This is a special SmackDown 2-for-1. Unfortunately I have been doing the single parenting thing this week while the husband is on the west coast working. This was made even worse when the heir to the throne contracted strep throat. Not fun for the kid or the parent.
So SmackDown had to wait and after watching the boy labor through a little league doubleheader yesterday, I think he's on the road to recovery so no need to start a get-well letter writing campaign. Always funny how quickly these kids get healthy when it's the day of an athletic event or birthday party. He could barely speak Friday and Saturday, he was energized.
I have enjoyed reading the discussion threads this week though. Not much to add. Everyone knows how I feel about Shawn Michaels and I don't really dislike Bret Hart. My main problem is that the Hart fans and HBK fans refuse to admit that the two guys were far more alike then the portrayals. They were both egomaniacs that were difficult to deal with main difference being Hart was more keen on the business and knew how to be discreet in his temper tantrums whereas Michaels had more public displays. I guess the thing that annoyed me about Bret was him trying to hammer home how much of a good guy he was and how much of a victim he was. Both guys could be major assholes. They were also good workers and generally speaking good for each other and the business as their friction planted the seeds for the Attitude era that Austin, Rock, Foley, HHH, etc. got over. It's funny to note that Owen was left doing the dirty work. He put over guys like Shamrock, Austin and HHH repeatedly and really helped Rock develop as a character during their time together in The Nation. A lot of the Rock's early heel success were directly borrowed from the way Owen used to generate heat and of course he greatly enhanced on that. It's probably why Vince refused to let him defect with the rest of the Hart family. If anyone was ever victimized during the HBK/Hart slapfights, it was Owen.
Real quick Extreme Rules predictions since I'm already killing time. Mind you my RAW watching is limited to Todd Martin's recaps and I occasionally catch ECW on line so I don't have much to go by on running angles that aren't SmackDown related.
-- U.S. Title 4-Way Match: The title switch on Monday has me curious. Eventually they will have to roll the dice on MVP because Orton desperately needs new opponents if he's ever going to have a chance as a champion so he's out. I think Kofi retains and pins Matt Hardy, but a Hardy victory wouldn't shock me either.
-- ECW Triple Threat: Well it would be nice for Dreamer to win the title even as a transitional champion and this would be the perfect situation for that to happen. It would appear that both Christian and Swagger are quickly rising above ECW title status but the draft is months away from saving them. Let's say Christian retains.
-- Miss Wrestlemania match: It's funny but I think Orton would love to have the heat that Vickie or Santino/a get. Still this is set up for Vickie to be embarrassed.
-- Samoan Strap Match: The WWE has booked themselves into a corner because they need both of these guys to stay strong. Punk could lose and cash in MiTB? Or he could take a beating and win? Hard to say. I think Umaga winning is going to be their call.
-- Intercontinental Title Match: This could obviously be a show stealer as Mysterio is on a great run right now and he usually has great chemistry with Jericho. This angle calls for Jericho to win the title eventually but you've still got a slow build to the Edge match (which I'm guessing is pegged in for either Summerslam or the Survivor Series). Since I think Edge will win, they will do the Jericho match at Summerslam, which means Rey should win here.
-- Ladder Match for the World Title: According to the match list this is going on third to last. Again it should be good because these two guys can pull off this kind of match in their sleep. They had an excellent match three weeks ago where it wasn't a game of "can you top this" so I'd love for them to tell a story over doing a ridiculous spotfest. Either way I think Edge puts a close on this fued.
-- Submission match: I have no hopes for this and watching Show keep a submission on Cena for 10 minutes is enough to make me want to skip this match all together. This whole feud has been a bust. Cena finally gets the STF on Show and everyone moves on.
-- Steel Cage Match: The position of this match on the card and the fact that a heel went over to end last month's card tells me that Batista wins with the help of Flair, which eventually will set up Flair's turn. They could do the turn now. Who knows. Everyone knows how I feel about this Orton title run and while it's not all his fault, it's definitely been one of the big reasons RAW is struggling to keep audiences right now. I will say that Big Dave gets the win and the title for a month-long reign.
Now, onto business.
The Princess SmackDown Rant for May 29, 2009
Taped from Los Angeles
Hosted by J.R. and Todd Grisham
Rey Mysterio opens the show, as well he should since he's going to get the superhero pop near his hometown. He says nothing of note outside of the usual threats to Jericho and he runs off every area code in L.A. and Orange County. He promises the shut Jericho up and that threat brings out our moral compass. Jericho needs new theme music, he's had the same stuff since 1999, time to move on and find something that fits his current persona.
Jericho describes how their match could be off the hook and asks Rey if getting hit by a chair and having permanent brain damage is off the hook? Mysterio counters by saying Jericho's word is crap, pointing out how Jericho said he would stop Rey from hitting the 619 and he did it anyway. There is also a cameo appearance from Mickey Rourke, who Jericho threatens. Rourke laughs him off and eventually Rey beats him up. This was a good segment for the energy if nothing else.
-- Khali! Truth! Ziggler! Knox! Next!
The Great Khali & R-Truth vs. Mike Knox & Dolph Ziggler. After watching Khali dance, he's obviously a big Persian trapped in a white guy's body.
Truth and Ziggler pull off a nice little wrestling sequence which Truth wins easily. The storyline here is Ziggler running from Khali so both guys tag out. Khali with the big boot on Knox and back to Truth, who gets rocked with a clothesline and a knee drop for two. Tag to Ziggler who does his elbow drop sequence. He's definitely going for some of "The Model's" mannerisms. Double cross body knocks both guys out. Double hot tags but Truth's is hotter. Clothesline city for Knox and the heels unsuccessfully try to double team Khali to the point of where Ziggler leaves his partner alone. Punjabi plunge ends this one.
(Truth/Khali def. Knox/Ziggler, pinfall, * Not much to see here)
-- Melina is next!
Non-Title Match: Melina vs. Alicia Fox. I don't know that's it's non-title but I feel safe in assuming that. Fox has Michelle McCool with her. Obvious McCool hasn't found a good tanning salon on the road. She's making us Florida girls look bad.
Fox with a take down, a smack down and a right hand...down. All of which were returned with interest by Melina. She pulls out her little Matrix move and Fox takes a powder. Michelle McCool distracts Melina long enough for Fox to hit a baseball slide. Back in the ring, a side backbreaker gets two. Melina with a kick to the top of the head and a decent clothesline. Shitty dropkick though. Melina does a tilt-a-whirl counter. And McCool distracts Melina again to give Fox control but alas it's shortlived and the Primal Scream puts this one away.
(Melina def. Fox, pinfall, *1/2 Good enough for government work)
-- John Morrison has a funny little promo and a more serious face off with Shelton Benjamin
-- Jeff Hardy! Next!
-- Nice video montage of Jeff Hardy's past exploits in ladder matches. And speaking of the man, he's in the ring right now!
Hardy says ladder matches are his comfort zone and 10 years after he and Edge were involved in the first tag team ladder match their feud will end with a ladder match. Nice, quick and to the point. We go right into our next match.
John Morrison vs. Umaga. This is going to be interesting. Umaga wins an early test of power and has added trash talk to his arsenal. Big elbow by Umaga but he misses the blind charge. Morrison pounds on Umaga in the corner but a running shoulder ends that. Umaga charges again and Morrison sidesteps the big man and sends him through the ropes. Springboard cross body on the floor for Morrison. Not the best I've seen but good enough. Umaga misses a butt drop and Morrison hits the running knee strike for two. Umaga catches Morrison out of the corner with the elevated samoan drop.
Commercial.
We're back and Umaga's got the dreaded rest hold on . Morrison tries to fight out but a suplex is a bad idea as Umaga hangs Morrison on the ropes and nails a thrust kick to send him to the floor. Morrison fights back with a guillotine but gets absolutely obliterated with a lariat upon entering the ring. Love the somersault oversell too. I told you this guy has got the goods! Back to the old rest hold. It's sort of an underhook shoulder thing and he is resting his knee on Morrison's head to add to the hold. Morrison back with a bicycle kick but a whirlybird slam ends that comeback. Nasty kick to the back by Umaga and a big head butt. Back to the shoulder stretch again. Morrison counters the whirlybird into a sweet rollover DDT for two. Morrison hits a couple of flying forearms and a dropkick to the knee but another charge gets Morrison and a shot to the throat. Umaga misses a blind charge and Morrison hits the springboard jump kick that sends Umaga to the floor. Morrison follows him out and Umaga hits him with the strap to cause the DQ.
(Morrison def. Umaga, disqualification, ***, it was a good big man/little man match and Umaga usually tries hard. Post match sees Umaga beat the holy hell out of Morrison until C.M. Punk makes the save. If Umaga was a REAL Samoan he would have taken the bulldog on the briefcase, smiled at Punk and headbutted the shit out of him.)
-- Grisham joins Punk in the ring and asks him about his strategy for the strap match. Punk, however, says he don't need no stinking strategies because he's C.M. Punk. Can't argue with that logic.
Cryme Tyme vs. Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas. Fast start as JTG gets a shot in on Haas and Haas responds with a takedown. A modified rocker dropper from JTG and a tag to Shad who hits knees in a blind charge. Tag to Benjamin and a slugfest starts. Benjamin tries a go behind for a suplex but Gaspard fights it off. Flying shoulder block puts Benjamin down. Alabama slam double team on Benjamin gets two. The heels rebound with an elevated guillotine.
Commercial.
We're back and a Haas spinebuster on JTG gets two. Tag to Benjamin and a kneelift gets two. Benjamin corners JTG and pounds on him. Elbow drop gets two and let's go to the rest hold. It's a neck wrench in case you were wondering. Tag back into Haas who drops repeated knees and slaps JTG around. Haas continues to go to town on JTG, slamming his head on the mat. Tag back to Benjamin but JTG fights out of the corner. Benjamin misses a charge, but catches JTG with a belly to back suplex to keep him from the tag. Haas misses a knee drop and JTG hits a spinning neckbreaker drop (??) and makes the hot tag to to Gaspard. Clothesline city on Benjamin and a kick sends Haas to the floor. Elbow drop by Gaspard gets two when Haas makes the save. JTG sends Haas (and himself) out of the floor. Benjamin climbs Gaspard to counter a back drop and hits the paydirt for the victory.
(Benjamin/Haas def. Cryme Tyme, pinfall, **1/2, not a bad match at all)
-- Most anticipated match in women's history! Next!
Eve Torres vs. Layla. If the bookers were smart they would make this an over the top silly garbage brawl to punctuate this little angle. Catfight to to start with a lot of hair pulling, grunting and punches. Layla tries to work the back a little bit and gets the first two count. A snapmare and a back stretch because they've been working at a breakneck pace for all...60 seconds. Layla with a dropkick to the back for two but her charge meets a boot. Flying mare by Eve and a couple of shitty clotheslines. Gayda-esque dropkick gets two as does a sunset flip. Layla fights back but Eve rolls through a high cross body for three.
(Eve def. Layla, pinfall, DUD. Layla tries another sneak attack and Eve is too quick for her.)
-- Jericho and Edge have another uneasy moment and Jericho says he's not even going to bother with a match tonight. So how you like dem apples?
Main Event time!
Edge & Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio & Jeff Hardy. Maybe.
Edge wants the mic for a second and since he's the face of SmackDown, he gets his request. He says Jeff Hardy is the master of wasted opportunities. Hardy had the opportunity to pick the match stipulation and instead he picks the match that Edge has basically owned. He's got a point there but the Hardys have never been too bright. Edge acknowledges their ladder-match history and calls Hardy's performances highlight worthy, but not enough to win.
Jericho's entrance music plays but he's nowhere to be found. Let's move on.
During Rey's intro he's touching heads with the fans until one of the beats him up? Oh it's Jericho in a mask. That's rather creative. Jericho tries to unmask Mysterio until Hardy makes the save. Doesn't look like Rey Rey is going to have a match tonight.
Jeff Hardy vs. Chris Jericho & Edge. Jericho is wrestling this match in slacks channeling Eddie Guerrero from Backlash 2000. Hardy hits his early moves and a face smasher on Jericho. Hardy catches Edge trying to interfere with a double axe and Jericho with a stun gun. Hardy with a pescado to the outside on Edge. Jericho, however, stops the momentum with a springboard dropkick upon Hardy's attempted re-entrance to the ring. Jericho sends Hardy into the steps and back into the ring. Delayed knee drop for two. Back suplex and a tag to Edge. A middle rope splash gets two and onto the chinlock as the crowd starts rallying for Hardy. A hair pull stops Hardy's comeback. Slingshot splash by Jericho gets two. Hardy tries to comeback but misses a dropkick. Lionsault hits knees but Jericho makes the tap. Clothesline by Hardy and a back kick puts Edge to the canvas. Inverted atomic drop by Hardy and the springboard low dropkick gets two. Edge counters the twist of fate but Hardy sends Edge into Jericho. Heels try a double team but Hardy lands whisper in the wind on the Canadiacs. Twist of fate on Jericho but Edge hits the spear on Hardy for the three count.
(Edge/Jericho def. Hardy, pinfall, **3/4, not bad considering they were working around an angle. Post match sees Edge attack Hardy with the ladder.)
The Bottom Line: Not a bad show but clearly a notch below what they have been doing.
Moving on.
*******
The Princess SmackDown Report for June 5, 2009.
Taped from Memphis
Hosted by J.R. and The Todd
We open with a special Cutting Edge in a ring surrounded by ladders. His guest is none other than Jeff Hardy. The visual is very impressive with ladders around the entire set. Great promo visual as well as Hardy sits atop the ladder during the interview. Edge eventually joins him up top while preaching to him about his many failures. Hardy, to his credit, admits his mistakes but takes pride in the person he is and takes Extreme Rules will not be his demise but rather his salvation. Edge attacks him with the belt and pushes him off the ladder. Great job by both men in this final build.
Time for some matches
John Morrison vs. Shelton Benjamin. As good an opener as you'll need. Benjamin catches Morrison in the corner but Morrison comes back with a dropkick. Benjamin counters something off the top rope and ties Morrison in the tree of woe to kick him in the knee. Leg whip by Benjamin and a knee breaker sets up a single leg lock. Morrison fights out of the hold with two kicks but Benjamin ties Morrison leg on the ropes. Inverted figure four by Benjamin looks painful as hell. Morrison fights out of the hold with punches but Benjamin stay on the leg. Enziguri by Morrison proves to be a nice counter. Clotheslines by Morrison and a side kick gets a two count. Rollup by Morrison gets two and the running knee strike gets another near fall. Benjamin ducks the jump kick and puts on a single crab, Morrison counters with a roll up for two. Morrison counters a side backbreaker with a rollover DDT and Starship Pain gets the three count.
(Morrison def. Benjamin, pinfall, ***1/4, another excellent match between these two.
-- Quick rewind of Jericho's attack on Mysterio from last week.
Chris Jericho vs. R-Truth. Jericho's pre-rant gets cut short and when Truth tries to get Jericho to sing-a-long the look on both of their faces is hilarious from Jericho's annoyance to Truth's big goofy smile. Jericho takes some serious offense to Truth interupting his spiel. Truth promises some truth and calls Jericho the biggest hypocrite. They gave Truth a ton of mic time there. Wasn't a great promo but it's good to see.
Nice speedy sequence to start and it ends with Jericho taking a hip toss and a power. Truth follows with a sweet suicide dive. Truth slowly climbs the ropes and Jericho easily counters and sends Truth to the floor. Back in the ring and Jericho lays in the boots pretty hard. Snapmare and a chinlock allows Jericho to lay in the bad mouth. Truth fights back with some elbows and gets a roll up for two. Clothesline city from Truth and a back side kick for another near well. Jericho catches Truth off the ropes with an elbow but misses the lionsault. Jericho avoids the axe kick and goes for the Walls but Truth gets an inside cradle for two. Jericho goes for the Walls again but tries a slingshot instead, Truth catapults to the middle rope and tries the reverse high cross body but gets caught with the Codebreaker.
(Jericho def. R-Truth, pinfall, **1/2, Perfectly good match. Post-match antics see Mysterio attack Chris Jericho and beats the crap out of him. The sitting senton from off the ring platform to the concrete was pretty awesome to see)
We go right into the next match.
C.M Punk vs. Umaga. Punk starts off with kicks to the legs but Umaga tosses him off. Punk with more shots to the legs but Umaga sends him to the corner where he misses a blind charge. Top rope body press by Punk gets two.
Commercial.
We're back and Punk has this crazy figure four headlock on Umaga. Umaga blocks high kick but an enziguri sends Umaga back to the floor. Punk goes for a pescado but was caught with a Samoan spike. Umaga tosses Punk into the security wall as well and gets a two count. Big legdrop and a sit down abdominal hold. Umaga with a HARD corner whip and gets a two count. Back to the abdominal hold. Knee down to the small of the back by Umaga and a bearhug. I give Umaga credit, I watched a few of his matches and he keeps the as different as he can from week to week. Punk tries the superhero comeback but runs into a nasty thrust kick. Umaga goes for a sitdown splash but Punk counters. Top rope springboard clothesline gets two. Punk with a punching combo, a low dropkick to the stomach and a second one puts Umaga down for a two count. A high cross body, however, gets countered into a whirlybird slam for two. Umaga lays in a solid beatdown on Punk in the corner but misses the butt charge. Running knee strike but Umaga shoves Punk off. Umaga gets the strap and gets tied up with the referee long enough for Punk to hit the GTS.
(Punk def. Umaga, pinfall, ***1/4, now I REALLY want to see their match tonight. Strong work by both these guys and Umaga is finding him place with this group of SmackDown stars)
-- Grisham and J.R. run down the Extreme Rules card in the ring. Another segment I like.
Melina, Eve Torres & Gail Kim vs. Michelle McCool, Alicia Fox and Layla. Umm, not the best women's tag match I've seen but god bless Gail Kim, a bumping machine if there ever was one. This was pretty much a disjointed mess with a long of grunting and screaming. In between a sweet top rope bodypress from Gail Kim and a wicked front powerbomb from McCool. Like I said, Kim keeps this together by bumping enough for 10 and Layla eventually gets the pin for the mean girls with a neckbreaker on Melina.
(Layla, McCool, Fox def. Melina, Eve, Gail Kim, pinfall, * for Kim's effort)
No time wasted here. More matches
The Great Khali vs. Dolph Ziggler. They try a little cat and mouse game with Ziggler getting no effective offense and rightfully so. It's stupid for Khali to sell anything short of a nut shot or a chair shot from a guy half his size. Ziggler took some Gail Kim meds and bumped his ass off for the big fella too. Khali posted Ziggler but misses a chop. Ziggler hits a dropkick from the ring apron but it does little damage. Ziggler counters the chokeslam and tries to corner Khali but runs into an elbow and a big boot. Punjabi plunge ends this squash.
(Khali def. Ziggler, *, nothing great but this was the right booking)
-- And who's sitting at ringside but Hall of Famer Koko B. Ware. Makes sense because he's from the Memphis area.
Main Event Time!
Edge vs. Rey Mysterio. Edge catches Rey with an elbow off the lockup and quickly sends him into the corner. Edge sends Mysterio to the floor and follows with a baseball slide. Mysterio, however, flips over the ringsteps and dropkicks them into Edge. A running sitdown splash on Edge from the apron sends up to a...
...Commercial
We're back and Mysterio misses a blind charge and takes a shoulder into the post. Edge measure Rey and rocks his world with a front kick for a near fall. Edge works over Rey on the ring apron, dropping a hard forearm. A charge hits boot, however, and a tilt-a-whirl head scissors by Mysterio. Edge's sunset flip is countered with a hard kick for two. Edge tries another corner charge but hits elbow. Hurricanrana by Rey gets two as do the stereo counter rollups. Finally Edge takes control with an electric chair and another..
...Commercial.
We're back and Edge gets a two count. Knee to the back by Edge and a double underhook stretch is the resthold of choice by the World Champion. Rey with a couple of kicks to the thigh and a facebuster to counter a powerbomb. Both guys wrangle over the middle rope but Mysterio gets the advantage and hits a top rope head scissors to send Edge to the floor. He follows with a suicide dive. Both guys back in the ring and Mysterio with a slingshot leg drop for a near fall. Sweet springboard reverse cross body gets two for Mysterio. Edge sets up Rey for a powerslam but Rey counters it into a DDT for two. Rey goes for another springboard move but Edge counters it into a powerbomb and slaps on the sharpshooter but Rey fights to the ropes. Mysterio catches Edge with a charge and goes for the 619 but Edge catches him with a side backbreaker, but Rey counters THAT for a rollup and a near fall. WICKED back brain kick on Edge and now the 619 hit flush. Mysterio misses the springboard splash and Edge hits the spear for the three count. Awesome
(Edge def. Mysterio, ****1/4. As good a match as there's been in the federation since Michaels-UT at Wrestlemania. Post match antics see Edge trying to do mean things to Rey with the ladder but Hardy comes down and flips the switch with the ladder assisted leap frog legdrop and holds the title over his head to end the show).
The Bottom Line: This is more like it with terrific stuff up and down the card. Smackdown is bringing the noise baby!
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`Tags: 2000, Attitude, Batista, Bret Hart, Chris Jericho, ECW, Edge, HHH, Intercontinental title, Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, Mickey Rourke, Miz, RAW, Shawn Michaels, Shelton Benjamin, Smackdown, Sting, The Rock, Umaga, Wrestlemania, WWE
SmackDown> all other wrestling on TV. This is the A Show. It was a great show with great hype for the PPV that I was probably going to buy, but this really sold me. Jericho/Rey and Edge/Hardy will make that PPV alone. Compare these two builds to Orton/Batista. Yeah, no contest. Congrats Smackdown, you should be main eventing the PPV yet again.
Absolutely dead on with your rant on Shawn-Bret. Couldnt agree more. Could you please give me some examples of what you meant when discussing how the Rock learned how to get heat from Owen. Very interesting, thanks
Rock was great at visuals and obviously great with his natural charisma. Owen, in my opinion, taught him how to own the ring with his heat and utilize more stall tactics to build crowd response.
Owen’s heel heat was always PG because fans really liked him. He wasn’t dastardly or mean and he won the majority of his matches clean even during the height of the Hart Foundation, you sort of booed him because that’s what you thought he wanted you to do. So DX got to calling him a nugget and he was able to entice a lot of heat off of something relatively tame because he gave a great impression that it really got to him and could stall to build the heat. He would go over the top by covering his ear and jumping on the middle rope to admonish the crowd or whatever.
I remember a RAW dark match about 10-11 years ago, right before he passed, he was working with Edge or Val Venis I think and the arena was only about 70% full because it was early in the night and he spent about 5 minutes just working the crowd and faking lock ups just to build this nugget chant and low and behold what started as about 100 people turned into about 6,000 because of his reactions. Mind you this is a dark match, about 90 minutes before the real card begins and the crowd is just filing in. But he was working the crowd early and probably testing us out to see what kind of house he was dealing with that night.
Rock was great at getting the Rocky Sucks chants but he really never knew how to work them in the ring until he started tagging with Owen and working with Owen, then he slowly started to master the stall techniques and because Rock had such a great natural gift of charisma, he took what he learned and really raised the bar as both as heel and a face.
Great reports as usual… Spot on about how Owen was the true victim in the Bret/Shawn saga.
Just finished watching Extreme Rules.. pretty disappointing PPV overall, a zillion title changes that have no meaning long-term and average work rate throughout… but I’m curious where they are going to with Rey now that Jericho managed to unmask him.