The Usos kick off Smackdown on their way to the ring and they’re taking on Luke Harper and Erick Rowan of the Wyatt Family. Rowan and Harper get the win in under two minutes. Granted, it was two minutes FULL of action, but who the hell wants a two minute match to start the show? Bray delivers the sister Abigail to one of the Usos after the match. Bray screams Follow the Buzzards after as he gets down on his knees. Creepy stuff; I hope Bray Wyatt has a huge year in 2014 as he deserves it with his charisma and impact since appearing in this role.
John Cena comes out to cut a promo. He fires up the crowd and talks about New Year’s resolutions. Cena wants his rematch for the WWE World Title tonight. The Shield comes out instead of Randy Orton. They jump Cena. Mark Henry comes down for the save but gets beat down as well. Big E. Langston is out next and he clears the ring with Cena and Henry. Fun segment, but now I’m waiting for some matches to be made. Out comes the Director of Operations, Kane. He makes three singles matches for tonight with Dean Ambrose taking on Big E. Langston, Mark Henry taking on Roman Reigns, and John Cena taking on Seth Rollins. Everyone looks happy about these matches; I know I am! Anything has to be better than the two minute tag match that started this mess.
We see another promo for Batista’s return. I’m pretty neutral on this as long as he has good matches and isn’t handed everything(similar to Brock Lesnar’s current role).
Renee Young interviews Randy Orton about New Year’s resolutions for 2014. Orton says he has nothing left to prove, but he talks about winning the Royal Rumble and not competing at WrestleMania as World Champion. Dolph Ziggler interrupts him and says he’s going to be the guy who finally shuts up Randy Orton. Orton says someone wants an RKO. I can buy into this! Kane gets between them and books them in a match later tonight. I love it! Kane tells Orton the backstage must be a safe zone, but out in the ring…Kane smiles and walks off. I like the new Kane character; this guy can stay relevant with almost any gimmick.
Goldust and Cody Rhodes come out next together but it’s just Cody going one on one with Antonio Cesaro(who has Colter and Swagger in his corner). Cesaro wins a short match and the tag team division continues to be hot! Who would have guessed that Cesaro and Rhodes would be putting on quality matches like these in a tag team rivalry at the end of 2013? I honestly would’ve predicted one of these two to have been a World Champion by now. Cesaro pins Cody with a school boy rollup after a Jack Swagger distraction. Good match/segment to make the Real Americans look like strong contenders for the gold!
The Prime Time Players take on Curtis Axel and Ryback. Young pins Axel with a counter to a rollup for the three count. Love the consistent tag team wrestling that we seem to be getting on EVERY wrestling show on TV right now!
Randy Orton comes out for a match with Dolph Ziggler. And the show has been stolen. Orton wins the roughly thirteen minute match with an RKO. These two have never had anything but GREAT matches, and this one falls into that same category. Ziggler working with Orton just proves how worthy Ziggler is of being in the main event scene. Orton going over as WWE World Champion makes sense here, and Ziggler was still booked strong overall in the match. Great match!
We get a Raw divas flashback. Why? I do not know, nor do I care.
The Shield tape their own promo holding their own camera. Ambrose says 2014 will be where the Shield continues to create havoc in WWE and nothing changes. Reigns says Henry is the owner of the Hall of Pain, but Reigns will give pain a whole new meaning tonight. Rollins says Cena believes in hustle, loyalty and respect, but Rollins believes right now there is nothing more important than driving Cena’s face into the mat. Excellent Shield promo showing some unity among the group. Will they all get it done?
Daniel Bryan is out next and Corpus Christi loves him. Dbry takes on Damien Sandow. Dbry wins a short match here with the flying knee but the action was outstanding. Both of these guys are mega-stars in my eyes!
Bray comes out after the match with the family and says the people have chosen him. Bray calls himself a God and says he is more than a man. Another weird, odd and hard to follow promo from Bray Wyatt that leaves us scratching our heads.
Dean Ambrose takes on Big E. Langston. Cena and Henry are ringside along with the Shield. Langston beats Ambrose in a short match with the big ending.
Roman Reigns takes on Mark Henry next. Why not just have this thing as a six man tag if everyone is going to be out there anyway? Reigns pins Henry in a short match after the spear. Impressive victory for Reigns, but it doesn’t surpise me as he’s going to be the one who gets booked at the top first of the three in the Shield.
Seth Rollins takes on John Cena in our final match of the night. Kane should be in charge more often if matches like this are going to happen. Cena beats Rollins in seventeen minutes with an AA after Henry and Langston stop Reigns and Ambrose from interfering. Cena celebrates with Langston and Henry to close out the night.
^Now THAT was an incredible wrestling performance by both John Cena and Seth Rollins. Talk about MAGIC chemistry in the ring together! Great way to end the night!
So we had Ziggler/Orton almost steal the show, Dbry/Sandow deliver big, some good tag team action, two Shield matches to make Langston and Reigns look good, and a Cena/Rollins match that could make my top 25 matches of 2013 list. AMAZING SHOW!
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