WWE News, SmackDown 10-28-11: Critique, Grade and Thoughts

WWE SmackDown came to us from Houston, Texas.  The Blue Brand has been on a solid streak lately with its angles and matches—you can catch various clips of the show on WWE.com.

The show featured a heavy dose of Raw brand superstars, and some follow up to Vengeance. 

Let's get to it.

The Good

Opening segment.  This was a good segment.  10 minutes here accomplished more than the 20-minute opening segment of Raw.  The Big Show and Henry situation was addressed, set up the main event for the evening, gave some time for banter between the antagonists and reinforced the concept of Raw stars being on SmackDown. Punk and Christian both did well, though Punk came across a bit better.

Air Boom/Awesome Truth.  This was a fun match which saw the heels get a clean victory over the tag-team champs.  Not much storytelling, but the crowd helped a lot.  Overall, a nice TV match with a few nice spots, and a good way to establish Awesome Truth as a threat.  The post-match promo did its purpose to sell the match at Survivor Series and give the plot hook for Raw. 

Video segments.  The WWE's Video Editing crew continues to go Barry Bonds on the recap segements.  The Nash/Triple H recap was nicely done and added some necessary drama that felt lacking on Monday.  Brodus Clay's video was par for the course, but actually wasn't bad.

Barrett/Baretta.  Squash match by Barrett over the promising Baretta.  A few nice spots kept this from being a complete wash, including Barrett powering Baretta up for Wasteland.  The video promo before the match added some necessary story to the segment as well.  If I have to choose between Barrett's squash matches versus Brodus Clay's squashes, I'll choose the Englishman. 

Ziggler/Orton + Rhodes commentary.  Surprisingly good match, and nice commentary by Rhodes.  Solid storytelling with Orton paying attention to Vicki while having to worry about Ziggler and, to a lesser degree, Rhodes.  Slightly funny scene with the camera focusing on Vicki, then panning over to see Orton coming in with the flying knee.

There were a few more rest holds than I would have liked, given the participants.  It didn't take much away from the match though.  A couple of great spots with Orton leaping over Vicki and also powering up Ziggy to get reversed into a DDT.  Booker and Rhodes have a nice lead-in if they go to the feud.  Overall, a great TV match. 

Hunico interview.  Hunicara did a nice job conveying the emotion wrapped up in his loss versus Sin Cara Azul.  Short and sweet, though it made me wonder if the WWE borrowed Homicide from TNA.

Bryan/Kidd segment + match.  Didn't think much of the DVD plug. The match itself gave Bryan a victory, so that's something.   A few nice reverses and a few nice spots.  Definitely could have used more time. 

Punk/Christian.  I did like them clarifying Punk's rematch clause as "one on one."  Solid storytelling in the match, with a nice tie-in for Punk/Del Rio.  Both men did a fine job in the ring, and hit some good spots as well.  It was nice to see Christian able to hit his signature spots. 

Another great TV match with a bit more storytelling than Orton/Ziggler, though it took a minute or two to get going.  Clever turnabout with Sheamus besting Christian. Match of the night, though just barely over Orton/Ziggler.

The Meh

Big Show/Henry promo.  The big guy felt slightly off tonight on the stick.  Forced humor is not his forte.  This wasn't Henry's strongest outing on the stick, either.  The match did what it was supposed to do in order to carry the feud.  That said, it wasn't as good as it could have been. 

No Ryder.  The show felt a little off without the Long Island Iced Z.  I wonder if the 'E is setting up some sort of "repression" angle involving Ryder? 

Static angles.  There really was no appreciable furthering of the stories this week, though they didn't overly detract. They compensated fairly well, as I'll discuss below.

The Bad

Aksana.  Has she actually wrestled?  Just saying.

Michael Cole segment.  Another fast-forward segment for the WWE's greatest troll.  There is no way the "Cole Challenge" can end in a way the fans want, so I can't really care for these segments. 

Miscellaneous Thoughts

Hornswoggle would do Ryder proud...Oh dear God, it's Aksana! 

"The Barrett Barrage."  Wade has stepped up his game as of late on the microphone.

Great canned heat for Ziggler.

"I'm sorry Josh, did you say something?"

I wonder if they're testing Punk's ability to carry a show.  Odd they'd give Punk the main event spot while Orton got that middle match.

Brodus Clay reminds me of Mordecai for some reason.  And Donkey Kong.

The Water Bottle of Doom defeating Super Cena will never get old.

It's been rumored that the WWE has been looking for small ways to cut production costs.  Notice Del Rio didn't have his car this week?  I wonder if Cena was not on SmackDown because he lifted ADR's ride again?

Overall Grade  B+

This was definitely an above-average show for the Blue Brand, bordering on excellent.  Two great matches, a nice tag team match and a victory for Mr. Money in the Bank?  It's hard to argue with that.  Orton/Ziggler and Punk/Christian were better then the usual fare the WWE gives away on TV. 

That said, the show was static with its storyline advancement.  This was understandable given that Raw is leading the build toward Survivor Series.  Normally, this plodding pace would doom the show, but the matches made up for it.  Nice to see a large crowd on SmackDown for once.