I thought Smackdown was okay, honestly after I read the spoilers I was a little disappointed. That’s because the spoilers read so well, but on TV the show kind of lacked excitement. I will give the Jacksonville, Florida crowd a round of applause. They had a lot of life in them and maybe being there live was a lot better than watching it on TV. There were things that I liked, but a few things left me kind of wondering what’s going on here.
I wasn’t very impressed with the opening match. I understand the crowd pops for Animal, and I get that I do. And I’m fine with that but again Heidenreich’s lack of wrestling skills gave us a match with more interference then wrestling. But I’m glad this was on first, so we could get on to bigger and better things. Heidenreich got the win but along with Animal got taken out after the match by MNM. On a side not if you go to WWE.com they have been keeping the fans updated with the latest on John Heidenreich’s search for his family who have become victims of Hurricane Katrina. This is a very sad story at least for now, but hopefully for the Heidenreich’s this will have a very happy ending. My prayers go out to Heidenreich, and all the others that have lost loved ones or those like Heidenreich that have no idea if there family members are dead or alive.
Hey if they felt that Theodore Long needed a sidekick than I think that they should have given him a well known personality to work with, not the “network executive” Palmer Canon. While again I don’t feel this character hurt the show, I’m not exactly thrilled about him setting up matches. Maybe if this guy was super terrific on the mic I would feel differently but at least in my opinion he’s not good enough to be given that role. Cannon and Jillian, MOLE GIRL seemed to hit it off last night. Jillian was extremely happy that next week for the first Friday night Smackdown, MNM gets a rematch with Heidenreich and Animal, listen I’m happy too. And then Palmer teased the fans by looking at the mole. Well staring at it, only to swerve most of us and compliment her on her earrings. The next thing Palmer did was apologize to Stacey and Christy for stopping their lingerie match last week. He was just trying to show the two diva’s in a positive light. He made it up to them by giving them a match during the show. See this segment was so boring, so nothing that I ask myself what is the purpose of using the character?
Now Cowboy Bob Orton again introduced his son Randy and Randy did another mediocre promo. I’m still waiting for Randy to break out of his average mic work and really get the fans going. So far that hasn’t happened. His promo about Taker was nothing more than to let the fans know Taker will be on next week, well at least he should be on. And he did his best to get all us ready for his match against Rey Mysterio. But again I won’t say that any of this lit a fire under me. Randy seems to be holding back, or maybe it’s the creative team that’s keeping Randy blah, but he needs to cut some strong promo’s and it needs to happen NOW! I did enjoy Benoit’s “beat the clock” segment again last night. Last week he made coffee in the time frame that it took to beat Orlando Jordan at Summer Slam, last night while being interviewed by Josh Matthews, Benoit used the bathroom and finished in 23.4 seconds. And then it was a rematch with Jordan. And this one was ended just as fast as the last one. Jordan tapped out in 23.4 seconds and it makes me wonder what is in store for Jordan’s character. But no matter what I really enjoy watching Benoit. I think for a serious guy it’s nice to see some mild mannered humor from him.
Let’s see remember when Billy Gunn and Chuck Palumbo thought they were hotter than Stacey and Torrie Wilson? And I believe Renee Dupree thought he was hotter than the diva’s too. So now we have Sylvan, Mr. Runway Model interfering in the Stacey and Christy match to show us just how beautiful he is. This is not exactly the kind of character that endears himself to the fans. And it looks like it’s going to be a Sylvan vs. Bob Holly feud. Because Holly came out when Sylvan took over from Christie and Stacey. There was a small brawl and I mean a really small brawl and Sylvan got out as fast as he could. So there’s really not much I can say about this and it’s probably better that I go right to Teddy Long praising Canon for setting up Batista vs. JBL in a Bull Rope title match on next week’s premier of Friday Night Smackdown. And JBL got the night off because of he needed to rest for the match that he came up with. Go figure. Then Long came up with a cage match between Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero. Now you just know that this is going to be a must see match, yes even though most of us want to see new opponents for each man this will be DAMN GOOD. But now we get another match. This time it was Booker T with Sharmell vs. Mr. Kennedy. And yes he did the reintroducing of himself. The guy is totally annoying but yet like the last few weeks I still find him something to watch. Trust me I would love to slap his face that’s how obnoxious he is, but he’s still winning me over. And his match against Booker was really good. I loved Christian doing commentary with Tazz and Michael Cole. And I particularly dig the finishing move of Kennedy’s. I am really starting to believe that Sharmell will turn on Booker and go with Christian. Watching Sharmell out of the blue get on the mic and start up with Christian seemed a little phony to me. It was the perfect way for Book to loose focus of his match and lose to Mr. Kennedy. This started an argument between the husband and wife and I’m really anxious to see if this is all a plan that Christian came up with. Anyway I liked this match a lot maybe because Smackdown was slim on matches last night.
I’m a huge Batista fan, but it’s obvious that Vince doesn’t feel comfortable with this man as champion. Week after week this champion gets very little on air time, and when he does get on it’s not always for the main event. I did think his little segment with Simon Dean pretending to get big and aggressive with Dean’s product was cute, not great but cute. Having Batista squash Dean was a given, but I really feel if they are so unsure about Batista as champ they need to give the title to a seasoned veteran. Now if it’s up to me I would keep that belt on him and see how he fairs with his next opponent which is rumored to be Eddie Guerrero. If Dave doesn’t look impressive in that feud then I say okay, let’s let Batista chase the title not have it. The next match I liked again it was William Regal and Paul Burchill vs. Scottie Too Hottie and Funaki. I was impressed by all four of these guys, and trust me my eyes will be glued on Burchill. This man has got so many fans back in England and I’ve been lucky to hear from a few that are very high on this guy. I think he’s very agile and I look forward to watching him week after week to see just what this guy can do.
I liked Eddie Guerrero’s very freaky and frustrating promo, but it went too long for me. Eddie again shined as a guy that lost it all including his family, but it all could have been said in half the time. And the main event with Randy vs. Rey was very good. I am so happy to see Randy work with Rey. Again I hope the rumors are true that these two are going to feud next. I think the chemistry is there and Randy made up for his promo buy giving so much in this match. I’m still not sure I need to have Cowboy Bob out there, I’m hoping in time Randy will turn on dad and add him to his legend killer list. If that doesn’t happen, then I think having Cowboy Bob out there is kind of silly. Randy was able to beat the best in the past without him so other than turning on his father why else would they put him out there? But it was a good main event and all in all a fair Smackdown with some highlights.
I have a few things I want to mention. First Mick Foley is coming back full time to WWE. You can check out the site and read the latest. Also in the Ross report, JR mentions that Steve Austin is on his way back to Raw soon, he’s in great shape. See I have a problem with both men. Why not put them on Smackdown? God knows the show could use them, but Raw gets them and again that shows me that Raw is THE show and Smackdown is just second rate. Okay second, there’s a report out that Friday Night Smackdown’s premier will either not happen or will be pre-empted next week. There’s going to be a Concert for The Gulf Coast to raise money for the hurricane victims. I will definitely keep checking to see what happens next week and let you know. Third I will take this Sunday off. It’s the Labor Day weekend here and we will not be around too much this weekend. Okay I have a request from a reader any help that you can give him I would appreciate and again you can email him with your information. He would like to know if he can purchase Vengeance 2003 and if he can where would he be able to find it. You can email him at randomske7ch@aol.com, Second please check out www.wrestling365.co.uk. They are looking for new members to join and they will be having a Q&A session with Tony Norris (Ahmed Johnson). All of you have a good weekend and I’ll be back on Tuesday with my Raw thoughts.
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
