PUTTIN’ THAT SMACKDOWN…What Happened Last (Tuesday) Night [Oct. 31st, 2014]

The Halloween edition of SmackDown was a fine one for the evening.  As I’ve been stating, SmackDown has been consistently giving RAW a run for its money and seeing how I prefer what’s good, I believe WWE Powers That Be should take note.  SmackDown writers are demonstrating that they do know how to put on a solid show and that’s all I’m really asking for at this point.  Just something that reaffirms why I watch in the first place.

In any case, last night begins with Big Show hyping up the Houston, TX crowd with “Yes” chants for we are about to receive an update on our favorite Face, Daniel Bryan.  If you follow this stuff, you already know that he’s due for a Tommy John surgery and so, his absence will be prolonged but we should keep the support going for his return. Fair enough, this I can do. 

We then go into a Divas Battle Royale with AJ Lee joining in on commentary.  As “flustercucks” go, it could have been a lot worse.  There was a lot more actual wrestling going on than I anticipated so, that was cool and I thought the costumes were strangely tasteful.  Most of them were more covered up than they usually are so, I found that a funny little twist on this night when most go their sluttiest.  AJ, as usual, was quite colorful on the sidelines.  Nevertheless, once the bell rang one-by-one, divas went flying out the ropes as the chaos ensued.  As the numbers lessened, it was no surprise who was left standing.  Earlier, Nikki Bella in a previously recorded promo, sent Brie off to fetch a mis-sent Louis Vuitton purse which just happens to cause Brie to miss the Battle Royale.

So, when the playing field gets whittled down, we’re not too surprised that Natalya goes for Nikki once she finds an opening but ends up scrapping with Alicia Fox who eventually pushes Natalya out the ring.  Paige, dressed as SummerRae, finds herself face-to-face with Nikki and they go at it pretty seriously.  It was kinda sweet.  Paige went a little nuts but Alicia’s overzealousness gets them both ejected when she charges Paige and takes them both out in the process, leaving Nikki as the winner.  AJ, naturally, was unamused by this outcome and gave her best bitch-face from the announce table.  Looks like she and Nikki will be going toe-to-toe soon.

Next on the docket is Dad/Korporate Kane vs. Dolph Ziggler.  Payback for the last time they met up and Ziggler somehow got the win.  Well, Dad was not playing this time around and went into Merciless Mode to beat Ziggler’s ass pretty soundly.  Though the announcers allude to this being a message to those thinking about siding with Cena for Survivor Series, I get a feeling this was just Dad doing what Dad does best.  Let’s face it, storylines aside, I think we’d all expect this to be the outcome time and time again. Yet, Dad’s not finished.  Joey Mercury and Jamie Noble come out to get some hits in.  Seth Rollins isn’t doing anything so, he comes out and gets in a few hits of his own.  Then Dad has even more.  Hey Ziggler, you still got another match and it’s with, wait for it…Seth Rollins.   Rollins, who’s embracing Heel-dom ever so nicely, strolls over with a smarmy smile and Curb Stomps Ziggler as added punctuation to his defeat.

To follow we have Heath Slater, donning his Scarecrow costume in the ring, who quickly discovers that he’s been offered up as sacrifice to the returned Ryback.  As it should have been, this was a quick match with a decent amount of humor sprinkled in.  Slater tries to charm his way out of an ass-beating but, of course, Ryback will only play along for so long. Slater is dispatched with a Shell Shock in good fashion.

Then we have some Miz TV and The Miz and Damien Mizdow have Mark Henry as their guest.  They probe as to why Henry suddenly has it out for Big Show.  They were such good friends.  Well, Henry says that over time, Big Show became jealous of him.  Saw what he could do and the resentment grew.  Now, I have no problem with turning Henry heel if that’s what Creative wants to do but, again, I think this angle is weak at best.  Given what we’ve seen, it’s easier to say Henry is just butt-hurt Big Show got one over on Rusev and he couldn’t.  If he’s so big and strong, why didn’t he squash Rusev?  Fodder they’ll probably use in this new feud yet, still the question remains as to whether this is the best way to go about this heel-turn.  Regardless, Big Show stomps out once Henry makes his case and they waste no time in going at it.   They’re veterans and it showed in their head-to-head.  Even with the sketchy set-up, they threw-down believably and Henry sends Big Show through a barricade, illustrating how he feels about the matter.   So, we’ll be seeing how their beef plays out for the time being.

Next in line, we have a Tag Team match sans Usos for once.  The Dust Bros. take on Los Matadores in a gusty little match.  I suppose it can kinda be disputed that this match up wasn’t fair because Los Matadores have El Torito but, in any case, with some fancy maneuvering they manage to get the win over the Brothers Dust and remind us all that they exist.  They should be used more often, in my opinion.  I was impressed with their debut and think they can definitely help in varying up what’s on offer.

After that, The Great Khali sees if he can put a dent in this Rusev that everyone’s been talking about.  He starts off strong but it isn’t long before Rusev literally gets the jump on him and works him into his Accolade.  He wins via submission and starts to power trip a little bit seeing how no one seems able to stop him.  Well, one person would like to challenge that notion and that’s Sheamus.  With his US Championship Title Belt in hand, he says that he’s more than willing to defend all that it stands for.  Am I the only one that finds it funny that the guy vouching for us isn’t even American?  I’m sure he’s got dual citizenship now but, he ain’t even from here (^_~) Suppose that’s the real American Way.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the title ends up going to Rusev in some ornery twist that sets up some feud with someone.   Could be Henry so he can get his street cred. back officially, Big Show, maybe even Ryback since the WWE needs some strong alternatives and quick.  As always, we shall see.

This brings us to the night’s Main Event in Dean Ambrose and Cesaro in a Trick or Street Fight.  This was basically what you would expect to see.  These 2 go at, I wouldn’t say mercilessly but wholeheartedly.  I wouldn’t be surprised if they had a lot of fun.  With all the pumpkins, candy corn Kendo sticks and Halloween decorations about, there was plenty of carnage to be had and it was.  Both parties were able to give it to the other quite equally.  There was a lot of tit-for-tat until Cesaro lets his guard down and gets some Dirty Deeds into some pumpkin.  I couldn’t help but chuckle that Ambrose had pumpkin smeared on the side of his face for the latter half of the match too.  Ambrose finishes Cesaro off with a jack-o-lantern hat to close this year’s episode of Halloween madness.  We’ll see how things return to "normal" come RAW.

Hope You Had a Good One!

-Nicole Alexis.