PUTTIN’ THAT SMACKDOWN…What Happened Last (Tuesday) Night [Apr. 24th, 2015]

Well, Enthusiasts this week’s SmackDown did a great job of getting back to basics.  When I say that, I mean that it got to the point of why we all come together twice a week, to have fun.  I thought this week’s episode was a great time and I’m glad that they took that route going into Extreme Rules.  Granted, I’m not all that interested in the latest Pay Per View but, I’ll watch it anyway just to see what happens, ‘cause I can at the moment.  Not sure I’ll do Payback the same service but if things proceed as they have, I just might make a habit of this WWE Network subscription.

We open in Providence, Rhode Island with Seth Rollins coming out to greet us.  I’m sure everyone loved Randy Orton’s RKO Madness, right!  Rollins begins.  Yeah, that was a lot of fun.  And out of all that, Kane gets to be the GateKeeper and is supposedly lending me a hand because that's what we in The Authority do.  We help each other out when we can.  But Kane needs to understand something.  I don’t need Kane’s help.  I don’t need anyone’s help.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m a team player but I can get shit done if I need to.  Hell, I don’t even need good ol’ J&J Security.  No disrespect, guys but I’m not Heavyweight Champion because anyone “helped” me.  At about that time, Dad (Kane) makes his way down the ramp. Once he gets into the ring, he has some things to say. You’ve been going on and on about your contribution to the “Team” but what you have to understand is that you’re no good to us as a loser.  And what you really have to understand is that at Extreme Rules, I’ll be the one able to decide whether you become the biggest winner or the biggest failure. Yeah, well Triple H only gave you that job ‘cause he feels sorry for you!  Rollins jabs back.  It’s all you’re good for.  ALL I’M GOOD FOR!  Dad starts to get real mad here.  You know what…you little punk!  I’m the only real team player around here.  And you know what!  I think you owe me a little favor.  I laid down for you, you lay down for me.  Matter of fact, let’s make this official.  Get me a ref!  A referee flies down the ramp and slides into the ring to do Dad’s bidding.  The bell rings and Dad looks to Rollins.  Why don’t you take a load off and lay down.  Hey man, Rollins starts.  I don’t need to do this and I’m not laying down for no reason.  Lay down, Dad says as he gets in Rollins’ face. Lay down, or I’ll make you lay down.  Rollins hesitates yet can’t help but shiver a little in his boots and he eases himself down to the ring floor.  Dad starts to get on the ground and then says he’s just joshing but Rollins is gonna have a match and it’s with someone quite familiar.  We hear Dean Ambrose’s music and Ambrose brings his crazy self down the ramp, hankering for that Rollins ass.  It’s been so long!  Yet, before Ambrose can get too excited, a menacing Luke Harper soon makes his way out from backstage and Ambrose immediately recognizes that there are a few caveats to this evening’s events.  He gets into the ring and starts wailing on Rollins anyway but soon J&J get involved and this starts to become a 3-on-1.  Ambrose handles what he can but he soon starts to get overwhelmed, that is until we hear some shouts of surprise from the crowd.  What’s going on! *Gasp!* It’s Roman Reigns!  The partners in crime reunited, the 2 former SHIELD members take the heels to task and before you know it the heels are retreating and Dad is still none too happy.  All right, you guys want to play!  Fine!  You 2 against Harper and that one at the end of the night!  And like that, we have our main event.

I loved the opening.  Though we’ve all seen these elements before, it was still a lot of fun to watch.  It got the juices flowing if you’re an Enthusiast like the We.  I also liked that though this is more or less a traditional angle to implement, I liked the variation of having Harper come out to continue the “Authority Orchestrated” element.  Also liked how the WWE is starting to make some sense and didn’t announce Reigns’ entrance like they did the last time they did some “impromptu” brawling.  It made the whole thing seem more organic and “real”.  I know a crowd can be dense sometimes due to the distractions and boozing but we’re generally not that dense.  Reigns is kinda hard to miss.  We’ll see him if he’s out there.  All in all, a fine way to start the night.

As for the first official match of the evening, it’s a tag team special with Dolph Ziggler and Neville teaming up to take on Wade “Bad News” Barrett and Sheamus.  This was also a great time.  Everyone in this mix knows what they’re doing and they came together to perform a great match.  All Neville needs is time in the Big Time and he’ll be fine. Naturally, the heels talk a little shit before the match but once it gets down to it, it’s anybody’s to win.  Both sides offer up what got them there in the first place but it’s the newbie, Neville who does the most work and gets the very entertaining and clean win with his Red Arrow.

Next up, the Divas go at it with Bad Naomi going up against Natalya.  The match is what it is and quick.  I remember stepping out of the room to get something and then coming back in and it was over.  Naomi gets the win with a Rearview.

After that, we have what would be described as a “hoss fight” with Ryback taking on Rusev.  It wasn’t a bad match.  It’s kinda hard to say what the outcome will be when you have behemoths like this come out and box.  These 2 weren’t as fun as the start of the evening but they gave you a taste of some gritty wrestling if you prefer things to be a little more hardcore.  Ryback comes out and takes it to Rusev.  The moment of note was the vertical suplex Ryback was able to execute.   Thought he could have put a hole through the mat with Rusev on that one.  Ryback proceeds to deal Rusev heavy blows, causing the Bulgarian to roll out the ring a couple times so he could recover.  Rusev soon loses patience though and implements the “Russian” chain, prompting the disqualification.  He doesn’t care because to him, the one left standing is the winner.  He lands some blows to Ryback with a chain-covered fist and then uses it to assist in administering The Accolade.  The referee orders him off and Rusev eventually abides, leaving Ryback’s remains.

To follow, Kofi Kingston of The New Day goes up against Cesaro in some singles action.  To be honest, I was a little disappointed in this match because given the parties involved, I thought it would have been better.  Yet, I’ve noticed that though Cesaro is a great technician in the ring, he’s definitely not the quickest and being pitted against a nimble Kingston gave the interchange some awkward moments.  Perhaps Cesaro is better off facing the likes of Big E. Langston.  In any case, the transitioning heels keep this match somewhat interesting by messing with Tyson Kidd outside the ring.  Langston gets his hands on Kidd at one point, distracting Cesaro and enabling Kingston to land his Trouble in Paradise for the win.

This brings us to the main event, the semi-reunion of Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins and Luke Harper.  Dad figures it’s best to sit in on this one too.  This was just barrels of fun.  Everyone turned it up to “14” and went for it.  It was great!  They even got some “This is awesome!” chants, which doesn’t happen nearly as much as it should.  Lucha Underground gets that every time and it's deserved.  Pity it’s having funding issues but, I digress.  It wasn’t the cleanest of matches but that was clearly not the point.  It was a truly spirited outing that didn’t really whet our appetites for Extreme Rules but left us fans of the WWE again.  I think going for the long term is a good tactic here.  Casual watchers may not care enough to throw-down for Extreme Rules but with an outing like that, they may tune in on Monday to see RAW.  Can’t be bad.  The match ends as you’d expect with Reigns landing a solid Spear to Rollins for the win and after Rollins rolls himself out the ring, Dad throws him back in.  I suppose so it’s clear what happened here and the statement is made that Dad cleans things up in the end.  As for Reigns and Ambrose, they’re actually kinda cute.  Ambrose, thankful for the assist, gives his buddy a big hug.  Awww, ain’t that precious (^_~)  On a side note, I think these 2 should do promos together from time to time.  If they’re gonna stay united forever, or at least be given the look of that, they should “chat it up” backstage every now and then.  Ambrose can be his pseudo-spaz self and engage Reigns, and Reigns could be the “straight man” so to speak.  Like, Ambrose would be Bill Murray and Reigns, Harold Ramis…you know, of the WWE.  Think it could work.  Can’t you see Ambrose running up to Reigns asking him to borrow something cause he wants to do what they did that one time in Reno but to Rollins or whomever?  The possibilities are endless.  The WWE should let themselves have some fun.  As for now...so far so good.  We’ll see if it maintains.

See You Monday,

-Nicole Alexis.