Linda's Thoughts – Another 5 Star Smackdown

Smackdown is getting better and better each week. From the hot opening segment right through the outstanding main event Smackdown was just one hell of an awesome show. And with that said the only thing that I didn’t like was the winner of the Battle Royal. Of course I’ll get into that in a little bit but this show was a great follow up to GAB or at least it was as far as the Edge and Vickie saga goes, I was just thrilled with Smackdown.
I was so sure that Big Show would be facing Hunter at Summer Slam, and it’s not a match that I was looking forward too, but after the Khali win Big Show taking on Triple H looks more like a five star match to me. Listen the Battle Royal with Mr. Kennedy.., Kennedy vs. MVP vs. Umaga vs. Big Show vs. Khali vs. Jeff Hardy came off so much better than I thought it would. I always say this but I’m not a Battle Royale fan but as I said this match came off well, and had I not read the spoilers I would have bet my life that Jeff Hardy was leaving the winner and facing Triple H at Summer Slam. But thank God for spoilers because when I read on Tuesday night that Khali won, not only did re-read it a few times to see if it was an error but through out the week I was shocked and angry that this guy would be put into a WWE title match at Summer Slam, one of WWE’s major pay per views. And today I still feel the same way, I am not happy with this title match and as of now I don’t think I’ll be ordering the show.
Of course I say that a lot, and things can change, but there is no way I want to spend $40.00 to see a 10 minute match if that and have one of the industries best, Triple H facing a guy that cannot wrestle and whose claim to fame besides his height is his one “DEADLY” move, the chop to head. I just don’t get this well in a way I do and I’ll explain that remark when I do my Summer Slam predictions, but I would have preferred another Umaga vs. Hunter rematch then having Khali in there. And just to reiterate I DO LIKE KHALI, and I would love to see him as a face or as a bodyguard, but I don’t want to see him in matches So Khali’s win was one of my two complaints, the other of course was Steven Richards vs. Vladimir Kozlov. Is it me or is this Kozlov stuff going nowhere and going on too long? The thing is I knew that Vince would do exactly what he’s doing with Vladimir. Just repeating the same thing every week and killing not only the live crowd but the fans that watch Smackdown at home as well. Okay so those two segments were the only negatives for me, because everything else was so good. The opening segment with the MVP Lounge and Jeff Hardy as the guest was absolutely fantastic. I was so pleased with Jeff on the mic and the interaction between these two guys was amazing. It really got to me when MVP brought up the fire that destroyed Hardy’s house and killed his dog, Jack. I would imagine that it wasn’t easy for Jeff to relive, but he handled it well, and MVP certainly didn’t hold back when asking Hardy about his suspension and how he doesn’t deserve a second chance because Jeff only cares about what he wants to do not about the fans.
This was an excellent segment and as I said both men were did an outstanding job. After watching this I really want to see Hardy and MVP continue and hopefully this will be one of Smackdown’s main feuds as time goes on. The first match was U.S. champion Shelton Benjamin vs. Jimmy Wang Yang. This match was way too short, but the match succeeded in making the new U.S. champion look dominate. But I’ll tell you I wouldn’t mind seeing a Yang/Benjamin feud, just think of the matches that these two could give the fans. So after this match we got the start of a few backstage segments with Edge. The first was with Edge and his Edgeheads, Hawkins and Ryder. Edge was quite pleasant with the new tag team champs. Edge not only congratulated them but it seemed like Edge just wanted to bond with them, and they didn’t seem to feel the same way. Edge played a very meek character last night and I liked that, because even though he two-timed Vickie this guy isn’t dumb and he knows just how much he needs the marriage to continue.
The next match was Festus vs. Curt Hawkins. Festus won and this match was okay but it ended even quicker than the Benjamin/Yang match. And of course once the bell rang the tag team champs attacked both Jesse and Festus. But again this was a quick match but a good segment. After the match we saw Edge and his new ladylove, Alicia talking. Bam Neely was eavesdropping as Edge was telling Alicia that she needs to blend in and that they should talk more at the hotel. Ah that sly Edge, he wants his cake, and he wants to eat it too. Oh is he going to pay for all of this at the end of the show. I was never a fan of K-Kwik or Ron Killings in TNA, because his hip ho dancing made me find it hard to take him seriously as a major threat. But I was very impressed with the very first R-Truth vignette. The guy didn’t seem to be the same tired character that I’m used too. This guy had something new about him and I thought it was a very strong feature and hopefully the dancing will be kept to a minimum this time around. Maryse vs. Michelle McCool was a well done match, and I have to say that Maryse gives her all and I think if she was given more time on TV she would shine as Smackdown’s top heel or at least second top heel. And I am so liking the new and cocky Brian Kendrick along with his badass bodyguard, Ezekiel. I love the way Kendrick swaggers along during his entrance and I really think that in time these two will get over and get the crowd to totally boo the hell out of them each time they come out. I liked the match Kendrick had against Shannon Moore and everything with the exception of Khali’s win and the Kozlov match made Smackdown a pleasure to watch.
And no I didn’t forget about the main event with Vickie and Edge. I’ll tell you I’m not one for ending the shows with non-wrestling matches, but Vickie and Edge did a fantastic job. I think Vickie out did herself with the way she played off against Edge and Edge again coming off so reserved and apologetic was a lot of fun to watch. And while Edge thought he was BS’ing Vickie into believing he loved her, she wasn’t buying into it and her stunning announcement about re instating the Undertaker and putting Edge against him in a Hell In A Cell match was just what Taker fans have been waiting to hear for a while. What a crowd pleaser this way. Listen this had it all, love, apologizes AND ONE BIG SUMMER SLAM ANNOUNCEMENT. Smakdown ended as it started on such an upbeat note. Again this was the show for me this week, but Raw and ECW also came off strong and entertaining.
I’m happy to say that I got my Raw tickets for August18th, in the mail today. It’s the Raw after Summer Slam so I’m thrilled about going. Okay I will be back Tuesday with my Raw thoughts and hopefully CM Punk won’t be made to look like an I.C. title champion instead of the World Champion. The website forum TheWrestlingAsylum.com has recently just re-opened after some severe technical difficulties. If you’ve ever wanted to join an online community and be part of a wrestling forum, now’s the time to jump in. TWA is an acclaimed wrestling forum that has some of the best wrestling discussions out there in addition to many interactive features such as our matches of the week, wrestling pool, et cetera. Currently, TWA is holding an interactive feature where members will vote on their favorite wrestlers of all time and in the end, TWA will count down the top 100. People who participate in this contest will receive a free DVD-R of some famous matches of the top 10 or 20 wrestlers on the list. In addition to all of this, TWA also has a very active Off Topic section of the site for random discussion, movies, music, graphics, and of course, TWA has an ever-growing multimedia section on all wrestling and all other media as well. TheWrestlingAsylum.com is just waiting for you to make its mark on it, so why not join up today?
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com