Smackdown!

I thought it was an excellent show, much better than a Raw which I thought was rather dissapointing.

An excellent show opening promo from Matt Hardy, someone who with this rejuvenation of his career as a heel is growing on me. He's starting to show that he deserves a main event spot just as much as his brother.

I think WWE are planning to give Kofi some kind of push and I expect him to move to Smackdown in the draft, he was given some mic time today and he showed that he isn't bad. He has the skills in the ring, he just needed to show he can cut some promos, and although it wasn't spectacular he did his job well. He looked good against the Big Show and was given some decent offence, he's showing everyone that he deserves a push. Wasn't really bothered with the result, and have a feeling Big Show will just have matches similar to this for a while until the championship picture is open so he can fit in there, unless a feud opens up with the draft.

The tag team match was very good, I expected a Priceless win from the beginning but can't see them taking the titles off Primo and Carlito, not any time soon anyway. A decent promo from Orton, but I think most know that I don't really like him, but it at least keeps him doing something.

Cutting Edge was the best part of the show and a real good segment. I think Cena proved why WWE think he is the future of the company, why he is very good on the mic. Edge was his usual standard as well, which is brilliant. I think we can see why WWE choose to put these two together over and over again; it's because they are excellent together.

The stretcher match was very good, the suplex was obviously botchd but ended up looking more painful then it would have been. I liked the ending with Jeff taking one risk too many just liike at 'Mania something for Matt to use in his promos. Glad with the result as I think Matt needs the wins more than Jeff does, especially with the fact that I think it's almost certain Jeff will come out on top in the end.

Sums up my thoughts on pretty much the whole show, except the opening Hardy promo.

I thought it was dull and he talked about obvious things and things that had already been said. I really didnt like this as toward the end i started looking around the web to pass the time. I think he needs to have more passion when he does a promo as his voice is naturally boring but when he get 'fired up' in a promo i enjoy it more. See Cena...

Anyone that says Cena can not cut a good promo shoudl be slapped in the face and made to watch the Cutting Edge time after time after time. Great promo, im not a big fan of Cena but i really enjoyed that part of the show.

Im surprised Kofi got some air time tonight but pleased. He is good on the mic although he needs to work a bit on the ol' Jamacan accent. Great in the ring and will keep someone like me that enjoys a good stop entertained. Shame the way it ended, Big Show really needs a better finisher than a punch but none the less good showing from Kingston and i hope they give him a mid card belt too.

It's weird that someone like me, who doesn't like Randy Orton because he is slow and monotone to like Matt Hardy but I like Matt's promos.

I think it makes it this feud seem all more real, it makes it seem like he doesn't care about his brother etc. I don't know why I like Matt's but not Randy's, but I just do.

Was just looking around the internet, and that cool submission he used on Jeff in his match this week was actually used on the the independant circuit after the whole Lita/Edge fiasco.

Interesting, forgot to mention I liked that move.

Hmmmm, I already started a Smackdown thread so for my thoughts see that.

I think it has to be the best TV Wrestling show if the year so far, it had absolutely everything and the Cutting Edge was fantastic, excellent show!

Personally, I found the Cutting Edge segment boring and dragged out. I can't even remember anything that happened or was said, apart from Edge claiming that he hated Cena and Cena asking Edge what happened to him after he teamed up with Vickie.

All of the matches were great though and I'm also really starting to like heel Matt Hardy.

Boring and dragged out?

Really?

What exactly do you want from a promo if that wasn't good enough for you?

I didn't pay as much attention as I usually do when watching WWE but I still watched the entire promo and for me, it took far too long and I'm still not sure what the purpose of it was (I know it was mainly to promote the Last Man Standing Match at Backlash but there were other subjects being talked about)?

Was it simply to get over the fact that Edge despises Cena, was it about Cena trying to remind Edge what he used to be before he got caught up with Vickie and Big Show or did it have another, completely different meaning? It was confusing for me.

It was probably a decent promo, it's just that these two normally produce a much higher standard of promo IMO.

Can't say I agree, I thought this was their best ever promo together and certainly the best promo Edge has been involved in since Foley's last night in WWE

The promo was about the title, it was about Edge, it was about Cena and it was about their history, it was more than just promoting the Backlash rematch

I thought it was awesome, your the first person I have saw be critical about it!

Will have to take another look but I don't think I will change my mind?

Have to agree with the Foley promo, that was great, was hoping for Foley to get involved in the Edge vs Taker feud for a short while and Edge to keep the psycho character he had going during that time. It also garnered even more interest in the HIAC match and there were rumous going around about Kane or Foley interference which would have been awesome!

Hope the Last Man Standing Match is without interference but can see Jericho helping Edge win the title especially since Tood Grisham hinted that Jericho and Edge could form an alliance on commentary during RAW. This could either be the beginning of a new alliance or Jericho could cut a promo on the SmackDown following Backlash claiming he only helped Edge win the belt to make sure the one championship Jericho craves was on his brand and so he could reclaim what he believes is rightfully his. Cena could possibly then move to SD permanently. Or WWE could ignore what I think would be an interesting story and have Mike Knox cost Cena the win?

Well I wouldn't mind seeing Jericho help Edge without Edge really knowing then for Jericho and Edge to form some sort of super power before Jericho turns on Edge turning Edge possibly face

I'd love to see Jericho/Edge as some sort of Super Power, they could even use the Canadian card, I'm not a fan of country wars but with Jericho and Edge you know it would be done amazingly well, and with Canadian Christian going againt the All American American in ECW then that too could easily fit into it as well

Good idea about the country wars - i didn't think of that. A natural way for stables to be formed and anything that could possibly have Jericho, Edge and Christian together and then fueding is fantastic.

I think everyone wants to see some sort of programme that eventually sees Christian, Jericho and Edge work together, throw in Shawn Michaels and you have heaven in a ring

the-gaffer wrote:

I think everyone wants to see some sort of programme that eventually sees Christian, Jericho and Edge work together, throw in Shawn Michaels and you have heaven in a ring

Haha, so true, i'm shuddering at the thought...

Well done Smackdown, its was full of matches and I pretty much liked every one of them. So good job WWE.

But having a main event between 2 Raw superstars defies the whole point of separate brands surely? Absolutely ridiculous. Hopefully from next week onwards the effects of the Draft will be felt more and having 3 separate brands will actually mean something again.

I think it might be until Backlash before the brands start looking individual again, the two SmackDown! shows since WrestleMania have been brilliant while I felt the two RAWs have been ok, although with the draft happening last week it was hard for it to be anything other than ok, it wasn't and couldn't be flowing because of the actual draft


Surprised though that Punk and Jericho weren't on since it was their first week as actual SD guys

I was gutted that Punk and especially Jericho weren't on it. While this SD! was better than some of the pre-Mania ones i would say it was good not brilliant. Still too many Raw stars on their for my liking. Having said that i enjoyed pretty much every match so i don't know what more i want really. I think it's just the Jericho withdrawal symptoms and my annoyance at the disregard for brands that's clouding my judgement as on a purely Wrestling basis it was superb. Well done Smackdown!

I was reading before the draft that despite the draft the WWE are going to place less emphasis on the brand extension and have guys on RAW and SD quite a lot from either show

That doesn't actually bother me as long as its not the same guys hogging both shows each week although I do think the brand extension is best (i think)

I keep changing my mind whether I want it or not

Hmm i suppose that wouldn't be too bad as long as it wasn't the same guys on all of the time as you say. I just thought that if you're gonna have brands then they should mean something but i guess it stops the matches and feuds becoming stale if the superstars move around. It would mean that the draft is less important as superstars are travelling between shows anyway and i would lean towards not wanting it but i think WWE have done well enough in the last year or so that i'll trust them whatever the decision is.

I think after the draft then the brands really need to be separate, its different around November/December time if things are a bit stale but right after the draft then everything should be fresh enough

Agreed - let the new feuds on the brands develop, there are some exciting possibilities right now.

I haven't watched Smackdown yet but I want the brands to be kept seperate to be honest. I think if you don't mid-card will be pushed even futher down the pecking order to get more main event stories in it.

I hope that the Orton/Haitch feud will stop happening on Smackdown now neither is on that brand and I hope once this Cena/Edge thing has finished Jericho will be allowed to take control as the top heel.

Thats my thinking just now as well, I feel that they will just wait until after Backlash before really settling everything down