WrestlingNerd Presents: WWE Smackdown Review 1/13/12

What up wrestling fans, I'm the WrestlingNerd bringing you another written review. Today, we take a look at WWE Smackdown 1/13/12. Will Daniel Bryan still be champion after tonight? Well, let's find out and start the review. 

We open up the show with Daniel Bryan. He talks about how he lives for defending his world title and how he successfully defended the title against Big Show. The crowd is hating on Bryan, but Daniel wants it understood that he didn't want the match to end with Mark Henry's interference. He even claims that Henry should be suspended. This brings out Mark Henry. Mark informs Bryan that because of last week's actions, he isn't allowed to observe this match. Henry also breaks the news that he will get his world title match next week. Bryan says he doesn't have a problem with that. I should note that the commentators have no faith in Bryan and were basically saying that Show was going to win the WHC title tonight. I guess being the top of Booker T's Fave Five doesn't mean jack. A pretty basic opening to set up the main event for tonight. Throughout the night, we would see more character development, mainly with Bryan. Again, we will get to that when the time comes. 

Match #1: Justin Gabriel vs Heath Slater

This match was pretty short. It ended when Hornswoggle showed up to distract Slater. This allowed for Gabriel to get the advantage. Gabriel would then hit the 450 Splash and win the match. I wasn't really big on Hornswoggle showing up since it doesn't help Gabriel out that much, but it's possible that Gabriel isn't getting a push or extra screen time and it was all at the expense of Hornswoggle. If that's the case, I am not happy with that. Hornswoggle can try comedy ("try" being the key word), but I kinda wish they would keep him out of the matches. The show already has enough silliness, so they don't need an assist from Hornswoggle. Oh well, at least this isn't the Hornswoggle/Chavo Guerrero rivalry. 

Winner via pinfall: Justin Gabriel

Backstage where Daniel Bryan is talking to AJ. She says she loves Bryan and she will do anything for him. This will be an important plot point later in the show. Either that or Daniel is a decedent of Link and is just going into his natural instincts. Seriously, Link gets all the ladies. 

Match #2: Cody Rhodes vs Ezekiel Jackson

Cody cut a promo before the match. He talks about pulling an Ultimate Warrior….

Warrior was just straight up insane. Then again, that's what made him awesome. Anyway, what Cody meant was he wanted to hold both the IC title and the world title at the same time. To my knowledge, only Warrior and Triple H have done this feat. Then again, when Triple H did it, it unified the IC title with the world title. After that, the IC title was off TV for almost a year until it was brought back. Anyway, I am really getting off track here since most people don't care about all this history stuff. This was a short match. The finish comes when Cody hits Cross Rhodes for the clean victory. Cody keeps adding to his stock while Zeke…..continues to max out on protein. Zeke is hoping that increasing muscle size will help him develop charisma. 

Winner via pinfall: Cody Rhodes

Backstage where Santino was pitching some stupid ideas for matches to Teddy Long. I cage within a cage? How about a cage made of lasers with radioactive sharks? Actually, that sounds kinda cool. David Otunga arrives since he wants to talk to Teddy about the Royal Rumble. Santino pitches the idea of facing off against Otunga, which Teddy approves. This will happen later tonight. For a lawyer, he sure loses a lot of arguments. This is the worse lawyer ever. Oh, and Drew McIntyre would arrive later in the scene. Teddy tells Drew that he needs to win or he might be fired. Da du DAAAAAAA!!!

Match #3: Drew McIntyre vs Ted DiBiase

Hunico and Camacho were on commentary for this match. They seem to have a problem with DiBiase because they didn't invite him to the DiBiase Posse party. Isn't tailgating like an open invitation? Yeah, it's a poor excuse for a rivalry, but I have seen worse ideas. Hey, I'm just glad to see them do something with their younger stars. The finish comes when McIntyre gets tripped up on the ropes. DiBiase is able to take advantage of this and hits Dream Street for the clean victory. Hunico and Camacho applaud DiBiase while Drew is pleading his case towards the referee. Yeah, there isn't much to say about the DiBiase/Hunico deal since it's still new. As for the McIntyre deal, nothing else was brought up about it. This means it will be addressed next week. I think what will end up happening is WWE "firing" Drew, thus he disappears for some time to get a repackage. Drew does need a bit of a change. Then again, it wouldn't shock me if Drew is being written off the show indefinitely. Then again, I still think they are repackaging him. 

Winner via pinfall: Ted DiBiase

Match #4: Sheamus vs Jinder Mahal

Aw yes, the match that was advertised since last week. That means we will get a 20 minute contest. Wait, this is Jinder Mahal, so what the hell am I talking about. Jinder matches last about two minutes. This was a pretty short match. It ended when Sheamus hit the Brogue Kick. This shouldn't come as much of a surprise. In fact, I am calling it now…..Jinder will be the first elimination in the Royal Rumble match. 

Winner via pinfall: Sheamus

Backtstage where Big Show is talking to the referee. The ref is explaining the rules to Show, but he tells him not to worry because he has this in the bag. Overconfidence much? AJ arrives and tells Show that she doesn't want anything to happen to Bryan. Show says this is a competition, but he will keep it short. Bryan arrives and thinks Show is putting the moves on AJ. Bryan is upset with Show, while Show says that WHC has changed Bryan. He says that won't be a problem because it will all end tonight. Once Show leaves, Bryan says he won't let anything happen to AJ (Remember that for later). Bryan also wants to find out how much AJ loves him, so they go and talk about something in private. Either they are coming up with a plan, or Bryan is getting a little pre-match workout….if you know what I mean. 

Match #5: David Otunga vs Santino

A lot of the matches tonight were nothing special. Well, this one was no different. The finish comes when Otunga counters the Cobra and hits a finisher. If you remember when Finlay used the Celtic Cross as his finisher (Not to be confused with Sheamus' Celtic Cross, which is entirely different), that's what Otunga used. It's also referred to as the over the shoulder belly-to-back piledriver. I'm just going to call it the Law Degree to save time….or the Final Verdict. Yeah, so they actually gave Otunga the victory. Well, Santino is a comedy jobber, so I am fine with it. Besides, a win like this doesn't really do much for Otunga. 

Winner via pinfall: David Otunga

Match #6: Brodus Clay vs Tyson Kidd

Dude, the Funkasaurus dance took longer than the actual match. I think the match lasted like five seconds. Brodus hit a running crossbody and gets the clean victory. I don't want to dive into the whole Brodus/character deal again since I already gave my thoughts on it. I just tell people to wait and see where they are going with it. If you want my thoughts on Brodus, go check out my Raw review for this week. Sorry, but I just feel I would be repeating myself once more. Funky Kong is in the house. If you're losing matches in five seconds, your future doesn't look very bright in the WWE. 

Winner: Brodus Clay

Match #7: Natalya vs Tamina

This was a carbon copy of the match these two had last week. Tamina wins quickly with the Snuka Splash. Um…why? What's the point in performing the exact same match when this happened last week? I think they are trying to illustrate that Tamina is on a roll and they plan to do something with her, while Natalya is on a losing streak and could be in for a change. I get all that, but I still didn't see the point of doing the exact same match from last week. Two times in a row, man. 

Winner via pinfall: Tamina 

Right after the match, Wade Barrett came out to cut a promo. He talks about winning the Royal Rumble. Wade also challenges Sheamus to a match. We would find out that Sheamus vs Wade will happen on SD next week. Once again, all the Rumble talk is being focused on SD. It's still very open in who will win the RR match. At the moment, I have four guys that are very prime in winning the match…..but I will talk about that another day. Hey, gotta save something for down the road. 

Match #8: Daniel Bryan vs Big Show for the WHC; No DQ/Countout

A lot of matches tonight. Unfortunately, none of the matches were what I would call a watcher. AJ was at ringside for this match. They should've referred to this match as a Chairs match. Why? Because all they used was chairs. This was probably weaker than the Bryan/Show match from last week. Then again, you're kinda insane if you're expecting a five star Bryan/Show match. Show is pretty much dominating the match, but Bryan keeps battling back. The finish comes when Show accidentally tackles AJ to the ground. The match was waived off as they would attend to AJ. She is loaded up on a stretcher. Show is crying since it wasn't what he wanted to do. Bryan is concerned. Once AJ is being taken away, Bryan mouths off at Show for his actions. Bryan says Show took this whole thing too far. Bryan leaves with the medic crew and the show ends with Show not happy with himself. Okay, well I want to give AJ props since she just had to take the bump of the century. She's a trooper. So, the first thought was did Bryan actually talk AJ into taking this bump? It would kinda make sense based on how the earlier scenes were set up for this bit. With the finish, Bryan is still the WHC while Show still hasn't gotten a fair shot. Not to mention that Henry is supposed to get a title match for next week. Yeah, so they have definitely set up something for next week. We get even more traces of Bryan making a heel turn, especially if it's ever revealed that Bryan talked AJ into taking this massive bump. Big Show gave the appropriate reaction to this since he obviously didn't mean for that to happen. It will be interesting to see the transaction of his character as he feels the guilt trip. It will add more to it since Bryan will keep mentioning this to Show….maybe even resulting in Show helping Bryan retain the title in some way. Yeah, now I'm getting ahead of myself. Just a crazy theory if you think about it. It's a weird finish, but it's interesting because of the storyline. By the way, a "She's okay" chant? What was the audience thinking? I'm sorry, but this sounds like something the Impact Zone would've created. Yikes!!!

No Contest

Overall Impression:

The wrestling quality wasn't really there this week, but this was yet another week dedicated to the storytelling aspect of the show. There was a lot more insight in Daniel Bryan and his transaction into a heel. He does come off as a jackass since he put his kayfabe girlfriend in danger, but we are seeing more and more traces of his evil side. Like I said last week, I actually like Bryan playing this character since it gives him a bit of a personality. I wasn't big on tonight's episode since most of the matches were kind of a waste and didn't really add much into the Royal Rumble. I have seen better shows. It's okay, but so "okay" that you can afford to skip this one. In many ways, this was very similar to last weeks show. I preferred last week as opposed to this week, but I did like the Daniel Bryan character development. There was parts of the show that were interesting, but there was something missing from making this show a watcher. I would consider this slightly below average to right around average. Time to rank the shows. For wrestling quality, I rank it Impact, Raw, and SD. Yes, you read that correctly. For promos/segments, I rank it Raw, Impact, and SD. Yeah, I was serious when I said Impact had a pretty decent week. 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. I will see you guys and girls on the next WrestlingNerd show, see you next time.