CLICK HERE to email Sean “O’Mac” McGuinney.
If there’s one thing I’m grateful for, it’s patience. Thanks, fans, for checking on me – it has been a bit difficult lately getting online as the world of Sean O’Mac gets turned a bit upside down.
But I digress. You’re not here to listen to me gripe – you’re here for a Take!
Things will be a bit different for now. Rather than breaking down the entire show, giving play-by-play along with some editorializing, you’re going to get a lot more opinion and a lot less breakdown. Hey, we already publish results. You’re here for something else, right?
Well, to start things off, I’m a bit torn tonight. On one side, I’m already (and frankly, if you recall, was from the very beginning) sick of this “Edge loves Vickie” angle we’ve been subjected to. But on the other hand, now that we’ve been subjected to it, I’m a bit anxious to see how Edge ends up turning on and destroying Vickie. Come on, you know it’s going to happen. It’s just a matter of time.
The stress between the two could fester for a bit longer, but eventually erupt in the face of opposition. Let’s face it, they’re going to be quickly outnumbered at the rate they are going. Sure, Edge has his “Edge Heads,” but they’ve already screwed Batista, Undertaker, Rey Mysterio, pissed off Chavo Guerrero (even though he’s still looked upon as a heel) … am I missing anyone?
Prediction time? Things will eventually come to a head, with the faces destroying the Edge Heads and Edge scurries away once again to watch from a distance as Vickie falls victim to another pissed off Superstar. Finally seeing through the false declarations of love, Vickie seeks revenge by putting Edge in a Fatal Four-Way match to defend his title against Batista, Taker and Rey.
Hey, it could happen!
But back to the subject at hand.
You want to know what I really enjoyed tonight? It wasn’t a great, technical match. It wasn’t the whole arm-wrestling bit with Hornswoggle (although I did get a chuckle out of that). It was watching the Big Red Machine, Kane, actually destroy a reasonable opponent with minimal effort like the Kane of old.
Could this one, short match against Domino signal a new push for the monster? Well, I’ll sit here waiting and hoping.
Kane’s “brother,” Undertaker, also stood tall tonight after defeating Mark Henry and Matt Striker in a handicap match that was fairly fun to watch. Afterwards, Big Daddy V came out to take ‘Taker out. But instead, the Dead Man made short work of the entire trio. Certainly fun to watch, eh?
Speaking of monsters, Chuck Palumbo, certainly a large man, fell victim to the Noble Curse once again and was defeated by the Cruiserweight for the fourth time in a row. The man almost completely went off on his “friend,” Michelle McCool, but this time Noble appeared to face off with Palumbo as though he was going to come to McCool’s aid.
Well, we can all see where this one’s going, right? Tune in next week when Noble rescues McCool from an enraged Palumbo after yet another loss, leading to her falling madly in love with him. Same Bat Time. Same Bat Channel.
In other Smackdown! news, MVP took it to Batista tonight like I haven’t seen in a while, Undertaker matches excepted of course. The match was a pretty good one, but you gotta hate the ending. (In case you missed it, Batista won via countout after he slugged MVP on their way back into the ring.) But then again, hate it or not, it was at least predictable. God knows they’re not going to have MVP lose heading into his big match with Ric Flair. Batista putting MVP over wouldn’t happen right now either. Well, ya gotta play the storylines.
Rey and Chavo hooked up in tonight’s main event, but it didn’t live up to their potential in my eyes. Part of it may have been Rey playing up a hurt knee, but there seemed to be some miscues and misfires here and there. Knowing these two, I can be sure it wasn’t rated up there with their better matches – but I suppose everyone can have an off night. Mysterio did win the thing with, off all things, a frog splash. Afterwards, Edge and his minions took it to Rey, leaving him quite decimated as the show went off the air.
Hornswoggle’s segment, and arm-wrestling match against Runjin Singh, was mildly entertaining. Finlay used a remote control to keep electrocuting Singh and costing him the contest. More of the cartoonish stuff, but I at least got a chuckle out of it.
Overall, the show was about average. But I’m hoping for something a bit more compelling next week heading into the Royal Rumble.
On another note, you fans sure responded in force to my editorial concerning Hustler’s decision to run photos of Nancy Benoit! Be sure to stay tuned for the next, soon-to-be-posted edition of Pullin’ No Punches to see what you all had to say.
Don’t like my take? Let’s hear yours! Send me your e-mails to [email protected]… the best and worst of the bunch may be featured in the weekly editions of Sean OâMacâs Pullinâ No Punches. Remember, short ones are good, long ones may be cut, and keep the name of the column in mind when you come looking for answers!
