BRM Reviews the 1/31/2014 Smackdown

[Big Red Machine]

ELIMINATION CHAMBER QUALIFYING MATCH: Dolph Ziggler vs. Antonio Cesaro (w/Zeb Coulter)- 6/10
This match has convinced me that these two could put on a five star match given twenty-five minutes. They are just a fantastic combination.

THE SHIELD PROMO- good. I like the way that the issues between Reigns and Ambrose are allowing Rollins to develop a personality of his own: He is the guy who mission-oriented and always on task. Props to Rollins for putting over the spot where Reigns powered out of the STFU. I was afraid it was going to get lost because the interference happened a split second after it.
The Shield challenges the Wyatts to a match. Vickie comes out and says she will make history, but Hunter comes out and interrupts her. Hunter tells The Shield to let it go because it's not best for business. They have a very tense confrontation and Hunter gives in, making a six man tag team match for Elimination Chamber 2014.

XAVIER WOODS (w/the Funkadactyls) vs. FANDANGO (w/Summer Rae)- 2/10
Summer Rae ripped up Emma's sign! :(( :(( :(( :((

But she's got another one!

THE EMMALUTION WILL NOT DIE SO EASILY!
And we got "EMMA!" chants! THE EMMALUTION WILL BE TELEVISED! Fandango gets the win and goes for a post-match beatdown, but R-Truth, who was on commentary, makes the save with the very underutilized Hat-Rack Crack"

CURTIS AXEL & RYBACK vs. THE PRIME TIME PLAYERS- no rating. AWESOME segment.
Darren just got destroyed. He was bleeding from the mouth, too. Titus never even got to tag in.
Titus was great with his facials on the apron. Just total disappointment and disbelief. Titus yells at Darren and is about to walk out on him when Darren gets a mic and says "Titus! What are you doing? We're a team! We're more than just a team: we're like brothers. We're like family."
Then Titus cuts a great promo breaking up the tag team because Darren is holding him back. He did an awesome job of really getting you to sympathize with him despite the fact that he was the one breaking up this popular tag team. Darren pleads with Titus not to go, but Titus then officially turned heel by hitting Darren with a big boot and then just savaging him with forearms.

Unfortunately PTP never lived up to their full potential as a team, but that was WWE's fault for never giving them the ball. I only hope that both guys (especially Titus) don't get lost in the shuffle as so often happens after tag teams break up in the WWE.

This was an awesome segment, but I think it would have worked a bit better if it had been built up a bit more beforehand. Maybe do this after the third or fourth straight time Darren gets beaten before Titus can even tag even, while giving Titus some singles wins in between. If they had held off on this a bit, they probably could have gotten an undercard match at Elimination Chamber out of this (the show usually has undercard spots open because they throw six main eventers into the main event).

WE then got a graphic telling us that the next Elimination Chamber qualifier will be Jack Swagger vs. Christian. Just like that. No hype. No "mystery opponent" set-up for a big return pop. They just threw it out there as if it was just someone who had been on the show every week instead of treating Christian like a popular former World Heavyweight Champion returning to in-ring competition for the first time in six months.

RUSEV & LANA PROMO- awesome!

ELIMINATION CHAMBER QUALIFYING MATCH: Christian vs. Jack Swagger (w/Zeb Coulter)- 6.25/10
Christian took a press slam out of the ring and to the floor early on, so hopefully that means he is fully healthy now. These guys did great for a six minute match.

CHRISTIAN PROMO- great babyface stuff. He is looking for one last title reign and one last chance to look headline Wrestlemania.

KOFI KINGSTON vs. DAMIEN SANDOW- 3.75/10
Probably the best they could have possibly done in the less than two minutes they were given. Sandow's slump continues.

COLE INTERVIEWS HUNTER ABOUT BROCK INTERFERING IN THE TAG TITLE MATCH- Hunter books a rematch for Raw in a Steel Cage.

CODY RHODES (w/Goldust) vs. ROAD DOGG (w/Billy Gunn)- 4/10
Another match that was very good for the time it got. Road Dogg works over Cody's injured arm, but Cody gets the win to build up to the tag title match. The Rhodes Brothers also got the best of a post-match brawl.

REPLAY OF THE DIVAS MATCH FROM RAW- WHY?! There were SO MANY MATCHES on this show that could have used this time... and yet they decided to waste SEVEN WHOLE MINUTES on a replay of a pointless Divas match we have seen a million times over the past few months!

BRAY WYATT PROMO- very good. AWESOME ending line, too "I would advise y'all to be careful inviting the devil into your backyard... he must like it and decide to stay."

THE SHIELD vs. DANIEL BRYAN, SHEAMUS, & REY MYSTERIO JR.- 7.25/10
Great six man tag team action.

Overall, a great episode of Smackdown. There were a lot matches on this show, but they all felt like they accomplished something, and even though almost all of them were very short, the wrestlers involved did pretty much the best they possibly could with the time they were given.

[cero2k]

how i wish the Wyatts/Shield match would be contested inside the EC, in a War Games like manner, with Rollins and Rowan starting off and every 3 minutes or so, someone from a team gets their capsule open to join their team.

also, red, did you listen to Ziggler's post match promo? i posted it somewhere in here

[Big Red Machine]

how i wish the Wyatts/Shield match would be contested inside the EC, in a War Games like manner, with Rollins and Rowan starting off and every 3 minutes or so, someone from a team gets their capsule open to join their team.

also, red, did you listen to Ziggler's post match promo? i posted it somewhere in here

Yeah. It was pretty fantastic. I'm quite interested by the fact that WWE decided to put it on their website, considering it is basically Dolph shoot-complaining about how he is being underutilized.