Kev,
was good ole JR demoted again? it appears he is now doing color commentary.

RESPONSE FROM KE: I suppose in theory he is doing color and Grisham play by play, but their roles seemed undefined Friday night -- at least to me.

Matt hardy opened with his best promo yet! The hardy boyz highlighed this smackdown, I agree with you kev, very glad to see this feud clicking.

Kofi too was amazing in his match, and great on the microphone, would have prefered to see kofi face shelton to be honest though, the two best competitors in the money in the bank.

Santino again was hilarous, but luike you kev i think why have raw guys on smackdown before the draft?

Khali is still talentless

Gail Kim was great, glad they are not doing a christian to her

Still this show lacked R truth and Brian Kendrick...

But great show, mainly because of the fresh new talent and rivalries, time for the hardyz to shine, and no triple H

well! a tag team match for the wwe title at backlash!!
you were right kev! with batista into the mix i am not likin it that much!! considering ,if randy becomes the wwe champ at backlash....i think we would be in for batista triple h feud!! bt i really want to see randy winning the wwe title fair and square ....to take the rivalry forward!! ur thoughts.....

Don't tell me you chose Smackdown over the O's beating the Rays!

RESPONSE FROM KE: I was actually not at home, but I did see some of the O's. Taped Smackdown and watched it late last night.

If anyone wants to blame Grisham for that miscalled spot where Jeff made one side of the stretcher shoot up into Matt's face, I ask you to withold your judgement. The cameraman followed Jeff's flight to the point where Matt and the other end of the stretcher were no longer in the frame, so when Jeff landed, it looked like he had overshot, just as Grisham said.

RESPONSE FROM KE: I agree totally. I thought Grisham was fine. To be fair, JR missed a spot too. He thought Matt ran over Jff with the stretcher, but he actualy just missed him. No one is perfect, and believe me, calling a match is harder than you think -- especially with Vince yelling in your ear.

Good show, and I really liked the Hardys' match.

I got the vibe from McCool that the match was the end for her on SD. The announcers mostly talked about Gail and Maryse and a feud between them with McCool being forgotten to an extent. I wouldn't be surprised if she goes to Raw in the Draft, especially with her being on SD since 2004.

WWE Moblie ran an angle after the show where the Bella Twins patched things up, followed by Maryse arriving and speaking with them. I wouldn't be surprised if both Bellas become heels and back up Maryse.

Was it just me or did it seem like Cena had a little country "twang" in his voice last night while delivering that promo with Edge?

I'm starting to really like Kofi Kingston, a bit more mic time, a few wins and he could really go somewhere. He's already as over as any of the mitb participants because of his crowd pleasing lucha libre spots (or "athletic manuevers" as JR likes to call them) but I think he can really work a good match if given time.

Is there going to be a blog entry with draft predictions? seeing as no-one asked here are mine anyway:

Bankers, unless there's a swerve: HHH to RAW, Rey and Y2J to SD.

Likely: Batista and/or Cena to SD, Edge and MVP to Raw, Great Khali and Kane to ECW.

Supplemental draft: Kofi and John Morrison to SD, William Regal and Sim Snuka to ECW.

I hope I'm wrong and Edge, Christian and the Hardys get put together for extensive TLC matches.

The Colons and Ted DiBiase Jr. and Cody Rhodes had a good match. Then again, when was the last time the Colons didn’t have a good match? …

Let me remind you... oh yes, every time Carlito steps into thering, half the time watching him he looks slow and stupid around the ring, primo i like he is a good wrestler and I can buy him winning matches, Carlito should just give it up though.

On another note, at backlash if they hand the title to Orton, do you think they could have CM Punk cash in money in the bank on a tired possible slightly injured Orton and take the title from him as revenge for costing him the title last year?

I would hope not because Orton really does deserve a run as champion with all the heat he is drawing right now and tbh I just don't buy Punk as a main eventer.

I agree with the things about matt hardy, beings a heels starting to suit him well. i can see a tlc match at one night stand i think thats 2-3 ppv's away it would be good to see them in a hell in the cell but i know they are not big enough for it and they will probably give it to hhh and orton or edge and cena since they only do it once a year.

Oh yeah i agree that edge and cena is not the greatest rivalry in history (edge and matt hardy was better since it was the real deal) what do you think is?

it was a really great show I was glad to see Priceless defeat the Colon Bro's just wish it was a title match to give them a little more creditbility although I don't like except for 2 matches it was pretty much smackdown vs raw Orton I don't think should be on Smackdown it doesn't make any sense to me but do u think WWE reads your blog because i said about amonth ago how the Raw titles should be on Raw and they should be around the waist of Priceless rto legitimize Legacy and noe they just beat the champs straight up so their has to be another match that i hope They win again also really happy to see gail win again and the fact they do refer to her as a former womans champ is even better but do you really think tha they will put the Diva's belt on her since she was just in TNA I hope they do and finally santino was great i was just hoping that Beth would be the 1 to come down to ringside to get her revenge from Raw .

I agree with your review, Kevin. Everybody did a great job on last night's show. In a number of ways, that was the show that should have aired a week earlier. Cena, Edge, and the Hardys all gave great performances that I think could have helped boost WrestleMania.

There's a lower bar, I think, to persuading people to pay for WrestleMania as compared to a second-rate PPV like Backlash, Cyber Sunday, etc. Last night's Smackdown didn't persuade me to order Backlash; but if it had aired last week, it definitely would have gotten me more excited to watch WrestleMania.

Just for your information KE:

Here in the UK they're advertising a tag team match for the Monday's recording of Raw involving Triple H and John Cena against Randy Orton and Edge. And for the taping of Smackdown there is going to be a Steel cage match for the WWE title involving Triple H and Randy Orton.

Dunno where this leaves Backlash and it's planning, but we're getting this months PPV completely free anyways so it's not too much of a bother for us!

Keep up the good work and hello to the Wife for me.;-]

the greatest rivalry in wrestling was without a doubt Austin vs. McMahon. It was entertaining and it drew a ton of money!

I knew what Jeff was doing when Grisham thought missed his spot. I didn't think much of it.

I think it would be great if the WWE released some audio of Vince yelling at the announcers during the shows. They hate it, but I'm sure I'd find it hilarious.

Is it me or was the word "extreme" used way too much?

Edge & Cena had the best verbal confrontation of the year I'm calling it.

Kev, what have Rhodes & DiBiase gained from being aligned with Orton? They could easily be the undisputed tag champs not the Colons.

To me, Jeff is a top of the card guy on a level with Michaels. Matt is more along the lines of a mid card guy like MVP. He's carrying extra pounds and is really a step behind his brother.

The brother vs. brother feud can go on as long as the WWE wants to drag it out, but if they are smart they will put Jeff over convincingly and then either find a way for him to team him with Matt or do that for a short time and then program Jeff against someone who can keep up with him athletically in and above that ring. Mysterio, although a face, would seem to fit the bill.

I agree with Edge that he and Cena can't go on much longer.

Isn't Edge about due for a face turn?

He's been a heel for about five years and all 8 of his WWE/World Heavyweight Champion reigns have been as a heel. It would be nice if he had at least one run with either of those titles as a face.

And one more run as WWE tag team champions with Christian wouldn't hurt either.

Think about it for five seconds.

The problem with Edge as I see it, is after all the sit-com schtick he's been pulling with his whole "marriage" to Vicki, it's become hard to take him seriously. That was the problem with Wrestlemania. With the Edge-Vicki marriage involved in the angle it had to involve comedy. Once they realized that comedy wasn't going to get the match over they tried to get serious with it, but it was too late. The World Heavyweight Title was trivialized, and played second fiddle to the love triangle. When Edge talked about how much the title meant to him on Smackdown it wasn't believable. I keep waiting for the punchline with Edge. Anyhow, I thought.Matt Hardy did a great job with his promo and he keeps getting better at it. Gail Kim is at the top of her game right now. Hopefully they keep her push going and won't let her languish.

I can see few of you (including Kevin) are looking forward to a TLC match between Hardys. Just one question. Don't you think there should be something at the top of the ladder? Cuz the heavyweight and wwe title programmes doesn't seem to fit Hardys for atleast next 4-5 months.

Kevin
You probably are already aware, but I was just watching ESPN and they aired a segment on WWE and Wrestlemania 25. Turns out it was just a preview of a larger piece that is on the season premiere of E:60 this Tuesday at 7:00. They are going backstage and talking about Vince. They were also the first cameras allowed in a production meeting.

Matt got great heat from the fans when his music hit to open the show. He is really coming into his own as a serious heel (unlike his goofy Mattitude heel persona from 2003). He just needs to be more confident during his promos. He tends to stare down a lot, as if he's trying to think while he's speaking or he's nervous. He would be more effective if he looked in the camera while he spoke once in a while.

If Kofi Kingston is as consistently smooth on the mic as he was during his promo with Eve, then he will surpass Shelton Benjamin in terms of serious pushes. Both men are equal in the high risk moves department but Shelton has never been great on the mic. Shelton can take as many dives off of ladders as he wants to, but until he can deliver some money promos, he will always be just short of reaching the top. Maybe he needs to start wearing fishnets on his arms and start dyeing his hair different colors besides gold.

I think moving Grisham to Smackdown was the best possible solution for now. If Striker had left ECW, we'd have Josh Matthews and Todd Grisham on Tuesdays. Yikes. I do feel bad for J.R., though. Every since he was taken off Raw, he doesn't sound like he cares anymore. If Grisham weren't on Smackdown, I'd say put J.R. back on Mondays.

By the way, ever since JBL left the Smackdown announce table in December 2007, the WWE has replaced/switched announcers eight times. WWE announcing teams are changing almost as frequently as Hardcore Champions.

I think marks all over the world simultaneously nodded their heads when Randy Orton said he should have been the WWE Champion after Wrestlemania.

Kevin, if you're not tired of making lists, what about a list of "greatest rivalries in wrestling"? I'd love to read it (and also to read the usual war in the comments it would certainly generate)! (guess Cena / Edge wouldn't be anywhere on such a list, actually).

Please excuse my post about the espn show, i overlooked your previous post. Sorry

Finally someone mentions the extra pounds that Matt is carrying. I thought I was the only one who noticed it. I like his new ring attire. Perfect time to implement it...at his heel turn.

Can't seem to see who will be MVP's next program...can anyone else? Maybe the draft will give him one.

Speaking of draft, I hope Gabe and Alica won't get lost in the shuffle. Tyson Kid should go to SD. I think he would work well there.

I see all of the Kofi comments. Very nice. If Kofi dosen't get a high profile program or a tag partner, he may become a mid-card jobber to the stars...jus sayin'

Both guys delivered great performances, especially Cena, who showed tremendous intensity. If there was more of that from Cena and less goofy comedy, he probably wouldn’t have so many detractors. …

But isn't the goofy comedy geared towards the youngest of Cena's fans? And as long as they are buying merchandise you have to cater to them.

RESPONSE FROM KE: I suppose you have a point there.

The contrasting styles of Kingston and Big Show made for a fun match. Kingston got in a decent amount of offense before losing. …

Some of the stuff Kingston was doing was just amazing to me. I don't know if he'll ever go over really big but it's going to be fun watching him try. He seems to give it his all in every match.

I was a little wary about the stretcher match because it initially sounded too gimmicky but the Hardys pulled it off brilliantly. It's moments like these that you see how crazy these two brothers really are. I laughed so hard I cried when Matt pushed the stretcher Jeff was on down the ramp after the match. Classic JR commentary - "Wait a minute. Now wait a minute! That stretcher...free wheeling!"

I've noticed the extra pounds on Matt in recent months. If you saw any of the WM25 dueling diaries, Matt seems to be doing his cardio and getting his workouts in. I can only suspect that maybe it's a diet thing or metabolism changing with age.

Was it just me or did it seem like the cameras were on a different side of the arena at University of Texas? The entrances seemed to come from the right of the cameras instead of from the left. Something was oriented different.

I was a proud attendee of this match. I couldn't ask for a better episode to see live. (well.... it lacked some undertaker) but still, it was my boyfriend's first experience watching wrestling. And I think I've recruited a new fan!

Personally, I think Undertaker should step into storyline and mess Matt Hardy up.

The Hardys put on a great match. I was incredibly impressed with Matt. He's getting very comfortable working as a heel. It says something to me that Matt is capable of working as both a heel and a babyface in the ring. I think that Jeff would struggle in the heel role.

I was also highly impressed with Gail Kim and Michelle McCool. Gail is really setting a high standard for the ladies of Smackdown.