Smackdown – July 3, 2012 (Live Tuesday Show)

Date:
July 3, 2012

Location:
American Bank Center, Corpus Christi, Texas

Commentators:
Booker T, Josh Matthews, Michael Cole

It’s
another live show here and in this case it’s the Great American Bash.
The main event tonight is a 20 man battle royal with the winner
getting to be GM next week on Friday. That’s up in the air and only
offers a few interesting options, which means one of them is likely
going to win. These shows are very hit and miss so hopefully this is
the former of the two. Let’s get to it.

We
open in the back with a big party. There are girls in small outfits,
Hornswoggle in the tub and Teddy in a Kiss the GM apron. Eve is
going to be the cleaning lady tonight. Santino is brought forward to
light the barbecue to officially start things off. Teddy and Santino
back off from lighting it as Kane is here. He lights the fire for
them in a cute bit.

Do
You Know Your Enemy? Mine is having guests that are going to keep me
from seeing Dark Knight Rises for another week.

Cole
says he’s going to get inside AJ’s head tonight.

Here’s
Del Rio to open the show. He’s going to talk about himself, namely
his match at MITB with Sheamus. Sheamus is going to be sent back to
Ireland because he’s just like all these people: a hooligan trying to
take advantage of people like Del Rio. Alberto came here legally and
is making money both here and in Mexico, unlike everyone here. He
wants to send everyone here to the place where they belong, so he
asks to see some people’s papers. One guy doesn’t have them so
Alberto asks for security to take him out. The guy says this is
Texas, not Arizona.

Cue
Sheamus for the save and they brawl in the aisle. The champ throws
Del Rio off the stage and into the barricade a few times. Ricardo
keeps trying to help and eventually it allows Del Rio to kick Sheamus
in the head. Ricardo opens the hood and Del Rio slams it down onto
Sheamus’ back over and over.

Post
break we look at most of the attack all over again. Sheamus is taken
out and has some blood coming down his head.

Great
Khali/Layla vs. Aksana/Antonio Cesaro

This
is punishment from Teddy because he’s a sore loser. The guys start
and it’s time for a chop in the corner to Cesaro. Khali misses a big
boot and Antonio takes him down in the corner. Khali throws him
aruond some more and it’s off to the girls. Layla isn’t exactly
Trish or Lita but she’s by far the better in ring worker of the two
here. Cesaro breaks up a cover and is thrown to the floor. Layout
gets the pin at 1:45, and that means Layla pinned Aksana in case you
can’t figure out that LAYla uses the LAYout and you can’t check the
results below if you’re not sure.

Cody
brags about having another qualifying match later tonight but Teddy
informs him that it’s against Christian. Cody isn’t happy.

Raw
Moment: Foley wins the title. They spend about as much time talking
about WCW spoiling it and 600,000 people changing the channel than
about the title change itself.

Money
in the Bank Qualifying Match: Cody Rhodes vs. Christian

Non-title.
The idea is that Cody has never beaten Christian so he’s in over his
head here. Cody sends him to the apron and hits a Disaster Kick for
two. Rhodes looks at the case a lot and we take a break. Back with
Cody holding a hammerlock before hitting a release gordbuster for
two. Christian comes back with a middle rope missile dropkick and
gets fired up.

He
slingshots to the floor and uppercuts Cody followed by a running
seated dropkick. Top rope cross body gets two for the champ. Cody’s
Alabama Slam is countered into a sunset flip for two. He goes to
unhook the buckle but Christian grabs him with a reverse DDT for two.
The spear is countered but Cody misses the Disaster Kick.
Killswitch is countered into the Cross Rhodes for the completely
clean pin at 9:12.

Rating:
C+. Well that was kind of
anti-climactic. Naturally there was NO ONE that Cody could beat
other than Christian to qualify right? I mean, there was no one else
that could job out there other than a champion. The match was good
but it makes the title look weak again which they had been changing
for awhile.

Backstage
Ryder starts a dance party after Slater is run off. Brodus takes
center stage.

Riley
immediately hits a great dropkick for a fast two. Ziggler DDTs him
down for a fast two and takes over. Riley makes a fast comeback
with a clothesline in the corner and a spinebuster for two. The
crowd continues to be into Riley which is interesting. Inverted DDT
is countered but Ziggler’s Stinger Splash misses, giving Riley a
rollup for a close two. Zig Zag gets the pin at 2:28.

Cole
is in the ring to interview AJ. That theme song of hers’ is catchy.
Cole says he’s fair and balanced, unlike AJ who is clearly
unbalanced. We get a long video recapping everything AJ did last
night. Cole cuts her off and says AJ wasn’t thinking. He calls her
a teenager (she’s 25) and asks if she’s ever thought about pursuing a
real man. One with power and influence and a former war
correspondent who became the voice of the WWE.

Cue
Bryan before this gets too weird. He calls Cole a sexist and says AJ
didn’t mean for him to go through a table last night. It was all a
misunderstanding. Cue Punk who angrily throws Cole out. He says AJ
did something last night that directly affected both Bryan and
himself last night. Punk isn’t going to pretend it didn’t happen
just because AJ is guest referee. She’s not in a good place mentally
and maybe some of that is Punk’s fault. Punk says AJ needs
professional help but Bryan cuts him off.

Bryan
says that Punk is trying to be tricky because AJ is the guest
referee. The only thing Punk cares about is having AJ as guest
referee because he needs her to retain the title. AJ kisses Bryan
for awhile and Punk shakes his head and leaves. She goes after him
and kisses him too. Bryan looks stunned and Punk looks confused. AJ
skips off and does a YES chant on the stage.

Camacho
and Slaughter start things off and it’s quickly off to Santino. He
gets in trouble in the evil dirty foreign corner and Drew pounds away
a bit. A slam is countered and it’s hot tag to Duggan. There’s the
Three Point Clothesline but everything breaks down. The ring is
mostly cleared and the Cobra gets the pin on Hunico at 2:25.

Back
to the party where Little Jimmy is jumping up and down. Sandow comes
in and unplugs the cord. He says this isn’t what our founding
fathers fought for. Ryder gets in his face but Sandow has a speech
ready. A fight breaks out with the people chanting Ryder. Zach gets
the punch bowl but it goes onto Eve. Everyone laughs at her and it’s
time to keep dancing.

Hawkins
and Reks both think they can beat Ryback but Hawkins won the coin
toss and gets to face him.

Ryback
vs. Curt Hawkins

Hawkins
tries a sleeper but gets caught in the Over the Shoulder Boulder
Holder. Ryback slams his head into the mat and hits an overhead
choke suplex. Hawkins gets his head taken off by a clothesline and
the Shell Shock gets the pin at 1:08.

Sheamus
is out of the battle royal tonight.

Raw
Moment: Vince Appreciation Night. Donald Trump made it rain money.

Here’s
Teddy to thank the fans for letting him be the GM this week.

Battle
Royal

Alberto
Del Rio, Kane, Jack Swagger, John Cena, Heath Slater, Daniel Bryan,
CM Punk, Big Show, Great Khali, Brodus Clay, Damien Sandow, Tensai,
Ezekiel Jackson, Justin Gabriel, Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston, Zach
Ryder, Santino Marella, Cody Rhodes, Christian

Only
the big names get entrances as per usual. At the moment I’m probably
missing some names but i’ll fill them in as we go. Show throws out
Justin and Brodus quickly. A bunch of people team up to throw out
Khali. I’m missing one guy but I’m not sure if Sheamus was replaced
or now. Ryder knocks out Sandow and Cody throws out Santino. Oh
Christian is #20. Show shoves out Kofi and Cody as we take a break.

Back
with ten guys to go as Bryan and Punk slug it out. Bryan stands in
front of the ropes and Punk charges at him, eliminating both guys.
Ok so we have Kane, Ziggler, Cena, Christian, Del Rio, Tensai, Ryder
and Big Show to go. Big Show chokeslams Cena but Kane chokeslams Big
Show. Tensai goes after Kane and pounds him into the corner. Cena
erupts and beats up everyone before tossing Del Rio. Kane takes an
AA but Tensai slows Cena down.

Christian
and Ryder work on Big Show but that gets them nowhere. Cena dumps
Tensai but Show dumps Cena immediately thereafter. So it’s Big Show,
Ryder, Christian, Ziggler and Kane. Show spears Ryder down and
easily tosses out Christian to get us down to four. Ziggler puts
Show in the sleeper but Kane kicks Show in the head to put them both
out.

It’s
Ryder vs. Kane now which isn’t the pairing I was expecting. Kane
pounds him down but runs into the corner knees and the Broski Boot.
Ryder tries the Rough Ryder because he’s not that bright, but he
escapes the chokeslams and low bridges Kane for the elimination and
the win at 10:50.

Rating:
C+. Why not? Seriously, why
not? You can’t say this was predictable and it was pretty fun at the
same time. Ryder has nothing to do and it’s good to give him a
featured spot on next week’s show. This is probably Ryder’s second
biggest win ever and maybe it’ll be the start of a new push for him.
Nothing special here but I had a good time with it.

Overall
Rating: C+. This is one of
those shows that’s more based around fun than quality. That’s ok but
I’d kind of like to see something that actually matters on Smackdown
once in awhile. This felt like any other episode and the live aspect
didn’t really change anything other than the day it was airing on.
As for the American aspect of it, there was almost nothing here other
than some standard comedy bits and Duggan/Slaughter’s required
appearances. Nothing to see here but it was nothing particularly bad
so we’ll go with a little above average.

Results

Layla/Great
Khali b. Aksana/Antonio Cesaro – Layout to Aksana

Cody
Rhodes b. Christian – Cross Rhodes

Dolph
Ziggler b. Alex Riley – Zig Zag

Santino
Marella/Sgt. Slaughter/Jim Duggan b. Hunico/Camacho/Drew McIntyre –
Cobra to Hunico

Ryback
b. Curt Hawkins – Shell Shock

Zach
Ryder won a battle royal last eliminating Kane