Tonight is the historic 600th episode of WWE's second big brand. The celebration for this milestone for Smackdown features a 12-man tag featuring the participants in Sunday's Elimination Chamber matches, and the coronation of "new" World Heavyweight Champion Dolph Ziggler.
Read on for my thoughts on this edition of WWE's Friday night juggernaut.
You know, it's not really a main event when it starts the show. I think that this could be WWE's biggest problem area- not treating enough big matches as truly big, throwing them out without the proper buildup. It unrealistically and unsustainably raises our expectations for what's to follow.
At least it was a pretty long match. A bit of a clustermess with 12 men involved, but I liked it for what it was. I know it's cliché to end a match with everyone running in and hitting big moves, but it works well and got a pretty nice pop.
That was umm... unexpected. I could be overthinking this (and I'm writing this during the show, so she could be overruled or something), but can she fire Edge before his scheduled Elimination Chamber match? I would have thought that was pretty much set in stone.
I'll ignore the fact that she could just have fired or stripped him of the title any time before this. But I guess you could say that she didn't want to do that unless it was a last resort or wanted to give Ziggler chances to win via pinfall first.
Did anyone else get a Phantom of the Opera vibe with the appearance of (the former?) "Dashing" Cody Rhodes? I might have used a colored mask so you couldn't see through it and could say that he's more disfigured than he is.
That old Smackdown theme brings back so many memories. And the old oval stage.
Pretty weak just sending Maryse over to Smackdown for this match. Then again, I guess it's justified by having the big crossover with Raw in other matches. Eve can appear on any show if you've forgotten.
I think that outfit's more Dark Phoenix than Wonder Woman.
Michelle was wearing a cast if you didn't notice. She has multiple injuries in her foot.
Umm, Smackdown was named in 1999. Booker T. was in WCW then. Continuity error... though Booker did feud with The Rock when he came to WWE, and his Book End finisher is basically The Rock Bottom.
I checked with WWE.com, and Edge was in fact officially stripped of the World Heavyweight Championship. Title reigns get shorter and shorter these days.
The Smackdown show taped on 9/11/01 is one of those shows you can't forget.
WWE Champion vs. Intercontinental Champion matches used to be a pretty big deal. They need to spread these things out more. Do Miz and Riley vs. Kingston and Bryan if you'd like. It'd still be a big match, but one-on-one clashes should mean more.
Nice tie-in to Tough Enough. Or it would have been if they plugged the show.
Jerry Lawler's had a shot at the WWE Title against Miz before. You know.. TLC match... pretty big deal a few months back. WWE's really dropping the ball with mentioning things like that. At least they mentioned Booker T. being in a World Title match at WrestleMania.
I'm glad they didn't act like Del Rio's (scarf?) hurt Kingston.
Cool look at the numbers for weekly episodic TV shows (with no re-runs). Someone start a 33-week counter for Gunsmoke.
Another important match with no build-up. Why couldn't they have had the Tag Team Title match this Sunday? Surely they had plenty more clips to show. Cena debuting the Spinner Title for instance. The debuts of Cena and Orton. So on and so forth.
I had almost forgotten about that version of the WWE Championship.
Hmm, maybe we'll get Big Show and the tag team champions against The Corre on Sunday? It's not like they'd need a 4th man for it to be even.
Umm. Big Show didn't take out The Corre if they're still standing there and almost fought him. This is an important distinction. There's a world of difference between being taken out and retreating to fight another day.
I remember loving that grocery store segment, in all its campy glory. Stone Cold was a little loopy (on-screen) at the time, so we had a little comedy mixed with the beatdown.
In case anyone's wondering, yes, Dolph Ziggler was officially made World Heavyweight Champion. It's in the record books and everything. Well, it's on WWE.com's Title History anyway. It's going to be hard to keep Ziggler as an upper midcarder after he drops the Title. I remember Randy Orton winning the Title before he was ready and was dropped down the card shortly after being destroyed and losing it within a month. It took him years to fully recover. People call that being "Ortoned" now.
Anyway, I'm a little surprised that this is where they're going with Long being injured. He should have interrupted BEFORE Ziggler was officially made champion, and vacated the World Title until Sunday (he wouldn't "be able to reverse her decision". Edge would have to earn the title back on Sunday). Either way, Edge ends up an 11-time World Champion, but we don't get a 2-day (or less) Title reign for Ziggler. Sometimes it's the little things that need to be tweaked to make a show better.
I guess technically it would have been 5 days, but for story purposes it's 2.
Did anyone time how long Ziggler's title reign was? It's not the shortest ever, but it's insanely short.
Edge is now an 11-time World Champion, 7 times with this belt and 4 with the WWE Title. This puts him, by my count, at #4 on the all-time most titles won list. (1- Ric Flair, 2- Hulk Hogan, 3- Triple H, 4- Edge, 5- Verne Gagne, 6- Jeff Jarrett, 7- Sting, 8- Kurt Angle, 9- The Rock, 10- John Cena). Note that these are unofficial rankings, and there is dispute over the official numbers and what constitutes a World Title among other things.
I wonder what they'll go for Sunday "without" Dolph Ziggler? He didn't have to qualify, so you can't put in his opponent. They shouldn't put in Del Rio (too soon) or Christian (save him for later). I guess they can have a match earlier in the show to determine the 6th entrant? I'd go with Jack Swagger going over Chris Masters for the spot.
That's it for Smackdown. I'll be back to cover the Elimination Chamber this Sunday.
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