If you were to question the average wrestling fan about the vest wrestling program on television today, much of the discussion would be geared towards the programs that compete directly on Monday nights. What is often forgotten is that the WWE has another wrestling program with quite a solid roster airing on Friday nights on my9. Though it is not the ideal time for programming, this show is important in the WWE lineup, especially when it comes to Wrestlemania. A number of matchups on the card for the big show feature performers from the "blue brand" and limiting oneself to Raw would limit the ability to fully appreciate the card. Admittedly, it isn't easy to catch a show in prime time on a Friday night, especially as a young adult, but if one is a wrestling junkie as I am, it is certainly worth finding on the internet or TiVoing. With all that said, this version of Smackdown was not quite the quality show I've come to expect.
The show opened up with the Mysterio family making their way to the ring. You never know what to make of a segment with a family when the appearance of that family hasn't been preempted by an action. In this case, Rey brought his family out because he wanted to show the WWE universe how hard it is to be a wrestler and he didn't want to miss his daughter's birthday. It was nice to see the WWE universe start a birthday chant before Rey even asked them to, but just as the birthday song was in full swing, Killswitch Engage blared through the sound system and out came CM Punk and his "family". Weird segment where Punk tried to humiliate Mysterio in front of his family as a way to coerce him to fight Punk, but it was lost on me as the whole thing lacked a motive. I get that they are feuding, but why? Feuds only work for me if there's a logical reason behind them. Call me old fashioned, but I'd like a reason for Punk to want to fight Mysterio. While this segment certainly gave Mysterio a reason to want to fight Punk at Wrestlemania, I don't understand why Punk wanted to fight Mysterio in the first place. I'm assuming it stems back to the Elmination Chamber where Mysterio eliminated Punk, but TELL ME THAT! Promos are for giving justification for anger and I haven't gotten that out of Punk yet. As high as I have been on Punk, he's not selling this feud well for me at all. He did however, get a lot of heel heat from this particular encounter by degrading an entire family and singing happy birthday in the creepiest possible voice. If anything, I buy him more as a child rapist than a holier than thou straight edge savior after that segment.
After being thoroughly creeped out, my spirits turned right around as the Miz had a match on Smackdown. Of course, what excited me was Miz coming out with a mic in hand. Not as exciting as usual, but he basically told us that ShoMiz will both take out Truth and Wisdom in singles matches because they are awesome. In a reversal of NXT, the rookies looked on as their pros locked up as Miz took on R-Truth. Decent match and I can definitely see the chemistry carrying over to Wrestlemania. I loved the ending as Miz's rookie stopped Miz from cheating to get the win with his feet on the ropes. This led to R-Truth hitting his spinning elbow finisher for the victory. The only part of that sequence I don't like is R-Truth's finisher. It's basically a jumping elbow that he hits and then corkscrews his body afterwords. It looks cool on Truth's side but it doesn't look like it should hurt an opponent at all. The one thing I fear with Truth and Wisdom is that their finishers are lame. They will need a team finisher that's a bit more devastating. Howver, the result of the match was great as Truth gets the victory for some confidence, but it doesn't make Miz look bad as he was distracted and wasn't just clearly beaten.
We find out next that Vince McMahon has "wiped the slate clean" again for Drew McIntyre so that "officially" he is still undefeated. Vince has also informed Teddy Long that he has set up a winner take all match for Drew in which the winner gets the IC belt and a spot in Money in the Bank. Had the stipulation not included the belt, I might have called an upset will somebody not seen in a while, but given the stipulation wouldn't allow McIntyre to lose and still have an IC match and Wrestlemania, it was pretty obvious he'd get an easy match and get into Money in the Bank, bringing the total participants to a record 9.
Drew would in fact get the victory over a local jobber, not even a WWE jobber! I guess they are painting Drew as boss' pet and thus, will get anything he wants, but at the same time, he lost twice while guys like Swagger and MVP got in with victories in under a minute as well. As much as this storyline was I'm sure made to get McIntyre heat, I think it made him lose credibility as a champion along the way. I can't imagine him winning the Money in the Bank, but obviously Vince being high on him isn't just a storyline so you never know.
From a poor segment, we move on to a surprisingly good one. The Big Show was set to take on John Morrison, and to say I was skeptical about this one on one matchup would be an understatement. I was wrong though, as these two worked really, really well together. I loved the psychology in this match, as Morrison was aggressive but took a long time to outsmart Big Show to get him off of his feet. I loved the counters Show had, and this match just had great flow to it. When you see a match like this, you start to believe that John Morrison could be a main event talent. Then you remember how he sounds on a microphone.......Anyway, the only bad part about this matchup was the finish as it has been done before. Morrison springboards off the ropes into the knockout punch for Show to get the victory. I would have liked to have seen something more innovative for the finish, but it did the job, as Morrison comes off looking strong and unafraid, and Big Show comes off showing that his punch is still the great equalizer. The build for this tag title match is going really well, especially given that it's one of the few stories being featured on both Raw and Smackdown. These matches certainly made me more interested in their Wrestlemania match, and if that's the case, they more than did their job.
An interesting segment followed, as Teddy Long and Tiffany reunited. Tiffany is cute, but she needs to develop a character more than just smiling all the time. Her acting once Vicki Guerrero came in was horrible. Despite the bad acting, it was a good interaction as Vicki thought Tiffany might take her job. The truth was that Tiffany was joining the brand as a Diva, not management, so to show her superiority, Vicki booked Tiffany against the champion, Michelle McCool.
Before we get that match, we get the Hart Dynasty against Cryme Tyme for the 693rd time. However, this one barely got started, as merely minutes into the matchup, the lights went out and Undertaker emerged in the ring and hit all of his finishers on each of the men. I didn't like this segment at all. I get that Undertaker is a Smackdown talent, but Shawn's schedule doesn't allow him to appear on Smackdown (he does something with the church that I read a while back). I get that this is arguably the biggest story and match on the card, but I don't love a segment like that. It destroys the men in the ring and it makes Undertaker look dominant, but what next? Will Shawn interrupt a match and just superkick everyone? I like direct confrontation better than 'sending a message", but I guess it did its job, as Taker showed all the different ways he could beat Shawn and pointed ominously at the Wrestlemania sign. Not a bad segment, but just not my cup of tea.
A little while back when I did my review of the last ever ECW broadcast, I said that I can see Tiffany doing well as an in ring competitor, and I stand by that, especially after her display on this night. She came out with the odds stacked against her, given that she was taking on the champion, who also came out with Layla and Vicki. I must say that it makes me sick to see Vicki come out with a "simply flawless" tanktop. When you can see the rolls through the shirt, clearly you are flawed. I'm just sayin'. Anyway, Tiffany looked great, except I'm not sure her tennis skirt is good ring wear. Her weak look didn't take away from her aggressive fighting though, as she really took it to McCool until Vicki got involved for the DQ. Not a bad debut for Tiffany, but the bigger story was what happened after the match. Tiffany gets beat down until Beth Phoenix gets the save. The crowd was surprisingly really behind this, especially when Beth closelined Vicki. I think Mickie James' injury forced Beth to turn fully face, but since the fans seem to be behind it, it's not so bad. I guess we'll get McCool/Phoenix at 'Mania (I hope), as it would be the best option short of the triple threat I originally proposed. Hell, I'll take anything over one of those stupid Diva segments we've gotten at the last couple of Wrestlemanias.
Before the main event return of the Highlight Reel, we got the "main event" match of.........Kane vs. Luke Gallows? Average match, and one I certainly was not into. Kane is in Money in the Bank, he should be getting matches against other MITB competitors to push that match. Of course, this match wasn't to sell MITB, it was to sell the Punk/Mysterio feud, as Punk's interference at the end brought Mysterio out, walking slowly and angrily until he got to Punk and unleashed rage! I guess that was the "time and place" Mysterio was referring to earlier, and it's clear now that these two will face off at Wrestlemania. The biggest positive I can take from this is that had Punk and Gallows won the Unified Tag Belts, we would have had to watch Gallows in the ring at Wrestlamania, and he still reminds me of a Bushwacker in there, so him merely standing at ringside is a good thing!
From a good feud to an even better one, the show ended with the return of the Highlight Reel. If you remember back to 2008 when Jericho was feuding with Shawn Michaels, the set was destroyed and Jericho vowed to never host the Highlight Reel again. Of course, when you are in the main event at Wrestlemania and need something to further a feud, you'll hope that people have a short term memory. Of course, the set was just an added element to another war of words between two verbal generals, and although their promos have been similar, the feud has progressed very nicely. I like how the fans have gotten behind Edge's spear chant and how Edge has been playing to it. It was also great for the feud that Jericho finally got the upper hand. It was questionable for him to be the champion and constantly be succombing to spears from the challenger, but he finally outsmarted Edge and countered the spear with a belt shot to the head. He then taunted the crowd with his version of the spear chant which was such a perfect heel tactic. Jericho reallly is just a fantastic performer in so many ways, and this feud is really shaping up. We know these men have the ability to put on a fantastic match at Wrestlemania, but having a heated feud going in only strengthens the resolve of the match. This was a great way to end the show.
Overall, I thought there were some definite miss segments and more focus could have been placed on Wrestlemania build, but two major feuds got significant TV time, and that in and of itself almost makes the show. Both of those feuds should have excellent payoffs, as the four men involved are all excellent workers. Wrestlemania continues to look better and better and I really believe that as a fan, every show WWE puts on from here until the 28th is must see TV. Of course, the next time the WWE goes on the air, Stone Cold Steve Austin will be there, so that only heightens the excitement. Now is the time to tune in to the WWE. That is, if Smackdown can put together a fully solid show and not just excellence in some segments followed by bouts of mediocrity.
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