Hello again and welcome to this eventful day on the Road to WrestleMania! I’m your hostest with the leastest Rhett Davis along with my announce partner… err yeah never mind. Welcome to The O’Really Report, your weekly Wednesday wrestling stop on all things WWE and TNA! As I was reading the return of the King of the World (Rey Mundo), I noticed something he said was very true. To quote Rey Mundo said “…we have 859 people writing about Monday Night Raw, and like 4 of us writing about TNA and WWE Smackdown…â€Â So for this week’s analysis, I will be taking a look at the Blue Show.
SmackDown has all the ingredients to be a great show and right now it is the more interesting brand. The World Heavyweight Champion is Edge and it is a breath of fresh air that Kane is no longer the champion. I am glad they gave Kane his far overdue title run (not including his one day long reign in 1998), but enough is enough and even Owen Hart (RIP) would agree that it was time for a change. Now we have the Rated R Superstar taking on Mr. Perfect 2.0 in Dolph Ziggler. Dolph has come a long way since the Spirit Squad and is on his way to the top of the card. He plays an excellent heel in a smug, arrogant, I’m-dating-the-boss gimmick with Vickie that has put over a few champions over the years such as Triple H and his adversary Edge. Dolph has been on the same treatment that Morrison has been on with the stop-and-start pushes, but it appears finally Dolph is getting his due. The part of Dolph’s push that really caught me off guard was how sudden it was. He jumped from the Intercontinental Championship to #1 Contender in one night, and then the following week made his presence felt by dismantling Edge on the Cutting Edge.  I don’t expect Dolph to take Edge’s title on SmackDown. I think either Drew will get involved due to Kelly’s firing or Vickie will be knocked out leading to Edge hitting the Spear to beat Dolph with a different referee. However, with the speculations on the web of Edge retiring or going to TNA, WWE might decide it to be safer to move the championship. It shall be interesting to see how the match goes down Friday.
On another note, SmackDown is full of veterans who are on the verge of retirement. The Undertaker, Edge, Rey Mysterios, and Kane all are battered and bruised and one has to wonder how much they have left in them. The Deadman has an 18-0 record at WrestleMania and that alone should show how long he’s been around. He fought in WrestleMania SEVEN and has fought at all but two since then. He has had numerous surgeries and really is at the end of his reign in WWE. There has been talk of the WWE hiding his injuries in a tag match at WrestleMania and I can’t say that would be a bad thing. This way Undertaker could get his #19 win and move on to next year’s Mania to win #20 all healed up. Edge is rumoring retiring or even moving over to TNA for the easier scheduling. Edge may not have been around since WrestleMania 7, but he has been in some of the most extreme matches in WWE history. He invented the TLC matches with Christian, the Dudleys, and the Hardys, has been in an enormous amount of Ladder matches including Money in the Bank, and has had some crazy matches including his match with Mick Foley at WM 22 just as an example. His body has been deteriorated through the years and it’s understandable that his time is drawing to a close. Rey Mysterios is a legend fighting back in AAA, WCW, ECW, and today WWE. Rey’s knees are in bad shape and Rey also, like the two former, has had many surgeries. Rey has had many lengthy absences and it seems as though he is always fighting injured nowadays. However, Rey is making the most of his time left. He’s putting over new talent and even elevated Alberto Del Rio to the point in which he is now. Now his rumored WrestleMania opponent is Cody Rhodes, another young gun prying his way through the midcard scramble to the top. Amongst the rumors of retirees is another SmackDown legend in Kane. Kane has been in the WWE since the late 90’s and has only really had one heavyweight title run, but his body also has taken a beating over the years and one can expect that he too may be drawing his career to an end.
Although no rumors have circulated that The Big Show is retiring, he has been in the business for quite a while compared to most of the roster. Currently The Show is feuding with The Corre and really has made them look stronger than the Nexus did. Week after week Big Show has been taken down by Wade Barrett, Big Ezekiel Jackson, Heath Slater, and Justin Gabriel. It also appears that Wade is the leader despite stating there would be no leader (ha) and will be entering the Elimination Chamber. In the meantime, Big Zeke looks like he is going to take on The Show at EC. Although that will not be the most ‘athletic’ fight, it shows that WWE is really going forth with this youth movement. Even Slater/Gabriel appear to have an agenda on SmackDown as they are chasing for their Tag Titles that were unjustly robbed from them thanks to Cena. This is where Corre is better than the Nexus. The Nexus has no real motive other than making CM Punk the top dog on RAW and doing all his dirty work, yet everyone in The Corre has an objective.
Alberto Del Rio is now the #1 Contender for a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 27. Everyone seems to be complaining that Del Rio won, but I, for one, am happy that a new face won instead of Cena/Edge/Orton/Taker. It promises a NEW match for the heavyweight title and a fresh feud leading into the biggest show of the year. Every time Del Rio enters the screen with the biggest smile ever and his arrogant wink, it’s hard not to hate the guy. THAT’s why I think he’s a great heel. He makes even the most smarkest audiences hate him. It’s a talent that not most have. Now he is feuding with Kofi Kingston. Wait what? The #1 Contender for the World Heavyweight title is fighting the I-C Champ? I would say that this is a step down, but looking at his options there are none. It’s either fight Edge and ruin WrestleMania, fight Rey… again, or feed the giant Big Show. Or go the safer route and beat up Kofi Kingston. So kudos SmackDown for not sticking Big Show in there!
The young guns on SmackDown are numerous and it’s sad that they aren’t getting a lot of time to display their talents except on Superstars. Drew McIntyre is a superstar on the verge of breaking through, but not even with the ‘Chosen One’ gimmick can he break through the glass ceiling. He’s currently in a love triangle thing with ‘Joan Cena’ (trademarked by Kelly Floyd for name detriment) and Trent Baretta. Trent Baretta is a phenomenal talent by the way and has a lot of potential. I’m a huge fan of Tyler Reks and his new look is ferocious to me and I hope WWE uses him right. I could see Reks doing big things if given more of an opportunity than turning on his partner on Superstars. Cody Rhodes is another talent that has totally made his gimmick his own. The Dashing persona has become Cody Rhodes. He went from Orton’s lackey to a pretty boy who throws the most convincing tantrum that I’ve ever seen when slapped in the face. I don’t know what happened to Swagger, but he really has flopped. He was the most surprising MITB winner EVER and won the title much to everyone’s surprise who thought he was a shoe-in for the first to lose his match. He doesn’t even have a feud to speak of despite his wrestling abilities and his amazing match with Rey last week. Kofi has a high octane offense with a lot of flashy moves, but really I don’t think he’s that adequate on the mic. His interviews/promos always seem to lack something… I’m not sure what, but Kofi seems like a flash in the pan to me. I can’t see him being the first African American WWE Champion. Ezekiel Jackson is closer to that than him. I wish Masters would get a push… He really went downhill since he teamed with Carlito. Every since that he’s been suspended, fired, hired, and moved to Superstars to job. It’s depressing to me.
The Divas’ division on SmackDown is really lackluster and saddens me to look upon it. Currently there are four on the brand (minus Joan/Kelly Kelly who is ‘fired’) including Beth Phoenix, Michelle McCool, Layla, and Kaitlyn. Beth is my favorite Diva Raw or SmackDown and she really isn’t being used much on the show as it has been Joan and LayCool colliding. LayCool was funny at the beginning, but I’m to the point I’m ready for them to break up. Sure all these other teams can break up, but LayCool can’t? On the other hand, Kaitlyn has done so much since she won NXT hasn’t she? She’s eaten a boot. That’s about it. I was impressed with the inclusion of the Divas in the Main Event on SmackDown last week though. Although I kind of went into shock when Josh Matthews summed it up saying “Kelly Kelly is defending the World Heavyweight Championship.â€Â Leaves a bad taste in your mouth doesn’t it?
The Blue Show is looking hopeful, at least more so than it did a couple of months ago. I’m anxious to see where SmackDown takes us this Friday and I hope you’ll all tune in to see it!
In case you want to see another opinion on the show, don’t be afraid to open that SmackDown Review from Kelly Floyd because it’s awesome. Blair has Impact on Lockdown on Thursdays so don’t forget to check in there for all your needs Impactful. And on the RAW side there are the 10 Thoughts with me, the For Your Consideration Judicial Raw Review with Andrew Wheeler, and the RAW Report from Paul Marshall. Anyways enough with the pandering, this is the O’Really Report.
And quite frankly my dear… that’s a wrap.
