Alberto Del Rio tastes defeat on WWE Smackdown
Alberto Del Rio received a blemish on Friday night’s Smackdown, and even “Dashing” Cody Rhodes’ cosmetic creams will not be able to remove it.
Del Rio lost for the first time on WWE television, as Rey Mysterio gained a measure of revenge by scoring a decisive victory over the man who had put him on the shelf for six weeks.
WWE did a good job of making the match feel important by showing clips throughout the show that recapped the Mysterio-Del Rio feud. The match was good, as were the four other bouts on the show.
I was a little surprised that WWE didn’t keep Del Rio’s undefeated streak going longer, but I’m guessing that Del Rio will do something on this Friday’s show to get his heat back and keep the feud going.
Other thoughts on Friday’s show:
The Edge-Jack Swagger match got Smackdown off to a strong start. I was hoping that Swagger would win this one since he put Edge over last Sunday at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, but Edge winning Friday made sense because WWE is obviously trying to get some momentum going for him now that he is part of Smackdown. It feels like Edge’s babyface turn is getting over better than his previous one. …
Sometimes silly can be entertaining, and other times silly is just silly. The Swagger Soaring Eagle is just silly. Hopefully we’ve seen the last of Swagger’s mascot, who was taken out on a stretcher after being speared by Edge. …
I was glad we got the Dolph Ziggler-MVP Intercontinental title match that we didn’t get last week due to The Nexus attacking both guys. Ziggler won due to interference from Kaitlyn, which furthered the love triangle story line between those two and Vickie Guerrero, but it was odd that Kaitlyn, who I thought was supposed to be a babyface, would cheat to help Ziggler. …
I think the scary music that played while Kane cut his promo was even more over-the-top than usual. Please make it stop. …
I liked the tag team match in which Rhodes and Drew McIntyre defeated Kofi Kingston and Kaval. It was a solid win for the champions, and the babyfaces got in a lot of offense before losing. …
The Layla-Kelly Kelly match (won by Layla) was decent. The best part was that LayCool wasn’t doing a running commentary throughout the match this time. I’m glad someone realized how bad that was on Raw Monday. By the way, I really could do without seeing LayCool on both shows every week. …
Here’s a real surprise: The only bad segment on the show involved Hornswoggle. The little guy was announced as the official mascot for Team Smackdown for the Bragging Rights pay-per-view on Oct. 24, which makes Swagger’s Soaring Eagle just the second-most annoying mascot on this program. It also was announced that The Big Show and The Miz are the team captains for Raw and Smackdown, respectively. The segment featured a verbal exchange between The Big Show and The Dudebusters, who ended up getting choke-slammed. I thought The Dudebusters were supposed to be wacky babyfaces now. Whatever.
Comments
I'm glad Del Rio lost, because I think its good that finally a strong new comer is not portrayed as unbeatable. I think Del Rio has great potential, but i hope they don't make the same mistake as they did with Sheamus. Fans will buy into the guy, as a face or heel as long as he climbs the ladder. Having a loss here and there makes the character more believable. Please Vince McMahon... stop yelling at your commentators for a moment and learn this lesson.
Posted by: rob | October 10, 2010 8:38 PM
Hey Kev why is Cole still doing commentary on SmackDown does he have that much stroke i mean to have two heals is bad enough i guess the heels are taking over the baby faces have no chance . One more thing what think of my earlier post on Batista come back .
RESPONSE FROM KE: I wouldn't be surprised if Batista came back at some point.
Posted by: ryan | October 10, 2010 10:11 PM
Hey Kev the hole they gimmick is i think that Jarret want his company back from Dixie Carter and he using Easy E and Hogan and Abyss to get it back .
Posted by: ryan | October 10, 2010 10:36 PM
If Edge were really serious about putting an end to stupid and annoying things on WWE programming, he would have speared Hornswoggle as well.
RESPONSE FROM KE: Amen.
Posted by: Rob Brown | October 10, 2010 11:13 PM
What, no comment about the Dudebusters going to Raw? I'm sure CM Punk is part of the Edge trade, but it looks like the Dudebusters are also part of the trade. There goes the rest of the Smackdown tag division
Posted by: paul | October 11, 2010 12:33 AM
I'm glad Del Rio lost, because I think its good that finally a strong new comer is not portrayed as unbeatable. I think Del Rio has great potential, but i hope they don't make the same mistake as they did with Sheamus. Fans will buy into the guy, as a face or heel as long as he climbs the ladder. Having a loss here and there makes the character more believable. Please Vince McMahon... stop yelling at your commentators for a moment and learn this lesson.
Posted by: praneel chand | October 11, 2010 1:08 AM
You forgot the biggest event of the night. Big Show running to the ring and then sliding under the rope like Edge. I wouldnt have believed it if I didnt see it.
Posted by: angrybuddha | October 11, 2010 3:29 AM
Have to disagree with you on Swaggers Soaring Eagle. Good entertainment especiall0y the part he was stretchered off
Posted by: Matt | October 11, 2010 6:44 AM
If Miz is team captain of Raw does that mean the team will be without Morrison and Bryan? I hope that there will be a bit more of a twist to the situation!!
Posted by: The Nightmare Kid | October 11, 2010 9:18 AM
Laycool with mics, during the match, was awful.
Layla is so good at playing her stupid character in promos, but was really weak during the match. "You hurt my friend". Urgh!
Posted by: John Wilding | October 11, 2010 11:31 AM
Eck are the Dudebusters heading to RAW along with CM Punk? Not that it really matters I guess. They won't get any ring time regardless. And then they'll probably break up and have a blowoff match on Superstars. Ugh I still don't get why the Gatecrashers had to break up.
Posted by: cowboysmb3dw28 | October 11, 2010 11:36 AM
By the way, Mr. Eck, you were right about Alberto Del Rio. He's fantastic! Love the conceited/totally insincere smile!
He's my new favourite heel til Jericho returns!
Posted by: John Wilding | October 11, 2010 12:04 PM
Del Rio vs. Mysterio was great.
The Swagger Soaring Eagle was amusing while it lasted. It's the simple things like that which make Swagger even funnier. It wouldn't work for anyone else. I just didn't like it when he mocked Oklahoma last week. It's okay to let heels be cheered in their home state. Let them have that until they legitimately do something bad, then let the heel heat set in naturally.
Posted by: Another Wrestling Mark | October 11, 2010 1:43 PM
I agree with the idea that Del Rio needed to suffer a loss but why does it have to be to someone who is awful on the mic, is not believable as a main eventer due to his small size, and has slowed down in Mysterio? I know, the WWE sells a lot of masks to children so that's why Rey keeps getting a push. I'd rather see Hornswoggle on TV, as long as it is for short segments. Midgets are cool.
Posted by: Eric | October 11, 2010 2:28 PM
Way to kill the momentum for Del Rio.
Now there's nothing at stake between him and Mysterio. The fans and Mysterio got what they wanted - revenge and a victory.
They should have had Del Rio beat Mysterio for a few more weeks, to lead into a pay-per-view.
Del Rio is a solid heel who deserves the Intercontinental belt within a year. But they likely will make him a jobber to the likes of MVP.
They blew it with Punk. They will blow it with Del Rio.
Posted by: ANon | October 11, 2010 4:58 PM
Cody Rhodes jacket is amazing. It has a mirror built into the back!
Posted by: David | October 11, 2010 7:39 PM
I thought was a really good episode. I wish that they would have Kaval win a match, but it was very good match anyway.
In fact, all but the Divas match were good matches. Now if we only could have got a CM Punk match instead of the Dudebusters/Big Show/Hornswoggle segment, it would have been the best Smackdown in recent history.
Posted by: Matt | October 11, 2010 8:30 PM
I always love the Swagger victory lap inside the ring in the middle of a match, gets me every time
Posted by: eee | October 11, 2010 8:43 PM
Shouldn't be too hard for Edge to surpass his last face turn. That was horrible last time. WWE realized it pretty quickly, too, and turned him back to a heel.
Posted by: Jack Windham | October 11, 2010 9:38 PM
I think what has helped Edge get over as a face this time is that, like Randy Orton, his character hasn't really changed and his dialogues have been hilarious.
On another note, Kev, what is Matt Hardy's status with the WWE? Is he officially done?
RESPONSE FROM KE: As of now, Matt Hardy is stilll under contract with WWE.
Posted by: Va Beach Bum | October 12, 2010 11:31 AM
Kofi Kingston and Kaval, its a good thing we dont have to shorten that team name...
Do you think Kaval will eventually feud with Rey or Del Rio?
Posted by: HiMyNameIsMike | October 13, 2010 1:30 PM