Shane McKinley, PWTorch.com Contributor (3.0)

If eating the Thanksgiving turkey didn't do the job of knocking you out, the latest Smackdown sure did the trick. Snoretown was filled with sludge from the get-go. Opening was Chris
Jericho sleep-promoing his big TLC match-up with DX. I swear, Jericho could be facing the tag team of Chester Cheetah and Ronald McDonald and he wouldn't change a thing. Regarding selling me on the PPV match, can Big Show even can play hopscotch without falling down? Throwaway another PPV main event (Jericho vs. Undertaker II, even though the main focus is the looming Batista-Undertaker feud) and we have a start to a worthless show.

The Cryme Tyme vs. The Hart Dynansty isn't about entertaining the
fans, considering that these guys have roughly fought against each other like thirty times in the past six months. It's simply for management. Zzzz. A good chunk of the show was devoted to poor man Razor Ramon, Eric Escobar, having a breakup with hottie Vickie Guerrero. Zzzzz. Plus, John Morrison easily beats up Escobar. Mind you, nowhere on this program was "hot, young talent" Drew McIntyre found.

My favorite right-wing conservative nutjob C.M. Punk has a new
bodyguard buddy Luke Gallows (Festus). Gallows laid out Matt Hardy with a new finishing move I like to call the "Gallow Pollow". I may not be able to question Punk's straight-edge lifestyle, but I sure as hell can question Punk's scruffy hobo look and Gallow dressing up like a eight-year old bully in a Disney movie. A majority of fans want Batista to be a powerful evil badass leading up into his PPV matchup and...he gets a count-out victory from Kane. Sigh. Later in the show Batista came out to be a mute guest announcer for with a completely
bored and disgusted look on his face. Kinda like how I felt watching WWE pump out more of their special sludge.

Jon Mezzera, PWTorch.com Contributor (2.0)

This was a bad episode of Smackdown. There was very little to like about the show, and many things to dislike. The theme for the week was "uninspired." Even Chris Jericho's opening segment promo was uninspired. I don't like hearing him talking on Smackdown about a Raw feud. I also didn't like the fact that he would once again be facing Undertaker with no advanced hype, which makes no sense at all. The uninspired theme continued with yet another match between Cryme Tyme and The Hart Dynasty. I was very disappointed by the addition of a sidekick to CM Punk's character. I didn't like the transformation of Festus into Luke Gallows. Was he a drug addict which caused his behavior to change when a bell sounded, but now he's heeled? I don't get it. Punk is too good on his own to have a sidekick bring down the quality of what he can do in the ring and on the mic. Using the Jeff Hardy DVD to get a Punk promo and set up Punk vs. Matt Hardy was more lazy and uninspired writing.

I am also not a fan of the Mickie James vs. Michelle McCool feud. It is the very definition of lazy writing as McCool does "mean" things to the new girl in town like call her a pig. I can't believe James actually cried last week at that. That was terrible, and her interview this week didn't help matters. The final thing that was bad this week was the break-up of Vickie Guerrero and Eric Escobar. It came too soon. They haven't been a couple long enough for this to mean anything. I am not a fan of Escobar's work so far, so I can't get behind him. I was relieved that he didn't win the Intercontinental Title, but his speech about how unattractive Guerrero is was disappointing (and lazy and uninspired and regurgitated).

The only good thing about Smackdown this week was Kane vs. Batista, which was much better than I expected it to be. Perhaps it was the low expectations or the fact that the rest of the show was so bad, but I liked the match. Sure, it had some sloppy spots and was slow. But, it told a story as Batista worked on Kane's leg as a possible strategy for when he faces Undertaker at TLC. I also liked the ending as Batista used a chair (foreshadowing the Chairs match) to get a cheap count out victory which played perfectly into his new character who will do anything to win and become the World Champion. Undertaker vs. Jericho was OK, but the ending was the second time on the show (uninspired) when a match ended in a DQ after outside interference.

Greg Parks, PWTorch.com Contributor (4.5)

With the PPV last Sunday, a three-hour Raw, and the Thanksgiving holiday, it felt like the writers were just burned out and phoned this one in. And who can blame them, with the number of hours of TV they have to fill? Anywho, yeah, this wasn't a great show. I did like Taker vs. Jericho, even though it was once again unannounced. Hey, that's WWE's problem, not mine. It doesn't affect my enjoyment of the match. Eric Escobar getting another chance after WWE gave up on him about two matches into his run. Of course, breaking up with Vickie already isn't going to put him anywhere on the map.

Kane vs. Batista was, quite frankly, better than it had any right to be. I like where they are going with C.M. Punk and Luke Gallows, nee Festus. I hope we get more details in the coming weeks about how Punk started working with him and subsequently cured him. The Cryme Tyme vs. Hart Dynasty feud built on nothing is getting past "comical" at this point, and closer to "sad." At least all we had to deal with was a Mickie James promo in her feud with Michelle McCool this week.

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