The John Report: Talking Smack for 11/13/09 (Undertaker vs. Jericho)

Welcome to the Talking Smack column where I offer up a quick rundown of WWE's Friday broadcast, Smackdown.

Before I start, I need to do some important shilling. I've started up a blog. At this blog I will be posting all of my columns at the same time that you read them on this website, plus some shorter commentaries on things, maybe a bit of news, some sports or TV related stuff and most likely some older columns too. I may throw the odd poll or two up there asking you guys what you want me to write. There's a very good chance that I'll do a twice a week mailbag type feature too. I'm still working on making it up real nice and adding things to it, so for now it's still in the beginning stages. Give it a look, bookmark it and tell your friends. The address is johnreport.wordpress.com and I promise absolutely no popups either. The most recent post came a few days ago on the anniversary of Eddie Guerrero's death, which you can read here. Give it a look. I'll have more about the blog in Tuesday's Raw Deal because I plan to spend some time working on it over the next couple of days.

Now, onto Smackdown.

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Taped from Sheffield, England let's talk some smack…

This crowd wasn't as good as the Raw crowd. Maybe it's because this was after the Christian/Regal match from ECW, which probably deflated them a bit due to their countryman Regal didn't get the win. I don't know. It just didn't seem that they were up for this show although they were for the main event.

CM Punk d. R-Truth (**)
Before the match, Punk cut his "I'm better than you because I'm straight edge" type promo. He mentioned filing a complaint about ref Scott Armstrong. Can I file a complain to the writing team for not having a good storyline for a great heel like CM Punk after he carried the title picture while Undertaker was out? No? Okay then. They did the "out on the floor so let's go to a commercial spot" and when they came back Truth was on offense a bit. Crowd was pretty dead for it. When you can really notice the piped in noise it's not a good thing. Punk went for the GTS, Truth countered that, which Punk then countered by sitting on top of him right near the ropes with his hand on the ropes. Ref never saw it. Cheat to win by CM Punk. Just okay. It's kind of disappointing that a former World Champion has to cheat to win against a guy that usually loses. Maybe he should have worn that suit, huh? I hope Punk gets a real feud after Survivor Series. I have my doubts.

- My girl Mickie James-Canton was walking backstage when approached by Layla. She talked some junk to Mickie while in the background Michelle sneaked into Mickie's dressing room. I've never been so jealous of Michelle. Layla tells Mickie that they warned her about being on Smackdown.

Natalya d. Mickie James (*1/2)
Holy shit, a match with two women who are actually trained wrestlers that were hired by WWE in a way that didn't involve a Diva Search! Crazy! Was Vince McMahon sleeping when this was booked? Natalya was on offense early. The difference between her offense and most of WWE's women? It actually looks like it might hurt. That's pro wrestling. It has to look convincing. When 110 pound women are doing rehearsed spots that look unnatural to them it's not convincing. What I'm saying is hire more actual women wrestlers, please. Mickie came back, which cued Michelle and Layla to come out with some of her clothes. It was her purple wrestling outfit. They cut it up with scissors while Natalya used the distraction to put her in the Sharpshooter. My poor defenseless Mickie tapped out. Damn evil bitches. I guess they came through on their warning. Match was pretty good although I wish it went longer than 3 and a half minutes. These two could probably have the best ten minute women's match on the roster if they ever got the chance.

- They showed the video package for Mania. I read ticket sales went well, but still plenty of seats left. The lower area is mostly gone, I imagine. I read that they're doing Smackdown after Mania in Vegas, which tempts me to plan my Vegas trip around that time. Then I thought, "nah, I don't want to see wrestling in Vegas." I want to blow my money in Vegas. That's better.

- John Morrison did an interview backstage for his match with Dolph Ziggler. He's getting a little better at cutting a promo, which is nice to see.

- Drew McIntyre came out next to say he'll fight Finlay in a match this time rather than jumping him before the bell. What a swell guy.

Drew McIntyre vs. Finlay ended up being a double DQ (*)
Lots of brawling here. I like McIntyre's aggressiveness a lot. It wasn't much of a match as it ended up being called a double DQ after about two minutes of official match time. I'm guessing this leads to more next week. Post match, McIntyre continued his aggressiveness by KOing Finlay twice using the shillelagh in a very effective manner. They really put over how much of a beating this was. I am loving the McIntyre push thus far. He's really looking like somebody with great potential even though I would hope that they can add more to his character than the "jump the guy before the match" thing.

- The Batista/Mysterio contract signing for Survivor Series was next. I thought it was going to be longer than it was. They didn't do much promo wise. They each signed the contract and then Batista had another one for Rey to sign. It was a contract that stated Batista can't be sued for the things he's going to do to Rey at Survivor Series. Rey said he wouldn't sign it, then Batista talked some more junk and Rey signed it to prove that he wasn't scared of him. Mysterio flipped the table over onto Batista, and then hightailed it out of there while Batista sold the table hurting him more than he's sold a wrestling move in his career. Go table! I think the booking for that match ahs to be Batista absolutely destroying Mysterio. Anything else would be foolish. Don't have a blowoff at the December TLC PPV. Have the beatdown at Survivor Series.

Intercontinental Title: John Morrison vs. Dolph Ziggler ended in a double countout (**)
This was alright, but you could tell they weren't going all out and that there'd be another match in the future. The most shocking thing here was that they went to commercial without somebody going to the floor. I swear Vince McMahon was asleep for this show. Ziggler worked on Morrison's abdominal region for much of the match probably so that Matt Striker can talk about Morrison's abs even more than he normally does. Seriously dude, enough talk about abs. Morrison came back, Ziggler countered Starship Pain with a rollup, but this ref saw it and broke it up. The match ended on a spot with Morrison on the top rope and Ziggler on the apron. They both went flying off as they took hard bumps into the barricade on the floor. The ref counted both guys out with neither man moving much at all the entire time. The last match was a double DQ and this match was a double countout. That's fine. Builds to rematches.

Beth Phoenix d. Lisa Taylor
Squash match again that went just over a minute. I guess they need to establish that Beth is tough even though we've known that considering she's been in WWE for three years.

Backstage, the best in the business Chris Jericho said he's not scared of a man like Undertaker and that he can be beat. Jericho said he will beat him.

Next week: Intercontinental title match with Morrison defending against Ziggler in a 2 out of 3 falls match. I think this is the time for Ziggler to win. Why give him six or seven title shots and lose all the time? It should be a good showcase match that gets 20-25 minutes or so.

The Undertaker d. Chris Jericho (***1/4)
I'm not a big fan of giving this match away for the "first time ever" (that's a questionable claim, by the way) on Smackdown considering how PPV buys are down all across the board and this could have been one of the few singles matches that they could have had as a draw. I've even read that there's talk of doing this as a singles match at Mania, which would have been great except that they did it here. Who knows, though? Come April we might forget about this match. I just think part of the appeal of this match could have been that it was never done as a program before and if they did it for the "first time ever" at WrestleMania with Jericho walking in as champ it would have been a special match. Now? It won't be as special.

The match was pretty good. It wasn't the kind of must see match that it could be if they went 25 minutes, which his what I'd expect on a PPV. This was a 14 minute match that saw Jericho get way more offense than I ever would have thought. I assume that they booked it this way just so that these two could get familiar with eachother in the ring before they do have that singles match at a PPV whether it's at the Rumble, WrestleMania or wherever. I loved the spot where Undertaker went for the Last Ride out of the corner, then Jericho countered it with the Codebreaker and that got a really believable two count. Jericho went for a Tombstone, Undertaker countered that and Jericho was then able to counter that for a Lionsault. Taker then sat up and choked him, but Chris countered into the Walls. Undertaker then countered that into the Hell's Gate triangle choke for the tap out victory because Jericho wasn't close enough to the ropes. See, the last three or four minutes were great. It was just too pedestrian in the beginning. I guess I had high hopes. I'm assuming this was done because Jericho's winning the belt at Survivor Series. I hope so. We don't need another month with the Undertaker having the belt.

Post match, Big Show came out. They worked over Undertaker a bit when Kane came out. Show bailed, leaving Jericho to eat a big boot from Kane. So Kane's a face again? How many turns has this guy had in the 12 years since he's been in WWE? He might have more turns than anybody in the history of WWE.

Cut to backstage. Vince McMahon's talking on a phone to Teddy Long. I think Vince just woke up. See how excited he was about Undertaker and Kane? I think he's one of the few. They end up booking Kane & Undertaker vs. Big Show & Jericho for next week. The best finish to that would be Kane staying heel by beating the crap out of Undertaker with Show & Jericho, but I doubt it. And I really don't ever want to see Kane vs. Undertaker again.

Three Stars of the Show
1. Chris Jericho – Good main event even though I expected a bit more. I'm greedy, I know.
2. The Undertaker – Same as above. I'm really noticing his limitations in the ring now more than ever. He's still good, but age catches up to ya.
3. Drew McIntyre – He continues to impress me. I'm a fan.

6.5 out of 10
Last week: 4.5

I thought it was a good episode of Smackdown, much better than Raw. I would like to see more done to promote the Undertaker/Show/Jericho triple threat match at Survivor Series, though. How about some interviews? I know they did a bit last week, but it needs more. Like I said, I also think it's foolish to give away Jericho vs. Undertaker for free when that's one of the few money matches the company has left.

I'm looking forward to Ziggler vs. Morrison next week. I doubt it will be as good as Rey vs. Morrison was simply because Ziggler's not as good as Rey, but I think if given time they could have a four star match for sure. Like I said above, Drew McIntyre continues to impress me too.

Smackdown continues to be a much better show than Raw. Imagine that. A show that doesn't rely on bad jokes and doesn't kiss the ass of a person that has nothing to do with the PPV is better than the one that does those things. Crazy, huh?

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That's it. Just wanted to make a note that if you've emailed me in the last month or so and I haven't got back to ya I will do so soon. I'm a bit behind, but I'm catching up as best I can. Remember to check out the blog located at johnreport.wordpress.com and I'll see you again on Tuesday for The Raw Deal.

Smell ya later,
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