The “blast from the past” Super Smackdown opens with Mean Gene Okerlund introducing Sheamus. Sheamus apologizes for his actions when he hit the brogue kick on a ref last week. John Laurinaitis interrupts and makes Sheamus apologize repeatedly. He tells him it isn’t good enough and puts him on probation. He says Sheamus will be fired if he even accidentally bumps into another WWE official. JL then books Sheamus and Gene Okerlund against Alberto Del Rio and Daniel Bryan.
^Heel Johnny with this much power is fun to watch. You just keep wondering how long it will last(Bischoff era, anyone?). I think Sheamus will continue to be tortured by Laurinaitis as long as he holds the World Title. I was somewhat hoping for an anti-face response from Sheamus and see him brogue kick JL to open the show. Maybe next time.
A backstage segment is shown with Randy Orton and his dad, Cowboy Bob. Bob wishes Orton luck in his match tonight. Orton takes on Mark Henry in a match. They brawl for awhile. Kane’s pyro hits and Kane shows up on the tron, taunting Orton. They show Kane standing over Cowboy Bob and Orton runs to the back. He finds Cowboy Bob and Kane strikes Orton with a steel pipe from out of nowhere.
^Gee, I’m sure glad this match had a legit finish to it. The Kane/Orton saga continues. I like the addition of Cowboy Bob to make it personal. Last time we saw him with Randy was when he was feuding with the Undertaker in 2005. Kane slams a Stooge one night and then takes out an overrated legend the next; looks to me like the big red monster is on a role destroying top notch competition.
Ryback faces Benny Camer(jobber). The legends watch on a screen backstage. Ryback with a clothesline and a slam for the win.
^I told Lightning that Ryback was going to quickly resemble a new version of Goldberg. Now he does. I’m assuming we’ll get a few more weeks of this before something significant pops up and opens up a storyline for him.
Backstage segment with Tyson Kidd and Heath Slater. Slater brings in Jimmy Hart to be their manager tonight. Tyson appears reluctant.
^I like Heath Slater. Being from the south and portraying the character that he does is fun for me. Tyson Kidd’s personality seems to be something that he picked up from Bret Hart. The guy is almost always serious. I like the idea of Jimmy Hart managing Kidd when he used to the manage the original Hart Foundation.
Tyson Kidd and Heath Slater take on the Usos. Mick Foley is on commentary. The Usos win the match with their signature samoan drop, followed by the big splash for the three count. Mick Foley applies Mr. Socko to Jimmy Hart after the match.
^This was good tag team wrestling for such a short match. I was just happy to see the Usos and Tyson Kidd make it onto regular programming. I’m still surprised that the Usos haven’t held the tag team titles with how talented they are. Foley added nothing to this match. I guess he just pops in whenever WWE calls him up.
Piper’s Pit is up next with guest Daniel Bryan. Roddy Piper has AJ come to the ring. She begs for Bryan to take her back. He tells her if she really loves him and means her apology sincerely, then she will leave the ring. She does. Piper gets pissed at Bryan for treating a woman that way. Bryan slaps Piper across the face and runs up the ramp shouting yes!
^Piper’s Pit is known for being controversial and fun to watch. Daniel Bryan is a great heel, but he didn’t respond enough in this one for me to be thoroughly entertained. I know the goal here was to put Bryan over as a heel, but it just feels like he could’ve said more. Maybe actions speak louder than words here and I’m just over-thinking the point of it.
Khali, Natalya, and Alicia Fox take on the Bella twins and Drew McIntyre. Khali and Drew go at it for a few minutes. Drew tags in one of the Bellas and Khali tags in Alicia. Alicia uses a bridge suplex into a pinfall for a quick three count.
^This entire match was almost painful to watch. I don’t care for Khali whatsoever and Drew McIntyre deserves better. If they were going to have such an important storyline for Drew where he was fighting for his job, shouldn’t he now be booked in matches with a bit more significance? The Bellas are rumored to be leaving WWE soon. Can I get a goodbye chant going?
We have another Damien Sandow vignette.
^Lightning and I sat down and watched Sandow face Seth Rollins on FCW in a match from June last year. This guy is impressive in the ring. His character on top of solid wrestling skills makes me believe that he could go far if the push is done properly.
Backstage segment with Mean Gene and Sheamus. Sheamus tells Gene they will probably lose tonight, but not to worry about it. He says they will go drinking after the match either way.
^I love Sheamus. His character just makes me laugh all the time. Some call it cheesy and lame; I find it entertaining.
Hacksaw Jim Duggan takes on Hunico. Camacho tries to get involved. Sgt. Slaughter comes to the aide of Hacksaw. Hacksaw hits them both with his 2×4 and Slaughter puts Hunico in the cobra clutch. Hacksaw and Slaughter celebrate.
^Hunico disappeared from tv and showed up on NXT a couple times. Now he’s out to look like a fool to put over some legends. Hunico is one of those guys whose talent is being wasted away as he gets booked in almost no decent matches on any show. Can you tell I’m not really caring for this legends theme?
Cody Rhodes comes out to cut a promo. Dusty Rhodes comes out to talk to him about his concerns with the Big Show. Cody says they should talk in the back and goes to leave. Big Show comes out and shows an old vignette of Cody Rhodes and his dashing gimmick where he applied lip gloss. Show says it’s embarrassing and leaves. Cody goes to leave and Dusty starts dancing.
^Show and Rhodes continue their rivalry. I’m sick of videos. I’d like to see some legit interference in matches or maybe even Show doing some color commentary during a Rhodes match. Nice to see Dusty but I wish he had said more to Cody.
Bryan and ADR take on Sheamus and Mene Gene in the main event. They gang up on Sheamus throughout the match and then corner Mean Gene with the help of Ricardo. All the legends come out to Piper’s music and Piper confronts Bryan as he stands on the ring apron. Bryan turns around and gets nailed with the brogue kick by Sheamus. Sheamus pins him and gets the win. Michael Cole comes into the ring after the match and makes a retirement home joke about the legends. They gang up on him and knock him out of the ring. They all celebrate with Sheamus as the show ends.
^Sheamus and Daniel Bryan were booked in a 2/3 falls match for Extreme Rules with the WHC on the line. I wouldn’t be surprised if ADR was somehow booked into the match. This whole match was intended to wrap up the night for the legends. It worked for that purpose. It did very little for Bryan and Del Rio.
I guess I’m just not a fan of the legends popping in on the show like this. We see these guys at random times a few times a year and they don’t really do anything. I understand what they did for the business and I would never take anything away from their dedication, but I just don’t really care about seeing most of them now. I don’t like sitting here pondering what matches could’ve happened with some of the talent that wasn’t used on the show. You can’t create new stars if all you ever do is push the older ones(whether it be legends or just guys brought back for year long storylines).
I’ll have an FCW column up next and I’m still working on April’s special columns. Check out myself and Mike Lightning at the link below on facebook if you’re interested in discussing all things wrestling and then some. Until next time, you’ve been ThunderStruck!
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