WWE Smackdown review
July 13, 2012
Taped 7/9/12 in Denver CO.
Aired on SYFY
By Greg Parks, PWTorch Columnist (Twitter: @gregmparks)


- WWE Open.

- A clip aired from Zack Ryder’s Internet show, spliced with his battle royal win. The voice-over noted that the Internet Champion will be Smackdown GM for one-night only, tonight.

- Smackdown Open.

- Fireworks opened the show inside the arena in Denver (they were absent from Raw, so the crowd still only got them once). Lilian Garcia introduced Zack Ryder to the live crowd. The announcers were shown on-camera and discussed the merits of Ryder running Smackdown. Ryder wanted to first organize the world’s largest fist-pump with all the fans. The camera showed many of them following along. Ryder promised this would be the greatest Smackdown ever. Alberto Del Rio walked out with Ricardo Rodriguez to interrupt. Rodriguez did his introduction for Del Rio, standing behind him in the aisle.

Del Rio called Ryder a “clown.” While Ryder is busy as the Internet Champion, Del Rio said he’ll be the real World Champion after Sunday. Ryder said someone wants to get his hands on Del Rio, and he’s his opponent right now. That brought out Sin Cara.

1 – ALBERTO DEL RIO vs. SIN CARA

During Cara’s entrance, they replayed Del Rio beating him down on Raw two weeks ago before their scheduled match. Cara went after Del Rio with punches but Del Rio clotheslined Cara from his knees. Vertical suplex and a two-count from Del Rio. Following a missed corner charge, Cara again aggressively went after Del Rio. DDT for a near-fall. Del Rio missed a feet-first dive and went through the ropes. He landed on the apron, then took a spill to the floor when Cara kicked him in the head. Cara then dove through the ropes onto Del Rio. They cut to break at 2:43.

[Commercial Break]

Back at 5:35 of the match. Cara was still on offense, until Del Rio chopped him and headbutted him when Cara went to the top rope. Shoulder-breaker by ADR for two at 6:16. Cara attempted a comeback, but was felled with a tilt-a-whirl back-breaker. Del Rio isolated the shoulder and went to work on it. Missed charge by Del Rio led to a headscissors take-down by Cara. DDT by Cara (Del Rio flipped before he took the brunt of the move) for a near-fall. Cara went off the top but missed a Swanton. Del Rio smelled blood and applied the cross arm-breaker for the submission win.

WINNER: Del Rio, at 9:35. One of Cara’s longer singles matches in his WWE tenure. He got more offense in than I expected, but he’s on the PPV too so they probably wanted to keep him relatively strong.

- Josh Mathews sent it to a Tout video of John Cena talking about his favorite Raw moment, then encouraged other fans to Tout him THEIR favorite Raw moments. Mathews plugged WWE.com/Tout and showed some videos of fans giving their favorite moments. There were four videos shown, and all the moments happened within the last two years.

- Teddy Long congratulated Ryder for doing a great job tonight. Big Show disagreed and thought Ryder was doing a terrible job. He said HE should be GM tonight. He went to knock Ryder out, but Great Khali showed up to stop him. Ryder introduced Show to his opponent for tonight. Khali did Ryder’s catchphrase after Show walked off.

[Commercial Break]

2 – DARREN YOUNG vs. PRIMO

Both men’s tag partners were at ringside with them, as well as Rosa Mendes. A.W. again had the mic gimmick where his headset was heard throughout the arena. Primo got his boots up on a charge then took Young down with a flying headscissors off the second rope. Primo and Titus O’Neil shared some unpleasantries outside the ring. Back in, Primo walked into a hot-shot from Young. Young dropped a leg across the throat of Primo on the apron. Neck-breaker by Young for two. Primo turned the tide with chops and a springboard cross-body. However, Young rolled through and put Primo on his shoulders. Backstabber by Primo was attempted, but Young held the ropes. Inside cradle by Primo for the win.

WINNER: Primo, at 4:07. Fine match, but it looks like the tag division is falling victim to everyone trading wins and no one getting over. The PTP’ers should be put over strong heading into their tag title match.

- Tonight, we’ll see the latest from Raw on the love triangle with A.J., Daniel Bryan, and C.M. Punk.

[Commercial Break]

- Christian’s Raw 1,000 moment was Edge’s retirement in April of 2011.

- Sheamus was talking to Zack Ryder backstage. He talked to Sheamus about mixing it up with Del Rio tonight, and warned him not to do so. Chris Jericho walked up and said he could smell the fake tan on Ryder. Sheamus challenged Jericho to a match but Jericho said he’s just there as an observer. Ryder and Jericho debated about whether or not the match was a good idea, and Ryder made it for tonight. Sheamus said he’d run over Jericho tonight.

- The Great Khali vs. The Big Show is tonight.

[Commercial Break]

- Mathews plugged the World Title MITB match that will take place Sunday.

3 – CHRISTIAN & SANTINO MARELLA vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER & CODY RHODES

Rhodes pointed to the MITB briefcase hanging above the ring after a shoulder knock-down of Christian. Well, it’s not the Wrestlemania banner, but it’ll do. Christian worked the arm and tagged Santino in. “I want nothing to do with you,” Rhodes told Marella. He tagged out to Ziggler to avoid facing the United States Champion. Ziggler got the better of Santino, leading to Marella hip-tossing Ziggler out of the corner. Booker admitted that looking back on it, he didn’t try as hard as he should have to win the MITB match he was in. Christian fought out of the heel corner, but was thrown off on a Tornado DDT attempt. Patented Ziggler dropkick for two. Cole proclaimed Ziggler his favorite to win the MITB match. Rhodes took Christian up for a suplex, let him think about it, then brought him back down. The announcing was just a mess here. Marella tagged in as did Ziggler. Marella connected on his signature moves before bringing out the Cobra. Rhodes attacked him from behind, but Christian deal with him. Ziggler hit the Zig Zag on Marella for three.

WINNERS: Ziggler and Rhodes, at 5:35. I’d almost prefer a TNA-like presentation where the guys are interviewed backstage about what winning MITB would mean to them, a la the BFG Series interviews, rather than tag matches that don’t really build much for the match.

- Next, a review of what happened on Raw between A.J., C.M. Punk, and Daniel Bryan.

[Commercial Break]

- They’re still anticipating Charlie Sheen Tweeting in a week and a half guess, as they had a plug here for him being the Social Media Ambassador for Raw 1,000.

- The exterior of the Pepsi Center in Denver was shown.

- Mathews sent it to a video of the Bryan vs. Punk situation from Monday, with plenty of A.J. sprinkled in. Interestingly, this video package was positioned to kick off the top of the second hour.

4 – THE BIG SHOW vs. THE GREAT KHALI

Show and Khali exchanged chops, which I’m convinced is the only way fans can get into their matches. Khali celebrated, but Show nailed him out of nowhere with a knockout punch.

WINNER: Show, at :34. Good strong showing for Show heading into the MITB.

- Sheamus vs. Chris Jericho takes place tonight.

[Commercial Break]

- The MITB pre-show will feature R-Truth and Kofi Kingston taking on Hunico and Camacho a half-hour before the show on YouTube and WWE.com

5 – TYLER REKS vs. RYBACK

During the entrance of Reks and Curt Hawkins, they showed Hawkins getting destroyed by Ryback last week. Reks got the mic and said he’d hand Ryback his very first loss tonight. Reks took the fight to Ryback in the corner with boots and punches, but he made the mistake of hitting the ropes. Ryback connected on a big boot, then sent him to the outside. Mathews said Ryback eats 8-10 large meals every day. Belly-to-belly suplex by Ryback. Some more offense for Reks before a clothesline decked him. Finisher by Ryback ended it.

WINNER: Ryback, at 1:50. I love the “It’s Monday” sign someone had in the crowd. Ryback at least gets to show off more (safer) moves when he’s climbing the ladder of competition.

- Still to come tonight, Sheamus vs. Chris Jericho.

[Commercial Break]

- Raw 1,000 Moment: Hugh Jackman hosting Raw in September 2011. They even had comments from Jackman that were likely pre-recorded on the same night.

- The Rock will be on Raw 1,000 in two weeks. More fans gave their Raw 1,000 moment via Tout, and one had the gall to say his favorite Raw moment was Vince McMahon being revealed as the Higher Power.

6 – JUSTIN GABRIEL vs. DAMIEN SANDOW

No pre-match comments from Sandow. Back heel trip by Gabriel after he landed on his feet on a hip-toss attempt. Side Russian leg sweep, then an elbowdrop for two at :28. Kick to the back of the head by Gabriel, but Sandow grabbed him and gave him a number of knees to the mid-section. Neck-tie neck-breaker from Sandow for the win.

WINNER: Sandow, at 1:28. Still haven’t seen much of Sandow in the ring to make a judgment call about his work, so it’ll be interesting to see him on Sunday.

- The announcers talked about the reveal of the anonymous Raw General Manager on Monday. Mathews said people have been Tweeting about his all week. He failed to mention that most of those Tweeting about it likely thought it was awful. So…we got a video package recapping the Raw GM and Santino sleuthing moments from Raw.

- Next, Sheamus vs. Chris Jericho.

[Commercial Break]

- The announcers previewed the Money in the Bank PPV.

- Both Sheamus and Chris Jericho made their entrances for the main event. It begins after break.

[Commercial Break]

7 – SHEAMUS vs. CHRIS JERICHO

The match began as soon as the show returned from break. Jericho made the mistake of slapping Sheamus, which only made the Great White angrier. Jericho went to ringside, then back in when he was chased. Sheamus propelled himself into the ring over the top rope, catching Jericho with a shoulder tackle. Dropkick by Jericho caught the World Champ by surprise. Sheamus came back with knees in the corner, then those overhead forearms he’s known for. He bumped Jericho off the apron and onto the announce table at ringside. Sheamus sent Jericho head-first into the apron, then they cut to the final break at 3:06.

[Commercial Break]

Back at 6:02, with Cole noting that it was a brawl at ringside during most of the time away. Jericho missed a corner charge and went shoulder-first into the ring post. Knee-lift found the mark on Jericho, as did a back-breaker for two at 7:20. An eye rake by Jericho turned the tide, but Sheamus shrugged off a Codebreaker. Sheamus got hung up on the top rope on a Brogue Kick attempt and Jericho dropkicked him. Lionsault hit for a two-count. Again, Jericho’s attacked was not sustained. Jericho countered Sheamus to lock in the Walls of Jericho. Sheamus reached the bottom rope, forcing a break. White Noise was turned into the Walls again. He had this one in for some time before Sheamus finally reversed the move after coming close to tapping out. Jericho ran at Sheamus, but Sheamus hit White Noise for only a two-count. Both men were slow to re-group, but Sheamus signaled for the Brogue Kick. He missed and Jericho connected on the Codebreaker. Jericho, still struggling to get his bearings, crawled to a cover. Sheamus kicked out at two at 12:26. Sheamus came off the top and Jericho caught him with a Codebreaker. Both men doing a good job of selling the effects of the match here. Sheamus again kicked out at two. Jericho yelled for Sheamus to get up, and as he ran toward him Sheamus Brogue Kicked him.

WINNER: Sheamus, at 14:50.

The finish was replayed and Sheamus began to walk to the back with the title. Even the TitanTron read “Zackdown” instead of “Smackdown.” When Sheamus reached the top of the ramp, Alberto Del Rio’s music hit. His car came out to its usual spot in the arena, but Del Rio attacked Sheamus from behind with a kick to the head. Del Rio kicked Sheamus off the stage and applied the cross arm-breaker on Sheamus against the stage. Rodriguez was the one driving the car. Referees came out to break up Del Rio’s attack. They played his music to end the show.


What do you think? If you saw this show, we invite you to send your thoughts. Send your name, hometown, a 0-10 score rating the quality of the show, your picks for best and worst segments, and then a brief paragraph of thoughts on the show that we can publish in the Reader Reax segment later tonight or tomorrow. Send to pwtorch@gmail.com.

Greg Parks has been covering WWE Smackdown for PWTorch.com since January of 2007. Follow him on Twitter @gregmparks for live Tweeting during Raw, Impact, and PPVs, as well as other bits of wisdom. Comments, questions and feedback are welcome, and can be sent to g_man9784@yahoo.com.

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