It's Week 2 of Daniel Bryan's World Heavyweight Championship reign. Who will be his first official challenger? How long can the dream last? While we're waiting on answers to that, Randy Orton will face off against the Barrett Barrage as the former Nexus leader looks to survive Falls Count Anywhere! Read on for my thoughts on the show as it happens.
Now THAT'S a video package. That RKO was so awesome.
Looking forward to Orton/Barrett (and not because of the spoiler angle).
The Undertaker's in the opener a lot for someone who hasn't been on the show in seemingly forever.
This always ends well...
The "one role or another" point is a good one.
Booker makes a good case- if this is his last year in the ring, there are certainly worse ways to go out.
Good opening promo.
Cody freakin' Rhodes. Breakout star potential.
Rhodes has had a pretty solid 2011. If he can top this next year, he'll almost certainly be at the top of the company.
I like this angle (as long as Rhodes gets the rub when it's done).
I also like how Rhodes went from wearing black for a darker, dismal character to white for someone bringing hope to the division.
What a douchebag.
WWWWHHHAAAAA???
Goldust looks to be in pretty good shape. Odd seeing him without the face paint.
He can still cut a good promo. Nice history with these three.
Oooohhh... that's kind of personal from Cody.
It'd be a good start to 2012 for Cody Rhodes to get a big rub from the legend. Though I think Booker has earned a final title reign, we need to move forward with the stars of tomorrow.
Heck of a kick by Cody. Looking forward to this one continuing.
But... Henry's not "medically cleared", is he?
I like the tagline for Otunga.
I think DiBiase could really catch on as a babyface if he continues the DiBiase Posse idea. Seems like a really nice guy.
Jinder looks more sinister with the facial hair and turban.
Mahal makes a good point. He also has potential as a heel.
Hmm... Mahal looks a little rough around the edges.
Nice butterfly suplex.
Ugh... Cole.
I get this weird feeling Booker's winning next week.
Nice offense from DiBiase. Here's someone that used to be seen as terrible.
And a nice move from Jinder, too.
A little surprised that DiBiase tapped out. Where do they go from here?
This has got to be one of the longest WWE courtships I remember.
Thank God he's back here. He was on his way up until the Raw drafting.
Tough one. I hope they're not going to throw Drew under the rug.
Kind of a weird combination of Divas, but whatever. What happened to the AJ/Kaitlyn story?
Kaitlyn's changed ring attires more times than I can remember.
Another odd combination, but at least Tamina's getting used.
Kaitlyn's coming along, but still has a ways to go.
I thought Kaitlyn was going to tap.
Not bad so far.
Jesus... seriously? If I didn't know better, I'd say Alicia was the one with only a year of experience wrestling.
Didn't see that one coming. She's been with JTG on NXT. But I'd MUCH rather see her face Beth than Alicia.
Good video package showing what happened on Raw.
I think I've got a full-on crush on AJ now. Wow.
Bryan sounded a lot more natural this go-round.
Didn't think we'd see Henry fight this week.
Camacho's actually Samoan, but you know, creative license.
FFFF... nice high-flying here.
How many people still know who Eddie Munster is?
WWWOOOOWWWW. You don't see this in WWE every day.
Gabriel's had a string of victories lately, so this could be good for Hunico and his new heavy.
That was certainly interesting. I look forward to seeing these two in 2012. Future tag team champions?
Good video package (again). This needs to be a big deal.
Big Show's legitimately a class act, and obviously has a good deal of fans. I'm just not personally crazy about seeing him these days.
Otunga's a really good fit for his character. Perhaps because (like a lot of good characters) it's something he's familiar with.
Sorry, Otunga... no way you're winning this one.
Inspired coaching from Mark Henry.
You'd think a Harvard educated lawyer would know not to try that against a 400+ lb. wrestler.
Hope spot I guess.
Didn't see that coming from Daniel Bryan. He's growing on me as a character.
It wouldn't really be believable for Otunga to win without some kind of interference or weapon at this point. Show's been pretty close to unstoppable.
Big Zeke reminds me of someone with the new hair, but I can't put my finger on who it is.
Two more guys I think should have bright futures.
Drew McIntyre used to be a big freakin' deal and a possible future champion. But no, they blew it.
Great suplex by McIntyre.
Hahaha. You screwed up there, Drew.
Hopefully this doesn't mean he's on the way to the unemployment line (for real). He's got great expressions.
Solid package for Sheamus. I really like that remix.
I love Drew's ridiculous accent. Please tell me he's sticking around.
King Sheamus, Royal Rumble.. it would make sense.
Fiery promo by Sheamus.
Haha... well, Swoggle did win the battle royal the other week.
Oh, you...
Are they setting up for a Sheamus heel turn?
So they finally got around to the red-head connection.
Heath Slater sounds so ridiculous on the mic.
That was kind of odd, but it did what it was supposed to do to set up the Rumble.
Hornswoggle vs. Sheamus at WrestleMania. Make it happen.
Seriously though, not half bad from Slater here.
And the elevation of Sheamus continues. Good.
Bryan sounds kind of goofy here. I'm getting an "awkward teen comedy movie" vibe, and that's not good.
Hopefully that leads to an even bigger clash at the Royal Rumble. Way too soon to give up on the Bryan experiment.
Very ready for Orton/Barrett.
At least we're almost done with these videos.
To start off 2012, they've got chances to really build the future with Punk, Ziggler, Rhodes, and Bryan. Or we could go back to the last decade with Booker and Big Show being the focus.
They could make Barrett a pretty big deal with a win here, too.
We've got a BRAWL here.
What about the actions of Nexus and the Corre?
I like Barrett's use of the ropes. Very brute-ish.
Barrett's deceptively quick for a bigger guy.
Great stuff here. The crowd's rightfully into it.
Pier 6 brawl?
Bah gawd it's chaos!!!
Slugfest time.
The ring crew's going to be pretty ticked that they're ruining the backstage stuff.
HAHAHA. I love the elevator spot. Don't think I've seen that one before.
The elevator cam is simultaneously great and hilarious.
Good use of cameramen.
CLEVER! Good way to "hurt Orton" without actually, ya know, hurting Orton.
That's all for Smackdown. I'll be back for Raw on Monday, and a news post will be up sooner rather than later. Thanks for reading!
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