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Following the No Mercy Pay-per-view, I would have expected WWE to once again put Smackdown on the back burner, with the exception of pushing King Booker's involvement in the Cyber Sunday main event. Instead, WWE is showing that the Friday night brand is once again becoming a more of a priority again. Chris Benoit is back, Kane debuted, and two PPV quality matches have been announced for next week's program. Maybe the speculation (okay, it was more than speculation) that WWE was leaving Smackdown in a "holding pattern" until the CW Network debut was true.
As for this week's program, while there were a few spots that dragged, the show featured a nice helping of in-ring action, including a 15 minute opening match. While it doesn't have the "sports entertainment" aspect splattered all over it the way Raw does, Smackdown easily beats it for the amount of quality wrestling presented every week. Plus, King Booker is the greatest announcer in wrestling today, hands down.
With that said, onto my thoughts on the show:
Plusses: I enjoyed the Chris Benoit vs. Ken Kennedy match. Benoit dominated the first part, then Kennedy worked on the arm, which Benoit sold big time, in the second half. I'm sure some will groan about the distraction finish, but Kennedy needed to lose the U.S. Title, since it obviously wasn't going to be part of the Undertaker feud. This finish put the belt on Benoit and kept Kennedy somewhat strong for the Taker feud. Hopefully Benoit will be able to (once again) raise the status of the belt. ... While it was really just a glorified squash, Mysterio vs. Noble was a good, although short, match. At least Noble got some offense in, and Rey delivered a really nice Quebrada. ... The six-man tag was another in the "good, but short" category. Kendrick did a good job selling before making the hot tag to Jimmy Yang, who once again looked fantastic during his brief flurry of offense. Then the finish came, which saw Yang, after two straight losses, get a clean pin on Sylvan with a beautiful moonsault. Smart booking, and it kills me to say this, but the Redneck gimmick is growing on me. ... I thought the main event was well done, although I question putting Batista and Lashley in some many matches against each other. That's a potential Wrestlemania match that should be kept fresh. Of course, the true highlight of the bout was King Booker's commentary. From calling Finlay a "Judas" to commenting that Batista & Lashley have to go to the rest room together to "take a powder", he was just on fire. When he retires, I'd love to see him keep the King gimmick and become a permanent announcer. As for the match itself, there were some good spots (like Finlay leapfrogging the Little Bastard, only to get clotheslined, which the live crowd didn't seem to enjoy as much as I did). Like a lot of bouts lately, Batista seemed to sit out for the majority of it, but that was fine, since Lashley and Finlay work great together. The crowd was really into the finish, and now we get Batista vs. Booker next week. I just hope it will be better than their last singles matches. ... Announcing Booker vs. Batista, with John Cena and Big Show present, and the I Quit match between Mysterio and Guerrero, you definitely were given the vibe that next week's show will be important, which is something WWE needs to continue to do as they rebuild the Smackdown audience on the CW Network.
Minuses: When Ken Kennedy cut his promo to open the show, all I could think of was "Why would you have someone say he wants to go to Raw, when no one ever says they want to go to Smackdown?" I understand that Kennedy is a heel, and that his victories over former World Champions are all hollow wins, but it is still another knock against Smackdown that isn't necessary. When Kennedy started calling Smackdown a "stupid show", JBL, who had been supporting Kennedy seemed unclear how he was supposed to handle it. Enough people see Smackdown as a "B-Brand" (or C-Brand), there's no need to emphasize it. ... As I wrote above, I was fine with the distraction finish in the Benoit-Kennedy match, but the Undertaker disappearing at the end was hokey. It also wasn't needed. ... After Kennedy's promo earlier, we then had MVP telling us there is no competition on Smackdown. Again, I know the idea is that he is lying, but why does WWE feel the need to have wrestlers insulting their own brand? Teddy Long did okay in this segment, but MVP playing a chicken comedy gimmick after all that hype is pretty disappointing. MVP stalled, Kane beat him up, MVP poked him in the eyes and ran away. Whatever. ... The promo exchange between Chavo Guerrero and Rey Mysterio felt like it took a year to explain what could have been done in a minute. Rey just isn't a good promo, and Chavo's charisma wasn't enough to carry what came off as a very forced back-and-forth segment. Also, I really didn't need Vickie Guerrero telling me that her dead husband had balls. ... Now, not only do we have JBL putting himself over, we have Cole and JBL wasting time by talking about how JBL always puts himself over. The result, of course, is even more time being spent talking about something other than the action in the ring.
A Mixture Of Both: William Regal's offense in the match with Vito was awesome and totally made the match, from him kicking Vito in the head (and Vito bumping right into the steps) to the head and arm suplex. While watching Regal dominate Vito, I was thinking that WWE made the right move, and it was great to see them following up on his punching out of King Booker at the PPV. However, the announcers weren't putting that over, and instead emphasized that Regal was having a bad night, so I should have known what would happen next, and Vito got the flash, but totally clean, pin. WWE had a great chance to build momentum for Regal, but for whatever reason, WWE Creative decided that Vito's "undefeated in a dress" streak was more important. ... I liked the idea of having Lashley, Finlay and Batista cut promos throughout the show to hype the importance of the main event, but none of them were particularly good.
Unanswered and Rhetorical Questions:
Should someone tell Michael Cole that a regular piledriver is not "Undertaker's move"?
Was anyone else surprised that with Kennedy fighting Chris Benoit from the apron, in danger of falling to the floor, JBL took that as the opportunity to talk about what a great announcer he is?
Did Benoit keep wrestling because he knew it takes Undertaker five minutes to walk to the ring?
Why didn't Teddy Long just tell Booker "no" when he asked him to change his mind?
Did you catch JBL saying the camera was near William Regal's butt when he meant to say Vito?
Why are people still chanting Eddie?
Don't they realize WWE sees that as a sign they should keep exploiting his name?
Even though he doesn't want to be a cruiserweight, wasn't it great to see Rey working with a member of that division again?
Did we need Vickie Guerrero telling us that her deceased husband had balls?
So Maryse's whole job is to welcome us back? And doesn't that make her the best utilized female in the company right now?
Did you notice that JBL was right, and the camera did cut away when it was about to get a shot up Michelle McCool's skirt?
Isn't Booker right when he says that he beat all three guys?
How is the Little Bastard stopping a count not a DQ?
How did the announcers not notice Batista getting up right in front of them?
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