Unknown
05-15-2004, 04:23 PM
I am beginning to give up all hope of Smackdown ever rebounding. It has the tools whether the WWE believes it or not. They just need to spend the kind of time they are on making Raw successful on making SD successful.
The show began with a solid encounter between RVD and D-Von Dudley. This was one of the few high points on the show. RVD busted his ass out there in order to make this match exciting and watchable and it worked. My only problem is the fact that RVD didn’t go over in the match. Maybe this means that he’ll go over at Judgment Day. Despite the pisspoor booking, I’ll expect this match to be solid come Sunday. According to rumors, they are going to start to push the Dudley’s as single’s superstars. I think that this should only be used during a tag feud (will add the surprise factor when they do the singles matchups between a member of each team) or at house shows. To do it as something long term would be a bad idea. The Dudley’s are beyond stale so the WWE should just repackage them with new attire, music, and characters. This planned storyline will only hurt the credibility of singles superstars.
The backstage segment with Eddie and Kurt was done well. Kurt Angle is starting to look a little more comfortable in the GM role but not that much more. Just give the job back to Paul Heyman and have Kurt be a manager instead.
The in ring promo with Jacqueline was beyond horrible. She does have wrestling talent but she is horrible on the mic. That promo could have only appealed to someone under twelve. “You lost to a girl” wow are they targeting a preteen audience? So there will be a cruiserweight title matchup at JD, ah well. I still think my idea would have been better. It actually acknowledges the mysterious roster switch. Her matchup with Chavo Classic accomplished what it was supposed to. There is just something about this whole angle that rubs me the wrong way.
The Booker T matchup was good at pushing him as a force despite the fact that they wanted him to look weak by having the FBI hurt before the match. Booker should win more matches with the Bookend and the Houston Hangover. The Scissors Kick is too anticlimactic. I have a really bad feeling that this PPV matchup will be the beginning of the end for Booker T’s character. Hopefully Taker is willing to job cleanly to Booker but I doubt that seeing as we are talking about Undertaker.
Eddie Guerrero’s promo and segment with Bradshaw was done very well. The only good thing I have seen come out of this heart attack angle is that it has given Eddie a fire that he once had. I don’t like the fact that Eddie has to be sacrificed to build Bradshaw’s character. The only thing I see Bradshaw as after this feud is a US Title contender. Bradshaw needs to hit the gym and get rid of that gut. The security/arrest angle two times within a week? The only difference is that the Raw writers actually did it well while the SD writers did nothing out of the ordinary and just recycled the same angle.
The Rico/Hardcore Holly matchup was solid. They produced a pretty good matchup. So once again we have another matchup thrown together for the PPV, yeah I can see the 150,000 buyrates this PPV will get already. Torrie Wilson and Dawn Marie will have a matchup at JD also. SD should just give up with the women’s matches. They are never anything to watch so why waste the TV time on them?
John Cena once again had one of his basic matches with Sakoda. I really don’t know what the hell the WWE is doing with Cena’s character right now but it isn’t anything good. Right now, John Cena is so over that it’s scary. The only problem is that he has become stale. If the WWE is planning on making him the future of the company and the next Austin then now is the time with Smackdown suffering so badly.
Bradshaw had a pretty good matchup with Rey Mysterio maybe his best matchup in a while and a matchup that put him over the best as a viable contender for the WWE title. Rey Mysterio is over enough and has enough credibility that this loss won’t hurt him.
Smackdown was a really mixed show. Feuds were just thrown together out of nowhere in order to fill a PPV card. There are many wrestlers who have gotten stale (Cena, Dudleys) and really are in need of some excellent writing in order to fix that. The only good I can see coming out of Judgment Day is that Smackdown can probably have a new start next week. If they were smart they would have Vince McMahon come out and make a speech regarding the Smackdown brand as a whole. He could say that he doesn’t appreciate people calling one of his shows the B show when both shows are the A shows. He could even say that the show has been suffering in a bad way and that he will make some changes including putting Heyman back as GM. I give the show a 6.5/10. It seemed to be booked as an afterthought rather than as a show to push wrestlers and a PPV.
The show began with a solid encounter between RVD and D-Von Dudley. This was one of the few high points on the show. RVD busted his ass out there in order to make this match exciting and watchable and it worked. My only problem is the fact that RVD didn’t go over in the match. Maybe this means that he’ll go over at Judgment Day. Despite the pisspoor booking, I’ll expect this match to be solid come Sunday. According to rumors, they are going to start to push the Dudley’s as single’s superstars. I think that this should only be used during a tag feud (will add the surprise factor when they do the singles matchups between a member of each team) or at house shows. To do it as something long term would be a bad idea. The Dudley’s are beyond stale so the WWE should just repackage them with new attire, music, and characters. This planned storyline will only hurt the credibility of singles superstars.
The backstage segment with Eddie and Kurt was done well. Kurt Angle is starting to look a little more comfortable in the GM role but not that much more. Just give the job back to Paul Heyman and have Kurt be a manager instead.
The in ring promo with Jacqueline was beyond horrible. She does have wrestling talent but she is horrible on the mic. That promo could have only appealed to someone under twelve. “You lost to a girl” wow are they targeting a preteen audience? So there will be a cruiserweight title matchup at JD, ah well. I still think my idea would have been better. It actually acknowledges the mysterious roster switch. Her matchup with Chavo Classic accomplished what it was supposed to. There is just something about this whole angle that rubs me the wrong way.
The Booker T matchup was good at pushing him as a force despite the fact that they wanted him to look weak by having the FBI hurt before the match. Booker should win more matches with the Bookend and the Houston Hangover. The Scissors Kick is too anticlimactic. I have a really bad feeling that this PPV matchup will be the beginning of the end for Booker T’s character. Hopefully Taker is willing to job cleanly to Booker but I doubt that seeing as we are talking about Undertaker.
Eddie Guerrero’s promo and segment with Bradshaw was done very well. The only good thing I have seen come out of this heart attack angle is that it has given Eddie a fire that he once had. I don’t like the fact that Eddie has to be sacrificed to build Bradshaw’s character. The only thing I see Bradshaw as after this feud is a US Title contender. Bradshaw needs to hit the gym and get rid of that gut. The security/arrest angle two times within a week? The only difference is that the Raw writers actually did it well while the SD writers did nothing out of the ordinary and just recycled the same angle.
The Rico/Hardcore Holly matchup was solid. They produced a pretty good matchup. So once again we have another matchup thrown together for the PPV, yeah I can see the 150,000 buyrates this PPV will get already. Torrie Wilson and Dawn Marie will have a matchup at JD also. SD should just give up with the women’s matches. They are never anything to watch so why waste the TV time on them?
John Cena once again had one of his basic matches with Sakoda. I really don’t know what the hell the WWE is doing with Cena’s character right now but it isn’t anything good. Right now, John Cena is so over that it’s scary. The only problem is that he has become stale. If the WWE is planning on making him the future of the company and the next Austin then now is the time with Smackdown suffering so badly.
Bradshaw had a pretty good matchup with Rey Mysterio maybe his best matchup in a while and a matchup that put him over the best as a viable contender for the WWE title. Rey Mysterio is over enough and has enough credibility that this loss won’t hurt him.
Smackdown was a really mixed show. Feuds were just thrown together out of nowhere in order to fill a PPV card. There are many wrestlers who have gotten stale (Cena, Dudleys) and really are in need of some excellent writing in order to fix that. The only good I can see coming out of Judgment Day is that Smackdown can probably have a new start next week. If they were smart they would have Vince McMahon come out and make a speech regarding the Smackdown brand as a whole. He could say that he doesn’t appreciate people calling one of his shows the B show when both shows are the A shows. He could even say that the show has been suffering in a bad way and that he will make some changes including putting Heyman back as GM. I give the show a 6.5/10. It seemed to be booked as an afterthought rather than as a show to push wrestlers and a PPV.