Smackdown's in Calgary tonight, and WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart's in charge. How will he lay down the law on the show's roster? On tap for the main event is a Summerslam rematch of Mark Henry vs. Sheamus. Anything can go down and will tonight on SyFy. Read on for my thoughts on the show as it happens.
They pretty much had to start with the Hitman, unless someone came out to his music for heat (which would be pretty awesome).
That's a pretty awesome shirt Hart has on.
Triple H putting Bret Hart in charge of something. That's pretty weird looking back at their history.
They're building up Tuesday's show. Orton vs. Henry's definitely PPV-level.
I knew that line about embarrassing Canada was coming, but it's a great one.
Good interaction between Christian and Hart. I think he really is better as a heel.
Christian's character's a douchebag. It's great. He doesn't fairly earn rematches, etc.. Heels are supposed to be booable and they're doing a good job making him despicable.
Big match for Super Smackdown. Glad they saved the bigger one for Summerslam.
I wish some other veterans in the industry would go through what Mark Henry's gone through lately. He's gotten in good shape and really motivated. Bravo.
Nice segment with Sheamus and Henry, too. The start of the show set up big things for later in the show and next week's show. SMART.
Orton vs. DiBiase with Rhodes is pretty cool.
No Joey Styles soundbyte on the OMG DVD?
Bryan vs. Christian? YES.
Nice video package on Bryan.
Booker T. bingo time.
Dani Califronia. Nice.
I wonder who the Fave Five would be in TNA.
I've pretty much decided that I'm going to see what happens with Bryan week-by-week instead of "will he be ready in 8 months?".
Bryan's a good guy. Legitimately has a lot of respect for wrestling. Probably shakes people's hands as well.
Christian using the spear is so awesome.
Bryan's a solid counter-wrestler.
I think all Bryan needs to be successful in WWE at this rate is experience (WWE experience that is).
I know people are going to complain about that booking, but I don't think it'd be believable for Bryan to consistently beat top guys with years of experience... yet. He's slowly but surely moving up (which is generally how it's best to do it unless you come across a Sheamus or Del Rio).
Aksana creeps me out. I'm not even kidding. I get a "black widow" vibe from her. Like she'd poison Teddy Long to get his job.
Just in case you hadn't gotten your fill of generic massive soldiers, here's Space Marine.
Was that another new song for Barrett?
Rebuilding Barrett. I like it.
I was hoping he'd beat him to get a bonus on his paycheck or something. Teddy Long should say that he doesn't get paid if he's not in matches, and he was booked in a match.
I THINK that's FCW's Hunico again. He impressed me the last few weeks and apparently management as well.
I hate Slater's song.
Really? They're doing Del Rio/Cara already? I'd save that one for later, like the Mexican tapings.
Well that was quick. I think we could be seeing Cara move up the ranks soon. Cara vs. Rhodes for the IC Title? Yes please. Rhodes heeling on his mask would be fantastic.
Anyway, good match from Cara. I guess he's back on track now after the suspension.
Nice dynamic between Orton, Rhodes, and DiBiase.
Here's why booking's tough sometimes: If DiBiase beats Orton, it looks good for him but not as good for Orton. Orton needs to look credible in his upcoming World Title match(es), but they don't want to bury DiBiase. This is why clean, decisive wins don't happen as often as a lot of fans would like.
DiBiase's starting to grow on me (again).
Ah well, it could certainly have been worse for DiBiase. Like I said, they need Orton strong for his matches with Christian and (presumably) Mark Henry to be as meaningful as they can be.
Poor DiBiase. Always the one being taken out. BUT, this could lead to a big face turn at some point. I wonder how that would work out; hopefully he'd be more charismatic.
Damn, I was hoping for Tamina vs. Kaitlyn. This is a good place for Tamina to join the DOD, though.
I like the little insets for interviews. That wasn't really evil enough for Natalya, though. She just seemed somewhat tiffed at her instead of embarrassed that that's what Divas are seen like now.
If there was a "Great Moments of Booker T. and Michael Cole Together on Commentary" DVD, it'd be blank.
So-so match outside of the goofy stuff the DOD are up against. Wait, no Natalya (in-person) on a Canadian show!? Then again, she'd probably be cheered.
Jinder looks like a rat. He should team with Conor O'Brien.
I wasn't crazy about Khali dominating Zeke for a while, but the interaction with Jinder and the torture rack were cool.
They pretty much had to add a big stipulation to Orton vs. Christian as many times as they've faced.
Someone should have beaten up Grisham (Henry?) on his last night in the company.
Awesome Henry package.
I wonder when we'll see Johnny Curtis again after Henry beat him up...
Ring psychology, working on body parts. I love it.
Stepping on fingers is also a good heel move.
THAT DDT COUNTER.
Sheamus is showing a good deal of versatility for a big guy. Some people would just rely on being big and be slow, plodding Diesel-powered semis. That might lead some people to Oz, but for other people it's like playing craps in Vegas.
Fine ending, since I don't think it would have been believable for Sheamus to put Henry through the barricade to even things up.
Sheamus looked like a warrior even being left lying, and the "record books" show a win for him here.
That's all for Smackdown. I'll be back Monday for Raw, and a news post will be up later tonight. Thanks for reading!
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