SPOILERS - Smackdown - 12.13.13

[slik]

1 - Daniel Bryan beat Erick Rowan


2 - The Real Americans beat Goldust and Cody Rhodes


3 - Mark Henry defeated Damien Sandow


4 - AJ Lee/Tamina defeated The Bella Twins.


5 - Seth Rollins/Roman Reigns defeated The Usos.


6 - The Big Show defeated Ryback


7 - Alberto Del Rio vs Kofi Kingston went to a no contest when Miz attacked Kofi


* Randy Orton came out to apologize to Triple H. Triple H came out and accepted his apology, saying he forgave him this once. He then left and that ended the show.

[Bad News Gertner]

No good news. This show is just getting the stamp


http://i.imgur.com/w6fKz8T.png

[Mr. Nerfect]

Not going to lie, it does sound like a fairly phoned-in show. I love The Real Americans, but I don't like it when potential challengers earn title shots by beating the champions, especially when Curtis Axel & Ryback just did that recently (and never got a shot).

[Volare]

Figured the show would be based around Orton going nuts thinking Cena is taking "his spot" with The Authority.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I would have opened with that segment. Randy Orton apologizing to Triple H for RAW, but still stubbornly trying to keep ground. "If I meant to do what I did, you know I wouldn't be standing here apologizing." Triple H would tell Randy that he knows that, but he's still not happy with him. Orton vs. Big Show in the main event or something like that.

[KIRA]

I refuse to believe they are just gonna let this sit at an apology its too full interesting possibilities,but this company loves to let people down si I might be wrong.

[GD]

Where did you get your spoilers from...the toilet store?

[Bad News Gertner]

The jerk store!

[Vastardikai]

Something I'd do is have Triple H distract Orton, causing Cena to grab the belt. They have a rematch at the Rumble, where Shield attacks Orton under cover of darkness, allowing Cena to retain. The Rumble match itself has some wonkiness going on. Final Four is Sheamus, Punk, Bryan, and Heath Slater. Shield charges in, and dump Sheamus, Punk, and Bryan. Giving Slater a tainted Royal Rumble win and the Main Event of Wrestlemania. Cena acts surprised by the whole thing, but something doesn't seem to be on the up and up.

He acts as though he's giving another up and cover who deserves it a title shot, but everyone* knows it's a sham.

At Elimination Chamber is the blowoff match between Orton and Cena. During this match, it's revealed that Cena has joined forces with the Authority.

Elimination Chamber match itself is a special 8 man match for that #1 contender spot, with the Shield, Heath Slater, CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Sheamus and a Masked Man. Triple Powerbomb eliminates Sheamus. Punk and Bryan manage to eliminate Rollins, but Triple H and Michaels somehow enter the chamber and attack the distracted Beard and Best. Punk and Bryan fight them off, but run into a Spear and a Headlock Driver. Both are eliminated. Slater comes out last, while the Masked Man puts up a valiant effort. He dodges a spear at the last second, and it takes out Ambrose for an elimination. Slater rushes in and rolls up the surprised Reigns. Slater has an intense Staredown with the masked man, who kicks him in the Stomach.. Rock Bottom?!?! The Masked Man stands over the "Winner" of the Royal Rumble and does the pose. He hits the ropes and, instead of the taunt, removes his mask before hitting the People Elbow. It's revealed that the masked man was the Rock.

I'm sorry for A. the Noid post and B. possibly giving WWE an idea.

[Bad News Gertner]

You had me until Slater lost.

[Shisen Kopf]

I'm not even gonna ask. Looks terrible.

[Vastardikai]

You had me until Slater lost.

Slater losing at the Elimination Chamber was the bad news. Well, that and Rock-Cena 3.

Good news was that he won the Royal Rumble and scored a pinfall victory over Roman Reigns.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I've always wanted to see a completely random and left-field choice win the Royal Rumble, leaving management in a position of "Uhh...can we really go forward with this?" This would lead to a segment on RAW where all the main event talent come out and basically petition for the WrestleMania title shot, while the Royal Rumble Winner comes out all decked out in a nice suit, with a pretty woman by his side, and walks straight into the ring and tells everyone what pieces of crap they are for trying to look past him.

I dunno, I might be the only person who would find this exciting, but I think it would be something that could possibly launch a guy they like into a spot where they get to do a bit more, and give them a career nod that they may not have gotten otherwise. They can lose their WrestleMania title shot and perhaps become a target of sympathy or even snap and become a bitter heel that feels the world is against them.

Heath Slater would be perfect for it, actually. He's a good worker (despite what people say), and he's getting more and more confident as an overall performer. He's just saddled with a comedy gimmick where he loses all the time. I don't really know his standing with the company, but if they signed him on for a few years and he gets along with everyone backstage, I think it would be a fun moment that people would remember for a long time.

[Bad News Gertner]

I've never heard anybody say Slater can't go in the ring. His matches with Justin Gabriel were awesome.

[Mr. Nerfect]

His matches with Justin Gabriel were AMAZING.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I've seen people say all kinds of shit about Slater. The dude "gets it." He can do corkscrew pescados and moonsaults and all that stuff, but he understands that it doesn't fit his character so he doesn't. He bumps and sells like a motherfucker to make anyone he is working with look like a zillion dollars. He's so purposely annoying that it's hilarious. Despite him being such a good heel, I almost want him to become a massive babyface just by how endearing his attitude towards getting his ass kicked is.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I want to see a segment where 3MB meet a traveling potion salesman that promises to make them all winners. Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal are too scared to taste his wares, but Slater, being the thrillseeker that he is, drinks all of the potion and then goes on a massive winning streak. Everyone says there is no chance that it actually worked, but Slater keeps going around picking fights and somehow winning.

Story of the Year.

[Bad News Gertner]

Lol anybody remember this storyline in WCW early 2001.

Norman Smiley kept getting his ass kicked night after night. In a backstage segment he ran into Glacier who told Norman that he was a real life superhero and would protect Norman.

So Norman would have these matches where he'd be getting killed and all of a sudden Glacier would walk down to the ring, but he'd keep stopping and posing with fans to take pictures and shake their hands, all the while Norman is getting his butt kicked and yelling for Glacier to save him and by the time Glacier got to the ring the match was over. It only ran for like 3 weeks.

It was HILARIOUS. That'd be a funny storyline for Slater.

[Mr. Nerfect]

That would be great.

[Mr. Nerfect]

You know, I wouldn't be at all opposed to Justin Gabriel & Heath Slater getting back together. Enough time has passed since the WWE stopped caring about The Corre for them being former three-time WWE Tag Team Champions to actually lend them some credibility as a unit.

[mike adamle]

If you replaced Heath Slater with Tyson Kidd winning the Rumble out of left field then I'm all for it.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Holy fuck, Tyson Kidd would be absolutely PERFECT!

[Mr. Nerfect]

Kidd's in a predicament where he's got the same size and skill as guys like CM Punk and Daniel Bryan (minus maybe promo ability), but he's just lacking that "catch" to differentiate him. I was thinking about this the other day:

Kidd needs something sharp to separate him and make him unique comparatively. He's plucky, exciting and sympathetic enough in the role of "guy who gets beat up," but he needs to string something together to get people to invest in him. It's almost like if he were at the main event level, he'd be comfortable there, but since he's been treated as under-card for most of his career, it's hard to just slip him in there and thus his actual ability pails in comparison to his lack of kayfabe ability.

They need to tell us that he is one of the best at what he does, and back it up with evidence. He actually makes completely natural allies of Daniel Bryan and CM Punk in those regards. I'm sure they wouldn't mind working with him, because on commentary on Superstars once while he was injured, I swear I once heard Punk call Kidd "The Best in the World." No joke -- maybe someone can back me up on that. This was obviously before CM Punk got really protective about that phrase.

After shenanigans in the Rumble, Kidd could clean up against a few top stars that are more focused on each other. The announcers can act shocked but also bring up that he has followed in his mentor's footsteps. The next night on RAW, the main eventers are out with Triple H and say that "That Tyson Kidd kid can't headline WrestleMania, Vince," which brings out the Kiddster with Natalya, all decked out in glamorous attire, acting like this is the biggest screwjob since Bret.

Even if they have Kidd wrestle a 3.14 star match against John Cena and lose his spot, Kidd will always be able to say "I won the 2014 Royal Rumble Match," which lends him a certain credibility as they try to build him. And fuck -- Kidd might even catch on as a protagonist who is fighting against even greater odds than Daniel Bryan or CM Punk did.

He's even got the theme song for it at the moment:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/HAqot7yhRpY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Mr. Nerfect]

The WWE has almost certainly thought about doing something like this over the years. I mean, they even teased it in 2011 when Santino Marella snuck up on Alberto Del Rio and hit him with The Cobra. I can see why they wouldn't do it:

* It creates unnecessarily muddy waters on the Road to WrestleMania.

* Fans might be turned off if a major star doesn't win (although if they are casual fans, they should enjoy the ride -- especially if their favorites are screwed by the political machine)

* If the titles are unified, there is a certain purity restored to the Royal Rumble where the main event for WrestleMania is set, which there hasn't been since Triple H winning in 2002, and arguably earlier, since the Chris Jericho project felt like it could have been pulled at any moment. And in 2001 when Austin won, Rock wasn't yet champion. And in 2000 they did the Fatal 4-Way. And in 1999 Vince won but didn't challenge. You might need to go back to 1998 when Austin won and challenged Michaels really. That kind of makes me think they might even do something crazy like this.

But it would be fun. It creates a buzz story about WrestleMania. I mean, the press doesn't exactly make a big deal about who the Royal Rumble Winner is. It's professional wrestling's own little thing. The big matches that feature The Rock, Brock Lesnar, etc. are going to be there regardless. Even when the Royal Rumble Winner is in the main WrestleMania story, the Rumble is just the device used to get them there, which we fans put a lot of credence into. If you get John Cena into the World Title match via other means and someone else won the Rumble, I don't think the world would bat an eye. By loyal viewers could be enthralled.

And it's not like the WWE hasn't taken a chance before. Alberto Del Rio won the Royal Rumble in his rookie year. Yeah, he was always meant to be a big deal and showed charisma, skill and presence from the start, but his World Title match at Mania wasn't the highest of priorities, and Del Rio wasn't as tested as he could have been.

Plus, it can only be good for Total Divas, which is WWE's top priority at the moment behind the main event scene, and Tyson Kidd seems to be the most important male cast member that isn't a main event star (unless Fandango is in it every week).

[Mr. Nerfect]

The only thing I would recommend for Tyson Kidd is a change of aesthetics. His hair looks kind of goofy. It looks like you can take him more seriously with shorter hair. Also, short trunks make him seem less "WCW Cruiserweight Division." But that development can come over his trials after winning the Rumble.

Imagine if Triple H makes him defend his shot each week against a former World Champion or WrestleMania headliner? He can start off against Dolph Ziggler, move onto The Miz, then even face his wife's on-the-road friend Great Khali (beating him in smart fashion would be a huge credibility boost). It'd be a great story and give us great matches each week, until either Kidd is screwed, or if it's working, he actually goes into WrestleMania (I'm not even suggesting he headlines -- they'll probably have a special attraction match they can put on last) and challenges for the World Title. You can judge this by crowd reactions, social media scores and ratings.