WWE Smackdown Review - 26/08/11 - Bret Hart Is GM For The Night!

The Big News: Sheamus defeated Mark Henry in the main event but the world's strongest man got the last laugh with a post-match beat-down. Meanwhile Orton, Christian and Sin Cara all gained warm up victories in preparation for their big matches on the live broadcast of Smackdown next week in which Orton will defend his World Heavyweight Championship against Christian inside a steel cage. Show opened with a graphic advertising a Sheamus versus Mark Henry rematch from SummerSlam. Bret Hart came out to start the show! He received a great ovation from his home crowd as he told them that he had been appointed the role of General Manager for one night only. He then moved onto the subject of the live Smackdown broadcast taking place next week by announcing that Mark Henry would challenge Randy Orton for the World Heavyweight championship. This announcement brought out a disgruntled Christian who was making his first appearance since his SummerSlam loss. He argued that the loss wasn't his fault as Edge's pre match insults had thrown him off his game. He told Bret that he was allowed a rematch and wanted it to happen on the live Smackdown show. Bret concurred with Edge's advice that Christian needs to stop whining as he is becoming an embarrassment to both the WWE universe and to Canada itself. Christian thought this was rich as what he found embarrassing was guys like Edge and Bret Hart having to turn up on random shows because they can't accept that their careers are over. He then dug the knife even deeper by saying that Edge and Bret were probably just jealous because he is now the only relevant Canadian left competing in the WWE. He then proceeded to hand Bret a legal document which stated that no WWE superstar is allowed to receive a Title match before he is given his shot first. Bret therefore had no choice to agree but Christian's smile didn't last for long as he was informed that his rematch with Orton would be taking place inside a steel cage. This brought out Mark Henry who was rightfully annoyed that the Title opportunity he had earnt last week was being pushed aside before telling Bret that he wanted to face the winner of the Orton/Christian bout. Bret asked if Henry was trying to intimidate him and Henry replied that he doesn't need to try and intimidate anybody. Sheamus came out and engaged in a brief brawl with Henry before Henry got out of dodge. Afterwards Randy Orton versus Ted Dibiase was announced for later on in the show. This was a pretty weak and overly long opening segment lacking in both logic and emotion. Bret Hart was never the best at delivering promos but his convincing passion used to make up for it. Now without that passion though he just sounds like a lost old man. Meanwhile it's a pretty backwards move to have Mark Henry win a 20 man Battle Royal to become the number one contender if the immediate plan is to book Randy Orton vs Christian in a title match on the live show. It would have been far more effective to have the final Christian/Orton fight on the same night that Henry wins the battle royal hence not making the whole affair seem convoluted and cheapening the number one contender concept. Match: Christian defeated Daniel Bryan via pinfall (Match of the Night) Lock up and leap frog spot was followed by Bryan avoiding an Irish whip and taking down his opponent with a leg whip. Bryan then knocked Christian outside the ring and landed a suicide dive through the middle rope. Christian managed to ground Bryan for a while with a chinlock but Bryan fought back with a huge missile dropkick. Match continued at a fast pace with Christian hitting his flying back elbow and a tornado DDT and Bryan landing with his stiff kicks and countering a sunset flip attempt into a pinfall. Finishing sequence saw Bryan miss a dropkick into the corner after which Christian capitalised with a killswitch for the win. Pretty much the smooth tv match offering that you would expect when you put two of the company€™s best workers in the ring together. *** Christian needed the win more though five minutes of the opening segment could have easily gone into making this a longer match-up that would have shown Bryan in a better light. From the Vault showed highlights of a great Mysterio/Jericho Intercontinental Title clash from a Smackdown show in 2009. Wade Barrett was scheduled to face some random opponent but instead he got on the mic and expressed his disgust at being handed inferior opposition after being responsible for previously shaking up the foundations of the company. With that he simply left. Not a bad pay day for his opponent who didn't even have to suffer the humiliation of a squash. Match: Sin Cara defeated Heath Slater via pinfall I've read that this match had to be filmed twice because the first offering was so wretched but if that's the case then these two men certainly learnt their lesson in the follow up with a bout that was pretty much flawless in regards to Cara fluidly connecting with all his high flying offence. With the Mexican set to face Alberto Del Rio on the live Smackdown show this was a pretty dominant affair as Cara landed a number of cool moves and then won with the successive rope to rope flips for the pinfall at around the two minute mark. ** Still a lot of work to be done if the WWE want this man to be the successor to Rey Mysterio but his aerial manoeuvrings are undoubtedly a unique spectacle. They replayed the clip of Orton taking out Dibiase the previous week with an RKO. Before the Orton/Dibiase match Cody Rhodes cut a promo about how he was miracle worker who had revitalised the glory of the I.C. Title and the flaying career of Ted Dibiase. He subsequently expected to see a miracle in the upcoming match-up. Match: Randy Orton defeated Ted Dibiase via pinfall No burial for Dibiase here which was nice to see. Both men mat wrestled at the start with headlocks and leglocks before Orton got back on top with a standing dropkick and a lariat before Dibiase fired back with a lariot of his own and some hard hitting fists. Back and forth encounter plodded along rather lifelessly before a well paced finish saw Dibiase block an RKO but succumb to a middle rope DDT. Dibiase then countered a second RKO into a cobra clutch but Orton fought his way out and then after a crisp rope exchange finally landed a successful RKO for the pinfall. The match was effective in the sense that the world champion prevailed with a hard fought victory and everything was well executed but the match for the most part lacked the va va voom that separates Orton from the great workers in the business. He is good but simply doesn't have the gift of elevating the contests that pit him against incompetent or one dimensional workers. ** Post-match saw Cody attack Ted with his crossrhodes finisher before placing a paper bag over his head. Match: Kelly Kelly defeated Tamina via pinfall Kelly ran wild with various flying head scissors before Tamina slowed the match down into a brawl. Kelly picked the pace up again with a handspring back elbow and a stinkface before being caught in the air after attempting a leap off the second turnbuckle. Kelly fought her way out however and landed the RockDropper for the pinfall. That has to be the worst executed finishing move in WWE history. * Match: Ezekiel Jackson defeated The Great Khali (w/ Jinder Mahal) via submission I have a soft spot for big man matches even when they feature the not so great Khali. There's something very satisfying about an enormous muscleman like Jackson struggling against a larger opponent before hulking up to prevail with an unforeseen dose of strength. That was the basic formula for this contest as Khali easily knocked Jackson to the ground in the early going before locking his opponent in the vice grip. Jackson gradually powered out as Jinder Mahal attempted to cause a distraction on the outer ropes. The plan backfired however as Khali ended up accidentally hitting his manager and then found himself hoisted up in the air for Jackson's torture ramp. This was a cool visual ruined slightly by the unintentionally hilarious look of suffering on the Khali's face before he tapped out and tumbled rather ungraciously towards the mat. Short but effective contest. ** They aired an incredible Mark Henry video package detailing his current monster run set to music that sounded pretty similar to John Carpenter's Halloween score. Backstage interview with Randy Orton who put over his upcoming cage match with Christian before discussing Henry's recent path of destruction and saying that while no-one can underestimate Henry at the moment they'd be unwise to underestimate him either. Match: Sheamus defeats Mark Henry via count out Henry got on top early before Sheamus found a way to take the big man down by hammering away at his limbs and then stomping on Henry in the corner. The Irishman showed great tenacity in his beat-down before being pulled away by the ref. Henry was back on top once he found his footing connecting with a boot to the face and a backbreaker for the near fall. Henry then attempted a press slam but this was reversed by Sheamus into a thunderous DDT. Really cool spot right there. The action descended to the outside where Henry knocked Sheamus into the security wall before clearing the monitors off the announce desk. Sheamus countered however with a fierce brogue kick that sent Henry flying over the table. Sheamus then went back inside the ring and held on for a count out victory to avenge his own count out loss that he had suffered at SummerSlam. ** 1/2 Post-match a brawl broke out between the two men that resulted in Henry giving Sheamus the world's strongest slam onto the steel steps with Sheamus laid out, arms out wide as if he was Jesus on the crucifix. Superb visual in a rivalry that has thus far worked out very well for both men. VERDICT: Overall a good but basic show with Orton, Christian and Sin Cara all gaining momentum with victories in anticipation of their high profile clashes on the super smackdown show which will be broadcasted live this upcoming Tuesday. The main event was very strong with Sheamus earning some nice storyline revenge by getting Mark Henry counted out and Henry getting his heat back with an impressive post-match beatdown. Another Orton/Christian title match is pretty uncalled for at this point in time but at least it gives the company chance to continue its impressive booking of Mark Henry so that he feels even more of a legitimate threat when he does come face to face with the world champion. A hardcore match to settle the rivalry between Mark Henry and Sheamus would now be the perfect lead in to Henry setting his sights on Orton. Hopefully this is the path that they will decide to go down. Superstar of the Night: With this and the SummerSlam bout Sheamus has given Mark Henry two of the best matches of his wwe career and the Dubliner more than played his part in making the main event seem important. Moment of the Night: Sheamus sending the big man flying with his brogue kick.