Jack Swagger defeats Alberto Del Rio in a no DQ match with help from Zeb Colter.
^This is a joke to me. Swagger is not going to win the World Title, and any status he had a legitimate contender to win the World Title ended when he was arrested for DUI. This wasn’t a bad brawl between the two, but they definitely had a better match on Monday Night Raw when Ziggler cashed in.
Layla defeats Aksana with a rollup.
^So the divas are finally treated with some real respect and given time for a decent match! I’m genuinely happy about this, even if the crowd didn’t act overly interested. Nice to see Layla get a win in her home country.
A Shield video is shown with Ambrose talking about not feeling satisfied with what they didn’t do to the Undertaker, and so he will go one on one with him tonight.
^I love these videos from the Shield. Yes, I’ve said it a hundred times. Ambrose is a fantastic talker and he is the right choice to face Taker first out of the three members. Awesome promo as usual!
Fandango defeats Justin Gabriel with his jumping legdrop from the top rope.
^Short one here, but some very solid action. I don’t know that I’ll necessary ever love the Fandango character, but the guy put on a good performance here with the highly underrated Gabriel.
Big Show defeats Sheamus with the knockout punch while Sheamus is on the top rope and Mark Henry distracts him.
^This was not the best match that I’ve seen from these two, but it wasn’t bad by any means. I guess the best way to describe it would be for someone to slow down the pace of their somewhat slow match at Hell in a Cell last October and that’s what you would have here. Sheamus’ feud with Henry will probably result in match similar to this at Extreme Rules, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I mean yeah they’ve feuded before, but if they can have a good match with an interesting feud, why not? As a side note, I want to see Sheamus do white noise on Mark Henry.
Wade Barrett defeats William Regal with the bullhammer in a very short match.
^I love Regal putting over young talent, but why such short matches with Barrett and Fandango this week? Regal has proven that he is phenomenal at making young talent look amazing in ten to fifteen minute matches, so why cut it down to almost nothing in his home country? This could’ve been a brawl that we talked about for a long time, and here we get something that is highly comparable to a squash. I’m disappointed with this decision, especially with Smackdown having the reputation of being a wrestling show.
Mark Henry defeats Randy Orton by DQ when Sheamus interferes and brogue kicks Henry. Orton then nails the RKO on Henry as well.
^Orton and Henry have some storied history involving the World Heavyweight Championship, and this match was well done by both men. I enjoyed the action a lot all around, and I don’t mind the finish either because now neither individual will look weak. Do I think these four guys when you include Big Show will stay interesting as a four man feud past Extreme Rules? Nope. For now though, it works just fine. I want to see all four of these men challenge Dolph Ziggler for the World Title and completely revamp the main event picture with Ziggler getting over more.
The Undertaker defeats Dean Ambrose in a five minute match using hell’s gate. The Shield attacks Taker and powerbombs him through a table to end the show.
^Sure it only went five minutes, but it was five minutes of pure awesome brawling mixed with typical Taker making it all look good! Ambrose is a lucky guy to get to set foot in the ring with Taker at this point in his career, and I’m sure he knows it. This was a really exciting scene, and I honestly don’t believe that this was a setup for the Undertaker’s exit as people are speculating. I think this was done to set something up for Extreme Rules. Do you really think they’re going to allow this new group to “put Taker on the shelf?” I highly doubt it. Great main event match featuring the deadman and nice to see him performing on Smackdown.
The entire show centered around wrestling, and while I was disappointed with William Regal not having more of a showing, the entire night overall was well balanced and completely kickass. Great work, WWE! I know it probably has a lot to do with the fact that it was the European tour, but who cares? I take good shows packed with wrestling any way that I can get them. I’ll be back on Tuesday with the Raw analysis. Until next time, you’ve been ThunderStruck!
facebook.com/thunderstruck11 – add me
