Friday Night SmackDown Review - October 3, 2014

Randy Orton and Kane lay out Dean Ambrose.

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Dean Ambrose Confronted John Cena

Everything Cena said here was basically a retread from what he said in his interview with Michael Cole on WWE.com this past week, but it was still solid. He and Ambrose did a good job of teasing tension with each other while stating their respective claims for wanting to get their hands on Seth Rollins. Kane and Randy Orton stirring the pot was interesting and it set up the otherwise bland tag team main event nicely.


Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler and United States Champion Sheamus def. The Miz and Damien Miz-dow (Damien Sandow)

We've seen so many incarnations of this match in recent weeks that it's old news by this point. The fact neither Miz nor Sandow won their matches on Raw this week didn't help matters, either. The action was enjoyable per usual, but what story are they trying to tell? The Ziggler-Miz feud has run its course and it looks like Miz might be transitioning into a feud with Sheamus. They have some work to do if they want to make viewers care about it.

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Dolph Ziggler pins Damien Miz-dow for the victory.

Paige def. Naomi

We know for a fact that these two are capable of having a great match, so I was slightly disappointed they weren't given more time here. Then again, I wasn't at all surprised since the Divas matches are always short. Nevertheless, they made the most of the small window of time they were allotted and the feud between AJ Lee and Paige was effectively furthered. A rematch is in the works, but how else can this rivalry evolve going forward?


Rusev Attacked Big Show

The fact Big Show made mention of WWE's apology for disrespecting the Russian flag might indicate that it was a work, but whatever the case, he handled the situation well. I feared Rusev would attack Show only for Show to fight back, but thankfully, they left it at that. It gave Rusev his heat back and made fans anxious to see him knock out Rusev (again). I'm not sure if the eventual match will deliver, but the feud so far has been better than expected.


The Usos def. Slater Gator

It's been well established in the past that Slater Gator is a joke of a team, so they were clearly no threats to The Usos. This was more of an angle than an actual match, but that was probably for the better since the ending outcome was never in doubt. I continue to despise all the silliness with all the mascots and animals and wish it would be relegated to one show a week instead of being featured all the major programs.


Cesaro def. R-Truth

This was nothing more than a basic squash match for Cesaro. Truth is a step above an enhancement talent, so Cesaro's win over him wasn't completely meaningless. I'm glad he isn't losing every week anymore, but what happened to his involvement in the midcard title picture? Hopefully this was a one-off match designed to give Cesaro his heat back before he resumes his feud with Dolph Ziggler or whoever.


John Cena and Dean Ambrose def. Randy Orton and Kane by Disqualification

When you're not getting SmackDown rematches on Raw, you're getting Raw rematches on SmackDown. It was a solid match for the most part, but we saw the exact thing days ago on Monday night. Very little was different about it until the final few minutes when Cena ditched Ambrose to go after Seth Rollins. It was a logical story to tell as Cena and Ambrose slowly start to become enemies and not allies. I just didn't like how the main event ended in a disqualification for what felt like the millionth time.


Overall Show

This edition of SmackDown paled in comparison to last week's excellent episode, but it was still a decent night for the blue brand. There wasn't much of note whatsoever, but at least it wasn't as bad as we've seen in recent months. There was some storyline development when it came to the main event angle, but everything else was just kind of there, which is how most of WWE feels like right now.

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