"WWE Friday Night SmackDown" 10-30-09 Talkback (Spoilers)

[The Penguin]

After Bragging Rights, The Undertaker is still World Champion, but perhaps the bigger story of the Title match was Batista taking his frustration out on his friend Rey Mysterio, leaving his former tag team partner laying outside the ring. It was a big night for SmackDown as they took "Bragging Rights" when Chris Jericho got an assist from his Unified Tag Team Champion partner Big Show, who turned on the RAW team by chokeslamming Kofi Kingston off the top rope and then walking off. SmackDown also won the Divas match to take the trophy.

With Jim Ross recovering from his recent Bell's Palsy attack, Matt Striker will be filling in on SmackDown, rejoining his Slammy Award-Winning broadcast partner, Todd Grisham.

WWE Friday Night SmackDown #532
Friday, October 30, 2009 @ 8 p.m. ET/7 CT on MyNetworkTV

BROKEN BOND
Tonight on SmackDown, witness the fallout between Batista and Rey Mysterio after The Animal’s vicious and shocking assault on his “friend” at WWE Bragging Rights.

[Wonderwall]

Off the top of my head...I don't think I have ever seen a female "local competitor" or jobber before.

Edit:

Speaking of female competitors. Now I think Mickie is a beautiful girl, but I love when she gets to wear costumes. She just gets much hotter. I wouldn't mind putting on a Daredevil costume to match up with her .

I liked Smackdown tonight. I lie the addition of Jericho to the ME. It's too bad he won't be carrying the Bragging Rights trophy no more.

[EinBebop]

Did I really just see a commercial for a Punjabi Prison Match toy set? Is the Kennel in a Cell toy set (complete with sleeping puppies) next?

[hobbyfan]

To Einbebop: They've been plugging the Punjabi Prison set all week on WWE programs. That suggests that maybe there will be a Punjabi Prison match when Great Khali returns.

I expected Matt Striker to release his inner comics geek during the costume contest like he would on ECW, but tonight he was trying too hard to be a heel analyst. If Jerry Lawler can't be pro-heel anymore, and you normally don't slant in that direction, there's no sense in trying. That said, it was left up to JTG to acknowledge that Mickie was dressed as Elektra. All I have to say about all 4 (Mickie, Natalya, Layla, & Michelle) is . Looked like Layla was going to win it for her Michael Jackson tribute (needs to work on the moonwalk, and should've asked Michael Hayes for help before the show), but then Mickie got the nod. IMPO, it should've been a tie since the pops were really a little more even. Poor Natalya got no respect.

Of course, now the ball is rolling toward that long hinted showdown between Mickie & Michelle.....

So Scott Armstrong gets fed to CM Punk in a virtual squashola. The Armstrong Curse lives!

It's rare for a woman's weight to be announced on air, TNA's Awesome Kong being that rare exception, but "Jenny Brooks" (not her real name, she's actually from the New England indy circuit, but I don't remember her name) not only seemed a bit embarassed with being announced at 110, but at least Striker came up with a backstory, as he's done on ECW to enhance squashes, that explained the (mis)match. And, yes, Beth finally gets to perform in front of the homies in Western New York (she's from Buffalo, which Tony Chimel forgot), and gets a face pop. Since Mickie & the MIA Maria are the only faces on Smackdown among the women at the moment, it's a question of who among Layla, Beth, and Natalya would be the #2 face in the division.

And for those of you wondering about Maria since her storyline split from Dolph Ziggler, she's doing "Celebrity Apprentice", hence her present absence from Smackdown. Speaking of Ziggy, he gets to be a more visible Banker on Deal or No Deal Tuesday. This will be interesting.

On the other hand, there's no sense bragging when you can only beat the IC champ by countout. Lame-o!

I get the distinct feeling that now that Armstrong's been dealt with, Punk will want Teddy Long next. This is where they need to stop and expose the truth about the conspiracy without fear of Teddy getting fired. Are you paying attention, Vince?

So Batista played the "I'm out for me" card. It's come to my attention that Matt Hardy will be the first one fed to Bats next week. I think we know where this is going.

I expected the rest of the "Smackdown Seven", not just Kane, to take issue with Jericho selfishly taking credit for the big win at Bragging Rights. Instead, Hardy collects a receipt from Eric Escobar, which means the rookie's push has been derailed rather quickly, Finlay is a non-starter vs. Drew McIntyre, and R-Truth and the Hart Dynasty are on opposite sides of a 6-man tag on Superstars. Jeri-Show now will not be defending the tag titles at Survivor Series, so maybe the prudent thing is to take the belts off them within the next three weeks, and if all else fails, maybe to either Cryme Tyme or the Dynasty. I can't see Jeri-Show remaining champs much longer, not with Jericho's head swelling more than usual....!

[EinBebop]

So John Cena will be in a triple threat with DX, and Undertaker will be in a triple threat with the world tag champs. Bad planning, as the main event (most likely the Raw match) will be repeating a partners in conflict theme already done earlier in the night.

I also feel it's an insult to fans in the know not to acknowledge Scott Armstrong's pedigree and wrestling background.... especially when Matt Striker knows the life story of someone as insignificant as Jenny Brooks.

[Azrayel]

Smackdown was ok tonight. I really liked Michelle's costume and Mickie's costume and the main event was pretty good.

[Condiment King]

Jeri-Show now will not be defending the tag titles at Survivor Series, so maybe the prudent thing is to take the belts off them within the next three weeks, and if all else fails, maybe to either Cryme Tyme or the Dynasty. I can't see Jeri-Show remaining champs much longer, not with Jericho's head swelling more than usual....!

That would be such a lackluster and abrupt end to the Jericho/Big Show tag team that's been used since July. When the team actually dissolves, they will explode. At least I would hope so. Besides it's not like Cryme Tyme needs the belts or even the Hart Dynasty. And with the belts, the two teams would just be feuding with each other, which they've been doing pretty much since May. Not really an upside there.

Yeah this Smackdown was just alright. For fans of keeping the belt on the same guy for awhile, I would guess that both Cena and Undertaker are probably retaining at Survivor Series, though I'd argue once again that perhaps maybe the Undertaker is not the guy that deserves the long title reign since he's, you know, had them before multiple times. Maybe it's the straight-edge superstar who deserved it. But whatever.

It's so depressing to see Punk as essentially the odd man out, considering Taker is feuding with Jerishow now and Batista is feuding with Rey. If he doesn't have the belt, at least Punk could have a good feud. He doesn't even have a feud either. I wouldn't be surprised if Punk just spends the four weeks between now and Survivor Series cutting promos and resolving the Armstrong/Long/Vince stuff. I mean that's alright. (The best part of this episode was the Punk/Vince/Long segment.) But still.

I did like them using Matt Hardy as like an attempted voice of reason to Batista. And the match announcement of Matt Hardy vs Batista next week makes sense.

Was this a TV-PG diva halloween contest? I guess I (as well as the rest of the world) was expecting skimpy outfits. Not that this was bad because it wasn't. Objectively, I didn't really like any of them except Layla as Michael Jackson because she also had the moves to go along with it. Somewhere during this segment, I just thought it was funny.

Wrestling-wise, outside of the main event of Jericho vs Kane, which was good, everything else was kind of lackluster. Even Jericho vs Kane had a botched ending, as that codebreaker did not work out and you could tell. With a guy like Kane, maybe they shouldn't have even tried. Then there was Hardy vs Escobar with the bad-looking twist of fate that was also the finish. McIntyre vs Finlay was good to set up a new feud for McIntyre, but McIntyre still bores me and this feud is starting the exact same way as the other feud he just had with R-Truth.

I don't mean to be a downer but it makes me sad that overall Smackdown isn't as good as it was earlier this year. I associate it with the departure of Edge & Jeff Hardy and the arrival of Batista & Kane. Oh and the two new rookies, McIntyre and Escobar, aren't exactly fascinating television so far either.

[EinBebop]

It's so depressing to see Punk as essentially the odd man out, considering Taker is feuding with Jerishow now and Batista is feuding with Rey. If he doesn't have the belt, at least Punk could have a good feud. He doesn't even have a feud either. I wouldn't be surprised if Punk just spends the four weeks between now and Survivor Series cutting promos and resolving the Armstrong/Long/Vince stuff. I mean that's alright. (The best part of this episode was the Punk/Vince/Long segment.) But still.

I think the logical conclusion to this would be Punk as guest referee at Survivor Series. But then, we're digging up the ghost of Montreal again, and that just needs to stop.

[Hobbes829]

This is as interesting as Batista's been since his feud with Eddie.

[EinBebop]

This is as interesting as Batista's been since his feud with Eddie.

That is very true. I think he makes a bland hero, but as a villain I think his stoic delivery of how he's going to murder his opponents will make him a character I'll enjoy watching. I also hope we'll see Orton/Batsita united against Triple H (probably as DX, since both guys seem happy in that place) at some point in the future.

[Blueprint]

Batista as a heel looks interesting but what he said about eddy took it a little too far. CM Punk vs Scott Armstrong match of the year(Not Really).

[Hobbes829]

That is very true. I think he makes a bland hero, but as a villain I think his stoic delivery of how he's going to murder his opponents will make him a character I'll enjoy watching. I also hope we'll see Orton/Batsita united against Triple H (probably as DX, since both guys seem happy in that place) at some point in the future.

he's fine as a hero for a while and against certain guys. I'm not big on team ups. Everytime someone does something different like turn heel, or switch brands, people are like "i hope wrestler x and wrestler y team up". You have to walk a line. I'm not big on this whole "i'm evil, you're evil, let's both be evil together" deal. Randy and Batista don't get along. Randy "injured" Batista's arm. I don't like the idea of them forgetting that. There's no honor among thieves.

I think the whole point with saying "eddie's dead" being over the line is the point.

[The Penguin]

With SmackDown getting the big win, it only made sense for Teddy Long to kick off the show (and then be interrupted by his team captains). As the leaders of Team SmackDown, I would say Jericho and Kane deserved the opportunity they were given, but I don't expect Big Show to be very happy about it.

When the title isn't on the line, you should take the win however you can get it and Ziggler picked his spot against Morrison and came out with the win. That was pretty impressive for a count-out win and this would seem to put Ziggler back in contention.

Wow, a female "local competitor"? I never thought I would see that. After getting the pin on Sunday it was good to see Beth Phoenix get another win. Michelle may not be able to bad act her way out of this one.

Not a good sign for Eric Escobar that he lost his revenge match against the man he originally qualified over for Bragging Rights. Also not a good sign, referee Charles Robinson being in the best shape out of the four involved in the match.

Rey should upgrade if he still has tape playing in his head. One would think you would be just playing it over and over again, not specifically on tape. I was in full support of heel Batista the second he told Rey he was going to take his head off on Sunday. Almost immediately, I was no longer bored with him. I'm not sure what it is, but the full beard (sans mustache) even makes him look more evil. This should be good.

I thought it was great where Matt was coming from when he was trying to talk Batista down. It fit really well and the Animal not wanting to hear it and subsequent attack was well done.

I swear, those guys from different parts of the UK almost never get along. I look forward to a few matches between Finlay and Drew McIntyre. I think this will tell us a lot about where McIntyre is going.

As soon as it was announced that Cryme Tyme was hosting the costume contest I knew it had to be a trick rather than a treat and had traumatic flashbacks to the dance off that began the Eve-Layla feud that wouldn't end. Shad & JTG are fine in the ring and entertaining backstage, but they are horrible in-ring hosts. The costume contest had been part of Cyber Sunday the last year or two and this four Diva version was just a let down. Mickie James continued her winning ways though.

Well I guess Punk got something out beating down Scott Armstrong even if no one else did. Last week I believe it was they did acknowledge Scott's family, but I think it was important to WWE's story that they not mention Scott is a trained wrestler. He has been a referee for quite a while though and never did much as a wrestler.

You kind of knew Jericho was going to win to give the World Title match a theme and both Title matches variations on a theme. At this point, I'm just interested to see how they play this.

To Einbebop: They've been plugging the Punjabi Prison set all week on WWE programs. That suggests that maybe there will be a Punjabi Prison match when Great Khali returns.

I'd say it suggests that JAKKS is trying to sell their new toy and obviously WWE Television is the best place to do that. This doesn't mean anything as far as Khali on-screen is concerned. Unless Khali comes back next month, JAKKS won't even have the toy license by the time he returns and that set will be off the shelf... or in the clearance aisle.

Jeri-Show now will not be defending the tag titles at Survivor Series, so maybe the prudent thing is to take the belts off them within the next three weeks, and if all else fails, maybe to either Cryme Tyme or the Dynasty. I can't see Jeri-Show remaining champs much longer, not with Jericho's head swelling more than usual....!

WWE is going to want to fully sell them as a team going into this World Title match. Them losing the belts would hurt that story. It's not like the belts would have been defended at the event anyway.

This is as interesting as Batista's been since his feud with Eddie.

Agreed. I actually want to see what he does next and don't totally dread him coming out each week.

[Hobbes829]

Vince has been really entertaining on smackdown. We all know he's behind the conspiracy, but he's underplaying it. Usually he's over the top and hams it up but his delivery to punk on "how many opportunities do you get?" was tremendous.

[Condiment King]

Vince has been really entertaining on smackdown. We all know he's behind the conspiracy, but he's underplaying it. Usually he's over the top and hams it up but his delivery to punk on "how many opportunities do you get?" was tremendous.

Yeah both him and Punk have been making the others look like amateurs on the mic lately.