Mike Tedesco’s Smackdown Thoughts
October 19, 2013
By: Mike Tedesco of Wrestleview.com
Smackdown kicked off with a quick promo with Brad Maddox and Vickie Guerrero that was just some follow-up to the RAW main event. They said they had security around the building to keep Big Show out of the building. Of course that means he would show up later in the night. It was a quick and painless promo just to lay out some groundwork for the evening. Daniel Bryan then made his way to the ring, and he got his customary awesome reaction from the crowd. Bryan then teased them about Big Show possibly being there, and then he was booked in a six-man tag team match against The Shield. It was an average segment to kick off the show. Not bad and not great. It’s about what you expect to see for a fall show.
The first match of the evening saw Erick Rowan and Luke Harper beat Kofi Kingston and The Miz. It was fine for what it was. Rowan and Harper had an incredible performance in last week’s main event. It’s good to see them follow up the next week with some more extended ring time. I like their style. They’re two monsters that look like they can just kill you, and they wrestle just like that. Harper’s clothesline looked killer on Goldust last week, and Kingston made it look incredible this week. The Miz wasn’t involved much in this match, but he’s still on the fast track to being the next meal for Bray Wyatt. Wyatt didn’t get involved in any action tonight, but he was kneeling in the ring and moving easily around the ring with the family. He’s probably fine.
Brie Bella and AJ Lee had a pretty decent little match. AJ was going at her usual pace so she’s not feeling any ill effects from the concussion she sustained at the PPV. However, knowing that she did have the concussion, I had to cringe little as Brie was hitting her with running knees to the face as well as an X-Factor that had a little extra snap to it. Brie picking up the win was a bit surprising, but I think they just want to create some doubt as to whether AJ can beat her at the PPV. I expect AJ to retrain the title.
Big Show snuck in through the crowd next, and he cut a promo to thank the fans for all their support through this tough time in his life. I didn’t mind the promo, but it just seems a little too silly that a man who was supposed to be fired is allowed to not only enter through the crowd with no struggle, but also cut a promo. Wouldn’t someone backstage say, “Hey, he doesn’t work here anymore, so let’s pull the plug on his microphone or cut to commercial”? I understand you have to suspend your disbelief, but how much can you suspend it? That just seems silly. I like him coming through the crowd to do attacks, but actually speaking on the microphone is bizarre. Have him do a YouTube video or something. Brad Maddox and Vickie Guerrero came out to interrupt him and kick him out of the building. That led to Maddox taking a tremendous right hand to the jaw. The slow motion on that was pretty funny.
CM Punk had a match against Ryback that I suppose was just to show that Punk can handle a big guy in the ring. It was pretty good. Langston looked pretty solid in the ring, and Punk sold his stuff well. Paul Heyman’s promo after the match was pretty decent. I liked how he denigrated Langston as a less than quality opponent before quoting AC/DC. Ryback and Curtis Axel (yes, I am completely unhappy that he hasn’t been kicked out of the Heyman stable yet) made their way to the ring, but Langston popped in the ring to even the odds. Langston looked awesome as he took Axel out and helped Punk clear the ring. Langston has been floating around since the Dolph Ziggler thing fizzled out, but a face run as an ally of CM Punk could be a really good thing for him. We’ll see how they let it play out.
The next segment made me feel sad. Who did Josh Mathews piss off? I like the guy. I thought he did a great job as a commentator for Smackdown before randomly being taken off. I thought he was interacting well with Michael Cole and JBL. Then he turned heel on John Cena one day on commentary (see the YouTube video) and disappeared soon after that. Now he interviewed Alberto Del Rio in the ring, and Del Rio put him in the Cross Arm Breaker. Del Rio was just showing John Cena what he would do to him at Hell in a Cell, but it was at the expense of poor Josh Mathews.
The Usos, who are still the number one contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championships, beat the Real Americans after an assist from Los Matadores. The feud that everyone saw coming is finally kicking off. The Real Americans are going to go against Los Matadores. Zeb Colter spent a lot of time on commentary running them down, and they came out to distract the Americans for the loss. It should lead to some fun promos from Zeb Colter. Speaking of the Real Americans, I feel like Antonio Cesaro is primed to take off to the next level. That Cesaro Swing is really catching on. Last night, he gave a Cesaro Swing to Jey Uso with twenty-five revolutions. The audience wasn’t too impressed on the first few revolutions, but the reaction soon became louder as it went on longer. They were even counting along. I’ve actually thought he’s been ready for a lot longer, particularly in the beginning of the year when he was pulling off awesome match after awesome match against guys like Randy Orton and Sheamus. I’d take a flier on him with a serious mid-card run in the fall. What do they have to lose?
Before the main event began, after Daniel Bryan came to the ring, Randy Orton came out to cut a promo on him. It was a very basic promo. The gist of it was that Bryan is way over his head, and he’s going to get destroyed at Hell in a Cell. Orton said he would become the face of the WWE again. That was it. No rebuttal from Bryan – just a scowl.
The main event was absolutely awesome. Cody Rhodes and Goldust are a hot act in WWE right now, and they were awesome in this. Of course, being paired up with the red-hot Daniel Bryan doesn’t hurt them at all either. It still boggles my mind just how good The Shield is as a unit. Two of the three put out a tremendous main event on Monday Night RAW, and now the three of them come back with another great main event for Smackdown. They haven’t even been around for a year yet, and I haven’t seen them have a true bad match yet. This was a great match with some good back and forth and a hot finish. I highly recommend that you check this out if you haven’t seen it already.
Bump of the Night: Rollins powerbombing Cody into Goldust at ringside!
Match of the Night: Bryan, Rhodes, and Goldust vs. The Shield ***
Final Rating: ** 3/4
E-Mail – MikeyT817@gmail.com
Be sure to check out the RAW recap I did on Monday. You can find it here. Also, check out my thoughts on that episode by clicking here.
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Thanks for reading!
Mike Tedesco is the official recapper of WWE Smackdown for Wrestleview.com.