SmackDown Review: Daniel Bryan Proves Himself - Again

By Chris Featherstone

The latest episode of SmackDown focused on Daniel Bryan's quest to gain revenge for the recent villainous turn of both Triple H and Randy Orton, at Bryan's expense. Apparently, no one in authority is an advocate of Bryan, as he was scheduled to face Wade Barrett in a steel cage match, courtesy of SmackDown GM Vickie Guerrero.

Curtis Axel vs. Cody Rhodes was not a good idea. I understand that pushing Axel to make him a suitable opponent for CM Punk (especially since he challenged him to a match on Raw) is the purpose, but it should not be at the expense of Rhodes. Rhodes has the potential to be one of the top babyfaces in the WWE, and has the crowd behind him as he commissions himself to make Damien Sandow's Money in the Bank win regrettable. After defeating Sandow multiple times and gaining momentum, he simply loses to Axel with no back story. Bad booking.


Dolph Ziggler vs. Big E. Langston was hopefully the last match that we see involving those two together in a very long time. They both have been affiliated with each other since Langston's debut last December, and eight months later?although now adversaries?are still linked together. Hopefully we see Ziggler further his feud with The Shield, and Langston... well, who knows?

Alberto Del Rio vs. Christian was a good match just like the rest of them, but a bit of an overkill. The match did not help Christian ascend in the rankings at all, and his saving grace was dropkicking ADR after the match, which may lead to a triple threat match at Night of Champions. Or?on the other hand?it may simply make Christian wallow in the midcard. As far as RVD, putting him in the world title picture helps Del Rio, because more than likely RVD is going to put him over.


By the way?Bill Alfonso is quite disgusted right now.

Mark Henry/Big Show vs. 3MB was actually not a bad match. More surprisingly, Henry and Show looks like a formidable tag team, and work well off of each other. They have convinced me that a match between them and The Shield actually would not be so bad.

In fact, I would be fine if they won the tag titles, Harper and Rowan defeat the Usos in a No. 1 contenders match, which commences a feud between Henry/Show and the Wyatt family. This would put the titles on the forefront where they deserve.

Darren Young vs. Antonio Cesaro is hopefully a part of a string of single and tag team matches between the Prime Time Players and the Real Americans. PTP was in need of a face turn, because them as heels just was not cutting the mustard. Both teams help in the much-needed revival of the tag division.

Daniel Bryan vs. Wade Barrett was a good match. I also really like that Bryan has incorporated the Hagakure/Busaiku Knee Kick in his WWE Arsenal. Even with his string of losses, Barrett is still involved in the storyline in an indirect capacity, which is the best he can say he has been in quite a while. Randy Orton's RKO post-match made sense, seeing how the quest is for Bryan to overcome all odds. Given the proper time, this can be one of the best storylines in recent WWE history.

Sound off with your SmackDown thoughts below.

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