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Here are my thoughts on the show:
I thought the Kane promo at the start of the show was okay. They have been building the storyline of Kane trying to find his brother’s assailant since the beginning of June and it seems like it will continue at least until SummerSlam. Whether it really is Rey Mysterio (since Kane was right about CM Punk and Jack Swagger) or someone else who did it, Kane has focused his attention on Rey who also happens to be his opponent for SummerSlam. If it turns out that it is someone in Undertaker’s family who put him in his current situation, I think Kane is doing a good job projecting blame for the attack on whoever he is facing. If it motivates him to inflict more damage on Rey than he normally would, it serves its purpose. However, it could also backfire and cause Kane to make a fatal mistake and cost him the title. We have two more episodes of Smackdown before the pay per view so we will see what happens.
When Kane talked about how Undertaker was able to say two words after almost two months of being in the vegetative state, I was imagining him channeling Jack Bauer and having a doctor drug an enemy agent long enough to give him necessary information to protect the President.
I thought Matt and Todd did a good job talking about how Rey would be reacting to the revelation that he is the one who attacked Undertaker (allegedly).
They also did a good job talking about Matt Hardy’s punch of Christian last week on Smackdown and whether it was intentional. While Matt would not make an appearance on this week’s show, they kept the storyline going and possibly lead to a match between the two.
There were three good wrestling matches on this week’s show and the first one might have been the best bell to bell match of the three. I thought Christian and Drew McIntyre had a very good television match. I thought Drew did a great job working on Christian’s arm after he initially injured it. I was a bit surprised when Drew went under the ring but he did a good job to draw Christian to him. Drew continued to work on the arm throughout the match but he could not put Christian away. Both men have shown that they are able to counter their opponent’s moves and it adds some unpredictability to the matches because you can’t expect the match to end as soon as the wrestler’s finisher is set up. Whenever Drew felt like Christian was getting an advantage, he returned to Christian’s arm. I did like that Christian did not use his injured arm for any offense during the match and focused on using his good arm. With all of the work that Drew did on Christian’s arm, I was surprised that Christian got the win over Drew. However, if it is going to give us a Christian/McIntyre pay per view match, I am not complaining. They have good chemistry in the ring.
I like how Drew’s character has evolved since Vince McMahon has been taken out of the equation. If this was a few months ago, Drew would have been complaining to everyone and demanding that the result be reversed. Now he is doing it the way that any other wrestler would take care of things. He will have to face Christian again and try to beat him.
I wonder if Drew talked to Finlay about using the ring since it is a characteristic of Finlay’s matches.
I thought the Cody Rhodes grooming tip was okay, but not as good as last week. I think Cody was able to explain why Sting looks young for his age. He has been wearing a facial mask to open up his pores. I think Cody needs to wear the mask in a match or have Husky do it.
I thought the Alberto Del Rio video packages this week were good and gave us more insight into the character before he makes his debut on Smackdown.
I really liked the CM Punk and Straight Edge Society promo in the locker room. I liked how Punk insulted all three members of the Society for their shortcomings. He brought back the fact that Serena had a ‘relapse’ that Punk was trying to hide. Then he blamed Mercury and Gallows for having to wear a match and then having it removed. He also did not want to hear Joey complain about having his mask removed. Punk did his best to make sure that any cracks in the Straight Edge Society were repaired by reminding them that he is more important than them and without Punk there is no Straight Edge Society.
The Gallows/Show match was more an angle than a match and revealed that Punk is no longer injured. I liked the way that all four members of the Straight Edge Society attacked Show and worked on Show’s hand to take away his choke slam and knockout punch. I thought it was a good touch to have Punk remove the sling and offer it to Show since he would need it more than him.
I did like the spot where Big Show had Tony Chimmel bring the mic to the ring so we could really hear what one of his chops sounds like.
I thought the Kingston/Ziggler match was very good and did a great job to set up the title match next week. I liked how Ziggler worked on Kofi’s neck and back since that is what he did last week and Kofi had not fully recovered from that match. I thought they did a good job having Vickie’s slap set off some sort of alarm in Kofi and changed his attitude and demeanor. Instead of being ‘good guy Kofi’, he turned into a man who was not going to take any more crap from Vickie or Dolph. It was a different side of Kofi that we had not seen since he attacked Randy Orton at the Raw in Madison Square Garden, but it was a good thing to see from Kofi. He showed a lot of emotion and anger at the situation and it led to the events that would give us the title match next week.
The attack by the announce table showed a little bit of desperation with Kofi because he is having so much trouble with Ziggler and Vickie.
I liked the way that Jack Swagger acted when he was interviewed by Josh Mathews. Swagger should be directing how things will be handled. I liked how he updated us on his dad. Swagger’s comments about what he was going to do to Rey was good and part of it was prophetic. I would have liked to see Swagger suggest that if he is able to beat Rey that he would get Rey’s spot in the title match at SummerSlam.
I wonder how long it will be before we see Rosa Mendes bring in Bob Backlund to show her how to do the Harvard Step Test?
I thought it was a good touch to have Vickie announce that it would be Michelle and not Layla who Tiffany would be facing for the title. Like Matt and Todd discussed, if Tiffany was expecting Layla and got Michelle instead, it would benefit Michelle in a competitive situation.
I thought the match was too short, but that seems to be the pattern for the Divas matches. Tiffany got in a lot of offense at the start of the match, but it was a very sudden finish with the McCool Clash for the win.
I don’t know if I like the idea of having Michelle and Layla trying to figure out which one of them is going to be the champion. The thing that works so well for them is that they probably would be BFFs because of their attitudes. It just works out that they are co-champions. While it might make sense to eventually break them up, I would have thought that it would happen with one of them losing a match and the other complaining about how they are no longer the champion.
I liked the events surrounding the main event with the match going all over the building and outside to the Gulf of Mexico. Since it is what Swagger mentioned in his promo it was good to have that take place. I thought things were even when they were in the ring. I liked that they went outside the ring for the No Disqualification match. I also liked that Striker mentioned that the referee ‘relaxed’ the no count out rule. I did not even think about that because I figured that since it was going to be no disqualification it would be no count out as well. I thought the brawl through the crowd worked. Rey used the building and its features to his advantage with the DDT onto the dasher boards and use of the railings for the seated senton attempt. However, Swagger was able to use his size advantage and he sent Rey into the railing on the bleachers. I also liked how they fought onto the concourse and into the merchandise area. While it was probably unintentional, when the people had to be held back coming off the elevator worked and I liked how Striker and Grisham incorporated that into their commentary of the match.
When the action went outside the arena, I thought they lost something from the match because they didn’t have the crowd to react off. It did seem realistic with the cars passing by and the referee warning Swagger and Rey about oncoming traffic. I thought Swagger telling the guy in the car that almost hit them ‘I’m Walking Here’ was great. Both men deserve a lot of credit for some of the bumps they took on the concrete and asphalt. I also liked how Swagger yelled at Rey and told Rey that he was half the man he is. I liked how they actually went into the Gulf of Mexico.
I liked how Swagger touts himself as a great athlete, but then he says that he cannot swim and that he is drowning. At least one of the people who was fishing at the time didn’t tell him ‘stand up and you will be okay’. I liked how Rey was not willing to help Swagger because Swagger threatened to break his arms and legs and watch him drown.
When Rey thought he was safe, then he turned around and saw Kane and was then thrown into the Gulf.
While I didn’t expect them to show Rey or Swagger getting out of the water, it would have been funny if they had re-enacted the scene from Just One of the Guys when Terry and Buddy got out of the water after the fight at the prom.
It seems like whenever they are in Corpus Christi or Bridgeport, there is a chance that they are going to go into the water.
What to Watch on DVR: Watch the McIntyre/Christian, Ziggler/Kingston, and Swagger/Mysterio matches. You won’t go wrong watching the entire show this week.
