WWE Smackdown Review - Friday 27th March 2009

After some good segments on Raw I was hoping that Smackdown could do its job to entertain and further the storylines ready for raw next week.

Good Points

Michaels shows he isn’t afraid of The Undertaker

The ending to Smackdown was great this week. We had an Undertaker style entrance with druids coming out and smoke filling up the arena but when the character we thought was the Taker came in to the ring in a white version of the Taker’s outfit it was HBK that revealed himself from under the hat. HBK proceeded to quote the bible before The Undertaker appeared from below the ring pushing his way up through the canvas to try and get to HBK before HBK could run for safety. I can’t wait for this match at Mania.

Gail Kim returns

Was great to see the return of Gail Kim to the WWE as she interrupted the Divas title match between Michelle McCool and Maryse leaving them both lying and holding the title aloft. Gail is now my pick for the Miss Wrestlemania match.

Bad Points

Still not pushing the Hardy feud right

This week we saw a pre-recorded video from them both and we saw Matt Hardy in a match. Both videos could have been so much better Matt just tried to be cocky and a bit weird and we had one of these arty, dark sets for Jeff’s interview reminiscent of what they were doing with him last year. They need them both in the same place at the same time to build this feud.

Money in the Bank

Instead of developing intriguing feuds between some of the competitors the WWE keep putting them all in a match together. Looking around I think this could be the weakest MITB match in its short history.

Push for title matches

This week we had neither champion on the show. Big Show was left to compete against Jesse and Festus whilst Cena and Big show also provided a comedy moment in the ring. This isn’t good enough for less than two weeks before Mania.

Overall

Undertaker and HBK stole the show but besides from that there was hardly any storyline development going on which is crazy considering Mania is just around the corner.

Wrestlemania 24 Review

As the show kicked off the arena was a sight to behold with hundreds of thousands worth of dollars going in to set up one of the most impressive Wrestlemania sets of all time and I was starting to look forward to a Wrestlemania which had potential to be a highly memorable evening.

Here is my match by match run down from last night’s show.

Belfast Brawl: JBL (RAW) Vs. Finlay (SmackDown)

This match as expected was just a glorified hardcore match. They knew they couldn’t do many big spots and bumps because of the Money in the Bank match happening later but both competitors provided us with a solid start. It was good to see Hornswoggle back at Finlay’s side but no Vince McMahon which showed you how much he thought of his own storyline. Highlight of the match was Finlay’s suicide dive in to a trash can lid.

Winner: JBL

Money-in-the-Bank Ladder Match: Mr. Kennedy (RAW) Vs. Shelton Benjamin (ECW) Vs. Chris Jericho (RAW) Vs. Carlito (RAW) Vs. MVP (SmackDown) Vs. Vs. CM Punk (ECW) Vs. John Morrison (ECW)

I thought it was the wrong choice to put this on straight after another gimmick match involving weapons. In a match where we were expecting Jericho, MVP and Kennedy to reign supreme it was Morrison who was doing all the early work. Although some of the spots were the same as last year like the ladder break there was still enough innovative moments to keep us on the edge of our seats. Highlight of the match was the return of Matt Hardy to screw his nemesis MVP out of the match. In a surprising twist it was CM Punk who climbed the ladder to grab the briefcase and the open contract for a title shot. I don’t se CM Punk in a Raw or Smackdown main event so he will cash it in for the ECW title which will devalue this match and was not needed as CM Punk’s standing in ECW means he doesn’t need a contract to get a title shot.

Winner: CM Punk

Battle For Brand Supremacy: Batista (SmackDown) Vs. Umaga (RAW)

This match was the worst on the card. It was slow, boring and sloppy. I expected Batista to put a showing on to prove why he should be in the main event but after some sloppy work it looked like he was trying to get out of there as quickly as he could.

Winner: Batista

ECW Championship Match

We found out that Kane had won the pre-show Battle Royal and was going to be facing Chavo. Well if you blinked you missed this one as Kane beat Chavo in 10 seconds in a match reminiscent of Adam Bomb vs. Earthquake from Wrestlemania 10. Chavo’s entrance takes around two minutes match lasts ten seconds, you got to love it.

Winner: Kane

Career Threatening Match: Ric Flair (SmackDown) Vs. Shawn Michaels (RAW)

On a second viewing this was a really good match. Shawn Michaels worked his ass of to make Flair to look good and took some sick bumps including a moonsault through an announcers table. The submission and mat work was top notch and it was a much better match than I thought Ric Flair would have to end his career although being very predictable. However I though they could have made more of the scene after the match as Flair said his last goodbye.

Winner: Shawn Michaels

BuunyMania Lumberjack match: Maria and Ashley vs. Beth Phoenix and Melina

Luckily a technical fault made this match more memorable than it should have been with the lights going out during the match. The WWE scrambled well to spotlight the ring but in all fairness I was enjoying it more in the dark. If it hadn’t been for Santino, Jerry Lawler and Snoop Dogg all getting involved this match would have been a complete uninspiring waste of time.

Winner: Beth Phoenix and Melina

WWE Championship: Triple Threat: Randy Orton (c) Vs. Triple H Vs. John Cena

After being the most built up match on the WWE’s biggest weekly show it made no sense for this match to be on so early. Having it this early meant we weren’t going to see a big Cena or HHH win as if that was going to be the case they would have had it as the main event but in a triple threat which wasn’t a patch on Wrestlemania 20’s Triple Threat title match I was glad to see the back of it.

Winner: Randy Orton

Wrestler Vs. Boxer: Big Show Vs. Floyd "Money" Mayweather

In a match that many including myself thought was going to be the worst of the night both the Big Show and Floyd Mayweather surprised us both by putting on an excellent, entertaining match. This is probably why we haven’t seen Mayweather a lot on TV because he has been working hard to get this match to be the best it could be. This has to go down as one of the most successful appearances of a celebrity in a wrestling match.

Winner: Floyd Mayweather

World Heavyweight Championship: Title Vs. Streak: Edge (c) Vs. The Undertaker

After just witnessing one undefeated streak remain in tact it was time for The undertaker to put his streak on the line. In a very occurrence of a Smackdown match headlining a joint brand PPV The Undertaker and Edge put on a brilliant match with an edge of your seat ending. Edge through all he had at Undertaker including a camera and his two cronies but regardless of what he tried Undertaker was in no mood to let go of his streak.

Winner: And new World Heavyweight Champion The Undertaker

Overall: In my predictions I only got two wrong and one was a result nobody would of could have predicted so I’m happy with that. I thought the event had lots of memorable moments but not outstanding matches that will be remembered for years to come as classics. I think the WWE could have done more with Flair and the WWE title match but they handled Big Show vs. Mayweather and Undertaker vs. Edge very well which helped Wrestlemania go out with a bang and send the fans home happy.

WWE Smackdown Review - Friday 28th March 2008

Smackdown was the WWE’s last chance to push Wrestlemania to try and get a few more buys for the PPV this Sunday. So I went in expecting the best Smackdown we had seen in some time. I knew that all the major develops would have happened on Raw this week if they were going to happen but I still thought they would pull out all the stops to continue the Wrestlemania buzz.

Good Points

Wrestlemania theme

To get people excited for Wrestlemania a lot of the matches tonight had a Wrestlemania theme with an over the top rope elimination match between some of the competitors who are taking part in the Battle Royal this weekend, an inter-promotional match for Batista and having the Money in the Bank briefcase above the ring for matches featuring wrestlers who were going to star in that match.

Some solid matches

It was up to the stars of ‘Money in the Bank’ to provide the wrestling quality this week for Smackdown as the matches which featured CM Punk vs. John Morrison and Chris Jericho vs. MVP being the highlights of the show.

Undertaker funeral segment

The end segment of Smackdown was a great classic old school Undertaker moment as Edge held a mock funeral for Undertaker’s streak at Wrestlemania which he thinks he is going to end this weekend only for the Undertaker to pop out of the coffin and attack Edge and his clan forcing Vickie Guerrero to expos herself as a fraud by getting up off her wheelchair and making a run for it as the Undertaker cleaned house.

Bad Points

Not enough Raw stars

In the week running up to a PPV where there is a joint brand show and inter-promotional matches happening it is important that Raw stars are on Smackdown and that Smackdown stars are on Raw. The show needed Umaga, Big Show, Floyd Mayweather and others to best develop the buzz before Mania.

Too much wrestling

Regardless of whether the WWE want Smackdown to be the wrestling show or not in the last Smackdown before Mania wrestling isn’t important it’s building the feuds and the hype for Wrestlemania which they didn’t do and if it hadn’t been for their Wrestlmania theme there would have been no build. The best way to develop feuds on TV is through mic time and backstage segments.

Jesse and Festus – Why, why, why?

Again back on Smackdown taking up time when they have no major role in Wrestlemania. The character of Festus has no place in the modern era and unlike the character of Eugene the man playing this character can’t pull this type of character off. If you are to use characters like this you have to use them on Raw as the style of show is more suitable for it.

Another poor Divas segment

It’s turning in to a weekly occurrence on Smackown that you can guarantee there will be some stupid pointless and inappropriate moments with the Divas. This week it was a wet and wild match which was cringeworthy at best and featured Divas who haven’t really got a part to play in Wrestlemania.

Overall

The last episode of Raw and Smackdown have if anything quelled my excitement for Wrestlemania and am now wishing it happened last weekend. Instead of getting us hyped and using the last two shows correctly they have just been treading water.

WWE Raw Review - 24th March 2008

The Raw before Wrestlemania is always the most important Raw of the year. This is when the wrestlers and the creative team should have created a huge buzz by and the show should do the best ratings of the year. The viewing rating for the Raw before Mania is very important at it affects the number of buys the PPV does. All the feuds should be laid out by now and this episode of Raw should just be a preview of what to expect this weekend. So with this in mind I was really looking forward to see if the WWE delivered.

Good Points

Great Start

The first five minutes of Raw were great as John Cena delivered one of his strongest in ring promos for some time. Whatever you think about Cena he knows how to work the mic and get a crowd going. However after this it became a mess which I will talk about in my bad points section later.

Good time given to Flair and Michaels

After weeks and weeks of little bits Flair and Michaels got a fair chunk of time on Raw for their in ring segment. I think Flair deserves a proper send off this weekend so although I don’t like the build up for this one I enjoyed one last Flair rant and even a history making event as for the first time since TNA used the NWA championship as their title Flair brought it with him to Raw to show his history.

Push for MVP and Carlito

With many people thinking that either Jericho or Kennedy are going to win MITB it was good to see MVP and Carlito beating the team of CM Punk and Chris Jericho. It was also a nice way to get other people from the MITB involved but still keep that Jericho / MVP feud going.

Bad Points

After Cena’s opening promo

The opening segment of Raw turned in to a mess after Cena’s promo as not only did Orton and HHH come down to the ring for a war of words we had Big Show, Umaga and JBL all jumping in there. Now it was funny to hear Umaga talk but at Wrestlemania you need to push your main event ahead of everything else which didn’t happen here. You can make a case for the Big Show to be there but only if it made sense which it didn’t but for JBL and Umaga whose matches are well down the card even below MITB and the Flair possible retirement match I think devalued the main event. This section got none of the feuds over and just felt like a comedy moment.

Big Show / Mayweather feud

This has to be the worst handled feud in recent wrestling history. You have got the big Show trying to be face but not succeeding and then being booked on the heel side of the tag match main event for Raw. On the other side you’ve got Mayweather who is trying to be the cool face but who again not many people like. If this wasn’t bad enough Mayweather has hardly been seen on Raw and was nowhere to be seen on the most important Raw except for video inserts. This started off with what was one of the most memorable moments in WWE history and has just fizzled in to a mess much like there match will be at Wrestlemania. Also slightly on another note Kennedy is suppose to be one of the main stars in the MITB match but ever since the Raw after No Way Out he has hardly wrestled.

Wasting Time

Every moment is precious selling space on the Raw before Mania so what the WWE creative team was doing having Holly for Khali who are both only going to be in the Battle Royal if anything which hasn’t been promoted.

Terrible Ending

Now on the Raw before Mania the person you should be pushing at the close of the show is either the champion or the challenger for the championship. Instead in what can only be described as sentimental booking by WWE Ric Flair made Orton tap from the figure of four winning the big eight man match for his team. I’m all for giving Flair a great send off but you don’t do at the expense of the show as a whole. To have Orton lose clean in the middle of the ring the show before Mania has weakened his position and weakened the main event.

Overall

If this was just your average episode of Raw this would have just been a mess but as it was the Raw before Mania it was an absolute disaster.