WWE Smackdown Review 7/18/2008 The Wedding

WWE Smackdown was not exactly looking so good from the start, but then again, things were funny, and why not? I’ll go with it.

The show opens with the big wedding between Edge and Vickie, and no one interrupts. Odd huh? Usually people jump in and tear things apart. This is a pre-recorded wedding, then we get to go to the reception, and we are on the stage with Edge and Vickie, the Edgekins, and Chavo Guerrero.

In Ring Segment 1:

Edge and Vickie come out to a lot of heat, the fans hate this, and they sit down for a reception dinner/table looking thing. Chavo Guerrero says a little something about the couple, and says that Edge is a perfect fit into the family.

Chavo introduces something that was made for Edge, and it’s Edge on the Cover of WWE magazine holding the World title, and declaring him winner at The Great American Bash.

Edge gets the mic.

Finlay and Hornswoggle come out to the ring.

Edge says that Hawkins and Ryder are too smart to fall for their cheating ways, and that HE is going to be the special guest referee in the match up between them and Hawkins and Ryder.

Hawkins & Ryder vs. Finlay and Hornswoggle
Edge served as special guest referee

I didn’t expect much from this match, and you know what? There wasn’t a whole lot. Edge kept interfering with everything that Finlay did, which was really annoying to me. On the other hand, he was getting a TON of heat, so maybe that was the point of his involvement. Although, I’m not sure why Finlay has to basically job for the Edgekins, as if that proves anything.

The match starts off slow, standard match up. Finlay takes a lot of punishment.

Hornswoggle comes in and helps Finlay clear house, but Edge tries to grab him. Edge then gets caught in the Celtic Cross, but ends up getting out and spearing Finlay, and Ryder and Hawkins capitalize for the win.

A glorified squash match here. This was a waste of talent and time. The groom and his men go back to the stage and are greeted by Bam & Chavo.

In Ring Segment 2:

Edge and Vickie have their first dance, and some lame singers start a duet. This is complete cheese, seriously, this is so cheese, I hate this.

The Big Show comes out and cults in for a dance with Vickie. Edge gets upset, and says that he better get his butt in the ring and face his opponents.

Big Show vs. Shelton Benjamin , Vladimir Koslov, MVP & Great Khali
No Contest

Big Show didn’t do a whole lot, he blew right through the smaller guys, but when Khali came in and he clotheslined the big guy, the other three teamed up and beat him up. Khali tries to give Show the Khali Bomb, and drops Show on his back hard.

The four guys then beat down Show and we cut to commercial.

This was a horrible match, and it just made me upset to see Show get squashed like crazy.

In Ring Segment 3:

Vickie is ready to throw her bouquet into the crowd, and is getting major heat. She yells, Excuse me! And the crowd really lets her have it.

The Divas are out waiting to catch the bouquet, but a brawl ensues between Michelle McCool and Natalya. McCool is thrown out the running. Cherry catches the bouquet and Vickie says that she never knew Cherry could ever get married. She then says that Cherry must wrestle her! That’s right, Vickie vs. Cherry for later on tonight!

But first, she has to go through Natalya.

Natalya defeated. Cherry

Cherry didn’t have a chance. She gets mauled by Natalya, and taps out fast to the Sharpshooter.

Vickie defeated Cherry

Cherry is out cold, and Vickie jumps in for the cover and quickly wins this match.

This is horrible, I hate how the WWE doesn’t respect the athleticism that these women might have. They end up just squashing the women, and making a mockery of women’s wrestling on Smackdown. Who cares right?

The TNA knockouts are one BILLION times better than this piece of garbage segment that they are running into the ground.

Brian Kendrick w/ Ezekiel defeated Jimmy Wang Yang

This match saw Brian Kendrick as a solo wrestler with a new gimmick and a new bodyguard. The match had some quick reversals to get things started, and ended up getting into a more fast paced cruiserweight style, and really was impressive. Wang Yang is really solid, and although he didn’t pull this match off, he really is interesting to watch. The bodyguard angle is interesting, and the name is my father’s name (Ezekiel) so that’s kind of cool. The match took a turn towards boring, as the WWE doesn’t allow all their cruiserweights to take the air, but right when this thing was headed for some great moments, the ending collapsed forcing another boredom movement from the WWE’s cruiserweight division.

Sliced Bread Number 2 for the three count, an assist from Kendrick’s bodyguard Ezekiel and we have a new singles wrestler with a goofy looking motorcycle jacket. This guy’s new gimmick sucks! They compared him (the commentators) to a young “attitude era” Shawn Michaels.

No way! This kid is NOTHING like Shawn Michaels. Give me a break!

I wish the WWE would take the smaller wrestlers more serious. WCW did, and they beat Raw a TON of times in a row. I’m jonesing for some good lucha libre, too bad Seattle doesn’t have it on regular programming. I guess that’s one down side to living out here in the great Northwest.

Backstage Segment 1:

Edge is given a box of Slim Jim. He says that he’ll get to his spicy side later.He then runs off.

Umaga defeated Kennedy

Back and forth match up came through in this match. At first anyways, then it was all Umaga! Umaga had a nerve hold on Kennedy for a good portion of this match up, Kennedy started to mount a comeback and was ready for the Mic Check, but it was blocked and Umaga hit the Samoan spike for the win! Umaga takes out Kennedy clean!

*Interesting note, Edge is in a Slim Jim commercial with his “spicy” side causing chaos at the DMV

Biscuits & Gravy vs. The Miz and Morrison (Champions)

I feel like I’ve already seen this match a million times before, Jesse is isolated for the grand majority of the match up, Festus gets tagged in and he cleans up house for a good moment. He’s really athletic, and is surprising to me that he’s given such a stupid gimmick. He flows really quickly, and like a freight train hits everything clean. Jesse nearly wins the match up with a tag back in, and then Festus takes a mean hit to the ring post.

The Miz then isolates Jesse, lands the reality check and gets the 1-2-3 with ease.

This match was fast, and easily executed. Festus turns into Jello at the end, and this was lame. This match was really horrible. Miz and Morrison are horrible champions, but then again, what are you going to do? The tag team division in the WWE is a big joke to me. At least TNA keeps it somewhat consistent!

Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy
No Contest

The Hardy boys know each other so well. This match was interesting to see, and the two put on a great show. It started off a little slow, but it picked up as these sort of matches do.

The wedding party crashes the match, and that’s too bad, the match was getting really good. Edge and the crew beat down the Hardy’s and leave them in the center of the ring rolling around.

In Ring Segment 4:

One of the worst segments in history; Edge, Vickie and the familia were all in the ring talking about random crap. Triple H hits the ramp and shows a video of Edge and the wedding planner. This segment was really boring and really made me upset to have to sit through this.

After three false alarms, we finally see Edge kissing the wedding planner and this of course upsets Vickie and she starts screaming and yelling. The yelling goes straight through the end of the show.

This is the worst ending to a wrestling show in a very long time; I hate this WWE product.

Smackdown 7/18/2008 Quick Results

Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder def. Finlay & Hornswoggle
Big Show vs. The Great Khali, Vladimir Kozlov, MVP & Shelton Benjamin No Contest
Natalya def. Cherry
Vickie Guerrero def. Cherry
Brian Kendrick def. Jimmy Wang Yang
Umaga def. Mr. Kennedy
The Miz & John Morrison def. Jesse & Festus
Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy (No Contest)

The show felt really long. I didn’t like the whole reception angle thing, and I can’t believe it took so long in the show for anyone to mess things up. The cake getting thrown on Chavo was funny, but it was over due. The majority of the matches were pointless and just seemed thrown together. I wonder why WWE is doing this, and if it knows how to even throw wrestling shows any longer? I know for a fact that the live shows are awesome, but watching this Smackdown was just not as fun. The main Event was really cool, as I am a huge fan of both wrestlers, and although they weren’t killing each other out there, it was one of the highlights of the week in wrestling.

Why did they waste Umaga vs. Kennedy on television? Furthermore, why did the heel win clean? Usually bad guys do not win clean on television, and we usually get a rematch on ppv for a great victory from the good guys. Regardless, Kennedy looked weak against the Samoan Bulldozer, and one must wonder where exactly they are going with Kennedy. I’m sure a feud will develop between the two, but it’s sad to see that Kennedy isn’t getting that epic push that he was getting before he got suspended for being on the juice. If nothing else, that Kennedy and Umaga match up was definitely a highlight for me, and it could be match of the week. Hands down, one of the better match ups this week had to offer in wrestling.

Then the ending, what a piece of crap ending; this is suppose to create heat between Triple H and Edge? WTF WWE? Seriously, this has been one of the worst weeks in wrestling for WWE. This is sad. Seriously, sadness abounds for wrestling fans that watched the ending to Raw and Smackdown. Ecw was the best show this week, and a close second was TNA.

What’s next for the guys at WWE? Not really sure.