You give me one HOT tag team match, a super cruiserweight match and one entertaining show and I’m all smiles. Smackdown was excellent last night. After a show that left me rather miserable last week things really picked up with the last show before Sunday’s Armageddon. I won’t take up too much time with Smackdown because I want to give you my picks for tomorrow’s show. So let me quickly give you my thoughts on Smackdown and then I’ll hit you with my predictions.
While I was very turned off and even pissed with the way the Randy Orton/Undertaker feud was handled last week, last night I thought the feud made a decent comeback. Now I could have done without Randy talking to the sports psychologist but other than that I really liked the videos throughout the show focusing on how “deadly” Taker can be in Hell In A Cell matches. And the beat down at the end by Randy was good; the whiny baby from last week came back with a vengeance and took Taker out. It all played out well and because of that it added to last night’s show. Also I really liked the short interaction with Batista and Orton. Orton acting like he was done with wrestling shook hands with Batista. He told Dave that it’s too bad that no one will know who the best is, this was a perfect way to get a their feud going once Armageddon is over. And speaking of Batista, the tag team match with him and Rey Mysterio vs. MNM was off the charts. This was one of THE best matches I’ve seen on Smackdown in a while.
I am so proud of Joey Mercury and Johnny Nitro. From the time that they debuted on Smackdown they have performed beautifully. They worked so well against Batista and Rey and all four just made this one excellent match. I also thought Melina coming on to Batista and Batista leading her on was so good. Hell why wouldn’t Batista let Melina think that a quickie with her would keep him and Rey from going after MNM for the titles? The champion is so smooth and watching him come out for the match and wave at a very angry Melina was just icing on the cake. Batista is winning me over more and more. I was extremely happy with his wrestling last night. The torn muscle in his back didn’t keep him from giving his all. Rey as usual was awesome and by far this was the match of the night. Now I will add their win kind of throws me. Last week the Mexicools won the right to meet MNM at Armageddon for the tag team titles. Now MNM will go into that match not as champions but as equals and I don’t get it. I’m not saying that this match will bomb because it won’t but I would have kept the titles on MNM instead of having them lose to Batista and Mysterio.
Matt Hardy vs. Booker was done very nicely. I found it extremely odd that Chris Benoit’s absence wasn’t touched on. But other than that these two did a nice job out there, and I have to tell you a Matt Hardy/JBL feud is okay with me. JBL has really stepped up and after watching him along with Hunter, Vince, Cena, Big Show and Trish this past week on a couple of cable shows, he comes off as a very articulate speaker. I know I have said this before but he took a mid card character if that and made him one of the best heels out there. So you put Hardy against him and it sits very well with me. I was sad to see Nunzio play victim to the worm eater, Boogeyman, but the positive of this is, WWE has lacked gimmicks for a long time and when I watch this guy come out it reminds me of when I started watching back in 1998 when you had Goldust, Mankind, a very dark Kane and others. These guys made for some fun and interesting TV. Now Boogeyman is bringing that back, and sure he’s not the wrestler of the year in fact he’s not the wrestler of the night, but the gimmick is out there and it works. Also the match was short it’s not like they stuck him out there for a long time to bore the fans. It was quick and painless.
I always liked Kid Kash in ECW. In TNA I never thought he was used as much as he should have been. Will that change in WWE? Probably not since we all know that Vince is so inconsistent about the cruiserweight division, but I will say that the match that he and Super Crazy put on was outstanding. I would assume that if this appealed to me and so many others that the match against Juventud will be just as good if not better. I really wish Vince would let Kash and the Mexicools keep the momentum going buy giving us matches like we saw last night on a weekly basis. While I’m big on Bobby Lashley I wasn’t too pleased having Paul Burchill get squashed by him. Burchill is another guy that I believe could be a main player in the WWE, but we aren’t going to find that out if he’s going to be used as he was last night. But Smackdown was strong with matches and as I said the Taker/Orton angle was done well, and even though I won’t be ordering the pay per view I have to say the Smackdown built up Armageddon brilliantly and the card is strong a lot stronger than I thought it was going to be. And with that let me give you my picks for the show.
JBL vs. Matt Hardy
As I said I think this will be a good match. It’s ashame that these two didn’t get any build up for this match. I guess Matt and JBL will have to just make up for that in the ring. I do not see Hardy coming out the winner since we all know that Bradshaw is going to cheat like hell. I would like to see Matt Hardy shine in this one and if it does turn out good then I say let this feud go on for a little while. Figure it this way JBL isn’t going to get de-pushed so a feud with him would give Matt Hardy some nice on air time.
Winner JBL
Handicap Match – William Regal and Paul Burchill vs. Bobby Lashley
I don’t see Regal and Burchill beating Lashley in this one at all. I see this as being another way to cement Lashley’s toughness and unbeatable streak. I really don’t know what to expect with this match. I hope it turns out good and I really hope that Regal and Burchill get enough offense in before Lashley brings them down.
Winner: Bobby Lashley
Cruiserweight Champion Juventud vs. Kid Kash
As you know from above this has to be good. The only thing that could make this less than outstanding is Vince giving these guys very little time, and we all know that he’s done that so many times with the cruiserweights in the past. If time is on Juvi and Kash’s side look for this to get the fans going. Kash beat Super Crazy on Smackdown so I will go with the current champion Juventud to get the win.
Winner: Juventud
MNM vs. Psicosis & Super Crazy
Yeah it’s rather disappointing that the belts aren’t on the line here but like the match above you know that this is going to be awesome. You have 4 guys in here that are so capable of doing whatever it takes to make this a top match. I would imagine that Melina will interfere giving her boys MNM the victory.
Winners: MNM
World Heavyweight Champion Batista & Rey Mysterio vs. World Tag Team Champions Big Show & Kane
I found it a little stupid okay a lot stupid that Kane and Big Show didn’t run in during last night’s tag team match. I mean a little interference by rival tag team guys is always nice to see. Yes Smackdown did show a nice little video on Raw’s tag team champions the one and only Big Show and Kane but I would have loved to have seen these two come out and cause some devastation on Smackdown. So now we have tag team champions vs. tag team champions. I doubt that this match will be close to what Rey and Batista gave us last night on Smackdown, but with Kane in there and Big Show I’m sure the fans will get some decent action. I have to go with Batista and Mysterio for the win. Kane and Show have come out on top against Smackdown way too much it’s time for the Smackdown guys to put them in their place.
Winner: Batista and Rey Mysterio
Randy Orton vs. Undertaker (Hell in a Cell Match)
Taker Wins! Taker Wins! That’s my JR imitation. He’s got to win he just got “killed” by Randy at the last pay per view. As much as Randy is getting a push this is HIAC, Taker’s specialty and he’s going to win and Randy is going to be the one that takes the huge bumps. Will this be good? Yeah I think it’s going to turn out to be a very good match, a very hard worked match by both men. I believe this will be the main event and I think when it’s all done the fans will feel they got their money’s worth.
Winner: Undertaker
Okay as you can see I’m pretty high on the show, and trust me up until last night’s Smackdown I wasn’t. So ask me why I’m not ordering it? I’ll tell you, I would really like to but it gets so expensive to order monthly and for me I ordered two in November and I will be ordering two in January, so I just don’t want to put the money out tomorrow night. But don’t think for a minute that I won’t be checking for results like crazy and I hope anyone that goes there or watches it will email me and let me know how it was. Keep your predictions coming in, the more the merrier. With Raw being the special tribute to the troops show and Smackdown next week the best of Smackdown I’ll be taking the week off. I’ll be back the following Tuesday with my Raw thoughts when Raw is live again on December 26th. I’m going to leave you with a request from a reader. I am looking to buy the old Eddie Guerrero addicted t-shirt with the scarface logo if you know where I can order it from please email me at roger_fence@hotmail.com. Thank you in advance for any help you can give my reader and have a HAPPY HOLIDAY.
Well I did it again, I Ieft out a very important match. How I did this I don’t know but let me just add Chris Benoit vs. Booker T.
There is no doubt in my mind that Booker will finally lose. Sharmell is going to have to put the broom away because a sweep isn’t going to happen. And because of the terrific chemistry that Benoit and Booker have this again will be a must see match. I expect this one to go on for a while and the more it goes on the better this will get.
Winner: Chris Benoit
