Skip to main content

My Thoughts on SmackDown (9/27/16): Randy Orton Can't Follow the Buzzards

  • We kick off the show with Randy Orton. He says he knows why Bray Wyatt talks about fear and blindsides people; because he is afraid. He says Wyatt is afraid of him and tells him to come down to the ring if he's man enough. Wyatt screen effect hits, and Wyatt's on the big screen. He recites the story of Hansel & Gretel and says that this is his world. He shows an hourglass with the sand falling down while singing "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" before the screen cuts off. Orton leaves and walks to the back.
  • Backstage, Charly Caruso interviews Dean Ambrose. He says John Cena is old news and that AJ Styles cheated to win the WWE World Championship. He says that he'll win his title back.
  • Heath Slater, Rhyno, and American Alpha vs The Usos & The Ascension-Finally, the Usos have new entrance music. Also, their dressing like Hunico & Camacho now. Jordan & Jimmy Uso start off before Gable tags in. American Alpha work over Jimmy with multiple slams and takedowns. Jimmy forces Jordan into the heels corner and tags Jey, only for Jordan to counter a double suplex and tag in Gable. American Alpha hit stereo monkey flips before Gable locks in an armbar over the top rope on Jey. On the outside, Jey & Gable fight until Jimmy chop blocks Gable before the commercial break. We come back to the Ascension working over Gable in the corner. The heels continue to beat down Gable until Gable dodges a corner hip attack by Jimmy. Gable dishes the Ascension from the ring, who take out Jordan before getting taken out by Rhyno. Gable & Jimmy both go down on a double shoulder tackle, allowing Gable to tag in Heath Slater. Slater runs wild on Jey, hitting a high knee and a jumping neckbreaker for a near fall. Everyone gets their spots in before the Jimmy superkicks Slater. Jey superkicks Slater's leg and Jimmy locks in the Tequila Sunrise for the submission win. Good match, nothing special.
  • Backstage, Charly Caruso interviews John Cena. He says Ambrose has guts and Styles doesn't, and that he'll tie Ric Flair's record at No Mercy
  • Backstage, The Miz forces a staff guy to hang a picture of him over LeBron James to massive heat from the Cleveland crowd. I'm from Cleveland and thought it was great.
  • Still backstage, Randy Orton finds wooden arrow telling him where to go. He turns it and goes the other way. When the camera moves back, the arrow has been moved back by Erick Rowan. I have no idea what that was about. 
  • Back to Wyatt, who says Orton is bad at taking directions. He is.
  • Carmella & Natalya vs Naomi & Nikki Bella-Naomi & Carmella start off with a back and forth exchange. David Otunga on commentary says that he found out that Carmella has anger problems and that's why she got fired from the Laker Girls. It is met with just about complete silence from Ranallo & JBL. Naomi rubs her ass on Carmella's face and boots her from the ring before the commercial break. We come back to Natalya bodyslamming Naomi outside the ring. The heels work over Naomi until she dodges a leg drop fro Natalya. Nikki gets the hot tag and runs wild on Natalya, hitting a corner enziguri for a near fall. Carmella hits Nikki from behind and gets the tag, only for Nikki to pull her into the ring. Nikki goes for the TKO, but Carmella rakes her eyes. Carmella takes out Naomi before Nikki forearm strikes Natalya, allowing Carmella to get the roll up win. Fine match, nothing special.
  • More Randy Orton backstage shenanigans, as he sees a bunch of stuff written in red on the walls. He walks through a door with "I AM A GOD" written on it to find...a cardboard standee of himself with the eyes cut out and "PREY" written on. That was hilarious. He opens a door with "PREDATOR OR PREY" written on it. Another camera angle shows Erick Rowan ready to attack him, but Orton doesn't go through the door. What the hell are these segments?
  • It's The Miz's Homecoming! Maryse calls Miz the prodigal son of Cleveland and we get an entire montage of the Miz's career. Miz gets a cheap pop by mentioning the Cavaliers winning the NBA Finals, before heeling out and saying that he's the only hero in Cleveland. He blasts the crowd for welcoming back a traitor like LeBron James while he was winning the WWE Championship and main eventing WrestleMania. He also points out his parents in the crowd. He also points out Dolph Ziggler's parents in the crowd and starts to down talk them, which brings out Ziggler. Ziggler tells him to say whatever he has to say to his face and calls his title reign tainted. Miz points out that he's more successful than Ziggler and says all Ziggler does is lose. He says Ziggler & his parents should be embarrassed for his career and refuses to give Ziggler a rematch before Ziggler even asks for it. Miz leaves the ring, only for Ziggler to say Miz is right. Ziggler says he gives and gives and gives and doesn't get anything back, but he keeps doing it because he can't stop. He requests one more title match, saying he'll put up his entire career. He won't go to RAW, or NXT, he'll be done. Miz accepts the match for No Mercy and says he'll hang up Ziggler's career for him. Straight fire. These two are killing it right now.
  • Bray Wyatt gives out about Randy Orton not following directions
  • Becky Lynch vs No one, because Alexa Bliss blindsides her and slams her into the stage. She says Becky doesn't deserve the Women's Championship and that she does before walking off.
  • More lame Curt Hawkins facts before Hawkins says he'll be making "a big Curt Hawkins announcement."
  • RANDY ORTON FINALLY FOUND BRAY WYATT! He punches him a but before Wyatt runs off. Orton puts on the sheep mask and he sings "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" as the screen shakes and Wyatt randomly appears in Orton's place. What the hell is this show? All I know is that this probably going to be an easy episode for King Ross to write a WTF Moments article about for WhatCulture.
  • Backstage, AJ Styles is interviewed by Charly Caruso. He says he's going to retain his title tonight.
  • AJ Styles (c) vs Dean Ambrose for the WWE World Championship with John Cena on commentary-Ambrose starts off with a double leg takedown and works over Styles before clotheslining him out of the ring. Ambrose tosses Styles on the table and beats him down before the commercial break. We come back to Styles locking in a headlock on Ambrose. Both go down on a double clothesline spot before Ambrose catches Styles on a crossbody attempt and hits a swinging backbreaker for a near fall. Styles goes for the Calf Crusher, but Ambrose counters and locks in a Cloverleaf. Styles breaks the hold and snaps Ambrose down on the top rope, but Ambrose knocks him to the outside and hits a suicide dive. Ambrose then hits a top rope diving clothesline to the outside before another commercial break. We come back to see Styles locking in the Calf Crusher in the middle of the ring. Ambrose escapes it by slamming Styles' head into the mat. Styles goes for the Styles Clash, but Ambrose counters it before hitting a swinging neckbreaker. The two trade blows before Ambrose hits a double hook facebuster for a near fall. Ambrose sets up Styles on the top rope, but Styles slides through and hits a torture rack powerbomb for a near fall. Styles slaps Ambrose around before Ambrose forearms the sh*t out of him and crotches him on the top rope before clotheslining him back down for a near fall. Styles hits a Pele Kick and goes for the springboard 450, but Ambrose dodges and hits an elbow drop for another near fall. Styles dodges a body splash by Ambrose and hits a running knee strike before attacking Cena. Ambrose gets a visual three, but the referee gets distracted by Cena, allowing Styles to kick out. Ambrose flies out of the ring and punches Cena, only to get rolled up back in the ring by Styles, who gets the win. Really good match. Afterward, Cena hits the AA on both Styles and Ambrose to close the show.
And that's about it. Overall a pretty good show. The main event was good and the Miz-Ziggler segment was great, but the other matches were short or non-existent and the Randy Orton-Bray Wyatt stuff reached levels of comedic absurdity at points.
Thanks for reading. Be sure to share if you enjoyed. Also, check out my Patreon

Comments

More from The Wrestling Section

Worst in the World: The Gimmick Battle Royal-WrestleMania X-Seven

(Special thanks to Frost for suggesting this match. If you'd like to see a match covered on the Worst in the World, leave a comment down below.) WrestleMania X-Seven. Heavily considered the not just the best WrestleMania, but the greatest wrestling show of all time, WrestleMania X-Seven took place during the hottest period in the WWF's history, and features just about every one of the hottest acts in wrestling at the time. An undercard featuring the likes of Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, William Regal, Kane, and the Big Show. One of the biggest female stars in the history of wrestling in Chyna. A killer TLC match between the Dudley Boyz, the Hardy Boyz, and Edge & Christian. A wild brawl between The Undertaker and Triple H. A massive main event between Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock. Hell, even the father vs son Street Fight between Vince & Shane McMahon. It's a star-studded affair. However, there's one match that sticks out like

Worst in the World: The Last Rites Match-TNA Destination X 2007

(Special thanks to an anonymous user for suggesting this match. If you'd like to see a match covered on the Worst in the World, leave a comment down below.) An often discussed aspect of professional wrestling is the backstage politicking of Hulk Hogan. Throughout his career as a major attraction in wrestling, Hogan's philosophy has always been to protect Hulk Hogan...OK, sometimes he'd help Ed Leslie, but most of the time it was to protect Hulk Hogan. Because of that philosophy and Hogan's influence as a top guy, there have been multiple instances where a company's booking and other wrestlers have suffered as a result. Would having Mr. Perfect win the 1990 Royal Rumble made sense and could have elevated a rising star and potentially created a new main event player? Yes, but that would require Hogan to not win, and that doesn't work for Hogan, so he wins the Rumble even though he doesn't need elevating. Would booking Randy Orton to beat Hogan at SummerSlam 20

Worst in the World: D-Generation X vs Brothers of Destruction-Crown Jewel

This match didn't need to happen. After Triple H and the Undertaker had one of the most brutally bad matches of 2018 at Super Show-Down not even a month earlier, nobody wanted to see them try to wrestle again. Also, nobody wanted to see Shawn Michaels come out of retirement after his fantastic sendoff in 2010, especially for a match like this. But here we are, Triple H & Shawn Michaels facing The Undertaker & Kane in 2018. The combined ages of these four at the time is 206. That's a number you'd expect to see from a match at Heroes of Wrestling. And anyone can come up with their own reason as to why this match is happening, but that would just be ignoring the actual reason. For those of you who don't know, Crown Jewel was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. That might not seem like important information, but you can't really discuss this match without mentioning it. Despite the numerous reasons that running shows in Saudi Arabia is morally wrong (their abuse

Worst in the World: Nia Jax's Worst Matches

Click the link here to vote in the poll and help decide the next edition of the Worst in the World. Nia Jax's first run with the WWE can really only be described as hard to watch. Sure, she had a few stand-out matches, most notably (and surprisingly) her match with Ronda Rousey at Money in the Bank, and an underrated gem with Bayley at NXT TakeOver: London, but those were always outshined by her most infamous matches and moments. She's since returned to WWE and, for the most part, seems to have improved a bit, but the reputation she got from her initial run is gonna be hard to shake off. This week, I'll be looking at some of Jax's worst matches. These include just flat-out bad matches, and matches that have become infamous examples of her reckless in-ring work. Match #1: vs Charlotte Flair-April 10th, 2017 Raw The first match we'll be looking at is from the April 10, 2017 episode of Monday Night Raw, when Nia took on Charlotte Flair. The two had been on the losing e

Worst in the World: Carmella vs Asuka: How to Destroy an Aura

Throughout the entire history of the WWE, we've never seen, and probably will never see again, a woman booked as strong as Asuka was to start her run. Coming into WWE in 2015 with over a decade of experience wrestling in her native Japan as Kana, Asuka was immediately treated like a huge deal. Hell, even from the first time we saw her on a WWE broadcast, she was seated in the crowd of NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn next to two Hall of Famers in Ric Flair & Sgt. Slaughter. Officially debuting in October 2015, Asuka would go her entire NXT career, nearly two full years, without being pinned or submitted. She was booked so strong, in fact, that instead of dropping the NXT Women's Championship in what would be her last match in NXT at the time to Ember Moon (even after sustaining an injury), an act that is almost always the case for champions leaving NXT for the main roster, Asuka retained and later vacated the title, keeping her streak intact. For a company that is more than willing t