Smackdown: Why It Ain't What It Used to Be.

Let me start off by telling a little about myself. My name is Cameron Corbin and I am a resident of Maryland. I still remember the first match I saw, how long the match took, what the finishing move was, and even some things about the announcements. I can tell you that the match was on Smackdown! For at least the first 2-3 years of me watching wrestling, it was strictly Smackdown as I could not get Spike Tv or Usa network at the time. I grew up around reigns of Brock Lesnar, Kurt Angle, and Jbl. I've seen many highs, and I've seen many lows. I've seen a steel cage match between Lesnar and Angle, I've also seen a 1 legged crowd member and a girl fight the Big Show, all on Smackdown! I've seen the rise and fall of the cruiserweight division, as well as an amazing tag team division turn into...well nothing. I saw the reign of Eddie Guerrero as champion, I saw the heel turn of Eddie, and eventually the last match of Eddie. I saw the rise of John Cena into a main eventer, as well as the rise and fall of Jbl, one of the best heels of all time. I saw the rise of Rey Mysterio into a world champion. I saw a childhood monster eat a wart off of a blonde girls face. I saw brutal matches and hilarious moments, including Rico smacking Rikishi's ass during a match, and Jbl talking to the big show while high on tranquilizers. I've seen it all on Smackdown, but none as sad as what I am seeing now.

Basically, what I am trying to say here is Smackdown! has had some terrific memories for me over the past couple of years. It has remained my favorite brand throughout, mainly just because it was the first one I watched. Slowly though, I started watching less and less wrestling, until for about a year, I stopped. About maybe 2 months ago, I heard that John Cena was getting beat down by 7 guys on a regular basis. I immediately began to Tivo Raw once more, and just to see whats up, Smackdown as well. What I saw was this:

The first thing I noticed was the extreme lack of big names currently on Smackdown. The Smackdown roster looked like a desolate wasteland. Rey Mysterio was world champion (who eventually would lose this title to Kane just 1 month after winning it) Kofi Kingston was Intercontinental champion (who would eventually lose title to Dolph Ziggler). Drew McIntyre, who was supposed to be one of the bright young stars of WWE who would eventually become a strong heel champion, was in an extremely frustrating feud with Christian, a man who could really do anything, tag division, Int title reign, world heavyweight title reign, or just have some great rivalries. But instead, both talents are wasted in this rivalry, which I will get into later. Matt Hardy and Cody Rhodes are also mixed into this pointless feud, two guys who I can't stand. The Undertaker is out on injury (who eventually returns). Jack Swagger, after losing his rematch, is just hurled down to lower-mid card with MVP. The "divas division" is having more action on Raw then Smackdown.

Firstly, I will touch upon Rey Mysterio winning the title. I feel that Rey Mysterio as world champion...Is well..Not great. If they are looking for things Rey Mysterio can do, how about, oh I don't know, bring back the division that really made Rey Mysterio's WWE career, as well as buying out some X guys from Tna and making the cruiserweight division watchable. As well as bringing Evan Bourne from Raw and making him part of it. Maybe just make a whole new division, similar to the X division, and put even guys like Kofi Kingston and John Morrison in it. Maybe even Matt Hardy and Cody Rhodes. Make it a really good title. I just really dislike Rey Mysterio, or really any other smaller guys as world champion. Also, just as a side note, is anybody else annoyed with Rey constantly spitting out Spanish?

Kofi Kingston and Dolph Ziggler. I like Dolph, he's interesting and has a good look about him, as well as having a decent character. I also like Kofi Kingston, who I like everything, from his in ring ability to even his entrance. His mic skills are sub-par, but that is one thing. But how many times do the fans really need to see the same match over, and over, and over, and over again. I think this is a perfect example of Smackdown's desperate need for big names. The matches themselves are sub-par, and the endings are predictable. Hopefully though this feud ends soon and we see Kofi dealing with possibly a Cody Rhodes or Drew Mc, and Dolph getting into an interesting title reign. Hopefully WWE doesn't just give back the title to Kofi, which just wastes the past month.

Chistrian and Drew Mc. I hate this feud so much. The feud does nothing for anybody. It doesn't make Christian look good when he wins, because he gets his ass kicked doing so. It doesn't make Drew Mc look good when he dominates a match, because he loses. Smackdown is really wasting two talents here, and with there lack of talent, they can't exactly afford to waste much. I've already mentioned what Christian can do, anything. And Drew looks like he can be in future title matches. Hell, in my opinion this is exactly where both superstars belong. This could be a really good rivalry and the highlight of smackdown on a weekly basis. They could make the matches competitive. They could make Christian dominate for some. They could make Drew Mc win a few. They could add a ton of heat and make this feud turn into a Ppv stealing match. But they don't.

Mvp and Jack Swagger. First of all I need to get the obvious out. How does one go from being a world champion, to being tossed into the Gulf of Mexico, missing the biggest Ppv of the summer, and feuding with a lower mid-carder? Now that that is out of the way, I kinda like this feud...On paper. I've always been a fan of Mvp, although he sucks at face. And I think Swagger is a good opponent for him. I think some of these matches could be kinda entertaining at the lower mid-card, and could give Smackdown a complete ppv top to bottom.  But it looks like these matches are going to be..well..terrible.

Matt Hardy and Cody Rhodes. Like I've already said, I hate both of these guys. In my opinion they where only good when around people better then them. For Matt, it was obviously his brother who made the Hardy boys and gave Matt his name. For Cody, same with Legacy. It was all Orton and even when it wasn't, it was Dibiase. In Legacy, I liked Rhodes. He was an good combination of high athleticism with still a good size and look to him. I like him with a mid level championship (Int, Us, or if Smackdown takes my advice for a midweight title), but this new gimmick for him is just not working for me. In my opinion, Jbl was the perfect example of a heel, a man who you wanted to lose, but didn't hate watching either. For Cody, its not that I hate him and want him to lose, its more of a "I hate him and wish he would just get fired." I've been hearing things about a world title push. I can't tell you how much I hope this isn't true. As far as Matt goes, can we say pretty much useless? Good matches that involve Matt that don't also involve Jeff are pretty hard to find. I really can't even think of what to do with Matt, which is where I think WWE is at right now.

Alberto Del Rio. And here, in my opinion, is the future of Smackdown for many years to come. Can we just change Alberto's name to Jbl2? I hope he sees the same quick success as Jbl did, (excluding Jbl's Bradshaw years, a wwe championship came very quickly for him.) Unfortunately, with the Undertaker-Kane rivalry, it looks like there won't be a championship push for a few months. what to do with the man until then? Matches with Rey Mysterio? This scares me a little, because WWE hates making Rey lose on a regular basis, and I have a sick feeling in my stomach Rey would be getting the best of that rivalry. But if not Rey, who else? Christian perhaps? I kinda like that idea. Matt Hardy? Hopefully not. Kofi Kingston? An interesting match-up. It will be interesting to see if Del Rio gets into any non Rey Mysterio rivalries before his inevitable title push. Alberto Del Rio is my bright light for Smackdown. His look, his smile, his wink, his entrance, his move set, I see him as the perfect heel.

Straight Edge Society. I shall try to not spend a good amount of time on this, as this is pretty much just a joke in my eyes. How can WWE turn a formal world champion and one of the more beloved faces, a role which he excels at greatly, into a heel, which, to put it bluntly, he sucks at. And even more, to put him with a joke of a team and have them lose a 3-1 match. Just a sad story here... Perhaps Selina's release will end this..Finally.

Tag Team Division? Is this just being scrapped like the cruiserweight division was? Smackdown has been the dominant tag team brand in the 2004-2008ish era. And now..Nothing? Not even a blasted title? NOTHING? Another sad story here.

PPVs. Does anybody else remember when PPVs weren't named after matches? With names like Vengeance, Unforgiven, Backlash, Judgement Day, No Way Out. Now we got Hell in a Cell, Extreme Rules, Money in The Bank, Elimination Chamber, Fatal Fourway?!? While this isn't Smackdown, just something I had to talk about.

Kane and Undertaker. First, I need to get one thing out before I start with this. Has anybody ever been more impressed with a Monologue then Kane's dealing with the Undertaker two weeks ago, (the week before 'Takers smackdown return.) Just fantastic in my opinion. Now, this rivalry is a lot of peoples bright light. Its there savior. "Rivalry of the year", there calling it. "One of the best things to happen to smackdown in years" they call it. I am here to say this may not be true. The out of ring part of this is interesting. The two have great heat going on and its fun to watch them talk. But as far as in the ring, well, does anybody at all remember Wrestlemania 20? Add a world championship to that match and unfortunately that is what we could be looking at. But, even as I say that, I will say there is hope for this rivalry. Did anybody else pick up on the 101 hints being dropped about "The devils playground" also known as Hell in a Cell. The cell could make this match interesting to watch, but I have a theory of why when 2 7 footers get in the ring, its not that fun to watch. Why are 7 footers interesting to watch? Because they are bigger then everybody else, and its interesting to watch the other guy deal with the size. But when nobody is bigger then the other, its almost like you have 2 normally sized men in the ring. Most of these giants just lumber around the ring with moves that make their size stand out. But when you have two guys that are both big, they are both just not as entertaining. This match just doesn't save Smackdown in my opinion.

With the lack of talent, its hard to be good. But there is some hope for the future. And perhaps Raw will give up a few of its talents, like Edge, possibly Jericho, R-Truth, John Morrison, Evan Bourne, and maybe a few other guys fit to be on Smackdown. There are chances for this whole thing to be turned around. I hope they make it interesting