WWE Smackdown Review 5/08/11 - Christian Lands Pinfall Blow To Randy Orton

THE BIG NEWS: Christian gets the better off Randy Orton in tag team action whilst Sheamus continues to antagonise Mark Henry. Show began with a video recap of Mark Henry's recent destruction before changing tone to highlight Sheamus standing up to him from last week. The question asked was whether or not Henry had finally met his match. Match: Sheamus defeated Khali via pinfall Before the match it was confirmed by the announcers that Sheamus will meet Mark Henry at Summerslam. As such this clash with the 7ft plus Indian was very much designed to put the Dubliner over as a big threat to Mark Henry's dominance. It was actually a surprisingly decent affair considering just how clumsy and incompetent Khali is inside the squared circle. Khali got on top early with various clotheslines and big slaps before Sheamus powered back by trapping his opponent in the ropes and pounding away at his chest with some vicious blows. His first brogue kick was blocked however with Khali locking Sheamus in the vice grip before Sheamus battled out to connect with his finisher second time of asking. In ring action was nothing special but the crowd were really into Sheamus as a giant slayer and as such this felt like a spectacle. ** Match: Natalya defeated AJ via submission Divas match which actually ended up telling a story. Natalya shook hands with her opponent to start and seemed overly excited to be competing but whilst that is the usual trait of a face we learnt post-match that she was enjoying herself for an entirely different reason. AJ went go for the go-behind to start but Natalya countered with the standing switch. AJ reversed that into a hammerlock but Natalya took her to the mat and applied an armbar. Match maintained a fluid tempo throughout with an impressive running rope spot and a cool finishing sequence which saw Natalya lock AJ in the sharpshooter for the win. Post-match Natalya began her heel turn and took great pleasure in beating down AJ on the mat and then knocking her to the outside and inflicting further punishment which included a cruel looking supplex onto the floor. She then took the microphone and echoed Beth's sentiments from Monday that €œthe days of the cute, little, perky princesses are over.€ So on two successive shows, two of the Divas divisions monsters attack the stick insect pretty girls. Has someone from WWE creative been reading my Smackdown report from last week by any chance? Certainly if a stable does steadily emerge as a result of this then it would go someway to revitalising the Divas division and so I look forward to seeing how this one progresses. There was a graphic advertising Zack Ryder's State of the Showski address to take place later on. Randy Orton was interviewed backstage. They aired the clip of his violent DQ beat-down on R-Truth before Matt Striker asked whether or not that was intended as a message to Christian. Orton said that there was no message but he agreed with Christian that he had anger management issues and that he is looking forward to his opponent helping him work through those issues in their no hallsbarred match at Summerslam. He said that Christian won the title via disqualification but he has never beaten him via submission or pinfall and he is confident that things will stay that way in nine days time. Orton has such an electrifying presence, especially inside the ring but man alive are his promos monotonous. Match: Daniel Bryan vs Tyson Kidd Wade Barrett was sat doing commentary with the announcers at ringside. Daniel Bryan came out to some lame new music which screams mid-card even more than Ride of the Valkyries. A change in theme should signify a change in a character's personality, status or ambition and now that Bryan is trying to emerge as a main event threat he should come out more eye catching music, not something that sounds like the soundtrack to a theme park ride. Anyway the actual quality of the match was very solid which is not surprising when you consider the two competitors involved. They traded bridging covers to start before Kidd took the advantage with some kicks into the corner. Bryan got a momentary burst of adrenalin as he fought back to land a suicide dive but sold his leg landing awkwardly on the outside. This led to a methodical beat-down on the leg on Kid's behalf with Bryan finally earning some respite following some harsh looking fists to the face. Finish saw Kidd launch a missed kick before being plastered in return by a kick to the face from Bryan who then launched himself at his opponent and trapped him in a successful guillotine submission. In all then a very solid ten minute match-up which got Daniel Bryan over as an intense, aggressive force inside the confines of the ring. *** 1/2 Post-match Daniel Bryan stared over at Wade Barrett with a determined expression. Zack Ryder's state of the showski address Ryder welcomed everyone to Zackdown and said that the reason for last week's rating boost was a result of him becoming Smackdown's Assistant general manager. He was interrupted by Intercontinental Champion Ezekiel Jackson who complained about the handicap match arrangement from the previous week. I'm not sure that is suits a giant to be complaining about such a thing to be honest especially not when he's supposed to be a face. Anyway, Cody Rhodes came out with Ted Diabase and engaged in a dreary verbal exchange with Jackson. He basically said that Jackson was demeaning the value of the title (is that even possible anymore?) and that he needed to resurrect the title's image much like he has resurrected the career of Ted Dibiase. Dibiase meanwhile couldn't even feign the slightest bit of encouragement at the ideas that his career was been resurrected. Poor guy. Jackson snapped back saying that Rhodes is taking Dibiase for a ride and talks about how he knows what that feels like from his days back in the Corre. He then held up his title and stated that there was nothing greater than freedom. That was the only line to get a reaction within this entire back and forth exchange. Rhodes then suggested that Dibiase would be more than happy to get inside the ring and take it to Jackson if both his partner and Ryder agreed. Ryder enthusiastically agreed almost instantaneously but he was interrupted by Teddy Long who reminded Ryder of his assistant role before putting him in a match-up against Ezekiel Jackson. Match: Ezekiel Jackson defeated Zack Ryder via submission. Jackson eased his way into an early period of dominance but a misjudged clothesline attempt into the corner was thwarted by Ryder's flying knees and the internet champion proceeded to gain the upper hand for a while successfully connecting with the Broski Boot and a neckbreaker. Jackson powered his way out of Ryder's front facelock hold however and gained the upper hand again with a barrage of clotheslines. Another charge into the corner though was met with an elbow from Ryder who tried to gain momentum with a dive only to be caught by his giant opponent who then successfully connected with three powerslams and a torture rack submission. Good fun for what it was. ** In the back Teddy Long was met by the stunningly beautiful diva Askana who is now sporting a dark haired look. She wanted to talk about a business proposition but when Long tried to give her his card she asked if it was possible to obtain his personal phone number so that she could talk to him any time she wants. Long was all too willing to oblige as cheesy music reminiscent of a softcore porn flick played in the background. Match: Mark Henry defeated Kozlov via pinfall Usual squash match par for the course since the recent Mark Henry push. He won with the World's Strongest Slam. ½ * Post-match Henry took out Kozlov with the trapped leg, mid rope splash spot before Sheamus sprinted out with a chair of his own. Henry scampered to the outside and aggressively threw his weight around whilst Sheamus taunted him with his weapon. Eventually a disgruntled Mark Henry made his way up the ramp as EMT's arrived to tend to Kozlov. Backstage John Morrison was seen doing his regular Parkour stuff. Whenever I watch this now I just wind up thinking about the funny parkour skit from the American Office. Todd Grisham interviewed Sheamus backstage. Sheamus said that Henry's run of dominance had gone on long enough after threatening to ruin the livelihood of honest, hard working athletes. He then said that with the luck of the Irish on the side he would not become one of Mark Henry's victims. Six Man Tag Team Action: McGullity, Otunga and JTG defeated The USO'S and Trent Barreta via pinfall Fairly plodding tag team action which suddenly descended into fun mayhem at the end with everyone taking it in turns to take each other out on the outside. Back inside the ring, Barreta missed a high flying dive onto McGullity and a returning Otunga assisted his partner in double teaming Barreta before McGullity connected with his neckbreaker finisher. * 1/2 Raw rebound covering all the events that led up to Triple H announcing the unification title match between John Cena and CM Punk. Christian was interviewed backstage by Matt Striker. He said that he wasn't impressed with the no hallsbarred stipulation of his upcoming title defence but then he wasn't exactly surprised either seeing as Orton had the knack of being able to manipulate everyone towards his own advantage. He was interrupted by R-Truth who talked about how both men were involved in a conspiracy together before promising to take out Orton for what he did to him the previous week. Tag Team Main Event: Christian and R-Truth defeated Randy Orton and John Morrison via pinfall Superb main event. Morrison played victim to a long drawn out beat-down from Truth and Christian with Morrison's fleeting athletic flurries giving the audience hope that he might reach his partner for the hot-tag. At one point a frustrated Orton even chased Christian into the crowd which was an unusual spot that did a good job of once again reminding everyone of the no holds barred nature of their upcoming match in which Christian won't have any place to hide. Morrison and Truth had aggressive chemistry but the face-off between Christian and Orton when it finally occurred towards the end was five star entertainment. Playing off a heated crowd the two men engaged in a fantastic display of reversals, teases and high impact manoeuvres before Christian capitalised on a distraction from R-Truth to successfully connect with the killswitch and he celebrated his first pinfall victory over Randy Orton as if he had just won the lottery. *** ½ VERDICT: A very solid show which has heightened my excitement towards two key match-ups at Summerslam. The interplay between Christian and Orton these past few weeks has been very impressive and both men have succeeded in promoting their world heavyweight title match and its hardcore implications. Although they have fought each other ad nauseum I'm still looking forward to a match that could very well steal the show at the PPV. Meanwhile Sheamus was effectively put over as a giant killer in his first warm up match in preparation to face off against Mark Henry and whilst I don't like Henry in this role I can't argue with the perfect booking of the feud. Heel endures a path of dominance before a hero eventually emerges who is capable of standing up to him. Its simple but effective and the crowd already seem to be connecting to Sheamus in his new babyface position. It was also refreshing to see Natalya show some mean aggression in her heel turn and I am genuinely excited as to whether or not they'll really push the rebellion of the tougher, more monstrous Divas. In all there were some tedious moments but with two very fine tv matches and some good build for Summerslam this was a pretty impressive outing for Smackdown this week and I hope the momentum will continue in next weeks' important go home show.