Instant Reaction - WWE Smackdown 1/20
By Benjamin Tucker, PWTorch TV specialist

Overall Score - 7.5

I thought tonight was a very enjoyable episode of Smackdown. While none of the mathches on the show were too long, they were almost all enjoyable to watch. Well, almost. I'm going to have to pick on Drew McIntye's match with Santino, as I find the story itself to be cringe-inducing. The match itself wasn't very enjoyable, either, especially when you consider the talent that Drew has that is being wasted. While that comedy bit did little for me, I'd be lying if I didn't say that I enjoyed the heck out of the dance-off with Brodus Clay and Vickie Guerrero. Brodus's reaction to the dancing was hilarious, and the segment had a nice, brisk pace that didn't overstay its welcome. Even William Regal danced! Fantastic.

The Roulette gimmick did a good job of not getting in the way too much, but thinking about this logically, why would someone put a flag match on the roulette wheel? Isn't most of WWE's roster from the same country? I digress. DiBiase's match with Hunico was pretty meaningless, but fun enough for what it was. The same can be said for Rhodes and Gabriel's match, as well as the Tornado tag match. Primo and Epico have a ton of talent, but I have a bad feeling that the lack of charisma from the champions is going to hurt them in the long run. Even back when Primo and Carlito teamed together, Primo didn't show much of his own personality. They really need to get some sort of gimmick going if they don't want their title reign to become a fluke.

The World Title saga kept me interested tonight. I like how everything Bryan says in his promos turns the crowd more against him, even when the remarks are 100 percent true and aren't that heelish at all, similar to what Jericho's doing now on Raw. I'm still against turning Bryan heel for fear of what he may turn into, but, for now, I'm enjoying the ride. Mark Henry continued to rule in promos tonight, especially in his segment with Teddy Long. The match that he had with Bryan was fine until the end, which was overbooked and, quite frankly, aggravating. Why didn't the match end in a DQ? Why did the lumberjacks start wrestling each other? If the match didn't end, why did Teddy Long let Bryan leave? The entire situation set up a nice graphic at the end hyping the Rumble, but in the end, it was irritating as well.

However, for the most part, my complaints about the show aren't that big. While Smackdown wasn't perfect, I thought it was a good show with some memorable moments, whether it was Brodus Clay dancing or Booker T...playing with toy rings while announcing. How odd. Well you know what they say, shucky ducky... quack quack!

Questions or comments? Follow me on Twitter at BTuckerTorch or e-mail me at btuckertorch@aol.com.

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