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TUCKER'S INSTANT REACTION - Smackdown 1/6: Reax to Henry's commentary, Rhodes-Bryan title match, Bryan heel turn?

Jan 6, 2012 - 9:40:32 PM
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Instant Reaction - WWE Smackdown 1/6
By Benjamin Tucker, PWTorch TV specialist


Overall Score - 6.5

Smackdown was a large improvement this week over last Friday's show in several ways. Still, several segments left me scratching my head. First, wasn't Ted DiBiase getting pushed one month ago? Then, why did he lose to a lower-level mid-carder in about three minutes for the second straight week? It really seems counterproductive, especially when Hunico could have had the same sort of match with a guy like Yoshi Tatsu (the match was fine, though).

I'm also worried about Drew McIntyre's storyline. WWE has a bad habit of having losing streak storylines end up being a huge roadblock for talent. Look at what happened to MVP at the tail end of 2008 and most recently John Morrison. He has so much potential that it would be a shame if they didn't use him. And, of course, the Slater-Hornswoggle segment. Yes, it was terrible. Moving on...

The Divas match, while short, was entertaining, as well as the tag match. It's good to see Primo and Epico finally get a solid win on TV, and the match itself was a lot of fun, too. The actual story between the teams needs to progress a bit more, though, as they've been having matches every week for over a month now. Let's see some development!

The Rumble hype segment with Sheamus, Barrett, and Mahal was fine, but I really don't get what's happening with Jinder at the moment. One moment he's an interesting character getting solid squash wins, then he's a jobber to Sheamus, and now that he's become a stereotypical Middle Eastern character he gets to beat up Sheamus? What?!
RhodesICTitle_7.jpg

The match of the night definitely went to Rhodes vs. Booker. It was sloppy in some spots, but, overall, it was highly entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable, especially with the Scissors Kick nearfall. It also managed to accomplish making Cody look like a huge star by the end of the segment, making him seem like he can "hang with the big boys."

As far as Show vs. Bryan is concerned, I thought it was okay. Several spots were botched, though, and the entire match was inadvertently overshadowed by Mark Henry's amazing work on commentary. He managed to stay in his heel character while managing to put over the talent in the ring. Good stuff. However, I must say I'm distressed by Bryan's apparent heel turn. Daniel Bryan is meant to be a face. His underdog attitude, blue collar look, and athleticism make him a great fan favorite. I'm sure a heel version of him would be okay, too, but he's probably going to end up playing the Miz-esque chicken heel - with a lot less charisma. Does Big Show get better crowd reactions than Bryan? Sure. But, he's been there longer. Give it time, WWE, give it time.

Questions or comments? E-mail me at btuckertorch@aol.com, or follow me on Twitter at BTuckerTorch.

[Torch photo (c) PWTorch.com]


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