"For the second consecutive week, Smackdown was the best wrestling show on television."

I totally agree. Raw wasn't as bad as usual, but it hasn't given us a quality match since Cena-Jericho.

In regard to Umaga, I think that he should have spoken broken English for a few weeks before progressing up to the point where he was easy to understand. On Friday, Umaga spoke as if he had been speaking English all his life.

But that's a very, very minor complaint. The show was number one with me, once again.

Ortiz may make a good heel someday. I would would be cool to have a heel act as a motivational speaker but keep getting booed out of the arena.

I am starting to really like Ziggler. Anyone who draws heat without even trying is alright by me. That actually means that the fans care.

If Jericho is in a program with Rey, why is he Jobbing to Punk?

Umaga speaking English was the most surprising thing to me. I guess he took a correspondence course while he was injured.

I was also disappointed to see R-Truth and Gail Kim job, but the rest of the show was really good, so it's hard to complain too much.

Umaga is much more effective as the monster who does NOT speak. I prefer the Samoan rants. It was also funny to see Cryme Tyme and John Morrison team up after their feuding internet "shows" on WWE.Com.

Thanks again for the BEST wrestling blog ever.

Didn't Jericho unmask Rey in WCW?

RESPONSE FROM KE: He lost his mask in a hair vs. mask match against Kevin Nash.

i dont think R-Turth was jobbing he looked stronged not to be jobbing

Kev, i am really glad to see that you finally see what I've been telling you know for months that Edge by far is the best heel out there. i loved the way they did the interview with rey so you know that belt will be coming off of him and then he will be putting up his mask to win it back. I have to say I finaaly see what your saying about R-truth the fans are really behind him and he is jobbing to someone who use to be in the spirit squad almost makes you want to cry. Cryme time with Morrison together after all the battles they had in & out of the ring?

I understand that TLC means Tables, Ladders and chairs, but it is the SAME THING as a ladder match. Same objective (get whats hanging above the ring) same rules (none) and same chance for ridiculous spots. The only reason it was ever called a TLC match was because the three teams who participated were skilled in one of those areas. edge and christian (con-CHAIR-to) hardys (ladders) and the dudleys (tables). So my point is, the match will be booked the same whether they call it a ladder or tlc match.
On a side note, given their current alliances, do you think we will ever see a tag match of Jeff and Christian vs. Matt and Edge?

I'm not sure, but is Edge undefeated in TLC's? If so that's prob why it's a ladder instead of a TLC.

Each week it becomes more apparent. WWE is for kids. TNA is for fans of WWE who now feel alienated by WWE PG. Come on...Rey Mysterio telling everyone to chant 6-1-9 repeatedly?? TNA is the only show I can stand to watch anymore.

Yes..Smackdown was the better show again this week. As for Umaga speaking, maybe he took Rosetta Stone while he was out. Actually, that's not the first time that he has spoken...but to my knowledge he did not speak that well. I was flabbergasted.

Woody, about three years ago, Edge lost a TLC match to John Cena, the added stipulation being that Cena would have to join Smackdown if he lost.

I agree that Smackdown is the best wrestling show around right now. I think it's been that way ever since the draft. Edge is simply a much more versatile wrestler than Orton to build a show around.

Paul in Allentown: A ladder match would be booked differently from a TLC match for the simple reason that there is neither a necessity nor an expectation that tables or chairs will be used.

Woody: I believe John Cena defeated Edge in a TLC match.

Edge lost a TLC match to Cena where the stipulation was the loser had to go to smackdown a few years ago. He was undefeated before then however.

OK Smackdown was great but Kev please tell me who likes michelle? that match was awful Love Gail Love the divas but if Michelle wasnt ********** the Undertaker she would be out she is worthless.. on another note I went to a live show yesterday and was very happy w Shamus( O ' Shanty's) work he was good in his win. Have u watched him live Kevin?
Very good SD show Hate to say it but Raw is way behind this show now GREAT even with the crap diva match

RESPONSE FROM KE: I have not seen Sheamus O'Shaunessy live.

They must be saving the TLC match for Jeff vs Matt, probaly will be Summerslam

Paul: Generally, a TLC match is just won by pinfall, as opposed to getting something hanging from the rafters by using a ladder. I've always considered a TLC match equivalent to a hardcore match, whereas a ladder match is more of a Last Man Standing match. Unless your opponent is incapacitated or tied up, you aren't free long enough to climb the ladder.

I hate the fact that Umaga can speak English so well. I remember when he came out on RAW a year or so back, right around the time of his match with Batista at WrestleMania, and he was in the ring with all the heels, and they all took turns cutting promos; when Umaga finally got the mic the arena kinda quieted and all he said was "BATISTA," and then proceeded to do everything in samoan babble. The crowd popped for it big time, even though he was heel. That is the way Umaga promos should be, and any other time he should have a talking piece ala Estrada (who I think was dropped too quickly)

Great show but I think they should have built a little bit around the "winner chooses stipulation" in the Edge-Hardy match. Edge looked horrified when Hardy decided that it would be a ladder match. Why? An interview with him before the match, where he would have said that he planned to win and to choose for instance the Last Man Standing stipulation because he thought he was tougher than Hardy and just proved it by beating Cena in a LMS at Backlash would have been a good note, I think. Maybe he could have added that he knows that Jeff is so good in the air, so he wanted to keep the match on the ground, something like that.
And we still don't know why Umaga hates Punk so much. He's been standing in Punk's way for some weeks now, preventing him from cashing his briefcase, he attacked him repeatedly, now he does it again and gets an Extreme Rules match against Punk... Why, exactly?

I love the feud with The Great Khali and Dolph Ziggler. WWE should focus its mid-card talent on TV feuds with no plans of PPV blow-off matches, because eventually one of those feuds will exceed expectations and give WWE a starting place to build new stars.

Rey Mysterio's getting the fans to chant "6-1-9" did not work too well at all! The arena may as well have been papered for *that* participation.

Dolph Ziggler needs better ring music. The song he has now sounds like it was straight out of the Ferris Bueller's Day Off soundtrack.

And speaking of entrances, I know he's on Raw, but what in the blue hell is The Brian Kendrick doing as he enters the ring? Just give him "Frankie" the bird and he'll look just like Koko B Ware dancin to Piledriver the album.

And while on the topic of music, Hey Vince, R-Truth is jobbin again "WHAT'S UP, WHAT'S UP WHAT'S UP!!!"???

Umaga must be drinking too many smoothies at the nutrition store him and Charlie Haas own in Frisco, TX called Custom Muscle .. it would be really strange not seeing him talk on TV after talking to him all the time at the store .. that is one thing I miss about the 80's and ppl staying in character 24/7 and in public

1. Smackdown
2. ECW
3. RAW
4. Superstars

5. TNA Impact

Another great Smackdown. The show has the youngest and most exciting group of wrestlers in the industry and they let them wrestle. (against actual wrestlers of course. not cardboard cutouts from a 70s movie.)

"Whats Up" has to be the worst entrance song ever."You can get with this,or you can get with that".My 80 year old mother can write better stuff than that.Who can we blame that on,the wonderful Jim Johnson?

RESPONSE FROM KE: Ron Killings (R-Truth) wrote it.

Here's a scary thought I just had.....
We know SD!'s World champion Edge is married to the RAW GM Vickie Guerrero (kayfabe) and the fan reports for SD! have been stronger than RAW, which is supposed to be the A-show.

What if Vickie decided to trade someone from RAW for Jeff Hardy so the Hardys could finish their feud, but the fans would know it was to protect Edge. It would work for the storylines (although if Edge survives Jeff's challenges in two back-to-back PPV's, how big of threat is he really?) and Jeff would also be another draw to make RAW the universally acknowledged "A" brand.

How likely is it that WWE would be content (maybe even proud) to have a large portion of fans say SD! is a better brand than RAW?

I'm sure this has been a total coincidence, but let's just put it out there anyway. While being the "B" show, Smackdown consitently put on more entertaining and better booked shows for the better part of two years between 2006 and 2008, and had a legit focus on the midcard. So much of a focus that the show was actually carried by the Matt Hardy/MVP feud over the US title for nearly a year. In 2008, HHH comes over, the midcard is all but forgotten, and the quality of Smackdown drops way off. Fast forward to 2009, Thor is back on RAW, and Smackdown is once again putting on high quality, focused, and balanced shows. Yep, I'm certain this has all been totally coincidental.....

Honestly, I could care less about the Undertaker returning, but I agree with everything else you posted. I am totally with the Umaga line right now, he is on fire!!!

I was disappointed in the main event — too many headholds, not a lot of actual wrestling moves, and an outcome that was too obvious... And I totally agree with you about McMahon looking like a little boy kidding about a name that can rhyme with "penis", wow, how brillant. If this is to be shown outside the "WWE Universe", it will probably only convince everybody who doesn't watch wrestling how dumb it is.
But Orton cut a great promo on Flair, he was so right when he was telling him that he was pathetic and that his time was over. I also loved the "I'm not Chris Jericho" line, it made Orton look like the number one in the business, that was great.
And I kinda like the Kendrick adventures, but I hope that he finally finds a real good partner and goes for the Colon's title. Any thoughts about who that might be, Kevin? I could see him finishing teamed up with Regal or Hardy, since these two are not in the US title picture for now. Oh, and looking at the Raw roster on the official site, I just found out that Sim Snuka was still there!

Kevin, how long before you think Christian could jump to SD to feud with his "brother" Edge? Or do you think that Vince might hold back Christian because he came back from TNA? I think that an Edge/Christian program has a lot of potential since it would be a fresh storyline.........also the possibility of Edge/Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy/Christian tag team could be something that hasn't been done, as I recall.......

The Undertaker is needed more on Raw. SmackDown is at its best right now without any of the biggest main event legends. I'm not a fan of the Undertaker, but he can still draw more interest from casual fans than half the Raw main event scene. Who should he work with on SmackDown?

R-Truth vs. Mysterio is a match that needs to happen soon.

RESPONSE FROM KE: Maybe Jericho and/or Umaga.

Oops sorry, my previous comment was meant for the Raw review post, not for this one, my bad!