WWE Smackdown Review - Jack Swagger Is Back!

WWE Smackdown Stop the press! Jack Swagger is back! Is there any bigger news this year than that? Screw the wacky Rock/Punk finish at the Rumble, the All American American's surprise return is the biggest news so far this year (maybe) and was as awesome as it was unexpected. So unexpected in fact that many of us were left wondering how quickly he would be discarded during the show. Amazingly after all was said as done Swagger was still in the running to be contender for Alberto Del Rio's World Heavyweight Title and he had also beat Kofi Kingston by submission. Let's hope WWE don't drop the ball with this brilliant young man again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJn-qrEcqIU Other contenders were revealed as part of the Elimination Chamber match too. Sheamus, Randy Orton, Kane, Daniel Bryan and, erm, The Great Khali will join Swagger in the number one contender match. I'd expect Khali to be replaced at some point. Please God. Christian would make sense if Show's out of the picture. The Shield were in attendance again this week, interrupting a match between Damien Sandow and Sheamus. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nehMMx_J3w0 When are these guys getting a match? And if they're working with Paul Heyman why are they a) on Smackdown and b) attacking Sheamus? One of the worst things about Smackdown over the last 12 months is its suffering from a lack of roster diversity, not unlike TNA. For some reason no one ever thinks to create matches we've never seen before. Case in point? Wade Barrett lost to Randy Orton again this week. How many more times are these two going to go at it? It's not been a great week for Barrett all round really. He's wasted at the minute and should definitely be part of the main match at Elimination Chamber. Having him lose to Orton week in week out is as bad for his credibility as is being pinned by Bo Dallas after an arm drag. And don't mention the Intercontinental Cup. Team Hell No have found new opponents in the team of Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara - essential considering Sandow and Rhodes are no longer a team and the Usos and Prime Time Players are seemingly on holiday. In what was perhaps an omen of things to come the two little masked Mexican's upset the champs perhaps setting up a run as tag team champions. Sin Cara could certainly use the rub. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0s_ee-ismM The main event was Mr Money in the Bank Dolph Ziggler against Alberto Del Rio, a match ordered by General Manager Booker T after Ziggy understandably refused to take part in the Elimination Chamber match. As good as the match was I'm not sure what sense it makes to have Ziggler tapping out this close to his possible World Heavyweight Title run. Perhaps they're humbling him before they give him his run? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsmoSXkuL-I As nice as it was to see Dolph in a main event the match was overshadowed by the ongoing feud between Del Rio and Big Show who attacked BFF Ricardo Rodriguez to close the show. It makes me want to claw my eyes out with spoons whenever I see these two men in the same ring. Fortunately things actually seemed to improve this week adding a new level of intrigue to their blow-off at Elimination Chamber. Overall this week's Smackdown was a marginal improvement on last week and featured better in-ring action than RAW. However, if you've seen one Smackdown lately then you've seen them all.
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Master of Quack-Fu. Fishfinger Sandwich aficionado. Troll Hunter.