Mike Tedesco’s Smackdown Thoughts
June 29, 2013
By: Mike Tedesco of Wrestleview.com
I absolutely loved the Dublin Street Fight that opened the show last night. That was an awesome way to open the show. Sure, the finish was never really in doubt as Damien Sandow’s record against Sheamus on television is abysmal, but they put on a hell of a show for those who decided to tune in to watch. It was hard hitting and fun. They had beer taps and kegs involved in the match for goodness sake. Both men look good coming out of this, and I can’t wait to see what’s next on their paths now that it seems like this little feud has come to an end. I love when matches open up the show, by the way.
The Miz TV segment was ok for me. Paul Heyman was the guest, but he didn’t really say much of anything about the controversy with CM Punk and Brock Lesnar. Nothing was really added to it. He was just dodging questions. It was just a way for The Miz to come face to face with Curtis Axel and get attacked. The Miz as a face just doesn’t click for me. The Star Wars lines weren’t that funny. It seems like he’s trying to hard.
I really like the selections for the Smackdown Money in the Bank Ladder Match. That should be a pretty exciting match. It’s mostly all up and comers. The only one who has been a World Champion is Jack Swagger. The rest are all people waiting in the wings. It’s going to be a career defining moment for one of those guys. I can’t wait to see it.
The Kane/Randy Orton match was really good. Those two work really well together as evidenced by their feud last year. Sure, the segments weren’t that great, but the matches were. I really enjoyed the match they had at Extreme Rules. Daniel Bryan was on commentary for this match, and he was an absolute riot. His reactions to some of the questions they asked him as well as randomly doing “Yes” and “No” chants were spot on. The guy is great to watch in the ring and super entertaining outside it. He can do no wrong right now. The end of the match was intriguing. Bryan was allegedly trying to help Kane, but he wound up costing him the match. Bryan’s tiny smile after the decision was key, and I’m interested to see what happens next.
Ryback had a quick little match against Justin Gabriel. Gabriel got a surprising amount of offense in on Ryback’s leg before getting caught with the Shell Shocked. Chris Jericho then came out afterward and cut a funny little speech on Ryback before getting physical with him. Ryback has lost or not had a decision on a PPV all year. He’s got no wins yet. I think he’ll get back in the win column at Money in the Bank.
In one of the more surprising things that has happened in a while, The Shield lost clean to the tag team combination of Christian and The Usos. The match was entertaining as hell, but the result left me scratching my head a bit. I know The Shield has already lost, but should they be losing to this team? I know they’re trying to make The Usos a threat and Christian is just coming back, but still. I shouldn’t really complain since major emphasis is being put back on the tag team division and giving The Usos a win over The Shield certainly makes them credible. This match was great, though. You should go out of your way to check it out if you can.
That match really should have been the main event, and this next segment should have been stuck right in the middle. I bet the only reason it wasn’t in the middle of the show as because they were going to make a huge mess with the balloons. The Fiesta Del Rio was really lackluster and boring in my opinion. Alberto Del Rio was doing his heel thing, but it was lame. We’ve seen quite a few Fiesta Del Rio’s in his short career. They always end funky so there was no real suspense there. Heck, we saw one back in January on this show. At least Dolph Ziggler wasn’t one of the mariachi guys. We’ve seen that before. The beat down was well done, and that guitar shot on Ricardo Rodriguez was nasty. That guitar didn’t seem to have much give. I wonder if Ziggler accidentally picked up a real one instead of the prop one. It reminded me of the shot the Honky Tonk Man gave Jake “The Snake” Roberts on The Snake Pit back in 1987. That guitar shot ruined Jake’s neck and sent him on a downward spiral with drugs and alcohol. Thankfully he’s trying to get on the straight and narrow. Ziggler celebrating with the mariachi band was pretty funny, but the segment should have been in the middle. It was a weak way to close the show, especially since no one is positive if Ziggler is truly a face or not.
Bump of the Night: Sheamus giving Sandow a rolling fireman’s carry on the floor!
Match of the Night: The Dublin Street Fight ** 1/4
Final Rating: ** 3/4
E-Mail – MikeyT817@gmail.com
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Thanks for reading!
Mike Tedesco is the official recapper of WWE Smackdown for Wrestleview.com.