Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
Hardy vs. Helms was great. It looks as if Matt Hardy is getting his win of the month early. Unfortunately, it comes at the expense of the unimportant cruiserweight division. I’ll bet Helms is distraught over the fact that his competition is either doing other things (Kendrick & London, Pitbulls) or nothing at all.
Boy was the in-ring debut of the Miz a ticking time bomb or what? What gives him the right to showboat after every offensive move? And don’t you wish Tatanka would’ve scalped him right there? Remember, this crap wouldn’t have happened if The Real World never existed!
Last spring, we had See No Evil shoved down our throats. I never saw it, by the way. Now, we’ll have The Marine doing the same thing for two months.
Wow, the US title match was really, really top-notch! This is why Smackdown can still claim to be a quality show, because the midcard stars, well, most of them, give it their all. I think MR. KENNEDY…………KENNEDY will be a hot US champion!
Poor Regal. A knight of his stature has to step into the ring with a weirdo. Actually, Vito may be getting over. But still, with his gimmick, how could Regal feel anything but BESMIRCHED?
Jimmy Wang Yang? Good grief! Not to be hateful or anything, but a guy of Asian heritage just isn’t right for a cowboy gimmick. Why couldn’t they have kept him as Akio?
It looks as if MVP can talk the talk with his interview. Now, in a few weeks, we’ll see if he can back it up in the ring.
Kendrick and London can usually put on a good show, especially if they have decent opponents. This time was no exception, as the Pitbulls gave them a great match. With James and Stevens attacking all after the match, I think the Tag Division is having its 29th rejuvenation!
I know what they can do with the Boogeyman! Have him feud with the Miz! Who wouldn’t want to see him force feed worms to that piece of reality TV hogwash?
The contract signing was an OK segment. It was made special by King Booker’s hilarious promos. I can see he’s incorporated somewhat Shakespearean elements to his interviews. But Batista’s beatdown wasn’t so good, since he had to Batista bomb Booker TWICE to break the table.
Smackdown was a very good show this week. Three strong matches, a decent main event contract signing, and the exploitation of Eddie was thankfully brief. They did a lot for the Brand That Doesn’t Have a Pay-Per-View Event Soon.
Overall Grade: B+
Ken Kibby
Benicia, CA
**********
I loved the wrestling on Smackdown this week, as always, but as seems to be the norm with the show these days there is no real creative direction. Maybe that's the way the WWE want to go with this show now who knows but with "No Mercy" next month they need to be doing something so that fans will want to buy the PPV.
The only person involved in any real solid storyline/feud is Eddie Guerrero, a storyline that quite a few fans appear to very uncomfortable with now and want to end. That said fans at the live shows are reacting to this but its hard to know whether they are booing Vickie because she is now a heel character or just booing showing their disapproval of the whole thing. I didn't watch the opening segment with Vickie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio so can't comment. Rey's life has been dominated by Eddie for so long now and maybe he wants it that way, although, Rey has lost part of his own identity as fans not longer chant his name but "Eddie's". This whole thing now makes me so uncomfortable and I just wish the WWE would stop using Eddie's name and let him rest in peace and move on BUT this storyline is not going to end anytime soon as it has taken yet another direction. By adding Vickie Guerrero to the Smackdown Roster as Chavo's business manager this is set to run for a long while yet.
I have no idea how Vickie, Rey, Chavo or anyone else close to Eddie really feels about all this and never will. Vickie has two young daughters to take care of and unless any of us have unfortunately found ourselves in a situation like this, then, we can't judge or comment. I can't believe that she would be doing this if she felt in any way it was disrespectful to Eddie's memory or she was in any way uncomfortable by it. I guess as she is now on the Smackdown roster she must be fine with it all. I don't have to watch this Storyline though and won't, I will either change the channel or fast forward through the segments BUT that's my personal choice.
I really enjoyed the match between Gregory Helms and Matt Hardy. The thing I find with Smackdown these days is that if you don't think too much about matches/segments creative wise (which isn't hard) then the show is more enjoyable. Take this one for instance, Matt is a Heavyweight, Gregory Helms is the Cruiserweight Champion and this whole match came about for reasons known only to the WWE as it was never really explained as to why Helms was even ringside during a match between two heavyweights last week let alone why he took exception to Matt Hardy. This was an entertaining wrestling match between two talented athletes that was given plenty of time to play out.
I loved the backstage segment between Ken Kennedy, Theodore Long and Finlay, although again if you think too deeply about it then you remember that Ken Kennedy was actually teaming up with Finlay the night before and now all of a sudden he wants a shot at him and the US title?!. That aside, I enjoyed their "interaction" and Finlay is really funny when they let him speak!. I loved his comment to Kennedy about going outside there and then so he could beat him up!.
Oh My God, I had a real flashback to the 80's when The Miz made his way out for his debut match this week. What in the hell did he come as?. I spent so much time crying with laughter at what he was wearing and how much of an "idiot" he looked prancing around that I couldn't tell you what happened or who he was even wrestling - actually, could this be classed as a wrestling match? (I guess the jury is still out on that one). I thought he couldn't get any worse after his attempts at being a host but boy was I wrong. He does seems to have some "Mizfits" though, although I am sure they will be able to get help for it!.
It was a given that Bobby Lashley was added to the US title match and it did make sense (hey, once per a Smackdown show is a good thing these days!) BUT did I hear JBL right when he accused Teddy Long of being a racist when he added him to the match? - curious minds want to know what was racist about it as that comment made no sense to me!. I really enjoyed this match, there was no let up in the action and all three guys showed they were on top of their game as they did battle for the US Championship. It really was close and there were very few times when all three weren't battling in out which made for a great change in a Triple Threat match. This match, like the opening match was given plenty of time to play out. In the end Kennedy snuck in and pretty much "stole the win from Lashley which was funny and so, well, Kennedy. He was sure proud of his win and that US title and I think he will make a great Champion.
So, last week William Regal gets "Knighted" this week he gets, well, a lot more than he bargained for when he had his head thrust up Vito's dress!. You have to give it up for Vito, he seems to be having a lot of fun running around in a dress and the fans seem to be behind him (not sure if that's a good or a bad place to be considering what he wears under that dress though!!!!!).
The final wrestling match of the night between The Pitbulls and Paul London and Brian Kendrick was awesome, I love watching these two teams in action in the ring and surprisingly they were given plenty of time and I was glad that the run in was left until after the match was over. I really don't know yet about the new team of Idol Stevens and KC James, the Creative Team (if there is still one on Smackdown) have touched very little on their character development and I still want to know what Michelle McCool has to do with them. She just seems to follow them out ringside - maybe she's a stalker (and they haven't noticed!).
Why was the Heavyweight title match at Summerslam controversial?, Queen Sharmell interfered getting her husband disqualified - simple! - Lita does that for Edge all the time on Raw BUT his wins are never deemed controversial!. One question, if the Heavyweight title rematch is to take place on Smackdown and not at a PPV WHY did we need an official contract signing?. Surely, "Thaddeus" (classic) could make the match without all this pomp and ceremony. Booker T, sorry King Booker's over the top "annunciation" of his words is hilarious and he really made this final segment entertaining - Batista didn't really look like he wanted to be there somehow.
Take Care
Di (UK)
**********
I enjoyed most of Smack Down .I work on Fridays at night so I tape the show. I'm glad I taped it. I can't bear to watch another minute of Vickie Guerrero! I can't stand to see Rey act like he's crying but, maybe he is! I'd cry too if I was involved in that story line! I really enjoyed the U.S. championship match. Lashley, Kennedy, and Finlay all put on a great show. King Booker's facial expressions are priceless! I've watched him since his WCW days as a tag team wrestler and a singles wrestler. He always puts on a good match.
Lena from Lakeland
