War to WrestleMania XXVI (SmackDown; 2-26-10)

Ring Posts (with Kevin Eck)

Friday Night SmackDown; Edge and Jericho make it official, MITB matches completed, the CM Punk situation, and more

Last night on SmackDown, during a segment of The Highlight Reel, Chris Jericho accepted Edge's challenge for a match at WrestleMania XXVI. Although there was no doubt that the two would face each other, how it would go down was a mystery. Jericho said no at first, and made up a whole bunch of reasons as to why he doesn't want to face Edge, but after several insults thrown his way by Edge himself (including the fact that Jericho replaced him in their team with someone of less talent, that being Big Show) and the chants of the crowd, Jericho accepted. He ended up being hit with a spear by Edge to end the show.

I applaud WWE for giving so much realism and depth to this rivalry. When Edge first returned, my original thought was that he'd win the Royal Rumble, Jericho would win the World Heavyweight Championship (at Elimination Chamber due to interference by Shawn Michaels) and instead of invoking his rematch clause, Undertaker would go after Michaels instead, leading to Jericho defending the title against Edge at WrestleMania. However, this is just fine, as both rivalries are benefitting from it even more. And I have no doubt that the Edge/Jericho match at WrestleMania will be excellent.

All three Money in the Bank ladder matches are set. Out of all three, I like the SmackDown one the most. On March 28, it'll be Rey Mysterio, CM Punk, John Morrison, Matt Hardy, Dolph Ziggler, and Drew McIntyre going at it. Unlike the RAW and ECW matches, there's nothing wrong with the SmackDown one, as each man truly deserves to be in it. But that isn't even the biggest news. Punk, apparently, is under fire from both WWE and the Universe. After he beat R-Truth to qualify for the MITB match, Punk and his enforcer Luke Gallows mocked him by doing a rendition of Run-DMC's "Rock Box." They were even dressed like the group themselves and danced around R-Truth's body for the entire duration of the song (almost six minutes). The viewers watching at home were immediately switched to an interview backstage featuring Edge. The live crowd saw the whole thing and yelled several things at Punk I can't say since this is a family publication. One of them was "Racist!!!" According to Wrestlezone.com, the stunt was not planned and the only people who knew about it were Punk, Gallows and the cameraman who was told to get the stuff by Punk. All three men are going to be severely punished for what happened, and the reaction so far has been extremely negative. Although I'll admit Punk went over the line, all he's doing at the end of the day is generating heat. Very few men these days can stroke the mic the way Punk can. No matter how shocking or offensive the things he says are, all you want to do is listen to him. Whenever Punk talks, I don't feel like I'm listening to a script. I feel like I'm getting the actual person. Besides, Punk was extremely entertaining last night. When he mentioned Gallows looking at the floor and that his posture sickens him, I almost fell on the floor laughing. Although Punk should be punished for what he did, he didn't mean to do anything troublesome. Heels need to be hated in order for their job to be fulfilled, and Punk is doing just that.

By the way, Punk got even more heat when he and Gallows beat down Mysterio after his qualifying match with Batista. It didn't look like either man learned their lesson, as Gallows was still wearing the Run-DMC style hat from earlier and Punk had a Run-DMC T-shirt on. If Punk starts a feud with the group themselves, I think I might cringe. Right now, Punk is feuding with Mysterio and that shouldn't change.

The Undertaker's opening promo was really good. He mentioned how worried he is for Shawn Michaels over his obsession and that he needed to put his career on the line so he can finally put it to rest. Michaels, by the way, plans to call out Undertaker on RAW this Monday. At first, this feud wasn't something I was too crazy about, because I respect these two men so much I didn't want them to ruin their incredible match from the year before by having another one that wouldn't live up to expectations. But it looks they're working with what they have and that's a good thing.

Next week on SmackDown, MVP defends the Intercontinental Championship against Batista again, but it is a No-Holds-Barred Match this time. I'm looking forward to it, but there's a major problem. Right now, Batista isn't on the WrestleMania card. They could've saved this match until then, but it seems like they have bigger plans. After all, there's no way someone like Batista will be left off the biggest show of the year if he's active.

By the way, there was more genius from Batista. First off, he demanded a single spotlight following him on his way down to the ring, and when the fans started booing because his match with Mysterio hadn't started yet, he said: "You people are fortunate enough to witness me compete on Friday nights, so you get your match when I'm done talking!!!"

About the "Str8 Outta Brooklyn" segment:



I'll give you one minute. If you don't run away from the TV, you've earned my respect.