8-2-13 Smackdown results and thoughts

Coverage and thoughts on the August 2, 2013 episode of Smackdown The show starts with Alberto Del Rio coming to the ring. He wants to start by saying thank you to the fans. He thanks them for nothing. When he was champion before the fans didn’t care for him. They never supported him & never wanted him to be their champion. Now he is the World Champion & there is nothing the fans can do about it. He does thank Vickie Guerrero though. Cena was allowed to pick his SummerSlam opponent & Vickie is letting Del Rio do the same. He says let’s hear it for Vickie & starts chanting her name but of course the fans don’t chant along. Then Del; Rio says that Cena wasted his pick by choosing that little troll Daniel Bryan. Then the fans chant yes. Del Rio then says we all know that Cena did that because he is afraid of Del Rio. That’s when he started thinking why doesn’t he pick the beast Brock Lesnar? Brock has plans for SummerSlam so that’s out. Then he thought he would be a little crazy & give an opportunity to Huston’s own…Booker T? Then he remembered that just like everything that comes out of Huston, Booker is a big disappointment. The guy that Del Rio is picking deserves this chance more anybody. This guy is a great performer. He is 1 of the greatest athletes of all time. This guy is big, fast, strong & vicious. He is the perfect opponent for Del Rio. This is why he will give this guy his first chance to become World Champion. The guy who he will face at SummerSlam is none other than (then we get a drum roll) Ricardo Rodriguez. They show Ricardo’s pic on the Tron. Then out comes Vickie. She feels like Del Rio is trying to disrespect her. When Cena picked his opponent he picked Daniel, a guy who is a worthy competitor, while Del Rio chose Ricardo. Vickie then says that Ricardo is like some jiggly little man child. Vickie expected so much more from Del Rio. Del Rio tells Vickie not to be mad at him; he wasn’t trying to disrespect her. If she doesn’t like Ricardo to be his opponent than he can pick another guy. He says what about…then the fans chant RVD. Then Del Rio says what about the Brooklyn Brawler? Vickie shoots that down & says that the guy who made her GM & the guy who is the chairman of the board, Vince wouldn’t have liked Del Rio’s decision either. Vickie anticipated that Del Rio would make a very immature decision. So Vickie says that at SummerSlam Del Rio will defend the World Title against the winner of tonight’s triple threat match. The 3 guys that she has picked are RVD. His music plays & he comes out. The second guy Vickie picked is Christian. Cue his music & he comes out on the stage too. The third guy is Randy Orton (I don’t know why since he has the MITB case for a WWE Title match). Cue his music & he also comes out. This was a decent opening segment but it was the usual “start the show off with a promo & announce the show’s main event match” that Smackdown usually starts out with. Time for a video package recapping the Cody Rhodes-Damien Sandow saga from last week. Jack Swagger & Zeb Coulter are in the ring. Then out comes Cody Rhodes. Zeb then gets the mic (does he have to speak every time?). He says the Texan fans call themselves Americans Shame on the fans at what he saw outside the building today. There are hundreds of people out there. Then Cody thankfully snatches the mic & hits Swagger with it. Finally someone stopped Zeb from going on 1 of his rants. Cody Rhodes vs. Jack Swagger. Cody gets the pin. This was a decent but short match. Backstage Josh Mathews interviews Cody Rhodes. Josh congratulates Cody on his win. Then Josh says that he wants to talk about what happened last week. Cody through Sandow’s MITB case into the water. Josh asks Cody why? Cody says let’s go back to MITB. There were 6 guys in that match & like Damien said it was everyman for himself. Cody doesn’t blame Damien from preventing him from getting the case. Cody would’ve done that too. That doesn’t mean that was fed up with Damien. Cody doesn’t like someone thinks they’re better than he is. He doesn’t like people who talk down to him or to anybody. Cody had heard & seen enough of Sandow’s arrogance & calling himself an intellectual aristocrat. Cody then says that apologies are in order. Cody throwing Sandow’s case into the water is the equivalent of the deep water horizon oil spill. That’s a joke. Then Cody says that he was part of Team Rhodes Scholars but contrary to what Damien thinks the best part about that was Rhodes. Josh then says that it is now inevitable that in the future…Then Sandow comes in & attacks Cody from behind. He pounds on Cody as referees & agents (1 of them was Mike Rotunda) come in to pull Sandow off Cody. This was a solid backstage segment. It looks we’ll be getting Cody vs. Sandow at SummerSlam. Sin Cara vs. Big E Langston. Big E gets the pin. This was mostly a squash. Cara got in a bit of offense but Big E was in control for most of this. They also showed Dolph watching backstage. I really wish to God that they would do away with the Sin Cara lighting during his matches. That’s gotten old. Time for a Wyatt family video. Backstage Renee Young interviews Kaitlyn. Layla is there too. She has to support her friend. Renee then mentions that after Kaitlyn lost to AJ twice what is Kaitlyn’s strategy for tonight’s title match? Kaitlyn says that she let AJ mess with her head & mentions the old fool me once, fool me twice saying. But she says fool her twice & you’re gonna get speared. This time Kaitlyn is ready. Everyone knows that she was born & raised right here in Huston, TX. The arena that there is actually very close to her heart. This is where she won the Divas title for the very first time. Tonight history repeats itself. Then Layla says that she has been the division a very long time. She has seen Divas come & go & she has never seen anyone with the determination that Kaitlyn has. Kaitlyn’s the real deal. Kaitlyn thanks Layla, they hug & Layla wishes Kaitlyn good luck. This was kinda weak. Kaitlyn’s promo was a bit off & Layla “supporting” Kaitlyn & saying how determined she is will lead to a very predictable Layla turn. In the GM office we see Del Rio & Vickie. Vickie has been GM for 2 weeks, she wasn’t born yesterday. Del Rio asks what kind of GM Vickie is. Vickie went back on her word. She said that he could choose anybody to be his opponent. Vickie then says that picking Ricardo & Brooklyn Brawler was immature. Then Vickie asks Del Rio if he is afraid of a little competition. Del Rio is not afraid of any guy who walks the face of the Earth. He is the greatest world champion of all time. This is not the way Vickie is supposed to treat the champion. Then in comes Brad Maddox. Vickie tells him that he is interrupting her & Del Rio. Brad says that he thought Vickie made the right decision tonight. Del Rio asks Brad who he thinks he is. Brad is the Raw GM & Del Rio will be under his authority this Monday. Del Rio glares at both of them & then leaves. This was weird. CM Punk vs. Fandango. Punk wins by submission. This was a good back & forth match. Backstage Renee Young interviews Rob Van Dam. Renee says that Rob has been gone from WWE for several years but he is back now & he has the chance to become the number 1 contender for the world title. How does he feel? RVD feels fantastic. Staying on top of his game has had him ready for anything & that includes Christian or Randy Orton. Neither guy is a push over but they’re not Rob Van…Then Christian comes in & tells RVD that it’s good to see him. It’s been awhile. Christian then says that since RVD has been gone things have changed & some things haven’t. Everybody knows that Captain Charisma deserves 1 more…than Randy Orton comes in & finishes Christian’s saying with the word loss. Orton then says that just because he has the briefcase right now doesn’t mean that he will be complacent. Maybe Orton will end up being both WWE & World Champion at the same time. He has a little surprise for RVD. A welcome back gift. That will happen tonight & it will come in the form of an RKO. RVD then says that this is his interview. He didn’t just come back to WWE for a stroll down memory lane. Just like everyone else RVD wants the gold. There will be 1 winner tonight& you’re looking at him. RVD. Renee leaves as the 3 guys bicker. This was a good backstage promo. Kaitlyn vs. Divas Champion AJ Lee for the Title. AJ wins by submission. This was solid match but kinda short. Kaitlyn & AJ were outside the ring, Kaitlyn was going after AJ but Layla stopped Kaitlyn. Then they got back in the ring & AJ locked on the octopus submission for the win. Afterwards Layla & AJ both skip the ramp. They pose on the ramp & hug while Kaitlyn watches in disbelief. Time for a look back at the Cena-Daniel storyline & the Cena-Ryback tables match. Christian, RVD & Randy Orton come to the ring for their match. Then out comes Del Rio. He says we have the 3 stooges in the ring. He wants to let them know that he will be backstage watching & enjoying how the 3 of them will beat the guacamole out of each other. Del Rios knows that Vickie rejected the opponent that he had in mind for SummerSlam but even Ricardo can beat any of them. He tells them to be careful what they wish for because at SummerSlam 1 of them will tap out to the World Champion, Alberto Del Rio. Christian vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Randy Orton to determine the number 1 contender to the World Title. Christian wins when he pins RVD. Orton gave RVD an RKO. Then he was going to give 1 to Christian but Christian countered in into backslide & got the win. This was a really good back & forth match. Afterwards Orton & Christian look at each other & then they shake hands. Then RVD gets up & he shakes Christian’s hand too. Then Josh Mathews gets in the ring & congratulates Christian on winning & becoming the number 1 contender for the World Title. How does Christian feel? Christian says that he is kinda hurting right now. Then Del Rio gets in the ring & hits Christian from behind. Then while Christian is on his knees Del Rio kicks him in the head. Then Del Rio poses over Christian to end the show. I thought this was a good show for the most part. The opening segment with Del Rio & Vickie was solid & the 3 way main event was really good. Del Rio’s promo just before the match was decent too. The Kaitlyn-Layla interview was weak. Kaitlyn seemed way off & you can tell that Layla was gonna turn on Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn & AJ had a solid match but it was a bit short. I also had a feeling that Layla would turn heel. The RVD-Christian-Randy Orton backstage interview was also good. All 3 guys cut good promos. CM Punk & Fandango had a good back & forth match also. The Del Rio-Vickie-Brad segment was kinda weird I thought. I’m not sure what the point of Brad telling Del Rio that he will be under Brad’s authority Monday since most guys are on both shows anyway. Cody-Swagger was solid to. Cody’s backstage interview that turned into Sandow beating him down was also well done. Sin Cara-Big E was mostly a squash. Cara got in some offense towards the end but Big E dominated most of this. Overall I thought this was a good show.