PayOne Center, San Diego, California
The night starts off with a video package showing the past 3 weeks of build up to Batista vs. Undertaker at Wrestlemania. This is looking like a pretty great feud.
After the video, Batista walks out and defends his actions at No Way Out against The Undertaker. He seems confident that he will be walking into Wrestlemania as champ, and out still champion.
Matt Hardy, Brian Kendrick, and Paul London vs. Joey Mercury, Deuce and Domino
The match started out with fast tags between Kendrick and London, and some strong offense, until Domino attacked Kendrick behind the ref's back. Deuce was then tagged in, and him along with Domino played excellent heels, keeping Kendrick isolated from his corner just like any good tag match. Kendrick started some offense and got an incredibly hot tag to Matt Hardy. He continued to clean house and with the help of London and Kendrick taking out Deuce and Domino with double suicide dives, he pinned Mercury for the win.
Winners: Matt Hardy, Brian Kendrick, and Paul London in 11:22
This was your average 6 man tag match, and it was a great way to start off this show. Deuce and Domino looked strong as a tag team, and Matt Hardy had some great momentum. **½
We had a weird backstage segment with Krystal and Vickie Guerrero, the latter saying everything was taken care of. Just odd.
The Money in the Bank qualifying match between Edge and Rob Van Dam from Raw was shown to hype up the upcoming qualifying match between Kane and Booker T.
Chavo Guerrero vs. Scotty 2 Hotty
Chavo started off the match fast by attacking Scotty 2 Hotty while he was taking off his shirt, but Scotty didn't back down fighting right back. Chavo took control however, and started beating down on Scotty. He used cheap tactics such as choking him with the ropes to stay in control, and screamed at Scotty repeatedly saying how he wasn't worthy of the Cruiserweight Championship. Scotty fought out of a submission, but was met with a huge big boot, and again was unable to gain control. Chavo went for the triple verticals, but Scotty countered and hit the Worm. Chavo rolled out of the ring, but was caught with a senton from Scotty. Back into the ring, Chavo rolled up Scotty and got his feet on the ropes for the 3.
Winner: Chavo Guerrero in 7:39
This match didn't click well unfortunately. Scotty got a bit of momentum, but it took a bit too long to get it going I think. That really took away for the excitement. *½
Falls Count Anywhere Match: King Booker vs. Kane
King Booker, despite seeming scared, goes right into brawling with the big red machine. The two go back and forth for quite sometime, spilling outside of the ring even. After a while King Booker gets the advantage, and is taking Kane all over the ringside and throwing him up against everything. Booker makes a mistake when trying to use the ring bell, and Kane gains control, taking him up the entrance ramp. King Booker shifts the momentum with a DDT on the solid steel, and he continues to beat up Kane on the stage. However this doesn't last long as Kane hits a huge uppercut, and takes King Booker to ringside, and throwing him into the steps. Booker finally gets to use the bell, and we come back from commercial to see him in control. They continue to go back and forth for a while longer, and just as Kane is about to hit the Chokeslam, The Great Khali comes out and attacks Kane. After the attack, King Booker pins a knocked out Kane for the win.
Winner: King Booker in 17:56
This was a better match than their No Way Out encounter, the only problem was it went on a bit too long yet again. This planted the seed for Kane vs. Khali at mania. It was still kind of random, but doesn't really take away from the match itself. **½
Backstage after the match, King Booker is celebrating, and he shakes hands with Khali. Is this a formed alliance?
There is also a flashback to last week to where Ashley reveals the cover of Playboy and the crowd goes crazy.
Finlay and Hornswoggle vs. Boogeyman and Little Boogeyman
Apparently the match started while a commercial was going on, so I'm not sure how it started. Finlay takes the bag of worms and dumps them out, and stomps on them. Little Boogeyman hit Finlay with a low blow, and begins beating him up, but Hornswoggle comes into the ring and starts to fight with Little Boogeyman. Finlay stops it though, and he turns around into a big boot from Boogeyman, who then turns his attention to Hornswoggle. Finlay hits Boogeyman with his shelaylay and Hornswoggle gets the pin.
Winners: Finlay and Hornswoggle in 4:00
This was a comedic skit, not a wrestling match. DUD
Mr. Perfect gets announced as a part of the Hall of Fame.
Rey Mysterio comes out to the ring, hyping up his upcoming return from his knee injury. As he is talking, Vince McMahon interrupts him. He comes out with multiple security guards and blocks the ring. He doesn't really even acknowledge Rey, he just talks about how is going to beat Donald Trump at Wrestlemania, and shave his head. He then asks Rey who he thinks will win, and Rey tells Vince he's a loser. This makes Vince angry of course, and he decides to bring out Umaga, who is representing him for the mania match. He tries to bully Rey into saying Vince will win. Then he low blows Rey, and gives him to Umaga for a giant Samoan drop. Then he hits a hip attack. Vince decides this still is not enough, and he commands Umaga to jump on the injured knee. This was a heat magnet.
Overall: 4.5/10. Not a terrible show, but not that good either. There was a solid opener, and a solid Kane/Booker match, but 2 bad matches as well along with an ending I don't entirely agree with. I feel as if the segment was ok, I just don't think it should've ended Smackdown.
Smackdown 2007 Statistics:
Pay-Per-View Match of the Year: Royal Rumble Match - Royal Rumble - ****
Smackdown TV Match of the Year: United States Championship Match: Chris Benoit (c) vs. Finlay - ***
Worst Pay-Per-View Match of the Year: ECW Championship Match: Bobby Lashley (c) vs. Mr. Kennedy - DUD
Worst Smackdown TV Match of the Year: Finlay and Hornswoggle vs. Boogeyman and Little Boogeyman - DUD
No comments:
Post a Comment