Smackdown 2-21-12

Once again, WWE brings you a special live edition of Super Smackdown! on Tuesday night!

Matches:

1. Sheamus v. The Miz - 4 out of 5
2. Jack Swagger & Dolph Ziggler v. R-Truth & Kofi Kingston - 4 out of 5
3. The Great Khali v. Drew McIntyre - 0 out of 5
4. Mark Henry v. Big Show - 3 out of 5
5. David Otunga v. Ezekiel Jackson - 3 out of 5
6. CM Punk v. Daniel Bryan - 4 out of 5


Smackdown is really kicking Raw's ass lately, so the rivalry between the GMs seems to flow naturally from that. The main event was restarted twice, and ended in essentially a draw, which was an excellent way not only to build heat between the two brands, but also to keep either champion from looking weak in the build-up to WrestleMania. I'd like to see this lead to a tag team match, playa, with both GMs hand-picking teams of three. Otunga and Punk for Long, with Sheamus to round out the group, and Zeke and Bryan for Laurinaitis, probably with Mark Henry. Look for that to happen sometime next week. The heat can continue with new teams led by Otunga and Zeke at WrestleMania, for control of both brands.

It was nice to see the girls get the night off from being humiliated. I think the only lady we saw this week was Vickie Guerrero, who was fantastic as always. Although to me it did look like she was supposed to have been knocked over by Swagger and fell over too soon. Still, points to the commentators. Cole pretty consistently compliments her (since he's the heel commentator), but the others just don't say anything in response anymore. Now let's see if Teddy Long can learn to do the same thing and shut his mouth. Teddy's been in the dog house with me since insulting Vickie at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view.

The scores on this show were very high. The match-ups we saw were better than I was expecting them to be. Miz didn't just get squashed by Sheamus, which was really nice to see. The only complaint I have against the tag team match is that Swagger should have been the one to get the pin. I don't know if WWE is trying to just retire the US Championship by making us forget it exists, but it's really in a sad state right now. Mark Henry made his match against Show look awesome by screaming at him the whole time. Even Otunga and Zeke looked good, and not totally stale. And of course the main event was just as phenomenal as it should have been. The only reason it gets a 4 instead of a 5 is because there was no announcement of a draw afterwards, which made it feel kind of like a non-finish. I mean, I get what they were doing, but having an official announcement would have been better for me.

The only thing I did not like at all in this show was Drew McIntyre and Khali. Was there a point to that? I'd like to have Khali off my screen, and I'd like to see this angle with Drew go somewhere already. There's already been a couple of months of this. I don't mind a long build. You can tell better stories that way. Two months is enough time to establish Drew's losing streak, and it's time now to move on to the next part of the plot.