It’s Friday… Friday…. Friday… and because I don’t like crappy pop-music, that’s the only reference to Rebecca Black you’ll get from me or most of the authors on GuysNation. Our style is more akin to talking about Smackdown and making light of the things that WWE presents to us, good and bad!
I view this as week 2 in the post-Edge era. Sure, he was put out of active competition last week, but that show still revolved around trying to clean up after his removal from the roster. Sure, tonight’s show is advertised to have a Going Away Party for Edge thrown by Alberto Del Rio, but we know that they’re going to put the focus on Christian’s reaction to whatever ADR does, because at the end of the day, Christian is the one who has to respond.
If history holds true, they’re going to give Edge a significant share of the spotlight with Christian, which is a disappointment and inadvisable, since Edge isn’t going to be there every week and Christian needs to stand on his own… at last, he’s on his own.
Also coming up is the WWE Draft, which means that WWE can do some things tonight which might not have any lasting effects on the future of Smackdown, as one or both of the individuals might be gone to RAW as of Monday, and likewise they might also have new competition a week from now that they’d rather deal with. What one-off stuff will we get tonight? Let’s find out!
Right off the top of the show, we get reminded that Edge was forced to retire and a Battle Royal was held to determine who would fight Alberto Del Rio at Extreme Rules to determine the next holder of the currently vacant World Heavyweight Championship.
It’s Championship Night at Smackdown tonight, as Big Show & Kane are set to take on the team from The Corre, and Kofi Kingston gets his chance at reclaiming Intercontinental Gold as he squares off in a title match with Wade Barrett. What are the odds that The Corre walks out of the building without any championships? I’d doubt it, but we’ll find out.
Unfortunately Michael Cole is now getting a full introduction at the beginning of shows, and it seems that WWE has missed the fact that the best heel announcers in the history of the business are the ones you love to hate… not the ones you’d rather get a different job. If Bobby Heenan would’ve been left off of a show back in the day, I would’ve been disappointed. If Michael Cole misses RAW or Smackdown? I’m ecstatic!
Wrestlemania 27 Rematch – Cody Rhodes vs Rey Mysterio
Following Cody Rhodes to the ring is a group of guys pushign a shopping cart with piles of paper bags. Cody Rhodes gets a mic and talks about how Rey Mysterio wears a mask because he has something to hide, and he says that the members of the audience wear figurative masks, getting a decent response when he says they’re envious of him. He has the assistants hand out the bags at ringside, and surprisingly quite a few of the people in the front row actually wear them.
Does anyone else feel cheated because they bought Wrestlemania and now quite a few of the matches are happening again, a few of which are on free television?
Booker T made a comment during this match about Cody Rhodes possibly getting drafted to RAW, and if either one of these guys ends up on RAW, what does that do for Cody Rhodes and his current storyline? Will he have the same fire if he’s no longer targeting Mysterio? He seems to have grown quite a bit as a Superstar in the past few months, but he hasn’t taken his game to the next level yet, and he has been primarily focused on one competitor (Mysterio). It would be interesting to see how that translates, but I’d be wary to take away the potential crutch of having Rey-Rey to fall back on if Cody doesn’t react well to being put up against a different competitor.
When Mysterio knees Cody in the face, why doesn’t that hurt Rey’s knee? Is it because of his knee brace Mysterio wears, or are they just ignoring it?
So Rey Mysterio avoids the Cross Rhodes, only to set himself up into position to be powerbombed?
Outcome – Mysterio wins by reversing a powerbomb into a hurricanrana pinfall
After the match, Rey and Cody brawl in the ring, outside the ring and in the crowd. Cody gets the advantage by throwing Rey into the ring steps, and then they brawl out into the crowd for a bit, giving the British crowd their money’s worth.
Any chance that at the Royal Wedding next weekend, there’s some fan interaction like this? Doubtful.
Before the aftermath is over, Cody hits the Cross-Rhodes outside the ring and puts the paper bag on Rey’s head – much to the disapproval of the crowd, most of whom can’t even see Mysterio’s head because he’s laid out on the arena floor.
Backstage, Justin Gabriel and Wade Barrett FINALLY find time to talk about the fact that Gabriel eliminated Barrett from the Battle Royal last week. Wouldn’t they have found a chance to talk about it over the past six days?
Zeke Jackson shows up and shows more charisma and mic skills in one segment than he has shown in his entire WWE tenure, and then before the segment is over there seems to be a bit of unity between The Corre.
We get a recap of what happened last week for LayCool – both their therapy session and the in-ring stuff (Layla losing to Kelly Kelly and McCool losing her temper with Layla).
In this week’s couples herapy session, McCool makes fun of Layla for losing last week, says Layla has been riding her coat tails, and then they argue over their time as Diva’s Championship reign. McCool says she doesn’t think LayCool should stay together, and she says that Layla might not even be “flawless”.
Frankly, I see it the other way around…
WHOA… McCool grabs Layla by the back of the head and throws her into the couch. I hope they pull the trigger on the split instead of prolonging it by having Layla play the role of the abused partner in an abusive relationship.
Match – Jack Swagger vs Trent Barreta
Oh great, a match that Michael Cole is going to rant through the entirety of because Cole is teaming with Swagger at Extreme Rules. It’s a double-dose of unawesomeness, because Trent Barreta, one of GuysNation’s favorite young competitors, is going to get mostly squashed.
Was anyone else impressed with Trent Barreta leading up to Swagger reversing the springboard move into a powerbomb?
Outcome – Jack Swagger wins by submission when Barreta taps out to the ankle lock
Big week for Big Show, as he helps co-host some sort of Monster Truck World Record Setting Jump on Nickelodeon, and up next, he gets the chance at the tag titles!
World Tag Team Championship Match – The Corre (Gabriel & Slater) (c) vs Big Show & Kane
Big Show and Kane hold court for a few minutes to start the match, until Kane goes to the top rope and is thrown off by an interfering Zeke Jackson from the outside. Then Justin Gabriel shows off some of his mat wrestling skills and then gets a good counter to a sidewalk slam attempt by Kane. Heath slater gets into the match and the wheels fall off for The Corre. Gabriel tries to save his partner, but Big Show takes care of that problem while Kane takes out Zeke Jackson, leading Big Show to be able to pull off his chokeslam.
Outcome – Kane and Big Show become new tag team champions when Big Show gets the pinfall on Heath Slater.
So how many people has Big Show held the tag titles with? In the past couple years he held the belts with The Miz and Chris Jericho, and now it’s time for people to start suggesting nicknames for Kane & Show.
There’s some strife amongst The Corre, as the three members who were just at ringside argue about whose fault it was. I expected some friction between Zeke and the former tag champs, but I was a little surprised that Heath Slater shoved Justin Gabriel. How great would it be for Gabriel and Slater to wrestle each other at some point in the next month, with Gabriel winning and sending Slater back to FCW?
Match – Drew McIntyre vs Chris Masters
Is anyone else surprised by the decent reaction Masters got from the crowd?
Josh Mathews makes the comment that this is a “very important match”, and he fooling anyone? Does Chris Masters actually have the opportunity to win this match? Could he better his position in WWE by winning, or would it just be a fluke if he did? Do many people actually care about the outcome of this? I see this match as filler, and I’m betting a lot of others agree.
If Masters actually had a chance to succeed in WWE anytime soon, wouldn’t the announcers be talking about him at all the way they’re rambling on about McIntyre?
Outcome – Drew McIntyre gets the win with the Future Shock DDT
Post match, it’s Michael Cole rambling on about how this was a big win for Drew McIntyre, and I’ll keep my opinion that it wasn’t a big victory… though it would’ve been a slightly devastating loss if Drew hadn’t picked up the win.
we get one of my least favorite segments of the week – the RAW Rebound – and if you’re a regular reader of my articles, you’ll know that I skip these sorts of things, if for no other reason than the lack of reciprocity. If I see a Smackdown recap on Monday, I’ll maybe reconsider my stance.
Intercontinental Championship Match – Wade Barrett (c) vs Kofi Kingston
Match starts off in entertaining fashion. Decent spot from Kofi, leaping to the top rope from the ring apron, then doing a backwards dive to tackle Wade Barrett down to the mat.
As the commercial rolls, I wanted to let everyone to know to be on the lookout for an article I’m working up for this weekend involving my perspective on what should happen in the upcoming WWE Draft!
Ezekiel Jackson tries to help out Wade Barrett outside the ring, but when he charges in for the clothesline, Kofi ducks out of the way and Zeke destroys Wade Barrett, causing Barrett to dismiss Zeke from ringside.
The announcers question whether Zeke was going for Kofi or Wade with the running axhandle, and I think it’s fairly safe to say he was going for Kofi.
Inside the ring, Kingston gets on a roll and sets up for the Trouble In Paradise, Barrett evades, tries for Wasteland, Kofi battles out, then Kingston tries for a roll-up, but wade stops his momentum and holds onto the rope to use it against Kofi.
Outcome – Wade Barrett gets the pinfall by roll-up
The best thing they can do at this point is to send Kofi Kingston over to RAW. He’s got the momentum to take the Intercontinental Title from Wade Barrett, but that’s one of the worst outcomes they could do right now, so let Kofi move to RAW and use that as his reason for not continuing to target Barrett. Then let someone else step up to challenge Wade.
Time for the Going Away Party for Edge, and Del Rio has a Grandfather Clock and some Depends and a Bed Pan… all meant to help Edge into retirement.
Wow, and Lita is apparently in attendance, and she gets a good response from the crowd… only to have it be an overweight woman show up so ADR can mock Edge’s former girlfriend. Even Brodus Clay looks slightly disgusted… and he has found someone who has a worse weight problem than he does! She might weigh more than Brodus Clay, and she’s about a foot and a half shorter. No joke.
His last two gifts for Edge: a walker and a motorized wheelchair, driven to the ring by Ricardo Rodriguez.
Edge’s music hits, and apparently he’s there, and apparently WWE didn’t get the message that CHRISTIAN is the one who needs heat with ADR because CHRISTIAN is the one fighting ADR at the pay per view. If they wanted to use Edge, they could’ve at least had Christian show up and talk smack to Alberto, and then he could introduce Edge and the two of them could clear the ring, with Christian getting some key spotlight time.
Apparently Edge wouldn’t miss his retirement party, but he doesn’t care enough about it to bring Christian along with him.
Brodus leaves the ring to go get Edge, but Christian blindsides him with a ladder, and I suppose that was the plan all along, but it just makes Christian look like an opportunist instead of giving him some decent credibility otherwise.
Outside the ring, Christian takes out Alberto Del Rio with the ladder, then gets into the ring and takes down the World Heavyweight Championship which had been hanging above the ring all night. Though he ends the night with the belt in his hands, Christian didn’t get the chance to get on the mic – where he’s the most effective, the very tool that helped him reach his current level of popularity, so it still comes off as a slight failure.
You might also be interested in the Rated R Retirement: Ode to Edge article here on GuysNation where you can voice your opinion about your favorite moments in Edge history!
Don’t miss the other hugely popular articles here on GuysNation – for Frisky Friday!
