ThunderStruck: Smackdown! Review 10/07/11

Welcome to ThunderStruck! Tonight we had a fast paced show for Smackdown following Hell in a Cell, so let’s get right to the action!

 


 

We open Smackdown with a video package showing bits and pieces of Triple H’s reign as COO and all the chaos that has come about. We then get a flashback to RAW this past Monday and the long and drawn out walkout is shown again. It’s definitely a new direction as far as storyline goes, so I’m excited to see how this turns out. Perhaps Triple H will put someone new in power to run RAW? Or maybe the wrestlers will regain confidence in H once they see the few guys that are expected to compete on Monday? We go backstage and Teddy Long gets off the phone with HHH when Zack Ryder walks in. H told Long that he was leaving Smackdown in his hands so that they wouldn’t have another walkout. Long tells Ryder that RAW’s loss is Smackdown’s gain.

Big Show’s return is hyped by Michael Cole and then we get interrupted by Vickie Guerrero and the grievance group in the ring. Fabulous. Vickie welcomes us to the one year anniversary of SD on SyFy! Christian says this all started because he had the courage to stand up to Triple H and tell him he didn’t appreciate how he was running RAW. He says he called H out on everything. Christian takes full credit for the entire roster uprising. The crowd chants for Triple H. Ziggler says this walkout was because of all of them. Ziggler says they all banded together because of H’s leadership skills being ineffective. Ziggler says the roster made the smartest decision of their lives when they walked out on RAW. Otunga explains why the wrestlers are here on Smackdown. Otunga says Smackdown is not unsafe like RAW. Otunga says it’s a nice step for H to make Long in charge of SD. He says the roster is prepared to walk out of all events if H doesn’t step down as COO. Barrett speaks and says H needs to realize that all the chaos is his fault. Barrett says he might do the right thing and relinquish control of RAW. Cody Rhodes says the fans have disrespected his colleagues enough. Rhodes says he needs the fans to shut up while he’s talking. Rhodes says H’s head grew so large that there wasn’t a paper bag that could cover it. He again yells at the fans. Rhodes says a united front was warranted and now there is hope for true change and he can honestly say they couldn’t have done it without one man. Swagger speaks and says show some respect for the WWE Champion: out comes Alberto Del Rio! Del Rio says when the WWE Champion talks, you shut up and listen. Del Rio says he survived Hell in a Cell and he is standing here as champion. He says he inspired every superstar to walk out and says they won’t go back until H steps down. Del Rio says he is here on Smackdown to compete and to show the world what they will be missing on RAW. This brings out Teddy Long. Long says if they are going to continue talking, the audience will walk out next. Long tells Christian and Cody to get ready for tonight’s main event tag team match against Sheamus and Randy Orton. Long books Del Rio and puts him in a match next. Long says Del Rio had requested a specific opponent and Del Rio will face Sin Cara next!

Del Rio and Cara give us about five minutes of back and forth action. Funny that this match wasn’t contested under the colored lights as normal. Del Rio just made Sin Cara look bad as he jobbed with a fast finish. After the match, black Sin Cara comes down and puts the beatdown on the original. Black finishes off blue with a senton bomb. Hopefully if this feud continues we can start to get some better matches from these guys. Matt Striker then asks Air Boom why they walked out on RAW. Kofi and Bourne said that things will remain in the state of chaos that they are in until H steps down as COO and Air Boom will only be seen on Smackdown.

Air Boom comes down to the ring and gets assaulted from behind by Swagger and Ziggler. Vickie follows close behind. The beatdown on Air Boom continues. Cole says H has put complete confidence in Long to run Smackdown and already we are in chaos. Ziggler hits the zig zag on Bourne on the outside. We come back from commercial and Kofi is dominating Ziggler in the ring while Bourne gets help on the outside. We get lots of back and forth action and Bourne comes into the ring. Bourne gets beat down by Swagger and Swagger picks up the victory in this non title match. One would assume this makes Dolph and Swagger number one contenders for another title shot?

Out comes Beth Phoenix and Alisha Fox for a divas match. Phoenix takes her downin a quick squash match that lasted less than a minute. Strong victory for Beth; terrible squash for the talented Fox. Natalya then comes in and puts Fox in that brutal submission that we’ve seen as of late. Beth tells Fox she wants her to cry and scream for her. Fox does. Anyone else bored with this yet? Cole then goes in a rant about how Long has dropped the ball tonight with all this chaos. We then get a promo package for the Big Show and Mark Henry hyping the return of Show tonight.

Out comes the Big Show to his return on Friday Night Smackdown! Show gives us a Ron Simmons “DAMN!” Show says he’s glad to be back and the crowd is awesome. Show says the last four months have been brutal running around with a broken ankle. Show then shows the recap of how he sustained his injury once again. Show then says he thought he was infallible. Show says he was humbled by Mark Henry. He says Henry reached into his chest and tore his heart out of it. Show said the simplest things in life became difficult. Show said he took stuff for granted. Show said he is the kind of sick person who watches himself get destroyed over and over. Show said he could handle the pain and it’s what fueled the fire in his stomach. He said he used that pain to get better and stronger. He says Mark Henry is going to be repayed ten times over for the pain he caused him. Show says Henry has destroyed everything in his path, but that his momentum is a downhill roll. Show says he is at the bottom waiting to stop him. Show says he is going to take the World Heavyweight Championship from Mark Henry. Show says he will settle for nothing less than facing Henry one on one. Show botches the Hall of Pain phrase by saying House of Pain. Show asks for an opportunity to face him one on one for the title. Out comes Henry to respond! Henry says lots of things have changed since Show went down and the Hall of Pain is getting crowded. Henry says he beat Randy Orton to become the WHC. Henry says show has done nothing to earn a title shot and took a vacation that Henry afforded him. Show says he wants an answer on when he gets his shot or he is going to put Henry through the announce table and break his leg.

Next we get Matt Striker doing an interview with Randy Orton. Striker asks Orton why he was absent from the walkout. Orton said he doesn’t play well with others and he did not want to involve himself with the group. Interesting interview as we also get hyped for the tag team main event tonight. We come back from commercial with Jinder Mahal in the ring. Ezekial Jackson comes out and knocks Jinder down and the match starts. Ezekial and Jinder go back and forth for a few minutes as Ezekial tries to work the crowd by slamming Jinder repeatedly. Ezekial puts him in the torture rack and Mahal taps out. Fast victory for Ezekial.

We come back from the commercial break with Teddy Long receiving words of encouragement from John Laurinaitis. We then get an appearance from Hornswoggle, who pulls Booker T into the ring and we get a spin-a-rooni from both Booker and Hornswoggle! Funny stuff and then we get interrupted by Christian. Cody comes out and then out comes Orton and Sheamus! Main event time! We get an all around solid match from these guys. Anyone else disliking the Great White nickname for Sheamus? Orton eventually hits the RKO on Rhodes and they pick up the victory.

We then get yet another flashback of the walkout on RAW. We come back and Cole says we know there will be a RAW this Monday but we have no idea who will be there. Down comes Mark Henry to the ring yet again tonight. Henry is here to answer the Big Show. Henry says he fears no man and is infallible as well. Henry says as far as the Big Show having a title match for the WHC, Henry says no. The crowd boos. Out comes the Big Show. Show runs down to the ring and these two go at it. Security tries to pull Show back and Show looks angry. Show breaks through them and spears Henry! Show goes through them again and slams the security guys around. Henry leaves the ring and heads up the ramp as Show beats down security. Show comes down and beats on Henry and puts him through the announce table with a chokeslam as promised! Long comes down before Show can bust Henry’s ankle and tells him he has his title shot. Show hits Henry with the chair for good measure and Smackdown ends!

Solid show all around from Smackdown. My only complaint would be that I was hoping for some quick storylines to build as we head towards Vengeance. Right now it looks as though we may only have a WHC match booked. Who knows? My first part of my three column special for October will be out on Monday, as well as my RAW Review on Tuesday. Until next time, you’ve been ThunderStruck!

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