Star Studded Debut
The debut of Smack Down on My Network featured a smattering of the superstars from all the brands as they kicked off the move with a bang. These matches were a good gage of the talent spread out through the WWE, as for the most part one brand did not dominate. The main event featured the top champions from Raw, ECW and Smack Down in tripe threat match. We know what Triple H and Jericho can do on the big stage, but as of yet Matt Hardy is still an unknown singles commodity. They want to push him so he will be a big time player and his move to ECW was to accelerate this. Well last night he showed he can hold his own as he did not look out of place with these two wrestling legends. With a year of seasoning as ECW champ he will be ready to move back to one of the major brands by next year.
The end of this match unfortunately turn a turn for the worse. Triple H got the pin on Hardy but Jericho attacked both men with a ladder. As he was ready to take out Matt, Jeff Hardy came to the rescue of his brother and also delivered a message to Triple H by giving him the twist of fate. If they would have stopped there the ending would have been great. But for some reason the WWE really wants to make Vladimir Kozlov into a big star. He would finish off both Jeff and Triple H to keep this potential feud in the making going. First I have to ask how does a guy who was taking on Funaki only two months ago find himself as a potential contender for the WWE belt? He may be a good wrestler for all we know, but he has yet to show it against any body worth while. They may use him as filler contender for the run up to Mania, but there are too many talented guys ahead of him on the roster. How can you vault him to the top of the heap before MVP, the Big Show, or even Shelton Benjamin (assuming we rekindle the Undertaker and Edge feud). Heck I would give Kendrick a shot before Kozlov as we now what Brian can bring to the ring. It just baffles me why they would take such a huge risk.
The women's match of Beth Phoenix and Michelle McCool only helped to legitimize the Divas belt. Granted McCool lost, but she held her own up against a superior physical specimen in Phoenix. Michell is a great athlete, but lets just say there was a bit of a size discrepancy for this match. Despite this she was able to use her speed to mesh well with Phoenix's brawling style. I can never overstate this enough, the past two years has seen a great change for the Women's Division as they have raised their games to put on some remarkable matches. It's good to see them become more than just eye candy for the company.
The eight man tag match of Mysterio, Finlay, Jeff Hardy and Batista up against Kane, JBL, Brian Kendrick and MVP was also pretty darn good. They mixed the one on one action with the load the superstars in the ring plot vary well. For the most part everybody looked good except Kendrick, but by no fault of his own. I have stated I don't think he should be a big time singles guy, but at least give him a chance. He spent the whole night getting mauled by his opponents, including falling for Hornswoglgles silly antics. Not a great may to build momentum for a guy. As for the match Hardy got the win with a swanton on MVP.
In an match featuring the tag champions we saw Carlito and Primo with CM Punk take on DiBiase, Rhodes and Manu. Another good match as the brother duo of Carlito and Priom showed some good chemistry and humor in their opening vignette. It would be the good guys winning with the GTS by Punk on DiBiase. This match showed the increase of talent in the tag stables and hopefully we will see more action out of them on both brands as they can only add to the shows and pay per views.
The other two matches of the night failed to deliver for their own reasons. First the match between Santino Marella and Benjamin was interrupted by R-Truth's song and dance routine. This allowed Santino to get the win due to Benjamin being distracted. I know they want to build heat between Truth and Benjamin, but the song and dance routine is dumb. Truth has decent abilities in the ring so let it happen there. We don't need amature hour at the Apollo to be what makes Truth go over. Also this match had some good potential as both guys seemed to match well. Especially Santino, as he is more than the bumbling stooge they make him out to be. He deserve to wear the Intercontinental belt and should be able to use his talents instead of just being comedic relief.
For his punishment of letting Vickie get tomb-stoned by The Undertaker, The Big Show had Chavo face both Mark Henry and The Great Khali in an handicap match. Suffice to say we know the results of this as the giants beat down the light heavyweight Chavo with little effort. Not too much to this match in the overall scheme of things as it did its job to kill time on the show.
The end of this match unfortunately turn a turn for the worse. Triple H got the pin on Hardy but Jericho attacked both men with a ladder. As he was ready to take out Matt, Jeff Hardy came to the rescue of his brother and also delivered a message to Triple H by giving him the twist of fate. If they would have stopped there the ending would have been great. But for some reason the WWE really wants to make Vladimir Kozlov into a big star. He would finish off both Jeff and Triple H to keep this potential feud in the making going. First I have to ask how does a guy who was taking on Funaki only two months ago find himself as a potential contender for the WWE belt? He may be a good wrestler for all we know, but he has yet to show it against any body worth while. They may use him as filler contender for the run up to Mania, but there are too many talented guys ahead of him on the roster. How can you vault him to the top of the heap before MVP, the Big Show, or even Shelton Benjamin (assuming we rekindle the Undertaker and Edge feud). Heck I would give Kendrick a shot before Kozlov as we now what Brian can bring to the ring. It just baffles me why they would take such a huge risk.
The women's match of Beth Phoenix and Michelle McCool only helped to legitimize the Divas belt. Granted McCool lost, but she held her own up against a superior physical specimen in Phoenix. Michell is a great athlete, but lets just say there was a bit of a size discrepancy for this match. Despite this she was able to use her speed to mesh well with Phoenix's brawling style. I can never overstate this enough, the past two years has seen a great change for the Women's Division as they have raised their games to put on some remarkable matches. It's good to see them become more than just eye candy for the company.
The eight man tag match of Mysterio, Finlay, Jeff Hardy and Batista up against Kane, JBL, Brian Kendrick and MVP was also pretty darn good. They mixed the one on one action with the load the superstars in the ring plot vary well. For the most part everybody looked good except Kendrick, but by no fault of his own. I have stated I don't think he should be a big time singles guy, but at least give him a chance. He spent the whole night getting mauled by his opponents, including falling for Hornswoglgles silly antics. Not a great may to build momentum for a guy. As for the match Hardy got the win with a swanton on MVP.
In an match featuring the tag champions we saw Carlito and Primo with CM Punk take on DiBiase, Rhodes and Manu. Another good match as the brother duo of Carlito and Priom showed some good chemistry and humor in their opening vignette. It would be the good guys winning with the GTS by Punk on DiBiase. This match showed the increase of talent in the tag stables and hopefully we will see more action out of them on both brands as they can only add to the shows and pay per views.
The other two matches of the night failed to deliver for their own reasons. First the match between Santino Marella and Benjamin was interrupted by R-Truth's song and dance routine. This allowed Santino to get the win due to Benjamin being distracted. I know they want to build heat between Truth and Benjamin, but the song and dance routine is dumb. Truth has decent abilities in the ring so let it happen there. We don't need amature hour at the Apollo to be what makes Truth go over. Also this match had some good potential as both guys seemed to match well. Especially Santino, as he is more than the bumbling stooge they make him out to be. He deserve to wear the Intercontinental belt and should be able to use his talents instead of just being comedic relief.
For his punishment of letting Vickie get tomb-stoned by The Undertaker, The Big Show had Chavo face both Mark Henry and The Great Khali in an handicap match. Suffice to say we know the results of this as the giants beat down the light heavyweight Chavo with little effort. Not too much to this match in the overall scheme of things as it did its job to kill time on the show.
