Sorry for the delay with my Smackdown column. I had another root canal done on Thursday and last night I wasn’t in any mood to talk about the show. Even though there wasn’t a hell of lot of wrestling and a very long segment I enjoyed the show and I especially enjoyed the Philie crowd. For some reason this group just stuck out as one of the highlights of the show. They helped make Smackdown a good show, not as hot as Raw but still a good show.
Smackdown began where Raw left off. Opening with the video of Dave Batista reeking havoc on Triple H and signing the Raw contract. This was good because not only were we all reminded that Batista is going against Hunter at Wrestlemania, but it also reminded us it’s John Cena vs. JBL at Wrestlemania and Smackdown can now focus on Cena and JBL heating things up. The opening match got things off to an even better start. Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero vs. yes, The Bashams. Dear God the Bashams are becoming the La Resistance of Smackdown. By that I mean there really are no other tag teams at least heel tag teams to put on the show, so here we go with another round with Doug and Danny. This however was a good match and during this, the crowd gave us a nice preview of just how hot they would be throughout the show.
Okay even though the Kurt Angle Invitation has never won me over, it did this past week.
First my overgrown Olympic heel Kurt wasn’t very receptive to the crowd. When the crowd was chanting you suck, Kurt’s told them to be quiet, he wasn’t in the mood. I have said this many times, Kurt can’t play the bad ass guy; no he patented the spoiled brat character, where he’s the best and if he doesn’t get his own way he can’t cope. And that’s why Kurt’s invitational shined Thursday night. Instead of the hometown guy just saying his name this guy, Matt Martel wanted to ask Kurt a question. And the question was how did it feel to lose to John Cena at No Way Out? Watching Kurt react without talking just facially was outstanding. You could see the humiliation that he felt. How dare this “kid” ask him something like that? That was it for Martel; Kurt made him pay over and over again. Each time Kurt and a three count Angle would lift Matt’s head and give punish him even more. And after the victory, Tazz popped into the ring to ask Kurt about Shawn Michaels challenge. Kurt took the mic waited for a few seconds and then threw it down and walked out. This was a very good segment, not a long one just perfectly done. This just made me want to see Kurt and Shawn go at it as the weeks build up to Wrestlemania.
I’m going to say right off that Heidenreich reading his poem was worthless. This character has gone as far as it’s going to go. Thank God this didn’t take up much time, but JBL’s celebration did seem to go on way too long. I loved the way it was set up. You have all these “beautiful” people invited to the party; ice sculptures, and a quartet. This was set up has the classiest celebration in WWE history. And then there was JBL barely able to walk due to his injuries at No Way Out from the Barbed Wire Cage match. Again, JBL carried this off so well playing the very injured wrestler yet the very popular wrestler in the world of wealth. Making things even more fun was listening to the vocalist singing opera, and JBL just soaking it all up. It wasn’t exactly what the majority of wrestling fans wanted to hear. But this was done for humor and I liked it. What I didn’t like was that this all could have been done in half the time. Once JBL got in the ring, we had to hear the singer and then he went on for a while and he also unveiled a portrait of himself. The humor started to slowly disappear as this segment went on. I will say this all seemed to light a fire under the crowd because the Cena chants were coming non stop and they were nice and loud. Finally this segment started to come to an end when a pissed off Big Show made his way out there to take care of JBL and his cabinet. Things definitely picked up. Show destroyed the food, the decorations everything that was out there. He then got into the ring went right for JBL, but naturally the cabinet took care of Show, and that’s when Cena made his way out and did his thing, attacking JBL, Jordan, and The Bashams. The following really had me laughing. Cena took the portrait and slammed it on top of JBL’s head. JBL was down and when he got up barely able to stand, he immediately went over to the portrait to check to see if it was okay. This was hysterical, the man could hardly stand yet the portrait was all he could think about. So you see this had a lot of fun things in it just went on way too long. Like Batista on Raw, John Cena looked like a million bucks taking out JBL and his cabinet. This man was so over it was just great watching and listening to the fans. The segment ended with Theodore Long coming out and making a tag team match with JBL and Jordan vs. Big Show and Cena. That would be the main event.
Another nice match but way too fast was Chavo defending his title against Funaki. I guess the cruiserweights are not going to get the time they deserve to wrestle. Like the diva crap on Sunday, JBL’s segment could have been cut and the extra time could have been given to these two guys. As I said this was a good match but it ended way too quickly. Chavo won and Paul London showed up and went after Chavo. London looked like a guy that had some issues with Chavo. See I’m all for that but I just know in time this feud will end up on Velocity like all the other cruiserweight feuds seem to end up. Undertaker looked more alive on Smackdown than at No Way Out. His match against Luther Reigns and Mark Jindrak was okay. I think what I liked was that Luther coward out and left Jindrak in the ring all by himself. Taker won again, but it was Luther and Jindrak’s fight that took place after that I found interesting. Is this a ruse or is Jindrak going to be kicked out of Angle’s stable? I for one wouldn’t mind since he just doesn’t fit, but after the loss to Taker Reigns took out Jindrak and the brawl was on. I found it kind of funny that this was one of the only times the fans were quiet, and I think that’s because Jindrak just hasn’t gotten over.
Now this is Cool, so you know I must be talking about Carlito Cool. Man this kid has me in the palm of his hand. I am so crazy about the character, I don’t know if it’s the accent, the apple spitting or that baby face but Cool is definitely cool. And HOLLA HOLLA, Theodore Long will remain the GM, thanks to Linda McMahon’s announcement. Do you know what really got to me during this? It was when Long was in the ring and the fans started chanting his name. Hearing that was amazing, and I think Long was totally overwhelmed and touched by the fans. So playa is staying on and I’m all over that. Enough of my hip-hop talk, I’m sure I screwed it up. Now it’s on to the main event. JBL and Jordan vs. Big Show and John Cena. This match did just what he needed too, it entertained and it just put Cena right out there and that’s what the fans want. So this might not have been the match of the night but it was good as was Smackdown. I have a feeling Cena and JBL are going to add a lot of humor to their feud and I really feel that as the weeks go on they are going to make Smackdown a show you don’t want to miss.
Now can I just throw this in? I don’t know how many of you know or care but Wrestlemania 22 is going to be here in Chicago. I cannot tell you how excited I am, and yes I am planning on being there. This is like a dream come true and the only ones that are going to suffer will be my son and husband because that’s all I will be talking about. Trust me I haven’t stopped talking about it since I read the news on Wednesday, it’s going to be a long 14 months especially for them.
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
