An emotional Del Rio after his momentous World Title victory. Photo credit: WWE.com
General Manager Booker T announced that Big Show and Del Rio will clash over the World Title in a Last Man Standing match that night, which cued an upset Big Show to come out and accused the GM of trying to encourage the latino-heavy Miami crowd to embrace Del Rio. The champ then decided to convince Booker to change his mind by grabbing him round the throat, but halted once Del Rio raced out and kicked him out of the ring.
Randy Orton versus Antonio Cesaro ended in a no contest after The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns) attacked and triple powerbombed 'The Viper'. The match itself had been decent enough, with solid ring work from both men, it was just lacking that real excitement or intensity.
We were then shown a message from WWE Champion CM Punk for The Rock that had been recorded at the Sun Life Stadium, where his aforementioned future opponent last wrestled and won against John Cena last year. The champ compared the Orange Bowl Arena (where Rocky played college football) which is now non-existent to the past WWE/F that was home to The Rock's prime years in pro wrestling, claiming that 'The Great One' was no longer the top dog, but he now was. As standard with him it was a terrific promo from Punk.
AJ Lee and Dolph Ziggler bested The Great Khali and Natalya in a mediocre and quite forgettable tag outing. Ziggler was limited in the ring with the stiff Khali, and unfortunately we didn't get anywhere near the best from Natalya against AJ. For the finish AJ bit into Natalya's ear and applied a slow and quite awkward looking corner springboard cutter for the one-two-three. Big E Langston (who as usual had accompanied Ziggler and Lee) and Dolph then further attacked Khali and Hornswaggle afterwards.
Once again we witnessed a message from CM Punk at the Sun Life Stadium where he stated that he was "the best in the world" and far superior to 'The People' that The Rock stands for, adding that "the people can rot in hell" for all he cares, claiming it's what they deserve. This time Paul Heyman also chimed in by warning Rocky that his vision of conquering the evil CM Punk and taking the WWE Title to WrestleMania doesn't matter, since no one can surpass the champ.
The Rock finally came out to a great reception from his home of Miami, and confessed his disappointment that CM Punk hadn't turned up to the show to receive some further pain from 'The Great One'. He also went on to say that home for him isn't just Miami or SmackDown, but kicking CM Punk's ass and obtaining the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble.
Team Rhodes Scholars (Damien Sandow and Cody Rhodes) then interrupted Rock and asked him to leave, telling him that it was now their time, not his. Rocky admitted that it took guts with the way the duo were dressed to come down to the ring and tell him to go. After some amusing back and fourth with Cody involving his moustache, Sandow issued a challenge to Rock to answer three general knowledge questions correctly, and if not then he would have to leave. So after answering the first two correctly, Rock turned the tables and asked Rhodes Scholars a question. Sandow of course answered correctly, and as a special prize received a Rock Bottom, and not forgetting about Rhodes who received a People's Elbow for his troubles. It was an entertaining segment, with all three men being genuinely amusing.
Sheamus defeated 3MB (Heath Slater, Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre) in a brief Handicap match. The trio decided to leave Sheamus at the start, only for Slater to then attempt a sneak attack from behind and instead receive a Brogue Kick and a look up at the lights as the Irishman pinned him, with a tepid McIntyre and Mahal looking on.
Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan & Kane) beat the Prime Time Players (Darren Young & Titus O'Neil) in a passable tag bout. As usual the PTP didn't bring anything special or particularly exciting to the match, but they were okay, and fortunately a solid performance from Bryan brought the interest and excitement up.
Alberto Del Rio defeated Big Show (c) to obtain the World Heavyweight Championship in a Last Man Standing match. And what a main event this was. From start to finish both men put in more than worthy efforts and provided an engaging and dramatic title battle. Del Rio took his fair share of battering from the giant, but as any good face does he managed to scrape and claw his way back and cracked Show with some steel steps and buried him under the announce desk, with no way back up Del Rio was announced the new champion. His and Ricardo Rodriguez's face was a look of pure joy and relief when the bell rung, and bloody genuine looking, if he was acting he did a superb job there.
If I'm honest I wasn't expecting anything that outstanding here, and certainly not a new champion being crowned, but boy was I glad I was proven wrong. Definitely one worth checking out if you normally skip the blue brand.
Overall it was an enjoyable (and at times very engaging) SmackDown for the most part, which makes a nice change from the usual pedestrian broadcast we get. CM Punk's promos, the main event and The Rock and Rhodes Scholars segment were the highlights of the show for me. Above average SmackDown for sure, but unfortunately I can't help shake that feeling that next week will all be back to normal.
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