Login
Poll of the Day
Which WWE wedding was the most entertaining? (13 votes)
-
0%
Uncle Elmer's wedding
-
0%
Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth
-
23%
Stephanie McMahon and the Undertaker
-
38%
Stephanie McMahon/Test/Triple H
-
8%
Billy and Chuck
-
0%
Al Wilson and Dawn Marie
-
0%
Lita and Kane
-
0%
Edge and Lita
-
0%
Teddy Long and Kristal
-
31%
Edge and Vickie Guerrero
Top 10
This week on RAW, John Cena cut a long, heroic promo, battled in a six-man, and averted certain death when JBL tried to do him in via vehicular manslaughter. How will Cena's cheating of the reaper treat him on the Top 10? Vote for the Top 10. Votes must be in by Sunday 6PM EST.
Learn more about the Top 10 in our new YouTube video.
Rate The Great American Bash
Whether it was defending the WCW title, fighting off the nWo, or lighting it up before the buyout, Sting was a fixture at WCW's version of the Great American Bash. Which of the Stinger's matches at the Bash were the best? You decide, by rating WCW Great American Bash. If you wish to keep things more current, you can Rate WWE Great American Bash.
And keep checking back, because new and classic shows from all promotions are added each day.
Top Bloggers Giveaway
Like to write about wrestling? wrestlingmarks is the place to do it, as each month we give away a free DVD to the member deemed the top blogger by our community. Commentaries, show reviews, fantasy booking, whatever you want to write about, WRITE IT, and you could win a DVD! Learn more about the Top Bloggers contest.
theone86
joined wrestlingmarks.com on 11/9/07
Smackdown Review-4/25/08
by theone86 on 4/30/08 8:06 PM
Again, a thousand apologies for not being on top of my blogs this week. I'm trying to make sure I'm not posting more than a week after the show.
I still hate Vicki Guerrero.
I think the no DQ stipulation added to the main event was just excessive. Maybe if Taker and Batista had made more use out of it, but there's really no reason to add it on if you're not going to play it up. You're probably not going to get people suddenly tuning in or deciding to watch the entire show instead of just the first hour, and it's almost completely pointless if it's going to be a clean match 99% of the way through. I guess it did kind of facilitate the finish, but they could have just as easily had the ref knocked out.
It's good to see CM Punk getting a good push finally. I keep dreading seeing him go for the World or WWE Titles, seeing as I'd rather have them re-establish the ECW Title as a World Title, but I like his push, nonetheless.
CM Punk and Edge put on a great match with a good work, both wrestlers getting their turns working each other over, getting worked over, and putting on some impressive spots. The match featured some great chain wrestling, as well as some unique holds from CM Punk including a spinning armbar. Yeah, I've never seen it before either, but it's basically a spinning toehold executed on the arm instead. It also featured multiple Dusty finishes, the last of which saw a counter to the spear I've never seen before. The final finish let both men keep a good amount of momentum, with Edge coming out on top headed into the PPV.
I still hate Jimmy Yang's gimmick. Thank god I didn't have to listen to that ridiculous hoe-down music this week.
One thing I also hate is a heel portraying himself as an environmentalist. Can't we have someone the fans look up to advocate Earth Day?
Miz seems to be improving. He seems to know how to work a LOT better than some of his peers who came into WWE pretty green. I still think he has room to improve as far as developing his own style, but he is certainly very high up on my list of most improved this past year due, in no small part, to his ability to work a match.
Shannon Moore was equally impressive. He had some great spots, as always, and contributed a lot to the work of this match. As bad as I think the build for this fued has been, it has consistently produced good matches, and this one is no exception.
I still hate Cherry.
Cherry actually did a better job in her match against Natalya. I can't decide if WWE wants to make her look inept in the ring at first as part of her character, or if she really is one of these pseudo-model-wrestlers who won't take the time to understand working and selling. I do think they have a long way to go to build her back up as a legit opponent after her piss-poor debut against Victoria. In her match against Natalya I questioned the logic just about every time Natalya sold. If they can't break her of that, then I have a feeling she might be back on skates sooner than later.
Natalya had a good showing. Like I said, any offense Cherry got in was pretty unplausible, but Natalya was still impressive. Good debut match with some wickedly tight slams.
And look at this, a filler match for Backlash. Wow, 5 Divas who can wrestle and one wanna-be model against one Diva who can wrestle and 5 wanna-be models. I can't WAIT for that one.
Hardy and MVP drew some good momentum and heat, respectively. Not that they really needed it, but the segment did help the build a lot, which I think has been lacking since Hardy's return.
I had tacos before the show, so I had a sudden digestion emergency and was in the bathroom for exactly three minutes and seven seconds. I don't think I missed much.
Undertaker was in prime for on Friday night, and Batista has never looked better. I really am impressed at what Batista has done with his ring performance. He's doing better works, he's got better, more controlled movements, he's doing more back and forth action, and he's selling better. I had almost given up on him completely no less than a year ago, and now I think he's finally starting to earn his spot in the main event.
They had a good solid match, with some good spots and a good work. Not much filler, either. I'm so disinterested in the Batista/Michaels match that I'm pretty much indifferent about the ending, but it was still a good match.
Overall, it was a VERY good show. the filler was minimal, but noticable. I think the Smackdown's Women's Division is getting a little ridiculous. All the faces are sub-par as far as ring skills are concerned, and the heels are some of the best in the biz. I think that if they're going to put on Women's matches on a show with only four women they should have their lesser talented Divas go up against more lesser talented Divas, and put the REAL talent like Natalya, Beth Phoenix, Mickie James, Victoria, and Melina all on Raw in the Title hunt. I also think Kozlov is getting very old, very fast. The rest of the show, however, was great. Punk, Edge, Miz, Taker, Batista, and Shannon Moore all had VERY impressive showings, and there was a good build towards the PPV. Overall, a great show.


Comments
(3 total)
From jeff on 4/30/08 10:37 PM
This is definitely one of Smackdown's best shows of the year, but the problems I have is with Cherry. I don't understand why the WWE put Cherry in a match. She clearly can't wrestle. Unless this is a act, but if not they should have kept her with Deuce and Domino. I was very impressed with Natalya. Why she is on Smackdown and not on RAW I do not understand. She can clearly wrestle and can have a good fued with Mickie James for the women's title. I think you're wrong though I think Michelle McCool has improved and I like her finisher (even though I hate the name).
I don't really care for Jimmy Wang Yang's gimmick either but he is exciting to watch. I was impressed with Shannon Moore also. I think the WWE finally put a good team together (besides Morrison and Miz). I'm glad they are getting a push because their last rivalry wasn't conclusive.
The Batista/Taker match and CM Punk/Edge match was great. As for Kozlov I'm not impressed with him. I hope this guy gets fired eventually. I also hate his finisher. It doesn't even look effective. I don't care for this guy and I don't think I ever will.
From theone86 on 5/1/08 1:19 AM
I haven't liked Michelle's workrate. That's usually what I'm talking about when I say someone new can't wrestle. It's definitely what I talk about when I talk about Candice or Cena. Can they pull off spots? Yeah, but can they work a good match with good psychology? Well... I definitely don't want to get into a Cena discussion here, so back to Michelle, her workrate leaves a lot to be desired. I think it's something that just isn't getting through to a lot of the newer wrestlers, and I see no reason to go easy on them. Back in the day you'd be pulling jobs at best if you had a workrate like some of these people do, I'm not going to give them a free pass just because they take a couple falls and learn a couple spots.
As for her finisher, it's cool, but I have seen it before. I do think it's a good finisher, but I liked it back before she ever showed up on a Diva Search when Chris Daniels was using it.
I don't know if I've gone on this rant before, but a reverse DDT is one of the most generic finishers you can use. I get so sick of people who can't come up with a unique finisher, or can't use their finisher, or don't get a good enough reaction from their finisher using the same old moves. Reverse DDT's, reverse STO's, and the Overdrive are a few examples of finishers that scream "I can't come up with my own, so I looted this generic one."
From JamesP on 5/6/08 6:34 PM
Cherry actually is good in the ring, and yes, WWE just makes her look inept. And I agree, the most generic finishers are the reverse DDT, Overdrive, and Reverse STO.