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WWE Smackdown Reax #1: " I'm so tired of reading rave reviews for Edge who has rapidly become not just the most overrated..." Aug 16, 2008 - 2:30:32 PM
Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (7.0): Best: MVP promo; Edge finish Worst: divas match; too many squashes Smackdown suffered from the mistakes of others (too many short matches, a singles title holder getting punked - and I mean Shelton Benjamin for the second week in a row), but in the end delivered fine on SummerSlam build. The MVP-Hardy feud is coming along smoothly, but U.S. Champion Shelton Benjamin was victimized for the second time in as many weeks. There was room to inject Shelton into the mix and maybe make it a Benjamin-Hardy-MVP three-way since interference ended both of his matches with Hardy. Cherry's dismissal was a surprise, and I'm not too pleased with it as she was coming aling nicely in the ring. What was the point of a new title if the divas roster seems to be shrinking again? Kenny returned; he had originally disappeared due to injury, which would have been more acceptable an explanation than a lame vague one. The newbie, Goldman, got an inset promo that I thought was kinda cute. Hopefully there will be more to it as he got what the other newbie, Braddock, didn't get. I thought that ECW was the one with the New Superstar Initiative and not Smackdown. Hell In A Cell is clearly the star match for Smackdown and SummerSlam, so the build for the remaining parts of Smackdown's card did what it needed to do. MVP and Edge are your go-to guys when it comes to mike work. MVP is Smackdown's variation of Chris Jericho and playing it very well, near the end better than Jericho due to a lack of conviction and commitment to this type of mightier-than-thou heel. Edge was a little over the top in certain parts, but I don't think that Taker chant I heard was chimed in. Interesting to do the promo from ringside as oppoed to in-ring but it did change things up from the usual. Sunday's end leaves me thinking that the only champ who may (operative word) lose the title is Henry, Cena-Batista I have no interest for and the match won't have a clean finish, Jeff is likely going over MVP, and Shawn will announce that he'll live to fight another day, say, Unforgiven.
Alex Roberts of the United Kingdom (1.0): Best Match: (by default) Shelton Benjamin vs. Jeff Hardy. Worst Match: Big Show Squash. I'm so tired of reading rave reviews for Edge who has rapidly become not just the most overrated wrestler in the WWE but in all of wrestling. His recent descent into insanity and transformation into a psychotic has been farcically bad. If I didn't know better I'd seriously believe that the WWE, Edge, and Vickie Guerrero were playing this entire angle for laughs. The writing is bad and the performances are even worse and, as has become the case with Smackdown in recent history everything is just a rehashed and repeated version of something else. Can anyone explain what the difference between this week's closing Edge/Vickie segment and last weeks closing Edge/Vickie segment? And can anyone explain what the difference between this weeks Hardy-Benjamin match and last week's Hardy-Benjamin match was? The U.S. Title was on the line this time is what I get. Then we had another diva filler tag match, which was strangely similar to the filler six-diva tag match we got last week. And in a move that defies all logic Triple H gets the better of Kahli. Why am I interested in their SummerSlam match if I know Triple H can get the better of Kahli walking in? I still see nothing in Koslov jobbing Festus out to him, especially this quickly was a mistake on so many levels. The Brian Kendick continues to be a highlight of the show, although as is par the course with Smackdown he's just doing the same thing every week without fail, how about a little advancement here? It was nice to see Cabana on TV, though, and hopefully Dykstra's return leads to something for him. And here's a question: What the hell happened to the Show-Umaga feud they teased a couple of weeks ago? In fact, what's happened to Umaga period? I thought his move to Smackdown was supposed to give him a new lease on life? I don't get why people are raving about Smackdown right now since there's nothing of any significance happening and there's more quality wrestling and feuds on ECW and even Raw every week. This is just the same rehashed nothing every Friday night and has been for far too long.
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