Hey everyone and welcome to this weeks edition of Chris Reviews Smackdown. In this weeks blog I will be discussing next weeks King of The Ring, Joey Styles departure from ECW commentary, a stellar main event and more. Please leave some feedback and I will be sure to get back to you via the comment board.

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So the big news this week is that King of the Ring is back next week on RAW. So the question is who will be competing and what will the winner receive? I think there are a couple of dead certain participants: CM Punk, Mr Kennedy, Chris Jericho and Kofi Kingston. Of those four one name is screaming out as an obvious winner and that is Mr Kennedy. This could be the moment that Kennedy finally steps up and is pushed to the top level, he has the mic skills and attitude to pull of the who King gimmick if that is WWE intend to take it as they did with “King” Booker a few years ago. My choice however would be none other than everyone’s favourite Italian: Santino Marella. If you read the house show reports from the recent European tour one name stands out in every report and that is Santino. A couple of my friends attended the Liverpool show and said Santino was the best part of the night and got more heat than the rest of the roster put together. This guy is golden on the mic and has the wrestling skills to match and it is about time he was given a chance to show this. King Santino would be hilarious and guaranteed to make RAW more entertaining every week. My one concern is Santino will not even be participating due to his tag team push but I really hope creative put him in the mix and the reign of King Marella will begin.

The departure of Joey Styles from his ECW announcing job came as a huge shock. Mike Adamle proved to be diabolical this week on ECW and to me this is just another way of burying every last memory of the original ECW. Joey is one of the best announcers in the business and I was really hopeful he would be replacing Coach on Smackdown but after this week it is clear that is not going to happen. Hopefully Adamle will receive such a hostile and negative response from fans that Vince will rethink this dreadful decision but something tells me we are going to get lines such as “Your Jamaican Me Crazy!” for some time to come.

Mickie James and Beth Phoenix had the best WWE women’s match in recent memory on RAW this past Monday, I really hope these two have a long feud over the belt and whilst I would have liked to see Mickie win at a big PPV it seems there was more to this than meets the eye with Beth. I am sure the full story will come to light within the coming weeks, Of course if you are a Premium Subscriber you will have read the same story that I have and be aware of what happened. I just hope this doesn’t lead to Beth having to job to the likes of Maria over the coming weeks as that would be a complete mockery of the most dominant female in recent history in the WWE.

So now on to this weeks show

The show opens with Chris Jericho making his way to the ring for a special edition of the highlight reel. Y2J looks much better in his rock gear than a brown suit! Is it just me or is Chris Jericho becoming more and more of a heel every time he is on TV. I imagine now he has been made special referee at Backlash he will be screwing one or both of the guys involved. Batista got some heat from the UK crowd which was a surprise to me. This was a fantastic segment with Jericho really getting under Batista’s skin. It seems that WWE will be keeping both Batista and HBK face and instead having Jericho play the heel role. Batista gave Jericho a Batista bomb for his disrespect. Great way to start the show!

Why does WWE always show red buses when it is in England? Do all Americans think that’s how we get around? I hope not!

Next up Matt Hardy was providing special guest commentary for MVPs match against Tommy Dreamer. No inflatable tunnel for MVP in the UK then! Now last week MVP said he would be having a match against Matt this week. I am guessing that idea has been scrapped! Now Matt was good on commentary but compared to MVP last week he came across as somewhat dull. MVP put Coach in his place last week, this week Coach kept interrupting Matt and that was just irritating! The match between MVP and Dreamer was solid. MVP providing plenty of strong offensive and big kicks. Excellent spot by Dreamer where he countered the Playmaker into a DDT only to lose a couple of minutes later after MVP gave him a charging kick to the head. Good match nothing spectacular but good nevertheless. One thing is for sure this was a good way to build the match at Backlash and I am certainly looking forward to a potential VIP lounge segment next week.

Matt Striker cut a very good promo prior to his match with Hornswoggle. I totally agree with Striker when he said it was an insult to be facing Hornswoggle. The London crowd were certainly hot for Finlay and Hornswoggle. The childish antics continue this week with the use of tennis balls and water guns irritating Striker. The crowd were certainly in to this and found it very amusing. Hornswoggle picks up the win after Finlay clocked Striker with the shelailee. I find this sort of humour very irritating but this certainly seems to be WWE targeting the kids and they love it so I will tolerate it. I hope it does not continue week after week though. Ironically after the match Coach plugs the new WWE kid’s magazine featuring none other than: Hornswoggle.

Following this we had a recap of last weeks Punjabi peace offering between Khali and Big Show. Big Show also cut a good promo saying that at Backlash he will be finishing the job he has started on Khali.

Next up Chavo was facing Jamie Noble in singles action. This had all the potential to be a great match as these are two of the best Cruiserweights on the Roster. This match had a very strong opener with lots of solid mat wrestling. Both guys put on a great show and showed us why we need a Cruiserweight division on Smackdown. Great counter from Noble on the third of the three amigos into a DDT. Chavo picked up the win however with a frog splash. A short match but a very enjoyable one.

Next Big Show was taking on the Mark Henry in a battle of the giants. However after last week it seemed inevitable that Khali would be back for revenge against Big Show. The London crowd were loving the Big Show as well. This started off as a pretty even match up with neither athlete gaining the early advantage until Mark Henry managed to lock in the lamest move in wrestling: The Bear Hug. However Big Show escaped and delivered a thunderous choke slam to Henry. However out comes Khali and dismantles the injured Big Show. Very impressive show of strength from Khali when he Khali Bombed the Big Show. I am quite looking forward to this match at Backlash certainly has a clash of the Titans feel to it.

A superb promo for the Batista vs Undertaker match next up. These two had by far the best rivalry last year and I am certainly looking forward to the main event.

Next up Cherry was taking on Victoria in a divas match with Nattie and Michelle at ringside. This is the first time I can remember Cherry taking part in a proper match and I think she showed that all she will ever be is eye candy. Comic moment when Michael Cole said Victoria was better with her commentary than Coach: very true! Victoria wiped the floor with Cherry hitting some very impressive moves until Victoria was distracted by Michelle and Cherry got the roll up for a surprise win. Whilst it was clear from this match Cherry is no wrestler I am enjoying how creative actually seems to be building a proper women’s rivalry on Smackdown. Tag match between these four next week anyone?

Next up we had our weekly Kozlov squash. This time it was against a local jobber from England. Once again Kozlov had no music which is an interesting start for a new Superstar. The crowd were pretty dead for this match until the local guy hit some offensive. Kozlov once again looked impressive but give him a proper opponent please. He has been wrestling dark matches against proper wrestlers for months!

Next up a very good promo for the Edge vs Undertaker match at Backlash with footage of the Undertaker in action inter cut with Edge and Vickie’s love antics.

Main event time next and Team Rated R took their place at ringside having “purchased” tickets for the event. The London crowd blew the roof off for the Undertaker. I would have given anything to be there! Damn ticket touts! Anyway with the history of great matches that Undertaker and Batista have had I knew this match would really be something and I was not disappointed. Undertaker got some fast early offensive before Batista recovered. Very even match up with neither man really gaining the upper hand with both combatants hitting some impressive strikes. Very good spot from Batista where he countered Undertaker’s Old School attempt into a Superplex. Undertaker finally hit Old School on the third attempt drilling Batista into the mat and then leg dropping him on the outside of the ring. Great counter into a spear by Batista. Undertaker really brings out the best in Batista. Sometimes he can look very ordinary but every time he steps in the ring with the dead man they really turn it up a notch. The ending turned into a double count out with neither man seeming bothered about getting back in the ring and instead choosing to continue to fight outside the ring. Undertaker threw Edge into the ring and was about to chokeslam him when Chavo and his bodyguard hit the ring and Edge escaped. Great stuff! Vickie then came out and announced that next week it would be a rematch between Edge and Batista and this time it would be for the Heavyweight title. Wow! Cannot wait to see that one!

This was a good edition of Smackdown from my home country. Nothing truly spectacular besides an outstanding main event but nothing that was truly awful. The Hornswoggle comedy was once again irritating and the Kozlov squash was a snooze but other than that everything worked and we got some good build up for Backlash. The main event was without a doubt my match of the week.

This weeks edition of Smackdown scores a good 7/10

That is all for this weeks blog. I will be back again next week with more Chris Reviews Smackdown. Please leave me some feedback on the comment board and I will try and get back to you. As always I can be contacted on a_agreement_called_forever@hotmail.com and www.myspace.com/agreement_called_forever

Until next time Matt Hardy has come to save us!

Smackdown Power 10

1: The Undertaker
2: Batista
3: Edge
4: MVP (+1)
5: Team Morrison (-1)
6: The Big Show
7: Matt Hardy
8: Finlay & Hornswoggle (+1)
9: Victor Kozlov (-1)
10: Team Yang

Tags: Backlash, Batista, Big Show, Hornswoggle, Matt Hardy, Smackdown Power 10, The Undertaker