By Chris Newth, PWTorch.com Specialist Contributor

WWE Friday Night Smackdown
October 5, 2007
Upcoming PPV: No Mercy (last episode before PPV)

SMACKDOWN STORYLINES AND FEUDS

Welcome to the sixth edition of Smackdown Storylines and Feuds.

For those wondering about the Intrigue Level system that I employ, you can refer to the numbers as follows:

10 (excellent), 9 (great), 8-6 (very good, good, pretty good), 5 (decent; has its good and bad qualities), 4-3 (needs work, poor), 2 (bad), 1 (terrible)

Last Friday's Smackdown was a pretty weak show overall, and the transitioning of multiple feuds may have constituted those flaws. To illustrate my point, here is a list of the feuds from last week's article that have either been concluded or seem to have been concluded this week:

-Deuce 'N' Domino vs. Hardy & MVP
-Chuck Palumbo vs. Kenny Dykstra
-Michelle McCool vs. Victoria
-Undertaker vs. Mark Henry
-Jamie Noble vs. Shannon Moore

Therefore, five out of the eight total Smackdown feuds have been discontinued this week. What does this mean? It means the establishment of multiple new feuds in a short period of time and a heavy reliance on the feuds that are currently ongoing. Unfortunately, some of the new feuds introduced weren't very promising (e.g. Chuck Palumbo vs. Chris Masters) and some of the main feuds still ongoing were mediocre at best (e.g. Batista vs. Khali).

This week's trend leaves me with discussion topics for three feuds. The rest need to be labeled as either concluded or too early to judge. With that in mind, let's start with…

THE GREAT KHALI (w/ Ranjin Singh) vs. World Hvt. Champion BATISTA (6 weeks)

In the final week of hype for the Batista-Khali Punjabi Prison Match slated for No Mercy, WWE followed basic formula. Batista cut a promo talking about the gimmick match, and The Great Khali (via translator) countered the World Heavyweight Champion. Of course, each of them directly stated or implied that they would win, with Batista expressing slight doubt since he's never been involved in that type of match before.

At the end of the show, Batista saved Mysterio from the stacked odds of a two-person beat-down by Khali and Finlay. The show then abruptly ended. There wasn't much worth noting here. Most of the problems originate from Khali's inability to speak English. Although the translator is intended to carry the message (and burden), the audience has become accustomed to ignoring that figure.

In essence, WWE has sacrificed the possibility of good storytelling (with two-way communication and interaction between two top stars) for sheer size exploitation. And the latter doesn't amount to much because despite the fact that The Punjabi Nightmare is insanely large, his lumbering motions don't make for exciting television.

For the last month, there really hasn't been any story connected to this feud. Batista became World Champion at Unforgiven, and The Great Khali is waiting for his rematch. No story, no character development, no excitement. The only thing going for this rivalry is the promise of an entertaining gimmick match at No Mercy, but the problem here is that the vast majority of viewers don't order pay-per-views.

Hopefully, these two can go their separate ways come next week. The biggest (pun intended) challenge for Smackdown writers at the moment is to incorporate Khali into a story that deviates from the overused current strategy. He has to be placed in a position where speaking isn't an issue. Maybe they can creatively find a storyline that capitalizes on his inability to speak English.

If I were writing this one, I'd immediately take the emphasis off of the translator who is constantly spewing the same tired information. Maybe something mysterious or terrible happens to Ranjin Singh, and Khali is left trying to explain what he knows about the situation to others. As the audience, we get a vague or ambiguous glimpse of the events to pique our interest, but nothing substantial enough to actually know what happened. Vickie Guerrero actuates an investigation, and Daivari is brought in briefly but refuses to help Khali because he was replaced by Singh months ago (or maybe instead of refusing to help, Daivari lies when translating Khali's statements). So because no one can believe or understand what the man is saying, he goes into a rage where he attacks random people on the roster. That's an interesting angle that would put some mild sympathy toward the monster heel—which is an overlooked necessity for every good villain—while giving him reason to do the things for which he's already known.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 5 [up 0.5 from last week]

Previous Feuds
The Great Khali: Batista
Batista: Edge

MATT HARDY vs. MVP (14 weeks)

The events that took place this week regarding Matt Hardy and Montel Vontavious Porter were fine for what they were. The two began with a push-up competition. Again, intertwining these little contests with meaningful segments and matches is always a nice touch. They serve as little reminders as to what this feud is really all about. A match against Deuce and Domino for the WWE Tag Team Titles then led to yet another victory for The Mismatch Team.

Alright, so things are beginning to ware thin. It was interesting to see MVP utilize his heel tactics to help Hardy pick up a win for their team, but besides that, nothing notable occurred. Later this week, Hardy and MVP are scheduled to go head-to-head with The Brothers of Destruction: a dangerous combination consisting of The Undertaker and Kane, and hopefully that upcoming match results in a new direction for the current Tag Team Champions.

With all of the focus on the tag situation, tediousness has begun to set. MVP's use of the tag team titles to distract Hardy from the United States Title—a point punctuated every week by Michael Cole—is only a small part of this entertaining rivalry. Now it's time for the next step, where Hardy can finally challenge The Dual Champion one-on-one in a big match with the U.S. Title on the line.

This feud has been solidly booked for many weeks, but this week hinted toward repetition to a fault. There needs to be another shift here soon, but no one can discount the usefulness of this rivalry for both Matt Hardy and MVP. It is doing a great job rounding their respective characters.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 9.5 [down 0.5 from last week]

Previous Feuds
MVP: Ric Flair
Matt Hardy: Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch

DEUCE 'N' DOMINO (w/ Cherry) vs. MVP & MATT HARDY (7 weeks w/ 1 week hiatus)

It isn't clear at this point whether the feud between Deuce 'N' Domino and The Mismatch Team has come to a close, but the implication as of last week's Smackdown is that it has indeed ended. The reigning WWE Tag Team Champions picked up another victory, and this week's Smackdown has a scheduled match pitting MVP and Hardy against Undertaker and Kane.

Assuming the conclusion has arrived, it should be noted that Deuce and Domino have done an adequate job in their supporting roles. Of course, the main problem with their team is that WWE hasn't really portrayed them in any meaningful light. They were thrown a 1950s gimmick and told to wrestle. Generally speaking, no interesting angles have been given to them, and beyond their names, viewers know absolutely nothing about them.

In terms of this feud, they clearly acted as nothing more than background for the development of the MVP and Matt Hardy storyline, but at least they provided some opposition force against which Hardy and Porter had to overcome. Plus, since they are currently the only actual tag team on Smackdown at the moment that has been established to any degree, this feud was necessary and helpful for both their team as well as the MVP-Hardy unit.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 4.5 [down 0.5 from last week]

Previous Feuds
Deuce & Domino: Batista
MVP: Ric Flair
Matt Hardy: Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch

CHUCK PALUMBO (w/ Michelle McCool) vs. CHRIS MASTERS (8 weeks w/ 5 week hiatus)

I find it a slightly humorous that I can pretty much copy and paste exactly what I said about this feud before Masters was suspended and still make the same point. So, why not? The following is an excerpt from my 8-31-07 Smackdown Storylines and Feuds article:

"Here is an example of a small feud that probably doesn't hold enough weight to go too much further. Chris Masters as a character is less than two-dimensional (and that would be a dot). There aren't many good things to say about this. The rivalry began haphazardly as Mr. McMahon arbitrarily got the two to fight because he saw two men in the ring, literally. The character of Masters is nonexistent, while Palumbo is relatively new to Smackdown.

Let's see how this one develops, but don't think that I'm psychic when I predict that this will prove to be a very short feud with Palumbo coming out on top. Even so, Masters is not going to launch Palumbo into superstardom; he has absolutely no credibility left. So that's another redeeming value of this feud out the window."

The only addendum I'd like to make regards Master's credibility. It might have been smart to have him reintroduced with some squash matches, but WWE decided to pick up right where they left off. Since Chris Masters hasn't been featured on television for over a month—and therefore hasn't been shown losing any matches in over a month—the return attack on Palumbo during which he successfully applied the Master Lock at least showed that it's possible for him to be some kind of threat to the Motorcycle Enthusiast.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 4 [up 1.5 from the last time these two feuded]

Previous Feuds
Chuck Palumbo: Kenny Dykstra
Chris Masters: no notable feuds since being drafted from Raw

FINLAY vs. REY MYSTERIO (3 weeks)

For the last two weeks, Finlay has made brief appearances to catch Mysterio unexpectedly with weapon shots. This week, the same method was used, except it took place during the Khali-Mysterio match that headlined as Smackdown's main event. Rey spotted Finlay and was able to devise some form of offense, but the numbers game eventually led to Rey's skull in Khali's Vice Grip. Batista predictably made the save and took out both Finlay and Khali with a spinebuster and a spear respectively.

It was another week with absolutely no story between Mysterio and Finlay. In fact, even the booking seems to ignore the idea that these two are somehow feuding. Every week, Rey is doing something other than seeking out Finlay. It's almost ridiculously inane. Finlay lays out Mr. 619 with a microphone, and Rey isn't involved in any kind of match with the Irish Veteran; he doesn't even request a match against Finlay before the No Mercy PPV. Then he's attacked again, this time with a shillelagh. Again, Rey just comes out for his match with The Great Khali without so much as looking around to make sure Finlay isn't there. So even though two weeks have elapsed with consecutive cheap shots, Rey is not seeking the enemy. It doesn't make much sense.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 4.5 [down 0.5 from last week]

Previous Feuds
Finlay: Kane
Rey Mysterio: Chavo Guerrero

JAMIE NOBLE vs. SHANNON MOORE (4 weeks w/ 1 week hiatus)

What happened here? Jamie Noble was continuing a feud with Shannon Moore, a member of the cruiserweight division who had been picking on him lately, and now Jimmy Wang Yang enters the picture in Moore's stead.

The only reason that I can derive is that WWE plans to hold a Cruiserweight Title match within the next few weeks or possibly at Cyber Sunday, and they want to throw different competitors out there since cruiserweights aren't usually featured on the show in any significant way.

I'm not sure if there's actually a feud in here somewhere or if it's just a bunch of cruiserweights making spasmodic appearances. Either way, there isn't anything to label "interesting" at the moment.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 4 [down 1 from last week]

Previous Feuds
Jamie Noble: n/a
Shannon Moore: n/a

THE GENERAL MANAGER SITUATION (3 weeks)

It seems that WWE intends to cement Vickie Guerrero as the successful, stand-up babyface GM for the company. That's a good decision considering the uncertainty of the Teddy Long situation. However, we should be given some kind of hint as to the future of the show's management after a better explanation of Long's condition.

Seeing as how the likelihood here is that Vickie Guerrero will continue to make babyface decisions for which Cole and JBL can praise her, it doesn't seem worth mentioning this each week in my analysis. When something important happens, however, I'll be on it.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): n/a

POTENTIAL FEUDS

(1) Jamie Noble vs. Jimmy Wang Yang?
(2) Matt Hardy & MVP vs. Undertaker & Kane?
(3) Jesse & Festus vs. ??

CONCLUDED FEUDS

(1) Victoria vs. Michelle McCool
(2) Undertaker vs. Mark Henry
(3) Chuck Palumbo vs. Kenny Dykstra
(4) Jamie Noble vs. Shannon Moore?
(5) Matt Hardy & MVP vs. Deuce 'N' Domino?

Thanks for reading, everyone. If you have any suggestions or comments, feel free to email me at newthtorch@hotmail.com. I appreciate all the feedback I receive. Please insert a word in the subject line that deals with a wrestling topic or write something such as "WWE," "feud," or "Funaki" so that I know it's not junk mail.

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