WWE Smackdown Blog
October 25, 2013
Report by Michael Cupach, PWTorch contributor

- Michael Cole Interviews Triple H. It looks like the weekly chats between Cole and Hunter on WWE's website have finally gone on the road! Basically, Hunter and Stephanie have fired six people as a result of Big Show appearing on Raw last Monday and will no longer discuss Big Show on the air. Poor Big Show, what did his character do to deserve the same treatment that WWE has given Chris Benoit?

Hunter and Cole discussed Alberto Del Rio versus John Cena at Hell in a Cell and the piped-in cheers for Cena were never so obvious. Hunter had nothing of note to add and I wonder why it was even brought up.

The next topic was the WWE Title situation and Shawn Michaels. Hunter trusts HBK more than anyone and he knows that HBK is the man to make sure that the title will not be in abeyance when the Hell in a Cell PPV is over. Hunter also mentioned that Shawn knows what is best for business and made such a point of mentioning it that it has to be a red herring for Sunday. Either he completely telegraphed the finish that my two-year-old niece, Emily, who has never watched wrestling before, can predict the finish, or it is a red herring and Shawn will call things down the middle.

Daniel Bryan made his way out to say that the Shawn Michaels he knows - the Shawn Michaels who trained him - will do what is right and fair on Sunday and Bryan will prove Hunter wrong. Bryan chanted “Yes!” in Hunter's face and smirked at him until Hunter had enough and walked away.

1 - THE USOS vs. THE WYATT FAMILY (w/Bray Wyatt)

Between the pink shirt, shorts, and face paint, The Usos looked like a walking bottle of Pepto Bismol! This will be another telling match - The Usos are in a title match on Sunday, will they win this match or will The Wyatts's dominance continue? If The Wyatts won, they would have have to be close to number one contenders status. I should note that The Miz was on commentary and made a horrendous comparison between Bray Wyatt, Charles Manson, and Jimmy Buffett.

Harper nailed Jey Uso with a vicious-looking Michinoku Driver! Bray Wyatt tried getting involved and that brought out The Miz to knock him out. Erick Rowan chased Miz to the back, leaving his partner with both Usos, and they double superkicked him to pick up the win. I guess that gives The Usos momentum going into Hell in a Cell and gives The Wyatt Family an out for losing tonight without losing face.

WINNERS: The Usos by pinfall.

2 - NIKKI BELLA (w/Brie Bella) vs. Divas champion A.J. LEE (w/Tamina) – non-title match

How about that, it looks like Nikki Bella's career-ending injury wasn’t as dramatic and career-ending as it was made out to be on Total Divas. Curse me for knowing anything about that! So, how did I know that The Bellas were playing faces tonight? First of all, excellent question! Secondly, they were not dressed a like, which meant they would not try any “twin magic, which is a heel move of theirs. For the finish, Tamina and Brie got into it on the outside, Tamina whipped Brie into the stairs hard, and A.J. made Nikki tap out to the Black Widow submission.

WINNER: AJ Lee by submission.

- John Cena Retrospective. A video package highlighting Cena’s career ever since his first match against Kurt Angle right up to his match against The Rock was shown. The video also made note that half of the audience resents him. All in all, this was a cool package to herald the return of WWE’s top star and get the crowd excited.

-Backstage, Bray Wyatt flagged down a cameraman and brought him to where The Wyatt Family had Miz chained up and unconscious with “Liar” scrawled across his chest. I’m going to go ahead and say he won’t be in action tonight for the eight-man tag match!

3 - LOS MATADORES (w/El Torito) vs. 3MB (w/Jinder Mahal)

Heath is so rock & roll that he wore little pink ribbon decals on his sunglasses. But, the mini bull was void of pink, which got me thinking that El Torito was not interested in Breast Cancer Awareness! The Real Americans came out to watch from the ramp, but the talk from the commentators was all about El Torito, his Twitter account, and his cute li’l nose ring. After singling out Drew McIntyre, Los Matadores hit a series of double-team moves to put Drew away handily.

WINNERS: Los Matadores by pinfall.

-Post-match, El Torito gored Jinder Mahal and then hit him with a moonsault to send him packing. Zeb Colter then got on the house microphone and accused Matadores of being deviants who kidnap another man and force him to dress like a bull. Then, a challenge was made for Hell in a Cell. (Zeb has derailed as a character, becoming very silly as of late. He needs to pull back from the silly accusations and get his edge back if he wants to go back to doing some good for himself and his clients.)

4 - PAUL HEYMAN & RYBACK vs. C.M. SKUNK

Was C.P. Munk booked? Skunk did the mannerisms and “hit” a few of C.M. Punk's moves, but Ryback no-sold and manhandled Skunk, then tagged in Heyman to get in some uncomfortable shots. Heyman brought in Ryback to deliver Shellshock, then Heyman got the pin. Am I the only one who is now thinking of C.M. Punk and Goldberg versus C.M. Skunk and Gillberg for WrestleMania 30?

WINNERS: Heyman and Ryback by pinfall.

-Backstage, Vickie was laughing *way* too hard at the C.M. Skunk gag. The only way to get me to laugh that hard at C.M. Skunk would be if you fed me mescaline and tickled me while I watched. Big E. Langston broke up the laugh-a-thon and demanded to be given a shot and called Vickie “Brad Maddox.” She took offense and told him he would get his.

- Alberto Del Rio Promo. Generic promo making general threats against John Cena while throwing around the word “gringo” as if it were water.

-R-Truth and Santino shilled products for WWEShop.com. In all honesty, they sold that merchandise better than Del Rio sold his match against Cena this Sunday! See what I did there? Word play like that don’t happen like that often!

5 - FANDANGO (w/Summer Rae) vs. GREAT KHALI (w/Natalya and Hornswoggle)

As of late, when I watch WWE mid-card match-ups like this, I wonder if it matters who wins and loses because I know that next week the other guy will win and the other will lose. Summer Rae slapped Nattie hard and Nattie “chased” after her. I put chase in quotes because Summer Rae ran and Natalya went one-eighths speed. Natalya and Summer Rae went at it in the ring and the referee threw the match out. I guess that throws my 50/50 booking theory out the window because no one won!

WINNER: No contest.

6 - DANIEL BRYAN & CODY RHODES & GOLDUST & BIG E. LANGSTON vs. THE SHIELD & RANDY ORTON - eight-man tag main event

This match was given 30 minutes, entrances included. Yay! A year ago, no one could predict that these eight men would main event Smackdown, as a year ago half the men in this match were down in NXT still waiting to be called up! Heck, a year ago Bryan was doing group therapy with Kane, Orton was treading water, Cody was doing nothing of note, and Goldust was on Twitter trying to book indy dates! So, it is amazing how all eight of these guys have come together in a year!

Cody Rhodes and Goldust controlled the match to start, then Ambrose got the upper hand for the heels. Cody Rhodes played “Dashing One in peril” through the meat of the match. Cody finally fought through all three members of The Shield before tagging in his brother! Goldust started to clean house, but was surprisingly cut short by Roman Reigns and a huge clothesline. Goldust surprised The Shield with a double back elbow from the middle rope and he hot-tagged Daniel Bryan!

Bryan hit his spots and single-handedly dismantled Orton and The Shield. The crowd went bat crazy as Bryan Yes-kicked Ambrose and put him in the Yes! Lock. Reigns made the save, and then one-by-one wrestlers fell to each other's finishing moves until it was Bryan and Orton left in the ring. Orton had Bryan sized up for the RKO when Langston snuck in and shoved Orton into Bryan's flying knee and Daniel Bryan pinned Randy Orton!

WINNERS: Bryan, Langston, Rhodes, and Goldust by pinfall.

Mike's Reax: Slow start to the match, but the wrestles put it all together the last seven or eight minutes and got the crowd hot into the finish. This was the perfect way to end the show in that now the audience knows that Bryan can put Orton away and believe that he will do it again on Sunday. The fans are also thinking that when things are called down the middle and Shawn Michaels is officiating that nothing shady will go down. Should be interesting!

Thanks for reading, please follow me on Twitter @MJCupach for more thoughts on wrestling and other random Tweets! Also, check out my recap of Main Event every Wednesday here on PWTorch.com and head over to the PWTorch App, where I contribute to the Ask PWTorch All-Star Panel and answer your questions about the world of professional wrestling!

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