411’s Instant Analysis 12.23.11: Friday Night Smackdown

Welcome to the second edition of 411’s Instant Analysis of Friday Night Smackdown! I am your host David McGregor and we come off quite an exciting TLC for the blue brand, Daniel Bryan is the new champion and this is his first show under his reign so here’s hoping it doesn’t disappoint. Also I read over the comments from last week I will include the winners of each match from now on and will probably start doing match times next week. So without anything else let’s begin.

Opening Segment: The Charisma Black Hole

You know it’s a bad day when Mark Henry is the most entertaining man with a microphone. Starting the show with a promo segment only works if the guys in the ring are capable of delivering on the microphone and none of the 3 guys in Bryan, Henry or Big Show are really known for lighting up the arena with their personality. It was a serviceable opening that outlined the show well. I have to say though Big Show in the Smackdown main event is boring me and I couldn’t help but think there was a reason he wasn’t World Heavyweight Champion for the past 9 years.

Rating: 4.5 out of 10

(IC Champion) Cody Rhodes v (US Champion) Zack Ryder

I enjoyed this match, it wasn’t a technical clinic or an amazing match but for TV it was a decent enough outing. Ryder is really getting a much bigger push than I had expected, or indeed that I agree with, here is hoping that he doesn’t crumble under the pressure now that the WWE has put some faith in him. I also am not sure about continuing the Rhodes/Booker programme, I think it would be best getting Rhodes more established by having a good performance in the Rumble or even challenging Daniel Bryan for the championship. Whatever they do with Rhodes I think he will be wearing a World title come 2013, and if things stay the way they are right now it looks likely that Ryder will too.

Winner – Zack Ryder

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Backstage Segment: The GM’s Office (Totally not PG)

Its stupid stuff like this that the WWE does so well, meaningless but hilarious comedy. Also before Vickie Guerrero got there this had more than a subtle hint of TV14 about it. A handjob and an erection joke 2 days before Christmas in a strictly PG show, who would have thought it! On a side note Santino Marella although useless as a wrestler nowadays is absolute comedy gold and really should be on the show more often. As soon as Vickie and Dolph got there the segment got way too cookie cutter heel for me, lead to a great main event though.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Mark Henry v Big Show…Or Not

This was short and to the point. But with the addition of David Otunga they managed to make me yearn for that lost Henry v Show match! Seriously the guy is Carlton Banks without the charisma and the longer he stays around the worse off the WWE is, face it Vince Jennifer Hudson is never going to come on your TV show for this waste of space! Just fire him already. Nice to see the cheap mans Carlton Banks get a smack in the mouth for his troubles though.

Winner – N/A

Rating: 3 out of 10

Miz Challenge – Miz v Sheamus

Before the match we had a little back and forth between Miz and Teddy Long over Miz getting invited to Smackdown for no reason, it was what it was.
This lead to Miz offering a challenge to any Smackdown which Sheamus kindly accepted. The match was over pretty quickly and both got even amount of offence but I do find it odd that Miz was the one to take the pin here. This is a guy just off of the main event of the last PPV with the WWE champion and by all accounts is still in a feud with said WWE champion. Why then have him lose to a guy that is spending his time beating up pointless pay checks like Jinder Mahal? If anything Miz should be winning all of his matches to build his character back up, god knows he needs it after that horrendous run with R-Truth! Some liked Awesome Truth I think it was a waste of a main event talent. I only hope 2012 means better things for Miz.

Winner – Sheamus

Rating: 7 out of 10 (Liked the match hated the outcome)

Orton and Barrett – Promo and Brawl All in One

This started out like every other heel promo bragging about their achievements, similar to the last segment in fact with the Miz. The promo was fine it was a tad dull and due to that I started to notice that Barrett has a really odd head to neck ratio which makes him look like a Mr Potato Head.
When Orton finally came down I thought we were getting the usual RKO attempt and the ominous evil stare. But oh no we were indeed treated to a good old fashioned backstage brawl! I must admit whenever a match or brawl goes backstage it does get me quite nostalgic, not because those brawls were ever technical classics but because they were really fun and almost always exciting, Wrestlemania 17 triple threat hardcore match is still one of my favourites. This one while short was quite fun and we even had Barrett being soaked with a hose which isn’t going to be very painful but was pretty funny. We ended on a nice RKO on the roof of a car, which was slightly tainted by the heavy breathing of Orton less venomous snake more creepy neighbour.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Kofi Kingston (with Evan Bourne) v Primo (with Epico and Rosa Medes)

An actual feud for the Tag Team Championships!? I’m shocked, shame it’s between two teams that I really couldn’t care less about. I really like Evan Bourne and would prefer him in the US Title scene as opposed to this but he’s just off a suspension he’s lucky to be employed. The match was serviceable, although the Trouble in Paradise looked painful this week! I will admit it I just do not like tag team wrestling, especially when it is between two tag teams that aren’t going to do anything special.

Winner – Kofi Kingston

Rating: 4 out of 10

(World Heavyweight Champion) Daniel Bryan v Dolph Ziggler

I always enjoy when two younger guys get to main event shows and it seems like the past week the WWE has let Punk and Co run wild on the main event scene. Ziggler and Bryan have quite the chemistry in the ring and I really enjoyed this, in fact had this match ended properly I would be singing its praises as a must watch. But they had to add in Swagger and Big Show on the outside and it really took away from the great match that was going on inside the ring. There is nothing worse than when a 500 pound monster is stealing your main event thunder! And so the match was turned into a tag team match around 10 minutes of the way through, fair enough it lets Ziggler save face but had they cut out the Show and Swagger rubbish this could easily have been a TV Match of the Year candidate. I think it’s best to rate them separately because Big Show didn’t add a single thing to this match.

Winner – N/A

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Big Show and Daniel Bryan v Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger

While I didn’t like the idea of this being a tag team match I have to admit that with the exceptions of the Big Show parts this was a good main event. Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler put on a great match before the main event and tore it up once again when they were in there, great job by both guys. I think it is safe to say that this is by far D Bryans week (damn Booker and his nicknames!) and he has put on great matches to go with his huge achievements.

What I do have to complain about is the Big Show, he is just not really capable of keeping up with the young guys and he should not be in a World Heavyweight Title match in 2011 never mind 2012! I hope that Bryan quickly gets rid of Show so he can move onto bigger things because the chances of seeing a 5 star classic from Big Show in any decade never mind this one are slim, even if his opponent is Daniel Bryan. Good main event but wish they had just let Bryan and Ziggler go for it without the pointless interference from Swagger and Show.

Winner – Daniel Bryan and Big Show

Rating: 7 out of 10

Final Thoughts

Moment of the Night: Daniel Bryan v Dolph Ziggler

Trash of the Night: David Otunga interrupting Big Show v Mark Henry

Final Analysis: For the second straight week I have really enjoyed Smackdown. I had more to nitpick
this week but the in ring action was good and the backstage segments were entertaining so there is very little I can complain about. Nice to see Daniel Bryan finally get the World Title and for him to start his reign as a dominant champion is quite shocking, exciting as well. I look forward to next week’s show and on that note hopefully the Big Show finds something better to do than stink up the main event scene! Better than last week and a nice way to go into the holidays. Happy Holidays everyone.