Smackdown Spoilers for 2/14/14

[Greggulator]

I'm super excited for Zeb gloating during both his charges victories on Smackdown. It also sounds like he's doing a suck-up routine to Vicki which is so great in its hypocrisy if it plays as sounds. Zeb rules. I really want to see him manage a dude with the title just for his heel dickheadery in victory.

[Tromatagon]

I think Christian isn't making it to the Chamber. Money is on Kane killing him and taking his spot

[Big Fresh]

I think Christian isn't making it to the Chamber. Money is on Kane killing him and taking his spot

Might fit Corporate d-bag Kane if he took Christian out of the Chamber without violence, but some rad tape having to do with him being the only one who lost to Orton.

[Patrick B.]

 

Everyone defeating Orton before the PPV will either

 

1) Diminish Bryan's eventual win

2) Set up a bunch of strong contenders for Bryan's eventual run.

3) Guarantee an Orton win at EC

4) All of the above

 

Deb-bie Down-er *clap clap clapclapclap*

 

I'm guessing it comes down to Bryan/Orton and there's a double-pin finish as a way to shoe-horn Bryan into the Mania main event. Because they have to have recognized that a Orton/Batista singles match will go over like a dumpster fire.

 

 

A dumpster fire would produce the GOOD kind of heat.

[Go2Sleep]

I think the booking is pointing towards Swagger as a face, with Cesaro as the heel with Zeb.

Which will be soundly rejected by the fans.

 

That would be beyond awful, but I don't think it will happen. I'm pretty sure Zeb will still turn on Cesaro and side with Swagger because Cesaro is still a Euro. I could easily see Swagger winning the IC, Cesaro losing the chamber, then Zeb immediately dumping him with the angle being "Why did Swagger get so many chances?" Then Cesaro beats Swagger at Mania and Extreme Rules (in a Flag match).

[Ramsey]

 

 

Everyone defeating Orton before the PPV will either

 

1) Diminish Bryan's eventual win

2) Set up a bunch of strong contenders for Bryan's eventual run.

3) Guarantee an Orton win at EC

4) All of the above

 

Deb-bie Down-er *clap clap clapclapclap*

 

I'm guessing it comes down to Bryan/Orton and there's a double-pin finish as a way to shoe-horn Bryan into the Mania main event. Because they have to have recognized that a Orton/Batista singles match will go over like a dumpster fire.

 

I want to see Bryan win only for Lesnar to be granted his title match immediately afterward, destroy Daniel, and win the belt to set up a nice triple threat at Mania with Bryan stuck between two beasts in Batista and Lesnar.

 

Well, one beast and Grampy McSkinnyJeans. No one is buying Batista as a threat to anything. My nine year old daughter has a better chance of getting over in a wrestling ring than "Big Dave" does.

[Curt McGirt]

 

I think the booking is pointing towards Swagger as a face, with Cesaro as the heel with Zeb.

Which will be soundly rejected by the fans.

 

Not when Swags gets repackaged as Bigg Hoss Jack and is managed by Bunkhouse Buck.

 

People chanting "We Want Bunk!" will be happy.

 

 

You just made me think of a great Raw guest host. 

 

[Captain 12 Pack]

 

 

I think the booking is pointing towards Swagger as a face, with Cesaro as the heel with Zeb.

Which will be soundly rejected by the fans.

 

Not when Swags gets repackaged as Bigg Hoss Jack and is managed by Bunkhouse Buck.

 

People chanting "We Want Bunk!" will be happy.

 

 

You just made me think of a great Raw guest host. 

 

 

Fine, tonight you'll get John Cena vs....DANIEL BRYAN!

 

You happy now, ya bitch?

[Newb82]

I think the booking is pointing towards Swagger as a face, with Cesaro as the heel with Zeb.

Which will be soundly rejected by the fans.

Not when Swags gets repackaged as Bigg Hoss Jack and is managed by Bunkhouse Buck.

People chanting "We Want Bunk!" will be happy.

Pffft. "Moves Like" Swagger or bust.

[The Z]

 

I think the booking is pointing towards Swagger as a face, with Cesaro as the heel with Zeb.

Which will be soundly rejected by the fans.

 

That would be beyond awful, but I don't think it will happen. I'm pretty sure Zeb will still turn on Cesaro and side with Swagger because Cesaro is still a Euro. I could easily see Swagger winning the IC, Cesaro losing the chamber, then Zeb immediately dumping him with the angle being "Why did Swagger get so many chances?" Then Cesaro beats Swagger at Mania and Extreme Rules (in a Flag match).

 

 

Look at Cesaro's twitter account. He's constantly tweeting things in German and rooting for Switzerland in the Winter Olympics. Wait until Zeb sees this.

[Greggulator]

I know this is shocking, but The Shield 6-Man is REALLY good. I almost feel bad at how good these guys are. This match two years ago would have been a MOTYC but now it's going to be like "eh, great" just because their matches are so consistently great. Great heat segments, work, and the chaos finishing segment was awesome.Christian had Ambrose prone for a Brogue Kick, but the little creep dodged so Christian ate the boot. Reigns speared Sheamus (and earlier they had a showdown that was really electric) and Ambrose stole the pin on Christian. No Shield dissension or anything. Afterwards, when they were in the crowd, Dean did this ridiculously funny dance that is INSTANTLY GIFFABLE. Get on that, earth.

 

They're REALLY putting over The Elimination Chamber match against The Wyatts. Oh man. I haven't been as excited for a match since Rhodes Boys vs. The Shield... and then before that, who knows when. Just six badasses squaring off, throwing bombs.

The Swagger/Kofi/Rey/Henry Fatal Four Way is AWESOME. Oh man. This was a total throwback to ECW/late 90s 4-Way stuff. I know people got sick of that style but I still love it. This match is just non-stop and great. Everyone was given some spots to look really good. Just non-stop action and moves -- there's a great three-way German Suplex at one point. Everyone sat out at the right point. The ending is absolutely nasty from Swagger -- he got the ankle lock on Kofi out of a "skin the cat" thing" but Kofi got out. Swagger managed to hook it again and looked like he was breaking Kofi's ankle in two. Just nasty viciousness. GREAT match.

Jay Uso has one of the spots of the year in that match. I skipped to the end due to my hatred of the Outlaws but it looked like it could have been good. I'll let you tell me. But Jae did a dive over the corner to the floor in an old-school WCW car wreck spot. It's crazy. Usos big push continues. I'm guessing they win the belts in the opening match of WrestleMania. I hope so, since they've obviously put in a lot of work in improving. Dudes are really good right now and can put together a ***+ match in their sleep at this point.

And Cesaro/Orton is an awesome "breakthrough" match. It felt like a Sweet 16 game between VCU (Hi Dean!) and like Kansas or someone where the mid-major ends up pulling out a victory in the final minute and all of a sudden is a total force to be reckoned with. Cesaro is so awesome working face in this. He's just a blast. Zeb does some fun stuff, too. I love how Cesaro uses his uppercut -- it's his go-to move in the arsenal and just changes the momentum anytime he hits it. No one else has a spot like that and it really stands out. There's a great shot near the end when Orton's fighting to hit a Superplex but Cesaro is trying to fight out of it, right with the WrestleMania sign behind them. Cole points that out. Great framing of a shot that puts over what these next few weeks are all about. Orton also does a great stooge spot where he feigns a serious elbow injury and calls for the doctor. Cesaro comes out to attack and Orton naturally lures Cesaro into a kick followed by a backdrop to the ring rail.

Great, great, great stuff.

[Hagan]

Oh man...concur on The Shield match. I wasn't blown away by it only because everything those guys do is excellent. I was wondering how often Bryan has worked with The Shield guys on TV since they debuted. It has to be around two dozen at least.

 

Eight man was fun. Usos winning the belts are going to get a huge pop.

 

Four way was an excellent trainwreck.

 

And Cesaro and Orton was just a blast. Cesaro hits a fucking incredible spinning uppercut to lead to the Neutralizer. Orton is really good as well as he's finally hitting his stride again. Too bad his title reign is a dumpster fire though. Love that Orton's using the WM point as a heel move every week. 

 

But seriously, Randy deserves way better than to stick him with Batista in a singles match that's going to die a peasant's death, at best, or lead to a mass revolt. They gotta do the fucking three-way. Shit...do a fourway with Hunter in there as well. I'll take that too.

[MGFanJay]

Goddamned great show. You can't go wrong with a show starting off with Bryan-Shield 6-man that begins with Roman and Sheamus and the former busting out a Bossman uppercut after the latter did a big Brody kneedrop. This was such a great match - they put Roman over huge, mega-huge. JBL put him over as someone who does stuff no one else does BECAUSE NO ONE ELSE CAN! Great dives from Bryan and Rollins and the finish ruled - it was a great bit setting up a possible turn for Sheamus if they want, and furthered Ambrose further gaining wins thanks to Roman. Vickie and Zeb rule - although her acting was awful. Good Cesaro promo - shame this name change was done out of nowhere, as the tape over his jacket looks terrible.

 

4 way was fun, although Rey was moving really gingerly throughout it. He had trouble running or just getting into a sitting position, or getting up from that. This was the best match involving the IC title since...Rey and Jericho I'd say. This greatly exceeded expectations, and if it had been on Raw, it would've made Kofi and Swagger seem like bigger deals. Loved the double German suplex, Henry's powerbomb, every version of the Trouble in Paradise, and the skin the cat into hte ankle lock was a great finish - even if it was countered into...the ankle lock again. Sucks Rey's hurt again.

 

The Betty White recap was wacky, but at least led to a lot of an El Generico OLE shirt making air. #BNB's new podium setup is hilarious. The commentary during the 8-man was glorious, with JBL saying Axel's just missing something and talking about the Outlaws having the same problem until they got the Outlaws gimmmick. Loved them talking about Rockabilly - maybe Axel can be Axel Rose and join 3MB. Crazy dive sequence was fun, even if it was really stupid for Cody to do it right now. The win should give the Usos a shot soon, which will be fun. Loved Orton the deserter saying that Cesaro isn't a Real American - not sure why he's back to being not only a fan of the Authority, but also LOVING THE GAUNTLET he complained about on Raw.

 

Titus was a billion stars on commentary. Every single thing he said ruled. D-Young is so doomed here. Dude has none of Titus's charisma, and has his five year old nephew cutting his hair. Titus should be a commentator when he retires - they're training Tensai for that now, but he's way more natural in the role. And he's better at interviewing than anyone they've had do it - including Renee, and unlike Striker, he at least looks like he's tough and has some intensity. Summer's long dress is no buys. Fandango-Miz is negative buys! GREAT KHALI WISHING HAPPY VALENTINES DAYS ruled. Miz adding wacky pointing to his...seemingly babyface act now, after being a heel for weeks on Raw, is weird. Also weird - a sign declaring Miz to be THE NATURE MAN!Both commentators talking about how each guy in this is trying to get back to their former glory is weird, it's just telling you they're goobers now. This was nothing, then it got bad when Emma and Santino came down. Emma's silly faces are just a bit too much - she looks mentally off doing them.

 

YAY MAIN EVENT TIME. Love Cesaro walking to the ring with confidence. Don't so much dig the Old Spice - SMELLCOME TO MANHOOD tagline. Really dug them doing dueling schoolboys to prove who had the edge, and Orton got a shade closer to a 2 there. I love this just having 1 counts. Without them, a 2 means nothing, and without a 2 meaning anything, a 3 count means less. Loved Cesaro playing de facto face against the maniacal Orton here, Cesaro countering the VINTAGE CHINLOCK with VINTAGE ELBOWS TO THE GUT, and him getting fired up after a toss into the barricade leading to a lariat and 18 REP GIANT SWING! Loved Cole talking about why staring at the WM sign was important. Tremendous tease of the RKO leading to the Very European Uppercut for a 2.9! What a tremendous finishing sequence and I loved JBL putting it over as a clean win with no interference, and THEN CESARO WAVED GOODBYE TO ORTON AND POINTED AT THE WM SIGN. By God, they just damn near made a star in one night. If they put this over huge on Raw and in general, just follow up on it reasonably well, they've got themselves a new main event act. It's a shame he couldn't just win the WHC now, because this kind of push is perfect for that. Seeing Cesaro go from working in a glorified tin toolshed in Manassas, VA to not only getting into WWE, but main eventing TV and BEATING THE WORLD CHAMPION ON TV...wow. Sometimes, wrestling can still be a ton of fun.

 

So yeah, this was the best wrestling TV show so far this year.

 

http://jayreviewsthings.blogspot.com/2014/02/sd-2-14-14.html

 

Screens -

 

 

I'm not compensating for anything!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Say goodbye to the gold...

 

 

http://www.imagebam.com/gallery/4a6ccua5ra43918qd5kqdmnrv1cucm7h

[Curt McGirt]

I admit, I half-watched some of these (admittedly great) matches, but it was a great show even if the insane praise here might make people doubt. First and last matches were just awesome, especially Cesaro/Orton. You can talk shit about Orton all you want, and I do, but he has a new dance partner here that will make him get out of sleepwalk mode. Cesaro will mass-destruct yo ass. PERIOD. And Titus was solid fucking gold on the mic and you just want to see him get his ass kicked so bad. Them stealing the Flair/Steamboat suit ripping was the icing on the cake. Also, never seen that rollup that Young did before. 

 

Must admit I was disappointed with Barrett, he should've gotten another minute to trash the crowd and the holiday. He was getting near-Vickie heat and that new podium was great.

[Overly Critical Man]

The ending sequence by Cesaro was fucking incredible. The sunset flip powerbomb off the top...the discus European uppercut and then the Neutralizer. I could buy anyone being dead after that sequence of moves. He basically destroyed Orton. That's how you put someone over. Not exchanging and countering 9 million finishers...just a straight up win.

[Big Fresh]

It's been said many times, but I really, really hope goodhelmet has got a Shield comp coming after they break up.

[Phantom Lord]

The show was pretty good tonight. I concur with the notion that Shield matches that would have been MOTC last year are now just "ehh" today. I almost feel bad for Christian. You can see he's just running through the motions and praying Vince doesn't decide to have someone kill him at EC so they can have his spot in the chamber. It is telling though if Orton loses to everyone but him in the run up to the chamber.

 

Ambrose is so good though. I loved how he dodged the kick and after Sheamus got speared he covers Christian like he just hit the move himself. If The Shield must break up, Ambrose is going to make a killing as this generations Roddy Piper. His victory salsa dance in the crowd was especially hilarious.

 

Zeb was great when he was sucking up to Vickie (she was born here, so for Zeb he wasn't being hypocritical at all).

 

I can almost see Swagger winning the IC Title. Big E as good as he might be, they haven't allowed him to really shine. The guy has an awesome personality as shown on his twitter and instagrams. But they refuse to let him show that on television. The WWE has this weird thing where even if someone can get over on just personality, they'd rather have them stay quiet and bland. Maybe its a creative thing. God forbid rasslers start doing things on their own.

 

Cesaro vs. Orton was a damn good match. The end where he hit that roaring euro uppercut was so amazing. I had never seen him do that before (don't know if he did it alot in his Indy days), but it made me jump up. I mean that move could be his version of Daniel Bryan's running knee. If the Nuetralizer doesn't get them...the fighting spirit uppercut will.

 

Why did they have to unify the damn titles. Antonio would be a lock to win the World Heavyweight Championship

[offspring515]

Unifying the titles was the best move they've made in a long time.  A meaningless World title run with the B title wouldn't have helped Cesaro nearly as much as just competing for the big belt is.

[Spontaneous]

Well, it is nice that Cesaro is in the same category as Cena and company to get a clean pin on Orton. I'm sure Sheamus beats him clean on Raw to make Orton the underdog in the chamber. Still cool to see Cesaro beat the champion.

[Goodear]

Its all coming up roses for Cesaro right now and boy was his promo on NXT this week just pure Ric Flair King of the Mountain stuff.  

 

Again, I mentioned this earlier in the week but Swagger is really getting back into form and exceeding my expectations.  That was the best "German suplex a guy while he German suplexes" a guy spot I had ever seen.  He keeps altering the way he gets into the Patriot Lock and he's turned it into a far better spot than Angle ever did.  I really like the dynamic that he and Cesaro have in that while Zeb was down on him, Cesaro never really turned the screws.  They have more than a typical heel relationship which was typified when they went for the Money in the Bank suitcase with Cesaro on Swagger's shoulders.

[Niners Fan in CT]

The end sequence by CESARO was great stuff.

 

Rollins following a Bryan dive through the ropes with one of his own was pretty cool. I really like the way Ambrose moves around the ring like in this match when he ducked out of the way, there's no wasted motions with him.

[Casey]

Bad News Barrett's podium is now fucking awesome.

[Go2Sleep]

Another great show this week.

 

6-man was the usual good Shield affair. All 6 guys are looking tremendous these days. I disagree with whoever said Christian is going through the motions. He's definitely booked the weakest, but he's still in there taking big bumps, eating strikes, hitting his old-man-flying offense as well he was pre-injury, and has been inspired in his limited promo time. I don't think anyone's disputing the other 5. It's amazing how Bryan can generate so much heat in such a small amount of time. He was barely in the match but got some insane heat (real heat, not the obviously edited-in SD kind). Only disappointing part was no post-match promo from either the Shield or Wyatts.

 

The fatal 4-way was a lot better than I expected. Rey really needs to hang 'em up after Mania, it's sad to see how little he does in this type of match these days. Kofi stepped it up here, though, and carried the fast-paced flying and bumping pretty well. Henry's spot at the end was short, but effective. Swagger looked alright too. The Swagger/Rey/Kofi rendition of the triple German spot was one of the better looking ones.

 

The former PTPs continue to impress in their segments. Titus was great on commentary, it's crazy how far he's come from "make it a win" to one of the best mic guys in the company. Darren looked pretty fired up for a 3-minute match and showed a lot of tight offense and bumping for that time frame. Wonder what Damien Sandow did to get in the doghouse, he's been getting some 2012 Jack Swagger level treatment lately.

 

Main event was very good. Orton started off a little iffy, but clearly got more into it as the match went on. Cesaro was just great from the get-go, and if this was a dry-run for him as a face, pull the damn trigger. He adapted all of his offense beautifully, especially timing the swing to a big pop, and showed some great new stuff as well. Cesaro also has those little instincts that just scream future star. A couple things I noticed: First was after he took a spill to the floor, a fan patted him on the back and said "we the people," and Cesaro nodded and muttered "we the people" back as if it were firing him up. I think that's where you can see a huge difference between guys with indy backgrounds and guys without. The ones that have it are a lot better at reacting to little audience cues and adapting on the fly. Second, after the match, he let the crowd finish the "we the people" chant. Of course all his excellent offense got legit pops and that finishing run shows he's ready for the big time (if you didn't know that already). Also, Zeb was pretty good here changing it up to more of a face style manager, including encouraging a legit "We the people" chant while Cesaro was in a chinlock.

 

Also, I should give Orton a little more credit. He still has a great sense of timing and can lay out a damn good action sequence when he wants to. Maybe the backstage reaction he got for his last 3 ppvs was as scathing as it was online, or maybe someone told him he won't be doomed to singles program with Batista at Mania... Whatever it is, he is looking a lot more motivated the last couple of weeks, so good on him for that. His reaction after the loss was perfect too, definite disappointment but with a sense that it was only a non-title on SD so as not to be too wound up.

[Curt McGirt]

I feel bad for Rey about being in those kind of matches period considering how he acted right after the apron dive, which was just him landing on his ass on somebody else. You could tell he was hurting. Then he goes in the ring and eats the World's Strongest Boot along with another couple bumps. It sucks that Mistico didn't work out as their resident spot-monkey because they really need someone over enough with the crowd, and with enough ring savvy to fill Rey's boots... until then, he'll work himself down to the nub and it sucks to watch. Also, they really need to let Big E just talk. This micromanagement gives off the vibe of an undercard MMA fighter talking about his next match. You all say he can talk, they should let him. Or maybe his personality only comes out on Twitter, I dunno. 

[Curt McGirt]

"I know something about that Elimination Chamber and the strategy it takes to win one..." - HHH

 

Get injured and book yourself to win? (honestly I never saw said match in question, I just think it's funny it got brought up here right around the time he says this)