The Redman Report: WWE Smackdown 24/6/11: THE HAKA!
Posted on June 25th, 2011 by Jimmy Redman
I havent had a chance to sit down and do this properly today, this will probably be a shorter read than most, but nevertheless, I do have to give props to another fun episode of FRIDEE NIGHT SMACK DOWN.
I liked the continuation of the Christian angle by Teddy AGAIN making him jump through another hoop even though the ref screwed up. It makes Teddy look like a bit of a douche, when the callback is that he gave Orton a title shot for no reason to start the angle, but he’s been consistent with Christian the whole time by making him earn shots. I think its only the fact that in general shots are handed out (especially once a guy pins the champ in a tag match) that it makes this case look exceptionally harsh.
SC vs Ted was a fun little Cara match, actually. Ted is a good base, and SC did some new flips today. He also hit his new finish perfectly! The La Mistica slam that he did on Chavo, I mean. So it works. Good stuff.
And now Cody! His promo this week was good. Bryan talking! This was pretty good by Bryan standards too. The things Smackdown can do. I liked this to lead into the match and give something to this feud beyond “we’re two heels and you’re two faces”.
And what a match it was. The first minute of this was AWESOME. So fast and so great. This was good work after the break too, I liked the tope onto Ted and the leg-in-the-ropes was a different kind of finish. I hope they get another chance to have a better tag match soon.
Johnny Curtis can cut the mustard. Still sucks.
Show in a suit! He’s still pretty distraught. MARK HENRY! BAM, TAKE THAT MOTHERF*CKER. Big Show aint never safe on Smackdown while Mark Henry is around. I laughed at Henry slipping on all the set poles though. But Mark Henry is still a badass.
Zeke vs Barrett was some more fun from them. Nothing much else to say there.
Corre reunion! Its been too long. I like that they broke them up while keeping them all heels. I also really like how Barrett has bigger plans. With Sheamus out he and Henry are the only heels left, he surely has to be next in line.
THE HAKA!!!
Cannot tell you how legit excited I was for this. Being Australian and seeing the haka every time we play football against New Zealand (which is approximately 3 thousand times a year), I do love a good haka. Seeing it performed on an American wrestling show just blew my mind a little. The Usos were already growing on me, but the Usos with the HAKA are my new favourite tag team.
Match was pretty good too. These guys work really well together. Always love the snap Samoan Drop, this time from the top rope. And a good asshole finish, and nice to see they didnt undercut Slater and Gabes after they said they’d win. Approve of all of this.
Jinder, squash, promo, whatever.
Kane vs Christian, while it was a match, was the best Kane match you’ve seen in FOREVER. Cannot overstate how good Christian was working here. The downside is that he worked the same as he did as a babyface and hit all his moves and did not come off as a heel in any way. This was a face vs face match, to me, but whatever, it was a good match. It was getting really good and then MARK HENRY BITCHES. I had a feeling from the start that Christian would lose by DQ, it just seemed like it.
Anyway, the tag match was fun too. The finish was really, really well done. And MARK HENRY PINS THE WORLD CHAMPION OF THE WORLD. Christian sneaks in the backdoor once again for a blowoff, and Mark Henry is still the BADDEST MOTHERF*CKER ALIVE. Smashingly done.
