Yo. You’re reading News and Analysis, for which I thank you! I hope everybody out there is having a great Memorial Day weekend! With that said, buckle up (remember — “Click It or Ticket”), and enjoy the ride.
WWE presented that one show they like to call SmackDown! on Thursday night. A lot of mixed reactions on-line, and a lot to say on it. It was a prime example of what’s been going on over at the SmackDown! brand — you have plenty of talent willing to work superb matches, but absolutely no tale behind it, as storylines have been horrible. Mr. America continued to be the main focus on the show. Why, I can’t tell you, but he did. However, in what was some great in-ring action, Team Angle faced Eddie Guerrero and Tajiri in a rematch from Judgment Day, John Cena defeated Spanky, Matt Hardy was defeated by Chris Benoit, and Rey Mysterio defeated Crash Holly and Shannon Moore in a handicap match. Elsewhere on the show, The Undertaker made his return, Sable poured some water on Tazz, Zack Gowen had a one-on-one interview with the worst reporter in history in Stephanie McMahon, and Adam Gorzelsky and half the United States almost had an orgasm when they found out that neither Big Show nor A-Train were on the program. SmackDown! also had a new look, as a new video, theme song, and graphics were used. I enjoy them for now. For more on SmackDown!, you can always check TBL’s SmackDown! Showdown by Foz, who always does a good job. Ratings are in, and the show scored a 3.3 composite rating, up 0.2 from last week’s 3.1. With the TV season gone, this rating should start improving, that is, only if WWE actually does something interesting enough on Thursday night.
WWE continues to push their Mr. America/Vince McMahon feud as the main story on SmackDown!. However, when the main players on a show are Vince, Stephanie, Hogan, and Roddy Piper, it really doesn’t make you be that excited over it. Nonetheless, the feud continues in full power, and next Thursday Hogan America will have to take a lie detector test. I am going to go ahead and ask the question — If Vince had the power to order Mr. America to take a test upon a loss from Sean O’Haire, why didn’t he order that if Mr. America loses, he has to remove his mask? Makes more sense to me. Anyway, in the same storyline, WWE has now introduced Zack Gowen on TV, and the young man did a great job on SmackDown! in an interview segment with Stephanie McMahon. However, Stephanie completely ruined his debut, as she placed herself in a role she shouldn’t be in. It’s no secret that she’s been telling writers she wants more TV time, and has even complained that at Judgment Day Eric Bischoff and Steve Austin got plenty of TV time, while she didn’t. (And I guess now we know why we saw that WEIRD segment with Triple H.) Stephanie was the worst “interviewer” ever, making pauses while talking, laughing at the most inappropriate times (when Gowen said his dad left them when he was just a kid, Stephanie found it funny), basically almost killing the segment. I feel Gowen pulled through though, and I’m excited to see how he’ll be involved on the show. Like I said before Judgment Day, it looks like they’re headed in the Gowen/Hogan vs. Piper/O’Haire direction but ultimately into another Hogan vs. McMahon match. I hope they get it over with soon.
In what was probably the best news out of SmackDown!, Kurt Angle will be back in action in two weeks, as Kurt makes his return on the June 03 taping of SmackDown! in Anaheim, CA. I have nothing else to say here, besides once again remind everyone that Kurt Angle is simply amazing. The man is back in action in two months after an injury that takes a year to recover from, his will to compete and love for the business is just unbelievable. Kurt is definitely one of the greatest WWE has ever had.
There’s plenty of wondering already on-line what WWE will choose to do with Kurt. He’s portrayed in a positive manner in his promo, which is understandable as he’s a top superstar on SmackDown!, but the common feeling continues to be that Kurt will return as a heel opposing Brock Lesnar, pretty much back to how things were before he took his leave of absence. A rematch with Brock is the next logical thing to ponder over. Most WWE officials are pushing for the company to keep the match for SummerSlam, instead of for the first-ever SmackDown!-only Vengeance PPV in July, but word has it that Vinnie Mac is pushing for it to happen at Vengeance since it’s expected for the buy-rate of the show to be rather poor. If WWE does indeed save the match for SummerSlam, we’ll end up with what could be a huge PPV with Goldberg taking on Triple H from RAW and Angle taking on Lesnar from SmackDown!. Time will tell.
Elsewhere on SmackDown!, The Undertaker made his return to the ring. ‘Taker has been at 100% for a week or two now, but held off his return as he wanted to spend some time with his wife and newborn daughter at home. He’s now back in full force and helped out Brock Lesnar while he was taking a beating in the hands of the FBI on Thursday night. It’s expected for The Undertaker to either start a singles feud with John Cena, or go on to feud with the FBI and possibly get Nathan Jones involved in the feud again. I’m hoping they go with a Cena feud as John is still fresh off his push to fight Lesnar. Also, FBI can be used in so many other feuds, since the trio is very fresh and at it’s peak right now. As far as WWE goes where it comes to having Brock being helped or saved by someone when taking a beating, they’ve turned him into somewhat of a wuss. Lesnar used to be portrayed as a monster, but now WWE is making him more human than ever, having him show more emotions, more humanity, and well, less power overall.
Rey Mysterio defeated Crash Holly and Shannon Moore on SmackDown!, which granted him a shot at Matt Hardy’s Cruiserweight Championship. You might have heard that or not, but Rey suffered a minor groin injury during the match, which was also obvious when the program aired. He’s not expected to miss a lot of in-ring action, if any for that matter, but with Vengeance (the SmackDown!-only PPV) being two months away, he can skip a week or two the most. WWE is once again trying to get their cruiserweight division going. I want to give them the chance, but then again I don’t. I’m just sick of putting my hopes in every time they attempt to do that and then getting no result. Well, hopefully, with the hiring of Ultimo Dragon things can move on, and with Rey now full-time competing in the division. Eh, I am loyal after all, I’ll give them the chance!
Speaking of injuries, things are not looking good for Chavo Guerrero. He’ll miss at least four months of in-ring action due to his torn biceps injury, which means that Eddie Guerrero will probably be headed into singles competition soon. I definitely think that’s good on the other hand, because Eddie (as proven on SmackDown! over and over) is simply an amazing athlete, and a great wrestler. I must say that I’m a huge fan of his, but I’m also a huge fan of Tajiri, and I love to see them as a tag team. We’ll see how long it will last but in the future I would look for Eddie to FINALLY get his big push as a singles wrestler, whereas Tajiri would focus on the cruiserweight division, where he’ll be able to do what he does best — impress us all. I’d look for the two to hang on to the belts for a while but with Kurt Angle returning, probably WWE will want the gold on Team Angle again in the near future.
Yes, I agree — having Sable pour water on Tazz was the stupidest thing WWE could have ever done with that storyline. They could have had Sable strip or take off something she was wearing or something like that to make feel Tazz guilty or having him have a comeback, even if it’s a funny one that would embarrass him, but I’d rather see him get embarrassed in a ha-ha way, rather than what they did on SmackDown!. Now Tazz can’t do anything to get back at Sable, as not only is she not a legit 100% wrestler, but she’s a woman. They totally killed the way they’ve handled Tazz as a commentator who potentially shows off his other side. Just weird.
Again SmackDown! saw some great in-ring action, but the show needs to build more storylines behind it. That’s what made SmackDown! so great when Paul Heyman was around. You had guys fighting but there was always a nice story behind it. Even when it was a 30-minute match between Eddie Guerrero and Edge, they built it as “This is not for a title, this is for the audience’s entertainment, and for the will of these to compete” type of deal. SmackDown! has completely lost that flavor it had. However, I must say that the wrestlers still bust their asses and work hard in the ring, regardless, and that’s appreciated. That part of SmackDown! I continue to enjoy!
Well I’m done for this edition. Have thoughts or comments? Drop me a line at Levski11@aol.com. Later.
Thanks for reading. See ya.
Eddie
