"WWE SmackDown!" Talkback (Spoilers)

[The Penguin]

Tonight is the final SmackDown! event before Mr. Angle's stars head to L.A. and Judgment Day this Sunday. The card is far from full so expect some more matches to be added tonight!

On another note of excitement, your beloved Unofficial World Wrestling Entertainment Moderator is finally in a place where UPN is so I should be with you weekly now!

LAST STOP BEFORE JUDGMENT DAY
May 13, 2004

On the final SmackDown! before Judgment Day, expect the Dudley Boyz to be on the warpath. One week after enduring a savage beating at the hands of Eddie Guerrero, “The Dudley” will be in action against Rob Van Dam, who also fell victim to the chair-swinging WWE Champion a week ago. Which member of the Dudley Boyz will face RVD, and what will be the reaction to last week’s actions by Guerrero? Find out on SmackDown!

Speaking of the WWE Champion, one week after Guerrero's rampage that felled both Dudleys, RVD and two referees, his nemesis, John Bradshaw Layfield, will face Rey Mysterio on SmackDown! Will Guerrero seek revenge on JBL for the incident that led to Eddie’s mother having a heart attack?

SmackDown! will also feature an interview with Jacqueline, who last week became the first woman to ever win the Cruiserweight Championship when she stunned Chavo Guerrero to get the win. It was a truly historic event on SmackDown! and Jacqueline will have her reaction to the win and her plan to defend the Cruiserweight Championship.

What other developments for Judgment Day will occur? Will there be more matches added? Only one way to find out … watch SmackDown! Thursday night at 8/7 PM CT on UPN.

Look for the Judgment Day Prediction Thread either later tonight or tomorrow.

[The Penguin]

Since I’ve been out of it for so long I decided to give a few thoughts on the SmackDown! roster and what they have been up to. It’s more or less alphabetical by the SmackDown! Superstars page.

Akio & Sakoda I can’t quite figure out why Sakoda never wrestles, or why Akio is only losing on Velocity

The Basham Brothers Say what you will about Shaniqua, but since she was sent to OVW things have been pretty dismal for Doug and Danny. Not only are they not winning as a team, but they have spent most of their time in filler singles matches—when a guy needs an opponent to further his story, but it doesn’t matter who it is.

Big Show He really snapped a few weeks ago when he had to quit. Hopefully this gives him the time off he needs to recover from all his nagging injuries.

Billy Gunn & Hardcore Holly I’m intrigued by the teaming of these two veterans. On one had it shows that neither of them are going to get that singles push I’d like to see for them, but this team could be interesting.

Billy Kidman My favorite cruiserweight is finding himself on Velocity and sadly isn’t even doing much there.

Booker T The Bookerman has really come into his own as one of SmackDown’s top heels. He’s been a strong heel before and he’s doing it again; this is exactly what SmackDown! needs.

John “Bradshaw” Layfield Okay, I may be the only one, but I’m really liking this gimmick. Bradshaw is a long-time WWE Superstar who didn’t look like he would last with his debut as Justin “Hawk” Bradshaw in the mid-90s, but he has beaten the odds and done just that. I think he makes a good one-month feud for Eddie and has really stepped it up.

Charlie Haas I was rather concerned about him after Shelton moved, but things really seem to be working out for him. The whole odd couple thing with Rico is just hilarious. Charlie doesn’t care for Rico, but he seems to like hanging with Miss Jackie. When the team eventually splits I bet she is why.

Rico & Miss Jackie It’s amazing, the RAW team created the Rico-Jackie gimmick, but it appears that SmackDown! knew what to do with it. He has done more since his move than he ever did on RAW. I’m amazed at how entertaining I’m finding his teaming with Haas and Miss Jackie still looks amazing.

Chavo Guerrero He’s been a very strong Cruiserweight Champion and his loss to Jacqueline is a bit shocking

Chavo Guerrero, Sr. “Chavo Classic” is even more stupid than the “New & Improved Rockers.” At this point I refuse to use it.

Dawn Marie Well they actually used her last week. I hope the rumors of hooking her up with René Duprée are true. It’s the only thing his character still needs.

The Dudley Boyz A heel turn was the best thing for Bubba & D-Von. As faces they get old real fast, but as heels they can easily move into near main event heel spots and that is what they have done the past few weeks on SD!

Eddie Guerrero Still riding high as the WWE Champion. God knows he deserves it.

F.B.I. Nunzio and Johnny Stamboli look like they will do okay by themselves, but Palumbo was the star wrestler of the team imo. Three are better than two, but two should still work.

Funaki Still SmackDown’s number one announcer.

Jacqueline Interesting to see her come out of what could have just as well been retirement to win the Cruiserweight Title. I look forward to seeing where this goes.

Jamie Noble Watching Velocity last week my brother asked me if Noble had done anything since he and Nidia split. I thought about it a minute and then told him no.

John Cena There’s nothing more painful than watching another one of my favorites descend into a caricature of himself—playing to the fans to a pathetic level. Giving away his jerseys is just another sad step. I hope the day he becomes the WWE Champion he is a heel.

Kurt Angle Angle is actually stepping into his own as the General Manager. After this past week I found I was not missing Heyman in the spot as much as I used to.

Mark Jindrak & Theodore R. Long “The Reflection of Perfection” sure has time to reflect during SmackDown! with all the time he has spent on Velocity lately. He doesn’t look the least bit comfortable in the role which is not what you want.

Matt Morgan You’ve gotta do something for me to have something to say.

Orlando Jordan I find even I enjoy calling him “O.J.”

Paul Heyman I hope he is made an official manager soon, the guest thing can only go for so long and he is too good to be left off TV.

Paul London He got to hit on Jackie, that’s something right?

René Duprée Duprée is indeed the French Phenom. The dog still feels like a bit much, but he has really come into his own since leaving La Résistance behind. Conway and Grenier are feuding with Eugene and René has a United States Title shot, the winner is pretty clear here.

Rey Mysterio Nice for the writing team to grace us with his presence on SD! this past week. Rey-Rey is too popular to not be used more effectively.

Rikishi & Scotty 2 Hotty Boy these guys sure dropped off the face of the earth since losing the Tag Titles. Kind of sad really, Grandmaster Sexay would feel a little less pointless if he came over to them.

Rob Van Dam There is a lot more room at the top for RVD over on SmackDown! He’s in pretty much the same spot as before, but there are less people for him to get lost in the shuffle with.

Sable If she isn’t able to return soon they just shouldn’t bother bringing her back.

Shannon Moore I hope he hasn’t been missing from both SD! and Velocity just to get his haircut, but I must say it looks good.

Spike Dudley He started out strong, but seems to have fizzled out quickly. I don’t think Jacqueline being the Champ is going to help him out much.

Torrie Wilson Torrie could stand to be put with a guy she can actually stick with. I know she and Kidman would rather not be involved on camera, but it could do wonders for his career.

Ultimo Dragon Missing: One dragon, anyone with information should contact…

The Undertaker & Paul Bearer Bearer needs to talk for me to try to buy in to this new old Undertaker a bit more. The sitting up and that kind of thing has been cool, but I’m just not sure if I really care yet.

[CerebralSocko]

Saw Smackdown earlier. It was kinda lacking for a pre-PPV show, but I was entertained so that's OK. Highlights and thoughts:

-Dude, Rob Van Dam needs to be put into a real feud, with promos, segments, and what have you. I used to love the guy a year or two ago, but he's been getting stale lately. A storyline might solve that problem, I think.
-The Dudleys still need new attire, or a different variation of their current one. The ones they wear now are still too reminiscent of babyface Dudleys.
-Speaking of the Dudleys, where's Spike? I've been waiting for him to show up ever since Buh Buh's and D-Von's heel turns.
-The name "Chavo Classic" still cracks me up.
-The Taker segment at the end of Booker's match felt old school, and thus cool. Like Penguin said though, Taker and/or Uncle Paul needs to have a promo of some sort.
-I was actually kinda hoping that Eddie would interfere in Bradshaw vs. Mysterio, with Angle standing by his words and stripping the belt off of Eddie. The belt would then be given to Bradshaw for the week, only to have Eddie win it back on Judgment Day. Yah, it's a kooky idea, but at least it'd shake things up.
-Rico vs. Bob Holly was alright. Not as comical as it could've been, since Holly is the perfect candidate to play off of Rico's flamboyant behavior, but what little they did do works. Interesting angle they have on the Haas/Rico relationship, too.
-Mordacai (?)'s coming at Judgment Day, eh? Sweet, can't wait to see this guy.
-Renee Dupree = Rick Martel 2004. And I see Fifi's been given some steroids, too.
-Sakoda vs. John Cena: what the hell was with Sakoda's tights?! o_O Nice kick by Akio, though; I cracked up when Akio had that innocent look on his face afterwards, and Tazz noted it with the line, "Look at the kid, he's like, 'I didn't do nothin'."... heh, I suppose the comedy came from the way Tazz's delivered it. Anyway, these two should be sent to RAW so that they could aid Tajiri in his feud with Batista.
-Haven't heard a Cena rap in a while; I hope he pulls one out at Judgment Day.
-Bradshaw vs. Mysterio kinda bored me. Bradshaw's a big dude and all, but he has little to no charisma. The Million Dollar Man 2004 gimmick isn't too bad, though.
-Wicked powerbomb to Rey onto the top turnbuckle. Geez! That had to hurt.
-I heard that in the live attendance version of the show, Taker came out and tombstoned Bradshaw after his heel promo after the match. Personally, I would've liked to see it, but I do realize that it wouldn't make sense for it to air. Still, it would've been nice to see a bit more of Taker, since an appearance or two is few and far between.

[The Penguin]

So not many watch SmackDown! these days, huh?

I spaced on a couple guys I wanted to give catch-up comments on so I will do that quick before getting to my thoughts on this week’s show…

Luthor The guy whose job description reads, “push Mr. Angle’s wheelchair” does a good job with his role. Every wheelchair-bound executive needs a big guy to protect him and Luthor is perfect as the Big Boss Man to Angle’s Mr. McMahon.

Mordecai n. (in the Bible) the cousin of Esther who helped her save the Jews from being destroyed by Haman. Esther 3 : 3-6 That’s what my dictionary says (when a word doesn’t come up on spell check you know WWE has used a real word, like “Acolytes” for example) and I still have yet to pass judgment on this guy even though he has passed judgment on everyone else. He could be cool or he could be really really stupid.

Now to my comments…


I was pretty happy with SmackDown! this week. They could have done a better job with the undercard going into Judgment Day, but the event still shaped up nicely over the two hours. I was really hoping they would match Cena & Torrie against Duprée & Dawn though.

I must say I’m a big fan of the new SmackDown! opening. It’s high time they took The Rock out of it and I just like the look and feel of the new one.

I’m not particularly excited about this whole “The Dudley” thing. It certainly hasn’t treated RVD very well.

Eddie’s mother having a heart attack has really taken the Champion off his game. He just doesn’t want to talk to anyone.

Actually Jacqueline is not the first woman to hold the Cruiserweight Championship. The distinction belongs to Madusa who won the title at WCW Starrcade ’99 from her then beau, Evan Karagias. Jim Ross impersonator Oklahoma then preceded Matt Hardy as the first man to be too heavy to actually hold the title.

Chavo Classic (I know I just said I wouldn’t use it, but I decided not to fight it; it’s still stupid though) got the win over Jackie, but she got the last laugh by showing his “classic” red briefs. This is an interesting little feud was have here.

Since SD! revisited Booker’s voodoo experience I’ll revisit it too. The graveyard scene was a sad combination of cut together footage. The full moon was the same moon you can find in The Undertaker video and the hand coming out of the grave with the lighting felt like it was cut from something else. Kind of a sad segment if you ask me. I like the thought behind it, but felt it was poorly executed.

It was a bold move for Booker T to take on both members of the F.B.I. just like Taker did, but it definitely worked for him. The way he took out Nunzio and then beat The Bull one-on-one was completely believable. I loved The Undertaker appearing on the various screens with each gong of the bell. Booker looked pretty freaked out, even with his bag.

That was one intense promo from Eddie Guerrero. This feud has been made personal and no one give a high-charged promo like Latino Heat.

It was a bit predictable for JBL to keep out of the limo to bait Eddie, but it was still a good heel move and this way Bradshaw would have no outside worries during his match with Mysterio.

If there is one type of match where it is okay to not have a huge amount of hype behind it would be a championship match so I don’t mind the late addition of Haas & Rico taking on Gunn & Holly. Billy & Hardcore haven’t gotten to do a whole lot on SmackDown! yet, but I do like this team. Holly’s win should give them some momentum going into Judgment Day.

Torrie Wilson vs. Dawn Marie has been done before and I’m not all that excited about seeing it done again. They have the Cena-Duprée feud they have moved in and out of, but with those two in their own match I just feel it means less.

René Duprée was the perfect Anti-American heel in his “Café de René” promo. But raise your hand if you thought “so you do have a little cheese to go with that wine” when Duprée was talking about what he and Fifi were having.

Mordecai is showing up this Sunday, huh? I wonder if he’ll be there to beat Orlando Jordan/a cruiserweight or to cause trouble for someone else.

I believe that was Sakoda’s first singles match. Sure didn’t turn out very well. He was about as successful in his match as John Cena has been in keeping his killer instinct since his face turn.

Mysterio didn’t come out looking very good in his match with Bradshaw. The big man dominated the cruiserweight which was just as well because JBL has a much bigger match on Sunday than Rey-Rey does.