Friday, December 16, 2011

12/16/11 Smackdown

Ratings:
Cody Rhodes vs. Daniel Bryan: **

Alicia Fox vs. Natalya: DUD

Primo & Epico vs. Jimmy Uso & Jey Uso: *1/4

Big Show vs. Jack Swagger: *1/4

Ted DiBiase vs. Heath Slater: 3/4*

Sheamus vs. Jinder Mahal: *1/4

Randy Orton & Zack Ryder vs. Wade Barrett & Dolph Ziggler: **1/4
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Reviews/Thoughts:
I don't know if I said this before (I probably did), but I like the Smackdown theme better than RAW's. It's probably Smackdown and Superstars as my top two.

Josh Mathews interviews Booker...he's ready for his IC Title match with Cody at TLC this Sunday. Booker can't interfere in Cody's match with Daniel Bryan on this show. Fair enough there. A fairly competitive match again with Bryan and Rhodes.

I shake my head at how much X-Pac heat I'm giving Michael Cole. I'm giving more X-Pac heat to Cole than I gave to X-Pac. Hell, you know what, I'm calling it Michael Cole heat from now on because he, in my book anyway, has set a new standard for wanting to have a rabid puppy bite him. Oh, the humanity. My ears have been tortured for so long. Oh, and now Cole has THREE Slammy awards. By the time his career is over, he'll have his own damn announce table with Slammys.

Well, at least Alicia Fox has gotten more screen time lately as a face, since Natalya and Beth are firmly planted as heels. Whoa! There go some of Nattie's blonde extensions! Oops. Nattie tries to come back in, but gets taken out. That flip legdrop from Fox connected with Natalya's face...ow.

Smackdown got more watchable with Lilian Garcia. Period.

Primo and Epico are on a major roll, and this also helps Rosa get more airtime. Yes Cole, they are getting a tag title shot in the near future.

Swagger and Show was the next match, and Henry came out to watch. Yeah, I don't want Big Show slapping my chest, thanks. Great stuff by Swagger to take down Show. Nice job to get Show in the ankle lock. Henry with a chair shot to Swagger...and then one for the cameraman?!?! Good job with planting that guy in there.

It's been said for a long time now how DiBiase mingles with the fans and what not. Why not actually show more of this on TV? Why not really push this guy harder? There's potential here. Oh, there's Jinder Mahal! Teddy Long interrupted and said Mahal must face Sheamus. Ouch. A physical match between Jinder and Sheamus. Really liked that.

All those vignettes mention 1/2/12. Some people thought it would be meant for Kane, but obviously that wasn't correct. It's likely Taker's return date, and from what I read, it will be Taker/HHH III at Mania. Really?! I know they did great the previous two times. But I'm not sure they can pull it off and deliver another four-star match again. If I had it my way, I'd have put Taker (in what is likely his last WM match) against Daniel Bryan. But since DB (probably) will wait till WM to cash in his title shot, I really can't complain about that.

Main event tag match...hey Ryder's again in the main event! It got a good amount of time. Real good stuff here. Nice storytelling and awesome crowd reaction.

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