By Jake Barnett

WWE Smackdown Hits

Goldust and Cody Rhodes vs. The Wyatt Family (Rowan and Harper): This was a very entertaining match that showcased the Wyatt’s well and still let the Tag Champs sneak out with a win. I think Rowan and Harper still spend way too much time using rest holds in the ring for my liking, but their power offense is very convincing and Goldust and Cody sold it well. This match seemed to position the Wyatt’s as contenders while allowing the veteran Goldust to outsmart them. It makes sense considering Rowan and Harper aren’t the brains of their operation, and yet still physically dominated the match.

CM Punk and The Usos vs. The Shield: It’s kind of cliché to throw a Shield Six Man on the best list, but I think this match did a good job of furthering their story while keeping fans in the arena pleased with some fast paced action in the ring. I can’t say that this match was altogether different than previous Shield six man matches, but it did tell a nice story in the process. Roman Reigns continues to be portrayed as a star, and the dissention within The Shield was played to heavily after confusion allowed CM Punk to hit the GTS for the win.

Bray Wyatt’s post main event video promo: More creepy stuff from Bray Wyatt. I hope we see more video packages from Bray and Bryan back at the creepy Wyatt House on Monday’s Raw. They also mentioned that Brie Bella had gotten a hold of Bryan, and that he’s “Ok”. I can’t really place where they are going with Bryan at this point, because there are all kinds of rumors swirling regarding WrestleMania, but I think WWE has to commit to this through at least the Royal Rumble for it to mean anything. It would also surprise me if WWE wanted to abandon Bryan as a babyface just yet, seeing as they have tried and failed to plow under his push for months to no avail.

WWE Smackdown Misses

R-Truth vs. Fandango: WWE is completely missing the boat on both Xavier Woods and Fandango right now. Both of them are talented wrestlers. We’ve seen very good matches from Fandango in his current run, and Xavier Woods had some very fun contests in TNA as Consequences Creed and in NXT. Both of their characters are terrible. Fandango’s character hasn’t been expanded beyond the initial stereotypes he rode in on, and Xavier Woods has been allowed to keep his Apollo Creed funk gimmick, which may have worked had Brodus Clay not already wrung every ounce of crowd reaction out of it already. Why was this match on the worst list, you might ask? Well, Fandango lost when Woods jumped up on the announce table and signaled the Funkadactyls for a distraction, because that’s what babyfaces do?

Nikki Bella vs. Aksana: Since the small amount of build to this match happened the day after it was taped, the crowd was understandably cold for this. Nikki got a polite response for her entrance and her torture rack finisher, and Aksana got the typical ogling for her suggestive crawling around the ring, but that was essentially it. The rest of the match got absolutely no response. I’m almost afraid that someday one of these Divas is going to do a shoot interview or write a tell all book about what WWE was actually trying to accomplish with the Divas, and we’ll find out this is actually part of what they think is entertainment rather than just having no plan at all.

Curtis Axel vs. Big E Langston: This match isn’t on the worst list because it was a bad match, rather because they gave us 85% of the same spots they worked in the match where Big E captured the title. There was also the problem of Axel not having a character whatsoever, and getting very little response from live crowds when he’s on offense during his matches. The Big Ending finisher could have its own category on the worst list, merely because Big E takes 90% of the bump himself.

Obligatory Video Package Complaint: There were 4 video packages on this show that recapped what we saw on Raw. Most of them were longer than 5 minutes. Why do Smackdown viewers need this? I can’t figure out if WWE thinks that there are SyFy viewers who don’t watch Raw, or if they just need to find additional ways to justify the crazy money they spend on video production.

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