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Here are my thoughts on the show.
I thought Teddy Long did a good job at the start of the show to explain the main event from the Smackdown brand for the Fatal Four Way pay per view. It made sense that since Big Show won by disqualification against Jack Swagger at Over the Limit, he deserved to be in the match without having to qualify. I liked the two matches that Teddy Long announced for the other two spots. While some might not think that Kane belongs in a main event match (if he could beat CM Punk), it made sense since Kane came out on Sunday to help Rey Mysterio with the head shaving. While some might question having Undertaker put into a qualifying match for the shot at the title, at least he had to earn his spot in the match instead of having it handed to him after taking so much time off (if you ignore his match with Jack Swagger on the Raw is Stuck in Europe show).
Since Drew McIntyre’s biggest feud right now is with Teddy Long, it made sense for him to come out and interrupt Teddy’s announcement about the Fatal Four Way Qualifying matches. It made sense with the way that Drew’s character is seeking help from Vince McMahon whenever anything bad happens to him that he would try to blame Teddy for the loss on Sunday. I thought the excuse that the match should have been stopped due to the laceration did not make sense when you consider that the medical staff came out twice during the show to remove blood. I watched the match from the pay per view again and did not notice any blood on McIntyre. Maybe it happened when Matt Hardy attacked him or when he destroyed Teddy Long’s office.
Since Drew has gotten Vince McMahon to get him the Intercontinental Title back in the past, I am surprised that he did not get the title back in addition to the suspension.
I like the idea of the suspension for Matt since it will set up for their match when Matt returns from the suspension. It also sets up a number of ways to handle the McIntyre/Hardy feud during the suspension. They can have Drew put in matches with a stipulation that if he loses, Hardy’s suspension is lifted. They can also do matches where Hardy has people wrestle McIntyre to wear him down for when Matt returns. While the idea of the suspension is good, I did not like Hardy coming out after the suspension was announced. While it could have been similar to the way that McIntyre was fired from Smackdown (for that whole week).
I was a bit surprised that Matt Striker did not go after the letter from Vince McMahon since he was so enamored with the first letter from Vince about Drew’s situation.
I thought the McIntyre/Swagger versus Big Show/Kingston match was the best match of the night. I liked the way that Swagger was avoiding Big Show for most of the match while having Drew do most of the work at the start of the match. I thought all four men worked well together in the match and there was some good action. It helped that they gave this match a lot of time. They did a good job of having Swagger and Show trying to outdo the other and show that what they were doing to the other person in the match would happen to them in the future.
It was interesting that Big Show used a closed fist to beat Drew McIntyre during the opening tag match and nothing was said, but later in the show, there was discussion about how closed fists were illegal.
I was a bit surprised that the WWE did the typical ‘go home episode’ match for the week after the pay per view where they have people from two matches in a tag team match.
What was the purpose of the ‘Tom Petty being the third Mulkey Brother’ comment by Striker to respond to what Grisham said about Kofi’s in ring style during the opening tag match? I had more to say about Matt during the Smackdown audio.
I liked the ‘Bring Back Heat’ sign in the crowd as well as the giant cardboard cut outs of some of the wrestlers. The same person had a cut out of JTG on Superstars. I wonder if we will get Heat back on Syfy in two weeks. The next thing we need is a ‘Bring Back Byte This’ sign.
I thought the Straight Edge Society segment in the locker room was good. Punk showed that he had some hesitation to go out in front of the people in the arena because he lost his hair, but he was reassured by Serena and Luke that he is still a good leader despite losing his uniqueness. Luke and Serena have grown well as characters and are continuing to develop so they are not stuck in the role of being a blind follower. The use of the towel to cover Punk’s head did a good job to follow up on Punk’s non-appearance on NXT since he did not want to reveal his new hairstyle.
If you have a short term contract and need to make an impression to keep your job, shouldn’t you try to have a match on the show? I wonder if Vance Archer and Curt Hawkins will get their contract now. Maybe they will have a final shot against Smith and Kidd and if they can win, they get their contract.
The Vickie Guerrero segment with Dolph Ziggler was a bit creepy. Ziggler is a character who has a lot of potential and by being put into this segment, I think it is hurting his credibility. They are also doing a disservice to Vickie Guerrero’s character. Vickie is one of the best heels in the company and can get people to hate her just being on camera. Now they are trying to do a May-December romance angle with these two people, but while Vickie is trying to throw out her ‘sexy vibe’, Dolph completely ignored the subtlety.
When CM Punk came out to the ring with the towel over his head, I was hoping that he would have cut a brief promo. I thought it was a great idea to have him wearing a mask. My first thought was that Delirious had signed a WWE contract and was making his debut. It also fit in with the ‘hooded figure’ who has been helping Punk over the last few weeks.
I thought the Kane/CM Punk match was okay and was the better overall match of the two qualifying matches. I liked how Punk worked a different style than he usually does because he was working against a bigger opponent. Punk took a crazy bump over the top rope when he hit the ring apron. I thought Kane did a decent job selling the leg during the match since Punk was working on it. The finish was a bit awkward because of the way the Go To Sleep looked.
One thing that I forgot to mention in my comments about Matt Striker took place during the match. While Matt was trying to suggest that the stars on the mask were a tribute to people like the Masked Superstar, Todd Grisham brought up the fact that it was likely based on the flag for Chicago since that has been mentioned as the reason for the stars on Punk’s ring gear.
I think the Chavo/Ziggler versus Christian/Hornswoggle match would have been a lot better if it was a singles match between Ziggler and Christian. Just like the Ziggler/Guerrero storyline is hurting Ziggler’s character, this match did not really help him when he is beating up Hornswoggle. The best part of the match was the post-match attack by Ziggler on Christian because it probably means that we are going to get a series of matches between the two.
I thought the Michelle/Layla segment in the back was okay. They did a good job of making us remember Beth Phoenix, who is going to be out for a while due to her injury. I am not a big fan of the ‘Mean Girls’ aspect of the gimmick and there were too many times when they tried to be ‘too cute’ by talking at the same time. They did a good job of explaining why they are ‘co Women’s Champions’ and it made sense.
I like that they are letting Luke have matches on the same show as Punk because it means more appearances for Serena.
I liked the Gallows/Porter match. I thought the touch before the match of Porter doing the powder in the air, like Lebron James would do was a good thing since Porter uses the ‘Ballin’ elbow’ during matches. The match had a different feel than the other matches on the show and it was a good thing. With the way that Porter and Gallows faced off at the start of the match, you knew that there were going to be a lot of punches and not a lot of mat wrestling.
I really liked the way the Undertaker/Mysterio match started, but as the match progressed, the pace slowed a lot and exposed the injuries that both men have suffered during their careers and are still trying to nurse. It was a good match, but unlike the Punk/Kane match, it plateaued too early and could not recover from that pace. I liked the way that Undertaker worked on Rey’s arm during the match which is something we haven’t seen from Taker in a while. The way that Rey sends wrestlers into the ropes for the 619 often looks contrived but with a much larger opponent like Undertaker, it looks even more awkward.
At the end of this week’s Smackdown audio, I took some time to talk about one half of the announce team and how it seems like a lot of people affiliated with this site who comment about the WWE announcers have grown tired of Matt Striker. I don’t want to expand too much on what I said, but while I am not a fan of his announcing, I think he has a lot of parallels to JBL when he started announcing. I think if Striker cuts back some of the things he overdoes during matches and embraces the ways of guys like Jim Ross and lets the action speak instead of the announcing at times, he can improve.
What to watch on your DVR: Opening segment with Teddy Long, Drew McIntyre, and Matt Hardy; Jack Swagger and Drew McIntyre versus Big Show and Kofi Kingston; CM Punk’s promo and match with Kane.
