Friday, October 30, 2015

Halloween Smackdown Review

I haven't really been paying attention to Smackdown much lately. As noted, it's pretty irrelevant but can sometimes be fun. The Halloween episodes are normally the latter, so I'm giving it a shot. Bray Wyatt opens things backstage, with both Undertaker's hat and Kane's mask, issuing a challenge to any three men to face Braun Stroman, Erick Rowan and Luke Harper tonight. Cutting to the arena, Roman Reigns is out and talks about Seth Rollins and being the number one contender. This brings out Kevin Owens, who claims that Reigns got lucky on Raw because he was a split second away from winning. Reigns goads Owens into a match and that is our opening contest. I would like to see these two get an actual program down the line, so I was happy to see this not get a clean finish. Owens was knocked outside and walked away, citing that he didn't need this.

Backstage, Renee Young is dressed as a green fairy and looks pretty fucking incredible. She interviews Dean Ambrose, who takes Bray Wyatt's challenge from earlier tonight and wonders who will join him later in ghostbusting. That Ambrose guy is kind of funny. Bo Dallas is funnier though, appearing in a sheet to scare Renee after. It fails but he wants her to Boo-lieve and calls himself Boo Dallas tonight. New Day comes out with unicorn headbands and cut a promo. It's hilarious to hear Kofi say that things are serious while he has the horn on his head. They are on commentary for a Tag Team Terror Four Corners match between the Ascension, the Dudley Boyz, the Lucha Dragons and Sheamus and Wade Barrett. The match itself was pretty fun but made a million times better by Kofi Kingston and Big E on commentary. They are hysterical and just continue to be such a joy to watch. The Lucha Dragons surprisingly pick up the win. Hopefully this leads to New Day vs. the Lucha Dragons, which will be refreshing after the Dudleys program. Backstage, Ambrose is walking around and sees Cesaro, asking if he's Lex Luthor or the Transporter. Cesaro claims that is just how he normally dresses, says Ambrose is dressed as Mad Max and agrees to team up with him in the main event. Boo Dallas shows up to scare Cesaro but it fails. I boo-lieve that he will get someone tonight.

Because it is the Halloween episode, we have to get a "Trick or Treat" Street Fight. I believe it was Dean Ambrose vs. Cesaro last year, but we get Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz here. It's a relatively fun match but nothing too good. Basically, it accomplished what it had to and Ziggler picked up the victory. He doesn't get to celebrate much though because LOOK, LOOK EVERYONE. IT'S TYLER! He takes some selfies with Summer Rae before entering the ring and getting into a brawl with Ziggler. This is the most interaction they've had so far and it should lead to a pretty solid match. Tyler gets the upper hand in the end.

Moving on, we get a recap of Paige's heel turn on Raw. Not the one from a few weeks ago. The one from Monday that I think was for real this time. She faces Natalya, who is back after being attacked a few weeks ago. I guess we'll never find out whodunit. Oh wait. During the match, Team BAD comes out and Sasha Banks, in all of her perfection, is on the mic. She basically says she attacked Natalya because Nattie always wants attention. This allows Paige to win. Team BAD enters the ring after and attacks Natalya. If Sasha isn't going to be in the title picture, I'm glad she may have an actual program. Honestly though, with Survivor Series as the next PPV, I get the feeling it will all just lead to a multi-team tag match of sorts.

Backstage, Ryback agrees to be the partner of Cesaro and Dean Ambrose in the main event. Alberto Del Rio and Zeb Colter come to the stage and say that they are now united. A real American and a real Mexican are together as hard working individuals and promise to make the title represent their new nation, MEXAMERICA! Del Rio then proceeds to defeat R-Truth in short fashion. Boo Dallas tries again in the back but Mark Henry isn't scared and just knocks him out. Poor Boo. Time for the main event, which is the big six man tag. It's a fun brawl and once again, Cesaro is pretty incredible throughout. Even if he isn't always winning, he's almost always entertaining. He eats the pin here following a distraction and the Wyatt Family wins. Overall, a fun episode of Smackdown. Some things were better than others and none of the matches were great, but this was solid. 7/10.