Jee-S And Thunder’s WWE Rundown 06/28/13

Jee-S’ NXT REVIEW 06/27/13

Big E Langston squashes Aiden English. After the match, Langston delivers two “Big Endings” and counts 5 to the mat.

Thoughts: I’m not sure what the purpose of this was; Big E just lost his NXT Championship and all of a sudden he goes back to squashing wrestlers that no one cares for. It makes no sense to me. We all know what Big E is capable of doing in the ring and it deserved to be showcased a lot more, especially after losing the main belt on NXT. This was precious time wasted.

Renee Young interviews Emma who says she’s going to win against Aksana.

Thoughts: Emma is going to have to work on her talking skills; she did not impress me too much. She has a loveable personality and there is definitely something to do with that as far as character building is concerned. I’m still positive that she’ll have a future in the WWE.

Emma defeats Aksana with the Dilemma.

Thoughts: I honestly think Aksana does not belong in the ring; she has no skills whatsoever. Emma is a talented in-ring performer and wrestling a match with someone who isn’t naturally trained to be a wrestler damaged the quality of the match. Emma didn’t get any offense and the match was pretty much Aksana show-boating the whole time. I’m glad the Australian diva gets to advance as her match against Summer Rae promises to be a good one.

Leo Kruger defeats Dante Dash with the GC3 submission move. He goes to crouch in the corner of the barricade outside the ring.

Thoughts: I am very happy that NXT is giving Leo Kruger a chance to be a main eventer on their show seeing as we haven’t seen him for a while. He is a very talented wrestler and has all the charisma necessary to succeed in the WWE. Dante Dash made him look pretty good and I’m excited to see more of the South African wrestler on NXT.

Bo Dallas defeats Mickey Keegan with the hip toss slam. After the match, Leo Kruger comes in the ring, attacks Mickey Keegan and then tries to touch Dallas’ title. Bo Dallas pulls away and Kruger leaves the ring saying something in his native tongue to the champion.

Thoughts: Every time I’m going to have to review a Bo Dallas match, you’re going to see me lose it about how uninterested I am about anything that has to do with him. He doesn’t have the “it” factor to amount to anything in the WWE and the faster management understands that, the better. I know I probably won’t get to see more of Mickey Keegan for a while but William Regal had nothing but good things to say about him; it would be interesting to see how he works a longer match where he wrestles someone more talented. As for Leo Kruger, I’m skeptical about him winning the strap this early in the champion’s reign but one can only hope. Boring bout.

Corey Graves & Kassius Ohno defeat Scott Dawson & Garrett Dylan to become the new number one contenders to the tag titles when Graves locked in the 13th Step on Dylan. After the match, the Wyatt Family comes down and attacks the number one contenders until Adrian Neville comes for the save. Dawson and Dylan go back into the ring to join forces with the Family until William Regal runs down to help. The brawl ends with the heels standing tall when Bray Wyatt chokes William Regal in the corner.

Thoughts: Solid tag team match to end the show. Dawson and Dylan have finally won me over as a collective unit; they complement each other very well and they are interesting to follow in the squared circle. I’m glad for Ohno and Graves as they will probably be the ones to take the titles from the Wyatt Family upon their call to the main roster. Whichever team that ends up having the straps gets in good position for a call up and that’s good news for us wrestling fans. The brawl that happened after the match was great if you ask me; just a solid free-for-all between babyfaces and heels, something that we haven’t seen in quite some time.

Overall, I found this was a snooze fest. Three matches out of five were really uninteresting, one of the other two was acceptable and the other one was rather good. A majority of the show was wasted on squashes, which made for a very boring show.

Jee-S’ MAIN EVENT REVIEW 06/27/13

Chris Jericho defeats Cody Rhodes with the Walls of Jericho.

Thoughts: Great match to open Main Event from two of the most under appreciated workers in the business. The chemistry was very good between the two, the match flowed very well and the ending made it very unexpected as to who was going to win. I’m happy we got to see Cody Rhodes look this good; it has been a while and the fact that he’s getting a shot in the Money In The Bank ladder match for the World Title is good news for him.

Zeb Colter and Antonio Cesaro cut a promo about being real Americans.

Thoughts: Ish. I’m not sure if it’s the fact that the crowd was dead for the promo or if it just didn’t deliver. I’m happy that this pairing makes Antonio Cesaro look more relevant but less talking is something that needs to be considered for them. I’m also happy that Cesaro gets a shot in the Money In The Bank ladder match.

Christian defeats Dean Ambrose by DQ when Rollins & Reigns attack Christian. The Usos come for the save and send The Shield packing.

Thoughts: I’m tired of the same DQ outcomes every time The Shield have singles matches but the chemistry between Christian and Ambrose was pretty impressive. I read somewhere that these two were rumored to feud throughout the summer over the U.S. Championship and I think that’s awesome. It’s a shame they didn’t prove to us what they were really capable of doing together here but I’m looking forward to the longer matches they’ll get to work in the near future. I also like the Usos being relevant in the tag team division as they fully deserve it.

Time for an unnecessary RAW Recap of CM Punk & Paul Heyman and an awesome Wyatt

Family video package. When are they debuting? Soon, please?

The Prime Time Players defeat Tons of Funk with Darren Young holding Brodus Clay’s foot when Titus O’Neil pins him.

Thoughts: The best part about this match is the outcome. Tons of Funk are nothing more than a comedy act that’s boring at best. I’m glad for the PTP who seem to be getting a bit more air time these recent weeks. I wonder if we’re ever going to see Titus O’Neil compete higher on the card sometime in his career; the man is a machine in the ring with loads of charisma. The ending made it worth watching this match for the time it was on.

Overall, I’d say this was an above average episode of Main Event. I really appreciated the booking decisions (except maybe for the DQ finish) and the tiny bits of storyline evolution in the show, which is something you don’t usually see on Wednesdays. Also, hats off to the WWE for not drowning the show in recaps for once. Thank you for reading me!

Thunder’s WWE Smackdown Analysis 06/28/13

Sheamus defeats Damien Sandow in a Dublin Street Fight. Sandow cuts a good promo before the match. Sheamus wins the match with the brogue kick while Sandow is sitting in a chair in the ring. The match goes just under ten minutes.

^I enjoyed the aggression here to put an end to this feud, but did anyone really expect Sandow to have a shot at winning this? There was a good mix of brawling and wrestling, and the face came out on top as predicted. I love how WWE goes out of their way to piss us off with lousy booking while delivering decent stories in the ring. Why can’t we just get ONE upset per month where the midcard heel pulls it off against the top face(cheating or not, doesn’t matter). Making the audience think the guy has a fighting chance could make a rivalry just a tad more interesting.

Kane and Daniel Bryan are shown backstage. Kane tells Dbry he doesn’t want to hear him bragging about his win Monday night, but congratulates him on the upset. Dbry gets defensive but Kane yells at him and tells him to leave. Dbry says he’s going to chalk up Kane’s outburst to nerves and will be on commentary to help Kane just in case he needs it. Kane tries to hold back his anger and Dbry walks away.

^Dbry was magic in this conversation. Very enjoyable interaction here with Kane and nice work flipping Dragon’s personality now that he got the big win that he needed to get his confidence back.

The Miz has Paul Heyman on his “talk show.” Miz asks Heyman who he wants Brock Lesnar and CM Punk to face as a tag team. Heyman says he’s not here to talk about the past, and Miz asks Heyman if he’d like to try to bully him like he bullied Renee Young last week. Heyman says he has nothing but respect for Miz, but he does know someone who has the ability to bully Miz, Curtis Axel! Axel comes to the ring. Miz says he thought this would be a one on one interview, but Heyman fooled him, just like he fooled CM Punk. Miz says his problem right now is that Axel is on his set uninvited. Heyman says Axel was invited by himself, unless Miz is too intimidated to ask Heyman more questions. Miz insults Heyman with a Star Wars joke and insults Axel for not being his father. Miz asks what happens when Axel loses his IC Title to him. Axel gets angry and Miz challenges for the title right now. Heyman says Axel won’t defend the title on an impromptu basis. Miz interrupts Heyman and Axel lays out Miz with the neckbreaker.

^Can I just reiterate how happy I am that the Intercontinental Title has some real meaning with this feud and Curtis Axel’s reign in general? Brilliant segment here. Axel definitely needs some more work on his mic skills, but you can see his talent in the ring every time he executes a move.

AJ Lee and Natalya come to the ring for their match. Kaitlyn comes out to AJ’s music and mocks AJ the same way AJ mocked her on Raw. Kaitlyn mocks AJ for being involved with so many wrestlers, the timekeeper, the ringside physician, and Lilian Garcia. Kaitlyn skips around the ring during the match in AJ-like manner and Natalya wins by a rollup on the distraction. Kaitlyn spears AJ after the match and laughs like a lunatic. Big E. carries AJ to the back.

^Another great segment! Kaitlyn didn’t necessarily act in first person with her words, but her skipping around the ring and spear in the aftermath was excellent. I’m genuinely pleased with how well the WWE has been putting emphasis on the Divas title with this rivalry. My only gripe is that Natalya shouldn’t need help to defeat the champion when she’s the best female wrestler on the roster. We’ll put that aside for now, though.

A Bray Wyatt promo is aired. We’re coming.

Teddy Long is backstage with Vince McMahon. Vince wants to know what Teddy has in store for us for the World Title MITB Ladder Match. Teddy says he could’ve selected all the top stars in one fell swoop, but he did something different. Teddy says he is thinking of the future of the company and is thinking outside the box(something Booker T has never done). Teddy says the superstars he has chosen: Wade Barrett, Jack Swagger, Antonio Cesaro, Fandango, Dean Ambrose, Cody Rhodes, and Damien Sandow. Vince says it’s something no one would have thought of and he likes it. He reminds Teddy how to pronounce it and they go back and forth with it until Vince walks away.

^I love the booking of all heels for this match. Swagger is the only bad choice to win it in my eyes. I’ll honestly be ecstatic with any six out of seven possible outcomes for this match! I like the rivalry being put in place for Teddy Long and Booker T only if something interesting is done to settle the feud(I would assume one or more wrestlers representing each man and then going at it head to head with a winner take all stipulation for the GM position).

Daniel Bryan comes out for commentary. Randy Orton goes one on one with Kane. Dbry tries to help Kane recover and shoves him back in the ring where he falls victim to an RKO. Dbry smiles about it as he goes up the ramp away from the ring and Kane looks furious.

^Funny stuff to enhance the Dbry/Kane rivalry. All of these men participating in Money In The Bank will make for a very exciting match. I guess my biggest concern with the ladder match is the lack of high risk spots with all the top faces in one match. Will WWE really want to jeopardize that many top talent with potential injuries?

Ryback kills Justin Gabriel in under two minutes. Jericho comes out after the match and cuts a promo on Ryback. He makes fun of Ryback for hurting his leg during his match and calls him a whiner and a giant excuse maker. He says his name should be changed to Cryback. He leads the crowd in a chant. Jericho goes after Ryback and tries to apply the walls of Jericho, but Ryback gets away from him and retreats to the back.

^This one was just a plain waste of Gabriel’s talents. But, good for Ryback. Jericho will definitely bring out the best in him and make for a great opponent at the next pay per view. Good promo work from Jericho making the rivalry more interesting with a few quick witted insults.

ANOTHER Bray Wyatt promo is aired.

Christian and the Usos defeat the Shield. Seth Rollins clears out the Usos with a frontflip to the outside and Christian pins Dean Ambrose after a spear.

^The action in this one was excellent, and the finish was very exciting. I like the non superhuman booking now for the Shield. It’s as though because they lost once, they’re much more vulnerable to lose again and they have. I like the subtle logic, but what I like more is that we know the Shield will win the rivalry with the Usos(at least in the short term at MITB) based on this one loss. Excellent match!

Fiesta Del Rio takes place to close the show. Ricardo Rodriguez introduces ADR after making fun of the audience. Del Rio gives a boring promo and then speaks in Spanish while the crowd chants USA. Del Rio breaks open the pinata with Dolph Ziggler’s face on it. ADR calls out Ziggler. Ziggler comes down and attacks Del Rio, tosses Ricardo out of the ring but then gets attacked by ADR. Zigs gets the upper hand, tosses Ricardo again but through a table this time, and then hits the zig zag on Alberto Del Rio. He goes to hit ADR with a guitar but he gets away, so he hits Ricardo with it instead. Ziggler holds up the World Title and then plays with the band to end the show.

^Nice effective segment to put over the World Champion as the dirty heel once again. What was even better about the segment was the way Dolph Ziggler came across. Ziggler looked like a future NUMBER ONE star in the company. His mannerisms coming to the ring and his execution of taking out both Ricardo and Del Rio was PERFECT. I enjoyed this segment to the n’th degree. Great ending to a very solid show to keep the feud interesting. I can’t wait for their next match!

Overall, we had an excellent show with good wrestling, good finishes, good storyline advances, and enjoyable talking segments! Just a great scripted show across the board! I’ll be back with the Raw analysis on Tuesday! Thanks for reading!

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