My thought regarding this week's episode of Smackdown...* The show began strong with Kane doing some fantastic mic work regarding the Undertaker, who is out injured after his orbital bone was broken last week, but, in story, was attacked by someone and is in a vegatative state. Kane and the druids treated it like a funeral for the titan of the WWE and, man, Kane was great. When given the chance, he's always been good on the mic -- tonight he was great. Tons of emotion and passion that gave the whole thing a feeling of something big, like maybe the Undertaker won't be coming back. That's not the case, but Kane made it seem like that. And, at the end, when he did the Undertaker's in-ring pose on one knee and just broke down? Fuck, man...
* The Jack Swagger/MVP match was good. Definitely aimed at putting MVP over. He looked strong, but I don't think doing it at the expense of your World Heavyweight Champion is the right way to do it. Swagger got the win, but barely. I really hate the WWE's habit of making every heel weak and only to just win or win by cheating. During the show, Michelle asked me what my gimmick would be if I were a wrestler (and could determine that) and I said I'd be the heel that wins cleanly. The best heel character is the one that backs up everything he says. That's even worse than the chickenshit heel that wins by cheating -- because with that kind of heel, you know he'll get what's coming to him at some point. But the heel that you hate and is right about dominating his opponents? That's the worst. Because you know he's right. Both men looked good here, I just would have preferred Swagger looking better.
* The post-match beatdown of MVP by Hawkings and Archer was lame. I've never understood why beating up someone after a match is supposed to make anyone look tough -- or even draw heat. It's cheap as fuck, especially when it comes out of nowhere. I didn't care about these two before and them beating up MVP sure isn't going to get that job done. How about them putting on a good match for once? Anyone consider that strategy?
* The Kofi Kingston/Drew McIntyre Intercontinental Championship match was solid. Nothing really stood out as amazing, but Michelle and I got distracted partway through by all of the lightning outside. That was cool.
* The stuff with Kane backstage was good, especially with the Big Show where he just looked ready to cry.
* The battle royal was a little slow and horribly paced. It took forever for anyone to be eliminated. I liked the stuff between Kane and Luke Gallows. First, Gallows helping out Kane to build off CM Punk's offer of assistance and, then, the staredown between Kane and the guy that we all know played the Fake Kane years ago. I hated the ending -- as did Michelle. Rey Mysterio winning was a shitty finish, partly because I never buy his momentum-based moves on someone like Kane and because the whole show was building to Kane's win. Subverting expectations doesn't make it better, it just means that the whole thing was poorly written. Kane needed to win because the entire show built to him winning and taking the Undertaker's spot in the Fatal 4-Way match. Rey Rey winning doesn't make sense within the context of the episode. Another example of the WWE choosing surprising and bland over quality and... well, what just plain makes sense. What was the point of the build-up then?
This was a strong episode until the finish, which left both Michelle and I annoyed. Me more than her since I care about this more than she does. Bah.
Ya, even though I don't really care too much about this stuff, since I watch it with you, I at least wouldn't mind if it were entertaining and made sense, haha! I thought the only really great part of the entire show was anytime Kane was on. I do have just a slight bias towards Kane and I may sometimes try to see a Kane and Undertaker feud (i.e. every time the Undertaker OR Kane wrestle I always mention something about a possible feud and how I would like to see one), so I'm really hoping here that something like that comes out of this injury. We'll just have to wait and see... But Rey winning the battle royal really didn't make sense and wasn't very believable, even to me.
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