It must be Friday, because my Smackdown thoughts are again rather negative, but Impact’s show was one of the best I’ve seen in a while. So as much as I dread talking about Smackdown at least I can start things off with a badabing badabang, okay I think you get my drift. Things thankfully aren’t all bad in this one. Oh and guess who wants to come back to wrestling? I’ll end with that one, while it’s no surprise; it’s still a little shocking.
It’s been a while since I’ve watched Impact, mainly because of TV scheduling or just my lack of remembering. I definitely remembered today and truthfully because I’ve missed so much I didn’t know what to expect. I was surprised to view a very entertaining show. In fact I can’t complain about a damn thing because the matches were done well and everyone that was on was used well. After a dismal Smackdown I can’t tell you how uplifting it was too spend an hour watching Impact.
The opening match with Mickey Batts vs. Chris Daniels worked very well. It’s the first time I’m seeing Daniels without his partner Elix Skipper. And now that Daniels has turned heel, I think that’s a perfect role for him. Batts and Daniels as I said put on a nice opening match which definitely set the tone for a very good show. Daniels beat Batts but he seemed to want more and handed Batts some more punishment. I’m sure the heel Daniels has much more to come as the weeks
and months go on. Now I’m very happy to say that the backstage segment between Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and DDP was done well. It was a very short segment but both Nash and Hall were able to get their smart ass remarks in about his loss on Sunday to Raven, and DDP was able to counter act and get a few jabs of his own in. This was a perfect way to keep the veterans on the show yet without over kill.
My favorite match of the show? Yeah it was Michael Shane and Kazarian taking on AMA. You could just feel the excitement when these four guys hit the ring, and they came through with flying colors. And it was nice that this match wasn’t rushed, sure it could have gone on longer but at least it wasn’t a one-two minute match so I cannot complain at all. When Glen Gilbert came out to wrestle Monty Brown I said to myself ah for once I’ll finally get to see a lengthy match with Brown, you know not a squash. Well I was wrong this was done before you could blink, but I will say Brown has grown on me, even though I see very little of him on Impact. His enthusiasm if off the page and you can just see how the crowd has taken to him. So another squash, but yet a super way to get the fans going. Again I was not really able to watch Jeff Jarrett and Dusty Rhodes interact. Notice how I always get phone calls just at the right time. All I got out of it is that next week thanks to Dusty Jarrett will be defending his title and I saw Jarrett just stare. Okay that worked for me. I watched Raven and DDP backstage but I was kind of lost with what was going on since I didn’t see Sunday’s ppv. But watching Raven and Erik Watts discuss DDP was okay, I take it that Watts has big plans for Page.
The main event with AJ Styles vs. Hector Garza was sweet. This was a number one contender’s match for the world champion. I like Garza’s style and of course AJ always comes off well. And thankfully we got almost 10 minutes of this baby. I remember a few weeks ago when every match on Impact was no more than a couple of minutes, it’s nice to see that today wrestling was the theme. But aback to the match, Garza beat AJ, even though AJ thought he won, and as the show ended it was AJ staring in disbelief at Garza and Garza is on his way to going for the title next week. Impact should be this much fun each week, well it was for a while, then it lost some steam but today the show proved to me that things are going in the right direction.
The show going in the wrong direction is Smackdown. A show that I thought was coming back to life is again becoming so blah so boring to watch. You know I’m not even going to go through the show, I am going to just talk about three highlights of the show and then just hope that next week Smackdown can bounce back from the horrible trend it’s been on. The 7 man Cruiserweight Battle Royal might not have been the best ever but with all the talent in the ring it definitely had its moments. While I could question why Chavo and Kidman’s feud died or Paul London and Kidman’s feud died I would prefer to say that Funaki, Chavo, Kidman, Shannon Moore, Nunzio and Paul London put on a nice match all trying to get that spot against Spike Dudley for the Cruiserweight title on Sunday. The biggest surprise at least for me was Funaki coming out the winner. I don’t know if he has a chance on Sunday but watching him smile and celebrate put a smile on my face. Another match that put a smile on my face was RVD and Rey beating Kenzo and Renee Dupree and winning the tag team titles. Now I know this was the 50th time these four have wrestled against each other, but again I loved this one and it was by far the match of the night for me. And now Rey and RVD will be defending these titles against yes for the 51st time Suzuki and Dupree at Armageddon. I can’t say that appeals to me but their Smackdown match gets a big thumbs up from me. And finally I thought JBL and his cabinet, Orlando Jordan, and the Bashams vs. Eddie Guerrero vs. Taker vs. Booker was booked very well. I’m want to compliment every guy that was out there they all shined during this one including Taker who wasn’t in much but when he was he delivered. And let me just add that Eddie not only had it in the ring but he had it out of the ring as well last night, as did Carlito Caribbean Cool. It’s a good character and hopefully he’s going to be able to keep CCC going strong without wrestling since he did an interview and said he won’t be back in the ring for another 3-4 months. But I really believe Carlito has the personality to make things work even without wrestling. So there you have it the highlights from Smackdown.
Now let me tell you who wants back? I’ll give you a few clues. He gave the finger to the fans at MSG last year at Wrestlemania. He didn’t like the traveling schedule in the WWE. He badmouthed wrestling and he basically just left the company and the fans hanging. Give up? Yeah Brock Lesnar supposedly wants back in. If you go to this link http://www.startribune.com/stories/507/5129632-2.html and go to the very bottom of the page there is one line about Brock, but it says it all. Check it out. I knew this day would come but I just hope if Vince takes give him the world, let Brock work his ass off to get back on top again. Okay I will be back on Sunday with Armageddon picks. I’ll tell you one right now, JBL isn’t losing that title. See I’m a mind reader.
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