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GOALS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOR THE 11/18 SMACKDOWN

By Revin Samuel on 11/19/2011 11:26 AM

SMACKDOWN – 18/11/11

What the goals should be for this week’s Smackdown
Raw accomplished none of the goals I had outlined they needed to take care and it will be on Smackdown to pick up the slack for Survivor Series hype and hopefully through the production team try and salvage efforts to make The Rock’s return feel special!
•The Daniel Bryan character was damaged last week through other characters and the commentary. They need to focus on giving his character a little more protection this week.
•Big Show-Mark Henry program. It’s amazing the same company that produces Raw has developed this excellent program. Both characters have looked great in this storyline and it is Smackdown’s top program heading into Survivor Series therefore it should be treated as such.
Show Breakdown
1.       Fresh opening to Smackdown with Mark Henry assaulting Daniel Bryan backstage. I always like when they change things up with the opening segments of a show.
 
2.       As I stated last week there is such thing as doing too much damage to Daniel Bryan that being said I’ll refrain from ripping this too much as I have to assume it’s part of a larger story. Mark Henry continues to look like a beast and is one of the most consistent characters WWE has developed in some time.
 
3.       A minor nitpick, but these are details WWE should be on top of. I could have told you last week after watching Smackdown that they would come back this week with Randy Orton and Sheamus vs Wade Barrett and Cody Rhodes (especially with Christian injured). I’m not ripping this for being predictable, because predictability isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but why can’t these matches be advertised in advance. Make them feel special? Let us know on Raw that were going to see it. I feel like I’m repeating myself, but I guess that will become second nature in this column.
 
4.       Shouldn’t Sin Cara come out second if Dolph and Vickie are going to do an in ring promo? It’s that type of stuff that makes you wonder about the political nature of WWE and sabotage of certain characters.
 
5.       Who would have thought Vickie Guerrero would become what she has become since she became a regular storyline persona. She’s probably one of the characters WWE has consistently used well throughout the last few years.
 
6.       Quality match with Ziggler and Cara. Ziggler is a star in the making. Mason Ryan is a total joke, his theme music continues to hinder him and there was no need for a music cue for his run in. Micro Managing and overproduced, typical WWE in 2011.
 
7.       I should point out that I have found the commentary last week and this week as a vast improvement for the trio of Cole, Mathews and Booker. Booker has especially stepped up his game in my book.
 
8.       Love Cole talking about the lineage of Survivor Series and epic moments such as Undertaker and Rock’s debut along with the debut of the Elimination Chamber. This is the type of stuff that should be focused on in production videos as sometimes the commentary can all run together. Make it standout.
 
9.       Swagger is such a phenomenal talent dating back to his WWE ECW days and he should not be sacrificed for Vince’s body fetish.
 
10.   The writer who scripted Alicia Fox to say “I’ve never met a South African before, you’re so dreamy” should immediately be fired especially if it doesn’t go anywhere.
 
11.   This petition storyline leading up to Survivor Series with Zack Ryder has been quality TV. I hope they actually put him in the match or take Morrison out of the match this Sunday.
 
12.   Another useless backstage segment with Teddy and Aksana, but hey I guess it showcases that “We’re not just wrestling”. I did pop for Teddy pointing out his past heart attack in the Teddy-Kristal storyline. I did like Ted Dibiase explaining this posse stuff a bit more, but I would like to see some footage of this on television eventually.
 
13.   Ah Christian, what a great performer and what an awesome promo. If there was a wrestler of the year category in WWE, this guy would be so deserving of it in 2011. BTW if Booker is tuning up for one more run it might not be a bad idea to try Christian on commentary ala CM Punk last year on Raw.
 
14.   I really like AJ, there is something about her that seems genuine that you don’t necessarily see with other WWE divas. I also think putting AJ and Bryan together on screen might not be a bad idea and perhaps they are headed down that road.
 
15.   I get what WWE is doing trying to use Bryan to further the Henry-Show program, but this Bryan-Show friendship seems a bit underdeveloped.
 
16.   Am I the only one who likes Ted Dibiase’s theme music?
 
17.   Derek Bateman and Maxine. I don’t watch NXT, but I have heard they are quite the tandem, hopefully the over scripting and overproducing that we get on the bigger shows doesn’t become a hindrance for them. Looking forward to seeing where they go and hopefully they aren’t broken up in a couple weeks.
 
18.   Michael Cole had some dynamite lines in this match. The Michael Cole heel character can be good in small doses, “You do realize he wasn’t a real King, right?”, “He’s in the back playing videogames with that goofy leprechaun”. I don’t know why, but I laughed.
 
19.   Is that three straight wins on Smackdown for Mr. Dibiase? Maybe they are sincere about his push this time.
 
20.   Fine segment backstage with Big Show, Jinder and Tyson to emphasis what a bad ass he is. Show and Henry have been really well protected in this storyline and I am looking forward to their match at Survivor Series.
 
21.   Great in ring promo with Big Show. Big Show, the babyface has made a promise so something tells me the Mark Henry reign might be coming to an end, although if their smart they would put it back on him at TLC. I like Show showing us the footage from MITB where their feud really took off. Always a bonus when they can show us that a storyline has gone back several months and this could be when the babyface finally gets his revenge.
 
22.   Kofi Kingston-Hunico. Hunico is a character they are trying to establish and he wasn’t protected on Raw or on Smackdown this week. Hopefully they start establishing him and his crew following Survivor Series and they aren’t treated as a jobber foreign group like The Mexicools or Los Boricuas. 
 
23.   As I mentioned last week, I suppose after the yoyo push they gave Jackson they better try and re-establish him. He can be the Mason Ryan of Smackdown except with better theme music.
 
24.   Good to see on Smackdown WWE could at least give the Beth-Eve title match a graphic something they couldn’t bother to do on Raw.
 
25.   I think they could definitely tell a compelling story building to an AJ-Beth match in the same vein that they can build to a Daniel Bryan-Mark Henry match.
 
26.   Looks like a Kaitlyn heel turn is in the works. Probably a bit too soon for that, but I suspect this is meant more to help AJ than Kaitlyn. I guess time will tell. Nice to see Natalya can still win a match!
 
27.   I was hoping The Rock-Cena hype segment would be an awesome production video, but when you think about it what has WWE done to push Rock’s return and why it makes sense for him to team with John Cena? They haven’t done much at all so I guess replaying the Raw segment was the best thing to do. I would have liked to have seen a Rock desire style video that we saw back in the early 2000’s period, but perhaps they are saving those for the Wrestlemania push. On another note rewatching that Rock, Cena, Miz, Truth segment on Raw was a reminder of just how bad John Cena is at comedy and why he is such an unlikeable character. 
 
28.   I’m a big fan of full card run downs and I guess this was as good as it was going to get for WWE in 2011, at least they included the Elimination Match and promoted a four match card as oppose to the standard two title matches and super grudge match. I emphasis again that the pay per view card run down should be a stand out piece of the show and not just as another cog in the machine segment. 
 
29.   Good to see WWE show the replay of Barrett beating Orton. I wouldn’t have been surprised to see them not acknowledge it. Also liked Cole mentioning that Barrett has beaten Orton and Sheamus in the last couple weeks.
 
30.   Final segment was standard for WWE. I’m not sure why the heels have no heat going into this match. They get cleared out on Raw; they get destroyed on Smackdown by the babyfaces. I don’t think all the heels are getting revenge at Survivor Series, but perhaps I’m wrong.
 
What was accomplished on this week’s Smackdown
The Good
• Hype for Survivor Series was good and definitely built interest in the pay per view something Raw failed to do. I only counted one commercial to promote Rock’s return and one commercial for Del Rio-Punk. I know its Raw’s job to promote those matches, but there should be some synergy between the two shows to make those matches feel important. Smackdown did the job hyping its own matches and hyping them well thus why I feel the overall Survivor Series promotion was good on this show
•While I wouldn’t say Daniel Bryan was better protected this week, it appears his storyline is picking up. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends costing Mark Henry the World Title at Survivor Series
•The hype for Big Show and Mark Henry was solid. They didn’t appear together on camera, which is okay and different for WWE on a go home show. Big Show had a great final hard sell promo
•I like the use of Ted Dibiase, Derrick Bateman, Maxine and AJ this week. These lower tier characters all got a bit of character development and I’m a fan of every character we see on television meaning something
•The commentary continues to improve on Smackdown
The Bad
•The Survivor Series elimination match did not get the most compelling build on Raw or Smackdown this week
•Smackdown couldn’t make Rock’s return feel anymore special, but after thinking about it the damage was already done with the build up on Raw over the last few weeks
What needs to be accomplished on next week’s Smackdown?
• OF course much is dependent on what happens at Survivor Series, but hopefully the continued development of lower tier characters such as AJ, Bateman & Maxine, Dibiase, etc
• The continued push of Wade Barrett. I assume Orton might get his win back at Survivor Series, but hopefully that feud continues into TLC
• I hope Christian remains a regular character on the show while injured
•If you asked me a few weeks ago, I would not have approved of Mark Henry losing the World Title, but the program has developed so well that I think Big Show needs to get the strap at Survivor Series, Bryan needs to cost Henry the title and Henry needs to go on one massive rampage on Smackdown in the weeks to come.
Thanks for reading.