Smackdown's Swagger: All-American World Champion

As of Friday night's episode of Smackdown, there's a new champ in town. The two-time All-American, American, Jack Swagger is now the World Heavyweight Champion. Mr. Money in the Bank cashed in on his opportunity the soonest ever after winning the briefcase at Wrestlemania, just five days later.

Swagger basically took a page out of the book of previous MITB opportunists including Edge and CM Punk. He cashed in when the champ was down and out. The scene was set early during the show as Jericho had been bragging in the ring about still being champion. After insulting Edge and the fans, the Rated-R Superstar arrived out to confront Jericho and remind him that he still got Speared in the aftermath of their Wrestlemania 26 match. A war of words between the two was enough for Edge to beat down Jericho, tear off his suit jacket and shirt, and then Spear him down in the ring yet again. As Edge was backing up the ramp though, Swagger struck, rushing down and knocking Edge down with the MITB briefcase. Swagger entered the ring and went to get the mic. He demanded a ref immediately. At first it seemed like we'd see a repeat of what happened on Raw when Swagger was about to cash in on Cena. A ref eventually showed up, but took some time in moving Jericho's clothes out of the ring. Finally, a bell rang. Swagger picked up Jericho and hit the Gutwrench Powerbomb. 1-2-3, Swagger is the new champion.

It's good to see Swagger as the new champion, because it seems he should have won it a while ago. He's got the powerful size or look similar to a Batista or Brock Lesnar, and the ability to be a despised heel. While Swagger might not have the ring charisma or speaking ability that Chris Jericho does, he seemed to work the crowd both ways. The fans seemed confused initially because they were cheering in Swagger's favor when he took the title off Jericho. Later as Swagger continued to act cocky showing off the belt, the fans understood it was better to boo. They booed during his State of the Union address, and then cheered Jericho when he came out. WWE's writers did a good job of mixing it up to puzzle the fans into wondering who should be cheered or booed on that particular show.

Smackdown overall was a great followup to Wrestlemania 26, because it had some interesting new developments for the show. Raw seems to lack those developments lately. Granted this past Monday's Raw was the sendoff for Shawn Michaels' retirment, but Smackdown is going places. Not only did we see Jack Swagger become the new champion in dramatic fashion, we also saw Khali announce he's taking a break from WWE to go back to India. Another surprise they tossed in was the breakup of Cryme Tyme when R-Truth and John Morrison quickly defeated Shad. JTG never got in the ring and had words with his partner after the match. Shad ended up taking out a lot of pent up frustration on JTG to reveal a new side of him. Definitely a good idea to freshen up that situation, and with Shad turning heel, he could become a serious threat for the World Title as well. Good moves by WWE on both parts.

Of course there weren't a ton of "real matches" on Friday's show beyond a divas tag match and Dolph Ziggler defeating Great Khali. The lengthiest contest of them all ended up as a throwaway DQ match in which the 8 WWE NXT rookies ganged up on Kane in the ring. Other matches saw Drew McIntyre beat down Matt Hardy before the bell to a no contest, and the aforementioned Cryme Tyme implosion. Smackdown was definitely on a bit of recovery mode from Wrestlemania 26, but they certainly brought forth some nice changes to lead into the shows ahead. WWE Raw please take note.