On such a day as this, when a wrestling legend passes away, it's kind of hard to think about the current state of wrestling. No, not because "wrestling sucks now, lol". It's simply that, no matter how good the quality of the wrestling I would see today, it'd serve as a reminder to the loss of one of the industry's greats.
Nevertheless, wrestling did happen. Tonight was SmackDown. And ya know what? As I've said in the past and will continue saying, it was a great show. SmackDown won't ever emerge from the shadow of its Monday night brother, but it consistently proves to be a better show. Here are my full impressions.
- Christian vs. Sheamus: Christian opens the show with a rock solid bout against Sheamus. The match even featured a panel in panel "promo" with Sheamus like it was old school wrestling, just in case you needed more explanation for why Sheamus wants to cave in Christian's head.
- Anyway, it's refreshing to have such a good match open the show, and while Christian takes the win, he also gets jumped by Mark Henry and Sheamus post-match. Randy comes in to save Christian, continuing his sentiment that he wants to fight Christian at his best at Over the Limit, and the two continue their friendly rivalry.
- The Low Point: Brie Bella, Divas Champion, takes on Natalya. Yes, the backwards women's division of WWE has fantastic wrestler (and attractive woman) Natalya JOBBING to a model. Thankfully, Naty's great in-ring ability carries the match, but the unconvincing finish combined with the heinous act of Brie getting an honest win over NATY EFFING NEIDHART made this easily the low point of the night. Thankfully, it happens less than halfway through the show, and we move on.
- 6-man Tag Action: Ezekiel Jackson is next out, and he (despite not being super talented on the mic) manages to rock a pretty good promo, effectively setting up a match between him and Wade Barrett at Over the Limit. I can't help but draw favorable comparisons to guys like Ron Simmons, and even Ahmed Johnson when Zeke is at his best, and he's definitely there now. The Corre, predictably, tries to assault Jackson, but Teddy Long (who I neber like) comes out and instead makes a match with Jackson teaming with Big Show and Kane taking on the Corre.
- What proceeds is a great tag match by any standard. Of course, the veterans of Kane and Big Show never disappoint, and they've been feuding with the Corre long enough that the chemistry is there. I shit on the Corre's booking for a while, as they weren't a credible threat for a good long while following Wrestlemania, but they are good workers. Jackson and Show/Kane take the win. Super match all around.
- Five Minute Challenge: The Chavo/Sin Cara rivalry comes to a head in the next installment. Chavo, again claiming to be the mentor of Sin Cara, jealously spouts on about how the luchador would be nothing without him and that he can beat Daniel Bryan, who Sin Cara defeated in 15 minutes last week, in 5. Bryan and Chavo proceed to put on a solid and suspenseful match.
- The timer is really what made this whole contest, as it gave the contest a sense of urgency and, whenever it would slow down, Chavo frantically was checking the clock. Chavo's a veteran, and his emotion sold the match. Bryan's a fantastic worker, and his physicality anchored it. In the end, Chavo couldn't pin Bryan in five minutes, even after hitting his frog splash. This made him snap, but luckily, like any good technico, Sin Cara swoops in to save the day. I'm not sure if this feud will conclude at Over the Limit, but it's certainly been entertaining thus far.
- Ted and Cody; the new odd couple: Cody Rhodes comes out accompanied by Ted DiBiase come out together, at first puzzling me as the two seemed to be feuding last week. Cody does his usual AMAZING schpeal, and bolstered by some funny stuff with Ted wearing a paper bag, I really enjoyed this segment. And guess what, there was actually wrestling following it! Sure, it was Ted squashing Trent Beretta, but it was still good to see a talky segment actually lead to somewhere. Fun stuff.
- Khali Gets Serious: The Great Khali continues his predicted move back into a monster heel. His new "manager", Jinder Mahal (I finally know his name) interrupts his match with Jey Uso and slaps him. This puts Khali into God mode, and he proceeds to destroy both Uso brothers in the next few minutes. I'm no big fan of Khali, but I do agree this is the correct direction to be taking him in. Let Khali be a monster. Leave the goofy comedy to Zack Ryder.
- Orton vs. Henry: The main event has Randy Orton taking on Mark Henry. I've been fairly skeptical about Orton being the "face" of SmackDown now, as I've seen his move set and personality homogenized to a John Cena-like level in recent weeks. However, this actually proves to be a good match, and Orton pulls out some more of his arsenal while Henry is actually shown to be dominating portions of the match.
- Sheamus, perhaps unsurprisingly, comes out and attacks Randy, making the match a no contest. Christian comes out to make the save, but actually stalls to let Randy get a bit beaten up showing that, although "cool" with each other, these two are still rivals. Orton and Christian clean house, and the curtain falls on SmackDown as we head into Over the Limit.
Momentum. Great matches. Good storytelling. Despite a slight hiccup here or there, SmackDown is, without a doubt, the best regularly televised wrestling show. Tonight's episode gets a 5 out of 5. This is where WWE needs to be heading.
To see how WWE DOESN'T need to be heading, check out my recap of this week's RAW HERE.
For my brief words on the death of the great Randy Savage, look HERE.
And for my weekly wrestling showcase, check HERE.
Like my stuff? Tell your rasslin' buddies. Until next time, I'm out...
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