This is the go-home episode of Smackdown meaning absolutely nothing of relevance or importance will happen on this WWE show that airs two days ahead of Summerslam! WWE should really use these go-home episodes of Smackdown to boost the ratings. Why not announce on Monday Night Raw that we are going to have an important match on Smackdown that will determine another important match at Summerslam? Have two teams duke it out on Smackdown to determine the #1 contender for the tag team championships heading into Summerslam. It wouldn’t be a huge deal that would affect buy rates or anything, but it would still give us Smackdown viewers something to look forward to. I certainly hope we get some good matches at least.
We kick off the show with the Miz TV set already in the ring and ready to go! Miz is decked out in his Hollywood gear. The Miz is on a roll. I sincerely hope he has his working boots on when he walks out to the ring Sunday at Summerslam. A good match from The Miz on a big stage like Summerslam could really help him get back to that next level. The Miz invites his guest tonight out to the ring. Oh no….Its Roman Reigns. This should be interesting to see how good of a promo he can cut in the ring with the Miz. At least this is another opportunity for Roman to get some practice on the mic on the unwatched Smackdown, so if he fails no one will see it.
The Miz starts off talking about how Roman Reigns has been on a hot streak lately and that he is even The Miz’s mom’s favorite superstar. The Miz asks Roman if he is nervous headed into his match against Randy Orton at Summerslam. Roman tries to talk on the mic and Miz cuts him off and asks Roman if he wants advice from The Miz. Roman tries to talk again and The Miz cuts him off again and Roman nails Miz with a punch that knocks Miz out of the ring.
Miz walks to the back as Roman lets the “Roman! Roman! Roman!” chants sink in. Reigns says that he respects Orton because he has won championship after championship. “Which gives Randy every reason to respect me when I beat him at SUMMERSLAM!” Roman says with a odd emphasis on the word “Summerslam”. Short and sweet promo from Roman that was more or less short and not so sweet.
Dean Ambrose vs Cesaro: Awesome! Hopefully these two get some time, this could be an awesome match. Ambrose is headed into Summerslam in a lumberjack match vs Seth Rollins, and Cesaro is headed into Summerslam to be…..a lumberjack. Ugh. Cesaro deserves so much more than this. Why can’t we get a Sheamus vs Cesaro match for the United States Championship at Summerslam? What the Hell is Sheamus doing anyways? Is Darth Vader scheduled to be a lumberjack and Sheamus is going to don the costumer for it? I suppose that are going to be in Hollywood.
Ambrose’s offense is so erratic and different in every match he wrestles. The dude is so good at what he does. Ambrose definitely has a bright future in this company. Ambrose hits Cesaro with a sick tornado DDT and then a few moves later he goes for the same Tornado DDT and Cesaro hits him with a BRUTAL Swiss Death. The fans are chanting “This is awesome!” when Ambrose hits Cesaro with the McGuiness Rebounding Lariat and then Ambrose this Cesaro with Dirty Deeds for the win. ***3/4
This match was a tad too short to go over the four star hump, but it was excellent nonetheless and makes me want to see a rematch and then more rematches after that. WWE’s future is bright.
Seth Rollins comes out on the top of the stage and puts over how neither Ambrose nor Rollins can run or hide at Summerslam in this lumberjack match. Rollins tells Ambrose that he is going to prove to him at Summerslam that he is the future of this company and is better than Ambrose. Rollins tries to give Ambrose the ultimate break up line that any former significant other tries to throw into an argument as the knockout punch. “I never cared about you anyways!” Oooooo sick burn! No, but really. Seth’s promo here was really good, and I still maintain he has been really good in his heel role.
The Miz is in the back holding a bag of ice to his money maker. He runs into Kane and tells Kane that he wants Roman Reigns banned from Miz TV forever. Kane tells Miz that he wants the money maker in the ring tonight against Roman Reigns.
Dolph Ziggler vs Titus O’Neil w/ Heath Slater: Ziggler comes out wearing The Miz’s “Haters Wanted” shirt to taunt The Miz headed into their match for the Intercontinental title at Summerslam. Its little things like this that I wish wrestlers would do more often in feuds. I am making a bold prediction here. Ziggler vs The Miz are stealing the show at Summerslam.
Also, Joe Lanza is nuts. Slater Gator is stupid. Why are these two a team? The only thing that makes sense for these two to team up is that “Slater” and “gator” rhyme. Oddly though, they seem to have good chemistry. I still don’t like it.
The way Ziggler hits the Zig Zag to win is brilliant here. He gave it that “It can come out of nowhere” feel to it. I always stay off the Dolph Ziggler bandwagon when everyone was hot on him, but he has really been winning me over during the last couple of months. **1/2
We then get a recap of the Wyatt vs Jericho feud. What does Bray Wyatt do after Jericho goes back to Fozzy? I predicted in the VoW Summerslam predictions that on Sunday we will see a new Wyatt Family member. I am sticking to my guns, because their stable needs some flavor. Besides Bray Wyatt was at his most entertaining point when he first debuted and appeared to be a Jim Jones like guy who brain washed people into joining his cause. His only cause since then has been creeping people out and losing wrestling matches.
Mark Henry w/ Big Show vs Luke Harper w/ Erick Rowan: I am really digging this new team of Henry and Show. They could definitely add some flavor and variety into the tag team division. Harper and Rowan make their way down to the ring. I really like their entrance with the close up of their faces one at a time and then the generic rock music. It really fits them. Henry gets a “Sexual Chocolates” chant from these smarky Seattle fans.
These two battle it out until Mark Henry goes for a World’s Strongest Slam and Erick Rowan stops him with a big boot to cause a DQ. ½*
During the commercial break Corporate Kane came out and pulled a Teddy Long. He made this a tag team match, brotha!
The Wyatt Family (Luke Harper and Erick Rowan) vs Mark Henry and The Big Show: Rowan and Harper really beat Big Show down here. Rowan hits Show with a nice clothesline on the outside of the ring while Harper hits Show with a nice Superkick inside the ring that results in only a two count. Henry gets the hot tag. Clothesline, clothesline, avalanche, avalanche, and then Henry picks Rowan up for the World’s Strongest Slam, but before he hits it Show punches Rowan with the WMB and then Henry slams Rowan. JBL calls out “If these two are a full time team then the Uso’s are screaming out with fear!” I love that he acknowledged the tag team ranks.
We then get a recap of Stephanie vs Brie.
AJ Lee vs Eva Marie: Hey everybody! You remember this past Monday when Paige interrupted this dream match between Eva Marie and AJ Lee? Well, we get the rematch here! Ugh. Eva Marie is terrible. WWE needs to send her back to NXT to work with Sara Del Ray and spend AT LEAST a year there. Since WWE has gone PG they have no room for these mode-non wrestling Divas.
Paige interrupts this match as well as Paige goes to skip around the ring AJ jumps off the apron, tackles Paige, and viciously attacks Paige. AJ Lee gets counted out and Paige retaliates with a Paige Turner in the ring. Paige skips around the ring and walks out like a bad ass. Paige is so good. The best Diva’s wrestler the WWE has ever had.
Bo Dallas vs Jack Swagger w/ Zeb Colter: This match is short and sweet. Swagger taps Bo Dallas out with the Patriot Lock. And here it goes. Sometime ago on a Smackdown review I predicted that Bo Dallas would be cut from the WWE roster completely in less than a year. His career is headed that direction!
Lana and Rusev come out. Lana says that Rusev dedicates the Flag Match vs Swagger to Vladimir Putin.
We then get a recap of preview of Lesnar vs Cena. I absolutely cannot wait for this match. These two are going to destroy each other and this has the potential to be the best WWE match of 2014.
Roman Reigns vs The Miz: This was actually a really pretty good match. The Miz and Reigns were both at their best. Miz puts Reigns in the figure four, Reigns breaks out of it and hits Miz with the Basement Dropkick. Miz escaped out of the ring to avoid a Superman punch. The Miz started to retreat up the ramp until Dolph Ziggler walked out to scare Miz into going back into the ring. Reigns surprises Miz on the outside with a Superman punch and throw Miz back into the ring for a spear and the win. ***
Final Thoughts:
This was surprisingly a really good episode of Smackdown. I suppose that if a casual fan caught this episode of Smackdown they would be pleasantly surprised with the in-ring action and might be enticed into ordering Summerslam on the WWE Network or PPV after the recaps of the big matches. Thanks for reading!
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