SmackDown: Blast from the Past

Written by RY2J

The Rock: Owner of The SmackDown Hotel

I personally enjoyed the ‘Blast from the Past SmackDown’ last week, seeing some of the legends back in the business is so often a privilege: hearing the ‘Hooooo!!’ chants, watching a bit of Pipers Pit, seeing Mae Young sticking her tongue down the throat of anyone young enough to be her grandchild; the show was well put on.

However, it did feel that although there was some effort in integrating the ‘Classic’ into the show, more could still have been done in order to bring out the real, as Michael Cole would say, Vintage SmackDown.

The Rock

Now I understand that the People’s Champion is one busy son of a gun, but wouldn’t it have been great to see The Rock on SmackDown this past Tuesday.

I mean come on; he is the rightful owner of the SmackDown hotel for crying out loud! Having a character like the Brahma Bull on the show would have really given it that added… electricity, something that The Rock brings with him every time he is in an arena.

The Stage

Although the stage for SmackDown is perfectly fine the way it is; would it have been so hard to bring back the ‘Punching Fist Stage’ or the ‘Random lot of Ovals Stage’ for one night only?

These stages had many a great superstar come down the aisle on, and would have given the show a clear and definitively different look from your average weekly SmackDown show.

Vintage Wear

Kane. Mark Henry. Even Michael Cole. What a Superstar wears when in the ring is a symbol of the character that they are, but in this ‘blast from the past’ SmackDown, I would have loved to have seen a few personas of the past turning up.

Vintage Big Red Machine

Kane in the get-up that made him such a hit, Mark Henry bringing back the Sexual Chocolate for one night only, and even Michael Cole getting the old school goatee on the scene! With the significance of the show focusing more on the past than the present, it would have been nice to have seen just a bit more Hell, Fire and Brimstone.

Vintage Music

Much like the clothing that the Superstars wear, the music that they come out to plays just as significant a role in portraying a characters persona. However, with the opportunity to use entrance themes from yesteryear of nearly everyone on the show, the option was overlooked and the past was once again dominated by the present.

As I said at the start of the piece, I enjoyed the show on Tuesday night, I feel making it a live show always adds to the programme. However, if WWE were to attempt this kind of stunt again; the ‘blast from the past’ element of the show needs to really take the Brahma Bull by the horns.