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By Chris Newth, PWTorch contributor

WWE Friday Night Smackdown
July 18, 2008
Upcoming PPV: The Great American Bash (last episode before PPV)

SMACKDOWN STORYLINES AND FEUDS

Welcome to the forty-fourth edition of Smackdown Storylines and Feuds.

For those wondering about the Intrigue Level system that I employ, you can refer to the numbers as follows:

10 (excellent), 9 (great), 8-6 (very good, good, pretty good), 5 (decent; has its good and bad qualities), 4-3 (needs work, poor), 2 (bad), 1 (terrible)


WWE Champion TRIPLE H vs. EDGE vs. Smackdown GM VICKIE GUERRERO (3 weeks)

Summary:

The show began with a clip from earlier in the day when Edge and Vickie officially got married and exchanged rings and vows. They then cut to the arena where ring announcer Justin Roberts introduced Chavo Guerrero as the best man in their Smackdown wedding reception. Also there was Bam Neely, Curt Hawkins, Zack Ryder, and Alicia, the wedding planner. Edge and Vickie then entered the stage to traditional wedding music. As the best man, Chavo gave a heartfelt speech about how Vickie chose the right man and how Edge has found his soul mate. Then Edge got the wrestling underway by announcing that he would be the special guest referee for the opening contest: a tag match featuring Finlay and Hornswoggle against Hawkins and Ryder. The match saw Edge give Finlay a spear, allowing Hawkins and Ryder to win by pinfall.

Directly after the matchup, Edge and Vickie had their first dance as husband and wife to a live musical performance. After a few minutes, Big Show stepped in and started dancing with Vickie. Edge quickly put a stop to that by telling Show to get to the ring for his matchup. After a commercial, we found out that Show had to face Shelton Benjamin, MVP, Vladimir Kozlov, and the Great Khali in a 4-on-1 Handicap Match. The match ended when a fight broke out between Show and all four men, prompting the ref to call for the disqualification. Show then took an array of finishing moves from the heels.

Later in the show, Matt Hardy fought Jeff Hardy one-on-one in a matchup booked by Vickie Guerrero and Edge. The match ended when Edge and his cronies stormed the ring during the matchup and attacked both Hardy brothers. Edge gave each one a Spear to close the segment.

And in the final scene of the night, the reception moved to the middle of the ring as Edge expressed his love for Vickie. He presented her with a video package depicting their love, a compilation of various clips of them kissing, snuggling, and happily spending time with one another. Suddenly, Triple H's music hit, making this the first time the Game confronted Edge directly in the feud. He walked onto the stage with a gift-wrapped box, and he said that he was there to show Edge and Vickie a video of his own.

The video Triple H played was raw footage of a hidden camera placed in front of a couch where Edge was sitting. It showed Edge taking breath mints and preparing for a visit from Alicia Fox, the wedding planner. As the video played, Edge flirted with Alicia more and more heavily, until they eventually started making out. When Edge tried to send La Familia to attack Triple H, the Game opened the present he brought to the stage, revealing an equalizer: his signature sledgehammer. Alicia was visibly embarrassed, and Vickie enraged. Vickie began screaming at Edge, pushing him out of the ring as she shrieked at the top of her lungs to close the show.

Analysis:

Well, it looks as though Edge and Vickie will now be split for good. After the Great American Bash PPV last Sunday, it seems that WWE plans to turn Vickie face. Of course, they could always try to keep both of them heel; after all, they are both the strongest heels on Smackdown (collectively, they were even stronger).

Edge has brought up the fact that he's going to be running solo now, but it is uncertain what role Alicia Fox will play in this storyline. Could Edge have a new manager? How will WWE mold Fox's character from here? She was clearly embarrassed on Friday when Triple H exposed Edge's unfaithful ways, so how can they now alter the story to explain her future actions. We'll see this week.

As for the Hunter-Edge feud, it looks like WWE just got started with it (and plans to take it long-term), but with Edge-Vickie going into phase two, perhaps they'll find another opponent for Triple H heading into Summer Slam.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 9.5 [up 0.5 since last week]

Previous Feuds
Edge: Kane, Batista
Vickie Guerrero: Undertaker, Batista
Triple H: King Booker, Umaga, Jeff Hardy, Orton & JBL, Randy Orton, John Cena

CURT HAWKINS & ZACK RYDER vs. JESSE & FESTUS (3 weeks)

Summary:

As mentioned above, Hawkins and Ryder beat Finlay and Hornswoggle with Edge's help. Later in the show, Jesse and Festus were in tag team competition against WWE Tag Team Champions John Morrison and The Miz. The match saw Festus attack Morrison at ringside, delivering his signature flapjack move. That allowed Miz to catch Jesse with the Reality Check for the win.

Analysis:

As we now know, Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder won the WWE Tag Team Champions at the Great American Bash PPV, and it looks like they're going to be feuding with Jesse and Festus on Smackdown in the coming weeks. These two teams have a relatively short feud at the moment, but WWE can grow intrigue if they do a little more to differentiate Hawkins and Ryder while continuing to find creative ways to use Festus's mental condition.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 6 [up 0.5 since last week]

Previous Feuds
Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder: n/a
Jesse & Festus: Deuce 'N' Domino, Morrison & Miz

MR. KENNEDY vs. MVP vs. UMAGA (2 weeks)

Summary:

Earlier in the show, we saw MVP participate in the 4-on-1 Handicap Match against Big Show. Later, Mr. Kennedy approached the ring for a singles match against Umaga. Kennedy started with his usual in-ring promo where he got a pop from the crowd for appealing to the hometown by saying its name. Then he got an even bigger cheer for saying, "Come on, I know you can do better than that." His match with Umaga went long, and it concluded when the Samoan Bulldozer blocked a Mic Check attempt. Umaga then dropped Kennedy with the Samoan Spike and scored the victory.

Analysis:

There were two important elements to this particular feud on Friday's Smackdown. First of all, where was MVP for this segment (or even in a later segment to comment on the match)? Last week it almost seemed certain that an MVP-Kennedy rivalry was imminent with Umaga's involvement up in the air. Now it appears that WWE might use MVP in another storyline while Kennedy and Umaga continue to battle. Either that or they plan to push Umaga to the top—perhaps against Triple H—while MVP steps in to fight Kennedy. The other noteworthy point was that Umaga beat Kennedy in a really surprising fashion: cleanly. That probably shocked a lot of people, especially since Kennedy has recently been pushed as a relatively successful babyface character. Where they go from here is anyone's guess.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 6.5 [up 0.5 since last week]

Previous Feuds
Mr. Kennedy: Jeff Hardy, Shawn Michaels, William Regal, Paul Burchill
MVP: Rey Mysterio, Ric Flair, Batista, Matt Hardy
Umaga: Jeff Hardy, Triple H, Batista

United States Champion MATT HARDY vs. CHAVO GUERRERO (w/ Bam Neely) (6 weeks w/ 1 week hiatus)

Summary:

The only segment of the show that involved some type of interaction between Chavo Guerrero and Matt Hardy was when the Hardys tossed Edge and Vickie's wedding cake into Chavo's face as they made their way to the ring for their matchup.

Analysis:

This one's clearly over at this point.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): n/a

Previous Feuds
Matt Hardy: Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch, MVP
Chavo Guerrero: Rey Mysterio, CM Punk, Kane

WWE Tag Team Champions JOHN MORRISON & THE MIZ vs. FINLAY & HORNSWOGGLE (7 weeks)

Summary:

On this episode of Smackdown, Miz and Morrison beat Jesse and Festus. We know that at the Great American Bash, Miz and Morrison lost the WWE Tag Team Titles to Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder in a four-team title match.

Analysis:

WWE can take many directions here. They can go with a Miz/Morrison-Hawkins/Ryder feud (which is unlikely) for a title rematch storyline; they can go with a Miz/Morrison-Jesse/Festus feud to continue what happened on Smackdown (somewhat unlikely); they can choose to continue the program between Miz & Morrison and Finlay & Hornswoggle (more likely); or they can introduce a split in the Miz/Morrison team and push them as singles competitors now that the titles have been lost.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 5 [same as on ECW]

Previous Feuds
John Morrison & The Miz: Jesse & Festus, Yang & Moore, Dreamer & Delaney
Finlay: Kane, Rey Mysterio, The Great Khali, Mr. McMahon, JBL
Hornswoggle: Mr. McMahon

NATALYA NEIDHART vs. MICHELLE McCOOL (16 weeks w/ 3 weeks hiatus)

Summary:

Vickie Guerrero stood in center ring in full wedding garb, complete with veil and bouquet. She had all the eligible bachelorettes stand at ringside to catch the bouquet. However, Michelle McCool suddenly started an attack on Natalya with a barrage of punches. Hawkins and Ryder quickly stepped in to bring Michelle to the back to McCool down (sorry, had to do it). So Vickie then threw the bouquet, and the group of divas dropped it.

Cherry ultimately grabbed it, and Vickie commented that she didn't think Cherry would ever marry. She then told Cherry that for winning, she'd have to fight in a match against her. However, Cherry would first have to face Natalya. The Cherry-Natalya match ended quickly when Natalya applied her Sharpshooter for the tapout win. Then Vickie immediately started another match, pinned a prone and beaten Cherry, and won by pinfall. After the match, Vickie laughed joyously at her accomplishment as she celebrated "her day."

Analysis:

This week's events were less about pushing McCool-Neidhart and more about cushioning Natalya with another victory. WWE did an okay job using an angle where they placed sympathy back on Cherry (in a small way), inserting more heat on Vickie, and giving more credibility to Natalya's finishing submission. We now know that Michelle McCool won the first-ever WWE Divas' Title at the Great American Bash, so expect to see a continuation of her feud with Natalya in the coming weeks until a title rematch puts the official end to it.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 6 [same as last week]

Previous Feuds
Natalya Neidhart: n/a
Michelle McCool: Victoria, Chuck Palumbo


CONCLUDED FEUDS

(1) Matt Hardy vs. Chavo Guerrero
(2) Mr. Kennedy vs. MVP vs. Umaga?
(3) John Morrison & The Miz vs. Finlay & Hornswoggle?


POTENTIAL FEUDS

(1) Vladimir Kozlov vs. Big Show
(2) The Great Khali vs. Big Show
(3) Jeff Hardy vs. ?
(4) Matt Hardy vs. Shelton Benjamin
(5) Shelton Benjamin vs. Big Show
(6) MVP vs. Big Show
(7) Brian Kendrick vs. Jimmy Wang Yang


Thanks for reading, everyone. If you have any questions, suggestions, or comments, feel free to email me at newthtorch@hotmail.com. I greatly appreciate all the feedback that I receive, and I will respond to every email. Please insert a word in the subject line that deals with a wrestling topic or write something such as "WWE," "feud," or "Funaki" so that I know it's not junk mail.

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