STEEL CAGE MATCH FOR THE WWE UNITEDE STATES TTITLE: Santino Marella(c) vs. Jack Swagger (w/Vickie Guerrero & Dolph Ziggler)- 5/10.
GRRR! The wrong guy went over here. At least they protected Swagger.

ALICIA FOX VIDEO PACKAGE- pretty good

SEGMENT WITH TEDDY LONG & JOHNNY ACE- Oh. NOW Teddy wants to play nice. Well Teddy, maybe you should have thought about that on Raw when you were being an a**hole to Johnny Ace.

DREW MCINTYRE vs. HORNSWOGGLE- DUD!
First of all, what was the point of the swerve with Khali? Answer: There was none (unless Johnny Ace wanted to screw with McIntyre for some reason). It is a horrible swerve to the fans as there was no excitement going into McIntyre vs. Khali because we only found out that it would me McIntyre vs. Khali 90 seconds ago!
The McIntyre mercilessly beating Hornswoggle takes away all of the sympathy he has built up since this angle began… and gives Teddy a reason to just come out and fire him next week!

TEDDY LONG & AKSANA SEGMENT- Teddy Long is horrible. Maybe it’s just me, but I am having a lot of trouble caring about this, in part, because the vibe I got from the Teddy-Aksana segments was that she is a gold-digger, so the prospect of seeing her get her ass kicked actually makes me kind of happy.

EZEKIEL JACKSON vs. MARK HENRY- eh squash. I felt like Zeke got too much offense in.

TEDDY LONG (w/Aksana) vs. John Laurinaitis (w/David Otunga)- BIG FAT DUD!
Maybe the problem was Teddy’s facial reactions here, but it seemed like Teddy lucked out because Randy Orton decided to attack Kane, rather than this being some sort of plan. And even if it was the plan, it was a bad plan, as there is still an hour of showtime left for Johnny Ace to have the Aksana vs. Kane match. And Teddy and Aksana leaving the arena is a bad idea because now Johnny Ace can go to the board of directors and say “Look at Aksana. She left her job early. She should get in major trouble for this.” Also, ONCE AGAIN Teddy Long 100% gets the better of Johnny Ace, so there is no heat on him at all!

KOFI KINGSTON & R-TRUTH vs. EPICO & PRIMO (w/Rosa Mendes)- 4.75/10

DRAGON-SHEAMUS CONFRONTATION- It is WAY too early to pull the trigger on starting AJ’s babyface turn, and it is especially unnecessary this week, which will be (I believe) the first time that Dragon has actually teamed with heels during this slow turn. Otherwise, an okay segment.

RANDY ORTON, SHEAMUS, & THE BIG SHOW vs. CODY RHODES, THE MIZ, & DANIEL BRYAN (w/AJ)- 6.75/10.
Not up to main event standards, but I'll give it a pass because I really liked the storytelling here, and how they used it to not give away too much for Mania.

ORTON & KANE BRAWL- good.

Booker T needs to be removed from the announce position. At best he contradicts himself and at worst, he rambles on making no sense at all. At his best, he is trying to support the babyfaces with the same selective application of morals that was the trademark of great heel announcers like Heenan and Lawler, which just takes credibility away from the babyfaces.


Overall, a bad episode of Smackdown.

Big Red Machine wrote:
DRAGON-SHEAMUS CONFRONTATION- It is WAY too early to pull the trigger on starting AJ’s babyface turn, and it is especially unnecessary this week, which will be (I believe) the first time that Dragon has actually teamed with heels during this slow turn. Otherwise, an okay segment.

while the face turn does feel rush, it has to be ready by WM which is where it needs to happen, AJ is gonna play a huge part in that match.

Big Red Machine wrote:TEDDY LONG & AKSANA SEGMENT- Teddy Long is horrible. Maybe it’s just me, but I am having a lot of trouble caring about this, in part, because the vibe I got from the Teddy-Aksana segments was that she is a gold-digger, so the prospect of seeing her get her a** kicked actually makes me kind of happy.

Wasn't that her previous gimmick before the thing with Teddy Long? She wanted to marry Goldust then divorced him because she didn't want to be kicked out of the country and turned out to be a gold digger. I don't know if they wrapped that program up.

Rabid619 wrote:

Big Red Machine wrote:TEDDY LONG & AKSANA SEGMENT- Teddy Long is horrible. Maybe it’s just me, but I am having a lot of trouble caring about this, in part, because the vibe I got from the Teddy-Aksana segments was that she is a gold-digger, so the prospect of seeing her get her a** kicked actually makes me kind of happy.

Wasn't that her previous gimmick before the thing with Teddy Long? She wanted to marry Goldust then divorced him because she didn't want to be kicked out of the country and turned out to be a gold digger. I don't know if they wrapped that program up.

They didn't, which is why I am/was suspicious.

cero2k wrote:

Big Red Machine wrote:
DRAGON-SHEAMUS CONFRONTATION- It is WAY too early to pull the trigger on starting AJ’s babyface turn, and it is especially unnecessary this week, which will be (I believe) the first time that Dragon has actually teamed with heels during this slow turn. Otherwise, an okay segment.

while the face turn does feel rush, it has to be ready by WM which is where it needs to happen, AJ is gonna play a huge part in that match.

I would agree with you if Dragon was facing Big Show (as we have never had AJ forgive Big Show, which seemed, at the time at least, to be a mental block to both him and her), but he isn't. I think that AJ's face turn should be held off until Dragon and Big Show have their blow off.

I also think that having AJ turn face at Mania will take the attention away from where it should be (Sheamus, assuming that he wins).

Big Red Machine wrote:

cero2k wrote:

Big Red Machine wrote:
DRAGON-SHEAMUS CONFRONTATION- It is WAY too early to pull the trigger on starting AJ’s babyface turn, and it is especially unnecessary this week, which will be (I believe) the first time that Dragon has actually teamed with heels during this slow turn. Otherwise, an okay segment.

while the face turn does feel rush, it has to be ready by WM which is where it needs to happen, AJ is gonna play a huge part in that match.

I would agree with you if Dragon was facing Big Show (as we have never had AJ forgive Big Show, which seemed, at the time at least, to be a mental block to both him and her), but he isn't. I think that AJ's face turn should be held off until Dragon and Big Show have their blow off.

I also think that having AJ turn face at Mania will take the attention away from where it should be (Sheamus, assuming that he wins).

i completely agree, i'm just thinking that AJ will create that opening that sheamus will take for the win, it could be the whole turn or just the thing that triggers Dragon going crazy at her

Big Red Machine wrote:

Rabid619 wrote:

Big Red Machine wrote:TEDDY LONG & AKSANA SEGMENT- Teddy Long is horrible. Maybe it’s just me, but I am having a lot of trouble caring about this, in part, because the vibe I got from the Teddy-Aksana segments was that she is a gold-digger, so the prospect of seeing her get her a** kicked actually makes me kind of happy.

Wasn't that her previous gimmick before the thing with Teddy Long? She wanted to marry Goldust then divorced him because she didn't want to be kicked out of the country and turned out to be a gold digger. I don't know if they wrapped that program up.

They didn't, which is why I am/was suspicious.

Thats what Ive been thinking all along...