Spoilers follow for the March 12th episode of Smackdown.
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Daniel Bryan gets to kick off Smackdown this week. No, not a Raw flashback. Well, it leads to one, but at least it's not literally the first thing we see. That's progress, probably. Bryan can't ignore the WrestleMania sign anymore, which he's apparently been doing for several weeks now. Bryan announces he'll be in the ladder match at WrestleMania for the Intercontinental Championship. That brings out Bad News Barrett. He's the current champ, and he'll retain, he says. Dolph Ziggler is next. Then Luke Harper. Dean Ambrose follows him, and then out comes Stardust. R-Truth shows up on the stage, with the title. Everyone but him starts to brawl in the ring, sending the heels out of the ring, leaving the faces in the ring, and foreshadowing a 6-man tag team match in the main event.
Los Matadores (Diego and Fernando with El Torito), Cesaro, and Tyson Kidd (with Natalya) vs. The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods, with Big E), and The Usos (with Naomi)
Los Matadores apparently turned heel, or at least have decided they'll do "whatever it takes" to get a WrestleMania moment. The match isn't interesting or particularly good, in large part because Los Matadores spend a large chunk of the match in the ring. The faces don't get along, because we're building to a "get all the tag teams on the WrestleMania card" match, and that allows the heel team to get the win. Los Matadores do a "Twin Magic" and pin Kofi Kingston for the win.
Match Rating: **1/2
We get two straight video packages -- one before the commercial break and one after -- before another match.
Ryback vs. The Miz
Miz gets interviewed backstage after Ryback already made his entrance. Miz tells Damien Sandow to stay backstage for the match. Remember when Ryback had a ton of momentum? Yeah, that was fun...
Miz gets in some offense here, but it's just to make the match seem a little bit competitive, and because Ryback's moveset is pretty limited. Miz gets dominated and takes a pretty decisive loss.
Match Rating: *1/2
Roman Reigns is out after the commercial break to address Paul Heyman's comments from Raw. Reigns is going to win at WrestleMania, you see.
Mark Henry comes out to interrupt him. Henry looks a little leaner than before he took a hiatus. Henry correctly points out that Heyman got under Reigns' skin. Henry tells Reigns nobody respects him, to which the piped-in crowd cheers say otherwise. Hooray for post-production. Reigns has to earn his respect, Henry says. Reigns tries to leave, which Henry stops him from doing. A Superman Punch and a spear (through the barricade) later has Henry down and Reigns looking strong. A segment designed to make Reigns look strong? Believe that!
Summer Rae and Cameron (with Eva Marie) vs. AJ Lee and Paige
The Bella Twins are on commentary. Is Eva Marie not cleared to wrestle? WWE is putting Cameron of all people in a match instead of her?
AJ gets beat down for most of the match, leading to a Paige hot tag. Paige hits a few moves and eventually forces Summer Rae to tap out. What a boring match.
Match Rating: *1/2
AJ, Paige, and the Bella Twins exchange words after the match, but nothing comes of it.
Mark Henry gets interviewed from the training room. He believes in Roman Reigns now. Seriously? Wow. Glad to see that's all it takes.
A recorded interview with Michael Cole and Randy Orton is aired next. This is "Randy Orton returns to Smackdown," by the way. They talk about Seth Rollins and how evil he is. He's very evil. You've heard this type of interview before.
Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, and Dean Ambrose vs. Bad News Barrett, Stardust, and Luke Harper
Yup. We get four wrestling matches on a two-hour wrestling show -- and two of them were short and bad. Thanks, WWE. At least this one is relatively long and pretty fun. You've got six really good workers in one match, so you know it's going to be good. The Intercontinental Championship story is kind of bad, but at least it's different and it's a thing, which means it's better than what WWE does with the title 90% of the time.
Bryan wins with a running knee on Harper after a whole bunch of chaos.
Match Rating: ***
Michael Cole interviews the faces in the ring afterward. They have some animosity between them. It's every man for himself, after all. That's how Smackdown ends. Ambrose and Ziggler leave Bryan in the ring after insulting him.
The Good: Main event. Eva Marie cameo.
The Bad: Rae & Cameron/AJ & Paige. Ryback/Miz.
Match of the Night: Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, and Dean Ambrose vs. Bad News Barrett, Stardust, and Luke Harper.
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http://i55.servimg.com/u/f55/16/09/70/40/smackd10.png
Daniel Bryan gets to kick off Smackdown this week. No, not a Raw flashback. Well, it leads to one, but at least it's not literally the first thing we see. That's progress, probably. Bryan can't ignore the WrestleMania sign anymore, which he's apparently been doing for several weeks now. Bryan announces he'll be in the ladder match at WrestleMania for the Intercontinental Championship. That brings out Bad News Barrett. He's the current champ, and he'll retain, he says. Dolph Ziggler is next. Then Luke Harper. Dean Ambrose follows him, and then out comes Stardust. R-Truth shows up on the stage, with the title. Everyone but him starts to brawl in the ring, sending the heels out of the ring, leaving the faces in the ring, and foreshadowing a 6-man tag team match in the main event.
Los Matadores (Diego and Fernando with El Torito), Cesaro, and Tyson Kidd (with Natalya) vs. The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods, with Big E), and The Usos (with Naomi)
Los Matadores apparently turned heel, or at least have decided they'll do "whatever it takes" to get a WrestleMania moment. The match isn't interesting or particularly good, in large part because Los Matadores spend a large chunk of the match in the ring. The faces don't get along, because we're building to a "get all the tag teams on the WrestleMania card" match, and that allows the heel team to get the win. Los Matadores do a "Twin Magic" and pin Kofi Kingston for the win.
Match Rating: **1/2
We get two straight video packages -- one before the commercial break and one after -- before another match.
Ryback vs. The Miz
Miz gets interviewed backstage after Ryback already made his entrance. Miz tells Damien Sandow to stay backstage for the match. Remember when Ryback had a ton of momentum? Yeah, that was fun...
Miz gets in some offense here, but it's just to make the match seem a little bit competitive, and because Ryback's moveset is pretty limited. Miz gets dominated and takes a pretty decisive loss.
Match Rating: *1/2
Roman Reigns is out after the commercial break to address Paul Heyman's comments from Raw. Reigns is going to win at WrestleMania, you see.
Mark Henry comes out to interrupt him. Henry looks a little leaner than before he took a hiatus. Henry correctly points out that Heyman got under Reigns' skin. Henry tells Reigns nobody respects him, to which the piped-in crowd cheers say otherwise. Hooray for post-production. Reigns has to earn his respect, Henry says. Reigns tries to leave, which Henry stops him from doing. A Superman Punch and a spear (through the barricade) later has Henry down and Reigns looking strong. A segment designed to make Reigns look strong? Believe that!
Summer Rae and Cameron (with Eva Marie) vs. AJ Lee and Paige
The Bella Twins are on commentary. Is Eva Marie not cleared to wrestle? WWE is putting Cameron of all people in a match instead of her?
AJ gets beat down for most of the match, leading to a Paige hot tag. Paige hits a few moves and eventually forces Summer Rae to tap out. What a boring match.
Match Rating: *1/2
AJ, Paige, and the Bella Twins exchange words after the match, but nothing comes of it.
Mark Henry gets interviewed from the training room. He believes in Roman Reigns now. Seriously? Wow. Glad to see that's all it takes.
A recorded interview with Michael Cole and Randy Orton is aired next. This is "Randy Orton returns to Smackdown," by the way. They talk about Seth Rollins and how evil he is. He's very evil. You've heard this type of interview before.
Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, and Dean Ambrose vs. Bad News Barrett, Stardust, and Luke Harper
Yup. We get four wrestling matches on a two-hour wrestling show -- and two of them were short and bad. Thanks, WWE. At least this one is relatively long and pretty fun. You've got six really good workers in one match, so you know it's going to be good. The Intercontinental Championship story is kind of bad, but at least it's different and it's a thing, which means it's better than what WWE does with the title 90% of the time.
Bryan wins with a running knee on Harper after a whole bunch of chaos.
Match Rating: ***
Michael Cole interviews the faces in the ring afterward. They have some animosity between them. It's every man for himself, after all. That's how Smackdown ends. Ambrose and Ziggler leave Bryan in the ring after insulting him.
The Good: Main event. Eva Marie cameo.
The Bad: Rae & Cameron/AJ & Paige. Ryback/Miz.
Match of the Night: Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, and Dean Ambrose vs. Bad News Barrett, Stardust, and Luke Harper.
<color=D6D9DA>_________________________________________________________________________________
If you wish to be notified whenever I post something new, please join this <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/2-50-Reviews>user group.
For an archive of all my previous WWE reviews, please go <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.846764-Marters-WWE-Reviews-Archive>here.
Talk to me on the Twitter, <url=https://twitter.com/martertweet>@martertweet.
