Read on for my thoughts on last night's Smackdown.
That opening segment made my head hurt. It's depressing to see such good storytelling in TNA, then going back to the variety show that is WWE where wrestling is something of an afterthought amidst the comedy and catchphrases.
Not a bad match to continue the feud for the Title.
I guess Fandango's officially a tweener now. Anything that gets over with the crowd has to be turned face apparently. I hope Miz/Fandango/Barrett is treated as important and not a "step down" from the Jericho feud.
Not a bad Hell No segment. I still hold out hope for Bryan vs. Kane, with Bryan unleashing the inner vicious superstar he was pre-WWE.
Bryan vs. Swagger was pretty good from a wrestling standpoint. I'm not crazy about Swagger tapping out clean so soon after being a World Title contender, but I'm willing to see where they go from here.
THIS is the Bryan I've wanted to see these last few months.
Sandow should talk to WWE Creative about this "lowest common denominator" thing. I feel like he's on the money in some ways. He continues to be one of the best characters in WWE. Fine segment, even if it got a little silly and it was heelish for Sheamus to use Striker as a weapon. I'd be surprised if Striker didn't know about the Gordian Knot out-of-character.
I was all set to make a negative crack about Jericho vs. Show (both are over 40 and debuted in the company when Bill Clinton was President), but they put together a pretty good match. They told a better story than a lot of younger guys do.
Good post-match. Jericho vs. Ziggler at some point for the World Title would be good. Jericho vs. Ryback could be pretty good as well (in a different way).
Heyman and Axel were very solid. Heyman needs to teach some people how to cut promos.
Good match to show what Axel can do. Sin Cara showed his goods as well. This didn't make Axel look like a threat to HHH (who could have presumably beaten Cara in 1:00 flat), but it was nice to re-establish him.
The U.S. and Intercontinental Titles are so important that they're defended on TV with no advanced advertisement. It should be a big deal when titles are defended. I think it should be a general rule that title matches should be announced at least a week in advance. Instead of showing all the recaps of the main players (HHH, Lesnar, Cena), they should invest some time in the midcard. Anyway, the match was fine to presumably set up a future match where The Shield can't interfere.
OR A SIX-MAN TAG, PLAYAS. Makes sense. I'd love to know how many tag matches Teddy Long has made in his career as a WWE authority figure.
Nice main event to continue to keep The Shield as a threat. I'm impressed that they've kept them as a force to be reckoned with for this long. I wouldn't rule out a "Nexus ending" where they get destroyed, but for now things are good.
More wrestling coming up.
I was also a bit perplexed at Swagger losing clean there. The first thought that came out of my head after him coming out with no entrance was "Are you kidding me!?" One would think with him pinning the W.H. Champion added with him getting a mouthpiece in Colter would definitely have him placed in higher regard. No offense to Bryan, but the way he's been booked in singles competition has been shabby on top of everything I mentioned.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't a fan of Ambrose losing to Kingston like that, either. With a U.S. Title defense being placed as the last match, I was upset to see such a short match and to see Ambrose lose (albeit by DQ) when he and his team have been booked to successfully. I do understand that they probably don't want Kingston to fall back into mediocrity and that since The Shield got the last laugh by winning the six-man tag match that it meant less. I still thought Ambrose should have won, though.
I personally am not very high on Fandango. I know some will disagree, but I believe if he didn't have a catchy entrance theme and if he didn't have people in the back behind him, he'd bring little to the table and wouldn't be in high regard. His feuds have been based on someone "saying his name wrong", which is ridiculous justification for a feud in my opinion and really begs the question if he can carry a "logical" storyline feud. On top of being unsure his gimmick can ever be main-event caliber, it's obvious when he was Johnny Curtis that he doesn't talk so softly like that, either, which is very irritating to me.
I just am not a fan of the character this far. He really hasn't proven much to me personality-wise or given me any sense of validation as if he can ever be "main event" caliber. We'll see if he can prove me wrong, but I personally am very skeptical.
I was thinking that it could have been punishment for the DUI. My theory is that they didn't want to "de-push" him while he was in the World Title picture, but now that they've moved on to Ziggler vs. Del Rio, he's fair game to mess with.
ReplyDeleteI think the Kofi vs. Dean ending was pretty much there just to set up the 6-man tag. In WWE (and TNA for that matter), a lot of times match endings are primarily just methods to move stories along and set up further matches. On Superstars or something where a lot of matches are "just matches" and don't have any greater meaning, they're more likely to do a "clean" (pinfall or submission) win or loss with no interference. I think the ending to the main event will stick with people more than that match, and that was WWE's goal.
Yikes. Fandango has a lot of experience in and out of WWE developmental. While he was pretty bland on NXT Season 4, from what he's shown since then he definitely has personality and "the goods" to make it as a performer. I don't think veterans would be so high on him if they didn't see something in him as a talent. I've seen Jericho, Rock, Stone Cold, Foley, and Big Show endorse him. Given the number of talents all of those guys have seen come and go, I think it says something about what he brings to the table.
The idea of a "logical" storyline feud in WWE is a little silly to me, since a lot of times it is blatantly sports entertainment. There are logical feuds, but they're not mandatory to succeed.
His gimmick doesn't need to ever be main-event caliber. He could have the gimmick for a while, and then once he's established as a performer he can move on. Cena evolved from the rapper gimmick. Kofi stopped being "Jamaican". Mark Henry stopped being "Sexual Chocolate". Heck, even if Fandango just stays as a mid-level guy, that's fine. Not everyone has to become a main eventer to draw money for the company.
And in WWE, I guess it can be argued that Johnny Curtis and Fandango are two characters from the same "actor", like how they generally pretend that Dolph Ziggler wasn't in the Spirit Squad or a caddy. They really look at it as a TV show and bend the rules as they see fit. Honestly, a good deal of fans probably don't even remember Curtis as Curtis. NXT's viewership was pretty small compared to the main shows, and he only appeared on Smackdown a couple of times.
I'm seeing a LOT of personality from him, compared to a number of talents in more serious roles. Not everyone could pull off that character so well (see Bo Dallas for someone with no personality).
He's been on the roster for a few months and you're already judging whether he can be a main event talent? It can take a long time for someone to show that. Sometimes people don't even show it until they get a chance to be main eventers (Bryan). I've been surprised a lot by people who got further than I thought they would or didn't get as far as I thought they would. To judge a talent's long-term viability within their first year on the main roster is incredibly short-sighted.
Upon thinking about this a little longer, I understand wanting something "logical" for them to feud over, even though WWE doesn't always deliver that. And I think that the goal of Fandango's gimmick is to get fans upset that he's so vain that he's obsessing over something as ridiculous as how his name is pronounced.
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