Smackdown! was better than it has been lately... but some stuff stuck out, both good and bad:

• Returning stars at the Rumble First, I'm glad they changed the line between the time of spoilers and airing, as they supposedly said three surprise entries were made, then they listed 4. Mind you, how could a would-be spoiler know? I was at SD! tapings here in Montreal, and couldn't hear the commentary...

  
  Anyways, the entry choices were interesting. Val Venis and the Godfather were less "shocking returns" and more a case of being brought back from developmental territories, but Curt Hennig and Goldust were surprising. I thought Curt left for the old WCW under major tensions, and thought he was ensconced in the WWA. Guess he saw more money in McMahon-land...

  
  With Goldust, we have the return of a guy (Dustin Runnels) who had major heat with the front office, has a divorced wife (Terri) working prominently in the company, and I thought was also tied into another promotion, dad Dusty's TWF.

  
  Mind you, the WWF has in the past brought characters back with different wrestlers: Diesel, Razor Ramon and Doink the Clown all spring to mind. I guess we'll see what happens at the Rumble itself.




• I've officially decided that Rikishi's "stink face" spot is the most disgusting one in wrestling today. Vince's rub-in was gross enough, but now Booker blowing chunks... too much.