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From Smackdown's Main Event
Photo Credit: WWE.com |
I watched what I couldn't live on DVR. Here's what stood out:
Matches:
The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli) vs. the Briscoe Bros. (Jay and Mark) on ROH on HDNet - ROH always brings the tag goods, and their main event Monday was no exception. While it wasn't anything special, the Kings and Briscoes had a good back-and-forth. The finish was a bit weak - I mean, who gets pinned in wrestling anymore right after just a kick in the nuts? - but it was still a nice little match.
Tyson Kidd vs. Zack Ryder on Superstars - Superstars is great for producing that under-the-radar top-level match at least once a month between two guys that may not get time on the big shows but get a good chunk of time here. Folks, this one was one of those. I love Zack Ryder for the little things he does. Case in point, beginning of the match, Kidd locked Ryder up in a rear waistlock. Ryder inched to the ropes, got the break, turned around and yelled "Are you serious, bro?" at Kidd. Awesome. He's one of the reasons why I wish the WWE had a better-developed midcard. Ryder would be so goddamn over that it's not even funny. This was a great match. Kidd busted out a nice fisherman's neckbreaker, Ryder had a great frame-up kick to Kidd. I would have liked to have seen a little more selling, but they did a good job of covering that up. The finish was a bit contrived with DH Smith coming out at a convenient spot to set up the finish, but it worked in the context of the storyline.
Tyler Reks vs. Chris Masters on Superstars - It's amazing how a tweak of the character can really do wonders for a guy. When he was previously on ECW, Reks with his smiling face and surfer character was bland and generic. Without changing his hairstyle, having him come out with a scowl on his face and wrestle like more of a brutal heel, they've totally reinvented him. It works. It doesn't hurt that in his first two singles matches back that he was in the ring with two of the best workers on Smackdown, Kaval and Chris Masters. The match with Masters was pretty good. Masters is so good at selling injuries and he's become one of the best faces on the roster at playing to the crowd. Reks worked as smart a match as he could, working over the arms and back of Masters, trying to keep the Masterlock from coming into play. It was on the short-side for a main event though, and it didn't have the big moments that the other big match from Superstars did, but it was a solid affair, worthy of headlining the show.
Robbie E vs. Jay Lethal on Impact - While I don't like that they had a blatant, unprotected weapon shot to the head on the same show where they made an angle out concussions (more on that later), I liked this match. It was a fun brawl between two guys who have
great pedigrees. They sold their tension well, and even though the fuck-finish can be overused, Cookie interfering with the hairspray to get Robbie the win worked for me.
Sarita, Tara and Madison Rayne vs. Velvet Sky, Angelina Love and Mickie James on Impact - For once, TNA utilized its Knockouts correctly. They had a good (if not great) six-woman tag match that put them into focus as wrestlers rather than tits and ass. I thought there was a bit of undue sloppiness, but it was still good enough to make the honor roll. They also put Sarita over huge here, and as a fan of SHIMMER and all the women that come through it, a big come-up for Sarah Stock is a welcome sight.
Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler on Smackdown - How the hell are you going to have three guys have three really good and yet unique matches on three straight days? Well, you can ask the former Bryan Danielson and Spirit Squad Nicky that because they had three awesome matches, one at Bragging Rights then another one the next night on RAW and yet another one the next night at the Smackdown tapings. Holy crap, these two can wrestle every day in perpituity and I wouldn't care, just as long as they let Ziggler win a few here and there to keep it fresh. I love that they had Bryan win with a kick to the head instead of a third-straight LaBell Lock. Hopefully, they get to go again at Survivor Series.
Kaval vs. Jack Swagger on Smackdown - I had high hopes coming into the match given my opinions on both, and they were met. Nice little match that I wish could have been given a few more minutes. Kaval countering out of Swagger's advantage early was the high point of the match for me. Kaval's kicks are just gravy for me too. I wish that they would have had Kaval counter out of the ankle lock once with an enzugiri before falling, but hey, I'll take what I can get.
Alberto del Rio vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Edge on Smackdown - Holy crap, this felt like a PPV main event rather than a free TV one. The crowd was mega into it, and all the guys involved did well to amp up the bigness on spots, including the finish with Edge spearing del Rio into giving Rey an electric chair suplex. Edge and especially del Rio looked off kilter in spots, and there were too many 619 set-ups, but I did like this match a lot. Very strong main event.
Shows:
ROH on HDNet - ROH went from being all about Black/Richards one week to being about tag teams the next week. It was good transition, as we got some nice action featuring the Super Smash Bros. and in the main event. I'm glad that we finally have HDNet in Philly, because ROH is a nice complement to the wrestling slate. Even if it's not as heavy on storyline advancement or as "complete" a picutre of ROH as it could be, it's a nice change of pace.
Superstars - Some weeks Superstars is a hit, some weeks it's a miss. This week it was a big hit, a home run. Not only did you have the two matches that made the honor roll, you had two other matches that were solid and not outright bad. You also had Scott Stanford teaming with Jerry Lawler in the broadcast booth. I don't mean to gush, but man, the guy was very impressive in the first time that I was exposed to him. He was exuberant, enthusiastic and knowledgeable about both history and the current product. He tried his best to put over the action in the ring and the angles. He wasn't perfect, in that I thought he talked over the action with superfluous stuff at points, but the guy has an announcer's voice and is a WELCOME addition to the WWE commentation family.
Impact - TNA making an angle out of concussions is fucking embarrassing. It's a real issue, not one that you make an angle out of. It's not something that heels Bischoff out, it makes him look like a raving dipshit and makes TNA look like a company that shouldn't be in business. Of course, this is the same company that on the same show let Abyss abduct two fans without calling the cops. What a bushleague company, which is a shame, because it had three pretty good matches on it (the two on the honor roll plus the three-way tag match). Also, while they had a great Knockouts match, it's insane that they have one of the issues between Tara and Mickie James that Tara resents that Mickie "got her fired from WWE" and that they have to have Katie Lea Burchill debut as a figment of Angelina Love's imagination. Ugh.
Smackdown - Smackdown just keeps delivering each week. While I hate the supernatural bullshit with Taker and Kane, it bears repeating that each week, Kane just kills it on the mic. This week was no different as he brought it in the initial promo and especially on his reply to Alberto del Rio's interruption. The wrestling was very strong too. Three honor roll matches and a fourth tag match between the Dashing Ones and Show/Kofi that was pretty solid too. Smackdown may be the best wrestling TV show out there right now. And you were all afraid that Kane's comments about it becoming a "tv show" were cryptically suggesting that it was going to turn more into a schlockfest...
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