Reviewing the 5/13/11 episode of Friday Night Smackdown…
1. WWE as usual with their high quality production really elevated the Christian story with the video footage of the last two weeks of history. They were even able to capture and remix the despair of Christian’s title loss and make it look even more sad and devastating, which was something I thought fell a little flat on the broadcast last week.
2. Michael Cole may have found himself a new girlfriend in Kharma. I can see her hijacking him to be her manager. If Cole’s anti-diva crusade coincides with Kharma’s agenda, then it will be a match made in heaven. Speaking of Kharma, her music starts off with the dreaded piano key strike used for such “legendary” WWE monsters Snitsky and The Boogeyman. Kharma demolished the lovely Layla this week as she had originally came out to discuss her knee injury she suffered in ridding the WWE of Michelle McCool. Layla was looking extra hot this week with her tight t-shirt and daisy dukes. After the Implant Buster was given to Layla, that’s when Kharma turned her attention to a gloating aforementioned Michael Cole. By the way, Cole’s tripping of Layla so she couldn’t escape Kharma was priceless.
3. If played out and pushed right, Ezekiel Jackson can really be a major player on Smackdown. The man is a beast, has an awesome intro song and some great intensity. He may have a ways to go as far as being a solid all around worker, but the face turn at this point in time might be just what he needs. One thing I thought was strange when he came out to “make the save” for Kane from his 3 on 1 beatdown from The Corre, eventually he was overwhelmed and The Corre beat him down as well. What happened to Kane? The usual Big Red Monster was beaten down, but you mean to tell me that a man that has taken down the Undertaker was virtually out of commission for so long after one Wasteland? There was no footage of The Corre still keeping Kane down, so that hurt Kane’s character reputation to basically look like either he was punk’d by The Corre, disappeared completely or was a weakling stumbling coward who retreated to the back instead of trying to help get back at The Corre and stop them from beating down big Zeke. Even if that’s not how any of that went down, I would chalk that up to poor editing then. I mean I really can’t remember Kane being so injured he was carried or helped to the back. That is in due part thanks to WWE protecting and building him up to be near Undertaker level of recuperation. They failed Kane here, however.
4. The one thing I don’t understand about the hypocrisy of WWE is how they can come out one week and do good things like support anti-bullying campaigns, yet when they show an obese member(or two) of the audience on camera they open the floor up to heel personality Michael Cole to rip them to shreds with no rebuttal from straight men Booker T and Josh Matthews. If you are going to hide behind it being said by Michael Cole, WWE, then you damn well better put Cole in his place when he says those things or your irresponsibility and hypocrisy is out in front of us plain as day. Booker barely put up anything to say other than talking about Khali’s kiss cam recipient as having curves in a very unconvincing tone to oppose Cole’s catcalls of her having “rolls”. Mathews did nothing to counter Cole and it makes me question why he is there at times other than to be Cole’s whipping boy.
5. The Great Khali on his kiss cam kissed the dissed(see #5 by Cole) “fan” and then was admonished as a joke by new WWE superstar Jahinder Mahal. Mahal head slapped Khali not once, but twice. It was an intense segment that was really well done. This Mahal guy has to be huge given what looks to be his height, but most anyone will look small compared to Khali, but still he looked strong standing up to him. He did bring great presence to the ring and it makes for a very interesting story as while Khali fumed, he did nothing to Mahal after receiving his two slaps.
6. Ted Dibiase and Cody Rhodes had themselves a nice solid match. While Cody in his prematch promo made one small comment to Ted before handing him a paper bag, at least the announcers played up the history between the two in Legacy. Ted looked good, but I’m afraid he will basically assume Chris Masters role before he was drafted to Raw. In great shape, solid hand, but not enough personality or attempt on WWE’s part to elevate him with a new manager or mouthpiece. Masters would probably benefit from being paired up with Maryse as a heel on Raw while Ted reassuming his father’s gimmick with Virgil on Smackdown can always generate heat. While he isn’t a talker like his Dad was, if the writers do their job, there is a wealth of material, no pun intended, they can use to help Dibiase draw heat.
7. WWE has done a good job thus far rebuilding Mark Henry as they teased a Henry vs. Sheamus match at the beginning of the show which with two heel attitudes and intensity could definitely be interesting to see them square off. The funny thing Cole said later when they did team up against Christian and Randy Orton was Henry was the strongest man in the world and Sheamus, the palest man in the world. One can wonder if Cole would have been allowed, he might have called the team “Vanilla & Chocolate”. Although that might have required Cole to call Henry the darkest man in the WWE and Sheamus the lightest. And I won’t touch that one with a ten foot pole. Especially with Michael Hayes writing Smackdown. But seriously, I actually liked the team of Henry and Sheamus and they performed well as a tag team. They would definitely be a challenge for Big Show and Kane.
8. Lines Of the Night:
a. To Michael Cole when he called The Corre a well oiled team:
Booker T – “No, what they are is a gang. I wouldn’t call them a team, Cole.”
b. After Cody Rhodes cronies’ handed out bags to the TN fans and some actually wore them:
Michael Cole – “I like the members of the WWE Universe who actually realize that they are ugly and they take the bags and put them on their face. I actually applaud that.”
9. Match of the Night:
Daniel Bryan vs. Sin Cara
Chavo Guerrero announced Sin Cara and continued to take credit for Sin Cara’s success and move list on commentary claiming to be mentoring him. Chavo also got involved near the finish costing Daniel Bryan the match, but it didn’t take away from my enjoyment. Last week on Thought #6 I stated I’d love to see Tyson Kidd or Sin Cara face off with Daniel Bryan and this week WWE delivered Sin Cara vs. Daniel Bryan. Great back and forth submission and high flying action. Bryan meshed well with Sin Cara and the two of them put on a very solid and entertaining contest featuring two of WWE’s amazing in ring performers. I’d love to see more from these two in future high profile matches here on the Smackdown brand. To further his brewing feud with Chavo, Sin Cara was fuming when he seen Chavo got involved in his match and shoved him down after the match.
10. Final Show Thoughts:
Is it me or did it seem like the mic volume was up extra high on the referees this week? It just seemed weird to hear them so loud. This week built some interest for me in the Smackdown brand. I think that has to be the testament to the writing team in actually crafting a very solid show. Michael Hayes and crew has a firm handle on how to utilize talent and it shows. Who would have thought that Smackdown could produce an entertaining and solid main event out of Randy Orton & Christian vs. Mark Henry & Sheamus. In fact, Henry & Sheamus were just fighting to stay credible in WWE’s eyes months ago with Henry off the radar and Sheamus in that ridiculous crown and robe. The main event was solid and if not for Bryan vs. Cara, could have taken the #9 honors this week. The other storylines specifically with Mahal and Khali provided some intrigue and drama as does the Chavo Guerrero vs. Sin Cara brewing feud. Great use of Chavo and Khali right off the bat utilizing them in TV time with the new WWE superstars. Of course all eyes will be on Christian vs. World Champion Randy Orton at Over the Limit. Christian was still very humble at the beginning even praising Teddy Long for making the match between him and Orton last week. Will Chrisitan be so warm and cool if Orton beats him at the PPV? Solid overall show.
Show MVPs:
Christian and Michael Cole
On both the face and heel sides both carried the ball and did their jobs. Christian besides getting the big pin in the tag team match, played the straight laced face with maybe the small tease of if he is fully prepared and healthy he can beat Orton being his only excuse. Which means if he can’t, there might be some animosity brewing. Cole, annoying as ever, ran roughshod over the announce team. Perhaps a bit too much as I stated earlier. Taking a lesson from the late, great Gorilla Monsoon was that he always provided a great foil for Bobby “The Brain” Heenan on commentary. Although Heenan is a thousand times wittier than Cole, at least Monsoon could counteract him when needed. A simple classic Monsoon line like “Will you stop?” would have been enough to me to think that WWE was at least trying to send a message to Cole/real life heels to not bully the obese. That’s the type of counteraction Cole needs. Booker & Josh Mathews are stepped on by Cole constantly. Where I give Cole actual credit here is where he shined in garnering his heat to help try to rebrand Layla as a babyface even before Kharma came out. Although where WWE wants Kharma to fall will probably depend on if they pair her with Cole as she does get cheered. A sure fire way to end that will be to pair her with Cole. As strange as that would be, it could also be very entertaining.
That is all.
M.C. Brown
You can find me on Twitter as
ShocXwavE
