Last week I wanted no part of talking about Smackdown. Last night I couldn’t wait to share my thoughts with all of you. Like Raw, Smackdown was a totally winning show.
Off hand I can’t think of one thing that I didn’t like. Everything clicked last night. It looks like after a successful pay per view, Judgment Day, Smackdown was able to keep things going beautifully. And the Milwaukee crowd was excellent, not as excellent as we are in Chicago, but right up there. Okay just kidding they were a very hot crowd last night.
Carlito kicked things off by giving us Carlito’s Cabana. And Carlito had one of the best guests you could ask for, Carlito Caribbean Cool. I’ll tell you this was good. Again CCC had those “must see” facial expressions, and watching him brag about beating Big Show at Judgment Day was extremely funny. I will also say Matt Morgan as Carlito’s bodyguard works for me. In fact I like him in that role very much. I’m glad the show opened with this and I also enjoyed Theodore Long coming out and putting Carlito in his place. Long had his moments during this as well. Carlito was upset with Long for interrupting his show, and Long popped with a good one. He told CCC if his stuttering friend steps on his feet than Matt will be suspended. Long stuttered the word suspended, which was Theodore’s way of putting Morgan in his place. Again during all of this Carlito was “on” and it all worked so well. Theodore also mentioned that there would be a Winner’s Choice Battle Royal. The winner of the match could face anyone of his choice. Carlito was all ears when he heard about this match, since he was ready to face John Cena for the title. But before this match Long booked a rematch with Carlito facing Big Show. Naturally Carlito was very upset, but Long was extremely happy. This segment set the tone for what was to come, and believe me it was all good.
I have to say Rey Mysterio’s interview with Josh Matthews might have been short, but it certainly was effective. Josh wondered if Rey was physically able to participate in the Battle Royal. Rey came right back very angry and very focused about making sure Eddie got what he deserved. Rey was determined to take Eddie out for all the mental and physical abuse Guerrero had caused him. This told a great story, because you know the feud isn’t dead yet, and it’s only a matter of time before Rey turns things around and takes Guerrero down and down big. The goal for Mysterio last night was to win that Battle Royal and then go after his former friend, Eddie Guerrero. The first match of the night was a BEAUT! MNM the reigning champs took on Bob Holly and Charlie Haas.
This was for the tag team titles, and even though MNM wasn’t losing it didn’t matter.
These four guys put on a classic tag team match, and I know I keep saying this, but Bob Holly might not be one of my favorites, but you team him up with someone decent, like Charlie Haas and Holly is amazing to watch out there. Haas last night looked to have a lot of life in him which I’m hoping is the beginning of something big to come.
Haas seemed to be the focus of this match, showing nothing but detest and anger toward Mercury, Nitro and Melina. And there’s not doubt in my mind that Haas has such great potential in the ring. And as far as Joey Mercury and Johnny Nitro these guys are looking like total vets. Like they have been together for years. You add Melina to this duo and they all gel beautifully. Watching all of these guys along with Melina makes me feel that the tag team division is slowing coming back. It’s no longer boring or aggravating watching the tag team division on Smackdown, it’s back to being a lot of fun. The match ended with a DQ, when Nitro came in and slammed Holly with a chair. That’s when Haas looked like he was out for blood. This was I believe one of the best matches of the night.
Booker T and Sharmell had their on air time being interviewed by Steve Romero. Let me say this, I have no problem with Sharmell being on the show. Teaming her up with her husband as rejuvenated Booker and I love it. What I don’t want to see is the Sharmell that over acts. She’s all comedy to me, and comes off fine with her humor and perkiness. It’s her so call dramatics’ that I don’t like and that’s one thing they need to watch. Over exposure of Sharmell is definitely not a good thing. But their interview last night was fine. Booker and Sharmell were all smiles thinking about Booker’s win over Kurt Angle at Judgment Day. For Sharmell being able to slap and attack Kurt at the pay per view was like frosting on a cake. That’s what this interview did, he showed a gloating couple that got the last laugh on Kurt. Ha, ha little did they know that would not be the case. But I’ll get into that in a little bit. Okay I did not see Judgment Day but I read a lot of feedback, and so many of you were nice enough to tell me how you felt about it and it seems obvious that the I Quit match with John Cena vs. JBL made Cena an official WWE superstar.
This man seems to have made his mark after the great performance against JBL. And JBL was right up there so the following segment was one of the strongest of the show last night. First the WWE champion John Cena came out to a Milwaukee crowd that could not cheer loud enough for him. He was extremely serious at first talking about the match, after a few minutes he loosened up and started making fun of JBL. JBL then came out barely able to walk and started running his mouth off about Cena being like Curt Cobain and Mike Tyson that like them he will implode and crash and JBL will be waiting for that to happen. JBL continued to insult Cena and then things got little humorous thanks to John Cena. Cena started to tease JBL about something nice for his legacy, but the moment was gone and Cena started to leave. JBL was dying to know what Cena had and started to play nice with John Cena. He begged the guy to show him and finally Cena agreed. And we all got to see Cena’s video tribute. What started out as something serious turned into a big joke with footage continuously repeated of JBL saying I Quit during their match on Sunday. Cena told JBL is legacy would be that he was a quitter, and again to the fans delight Cena was cheered. As I said this was a very good segment and listen I know a lot of you will not like what I’m going to say, but it’s an opinion and I want to say that watching Cena the last several weeks maybe even in the last few months, I’m seeing a guy that is almost another Rock.
Cena is just loaded with personality, he knows how to get the fans with him, and after last night I really believe that Cena is now THE top guy on Smackdown, this is his show. Cena has a way of being serious, then can make fun of the best and keep the fans interested in whatever comes out of his mouth. I do think that Sunday’s match put this man over so big that he now is THE future if not the present of WWE. The next match of the night was Big Show getting revenge on Carlito. And you know what, I liked this? I wouldn’t think that there would be any chemistry between Show and Cool but the chemistry is there, and these two worked a good match. Also I got to see the F-5 performed by Matt Morgan. After Big Show defeated CCC, Morgan came out and F’5’d Show onto the announce table, and I liked it. Morgan is being used perfectly and I say keep things the way they are and let him be the guy that fights Carlito’s battles for him. Now this was my favorite non wrestling part of the show last night.
Just like on Raw Monday night when Heyman, Bischoff and Vince were in the ring hyping ECW’s One Night Stand, Smackdown had their segment to put ECW over. And just like with Raw’s segment I totally loved this one. We first see a recap of Raw with the three men talking about ECW. Watching this backstage is Kurt Angle and Angle isn’t taking this Raw recap very well. He then comes out to the ring and the fun starts. He first brings up his loss to Booker at Judgment Day. He continues to call Sharmell a gutter slut which tells you he’s not finished with the couple. But then he starts with ECW and says that Vince McMahon has decided to flush a bunch of money in the toilet by starting up ECW. He then says ECW can kiss his ass that he was there after he won his 1996 Gold Medal but left mid way because it disgusted him to be there. And vowed he would never return. Well Mr. Angle is going to lead a bunch of Smackdown volunteers to ruin ECW. Kurt was on fire while he spoke about the company. He ended things by looking at Tazz and telling him that he would bounce around Tazz’s ECW buddies like Paul Heyman bounced checks. Oh this was good. Because once Kurt was done on the mic and ready for the Angle challenge the camera kept focusing on Tazz’s expression and trust me it never changed. He just stared non stop while Kurt was in the ring. And the poor guy that faced Kurt didn’t have a chance. The first thing Angle said to him was that he wasn’t in a good mood because of Sharmell, Booker and ECW. You just knew this kid’s days were numbered. Kurt took care of Robert in no time, but the promo and Tazz’s deadly stare made this a dynamite segment.
After Angle’s quick victory he got the Battle Royal started. This was a good Battle Royal, a typical Battle Royal with 20 WWE superstars taking place. I will say the only thing that stunned me was the reaction John Heidenreich got, the fans cheered and stood up for him. For a minute I thought maybe I was hallucinating but no this crowd seemed to take to him very well. But back to the match, it was a good main event but it was the last two remaining participants that made it a terrific main event. And I’m talking about Kurt Angle and Rey Mysterio. Rey almost didn’t get into this match. As he was making his entrance earlier Eddie Guerrero came up from behind and clobbered him a few times with a chair. Yeah Rey looked like he was done. But minutes later he made it out and lasted with Kurt. And these two guys put on such a neat match, it was under 10 minutes long but it was awesome. I don’t remember Kurt and Rey ever having a crappy match against each other. These two just gave it their all and it was Kurt that finally won. And it was Kurt that picked his opponent. He started out by saying to John Cena that he was giving him the night off, because Kurt chose, Sharmell. And the show goes off with Kurt slowly licking his top lip. Oh yeah Kurt ended things on a very kinky note.
Smackdown definitely ROCKED! This whole week was amazing. Now let me tell you WWE has listed a few matches for the ECW pay per view, so go to the site, click on One Night Stand the matches are listed and other ECW stars that will be there are also listed. I plan to be back on Sunday with a few things; one will be my latest views on this whole Matt/Lita and Edge thing. So I hope you will check things out.
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
