater, Tyson Kidd, Adam Rose, Sin
Cara, Cesaro, Goldust, Stardust, Justin Gabriel, Curtis Axel
It's a huge mess to
start with Show crushing Los Matadores in the corner before throwing
Gabriel and Cara out with ease. Rowan does the same to Slater and
Cesaro punches Axel over the top. Los Matadores throw out Rose but
Show tosses both of them at the same time. We get the showdown with
Rowan and Big Show and Erick gets the better of it by knocking Show
into the corner and eliminating him pretty easily. Show isn't done
though as he grabs Rowan from behind, allowing Rusev to dump him.
A bunch of guys go
after Rusev to no avail as we take a break. Back with Miz saving
himself and no new eliminations as far as I can tell. We have Jimmy
Uso, Jey Uso, Tyson Kidd, Cesaro, Miz, Damien Mizdow, Stardust,
Goldust, Rusev, Titus O'Neil and Jack Swagger to go. Stardust low
bridges Miz to the floor so Mizdow eliminates himself. Swagger puts
out the Dusts before Titus knocks Jimmy out.
Jey dumps Titus, Kidd
eliminates Jey and we're down to four: Swagger, Kidd, Cesaro and
Rusev. Everyone goes after Swagger but he fights his way off the and
back inside. He throws all three evil foreigners into the corner and
gives Rusev the Vader Bomb, only to have to save himself from Cesaro.
Kidd dives at Jack but gets dumped, allowing Cesaro to send Swagger
to the apron. He backdrops Cesaro out but Rusev hits the running
superkick to eliminate Swagger and retain at 13:27.
Rating:
D+. This was a fast moving
battle royal that didn't have any significant threat to the champ.
Show and Rowan could have won just on size and power alone but Rusev
is going to have the title a lot longer than he has so far. You
could tell there wasn't going to be much here with all those tag
teams in there though.
Kane is working
merchandise tonight when Santino comes up. He mocks Kane's Ryback
shirt, gets stared at, and runs away.
Bray Wyatt is here for
a chat. When Ambrose started climbing that ladder on Sunday, he
looked like an angel climbing up to Heaven. It almost brought a
smile to Bray's face, but there's not enough room for people like
them up there. He could feel those chairs crashing down on him and
it almost made him think he failed Dean for the first time. They
have reached the point of no return and what happens next will change
Ambrose. Tables, ladders and chairs. Bray says it over and over
because he's going to enjoy torturing Ambrose's body with all those
things. Follow the buzzards.
TLC ad, set to Jingle
Bells.
Nikki
Bella vs. Emma
Non-title. Nikki slams
Emma down with ease but gets caught in the Dilemma for a few seconds.
A big slap puts the champ down but Emma runs into an elbow to the
jaw. Rack Attack ends this at 1:29.
Post match Nikki has
Brie hold the title and say it's time to hear the truth about AJ Lee.
We've heard her sob story over and over, but Nikki has worked
harder. She's what a real Divas Champion looks like and AJ will
always be that pathetic little girl from New Jersey. AJ runs in and
nails Brie as Nikki bails. Nikki had good passion in her promo, but
trying to take her seriously as this hard working woman who has
clawed her way to the top cracks me up every time.
Kane has destroyed the
merchandise stand.
Ryback
vs. Seth Rollins
Ryback quickly shoves
him down so Rollins grabs a headlock to take away the momentum. A
slam sends Rollins rolling to the floor but he comes back in for some
unsold chops. Ryback gets all fired up but misses a charge and goes
shoulder first into the post. Back in and Rollins nails a dropkick
for two and puts on a front facelock. Rollins fights out of a quick
Shell Shock attempt and hits the Downward Spiral into the corner for
two. They head outside with Ryback going after Mercury, only to have
Rollins send him into the steps as we take a break.
Back with Rollins
holding a headlock until Ryback lifts him up into a kind of slingshot
belly to back suplex. Ryback's powerbomb is escaped and an enziguri
connects, followed by a superkick for two. Seth misses a splash in
the corner so Ryback lifts him up, only to be countered into a
running buckle bomb for two. That was a surprising power display
from Rollins. The big guy backdrops Rollins onto the Stooges before
planting him with a spinebuster back inside. There's the Meat Hook
but Kane runs in for the DQ at 14:46.
Rating:
C-. They telegraphed the ending
with that shot of the destroyed merchandise stand and the match felt
like it was just killing time until we got to this point. That and
Kane runs in on at least a match a week anymore so you had to know
this was coming. At least Ryback should be able to destroy him in a
few weeks.
Rollins
and Kane take Ryback down and Kane destroys
him with a chair.
Curtis
Axel/Slater Gator vs. New Day
New
Day is very excited to be making their debut here. Woods
dropkicks Axel down to start before bringing Kofi in to kick him in
the chest. Big E. nails the Warrior Splash but stops to wipe the
sweat off his face. Axel finally takes Xavier down and it's off to
Slater for some stomps to the chest. The heels start taking over
until Woods flips out of a suplex and tags out to Kofi. Everything
breaks down and Big E. backdrops Kofi onto Titus and Axel. Back in
and a combination top rope DDT/Big Ending puts Slater away at 3:23.
Rating:
D+. This wasn't bad but what
are you expecting from two former Intercontinental Champions and
Woods? That's the problem with a team like this: two of the three
members have already had success, so it's not like them beating a
team of jobbers really means anything. It's not a bad idea but they
need to actually go somewhere instead of acting like these wins mean
much.
Recap
of the Authority having to leave and Bryan's revenge on all of the
Team Authority members.
Bryan
makes Ryback vs. Kane in a Chairs match for TLC. Oh and YES he will
be back soon.
Stardust
says the Cosmic Key is gone but their anguish goes on and on. He
says each day is part of the endless march to oblivion and welcome to
the Black Hole. Goldust declares that darkness has fallen on the New
Day. There's the first feud.
Intercontinental
Title: Dolph Ziggler vs. Luke Harper
Ziggler
is challenging and goes right at Harper with a rollup like he beat
him with on Sunday. A dropkick puts Luke on the floor and we take an
early break. Back with
Ziggler fighting back with Cole saying it's rally time. A high cross
body gets two but Harper sends him face first into the buckle. We
hit the chinlock from the champ but Ziggler hits a quick jawbreaker.
Back up and Ziggler hammers away before getting two off the big
elbow. The Fameasser is countered but Dolph slips out of a powerbomb
and hits the running DDT for two.
Harper
gets the same off the sitout Boss Man Slam and Ziggler nails a
Fameasser for yet another two. Luke comes back with the big boot and
Batista Bomb for two more and Harper is getting shocked. Why he's
shocked I'm not sure as that's the third time that combination has
gotten a near fall. They
head outside with Ziggler being launched over the announcers' table,
only to pop up with a superkick, allowing him to beat the count for
the win at 10:52.
Rating:
C+. Nice match here as these
two have good chemistry and Ziggler can take big bumps like almost no
other. Harper is going to be a good dragon for someone to slay and
take the belt but I can't imagine him as a long term champion.
They'll likely have a ladder match at the pay per view which should
be fun.
Post match Harper lays
Ziggler out with the discus lariat but takes too long getting the
belt, allowing Ziggler to hit the Zig Zag to end the show.
Overall
Rating: C-. This felt like a B
house show that was filmed and aired on a Friday night. Nothing on
here meant anything and the only thing that mattered was Ryback vs.
Kane being announced for the pay per view. That being said, it
wasn't really bad or anything, but it's back to the old Smackdown
standard: it came, it aired for two hours, it had some passable
matches and I'm never going to think of it again. That makes it far
more dull than bad, which isn't necessarily a good thing.
Results
Rusev won a battle
royal, last eliminating Jack Swagger
Nikki Bella b. Emma –
Rack Attack
Ryback b. Seth Rollins
via DQ when Kane interfered
New Day b. Curtis
Axel/Slater Gator – Big Ending/Top rope DDT combination to Slater
Dolph Ziggler b. Luke
Harper via countout
Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:
http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6