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GOALS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOR SMACKDOWN 3/9

Smackdown - 09/03/2012
What this show needs to accomplish?
•After hyping that Teddy Long would be running Raw this week, WWE didn’t really do much with it and so I think it’s imperative that they emphasize more this week that John Laurinaitis is in charge of Smackdown, while not making it the focus of the show. This should work better on Smackdown since Laurinaitis is the heel and Long can always say he didn’t want to make himself the spotlight on Raw
•Bryan-Sheamus. I think it’s time WWE put a boost on this program and Bryan needs to begin pulling off some heelish tactics to make the audience want to see Sheamus destroy him.  
•Cody-Big Show. Randy-Kane. I like the way these programs have gone so far. Its basic pro wrestling storytelling and I hope WWE keeps that consistency up as we complete the four week barrier till Wrestlemania
Show Breakdown

1. I’m going to be contradicting myself in this report, because while I say they should focus more on Laurinaitis as GM of Smackdown, because that’s what they advertised, I’m not going to agree with the move.  I just watched the opening video package and I hate that overlying theme of this show is the battle for power as oppose to wrestlers feuding and the Road to Wrestlemania. It’s my pet peeve, which screams episodic television and writing crews as oppose to booking programs to climax at the biggest show of the year. Will see how it plays out.
2. The one good part of this battle for power storyline is that they are really emphasizing the Santino title win. I’m not sure how much it helps the belt for Santino to hold it and I’m not sure what it does for Swagger to be feuding with him, let alone Ziggler as his second.
3. I’m not personally a fan of Santino, but the audience that is paying to go to theses shows seems to get into him so from that aspect the opening match was a quality segment and they managed to protect Swagger a little by having Vickie cost him the match.
4. I really enjoyed the backstage segment with Laurinaitis and Teddy mainly because Ace has become so good in his role as long as he’s used in moderation. Although I have a feeling will be getting alot of him on this show. John asking David if he heard a please or an apology and then looking back at Teddy with his nose in the air along with calling him “player” at the end was great stuff.
5. As for the stipulations on the Teddy-John match for later, WWE has turned winning and losing into such a joke that I’m not sure why Teddy wouldn’t just lay down so his girlfriend wouldn’t be put in harm’s way.
6. Cool video package on Hunter-Shawn-Undertaker and I like the plug for next week’s Raw promoting a confrontation between Shawn and Undertaker. I hope Undertaker brings up two things 1. The possibility of Hunter and Shawn being in cahoots and 2. Shawn costing him the WWE title at Summerslam 1997 against Bret Hart when he was the referee, although that might be too far back in time to bring up.
7. Unnecessary swerve going from Khali to Hornswoggle.
8. I have to say the only time I like seeing Hornswoggle is when he gets beaten up. He is one of the issues I’m talking about when I say WWE needs to overhaul the complete culture of how they create their television shows.
9. Drew gets his job back and gets laid out by Khali after the match. What a pointless storyline and I’m sure Drew isn’t going to stop losing anytime soon.
10. Is Aksana likeable at all? I’m sure this all started as some kind of swerve where Aksana would turn on Teddy, now she’s an actual babyface and I just cannot stand the character. The best thing for her would be to turn on Teddy and become John Laurinaitis girlfriend.
11. Enter Ezekiel Jackson, a babyface who has lost two or three times in a row now to David Otunga. At least Booker isn’t singing his praises on commentary, which would keep consistent with Jackson’s recent string of losses. I question how long Jackson is for this company.
12. A much needed and decisive win for Mark Henry.
13. John Laurinaitis attire for his match with Teddy is tremendous.
14. I like the Randy Orton run in without any entrance music.
15. Good segment to further the General Manager storyline and Laurinaitis reaction to being pinned by Teddy was great stuff.
16. Always good to see Rosa. I’m wondering if they will find a way to get Rosa and the tag champs on Wrestlemania, if for no other reason than to get her entrance on the biggest show of the year.
17. The audience at Smackdown chanting “Little Jimmy” is a bad sign to me, because it probably means WWE will think they need to do more bad comedy with R-Truth and the Little Jimmy gimmick.
18. Another great video package on Rock and Cena. It’s interesting that on the video packages recapping what they did on Raw they manage to make what happened on Raw seem better, because A) They really tried to hide John Cena’s stupid smirk when Rock brought up fear B) They downplayed the part of the promo where Cena tries to interrupt as he’s getting to the climax of what he’s saying. Also interesting that they once again focused on how John Cena must win, but left out the part where Rock said “take it to the bank, The Rock will beat you”.
19. Good plug for the Rock concert vs Cena rap battle set for Monday. Alot of people are groaning about the Rock concert vs John Cena rap set for Raw on Monday, but I don’t mind it. They need to find creative ways to keep these two apart and this is a good way to do it. Cena can do strong raps where he guts guys so I have faith he can keep up his end and we know Rock is very comfortable doing The Rock concert so I have the utmost confidence he can pull his off as well and that it will all lead to quality promotion for the Wrestlemania main event. I would expect Cena to get the better of it, because with the rap you can probably talk more smack than a singing performance.
20. I like that Daniel Bryan isn’t giving Michael Cole the time of day even though Cole has turned into somewhat of a Bryan supporter.
21. One of the best touches of the AJ-Bryan dynamic is the way AJ looks at Bryan with the puppy dog eyes as he speaks. It’s those minor details that really add something to the overall product.
22. Sheamus to begin his promo throws out this quote, “I’m damn lucky to be in front of all of you tonight”. I don’t mind what he’s saying, but pandering to the audience as a babyface really needs to become a thing of the past. It’s another one of those details that I’m talking about when I say WWE needs to overhaul the formula of how the create their shows. This goes from using the midget to entrance music with run ins to predictable scripted verbiage that the crowd sees through.
23. Sheamus coming off a bit heelish picking on AJ, however Bryan quickly took the heat from him by telling her to Shut up. Well played by whoever thought of that.
24. Face to face confrontation was a little underwhelming from my perspective, but at least it ended with Sheamus noting he’s taking the title at Wrestlemania. Hit the key point about the pay per view that’s all anyone can ask.
25. Interesting way they did the entrances going heel, babyface, heel, babyface for the main event match.
26. I liked that Cole mentioned during this main event match that Cody is one of the longest IC Champions of all time surpassing Shawn Michaels. I’m not sure if that’s true, but I’ll assume it is and WWE should really be pushing that stat more going forward.
27. Unique ending for Smackdown with Orton and Kane brawling into the crowd, although I’d prefer if they focused more on Sheamus-Bryan as the show’s climaxing scene.

What this show accomplished

The Good

•Laurinaitis-Teddy. I liked that while it was a focus of the show, I didn’t get the sense that it was the show, which is good. They did a nice job of balancing this storyline while remaining focused on Wrestlemania

•Orton and Kane got some definite gas behind them tonight. Orton laid out Kane early in the show and they also did a show closing brawl and I expect that their Wrestlemania match will be announced next week

•Video packages were sensational once again tonight for Triple H-Undertaker and Rock-Cena. The Rock and Cena one was especially good in that it hid some of the weaker elements from Monday’s show including Cena’s dumb smirk during Rock’s promo

•Mark Henry gets a decisive win. This might have been the best part of Smackdown

•Cody-Big Show. I said in my goals that they needed to keep this as a quality pro wrestling storyline and I liked what they did this week. It wasn’t anything special, but we are a long ways off from Mania and having Cody run from Show in the main event was perfect for this week

The Bad

•Bryan-Sheamus program. This feud continues to be a little underwhelming so far. I’m not sure how I feel about the first seed planted on a possible break up between AJ and Bryan as I like their dynamic. I did like Bryan telling AJ to Shut Up from the perspective of furthering his heel character however. As for Bryan-Sheamus, I thought the promo segment was a little underwhelming especially compared to some of the great stuff we’ve seen out of Jericho-Punk, Hunter-Shawn-Taker and Rock, Cena, but perhaps that isn’t a fair barometer

•Drew McIntyre. This storyline just continues to drag. At some point Drew needs to get some respect back and getting his job back only to be feuding with Great Khali where we know he will get squashed isn’t helping the situation

Overall Thoughts

•I liked this show. Nothing bothered me too much, I’m glad we didn’t get any bad comedy such as Natalya farting.

What should be accomplished on next week’s Smackdown

•Orton-Kane announced

•I’m sure WWE Creative is having fun building this program between the General Managers, but as I mentioned in my Raw column, I think they should announce the match for Wrestlemania next week so we can learn the participants who will represent each side in the coming weeks. Hopefully Laurinaitis being pinned by Teddy this week isn’t a sign that Laurinaitis is going to want Teddy one on one at Wrestlemania.

•Essentially we have two Smackdown’s left before Wrestlemania if we exclude that the final Smackdown before Wrestlemania is a show where not too much happens, which to me means that Bryan needs to kill Sheamus next week.

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