Mike Tedesco’s Smackdown Thoughts
March 23, 2013
By: Mike Tedesco of Wrestleview.com
The show kicked off with a Miz TV segment featuring Randy Orton and Sheamus as the guests. Of course they wouldn’t be the only guests. This is Miz TV after all. Big Show was brought out, and he suggested that he should be their partner after Vickie Guerrero and Teddy Long removed Ryback from the match on Monday. Sheamus brought up the fact that they’re not long removed from a long rivalry to finish out 2012, so things got a little heated, and Randy Orton played the voice of reason, which was certainly interesting. This wasn’t an incredible segment by any stretch, but it did its job by setting the story for the whole show. One thing I did like was they kept The Miz in the background. He was pretty bad a few weeks ago in that Jack Swagger/Alberto Del Rio Miz TV segment, so keeping him low-key here and actually hosting was a good move.
Mark Henry murdered Zack Ryder in a quick squash match. Henry was then continuing his assault after the match when Ryback came out to the ring. Henry mouthed off to him a little bit before charging him and taking a clothesline. I think that clothesline should be the last bit of physical interaction they have heading into WrestleMania. The whole intrigue of the match is the wonder of who can take who. Henry got the better of Ryback last week, and this week Ryback got the better of him. Time to settle at WrestleMania. Don’t give away anything else.
I normally don’t talk much about backstage events, but where the heck are they going with Booker T and Teddy Long? I just don’t get it.
Dolph Ziggler beat Kofi Kingston in a decent little match. These guys have wrestled a million times, so whatever they did would have to be at least ok. I went to a house show in 2010 and then another in 2011, and these two guys wrestled each time. They know each other pretty well. I have to say that I enjoyed AJ’s commentary. She took a couple of jabs from JBL, but she let them slide. She was even a little self-deprecating by mentioning that she will have dated 75% of the men in the ring for the Tag Team Championship match. Anyway, they’re playing up that Ziggler is on a tear by stringing together a couple of wins, so that’s another bit of mid-card build out of the way for this show.
I enjoyed the second helping of Jack Swagger versus Chris Jericho. These guys match up surprisingly well. Then again, Jericho can have a good match with anyone. Fandango’s interference was a welcome surprise to me. I know he’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I get a real kick out of this guy. This isn’t going to be a character that’s going to last forever, in my opinion at least, so why not just have him immediately peak at WrestleMania by facing a guy who was on Dancing With The Stars? I think it’s hilarious. It can’t be any dumber than Brodus Clay and the dancing momma’s from last year.
The Team Rhodes Scholars versus Brodus Clay and Tensai match wasn’t much of a match at all. This smells of the WrestleMania YouTube preshow. Clay, Tensai, and the Funkadactyls taking on Team Rhodes Scholars and the Bella Twins. Sounds fun…
What is going on with Antonio Cesaro? This guy has proven to be a good competitor against main event talent, has worked his butt off since debuting last year, and he’s being used as a scrub to build a potential Miz vs. Wade Barrett match? I’m sorry, but that just doesn’t seem right. Don’t get me wrong, I like The Miz, but were Epico and Primo or JTG too busy to have a little match against The Miz?
The main event was ok. The mystery team of 3MB was no surprise at all. Orton, Sheamus, and Big Show showed they could be a semi-united tag team force. Sheamus and Big Show even traded signature moves. They faltered a little at the end with Big Show taking exception to Sheamus blind tagging in when he got in trouble, but when The Shield came and was threatening to ambush them, they became united again.
This wasn’t a memorable Smackdown, but it did provide some very necessary build to the mid-card for WrestleMania. I’m really looking forward to the show.
Bump of the Night: Ziggler giving Kingston the famouser on the floor!
Match of the Night: Jack Swagger vs. Chris Jericho * ¾
Final Rating: ** ½
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