PUTTIN’ THAT SMACKDOWN…What Happened Last (Tuesday) Night [Dec. 5th, 2014]

RAW handed the ball off to SmackDown and it took off running for the end zone and I’d say they got a touchdown…or at least made it to within 5 yards.  There was something different yet refreshing about this weeks outing.  We had Santino Marella serving as General Manager and I have to say, he did a great job.  He provides us with the campy, slapstick charm that reminds us that this is all fun and games in the end.  He implemented that energy and added a lighthearted counter to the grittiness of this evening’s events.  I liked it.  The whole show wasn’t anything I would have really expected but none of it really disappointed either. We may just get somewhere with all this yet.

We begin the evening’s events with Marella all dressed up stating to us that he’s the night’s General Manager and for his first order of business, the matter of the Intercontinental Championship.  Let us have a rematch between Dolph Ziggler and Luke Harper.  And so, the boys make their way out and they have themselves a match.  Ziggler continues to give it all he’s got and threw his scrappy self at Harper as much as he could.  Harper for all his specialness, continues to perform well and be oddly engaging.  His wide-eyed, emptiness makes it hard to figure what exactly he’ll do and that’s what makes him interesting to watch. Also, just as a complete aside, I like how both he and Erick Rowan look big and without hygiene yet, I get the feeling that they both smell like baby powder.  I wonder about these sort of things sometimes, the true reality of it but, I digress.  This match goes pretty well until Harper does the unpredictable and straight kicks Ziggler in the nards.   That gets him disqualified so, the Title remains on the line but that doesn’t stop Harper.  He gets out the ring and gets himself a ladder and prepares to destroy Ziggler with it but Ziggler plays possum just long enough to execute a FaceBuster at the last minute, busted junk and all.  We'll revisit this at TLC.

After that, we have the remnants of The Authority faction in the forms of Big Show, Seth Rollins, Kane/Dad and “J&J Security” present themselves.  This was a long-winded promo that I thought could be made to be a little more pointed. Rollins seems to go on and on about nothing and Big Show makes a demonstration of what he plans to do to Erick Rowan at TLC.  Well, GM Marella comes out about now and declares the night’s main event. How’s about, Big Show and Seth Rollins against Ryback and Erick Rowan? Everyone like that? It’s good, no?

Next up, we have The New Day continuing to establish themselves against Cesaro and Tyson Kidd with Natalya on the sidelines.  The match was brief but well done.  Both teams executed cleanly and presented a fine batch of wrestling.  The New Day pick up the win with an intricate finisher that I hear is called a “Backbreaker/Double Stomp”.  It looked a bit precarious but they pulled it off.  As they celebrated, Gold & Stardust light up the big screen to taunt The New Day.  Apparently this is the new feud brewing. We’ll see where it goes.

To follow, we’re scheduled to have a match between Rusev and Dean Ambrose.  Yet, Lana has different ideas.  Since they feel so poorly treated of late, Rusev will not fight.  Ambrose approaches them as he seems to want them to reconsider but Bray Wyatt actually has something to say.  Wyatt mercilessly tosses Ambrose into a few padded barricades and lays some heavy blows to his back. Wyatt then takes a steel chair and appears to try and crush Ambrose’s windpipe by setting one end on the “steel steps” and another underneath Ambrose’s chin and then slamming Ambrose into it.  It was deliciously brutal and purposely so.  The medics come out, they put Ambrose on a stretcher. Kayfabe sold.

Up next, Jey Uso comes out to help settle this juicy feud simmering between Jimmy and The Miz.  The Miz keeps making plays for Naomi, Jimmy’s wife, and in an earlier segment had lovely roses delivered to the lady in an attempt to curry favor.  Jimmy responded by smashing the gift upon the ground, a waste but understandable.  Well, this anger carries over to the match and Jimmy gets himself ejected for wanting a piece of The Miz so bad.  The match itself was short but it didn’t matter because the current drama was being sold so well. We might as well have been outside someone’s house party or something when shit went down.  The humor is maintained by Damien Mizdow though, as he performs his “stunts”.  He also helps with an assist by distracting Jey so The Miz is able to get the win.  This one’s heading straight for Springer. They’re gonna have to bring out the standard chairs instead of the folding ones for these matches.

A Divas match is up next and Naomi just happens to feature going up against Brie Bella.  AJ Lee graces us with her presence on commentary, as well.  AJ was hilarious as usual, trying to hold back her jealousy towards Nikki Bella over losing the Divas Title.  And Nikki was a good heel by taunting her with it.  Brie is getting better at being aggressive in the ring so, she’ll probably get fairly solid as time goes by.   The Bellas try to get Brie the win with some unsportsmanlike play but AJ puts the kibosh on that and Naomi is able to pick up the win.

After a charming promo by Santino, we go into our main event, Rowan & Ryback versus Rollins and Big Show.  This was a good match.  All parties came out and threw down. Rowan shows us that his wrasslin’ is fairly versatile, which I don’t think should be a surprise.  Both he and Harper are solid and I’m glad that they get to develop independently.  Yet, it was Ryback and Rollins who got to mix it up the most and I was impressed with Rollins’ wily moves.  He was creative in trying to make up for the size difference but Ryback does as Ryback does and simply overpowers him, which I have no problem with.  This, as you should know by now, is how I feel things should be.  If Rollins’ opponent is bigger than him by a lot, he should get squashed or he should play dirty.  In any case, to add some drama to this heated match, Dad comes out to try and throw his usual wrench in the works but the referee is not having it and ejects him.  Dad’s great here. He gets all livid.  Takes off his coat like he’s gonna Chokeslam the ref and a bunch of other refs come out and usher him away.  Meanwhile, Ryback proceeds to destroy Rollins and after a few failed attempts, ends Rollins with a hard ShellShock. So…it’s back to you, RAW.

See You Monday (^_~)

-Nicole Alexis.