May Smackdown Roster Report Card
The Kingfish Arnie Katz presents his May promotion report card for the good folks at WWE’s Smackdown
WWE’s Friday night show will be getting a new TV home next fall, but WWE isn’t standing pat with this important property. They’re making plenty of changes in an effort to upgrade the program. This month’s Report Card should see quite a few changes.
Talent Pool
John Morrison has become a Smackdown regular along with his tag team partner The Miz, since they currently hold the belts. Morrison has found a character that works and is now continuing the ascent begun as Johnny Nitro. Surprisingly, The Miz is now an asset. He has abandoned his clownish ways and is showing unexpected skill in the ring, too.
Now that Vladimir Koslov has abandoned the robotic persona, he looks like much more of a talent. I guy who doesn’t work the mic can be hard to push, but at least he’s showing life in the ring.
Natalia (Nattie Neidhart) has come to WWE from the development promotion in Florida and is now working regularly. She has some ring skills, but we haven’t yet seen much from her with the mic. The June Report Card will have a more extensive evaluation of her worth.
Colin Delaney made his Smackdown debut on the 5/2 episode. He doesn’t seem like much of an addition at this point and it is unlikely he’ll leave ECW for one of the bigger shows any time soon.
Grade: B
In-Ring Action
Smackdown’s problem continues to be the conspicuous presence on its roster who are “stoppers,” performers whose presence in a match guarantees it will be bad, pointless or both. Mark Henry, Great Khali and Hornswoggle turn any match into an irrelevancy.
Grade: B-
Dramatics
Smackdown has emphasized action over drama to a much greater degree than RAW. This is partly to differentiate the two shows and partly because relatively few Smackdown performers are good in dramatic scenes and promos.
Batista is an exception. He radiates that championship aura and he has learned how to set up a match with his mouth as well as the usual assortment of stare-downs and run-ins.
Grade: C
Announcing
Mick Foley took over the color commentary job on the 5/2 episode of Smackdown. It isn’t clear whether or not this is a permanent change from Jonathan Coachman, but Foley hit the ground running and did an outstanding job in his first week.
Foley’s laid-back irreverent character has led to some lackadaisical performances from him in recent years, but he did an exemplary job this time.
Grade: B
Star Power
As would be expected, recent additions to Smackdown are still making places for themselves on the mid-card and lower. It’s now rare to find someone who can come right in and main event.
Smackdown hasn’t used Batista the best way. He is the man who can lead the roster, but not if he keeps losing matches and presents a character that varies week to week.
Grade: B=
Overall
Smackdown was pretty terrible for several months this year, but the show has tightened up a little. The star power is still at a premium, the show is using some guys like Shannon Moore, Nunzio and Jimmy Wang Yang who can, at least work in the ring.
Grade: B-
That’s it for today. I’ll be back tomorrow with another installment of the Internet’s fastest-rising daily wrestling column.
– Arnie Katz
Crossfire4@cox.net
(5/7/08)
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