Commentators: Scott Stanford, John Matthews & Matt Striker
Championship’s roll call: WWE Champion: CM Punk… World Champion: Sheamus… Intercontinental Champion: The Miz… United States Champion: Santino Marella… Tag Team Champions: Kofi Kingston & R-Truth… Diva’s Champion: Layla
The Usos vs. Michael McGillicutty & Johnny Curtis: I still like the Usos entrance; also changing over from the shorts to the boxers was also a good thing, less generic. Curtis has changes his hairstyle a little. Jey Uso and Curtis start; Jey steamrolls him with a shoulderblock. Jimmy tags in and comes off the top with a sledge; they quick tag in and out and eventually hit tandem elbow drops. McGillicutty runs in to attack but gets wiped; Curtis gets entangled in an armlock. Jimmy has some new ink on his arm, it’s a traditional tribal Samoan tattoo much like The Rock, but it’s a sleeve. It also helps to differentiate the Usos better. Jey tags in and they work over Curtis until he comes back with a Cement Mixer and tags in McGillicutty. McGillicutty works Jey over in the corner with a wide array of stomps; Curtis reenters and stands on Jey’s throat. He slams him but misses a knee drop. Jimmy tags in and hits some tattooed arm clotheslines and a reverse elbow, for two. He nails a head-butt but gets embroiled with McGillicutty on the apron, which allows Curtis to clothesline him to the floor. Back from break, McGillicutty has Jimmy in a chinlock. Apparently, Triple H sees something in McGillicutty, unfortunately, all I’ve seen is chinlocks… although his work on NXT the past few weeks has been quite good, actually; I guess the removal of the shackles on the WWE can do wonderful things for some people.
He taunts Jey on the apron, Gibsoning him into the ring, allowing some more Mortoning in the heel corner. McGillicutty dropkicks him to the floor where Curtis adds some more punishment. Johnny tags in and they hit a tandem Manhattan drop into a clothesline and Curtis gets two. Curtis and his Justin Gabriel haircut maintains the advantage with a clothesline; McGillicutty tags back for more chinlocks. Jimmy breaks the hold with a stunner. Jimmy crawls but Curtis runs in to knock Jey off the apron but eats an uppercut. The match briefly breaks apart but the referee manages to get control back rather quickly and Jimmy gets the short end of the stick and McGillicutty gets a nearfall. Curtis comes in but gives up the lead and Jey gets the tag; he runs over McGillicutty with clotheslines and a superkick. A flying reverse elbow sets up the Samoan Avalanche and a powerslam on Curtis. Jey hits a Samoan Drop and Jimmy tags in for the Samoan Splash off the top for the three. 6/10 Entertaining tag match as he Usos pick up a win as they deserve a push since their initial heel push back in forever ago. Despite McGillicutty’s obsession with chinlock, Curtis kept it interesting with his in-ring antics, this match was quite fun.
Here are your winners… The Usos @ about 12:00 via Samoan Splash pinfall.
Alex Riley vs. Drew McIntyre: Here’s another guy Triple H is big on… but it’s not Riley. McIntyre is okay but has long spells of tedium in the ring, good entrance music though. Drew has a cast on his left hand because of a fracture in his metacarpal. This is interesting because someone has to get a win here. Perhaps McIntyre took a John Cena hazing the wrong way and Riley can get a win. They try to lock up but McIntyre sells the broken wrist. Drew complains about his arm… and SUCKERS Riley into a false sense of security with a big time running boot. McIntyre takes over, mauling Riley in the corner, and follows up with a whiplash snap-suplex. Drew to the armbar and segues into a STEP OVER armbar. Riley tries to mount a comeback, snagging a rollup for two, but McIntyre clotheslines him out of his boots. He tries a chinlock but Riley grabs his arm and Judo tosses him; Drew angrily sells the arm (although it could be real) and charges into an elbow in the corner. Riley BUILDS MOMENTUM with clotheslines and a spinebuster. Drew reverses a corner whip but charges into a boot; Riley heads up top for a diving Hart attack clothesline, apparently now called the A-Bomb. I thought the A-Bomb was that forward DDT out of the corner Riley does; I guess I’m the only one who notices (or cares about) stuff like this. The A-bomb II gets two and McIntyre nails a running clothesline; he slams Riley but misses a second-rope legdrop. Riley hits the Final Score… and gets three! 5/10 Two in a row for Riley, I guess they have FINALLY noticed crowds like Riley, or Cena is finally over his little backstage incident. Whatever. Riley gets a win and perhaps they will push him again; I’m still amazed that he has remained as over as he has considering he’s won three matches in 2012… and it’s August.
Here is your winner… Alex Riley @ about 8:20 via Final Score pinfall.
The Raw rebound is the “Perfect Storm” involving Brock Lesnar and Triple H. For my full review on that show, click here.
Justin Gabriel vs. Damien Sandow: They lock up and Gabriel works a headlock and hammerlock; the wrestle a little and Gabriel works the arm. Sandow retreats to the ropes and yells a lot. He works a chinlock but Gabriel head scissors him; Sandow with a nice nip-up to escape. Gabriel works the arm some more until Sandow frees himself… and gets dropkicked twice. Gabriel heads up but Sandow intelligently rolls to the floor to break momentum; Gabriel hits a rolling senton off the apron. Back from break, Gabriel is still working over the arm with a keylock. Damien momentums Gabriel onto the apron but Justin slides through his legs and hits an STO. Gabriel to the top again but once again the clever Sandow runs to the floor. Gabriel tries a baseball slide but Sandow ducks and rams Gabriel’s midsection into the ring apron a few times. He stomps him and LOWERS THE KNEEPAD and drops a knee. Matt Striker’s over analysis on Sandow’s intelligence in the ring is almost as bad as Jerry Lawler’s “he’s just BORROWING his car,” referring to Sheamus’ GTA from Raw a few weeks ago. Sandow locks in an inverted abs stretch; Gabriel sneaks in a jackknife cradle for two. Sandow aggressively takes back over in the corner and then hits the Russian leg sweep; the Cubito Aequet follows, for two. Sandow misses a splash in the corner and Gabriel creates space with kicks. He nails a roundhouse kick and springboard crossbody, for two. Justin sneaks in a reverse rollup which nets two. Sandow goes to Gabriel’s gut and tries to slam him but Justin wriggles free into an Eye of the Hurricane; Gabriel hits a top-rope Lionsault, for two. He hits a running boot and scales he ropes; Sandow bounces off the ropes and crotches Gabriel. The Illumination follows for the three (complete with The Thinker pinfall). 6.5/10 Good main event this week; Sandow was clearly going over and Gabriel lasted A LOT longer that poor Christian did on Raw. I like the way they are pushing Sandow, which is the opposite of all of the other intelligent heels, instead of a chicken shit heel, he is really aggressive and WINS matches convincingly and this is why people like him and why he is over; he plays the character well too.
Here is your winner… Damien Sandow @ about 11:45 (broadcast) via Illumination pinfall.
OVERALL 6/10 Good show this week with three entertaining matches on the card. Sandow makes an appearance, which is okay. The Usos and Alex Riley, the über-jobbers of 2012 all got wins.
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