WrestleRant
  • Home
  • Columnist Corner
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • WRR
  • Audio
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • About
    • Contact

Columnist Corner

Friday Night SmackDown Review - November 1, 2013

11/1/2013

0 Comments

 
PictureGoldust, John Cena and Cody Rhodes emerge victorious.
By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Real Americans Confronted World Heavyweight Champion John Cena

The first few lines of Cena's promo basically rehashed what he said on Raw, and does it seem like Cena is trying to talk black to anyone else? He did it when he was the Doctor of the Thuganomics a decade ago, but now it comes off as phony with his character. I had high hopes for Cena's confrontation with The Real Americans, but I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that he didn't take them seriously whatsoever. Granted, I chuckled at Cena's Back to the Future reference toward Jack Swagger, but everything else about this segment was a train wreck. Damien Sandow's promo was great and losing the world title match on Monday has seemed to have benefit him more than if he had won. Cody Rhodes and Goldust making the save set up the main event tag team match nicely.


The Usos def. United States Champion Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins

I liked the logic behind this match that The Shield was looking to end their rivalry with The Usos once and for all. Whether this was indeed the culmination of the feud between the two teams remains to be seen, but this was a very fun match to kick off the show. It isn't often we get to see Ambrose and Rollins team up without Roman Reigns, so that certainly made for an interesting dynamic. Big E Langston was a nice counterpart to Reigns as ringside and a future match between them was seemingly foreshadowed. Ambrose and Rollins holding Reigns back after the match was intriguing, and it might have been planting the seeds for the Reigns babyface turn which has been heavily rumored as of late.

PictureWWE Champion Randy Orton lays out The Miz.
Luke Harper and Erik Rowan def. The Prime Time Players

This was a nice tag team bout that went longer than I expected it to, which isn't a bad thing at all. If anything, it was a good thing, as The Wyatt Family didn't completely squash The Prime Time Players, who were able to score some offense before ultimately coming up short. The live crowd was hoping to see CM Punk and/or Daniel Bryan make the save during the post-match, but no such luck. Bray Wyatt's promos are still awesome as ever and I highly anticipate his pending program with Bryan and Punk.


Randy Orton Crashed "Miz TV"

Perhaps this is just bias on my part given the fact that I am a fan of Miz, but I can't help but feel for the guy. He has been highly underutilized for the longest time now and even Orton blatantly spoke out about how no one cares about him, which is a massive shame. To add injury to insult, Orton finished him off with an RKO before he could even get a word in. By this point, it appears Miz either has heat with management or they simply couldn't care less about him, or both. Either way, it is disappointing to see Miz being relegated to WWE's resident whipping boy.


Natalya and The Bella Twins def. Divas Champion AJ Lee, Tamina Snuka and Alicia Fox

The match wasn't as long as I hoped it would be, but everyone was able to get involved and it thankfully wasn't over within a blink of an eye. As stated in my Raw review from this week, I have no intention of seeing Brie Bella contend for the title again any time soon, so I was glad to see Natalya pick up the win over her team here. She never received that title shot she rightfully deserved a few months ago, so I would be willing to bet that we see her contend for the gold against AJ at Survivor Series, which has the potential to be great.


World Heavyweight Champion John Cena and WWE Tag Team Champions Cody Rhodes and Goldust def. Damien Sandow and The Real Americans

I was pleasantly surprised by just how much time this match ended up receiving and I enjoyed every minute of it. The crowd appeared to be into the action the entire time and the combatants built toward the hot tags from the face team very well. Every competitor was able to shine one way or another, and the finishing sequence was extremely exciting. Cena going over doesn't shock me, but there was no need for him to go over anyway. Sandow and The Real Americans looked strong in defeat while the tag team champions avenged their loss from Raw. In essence, everyone involved benefited from the bout in some form or fashion.


Overall Show

This was a great show that was very wrestling-heavy with very little filler, if any at all. Even the talking segments we did get served their purpose, as Cena's promo set up the main event and "Miz TV" (albeit somewhat pointless) furthered the feud between Randy Orton and Big Show. Without a doubt, this was one of the best episodes of SmackDown in weeks and was a great fallout show from Hell in a Cell. It was also heavily focused on tag teams, which was a refreshing change of pace. I wouldn't miss out on watching this show in its entirety, but if you have time for only one match, definitely check out the strong six-man tag team match in the main event.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.


    Categories

    All
    #AskGSM
    Battle Of The Belts
    Cruiserweight Classic
    Halftime Heat
    Hidden Gems
    Lists/Rankings
    Mae Young Classic
    Mixed Match Challenge
    News
    NJPW
    NWA Shockwave
    Opinion
    Previews
    Retro Reviews
    Reviews
    RJ's Two Cents
    Satire
    SummerSlam Recall
    The Deadly Draw
    Tribute To The Troops
    Women's Eliminator
    Worlds Collide
    WrestleMania Recall
    WWE Draft
    WWE Starrcade


    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010

    RSS Feed

©2023 WrestleRant. All Rights Reserved.
  • Home
  • Columnist Corner
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • WRR
  • Audio
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • About
    • Contact