Smackdown Spoilers for 01-25-2007

[The Truthiness 0]

Not a bad crowd. Not as good as the one we had in August of 06.. But not bad.

 

Paul Burchill opened up against Funaki in the dark match. Burchill has some hot little manager he calls his sister..They had a little incest thing going on..Whatever. Mediocre match at best..Burchill with the win.

 

ECW opens with the 5 way over the top match..Kane vs. Morrison vs. Miz vs. Shelton vs. Dreamer. Crowd was hot for Kane..Dreamer got a nice response. Pretty dead overall for Morrison and Miz. Kane eliminating Dreamer first drew a big pop. Kane still works well. The finish with Shelton was pretty nice..and Shelton had a fair amount of heat for sure. Way short..But good for what it was. The One's Rating: 2.5 out of 4.

 

Body Contest: Kelly Kelly vs. Lena Yada vs. Layla: Standard bikini contest. Layla and Kelly are freaking gorgeous. Don't care for this Asian chick..Pretty ugly if you ask me. The One's Rating: 2 out of 4 just for Kelly and Layla's asses.

 

Kofi Kingston vs. some dude. Kofi looked alright..Not exceptionally special..And a little awkward all the way around. Crowd wasn't liking him at all. Kofi with the win on some finisher I didn't really pay attention to. The One's Rating : 1.5 out of 4.

 

The guy who gets killed every week vs. Khali...Totally lame..Not even really funny. Good selling by the kid though. The One's Rating: 0.5 out of 4.

 

Chavo vs. CM Punk for the ECW title. Good overall match. Nice chemistry shown by these two. I was actually shocked to see Chavo get the win. Crowd was as well. The One's Rating: 2.5/4.

 

Overall: 2 out of 4.

 

Smackdown.

 

Rey vs. Edge's Henchmen in a 2 on 1 handicap match. Nice match here. Rey is flawless. He's a spot monkey..But it comes so effortless to him..Beautiful to watch really. Edge's boys did their thing..But it was Rey's show for sure. Rey hit a sick backspring roundkick off the second rope knocking the chair into Curts face. Crowd was all over Rey. Good stuff. The One's Rating: 3 out of 4.

 

Jimmy Wang Yang vs. Domino. Pretty much standard fare. The crowd was liking Jimmy..But there were a lot of rednecks there. Jimmy with the Duke with a nice moonsault. The One's Rating: 2 out of 4.

 

Palumbo and Noble vs. Morrison and Miz. Well..The match never really happened. But the beatdown was sick. Noble knocked Michelle off the apron..They bought the stretchers out and all..Palumbo proceeded to beat the everloving shit out of Noble..Stiff shots all. He then threw down McCool and kicked her arm as he walked off. Crowd was HOT. Palumbo had mad amounts of heat. This little kid behind me was screaming..Oh God..Someone come help her...What is this world coming to. I see this new heel thing really working for Palumbo. The One's Rating: 2.5 out of 4 for the beatdown/turn.

 

I gotta say..You can call NC Flair country..But VA comes close. These rednecks were WOOING their asses off all night. It was hilarious. I had to join in a couple of times just for kicks. Good shit. By far the largest pop of the night when Flair came out to promo with MVP. Deafening. MVP cuts a hell of a funny promo on Flair. The pro-flair crowd was even rolling. You gotta check it.

 

Batista got a huge pop..And cut a nice short promo. Standard.

 

Finlay vs. Khali in a Belfast Brawl. OK. The match can only be won by Pin or Submission..Which Justin announced. Keep this in mind later. The two actually worked some pretty acceptable stuff. Khali hit a sick chair shot onto Finlay. Finlay took Khali to the outside and worked his ass with the shilleleigh and a chair. I mean he worked his ass over. The crowd was in a frenzy. Khali got cut open..And the match just ended. No pin..no submission. It was like it was first blood or something..I was like WTF. Oh well. The One's Rating: 2.5 out of 4 for the match..0 out of 4 for the ending.

 

Undertaker vs. Big Daddy V..Nice match between these two. V is a huge fuck in person. UT's entrance is still the best in wrestling. No matter how long it is. Loved every minute of it. Nice Brawl..Went from the outside back into the ring. V hit is signature splashes and slams. UT hit his DDT and old school. The finish looked hella awkward..UT locked on the triangle choke..And V must have tapped within half a second..If that...He had blood running all down his mouth. Looked incredibly fake to have blood rushing out of your throat when you've been in the whole for a second..Maybe. Still a good show by these two. The One's rating: 3 out of 4.

 

Edge vs. CM Punk in the Main Event. GREAT Match. These two lit it up..Great spots..Great Flow. Edge is over HUGE...I mean HUGE. There must have been two people in the stands minimum rooting for him..Me being one. It was great. CM botched his springboard clothesline off the top rope again..Great back and forth stuff from both guys..Good non-finishes..Edge gets the win with a nice looking spear after dodging CM in the corner. Edge celebrates as the show goes off the air. The One's rating..3.3 out of 4.

 

Dark Match: Batista and CM and Rey vs. Edge and his boys. Not bad..CM was really winded from working two matches before..and you could tell. Rey wins with a top rope splash.

 

Overall: 2.5 out of 4. Not great..Too many squashes and short matches for my taste..But there was a lot of good wrestling to be had..And the other segments weren't bad either. I had fun for sure..Can't wait for the next one.

 

[UZI Suicide 0]

So much for building up to a CM Punk-Edge match.

[Hawk 34 0]

Not only that, they had a clean decisive victory that pretty much ends the whole thing right there. They could have easily had Rey get involved, and build to a rematch on ECW or SD next week. I do look forward to seeing the match, though. Overall, the show looks good. I'm not a fan of the Palumbo angle but if it makes Noble the sympathetic babyface, I might give it another chance. I really hate the Katie Lea/Burchill concept. If they MUST do it, don't waste it on two talented workers. I really dig Finlay just beating the fuck outta Khali.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

Woohoo!!! INCEST!!!

[Hawk 34 0]

Woohoo!!! INCEST!!!

 

While it doesn't technically apply, I'm still stunned they never had Chavo and Vicki do an on-screen physical relationship.

[Thanks for the Fish 0]

Burchill/Katie angle doesn't have to be horrible, however I don't think the wwe deserves the benefit of the doubt here either. If it was nuanced and smart as opposed to overtly beating us over the head with it it could work. Of course Burchill will probably be yelling "She's my sister" every couple of minutes in his match, before he proceeds to makeout with her with the announcers of course going on and on how twisted and disgusting that it - maybe with Coach saying "If I had a sister that looked like that...".

 

Punk vs Edge already blown off? I don't know. Punk loves competition(in case you didn't know) and I'm sure he'd love the chance to learn from his first encounter with Edge and have another go at him.

 

I hate the gimmick, but Palumbo is one big physical dude in the ring. I think he'll work much better as a heel. I still don't believe a hardcore biker/bike builder exists without tattooes. I mean is he trying to be Paul Jr, Vinnie and Mikey or Jesse James?

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

I'm looking forward to Taker's HD entrance. Yep.

[TheFranchise 0]

This is speaking as a guy who's never ever seen a HD TV.

 

Does HD really make THAT much difference?

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

I just hooked up my HD receiver yesterday (thanks for the kick in the ass to get the move going on that, WWE - though it helps Cogeco actually restructured the HD plan and lowered prices in December) and I am hooked. The colours are so bright and vivid... not washed out and drab as they've been looking on my HDTV for the past 16 months. Unstretched widescreen is very nice too. As I mentioned elsewhere, I developed a bad habit of watching TV on my widescreen with 16:9 on because I told myself I didn't notice the stretching... I flipped between HD NBC and regular NBC this morning when getting ready for work and wow, what a world of difference. And this is on a really cheap (HD wise) set, too!

 

That said, had I not bought an HDTV on sale in the summer of 2006 and been looking at bland SDTV resolution on an HD set, I wouldn't have cared.

[cabbageboy 0]

The best we can hope for the Burchill/Katie Lea angle is that Katie simply is traded to Raw in a draft and she can feud with Beth Phoenix. A ladder match like they had in OVW for the women's belt would be great and get both over big.

 

Since SD is the only show I can see in HD I now consider it the #1 WWE brand. After all, CW is available in HD in far more areas than USA.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

I didn't think I had CW HD (though for SD it wouldn't matter since I would watch TheScore) but they have the Chicago CW (WGN) as our HD feed.

 

Looking forward to Punk vs. Edge.

[Diamonddust 0]

I really dig Finlay just beating the fuck outta Khali.

 

Same here. I marked big time with Finlay wore him out during Hornswaggle's "mini-Royal Rumble". I was talking to a co-worker about it, who turned it off shortly before Khali came down. When I told them about Finlay using the shilleleigh, he was like "What is that?" I thought for a minute, and I said, "Basically, it's Irish for whoop-ass stick."

 

 

[Thanks for the Fish 0]

Finlay is heading for a big heel turn. He's too over-the-top-face mode right now, and its so out of character and I think it's being done to make his heel turn that much more dastardly. The secret he and VKM keep talking about has to be the paternity deal where Finlay agreed to use Hornswoggle - so when the truth finally breaks and Horny is devestated and Finlay is having a laugh about it and when Horny exits the ring and heads up the ramp and Finlay instead forced him back under the ring Finlay will be the most hated man on the roster.

[Exslade ZX 0]

I've been thinking this deal is gonna turn out to be something simple, l;like Finlay getting the number 30 spot in the rumble...

 

Since there's been no mention about it at all.

 

Nor the number 1 spot. Although that one isn' usually as hyped.

[Hawk 34 0]

They have made more effort to put over #27.

[Thanks for the Fish 0]

I guess it could be as simple as Finlay protects Hornswoggle, he gets #30. But then why would Vince book Horny into harms way in the first place?

[cabbageboy 0]

Yeah Finlay is interesting right now. Note that he never had any real face turn, it's just that he was already with Hornswoggle when this Vince angle broke. Thing is, what do you do with Finlay once you make him an even bigger heel than before? Edge is already on SD as the top heel, unless they want Finlay to get a run against UT for the title later on.

[King Cucaracha 0]

Not only that, they had a clean decisive victory that pretty much ends the whole thing right there.

 

Ditto with Undertaker and BDV. You bring BDV over from ECW (well, talent exchange him, whatever) and have him target Undertaker, build up last week that he'll be a big threat to Undertaker at the Royal Rumble... and then he loses cleanly, via tapout no less, the week before the PPV? Strange booking.

 

I've been expecting Finlay to do the scenario Canadian Dragon mentioned for a while now and I've still got a sneaking suspicion that Finlay's going to actually eliminate Hornswoggle on Sunday. I mean, let's face it, who else is going to eliminate him? Any heel would be pushed in an instant feud with Horny and Finlay and I don't see that happening. Khali's been presented as too much of a putz for him to do it. And it'd be wasted on a face, like HHH or Michaels for example, as a 'throw him out and shrug goofily when people start booing' spot.

[randomguy 0]

I like Burchill, but how many gimmicks has he had already? This must be at least his 3rd or 4th.

 

HD is great for sports. Wider field of vision and nicer picture. Especially something like football where there is a lot of different stuff going on, you can see more of the action.

 

For non-sports I don't really care. You don't gain a whole lot by watching a sitcom or a drama in HD.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Lack of HD SUCKS! BOO~!

 

Festus is getting "help"

 

 

[Thanks for the Fish 0]

Burchill has had two gimmicks - the street tough when he debuted to help Regal and the Pirate, to which the transition was explained in storylines. He was rumored to be given a football hooligan gimmick at one point and has been The Ripper down in OVW, but those don't count.

 

Jesse had a backstage segment where he explained that Festus was "getting fixed" - so basically they are writing out the bell gimmick for the character. I can't believe they did that without first exploiting it by having heels ring a bell midmatch. I liked the character "change", though hated the bell gimmick. If the bell was just a symbol of the match starting, and it wasn;t acually the bell making him "Hulk up" then it would have worked fine. I think the fans really responed to the guy when he "hulked up" and if they take that away and make the team a generic big man/small man they're killing marketability.

[Jaxxson Mayhem 0]

I don't usually ever watch Smackdown or ECW so I have missed John Morrison's entrance.

 

 

Holy shit. It is fucking awesome. I fucking LOVE the slow-mo.

[Downhome 0]

Did Chuck legit hurt that one ref he smashed into the steps? It seemed really awkward to me.

 

I love this angle.

[Thanks for the Fish 0]

I think the ref might have landed wrong, however I think he was supposed to be "taken out" on the spot. Basically the ref wanted no part of the stairs and I think that's where Chuck was directing him and he tripped and landed awkwardly on his wrist.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

they should have used pics from Flair going crazy in the hospital circa WCW instead of that bad photoshop.

[Downhome 0]

I think the ref might have landed wrong, however I think he was supposed to be "taken out" on the spot. Basically the ref wanted no part of the stairs and I think that's where Chuck was directing him and he tripped and landed awkwardly on his wrist.

 

Yeah, I know he was supposed to be "taken out", but he hit the steps wrong if you ask me, and like you said, hurt his wrist or something. I know it's nothing major, but it just looked weird to me.

 

Did I mention that I really like that feud?

[Jaxxson Mayhem 0]

Punk slips off the top rope.

[Craig Th 0]

SD HD looks pretty nice. It was odd at first but I got used to it really quick. I liked how they used the side bars that said Smack on one side and Down on the other when it was in 4:3. Did Raw do the same thing?

 

But some idiot "flipped the switch" too soon. It went back to SD for the last 2 minutes. Probably getting ready for the news or some shit.

 

Couple questions, since I don't really watch wrestling anymore. Esp Smackdown.

 

1) Last time I saw, the Miz was doing nothing. And now he is WWE Tag Champ? How'd that happen? Is he over?

 

2) When did Pulombo come back??

 

3) Is Punk as over as it seemed? Or was that just piped thru?

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

SD looks good in HD.

 

Anyway, Miz and Morrison won the tag titles a couple months ago. The WWE announced that Smackdown and ECW would exchange talent. The Miz is over enough to be a tag champ.

 

Palumbo came back a couple months ago. First he wrestled dark matches and now he's feuding with Jamie Noble.

 

C. M. Punk is over.

[cabbageboy 0]

Pretty cool show tonight but I have mixed feelings on it in HD. I thought it was a bit blurry or pixelated at times, especially during frenetic action. Finlay beating up Khali is an example of this. Maybe this is more notable watching on a 1080p TV set rather than a 1080i set that isn't as advanced?