Smackdown
Aaron's UnReal Time Smackdown Review: Rematch Of Sunday's World Title Bout...To Decide The No. 1 Contender...
By Aaron Wood
Jul 23, 2010 - 4:35 PM

LAST WEEK ON SMACKDOWN: Punk shouldn't have been climbing ladders, The Dudebusters doubled up on Rosa, Matt couldn't bare to touch Vickie Guerrero and The Swagger family had a VERY busy Memorial Day...

THIS WEEK…
And with this promo, Kane already beats his own title reign record...
No recaps, so we jump right away into the news that Kane, of all people, won and cashed in the Money In The Bank briefcase on Sunday to win the World Title.

And so guess whose pyro went off to start the show? Yep, the Big Red Champion's. As organ chords started playing the background, Kane said that as a child, he took his goldfish by it's tail and held it out of it's bowl, gasping for air and slowly dying. What a lovely child he was, huh? Anyway, that's apparently how he felt for the last 13 years until last Sunday. When 7 battered lifeless souls were laid to rest as he won the MITB contract. And then he made history by cashing in the same night and became the new World Heavyweight Champion. Kane said it was the most gratifying moment of his career.

Rey put up a valiant effort against Swagger, but his glory was extinguished when Swagger locked the ankle and effectively destroyed it. Poor lil' Rey. When he came out to help Rey, the gratitude was obvious, but that turned to horror when he came back out to challenge him for the title. As he grabbed Rey, he could feel Mysterio's pulse and see his eye's pop out his head. He then chokeslammed Rey WITH ALL HIS MIGHT. But his instinct took over and that wasn't enough, so he dropped Rey on his head and became champion.

And we all applauded again. Hey Rey, you gotta understand, he was taking his opportunity. He did it. He DID IT. HE DID IT. But he didn't do it for himself. He did for his brother. We start getting wacky now as various highlight clips of Undertaker, Kane and/or the pair of them play over Kane's voice. He brought the title back to where it belonged on The Darkside. And he went back to Taker's bed, but instead of pride, he was overcome with shame and sorrow as his once all-powerful brother just lay there and unable to be part of the occasion. So he vowed to him that nothing and no-one would tear the holy grail from his past. But his brother's assailant was still at large. Kane yelled that he wasn't going to rest until he found the culprit. No, I mean "YELLED~!". HELL WILL REIGN SUPREME WHEN THE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION ACHIEVES VENGEANCE!!! Well, it's no "Whatch'a Gonna Do...", but it has the makings of a catchphrase...


Mark Ronson & The Business International (Feat. Q-Tip and MNDR) - "Bang Bang Bang"

Back from break, the Smack Of The Night was Christian and Matt Hardy's issues in leading up to the MITB PPV.

Drew McIntyre & "Dashing" Cody Rhodes def. Matt Hardy & Christian in a "See, if Matt & Christian feud, it'll be a kind of new feud even though it's got it's roots in the late 90's. Unlike TNA, for example, who have nothing new and are just (poorly) trying to re-hash the mid-90's..." match
As each man came out, they sold injuries from MITB. Hardy felt his ribs and limped like Heather Mills after a drunken night out. Christian has a pretty impressive black eye. Drew limped, albeit very slightly, and Cody made sure his face was still unblemished. OK, it's not so much selling Sunday than his gimmick. He also rubbed his elbow, but that was about it.

Drew & Fatt Lardy started things off, with Hardy getting something of an upper hand, leading to a tag to Christian, working over McIntyre. However, Drew came back ramming Christian backwards into the mat before tagging Cody. Christian caught Rhodes with a flapjack before he tagged Hardy ion to hit something akin to the Poetry In Motion, with Christian playing the role of Jeff. Only without the various narcotics or face paint. This led to a pattern of rapid tags between the babyface pairing, as they worked over Cody. Cody got a boot up on a charge and brought in Drew again. He looked to finish, but Hardy managed to trot backwards and lift Drew over the top to the floor. Cody soon followed, and while Matt took the ref, Christian hit his double jump splash out of the corner onto the pair as we took a break.

Returning, Cody was working over Matt, before he hit a Side Russian Legsweep. A knee drop missed however, and Christian tagged in. Christian hit a knee to the gut, before hitting his rope choke spot. He vaulted over for the slap, but Drew distracted him. Back in the ring, and Rhodes hit an Alabama Slam for a 2 count. McIntyre tagged in and worked over Christian, and his midsection in particular. Rhodes back in, hitting a modified gordbuster, before picking up a 2 count off a knee drop. A dropkick saw Christian land on the bottom rope, where the GoldDash picked up a couple of 2 counts.

Drew tagged back in and put on an armbar, stretching the shoulder joint. Rhodes back in to steal another Bob Holly move of holding his opponent in the ropes and kicking him in the stomach. And indeed, Cody then went for, once again, the Alabama Slam, but Christian managed to escape and they clotheslined each other to draw a ten count. As Hardy waited for the tag, he took off his vest. Luckily his chubbiness was contained inside a midsection's worth of bandages that worked quite well as a girdle. Drew and Matt tagged in, and much like the start, Matt got the upperhand, picking up two counts when he could. Tornado DDT out of the corner by Hardy, but Rhodes distracted the ref, so no count. After chasing Cody off the apron, Matt countered the Futureshock with a cradle for 2 when Cody saved. Christian came in and went for Cody, but Cody got Hardy's attention, who swung round with a shot, but Rhodes ducked out the way and Hardy plonked one on his partner. Hardy hit the Side Effect on Cody, but Drew hit a big boot on Hardy for the win.

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7/10 - Perfectly acceptable opening match here, with the tease at the end of a Hardy/Christian feud. I suspect that while they shook hands this time, a time or two down the road, it won't be so cordial.
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After the match, Christian pulled Hardy up off the mat. After a couple of tense moments, the pair ended up shaking hands.

Backstage, Josh was with Jack Swagger. Swagger said he was robbed on Sunday because Rey cheated in the same way that Eddie Guerrero did. He was about to win and could taste the title, but Rey unlaced his boot and slid out like a snake. That's unfair. When Josh suggested some would say it was clever, Jack said it was cheating. But what was clever was that Rey lost the title to Kane after he had done the dirty work on the ankle. Rey wouldn't lie, cheat or steal, or even walk after the first fall. He was going to shatter the ankle and then do it again to Kane at Summerslam, and put him in hospital, like Kane had done to his Bunkhouse Bunkin' daddy.

Again with the first of the two Alberto Del Rio promos for the night being a replay of the second one from last week.


Kate Nash - "Kiss That Grrrl"

The hell? LayCool have a party and there's no Kaval to serve drinks???
LayCool were in the back celebrating with some bubbly. They congratulated each other for Sunday. They had each gotten the other a gift. They had gotten a pair of necklaces. Despite initially being confused as to the random lettering on each of them, when combined Wonder Twins-style, they said Best Friends. Teddy Long came in to play the role of this guy...



He told Layla that she would have another title defence next week against Tiffany. They kinda blew him off (not like that), by mocking him.

Dolph Ziggler def. Kofi Kingston in a "Yay. Time for some more unsuccessful IC Title matches for Dolph..." Non-Title match
Kofi came out first with Michael McGullicutty. As the match began, The Legend That Is Todd Grisham said that Kofi had a stiff neck. To be honest, given how tasty Vickie was look, he may have something else that was a lil' stiffer. Dolph overwhelmed Kofi with the amateur moves to start, but Kofi came back with a scramble on the mat and pin for one count. Amateur hour ended when Ziggler was able to kick Kingston in the guts. As Ziggler came off the ropes, Kofi hit his leapfrogs, following up with a back elbow, before hitting his mounted punches in the corner.

Ziggler came back and targeted the neck of Kingston. Modified neckbreaker for a 2 count. Mr. Ziggles dumped Kofi out. McGillicutty checked on his NXT pro until Vickie yelled at him for not being on the Smackdown roster, ordering him to go to the back. We came back with Kofi trapped in a chinlock. He tried to fight out, but was slammed down. Fameasser by Ziggler picked up a 2 count. Kofi tried a comeback, but Dolph kept working on the neck. Another Fameasser missed, allowing Kofi to fold Ziggler over for 2. Ziggler again with a neckbreaker. Choking in the corner by Ziggler before he picked up a 2 count. Ziggler put Kofi down and aimed his leaping elbow drop, but he wasted too much time, and Kofi moved. He then countered a neckbreaker with a backslide for 2. Kofi hit his chops and then followed with a dropkick. Kofi hit a leaping forearm (called a Superman punch somehow) was followed by the Boom Drop.

Kingston looked for the Trouble In Paradise, but Ziggler ducked a tossed Kofi out. However, after Kofi skinned the cat, Vickie came over and grabbed the leg. This allowed Ziggler to hit the ZigZag. Dolph stalked Kofi and waited until he got up before he locked on the sleeper. Kingston withered and lost his breath for the Ziggler win.

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8/10 - I really enjoyed this match, and it told a really good story, with Ziggler working on the neck, with Vickie, in hindsight, conspiring to get rid of Kofi's McGullibuddy, allowing her to cheat later without anyone noticing. Well, no-one that could do anything anyway.
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Ziggler went over to the timekeeper's table and took the IC Title belt. He posed over Kofi with it, before acting like he was about to leave with it, but the referee took it from him.


RPA & The United Nations Of Sound - "Born Again"

Big Show was walking and high-fived Rosa who was skipping rope.

The WWE Rewind was last week's unmasking of CM Punk. Even though they aren't now following up on Rey & Punk, I still think there was something in a PPV match where they could make the reveal after.

Big Show def. Joey Mercury in a "Why does Ivan Koloff have the authority to swap out Luke for Joey? Oh no, that is actually Punk..." match
Big Show came out to the ring, followed by the whole SES. As it goes, Luke Gallows was the announced opponent. And as that goes, Gallows had a new singlet on, which MUST HAVE been a nod to his Fake Kane past, since it was a camo pattern in red and dark red. However, as the bell was about to ring, Punk took Gallows aside and whispered in his ear. Gallows willingly left the ring, and Punk motioned for Mercury to get in instead, much to Mercury's apparent surprise.

Big Show immediately hit a chop of the kind they aren't supposed to and took control. An overhand chop in the corner. Mercury took out a knee, but tried punching Show. Show caught him by throat, but rather than chokeslamming him, he spun him in tight and ripped the mask off, finally revealing Mercury's face. And naturally, he was also bald. Mercury doesn't suit bald. Big Show hit another chop after pushing Mercury into Luke, who was on the apron. Big Show put on Mercury's mask and hit the KO Punch for the win as Striker managed to reference both The Executioner and The Giant Machine.

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5/10 - Short match to give Big Show a win and reveal that it's Joey Mercury. One would hope there's a promo next week with his story involved.
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The parts of the SES that weren't currently staring a birds flying round their heads stared a hole in Big Show as he left up the aisle.

We went to a segment of "Dashing" Cody Rhodes and his grooming tips. In this case, it was nostril care and getting rid of those unsightly nose-hair clippers.

The RAW Rebound was the making of the 7 vs.7 match on Monday.

The announcer questioned Rey's current condition with his ankle before sending it to the back with Josh & Rey. Rey said he was going through a lot of pain, and was just getting used to being World Champion, but was taken away. Would have have pulled a Kane? Probably not. But he wasn't him. And he wasn't happy the way things went down, but he was moving on, and that was done by beating Swagger twice tonight. Mysterio finished by saying that the next time he faced Kane, it would a different story, one with a happy ending. Well, that's just disturbing.

The new Alberto Del Rio promo of the week. This week, he was talking about how he took pride in himself in every way. He wondered why anyone would love you if you didn't love yourself, and naturally, he loves himself.


Klaxons - "Echoes"

Rey Mysterio def. Jack Swagger in a "This finish wasn't so much out of Eddie's playbook as it would be, say, Braden Walker. That is to say, "Kinda botched."" 2 Out Of 3 Falls match to become No. 1 Contender
Rey ducked an early corner charge with a roll up for a quick pin. However, Swagger came back and naturally aimed for the leg, before ramming Rey's head into the corner. Swagger was low bridged out, with Rey following with a baseball slide that seemed to hurt Rey as much as it did Swagger. We came back with no falls on the board, but Swagger in control. Hard whip into the corner picked up a 2 count. After being whipped across the corners, Rey avoided the charge and dropped Swagger in the corner. However, as he went up, he was cut off and dropped to the mat. Overhead slam by Swagger. He locked on a bodyscissors coupled with an inverted single leg crab, but Rey was able to grab the rope. As Rey was near the ringpost, Swagger wrapped the leg round the ringpost, picking up a deuce. He then DDT'ed the ankle a couple of times. Rey kicked back at Swagger, and came off the middle rope with a crossbody for a 2 count. Rey then hit a kick to the head. Rey looked for the wheelbarrow bulldog, but Swagger countered by dropping him face first. Swagger then locked on the ankle lock. At the second time of trying to reach the ropes, Swagger refused to let go, drawing the DQ putting Rey Mysterio 1 fall up.

We came back from break as Rey was only just crawling back in the ring having left after Swagger released the ankle lock. Rey blocked the corner charge and then allowed Swagger to post himself. Mysterio came off the top with a headscissors before going for the 619. However, Swagger caught the legs and put on the ankle lock again, this time drawing the submission, making things one fall a-piece.

Swagger rolled with Rey before rolling under the ring. Swagger grabbed Rey's leg and dropped him down on his ass. Or as Todd Grisham put it, "Lower spine". Instead of looking for the countout win, Swagger put Rey back in the ring, but he hit a pair of Vader Bombs. He picked up a 2 count, so Swagger went for another, where Rey got the legs up to block. Rey slowly climbed up and came down with a seated senton. However, Swagger caught him with a shot. Swagger looked for the Gutwrench Powerbomb, but Rey spun out of it and went for a crucifix. He overshot it and they actually fell in such a way that Swagger landed on Mysterio. However, Rey was able to flip it over and pick up the pin and the title shot.

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8/10 - Another good match. not sure if it topped Sunday since there were a couple of spots where Rey would go from selling his leg like he'd never walk again to doing something with it and not really selling it at all, such as the last Vader Bomb. You'd think a guy Swagger's size landing on your injured ankle like that would do damage. But beyond that, a perfectly good match.
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Swagger attacked Rey after the match, looking for the ankle lock again when Kane ran down and once again saved Rey, this time managing to chokeslam Swagger Jr. Kane turned his attention to Rey, but helped his challenger to his feet and raised his hand. Kane then went to leave but came back for blood. However, Rey countered the chokeslam with a rana into 619 position before hitting the 619 and escaping. Kane looked on as Rey went up the ramp rather annoyed, as the show faded to black.

OVERALL - A real good show this week that seemed to fly by, anchored by the three main matches, the last of which established the title match for Summerslam, which was the important one to get done this week, as well as hinting at other possible Summerslam programmes. If he can make it, I'd expect to see Punk vs. Big Show. One would think that Hardy & Christian are on course for something as well. Dolph and Kofi seems inevitable. Where that leaves the likes of McIntyre and Swagger, I'm not sure, but I can't imagine either will be left off, even if it's a random tag title match.