Black Widow
04-20-2008, 08:14 PM
Smackdown limped towards Backlash this week with a rather uninspired show. They built up some issues for the PPV, but there was nothing this week that came close to last week's great matches (Matt Hardy vs. Chuck Palumbo and Festus vs. Undertaker). It was just another two hours of WWE programming, and actually quieted the usually rabid UK audience in attendance in a hurry. I never thought WWE would have to dub in crowd noise during a show taped in England. That says it all about this week's episode.
Plusses:
I liked almost all of the opening segment. Adding Chris Jericho to the mix of the Batista-Shawn Michaels feud as a smarmy crap stirrer has really helped the feud in that we now have someone explaining all the possible ulterior motives Batista or Shawn might be trying to hide from us. What really makes is work is that since Jericho is actually using this feud to move himself up the card, he comes off more as the heel, and thus leaves Batista and Michaels as faces (or at least quasi-faces). Y2J "stirring the pot" by saying Batista wanted to retire Ric Flair himself, that he was angry that Flair hand picked Michaels and not him, and that Batista was "too cool" to show his emotions to Flair was just great stuff. As I said, I liked almost all of the opening segment. What I didn't like was that, after Raw, you knew Batista was going to end up laying out Jericho with his finisher. So, while Y2J is a manipulative genius, he also allowed himself to get suckered with a finisher again. I understand the idea that since Jericho took a superkick and a Batista Bomb he "obviously isn't aligned with either man" but it was just a really predictable end to a good segment.
I really liked Big Show's confident promo, brushing off Mayweather, Henry and Khali as not being anything he needs to worry about. It made sense, given the fact that Mayweather needed weapons and friends to beat Show, and Show had easily disposed of Khali with a single punch. It was also a good setup for what happened later in the show.
Minuses:
Last week, Festus has an amazing match with the Undertaker, refused to tap out to "that submission hold" and has his partner throw his body in the path of the Undertaker to protect him. This week's follow-up? There was none. I really hope WWE isn't going to just pretend last week didn't happen, since it could do wonders for getting Jesse & Festus over with the fans.
Mark Henry and Big Show started off with a smart "big man's match" staggering each other with headbutts and then Big Show landing a nice lariat and a chop. Then, logic disappeared and the match went down the tubes. Yes, Mark Henry is the "World's Strongest Man", but when he can barely get his hands locked around "The World's Largest Athlete's" midsection, how are we supposed to believe that Henry's bear hug hurt Show? Of course, I am also from the old school mindset that believes a bear hug crushes ribs, not injures backs, so what do I know? Show escapes the bear hug, hits a boot to the face, then chokeslams Henry. Mark then gets to roll out of the ring and go back to wondering what happened to his pre-Wrestlemania push, while Khali comes out and Show with his "weakened back" gets laid out by Khali. They pretty much had to do this angle, since Khali has gotten no heat at all on Show leading into the Backlash match. However, the only thing impressive about this segment was the way Show jumped up to make Khali's double handed chokeslam look good.
Uhhh... why is Cherry wrestling? She didn't have wrestling gear on, she didn't look like she wanted to be there, no real issue with Victoria was ever really brought up. Did I miss some WWE.com video where she said she wanted to be a wrestler now? So, Victoria beats the crap out of her, then Cherry gets a rollup pin when Michelle distracts her, while Natalya Neidhart proves totally ineffective in watching the whole thing from ringside. I appreciate WWE trying to build up the Women's division on Smackdown, but this match and the way it was laid out didn't make a lot of sense. Perhaps if we had seen Cherry asking Michelle to help her become a wrestler, or Victoria cutting a promo about being jealous of Cherry beating her in the Diva competition voting. How about having Natalya get into it with Michelle to cause the distraction, rather than Michelle getting in Victoria's face while Natalya watches? It wouldn't have taken a lot to make this segment better.
Vladimir Kozlov squashes another faceless jobber with a reverse DDT. Gee, haven't seen that since last week. I wouldn't mind these squashes if we got some sort of new information on the guy, but it's just the same thing every week.
A Mixture Of Both:
MVP vs. Tommy Dreamer was pretty much made by Matt Hardy's commentary. He explained his actions at Wrestlemania, and that he took away MVP's chance of winning Money In The Bank because MVP took away months from his career. Hardy also put over MVP's talent, but noted that he has been ducking Hardy for months now when it comes to a U.S. Title shot. As for the match itself, I'm sure a lot of fans would have preferred the MVP-Hardy non-title match that was teased last week, but it makes no sense to give away that match, again, on free TV when you want fans to pay for the title match. So, we instead get Tommy Dreamer, and the result was a bout that felt like a drawn out squash until Dreamer got a bit of offense at the end before MVP took his head off with a fantastic kick to the head. Hardy and MVP then had their staredown, and I'm looking forward to their match at Backlash.
Week two of Hornswoggle's audition for the Harlem Globetrotters was once again good for a chuckle, although it is Matt Striker's selling and reactions that have really made this thing work. Water guns, tennis balls, etc. only come off well if the guy getting blasted by them makes it work, and Striker did. After the follow-up to last week's comedy, Striker finally gets his hands on the little guy, only for Finlay to blast him with the shillelagh and one tadpole splash later, Striker is pinned. Well, it's not like anyone was taking Striker seriously as a wrestler anyway. As I said, good for a chuckle, but I hope they're going to move on and put Finlay in a feud of his own again.
Chavo Guerrero vs. Jamie Noble, or the guy who Kane beat in eight seconds vs. the guy Big Show swatted a few weeks ago. The fans just were not going to care about this match, even though the in-ring action was solid. Noble's momentum from the Chuck Palumbo feud has been totally killed, and Chavo is seen as an also-ran at this point. I did like the finish, with Noble trying for the Sharpshooter and Fireman's Carry, only for Chavo to counter and drop Noble across the top rope to set up the frog splash pin. Then Bam Neely got his moment in the sun, hitting a full nelson slam on Noble. I guess it was better than the "kick to the knee" he gave Kane in his debut appearance last week.
I liked Edge & The Edgeheads having tickets and sitting in the front row for Undertaker vs. Batista. The match itself though, was probably the weakest of the Undertaker-Batista matches, and certainly didn't live up to their battles from last year. Some back and forth, double knockout on the clothesline. More back and forth, then both are laid out after Batista's superplex. Undertaker hits the Old School forearm off the ropes, then the ring apron legdrop. Batista avoids the tombstone and hits a pretty weak spear. Then they go to the floor for the disappointing double countout finish. Very underwhelming. Then Chavo's new bodyguard Bam, in his second week with the company, gets swatted away along with Hawkins & Ryder. Why am I supposed to care about this guy? Anyway, the post match angle actually made things a bit better, as Edge escaped again, and Vickie punished Batista and Undertaker for "attacking fans" by putting them in a rematch next week. The title also goes on the line, which means Batista and Undertaker have no choice but to beat the crap out of each other. It was a smart move, and hopefully one that leads to a better match between the two next week (although you know we won't be seeing a title change).
What To Make Sure You Watch If You DVR'd The Show:
Honestly, you know they are going to be replaying the Jericho-Batista thing, so there is nothing you need to go out of your way to watch. You'd be better served watching last week's show for Hardy-Palumbo and Festus-Undertaker, if you haven't seen it.
PWInsider.com
Plusses:
I liked almost all of the opening segment. Adding Chris Jericho to the mix of the Batista-Shawn Michaels feud as a smarmy crap stirrer has really helped the feud in that we now have someone explaining all the possible ulterior motives Batista or Shawn might be trying to hide from us. What really makes is work is that since Jericho is actually using this feud to move himself up the card, he comes off more as the heel, and thus leaves Batista and Michaels as faces (or at least quasi-faces). Y2J "stirring the pot" by saying Batista wanted to retire Ric Flair himself, that he was angry that Flair hand picked Michaels and not him, and that Batista was "too cool" to show his emotions to Flair was just great stuff. As I said, I liked almost all of the opening segment. What I didn't like was that, after Raw, you knew Batista was going to end up laying out Jericho with his finisher. So, while Y2J is a manipulative genius, he also allowed himself to get suckered with a finisher again. I understand the idea that since Jericho took a superkick and a Batista Bomb he "obviously isn't aligned with either man" but it was just a really predictable end to a good segment.
I really liked Big Show's confident promo, brushing off Mayweather, Henry and Khali as not being anything he needs to worry about. It made sense, given the fact that Mayweather needed weapons and friends to beat Show, and Show had easily disposed of Khali with a single punch. It was also a good setup for what happened later in the show.
Minuses:
Last week, Festus has an amazing match with the Undertaker, refused to tap out to "that submission hold" and has his partner throw his body in the path of the Undertaker to protect him. This week's follow-up? There was none. I really hope WWE isn't going to just pretend last week didn't happen, since it could do wonders for getting Jesse & Festus over with the fans.
Mark Henry and Big Show started off with a smart "big man's match" staggering each other with headbutts and then Big Show landing a nice lariat and a chop. Then, logic disappeared and the match went down the tubes. Yes, Mark Henry is the "World's Strongest Man", but when he can barely get his hands locked around "The World's Largest Athlete's" midsection, how are we supposed to believe that Henry's bear hug hurt Show? Of course, I am also from the old school mindset that believes a bear hug crushes ribs, not injures backs, so what do I know? Show escapes the bear hug, hits a boot to the face, then chokeslams Henry. Mark then gets to roll out of the ring and go back to wondering what happened to his pre-Wrestlemania push, while Khali comes out and Show with his "weakened back" gets laid out by Khali. They pretty much had to do this angle, since Khali has gotten no heat at all on Show leading into the Backlash match. However, the only thing impressive about this segment was the way Show jumped up to make Khali's double handed chokeslam look good.
Uhhh... why is Cherry wrestling? She didn't have wrestling gear on, she didn't look like she wanted to be there, no real issue with Victoria was ever really brought up. Did I miss some WWE.com video where she said she wanted to be a wrestler now? So, Victoria beats the crap out of her, then Cherry gets a rollup pin when Michelle distracts her, while Natalya Neidhart proves totally ineffective in watching the whole thing from ringside. I appreciate WWE trying to build up the Women's division on Smackdown, but this match and the way it was laid out didn't make a lot of sense. Perhaps if we had seen Cherry asking Michelle to help her become a wrestler, or Victoria cutting a promo about being jealous of Cherry beating her in the Diva competition voting. How about having Natalya get into it with Michelle to cause the distraction, rather than Michelle getting in Victoria's face while Natalya watches? It wouldn't have taken a lot to make this segment better.
Vladimir Kozlov squashes another faceless jobber with a reverse DDT. Gee, haven't seen that since last week. I wouldn't mind these squashes if we got some sort of new information on the guy, but it's just the same thing every week.
A Mixture Of Both:
MVP vs. Tommy Dreamer was pretty much made by Matt Hardy's commentary. He explained his actions at Wrestlemania, and that he took away MVP's chance of winning Money In The Bank because MVP took away months from his career. Hardy also put over MVP's talent, but noted that he has been ducking Hardy for months now when it comes to a U.S. Title shot. As for the match itself, I'm sure a lot of fans would have preferred the MVP-Hardy non-title match that was teased last week, but it makes no sense to give away that match, again, on free TV when you want fans to pay for the title match. So, we instead get Tommy Dreamer, and the result was a bout that felt like a drawn out squash until Dreamer got a bit of offense at the end before MVP took his head off with a fantastic kick to the head. Hardy and MVP then had their staredown, and I'm looking forward to their match at Backlash.
Week two of Hornswoggle's audition for the Harlem Globetrotters was once again good for a chuckle, although it is Matt Striker's selling and reactions that have really made this thing work. Water guns, tennis balls, etc. only come off well if the guy getting blasted by them makes it work, and Striker did. After the follow-up to last week's comedy, Striker finally gets his hands on the little guy, only for Finlay to blast him with the shillelagh and one tadpole splash later, Striker is pinned. Well, it's not like anyone was taking Striker seriously as a wrestler anyway. As I said, good for a chuckle, but I hope they're going to move on and put Finlay in a feud of his own again.
Chavo Guerrero vs. Jamie Noble, or the guy who Kane beat in eight seconds vs. the guy Big Show swatted a few weeks ago. The fans just were not going to care about this match, even though the in-ring action was solid. Noble's momentum from the Chuck Palumbo feud has been totally killed, and Chavo is seen as an also-ran at this point. I did like the finish, with Noble trying for the Sharpshooter and Fireman's Carry, only for Chavo to counter and drop Noble across the top rope to set up the frog splash pin. Then Bam Neely got his moment in the sun, hitting a full nelson slam on Noble. I guess it was better than the "kick to the knee" he gave Kane in his debut appearance last week.
I liked Edge & The Edgeheads having tickets and sitting in the front row for Undertaker vs. Batista. The match itself though, was probably the weakest of the Undertaker-Batista matches, and certainly didn't live up to their battles from last year. Some back and forth, double knockout on the clothesline. More back and forth, then both are laid out after Batista's superplex. Undertaker hits the Old School forearm off the ropes, then the ring apron legdrop. Batista avoids the tombstone and hits a pretty weak spear. Then they go to the floor for the disappointing double countout finish. Very underwhelming. Then Chavo's new bodyguard Bam, in his second week with the company, gets swatted away along with Hawkins & Ryder. Why am I supposed to care about this guy? Anyway, the post match angle actually made things a bit better, as Edge escaped again, and Vickie punished Batista and Undertaker for "attacking fans" by putting them in a rematch next week. The title also goes on the line, which means Batista and Undertaker have no choice but to beat the crap out of each other. It was a smart move, and hopefully one that leads to a better match between the two next week (although you know we won't be seeing a title change).
What To Make Sure You Watch If You DVR'd The Show:
Honestly, you know they are going to be replaying the Jericho-Batista thing, so there is nothing you need to go out of your way to watch. You'd be better served watching last week's show for Hardy-Palumbo and Festus-Undertaker, if you haven't seen it.
PWInsider.com