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November 14, 2009

Chris Jericho’s momentum comes to a dead stop on Smackdown

The first-ever singles match between Chris Jericho and The Undertaker did not end the way I thought it would on Friday night’s episode of Smackdown.

With Jericho on a roll as of late and the triple threat match for the world heavyweight title between Jericho, The Big Show and champion The Undertaker set for Nov. 22 at the Survivor Series pay-per-view, I expected there to be some type of non-finish due to interference from Big Show. Instead, Undertaker made Jericho tap out to Hell’s Gate. So much for that roll that Jericho was on.

It doesn’t make sense to me to have Jericho lose clean to the champion nine days before the pay-per-view – especially when WWE had been doing a nice job of re-building Jericho’s credibility in recent weeks. Perhaps WWE booked Jericho to lose on Smackdown because he is going to win the title in an upset at Survivor Series, but I really don’t think that’s the case.

As for the match itself, I thought it was good, and Jericho did come across as a legitimate threat to The Undertaker before the tap-out.

Other thoughts on Friday’s show:

I don’t know if Kane – who made the save when The Undertaker was being double-teamed by Jericho and Big Show after the match – is officially a babyface now, but I think it makes The Brothers of Destruction more interesting if one is a babyface and the other is a heel. ...

Matt Striker made a rare mistake when discussing wrestling history. He said that when Jericho defeated The Rock and Steve Austin in the same night, it was a triple threat match. Actually, he defeated each of them in one-on-one matches that night to become the first undisputed champion. ...

We’ve seen hundreds of in-ring contract signings over the years, but I thought this one with Batista and Rey Mysterio was pretty good. I love Batista’s intensity as a heel. His insistence that Mysterio sign a “Hold Harmless Agreement” was a nice touch. ...

The John Morrison-Dolph Ziggler Intercontinental title match was decent despite the double-countout finish. Perhaps Ziggler will finally win the title in the two-out-of-three falls match on next week’s show. Of course, I’ve been saying “next time” for Ziggler for quite a while now. I have to be right one of these times. ...

Morrison’s pre-match promo was one of his better ones, although he’s still got some work to do in regard to his mic skills. ...

Once again, Drew McIntyre demonstrated that a vicious beat-down sometimes gets you over more than a pinfall victory would. After wrestling to a double-disqualification with Finlay, McIntyre laid out the veteran for a second time. Sticking with the scene in the ring (Finlay was being attended to by trainers and officials) instead of cutting to a commercial at a point where you would expect a break added to the impact of the attack. ...

The match between CM Punk and R-Truth – which was won by Punk when he used the ropes for leverage – wasn’t as good as I thought it would be. It was slow-moving and lacked crowd heat. ...

The Mickie James-Natalya match was good, although I wish it would have gone longer than four minutes. I’d really like to see a program between these two. Instead, Natalya was used as a pawn in a Michelle McCool angle. That’s just plain wrong.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 6:49 PM | | Comments (15)
        

Comments

"The Mickie James-Natalya match was good, although I wish it would have gone longer than four minutes."

I thiink if the match had been longer, you may have seen people in the crowd literally fall asleep. They were dead silent during that match, for Mickie, for Natalya, and for Michelle and Layla interfering.

RESPONSE FROM KE: You're right about the crowd. They weren't hot for much.

Again Jericho showed that he is one of the best wrestlers in the business, the match with Undertaker was different from the regular Undertaker matches we've grown accustomed to seeing. I wonder if they called it in the ring like Jericho has been doing a lot lately?

I think the Ziggler Morrison feud is getting ridiculous. I agree that under normal circumstances the 2 out of 3 falls match is where Ziggler should finally get the title. However, that takes a lot out of the Survivor Series match with Morrison and The Miz each captaining a team and both having a title.

Hey Kevin,

Two quick things.

First, I agree with your assessment of Jericho. However, I was a bit disappointed with his drunken rant recently in California. He made some disparaging comments about gay men and middle easterners. Too bad really. For someone so obviously talented on the mic, this was a blemish on the career of an incredible wrestling talent.

Second, I think the matches between Morrison and Ziggler have been great. I'll be disappointed when they come to an end. Ziggler has to win the title soon. Morrison is good, but you're right; he needs to work on his mic skills. Ziggler is much better in this area than Morrison.

By the way, I thought the Punk-Truth match was good. Punk is really an excellent all-around performer. He can get a crowd going with his banter, and he can back it up in the ring.

Holden

"It doesn’t make sense to me to have Jericho lose clean to the champion nine days before the pay-per-view – especially when WWE had been doing a nice job of re-building Jericho’s credibility in recent weeks."

__________________________________

I would totally agree if the World Heavyweight Title match at Survivor Series were a one-on-one match between Jericho and 'Taker. However, that's not the case. Let's be honest: if the Triple Threat Match were between 'Taker, Big Show, and The Brooklyn Brawler, The Brawler would have a realistic chance of winning. That's how these stupid three-way matches are: anyone can pin anyone else without looking even as strong as the man who does the job. I think that a Jericho victory at Survivor Series looks every bit as possible now as it did before his tapping out in Hell's Gate.

Jericho clean loss makes me want to have a drunken rant with disparaging remarks toward the WWE bookers.

I am a Punk mark and down with R-Truth, but man was the crowd dead for that match!

I wish Finaly finally goes over McIntyre then they team up.

Ziggler - Morrison...not really that interesting...and why was Morrison so witty on the mic with the Miz but so bad alone. I can't quite put my finger on how a wrestler with such an great look could not back it up on the mic. Ditto to Jon G.S. on his comments.

Kane can't be a heel. The kids like him too much and so do I. He was my favorite growing up (probably cause he had a mask) and I still enjoy him. He is still heavily cheered at live events.

The problem I see with the IC title match next week, is that I simply can not see Morrison dropping the title prior to the PPV, unless Miz drops his on Monday.

I have to admit I have been waiting for Brother of Destruction to be re-formed since DX was (there have been a few little hints it was coming)

Agree with the comment about the Natalya V Mickie, problem is WWE does not invest in the Divas, so then the crowd isn't interested, so then the diva's are given reduced time. It is a domino effect. Was amazed at there being the 2 Diva matches on the card. I was also amazed that THD wasn't out with Natalya.

Also wondering about that team submission manouver of Jeri-shows are they heading for a double win at survivor series??

i was there at smackdown and alot of the crowd has been edited for the tv show, the cm punk match lacked heat as there a lot of cm punk chants in the match cwhich were edited, also quite a number of Y2J chants.

Usually I am a huge Mickie mark, but i felt she sold her clothes being torn up more than she did the Sharpshooter.

From what I've heard, crowd was totally behind CM PUNK in that match. And WWE totally edited it.

I think a feud between Natalya and Mickie could produce some high quality matches.

However, WWE seems intent on using Natalya as a full time manager and part time wrestler. I still don't understand why they can't have her doing both full time.

Could be wrong but I dont think Jericho was on the WWE clock at that Sci-Fi con,whatever it was.Im guessing he was shooting and had as much right as anybody else to say what he thinks.(But then Jimmy the Greek probably thought so too.)

Crowd sucked during a lot of the night >

Why is anyone complaining Jericho lost?

Anytime any wrestlers has "momentum" going into a PPV they lose.

So for Jericho to LOSE to Taker is a good sign Jericho win's the belt at Survivor series, or at least there is a chance.

If Jericho had won, or even if Big Show interferes, then I think you know Undertaker is retaining the title.


I would guess Jericho wins the belt, has a title run before feuding with a returning Baby-Face Edge.


Taker maybe fueds with Big Show again?


Maybe Taker and Kane winthe unified Tag Belts?

It really came over like the crowd was dead but as mentioned maybe they just cheered the wrong guys and WWE edited it? Btw, WWE: Please give us a taping in Germany, we´re gonna make it a success, I´ll promise!
Looks like the Brothers of Destruction are together again. Well that´s better than putting them against each other, we have seen that often enough and I surely don´t wanna see it again.
I love the ring work of Morrison but it´s right that he just lacks talent at the mic. Maybe he would do better as a heel? But as far as I´m concerned I could watch Morrison vs. Ziggler every week. (They can lenghten this feud like they never should have lenghten the feud of Cena vs. Orton.)

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About Kevin Eck
The Baltimore Sun's Kevin Eck blogs about professional wrestling. Listen to Eck Wednesdays at 3 p.m. on WNST 1570 AM.
E-mail Kevin.
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