BRM Reviews the 11/28/2014 Smackdown

[Big Red Machine]

MIZ TV WITH SPECIAL GUEST: THE BIG SHOW- bad
Big Show says that anyone who has a problem with him should come out here and face him, so Daniel Bryan came out, and just started announcing completely unrelated matches. The heels criticized him for stealing their spotlight… and they were right.
Anyway, he books Rollins vs. Ryback, and rectifies some mistakes from Raw, including giving Dolph an IC Title match and making Rusev defend the US Title in a battle royale. It wasn’t against the entire roster, but because Dragon is such a nice guy, I’ll assume he realized that making Rusev defend against the entire roster would be a bit too dickish.

20 MAN BATTLE ROYALE FOR RUSEV’S US CHAMPIONSHIP- 5.5/10
Yeah… that Miz-Dow spot annoyed me. Do they not understand how a stunt double works? If they want to make the gimmick work, they need to do something like have Miz-Dow start on the outside then when, Miz is in trouble, have him roll out of the ring and have Miz-Dow take his place. That is what a stunt double does- the dangerous work- while the star sits comfortably off to the side.

CONCESSIONS KANE RUNS THE T-SHIRT STAND- he is just giving t-shirts away. Maybe that’s why WWE has lost so much money this year: because the former Director of Operations had the merchandise people just giving everything away.
Santino showed up, then ran away after Kane took off a winter hat. I guess Santino was too dumb to tell it was Kane before he took the hat off, even though his entire face was exposed the entire time.

BRAY WYATT PROMO- great
Bray’s entrance is much less creepy without the two big scary men standing behind him.

In the clips they showed from Raw, I noticed someone holding up a sign that said “Pat 3:16.” It is almost. No one should be holding up signs with a name and 3:16 after it unless that is your way of announcing the birth of your child who was born on March 16th. That’s it.

EMMA vs. NIKKI BELLA (w/Brie Bella)- 1/10
Short but hard-hitting.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Nikki cut a decent heel promo. Then AJ came out and sent the cowardly heels running. Great stuff.

APPARENTLY SOMEONE DESTROYED A CONCESSION STAND- it would have been nice to have some lead-in to this. Something like Cole and JBL informing us a disturbance backstage or even just them expressing shock at the destruction of WWE property.

RYBACK vs. SETH ROLLINS (w/Joey Mercury & Jamie Noble)- 6.25/10
Ryback wins by DQ when Kane interferes. Cole speculates that this must have something do to with whatever happened to the merch stand. If you’ll remember what happened on Raw, Ryback showed up and decided to be a dick to Kane, so I’ll assume that is what happened tonight as well… which makes Kane completely justified in kicking Ryback’s ass.

A NEW DAY vs. HEATH SLATER, TITUS O’NEIL, & MICHAEL MCGILLICUTTY- no rating. Good squash.
A New Day’s entrance wasn’t bad or anything… it just didn’t feel as cool as the video. They had a good showing here, which was the point of this match, so mission accomplished.

RENEE YOUNG INTERVIEWS DANIEL BRYAN- as a result of tonight’s events, he books Kane vs. Ryback in a Chairs Match at TLC. Renee asked Dragon if he would be back soon... AND HE SAID YES! I was so excited about this news that I almost forgot how ridiculous it is that we have not had any interaction between Dragon and Brie, especially tonight now that she doesn’t legally have to be helping Nikki.

GOLDUST & STARDUST BACKSTAGE- they lost the tag titles, so they are going to take it out on A New Day. Either that or they were plotting to kill Batman.

WWE INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE MATCH: Luke Harper(c) vs. Dolph Ziggler- 6/10
Dolph wins by count-out setting him up for an IC Title match at TLC. Harper tried to attack him after the match, but Dolph got the better of him anyway.

In the ring, this wasn’t a particularly good episode of Smackdown, but it definitely felt a lot more important and eventful than Smackdown usually has over the past few years, which is supposedly something WWE has been looking to change, so this seems like a step in the right direction.

STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. JBL said that Cesaro has been the “king of the battle royale this year.”
Apparently winning ONE battle royale qualifies you to be the “king.”
2. Not to be outdone, Cole said that Cesaro’s WrestleMania XXX victory in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royale makes him “one of the greatest battle royale competitors in history.”
Yes. He really said this.