5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (14 Aug - Results & Review)
2. This Worked Despite Matt Cardona’s Status
A furious Matt Cardona raced out to protect the honour of Chelsea Green when Gunther was getting mouthy with her. At first glance, that was quite the mismatch, but then - that was the entire point of the segment. A laughing 'Ring General' even acknowledged the lack of true threat Matt poses to him with a brilliant line: “All the way from catering to the rescue”. Zing!
From the off, this was main event star vs. spirited underdog midcarder, and sometimes that’s ok for TV in spots like this. It was short, to the point, and it only helped Green’s babyface story whilst making the ‘Ring General’ look like a badass bully who can back up his bullying when he must. The way Gunther called out Nick Aldis for letting him wrestle in plain clothes later on was brilliant attention to detail.
The former World Champion doesn't want to be Ric Flair on episodes of WCW Nitro in 2000. He's proud of the hard work he's put into his body, and he believes he should wrestle properly with preparation, not because some jumped up midcarder got chippy about him taking time away from Chelsea. Excellent character work from somebody who was once so one dimensional on WWE programming.
Cardona was brought back pretty much just for spots precisely like this one. Again, that's fine. He's not going to win the top prizes or threaten the headline crew, and nor should he. Matt can, however, get a live crowd on his side against guys like Gunther. Good work, folks.