WWE Friday Night Smackdown! 2/8/08

This is late, but better late than never...

Smackdown began with the 6 Elimination Chamber entrants trading words in the ring. Typical WWE fare... Batista starts by being interviewed by Michael Cole, then superstar after superstar interrupts until everyone is in the ring. This match at the upcoming No Way Out PPV confuses me a bit... Batista, Khali, Big Daddy V and Undertaker all make sense. I'm still confused as to why MVP and Finlay are in this match. I don't think anyone can take the idea of either MVP or Finlay winning that match seriously, so why bother putting them in it? If it were me booking the match, I would have included Kane, and re-introduced Big Show (The internet rumor mill suggested that Big Show would be unveiled at the Royal Rumble, but that never happened). I mean, if you are going to have a match filled with giants, make them all giants. Don't get me wrong, as Batista said, there will be a ton of men in the Smackdown Elimination Chamber... but I think my version would be far better.

Next up we saw Kane vs. Shelton Benjamin. I'm not sure what it is, but Shelton Benjamin's mic skills have waned. He used to be quite good on the mic, particularly during the Shelton Benjamin/Triple H feud. My gut tells me that he's really quite a humble guy, and it's hard for him to play the part of the conceited 'gold standard' of ECW. This was an entertaining match. SB did an impressive flying neck breaker off the turnbuckle... it put John Cena's 'throwback' to shame.

After commercial, we were served another bland episode of 'Chuck Palumbo fights with Jamie Noble over Michelle McCool'. Actually, I was pleasantly surprised by this match, It was actually a good, quick-paced match... but of course, that would soon be ruined. After the Chuck pinned Noble... this whole episode... dragged on... forever. Seriously, all the oversold (Chuck, you're not a good actor) street fight garbage lasted longer than the wrestling match (Trust me, I timed it). You know, I think my biggest gripe with this whole story line is, how are we supposed to believe the new. 'American Bad Ass Rip-off' Chuck Palumbo (see Exhibit A), when all that we can remember is the 'ambiguously gay Billy & Chuck', Chuck Palumbo (see Exhibit B)












Seriously... I think this is why, at least in my mind, he never got over in the 'new' version of the F.B.I. stable.

Jamie & Festus vs. Deuce & Domino: Ugh... please don't waste my time.

Cutting Edge with Vickie Guerrero & Rey Mysterio. I am more sick of this storyline than other. Seriously, it's really in poor taste. After the whole Matt Hardy/Lita/Edge fiasco, I don't put anything past Edge, but I am astounded that Vickie, Rey & Chavo would agree to have anything to do with this storyline, especially in light of Eddie Guerrero's death. Yes, I know Eddie would want the show to go on, but I hardly think that he's condone this nonsense. Plus, Vickie is the worst on the mic than anyone. ...and I repeat what I said in a previous entry, put away and forget the 'GM in a wheelchair' storyline. It's lame, and we're really sick of seeing it.

Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins got over on Jimmy Yang Wang and Shannon Moore again. Should be any day now before they are given the tag titles.

The Main Event presented the Elimination Chamber entrants in a 3-on-3 tag. Seriously, did you guys really need to come back from commercial to show the 6 entrances, just to go back to commercial when they're over? On a side note, I still chuckle when I think about the Royal Rumble... I think the real reason Undertaker was the first in the ring was due to the length of his entrance. If he was anywhere but #1, the next three guys would have made it to the ring before he even got there. Heh.

Anyhow, when we returned from commercial I was pleasantly surprised at the speed of this match considering the size of the men in it. Things wrapped up with Batista, Undertaker and Finlay in the middle of the ring staring down each other. I could help but laugh... Finlay, seriously, you have no chance... You and MVP shouldn't be in the chamber at No Way Out.