I have to hand it to the WWE, I saw three good nights of programming starting with Summer Slam and ending last night with Smackdown. I thought Smackdown was extra good and I think that was because there were no long promos and the custody angle wasn’t addressed. This show went by fast for me and it’s always nice when I’m not checking the time because things seem to drag so badly. I was totally happy with the show and let me just get right into it. See how excited I am?
Now I’ve said this before but what the hell I will say it again. I may not be a fan of Bob Holly but in the ring he always performs well. I liked the Randy Orton/Holly match last night. It started out a little slow with the holds but things picked up and the match really appealed to me. Now I have to be honest with you. I’m a little concerned that throughout the match Legend Killer Randy Orton had to look to his father Cowboy Bob Orton for some assistance with taking care of Holly. I guess my thinking is that Randy has beaten some of the best without dad out there, why all of a sudden was it necessary to have dad’s help during the match? Then again it’s all part of being a heel, a spoiled cocky heel so I might be over acting to that. Anyway I liked the match and I liked the way it kicked off Smackdown. Remember with Raw having the next pay per view, Unforgiven in September, Smackdown is in no hurry to start setting up new feuds and matches. So I would think that would explain putting Orton against Holly.
When I read the spoilers on Tuesday night I saw that UPN sent their own “representative” to Smackdown. So the first thing that hit me was this is taken right from ECW when Cyrus was Spike’s network representative. And at that time Cyrus was a little too much for me and the thought of WWE going with the same type of thing totally turned me off. Okay last night it wasn’t bad, but honestly if this is going to be something that we get each week, it’s going to become very bland and boring. I won’t complain about last night’s segment. Now this so called representative set up a HUGE main event for the debut of Friday Night Smackdown on September ninth. It will be Batista vs. JBL in another title rematch. I’ll tell you that would be the last match that I would make and I find that hard to believe that it’s going to drive up ratings. Well that’s the match that was set up and we’ll see what happens in two weeks. Again while I thought I would despise this segment it came off okay for me.
Christian’s Peep Show was next. And I liked it. Granted Christian was a little low keyed during his interview with Booker and Sharmell but I still enjoyed it. This was another segment of his where Juvi, Super Crazy and Psicosis interrupted the show and went after Christian, Booker and Sharmell. We got a little tease here that with Booker helping out Christian that perhaps Captain Charisma was making a face turn. Well we also got that tease last week when the Mexicools dominated Christian. So again this idea was still out there. It would be later on where we would find out just how much of a face turn if any Christian would make when he and Booker took on the Mexicools. But before that match, we had Johnny Nitro vs. Heidenreich. And there’s not match to say here, except it was a match. I’m telling you if these tag team champions don’t lose the titles back to MNM it’s not going to sit well with me. But back to the more positive. There was one very short backstage segment that really made me laugh. That was when Josh Matthews interviewed Chris Benoit. This was about the quick win Benoit had over Orlando Jordan at Summer Slam. While Josh thought the match lasted 30 seconds, it was the U.S. champion
Benoit that corrected him and said that it was just 25.5 seconds. What I liked was when the very dry humored and serious Benoit had them show the match, and while we watched the video Chris would make a cup of coffee to see if he could finish making the coffee before the video was done.
So on a split screen the match is replied and Benoit is making his coffee and then sipping it. Just seeing Benoit smile during this was fun. It’s not often when Benoit can add a little humor to the show and I think that’s why this appealed to me. Okay now it is time for Booker T with Sharmell and Christian’s vs. The Mexicools. This was a good match. I would much rather see the Mexicools wrestle than constantly come out and cause trouble. Christian looked very good out there as did Booker and I also enjoyed the Mexicools. It was when Booker was getting attacked by them that Christian decided he had enough. There is Sharmell yelling at Christian to get back in the ring to help Booker. This went on for a short time and Christian finally left with a bloody nose and quit on his partner. Book was watching the whole thing and that was Book’s problem. He should have been watching the ring because as his back was turn Psicosis and Super Crazy did a double back suplex on Booker and won the match.
This was another case of Booker and Sharmell not getting along and many of you have emailed me saying you believe Sharmell will turn on Book and go with Christian, and I’m starting to think the very same thing. So I’m sure there’s more to come next week with this group.
Now one segment that didn’t quite do it for me was Randy being interviewed by Matthews. Randy sometimes comes off to well rehearsed, to dull. This was the case when he was talking about how he killed the legend Undertaker. I definitely did not hate this but interviews like this do nothing for The Legend Killer. They need to let Randy be a little more spontaneous with his mic work. But Randy seemed to please the network guy; he liked what Randy had to say. Not that it means a thing, but again this character worked out okay last night. Although many of you might be ready to lynch him since the pillow fight with Christy and Stacy Kiebler was stopped because the representative thought it was unacceptable and the demographics that they are trying to reach don’t want see that. Ah but Vince isn’t dumb. He got you guys already for this one and then took it away from them. Or did he? See if you go to WWE.com the footage is being shown there. Would I say it’s a must see? Hell no!
Seriously this might surprise you because it kind of surprises me. For three weeks in a row, two on Velocity I’ve seen this guy Ken Kennedy. His first appearance he went under the name Ken Anderson. But now it’s Kennedy. I do not know what to make out of this character. In a way he reminds me of Kevin Nash. It think it’s mainly because of his deep voice. His mic work each week has been good and I think he holds his own in the ring. It’s a very odd character, always coming out and re introducing himself after feeling that Tony Chimmel doesn’t do him justice. As I said the whole thing is weird yet I find myself sitting and watching this guy. He seems to ooze with self confidence. And I definitely want to see more of Mr. Kennedy. This could be a very humorous character to bring to TV. I want to end this on a very upbeat note. I was so into the main event with JBL, Orlando Jordan and Eddie Guerrero vs. Chris Benoit, Rey Mysterio and Batista. This is the kind of match I miss. As my husband watched it with me, and trust me wrestling isn’t exactly a favorite of his, he kept saying to me “this match hasn’t slowed down once.” See I’ve taught him well. But he’s right; this one was fast paced, loaded with action match, and just a great way to end the show. I loved watching Eddie shaking in frustration watching Rey make his way out to the ring. And Orlando Jordan just staring at Benoit for his embarrassing lost came through, as did JBL’s reaction to Batista. You could see all the heels had a lot of pent up anger going into this one. It was a terrific match and I liked the ending with Rey and Benoit giving Batista the signal to Batista bomb Orlando Jordan for the win. A great main event and a great way to end a very good Smackdown.
I think you can tell that I was totally satisfied with everything WWE gave us this week. As I’ve been saying I really do hope that the tide has turned once again and with Summer Slam over things are now starting fresh. I’m hopeful for brand new feuds, less drama and more outstanding matches like Raw’s Kurt Angle and Shelton Benjamin, and Smackdown’s main event. I will be back on Sunday with a few miscellaneous things, like the latest on Chris Jericho, so I hope you’ll check my column out.
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
