The Piledriver Report 05.25.12: The New SmackDown! Six

THE ORIGINAL SMACKDOWN! SIX

The six competitors fought each other in tag team wars throughout the year. Kurt Angle teamed with Chris Benoit. Eddie Guerrero teamed with Chavo Guerrero. Edge teamed with Rey Mysterio. The Rey Mysterio/Edge vs. Kurt Angle/Chris Benoit match at No Mercy was voted the “Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s” 2002 Match of the Year. This was probably the last golden age of tag team wrestling in the WWE. RAW may have been the home to the bigger name stars, but SmackDown! was the show to watch if you wanted to see the best action every week. The SmackDown! Six didn’t just dominate the tag team scene in the WWE. Each man also had successful singles careers. Chris Benoit would win the World Heavyweight championship at WrestleMania XX. Eddie Guerrero captured the WWE World title one month earlier. Edge, Rey Mysterio, and Kurt Angle each had title runs with both belts. Even Chavo Guerrero captured a singles championship when he won the ECW brand’s top title.

With the tenth anniversary of the SmackDown! Six about to be celebrated, it’s time for the WWE to give us a rebirth of the SmackDown! Six. Since the WWE isn’t strict anymore when it comes to wrestlers only appearing on one specific brand, a new version of the SmackDown! Six doesn’t necessarily have to be SmackDown! only wrestlers. Who on today’s WWE roster has the ability and skills to be able to live up to the label of the newest SmackDown! Six?

THE NEW CREW

Daniel Bryan- One of the key traits to being a member of the SmackDown! Six is that you have to know how to work. There isn’t a better worker in the WWE than Daniel Bryan. Bryan is the closest thing the WWE has seen since Chris Benoit. I know it’s hard to look at Chris Benoit without thinking about the heinous double murder-suicide. I still can’t watch the Chris Benoit DVD or WrestleMania XX, which is a shame, because the main event was one of my favorite matches of all-time. Thankfully, the comparisons between Daniel Bryan and Chris Benoit ends with their ring work. Bryan is the wrestler that every other wrestler wants to work with. After that fiasco called the World Heavyweight title match at WrestleMania XXVIII, the WWE has finally allowed Daniel Bryan to show what he can do on the big stage. At Extreme Rules, he fought Sheamus in arguably Sheamus’ best match of his WWE career. Earlier this week, Bryan fought another masterpiece. This time with CM Punk. See a pattern here. Give Bryan the opportunity, and he delivers. He would fit right in as a SmackDown! Six member.

Chris Jericho- Chris Jericho is the most complete wrestler in the WWE. He can work a great match, and he can talk on the mic. It doesn’t matter whether Jericho is Y2J, the stoic “Best in the World at What he Does,” or the silent “YAY! YAY!” Chris Jericho from two months ago. Chris Jericho is extremely entertaining, both inside and outside of the ring. Just like Eddie Guerrero was in the original SmackDown! Six. Hell, Chris Jericho could have easily been one of the original members, or even turned it into the SmackDown! Seven, except he was on SmackDown! at the time. Chris Jericho could work with anybody, and he would have a great match. Probably more than any other wrestler in the WWE, Chris Jericho would fit into the group better than anyone else.

Christian- Edge was an original SmackDown! Six member, so why not have his best friend as one of the featured performers of this decade’s SmackDown! Six? Put his friendship aside for a moment. Christian deserves to be in this group if the WWE ever decided to try this angle again. Christian never has a bad match. I can’t remember the last time that he was in a match that left you feeling like he didn’t bring it. His series of matches with Randy Orton last year were among the best the WWE had to offer last summer. He can talk on the mic. Whether he is cutting a promo or inducting his best friend in the WWE Hall of Fame, Christian commands attention when he starts to talk to the crowd. Christian should have been a main event performer many years ago. The only thing holding him back was Vince McMahon’s belief that Christian doesn’t “look” like a main eventer. He may not look the part according to Vince, but Christian sure has the skills to be a main eventer. He proved it last year, and he would prove it again by being one of the “Six.”

Dolph Ziggler- To me, Dolph Ziggler is the chosen one. Ziggler can do it all. He bumps like Curt Henning. He works like a young Shawn Michaels. He has the attitude and confidence of an 80s heel Ric Flair. He can cut an entertaining promo as well. The drive and determination that Ziggler has is extremely impressive. He started his WWE career as part of the cheerleading Spirit Squad heel group. It was a death sentence gimmick that killed off all of the other members wrestling careers. However, Dolph kept plugging away. Upon his second call up from Ohio Valley, he was given an equally dorky gimmick of going up to everyone telling them “Hi, I’m Dolph Ziggler.” As goofy as the gimmick was, Ziggler made it work. You could tell that Dolph had the “it” factor to be something special. He proved it earlier this year in his great series of WWE World title matches against CM Punk. Ziggler is ready for a permanent slot in the main events. He just needs to separate himself from Jack Swagger and Vicki Guerrero, even though Vicki is awesome. A push as one of the new SmackDown! Six would be a step in the right direction.

Rey Mysterio- The one member of the original SmackDown! Six that is still in the WWE is Rey Mysterio. Over the years, Mysterio has suffered a laundry list of injuries. However, these injuries have hardly slowed him down. The WWE has been trying to find a replacement for Rey over the last few years. They thought that they found one in Sin Cara. Even though, I am a fan of Sin Cara, he doesn’t come close to filling Mysterio’s shoes. Rey does things in the ring that few others have in the WWE. Over the last few years, Mysterio has had classic battles with CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, and Chris Jericho. Due to his size, and the fact that Mysterio has been around forever, I think he is very underrated in the WWE. He resume alone would put him in the SmackDown! Six. Add in the fact that he was an original member, and you have to include him in the storyline. It would be a nice way to bridge the past with the future.

Cody Rhodes- Speaking of the future, I would put Cody Rhodes in the SmackDown! Six group of workers. Cody has improved tremendously since he first arrived on the scene as Bob Holly’s skinny tag team partner. I think Cody is very talented. His work as “Dashing” Cody Rhodes was very entertaining. I loved the vignettes where he shared his personal grooming tips. Putting the fiber glass mask on him added another dimension to his character. While these gimmicks weren’t main event level gimmicks, he made them entertaining. They were just a prelude to the first step of taking Cody seriously as a main player. His run as Intercontinental Champion really did bring legitimacy and prestige back to the Intercontinental title. I’m not the only one who feels that Cody has what it takes to get to the next level. At WrestleMania XXVII, Rey Mysterio wanted to work with Cody, and put him over because he saw something in the grandson of a plumber. If a star like Mysterio see the potential in Rhodes, than a spot as one of the featured SmackDown! Six would help elevate him to the ranks of the main event performers in the WWE.