By Chris Newth, PWTorch contributor

WWE Friday Night Smackdown
September 5, 2008
Upcoming PPV: Unforgiven (last episode before PPV)

SMACKDOWN STORYLINES AND FEUDS

Welcome to the fiftieth 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)


WWE Champion TRIPLE H vs. THE BRIAN KENDRICK (w/ Ezekiel) vs. MVP vs. SHELTON BENJAMIN vs. JEFF HARDY (3 weeks)

Summary Quick Shots:

-Triple H began to cut a promo about the Scramble, but Shelton Benjamin cut him off. MVP then got involved. Kendrick and Ezekiel surprised Triple H with an attack, prompting all the heels to team up. Jeff Hardy made the save, and the heels ultimately backed off.

-MVP and Shelton Benjamin competed in a singles match; the bout ended when Benjamin hit his Pay Dirt for the win.

-Brian Kendrick and Jeff Hardy battled it out one-on-one. The match saw Ezekiel pull Jeff spine-first into the guardrail, allowing Kendrick to hit The Kendrick on Jeff Hardy for the nice win.

-Triple H spoke with Eve during an interview about how he needs to focus on the obstacle in front on him until the next one comes along. Jeff Hardy interrupted to warn The Game, but Triple H finished the conversation by noting that a third strike means that Jeff would be "out of the game."

-In the main event of the night, Triple H faced The Great Khali in a Lumberjack Match where the lumberjacks consisted of the other four men in the Scramble Match (plus Ezekiel). When the lumberjacks tried to beat on Triple H, Jeff Hardy began fighting them. Triple H then beat Khali with a Pedigree, but Jeff Hardy closed the show by sending a message as he surprised Hunter with a Twist of Fate.

Analysis:

This week really helped three people in particular: The Brian Kendrick, Shelton Benjamin, and Jeff Hardy. By the end of the show, these three guys had all the momentum. Brian Kendrick's win over Jeff Hardy really means something, despite the slight interference by Ezekiel. It's a strong sign of his push. Last week Kendrick exhibited his intellectual prowess; this week he showed that he too can be at the top of Smackdown's roster with his in-ring talent. His association with Ezekiel is interesting just from a visual perspective. These guys are like two wrestling opposites—perhaps the best of both worlds. Kendrick has the speed and agility, while Ezekiel has sheer power. Even though we haven't yet seen Ezekiel fight in the ring, we know that Brian Kendrick is more dangerous with him.

And then there's Shelton Benjamin. It's nice to see Shelton getting more mic time than usual in recent weeks. He was given an opportunity to further cement his gimmick with a brief video promo where he talked about being the most talented and most precious thing in WWE. Oh, and that he is the Gold Standard. He also won his match against MVP. Benjamin is one of those guys who could be a break-out star in time. His character still needs some work; he still has to find himself as a heel and appear comfortable in that particular role. The Game referred to him as a "cheap shot artist" this week, and that may be something to play off of.

Jeff Hardy comes off as a guy/character who can't really get much more detailed in his current form. Everybody knows him, he's been around for years, and he's massively popular. In the past year, he's gotten a lot more mic time than he used to, and his character recently underwent a pretty revealing and controversial storyline with MVP where real-life personal issues were brought to the surface—a trend that was continued this week with Triple H's on-air warning. Hardy just has to continue what he's doing and stay in the spotlight until the right opportunity comes along. From here, it's hard to tell where WWE can go in terms of his character's development. Perhaps they could explore the question about Jeff Hardy as the Charismatic Enigma—as MVP put it—"whatever that means."

We also know now that Triple H successfully defended his WWE Title in the Scramble Match at Unforgiven, so the only man who wasn't pushed nicely this week was MVP. Now that the promotion for a multi-person gimmick PPV match is over, it will be interesting to see where WWE takes this storyline. Who will step up next as Triple H's opponent? Jeff Hardy, Brian Kendrick, and Shelton Benjamin probably have good reasons for why they deserve a title shot. Hopefully we'll find out next week on Smackdown.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 8.5 [up 1 since last week]

Previous Feuds
Triple H: King Booker, Umaga, Jeff Hardy, Orton & JBL, Randy Orton, John Cena
The Brian Kendrick: n/a
MVP: Rey Mysterio, Ric Flair, Batista, Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy
Shelton Benjamin: Kane, CM Punk, Money in the Bank, Kofi Kingston
Jeff Hardy: Umaga, Mr. Kennedy, Triple H, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, MVP

THE UNDERTAKER vs. Smackdown GM VICKIE GUERRERO (10 weeks)

Summary Quick Shots:

-Undertaker stood in mid-ring to talk about taking Vickie Guerrero's soul at Unforgiven. He mentioned putting her in a coffin and torching it, sending her to hell, where she will be reunited with Edge. I don't think that was a metaphor.

-A short-tempered Vickie Guerrero pulled up in a limo, scolding an employee who had fetched her wheelchair. She barked orders at other people to move vehicles from the garage.

-As Vladimir Kozlov and Big Show began to have an impromptu match, Vickie Guerrero, still fuming from earlier, entered the ring and demanded that both Vladimir and Show leave; they did. She then vowed to not live in fear anymore and demanded that Undertaker apologize at Unforgiven.

Analysis:

Threats abound as The Undertaker continues to prey on the woman he deems responsible for his own personal misery. It's still odd to see a clear-cut babyface who receives huge ovations from crowds get cheered for threatening a woman in such a way. He promised "endless agony" after torching her? It makes you wonder what he could get away with saying so long as it's against a heel. And it's even more curious when you think about how Vickie has been subtly taking on a semi-babyface persona in the past few weeks (since her reinstatement of The Undertaker, a babyface act in and of itself). This week seemed to be the end of that babyface turn experiment as Vickie assumed her more natural heel role; her demanding that the audience quiet down for the announcement she had prepared was clearly indicative of that.

One odd point about Undertaker's promo was how he seemed so confident that he could get away with destroying Vickie. At that point in the show—before Vickie even arrived and at which point the announcers had already discussed how she wasn't in the arena that night—how was he so sure that Vickie would even show up at Unforgiven, especially after those threats against her life?

Also, this week was a bit of a copout with last week's conclusion being nothing more than Undertaker scaring Vickie. He briefly alluded to this in his promo when he said the anticipation of death is far worse than death itself. When he said that, I assumed it was in reference to how last week he seemed to have just scared her. But as a follow-up to the cliffhanger ending last week, it was a bit disappointing.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 9 [down 1 since last week]

Previous Feuds
Vickie Guerrero: Undertaker, Batista
Undertaker: Mark Henry, Batista, Big Daddy V, Edge

WWE Divas' Champion MICHELLE McCOOL vs. MARYSE (2 weeks)

Summary Quick Shots:

-Maryse bumped into Maria backstage in the makeup area. The insults started flying as Maryse criticized Maria's wardrobe, offering to send her authentic and customized clothes from Paris, but she wasn't sure they'd fit Maria's body.

-Maria faced the number one contender for the WWE Divas' Title, Maryse, one-on-one. The match ended when Maryse cracked Maria's head on the mat with a DDT for the win, gaining momentum as she heads to Unforgiven to face Michelle McCool.

-After the match, Michelle McCool met up with Maryse on the stage for a short stare-down. There was no outbreak of violence.

Analysis:

Nothing particularly interesting happened this week in this storyline. WWE continues to push Maryse, which may not be a bad idea. Her matches have gotten better, and she has viable character options if they decided to put more into her role beyond the surface-level arrogance that most heel divas end up exuding.

The matchup against Maria, on a booking level, was fine. There's nothing particularly weak about how WWE is putting this all together, but the downside is that nothing stands out as particularly strong. The brief meeting between McCool and Maryse was a nice way to close the segment just two days before Unforgiven. We know now that Michelle McCool ultimately retained her title at the PPV on Sunday, raising the question about the health of her rivalry with Maryse from here.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 4.5 [up 0.5 since last week]

Previous Feuds
Natalya Neidhart: n/a
Michelle McCool: Victoria, Chuck Palumbo

VICTORIA vs. BRIE BELLA (2 weeks)

Summary Quick Shots:

-After losing to Brie Bella last week when the newcomer caught Victoria with an inside cradle, these two divas faced off for a second time this week. The match ended when Brie rolled Victoria up with a schoolgirl with a little bit of arm leverage on Victoria's throat for the win.

Analysis:

It's interesting to hear the announcers talk about a "match-up problem," suggesting that maybe Victoria doesn't match up well against Brie Bella's style; it adds a new dynamic when thinking about their future matches. As for what we know, it looks like WWE's playing off the "newcomer upsets the veteran" storyline. The only other repetitive element that we saw both this week and last week (other than Brie Bella's win) is that she may frequently try to dash under the ring when she seems to be in trouble. Could it be a Finlay-esque maneuver—her using her surroundings, particularly the ring, to her advantage as an escape or to take a quick breather? Or could it be something else?

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 5.5

Previous Feuds
Victoria: Michelle McCool, Kelly Kelly, Michelle McCool & Cherry
Brie Bella: n/a


CONCLUDED FEUDS

(1) Michelle McCool vs. Natalya
(2) Jeff Hardy vs. MVP


POTENTIAL FEUDS

(1) R-Truth vs. Chavo Guerrero & Bam Neely
(2) Big Show vs. Vladimir Kozlov
(3) Big Show vs. Vickie Guerrero


Thanks for reading, everyone. If you have any questions, suggestions, or comments, feel free to email me at newthtorch@hotmail.com. I greatly appreciate all the feedback that I receive, and I will respond to every email. 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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