MAIN EVENT REVIEW 03/06/13 By Jee-S
Randy Orton beats Wade Barrett with the RKO. Before the match, Barrett cut a promo putting his movie ‘Dead Man Down’ over and trash talking The Miz by saying he’s a bigger movie star than he is (The Marine 3 starring The Miz was released on DVD earlier this week).
Thoughts: Solid match here. It’s no secret that these two have had a rivalry in the past and their chemistry has never been questioned. Barrett and Orton delivered once again! These two men in the ring at the same time can work wonders and there is no denying of their work ethic whenever they get to clash. On a writing standpoint, I really don’t like seeing Wade Barrett lose so many matches, especially seeing as he has the Intercontinental Title around his waist. His pre-match promo showed his great heel skills and perhaps set a future feud with Miz for WrestleMania, possibly? Personally, I think a Barrett vs. Miz encounter for Mania would be interesting as it could give a lot of credibility back to the Intercontinental Title. As for Orton, he’s a star, he has to look strong and I get that. I’m looking forward to his possible match with The Shield on April 7th.
Cody Rhodes beats Zack Ryder with Cross Rhodes.
Thoughts: I’m happy to see Cody win to put an end to his cold streak that has been going on for quite some time now and I just hope the writers won’t make this win a fluke within the next few weeks. Cody is a talented wrestler with great in-ring ability and making him irrelevant would be another ball dropped by WWE Creative. On the other hand, I never like to see Zack Ryder lose, but I guess I just got used to it. I still don’t understand why they bury a wrestler that was so over with the crowd not longer than two years ago, but that’s another story. Overall, pretty normal match and the fact that it was three minutes long is sad, because these two could’ve worked a great bout if given more time.
Recap from RAW when Triple H challenged Brock Lesnar for WrestleMania and Michael Cole announcing that Lesnar would give his answer on next week’s RAW.
Thoughts: Besides the great segments these two bring on RAW, I don’t see much interest in this feud; even less interest in their match at WrestleMania. Their encounter at SummerSlam did not meet the expectations at all, one can only hope that changes at the Showcase of Immortals.
Sin Cara beat Antonio Cesaro with a Super Hurricanrana.
Thoughts: I don’t understand the writers booking Sin Cara to win this match but I have to say I was very entertained with this bout. We had not seen Sin Cara since his squash program with Mark Henry and honestly, he looked better than ever. He seemed way more confident in the ring and confident in himself to get over with the fans; two things he lacked. Cesaro obviously did a great job like he always does and if this turns into a feud, I think we’re in for an interesting set of matches. The fact that Cara won guarantees him another shot at Cesaro, probably even at the United States Title and maybe that shot will come at Mania? Only time will tell. Overall, short but great match and I can’t wait to see them clash when they have more time on their hands.
RAW recaps of CM Punk winning the Fatal Four Way to face The Undertaker at WrestleMania and the promo with John Cena and The Rock.
Thoughts: I’m very excited for the Punk-Taker bout and I’m skeptical that maybe, just MAYBE, Punk could end the streak. This remains to be seen; regardless, it promises to be a great match. As for Rock and Cena go, I honestly don’t really care about their program. If they can put on a good match that can make us forget about last year’s WrestleMania main event they had together, I will go to bed happy on April 7th.
Overall, not too bad of a show, even if both the Intercontinental and U.S. champions lost their matches. We had some really good wrestling but the Rhodes-Ryder match was way too short. The focus was on Randy Orton and Wade Barrett and they shined in the spotlight. Also, I want to note that the crowd was great and very receptive. I’ll be back next week!
Smackdown 03/08/13 by Joe Thunder
Smackdown opens with Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter. Swagger welcomes us to HIS America.
Swagger says he is taking America back. Colter says he and Swagger are the solution. Alberto Del Rio interrupts and shows a video of himself on the tron with Ricardo. They are dressed as Swagger and Colter and make fun of them.
^While Swagger was starting to get insanely repetitive with the gimmick, this was a nice fresh change to get some mockery of the situation. Solid opening segment to push the World Title rivalry.
Drew McIntyre and Heath Slater take on Team Hell No. Dbry wins using the no-lock on Slater.
^Basic match here with nothing special happening. The outcome was very predictable. I see the 3MB taking on Brodus and Tensai on the WrestleMania pre-show.
Dolph Ziggler is interviewed by Matt Striker.
^Finally! Ziggler speaks! I’m curious as to why he’s been almost obsolete the past few weeks on WWE TV.
Ryback and Mark Henry stare one another down backstage.
^I love the potential WrestleMania match here. If there was ever a test as to how good someone can work a match, it’s pitting them against Mark Henry. Hopefully Henry can stay healthy for another few weeks to set up their match!
Brad Maddox is on commentary before we are shown a Raw rewind of Triple H challenging Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania.
Ryback defeats Damien Sandow using shell shocked. Maddox remains on commentary.
^Mostly a squash, but Ryback looked decent at setting the pace for most of the match. Maddox was absolutely hilarious on commentary. Great segment with the addition of him; I think he should be on commentary more often!
Big Show is interviewed about being pummeled by the Shield. Show says he’ll knock anyone out that crosses him. He says his fist is the answer to all his problems. Does he need anything else?
^I see Show becoming a face again. They can try to avoid another turn, but as soon as he teams with Orton and Sheamus, it’ll all be over for his monster run. The only option to keep it up is to have him screw over Orton and Sheamus at WrestleMania.
Alberto Del Rio defeats Dolph Ziggler using the cross-armbreaker.The ref ejects AJ and Big E when they get distracted by Ricardo and cause chaos.
^The match started slow, but they really picked up the pace with some big spots and a lot of near falls. Great match! The chemistry these two possess makes me think they should be feuding over the World Title. The show has finally picked up the pace! And Brad Maddox staying on commentary is a plus.
Backstage, Dbry tells AJ she looks like a shetland pony. She asks if he gets a kick out of her being humiliated. Dbry says he does. AJ says she’ll be with a World Champion that knows how to handle it soon enough. Dbry says Kane and himself handle issues in their own way. Dbry says he carried around the title, not just a briefcase. Then AJ reminds him that he lost it in 18 seconds, and Dbry responds that AJ should be used to things only lasting 18 seconds with Dolph.
^Funny, funny stuff here. Great segment to keep the humor flowing tonight!
Mark Henry kills Yoshi Tatsu.
^Henry is a beast. Ryback is a beast. Their match at Mania will be most interesting to see. I’ll remain optimistic!
Sheamus makes fun of Big Show in an interview with Matt Striker backstage. Sheamus says it will be his fault later tonight when he brogue kicks Show’s head off his shoulders.
^I think Sheamus has been pretty good on the mic for awhile, but some tend to disagree. Oh well; another match with Big Show promises to be good!
Kaitlyn goes one on one with Tamina. Cody Rhodes is shown watching the match backstage. Layla tries to go after Tamina and it distracts Kaitlyn. Tamina wins using the samoan drop. Damien Sandow tries to talk to Cody after the match, but Cody is distracted by Kaitlyn and asks Sandow what he thinks of her.
^Too short to be even slightly respectable. Nice work, WWE.
Fandango refuses to wrestle(AGAIN) because Lilian Garcia can’t pronounce his name correctly. The whole character is awful.
Booker T and Teddy Long are talking backstage. Booker tells Teddy to let Fandango know that he needs to wrestle the next time Booker puts him in a match.
^Booker looked mad. Tension between Booker and Teddy for a storyline? Who cares?
A Raw replay is shown with the Undertaker.
Sheamus goes one on one with Big Show in the main event. Sheamus brogue kicks Big Show to the floor off the apron and then the Shield’s music hits. Orton comes down for the save and Big Show helps them take out the Shield. Show knocks out Sheamus and Orton nails an RKO on Show to close the show.
^This was a strong main event, and it wasn’t too short. Definitely a good way to end the night. Team WWE goes strong against the Shield, but then you see the problems amongst them. I like the booking because it doesn’t instantly turn Big Show into a face for the millionth time.
Overall, this was a solid show. Del Rio and Ziggler definitely stood out as match of the night, and the main event was decent. Ryback and Henry were booked strong for their Mania feud, and WWE might have almost cared about the divas tonight. My enjoyment for the show overall was the entertainment value that Brad Maddox brought to the announce table with Michael Cole and Josh Mathews. Highly entertaining stuff!
I want to thank Jee-S for his continued efforts to cover Main Event for me! I’ll be back with Lightning on Saturday night with our TNA Lockdown preview. Until next time, you’ve been ThunderStruck!
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