"WWE Friday Night SmackDown" 1-22-10 Talkback (Spoilers)

[The Penguin]

Last week, Rey Mysterio finally earned the World Title shot at the Royal Rumble when he escaped the cage before Batista. Rey will now face The Undertaker at the Royal Rumble, who is fresh off rejection Shawn Michaels WrestleMania challenge on RAW.

Please check your local listings, some local MyNetworkTV affiliates are airing Hope for Haiti Now and airing SmackDown at a later time.

WWE Friday Night SmackDown #544
Friday, January 22, 2010 @ 8 p.m. ET/7 CT on MyNetworkTV

RISKY ENDEAVOR?
With their Royal Rumble match looming, Rey Mysterio has called out World Heavyweight Champion Undertaker on this week’s SmackDown. Although he’s no stranger to risk-taking, has The Master of the 619 gone too far this time?

 

[Rud]

Dude, i really wish Stone Cold Steve Austin would show up and fight CM Punk, itd be perfect, what with all the beer he's always carrying and all.

 

[Condiment King]

This was a very middling Smackdown. The good stuff was awesome, and the bad stuff was awful. A mixed bag, to be sure.

I don't understand why Batista didn't just beat Finlay, of all people, but him destroying Finlay after the DQ was good enough. I'm so bored of the Smackdown main event scene, which I still think is strangely the least interesting part of this show. I don't know if I've ever seen a wrestling show where the main event scene was the least interesting part, but between this and the Taker-Rey confrontation at the end of the show, I was bored to tears. To say the "Rey as underdog" angle is played out would be a severe understatement.

CM Punk's saving this week was the best saving yet. It's amazing that these segments have only gotten better and better. I heard a rumor that Serena is going to actually be a full-time member, which would be awesome. Kudos to her for volunteering her hair like that. The stuff with Punk saying "she needs me" and such was fantastic. Her expression while Punk was shaving her hair really looked cathartic.

The strange aftereffect of Punk not having a feud right now is that Punk's character is way more established than everyone else on the roster because he's had so much time to be introspective in promos (and he's the best talker in wrestling currently).

The tag match with Jericho & McIntyre vs Morrison & R-Truth was awesome as well. It helps when you have the workers in this match that this one did. The flurry of nearfalls and mayhem at the end was fantastic. I wish Morrison would snatch the title back next week, but of course I doubt it.

I can't express my disappointment enough that Beth seems to actually not be turning babyface. It is so sorely needed, and it also doesn't even make SENSE that she wouldn't at this point. After all those testy promos with Michelle, critiquing her methods and ideology while also challenging Michelle verbally, she just pals up with her here? I cringed. Of course, that only came after a much-too-long angle with Michelle and Mickie about the Piggy James storyline that is neverending. Even though I disliked both decisions, at least there's an actual storyline on Smackdown with the women, unlike on Raw where they just mindlessly wrestle (really badly) each week and only Maryse cuts (occasional) promos.

Kane clearing house was boring. If Kane does his usual schtick at Rumble of clearing house, that will also be boring. I'm sure Knox, Haas and Cryme Tyme were thrilled to be in this segment.

How the hell do you have Khali & Hardy beat the Harts? Not only that but the Harts were made to look like such goofballs. Even when Natalya was distracting Khali and they had it two-on-one, they still lost. What idiots. Plus Todd Grisham sounded so stupid when he said "Maybe Khali was distracting Natalya." Uh that would be idiotic. Why would Hardy & Khali decide to use their monster to distract a manager, creating a two-on-one scenario? It only hurt worse when Matt Striker sounded intrigued and said, "Interesting." Ugh.

The stuff with Taker/Rey/Batista was a lame finish to the show, and it still makes no sense that this isn't a three-way. Even after announcing Taker vs Mysterio, they are STILL booking like it's a three-way.

 

[Cabel]

I guess they're saving the three way for No Way Out or Elimination Chamber or whatever they're gonna call it.

 

[Spike Mcdougal]

Well then Serena better become the Natalya of the group like I heard this week because that Punk segment did not need to be as long as it was.

And speaking of things that have gone on to long, when they did something like this with Trish and Lita five or so years ago I did NOT want to reach through the screen and slap Trish however I can not say the same thing about Michelle and Layla and that's not right. I dont want Mickie to leave like I've been hearing but if it means the end of this B.S well we'll miss you Mickie

 

[Good Ol' Batmanuel!]

"How come there's no El Gigante figure?"

 

[Fifi Fanatic]

Well, being there in person I can tell you that we had a good dark match after the show. After Batista beat down Rey and the show ended, Vickie Guerrero came out and made a Rey/Batista match on the spot. Rey got some revenge for the beat down and the crowd went home on a high note.

I can also say that the crowd (at least in my area) was getting more antsy then it probably appeared on TV when the Santino/Kozlov segment during ECW went on too long.....

Got to slap five with CM Punk for a moment at the parking lot afterwards. I hope he noticed I was sporting his very first WWE T-shirt. Been marking for you from day one, Punk!

 

[hobbyfan]

Ok, let me get this out now, and get it over with. I am sick of the Me-Chelle McCool vs. Mickie James storyline. Instead of having Beth Phoenix turn face, the creative idiots leave her as a heel. With the addition of Serena, you now have 5 heels (6 when you add Vicki Guerrero, more on her in a bit) and 2 faces (Mickie & Maria) in the women's division. That is an imbalance that must be corrected ASAP. It doesn't help that both faces have other stuff happening off-air (both have CDs coming out, plus Maria on Celebrity Apprentice). Me-Chelle is goldbricking because of her knee injury (slower healing than expected, I suppose), and after the travesty we saw last night, that belt is going bye-bye at the Rumble.

Yes, I see Mickie winning her 5th (and probably last) women's title. I'd rather not see her leave, but rather what they can do is give her a short title reign, then pass it to Beth before going on any sort of concert tour (if there is one). This would be the right scenario, but let's see if Hayes and his crew have it ruined by Vince's meddling.

Back to Vicki. As "Fifi" said, she was there, but not on camera for the 2nd week in a row. As was asked prior to the Morrison/Truth-McIntyre/Jericho match, what did Morrison do to deserve a handicap match. Good thing Teddy amended it, and we got a happy ending out of that one. A No-DQ match for the IC title next week means that McIntyre will be looking for a new challenger, and soon, if he beats Morrison again. As for Vicki, after three weeks of a "kinder, gentler" Vicki, we get the weaselly heel Vicki back. Get it right, Uncreative. She must remain neutral, along with Teddy.

Brother Punk's Traveling Salvation Show may be one of the best things about Smackdown right now, but the introduction of Serena went way too long. Why did it require two segments? (Ziggler-Yang was edited off the show as a result) Figure she'll be there next week, ostensibly to offset Hornswoggle, but I don't see a title change. Rather a non-finish is likely on the last show before the PPV.

Batista virtually destroying Finlay was another case of the creative team's ineptitude. Bats could've won the match, then continued afterward with his visual-aid-amplified promo. It's like the Christian-Regal match on Tuesday. Didn't need a DQ here.

Natalya coming on to the Punjabi Playboy didn't exactly work the way she wanted now, did it? She's another one that could be turned face if the creative idiots had enough stones to try it, in order to cure the imbalance.

Here's how I'd set it up. I'd have a rematch between the Hart Dynasty and Khali/Hardy next week, with the Dynasty winning to even the score. Post-match, Teddy Long meets with the Dynasty and makes a deal. Dynasty gets the winners of DX-Straight Edge Society, and Natalya gets the next crack at the women's title, making a point of noting that Me-Chelle has ignored Nat the whole time. Start 'em as tweeners, then move them to faces. Simple as that.

Only one Smackdown title is changing hands next weekend. I already told you which one it is. It's time Team Lame-O (Me-Chelle & Layla) got their just desserts. (Sorry, couldn't resist the obvious pun)

 

[Hobbes829]

Why does there need to be a balance of heels and babyfaces? People like the us against the world stuff.

 

[The Penguin]

So even after the show, SmackDown has just five Superstars officially in the Rumble match: Batista, Chris Jericho, CM Punk, Kane and The Great Khali. This leave off Dolph Ziggler (at least for now) who more or less announced his entry last week. This is compared to 14 for RAW. I hope these last five-six spots aren't being held for surprises. ECW prevents it from being an even split, but SmackDown's numbers should be fairly close to RAW if not equal. Giving all the currently unannounced spots to SmackDown makes it RAW: 14, ECW: 5 and SmackDown: 11.

Batista declaring he is in the Rumble seems to put an even firmer end to the World Title match being a triple threat. He nearly put an end to Finlay as well.

Excellent segment, but it sure felt like it took a long time for CM Punk to save Serena. I did like how he was having security take her away and then changed his mind. I would have liked to see Ziggler make it on the show though.

I think rather than personally seeking revenge, Vickie just gave Jericho & McIntyre what one or both of them asked her for. Lucky for Morrison, Teddy Long don't play that way and R-Truth was added and picked up the win.

I would just like to let Layla know that if you are happier that makes your level of happy greater than if you were simply happy and it's not possible to be "more happier." Not sure why, but I hated this segment less than some of the others (while still hating it). I love Mickie referencing Michelle's horrendous performance on Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? She is a former seventh grade teacher with a master's degree and she was the only one all week to fail out (which means she kept getting questions wrong until she had no more saves and did not even have the choice to play the bonus round). I was a bit baffled to see Beth Phoenix fully help Michelle & Layla humiliate Mickie. I don't get it.

Kane has been in every Royal Rumble since 1999 and so now the hype for his eleventh straight appearance begins. Any time next week Superstars like Cryme Tyme, Mike Knox or Charlie Haas are in the ring, I expect a repeat.

I don't even know why Matt Hardy & Great Khali are teaming again, let alone beat the Hart Dynasty. I am going to give Matt some credit though as his counter threw off the Harts' timing, making it believable for one man to basically beat two.

Following the opening segment where Batista declared he was in the Rumble, the closing segment made little sense. I realize Batista didn't stop hating Mysterio just because he had to move on, but what does this accomplish? If it stays one-on-one next Sunday I don't know for sure who will win, but I would bet The Animal is involved in the action.

Batista virtually destroying Finlay was another case of the creative team's ineptitude. Bats could've won the match, then continued afterward with his visual-aid-amplified promo. It's like the Christian-Regal match on Tuesday. Didn't need a DQ here.

I'd say you're the one lacking creativity as you never seem willing to accept a disqualification. I would say they were needed. Sometimes you need to establish that the mindset of one of the competitors makes winning secondary and you can only do that if they don't win because of their own actions. On Tuesday, Regal and Jackson didn't care about Regal winning because it's more about setting Christian up for the Rumble. Zeke saw his chance to catch Christian off guard and he took it. Batista is so mad at the world that he wants to unleash his frustration on everyone, not caring about one victory without the World Title on the line.

As for Vicki, after three weeks of a "kinder, gentler" Vicki, we get the weaselly heel Vicki back. Get it right, Uncreative. She must remain neutral, along with Teddy.

"Kinder and gentler?" Is that referring to the way she treated Eric Escobar, her reaction to Hornswoggle ruining her Martha Stewart moment or the ruling that favored the heel Batista? If both Teddy and Vickie (it's with an 'e' btw, always has been, unless that's one of your nicknames ) are neutral there is no point in having both of them. Two neutral people won't butt heads and there needs to be at least a slight conflict there for it to be interesting. They need to be right where they are on the heel-face spectrum.

 

[hobbyfan]

"Kinder and gentler?" Is that referring to the way she treated Eric Escobar, her reaction to Hornswoggle ruining her Martha Stewart moment or the ruling that favored the heel Batista? If both Teddy and Vickie (it's with an 'e' btw, always has been, unless that's one of your nicknames ) are neutral there is no point in having both of them. Two neutral people won't butt heads and there needs to be at least a slight conflict there for it to be interesting. They need to be right where they are on the heel-face spectrum.

She hasn't been as annoying as usual since the end of the Escobar angle. Once Eric was made to disappear, she seemed to tone it down quite a bit, and was not as blatant about her biases (i.e. Mysterio-Batista). However, as sick as we all are of heel management characters, it's time to dial it down further and have Teddy remain one step ahead while figuring a way to get the probation removed without Vickie butting in (BTW, I dropped the "e" before because it's more like a silent "e").

If they really want to tone her character down, I'd like to see her be more sympathetic/empathic toward Mickie, since she's been down the same road.

 

[Azrayel]

Decent Smackdown. Nothing else. The chick that punk shaved her head was hot.

Now after looking at The Penguin's statistics of the Rumble, why doesn't WWE just have 10 people from each show? It would be a whole lot easier than ECW always getting kicked to the curb.

 

[hobbyfan]

Decent Smackdown. Nothing else. The chick that punk shaved her head was hot.

Now after looking at The Penguin's statistics of the Rumble, why doesn't WWE just have 10 people from each show? It would be a whole lot easier than ECW always getting kicked to the curb.

Because Vince doesn't want equality across the brands, afraid perhaps that the ECW kids might show up his more established stars. Since ECW wrestlers were added to the Rumble 3 years ago, none have won the Rumble, and Raw has won the last 2 (Cena, Orton).

 

[Wade Kruse]

Why does there need to be a balance of heels and babyfaces? People like the us against the world stuff.

The problem is that you run out of potential matches incredibly fast. Especially in a division that's tiny to begin with.

 

[Hobbes829]

The problem is that you run out of potential matches incredibly fast. Especially in a division that's tiny to begin with.

women don't draw all that well. that's why it's small. Besides, even with it being lopsided, you just have the babyfaces fight a lot of heels to build them up.

 

[ToonFaithful]

I didn't see the ending of this Smackdown. But from what I saw, Mickie James look like she's going through the humiliation/quitting route. I don't want Mickie to leave but if this is the best for her I'd say do it. Michelle McCool is getting annoying, with Layla at her side doesn't do any good. I fell asleep during the rest of Smackdown because of that Hope for Haiti Tribute. I don't stay up late. A man needs to get his rest. I'm gonna read over your posts to get the recap.

Later.

 

[The Penguin]

Now after looking at The Penguin's statistics of the Rumble, why doesn't WWE just have 10 people from each show? It would be a whole lot easier than ECW always getting kicked to the curb.

Logically that sounds good, but because of the difference in roster size it would put almost all of ECW in the Rumble and leave out too many RAW and SmackDown guys. I'm okay with it being uneven, but we shouldn't go into Sunday with RAW having 14 and SmackDown having 5.

 

[Hobbes829]

Logically that sounds good, but because of the difference in roster size it would put almost all of ECW in the Rumble and leave out too many RAW and SmackDown guys. I'm okay with it being uneven, but we shouldn't go into Sunday with RAW having 14 and SmackDown having 5.

What's so bad about things not being equal? Not all wrestlers have the same talent or star power.

 

[ToonFaithful]

What's so bad about things not being equal? Not all wrestlers have the same talent or star power.

Take Rey Mysterio for example.

 

[The Penguin]

What's so bad about things not being equal? Not all wrestlers have the same talent or star power.

I didn't say it had to be equal; I'm actually not in favor of that. I'm saying that RAW shouldn't have 9 guys on SmackDown. 14-11, 14-10, even 14-9 would be fine with me, but not 14(or more)-5. SmackDown has more than five guys with the "talent" and "star power" to be in the Royal Rumble.