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RRC: 11/24/03 OTC: Smackdown Grades for 11/20/03 RRC: 11/17/03 AMV: #144: Survivor Series 2003 Point/Counterpoint [Bottom Line #1] RCC Spotlight: Rival Schools, Survivor Series 2003
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SmackDown Review: Smackdown Grades for 11/27/03
by: Oratory Television Council on: 11/29/2003 11:08 pm est  John: For those that don’t know, this is the weekly Smackdown review done by four dudes (and one dudette) with attitudes. Some have positive attitudes while others are on the negative side. What you get are five diverse opinions on the same two-hour show. A ten score would mean that the show was perfect. There is nothing that could be done to make the show better. The bottom of the scale is a zero. A zero has been given before and basically means that nothing on the show impressed that particular reviewer. Simple, isn’t it? This week we only have a three-person crew. Dave and Lauren (aka Jones & Morgan in the banner) are absent because they were away for the Thanksgiving holiday. Mark made it in despite being stuffed with turkey while Marcus and I have Canadian Thanksgiving in October, so Thursday was just a regular day to us. This week’s order will see Mark lead off as usual, myself slipping in the second spot and Marcus bringing us home in the third spot. Now that we’ve got the intro out of the way, here’s Pricey… Mark Price A Mark’s View confusatron2000@hotmail.com Hey. Sup. How was your week? Mine sucked, for various reasons. Suffice it to say I hate desk jobs, registration and insurance bullshit at the Department of Motor Vehicles, having colds accompanied by headaches, and hard drives with gigabytes of irreplaceable media files suddenly dying for no reason. So yeah. On the bright side at least I had a couple days off, plenty of good food, and they showed the South Park movie completely unedited on wholesome network television. But either way, this week blew. I can't fault the show for my week though, so... Gauge™ Set:5.0 -Alright, just have to mention how cool the ring looks with EVERY wrestler around it. Wow, haven't seen a battle royal in a long time. Brrrrrrhhhhock Llllllessnar does a great job of talking shit about the whole roster, and nice stipulation with Cena and Benoit having to earn their way in, considering those are the two guys they want the fans to get behind. I guess it took a ton of dirt burying Undertaker, and a slightly reinjured neck for Angle, to make them start realizing they're running out of big stars to push, and to finally start listening to people. Dare I say it, Chris Benoit is our next WWE champion? This segment set up a total of four major matches in less than ten minutes. Stephanie, please stay away from my television forever. 5.3 Benoit vs. Morgan: I haven't been given reason to care about Matt Morgan yet, much less take him seriously as a threat to keep Benoit out of the battle royal. Give him a character, give him something other than a vanilla big man look and moveset, and I'll be interested. So this was pretty much a short nothing match, but at least they're putting over the hell out of the Crossface. 5.7 -Nidia's up to something. This angle is getting weird as hell though. See, what they should do is test Nidia's acting skills and not give her the cataract sunglasses. See if she can walk around looking like her eyes aren't focusing on anything. Oh great, and Ernest Miller is coming back tonight. Why? Akio vs. Noble: Akio getting another match cannot be a bad thing. Never thought I'd say it, but they actually have a somewhat developed Cruiserweight division right now. Do something with Shannon Moore, Ultimo Dragon, and then give Mysterio a feud, and we're just about covered. Yes, I realize I left out Spanky and London, but I'm currently really enjoying their tag team work. Not a bad match although pretty short, and the focus was more on Nidia's interaction with Tajiri than anything. I don't like it when feuds are about valets though. I don't mind them getting involved, but they shouldn't be the focal point. But oh, come on, Noble being distracted at ringside was his own damn fault. 6.0 -Just caught the "Free Rhyno" sign at ringside. Hah. Preach it, brother. -I'm already liking this "Heyman semi-motivates Moore" angle. It not only shows some cool continuity with Matt Hardy leaving for Raw (*sniff*), but it gets Shannon Moore on TV almost every week, and I don't see anything wrong with that. Jones vs. Moore: Right about now I'm hoping this angle ends up with Moore finally kicking some big man's ass eventually. Looks like this week's match gets the same as last week's Moore/Morgan match...  Jones looked okay here, but I hate it when they pull someone up from a pin. It just utterly makes the person lose all credibility. 6.1 -Two things had me laughing about the Thanksgiving segment before Cena even began to speak. One: Mysterio across the table from the fully decked out in bondage gear Bashams, as if they were casually chatting about the secretive beauty of wearing masks over their faces (even when one includes a ball gag). Two: Spanky in a turkey costume. Cena, however, oh my god. I don't know if it's just because I needed this entertainment after the week I had or what, but his rap hitting on all the girls nearly made me die laughing. I actually rewound this segment and watched it again, and I think that's the first case ever of me doing that during a review. 6.3 -Wow. Cena and Eddy up next? The card for this show just keeps getting better. Charlie vs. Eddy: Hey, is Haas starting to develop into a decent brawler now? I know he could do technical stuff but this was an interesting change. Not what it could have been, because both of these guys are easily capable of more, both individually and against each other. It seems like the angle took precedence here, and Chavo's turn is still coming a mile away, and about a month later than it should. 6.7 Cena vs. A-Train: Decidedly faster-paced than most hosses, Train looked pretty decent here. Cena has really stepped up his game lately, and I think if anyone should be up for a "Most Improved" award, it's him. Cena's powers of invisibility come in handy once again, and the crowd was HOT for his win. Good stuff. 7.2 -I guess "Smack your TV" is the next slogan that's going to be rammed down our throats. Though I will say Big Show cradling that man like a baby is the funniest thing I've seen on Smackdown since... Oh wait, since John Cena's Thanksgiving rap. In other news, I really hope that the title is off Brock by the time Hardcore Holly's suspension is lifted. I really don't want the words "title shot" and "Hardcore Holly" in the same sentence ever again. -Wow, check out the astoundingly rousing chorus of bored indifference from the crowd as The Cat is introduced. Yeah, we need a guy with a bad fake afro and a James Brown wannabe... and what's with the "Jungle Boogie"-esque theme song? Sorry Ernest, but you ain't no 2 Cold Scorpio, and ripoff entrance themes went down with the ship when WCW closed (then again, FBI does have the "No Sleep Til Brooklyn" ripoff). Let me guess, he'll feud with Rikishi over who's the better dancer. But no, it's Torrie. Look who just stole Stacy Keibler's ring entrance. I guess they had to give her some hometown airtime. ...holy crap, what a retarded waste of time this entire segment was. 6.8 Battle Royal: Looks like Danny Basham's mask is a permanent costume addition. Creepy. I could deal with Jones & Morgan as a tag team, which is exactly how they should be used right now. There were a few interesting dynamics in this match, such as no clear-cut heel/face lines, and about 15 guys eliminating Big Show. Of course, I have to point out that I have a problem with taking a commercial break, but showing about 6 or 7 entrances. They cut out part of this match so we could see Torrie and Ernest Miller do stupid little dances. Seeing Eddy and Rey fight it out really makes me want to see them feud again. Of course we'll never see Halloween Havoc '97 out of these guys again, but we can dream. Cena eliminating four guys at once by taking advantage of momentum was also a nice touch as was Benoit and Cena chucking Mysterio over the top immediately after. I tell you, any match with Benoit vs. Guerrero can't be bad. I was very pleased with the 'final four' lasting as long as they did, and I appreciated how they again put over both Cena and Benoit at the end, being the two men who earned their ways into the match. Great show continuity, and great building up of the top faces, and the surprising appearance of a Dusty Finish. What a fun match. 7.8 -makes me wish I didn't penalize for mid-match commercials. Fun Fact: Benoit's feet actually did hit first. Way to stretch out this feud. #1 contender match next week, and perhaps the title match the following week. Team Lesnar continues to look like a cohesive unit, and the faces in peril thing is totally kicking some ass. Angle is conspicuous by his absence, but given his condition it's understandable. Now, given the actual card of this show, you'd think my score would've been higher. I have to say though, a lot of the actual matches were either underwhelming, way too short, or both. The only thing that outright sucked on the show was The Cat's segment, and everything else was at the very least watchable. Also, NO VINCE! Lots of angles and feuds were developed further, the title scene is looking great, and I came out of this with my mood lifted just a little bit. 7.8 John C. The John Report wwfjohnc@hotmail.com I’m going to whip through this quicker than normal. Been a busy week and an even busier weekend. I really enjoyed the start of the show. I was shocked to see Chris Kanyon as a Smackdown wrestler. Holy shit, somebody remembers he is actually on Smackdown! Sure, he’s probably on Velocity, but I don’t watch that. Heyman’s speech was terrific as he made it seem like he was really giving everybody a fair opportunity. Brock’s cockiness is a delight to see. He’s really coming into his own as a strong heel character now. Stacking the odds against Cena & Benoit was cool. The more of them on a show, the better it is. Good opening. The best part was that in focused on several people and not just one. I like that a lot. Benoit over Morgan in about five minutes. How can I complain about a short Benoit victory? I can’t. This is the stuff that they should have done all year. The crowd ALWAYS responds favorably to the guy. Like I’ve said the last few weeks, I still have very little to say about Morgan. He seems like a generic big guy. He’s better than Nathan Jones, but that’s not saying much. Who isn’t better than Jones? It’s always fun to see Benoit beating bigger guys easily because it’s the kind of thing fans will notice. Good finish with Benoit snapping on the crossface to reverse the powerbomb finish. Nidia is deaf and she looks like she has a new nose. Something is NEW on her and it’s not the boobs. This storyline will be nothing but bad. I have little doubt about it. If you have any doubt, go ask Goldust how the stuttering gimmick is going. He’s not with the company anymore. That’s how it’s going. Akio over Noble. The Jung Dragons explode! Yes, I was one of the 12 people that watched WCW in the last six months. So to the 11 of you that understand what I just said, you can smile. The rest of you can scratch your head thinking I’m on some kind of drugs. Match was pretty good as expected. I think I feel old when a superplex is just a spot in a four-minute match. I remember when Barry Windham used that as a DEADLY finishing move where if he used it, the match was done. Now it’s a transition move. Times have changed. The Noble/Tajiri feud is fun because there’s actually a story there, but the blindness angle is a bad idea I think. Heyman tells Moore he gets to job again. Fun for Shannon! Rey Mysterio says we should have a Happy Thanksgiving 619 style. What does that mean? We should call somebody in San Diego because that’s their area code? Or does it mean we should kick somebody in the head? Somebody tell me! Nathan Jones squashes Shannon Moore. I hate squash matches. I hate them even more when untalented clods (and that’s a compliment!) like Nathan Jones gets one. I never saw a rap with Cena. Neither did Marcus. For some reason, they edited the rap out of the show on the Canadian version that airs on The Score here. I have no idea why. That’s pretty lame though. I wish I watched the UPN version so I could have seen it. I guess his comments about the Smackdown ladies was too offensive. Sucks that it was edited. Meanwhile, John Cena’s biggest fan is here in the OTC again. Here he is, folks, impersonating Cena again.  Last time I use that image. I swear. I can't even laugh at it myself. I'm just crying. Eddy and Chavo bicker. Fun. I like these guys. Another four minute special sees Eddy beat Charlie Haas thanks to Chavo’s crutch. I’m pretty sure that Chavo will end up turning on Eddy by beating on him with the crutch and faking the leg injury in the process. That’d be a perfect move for a heel turn. They should wait a couple weeks to do it. It’ll work beautifully. Eddy is very over right now. Should be in the main event scene. I think it goes without saying at this point. Cena and A-Train had a solid match as well. This show is about the solid matches, isn’t it? Nothing has gotten over six minutes up to this point, but they’ve all been okay. I think Cena is better at working as a babyface because he does a good job of timing his comebacks. That’s one of the biggest things a babyface can do. Have good comebacks. If you don’t, the crowd will die for you and nobody wants to see that. Fun match. Hardcore Holly says he’s coming back. Like I care. How many promos did Chris Kanyon get when he came back from an infection that cost him ten months of his career and nearly killed him? Zero. Why? Because he came from WCW. Vince is a fucking idiot sometimes. Next up is Ernest “The Cat” Miller who proceeds to do NOTHING. Seriously, he did nothing. He went on the microphone, said he would entertain and did NOTHING of the sort. He should have said this: “You know, guys, I suck and I should just leave. Sorry for wasting your time.” Then he’d be entertaining me because he’d be LEAVING. Not only that, but they spent WEEKS hyping his debut up. He invited Torrie out because she could get a cheap hometown pop. Or is it the fake boobs pop? I can never tell. Has Torrie done anything of note in 2003? Anything. This was a craptacular segment that really hurt the show. I honestly can’t remember a worse or more pointless segment in the history of Smackdown. I’m sure there has been, but I don’t need to think about it. Throwing up is never fun. The person that thought that The Cat would make a good wrestler needs to be fired or at least receive a pay cut. It’s fucking pathetic to know that a talented person like Chris Kanyon is doing NOTHING while The Cat, a man devoid of any talent, gets a grand entrance as if he’s some kind of star. I’d call him the worst worker on Smackdown except for the fact that Nathan Jones is on the show. Just like The Cat, Jones got many videos promoting him even though everybody knows that he’ll never live up to it. Cena thanks people. Why couldn’t Danny Basham thank people while wearing that ridiculous mask on his head? That would have been a family moment. The Battle Royal exceeded expectations for me. The start of it was great with Big Show tossing everybody out. It’s realistic to do that. It’s also realistic to have everybody put aside their differences in order to toss out Big Show all at once. That’s always a fun spot in a battle royal. I like how Benoit & Cena laid low throughout the battle royal. Sometimes when they book these, the main guys are throwing people out from beginning to end. In this case, they were just kinda there until the end. It’s also fun to see everybody doing their signature moves like Rhyno’s Spear and Rey’s 619. Those are good ideas because they always pop the crowd. The final four of Benjamin, Guerrero, Cena and Benoit was a good idea. Three strong babyfaces and an over heel. Lovely. Benoit’s elimination of Benjamin was sweet. Benoit taking out Guerrero was cool as well. I liked the ending sequence with Benoit & Cena squaring off. Crowd was very excited for it. That bodes well for next week. Good finish because it leaves the fans wanting more. The post match attack was fun as well. Nice to see Team Lesnar together again because it makes Survivor Series seem more important. I think Benoit goes over Cena next week. We’ll see. I’m going to avoid spoilers so I can watch it “live” next week. Should be lots of fun. I’d also like to add that Mark Price saying Benoit’s feet touched the floor first is not a “fun fact.” It might be a “fun opinion” but it is not fact. Geez Mark, don’t be such a mark! They looked like they touched the floor at the same time. I think from one of the angles it looked like Benoit touched first, but from the main angle it looked at the same time. Doesn’t matter anyway. It’s all fixed! There, I said it! And Santa Claus is fake too! WHOO, I’m on a roll! Overall, I generally enjoyed the show. As usual, I’d like longer matches. The battle royal took up about twenty minutes while everything else, save for the damn Cat, was held under six minutes or so. Considering this is the show that used to feature at least one or two matches over ten minutes every week, I’m a little disappointed in the new Smackdown with the short matches. The Cat’s segment was horrendously bad. Words can’t describe how bad it was. On the positive side, there was no mention of Vince McMahon, Sable, Undertaker or Stephanie. That’s definitely a good thing. Last week I gave this show a 5.5, this time I go a little higher. 6.5 - They’re headed in the right direction. Next week’s Cena/Benoit could either be really satisfying or a big letdown. Marcus Madison The Solstice Scriptures marcusmadison2049@hotmail.com The Thanksgiving Day edition of Smackdown starts off in pretty grand fashion. Heyman begins to talk about the WWE title and does so with the entire roster present standing on the apron at the time. What stood out during this entire segment was Danny Basham or what was to be Danny Basham standing next to Doug with a mask on. It was supposed to be reminiscent of something people that perform S&M wear, minus the ball and gag of course. What it looked like was something similar to what Axe and Smash of Demolition would wear years ago. It wasn’t so much the mask but what else they were wearing at the time. The leather/pleather straps that they wore are what I am referring to. Heyman then announces Lesnar to which his music kicks in and he comes down to the ring. Lesnar comes in the ring and says that he isn’t afraid of anyone. The funniest moment during this entire promo by Lesnar was when he said he wasn’t afraid of any “7’5, 500 ibs giants” and looks at The Big Show. To which the Big Show looks around and points at himself. I thought to myself, “no Show the other 7’5 500ibs giant standing behind you, ya goof. Why would he look around as if Lesnar was talking about someone else? No idea. Lesnar then says to Heyman that two men will have to earn their way into the battle royal. The obvious men being both Benoit and Cena were announced as being the two men that had to win their own matches tonight just to be able to enter the battle royal to get a shot at Lesnar for the title. My immediate impression of this show was it was going to be dedicated to wrestling. It wasn’t going to be just senseless promo after promo with little to no interest evident in wrestling. Maybe that’s what we all have to be thankful for! Benoit’s opponent for the evening was announced, and it was Matt Morgan. My first impression all one has to go on is looks. Unless, someone has seen his work previously can they either sing his praises or pulverize his work. Tazz ran down his qualities early into the match. He’s young, big, and strong I’d add plodding and angry. He is mobile which is good. Mobility for a big wrestler is always a plus. It’s often taken for granted how well some larger wrestlers can move around. The majority of the match was the more experienced Benoit selling Morgan’s offense. There was nothing special about Morgan’s arsenal that hasn’t been used by other wrestlers before. The key was that Benoit helped the younger Morgan out and made each punch, kick, slam and clothesline more convincing than had Morgan been in the ring with someone that has always had a problem selling their opposition’s offense. The end result was Benoit making Morgan tap out to the cross face but this match was a good showing on the part of Morgan with and without the help of Benoit. Benoit was successful and he advances to compete in the battle royal later on in the evening. The match result was predictable but in the process of advancing himself, Benoit helped to make Morgan look in the process. This is reason #802 why Benoit RULES. We then get the backstage antics of Nidia and Noble. I had a chat with John after watching this and this angle is in pretty poor taste. Does this surprise anyone? I don’t think so. They exploit the physically disabled, have a wrester pretend he has tourette’s like symptoms, play the race card and now they once again use the “blind” as a means of further exploitation and poor representation. I can’t wait to see this storyline is off the air. This just shows the visually impaired as being helpless, and preventing others from succeeding. Is this true? It couldn’t be further from the truth. One thing that Noble did say bothered me a bit. It was that he asked Nidia if she was doing this just to get attention. Even though she hasn’t suffered any actual loss of sight, it bothered me that Noble would even suggest that. When put in context with the real world, would anyone really do this just for sympathy? Do the writers of the WWE believe this to be true? If they do, they just don’t know people. Empathy and understanding, is what should have been shown but not sympathy and in some regards pity. No one benefits from pity. Not the person giving it and not the person receiving it. If the writers write so that they empower the Nidia character then that’s good because it is a positive representation of someone with a physical disability. In comparison we shouldn’t be shown someone that has a character which is weak and helpless and that is what it appears may happen. It appears that a real disability that people have is being manipulated so that the writers can use it in a storyline. At the end of the backstage segment, Nidia promises not to be a “distraction”, which wasn’t a fair thing to say either, when she accompanies Noble to the ring. Both Noble and Nidia walk down to the ring together. Nidia clutching Noble’s arm and using a cane just don’t seem fitting to have to do. When they did a similar visually impaired storyline years ago with Jake Roberts and Rick “The Model” Martel they had him have his eyes bandaged up and the writers managed show Jake like they are showing Nidia now. I’m also uncomfortable with them making Nidia, a female need support from a man to get from one place to another. I’m probably reading too much into it. But then again, if it’s left open for interpretation fans will always be free to interpret both the good and the bad. And the bad in this storyline stands out more than the good. The match itself was sold. It pitted Akio against Noble. The use of Nidia as a distraction that cost Noble the match is something I think is pretty stupid to do. Not that being distracted is stupid the fact that they need to use a “fake” disability to distract him is what I find stupid. I did however and I can’t believe I’m in good conscience going to say this but, when Nidia gave Tajiri a low blow it showed that the character isn’t helpless. That in fact she is strong and even though she doesn’t have her sight doesn’t mean she can’t see what she is doing. After the break we see Shannon Moore still nursing the wounds he’s feeling from last weeks match up against Matt Morgan is now having a chat with Paul Heyman. Heyman informs Moore that he is now going to go from being booked to lose to being booked to lose…badly. Very badly in fact. It is so bad that he will have to sell the offense of someone that couldn’t put a wristlock on his wristwatch in Nathan Jones. The “sacrificial lamb” focal point for Moore is different. It would have been nice to hear his take on it since he doesn’t speak. Why? I don’t know. If someone can tell me why Moore doesn’t promo or even has someone promo on his behalf (i.e., a manager/valet/agent/lawyer) then please let me know. Is it lack of confidence the sound of his voice? Moore was good with his performance this evening. He sold everything Jones had, if not a bit too much at times. He made Jones look like this monster force from selling being tossed over the top rope to being slammed down to the mat, to being clotheslined in the corner, Shannon Moore was very convincing. He made Nathan Jones look flawless, which was no enviable task. Jones won the match in the end but it was Moore’s bumping and selling that made this match memorable. He was tossed around the ring like a rag doll, but in the process he made Jones better than I ever thought anyone could. The pre-match backstage promo between Chavo and Eddie for the first time had me doubting Chavo. I’ve read people have been seeing it for some time now but it was his sudden change in attitude of “blame Eddie” to “Love Eddie”, that was what had me doubting him. Chavo’s on crutches but who can hate this guy, honestly. Witty and clever even though the character is a bit of an underhanded rat but hey, who’s perfect, right? He accompanies Eddie to the ring for his match against Charlie Haas. The match was typically good as per usual when you look at who was competing in the match. The end did further along the teased heel turn of Chavo, while at the same time gives Chavo another reason to “blame Eddie”. That’s the great thing about heels, they always can find something to find fault with even if there really was no fault at all. I laughed when Chavo said he had an injured leg. It wasn’t him saying that so much as that just prior to the match he said he felt ‘the best he’s ever felt’. It’s amazing how five minutes of standing at ringside can change how great you feel. HA! Chavo RULES. Up next was John Cena and A-Train. Cena had to defeat A-Train as per Lesnar’s request from earlier in the evening, just to be entered into the Battle Royal. No rap by Cena this week which sucked, but he still ended up going over A-Train in the end. The match result was predictable seeing as there is pushing a Lesnar/Cena/Benoit feud and it wouldn’t be Lesnar/Cena/Benoit if Cena wasn’t in there, right? The entire Cat debut was such a disappointment from everything the entire show. To this point we’ve had 5 matches and were about an hour and a half into the show. Then we have the Cat come out and dance and then introduce Torrie Wilson to dance with him. This was all because Torrie was from Idaho. I like Torrie and no complaints watching her dance but this really was a downer for the show. It didn’t add anything to it, but merely took away from it. This was a time filler of 10 minutes of “watch me dance” and “I’m the greatest” and not watch me wrestle and show you that I’m the greatest. I don’t like the James Brown gimmick. I like it on James Brown but not watching the Cat do it. I can’t help it but I have to say it. When I watch the Cat in the ring I DON’T FEEL GOOD! Um, good gawd. The battle royal was the main event of the evening. It saw the Big Show eliminate 7 guys and most of the competitors help to eliminate him from the ring later into the match. The best part of this match was when it was down to Benjamin/Benoit/Guerrero/Cena. There were four standout competitors that were left to compete for the shot at the title. The match was then down to just Cena and Benoit and of course since they were hinting of a 3-way feud it wouldn’t be a 3 way feud unless 3 men were involved. It was the Luger/Hart Royal Rumble finish in this match up. Whose feet hit the ground first? I think it was Benoit when they really slowed it down. The announcers probably noticed that and once they reviewed it a second time they too could see that one of the men’s feet hit the ground first. The finish just looked so staged. Cena almost looked like he was stepping down from the apron while he had Benoit on his shoulders. One could say momentum made him move forward. I think it was the booker’s just saying move forward. Regardless, we have 8 minutes left in the show and something is going to happen. Perhaps, Brock will appear? If you said yes, then you can’t be fooled easily what I don’t think anyone could have predicted was the Team Lesnar beat down that was going to follow. It was neat to show that this is more of an alliance of men after Survivor Series. Next week we get Cena/Benoit to determine the number one contender for the title. It was a solid show. 6.75 THE NUMBERS - By John C. The overall grade for this week’s show is… 7.02That places this show in 12th place out of the 73 weeks we’ve been doing this. Seeing as how last week’s show was in our top 15, I think it’s a good sign for Smackdown as we head in to December. Last week: 6.9 Average Smackdown Grade: 5.56 (Up 0.02) Highest Smackdown Grade: 9.58 (September 18, 2003) Lowest Smackdown Grade: 2.3 (May 1, 2003) One Year Ago on Smackdown: 5.3 (November 28, 2002) – While a Benoit & Angle vs. Los Guerreros match made most of us happy, a main event featuring Big Show vs. Fabulous Moolah was not a good idea. The grades for the staff went as follows: Mark – 5.2 Raine – 7.5 Xavier – 4 John – 4.5 The show comes in at 42nd place, according to our records. THE NUMBERS – READER’S TELEVISION COUNCIL According to Oratory readers in the forums the grade for this week’s show as of 10pmET Saturday is… 7.04That’s the 4th highest out of the 25 weeks we’ve been having the readers score involved in the Smackdown Grades. Interesting fact: The OTC’s score of 7.02 is only .02 lower than the RTC’s score of 7.04. Freaky! Last week: 6.23 (The forums were down so we couldn’t get the stats in last week’s edition. This was the average for those wondering.) Low Score: 3.99 (October 9, 2003) High Score: 8.79 (September 18, 2003) Average: 6.16 (Up 0.04) You can view the thread of reader votes and comments by clicking RIGHT HERE. Here are some reader comments from that thread. The thread was pretty quiet this week due to Thanksgiving, but I’ll still honor those that contributed. Random Stuff Clay7926 has a good memory: "Anyone remember that this marks 1 year since Ernest "The Cat" Miller made his 1st appearance on WWE TV? He did color while Tazz was out for a family emergency, and Cat got to punk out Al Wilson during the Turkey Fashion Show." nworock praised The Cat…sorta: "You know, The Cat is one of my guilty pleasure wrestlers. I loved his character in WCW and was looking forward to seeing him tonight but that was DUMB. Dancing for like 10 minutes was beyond stupid. After just listening to his music I'm already sick of hearing "Someone better call my momma". Used to be one of my favorite things but overused in ONE SEGMENT. Brutal." James IV sees potential in Matt Morgan: "Matt Morgan has potential. I'll give him that. He isn't that sloppy, but he does need a different finisher than the OVERFUCKINGUSED Sit-Out Powerbomb." James Vaccaro on the finish: "That was probably the best-timed double drop I've ever seen. Kudos to Cena and Benoit." yarrik7 on a bunch of things: "Spanky = Gobbledeegooker = Gold…John Cena's raps = PLATINUM. PLATINUM I tell you!…Sign of the Night: FREE RHYNO!!! FREE F'N' RHYNO!!!!…Props to Cena and Benoit for the double drop. Was the bomb…Big Show Dog Piles ruled…RHYNO GORED ALBERT!! I'm in heaven!" Final Thoughts nworock: "Well, overall the show was decent but not great. I usually grade by how much I feel I can't leave the TV in fear of missing anything. Raw this week was a great show deserving an 8. But Smackdown overall was above average, nothing really memorable. Giving it a 6. " kurtangleismyhero: "I gave the show a 9 only taking a point away cuz of hardbore holly, what a beaver looking jackass he is. I even enjoyed the Cat as i did when he was in WcW tho i think he should be a manager not a wrestler. The battle royal ruled, the end was fantastic imo. On a side note was it me or was Sheldon awesome when it came down to the last 4?" y2j1999: "Pretty good Smackdown. Battle Royal was good and no really bad matches tonight. I think this was the first holiday themed show in years that didn't have Torrie Wilson winning some Bikini Contest. And we finally found out who was in the Gobbedly Gooker costume all this time: Spanky!!!!!!!!!" kevbo428: "I agree, with most of you, I thought smackdown was pretty good. I'd give it about an 8. The battle royal was nice, and being the huge WGTT fan I am, I was extremely happy shelton was in the final 4, even though I like haas a little better. Overall, this show was good, no mcmahons always helps." elevenball: "It's a shame that many people probably didn't catch the Thanksgiving edition of SmackDown!. It was quite excellent. I think the only negative parts of the show were the extended dance thing with The Cat (it was kind of silly, but props to the WWE Bookers for recognizing that Torrie Wilson was from Idaho and for also not having Rikishi come out and challenge the Cat to a dance contest. However, now having I said that I hope nobody from the WWE writing team is reading this...) and while am rather indifferent to the Bob Holly thing, I wish they would give him his match with Brock so that the angle can be done and over with. Also, NO VINCE AND NO UNDERTAKER, and man, did the show benefit. I'd give the show an 8.5, and I'll round up to nine for the purposes of the poll." Bugsy: "First Smackdown I've watched in months, and it was pretty good. Shannon Moore bumped like a pro for Nathan Jones, which he really shouldn't have done. Moore's too good to be squashed by Jones. Enough of Eddie and Chavo. I just wanna see Eddie. Cena/Benoit = Goodness." Until next time, we’ll smell ya later. Oratory Television Council. |
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