Smackdown Hits

Edge pins Undertaker: Edge really needed this win to make people feel like he at least has a chance to beat Taker at WrestleMania. His antics with Vickie Guerrero are funny, but I hate the way he’s being portrayed as a chickenshit heel. All heels have a touch of that in them, but he was never afraid to face John Cena on the Raw side, and he certainly didn’t need help from two other wrestlers. I know I’m not the only one who would rather see Ric Flair challenge Edge than this three-on-one cage match they have planned for next week, but I’m holding out hope that the handicap match will somehow lead to one more Flair title match.

MVP vs. Batista: Another good, solid match between MVP and Batista. However, I’m not sure whether WWE is giving viewers what they want. Many of us enjoy good, long matches, but I suspect the average Batista fan wants to watch him plow through opponents more often than not. Again, I’m enjoying their feud and I’m not suggesting that Batista should squash MVP, but I think WWE needs to give the casual fans what they want from Batista by sprinkling in a few short squash matches.

Big Show: A good squash. I like the way they are showing him dominate smaller opponents who are around Floyd Mayweather’s size. Show looks better than ever and the live crowds are reacting to every offensive move he makes. They seem to be popping as much for hard slaps to the chest as they are for the chokeslam on both shows, meaning it’s not just enhanced crowd noise added in post-production. Assuming Show comes out of WrestleMania 24 looking good, he’ll be ready to move into a top program with Undertaker or Batista.

Smackdown Misses

Overall show: A few good segments, but mostly filler. The Smackdown side is totally depleted. There are a handful of main event guys, but the video footage from Raw is generally ten times more exciting than anything that takes place on the B-show.

C.M. Punk: After being showcased as the featured attraction on ECW, Punk has lost two straight matches to Chavo Gurrero. And while that’s not the worst thing in the world given that he’s pretty much gotten everything he can out of ECW, his role on last night’s Smackdown was discouraging. Punk teamed with Jesse and Festus in a six-man tag match against Chavo, John Morrison, and The Miz. I try not read too much into one match, but it was impossible not to notice that Punk took a backseat in this match to the predictable antics of Festus.

Kane vs. Chuck Palumbo: The creative team spent the first two months of the year building up Palumbo only to have him lose clean in three minutes to Kane. There was a time when there was no shame in losing to Kane, but he’s become a lower mid-card player for WWE. I didn’t expect Palumbo to win clean, nor did I expect him to lose so easily. Here’s hoping we see some type of followup next week to get Palumbo back on track.

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