This Chaos Column is a recap of the WWE’s Smackdown TV Taping at the Valley View Casino Center in San Diego on July 17th 2012. Most of the northern end of the Valley View Casino Center in San Diego were curtained off. Only the southern end of the upper level, facing the TV cameras were open for the wrestling fans. Otherwise, a great atmosphere. Tony Chiimel did the ring announcing for the early dark matches & the Superstars matches, then let Lillian Garcia do her thing for the Smackdown taping.
EARLY DARK MATCHES
* Brodus Clay (w/ Funkadactyls Cameron & Naomi) squashed some unknown jobber, and I have no clue who it was because he was never introduced, and I couldn’t catch the wording on the back of his trunks. Brodus hit the running splash for the pin, and a few of the kids were brought into the ring to celebrate w/ Brodus & the Funkadactyls.
* Cody Rhodes p. Tyson Kidd w/ the Beautiful Disaster.
SUPERSTARS TAPING FOR THE 7/19/12 EPISODE
* 2nd match to air: Jey & Jimmy Uso def. Johnny Curtis & Derrick Bateman when the Usos teamed up to hit a Samoan Drop, then a Snuka Splash on Derrick Bateman for the pin.
* The week’s main event: Sin Cara p. Drew McIntyre w/ the Tornado DDT. The lighting were in the typical Sin Cara manner.
MIDWAY DARK MATCH
U.S. Champion Santino Marella & Divas Champion Layla def. Antonio Cesaro (f.k.a. former PWG World Champion Claudio Castagnoli) & Aksana. Antonio slapped Layla late in the match, but ate Santino’s Cobra strike. Aksana later slapped Santino to stop herself from eating the next Cobra, but ate Layla’s Chick Kick, and was pinned.
SMACKDOWN FOR 7/20/12
* Great opening segment full of promos as the San Diego crowd welcomed back Rey Mysterio. Alberto Del Rio cut him off, but was cut-off himself by Dolph Ziggler in the wake of the outcome of the Money in the Bank PPV the previous Sunday. Sheamus later hit the ring, and the TV main event was pretty much set. Sheamus to Rey: “Welcome back, fellah!”
1 – Hunico, Camacho, & The Primetime Players (Titus O’Neil & Darren Young, w/ Abraham Washington) def. Tag Team Champions Kofi Kingston & R-Truth, and Primo & Epico (w/ Rosa Mendes). Titus O’Neil threw what looked like Primo right onto the waiting knees of Darren Young for a Gutbuster, leading to the pin. Big Show, though, later came out and leveled most of them with a pair of WMD’s on Truth & probably Primo, and did a double-chokeslam on Hunico & Camacho. Abraham Washington just wouldn’t shut up or turn his mic off for a minute.
2 – Damien Sandow p. Zack Ryder w/ a finishing neckbreaker. Not much to write about here, but maybe Damien Sandow should wear more manly colors for his trunks.
* “The Peep Show” is next, and Intercontinental Champion Christian brings in the “engaged” couple of Daniel Bryan & A.J.. Christian drilled the two w/ some pretty honest questions, and got a slap from the Diva in the end, but did let D.B. know that he had a match up next….against Kane.
3 – Kane got the DQ win over Daniel Bryan (w/ A.J.) when A.J. tried to put some sort of sleeper hold on Kane. A.J. & Kane had quite the….stare down afterwards, but D.B. was able to get her out of there. Oh boy, could Kane spoil the upcoming “wedding” on Raw’s 1,000th episode? Seems likely to me.
4 – Heath Slater is next, cutting a promo that he hoped that coming to Smackdown would change his luck. No avail, as WWE Legend Road Warrior Animal squashed him pretty quickly. Heath came back out in a dark segment after a backstage segment w/ Vickie Guerrero & Ricardo Rodriguez (f.k.a. “The Original” Chimaera), and cut a promo, before Triple H came out and one-shotted him w/ the Pedigree.
TV M – World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus & Rey Mysterio def. WHC MitB holder Dolph Ziggler (w/ Vickie Guerrero) & Alberto Del Rio (w/ Ricardo Rodriguez). Ricardo’s interference caused a DQ-win, but it allowed ADR to put his Cross-Armbreaker on Sheamus. Ziggy went to try and cash in his MitB contract for the World title, but got kicked to the ropes by Rey, who gave him the 619, and left him stumbling right into a Brogue Kick from Sheamus. That’s pretty much how SmackDown ends on SyFy.
Shot of the Night - WWE Smackdown - 07-17-12
D M – 2-on-1 Handicap. John Cena def. Big Show & Cody Rhodes. Cody ate Show’s WMD, allowing Cena to hit the Attitude Adjustment on Show, then pin Cody. John Laurinaitis comes along, guts Cena w/ a chair, then went for a chair shot to the back, but missed badly, leaving him open for one more AA to close it out. Not surprisingly, a few of the “Cena-Haters” threw back the tossed “Chain Gang Commander” dog tags, and one of them was sitting in the front row along Cena’s exit path.