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Solid episode of Smackdown last night, continuing the Edge-Del Rio feud (with a reunion of Edge & Christian), the Rhodes-Mysterio feud (with the Wrestlemania match being made official, and the Show-Kane-Corre feud (which still doesn't make a lot of sense). We also had special appearances from John Cena and Triple H. A good show on the Road To Wrestlemania. Yeah, there's a lot of talking and video packages of what happened on Raw, but that is just the way of the WWE world right now.
Here's my thoughts on the show, as it happened:
Really well done opening segment. You had Edge, coming off last week's beatdown, giving a fired up promo and looking for a fight. You had Alberto Del Rio respond with an arrogant promo, and then it got physical with Edge outnumbered against Alberto and Brodus Clay. Christian comes out to even things, and I liked how Alberto sent Brodus to hold off Christian while he was setting up to put Edge in the armbreaker. Christian manages to stop the attempt by Alberto, but gets laid out by Brodus, who they are making into a monster. The heels have the advantage as it gets broken up by referees, and Teddy Long sets up the tag match, giving us the reunion of Edge and Christian as a team, for later. Logical, well executed start to the program.
Kane vs. Wade Barrett, like Kane vs. Big Show last week, barely got started when the Corre attacked Kane. Seems big guys just can't have a singles match on Smackdown. Big Show hits the ring with a chair, the Corre go running... and we're off to a Snooki commercial. That felt very Impact-ish, and not just because we went to a Jersey Shore personality.
Back from commercial, we have Big Show and Kane taking on Heath Slater & Wade Barrett. This was strange, first because Slater and Justin Gabriel are tag champions, so why wouldn't Ezekiel Jackson team with Barrett, and second because Zeke matches up a lot better with Show and Kane. Second, Kane and Show weren't exactly best buddies last week, and now they're teaming? Anyway, I liked the way Barrett chopped down Big Show, very believable. It was interesting to see Show playing the role of the selling babyface, setting up the hot tag to Kane. Of course, we have Corre attacking again, which makes you wonder why Gabriel and Jackson left in the first place. Show gets the chair again, blasting Zeke and punching the chair into Barrett. After saving Kane... Show hits him with the chair. I get that he was giving Kane a receipt for last week, but why bother saving him twice in the first place? Not a lot makes sense here, and saying "Kane is conflicted" a few times doesn't quite explain it very well.
I hate seeing JTG get squashed two weeks in a row (I guess it beats not being on TV at all), but it was a great "next step" in getting over Cody Rhodes and his new persona. I'm not sure why Rhodes was wearing street clothes if he knew he had a match, but regardless, his pounding JTG and using his protective mask to lay in headbutts, knocking him out, was great. A quick win for Cody, and I also like how Rhodes plays it up like he is hideously disfigured, when he obviously isn't.
I thought John Cena's promo was pretty solid, a good fired-up reaction to Miz laying him out on Raw. No cutesy stuff, just Cena saying that instead of simply facing Miz for the WWE Title at Wrestlemania, he now wants to beat him up. We then had Michael Cole playing heel and praising Miz in front of Cena. This led to Jack Swagger attacking Cena and ultimately Swagger gets an Attitude Adjustment while Cole escaped getting one himself. I'm glad they didn't have Cena lay out Cole. That honor needs to be reserved for Lawler at Wrestlemania.
Kaitlyn finally made it back to TV, facing Layla. Kaitlyn throws Layla around a bit, and Layla is just fantastic selling and bumping for her. Kaitlyn didn't take Layla's kick well, but she took the neckbreaker really well. Layla gets the win, and Michelle McCool gets in a nasty shot with the running kick to the back of the head as Kaitlyn was propped against the bottom turnbuckle. I wonder if Kaitlyn will be appearing regularly on TV now. This match allowed the announcers to put over that LayCool is back on the same page.
Damn, Michael Cole rejoined the announcers.
The start of Drew McIntyre vs. Rey Mysterio was pretty cool, with McIntyre hitting the boot to the face, a nice backbreaker and his "You're not going to Wrestlemania" claims while working over Mysterio. Mysterio's comeback was nice, with him kicking it into high gear before McIntyre stopped him with the side slam on the ring apron. Of course, Michael Cole had to keep talking about being a journalist and beating Jerry Lawler, then accuse Booker of talking over the action. See, this is when WWE goes from getting Cole's heel character over, to having it overshadow others on the show. After the break, the back and forth continued, and this was a really enjoyable bout. I liked that Rey used a different setup for the 619, rather than the overused drop toe hold spot. Rey getting the win wasn't really a surprise, and I imagine Drew McIntyre is one of those that is bummed WWE apparently isn't going to have Money In The Bank at Wrestlemania this year (I'm bummed too, for what it is worth).
Post-match, Cody Rhodes comes out looking for an answer to his Wrestlemania challenge, and Rey agrees to the match... and Cody looks upset. Why did Cody make the challenge if he was going to be upset over Rey accepting it? That's a little weird. Regardless, I'm looking forward to the bout.
Triple H cut a good promo, building on what Shawn Michaels had said about Triple H's ability to take emotion out of a match. I also like how Triple H noted he was more than happy with Undertaker making their match a No Holds Barred bout. Good piece of mic work from The Game. Oh, and for those that read the spoilers, the HHH-Taker confrontation that happened at the arena was for the fans in attendance, obviously it was not broadcast on the show.
Hey, Matt Striker makes it back to Smackdown... to hold a microphone for Christian. Beats only being on NXT, I guess. Christian seemed pretty happy about teaming with Edge, while Edge, who didn't say much, had a more serious look to him. I would have expected Christian to mention Alberto and Brodus in the promo, given how the heels have gotten the better of them lately.
The main event was what I expected, and made sense. You had Christian start off strong, and was about to give Brodus the tornado DDT (which beat him on Raw), when Alberto distracted him. This set up Brodus and Alberto working over Christian, and kept Edge and Del Rio apart. Christian finally made the hot tag to Edge, who almost immediately got powerslammed by Brodus. They are doing a really good job making Brodus into a monster in a hurry. Edge makes a quick comeback, clotheslines Alberto (their first contact of the match), but Brodus takes Edge right down with a clothesline. Alberto knocks Edge down once (their second contact of the match) and Christian backdrops him to the floor. Christian hits Brodus with the DDT and Edge follows with a top rope elbow, giving them the win. Interesting how Brodus never took the spear, and it was a double team that finished him off, keeping him strong. I really liked how they really didn't give us much Edge and Alberto at all, leaving that for Wrestlemania. Edge & Christian finally get the better of the heels, but Brodus took the pin, protecting Alberto. Good ending to the show as they continue to build towards the PPV.
What To Make Sure And Watch If You DVR'd The Show: The opening segment, McIntyre vs. Mysterio and the main event.
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