Official WWE Smackdown Thread

[55]

Re: Official WWE Smackdown Thread 2011

Ugh!

Booker T on commentary makes me want to punch babies.

[TMagic]

Re: Official WWE Smackdown Thread 2011

Oh yeah... almost forgot....

That gets me everytime. lol

[DJ]

Re: Official WWE Smackdown Thread 2011

That Corre beatdown was so necessary at this point. When Micheal Cole said, "The Corre has arrived!!", I was like "yep... he's right". That was an awesome beatdown, and was really needed to start giving this group some real momentum and stop being a generic group booked weak.

Cole was great (as always). My quote of the night that had me dying... "Swagger is teaching me all those moves, and counters to all those moves!!". LMFAO. I absolutely love him. I loved that the announcers could not get a word in edge-wise because Cole went into another zone and started screaming over them. I know it probably annoys some people, but it was a short squash, so it didn't bother me.

Sheamus-Kofi was very sloppy to me. The Brough Kick was awesome (it always is), but there was a lot of sloppiness. The things I remember specifically were Kofi's botched superman punch off the apron that missed wildly and Sheamus kicking the ring steps, them not moving, and Kofi then clutching his leg like they hit him (which is what he was supposed to do, it just looked bad). I think these guys both have a reputation as good workers so it is expected that their matches are always good. This one was ehh. I'm glad they are building Sheamus back up though.

I have to give a shout out to Cody Rhodes who had a GREAT gimmick ("Dashing"), they altered it when the other gimmick was working so well and had a lot of life, and he is STILL killing it. I love the change in music, the mannerisms, the mask as a weapon, the towel over his head, the wrestling in a suit (which I don't quite understand... is his body disfigured too?), I love all of it. Cody is simply the man.

Another thing I don't get about Cody is his disfigurement. He wears a clear mask, so we can all see that there is nothing wrong with his face. So, what's the deal? Is it supposed to be one big inside joke, do they want us to believe that because he wears a mask that means he's disfigured (even though we see he isn't), or is it that Cody is so vain that any imperfection (the "surgery") is cause for him to go all phantom of the opera, even though there is nothing wrong with him?

I think it's the last one, but want other people's opinions.

The Christian vs. Del Rio match was probably my favorite part. I liked the outcome too. Reason being, it sets up for Christian either a surprise third entrant in the main event (unlikely). More likely, it sets up for a Christian-Del Rio feud for the title if Del Rio wins at Mania. Either result would be good.

I also loved that they steered away from the cliched, Face destroys Heel's car. Instead, we got an AWESOME con-chair-to to Edge's arm (which looked sick, but I wish Edge sold more).

Great write-up, Streets. Pretty much sums up my feelings on the show.

I'm guessing the deal with Rhodes is that he feels "disfigured" because of the surgery. I guess they could put some makeup on him or something, but that would probably not look good, so they are just running with this as is and it's working out great because Rhodes is making it work. He's stepped his game up to another level, imo, and I think he's going to be a breakout star in 2011.

Contrast that to his former Legacy temmate, Ted DiBiase, Jr. Man, has he fallen off the cliff. I hope he gets drafted to Smackdown, ditches Maryse (they hinted at this for like the 50th time the other night) and gets a chance to rebuild himself because I do think there is still potential there.

I don't think Christian will get added to the Edge-Del Rio match @ Mania, but I'd imagine both he and Clay will be involved in the match in some capacity.

Booker T still has a lot of work to do as a commentator, but I will give him credit for improving each week.

[TheMatrix31]

Re: Official WWE Smackdown Thread 2011

Pretty darn good show.

[nyj721]

Re: Official WWE Smackdown Thread 2011

Cody Rhodes is slowly working his way into my top 5 favorite active wrestlers. I wasn't watching for his Dashing gimmick, but since the Dusty segment he has really won me over. I hope he beats Rey at Mania.

[SoxFan01605]

Re: Official WWE Smackdown Thread 2011

Cody Rhodes is slowly working his way into my top 5 favorite active wrestlers. I wasn't watching for his Dashing gimmick, but since the Dusty segment he has really won me over. I hope he beats Rey at Mania.

I agree. I've been high on Cody for a while, but he's grown on me even more lately. I didn't like his dashing gimmick (seemed so retro in a bad way at first) but he sold the **** out of it and continues to impress me with how he grows it. It's a far cry from what so many were thinking was going to be the case for him and Ted when Legacy broke off.

I admit I was high on Ted too (more for "look" than ability though) but Cody just seems to have that same sense as his dad of how to work a crowd through almost anything.

[TheMatrix31]

Re: Official WWE Smackdown Thread 2011

I think Ted's a victim of awful booking.

[OSUFan_88]

Re: Official WWE Smackdown Thread 2011

I think Ted's a victim of awful booking.

100% disagree.

He's just not very good. He doesn't know how to get the crowd going. He's a very marginal heel and I don't know how he could pull off a face.

He's Generico T-2000. If he would have made that face turn when Legacy was starting their break up, he would have had his shot.

[rangerrick012]

Re: Official WWE Smackdown Thread 2011

My 3/18/11 SD Impressions:

-Brodus Clay is a massive, massive man. Seriously, I think his boobies are bigger than some of the divas, lol.

-I love Booker on commentary. At least he sounds like he cares, and makes the matches interesting. I don't need Matt Striker naming MOVES~ and holds, just give me Booker saying "Aw Man, look at dat! Dat had to hurt Edge right there in his sternum!" and saying 'How big is Brodus? Dat's a big man right there!"

-Sheamus/Kofi was kinda boring IMO

-Kane/Show backstage segment was good, love those two guys teaming together.

-Cody new theme? Ok...

-Kelly/Layla was pretty good - for a divas match.

-Christian/Del Rio was a great match and a great finish.

[rangerrick012]

Re: Official WWE Smackdown Thread 2011

I think Ted's a victim of awful booking.

I agree. I think the plan was for Ted to be the babyface after the Legacy breakup, but Orton was so over w/ the crowd it was impossible not to turn him face instead. It's still too early to give up on DiBiase, but he needs something fresh fast.

[SoxFan01605]

Re: Official WWE Smackdown Thread 2011

I think Ted's a victim of awful booking.

I think it's probably due in part to that, but I also think they are having a hard time slotting him into something meaningful because he doesn't seem to resonate much with the fans either way. It's just tough for me to put it all on booking when a guy just seems difficult to book.

There was a time (right around when he was injured and having some friction with Orton in Legacy) that he had some momentum with the crowd (though a large part of that was due to Orton heat as well) they could have flipped that into a run at being a face, so I agree about booking in that sense (missed opportunity, bad timing, whatever).

Like OSU, I think he's just limited overall. Some guys, you can give them a crap angle and they can make it into something or at least make it not completely suck. I don't think he has that, where I think Cody does. I mean, I always liked Maryse and the whole "Million Dollar Couple" thing, while not great, should be able to work on some level. She sold it, he didn't IMO (I say that in the past tense because it seems Maryse quit...lol).

He's kind of like a Shelton-lite in that sense. Looks the part, shows flashes of something, but can't seem to capitalize. I dunno. He's still young and I'm not saying he has no shot or anything (and I'd be happy to be wrong on his limits), but I think WWE is somewhat limited in what they can work for him.

[55]

Re: Official WWE Smackdown Thread 2011

The younger DiBiase brother, Brett, is the one who is going to be a star IMO.

[55]

Re: Official WWE Smackdown Thread 2011

Another good show tonight.

Nice to see Wade Barrett win the Intercontinental Championship too.

[nyj721]

Re: Official WWE Smackdown Thread 2011

Was that supposed to be a dress that McCool was wearing?

[Santino]

Re: Official WWE Smackdown Thread 2011

Barrett countering the Trouble in Paradise into Wasteland was great. Cole's victory laps crack me up. I'd like to see him manage a stable consisting of Miz, Swagger, and Riley. Call it "Team Awesome" and throw in Kong as the enforcer/muscle.