BRM Reviews the 4/26/2013 Smackdown
Posted: Apr 29th, '13, 13:42
NO DISQUALIFICATION MATCH: Jack Swagger (w/Zeb Coulter) vs. Alberto Del Rio (w/Ricardo Rodriguez)- 7/10
Last year the fans made WWE realize how big of a mistake it was to not give Daniel Bryan time to shine at Wrestlemania. This year Swagger and Del Rio are making WWE sorry that they didn't give them time to shine at Wrestlemania just based off of pure match quality. Another great match from these two.
LAYLA EL vs. AKSANA- 2/10
At the risk of sounding like a jerk, this was better than I was expecting. There were one of two nice spots in here that really shined Layla well in her home country. I think she should have gotten a more decisive win than a roll-up, though.
At this point in the show, they showed OVER TEN MINUTES of the Shield vs. Kane, Taker, & Dragon match from Raw. Highlights would have been fine but this just felt like they were wasting time because they were too lazy to come up with new content.
SHIELD PROMO- great
So Fandango will get upset at people for pronouncing his name wrong, but is perfectly forgiving of Summer Rae for dancing with his enemy over his fallen carcass on Raw?
JUSTIN GABRIEL vs. FANDANGO- Great squash.
Fandango's offense looked MUCH better tonight. I can definitely see what people see in this guy (that's doesn't change my feelings about how pitifully he has been booked, though. A few weeks ago he took on Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania! He shouldn't need to be to facing jobbers all the time now)
SHEAMUS vs. THE BIG SHOW- 6.25/10
The problem with these big six week gaps between PPVs is that booking two weekly shows for six weeks trying to build to a singles match can be a pain in the but, and often results in stalling. That's what this was.
WILLIAM REGAL vs. WADE BARRETT- no rating. It really sucks that they couldn’t give these guys any more an a minute in their home country. It was great for what it was, though.
RANDY ORTON vs. MARK HENRY-DUD!
Mark Henry should NEVER spent most of the match getting his ass kicked unless his opponent is squally large (or larger) and Mark is the babyface. Someone the size of Randy Orton should never get so much offense in on Henry in such a short match!
Also, if they wanted to play up the fact that Orton is annoyed at Sheamus for causing him to lose via DQ (one of the announcers said this was the case) he should have gotten right in Sheamus’ face rather than RKOing Henry.
THE UNDERTAKER vs. DEAN AMBROSE (w/Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns)- 5.25/10
I really don't like just throwing away the Shield's first loss like this, but I'm not sure what else you could have done (maybe have Taker get counted out chasing off Rollins and Reigns?). Anyway, this match didn't get anywhere near enough time. The Shield taking out Taker felt big, though, so that was well done.
They tried to cram WAY too much into this show. There were FOUR huge matches in just two hours... and that is with everything else they wanted to do (like give the Brits matches) plus the obnoxious amount of Raw recaps they feel the need to do. As a result, both the Taker vs. Ambrose match and the Orton vs. Henry match didn't get enough time (though the problem with Orton vs. Henry was the match construction. If they had done the same finish but with Henry spending most of the time on offense, it would have been fine).
Last year the fans made WWE realize how big of a mistake it was to not give Daniel Bryan time to shine at Wrestlemania. This year Swagger and Del Rio are making WWE sorry that they didn't give them time to shine at Wrestlemania just based off of pure match quality. Another great match from these two.
LAYLA EL vs. AKSANA- 2/10
At the risk of sounding like a jerk, this was better than I was expecting. There were one of two nice spots in here that really shined Layla well in her home country. I think she should have gotten a more decisive win than a roll-up, though.
At this point in the show, they showed OVER TEN MINUTES of the Shield vs. Kane, Taker, & Dragon match from Raw. Highlights would have been fine but this just felt like they were wasting time because they were too lazy to come up with new content.
SHIELD PROMO- great
So Fandango will get upset at people for pronouncing his name wrong, but is perfectly forgiving of Summer Rae for dancing with his enemy over his fallen carcass on Raw?
JUSTIN GABRIEL vs. FANDANGO- Great squash.
Fandango's offense looked MUCH better tonight. I can definitely see what people see in this guy (that's doesn't change my feelings about how pitifully he has been booked, though. A few weeks ago he took on Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania! He shouldn't need to be to facing jobbers all the time now)
SHEAMUS vs. THE BIG SHOW- 6.25/10
The problem with these big six week gaps between PPVs is that booking two weekly shows for six weeks trying to build to a singles match can be a pain in the but, and often results in stalling. That's what this was.
WILLIAM REGAL vs. WADE BARRETT- no rating. It really sucks that they couldn’t give these guys any more an a minute in their home country. It was great for what it was, though.
RANDY ORTON vs. MARK HENRY-DUD!
Mark Henry should NEVER spent most of the match getting his ass kicked unless his opponent is squally large (or larger) and Mark is the babyface. Someone the size of Randy Orton should never get so much offense in on Henry in such a short match!
Also, if they wanted to play up the fact that Orton is annoyed at Sheamus for causing him to lose via DQ (one of the announcers said this was the case) he should have gotten right in Sheamus’ face rather than RKOing Henry.
THE UNDERTAKER vs. DEAN AMBROSE (w/Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns)- 5.25/10
I really don't like just throwing away the Shield's first loss like this, but I'm not sure what else you could have done (maybe have Taker get counted out chasing off Rollins and Reigns?). Anyway, this match didn't get anywhere near enough time. The Shield taking out Taker felt big, though, so that was well done.
They tried to cram WAY too much into this show. There were FOUR huge matches in just two hours... and that is with everything else they wanted to do (like give the Brits matches) plus the obnoxious amount of Raw recaps they feel the need to do. As a result, both the Taker vs. Ambrose match and the Orton vs. Henry match didn't get enough time (though the problem with Orton vs. Henry was the match construction. If they had done the same finish but with Henry spending most of the time on offense, it would have been fine).