Another super Smackdown, and another column that I couldn’t wait to write. I think Manchester, England must be a good luck charm for the WWE, because we got two outstanding shows this week. I’m going to talk about Smackdown first, then I have a few things to say about WWE’s latest signing and finally a WWE veteran has surgery and I’ll let you know who that is. Can you tell this is going to be one hell of a column? Well I sure hope it is. Okay so on to another very strong Smackdown.
Let me get this out of the way first. No I’m not a freak, although after you read this you might think I am. But I thought the opening match with The Boogeyman vs. The Miz was short enough to come off well. One of the reasons why the opening worked for me was that Miz was in already in the ring and we were not subjected to his sickening entrance. See he was in the ring with Krystal and he wrestled the Boogeyman without acting like a big goof. So props to the Miz for coming off “normal” for a change. I also thought the Boogeyman did a good job in the match and the part where he tortured the hell out of Krystal didn’t bother me, only because I really believe that we are going to see Kyrstal become Boogeywoman, okay maybe not Boogeywoman but I see her turning on the Miz and going with the Boogeyman. The Miz hasn’t helped her once since the Boogeyman’s return and I think last night was the final straw that broke the camels back.
Chris Benoit vs. Tatanka was a good solid match. But I’ll tell you this; it’s the Chavo/Benoit feud that’s exciting me. I thought the beat down by Chavo on Chris Benoit was excellent and I would say with 100 percent certainty that their match at Survivor Series is going to be one of the best of the show. Mr. Kennedy….Kennedy again cut a very good promo on the Undertaker. This guy and the mic just go so well together. I have to say his promos have been so damn good that I am looking forward to their match at the Survivor Series. After this segment we got another very good match with William Regal vs. Paul London. I was amazed just how good this one came off. I say that because you are looking at two totally different styles of wrestling, yet both men worked so well with each other. Not only did I like this match a lot, but I also liked the little tease we got after Regal ducked when London tried to do a flying cross body on him. London ended up rolling out of the ring with a lot of speed and right on top of Ashley. Now things started getting good when after the match and win by Regal, we see Kendrick with Ashley trying to help her and she gets up and goes right to London who is still flat on the mat, and Kendrick looked a little upset by Ashley’s actions. I liked this but at the same time it looks like we are going to see another excellent tag team split up. Now I could be so off with that but that’s what I got while watching it.
Now this next match really impressed me, in fact I was totally into the Street Fight with Kane taking on MVP. I thought both of these guys did a hell of a job, and after I bashed MVP last week, he really made me feel like a jerk because he worked a very hard and good match last night. Honestly I didn’t think he had it in him. As for Kane, after months, no years of bland matches he stepped up and stepped up in a big way. This was probably my favorite match of the night. And like the Benoit/Tatanka match with the Chavo beat down, I thought the end with Mr. Kennedy….Kennedy interfering and costing Kane a victory was excellent. And I got even more excited when Taker came out. This match and the post match was booked beautifully. Did you catch the reaction that Matt Hardy received from the Manchester fans? WOW they absolutely loved him. And Matt and Gregory Helms delivered in a very good non title match. The only complaint I had was that this was done way too soon. I would have loved to have seen the match get more time. And finally Batista is back. His body looks good and he has that look like he wants that title back.
I thought Booker and Finlay vs. Batista and Bobby Lashley was a terrific main event. This was a match where everyone involved came through and came through in a big way. As I said it’s good to see Batista aggressive again, Booker looked as good as he has week after week for several months, Lashley came across very well as a guy that might have left Smackdown to go to ECW yet because of how well Long treated him he wanted to be there to help Batista in the match. And Finlay? Well Finlay is just one solid performer. Add an appearance by the Little Bastard, an extremely loud crowd and a victory by Batista over Booker and Smackdown ended on a very positive note.
Quickly let me give you my thoughts on WWE’s signing of Monty Brown. I’m thrilled about this. When Brown was with TNA I couldn’t get into this character. Whenever I watched Impact and there was a Brown appearance it was either for a run in or a very short match. So all I really got to see was Brown do his finishing move The Pounce, and when I didn’t get to see Brown do anything but that Pounce I wasn’t exactly taken by it. Also the guy wasn’t mic shy, yet I always thought he was very amateurish on the mic. However I didn’t blame that on him, I blamed that on the writing staff. So now that he’s with WWE I’m psyched. I think in the WWE his mic skills will improve greatly and I’m hoping that he will be in matches that last for a few minutes, not a few seconds. Now in the back of my mind I worry that the signing was done to stick it to TNA and that Brown will be used at first and then things will start going downhill after that. Hopefully this will be a win/win situation for the fans, Monty Brown and WWE. Now many of you have asked me what show I would like to see him on. My thinking is that Smackdown would be the place for Monty. I could see a Batista/Brown feud in the very near future. Smackdown is definitely where I would put him.
In case you haven’t seen the news, Rowdy Roddy Piper had surgery and is now out of the Survivor Series match with Ric Flair, Sgt.Slaughter and Dusty Rhodes against the Spirit Squad. There’s a small item on WWE.com about Piper’s surgery so check it out, and I wish him a speedy recovery. Okay I will be back on Tuesday to talk about Raw. Remember this is the last Raw before the Survivor Series, so this should be a big show.
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com