A ho-hum Smackdown before the PPV, and predicitions!

Well, there wasn't really anything special about this week's Smackdown, except that nothing on it was really that bad. (This opinion was shared by the always-excellent Kevin Eck over at Ring Posts.) In the world of WWE, that's always decent, especially considering that Over The Limit is Sunday night.

The best aspect of the show was a decent match between Kofi Kingston and Jack Swagger. While I don't normally like DQ or contested finishes, it made sense for the Big Show to interfere to cost Swagger the match. This kept both of them strong heading into their respective matches Sunday. The same thing goes for Swagger drawing the DQ in the Drew McIntyre-Big Show match.

And, I'll add that if Layla and Michelle McCool are a pairing, then the WWE really needs to consider doing the same with Tiffany and Kelly Kelly. Few things have gone horrifically wrong in life by pairing together two attractive blonde women, and surprisingly, Tiffany has gotten decent in the ring despite her inexperience. Kelly Kelly is still the stronger of that team, but there is enough talent between the four of them to make things workable.

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As far as the PPV goes, here are my picks:

WWE Champion John Cena vs. Batista ("I Quit" Match) - I think Cena definitely wins this, given the widespread Internet rumors that Batista is leaving the company. I think there is a small chance that the WWE pulls a swerve, and that Batista is signed through the end of June or July, as opposed to the end of May. However, I'm hoping that this is the end of Batista on television for a bit, since he's feuded with most of the people on the roster.

World Heavyweight Champion Jack Swagger vs. Big Show - If Swagger wasn't going to drop the belt to Randy Orton, then I don't think he drops it to a suddenly-face Big Show. I'm not sure who this leaves as his next challenger; Kofi Kingston? An absent-from-this-PPV John Morrison? But I can't view Show as a serious challenge to the belt.

Intercontinental Champion Drew McIntyre vs. Kofi Kingston - I don't think McIntyre was reinstated as champion just so that he could drop the belt nine days later. The ending might feature a ref bump or otherwise be underhanded, but I don't see him losing the belt to Kofi. I also think there is a chance that Matt Hardy interferes in this match and inadvertently causes a DQ-win for Drew.

Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk (S.E.S. Pledge vs. Hair Match) - Mysterio via pin. They have been advertising the "Punk loses his hair!" angle for a couple PPVs now, so I think it happens, even if I don't want to see it happen. Even if Mysterio wins, it wouldn't surprise me to see the Straight Edge Society prevent the haircut from happening.


Randy Orton vs. Edge - I think Edge wins this match by pinfall, although I could easily see it going either way. Orton is so over that a loss won't hurt him, and Edge's next step is probably a program with Cena over the title belt. This definitely feels like a thrown-together match, since there isn't a strong storyline reason for these two to be enemies.

Unified Tag Team Champions The Hart Dynasty vs. Chris Jericho & The Miz - The mark in me is hoping that Jericho and The Miz find some way to get the titles here. Doing so would allow them to further their angle with The Big Show. While the Hart Dynasty has been good with the belts, I think they could just win them back on the next PPV or two, giving Jericho and the Miz plenty of time to screw with Show.

R-Truth vs. Ted DiBiase - Truth gets the pin here, because Virgil, who is supposed to be at ringside, will throw the match against DiBiase somehow. The WWE has left out that Virgil eventually turned on Ted Sr., which is why I think he does tonight.

Divas Champion Eve vs. Maryse - This match is pretty "meh" to me, since Laycool has been the only thing worth following in the women's division. I'm going with Maryse reclaiming her championship. Eve has been solid in the ring, but Maryse still gets more of a crowd reaction. Not as much as if they turned her face, but hey...

Swagger, Punk and actual wrestling highlight Smackdown

Smackdown had three three really awesome segments last night, all of which contributed to its near-perfect show to me:

1) Swagger has really been getting over in recent weeks as a smarmy, arrogant heel, and this Friday's segment was the best one so far. He had a long, drawn out promo that featured him doing push-ups, exaggerating his past accomplishments, and showing off pictures of himself as a little kid and champion at that point. It was the perfect mixture of humor and cockiness for his character; the whole thing felt like something Jericho would have done in his prime.

He was finally interrupted by the Big Show, who predictably started breaking all of the various trophies and displays setup in the ring. This provided some neat visuals, as I think pretty much everyone has the basic urge to go King Kong on a bunch of stuff at various points in their life. I only hope that they let Swagger go over on the Big Show next week, since Show has been better than Swagger in each encounter so far.

2) The Straight Edge Society put a pretty savage beating on Rey Mysterio, furthering their angle. At first, Serena was dressed as the masked attacker and SES member, and Rey was about to hit her until she revealed herself. Then, the real masked man hit Rey from behind, drawing a DQ. However, the SES clearly got the best of the encounter, as they beat the snot out of Mysterio and forced him to pledge while he was unconscious.

3) The show also started out in intense fashion, as there was a good, 15-minute match between Kofi Kingston and Christian over the intercontinental title. Kofi eventually won with Trouble in Paradise after several near falls.

After the match though, Drew McIntyre came to the ring with a letter from Vince McMahon reinstating him, and restoring his title. I imagine this will lead to a feud between Kofi and Drew, which should be pretty good. For now though, next week will feature Drew vs. The Big Show, although I imagine Drew will back out of the match after a few minutes. The interaction between Kofi, Drew and Smackdown GM Teddy Long was really good.

The rest of the show was still pretty good, excluding a squash match between Shad and some local jobber. Surprisingly, there was a fluke title change - An already injured Beth Phoenix had a clash of heads with Michelle McCool, and Layla pinned her to win the title. I imagine this will lead to either McCool turning on Layla, or Phoenix quickly regaining the title whenever the two actually have a match. While Layla has improved in the ring, she isn't a good enough worker to be credible as a champion.

Grade: A+

Smackdown remains WWE's wildest show

Even though a good portion of their talent has been claimed by Raw yet again, Smackdown keeps humming along. Despite a questionable booking decision, the rest of the card is humming along nicely, with a decent amount of twists and turns along the way.

Let's start with the only objectionable part of Friday night's show - Why did John Morrison job to Cody Rhodes, of all people? I understand that because Morrison is leaving the show for Raw, it doesn't necessarily matter as much if he loses. Also, Rhodes is a newcomer, so it would be nice if he established himself with a victory. However, Morrison just beat your brand's world champion a week ago! Why then have him lose to a guy who hasn't won a singles match in ages? If you want to re-establish Rhodes as a contender, then have him work his way up the card against Chavo and Dolph Ziggler; don't have him beat Morrison off the bat.

Beyond this though, the show was pretty splendid. There were two memes throughout the show - Swagger in taped segments with the belt bragging about his victory, and Big Show punching out various people. The two collided at the end, as Teddy Long named Show as the No. 1 contender for the title. It's certainly an interesting choice, as Show has been playing a heel or tweener for more than a year now. I imagine that a more natural face might get injected into the mix for a triple threat match, but I kind of like the tweener vs. heel idea better.

Some of the shows various angles - the Straight Edge Society picking on Mysterio, Drew McIntyre and Matt Hardy feuding - continued, and Kofi Kingston picked up a good win against Jericho, in the debut and the departure for them.

But the standout segment of the show was an intense verbal confrontation between Christian and Edge. It was the first time they had been paired together since Christian returned to the WWE, and there was a hinting of a future feud. With the exodus of talent from Smackdown and no clear feud for Christian right now, it would be nice to see him eventually get a title shot. While he was a world champion in TNA, and held the rebooted ECW title for several months, he hasn't ever really gotten a good shot at one of the big belts. If properly built, a Christian vs. Swagger (or Big Show) match could do some great business, a la the huge pops Benoit and Eddie Guerrero got when they won titles.

Finally, the guilty pleasure of the show? Lay-cool, or however you spell it. I talked about it the other week, but for some reason, it's a pretty neat gimmick for them. Seeing as the women wrestlers normally get no gimmick, it's nice that the WWE is letting them do anything. Sure, they lost again this week, but it makes sense given that Kelly Kelly was debuting.

Grade: B+

(p.s. As a bonus, check out this cool YouTube compilation of every WWE/F title change since 1990! Although I think the creator is missing a couple, it is pretty god damn thorough.)

Extreme Rules plays it by the book, but still entertaining

Catching up on recent WWE programming, starting with last night's Extreme Rules pay-per-view, before moving on to the three-hour Raw draft in a second post at 7 p.m tonight...

I thought the start of the PPV was great, with Sheamus beating the crap out of Triple H with a metal pipe. It was savage and brutal, which is a good idea for a PPV built upon the idea of all "extreme" matches. Of course, it wasn't surprising that Triple H was able to compete later in the show, but I was surprised they let Sheamus go over. I read after the show that Triple H has some neck damage and needs time off, so that was an effective way to get him off television for a while.

After the opening beatdown came the Miz and the Big Show, taunting the other wrestlers in the back. Teddy Long came out to argue with him, and once again, the Miz looked like a million bucks and a future champion. As a result of the Miz claiming he and Show were the greatest tag team of all-time, Long setup a three-tiered gauntlet for them.

The first team of R-Truth and John Morrison lasted the longest, although it was disappointing to see them lose after about seven minutes; both are guys who should be pushed at this point. MVP and Mark Henry were next, and not surprisingly, they lasted about two minutes. ShowMiz has beat them about 40 times the past couple months. And finally, the New Hart Foundation came out, with Bret Hart, and pinned the Miz after about 30 seconds. This earned them a title shot on Raw.

Outside of the tag matches, which were pretty solid, there were two highlights. First, CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio was a great technical match. It was a quick pace and had a slew of near falls, before Punk finally got the upper hand with the help of an unknown assailant from under the ring. And the other strong match, not surprisingly, featured Edge beating Jericho in a steel cage match that felt like the blow-off to their feud. While I liked their Wrestlemania match a bit more, this was still a good match.

The rest of the card was kind of meh to me. Jack Swagger vs. Randy Orton featured some utterly sick usage of some trash cans - I have no idea how Swagger softened that blow, if at all. However, the finish had him going over clean, and although Orton hit an RKO after the match, I don't think the match really helped either wrestler that much.

Finally, the last man standing match between Batista and Cena was just OK. It wasn't actively putrid or anything, like a Great Khali match, but they have fought so many times now that anything they do seems like a rehash. The ending was sort of innovative, as Cena used duct tape to fasten Batista's legs around the ring post, preventing him from getting up. However, this wasn't entirely convincing to me, as it seemed like he could have gotten up.

Overall though, I thought this was a solid showing for the WWE. While there was no "oh my god!" moment on the show, none of the matches were complete wrestlecrap either. Even the "piss break" matches, like the women's championship and the strap match, were kept short and relatively brisk.

Grade: B+

All pictures from the photo galleries at WWE.com.

TV Review: Weak and strong booking decisions bookend Smackdown

Punk is so great as a cult figure, even if
Gallows' longing is a bit... creepy.

While I praised the hectic nature of Smackdown with my entry last week, I should note that there is a fine line between being surprised and devaluing your product with cluster-eff booking. One reason why I've traditionally preferred the WWE over the WCW and, in present day, the TNA, is that their booking makes a bit more sense. Yeah, it can be boring and predictable at times, but the in-ring action normally makes up for it, and you don't have to worry about constant stipulation matches and screw job finishes in every other match.

Case in point: It sure would be nice if the WWE let its newest champion, Jack Swagger, actually win some matches. Fine, the Undertaker beat him on Monday Night Raw this week; that's a perfectly understandable win against one of the biggest stars of the past 20 years. He managed to pin Edge the other week, but it was only after Jericho hit a Codebreaker against him.

However, while I really enjoy the ring work of John Morrison and think he will be a future champion, it seems silly to let him pin Swagger two nights before a pay per view. It isn't one of the big four, but it still damages Swagger's credibility before the match. If he beats Randy Orton, then it devalues Orton, since Swagger has lost most of his recent matches. If he loses against Orton, it's going to be hard for him to re-establish himself as a threat in the championship chase.

I think the only way the WWE can salvage something from this is if they use it to launch a program between Morrison and Swagger. With Shawn Michaels being forced to retire, Morrison is the closest thing to a "new" HBK, so it might make sense to push him up the card a bit quick. Let me put on my Imaginary Booker hat for a second - I would have Swagger retain against Orton, and Morrison would challenge him to a match on the next Smackdown. Have Swagger cheap shot him and leave, but the match is made anyway by GM Teddy Long. And sometime between that show and the title shot, have Morrison beat the Undertaker in a long match, as a sort of "pass the torch" moment.

Do I think this will actually happen? No. But, it should!

Anyway, outside of the Swagger booking, the worst part of Friday's show was the inexplicable pairing of Kane and Rey Mysterio vs. the Straight Edge Society, consisting of CM Punk and Luke Gallows. Punk was at his cult leader best for the majority of the show, which is why I used his image to lead off this entry.

However, there was absolutely no mention on the show why Kane felt capable of teaming with Mysterio. I mean, it was only about 18 months ago that Kane, in storyline, tried to kill Mysterio. But hey, maybe he bought Rey a Fresco or something while they hung out backstage, and patched things up all nice-nice.

There were some good moments on the show though, some of them surprisingly so. It's not surprising that Jericho and Edge had another great verbal exchange, but who knew that Layla could slowly get over as the tag team partner of Michelle McCool in their blatant rip-off of TNA's Beautiful People? While neither McCool or Layla is as attractive as any of the Beautiful People, they play the characters a bit better to me, and the presence of Vickie Guerrero as their valet of sorts makes them more solidly heel-ish.

With some better booking, this could have been a much stronger episode. However, as is, this week's Smackdown was still light years ahead of a thrown together Raw with MacGruber guest hosting.

Grade: B-

The picture of Kane holding Rey's mask is from this site.

TV Review: The Miz layeth the Smackdown

The Miz puts his U.S. Championship
and tag team belts on display.

As Bill Simmons has pointed out, it is odd to think that of all the Real World and MTV casts, the only one who has kind of made it big in television amongst the scores of wannabe actresses and actors is Mike Mizanin, who wrestles as The Miz in the WWE.

The progress he has made in the ring and on the mic is simply shocking. When he first debuted with the company, he was an annoying and cocky host of stupid segments, like the Diva search and bikini competitions. He was clearly raw in the ring as well, but a little less than four years later, he is a legitimate heavyweight champion competitor. Of all the wrestlers in the midcard, The Miz is the one I want to see as champion, and I think he is the heir-apparent to Chris Jericho as the smarmy heel who gets over with the crowd anyway.

A good example of his new prowess was on display on Smackdown last night. He sat in on commentator with Matt Striker and Todd Grisham, and overshadowed both of them. And I'm normally a guy who loves Striker's obscure references. However, The Miz's bombast and forcefulness makes him an interesting character.

From top to bottom, not much has changed since the last couple times I talked about Smackdown - It is still by far the best weekly program that the WWE does. While I'm still not crazy about the booking of Jack Swagger as the world heavyweight champion, he at least got the pin in a triple threat match with Jericho and Edge. From top-to-bottom, the show featured a lot of good wrestling, with the highlights being the triple threat championship match and a six man tag (CM Punk, Luke Gallows and Darren Young vs. Tyson Kidd, David Hart Smith and Rey Mysterio).

It was a brisk 90 minutes to watch, and hopefully when the show moves to SyFy this November, it will allow for some even better, more mature angles.

Grade: A+

The picture is from WWE.com.

TV Review: Catching up with Smackdown's new champ and LOST's tedium

I am woefully behind on my television watching and writing because of all the flood coverage I've had to do for my legitimate job as a reporter at The Westerly Sun. (If you do want to see some crazy flood pictures though, I really encourage you to visit the paper's web site here.

However, I didn't really miss a lot this week. All of the Thursday night shows I watch were repeats, for some unknown reason. (Maybe preparing for the Easter exodus? I don't know.) LOST was still new this week, thankfully, but outside of a stellar performance by the quivering Keamy, I didn't really much care for this week's episode. I've also found Sun and Jin to be kind of boring characters, excluding the brief period of time when Sun actually showed some backbone and took over her father's company. (Also, it's too bad that Sulu plays the father of Hiro in Heroes, because he'd also be awesome in that role on LOST.)

Friday though brought some exciting news, although it was in professional wrestling, which I realize only I follow. Jack Swagger cashed in his Money in the Bank title shot, and used it to capitalize on a fallen Chris Jericho. While Jericho is my favorite wrestler, even as a heel, I also like Swagger's, uh, swagger and bravado. It's good to see a fresh face as champion who can actually wrestle - Swagger's rise up the card has seemed more natural than Sheamus, who got an unnatural push out of nowhere. Swagger has been ECW Champion, and he has been built up consistently as a threat to guys like John Cena. It wouldn't surprise me to see him used kind of like C.M. Punk, who also used the MitB for a surprise win, and then legitimized himself more once he didn't have the belt anymore.