WWE is no longer in Japan, but both shows sparkled this past week, and a big part of that credit has to go to the wonderful fans that attended both shows. I will never forget how terrific the fans behaved and reacted at Raw and Smackdown and I look forward to WWE going back there and taping both shows again. Okay If Raw was outstanding then I will have to say that Smackdown was good, in fact so good that there is really very little for me to complain about.
But first the Forrest Gump ad really did nothing for me, Braveheart I loved, and last night’s Basic Instinct was so good that I have watched it four times today on WWE.com. These Wrestlemania ads are getting better and better. Stacy did a great job, and Christian, Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit were just as fun to watch. When Stacy uncrossed her leg and all three guys reacted that was it for me, especially when asked if they had any more they wanted to ask, Chris Benoit very weakly and quietly replied, “No I’m good.” I could not stop laughing. Stacy seriously and sexually asking Jericho if he has ever been in lingerie pillow fights was hysterical. And as I said Christian asking Stacy if she was into sadomachism just made him all that more creepy. Everyone involved in this scene did a spectacular job. And I loved the ending with Mae Young and Moolah coming out. And watching Mae spread her legs so far out made you feel sorry for those poor interrogators. That smile on her face was priceless. I read today that Pulp Fiction is coming up, and believe me I cannot wait to see that. So PROPS to the WWE creative team and the WWE superstars for doing a hell of a job being so entertaining.
And Smackdown also entertained me last night. Kenzo vs. Eddie may not have been the match of the night, but watching Kenzo at home working the audience was fun. Eddie did everything right, and it was just a nice way to get things going. And last night was the first time EVER than I could get into Kurt Angle and his guys. Well Kurt and Luther. At least Mark Jindrak didn’t stand there laughing so that was a plus. But Luther Reigns did one magnificent job with is very eerie promo. Let’s see he’s had his neck slit from one side of his throat to another, he was in prison locked up for FIVE calendar months and he had been shot. All of this was to show that Luther had no problem taking on Taker his life has been far more brutal and gruesome than anything Taker could do to him. Luther was outstanding; as I said for the first time I could feel something with his character. And I love how he threw in that Heidenreich was weird and couldn’t take the casket match. It’s when he said “I aint scared of no caskets, and I damn sure aint scared of no Undertaker,” that’s when I knew Luther aint scared I mean isn’t scared and Taker and Luther will be feuding. After what Taker went through with this Heidenreich angle Luther will be a welcome site. This was a very good segment thanks to Luther and just another part of Smackdown that worked very well last night.
Luther and Mark Jindrak vs. Bashams was the next match and it was for the tag team titles. This one started out okay but really didn’t take off because the Undertaker made a surprise appearance. This was another segment that came off well. Taker did his surprise in the ring routine while Jindrak and Luther were waiting for him to come out of the entrance. When they turned there he was. And remember how nothing could scare Luther, well that didn’t seem to be the case when he pushed Jindrak right into Taker and left. While Taker stared at Reigns Taker took care of Jindrak by hitting him with the clothesline, and then ended with a choke slam while watching Luther’s reaction. I can’t tell you how much this appealed to me maybe because there was no Heidenreich involved.
One of the best matches of the night had to be Funaki vs. Chavo Guerrero. First of all watching the fans react to their home town hero was touching and even more touching was watching Funaki’s reaction to all of this. Chavo and Funaki gave their all, and as I said between these guys and the crowd you couldn’t have asked for a more exciting segment. Okay John Cena’s chain gang was in full force but his rap about Orland Jordan or should I say OJ was crap total crap. It was based on OJ Simpson and the 1994 murders, whoever came up with this should be clothleslined. It’s time to let Cena write his own raps like the good old days. Because last nights was one of the worst ones ever. Cena beat Jordan to go to the next round in the number one contender-ship tournament. This match was okay but it was Cena’s presence that made this really hot, the fans were totally loving this man.
I can’t tell you how much I loved the main event. Kurt Angle worked an almost 20 minute match against Rey Mysterio. What a feeling seeing Kurt out there and not doing his Kurt Angle Invitational or doing a run in. This was a legit match and Rey and Kurt ended Smackdown on such a positive note. Both men definitely shined, and these two have always has strong chemistry in the ring. The match just got better the longer it went on and toward the end there were so many near falls that things really got exciting. This was my match of the night; Kurt defeated Rey giving him a spot in No Way Out for the number one contender-spot for the WWE title at Wrestlemania. A super main event.
Now you probably noticed that I left out two things. The first being the Kimono match between Torrie and Hiroko. There really is nothing to say about this one. And I left out JBL being “accidentally” shot with a tranquilizer gun by the now departed Amy Weber. While this may have been funny at times believe me it got dragged out too long and maybe I was just too stupid not to realize this was a ruse to get Big Show out to the ring and ambush him. This whole thing did nothing for me. But everything else was so good on the show that Smackdown definitely gets thumbs up from me.
Okay just so you all know WWE.COM now has all three Wrestlemania commercials on their site, so you can go there and check them out. There’s a chance I won’t have a Sunday column since we are invited out for the day. But I will be back on Tuesday with my Raw thoughts. Raw is live from Cincinnati, Ohio, and I know I’m waiting for more interaction between Triple H and Batista, and I’m curious to see if Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho will continue where they left off last week, with one maybe making a heel turn. And I want to see if Christian and Randy have a confrontation that will start up their feud for Wrestlemania. So I’m hoping Raw will have a lot going on.
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
