Falls Count Anywhere

07-09-07

That makes one of us.

SmackDown!
I watched most of SmackDown! and thought that things are still slightly off-track. They need to get beyond this, and it’ll take a little while, but there were a few things that went right.

We started with MVP vs. Matt Hardy. This was a strong match to open with. MVP’s a talent. I was totally wrong about him early on. Matt Hardy is the guy who needs to be the face of SmackDown!. Matt works so hard and he got a really good pop coming out, too.

They went back and forth a few times early and it was a strong effort from both of them. I really think MVP could be the type of guy that you could build a long-term program around for the World title. The run with Benoit was really good and they could do the same thing. MVP blocked a Twist of Fate and countered it into a Fireman’s Carry. Nice touch. MVP tried to get Hardy up for something and Hardy slipped down and ended up winning with the Twist of Fate. Good stuff.

They’re pushing Michelle McCool by giving her a series of videos. This one was her clothes shopping. I really like Michelle, even if she’s the 3rd least hot Diva they’ve got right now. They’re gonna push her, which is nice.

Masters took on Jimmy Wang Yang in a match which wasn’t really good, but the two of them were just different enough to make the match interesting. Yang got a headlock and Masters just tossed him into the center of the ring. Yang hit his Cartwheel kick before going for a Crossbody which Masters turned into a Masterlock and Yang went out. Nice story, but you always wanna see the Cruiserweights treated better. They then sent out Khali who gave Yang the ChokeBomb and then issued a challenge.

The Masters Brothers are pretty good. I wish this was a part of a total revitalization of the Tag Team Scene. They really should just make one brand and have the teams play with each other. They took on two jobbers and they won. They looked OK, but they didn’t do anything super impressive. They should work with them to give them a big-time finisher that they can beat jobbers with.

In another decent match, Flair faced the man, Finlay. It’s a dream match-like situation. There are no two wrestlers in the WWE right now who better understand how to make a match work while using varying styles. Flair didn’t do too much. Neither did Finlay. The thing was they did everything with the perfect timing and enough reality to make it work.

They both worked for their submissions: the Figure Four and the Celtic Knot. The Celtic Knot is basically an Indian Deathlock. That’s an old school move that’s god to see come back. Hornswaggle interfered and that allowed Finlay to use the Shillelagh. Nice match. These guys are both still great despite their age.

I missed the next two matches which I understand had Domino and Kenny Dykstra. I don’t feel like I missed much and I did get to finish reading the Observer from last week again. I had a letter about Benoit show up on wrestlingobserver.com and it seems to have set off a pretty wild debate. I’m a little bit shocked.

The Cutting Edge was the closer and they brought back Kane! Yes! They need him more than ever right now. Edge jaws and talks about all of Kane’s accomplishments. He says it’s been a decade of dominance come this October. I hadn’t realized that. Kane says that he doesn’t like Edge and then hits him. Edge gets out of the ring and says that he’s not going to have Kane on The Cutting Edge ever again and he won’t wrestle him either. Teddy Long then says that he’s going to be facing him at the Great American Bash. I’ll be there live!

All in all, it’s a decent show that still didn’t feel right. Maybe it’s the viewer, namely me, and not the show so much. Hardy vs. MVP and Flair vs. Finlay were both solid matches.

That’s all I watched this weekend. I know there was a UFC show and Tito Ortiz got a draw in it because he lost a point. I don’t like Ortiz, I don’t think he’s a great fighter. I know he’s a draw and he’s got charisma, but I can name about 20 guys I like better. Like Stephen Bonner, who also won, and Josh Koscheck. But what are you gonna do?

Back on Thursday!

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Chris Garcia