The (Big) Show Must Go On

A belated Merry Christmas as we take a look at last Friday’s Smackdown.

The show opens with the Big Show coming out to the ring to address the shenanigans which occurred at TLC. Again, I love the acting job that Show does here. He really looks and sounds the part of being upset. Obviously, he’s still conflicted about how he feels regarding Daniel Bryan swooping in and stealing his title (I know how /I/ feel about it, but more on that later). Unfortunately for Show, Mark Henry is far less torn about what he feels like. He’s happy with absolutely no one, and mocks Big Show for having the shortest title reign in the history of the WWE. Incidentally, I don’t think that’s true, as the same sort of scenario occurred against Jeff Hardy in 2009, but I’ll let it slide. And, finally, out comes Daniel Bryan, our new World Heavyweight Champion, and I’m sorry if this is going to sound harsh, but his general blandness is only emphasized in this ring by the Big Show’s personal turmoil, and Mark Henry’s sheer anger. Not to mention that Bryan then does the worst thing you can do in a situation like this, and start listing off things he’s not: he says he’s not the biggest, strongest, most charismatic, handsome, etc. But what he is, however, is a very good wrestler and our World Heavyweight Champion. And that right there kind of sums up what I think of the guy: he’s a very good wrestler, and not much else. He’s kind of plucky, I guess, but the big, big problem with Daniel Bryan is that his sole motivation and character arc was to prove the haters wrong. Well, he got to the WWE, and he’s now the Champion. Arc completed. Now what? What does he really have left to do? Obviously, staying Champion comes to mind, but he’s at his most compelling when he’s battling odds and trying to rise to the top. Once he’s at the top, his main source of motivation is gone. In my mind, Bryan falls into the same trap as the Hardys: they are at their best when they’re losing, because everyone wants to see them succeed.

Also worth saying is that, much like the Orton/Christian situation earlier in the year, my sympathies are entirely with the Big Show in this story. He’s the one who came back from an inury. He’s the one who finally managed to stop the previously invincible monster of Mark Henry. He’s waited nearly a decade for another championship reign. He’s the one who has spent months saving Daniel Bryan from said Mark Henry. All Bryan has done is screw over the guy who’s been saving his ass for months, and the idea that I support this action presupposes that I was a fan to begin with, and thus wanted him to cash in the briefcase against anybody at any time. It doesn’t help that Big Show is way more entertaining than Bryan, thus further driving a wedge between me and our new Champion.

Both Big Show and Mark Henry start arguing about who’s going to be first in line for a rematch (given that they both have equal claim to the belt), when out comes Teddy Long, as he is wont to do in these situations, and he explains that the two of them will have a match later tonight to decide who is first in line to fight Daniel Bryan. Just a heads up: the payoff to this setup isn’t the best.

Our first match of the night, however, is a very good set up: a Champion vs. Champion match, with US Champion Zack Ryder vs. IC Champion Cody Rhodes. I’m glad that the two mid card belts have been given to two guys who obviously have talent, charisma, and are likely to go places, rather than just sticking them onto a random big man they’re trying to push and hoping that the audience buys it. I also would like to say that although Ryder is known primarily for his internet show and his catchphrases, the guy really is pretty solid in the ring; he’s definitely not all flash and no substance. And as such, this match is very, very good, and a good opener for any show. Both men work speedily, neither man is lost, and both bring their personalities into the ring so that there’s more life and entertainment to the events. It looks like Cody has things wrapped up when something very strange happens (and I don’t mean “strange” in a figurative preamble. I mean it’s weird). Booker T, who has been having something of a feud with Cody, stands up on his chair,  grabs a microphone, and starts singing a rendition of “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.” Now, I’ve come to expect insanity from Booker, but even this was a bit odd. I get that he’s trying to distract Rhodes, but, I don’t know, calling him names might have sufficed. Not to mention the fact that Cody does indeed become distracted makes him look a little odd, because really, couldn’t he just tune out the noise? Ryder hits the Rough Ryder on the confused Cody and gets the win. I don’t think this segment was as strong as it could have been. Ryder keeps winning based on outside interference, and that doesn’t really help his credit, especially considering that the match he was having was good enough on its own that he could have won clean and been even more impressive. Also, I’m annoyed that Cody is still kind of stuck feuding with Booker T. Nothing against Booker, but I’m kind of tired of the announcers being put in the spotlight when there’s plenty of wrestlers waiting in the wings.

Backstage, Vickie Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler confront Teddy Long and, of all things for a heel to do, demand a match against the World Heavyweight Champion. I love that Dolph is being put over as ultra-confident and able, and isn’t worried about a little competition, as he’s just that good. Also, would like to point out that this match is coming about because of action and charisma on the part of Ziggler, not Bryan. And yes, I’m going to continue to be critical of Daniel Bryan. I’ve spent the better part of the year heaping the same criticisms on Randy Orton, and just because Bryan can actually wrestle doesn’t mean he doesn’t have many of the same problems.

Our next match is to be out #1 Contender Match between Big Show and Mark Henry… sort of. We go through the entrances, the two of them stand in the ring, and then David Otunga shows up to inform the audience that Mark Henry has not, in fact, been medically cleared to compete, as his ankle is still screwed up. I guess that proves that his injury was legit, and makes it all the more impressive that he’s been performing on it for the last month. Props to Henry for being outraged that he’s being sidelined: his monster heel character is at its best when he thinks he’s invincible. The question, of course, is why did this have to be done in the ring right before the match started, rather than backstage or at the beginning of the show. To go through the entrances and set up a match that wasn’t going to happen anyways comes off as a waste of time (it’s not going to be the last time tonight either). Big Show punches out Otunga, which is always fun, and is our #1 Contender.

More odd happenings occur backstage, as the Miz suddenly appears before Teddy Long and announces that he’s here. Teddy, along with the rest of us, blink for a bit before Miz explains he received a text that said he was needed on Smackdown. Teddy knows nothing of this, leading the Miz to criticize Teddy for not knowing how to run his show. The Miz is right, but I do hope this mysterious message business goes somewhere and isn’t abruptly forgotten (one day, I will demand the WWE reveals who the hell the Anonymous GM Morally Ambiguous Laptop was). Furthermore, Miz declares he’s going to go wait in the ring and stop the show until he gets a match. And, indeed, he does so, until finally, someone answers his challenge, and that someone is Sheamus. Oh, Miz: heels should never offer open challenges. Not to mention that the match is a little disappointing. It’s not really a squash match, as Miz gets in a few good hits, but a good chunk of it is just Sheamus pounding on Miz. Though it’s worth saying again that Sheamus’s matches, in spite of being mostly punching, are entertaining. They’re speedy, the pacing is well done, Sheamus has good facial and body expressions, and you can find yourself rooting for him. Sheamus wins, and I realize this is the second time in a week Sheamus has had a match that doesn’t really mean anything to him personally. I hope he gets a storyline soon.

Know what kills time better than anything? Montage segments. Now, I know that montages and clips are an integral part of wrestling, so that we can remember what happened last week, but I prefer them when they happen right before commercials, not actually stopping the show to display them. As such, no matter how much I like Wade Barrett, his hijacking of about six minutes to show off clips of him beating up Randy Orton come off as a bit of a waste of time. Nothing develops from this, as far as Wade goes, as we’re just reliving his success, rather than embellishing or enhancing it. Eventually, Randy Orton becomes annoyed with these clips, and comes out to chase Barrett about the building, eventually leading to the pair of them going to the parking lot, where Orton RKOs Barrett on top of a car. I’m not a big fan of backstage beatdowns, because, once again, they waste time, not adding much except for a bit of catharsis as we see the heel be smacked around, and even then, if we were going to have that, I’d rather just have a regular match.

Just realized that this blog criticizes Daniel Bryan, while saying very little about Randy Orton. My, how times have changed.

The next match is Kofi Kingston vs. Primo, as we’re set to build a rivalry between both men’s tag teams. I can’t believe that we’re actually having development in the tag division again. Truly, this is a happy day. True enough to both men’s styles, the action is very fast, with a lot of high flying and flash. I’m also happy that Kofi gets some singles screen time: he really is an underappreciated commodity, and I desperately hope that one day he can get both a storyline and a push (and hopefully some mic time. He never gets to talk much, but when he does, he really seems eloquent). Kofi wins the match, and it looks like Air Boom has the edge thus far.

And now, onto our main event: Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler. Now, in spite of all my criticisms, you really can’t take away from the fact that Bryan is a good wrestler. The match he had with Dolph back at Bragging Rights 2010 is still one of my favorites. The difference from then to now is that both men are at the main event level, and out of the two, Dolph looks more comfortable in character and style. At any rate, two do indeed put on a pretty good show, until Vickie’s other stable member, Jack Swagger, appears at ringside to doubtlessly do something diabolical. However, out comes Big Show to even the odds, and seriously, how nice is Big Show here? Bryan totally screwed him over, and he doesn’t really need to help him, but here Show is doing the right thing. I swear, if they do try and turn him heel out of all this, I will erupt just as much, if not more, than I did when Christian lost his belt. Things appear to be getting out of control, when Teddy steps in and demands that the match be restarted, this time as a tag match of good guys vs. bad guys. I really hate when the match changes half way through. Why wouldn’t you just announce the match as a tag prior to starting it? The tag match isn’t quite as good as I’d hoped. It seems to fall into the classic “peril then hot tag” scenario, with Bryan getting beat up, tagging in Show, who saves the day, then tags Bryan back in so he can force Swagger to tap out. All in all, a bit disappointing for a main event. Bryan would have earned some much needed credibility if he had won on his own against a more than equal opponent in Ziggler. Not to mention that the plot twist only puts me further in Big Show’s corner, as far as sympathies go. Also, kind of sucks for Swagger, who’s become Dolph’s fall boy. The one good thing that I do believe could come out of Bryan’s reign as champion is that you can begin to pit other upper mid carders against him, and it would be believable, as they’re all on the same tier now (unlike, say, Triple H vs. Zack Ryder, or Swagger vs. Undertaker), and thus you can start bringing the midcarders up to main even level.

Thus Smackdown. It was a bit of an odd episode, with some strange turns and filler. The Ryder/Rhodes match was good, as was Kofi/Primo, but the rest of the show seemed a bit underwhelming. However, I am behind how much of a push the younger crowd is getting now, and that the writers are setting them up to be stronger. And hey, if Bryan can become compelling, I might even tolerate him (after all, Ziggler used to be kind of boring too, and look at where he is now).