James Caldwell, Torch Team Contributor

WWE Smackdown review
March 3, 2005
Taped March 1, 2005 at the Pepsi Center in Albany, New York
Aired on UPN
Report by James Caldwell, Torch Team Contributor

What, you were expecting Paul Madavi? Ha! Paul's on a leave of absence for this week and your favorite TNA Impact Reviewer is pulling double duty with a Smackdown Breakdown. Hopefully I can live up to Paul's excellent work and provide a solid recap of Smackdown. On to the Smackdown Breakdown we go...

- We began with a clip from last week's "Night of Appreciation" for JBL, recognizing his WWE Title reign that has been the longest in ten years. We also saw Big Show interrupt the proceedings to destroy the celebration set. After a cheap attack by JBL's Cabinet floored the Big Show, U.S. Champion John Cena entered the ring to clear out the Cabinet. Michael Cole asked, "Will John Cena spoil JBL's party when they meet for the WWE Title at WrestleMania?"

- Cue John Cena live on Smackdown, who came out wearing his shiny spinning United States Title. Cena said JBL's Cabinet wanted answers about why he was inflicting brutality on JBL – specifically sending him through a platform at No Way Out and busting up his party last week. Cena said, "I'm sick of it. Just like all of you, I'm sick and tired of JBL." Cena asked, "Who throws a party for himself?" Cena said JBL grew up with money, stocks, and limos. Um...there aren't too many limos out in the plains of Texas...and I know. (Yea, I know his character is from New York.) Cena said he spent his time sitting out in the crowd after spending his cold earned cash to bring his signs and eat his WWF ice cream bars. (Those are sooooo good!) Cena continued to pander to the crowd by indicating he's just like everyone sitting in the arena. Cena said the fans want to see a fight, not JBL's limos, parties, and Cabinet. Cena said he's a fighting Champion and will be defending the U.S. Title against Orlando Jordan. Cena addressed JBL, "It's a matter of how many days you have until you lose that Title." Cena, including the fans in his statement, said, "We will have the WWE Title."

- Michael Cole said we would be seeing a Tag Title match on the other side of the break...

[Commercial Break]

(1) Eddie Guerrero & Rey Mysterio defeated Luther Reigns & Mark Jindrak to retain the WWE Tag Team Titles. The match began with Eddie Guerrero and Luther Reigns. Luther and Eddie exchanged waist locks with Luther retreating to the ropes to force a rope break. Luther drove Eddie to the opposite corner and drove a knee to the gut followed by a forearm to the side of the head. Eddie countered an Irish Whip and delivered a back elbow to the gut. Rey Mysterio tagged in and landed a springboard double axe handle to the shoulder. Luther shook it off and delivered a knee to the gut before tagging in Jindrak. Jindrak choked Rey across the bottom rope and stomped on his back. Jindrak missed a left-handed clothesline and walked into a series of punches to the stomach. Rey Rey bounced off the ropes and landed a double foot kick to the head. Rey had a cover, but the referee was distracted by Eddie. This allowed the heels to double team Rey as the ref was having an open forum discussion with Eddie. Luther took a legal tag and whipped Rey into the corner turnbuckle. Jindrak tagged back in and stretched out Rey's back with a grounded surfboard stretch. Jindrak cinched in the hold as Rey fought out with kicks to the head. Rey dropped Jindrak with a face first bulldog after an up and down front swing.

Luther tagged in and scoop slammed Rey to the mat. Luther dropped an elbow and made a cover, scoring only a two count. Luther drove Rey into the heel corner, but ran into a foot to the face. Rey stomped Jindrak off the apron to the outside. Rey went for a 619 on Luther after knocking him to the middle rope, but Jindrak recovered and dropped Rey with a knee to the back. Rey scored the hot tag to Eddie. Eddie went to work on the heels, knocking Luther to the mat with a high-elevated drop kick. Eddie scored a tilt-o-whirl head scissors on Jindrak. The babyfaces mounted the heels on opposite corners for punches, but Jindrak fought out. Jindrak went for a powerbomb on Rey, but Rey took Jindrak to the outside with a huricanrana. Eddie went for the three amigos suplex combo, but Luther blocked the third suplex attempt. Luther shoved Eddie to the ropes, but Eddie ducked allowing Rey to score a springboard seated plancha on Luther. Eddie finished off the third suplex then went up top and scored a top rope frog splash. Eddie made the cover as Rey knocked Jindrak out of the ring with a 619. The referee applied the three count for Eddie's pin on Luther.

After the match, Rey and Eddie celebrated on the outside. Inside the ring, Luther and Jindrak, after trying to work together following their strife last week, exchanged verbal barbs. This led to Jindrak and Luther exchanging slaps before Jindrak decked Luther with a stiff left hand. Luther sold it as if he had been knocked out. The crowd cheered his left hook. Cole speculated that the left hook knocked out the relationship as well as Luther.

Psychology: Good to see WWE continue teasing the potential break up between Eddie and Rey. Each week, there has been a small tease of Eddie being too distracted for the betterment of his team. This week, it was Eddie distracting the referee as Rey had a pin attempt halfway through the match. I'm assuming it will become more escalated and more obvious in the future weeks, eventually coming to a head when Eddie actually costs the team the Titles. Good interaction between Luther and Jindrak, although I'm not sold on Jindrak becoming the babyface out of this eventual feud because he doesn't have much of a personality to endear himself to the crowd. We'll see where they go with this one.

Action: Your basic tag team title match, without much imagination put into the match planning. The ending was a variation on other tag title matches, but the first ten minutes or so wasn't anything special or particularly engrossing. Such is the life of the tag team division. That said, Rey & Eddie continue to work well together in the ring while Jindrak & Reigns don't appear to have the wrestling skills necessary to get over at this point.

Entertainment: The post-match knock out was halfway entertaining watching Jindrak attempting to play the babyface role, despite fans not giving two cents about him. As for the match itself, it was entertaining in certain spots, but not enough to separate itself from the bland style of tag team wrestling we've come to expect.

[Commercial Break]

- WrestleMania is only 31 days away! Michael Cole and Tazz discussed Shawn Michaels' challenge to Kurt Angle that occurred ten days ago on Raw. Cole said Angle made an emphatic acceptance of the challenge by destroying HBK following his street fight vs. Edge three days ago on Raw.

- Joy Giovanni, Michelle McCool, and some other nameless Diva were in the back discussing HBK's beat down. Dawn Marie walked into the locker room and said she was tired of the Divas throwing their stuff around the locker room acting as if they own the place. Dawn told Joy she was tired of her prancing around just because she won the Diva Rookie of the Year. Michelle stepped intervened on behalf of Joy. Dawn challenged Michelle to a mixed tag match with a partner of her choice. The other two Divas tried to act shocked at the sound Dawn's challenge, but came across ridiculous. Horrible over-acting.

- Smackdown GM Teddy Long was in his office talking to a playa on the phone about the WrestleMania excitement brewing from the Piper's Pit announcment. Carlito interrupted and told Teddy not to worry about other people's WrestleMania prospects, but rather what Carlito was going to do. Teddy gave Carlito his first task now that he's been given the vote of confidence as GM: shoveling snow. Carlito was shocked. Teddy handed Carlito a shovel. Carlito, still sporting a sling on his arm, indignantly asked, "How am I going to shovel snow with one arm?" Teddy told Carlito that he was going to whatever he wanted him to do. Teddy told Carlito to "beliedat." Carlito answered back, "That's not cool." Teddy said, "That's coooooold." Carlito stormed off speaking Spanish.

[Commercial Break]

- Michael Cole and Tazz introduced a clip highlighting Roddy Piper's upcoming return to WWE at WrestleMania 21 with a special Piper's Pit featuring Steve Austin as his rowdy guest.

(2) Heidenreich defeated Booker T. by DQ. Booker jumped Heidenreich before the bell sounded, delivering stiff right hands to the side of the head. Booker delivered a series of kicks to the gut, driving Heidenreich to the seat of his pants in the corner. Booker, showing immense intensity, delivered a textbook snap suplex. Booker took Heidenreich to the corner and delivered a back elbow. Heidenreich reversed the offensive momentum by delivering his boxer-like right hand jabs. Heidenreich walked into a back elbow in the corner leading to a side axe kick to the back of the head. Booker dropped Heidenreich to the outside then sent him head first into the safety railing outside the ring. Heidenreich reversed an Irish Whip into the ringpost, sending Booker noggin-first into the ringpost. Heidenreich took Booker back into the ring where he proceeded to send him shoulder first into the ringpost. Heidenreich slid to the outside and drove Booker's injured left shoulder into the ringpost. Back in the ring, Heidenreich made a cover, but Booker kicked out at two.

Heidenreich locked in an elbow key lock, working on Booker's injured left shoulder. Booker broke the hold with a jawbreaker. Booker landed hard right hands to the side of the head followed by a stiff clothesline. Booker ducked a clothesline and dropped Heidenreich with a kick to the gut followed by a big spin kick to the neck, a right hand to the jaw, and a chop to the chest. Booker sent Heidenreich across the ring to the opposite corner. Booker ran into a foot to the face then was turned inside out by a hard clubbing clothesline. Heidenreich went to the outside and grabbed his favorite weapon of choice – the steel chair. Booker recovered in time to superkick the chair into Heidenreich's face. Booker picked up the chair and was begged not to use it by referee Nick Patrick. Booker dropped the chair and walked into a right hand. Booker shook it off and sent Heidenreich head first into the steel chair with a solid DDT. Nick Patrick called for a DQ, to which Booker vehemently tried to force Nick to reconsider his decision.

After the match, Booker delivered a Scissors Kick to the back of Heidenreich's head before doing the Spinaroonie. Booker's music hit despite him losing the match. Why would the loser's music hit just because he got the final word in?

Psychology: Heidenreich was effective in suckering Booker into using the steel chair to force a DQ. However, I don't know how much thinking went into that considering Heidenreich's character isn't the most intelligent student in the classroom and hasn't shown many tendencies to do anything rationally, usually relying on irrational thought. Eventually, they're going to have force these two into a no DQ match to get us an actual winner. The series of DQ finishes is taking its toll on the feud. The match itself lent itself as being an opportunity for Heidenreich to focus his offense on Booker T.'s shoulder in an effort to wear him down. However, there was no apparent goal in sight for his shoulder work. There was no shoulder breaker attempt to finish off the match or anything along those lines that spelled out, "I'm trying to win the match." It just looked like he was using a conscious attack on one area of Booker's body for the sake of throwing in some psychological factors.

Action: Ugh. Booker was intense in the ring, but he's not capable of carrying Heidenreich to a watchable match. Heck, not many people are capable of carrying Heidenreich to a watchable match, so it's hard to blame Booker in this instance. The horse has been beat dead, but it has to be said: Heidenreich just isn't cut out for wrestling. He's stiff and just plain boring to watch. I want to give the guy a chance, but I can't endear myself to him. He needs to have more life in his step and more thunder in his wrestling. At this point, I just hope he can continually improve with more ring seasoning until he becomes halfway watchable in the ring.

Entertainment: I liked Booker T.'s intensity in the ring, which made this match somewhat watchable and entertaining. Yet, there's something so psychedelic about watching Heidenreich bumble around the ring huffing and puffing that makes him an entertaining performer. He can't wrestle, but he's an entertaining character simply through the absurdity of how he handles himself in the ring.

- Michael Cole narrated a still shot from last Monday when Kurt Angle had a bloody and battered Shawn Michaels in his grasp following his match with Edge. Cole said Angle was going to be out next to officially accept HBK's challenge.

[Commercial Break featuring Wade Keller's favorite WrestleMania commercial – JBL and Cena playing the famous scene from "A Few Good Men." The problem I see with this commercial is how they're using a real life storyline in the pretense of a skit. By JBL telling Cena to lace up his boots and meet him at WrestleMania, that's a current storyline being promulgated through a non-wrestling skit.]

- Kurt Angle entered the ring flanked by two security guards, one of which was holding Angle's gold medal. Angle took the mic and said, "Boy, do I feel good. And it's all because of what I did to Shawn Michaels last Monday night on Raw." Angle rolled the footage from last Monday, but not before warning parents to turn their kids away because of the video's graphic nature. The final two minutes of Raw aired – in black and white no less – showing Angle ripping HBK's crimson face apart in a hellacious sneak attack. We cut back to Smackdown where Angle smiled at his accomplishment and great work. Angle said, "I can't stop smiling." Angle reminded everyone he's an Olympic Gold Medalist, but ever since he's come to the WWE, all he's heard is "Shawn Michaels is the greatest athlete in the history of the WWE." Angle reminded viewers how he embarrassed HBK at the Royal Rumble and would have broken his ankle if it weren't for security forcing him to break the Ankle lock hold. Angle warned HBK that at the biggest stage of them all, it will be "the biggest embarrassment of them all." Angle brought out his opponent for the Angle Challenge.

The opponent walked to the ring with a hooded sweatshirt covering his head and face. The opponent slowly entered the ring as Angle questioned the ring attire. Angle dropped his straps as tried to look under the hood. Angle said he's not that stupid and predicted the hooded guy is Shawn Michaels. Angle ripped off the hood and it wasn't Shawn Michaels. A cameraman, sporting a bad moustache and hat, entered the ring behind Angle. The cameraman got close as Angle asked his opponent whom he was. The opponent said, "I'm Scott Wright and I'm from Albany, New York." The cameraman stripped off the moustache and get-up to reveal himself as Shawn Michaels. HBK jumped Angle and shook off the two fake security guards. HBK and Angle brawled in the ring until other security members jumped the ring to separate the two superstars. Angle scampered up the ramp as HBK verbally jarred with him from the ring.

[Commercial Break]

- We cut a clip from during the break when security was escorting HBK out of the building. Teddy Long entered the scene and told HBK he wasn't hating him on, but he had to have escorted from the building. HBK understood and said he came just to get a piece of Angle, with the rest waiting for him at WrestleMania. Security escorted HBK out of the building.

(3) Michelle McCool & Big Show defeated Dawn Marie & Renee Dupree (w/Fifi). Dawn and Dupree came out first followed by Michelle. However, Michelle came out alone without a partner. Michelle smiled and waved to the back revealing the Big Show as her mystery partner. Dupree and Dawn trembled in the ring as Dupree tried to throw Dawn into harm's way. Michelle took some pre-match advice from Big Show, who told her to think and relax. Michelle took a few deep breaths before squaring off with Dawn. Dawn laughed at the prospect of facing Michelle in the ring. Dawn shoved Michelle then slapped her across the face. Dawn pulled Michelle to the mat by the hair. Dawn stood on Michelle's hair and lifted up, wrenching the painful "hair stomp and press" hold made famous in the 1960's. Michelle nipped up and landed a cross body block. Michelle was obviously upset and cornered Dawn in a neutral corner. Michelle landed a handspring elbow to the head. Dawn tagged in Dupree, who danced in front of Michelle's fallen body before walking into a low blow. Big Show received the big tag and mocked Dupree's dance. Big Show shook off some weak punches to the gut and picked up Dupree for a huge chokeslam. Big Show laid on Dupree and scored the three count for the win.

Psychology: McCool looked out of her league being dominated by Dawn Marie, of all people. They didn't do a good job of protecting her as the potential Smackdown babyface diva since she looked weak as dependent on the Big Show rather than using him as a back up. I don't know if protecting the Smackdown divas is exactly a priority, but it wouldn't hurt to protect Michelle, who appears to have some semblance of ability.

Action: Not much. A lot of standing around and diva madness.

Entertainment: Big Show was very entertaining in his role. Coupled with last week's comedy tag pairing with John Cena and today's mixed tag pairing with Michelle, the Smackdown writers appear to be moving Big Show into a comedy bit role. Based on Wade Keller's insider knowledge, they'll be moving him into a program with Akebono, but as for now, he's just filling in space as a huge comedy act, which isn't a bad thing.

[Commercial Break featuring those super lame 50's-style Enzyte commercials. I'll be back at the clubhouse after the Smackdown Breakdown. ;-)]

- Outside the Pepsi Arena, Carlito was shoveling snow and complaining the whole time. A car randomly drove by and splashed ice-cold water all over him. Carlito, not sporting a jacket or any type of warm wear outside of a beanie, slipped on the ice. Carlito tossed his shovel into the road as Michael Cole laughed hysterically from ringside.

- In Smackdown's "old news segment of the week," we saw the announcement for Hulk Hogan being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Boy, I still get goose bumps when I hear "I am a real American; I fight for the rights of every man" striking up.

- WWE Champion JBL walked out to the ring sans limo and goofy smile. JBL had a demeanor of seriousness and indignation as Tazz speculated as to the whereabouts of the Cabinet. JBL wanted a couple of answers. 1) Why is Hulk Hogan being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame over the greatest WWE Champion of all time? 2) Why did the common people, who need a hero, cheer when his party last week was ruined? JBL told the fans they "must respect me." JBL said Cena has made a mockery of the U.S. Title and himself by the way he dresses and talks. JBL said, "I'm not avoiding you, Cena, I despise you." JBL continued, "I hate the people who cheer you. It makes me sick to be in the same room as you." (Boy, that WrestleMania commercial must have been a tough shoot.) JBL said he doesn't sit in the stands like Cena because, "you people pay to see me." JBL reminded everyone, "I am a wrestling god. Gods do not pay to see anybody." JBL said the fans are the scourge of America and his kids will never interact with these people because his kids will go to private school. JBL said "these people" imitate Cena because they grow up in single-family homes because their parents can't stay together. JBL said these same people find themselves dead by age 30 from overdosing, forcing him to give out handouts and support these people. JBL screamed, "Finally, some of you people are going to have to fend for yourselves."

JBL told the fans they will worship him because, "I am a once in a lifetime performer and the most recognizable man on the face of this planet." (What about Planet Jarrett?) JBL told the fans they're too stupid to realize greatness, chant his name, and give him respect. The fans booing increased exponentially as JBL continued his demands for respect. JBL said he would walk out of the armpit called Albany if he did not receive the respect he deserved. JBL said, "I'm the show, not just the main event," and demanded an applause from the crowd. When the only thing he received was more boos, he told the fans to remember the day they lost JBL. JBL threw down the mic and walked out to a chorus of boos.

Cole cut in and said you can't demand respect; you have to earn it. (There's a joke there, but I won't go there.) JBL walked through the back only to be confronted by the Cabinet. JBL told Orlando Jordan to restore respect to the United States and win the belt from Cena. JBL told Jordan he would have to win the U.S. Title or be banished back to the hood with "those people," by virtue of being kicked out of the Cabinet. JBL and the Bashams drove off in the JBL limo as Jordan stood in shock.

Smackdown Note: Wow. Good thing this is only JBL's character. Oh wait, it's not. It's actually him speaking through a character. In light of not wanting to go on a rant about JBL, I'll just comment on JBL's promo within the character. Essentially, this feud between JBL and Cena boils down to pitting class vs. crass. It's hierarchy vs. new blood. It's bureaucracy vs. democracy. It's a great storyline to build towards with JBL not wanting to be disgraced by being in the same ring with Cena. Awesome promo despite the ridiculously overdone political overtones.

[Commercial Break]

- Rey Mysterio was in the back kissing his tag title. Chavo Guerrero entered the scene wondering where Eddie Guerrero was. Rey said Eddie was taking a shower. Chavo asked Rey if he knew why Eddie was teaming with him. Rey thought it was because he wanted to be a tag champ. Chavo thought differently and pointed out that Rey had beaten Eddie a few times before teaming together. Chavo said, "Eddie's keeping his friends close, but his enemies even closer." Rey asked if Chavo was insinuating Eddie was his enemy. Chavo told Rey, "You can never trust a Guerrero." Chavo walked out as Rey stared off questioning the truth.

- Big Show was talking to Joy. Out of nowhere, Funaki ran in excited about something. After Big Show calmed the former Cruiserweight Champion down, Funaki said the fans in Japan wanted to see Big Show vs. Akebono. Big Show said, "any match, any place, anytime; it would be my honor to face Akebono." Funaki scampered off excited. Big Show talked to Joy about Renee Dupree's jaw dropping at the site of him as Michelle's mystery partner.

- The Raw Crapbound showed Batista destroying Ric Flair as Triple H looked on from outside the ring setting up Flair vs. Batista on next week's Raw.

[Commercial Break]

(4) Orlando Jordan defeated John Cena to win the United States Title. Jordan and Cena locked up with both men fighting for the early advantage. Cena rolled up Jordan with a quick two count. Jordan didn't appear to be into the match, looking somewhat distracted from JBL's earlier threat. Jordan, being too aggressive early on, ran into a back body drop, falling into Cena's plan. Cena delivered a solid suplex and scored a two count. Cena ran into a boot in the corner, but caught Jordan with a powerslam. Cena went for a Five Knuckle Shuffle and delivered it to Jordan's upper torso. Jordan rolled out of the ring to recover as we went to commercial.

[Commercial Break]

Back from commercial, Cena had Jordan grounded in the middle of the ring with a sleeper hold. Jordan fought to his feet and broke the hold with elbow smashes. Jordan missed with a cross body block as Cena ducked out of the way. Cena dropped Jordan with a scoop slam before delivering a shake, rattle, and dance leg drop. Cena made three straight covers scoring a two count each time. Cena sent Jordan head first into the corner turnbuckle before landing right hands to the side of the head and kicks to the gut in succession. Cena stomped Jordan to the seat of his pants before locking in another exciting sleeper hold, which effectively took the fans out of the match. Jordan drove back to his feet and took Cena to a corner. Jordan and Cena broke their grapple with Cena landing a series of right hands. Cena walked into a thumb to the eye, breaking his momentum. Jordan rolled up Cena and tried to use the ropes as leverage, but Cena kicked out at two. Jordan climbed up top and landed a cross body block. Cena rolled through and ended up on top in a pinning predicament. Cena scored a two count and Jordan made sure referee Brian Hebner only counted a two. Cena mounted Jordan in the corner and delivered hard right hands to the side of the head, amounting to ten in total. However, Jordan power bombed Cena from the corner and scored a two count only. Jordan dropped Cena with a right hand and scored a two count only. Jordan mounted Cena in the middle of the ring and pounded away on the side of the head. Jordan delivered a back elbow to the head and covered Cena, but only resulting in a two count. Jordan snapmared Cena into a neck wrench wear down hold.

The fans rallied behind Cena as he fought back to his feet. Jordan absorbed three elbows to the gut and dropped Cena with a high vertical suplex. Cena kicked out of a pin attempt at two. Jordan put Cena in the middle of the ring with a scoop slam then bounced off the ropes for a leg drop. Jordan covered Cena, but scored a two count only. Jordan locked in another sleeper hold, wearing down Cena. Too many wear down rest holds for my liking. Cena fought to his feet, breaking the sleeper hold, to deliver a belly to back side suplex. Cena and Jordan reached their feet simultaneously with Jordan scoring the offensive advantage with a nice running powerslam. Jordan made a cover, scoring a two count only. Tazz speculated whether his relationship with JBL or the U.S. Title was more important. Cena flew off the ropes with a double axe handle blow. Both men recovered on the mat as Cena and Jordan reached their feet at a seven count. Jordan grabbed Cena's chain, which was hanging from the corner turnbuckle, but had it knocked from his hands from a sharp right hand to the side of the head. Cena dropped Jordan with an atomic drop followed by a float over neck slam with a cover for a two count only. Cena delivered a spinning sit down side powerbomb and pumped up his Nikes for an FU attempt. Cena dropped Jordan with the FU, only to have the Cabinet run in and distract Cena. Cena dropped one of the Bashams with an FU after knocking the other one off the apron. JBL entered the ringside area out of nowhere and smashed the U.S. Title over Cena's head. Cena fell flat on his back as the referee was still tending to the Bashams. Jordan covered Cena and scored the three count to capture the U.S. Title.

After the match, JBL entered the ring as if he had nothing to do with the match ending and celebrated with Jordan. Referee Brian Hebner was somewhat quizzical of what JBL was doing in the ring as he handed Jordan the U.S. Title. JBL spun the belt from the outside as Cena stared his direction in disbelief. Fade to black.

Psychology: Michael Cole and Tazz were fantastic in building up Jordan's potential distraction of worrying more about being fired over winning the United States Title. The opening portion of the match really worked because Cena seized the opportunity to take advantage of Jordan's prioritization of concerns to score the early offense leading to a possible pinfall. I liked Cena's aggressiveness in trying to prove JBL wrong for the promo he cut earlier, showing a side that has been missing from his matches as of late.

Action: I counted four rest holds over the course of the match. Not to nitpick, but that's inexcusable. Now, if Cena, Jordan, or any other Smackdown wrestler wants to turn that into a grapevine headlock or body scissors wrench, I can live with that, but four sleeper hold maneuvers is ridiculous. Coincidentally enough, most of these matches involving four or five sleeper holds involve Cena. Maybe Cena needs to work a little bit with the available resources on perfecting some other submission holds to make these necessary spots more interesting. Aside from this major nitpick, I liked the overall theme of the match. Both wrestlers had solid intensity on display, which made for a good TV main event match.

Entertainment: This was a quality TV wrestling match, leaning more towards the wrestling rather than the entertainment. Jordan isn't too much of an entertaining character, but his workrate is improving each week, endearing himself more to observers. I hope that a U.S. Title run with boost Jordan's career to new levels.

Overall Thoughts. I liked this show. There was a little too much of the filler video clips that we already saw on Raw three days ago. However, because of the WWE depending on that 28% figure for viewers who only watch either Raw or Smackdown, they have to fill in that 72% who didn't see Raw. The main event match was a good close to the show, which did not feature a good deal of solid wrestling up until that point. Rey & Eddie's tag title defense was your basic, by the books, seen it fifty times tag match that wasn't anything special or particularly exciting. However, it helped extend the storyline with Chavo's "can't trust a Guerrero" line adding a new dimension to the eventual Rey and Eddie break up. There are definitely some exciting storylines to look forward to as we head to WrestleMania, with Big Show vs. Akebono and Heidenreich vs. Booker T. not being two of them. However, Jordan's U.S. Title reign, JBL vs. Cena, and the Rey & Eddie partnership will be very intriguing to follow in the next four weeks.

Thanks for taking the time to read through the review. Paul should be back next week in his regular timeslot for another edition of the Smackdown Breakdown. In the mean time, feel free to email me at revenge_nwo@yahoo.com with any questions, comments, or feedback on tonight's show. And BTW, Paul authorized me to use his format, so don't email me saying I violated any copyright violations or anything of that sort!

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