Hey everyone and welcome to this weeks edition of Chris Reviews Smackdown. In this weeks blog I will be discussing more about the current angle with Kane on RAW, Some more about Evan Bourne as well as giving the full run down on this weeks show. Please read and leave some more feedback for me via the comment board.

First off though I would just like to take a moment to discuss a matter which has arisen on the One Night Blog comment board recently and caused a few people to email me their disgust with people going on the comment boards to run others down and generally make serious fans of Wrestling News World pretty unhappy. One question which seemed to crop up quite often in your emails was would I tolerate this if people started posting this crap all over the Smackdown comment board and the simple answer to this is no. One of the biggest attractions I found when coming to work for Wrestling News World was the serious and professional manner in which the site is presented without the disorganisation and abuse that is rampant on other sites. There are forums all over the internet wrestling community for people who want to go and abuse each other, so go and use them. As far as I am concerned the comment boards for my blogs are for serious wrestling discussion, arguments and debate, not pointless abuse.

So with that out of the way I will take a moment to look at the continuation of the Kane angle on RAW and all I can say is wow! What a great job creative are doing with this storyline. Kane seems genuinely unhinged and scary again! The big question on everyone’s lips seems to be “What is in the bag?” and for one I hope that it is his mask and we are about to see the return of the brutal Big Red Machine in all of his former glory. This angle has got the wrestling community talking and guessing what is going to happen next in a way I have not seen since Jericho’s return last year. I really hope that on Sunday, at The Great American Bash, Kane comes out and DESTROYS Batista and Punk and then pulls his mask out of the bag puts it on and the pyro hits and then the story I discussed last week begins to become apparent on RAW next Monday. I am gripped to see where this is going and cannot wait to see what role Kane will play at the Bash.

Evan Bourne continues to get better and better each week on ECW. For anyone who missed his match this past week against Chavo Guerrero seriously go and check it out. It was just phenomenal. This guy reminds me somewhat of AJ Styles from his early TNA days. He really is a talent and I hope he has a big future ahead of him in WWE. ECW all round was good this week. I am glad they are going the sensible root and keeping Mark Henry at the start of the show and allowing the real wrestlers to go at it in the main events. The Hardys vs Miz and Morrison match was superb and shows just how much people want to see Jeff and Matt tagging together again. However for now I think they are better off in the singles division as they both deserve several world championship runs before returning to the tag division.

My Great American Bash predictions column is shaping up nicely and will be up on the site at some point tomorrow (Sunday) I hope you enjoy it as I really have gone all out for this one seeing as how you normally get a bumper preview blog in the Talent Exchange.

So now onto this weeks Smackdown

The show opens with a nice video package of Edge and Vickie’s relationship as we see them getting married earlier in the day and we discover that tonight will be the wedding reception. The booing of the crowd almost drowns out the wedding music as Edge and Vickie make their way to a table on the top of the ramp! La Famillia are all out to celebrate with the “happy” couple as Chavo makes his best man speech. This was all very mushy stuff with Chavo drawing some major heat. I was just waiting for some sort of interruption but it never came. Edge then gets on the mic and says that show must start as Finlay and Hornswoggle make their way to the ring. We learn that at the Great American Bash there will be a fatal four way for the WWE tag titles featuring Team Morrison vs Finlay and Hornswoggle vs Jesse & Festus vs The Edgeheads. Wow that will be a good match!

Edge announces that the first match will be between the Edgeheads and Finaly and Hornswoggle. He runs down Finlay and says there will be no cheating tonight as he will be the special guest referee. That’s irony for you! Hawkins and Ryder were wrestling in their wedding gear and looked more than a little dumb. This match broke down after Finlay started using Hornswoggle as a weapon and Edge took him out of the ring causing Finlay to attack Edge which ultimately led to Edge hitting a spear on Finlay allowing The Edgeheads to pick up the win. Very basic match but it certainly suggests there will be some bad blood between these two teams on Sunday!

Edge and Vickie then proceeded to have their first dance at the top of the ramp to a very soppy song. Luckily Big Show interrupted proceedings and started dancing with Vickie causing Edge to send him to the ring in disgust. As we returned from commercial it seemed Big Show would be facing MVP, Shelton, Kozlov and The Great Khali! Now there is some tough odds for you! One question I had in my mind was why are MVP and Shelton not being involved in their own feuds instead of being thrown into this random match. There are plenty of other heels on the roster that could be used. As the match began JR informs us that Shelton will indeed be facing Matt for the US title on Sunday which should defiantly be a good encounter. This handicap match started very slowly with each of the heels entering the ring and finding themselves unable to penetrate Big Show’s defence sent in one of their colleagues. For some reason the crowd seemed very in to Khali tonight! As this match descended into chaos the referee rang the bell for the DQ as the heels attacked Big Show as a team allowing Khali to hit the Khali bomb to finish off Show. Well once again not really a match as such here more a way to renew the feud between Big Show and Khali. I would much rather see Kozlov and Big Show go at it instead!

Next up Vickie was in the ring drawing a tremendous amount of heat and was almost unable to get her words out. Vickie says she will be throwing the wedding bouquet to all of the eligible bachelorettes. Before the match however Michelle got herself thrown out for fighting with Natalya. Guess the Undertaker doesn’t fancy getting hitched just yet. Cherry ended up catching the boquet and earned herself a match against Natalya who destroyed her via the sharpshooter in a matter of seconds. Vickie then said she will be having a match with Cherry and pinned her without even doing a move. This was an effective way of building Natalya for her match on Sunday but Cherry deserves better especially seeing as how she is such a talented wrestler. I think Eve Torres should have been the one doing the job here but I guess they are saving her for some point in the future.

Next up was a match I as very much looking forward to seeing as it featured not only the return of Jimmy Wang Yang but also Brian Kendrick debuting a new look and music as well as a very menacing looking bodyguard. Take note Bam Neeley that is how to look bad ass! Kendrick was very much wrestling as a heel here grinding Yang down in the early stages and attempting to prevent his high flying offense. Kendrick was certainly looking more toned and muscular than he was during his days on RAW. He also seems to have dropped his high flying style in favour of a more submission based technical style which I think is a mistake based purely on the fact that Kendrick is one of the best high flyers on the roster but I am thinking this was done to get him over as a heel. This was a very good match with Kendrick focussing on Yang’s left arm and he did a superb job of selling the injury. Great spot came when Yang hit a picture perfect missile dropkick! Yang was about to attempt a moonsault when the bodyguard Ezekiel got in his face allowing Kendrick to avoid the move and hit his awesome finisher for the victory. Very good match here and I am looking forward to seeing Kendrick’s character develop over the coming weeks. It was also a pleasure to see Jimmy Wang Yang back in action!

Next up we saw Mr Kennedy making his way to the ring to a big pop. We got a recap of Umaga’s actions last week as Kennedy got on the mic and once again showed just how talented he is, having the crowd behind him one hundred percent. Umaga stormed out but Kennedy started on the offense evading Umaga and hitting him with several strike attacks until Umaga hit a big clothesline to take control. Umaga dominated Kennedy repeatedly whipping him into the ring posts and connecting a big leg drop. The crowd rallied behind Kennedy as Umaga had his nerve hold locked in. Superb counter from Umaga as hit a Samoan drop to take out Kennedy’s charge. Kind of dumb comment from JR saying Umaga had been untouchable since coming to Smackdown! Seeing as this was only his second match and his first was against Funaki that is hardly surprising! Umaga continued to dominate this match hitting all of his power moves until Kennedy was able to avoid the diving head back and hit a fast flurry of strikes including a nice enzuguri, however Umaga countered the mic check and hit a Samoan Spike for the win. Very solid match here that demonstrated just how much of a powerful force Umaga is capable of being. Good stuff!

Next up as Edge chuckles with Vickie at ring side, Team Morrison make their way to the ring, their opponents were Jesse and Festus. As the bell rang Festus did his usual psycho transformation as Morrison and Jesse started things off. Some very nice double team action from Jesse and Festus working over Morrison. Jesse hit a very nice flying cross body off the top rope but Morrison was able to kick out of the pin attempt. As Morrison was able to tag in The Miz, Foley was gloating at the thought of if Team Morrison lose the tag titles it meant they would no longer have to commentate the Miz on Smackdown. He really does hate him! After some offense from the Miz, Festus was able to tag back in and clean house. It spilled to the outside between Morrison and Festus as The Miz and Jesse were the legal men in the ring with Miz able to hit the reality check for the win after Festus had taken both himself and Morrison out with his finisher on the outside. This was a very fast faced match that I really enjoyed. It showed Jesse and Festus to be major contenders for the match on Sunday and Team Morrison looked impressive as always!

Next up we had the special Hardy vs Hardy match as scheduled by Vickie and Edge. The Hardy’s came out to an enormous home town pop and threw the wedding cake all over Chavo and The Edgeheads. The match started with some great chain wrestling between Matt and Jeff with neither brother able to get the advantage, Jeff countered Matt’s Twist Of Fate and Matt countered Jeff’s Twist of Fate but Jeff managed to connect with the Whisper In The Wind but Matt kicked out of Jeff’s follow up pin attempt. Matt clotheslined Jeff to the outside. Back in the ring Jeff hit several of his signature moves, connected with the side effect but then Matt avoided the Swanton and then connected with a Moonsault. Great Stuff! However things descended into chaos as Edge and co hit the ring and proceeded to beat down both Hardy’s as Edge took both of them out with a Spear. What a way to ruin a quality wrestling match but I can understand it was necessary in order to make Edge look dominant for the title match on Sunday which by the way there has still been no build up for!

As we return from commercial Edge and Vickie are in the ring and Edge presents Vickie with a loving video tribute of all of their mushy moments from the past months including the sickening strawberries and cream hotel room segment, yuk! Someone please end this now! Finally Triple H’s music hit and the crowd gave the biggest pop of the night so far. Hilarious line from Triple H saying that he can absolutely promise he is not secretly married to Vickie Guerrero. Triple H brought some gifts for Edge and Vickie and said he had a video of his own to show. We saw a video of Edge flirting with the wedding planner. Triple H cut in saying lets fast forward to the good stuff and we see the king of sleaze working his magic getting a massage from the wedding planner. Triple H cuts back in as Edge sends the crew to beat him down only for Triple H to pull out a sledgehammer causing them to back down. We see Edge giving the wedding planner a massage and then making fun of Vickie and her big butt! Triple H then pulls out a pair of massive pants saying that he could always park his car on them. We then see Edge and the wedding planner getting it on. Back in the ring Vickie goes ballistic as Edge quickly makes his exit. Wow that almost makes up for the zero title build up and has completely changed my opinion of how the title match on Sunday will pan out (more on that later) Anyway this was a great segment that sowed just how funny Triple H can be on the mic and also just what a sleazy conniving worm Edge can be. I am really psyched to see how this plays out next week and I think it is fair to say not all will be happy in the land of Rated R.

This was quite a good episode of Smackdown. Unfortunately wrestling was not the most important factor on the show as it was all about Edge and Vickie but considering this was the culmination of the biggest story of the year on Smackdown that was understandable. The Hardy vs Hardy match was good and the Team Morrison vs Jesse and Festus and Kennedy vs Umaga match were both very strong indeed. I did not like Cherry being made to look pathetic by first Natalya and then Vickie as we have seen what she is capable of in the ring, also the fact that MVP and Shelton were removed from their respective feuds and put in a match with the Big Show was disappointing. I really enjoyed Brian Kendrick’s new look and expect big things from him. Edge and Vickie worked really hard all night and every line they delivered was believable and emotional and I was gripped by the ending of the show. My match of the week has to go to Kennedy vs Umaga which I thought was solid and had Umaga back to his truly dominant self.

Overall I give this edition of Smackdown: 8/10 although this is based more on the fact the storyline progression was done so well here rather than anything overly spectacular in the wrestling department

Well that is all for this week. Join me next week for more Chris Reviews Smackdown which will encompass my pay per view thoughts and I will be back later with my Great American Bash predictions. My apolgies this blog is now a day late but I was called into work a day early yesterday so I had to finish it off this morning. As always feel free to email me at: a_agreement_called_forever@hotmail.com or get in touch on myspace: www.myspace.com/agreement_called_forever

Until next time The Rated R Era is on temporary hold!

My top ten matches so far this year in WWE:

1. Ric Flair vs Shawn Michaels – Wrestlemania 24 – 30th March 2008
2. Edge vs Undertaker – One Night Stand - 1st June 2008
3. Triple H vs John Cena – Night Of Champions – 29th June 2008
4. Edge vs Undertaker – Wrestlemania 24 - 30th March 2008
5. Jeff Hardy vs Shawn Michaels – RAW - 11th February 2008
6. RAW Elimination Chamber – No Way Out – 17th February 2008
7. MVP vs CM Punk – Smackdown - 13th June 2008
8. Shawn Michaels vs Chris Jericho – Judgment Day - 18th May 2008
9. Edge vs Matt Hardy – Smackdown - 27th June 2008
10. Jeff Hardy vs John Morrison – Smackdown – 4th July 2008

Smackdown Power 10

1: Triple H
2: Edge
3: Team Morrison
4: Umaga
5: Vladimir Kozlov
6: Jeff Hardy
7: MVP
8: Mr Kennedy
9: The Big Show (+1)
10: Brian Kendrick (NE)

Watch any WWE programming you miss at: http://newagewrestling.niceboard.com all you have to do is register and then you can watch your pick of some of the greatest matches in the history of pro wrestling as well as all of today’s great shows.

Tags: Brian Kendrick, Edge, Jeff Hardy, John Morrison, Matt Hardy, SmackDown, Smackdown Power 10, The Great American Bash, Triple H, Vickie Guerrero