411’s Instant Analysis 02.17.12: Friday Night Smackdown

Welcome to another edition of the Instant Analysis of Friday Night Smackdown, I am David McGregor. Last week was a decent show, as was Raw this week so hopefully Smackdown can keep that momentum going.

Apparently I am too negative on the show sometimes, well this is Wrestlemania season we are supposed to be seeing the very best wrestling TV of the whole year. And Smackdown just is not living up to that, on Raw there is some great TV but on SD we aren’t getting that level of consistency. Also I realize that I have a comment stalker, I won’t mention its name seen as they are clearly demanding attention, but my god mane get a life!

Anyway, on to tonight’s show!

Great Khali and Big Show v Cody Rhodes and Wade Barrett

Before the match it was announced that Orton couldn’t compete in the Chamber, it didn’t really add anything to the show so no point in reviewing it.

I just don’t understand the booking of this one at all. I mean Raw are looking forward to Wrestlemania, why the hell aren’t Smackdown? Barrett and Rhodes are 2 of the biggest heels on Smackdown, yet they were made to look like easy pickings in this match. They got some slight offence on Khali but that is redundant seen as he has done nothing of note in years and shouldn’t even be in the match!

It does make sense to keep Big Show strong going into his rumored celebrity match with Shaq, but not at the expense of talented guys like Rhodes and Barrett who will no doubt be carrying Smackdown in a few months time. I just don’t understand why Raw can promote Elimination Chamber and Wrestlemania at the same time, yet Smackdown seem solely focused on EC and disregarding Wrestlemania. As for the match, it was there and that’s about as kind as I can be about it.

Winners Big Show and Khali

Rating 3 out of 10

Backstage Segment – Henry is Back…..Oh wait.

This constant push of the Big Show is really annoying me now. Why the hell is this giant pain in the ass still being pushed like he is a major star, and let me be clear he definitely is not? That is Henry, Khali, Barrett and Rhodes that have all been defeated with ease by this idiot in the space of just 20 minutes! He isn’t even going to be the main attraction at Wrestlemania! Someone has to tell Vince that Rock and Cena are headlining Wrestlemania 28, not this untalented disappointment.

Also, Mark Henry is supposedly the World’s Strongest Man he shouldn’t be going down so easy, one punch and the guy is out? What a load of crap, the WWE has a major issue with consistency that can be really aggravating sometimes.

Rating 2 out of 10

Hunico v Ted Dibiase (Seriously?)

Smackdown’s longest running piece of crap continues once again. I don’t even care how good the match is anymore, this is getting out of hand. How many more matches do these 2 guys have to have before they change it up a bit?

The Smackdown mid-card is in tatters right now and it is because of crap like this. People like Ezekiel Jackson and Drew McIntyre do nothing, or in Drew’s case senseless angles, when they could easily be in the ring with either of these two doing something different!

Winner Hunico

Rating Refuse to rate this endless streak of trash

The Uso’s v Epico and Primo

Finally something worth watching during this week’s Smackdown. Both teams used their time very well and both looked very good throughout, even Rosa Mendes looked great. I really wish there was a few more tag teams because the guys in the current tag division are incredibly talented, if they had more people to work off of they could created a great division around themselves. The WWE should put together one or two more mid card tag teams, god knows they aren’t doing anything, and we could have decent filler matches as opposed to Dibiase v Hunico for the 100th time!

I really enjoyed this and I think the Uso’s have really improved in the ring, and are garnering quite the reaction. Now get Rikishi back as a manager to equal the interference of Rosa Mendes, that would actually help them a lot as Rikishi was extremely popular in his day.

Winner Epico and Primo

Rating 7 out of 10

Daniel Bryan Speaks!

Now this is exactly what I was talking about, cut the vegan crap and we have a slimy heel that is arrogant due to being a great wrestler. That is the type of character that can have longevity in the WWE, the vegan stuff seemed gimmicky and I highly doubt it would have lasted that long. Even CM Punk could only take the straight edge angle so far, it just runs out of steam.

This segment was quite entertaining; I like how the WWE are giving Bryan time to form into a compelling character on TV. There are very few people in the WWE who get this much screen time, even Punk gets less on Raw than Bryan does on an average episode of Smackdown. The WWE have put a lot of trust in Bryan and he is taking it fantastically, he is a much better performer now than he was this time last year.

Rating 7 out of 10

Daniel Bryan v Sheamus

The actual match here was quite good, the idea of the match I have some issues with. This could potentially be the Smackdown main event for Wrestlemania yet they gave away quite a good portion of it on a simple episode of Smackdown, not that I think it will be the main event but it could be. Smackdown really do seem to have a problem here, there is no new or exciting competition for Sheamus. Orton, Barrett, Rhodes, Henry and Big Show have all fought Sheamus recently or many times before and now Bryan has just had a decent match that lasted longer than it had any right to. With all those options out who the hell is Sheamus going to face at Wrestlemania, it’s definitely something the WWE should be worried about.

I enjoyed the match, as I said, and I thought the way they ended things was really creative compared to the norm. It made Bryan look like the chicken shit heel and made Sheamus look like an unstoppable beast, although the fact the match even took place is quite stupid. I just wish they had made this either a beat down or a really short match, that way there is more to look forward to if this is the Wrestlemania Smackdown main event.

Winner Daniel Bryan

Rating 6 out of 10

Jinder Mahal v Ezekiel Jackson

Where the hell has Big Zeke been anyway? I actually quite like Ezekiel Jackson and think he should be on TV a lot more, he isn’t charismatic or anything but its damn better than seeing Hunico and Jinder Mahal running wild and ruining the show.

The match here wasn’t very good; I enjoyed seeing Zeke throw Mahal around the ring but not much else. It was a basic match that was filler for the show, but I still hate Jinder Mahal he is absolutely awful.

Winner Jinder Mahal

Rating 4 out of 10

Tamina & Alicia Fox v Beth Phoenix & Natalya

Strangely this wasn’t that bad! For once the WWE Divas had a decent match, sure there were a few botched moves but that’s to be expected when Alicia Fox is in the ring. It is funny to actually enjoy a Divas match these days as they are generally toilet breaks for most, but this was a fun match. This one also built to the match at Elimination Chamber with Phoenix and Tamina as well as the Beth and Natalya dissention, which is a lot to ask for in a Divas match!

Winners Tamina and Alicia Fox

Rating 7 out of 10

Wild Card Battle Royal

Regal says it best…

It’s really odd rating a battle royal match; you know you aren’t going to get a 5 star classic. Even based on overall enjoyment I still don’t know how I feel about this one. Santino Marella as the winner is obviously a surprise; I don’t think anyone in the arena thought Santino was going to win this one. I don’t think we can analyze this decision until after Elimination Chamber. If Santino does in fact compete in the Chamber then the WWE have lost their minds. But if someone takes Santino out before entering the Chamber, like Edge did with Kofi Kingston a few years ago, then that is fine as it is something that got the WWE attention before a PPV. I do think that there are numerous other guys that could have taken Santino’s spot, but none of them would have got as much attention as Santino. I just hope that Christian returns and takes out Santino, otherwise the WWE have kind of devalued one of their main gimmick matches even further. I will discuss this next week, because right now it’s up in the air.

The match itself was actually better than expected, as I said it was never going to be a 5 star match, but it was very entertaining when the ring started to clear. A lot of guys got some main event attention that they wouldn’t have previously, and that can only considered a good thing. It’s a shame Orton went out with an injury, let’s hope this is a blessing in disguise for someone other than Santino Marella.

Winner Santino Marella

Rating I’ll decide next week.

Final Analysis

Moment of the Night – Daniel Bryan Promo

Trash of the Night – Hunico v Dibiase AGAIN!!!!

Final Analysis – Well it was certainly a two half show, one of which was absolutely horrendous and the other was pretty damn good. I hated the first half, with Big Show running wild on everyone and the mid-card repeating itself ad nauseam. But the 2nd hour of the show really picked up and really showed the talent that Smackdown has. The tag match with the Uso’s and Epico and Primo was really good , showing that even though there isn’t a real tag team division there still is talent there to be utilized. Also the Divas were great tonight, almost stealing the show from Daniel Bryan. But with a main event that I’m not really sure about I don’t think I can rate this high at all, which is a shame as there was stuff there that was pretty good.

Show Rating – 4 out of 10

I also have a column over on the gaming section which you can find here.

That’s it for this week, I mean look at the time!