You've sort of already snagged a good part of my heart, and I've only just read the opening video package. You couldn't have done that any better and seeing how much time and description you gave to just that, is a very good first impression. I found it interesting how you changed little things here and there to the Wrestlemania results too but how could have you not? I wasn't truly happy with really any of it on the Smackdown side, so I did jump in joy when I saw that you realized that some renovating was needed before you advanced any farther. The entrance of Ricardo was great, and I was stoked that you decided to actually use a manager to change the tides and to end up gaining the win for his ringleader. Guessing there will be a celebration of some sorts? This was the destiny that he wouldn't stop talking about! But how will Teddy Long react? Will the obvious dirty tactic make him take actions into his own hands? And what about Edge? His friendship with his "brother" is surely over at this point, can't imagine he'll be all smiles and rainbows about that or the fact that he didn't leave with the belt he came in with. I've got so many questions! And that is really the sole purpose of these things, so you definitely succeeded. Now will I get some answers? Hopefully.
And what do we know, ADR and his envy making limousine is already headed to the ring. Couldn't let a second go by without gloating, definitely sounds like the Mexican that we know and hate. You included the smile too, you can never forget that. It's looking to be a lot like previous celebrations struck by him though, hopefully you can mix it up a little. Just because the balloons, the streamers, the mariachi band, it's still quite cookie cutter for a guy like Del Rio. The draft is four weeks away? That excites me. It's already a decent idea, but when you add the fact that you aren't controlling both Raw and Smackdown, it makes it even cooler. And we get an interruption, he'd go on for absolutely forever if we didn't. This is looking to be more of a rehash of his Royal Rumble celebration but you've still got a ton of time to change it up and I believe in you. Edge is out now, and of course, he isn't very happy. Surprised he didn't just spear a whole through the guy! It's nice to see a more heelish guy go up against him though, not some full fledged baby face like we've had in the past. But when will he cash his little ol' rematch in? Extreme Rules or will it be sooner than that? I don't expect him to announce it, not the "Ultimate Opportunist", but I doubt he could wait much longer to get his hands on him. And it's tonight! Right now? Wow. It's definitely a cool decision but don't go too hard with these huge championship matches to start. It does get the crowd pumped up, but people seem to be drastically overusing it. It isn't as bad here, just because it was Edge doing what Edge does best, but just don't make a total trend out of it. I think I see Alberto winning again though, to set up something with Christian and to get the "Rated R Superstar" out of his hair for a little while. But then again, it would be quite amusing to see him lose it this quickly. It could really go either way, but I'm ready to find out!
The recap style is neat and it is just as good as going full out. They're just two very different writing styles though, so somebody used to one way will take a lot longer to warm up to the other one. But you can do just as good with it, so continue to flaunt it, don't get discouraged by the odd person or to who aren't so fond of it. Del Rio would definitely be the one to target a specific body part, so I liked how you incorporated that little bit of psychology. Yet he's going for another one? Geez. It shows how much he wants it, but we're not going to be able to see the potential outcome of it on his body because Rodriguez is here again? I'm a big fan of managers sneaking in and you using them, but mix it up a little. Maybe have him jump on the apron or even do something as simple as him lead Edge out of the ring or something, at least do a different heel maneuver because it starts to lose its value if you just have him do the same thing. But Christian is back down to help him out and maybe even mend a friendship? Why a handshake? Seems a little too professional for two guys who had known eachother for such a long time. Oh, that's why. Maybe they'll start to go with a fist bump or something, a little less risky. I like how you combined the whole recent attack of the arm to the rocky friendship shared by the two brothers. And it costs them a match! Love that ending. It really seems to be forshadowing that a little bit more than just tension will be coming from it too, and hopefully you can avoid the usual angles between them while still doing something new and fresh. Definitely be looking for that in the coming weeks, sure that this won't be the end of them. Ricardo is really helping his man out too, which I've always thought he should do more often. It's just an idea but I'd love to see one of them kidnap him, doing almost a recreation of the Paul Bearer one. Taunting and messing with Alberto's head, it might be one thing that would actually make him lose his cool.
Teddy has an announcement? This has to be good. Usually when he takes time out of a program to say something, it usually is. And look at that, I'm right! I marked out a little seeing the competitors, mainly Cody Rhodes. Can you imagine him winning the match and actually getting a shot at the title? I say it in that way because I can never see it happening. Not when he's got Rey Mysterio and mainly Christian as his competition. But hey, a fan can dream. Kinda disappointed that I don't get to see this right now, but in a good way, no viewer would ever even think about leaving or changing the channel with something so awesome coming. We've got a Rhodes promo now? It's a little soon for my liking, technically the announcement was only made a few minutes ago. Could have you not stuck one of the upcoming matches in between? Whatever. You have him down to a tee though, or at least that side of his character. It is honestly something I could imagine him saying, from the first word to the last word. Definitely be proud of that, in awe, and makes me hope for him being the victor even more than I had before. You also really build a good story for him coming in, explaining why he deserves a title shot and why he'll most likely be targeting Rey. It is always good to have a few refreshers here and there, especially when the company itself is in a time where it wants to attract a lot of new fans. Tyler Reks and Chris Masters is definitely a good pairing, but again, not sure why this couldn't have came before what Rhodes said. I could really see you pushing either of these guys, and me being fine with either one. Obviously not to the main event, well at least not for Reks, but they haven't even graced the bottom of the mid card for a long while.
There isn't much for me to comment on, which is still better than me coming up with fifty things that were wrong with it. I love that you're returning him back to his old roots, he's needed it for too long now. I honestly feel that the WWE took it away from him as almost like, punishment for the failed wellness tests or whatever. Of course, if you were to have him come out with his grooving pectorals, I would have died out of embarrassment, for you. You also have to look back at the old Chris Masters and how high he got on the food chain. He was feuding with guys like Shawn Michaels and he is still the only man to make John Cena lose consciousness. So all of those reasons make what I hope is a potential push, so awesome and so needed. Now we get Curt Hawkins facing JTG? Hm. I'm not too familiar with Hawkins, but do know he recently adapted to more of Ryder's style and that's really quite hard to hate. So hopefully you're giving this to him, because JTG is so just bleh. Cryme Time was never awful, but once they split, him and Gaspard just sort of disappeared into oblivion. So hopefully? This is the match that sends him there. Of course, I might be expecting a little too much there. But hey, I was actually pretty much right. Hopefully we're waving bye to JTG and hello to Curt Hawkins, sure his brother is happy about that. Have you ever thought of reuniting them? Just because in the end, I'm not sure how far he'll get with so many above him on the ladder. And then, you're at least getting an entertaining team and maybe even a possible contender out of the guy. But that's just my two cents, you can love them or hate them.
Swagger makes me want to punch him once more, and I'm quite a non violent person. I have to say though, your nailing promo's down to a fricken tee. You've hit a stride so far, with you hitting the nail right on the head with both Rhodes and the lisp sporting Swagger now. It creates something really cool because you're always wanting to know what's next, and always excited. Even when matches end, it's hard to even stop and think because you have to know who you're going to be perfecting this time around. And apparently we're getting another one of them right now! And while it's awesome because we get double the perfection in one sort of section, again, you could've split it up. Being that you're Book This! seems to be so good, I'm obviously having to bring up things that are a little smaller on the scale, but still. Start thinking a little more about the placement, because the quality is absolutely fine. It is totally Rey to look past his enemies and onto to his match too, it's why the fans like him. And why would he care anymore anyways? He's already apologized, and I hope Cody doesn't back down, because I feel like this whole thing could get even more creepy if he started following and obsessing over him even more. However I don't think it'll be so easy for him though to just look over the once "Dashing" superstar and it sort of plays into why I feel Christian may come out the winner. Cody will spend too much time focusing on the man that gave him his mask, and because of this, Rey won't be completely focused either. But I don't know, I hate making predictions.
The Corre! Can you do a better job then WWE? Yeah, it won't be too hard. I just don't want them to poof and just never be heard of again. Barrett needs to show that he's able to actually run a faction, with Nexus not seeming to work out in the slightest of ways. I love seeing them rotate with who fights too, very rarely ever seeing Slater being the one fighting one on one. Hopefully you can go off of a very limited moveset and a very limited personality, but hey, you seem to be on a roll so I won't put it past you. Then again, with every one of his teammates in his corner, not sure he'll need to be featured much anyways. Seeing a big beat down here, before one man can even be given the win. But hey, guess I'm wrong. Would have thought they would've at least came in when it was looking Heath was down and out, but it does show that they have trust in eachother which hopefully means they'll be given some actual time to live up to their potential. Oh, and there is the attack I was expecting. Again, I actually think it is better timing having it now. I like to see how united they all are, and want that to last. Now Big Show and Kane have joined the party! But the Corre retreats, definitely a smart move. Not a huge fan of bland Big Show and soft feeling babyface Kane, but for now, it'll work. And to end it, we see Heath Slater getting murdered with a chokeslam. Good choice, at least they got a little something out coming down to the ring in the first place. This isn't crazy or anything, but it'll still be enough to anger them. Part of me wishes Heath mysteriously gets injured, just because I find him to be the dead weight of the faction, but it's nothing big and it still is nice to see you actually keep them intact without showing any signs of imploding. But where do you go from this? Eventually, the Corre is going to have to move away from guys like Big Show and Kane, hopefully to a more intense and enticing feuds. Because no matter what they do to the giants, I still don't see them as any more powerful than before. However that could just be me!
Great and perfectly fitting once more, the Christian promo couldn't have been better. It shows that he is a lot more focused than at least Cody, but I feel like he has no real connections in the match either which I can see seriously benefiting him. His feelings around Edge were good too, and I liked how they weren't so violent but enough to say that Edge's time has passed. I can see him not taking those so lightly though, in fact, I know he won't. A nice transition to a diva's match too, letting us get that much more excited about the whole slobberknocker of a match coming up. I like to see that they're still united as well, even after their Wrestlemania failure. And we both know that they're even more potent together than alone, so it only means good things that they are still all friendly and giggly. And this shows as they beat two very talented divas, who really shouldn't be underestimated either. I still don't feel that this will make up for what happened though, and see them going back to their very harsh bullying selves once more. Not that they ever stopped, but they have seemed to slip into a bit of a slump lately. And while the diva's might mean more to me than some, we've got the big guns coming out now. And can I say that I'm so pumped for this right now? Literally. Whoever wins, it'll be awesome, I think that's why I'm so excited.
Loved how Rhodes was able to take Rey out for a while, something he'd definitely do. Hopefully they don't underestimate the bugger though, how many times has that happened now? I've stopped counting. Edge is back? I was expecting it, but holy heck, not then. I got caught up in everything else, thought it was too late for him, but he made it just in time! I can't even imagine what must have been going through his head though. Costing his brother something he's always wanted, knowing that he just severed ties to a very good friend, and I'd love to see a segment where he does touch on some of that stuff next week. Guessing Cody wins this then? Wow. That'll be great, heck, everyone is still wishing for that to happen right now in real life. But it's not over! Perfect execution, amazing. You've done both very well, however I sort of think you made the Rey one a little more predictable. I just feel like he basically just sat outside the ring for a good half of the match, you knew he couldn't have been down that long for nothing but his ribs colliding with the steel steps. But it really is crazy, how he can win again and again under the same underdog sort of role, and it still seems fresh. Cody's not done now, he's going to go absolutely insane. How can he contain his anger when he is watching the guy who stole a Rumble spot from him, steal another shot at the championship once more? You get the feel with him that he won't stop until he gets revenge, which I love. But how are you going to redo the Alberto/Mysterio stuff? It was a pretty big thing when the former debuted, you'll have to find a way to mix it up. But man, you're good. As things go on, you're going to have to make bigger decisions and start making things your own, and honestly, I'll be honored to watch you do it.