WWE Smackdown Report CUPACH'S WWE SMACKDOWN REPORT 7/13: Alt. perspective blog on final MITB PPV hype, Jericho's best match since returning to WWE?
Jul 15, 2012 - 3:31:33 PM
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WWE Smackdown Blog
July 13, 2012
Taped 7/9/12 in Denver, Colo.
Aired on Syfy
By Michael Cupach, PWTorch Contributor
-I thought that Zack Ryder as guest G.M. was a fun change. I’m not a big fan of the guy, but he did a good job getting the crowd hot for the show. I give him more credit because the crowd already say through such a terrible Raw, so the fact that he could re-energize the crowd for Smackdown was nothing short of amazing!
1 - ALBERTO DEL RIO vs. SIN CARA
I thought this was a good match; it was a match with a high-profile opponent for Sin Cara and even though he lost I thought he looked good hanging with a main-eventer like Del Rio. During this match, Booker was trying my patience! The babyface color commentator that Booker is supposed to be kept praising Del Rio and putting him over as a great human being, so I don’t understand what he was trying to accomplish. Del Rio is a heel, Booker is a face, he shouldn’t be praising Del Rio for his sneak attacks, calling it being aggressive or telling the audience how Del Rio is in his fave five.
WINNER: Alberto Del Rio by submission in under 10:00.
-WWE has started the Tout blitz. Tout looks cool, and I think it could be popular as long as it doesn’t turn into other cam sites that start off with good intentions but turn into nothing but guys flashing their junk on camera.
2 - DARREN YOUNG vs. PRIMO
I am really high on the Prime Time Players, as I think they have real potential as a team. Being paired with AW, I thought he dragged them down, but his gimmick of being mic’ed for the match and shouting instructions has grown on me. Unfortunately, instead of building up a new heel tag team and having them cheat left and right to win, WWE had Darren lose clean to Primo. I’d like to see Titus and Young be protected better from here on out, I think they could be the next New Age Outlaws.
WINNER: Primo by pinfall in 4:00.
3 - CHRISTIAN & SANTINO vs. CODY RHODES & DOLPH ZIGGLER
It looks like Ziggler and Vickie Guerrero breaking up has been put on the back burner, as things appear to be back to normal for now, which is a little disappointing. I also find it ironic that two guys who have unlimited potential got thrown together for this impromptu match. This match was about what you would expect - it was a good match, kinda short, but it was good. It should be noted that Booker and his awful commentary reared its ugly head again. Booker commented that he didn’t really try hard during Money in the Bank matches and I could not believe what I was hearing. You could look at this two ways. (1) From a kayfabe sense, you could argue that winning a guaranteed title shot isn’t enough to motivate Booker. Or (2) As a wrestler, Booker is lazy and dogs it. Anyway, the finish came when Christian and Cody continued their feud by brawling around the ring allowing Dolph to hit the Zig-Zag on Santino for the pin. After the match, Dolph and Cody shared a look of distrust between them. Dolph stared up at the briefcase and was trying to give Cody a non-verbal cue to look up, but Cody stared a hole through Ziggler instead.
WINNER: Cody and Dolph by pinfall in 5:00.
-WWE is still expecting Charlie Sheen to be the Social Media Ambassador for Raw 1,000. I guess they didn’t get the memo that Sheen doesn’t do that anymore. I bet they have Sheen cut a few generic promos on Tout to play throughout the show to get something out of him.
4 - BIG SHOW vs. GREAT KHALI
Show knocked out Khali in 30 seconds to put Show over strong before Money in the Bank. I guess this is the week where we aren’t supposed to take Khali seriously and view him as a pushover jobber. It doesn’t bother me.
WINNER: Big Show in 0:30.
5 - TYLER REKS vs. RYBACK
So far this has been the best Ryback match because now he is starting to face named wrestlers. I hope that open season on Joe Nobody jobbers is over. Reks actually got a little offense on Ryback and Ryback sold for 0.8 seconds before squashing Reks. These matches are doing their job for me because I am anxiously awaiting a match where Ryback faces someone perceived as on his level and I want to see how he fares. I hope they don’t go the Brodus Clay route and use him to lose to Big Show or Khali on a week when WWE decides that one of their big guys need to be a killer heel again at the expense of someone they have been pushing.
WINNER: Ryback in 2:00 by pinfall.
-Hugh Jackman gave his Raw 1,000 moment which was shockingly when he was on the show.
-The Rock will be at Raw 1,000 and the announcers threw to fans favorite Raw 1,000 moments via Tout.com.
6 - JUSTIN GABRIEL vs. DAMIEN SANDOW
Another quick squash for Sandow. Surprisingly, he didn’t cut a pre-match promo this week; they must have been short on time.
WINNER: Damien Sandow via pin in 1:30.
7 - SHEAMUS vs. CHRIS JERICHO
Tremendous match between these two, as they had a great back and forth match that featured a lot of near falls at the end. This was one of the best matches I have seen on Smackdown in quite some time, and this may even have been Jericho's best match since returning in January. These two had great chemistry and I hope this gets revisited on PPV to give them more time to put a match together without commercial breaks. Sheamus got the win after a Brogue Kick out of nowhere.
WINNER: Sheamus by pin in 15:00.
-Post match, Del Rio’s car was driven out to distract Sheamus, but Del Rio wasn’t in it, as he jumped Sheamus from behind and put him in the Cross Arm-breaker to weaken the arm before their match this Sunday.
Thanks for reading, make sure to follow me on Twitter @MJCupach and check me out this weekend on the FTWPodcast Money in the Bank preview special. Check out FTWpodcast.com to listen!
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