Smackdown – August 16, 2013

Date:
August 16, 2013

Location:
SAP Center, San Jose, California

Commentators:
Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We’re
two days away from Summerslam and the card is finally set. The main
matches have gotten the best builds, which makes the most sense given
that they’re selling the show entirely. There isn’t much to talk
about tonight as we’ll mainly be focusing on a final push towards Los
Angeles and Summerslam. Let’s get to it.

Theme
song gets us going.

Here
are the Wyatts to open things up. After a video recapping the Wyatts
vs. Kane, Bray says the Family’s actions have been misinterpreted
lately. Once upon a time there was a special little boy who went to
school but the kids there were cruel. The boy was bigger than the
other kids so they made fun of him and beat him up for being himself.
One day that boy decided to change the world, but instead he ran
away and hid behind another crutch.

He
hid behind a mask and thought it would make everything better. That
boy was Kane and everyone eats up his lies. Well Bray Wyatt says no
more while crawling around on his knees. He walks on water just
because he can and bites the head off a snake just to taste its
poison. This Sunday in the City of Angels, Bray will prove that one
man’s hell is another man’s paradise, so follow the buzzards.

Kane’s
pyro goes off and Kane runs in from behind, taking out the Family
before going in to fight Wyatt himself. Bray charges at Kane but
gets punched down in the corner. The Family comes back in again and
Bray runs Kane over, allowing the Family to beat him down. Bray is
in the corner, bending over backwards so he can watch this upside
down. Sister Abigail lays Kane out. Bray continues to be so eerily
creepy that the character is perfect.

Jobber
entrance for Sandow as he handcuffs the briefcase to the post again.
Sandow headbutts him down to start but gets his neck snapped across
the top rope. A middle rope dropkick gets two for Christian but
Sandow drapes him over the top rope to take over. Off to a body vice
before Christian is thrown to the floor again. A whip into the steps
puts Christian down again and we take a break.

Back
with Sandow holding a chinlock but Christian fights out with elbows
to the ribs. Sandow fires off some knees to the head to take over
but gets backdropped down moments later. The reverse DDT gets two on
Sandown but he ducks a cross body to put Christian down again.
Christian’s sunset flip out of the corner gets another near fall but
Sandow cartwheels out of the Killswitch. The Russian legsweep sets
up the Wind-Up Elbow but Christian small packages Sandow for the pin
at 5:20 shown of 8:05.

Rating:
C. The match was ok but the
same problems are here as they are in all Sandow matches: he never
feels like a favorite to win anything and his offense isn’t building
to anything because he doesn’t have a big finisher. I know he has
the Terminus, but when is the last time that won a match? Sandow
needs some big changes to his in ring work if anyone is going to buy
him as a threat. The worst thing is most of his problems aren’t even
his fault. He’s been booked as a loser and it’s really hard to get
out of that downward spiral.

Post
match Sandow goes after Christian again and gets speared down, just
in case you thought he had some dignity left. Del Rio comes in from
behind and lays out Christian. He says Christian will never be
champion and loads up the cross armbreaker but Christian counters
into the Killswitch. So Del Rio and Sandow just both got laid out in
the stretch of a minute, yet WWE will still wonder why no one is
impressed by either guy.

Renee
Young asks if RVD is worried about the other members of Shield
interfering. He looks over his shoulders and sees Big Show and Mark
Henry. “No, not really.” The giants say they’ll be watching
RVD’s back on Sunday.

Natalya
gets us going with Layla with Nattie taking over with a headlock on
the mat. Layla keeps getting taken down but she kicks out of a
Sharpshooter attempt. An AJ distraction lets Layla get in a cheap
shot and it’s off to AJ for a choke. Natalya finally snapmares out
of it and brings in Kaitlyn to clean house. A backbreaker gets two
on AJ and she charges into the fireman’s carry gutbuster for two.
Everything breaks down and Layla trips up Kaitlyn, allowing AJ to hit
a Shining Wizard for the pin at 4:18.

Rating:
C-. Not much to see here but
Kaitlyn’s fall down the Divas’ ladder continues. At least her feud
with AJ is pretty much done after this Sunday as we’re moving towards
Layla vs. Kaitlyn and AJ vs. Natalya. I don’t know if someone has
taken over the division but it’s been much better lately.

Ryback
laughs off the question of why he isn’t on Summerslam. He says he
lives for brutality and beats up a backstage guy to show how mean he
is. Ryback has a spiffy new vest.

Video
on Punk vs. Lesnar on Sunday, focusing on Punk’s time as a Paul
Heyman Guy. I think some of this is from Punk’s documentary. Punk
asked Heyman to not accompany him to the ring anymore and Heyman cost
Punk the MITB case. Heyman brought Lesnar back in and Brock
destroyed Punk, setting up Summerslam. Really good video here,
highlighting everything in the feud and doing a good job of making
the match feel like it’ll be a war.

We
recap the opening with the Wyatt Family and Kane.

Rollins
ducks a right hand from Henry to start and is easily shoved into the
wrong corner. A hard slam puts Seth down again and Van Dam comes in
with a kick off the top rope. The standing moonsault gets two but
Ambrose comes in off a blind tag and clotheslines RVD in the back of
the head. A loud WE WANT BIG SHOW chant starts up as Reigns comes in
with a big slam of his own. We hit the chinlock for a few moments
before Roman just stands in front of Rob and looks at him.

A
quick spin kick puts Reigns down and it’s off to Big Show off the hot
tag. Big Show cleans house until Roman low bridges him to the floor.
Show seemed to be grabbing his hamstring or hip. Henry runs over
Reigns and throws him at the announce table but Rollins dives over
the top to take Mark out. Big Show beats the count at nine and
knocks Ambrose out cold with the right hand. Rob comes in with the
Five Star for the pin at 4:48.

Rating:
C. Remember when Shield was
stealing the show and having all those great matches against all star
teams? Now they’re losing in five minutes to another all star team
on Smackdown. This combination could have had a good match with
Shield if they had the time to work a tag team formula, but with less
than five minutes and a third of that being spent on the floor and on
the ending, it didn’t get to go anywhere. It was fun while it lasted
though.

Colter
calls Miz a phony and blames Hollywood types like him for allowing
the destruction of America. Miz takes him straight into the corner
and rains down right hands before going after the leg. Jack kicks
him away and sends Miz into the corner before doing pushups on Miz’s
back. A shoulder block puts Miz down but he catches Swagger in the
reverse DDT backbreaker and a neckbreaker. The short DDT gets two
for Miz and he goes up top, only to be distracted by Cesaro and
shoved off the top. Colter and Cesaro are ejected, allowing Miz to
get a quick rollup for the pin at 3:18.

Rating:
D+. For some reason I still
like Miz. He’s nothing special in the ring and would be better
suited as a commentator, but I still like him. This was just a way
to remind us what Miz does before he’s host of Summerslam, which I’m
guessing means he’ll have authority of some sort at the PPV. Swagger
continues to be nothing of note.

Non-title.
Feeling out process to start with Ryder grabbing an armbar. Axel
comes back with right hands and sends Zack into the corner to take
over. Ryder gets the knees up in the corner and dropkicks Axel down,
only to miss the Broski Boot. Curtis ducks a high cross body and a
hard clothesline puts Ryder down again. A quick belly to back suplex
puts Ryder down as a CM Punk chant starts. Axel hits his neckbreaker
into a Diamond Cutter for the pin at 2:59. Pretty much a squash.

Post
break Heyman says he was outsmarted on Raw by CM Punk. Punk snuck up
on them and hit Lesnar in the face with a camera, so congratulations.
Heyman talks about the marketing for Summerslam shifting from Punk
wanting revenge to being hunted for revenge. Punk goes down this
Sunday.

Video
recapping Cena vs. Bryan. The idea of having Cena pick Bryan as the
opponent was brilliant.

No
DQ. Bryan takes him to the mat and hooks Barrett’s legs for a
surfboard but stomps Wade’s knees into the mat. Wade comes back with
a shot to the head but Bryan backflips over him in the corner and
hits the running clothesline. Now a clothesline from Barrett puts
Daniel on the floor and Wade whips him into the barricade. A big
boot misses and Barrett gets caught on the barricade, allowing Bryan
to fire off some kicks.

Goat
Boy pulls out a table but gets rammed into the announce table and
sent into the steps to put him down again. The table is sent into
the ring but Barrett brings in a kendo stick for some shots to the
back. Bryan gets the stick away and Barrett bails to the floor, only
to get caught by the FLYING GOAT. Back in and the missile dropkick
puts Wade down….and here’s Vince. In a PLAID SUIT.

We
take a break and come back with Barrett getting two off a
neckbreaker. Vince is looking on from ringside. The table is set up
in the corner but Bryan hurricanranas out of a powerbomb. The flying
knee off the apron puts Wade down but Barrett sends him into the post
to take over. Vince: “YES! YES! YES!” Back in and Wade drives
the chair into Bryan’s ribs but a middle rope chair shot only hits
mat.

Bryan
Hulks Up and hits the running dropkick in the corner before picking
up the kendo stick. He alternates between stick shots to Wade’s
shoulder and kicks to the chest. The big kick to the head misses and
Bryan puts on the YES Lock but Vince pulls the referee out before the
submission. Barrett hits the Bull Hammer and Brad Maddox comes out
for a regular speed two count.

Bryan
escapes a pumphandle slam and kicks Wade in the head but Brad won’t
count. Daniel stares him down and Vince slips the kendo stick to
Barrett. Wade knocks Brad out by mistake and Bryan puts Barrett
through the table. Vince puts on the referee shirt but here’s HHH to
referee. Bryan hits a swan dive on Barrett for the pin at 13:15
shown of 16:15.

Rating:
C+. Did we really just have
four referees (if you count Vince) for a Smackdown main event? This
was getting close to the Attitude Era style of so insane it’s
entertaining. However, this match makes me worried about what Cena
vs. Bryan is going to be like. Those two could have a masterpiece
but they might have Vince and HHH take the match over and drag it
down. If Cena’s arm is that badly hurt though, that might be all
they can do.

Orton
comes out and holds up the briefcase to end the show.

Overall
Rating: C+. The matches weren’t
all that great but this show was about getting us ready for
Summerslam. They did a great job at hyping up Punk vs. Lesnar with
some of the videos and I’m looking forward to Wyatt vs. Kane more
than I was earlier. That being said, Cena vs. Bryan is looking
shakier and shakier every day with Vince and HHH being there because
there’s nothing wrong with making the main event of Summerslam a pit
stop in their big story. This was a good enough show though and did
its job of promoting the PPV.

Christian
b. Damien Sandow – Small Package

AJ
Lee/Layla b. Kaitlyn/Natalya – Shining Wizard to Kaitlyn

Rob
Van Dam/Big Show/Mark Henry b. Shield – Five Star Frog Splash to
Ambrose

The
Miz b. Jack Swagger – Rollup

Curtis
Axel b. Zack Ryder – Neckbreaker into a faceplant

Daniel
Bryan b. Wade Barrett – Swan Dive