What up wrestling fans, I'm the WrestlingNerd bringing you another written review. Today, we take a look at WWE Smackdown 10/26/12. Does SD help add interest to Hell in a Cell? Let's find out and begin.
We open up with the most energetic promo-cutter in the history of the WWE….R a n d y O r t o n……..Uhhhhhhhhh. Anyway, Randy claims that Alberto Del Rio made a mistake in targeting him because of his hair. Del Rio comes out since we gotta have the two argue. Why be a viper when you can be a basilisk? Del Rio decides to retreat from the fight since his new name is Alberto Del Cliche. Since Wade Barrett wants people to pay attention to him, he decides to attack Randy. After all these events, Teddy Long decides to book Randy vs Wade for tonight. Well, we got to get some last-minute interest for this match. I don't think this is a terrible idea, but it isn't the most intriguing match going into the PPV.
Match #1: Cody Rhodes vs Kane
Damien Sandow and Daniel Bryan were on commentary for this match. Sandow's commentary was gold. He's really a fun character to watch. Kane ends up picking up the clean victory on Cody. We would get more tag team build up as the night continues.
Winner via pinfall: Kane
Match #2: Miz vs Yoshi Tatsu
Oh yeah, Miz looks SO aggressive, doesn't he? Come on, everyone is gonna look aggressive against a green dinosaur. Was this really the best they could come up with to cap the Miz/Kofi build? It doesn't get me interested in the match and it just feels lazy and half-assed. I guess WWE just wants to get this over and done with.
So, Eve finally gets called out, but since there's no real facts, Booker can't officially take action to remove Eve from her position on Booker's staff. For the time being, her punishment is to defend the title…
Honestly, are you really surprised by all of this? There's still a lot of finger-pointing between Eve and Aksana and….Aksana? What the hell is she doing here? I honestly don't see the point to include Aksana in this storyline. Yeah, the smart-ass answer is her being included in a match for tonight, but this is still retarded. The storyline was already getting ridiculous, but this is just plain dumb. Eve vs Kaitlyn vs Layla will happen at the PPV.
Match #3: Randy Orton vs Wade Barrett
This match was tolerable. The finish comes when Del Rio causes enough of a distraction for Wade to connect with the Souvenir. I would agree with JBL and say this was an important victory for Wade…..If his return was handled better. Seriously, what happened with his return? They put together those amazing videos that made Wade look like a bad-ass. Then they bring him back and claim he's "open for business". After that…..Nothing. Nothing happened. It's almost like they forgot how to continue this exposure. What this basically shows me is the creative staff came up with an idea for Wade, but weren't sure how to follow through with it, so they just gave up for the time being. While they haven't made him look too weak since returning, they haven't done the best job in making Wade look like the character that was being shown in the vignettes. In fact, when was the last time Wade went out there to cut a promo? Yeah, I can continue with this, but I think you get the idea.
Winner via pinfall: Wade Barrett
Match #4: Kaitlyn and Layla vs Eve and Aksana
Layla kicks Kaitlyn in the head, thus Eve shows her bitchiness to steal this match. Did you enjoy your nap?
Winner via pinfall: Eve and Aksana
Match #5: Daniel Bryan vs Damien Sandow
Cody and Kane were on commentary for this match. The finish comes when Cody causes enough distractions for Sandow to hit the Terminus. This continues to add more to the story that Bryan is the weak link in the group. Does that mean he will trust the fruit rollup? Well, I guess we'll have to wait until Sunday.
Winner via pinfall: Damien Sandow
Sheamus and Big Show end the show with a face-to-face. The two talk abou--Oh, why even bother? It's the same damn thing the two have been talking about for the past month. You can't beat me….I can defeat you…..you can't hit the kick on me…..you won't catch me…..blah blah blah blah blah blah BLAH!!! I'm sorry, but Sheamus/Show isn't peaking my interest. You know, there's people who can get away with saying the same thing every week, but it doesn't work for this rivalry. Sheamus/Del Rio was more interesting than this. At least those two actually got conflict in the middle of their rivalry.
Overall Impression:
SD was just…meh. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't very engaging. Then again, you really shouldn't expect much for SD since the PPV is this week. It was basically pointless to review it. Anyway, since the majority of you want to know my Hell in a Cell thoughts/predictions, here they are now. As always, I don't care if I'm right or wrong and these are just here for fun. Let's a go.
Randy Orton vs Alberto Del Rio: Randy sure has been working a lot of short-term feuds lately. Based on WWE's track record with these type of matches, the easy pick is Randy. Then again, it really wouldn't bother me if Randy won this match and we get more Ricardo's comedy antics.
Eve vs Kaitlyn vs Layla; Divas title: Eve is still new as the champion, so I don't really see a title change happening now. I would like to see Kaitlyn get an opportunity to be champion since I think she can offer something new in the division, but the Divas will continue to remain an afterthought after all this is over.
Kofi Kingston vs Miz; IC Championship: But Nerd, didn't you hear the latest dirt sheet on the Miz that could be true?
Yep, still don't care what the majority of the dirt sheets are talking about. Despite this, it would be incredibly stupid to slap the title on Miz. Kofi wins, Miz does something else, and the IC title will be unimportant until Kofi has to drop it. That's the sad fate for the mid-card championships. Things can always change for the mid-card titles, but don't be surprised if this happens.
Team Hell No vs Team Rhodes Scholars; WWE Tag Titles: This is definitely one of the matches I'm looking forward to watching. It has gotten a lot of development, been told decently, and is interesting to watch. Yeah, Team Hell No has lost some of their comedic cunning, but they are still interesting enough for WWE programming. Rhodes Scholars has been built up decently as well. I'm really liking what's occurring in the tag division. I can see Rhodes Scholars getting the titles, but I think WWE is gonna roll with Hell No for a while longer. This one can change, but I'm picking Hell No to become victorious.
Sheamus vs Big Show; WHC: Depending if Dolph Ziggler cashes in the MITB, Sheamus will walk out with the WHC. This whole thing is being built as if Sheamus cannot defeat Show, so it only makes sense for Super Fella to defeat the giant. Still, there's an '80s guy who can easy steal the title on that same night.
CM Punk vs Ryback; Hell in a Cell match for the WWE Title: You know, for being a PPV titled "Hell in a Cell", it sure is misleading. You only get ONE HIAC match, but that's probably for the best. I personally think the PPV should've been given a different name, but….Let's move on. I've given my thoughts on this match over the Raw reviews, but I'll try to go into as little detail as possible. Punk/Ryback isn't a bad idea at all. In fact, part of me actually wants to see this match, but I want to see it months from now. It's too soon for this match to be taking place and I feel they are only doing this match because John Cena is recovering and/or WWE is riding the Ryback bandwagon. I like Ryback. He's something a little different in the face department and has a ton of potential, but he isn't ready for the world title. At the same time, I highly doubt Punk will win this match cleanly. That's just what happens when you play a bad guy, you're restricted from clean victories. So, somebody has to cause shenanigans. A lot of people in the IWC are quickly pointing at Brock Lesnar, but I personally hope this doesn't happen JUST to get one over on the IWC. I know it's a cruel thing to say, but I don't care. Yeah, I know the idea makes sense since the Paul Heyman guys unite to take out Vince's crew, but I want to see this happen at a later time. Maybe when Ryback has gotten more main eventers served to him. Once that has happened, Ryback will be ready to feast on a former MMA fighter.
Those are the predications, there's the SD review that nobody will read, so that will conclude tonight's article. Tell me what you thought of the transparent review and what YOU think will happen at the PPV. This PPV has potential, but the last few weeks of build haven't helped the case to purchase this PPV. I will see you guys and girls in the next one. See you next time.
Nerd, I have been a fan for about a year now, and I like your input on these matches. Also, I am amazed at your obvious resourcefulness and study. Lately, I feel your work is lacking care and attention it once was. Your opinions are getting shorter and shorter with a rushed pace. I would rather have a delayed well-thought out review than a speedy dismal opinion of a fan. Like I said, I am fan of yours and hope you hear this.
ReplyDeleteWell, I'll be the first to admit that I have made some of my reviews shorter on purpose. Mostly because a lot of things that I want to say are things that have either been said in previous reviews and I don't want to sound like a record player. I've been wanting to make reviews shorter since I don't want to eat up a lot of people's time. At the same time, I realize that I'm gonna have new people come in every week and I need to keep that in mind. Yeah, these are all factors going in my head when I start the editing process.
DeleteI also admit that I rush some of the reviews. Mostly the Smackdown reviews since there isn't a whole lot to go into. Depending on what the show gives me to work with and how creative my brain is on that night I think plays a big role in how a review turns out.
At the end of the day, it's all about balance and I gotta keep that in mind when I'm in the editing process. I appreciate your concern and all I can tell you is I will try to the best of my abilities.
Bryan and Sandow talking about their beards is just pure win.
ReplyDeleteAnd I liked the Miz's match, I enjoyed the slow and methodical pace the Miz was setting and I wouldn't mind seeing a bit more of that out of him.
the Orton/Del Rio build has been pretty lackluster and I'm not all that interested in the outcome but I am somewhat looking forward to the match since I expect the two of them to put on a good match.
Am I the only one that thinks it's funny that the current diva's story line is happening due to Eve botching a battle royal finish? And I think it make sense to give the win to Kaitlyn but I expect Eve to retain, ideally by stealing the win from Kaitlyn so they can continue the fued.
Kofi and Miz have had some ridiculous booking in the build to the match, I think Miz should still have the title and be dropping it to Kofi here but that's not what happened, so Kofi to retain and send Miz back to limbo.
And I'm having some troubles working out team hell no vs rhodes scholars, while it makes alot of sense to put the titles on rhodes scholars I'm not ready to give up team hell no, and without the titles there isn't much of a reason to keep them together. So I'll go with hell no to keep the titles and drop them in a rematch.
Go back a couple of reviews to see my plans for Sheamus, Show and Ziggler.
And WWE have really booked themselves into a corner. Ryback is not ready for a world title run and he isn't ready for a clean loss, and the cell makes doing anything but a clean loss rather hard. Lesnar would help out but that just means the WWE gets to shoot themselves in the foot later trying to do a big money match at survivor series. If the WWE were willing to stick with some of the pushes they've started over the last couple of years then the wouldn't be in this position now as they'd have quite a few upper mid carders they could put into this match while developing Ryback at a better pace. Ryback really should be facing the Miz for the IC title which was what they looked like they were building for before Cena needed surgery, but instead of that they are ruching him into the world title scene before he is ready which will probably be to his detriment like quite a few other wrestlers over the past few years.
So what I'm trying to say with a long rambly post is keep the title on Punk, I don't know how the WWE can do that without completely screwing themselves but Punk needs to keep the title.
Daniel Bryan vs Damien Sandow in a Beard-off = match of the century!!!
DeleteI really hope Barret attacks Sheamus after the the WHC match and then Ziggler cashes in. Setting up a triple threat or even a four way (show vs Barret vs Ziggler (c) vs Sheamus). Might actually get people interested in smackdown and more importantly the WHC.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your review and predictions, keep up the great work.
Thanks :)
I was really hoping you wouldn't have anything disrespectful to say about the Divas this week. I thought they had pretty good backstage scenes, and the match was fair. Kaitlyn wrestles with anger, and she can talk better than Eve. I know the division has been laughable for a long time now, but things can change. Give em a chance Nerd.
ReplyDeletePS: Can you take the captcha BS off? 3rd times a charm I hope!!!
I'm not really sure what you're referring to when you say the captcha deal? To my knowledge, I don't think I've changed the layout....at least not on purpose.
DeleteI think Blogger might've done something on its own. Yeah, you gotta love how that happens. I'll look into it.
DeleteBrownie_the_third, why do i even bother commenting when everything you say is in my head :P.
ReplyDeleteI saw some good chemistry between Orton/Del Rio by that very brief confrontation which got me a little alert.
MIZ 4 IC CHAMPION
RHODES SCHOLARS 4 TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS
Even if WWE had another HIAC match (as they have done in the past), the IWC would whine about because this PPV is pretty much devaluing the match itself (like the Elimination Chamber, TLC, and Extreme Rule matches). I don't why they just drop the match name PPVs and go back to ones like No Mercy, Unforgiven, etc.
ReplyDeleteAs for my PPV picks:
Kofi retains
Eve retains
Team Hell No retains
Randy wins (Del Rio has really dropped in stock as of late)
Sheamus retains only to be taken out post-match by Show and Ziggler cashes in
And Punk retains
I still say Lesner gets involved with Ryback vs. Punk and that doesn't bother me even if others whine about it. I try not to have a cynical/pessimistic view with the current state of the WWE as so many on the Internet have.
"I don't why they just drop the match name PPVs and go back to ones like No Mercy, Unforgiven, etc." - YES!
ReplyDeleteGiving an event the title of a match is 'gay' !!!
....
SmackDown is pointless, I have to believe that the ratings for this show are in free-fall, although I appreciate the effort from "WrestlingNerd" ~ The truth is I only read the SmackDown reviews if I'm really bored !!!
Oh, non taken. I personally think Smackdown are my weakest articles since there isn't a whole lot to talk about. You can only make filler exciting for so long.
Delete