Spoilers follow for the September 5th episode of Smackdown.
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Raw sucked this week. Really, it did. Smackdown is usually the worse of the two shows, so you can kind of figure out what you should expect from this week. Well, you might be surprised.
But, fans, all is not lost. Smackdown opens with a rare John Cena appearance, because that's always good for entertainment! He hypes his rematch against Brock Lesnar at Night of Champions. So, nothing new at all. Kane and Seth Rollins eventually interrupt him. Then Roman Reigns. Then The Wyatt Family. Then Chris Jericho. Then Mark Henry and Big Show. I think you can see where this is going. Triple H comes out next. He makes a main event with all of them. Shocking, I know.
Cesaro vs. Dolph Ziggler
Sheamus is on commentary. But, guess what? Despite Smackdown being a taped show, WWE didn't remember to fix the audio level of the commentary. It's far too quiet. So it's hard to hear everyone. It was worse in the opening segment, though, so perhaps it'll get better as the show goes on. Because that's how it works.
Ziggler and Cesaro are both very talented, and the truth of the matter is that they put on a better match here than anything we saw earlier this week on Raw. How sad is that? It has a good mix of offense from both sides, some close calls, and ... a roll up finish. Shame. Still, though, matches like this one are why we watch WWE. (Just kidding. It's really for storylines like the current Bella twins one.)
Match Rating: ***
Cesaro tries to beat up Ziggler after the match, but Sheamus makes the save. Stardust has a promo in the backstage area afterward. He does the two-faced Gollum routine. Then Stardust shows up. They'll challenge for the Tag Team Championships at Night of Champions. Apparently. So they say.
Heath Slater (with Titus O'Neil) vs. Jimmy Uso (with Jey Uso)
Jey Uso is on crutches, as he's selling the injury he sustained a couple of weeks earlier and further injured last week, thanks to Stardust/Goldust.
This match is ... also better than most of what we saw on Raw, actually. Who would've thought that? I mean, Slater isn't bad in the ring, and neither are the Usos, but this was allowed to be more than just a glorified squash match, and actually contained some exciting action. That was good.
Match Rating: **1/2
A taped promo from Stephanie McMahon airs after a Bella flashback. She announces a Divas Title match for Night of Champions. Paige will defend the title against AJ Lee and Nikki Bella in a triple threat match. So, Brie will cost Nikki the match, right?
Nikki is then interviewed backstage. Nikki plays the sympathy card. She's so much better at this "talking in front of the camera" thing than her sister. Like, wow.
Rusev and Lana are out to cut a promo next. They're responding to a challenge laid down by Mark Henry from Raw. Apparently. I don't even remember that challenge. Raw really sucked. Russia is great, America sucks, Vladimir Putin, etc. Mark Henry winds up interrupting. He asks if Rusev will accept the challenge or hide behind Lana. Lana accepts the challenge.
Brie Bella vs. Paige
Nikki is at ringside, but not on commentary. That's too bad. She should get more mic time. AJ Lee is on commentary, though, which is even better. Assuming we could hear her, that is. I turned the volume up on the TV. Brie Bella comes down with a new theme song.
Uh, so, this match gets something like five minutes. I'm kind of surprised. I get that it's the clash of two different storylines, but still. Brie and Paige actually wrestle a pretty solid match ... until AJ and Nikki get in a brawl, Brie breaks it up, and then Brie gets into the ring and is hit with Paige's DDT finisher. A little bit of a disappointing finish, but, hey, it was a good Divas match, and it's hard to complain about that.
Match Rating: **1/2
A Wyatt Family promo happens after. Luke Harper does the talking at first, and then Bray Wyatt takes over. We hype the steel cage match that's going to happen on Monday.
Zack Ryder vs. Bo Dallas
Dallas defeats Ryder in less than a minute in a terrible squash match.
Match Rating: *
Dallas grabs a mic, insults Nebraska, and tells everyone to bolieve. Or, he almost does, but then Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter come out. Swagger, still with his American flag. Swagger runs to the ring and starts beating up on Dallas. Eventually, Dallas escapes. Colter grabs a mic after so he can do the "We, the people" chant.
Seth Rollins, The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Erick Rowan) and Kane vs. Chris Jericho, Mark Henry, Big Show, John Cena and Roman Reigns
This is a long, long, long match. It gets like half an hour of time, and that's not including the entrances. I wish it was an elimination tag match, like at Survivor Series, but such is life.
It's fun! It's exciting. It's entertaining. It's better than previous tag matches with some of these people fighting each other. The faces win by DQ. That's all I've got.
Match Rating: ***
The Good: Cesaro vs. Ziggler. Brie vs. Paige. Main event.
The Bad: Ryder vs. Dallas.
Match of the Night: Cesaro vs. Dolph Ziggler.
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http://i55.servimg.com/u/f55/16/09/70/40/smackd10.png
Raw sucked this week. Really, it did. Smackdown is usually the worse of the two shows, so you can kind of figure out what you should expect from this week. Well, you might be surprised.
But, fans, all is not lost. Smackdown opens with a rare John Cena appearance, because that's always good for entertainment! He hypes his rematch against Brock Lesnar at Night of Champions. So, nothing new at all. Kane and Seth Rollins eventually interrupt him. Then Roman Reigns. Then The Wyatt Family. Then Chris Jericho. Then Mark Henry and Big Show. I think you can see where this is going. Triple H comes out next. He makes a main event with all of them. Shocking, I know.
Cesaro vs. Dolph Ziggler
Sheamus is on commentary. But, guess what? Despite Smackdown being a taped show, WWE didn't remember to fix the audio level of the commentary. It's far too quiet. So it's hard to hear everyone. It was worse in the opening segment, though, so perhaps it'll get better as the show goes on. Because that's how it works.
Ziggler and Cesaro are both very talented, and the truth of the matter is that they put on a better match here than anything we saw earlier this week on Raw. How sad is that? It has a good mix of offense from both sides, some close calls, and ... a roll up finish. Shame. Still, though, matches like this one are why we watch WWE. (Just kidding. It's really for storylines like the current Bella twins one.)
Match Rating: ***
Cesaro tries to beat up Ziggler after the match, but Sheamus makes the save. Stardust has a promo in the backstage area afterward. He does the two-faced Gollum routine. Then Stardust shows up. They'll challenge for the Tag Team Championships at Night of Champions. Apparently. So they say.
Heath Slater (with Titus O'Neil) vs. Jimmy Uso (with Jey Uso)
Jey Uso is on crutches, as he's selling the injury he sustained a couple of weeks earlier and further injured last week, thanks to Stardust/Goldust.
This match is ... also better than most of what we saw on Raw, actually. Who would've thought that? I mean, Slater isn't bad in the ring, and neither are the Usos, but this was allowed to be more than just a glorified squash match, and actually contained some exciting action. That was good.
Match Rating: **1/2
A taped promo from Stephanie McMahon airs after a Bella flashback. She announces a Divas Title match for Night of Champions. Paige will defend the title against AJ Lee and Nikki Bella in a triple threat match. So, Brie will cost Nikki the match, right?
Nikki is then interviewed backstage. Nikki plays the sympathy card. She's so much better at this "talking in front of the camera" thing than her sister. Like, wow.
Rusev and Lana are out to cut a promo next. They're responding to a challenge laid down by Mark Henry from Raw. Apparently. I don't even remember that challenge. Raw really sucked. Russia is great, America sucks, Vladimir Putin, etc. Mark Henry winds up interrupting. He asks if Rusev will accept the challenge or hide behind Lana. Lana accepts the challenge.
Brie Bella vs. Paige
Nikki is at ringside, but not on commentary. That's too bad. She should get more mic time. AJ Lee is on commentary, though, which is even better. Assuming we could hear her, that is. I turned the volume up on the TV. Brie Bella comes down with a new theme song.
Uh, so, this match gets something like five minutes. I'm kind of surprised. I get that it's the clash of two different storylines, but still. Brie and Paige actually wrestle a pretty solid match ... until AJ and Nikki get in a brawl, Brie breaks it up, and then Brie gets into the ring and is hit with Paige's DDT finisher. A little bit of a disappointing finish, but, hey, it was a good Divas match, and it's hard to complain about that.
Match Rating: **1/2
A Wyatt Family promo happens after. Luke Harper does the talking at first, and then Bray Wyatt takes over. We hype the steel cage match that's going to happen on Monday.
Zack Ryder vs. Bo Dallas
Dallas defeats Ryder in less than a minute in a terrible squash match.
Match Rating: *
Dallas grabs a mic, insults Nebraska, and tells everyone to bolieve. Or, he almost does, but then Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter come out. Swagger, still with his American flag. Swagger runs to the ring and starts beating up on Dallas. Eventually, Dallas escapes. Colter grabs a mic after so he can do the "We, the people" chant.
Seth Rollins, The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Erick Rowan) and Kane vs. Chris Jericho, Mark Henry, Big Show, John Cena and Roman Reigns
This is a long, long, long match. It gets like half an hour of time, and that's not including the entrances. I wish it was an elimination tag match, like at Survivor Series, but such is life.
It's fun! It's exciting. It's entertaining. It's better than previous tag matches with some of these people fighting each other. The faces win by DQ. That's all I've got.
Match Rating: ***
The Good: Cesaro vs. Ziggler. Brie vs. Paige. Main event.
The Bad: Ryder vs. Dallas.
Match of the Night: Cesaro vs. Dolph Ziggler.
<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.
