After a video package highlighting the events of this week’s RAW, with John Cena losing to Edge by disqualification and The Big Show being announced as the new number 1 contender, SmackDown opened with an in-ring promo by The Undertaker. Now, Taker’s character has been protected so much that him doing this, something that is almost a prerequisite for all other main eventers, actually feels like you’re watching something special.

He talked about his WrestleMania unbeaten streak, and about how Shawn Michaels pissed him off by targeting him and saying he wanted to break the streak. It was strange in that it made Taker come off as heelish, and I’m fairly certain he will be the crowd favourite, so it would make sense to position Shawn as the heel in this feud, not least for nostalgia purposes to those fans like myself who remember their original battles in the mid-1990s. Oh, and during the promo a video package appeared of Shawn’s WrestleMania highlights over the years. Strangely conspicuous by it’s absence was his WWE Title match with John Cena at WrestleMania 23, which is strange considering Cena is the current top star in the company.

Taker finished up reminding Shawn that although he’s a changed man, his praying days have just started, and come WrestleMania he’ll be reminded that sometimes it’s hell getting to heaven. I’m going to love this feud and everything about it.

The WrestleMania history promo this week covers WrestleMania III, focusing on the amount of celebrity guests, Ricky Steamboat winning the IC Title from Randy Savage, and of course Hulk Hogan defeating Andre The Giant in the main event.

Backstage, Vickie Guerrero is on the phone to somebody, when Jeff Hardy walks in. He says he’s refusing to face his brother, but wants in the Money In The Bank match at WrestleMania, so he’s in a qualifying match later tonight.

Then Matt is in the ring, saying Jeff can’t run away forever, and he’s going into Money In The Bank to face Jeff in there and get the chance to finally become a World Champion. Sup ECW! He then faces MVP, and in what to be honest was a fairly dull match, Matt loses cleanly when MVP counters the Twist Of Fate by tripping the legs and shifting his weight on top (think HBK countering the Pedigree at SummerSlam 2002). I definitely liked this matchup better when MVP was the heel and Matt was the babyface, although the crowd do seem to be responding to The Ballin Elbow.

Highlights of The Dirt Sheet episode where Miz and Morrison wore asses on their faces and pretended to be The Colons aired. This wasn’t one of the better episodes, but the one that went up this weekend, with Morrison’s dead-on Ultimate Warrior promo, is a must-watch.

Then we got WWE Divas Champion Maryse beating Eve. This match was completely horrible, and Maryse here wasn’t even in the “so terrible it’s entertaining” or “character makes it watchable” like she usually is. I do like her using the DDT as a finisher, however, as I’ve always felt that was a great move that really should be protected more and used as a killer blow. Also, Michelle McCool was on commentary just burying the entire Divas division, including at one point talking about Maryse having “a limited moveset.” I did not expect to hear random WWE diva #358 using the same complaints about bad wrestlers that ROH and Dragon Gate fans do. After the match, Melina attacked Maryse, which allowed Michelle to attack Melina. I’ve heard a rumour this may be leading to a Divas battle royal at WrestleMania, which sounds like an easy way to kill some time and get them on screen I guess.

Up next was an Umaga video package just showing him destroying people. It was GREAT.

Vickie Guerrero is out for the World Title contract signing, and Edge is soon out to confront her, wanting to know the truth about what went on between her and Big Show while Edge was in hell. Vickie begs innocence, and Edge talks about how humiliated he was to find out that Big Show was the #1 contender. Show interrupts and teases telling the truth about their relationship, before saying it was strictly business, and Show will be a dominant champion like Edge could never be, but the camera shots of Vickie suggest that’s not actually true. Edge then says he’s smarter and better than Show, and forgives Vickie, suggesting she only gave Show the title shot as he can beat her. Of course after spending a few minutes actually getting over the good intrigue and long backstory of a Big Show v. Edge match, John Cena interrupts and clears the ring, before whispering something in Vickie’s ear which clearly freaks her ouit.

The video for the Hall Of Fame induction of Cowboy Bill Watts is shown next, and as usual these Hall of Fame videos are great.

Backstage, Vickie is close to tears, as she tells Edge that there will be a contract signing next week on RAW. Presumably that’s when Vickie pulls another swerve on Edge by adding Cena to make it a triple threat.

The next match is another Money In The Bank qualifying match, seeing Shelton Benjamin beat Jeff Hardy by DQ when Matt Hardy screwed Jeff out of the match by coming out and striking Shelton. Benjamin is kind of a loser staple of these Money In The Bank matches, and you know he’ll pull out some really athletic spots there, and this year will need it more than ever. Of course, you’d like to showcase some of that here, but he was treated like a jobber, on the verge of defeat before Matt screwed Jeff again.

Then a video package is shown of the Orton/HHH segment from RAW on Monday, followed by a trailer for John Cena’s new WWE movie 12 Rounds.

The main event, for some reason, is Umaga v. Triple H in a non-title match. Not that I’ll ever complain too much about having a really good match as a free TV main event, but all Umaga has done since his comeback is short squash matches against jobbers like Scotty Goldman and Kung Fu Naki, and now he’s in there with HHH? Fortunately it’s just to further an angle, as about five minutes into the match, HHH avoids a charging Umaga, who flies to the outside and sells a knee injury, at which point Legacy come out and attack HHH. HHH starts to fight back, but the numbers are too much and the heels give him a really long beating to close the show.

This was very effective, the crowd really got behind HHH and against Orton, which you’d worry wouldn’t happen given all HHH is doing is defending Stephanie, who is a long time hated character now. While babyface selling of a beating is far from HHH’s strength, he was OK here, and Orton was just fantastic. This sadistic killer vibe he gives off is totally believable and he’s perfect for that role.

Mark Bright
mark@ifight365.com