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SMACKDOWN THOUGHTS: KANE IS MAKING A LIST AND BEATING THEM UP TWICE

This week’s Smackdown followed up on the announcement of the Undertaker being in a vegetative state and the brutal attack by the NXT Originals at the end of Raw. Both situations were dealt with on this week’s show, but the show felt like it was missing something. The focus was on those two issues and may have detrimentally affected the rest of the show. We also saw the next step in the Drew McIntyre/Matt Hardy and Drew McIntyre/Teddy Long feuds. With only the main event for the brand officially announced for Fatal Four Way, we will be bombarded with many matches next week including one that appeared to have been set up during the course of the show.

Here are my thoughts on the show:

Rey’s promo at the start of the show was okay. I liked that Jack Swagger’s music interrupted Rey’s comments in Spanish. I liked how Swagger tried to point out that Rey didn’t earn his title match. I did not like that Rey had to resort to commenting on Swagger’s speech pattern.

I did not like Punk saying that he was the victim of an assassination attempt when talking about Monday night’s attack. However, I did like the comment about how it was thirty-six assailants. Along with the people who called it a ‘massacre’, it makes light of actual massacres or assassinations. I guess Punk didn’t realize that one of the people subjected to the attack was sitting at the announce table. Punk redeemed himself a bit when he started talking about winning the title again.

Isn’t it a bit of the ‘pot calling the kettle black’ when Rey told Punk to take off his mask and I liked that Punk called him out on that. I also liked how he was talking about Rey being bald and then when Show’s music started, Punk pointed out that Big Show is also bald.

Show’s comments about winning the title at the pay per view were okay, but his comments about the other three participants did not seem like they belonged in a promo for a World Title match.

I thought Kane’s promo from backstage was okay. He continued to show the intensity from last week’s promo. Even with what happened on Monday night, I still think that Kane was the one who attacked Undertaker.

The match between Rey Mysterio and Jack Swagger was okay. I was surprised that Swagger would have lost the match clean, but at least Swagger was able to get his foot on the rope after the first 619 so he did not lose in three minutes. We saw too many ‘I am going to fall into the ropes because it is Rey and I need to set up the 619’ spots that only happen in Rey’s matches. I thought it was a good touch to have Swagger throw Rey under the ropes on a short side of the ring instead of the side of the ring by the ramp to the back. Swagger did a good job trying to negate Rey’s high flying moves with the body scissors. As I mentioned in my Impact Thoughts, I thought I was watching a Rey Myserio/Kurt Angle match with Amazing Red, I saw a few moves from Swagger that reminded me of Kurt Angle.

I liked that Swagger attacked Rey after the match, but why did he stay in the ring when Kane’s music started to play? Kane said that he was going to take care of all four men in the main event at Fatal Four Way so if you hear his music and see him coming, YOU RUN AWAY AND YOU RUN AWAY QUICKLY.

I thought it was good that they attack on Swagger and Rey took place after the match instead of during the match so it did not take away from what was going on in the ring. There are some other companies who are falling into that trap on their television show and I think it diminishes the importance of the matches on television.

Did Todd Grisham really make a ten year old reference to the alleged election issues with the ballots in Florida?

I had to agree with Kaval’s reaction to the Michelle and Layla promo before Layla’s match.

I liked the way that Layla worked the head scissors on Tiffany during the match. It is similar to the way that Dolph Ziggler works a side head lock so it weakens his opponent instead of applying the move with no intent to wear down the opponent. I thought the match between Layla and Tiffany was too short to give an opinion. Layla has definitely improved in the ring and it showed.

Since seven of the NXT wrestlers were ‘eliminated’ how are they considered graduates? Does that mean if you are expelled from a school you are a graduate? Why not call them the NXT Originals?

If the wrestlers in the locker room are angry at what happened, why didn’t a large group of them come out to help Cena, Punk, Luke, and the rest of the people attacked? The attack took place for more than ten minutes so someone could have come out to the ring.

Is Vickie Guerrero now jealous of Kaval for spending so much time with her BFFs Michelle and Layla or is that friendship over now that Vickie has set her sights on Dolph Ziggler?

I thought the Christian versus Dolph Ziggler match was okay but too short.

I liked that Hawkins and Archer attacked Christian (or anyone) but if their contract expires at midnight, shouldn’t they get a match to prove themselves? I don’t think they have done enough to warrant a contract.

Dolph did a good job being an opportunist when he applied a sleeper on Christian after Hawkins and Archer were done with Christian.

The Drew McIntyre/Teddy Long segment was okay. I liked that the suspension of Matt Hardy extended to ‘all programming’ because they could have put him on the pay per view. I also liked when Drew took the mic from Teddy and threw it out of the ring. I did not like the second part of their confrontation when Drew told Teddy Long about their match.

I thought Kofi saved the segment by standing up to Drew and pointing out that he is someone who does not hide behind Vince McMahon when something bad happens to him.

It looks like we are going to get a continuation of the Kofi Kingston/Drew McIntyre feud as we move forward.

Couldn’t it be hypocritical to condemn wrestlers for attacking non-wrestling people like the ring announcer or bell operator from this week’s Raw, but praise the idea of Drew McIntyre wrestling a match against the brand’s general manager who is not a wrestler?

I liked how CM Punk was trying to avoid Show during the match and it made sense when Punk went up top early in the match and Show was waiting for him that he would go to the floor to discuss strategy. I was surprised that Show would try to go for the mask with Luke at ringside as well as the possibility of the masked man making an appearance. This match was too short considering the people in the match.

Just like with Jack Swagger, why did CM Punk stay in the ring when Kane came to the ring? Even though he did not get attacked by Kane, Luke and the masked man got choke slammed. It was a good visual to see Kane choke slam Big Show at the end of the show.

I really hope that based upon Kane’s recent actions, he cuts a promo talking about ‘Joe Vigilante’ and how he is the one responsible for the attack on the Undertaker.

In honor of Matt Striker’s performance tonight on Smackdown, I would like to officially announce the start of my grass roots campaign to promote Josh Mathews to Smackdown or bring Byron Saxton onto Smackdown (even though he is a play by play man).

What to watch on DVR: The opening segment with the wrestlers in the Fatal Four Way main event; if you haven’t seen it enough times, the closing segment from Raw.

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