WWE Smackdown Review March 16
Undertaker vs. Booker, Matt Hardy vs. Mr. Kennedy, Batista on MizTV
© Ryan Joy
Professional Wrestling's Smackdown featured Undertaker vs. King Booker , Batista on MizTV, Matt Hardy vs. Mr. Kennedy, and others (Kane, Daivari, MVP, and Chris Benoit)
Batista on MizTV
Smackdown opened with the most overrated superstar in the entire WWE: Batista. As usual he made for a boring segment saved by a low level talent that offered some comic relief. Moments like this one make it clear that a professional wrestler doesn’t always have to possess remarkable entertaining skills to achieve success. In the second edition of the new Piper’s Pit style talk show called MizTV, the Miz asked Batista to comment on his interview in WWE Magazine where he claims to be unstoppable. The Miz told Batista that the Undertaker can and will stop him at WrestleMania and then goes on to tell “the Animal” that the Undertaker could even come out and kick his . . . . right now! As soon as the Miz finished his thought, the arena went black with the only sound being the ominous toll of the bell that always accompanies a surprise appearance of the Phenom. When the arena lights come back on, Batista prepares to pounce, and the Miz laughs hystericaly obviously having just played a joke on the champion. The Miz got a Batista Bomb as payback, but because of the Miz at least the segment had some color. Thank god wrestling fans didn’t have to fall asleep in the opening segment like last week when Batista shared his thoughts.
Matt Hardy vs. Mr. Kennedy
The first contest featured two WrestleMania Money in the Bank Ladder Match participants as Matt Hardy squared off against Mr. Kennedy. No matter who Matt Hardy faces, fans know that they’ll get their moneys worth. Combine Hardy’s innovative offense with Mr. Kennedy’s intensity and the match is destined for success. Regardless of story lines or personal vendettas, whenever you see Matt Hardy in action, the match always takes on a story of its own. In the case of this Friday Night Smackdown show stealer, Matt Hardy hurt his knee during the match and all of Kennedy’s offense from that point forward focused on that knee. Moves rarely performed like the Indian Death Lock were dusted off and used in this contest, and with each inkling of additional pressure applied by Kennedy, the wrestling fan winced a little bit more. This is what makes wrestling a science, this is what makes professional wrestling an art form, and this is what wrestling fans are delighted to see from WWE superstars on a week to week basis: good match storylines combined with both scientific and innovative offense. In the end, Matt Hardy countered the spinning drop from the corner that Kennedy has been finishing opponents with. Hardy applied his finisher and in a “twist of fate” the match swung in favor of Matt.
MVP vs. Chris Benoit at WrestleMania
WrestleMania only comes once a year and for those superstars without a match, time is beginning to run out. Last week, MVP approached Teddy Long with hopes of facing Chris Benoit for the United States Title at WrestleMania, but as of Friday Night Smackdown – MVP hadn’t heard a yes or no. In a last ditch effort to prove himself, MVP introduces his opponent for the evening as the Honduran Champion, El Grande Latte. The man’s name sounds like a cup of coffee and quite frankly he had all the wrestling ability of a cup of coffee too. MVP made short work of him and then began to babble on the microphone about Chris Benoit. Having apparently heard enough, Teddy Long made an appearance and gave MVP the title shot, but he also gave Christ Benoit an opportunity to give the cocky challenger a small dose of what his WrestleMania match might feel like. In a shorter period of time than it took MVP to defeat a cup of coffee, MVP felt the effects of the Crippler Crossface.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day
Remembering that Smackdown took place just one day prior to St. Patrick’s Day, one of the most entertaining segments featured Finlay’s little leprechaun friend, Hornswoggle, wishing the world a very Happy St. Patty’s Day. With a liter of beer in hand, Hornswoggle left his hiding place in the closet and said to Queen Sharmell, “Kiss Me (short pause). . . I’m Irish.”
Kane vs. Daivari
For weeks the Great Khali has attacked Kane, but now it looks as though the Punjabi Warrior might have awoken the sick, twisted, and demented monster that resides inside of Kane. For some reason, the Smackdown match-makers decided to put Daivari, a cruiserweight and the man who originally brought Khali to WWE, in a match against Kane. After completely destroying Daivari, Kane wrapped his chain around Daivari’s neck and dragged him around the arena. Did the Great Khali get the message?
King Booker vs. the Undertaker
In a long and physical battle, King Booker took on the Undertaker in the main event. Of course this ended up as an example of a good match ending poorly. Just when the Undertaker was about to put the finishing touches on King Booker, Finlay rushed the ring and began beating “the Dead Man” down with his shillelagh. The two on one assault continued until the Undertaker somehow got the upper-hand and tossed the King back in the ring. The Phenom then turned his attention to Finlay on the outside. It appeared that the Undertaker was going to throw Finlay in the ring with King Booker, but at the last minute he threw Finlay straight into the World Champion, who was sitting ringside doing commentary. If the Undertaker wasn’t already the fan favorite going into WrestleMania, silencing Batista’s boring commentary might have won him that accolade. How will Batista respond next week? Will we see a decent confrontation between these two men prior to WrestleMania?
In closing, this week's Smackdown again fell short of any entertainment value coming from the Cruiserweight division. The cruiserweights play such an important role in Smackdown, that it is truely heartbreaking to see no representation. In terms of tag teams, MNM did join with Melina to take on Ashley with London and Kendrick, but that match was really about the women's division. WrestleMania has always featured great tag team action, but with the Raw Tag Titles on Shawn Michaels and John Cena and with Smackdown ignoring the division entirely, will this WrestleMania just not include tag team title matches?
Previous: Smackdown Review March 9
Also See: Raw Review March 12, ECW Review March 13, WrestleMania's Past
