If I wasn’t a lady, I would start this column out by saying HOLY CRAP Smackdown was awesome. But since I am a lady I’ll just put it this way, I was absolutely thrilled by last night’s show. I can’t even remember one thing about Smackdown that I didn’t like. It’s so nice to have Smackdown back to where it should be. For now Friday nights are something I no longer dread. That’s because in the last few weeks Smackdown has entertained me with some very good matches and as I said last week the tide has turned, and Smackdown is now the A show at least for me it is.
I liked the opening with Theodore Long and his Smackdown roster in the locker room preparing for their match against the Raw team at Survivor Series. It’s always nice to see the faces and heel join forces and last night that was the case. Batista was put into this Survivor Series match automatically but the rest would have to earn a spot. Long made some damn good matches last night. Randy Orton vs. Rey Mysterio, Eddie Guerrero vs. Ken Kennedy, Bobby Lashley vs. Orlando Jordan, and then it was JBL vs. Chris Benoit. So as soon as Smackdown got going I think most us knew that this show definitely had potential.
The first match was one of my favorites. It was Orton vs. Mysterio. I would love for these two to have a feud. When they worked together in the ring a few months ago for the first time the chemistry was there, and it was even stronger last night. Randy in many ways has disappointed me in his mic work, but in the ring Orton always seems to come through. Rey time and time again shows that height means NOTHING. He can work with the best of them and this was just a very good match. Naturally Cowboy Bob Orton was out there and he did his best to help Randy win this match, but Bob failed. He pulled Rey down off the apron and the ref saw it. The ref called for a DQ giving Rey the win. Mysterio became the second Smackdown member to take on Raw at the Survivor Series.
Now see I figured Randy would be so upset that he would go after this dad for botching things up. But Randy along with Bob attacked Rey after his win. Now what I also liked about this was that Matt Hardy ran out to help Rey. I felt that this gave Matt a lot of credibility as he took out both Bob and Randy. It was the Twist of Fate to Randy that really made Matt look like something. I say that because after the break Randy was so angry at Matt that he made sure to warn Matt that he would pay for what he did with the RKO. Hey you want to give us Matt vs. Randy? Bring it on I would love it. I really believe that this all set the tone for this strong show. Now I know UPN has this theme this month to put some of the contestants from America’s Next Top Model on some of their shows. Well Smackdown happened to be one of the shows and Michelle a former contestant and by the way a wrestler I believe in Indiana got to interact with MNM. First before Michelle came out Melina did a nice job on the mic.
I know a lot of you guys felt gypped when Melina didn’t make her usual entrance in the ring, but as she said we were all lucky she was there because she was still hurting thanks to Eddie Guerrero’s 5 star Frog Splash on her back last week. Melina bragged about how she used to be a top model. Melina did a good job as a super bitch and her attitude continued when she brought out Michelle. Of course she stated out fairly sweet but quickly got into her nasty mode and insulted Michelle as much as she could. This got to Michelle and she slapped Melina’s face. Let me tell you that was all Melina needed. She went after Michelle by choking the hell out of her. Oh things looked bad for one of America’s Next Top Model contestants but it was the Mexicools that came to her rescue. It’s still kind of weird for me to see Juvi, Super Crazy and Psicosis come out as faces, but let me say this. If it keeps them on Smackdown weekly I’m totally cool with it. And a Mexicools/MNM feud is something I would definitely like to see. So I have high hopes about the next few weeks. I think we will all get to see some very good matches. Orlando Jordan lost to Bobby Lashley in a quick match. I guess Jordan hasn’t recuperated from all the quick losses to Chris Benoit. Lashley of course dominated and I’m very anxious to see just how much he’ll add to the Raw vs. Smackdown match at Survivor Series. I do like his look, I just need to see him work some more matches to get a real good idea about him. The Edge/Lita and Theodore Long backstage segment was okay nothing out of the ordinary. Edge was playing the “scared” wrestler, and asked no kind of begged Theodore Long to stop the Street Fight. Long agreed only if Batista agreed. Edge thought he had Long, but Long broke it to Edge that would have to go Batista himself to ask him to cancel the Street Fight. What this segment did was try to make us believe that Edge wasn’t “man” enough to face the World Champion, but we all found out at the end that Edge was just playing games. The next match with Eddie Guerrero vs. Mr. Kennedy….Kennedy, didn’t go on to long but I’ll say this it totally worked for me.
It’s so nice to have Eddie back to his old ways. While I would have loved to have seen a lengthy match I enjoyed how Eddie cheated to win. Eddie was all set to clock Mr. Kennedy with the chair, but the ref started to come too, that’s after the referee was knocked out. When Guerrero saw the ref coming to his feet, Eddie hit the mat with the chair and then tossed it to a very surprised Ken Kennedy. Listen it’s been done a million times, but for me it never gets old. So when the ref saw Guerrero down, and Kennedy holding the chair, he called for a DQ which put Eddie on that Smackdown Team. I still can see Kennedy’s reaction when the ref thought he hit Eddie and I’ll tell you it was priceless. Kennedy paid Eddie back in a big way. He clobbered Eddie on the head with the chair and then yelled, “Disqualify that” A fast segment but one that worked so well. It’s always nice to see the Boogeyman drool. And last night he didn’t let me down. While Edge left Lita to go and talk to Batista, the Boogeyman paid her a surprise. The guy is so creepy that she left screaming. If the Boogeyman can wrestle as well as he can drool I think we are all in for something big.
But seriously, the next match was my match of the night. It was JBL vs. Chris Benoit. I was so into this match. Both men worked their asses off and it just came off so well. And Booker T and Sharmell just added to it. The lovely couple joined Tazz and Michael Cole at the announce table. Both Book and Sharmell had me laughing. I thought it was funny how Sharmell a one time Miss Black America came out with her crown. And what made me laugh with Booker was win he continuously said he could care less about who won the match he was watching, yet every chance he got he was rooting for JBL. Tazz kept calling him on it and Booker kept making excuses. Booker T was upset that he wasn’t put on the Smackdown Team. He didn’t have a qualifying match like Benoit did. But Booker felt that like Batista he too should have just been announced by Long and given that spot. Booker did really well on the mic and Benoit and JBL totally delivered in the ring. Benoit had JBL in the Sharp Shooter and things were going Chris’s way, until Booker got up on the apron and Benoit let go. Just before Benoit let go, JBL tapped but the ref didn’t see it.
Benoit and Booker got into it and after Booker got a way Benoit turned and JBL gave him the clothesline from hell and got the win. As I said this was one excellent match, and I’ll guarantee you at the Survivor Series it will be Booker vs. Chris Benoit for that U.S. title. The main event was next. The Street Fight never happened. That Raw group pulled a fast one on Batista and the rest of Smackdown. Edge and Lita hit the ring first, and then it was Batista’s turn. While Batista was in the ring, Edge and Lita slowly started leaving. Then Edge told Batista to check out the oval tron and there was Eric Bischoff and Theodore Long. Long wanted Bischoff to leave and then all of a sudden Chris Masters appeared and put the Masterlock on Long. Bischoff and Masters took off and JBL, Matt Hardy and a few other Smackdown stars went after Bisch and Masters. After this it was back to Edge and Batista. Well wait it’s really back to Edge, Batista, Kane and Big Show. Show and Kane came out and Batista didn’t have a chance. Batista tried but Show and Kane double choke-slammed him. And that’s it, some of the guys from the back like Funaki and Scotty tried to help but come one they didn’t stand a chance. So Raw got the best of the Smackdown guys, but it was Smackdown that was better than Raw this week, at least in my opinion it was. I wanted to also mention that the Jr. Division was up and running with Todd Stone vs. a guy with a long name. The funniest parts of this segment were listening to Tazz and even Michael Cole make some funny comments, and again Palmer Cannon coming off like this is one serious and important division. We also saw an interview with Steve Romero and a couple of Dicks. Finally let me end with this. Since Batista is injured, he will defeat his title tomorrow night at the Smackdown tapings against Eddie Guerrero and Randy Orton. I feel that Randy will beat Batista and beat the hell out of Dave, which will give him time away from the company while he takes care of his back. I’m going with this scenario. After Wrestlemania it was Batista that “injured” Randy so severely that he had surgery done to his shoulder, so now it’s payback. You can bet I’ll be reading the spoilers this week. I’ll be back on Tuesday with my Raw thoughts and I’m sure the Smackdown team will be right in there.
