This week, SmackDown kicked off with the familiar No Chance In Hell theme music as Vince McMahon made his trademark walk to the ring. Now, while some might decry the inclusion of Vince after SmackDown has been on a hot streak of shows, especially as his storylines tend to take over the entire show whenever he does have an on-screen role. After some jokes about cheese which I didn’t get he said everyone in the crowd was in fear of losing their jobs, which led to Vince introducing Teddy Long and threatening to fire him, but ended up just putting him on probation after he announced Rey Mysterio & Jeff Hardy v. Edge & Chris Jericho in a Steel Cage Match with CM Punk as referee as the main event for this show. The end of this segment provided a great moment as R-Truth came out for the opening match of the show while Long and McMahon were still walking up the ramp, and he put the mic to Vince for the “What’s Up!” line, and Vince’s disgusted look is a thing of beauty.

Shelton Benjamin has now seemingly gone from losing to John Morrison every week to losing to R-Truth every week, this time with the added pre-match promo where he says how great he is and what a failure Truth is, which both allows him to be embarrassed as a heel through losing and allows the announcers to talk about how R-Truth has worked for his successes and deserves it. The match got a good amount of time, around ten minutes, and Truth won with the spinning flying forearm, further establishing that move as his finisher. While not being as athletic as Benjamin, Truth is athletic enough that he can hang with Shelton, and also has the charisma and promo ability that should see him move further up the card.

Rey Mysterio is sitting around backstage, and Vince McMahon comes up to him, saying his mask is stupid and he thinks Jericho is going to take it from him at The Bash. Rey answers in Spanish, which leads McMahon to flip out and blame Teddy Long, saying from now on people should only speak English on SmackDown.

Next was a Women’s match pitting Michelle McCool and Alicia Fox against Melina and Gail Kim, to further the build for McCool v. Melina. They played up Melina having a jaw injury, after McCool (to a laughably obvious piped in “oooooh” crowd reaction) nailed Melina with a kick. They did the spot where the referee essentially stops the match to tend to Melina, but McCool ignores this and takes her down with a running knee to the jaw before working it over. McCool eventually got the win pinning Kim after she’d got the hot tag, by blind tagging herself in and hitting the Faith Breaker when she was going for some move on Fox. They’ve built McCool up as a totally dominant heel that I think she has to win the belt Sunday, especially as Melina is such a hard sell as a babyface.

Vince meets with CM Punk backstage. Vince puts Punk over for winning Money In The Bank twice and being the World Heavyweight Champion, and then asks about Straight Edge lifestyle and whether it’s all an act. Punk responds that he doesn’t need drugs or alcohol to get high, he just lives off crushing his competition, which McMahon agreed he can relate to that part. The interaction here really made me think Corporate Champion CM Punk would be totally awesome.

We then get a Cryme Tyme backstage segment which was horrible, including Jesse, making his first post-draft appearance, dressed like them but getting his chain jacked and being left to look like a complete tool.

Then John Morrison beat CM Punk in an excellent non-title match. Whilst you can question the booking of having a new World Champion, especially one fans maybe don’t see as top guy level yet, there is no doubt that this match was excellent. Morrison’s athleticism in terms of flashy offence really meshed well with Punk’s kicks as well as his grounded offense including some very cool headscissor-based submission moves on the mat, which just meant the crowd were even more up for Morrison’s flashy comeback. I wish JR would stop the Shawn Michaels comparisons when it comes to Morrison, because as long as fans see him pushed down our throats as the next Michaels it lessens the chances of Morrison becoming a star just for being John Morrison. The match ended with a roll-up counter sequence with resulted in Morrison bridging back and hooking Punk’s arms to keep the shoulders down for 3. The match was a standout bout for both guys, but the interesting development took place afterwards. Punk looked shocked he lost, but in a “damn you got me” way rather than a “fuck you” way, then offered Morrison a handshake, only to hit him with the Go To Sleep, but instantly react like he’d regretted what he did. That’s another push towards him going full-on heel, which will be GREAT. Wouldn’t mind a rematch with the title on the line between these two.

Chris Jericho cuts a promo backstage talking about how he’ll reveal Rey’s true identity and save him from himself and pandering to the fans. This was yet another really strong promo, and Jericho’s character of thinking he knows what’s best for everybody is a great thing.

Jeff Hardy was then shown walking the corridor, and he met Teddy Long, who wished him luck at The Bash, and Vince McMahon who didn’t. Vince pointed out that Jeff had demons in the past (they didn’t actually say he’s a drug addict but even those who don’t know his history should get the implications), and would be a poor representation of the WWE as World Heavyweight Champion. CORPORATE CHAMPION CM PUNK, I’m calling it.

The main event tag match inside a steel cage of Hardy and Rey v. Edge and Jericho was the ultimate example of four complete professionals who had a good match, but still you’re somehow left disappointed because you know these four in a cage with 20 minutes could, and if you’re being harsh you might say should, produce something at Match Of The Year level. I think Punk as referee took away from the match, as a lot of the focus, especially of the announcing, was on him and the cadence of his counts (which were completely even for both teams), rather than the drama of the match itself. It also played into the finish, as Edge speared Punk accidentally (he was aiming for Jeff but he moved), so Punk was slow in making the count once Jeff hit the Whisper In the Wind. Then, Edge countered the Twist Of Fate by shoving Jeff away, but Jeff managed to stop himself before colliding with Punk, yet the distraction saw Jeff turn around into an Edge spear for the win. Then, in a great closing image, Punk is stood outside the cage where he gets on the mic and asks the fans to congratulate Jeff Hardy on a great effort, before holding up the title belt and smiling sarcastically at Jeff as the show went off the air. This was interrupted for another Vince McMahon and Teddy Long backstage segment, where Vince said he’d fire Teddy if the SmackDown brand didn’t deliver the goods at The Bash before they went back to Punk and Hardy as the final image before the PPV.

Mark Bright
mark@ifight365.com