Smackdown! was mostly enjoyable this evening...

Making Theodore Long the new GM was strange, considering how he's been a fairly minor character in WWE for a while now... he seems at least initially to be acting as a face GM too, immediately shedding the 'race card' image he's used for the past yeaqr-and-a-half,

Spike Dudley winning the Cruiserweight strap was also a surprise. It makes for the first real singles gold he's won in this federation... I think he very briefly won the Hardcore title a year or so ago, but that was really a comedy title, one he held for less than a few minutes.

The set up with his brothers making it a tainted win can bring some interesting storylines. Right away it gave Rey Mysterio a new feud.

The tag team title match was also pretty solid, and I'm glad that WWE will let Kidman-London hold them longer. At 18 titles, I think the Dudleys have held them enough.

The lagging part I found was the promo with Eddie Guerrero and Kurt Angle. I felt it dragged at least 8 minutes too long. Granted, the (in)famous This is your life, Rock skit a few years ago proved us IWC folks wrong, at least as far as the ratings went.

The 8-man elimination match for the US title was pretty solid. Booker T got a sneaky but clean win. It makes sense: John Cena was getting stale as an unbeatable champion. I just hope Booker can hold onto this longer than his unfortunate brief Intercontinental title run was (he had to vacate that quickly due to injury).

This week's RAW gave us two long, excellent matches, as well as some very annoying crap.

The good: the opening Battle Royal made for a way to get many people screen time, as well as to further several storylines in a subtle way. First, having Tajiri eliminate both members of La Resistance. Also adding more heat to a feud for Kane and Matt Hardy. Hmm... badly acted skits don't do it, but actual wrestling does. How surprising.. They also added what may be further fuel to an idea of Edge turning heel.

Rodney Mack was in there as well? He's been gone and not mentioned for so long, I thought he was gone. Not that he made an impression here.

Randy Orton going on to the main event for RAW at SummerSlam though... I'm not outraged like some of the Internet Wrestling Community, but I do think this is too much, too soon. I don't really think fans have glommed on to him enough for this to make a "must see" match.

The other big thing was of course the Ironman World title match. I have to give HHH his props here: he did carry his part of this event. He really sold for Benoit well, tapping out to both of his submission moves. Best yet, Hunter didn't retake the title; mind you, Orton winning the next title shot pretty much gave it away.

They used a lot of psychology and thought into this match too. Moreso for Benoit, as he worked over HHH's legs for his Sharpshooter.

Eugene making the finish was a surprise. Not that he was there; anyone who actually believed he was gone for good should be branded MORON forever. I suspected he might make a run in, but no more.

The bad should come as no surprise: the Diva Search bits. The whole contest with Kamala just dragged down the show. It was way too painfully long.