Smackdown – October 12, 2012

Date:
October 12, 2012

Location:
HP Pavilion, San Jose, California

Commentators:
Josh Matthews, John Bradshaw Layfield

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’ve
got three shows left before HIAC and things are starting to shape up.
The main thing is that tonight Orton is going to be here, likely
confronting Del Rio. Other than that we’ll likely see more from
Sheamus vs. Big Show. The calendar says it’s time to lock them in a
cage so the story better be ready for it, no matter how big of a jump
it may be. Let’s get to it.

Do
You Know Your Enemy? Mine is a house guest at the moment.

No
Cole tonight? Ok then.

Tonight
there’s a KO Punch vs. Brogue Kick Challenge which starts right now.
Here’s Booker to explain what’s going on. He talks about how
everyone is wondering about which is stronger and we have the power
of the punch machine from long ago on NXT. Both guys come out and
Show thinks this is stupid. He won’t go first and says if you want
to know how strong his punch is, ask everyone he’s knocked out. The
fans boo which ticks Show off. Sheamus says he’ll go first if Show
won’t.

Sheamus
didn’t hit it perfectly but gets a score of 1322 pounds per square
inch. Show thinks shenanigans are afoot and won’t do it. He rants
some more and Sheamus asks if he needs a hug. Is it that Show is
afraid of losing? It can’t be more embarrassing than Show’s last
time as world champion. That’s enough to tick Show off and he gets
1809 pounds per square inch to destroy Sheamus’ score.

Sheamus
says that’s impressive but the machine is standing still. Tensai
jumps Sheamus but Booker sends him to the back.

This
is after a break. Tensai does a full entrance while Sheamus is still
in the ring. They start brawling in the aisle with Sheamus pounding
away on the bald one. Sheamus blocks a shot into the post and sends
Tensai into it instead. They get inside for the bell and Sheamus
charges into the corner and starts pounding away. Tensai gets in an
elbow to the face but Sheamus takes out the knee for two.

A
clothesline puts the champion down and we’re told that Tensai means
destruction. Why did it take that long to tell us? It could be
because no one cares. Sheamus hits his ax handles and a powerslam
for two. Tensai clotheslines him down again but the backsplash
misses. White Noise sets up the Brogue Kick for the pin at 3:36.

Rating:
D+. This was just a step above
a squash which is about all Tensai is good for anymore. I’d be
stunned if he still had a job around Wrestlemania time. Sheamus and
Big Show should have an entertaining brawl and they’ve done a good
job of not letting either of the finishers hit, which is the main
point of the feud. That’s a good idea for the feud and it’s got me
interested in seeing the match.

We
get a video from two weeks ago after Smackdown with Orton getting
beaten down by Del Rio.

Ricardo
and Del Rio are in the back and Ricardo is nervous about Orton
finding them. Alberto says it’s cool and sends Ricardo to find
Orton.

Ricardo
is looking for Orton in the back and he hears something hissing. He
finds the Cobra with a Santino attached. Santino warns Ricardo of
the Viper being somewhere around here and Ricardo storms off.

Slater,
Mahal and McIntyre declare themselves The Band and proceed to play
air guitar together. This is as dumb as it sounds. Also they come
out to “I’m a one man band” for their theme music. JBL freaks
out over the idea of Rock Paper Scissors picking if Ryder or Santino
start. It’s Ryder vs. Mahal to start with the guy from Long Island
taking over. Off to Santino who comes in off the bottom rope to go
after Mahal’s arm. The saluting headbutt misses and it’s off to
Slater.

Heath
and Jinder pound away on Marella in the corner but Santino rolls away
and dives for a tag….but he comes up short. That’s a nice twist.
The second attempt works though and Ryder hits the knees in the
corner and a middle rope dropkick. Broski Boot gets one and
everything breaks down. Ryder has to take out McIntyre and the
distraction lets Slater hit a falling forward cutter (can we outlaw
new variations of that move already? There must be six people
between WWE and NXT using some form of a cutter or some form of a
neckbreaker) for the pin at 3:51.

Rating:
D+. Well assuming they’re going
for a low level comedy act for The Band, they’re hitting it
perfectly. Slater is much better suited for the comedy putz role
than as the leader of a faction, and the air guitar thing is dumb,
but I think that’s the point. They’re fine for stuff like this and
for getting destroyed by a guy like Ryback or Brodus too.

We
get a clip from Raw of HELL NO surviving somehow against Del Rio and
Ziggler. Ziggler has touted a challenge to a match with Kane
tonight.

Ziggler
goes right at him but Kane throws him down into the corner. Dolph
keeps charging at Kane in the corner but he gets shoved back every
time. Kane sends him over the ropes but Ziggler skins the cat. That
goes badly for him as Kane kicks him to the floor as we take a break.
Back with Kane getting guillotined on the top but Ziggler jumps into
a choke. The chokeslam is countered into a Fameasser for two and
Dolph takes over.

A
swinging neckbreaker gets one on Kane and Ziggler stomps away for a
bit. A series of elbows gets two and Josh talks about Ziggler being
champion for five days. Wasn’t it more like an hour? Kane comes
back with a clothesline for two and a low dropkick for the same.
Kane hits a side slam and goes up for the clothesline, only to get
crotched by Dolph. Ziggler gets knocked off the top but grabs the
briefcase to knock Kane out of the air, drawing the DQ at 6:03 shown
of 9:33.

Rating:
C-. This didn’t have the time
to go anywhere but Ziggler was wrestling like a face for the first
half of the match and it was working. He’s a guy that could be
something similar to Shelton Benjamin from back in 2005 who was more
athletic and talented than almost anyone else on the roster, but with
some charisma unlike the vacuum that Benjamin was.

Bryan
comes in for the save and Striker comes in to talk to the arguing
champions. It’s a NO Lock and a chokeslam for the annoying
interviewer.

Ricardo
is still looking for Orton. He walks past a door and hears an
electronic version of Orton’s voice. It’s Hornswoggle playing with a
Brawling Buddy. Ricardo steals it and beats it up.

We
get a clip from the Larry King segment on Raw.

Miz
is on commentary. Kofi charges into the corner which goes about as
well as a small guy charging at Show in the corner can be expected
to. Miz runs down his long resume and Show chops Kofi down. JBL
talks about hazing Miz when Miz started in hopes of making Miz get
better. JBL: “Josh when I haze you it’s because I hope you quit.”
Kofi gets in a kick in the corner and actually drops Show. Boom
Drop hits but Trouble in Paradise is easily blocked. WMD gets the
pin at 2:12.

Miz
comes in to talk some trash to Kofi post match. No attack though.

Ricardo
is with Del Rio again when Bryan comes in again. Trash is talked and
they have a match later.

Layla
and Kaitlyn are with Booker and they’ve found a blonde wig in Eve’s
bag. Apparently Aksana found the wig. Eve comes in and says she
found a blonde wig in Teddy’s bag. Booker, Layla and Kaitlyn leave
and Eve and Teddy don’t like each other. This is so stupid.

Cara
fires away with kicks to start and there’s the spinning armdrag out
of the corner. We head to the corner with Sandow coming out with a
Russian legsweeo and wind up elbow. Cara armdrags and ranas Sandow
to the apron and enziguris Sandow to the floor. A big dive from the
top takes Cody down as he tries to help Damien. Back inside there’s
another enziguri to Damien and Cody gets ejected for being attacked.
Damien yells at the referee, allowing Cara to hit a West Coast Pop
for the pin at 3:17.

Rating:
C. Nothing great here but it
sets up the tournament final on Raw a little bit better which was the
point here. Sandow has a lot of potential but I’m not liking him in
the tag team. It’s taking the focus off of him which is something he
doesn’t need when he’s still pretty hot at the moment. The match was
just ok.

Bryan
tells Kane not to come help him no matter what.

JBL
goes on a rant about how stupid it is to try to manage anger in
wrestling. Both guys go after the shoulder to start with Del Rio
taking over by pounding Bryan down into the corner. Bryan changes
his strategy and kicks out the knee for two. Bryan moonsaults out of
the corner and hits a clothesline as the crowd is getting fired up.
There are the YES kicks but Del Rio comes back with a kick of his own
in the corner.

Bryan
sends Del Rio to the floor but misses the running knee strike.
Alberto sends him into the barricade and we take a break. Back with
Bryan charging into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two. Del Rio
works on the arm but can’t hook the cross armbreaker. Bryan counters
into the NO Lock but Ricardo has the referee. Alberto crawls from
the middle of the ring all the way to the rope for the break.
Alberto grabs the cross armbreaker while they’re still in the ropes
and sends the arm of Bryan into the post. The armbreaker goes on in
the middle of the ring and Bryan taps completely clean at 6:54 shown
of 10:24.

Rating:
C+. Not bad here and it’s nice
to see the armbreaker actually get a win. That’s one of Del Rio’s
(numerous) problems: his finisher rarely wins anything so it’s hard
to take it seriously. I’m not sure what this does or why Ziggler and
Del Rio are feuding with the tag champions in the first place other
than to give the champions something to do, but I really don’t see
the point in having Bryan lose to a member of a team that won’t even
be number one contenders after Monday.

Alberto
says that he doesn’t think Orton is here (even though multiple people
told Ricardo they had seen him) and we see clips of the attack from a
few weeks ago and of Show beating on Orton on Main Event. Del Rio
says that Orton is just a garden snake and that Randy is smart to
hide. Alberto mocks Orton’s pose and mocks the twist into the RKO
position, only to find himself face to face on the mat with Orton.
That was pretty cool. Orton destroys Alberto and sends him into the
steps. Ricardo breaks up the Elevated DDT off the table as Del Rio
runs. Orton RKOs Rodriguez onto the table to end the show.

Overall
Rating: C+. This was a somewhat
awkward show. There’s enough stuff on it to advance the feuds we’ve
got going on, but the main angle didn’t quite work for me. The main
idea of this show was that Orton is back. Ok, that’s fine but it
would have been a lot better if Orton hadn’t been in a match two days
before this (which he lost) on Main Event. That’s the big problem
with having so many shows: it makes things you see elsewhere seem a
lot less important. We’ve reached the point where a lot of HIAC is
set so there wasn’t much new added tonight, and that’s ok. Decent
show this week.

Sheamus
b. Tensai – Brogue Kick

The
Band b. Santino Marella/Zack Ryder – Falling Cutter to Ryder

Kane
b. Dolph Ziggler via DQ when Ziggler used the MITB Briefcase

Big
Show b. Kofi Kingston – WMD

Sin
Cara b. Damien Sandow – West Coast Pop

Alberto
Del Rio b. Daniel Bryan – Cross Armbreaker

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