Well, for the first time since I watched Austin win the Rumble for the first time, I actually cheered when MVP won the US Title. I thought it was a good match with Shelton, and although the 'mid-card' titles dont seem to mean much these days, as you pointed out, I would hope that with MVP and JBL (worrying that they both use 3 letter acronyms) bring some polish and shine to the belts and return them to the glory days when they were a stepping stone (although obviously not in JBL's case). Past champions have been some of the greatest, Hart, Austin etc etc

These belts really need to be brought forward, and I remember a quote from Shawn Michaels from way back when he said "the Intercontinetal Champion, I always thought was a better wrestler [could be entertainer its been a while since i saw that interview] than the WWE champ"

I just hope that Pat Patterson (first Intercontinental Champ) is pushing for those belts to be more than props.

.... "entertaining and disappointing at the same time." A typical weekend for the artist formerly known as jack in hebron .

"Is that all you got on the 500th episode of Smackdown!?"

It is very ironic that Cena said those words (or close enough) last night. This was Smackdown!'s 500th episode, yet the show was smothered by the absurd overpromotion of Cena's "12 Rounds." I feel like I have already seen the movie twelve freaking times. Where were the flashbacks of previous Smackdown! episodes? What a waste; what a shame.

On a more positive note, I was glad that MVP defeated Shelton with the Playmaker. The Driveby as a finisher doesn't impress me much

Koslov is now the Great Khali.

Who was Lance Von Erich? He escapes my memory.

RESPONSE FROME KE: A kayfabe cousin.

Kevin you have to admit that big show and egde fighting over who was gonna hold vickie and when she fell out of big shows arms was pretty funny

although i do see you point...

RESPONSE FROM KE: It was funny.

This is the same company that thinks SD Jones, Koko Ware, and Johnny Rodz are more deserving hall of famers than Ted Dibiase and Randy Savage.

Is it really shocking to anybody they decided to induct the horrible Von Erich brothers?

The WWE HOF is becoming a bigger joke every passing day.

You are correct concerning the Edge/Cena/Show/Vikki storyline. Not "A" pay per view material. However, I will say this for the 100th time put Vikki in a make it a fatal four way or make her Show partner in a tag match and then might buy.

For some reason the U.S. title was not the BIG pay off for all the fustration of MVP's loosing streak. Maybe the WWE title or World title will some be a better pay off.

Kozlov's turnaround was a waste. Sure, he had to lose eventually and soon; but after all that time and effort building him up as "undefeated," they should have used his first loss for some key match or a PPV. They could have used it to accomplish something (maybe to reinforce somebody like Randy Orton, whose image could have used the help after being thrashed by the li'l prince).

Certainly didn't have the feel of the WM V buildup when Hogan carried Liz back to the dressing room on Saturday Night's Main Event. Although, I bet Vicki wasn't as easy to carry.

I was pretty impressed with Vickie Guerrero,despite not being a wrestler she took the spear from Egde and the fall from the Big Show's arm's courtesy of Edge's chop block. Those couldn't have been easy on her.

i don't uderstand what the WWE is doing after building up yet another guy to look like he's the next star in a matter of a month Im waiting for Kozlov to get his walking papers in the next 6 mo's granted he looks horrible in the ring sometimes hopefully after these loses they will send him to Florida and let someone like Dusty work with him then send him back up when he's more polished well i guess Cena is obviously not winning at mania since Vickie says she's gonna be with the winner of the match so if that is the case why even add him in and your right for all of that they should let Cena somehow and someway win the belt back and defend it against who knows and let Show & Edge wrestle for the #1 contenders spot and Vickies Heart. I hope they do something good with MVP as US champ again but he held the belt before for almost a year now if they make him like Matt Hardy who defends it agianst everybody and try to bring respect to the title thats great unlike Raw's #2 title who they just put on JBL for God knows why C m Punk to me could have really carried the belt i just hope they put it back on Kofi and use that belt for what it use to be its great workers who can help it get them to the next level like Bret,Shawn,Rock,Savage etc. I am glad to see the video package on the Von Erichs you can't steal my comment on the lance thing that i made on the other blog. and why is it that i think Kendricks bodyguard is getting more of a push then him:? and finaaly why did to Raw wresters Micheals and Kane wrestle on Smackdown?

hi kevin I thought it was a pretty good smackdown I'am undertaker fan and can not wait for his match against shawn michaels how much time do you think taker's got left he still puts on great matches at 43 years old

Cena talked about the Rock again, this time on Jimmy Kimmel. Could it be that the Rock will make an appearance at Wrestlemania and cause Cena to lose the triple threat match? It is being rehashed so often it is beginning to look like a promo. Afterall, could we really have Wrestlemania 25 without the Rock?

Was that Edge, Vicki and Big Show in the ring or LArry, Moe, and Curly....wasn't quite sure.

I was pretty shocked Kozlov went to jobber already too. If the Superstarts show wouldn't need some talent, I'd start taking bets on the over/under for his "future endeavours."

I'm just curious what old school angle they'll re-create next. We've had the over the top home invasion, the Piper's Pit with Snuka and now the carrying of the distressed female in a love triangle. Maybe Orton will get back at HHH and put Steph on some kind of crucifix or the Hardy's mom will come to the ring and throw in the towel and cost Matt the match a la Martha Hart.

hey kev ,

Don't you think there is more to the cena-show-edge match....vicki gtin involved in the love triangle...may lead to her 1) accidentally causing edge-big show to lose at Wm 25 ( she wld b at ringside ofc) cena being the new champ....OR 2)the scenario which most fans would want !! CENA TURNING HEEL AND VICKI TURNING ON BOTH EDGE-BIG SHOW!! ......wwe will b desperate fr a swerve....and wat better stage to turn cena HEEl....

i know we may mostly gt the 1st one or who knows wwe may give the TITLE to BIG SHOW fr his hard wrk for over a year...oderwise we will have the same SUPERCENA WIN..(*yawn*)...wld like to hear you thoughts on the CENA HEEL TURN at WM 25

Whole heartedly agree with you KE on most of that, especially the bits with Triple H breaking character at the beginning of the show and the whole show being a tad underpar for a 500th episode.
One thing I was curious about though is Undertaker's tattoo on his neck. I understand that WWE has removed it from all the photos they have of him showing it, but on Friday it seemed to be whited out almost? Very unusual and I'm not sure what the problem is with it anyway. Tattoos on wrestlers are almost like second nature these days.

Again great blog KE, keep it up.

I'm happy MVP got the US championship, he deserves a push, but is the US title really a push? I was hoping for money in the bank victory...maybe this loss means Shelton is clear for the suitcase. Personally I would have liked to see R Truth beat Shelton for the US championship and then defend it at wrestlemania...what is R Truth going to do at wrestlemania???

I love Jeff's look with the face paint, I think it fits perfectly with his real life personality, but I have been a hardyz mark since I was young...Extreme rules match with the Hardyz! Cannot wait, possibility fot it to be the show stealer! I think now building this feud up with matches is smarter than promos, sometimes the hardyz cut great promos but more often than not they don't, they should let their actions speak louder than words...I wonder who will wil, if Jeff wins (which I expect) where will this leave matt? Jeff still high up with matt mid card?

What has happened with the brian kendick? He used to be the highligh of smackdown, was their break through star

No divas match? No Maryse or Maria :(

This storyline with the love triangle is getting ridiculous! It was so bad I was actually laughing when big show dropped Vikki, still makes me chuckle lol...but is this really what creative want? A lot of people saying this isn't a wrestlemaina worthy angle, but in my opinion this isn't even an episode worthy angle, especially not the biggest smackdown of history! Such a waste for these 3 men...on a positive note though I am begining to like Cena, his promos recently have been great, especially with what he has been given to work with by creative.

I wish JR and Cole would quit saying that going 16 and 0 in Wrestle Mania is like winning 16 straight Super Bowls. It just sounds idiotic.

Eck, I heard Matt Hardy cut a promo on Jeff claiming he burnt the house down only for WWE to pull it from SD. Any idea why? It could have only bettered their feud....

Mike, the tattoo on Undertaker's neck is the name of his either ex or estranged wife. I am sure at this point neither Sara nor mark Calloway want to show her name on his neck. The almost permanency is the main drawback of tattoos.

Perhaps we shouldn't write off Kozlov so fast. As Ed Atlas pointed out on the Monday Night Mayhem radio program, for the Undertaker to agree to lose to Kozlov he must see something in him.

I had the same reservations about the John Cena/Big Show/Edge triple threat match not being a "WrestleMania" worthy storyline, but after this show, I am beginning to think that the angle is too good for a "B"-level pay-per-view as well. And I could legitimately see any of the three men win! The idea of the winner also getting Vickie Guerrero's heart leads me to expect a double-turn for Edge and John Cena, BUT I don't think John Cena needs Vickie (or vice versa) so maybe Vickie & Big Show would be the best "team." But that leaves out Edge, and I think the best move would be to have him retain and start a slow build to his split with Vickie where the fans are absolutely dying to see it happen, and he will essentially be a face before he splits from her (then the split would be when he becomes a "full-blown babyface").

As bad as this feud looks on paper, the execution has been phenomenal, and I think the obvious conclusion of the angle will be a faceturn for Edge, so it's also a productive angle. WrestleMania worthy? Maybe not, but then again, maybe so -- it is their 25th event, and this has been unique with a "love diamond" among the four players.

Do you think this means that since MVP won the U.S. Title, they'll finally give Shelton a real push. I don't think they worked him right as a heel. They should have made him super cocky and made sure he never looses (title or non title), build his mic skills, and get rid of the gold hair. Make him fight dirty and go back to more athletic moves. Maybe he'll win the MITB and then boost him up. What do you think?

Well i just wanna comment on jeff. i think the face paint is pretty cool, but it's not my favorite look. But dats wat makes him jeff hardy!!!!

I apologize if this gets double posted. I got an error message the first time.

Kevin,
You and I are in agreement on Jeff Hardy's look...I love it too. :) If the WWE were smart they would start selling face painting kits. I think it would take off just like the armbands have and Jeff would sell even more merchandise than he already does. As for the Hardys feud, they should be building this on every episode. Matt was nowhere to be seen on Friday. He should've at least been backstage stirring stuff up. And now the match at WM25 is Extreme Rules? What has happened between Matt and Jeff since last week to cause tensions to rise to this level?

For a 500th episode, Smackdown was fairly lame. How did they not even have a highlight reel of Smackdown's greatest moments?! There have been so many. Instead, they just shamelessly plug 12 Rounds over and over and over. Make it stop!