Booker first thanked the fans for an amazing 2011, from his Royal Rumble participation to defeating Cody Rhodes on this weeks Raw. The Intercontinental Champion, Rhodes inevitably interrupted. He listed off his accomplishments from the year (and what a year it's been for the champ) and credited himself for taking a "washed up" announcer in Booker and returning him to his "former glory." Booker claimed that Rhodes should be congratulating him for his win on Monday, to which he obliged and congratulated Booker. And even shook his hand. But you knew it was all too good to be true as Rhodes then claimed that Booker's career was now all over. That as an announcer he is incompetent (sure, but entertaining) and as an in-ring competitor he's now a "nostalgia act."
Then the theme for Goldust hit and sure enough, a suited up Dustin Rhodes came out to join his younger brother. He explained that he understood Cody's need to make a name for himself, but just not at his good friend Booker's expense. Cody responded that he didn't need Goldust's help, and proudly said that he had "restored the rhodes family name after you threw up all over it." An irate Booker challenged Cody to a match for his title right there and then to settle things, but Cody decided to arrange the match for next week instead. As he was then about to leave, he Disaster Kicked his brother Dustin for good measure. There's been a lot of rumours and tweets from Dustin himself about a match at WrestleMania between him and Cody. Which I think could be a tremendous bout, and the build up could be easily executed in an effective brother versus brother fashion. With Dusty Rhodes obviously getting involved in the storyline. I'd love to see it personally.
Jinder Mahal defeated Ted DiBiase in a pretty brief but decent enough bout. Mahal forced DiBiase to tap to the Camel Clutch. They really need to move both these guys onto new opponents from January, they've squeezed all they really can from this feud I reckon.
Alicia Fox and Kaitlyn defeated Natalya and Tamina in a sloppy-at-places-tag team match that fortunately didn't last too long. Although Fox is showing more character lately, I'm still not convinced by her in the ring. After the match Tamina superkicked Natalya and applied a Superfly Splash. I guess we now see the turn of Natalya, although I don't quite get why they didn't have Phoenix turn on her rather then Tamina. It would've meant a lot more, and come off much more effectively.
Hunico defeated Justin Gabriel in an entertaining and fast paced match up. Both guys pulled off their fair share of impressive and well-executed aerial maneuvers, much to the crowds delight. If I were booking I would give Hunico a more prominent role in the Royal Rumble match, he deserves even more attention with his talents. Plus, with all the recent injury woes in the company he could really move up the ladder.
Big Show defeated David Otunga in an average and pretty forgettable bout. Show scored the pinfall with a chokeslam after Daniel Bryan had lured Mark Henry away from ringside with a distraction.
Ezekiel Jackson defeated Drew McIntyre in another quite average bout for the night. Although Drew did look like he'd added a few more moves to his repertoire since I'd last seen him in the ring. 'Big Zeke' got the roll up pin, along with a handful of McIntyre's trunks for a strangely heelish win.
Sheamus expressed his desire and confidence at winning the Royal Rumble match next month. Hornswaggle joined him and also expressed the same hopes to win the Rumble, along with Heath Slater shortly after. Who was thrown over the top rope rather quickly by 'The Great White'.
Sheamus defeated Heath Slater in an impromptu match made my Teddy (ugh) Long. Sheamus dominated most of it with his usual powerful move set, while Slater looked his normal average self in the ring. It wasn't anything special.
Backstage Teddy Long informed both Daniel Bryan and Big Show that they would tangle for the World Heavyweight Championship on next weeks SmackDown. Bryan showed some more character here and was quite amusing as he asked Show for a thank you for helping him out. He almost seemed a little more like a heel with his cocky demeanor towards Big Show, I've been saying a heel turn could really work well with Bryan for a while now. Maybe we'll be seeing a possible turn next week against Show? That or Henry interfering I'm predicting.
Randy Orton versus Wade Barrett in a Falls Count Anywhere Match ended in a no contest after the cameramen managed to get through a door too late and discover Orton at the bottom of a flight of stairs with Barrett then running out of the building. Up to that point the match up had been quite a solid main event, with Orton and Barrett having an equal share of the offense. At one point they even fought in an elevator, with us watching in black and white through the camera inside.
Overall SmackDown was a pretty mixed bag this week I thought. The Orton versus Barrett match was the highlight, while the cockiness of Bryan coming through makes things interesting with the World Champion.
Then the theme for Goldust hit and sure enough, a suited up Dustin Rhodes came out to join his younger brother. He explained that he understood Cody's need to make a name for himself, but just not at his good friend Booker's expense. Cody responded that he didn't need Goldust's help, and proudly said that he had "restored the rhodes family name after you threw up all over it." An irate Booker challenged Cody to a match for his title right there and then to settle things, but Cody decided to arrange the match for next week instead. As he was then about to leave, he Disaster Kicked his brother Dustin for good measure. There's been a lot of rumours and tweets from Dustin himself about a match at WrestleMania between him and Cody. Which I think could be a tremendous bout, and the build up could be easily executed in an effective brother versus brother fashion. With Dusty Rhodes obviously getting involved in the storyline. I'd love to see it personally.
Jinder Mahal defeated Ted DiBiase in a pretty brief but decent enough bout. Mahal forced DiBiase to tap to the Camel Clutch. They really need to move both these guys onto new opponents from January, they've squeezed all they really can from this feud I reckon.
Alicia Fox and Kaitlyn defeated Natalya and Tamina in a sloppy-at-places-tag team match that fortunately didn't last too long. Although Fox is showing more character lately, I'm still not convinced by her in the ring. After the match Tamina superkicked Natalya and applied a Superfly Splash. I guess we now see the turn of Natalya, although I don't quite get why they didn't have Phoenix turn on her rather then Tamina. It would've meant a lot more, and come off much more effectively.
Hunico defeated Justin Gabriel in an entertaining and fast paced match up. Both guys pulled off their fair share of impressive and well-executed aerial maneuvers, much to the crowds delight. If I were booking I would give Hunico a more prominent role in the Royal Rumble match, he deserves even more attention with his talents. Plus, with all the recent injury woes in the company he could really move up the ladder.
Big Show defeated David Otunga in an average and pretty forgettable bout. Show scored the pinfall with a chokeslam after Daniel Bryan had lured Mark Henry away from ringside with a distraction.
Ezekiel Jackson defeated Drew McIntyre in another quite average bout for the night. Although Drew did look like he'd added a few more moves to his repertoire since I'd last seen him in the ring. 'Big Zeke' got the roll up pin, along with a handful of McIntyre's trunks for a strangely heelish win.
Sheamus expressed his desire and confidence at winning the Royal Rumble match next month. Hornswaggle joined him and also expressed the same hopes to win the Rumble, along with Heath Slater shortly after. Who was thrown over the top rope rather quickly by 'The Great White'.
Sheamus defeated Heath Slater in an impromptu match made my Teddy (ugh) Long. Sheamus dominated most of it with his usual powerful move set, while Slater looked his normal average self in the ring. It wasn't anything special.
Backstage Teddy Long informed both Daniel Bryan and Big Show that they would tangle for the World Heavyweight Championship on next weeks SmackDown. Bryan showed some more character here and was quite amusing as he asked Show for a thank you for helping him out. He almost seemed a little more like a heel with his cocky demeanor towards Big Show, I've been saying a heel turn could really work well with Bryan for a while now. Maybe we'll be seeing a possible turn next week against Show? That or Henry interfering I'm predicting.
Randy Orton versus Wade Barrett in a Falls Count Anywhere Match ended in a no contest after the cameramen managed to get through a door too late and discover Orton at the bottom of a flight of stairs with Barrett then running out of the building. Up to that point the match up had been quite a solid main event, with Orton and Barrett having an equal share of the offense. At one point they even fought in an elevator, with us watching in black and white through the camera inside.
Overall SmackDown was a pretty mixed bag this week I thought. The Orton versus Barrett match was the highlight, while the cockiness of Bryan coming through makes things interesting with the World Champion.
No comments:
Post a Comment