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The following report originally published 10 years ago this week here at PWTorch.com…
WWE Smackdown review
September 12, 2014
Taped 9/9/14 in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
Aired on SyFy
By Greg Parks, PWTorch Columnist
– WWE Open.
– Highlights aired of Randy Orton vs. Roman Reigns from Raw, as well as the post-match.
– As Big Show came out for an eight-man tag, the three announcers were shown on-camera. They also plugged the main event tag match with Randy Orton & Seth Rollins taking on Chris Jericho & Roman Reigns.
1 – BIG SHOW & MARK HENRY & THE USOS vs. GOLDUST & STARDUST & LUKE HARPER & ERICK ROWAN
When Goldust & Stardust came out, then showed the newly-minted heel tag team defeating The Usos in a non-title match on Raw two weeks ago, followed by their post-match attack. Then last Monday, the challengers beat Los Matadores then were attacked by the Usos. Bray Wyatt came out with Harper & Rowan and watched from his rocking chair. Jimmy Uso began the match with Goldust, delivering chops in the corner. More chops, this time for Stardust. There were signs the heel sides wasn’t exactly getting along. Mark Henry was matched up with Harper and delivered a Junkyard Dog headbutt. A distraction allowed Harper to hit a running boot to the face of Henry. Bray Wyatt began to walk down to the ring to confront Show, but Wyatt stopped short. They took a break at 2:44 of the match.
[Commercial Break]
Back at 5:40 with the babyfaces in control. Jimmy was sent to the outside and sold a knee injury. On replay, he tried to land on the apron, but slipped and began selling the knee. Stardust took advantage of the injury. Jimmy sunset flipped Harper for two, but Harper came back with a dropkick also for two. The announcers brought up the heels not working on the knee. Samoan drop by Jimmy and both men were down at 8:40. Jimmy superkicked Goldust after Harper tagged him in. He hot-tagged Big Show at 9:09. Show whipped Stardust into the corner and splashed him. He signaled for the chokeslam, at which time Goldust tried to interfere. The brothers combined to suplex Show. Everybody got involved at that point. Jimmy, showing no ill-effects of the leg injury, dove onto the heels at ringside. Show knocked out Stardust, then Jey tagged in and splashed Stardust for the win.
WINNERS: Henry, Show, and The Usos, at 10:29. Okay match to build two feuds, but an odd story with Jimmy selling a serious knee injury, then the heels not working on it and Jimmy not selling it later.
A few replays of the finishing sequence were shown.
– Still to come, we’ll see Jerry Springer try to mediate The Bella Twins on Monday.
– Plus, Mark Henry will be back out to compete in an International Arm Wrestling contest. Sgt. Slaughter’s theme was played over the graphic.
[Commercial Break]
– The announcers hyped Total Divas
– They sent it to a video recap of Paul Heyman and John Cena from Raw.
– On Monday, Brock Lesnar will be at Raw and will go face-to-face with Cena. At Night of Champions, they square off for the WWE World Title.
– Backstage, Kane was crowing to Seth Rollins and Randy Orton that Raw was a complete success. He said Chris Jericho and Roman Reigns won’t forget what they did to them. Rollins claimed he has the ability to get inside the head of Reigns. He said tonight, they finish Reigns for good. Orton took umbrage with some comments Jericho has made about him recently. He called Jericho a “wannabe rock-star.” Kane said taking out Reigns and Jericho is best for business.
– Bo Dallas came to the ring. He’s in action next.
[Commercial Break]
2 – BO DALLAS vs. JUSTIN GABRIEL
No entrance for Gabriel. Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter were at ringside watching. As soon as the bell rang, Dallas did some mic work. He said the fans are destined to be failures, but if they work hard and listen to him, they can be just like him. He said they can be “America’s Sweetheart.” Dallas wanted the fans to place their hand over their heart, but Colter interrupted. Colter said if Dallas is America’s Sweetheart, then he’s Arianna Grande. He said Dallas should be on an infomercial selling snake oil and his bogus philosophy. Colter did the “We the People” chant. At this point, we’re 1:33 into the match. First contact at 1:39 and Dallas was not happy. Roll-up by Gabriel for two, then a leg-sweep. Another roll-up for two. Hard whip into the buckle by Dallas. Short-arm clothesline followed punches. Gabriel made his comeback but sadly, no one cared. Springboard cross-body for two. Springboard moonsault missed. Bo-Dog by Dallas for the win.
WINNER: Dallas, at 4:10. It was closer to 2:30 of actual action. Gabriel really looked good, as good as you can look in that amount of time. I can’t believe they don’t at least utilize him on Main Event or something.
Swagger got on the apron. He and Dallas tussled briefly before Dallas exited the ring. Swagger couldn’t get a good shot in at him.
– Henry vs. Rusev in an arm-wrestling match is still to come.
[Commercial Break]
– A.J. Lee skipped to the ring out of break. She joined the announcers at ringside. Summer Rae, with Layla at her side, was ready for singles action.
3 – SUMMER RAE vs. PAIGE
Layla distracted Paige, allowing Summer Rae to put the boots to Paige in the corner. “Layla, being quite annoying,” remarked Michael Cole. Bodyscissors applied by Summer Rae. Paige broke out with a headbutt. Knees to the chest of Summer as Paige then gave a look to A.J. Paige applied the Black Widow, Lee’s finisher, for the submission win.
WINNER: Paige, via submission, at 1:45. Decisive victory for the Divas Champion.
Layla appeared about to attack Paige, but A.J. came in to make the save. She hit the Paige Turner on Layla. Paige was upset at that, but A.J. just skipped around the ring in response.
– Jericho & Reigns vs. Rollins & Orton in tonight’s main event.
– Next, Rusev and Henry in an arm-wrestling contest. They were walking backstage in a split-screen as Smackdown went to break.
[Commercial Break]
– Cole was in the ring to host the arm-wrestling match, a challenge made by Rusev. Henry came out first, followed by Rusev and Lana.” JBL brought up some other arm-wrestling masters in the business, such as Scott Norton and Rick Rude. Lana got the mic for a promo. She encouraged Henry to forfeit, just like he competed and failed in the Olympic games. Henry responded that he had to withdraw because of injury in those games, but he’s happy to get to represent his country again. “Let me show you what”¦I”¦do,” said Henry. Lana dedicated the impending victory to Vladimir Putin, who was shown on the video screen.
Rudy Charles was the referee for this one. During the first lock-up, Rusev’s hand slipped. Henry won after they locked up a second time. Lana argued with the ref, who then spoke with Cole. Cole said Rusev and Lana asked for a rematch, one in which they both use their left hand. Henry obliged. As Henry was about to win, Lana threw the weightlifting chalk in Henry’s eyes. Rusev kicked Henry in the back of the head and had his hand raised by Lana. As Henry got back to his feet, Rusev gave him a jumping side-kick for good measure. They replayed the chalk throw, and Lana did some nice acting there before she threw it. Also replayed was Rusev’s side-kick.
– Renee Young was backstage with Chris Jericho. Jericho said he fought in one of the greatest cage matches in Raw history on Monday night. Jericho said he lost Monday, but he lost on his terms and he can accept that. But what he can’t accept is Orton attacking him. He said the mistake was Orton not finishing him off. He used some rhymes and snake types to talk about what he’d do to Orton. And after tonight, Orton will never be the same again.
– The Miz and his stunt double were walking backstage. They’re in action next.
[Commercial Break]
Check out the latest episode of “PWTorch ’90s Pastcast” with Patrick Moynahan and Alex McDonald, part of the PWTorch Dailycast line-up: CLICK HERE to stream (or search “wade keller” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)
4 – DAMIEN MIZDOW & THE MIZ vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER & R-ZIGGLER
Sandow basically copied every mannerism of Miz as they came to the ring. Ziggler came out with a mic and introduced his partner, and stunt double for the night, R. Ziggler. It was R-Truth dressed like Ziggler. The announcers joked about not being able to tell the difference between the Zigglers. Jumping elbowdrop by Ziggler found the mark, then he tagged Truth. He even did Ziggler’s gyrating jumping elbowdrop. Clothesline by Sandow missed and Ziggler dropkicked him down. The announcers were having fun during this one, which meant viewers at home listening probably weren’t. Miz ran into a double hip-toss, as did Sandow. Both heels were clotheslined over the top. This match is going over two segments? They cut to break at 2:26.
[Commercial Break]
Back with Truth taking it to Miz. Sandow created a distraction that led to Miz kicking Truth to the mat. Sandow tagged back in and did Miz’s running boot to the seated Truth for two. Neckbreaker combo for Miz for two at 7:31. Sandow followed with his own neckbreaker attempts, but Truth backslid Sandow for two. Miz choked Truth in the middle rope. Miz knocked Ziggler off the apron with a cheap shot, but walked into a jumping DDT by Truth. Sandow and Ziggler both tagged in at 9:32. Sandow tried the Skull Crushing Finale to no avail. Fameasser by Ziggler for two, as Miz broke up the pin. Truth hit the Zig Zag on Sandow while the ref was getting Miz out of the ring. Ziggler then picked up the win.
WINNERS: Ziggler and R-Ziggler, at 10:31. This must’ve been tough for Tom Phillips, having to call Truth R-Ziggler and Sandow Damien Mizdow. Good match if you can overlook the kookiness.
– We got a preview of the new SyFy original series, Z Nation, premiering tonight after Smackdown.
– Next, we’ll get the Bellas segment from Raw.
[Commercial Break]
– The announcers celebrated another successful ratings week for Smackdown.
– They pitched it to the Jerry Springer-Bella Twins segment on Raw.
– Byron Saxton was backstage with Nikki Bella. Nikki claimed she had been the victim all along and said it was Brie’s fault that Jerry left on a stretcher Monday night. She said she needs to focus on her Divas Title match. It helps her forget that she ever had a sister. A.J. came onto the scene saying Nikki had weaseled her way into A.J.’s title match. Paige walked up and pretended to forget Nikki’s name, focusing on A.J. instead. All three walked away separately, and Nikki remarked that she thinks winning the title could be easy.
– Chris Jericho came out for the main event. As he did, they showed him getting attacked in the trainer’s room on Monday by Orton. Reigns then made his entrance as well. The tag match is next.
[Commercial Break]
– Back from break, they showed Jericho’s cross-body off the top of the cage onto Wyatt Monday night. His knee is taped because of the injury suffered on that jump.
5 – CHRIS JERICHO & ROMAN REIGNS vs. SETH ROLLINS & RANDY ORTON
When Rollins came out, they showed the lowering of the cage Monday night and the attack on Reigns. Reigns ran over Orton to start and clothesline him over the top rope. He knocked Rollins off the apron as well and went outside after Orton. Rollins was knocked aside again. Orton was able to push Reigns off the apron and into the announce table however. Reigns appeared hurt as they went to break at 1:08 of the match.
[Commercial Break]
The show returned at 4:49 of the match. Orton was choking Reigns over the second rope. Reigns got in a shot on Rollins, but Orton clotheslined him in the corner in response. Jericho made the hot tag just after the six-minute mark. Slingshot into the corner by Jericho to Rollins. Walls of Jericho applied. Orton charged in and Jericho fought him off. Bulldog by Jericho, then a Lionsault attempt, but Orton punched him in the face from outside the ring as Jericho went to springboard. The heels took over at this point. Rollins hit the Three Amigos vertical euplexes. However, he ended up being back-dropped to ringside. A second-rope dropkick by Jericho evened things up. Tag was made to Reigns, who cleaned house. Reigns splashed a stacked-up Orton and Rollins in the corner. After taking out Rollins, Reigns tagged Jericho, who hit a cross-body off the top and onto Orton for two. Reigns and Rollins fought into the crowd. Orton hit his trademark back-breaker, but his DDT was countered into a roll-up by Jericho for the win.
WINNERS: Reigns and Jericho, at 12:23.
A replay of the finish aired. An irate Orton stewed in the ring while Jericho and Reigns stood successful on the ramp to close the show.
Did you watch Friday’s Smackdown episode? Send your 0-10 score & Reax to pwtorch@gmail.com for our TV Reax feature.
9Greg 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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