WWE SmackDown Review: March 4, 2011

I tuned into SmackDown this week hoping to be saved from the mediocrity that plagued Monday Night Raw. Wow, that show was so bad it’s made me sound like CM Punk. Usually, the show is rather tedious in comparison, but I thought this could be the week where SmackDown steals the show.

Edge came out first to talk about the impending contract signing. I don’t see why he needs to come out and talk about it to be honest; it’s going to be happening in less than two hours anyway. Nevertheless, Drew McIntyre came out and interrupted Edge’s second attempt at a going-away celebration for Vicky Guerrero. I’m glad they didn’t spend too long hovering around the subject of her firing, because I felt we had enough of that last week.

Teddy Long came out and set up a match between Drew and Edge to begin immediately. This was a very good match in all honesty. It had me captivated throughout, and the only criticism I have is that it didn’t last long enough.

I like the intensity of Drew McIntyre, especially since the Elimination Chamber. It’s like something changed in him and he found his aggressive side (I totally wrote this in my notes before Josh Matthews said it). He has used this aggressiveness to once again become a main player in SmackDown, in my opinion.

He reminds me a bit of Jericho in the way he shouts at his opponent. He was very vocal, and for me it just makes that contest a whole lot more enjoyable as it adds a new dimension to the match.

McIntyre ripped the bandage from Edge’s arm and exposed the elbow. Has anyone else noticed how weird wrestlers look when they remove their elbow pads? Anyway, a spear out of nowhere gives Edge a clear opportunity to win. He stops the count, however, to debut a new submission move: a sort of modified sharpshooter.

I would guess that this move is simply there to juxtapose Del Rio’s armbreaker, so we can see a submission struggle at WrestleMania.

One match and SmackDown is already 100 times better than Raw.

Rey Mysterio’s music sounds, but it clearly isn’t him—it’s Cody Rhodes wearing the mask he nicked last week. When he removes it, the commentators comment on his surgical mask, calling it "ugly and disgusting." I wouldn’t call it that—it’s see through. It certainly does not have the same effect as Kane or Mankind’s mask for example.

Regardless, it is good for Cody’s character development as someone who is increasingly losing their grip on reality, and essentially, becoming more psychotic. The good lighting on Cody during the promo also helped increase the impression that his mind is unhinged.

It has been a long time since we have seen a wrestler in WWE wearing a mask, who isn’t lucha libre. This could be a huge angle as long as it doesn’t end at WrestleMania XXVII.

The Corre confronts Kane and tells him they want him to beat Big Show tonight.

Tag team championship match next. I have to believe that the Corre are going to hold on to the tag team belts for a long time because to me, they are the only legitimate tag team in the WWE at this moment in time. The only other stable capable of holding the tag team belts at the moment are Nexus, but since they are feuding with Randy Orton, it would not make sense. However, I would like to see a feud over the tag belts between these two stables after WrestleMania.

The Undertaker’s gong sounds, but rather than the standard Phenom music, “Ain't No Grave (Gonna Hold This Body Down)” started instead. It gave me shivers like The Undertaker’s old music used to. This was ridiculously effective for retaining The Deadman’s mystique.

I think this would have matched a slight change in The Undertaker’s gimmick. I think they could have done a few things to alter his appearance to match his new “Last Outlaw” nickname. Maybe give him the mask he wore circa late 1995? At the moment he is the same guy with a new name and new entrance music. He needed a change in appearance to get me fully immersed in his return. WWE missed the boat there, in my opinion.

I haven’t seen The Last Outlaw (I used it!) cut a promo in a long time, so I was looking forward to it. He remarked that he agreed with Triple H and said, "We are the last of an era, and a dying breed." He’s got a point there about the dying breed. He’s one of the few remaining superstars who guarantee a big draw for WWE.

Undertaker’s voice sounded too high for my liking. After re-watching some old promos from Raw 1998, it seems his voice has gone up about two octaves and doesn’t have the same deep rasp it used to. This affected the promo in my eyes, as it made him seem less intimidating to me and more like a normal man.

He said Triple H will end up being a statistic in a long list of people who have tried to beat him at WrestleMania. Erm...he already is. Maybe your memory is going in your old age, Deadman, but you beat him at WrestleMania X-Seven. Although it wouldn’t surprise me if WWE conveniently forgets that, like it forgets almost everything else that happened in the past when it comes to feuds.

Despite my minor gripes, it was a decent promo.

Divas match was next. No toilet break this week! Not when Beth Phoenix is wrestling! She is clearly the best woman to grace a wrestling ring since Chyna. I couldn’t wait to see her in action. In a match that lasted about two minutes, it pains me to say it, but Beth lost. I couldn’t believe it. I nearly threw my remote at the screen.

Two veterans of the game, Big Show and Kane, kick off in what I hoped would be an entertaining match, but the Corre dashed my hopes by coming down and handing Kane a chair, which he put to good use.

The Corre then beat down Big Show until Kane gave Justin Gabriel a brutal chair shot to the back. That’s the second time he’s been levelled by a chair in two weeks.

My God. Cole has found the equivalent of Miz on SmackDown, Jack Swagger. Last week I watched SmackDown for the first time in 10 years and was surprised at how subdued Cole was. No more.

In what was literally a squash match, Jack Swagger beat JTG. Keep the Cole storyline to Raw please. On a side note, Booker T came out with a very funny piece of commentary in this segment, "Michael Cole has looooost his daaaamn mind." Agreed.

The final segment of the show followed. I hate contract signings because it’s always inevitable that it’s going to kick off. It’s just a more elaborate way of presenting it, opposed to the usual interruptions of promos.

So, as expected, Edge started to wail on Alberto. Let me guess, Ricardo will inter...yes right on cue, and the cross armbreaker is applied.

Edge started to bleed from the nose. The PG era has created a new love for unintentional blood, and just as we saw on Raw the other week with CM Punk, it exemplifies the situation.

Christian came out to help and absolutely battered Del Rio. In my opinion they should have saved his return for next week as advertised, but I guess it was a nice surprise for the audience.

SmackDown “layed the smacketh-down” this week and left me wanting more. I wish the same could have been said about Raw.