Disclaimer: The views of TDF in no way those of The Wrestling Mania, the content also contains language that is inappropriate for children or people who are easily offended.
Article is a little late this week because I actually attended the Smackdown taping this week in Manchester. My buddy (not Adam) scored some tickets and said I didn’t have to pay him so there was no way I couldn’t go. I did leave before the dark match main event though. As a result I decided to watch Smackdown to see if what I thought was going down in the crowd transferred to the taping. I’ve always hated that terrible canned cheer shit they transfer over in the normal crowd but the Mancfester crowd was red hot. Anyway we’ll get to Smackdown when we’ve gone through Raw. Then Main Event.
Raw 11/11/13
- Raw started with a Randy Orton promo which did nothing other than cue the replacement authority speech which was real dull. Why does nobody know who’s in charge? In what workplace in the world does that happen?
- A night of handicap matches. What on earth is the point of that? Why is bad guy Randy Orton wrestling 2 good guys? Don’t the Rhodes’ have any integrity
- Damn I hate it when the ref counts on a countout it’s like a big neon sign that says ‘THIS IS THE FINISH’
- Other than those complaints it was a decent start to the show. Almost enjoyed it. Can’t beat a half decent table break.
- I like Santino. He amuses me.
- I don’t like 3MB/Union Jacks. They do not amuse me.
- Randy backstage is holding his injured arm but is remarkably lucid moments after going through the table. Sell that bitch.
- Old Trafford! Yeah! Man U soccer reds beat The Arsenal. JBL loves RVP.
- Sandow is already in the ring which means he’s no good. Yet he picks up the win. Hopefully he gets a bit of a push to make up for him not being able to hurt John Cena.
- Axel and Ziggles but on a decent match. I like the IC champ winning a match and winning clean but I feel for Ziggler. That guy must be so depressed. I mean like Daniel Bryan depressed.
- I’m looking forward to the Shield vs. CM Bryan. A lot.
- WWWYKI
- That divas match was fine other than whichever Bella it was wrestling clearly having her shoulder up.
- I don’t enjoy the use of some parts of this WWE app. The vote for pick your own 2K14 Advert is a pisstake.
- Design your own wrestler and we’ll show them on Smackdown! #whogivesafuck
- Manchester making Fandango a star for the day. Gutted.
- Mr Bean is over but I’ll say that I think Coulter is more of a Blackadder man than a Bean man. I think we all are really.
- I agreed with most of Zeb’s assertions about England and I’m English. I hope that doesn’t make me a racist.
- Guy dressed as Superman is over.
- I don’t get why they put Super Cena in a 2 v 1 and had him win how does it benefit anyone? It’s not like he’ll get more over. Annoying.
- Why is Big E Langston getting involved?
- JBL Needs to stop saying ‘What’s Up’ real fast or this 10-year love affair of ours will be over.
- Why is R-Truth beating Ryback? I thought they wanted Ryback to challenge Goldberg? Who will win out of the unstoppable force and the alarmingly moveable object? I think Ryback needs some time off.
- Michael Cole saying Big E Langston dreamed of becoming a bodybuilder….so why is he now a wrestler? He tapped out as well but I think that’s because he’s a body builder and doesn’t have the wrestlers mentality….or personality…
- Heyman laying the boot into Ryback seemed a bit harsh.
- Big ass pop for CM Punk who came out and knocked a cripple out of his wheelchair. The actions of a good guy if I’ve ever seen one.
- Daniel Bryan is everyone’s favourite. He should be WWE Champion. Rinse and repeat.
- A really good Main Event and the showdown between the Wyatt’s and Shield was really rather excellent. Exciting futures for everyone.
Even without the WWE title it’s almost like Bryan is still the guy everyone wants to see and the one the best bits of the show revolve around. Who knew?
Main Event 13/11/13
Ah the joys of a TV taping. You get to see all the stuff in the week you don’t watch that gets filmed before it. Like Brad Maddox vs. El Locale.
- Main Event kicked off with Natalya vs. AJ Lee. I enjoyed this but I was optimistically gearing up for the night ahead. My friend, DMK, was quite into AJ and was seriously regretting his involvement with Movember when it became abundantly obvious, if we bumped into her on the streets of town, that she would go for my fuzzy boyish charms over his serial sex offender look.
- I think they’re both good workers and put on a decent ‘Main Event’ level match. I didn’t get the whole Natalya crying that she wouldn’t get another chance, there’s like 8 women on the roster I’m sure her time will come again.
- Tyson Kidd v Justin Gabriel was a good match with talented workers. Tyson Kidd’s push lasted a whole week. Awesome.
- Union Jacks vs. Prime Time Players was good because it certainly seems to me that the PTP are a bit of a guilty pleasure. Not to suggest they’re bad workers but it’s a silly gimmick we all quite enjoy. Plus they dwarf TMW Co-Owner Mike ‘Gobbledy Gooker’ Owen to a point of much amusement.
- Big surprise the Union Jacks got the win. They suck balls. Oh and R-Truth was at ringside.
SmackDown 15/11/13
- JBL was over and was the only time I myself, in my role as studious reporter, stood up cheered, clapped and immersed myself in the WWE Universe. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it so much that my cheeks immediately clenched and I went back to being quiet and boring.
- Show started with the Wyatt’s and the crowd was really into it, maybe not like they were over the confrontation with the Shield on Raw but still into it.
- Crowd was well into the Usos also and I think it supported a good match and a strong start to the real show.
- Natalya vs Tamina Snuka wasn’t bad but I think it takes the piss that paying people are seeing Natalya wrestle twice. Good win though it lacked crowd interaction because we’d seen all 3 parties involved already.
- Now R-Truth and Prime Time players going up against Union Jacks really pissed me off. I like the PTP but it’s the same people from before. In an hour the paying audience had to watch 5 people wrestle twice.
- Del Rio got a fair few boos but nothing compared to what Cena got. Cena was jeered so badly I actually felt sorry for him which is an entirely new emotion for me. The weird thing for me was that while all the kids were obviously buzzed up at seeing him the men in the crowd were furious and extremely vocal of their disapproval to a point where I thought they were about to start punching children.
- When I watched the Cena segment on Friday night the crowd seemed quite quiet and I’d even say that there was that canned cheering thrown in with it. Poor.
- Funkadactyls v The Bellas. Ain’t nobody arsed.
- Another handicap match? Khali? Why? Can anyone explain that?
- Daniel Bryan is super over. As is Punk and even the Wyatt’s. It was a good main event if not a little weird that Ryback and Axel were still teaming after Raw…
- I liked the finish with Bryan and Punk knowing the score and sneak attacking the sneak attackers. I also liked how the Wyatt’s put the boot in on Ryback and Axel.
Good show. Better in person than at home. Who knew?
– By TDF
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