Mike Tedesco’s Smackdown Thoughts
June 8, 2013
By: Mike Tedesco of Wrestleview.com
Smackdown kicked off with a surprisingly good Miz TV segment. It’s no secret that I have not enjoyed The Miz’s talk show over the past few weeks, but that was mainly because it makes no sense for him to be out there. He offers nothing, and he’s completely forgotten about by the end of it. This week he actually brought something to the table and contributed to the segment. In fact, everyone was on point in this segment – even Randy Orton, who delivers his lines with all the enthusiasm of an IRS agent. It started out well enough with Daniel Bryan trying to make amends for being so wacky over the past few weeks, and then it broke down when Miz started pressing him a bit. It broke down completely when Bryan misinterpreted what Kane and Orton were saying to him. The emotions were on point, the delivery was there, and the writing was very good. This was a great segment that utilized everyone perfectly. Of course it wouldn’t be a Miz TV segment on Smackdown without Teddy Long coming out to make a tag match main event, so that tied it up in a neat little bow. This was a very good start to the show.
From there we got our first match, and it was an intriguing one. It saw Chris Jericho, who will take on CM Punk, Paul Heyman’s client, at WWE Payback in Chicago take on Curtis Axel, Heyman’s newest client. If you’re a fan of Curtis Axel, you want him to get into a match with Jericho because he’s a giver. He makes you look like a million bucks. This was, for my money, Axel’s best outing since debuting this character a few weeks back. Paul Heyman being on commentary was definitely a highlight as well. When Jericho got Axel in the Walls of Jericho, Heyman’s expression was priceless. The ending was still a little cheap, but Jericho doesn’t look bad in defeat. It also was fun to watch the expressions of some of the people in the crowd when CM Punk’s music played to distract Jericho. They really thought that CM Punk was going to return from his two-month hiatus on a random Smackdown in Long Island. All in all, it was a fun match that only helped Axel.
Up next, they had an Alberto Del Rio segment where he was supposed to take on Heath Slater, but 3MB got in the way. Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez quickly disposed of them, and then Dolph Ziggler made an appearance via satellite. Ziggler said he was cleared to return, and he’ll be on RAW this Monday. That’s some news, I suppose. Still, I’ve got to say that Del Rio’s face run has been progressively getting worse. It doesn’t seem like anyone is genuinely excited to see him when he comes out. He certainly doesn’t seem like a number one contender. He just doesn’t look comfortable, and he’s not connecting with the audience. It’s a mixture of bad writing and him seemingly not being 100% behind it. Hopefully with Ziggler coming back, he’ll have some purpose. It’s been ugly since January pretty much. He was a big face in Mexico, but that was under a mask and for an entirely different audience. It’s not working here.
After that, we got a pretty decent little match between Kane and Ryback. This was set-up with a good backstage segment between the two. I got a chuckle out of Kane running down a laundry list of the evil things he’s done in WWE. These guys match up surprisingly well together. It wasn’t the clunky type of “big man match” that we’ve seen in the past. They can actually go. Ryback blew me away when he press slammed Kane in the beginning of the match. That was a pretty cool visual. The powerbomb through the table was impressive as well. Both men worked hard and did a good job.
Damien Sandow returned for a third straight attempt at an intellectual challenge for Sheamus. This was by far my favorite one. Sandow yelling at the supercomputer was probably one of the funniest things I’ve seen on WWE TV all year. You should go out of your way to see it. It even ended the right way with Sandow getting the best of Sheamus and beating him up a bit. Even though he hasn’t fared well against Sheamus in the past, it seems like they are going to go through with Sheamus versus Damien Sandow at WWE Payback. This was a fun way to set it up.
Fandango took on Zack Ryder in a quick little match. The Miz was on commentary. Pretty much nothing happened. Fandango beat Ryder in his hometown, and The Miz just watched. I mean it. Nothing happened.
Kaitlyn’s secret admirer is going to be revealed on this Monday’s RAW. Everyone start placing your bets on who it is.
The main event was very good with another great ending. I don’t know how they do it, but they manage to put out an awesome tag team match with The Shield every single week. What a combination of talent. This was great. I loved the post-match happenings. Bryan was going nuts on The Shield again (tossing Rollins on his head with a German suplex that was nearly my Bump of the Night) until he accidentally dropkicked Randy Orton. Bryan cleared The Shield out of the ring, and then Orton dropped him with an RKO. It’s not a heel turn yet. Orton has been known to do this in the past to his partners. It does set up a possible match between the two of them with the question of who will make the full heel turn. I’m rooting for Orton to do the turn. I just like Bryan too much, and I think he gets the better reaction of the two. Orton also needs the heel turn in the worst way. I can’t wait to see how this plays out. This was a great angle to close a very good show with.
Bump of the Night: Ryback powerbombing Kane through a table!
Match of the Night: Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan vs. Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns ** 1/4
Final Rating: *** 1/4
E-Mail – MikeyT817@gmail.com
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Thanks for reading!
Mike Tedesco is the official recapper of WWE Smackdown for Wrestleview.com.