I figured I'd post this because the Three-For-All random RAW is tonight.
I'm sad to see Umaga go but he knew the rules. It stinks because he was working good matches and finding his spot among the new talent. I'm almost positive he would have been Punk's first feud as champion so he missed an opportunity to really elevate himself. He'll probably be back.
BTW I'm not a UFC girl. Not. At. All. But even I know a good card when I see it and UFC 100 looks pretty damn special. I also finally caught the Dana White feature on E-60 before I erased it off my husband's DVR. Interesting guy, but how much of it is real and how much is fiction. Do I really believe he ran away from the mob and lived to tell about it? No. Sorry guy. It's like it's 50% person/50% character.
Also I'm wondering how many fighters were secretly giggling when the Croatian guy reneged from the deal. Especially since Dana seems to openly brag about screwing over some fighters. And the idea of the owner or manager of a company having a "feud" with the talent is just silly. Imagine Bill Gates having a "feud" with like the company's president of marketing? It's fucking stupid.
So yeah. Smart guy. Good pitch man. Needs to grow the fuck up.
Anyway on to the show.
The Princess' Smackdown Rant for June 12, 2009
Not Live from Biloxi, MS (GAMBLING~!)
Hosted by Todd Grisham and Jim Ross
C.M. Punk opens the show and rightfully so because he's the World Champion and whether you cheer him or boo him, that ain't going to change. He says he earned the right to cash in his title shot whenever he wanted against whoever he wanted. So step to that suckers!
Jeff Hardy comes out and they get into a bit of a verbal battle that Punk comes out of looking better and using sound logic by pointing out that Hardy chose the match and took the chance. Hardy pleads to Punk's better side and plays to the fans. Hardy wants his rematch and he wants it TONIGHT! Word.
But no, that isn't the way it goes down in SmackDown university because Edge comes out and HE demands the title shot. Hardy doesn't exactly see where he has a gripe and neither do I. I mean he gets a rematch clause but the title changed hands again within his 30 days so doesn't he lose his automatic clause...Can two guys hold rematch clauses at the same time? Why am I even thinking about this?
Yeah yeah. Edge accuses Punk of trying to be like him. Punk shows a nice bit of cockiness by initially dismissing Edge. I liked that. Anyway Hardy somehow beats up both guys despite being outweighed to each of them by 40 pounds. Oh well.
Anyway Teddy Long solves this problem by saying that Edge and Jeff Hardy will face off in the next contest of their Best of 1038283889 series and the winner will face Punk on Monday.
-- After making this decision Long goes back to his office and finds Chris Jericho there waiting. Jericho wants the World Title shot. Well who doesn't? That's the point of joining the business right? Well Long sees Jericho's points, whatever they are, and grants him a non-title match against Punk to see if he's ready.
Time for some action!
Dolph Ziggler vs. The Great Khali. JR's man crush on Ziggler is reaching "Rock" territory but I just don't see it. Ziggler does a little stall tactic and then tries some stick and move until Khali drops him. He tries slapping Khali and gets beat up some more for him efforts. Ziggler has done a great job bumping in this little conflict. Ziggler comes back with an arm guillotine and a chop block to take Khali off his feet. He tries to keep control with a reverse chin lock but Khali casually tosses him across the ring. Big boot by Khali but Ziggler avoids the Punjabi Plunge and suckers Khali to the outside where he gets Khali to chase him and pushes Singh into the big man to give himself a change to get in the ring before the count hits 10. Weak.
(Ziggler def. Khali, countout, * for Ziggler's bumping)
Michelle McCool & Layla vs. Eve Torres & Melina. Uh oh, no Gail Kim to keep this one together. I'm concerned.
As always a ton of grunting in this match. Eve hits a dropkick that made Jim Brunzell cry in a corner. Layla counters head scissors by dropping Eve on his face. McCool tagged in and drops a series of knees on Eve's back. Eve reverses a chinlock with a facebuster and makes the hot tag to Melina who lands two clotheslines and a nifty back kick. Melina ducks the big boot and catches McCool with a flying mare for two. Melina catches McCool on a blind charge but Alicia Fox distracts Melina long enough for McCool to hit the faith breaker for the pin.
(McCool/Layla def. Melina/Eve, DUD, That was a steaming pile of crap)
-- SmackFact: More women watched SmackDown last Friday than any show on Oxygen, CW or the Lifetime Network. Wow that just reeks of desperation.
Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Hass vs. R-Truth & John Morrison. I'll take odd pairings for $200 Alex. My hopes for a Truth push seem to be coming true slowly because they are letting him work the stick during his post-rap. It's a little rough, but nothing that can't be fixed with a little waterboarding. And he usually says the town that the show is being held at so I don't have to look it up.
Morrison and Benjamin start it off and a little dirty heel tactics allows Benjamin to get aggressive with Morrison in the early going but Morrison rallies back with a tilt-a-whird russian legsweep and a Eddy Gordo legdrop for two. Truth gets tag but misses the axe kick and gets caught with a back elbow by Benjamin. Truth counters a blind charge, however. Truth gets hung up on the top rope, allowing Benjamin to scale the ropes and rip him apart with a top-rope belly to belly.
Commercial.
We're back and Truth is fighting off Benjamin's rest hold. Truth misses a clothesline and Benjamin hits a fallaway slam for two. Tag to Haas and the SWANK two-man assisted backbreaker double team I haven't seen in years. Haas sends Truth HARD into the corner for a two count. Modified camel clutch by Haas, Truth fights out but Haas catches Truth setting too early and suplexes him out of his mind. Haas is back to the old Haas thankfully. Reverse chinlock and the crowd is starting to build. Truth ducks a clothesline and makes the hot tag. Springboard dropkick and beautiful leg lariat from Morrison. Benjamin is dropkicked off the apron. Springboard jumping front kick by Morrison gets two. All four men in the ring but Truth and Benjamin quickly get eliminated. Bicycle kick leads to the moonlight drive (thank you for bringing it back) and starship pain ends this wild ride.
(Morrison/Truth def. Haas/Benjamin, ***, I love the effort these four guys have put in the ring every week).
Chris Jericho vs. C.M. Punk. The slo-mo replays of Jericho de-masking Mysterio is a thing a beauty. He says he has freed Rey Mysterio because he no longer has to worry about someone recognizing him for who he really is.
Early wrestling sequence as the two grapplers fight over a lockup that Jericho turns into a submission. Punk reverses it into a headlock takedown. Side elbow by Punk gets just a one count and goes to the front face lock. Jericho rolls over the suplex and tries for the wall but Punk counters that into the GTS and Jericho smartly escapes.
Commercial
We're back. And Jericho was caught in a version of a tarantula. Top rope high-cross body from Punk gets two. Knee strikes but Punk sets too early and gets hung out to dry. Springboard dropkick sends Punk to the floor. Punk rolls back in the ring and Jericho slaps on the arm & chin lock and lays in some quality badmouth. Punk tries to fight out and Jericho smartly pulls his hair and goes back into the hold. Punk fights again and gets Jericho to release the hold. Jericho misses the charge and hits post. Kicking combo and a jumping side kick from Punk. Running knee instead a bulldog for two. Jericho ducks out of another high cross body and hits the lionsault for two. Jericho catches Punk with an elbow on a charge but Punk comes back with a snap powerslam for two. Front enziguri out of nowhere by Jericho gets two. Punk counters a running bulldog by sending Jericho into the ropes. GTS is blocked and turned into the Walls. Punk makes the ropes as Jericho climbs the ropes. Massive front kick from Punk and a superplex gets two. Punk misses a roundhouse right and Jericho hits the codebreaker for two. Punk rallies back and catches Jericho with a kick to the back of the head and a GTS ends the one with authority.
(Punk def. Jericho, ***3/4, Damn good match as it kept building to nice finish that paid off.)
Moving right along to the main event
No. 1 Contender's Match: Jeff Hardy vs. Edge. C.M. Punk joins the group for commentary. Both Edge and Hardy are selling injuries from the ladder match so they are moving slowly. Hardy sends Edge HARD into the corner and goes to work on his back. A knee drop to Edge's back gets a two count. Edge counters a suplex attempt with a knee and an elbow to the head. Forearm and a choke by Edge. I like the slow pace as Edge has to be very delibrate in his attack. He misses a charge however and the shoulder rams into the post.
Commercial.
We're back in time to see Hardy get a two after an arm guillotine. Armbar takedown followed by a legdrop for Hardy. Good stuff. Hardy goes for a choke and forces the referee to step in. Edge reverses an irish whip and takes Hardy's head off with the big boot. Now Edge working on Hardy's back. There isn't much pyschology to it as both guys are basically hurting head to toe after the ladder match, so any body part can be sold to the extreme. Edge misses a sit down splash and Hardy tries for a suplex but his knee gives out. Chop block by Edge and he drops an elbow on Hardy's knee but winces in pain from delivering the move. Nice. Single leg grapevine by Edge and Hardy fights out quickly. Edge clips Hardy when it looked like he was going for Whisper in the Wind.
Commercial.
We're back and Edge is back on the knee. He wraps it around the post as the movements start to pick up a little. Back in the ring and Edge gets a two count. Another elbow on the leg and a second attempt at the single leg grapevine. Hardy slaps on a chinlock so we have dueling submissions. Edge ends that with a elbow and goes back to the leg. Hardy kicks Edge to the floor but Edge climbs the ropes and gets caught coming off the top with a boot. DDT by Hardy gets a two count and a double clothesline puts both men on the canvas. Side russian legsweep by Hardy and the double legdrop gets two. Body slam and Hardy hits the super middle rope legdrop for two. Inverted atomic drop but Edge swipes away another double legdrop and slaps on the sharpshooter. Hardy reaches the ropes, however. Sunset flip by Hardy gets two. Twist of Fate is counters but Edge misses the spear, hitting post instead. Hardy gets another near fall. Twist of Fate finds its mark this time. Edge takes a powder before Hardy can hit the swanton so Hardy dives to the floor instead. They are very close to Punk. Edge reverses a whip and tosses Hardy into Punk and Punk runs in the ring to attack Edge, disqualifying Hardy. A three-man melee ends with Hardy gives Edge another twist of fate and Punk putting Hardy to sleep.
(Edge def. Jeff Hardy, disqualification, ***1/4, not as good, but still good enough. After the match Long announces the Triple Threat match for RAW).
The Bottom Line: Another good show in a long line of them. These guys show up with the goods every week.
Decent show, but i’m not happy that CM Punk didn’t “heel” it out. I’m so sick of them just trying to position so many guys as tweeners. What Punk did was “heelish”, period the end.
I see what you mean but if they do want to turn Punk heel then I’d rather they do it gradually. The best turns are often done like this (Batista face turn in 2005, Austin/Bret double turn in 1997) and I prefer it to a wrestler suddenly doing something evil and all of a sudden we should boo him. Punk winning the World title is heelish but it can be justified. If you win a gruelling match like MITB then you earn the right to cash it in whenever’s good for you. And it’s not like people thought he was a heel when he did it to Edge last year (fluke champion maybe but not a heel).
Also, they’re in a great position to do a slow Punk heel turn because all they need to do is give him tension with Jeff Hardy (who is so over that anyone he wrestlers is a heel for that match). If Jeff takes a sabbatical, then Punk could get some great heat by being the one to take him out.
I totally see your point and if they culminate this gradual turn with a major ass whipping on JH, then i’m down. It should be the logical progression. In other words, he was willing to win the title by exercising the clause from MITB when a guy was already beat down which means that he would do anything to win or retain the belt. Hardy continues to push him to the limit and Punk loses it and wins cheating, etc, etc. Edge is due for a face turn anyways and you can position Punk w/Jericho as your top two heels on Smackdown and we can all get our Edge/Jericho program which if memory serves (or not), have they feuded?
Well I think losing Umaga hurts a little because he can’t go straight into a feud with a heel to reestablish his alignments.
But as the World Champion you should always lean a little towards being a tweener because everyone is after you. I don’t want to see a heel Punk though.
RAW should take notes from SD. THIS is how you book a World Champion not named Batista, Triple H, Randy Orton, or John Cena.
But if they don’t make one of those four World Champion, what’s the point of even having a World Champion?
Anyone watch RAW tonight? They should seriously consider not having Smackdown matches next to Raw matches anymore. There is just another level of impact, speed and excitement that the Raw guys just can’t bring at the moment. I am liking the recent direction of clean finishes for the most part. If they can keep that up, it can only help bring back some value to the belts.
I agree…SmackDown outclassed Raw in every way last night. Their title match was about 100 times better and the crowd was feeling it. Im not going to lie…I thought they were going to put the belt back on Hardy when JR went off about his homestate of North Carolina as he did the Swanton. Dammit JR, you got me again.
On the other end of the spectrum…how sad was it to hear 15,000 people groan at once when Trump was announce as the new owner. Especially since every one there was thinking Flair, Flair, Flair. It was also sad to see people running for the exits as Trump made his big final announcement as Orton & Triple H stared at each other, again.
Last night also reminded me that not only is JR>>>>>Michael Cole but that Todd Grisham is now way better than Michael Cole.
Thought Raw was great last night. I actually enjoyed the Raw matches but agree that Smackdown’s were superior. I particularly enjoyed Jericho-Rey (again).
The sticking point for me (and maybe it’s a small thing) was Miz re-appearing at the end of the Battle Royal and then getting dumped straight away. It’s little things like that where WWE could really be elevating wrestlers. Cena had just taken a pedigree and would have lost no face if Miz had eliminated him (before HHH won). And it would have given Miz something to brag about and get more heat.
But instead, they make him look like an idiot just so they can maintain the even-steven HHH-Cena booking. Cena took HHH out of the WWE title match so HHH eliminates him from the BR. Just frustrating.
Something struck me while watching RAW tonight for the first time in eons –
I hate how wrestlers today just run around and hit their spots and how lazy and often truncated the transitions between moves are these days.
For example – in the three way bout between Hardy, Punk, and Edge, they did the cool looking spot where Punk overshoots Edge and ends up on the mat, while Edge rolls up Hardy for a pin. Then all three guys just sort of get up and wander towards each other for no apparent reason, which of course is in order to hit the clothesline spot. Another example in the three way is where Punk downs Hardy in the corner to hit a spot and Edge backs into the opposite corner (for no apparent reason) so that Punk can hit the identical spot in the other corner.
Everyone is so preoccupied with setting up these intricate, though obviously choreographed spots that there is no is no time dedicated to the internal logic of the wrestlers strategy in these matches now — if a guy needs to get in position for the next spot, he just gets up and goes there, even if it makes no sense. Nobody seems to mind though, as the crowd is trained to only appreciates big spots these days, so everyone looks like they are in a wrestling video game where the wrestlers show no intelligence and just wander around the ring in order to setup the next spot.
There is no effort to make you believe that these guys are actually trying to win this match for real, but that there only concern is to hit their big spots without blowing them.
It doesn’t help that the announcers are totally clueless either — I thought Gorilla Monsoon and Jessie Ventura were the best at extrapolating the body language of the wrestlers into bits of commentary reflecting their strategies and the internal logic of the match.
This wrestling stuff is just made up of completely different stuff then what brought my interest to it initially. I’m sure this is the same complaint that fans of 1950s-1970s wrestling had about 1980s wrestling (what do you mean every match has to end with a “Finshing Move (TM)”). It’s made for an entirely different type of person now.
Thank goodness for old tapes I guess!
Way to smarkish for me… I thought this was a hell of a match… sometimes you can think too deeply about inring psychology but I believe it is best to sit back and enjoy the chaos.
Punks slow burn heel turn is being executed beautifully.
That’s the problem with it for me though… the chaos. Everything is done at such a blistering pace, there is no way for the wrestlers to concern themselves with anything else when trying to setup this wrestling ballet. Any of the subtle psychology stuff gets left out due to the sheer logistic complexity of setting up these pots. It just seems all sizzle and no steak.
I’m not saying Triple H and John Cena do any better either — they do mostly the same stuff, just at a slower page. It wouldn’t be so egregious if we were talking about guys like that either, but Edge, Punk, and to a lesser extent Hardy are supposed to be some of the better and more polished guys in the WWF. It just surprises me what passes for wrestling these days.
err spots… not pots lol
and pace not page… time for bed!
I know where your coming from but wrestling has evolved (for the worse?) and the audience demands fast pace, ’simple’ psychology, with lots of innovative counters and moves (though still not an indy scene style spotfest thankfully).
I’ve been watching Smackdown religiously of late and what your stating pretty much happens in every match, however most the matches go at a fun pace, with some great unique offenses and generally tell a good story even if the detailed things are missing.
Unless your Shawn Michaels I just can’t see that old school story telling coming back mixed in with the current style.
But like you said thats what old videos are for!
Have you seen Ted Dibiase wrestle? I think he does a fantastic job of keeping the modern fan interested but also tells a good story (like Bret Hart or Ted Dibiase Sr himself). I wish WWE would let him wrestle every week. Check out his Superstars match with Cena or his Smackdown match with Batista.
I agree with this and I wish he had more ring time. To me he always seems like he’s thinking his way through the match (or even just a beatdown type of situation) and actually trying to win.
I always want to say he has a good handle on ring psychology but I’m sure there will be 4 different people telling me why I don’t understand what ring psychology is and giving me 4 different versions of what it REALLY means.
Anyway Hardy somehow beats up both guys despite being outweighed to each of them by 40 pounds.
Because the heavier person has won every fight ever? I’m surprised people bother with fisticuffs in this day and age and don’t just bust out scales to prove who is more dominant.
Considering Hardy was working an angle to where he could barely walk in the ring due to his ladder match wear and tear, the fact that he sort of “one-punched” two guys in succesion and laid them both out was slightly farfetched.
I wasn’t complaining, just pointing out the slight absurdities, leave it to someone on this blog to bust out the tired “every fight ever” argument. You got me.
The bigger man will usually beat the smaller man assuming that skill and training are roughly equivalent. But you’re right that that’s not always the case and a good small guy could certainly drop a not-so-good big guy every time.
I’m sure someone better versed in MMA could point to any number of lightweight guys that could tear the arm off of a much larger man if given the opportunity. But that’s real, and the little guy is probably in tremendous shape and just has a small frame.
But wrestling isn’t real, it’s all about appearance. The physical appearance isn’t there – Jeff Hardy looks like he’d struggle to lift a wet bag of hair.
The moves he does are ridiculous in name and appearance -”Poetry in Motion” and “Whisper in the Wind” are not exactly “Power Bomb” or “Backbreaker” and everything he does is too flippy, 90% of his offence looks like you could just sort of swat him away with only minor inconvenience and with the Whisper in the Wind he misses the damn thing half the time anyways. Just randomly cannonballing yourself in the general direction of your opponent only to get up walk around for a second and do it again is not a believable means to win any sort of physical contest.
Beyond that, when he talks he sounds completely unsure of himself like the wussy kid in public school that always gets picked on and threatens retaliation but never follows through because even he knows it’s just not going to happen – he’ll say he’s gonna kick the other kids ass but it almost sounds more like a question than a threat and everyone who hears it just laughs in pity. Talking isn’t everything, Benoit was pretty bad on the mic but it didn’t matter because his ring work looked more realistic and he carried an air of toughness – even if his threat sounded kind of lame you knew he’d back it up. Jeff has no such air. Jeff has the air of a wussy arts kid who’s not even any good at his artistic pursuits and just sits around getting high and complaining that he’d do SO GREAT at life if people would just give him a chance, man. All he needs is a CHANCE. And he looks like he’d cry a lot. Not that there’s anything wrong with a man shedding the occassional tear but he looks like he’d get into a huge snit culminating in tears if he wanted to buy a new pair of flourescent green swiss cheese full-arm gloves and the store only had white swiss cheese full-arm gloves in stock.
His dancing and outfit are ridiculous too, which wouldn’t be a factor at all if every single other aspect of his character wasn’t already ridiculous 2 the eXtreme.
But the guy sells a tonne of merchandise and face paint is always a winner with the kiddies so until the inevitable wellness strike sends him packing the Jeff Hardy reign of mediocrity shall continue and I will just be an out of touch old man killing time at work by ranting on a message board.