Hey yo. Welcome to yet another edition of News & Analysis. There hasn’t been a whole lot of news to cover since my last news-only update, so today I’ll focus on some TV analysis. Let’s get to it…
WWE presented SmackDown this past Thursday night. Overall, I’d say it was an okay show with more talking and less wrestling on the program. Before I get to anything, you might have heard this as well, but WWE actually omitted two matches off the show. At the tapings, The World’s Greatest Tag Team faced the FBI in a 2 on 3 Handicap match as a way of Paul Heyman to get back at the duo for their past. Also, the Basham Brothers defended their tag team titles against Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty. WWE had two choices — cut down on the wrestling or cut down on the talking for the show on Thursday, and they obviously cut off the two matches so they could get all the promos in. SmackDown’s rating is in and the show’s broadcast rating came in at a 3.7, which is a pretty high number that the Thursday nights brand hasn’t done in quite some time. Let’s see if they’ve found a new formula with Paul Heyman as G.M.
I think Heyman proved on SmackDown that he is just amazing when it comes to promo cutting. The man can put over two eggs and a chicken inside the ring if he has to. I enjoyed his promo on McMahon backstage very much. It was indeed a high point of the show for me. It’s pretty obvious that the segment was done to boost McMahon’s ego and once again for the nth time remind us who Vince McMahon is and to remind us all of his accomplishments. However, I feel that the way it was done was tremendous. Heyman is famous for delivering clear-cut promos and that was one above average. I also like that even though we all know how it goes, WWE is portraying Heyman as the manipulator of McMahon on TV. That really makes his G.M. position more important. I just can’t help but wonder what happens when Stephanie comes back.
Matt Morgan and Nathan Jones have arrived. It’s interesting to see what WWE will do with these guys. Matt Morgan has made a name for himself in OVW as one of WWE’s hopefuls for the future. He’s quite popular indeed, so let’s see what he has to offer. I don’t want to think of these two as yet another two big guys the company is pushing on TV only because of their size. Many Internet people feel that way of John Heidenreich, who debuted on RAW. With the addition of Jones and Morgan, those speculations will probably start again. The way I see it, it’s disrespectful to do commentary like that without even giving the athletes a chance to display their talent. So I’ll just be a good boy and wait. J
I don’t like what they did with Eddie Guerrero on SmackDown. If it wasn’t for Eddie’s great promo abilities, I would have hated the segment. I just see no point of bringing in his personal demons and horrible past into a storyline. This is just so not needed. They’ve dropped the ball with Guerrero and that really sucks if you ask me. He’s become SmackDown’s RVD. The segment was saved thanks to his promo abilities, as he was so great on the mic that I had no choice but to get into the program. They’re going to go with a Chavo vs. Eddie match sooner or later and once again I can’t help but scratch my head as to how WWE can waste such a talent like Eddie Guerrero.
It’s good to see WWE put their big players into yet another Survivor match at the PPV. The concept of the PPV has been what’s made it special over the years and different from any other PPV. I’m looking forward to both survivor matches at the PPV. The latest word is, by the way, that Faarooq won’t compete at Survivor Series. The APA member missed out on the SmackDown house shows, selling his beat-down and some are saying that we won’t see him at the PPV. I don’t know if this rumor is entirely true so keep that in mind. The plan is for John Cena to join Kurt Angle’s team and turn face, whereas A-Train would then join up with Brock Lesnar. Again, that’s only a rumor. If it did come true though, I’d love to see Cena go face. I think it’s a nice move that will help him out even more. He’s over with the fans either way.
Other SmackDown thoughts… Every time they have one of their little “skin” contests on SmackDown, Torrie Wilson always has to win. What’s up with that?… Can you believe that they’re actually pushing Bob Holly and the APA? On the flip end of things, isn’t it good that they’re introducing Morgan and Jones again, and they’re putting them in there with the big boys?… Am I the only one who can’t help but have a part of me excited for the Buried Alive match just because of the gimmick?… Can you believe Paul London is on Velocity and working as a tag team with Spanky?… Doesn’t it say something when the man once called “The Human Suplex Machine” is getting pushed in a bath of chocolate?
This will do it for that short update folks. RAW will be airing tomorrow live on SpikeTV. I usually like to give you a short preview, but there really isn’t much to say. I hope that they’ll be able to move along the current run of good shows and that things will work out with elevating feuds for Survivor Series. They’ve started a nice little trend and hopefully we’ll enjoy watching its continuation. I’ll see you in the middle of the week with my thoughts on the show. Until then, have a great week everyone!
Thanks for reading. See ya.
Eddie
