Smack Talk for 3/25/11 (Christian vs. Alberto Del Rio)

What's up, ladies and gentlemen? My name is Eric Kanes and I welcome you to this week's edition of "Smack Talk."

Now before we go on, I'd like to do a quick plug. I recently opened up a Facebook account just for wrestling-related stuff. I will use it to plug future columns and give my thoughts on various wrestling news throughout the week. If you enjoy my reviews, make sure to add me.

And now, from Columbus, Ohio, let's talk some smack.

-The show started off with Teddy Long telling Edge that neither he nor Del Rio could touch each other or they would be banned from WrestleMania. Perhaps they could stare at each other for 10 minutes next week? Nah, then Taker and Triple H will have nothing to do.

-Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk was a solid opener. However, I remember that they had a much faster paced SmackDown opener around this time last year and it was just as good as their WrestleMania match. I'd rate it somewhere around 3 1/2 stars. This match? I'm not sure it'd even hit the 2 star mark. Injuries have noticeably taken a toll on Rey's in-ring work.

-Awesome beatdown by Cody Rhodes. The way he was trying to hide from the cameras was also terrific. This guy has so much potential. I miss the "Smoke and Mirrors" song though.

-Del Rio took one shot to Edge's arm and yet Edge was still selling the injury. That's what I like to see. 50 bucks says that Orton will storm out like a maniac on RAW despite being hit in the head with a wrench.

-WWE needs to give Edge and Del Rio 20 minutes to work at WrestleMania and completely unlimit both of them. Given the proper amount of time, these guys could steal the show.

-Laycool beat Kelly & Trish and then made fun of their WrestleMania opponents. There's no way they're winning at Mania. Mark it down.

-Apparently, Snooki showed up drunk to a taping of a segment with Laycool and told people that she'll be a full-time diva once Jersey Shore ends. Cue the IWC devastation. Honestly, I'm not sure how legit that statement is but if she actually is going to become a diva, good for her. 80% of the current divas don't belong in the industry anyway. Snooki can hit a believable looking Thesz Press. Can't say the same for most of the other divas.

-That was a fantastic counter by Wade Barrett, reversing the Trouble in Paradise into Wasteland. That was way up there with Orton hitting the RKO while Evan Bourne went for Air Bourne.

-Wade Barrett winning the Intercontinental title is fine with me. As much as I'd like to see him and The Corre in the main event scene, I don't see where he fits in with Del Rio likely winning the world title and an Edge/Christian feud likely coming up.

-So where does this leave Kofi? He could either be added to some sort of 8 man tag match against The Corre at Mania or this could be a very bad sign. I didn't think it was a huge deal when all of his merchandise was put on clearance (it's been around for a while) but a title change for no reason this close to Mania is almost unheard of.

-The Undertaker came out and talked about how Triple H would be his 19th victim and about how he couldn't wait to say it to Triple H's face on Monday. So why come out to say it here then? He also talked about how Triple H's confidence has turned into uncertainty and how he thinks that Triple H is doubting that he could beat him. Then he started dancing to Laycool's theme song. OK, maybe I made that last part up. But that would have been more interesting than this segment.

-Michael Cole was hilarious on commentary here with Josh Matthews begging him to sit down. I don't know how many times I can say it but Cole has been doing a fantastic job in the past month.

-The airplane spin by Cole was hilarious as well. I'm half inclined to say that he should permanently be paired up with Jack Swagger after Mania. This could do wonders for Swagger and get his career back on track.

-We got another quality match between Christian and Del Rio with Christian going over once again. Del Rio is going over at WrestleMania for sure. There's no question about that. However, I can't help but wonder if this is WWE's way of inserting Christian into the world title match.

-As I said in last week's edition of "Smack Talk", I am against putting Christian into the match. It takes away from the focus on Del Rio. Stretch the program out all the way until SummerSlam and have the anticipated Edge vs. Christian match take place there. That makes people want to see it, similar to how people were dying to see the outcome of Team WWE vs. Nexus last year. If you throw a potentially brilliant match together in a few weeks, it seems second-rate. Look at Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus, for example. We've got two wrestlers capable of putting on a 4+ star match facing off, but does anyone actually care? The same applies to this match.

-To end the show, Edge gets in Del Rio's face and their shoulders touch. So I guess the match is off?

And that shall conclude this week's edition of "Smack Talk." Overall, I'd give this show 6/10 stars which is a bit down from last week. The only reason for that is that while the matches were pretty good, it didn't feel that any of the storylines progressed. We pretty much saw the same thing that we've been seeing every week with Rey/Cody, Edge/Del Rio, and Undertaker/Triple H. It was good but not great and it gets a rating accordingly.

Before I go today, I think that we need to do one more plug. "The Greatest WrestleMania Match of All Time" Tournament, hosted by me, is still going and we have reached the Final Four and let me tell you, these are legitimately four of the best matches ever. It is so close that even I could barely decide who to vote for. You can cast your votes right here.

I will be right back here this Tuesday with the RAW Review but until then, I'm out!