Genuine Smackdown! Review - June 12, 2009

CM Punk gets introduced, and the man does sound like he is getting some jeers from the crowd. Punk mentioning how people had no problem with him cashing in against Edge last year was a good thing to add to the promo, and him not seeing it as him stealing the belt from Jeff Hardy could lead to a heel turn. Punk also saying hes always done whats best for him can also lead to a heel turn that I wanted, which is him only looking out for himself. Could really tell some fans weren't very high on the guy for cashing in his MITB briefcase against Jeff Hardy. And speak of the devil, Hardy himself comes on out to a huge pop. Will be a shame if the guy decides to take a break during the biggest point of his career. The crowd definitely doesnt seem to be okay with Punk cashing in against Jeff. Punk doing the whole "Yeah, you and they are upset, but I did whats best for me and would have regardless of who won" shtick is the right direction for a slow heel turn. I can feel WWE waiting to turn Punk heel completely, only doing it after having a bit of a feud with Hardy that just sends him over the edge. Speaking of Edge... Ouch. Edge calling Punk out by saying he wants to be him, what with Punk cashing his MITB briefcases in the same manner as Edge and Punk being 'straightEDGE'. The segment ends first with Jeff attacking both Edge and Punk, which Im not too sure about. I would have liked to see Punk get a bit more of a moment in the opening segment. Then Teddy Longs makes a number one contenders match between Edge and Jeff for later in the night, with the winner facing Punk at the WWE Three For All next Monday. So the segment was nice, except Punk getting attacked by Hardy so easily. I like that the WWE are putting a potential Punk heel turn on the back burner for now, waiting for it to heat up before throwing it in the fire and having Punk just go into complete heel mode after Hardy sends him over the edge. Having Punk play a bit of a tweener role at first, or even instead of a heel turn, is good because it will give him more challengers for the moment, but I would prefer a heel turn just to see how the guy does as the one being hated. He seemed to have a few small heelish quirks during the segment, such as Jeff calling him selfish and the way Punk mouthed 'Im not selfish' just came off the way a heel would say it to me.

Chris Jericho wanting a chance at the World title for tonight, but just ends up getting put into a match with CM Punk in a nontitle match.

Dolph Ziggler vs The Great Khali: I just love Ziggler. You think about his gimmick, someone that just introduces himself to people, and it sounds stupid. But the guy makes it work and he has a great heel presence in the ring to me. The Great Khali turning face has been a nice change of pace for the guy as well, and he even got a decent pop from the crowd here. I think the crowd actually cares more about Khali now than ever. Ziggler winning by countout after keeping Runjun Singh hostage was smart to keep this little feud going. Id love to see Ziggler get into the IC title scene soon after his shtick with Khali comes to a close.

Eve and Melina vs Layla and Michelle McCool: Damn. This was a rather nice divas match. Didnt last long or anything, but the second Melina got into the ring it was nice. Melina is definitely Smackdown!'s number one divas in terms of ring skills and entertainment, and the finish of her trying to hit her finisher on McCool, but Alicia Fox giving the distraction so that McCool could hit her Facebreaker was a cool little sequence. I dont see why people hate on the current batch of divas, because they are either alright to rather good in their own right. Are they the batch from 2003-2004? No, but stop comparing them to Trish or Jazz or Lita or Victoria and accept them for who they are and what they can do with what they have to work with. Even Michelle McCool isnt as bad as some people say (outside of mic work I would say). She isn't the greatest ever, but shes good.

John Morrison and R-Truth vs The Worlds Greatest Tag Team: Now that Im done dancing in my seat to R-Truths entrance. Ive always been a bit of a fan of R-Truth as a nice midcard act. He was entertaining as the 3LK in TNA and with Road Dogg in the WWE. His promo before the match was entertaining. Oh, and an occassional tag team of Morrison and Truth known as "Hollyhood?" I would mark just for their name. This match was extremely good. I enjoyed Haas doing the whole impersonation bit, but seeing him go back to the aggressive heel is good, too. Morrison as a face is just great and I cant wait for a main event run from the guy, much like I would enjoy an IC run from Truth, and these two pick up the win following Morrison pinning Haas. The match was very exciting and didnt really suffer from the commercial break, which does hurt some matches.

Chris Jericho vs CM Punk: Jericho carrying Reys mask to the ring for the match is great heat. Jericho pulling the mask off mid-619 was just PERFECT timing from those two. His promo pre-match is just more Jericho goodness. 99% of us are liars, cheaters, and failures though. I may lie, I may cheat, and I may fail, but... Wait. Fuck... I just love the whole heel trying to do/thinking he is doing good, but pulling it off in a total dick way, and Jericho does it very well. I want a similar thing to occur with CM Punk in some fashion; different enough not to be a total ripoff, but similar enough that the two are using the same basic gimmick outline. Punk got SOME positive chant at the beginning. The match I thought was only good, with some nice spots here and there. I think some of their past encounters were a bit better. Not bad, though. The crowd was definitely cheering Punk by the end of the match, but then again he was going up against Jericho, who is an instant heat machine.

Edge vs Jeff Hardy: CM Punk on commentary put over the "nothing against Jeff" card at the beginning of this match. Punk coming across very face-like during it all, making it seem like they aren't exactly going with a heel turn for the guy. Could just be smart booknig by having the heel turn be more of a surprise and a bigger moment, though. Edge throwing Hardy into Punk led to Punk attacking Edge, thus the DQ. The three having a little brawl at the end with Jeff hitting the Twist of Fate on Edge and Punk the GTS on Jeff was a nice way to end the show, with Punk looking strong in the end. Teddy Long announcing the three facing eachother in a triple threat for Mondays Three For All should prove to be great.

A rather nice Smackdown! with some decent to good matches. This show is miles ahead of RAW right now. I am actually now questioning whether Punk will turn full fledged heel, or if WWE will just have him try to pull of a tweener role, or even just keep him as a face. The guy did come off very face-like during commentary, saying that he just took the opportunity and everything, but I am sure he could still be turned (fans not believing him/upset regardless, Hardy still wanting Punk to prove he can beat him, etc. pushing him over the edge, as I have said twice already), but the WWE does have me wondering.

Be sure to catch my posts in the blog this weekend. I will be posting my thoughts on Punk being MITB twice and becoming champion again, and I will be posting a little "segment" called The High Five & Down Low, which will cover my personal 5 favorite matches from the past week, 5 stars that I personally enjoyed/was entertained by/caught my eye, and 5 things from the past week that I found to be stupid, bad, or just didnt care for.