Hey everyone and welcome to this weeks edition of Chris Reviews Smackdown. In this weeks blog I will be discussing the jailing of Hulk Hogan’s son Nick, Gregory Helms assault, Torrie Wilson’s WWE release, Jeff Hardy’s imminent return and more. Please read and be sure to leave me some feedback via the comment board.

First up is the big news that has broken in the last 48 hours that Nick Hogan has been sentenced to 8 months in prison for the car accident that permanently injured his friend. Not only that but he also has been banned from driving for 3 years, 5 years probation and 5 years community service. Now many people have been saying to me they feel sorry for Nick due to the fact that driving was his passion in life but in my opinion he only has himself to blame, if I had critically injured my friend whilst driving I would never want to drive again. I feel for the Hogan family as this will probably tear them apart even further but hopefully upon his release Nick will turn over a new leaf and start to do justice to the family name rather than tarnish it.

I was shocked to read that Gregory Helms was assaulted in a bar last week. As if this poor guy has not had enough to deal with in the last year with the passing of his mother and his terrible injury, to have to contend with something like this is ridiculous. I hope the moron that thought it was amusing to pick a fight with a wrestler gets a least a couple of months in prison and then lets see how hard he thinks he is! On a side note a wish Helms a speedy and healthy return to the ring. He has certainly been missed and in my opinion could put on a stellar program with Matt Hardy for the US title.

I was saddened to hear of Torrie Wilson’s WWE release. Torrie has always been one of the divas I had most respect for. She was always outgoing and had so much time for the fans and I think she will be missed. It is always unfortunate when injury ends a promising career and I think in Torrie’s case she probably could not face the idea of being with the company and not being able to do the thing she loved most: being involved in the ring. I hope she find success in whatever career path she chooses to pursue from here on and hope that she may come back and make the odd cameo appearance from time to time.

Jeff Hardy’s suspension is over this weekend so he could be back on TV as soon as Monday; However I feel they may delay his return until after Judgement Day. This is great news from my point of view being one of the biggest Jeff Hardy fans ever and I truly hope Jeff seizes this opportunity on what is his last chance with WWE. Whilst many people think Jeff will be relegated to mid card for life I have a different idea for him. I think he should still be in the main event picture and maybe even given a title run. That way if he does mess up Vince can turn round and say to all his wellness policy doubters “well you know what I fired my champion so this proves I must be serious” and I do not think anyone could argue with that. Jeff will still be over as anything with the fans and I can just imagine the pop he will get on his return. I would love to see Jeff return at Judgement Day and somehow screw Orton out of the title. Perhaps by slamming the cage door in his head or something and the next night on RAW Jeff comes out and challenges Triple H. That would make my day although it is probably just wishful thinking at this stage. Whatever happens I hope Jeff works hard and stays clean and hopefully will reap the rewards of this.

One of my readers: Anthony, made a very interesting suggestion on the comment board last week and I feel that it was worth mentioning in this weeks blog. He suggested that Orton move over to Smackdown and feud with the Undertaker for the title. I think this is a fantastic idea that could really help freshen up the main event picture. I know Orton and Undertaker feuded for some time before but Orton has come on and developed so much since then and I think the quality of matches these two put on could be off the charts. The only thing I would say though is that Edge should go the other way to RAW as Edge and Orton are by far and away the top two heels in WWE right now. I think a program between Edge and Triple H over the title would really work and also it would give him a chance to break away from Vickie and remind everyone that he can cut it on his own. Also the rumour is CM Punk will be moved to RAW and we all know what a strong show these two could put on with each other. So yes I think switching Orton and Edge would be a very smart move by creative. The other way of course would be to switch the two face champions Triple H and Undertaker but I feel moving the heels would be more effective.

So now onto this weeks show.

We open with a recap of Vickie stripping the title from Undertaker last Friday. I wonder how he is going to get revenge this week. As the show opens Vickie comes to the entrance ramp accompanied by Edge. Vickie states that the Undertaker will one of the competitors in a match at Judgement day for the Heavyweight Title. She then announces tonight there will be a championship chase to determine the other competitor for the title. Of all the names announced CM Punk got the biggest pop which was interesting. Wow some convoluted booking here, anyone would think this was TNA! So a number of wrestlers compete in qualifying matches to take part in a Battle Royale and the winner of this will face Undertaker at Judgement Day. They should have just done a King of the Ring style tournament in my opinion, I detest Battle Royale’s especially seeing as how Khali won the title during the last one.

So the first Battle Royale qualifying match is between US Champion Matt Hardy and Mr Money in the Bank: CM Punk. I do not understand how this one came about why would you put two top contenders against each other in a qualifying match. Surely it would have been better to have Punk against someone like Chavo. The crowd certainly seemed a bit confused as to who they should rally behind. This was however a quality match, both of these guys work well together with Punk doing a very good job of selling the injured arm. Surprisingly as the match developed parts of the crowd started booing Punk and shows why Punk either needs to be turned heel or stop being put against top face wrestlers like Matt or Chris Jericho. Punk is not over enough yet to pull of a face versus face feud. Great spot where Matt countered the GTS into a Twist Of Fate and then Punk countered that. However Matt Hardy stole the pin after Punk attempted a role up. So the strange booking of the MITB winner continues. Can anyone remember the last time a MITB winner was jobbing every week? It really is a joke. However the poor booking of Punk did not take away from what was a very good match.

The next qualifying match featured MVP facing Finlay accompanied by Hornswoggle. This really could be the chance for MVP to step up to the main even level by winning this competition. Would certainly be a chance to see of he can work at main event level. This match had a very solid opening with plenty of grappling and mat work. This match I think really showed just how solid MVP is, if you think in the last couple of months he has worked matches against 3 very different wrestlers: Batista, Matt Hardy and Finlay and each time has put on different yet solid match ups. Here MVP showed a very intelligent side targeting and injuring the arm of Finlay and dominating the middle of the match and the Finlay fought back and targeted MVP’s leg. Absolutely solid and enjoyable wrestling that luckily was not ruined by any lame Hornswoggle slapstick comedy. Great ending where both men’s shoulders on the ground and that is defiantly a fair result for this very even match up. After seeing this match I would be happy to see these two feud, Superb match.

Next up in a break from the championship chase Kelly Kelly was facing Natalya. Great moment with Mick Foley ripping Mike Adamle. What happened to the Smackdown women’s feud? Oh well. This was an excellent chance for Natalya to show once again what an awesome female wrestler she is. Natalya is the future of the women’s division. No question! Natalya picked up the win with the Sharpshooter. Very, very impressive!

It was announced that both Finlay and MVP would advance to the Battle Royale. It Is MVP’s time! Next up John Morrison was taking on Batista. What I would give to see Morrison in the main event picture. Oh and if Miz and Morrison loose those tag titles at Judgement Day, I am going to be pissed! No way should Punk and Kane be tag champs. They need to be contested over by proper tag teams in the tag division on Smackdown. Anyway rant over. This was a solid match Morrison hitting plenty of high kicks and a very impressive drop kick sending Batista flying from the ring. I was very pleased to see Morrison given a fair chance early on here as I was worried this was going to be a total squash for Batista. I think this gave a good indication that Morrison could certainly compete in the main event picture and would not look out of place. As the match progressed Morrison continued to show off his amazing athletic abilities and dominate Batista. Amazing counter by Batista catching Morrison after he sprang from the rope with his signature kick and then Batista hit the Batista bomb for the surprise victory. Great match and superb performance by Morrison, I really would have liked to see him go over Batista here but regardless this was a great match.

How many times are we going to see this video from last weeks events tonight! Seriously!

Following this Big Show was taking on Tommy Dreamer in the championship challenge. I think we all know who is winning this one. I used to write ECW blogs on my Myspace and back then I called Tommy Dreamer the Great American Jobber, nothing has changed! This was a total squash for the Big Show, winning in a matter of minutes. Shame this was short as I have no doubt these two could have put on a good match but I guess Big Show needs to be kept looking dominating to face Mark Henry.

Next up Chavo being accompanied by Bam Neely was taking on Kane in the Championship Chase. Now these two put on a solid match at Backlash and this was another solid encounter between the two of them. I would like to see both of these two feud with some different people now though as I really think this feud has run out of steam, there is only so many times I want to see Chavo targeting Kane’s leg only for Kane to battle back for the victory and the pin. So Kane advances into the Battle Royale. Good match but hopefully we will not see this one again for awhile.

Oh joy, the weekly Kozlov squash. Why when this is Championship Chase week is this match taking place. Anyway as always Kozlov hits a bunch of power moves and wins with no effort at all. Seen it all before, very boring. Give him a real opponent already! Comical error by Michael Cole when he accidentally said “there is nothing exciting about Kozlov” Damn right Cole!

Next up was main even time and the over the top Battle Royale featuring Big Show vs MVP vs Finlay vs Batista vs Kane vs Matt Hardy. Now you can never expect too much from this kind of match however all of these competitors are solid top tier workers so this match should be ok. I was just excited at the thought of MVP making the transition from mid carder to main eventer. However this did not prove the case as Batista ended up in with victory in what was an entertaining match but seriously why did MVP eliminate himself? That was plain crazy booking. I know it was probably to demonstrate his over confidence with his kick but still, not good. Having the title vacated like this is the perfect opportunity for someone new to step up into the main event and MVP is truly ready for this opportunity. Batista worked a good match here and I certainly would not mind seeing a program between him and Big Show at some stage.

So just when we thought Batista would be facing Undertaker for the title at Judgement Day Vickie announces that Edge has been cleared to wrestle and he spears Batista off the ring apron and books himself another title opportunity. Now whilst we know these two will put on a great match I really think that just like the Chavo against Kane feud that this one has run its course. My problem is that I cannot see Edge beating Undertaker at Judgement Day and if this was the planned match why strip Undertaker of the title in the first place. I would much rather have seen MVP step up and take on Undertaker. Very strange booking going on here and I have to say I am disappointed even though I am the biggest Edge fan going. Great segment at the end though with Edge eyeing up the title belt only for it to be struck by lightning and burst into flames.

So we got a very mixed show this week. Some great matches: Finlay vs MVP, Batista vs Morrison and Chavo vs Kane, A chance to see Natalya in action again which was impressive and Mick Foley was very good on commentary once more. The bad things for me in the show was the Kozlov squash as it is really starting to irritate me every week now and the frustrating booking of having Edge winning the tournament to face Undertaker when it should have been MVP, also the bizarre booking of Mr Money In The Bank: CM Punk continues to frustrate me. However the good outweighed the bad and the Championship Chase was a refreshing change to the weekly show format which makes the Kozlov squash match even more irritating as this time should have been given to the Tommy Dreamer against Big Show match. My match of the week is an easy one to call: Finlay vs MVP in the qualifying round was an absolute master class in wrestling ability and hopefully it will not be the last time we see these two face off against one another.

This week’s 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 please feel free to add me on myspace: www.myspace.com/agreement_called_forever

Matt Hardy has saved us and proved once more he is better than MVP! Congratulations Matt on the title win!
Smackdown Power 10
1: The Undertaker
2: Batista
3: Edge (+2)
4: Matt Hardy
5: Team Morrison (-2)
6: MVP
7: The Big Show
8: Finlay (NE)
9: Victor Kozlov (-1)
10: Team Yang (-1)

Tags: Edge, Finlay, Jeff Hardy, John Morrison, Judgement Day, MVP, Smackdown Power 10