My WWE SmackDown, January 6th 2012 Recap

Cody Rhodes (c) defeated Booker T to retain his Intercontinental Championship.The title bout was a solid and exciting encounter between the two, with some nice near falls towards the end. Definitely their strongest outing so far together in the ring. Rhodes, just like he did against Orton in the Street Fight towards the end of last year looked like he belonged with higher calibre talent here with the legend Booker T.

Backstage a brimming Cody once again had another encounter with his older brother Dustin Rhodes aka Goldust. He bragged about beating Booker, compared himself to their father Dusty (who he claimed he was well on his way to surpassing) and warned him that although he was a “joke” he wasn’t yet a “laughing stock. But that can change real quick.” I’m liking this storyline between the two, definitely got some interesting possibilities to it. I imagine if they do go all the way and face off at WrestleMania (which seems most likely) then it could well be Dustin’s final ever match at the Mania. What better way would there be for him to go out then to face his own brother at the biggest stage?

Hornswaggle defeated Heath Slater in an Over The Top Rope challenge comedy match, it was about as entertaining as you’d expect. Well It wasn’t like Slater’s career was exactly sky rocketing since his return anyway was it? Afterwards Slater booted Hornswaggle in the head, followed by Justin Gabriel coming to Hornswaggle’s rescue and applying the always awesome 450 Splash.  

Hunico defeated Ted DiBiase in a fast paced match with some superb action. With Orton out of action for as long as he’s going to be I think this is an opportune time to start pushing DiBiase once again. Give him a proper feud with Hunico to work on. 

Wade Barrett announced that Randy Orton’s wrestling career is now finished due to his fall down the flight of stairs on last weeks SmackDown. Since ‘The Viper’ was no longer a participant in the Royal Rumble, Barrett claimed that there were now no obstacles in his way to stop him from winning the match. Sheamus had something to say about that as he then joined Wade and warned him that “You are going to have some problems. And I’m going to be the biggest one.”

 Jinder Mahal also made his way out and slapped ‘The Great White’ in the face. So naturally Sheamus didn’t take too kindly to that and began to beat on Mahal until Barrett also began attacking the Irishman. Sheamus managed to fight his way back until Barrett applied the Winds Of Change to halt him. Mahal decided to take advantage of the downed wrestler and latched in a Camel Clutch for good measure. I quite like Jinder Mahal myself, I think he looks solid enough in the ring and has shown some personality as of late. He just needs to maybe get a fluke win over Sheamus to get things going. At least he’s involved in a decent feud right now, that’s a start.     

Santino Marella defeated Drew McIntyre in a quite forgettable and average bout. As per the stipulations Marella is now the assistant to GM Teddy Long on SmackDown. After the match Long warned McIntyre that this was “strike two” and if he looses next week he could very well be fired. I personally am not a fan of these loosing streak story lines, they do nothing at all for the person involved in them. I’m not McIntyre’s biggest supporter (find him rather boring and average in the ring, although he has improved) but with his return to the blue brand he could have instantly made an impact by destroying a big name and making himself relevant once again.  

Epico and Primo defeated Air Boom in a fast paced and decent tag team bout. Although it wasn’t the strongest match between these teams it was still worth a watch for sure. I always enjoy it when these two teams are facing off, I’d like to see a title match between them at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view myself. They deserve a spot on a big card like that.

Backstage during an interview with Big Show, Daniel Bryan interrupted and berated him for not winning a World Title for nine years previous to his championship win at TLC. He also mentioned how he’d actually worked hard around the World to become a great wrestler, as apposed to Big Show being born a “genetic freak.” I’m liking this new cocky, heelish side to Bryan. He’s always had the technical ability and skill on the mic (as proven with his feud with Miz and Cole last year) but now he’s showing a lot more character. It should also be interesting to hear Michael Cole on his side on commentary when he fully turns.     

Tamina defeated Natalya in a brief and rather average Divas match up. I’m still not totally convinced by Tamina, Natalya definitely deserves better treatment then this too.

Daniel Bryan won via DQ against the Big Show to retain his World Heavyweight Championship. The main event was a solid, back and fourth match up. The most exciting parts taking place when Bryan locked in a few submission holds on Show for a tense break out. The disqualification occurred when Bryan shouted abuse at Henry at ringside (Henry had been on commentary for the bout) causing Henry to push the World Champion in front of the referee. Afterwards Bryan elatedly celebrated with fans akin to how he’d done after his win at TLC for the World Title in another heel movement by the champ.

My WWE Vengeance 2011 recap

We started off with Air Boom (c) defeating Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger to retain the Tag Team titles. It was yet again another good addition to their series of tag team bouts. Air Boom are looking the part of a solid and exciting team and have really helped in rejuvenating the tag team division. Now WWE need to build up another heel team for them to face next.
Immediately after the match it was Dolph Ziggler (c) versus Zach Ryder for the United States Championship. It was decent enough, the crowd were thoroughly behind Ryder as normal as he rallied up some offense in the bout. Even after just going through a tag team match Ziggler managed to pin Ryder after a distraction from Swagger at ringside. If Ryder was to ever win the title I imagine it would've been there and then against a weakened Ziggler, I think it's safe to say that WWE don't see Ryder as championship material right now. 
Next Beth Phoenix (c) defeated Eve Torres to retain the Divas championship. The match didn't last too long which suited it as it probably would've suffered had it gone any longer. It's definitely a step up having Eve challenging over Kelly, she has a more exciting move set compared to her in my opinion. There were some exciting near falls too, especially one from Eve after a Glam Slam attempt. Beth retained after applying the Glam Slam for the one-two-three.
Next Sheamus pinned Christian in my match of the night. Yet again we had another solid pay per view performance from Captain Charisma. Not that I'm giving him all the credit, both men looked good and put on an exciting and fast paced match. Maybe Sheamus should be next in line to face Henry for the title after a probable rematch with Big Show first.
We then had The Miz and R-Truth beat Triple H and CM Punk. The bout was pretty disappointing I found, and the build up should've been even better considering the competitors involved. The match wasn't all bad and had some moments of decent action but was fairly drab during some parts. For the finish Kevin Nash attacked Triple H (who was fighting R-Truth on the outside) from the crowd as the referee was distracted, Miz and Truth then applied their new finish which combines Miz's Skull-Crushing Finale and Truth's What's Up? And is named Little Jimmy Finale on Punk for the win.
Randy Orton then defeated Cody Rhodes in a bout that actually exceeded my expectations, and I was expecting good things from it already. The two exchanged a lot of decent counters and in a nice near fall Rhodes applied his Cross Rhodes to Orton after he'd been distracted by one of Rhode's bag men. Orton won after hitting Cody with the RKO. Granted Rhodes didn't win but this match and feud with Orton spell out good things for his future as far as I'm concerned. He's proven that he can compete with the main eventers of the company not just in the ring but with his mic work lately also.
Next Mark Henry (c) fought Big Show to a no contest after Henry superplexed Big Show from the middle rope and the ring collapsed (much like when Lesnar did the same to Big Show on SmackDown) which provoked a huge reaction from the crowd in attendance. The ending was exciting (if unoriginal) but the match itself was pretty mediocre, which was expected with these two involved. Although at least it was a step up from their match at Money In The Bank.
Then the main event where Alberto Del Rio (c) defeated John Cena in a Last Man Standing match to retain the WWE Championship. Both men had to battle on the collapsed ring, which made things a little interesting. The bout was the usual no selling affair from Cena, much like his I Quit match he had with Miz back at Over the Limit he came across as near unbeatable. After a while they both made their way backstage where Del Rio buried Cena under four walls of metal, where he of course made his heroic comeback after the count of 9. They then made their way back where Cena AA'd Del Rio through an announce table, but instead of counting Del Rio out the referee was distracted by Miz and R-Truth who had run in and taken out Cena. Del Rio recovered and clocked Cena across the head with his championship belt for the final ten count blow. 
Vengeance wasn't a bad pay per view, just not a particularly memorable one to be honest. Here's looking forward to no Cena in the title picture hopefully.