Tha SmackDown! ThrowDown

I've spent about ten minutes now trying to come up with a good opening line for this, and have thus far failed. That being the case, let me skip the witty quips and references to Dan being short and get right to the point. I thoroughly enjoyed "SmackDown!" last night. It seems like everything that's going wrong in WWE right now is mostly focused around "Raw", so for any fans who have primarily been watching "Raw" and have been watching the other shows only now and then, you owe it to yourself to switch that up.

"SmackDown!" is notorious for having major periods of ebb and flow, and right now, they're at a high point. "SmackDown!" has what in place what it needs to be a very strong show, and that was on display last night.

The Miz and John Morrison are money. I'm still not entirely sold on Miz as a main eventer, because I'm still not sure he gets that kind of heat yet, but he is still a very servicable heel. Morrison, on the other hand, has it. He's got the look, he's got the mic skills, and he can work. I'm fairly nervous that the tandem's upcoming match against D-X will result in them getting buried, which is a shame and shows just how far out of touch with reality certain people backstage are. All the same, I am always entertained when Morrison is on my TV, and I'm more than likely not the only one.

I know that Donnie didn't want any more mention of Carlito on this site, but fuck it, that's what happens when you give people creative control and then they catch you taking a piss on your back tire outside the studio. Asshole. Sorry, that was way off-track, but anyways, I'm glad that Carlito stuck around, because pairing him and Primo up was the smartest thing WWE could have done with either man. Keep them away from that heel second-gen stable, though, because these guys are over as faces, and WWE has had such a depleted tag division that a team like this could hopefully spark some interest. I know I say that every time about any tag team that's getting some shine, but damn it, one day it'll happen.

Jimmy Wang Yang got to talk again. Sweet. I think WWE may have forgotten how over this guy was, but what happened to poor The Brian Kendrick? He's midcarding and losing to a guy that fans have been conditioned to understand should handily lose? I had really high hopes that Kendrick would be made to look stronger than that until he finally gets a money feud for the belt. But, it's just one loss, I suppose, and the match was tremendous. Jimmy Wang Yang deserves a push, because those kicks of his make me O like a motherfucker.

Gregory Helms, you've been appearing in those pop-ups for several months now, seemingly hyping for a return. How about we deliver on that instead of running them for too long and ultimately beating a dead horse? I'm just sayin'.

The six-man tag match was solid, I'm not a big Mysterio fan and really haven't been ever since I saw him live in 2005, so props to WWE for sticking with their plan of "hometown boy never gets the win." Jeff Hardy was made to still look strong by getting the pin, but poor MVP. For a guy who was essentially on the brink of becoming a main eventer, he seems to have lost a lot of his shine in recent months.

For all of you knuckleheads who believe otherwise while reading this (well, okay, honestly you're probably not reading this), "SmackDown!" is doing just fine without Edge. Big Show is a great heel, and the promo he cut at the beginning of "SmackDown!" sat well with me. It made sense and didn't come off as being flashy or trying to do too much.

There's also this other dude. You may have heard of him. He's from Russia, really big, strong guy, runs over people like a Chinese tank (was that joke in bad taste?) Vladimir Kozlov is a the best heel on WWE TV right now. He even tops JBL, if only because Kozlov is in a serious feud and JBL keeps fighting Charlie Haas.

Kozlov's promo last night was pure gold. The best line, in case you missed it-"You are king. It is good to be king, but I will take your title, and then Kozlov will be king." Dude! HYPE! This guy is so over as a heel with me right now that I actually hope they do put the belt on him at Survivor Series. It ptobably won't happen, but fuck, man, they spent the extra time they needed to get this guy ready, and it shows, because Kozlov, as a heel, has it.

The divas are...well, the divas. The two Brie Bellas (shout out to the O-ster who let me know about the twinalaz) are impressive in the ring, and hopefully, if they're going to keep this division running, they'll bring up more girls who can work. I'm still a little disillusioned that Maria is the next challenger for the Butterfly, though. Maria's not ready. This is a match that should happen farther down the road. Like...never.

Ranjin Singh looks like he belongs in a bad porno with those sideburns. I will say that this is probably the best use of Khali they have at the moment though, because I don't want to see a Jackass/WWE storyline. Hopefully Khali is working on his skills a little bit, though.

Undertaker will always be over. The casket match last night was predictable, but remember, "SmackDown!" is traditionally the show that was geared more towards kids and marks, so they seem to act more under the assumption that their fan base hasn't had the idea of suspending disbelief totally beaten out of them. To that end, Chavo got some nice offense in, and while I'm not normally a fan of run-ins, Big Show's run-in sort of fit and made you think that maybe Undertaker would lose.

Like I said before, a solid show, but I have one major complaint. Maybe I missed it, and if I did, O-sters, let me know, but it was Halloween last night. Where the fuck was The Boogeyman?

Tha Results:
*The Miz & John Morrison def. Carlito & Primo
*Jimmy Wang Yang def. The Brian Kendrick by DQ
*Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy, & Rey Mysterio def. Kane, Mark Henry & MVP
*Michelle McCool, Maria & Brie Bella def. Maryse, Natalya & Victoria
*Undertaker def. Chavo Guerrero

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