WrestlingNerd Presents: WWE Smackdown Review 8/5/11, Hardcore Justice picks & WWE releases

What is up wrestling fans, I am the WrestlingNerd bringing you another written review. Today, we take a look at WWE Smackdown on 8/5/11. With new things developing in the blue brand, how would they continue to go with SummerSlam around the corner? Well, let's find out and start the review.

Match #1: Sheamus vs Great Khali
We open up the show with a match. It's amazing that Sheamus is getting such a big pop. He only made the face turn last week and people are already loving this guy. It was announced it will be Sheamus vs Mark Henry at SS. Jinder Mahal was at ringside for this match and continues to be the definition of green. I understand he is new and trying to find his identity, but he is just not interesting. Things can always change, but has added nothing new to his character for the last month. Yeah, he thinks he is better than you and acts like a dick.....just like any generic heel. I am also not too fond of the storyline involving Khali and Mahal. Your telling me that Mahal is married to Khali's sister and if Khali disobeys him, he will divorce her and thus she is poor? Didn't Khali remember he has made movies and works in the WWE? So, why can't he just give his sister some money? It's too soon for wrestling logic to be showing up, plus this seems like something Vince Russo would have green lighted since Khali comes off as a giant prick for not helping out his sister. This match was nothing special and kinda boring, but it was expected since Khali can't do much in the ring. You have to give Sheamus some credit to make the match at least passable. I liked the spot where Khali locks the Vice Grip on Sheamus. I can almost picture Sheamus saying "No......the.....Vice Grip......I'm....fading.......but....I'm a good guy now.....feeling stronger!!! IRISH POWERS, BREAK THIS HOLD!!!". Yeah, so the finish comes when Sheamus powers out of the Vice Grip and counters with the Brogue Kick for the clean win. It was important for Sheamus to win this match cleanly to at least make him look like he can beat Henry at the PPV.

Match #2: Natalya vs AJ
At first, I thought AJ was coming out to some Japanese music because of the singer. This is no way a knock against Japanese artist because I actually enjoy Japanese music. It was just a little weird to hear her entrance music. This was a pretty short match in which AJ was trying to take down the lady who "trained" her, but it just didn't go well. The finish comes when AJ taps out to the Sharpshooter. After the match, Natalya does a heel turn and takes out AJ. She grabs a mic and says she is with Beth Phoenix and its time to do something about these model based "divas". It's kinda weird how a week ago, nobody cared about the diva division, but now it has at least gotten my attention. It appears Natalya and Phoenix will team up to take down the barbie dolls. I can already see how people will think WWE ripped off a TNA storyline considering TNA is doing something similar with the Velvet Sky and ODB/Jacki storyline. There are some differences and I think it comes off better in the WWE. The WWE didn't have to make a long drawn out segment to get this far and managed to get it established that Phoenix and Natalya are the bad girls. In TNA, it took lots of promos/segments and weeks to get to the main premise. Women's wrestling will always be considered a filler part of the show, so you should at least make the storylines short, simple and quickly to the point. Instead, TNA likes to drag out these things and you just wish they would just speed it the f*** up. In other words, even when WWE uses a TNA storyline, it still comes out better and easier to digest. That's another thing. In WWE, it's easy to follow while TNA is trying too hard to make you feel bad for Sky and her sob stories. Heck, we saw Phoenix and Natalya make heel turns and the audience was cheering. Earlier in the year, Kharma was taking down the barbie dolls and the audience loved it. I am starting to think the audience just doesn't care about these model based "wrestlers" and just wants to see someone beat the crap out of each other. Personally, Phoenix and Natalya are the two best female wrestlers in the company and I am just glad to see them doing something again as opposed to playing the role of cheerleader.

Winner via submission: Natalya

A state of the showski address by Zack Ryder? Ryder, you just can't take any random word and put "ski" at the end of it. Oh well, at least he's trying. There was a backstage interview with Randy Orton. He talks about having anger issues and he will deal with that in the NHB Match against Christian. Wow....Orton is sooooo inspiring on a mic. He is almost as inspiring as a ham sandwich. Seriously, Orton is so cliche on the mic and the fans just eat up anything he has to say. Again, going back to my theory that Orton can say just about anything and people will cheer for him. I am just waiting for the promo in which he says he eats puppies and kittens and just banged your wife in front of your children. Heck, he would probably get a 20 minute standing ovation if he said that. Another video package of Justin Gabriel visiting his hometown a few weeks back. That's great in all, but why not have him competing so people will like him more? It's a working process.

Match #3: Daniel Bryan vs Tyson Kidd
Wade Barrett was on commentary for this match. He talks about how he is scouting Danielson while Booker T is talking about getting a big paycheck for having a world title match at WM. Bryan came out to some new entrance music. It sounded like something you would hear in a James Bond movie trailer. This was a pretty good back and forth match. Kidd does have some great skill in the ring, but his charisma needs work. The finish comes when Bryan makes Kidd tap out with the Guillotine Chokehold. After the match, there was a bit of a stare down between Danielson and Barrett. This does look like an interesting feud, but you almost think Barrett will lose this feud since Bryan is holding MITB and WWE wants to make him look strong. If that is the case, can Wade's stock go any lower this year? Well, guess we will wait to see where this ends up going.

Winner via submission: Daniel Bryan

We are back in the ring for Zack Ryder to do his......addresski. He talks about how he is going to make changes to SD until Ezekiel Jackson interrupts. Zeke questions him about putting him in a Handicap match last week, but Ryder thought he was ok with doing a Handicap Match. Come on Zeke, can't you use your muscles to take on two guys? Anyway, Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase interrupt. Rhodes talks about how Zeke doesn't deserve to be IC Champion and has turned the title into a joke (AMEN). He claims he will take the title off of Zeke and finally bring honor back into the title. Instead of Zeke calling out Cody for basically telling him he is crummy champion, he talks to DiBiase in how Rhodes is using him. He tells him to wake up and break away from Rhodes so he can achieve championships on his own. It seems like DiBiase is ready to take on Zeke until Teddy Long interrupts. He tells Ryder he is NOT the assistant GM and is just his assistant, meaning he can't call the matches. He says it will be Zeke vs Ryder right now. I like the line Michael Cole delivered in which Rhodes showed up and said "FINALLY....somebody that can talk". Zeke is not getting any better in the promo department and when is WWE going to realize Zeke getting the title was a mistake? There is just nothing interesting about him and I guarantee if he didn't have all that muscle, he would have joined with all the other talent that was released Friday afternoon. Yeah, I will talk about the WWE releases at he end of the review. This was a strange segment to say the least since Ryder comes off as being ignorant as opposed to a face. Hell, maybe he is a faceski?

Match #4: Ezekiel Jackson vs Zack Ryder
Ryder is on the offense early, but can't really do much to compensate Zeke's muscles. He gets power slammedski to death and he taps out the the Torture Rackski. Ok, these jokes are just awful and I will stop now. The match was a semi jobber match and it almost served no purpose for future storylines unless Ryder is still going to be on SD. I felt maybe this was the way of writing him off SD and just focus on using him on Raw. Why wasn't this match used to build up the Rhodes/Zeke rivalry since that is what they are building towards? It would have made more sense to have DiBiase be the opponent as opposed to Ryder. Kinda have to question WWE with this one considering SS is next week and they should have used this time to fuel the actual storyline as opposed to just throwing Ryder out there as muscle bait. Then again, maybe they just don't care about the storyline because Zeke is just boring and are counting down the days to give the belt to someone that actually has talent.

Winner via submission: Ezekiel Jackson

Backstage with Long until he is greeted by an attractive woman. She says her name is Roxanne (I hope that's right. If I am wrong, please correct me) and wants to have a working relationship with Long. She is basically flirting her ass off to get Long's attention and he eventually gives her his phone number. Clearly, there is something in the works with this one. The odd thing about this scene was the corny romantic music playing in the background while Jessica Rabbit is trying to make sure Long is saluting her. This was probably the strangest segment of the night to say the least, and that is really saying something when the last segment was pretty odd as well.

Match #5: Mark Henry vs Kozlov
This was basically a jobber match and it ended with WSS. After the match, Henry grabs a chair and does a second rope slam on Kozlov's leg. This brings forth Sheamus with a chair to chase off Henry. He is encouraging Henry to fight him, but the big guy retreats. Damn, a Sheamus chant? I am starting to think Sheamus was just made to be a face. Just more buildup with the SS match. As for Kozlov, he should cheer up, because it isn't like this is his last match in the WWE, right......RIGHT? Best of luck Kozlov.

Winner via pinfall: Mark Henry

Backstage interview with Sheamus. He talks about how Henry is taking away guys like Big Show and Kane's ability to work for the WWE and that is just wrong. He says he loves working for the WWE and that Henry must pay. He says he will win because he is Irish and thus has the luck of the Irish on his side. Interesting promo by Sheamus. Still, I kinda liked it. I was always a pretty big fan of Sheamus, but something about his face turn just really seems to be clicking at the moment.

Match #6: David Otunga, Michael McGillicutty, and JTG vs Uso and Trent Barreta
Congrats Barreta and JTG, your playing mediocre roles for this evening, but at least your on tv this week. I understand they were there to not make the actual tag teams look weak, but I would have used other talents. I am actually surprised JTG still has a job with this company as I figured he would have been amongst the group of future endeavors. Pretty basic match and it ended when the tag champs hit a combo finisher on Barreta. Hey, I am just glad to see some effort being put forth in the tag team division, because Lord knows it has been in the dumps for a while.

Winner via pinfall: David Otunga, Michael McGullicutty, and JTG

Backstage where Johnny Curtis says more weird stuff and finally says he will make is SD in-ring debut next week. Well, it's about time. Also an interview with Christian. He talks about how WWE management, the referees, and the fans are basically making Orton to be the top dog and how they are holding him back. R-Truth arrives and claims this is also apart of the conspiracy. He talks about how the Miz was saying the same thing earlier in the week and nice to see Christian is realizing the truth (no pun intended). He talks about Little Jimmy and says Orton will get GOT. Once he leaves, Christians says "Who's Little Jimmy?". I kinda like that line. So, its possible this whole conspiracy deal is going to be featured on both shows. I personally don't have a problem with this since Truth is so bats*** insane that he is pretty entertaining on a weekly basis.

Match #7: Randy Orton and John Morrison vs Christian and R-Truth
A lot of action for this week's show. This was probably the best match of the night and it was pretty fun to watch. Lots of good stuff to watch with this one. Despite me saying how I am not much of an Orton fan, the guy is at least putting on some good wrestling matches. This was also the longest match of the night and I think its a good way to end the show. The finish comes when Orton is about to hit RKO on Christian, but Truth comes from behind to eat a RKO. This allows for Christian to sneak up and hit Killswitch for the win. The show ends with Christian making out with his world title....I'm not joking because that is literally what it looks like. Just nice to see an episode of SD NOT end with an RKO or Orton standing tall. You have to at least make it look like Christian has a shot of winning the match and thus it made sense to end the show with him standing tall. Still, nobody go near that WHC belt for a while...

Winner via pinfall: Christian and R-Truth

Overall Impression:
I found this week's SD to be pretty entertaining. Some of the matches were questionable, but the Danielson and main event made the action present. There was also some development with some of the storylines. They continue to hint a Danielson/Wade rivalry on the way and I am really liking Sheamus' face turn. This is probably the most interested I have been in Henry for a while, so I have to at least give them credit for doing something with him. There was also Natalya turning heel and joining up with Phoenix for the future diva storyline. I also found the promos/segments to be pretty decent this week. It really seemed like Raw and Impact either delivered in one department, but SD did both and managed to put forth a pretty good evening of wrestling action. I actually thought it was the best show between the three major shows for this week. Time to rank the shows. In terms of the wrestling quality, I rank it SD, Impact, and Raw. SD had some pretty good matches this week while Impact actually did something good this week. In terms of promos/segments, I rank it Raw, SD, and Impact. The CM Punk/Triple H rant was the moment I enjoyed the most out of the week. For the MVP of the Week, I am going to give it to Sheamus. He really won over the crowd in a short time and is making his rivalry with Henry interesting. I also felt Sheamus has done pretty well with the face roll and this might have been what was missing out of him. Again, I liked his heel character but he is pretty likable as a face. Ok, time to talk about the WWE releases; or as I like to call them, the possible TNA additions. I am sure there are some people who are curious to know what I thought about the releases and I will give my quick thoughts. Kozlov was really on of those guys who probably lasted a lot longer than he should. The only memorable Kozlov moment was some of his comedy segments with Santino. He really was getting in a comfort zone with the tag team, but it eventually had to end and thus there wasn't much left for Kozlov to do. For the most part, I didn't think he was too bad and while I understand the release, I will miss his comedy segments. Chris Masters was a bit perplexing because I was looking at Masters this year and felt like he was on the verge of doing something meaningful. I think what halted Masters was the fact he had two Wellness Policy offenses and WWE didn't want to invest too much stock in him if he got the final strike. Masters is still a young guy and maybe TNA will take a shot on him. David Hart Smith was a pretty good wrestler, but that is all he is. He has the personality of a bottle cap and it doesn't help when your missing attributes to make it big in the business. This was another release that was not a big lose. Melina was somewhat interesting. The reasoning for this release was probably because of these reports of Melina having an attitude problem and taking things out on Trish Stratus and other talent. Again, I don't try to make much out of these dirt sheet reports, but this kind of stuff has been mentioned for years regarding Melina and it might be a case where she is the one with the problem. I always thought Melina was a bit overrated and people made her bigger than she was out to be. She has talent, but she does seem like the kind of person who has a massive ego and needs to treat everyone with respect in order to get a push. Again, pushes are earned, not given to you. It was also reported that Gail Kim quit the WWE. I actually didn't notice this while watching this week's Raw, but she actually eliminated herself from the Diva Battle Royal. Kim is not a big lose for this company and they will do just fine without her. She has talent, but it just seemed like whenever they gave her the ball, she dropped it. I think by the evidence of her eliminating herself that she was frustrated with how WWE was going about with the diva division and just wanted out. I can see her going back to TNA and I think she is better off there, but I don't mean that in a bad way. Either way, I wish all of these talents the best and there is always a chance some of them will get another shot with the company. This is WWE simply "trimming the fat" since they had a lot of talents that were really doing nothing and they just wanted to move on. I feel bad they get their pink slips, but business is business and I don't think there was anything too terribly lost in all of this. On the TNA side of things, Amazing Red was released by the company. I don't have a problem with this because Red was just a spot monkey. He was a pretty good wrestler, but has the personality of sandpaper and really didn't give you a reason to care about him. There are guys like Danielson and Rey Mysterio who are small, but find a way to get themselves over and get people talking about them, but Red didn't do any of those things and just seemed like another one of those cliche wrestlers with skill but no charisma. He wasn't a big lose for the company and they will be just fine with them. Plus, they have Austin Aries now; who is basically the CM Punk of the X Division. So, I think TNA got the better end of that deal. Ok, since I couldn't do a Hardcore Justice Rundown, here are my predictions to the show......if anyone really cares...

Mickie James vs Winter for the KO Title: Don't care too much for the storyline, but this one can go either way. I will pick Mickie to win since TNA loves dragging out these types of things.

Brian Kendrick vs Austin Aries vs Alex Shelley for the X Title: Aries and Shelley have an ok rivalry in all of this. Wait....who is the champ again? I pick Aries to cheat and steal the title.

Pope vs Devon in a BFG Series Match: Kinda odd to see this match on PPV, but I am just hoping we shed a new light on this storyline. Pope throws the match and maybe gains Devon's trust to form a tag team or something.

Immortal vs 4Tune: Two of the biggest stables now doing a filler match nobody cares about. Go TNA? Immortal wins because Daniels screws his team over.

Beer Money vs Mexican America for the Tag Titles: I love BM, but they have had the belts all year long and its time to focus on Roode and Storm's singles career. Mex America cheats to steal the titles since stereotyping is apparently ok in the wrestling world (Seriously, look at the history of pro wrestling. It's all over the place)

RVD vs Crimson in a BFG Series Match: Crimson should get featured on this show every week since he is the guy with the undefeated streak. I pick Crimson with a clean win.

Bully Ray vs Mr. Anderson: Heel vs heel in a PPV? That is pretty rare for a PPV. This one can go either way. Coin says Anderson, so that's my pick.

Heath Ledger vs Kurt Angle for the TNA World Title: I say Hogan screws over Sting and Angle unknowingly wins the match. Sting vs Hogan has been teased and they might start the buildup for that match with BFG approaching.....even if it scares the crap out of you as a wrestling fan.

Those are the quick picks and that's going to FINALLY do it for the review. As always, tell me what you thought of my review and tonight's show. I will see you guys and girls on the next WrestlingNerd show, see you next time and see ya laterski.