Welcome to another edition of 10 Thoughts on Smackdown! Sorry for the delay, there was some…business here in real life. Anyway, here’s a rundown as it is right now. New champion (ish), and a new number one contender (again, ish) named as we go into the fallout from last week’s Summerslam. So, without further delay…
Here…we….go!
- Nice little segment between the former members of Legacy. It showed me that they’re grooming Rhodes to be a major player. Rhodes is getting much better on the mic, and he’s not too bad in the ring either. Unfortunately, I don’t see DiBiase going much further than as Rhodes’ lackey for a while, until they turn him face against Rhodes. Am I the only one who sees some irony in this if it happens? I mean, his dad had a similar storyline with his lackey years ago…and now the shoe’s on the other foot…or maybe I’m just overthinking AGAIN…you be the judge.
- I’m becoming a fan of Tyson Kidd. The guy’s been putting on some really good matches lately, and his match with Justin Gabriel tonight was no exception. I’ve noticed that the bigger storylines have been occurring on Raw, but Smackdown’s having better quality matches as of late. Agree, disagree?
- I do watch Zack Ryder’s show on Youtube, I won’t lie. Is he entertaining? Absolutely. The only problem is giving him something that he can work with. Having him as assistant to the general manager AND wrestling is a good way to get him exposure, but I’m just saying WWE should be careful here. If they’re not, he’ll just become another comedy character who gets lost in the shuffle…possibly as Smackdown’s answer to Santino Marella.
- Alberto Del Rio/Daniel Bryan was a bit more enjoyable than their last encounter. My only real complaint on this one is slightly hair-splitting, and wasn’t either man’s fault: the camera angle on that guillotine. It showed that there was a LOT of space between the throat and arm…made it look a little less believable. However, the closing sequence was still very nice…I liked the match.
- The more I think about it, the more blatantly obvious it becomes to me that Alberto Del Rio was being groomed to become a major player since day one. I mean, think about it: a personal ring announcer that also assists him in matches…that seems a little tailor-made for a champion…I’d bet anything that creative was just ITCHING to get at least the US Championship on him…but instead, he wins Money in the Bank and becomes WWE Champion. But again, I ask, what’s the point of the draft and brand extensions now?
- I know the Divas’ division has had a lot of heat as of late, but this story with Beth Phoenix and Natalya is actually intriguing. It was obvious that Natalya was made to look stronger than any of the other competitors in the match, but I’ll say this much: if Kelly Kelly is indeed capable of improving in the ring, she’ll do so in this storyline with Beth and Natalya. If she doesn’t, I don’t think she’ll be capable of much else afterward. On a sidenote, WOW, that was a mean looking Sharpshooter!!
- OK, WHERE are they going with this thing with Aksana? If it’s just the flirtatious woman trying to pull the powerplay on the boss AGAIN, I’m sorry, but she is NOT the Diva to pull that off! Besides, didn’t they already do an angle with Long and a Diva back with Kristal Marshall? It didn’t work our well then, either…just one man’s opinion.
- Now I see why Scott Keith doesn’t rate battle royals. There were so many storylines being played out in this match, and it is nearly impossible to follow it all at once. After Mark Henry powered away from everyone at first (save for Jinder Mahal and the Great Khali), I knew it was a foregone conclusion from there. Granted, Sheamus had a good showing, but let’s face it…Sheamus/Randy Orton’s been done HOW many times already? Also, how many of you think Henry’s really straddling that fence into becoming a tweener? I personally think he’s better in that role, honestly. GEEZ, that throw into the announce table looked UGLY!!! Just sayin’…and did anyone notice that the final four had a bit of international flavor to it? Mexico, Ireland, England, and the USA…and a finishing sequence between them all that I thought was really neat, for a battle royal. Sidenote: Is it sick of me to have been drooling over a potential Ganso Bomb by Henry on Cara?
- Sin Cara is over now…is anyone surprised? Of course, it’s not the performer that’s over, it’s the character. Personally, I like whoever’s behind the mask much better than I liked Mistico. I don’t quite know why, but it was like Mistico was just a spot monkey like Sabu was in the late parts of ECW, WWE style. This new guy seems to have a better grasp of ring psychology.
- Joe’s Food For Thought: OK, so both Natalya and Mark Henry showed signs of possibly becoming tweeners, having both went after heels as much as they did faces. Last week, I asked what defines a heel and a face, and this week, I’m wanting to follow up on that. With Raw having guys like CM Punk straddling that fence between heel and face, here’s my thought: Do you think WWE’s new direction is leaning less and less toward kayfabe, and blurring those lines completely? Also, do you think, if they are indeed making their characters with more shades of gray, so to speak, is that a good thing or a bad thing? My thoughts: Yes, I do believe that kayfabe has been lessened to a great extent for quite some time now, but even more so with the CM Punk experiment.
That’s all I’ve got for this week. The show was okay, as the Mark Henry push continues. Now to see where things will go next between the unstoppable monster Henry and the unpredictable (at least story-wise…reality-wise, debatable) champion Orton. Wait, I do have one last thing..
11. WHERE WAS CHRISTIAN?!?! He’s barely a week removed as champion, and now he’s not even booked for the next show??? That’s either poor booking, or it means they’re cooking up something even bigger for him. I really hope it’s the latter…sorry, I HAD to address that.
Until next week…
