The storyline progression is rather interesting. Morrison challenged the winner of the Punk-Hardy match at Vengeance. Ziggler beats Morrison. Ziggler goes after the Intercontinental title, a step below the world title.

CM Punk is getting more heelish, but Jeff's promo at the start was somewhat heelish as well...

That Pretty Ricky vignette was the most atrocious thing that I have seen on Smackdown since Edge got a pedicure. I was almost pining for Word Up.

Kane's victory didn't bother me. His main event days may be over, but to me, it still doesn't seem like a stretch when he beats a someone who is currently in a top spot. Kevin wants him to put the mask back on; I would settle for his getting back into great shape.

It was the best of shows; it was the worst of shows: CM Punk cut the best promo of the year, and R-Truth had he worst vignette of the year; Jericho and Rey had another tremendous match, and Cryme Tyme were on the show.

I'm getting tired of the wwe's style of announcing. Don't get me wrong, I love Jim Ross to death, but what was being said at the end of smackdown was plain dumb if you listened closely. I know it's Vince's way of " telling a story" and not using play by play.
Anyway Ross was yelling " Why is Dolph Ziggler attacking Rey Mysterio and why this night?"
It's pretty obvious that Ziggler was making a statement to get a IC title shot.
I have been a longtime fan of wwe since the 80's and I know I'm not the only one. When you hear the announcer say something that silly I feel that my intelligence is insulted. But I can't take it too personally. It's just a wrestling show.

WWE needs to give R-Truth a push...right out the front door!!

I think Dolph Ziggler has a ton of potential too. I wish they would have picked a better name for him, though. I thought when he was going be the Natural, Nick Nemeth, it was a perfect fit.

I do wonder which of the budding superstars has to potential to be the next face of the company. Is it Ziggler, MVP, Swagger, Dibiase,Punk or someone we haven't seen yet.

" At this point , I''m convinced these two incredible talents could wear blindfolds , tie one arm behind their backs and still have an incredible match ."
Kevin , hasn't Vince Russo already already done that one ??

How about less Jessie and less Cryme Tyme. Maybe more Eve.

"But I got a Sega Genesis! And it has two controllers!" Ha, I laughed at that one.

That, and the Morrison/Ziggler segment. "Looks like you're out of the closet." LOL

What's up, R-Truth? Feuding with Abe Wash for "Worst Segment Ever?"

And this SD's was taped after last week's, I believe? That would explain why Edge was in the final segment...

I have to finally comment on this, So Cryme Tyme acting stereotypically "black" and ganster is horrible "always", but Jesse acting stereotypically black and 'wangta' is great?

"I'm getting tired of the wwe's style of announcing. Don't get me wrong, I love Jim Ross to death, but what was being said at the end of smackdown was plain dumb if you listened closely"

_______________________________

Throughout his WWE career, Jim Ross has come across, at least to me, as someone who says what his bosses tell him to say. Of course, that's not his fault. I think that Ross was at his best when he worked for the UWF where he sounded more natural although I was, at the time, a kid who didn't critique announcers.

I liked Punk's promo, but I thought the go-home line in any promo he gives about Hardy has to turn it back to himself. He said "why don't you try going straight edge?"

Uhhh, why?

I was expecting Punk to criticize Hardy for being a bad role model, a bad representative for the company, or too unstable to maintain his career. Attaching any of those consequences to the predicate criticism he gave would have driven the critique home in a more meaningful way.

Cryme Tyme's Word Up segment is the most refreshing and original pieces in the WWE now that MVP has gone fan favorite.

Looks like I'm the only one that got a chuckle out of the R Truth segment. It was completely out of left field, but "My government name is Delicious." had me chuckling heartily.

I was also surprised that Ziggler bet Morrison, but it was a very good match and the pin wasn't clean, so I don't think it hurts JM at all.

The Jericho - Mysterio match was also very good, with some great spots, I just wish it had been a *little* more even. I can buy Mysterio being dominated by Big Show or Kane, but Jericho isn't the biggest guy in the world, and shouldn't have so thoroughly dominated Mysterio. I'm nit-picking, though.

I hate the Word Up segments as much as the next guy (not to mention the Cryme Tyme gimmick as a whole), but am I alone in thinking that GTJ has real potential? He's very inventive and really knows how to tell a story in the ring. While I'm on the subject, I don't think Shad is bad at all for a big man.

that pretty ricky segment was really bad, the wwe comedy writers or vince or WHOEVER came up with that, shame on you. r truth shouldnt of went along with it either. sad to say that its very typical of wrestling humour but not funny in the slightest.

Going against popular opinion here, but speaking of boring characters, Rey Mysterio has to take the cake.

He's played the same, one-dimensional, mute face since he joined the company in WWE, and aside from the 6 months after Eddie Guerrero died, his character has been about as interesting as a Mark Henry promo.

Granted, his work is still solid (although nowhere near the level he was producing a decade ago), but aside from that i don't really see anything that draws anymore.

He doesn't speak, at all (and anyone who listened to his WCW promos knows why), which further limits his effectiveness.

His style was definitely unique in the early days, and he certainly still has mass appeal in the under 13 demographic, but i just can't muster any interest in his matches anymore.

Chris Jericho, despite looking like he's carrying extra weight, is the clear star of their program and the only reason i've watched their matches.

I enjoyed Chris Jericho and Rey but for me Jericho loses to many matches for a guy of his caliber. I was happy to see Dolph Ziggler beat John Morrison. I think Ziggler is a tremendous heel, he even looks crazy and that defeat will not damage John Morrison to much. Again a solid episode of Smackdown

For the first time, I actually enjoyed a R-Truth segment! It reminded me of Martin Lawrence in Blue Streak.

Just took a look. I noticed you didn't post up my comments I wrote for your RAW blog. Are you trying to tell me that my comments are too damn long?! lol! When I start writing, I get into a zone. My apologies! Roflmfao!

Agreed with everything you said on Dolph Ziggler especially about the "twist of fate" (no pun intended) regarding him and Dykstra. Dykstra just doesn't have the look. He looks like a teenage boy and doesn't have the same spunk and energy Dolph exudes in the ring. I like anyone that can keep me entertained in the ring and tell a good story in the ring and he does that quite well. He, Jericho, and Melina are so vocal in the ring. I love that for some reason. Adds to the intensity.

Kane is sad

Punk is winding up to be excellent with his promos.
Surprised they took it as far as they did with CM Punk is an understatement but I enjoyed it. Made it riveting!

RESPONSE FROM KE: There is a comment from you on the Raw post. Did you do two? Either it didn't go through or it was deleted by accident.

The whole "Pretty Ricky" vignette was a spoof of 50 Cent as "Pimpin' Curly". Youtube it...

Yeah, Jericho-Mysterio match was awesome. Every match has been a different one. But that is what you expect out of Jericho. Mysterio is probably in his best program right now. His fued with Eddie started brilliantly but WWE screwed it and turned that into a soap opera during the latter stages.
I have a question. Was Edge injured in this smackdown? Wasn't it taped last week? If that is so, were they trying to create a stable of Jericho,Edge and Ziggler. I think that would have been awesome.

RESPONSE FROM KE: This Smackdown wasn't taped last week; it was taped the previous week (WWE did two Smackdowns in a row that week). Edge was injured at a house show.

Though I realize most of it isn't the individual announcers fault, I have to agree with Chris on the announcing. For example, if you remember last week when Hardy was faking the eye injury during the tag match the announcers played dumb, and I mean really dumb. I think it took away from the moment, the entire audience was laughing and the announcers where acting bewildered and clueless, asking what was going on.

Punk is being booked too weak, having the title on him buries it, and they don't need the strap to get his feud with jeff over. They should have never pulled the plug on edges title reign.

Hey Eck.
I know you have said similar things as this before, but man, Smackdown is sure looking more like the "A" show these days. Their talent is much more compelling. I was worried about who might take the biggest hit as far as TV time once the Undertaker came back, but now that Edge is out for a while, the other guys should still get opportunities to grow as performers.
Isn't it weird how RAW seems to be worse for their absences and injuries but Smackdown is thriving?

I'm probably the least-PC white guy in the Northeast, and even I am getting tired of seeing WWE portray blacks as rappers and thugs.

And then you have a drug-free character (CM Punk) being portrayed as a "bad guy," facing off against a "good-guy" habitual drug-abuser (Jeff Hardy)?!? Between this and the overt racism, it's really pretty ridiculous that WWE changes the name of John Cena's finishing move in order to keep its shows "family-friendly."

Tonetare—I've had comments "drop" occasionally; I get a confirmation that it was sent, but it never appears on the blog. I don't know whether Kevin has to delete a lot of crap and occasionally deletes something legit by accident, or if it's just a buggy interface. But yeah, it has happened to me, too.

(And FYI, Kevin, the site is currently displaying about a dozen little bugs and glitches. But I assume since it appears to be in transition, somebody knows and is working on them.)

I've been a big critic of Jim Ross' commentating for a while now.

He's not awful by any means. He's quite good at the WWE style of commentating.

It's just that I think that he's better when he's doing the realistic style of commentating that he utilized in the NWA. He made it sound real.

Kev I wonder if WWE saw this coming with the Edge injury and eventually knew that it was only a matter of time until one of his injuries would catch up with him and had Dolph on backup if they decided to go the route of having him be the replacement.
vince must really like Dolph after going from being a cheerleader abou to make your break a year ago then failing a drug test now your the the #3 Heel on WWE's top show right now.

Not that I'm complaining but isn't Dolf and Maria "having relations" in Teddy Long's closet something Val Venis was doing during the "Attitude Era." It doesn't seem like something that fits with the whole PG-13 thing they're doing now.
By the bye, Around the time of The Bash it was rurmored that WWE/Vince dropped the "Great American" part because Vince doesn't want anything associated with WCW. So why do we still have the U.S title and The World title? Those both came from WCW. Just wondering if you had any insight on this or was there another reason as to why "Great American" got dropped.
Thanx, and great job as always!!

RESPONSE FROM KE: I don't think it was so much a WCW thing as it was the fact that WWE is international. I think that's why WWE wanted "American" deleted.