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Since there were some issues with whether or not I utilized some of Buck’s intellectual property in writing my Smackdown Thoughts and with the fear that Buck only lives a few hours from me and I don’t want to rock the boat, I have consulted with my legal counsel and this edition of Smackdown Reflections do not infringe on anything that Buck has ever done.
I thought it was a good way to start off the show with the Chris Jericho segment in the ring. He has been one of the best things on this show and with Edge returning, he might think that he is going to lose a bit of momentum. It was a little different than his usual promo so it was fresher than some of his recent promos that seemed to get a bit repetitive.
Jericho also did a great job to remind us why he had issues with Edge during their time as tag team champions. Jericho also made valid points that while everyone else on the roster was wrestling for the last seven months, Edge comes back and in one night, he is in the main event of Wrestlemania.
I also liked how Teddy Long did not come out to respond to Jericho and the subsequent search for Teddy Long’s office in the back. With Jericho walking past the Hart Dynasty, some people might have remembered some of the problems that they had recently. The discovery that Edge was the man in the chair was a good way to bring them back together. I also liked that Edge used Jericho’s comments during his rehabilitation period to motivate his return to the ring.
I liked the three way match for the first Elimination Chamber spot. I thought they did a good way of utilizing the three man dynamic for the match without throwing in too many situations where one person takes a nap during the match. I liked how some of the standard counters were avoided or further countered by one of the wrestlers. I thought all three men looked good in the match and did not lose any momentum in the match. Since it was a triple threat match, it was no disqualification so I thought it was smart of McIntyre to use the title belt on Kane. I liked the finish of the match with Morrison hitting the Shining Wizard and then getting the pin on Kane because Kane was selling the effects of the DDT by McIntyre.
One thing that I did not like in the match was when Kane had McIntyre for the choke slam and he waited too long to allow Morrison to get into the ring and hit his springboard spin kick. It felt too set up for the sake of Morrison hitting his move.
I was a little disappointed by the Knox/Truth match. Mike Knox has been hyped as a monster for a while but he was defeated relatively easily by Truth with a single corkscrew forearm. You would expect him to need more than that move to finish off Mike Knox. I do like that we were going to get either Knox or Truth in the Elimination Chamber match because they are not names that you consider to be on the top of the Smackdown ladder.
The way that they showed the post-Raw footage was well done. While the music might have been a bit over the top. It does a good job of setting up the tease for a potential match between Batista and Cena for Wrestlemania. It was also good to see John Cena laid out at the end of the segment.
The Straight Edge Society segment was good. I don’t know if I like the way that Punk is starting to move almost into a David Koresh/Jim Jones type leader. I did like how he has Luke and Serena willing to do anything for Punk. I wonder if we will see someone try to ‘deprogram’ the followers of the Society.
One of my favorite things about Batista’s heel turn is the way that he has changed his ring entrance. There is no pyro and he simply comes to the ring with the spotlight on him. One things that a heel needs to do is give the fans no reason to cheer for him. I always wonder why certain wrestlers who turn heel after being faces forever continue to do things to get the crowd to cheer for him.
After Punk being assured by Luke and Serena that they would do anything to make sure that Punk is not hurt in his match with Batista, they could have gone to Beale Street during the match because Batista did not do anything in the match. I thought it was great how Batista didn’t want to leave the corner despite the referee begging him to come out of the corner. Punk’s reaction was funny because he was talking about the monster that Batista is and he wanted Batista to come out of the corner and wrestle him? If I was in the building for this match, I might have felt different about this match (but there was another thing that would have annoyed me more the way it was hyped for the show).
I liked the way that Punk, Gallows, and Serena celebrated the victory over Batista. Imagine if Punk had gotten injured in the celebration.
Shouldn’t Batista still care about getting his title since he was robbed by Teddy Long at the Survivor Series and it has been his big obsession over the last five months?
The Maria/Matt Hardy segment seemed like a throwaway other than to get a plug in for the Celebrity Apprentice.
I wonder if they skipped the ring entrance for Jericho before his match with Matt Hardy because we saw it already during the opening segment?
I thought the Hardy/Jericho match was good. It did a lot to rebuild Hardy as more than Khali’s dance partner.
Just like Rey Mysterio tries for the 619 too many times, I think Matt tries for the Twist of Fate too many times and it cost him the match against Jericho.
I liked the interaction between Mickie James and Beth Phoenix. I am looking forward to their title match.
It is amazing how much heat Vickie Guerrero can get for just uttering those two words.
So after railing about the synchronized entrances for the women’s teams in TNA, I guess it is time to complain about it in the WWE.
I thought Beth was great in the tag match. Since she wants Mickie’s title, why should she work with her in the match that was set up by Vickie. Even better was the way that she appeared to be working with Michelle only to lay out Michelle with a forearm.
What does it say about Layla when she is tagged into the match to pin a motionless Mickie James and Mickie gets the inside cradle on her.
I was a bit surprised to see the return of Word Up because it is not the same without Eve . . . or even without Slam Master J. I guess if you are going to use the word ‘King’ in Memphis, you have to use Jerry Lawler in his home town. And since it wasn’t Raw, I guess it is okay for him to make a ‘puppies’ reference.
I thought the Rey Mysterio/Ziggler match was okay. The biggest surprise was that despite numerous attempts to use the 619 during the match, Rey got the win with a rollup. I was glad that he did not depend on his ‘vintage’ moves to get the win, but then he had to hit a 619 after the match. I wish they would have given Ziggler the win because he needs the benefit of being in the Elimination Chamber.
The only complaint that I would have about the Cutting Edge segment is that they advertised the Undertaker, but we only got him for about a minute of the ten minute segment.
With that criticism out of the way, I really liked the rest of the segment because you had the three best men on the mic in the company involved. Edge got to build up Sheamus as a possible opponent for Wrestlemania, and reminds us of his promo from Raw. You had Jericho confront Edge again to voice his disdain for Edge and then they could battle over who is the real ‘face’ of Smackdown. Then you throw in a side of CM Punk talking about how he has beaten the Undertaker (no matter how it happened, it is still a win).
While the minimal involvement of the Undertaker in the final segment adds to the desire to see Edge confront him in a one-on-one situation, I wish they wouldn’t have hyped it so much when all he did was punch and choke slam people before staring down Edge.
What to Watch: If you get a chance, I would suggest that you watch the entire show, especially the promos. If you need to skip something, you could miss the R Truth/Mike Knox match
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