And it doesn't bother you that no matter what angle they showed, Big Show's punch made Shane McMahon look like Muhammad Ali?

"All I know is that if Shawn Michaels ever shows up on a live Raw from Pittsburgh with a Hines Ward jersey on, I’ll boo HBK out of my living room."

Are you gonna boo HBK??? Never saw that one

Hey Eck
I agree with your assessment on Big Show as of late. It's much better than having his character in WWE limbo like it's been recently.
I really like how the elimination chamber matches have been booked. There's something for everybody. There's the usual suspects/heavy hitters on the Smackdown brand and new faces/surprises on RAW.
And here's one for my own "I'm just saying" files: Eve's trunks she wore in that match looked like granny panties. I'm just sayin'.

Michelle McCool needs to look in the mirror before she comes out to the ring, or fire her stylist.

re: your comment Kevin about wrestlers trying to get a pop or draw heat by referencing the local sports team , sometimes commenting on the "locals" works too . I remember after moving to the eastern shore from Frederick , WCW was appearing in Salisbury . Raven and and his flock drew major heat by calling everyone a bunch of dirty , illiterate , chicken farmers ( a big industry here ) . The even funnier part was Van Hammer who was born and raised here took part in the mudslinging !

Good SmackDown, I love The Big Show punching out Edge and it brings some intrigue into the match. Can't wait till Hardy comes back.

Heck yes. I hate the Colts! Go Pats!

I find it really odd that the "big guys" in the WWE rarely get much promotion.

I used to really like Kane, but now he just looks to be an oversized jobber and I hate it that he loses so much. Kane is one of the meanest looking guys in the game and it is hard to keep up that persona when you lose to guys like Kofi Kingston and Rey Mysterio.

Big Show I guess is just "too easy" to have a title. I guess the David vs Goliath aspect is just too tried and true for them to do anything different with him.

What is the WWE really going to do with the Great Khali? I can't see him staying in wrestling much longer. The guy can barely move around the ring and other wrestlers have to severely limit their move set because of his limitations. The latest Triple H pedigree on him looked so awful because Khali fell over much too soon for HHH to hit the move.

One last thing, didn't you say that Christian was supposed to be coming back to the WWE?

RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: Actually, I didn't say it, but plenty of other people have.

I can't believe I overlooked your final sentence . I find it hard to believe that under any circumstances that YOU would boo pretty boy Shawn Michaels . ... one for the archives .

"but if I do have one nit-pick it’s that the brawl between Helms and Matt should have been a little stiffer. …"

Then maybe I am not a good judge of stiffness. About three of those elbows to the head did not look like they were of the powderpuff variety, but that's just my perspective from my easychair.

RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: Agreed -- the elbows were fine. When the fight first started, though, I thought the punches from both guys looked pretty weak. And then they started bouncing off the ropes and doing wrestling moves, which totally killed the illusion that it was a serious fight.

Don't kid yourself Kev, if HBK wore a Ward jersy you'd be a Steelers fan before you know it.

Is there any doubt that Matt Hardy was Jeff Hardy's stalker?

After that confusing episode, all i can hope for is that big show or kozlov gets booted from the chamber with matt hardy replacing one of them.

My favorite example of using the hometown teams to get heat was from Edge and Christian. The Smackdown the week before the afc championship between the raiders and ravens. They taped in Oakland and E and C came out in the b;ack and silver. However, when they got to the ring to do their 5 second pose, Edge took off his jersey to reveal a Ravens one, then Christian got on his knees and assumed the beg for mercy position.

Kevin,

Don't lie. You'd let Shawn Michaels into your home wearing a Steelers jersey.

I really hope that the dissension between Edge and Big Show is going to lead to the Edge/Vickie "marriage" finally ending.

Do you think there's any chance that Edge will turn face again? I feel like taking Edge out of the Matt/Jeff equation is kind of a waste...

I'm still hoping that Christian is revealed in cahoots with Matt and it starts a feud of "less successful" brothers vs "more successful" brothers. The potential dynamic between Jeff and Edge as allies I think would be compelling.

It's really fun to see Edge be the heel because he's so entertaining as a heel but it seems like between the Jeff/Matt (and Christian?) story and the Big Show/Vickie story - there's a ripe opportunity for Edge to go face, or at least tweener...

The only bummer about that outcome would be Big Show going full heel again and he's really more fun to watch as a tweener.

Do you think they'll keep the storylines linked or do you think the Matt/Jeff and Edge/Vickie/Big Show storylines are going to separate completely?

one thing i did not like is that Kozlov buried The WWE Tag Team Champs and R Truth in the Battle Royale match. He eliminated both the colons at one time and basically defeated r truth within 20 seconds.

Not to mention, but the colons were buried later on that night along with r truth by miz and morrison and the kendrick......

It's a travesty that Jesse and Festus have never gotten to a piece of a title held by such wrestling luminaries as Deuce and Domino and Hawkins and Ryder.

Kevin,
if kozlov gets pinned in the chamber, will he still be considered undefeated?

RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: No.

I do agree Big Show's punch to Edge was pretty funny. Back in the day, that would have been called a "love tap"....to the Moon Alice!!!!!

Kev:

When Big Show entered the WWE, rumor had it they he received a long-term deal. Any truth to that, and if so, do you know how long the deal was? It looked as if WWE regretted the deal a few years into it as they couldn't figure out what to do with him.

I'm surprised that Big Show is even in a major angle, seeing as he rarely gets a big crowd reaction, although maybe that’s about to change.
A cheap shot at a local team won’t ever earn you heat anymore, if anything Benjamin’s comments were humorous.
If Matt is Jeff’s stalker, there’s no reason to leave it so open ended.
Quick question-Why was KungFuNaki on my television twice in one night?
The Brian Kendrick’s stock has fallen so fast he needs a gov bailout.(I’m just sayin)

Mr.Eck, When is it time for Vickie to be let go from being general manager of Smackdown? Is it just me or does anyone think she brings anything to the show.

RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: I think she is tremendous.

Kevin,

What do you think of the pace of Smackdown as of late? I'm not digging it. I think they do too much to give away that it's a recorded show, kind of like what TNA does.

And if Kozlov loses in the chamber, he'll still be considered undefeated. In the wrestling world, you're undefeated until you lose in one-on-one competition. It happened with Christian Cage in TNA until he lost to Samoa Joe at Bound for Glory 07. And Kozlov lost at Survivor Series in the triple threat match but they still bill him as undefeated.

Wrestling is messed up like that.

RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: Kozlov wasn't pinned in the triple threat match. In the elimination chamber match, to be eliminated he'd have to be pinned, which makes it a loss.

then in that case, what a way to end kozlov's undefeated streak... by the way, the next time you answer me a question, don't write so much, i don't want you to injure your fingers from typing too much ;-)

Watching in New Zealand - and being a NZer - means I and everyone I watch wrestling with had no idea who Peyton Manning is. So thanks for clearing that up. We were gonna google him but we couldn't figure out what his name was.

I thought Edge's face when he got punched by Big Show was hilarious!

I don't think anybody has brought this up but am I the only one bothered by the fact that Matt's turning on Jeff helped Edge win the title?

I thought Edge was perhaps Matt's worst enemy? Why would he turn on Jeff just in time to help Edge? It did not make sense to me and makes it harder for me to get interested in the Hardy feud.

RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: The fact that there is no love lost between Matt and Edge shows how deep his resentment of Jeff runs. The fact that what he did helped Edge is inconsequential to Matt. It could have been Edge, Triple H, Kozlov or anyone else.

We know that Umaga is a beast, why does he need to be squashing Jimmy Wang Yang and Funaki?

It's not like it's the early 90s guys!

Although, it does remind me of the first WWF match I ever saw, Undertaker v "Tom Stone" on Superstars I think, 1992!

Prediction is Hardy vs. Hardy at Wrestlemania 25. Trying to create brother vs. brother bout to top Hart vs. Hart. I mean, notice they emphasized the late Owen beating Bret and "stepping out of his shadow." But they neglected to mention that Bret later that evening won WWE Title from the late Yokozuna.

btw, does anyone know if Big Show knocks out with his left or right? Just wondering.

After watching Kane get inserted into the Chamber match by making a phone call and Kozlov getting in by winning a battle royal, I'm just wondering what the point of having one on one qualifying matches was. And since I see no way Kozlov will win this match, it does seem like a weak way to end his undefeated streak. Almost as weak as MVP's losing streak ending as an afterthought ina Triple H/ Vickie Guerrero angle. WWE seems to have trouble figuring out how to take full advantage of wrestlers heat after building them one way or the other ( I won't even rehash the Shane McMahon/ Orton debacle...)

Touche, Kevin. Touche.

Edge's promo in '06 (right before he won the title on the July 3rd edition of RAW) where he said he's leave the ring as something Philadelphia hasn't been in twenty years, "a champion" is still my favorite sports heel heat moment ever. But I could be partial since I was in the live crowd.

I wonder how that phone call went between Kane and The Undertaker. Maybe something like this:

(Phone rings)

Undertaker (answering in vintage Undertaker voice): Lord of Darkness

Kane: Hey, Undy, it's your little bro, Kane!

Undertaker (back to normal voice but less than enthused): What is it, Kane. I'm in the dark side right now. Can it wait.

Kane: It'll be real quick, I promise. Listen, I need a little favor. Steph gave me the chance to be in the Elimination Chamber match at No Way Out. But only on one condition.

(Pause)

Undertaker: What is it?

Kane: You need to be on Raw next week to face Randy Orton.

Undertaker (sighs): I don't know, Kane.

Kane: Oh come on, Undy. After all we've been through.

Undertaker: You mean like when you set my casket on fire while I was in it?

Kane: Yeah, well...

Undertaker: Or the time you killed me by dropping a dumpster bucket full of dirt on me?

Kane: But...

Undertaker: Or when you totally bogarded the Chee-Toes right before Wrestlemania X-7.

Kane: Come on, man. That was a long time ago. I was real messed up then. Besides, you set our house and left me burnt and deformed for years!

Undertaker: What are you on? Burnt and deformed? You have NO burn marks and you speak perfect English. Do you not remember me carrying you out of that fire? We've been over this a thousand times. I still can't believe you wore that stupid ass mask.

Kane: Listen, this really means a lot to me. I've been getting buried for the past 8 years and I need a push. Can you help me out.

Undertaker (pauses, sighs): Fine. But you better not forget me when you send out Christmas cards this year. Sara was so pissed at you last year.

Kane: You got it. Love you bro.

Undertaker: Yeah, yeah. Ditto.

Wrestling is whack.

RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: Great stuff!