Giant vs Viper (Smackdown Ep663 Reviewed)

Smackdown began with Sheamus speaking on the mic, again announcing his decision will be made after the Elimination Chamber PPV. Wade Barrett would come down after Sheamus finished talking about his early days. Wade said that if Sheamus were to choose the World Heavyweight Championship, he would go on to Wrestlemania to fight Wade. Cody Rhodes would then come down to the ring, He announced that he would win the Elimination Chamber and defeat Sheamus as a dual champion. Big Show would then come down to the ring. He asked Sheamus to think about the main event match, Big Show vs Sheamus at Wrestlemania. Cody and Wade then would poke fun at Big Show’s poor win rate at Wrestlemania. Big Show would hit Rhodes with a chop and a fight would break out. Sheamus and Show would clear the ring of Cody and Barrett. A tag match would be set later that night between the two.

The match started with Show squaring off with Cody, Cody tagged to Wade after a growl from Show. Big Show then opened some offense, Wade quickly made a tag, and Cody would suffer some pain. Show would tag to Sheamus as Cody tagged to Wade. Sheamus would dominate Wade with signature moves such as the Irish hand grenades. Wade would hit a shuffle gut kick and tagged to Cody, but Sheamus retained momentum.  Sheamus would power over any counter Cody attempted and tagged back in the Big Show. A tag made to Wade Barrett would enable the two to hit a tag team move, used by teams such as Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch. This enabled Wade and Cody to gain control of the match. Show would create a hot tag with a sideways slam on Cody, Sheamus would come in and pick up some major momentum on legal partner Wade Barrett, Show would eliminate Cody with a spear and Sheamus finished the match with a Brogue kick.

The match was of good quality, I was surprised to how much advantage Sheamus and Show had. Great tag team manoeuvre by Wade and Cody. This was promo for chamber, although Khali was not put in, I assume because he hasn’t had that much promotion. Sheamus again had so much momentum on him, however he chooses, WWE will have an easier time promoting the match rather than the other.

Jinder Mahal would compete one on one against another Elimination Chamber participant, the Great Khali. Khali would unload on Jinder after receiving a disrespectful slap. Mahal countered an attempt at a two handed chokeslam, and would pound on Khali, trying to ground the giant. Khali would then create a comeback, with chops, and finished Jinder with a two handed chokeslam.

It was an obvious jobber match, however I think Khali was a bad choice for WWE, Mark Henry had a massive storyline on him and loads of promotion on himself, Mark was injured, so a replacement was necessary, Khali was a big guy, but honestly they could have someone a lot better.

Beth Phoenix would compete against Alicia Fox. Beth held the top rope up and told Alicia to get out of her ring. Alicia showed some offense, hitting an awesome duck similar to Melina and Trish, however Beth would end the match with the Glam Slam.

Post-match, Beth went to hit a second Glam Slam, however Tamina rushed into the ring, the two had a stare down, before Beth would exit the ring.

A second short match, there was no in ring competition between the two. However I would like to see Beth vs Tamina, as both have great in ring ability, rather than concentrating mainly on their looks, they can actually wrestle. Hope to have a lot of promotion on this and see it at Wrestlemania, similar to the Trish vs Mickie James match, which was great wrestling.

Natalya and Tyson Kidd would talk backstage, this was brief until she again would let on go, Hornswaggle would walk past and faint due to the smell

Ted DiBiase would compete against Hunico, after Hunico attacked DiBiase a few weeks ago. DiBiase would fire up early, Hunico would swiftly counter with a twist arm drag. Hunico then focused his attack outside the ring, on the injured wrist. Back in the ring, Ted would attempt to build up some momentum; however Hunico hit a jumping arm breaker. Hunico followed up with 3 ground arm breakers; however Ted reversed the 3^rd into a pinfall for the win.

Another great match by Hunico and Ted DiBiase. A nice little rivalry has built up between them. Shame that Ted is not a cruiser-weight as this could ignite the return of the cruiser-weight division, A guy can dream, I miss the division so.

The From the Vault match would be Jeri-Show vs Crime Time, which if you never saw it, Jeri-show won, promoting the tag team match for TLC against DX, back in the day.

AJ would have an interview with Cole, she announced she would have the neck brace off next week and would be competing very soon. Cole would then try and insult D-Bry, however AJ would bark back at Cole, saying he was biased and the WWE would be better if he shut up. Cole would react by saying that D-Bry set AJ up to get hit by Big Show and that AJ had no self-respect.  D-Bry would come down to the ring, sticking up for her, Cole would leave the ring. He would then move on to his role model gimmick. He announced that he would be leaving the arena and would take AJ home. The two would then talk as they walked backstage. Teddy approached them, saying that he would provide transportation for AJ, he threatened that if D-Bry left the arena he would lose his title.

D-Bry vs Orton would feature Big Show on commentary.  The match began with some technical wrestling. D-Bry would use his signature comeback from WWE12, but met a dropkick. Orton’s advantage was short lived after a devastating kitchen sink.  Orton would  build up some momentum, knocking Bryan outside, Show would stand-up, Orton asked show to sit down and let Orton have his match, this gave D-Bry the opening to hit Orton with an outside dive and followed up with a running knee of the apron.  Orton countered an armbreaker with his signature backbreaker and picked up some offense. Orton remained in control, after avoiding a diving headbutt, he  then began using his signature comeback, until D-Bry hit a big kick to the head, Orton caught Bryan on the top rope and hit a superplex resulting in a two count. D-Bry would hit the lebell lock, unti however Orton would slingshot D-Bry to continue his comeback. D-Bry got to the apron and hit a hotshot. D-bry tried to get a cheapshot on Big Show, however Show threw him against the wall and back into the ring, where he met an RKO. D-Bry won the match by DQ. Orton would argue with Show outside, before the two began fighting while D-Bry walked away.

I enjoyed the match, very technical. I enjoyed Big Show knocking Orton on his ass at least 3 times. The title match will be great.

Overall I will rate Smackdown: 5/10

1)Big Show/Orton fight

2) Main Event match

3)Return of Hunico vs DiBiase

4)Diva promo

5)Nice tag team match

Viper's Revenge (Smackdown EP 662 reviewed)

Smackdown would kick off with Teddy Long announcing the Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship. This would feature D-Bry, Wade Barrett, Big Show, Cody Rhodes. Mark Henry and Randy Orton.Mark would come down and complain about the odds of him winning are slim, he asked for World Championship match. Teddy would take Mark out of the chamber match for disrespecting him. Mark continued insulting T-Lo and put his hands on T-Lo, which would result in Mark being suspended. Mark would then threaten T-Lo, but Sheamus would come down to the ring, he would hit Henry with a Brogue kick, knocking him out the ring. T-Lo then asked Sheamus if he decided what title he wanted to challenge for, Sheamus would reply that he would decide after Elimination Chamber. Cody Rhodes came down to the ring bragging about his success in the rumble and would win the World Title. Teddy announced a match between Sheamus and Cody.

The match began with Sheamus dominating with his power. Cody counter Sheamus outside and throw him into the ring post, he knocked the great white down with the disaster kick, This gave Rhodes the advantage. Cody would prevent Sheamus from building up momentum by hitting big impact moves. Sheamus would fight back when Cody began using strikes, this changed the momentum. Sheamus would take to the top rope and after knocking Rhodes down, Cody would escape the Celtic cross, miss the disaster kick, dodge the Brogue kick but lose to "a new move" by Sheamus.

I hope that when the "suspension" is up, Mark recovers from his injuries and continues as a heel. The current gimmeck he has is a brilliant one. The match between Cody and Sheamus was very good, especially the ending. However the new move by Sheamus was used by a previous Irish superstar Finlay. The running Running over the shoulder back to belly piledriver was used by Finlay in WWE and he called it funny enough, the celtic cross for those who remember this.

Cody remained ringside while Justin Gabriel would compete against Hunico. Cody would assault Gabriel while Hunico was coming down to the ring. He, Rhodes and Kamacho would all stomp on Gabriel until The Great Khali would come down to the ring. Cody would escape while Khali would deal chops and hit Hunico with a two two handed chokeslam.

Later that night Khali would be announced as the 6th member of the Elimination Chamber match for Smackdown.

I was so annoyed that this happened, who else was? Hunico vs Gabriel, this would have been a great match, both have great in ring ability and have great matches with their opponents. They are a group of few superstars that actually have great wrestling matches, and instead they have a lame promo with Khali. I get that he needs promotion since his return, but I would have preferred 
a post match attack by Cody, then create this promo. Who else agrees? The promotion was for him to once again become a contender for the title, but in my opinion he has been away for far too long to just be put back in.

Backstage Drew would again ask Teddy for forgiveness. Teddy said to Drew that he needs to look into a new way of impressing him. Santino would enter after Drew left. Santino announced that he had found a new partner, Hacksaw Jim Duggan.Teddy announced that they would be competing against PeR. Aksana would enter after Hacksaw and Santino left. They would have a sexual refernce to a massive piece of wood, this would be Hacksaw's 2X4 laying at Teddy's feet.

The match between the Santin-Oh! and PeR would begin with Santino and Epico. Santino would begin with some MMA (Mixed Marella Arts) and would tag in Hacksaw. Epico would quickly gain control after Primo caused a distraction and would follow with a tag to Primo.. Hacksaw would tag to Marella after breaking a submission. Santino would hit a two count after Epico broke the count. Hacksaw would clear the ring of Epico, Santino would set up for the Cobra, however Rosa distract Santino allowing Primo to hit the win with the backstabber.

I enjoy Hacksaw, but he doesn't have the stamina to compete against young blood like PeR. I would have have preferred a match between the Usos and PeR. but WWE want to promote this running gimmick with Santino. I believe next week he will have a new partner, I would love it to be Road Dogg.


Next would be a segment with Michael Cole. Cole would introduce Daniel Bryan to the ring. Cole would continue to express his views of Bryan but then offered his hand saying that he was wrong about Bryan. Daniel would brag about himself continuing his rant from RAW, encouraging people to be vegan. He then moved his rant to the Big Show, saying he should not have to defend his title against him after Show losed 4 championship matches. He commented that Teddy Long would join the unemployment line, with Lauranaitis, if he did not take Show out of the match at Elimination Chamber. Big Show would come down to the ring. He announced that he would lose his title at the Elimination Chamber. D-Bry would say that Big Show will lose, he then phisically provoked Bryan, Big Show would unload on Bryan knocking him down with a chokeslam. AJ would come down and after Bryan tried to jump show, Show would attempt to hit Bryan with the WMD. AJ grabbed Show's hand to prevent this. AJ and Bryan would exit up the ramp.

Backstage during the match between Barrett and Orton T-Lo said to Daniel Bryan and AJ to watch the match when they asked to talk about Big Show. After the match T-Lo would announce next week Randy Orton would fight D-Bry

WWE have got a great storyline going with Bryan and Big Show. They then took a plot twist with A J entered in to the mix

Backstage Natalya would be warming up with Beth, however she would let out 2 farts during this, Santino would walk into this and run back gagging from the stench.

The match between Aksana and Tamina vs Natalya and Beth Phoenix. Natalya would hit two big impact moves. Beth would deliver a very powerful blind tag, much like she did to Brie on RAW. She would then finish Aksana with the Glam Slam.

Natalya would try to hit Aksana with the sharpshooter post match. Tamina would nail her with a boot and hit a superfly on Natalya again.

The funny fart gimmick with Natalya is brilliant, Aksana however has little in ring ability, she still needs training. I am getting sick of Tamina and Natalya, either end it or do something with it, cause it is becoming predictable


The from the vault match would be between Taker vs Jericho from 2009. If you saw this match you would know that Taker won the match. This was obviously a promotion tool for Taker who had returned and Jericho who was a heel and returned to Raw at the start of 2012.


Pre-Match Orton would be interviewed. He asked if Orton's approach to the main event would be conservative. Orton stated that if the roles have been reversed Orton would have thrown Barrett down the stairs, he also stated that he would walk out of Elimination Chamber a 10 time world champion.

The match between Orton and Barrett would begin with Orton unloading on Barrett. Orton continued the assault outside, throwing Barrett into the wall and using the stairs to inflict damage. Orton would send Barrett into the ring and then retrieve a table. He and Barrett would be on the top rope as Orton tried to suplex Barrett into the table he set up. Barrett however countered pushing Orton into the table, This was a game changer giving Barrett complete control. Orton would finally counter and the fight would lead out into the fans, where Orton would dominate with strikes, after clothesling Barrett back to ring side. Orton picked up some major momentum, until Barrett reversed an irish whip into the stairs. Barrett would grab a chair and unload on Orton with chairs. Barrett would then attempt to hit the wasteland on the chair. However Orton would escape and build up a comeback. Orton would then grab the chair and return with shots. He then wedged the chair and whipped Barrett into the chair. Orton would then try to hit an RKO but Orton reversed into a sideway slam. Barrett would then grab a chair and hit a shot to Orton's back, Barrett tried to hit another Wasteland, but Orton reversed into an RKO. Orton picked Barrett up and hit another RKO on the steel chair.

As soon as T-Lo announced that D-Bry would face Orton, D-Bry came down to the ring and celebrated him being champion.

This match was back and forth, very high impact and great use of weapons. I am looking forward to next week's match. I am actually hoping D-Bry wins. I want to see more of the storyline. I enjoyed the brawl as I didn't expect a wrestling match. The fight in the fans was very short, I was not surprised that Orrton would win, he needs to make up for missing a month.

Overall I would rate this week's episode of Smackdown /10
1) Great match between Sheamus and Cody
2) Rosa Dancing
3) Orton vs Barrett
4) D-Bry/Show storyline amazing
5) Bryan vs Orton announced
6) Hacksaw on Smackdown