The Draft is over. Extreme Rules is this Sunday. Yet, to me at least, there seems to be almost a deflated sense of excitement heading into the PPV. With some SmackDown superstars saying farewell, and others just getting introduced to their new surroundings, would this be a strong finish to this iteration of the show, or is WWE running on fumes heading into Extreme Rules?
- The RKO Show: Randy Orton opens the show, basically going to do the whole schpeel about being on a new show and "making a statement" and all that jazz. However, who should come out by recent RAW draftee Drew McIntyre. McIntyre tries to get one over on Orton, going for a Future Shock, but reverses and RKO's McIntyre.
- As Randy's about get on with his rambling, Alex Riley interrupts and Orton RKO's him, now. Finally, Alberto Del Rio comes out and, with back-up from Brodus Clay, has Randy outnumbered and surrounded. Christian comes out for the save, and the Main Event for this SmackDown is set up as a tag team match with Orton and Christian vs. ADR and Clay. I found this opening to be kind of silly, but it did its job with establishing Orton as one of the "top guys" on SmackDown now. I think it's funny that they'd use McIntyre in the fashion they did, essentially putting him on the same tier as Alex fuckin' Riley. Either way, the curtain was jerked and SmackDown was underway in earnest.
- Sheamus Assaults Kingston: After their match on RAW, it looked like it was to be a return match with Sheamus taking on Kofi Kingston. After the fact that that match was a little... meh for what it could have been, I was looking forward to this, but instead Sheamus just blind-sides Kingston and beats up on him before a match can even get underway. That's more than a little disappointing, but again, I feel like they were establishing early that this SmackDown was intended to be a transition, one that filled in what the recently drafted's roles would be. Still, this took the show to around the 20 minute mark, and there had yet to be any genuine wrestling. I'm not a fan of that trend.
- Swagger vs. Sin Cara: After a painfully long introduction from Michael Cole (seriously, this angle needs to stop, and Cole needs to stay as just a commentator), Jack Swagger is set to take on Sin Cara. This looked like an interesting match up from the on-set, with Sin Cara typifying the lucha libre archetype, and Swagger the collegiate wrestler. As such, the match had a really good flow, with Swagger beating up on Cara for a while, Cara exploding with a burst of athleticism, and so on. Cara even picked up the victory convincingly when Swagger was distracted letting Cara roll him up with a Victory Roll. Overall, this was probably the match of the night, and if Swagger wasn't headed to RAW, I'd have liked to see where this odd match-up could go.
- Big Show and Kane retain: When Big Show was drafted to RAW this Monday, I figured that was bad news for his and Kane's run as tag team champions. When it was announced they'd be up against the former champs Slater and Gabriel in a rematch, I went ahead and predicted that the Corre would quickly get back their belts and Kane and Show would go their separate ways on separate shows. I was wrong. In a pretty decent match that actually took me by surprise, Kane and Show overpower Slater and Gabriel and retain their titles. What does this mean with them being on separate shows? Hell if I know, but I'm glad that WWE didn't just go with the predictable outcome. Now if they could just decide what it is they wanted to do with the Corre...
- Rey says goodbye, Henry says hello: Rey comes out and actually gives a pretty heartfelt speech about his leaving SmackDown. Of course, Mark Henry needs to be built up as the new big heel on SmackDown. This is dumb. I haven't liked the direction they've taken Henry in about forever, and to have him be the big guy heel again with no variation on that character is just dumb. Sadly, Rey has to put him over in this match, which ends in a disqualification when Cody Rhodes interferes. Rey gets beat up again, and another paper bag slipped over his face. Did we really need all this when Cody and Rey's rivalry is already pretty established, and Cody has already gotten the best of Rey on multiple occasions? No. No we did not.
- Somebody's leaving WWE, and I'm not sure anybody cares: Layla and Michelle McCool continue their feud with what seems like is going to be a match. However, just a few minutes into the match, both Divas find themselves on the outside and the match ends in a double count-out (which EVERYBODY loves). Layla gets on the mic and says the two should have a match at Extreme Rules to settle things once and for all. Michelle accepts on one condition; that the loser would leave the WWE. DUN DUN DUN!
- Yeah, unsurprisingly, the audience reaction to this, a career-ending match, was a tad underwhelming, but that goes with the territory with the Divas division nowadays. I really don't know WHO it could be that's set to lose this match, though I think early indications are that it could be Michelle McCool. I certainly do think Layla has better overall potential, so I'd like for her to be the one that comes out on top here, but I think the Divas division as a whole needs help, and losing one of their competitors just makes it weaker, not stronger.
- A Prelude to Extreme Rules: Last up (as it tends to be) was the main event. Christian sets things up with what is, quite frankly a killer promo. With Del Rio headed for RAW, I can't imagine Christian losing this thing, but I suppose anything could happen. Anyway, the main event match is pretty standard fair. Given who the teams were, I think it was pretty obvious who would take it, and sadly Del Rio doesn't get in the match nearly enough. As such, the pace is pretty deliberate, with only a few genuinely cool moments. In the end, Orton hits Brodus with the RKO to give him and Christian the victory. I assume that, after Christian wins this Sunday, one of his first big threats will be against Orton, but again, things may take a swerve. Overall, it was an ok match, but a fairly standard, predictable, and meaningless main event.
I personally think that Extreme Rules could be a very good PPV. It'll be the end of the road for many a feud, and as such has the potential to be extremely satisfying from a pure wrestling standpoint. The problem is, this was a fairly weak week in terms of either A.) exciting wrestling or B.) proper set up for the PPV. SmackDown was slightly better than the disaster that was RAW's Draft show, but only just. Two out of five stars.
I'm optimistic, though, that the post-Extreme Rules WWE will be a much more exciting place, and hopefully one that features a bigger spotlight on the up and coming talent that the company has. At least that's my hope.
Sadly, unless I can find a LEGITIMATE AND COMPLETELY LEGAL* method of viewing Extreme Rules, I probably won't have a write up for it, but I'll definitely be back next week with the RAW Recap, the SmackDown Sum-up, and possibly some more wrasslin' goodness.
*will likely not actually legally purchase the PPV
Until then...
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