WWE Smackdown review
February 7, 2014
Taped 2/4/14 in Des Moines, Iowa
Aired on SyFy
By Greg Parks, PWTorch Columnist (Twitter: @gregmparks)


- WWE Open.

- Smackdown Open.

- After the camera panned the crowd, Daniel Bryan’s music played to bring him into the arena. Bryan noted that The Authority might make him the new “face of WWE.” He said he doesn’t want to be the face of WWE. He said The Authority showed their true colors when Kane interfered and chokeslammed him. We saw that very footage, cued up on the TitanTron. Michael Cole pointed out that in his WWE.com interview with Triple H, Hunter made it known there will be an investigation into Kane’s actions on Monday night. Bryan said he has stayed out of Kane’s way, but not anymore. He asked for Kane to come out and explain himself. Kane did come out to respond to Bryan, but he stayed on the ramp.

Bryan invited Kane into the ring. Kane declined. He apologized for his actions, on behalf of The Authority. That was odd wording. He said he acted alone and made it sound like he was reading a prepared statement (which, in a way, he was). Bryan didn’t like Kane’s corporate-speak apology. He tried to talk some sense into Kane. Bryan said the old Kane became his friend. He tried to talk Kane into becoming the old Kane. Kane agreed they have history, but it’s only history. He said he’s traded up and couldn’t be happier. “You sold out” chant at Kane, who said he and Bryan are not friends. He said they never were friends. Bryan pandered to the crowd some more and wanted to settle the issue between him and Kane. Kane instead put Bryan in a match with Antonio Cesaro. Kane wished him good luck and Bryan’s music played to end the segment.

- Michael Cole and JBL were shown on-camera as they discussed the Elimination Chamber PPV. A graphic showed the participants in the Chamber match. Cole explained the rules of the match, which were also shown on-screen.

- Tonight, Christian faces Randy Orton.

- The Shield made their entrance, as Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns are in tag action against Kofi Kingston & Dolph Ziggler, next.

[Commercial Break]

1 – DEAN AMBROSE & ROMAN REIGNS vs. KOFI KINGSTON & DOLPH ZIGGLER

No entrance for the faces. I’m convinced WWE is calling Seth Rollins “the architect” of The Shield because he doesn’t stand out character-wise like Ambrose and Reigns do, so they attached some meaningless title to him. As Rollins joined in on commentary, they showed Ambrose tagging himself in to “steal” the victory for his team on Raw, further teasing dissension among the three. Rollins brushed off any idea of an issue.

Standing splash by Kingston on Ambrose for two at :40. Ziggler nailed a prone Ambrose with a number of elbowdrops. Reigns tagged in and took over on offense. Ziggler tagged Kingston in at 2:57, and he took the fight to Ambrose and Reigns. Ambrose hung Kingston up on the top rope, and Reigns nailed Kingston with his running apron dropkick. They cut to break 3:39 into the match.

[Commercial Break]

Back at 7:34 of the match with Ambrose still holding Kingston at bay. After spending time before the break talking about The Shield not being on the same page, Cole turned his attention to the Wyatts vs. Shield feud after the break. Cross-body off the top by Kingston and both men were down at about the 9:00 mark. Both Ambrose and Kingston made tags, with Ziggler picking up the pace on offense. Reigns dodged the Fameasser and planted Ziggler with a suplex. Ambrose tried to blind tag himself in but Reigns saw it coming and moved out of the way. Kofi pulled Ambrose off the apron and Reigns turned into a DDT from Ziggler for two. Rollins tried to interfere on the outside, and the distraction allowed Ambrose to dump Kofi. Ziggler was caught coming off the ropes with a Superman punch, and a beauthy at that. Spear connected, and Reigns tagged in Ambrose so that he could make the pin.

WINNERS: The Shield, at 11:28. A solid Smackdown match, and a fine twist to The Shield’s slow-burn break-up.

Reigns and Ambrose jawed a bit after the match until The Wyatts showed up on the video board. Bray Wyatt called out The Shield for bickering like children. He assured The Shield he was no joke, and that a monster resides behind his eyes. Luke Harper said those who deny them will be the first ones to burn.

- Sheamus was walking backstage. He faces Ryback, next.

[Commercial Break]

2 – RYBACK vs. SHEAMUS

No entrance for Ryback, though he did have Curtis Axel at ringside with him. A collar-and-elbow tie-up went to the mat, then back to a vertical base. Sheamus ran into Ryback, knocking the monster off his feet. Forward roll by Sheamus with Ryback on his shoulders. He decided it was a good time to go outside and give Axel a Brogue Kick. Sheamus then connected on his trademark forearms to the chest of Ryback, though Ryback broke free and man-handled Sheamus back into the ring. JBL questioned whether or not Sheamus has a foreign object in his boot, since he has gotten so many victories with the Brogue Kick. Ryback slowed things down and worked Sheamus’s shoulder. Ryback surprisingly went to the top rope, but unsurprisingly, Sheamus avoided a splash. Sheamus made his comeback, but Ryback caught a Brogue Kick attempt and powerbombed the Celtic Warrior for two at 5:09. Ryback then set up for his meat-hook clothesline. Instead, he ran into a Brogue Kick. The pin was academic.

WINNER: Sheamus, at 5:45. Hard-hitting, big-man match-up, but it also shows how far Sheamus has come, and how underrated he may still be, to get this kind of match out of Ryback.

A replay of some of the major moments of the match was shown.

- Back to the announcers, who discussed Randy Orton being forced to run the gauntlet against his Chamber opponents. Cole sent it to a clip of Triple H getting angry at him when asking the COO if he has an issue with Orton, thus the gauntlet matches. They also talked about Orton having to face John Cena this Monday night on Raw.

- But first, Orton vs. Christian, and that’s tonight.

- Also tonight, Daniel Bryan vs. Antonio Cesaro.

[Commercial Break]

- The snow was shown falling outside the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

- A promo for Legends House on the WWE Network was shown. The network launches two weeks from Monday.

- Renee Young was backstage with Alberto Del Rio. Young sent it to a clip of Batista and Del Rio’s brawl from Monday night. Del Rio was asked why he continues to antagonize Batista. Del Rio said he’s going to turn Batista into a little puppy drinking milk from a saucer. He sure took that analogy further than he needed to.

- The Real Americans and Zeb Colter came out. Antonio Cesaro’s match with Daniel Bryan is on deck.

[Commercial Break]

- Monday night on Raw, Mark Henry returns.

3 – ANTONIO CESARO vs. DANIEL BRYAN

As expected, Bryan and Cesaro put on a wrestling clinic in the early going. While working out of a submission move, Cesaro lifted Bryan over his head with one arm and dropped him. Bryan came back and gave Cesaro a hurricanrana off the top rope for two at 4:50 of the contest. Tilt-a-whirl back-breaker by Cesaro. They went to break 5:33 into the match.

[Commercial Break]

Back at 9:03 of the match. Bryan low-bridged Cesaro out of the ring, then took out Swagger at ringside for good measure. Back in, Bryan came off the top, but Cesaro countered with a mid-air European uppercut. Bryan avoided the Cesaro Swing, which is pretty much the only thing he can do to get booed these days. Instead, Cesaro set up for the Neutralizer, but Bryan countered. Bryan flung Cesaro down and locked in the Yes Lock. Cesaro tapped.

WINNER: Bryan, via submission, at 11:40. It was Bryan vs. Cesaro. Need I say more?

After the match, Kane came out. As he walked to the ring, Cesaro attacked Bryan from behind. He gave Bryan the Neutralizer. After that, Kane entered the ring to another “You Sold Out” chant. Chokeslam by Kane. Cue the turnbuckle pyro. The finish of the match was replayed, as well as the key post-match happenings. Cole was nearly apoplectic that a member of management would put his hands on a subordinate.

- Randy Orton was backstage with Renee Young. She asked him about the gauntlet that The Authority has thrown down. Orton talked about how much better he is than the man who beat him on Raw, Daniel Bryan, and was confident that he would run through the rest of the gauntlet without a loss. He proclaimed himself the greatest of this generation, or any other.

- A.J. Lee skipped to the ring with Tamina Snuka at her side. She faces Nikki Bella next.

[Commercial Break]

- The announcers, on-camera, discussed WWE’s celebration of Black History Month. A video package on “Big Cat” Ernie Ladd was shown.

- A backstage vignette aired, with Lana talking up her charge, Alexander Rusev. He’s got that blank look into the camera down pat.

4 – A.J. LEE vs. NIKKI BELLA

Nikki fought off a sunset flip try and bodyslammed the Divas Champion. Nikki missed a corner charge and A.J. applied a sleeper. Brie Bella tried to get the crowd into it at ringside. A.J. kicked Nikki out of the corner, but Nikki gave A.J. a jawbreaker. Back body-drop by Nikki, which led to Tamina getting on the apron. Brie fought with her there, and Nikki accidentally blasted A.J. into Brie, sending her off the apron. A.J. took advantage of Nikki’s concern and applied the Black Widow for the win.

WINNER: A.J., via submission, at 2:35. I know A.J. is tiny, but she’s looking dangerously thin these days.

The finish was replayed after the match.

- They showed the break-up of the Prime Time Players last week on Smackdown.

- Titus O’Neil was backstage with…himself. He brought Renee Young into the picture and graciously allowed her to ask a question. Well, she didn’t quite get to the question, as O’Neil interrupted her. O’Neil said he and Darren Young tagged for two years and he carried the team. O’Neil showed off his “beautiful smile,” and said the only weight he’ll be carrying going forward is WWE Championship gold. O’Neil gave Young the mic back and told her to run along. This led to Young coming into the picture to attack his former tag partner. They brawled among the various backstage slapdash until two referees broke it up. Lightweights.

[Commercial Break]

5 – GOLDUST vs. BRAY WYATT

Goldust was joined by his brother, neither of whom got an entrance. An inset interview aired with an admittedly desperate Goldust and Rhodes. Goldie promised to take a risk tonight. Arm-drag by Goldust at the bell. Wyatt played some mind games with Goldust. He applied a nerve hold on Goldust, who hit what I’d closely call a springboard back-elbow (more accurate than Cole calling it a “handspring elbow”). Goldust took Wyatt down with a hurricanrana, followed up by a spinebuster. Off the apron and onto Wyatt with a somersault dive. Harper and Erick Rowan attacked Rhodes after the match, distracting Goldust and allowing Wyatt to take over. Wyatt hit Sister Abigail for the win.

WINNER: Wyatt, at 3:55. A little surprised they didn’t plug the rare Wyatt singles match a little more. Wasn’t a fan of a similar finish on two matches in a row.

After the match, it was The Shield’s turn to send a message to their opponents on the TitanTron. Ambrose admitted The Shield have a lot of pride, but it’s because they’re the best in the industry. Seth Rollins said they don’t care if the Wyatts are monsters are men – they’re not afraid. Reigns said one of them would’ve become WWE Champion at Elimination Chamber had the Wyatts not interfered in their match. Once the promo was done, Wyatt yelled at them from the ring.

- Orton vs. Christian is next.

[Commercial Break]

6 – CHRISTIAN vs. RANDY ORTON

After some back-and-forth in the early going, Christian dumped Orton to ringside and came off the top with a cross-body. Both men were down on the outside of the ring as they went to break at 2:18 of the match.

[Commercial Break]

Christian was still in control out of break, but as he was about to send Orton’s legs into the steel post, Orton pulled Christian with his legs toward the post, ramming Christian head-first into it. Next was a back-drop onto the barricade by Orton. Orton slowed the pace and hit a dropkick on a charging Christian. Rear-chinlock applied by the champ. Christian fought back but was felled by a hard Orton clothesline. Christian still managed to climb to the top and hit a cross-body for two. Flying European uppercut by Christian. Orton responded with a powerslam for two. Christian missed a splash off the top and connected on the rope-assisted DDT. Orton set up for the RKO, but Christian caught him with a backslide for two. Christian came off the second rope, right into an RKO.

WINNER: Orton, at 11:20.

After the finish was replayed, Orton posed in the ring with both title belts. Cole plugged his upcoming Raw match with John Cena before the show closed.


Did you watch Friday's Smackdown episode? Send your 0-10 score & Reax to pwtorch@gmail.com for our TV Reax feature.

Greg Parks has been covering WWE Smackdown for PWTorch.com since January of 2007. He is the host of “Moonlighting with Greg Parks,” a PWTorch VIP-exclusive audio show posted each weekend. 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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