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Smackdown: 'Taker and Kane back together
By
MATT BISHOP - SLAM! Wrestling
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Tonight on Friday Night Smackdown!: It's fallout from the Royal
Rumble,
as General Manager Vickie Guerrero is out of commission. Should be a
good
one!
It's a total cold open and we are TAPED! from Reading, Pa. and
Assistant
General Manager Theodore Long is in the ring. He says per Mr. McMahon,
he is
in charge tonight.
He says that at No Way Out, we'll have a match to determine
Smackdown!'s
No. 1 contender for WrestleMania. And it'll be contested inside the
Elimination Chamber. Inside the Chamber will be: Batista, The Great
Khali,
Finlay, MVP, Big Daddy V and the Undertaker.
Long also announces that at No Way Out, Edge will be defending his
World
Heavyweight Championship in a rematch against Rey Mysterio.
Incensed, Edge runs to the ring sans music and asks Long what the
hell he
is doing. Edge says he'll take on anyone but Mysterio. Long says his
decision is final.
(Ads)
Match #1 - Career Threatening Match - Ric Flair (Charlotte, NC)
vs.
Montel Vontavious Porter (Miami, Fla.)
As you'd expect, the crowd is solidly behind Flair.
Porter works over Flair's left arm and uses it to get a two on a
backslide., but Flair eventually comes back and locks in the Figure
Four,
but MVP immediately reverses it. Flair gets under the ropes,
necessitating a
break, but Porter doesn't let go and the referee calls for the
bell.
Winner via disqualification: Ric Flair
Post-match, MVP works over Flair's legs on the ring post. He then
traps a
foot between the steps and the post, breaks through a throng of
officials
and stomps the step.
(Ads)
Chuck Palumbo comes to the ring and has a mic. This should be
good.
He says he and Michelle McCool were doing fine until Jamie Noble got
involved. He says it felt "fantastic" to beat up Noble and what
happened to
Michelle was an accident. He says WWE fined him $10,000 for hitting a
referee, who didn't get out of the way "when [he] was bringing the
crazy."
He then asks McCool to the ring so he can publicly apologize to
her.
Palumbo does indeed apologize. McCool fires back that he is sorry
and
doesn't mean a thing he's saying. She then slaps him and he lunges
after
her. This sets him off on a verbal tirade. He says Jamie Noble is going
to
pay the price for the slap.
(Ads)
Match #2 - Rey Mysterio (San Diego, Calif.) & CM Punk (Chicago,
Ill.)
vs. Chavo Guerrero (El Paso, Tx.) & Edge (Toronto, Ont.)
The combatants go in-and-out early but the tide turns to the heels
when
Edge pulls Chavo out of the way of a Punk running knee-lift, sending
the
former champion to the outside.
(Ads)
Back and Edge is controlling Punk on the ground before getting a tag
to
Chavo. Punk is eventually able to get the hot tag to Mysterio while
Chavo
gets to Edge. He hits a wide variety of moves, including a springboard
moonsault for two.
But that's all the offense Rey gets in for now, as Edge is able to
take
control and work on Mysterio's "surgically repaired" knee. Guerrero and
Edge
use quick tags to isolate Mysterio and cut the ring in half.
Mysterio is able to hit a dropkick, but Chavo raps Mysterio up and
drags
him back into enemy territory before he can get too far. Edge tries to
work
a crossface, but Mysterio gets out of it by biting Edge's hand.
Edge gets out and Mysterio is able to make it over to Punk and he's
the
proverbial house of fire. Edge runs in and tries to spear Punk, but he
leapfrogs it. Edge almost runs into Chavo but holds up. Mysterio hits a
modifed Hurricarana on Edge, who tumbles into Guerrero putting them
both
into position for the 619.
Edge is able to roll out of the ring, but Chavo isn't as lucky.
After
nailing Chavo, Rey hits a springboard plancha on Edge while, in the
ring,
Punk scoops up Guerrero and hits GTS. Good night now.
Winners via pinfall: CM Punk & Rey Mysterio
Coming up later: Kane & Undertaker take on Big Daddy V & Mark
Henry.
(Ads)
Backstage, Mr. McMahon is chastising Finlay for saving Hornswaggle
at the
Royal Rumble.
Match #3 - Finlay & Hornswaggle (Belfast, N. Ireland) vs. Deuce &
Domino (Other Side of the Tracks)
D & D don't even get an entrance here. We pretty much know what that
means.
Right off the bat, Finlay and Hornswaggle decide to have fun with
Cherry.
Hornswaggle comes from under the ring and lifts up her skirt then when
she
turns to Finlay, Hornswaggle ducks down below and Finlay scares Cherry
into
tripping over Hornswaggle.
The end comes soon after with the Celtic Cross/Tadpole Splash
combo.
Winners via pinfall: Finlay & Hornswaggle
(Ads)
We're joined in the ring now by Smackdown!'s newest broadcaster,
2007
Diva Search winner Eve Torres.
She stumbles through an introduction for Batista, who makes his way
to
the ring.
After welcoming Eve to Smackdown!, she heads away and Batista goes
on to
talk about his participation in the Elimination Chamber. He keeps it
short
and sweet, saying he'll walk into Vegas, win the match and go to
WrestleMania to reclaim his World Heavyweight Championship. Man, with
these
types of in-depth promos it's almost like The Rock & Sock Connection
all
over gain.
(Ads)
Jesse of Jesse & Festus fame has a pre-taped promo saying that
Festus's
two personalities have seemingly merged. They'll be back next week.
Hoo-rah.
Match #4 - Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins (Long Island, NY) vs. Jimmy
Wang
Yang (Austell, Ga.) & Shannon Moore (Whispering Pines, NC)
OK, I'll be honest: I have no idea which member of Team Edge one is
which, so bare with me through this one.
For those of you interested, Michael Cole's Word of the Match was:
"Blasted". He used it no less than four times.
Oh, yeah, there's a match going on. Hawkins and Ryder control Yang
using
a methodical offense to retain control. Yang gets a quick opening and
tags
in Moore. After getting in some solid offense, Moore heads to the top
for a
corkscrew moonsault but it's off the mark and Hawkins hits an inverted
DDT
for the win.
Winners via pinfall: Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins
(Ads)
Match #5 - Kane (Hell, Fire & Brimstone) & The Undertaker (Death
Valley, Calif.) vs. Big Daddy V (Harlem, NY) & Mark Henry (Silsbee,
TX)
(Ads)
Back from break and the match is in progress with Mark Henry
controlling
Kane but that doesn't last for long, as Kane backs Henry into his
corner and
tags his brother.
My favorite part of this match so far: Big Daddy V's "V Chops" on
Kane.
Nice touch.
Boy, this is such an awful foursome. Tepid, tepid action here. At
this
point, I'd rather go second in a game of Roshambo than watch this.
I don't think I've ever seen a splash utilized so much in one match
before in my life. 'Taker hits Old School on Henry and follows it up
with a
DDT and a pin that is broken up by Big Daddy V. Kane and 'Taker hit a
double-team choke slam on Big Daddy. Undertaker then hits Henry with a
choke
slam and then locks in a modified triangle choke that forces Henry to
tap.
Winners via pinfall: Kane & The Undertaker
Matt will be back Tuesday in his usual ECW timeslot. Until then,
send
Matt e-mail about ECW/wrestling/MMA/hockey at bishop20@msu.edu. Please include
your
name and hometown. And if you're interested in mixed martial arts,
check out
Matt's weekly podcast ‹ Lights Out Radio.
Should
be a good one!.
