Mac Daddy
07-23-2004, 03:04 PM
Well for the first time in like two months, Smackdown was better than Raw. I enjoyed this week’s Smackdown from start to finish and I’m happy to see that we have a somewhat stable main-event scene with JBL, Undertaker, Kurt Angle, and Eddie Guerrero. It’s safe to say I’m no longer clamoring for a Big Show return now.
The show starts off with GM Kurt coming out in a wheelchair, being pushed by Luther Reigns. I expected Angle to jump out of the chair once getting to the ring and declare that he never was hurt from the start. But instead, Kurt claimed that his therapist has told him that he’s even more hurt after his miraculous, but short Jesus-like scale of 15-foot cage to cost Guerrero the title a week ago. Kurt went on to say that tonight Eddie Guerrero would have to beg for his job tonight, and he ordered Tony Chimel to give an example. Angle charged that Chimel was a liar since he announced “the Winner of this match and still WWE Champion … Eddie Guerrero” months ago at WrestleMania XX, even thought Eddie cheated to win. Chimel did some pathetic groveling, but Kurt fired him anyhow.
The first match of the night if Chavo Guerrero vs. Jamie Noble vs. Spike, for the #1 contendership of the Cruiserweight title. This match was very entertaining and I thought all three of these men looked on top of their game. The crowd was rather spotty and inconsistent in their cheers and involvement, but I enjoyed the match anyway. In the end, Spike won. I was disappointed in this decision. After last week’s show, I thought things were finally picking up for both Spike and Jamie Noble, but it turns out Spike is the only that will be reaping the fruits of airtime by facing Mysterio next week and being picked on by his big brothers.
Backstage, Miss Jackie, Sable, Torrie Wilson, and Dawn Marie were all complaining to Kurt Angle that they felt underutilized on SD. I can’t help but think male superstars like Hardcore Holly, Billy Gunn, Shannon Moore, and RVD were laughing their asses at the divas. No, not because of the pathetic acting, but because it anyone on the show were being mishandled but deserved better, it was these guys I just named, and probably even more.
Billy Kidman vs. Bubba Ray Dudley was the next match. This was a nice match, but was pretty slow. I can’t say that Billy Kidman was using any of his cruiserweight style quickness and high-flying moves that the fans would find most interesting. I wish there was some way the WWE would build tag feuds, instead of switching the participants up in singles matches until the PPV. But oh, well. Dudley picked up the win here and was very effective IMO.
Backstage, Funaki interviews Angle. In this segment, Angle hands Booker T the U.S. title belt and tells him that Booker isn’t officially the champion yet, but it will be officially when SD goes off the air. Angle then berates Funaki over his speech and criticism over Angle’s decision and remarks, “You call yourself a broadcast journalist? You can’t even say ‘broadcast journalist’,” or words to that effect. Angle fired Funaki.
JBL takes on some wrestling jobber from Philly, and if the jobber wins, he faces JBL at Summerslam for the title. JBL’s wrestling abilities have really gone in the ****ter. Call me crazy, but I could swear I enjoyed JBL’s work when he was Bradshaw of the APA. Now he’s just annoying and boring in the ring. On a sidenote, JBL isn’t over at all in Philadelphia. Anyway, after the squash match (hey, every credible champion has to have one of these, right?) JBL proclaims that he’s going to Summerslam to watch since he has no opponent and no one backstage is worthy. Surprisingly enough (yeah right – thanks newsites with your unholy temptation), The Undertaker comes out. JBL shoots his mouth for a second and Undertaker chokeslams JBL. Undertaker then says, “You … Me … Summerslam.” If it’s one thing I hate about Deadman ‘Taker, it’s the dialogue. I miss the Biker ‘Taker that kicked ass both on the mic and in the ring. But those days are over.
When SD returns, the ladies all go to the ring for their fatal-four way Lingerie match that Angle had made after the diva’s approached him with their concerns about being on the show more often. The ladies only take their robes off before Angle comes out, berates the women, and fires them. I gave Mr. Angle unwavering support in doing so. Go Kurt! This makes six people Angle’s fired so far and I can smell a Vince or Linda appearance at this point.
D-Von vs. Rey Mysterio. This match okay I guess. I see D-Von trying to freshen up, but for the most parts, he’s stale. Rey Mysterio did the best he could with what was handed to him. A funny spot was Bubba tripping up Rey when he was on his way to the ropes for the 619. This week, Bubba was still the bully and Mysterio was his victim, getting tripped on the playground. Mysterio eventually won after Kidman and London (I forgot to mention earlier, but these guys aren’t over a lick. When they came out for Kidman’s match you could hear the announcers, the name bar, and their music clear as a bell. The arena might as well have been empty) took out Bubba Ray.
John Cena vs. Luther Reigns in the main-event. If it’s one thing that Raw and SD had in common, it’s a lackluster main-event. But thankfully, this one lasted only four minutes. Booker T came out and attempted to cost Cena the match, but he ended up hitting Reigns with the U.S. belt and Cena scored the pinfall.
In the closing segment, GM Angle came down, got into the ring and said it was time for Eddie Guerrero to beg for his job. Eddie doesn’t come out but the WWE Chairman (told you) does. Vince comes out with his hilarious, pompous strut and he went about firing Angle in a realistic and creative way. See, I expected for Vince to come down and claim that Angle was abusing his authority, which the pot calling the kettle black. I mean, we’re talking about a man that made an employee kiss his ass and choked out his own daughter on PPV. But instead Vince said he didn’t believe Kurt was hurt and for that reason, he’s pissed. McMahon claims that he would have been nominated for a humanitarian award, because he a hired a handicap, Kurt Angle. Since Kurt really isn’t hurt, though he claims to be, McMahon says his nomination has been revoked. Man that was gold. That’s the creative that once existed in the WWE; right there. But anyway, Vince proves Kurt isn’t hurt by snatching his crutch and chasing him around the ring like he was Elmer Fudd and Kurt was Bugs Bunny. Vince proved his point and then announced the second match that had been made that night: Kurt Angle vs. Eddie Guerrero at Summerslam. Then Guerrero came down and gave McMahon a ride to the back with nice, funny spots of Vince bouncing up and down in the low-rider. Angle’s distressed.
Smackdown was right on target. Two matches have been announced for Summerslam: Angle vs. Guerrero and ‘Taker vs. JBL for the title. You can also assume that Booker and Cena will have a match for the U.S. title (although it’ll probably be the vacant title since Kurt was fired before the show went off the air and was unable to officially “hand” Booker the championship). Compare that to Raw and tell me I’m wrong in thinking that the building for the SD side of Summerslam will be much better than the Raw side. But I have drawn a conclusion: The WWE needs to cut back on the PPVs. Yes, indeedy. It’s not impossible for them to run efficiently with 12 shows per year with 4 weeks in between, but they’ve obviously had some problems with doing so. So, instead they need to cut back the shows and/or have at least 6 weeks between the PPVs.
I’d give SD a … 7.5/10. I’m pretty sure that next week the show will rise to that 8/10.
The show starts off with GM Kurt coming out in a wheelchair, being pushed by Luther Reigns. I expected Angle to jump out of the chair once getting to the ring and declare that he never was hurt from the start. But instead, Kurt claimed that his therapist has told him that he’s even more hurt after his miraculous, but short Jesus-like scale of 15-foot cage to cost Guerrero the title a week ago. Kurt went on to say that tonight Eddie Guerrero would have to beg for his job tonight, and he ordered Tony Chimel to give an example. Angle charged that Chimel was a liar since he announced “the Winner of this match and still WWE Champion … Eddie Guerrero” months ago at WrestleMania XX, even thought Eddie cheated to win. Chimel did some pathetic groveling, but Kurt fired him anyhow.
The first match of the night if Chavo Guerrero vs. Jamie Noble vs. Spike, for the #1 contendership of the Cruiserweight title. This match was very entertaining and I thought all three of these men looked on top of their game. The crowd was rather spotty and inconsistent in their cheers and involvement, but I enjoyed the match anyway. In the end, Spike won. I was disappointed in this decision. After last week’s show, I thought things were finally picking up for both Spike and Jamie Noble, but it turns out Spike is the only that will be reaping the fruits of airtime by facing Mysterio next week and being picked on by his big brothers.
Backstage, Miss Jackie, Sable, Torrie Wilson, and Dawn Marie were all complaining to Kurt Angle that they felt underutilized on SD. I can’t help but think male superstars like Hardcore Holly, Billy Gunn, Shannon Moore, and RVD were laughing their asses at the divas. No, not because of the pathetic acting, but because it anyone on the show were being mishandled but deserved better, it was these guys I just named, and probably even more.
Billy Kidman vs. Bubba Ray Dudley was the next match. This was a nice match, but was pretty slow. I can’t say that Billy Kidman was using any of his cruiserweight style quickness and high-flying moves that the fans would find most interesting. I wish there was some way the WWE would build tag feuds, instead of switching the participants up in singles matches until the PPV. But oh, well. Dudley picked up the win here and was very effective IMO.
Backstage, Funaki interviews Angle. In this segment, Angle hands Booker T the U.S. title belt and tells him that Booker isn’t officially the champion yet, but it will be officially when SD goes off the air. Angle then berates Funaki over his speech and criticism over Angle’s decision and remarks, “You call yourself a broadcast journalist? You can’t even say ‘broadcast journalist’,” or words to that effect. Angle fired Funaki.
JBL takes on some wrestling jobber from Philly, and if the jobber wins, he faces JBL at Summerslam for the title. JBL’s wrestling abilities have really gone in the ****ter. Call me crazy, but I could swear I enjoyed JBL’s work when he was Bradshaw of the APA. Now he’s just annoying and boring in the ring. On a sidenote, JBL isn’t over at all in Philadelphia. Anyway, after the squash match (hey, every credible champion has to have one of these, right?) JBL proclaims that he’s going to Summerslam to watch since he has no opponent and no one backstage is worthy. Surprisingly enough (yeah right – thanks newsites with your unholy temptation), The Undertaker comes out. JBL shoots his mouth for a second and Undertaker chokeslams JBL. Undertaker then says, “You … Me … Summerslam.” If it’s one thing I hate about Deadman ‘Taker, it’s the dialogue. I miss the Biker ‘Taker that kicked ass both on the mic and in the ring. But those days are over.
When SD returns, the ladies all go to the ring for their fatal-four way Lingerie match that Angle had made after the diva’s approached him with their concerns about being on the show more often. The ladies only take their robes off before Angle comes out, berates the women, and fires them. I gave Mr. Angle unwavering support in doing so. Go Kurt! This makes six people Angle’s fired so far and I can smell a Vince or Linda appearance at this point.
D-Von vs. Rey Mysterio. This match okay I guess. I see D-Von trying to freshen up, but for the most parts, he’s stale. Rey Mysterio did the best he could with what was handed to him. A funny spot was Bubba tripping up Rey when he was on his way to the ropes for the 619. This week, Bubba was still the bully and Mysterio was his victim, getting tripped on the playground. Mysterio eventually won after Kidman and London (I forgot to mention earlier, but these guys aren’t over a lick. When they came out for Kidman’s match you could hear the announcers, the name bar, and their music clear as a bell. The arena might as well have been empty) took out Bubba Ray.
John Cena vs. Luther Reigns in the main-event. If it’s one thing that Raw and SD had in common, it’s a lackluster main-event. But thankfully, this one lasted only four minutes. Booker T came out and attempted to cost Cena the match, but he ended up hitting Reigns with the U.S. belt and Cena scored the pinfall.
In the closing segment, GM Angle came down, got into the ring and said it was time for Eddie Guerrero to beg for his job. Eddie doesn’t come out but the WWE Chairman (told you) does. Vince comes out with his hilarious, pompous strut and he went about firing Angle in a realistic and creative way. See, I expected for Vince to come down and claim that Angle was abusing his authority, which the pot calling the kettle black. I mean, we’re talking about a man that made an employee kiss his ass and choked out his own daughter on PPV. But instead Vince said he didn’t believe Kurt was hurt and for that reason, he’s pissed. McMahon claims that he would have been nominated for a humanitarian award, because he a hired a handicap, Kurt Angle. Since Kurt really isn’t hurt, though he claims to be, McMahon says his nomination has been revoked. Man that was gold. That’s the creative that once existed in the WWE; right there. But anyway, Vince proves Kurt isn’t hurt by snatching his crutch and chasing him around the ring like he was Elmer Fudd and Kurt was Bugs Bunny. Vince proved his point and then announced the second match that had been made that night: Kurt Angle vs. Eddie Guerrero at Summerslam. Then Guerrero came down and gave McMahon a ride to the back with nice, funny spots of Vince bouncing up and down in the low-rider. Angle’s distressed.
Smackdown was right on target. Two matches have been announced for Summerslam: Angle vs. Guerrero and ‘Taker vs. JBL for the title. You can also assume that Booker and Cena will have a match for the U.S. title (although it’ll probably be the vacant title since Kurt was fired before the show went off the air and was unable to officially “hand” Booker the championship). Compare that to Raw and tell me I’m wrong in thinking that the building for the SD side of Summerslam will be much better than the Raw side. But I have drawn a conclusion: The WWE needs to cut back on the PPVs. Yes, indeedy. It’s not impossible for them to run efficiently with 12 shows per year with 4 weeks in between, but they’ve obviously had some problems with doing so. So, instead they need to cut back the shows and/or have at least 6 weeks between the PPVs.
I’d give SD a … 7.5/10. I’m pretty sure that next week the show will rise to that 8/10.