I love today's technology. When I was a child, the only way to catch up on missed television was taping something. Do you remember how big of a pain in the ass that was? You had to rewind to the spot you want, the quality would always be horrible, and you'd always mess it up so you missed the last five minutes of your show. Today, there are so many other ways to catch up on missed time. Given that Smackdown airs on Friday nights, it's often difficult for me to catch a full episode since, well, I like to have a social life. However, due to a wonderful new poster on youtube, I found this week's episode in HD right on my computer and as such, can analyze and break it down for my fantastic fans.
The show started with Chris Jericho. Every time I start to doubt him and start to think he's gotten stale, he comes out and blows me away. Tonight was one of those instances. He really sold himself as a contender in the Elimination Chamber and made you believe he would win. Edge came out to dispute some of his claims, even showing footage from last week of him spearing the Undertaker before Jericho could pin him and thus, brag about the win. Edge's character is awesome right now as he is a face, but still has heel tendencies. He hasn't pulled an MVP where his entire personality changed when going from heel to face and his return has actually made a lot of sense. I really liked how Jericho told Edge not to come near him after he wins the chamber because "bad things happen when you are near me". This, of course, is referring to Edge's recent injury that happened when the two were tag team champions. If anything, Jericho's comments made Edge want to get him even more, and he did so, spearing Jericho and watching him run away to the back. A well done opening segment that got me pumped for the rest of the show.
Next up was a match between Kane and Dolph Ziggler, which was surprisingly good. They really battled and I believe the match was positive for both men. Kane picked up the win even after his opponent on Sunday, Drew McIntyre, came out to watch. After the pin, McIntyre tried to get a cheap DDT in on Kane who wasn't looking, but Kane reversed it into a back body drop, leading to McIntyre retreating to the back. This was well done as it makes Kane look poised and ready to take the Intercontinental title this Sunday. It might happen often, bu I like this type of booking where the contender looks strong heading into a match with a champion. I mean, logically, if the challenger didn't look like he could win, why bother watching?
After the match and shenanigans, we see Josh Matthews backstage with Mysterio who puts himself over as a strong contender in the Elimination Chamber, directing his comments at CM Punk and his Society who attacked him the previous week. I don't know why, but Rey's voice annoys me. He sounds like a latin thug, but he's one of the most over faces in the company. It's just that when I hear his raspy voice, I feel like he's bringing a knife gang with him. Either way, that's two contenders so far putting themselves over for sunday and hyping up that big match.
After announcing a Smackdown/ECW tour for the summer which makes absolutely no sense since ECW just shut down, a promo aired hyping Ezekiel Jackson joining the Smackdown brand. I guess he wasn't a "free agent" for long. As much as I predicted this move to happen, I started to think and realized that Smackdown has Jackson already, but he's white and named Batista.
Speaking of ECW free agents, in what I guess was a tryout match, the Dudebusters, Barretta and Croft (Striker called them the Dudebusters which is what they are called in developmental but it was the first time on WWE TV they were called as such) took on Cryme Tyme. It was a great match, one that featured fantastic heel psychology by the Dudebusters in that they kept JTG in the match most of the time as he's the weaker man, but in the end, a fresh Shad came in and cleaned house for the win. The match did its job by making the young team look good, but not good enough yet to beat an established tag team. I really like the potential of the Dudebusters and if we see more matches like that, inevitably, they will win some and become real threats in the tag division.
Competitor number 3 hyping his appearance in the chamber was next, with John Morrison cutting a surprisingly decent promo about how his whole career has led him to that opportunity. As he was finishing, his partner for the next match, R-Truth interrupts to talk to Morrison. R-Truth should stick to rapping, because his voice sounds like he just smoked 10 packs of cigarettes when he talks. He also did kind of a Hornswoggle impression as when Morrison explained how entertaining they'd be in their match, Truth was just acting out what Morrison said with goofy faces. Weird segment to say the least, but it did it's job for me by reminding me that Morrison has more potential than R-Truth.
Before the Truth/Morrison vs. Straight Edge Society match, the Society comes out for Punk to cut a promo. I am really liking him right now as he is really getting solid heel heat. This "savior" persona is working for him, and I like how in this promo, he tied in the World Heavyweight Title as fuel for his crusade. It's nice to see someone not just "obsessed with the title" as a heel. His character wants to use the title as justification of himself as a leader for the WWE universe. It makes perfect sense and I like it.
As for the match, not a bad match, but the highlight was the Undertaker's pyro going off mid-match. This was the second instance of the night as during the Jericho/Edge encounter, the lights flickered. Typical Undertaker stuff to remind all he's facing that he is a dominant force. The match ended when the ref decided that Morrison couldn't go on due to re-injuring the ankle he hurt last week. It'll be interesting to see whether he'll compete on Sunday or whether a replacement will be found. If they do go with a replacement, the leading contenders would be Ezekiel Jackson, Christian, and HBK. I would love for HBK to show up to "end" his retirement if he can get that shot, only to be shut down and further lose it.
After the match, the Society took care of R-Truth after Morrison left to get checked on, and Rey came for the save only to get beaten down. Just a quick aside, but Gallows in his outfit reminds me so much of one of the Bushwackers. I almost thought he was going to start swinging his arms like crazy when he walked. Anyway, Punk is being put over strong and I've said it for a while now, but I think he has just as good a chance at winning on Sunday as anybody else.
Since we didn't get word on Raw, Smackdown's announce team relayed the message that Bret Hart indeed suffered a broken leg and torn ligaments in the car accident last Monday. This should lead to Vince coming out and accepting a match with a crippled man and either Bret and Cena revealing it's a hoax or Bret suffering until he reveals he's healed the week before 'Mania. I can't imagine it going any other way.
A funny backstage segment followed which started with Teddy Long watching footage of Mickie slapping pie out of Michelle McCool's hands and into Vickie Guererro's face and laughing at it. Teddy had the line of the night, saying to Vickie she "don't need no more cottage cheese". Mickie James came in to apologize to Vickie and sympathize with her since they both have been ridiculed about weight (though with Vickie, it's actually justified). Vickie didn't care for an apology and told Mickie that next week she'll be facing Michelle McRib........er McCool as she invokes her rematch clause and Vickie will be guest referee. Mickie is happy to have the match, but not happy that Vickie will be involved. Mickie does really well with these backstage type segments, but her in ring promos and guest commentary are a lot weaker. At least she makes up for it in the ring.
Then we get the weird match of the night. The new Khali//Hardy team adds Matt's possible girlfriend/infatuation Maria for a 6 person mixed tag match with the Hart Dynasty. I actually like the Hardy/Maria pairing as he is a face and actually plays a legit good guy which is good for Maria who usually ends up with heels. The only problem is, she will be written off TV soon for the celebrity apprentice so I wonder if it'll happen and affect Matt's character. Of course, tonight could be the end as Maria got pinned by Natalya to take the loss with easily the ugliest finishing move I've ever seen. Natalya is in the Hart family, and i know she does the Sharpshooter when it makes sense to use a submission, but can we give her a finisher better than a stupid looking spinning clothesline? The girl can wrestle, give her a slam of some sort. Either way, Maria was not happy with losing and walked out ahead of her tag team partners with Matt especially unsure of whether she's mad at herself or at them.
We got our answer with Matt and Maria after the longest Elimination Chamber promo ever. I'm cool with promos for a minute, but it was like 5 minutes. Way too long for my liking. Matt calmed Maria down and was about to kiss her when LayCool interrupted to insult the two losers. They have been acting like high school brats and Matt had the perfect line about it "children, GROW UP!" He then ran after Maria who was insulted by the two childish divas. I'm oddly interested in where this whole thing might go. Will this help Matt's character or just lower him to being a diva valet? I hope it helps him because I've always liked Matt.
The main event featured Batista against Edge.. At first, Batista walked out, which has lately become his modus operandi. Edge grabbed a mic and further solidified his face status claiming "my days of running from fights are over", effectively taking away the heel version of being an opportunist. It took Edge referring to John Cena and calling him spineless for Dave to make his way back to the ring and actually have a match, so after a few minutes of stalling, we finally got a main event. OK match, though Edge still looks like he's working off the ring rust. I kind of feel like this main event was made because both main event caliber stars in the match aren't listed on the Pay Per View. I've heard that the Batista/Edge match might be repeated at the Chamber, but I really don't see a purpose for it. It would simply be filler and a waste of a big match. Then again, this match didn't have a true outcome as after an Edge spear, the lights went out, and when they stay out for more than 5 seconds, you know that when they come back on, Undertaker will appear in the ring. This time he appeared with his hand on the throat of Edge, chokeslamming him as retribution for a spear he received last week. Could we see a face/face 'Mania match between the 2? The seeds are certainly planted. However, not to be outdone, Chris Jericho comes out of nowhere after Undertaker exits and hits the codebreaker on Edge and poses above him. Taker comes back out and they have a long distance staredown to end the show. I think it's clear who the main contenders are in the chamber, and Jericho is certainly giving people reason to believe he'll emerge victorious and give us all the matching we've been waiting for: Edge vs. Jericho. At this point, I'm hoping it doesn't happen due to predictability, but I still would enjoy the match.
Solid episode of Smackdown and I'm glad I found a good version to watch. This show I think did a better job of hyping up the chamber than Raw did and I'm excited for their main event. If nothing else, I learned that I should watch more Smackdown, and now I know that technology is my friend in helping that happen. I'll leave you with the exciting culmination to Smackdown in hopes that it'll kickstart your weekend!
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