Friday night’s episode of Smackdown ended with the world heavyweight title shrouded in controversy. Prior to Edge’s title defense against Dolph Ziggler, acting Smackdown general manager and special referee Vickie Guerrero announced that Edge once again was prohibited from using The Spear, and if he did use the move, he would lose the title to Ziggler.
The match built to a spot in which Guerrero actually tried to spear Edge, but she bounced right off him (which was pretty funny), grabbed her ankle in pain and was attended to by a trainer outside the ring.
With Guerrero distracted, Edge hit The Spear on Ziggler, but there was no referee to make the count. Edge then hit another spear, and Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews suddenly ran down to the ring from the back wearing a referee’s shirt. The crowd in Green Bay popped as Matthews made the three count, and he and Edge then celebrated with their respective world championship belts.
But not so fast. Guerrero saw Edge hit the second spear, and she waved off Edge’s victory. Right before the show went off the air, Michael Cole proclaimed that Ziggler was the new world champion.
I’m interested to see how the situation is resolved on this Friday’s Smackdown, but ultimately it doesn’t make much difference. The Elimination Chamber match is on Feb. 20, and the defending champion has no advantage anyway.
Other thoughts on Friday’s show:
I liked the opening segment with Alberto Del Rio and Kofi Kingston. Del Rio’s heel mannerisms and delivery are always good, but I also with impressed with Kingston’s performance on the mic. I wish WWE would let him talk more often. Kingston acting like he was going to nail Del Rio with the kendo stick and then winking at him before doing so was a nice touch. Kingston really laid in the shots with the stick, as evidenced by the welts on Del Rio’s arm and shoulder. ...
It’s pretty obvious now that WWE has no intention of adding Kingston to the world heavyweight title match at WrestleMania XXVII, so I can’t argue with the booking of the Del Rio-Kingston match, which Del Rio won by tapout with the Cross Armbreaker. WWE has to strongly put over Del Rio and his finisher on the road to WrestleMania. ...
The Wade Barrett-Rey Mysterio match was good. It was a big win for Barrett, who needs it more than Mysterio does at this point. ...
Reacting to a move that Barrett hit during the match with Mysterio, Booker T. said it was “shades of Big Bubba Rogers.” “Who?” Cole asked. “The Boss Man,” Booker replied. That was funny. The late Ray Traylor wrestled as Big Bubba Rogers in the NWA and UWF before becoming The Big Boss Man in the WWF. ...
Booker T. seemed a bit more relaxed on commentary this week, but there’s still a lot of room for improvement. Cole once again dominated their verbal sparring match. ...
I like how WWE is putting Ezekiel Jackson over as a powerhouse. After body-slamming The Big Show on previous shows, Big Zeke suplexed him this time. ...
The Drew McIntyre-Chris Masters match was short (about two minutes), but there were a couple things I liked about it. One was the Sky High Powerbomb that Masters hit on McIntyre, and the other was the finishing sequence, as McIntyre reversed a backslide and hit the Future Shock DDT. ...
The Justin Gabriel-Vladimir Kozlov match was wisely kept short (a little more than two minutes), and what they did was fine. Gabriel won with the 450 Splash, which was the right call. ...The Eve Torres-Layla match was OK, but the crowd seemed disinterested. ...