SUMMARY: RUNNING TIME: Est. 30:00 Min.
Airing on the October 14th, 2011 edition of Smackdown, its new on-screen GM, John Laurinaitis, hypes the biggest battle royale in history to celebrate reaching more episodes than Gunsmoke. He would further claim that Smackdown is the second-longest running episodic TV series in history behind WWE’s RAW — keep in mind that, for instance, The Simpsons (and countless soap operas) can easily dispute such bragging.
A notable match stipulation is that the winner could pick between a match against either World Champion at the moment: Alberto Del Rio or Mark Henry. Included in these festivities are former and future World Champions, such as CM Punk, Kofi Kingston, The Miz, Christian, Sheamus, and Randy Orton. The other contestants represent the three WWE brands: RAW, Smackdown, and NXT.
REVIEW:
Considering there’s about a half-hour worth of action, this one just isn’t that great. A disappointment is a lack of main eventers, like The Undertaker, John Cena, Kane, or Triple H, so only one entrant realistically has a shot at the gold. Besides, it’s ignored that Christian never went over the top rope. Christian would be chased down by Sheamus, but Christian actually rolls under the bottom rope. Anyway, a predictable ending isn’t justified by the commentators completely ignoring the obvious choice. Playing a heel, Michael Cole, along with Josh Matthews and Booker T, throw jibes at each other, but it’s a distraction to the actual match. Their banter ends up only mentioning who gets eliminated half the time. It’s not really bad viewing, but the scripted ending feels too easy to predict. This battle royale, accordingly, is an afterthought for a reason.
ROSCOE’S ODD MOON RATING: 6 Stars
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