PUTTIN’ THAT SMACKDOWN…What Happened Last (Tuesday) Night [Dec. 26th, 2014]

Smackdown continues to remain the saving grace of current WWE television programming.  Having read the spoilers well ahead of time, as I usually do, seeing what was booked as the main event left a sinking feeling in my gut.  We all know that the WWE is doing everything in its power to make this Roman Reigns push work and pairing him with Dolph Ziggler would be a good way to assist this on paper.  But that is what I feared, that it would be the “go-to idea” and would be implemented in random, sub-par fashion just so they can get Reigns “over”.  Yet, I was pleasantly surprised with a pretty solid night of entertaining wrestling, main event included.  I like this Steven Guerreri that’s taken the Smackdown helm, even gave him a shout out on the Twitters ‘cause I didn’t think he’d successfully cater to all the factions (fans, shareholders, executives) and still come up with something watchable. I stand corrected and perhaps shouldn’t have doubted for this has been the case ever since he took over but, you know…these uncertain times can be disconcerting.  I appreciate how Smackdown maintains its status as a glimmer of hope.

We start off the night in retro-hokey style with Hulk Hogan continuing General Manager duties since we are still without a permanent rudder for both RAW and SmackDown. With Hogan out there, doing his job of getting the Sioux City, Iowa crowd ready for the night’s festivities, some sort of Heelitude had to come out to bust up the party and Seth Rollins doesn’t disappoint.  In two shakes of a lamb’s tail, he trots out with his cronies in J&J Security, wearing different color suits so it’s easier to tell ‘em apart.  He gets on his high horse, tries to show Hogan some respect but basically falls back on his basic argument on how Hogan’s washed up, Rollins is the future, and this whole thing sucks without The Authority telling everyone what to do.  Well, that prompts Dolph Ziggler to strut himself out there with his well-deserved Intercontinental Championship belt to respectfully disagree with Rollins on a few of his points.  Then Big Show comes out and threatens to knock Hogan out for some reason. I guess it’s to solidify his heel turn but…wholly unnecessary and meaningless threat in my opinion but whatever, it doesn’t go anywhere because it’s all set-up to prompt Reigns' entrance.  Once he’s in the ring he basically tells Big Show to think twice about starting shit because all he’ll get is punched in the mouth again and goes on to liken Seth Rollins and J&J Security as Big Show’s “wife and kids” that would have to suffer through witnessing the assault. Rollins does a good job of listening and bristles visibly.

It’s at this point that Hogan steps in and says, since none of you seem to like each other, why don’t you box this out later on tonight. Reigns, Ziggler teach Rollins and Big Show what’s what. How’s that sound?  Everyone is strangely fine with this and there we have it!  The main event is set.

For the first match, though we have Ryback and Dad (Kane) go at for one more time.  This was what you’d expect though, these two don’t seem to be pulling their punches as much with each other which is great.  You’d figure this to be a Battle of the Titans.  Dad did get in more hits than he has of late but Ryback officially wins the match with a Shellshock but, all that seems to do is get Rusev to come out and serve up some demolition to Ryback so that he stays in his place.  Dad, naturally, offered up a few more Chokeslams to “The Big Guy” to learn him some more too.  Rusev then settles in for The Accolade and that’s all she wrote.

Then we have a very entertaining Divas match with Naomi and Alicia Fox.  There wasn’t any drama that I knew of going into it but that didn’t prevent these ladies from putting on a great match.  There were plenty of displays of athleticism and creativity from each of them but after landing what I’m hearing is a “split-legged moonsault” to Alicia Fox, Naomi picks up the win like a boss.

Next up, we have Adam Rose and R-Truth go for it with no Bunny in sight.  With Rose now a Heel, it’s interesting to see he still has Rosebuds.  I feel this can easily be given a dark touch. Rose snapping at one of them is my case and point.  They can either spill some of the Ren & Stimpy over to Rose from Luke Harper and Erick Rowan or they can maybe go more Rocky Horror Picture Show and give him shades of Dr. Frank-N-Furter.  Either way, They can 

certainly have some cheeky fun with his turn to the Darkside.  As for the match, R-Truth and Rose appear to be well-paired, chemistry-wise.  They put on a solid match and with Rose pulling off a clean Party Foul, he takes the win.

Next on the docket, Rusev and Dean Ambrose have a dance for the US Championship.  Ambrose gets in there and has no fear. He wouldn’t because he’s the “Lunatic Fringe” so, he’s always ready to get nuts and he does.  He’s relentless with Rusev and Rusev does what he can to contain this ballistic firefly.  Yet, just as it seems like Ambrose may actually get the win, Bray Wyatt makes another one of his “unscheduled” appearances, forcing a disqualification but not preventing him and Ambrose from brawling all around the ring.  Ambrose eventually finds the surplus chairs again and starts tossing them in.  Wyatt, aware of what that music means, takes his leave for he apparently wasn’t prepared to go that far?

To follow, Jimmy Uso and The Miz continue to have their spat and The Miz pulls out whatever tricks he can to throw Jimmy off but, he’s just not having it.  Miz’s bids for mercy are met with kicks to the face.  They have a brief but fun tussle.  Jimmy did a great job of mugging the cameras during his finisher “splash” from the top of the ropes.  His statement made and the feud maintained…for now.

This brings us to our Main Event, Ziggler and Reigns vs. Big Show and Rollins (+ J&J Security).  As I said, this wasn’t the clusterfuck I thought it was going to devolve into.  It was actually fairly entertaining but, I found it interesting how it served as a good comparison showing as well.  Ziggler and Rollins start it off and they continue to work well with each other.  Ziggler, becoming more comfortable with his new “hot contender” status, is proving to be an entertaining counter for Rollins. They go for a bit before Show gets tagged in and the pace does slow down, which may have led to the few “Big Slow” chants that wafted through but what are you gonna do?  It takes a lot to get all that going and he’s far from his prime.  Give the guy a break.  Anyway, they box a little before Ziggler, in somewhat overdramatic fashion gets the tag to Reigns.  Rollins is in the ring for a second before he bails out, remembering what tends to happen when he’s up against Reigns.  So, he hands it off to Big Show to prolong their sudden feud.  Now, here’s where the juxtaposition doesn’t work out so well.  I’m not sure if it’s the opposite in Big Show or not but it’s clear that Rollins and Ziggler are definitely ahead of Reigns when it comes to ring work.  Tag Team set-ups have always been a weak spot with him anyway and Show, I give a pass because he’s done his time and paid his dues.  Like Dad, he doesn’t really have much else to prove in the twilight of his career other than help put the up-and-comers over.  The end of the match is a bit a sloppy but palatable with Reigns getting the pin yet, the truth is out.  Not that this is a bad thing, though. 

The consensus is that Reigns isn’t quite ready yet for a full push and I think these final days of 2014 are validating that sentiment but, not necessarily in a devastating way.  I’m proud of Ziggler and I’m impressed with Rollins’ embracement of the Heel Philosophy.  Reigns simply needs to mature as a wrestler and that will only happen with time.  He’ll only get better and I’m sure he’ll be up to speed with these guys relatively soon.  It’s just hard to say if it will be in time for Wrestlemania 31.  Something I was never really on the bandwagon for pushing him for, anyway.  I respect the spontaneity of the WWE Universe.  I think it’s what makes it so special as a form of entertainment but its natural ebbs and flows need to be respected, much like with any ecosystem.  It does no one any favors to rush the process of success.  It must happen of its own accord.  We the audience will pretty much reject any attempt to bypass this natural way of things.  If the WWE wants Reigns to work, they’re going to have to flesh out his character, devise some truly engaging angles and most of all, let him develop and grow naturally.  I’m not saying don’t kick his ass, he should get worked out if he really wants this push to take but the process must evolve naturally for everyone to be happy with the result.  In the meantime, I think it’s best to get behind Ziggler, as far as Faces go.  He’s earned it and maybe in a few months to a year, he and Reigns can fight about it (*^_~*) How's that?

Okay RAW, try not to fuck it up too much.

See You Monday,

-Nicole Alexis.