The Smackdown Report

By Paul Smith

paulsmith3010@gmail.com

Welcome to The Smackdown Report and I am your host Paul Smith.

Show opens with a recap of Jericho/Edge and their feud so far. Spear.

After some titles (now with more BIG DAVE requesting eye contact~!) they promoted Edge vs Big Show. People who have suffered through sex with Vickie Guerrero collide!

Edge came out for a promo. They showed Edge beating Show’s tag partner Miz last week. He said he was concerned for Jericho because he keeps saying the same things, but the same thing keeps happening. Spear. Edge said this will happen every single week. Then Big Show came out. Edge said, that like The Miz, Show will get speared. Show said he was also here to find out who the #1 contenders to the tag titles, and that he will beat Edge. Show said he ate crap for breakfast. This was funnier when I didn’t include the context of the comment. Edge promised to win at Mania and to spear Show. He stepped for one and Show flinched. Show charged and Edge lowbridged him. Good segment, Edge proving his versatility in promos.

Drew ‘No Heat’ McIntyre said that Teddy needs to set the record streak. Teddy said that Vince has made it so that Drew is undefeated and his record reflects the same. So Teddy says that Kane has apparently magically qualified for MITB and that Drew has another qualifier against Matt Hardy.

Intercontinental Champion Drew McIntyre vs Matt Hardy w/ Justin Gabriel, Non-Title Money in the Bank Qualifying Match
As per the previous segment, McIntyre is announced as undefeated. The effect of this is kind of lost when he is then shown in footage losing. No idea how Matt Hardy is still over but I’m sure he’s not complaining. These two had the very average match that two very average wrestlers would have. Nothing bad, just as I often find with these two, nothing spectacular either. Drew worked over Hardy’s midsection to set up for..well nothing it would seem. I’m not one to get on about physiques but Hardy has lot of his body definition and seems bigger than normal. The finishing segment was a little sloppy but was a nice idea, with McIntyre reversing the twist of fate into his futureShock DDT but Hardy back body dropped out and then McIntyre tried to jacknife Hardy and he got rolled up for a Hardy victory, with another ringside tantrum. As I said decent, but nothing great. I also can’t see why Hardy is in Money in the Bank when he’s done nothing, but he’s always over with the crowd so there you go. Gotta feeling there’s a midcarder missing out on a paycheck somewhere though. Not sure what’ll happen with Drew as surely Kofi Kingston or somebody of that level needs a MITB spot. We’ll have to see. *3/4

Slam Master J admired JoMo’s parkour. Yes. R-Truth walked in with David Otunga, and they seemed cool after their pull apart on NXT, Truth said Otunga was just a bit of a hothead. Some tension remained though. They smited Ziggles for taking their MITB spot, but they will challenge for the #1 contendership at Mania. They exchanged names, concluding that Unified Tag Team Champions would be best. Surely this would only cause confusion if they were to wrestle the actual champs. Oh right they meant…

Shelton Benjamin vs Dolph Ziggler, Meaningless MITB Competitors TV Match #1 of 10,000,000,000 for the next few weeks
Ziggler shouted things and got slapped and went for his sleeper hold (note: non-one buys it) early. The story of this match framed at the start by Grish was that they were going to try and out-athlete each other, but Dolph would take opportunities just to grind down Shelton. The commentators reinforced the joke I made in the title of this match by paying little attention to the wrestling and talking about all things MITB. Benjamin got a nearfall off a nice German suplex. Ziggler went for a sleeper hold but Benjamin suplexed out of it. Benjamin hit paydirt after catapulting Ziggler into the corner. I enjoyed this match, but it was too short and the crowd wasn’t interested. **

Jimmy Wang Yang vs Ezekiel Jackson
First squash match I’ve had to cover for a while. I will tell you this much. Yang did not achieve victory. They did give him more offence than a ‘local athelete’ would have gotten but Zeke’s debut ended with him hitting the Guyanage for the win. Zeke is an impressive man, but what are they going to do with him on Smackdown? SQUASH

Rey introduces TIFFANY to Smackdown and to look after Rey’s daughter. Earn that paycheck.

They hype up Vince McMahon vs John Cena. Money. Or not.

Luke Gallows w/CM Punk & Serena vs Rey Mysterio
Punk cut a promo to start proceedings. Punk says that Rey’s popularity is due to parents not looking after their kids properly. Punk looks a kid in the audience dead in the eyes and calls his parents neglectful. Beautiful. He says Mysterio is also a neglectful parent and that everyone is a coward like Rey for cheering his inteference ad cowardice. He tells Gallows it’s not his fault what happened last week, but it is Rey’s. He says Luke must make Rey answer for last week. Rey can usually pull out a good big man/little man match out of nowehere and I think he did again here, as Gallows, I always felt as Festus was a great big man, with added agility to make him a more entertaining agility, as he hit a nice flying shoulder block. Darren Young was shown watching backstage. Gallows got a nearfall off a belly to belly, and also a nice fallaway slam. Mysterio had his usual high flying comeback derailed by a lariat from his knees. However, Rey turned a sky high attempt into an X-Factor. Gallows continued getting nearfalls but Rey Used his storyline resiliency to keep kicking out and coming back. Serena distracted Rey from making the 619, but he eventually reversed a powerbomb back onto to Gallows to cradle the leg. Punk tried to beatdown Mysterio with Go2Sleep but Rey got out and kicked Punk down to escape. This feud is being built nicely and this was a real good match. **1/2

Big Show is backstage and has a reunion with Chris Jericho, and Jericho tries to pump him up. But Big Show says he’s trying to use him, and that he wont beat Edge for Jericho, but for himself.

John Morrison & R-Truth vs The Hart Dynasty w/ Natalya vs Cryme Tyme, #1 Contendership for the Unified Tag Team Championships at Wrestlemania, Triple Threat Match
This match was a combination of spots and a standard tag match, and it was quite good and could have been even better if given more time. Impressive spot saw DH Smith hitting rolling belly-to-belly suplexes on JoMo. R-Truth came in with the hot tag, and his offence makes for one of the better hot tags the company does. Tyson Kidd hit a nice springboard missile dropkick for a two count, but R-Truth hit his lie detector springboard forearm for the win. I predicted this team going to Wrestlemania last year, but its a shame that the two established teams couldn’t get a shot, but you gotta go with whoever’s hottest. **

Pointless divas segment backstage. McCool gets pure X-Pac heat from me, and if I wasn’t covering this show I’d probably turn off purely due to her. Vickie Guerrero got a Simply Flawless t-shirt from Layla and McCool and Vickie told Beth Phoenix that she’ll never get a Women’s title shot.

They run down the card for Mania so far. Looks so awesome. Can’t believe how things looked this time last year compared to right now.

Unified Tag Team Champion Big Show vs Edge
These two had the slow affair that you would expect. It wasn’t amazing but I attributed this more to Big Show and Edge needing to take it easy, but I don’t know whether I’m concerned or whether I respect Edge for taking on ten minute main event singles matches after coming back from an injury early. There was a lot of Edge getting mauled around the ring but getting out of moves. Edge eventually hit the spear for the win. The spear seems to be pretty over as when Edge was building to it the crowd went wild, and using it to pin the tag champions clean is a good way of getting it over, and getting Edge over, in case he’d lost any steam from being out so long. After the match Jericho tried to get to Edge but Edge unsurprisingly speared Jericho. Jericho left ringside to the crowd chanting spear. *3/4

This was another strong episode of Smackdown with little time wasted, with all but one match building to Wrestlemania, and lots of video packages and strong promos and angles that are all building to Wrestlemania. While RAW wrestling wise hasn’t been great, as a vehicle to get over Wrestlemania, it has been, and Smackdown is matching it in terms of that as well, so all smiles here, very much a thumbs up.

Until next time, I have been Paul Smith. Thanks for reading.

The Smackdown Report

By Paul Smith

paulsmith3010@gmail.com

Welcome to The Smackdown Report and I am your host Paul Smith.

As Chris mentioned, I am covering for him while he gets hammered. No gimmicks tonight as I am on substitute teacher duty.

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Smackdown begins with a recap of the World Heavyweight Championship Elimination Chamber (sans Undertaker’s BURNING). Then to his usual thunderous boos, out comes new champion, suited and booted, Chris Jericho.

They go into a replay of Edge spearing Jericho and challenging him for Wrestlemania. Jericho started with a similar obnoxious promo to the one he tried to cut on RAW. He turned his attention to Edge, which brought the man himself out. Edge’s babyface heat has transformed between this show and the first RAW after the Royal Rumble. Edge congratulated Jericho, then started listing Jericho’s achievements, and following each of them with the word spear. This started a spear chant. How’d you like that Goldberg? Edge said he wanted Jericho to be the best he could be, with no bullshit excuses, and that if Jericho turned up to Wrestlemania not his best, that something would happen and he turned to the crowd, who gave him the spear answer he wanted. Jericho said it wouldn’t happen, and decked Edge, who shook off a codebreaker and then speared Jericho once again. Really strong promo segment, getting over the oneupsmanship and getting the crowd up for this program.

John Morrison vs Dolph Ziggler vs R-Truth w/ David Otunga, Money in the Bank Qualifying Match
I think it’s awesome that we get one more Money in the Bank match for Wrestlemania. Striker put over Morrison’s awesome effort in the Elimination Chamber, and they showed a highlight reel of Morrison’s efforts. Ziggler looked like he had lost a lot of body mass and was not anywhere near as toned as he was over the summer. They put over Otunga’s debut on NXT this week and showed a much more forgiving camera angle of his botched finish. The story before the break was Ziggler would leave the ring and try to leave Truth and Morrison to it, but he would get punished for taking a powder outside the ring, culminating with a slingshot splash to the outside. This made sense as the whole match put a lot of focus on Ziggler, which was necessary given the shock nature of the eventual result. Ziggler got a near choke out with the sleeper hold, which is not over as a finish. Morrison got Starship Pain and Ziggler pulled Morrison outside the ring and rolled in to steal the pin. As I said, Dolph was given a lot of focus in this match, and he had good facials and his moves were crisp. A good match as you’d expect with these three, with more story and less spots than I was expecting. I didn’t expect Ziggler to get in here, but he’s good enough to deserve another push. What will happen to Morrison and Truth is less certain though, perhaps there will be a Lucky Loser’s battle royal or maybe these two could have a run at the tag team titles. **1/2

They showed a video package of Undertaker vs HBK, and yes it was awesome. And I very much approve of Placebo’s cover of Running Up That Hill soundtracking it. Taker/HBK, streak vs career, may well be the biggest Mania match for a very, very long time.

Michelle McCool w/Layla vs Mickie James (c), WWE Women’s Championship, Vickie Guerrero is Special Guest Referee
I’d say I was pleased that awful wrestler, horribly voiced and charisma black hole Michelle McCool is once again Women’s Champion, but I’d be lying. I guess this mean that James’ title win was for storyline purposes only. Mickie controlled a lot of the match, but Michelle took over after a Layla distraction, as Beth Phoenix watched on backstage. Anyway. Vickie staged a theatrical roll out of the ring in an attempt to frame Mickie, leading to a disgusting visual of Layla rubbing Vickie’s ass. Anyway, as she got back into the ring Guerrero slapped James and McCool high kicked Mickie and rolled her up for the win. Actually a passable match, but I’m really not sure what that finish was supposed to be. *1/4

Kane vs Intercontinental Champion Drew McIntyre, Non Title, Money in the Bank Qualifying Match
McIntyre cut a promo beforehand reminding us he was undefeated and promising to win the Money in the Bank. These two had another dull match, but one slightly better than the one at Elimination Chamber. Finish came when McIntyre tried to sunset flip Kane, but Kane pushed away and kicked him in the head for the win. Not sure why McIntyre’s streak was wasted on Kane here, but Drew did a good job selling his anger and disappointment, so perhaps something will come of this. *1/2

Miz came out looking as usual like a douchebag. He pointed out that ShowMiz haven’t got Wrestlemania challengers yet, and asked Teddy Long to find him some. Teddy came out and put Miz in a match with Edge. Not sure why, but a fresh matchup is always cool.

The Smack of the Night was CM Punk becoming Mr Money in the Bank, which led to…

CM Punk w/ Serena & Luke Gallows vs Shelton Benjamin, Money in the Bank Qualifying Match
No Darren Young here. Fancy that. Crowd didn’t care one bit about Shelton beating down Punk and they didn’t pop for anything. CM Punk’s reactions were good here, continually looking up at the briefcase, but this was neither of these guys best work nights, but to Benjamin’s credit he got the crowd into the high headkick from Punk, that derailed his comeback. Gallows distracted Benjamin on the apron, who Rey Mysterio then pulled off the apron, this in turn distracted CM Punk who had Benjamin up for Go2Sleep, and Benjamin used the distraction to hit paydirt for the win. Not a great match, but Shelton is a MITB staple and this continues Mysterio and Punk’s program, so good booking. *3/4

RAW Rebound focused on Cena and Batista.

Edge vs WWE United States and Unified Tag Team Champion The Miz, Non-Title Match
A spear chant went up, as we began this first time ever match. They worked a relatively easy and basic match, which makes sense considering Edge has allegedly come back early from a bad match. Edge played his character well, “the ultimate opportunist” and a veteran type role, toying with Miz and stopping Miz getting anything, being one step ahead every time. Miz had taken control though by the time we came back from the break. Grisham was not good on commentary for long periods tonight, frequently tripping over words and getting names wrong. They showed Daniel Bryan watching backstage. This match was very strangely put together for a ten minute WWE TV match in that Edge controlled much more of the match than a babyface would, but it would make more sense that Miz bumped around more for Edge than the other way round. Edge got the win after a big time spear. A pretty good match all things considered, and Miz is turning into a very solid upper card heel, and now even on the wrestling side of things, starting to match his easily hateable promos. **1/4

This was a good episode of Smackdown, even if the wrestling was a little hit and miss. The programs and build to Wrestlemania were great though, as lots of angles and matches are moving along nicely. Nowhere near as good as some of the shows we’ve had between the Rumble and Elimination Chamber, but by no means a bad show.

This episode of Smackdown earns a thumbs up.

Until next time, I have been Paul Smith. Thanks for reading.

Hey everyone and welcome to this week’s edition of Chris Reviews Smackdown. In this week’s blog I discuss the end of ECW and NXT, TNA moving to Monday Nights, a little on WWE gimmick pay per views and of course anyalsye the show. Please feel free to leave some feedback via the comment board or fire over an email to a_agreement_called_forever@hotmail.com  

First off a bit of news on what is happening next week, it is my 25th Birthday next weekend and I am going away for Saturday and Sunday but I figured rather than write the Smackdown Review on the following Monday I would swap with Paul for the week so for the first time ever on WNW I will be reviewing RAW this coming week. After last week’s atrocity lets hope they give me something positive to write about! I am still hoping to get something up for TNA Against All Odds but I have been incredibly busy at work this week and haven’t had much time to write in the evenings at all. Anyway it is going to be cool reviewing RAW for a change and I look forward to the experience!

So ECW finally came to an end this past Tuesday night. I have mixed feelings about this because for me (with the exception of the Abraham Washington show) ECW always provided a good solid hour of wrestling featuring some of my favourite established stars like Christian and Regal as well as pushing exciting up and coming talent like Yoshi and Zak Ryder. Also if you consider what ECW did for the careers of Kofi, CM Punk, John Morrison, The Miz, Evan Bourne, Jack Swagger etc then you cannot help but appreciate the impact of WWE’s C brand over the past few years. Personally I would have scrapped the ECW name as the Extreme went out of ECW shortly after the Originals vs New Breed feud came to an end, but I defiantly would have kept the show on just under a different name. The idea of NXT sounds fairly cool but it is going to be a scripted reality show? And looking at the “pros” that have been selected I cant imagine guys like Matt Hardy, R-Truth or Carlito will come across as very realistic. I will defiantly be tuning in with interest come Tuesday to see what goes down. I especially like the pairing of The Miz and Brian Danielson as this is one partnership that I imagine will implode pretty quickly, Daneilson is vastly more experienced than the Miz when it comes to wrestling so I can only imagine the tentions between the pair reaching boiling point as the show progresses.

Ok so WWE has scrapped Survivor Series and taken MITB off Wrestlemania and given it a separate pay per view. I think both of these are HUGE mistakes from WWE. The reason the buy rate for Survivor Series last year was so poor was because the build up was ABSOLUTLY TERRIBLE! The entire main even was based around Hornswoggle! Now as it happened the triple threat match between Hunter, Shawn and Cena turned out to be one of WWE’s strongest matches of the year BUT without a good build and story no one will want to buy the match no matter who it features and this is proof of that! I am sad to see Survivor Series go as I really like the multi man elimination matches and feel they are a great way of showcasing rising talent like they did with Kofi, Sheamus, Drew and The Miz this year. I really hope WWE changes their mind on this and gets rid of a crap pay per view like Bragging Rights. Now as for MITB I think this is the worst possible decision WWE could have ever made. With the way WWE audiences are today, you need a mutli man spot fest to get the crowd hot early in the show. Whilst I, like many of the readers here would be more than happy to watch a thirty minute one on one match between two up and coming mid carders, a live audience, especially a kid heavy one, will struggle to buy into this live. MITB was perfect at Wrestlemania and with the current state of the tag division there is no way they can do something like a TLC match to fill the void. I think Show-Miz vs The Hart Dynasty vs Cryme Tyme vs Croft & Barreta would make a decent 4 way ladder match like at Armageddon a couple of years back but of all those stars mentioned only Show and Miz are in my opinion big enough names to make the Wrestlemania card. I was also hoping that one year someone held the briefcase for literally the whole year and cashed it in at the following Wrestlemania to become an instant main event star on the biggest stage of the year. Very, very poor decision from WWE and another one I hope they reverse. Also which causal fans are going to buy a pay per view built around up and coming mid card talent? Not very many…

So it is official TNA is moving to Monday nights. Smart move this from Hogan as I think it will really benefit the company and help create some competition for the somewhat stale WWE product. I will certainly be staying up and watching TNA as many weeks as possible but of course being based in the UK, me watching doesn’t affect the ratings one way or the other. If TNA could make Impact half as good as their pay per views they would have an awesome product. The problem is that Impact sucks so badly on a regular basis it is often hard to get behind the product and this is definitely something Hogan and Biscoff needs to address ASAP. Less backstage crap and promos and longer, not more, but longer matches and the product will rock. I am not going to spoilt it for anyone who hasn’t read Tim’s report but the main event for the debut Monday show? Seriously… This should be the time TNA show they are different and put something like an epic Wolfe vs Angle match or something and instead they give us… well just wait and see what they give us next week!

So with the discussion out of the way it is on to this week’s Smackdown!

Grisham and Striker welcome us to ringside and hype tonight’s main event between Edge and Batista, I smell interference, if the match even happens!

Opening Segment: Chris Jericho & Edge

Jericho comes out to plenty of heat and stalks to the ring in suited up. Chris stares out the crowd in disgust before saying he has made a career out of doing what none of the failure fans could ever hope to. Jericho says he has made an art form out accomplishing the impossible and stared down the barrel of insurmountable odds over and over and over again and yet he always comes out on top. Jericho says he did it when he beat the Rock and Austin in the same night to become the first undisputed champion, he did it again when he humiliated Shawn Michaels in the ladder match and last Friday Jericho did what so few have aver done and drove the Phenon to his knees and beat the Undertaker. Jericho shows some highlights from last week when he delivered the Codebreaker on The Undertaker for the win. Jericho goes off on how he beat The Undertaker and how he showed the Deadman is only a man. Jericho says if that wasn’t enough to cement his legendary legacy in the business, on Sunday he will enter the Elimination Chamber for the sixth time and become World Heavyweight Champion for the sixth time. Jericho says average people like the fans curl up and hide when faced with adversities and hide behind delusions of grandeur but Jericho doesn’t hide behind anything and he deals in reality and the reality is… ‘You Think You Know Me’ Edge’s music hits and he comes out to a massive pop from the fans and grins at Jericho in the ring. Edge smiles at the fans as he gets in the ring and grabs a mic before looking round at the applause and saying it is refreshing to know that Chris understands what a big deal it is to beat the Undertaker, Edge says he knows this as he has done it and it is like an elite club like a hole in one or winning the Stanley Cup. Edge says it is actually bigger than all those things and Jericho did it. Jericho says of course he did because he is the best in the world at what he does. Edge says that by saying that it highlights all that is wrong with Jericho and his clip did not show everything that happened last week. Edge reminds us that The Undertaker took him out unprovoked and Edge Speared the Undertaker for payback. Edge says make no mistake, he did not do that to help Jericho, he did it because The Undertaker kicked him in the face. Edge says the problem with Jericho is that he is not as good as he thinks he is and Edge doesn’t think Jericho would have beaten the Undertaker if he hadn’t Speared him first. Jericho tells Edge he should not be as concerned with the past as he is about the future as he is going to win the Elimination Chamber and when he does Edge should do himself a favour and stay away from Jericho because when he is around Edge bad things happen and if Edge continues to poke and prod and annoy him Jericho wont just beat him, he will hurt him. Edge says the more he hears Jericho’s voice repeating the same thing again and again buzzing around in his head, the more he wants to knock that self righteous, holier than thou look of his face for good. The fans pop and Jericho looks worried as Edge tells him he almost hopes he does win the Chamber so he can do just that. Edge gets in Jericho’s face and tells him Jericho shouldn’t be concerned about what Edge can do to him in the future he should be concerned about what Edge can do to him right now. The lights flicker and Edge uses the distraction to his benefit and Spears Jericho sending him rolling from the ring. Jericho shouts at Edge as he staggers up the ramp and Edge poses in the ring.

Chris Considers: Awesome opening segment here. These two have so much chemistry going against each other on the mic and I just cannot wait to see them face off in the ring. The fan responses Edge is getting each week pretty much guarantee WWE are going to have to pull the trigger and turn him full fledged babyface as opposed to this tweener role although personally I find his character so interesting as it is right now!

We recap Kane and Drew battling to a double countout last week and the subsequent exchange between the two after the match.

Match 1: Kane vs Dolph Ziggler.

Kane makes his way out to a nice pop as the Announcer’s hype up his IC title match with Drew at the Elimination Chamber pay per view. Dolph gets some heat as he strolls out to the ring. Dolph ducks under a strike and punches away but Kane slams him to the mat and rams him into the turnbuckle and connects some big elbows before hitting an overhead takeover and low drop kick for a near fall. Kane chokes Dolph on the ropes before picking him up and dropping him with a strike. Scoop slam from Kane followed by an elbow drop for another two count. Kane tries for a running clothesline in the corner but Dolph gets an elbow up and goes to work with strikes and kicks only to get dropped by a huge uppercut from Kane who pummels Dolph on the mat. Kane clotheslines Dolph over the ropes and stalks in the ring as we go to commercial. Back from the break and Dolph is working over Kane’s arm in the ring with a modified arm bar, Kane hits a nice counter and turns the move into a Sidewalk Slam and connects a charging clothesline in the corner before levelling Dolph with a big boot and heading to the top rope. Drew’s new music hits and Kane is completely distracted by his opponent and misses a top rope clothesline allowing Dolph to hop on his back and apply a sleeper hold. Kane falls to his knees as Dolph screams away. Kane powers to his feet and grabs the ropes and forces Dolph to break the hold and as Dolph tries for the move again Kane hurls him off and nails a Chokeslam for the pinfall and victory. After the match Drew storms the ring and tries to hit Future Shock on Kane who simply hurls Drew over his shoulders sending the Scotsman rolling from the ring, Kane poses to a big pop from the crowd as Drew retreats back up the ramp scowling.

Result: Kane defeats Dolph Ziggler via pinfall *

Chris Considers: I fully understand the need for Kane to look strong heading into the pay per view but Dolph is far too good to be used as an enhancement worker. This was basically a squash which is pretty ridiculous seeing as Dolph and Kane were having ten minute matches a few weeks back. This should have at least been booked as competitive to make Dolph look half decent.

Rey is backstage with Josh and says based on his experience the Elimination Chamber is brutal but no more brutal than his experience with Punk and The Straight Edge Society last week who gave him the beating of a lifetime. Rey says he will probably take a beating on Sunday but he will walk out as World Heavyweight Champion

We see highlights of Ezekiel Jackson defeating Christian on the last ever ECW and winning the ECW Championship. We learn that Ezekiel is making his way to Smackdown which I think will actually be pretty awesome!

Match 2: Cryme Tyme vs Croft & Barreta

Cryme Tyme come out to very little reaction compared to what they were getting a few months back, shows what happens when you get left off TV. Croft and Barreta come out to not very much of a reaction at all but I will be interested to see how they shape up against a real tag team. Croft and JTG start things out and lock up as Croft drops JTG with kicks and sends him out of the ring but JTG quickly slams Barreta off the apron and mocks him before dropping a shoulder and leaping over Croft in the ring and hitting a leaping elbow followed by a scoop slam and a blockbuster for an early one count. JTG kicks away and heads to the top rope but is distracted by Barreta and Croft crotches him sending him tumbling from the ring. Barreta is tagged in and he kicks and strikes away on the outside before hurling JTG back in the ring and pinning for a one count. Barreta whips JTG into the corner and hits a nice step up elbow before tagging in Croft who hits a nice standing dropkick for another one. Croft drops an elbow and tags in Barreta and they hit a double team scoop slam/elbow drop combo for a near fall. Barreta applies a headlock as Shad fires up the fans on the outside. JTG battles to his feet and tries to elbow Barreta off but gets slammed head first into the mat. Croft tagged in and he stomps away on JTG before pinning for another one count and making the quick tag back to Barreta who sets JTG up on the rope but JTG elbows free and rolls over Barreta and after his first attempt is blocked, is finally able to make the hot tag to Shad who cleans house on Barreta and drops Croft off the apron with a cheap shot before hitting a nice military press slam on Barreta but Croft breaks up the pin attempt. JTG tries to take Croft out but ends up getting sent through the ropes only for Shad to clothesline Croft over the ropes but this gives Barreta chance to hit a nice missile drop kick (although he slightly bothce the landing) Barreta goes for a tornado DDT but Shad counters into the STO for the pinfall and victory as Cryme Tyme pose to a pop in the ring.

Result: Cryme Tyme defeat Croft and Barreta via pinfall **

Chris Considers: I actually really enjoyed this match for what it was. I am not convinced on Croft but Trent Barreta is very impressive in the ring and despite their somewhat generic look I think this tag team would make a good addition to the Smackdown roster. It was also nice to see Shad pick up the big win for his team!

We see a beautiful video package for the legend that is Antonio Inoki as the second deserving member of this years hall of fame class. That match with Flair had the largest pro wrestling attendance EVER! And was one hell of a match that I fully recommend hunting down!

We see a video hyping WWE NXT which I am really looking forward to! But Brian Daniel? Seriously…

Backstage Interview: John Morrison

Josh plugs Morrison’s DVD before asking him how well he is walking. Morrison says he has been waiting for an opportunity at the World Heavyweight Championship for a long time, ever since standing in line at Tough Enough (nice to see that reference there!) to the day he got drafted to Smackdown, Morrison’s entire career has led him to Sunday and the Elimination Chamber. Morrison says if Josh or any member of the WWE Universe think a tweaked ankle is going to keep him out of the Chamber than they are dead wrong. Morrison says sometimes in life you only get one opportunity and this Sunday he will make the most out of his. Truth butts in and says that’s the truth. Truth sends Josh away and says Morrison can bet his Moonlight Drive that come Sunday Truth will take the WWE Universe it has never seen before. Truth says if becoming World Champion means going through Morrison then it is what it is, but tonight they face the Straight Edge Society and Truth wants to check they are on the same page. Morrison says they are like two peas in a pod and say tonight they will beat CM Punk and Lukey Luke and run down Jericho and his hair gel along with some rather bizarre ski references from Truth.

Chris Considers: This was a pretty good promo from Morrison before Truth got involved and then it all got a little too weird. I particularly liked the Tough Enough reference and it was a timely reminder that the show worked in a few instances.

In Ring Segment: The Straight Edge Society

The SES get plenty of heat on their way to ringside as we take a look back at Rey Mysterio getting savagely beaten last week. Punk has a mic and says he is a humble man but lets face it he is the greatest thing to ever happen to the fans and they know it. Punk says only the enlightened few can walk in his precious footsteps but whether they like it or hate it the fans are all a part of his crusade. Punk says those who chose to live in darkness and stand in his way, well he finds their lack of faith disturbing (awesome Star Wars quote there!) Punk says the fans confuse defiance with power and sacrifice their clarity with cheap thrills. Punk says just like the five stars locked in the Elimination Chamber with him this Sunday Punk will crush their spirit and break them and turn them upside down and pour what little heart they have onto the floor and fill the void with straight edge. Punk says they can all pretend they don’t have a problem but they are just lying to themselves, Punk says straight edge means he is better than the fans and he will prove it to each and every one of them this week just like he proved to Rey last week when he put him to sleep. Punk says throughout his existence he has fought in a way that the coward fans don’t have the courage to stand and fight, Punk is fuelled by a fire inside of him and this Sunday he will become four time straight edge world heavyweight champion and his crusade will be burning bright because all of the lost souls in the WWE Universe will have a savior and his name will be CM Punk

Chris Considers: Phenomenal promo from Punk, you can tell they are just letting him run with it now as he is coming up with different material each and every week. Punk is on a whole other level right now to the majority of the roster and the Straight Edge Society are the best heel faction since Evolution.

Match 3: The Straight Edge Society vs John Morrison & R-Truth

Morrison gets a nice pop on his way to the ring and hands his glasses to a kid at ringside. Truth is also over and we see some teenage girls popping along to his song. Morrison insists to Truth that his leg is fine and starts off the match with Punk who immediately goes for the leg but Morrison applies a waist lock and nails an overhead takeover and grounds Punk into the mat. Truth is tagged in and we get a double team gut buster which Truth follows up with an overhead takeover and keeps the hold locked on and continues to grind Punk down. Punk powers to his feet and counters out with a back suplex before tagging in Luke who tries a scoop slam but Truth rolls over him and strikes away before hitting a nice top rope crossbody for a near fall. At this point a whole punch of flames and pyro go off on the ramp as we go to commercial. Back from the break and Punk has a bow and arrow submission hold locked on Truth which he breaks to drop some elbows before kicking away and nailing a scoop slam. Punk drops a knee and tags in Luke who hits some big strikes in corner as Morrison fires up the fans only to get dropped off the apron by a cheap shot from Luke who then drills Truth with a big boot for a near fall. Big suplex from Luke earns a near fall and he tags in Punk who strikes away and hits elbows to Truth’s back but Truth fights back with strikes only to get laid out by a huge roundhouse from Punk who tags in Luke to drop elbows on Truth’s back. Luke hits some seated strikes before bouncing him into the turnbuckle and connecting a scoop slam. Punk is tagged in and he tries for a springboard crossbody which Truth counters with a nice drop kick to the ribs. Truth makes the hot tag and Morrison cleans house on Punk with clotheslines a leg lariat and a running knee for a near fall. Morrison drills Luke with the Flying Chuck sending him crashing to the outside and immediately ducks under a charging Punk who spears the ringpost. Morrison goes for a big roundhouse kick but Punk ducks and Morrison boots the ring post and rolls around in agony as Punk immediately targets the injured leg. The referee calls for the bell but Punk continues to beat on Morrison’s leg only for Truth to charge in and drop Punk. Serena protects Punk and Luke strikes from behind and obliterates Truth with the Gallows Pole as Punk gets to his feet. Rey hits the ring to make the save and nails Punk with a Seated Senton and goes after Luke with strikes and kicks only to turn into a big clothesline from Punk who proceeds to beat the hell out of Rey on the mat. Punk signals to Luke who nails a back breaker on Rey as Punk heads to the top rope and connects a knee drop. Punk drags Rey back into the centre of the ring and The Straight Edge Society stand tall over the fallen bodies of Truth and Rey

Result: The Straight Edge Society vs John Morrison & R-Truth Ends In A No Contest After An Injury **

Chris Considers: Very strong but short match here with Morrison continuing to work the injury angle which leads me to believe he will be replaced by Shawn Michaels on Sunday. The post match beatdown from the Straight Edge Society was awesome and they just get better and better each and every time they are on TV. I cannot wait to see interactions between Punk and Rey in the Elimination Chamber.

Teddy Long is backstage laughing at footage of Vickie getting covered in cottage cheese. Vickie asks if he thinks its funny, and Long says no she doesn’t need any more cottage cheese. Vickie asks him how his chin is and she wishes Shawn left a boot print. Long said he is taking action against Shawn Michaels. Mickie shows up and apologies to Vickie for embarrassing her last week as she knows how it feels. Vickie says she is sorry as Michelle McCool has invoked her rematch clause next week and we will see how sorry Mickie really is with the special guest referee: Vickie!

Match 4: Matt Hardy, The Great Khali & Maria vs The Hart Dynasty

Matt doesn’t even get his own music this week and instead he and Maria have to dance (if you can call it that) along with Khali. Natalya and Maria start things out and Natalya immediately nails Maria with a power slam and talks some smack before stomping on Maria’s head. Natalya applies a headlock but Maria punches free and nails a boot to the face before sending Natlayla into the ropes and hitting a butt drop. Natalya tags in Tyson and as Matt sees Maria out of the ring Tyson takes advantage with strikes but Matt comes back with a big sidewalk slam for a near fall and strikes away at Tyson in the corner. Awesome sit down powerbomb from Matt earns another near fall but Tyson is able to tag in Smith who hits a brutal neck breaker for a once count and tags in Tyson and we get a drop toe hold/ drop kick doubke team combo. Smith tagged back in and a very impressive double team vertical hold followed by a huge powerslam from Smith earns another near fall. Smith strikes away and applies a headlock and grinds Matt into the canvas but Matt powers to his feet and strikes away and connects the Side Effect but Smith prevents Matt from making the hot tag and shoves him out of the ring. Maria tags Matt on his tumble to the outside but doesn’t seem to know what is going on and Natayla hurls her into the ring and hits a tornado clothesline for the pinfall and victory. Maria is furious with herself after the match and storms off.

Result: The Hart Dynasty defeat The Great Khali, Matt Hardy & Maria via pinfall *1/2

Chris Considers: Very quick match once again but hey at least Khali didn’t even tag in this time! The teamwork of the Hart Dynasty was impressive but this match was not long enough to really make much of an impression. The post match storm off from Maria suggests her relationship with Matt may be over before it has even started.

We get a pretty awesome long video package for the Elimination Chamber that realy put a lot of focus on the pay per view, good stuff!

We see Matt and Maria backstage. Maria tells Matt it is one thing to lose by herself which she has done a million times, but another to lose with everyone else and with people she cares about. Matt says enough of the losing nonsense, he has won matches and lost matches but it doesn’t change the person you are inside, Matt says no one is perfect but when he looks at her face he sees something very close to perfect and goes to kiss her but Michelle and Layla break it up and tell them to get a room and mock Matt and Maria for being losers in love and in matches. They call Maria loose lips and say she has cooties (what the hell is that!?!?) Maria storms off and Matt calls them children and tells them to grow up before running after Maria.

Chris Considers: Ok maybe the relationship isn’t over yet then… if anyone wants to tell me what cooties is ill be very grateful!

Main Event: Batista vs Edge

Batista comes out to heat and dressed to wrestle so looks like this match might actually be going ahead. The animal does his Steiner-esque muscle pumps again as we go to commercial. Back from the break we see highlights of Batista talking down to Cena on RAW last Monday. Edge gets a massive pop and comes out sporting a cool new T-shirt. Batista looks amused as Edge looks psyched. Batista holds the rope and signals for the referee to call Edge off. Batista ducks under the ropes and just refuses to fight and the crowd boo the hell out of it. Batista waves at Edge and leaves the ring and the referee starts to count him out. Edge tells the ref to stop and grabs a mic. He yells at Batista he understands he might not want to take part in a match with him but Edge’s days of backing away from fights are over. Edge says maybe Cena was right and Batista really is spineless but Edge is calling his punk card and tells Batista to get back in the ring. Batista looks pretty pissed and storms back to the ring as Edge fires up. The two lock up and Batista strikes away at Edge and whips him into the turnbuckle but Edge gets an elbow up and strikes away and hits a roundhouse kick dropping Batista to the mat. Edge calls for the Spear but Batista bails to the outside as we go to commercial. Back from the break and Batista drops Edge with a chop block before hammering him into the turnbuckle and whipping him into the ring post. Batista talks smack and goes to the outside and starts hurling the steel steps around before go going for the Batista Bomb on the steps but Edge counters with a back drop to a pop from the fans. Edge runs along the apron and hits a diving clothesline dropping both men before whipping Batista back in the ring but the Animal kicks him as he climbs back into the ring. Batista tries for a running powerslam but Edge counters with the Edge-omatic for a near fall. Edge calls for the Spear but runs straight into a spinebuster frm Batista earning a nearfall. Batista stomps and signals for the Batista Bomb but Edge counters with an Edge-ecution for a near fall. Edge heads to the top rope but Batista crotches him and calls for a Spear of his own but Edge reverses it and connects his own Spear. At this point the Undertaker’s gong hits and the lights go out. When they come back on The Undertaker chokeslams Edge and Batista flees the ring. The lights go blue and Edge is left prone in the ring as the Undertaker poses at the top of the ramp and as Edge makes his way to his feet Jericho leaps from the crowd and nails him with a Codebreaker and stares down The Undertaker at the top of the ramp sending Smackdown off the air.

Result: Edge defeats Batista via disqualification ***

Chris Considers: I enjoyed this match, especially when Edge enraged Batista to the point he came back to the ring. I have always been a huge Edge fan and being able to see him work as a babyface again should be a real treat as it has been some five years (Cyber Sunday 2005 if my memory serves) since he last worked in that role. The Undertaker decking Edge was I guess payback for last week but something tells me an uneasy alliance may be formed between these two after Sunday night!

This edition of Smackdown was very, very good at building Sunday’s Elimination Chamber pay per view. Since WWE is banking on the two chamber matches to sell the show, the build needed to be good and I think it has. We heard from all the challengers during the night and Striker and Grisham worked hard selling the event and I hope it works as I think the Smackdown Chamber is going to be awesome. In addition the Kane vs Drew match was built up although I did not care for his match with Dolph Ziggler at all. Wrestling wise we did have some solid in ring action in the shape of Edge vs Batista and Cryme Tyme vs Croft and Barreta whilst the SES vs Truth and Morrison and the subsequent beat down was solid as well.

This week’s match of the night was Edge vs Batista and the show scores a good 8/10

That is all for this week’s edition of Chris Reviews Smackdown. I will be back as soon as I have received all the picks with the Fatal Four Way blog and then early in the hours of Sunday morning with my Elimination Chamber review. I hope you all have a great week! As always you can email me on a_agreement_called_forever@hotmail.com , add me on facebook: www.facebook.com\wnws.chris.jacks  or follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/WNWsChrisJacks  I would love to hear from you!

Here are ten points to consider coming out of this week’s Smackdown!
• What a great opening segment from Jericho and Edge, it seems pretty predictable that these two will be facing off at Wrestlemania but when it is something new and fresh and with as much energy as this, I don’t mind how predictable it is!
• I feel sorry for Dolph being jobbed out here considering he is a guy who should be challenging for the Intercontinental Championship rather than being used as enhancement.
• I think the feud between Drew and Kane is a good one and would be more than happy to see it run all the way to Wrestlemania.
• Trent Barreta really impressed me in the tag match. I would be happy to see the Dudebusters join the Smackdown roster as I think it will help their development working against established teams like Cryme Tyme and The Harts.
• You can tell Smackdown creative are just letting Punk run with it now as he is coming up with different material each and every week, that was one hell of a promo!
• I am liking the John Morrison injury angle and fully expect it to lead to Michaels taking advantage come Sunday Night. I do not think this will lead to a heel turn from Morrison, Smackdown is heel heavy enough as it is, I just think they are trying their best to make a kayfabe injury look as legit as possible.
• Another week, another match which Khali has no involvement in whatsoever! They should just switch him to RAW and have him do the Kiss Cam every week on there. He is wasting other people ‘s opportunities on Smackdown especially when he does NOTHING!
• It was great to see Edge work his match as an out and out babyface. The crowd were in to him and loved it when he called Batista back to the ring. It also meant he got to use moves like the Edge-Omatic and Edge-ecution which he used infrequently as a heel.
• The only thing I question is if they are going ahead with Edge as a babyface having him and The Undertaker slug it out week after week isn’t going to work so well because Undertaker is more over than Edge and the crowd popped big time when he Chokeslammed him
• Nice to see Jericho ending the show standing tall. He is my pick for the Elimination Chamber for sure!

Due to the piss poor undercard of the Royal Rumble, the top ten matches of the year is still at this point on hold!

Smackdown Power 10

1: The Undertaker
2: Edge
3: Chris Jericho
4: Rey Mysterio
5: R-Truth
6: John Morrison
7: CM Punk
8: Drew McIntyre
9: Kane (+1)
10: Batista(-1)

Watch any WWE programming you miss at www.Dailymotion.com , your online source for TV shows

Hey everyone and welcome to this week’s edition of Chris Reviews Smackdown. I have been incredibly busy at work this week, building two huge cable systems that are being fitted on an oil rig so no time for pre show notes unfortunately. Lets get right into it!

One quick note before I start, I am STILL waiting for the useless British postal service to deliver my imported copy of Fozzy’s new album: Chasing The Grail. As soon as I get it I will sit down and review the CD so expect it some time within the next few days!

Opening Segment: Chris Jericho

Grisham and Striker welcome us to ringside and hype tonight’s qualifying matches for the Smackdown Elimination Chamber. Jericho’s music hits and he storms to ringside suited up and looking furious. Jericho says tonight was supposed to be his night and he should be standing here victorious as winner of the 2010 Royal Rumble but he is not as the honour was taken away from him and with it the main event of Wrestlemania 26. Jericho says he has been preparing for that main event ever since he beat four men in the same night at Wrestlemania 25 and ten months of planning was ruined in ten seconds by Edge (the crowd pop for Edge’s name) Jericho says Edge was entered into the Rumble under false pretences and wasn’t even scheduled to return and did not deserve to win because Jericho deserved it. Jericho says whilst Edge has been at home rehabbing Jericho has been carrying the company on his back for the past seven months, winning championships, filling arenas and accruing accomplishments every single night and now just because Edge is back that is all anyone can talk about. Jericho asks why people are cheering for Edge because he is a con artist just like the fans, Jericho says Edge is the same man who has no heart, no passion and no fire and who had the audacity to walk out on Jericho when they were tag team champions. Now Edge is going to the main event of Wrestlemania and Jericho is left with nothing. Jericho says he is too good for nothing and Long tells him he has to qualify for the Elimination Chamber, well Jericho qualifies for nothing and he demands Long come out and rectify this situation, Jericho wants repercussions against Edge and things made right for him because he is the face of Smackdown and everyone knows it. Long doesn’t show and Jericho calls him out again and once again nothing and Jericho storms out of the ring and heads to the back. We see Jericho storming around backstage, screaming at the Hart Dynasty and random crew members and asking where Long’s office is. Jericho storms into the office and rips down a newspaper, thinking it was Long but it was Edge who gets a pop from the live crowd. Edge says Jericho looks like he has seen a ghost and he has seen that look before, right about the time he eliminated him from the Royal Rumble! Edge says Jericho is the reason Edge is back as he lit a fire in him and made him train every second of every day and Edge wants to thank him as he has created a monster. Jericho snarls that if he created a monster he can slay it and Edge will regret ever coming back. Edge tells Jericho, no it is you who will regret me coming back but tonight Edge wants to celebrate and he will bring back the Cutting Edge and tonight his special guest will be a man Edge can face at Wrestlemania: The Undertaker. Edge smiles as Jericho storms out.

Chris Considers: Brilliant opening segment from two of the best mic workers in the business! This had me hooked from start to finish. So great to see Edge back on Friday Night Smackdown where he belongs! This intro also succeeded in keeping the audience drawn in for the Cutting Edge later. Great stuff!

Match One: Triple Threat Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match; Drew McIntyre vs Kane vs John Morrison

Drew McIntyre gets some decent heel heat on his way to the ring and he slowly stalks down to the ring and holds his Intercontinental championship high. Morrison gets a good pop as Drew stares on from the ring. Kane gets a mixed reaction as he breaks up a potential scuffle between Drew and Morrison and the match is underway! Morrison takes it to Drew and Kane with strikes but Drew clubs him from behind and goes to work on Kane but Morrison is up and catches Drew in a roll up for a two count. Kane tries for a double chokeslam but eats a double team DDT from Drew and Morrison who then strike away at each other before Morrison crossbodys Drew from the ring! We go to commercial and when we return Drew is really taking it to Kane in the ring with strikes but Kane comes back with some uppercuts and a kick before connecting an overhead takeover followed by a low dropkick to the face for a near fall which Morrison breaks up. Morrison strikes away at Kane before turning his attentions to Drew who reverses a head scissors with a brutal back breaker but Kane breaks up the pin attempt and as Drew attempts a charge Kane drops him with a big boot. Kane heads to the top rope but Morrison springs up out of nowhere with a pele kick crotching Kane but Drew quickly clotheslines Morrison from the ring and attempts a superplex on the downed big red machine but Kane shoves him off. Drew immediately tries to cut off Kane’s flaying top rope clothesline but Kane grabs him and goes for the chokeslam but Morrison leaps back into the ring and nails the Flying Chuck on both men before hitting Drew with clotheslines and a drop kick and Kane with a drop kick and leg lariat for a near fall which Drew breaks up. Drew kicks Morrison in the head and tries for another back breaker but Morrison counters with a tilt-a-whirl DDT for a near fall which Kane breaks up. All three men are down but Kane is up first and takes it to Drew and Morrison with running clotheslines before clotheslining Drew from the ring. Morrison slides under a clothesline from Kane who fires back with a Sidewalk Slam before heading back to the top rope and connects a diving clothesline. Kane calls for the chokeslam but Drew storms back into the ring and nails Kane several times with his Intercontinental belt before connecting his Future Shock DDT for a near fall which Morrison breaks up with a drive by knee. Morrison connects Starship Pain on Kane for the pinfall and victory to a big pop from the fans. Morrison celebrates with the fans who are really psyched for him following the match.

Result: John Morrison defeats Kane and Drew McIntyre via pinfall to qualify for the Smackdown Elimination Chamber ***

Chris Considers: Excellent triple threat match that succeeded in getting Morrison over in a big way but also kept Drew looking strong and undefeated. I had to watch this FIVE times to cover it, some of the action was so quick! I loved Morrison nailing both men with the Flying Chuck and can honestly say even with just Undertaker vs Morrison I am already looking forward to the Smackdown Chamber more than the RAW one!

Match Two: Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match: R-Truth vs Mike Knox

I am glad WWE have finally clicked on to how over Truth is an are pushing him accordingly. At least we have one former TNA guy flying high in WWE, lets hope Christian soon will be as well! Truth is seriously over with the Memphis crowd whereas Mike Knox gets not much of a reaction at all. This is a shame because Knox was actually pretty decent in the RAW chamber last year. Truth applies a headlock but Knox shoves him off only for Truth to immediately leapfrog Knox in the corner and spilt under a charge but Knox decimates Truth with a flying cross body for a very close near fall. Scoop slam from Knox followed by a knee drop for another near fall. Knox pins again for a near fall and a loud ‘What’s Up’ chant erupts from the crowd. Truth holds down the ropes and sends Knox tumbling from the ring and follows up with a somersault to the outside taking Knox down. As Knox staggers back into the ring Truth flies off the top rope and connects a missile drop kick followed by a kick and his corkscrew elbow for the pinfall and victory. Truth pumps the crowd following his win.

Result: R-Truth defeats Mike Knox via pinfall to qualify for the Smackdown Elimination Chamber *1/2

Chris Considers: Short and to the point, I always feel Knox is chronically underused in WWE. However Truth is over enough to deserve a main event push and he remains exciting to watch. I think if this was any other point of the year he could certainly be considered a dark horse to win but with it being Wrestlemania season that is unlikely to happen.

We see some exclusive footage from RAW after it went of the air of Cena making the save for Bret only for Batista to deliver one hell of a savage beatdown. I am actually excited to see these two feud and best of all, no titles involved!

Backstage Segment: The Straight Edge Society

Punk tells Serena and Luke that without him they would not be and they agree. Punk says without the leader there is no Straight Edge Society. Punk says he says this because tonight he steps into the ring with Batista and we just saw what Batista did to Bret Hart and John Cena, and Batista has that in mind for Punk who so far has sheltered and taken care of Luke and Serena need to know what they are willing to do tonight to protect their saviour. Serena says she would do anything and Luke says if it meant preserving their society Luke would stick his head in a fire. Punk smiles and they make their way to the ring.

Chris Considers: Excellent short promo that just highlights how Punk is manipulating his disciples for his own gains.

Match Three: Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match: Batista vs CM Punk with Luke Gallows & Serena.

Batista makes his way out to a tonne of heat and does his Steiner-esque poses as he enters the ring. The Straight Edge Society get heat as well as they make their way out whilst Batista smirks in the ring. Batista lazes in the corner as the bell rings and Punk gets irate with the referee. Batista smiles as the crowd boo heavily (although perhaps at how badly this segment is bombing) Batista leaves the ring and walks up the ramp as the referee counts him out. Punk celebrates like he just won the World Title whilst Batista smiles and walk away.

Result: CM Punk defeats Batista via countout N/A

Chris Considers: Whilst I am very intrigued where they are taking Batista’s character (the man obsessed with the world title more than anything else) but it seems he is either joining with Vince against Bret or moving on to feud with Cena separately. However this made for some pretty crappy viewing for the live audience who shit all over it, and as much as I like the storyline I would have probably done the same!

Matt Hardy is walking backstage and bumps into Maria who he congratulates for her part in Celebrity Apprentice. Maria wishes Matt luck as he makes his way to the ring.

Match Four: Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match: Matt Hardy vs Chris Jericho

Matt comes out to a pop but nothing compared to what R-Truth got earlier in the night, perhaps the fans are resigned to the fact Matt is being buried in mid card obscurity for NO REASON OR FAULT OF HIS OWN! We miss Jericho’s entrance during the commercial and the match is underway when we return. Jericho ducks under the ropes and wastes time to heat from the fans. The two lock up and Matt forces Jericho into the corner who then demands the referee break the hold, exciting stuff this, as Jericho bails to the outside and walks around the ring. They lock up again and Jericho applies a headlock which Matt powers out from only to get dropped by shoulder block. Matt fires back with a clothesline and strikes away before hitting a somewhat sloppy clothesline and knocks Jericho into the ropes. Chris fires back with kicks but Matt tosses him over the ropes to the outside and drops Jericho with a diving clothesline but Jericho responds with a drop kick sending Matt into the steel steps. Matt makes it back into the ring at 9 as Jericho strikes away and connects and overhead takeover and applies a headlock as Matt is bleeding from the mouth. Matt fights out of the hold and goes for a roll up which earns a near fall. Jericho nails a vicious enzuguri for a close near fall as Matt staggers to his feet only to get choked on the ropes by Jericho. Jericho misses a charging shoulder and turns straight into a neckbreaker for a close near fall from Matt who then hits his running clothesline/bulldog combo for another near fall. Matt hits his middle rope elbow and calls for the Twist of Fate but Jericho counters with a reverse elbow and nails the Lionsault for a near fall. Jericho screams at the referee and ends up running into a Side Effect which gets its usual near fall. Jericho dodges a splash from Matt in the corner and tries for a pin using his legs on the ropes but the referee spots it and breaks it up. Jericho immediately applies the Walls but Matt rolls it through for a near fall. Matt tries for the Twist of Fate but Jericho grabs the ropes and Matt spins around to eat a Codebreaker giving Jericho the pinfall and victory.

Result: Chris Jericho defeats Matt Hardy via pinfall to qualify for the Smackdown Elimination Chamber **

Chris Considers: This was ok but nothing special. The lack of crowd response hurt the match and I think fans are starting to loose interest in Matt as he is buried and made to work with Khali. This is ridiculous, Matt has worked hard and deserves to be working at a much higher level than this, hopefully when Jeff’s legal issues are resolved Matt will get utilised more effectively. However this is to take nothing away from Elimination Chamber veteran Jericho who I think is red hot favourite to win the match, perhaps with an assist from a former sworn enemy

In Ring Segment: Mickie James & Beth Phoenix

Mickie comes out to a nice pop and says that ever since she was traded to Smackdown Michelle and Layla made her life hell and the insults hurt but at the Royal Rumble Mickie proved that by rising above and being true to yourself and everything you believe in is what a real champion is about and for anyone who tires to cut you down: what goes around comes around. Beth’s music hits and she strolls down to the ring as we see highlights of her eliminating Khali at the Rumble. Beth says whilst Mickie was celebrating her victory over two little girls, Beth was making history and participating in the Royal Rumble with 29 grown men. Beth says that put her in a league of her own and whilst she is proud of Mickie for standing up for what she believed in and in front of the entire WWE Universe had her moment in the sun. Beth reminds Mickie that she will take the Women’s title any time she wants. Mickie says if she wants a match all she had to do was ask. ‘Excuse Me!’ Vickie comes out to a tonne of heat and screams at Beth and Mickie that this is not how things are done and she will determine when a match is made. Vickie tells them they can face the true number one contender: Michelle McCool and her partner Layla. Both Beth and Mickie look pretty pissed.

Chris Considers: Nice promo here, both girls showed they can do something Michelle McCool cannot to save her life: talk on the mic! I think Beth vs Mickie would make for an excellent women’s Wrestlemania match!

Match Five: Mickie James & Beth Phoenix vs Michelle McCool & Layla

Beth and Michelle start out and Beth works over Michelle’s arm and dumps her on the mat. Michelle fires back with an uppercut but Beth nails a charging butt splash and drops a trio of shoulders in the corner. Michelle hits a drop kick to Beth’s leg and drops a series of elbows before continuing to work over the leg and earning a one count. Michelle locks in her heel hook submission hold but Beth kicks her off and as Layla squawks for a tag Beth sends her flying off the apron. Beth goes toe to toe with Michelle and drops a series of shoulder in the corner. Beth tags in Mickie but the punches her out with a right hand. Beth smiles at Michelle but drops her as well and leaves the ring. Layla is able to tag in but Mickie rolls her up for a quick three count. Mickie looks pissed and hurt with Beth as Layla and Michelle squawk away.

Result: Mickie James & Beth Phoenix defeat Michelle McCool & Layla via pinfall *

Chris Considers: Far too short to be meaningful but it was a good showcase of Beth’s power. I hope to see Beth and Michelle face off in a number one contenders match and Beth obliterate her! Layla is very good at sounding very annoying!

Word Up

After some A.K.As we learn this week’s word is King and they run down some famous kings from Memphis: BB King, Elvis (Shad then sings very badly) They then introduce Jerry Lawler and talk him up and he says it is good to be the king.

Chris Considers: Pointless and yet kind of cool for the live audience I guess. If they had done that with something related to London when I was there last year I would have appreciated it!

Match Six: Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match: Rey Mysterio vs Dolph Ziggler

Six matches already! No wonder only one of them has been any good! Well these two put on some great matches during their feud so if this is given ten minutes it should be really decent. Interesting to not Rey wearing DX colours! Bet Hunter and Shawn were livid when they saw that! Dolph with a quick waistlock take down followed by talking some smack but Rey kips up and the two circle before Dolph drops Rey with a clothesline and grounds Rey down with a series of pin attempts but Rey leaps up onto Dolph’s shoulders and hits a sunset flip for a near fall. Rey sits some buzzsaw style kicks on Dolph before sending him flying from the ring with a crossbody. Rey nails a springboard crossbody and tosses Dolph in the ring but Dolph runs and strikes Rey as he was climbing through the ropes and tries to charge him into the ring post but Rey punches clear and flies off the top rope only for Dolph to counter with a beautiful dropkick for a near fall. Dolph goes for a back suplex but Rey flips out and sends Dolph into the ropes and goes for a 619 but Dolph bails to the outside as we go to commercial. Back from the break and Dolph is striking away at Rey in the centre of the ring. Dolph sets up for a superplex only for Rey to punch him off but Dolph is quickly back up and this time connects a superplex for a near fall. Dolph stomps and strikes before applying a ground based torture rack. Dolph breaks the hold and drops elbows and punches before catapulting Rey into the ropes who lands on his feet. Rye ducks under a charge and drop toes holds Dolph into the turnbuckle before connecting seated senton for a near fall. Dolph tries a sunset flip but Rey rolls through and hits a stiff kick to the face which earns another near fall. Both men are down but Rey is up first and connects a wheelbarrow bulldog for another near fall. Dolph sends Rey into the turnbuckle but Rey leaps over him and tries a springboard crossbody but Dolph hits an AMAZING mid air counter into a powerslam for a near fall. Dolph immediately pins again for a near fall as a loud ‘619’ chant breaks out. Dolph hits a backbreaker and goes for a back suplex but Rey counters with a roll up which is good for the three. Dolph lunges at Rey after the match and Rey nails a 619 to a nice pop from the crowd.

Result: Rey Mysterio defeats Dolph Ziggler via pinfall to qualify for the Smackdown Elimination Chamber **

Chris Considers: Dolph looked really good in this match despite losing. Rey is defiantly suffering from his injuries and I think is in serious danger of ruining his career by working through to Wrestlemania. Still the Smackdown Chamber match is complete and features a good mix of established and up and coming main event talent.

Main Event: The Cutting Edge

Edge comes out to a nice pop and smiles to the crowd before saying it feels really good to be back. Edge says it feels good to be on Smackdown and good to be back home. Edge says in July he tore his Achilles tendon but every ounce of sweat and pain has been worth it to be here right now for this very moment. Edge defied the doctors and is now on the way to the main event of Wrestlemania. Edge says he could face his guest tonight The Undertaker or the WWE Champion Sheamus. Edge reminds us of the awesome opening to RAW on Monday when he speared the crap out of Sheamus and the crowd love it. Edge says that was fun but then Jericho’s music hits and he stomps to the ring. Edge looks amused as Jericho knocks a chair flying out of the way. Jericho says Edge talks about fun and how it feels good to be back and how Edge has been waiting for this moment, well Jericho was waiting for his moment to be in the main event of Wrestlemania but Edge took that away from him and Jericho is not going to stand here and listen to Edge bask in glory of his tainted victory. Jericho menacingly tells Edge that he did not deserve to win, Jericho did. Edge says here is one big reason why Jericho doesn’t deserve to win: Edge threw him over the top rope and eliminated him (pop from the crowd) Jericho asks Edge is he thinks he is better than him? Jericho need he remind Edge that he is the face of Smackdown. Edge says Chris is not the face on Smackdown and it is his own fault, Edge fires up and says he wanted to take something that was possibly a career ending injury, something that Edge has done for his entire adult life and dreamed about since he was a kid, and turn it in to a punch line? Edge says he wants to make Jericho eat those words and for the last six months he has had to watch Jericho all over TV saying he is the best in the world at what he does. Edge says he is sick of Jericho, sick of his suits and sick of that stupid look he has plastered all over his face all the time. Edge says he is sick of Jericho’s face all together and gets right up nose to nose but then Punk’s music hits and the Straight Edge Society make their way to the ring. Punk says Edge and Jericho almost look beautiful showing off their tragic flaws for the world to see. ‘You Suck’ chant from the crowd. Punk says no, he is better than everybody and does not suck and says Jericho and Edge look like two pill popping junkies arguing over the last fix. Punk says it is not about these two ego maniacs, it is about the Elimination Chamber and The Undertaker and who out of the three of them has had a bigger moment against The Undertaker than CM Punk: The Saviour of the WWE Universe. Punk says that whilst Edge was on vacation he must have seen Punk become the first superstar ever to make The Undertaker tap out. Punk says that is something Edge has never and will never do and certainly something Chris Jericho will never aspire to do either. Punk says he was the first man who was brave enough to challenge the WWE Universe to live one nation under Punk, indivisible, with integrity and sobriety for all. Punk says all these two cowards need do is look to the Elimination Chamber, Punk demands Jericho look at him, which Punk will win and become the four time straight edge champion of the world. The Undertaker’s gong hits and the lights go out and The Undertaker annihilates the Straight Edge Society whilst Edge spears Jericho, after a chokeslam to Punk from Taker, Edge teases a Spear but backs off and smiles and he and Taker circle each other as Smackdown goes off the air.

Chris Considers: The three best guys on the mic in WWE, all in the ring together at once! Hell yes! This was an awesome segment, and I actually think for the first time Punk owned both Jericho and Edge with hi s mic work. I think WWE need to quickly decide how they are going to push Edge as he currently seems to be in a bit of a tweener role and certainly does not yet have the full support of the fans. Some of his exchanges with Jericho even came off a bit heelish. I liked how for once Jericho was not backing down from a fight

This episode of Smackdown was great in terms of pay per view build, storyline development and teasing of potential feuds. Where it was decidedly average was the actual wrestling. The opening triple threat match was good whilst Ziggler vs Rey and Knox vs Truth were solid but the rest of the card were forgettable. But the main point of this show was to build the Elimination Chamber pay per view which it did very well and I liked how all the standard matches meant something even if some of them were forgettable. I loved Jericho and Edge continuing their hostility and the teases of Edge and Taker reigniting their rivalry although I think we may see them as a tag team partners sooner rather than later taking on Jericho and Punk. It was really great seeing Edge back and with such a heel heavy Smackdown, I hope WWE make what I believe to be the correct call and make him an out and out babyface.

This week’s match of the week was Morrison vs Kane vs McIntyre and the show scores a good 8/10

That is all for this week’s edition of Chris Reviews Smackdown. I shall be back with a Roadrunner blog as soon as Chasing The Grail arrives at my house, and then next weekend Kendra and I will be back with the second instalment of the E.A.X TNA prediction column. I hope you all have a great week! As always you can email me on a_agreement_called_forever@hotmail.com , add me on facebook: www.facebook.com\wnws.chris.jacks  or follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/WNWsChrisJacks  I would love to hear from you!

Due to the piss poor undercard of the Royal Rumble, the top ten matches of the year is still at this point on hold!

Smackdown Power 10

1: The Undertaker
2: Edge (NE)
3: John Morrison (+3)
4: R-Truth (+6)
5: CM Punk
6: Chris Jericho (+1)
7: Rey Mysterio (-5)
8: Drew McIntyre (-4)
9: Batista (-6)
10: Kane (-1)

Watch any WWE programming you miss at www.Dailymotion.com  , your online source for TV shows!

Hey everyone and welcome to this week’s edition of Chris Reviews Smackdown. I am sorry this blog is up so late but I have had an incredibly hectic few days of working and writing and was so tired when I got back in from work today that I just fell straight to sleep and only woke up just in time to watch the Royal Rumble.

The show opens with a video hyping DX appearing on Smackdown tonight, should be a good show!

Opening Segment: DX, Rey Mysterio, Teddy Long and The Straight Edge Society

DX immediately make their way out to ringside to a big pop from the crowd. Shawn and Hunter give out glow sticks and thankfully seem to have left Hornswoggle on RAW! Hunter pumps the crowd before saying he sees the army is here but Rey Mysterio’s music hits and he strolls down to the ring. Rey gets on the mic and says Shawn knows he respects him immensely but he feels Shawn has no respect for Rey and he has been watching RAW and hearing how Shawn said he would be winning the Rumble and going on to face Undertaker at Wrestlemania. Rey asks Shawn if he really thinks Rey will lose to the Undertaker and Shawn says that is exactly what he thinks and asks why Rey is out there getting in his face. Hunter calms the situation and says Rey has come out looking for a fight but unfortunately Hornswoggle is not here tonight. Rey is pissed and says on Sunday he will do something that both of them have failed to do at Wrestlemania: defeat the Undertaker. Shawn asks what happens if Rey doesn’t make it to the Rumble and Rey returns the question and challenges Shawn to a match. CM Punk’s music hit and the Straight Edge Society walk to the top of the ramp. Punk mocks Rey and says he has to be high and should try watching Smackdown instead of RAW because incase he missed it The Straight Edge Society will defeating DX to become the first straight edge unified tag champions. Punk talks up Gallows and Serena but Triple H cuts him off and says whilst he is relieved to know Punk is straight, he doesn’t think anyone gives a crap about not drinking which gets a big pop from the crowd. Punk tells Triple H that the Society gives a crap and not to pretend to know anything about straight edge. Hunter says he doesn’t get it, he doesn’t smoke or drink or do drunks and yet he doesn’t look like he has been on a week long crack binge with Amy Winehouse! Hunter tells Punk have some pride and clean himself up and take out the clippers and shave of the squirrel he has on his chin, Hunter tells him to take a shower because he is not sure if it is Punk, lobotomy man or Britney Spears but one of them smells of swamp butt. Punk is pissed and asks if comedy hour is over because he came here to claim those tag titles. Long’s music hits and he comes out and says this is not how its going down because this is the WWE and when opportunity knocks things change. Long says there will be no unified tag match tonight because tonight Rey Mysterio will face Shawn Michaels, whilst Punk will face Triple H. Punk looks really pissed as we go to commercial.

Chris Considers: DX minus Hornswoggle can be pretty funny! I liked Hunter ripping on the Society and Rey and this was a good opening that blended just the right amount of comedy and seriousness. It is also good to see Serna is a permanent on screen character!

Match 1: CM Punk with Serena and Luke Gallows vs Triple H

They lock up and Triple H grounds Punk with a headlock but Punk powers out only to get dropped with a shoulder block. Big clothesline from Triple H earns a near fall and he immediately applies a headlock once again. Punk powers up and drops shoulders to Triple H in the corner. Punk repeatedly knees Triple H in the head before bouncing his head off the turnbuckle. Triple H fires back with strikes but Punk hits a drop toe hold and strikes away and whips Triple H who tries a Pedigree but Punk rolls out of the ring. Triple H follows and hurls him back in and has a stare down with Gallows who pretty much tells The Game to bring it. Triple H follows Punk who has rolled right across the ring but Punk bounces Triple H’s head off the ropes and flies off the top rope with a clothesline as we go to commercial. Back from the break and Punk hits a big kick to the back for a near fall and applies a head scissors hold. Punk drops some elbows and covers for two. Punk calls for the GTS but Triple H fires back with strikes only for Punk to take him out with a rolling mule kick for a very close near fall. Punk whips Triple H across the ring and kicks away and tries a snap suplex but Triple H reverses it into one of his own and both men are down. Punk connects a huge roundhouse kick for another near fall and immediately reapplies the head scissors hold. Triple H makes the ropes and Punk has to break the hold and as Punk charges Triple H nails a big spinebuster putting both men down once again. Punk struggles to his feet and eats a series of right hands from Triple H who follows up with a facebuster and a flurry of strikes in the corner. Crotch chop from Triple H followed by a clothesline for a near fall and Triple H follows this up with a high knee to another near fall. Triple H set sup the Pedigree but Punk hurls him over his head and connects his big running knee but Triple H counters out of the bulldog and has Punk up in the air by holding on to one leg. Triple H drops Punk and applies a finger four leg lock. Punk screams and whilst the referee has his face to the mat to check if Punk is out, Triple H uses the ropes for extra leverage. Serena storms the ring and distracts the referee and Gallows nails Triple H with a cheap shot causing him to break the hold. Punk hits a spinning kick and gets Triple H up for the GTS but Hunter counters out and goes for the Pedigree but Serena leaps on his back which causes the disqualification. Triple H hurls Serna off and decks Punk but Serena applies a sleeper hold and Gallows assaults Triple H and beats the hell out of him. Punk then joins the assault and they go to shave Triple H’s head but Shawn hits the ring and DX double team Gallows from the ring. Punk is faced by both members of DX and uses Serena as a human shield and flees the ring. Punk teases a Superkick on Serena but she bails as the Society regroup on the outside.

Result: Triple H defeats CM Punk via disqualification ***

Chris Considers: This was a really good opener that featured some great back and forth action between Hunter and Punk. This furthers the tag team feud and as much as I wanted to see that match I understand Triple H’s complaint that the feud had not been developed, if only he was that bothered when it wasn’t one of his titles on the line!

Match 2: Chris Jericho vs R-Truth

Truth is incredibly over as he raps his way to the ring. I was surprised Jericho did not cut a promo prior to this match like he tends to. Anyway Jericho scores a big kick to the gut and punches and kicks away before applying a headlock and dropping Truth a shoulder block. Truth comes back with his arm drag takeover variant and a nice standing dropkick which sends Jericho reeling and Truth clotheslines him from the ring. Truth tries a suicide dive but Jericho steps out of the way and eats floor as we go to commercial. Back from the break and Jericho is dominating stomping and kicking away whilst mocking the fans. Jericho drops a series of knees and talks smack to Truth who fights back with punches but Jericho hauls Truth up and dumps him on the ropes for a near fall. Gut buster from Jericho leaves Truth rolling around in pain and Chris follows up with an abdominal stretch. Jericho screams at Truth to give up and Truth responds with an arm drag takeover and hit a flying clotheslines and a series of strikes before taking Jericho down with a huricanranna and a flying kick for a near fall. Truth flips and cartwheels away from Jericho but as he splits under a charge Jericho applies the Walls of Jericho but somehow Truth turns the move over and rolls Jericho up for two! Jericho tries a Codebreaker but Truth leans back against the ropes and avoids the move before applying a jack knife pin on Jericho for the victory

Result: R-Truth defeats Chris Jericho via pinfall ***

Chris Considers: Another excellent back and forth encounter. I am surprised to see Truth go over Jericho but it is a sure sign that Chris has no problem with elevating and helping up and coming talent! The end of this match was pretty innovative as well with Truth grabbing the ropes to avoid the Codebreaker. Good stuff all round!

Backstage Interview: Batista

Batista is with Josh Matthews and looking completely ridiculous wearing an outfit that makes him look like a golfer! Josh asks him about the Rumble and Batista says what he did last week was put the spotlight on him as he was robbed of his title and cheated out of his number one contender spot and last week was a statement that he will be winning the Rumble and going on to headline Wrestlemania and reclaim his title. If anyone and he means anyone: Michaels, Triple H, Cena gets in his way and tries to deprive Batista of what is his then they will get hurt.

Match 3: No Disqualification Match for the Intercontinental Championship: Drew McIntyre © vs John Morrison

Morrison gets a nice pop on his entrance and more and more fans seem to be bringing Morrison signs to ringside! Morrison gets on the mic and says unlike Drew he wasn’t picked by the brass in the back to become a corporate champion and he remember when he saw Drew drop the title on the floor to give a running chest bump to Irish buddy Sheamus, by Drew dropping the title shows Morrison that Drew doesn’t understand what the title means and whilst Drew might be talented, he takes short cuts and thinks he doesn’t have to play by the rules, well tonight there are no rules and anything goes so Drew cant cheat or run and life is shrouded by sensation and delusion and the Friday Night Delight is about to show Drew if he wants to be a champion he has to fight for it like everyone else. Drew stalks out and poses with the belt. As the match gets underway Morrison hits a flurry of strikes followed by a facebuster and a leg lariat for a near fall. Morrison clotheslines Drew from the ring to a pop from the crowd but walks right into shots from a Kendo stick. Drew hurls Morrison back in the ring and pins for a near fall, before striking away with clotheslines in the corner which earns another near fall. Drew works over Morrison’s arm but Morrison powers out and strikes with elbows and attempts to leapfrog a charging Drew who counters with a boot to the ribs. Morrison has some brutal welts from the kendo shots! Morrison fights back with a series of strikes and Drew bails to the outside and grabs his belt to leave but Morrison is having none of it and leaps off the apron with a kick and hurls Drew back in the ring before ducking an attempt from Drew to deck him with the belt. Drew connects a pair of big boots before punching away at Morrison as we go to commercial. Back from the break and Drew is in control working over Morrison’s arm and nailing a big kick to the gut. Morrison fights back and tries for Flying Chuck but Drew shoves him off the top rope and grabs the steel steps and hurls them at Morrison who ducks. Drew clotheslines Morrison into the crowd and they brawl through the fans. Morrison gets the upper hand and hurls Drew over the wall and flies over the wall himself with a clothesline. Morrison strikes away with a kendo stick but Drew connects a thumb to the eye, blinding Morrison but as Drew sets up for a kendo shot of his own Morrison nails an arm drag takeover onto the steel steps. Morrison hurls Drew in the ring and pins for two before going for Starship Pain but Drew gets his knees up and delivers his DDT which is apparently called Future Shock onto the Intercontinental Belt and pins for three.

Result: Drew McIntyre defeats John Morrison via pinfall (retains Intercontinental Championship) ***1/4

Chris Considers: This was an enjoyable match, I wish they had played up to the hardcore rules a bit more and used some tables or chairs but it was still good. Props to Morrison for taking a couple of brutal kendo shots! He was as welted as Cena was in his I quit match with Orton! Hopefully now Morrison can move away from the Intercontinental Championship and start working towards the main event. I certainly expect to see him involved in the Elimination Chamber match later this month!

In Ring Segment: Michelle McCool & Layla

Michelle McCool on the mic is never a good thing. She says she has done all of her fans a huge favour and sent Piggy James back to the barnyard for good. Michelle says she cant stop smiling and we see highlights of Layla, Beth and Michelle pouring punch and cake all over Mickie last week. Heat for Michelle as she says that’s all for Piggy James’ career and says she came ate, and cried and then ate some more and went wee wee wee all the way home. Michelle says she can understand why people are upset because Mickie will not show up to their match on Sunday but seeing as she is a fighting champion she issues an open challenge to the divas in the back. Mickie’s music hits but Layla comes out dressed in a pig suit. The two talk at each other about food and weight. The crowd really let them have it with boring chants which you tell they tired to edit as there was a strange hiss over the audio. Layla chases Michelle over the ring and they have a “match” which Michelle wins.

Chris Considers: Utterly insulting to Mickie and the fans once again. I really hope Mickie annihilates Michelle at the Rumble! I am glad the fans really turned on this segment in a big way. Michelle McCool should never be allowed to talk on a mic ever, she is just appalling!

Striker and Grisham run down the Rumble card and we see a factoid video talking about Rumble statistics which was actually pretty interesting.

Batista runs into Shawn backstage and tells him that he doesn’t care about his obsession with The Undertaker and needs to stay out of his way come Sunday. Shawn says he always thought Batista was overrated and as Batista is about to lay him out Triple H turns up and gets in Batista’s face and as Shawn walks away, Batista backs down

Main Event: Rey Mysterio vs Shawn Michaels

Rey gets a big pop on his way to the ring as does Shawn. This look set to be quite a lengthy match as we still have 20 minutes left so I am hoping it delivers big time! Shawn applies a headlock and takes Rey down before dragging him back to his feet and dropping him with a shoulder block, Shawn follows Rey around the ring connecting chops to ‘woos’ from the fans but Rey leapfrogs Shawn in the corner only to get hit with another chop. Shawn avoids a charging Rey and hurls him out of the ring only to miss a baseball slide. Rey hits a headscissors on Shawn as he gets back in the ring but as Rey goes for the 619 Shawn bails to the outside and is defiantly playing a heel role in this match! Shawn drops a knee to Rey’s stomach but misses a chop and Rey hits some strikes but Shawn counters with a strike and another chop which send Rey rolling out of the ring. Shawn follows Rey and nails further chops before hurling Rey back into the ring and connecting an overhead take down. Shawn stomps away and pulls Rey to his feet but Rey ducks a charge and hits a drop toe hold setting Shawn up the 619 but Michaels dodges and tries a Superkick but Rey grabs on to the ropes and avoids the move. Kick to the face from Rey and he takes Shawn out of the ring with a headscissors but falls to the outside himself in the process as we go to commercial. Back from the break and Rey is hitting a series of kicks on Shawn followed by elbows and strikes. Rey works over Shawn’s left leg and applies a hold which Rey breaks to deliver further kicks and headbutts. Shawn fights up and chops away before connecting a swinging neckbreaker but sells the leg injury and doesn’t make the cover. Shawn chops away and whips Rey into the corner but Rey sends Shawn into the turnbuckle with a drop toe hold but as Rey goes for a moonsault Shawn crotches him and hangs him up in the corner but is unable to do anything as he is selling his injuries and Rey falls limply to the mat. Shawn goes for a scoop slam but Rey wriggles out and tries a drop kick but Shawn grabs his legs and applies an Indian Deathlock. Rey screams in pain but is eventually able to reach the ropes and as Shawn tries to reapply the hold Rey hits an enzuguri and both men are down. The two exchange strikes and Shawn takes Rey down with a flying elbow before kipping up and going for an inverted atomic drop but Rey hits a huricanranna and gets a boot up as Shawn charges before connecting a Seated Senton for a close near fall. Both men struggle to feet and Rey tries for a springboard crossbody but Shawn catches him and hits a knee to the gut and pins for a near fall. Shawn tries for a scoop slam again but Rey counters with a DDT and tries a diving headbutt but Shawn gets his knees up to counter and heads to the top rope and hits his elbow drop calls for the Superkick but Rey counters with a rolling mule kick sending Shawn into the ropes and Rye connects a 619 but is unable to springboard as he is selling his injuries. Rey eventually springboards right into a Superkick and both men are down. Batista hits the ring to a tonne of heat and spears Shawn and delivers a Spinebuster to Rey. Batista goes for a Batista Bomb but Triple H hits the ring and they slug it out with Triple H nailing a spinebuster and clotheslines him from the ring but takes himself to the outside in the process. The lights go out and Undertaker’s gong hits and when it comes back on Taker grabs both Rey and Shawn and nails a double chokeslam leaving both men flattened and Taker poses above their fallen bodies.

Result: Rey Mysterio defeats Shawn Michaels via disqualification ***1/2

Chris Considers: Awesome main event that featured some really solid wrestling from both Rey and Shawn. I wouldn’t mind seeing them go at it again at some point as this was just a taster of what they could do! The spot where Michaels hit the Superkick on Rey in mid air was awesome! The ending was great and I liked seeing Triple H and Batista go at it again, would be interesting to see them feud now that the heel/face roles have been reversed! Undertaker exacting some punishment on his would be challengers was fitting and a great way to close the show

There were only four matches on the show this week but all four of them delivered big time. The only thing tonight that I did not care for was the continuation of the Piggy James stuff but hopefully Michelle will get what is coming to her come Sunday! Other than that this was a fantastic go home show that featured some excellent wrestling and a very cool opening promo. This would be one to watch!

I shall be back very shortly with my Rumble Review and then in the week with another Roadrunner blog and then next weekend with Chris Reviews Smackdown I hope you all have a great week! As always you can email me on a_agreement_called_forever@hotmail.com , add me on facebook: www.facebook.com\wnws.chris.jacks  or follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/WNWsChrisJacks  I would love to hear from you!

This week’s match of the night was Rey vs Micheals and the show scores a great 9.5/10

Here are ten points to consider coming out of this week’s show
• I enjoyed the opening segment, Hunter can still be very on the mic and his ripping on Rey and the Society made me laugh a lot.
• I also enjoyed his match with Punk. Punk came out of this looking good, whilst Triple H lost no momentum either, sometimes interference is needed and I think here was the perfect example of that.
• A good match between Truth and Jericho, I was surprised at the result but then Jericho has never had a problem putting others over.
• Batista looked ridiculous in that interview, a muscle man golfer!
• Props to Morrison for taking such brutal kendo shots! I they are still sore now!
• Hopefully now Morrison will begin his main event ascent now this feud is seemingly over.
• More insults and degrading crap from Layla and Michelle, lets hope WWE does the right thing at the Rumble!
• What a great match from Rey and Shawn! I would love to see them wrestle again for 20-30 minutes on pay per view!
• How awesome was Shawn countering the springboard move with a Superkick! That looked great
• Nice to see Undertaker exacting some punishment on those who would seek to challenge him, despite the fact he doesn’t wrestle much, he is a very effective champion!

My top ten matches of the year so far in WWE is on hold until after the Royal Rumble in order to get a series of decent matches in the list!

Smackdown Power 10

1: The Undertaker
2: Rey Mysterio
3: Batista
4: Drew McIntyre
5: CM Punk & Luke Gallows
6: John Morrison
7: Chris Jericho
8: R-Truth (+2)
9: Kane (-1)
10: Michelle McCool (NE)

Watch any WWE programming you miss at www.Dailymotion.com , your online source for TV shows!

Hey everyone and welcome to this week’s edition of Chris Reviews Smackdown. In this week’s blog I shall be discussing some of the major pros and cons of the weeks wrestling shows and analysing Smackdown. Please feel free to leave some feedback via the comment board or drop an email to a_agreement_called_forever@hotmail.com  

Well the Royal Rumble is certainly starting to take shape and is being built well across all three WWE brands. We now know that some major players will be involved in the Rumble including DX (who I was really hoping would be defending the tag belts) as well as John Cena, Batista and Chris Jericho. I actually hope that none of these established stars win the match and instead the push is given to an up and coming worker such as Kofi Kingston, John Morrison or even Ted DiBiase. I think if WWE cannot persuade the Rock to come back for Wrestlemania 26 then it would be the perfect time to start a long running John Cena vs Batista feud which would actually be pretty decent now we have a clear heel/face divide and in the one time we have seen them together already they really delivered so that could be good. There are two open spots in the Rumble and I really hope WWE brings back Edge early and have him either win the Rumble or take out Chris Jericho at the very least. If Edge were to win it and was not quite at 100%, he could be cutting a promo on Smackdown the next week and Jericho could take him out and “reinjure” him and then demand a title match against Undertaker from Teddy Long in which HBK could cost Unedrtaker the title setting up their match and giving Jericho a run as champion leading into Wrestlemania. Jericho could retain at No Way Out only to get taken out by a returning Edge at the end of the show setting up their main event title feud for Wrestlemania. This is pure speculation but despite some lacklustre TV, WWE have so many potential exciting options leading into the biggest show of the year and I seriously hope they go for something new and different rather than the same tried and trusted guys battling for the title AGAIN!

Speaking of lacklustre TV, I thought RAW this week was absoultly appalling (with the exception of the outstanding opening segment with Vince, Undertaker and Shawn) I stayed up to watch this, thinking Undertaker would be on at the end and then to my delight he was on at the start and after that I went to sleep and watched the rest of the show online the next day. Why the hell does Hornswoggle have to ruin every single main event!?!?! I was quite excited at seeing DX vs Miz & Big Show, certainly to get a look at how the Miz worked against Shawn (which he did well) but the whole thing descended into another stupid comedy farce. I hate Hornswoggle, he makes anything involving DX pretty much unwatchable these days. I seriously don’t know how Hunter and Shawn can abide participating in this crap! Also Alicia Fox and Maryse need to go to FCW for some training as their match on Monday could have filled an entire episode of Bothcamania! I don’t know what has happened to Maryse but since she moved to RAW, she has certainly lost some of the skill she displayed whilst improving on Smackdown. John Heder plain sucked as a guest host, the crowd couldn’t care less about him and neither could I. Napoleon Dynamite is a rubbish film, that is not even remotely funny and people just pretend to like cause they think its cool! He pretty much sucked the life out of every segment he was involved in! In the lead up to Wrestlemania, WWE really need to step up their game and improve their Monday night programming because its getting to the point for me now where I am considering stopping watching RAW altogether as I feel I usually enjoy about 10 minutes of each show and the other hour and 50 would be better spent playing Dragon Age Origins! WWE should be worried because I am a diehard, hardcore fan that has been watching RAW for years and I think right now it is the worst it has ever been and if I am thinking that god knows what the casual fans are thinking!

Thankfully as always ECW was a breathe of fresh air on Tuesday night and delivered two solid matches in Croft & Baretta vs Yoshi & Goldust and Christian vs Regal. Both of these matches were better than anything on RAW (or Impact! This week) and I really hope WWE abandons its restructuring plan for ECW as it nearly always delivers week in, week out. I do however think that the Abraham Washington Show needs scrapping! If Santino Marella cannot save it, then nothing can!

After a hit and miss ppv in Genesis, I felt TNA needed to up their game this week on Impact, instead they took their game, Hogan took a big steaming dump on it and flushed it right down the toilet. My god how awful was that show! I think Kendra pretty much summed it up but seriously how the hell did that crap do a 1.26!!! The good on Impact was AJ worked very well as a heel on the mic combined with Flair (and drew a surprising amount of heat), I also enjoyed Mr Anderson’s promo as well as the Pope’s backstage one prior to his match but… Orlando Friggin Jordan cleanly over the Pope in ONE move!?!?! The disgrace of a human being that is Bubba The Love Sponge taking up my TV time?!?! The fat and horrendously out of shape Nasty Boys pinning the best up and coming heel in the company?!?! TNA trying to stage and recreate a WWE event from over 10 years ago!?!?! The only people screwed in the Orlando Screw Job were the fans who had tuned in to watch this crap! You all know how much I love TNA but seriously many more shows like this and I really don’t know how much longer I will watch Impact. This was the worst TNA TV I have seen since Sacrifice 2008 which is right up there with Cyber Sunday 2006 as one of the worst pay per views in wrestling history! Dixie Carter needs to take a look at what hundreds and thousands of disgruntled TNA fans are saying on Twitter and take some action else TNA will alienate and piss off all of its hardcore audience, who will go elsewhere for their wrestling and once the buzz of Hogan has died down the ratings will tank.

TNA should be emphasising how different they are from WWE rather than trying to become a cheap imitation of them! I want to see long and decent X-Division, Tag Team and Knockout matches every week on Impact all contested in the SIX sided ring which set TNA apart. I want to see the likes of Joe, Morgan, Daniels, Hernandez, MCMGs, Lethal Consequences etc wrestling on TV EVERY week rather than Hogan’s buddies and WCW rejects. I seriously hope someone can talk some sense into Bischoff and he brings Hogan under control because I have read more negative comments about TNA in the last two weeks than I have in the last two years! I want TNA to succeed and I want them to challenge WWE but I am sure when Vince sees their PPV cards featuring the likes of the Nasty Boys and Orlando Jordan he will just laugh and continue to churn out his watered down PG crap, safe in the knowledge that a company that puts a guy who couldn’t even get on WWE TV, over a home-grown main event TNA star, will NEVER EVER be competition for him.

One last little rant before I go on to Smackdown. Bubba The Love Sponge… this man is a disgrace to the human race and is wasting valuable oxygen by breathing. His outrageous comments on Haiti should have got him fired on the spot, Kong and others from TNA worked tirelessly on Twitter raising funds for relief and this piece of shit has the nerve to tell them they should be worrying about the US instead! I think this moron should be dropped off in the middle of the devastation in Haiti and observe first hand the agony and suffering that thousands are going through and maybe he would change his tune. Then again the guy is such a self obsessed idiot that he would probably be unphased! The way Bubba and Hogan ripped Kong (who Hogan kissed up to on his book signing tour) on his radio show was a disgusting and disrespectful. I wish Kong had hit him a bit harder and knocked some sense into him. If Dixie has any sense she will fire this lowlife before he drags TNA’s name any further into the mud. I would like to comment on the prospect of both Kong and Alissa in WWE but until it is confirmed that they have left TNA I do not want to speculate on it. My apologies for such a venomous rant but the more I read on this guy, the angrier it makes me!

So with the discussion done it is on to this week’s Smackdown!

Grisham welcomes us to ringside and hypes Morrison in a two on one handicap match against Drew and Jericho later in the night. That should certainly be a good match!

Match 1: Batista vs Finlay

Batista makes his way to the ring and we see shots of lots of little kids giving him the thumbs down. I am liking Batista’s Steiner-esque muscle flexing! Finlay NEEDS to change his music! The two lock up and Batista forces Finlay into the corner but then stops to flex his muscles and Finlay strikes away, Batista comes back with a knee and whips the Irishman into the corner but Finlay gets a boot up and comes off the top rope with a drop kick for a near fall. Finlay connects the Celtic Cross for a near fal followed by a leg drop and Finlay talks some smack before kicking Batista out of the ring. Finlay follows to the outside and Batista shoves his hands into Finlay’s eyes causing the disqualification. Batista flips out and hurls Finaly over the announce desk and delivers a thunderous Spear as Finlay gets to his feet. Batista continues the assault and picks Finlay up and hammers him into ring posts, security walls and steel steps. Finlay is prone on the mat and Batista shoves him back in the ring. Batista nails a spinebuster and grabs a mic and says imagine that times twenty nine as that is what is happening at the Rumble. Batista calls out names like Triple H, Shawn and Cena and stomps on Finlay as he does. Batista tells The Undertaker he will win the Rumble and recapture the title at Wrestlemania and his title reign will begin as The Undertaker’s streak ends!

Result: Finlay defeats Batista via disqualification *1/2

Chris Considers: This was a bit of a nothing match, and Finlay pretty much dominated until Batista got himself disqualified. However the post match beat down was savage and not only did this put Batista over more as a heel it also built the Rumble well as obviously Batista is one of the big guns taking part. Good booking all around!

We see a video package of Rey Mysterio winning the 2006 Rumble in somewhat controversial fashion!

In Ring Segment: The Straight Edge Society

We see highlights of Punk and Gallows winning the Fatal For Way tag match last week as the Society make their way out to heat from the fans. Punk stops at the top of the ramp to a chorus of boos. Punk says there is a reason he and Gallows are number one contenders and there is a reason they will bring honour and dignity to the tag titles when they defeat two morally corrupt individuals in Shawn Michaels and Triple H next week. Punk says that reason is they are straightedge and that is exactly what is going to propel Punk through 29 other men at The Royal Rumble to become the first ever straightedge Rumble winner. Punk says its simple, when your straightedge you are a winner unlike all the loser audience members (huge heat from the fans) Punk says they can boo all they want but he sees them for they really are: cowards who hide behind pills, alcohol and cigarettes. Punk says he sees this sea of depravity, the morally corrupt people rotting before his eyes, parents carelessly drinking in front of their children ensuring the next generation will be as hopelessly lost as this one. Punk says he sees a very misguided and weak minded majority as a huge ‘You Suck’ crowd breaks out. Punk says the majority beg for a saviour to reach out and take them to the promised land. Punk says it used to make him sick but now it makes him smile. He knows he is better than the fans but he can wash away all their problems and save each and every last one of them if they pledge allegiance to his straight edge society. Punk asks who wants to be saved. A woman rushes Punk and gets in his face and pleads with him but Gallows screams at security to hurl the woman out. Some guards grab her but she screams at Punk that she needs him. Punk says he can tell she needs him and tells security to let her go and sends Luke to get her. The woman says she needs Punk and he says he knows and he can look into her eyes and see a lifetime of pain and suffering. Punk asks her name and she says it is Serena. Punk says he is going to ask her a question that these cowards cannot ask themselves. Punk asks her if she is an addict and she says she is but want to change. Punk says she is just like all of these mindless people waiting at the pharmacy for the next pill. Punk says she knows she works in her mundane job counting the hours down until she can get off work and have her first sip of alcohol (pop from the fans) Serena says there was a time she thought she couldn’t survive without pills. Punk says its ok and now she is around friends and not before when she was surrounded by enablers. Punk says all the fans are enablers and not only to they not care about Serena but they do not care about themselves either. Punk says he can look in her eyes and see she has tried to take steps towards sobriety but with every step forward she gets pushed three steps back, it is one thing to pledge sobriety but it is a completely different thing to draw an X on her first and pledge allegiance: one nation under Punk, to the straightedge society to learn to live and love your life the way it was intended to be. Punk says he has one more question for Serena: is she ready to pledge allegiance to him and the straightedge society. She says she is and Punk asks her to sit down and raise her right hand and touch the sky and be proud of who she is but prouder of who she is about to become. Serena accepts straightedge into her life and Punk as her saviour. Punk says from this moment on Serena will never have to walk alone again or question who her friends are. Punk asks if she is ready to prove her devotion through actions as well as words. She says she is and Luke passes Punk the clippers (Serena has really long hair!) we go to commercial and when we return Punk is shaving away to heat from the fans whilst Serena appears to be greatly pleasured. Striker talks up Serena and says she appears to be euphoric and her new look is attractive. Punk continues to shave, doing a better job than in previous weeks! Punk kisses Serena’s head and says it just happened to her and he wants all the sheep to know that it could happen to them too. Punk says one more person who is better than the whole of the WWE Universe and newest member of the straightedge society: Serena. Heat from the fans as Serena and Punk have a cuddle.

Chris Considers: Wow I think that was the best one yet! If you want to see a flawless heel promo check this out! Punk is so good at this and is thriving in his new role on Smackdown! From what I understand Serena is going to be a permanent member of the Straight Edge Society. Major props to her for going through that! Just shows how committed to her career she is when she is willing to shave her hair for it! Hell I don’t think I would do that!

Match 2: Two on One Handicap Match John Morrison & R-Truth vs Chris Jericho and Drew McIntyre

Striker tells us how Vickie Guerrero set this match up and wonders what Morrison has done to offend her. Both Drew and Jericho get heat whilst Morrison gets a nice pop. However before the match gets underway Long’s music hits and he walks to the top of the ramp. He says hold it a minute playas, don’t ring the bell. Vickie may be his consultant but she did not consult him before making this match so it is now officially a tag team match and Morrison’s partner is: R-Truth! Jericho and Drew throw a hissy fit in the ring as Truth raps his way to the ring to a big time pop from the crowd. Morrison and Jericho start things off with Jericho immediately applying a headlock but Morrison fights out only to get dropped by a shoulder block from Jericho who poses to plenty of heat from the fans. Morrison ducks and leapfrogs some charges before taking Jericho down with an arm drag takeover followed by a drop kick and a couple of strikes before taking in Truth and they hit a double team arm drag takeover on Jericho before a double kip up and a double cheap shot to McIntyre on the outside. They hurl Jericho onto Drew and fire up the fans to big pops from the crowd as the heels regroup on the outside. Truth pursues Jericho and slaps him before tossing him back in the ring and applying a hammerlock and tagging in Morrison who hits a top rope axe handle onto Jericho’s extended arm. Jericho fights back with a boot to the face and a clothesline before hitting a cheap shot on Truth sending him crashing into the security wall. Jericho however turns right into a leg lariat from Morrison for a near fall. As Jericho whips Morrison across the ring Drew grabs his hair whilst Chris distracts the referee, Morrison turns to strike at Drew who bails off the apron and Morrison turns into a drop kick which sends him tumbling through the middle rope. The referee tries to keep order but Jericho distracts the referee Drew stomps away at Morrison. Jericho hauls Morrison back into the ring and connects a back suplex before tagging in Drew and the heels double team Morrison with stomps and strikes. Drew pummels Morrison in the corner but is called off by the referee, the crowd rally behind Morrison in a big way but Drew decapitates Morrison with a huge clothesline for a near fall. Jericho makes his way over to announce and screams at Grisham to look at how Drew is man handling Morrison, that’s a champion and to tell the people that, priceless! Drew applies a hammerlock on the mat as the crowd continue to clap for Morrison. Drew breaks the hold and nails some vicious stomps but Morrison comes back with kicks and strikes only for Drew to nail him in the face with a big boot. On landing it looked like Drew tweaked his knee and he immediately tags in Jericho and struggles to hold Morrison down as Jericho connects a running knee. Drew hobbles out of the ring as Jericho stalks Morrison preventing him making the hot tag. Jericho applies a headlock and demands the referee ‘ask him’ as Truth fires up the crowd and Morrison punches free and takes Jericho down with a back breaker followed by a side Russian leg sweep and both men are down. Jericho makes the hot tag and Drew runs right over Morrison and sends Truth flying off the apron and proceeds to stomp away on Morrison as we go to commercial. Back from the break and Drew is dominating but Morrison comes back with strikes and a boot to the face in the corner but Drew connects a really nice tilt-a-whirl back breaker for a near fall. Jericho talks smack to the referee and Drew tags him in. Chris arrogantly kicks away at Morrison, slamming his head into the mat before taunting Truth who tries to get in the ring but gets ordered out by the referee. Vertical suplex from Jericho and he mocks the crowd before choking Morrison on the ropes and whilst the referee hauls him off Drew nails a boot to Morrison’s face. Jericho stomps away and talks smack to Truth before kicking Morrison in the ribs to huge heat. Jericho sets Morrison up on the top rope and goes for a superplex as a huge ‘Morrison’ chant breaks out. Morrison punches Jericho free and flies off the top ropes with the cross body for a near fall. Morrison tries to tag in Truth but Jericho grabs his foot and prevents him making the tag. Morrison is dragged towards the heel corner but is able to kick Jericho off but Chris once again is able to make the hot tag first and Drew is in an dimmeiatly working Morrison over with strikes. Drew stares down Truth and nails a nice snap suplex for a near fall. Morrison comes back with punches but Drew drops him with more strikes and tags in Jericho who slaps Morrison with a knee pad before tagging in Drew who stomps John’s fingers and whips him across the ring and goes for a powerslam but Morrison somehow hits a phenomenal counter and turns it into a tilt-a-whirl DDT. Both men are down and crawl towards their corners and make their hot tags and Truth enters the ring to a Cean-esque pop. Truth takes it to Jericho with strikes and kicks before leapfrogging and splitting under his offence and nailing a jumping bicycle kick for a near fall which Drew breaks up. Morrison kicks Drew through the ropes and then hits a running knee sending the Scotsman tumbling from the apron but Morrison is hurled out by Jericho who is rolled up by Truth a near fall. Jericho hits a standing dropkick which turns Truth inside out but Morrison hurls Drew back into the ring which distracts the referee from noticing Jericho making the pin. As Jericho storms about, Morrison connects an amazing pele kick from the ground to Jericho in the ring and Truth connects the Scissor Kick for the pinfall and victory to an enormous pop from the crowd.

Result: John Morrison & R-Truth defeat Chris Jericho & Drew McIntyre via pinfall ***3/4

Chris Considers: Wow what a match! Nothing tonight will be able to follow that! That was a pay per view quality tag match right there! This match basically put over Morrison as super resilient and able to absorb a great deal of punishment. The crowd were seriously into this match and I have never heard such a great response fo R-Truth (Smackdown Creative take notice and resume his push!) Morrison and Truth come out of this match looking like stars and it sets up next weeks Intercontinental Title match big time as well as further building the Royal Rumble where all of thse guys will be competing. Outstanding TV match that I urge you all to check out! My only concern is Drew’s injury as he looked to be in quite a bit of pain when he initially tweaked his knee but major props to him for gutting it out and wrestling for about another 8 minutes afterwards!

We see highlights Rey defeating Kurt Angle and Randy Orton to win the World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania 22, nice moment but sadly for all the wrong reasons.

In Ring Segment: Michelle McCool, Layla, Mickie James, Maria & Beth Phoenix

Michelle is in the ring cutting a wooden promo. She says the bad news is she was supposed to have a championship match with Piggy James at the Royal Rumble but that’s not happening anymore. Layla says that’s a shame because everyone wants to see Michelle and Michelle says they want to see Layla as well but Michelle has some good news is as of tonight Piggy James will be leaving Smackdown for ever. Layla says yay and does the ‘That’s All Folks’ from the cartoons and the fans give mild heat as Michelle and Layla say how happy it makes them. Michelle says someone on the outside looks unhappy but he should be happy because they are giving Mickie this wonderful send off and the girls comment on how sweet they are and say this is exactly the send off Mickie would want with lots and lots of food. Michelle says we have a pig cake, cup cakes and potato chips and tries to lift the cake but says its too heavy just like piggy. Maria interrupts this crap to a pop from the fans. Maria says that Layla and Michelle are annoying and gets a big pop fom the crowd before saying this ends right here, right now and the only thing they are good at is torturing Mickie and this ends tonight. Maria says the only people that should be leaving Smackdown are Michelle and Layla and calls them tweedel dee and tweedel dum and says they can walk out hand in hand or get carried out. Michelle and Layla rip Maria and say she is underfed and say she should be out getting Donald Trump a Starbucks or something? Maria asks Michelle what exactly she has done but Layla rips in with some more scathing comments on Mickie saying if she leaves then Maria will be able to eat and Michelle tells her she better be quick. Maria mocks them and says the only thing she is excited for not seeing is the two morons. Maria gets right up in Michelle’s face talking smack as Mickie’s music hits and she comes out with a mic saying she is really sick of their petty, childish mean girl crap (You go Mickie, no PG here!) Mickie says the fact is she has dealt with girls like Michelle and Layla her entire life and they actually try to make everyone believe they are so much better than them. Michelle tries to say she is but Mickie cuts her off and says that deep down inside they know they are nothing. Mickie says she all she does is pity them and as Layla and Michelle squawk in disagreement Mickie demands they look at her and says this is what a real woman looks like (big pop from the crowd) Layla and Michelle squak their disagreement but Mickie continues and tells them to looks at all the women in the audience, they are short, tall, fat, skinny, curvy, gorgeous, no they are sexy. Layla and Michelle says they are flawless. Mickie says when are they going to get it through their thick skulls, she is Mickie James and she is exactly the way god intended her to be and she is proud of it (big pop once again) Mickie says don’t think for one minute their teasing or tortutring is going to get to her or chase her off the show because the only people that are ever going to tell her to go anywhere are the WWE Univerese and she thinks they are happy with her right here (another big pop) Layla says of course they want her to stay because she is easiest to see in the ring and Michelle tells her when she is in the ring they get to see WWE and Animal Planet all at the same time. Mickie asks them if they are smarter than a fifth grader, not quite! Mickie says we all saw it and Michelle sucked. Mickie says she will be at the Rumble and after all the embarssesment they have put Mickie through it is time she embaresses them and teaches them some manners! Mickie drops Layla with a stiff right hand and goes right after Michelle whilst Maria takes care of Layla. Mickie pummels Michelle in the corner but Beth hits the ring and stops and looks really torn before going after Maria and hurling her into the ring post. Beth then goes after Mickie and Layla, Michelle and Beth treble team her and Michelle grabs a mic and says it looks like feeding time. Beth and Layla hold Mickie and Michelle says sweet and rubs the cake into Mickie’s face. Michelle dumps punch all over Mickie and Layla and Michelle proceed to wipe cake all over Mickie to huge heat from the fans leaving Mickie in tears in the ring.

Chris Considers: I am actually torn with what I think about this. One one hand I think it is disgraceful that Layla, Michelle and the booking team are humiliating Mickie week after week on TV with these cruel taunts but on the other hand it has achieved the seemingly unthinkable and made me really care about the women’s division on Smackdown again because I really want to see Mickie go out there at the Rumble and kick the shit out of Michelle Layla and now Beth for what they have done to her. Tasteless and disgusting this angle may be but is has drawn me in and made me care about the outcome of this feud which is something that hasn’t happened since the Trish and Lita era in WWE. Something else that I would like to mention is how awesome Maria and Mickie were on the mic, they delivered two of the best women’s promos since Lita and really drew the crowd in to what they were saying, I found myself smiling and cheering for Mickie as she said she was proud of who she was and was left fuming with what Michelle, Layla and Beth did to her afterwards. It seems WWE swerved us and Beth is remaining heel and that is ok, I don’t care just as long as they do the right thing and put Mickie over in a BIG way at the Rumble. This feud has been running for so long it deserves 15 minutes and one of the most savage beat downs the women’s division has ever seen as Mickie unleashes hell.

Match 3: Cryme Tyme vs Mike Knox & Charlie Haas

Haas and Knox didn’t even get an entrance so I think we know where this one is going! Knox forces JTG into the heel corner but JTG ducks a strike and nails a facebuster and teases tagging in Shad but decides to take Haas himself, however Kane’s music hits and he storms to the ring as everyone looks around in a kind of WTF moment. Kane takes everyone out of the ring and activates his pyro and poses to a pop from the fans

Result: Cryme Tyme vs Mike Knox & Charlie Haas goes to a no contest n/a

Chris Considers: As a match I am not even rating that, but what this did do was build the Royal Rumble and put Kane over in a big way. Simultaneously taking out Shad and Mike Knox is no mean feat!

We see highlights of Rey defeating Batista last week in that really quite awesome cage match!

Striker and Grisham run down the Royal Rumble card to that amazing Skillet theme song which I reviewed in my Roadrunner Blog this week. The card looks solid and I have to say I think this event is going to deliver big time!

Match 4: The Great Khali & Matt Hardy vs The Hart Dynasty

Khali and Matt dance around lamely in the ring, I bet Matt Hardy feels sick inside! Matt and Tyson start out and Tyson applies a hammerlock which Matt reverses and drops Tyson with a clothesline for an early one count. Tyson forces Matt into the heel corner and tags in Smith who holds Matt whilst Tyson hits a leg drop. Smith rams Hardy into the apron and hits a beautiful standing vertical suplex for a one count. Smith applies a headlock but Matt battles free and we get a nice sequence with Smith trying for a powerslam which Matt reverses for a neckbreaker which Smith reverses into a whip but Matt fires back with a Side Effect and both men are down. Tyson sends Natalya over to Khali and she pretty much gets her boobs out and distracts Khali and strokes him before leading him off up the ramp. Back in the ring the Hart Dynasty set up for The Hart Attack but Matt shoves Smith into Tyson knocking him off the apron and gets Smith in a small package for the pinfall and victory

Result: The Great Khali & Matt Hardy defeat The Hart Dynasty via pinfall *

Chris Considers: Well it looks like Matt is stuck working with Khali for the time being. I really feel sorry for him! This was a weird match, I mean if they are going with Khali getting distracted by Natalya, why give Matt the win. It was kind of innovative but at the same time kind of failed in my opinion

In Ring Segment: Rey Mysterio & The Undertaker

Rey comes out to a big pop from the fans and greets the kids on the way to the ring. Rey is apparently here to call out The Undertaker! Rey gets on the mic and says he has been in the back all night and heard what people have been saying about why he would be crazy or stupid enough to call out the Undertaker. Rey says four years ago he won his first world championship which was a dream come true and the only thing standing between him and his dream again is the walking nightmare known as The Undertaker (the fans pop but not sure if it was for Rey or the mention of Taker!) Rey says he wants to call him out, look him in the eyes and tell him that he is not afraid. Rey calls Undertaker to the ring just like he promised. The gong hits and the lights go out as The Undertaker makes his way to the ring and looks at Rey in disgust. Taker gets a mic and asks Rey if he is having second thoughts! Rey said he would by lying if he said he wasn’t but he is going to stand his ground. The Undertaker looks amused as Rey continues by saying last time they fought Rey had him on the ropes and he is willing to do whatever it takes to win. Rey says this time there will be no Batista or Shawn Michaels and Rey has had both dreams and nightmares and he has always conquered his nightmares with his dreams and he will conquer the nightmare of The Undertaker by reliving his dream of becoming World Champion. Rey says at the Royal Rumble he will defeat him. Undertaker looks really amused and mocks Rey and says those are awful bold words but then again Rey has made a career out of doing the impossible, in fact Rey has probably conquered about everything in his life but there is one thing Rey needs to be aware of and that is he nor anyone else triumphs over the grave. Undertaker says he admires Rey’s galantary for seeking out the World Heavyweight Championship but what he is doing is digging his own grave. Undertaker says at The Royal Rumble, Rey will suffer the same fate that everyone has done who that have tried to make a name for themselves at Taker’s expense! Taker tells Rey he will rest in peace and stares down at him before the lights turn blue and Taker leaves the ring, Rey looks on from the ring and doesn’t attempt anything stupid but does get back on the mic and shouts at Undertaker who stops and looks back. Rey says he is not like the rest but Batista blindsides Rey and nails him with a Spinebuster followed by a thunderous Batista Bomb. Undertaker stalks back to the ring and Batista bails to the outside and makes off into the fans. Undertaker looks pissed and storms off leaving Rey laying in the ring.

Chris Considers: This was a really good promo that did plenty to build the title match at the Rumble. I like the fact they are playing up to the fact that Rey is not afraid and he will do whatever it takes to win and this was some solid build. I disagree with Batista getting involved at the end but I guess we will be having some sort of Undertaker & Rey vs Batista & Jericho? Tag match next week.

Ok wrestling wise tonight we had one outstanding match in Morrison & R-Truth vs Jericho & Mcintyre. Everything else match wise was either forgettable or crappy. However I challenge you to find me a show which had better promos than those we saw tonight. CM Punk, Maria, Mickie James and The Undertaker were all on fire and delivered some truly memorable segments. As for the best of them, I have to give that to Mickie as she was speaking from the heart. I really hope she kicks the crap out of Michelle at The Rumble. Speaking of the Rumble this show built pretty much every possible feud and angle leading into it as well as some compelling matches next week in DX vs The Straight Edge Society and Morrison vs McIntyre. One awesome match and three awesome promos combined with a seriously HOT crowd made for one hell of a show and whilst normally I prefer less talking and more in ring action, tonight I was gripped.

I shall be back in the week with another Roadrunner blog and then next weekend with Chris Reviews Smackdown and Rumble Predictions. I am really psyched for the Rumble and the final week of WWE TV leading into it. I hope you all have a great week!As always you can email me on a_agreement_called_forever@hotmail.com , add me on facebook: www.facebook.com\wnws.chris.jacks  or follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/WNWsChrisJacks  I would love to hear from you!

This week’s match of the week was Morrison & R-Truth vs Jericho & Mcintyre and the show scores a great 9/10

Here are ten points to consider coming out of tonight’s show!
• A bit of a crappy match between Batista and Finlay was followed by an awesome and savage beatdown! It is refreshing to see a heel who doesn’t play the coward all the time!
• I feel it was particularly well booked as not only did it get Batista over more as a heel by annihilating the popular Finlay, it also helped build the Rumble because in the eyes of casual fans Batista would be considered one of the favourites!
• CM Punk is the perfect heel! His mic work is flawless, he is so very good at playing this preachy better than you character and attracts so much heat! This Straightedge Society is really taking off and I cannot wait to see more next week!
• Major props to Serena for going through having her head shaved on her debut, certainly shows how committed she is to the role! I would definitely like to see her as a permanent stable member, there was plenty of on screen chemistry between her and Punk!
• What an outstanding tag team match between Morrison & Truth vs McIntyre & Jericho! I’m so happy they gave this a good fifteen minutes and just let the guy s go out there and shine. Morrison comes out of this looking like a championship contender!
• I only hope Drew isn’t hurt too bad and is able to compete next week as well as at The Rumble. A no disqualification match for the IC belt next week should be awesome!
• My thoughts on the Piggy James angle are well documented, but it has made me care about the WWE women’s division in a way I did not think was really possible with what it has become. I know I will be marking out for Mickie big time to go out and take out the trash next Sunday!
• Both Mickie and Maria really brought it on the mic in a way no one has done since Lita in WWE. Mickie in particular had me gripped as she tore into Michelle and Layla.
• I liked the idea of Natalya distracting Khali but the match was too short and giving Hardy the win kind of made the whole idea pointless. Props for innovation but not the execution
• I disliked Batista nailing Rey at the end seeing as he is no longer involved in this feud and felt it would have ended better if the show had ended with Rey saying he is not like the rest and for Taker to remember that, but I guess this sets up a tag match next week.

My top ten matches of the year so far in WWE is on hold until after the Royal Rumble in order to get a series of decent matches in the list!

Smackdown Power 10

1: The Undertaker
2: Rey Mysterio
3: Batista
4: Drew McIntyre
5: CM Punk & Luke Gallows
6: John Morrison (+1)
7: Chris Jericho (-1)
8: Kane
9: Matt Hardy & The Great Khali (NE)
10: R-Truth (NE)

Watch any WWE programming you miss at www.Dailymotion.com  , your online source for TV shows!

Hey everyone and welcome to this week’s edition of Chris Reviews Smackdown. In this week’s blog I give my brief thoughts on RAW, Ezekiel Jackson challenging for the ECW title, who I think TNA’s big name debut at Genesis will be and analyse the show. Be sure to leave some feedback via the comment board or drop an email to a_agreement_called_forever@hotmail.com  

One of my readers: Mike, asked me during the week why I did not respond to comments on the comment board anymore and that is to do with the way my phone works. My old, old phone used to work fine with the WNW comment board, then my previous phone did not work at all (wouldn’t even view comments) and now my latest phone a G2 Touch Plus from T-Mobile lets me view the comments but due to some sort of Java error will not let me post. Considering how much I work etc I would say 90% of my web browsing is done via my phone and almost all of my wrestling reading and research as I do it on the go. Hopefully when I get another phone in December when my contract is up it will have whatever phone browsing software is compatible with WNW. So my apologies for not commenting on the board but it seems that is how it is going to be for the foreseeable future, unless of course I am browsing on my laptop and comment, I am often on just after posting blogs and following pay per views.

RAW on Monday was somewhat forgettable and as usual had more negatives than positives. Michael Cole is getting so unbearable on commentary that it is getting to the point where I am muting the sound. As Rob correctly pointed out he gave away that Bourne would not be winning the Battle Royale on ECW, which was beyond stupid. I am not sure how I feel about a heel vs heel title match at The Rumble although I am pretty sure the crowd will be solidly behind Randy for the match. Had I been booking this I would have put Kofi over and given him a main event test, much as they did with Jeff in 2007, as I do not think Kofi is in with a shout at winning the Rumble. I think one of the things that hurt the show the most was the DEAD crowd, hell when I went to see Smackdown last year I had almost lost my voice by the end of the show, I had been cheering and shouting that much. I cannot understand why anyone would just go to an event and sit there quietly. There was however one diamond in the rough and that was of course The Miz and MVP who delivered one of the most mesmerising promos I can remember in some time. All of you guys have been quite correct in your comments on Paul’s blog, it truly was outstanding. I have been raving about MVP since I started writing these blogs and The Miz has improved beyond anyone’s expectations and become the primary reason I watch RAW these days. There was so much intensity and fire in this promo and it was done so well that when it comes to a Miz DVD showing his career highlights this is sure to be on it! This built and developed this feud better than anything else on RAW and despite the fact these two probably wont get a pay per view match, I cannot wait to see them face off for the title. Both guys, but MVP in particular, deserve to be working much higher up the card and for my money either would make a more convincing and over champion than Sheamus, and that is not a criticism of Sheamus, I do think he shows a lot of potential and is realy solid on the mic, but it has all come so quickly due to backstage politics rather than actual ability. The Miz and MVP have worked hard and paid their dues for years in the lower and mid cards of various brands and now have to take a backseat to a relative newcomer and the usual main event hogs. I would like to see both men drafted to Smackdown in 2010!

I have to admit Ezekiel Jackson going over in the ECW Homecoming Battle Royale was a big surprise and not necessarily in a good way. I think Jackson is good, perhaps the best big man we have seen for some time (with the exception of Gallows), but if you look at some of the talent in that match (Yoshi, Matt Hardy, Punk, Bourne) all of whom could have had fantastic matches with Christian and I cannot help but feel a little disappointed. I think it is good WWE are giving new talent a chance but with all the great build for this Homecoming Battle Royale, it seemed a bit of a waste to put an existing ECW talent over. I was pulling for Bourne as I felt it would have been the push to restart his career but he was gone in seconds and way before anyone else which in my opinion is utter bullshit. I could write a whole column on how angry I am at the way WWE are using Bourne but I am pretty sure you all feel the same way already! We will see if Christian can get a good match out of Jackson at the Rumble but for me at the minute this is defiantly opportunity missed by ECW creative.

So TNA have announced that a big name will be debuting with the company at Genesis. Whilst I would love nothing more than my all time favourite: RVD, to return to the ring, I will be honest and say I would rather see him back in WWE, primarily so Vince can correct his mistake and actually use Rob to his full potential because if he were to come back it would have to be at the main event level, I think the fans and Rob would demand it. Sid is a strong possibility but TNA do not need any more washed out former stars taking up TV time and Sid is perhaps one of the biggest examples of this. Let us not forget this is the man who tried to stop a live promo part way through and asked to restart it, one of the funniest moments in wrestling I can remember but not in a good way! Personally I really hope that it is Mr Anderson…Anderson (former Mr Kennedy) who joins the TNA as I think he could become a really massive draw for the company as he still has yet to reach the prime of his career and as well as his amazing mic skills, he is damn good in the ring to match. I really like the idea of Ken facing the likes of AJ, Joe and Wolfe and think that he could finally deliver on all the potential he showed in WWE. Also I would like to see Ken prove to his critics that he is not injury prone because lets face it if Ken is injury prone, what are the likes of Rey and Batista? I also have considered that Tommy Dreamer could possibly debut but I am sure WWE tied him down with a non compete clause but I would not be at all surprised to see him wind up in TNA at some point down the line which is fine by me as I feel he still has plenty to offer in the ring. I would be interested to know who you think TNA will debut at Genesis, let me know via the comment board.

The Young Bucks made a very impressive start to their TNA careers on Thursday and absolutely tore the house down with the Motor City Machine Guns. I found it highly amusing that the crowd would not buy their new names of Generation Me whatsoever and continued to chant Young Bucks throughout the match. Time will tell if TNA will continue to try and force the fake names on us or perhaps make the wiser choice and let the Bucks wrestle as themselves. I think this match highlighted just how far ahead TNA is right now when it comes to its tag team division. In WWE you have a small handful of undercard teams and then usually random pairings of main event talent that battle at the top of the card. In TNA you have established and respected teams like Beer Money, Team 3D and MCMGs followed by a wealth of aspiring teams like TBI, Lethal Consequences and now The Young Bucks. Hopefully this is something that TNA will continue to showcase in their mission to become legitimate competition for WWE, as the tag division, certainly on RAW, needs a complete overhaul in my opinon.

So with the discussion out of the way it is on to this week’s Smackdown!

The show opens highlights of the appalling end to last week’s main event and highlights the fact we still do not have a number one contender. I think I expressed just how fake I felt that was last week! Grisham welcomes us to ringside and hypes tonight’s main event: Rey Mysterio vs Batista inside a steel cage to finally determine the number one contender.

Opening Segment: Chris Jericho & John Morrison

Jericho makes his way to the ring to huge heat from the crowd as we see highlights of Jericho getting knocked out by Tyson in a true “shocker” Jericho tells the crowd to wipe the smug looks off their faces as despite what we saw Jericho is not a broken man and despite the fact DX pulled another fast one on him, Jericho is not going to run away and crawl into a hole as much as the fans might like that to happen. Jericho said just because a former baddest man on the planet got a lucky shot and knocked him down it doesn’t change the fact that Jericho is still the best in the world at what he does. Jericho says he is the baddest man on the planet and more importantly the face of Smackdown. Huge ‘you suck’ chant from the crowd and Jericho tells them they are wrong and he will continue his stellar career when he beats 29 other men and wins the Royal Rumble in two weeks and that is a fact. Jericho says he will go on to Wrestlemania and win the main event and become a six time champion and then Chris Jericho will have the smug grin and all the fans will be the broken ones.

Chris Considers: Awesome promo as always from Jericho, I guess from that he will be showing up AGAIN on RAW next Monday and will probably continue to do so until the draft when I fully expect him to unfortunately make the permanent switch back to Monday nights. Best enjoy watching him and reviewing him whilst I can!

Match 1: Chris Jericho vs John Morrison

Morrison gets a nice pop as he makes his way to the ring and gives his shades to a kid sitting at ringside in a Bret Hart style moment. Morrison and Jericho talk smack before Jericho shoves Morrison only for the Friday Night Delight to slap Jericho’s injured face. Morrison clotheslines Jericho from the ring and heads to the top rope but Drew McIntyre’s music hits and he swaggers to ringside suited up as we go to commercial. Back from the break and Morrison drops Jericho in the ring with a clothesline and stomps away in the corner as we see Drew sitting at ringside. Jericho fires back with strikes but Morrison counters with a kick to the face followed by a back breaker/leg sweep combo for a near fall. Morrison whips Jericho into the corner and goes for the Flying Chuck but Jericho quickly shoves him off the ropes and poses to the fans. Jericho tosses Jericho back in the ring and connects a crossbody for a near fall. Overhead takeover from Jericho and he keeps the hold locked on and demands the referee ‘ask him’. Morrison battles to his feet but Jericho nails a boot to the face and comes off the top rope with an axe handle but Morrison counters with a clothesline and drops Jericho with a clothesline, followed by a drop kick and a drive by boot to the jaw for a near fall. Jericho hits a kick and comes back with a bulldog and poses once more before going for the Lionsault only for Morrison to evade it and nail the Flying Chuck for a near fall. Morrison tries a kick but Jericho catches his leg and tries for the Wall’s but Morrison kicks him off and dodges a charging Jericho who bounces off the turnbuckle. Morrison tries for Starship Pain only for Jericho to roll out of the way but Morrison lands on his feet but Jericho immediately goes for the Walls which Morrison somehow rolls through for a near fall. Morrison strikes away but Jericho plants him on the mat for a near fall. Jericho punches Morrison on the mat and taunts him and Morrison responds by attempting the Moonlight Drive but Jericho counters with the Walls of Jericho. Drew gets to his feet and taunts Morrison who hauls himself towards the ropes and makes it. Morrison punches Jericho off and stares down Drew only to turn straight into a Codebreaker from Jericho for the pinfall and victory. After the match Drew gets in the ring and holds the Intercontinental Championship in Morrison’s face and then stomps on him for good measure.

Result: Chris Jericho defeats John Morrison via pinfall ***

Chris Considers: Excellent TV match between these two. There was some really good back and forth exchanges and counters here and Morrison looked strong in defeat as Drew technically cost him the match. The Royal Rumble is starting to take shape now with all these three now confirmed entrants. I am still going with Morrison to win, although that was before John Cena seemed to be getting involved…

In Ring Segment: The Straight Edge Society

We recap James being converted last week as Punk and Gallows make their way to the ring to huge heat from the Green Bay crowd. Punk says that last week he showed the WWE Universe that it was possible, he took one person from the millions that is just like the audience: confused, lost and lonely and no doubt addicted to a multitude of things. Punk says he took that man and saved him and forgave all of his past transgressions. Punk says he is the leader of the Straight Edge Society and he will not stop until everyone makes the pledge to stand on Punk’s side: one nation under Punk, indivisible with integrity and sobriety for all. Punk says he remembers the first time he met Luke who was like all the fans, half comatose by prescription medication but look at him now because this can be the fans and they just have to want it. Luke gets on the mic and says he knows how hard change can be, like climbing a mountain but when you wake up in the morning and need a pill to start the day it is like you need an external power just to live your life but you don’t, all you need is straight edge and CM Punk. Punk thanks Luke and vows to continue to help all of the hopelessly addicted people. Punk shouts at a member of the audience to pay attention and says that the Royal Rumble match will be the first step in their salvation as when Punk wins the Rumble and becomes the first ever straight edge Rumble winner it will not only be an accomplishment for Punk but for society, a straight edge society. Huge ‘You Suck’ Punk says no, what sucks is that the fans are not smart enough to be saved and it has to happen one person at a time. Punk asks who will be the lucky individual today and fans clamour to be picked and Punk selects a “fan” and sends Luke to get him. The guy has an afro so is going to take some saving. Punk asks his name, apparently it is Trevor. Punk tells Trevor not to be afraid as he is amongst friends, not the fans but Punk and Luke. The fans are the people who shoved a beer in his face at the first opportunity. Trevor agrees and tells Punk he is ready to make the pledge. Punk says this is important and Trevor is about to be reborn and only has Punk to thank. Punk asks Trevor how many drinks he has had this year and Trevor doesn’t even know which gets a pop from the crowd. Punk taunts the fans for being alcoholics and runs them down for cheering for the mere mention of alcohol because that is exactly the negative reinforcement that the straight edge society does not tolerate and unlike the fans Trevor is ready to make a commitment and accept responsibility and accept straight edge into his life. Punk says he wants to hear him say it and raise his right hand and say the words as Punk has to hear them. Punk asks him if he is ready and Trevor says he is ready to accept straight edge into his life. Punk asks Trevor if he is willing to show his devotion through actions as well as words, Trevor says he is and a loud ‘Trevor Sucks’ chant starts. Punk gets out the clippers shaves Trevors head to heat from the fans as Striker really talks up the symbolism of having you head shaved. Punk does a really bad job shaving his head and says this is the only good decision that Trevor has ever made and it wasn’t only hair that was shed but a lifetime of depravity and addiction but no more weakness. Punk and Gallows raise Trevor’s arms and announce him as another person who is better than all the fans.

Chris Considers: I really couldn’t call who was better on the mic right now: Punk or Jericho. Both deliver flawless heel promos every time they step in the ring. This was just awesome, awesome stuff once again from Punk and Gallows, who was surprisingly soft spoken on the mic. This is such a great concept and I hope it continues for weeks to come and as readers said last week, it would be a great way to introduce Brian Danielson to WWE!

Match 2: Fatal Four Way Match To Determine The Number One Contenders To The Unified Tag Team Championships: Matt Hardy & The Great Khali vs The Straight Edge Society vs The Hart Dynasty vs Cryme Tyme

The rather strange pairing of Khali and Matt Hardy are out first to a pop from the crowd followed The Hart Dynasty to some heat. Cryme Tyme are seriously over with the fans tonight as DH Smith and Matt Hardy look set to start out. Smith kicks and punches away and hit some big uppercuts before attempting a running powerslam but Matt counters with a neck breaker and tags in Khali before dropping an elbow off the middle rope whilst Khali just stands there lamely before dropping Smith with a boot. Khali clotheslines Smith from the ring and follows him to the outside as Tyson and Natalya get involved and demand the referee call off Khali as we go to commercial. Back from the break and Luke Gallows is giving Khali a lesson in how to be a big guy and actually wrestle and delivers a big right hand and talks smack only to run straight into a clothesline. Chop of Doom from Khali but JTG tags in a pins Gallows for a near fall. Gallows nails a big running slam and tags in Punk but JTG ducks under a clothesline and connects a somersault elbow followed by a clothesline and drop kick before firing up the crowd and delivering a facebuster to Punk in the corner. JTG goes for the pin but Tyson and Gallows break it up only for both men to be tossed out of the ring by Khali who in turn gets thrown over the ropes by Shad and Smith. Smith ejects Shad but gets hauled out by Khali as the match completely breaks down. Matt heads to the top rope and hits a suicide dive on all the men on the outside. Back in the ring Punk and JTG slug it out with JTG wriggling free of the GTS only for Gallows to make the blind tag and as JTG nails Punk with a neckbreaker Gallows connects a big boot and then drills JTG with the 12 Step for the pinfall and victory. After the match Trevor gets in the ring clapping and raises Punk and Gallow’s arms in victory

Result: The Straight Edge Society defeat Matt Hardy & The Great Khali, The Hart Dynasty and Cryme Tyme via pinfall to become number one contenders for the Unified Tag Team Championships *1/2

Chris Considers: Ok first off what the hell did Matt Hardy do to deserve to get lumbered working with Khali? They are not even a tag team! Hardy and R-Truth maybe but Khali? And to make matters worse Matt had to come out to Khali’s entrance music! What a joke. If I were Matt I would wait to my contract expired and jump ship to TNA where they will at least push him to the degree he is over rather than languishing in the mid card and being jobbed out! Some of the action here between Punk and JTG was good but in all honesty this match was a bit of a clusterfuck. I am pleased WWE put The Straight Edge Society over as I think they will have a decent match with DX at some point down the line.

Josh Matthews is knocking on Batista’s dressing room and tries to interview him, he asks Batista about Rey and the cage match tonight. Batista said he is done talking about Rey. Josh asks Batista if he is intimidated by The Undertaker and Batista says does he look intimidated. Josh tries to question him but Batista says the interview is over and slams the door.

In Ring Segment: The Undertaker

The crowd pop for Taker as he makes his way to the ring to address his “actions” last week. Taker stares round at the fans before grabbing a mic and saying the dawning of a new decade brings new hopes and dreams to the superstars of the WWE Universe. Taker says make no mistake about it, the darkness of The Undertaker will continue to dominate and collect souls just as he has for the last two decades which garners a big pop from the crowd. Taker says last week Batista and Rey felt his presence and experienced a warning, a warning that they will only get once. Taker says it doesn’t matter who wins tonight because he is hell bent on destruction and whoever survies the cage will not survive him at the Rumble. Taker says speaking of destruction, there is an event on the horizon where the legend of The Undertaker has reached immortality: Wrestlemania. Taker says seventeen men have stepped up and seventeen men have been put down. Taker says of the seventeen men all but one have tested his fate and theirs and asked for no more but there is one that has shined brightly in defeat and asked for more: Shawn Michaels. Taker says Shawn came close than all the others and almost broke the streak but failed. Taker says Shawn has the audacity to challenge Taker again at this year’s Wrestlemania and he has decided to come to RAW on Monday to give Shawn his answer personally. Whatever he decides Shawn will rest in peace!

Chris Considers: The Undertaker always cuts a decent promo and this was no exception. I liked the fact the challenge from Shawn is being dragged out and that has certainly given me an incentive to tune in and watch RAW to see the showdown.

Match 3: Mickie James vs Beth Phoenix

We recap the issues between the Smackdown divas in recent weeks as Mickie comes out to a huge pop. Beth storms to the ring hell bent on vengeance and the referee has to haul her off. The match is underway and Beth rushes Mickie who applies a waist lock only for Beth to elbow free and strike away but Mickie fires back with punches of her own but Beth drops her with a clothesline and applies a headlock and punches away at Mickie before nailing a boot to the ribs and setting up Mickie in the corner. Beth connects a butt splash followed by a big slam for a near fall. Beth reapplies a headlock and demands the referee ‘ask her’ Mickie battles free and punches away but Beth grabs Mickie and nails a back breaker for a near fall. Mickie punches to her feet and connects a drop kick to Beth’s leg followed by a leaping kick to Beth’s face but Beth drops Mickie onto the ropes and hits a running powerslam to Mickie into the turnbuckle. Beth puts Mickie in the Tree of Woe and drops some shoulders which leads to the referee calling her off but Beth punches away and hits a running knee and gets disqualified. Layla and Michelle hit the ring and are ready to pounce but Beth looks ready to fight them off only to change her mind and walk away. Michelle and Layla double team Mickie with stomps and kicks to huge heat from the fans. Mickie tries to fight back but Michelle hits a sweep, Mickie connects a jaw breaker on Layla but Michelle hits a drive by kick and drills Mickie with the Styles Clash to taunts and jeers from the crowd. Michelle tells Mickie she warned her and they leave the ring laughing.

Result: Mickie James defeats Beth Phoenix via disqualification **

Chris Considers: The match itself was good between these two despite the fact we have seen them go at it many, many times before. The ending was somewhat confusing as Beth had shown signs of turning face but this was abandoned in order to exact revenge on Mickie. Leaving her for Michelle and Layla was a strange move but they beat down they delivered was savage and really furthered this feud although I for one and defiantly hoping Mickie starts getting some payback sometime soon.

Match 4: Kane vs Dolph Ziggler

We recap the previous couple of matches between these two as Kane makes his way to the ring to a small pop. Dolph is backstage with Josh Matthews and says he brought Kane down to his knees and almost made him tap out. Dolph says he is on a roll and after he beats Kane for a third time he will roll right on to the Rumble match and go on to main event Wrestlemania. Dolph is out to some heat as Kane stalks the ring looking mad. Kane tries to force Dolph into a corner but Dolph ducks only to eat a huge uppercut. Kane pummels Dolph in the corner and continues to beat him around the ring before nailing a military press slam, Kane does not go for the pin and instead clubs away and hits a low drop kick to the face and covers for a near fall. Scoop slam from Kane and he drops a series of elbows as Dolph tries to crawl from the ring. Kane kicks Dolph in the face and chokes him on the ropes before continuing the beating. Kane whips Dolph across the ring but Dolph gets a boot up and leaps onto Kane’s back and applies the sleeper but Kane hurls Dolph off his back and out of the ring as we go to commercial. Back from the break and the momentum has shifted with Dolph raining blows down on Kane in the ring, Dolph applies a headlock and elbows away before breaking the hold and connecting a blockbuster for a one count. Dolph strikes away at Kane in the corner but the referee calls him off. Dropkick from Dolph for another one count but Dolph is straight back on the offence with another headlock as the crowd rally behind Kane who battles his feet. Dolph hits some mounted punches in the corner but Kane swats him off. Kane grabs a charging Dolph and goes for the chokeslam but Dolph grabs the ropes and fights back with elbows sending Kane staggering only to run straight into a big boot. Kane hits a series of big right hands and whips him into the corner and connects a pair of running clotheslines before hitting a running power slam for a near fall. Kane heads to the top rope but Dolph is there with punches and sets op for a superplex but Kane headbutts him off but Ziggler rolls from the ring which infuriates Kane who follows him round the ring and punches away before tossing Dolph in the ring but as Kane tries to climb back in Dolph hits a big kick followed by a beautiful standing dropkick sending Kane tumbling from the apron. Dolph immediately leaps over the ropes and applies the sleeper but Kane runs backwards into the steps forcing Dolph to break the hold. Kane rolls Dolph back in the ring and rolls in himself to break the count and rolls back out again evading a high impact elbow and hitting an uppercut in the process. Kane heads to the top rope and flies off but Dolph dodges and hits his reverse fameasser for a very close near fall. Dolph calls for the Zig Zag but Kane catches him for Sidewalk Slam but Dolph flips free only for Kane to grab him and nail the chokeslam for the pinfall and victory.

Result: Kane defeats Dolph Ziggler via pinfall ***

Chris Considers: Excellent TV match here between these two that made Dolph look very strong even in defeat. I really liked how both Kane and Dolph countered and reversed moves they had been caught by in previous weeks. Great stuff! I am looking forward to the rubber match next week!

We see highlights of Cena doing a coin toss at the Fiesta Bowl with loads of people talking up Cena and saying what a great guy he is.

Rey puts on his mask backstage and walks out and Maria wishes him luck. Yang and Slam Master J give him high fives and Rey tells Josh Matthews that once he had a dream of becoming world champion but tonight he has a dream of winning and that dream will come true.

Main Event: Steel Cage Match to determine the Number One Contender for the World Heavyweight Championship: Rey Mysterio vs Batista

Rey gets a huge pop as he makes his way to the ring, greeting his fans along the way and gives his T-Shirt to one of them. Rey stares up at the cage and climbs up the age and pumps up the fans before climbing down into the ring. Batista stalks out to huge heat and slowly makes his way to the ring with the spotlight on him. Batista smiles at Rey as he gets into the cage. The two exchange blows but Rey ducks under a charge and immediately tries to climb the cage but Batista is there and pulls him down to the top rope. Rey flies off with a crossbody but Batista dodges and Rey eats mat as Batista stalks him and slams him into the turnbuckle and drops some shoulders. Batista catches a leaping Rey who wriggles free and hits a chop block before sending Batista into the ropes with a drop kick. Rey realises he cant hit the 619 with the cage there and Batista charges but Rey ducks and then leaps onto Batista and uses him as a step ladder to climb up the cage but as he is nearly out Batista grabs his leg and hauls him into a Batista Bomb position. Rey attempts to counter with a sunset flip but Batsita doesn’t go down and picks Rey up and hurls him into the cage. Batista chokes Rey against the cage as a large ‘619’ chant breaks out. Batista hurls Rey like a spear into the cage and picks Rey up again and hurls him but Rey lands on the cage tries to climb but Batista hauls him down onto the ropes only for Rey to kick him off and connect West Coast Pop. Rey though runs right into a huge boot from Batista who calls for the Spear. Rey pulls the ropes down and Batista flies into the cage and both men are down. Rey strikes away hits a drop kick to Batista’s face followed by a leg drop for a near fall. Rey tries a Seated Senton but Batista catches him only to for Rey to roll him up in a beautiful manoeuvre for a near fall. Rey tries for the wheelbarrow bulldog but Batista plants him on the mat and stalks Rey and calls for the Spear once again which he connects dropping Rey like he was nothing. Spinebuster from Batista and he follows up with press-ups and kisses his biceps before shaking the ropes and following a crawling Rey who is trying to get to the door. Batista gets Rey up for the Batista Bomb but Rey grabs on to the cage and kicks Batista off and Rey climbs over the tope kicking the cage door into Batista’s head on the way down in the process to a huge pop from the fans. Batista seethes in the ring as Smackdown goes off the air.

Result: Rey Mysterio defeats Batista by escaping the cage to become number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship. ***3/4

Chris Considers: This was not only a very good match, this was a very good cage match between these two. I really liked how both men utilised the cage here and the spot where Rey used Batista as a step ladder was particularly awesome. In the end Batista’s arrogance outdid him as he could have finished Rey off several times but just wanted to punish him further. Great end to a solid show

Overall this was a really good edition of Friday Night Smackdown with the only dud coming in the shape of the fatal four way tag match which was a bit of a mess for my liking. We had two very good matches in Jericho vs Morrison and Kane vs Ziggler as well as a solid divas match and the main event was superb. To top this off Punk, Jericho and The Undertaker all delivered flawless promos making this one of the best editions of Smackdown for quite some time!

This week’s match of the week was Rey vs Batista and the show scores 9/10

I shall be back either later tonight or Monday with my Genesis Review, then again in the week with another Roadrunner blog. I hope you all have a great week and enjoy Genesis if you are ordering it! As always you can email me on a_agreement_called_forever@hotmail.com , add me on facebook: www.facebook.com\wnws.chris.jacks  or follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/WNWsChrisJacks  I would love to hear from you!

Here are ten points to consider coming out of this week’s show
• Despite the fact that Jericho continuing to show up on RAW is being dragged out a bit, the promos he is cutting on both shows are great and tonight was no exception
• What an excellent TV match between Morrison and Jericho, one day I hope to see these two main event pay per views and fight for the title!
• This Straight Edge Society pledge is awesome. Punk is just so good at making you hate him and this was one of the high points of the night!
• Pity the subsequent tag match was such a mess although I do like the idea of Punk and Gallows facing Hunter and Shawn at some point down the line, hopefully it will be on Smackdown rather than RAW!
• Speaking of that tag match it was a further insult to the WWE career of Matt Hardy. This guy is so over but is just getting wasted and buried. In my opinion Matt would be better off heading to TNA where he should get a run at the top
• I find some of the mystic stuff a bit cheesy and fake but there is no denying that The Undertaker can cut one hell of a promo. That promo has made me decide to stay up live for RAW tomorrow so from a booking standpoint mission accomplished!
• Despite the fact we have seen Mickie vs Beth many times before, I liked their brief match although with Beth turning her back on Mickie and leaving her for Team McCool I do wonder where this will go next week
• Kane and Dolph delivered another excellent match that showcased intelligent wrestling, I am really enjoying this feud and am looking forward to round four next week!
• Sometimes cage matches on WWE TV are a let down, this was not the case tonight, Rey and Batista pulled out all the stops and delivered a really solid match
• It is interesting to note that the two Rumble title matches are in a heel vs heel and a face vs face format. I cannot remember the last time this happened!

My top ten matches of the year so far in WWE is on hold until after the Royal Rumble in order to get a series of decent matches in the list!

Smackdown Power 10

1: The Undertaker
2: Rey Mysterio
3: Batista
4: Drew McIntyre
5: CM Punk & Luke Gallows
6: Chris Jericho (+1)
7: John Morrison (-1)
8: Kane (+1)
9: Dolph Ziggler (-1)
10: The Hart Dynasty (NE)

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Hey everyone and welcome to this week’s edition of Chris Reviews Smackdown. In this weeks blog I will give my thoughts on the positives and negatives to be taken from both WWE and TNA this past Monday as well as analysing Smackdown. As always feel free to leave some feedback via the comment board or drop an email to a_agreement_called_forever@hotmail.com

So WWE vs TNA round 1 is in the books and I think both shows had positives and some glaring negatives, rather than write an essay I figured I would take each show and look at what I thought were the positives and negatives this past Monday.

WWE RAW Positives

• Bret Hart: I thought the segments with Bret Hart were truly mesmerising and totally delivered on their potential, I have read some feedback saying they had hoped for more (mainly a Bret vs Shawn scuffle) but I actually think both the opening and closing segments of RAW were done to perfection as this frees Shawn up to chase his rematch with The Undertaker as well as giving us a potential Vince vs Bret Wrestlemania match, which whilst it will not be a technical classic, it will certainly be something that plenty of people want to see and unquestionably a huge draw. The opening promo between Bret and Shawn was the highlight of the show and I must have watched it about 10 times now! So much raw emotion and honesty and viewers who were familiar with the history could truly suspend their disbelief and believe that these two were truly burying the hatchet. Vince nailing Bret with a cheap shot at the end of the show was great and leaves me excited to see what will happen over the coming weeks and months on RAW.
• The Miz: Whilst he didn’t wrestle, The Miz was highly entertaining once more both during his brief promo following the diva match and during his commentary during the number one contender fatal four way. The Miz is swiftly becoming one of the top men to watch in WWE and I find him to be funny and entertaining, not to mention the fact that when he is allowed to, he can wrestle one hell of a match
• Strong Main Event: Whilst it was certainly not up to the standard of Impact, Orton vs Kingston was one of the strongest matches on RAW in recent memory. It was not as good as their TLC encounter but it was defiantly worth watching which is not something than can be said about much wrestling wise on RAW as of late. I completely disagree with the outcome of this match (see negatives) but the standard of wrestling between both guys was very good indeed
• Evan Bourne: Despite the ridiculous length of the match and the fact after some brief offence, Sheamus pretty much annihilated him, Bourne showed that he is more than capable of working much higher up the card than he currently is as he was over big time with the fans and in the minute or so he was on the offence, especially when he hit the SSP, that maybe just maybe he could have won and I hope WWE officials take note of how over he was and start pushing him rather than jobbing him out all the time.

WWE RAW Negatives

• DX\Hornswoggle: If anyone over the age five found any of these bullshit segments enjoyable I will be amazed. 2006 DX were entertaining but PG Era DX are a pale shadow of their former selves, reduced to this appalling slapstick crap. It amazes me that considering how much influence Shawn and Hunter have backstage, that they are willing to go through with this at all and just shows what lows they will sink to in order to shill some merchandise. I really hope that TNA continue to raise their game so that crap like this is permanently off our screens. I hated how Hornswoggle ruined the DX vs Jeri-Show tag match and I detest him coming to the ring with them. The fact that 23 year old Dylan Postl is also playing the role of a grunting child is incidentally pretty wrong and degrading. I have to admit I did mark out when Jericho booted Hornswoggle though…
• Illogical Booking: Just how long do WWE intend on keeping MVP in the US title scene? I mean he has held the belt twice (including the longest WWE reign ever) so I cannot comprehend why he has once again been placed in the number one contender spot when he should be working towards the main event. Also what exactly has Carlito done recently to earn a spot at becoming a contender???
• Length of Matches: Since winning the WWE title, Sheamus beat MVP in two minutes, got disqualified against John Cena in three and beat Evan Bourne in two and a half minutes. This does not help sell Sheamus as a legitimate champion and makes two of the top babyfaces on RAW look pathetic. Similarly the divas match was ridiculously short as was the fatal four way. RAW creative really need to work on booking Sheamus in competitive matches against legitimate competition because the direction they are taking with him now just is not good. If I were booking RAW I would have Sheamus continue coming out for the next three weeks and challenging anyone that can beat him one on one will get a shot at the Rumble and then book him in fifteen minute matches against Kofi, Hunter and Shawn where he wins cleanly only to lose to Cena in the final week before the Rumble to set up their final showdown.
• Missed Opportunity with Legacy: When Rhodes and DiBiase confronted Orton and threatened to beat him up if he lost to Kofi I was excited, as I felt this would finally be the moment DiBiase turned face after teasing a Legacy breakup for so long. However due to some douche spoiling things on WWE.com they clearly decided to postpone things again, so Rhodes and DiBiase came and sat at ringside and did nothing whilst Orton beat Kofi cleanly once more. Had I booked this segment I would have put Kofi over, had Legacy confront Orton, only for Rhodes to side with Orton and savagely beat down Ted and then have Kofi make the save making Ted a big babyface and Kofi over with the fans even more. Very much a missed opportunity…

TNA Impact Positives

• Jeff Hardy: Despite the fact he may or may not have failed a third wellness test with WWE before leaving, TNA signing Jeff Hardy is a massive coup. Jeff Hardy is without question one of the biggest draws in wrestling today and whilst Hogan is a big name and draw outside of the ring, Jeff is also a huge draw in the ring and if the WWE merchandise sales are anything to go on, could prove a huge commercial success for TNA. I think Jeff could be the one big star that TNA have been missing that could propel them towards the next level as I would say that Jeff is one of the three biggest names in wrestling in 2010 and will bring his huge fanbase to TNA with him. I think one thing that could affect this is the fact Jeff will now face trial for his drug charges and this will doubtlessly turn some fans away but as I have said from the start of the whole thing I will support Jeff until he is proven either innocent or guilty and only then make my judgement. Obviously Jeff will not need to worry about facing a three strike policy in TNA but I do not think that is necessarily a good thing and they should certainly look at implementing a wellness policy if they are looking to compete on the same level as WWE as this will not only help the talent but also their public image, anyway I’m going off topic…
• The Main Event: Kurt Angle and AJ Styles went out there and literally tore the house down with one of best TV matches from the past couple of years (off the top of my head I can only remember Rey vs Jericho, Cena vs Michaels, Morrison vs Punk and Rey vs Morrison, as better) So many awesome spots, near falls, false finishes and quality wrestling made this must see TV. This was the perfect way to highlight the strengths of TNA and that is their exceptionally talented stars putting on phenomenal matches. Sometimes everyone needs a reminder why they love wrestling and this was the perfect example of why we do.
• Eric Bischoff As An On Screen Character: As much as I admire his creative mind, it is his presence as an on screen character that really made so many segments of Monday’s Impact work. Now he is free from speaking Vince’s lines and speaking his own, we will see the true WCW Bischoff once more. His interactions with the NWO, Lashley, AJ and Foley were all really well done and I am delighted Eric has returned as an on screen character as initially there seemed some doubt as to whether or not this would happen.
• Women’s Tag Title Match: Whilst WWE gave us Maryse vs Brie Bella, TNA put on this awesome showcase between Taylor Wilde & Sarita facing Hamanda and Awesome Kong. This was an excellent match which highlighted one of the biggest differences between WWE and TNA and that is quality women’s wrestling. Had I been booking this show I would have actually had more knockouts matches (Melissa Flash etc) in the 8-9 hour to show any of the WWE audience exactly what is different and better about TNA
• Quality But Short Match: Desmond Wolfe and The Pope had one of the best quick matches I can recall seeing for some time and whilst I would have loved to see this go for fifteen minutes, what we did get was very good and I am hopeful these two might get a match at Genesis. For any WWE fans that caught this it would have shown the opportunity missed with Wolfe and opportunity discarded: Elijah Burke.
• Hulk Hogan: The Hulkster said all the right things and was over with the incredibly hot impact crowd. Hogan delivered on the mic and I enjoyed the time he was on TV, and as much as I do not want to see Scott Hall on TV, the NOW was kind of nostalgic. Time will tell if Hogan delivers on these words but I certainly felt he took a step in the right direction on Monday and his pre match promo with AJ and Angle was perfect.

TNA Impact Negatives

• Pointless Title Change In A Bad Match: Changing the Knockout title from Tara back to ODB served no purpose whatsoever especially seeing as Tara only just won the belt. The Knockout Title has gone downhill in recent months with the whole ODB/Deaner fiasco and now this crappy feud. ODB is neither especially talented in the ring, nor a very effective heel and if only that had booked either Flash or Daffney in this match we could have had a classic, as it was it was very disappointing and I have expected and seen so much better from TNA in the past.
• Waste of Ric Flair: Signing Ric Flair is another massive coup for TNA. After his tremendous send off from WWE, I truly believed Ric would never wrestle again, however his multiple ex wives require plenty of maintenance and I imagine TNA are paying Flair handsomely for his services. However in my opinion they completely wasted Flair on Monday and his debut was as anticlimactic as Taz’s a few months back. This just could have been done so much better and I was pumped to see a promo from Flair after he got out of the limo but then was left disappointed
• FAR Too Many Commercials: Half of the first hour of Impact seemed to be endless commercials and this was incredibly frustrating. They still came thick and fast in the 9-11 slot but not as bad as the first hour. This was incredibly tough to watch and whilst I can understand TNA wanting to ensure they had action on the screen whilst WWE were at commercial, I am sure they could have planned it a bit better than this. I remember one set of commercials finished Taz and Tenay hyped Hogan for 40 seconds and then another set of commercials!
• FAR Too Many WCW/WWE Cast Offs: Shawn Waltman is still solid in the ring (I have watched some of his De-Generation Mex stuff from Mexico) and he is not included in this but Scott Hall, The Nasty Boys, Val Venis and Orlando Jordan are no use to anybody and I think it was a huge mistake bringing them in and having them hog up TV time. The fact we are almost certain to get a Nasty Boys vs Team 3D match fills me with dread and what exactly can Orlando Jordan achieve in TNA other than taking up valuable TV time that others deserve. None is worse than Scott Hall who appeared drunk, out of shape and unaware of anything he was supposed to be saying. Hall has a great legacy which he continues to tarnish with appearances like this. With Hogan running things it appears Hal is set to stay (until he no shows) and this is just something I do not want to see.
• Bad Organisation: The treatment of Bubba and his radio fans was unacceptable and whilst neither Hogan or Dixie were responsible I still see this as a negative as it generated bad press for TNA following the show. I place the blame at the feet of the producers and event managers of TNA who displayed such ineptitude that they all deserve to be disciplined. Any fan who had a pass and was turned away should be offered a free ticket to Genesis and TNA should issue a public apology to Bubba and those offended.

Overall I would say TNA was the superior show this past Monday. You really had so many shocks and twists as well as that fabulous main event that really had me gripped. Impact has plenty of flaws but in my opinion the strengths outweighed the weaknesses. RAW was much better than it has been in a long time and if both shows continue to improve and TNA provides competition we will hopefully have ourselves a new wrestling boom!

So with that rather mammoth discussion out of the way it is on to this week’s Smackdown!

The show opens with highlights of last week’s beat the clock challenge with Vickie making the match between Rey and Batista for this week to find the true number one contender. This was a really well put together package that made the whole thing seem far more dramatic that it was in reality!

Opening Segment: Batista & Rey Mysterio

Batista struts down to the ramp to huge heat from the fans and demands his music is cut. He calls for the spotlight and demands his music is restarted. Batista continues to the ring as Striker runs down Rey for his actions last week. Batista says that here we are in 2010 and nothing has changed, the fans are still booing him and Teddy Long is still sticking it to him. He says Teddy outright screwed him at TLC and then has the nerve not to say anything about Rey’s involvement last week. Batista says he appreciates Vickie’s involvement but she is not the GM and as rightful World Heavyweight Champion Batista demands Long comes out and explain why the number one star in the WWE is being treated so unfairly otherwise there will be no match tonight. Teddy does not appear and Batista yells that he will walk and take the fans with him as they all pay to see him. Rey’s music hits and he walks to the ramp. Rey says he will explain why Dave is not world champion. Rey says Batista is blinded by his selfishness and greed and finally his true colours are coming out and everyone can see it. Rey says Batista is nothing but an arrogant cry baby. Batista is enraged and yells he is not a cry baby and Rey knows he had his time beat last week. Rey replies that he was simply getting payback for Batista interfering in his championship match with Undertaker on Christmas Day. Rey says that’s what friends are for right? Rey says you don’t see him complaining about the match tonight and he is ready to go. Rey mocks the fact that Batista is not dressed to wrestle and asks if Batista is scared. Rey says Batista is scared Rey is going beat him again and asks the fans what they think and gets a huge pop. Batista blows a fuse and yells at the fans to shut up. He says he can beat Rey anytime he wants and the match is on and not only will he beat Rey, he will make sure he doesn’t walk out of the arena. Rey retorts that he will be the one who walks out as Batista rages in the ring

Chris Considers: Rey came across a little to cheesy here for my liking, especially with the whole ‘lets ask the WWE Universe what they think’ line, however that is no different and no less annoying than John Cena. Batista once again proved he is a born heel, I loved the start where he demanded the music was cut and a spotlight put on him and he came across as genuinely menacing when calling out Teddy Long. So good from Batista here, Rey not so much.

Match 1: Kane vs Dolph Ziggler

As Dolph makes his way to the ring we get highlights of the draw last week and Dolph subsequently nailing Kane with the Zig Zag. Dolph ducks under a strike and nails some of his own before trying to slide under Kane’s legs but Kane grabs his ears and nails an uppercut before following up with punches and kicks. Kane beats Dolph around the ring before nailing a headlock takeover and keeping the hold applied. Kane breaks the hold and connects a low drop kick to the head for a near fall and continues his assault. Kane sets Dolph up on the top rope and climbs for a superplex but Dolph punches him off and connects a missile drop kick for a one count. Dolph punches away at a downed Kane and tries for a neckbreaker but Kane powers out only for Dolph to hit a quick kick to the knee followed by a DDT for a one count. Blockbuster from Dolph gets another one count but Kane is up and counters a takedown with an arm drag takeover but runs into an elbow from Dolph who then leaps on Kane’s back and locks in a sleeper which Kane charges Dolph into the turnbuckle to break. Dolph heads to the top rope but Kane literally picks him off and hurls him across the ring. Clothesline from Kane followed by strikes and a running clothesline but as Kane tries for a sidewalk slam Dolph wriggles free only to run straight into a big boot for a near fall. Kane connects the Sidewalk Slam but again only gets two and the Big Red Machine heads to the top rope and connects a diving clothesline to a pop from the crowd, Kane calls for the chokeslam but Dolph kicks and elbows his way free and sends Kane into the turnbuckle before connecting the Zig Zag for a near fall. Dolph looks shocked someone kicked out of his finisher. Dolph reapplies the sleeper and Kane drops to the mat as the crowd rally behind Kane who staggers to his feet and dives through the ropes but Dolph keeps the hold applied on the outside. Kane gets to his feet but as the referee reaches the count of 8 Dolph dives back in the ring and a groggy Kane is unable to make the ten and is counted out.

Result: Dolph Ziggler defeats Kane via countout **1/2

Chris Considers: This was an excellent way to elevate and up and coming star. Dolph wrestled a very intelligent match on his way to outsmarting Kane and took a hell of a beating along the way. The ending was great after Dolph failed to put Kane away with the Zig Zag he immediately applied the sleeper which lead to Kane’s downfall. I was hoping to see this match this week and this was probably better than I was expecting it to be, good stuff!

We see Michelle and Layla apologising to Beth for kicking her last week and Michelle says she was trying to help her, just like she is trying to help Mickie. Layla runs off and brings back a tray of lettuce with Piggy James written on it and Michelle harps on about it being calorie free. The girls than put their heads in the trough and make pig noises. Beth says they are unbelievable and says Layla has a match with her tonight and better start getting serious

Chris Considers: Yet more hints at a face turn from Beth, this is being written so well.

We see Jericho talking to the Hart Dynasty backstage saying everyone has been following and laughing at him after RAW on Monday but Jericho says some things never change and he is still the best in the world at what he does and the face of WWE. He says two weeks ago he told the Harts to make an impact and they responded by taking his head off. Jericho says he can actually respect that as they went after the biggest star in the company so this is actually a feather in their caps. Jericho asks if the Harts are ready to continue making an impact tonight. Natalya says they are more than ready and Jericho may say he is the best in the world but nothing lasts forever and now it is their time. DH Smith cuts in and says what happened to Bret on Monday was an embarrassment to the Hart family and that will never happen to them because they are better than that. Tyson says they are better than the best period and walks out leaving Jericho smiling to himself.

Chris Considers: I actually thought the Hart Dynasty might turn face and join up with Bret but I am guessing after this maybe not. Solid promo from all involved.

Match 2: R-Truth & Cryme Tyme vs The Hart Dynasty and Chris Jericho

This should be a pretty awesome match considering who is involved. Natalya was looking stunning as ever as she leads the Harts to the ring. I do not think Shad’s hairstyle suits him at all! It makes him look old! Jericho strides to the ring to plenty of heat from the fans as Striker and Grisham talk about Jericho getting the boot from RAW. Truth and Tyson start out with Truth applying a hammerlock only for Tyson to reverse it. Truth battles free and ducks under a charge before connecting a big drop kick and tagging in JTG and they double team Tyson for an early one count. Shad is tagged in and he drops JTG on to Tyson before connecting a charging clothesline dropping Tyson. Tyson is up but Shad nails a running elbow before tagging in Truth but Tyson hits a quick back kick and tags in Jericho who charges straight into an arm drag takeover. Truth punches away before leapfrogging a charging Jericho and cartwheeling away and splitting under a clothesline and nailing a big boot for a near fall. Truth strikes away but Jericho gets a boot up in the corner only to run in to a flying leg lariat from Truth which sends him rolling form the ring, Truth pumps the crowd as we go to commercial. Back from the break Shad is beating on Jericho in the corner and whips him across the ring before connecting a charging clothesline. Military press slam on Jericho but as Tyson distracts the referee, Smith pulls the ropes down and Shad who was trying for a charge takes a tumble to the outside. Whilst the referee is still distracted, Natalya nails a cheap boot to the ribs of Shad. Jericho tosses Shad back in the ring and stomps and kicks away before tagging in Tyson who unleashes a flurry of stomps before choking Shad on the ropes. Whilst the referee hauls Tyson away, Jericho nails another cheap shot and Tyson hits a boot to the back and covers for a near fall. Jericho is tagged back in and he punches away at Shad but the big man fights back only to walk into a high drop kick from Jericho for a near fall. Jericho flips at the referee and stomps away at Shad before tagging in Tyson who kicks and strikes away and nails a low drop kick to Shad’s leg before knocking Truth off the apron with a cheap shot. Tyson runs right into a throw from Shad but lands on his feet only to get decapitated by a clothesline from the big man. Both men are down as the crowd rally behind Cryme Tyme. Shad makes the hot tag to JTG as does Tyson to Jericho but JTG has the upper hand with a rolling elbow, clothesline, dropkick and backbreaker for a near fall which Tyson breaks up. Truth tries to dispose of Tyson but ends up getting tossed out himself as Tyson holds onto the ropes but Shad quickly dislodges him with a big boot only for Jericho to dispose of Shad but in the distraction JTG rolls Jericho up for a near fall. Jericho counters JTG’s middle rope leg drop and locks in the real version of the Walls of Jericho for the submission victory.

Result: Chris Jericho & The Hart Dynasty defeat Cryme Tyme & R-Truth **3/4

Chris Considers: Very strong match here but one thing puzzled me, why did DH Smith not get involved once?! Perhaps he is nursing an injury. Either way we had some very good back and forth action here with Jericho marshalling the Harts. I am enjoying the temporary alliance between Jericho and the Dynasty and wouldn’t mind seeing that continue over the next few weeks. It was also great to see Jericho apply the real Walls of Jericho as well rather than the far less effective Boston Crab!

In Ring Segment: The Straight Edge Society

Punk makes his way out to a tonne of heat and arrogantly poses around the ring with Gallows looking on menacingly. Punk calls for quiet and says last week he made a promise and made a straight edge resolution to save one lost soul in the audience today. Punk says the crusade is real and they are crucial. Punk keeps his promises unlike the fans who forget them with their binges. Punk asks who wants to be saved and which member of the WWE Universe has the strength to be saved. Punk says they cannot all be saved but he will save one. Punk singles out a guy in a maroon hoody and Luke escorts him to the ring. Punk asks the mans name and its James and welcomes him and says he can see he is scared but he has nothing to fear from Punk or Luke. Punk says he can read James like a book just like he can read all the fans. Punk says James thinks he is hopelessly addicted and he nods in agreement. Punk says there is hope and James is looking at it and offers him a seat. Punk says what is about to happen is the most important moment of James’ life. Punk says he is about to accept him and asks James to raise his right hand. Punk asks James if he is tired of living his life like all of the losers. James says he is. Punk asks if James is going to stop treating his body like a sewer. James says he will try and has tried to stop smoking, Punk screams that it is not good enough and James needs to stop trying and start doing as straight edge is a commitment. Punk asks James to endear himself to him and stop abusing his body with alcohol, cigarettes and medication. James says he is going to stop. Punk asks if James if he is willing to find the willpower within himself to just say no and learn to say no in the face of temptation. James says he is willing to change and Punk says that actions speak louder than words and before he becomes a member of the straight edge society there is one more thing he must do. Luke pulls out some clippers and James leaps up looking scared. Punk asks him to sit down and says what is about to happen is a symbol of commitment against the poisoned society in which we live. Punk says this is a fresh start for James and a clean slate and his past being governed by drugs and alcohol abuse and he is about to unconditionally accept straight edge into his life. Punk asks James if he accepts and he says he is and Punk then shaves James’ head. Punk says every time James looks in the mirror he will know he is stronger than all of the fans and from this day forward he has evolved far beyond all these sheep who need a drink to put a smile on their face. Punk and Gallows raise James’ arms and welcome him to the Straight Edge Society. Punk says just like Luke and himself James is better than everyone else.

Chris Considers: Whilst this guy was obviously a plant this was still very well done, I wonder if James will be on TV every week now or if this was just a one time deal. Punk is just so good on the mic and I cannot wait to see what happens from here!

Match 3: Luke Gallows vs Matt Hardy

Hardy gets a nice response from the crowd on his way to the ring and is talked up by Striker and Grisham. As we get underway Matt tries a hammerlock but Luke just shoves him away. Luke tells Matt to bring it and Hardy applies a waistlock as a huge ‘Hardy’ chant breaks out. Luke breaks the hold and drops Matt with a shoulder blok before stomping away and hauling Matt to his feet and connecting a reverse elbow only to miss a leg drop allowing Matt to work over Luke’s leg. Matt continues to punish the injured leg in the corner before taking Luke down and going for a finger four but Luke kicks free and punches away before reversing a suplex attempt and dumping Matt on the ropes. Luke uppercuts Matt off the apron and follows him to the outside and rams him into the ring repeatedly before tossing him back in as Punk riles up the fans. Luke nails a back suplex for a near fall and locks in a seated full nelson. Matt fights to his feet and punches away but Luke connects a huge right hand. Matt tries a sunset flip but doesn’t even get a one count as Luke kicks free and hits a flurry of punches on the mat. Luke continues the assault on Matt in the corner and hits a headlock takeover and keeps the hold locked in but Matt battles to his feet and counters with a jaw breaker but Gallows is only staggered and comes back with kicks but misses a leap bounces from the turnbuckle allowing Matt to connect the moonsault for a near fall. Matt punches away and hits a clothesline and wriggles free of a slam attempt and hits a neck breaker for another near fall. Matt connects a running clothesline but Luke shoves off the Bulldog attempt only to run straight into a high boot from Matt who then connects a tornado DDT for a two count. Matt heads to the middle rope but Punk distracts him and Matt turns right into a big boot from Luke followed by the Gallows Pole for the pinfall and victory.

Result: Luke Gallows defeats Matt Hardy via pinfall **1/4

Chris Considers: Good back and forth match here between Matt and Gallows with Luke certainly showing plenty of promise in the ring. I am delighted he has been unleashed and can now wrestle to his full potential. He wrestles a nice mat game for a big guy and has a lot of impressive power moves. Matt as always looked good and it is a shame he is stranded in the mid card.

Teddy Long is backstage with Maria talking about her being on celebrity apprentice. Vickie interrupts and hugs Maria. She says she loves Celebrity Apprentice and would have applied herself but is too busy running Smackdown. She says Maria reminds her of herself when she was younger: beautiful, intelligent and strong willed. Teddy asks where it all went wrong and Vickie tells him to shut up. She says Maria obviously has a good business mind and asks her to plug the new WWE action figures. Maria talks about Rey and Undertaker figures and plugs John Cena’s WWE title belt. Teddy says he cant wait to see Vickie’s action figure as it is probably the biggest one of all but then again maybe not. Khali speaks Indian and Singh tells us he cant wait to get Vickie’s figure as it reminds him of the cows back home. Khali gives a loud MOOOOOO! To Vickie.

Chris Considers: You have to love WWE merchandise plugs…not

Match 4: Beth Phoenix vs Layla with Michelle McCool

As Beth makes her way to the ring we see highlights of Beth and Mickie taking out team McCool last week. Layla begs Michelle for helps as the match gets underway. Layla tries to shake Beth’s hand and apologise but gets dropped with a shoulder charge. Beth hits an Alabama slam and boots Layla from the ring. Beth tells Michelle to bring it and Michelle wants none of it and hurls Layla back into the ring. Layla briefly fights back with a boot and a dropkick but Beth shoves her into the corner but misses a flying elbow allowing Layla to connect a series of kicks, she then leaps on Beth’s back and rains blows down on her head but Beth hurls her off and drills Layla with the Glam Slam for the pinfall and victory. Michelle looks shocked on the outside. After the match Michelle gets in the ring and pleads with Beth she is just checking on Layla but then Layla grabs Beth’s leg and Michelle nails her big boot and the two then double team Beth but Mickie James hits the ring and cleans house on Michelle whilst Beth takes care of Layla. Beth hurls both members of Team McCool from the ring and stares at Mickie and walks towards her but Mickie boots her in the face and leaves the ring smiling.

Result: Beth Phoenix defeats Layla via pinfall *

Chris Considers: Once again a nothing match here other than Beth looking impressive but I did enjoy the post match antics once again. Mickie getting some payback was a nice touch and something tells me we will see Mickie and Beth facing Team McCool next week

The RAW rebound of course focuses on Bret Hart, firstly his wonderful promo with Shawn, intercut with footage making this probably the best RAW rebound ever. This was of course followed up with the closing Vince promo.

Backstage Interview: Josh Matthews welcomes Drew McIntyre and we take a look at the excellent match between the Scot and Morrison last week. Josh says Drew blatantly pushed Morrison into the referee. Drew says when you put it in that context you do not capture the magnitude of Drew’s victory. Drew says he dominated Morrison and proved he is the better man and he is still undefeated and he will become the first Intercontinental Champion to win the Royal Rumble. Morrison interrupts and said he sensed a bad atmosphere and asks Drew about his “clean” victory last week. Morrison puts on a Scottish accent and says it is easy to talk like that when Morrison is not here but now he is here say something to his face. Morrison dares Drew to say something to his face and give him a reason. Drew says nothing and Morrison says that’s what he thought and says he bet Drew cant wait to take the Intercontinental Title back to Uncle McGregor’s farm and party with his sheep friends. The two stare down and Drew says he knows what Morrison is trying to do and it wont work and he just has to accept it is over and Drew is moving on to bigger and better things. Morrison says this is getting boring and one of them is going to lose their temper and if its not going to be Drew it may as well be Morrison and he then proceeds to beat the crap out of Drew until he is pulled off by security.

Chris Considers: Solid promo from Drew, I enjoy a heel who backs up his serious talk with serious actions. Morrison was hilarious especially when he put on the accent and talked about farms and sheep. I am guessing this means Drew is the first confirmed entrant in the Rumble then?

Main Event: Number One Contenders Match: Rey Mysterio vs Batista

Rey is over as ever on the way to the ring and greets his fans as he makes his way down the aisle. Batista storms to the ring ready to fight and the match is on. Rey immediately flees the ring and drop kicks Batista as he tries to follow him. Rey slides out and nails punches before sliding back into the ring but runs straight into a spinebuster into the turnbuckle from Batista. The Animal whips Rey across the ring and mocks Rey before hauling him up and hitting a back breaker. Batista hits a series of blows before hitting another back breaker, this time dropping Rey on to his shoulder. Batista walks to the outside and strikes at Rey before getting back in the ring and whipping him in to the corner but Rey gets a boot up and tries for a Seated Senton but Batista catches him and hauls him up for the Batista Bomb but Rey strikes Batista repeatedly in the head and hits a head scissors sending Batista into the ropes. Rey goes for an early 619 but Batista takes a time out and as Rey flies with a crossbody Batista catches him and rams him in to the ring post as we go to commercial. Back from the break and both men are at the top rope but Rey punches him off and flies off the top rope with a splash but Batista gets his shoulder up sending Rey rolling away in agony. Batista catches another springboard crossbody and drills Rey with two spinebusters before calling for the Spear which he connects before shaking the ropes and calling for the Batista Bomb. At this point the Undertaker’s gong hits and the lights go out. When they come back on both men are down in the ring but Rey is up first and he punches away at Batista hits a drop kick and connects a wheelbarrow bulldog but cannot make the cover. Batista is up and tries a running powerslam but Rey with a nice counter into a DDT before drop kicking Batista into the ropes and connecting the 619 but he is unable to springboard due to selling his injuries. The gong hits and the lights go out again and both guys are layed out on the mat and the referee is gone. The Undertaker’s music hits and Smackdown goes off the air.

Result: Batista and Rey Mysterio battle to a no contest after “mystical” interference ½*

Chris Considers: I hated that, the fans in attendance hated that and I am pretty sure you hated that watching at home. What a load of bullshit. I know the Undertaker is supposed to be this mystical force and all but this was really badly done and just looked really, really fake. On top of that we still don’t have a number one contender… great

Well what a poor end, to what had been a really great show. That main event put a real downer on things which is certainly not they way I am used to seeing Smackdown end. Other than that everything was pretty solid, Dolph and Kane and Luke and Matt had good matches whilst Jericho and the Hart Dynasty vs Cryme Tyme and R-Truth was very good and whilst the diva match itself was unspectacular the post match antics were further god build towards Beth’s face turn. The Highligh of the night was CM Punk bringing “James” into the Straight Edge Society

This week’s match of the night was Chris Jericho & The Hart Dynasty vs R-Truth & Cryme Tyme and the show scores an 8/10

That’s all for this week’s edition of Chris Reviews Smackdown. I will be back either Wednesday or Thursday over on Roadrunner records and then at the weekend with more Chris Reviews Smackdown and my Genesis Predictions! I hope you all have a great week! As always you can email me on a_agreement_called_forever@hotmail.com , add me on facebook: www.facebook.com\wnws.chris.jacks  or follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/WNWsChrisJacks  I would love to hear from you!

Here are ten points to consider from tonight’s show
• How awesome was it when Batista demanded his music was cut, a spotlight put on him and then the music restarted. This man was born to be a heel!
• I really enjoyed the Dolph vs Kane match as Dolph came out of it looking like a star, he outsmarted and out wrestled his vastly more experience opponent, I hope this is the re-start of Dolph’s Smackdown career!
• Great tag match but why did DH Smith not get involved once!? Natalya was involved more than he was! Perhaps he is nursing an injury?
• How awesome is it to see Jericho use the proper Walls of Jericho! I hope he goes back from now on!
• Despite “James” being an obvious plant, this was still a really well done segment and most of the crowd certainly seemed to buy it! I cant wait to see who next week’s convert is!
• Luke Gallows looked awesome in his first one on one match since his conversion. I like his combination of brute force and powerful submission holds. I hope he continues to perform like this every week!
• Mickie James getting payback on Beth for last week makes sense. I am thinking they will have a tag match against Team McCool next week and possibly shake hands at the end of it, furthering Beth’s face turn.
• I am guessing Drew is the first confirmed Rumble entrant then? That’s fine by me and I expect a strong showing from him
• Morrison was hilarious on the mic with that Socttish accent and when he told Drew he was going back to Uncle McGregor’s farm to party with the sheep. Funny stuff and Morrison is still my tip for winning the Rumble!
• I do not mind the odd bit of interference and disqualifications but the silly ending to the main event looked terrible, The fans were booing heavily and it just stunk. Really crappy booking
• I guess that is WWE’s way of telling us that out Royal Rumble title match will be a triple threat but lets keep it going for another couple of weeks…

My top ten matches of the year so far in WWE is on hold until after the Royal Rumble in order to get a series of decent matches in the list!

Smackdown Power 10

1: The Undertaker
2: Rey Mysterio
3: Batista
4: Drew McIntyre
5: CM Punk & Luke Gallows
6: John Morrison
7: Chris Jericho
8: Dolph Ziggler (+1)
9: Kane (-1)
10: The Hart Dynasty (NE)

Watch any WWE programming you miss at www.Dailymotion.com  , your online source for TV shows!

Hey everyone and welcome to this week’s edition of Chris Reviews Smackdown. In this week’s blog I shall be discussing WWE vs TNA as well as fully analysing the show. Be sure to leave some feedback via the comment board or drop an email to a_agreement_called_forever@hotmail.com

First off my sincere apologies that I missed last week and this blog is subsequently up late. I actually ended up going away on holiday for a week over the Christmas period (which was something of a surprise from my girlfriend) and then spent New Year with my family who I really only get a chance to see at this time of year. I do hate missing shows and posting late but due to my hectic and rigorous work schedule it is very rare I get a chance to take a break and so jumped at the chance to do so, had I been aware I was going away beforehand I could have made provisions for cover but as I was not I was unable to do so. I am back at home and work as of today so things will be back to normal from now on in 2010.

Next up I would like to send out my deepest sympathies to the family and friends of ‘Dr Death’ Steve Williams who lost his tragic battle with cancer. My thoughts are with them at this difficult time, cancer is a truly vile and horrible disease that costs so many of us loved ones and friends and I can only hope that a medical breakthrough is made soon. I know that after losing half my family to this blight I donate heavily to a UK Charity called Cancer Research every month and I would urge you all to do the same.

On a lighter note I would like to say a huge thank you and goodbye to Luke Parks who sadly departed the blog spot after last week’s RAW. Luke always called it as it was and I really did feel sorry for him having to review the shadow of a show that RAW became since the 2009 draft. I always enjoyed reading Luke’s columns and the interactions we shared during the live blogs that I was able to be a part of. Thanks Luke for the entertaining reads and certainly recently providing more humour and entertainment than RAW itself could manage! You will be missed! I wish my British counterpart Paul all the best in taking over reviewing RAW, there was no way I wanted to do it after the show seemed to get worse and worse each and every week.

Due to my holiday and New Year’s celebrations I have been fairly out of touch with wrestling for the last couple of weeks and rather than talking about specifics from RAW or ECW I would just like to take a minute and discuss the impending WWE vs TNA ratings battle tonight. Now whatever they say publically WWE clearly have felt the need to beef up their product with the return of Bret Hart and Jericho’s last chance to stay on RAW. I would say I am looking forward to this show and for sure will be excited to see Bret back but with the current state of RAW it is unlikely to make me immediately start staying up to watch the product religiously every week again unless it starts to show signs of steady improvement. Here in the UK there is no ratings battle as we have to wait till Saturday for Impact! but I think I may try and find a stream online and watch TNA tonight as that is defiantly the show I am more excited to see despite the presence of Hart on RAW. There have been troubling names and rumours from the TNA camp in recent weeks such as Scott Hall, Sid, The Nasty Boys etc all rumoured to be on their way back to the company. With Nash winning the Feast or Fired briefcase I think Hall is a lock and whilst I am certainly not a fan of seeing these guys wrestle in their condition it will certainly being back some nostalgic feeling seeing Hogan, Nash and Hall together in the ring once again. I think RAW will probably beat TNA in the ratings but this will only be due to the presence of Hart more than anything else. I think this is the perfect time for the WWE audience to show how dissatisfied they are with Vince’s current product and check out something new and different. TNA on a whole has been great as of late with some really fantastic wrestling especially on a main event level and I think this will be one episode of Impact! that will really be worth checking out. I am hopeful that we do indeed get a Monday Night Wars V2 mainly because I think that the WWE product has been on such a downward spiral in the last year or so that it really needs an alternative so Vince and the creative team have to raise their game and improve. I shall be discussing the fallout, the ratings and the pros and cons from each show in next weeks blog.

So with the discussion done it is on to this week’s Smackdown

The show opens with highlights of the number one contender match a couple of week’s ago and Rey’s upset victory. This is followed by highlights of the really rather awesome Christmas Day match between Rey and Undertaker which was of course disrupted by Batista

Grisham announces that tonight we will have a Beat The Clock challenge in order to determine a number one contender for The Undertaker’s World Heavyweight Championship at the Royal Rumble as well as an Intercontinental Championship rematch between Drew McIntyre and John Morrison

Match 1: Beat The Clock Match: CM Punk with Luke Gallows vs Matt Hardy

Punk draws plenty of heat on the way to the ring and Gallows is now decked out in Punk’s latest T-shirt albeit a vest version of it. Punk smirks at the crowd and sits on the turnbuckle. Punk asks the crowd who has made New Year’s resolutions and how many of the people have already broken them? Punk mocks a fat guy in the crowd before asking how many people decided to stop drinking. Punk says resolutions are all about improving yourself which is why he has never made one as he is already better. Punk says he can help the fans and save them just like he did with Luke and tonight there will be a pledge. Punk orders the fans to their feet and says the fans at home can put their hands on the screen. Punk demands the fans repeat “I (insert name here) am tired of wasting my life being a loser, I am tired of treating my body like a sewer, I am tired of not having the strength to just say no and in 2010 I will adhere to the straightedge lifestyle, I will not smoke, I will not drink and I will not do drugs” Huge heat for Punk and he says it is obvious the fans do not know how to follow direction and says don’t make him beat this into the fans. Punk says he knows he can easily beat up anyone in the crowd. Punk says his mind is clear unlike the fans who are probably still hung over from the holidays. Punk says next week he will save a lost soul from the audience because he has heart and city by city his message will grow and spread and the fans will realise that Punk is not just a minor threat and the youth of today will join as one Straight Edge Society. Punk says it all starts tonight and he will win the beat the clock challenge and go on to defeat The Undertaker at the Rumble to become a four time Straight Edge Heavyweight Champion. At this point Matt Hardy’s music hits and the match is on!

Chris Considers: Fantastic promo from Punk, especially suited due to the New Year’s theme. I particularly enjoyed the Straight Edge Pledge! I cannot wait to see Punk try and convert someone from the audience next week. Whether or not WWE uses a plant for the first one or not remains to be seen…

The two lock up and Matt applies a headlock followed by a roll up for an early one count. Matt rolls up Punk for two and the crowd start a loud ‘Hardy’ chant. Matt reverses a hammerlock and works over Punk’s arm and Punk tries to kick free but Matt drops him and stomps and kicks away before dropping shoulders in the corner. Facebuster from Matt earns a near fall but Punk rolls on to the apron and bounces Matt’s head off the apron and flies off the top rope but Matt counters with a boot to the stomach for a near fall followed by a Side Russian Leg Sweep for another near fall. Punk fights back and hangs Matt up in the corner and nails a big kick to the back but as Punk pins Matt grabs the rope. Punk stomps away and connects a neckbreaker for another near fall before applying a head scissors submission hold. Punk drops elbows to Matt’s head for breaking the hold and going for a pin which gets two. Punk continues to kick and strike away before dropping Matt with a chop which gets another two count from the referee. Matt forces Punk into the corner and tries a running Bulldog but Punk shoves him off and connects a leaping kick for another near fall. Back suplex from Punk and yet ANOTHER near fall and Punk applies a seated headlock, Matt battles to his feet and punches away before countering with a back suplex of his own. Matt retreats to the corner and kicks a charging Punk in the face before hitting a leaping a clothesline for a two count. Matt connects a charging clothesline and a running bulldog for yep you guessed it another near fall. Side Effect for Matt and another near fall and Matt calls for the Twist of Fate but Punk counters and forces both men into the ropes. The referee breaks things up and Punk nails a quick roundhouse kick followed by the GTS for the pinfall and victory. After the match Gallows gets in the ring and decimates Punk with his 12 Step finisher

Result: CM Punk defeats Matt Hardy in 7:20 *1/2

Chris Considers: This was not a great match between Punk and Hardy, there were far too many two counts and near falls. I understand the reasoning behind this as both man was trying to pin the other as quick as possible but it did not lead to a flowing match at all and was pretty tough to watch

Match 2: Beat The Clock Match: Kane vs Dolph Ziggler

Quite what Dolph Ziggler has done to earn a number one contender shot is anyone’s guess! Neither man seems to draw too much of a reaction which is hardly surprising seeing how they have been used recently. Dolph very quickly tries to take Kane down but Kane counters and the two engage in some decent mat wrestling until Dolph connects some big kicks and a chop block to Kane’s leg. Dolph continues to work on the leg dropping elbows and stomping away. Dolph pins for one but gets levelled by a huge clothesline from Kane for a one count. Kane connects a beautiful standing vertical suplex for a near fall and follows up with a running drop kick to Dolph’s face for another near fall. Dolph tries a sunset flip but Kane holds him in the air allowing Dolph to counter into a DDT for a near fall. Dolph continues the assault with a blockbuster for a near fall before stomping and striking away and connecting a big drop kick to Kane’s head but this doesn’t even get a one count. Dolph applies a headlock but Kane powers to his feet and counters with a scoop slam only to miss a splash and Dolph connects the reverse Fame Asser but only a near fall. Dolph drops a series of elbows followed by his high impact elbow for another two and he applies another headlock. Kane powers to his feet and drops Dolph with big boot for two and follows up with a running clothesline and Sidewalk Slam for another near fall. Running power slam earns another near fall and Kane is getting frustrated as he heads to the top rope but Dolph leaps up and hits a series of strikes only for Kane to punch him off and connect a top rope clothesline for a near fall. The crowd are starting to get in to this match now as Kane tries for a chokeslam but Dolph leaps over the ropes and on to the apron before bouncing Kane’s head off the ropes and quickly leaping on to Kane’s back and applying a sleeper hold. Dolph stares at the clock as it ticks down to twenty seconds. Kane drops to the mat but does not tap and the clock reaches zero. Dolph is furious and nails Kane with the Zig Zag following the draw.

Result: Kane and Dolph Ziggler battle to a time limit draw **

Chris Considers: This was better than the first match and these two showed some chemistry against one another. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see them feud leading into the Rumble as a way to elevate Dolph. Decent if unspectacular match.

RAW rebound time and due to my holiday I still haven’t seen this but after reading Luke’s report I don’t think I will bother, The thought of sitting through two hours for only fifteen minutes of actual wrestling! After watching this rebound I think it sucks Sheamus did not go over cleanly as Cena seemed to have the match won only for Sheamus to get the cheap DQ. Same old rubbish! WWE should take a leaf out of TNA’s book and put a heel that is not Randy Orton over cleanly!

Match 3: The Carolina Panther vs The Great Khali

I do not even know why I am bothering watching this. How many times do we need to see Khali squash jobbers. The guy cannot wrestle and never will be able to so why bother putting this on. Sure enough after some lame punches from The Panther, Khali nails the Punjabi Plunge for the pinfall and victory

Result: The Great Khali defeats The Carolina Panther N/A

Chris Considers: That doesn’t even deserve a rating, a waste of my time and yours!

Match 4: Intercontinental Championship Match: Drew McIntyre © vs John Morrison

Morrison is really over with the fans tonight as we see highlights of him challenging and subsequently decking Drew on Superstars. Morrison acknowledges some fans before quickly taking Drew down for a one count. Morrison hits a kick and a strike followed by his flying leg lariat for another one count. Morrison clotheslines Drew over the ropes and runs to the security wall and tries a cartwheel kick but Drew ducks only for Morrison to land on his feet and leap back on to the wall and connect a backflip elbow, awesome! Morrison rolls Drew in to the ring and pins for two but as Drew kicks out he sends Morrison out of the ring and as he climbs back in Drew nails a big boot and hangs Morrison up by his leg in the ropes and kicks away at the trapped leg as the referee tries to free Morrison. Drew goes right to work on the injured leg stomping away and applying holds before stomping Morrison in the face and nailing repeated kicks to the injured leg but as Drew holds the hurt leg Morrison leaps up and connects a boot to the head with the other leg, wow! Morrison is unable to make a cover thought but strikes away at Drew dropping him with clotheslines and connecting a pele kick with the good leg for a near fall. Drew smashes the injured leg as he gets to his feet and goes for his underhook DDT but Morrison reverses it and nails a single leg Flying Chuck kick (he jumped on to the ropes with one leg and flew off and kicked with the same one!) this earns a near fall as Morrison sells the leg injury. Morrison calls for the Moonlight Drive but Drew hits an amazing counter into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Drew does not go for the pin though and instead rips off the turnbuckle padding only for Morrison to leap on him nail repeated blows in the corner. The referee hauls him off and tells Morrison to watch it and bends over to pick up the tunbuckle and as he does this Drew shoves Morrison into the ref causing the ref to disqualify Morrison! Morrison tries to appeal in vain as Drew bails to the outside. AS Drew leaves Morrison rushes him on the ramp and two brawl away leading to a team of referees coming out to try and break things up. Drew eventually flees as Morrison fumes.

Result: Drew McIntyre defeats John Morrison via disqualification ***1/2

Chris Considers: Awesome match! These two have produced the goods and something different each and every time they have stepped in the ring! The finish here was very innovative again and of course keeps Drew’s undefeated streak alive! Morrison hit some outstanding spots early on and then worked really well selling the injured leg, performing much of his signature offence on the good leg. I am glad this feud seems set to continue and cannot wait to see where they go from here!

Match 5: Beth Phoenix vs Mickie James

Layla and Michelle McCool are ringside, once again decked out in their disgraceful Piggy James gear. Layla and Michelle applaud Beth and are wearing headbands like her. I guess this is an attempt to get her onside after they insulted her a couple of weeks ago. Mickie draws a nice response from the crowd and glares at Layla and Michelle on the outside. Beth warns Mickie to keep her eyes on her and strikes away but Mickie fires back only to run into a back breaker from Beth for an early two count. Beth whips Mickie into the corner but she leaps on to the apron and nails an elbow before bouncing Beth’s head from the turnbuckle and flying from the top rope with a seated senton for a near fall. At this point Layla leaps on to the apron and distracts the referee whist Michelle grabs Mickie who gets a boot up at a charging Beth and then ducks the next charge just as Michelle is going for her big kick which ends up striking Beth square in the face allowing Mickie to sneak a quick roll up for the pinfall and victory. Layla and Michelle look seriously scared as Mickie poses in the ring. Layla and Michelle jump Mickie and double team her but Beth makes the save and tosses Michelle across the ring like a rag doll and pummels her in the corner whilst Mickie disposes of Layla. Beth drops Michelle with a clothesline whilst Mickie tosses Layla out of the ring. Beth then nails Michelle with an FU type move before connecting a charging kick to the stomach sending Michelle out of the ring. Layla climbs back on the apron and Beth quickly boots her off. Mickie looks shocked and Beth gives her a low hand slap as she leaves but as Mickie turns her back Beth strikes and drills Mickie with the Glam Slam. Beth smiles and poses before leaving the ring.

Result: Mickie James defeats Beth Phoenix via pinfall *1/2

Chris Considers: Whilst the post match antics were three times the length of the actual match I thoroughly enjoyed this. I have been wanting Beth to tear Michelle apart for weeks and she finally did so tonight! It remains to be seen if this is a full babyface turn just yet considering Beth also laid Mickie out but still it could well be the start of one! Good booking here to keep the fans guessing as well as giving Layla and Michelle some much needed punishement!

In Ring Segment: Chris Jericho

Jericho gets plenty of heat on the way to the ring and as he gets on the mic and says there is a Western saying that ‘This Town aint big enough for the both of us’ Jericho says he will paraphrase that and says Smackdown is not big enough for him. Jericho says he is bigger than the show and bigger than the tapeworm fans and in fact bigger than the whole WWE. Jericho says that come RAW Jericho and Show will defeat DX and regain their tag title and in doing so Jericho will once again become the face of RAW and he will go on to be the face of ECW, Superstars, Pay Per View, the face of the whole company. Jericho says his new years resolution, as a result of being on every show, will be to win every championship in the company and this starts tonight as he will defeat Rey Mysterio in record time and go on to defeat the Undertaker for his sixth world title reign. Jericho says that the fans better egt used to him because in 2010 Jericho will become the omnipotent epicentre of the entire WWE universe!

Chris Considers: Omnipotent epicentre??? That is one of the most awesome lines ever spoken! Jericho is so good at these obnoxious promos and whilst I detest the whole partner angle they are doing between him and Show on RAW, I do love these promos. Hell if Jericho competed on every show the WWE would certainly be all the better for it!

Match 6: Beat The Clock Match: Chris Jericho vs Rey Mysterio

This should be awesome as these two always produce. My one concern is it will probably be over in less then 7 minutes! Jericho nails a kick and forces Rey into the corner before striking away but Rey fires back with strikes and leapfrogs Jericho before trying for his wheelbarrow bulldog but Jericho shoves him off and punches Rey in the spine before hurling him from the ring and arrogantly posing. Jericho goes for the countout but Rey makes it back in at eight and drops a shoulder into Jericho’s stomach before hitting a springboard crossbody for a two count. Jericho is up quickly and levels Rey with a clothesline and pins for a one count before connecting a back suplex for a two count. Jericho stalks Rey and stomps away before hauling him to his feet and nailing a headbutt. Jericho whips Rey across the ring but as he charges Rey gets a boot up which Jericho catches only for Rey to counter with an enzuguri sending Jericho into the ropes but Jericho counters the 619 with an back drop much to the disappointment of the crowd, wonderful sequence there! Jericho drops an elbow for a near fall and screams at the referee. Seated headlock from Jericho and he talks smack to Rey and demands the referee ask him, Rey is fading but fires back with strikes and eventually battles to his feet but Jericho kicks away and whips Rey across the ring but Rey counters with a drop toe hold sending Jericho bouncing off the tunbuckle before coming off the top rope with a diving headbutt for a near fall. Rey connects a springboard crossbody for another near fall and as both men get to their feet we get another fantastic exchange of counters with Rey rolling through Jericho’s sunset flip only for Jericho to counter a running knee and try the Walls of Jericho but Rey kicks free only to get levelled by a clothesline from Chris. Rey leapfrogs a charging Jericho who immediately responds with what I can only describe as a tilt-a-whirl torture rack and this earns Jericho a near fall. Jericho boots Rey in the back but Rey counters a charge with a drop toe hold but as he goes for the 619 Jericho counters with the Walls of Jericho, Rey desperately tries to wriggle free and as Jericho tries to reposition him Rey counters with a head scissors followed by a 619 but as he goes for the 619, Jericho counters with a mid air Codebreaker! Jericho is slow making the cover though and Rey kicks out at two and as Jericho screams at the referee Rey rolls him up and pins for three with one second to spare!

Result: Rey Mysterio defeats Chris Jericho in 7:19 ***3/4

Chris Considers: These two did more in seven minutes than most guys can manage in half an hour! This was a superb match that featured some beautiful counter and reversal sequences! I know we have seen them go at it before but this was really, really good and flowed so well compared to say Matt and Punk from earlier in the night. Hell I wouldn’t be opposed to Rey winning the strap and headlining Wrestlemania with Jericho although we all know that wont happen!

Main Event: Beat The Clock Match: R-Truth vs Batista

We get some truly comedy kid dancing as Truth raps his way to the ring. I really hope TNA provide some meaningful competition so WWE have to do away with this PG crap and give us a more adult orientated product! Batista talks smack to Truth as he confidentially strolls down the ramp. Batista’s demeanour changes when he sees Rey on the outside as we go to commercial. Back from the break and the match is on and Batista forces Truth into the corner and pounds away before whipping him across the ring and pounding him in the other corner but Batista pauses to talk smack to Rey and this allows Truth to dodge the next shoulder charge and score a quick roll up for an early two count. Leg drop from Truth for another two but Batista powers up and decapitates Truth with a clothesline before nailing a suplex for a near fall. Batista tries for a powerslam but Truth wriggles free and connects some strikes before leapfrogging a charging Batista and cartwheeling across the ring, Truth tells Batista to bring it and drops into the splits but rather than charging Batista waits and drills Truth with a running boot, I don’t know if this makes Batista look incredibly clever or Truth incredibly stupid, perhaps a bit of both! Batista smiles at Rey on the outside and gets Truth up for the Batista Bomb but Truth powers out and sends Batista from the ring with a flying leg lariat before connecting a suicide dive on the outside. Both men are down and Truth tosses Batista back in the ring only for Batista to catch him on the apron and hurl him into the ring post sending him crashing back to the outside. Batista follows and whips Truth into the steps before tossing him in the ring and hurling him in to the ring post once more. Batista stomps away and pulls Truth to his feet but Truth fires back with strikes and connects a drop kick but Batista counters a charge with a Black Hole Slam for a near fall. Batista calls for the Spear but Truth somehow counters with a DDT for a near fall. Truth connects the Scissors Kick for a near fall but Batista shoves him into the corner. Truth gets a boot up on Batista’s first charge and then ducks under the second causing the Animal to eat ring post and Truth then rolls up to the top rope and flies with a missile drop kick but Batista swats him to one side and then connects the Spear. Spinebuster from Batista followed by a Batista Bomb but as the referee makes the count Rey pulls him from the ring and in the confusion the clock reaches zero. After the match Rey is announced as the new number one contender as Batista seethes in fury in the ring. Vickie comes out to her usual deathstar of heat and tells Rey that on Smackdown everyone follows the rules and it is clear he just cheated Batista and since no number one contender could be determined, next week it will be Rey vs Batista to determine the final number one contender, Batista looks somewhat smug about this as Rey shakes his head in disgust.

Result: Batista and R-Truth battle to a time limit draw **1/2

Chris Considers: I liked this match and was really impressed with the way Batista sold Truth’s offence, making him look good before he took control towards the end of the match. Truth has shown time and time again on Smackdown that he can hang with the main event talent and I certainly hope he at least gets in the MITB match this year. Rey interfering was well done and is payback for the Batista interference last week. I can see a triple threat match taking place at the Rumble but this time with the clear divide between Rey and Batista it should be a lot better.

This was a good start to 2010 as far as the total show goes but there were some parts that were totally not needed. We had two excellent matches in McIntyre vs Morrison and Rey vs Jericho and two solid matches in Batista vs Truth and Kane vs Ziggler. Punk vs Hardy was a disappointment and did not flow in the way the other beat the clock matches did, perhaps they were just having an off night. The Khali squash was a waste of everyone’s time and whilst I really enjoyed the aftermath of the Mickie vs Beth match, the actual match itself was far too short. However four out of seven is pretty good and considering we also had two excellent promos from Punk and Jericho I am pleased to report Smackdown continues it’s very strong run.

This week’s match of the night was Rey vs Jericho and the show scores an 8/10

That’s all for this week’s edition of Chris Reviews Smackdown. Now the holiday period is over I will be back as normal from now on. My apologies once again but it is very rare I get a chance to go away due to my hectic work schedule. I will be back either tomorrow or Wednesday over on Roadrunner records and then at the weekend with more Chris Reviews Smackdown where I will for sure be discussing my reactions to WWE vs TNA round 1! I hope you all have a great week! As always you can email me on a_agreement_called_forever@hotmail.com , add me on facebook: www.facebook.com\wnws.chris.jacks  or follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/WNWsChrisJacks  I would love to hear from you!

Here are ten points to consider coming out of this week’s show
• What a great opening promo from CM Punk, and so relevant considering the time of year! I will be fascinated to see what happens when he attempts to convert a lost soul next week!
• A pity then that the match with Matt Hardy was so poor, I just couldn’t get in to this one and felt it did not flow well at all due to the insane amount of near falls and two counts throughout the match
• Kane and Dolph Ziggler provided a pleasant surprise with Dolph once again showing what a versatile performer he can be. I hope these two feud as overcoming Kane will defiantly help put Dolph back on the right track towards championship gold
• Why are we watching Khali against jobbers??? I would rather watch paint dry, it would probably be more entertaining…
• What an outstanding match between Drew and Morrison once again! Morrison showed some outstanding ability working on one leg and some of his early spots from the security wall were jaw dropping!
• I am happy to see this go on for a couple of weeks, just as long as Morrison is free and ready to compete in the Rumble and hopefully win it and move up to the next level!
• I was actually cheering when Beth annihilated Michelle as I have been so disgusted with the Piggy James angle and have been praying for Michelle and Layla to take a good beating!
• This was actually very clever booking as it keeps the fans guessing as to Beth’s motives and allegiance with her taking Mickie out following the match. I think this could defiantly be the start of a face turn and you can bet she will be cheered against Michelle when they face off!
• Rey and Jericho did more in seven minutes than most could manage in half an hour! What a superb little match, with so many counters and reversals it was hard to keep up! I was particularly high on that mid air Codebreaker counter! Such perfect timing from both men!
• I was so surprised to see Batista work hard to sell R-Truth as a legitimate threat during their match and am pleased he did so, I have long been clamouring for Truth to move up the card and this should be the continuation of that!

My top ten matches of the year so far in WWE is on hold until after the Royal Rumble in order to get a series of decent matches in the list!

Smackdown Power 10

1: The Undertaker
2: Rey Mysterio
3: Batista
4: Drew McIntyre
5: CM Punk & Luke Gallows
6: John Morrison
7: Chris Jericho
8: Kane
9: Dolph Ziggler (NE)
10: The Great Khali (NE)

Watch any WWE programming you miss at www.Dailymotion.com  , your online source for TV shows!

Hey everyone and welcome to this week’s edition of Chris Reviews Smackdown. My apologies this blog is up so late but I have been suffering badly with flu for the last few days and still feel absolutely rotten now. I tried to sleep it off a bit when I got in from work today but to no avail. This is the reason why I did not have any TNA Final Resolution predictions up either or replied to emails, been on facebook etc. It is literally making my headache worse typing this so no pre-show notes this week, just straight on to Smackdown.

First off though I am sure many of you will have heard the Facebook campaign to put Rage Against The Machine at number 1 for Christmas in the UK worked and thanks to the hundreds and thousands of Rage fans we finally have something other than X-Factor topping our charts. That is a huge FU to Simon Cowell, The X-Factor and all of the talentless karaoke crap that he attempts to force feed us year in, year out. Hopefully this will be the start of a new yearly tradition and I hope that a Cowell produced act will never again top our charts, unless of course they are a genuinely talented star such as Leona Lewis, but no more karaoke puppets like Joe! Thanks to anyone who read my blog plugs and went and downloaded the song! Thanks to you the landscape of British chart music may have changed for the better!

We open with highlights of Batista getting “screwed” at TLC. I had almost forgotten what a huge disappointment this match was, a timely reminder from WWE!

Opening Segment: Teddy Long, Batista and Rey Mysterio

Long makes his way to the ring to a pop as Grisham calls him the most controversial general manager in WWE history! More controversial than Bischoff, Austin, Stephanie etc??? I don’t think so! Anyway Long references Undertaker successfully defending his championship against Batista. Long says tonight a new number one contender for the world heavyweight championship will be determined. This brings out Batista who tells Long to hold it. Batista says there is no need to look for a number one contender as Teddy robbed him last Sunday and Batista told him to make it right and this is not his idea of making it right. Batista stalks to the ring and gets in Teddy’s face and tells him this is the last chance he has to make it right and there is nobody back there or anywhere that would want to face Batista for the number one contenders spot anyway. Batista tells Teddy to make him the number one contender and give him another chair or does he need to go and get a chair. Batista says there is no need for a match but then Rey Mysterio’s music hits and he walks on to the ramp. Mysterio said he wants to challenge Batista and says you don’t need to be 6 foot 5 and jacked up with muscle to be a champion. Rey says because Batista dresses fly and asks for the spotlight that makes him the man. Rey says Batista is nothing but a bully and there is one thing that Dave never understood about Rey, he always viewed him as the little guy and never took the time to see what was inside of him. Rey says unlike Batista he has heart and shouts some Spanish and says the best way for Rey to get back at Dave is to make sure he never holds the World Heavyweight Title again. Rey demands that they get it on tonight and Batista smiles and says he will beat him up again. Teddy makes the match between Batista and Rey for the number one contendership and tells Batista is a straight up match do no chairs. Long says as a special Christmas present the winner faces the Undertaker for the title next week. Batista scowls at Long and Rey as Grisham hypes the match.

Chris Considers: Hot opening segment to the show, Batista came across as really menacing and I have to hand it to Teddy Long for his excellent facials during this opening as he looked genuinely scared of the Animal. Quite why Rey gets a number one contender spot after being so completely demolished by Batista of late is anybody’s guess but there you go.

Match 1: John Morrison, Matt Hardy & R-Truth vs Drew McIntyre & The Straight Edge Society

Morrison gets a huge pop as he makes his way to the ring as do Hardy and Truth. Punk and Gallows draw incredible heat as they walk to the ring as does Drew to a lesser extent. Matt Hardy and Punk start things off and a huge ‘Hardy’ chanr breaks out. Matt blocks a kick and forces Punk into the corner, bouncing his head from the turnbuckle along the way. Truth is tagged in and they hit a double elbow before a nice double elbow, leg drop combination. Punk quickly forces Truth into the heel corner and Drew tags in and strikes away but Morrison makes the blind tag and drops drew with a clothesline before punching away at Drew on the mat. Morrison nails both Punk and Gallows on the apron, enraging the former Festus who tries to storm the ring only to get called off by the referee. In the meantime Morrison nails a side Russian leg sweep followed by a standing Shooting Star Press for a two count, Drew bails to the outside as we go to commercial. Back from the break and Morrison is working over Punk in the ring with a headlock but Punk elbows free only to get dropped by a huge leg lariat from Morrison for a near fall. Gallows tries to storm the ring again as Punk sends Morrison on to the apron only for Morrison to punch him away. Drew nails a big boot sending Morrison crashing to the outside to huge heat and Punk puts Morrison back on the apron and drops some elbows before rolling him in to the heel corner and dropping some shoulders. Morrison briefly fights off all three heels but Gallows makes the blind tag and whilst Morrison is striking away at Punk he turns straight into a huge boot from Gallows who then hits repeated seated punches and another big boot and Morrison is out. Gallows doesn’t go for the cover but instead applies a headlock, hauling Morrison to his feet in the process. Matt fires up the crowd but Gallows drops Morrison with a knee and hurls him into the heel corner. Drew is tagged in and stomps away and drops Morrison with a clothesline for a near fall. Seated hammerlock from Drew but Morrison punches free and takes Drew down but the Scot is quickly back on him and applies and ankle lock which it looks for a second like Morrison will break but Drew hauls him back to the heel corner and tags in Gallows who drops a big elbow for a very close near fall. Uppercut from Gallows and Punk is tagged in and the Straight Edge Society hit a double kick to the ribs which earns Punk a near fall. Punk applies a head scissors hold and tags in Gallows who drops an elbow before hitting a neckbreaker for another near fall. Really nice double team move from the Straight Edge Society with Gallows hitting a backbreaker and holding Morrison in position whilst Punk drops a knee to the head from the top rope, again though it is only good for a near fall. Punk is furious and calls for the GTS but Morrison wriggles free and tries a roll up which Punk rolls out from but this allows Morrison to make the hot tag to Matt Hardy who drops Punk with clotheslines and hits a clothesline, bulldog combo in the corner for a near fall. Matt hits an elbow from the middle rope followed by a neckbreaker for another near fall and then nails the Side Effect yet another near fall but Gallows breaks it up. Truth sends Gallows flying from the ring with a drop kick but is in turn dumped to the outside by McIntyre who turns into a drop kick from Morrison who sets up for a top rope corkscrew plancha but Punk slams him back into the ring, Matt goes for the Twist of Fate but Punk shoves him off and Gallows tosses Punk the Slammy award and he nails Matt in the stomach before pinning for the victory. The heels celebrate as they faces roll around in pain.

Result: Drew McIntyre & The Straight Edge Society defeat John Morrison, Matt Hardy & R-Truth via pinfall ***

Chris Considers: Maybe three stars is a bit generous but I really enjoyed this match, so often these six man matches are just thrown together and lack cohesion but that was certainly not the case here. Matt and Truth worked very well together and I am sensing their tag team may become a more permanent thing and once again the Straight Edge Society looked very impressive. Drew did not feature too prominently in this match which surprised me, but looked good when he did. Morrison stood out here and I sense it is only a matter of time before he is working at the top of the card!

We see Maria and Mickie playing on Smackdown vs RAW in the Xbox 360 (hopefully mine will be fixed soon!) Beth storms in and unplugs the console and tells Mickie this is exactly why she did not win the title on Sunday. Beth tells Maria when she won the diva of the year she was hungry for competition and yet here Maria is taking it easy? Beth tells Maria they have a match tonight and she will ensure her return to Smackdown is very short lived.

Chris Considers: Beth once again proves she can talk as well as wrestle, WWE need to turn her face and have her feud with Michelle for the belt!

This is followed by another DX merchandise plug which is somewhat amusing but considering we has already seen it on RAW, was it really necessary?

Match 2: Eric Escobar vs Kane

Eric Escobar makes his way to the ring to little reaction from the crowd. He gets on the mic and talks Spanish before saying can Vickie blame him for calling National Geographic when he saw her in her underwear. Eric says there is no punishment Vickie can give him that is worse than being in a relationship with her. ‘Excuse Me!’ Vickie storms out and says she is sick of Eric saying nasty things about her and since it is Eric’s birthday she has brought him a present. Out comes Kane (who I swear was working as a babyface last week?!) Eric punches away at Kane to no effect and Kane drops him with a punch before hitting a big running clothesline and sends Eric over the top rope with another clothesline. Kane beats Eric on the outside before tossing him back in the ring and trying another charging clothesline but Eric counters with an elbow and a leg lariat sending Kane teetering but the Big Red Machine fires back with a big boot followed by a Sidewalk Slam and a Chokeslam for the pinfall and victory. Vickie smiles at Kane but he stalks from the ring. Vickie gets in the ring and laughs at Eric like a demented witch. She tells Eric next time he has something to say maybe he will choose his words more wisely. Eric gets the mic and says he has talked himself into some brutal beatings and will choose his words more wisely. Eric says tomorrow he will wake up, still very sore but good to fight another day, he says unfortunately for Vickie she will still wake up tomorrow looking like that! The crowd pops and gasps as Vickie looks furious and demands the mic but Eric leaves the ring leaving Vickie furious.

Result: Kane defeats Eric Escobar via pinfall *

Chris Considers: In terms of momentum and matches won Kane probably should be the actual number one contender! Anyway this was far more one sided than some of Escobar’s recent outings. However despite his zero reaction to start with, Eric got a good reaction when he mocked Vickie. I wonder where he goes from here, Mike Knox next week maybe?

In Ring Segment: Chris Jericho

Jericho stalks to the ring to heat from the fans and says he was unfairly ejected from RAW on a legal loophole. Jericho says he and The Big Show never lost their rematch against DX and he was the victim of the biggest screw job in WWE history, a conspiracy of epic proportions and even though he was humiliated in front of millions of hypocrites it is not over and Jericho will leave RAW when he is ready to and not a minute earlier. Jericho says he knows exactly what is going on here and that is he is being punished for being the best in the world, being ganged up on by general managers, guest hosts and the fans. Jericho says the worst thing is that his best friend and partner The Big Show has been taken from him leaving him all alone to fend for himself. Jericho asks where is his other half now, Jericho says this one of the worst moments of his life and he knows the fans love to see him down but this is not over and he will continue to do what he does best and has done for the last nine months and dominate Friday Nights. At this point Khali’s music hits and we seem to have a match.

Chris Considers: Well Jericho is right on one thing, he sure is being punished! Khali doesn’t even deserve to set foot in the ring with Jericho, let alone “wrestle” him. As far as the promo goes I actually found this one a bit annoying and whiny, it achieved everything it set out to as in Jericho got a tonne of heat but I prefer Chris when he is being cocky and arrogant rather than feeling sorry for himself.

Match 3: Chris Jericho vs The Great Khali

This is going to suck! Jericho immediately bails to the outside and refuses to get in the ring with Khali. Eventually Jericho enters and kicks away but gets dropped by a chop of doom. Khali elbows Jericho in the corner and kind of kicks him sending Jericho rolling back to the outside. Khali tries to haul Jericho back in the ring but Chris bounces his head off the ropes and heads to the top rope but jumps right in to a chokeslam attempt which his able to counter out of only to run into another chop of doom. Khali calls for the Punjabi Plunge and gets a big pop from the crowd (what are they thinking!?) Jericho rolls from the ring and scuttles away up the ramp. Jericho refuses to get back in the ring and Khali wins.

Result: The Great Khali defeats Chris Jericho via countout ¼ *

Chris Considers: I was contemplating giving that no stars but I guess Jericho deserves a ¼ * for even agreeing to have the match! Utter garbage, as I said Khali doesn’t even belong in the same ring as Jericho and hopefully we will never, ever see this match up repeated!

Match 4: Number One Contender Match for the Unified Tag Team Championship: The Hart Dynasty vs Jimmy Wang Yang and Slam Master J

Ok so what exactly did Slam Master J and Jimmy do to earn a number one contender spot? Anyway J actually gets a pop from the crowd and starts out with Tyson and the crowd are DEAD! The two lock up and J actually matches Tyson hold for hold with some mat wrestling before tagging in Yang who applies a hammerlock which Tyson breaks only for Jimmy to slide under a clothesline and strike with a huricanranna. Jimmy clotheslines Tyson from the ring and sends Smith off the apron with a drop kick. Synchronised double suicide dive from J and Jimmy brings the crowd to life a bit and Yang tosses Tyson back in the ring but Tyson hurls him into the turnbuckle and hits a drop kick to Yang’s back before hauling him in to the heel corner and tagging in Smith who hits a beautiful delayed vertical suplex which earns a near fall. Smith drops knees to a back and hits a trio of belly to belly suplexes which are only good for a near fall. Smith drops shoulders in the corner but Yang comes back with a springboard DDT out of nowhere and both men are down. Both men make the hot tags an J drops Tyson with shoulder blocks and a head scissors take down. J rips his top off and hits a nice snap suplex into a bridge for a near fall. Tyson rolls to the apron and goes to springboard off but J hits a drop kick sending Tyson crashing to the outside. J tosses Tyson back in the ring and goes to get in himself but whilst the referee is distracted Natalya pulls J from the apron and hits a scoop slam on the outside. Yang hurries to J’s aid but eats a drop kick from Tyson who tags in Smith and a Hart Attack later and it is all over. Natalya gets on the mic after the match and says revenge is a dish best served cold and after a decade they finally get a shot at De-Generation X and whilst next week may be a DX Christmas party it will be The Hart Dynasty who are celebrating. Smith says what better way to celebrate than by ending DX’s run as tag team champions and unlike their father they will not be intimidated and will not back down. Tyson says this is a new era for the Hart Dynasty and says what their father couldn’t do they will do because they are better than the best period!

Result: The Hart Dynasty defeat Jimmy Wang Yang & Slam Master J via pinfall **

Chris Considers: This actually wasn’t that bad, I was expecting a total squash but J and Jimmy got in a variety of offense, perhaps a little too much considering their opponents are facing DX next week! There is certainly a tag team revival on the go in WWE at the moment and I am enjoying it! J especially looked far better here than he did in his singles outings a few months ago! After the match all three members of the Hart Dynasty proved they can talk as well as bring it in the ring and I am hyped for the title match next week!

We see Beth stalking around backstage and she is interrupted by Layla and Michelle who say they hope they didn’t rub Beth the wrong way when she came to Smackdown. Layla and Michelle cruelly rip in to Mickie and her weight again and sound like a couple of pathetic school girls. Beth says she wonders who would want to see a big girl shut their big mouths in a big way and glares at Michelle before walking away. Layla and Michelle act really dumb

Chris Considers: Now the feud is over WWE need to drop this Piggy James shit. It is seriously offensive as Mickie looks just fine the way she is. Michelle is repulsively skinny and Layla is pretty muscular so they need to shut the fuck up. I am sick of this crap. At least Beth continued teasing a face turn. I would like nothing better than to see her completely obliterate Michelle and Layla or even better the obnoxious chauvinist that is writing this storyline!

Match 5: Maria vs Beth Phoenix

Beth shoves Maria over and elbows away in the corner before whipping Maria across the ring. Maria gets a boot up and comes off the top rope but Beth catches her and locks in a torture rack and slams Maria down who rolls under the apron. Maria drops a shoulder but gets decapitated with a clothesline from Beth but Maria strikes with a rollup from nowhere for a near fall. Maria kicks away but Beth slams her into the turnbuckle. Electric Chair drop from Beth followed by the Glam Slam and this one is over.

Result: Beth Phoenix defeats Maria via pinfall *

Chris Considers: I don’t care how over Maria is, she is not in the same league as Beth in the ring and thankfully they did not make the mistake of putting her over here. Beth looked dominant and I cant wait to see her go against Michelle!

We see the trailer for the Marine 2 which looks awesome! Kind of like Steven Segal’s under siege films which were some of my childhood favourites! I have no idea when this comes out over here but I will be getting it for sure!

We get a recap of the huge pile of turd that was last week’s RAW. If I wasn’t feeling so terrible I would have ripped this heavily in some pre show notes. Punk squashed by Cena, New champion Sheamus hardly featured, Cena cutting crappy promos, Cena winning Superstar of the year, Cena vs Orton AGAIN, Dennis Miller being perhaps the worst guest host ever, the list goes on! The only good thing to come from this was Shawn Michaels challenging Undertaker once again! If you want to know why I didn’t want to cover RAW look no further than this show!

Main Event: Number One Contenders Match for the World Heavyweight Championship: Rey Mysterio vs Batista

I like how Batista has the spotlight on him during his introduction now, it is very effective. Well we still have plenty of time so this should be a good match. Rey kicks and strikes away but Batista powers him into the turnbuckle and slaps away at Rey on the mat before forcing a knee into Rey’s head on the mat. Batista hurls Rey from the ring he lands on his feet and leaps back in the ring dodging a charging Batista. Rey runs right into a big boot though and goes for the Batista Bomb but Rey grabs the ropes and flips onto the apron before dropping some shoulders and nailing a dropkick which Batista has to really oversell, sending him tumbling from the ring. Rey hits a Seated Senton to Batista on the outside and goes for a baseball slide but Batista evades him and slams him into the ring and tosses him back inside. Rey strikes with a kick to the head and flies off the apron with a moonsault but Batista catches him and powers him into the security wall as we go to commercial. Back from the break and Batista is in total control stomping and kicking Rey all over the ring. Batista hurls Rey back to the outside and slams his back into the ring post before tossing him back in the ring. Rey tries to fight back but Batista catches a crossbody and nails a back breaker and then stretches Rey across his knee like a child. Rey fights free but Batista decapitates Rey with a big boot for a very close near fall. Batista whips Rey into the corner but Rey ducks the charge and tries a sunset flip but Batista stomps him off and chokes him on the ropes. Batista strikes away but Rey fights back only to get decapitated by a huge clothesline for a near fall. Batista looks really pissed and delivers a pair of scoop slams and slaps away at Rey before nailing a third scoop slam. And heading to the top rope but Rey is up and meets Batista on the top ropes with strikes goes for a huricanranna but Batista shoves Rey crashing back to the mat. Batista grins and comes off the top rope but Rey connects with a drop kick in mid air which drops both men. The two exchange knees and strikes before Rey connects another Seated Senton into a Wheelbarrow Bulldog for a near fall and a huge pop from the crowd. Rey nails a low drop kick to the head and nails a springboard leg drop for another close near fall. Batista is dazed and pissed as he forces Rey in to the corner and goes for a running powerslam but Rey with a nice counter into a DDT for another near fall. Rey slides under Batista’s legs and connects the 619 but takes his time with the splash due to selling his injuries and Batista is able to get his legs up and counter. Batista covers for a near fall and stomps away at Rey in the corner before connecting a running powerslam for another near fall. Batista glares at the referee and sets Rey up for the Batista Bomb but Rey ducks under Batista’s legs and goes for a tilt-a-whirl DDT but Batista counters with a huge slam for another near fall and Rey is able to grab the ropes. Batista goes for the Batista Bomb again but Rey counters out and connects a headscissors take down sending Batista through the middle rope to the outside. The animal snaps and grabs a chair but the referee reminds him he will get disqualified and he hurls it to the floor before annihilating Rey with a Spear in the ring for a very close near fall. Now Batista is really mad and he sets up for a spinebuster but Rey somehow rolls the move through and keeps the cradle locked in for three. Rey flees the ring and Batista is livid!

Result: Rey Mysterio defeats Batista via pinfall ***1/2

Chris Considers: This was awesome! By far the best match these two have had so far! Some really great back and forth action punctuated with plenty of nice spots and close near falls. A really solid main event that got me hyped for next week’s show! Something tells me the wheels are being set in motion for a triple threat match at the Rumble!

This was a solid edition of Friday Night Smackdown that saw two very strong matches in the six man tag and the main event. However we also had some shockers in the shape of Khali vs Jericho, Maria vs Beth and Kane vs Escobar did nothing for either man. Surprise of the night was The Hart Dynasty vs Jimmy and J which was decent and I am really hyped for the tag title match next week, not to mention Rey vs Undertaker which should be very good. A solid wrestling show that furthered feuds and made me want to tune in next week, mission accomplished.

That is all for this week. Now as I am sure you are aware Smackdown is airing on Christmas Day next week, I cant see any way I will be writing then and all my family are up and visiting on Boxing Day so I may be a bit late next week but I am sure you will all be enjoying the festivities anyway! I certainly hope I feel better soon as this has been a real struggle writing this today! I hope you all have a great week and a fantastic Christmas! Don’t forget you can catch my weekly wrestling music blog over on www.RoadRunnerRecords.com I hope you all have a great week! As always you can email me on a_agreement_called_forever@hotmail.com , add me on facebook: www.facebook.com\wnws.chris.jacks  or follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/WNWsChrisJacks  I would love to hear from you!

Here are ten points coming out of this week’s Smackdown
• How great was Teddy Long’s body language and facial expressions during that opening promo, he seemed legitimately scared of Batista!
• Morrison is quickly becoming a crowd favourite now and is on the cusp of greatness. I really hope he wins the Rumble especially with big names like Cena, Undertaker, Batista, DX likely not to feature!
• I am surprised how well Gallows and Punk work together as a team! That backbreaker, knee drop combo was awesome! I would really enjoy seeing them against DX at some point soon!
• WWE need to decide how they are pushing Kane and stick with it, I can understand him playing the tweener role but he always gets pops and putting him against a guy you are trying to establish as a babyface really achieves nothing
• What did Chris Jericho do to deserve a match against The Great Khali!? Jericho should be competing at the top of the card not in garbage like this! I hope it gets better next week!
• Slam Master J and Jimmy Wang Yang actually work well together and I was surprised to see them getting so much offence against the Harts, I hope this team sticks as I have always been a huge fan of Yang and have been lobbying for WWE to use him properly since I started writing!
• The Piggy James shit has run its course, it is offensive and not on anymore. I am sick of it. WWE made a huge cock up when they kept the belt on Michelle at TLC and an even bigger one when they kept the angle going here
• I just want to see Beth turn face and annihilate Michelle and Layla and take the title!
• The main event was the match I have always wanted to see between Rey and Batista, really exciting back and forth action with plenty of big spots and near falls, great stuff!
• Can anyone else see a Rey vs Batista vs Undertaker match at the Rumble?

My top ten matches of the year so far in WWE

1: The Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels – Wrestlemania – April 5th 2009
2: John Cena vs HBK vs Triple H – Survivor Series – November 22nd 2009
3: Legacy vs DeGeneration X – Breaking Point – September 13th 2009
4: Randy Orton vs Kofi Kingston – TLC – December 13th 2009
5: CM Punk vs Jeff Hardy – Smackdown – August 28th 2009
6: Rey Mysterio vs Chris Jericho – The Bash – June 28th 2009
7: Rey Mysterio vs John Morrison – Smackdown – August 4th 2009
8: CM Punk vs Jeff Hardy – Summerslam – August 23rd 2009
9: Christian vs Shelton Benjamin – TLC – December 13th 2009
10: Rey Mysterio vs Chris Jericho – Smackdown – July 10th 2009

Smackdown Power 10

1: The Undertaker
2: Rey Mysterio (+9)
3: Batista (-1)
4: Drew McIntyre (+3)
5: CM Punk & Luke Gallows
6: John Morrison (-2)
7: Chris Jericho (-4)
8: Kane (-2)
9: Matt Hardy & R-Truth (-1)
10: The Hart Dynasty (NE)

Watch any WWE programming you miss at www.Dailymotion.com  , your online source for TV shows!