WWE Smackdown review
November 29, 2013
Taped 11/26/13 in Uncasville, Conn. at the Mohegan Sun Casino
Aired on SyFy
By Greg Parks, PWTorch Columnist (Twitter: @gregmparks)


- WWE Open.

- Smackdown Open.

- A graphic aired for Cody Rhodes & Goldust defending their tag titles tonight against Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins of The Shield.

- Renee Young was in the ring. It appears her stock is soaring within WWE as well, as I can’t remember the last time they had an interviewer do two unrelated in-ring interviews in one week. She introduced Randy Orton, who came out. Young took Orton back to Survivor Series, reminding him of The Authority’s role in his win over Big Show at that pay per-view. Orton saw things differently, claiming Show’s punch did not in fact knock him out. He claimed to be playing possum and didn’t need The Authority to win – he felt it tainted the win. Young switched gears to John Cena, and they showed a clip of Cena’s challenge from Raw.

Young asked Orton how he felt when The Authority accepted Cena’s challenge and made the match for TLC. She peppered him with questions, but he didn’t answer and instead just walked out of the ring and to the back to no music. JBL felt the line of questioning was accusatory.

- Michael Cole and JBL sent it to a post-Thanksgiving party being held in the back. Several Superstars were stuffing their faces (including Damien Sandow, curiously appearing to eat Chinese food). Vickie Guerrero got everyone’s attention and claimed the dinner would not break down into mayhem. hey, the Gobbledygooker was there! Vickie offered up a food eating contest between Titus O’Neil and Great Khali. Before we could get a finish, Mark Henry’s music played in the arena and they cut to his and Big E. Langston’s entrance. Man, WWE can’t even give us a proper finish to a food eating contest. Langston and Henry are in tag action next.

[Commercial Break]

- Whoops, it looks like Henry in singles action. Curtis Axel was accompanied by Ryback, though.

1 – MARK HENRY vs. CURTIS AXEL

Before long, Ryback and Langston began jawing at ringside. Axel dropkicked Henry’s knee and planted him with a DDT for one. Axel kept Henry off his feet and locked in a chin-lock. Henry finally got back to a vertical base and booted Axel in the face. Henry did his Junkyard Dog headbutts, driving Axel out of the ring and right in front of Langston. Langston saw Ryback coming at him and clotheslined him down. Henry tossed Axel back in the ring and plowed right into him. World’s Strongest Slam for the finish.

WINNER: Henry, at 3:09. I’m shocked that this didn’t end up getting turned into a tag-team match.

They replayed Ryback blindsiding Langston early on, then the finish.

- Backstage, R-Truth was giving a positive critique to Xavier Woods and his dancing on Raw. An angry Brodus Clay walked in, saying he gave permission for Woods to use his music and borrow the Funkadactyls, but not steal them from him. That’s a nice attitude to have toward women. Clay told Woods to keep his mouth shut unless spoken too, then shoved him onto a bench. Tensai held Clay back from doling out any further punishment.

- El Torito teams with Los Matadores for the first time, taking on The Plymouth Rockers, aka 3MB.

- Also, the tag team championship match is still to come.

[Commercial Break]

- A shot of the interior of the Mohegan Sun casino was shown.

- They went back to Titus and Khali, still going at it in the food eating contest. O’Neil looked like he poured the food all over him in lieu of eating it. Khali looked like Inspector 34 from “The Adventures of Pete & Pete,” with nary a spot on him. A.J. Lee and Tamina came up to Vickie and said they came to spread some cheer. Vickie put them in a food fight against everyone else if they were to stay. A.J. decided to leave instead. Khali, who had been calmly eating, suddenly fell face-first into a pie sitting in front of him. So Titus won. That win qualified him for a match…against Antonio Cesaro. Everyone else on the roster laughed. With the Giant Swing, that means O’Neil is gonna puke, right? Santino lifted Khali’s head out of the pie to check on him.

2 – THE PLYMOUTH ROCKERS vs. LOS MATADORES & EL TORITO

3MB came out to the Rockers theme song, but didn’t dress like them – or anyone from the colonial period, save pilgrim hats. Pretty weak showing this week. Cole made a big deal about this being El Torito’s first match in WWE. He started things with Heath Slater, but just when it seemed The Rockers had him cornered, Los Matadores took them out. All three flew onto The Rockers on the outside. Once the match was reset, one of the Matadores became the legal man. DDT on Drew McIntyre by one of the Matadores. Torito made the tag and gave a hurricanrana to McIntyre. He gored Jinder Mahal and also knocked Slater off the apron. Arm-drag to McIntyre, then a tag to, let’s say, Diego. The double-team finish was given for the win.

WINNERS: Los Matadores and El Torito, at 2:54. The lesson learned here is that to get WWE interested in you, you either need to be really big or really small.

- The Shield challenges Cody Rhodes & Goldust for the tag titles, coming up later tonight.

[Commercial Break]

3 – BRODUS CLAY & TENSAI vs. R-TRUTH & XAVIER WOODS

The Funkadactyls came to the ring with Clay and Tensai. Tensai threw Truth off on a side headlock attempt. They had somewhat of a quick dance-off. Truth gave the Tensai. a boot on a corner charge. Woods made the hot tag at 1:25 and went right after Clay. Woods had trouble getting Tensai to the mat. Enziguiri led Tensai. stumbling into a tag. Clay took out Truth, then Woods. Clay went to the middle rope and splashed Woods. That was enough for the pin.

WINNERS: Clay and Sweet T. at 2:15. I notice Lilian Garcia is still announcing Sweet T. as Tensai, despite the fact the announcers never mentioned that name and only called him Sweet T. Because I am neurotic, I then went back and changed all references to Sweet T. to Tensai in my report to avoid confusion.

- Renee Young was backstage with C.M. Punk. Punk was worried about Daniel Bryan, who he hasn’t heard from since Monday night’s attack by The Wyatts. Punk said he didn’t understand why The Shield attacked, unless they were acting on orders from some “authority” (Punk used air quotes). He said The Shield will need protection from him soon enough.

- A graphic for the tag title match was shown. It’s tonight.

[Commercial Break]

- Bray Wyatt cut a promo in the dark backstage, with the rest of the Family looking over his shoulders. He promised that Daniel Bryan would be safe with them. He said Bryan will emerge as a monster.

4 – TITUS O’NEIL vs. ANTONIO CESARO

No entrance for either man. O’Neil was holding his stomach as Cole noted he looked bloated. Ceasro dropkicked O’Neil as he came off the ropes. Even O’Neil’s shout was half-hearted. Cesaro worked over the stomach of O’Neil. This entire match greatly amused the announcers. Gutwrench suplex by Cesaro as Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter showed their approval at ringside. Cesaro gave the Giant Swing to O’Neil. Darren Young ran in to break it up for the disqualification.

WINNER: Cesaro, via DQ, at 2:00. That was an anti-climactic finish.

After the match, O’Neil was at ringside and he took JBL’s cowboy hat. After a few false starts, he “puked” into it. But the puke was censored by an image of a plate of Turkey, a knife and a fork. O’Neil then stuffed the puke-filled hat on top of Cole’s head. JBL was more concerned about his hat than Cole being covered in puke. O’Neil came around ringside on puked on Zeb next, again, censored. O’Neil seemed to feel better after depositing his meal onto Zeb. This was one of those segments that embarrasses wrestling fans who are watching with non-fans.

- The Total Divas crew hyped the WWE Shop merchandise this week. Use the promo code “Divas” to get 20% off.

- The tag championship match is next.

[Commercial Break]

- The Raw Rebound aired.

5 – GOLDUST & CODY RHODES vs. ROMAN REIGNS & SETH ROLLINS – WWE TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH

The announcers were back at the desk after shaking of the silliness of the last segment. Dean Ambrose joined the commentators for this match. Cole asked Ambrose whether or not The Authority charged The Shield with attack C.M. Punk Monday night. Ambrose said Cole didn’t have proper clearance to ask such a question. Ambrose then confirmed that it was personal business that led to the attack on Punk. Goldust and Cody worked over Rollins. A couple of quick covers by the babyfaces went nowhere. Goldust took a brief break on the outside, then back in caught Reigns with a dropkick. The brothers clotheslined both Reigns and Rollins over the top rope. They went to break four minutes into the match.

[Commercial Break]

Back at 8:16 of the match, with Rhodes controlling Rollins on the mat. An Alabama Slam was reversed and Rollins connected on a kick to the head for two. The announcers talked about other brother tag team champions, and among them, The Hardy Boys and Dudley Boys were brought up (along with Edge and Christian, as Ambrose seemed confused about whether or not they were brothers in the storyline). Rhodes was sent to the outside, where Reigns took over on offense. Goldust made the hot tag and clobbered Reigns. It ended up with both teams convalescing on the outside as the show went to break at 13:58.

[Commercial Break]

Back at 16:59 with The Shield double-teaming Goldust. Goldust fought to his feet and hammered away on Rollins. Rollins fired back with a body splash for two at 18:16. After a missed dropkick by Rollins, Goldust hooked him in a jackknife cover for two. Reigns made the tag and cheap-shotted Rhodes. A pin was broken up by Rhodes, however. A double-team attempt was unsuccessful, as Goldust hit a double back-elbow out of the corner. Tag to Rhodes, who went to work on Rollins. Rollins went to the middle rope, but Rhodes put him on his shoulders for a muscle-buster move. Reigns broke up the pin and Goldust and Reigns fought outside the ring. Goldust was thrown into the barricade, but Rhodes came off the top and took out both members of The Shield with a cross-body. Moonsault by Cody missed. Rollins missed a springboard and Cross-Rhodes connected. Ambrose ran in to break up the pin.

WINNERS: Rhodes and Goldust, via disqualification, at 23:15. This match was a much-needed palette-cleansing after the first hour of this show.

C.M. Punk ran out with a chair and chased off Ambrose before he could do further damage. The crowd was really into him. Vickie Guerrero appeared on the Titan-Tron. She made a six-man tag match between these six for after the break.

[Commercial Break]

6 – GOLDUST & CODY RHODES & C.M. PUNK vs. THE SHIELD

The six-man tag was joined in progress out of break. According to JBL, Punk was a house afire during the commercials. Rhodes back-dropped Ambrose after he tagged in. Fist to the face off the top rope by Punk after he tagged in. Punk held Rollins for Goldust. Cody then came in and fought with Rollins outside of the ring. Punk went back to working the leg of Rollins. They went to break at 4:38 of the match.

[Commercial Break]

Ambrose was working over the arm of Rhodes upon return. Rhodes was desperate to make a tag, and did so, to Punk. As Punk called for the GTS, the lights went out. When they turned on, The Wyatt Family was standing in the aisle, watching the match. Their presence didn’t seem to have a negative effect on Punk, who did a combo DDT on Ambrose and neck-breaker on Rollins. Before Punk could make a tag, the Wyatts attacked Goldust and Cody Rhodes, then Punk.

WINNERS: Rhodes, Goldust and Punk, via DQ, 11:30 shown. If nothing else, the ratings for this last hour should be interesting.

The Usos ran out to help the babyfaces. Then Rey Mysterio’s music played and he came out as well. He low-bridged Reigns, then took Rollins down with three headscissors. Vickie appeared again, this time coming out from backstage. She demanded order, and thus restarted the match as a 12-man tag.

[Commercial Break]

7 – GOLDUST & CODY RHODES & C.M. PUNK & REY MYSTERIO & THE USOS vs. THE SHIELD & THE WYATT FAMILY

Immediately back from break, Ambrose kicked out of a pin attempt by one of the Usos. It would’ve been funny had that been the finish. The heels seemed to work well together in trapping Jimmy Uso in their corner. Rey tagged in and planted Luke Harper with a DDT. Harper took over with a big boot to Mysterio with Rey coming off the ropes. Bray tagged in and splashed Rey in the corner. A cover got two. Erick Rowan entered the match and treated Rey as a rag doll, tossing him around while keeping him cinched in a bear-hug. Rey tried to scoot through Ambrose’s legs to make a tag, but couldn’t do so. Mysterio fought off both Ambrose and Rollins and made the tag to Punk. Kicks from Punk sent Rowan to ringside. Suicide dive through the ropes connected. Punk hit three knees on Rowan in the corner, then a neck-breaker. Top-rope elbowdrop found the mark for two. Ambrose broke up the pin and the match broke down from there. Bray set up for Sister Abigail on Punk, but Mysterio stopped it. He gave a 619 to Rowan, then Punk got the big man up for the GTS and the win.

WINNERS: Punk, Goldust, Rhodes, Mysterio and The Usos, 8:46 shown.

Some of the action at the end of the match was replayed.

The babyfaces celebrated to Punk’s theme as the show closed.


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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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