Smackdown 8/1/14 results

[Rogue]

WWE taped the August 1, 2014 WWE SmackDown episode from the America Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas. Here are the Smackdown spoilers:​

Dark Matches

* Adam Rose defeated Damien Sandow. Sandow came out dressed as Rose and got heel heat by making fun of Texas.

* Stardust and Goldust defeated Big E and Kofi Kingston with Xavier Woods at ringside.

WWE SmackDown

* Jack Swagger vs. Cesaro kicks off SmackDown. Swagger wins with the Patriot Lock. Rusev and Lana come out after the match for a promo. Zeb responds and the challenge is accepted. Swagger vs. Rusev is on for SummerSlam.

* Randy Orton comes out and cuts a promo on Roman Reigns. He challenges Reigns to a match at SummerSlam.

* Kane and Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose in a handicap match is announced for later.

* R-Truth beat Bo Dallas by disqualification when Bo wouldn’t break at the 5 count. Bo beat Truth down after the bell and cut a promo.

* AJ Lee squashes Rosa Mendes by submission. Paige attacks AJ at the top of the ramp and lays her out. Officials check on AJ as Paige skips away.

* Kane and Seth Rollins beat Dean Ambrose by DQ when Ambrose hit Kane with a steel chair. Rollins runs away as Ambrose hits Kane a few more times.

* We see AJ Lee being taken away on a stretcher with a neck brace on.

* Fandango vs. Diego with Summer Rae and Layla is next. Diego gets the win when the Divas distract Fandango.

* Dolph Ziggler vs. Alberto Del Rio with The Miz on commentary is next. Miz interrupts the match by standing on the announce table and mocks Ziggler. Ziggler goes after him but Miz gets away. Del Rio takes advantage and hits the cross armbreaker on Ziggler for the win.

* Erick Rowan vs. Chris Jericho is the main event. If Jericho wins, Rowan is banned from ringside at SummerSlam. The referee sends Luke Harper to the back and Jericho wins with the Codebreaker. Bray Wyatt attacked Jericho but that may have been part of the dark main event, we’re not sure yet.


Source: PWMania

 

[Roadster]

Yeah, Making Cesaro job out to every mother fucker in the WWE is a real way of building him as the future.

 

[ShaRpY HaRdY]

Rose vs. Sandow is a complete joke, Sandow would clearly win that if booked properly..
Swagger over Cesaro; Awesome way to kill Cesaro's push..
The WWE is fucking up entirely.

 

[Red Rain]

I could see Cesaro's stock resurrected once WWE makes it clear he's going to challenge Triple H or Lesnar at WrestleMania.
Once that feud starts, he won't be losing cleanly. Once either of those two puts over Cesaro he will be made in the eyes of the fans.
I don't expect this to take place until December/January if they really have any faith in him.

R-Truth must be getting rewarded for paying his dues. His career may be winding down.

AJ/Paige are getting a hot angle. I'm not surprised. You can expect much more of this from the Steph/HHH regime

It seems every time I see Ziggs lose a match its because some tool stands on the announce table and distracts him. Really dull if teh fans buy all that.

I find it peculiar that Orton would challenge Reigns. That's generally babyface behavior. Orton has something to prove but heels challenging faces is backward. WWE may be testing the waters to see if the fans want to see babyface Orton again.

 

[The GOAT]

Who would have thought four months ago when Cesaro was over and coming off a big victory at Wrestlemania that by the middle of Summer he'd be a heel jobbing to a babyface Jack Swagger? I know the excuses you can make for the booking - Cesaro doesn't really have much going on and Swagger could use the momentum going into his match with Rusev, it's easy to recuperate him after a string of losses, etc. - but still.

 

[Just Kevin]

I find it peculiar that Orton would challenge Reigns. That's generally babyface behavior. Orton has something to prove but heels challenging faces is backward. WWE may be testing the waters to see if the fans want to see babyface Orton again.

It actually fits the story line.. HHH said as long as Reigns is around you get no more title shots. Common sense says if he wants a title shot ever again he challenges Reigns and tries to take him out. Orton was more aggressive on RAW than he's been in years.. and this just fits that.. taking the initiative and challenging instead of sitting back and waiting for Reigns to come at him. I like it.

 

[Red Rain]

I see where you're driving at, but its still endearing behavior. Orton is taking the fighters away out and not cowaring under the pressure. HHH is planting seeds of a baby face run even if he doesn't realize it. This gives WWE an out clause once the Authority angle fizzles out. Six months down the line, I'm willing to bet Often is face again.

It actually fits the story line.. HHH said as long as Reigns is around you get no more title shots. Common sense says if he wants a title shot ever again he challenges Reigns and tries to take him out. Orton was more aggressive on RAW than he's been in years.. and this just fits that.. taking the initiative and challenging instead of sitting back and waiting for Reigns to come at him. I like it.

As for Cesaro/Swagger, wrestling is fickle. I barely made the connection that it was Swagger he lost to. That is rock bottom, isn't it?

 

[Stopspot]

As for Cesaro/Swagger, wrestling is fickle. I barely made the connection that it was Swagger he lost to. That is rock bottom, isn't it?

Have you missed that Swagger has risen in status for the last month and a half or something?

 

[Red Rain]

Not at all, simply pointing him Cesaro coming full circle to the man who was originally designated to put him over.
I wasn't, in any way, demeaning Swagger's placement on the roster. It wasn't my intent for that to come across.

 

[Butters!]

The AJ And Paige storyline is getting pretty exciting!

 

[The GOAT]

I see where you're driving at, but its still endearing behavior. Orton is taking the fighters away out and not cowaring under the pressure. HHH is planting seeds of a baby face run even if he doesn't realize it. This gives WWE an out clause once the Authority angle fizzles out. Six months down the line, I'm willing to bet Often is face again.

It's not like a heel has never been the one to issue the challenge against a babyface before. Although I would much prefer if Orton DID become a babyface again. He's ran his course as a heel imo and being the indifferent badass that he was from 2010-2013 is the character that I feel he needs to go back to. I'd love to to see him feud with Brock Lesnar and Bray Wyatt, both of which will only be made possible when one of those three makes a face turn and Orton has a better chance of doing so before the other two do.

Just have him lose to Reigns at Summerslam, having a big falling out with Kane (the two of them fail to win the Tag Team Championships from the Usos at Night Of Champions thanks to Kane taking the pinfall, let's say) and then have him walk out on The Authority afterwards. Between not getting his one-on-one WWE Title rematch that he feels he's owed, his inability to get along with Kane and Hunter starting to favor Brock Lesnar as champion and Seth Rollins as the future "chosen one", he just decides to say fuck it and leave, ala Batista. Bring him back in a few months down the road (maybe right around the Royal Rumble) and see how excited people are to see him again, especially if he makes it clear upon returning that he wants nothing to do with The Authority anymore.

 

[Red Rain]

It's not like a heel has never been the one to issue the challenge against a babyface before. Although I would much prefer if Orton DID become a babyface again. He's ran his course as a heel imo and being the indifferent badass that he was from 2010-2013 is the character that I feel he needs to go back to. I'd love to to see him feud with Brock Lesnar and Bray Wyatt, both of which will only be made possible when one of those three makes a face turn and Orton has a better chance of doing so before the other two do.

Just have him lose to Reigns at Summerslam, having a big falling out with Kane (the two of them fail to win the Tag Team Championships from the Usos at Night Of Champions thanks to Kane taking the pinfall, let's say) and then have him walk out on The Authority afterwards. Between not getting his one-on-one WWE Title rematch that he feels he's owed, his inability to get along with Kane and Hunter starting to favor Brock Lesnar as champion and Seth Rollins as the future "chosen one", he just decides to say fuck it and leave, ala Batista. Bring him back in a few months down the road (maybe right around the Royal Rumble) and see how excited people are to see him again, especially if he makes it clear upon returning that he wants nothing to do with The Authority anymore.

I can't recall a heel issuing a challenge to a babyface before. My memory fails me in that regard.
Before long, Orton will be getting respect pops that guys like Edge and HHH were getting not too long ago.
It's conventional wisdom that if you pay your dues, fans will respect that and not really want to boo you.
The way things are going, I don't believe Orton will have to walk out on the Authority, but I do believe they will take him out.
Either Lesnar, Rollins (with Lesnar's help) or a returning Batista will be paid to take Orton out.

The writing is on the wall. As easy as it is to be a heel, Orton just doesn't have the pipes or the will to get it done anymore.

 

[The GOAT]

I can't recall a heel issuing a challenge to a babyface before. My memory fails me in that regard.
Before long, Orton will be getting respect pops that guys like Edge and HHH were getting not too long ago.
It's conventional wisdom that if you pay your dues, fans will respect that and not really want to boo you.
The way things are going, I don't believe Orton will have to walk out on the Authority, but I do believe they will take him out.
Either Lesnar, Rollins (with Lesnar's help) or a returning Batista will be paid to take Orton out.

The writing is on the wall. As easy as it is to be a heel, Orton just doesn't have the pipes or the will to get it done anymore.

My memory fails me at the moment, but I do recall Undertaker making the challenge towards Austin for the WWF Championship at Fully Loaded 1999. And that was a pretty pivotal match too, being that it was originally intended as the official "end" of the Austin vs McMahon saga (and it technically kinda was.)

And about Orton; You're right, Orton will probably be taken out by The Authority rather than just walk out on his own. I vote for Brock Lesnar doing it since it would further showcase him in his role as The Authority's paid mercenary (plus it could plant the seeds for Orton vs Lesnar later on), complete with Seth Rollins, Triple H and perhaps even Stephanie standing over Orton's corpse afterwards (there'd be a lot of symbolism to that one... Rollins being Hunter's new "appointed one" and all.)

 

[Red Rain]

My memory fails me at the moment, but I do recall Undertaker making the challenge towards Austin for the WWF Championship at Fully Loaded 1999. And that was a pretty pivotal match too, being that it was originally intended as the official "end" of the Austin vs McMahon saga (and it technically kinda was.)

And about Orton; You're right, Orton will probably be taken out by The Authority rather than just walk out on his own. I vote for Brock Lesnar doing it since it would further showcase him in his role as The Authority's paid mercenary (plus it could plant the seeds for Orton vs Lesnar later on), complete with Seth Rollins, Triple H and perhaps even Stephanie standing over Orton's corpse afterwards (there'd be a lot of symbolism to that one... Rollins being Hunter's new "appointed one" and all.)

If I had to group them in order: 1) Lesnar 2) Batista 3) Rollins
I'm not ready to believe Rollins could take Orton out on his own yet, nor am I ready to see him do it in a feud. If I were ready for it to take place, it wouldn't be before Batista or Lesnar

I enjoy heel Batista and have yet to see Orton and Batista feud in this dynamic. It won't be great, but Batista is too ridiculous to doubt. It's one feud that COULD motivate Orton. It would be a miracle, but it would be interesting to see if his old stable mate (who, at one point, surpassed him) could light a fire under him. The idea being that, though Batista is owed a title shot, HHH cannot trust Batista to stay with the plan. Therefore, Batista has to go through Orton first.

If one isn't motivated for a Lesnar arc, than they should find other work. This would be a Great match. It wouldn't go further than one, but one would suffice to get sympy from the Universe.

 

[Red Rain]

@Lockard23

I just remembered. HHH challenged Batista to a Hell in a Cell match out of desperation in June 2005. He'd lost twice in a row and lost that third time before taking time off. He returned to a hero's welcome in Oct. 05 only to turn on Ric Flair.

I wanted to own it. As HHH challenged Batista, he was nearing the end of his heel run, which kind of supports my theory.

Nonetheless, a heel HHH did challenge a face Batista in June 05