GOALS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOR THE 7/13 SMACKDOWN
By Revin Samuel on 7/14/2012 4:06 PM
SMACKDOWN - 13/07/2012 E: revinsamuel@rogers.com
WHAT THIS SHOW NEEDS TO ACCOMPLISHED?
•Money in the Bank hype. After one brutal Raw, WWE needs a real good go home show tonight to make MITB feel like a must see event. That’s it
Show Breakdown
- For some reason I got a kick out of the show starting with Zack Ryder starting the show like his YouTube show.
- Michael Cole – “What credentials does Zack Ryder have to run Smackdown?” Booker T – “It doesn’t take credentials”. Good to know Booker
- Good to see WWE following up the Sin Cara-Alberto Del Rio angle from two weeks ago.
- I didn’t really get into this Sin Cara-Alberto match, but the finishing sequence was nice.
- I don’t mind this Tout thing, but hopefully WWE doesn’t cram it down our throats. As for hearing from the fans, well I’m not that patient, but will see how it goes.
- Why is Teddy Long at the show? What does he do if he isn’t running the show?
- WWE just followed up on an angle from two weeks ago with Sin Cara and Alberto Del Rio and now they are following up on one from what seems like a month ago with the backstage brawl between The Primetime Players and Primo and Epico.
- Always good to see Rosa so I got no issue with this match.
- AW talking during the matches will go from good heat to go away heat in no time.
- Primo gets what I’d consider an upset win here and this program continues. I guess it’s something for them to do. Who would have thought a tag team feud without the belts involve
- WWE promoting more on the “Love Triangle” next and my question is, is it really a love triangle when neither man is really interested in AJ?
- Raw 1000 flashback is Christian talking about Edge’s retirement speech on Raw and that is a very emotional moment. This probably should have been shown on Raw, while the Stephanie flashback about her and Triple H renewing their vows should have been on Smackdown.
- Chris Jericho came to Smackdown as an “Observer” yet he’s in his ring gear. Outstanding attention to detail yet again by the wonderful sixteen person writing team.
- Booker T making no sense on commentary talking about how he tried to win money in the bank, but didn’t try hard enough????
- Thank God Ziggler and Rhodes won this match. Cole really trying to sell that Dolph is ready for Money in the Bank. I like the stare down between Cody and Dolph following the match as they are the two odds on favorites to win that Money in the Bank match.
- Long recap of the Punk-AJ-Bryan storyline from Raw. It’s not the most compelling stuff, but the objective is spot on, which is push the Bryan-Punk match and therefore hype the pay per view.
- Big Show squashes The Great Khali and that makes sense. Build the guys who are important matches at the pay per views.
- Well Ryback destroys Hawkins last week and Reks this week. I wonder if he’ll take them both on at the pay per view or next week.
- It’s very interesting that they have started referring to Jericho as “One of the all time greats” or “One of the greatest of all time”; I believe is the phrase they used on Raw. I take that as a sign that they are transitioning him from current talent to Triple H, Undertaker like talents.
- Raw Flashback is Huge Jackman talking about his Raw experience and for my money that dude was the best guest host Raw has ever had.
- Another plug for the return of The Rock and they should plug that for sure! Rock, Brock, Shawn, Bret. I’m waiting for the 3:16 announcement!
- Damien Sandow with a squash victory over Justin Gabriel. The theme for tonight seems to be to push the heels that are in important matches at Money in the Bank. I am not sure I’d be squashing Gabriel like that as he looks to be like a guy who might catch on with the fans if given a shot.
- The Bubble wants us to relive the reveal of the anonymous GM, which was a total slap in the face to the audience, but I already covered that in my Raw column.
- Quality match with Jericho and Sheamus here.
- They are really going all out in this match. Jericho has put the walls on and hit Sheamus with the code breaker for a near fall.
- Gorgeous stuff in this Jericho-Sheamus match. The commentary is solid. The crowd is into it. Everything seems to be clicking.
- Clever heel tactic by Del Rio with Ricardo driving the car out, but then attacking Sheamus from behind and destroying him with the arm bar.
What this show accomplished?
The Good
•Chris Jericho-Sheamus. One of the better television matches in recent memory for WWE. Everything was clicking here from the participants to the fans to the commentary. I was going to rip WWE for having Jericho lose so decisively when he’s competing in such a high profile match on Sunday, but I don’t think he was too hurt by this loss to the World Champion!
•Money in the Bank hype. I thought this show was totally focused on pushing the pay per view even at the expense of Zack Ryder as GM
•Theme of the show. The theme for this show appeared to be giving the guys who are in important matches at the pay per view, wins. WWE usually doesn’t implement this strategy, but they did for Smackdown with Alberto, Sheamus, Cody, Dolph, Sandow and Show all picking up victories
•Bryan-AJ-Punk video package. I have always said video packages are vital to selling pay per view matches and while this one was a bit long, it was still effective
•Cody and Dolph. I love the stare down at the end of the match with Santino and Christian. They are the two guys you’d think would be the winner of that match and so it made perfect sense for them to lock eyes on the go home show
•WWE follows up two mid card angles with Alberto-Sin Cara and PTP-Primo and Epico. It’s sad that this has to be recognized, but that’s what WWE has come to in 2012
•Del Rio continues his mean streak. Del Rio destroys Sheamus again and gets a decisive win over Sin Cara. WWE is putting their best foot forward where Del Rio is concerned and making him seem like he is a threat to the title
The Bad
•Zack Ryder as GM. This was the wrong week for Zack to be GM as he really took a backseat in order to push what was really important in the pay per view. I would have at least liked Zack to extract some revenge on Eve and you’d think he’d add himself to the MITB match or at least give himself another qualifying match ala Cody Rhodes
•Raw replay of Hornswoggle reveal as Raw GM. What a waste of time
Overall Thoughts
•I thought this was one of WWE’s better efforts in recent memory. Everything on the show was logical and the focus was on the pay per view
What needs to happen on next week’s show?
•Emphasize the importance of what happened at Money in the Bank
•Multi Promote. I know they are going to be in full gear for Raw 1000, but hopefully they are able to get into Summerslam as well
Money in the Bank picks
- Kofi and Truth over Hunico and Camacho
- Dolph wins MITB. This is a pick’em with Dolph and Cody...so Damien Sandow will probably win. I’m going to go with what’s logical here and that’s Dolph getting the nod
- Cena. He guaranteed it, I don’t see this going any other way
- Punk over Bryan. This looks like it could be the blow off and Daniel Bryan might be on his way down the card.
- Sheamus over Del Rio. Del Rio has obliterated Sheamus two weeks in a Row so Sheamus gets the win here
Feedback: revinsamuel@rogers.com
