OPENING
Smackdown opens up with the usual pyrotechnics and greetings from our commentators for the evening, "Good Ol' JR" Jim Ross and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. Piper reveals that tonight, Smackdown will be missing half of their roster due to a snowstorm. Certainly a creative way to explain it.
Let's see who all we're missing. Rey Mysterio, Derrick Bateman, John Cena, JTG, and Triple H. So two of the tournament matches won't be happening in the manner they were scheduled to, the singles match has an outcome everyone knows without having to read the match, and we have two of the six scheduled promos? A snowstorm, indeed.
BACKSTAGE PROMO
Smackdown heads to the General Manager's office where Jeff Hardy is upset that his tournament match won't be happening due to the weather preventing some of the participants from being there. Dean Ambrose arrives in the office, revealing that he hitchhiked and walked to get there. That's a dedicated World Heavyweight Champion. So since Ambrose and Hardy are there but Cena and Wyatt aren't, Wolfe makes Dean Ambrose vs. Jeff Hardy for later on tonight, non-title of course.
This reminds me of WWE Raw, the week after they did the whole, "vote of no confidence, everyone walks out on Triple H" thing and it was just Triple H, C.M. Punk, Sheamus, and John Cena at the beginning of the show.
IN-RING PROMO
Batista comes out and tells us how much he loves what he does, but claims that every opponent he's been fed doesn't love what they do, which is why they've sunk like the Mariana Trench(good line) and have all lost to him. He announces they aren't welcome in his ring anymore, and in irony that's not a bit lost on me, begins to verbally tear Rey Mysterio down for being a superhero, as well as his fans that adore him and wear masks like him.
Batista reveals he's destined to be the World Heavyweight Champion and puts all of his opponents on notice to keep their hands off of him until the Great American Bash and he'll do the same for them. For the second time in his career, Andrew finds himself as the focal point of Smackdown, except this time has brought more praise. Arguably the biggest threat to the World Heavyweight Championship right now.
TENNESSEE ANIMALS VS. THE LEGION OF DOOM
I'm not a fan of feeding a legendary tag team like the Legion of Doom to the likes of Jeff Jarrett and Batista, even if they've both been extremely impressive lately and this incarnation includes Heidenreich instead of Hawk. I was disappointed to see it was this incarnation and was also disappointed to discover that this was a one-shot appearance done to make up for the no-showing of Mysterio and Bateman, as I was hopeful someone had picked them up. Why won't anyone pick up the Legion of Doom?
It's time for Jeff Jarrett to have a real match anyway. The others were won by his use of outside resources and this week was a squash match. It's hard to get excited about a guy when he's not being given competition. The potential is there but it's not being capitalized upon.
BACKSTAGE PROMO
You can tell Andrew and Captain both cut their promos with the expectation that their opponents would actually be showing up because of the subject matter. Ambrose talks about no other superstar being as dominant as him, and explains that although the higher ups don't want him as champion, he doesn't care. He then goes on to express his frustration regarding being left off of the poster, with usage of a swear word I wish he hadn't resorted to, and goes off on Cody Rhodes, telling him that he and the NWO are lucky they're on Raw and he's on Smackdown. He closes by saying the era of Dean Ambrose is just beginning.
Well, I have to disagree with the higher ups, I enjoy Dean Ambrose as champion. I'm hopeful that he and I both have lengthy reigns as the faces of our respective brands. Not literally though, I'm a heel.
COMMERCIAL ONE
Smackdown's first commercial of the night is for a video promo that rawisrey did for Cody Rhodes. He's good at that, you know. I wish I had the ability, I would make one for Austin and Sting. Anyhoo, it's pretty sweet, and is an interesting peek into the mind of Cody Reyhodes, revealing that he feels even his stablemates, Randy Orton and Christian, are jealous of him just like everyone else. Very interesting stuff, I hope it has an impact beyond being featured in a Smackdown commercial and being plugged in my article.
BACKSTAGE PROMO
Back from commercial, Smackdown cuts backstage and I see a sight that brings back fond memories indeed, Raven. That's right folks, Raven has officially made his way to UWF, and he is being portrayed by the protege' of EoR, Macabre. Cool screen name, by the way. This, is an awesome way to debut, I hope this promo made everyone else take notice of you the same way it's made me take notice of you. This is, in my opinion, the best promo on the show so far. Smackdown trembles at the mere thought of your arrival.
TRIPLE H VS. TED DIBIASE
As I said, the outcome of this match is obvious so I'm not even going to get into it. Aniking decided he didn't want to play Triple H, I have no problem with that aside from the fact that I like the Cerebral Assassin and feel he's always been a great addition to e-fedding Friday nights. I hope that you find someone you enjoy playing and return to Smackdown soon. Congratulations to Prodigy on another win, your DiBiase has been impressive lately, even if this particular victory wasn't earned.
BACKSTAGE PROMO
Jarrett storms into Wolfe's office, upset that Batista powerbombed him earlier after their match, outright refusing to tag with him next week. Wolfe informs him that Batista won't be here next week(no reason given), so Jarrett is allowed to pick anyone he wants to be the replacement. Interesting.
IN-RING PROMO
Heyman and Miz are upset that RVD took the European Championship into his possession last week after the match, and demand that he return it or they will have Desmond Wolfe suspend him. Rob comes out, talks about becoming the European Champion, Alfonso backs up his claims, Miz and Heyman refute them, Rob hits Miz with a Van Daminator using the belt then slams the belt down onto him and leaves. This feud picks up more and more steam each week, I like it, and am interesting in seeing whether Got_Swag keeps the European Championship or it changes hands for the second consecutive pay-per-view in a row.
COMMERCIAL TWO
Smackdown's second commercial of the night is for Maria Brink, a woman I still know nothing about.
Y.E.S. VS. THE BLACK AND WHITE MACHINE
Yes this makes my first victory since picking up a character for Smackdown, but that doesn't matter, because though I have three losses to my name(although the one I shouldn't have), I have had awesome trash talking sessions every single week. The trash talking session with Prodigy was great, the trash talking session with Sam was great, and this week's trash talking session alongside EoR against Rey and Hoov was great. I hope the trend continues.
I liked the pre-match promo by Sandow and Bryan, and Joe being laid out backstage only to come in later and help the good guys win the match was sweet. Not a huge fan of Sting swearing though, that's not very Sting to me.
HOUSE SHOW PROMO
Well, he couldn't be here to wrestle but at least he cut a promo. And this promo, like all Bray Wyatt promos, is great. Sam's really into this character, which is a great thing. Second biggest threat to the World Heavyweight Championship. Just think, if Eli Cottonwood hadn't screwed me, I might be in that King of the Mountain match.
JEFF HARDY VS. DEAN AMBROSE
I will give credit where credit is due. Although trash talking was poor, all of the matches tonight were not, except for the squash match but you know my quarrels with that. Thank you guys for making it special despite the shortcoming. Nice impromptu main event.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
The snowstorm ravaged the blue brand this week, but I look forward to bright sun and clear skies next week, and a fully stocked Smackdown. If not, I wouldn't mind pulling double duty, Teddy Long can shove his fine and warning of suspension or termination.
AWARDS
It is now time for me to announce the member that cut the best promo this week and the writer that wrote the best match this week. Remember, these awards refer to both Raw and Smackdown. No runners-up, no honorable mentions, no second place, I'm only naming the ones I thought were the best. Unfortunately, although I feel I cut a good promo, I am disqualifying myself from the running for that award.
Allow me to remind you of all the promos this week. Smackdown of course had the segment with Desmond Wolfe, Dean Ambrose, and Jeff Hardy. They also had the Batista promo, Ambrose promo, Raven promo, Jarrett and Wolfe segment, Miz and RVD segment, Bray Wyatt promo, and pre-match Y.E.S. promo. Raw had two Bully Ray promos, two Austin Aries promos, a Flair and Ziggler promo, an MVP promo, a Cody Rhodes and Robert Roode and MVP promo, and a Stone Cold promo.
Smarks and UWF faithful, in my opinion, both awards belong to Tuesday Night Raw this week. Let's start with the promos. Bully Ray made his return to UWF in attitudinal fashion, and will certainly be someone to watch going forward. Austin Aries has made it very clear that he is back with a purpose and isn't going anywhere. Ric Flair and Dolph Ziggler wasted no time displaying their confidence as Dolph issued an open challenge. MVP, though the losing man at Starrcade, came off like a winner with his promo. Stone Cold showed how loose cannon and intolerant he is when he went off on everyone and everything, even putting his hands on Jerry Lawler. And the war of words between Rhodes and Roode continues, now with MVP getting involved.
Each promo was great in its own way, but I told you and myself that I would choose one, and I've made my decision. The first recipient of the Promo of the Week award is the Rhodes, Roode, and MVP promo. Congratulations to Rey, Albo2, and EoR!
And since I said both awards go to Raw this week, it's pretty obvious that the recipient of the Match of the Week award is none other than Cwalker, but for which match? Well, it came down to the two title matches, William Regal versus Wade Barrett for the Hardcore Championship and Cody Rhodes vs. C.M. Punk for the United States Championship. Both matches were chocked full of action, and both matches were very well written, but one was better than the other.
So the match that gets the first Match of the Week award is Cody Rhodes vs. C.M. Punk for the United States Championship! Congratulations to Rey and Dom as well as Cwalker!
MORE AWARDS
Don't get too excited, as I'm not referring to myself handing out more awards. Maybe in the future I'll introduce a few more, but as of this moment and this edition, I am segueing into the fact that it's again time for the UWF monthly awards for June 2012!
Before I get to how everyone's doing in the nominations, let me give a reminder of who won the awards for the month of May, since Cwalker went through the trouble of making a thread to keep up with those records.
Raw Superstar of the Month: Dean Ambrose
Smackdown Superstar of the Month: N/A
Brand of the Month: N/A
Champion of the Month: Dean Ambrose/Antonio Cesaro
Best Trashtalker of the Month: Chris Dresden/Lewbrication
Underrated Trashtalker of the Month: Sam/Captain/Hoov
Most Improved Trashtalker of the Month: Got_Swag
Tag Team of the Month: European Revolution
Member of the Month: Cwalker
Most Helpful of the Month: Cwalker
Writer of the Month: Cwalker
Feud of the Month: Ambrose vs. Bryan
OMG! Moment of the Month: Austin Aries cash-in
Match of the Month: Ambrose vs. Bryan II
Now let's see the nominees so far for this month's awards.
Raw Superstar of the Month: Cody Rhodes(5), Christian(4), Stone Cold(1)
Smackdown Superstar of the Month: Ambrose(4), Sandow(3), DiBiase(2), Bryan(1)
Brand of the Month: Smackdown(7), Raw(1)
Champion of the Month: Stone Cold(7), Cody Rhodes(2), Dean Ambrose(1)
Best Trashtalker of the Month: rawisrey(6), Andrew(1), Cap'n(1), Dres(1), Sam(1)
Underrated Trashtalker of the Month: Lub(4), Blizzard(3), Dres(1), Prod(1), MrFetter(1)
Most Improved Trashtalker of the Month: Andrew(9), Prodigy(1)
Tag Team of the Month: NWO(5), the Black and White Machine(1)
Member of the Month: Dresden(6), SBS(3), EoR(2), Cwalker(1)
Most Helpful of the Month: EoR(4), rawisrey(4), Cwalker(1), SBS(1)
Writer of the Month: SBS(8), Cwalker(2)
Feud of the Month: Bryan/Ambrose(7), Bryan/Wolfe(1), Wolfe/SD(1), Rhodes' 'tude(1)
OMG! Moment of the Month: DiBiase wins title then loses(9), Rhodes joins NWO(1)
Match of the Month: Bryan vs. Ambrose III(9)
The addition of Smackdown with EoR and SBS at the helm has changed the face of these awards dramatically. For example, there is now a Brand of the Month and a Smackdown Superstar of the Month. How are last month's winners holding up this month?
Last month's Raw Superstar, Dean Ambrose, is obviously not in the running but is the current leader for Smackdown Superstar of the Month. Now that Smackdown's in town, it looks to be a shoe-in for Brand of the Month. Last month's co-Champion of the Month, Antonio Cesaro, is gone from UWF so he's obviously not in the running while the other co-Champion, Dean Ambrose, finds himself trailing behind this month.
Last month's co-Best Trashtalker, Lewbrication, finds himself not in the running while I am barely in there with one vote. Sam, Hoov, and Captain aren't up for Underrated Trashtalker this month. Got_Swag is not up for Most Improved. European Revolution is no longer a tag team so they're obviously not up for Tag Team of the Month. Last month's Member of the Month Cwalker is trailing behind this month, and is also trailing for Most Helpful and Writer of the Month with the inclusion of EoR, SBS, and Rey to the writing staff.
Feud of the Month looks like it will be going to Bryan versus Ambrose again. Chriss is not up for OMG! Moment of the Month, and Match of the Month will go to Bryan vs. Ambrose III. So besides Feud and Match, we'll be having entirely new winners of the awards for June!
Let me just say it's absolutely awesome to see my name up there so many times, a big heartfelt thank you to everyone that nominated me and will be voting for me when the threads go up, I appreciate it more than you know. I mean, I'm nominated for SIX awards. Granted I only have a prayer of winning two of them, I still feel honored to be nominated for six. Thank you all again.
