Orton and Bryan highlight an excellent episode.
Here are my thoughts on this week's Smackdown from the Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield, CA:
-The opening back and forth between Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan was very well done. Orton has fallen into his new role of "Corporate Viper" brilliantly and there is a great bit of electricity between the two. I don't know if this counts for anything, but I have to mention that I was not 100% sold on the new WWE title until Orton got it. I don't know why, but for me it just looks 10x better in his hands than around both The Rock & John Cena's waist. I loved this opening seg and I love where this feud is going already. A home run in my book.
-The first match of the night saw Cody Rhodes tangle with Curtis Axel in a short, but expertly executed battle. It was all just a piece to a bigger angle anyhow. That angle being the single best storyline of 2013 thus far involving CM Punk and Paul Heyman's brutal divorce. After the match, both Axel & Heyman cut very effective promos and Axel even challenged the best in the world to a match on this upcoming Monday's RAW. I don't care what anybody else says, in my mind, Heyman is the best manager in WWE history. Just his body of work from the past year stands as a testament to his value in that role. Having initially played the advocate role for the retuning Brock Lesnar, Heyman made the beast the most intimidating and menacing presence in the WWE. And after being appointed the strategist for then-WWE Champion CM Punk, he would help the champ elevate himself to the top tier and eventually main event one of the year's biggest PPVs against The Rock. He climaxed by becoming the first person to manage two different superstars in two separate main events at Wrestlemania XXIX. But all that was just the groundwork for Heyman being put in his most useful role yet.
Curtis Axel's arrival on Monday Night RAW earlier this year shocked the world. It resulted in a very polarizing response (HE is the new Paul Heyman guy!!???). Since then, with Heyman's guidance, he was able to capture and restore further prestige to the Intercontinental Championship and earn huge victories over the likes of John Cena, Chris Jericho and Triple H. Which brings us to tonight's episode. Axel has never looked better than he has in the 10 minutes of television he was granted on this evening. His promo and ring work were both presented with a superb level of confidence and when he put forth the challenge to Punk, I dare say I actually took him serious (something I wasn't sure if I'd ever do). Keep you eyes on Axel over the next year. With Heyman at his side, the ceiling is as high as Rob Van Dam on 420.
Progress.
-After weeks of back and forth, Big E Langston would face Dolph Ziggler in another solid outing. I don't know how I feel about Langston playing the Ryan Reynolds role for this one, but it's a tale as old as time. AJ Lee is a woman scorned so she enlists her friendzoned muscle to handle business. I get it, but that don't mean I gotta like it.
-Alberto Del Rio and Christian don't know the meaning of the words "bad match" so you should have expected nothing less than a great match when they announced these two would enter Part X of their two year battle of one-upsmanship. Let's not forget that in 2011, Christian won his first WWE World Heavyweight Championship (a title now in the possession of the Mexican Aristocrat) in a classic ladder match with Del Rio and in the process, elevated both men to the second tier legend status the currently hold. And even though his "one last chance" match at Summerslam was a bust, don't worry, he'll get another shot. Because if anyone in the WWE has mastered the art of Turtle Tipping, it's Christian.
-There was a 3 on 2 handicap match between 3MB and the team of Mark Henry and Big Show that was easily the most skippable bit of business of the evening. Don't hold down on that fast forward too long though, because post-match Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns have cut their best promo thus far that hasn't been anchored by the continued vocal excellence of Dean Ambrose.
-I don't have much to say on the match between Antonio Cesaro and Darren Young tonight, because there isn't really much worth noting. I do love how the company has been treating the issue of Darren's sexuality as a non factor in his character development though, because it shouldn't matter anyway. It's 2013 folks and if topics like race, religion and homosexuality are still an issue, then we've made absolutely no progress as human beings over the last century. That being said, even though there was a great bit of smooth ring work, I still found this match to be incredibly boring.
-The main event saw Daniel Bryan face Wade Barrett in a terrific Steel Cage match that is sure to be included in the Best Of Raw & Smackdown 2013 DVD come year's end. It was fast paced and brutal enough and as far as TV matchups go, I couldn't have asked for much more. After an impressive finishing stretch, Bryan was able to defeat Barrett much to the delight of everyone in attendance.
Well...almost everyone.
Overall this was a fantastic edition of Smackdown and I'd go even further to call it one of the best episodes of WWE television this year. There was nothing too memorable besides the main event, but nearly every segment was a hit and the white hot crowd made things even better. I love that this show is now re-establishing itself from RAW. For once we weren't stuck with a bunch of recaps from the "A" show. Instead, we were given a brilliant piece of 2002 blue brand fight night nostalgia & I have a feeling that this was the first of many great episodes to come.
Overall Episode Score: 8/10
No comments:
Post a Comment