Today on Smackdown, we have a Raw rematch on our hands: Santino Marella goes back up against the former U.S. Champion Jack Swagger on a night where John Laurinaitis is in charge. What will the self-proclaimed Mr. Excitement bring to a Friday night? Find out and read on for my thoughts on the show as it happens.
Otunga and Laurinaitis make a fun pair in their own odd way. Who'd have thought they'd be some of my favorite characters?
I do have to be a spoil-sport here with them starting a show with what should be a big gimmick match. Cage matches should be big moments in feuds, not props for ratings.
I'm praying for Santino recreating the Honk-A-Meter for the U.S. Title. That and having an Italian-themed version.
Santino gets tons of credit from me for being so into such a hit-or-miss role. In the wrong hands, this gimmick would BOMB.
Ok, fine, Swagger and Cole get credit for enthusiasm in their roles, too.
I wonder why Swagger got his hair cut. He looked better as a cocky character with it the way it was. Though I see more of the "Biff Tannen" resemblance people have brought up now.
I don't remember there being another U.S. Title cage match.
Swagger's got a great amateur background and he's making the most of it.
NICE move to escape the cage by Santino.
I like that Santino brings almost a completely different style to the ring. He stands out with his moves and how he does them.
I don't think I've ever seen someone ejected from ringside in a cage match.
I hope Jack Swagger lives up to his potential. I've seen some pretty good sparks from him over his years in the company.
But don't discount Santino.
Why DON'T more people just try to go through the door?
Nice slap.
Hahahahaha. Nice use of Vickie.
I love it! Well, other than a cage match not being a feud-ender.
If Santino was John Cena, people would be complaining that he's not selling the effects of the cage match.
I still think one of my favorite "BS endings" to a cage match is JBL being chokeslammed through the ring by Big Show and crawling out from under the apron to win.
That interview could be a disaster or great.
Yeah, no idea why they changed Orton vs. Kane. Not really complaining, though. I guess Miz will take the pinfall given his losing streak lately.
Kane vs. Aksana could be something really scary.
Laurinaitis is a pretty evil guy.
Scratch that. A really evil guy.
One thing about posting something almost a week late: I have a good excuse to skip 11-minute video packages.
This might have just been on Hulu, but it was pretty weird seeing Daniel Bryan telling fans not to do certain moves given how heelish his character is. For what it's worth, I hear he's a class act off-screen.
He might be fired, but he's been working live events.
I wonder how legit McIntyre's accent is.
Not a bad promo.
Why, Laurinaitis, Why?
Hornswoggle doesn't get music?
Ahh, there we go. He looks different.
If Hornswoggle beats McIntyre clean, I swear...
This isn't leading to McIntyre/Khali is it? That could be brutal.
I was thinking he was getting DQd/fired there for a second.
What's the over/under on how long until Long fires Drew again?
I'm actually kind of worried about Long vs. Laurinaitis.
That's a pretty good-looking main event on paper. Obviously there's one guy there I'm not too thrilled about.
Part of me can't wait to see what Laurinaitis will wear to the ring.
I smell a filler match given Zeke's lack of direction lately.
Interesting point about Zeke by Booker.
A match of two strong guys with kind of limited range. I'm iffy on this one.
Not to discount Henry's very impressive accomplishments, but that seems to me more like a competition than a sport.
Heck, Zeke's not that much smaller than Henry.
A motivated Ezekiel Jackson could be pretty scary and dominant.
Pretty impressive. Just two big guys showing their strength.
I wonder what some of the people who never get TV time think of the GMs going at it tonight.
I wouldn't count Laurinaitis out given his wrestling background. I don't know what the deal is with the legwear, though.
Anyone else get flashbacks to Long vs. Drew McIntyre a few years back?
Weird seeing Orton "save Aksana" given that he RKO'd Stacy Keibler back in the day.
At least that was fairly painless. We could have gotten some Cole-Lawler/JR length stuff.
I continue to wonder where Kofi's career will head alongside R-Truth with Bourne's suspension being up not too long from now.
Little Jimmy for Best Supporting Character.
I wonder if they'd try to pass off Rosa as related to Primo and Epico if she hadn't already been in WWE?
Good athleticism from everyone in the early going.
Hopefully working with Truth will elevate Kofi.
NICE move with the ropes. Primo and Epico could end up having something to watch.
I like the commentary actually putting over the match and competitors.
Looks like we're in for a Tag Title match at WrestleMania. Maybe.
Another video package to skip.
I'm kind of half-and-half about being excited about seeing Rock and Cena insulting each other in musical form.
Hopefully Cole doesn't bring up his own involvement in the Rumble. Ugh.
Daniel Bryan's one of my current favorite characters in all of wrestling.
Bryan's GREAT on the mic now. So smooth in his delivery. None of this yelling every word crap.
The one guy in the crowd's overdoing it with the sign.
Where was this Daniel Bryan in 2010? He'd have been one of my top picks of the year.
Good face promo from Sheamus.
AJ in a Catholic schoolgirl uniform... I'll leave that to someone else to comment on.
Ooh... kind of dickish by Bryan. I like it.
I'd be hypocritical if I didn't say that Sheamus would "only be beating a wimp" at Mania. Solid segment other than that, though.
I was hoping Rhodes would get some mic time, but you can't get everything you want.
I wish Big Show was off of this year's WrestleMania.
Haha. I did like Show's reaction to Miz's music, though.
Well, Rhodes and Orton didn't START in Legacy. They actually feuded for Rhodes' first on-screen appearances.
Daniel Bryan and Cody Rhodes getting shots in the main event is good by me. Sheamus, Orton, and to some degree Miz are also people I enjoy seeing in that slot, and Big Show has earned his place for years of performing.
"You have to work all year to make it to WrestleMania". Yeah, because Snooki was on the road 250 days a year last year.
Sheamus can brawl.
I hope Cody gets out of Mania with the title. Throwing away months of build for Big Show would make me throw my computer.
Nice flying knee. He picks his spots, as a good heel can do.
We've got some hard-working guys here.
I LOVE Bryan saying "yes" as he does the kicks. I guess I'll get tired of that one day, but I think it's great right now.
Miz is an underrated wrestler.
Good points by Cole about Miz. He wrestled in the main event at WrestleMania.
I'd kind of like to see an Orton/Miz feud.
I like things descending into chaos here.
I wish JR was around at the commentary booth instead of Booker to mark out for Orton doing the RKo like Austin with the Stunner.
Another /wooo/ sign. Funny place sometimes.
Looks like we're ending with a big fight.
That's it for Friday's Smackdown. A news post is up next. Thanks for reading and I apologize for being so late!
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