Smackdown 1-13-12

Matches:

1. Justin Gabriel v. Heath Slater - 3 out of 5

2. Cody Rhodes v. Ezekiel Jackson - 3 out of 5

3. Ted DiBiase v. Drew McIntyre - 3 out of 5

4. Sheamus v. Jinder Majal

5. David Otunga v. Santino Marella - 4 out of 5

6. Brodus Clay v. Tyson Kidd - 2 out of 5

7. Tamina v. Natalya - 2 out of 5

8. Daniel Bryan v. Mark Henry - 4 out of 5

I love it when WWE is in Mexico, or in a heavily Spanish-speaking area. I get a little practice in listening, and the Superstar heels get a chance to offend people in two languages! Cody Rhodes came out early in the show and accused the majority of the audience of being illegal immigrants, and he reveled in the hate it garnered him. Oh, he also promised to pull an Ultimate Warrior, and become WWE champ while holding the Intercontinental title. This, folks, is how you make the midcard titles mean something again. I'm still pulling for Wade Barrett in the Royal Rumble (although it will probably end up being Sheamus), but now, I'm secretly hoping for Cody to pull it out. I want to see this plan come to fruition.

Speaking of Wade Barrett, nobody can make "God Save the Queen" sound like "You can all go to Hell" quite like he can. Everything about him is amazing. I love the hair, I want to do terrible, unspeakable things on his coat, and of course there's the accent. It's almost like type-casting, to portray the Englishman as a bad guy, but Wade just soaks it up. Nothing but good things to come here.

Speaking of good things to come, the women's division may just be looking stronger after last night. No, I'm not talking about Natalya and Tamina. They're wonderfully refreshing actual talent, if they could just demonstrate what they're capable of. No, the breakout Diva of the night was AJ. That incredibly brave little girl took a giant bump from Big Show at the end of the show. This, to me, shows she's willing to take risks and it only gave me more reason to love her. She's cute, she's perky, she loves the business, and she has great potential to go far. Keep an eye on this one, folks. She's not going anywhere anytime soon.