ThunderStruck: WWE Main Event And Smackdown Analysis 02/22/13

Welcome to ThunderStruck! We don’t have a full rundown anymore, but I’ve found a partner in crime to review Main Event each week! You can now expect a full Main Event analysis to come your way along with my WWE Smackdown analysis on Fridays!

WWE Main Event Analysis 02/20/13(written by the very talented Jee-S)

Big Show comes out with a microphone. He asks Michael Cole and The Miz if they think he’s a joke and says it’s Booker T’s fault if he was made to look like an idiot for the past weeks. He then says that to get his revenge he will destroy Booker’s locker room. He then turns his attention to The Miz. Show tells Miz he doesn’t want any part of him and that he should stay at the commentary table and do his job. Out come The Usos to face Show.

Thoughts: What am I watching? RAW or Main Event? I’ve personally always thought that Big Show was one of the best mic workers on the current roster and this segment was no different but it’s not what we’re used to watching on Wednesday. This program is supposed to be about good wrestling. We’ve seen good matches on this program: Ziggler vs. Miz, Cesaro vs. Orton, just to name a few. With The Usos coming out, you can feel the squash coming and that’s 1- terrible from WWE creative to bury The Usos once again and not build them as a strong tag team and 2- not entertaining enough for this show. I guess we’ll have to see.

Big Show beat The Usos. The brothers getting a tiny bit of offense but Big Show dominating most of the encounter. Immediately after the win, Brodus Clay comes out as Big Show’s next challenger.

Thoughts: This was getting embarrassing for The Usos but at least they got a bit of offense to prove what they can really do. Big Show not selling The Usos moves until the end of the match made them look really bad and I still don’t understand why they’re getting this treatment. They could be major contenders in the tag team division that they’re trying to rebuild but I guess they don’t really want to rebuild it. My thoughts on this match? Horrible for creative, but they did make a good job selling a squash. As far as Big Show goes, what do they have in store for him? The guy’s old and close to the end of his career, he’s been a top face and a top heel, he’s done everything and I’m curious to see what creative can do to keep him in the main event scene without making him lose his momentum. As far as Brodus Clay goes, I’ve never been a fan of him and a match with Big Show will probably put me to sleep. Let’s see.

Big Show beat Brodus Clay with the knockout punch. The Great Khali comes out to challenge Big Show afterwards.

Thoughts: Brodus gave Show a stronger opposition than I thought he would and this match got carried the right way. It was a really simple formula but it worked out for the best. I think it was a decent match overall and that’s about as good as it’s going to get whenever these two step in the ring together. Two big men facing each other has never appealed to me as great entertainment except when they do stuff we weren’t expecting and that wasn’t the case here. In other words, nothing spectacular and what’s more boring than Show and Clay clashing? Show and Khali facing. Sigh.
Big Show beat The Great Khali via countout after a knockout punch.

Thoughts: This wasn’t a bad match, but let’s face it, nothing amazing can come out of an encounter with Khali. It was slow paced, mostly punches and bumps, it told a story but it was still “meh”. The win via countout doesn’t make Khali look as bad and I’m worried that we get to see more of him because of that. Sorry if I’m bashing on Khali, the guy has his pride and I respect him for what he tries to bring to the table but it just isn’t entertaining to me and he shouldn’t be more than a lower mid-card wrestler. This wasn’t a main event match and that’s exactly what I was expecting.

The Miz leaves the commentary table and goes to beat on Show until he escapes the ring.

Thoughts: This was probably the most entertaining part of the show because Miz is actually a top card wrestler. This segment was faster paced than any match tonight because Miz brought it to Show and that’s what got the crowd going. It would’ve probably been a lot better if they booked them in a match instead of the gauntlet we got to see, but that’s WWE’s writing for ya. Oh well, intense segment; it was fun to watch, but I wish it could’ve been longer.

Raw recaps of the Rock unveiling the new WWE Championship and Brad Maddox revealing himself as the new assistant to the managing supervisor.

Thoughts: These recaps are overkill, but oh well. I’m totally skeptical about Maddox’s involvement in this storyline but I guess time will tell how his character will develop. I am beyond excited for the McMahon-Heyman fight because every time something happens between both of them, stories are told in a shocking way. It remains to be seen.

Interview with Brad Maddox. He says this era will be better than any era (Attitude Era, McMahon-Helmsley Era and “Stone Cold and his tiny little tights Era”) and calls this the “Brickie Era”. He takes credit for the McMahon-Heyman fight and leaves. Matt Striker looks beyond annoyed of him.

Thoughts: Again, no clue where this is going but I didn’t find Maddox very entertaining in this segment. We can definitely guess that he’ll have a cocky character but I don’t know where this storyline will end up.

Swagger and Colter segment.

Thoughts: Call me crazy, I don’t care, but I absolutely love this storyline; it’s probably because it’s so edgy. Zeb Colter is the perfect mouthpiece for Swagger and their characters just seem to fit so well. Swagger was once World Heavyweight Champion but that pales in comparison to the push he’s getting now because right now he’s becoming relevant as a persona, people are starting to care about him; they are starting to hate this guy and a lot of superstars in the past have made a career out of making people hate them. I was very sad when I saw Jack Swagger’s DUI arrest a few days back and I’m afraid we won’t see much of him anymore. Hopefully WWE sees past that, but we can’t blame them if they want to suspend Swagger for his stupidities.

Interview with Justin Gabriel and Titus O’Neil
Thoughts: They were both entertaining, this will be a good match!

Justin Gabriel beat Titus O’Neil with the 450 Splash.

Thoughts: I was very surprised with this match. It was awesome! Both competitors brought their intensity at their best and the chemistry they had in the ring was pretty damn impressive. I think Justin should be higher up the card, he would fit good as a mid-card wrestler (much better than most mid-card wrestlers there are right now, I won’t name anyone) and Titus was discussed for a push which I’m totally fine with because he has unmatched charisma. This just comes to show you how two underused wrestlers can work wonders when given the right amount of time on the right program.

Final thoughts: This whole episode was to put Big Show over and I don’t understand why; either that or set up a feud with The Miz, possibly a match next week? The matches Show had were long and boring, I guess that’s a no-brainer seeing as his opponents were even more limited than he is, and that’s saying a lot. The final match was awesome; it was the highlight of the night. I will give this episode a rating of 5/10, and the 5 comes from that Titus-Justin encounter. I’ll be back next week with another analysis. -Jee-S

WWE Smackdown Analysis 02/22/13

Alberto Del Rio opens Smackdown and talks about facing Jack Swagger at WrestleMania. Del Rio talks about this country being built by immigrants, and that being what makes it so great. Del Rio calls out Swagger, but Randy Orton comes out instead. Orton says his opportunity to main event WrestleMania was taken from him by Jack Swagger and he wants to take out all his rage and aggression on him tonight. Booker T comes out and makes the match official. Booker also puts ADR in a match with Wade Barrett tonight.

^I could see Orton competing for the World Title instead of Swagger at this point. The match on the grand stage of WrestleMania could be something special for the lineage of the World Heavyweight Championship. I liked the traditional match set up here for the show, and what I like even more is that it isn’t a tag team match.

Sheamus defeats Damien Sandow using the brogue kick.

^These two have an incredible amount of chemistry, and I wish WWE would take advantage of that and make a legitimate feud between them. The good matches they put on remind me of the Orton/Barrett and Orton/ADR scenarios where a proper rivalry was never stressed, but the matches always deliver. Can we get a backstory to make this an ongoing feud?

Kaitlyn and Tamina take on Tamina and Aksana. A segment is shown before the match starts of Kaitlyn backstage telling Cody Rhodes she likes his mustache. Kaitlyn pins Tamina after a spear for the victory.

^This was another extremely short divas match. If WWE actually respected the divas, we wouldn’t be so quick to brush off the fact that the match even took place. Make us care WWE, and maybe then people will take notice!

Wade Barrett compliments Jack Swagger, but Zeb Coulter criticizes Barrett for being from England and tells him he’s just as bad as Alberto Del Rio.

^The best heels are the ones who refuse to get along with other heels. I recall at WM 21 when Triple H and JBL had a heated backstage encounter while each held their respective World Titles on their shoulders. Swagger’s heel gimmick might be something special, but time will tell if it will actually get a chance to take off given the circumstances of this week.

Jack Swagger defeats Randy Orton with a quick rollup and puts his foot on the ropes to get the three count.

^Great match. Great chemistry. Why can’t Smackdown have more matches like this every week? Orton can make just about anyone look good, and Swagger has never been a bad act when it comes to storytelling in the squared circle. I hope for Swagger’s sake that his trouble doesn’t stop him from staying in the main event scene as long as he can consistently deliver matches like this one.

Miz defeats Cody Rhodes using the figure four leglock.

^And Cody takes another squash. I don’t know why this is becoming his common theme, but obviously WWE knows something we don’t. If Rhodes and Sandow aren’t booked properly on this year’s WrestleMania card, then a true crime will have been committed. Miz is looking stronger and better every week, but I wonder if WWE will have the sense to book Miz properly once he captures the US Title from Cesaro(and not go the Zack Ryder route).

Alberto Del Rio defeats Wade Barrett with the cross armbreaker while Jack Swagger watches on from the bottom of the ramp.

^This was the third good/great match of the night. Del Rio was booked as the top face that can take anyone out(not sure how he’s supposed to lose clean now that he made the Big Show tap out) and Barrett still looked like a strong IC Champ despite the loss.

This is why I love Smackdown! We had three quality matches as a divas match, and we had minimal but effective promo work. Shows like this have felt scarce recently, but when they do happen it’s hard not to look forward to next week’s episode that much more. I’ll be back with the Raw analysis late Tuesday. Until next time, you’ve been ThunderStruck!

facebook.com/thunderstruck11 – add me!
facebook.com/tlppwhof – like it!