From reading reports given by people who attended the Smackdown! tapings, I learned that what they saw and what we were shown were very different.

First off, they saw two matches that we didn't, both said to be entertaining bouts. They got to see The World's Greatest Tag Team in their first outing as faces, in a handcap match against the FBI. They also got to see a tag title defense, with the Basham Brothers defending against Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty.

Secondly, match time was cut drastically for TV. The cruiserweight bout between Rey Mysterio Jr. and Ultimo Dragon, a bout described as Match of the Night, was cut from 11 minutes to barely 3.

Vince, this is the brand where the ring-work is great - when given the chance. Stop screwing with it!

What a load of crap!

Granted, Smackdown! was more focussed on storytelling this week... but I really feel bad for all those folks in Atlanta who paid nearly 40 bucks to see 3 matches in 2 hours! Tons of promos, tons of video packages... nearly a half hour of Vince McMahon spewing some of the most vile words ever to air on WWE programming... hey, Vince? Demands of terrorist destruction and rape have no place whatsoever on a wrestling program. EVER. Paul Heyman gave a good speech about not doing such hateful crap - but I wish he could have said, "Don't ever waste airtime with your mug or even mouth again!" Oh, that's me...

It looks as if Nathan Jones is still employed in the federation. Hope that in his long absence he was sent to a wrestling school to actually develop some skills.

It looks as if John Cena is now on a path to become a face. I'm guessing that Chris Benoit will be turning heel to balance that.

Ernest Miller is still employed too? Based on the video promo, I'm guessing they plan to have him return as a wrestler. If so, that video package did nothing to make him look appealing...

Rick Scaia may disagree with me on this one, but I found it a steaming pile of turd, and a waste of all the talented guys on the roster. I think the ratings will reflect that.

I missed a week of shows. Sorry. I thought of posting my comments earlier today, then thought it would be silly, what with the new stuff tonight.

RAW is getting better as a show, and has been for weeks. Granted, with Smackdown! seeming to have imported the RAW writing staff and taking theirs, it isn't hard... but for a show with a less interesting talent roster to still be more entertaining overall, that says a lot!

I wasn't terribly impressed by the debut of John whazzisname, but he'll hopefully improve over more outings.

Cade and Jindrak getting more seasoning is a good thing... but I have to agree with Rick Scaia on this: they need actual personalities shown and more compelling storylines for us to care.

So the two Survivor teams are developing. For Austin we so far now have Booker T, RVD, and the Dudley Boyz. For Bishoff we have Jericho, Christian, Steiner and... Mark Henry? What... just because Albert is in the Smackdown! brand, we get his equivalent?