WrestlingNerd Presents: WWE Smackdown Review 1/6/12

What up wrestling fans, I'm the WrestlingNerd bringing you another written review. Today, we take a look at WWE Smackdown on 1/6/12. How will the first SD of 2012 fair out? Well, let's find out and start the review. 

Match #1: Cody Rhodes vs Booker T for the IC Championship

We open up with the IC title match. This wasn't a bad match to open up the show. The commentators kept bringing up the fact that Booker is old and maybe he doesn't have enough stamina to finish the match. I guess stamina potions aren't available. Booker and Cody went back and forth with this match. Booker hit the Scissors Kick, but only got a two count. The finish comes when Cody hits Beautiful Disaster and gets the clean victory. I think Cody needed to get the clean win here to keep his stock up and to move away from this rivalry. It wasn't too bad of a rivalry, but they should definitely move on after tonight. After the match. Booker gets a round of applause by the audience. Hooray for pity applause. 

Winner via pinfall and still IC champ: Cody Rhodes

Backstage where Cody runs into his brother, Dustin Rhodes. Dustin says congratulations for the victory, but Cody doesn't seem to care. Cody even went to say he was a better success than Dustin and hopes he never has to put on the face paint ever again. Hmm…does that mean a Cody/Goldust program is on the way? It's very possible that it might be the case. I guess we will wait and see. Another backstage scene. Teddy Long and Zack Ryder are talking. Since Ryder is the US champ, he's too busy to be the assistant to Teddy, but he has found a replacement. Drew McIntyre arrives and wants to talk to Teddy, but Ryder says that isn't the person. Santino arrives, which turns out to be Ryder's recommendation. Santino makes the suggestion that Drew should be fired since he lost last weeks match. This starts an argument until Teddy says it will be Drew vs Santino tonight. If Santino wins, he will be the new assistant. If Drew wins, it might be off the chopping block. You son of ma gun. 

Another backstage scene. Three in a row? What's this, TNA? Anyway, AJ is talking to Alicia Fox. They are talking about Daniel Bryan's title defense and how it doesn't look good for him. Alicia mentioned that Daniel was getting a bit of an ego, which brings forth Daniel. He talks about not having an ego since he beat the Big Show before and can do it again. Once Alicia leaves, Daniels questions AJ being friends with her. AJ says Alicia is just concerned about Daniel's title defense tonight, and she's worried to. Daniel says not to worry and when he retains his championship, he and AJ will celebrate. Daniel is pimping. 

Match #2: Hornswoggle vs Heath Slater; Over the Top Rope Challenge

Just like any Hornswoggle match, it was ridiculous. This was your comedy match of the night. Hornswoggle is able to get him over the top rope and wins the match. Heath can become a tag team champion, but can't toss over a person who is less than four feet tall? Wrestling logic strikes again. After the match, Slater kicks Hornswoggle in the face. This brings out Justin Gabriel in order to make the save. Gabriel hits 450 Splash on his former tag team partner. The Gabriel save seemed kinda random. Are they going to use Gabriel, or was it just a simple act of goodwill? Who knows?

Winner: Hornswoggle

Match #3: Hunico vs Ted DiBiase

Hunico and Camacho cut a promo against DiBiase. Why does every Mexican stereotype in professional wrestling have to dive into the Cheech and Chong bag? It gets kinda old. This match didn't last long. The finish comes when Hunico did a very interesting pinning/submission combination for the pinfall victory. I liked the move since it was unique and something new. As for DiBiase, it seems like things are going downhill for him…..again. I guess having a famous last name DOESN'T always guarantee you success. 

Winner via pinfall: Hunico

In the ring with Wade Barrett. He talks about the herniated disc that Randy Orton suffered and says this career is over…..kinda. He did say Orton can try to come back, but he won't be the same again. In a way, Wade is right. Wade says with Orton out of the way, he is the favorite to win the Royal Rumble and nobody can defeat him. Sheamus interrupts and says he can beat him and win the Rumble. He says Wade reminds him of his Uncle Wilford. He says his uncle liked to talk a lot, but his stories were full of s***. He also refers to Wade as a horse's arse. This brings out….Jinder Mahal? Apu here slaps Sheamus in the face. Yeah, that's a great idea. That's about as smart as kicking a bear in the balls. Sheamus attacks Jinder, but Wade would help out. It appears Sheamus is about to fight his way out of this predicament, but Wade hits Winds of Change on Sheamus. Once Wade has his moment in the sunlight, Jinder applies the Camel Clutch. Yeah, I'm sure Jinder will be perfectly fine on next weeks show. Oh, and Sheamus vs Jinder has already been announced for next week. Yep, no reproductions at all. 

Match #4: Santino vs Drew McIntyre

As opposed to Drew getting cheated like last week, this week he actually loses cleanly. Santino hit the Cobra and wins the match. This means Santino will be Teddy's assistant while Drew needs to pray upon the wrestling gods. JBL?

Winner via pinfall: Santino

Backstage where Drew is pleading his case to Teddy that the match shouldn't count since he feels Santino greased up the ropes. Teddy says he's tired of Drew's excuses and that's strike two. If warns Drew that if he cannot win next week, he might be fired. If Drew doesn't get it together, this will happen to him…

Match #5: Air Boom vs Primo and Epico

This was a non-title match. This match was okay, but nothing special. The finish comes when Evan Bourne goes for Airbourne, but Epico saves Primo by pulling him away from the finisher. With Evan crashing and burning, Primo pins him for the victory. The victory keeps the Puerto Rican Express as prime contenders to the tag team championships.

Winner via pinfall: Primo and Epico

Backstage interview with Big Show. He talks about winning the WHC tonight as Bryan doesn't stand a chance. Daniel interrupts the interview and seems offended that Show said he's only a good wrestler since he actually busted his ass to get to the top and didn't get anything handed to him. Bryan goes on to say he isn't some genetic freak like Big Show (Scott Steiner? Who am I kidding. Who gives a s*** about Steiner?) and says he had his size, he would be better because of his wrestling skills. He also brings up that his WHC reign didn't last 45 seconds. Show puts his hand on him, but Bryan seems pissed off and tells him to get his hand off of him. Bryan seems to show fire in his eyes as Show leaves. I think it's pretty clear that Bryan is going for a heel turn. I kinda like the new Daniel Bryan. Mainly because it gives him a bit of a personality. He just seems more natural in his bad guy stat than he did as a good guy. That's at least my opinion. 

Match #6: Natalya vs Tamina

A lot of emphasis that both these ladies have fathers that were pro wrestlers during their days. This match was a little short, but it was better than the train-wreck of a Kelly Kelly match. The finish comes when Tamina hits the Snuka Splash for the clean victory. It's nice to see them do SOMETHING different in the diva division. They are making Natalya look bad, but they might be pushing Tamina in the process. I think it's an improvement over Kelly and Eve. 

Winner via pinfall: Tamina

Match #7: Daniel Bryan vs Big Show for the WHC

Mark Henry was on commentary for this match. Damn, Henry was just straight up pissed off. Michael Cole would ask some really stupid questions and Henry would call him out on it and tell him to shut up. Hey, I think I like Henry even more than before. Honestly, can you blame Henry for being pissed off when you have Internet Cole asking questions like "Who would win in a match between Bryan or Hornswoggle?". So, Bryan was putting up a fight against Show, but the size disadvantage was a little too much to overcome. There was even a moment where Bryan locked in the Guillotine, followed by the Le Bell lock to make Show tap, but Show would power out of it. The finish comes when Bryan gets out of the ring and looks back and forth between Show and Henry. He then runs up to Henry to argue with him since he might've heard some of Henry's commentary (Henry did cut down Bryan, but gave him some props here and there). Henry assaults Bryan. The referee would call for the bell and Daniel wins the match via DQ. The show ends with Bryan celebrating like a madman while Show seems pissed off. So, Bryan did a douchebag move in provoking someone else so they would interfere, thus retaining his championship. In many ways, Bryan comes off as a weasel. We are seeing the early stages of a character change for Bryan. It might not be a longterm championship reign for Bryan, but at least they're trying some things. 

Winner via DQ: Daniel Bryan; Daniel Bryan remains WHC

Overall Impression:

SD was pretty average tonight. I found it to be better than last week's show since the wrestling quality was better this week. There was some new things that could be used for down the road. We see more of a transition for Bryan and we might be seeing them do something with Tamina. There was more Rumble hype, but with Wade and Sheamus. I have Wade and Sheamus has high favorites for the Rumble, but I will give my thoughts on that another day. I enjoyed SD for the most part. I have seen better, but the show kept my interest for the most part. Okay, time to rank the show. In terms of wrestling quality, I rank it Raw, SD, and Impact. The reason I said Raw had the better wrestling quality was mainly because of the CM Punk/Dolph Ziggler match. For promos/segments, I rank it Raw, Impact, and SD. I thought the highlight of the week was Chris Jericho's return. Jericho was silent since he wanted to be a jackass and will most likely play a heel, so I don't know why people complained about it. I liked it since it was different from all the other Jericho returns. I thought people complained because everything is always the same? That's going to do it for the review and I hope you enjoyed it. As always, tell me what you thought of my review or tonight's show. Part III Finale of the award show will be posted tomorrow. Check out Parts I and II if case you missed it. I will see you guys and girls on the next WrestlingNerd show, see you next time.