I just watched the latest Smackdown!. It wasn't a clunker, but it still had serious problems in my view.

A show that begins with a match between Randy Orton and Bob Holly can only get better. I'm starting to seriously believe the cheers when he enters the ring are taped, based on how the crowd was dead for the match itself.

How did the match between Heidenreich and Johnny Nitro go? It was so thrilling, I slept through it all.

Ken Kennedy gets his first non-Velocity match. His flip roll move is interesting, but he isn't; I guess with the B-shows soon ending, the federation is bringing these scrubs to prime time...

It seems the fed is giving us a UPN "programing consultant" to hate. I suspect he'll be gone as of the move to USA Network. Besides. why else would he give us another Batista-JBL match, and a card that so far isn't an interesting reason to watch the Friday show?

We also saw that Rey Mysterio's contact lenses are back. I guess the non-lens look was just for the storyline after all.

One thing this show really drove home: it really got the short end of the stick in the Draft Lottery when it comes to star power. It really feels like a minor league show more than ever.

Well, it's official: Chris Jericho's on-screen 'firing' was the storyline explanation for the end of what was a short-term contract renewal. He'll really be gone for awhile from wrestling, probably to work with his band Fozzy.

He says if he comes back to wrestling it will be in a WWE ring. Hopefully, that'll be the case. The fed lost (actually wasted) a great talent here.

That was a rather schitzophrenic RAW. Some of it was great, some good... and some awful.

On the great front: the opening bout between Kurt Angle and Shelton Benjamin was an early contender for Match of the Week. Shawn Michels gave another great promo, and Ric Flair was riveting in his return.

In the good category: Big Show turned a dumb skit with Snitsky and his foot fetish crap into something watchable. Also, the John Cena - Chris Jericho match was okay. Is Jericho now headed to Smackdown!? The impending arrival of the new Murder Inc. tag team (Cade and Murdock) isn't exciting, but they'll bring some new blood to the anemic tag-team division.

In the awful category, pretty much everything else. Chris Masters doesn't deserve a mini-feud with Shawn Michaels. Tori Wilson and Candace "Tits McBoobsalot" Michelle on RAW (well, in Candace' case back on it), and starting a feud with new Diva Ashley - who I'm guessing can wrestle miles around them, is depressing. Seeing Matt Hardy further buried with jobbing to Rob Conway was also depressing. Chavo Guerrero's new Kerwin White character is sad even without the fact he hasn't wrestled in months.

It's a small step forward, but too much kept it from driving home.

Summerslam 2005 is now in the books. I kept falling asleep on the Main Event matches, which makes me glad I was taping the show. The rest brought some interesting thoughts:

• The US title match - Chris Benoit and Orlando Jordan had far more time in ring entrances than the actual match. I was amazed at how short it was! I'm glad Benoit finally got the title wasted on Jordan... too bad the win wasn't given much time to make it have meaning.



• Edge vs. Matt Hardy - I'm guessing the match was cut short by an actual injury Matt sustained. It felt disjointed and anti-climactic. Mind you, outside of this feud, where will Hardy go?



• Guerrero vs. Mysterio - this was an entertaining match, with a few innovative ladder spots, some very deserving of the "Holy S-it" chants from the crowd. A pity that Vicki Guerrero had to be involved in the finish, instead of the match being a pure one-on-one event - but it (hopefully) brings a dumb storyline to a close.



• Kurt Angle vs. Eugene - us Canadians can no longer have sole blame as Bizarro world, as the fans in Washington cheered Kurt on and booed the face, Eugene. When Kurt won back his medal (for the storyline, since it's a replica of the real thing) the fans were cheering.

I'll be back tomorrow for the other three matches.