Much like Raw on Monday night, the first Smackdown of 2011 got off to a great start and was a really good show overall. A Last Man Standing Match for the world heavyweight title between champion Edge and Kane opened Friday night’s program, and a two out of three falls match pitting Alberto Del Rio against Rey Mysterio closed it.
But the most interesting development took place during during the middle of the show, as Dolph Ziggler went from Intercontinental champion to ex-champion to No. 1 contender for the world title. In a result that I didn’t see coming, Ziggler lost the Intercontinental title to Kofi Kingston. Then, after Ziggler laid out Kingston after the match, Vickie Guerrero – who was in charge because Smackdown general manager Teddy Long wasn’t there – ordered an immediate re-match.
I thought for sure Ziggler was going to regain the title, but – much to my surprise – Kingston quickly pinned Ziggler a second time. I couldn’t figure out why WWE was suddenly burying Ziggler, who seemed to be gaining momentum recently. Just last week, I wrote: “I really like what WWE has done with Ziggler as of late. ... I think he has a strong chance to be a player in the world title picture this year.”
As it turned out, Ziggler was taking two steps back before taking one giant step forward. Just as a triple threat match between The Big Show, Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes to determine the No. 1 contender for the world heavyweight title was about to take place, Guerrero inserted Ziggler into the bout to make it a fatal fourway.
At that point, I saw the big picture, and as I expected, Ziggler won the match and is now next in line for a shot at Edge. So in the end, WWE managed to put Kingston over strong, while at the same time elevating Ziggler. Well done.
Other thoughts on Friday’s show: The other noteworthy development on this episode was the unannounced appearance of Wade Barrett, who did a run-in during the triple threat match and attacked Big Show. So instead of Barrett turning babyface and feuding with CM Punk and Nexus on Raw, it appears that he is now a member of the Smackdown roster. To me, it makes Barrett look really weak that he’s not going to seek revenge on the guys who betrayed him. I’m anxious to hear the explanation for Barrett being moved to Smackdown and what his reasons are for targeting Big Show. ...
Edge and Kane put on a very entertaining Last Man Standing Match, as they literally battled all over the arena for more than 20 minutes. The only negative for me is that it appeared that Kane took an unprotected chair shot to the head when Edge hurled a chair at him. ...
The Del Rio-Mysterio two out of three falls match was good. I liked the finish, which saw Del Rio win the third and deciding fall by countout when Ricardo Rodriguez grabbed Mysterio’s leg outside the ring and would not allow him to beat the 10 count. So Del Rio gets the win in what was seemingly the blow-off to his program with Mysterio, but Mysterio isn’t hurt by the loss since he did not get pinned and he lost due to outside interference. ...
I know that Del Rio and Mysterio were already booked in a match, but it still seemed odd that a No. 1 contender’s match would include guys such as McIntyre and Rhodes but not Del Rio and Mysterio. ...
The fatal fourway match was very well-booked. Big Show was dominant, but the other three competitors joined forces at times to prevent him from winning. After Big Show survived a sneak attack from Barrett and then kicked out of each man’s finisher, Ziggler tricked Rhodes into thinking they would double-team Big Show, and then hit the Zig Zag on him for the victory. ...
I wonder how much Edge’s past with Guerrero will play into his title program with Ziggler. ...The high cross body off the top rope that Kingston used to pin Ziggler (the first time) was truly a thing of beauty. ...The Michelle McCool-Kelly Kelly match was very short (McCool won), but it was decent while it lasted. ...I’m enjoying the McIntyre-Kelly Kelly story line, but I doubt Taryn “Tiffany” Terrell is too thrilled with it.