Friday Night SmackDown Review - June 13, 2014

Bray Wyatt and Dean Ambrose come face-to-face.

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Triple H Interrupted Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns

Similar to Raw, Reigns and Ambrose displayed good intensity in their promos talking about Triple H and Seth Rollins. Ambrose is finally being given a chance to show just how great his mic skills are and Reigns continues to keep his promos short, sweet and to the point. It was odd of Triple H to say that there was only qualifying spot left when there's actually three, and you'd think he would've had Ambrose and Reigns face each other to further drive a wedge between the two. Nonetheless, it was an effective way of hyping up the main event for the night as well as typing into the next matchup.


Roman Reigns def. Intercontinental Champion Bad News Barrett (Non-title)

I was worried that Barrett would be fed to Reigns within minutes given how Reigns is "Superman" in the sense he rarely loses clean. That in mind, I never expected Barrett to win, but they worked a solid match, regardless. Both guys were able to work in their spots and develop nice chemistry with each other. 3MB interfering prevented Barrett from take another unnecessary non-title loss while it made Reigns out to look like a total beast by taking out all three of them at once. I suppose it was a fitting way to send off 3MB on their last night together, and this can be looked at as what wrote them off TV.

---

Could Sheamus emerge victorious over Cesaro?

Erick Rowan def. WWE Tag Team Champion Jey Uso

Jimmy Uso and Luke Harper were given the time to have a nice, lengthy match on Main Event this week, but this match was anything but. It was over within a minute and it ended with Rowan picking up the victory. It was a logical way of evening the score after Harper lost on Main Event, but who would have ever thought that Harper would be the one on the losing end while Rowan competed in the squash bout? Either way, I look forward to the title match these two teams can produce come the Money in the Bank pay-per-view.


Bo Dallas def. R-Truth

Dallas dancing to the beat of Truth's theme song was hilarious. He also garnered good heat for taking the mic away from Truth and saying, "What's going on?" I realize this show is taped, but if those boos were piped in, it's a good sign that he's slowly getting over as a heel. It was a ho-hum match, which is to be expected with anything involving Truth. I just hope they put Dallas into a real feud sometime soon.


Cesaro def. United States Champion Sheamus (Non-title)

Cesaro and Sheamus always have awesome matches together and their latest encounter was no exception. They were the right amount of time to shine and build toward a fun finishing sequence. The two have such great chemistry with each other that it's hard to expect any less from them. Cesaro scoring the win via dirty tactics was smart in putting heat on The Swiss Superman and protecting Sheamus in the process. I don't see this loss as damage to Sheamus or the belt but rather a way to set up a title rematch between the two for later down the line.


Adam Rose def. Fandango

We all feared the day that these two would clash, and that day has finally come. It wasn't the comedy match that I figured it would be but rather a brief bout to set up the post-match brawl between Layla and Summer Rae. I refuse to believe that management has already given up on the Rose character, but they really need to find something for him to do outside of competing in random matches. I couldn't care less about the Summer and Layla stuff since it's between two heels and the fact they dragged this on throughout the week seemed pointless.


Big E def. Jack Swagger

The match seemed random and out of place on paper given that Big E and Swagger have had no interaction with one another in months, but as it turned out, it was used as a way to further the feud between Big E and Rusev and Lana. The match itself was nothing out of the ordinary, but I found it intriguing that some focus was put on Zeb Colter encountering Lana on the ramp. Could this be leading to a Swagger babyface turn at some point down the line? That'd certainly be intriguing.


Alicia Fox def. Aksana

I figured that Fox's attack on Aksana this week on Raw was WWE's way of writing Aksana off TV before they released her from her contact, but instead this match was the blow-off. Aksana is terrible in the ring and not even Fox could carry her to a passable bout. It was just a mess of a match that should have never happened. I appreciate the continuation of the story from Raw, but fans had zero incentive to cheer for either Diva and it did nothing for Fox outside of giving her a much-needed win.


Bray Wyatt def. Dean Ambrose in a Money in the Bank Qualifying Match

I was looking forward to what kind of match these two would have given their two distinctly different styles, but they ended up having the best match on the entire show. The action was entertaining, but it was the phenomenal psychology from both competitors that intrigued me the most. With Roman Reigns and The Wyatt Family banned from ringside, you had to know that Seth Rollins would make his presence felt somehow, but it didn't take away from the bout in the slightest. If anything, I completely forgot about by the fantastic final few minutes. The finish was excellently executed, Ambrose has yet another reason to despise Rollins, and Wyatt advancing to the Money in the Bank Ladder match will undoubtedly be interesting.


Overall Show

This was truly a two match show with Cesaro vs. Sheamus and Wyatt vs. Ambrose, both of which you should definitely go out of your way to see if you didn't see them. Everything else wasn't terrible, but it was mediocre used to kill time. With a little over two weeks until the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, WWE has to do more to sell viewers on the event outside of solely the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match.

---