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WWE Smackdown this week emanated from Little Rock, Arkansas and it was exhilarating action throughout the night. We had two championship matches which were interesting to watch even though the title didn’t change hands. Here are the top 10 talking points of the show in chronological order.
- The first match of the night was for the Intercontinental Championship and Cody Rhodes successfully defended his title. But Booker-T gave him a hell of a fight, yet again proving that he is still game for a long run. I, for one have nothing against him having a long run as a wrestler simply because I cannot tolerate his ridiculous commentary anymore.
- Dustin Rhodes (Goldust) and Cody Rhodes had a backstage interaction after the match which was centered on Dustin having another run. With Cody insulting their father Dusty during this segment, I guess plans for a Cody vs Dustin match at Wrestlemania 28 are on. Though it is still three months away, I could see this match happening at Wrestlemania and Dusty Rhodes might be involved in it, in some manner.
Booker T put up a hell of a fight against Cody
- Hornswoggle beating Heath Slater in a over-the-top-rope match was the lowest point of this week’s show. Hornswoggle had already won a 30 man battle royal a few weeks ago on Smackdown and this victory wouldn’t make him anyone’s favorite to win the Rumble. This is just ridiculous. Why do they keep pushing Hornswoggle in these sort of matches? He doesn’t belong in the ring. With Justin Gabriel saving him after the match, it seems like we are going to get a Heath Slater vs Justin Gabriel feud in the coming weeks.
- Ted Dibiase’s New Year started with a loss to Hunico. Hunico’s mic skills are poor. He needs to work on that. For the second consecutive week in a row, Camacho was given much hype even though he didn’t have anything to do with the match other than being Hunico’s sidekick. It would be better if both Hunico and Camacho were being built as a tag team rather than focusing only on Hunico.
- Wade Barrett did a good promo focusing on how his Barrett Barrage has succeeded in making the Viper extinct. He confirmed that Randy Orton will be out for the foreseeable future because of his back injury. Later, the brawl involving him, Jinder Mahal and Sheamus ended with Wade Barrett and Jinder Mahal standing tall. Jinder Mahal finally gets prominence in Smackdown after weeks of jobbing to Sheamus and Ted Dibiase. His match with Sheamus next week might tell us whether Jinder’s push continues or not. Most likely it won’t.
Jinder Mahal inflicts pain on Sheamus buy putting him in his 'Camel Clutch'
- Drew McIntyre squandered his second chance to be a mainstay in Smackdown after succumbing to Santino Marella’s Cobra. I wonder how many chances he will be getting in the future. Courtesy of this victory, Santino becomes the new assistant to the Smackdown General Manager Theodore Long, succeeding Zack Ryder. While it may have worked wonders for Zack Ryder, Santino’s lack of wrestling ability might not get him as far as it did for Zack Ryder. But we’ll get to watch the cobra rise to Aksana in the coming week.
Santino defeated Drew McIntyre to become the new assistant to the Smackdown General Manager, Teddy Long.
- Epico and Primo secured yet another victory in their non-title tag match against the tag-team champions – Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston. It’s a mystery on why they keep getting victories over the champions despite their loss in the Tag-team Championship match at TLC. Air Boom got a new entrance video, new colors and a new tagline that says ” Non-stop Flight “. I wonder how long their championship flight is gonna last.
- We had a interesting Divas match between Natalya and Tamina. Despite both of them being in the WWE for a considerable amount of time, WWE got the chance to showcase the heritage of both these Divas only now. Natalya, the daughter of Jimmy ‘The Anvil’ Neidhart, lost in this match to Tamina, daughter of Jimmy ‘Superfly’ Snuka. Natalya seems to be jobbing for quite some time one. On the other hand, Tamina has gained steam over the past couple of weeks. She’s ready to hog in the limelight when the time comes.
- Daniel Bryan‘s victory over Big Show via disqualification owing to an interruption by Mark Henry was a perfect way to build the heat between these three men while at the same time letting Bryan hold the belt. While it rumored that Bryan or Big Show would turn heel in early 2012, it seems that Bryan is the man since he showed some heel traits during the show.
- Michael Cole got snubbed by Mark Henry who was on commentary, when Cole asked Mark Henry to predict the winner of Daniel Bryan Vs Hornswoggle match. Comedy gold. It’s a pity that we din’t get to see Cole’s reaction during this snubbing. Mark Henry did a good job while commentating by putting over both the men involved in the match and at the same time, he didn’t undermine himself. Look’s like he’s got a future in the commentating booth.
In case you missed Smackdown this week, you can watch it by clicking here.
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