-- 4/30 WWE Smackdown Reax

Chris of San Jose, Calif. (9.0): Best Match: Cody Rhodes vs. John Morrison. Worst Match: McCool & Layla vs. Phoenix & Kelly. Teddy Long opening the show by formally introducing Kofi Kingston signaled a new beginning for Smackdown. The Jericho-Kingston match could have been better, though, and Cody Rhodes gave the Smackdown audience an incredible match in his debut. I forgot how great of an athlete Rhodes was, as he nailed a perfect moonsault off the top rope. Even though John Morrison lost to Rhodes and Swagger this week, I expect him to go on a long winning streak. I thought the Edge-Christian segment was the best one-on-one promo since The Undertaker-Shawn Michaels promos leading up to WrestleMania. Although I want to see them battle each other now, this was a good tease for a match way down the road. The final match with Straight Edge Society vs. MVP & Mysterio was okay. I think it was more to get the fans re-introduced to MVP. Jack Swagger was hilarious all night. Big Show getting a push made me realize that the fans really do like him if he's matched up against someone the crowd can't stand. It's good to have Big Show as #1 contender for a month or two. This will give the rest of the mid-card a chance to work their way up until mid-summer. Lastly, It was a nice touch with all the vignettes to refresh the audience.

Terrie Neilson, Las Vegas, NV (9.0) Smackdown this week was more about the Draft fall-out than setting up "Over The Limit," and as much as there was a feeling of Smackdown being gutted, there's still plenty of talent. Edge leaving for Raw was expected only if Batista really is leaving. I bought his turn back heel as much most people bought his face run. Edge turning back so fast just seems to be an indictment of a creative staff that doesn't have a good feeling on how to present faces. ... Jack Swagger's little factoids reminded me of past Matt Facts without the graphics. He did get a little rattled when faced with the barrage of boos interrupting his promo, though. He calmed down after a while, so all was not lost. The matches on Smackdown were fine, but the time-honored tradition was in play taking them all down a notch. Chavo and Dolph will soon have one thing in common: having anything resembling credibility destroyed by Hornswoggle. I'm hoping this leads to a feud with Finlay minus the interference, but I'm sadly not expecting it. MVP started back on Smackdown the same way he started on Raw: telling someone to shut up. And Randy Orton and Big Show have something in common: being contenders for Swagger's World Title without really earning the opportunity. Orton was used to enhance Swagger without interfering in the push, but I can't say the same for Big Show. Big Show as champion doesn't ring too well when he's a one-punch guy. If the feud is meant as a test for Swagger as a champion and an in-ring worker, I'm seeing worst-case scenario here.

Ryan Massaro of Houston, Tex. (9.75): Best: Kofi Kingston vs. Chris Jericho. Worst: Kane vs. Chavo. This was the very definition of good wrestling TV. Kofi Kingston received a nice pop at the beginning of the show before facing Chris Jericho and it seems he could be a top babyface on Smackdown. The match was really good and had great moves by both wrestlers. When Jericho said there will be a dark hole on Smackdown when he's gone, he was right. His promos and in-ring work are top-notch. Cody Rhodes vs. JoMo was excellent. Rhodes's moonsault off the turnbuckle was top-notch and I'm happy to be seeing more of him on Friday nights. I thought Big Show's babyface turn was great, and I'm looking forward to seeing him as top babyface on the show. Christian and Edge's confrontation was incredible. I'm glad Edge is a heel now because being a babyface doesn't work with him. ... Kelly Kelly's tag match with Beth Phoenix just okay. I'm just glad she's not fooling around with guest hosts anymore. I didn't think C.M. Punk & Luke Gallows vs. Rey Mysterio & MVP was as good as I expected. I'm still interested to know who the masked man that attacked Rey is. I hope we find out and WWE doesn't just forget about the angle and expect us to as well. ... Kane vs. Chavo was just awful and what's worse is Hornswoggle is on Smackdown. We might see another Chavo vs. Hornswoggle rivalry again. Overall, this was a good show that established new feuds and brought back old ones.

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