ThunderStruck: WWE B-Show Rundown With Jee-S 05/17/13

Jee-S’ MAIN EVENT AND WWE NXT REVIEW 05/15/13

Kane defeats Seth Rollins via DQ when Dean Ambrose breaks up the pin attempt by Kane on Rollins. The Shield was going for the Cerebrus Bomb but The Usos made the save.

Thoughts: It was a solid match by two very talented competitors; I just think their in-ring styles were way too different. Roman Reigns would’ve made more sense as Kane’s opponent here seeing as both of them wrestle a lot more similarly, but I guess they gave the singles opportunity to the more experienced wrestler Rollins first and I’m not complaining. I’m very excited for the tornado tag team match The Shield will have this Sunday against Team Hell No. The Usos coming down at the end to save Kane made little to no sense to me, but I’m happy they’re being used a bit more these days and hopefully they get to be serious contenders to the straps in the near future. Overall, good match and good segment to start Main Event!

Recaps of RAW: Shield vs. Team Hell No & Cena, HHH-Lesnar feud hype.

Thoughts: I think I made my opinion very clear about recaps in the previous reviews I have written: useless and overused. It wouldn’t be as bad if they didn’t abuse it, but they take up way too much time; time that could be used for many more interesting matches or segments.

Note: Turns out The Usos coming down earlier was to set up a match with Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns on SmackDown! This should be good.

Sin Cara defeats Wade Barrett with an upset hurricanrana roll-up.

Thoughts: It wasn’t a bad match, but it wasn’t anything special either. I really don’t like the way Wade Barrett (the Intercontinental Champion, for those who forgot) has been booked recently, as he has had barely any TV time, and by barely I mean none. Sin Cara hasn’t looked bad, but it’s hard to judge his improvement seeing as he was dominated the whole time. Short match to put over the luchador. Hopefully we see longer matches between both men in the future.

Cody Rhodes defeats Justin Gabriel with Cross Rhodes. Rhodes and The Miz, who’s at the commentator’s table, have a staredown to hype their match this Sunday.

Thoughts: Very impressive performance by these two men who managed to make the best of their 5-minute time slot, and that’s saying a lot. Rhodes and Gabriel are two very talented performers who, in my eyes, should be serious threats to the midcard titles. Hyping up the Extreme Rules pre-show match is unusual to end the show, but I sure will have my WWE phone app ready to watch Miz and Cody go before the pay-per-view starts this Sunday.

Overall, it was an okay edition of Main Event. The wrestling was slightly above average, but not good enough to make me forget about those recaps that often make you fall asleep. Thanks for reading!

On to the NXT review!

Summer Rae defeats Natalya with a schoolboy when Natalya gets distracted by Paige. The Anti-Diva chases Summer Rae to the back after the match.

Thoughts: I said it before; I’ll say it again: the women/divas division in NXT is superior to WWE’s divas division. I think there are two reasons for that: they are superior wrestlers and they are superior characters. The fact that they’re building Paige and Summer Rae simultaneously as top divas on the show almost makes me relive the golden era with Trish and Lita and their great rivalry that never really ended. I see big things for Summer Rae in the WWE as her in-ring skills are improving week after week and her heel appeal is already amazingly well developed. I also have to mention Natalya who did a wonderful job in making Summer look even better, and the finish doesn’t hurt her in the long run. Great start to NXT!

Interview with Sami Zayn (the former El Generico) who’s debuting next week.

Thoughts: I know I’m not supposed to mark out or anything, but I really can’t wait for his debut. He is the first wrestler from my hometown of Montreal to sign with the WWE since 1993 and let me tell you this: the whole population over here and all the local indy wrestlers are behind him. Even with the (disappointing) repackaging of his character, he has all the tools to go very far in his journey and I’ll be right here watching every single bit of it. I’m psyched for next week!

Bray Wyatt (with a mask) defeats Danny Burch with the Sister Abigail finisher.

Thoughts: Short and basic squash match to put over Bray Wyatt. Which begs the question: is it necessary to put Bray Wyatt more over than he already is? Yes. Always enjoyable. I’m hoping to see more of his creepy charisma and his unorthodox ways for years to come. I think Wyatt is roster ready and I’m hoping he gets called up soon.

Promo with Adrian Neville and Bo Dallas. Bo Dallas seems a bit shady trying to cheer up Neville, saying he made it to the big roster and bragging about him being in the Royal Rumble. Both wrestlers say that they have entered the battle royal in two weeks for the a shot at the NXT Championship.

Thoughts: Are they teasing a heel turn for Bo Dallas or is it just my imagination? A feud with Adrian Neville perhaps? Either way, I may be mean but I couldn’t care less about him: he is just really uninteresting and passive in the ring. I hope Neville makes it to the main roster long before Bo Dallas does. And if Bo Dallas doesn’t even make it, I’ll be fine with that too.

Conor O’Brian defeats Sakamoto & Briley Pierce in a handicap match with a double flapjack. After the match, some weird looking guy appears on the stage looking at O’Brian and he looks back at him

Thoughts: Pierce and Sakamoto never stood a chance, O’Brian dominated the whole thing and left very little offense for his two opponents. I can’t say I’m really impressed with Conor O’Brian’s ring skills but I like what he brings to the table. Hopefully the guy standing on the stage will be his tag team partner in the rumored reformation of The Ascension; that would be even better for him as he would probably look more relevant as a tag team wrestler, at least for me.

Interview with Corey Graves, saying he’s entered the battle royal as well. He’s interrupted by Bray Wyatt who says NXT belongs to him. They have a stare down.

Thoughts: Personally, I love both of them and I think they would have great matches together if given the opportunity. It all remains to be seen!

Big E Langston defeats Damien Sandow with the Big Ending to retain the NXT Championship.

Thoughts: Great main event! I was skeptical about Big E when I first saw him, but week after week he keeps on being impressive against real competition. I think this is the best I’ve seen Langston look since debuting and it did obviously help that Damien Sandow was the one standing in front of him. Langston has the size, the charisma and the “it” factor that WWE creative loves and I expect them to have big plans for the powerlifter. Rare are the initial non-wrestlers that look good in the ring like Big E Langston, it would be a mistake not to capitalize on that.

Overall, I really enjoyed this episode of NXT! Except for the two squash matches (O’Brian and Wyatt), the wrestling was really good and the segments used to make the storylines evolve were really effective. Again, I’m really excited for next week’s episode for the debut of Sami Zayn, among other things. Thank you for reading both my reviews! – Jee-S

WWE Smackdown Analysis 05/17/13 By Joe Thunder

The show opens with MizTV. Miz brings out Big Show and Randy Orton to talk about their match coming up at Extreme Rules on Sunday. They each say their piece about their upcoming match, but they are then interrupted by Zeb Colter and Jack Swagger. Colter says this Sunday is all about Jack Swagger making Alberto Del Rio say “I Quit” and become the number one contender for the World Title. Next comes Alberto Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez. Del Rio says he will make Swagger say “I Quit” this Sunday. He calls Zeb Colter jumanji man. Mark Henry interrupts. Henry says people will remember him beating Sheamus on Sunday before they remember any of their matches at Extreme Rules. Sheamus comes out next and wants to fight right now; he charges the ring and he, Orton, and Del Rio are left standing tall. Teddy Long comes out after the commercial and books a six man tag team match for tonight’s main event based on the segment we just saw on MIzTV.

^What the hell was the point of making this a MizTV segment? No questions were asked, and nothing new developed to add any fire to a rivalry. All it did was set up the main event for the show, and that’s fine, but my frustration is the fact that these “original” talk shows are all entirely the same and just create matches for the main event when they open a show. Can we please get some new or original way to set up the card for a show? Why not just book the matches and announce them at the beginning of the night? Why waste time with entrances and pointless babble that does the same thing in promoting hype that announcing the card on the tron would do? Not a bad looking main event, but a complete waste of time(as usual) dragging everyone to the ring to set it up.

Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns defeat the Usos in under two minutes. They beat them down after the match but Kofi Kingston comes down for a save. Kofi gets tossed out of the ring but he grabs a steel chair and forces the Shield to retreat.

^And now we have a two minute tag team match to put over how dominant the Shield is. I like the booking for the Shield, but what was the point of the attack/save by the Usos on Main Event for if they were just going to get squashed in no time? True, nobody can stop the Shield, but why not give somebody more than a two minute fighting chance?

Teddy Long welcomes Miz back to Smackdown. Damien Sandow comes into the scene and tells us Miz should have never returned, and then he pitches the idea of the Damien Sandow show. Teddy says he will take it under consideration and then books Sandow in a match with the Miz tonight.

^Good segment here. This was the most entertaining part of the show thus far besides the entrance of the Usos with their war chant. I love Damien Sandow’s talking points, and the Miz is pure entertainment in my eyes whenever he’s on screen.

Tons of Funk defeat the Prime Time Players in under three minutes in a rematch from Raw this past Monday.

^Boring match. Two short tag matches in one week with the same tag teams; I don’t have to tell you just how redundant this felt. Can’t we see some real wrestling from the VERY talented Prime Time Players? Apparently not. Is it just me or am I being extra negative towards this show so far?

Chris Jericho defeats Antonio Cesaro in just over seven minutes with the walls of Jericho. Fandango attempts to attack Jericho after the match with a distraction by Summer Rae, but Jericho catches him running into the ring from behind and beats him down before delivering a codebreaker to Cesaro.

^Awesome match! I was hoping it would last longer, but even being so short it was still really good. Cesaro deserves much better than this, but I’m just happy to see him on the show. As for the Fandango/Jericho feud, people need to relax and just enjoy the brutality that we see from Fandango with this new gimmick. Yeah, the dancing fool part is lame, but his actual WRESTLING in the ring is quite aggressive and makes him a very good heel. Embrace it, damnit!

The Miz defeats Damien Sandow with a figure four leglock after a five minute match. Cody Rhodes attempts to interfere in the match but Miz knocks him off the apron.

^Solid five minutes of action, but we definitely could’ve done with five more minutes from these two! I love Damien Sandow, and this match showed just how good both he and Miz are. Why are neither of these men holding or challenging for any sort of championship? Enough of that venting; the match was good and should’ve lasted longer.

Kaitlyn defeats Aksana in a short match using her spear.

^Solid women’s wrestling here, but absolutely nothing compared to the match between Natalya and Summer Rae on NXT this week. Kaitlyn is a good rep for Divas Champion, but I want to see her in more embroiled feuds. I do like the secret admirer angle and its continuation, though. Maybe WWE can give us more decent matches like this one each week? Consistency in quality is the key to success!

Orton, Sheamus, and Del Rio defeat Show, Swagger, and Henry in the main event when Orton pins Swagger of an RKO(Orton grabbed Swagger off the ankle lock that he had applied on Del Rio).

^Solid main event. All three of these matches had my interest for Extreme Rules with Sheamus and Henry’s strap match leading the pack. Though I’m disappointed that Dolph Ziggler isn’t around now that he’s World Champion, I’m quite satisfied with WWE’s handling of all these top talent in keeping them relevant as big time contenders. I do expect either Orton or Sheamus to hold the World Title again before 2013 is over.

So we had a good main event, an awesome seven minute battle between Jericho and Cesaro, a decent divas bout, and an underrated match between Sandow and Miz that should’ve ran longer. Then we had some squash matches with some pay per view hype thrown into the mix. How do I rate this? I didn’t love it, but I certainly didn’t hate it. Call it down the middle for me this week with a lean towards the positive end of the spectrum thanks to Jericho and Cesaro. Someday I’ll give a full analysis of my show rankings and how I score things, but not today! I’ll have the Extreme Rules Preview up late Saturday night, and I’ll have our two newest Pure Pro-Wrestling Hall of Fame inductees revealed on Sunday as well! Until next time, you’ve been ThunderStruck!

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