So, did you guys miss this week's installment of SmackDown!? Well... surprisingly, so did I. Yeh, sometimes these things just slip my mind, or I find something else more pressing than the watching of professional wrestling (BLASPHEMY). Nevertheless, as I assumed this week's SmackDown! would more than trump RAW, and because I genuinely was interested in seeing how some of the storylines went down.And from what I saw from the raw (and I mean raw, as the video quality is terrible) footage from SmackDown! from WWE.com, I was right to be hopeful. In the weak prior to the shake up that is the Draft, SmackDown! finishes strong with some good matches, good story-telling, and just a good overall feel. I can't go quite as in depth with all the stuff that happened this week, but here goes my analysis.
- The Bombastic Bag Man: Cody continues his descent into madness as he hits the ring and, following another melodramatic speech, he starts distributing paper bag masks to the audience (I shit you not) as some form of symbolic "hiding" of everyone's inner ugliness... or something. Yes, this could be considered some form of rip-off of the Beautiful People's schtick they used to do, but hey it was fun. I'm liking Cody's ridiculous new Phantom of the Opera deal, and this new paper mask thing just adds another layer of crazy.
- Oh, and there was also a match. In a rematch of their Wrestlemania battle, Rhodes faced off against Mysterio. The finish of this match seemed to come relatively out of nowhere, but that was soon revealed to be because the two had 10 or so minute segment where they brawled on the outside, in the audience, and all over the place. It wasn't horribly exciting stuff, but luckily, the feud that's been brewing between these two helped to sell the idea of them really wanting to hurt each other. In the end, Mysterio takes the match, but Rhodes gets the last laugh by laying out Rey and slipping a paper bag over his head. Goofy stuff, but goofy in a likable way.
- Team Tensions: The Corre continues their slow train wreck of a disbandment into this week's SmackDown!, but at this point, the amount of bitching they're doing to one another is fairly entertaining. I personally like most of the members of the Corre (not you, Heath), and whenever these guys get more screen time, I'm a fan, but I was getting tired of them being made to be such a TERRIBLE team for no goddamn reason. Now, at least their constant in-fighting makes it obvious why these guys aren't living up to their potential. Various Corre members see action later in the night.
- But of course who cares about that stuff when LayCool are having relationship issues!? Yeah, I personally could really care less about this dumb angle, but I have to admit that I didn't hate their small segment here, mainly because it ends with Michelle McCool attacking Layla. Are LayCool over? Well, methinks the Draft next week could end with these two ladies ending up on different shows. That's alright by me.
- Swagger Squash: Jack Swagger has sadly been caught in a bit of a dead-end angle lately playing second banana to Michael fucking Cole. I have to admit my gut reaction to when I saw Swagger premier (around the time I stopped watching wrestling) was to automatically hate the guy. However, since then, I've come to realize he's actually a pretty good worker, and though I don't think he's the next Kurt Angle (which seems to be the direction WWE wants to take him in), he deserves much better. Perhaps as a way to keep him still somewhat threatening, he gets a short squash match here against Trent Beretta. Swagger hits all his big spots and gets the win. A squash is a squash, but this one at least seemed to have some purpose.
- New Tag Champs: Returning to the Corre's troubles, it was only a matter of time before they lost some gold. Wouldn't ya know it, but Gabriel and Slater drop the belts this week to Big Show and Kane. Big Show showed some good athleticism here, but more than anything this match was basically used to progress storylines. The Corre now loses their tag belts, and Gabriel and Slater are at each other's throats. Do I suspect Show and Kane will stay tag champs for long? Maybe not, but I've got no problem having those veterans carry the straps for a while.
- Masters vs. McIntyre: My man-crush on Drew McIntyre continues this week as he takes on Chris Masters in a really entertaining match. Honestly, the good part about McIntyre at this point is they've established him as a threat, but one whose arrogance and overconfidence can cost him any match. They play that up here as Masters and McIntyre actually have a really good back and forth. Stiff as they are, there were some really good high-impact spots between these two, including a diving shoulder block by Masters and McIntyre nailing ANOTHER hugely stiff clothesline. I can't attest to what it's like to wrestle these guys, but with the intensity they provided in the match and their own stiff styles, it was just a lot of fun. McIntyre picks up the win in what was my favorite match of the night.
- Barrett Escapes the Boom: Fairly entertaining match between Kofi Kingston and Wade Barrett for the IC Championship. Again, the storytelling, particularly with Ezekiel Jackson at ringside, made up for any actual shortcomings, but these two are talented dudes who know how to work. The thing I disliked about this match was the finish. Barrett cheats to sneak past Kingston, but it just perpetuates the feeling that nobody in the Corre is an actual threat. Sure, Zeke took out Kingston a week ago, but Barrett, Slater, and Gabriel are constantly being made to look dumb. Fine match, I just wish the finish would have had Barrett actually taking the match with skill rather than cheating. It's also of note that the crowd's reaction (the show was in London) when Barrett nearly landed Wasteland was pretty hilarious as a collective roar seemed to erupt, followed by a disappointed hush when Kingston countered.
- ADR is Poop: Lastly, Alberto Del Rio throws a retirement party for Edge. Remember that terrible Michael Cole segment from RAW? That was goofy "not wrestling" nonsense done wrong. This was goofy "not wrestling" nonsense done right. Del Rio genuinely seemed to be having fun as he unveiled gag after gag, and that fun was not lost on me (though it may have been on the audience). Of course, Edge appears and does his usually devastation on the microphone (including calling ADR and his party-goers "poop"), and Christian comes in to physically break up the party. A good way to end the show, one that can't be faulted for lack of wrestling because, there was actually a lot of wrestling on this damn show (imagine that). It was fun, and it's good to see Edge again while he's still there.
Overall, the SmackDown! before the Draft was darn fun, and it's bittersweet that a majority of this talent will likely find its way onto RAW following Monday. I give SmackDown! for the 22nd a solid 4 stars out of 5.
Monday is the Draft, and I'll definitely be keeping an eye on it to provide my own apt brand of analysis to it. Look for that, and more blogs relating to wrestling, video games, comics, and everything in between, in the coming week.
Until then, stay tuned to The Machine...
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