Black Widow
04-12-2008, 06:30 PM
LOOKING AT A 'IF YOU TURNED OFF THE SHOW AFTER THE BAD SEGMENTS, YOU MISSED SOME GREAT MATCHES' EDITION OF SMACKDOWN
Last night's Smackdown was the classic "mixed bag" of a show. There were ridiculously stupid segments (Show-Khali, Edge-Vickie) and there were fantastic matches with great character and storyline development (Hardy-Palumbo, Undertaker-Festus). Everything else on the show ranged from solid action (Yang & Moore- Miz & Morrison, Victoria-McCool) to simple comedy (Finlay-Striker) to a repeat of last week (Vladimir Kozlov). After really being bored for the first half of the show, the second half really delivered a strong program. Hopefully people didn't turn off the show halfway through.
Onto my thoughts on the show:
Plusses:
When I saw that Matt Striker was facing Finlay, the result was pretty easy to figure out. I actually liked Striker's arm work, and he is a better wrestler than he gets credit for. Finlay hit some great clotheslines, and he brought back the "ring apron trap" which is a spot I always pop for. From there, it turned into Hornswoggle's audition tape for the Harlem Globetrotters, complete with buckets of confetti and water. I did like Finlay throwing the bucket at Striker's head after dousing him with water. Curly never did that to the Washington Generals. Striker was funny here, calling Hornswoggle "Sky Low Low" and "Little Beaver". In the end, Finlay whacks Striker with the shillelagh and it's over. I don't begrudge Finlay doing whatever he wants, but I hope WWE doesn't make him strictly a comedy wrestler from now on.
So, Natalya (because "Nattie" didn't sound exotic enough) Neidhart gets her formal introduction from Victoria, and I'm glad to see another strong worker on the brand. I like that they played up her famous father, but then had her stress that it was going to be all about her now. This led into Victoria vs. Michelle McCool, and they had a good match. Michelle hit a nice dropkick, and she is actually throwing her clotheslines a lot better (or Victoria is just leaning into them more). Of course, Victoria showed she had the superior lariat, and then got the win with the old school heel move of pulling the tights. This feud could be a lot of fun, as the Victoria-Michelle feud has been done to death, so throwing in Natalya as a new factor should be interesting. I definitely would like to see Natalya vs. Victoria down the road as well.
MVP is gold on the mic. When Michael Cole referred to him as the "longest running" Intercontinental Champion and MVP said "Longest reigning, because I ain't running from anyone", I popped. This is when the show really kicked into high gear. MVP says he will wrestle Matt Hardy next week, and I'm already looking forward to it. Of course, the title won't be on the line, because MVP is afraid of Matt. See, simple logic here folks. MVP lost to Hardy last week, so he is going to do whatever he can to avoid putting the belt on the line, as a weasely heel would. MVP ripping on Cole and telling Coach to keep his mouth shut? Fantastic. I am loving this segment already, and the match hasn't even started.
As for the match, Matt Hardy is super over with the crowd, and Chuck "What happened to my push?" Palumbo brings the stiff offense that Hardy sells beautifully. Just a fantastic match, with Palumbo wrenching in a cravate, throwing Hardy with an overhead belly to belly suplex and delivering the stiff boot to the face. Hardy sells, then mounts his comeback with knees and forearms. But the time Hardy chops Palumbo down with the second rope elbow and legdrop, they've got the crowd right where they want them. Palumbo then blocks the Twist Of Fate and hits the Fallaway Slam for a near fall. Palumbo goes for a powerslam, but Hardy floats out of it and hits the Twist Of Fate from nowhere for the win as the crowd pops. Fun match, with Matt getting the win but Chuck looking strong as well. Easily one of this highlights of the show. Actually, this was better than anything on Raw or ECW this week. I hope they keep Palumbo in the mix here, as I wouldn't mind seeing a rematch, or maybe even MVP vs. Palumbo at some point.
Undertaker vs. Festus was the second best match of the show after Matt Hardy vs. Chuck Palumbo, and I mean that in a very complimentary sense. Festus, after his post-bell ringing "transformation" really took it to the Undertaker and the Undertaker returned fire, before going all technical to counter Festus' onslaught of headbutts and punches. They had a classic "big man's match" with lots of back and forth and heavy hitting. The fans didn't want to boo Festus, and certainly won't boo Undertaker, so there wasn't a lot of crowd heat, but this was a really good bout. Undertaker gave Festus a ton of offense, and for the first time in his WWE run, Festus got to show he can sell and bump his rear end off. There was one noticeable edit in the match, although I'm not sure why. The finish was well done, with Festus being "smarter than you thought" by putting his foot on the bottom rope to avoid being pinned at the chokeslam. Then the referee was bumped, and Festus avoids the tombstone and hits the jumping kick front kick. Undertaker then grabbed Festus in "the submission hold" out of nowhere, and with the referee down, I figured the Edgeheads would probably do a run in. Instead, the referee wakes up, and Festus, who did not tap out, is ruled unconscious by the referee and the match is over. Jesse then runs in, pulls Taker off his partner, and covers Festus, fists clenched in a "if you want to hurt him, you'll have to get through me first" look that spoke volumes. Undertaker then took his belt to end the show. Just a fantastic finish. Festus, bleeding from the mouth and unconscious, took the fight to the Undertaker and never tapped out. Jesse was willing to take a beating from Undertaker to protect his partner. Undertaker became the first man to hurt Festus. All three looked great coming out of this pleasant surprise of a match. Undertaker, Jesse & Festus vs. Edge & The Edgeheads? I'd give it a shot.
Minuses:
Well, Great Khali certainly didn't look thrilled being on the worst imitation of Namaste America I've ever seen to open the show. After him running away from Big Show, now he's apologizing to him. So, out comes "I'm a heel on house shows, but I'm booked as a face on TV" Big Show, and Khali gives him some dirty water, some scotch, and a matching black set of farm animals. Yep, there's Big Show holding a chicken and petting a goat on TV. I don't know what is worse, that someone thought up this segment, or someone decided to start a show with it. It's like kicking off your show with Sulu from Star Trek singing country songs. You can hear channels changing across the country. Then Big Show shakes Khali's hand, and knocks him out with one punch. So, follow the bouncing ball here. Khali runs away from Show twice, tries to apologize to him with farm animals, then gets knocked out with ONE PUNCH. Why in the world would I want to see this match on PPV, when Big Show has totally dominated him both psychologically and physically? Waste of time, waste of segment, waste of PPV match.
Edge and Vickie went for a Couples Massage, and brought Teddy Long with them? Surely, this is going to be leading to some funny finish, or they'll be coming back to the arena and having to face Undertaker or something.
Vladimir Kozlov squashes a guy named Matt, week two. This time, it is Matt Logan, instead of Matt Bentley. Of course, our announcers put over his incredible Sambo skills and mat work, so naturally Vladimir uses the Sambo kick to the chest and the Greco Roman reverse DDT for the win. He was more impressive this week than last, but last week was pretty dull. At least he's better than Snitsky.
Now, Edge and Vickie are getting facials and Teddy Long serves them drinks. Oh, they're getting matching pedicures. You know, other than Edge sporting an old-school Chris Jericho ponytail, there really isn't much of entertainment value here. Well, I'm sure something good is coming later.
The Festus-Jesse-Eve interview was pointless. Instead of putting over Festus' lack of expression, it would have been nice to have more explanation that Festus was being punished for beating Edge's lackeys last week. They could have shown the WWE.com video where Vickie informed Festus that he was getting the match with Undertaker. Really, this should have been played up as Edge putting his (and the Edgeheads') enemies against each other, and it wasn't.
Okay, here we go. Edge and Vickie are in bed and are playing with whipped cream, the lights go out and then Teddy comes in and turns the lights on. Teddy says he isn't sticking around for this, and walks out. Edge puts the lights back out, and he and his future wife (they are engaged, after all) get busy. That's it. That's it? That's the climax (no pun intended) of this stuff? Teddy not wanting to "stand guard" while they bump uglies? Wow, what a monumental waste of time. I wasn't expecting anything amazing, but this was absolutely pointless.
A Mixture Of Both:
I like how they connected the Dirt Sheet on WWE.com to Smackdown. Synergy like that simply makes sense, as it might get some people to check out the site that haven't lately. Of course, after watching Miz, Morrison, Yang and Moore get swatted by Great Khali last week, it was nice to get them back to doing what they do well. This was a perfectly fine match, but WWE has really blown it with this feud. The two teams had a heated issue and stole the show on ECW two weeks in a row. Since then, there's been a lot of jobbing for both sides, no real emphasis on their issue or the tag belts, and we're supposed to care now? I liked the finish, with Miz getting the blind tag and catching Yang unaware with the neckbreaker for the win. It was a much better match than last week's bout, but given the amount of time they had this week, you knew that would be the case. Still, with Yang & Moore losing two weeks in a row to Miz & Morrison, there's just nothing left in this feud now.
Time for another edition of "Do you know what Batista is talking about?" Just like last week, we have Batista talking about the "old Shawn Michaels" and how he held people back and stepped on them. However, we have been given ZERO examples of this from Batista. Then Michaels adds to the shooty nature of things by saying that because he is small, he had to take short cuts. Now, I'm old enough to know about Montreal and the Kliq, but does WWE really think a majority of their audience in 2008 really gets all this stuff? If some examples were shown, or discussed, I could understand. However, we haven't gotten that yet. On the bright side, I loved the tease of Batista ducking the superkick and teasing the Batista Bomb, only for Shawn to roll away. Both men just do spots like that and smile at each other, as far as I'm concerned. I'm looking forward to the match, and it has nothing to do with Ric Flair or shoot promos. I just want to see what they can put together in the ring.
What To Make Sure And Watch If You DVR'd The Show:
You really should see Matt Hardy vs. Chuck Palumbo and Undertaker vs. Festus. In fact, go out of your way to watch those two bouts. I'd rank both matches right above CM Punk vs. The Miz on ECW as the best stuff WWE produced this week. If you have time after that, Victoria vs. McCool, Finlay vs. Striker and the tag match are okay.
PWInsider.com
Last night's Smackdown was the classic "mixed bag" of a show. There were ridiculously stupid segments (Show-Khali, Edge-Vickie) and there were fantastic matches with great character and storyline development (Hardy-Palumbo, Undertaker-Festus). Everything else on the show ranged from solid action (Yang & Moore- Miz & Morrison, Victoria-McCool) to simple comedy (Finlay-Striker) to a repeat of last week (Vladimir Kozlov). After really being bored for the first half of the show, the second half really delivered a strong program. Hopefully people didn't turn off the show halfway through.
Onto my thoughts on the show:
Plusses:
When I saw that Matt Striker was facing Finlay, the result was pretty easy to figure out. I actually liked Striker's arm work, and he is a better wrestler than he gets credit for. Finlay hit some great clotheslines, and he brought back the "ring apron trap" which is a spot I always pop for. From there, it turned into Hornswoggle's audition tape for the Harlem Globetrotters, complete with buckets of confetti and water. I did like Finlay throwing the bucket at Striker's head after dousing him with water. Curly never did that to the Washington Generals. Striker was funny here, calling Hornswoggle "Sky Low Low" and "Little Beaver". In the end, Finlay whacks Striker with the shillelagh and it's over. I don't begrudge Finlay doing whatever he wants, but I hope WWE doesn't make him strictly a comedy wrestler from now on.
So, Natalya (because "Nattie" didn't sound exotic enough) Neidhart gets her formal introduction from Victoria, and I'm glad to see another strong worker on the brand. I like that they played up her famous father, but then had her stress that it was going to be all about her now. This led into Victoria vs. Michelle McCool, and they had a good match. Michelle hit a nice dropkick, and she is actually throwing her clotheslines a lot better (or Victoria is just leaning into them more). Of course, Victoria showed she had the superior lariat, and then got the win with the old school heel move of pulling the tights. This feud could be a lot of fun, as the Victoria-Michelle feud has been done to death, so throwing in Natalya as a new factor should be interesting. I definitely would like to see Natalya vs. Victoria down the road as well.
MVP is gold on the mic. When Michael Cole referred to him as the "longest running" Intercontinental Champion and MVP said "Longest reigning, because I ain't running from anyone", I popped. This is when the show really kicked into high gear. MVP says he will wrestle Matt Hardy next week, and I'm already looking forward to it. Of course, the title won't be on the line, because MVP is afraid of Matt. See, simple logic here folks. MVP lost to Hardy last week, so he is going to do whatever he can to avoid putting the belt on the line, as a weasely heel would. MVP ripping on Cole and telling Coach to keep his mouth shut? Fantastic. I am loving this segment already, and the match hasn't even started.
As for the match, Matt Hardy is super over with the crowd, and Chuck "What happened to my push?" Palumbo brings the stiff offense that Hardy sells beautifully. Just a fantastic match, with Palumbo wrenching in a cravate, throwing Hardy with an overhead belly to belly suplex and delivering the stiff boot to the face. Hardy sells, then mounts his comeback with knees and forearms. But the time Hardy chops Palumbo down with the second rope elbow and legdrop, they've got the crowd right where they want them. Palumbo then blocks the Twist Of Fate and hits the Fallaway Slam for a near fall. Palumbo goes for a powerslam, but Hardy floats out of it and hits the Twist Of Fate from nowhere for the win as the crowd pops. Fun match, with Matt getting the win but Chuck looking strong as well. Easily one of this highlights of the show. Actually, this was better than anything on Raw or ECW this week. I hope they keep Palumbo in the mix here, as I wouldn't mind seeing a rematch, or maybe even MVP vs. Palumbo at some point.
Undertaker vs. Festus was the second best match of the show after Matt Hardy vs. Chuck Palumbo, and I mean that in a very complimentary sense. Festus, after his post-bell ringing "transformation" really took it to the Undertaker and the Undertaker returned fire, before going all technical to counter Festus' onslaught of headbutts and punches. They had a classic "big man's match" with lots of back and forth and heavy hitting. The fans didn't want to boo Festus, and certainly won't boo Undertaker, so there wasn't a lot of crowd heat, but this was a really good bout. Undertaker gave Festus a ton of offense, and for the first time in his WWE run, Festus got to show he can sell and bump his rear end off. There was one noticeable edit in the match, although I'm not sure why. The finish was well done, with Festus being "smarter than you thought" by putting his foot on the bottom rope to avoid being pinned at the chokeslam. Then the referee was bumped, and Festus avoids the tombstone and hits the jumping kick front kick. Undertaker then grabbed Festus in "the submission hold" out of nowhere, and with the referee down, I figured the Edgeheads would probably do a run in. Instead, the referee wakes up, and Festus, who did not tap out, is ruled unconscious by the referee and the match is over. Jesse then runs in, pulls Taker off his partner, and covers Festus, fists clenched in a "if you want to hurt him, you'll have to get through me first" look that spoke volumes. Undertaker then took his belt to end the show. Just a fantastic finish. Festus, bleeding from the mouth and unconscious, took the fight to the Undertaker and never tapped out. Jesse was willing to take a beating from Undertaker to protect his partner. Undertaker became the first man to hurt Festus. All three looked great coming out of this pleasant surprise of a match. Undertaker, Jesse & Festus vs. Edge & The Edgeheads? I'd give it a shot.
Minuses:
Well, Great Khali certainly didn't look thrilled being on the worst imitation of Namaste America I've ever seen to open the show. After him running away from Big Show, now he's apologizing to him. So, out comes "I'm a heel on house shows, but I'm booked as a face on TV" Big Show, and Khali gives him some dirty water, some scotch, and a matching black set of farm animals. Yep, there's Big Show holding a chicken and petting a goat on TV. I don't know what is worse, that someone thought up this segment, or someone decided to start a show with it. It's like kicking off your show with Sulu from Star Trek singing country songs. You can hear channels changing across the country. Then Big Show shakes Khali's hand, and knocks him out with one punch. So, follow the bouncing ball here. Khali runs away from Show twice, tries to apologize to him with farm animals, then gets knocked out with ONE PUNCH. Why in the world would I want to see this match on PPV, when Big Show has totally dominated him both psychologically and physically? Waste of time, waste of segment, waste of PPV match.
Edge and Vickie went for a Couples Massage, and brought Teddy Long with them? Surely, this is going to be leading to some funny finish, or they'll be coming back to the arena and having to face Undertaker or something.
Vladimir Kozlov squashes a guy named Matt, week two. This time, it is Matt Logan, instead of Matt Bentley. Of course, our announcers put over his incredible Sambo skills and mat work, so naturally Vladimir uses the Sambo kick to the chest and the Greco Roman reverse DDT for the win. He was more impressive this week than last, but last week was pretty dull. At least he's better than Snitsky.
Now, Edge and Vickie are getting facials and Teddy Long serves them drinks. Oh, they're getting matching pedicures. You know, other than Edge sporting an old-school Chris Jericho ponytail, there really isn't much of entertainment value here. Well, I'm sure something good is coming later.
The Festus-Jesse-Eve interview was pointless. Instead of putting over Festus' lack of expression, it would have been nice to have more explanation that Festus was being punished for beating Edge's lackeys last week. They could have shown the WWE.com video where Vickie informed Festus that he was getting the match with Undertaker. Really, this should have been played up as Edge putting his (and the Edgeheads') enemies against each other, and it wasn't.
Okay, here we go. Edge and Vickie are in bed and are playing with whipped cream, the lights go out and then Teddy comes in and turns the lights on. Teddy says he isn't sticking around for this, and walks out. Edge puts the lights back out, and he and his future wife (they are engaged, after all) get busy. That's it. That's it? That's the climax (no pun intended) of this stuff? Teddy not wanting to "stand guard" while they bump uglies? Wow, what a monumental waste of time. I wasn't expecting anything amazing, but this was absolutely pointless.
A Mixture Of Both:
I like how they connected the Dirt Sheet on WWE.com to Smackdown. Synergy like that simply makes sense, as it might get some people to check out the site that haven't lately. Of course, after watching Miz, Morrison, Yang and Moore get swatted by Great Khali last week, it was nice to get them back to doing what they do well. This was a perfectly fine match, but WWE has really blown it with this feud. The two teams had a heated issue and stole the show on ECW two weeks in a row. Since then, there's been a lot of jobbing for both sides, no real emphasis on their issue or the tag belts, and we're supposed to care now? I liked the finish, with Miz getting the blind tag and catching Yang unaware with the neckbreaker for the win. It was a much better match than last week's bout, but given the amount of time they had this week, you knew that would be the case. Still, with Yang & Moore losing two weeks in a row to Miz & Morrison, there's just nothing left in this feud now.
Time for another edition of "Do you know what Batista is talking about?" Just like last week, we have Batista talking about the "old Shawn Michaels" and how he held people back and stepped on them. However, we have been given ZERO examples of this from Batista. Then Michaels adds to the shooty nature of things by saying that because he is small, he had to take short cuts. Now, I'm old enough to know about Montreal and the Kliq, but does WWE really think a majority of their audience in 2008 really gets all this stuff? If some examples were shown, or discussed, I could understand. However, we haven't gotten that yet. On the bright side, I loved the tease of Batista ducking the superkick and teasing the Batista Bomb, only for Shawn to roll away. Both men just do spots like that and smile at each other, as far as I'm concerned. I'm looking forward to the match, and it has nothing to do with Ric Flair or shoot promos. I just want to see what they can put together in the ring.
What To Make Sure And Watch If You DVR'd The Show:
You really should see Matt Hardy vs. Chuck Palumbo and Undertaker vs. Festus. In fact, go out of your way to watch those two bouts. I'd rank both matches right above CM Punk vs. The Miz on ECW as the best stuff WWE produced this week. If you have time after that, Victoria vs. McCool, Finlay vs. Striker and the tag match are okay.
PWInsider.com