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Last night's Smackdown was a strong show, furthering storylines, continuing to build up new stars and hyping several matches for Survivor Series. Things like the continuing heel turn of Batista, the slow elevation of Drew McIntyre, the Morrison-Ziggler feud and the Jericho-Undertaker faceoff made this a fun show. Plus, I love the emphasis that is put on the World Title. That is made out to be the ultimate goal of every wrestler, as it should be. There's no guest host antics or giving away of PPV bouts here. Just a solid wrestling show that makes you want to tune in every week to see what happens next.
Here's my thoughts on the show, as it happened:
The opening segment was really well done, and made me wish Big Show had to go do additional filming on "Knucklehead" so we could just have Chris Jericho and Undertaker in a singles match. Undertaker referencing his debut at Survivor Series was cool, but I really liked the way he put over the importance of the World Title. The line about how the two things that bring him joy are teaming ... and fighting his brother Kane was classic. Then Jericho entered, giving his definition of a Phenom and laying in that Undertaker is "just a man" and nothing to be afraid of. Jericho made it clear he wants the World Title. I also like that Jericho didn't show fear when he was choked, and fought back, only to be kicked out of the ring. Great promo segment to set up the title match at Survivor Series.
The six-man tag match, while giving us the 456th Hart Dynasty-Cryme Tyme faceoff, was also a great way to continue the Morrison-Ziggler feud, with Morrison selling the ribs from last week's match with Ziggler. I thought JTG and Ziggler had a really interesting exchange, and I wouldn't mind a one-off singles match at some point. JTG got worked over by the heels, and I liked the backslide/legdrop from the Harts. At the end of the bout, we had Ziggler hurting Morrison's ribs again, and with JTG down from the earlier beatdown, it left Shad to get caught by Ziggler after the blind tag (or tags, because there appeared to be two of them). A good bout, and nice set up for Ziggler vs. Morrison for the Intercontinental Title next week, which was announced later in the show.
The Rey Mysterio sit-down interview was okay, but can I throw in another rant about how they don't need to be bringing up Eddie Guerrero's name to get this feud going? I'll spare you. Mysterio and Batista at Survivor Series better be a pretty violent match to live up to the hype.
Another Beth Phoenix squash match. I actually like this as a way of reestablishing her as the kick ass heel (or should I say, kick ass babyface?) she can be.
Drew McIntyre blindsides another opponent, knocking Jimmy Wang Yang off the ropes and to the floor during his entrance. When will opponents learn not to give McIntyre an opening? Yang gets to show his toughness by calling for the match to continue, which leads to a quick DDT loss. Extra credit to Striker for calling it a Kobashi DDT. Another step in establishing McIntyre, and I like that he continues to refer to himself as a future World Champion.
Backstage with Batista, who lets it be known that he doesn't care about friends he wants ... the World Title. See the pattern? Everyone wants the strap, and that makes the strap important. Oh, and what is with Batista's nose ring? It looks so miniscule on his nose.
Rey Mysterio vs. Mike Knox was a really good match, way better than I was expecting. I liked the idea that Rey was facing big Knox to prepare for Batista. Knox with the bodyblock on the floor was nice, and led to him working over Rey's gut. I loved Knox' reaction to Rey kicking away his backdrop attempt. A cool sequence was Rey trying to elbow out of the abdominal stretch, but Knox blocked it to go into a pumphandle slam, which Rey then reversed into a DDT. At this point, the match was really fantastic, before going into the usual Rey finish of 619 and springboard splash after Knox ran into the post.
Did I actually hear a "We Want Road Dogg" chant when CM Punk was berating referee Scott Armstrong? That's hilarious. Punk and Truth were having a really good back and forth match, with neither dominating the other. I liked Punk blowing a kiss to someone in the front row (probably a heckler) before suplexing Truth. He's so much better as a heel than a face. The finish, with Punk telling Armstrong to counter faster, so he did (but with Punk's shoulders down) was a cute finish. Punk's pouting afterwards was great. The only negative here is that it appears Punk is far away from the title picture now.
The heels (Michelle McCool and Layla) give Mickie James a hard time, and we find out that McCool and James are captaining teams at Survivor Series. So, I guess this means Raw and Smackdown Divas will be intermingling on the teams. Whatever happened to all that "brand pride" from last month? Anyway, the segment wasn't much, but at least we know another match for the PPV now.
Nice promo by Matt to set up the main event. He really needs his own feud, and shouldn't just be a co-star in another feud. Hardy vs. Punk would be fun. Just saying.
Batista vs. Matt Hardy was another big step in establishing Batista as a monster heel again. Batista just dominated Hardy early on with his size and strength, cutting him off whenever he tried to turn things around. I liked the interaction with Batista and referee Charles Robinson, as it added to his new heel persona. Matt finally hit a side neckbreaker and mounted some offense. The part where he missed the moonsault, but then caught Batista with the Twist Of Fate was great, as it played off the idea (established last week in the match with Hardy and Eric Escobar) that the Twist Of Fate count end a match at any time. Unfortunately, Batista grabs the ropes, and then when Hardy went for a second, Batista planted him with a spinebuster. Batista then snaps, and gets disqualified for hitting Hardy with a monitor. Good finish to establish Batista as a vicious heel, and now they can do a rematch either before or after the Mysterio PPV bout. The end of the show, with Batista going for the powerbomb, but then not doing it because he saw some fans wanted it, was great. Total heel move.
What To Make Sure And Watch If You DVR'd The Show: Watch it all, just fast forward through the commercials and recap packages. If you are really short on time though, check out the opening Jericho-Taker promos and the main event.
