WrestlingNerd Presents: WWE Smackdown Review 11/16/12 (Plus WWE Survivor Series thoughts)

What up wrestling fans, I'm the WrestlingNerd bringing you another written review. Today, we take a look at WWE Smackdown 11/16/12. How did the blue brand fair as we prepare for Survivor Series? Let's find out and start the review. 

We open up the show with the Impact Zone….wait, what? Yeah, just as the show starts, you hear people chatting either 'this is awesome' or 'Miz is awesome'. Amazing how in the pro wrestling world, all you have to say is a couple of nice things and you're instantly forgiven for being a jackass. I wish it worked that way in real life. As you would've guessed, Miz TV opens up the show. Mick Foley comes out since we need to have both guys get the cheap pop by simply naming the city. Foley questions if Miz is gonna show up and not be that lackey character he's been for the last year. Once Miz pokes fun of the rest of Team Foley, we have a group meeting for the SS match. I love Daniel Bryan's expression when Kane thanks Miz for being a good tag team partner this past week. How dare you, Kane? I thought we had something? I thought we had something special, man!!! You two-timing jerk!!! Kofi Kingston tries to play peacemaker, while Miz can't accept this since Kofi didn't care about his handshake. Randy Orton can't seem to trust anybody. How is it that Randy didn't get sent to anger management therapy all those months ago? Yeah, you gotta bring up the wrestling logic. Team Dolph arrives and they can't seem to get along either. Foley books a couple of matches since Booker T has more important things to do….

All of these matches are set to take place tonight. At least they are finally building some tension between the two teams. It's forced and there's still no positives or negatives for winning or losing the match, but I can at least respect them trying to do something with this. 

Match #1: Damien Sandow vs Kofi Kingston

In a short match, Sandow steals this match by pulling the tights for the victory. Again, this is about adding tension between Team Foley and Team Dolph, so I'm perfectly fine with this booking. 

Winner via pinfall: Damien Sandow

Match #2: Kaitlyn, Layla, and Natalya vs Eve, Aksana, and Alicia Fox

You want to know what the biggest mystery in the WWE is? If Natalya is face or a heel. Seriously, she's gone on both sides more than anybody else this year. It's like she turns every month. For the love of God, just pick a direction and stick with it for longer than a coffee break. The finish comes when Kaitlyn hits the Inverted DDT on Alicia for the victory. As I mentioned with the Raw review this week, I doubt they will change the title this Sunday. At the same time, I would very much welcome Kaitlyn being Divas Champion. I feel she has more to offer for the division than most of the divas. 

Winner via pinfall: Kaitlyn, Layla, and Natalya

Match #3: Randy Orton and Miz vs Dolph Ziggler and Alberto Del Rio

Now this was a pretty good match. It was given a lot of time and I thought they did a good job. The finish comes when Miz hits Skull Crushing Finale on Del Rio for the victory. After the match, Randy thanks his teammate by hitting him with the RKO. Well, so much for teamwork. 

Winner via pinfall: Miz and Randy Orton

Sheamus comes out and wants to fight Big Show tonight. He was waiting for him in the back, but Booker T told him to wait until Sunday. Show comes out and continues to push his buttons. I can't blame Sheamus for acting like this. You don't attack William Regal like that. Booker comes out and puts a stop to this scuffle. Since Sheamus is out of control, Booker bans him from the building. Show is happy for Booker banning him, but Booker decides to put Show in a match. It would be a surprise….

Okay, it's Khali. There's your big reveal. Are you satisfied? Cuz if you aren't, I don't blame you. 

Match #4: Kane vs Wade Barrett

The match didn't even last long as Team Dolph arrived to attack Kane. This brings out the members of Team Foley. I love how Randy gets his own entrance when he arrives. You know you're more important than everybody else when that starts happening. Randy's arrival leads to Team Foley clearing house. I think with how things were rushed between Team Foley and Dolph, I think it added a little bit of intrigue to the match. I still don't really care for it, but I can at least appreciate the effort for doing something. 

Winner via DQ: Kane

Match #5: Antonio Cesaro vs Sin Cara

In a short match, Antonio wins with the Neutralizer. R-Truth leads a 'USA' chant after the match. Aww, racial stereotyping on a wrestling program. How you will never grow old. 

Winner via pinfall: Antonio Cesaro

Match #6: Big Show vs Great Khali

Oh, this isn't gonna sit well with the smarks. Well, at least this match didn't last long. Khali hit the chop on Show, but can only get a two count. One KO punch later and Show wins the match. After the match, Matt Striker fails to get an interview. Wrestling logic at its finest since Sheamus was able to sneak past security. Show and Sheamus brawl in the back. It looks like Sheamus is down, but John Cena's Protein Shake is able to revive him. Sheamus ends up taking out Show by ramming his head against a car. As I mentioned for the past couple of weeks, I think the addition of Regal getting taken out by Show adds more tension between Sheamus and Show. It makes the rivalry pop out more. 

Winner via pinfall: Big Show

Overall Impression:

I think with all things considered, I thought SD had a fair showing tonight. While nothing eye-popping, they at least did a decent job in building up SS. I thought they finally added some tension between Team Foley and Dolph. While nothing big, it was enough to at least add something to their match this Sunday. I've already given thoughts on the other rivalries this past week on Raw. Yeah, I'm being lazy this week, but I don't think it's necessary to rewrite everything from Monday's review. Since most of you are more interested in talking SS than SD, here are the predictions. As always, I don't care if I'm right or wrong with these picks. They are just my two cents….

Eve vs Kaitlyn; Divas Title: I personally want to see Kaitlyn win the title, but I don't think WWE is willing to bail out on Eve right away. I say shenanigans takes place, thus setting up a rematch between the two at the next PPV. 

Antonio Cesaro vs R-Truth; US Championship: This is an easy one. Antonio retains. This is the day Little Jimmy learns to not give a s***.

Team Foley vs Team Dolph: There's a lot of factors to look at with this match. Miz is quickly the wildcard in this match since I can see him screwing over his own team to benefit the bad guys. I can also see another member of Team Foley screwing over his own team. Team Dolph doesn't have that much to benefit from winning this match since there's no repercussions for winning/losing. It's just bragging rights at the end of the day. There's nothing wrong with that, but it does take some value away from the match. If a backstabbing happens, Team Dolph wins. If everything is kept clean, Team Foley will end up victorious. 

Big Show vs Sheamus; WHC: This can bend a couple of ways. Either Sheamus gets the WHC back at the PPV or Show makes this match end with shenanigans/DQ, thus resulting in a rematch at TLC. An interesting thought would be for Dolph to cash in the MITB on this night. I personally wouldn't mind this happening since WWE has been more subtly about the possibility of the cash-in this month than last. I've talked about this before, but most you know you that I prefer the MITB cash-ins to be more of a surprise. When WWE drops a lot of hints, that just ruins the surprise for me. I personally don't think this will happen at SS, but it's a possibility. I think Show will walk out WHC, but it doesn't mean he will win on this night. 

CM Punk vs Ryback vs John Cena; WWE Championship: This match was changed to a triple threat a week ago, but I think this was a better match than the Team Punk/Foley idea. WWE needed to get their face of the company in the main event since he's healthy again. I know a lot of people don't like that Cena got added to this match, but I thought this made the most sense. I think with the Cena/AJ storyline, I think Cena is just in this match to add up the buy rates. I really don't see him winning since it wouldn't make sense booking-wise. It all comes down to Punk and Ryback. Just like I said at Hell in a Cell, I don't feel Ryback is ready for a world title. He's got a ton of potential, but he really shouldn't be the world champion this year. If they play their cards right with Ryback, he will become champion in 2013. Punk has the most to gain for winning this match. He won the WWE title a year ago at this PPV and I think it's a big deal that Punk actually get this victory. A triple threat offers an easy cop-out for this match to end without making the faces look weak. In fact, what I see happening is shenanigans that make Cena take the pinfall. I don't think they would allow Ryback to take two pitfalls in consecutive PPVs. Yes, I know WWE tends to act like the world will blow up if Cena loses a match, but I think they have to do it regardless. After this is all over with, Punk and Foley will have their match at TLC, Cena will go back to puppy love, while Ryback will continue to kill talent or gets to work with another major talent. 

Those are the picks, that's the review, and there's my ride. I hope you enjoyed the review. Tell me what YOU will think will happen at the PPV. I will see you guys and girls in the next one. See you next time.