WWE Smackdown Review - Friday 12th September 2008

After Unforgiven I was looking forward to how Smackdown were going to fair in comparison to Raw’s offering this week. Who is next for HHH and what’s going to happen between Big Show and Taker.

Good Points

Triple H built strong

Triple H cut a good promo to kick off the show putting himself over as the only champ to walk in and walk out of Unforgiven with his belt. All through the show he had backstage segments with the guys he beat at Unforgiven which also helped to put his competition over which was great to see.

Push for Jeff Hardy

He interrupted Triple H to deliver his strongest mic work yet in a war of words with Jeff Hardy which I was glad centred around things in the ring and now his personal life. Jeff went on to win the Smackdown main event to get a shot at Triple H at the next PPV.

Tag division getting better.

Was great to see a tag match involving the champs even if it was a non title match but even better to see the new Colon family pairing of Carlito and Primo. When the brand split first happened Smackdown was renowned for its tag team wrestling so hopefully they can get back to it.

Bad Points

Crazy booking

First we had a match with Festus and Kenny Dykstra which I think went to a no contest when Jesse and Festus taped him to a board, bubble wrapped him and took him to the back which was just weird. Then we had out of nowhere Kozlov attacking Jeff Hardy after he won the main event. The ending should have been Jeff’s moment and if they were going to do something with Kozlov they should have built it gradually not just all of sudden slingshot him to the top.

No Undertaker

After having Undertaker on the last few Smackdown’s it was a shame to see him not on the show. Big Show and Vickie did their best to put over the feud by delivering a couple of in ring proms but Samckdown needs to keep him on the show every week if it is going to continue to develop.

Overall

A solid episode which did the right thing and focusing on the title feud. All we need now is Undertaker back and some not so crazy booking and the show should be back up to where it was before Unforgiven.

WWE Smackdown Review - Friday 5th September 2008

With ir being the last Smackdown before Unforgiven and with some exciting storylines happening on Smackdown I was quite interested to see how tonight’s show was going to unfold.

Good Points

Structure

For one the champion HHH kicked off the show with an in ring promo about the main event this Sunday and the show ended with him in the main event. I think this is the first show that HHH has started and ended since he moved to Smackdown. I know HHH doesn’t need a push but your champion should always be the one you put the most time in to. Added to this there were a lot more promos and interviews on the show which was a good thing.

More great work by The Undertaker

Before the show started we saw a video package highlighting The Undertaker / Vickie storyline. Then early on in the show we had another awesome Undertaker promo which although not as good as last weeks was still the best promo of the night.

Good build for the Championship Scramble

We had a great push for The Brian Kendrik as he lead the beating on HHH in the first segment and then secured a big win over Jeff Hardy later in the show. Jeff Hardy although losing to Kendrik got a push of his own as he made the save for HHH early on and then at the end turned on him and left him lying in the ring after his main event and as the cameras stopped rolling.

Bad Points

Match Quality

There were some really good matches on Smackdown this week but the show was let down by the inclusion of a throwaway match that being Ryan Braddock vs. Super Crazy and by having two Diva matches. I’d prefer to see less matches than have these spoil to flow of the show.

Vickie Guerrero

Many people love Vickie but I think her promos need work as she is a great character but on the whole her promos go on far too long. When you’re in a programme with The Undertaker your promos need to be spot on which hers weren’t.

Overall

The bad points were only nit picks so again another great Smackdown, really liking what they are doing at the moment, roll on Unforgiven.