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April 25, 2009

Edge’s promo highlights Smackdown

If you missed the first segment of Smackdown Friday night then you missed the best part of the show.

Edge cut a money promo that really made we want to see his Last Man Standing Match against world heavyweight champion John Cena at the Backlash pay-per-view Sunday. In fact, I have more interest in this match than I did in the triple threat match between these two and The Big Show that took place at WrestleMania XXV three weeks ago.

With the arena dark except for a spotlight on Edge as he stood in the middle of the ring, he explained how his rivalry with Cena – which he sold as an epic battle that has gone on for several years and shortened both of their careers – will finally come to an end. The camera moved in for a tight close-up of his face as he projected intensity without yelling or overacting. He drove home the point that he’s a desperate man because this is his final shot at Cena’s title, and if he doesn’t win, he has nothing in his life that can replace being champion.

Edge’s promo capped off a week in which WWE did a very good of making this match feel special. It began Monday on Raw with Edge attacking Cena and putting him down for a 10-count after delivering a con-chair-to, and was followed by a strong promo from Cena on WWE Superstars Thursday.

Other thoughts on Friday’s show:

As the No. 2 heel on Raw behind Randy Orton, Big Show obviously needs to be booked strong, but I was still a little surprised at how he manhandled The Undertaker. …

WWE deserves credit for giving Matt Hardy a legitimate push since he turned heel. He made it 3-0 against his brother when he pinned Jeff in a tag team match that also involved Kane and CM Punk. Conventional thinking says that Jeff will win the I Quit Match at Backlash, but the fact that Jeff has yet to sign a new contract with his current one expiring in a few months could throw conventional thinking out the window. …

Jeff Hardy’s promo with the weird camera angles gets an “A” for effort for trying something different, but a “C” for execution due to Hardy’s over-dramatic delivery. …

The show-closing tag match that saw Batista and Shane McMahon defeat Ted DiBiase Jr. and Cody Rhodes was fine, but it didn’t do anything to get me excited about Sunday’s six-man match that also involves Triple H and Orton. …

I liked the Maryse-Gail Kim match. Maryse seems to get better in the ring every time I see her. When she was slapping around Kim – once the poster girl for the highly touted TNA women’s division – all I could think of were those TNA clips in which the knockouts would talk about how they were tougher than the divas. Something tells me that people behind the scenes in WWE remember those clips as well. …

I’m not sure what to make of some woman from The View getting involved in a WWE angle. I applaud WWE for trying to broaden its fan base, but I seriously doubt there will be much crossover.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 2:39 PM | | Comments (17)
        

Comments

Yeah, I am very excited to see the Cena-Edge match live in the arena tomorrow. I wonder if they are gonna book that as the last match....I hope so.

I chose to watch the O's blow a 4-2 lead & lose 5-4 instead :(

That Edge promo was fantastic. Any chance that Edge-Cena will close Backlash rather than the six-man tag?

Edge's promo was the best but a close second was when Maryse enters my tv screen. Heck go as far as she is the hottest part of the show. But Gail Kim I think shoulda stayed in TNA. The tag matches wasn't anything to get excited. I am bored with the Legacy vs HHH/Batista/Shane storyline. Even the Hardys aren't doing anything for me. I feal I've seen this kinda storyline with the Harts. The Big Show/Undertaker match was OK but a yawner to. Hopefully when they finally decide to put the draftees on their new brands, everything will start to get better. WWE needs new ideas and maybe new writers. The Attitude Era needs to come back. This G rating or PG rating isn't doing it for me. Plus now the announcers can't even say the referees names anymore. I want to know who everyone in the match is. Including the ref.

"Edge cut a money promo that really made we want to see his Last Man Standing Match...With the arena dark except for a spotlight on Edge as he stood in the middle of the ring, he explained how his rivalry with Cena – which he sold as an epic battle that has gone on for several years and shortened both of their careers – will finally come to an end. The camera moved in for a tight close-up of his face as he projected intensity without yelling or overacting. He drove home the point that he’s a desperate man because this is his final shot at Cena’s title, and if he doesn’t win, he has nothing in his life that can replace being champion."

I read an interview with Shawn Michaels where he mentioned how the switch to HD and the new production values had given him something new to work with. He was saying in the old days they had to communicate with their bodies more, but with more close ups and tighter shots he didn't have to dial up his actions and could communicate more with his facial expressions and even just eye movements.

It occurred to me that others have been doing it also, and the ones that have made this switch the best are the ones producing some of the hottest angles - Jericho, Orton, and Michaels have all said so much by saying so little. The subtle expressions we're all capable of reading seem more real than over-the-top screaming/yelling.

I'm assuming they are bringing someone from the View into an angle so they can keep all those males 18-34 logging onto wwe.com instead of oprah.com. As you know that's a pretty heated battle.

The show took a bit of a dip, this week. Last week's wrestling action was better.

I noticed on a poster at the grocery store that the "Greatest IC Champ of All-Time", the Honky Tonk Man, will be doing an independent show not far from me here in West Virginia. Admission is $10 and also includes former WWE employee Henry O. Godwinn.

He's just the Honky Tonk Man. He's cool. He's cocky. He's broke - - - I mean bad.

I'm so tired of Raw guys appearing on Smackdown for no reason.

The stupid WWE should have just waited until after Backlash to hold the draft instead of waiting a month to enforce the brands.

I'm so sick of the Hunter-Orton feud. I hope to God it ends at Backlash. The audience is sick of HHH, he makes for a terrible serious babyface. Same with Shane.

how is it that for two weeks in a row the main event on smackdown feature wrestlers from raw. they should have put main event from superstars on smackdown and smackdown main event on superstars. looking forward to edge hopefully beating cena sunday.

"But Gail Kim I think shoulda stayed in TNA."

Back when she made the jump, it was said the offers from the two companies weren't even in the same leauge. Apparently, WWE's offer was easily the biggest contract of her whole career while TNA apparently wouldn't give her anything more. I don't blame Gail for looking out for herself.

Edge vs cena will end backlash its pretty evident with the weak build up of the 6 man tag and the fact that the hhh and orton feud will carry on past backlash, seeing as this' supposdely' the last edge and cena match(until the draft next year lol) to close the rivarly it will end the show with edge taking the title

Kev thats why I have been telling you that Edge not Orton is the best heel in the business he just happens to be on the wrong show also if you are to be taken seriously by the fans in WWE you cannot beat the WWE tag champs and then 2 weeks later lose to Shane & Batista its almost as bad as when HHH beat both members of APA in a handicap match, I was stunned that the show beat Taker by KO but I guess after all the jobbing show has been doing to Taker over the last year he owed him 1. lets hope that jeff gets a win here because if not I think we know what will happen if doesn't this might be the last time we see jeff in a WWE ring for a long time or 1 of the lasts.

Any truth to the rumor that the WWE is pushing for Matt Stafford to open the season as Georgia's quarterback before letting him start his career with the Lions?

"how is it that for two weeks in a row the main event on smackdown feature wrestlers from raw."

That's a good question. I didn't complain about the Batista-DiBiase main event because it was a very good TV match, but this week's tag team main event was nothing to get excited about. Ultimately, I think that WWE wants to remind us that Raw is the A show whether we agree or not.

wait shouldnt Ziggler vs MVP on superstars isn't that the point of superstars i like MVP but he's on raw if i want to see MVP i will watch RAW

hey kev, do you think HHH could get seriously injured as part of the storyline? i think that benefits everyone: WWE would be more interesting, HHH will get an extended vacation from WWE and we would get our own vacation from HHH

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About Kevin Eck
The Baltimore Sun's Kevin Eck blogs about professional wrestling.
E-mail Kevin.
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