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WWE Smackdown Reax #1: "I would rather see Big Show as a face just because he's so funny and doesn't have to try hard to be comedic."
Sep 13, 2008 - 2:28:51 PM
Dan Strauss of Goodhue, Minn. (6.5): Best: Hardy's slams on Triple H. Worse: Women's match. Triple H is not the first one to bring up Jeff Hardy's troubles,. In fact, it was done quite recently. But Hardy calling out Triple H for using his connections, especially his family, was awesome and well-deserved. I don't know who scripted it or if it was scripted, someone exposing Triple H's convenient connections was long overdue. I know it's part of his character, but I can't imagine anyone wants to have a match against Kozlov because he works so stiff. Hopefully he gets a quality push. I would rather see Big Show as a face just because he's so funny and doesn't have to try hard to be comedic. The whole "My Moving Co." was so cheesy that it was actually quite funny. Carlito and Primo's match was good. Hopefully they are given a lot of in-ring time in the future. Carlito has so much talent, I give him credit for still coming out there every night when no one gives him a solid push. The main event dragged on quite a bit. They tried to give those not winning some offense and tell a story, but I think holding Jeff Hardy out of the match that long kind of gives it away that he'll come back to win. Not that great of a show, in my opinion.
Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (5.0): Best: Carlito/Primo vs. Hawkins/Ryder. Worst: Triple H. You know something has to be wrong on Smackdown when Carlito's first match since the draft nets him "best" honors. But this match was pretty decent. Carlito looked happy for a change and his wrestling showed. Not too keen on his choice of tights, but hopefully Carlito is on track for a good run this time. The Jeese/Festus-Kenny segment was a "huh?" moment with deja vu mixed in. Kenny Dykstra's apparently moving out, just like Kenny and The Spirit Squad was. All that was needed as a "To: FCW" label stickered on him. I would have taken Kenny seriously if WWE had. Show went round and round in his promo but basically he's now an enforcer for Vickie. Taker-Show might do for a match but with this story I'm just not too interested. Triple H was centerpiece for this show as he is the champion and the theme of the show was finding his next contender. I'm cool with that. And I try so hard not to let myself get caught up in all the negative about him and review things as I see them on TV. Thing is, if I never knew Triple H from Adam besides being champion, I'd still would have listed him as Worst for the night. This may seem catty, but there is a reason why Ric Flair is considered a 16-time world champion and many regard Triple H as 12-time belt holder. Ric always knew how to verbally opponents while reminding them why it is he's The Man... without cutting the legs off of his opponents. Jeff Hardy got the most public cutting and crowd reaction suggested that no favors were done for anyone. The opening segment's noise was very sweetened and phony. The main event was plodding and bad, and only Kendrick seemed to be playing his part in the match right. So what was this with Kozlov? He keeps demanding competition, which fits his character, then goes from squashing jobbers right to near the top of teh card. What happened to the rest of the roster? Maybe this explains why the main event for the 10/14 Smackdown TV at the Thomas And Mack in Las Vegas is Triple H/Taker vs. MVP/Khali. Got a long way to go to get to that match, but the way this show was played out no one seems to have a clue what's going on. Lots of red flags indicating a Triple H turn, especially for the heel he was being tonight.
EXTRA SUPER-BONUS IMPACT REAX
Eric Gall of Bridgeport, Conn.: (6.0) Best Match: Christian's and Angelina's promos. Worst Match: Too much Sting. I really question the company's judgment with starting and closing the show with Sting; for a guy who barely wrestles anymore, he hasn't shown me why he's still relevant. Angelina Love's self-absorbed narcissist character just may give Impact's best promos, week-in week-out; she's over the top in an entertaining manner. Having Jim Mitchell around made Abyss seem somewhat interesting; now I find him pretty tedious. Hopefully after the feud with Lethal, Sonjay will get more promo time; he's more of a personality than Jay, and he can lose matches and still keep his heat, in a Santino Marella-type fashion. Sting's interview with Karen Angle was tough to watch; I just can't buy Sting as the self-appointed guardian of the wrestling business. I agree with Keller about Christian's promo; it seemed to fly under the radar with everything else going on, but it was another example of his great verbal skills. I think TNA is over-producing Taylor Wilde; her "Taylor the Sailor" outfit has got to go, her corny salute needs to be ditched, and I think her overall character needs to be overhauled. She's an attractive woman who can wrestle well, but something's missing; maybe they should just let her be more of herself? Roxxi is a much better wrestler than just being "the girl who bleeds and gets hit with stuff;" let's hope TNA realizes that and maybe lets her fill the void (in part, at least) that Gail Kim left. While Joe does have too much of a chip on his shoulder for a face champ, his best lines come when targeting Sting's self-righteous behavior. TNA seems to give the old-timers like Sting, Angle, and Booker a little too much airtime and potency; I don't know if the addition of Jarrett and Foley will balance this or make it worse.
EXTRA SUPER-BONUS 9/5 SMACKDOWN REAX
Eric Gall of Bridgeport, Conn. (5.5): Best Match: Kendrick-Hardy; Benjamin-MVP Worst Match: Triple H. Triple H and Undertaker are still babyfaces, right? The legend of Conan the Water Spitter grows by the week, and this edition of Smackdown has more of the same from Mr. Sledgehammer. From making MVP & Benjamin look like fools with his explanation of a promo to needling Hardy about the "three strikes" to having to beat Khali, a guy not even involved in his PPV match, Trips showed everyone (again) he is the big dog in the yard. Which leads me to Undertaker. His sadistic description of killing Vickie Guerrero and sending her to Hell is Jim Mitchell territory. Instead of seven matches, all but one being five minutes or less, why not give us a long one now and then? The Benjamin match could have really benefited from getting 10-12 minutes. I'm not into automatically assigning the worst match to the women; that's laziness the way I see it. Maryse is already a good heel, and her work in tonight's match was not bad at all. She has that "It" factor that Michelle just doesn't have, but I suppose being Taker's girlfriend is a higher criterion for being Diva Champion. I wonder, though, why she is booked as more credible than MVP or Benjamin. Maryse stared down Michelle and dismissed her with a flip of her hair, while not only did MVP & Shelton have to get ridiculed by Triple H, but both had to act scared of Taker during their entrances. It's called putting over the future, guys; unless you really do plan on being Smackdown's top two faces "for the next century." I would be really miffed if Victoria's jobs to Brie Bella were simply that, but it was pretty clear tonight that the old "Killer Bees" under-the-ring trick is going on here with the Bella Twins. Bella's twin came out on the other side of the ring way too fast for it to be Brie. At least the "Impact effect" has caused Smackdown to go with two women's matches per show.
EXTRA SUPER-BONUS UNFORGIVEN REAX
David Hayter of London, England (4.5): Best match: Shawn Micheals-Jericho, Worst Match: Big Show Heel Turn. It's a grudging negative review because I enjoyed this show as did all my friends who watched the show. But thinking about it a day on it simply a show that I have absolutely no desire to rewatch, ever. It was fine, forgettable, and utterly skippable. Shawn Micheals and Jericho were very good in their respective rolls and they did a brilliant job of playing off of months and months of TV developement. Jericho I thought remained spot on while Micheals tends to over act but this is wrestling not "The Wire" so by those standards HBK was fine. I got a wry chuckle out of a wimpering dishevelled broken wimpering Shawn Micheals face being left on screen as "I', just a sexy boy" hit in the background, possibly the single most inappropriate music for the occasion. The scramble matches were a real mixed bag. The ECW match was an excellent opener and I really do believe Mark Henry has been the "most improve/breakout star" of 2008. The match wasn't anything to write home about or something I'll remember in two weeks but it was the right note to start the show. The Raw match was a mess and seeing as Jericho didn't win in convincing fashion I'd suggest his speech on Raw will have a much greater replay value than the match itself. The Smackdown match was fun; I and everyone I was watching with really got behind The Brian Kendrick even though even the most casual of my casual fan mates knew he'd never win. If he wasn't so definitively defined down by this match I'd have said it was a star making performance. Triple H was ugh... Triple H and Jeff Hardy botched four big spot; the excellent cuts of the WWE cameramen saved him from looking very silly on a couple of occasions, but alas they couldn't save him from looking like the biggest bonehead on planet earth at the finish. Everything else ranged from uneventful to boring to coma enducing (Big Show). My actual highlight of the night was Randy Orton, from his first promo to kicking C.M. Punk in the head, now that was impressive! But I'm sure he'll say and do equally cool things on Raw. As for the scramble concept, I'm neither here nor there with it. Have just the one and make it half hour long, then I think you've got something. As is if they do it again that's fine just preferably once a year and hopefully not three on a single show.
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