Smackdown Year in Review 2009
By: Mike Tedesco of WrestleView.com
Hey everyone! It’s Mike Tedesco, your weekly Smackdown reporter here with my second edition of my Smackdown Year in Review.
2009 has been a great year for Smackdown. More often than not it’s been the best show featured in WWE’s weekly lineup. It won Mr. V’s Weekly TV Wars voted on by you the fans! We?ve seen some of the greatest feuds, moments, matches, and superstars of the year on the show. I?m here to give you my take on what I thought were the absolute best and the worst.
Miscellaneous
Best Bump of the Year: Jeff Hardy’s Swanton Bomb off the top rope to the outside on a stretcher!
Man that was a nice bump. Matt and Jeff Hardy were five days removed from a brutal Hardcore Match at WrestleMania 25 when they entered a Stretcher Match on Smackdown. The match itself wasn?t bad. They worked well together and made good use of the stretcher. Then the big finish came when Jeff sailed off the top rope with a Swanton meant for Matt but he moved and the stretcher took the finisher. If you happen to find a video of this I?d suggest you check it out.
Rookie of the Year: Drew McIntyre
It’s hard to build an argument against a guy who blasted his way on to Smackdown by beating the crap out of R-Truth and then out of nowhere getting an endorsement from WWE CEO Vince McMahon. McIntyre has had a great rookie year on the show as he’s undefeated in singles competition and just recently won the Intercontinental Championship. While it remains to be seen if he’s actual World Championship material he’s well on his way to establishing himself as a main event talent.
Best Diva of the Year: Michelle McCool
Michelle McCool was awesome this year. While her heel turn started at the tail end of last year it came full and blossomed this year. She was great. She had some awesome matches and she was the first Diva in a while that I bought as a true bad girl.
Best Tag Team of the Year: Miz and Morrison
Miz and Morrison were definitely the best tag team seen on Smackdown this year. While they broke up not even halfway through the year we were treated to many awesome matches between them and the Colons heading to WrestleMania 25. The chemistry, antics, and matches were great and made for some entertaining television.
Biggest Loss of the Year: Edge
It was a shame to hear he went down to an Achilles Heel Tendon tear. I would?ve liked to have seen how Edge and Jericho would have performed had the injury not happened. I also would have liked to have seen him turn face over the year. Hopefully he?ll come back next year better than ever and ready to face Chris Jericho at WrestleMania 26.
Best Finisher: Tombstone Piledriver
The Tombstone Piledriver again wins the Best Finisher award from me. I still think it’s the best finisher done by any wrestler on Smackdown. It’s a cool move and it’s exciting to watch. Honorable mention, of course, goes to the 619, Swanton Bomb, and the GTS.
Feuds:
Worst Feud of the Year: The Great Khali vs. Kane
If you?re going to have a conversation about two guys who should never be in the ring together then these two have to be at the top of your list. What an absolutely brutal feud this was ? brutally bad, that is. It started at the Bash when Kane made his return after a short sabbatical and attacked Great Khali, costing him a match against Dolph Ziggler. This then became a feud that lasted throughout the summer. They wrestled in stinker after stinker and they just kept giving us more. They even tried storylines in a feeble attempt to make us care. Kane kidnapped Ranjin Singh and it was revealed that he was Great Khali’s brother. Then, finally, it ended with Kane destroying Great Khali’s knee, putting him out of action for months. The final result? The Raw creative team says they put their differences aside and they teamed up at the Slammys. It boggles my mind just typing this at how poorly thought out this whole thing was.
Best Feud of the Year: Straightedge vs. Carefree
This was an awesome feud. This set Smackdown on fire over the summer. It was the birth of the CM Punk we all love to hate ? the drug and alcohol hating preacher. It was so much fun to watch. It’s so rare that you have the true antithesis of a character with the same momentum in a feud. That’s what made it work so well. Jeff Hardy just lives life to the fullest and CM Punk is all about living life without much fun. I don?t condone drugs at all so I can?t argue with Punk there. I don?t see a problem with alcohol, if done in moderation and if you?re the correct legal age. It was just a fun feud to watch. Punk and Hardy were both excellent in this and it was a great way for Jeff Hardy to leave WWE.
Gimmicks:
Worst Gimmick of the Year: Pretty Ricky (R-Truth)
I almost picked Slam Master J for this one but Pretty Ricky edged him out just for being so absolutely horrible. I have no clue what the hell the person who thought this up was thinking. Why does WWE like to rip things off like we wouldn?t notice? This was a straight rip off from the 2000 movie ?Blue Streak.? It was funny then ? nine years later now it’s really not. I have to give R-Truth props for trying to make it work but I didn?t crack a smile once and it was embarrassing to watch.
Best Gimmick of the Year: Undertaker
It’s hard to argue against the most consistently popular gimmick of the last twenty years. Undertaker is the man. From the theatrics to the actual wrestling he’s got it all. It could just be that I?m an Undertaker mark but I think you?d be hard pressed to find a better gimmick today than this.
Moments:
Worst Moment of the Year: Matt Hardy insinuates that he was the one who burned Jeff’s house, killing his dog in the process
Maybe at the time it seemed like a good idea but I think there should be some boundaries when it comes to a man’s personal life in storylines. I know Jeff had to green light it before it was said but it was still lame. Matt didn?t need that to get over bigger as a heel. That storyline didn?t need that insinuation to get over. He?d already set Jeff on fire with his own pyro, attacked him before Survivor Series, and run his car off the road. They didn?t need this to further it along. I just disagreed with it and I didn?t think it was a shining moment.
Best Moment of the Year: Jeff Hardy’s final Smackdown
Don?t get me wrong ? it wasn?t the best moment because it was Jeff’s last Smackdown. I miss that guy. It was a great moment because of the true emotion that was involved in it. As Jeff gave his final promo you could feel it. The end, for now. The emotion extended beyond the arena and came right into your home. I certainly felt it. People were crying and wishing him farewell. It was an awesome moment and a rare true emotional moment in WWE.
Smackdowns:
Worst Smackdown of the Year: 04/03 Dallas, TX *
Wow, this Smackdown was ungodly torture to recap. It was itself simply a recap show disguised as a Smackdown. They threw three lame matches in there to break up the monotony but none of them even went over six minutes. It was two hours of some of the most boring TV I?ve watched on WWE all year.
Best Smackdown of the Year: 08/28 Phoenix, AZ *** ?
Excellent edition of Smackdown that capped off a tremendous summer for the show. We all knew that the inevitable was coming with Jeff Hardy leaving. I actually thought that he was done at Summerslam so the previous Smackdown I recapped like it was his last. This was just bonus to me. The show itself wasn?t overly spectacular but it didn?t have to be. It was a one match show. They set up the main event with a good promo in the beginning of the show. We then saw Jeff Hardy and CM Punk duke it out in a Cage Match that was simply awesome having just come off a TLC match. Then with Jeff Hardy leaving it was just amazing, for all the reasons I listed above.
Matches:
Worst Match of the Year: Anything involving Kane and Great Khali together
I?ll even include their Pay Per View matches in this. Everything involving them and wrestling was brutal. I can?t stress that enough. If you?ve been watching with me this year than you know it’s true.
Best Match of the Year: 09/04 – John Morrison vs. Rey Mysterio ****
This was the first true four star match I?ve rated. It was simply awesome. Rey Mysterio was going on suspension (unjustly, I might add) so the finish was a foregone conclusion. Despite a good handful of people knowing what was going to happen they still made it exciting. It was definitely the best match of Morrison’s career. It was also a shining example of why Rey Mysterio has been so damn good this year. Every match he’s been in since coming back to Smackdown has been amazing. This was another one of those. If it’s still up on Hulu I?d suggest watching it in its entirety.
Superstars:
Worst Superstar of the Year: The Great Khali
I know I keep harping on how bad he was but I just can?t help it. The Great Khali just shouldn?t be anywhere near a wrestling ring. He can?t move, he can?t wrestle, and he can?t even be entertaining. Maybe the Punjabi Playboy thing was funny but that was a year ago. It’s time for him to hang it up. There’s nothing left for him to do.
Best Superstar of the Year: Chris Jericho
Chris Jericho has been on fire since coming back to Smackdown. Jericho started off with a tremendous feud against Rey Mysterio that gave us some of the best matches of the year, aside from Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels. Jericho then moved on to become tag champs with Edge and then Big Show. He’s been unstoppable ever since. His promos are gold as is his character and his matches. There’s nothing that Chris Jericho can?t do in WWE. He even started a short feud with the Undertaker that I hope carries into 2010. The guy never has a bad night so that’s why he’s Superstar of the Year.
Well that concludes my 2009 Year in Review. Do you agree with what I?ve said and who I gave the awards to? Let me know who you?d give the awards to by shooting me an e-mail.
E-Mail ? MikeyT817@hotmail.com
Happy Holidays!
Thanks for reading!
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