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Smackdown: New blood soaks in the spotlight
By
JON WALDMAN -- SLAM! Wrestling
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We're just a couple weeks away from Summerslam, and save for the wwe.com-announced
Batista vs. King Booker World Heavyweight Title bout, no Smackdown matches have
been announced for the second most-important PPV in WWE. Not exactly an encouraging
sign, but hey, such is life. Let's see if anything is announced this week.
We kick off the show with The Great Khali and Daivari refusing to battle Undertaker
in the proposed Last Man Standing match at Summerslam; or, more accurately,
WWE refusing the proposed Last Man Standing match at Summerslam, if the rumours
are to be believed. In any case, 'Taker doesn't take kindly to the news and
goes off on Khali and Daivari.
Backstage we go and Chavo Guerrero and Vicki Guerrero are talking. Chavito
tries to convince Vicki that Rey Mysterio is trying to profit off the Guerrero
name, which is wrong. Well, since part of the Guerrero credo is that stealing
is okay, Chavito seems like quite the hypocrite; that and he's making a career
now off of Eddie's name as well.
Match 1 - Gregory Helms vs. Tatanka
JBL and Michael Cole play up how long Helms has held the Cruiserweight Title,
which is extremely easy when you only defend it a dozen times, if that, during
a seven-month period.
The match itself is a standard WWE bout with little to no excitement. Helms
eventually gets the Shining Wizard and the pin, despite Tatanka's foot being
outside the ring.
Winner - Tatanka
Afer the match, Tatanka erupts on referee Charles Robinson. If this is going
where I think it's going, it can't be good.
Backstage, Daivari is going off on Teddy Long, yelling about 'Taker's actions
earlier. Long, in response, moves the Last Man Standing match to next week.
Match 2 - Casey James/Idol Stevens vs. Brian Kendrick/Paul London
Well, this was kind of just there. It was solid wrestling again by Kendrick
and London, but for all the hype I've heard about Stevens, he really didn't
impress me, and James seems like a better fit as a partner for Lance Cade (Blackjacks
2000?). In any case, London and Kendrick lose the non-title bout. WWE should
really just put the tags on one of the shows at this point, becase separately
the belts are just not doing anything useful.
Winners: Casey James/Idol Stevens
Backstage, Ashley is talking to Luke Perry when Kristal buts her nose in to
their conversation about the Diva Search. Ashley deserves better than this,
and Kristal really needs to just stick to the interviews.
Back from break, it's time for the Diva Search. Can we vote off Mike Mizanin
instead of the girls? Damn, we can't. Anyways, the segment gets killed by the
crowd who couldn't give two cares about the girls, and even Luke Perry's pop
isn't that big. Oh well, at least it wasn't Rob Schneider.
Backstage we go and Vicki is having a heart-to-heart with Mysterio. Look Vicki;
if you're going to go through with this whole family being torn apart angle,
study tapes of Diana Hart prior to the Bulldog/Bret match a few years ago.
Match 3 - Ken Kennedy vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.
Kennedy continues to show the best mike skills in the Fed this side of Carlito
This was a pretty solid bout between these two, who were given plenty of time
in the ring, with some good hope for a future feud between these two. Great
back-and-forth action, which included Rey pulling out the Code Red, which Cole
called "inventive", despite it being Amazing Red's finisher, and also
being in Rey's movelist on Smackdown vs. Raw 2006, meaning he's more than likely
used it at one point or another. Soon after, Chavito comes out and brawls with
Mysterio on the outside, who makes contact with Vicki who followed Chavo out
to ringside. The two continue to fight around Vicki, who is hysterical. Somewhere
inthe mess, the match, which was looking superb, gets forgotten.
Winner: No contest
Backstage we go next for King Boker and the M.A.D.E. Nothing of real note here.
Match 4 - Sylvan Grenier vs. Vito
Why has WWE not re-formed La Resistance yet? Seriously.
I could really do without the upskirt shots of Vito, which, thankfully, are
blurred out. Finally, the CRTC censors do some good for Canadian wrestling.
The match itself was nothing to write home about. Vito wins with Armani Lock.
Winner - Vito
Match 5 - Sylvester Turkay vs. Jobber #1
Honestly, I'd like to see Umaga move to Smackdown, just to see Elijah Burke
and Armando Alejandro Estrrrada square off in a mike battle.
Turkay, naturally, wins this one quite easily with the Eastern Stretch/Neck
Bender combo submission hold.
Winner: Sylvester Turkay
After the match, Burke gets his shot in.
Backstage, Long is chatting with M.V.P. about signing his contract. If WWE
plays this right, M.V.P. could be a big thing.
Elsewhere backstage, William Regal and Fit Finlay have some words before their
main event tag match.
Before we head to the main event, we get a promo for The Boogeyman. Looks like
Smackdown may actually be back to full strength soon.
Match 6 - William Regal/Fit Finlay vs. Bobby Lashley/Dave Batista
King Booker and the M.A.D.E. sat in on commentary here, and Booker was fantastic.
Between him and Edge, we're getting some of the best announcing WWE has seen
in quite sometime.
This was a decent match that left a very scary possibility of Lashley and Batista
as a tag team. The two gelled together quite well and really have that imposing
look. Naturally, Batista gets the pin after a Spinebuster on Regal.
Jon Waldman has been with SLAM! since 2000.
