Recently on Smackdown, World Heavyweight Champion and rising star Daniel Bryan put on a barnburner with the underrated veteran Randy Orton. This week, after a concussion put the Viper out of action, we get a rematch. Will the vegan villain get taken out by the RKO, or will the WWE Universe be hearing cries of "YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!"? That and plenty more on this week's Smackdown. Read on for my thoughts on the show as it happens.
Great video package. I hope both of these guys have good 2012s (though Orton shouldn't be "the guy" on the show as much as he has in years past).
I love the line of "YES!" signs. I'd be hypocritical to support a heel getting signs, but it is his home state (and there are probably a lot of vegans in attendance- it's Seattle).
I like seeing a good deal of Sheamus signs, too. The more the newer guys get over, the better.
Good promo by Sheamus as always. He's coming along pretty well.
Not really sure why Vickie and Dolph are out here, but I like them, so I'm good with it.
Dolph Ziggler's new look reminds me of someone, but I can't quite place who.
Silly back-and-forth. Those jokes get kind of tiring.
Kind of an underwhelming announcement for a match with one of WWE's top rising talents and the man in the World Title match at WrestleMania. Barely any build. If they don't treat these guys as important, why should we see them that way?
Dolph Ziggler could be the best seller in WWE right now.
"Stay on his bicycle"'s our newest Bookerism I guess.
No. No it wasn't. Dolph feuded with Edge for the World Title and the relationship with Vickie was an important part of that.
I hope Dolph gets a good spot at Mania after his work this year.
I appreciate them getting behind Sheamus, but I don't think he's as big of an asset as Cena.
Ziggler's working hard here (with more than just the technical moves/wrestling aspect). He transcends his amateur background and is more than just someone who does wrestling moves and taunts.
Good stuff here, but Sheamus chanting "Brogue" is a little forced.
I thought Ziggler was going to pin the World Title contender at WrestleMania there for a second. I like him and all, but Sheamus needs to be a big deal.
I like the new name for that finisher. Good spot to set it up.
Fine match. These guys will hopefully progress as stars in the years to come.
I guess Aksana doesn't have background music when she's talking on the phone.
Otunga and his color-coordinated coffee mugs are pretty entertaining. A lawyer playing a lawyer. How difficult of an idea is that?
"Sesame Street Big Bird". As opposed to some other Big Bird.
I think I've just about had my fill of Otunga's "ghetto" phrases.
Slater's good with expressions, which makes up for him sometimes not being good on the mic.
Slater's not a great wrestler by any stretch, but he can get things done as a character.
Slater's the new "Chavo" as far as being the butt of comedy characters.
The arguing on commentary gets extremely tiring.
Shawn Michaels returns after a two-week hiatus!
Eve's getting better as a vain, stuck-up "Diva". Natalya was pretty good in her role. I can't blame her for the awful farting stuff.
Sharmell will love to hear that, Booker...
Talk about a dead crowd.
Maybe if the commentators didn't treat Divas matches this terribly, people would care.
Eve and Natalya were ok here. The post-match mannerisms were good. The commentary was TERRIBLE> Creative must just be amusing themselves with this ridiculousness. And they wonder why business is dropping?
I could have gone without seeing Big Show's ass again.
I REALLY hope this is leading to a big moment for Rhodes at Mania. To kill his run for the #$%@ BIG SHOW would kill me as a fan I think. Show's already a giant with multiple World Title reigns. He's been a big part of things for over a decade. Him winning does nothing for the business.
Bad commentary... again.
Well, that was a Big Show promo alright.
What does that mean for Shaq? Negotiations must have fell through or something.
What does it say that people are cheering for Henry taking Show down? Granted, it was only a couple of people.
This match ending by countout? I'm not that lucky.
I was wondering when Rhodes would come back into the picture.
God I hope Big Show doesn't get the IC Title after the great run Cody's had over the past year-plus.
These two have had wars.
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF. He just got out of Henry's huge finisher at 2.
#&$#@*#@@&.
Even if Show wins the title, he'll apparently only be 4-8 at Mania. All the more reason to not give him the title.
Since I've spent this match being ticked about Show, I'll give him credit for the fans being pretty into this match.
Well, if he does lose, I hope Laurinaitis re-signs him (either for the Raw brand or as he controls Smackdown next week).
Good promo from Orton. His character's cold and calculating, so he doesn't need to be extremely emotive.
Why hasn't McIntyre been in a WWE movie? They haven't done anything else with him.
This could be good. I think they can book this to where both benefit long-term (Gabriel wins, then McIntyre gets heat for being re-hired by Laurinaitis). I think I might rather see McIntyre get a shot at being a babyface given how stuck he is right now.
McIntyre's good. They're missing out on him. He's aggressive without "overdoing" it. He's making every move count.
That's all she wrote. I'd like to see these two go longer.
I think if they were really going to bury McIntyre, he wouldn't be getting this much TV and angle time.
If only the EVP of Talent Relations would look at his contract...
Why is Booker defending the heel? This could very well be the worst commentary team I've ever heard. No real complaints about Mathews. It's the other two who make me want to bang my head on the wall.
I hope you like long recaps of things you've seen before.
They're nuts is this will really be once in a lifetime (unless Rock's way too busy outside of the company to do another round).
No lack of confidence from Bryan here (and he makes his words matter by not yelling them and saying a bunch of things quickly). AJ's great with her facial expressions as well.
Hahahahaha. Heeling the home state. I love it.
The vegan and TV remarks are great. I love his delusional, incredibly biased boasts. Note that he didn't say that AJ was the love of HIS life. What I like about him as a heel is that he feels that he's better than the audience instead of just talking up his attributes, since being vegan and not having a TV aren't bad things in of themselves. I can think of a heel on NXT whose main pushed attributes fall into the same category, but he doesn't push them as things to boo him for.
Wow. Pretty harsh from Booker on AJ.
Weird seeing Orton do the power game.
Creepy seeing Orton stare down AJ. She's such a naturally sympathetic figure.
What's with people bringing completely unrelated signs? Unless they're comparing Bryan's beard and protecting his girlfriend to Knox's ECW brand run with Kelly Kelly.
I like when they put over the strategy of the matches instead of babbling on about other things.
Orton and Bryan play off of each other surprisingly well.
NICE dropkick spot.
When have they ever portrayed AJ's love as ingenuine? Booker's acting like she's using Bryan instead of hte other way around.
I like that Orton's selling his shoulder on the RKO set-up.
I guess Orton's going to have to embrace the hate now. Kind of an odd match-up (I expected Ryder to face him), but it could work. Orton as the newer guy should get the rub.
I like that the announcers are are selling how serious this is.
OOOOOOHHHHHHHHH. No way they get away with that one. That's serious heeling by Laurinaitis.
That's all for Smackdown. I'll be back for Raw on Monday. A news post will be up later. Thanks for reading!
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