Saturday Morning Slam 10/13/12
Josh Mathews and Santino are on commentary this week.
The Miz defeats Justin Gabriel with the “crushing finale.”
Various superstars talk about entrance theme. Kofi and Dbry say the Warrior’s was their favorite. Beth Phoenix says Kane, Ziggler says Steve Austin, Cena says his own, and Kaitlyn says Brodus Clay. Jim Johnston is highlighted(the guy who makes WWE entrance themes) next and how he makes music for superstars. He talks about some of his favorite themes and they are Steve Austin’s, DX, and the Big Show’s.
Sin Cara defeats Jinder Mahal in the main event using the senton bomb.
Thoughts: I liked how the camera cut away before Miz nailed his finisher. I just now remember reading that all moves involving blows to the head are banned from the kid focused show. Aside from that, Miz and Gabriel looked good in the ring together. Sin Cara looked like his typical botching self, but that’s nothing new. I don’t dislike Jinder Mahal or his character, but the guy is very bland in the ring and not much fun to watch.
WWE NXT 10/17/12
Alex Riley defeats Jinder Mahal with a rollup. Mahal attacks Riley after the match and applies the camel clutch.
Trent Barreta goes one on one with Jake Carter(Jesse White). Barreta wins using an off the rope knee to the jaw and gets the three count.
Damien Sandow goes one on one with Brandon Trahan. Sandow wins the match using his version of the modified neckbreaker.
The Acension and Kassius Ohno take on the Usos and Richie Steamboat in a six man tag. Ohno knocks Steamboat from the apron with the rolling elbow and then gets the three count as Steamboat is knocked out.
Thoughts: I’ve seen Riley and Mahal wrestle a bunch of times; they bore me. Barreta and Carter were fun to watch, but I wonder what WWE has in store for both these guys with them being as small as they are. Sandow looked awesome in his match and I can’t wait to see what he accomplishes in the coming months in WWE. The six man tag was really good and fun to watch. I’d say this was a solid NXT all around with a few of the more “polished” vets and some good featuring of the younger talent.
WWE Main Event 10/17/12
The Miz and Kofi Kingston each have a video package shown. Kofi defeats Miz using trouble in paradise to become the new Intercontinental Champion. Striker interviews Kofi after the match.
Dolph Ziggler defeats Zack Ryder in a very short match using the zig zag. Vickie runs her mouth after the match and talks about Ziggler possibly cashing in his suitcase at HIAC. Ziggler says he deserves better than Zack Ryder as an opponent. Ziggler says he challenges any superstar in the back for next week’s main event. Ryback’s music hits and out he comes.
Thoughts: Miz and Kofi put on a quality wrestling match to open main event. Despite being annoyed at first with the “high profile” match appearing first on the main event card, I actually feel like the setup this week worked better than the last two because of the Ziggler/Ryback challenge closing the show. I may not be in love with Ryback, but his move into the main event scene means he slowly needs to start taking on the top wrestlers like Ziggler and potentially guys like Wade Barrett and Alberto Del Rio. Anyone else happy to see Zack Ryder in the final match of a show? Poor guy can’t catch a break when it comes to his youtube show(according to Ryder himself on his twitter page).
WWE Superstars 10/18/12
Tensai defeats Michael McGillicutty.
Kaitlyn defeats Beth Phoenix.
Thoughts: Tensai defeating the son of Mr. Perfect is an absolute joke. For those people who were bragging about Tensai’s work as Giant Bernard in Japan, I recently watched some of his matchs; I wasn’t impressed. He may have been in better physical shape during the early part of his run over there, but to me his matches were nothing special just like they are now. Kaitlyn and Beth put on a decent match, but I’m still disappointed wit how things are going with Phoenix. If you would’ve told me a year ago that the divas division would be destroyed once again and Beth would be jobbing during her final days with the company, I would’ve laughed at you. Now I’m honestly just saddened by how it’s all gone down. Again, why just two matches for Superstars? Is it because Main Event and SMS take up more filming time? I could care less why; Superstars is becoming more and more of a joke if they’re just going to cut it down to two matches permanently.
WWE Smackdown 10/19/12
We open the show with MizTV. Miz wants a rematch with Kofi at HIAC using his rematch clause. His guests for the show are Dbry and Kane. Miz says they will lose their titles at HIAC. They correct him and then bicker. Big Show and Dolph Ziggler join them and run their mouths. Booker T comes out and books the tag champs against Kane and Dbry tonight. He then books Miz in a match with Randy Orton next.
^I like the show opening with MizTV. It feels like it’s been far too long since we’ve had a regular talk show segment(I was a huge fan of the highlight reel). Dbry and Kane were once again hilarious. Miz was funny himself when he mocked Booker about how he was going to book the matches(mostly because we as fans have mocked it for years with the Teddy Long administration).
Orton defeats the Miz using the RKO. Alberto Del Rio is shown watching from a skybox throughout the match.
^Miz looked great and Orton looked sharp as ever. I find it funny that Orton has been rumbling on twitter about wanting to be a heel; I feel like Orton and Miz could switch roles right now and it would benefit both of them. Miz’s popularity could be insanely huge as a face in my opinion.
Backstage segment with Sheamus and Teddy Long, and Sheamus wants Barrett again. Teddy says he’ll talk to Booker and make it happen and books them in a lumberjack match tonight. Eve is shown watching them.
^I love the main event booking but I’m growing tired of this Eve/Long controversy.
Team Rhodes Scholars defeat Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd. Rhodes pins Tyson Kidd after a disaster kick while Kidd has Sandow locked in a sharpshooter(Kidd doesn’t see the tag to Rhodes)
^This match was far too short for all the talent involved. I love the emphasis that WWE has placed on these teams now, but damnit I wanted to see more here. Oh well, at least these two gained more momentum as we wait for their match with Sin Cara and Mysterio to take place.
Eve has already suggested the main event for tonight to Booker T and makes it look like Teddy tried to steal her idea when he suggests it to Booker.
^Still bored by this. Why not just have Eve as GM of the show to rival the female AJ on Raw?
Team Hell No defeats Big Show and Dolph Ziggler. Bryan forces Ziggler to tap out to the no-lock.
^This match was awesome. I love the excitement that Kane and Dbry bring to the table, and Ziggler’s skills of selling a beatdown made this a lot of fun. Big Show is even looking better in the ring these days now WWE has made him interesting again.
Antonio Cesaro defeats Ted Dibiase in a short match. Cesaro has a video shown outside of Sun Studio before the match making fun of Memphis talent.
^Guess Ted Dibiase won’t be seeing any sort of push anytime soon. Perhaps a tag team pairing for him in the future? Cesaro is excellent, but he needs to have a real rivalry to make that title seem more important.
The Three Man Band(3MB apparently) help Heath Slater defeat Brodus Clay.
^I love the three man band, and I also love seeing Brodus Clay lose twice in one week. The guy lacks all talent in terms of wrestling and should be used for putting over ANYONE as a regular role.
Layla defeats Natalya. Teddy Long is backstage showing Kaitlyn something on Eve’s Ipad. Kaitlyn takes a picture of it and thanks Teddy.
^It’s about time this ridiculous storyline comes to a close. I’d be thrilled if these silly segments ended. I originally liked the relevant storyline for the divas, but it’s become far too typical and boring.
Sheamus defeats Wade Barrett in the main event using the brogue kick. Team Hell No joins the fun before the match is over and causes a brawl to break out. Ziggler knocks out Sheamus with the zig zag and goes to cash in his briefcase, but Big Show knocks him out. Show tells Sheamus he is going to knock him out and take his title at Hell In A Cell.
^This was a fantastic main event. Barrett deserves to be challenging next for the World Title, but I think he could do it just as well as a face. I loved Ziggler attempting to cash in, but I don’t think it should’ve been stopped by Show. What better way to showcase the element of surprise than to have the World Title change hands ten days before a ppv?
News Items:
Instead of talking about a few news items, I’m just going to rant on the one below and call it good; I hope you enjoy it.
Ryback/Goldberg: After reading the debates and standing up for the fact that Ryback CAN WRESTLE as compared to Goldberg who couldn’t, I’m going to change my stance right now. Based on things I read and heard from others, Ryback wrestled good matches in FCW as Skip Sheffield and was good on NXT. After watching some of his FCW matches and NXT matches, I’ve come to my own conclusions. I can’t find a match where “Skip” goes one on one with anybody for more than six(maybe six and a half) minutes. Second, I can’t find a match where he doesn’t have a limited moveset and do the same exact things over and over. I’m really not impressed with what I’ve seen of Ryback as Skip in his matches, but I will admit that I’m anxious to see if a great wrestler like Punk can carry him to a good or even great contest. As far as Goldberg goes, Bill Goldberg was a guy with the right look and right gimmick at the right time to help keep WCW afloat when WWE started regaining viewers and popularity. Overall, bill sucked and ended Bret Hart’s career and the company eventually flopped. Bill’s final match in WWE was one of the worst of his career(if not THE worst) on the biggest stage of them all at WM20, and for that people should realize that it’s insulting to Ryback and his potential for comparing to someone so awful. Yeah, I’m sure I’ll catch heat, but Bill Goldberg was overrated, over hyped, and just plain sucked. I hope to be wrong about my views on Ryback, and I hope to see him put on good matches in the main event scene. Time will tell.
That’s all for the rundown! I’ll have the Raw Analysis on Tuesday and the Smarks will be back with Hell In A Cell predictions next week. Thanks for reading!
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