BRM Reviews the 2/1/2013 Smackdown

[Big Red Machine]

OPENING SEGMENT- not good. Booker T tells Swagger that if he wants into the Elimination Chamber match and a shot at the World Heavyweight Title, he has to earn it. Good. If only The Great Khali, who has done practically nothing to earn a shot, was specifically invited out here by Booker T. Then Dolph Ziggler cuts an entirely pointless expositional promo, reminding us all how the Money In The Bank contract works. It really makes you question why Booker had Ziggler out here in the first place. Not only does he have the MITB contract, so putting him in the #1 contendership match is silly, and he, too, really hasn’t done much to earn anything lately. Booker accuses Ziggler of being a chicken, then says that Ziggler had better not chicken out of his match tonight against Del Rio… something which Ziggler had not shown any signs of doing. In fact, Dolph had said that he thought Del Rio would be easy to win the World Heavyweight Title from, so it seemed like he thought he would beat Del Rio tonight, rather than showing any signs of not wanting to face him. Booker says the guys in the ring have to impress him and Teddy in order to earn a title shot. Well… considering that there are six guys in the ring and six spots in the chamber match, do you really think any of them are going to fail?

TEAM HELL NO vs. REY MYSTERIO & SIN CARA- 6.25/10
Team Hell No lose their match and start arguing, as usual.

THE GREAT KHALI (w/Natalya & Hornswoggle) vs. JINDER MAHAL (w/Heath Slater & Drew McIntyre)- Pointless squash.
Booker wants to see if Khali can impress him tonight, so he puts him in a match against a guy who routinely loses matches in under five minutes? This just makes Booker look like an idiot.
And wouldn’t you know it. Booker does say that he finds it impressive.

TEAM RHODES SCHOLARS DISSOLVES BACKSTAGE- good segment. Hopefully this means a singles push is coming up at least one of these guys.

DAMIEN SANDOW vs. SHEAMUS- no rating
This was just an excuse to put Sheamus into a match so that the Shield could jump him

THE SHIELD JUMPS SHEAMUS- no rating. GREAT segment. For a few seconds there, I actually thought Sheamus was going to fight them off. The Shield still gets the upper hand, but Sheamus looks impressive for taking it to the Shield unlike anyone else has so far.

RANDY ORTON vs. WADE BARRETT- 4/10
Yeah, let’s have Randy beat the IC Champ clean in four minutes. First they cancel the Intercontinental Cup, then this? I don’t see Barrett’s title reign lasting too much longer.

WADE JUMPS BO BACKSTAGE- good

KOFI KINGSTON vs. JACK SWAGGER- 5/10
Good win for Swagger

DEL RIO ATTACKS THE BIG SHOW- GREAT!

ALBERTO DEL RIO vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER (w/AJ Lee & Big E. Langston)- 7.25/10
Great match. I was expecting Big Show to show up and cost Del Rio the match or something.

Oh. Well… that works, too. Great heat for Show, and a great promo.

Overall, a pretty good show.