LIVE Raw Smackdown thoughts

11:06 - I know Cole is pro-Cena, which is fine, but his sudden anti-Vickie-ness is extremely strange. He goes on and on about how hot and gorgeous she is, but is now calling her fat and proclaiming that Cena "has guts" for kissing her?

Great seeing Punk again, and YAY!! He's wearing some snazzy new blue trunks. Will miss him on the Raw commentating team, though.

Overall, a lackluster show and a waste of WWE Week.

10:55 - Great, now Michael Cole is chiming in with the fat jokes as well.

10:50 - Between his stellar matches with Daniel Bryan, his lengthy Intercontinental Title reign, and his competitive battle with John Cena, Dolph Ziggler has been getting a lot of attention lately. Notably, with the main event of this highly hyped edition of Smackdown. This attention is well deserved. I wasn't a big fan of Dolph when he debuted with this new character, but over the past couple of months he's really flourished and improved. Bravo to him.

10:32 - Has any Superstar ever relied on the drop toe hold more than Rey Mysterio? Talk about having a go-to move!

10:15 - Can you claim that something is the first time ever when it's an encore showing?

10:11 - Another curious segment. Kaval is a really entertaining and unique Superstar. Why waste him in a segment such as this? Fans are already familiar with McIntyre, so they didn't need to showcase him in such a dominant fashion. A disappointing show so far.

10:09 - Am I the only one who thinks that Smackdown feels a bit more like Raw than usual? Granted, I don't see Smackdown every week, but don't they typically not show the Superstars' entrance videos on the big screen? Instead, the graphics that appear near the entry take up the entire screen. And there's also graphics on the ring from the lights above. Instead, we see the usual Raw routine.

9:58 - Believe it or not, it's been over a year and a half since Edge has been World Champion.

9:51 - I'm glad they're at least using the Cobra as a distraction so that he can transition into a roll up, opposed to a legitimate finishing maneuver that puts somebody out, but it's still a little TOO silly. If nothing else, why not use it as a distraction so he can use that Stunner-esque move?

9:40 - Doing a Raw Recap, which in and of itself includes a Slammy recap, is like a dream within a dream.

9:32 - How does Cody attacking Hornswoggle mean that he doesn't believe in Santa Claus? That was an awful segment. Terrible way to use this opportunity to hold onto viewers who might be tuning in for a change.

9:15 - I know people find Michael Cole's heel spiel annoying or unwatchable (I love it), but I appreciate the fact that he's bringing up the very valid point that the Miz didn't do anything that every other MITB winner didn't do as well (except RVD, which Cole didn't mention).

9:06 - Visiting WWEShop.com, I come to see this new item, which continues Edge's trend of wearing mismatched wristbands:

http://www.wweshop.com/item/edge-rated-r-ockstar-wristbands/edge/50-07267

9:02 - Welcome to a special Smackdown edition of my ongoing LIVE thoughts. Quick observation - I find it curious that Smackdown seems to get a new theme music, intro video, and graphics theme every 6 months or so. Yet Raw constantly gets into these funks where they use the same theme and intro video (altered slightly to acknowledge debuts/departures/roster changes) for numerous years. Like, 4+ years. Possibly why Smackdown always seems younger and fresher.