There was a lot that appealed to me Friday night on Smackdown, but there is something kind of troubling me about the way the show is going. It’s nothing new, but I was hoping they wouldn’t go back to what seems to be a Smackdown pattern again. But before I get to all of that let me tell you about all the really good segments that the show gave us. This was a better show than what we have seen in a while, yet it’s lacking something. Okay, first it’s time for everything that clicked on the show.
There were quite a few good matches Friday night. My match of the night was the main event with Big Show and Edge vs. The Undertaker and Triple H. I couldn’t have been happier watching these four in the ring. They all did a super job and what also made this so very good was that it was a lengthy match and the Indianapolis crowd was really into the action. I have to give it to this group because they sat for a double taping and that’s not an easy thing to do. But they sure came alive when this match was going on. I liked seeing Triple H and Taker tagging together and Edge and Big Show had their moments as well. This was just a terrific match.
My second favorite of the night was Shelton Benjamin vs. MVP. Oh it’s so nice to see MVP back working with solid opponents. These two worked so well together, and watching MVP pick up another win just made this even better. Benjamin did a nice job on the mic ripping MVP and bragging like crazy. I’ll be honest with you, I wish MVP would have done some mic work as well, but MVP not saying a word didn’t hurt this segment at all. This was a hell of a match, one that’s been missing on Smackdown for a while. It seems like everything is rush-rush in the WWE, so it was a so nice to have a two decent matches that had time on their side. I also liked the tag team match with Carlito, Primo and R.Truth vs. The Miz, John Morrison and Brian Kendrick. This had a nice fast pace to it, but I’m still kind of wondering when and if the Smackdown tag team champs, Carlito and Primo will ever get more TV time since they are the tag team champs. When I was watching this I just kept thinking about how Carlito used to get so much more TV time, and now there’s very little of him and that’s weird since he is part of the tag team champs. Well anyway this was an entertaining match.
There’s not much that I can say about Michelle McCool vs. Eve. I thought Eve’s outfit was so unattractive. And I am only saying that because she is a beautiful woman and it’s like they wanted to make her look like bad. But anyway the reason why I’m not knocking this match is because Michelle McCool again is coming through as a heel. I like it that week after week she shows a lot more aggressiveness with her moves and she has those unlikeable traits that make you want to boo the hell out of her. So while there wasn’t much here at least McCool did her job very well. And finally one of my very favorite segments was Gregory Helms getting the crap beaten out of him by Matt Hardy. First I thought Helms did a very good job with his backstage interview. His take on Matt Hardy was excellent and he came off very natural. And this just led to a fantastic beat done by Hardy. Hardy just kept going after Helms non-stop. This was exciting or me, it’s a side of Matt that I really like seeing.
So as you can see there were plenty of really good things going on but I will say this, I still cannot get into Kozlov and the weak Battle Royale that opened the show did absolutely nothing for me. I wish MVP would have gotten Kozlov’s spot in the Chamber match. I don’t think Kozlov will ever win me over. I don’t feel that Vladi has ever proved that he belongs in the spot that he’s in now. And the other segment that I could have cared less about was Umaga’s squash match against Funaki. This one was a total waste of my time. So really there were just too miserable segments. But my beef goes back to something that I said months ago. I feel that Smackdown is back in a pattern, a bad pattern. There aren’t any strong angle’s going on. I mean how long did we go with nothing until they paired up Vickie and Edge? And once that happened WOW did Smackdown pickup. And we seemed to get one strong show after another. But since Edge returned and they put him back with his “wife” things haven’t been the same.
Yes Edge is still an outstanding heel, yet he’s not on much and I miss that. But as a team Vickie and Edge definitely lost whatever they had. I realize that the Hardy’s are now a major angle, YET Friday night so little was done with this storyline. Now I have a theory and it’s probably one stupid theory but I know you guys won’t mind me sharing it with you. You are used to my stupidity. Wow this is weird, but in my opinion since the McMahon’s got involved and put into the ANGLE of they year so far, Smackdown is back to being an afterthought. For a couple like Vickie and Edge that absolutely ruled the show they are now really just on but offering very little. I feel like Smackdown in a matter of a few short weeks went from being a must see show to back to being show with good segments, yet not enough to keep you interested. Well maybe I’m a little off with that statement but I just wish Smackdown would have strong storylines just like the HBK/JBL angle and the Orton/McMahon angle. We should be getting that with Jeff and Matt Hardy as well, and we probably will but I thought more could have been done the other night. Also I think Edge being the champion should be out there a hell of a lot more than he is. Oh and what happened to the Vickie and Triple H feud? That seemed to die down as well.
As good as Smackdown was, it seems like the tide is turning back to Raw being the hot show. The McMahon’s seem to be putting so much of their effort back into that show again. Maybe once No Way Out is over and they start building towards Wrestlemania Smackdown will again start to shine. And I do think that’s a big possibility. But I guess I feel that Smackdown needs a lot more. So that’s my rant for the weekend. Okay I will return with my Raw thoughts on Tuesday. Remember Raw will have Ric Flair and The Undertaker on. This should be another big show leading into next Sunday’s ppv.
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