2010 Discussion

Discuss 2010 in Smackdown

CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio - Smackdown 2/12/2010
Liked this one more than the Mania match, and I thought the Mania match was truly stellar. They pretty much worked a perfect TV match formula. CM Punk establishes himself early as a cocky douche, pushing Rey and taunting him and all that. Rey shines through most of the pre-commercial break stuff, but at the same time, Punk proves a formidable villain. Rey seems to be one step ahead of Punk, which frustrates him, but he gets some stiff kicks to the head in. We go to commercial with a SES huddle.

Rey takes Punk to the outside, continuing his one-step-ahead-of-the-bad-guy dealio. But, on the outside, the SES closes in, showing the benefits of the huddle. Punk takes advantage of the distraction to hit a disgusting back suplex thing onto the rail. Pretty sick looking transition spot, and it also played a big role in the story of the match. From there, we get a really good control segment from Punk, with Rey playing the FIP role as well as he always does. Lots of devastating shit: baseball slide that smashed Rey into the ring post and a nasty backbreaker both stuck out. Plus he got a bow and arrow in, which Rey countered into a nice near fall.

Lots of good hope spots/comebacks/cut-offs for such a short match, and it made me appreciate the Mania match more. Like, Rey hit the springboard crossbody thing in this match, but then at Mania, Punk countered that into a powerslam (love Punk's powerslam, btw). And here, Rey rolled through a school boy and then kicked Punk in the head. At Mania, Rey rolled through a sunset flip and went for the kick, but Punk ducked and cradled him. I like shit like that.

Pretty great finish, too. SES comes back into play, fitting the story, and, like in the beginning and at Mania, Rey proves quick enough to stay ahead of the bad guys. I think HunterGolden over on WF said that the Mania match had kind of a "bad guys slipping on the marbles" feel, and I liked that.

Basically, I just thought this was a delightful TV match. Great formula, cool counters, quick exchanges (didn't have the crazy counter-heavy back-and-forth pace of the Mania match, but it was still a damn fun watch), and then the SES side story put it slightly ahead of a lot of other quality TV matches.

Sticking with ***3/4, and I'd say it's the second-best WWE match of the year so far.

Kane Vs Dolph Ziggler - WWE Smackdown 01/01/2010
This match lasts 7:20, since its a beat the clock challenge match, and neither of them beat the clock . Anyways... Todd and Matt are putting over Dolph's amateur abilities before the match starts, and once the bell rings he runs at Kane for a double leg takedown, but holy shit Kane is holding his own on the mat! Always entertains me to see Kane working the mat with someone lol. After all, the guy DID "wrestle" in a "shoot" promotion, so I guess he had to have picked some stuff up back then lol. People can say what they want about Kane, but I honestly think the big man has really stepped it up this year, and some of the matches that really show it are these matches with Dolph, starting with this one. Kane keeps Dolph at bay with his strength and by throwing out some shit that you wouldn't expect from him, while Dolph waits for Kane to make a mistake and does whatever he can to try and ground the big man. The clock counts down with about 2 minutes left, and Kane keeps throwing out some power moves in hopes of beating Ziggler, but nothing seems to work. The chokeslam is set up, but Dolph escapes, and locks in the sleeper!!! Dolph looks like he legit wants to kill Kane with the sleeper lol, but unfortunately he doesn't have enough time left on the clock to succeed and pick up the win. This one is a draw. Good stuff here. Kane looked great, and Ziggler looked really great. He brought some intensity to the match, while Kane brought a side of him we don't often see. Good chemistry between the two as well, can't wait to watch their other matches.

Rating: **1/2

Drew McIntyre Vs John Morrison - WWE Smackdown 01/01/2010
After really loving Drew in his matches with Christian later in the year, I'm hoping to see some greatness from him in this match too. I do recall these two having some decent matches. Morrison seems to just jump around for the first minute or so, including one awful looking thing on the outside from the guardrail, where Drew is clearly holding him to help him keep his balance and then let him jump into him. Was just fucking terrible looking . Morrison's foot ends up getting caught in the ropes, and in typical vicious Drew fashion, he targets the injured body part. Morrison does a decent job of selling the leg, but still manages to jump around a few more times. Despite having an injured leg, Morrison is pretty much in control for the entire match (which isn't very long) before McIntyre gets Morrison DQ'd. Ummm... yeah. I was expecting a decent match or something, but instead its a short match with a lame finish that is just building up to another match. I get why matches end like this from time to time, but I don't like it when the grudge match is just gonna happen on TV rather than PPV, especially when its for the IC title or something. Reminds me of the Morrison/Ziggler match I saw live in 2009 when I went to see SD, and it ended in a lame double countout just to build to a 2/3 falls match a week later.

Rating: 1/2*

Rey Mysterio Vs Chris Jericho - WWE Smackdown 01/01/2010
Another beat the clock challenge match. Jericho tries to get a win early by launching Rey out of the ring and getting a countout victory to save him using up any energy, but Rey isn't going to be beaten so easily and so quickly. The whole match is pretty much just a condensed version of what we saw for the most of 2009 between them. Its not a bad thing, because they always had good matches together, but its nothing new at all, and doesn't compare to most of their other matches. That being said though, it IS a nice little TV match, and I loved the Codebreaker near the end of the match. Nice to see them still playing up on the fact they know each other really well because of all their matches the year before, so they can still bring out counters to shit and you can believe that they weren't JUST thrown into the match to look cool. Rey picks up the win with 1 second left on the clock thanks to a small package! Good match, even if it doesn't exactly hold a candle to their PPV contests.

Rating: **3/4

Kane Vs Dolph Ziggler - WWE Smackdown 08/01/2010
Last week they had a beat the clock challenge match, and just when it seemed that Dolph might have Kane beat with the sleeper, the time ran out and we didn't get a winner. Its time to find out if Dolph can actually beat Kane or not! More awesomeness from Kane in the early going, mixing up those big rights he likes to throw, along with headlock takedowns and that nice dropkick he does to the face while his opponent is sat up. Dolph gets in some nice offence as he tries to take down Kane, with my favourite being the kick to the back of the knee followed by a DDT. Plenty of back and forth action throughout the match, with Kane overpowering Dolph at every turn, and Dolph just constantly going on the attack and trying to take Kane down and trying to lock in the sleeper. The sleeper is finally locked in, as Kane does his best to fight out, causing them both to fall out of the ring with the hold still on place! The ref starts his count, and when he gets to 8, Dolph releases the hold and makes it back into the ring! Dolph beats Kane! Dolph beats Kane! A little better than their match the previous week, and yet another really enjoyable and good TV match!

Rating: **3/4

Chris Jericho Vs John Morrison - WWE Smackdown 15/01/2010
Jericho shoves Morrison at the start of the match, so Morrison comes back with a slap to the face, which hurts Jericho way more than it should due to his face being smashed in by Mike Tyson on Raw earlier in the week. Morrison knocks Jericho out of the ring, then goes to the ropes, only to be distracted by Drew McIntyre coming out to sit at ringside. We go to commercial break, and when we come back I kinda expected Jericho to be in control thanks to the distraction from Drew... but nope. Its Morrison's awful jumpy offence that allows Jericho to gain control when he is able to shove Morrison off the ropes to the outside. Lucky for me Jericho manages to be awesome in this match, because Morrison sure as hell isn't (and I'm not one of those Morrison hates usually lol). Little things like taking Morrison's knee to the face like a MAN, and blocking his face from being punched only to get hit in the gut instead because he left it wide open. Fucking hell Matt Striker is awful. I can't believe I used to like the guy, because almost everything he says is retarded as hell. Apparently Jericho is the baddest man on the planet now because he got knocked out by Tyson. And apparently "some people" might say that Tyson double crossed Jericho on Raw, to which Todd replies with "well didn't he?". Drew sort of, but not really, plays a part in the finish, and Jericho picks up the win with the codebreaker. Match was... ok. Not that good, but not something I would call bad. Crowd were dead, Drew being at ringside was wasted and somewhat pointless, and Morrison didn't bring anything to the match other than some jumpy shit. Jericho definitely held it together and prevented it from being awful.

Rating: *

Kane Vs Dolph Ziggler - WWE Smackdown 15/01/2010
First match was a draw. Second match Dolph won via countout. Can Kane get his revenge, or can Dolph get that decisive win over Kane he has been looking for? Kane just destroys Dolph for the first few minutes of the match, as he is pretty pissed at what Dolph has done to him over the last couple of weeks. I don't think Dolph gets in ANY offence until 3 or 4 minutes in, and the first thing he does is get a boot up, and immediately goes for the sleeper. Good stuff. Kane, however, has felt the sleeper enough in the last two weeks and made sure he countered it as quickly as possible by sending Dolph over the ropes to the floor. During the commercial break, Dolph gains control and can now ground Kane and begin to wear him down for the sleeper hold later on in the match. Just as Kane was able to counter the sleeper hold when Ziggler went for it, Ziggler shows that he too has some of Kane's offence figured out and makes sure he rolls out of the ring before Kane can fly off the ropes for the clothesline. Shades of last week with Ziggler locking in the sleeper on the outside trying to wear down Kane for perhaps another countout victory, but Kane smashes Dolph into the ring post to break it. Back in the ring we get a rather nice finishing stretch, with some really nice counters before Kane kills Dolph with a vicious chokeslam. Yet another good match from these two, and this is definitely their best together. Plenty of callback spots from their previous matches, moments where we see that both men have "evolved" so to speak and were able to avoid and counter moves that they were unable to in previous matches, and then an actual finish to conclude this little TV feud.

Rating: ***1/4

Drew McIntyre & Chris Jericho Vs John Morrison & R-Truth - WWE Smackdown 22/01/2010
Match was originally set to be a handicap match, but Teddy Long added R-Truth to it. Just thought I would add that random bit of info for ya. Babyface shine period to start things off, but things really pick up when Jericho takes down R-Truth from the apron, and McIntyre and Jericho can start to heel it up and control the match and John Morrison, essentially turning it into the handicap match that was supposed to happen. Jericho getting off the apron to tell the announcers that Drew is a true champion while Drew is punishing Morrison in the ring is... well, its just super. God bless WWE for still having STF in their tag matches. Heels controlling, babyfaces providing hope spots, and heels preventing the hot tag as often as possible. Its what I wanted to see during the MCMG/Beer Money matches, but instead they opted for nothing more than MOVES~!, and as such they ended up sucking. Not this match though! Its far from sucking. Drew and Jericho play complete dicks absolutely perfectly in this match, from cheapshotting Morrison at every opportunity while they are stood on the apron, to looking smug as fuck because the match is going their way. Morrison does a great job as the FIP, selling the beatdown nicely and making me believe that he really WANTS that tag. Any time he gets some offence in or reverses something, he goes for the tag straight away rather than trying to build more momentum for himself or trying to get a pin or some stupid shit like you sometimes see. Everything they are doing in the match is just STF 101, and any tag teams in WWE, TNA and anywhere else should really study the damn formula more often. The hot tag pays off nicely, as the crowd get pretty hot when Morrison is crawling over, and give Truth a pretty good pop for tagging in finally. Liked the finish, with Morrison giving Jericho a taste of his own medicine and cheapshotting him, allowing Truth to hit his axe kick thing and pick up the win! Great tag match. Plenty of time, STF done extremely well, great FIP performance from Morrison, and a nice payback ending. Exactly what I look for in tag matches. Another very strong TV MOTYC.

Rating: ***1/2

Triple H Vs CM Punk - WWE Smackdown 29/01/2010
They go back and forth in the beginning, with HHH doing a little better than Punk, until the SES on the outside are enough to distract the Game for Punk to take control. This turns out ot be a pretty good competitive match between the two men. Punk gets some awesome looking kicks in on HHH, and HHH does a great job of being the babyface while also living up to the name of cerebral assassin. Things get even better towards the end, shame it had to end in a DQ, but the SES did a nice job on the outside saving Punk on a couple of occasions. I think this may have been a little better than what I remembered it, but I don't remember exactly what I thought of it back when i first saw it. Aftermath is cool too, with Punk elbowing the fuck out of HHH to try and shave his head before HBK comes out for the save, and teases superkicking Serena.

Rating: ***

Drew McIntyre Vs John Morrison - WWE Smackdown 29/01/2010
This one is No DQ or No Holds Barred or something like that. Basically to prevent Drew from getting himself DQ'd or positioning Morrison to get DQ'd. Hey, a decent match! About time they had one . Drew controlling a lot of the match and beating the shit out of Morrison is the main highlight (not because I hate Morrison, but because Drew being a vicious bastard is pretty great to watch), and Morrison's offence, like Mysterio's, is great when it comes to hope spots and comebacks. DDT on the IC belt is awesome, but the pin is about as gay as it gets in a "sport" where two guys half naked touch each other. Really enjoyed this one, and was a nice end (I hope its the end anyway lol) to their feud over the IC title. Plenty of HATE~!, some nice little spots, and a good finish (with a gay pin. GAY~!).

Rating: ***

Rey Mysterio Vs Shawn Michaels - WWE Smackdown 29/01/2010
I still remember seeing this SD for the first time, and how excited I was for it. Firstly, its HBK Vs Mysterio, and the second time its ever happened. Secondly, its Undertaker's RR opponent Vs Undertaker's WM opponent, and for some reason that interests me even more than it simply being Rey vs Shawn lol. Poor little Rey ends up getting a red chest early on thanks to Shawn chopping the shit out of it lol. Really awesome sequence just before the first commercial break with both guys teasing their finishers and then both ending up on the floor. Aside from Rey getting the worse end of some chops, its all been even so far, so it was a nice way to go to commercial break as both guys are babyfaces after all. Really weird to see Rey controlling a match and going after a body part (Shawn's leg). Hell, I find it weird to see either of these men actually controlling a match these days since they are uber babyfaces, and both are way better at doing hope spots and comebacks than anything else. That being said, there sure as hell isn't anything even close to being bad in the match. Rey does a pretty good job for the short time he has control, and Shawn does even better. Nice to see him get a little revenge on Rey by injuring his leg and going after it, and that modified figure four type move looked AWESOME. Finishing stretch, as you would expect with these two guys, is really fun, and of course seeing the springboard into a superkick is always awesome. Match ends with Batista spearing HBK. Match is... well, not as good as I first thought . Was definitely my TV MOTY at the time, and thinking about it, I don't recall anything else happening on TV that I would have rated the same as this, so technically it was still my TV MOTY until now lol (gave it ***3/4 first time around). However, watching it again, I saw the match to be nothing THAT special. It was two babyfaces having a match without a feud or a story, trading control segments and then going into a big finishing stretch. It was good, it was fun to watch, but it was missing something big that would have helped make it a great match.

Rating: ***

Christian Vs Drew McIntyre - WWE Smackdown 16/07/2010
Damn, these two don't waste any time going at it, its almost like they have wrestled a bunch of times already and don't want to mess around with a warm up or shit lol. Cool to see a variation of that move Christian does in the ropes where he falls back and kicks the guy in the face. Normally he does it in the corner, but here its on the apron and is done to kick McIntyre in the back of the head and off the apron. I'm a fan of the move in general, but it does kinda get predictable in his matches so I'm loving the variation. Oh, and this is about 30 seconds into the match too lol. Like I said, they ain't wasting their time! Its a couple of days before the MITB PPV, and both guys are in the match, so them going at it right from the start makes sense as they both want to make a statement going into the PPV. Loving the shit they do on the apron in this match btw. First it was Christian's kick thing, then McIntyre with a neckbreaker on Christian using the top rope, and then a great (and sick looking) bump from Christian from the top rope falling backwards and landing on the apron on his way down. Love how Drew tries to do the same thing a few minutes later when Christian is getting in some offence, only for Christian to counter with a great Tornado DDT. Christian is really awesome in this. He plays the veteran really well; countering the relatively new Drew and timing his comebacks nicely (one point was when he got a shot in at Drew, knocking Drew into the corner but didn't go after him. Instead he waited for Drew to come after HIM, and he went straight for a drop toe hold. Simple, but I liked it). Drew was great too, as he seemed to get better as the match went on; learning how to counter Christian and eventually realising that cheating would be the best method of gaining the upperhand long enough to hit his DDT and win. Really, really great sub-10 minute TV match. Glad that Sterling's pimping of these Christian/Drew matches made me go back and watch it . Now to watch the other two!

Rating: ***

Christian Vs Drew McIntyre - WWE Smackdown 30/07/2010
Apparently you can "feel Drew enter your world" when he makes his entrance. I'm not sure what to make of that. Things are a little slower at the start of the match, no doubt since both guys have been in the ring with each other a few times by now and are a little wary of each other lol. Christian, and I know I keep saying this, really does come across as the veteran with his actions in the ring. Every time I watch the guy, he just does a great job of establishing that he is the veteran (for the most part anyway lol, he seems to wrestle younger guys more than older guys these days), and he works with that better than almost anyone else right now. Drew takes a couple of good bumps, especially the back bump into the apron following a dropkick. The transition spot where Drew leads Christian closer to the ring so he can smash his arm into the metal part of the ring apron is fucking glorious. Not only is the spot well done, but it means Christian gets to sell his arm . As we saw in his series with Swagger last year, Christian can sell the arm (and other body parts) better than probably anyone in the company today. Nice control segment from Drew as he works over the arm and is nice and vicious about it. All culminates in Christian's comeback (another thing he is great at), and a nice finishing stretch complete with selling of the arm (a lot of very talented wrestlers tend to stop selling towards the end, but not Christian!). Matt Striker actually says something smart when he talks about Christian's veteran instincts and how he lures Drew into position so he can do something (like I mentioned in my last review), and it plays a big part in the finish with Christian countering the DDT and pinning Drew with a small package! Another fantastic TV match here, and again I think it was sub-10 minutes, but a little longer than their first match. Christian's selling of the arm was fantastic as usual (not up there with the Swagger match, but still great), and Drew's offence looked focused and vicious, and just great.

Rating: ***1/2

Christian Vs Drew McIntyre - WWE Smackdown 20/08/2010
Drew basically running at Christian and going after the arm as soon as the bell rings is awesome. Christian making McIntyre look like a fool is awesome. McIntyre getting pissed off and making sure he injures Christian's arm again is epicly awesome. The whole Christian arm injury is reminding me of Benoit in 2005, where he got it injured in the MITB match, and continued to sell it in his matches for the next couple of weeks, and that's exactly what Christian is doing here. Plus something like this allows for storytelling to be automatically added to the match no matter the opponent, and storytelling is what its all about. McIntyre is even more vicious than last time with his attacks on the arm, and hell, Christian is even better with selling the arm too. Sterling mentioned a DDT spot from Christian, where he hits the move and sells the arm at the same time, and you really have to see it to see its awesomeness. Loved the finish to this match, again plays into Christian being a great veteran, and keeps Drew looking somewhat strong in defeat too. Just as good at the 30/07 match, and I probably enjoyed this one just a little more too. Another solid TV MOTYC.

Rating: ***1/2

Kane Vs Drew McIntyre Vs John Morrison - WWE Smackdown 05/02/2010
McIntyre and Morrison go at it at the start, since they are just coming off their IC title feud. Kane gets involved and wants a piece of the action. I like how Morrison and Drew KNOW that Kane is a big threat, but decide to take the other out first before going after Kane, because dammit they still hate each other! Then when they are forced by Kane, they finally work together for a few moments to try and eliminate Kane. I like how they did that, instead of just teaming up straight away and for a long period of time to take out Kane despite the fact they are supposed to hate each other. A couple of spots were so obviously set up that it made me laugh a little. I know its all fake, but stop making everything look obvious dammit! Morrison seems to have actually gotten worse from 2009 to 2010. I remember pre-2009 he would get a lot of hate from fans because he would just do spots. Then in 2009 he had a ton of really good TV matches, and seemed to be improving. 2010 comes around, and holy shit all the guy seems to be doing is jumping and kicking. Some of his kicks look great, and I love his running knee, but everything else is just blargh. Can't believe he actually won the match, but they wanted to go with the exciting Kane/McIntyre feud . Not a bad match, but not great either. Fun to watch for the most part, but some of the spots make me cringe with how obvious they were. At least it was kept short.

Rating: *1/2

Rey Mysterio Vs Dolph Ziggler - WWE Smackdown 05/02/2010
Speaking of spots coming a mile a way... watching them both trying to set up that whole pin from a knuckle lock into a kickout and hurricanrana deal was just bad to watch. Looked like they had to attempt the move 3 or 4 times too. After that horrible moment near the start of the match, the rest of the match is pretty good. Ziggler keeps trying to ground Mysterio, and Mysterio gets in his awesome hope spots. Loved the cut off spot from Dolph where he catches Rey coming off the ropes with a powerslam. Finish kinda came out of nowhere, and there wasn't really any build for the sleeper in the match at all which makes me sad . Felt that this could have been so much more, even though it was still a solid match.

Rating: **

Rey Mysterio Vs CM Punk - WWE Smackdown 12/02/2010
A lot of you hold this match in high regard, but when I watched it, I just didn't see what was so great about it. Thought it was good, but nothing spectacular. Should be interesting to see what I think of it this time around. I like how Rey goes after Punk's leg, knowing that Punk has some pretty mean kicks in him, and he uses that particular leg for his GTS. Things are going ok for the match, nothing that special, until Punk back suplexes Rey onto the guard rail. Fucking awesome. Then Punk putting Rey in the corner and baseball sliding him into the ring post was equally as great imo. And now for the back work . Already liking it more this time around lol. Fuck that guard rail and ring post spot. Back suplex onto Punk's KNEE was fucking insane. I think I just blew my load watching it. Good control work by Punk, and he got some nice cut off spots on Rey while he was getting some hope spots in there. Rey getting the win out of nowhere was fine for the finish, but the beatdown was epic. Gallows destroyed the little guy, and then the SES placing Rey onto Punk's shoulders for the GTS. That was just an awesome visual. Good match, like it a LOT more on this watch. That being said though, I STILL don't think its uber awesome or anything, but it IS a really good TV match, and definitely on part with most of the PPV matches (which were a disappointment tbh).

Rating: ***1/4

The Undertaker Vs Chris Jericho - WWE Smackdown 12/02/2010
I think this is their second match... maybe their third. But who cares. I was there live to see their FIRST ever match together. Does any of that info mean anything for the match? Nah, I just like to brag about it any chance I get . Its the only thing I have to brag about when it comes to live events... other than seeing Flair's arse more times than any man should have. The Elimination Chamber PPV is coming up in 9 days, and both men are participants, with Undertaker going in as the champion. 'Taker takes it right to Jericho from the get go, and keeps the match at a fairly fast pace while he is destroying Y2J. Old School seems to be the downfall of the Dead Man in this match though, as Jericho counters it and hits a massive superplex. Despite having not really been 100% for a good 6 or 7 months by this point, Undertaker is STILL willing to take big bumps like that. Total respect for the Phenom. Undertaker, not wanting to make Edge feel left out while he is doing commentary, decides to throw Jericho over the announce table into Edge . Edge moves, so Undertaker boots him in the face instead . Isn't he nice, making sure Edge knows that he isn't playing favourites . Last Ride to Jericho, but before a cover can be made, Edge spears The Undertaker! This is no DQ so the match will continue, and continue it does with Undertaker sitting right up from a spear just looking pissed, and then gets MORE pissed off when he walks right into a Codebreaker... and a loss! Its an Undertaker match, so you know I loved it . And it has Jericho in it, so that helps too . Would have liked for it to have more time, but Undertaker was playing it safe since returning and was sticking to 10 minute matches for the most part. And hey, this is 2010 after all, and 10 minute matches are all the rage. They do a great job with the time, and Undertaker sure as hell didn't phone it in at any time despite being injured still. The stuff with Edge was nice, playing up on the fact Undertaker is the current WHC and Edge won the RR match. Jericho getting the win was cool too, always nice to see him getting a big win here and there since he is usually booked pretty poorly all things considered.

Rating: **3/4

Kane Vs Rey Mysterio - WWE Smackdown 27/08/2010
No DQ rematch from SS! And Undertaker is set to make his return to SD this week, so I was kinda surprised this was the first match, as I felt for sure it would Main Event, with Undertaker showing up right at the end to attack Kane or something. Makes the entire show a little more interesting for me, which is always a good thing . Haven't watched their SS match yet, might go back and re-watch all the 2010 PPV's so I can put together a full MOTY list rather than just TV matches that I have at the moment. Until then though, I'll just stick with SD and Superstars. Rey starts off by going after Kane's legs, but Kane just swats him off and launches him out of the ring and continues to punish the midget. Kane brings out a Kendo Stick about a minute into the match, and while I'm not a big fan of guys getting weapons out super early into a match like this, when it comes to Kane, especially with his booking recently, I don't mind it. Kane is the World Champ. He's back to being a monster. He wants to kill Rey. He wants to use a weapon. I like. Unfortunately Rey ends up with it, but more MONSTER~! Kane, and not even the Kendo Stick seems to be helping Rey Rey. Match doesn't go beyond 10 minutes, but it does drag a tad when Kane is controlling Rey, but its short and leads to a nice finishing stretch so I'm not too bothered. Finishing stretch is great. Kane isn't having any of Rey's typical 619 shit, and even when he does finally hit it, Kane no sells like a bitch and Chokeslams Rey onto a chair. Good match, yet another of the many sub 10 minute matches from 2010 that I really like. Also surprised that Undertaker didn't make an appearance, but I guess they wanted to go with Alberto Del Rio showing up afterwards instead. Despite the fact I think this is good, I don't think its a match anyone should really go out of their way to see. Way more sub 10 minute matches that people should watch first.

Rating: **1/2


Luke Gallows Vs The Big Show - WWE Smackdown 27/08/2010
Yeah, thought I would talk about this match as I watch it, just because I love Big Show. He is to SD these days what Masters is to Superstars. Show just beats the shit out of Gallows, which is impressive considering how big Gallows is. Show's slaps are awesome. 90% of this match so far had been slaps. Gallows trying to knock the Big Show down with everything he has, only for Show to get right back up and knock him the fuck out was fantastic. Just pure fun.

Rating: *

Undertaker vs. CM Punk (9/10/10)
I know this came after he assigned matches, but note to Cal, this would have been perfect to assign me. Really liked this. Starting to think pre-match injury angle matches are my favorite type to watch. Taker being "human" as opposed to the unstoppable force that he's been known as is a cool idea. Gives Taker a chance to show how well he can play that role (awesomely FTR). Punk gets to talk shit and workover the big man until the comeback begins...and ultimately fails because of the injury. Punk came out of this looking as huge as he's ever looked and Taker still came out looking clutch like a legend. Doubt the Kane match will be as good as this, but I'm actually kind of interested in how it plays out. Probably in my top 10 for the year, btw. ***1/2

Hart Dynasty vs Cody Rhodes & Drew McIntyre - Smackdown 17.09.2010
Really loved this match and it's just pushes how much of a shame it is that WWE doesn't care for their tag division and more son Kidd & Smith because whenever they get more than 5 minutes to work a match it's pretty much always enjoyable I find. Drew is someone who seems to be improving at an insane rate currently. He's been having some really good TV matches now consistently for like a good few months. His match with Kaval last week was one of the best WWE 5 minutes I can recall seeing. Really great paced back and forth match where evrything just came off really well. Cody's character is getting over really well atm and there was one moment where Natalya just goes up to and slaps him which was awesome. Cody's got this thing about people touching his face which is a bit strange given that he's a fucking wrestler. There's a nice little FIP segment from Kidd and Drew and Cody manage to keep it interesting during their control segment. Kidd's tease of the hot tag to Smith came off fucking awesomelly I thought. Really easy to watch fast paced match that was really good quality wise and it set up a title shot for Cody & Drew at NOC really well too. Great to see the heel team go over clean too for a change.

***1/2

Christian vs CM Punk - Smackdown 17.09.2010
Didn't think this was as good as the tag match but they still get enough time to put on a really good little TV match. Punk being given more freedom to actually wrestle good matches lately has been great and it seems as though the SES has been scrapped all together now. Sucks for Punk's character unless he debuts a completely new SES at the PPV but at least it means by the looks of it that he gets more freedom to wrestle matches like this. Christian as you'd expect is Christian and does his usual routine to perfection. He's still selling the injured ribs rom his matches with Drew which I think is totally awesome. Punk worked them over really well too and also went after the plaster on Christian's head. Not often a big fan of using stationery submissions to slow the match down in TV matches but I really enjoyed it here. Del Rio didn't work on commenatry I didn't think but I enjoyed him coming into the ring after only to decline Christian yet again. I doubt Christian will get a PPV match out of this as it seems more like he'll get his match and lead it into Rey's return and go for Rey vs Del Rio at the next PPV rather than Christian vs Del Rio.

***1/4

CM Punk Vs Rey Mysterio - Smackdown February 12th 2010
Nice early leg work from Rey, as he knows that Punk has some devastating kicks in his arsenal, and also uses them for his GTS. Ironically for Rey, its one of those kicks that puts him down momentarily, as not enough leg work had been done. Punk still sells the leg though, someone that well, we just don't see much of these days in WWE and it makes me sad . So good on Punk . Rey continues to stay on top for the most part of the early going, until we get a SICK back suplex on the guardrail. Don't think I have ever seen that tbh. This leads into some very nice back work from Punk, and a couple of your typically good Mysterio hope spots. We then go into the pretty shot finishing stretch, and the actual finish does kinda come out of nowhere, giving Rey the win. The aftermath is great though, Ex-Festus nearly decapitates Rey with a clothesline to the back of the head, and him placing Mysterio onto the shoulders of Punk, who is kneeling down, for him to hit the GTS was an awesome sight. Gotta say, I am VERY surprised at the high ratings on WF, from people who I don't consider to be retards. Hell, I've even seen a few people throw out "MOTY" for it so far as well. Christian/Zeke blows it away tbh, as does the tag match from ECW a week before the RR (my MOTY still), Danielson/Kaval, HBK/Rey and maybe even a couple more matches I am forgetting about. Its a solid match, and Punk is great right now, one of the very best characters in the entire company, but it does nothing to make it stand out from your average match formula.

Rating: **1/4

CM Punk v Rey Mysterio (Smackdown!, 2/12/10)
- Went back and read Cal's review for this again, and while I won't necessarily disagree with the point about it not doing anything to stand out from the norm, I can't really pick that out as being a problem since even "average" Rey Mysterio formula is one of the few things in current wrestling I genuinely get excited to see, whether the match in question is decent, good, great... whatever. I'd definitely say this is somewhere between good and great, though. The early stages are pretty fun with Punk trying to create an opening only for Mysterio to keep finding ways of making sure it doesn't happen, at least for any kind of extended period of time. Cal talked about Mysterio kicking away at Punk's leg because Punk's own kicks and knees are big offensive weapons; I hadn't thought of that myself, but it's a good point. The eventual breakthrough is really nasty looking with Drew Gallows (Festus) providing a distraction and Punk capitalising by hitting Mysterio with a fucking terrific looking back suplex on the ring barrier (there's the same spot in the HHH/Orton Last Man Standing Match, btw, although it doesn't look as spectacular as it does here). Punk's control segment is pretty good, but honestly, it could be complete crap and it'd still be entertaining on some level, just to see Punk's expressions of joy while he dismantles some poor guy's spine. I really hope Mike watches this, actually, because I think he'd dig it. There's one backbreaker that is just HIDEOUS, btw. I mean, fuck me, I'm not even kidding when I say it might be the best looking backbreaker EVER. Mysterio obviously sprinkles his nifty hope spots like you'd expect, and his selling in general is as good as one should expect by this point. Finishing stretch is short and sweet, and we get a cool Mysterio flash counter pin for the actual finish. Really, really liked this. Not something I'm gonna vote for in the Poll, but I'd say it's certainly worth talking about since there'll no doubt be matches on the final countdown that I'll think are worse than this. Post-match is also great, with the SES destroying Rey, capping it off with a sort of crucifixion orchestrated by Punk. Even the bald chick gets a shot in. Punk as some maniacal cult leader is quite easily the best heel character in wrestling right now. The fact he's put it all together when it comes to working the WWE style as well is gravy. Wish they'd just give him the strap already. I'm not going to order Elimination Chamber, because I don't care *that* much, but I'll definitely download it just to see Punk, Mysterio and Undertaker. A lengthy Mysterio/Punk feud ala Mysterio/Jericho might - *might* - be the kind of thing that draws me back into WWE, at least for a little while. ***1/2