Smackdown – November 8, 2013

Date:
November 8, 2013

Location:
Time Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte, North Carolina

Commentators:
Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

Back
to the blue show tonight which might mean another Cena appearance.
Last week’s show was definitely an upgrade over what they had been
doing lately but it’s hard to say where things go from here. If
there’s one thing WWE is notoriously bad at doing it’s keeping
momentum going, with the third hour of this week’s Raw being a prime
example. This show has to be better than the Orton vs. Big Show
segment, which we’ll likely see five or more times tonight. Let’s
get to it.

A
video on the Wyatts cuts off the opening sequence. It’s a recap of
the Family being creepy and targeting Punk and Bryan over the last
week and a half.

Here’s
Punk with something to say. He talks about how Best in the World can
mean a lot of things to a lot of different people. Apparently to the
Wyatt Family it means the target of a three on one beatdown. No one
has been brave enough to go ask the Wyatt Family why they’re coming
after him, but tonight Punk is here to fight instead of talk. He’s
been outnumbered before but he squashed the biggest rat in the WWE
named Paul Heyman. Punk is going to be here all night long so come
get him.

Instead
Punk gets gets Curtis Axel who says Punk needs to shut his mouth.
Axel doesn’t care about the Wyatts because they can wait in line.
The two of them have some unfinished business because Punk got rid of
Paul Heyman, so Vickie Guerrero has granted him a match with Punk
right now.

In
case you haven’t seen Punk beat him up enough yet. Axel stomps him
down into the corner to start but charges into an elbow to the jaw.
A top rope ax handle puts Curtis down again and a neckbreaker does
the same. Punk kicks Axel in the leg to flip him upside down and
they head to the floor. CM drapes him ribs first over the barricade
and we take a break. Back with Punk fighting out of an armbar but
not being able to hit the GTS. Axel bails to the floor and whips
Punk into the barricade to take over.

Back
inside and a backbreaker sets up a middle rope elbow for two on Punk.
Axel charges into a boot and gets caught by a middle rope cross body
for two but Curtis comes back with a clothesline for a near fall of
his own. CM grabs a belly to back suplex and there’s another
neckbreaker for two. The running knee to the face looks to set up
the Macho Elbow but the Wyatts look to interrupt. There’s no sigh of
them but Axel gets in a cheap shot and the PerfectPlex is good for
two. Punk gets bored though and hits the GTS to end Axel for the pin
at 8:22 shown of 11:52.

Rating:
C-. Man, when the distraction
trick can’t even get you a win, just give up. This is one of those
pairings where there’s no point in watching because the ending is
never in doubt. Axel’s status has just been crushed by this point
and unfortunately for him, a lot of that isn’t his fault. There’s no
reason to care about someone when they never win a match, which Axel
barely ever does anymore.

Post
match Bray pops up on screen but blows out the lantern without saying
anything.

The
good guys do a cool mix of their entrances with the Usos doing their
chant and jumping to start the pyro which sets off R-Truth’s song.
JBL: “Truth and I are like Lil Wayne and Eminem.” Cole: “You
lip sync?” Slater gets chopped by both Usos but Mahal makes a
blind tag and hits a running knee to Jimmy’s face for two. A knee
drop gets another two and it’s back to Slater.

There’s
a double slingshot suplex to set up a triple team spot from 3MB with
McIntyre and Mahal lifting Jimmy up so Slater can hit a running
neckbreaker. We get a chinlock instead of a cover though, allowing
Jimmy to fight up and hit a spinning kick to the face. Mahal comes
in but walks into a Bubba Bomb, allowing the hot tag to the hometown
Truth. The Lie Detector gets two on Jinder and everything breaks
down. The Usos hit the stereo dives, leaving Truth in the ring to
hit Little Jimmy on Mahal for the pin at 3:58.

Rating:
C+. That’s probably high but
this was as fun of a short match as I’ve seen in a very long time.
This was a basic formula tag match and it worked like a charm. You
had one Uso get beaten down by some nice double team moves until the
hometown guy came in to clean house. Throw in a nice spot with the
double dives and the match gave the crowd something to cheer for.
Fun stuff.

On
the way to the ring AJ “plugs” Total Divas before saying let’s
focus on the actual wrestling. Our top heel in this division for
whatever reason ladies and gentlemen. Tamina shoves Cameron down to
start but the funky one comes back with a sloppy looking headlock
takeover out of the corner. The Funkadactyls drop Tamina with a
double dropkick before low bridging her out to the floor. Tamina
pulls Naomi out to the floor and clotheslines her down to take over
for the first time.

Off
to AJ for a guillotine choke but Naomi fights out and hits a LOUD
enziguri to put AJ down. The hot tag brings in Cameron who isn’t the
girl you want to clean house. A cross body gets two on AJ but
Cameron misses a charge into the corner. Back to Tamina who gets
caught in a sitout bulldog for two. Cameron’s hurricanrana out of
the corner is caught in a powerbomb for two as everything breaks
down. Naomi drills AJ with a solid forearm but Tamina clotheslines
her down even harder. AJ is all ticked off so she comes in and puts
Cameron in the Black Widow for the submission at 4:32.

Rating:
C+. ……what the heck was
that??? I can’t believe I’m saying this but I liked this match quite
a bit. All four of the girls looked good out there and played their
rolls perfectly, but on top of that everyone was crisp and hitting
their spots perfectly. Nothing looked stupid or heavily
choreographed and the match was as good of a Divas match as I’ve seen
in MONTHS.

Here’s
Alberto Del Rio with something to say. Alberto talks about being a
great Mexican athlete which makes him better than anyone else in the
world, including all of the gringos here. His title was stolen from
him by John Cena, who is only cheered because the fans are stupid.
Cena is a thief, walking around with something he doesn’t deserve.
The fans don’t know this but Del Rio went in to the Cell PPV sick and
with a bad knee, elbow and neck. JBL: “That’s true.” He fought
anyway because he had Mexican pride, and after the rematch, he’ll be
able to say el campeon esta aqui (Spanish for “the champion is
here)!

This
brings out Cena who says he isn’t here to fight because Del Rio is
sick. Therefore, we need to give him a gift. Maybe some Edible
Arrangements (a good one, not the best one), a card that plays Cena’s
theme song, and a card saying sorry for taking the world title, hope
you feel better, make sure to watch the JBL and Cole Show.

Alberto
wants Cena to be serious (Gorilla Del Rio?) and get out but Cena says
make him, because the world champion is two feet away from him. Cena
wants the rematch right now and Alberto says he’ll break Cena’s arm
tonight. Vickie says not so fast and makes the match for Survivor
Series. However, both guys will be in action tonight. It’s Cena vs.
Ryback and Del Rio gets Great Khali, with the latter being right now.

Khali
hits a forearm to the head to start before firing off elbows in the
corner. A hard chop to the chest knocks Del Rio out of the ring and
Khali sends him into the barricade for good measure. Del Rio kicks
the ropes as they come back in to put Khali down, allowing Alberto to
stomp away. Alberto cranks on the arm but Khali fights up and kicks
Del Rio out of the air. More loud chops in the corner have Alberto
in trouble but he grabs an armbreaker over the ropes to stop Khali in
his tracks. Khali shoves him out to the floor but gets caught by the
enziguri in the corner. The cross armbreaker gets the submission at
5:10.

Rating:
D+. The match wasn’t horrible,
but it’s the same problem that so many people in WWE have: no one
believes Khali is going to win, no matter how much he dominates Del
Rio throughout the match. It gives me no reason to get interested in
the match, as the action is nothing special and the ending is already
a given. Why should I care under those circumstances?

Bryan
has a taped up shoulder coming in but goes right after Harper before
the bell. Harper pounds him down into the corner and goes after the
bad shoulder to take Daniel down. There’s the Gator Roll to keep
Bryan on the ground but he’s still able to send Harper to the floor.
The FLYING GOAT connects but Bryan’s bad shoulder lands on the
barricade. Harper gets up first and sends Bryan shoulder first into
the barricade again as we take a break.

Back
with Harper firing off elbows in the corner and throws him across the
ring with ease. We hit the chinlock as the announcers talk about Dr.
Phil for no apparent reason. Bryan tries to fight up but a single
shout to the shoulder puts him back into the corner. Some kicks to
the leg have Harper staggered a bit and there’s a dragon screw leg
whip to put him down.

Bryan
ties up Harper’s legs in a hold before driving in hard shots to the
face, firing up the crowd in the process. Harper gets up a right
hand in the corner to knock Bryan backwards, but Bryan backflips over
him in the corner and hits the running clothesline. The kick kick to
the head is countered into a sitout powerbomb but Bryan gets up at
two. Bryan counters the discus lariat into the YES Lock but Rowan
comes in for the DQ at 6:30 shown of 10:00.

Rating:
B-. They’re sticking to
formulas tonight and they’re working incredibly well so far. This
was a good example of power vs. speed/technical abilities and Harper
looked AWESOME in there. Bryan bounced all over like a pinball and
the ending keeps both guys looking good. Solid effort out there,
which is the point of having Bryan and Punk feud with these guys.

The
beatdown is on but as Bray gets into the ring, Punk comes out for the
save.

We
go back to Raw to recap that infernal closing segment. Good grief we
get it already: Big Show vs. Orton is awesome and we’ll praise its
name forever. Just don’t make me sit through this anymore.

The
weekly sitdown interview with HHH says Kane is the new Director of
Operations, because if there’s one more thing WWE needs, it’s ANOTHER
person with authority. The powers are yet to be revealed, but Kane
has been tweeting about vigilance, which HHH translates as Kane being
more than one dimensional.

Non-title.
Cena comes out, goes to the back, and comes out again because the
first pop wasn’t loud enough. Ryback grabs a headlock to start
before running Cena over with a shoulder block. Back to the headlock
but Cena counters into one of his own. Not the most exciting opening
two minutes to a match. Cena fires off right hands in the corner but
Ryback easily throws him off to block a bulldog.

In
a very impressive power display, Ryback gorilla presses Cena over his
head for probably fifteen seconds before dropping the champion down
onto his face. Cena avoids a charge to send Ryback into the post as
we take a break. Back with Cena countering a Boston Crab into an STF
attempt but Ryback kicks him away. Ryback chokes Cena with his boot
before whipping him hard across the ring for two.

Off
to a front facelock by Ryback which is quickly switched into a
bearhug. Cena fights free and shoulders Ryback down but Ryback
counters the Shuffle into a spinebuster. Shell Shock is countered
into a DDT to put both guys down but it’s Cena up first. The AA is
countered and Ryback’s Jackhammer (called a suplex by Cole) gets two.
Ryback charges with the Meat Hook but gets taken down into the STF.
He gets to the rope in a nice false finish and hits Cena with a weak
spear for two.

The
Shell Shock is countered again and Cena grabs a full nelson, only to
lift him up and pull Cena down into a neckbreaker for a close two. A
high cross body puts Ryback down but he comes right back with a
powerslam (Cole: “Shades of the Bulldog!” He references the
British Bulldog but can’t remember what the Jackhammer?) for two.
They slug it out in the middle of the ring but Ryback scores with the
Meat Hook. The Shell Shock is countered again and this time it’s the
AA for the pin on Ryback at 11:55 shown of 15:25.

Rating:
B. There’s something awesome
about letting two power guys beat the tar out of each other for
fifteen minutes. The counters in this were getting very good by the
end and Cena was busting out some great stuff out there. Ryback
looked like he had Cena if he could hit that one big move but Cena
kept countering in a nice story. This was a good contrast to Khali
vs. Del Rio: Ryback was clearly going to lose, but here the match was
hard hitting an entertaining to make up for that. Really solid main
event here.

Post
match Del Rio comes in to pound away on the arm. After a few moments
of that, he actually goes after the bad arm by wrapping it around the
post. Cena comes back with some right hands and Del Rio runs to end
the show.

Overall
Rating: B+. If we didn’t have
that ridiculous ten minute long recap from Raw (which thankfully was
cut to highlights on the American version), this was one of the best
Smackdowns in months. The worst match was just five minutes long and
the second worst was far from horrible, leaving us with good to very
good matches to fill in the rest of the show. Really fun two hours
of wrestling here with nothing new being stupid. Good stuff.

CM
Punk b. Curtis Axel – GTS

Usos/R-Truth
b. 3MB – Little Jimmy to Mahal

AJ
Lee/Tamina Snuka b. Funkadactyls – Black Widow to Cameron

Alberto
Del Rio b. Great Khali – Cross armbreaker

Daniel
Bryan b. Luke Harper via DQ when Erick Rowan interfered

John
Cena b. Ryback – Attitude Adjustment

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