More tension: it looked to me as though Rhodes was upset that Dibiase got the pin (as opposed to him). It might just be Rhodes' gimmick, but that's how it looked to me.

Is it just me or does it seem like the last few IC champs lose a lot? I realize this is Jackson's first loss since Barrett started jobbing to him but he lost to DiBiase of all people. Before him Barrett seemed to lose a lot and before that Kingston. Kinda concerning that the people holding this belt can't win more.

you seem to be the only one not enjoying the uso haka entrance

although i honestly dont see it working every single time they have a match

good points about the heavyweight title program.
i am so confused that i want to see the match, especially the money in the bank post match result

if orton beats christian, AND defends his title against the MITB winner, expect some noise from the anti-cena crowd

Why does the war dance have to go?

RESPONSE FROM KE: Just not feeling it.

So Christian will win the title if Orton is disqualified, and Sheamus is getting angry with Christian and shouting about how much he wants to beat Orton for the title?

Seems to me like we're heading for interference from Sheamus during the title match handing the title to Christian. I can also then see the possibility of an angle where Sheamus wins the MITB ladder mach and tries to cash in the contract only to lose thanks to an assist from Orton who is annoyed by losing his title match due to Sheamus' interference.

I assume the title match will come after the ladder match so it's possible this could all happen in one night. Or is that wishful thinking? Are they more likely to drag it out longer than that?

I wonder how long it would be before smackdown gets taken off the tv since its boring as hell.

Btw i loved how Sincara was playing a cheerleader sitting on a corner post during the opening segment so that he would not have to express his thoughts over MITB.

Btw Booker T was funny DAWG!.I couldn't help but laugh when he said Jinder Mahal is wearing a robe which belongs to a MAHARAJA lol.Jinder was born in Canada and has no relation with The great khali and ranjin singh is no brother of khali either lol.Being an indian i myself find it funny how jinder is being potrayed as a Royalty

@kevin

When is Undertaker going to make his return.He was the only reason i used to tune into Smackdown.

Also, I don't understand what's going on with the Divas at all. Where's Kaitlyn? Why is April getting such a push?

I hoped the women's leagues were getting a bit of well deserved attention in the run up to the Kharma reveal, but that all fell flat when she had to pull out. Couldn't they have made use of that momentum even without her? It almost feels like WWE agree with Cole at his heel best -- they just don't care about the Divas.

I luv John Cena

Kevin, I don't think the War Dance has to go completely, but it should be left for PPVs or 3-hour Raws.

I thought Smackdown was kind of bland not really huge build up to MITB Raw did a much better job SD ratings have been in decline the past few week . The only wrestling i have enjoyed is X division matches on Impact wresting everything else yawn .

"I wonder how long it would be before smackdown gets taken off the tv since its boring as hell."

It's gone from UPN, to The CW, to SyFy in the course of five years. Based on that progression, it may air exclusively on WWE.com in another couple years before it ends altogether.

The haka (Polynesian wardance) looks impressive when you have a large group, like a football team, do it. Two guys not really in synch - not so intimidating.

Anyone else totally bored with Jinder Mahal's too easy matches?

Ways to make Smackdown better
1. I think WWE needs to strongly consider making Smackdown a live show. T.V. tapings worked ten years ago when the Internet was still relatively new and social networking wasn't even thought of yet. Now thanks to spoilers people already know the results of the show three days in advance and don't even bother watching it.
2. A shake-up in the creative team for Smackdown would do some good.
3. WWE should also consider ending the brand extension and unifying the World Heavyweight and WWE Championships. John Cena would bring ratings to Smackdown, and heck what if the Rock got another run with the WWE title and appeared on Smackdown that would be serious ratings.

I'm with you KE; the haka doesn't work.

@mikeshaw101

After being cautiously close to being reinvigorated towards WWE, especially after reading Mr. Eck's suggestion concerning last week's Smackdown that Christian might be getting a sympathetic edge that just seemed to me a better idea story-wise and as a reward for Reso, the perfomer whose pure talent has built his own marketing-unaided fan-base----this is a bit of a blow.
During the controversy concerning the two-day title run, it was my opinion that the turning heel of Christian would be the first step in his long term de-legitimization. I'm hoping, as I stated then, that I might still be wrong--but this doesn't sound good. It definitely won't have me tuning in to Smackdown or WWE in general next week, which I had almost considered, and reinforces similar pessimism I have concerning the stellar CM Punk shoot not taking more than a month or two or three at the most to turn to dust as well. The dark side of easy profit over quality and McPolitics over good wrestling based on the best overall performers is strong with WWE.
By the way..."what is this, TNA?" I laughed my a## off, and I will never, ever again accuse Mr. Eck of even unintentional bias. Although the same probably won't be able to be said of the McZombies who will criticize any comment that suggests anything other than the assertion that WWE is the greatest wrestling "product" ever conceived, and that we should never ever express displeasure as an audience for the quality of what we are given to watch---Nein! The volken should blindly consume with no thought or sense of power as an audience. Heil! And, if one doesn't like WWE, by the McZombie logic, one must then think that TNA is superior, (or vice versa on the TNA side), instead of being able to understand that neither company is on very thick ice right now, and that a fan of wrestling should want the best possible wrestling, not blind adherence to any one company.

I just don't understand why some people think that ending the brand split would be a good thing. If the argument will be that the brand split results in the same people facing each other all the time, I'm going to preemptively shoot that down: there is room for only so many performers and meaningful angles on a two-hour show. How involved are Tyson Kidd and Yoshi Tatsu each week on Smackdown? There is no room for them to do anything other than jobs. Getting them more involved would mean getting someone else less involved. And that leads into my next point: if the brands were merged, where would that leave the midcarders? Those currently with storylines would be left with enhancement roles, and those with enhancement roles would be left with future endeavors. In closing, maybe you want John Cena to dominate Friday nights as well as Monday nights, but I don't.

@ Christopher: What I meant to say was that brand extension should end for the main-event talent by unifying the WWE and World Heavyweight Championships. I agree with you that a total end of the brand extension from the midcarders down would not be a good thing. WWE is lacking real main-event talent, with some of it their own doing(ending pushes prematurely) and not of their doing(Chris Jericho and Batista leaving). If they merged the main-eventers together and bring in a new belt for the guys not feuding for the WWE Championship like a T.V. title and reduce the number of live events per year or make them Supershows then WWE could pull it off.

@PartiallyDeflected

I'm with you. I hit the FF button every time Jinder Mahal appears on my TV and will continue to do so. Absolutely no interest in him or the angle he's involved in.

Regarding the Usos and the haka, I'm with Kev. I'm just not feeling it. I think the awkward silence every time they do it speaks volumes. Save it for PPVs or use it sparingly.

Isn't the reason for all of this clear?

1) Christian now has a "clause" in his MITB contract against Orton that if Orton is disqualified (or if the ref makes another bad call) that Christian WINS THE TITLE. This mini-feud between Sheamus and Christian is going to lead to Sheamus intervening at MITB and attacking Christian which will "disqualify" Orton granting Christian the Championship. From there, the show could go a number of ways from a three way title match, to the MITB winner getting involved some how. I don't know how long Christian keeps the title this time--maybe a shorter time frame even than last time--but it seems to be clear that the new "clauses" in the contract are set up for Christian to win illegitimately and further story lines to come.

2) The other reason I see is that Orton and Christian are not enough alone to carry Smackdown from the face-heel perspective. Christian is a great heel but Sheamus is a much better true bad guy and between the three of them they get fuller/more complex story lines.

"The new stipulations for the Orton-Christian match are that Orton will lose the title if he’s disqualified or if there is more referee incompetence. Josh Matthews asked the obvious question: Who determines what constitutes referee incompetence? …"

This sounds like a Vince Russo idea. Anyway, since all referees are incompetent why not just give the title to Christian?

I like the war dance for the Uso's. Something to differentiate them from the rest of the crowd. Too bad the tag division is such a joke though.

Smackdown has not been very good since Eddie's passing. When we all wait for the Undertaker to come back, there is a problem with the show. The heavyweight title program has lost steam the night that Christian lost the title a few days after winning it. Smackdown is just like what WCW thunder was like. Boring matches that were diffacult to get into and very predictable. What they need to do is make the show live and divide the talent EVENLY between the two shows. On one hand it would be nice to see Super Cena on the show where he began but on the other, too much of one thing is bad. They need to have permanant announcers on BOTH shows. Just have Cole on smackdown or Raw. Choose one. And most of all, the MITB is the cheapest way to change champions. We all know that either Cena or Orton will not be champion at the end of the night.
There is no consistancy with Khali. First he is a monster, then he is a goof and now he is a monster again. Wow. Sounds like Mark Henry. And speaking of Mark Henry, he needs to be in the title program with Orton and Christian.
Is Sin Cara geared for 8 year olds?

@Matthew Champion:

Thanks for the clarification.

@Syed Habib Fawaz,

Who cares if Jinder Mahal is really from Canada? He's playing a character!! Did you know that Edge & Christian were completely human and had NOTHING to do with vampires back when they first started in WWE? Did you know that Kamala really wasn't from some African tribe? Do you have a problem with an actor in a movie playing a character that's of a different ethnic, national, or religious background?

It's wrestling, dude. At least they're trying to give Jinder and the Singhs some type of gimmick and character and not be your typical boring template of what passes for a "WWE Superstar" these days. I hope you were saying it was "funny" for humor's sake ONLY and not being a little offended at the portrayal.

I HATE SPOILERS!! Takes the fun out of watching any taping. Seems no matter how hard you try to avoid, the headlines of stories let the cat out of the bag!!

@Alex N

Dude Chill!!!!!....i know they are just portraying characters and why will i get offended.But i sure did find it funny as hell about booker referring to that robe as that of some maharaja which is called "sherwani" which i myself own 3 .

Plus how they make alberto del rio look like a billionaire in his rental cars.When he didnot had even the money to participate in olympics.Some royalty huh?.

All i meant was that how wee lies bigtime.Gues u rem how King referred on peoples choice raw that they recieved 100's of millions of text votes when hardly a few million watch raw

I hope the orton-christian MITB match becomes a triple threat with Sheamus. WWE haven't done a good triple threat match for a world title in a while.

@Syed,

Okay, it's all good then. I was misinterpreting where you were going with things with that comment.

Cool beans! ;)