SmackDown! Feedback
Angle to open up the show before his number one contenders match at Backlash? Makes sense to hype the major SmackDown! match for Sunday. Mentioning what happened on the last show was also helpful for those of us who never read it properly and just glanced over it.
Angle transitioning from addressing the crowd into addressing the disrespect from Lesnar was a good way to not only gain Angle some cheap heat, but also hype up Sunday. The intensity of Angle in him saying he was going to snap the ankles was pretty awesome too, before he called out Lesnar. Lesnar’s pretty horrid on the mic (especially as a face), so the way you kept him short and sweet was a good idea. Lesnar getting the music of Hart and Austin to play was alright, although perhaps a little heelish. The choice of Doink The Clown also seems a bit odd, although I guess it’s more disrespect to Angle, while also giving Angle a chance to look strong. Pretty good way to kick us off here, with Angle’s portion of the promo showing off both his heelishness and his intensity well, while Lesnar was kept pretty short, meaning his shitty mic skills didn’t shine through.
This was always going to be a squash. Nice way to make Angle look badass before Backlash.
@ Cena’s rap. At this stage with all his talk of penis, I’m almost certain that he’s gay, but perhaps the character development will be confirmed later. Regardless, a nice way to get Cena on the show to hype his Backlash match.
Nice little match here between Benoit and A-Train with some pretty cool counters, allowing both men to be left looking good. Benoit vs. Cena at Backlash is certainly a nice match too, so I look forward to that.
Haven’t really followed this Vince McMahon stuff at all, but I’ll assume it relates to Hulk. Either way, good to see it getting some hype.
First off, I like the idea of having both members of Team Angle facing off against Kurt’s opponents for Backlash, although it seems like the tag division is a little dead atm. That can sort of be attributed to the US Title tourney I guess, but it’s still not a good thing. Regardless, for a Hogan match this was alright as you did really all you can with him, while making Haas look pretty good in the process. Good stuff.
A confrontation between Vince and someone at Backlash? Not sure who it is, because as I said above, I haven’t really been following this too well, but it’s good to see some hype coming for it.
Team Angle assaulting ‘Taker backstage? Didn’t expect it since we didn’t see Hogan attacked (perhaps suggesting Angle doesn’t consider Hogan a threat), although I guess it shows the heelishness of Team Angle and leaves Angle looking rather badass, even if it may not have been necessary.
Expected Rhyno to maybe be allowed to look a little better against Big Show, although Show was always going to get the win. Him against Eddie should certainly prove to be an interesting match at Backlash, which, while probably not going to a classic, should show us how quickly and far you intend on pushing Eddie by if he wins. Eddie watching Show gets him on screen too, which is a good thing.
Best to keep Benoit short and sweet, because as you said, he’s pretty horrid on the mic. It’s always a good idea to have him straight forward which he was here, so this didn’t seem like a bad promo for Benoit.
Nice to see this match getting a bit more of an extended write-up since it’s the main event. Benjamin getting the momentum of a distraction from Haas was a pretty clever way to go about things, continuing the psychology of ‘Taker having an injured leg from the earlier assault. The use of the Texas Cloverleaf was good too as it focuses on the legs, although the way you wrote of the counter was kind of lazy. If Benji’ already had the hold locked in (which I initially thought) then it seems very hard to hit some punches from that position. Just a little more detail was needed. Benjamin getting a real showing with the dragon whip a low blow/t-bone combo was really good before things broke down well. Benjamin continued to look awesome with the Superkick, and the finish to the match came pretty well, with all of the chaos at ringside allowing ‘Taker to both get the win and make Shelton look awesome. The carnage after the match hypes up the three way, and with Lesnar left standing, all three look equal going into the match which makes thing pretty damn unpredictable. Good way to finish the show.
As a whole, Reney, I felt this show was a big improvement on RAW in terms of the little mistakes being gone, the booking having a real ‘go home’ show type feel, and some general excitement. Not much else to say really, other than that this was certainly an enjoyable show.
***
World Heavyweight Championship; Steel Cage Match
Booker T vs
Triple H (c)
Booker's not good enough to headline RAW.
20 Man Over The Top Rope Battle Royal for the Intercontinental Championship
Shawn Michaels vs Kevin Nash vs RVD vs Kane vs Maven vs Jeff Hardy vs The Hurricane vs Test vs Goldust vs Tommy Dreamer vs Chris Jericho vs
Christian vs Randy Orton vs Batista vs Ric Flair vs Lance Storm vs William Regal vs Chris Nowinski vs D'Lo Brown vs Mark Henry
I know you love Christian, plus a lot of these guys are 'too good' for the title.
Singles Match
Scott Steiner vs The Rock
I'd mark.
Elimination Tables Match; 6 Man Tag
The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray, D-Von & Spike) vs 3 Minute Warning (Jamal, Rosey & Rico)
Can't see it going the other way.
Women's Championship Match
Trish Stratus (c) vs Victoria
Just getting the rematch out of the way.
Triple Threat Match; Number One Contender for the WWE Title
Guest Referee: Brock Lesnar
The Undertaker vs Hulk Hogan vs
Kurt Angle
Meh, 'Taker and Hogan have already had feuds finish with Lesnar last year. Let Angle finish his.
United States Championship Semi Final #1
Eddie Guerrero vs The Big Show
Honestly not sure here.
United States Championship Semi Final #2
Chris Benoit vs
John Cena
To make it different to irl.
Plus Vince McMahon's announcement!
Fucked if I know what's happening here.