LAST WEEK ON SMACKDOWN:  Kennedy was briefcase-less, TNA was D-Ray 3000-less, The women were “vixen”-less but Batista was still champion…

THIS WEEK…

Ken Kennedy def. Jeff Hardy in a "BATTLE OF THE SWANTONS!" match

No replays of what happened or nothing from Wrestlemania in the opening credits, other than a shot from the show at the end to denote Undertaker as Champion.  However, it was with the Money In The Bank winner we would begin, and a replay of the rolling inverted Samoan Drop on Hornswaggle to boot.  Kennedy got his mic and said that actions spoke louder than words, as he did what he said he would do.  He defeated 7 other guys to become Mr. Money In The Bank.  He kindly asked that he be referred to that from now on.  He emphasised the reward he possessed, and said that when he cashed it in, he would be winning.  He said that "the Kennedy Era" had begun...begun...

At that point, one half of the RAW Tag Team Champions came out.  And it was the one who normally called RAW home too!  Jeff was holding his ass, selling "the spot" from Wrestlemania.  Well, he did for about 3 seconds before the bell rang...  They locked up, and took it half way around the ring, before the ref called for a break.  The men exchanged arm-wringers, as Jeff started working on Kennedy's arm.  Kennedy tossed Hardy out, but Hardy got back in as Kennedy slipped out himself, backed Kennedy up and dived onto the current "Banker" as we took a break.

Jeff was in control as we came back, getting a snapmare for 2.  Jeff hit his new face-first suplex, before heading up top.  He moved too slowly however, as Kennedy caught him.  It looked like Jeff would hit a Sunset-Flip Powerbomb, but backdropped Jeff off the rope.  Kennedy gave Jeff a couple of shots to the back for 2.  He took Jeff to the ringpost and wrenched Jeff's back.  Back in the ring, a short-arm clothesline got 2.  Kennedy locked in a ground abdominal stretch, occasionally adding shots to the ribs.

Hardy punched his way out, but Jeff came off the ropes to meet with a knee to his gut.  Kennedy showed good strength hitting 2 backbreakers for a near fall.  A standing Abdominal Stretch followed, with Kennedy using the ropes for nefarious means.  Hardy hip-tossed his way out, and then countered a Kennedy grab with a jawbreaker, clothesline and spinning kick.  Kennedy missed what looked like a Shining Wizard, allowing Hardy to hit the Whisper In The Wind.  The Swanton missed however, to which Kennedy hit a DDT for the win...Yeah, a DDT.  Plain and simple.

After the match, Kennedy headed straight up the ramp.  Hornswaggle emerged and ran towards him, distracting Kennedy long enough for Finlay to smack him with the Shillelagh.  He then threatened Kennedy with paralysis if he ever touched Hornswaggle again.

Thoughts - 6.5/10 - Decent enough bout.  Nothing overly great, and why win with a simple DDT when Kennedy worked over the back for the whole match?  Even if they didn't want Jeff losing via Kennedy's Rolling Samoan drop, they should have come up with a better finish than that.

Kennedy liked the sound of a wheelchair then...

Long and Kristal were being romantic, when Kristal presented T Lo with an envelope, which she asked him to open later when Kennedy barged in.  Kennedy wanted a match with...Hornswaggle.  And what do you know?  Long gave him to Kennedy.  Well, Hornswaggle and Finlay.  Kennedy was then shown the door.  Long then opened his card, and liked what he saw...

"Dre Lite" meets "Brooke Lite"...

Ashley was walking when the celebrity-du-jour, Timbaland ran up to her.  They acted all friendly (although God knows what they were saying.  They just talked over each other), until Jillian Hall ran up to him.  He didn't know who she was, when Jillian brought up she was a singer.  "Uh-oh!", was Timba's response.  Quite right.  Timba managed to stop her singing.  He and Ashley then started mocking her, ahem...talents as they left...

The Miz def. Chris Benoit in a "Kindly un-bunch your granny panties..." Non-Title match

Chris Benoit made his way out first, as JBL put over not only Benoit as one of the 10 best in the world, but also MVP's efforts at Wrestlemania.  Good boy.  He wasn't so pleasant about Miz.  Collar and elbow was won by Miz, who got a side headlock.  However, he was prime for a back suplex.  Benoit backed Miz into a corner, laying in a chop.  Another chop was followed by a snap suplex.  Miz came back with a couple of left fists in the corner, but Benoit hit a backbreaker across his knee for 2.

Back in a corner, Benoit gave Miz a hard slap to the face, before tossing Miz over the rope and hitting 2 hard chops.  Benoit tried to suplex Miz over the top rope, but Miz dropped Benoit across the rope.  Indeed, Miz had been chopped so hard, we saw a drop of blood.  Miz locked in a European headlock, but Benoit escaped and hit another couple of chops.  Benoit, however, was whipped into the corner, where Miz hit a very cool clothesline in the corner.  Back on the mat, Miz locked in another headlock.  Miz drove a couple of shoulders into Benoit's gut, but Benoit came back with chops.  Benoit clubbed Miz in the back before hitting the Germans.  Benoit went up top, but we saw MVP, who pulled Miz away from the headbutt, in such a brilliantly clever way that the ref didn't see it.  Miz then took advantage of it by pinning Benoit for the three!

Thoughts - 6.5/10 - OK stuff.  Nothing bad to see here.  Liked the story of Benoit constantly being on top of Miz except for a few little spots, with MVP, who was very nicely all about the business (I mean he had a serious look on his face when staring down Benoit from the crowd.  Not one of "Ha ha, I just screwed you".

We then saw a replay of what happened between Matt Hardy, THE NOSE~! and King Booker at Wrestlemania, ahead of a match between the 2 later.

It begins...

We saw Booker & The NOSE~! backstage as they complained about what Hardy did to her.  He promised to take out their combined anger on Matthew.

Matt Hardy def. King Booker in a "I know he lost to Matt, but he's RAW tag champion these days..." match

We come back with Booker mid-entrance.  Thank God he's on the taped show where we can do stuff like this...  Booker was certainly the early aggressor, backing Hardy into corners, although he missed a heel kick, allowing Hardy to hit a clothesline in the corner, followed by a bulldog.    Booker regained the advantage though, as he hit a back kick, before choking Matt with the rope.  A break saw THE NOSE~! slap Hardy hard.  Hardy threw a couple of fists, but Hardy came off the ropes right into a spinebuster.  Booker put on a headlock as we saw Matt had blood coming from the mouth.  Hardy battled back, but met with an elbow.  Booker mounted Hardy and laid in some punches, as Cole & JBL talked about Booker not trying a cover when he could.

A near Camel Clutch followed.  Hardy got back up and, after bouncing off the ropes, hit a couple of clotheslines on Booker, before hitting a neckbreaker.  Hardy went to the middle rope and hit the leg drop for a very near fall.  Booker countered a whip off the ropes with a spinning kick.  Booker put on an Abdominal stretch.  hardy elbowed Booker in the knee to escape but was downed again by The King.  Side Slam by Booker saw a 2 count.

Booker then went to the arm, putting on a top-wrist lock.  Coming out of that, Hardy (awkwardly) caught Booker with a Side Effect.  Hardy called for the Twist Of Fate, but that was countered.  Booker went for the Scissors Kick, but THAT was countered. Booker was then dropped across the top rope, but the Twist Of Fate was again countered, and both men fought over a pin, but Hardy rolled Booker up for 3!

After the match, Sharmell stormed in the ring, and shouted at Booker for losing.  She asked him if this is how he handled business.  She kept mocking the phrase "King Bookah!"  She said he was a disappointment to her and himself before storming off.  That kinda came out of nowhere.

Thoughts - 6.5/10 - Once again, this was decent stuff, but Booker's rather scatological method of attack let it down for me.  He didn't really pick one body part and stay on it.  I liked that there were pinfall opportunities he didn't take, preferring to punish Hardy some more, but all in all, the randomness of it just knocked it down a bit for me.

"Blink & you miss it" stuff.  Hardy's V1 push that is...

Us lucky sods in the UK this week went back to August 2002, and it's time for some cruiserweight action, as a pre-"Prince Of Punk" Shannon Moore and a pre-"Gregory Helms" Hurricane took on Tajiri & Jamie Noble, who was accompanied by the ever lovely Nidia, who was, apparently set to take on Molly Holly for the Women’s Title later on.  WHY NOT SHOW US THAT?!?!?!  Well, why should they with this.  I would do some commentary, but everything moved far too fast.

How can they not find such a prominent spot again for Noble?  I dunno what Kid Kash did to get canned but Noble deserves better.  I mean, why not team with Jimmy Wang Yang and entertain us for a while in a Tag Title feud?  Noble was great here as the trailer-trash redneck.  Oddly enough, Shannon Moore pinned Jamie Noble for the win.  5 years ago must seem like a long time now.  After a brief brawl, Matt Hardy ran out and celebrated with his OMEGA buddies, basically at the start of the "Version 1" gimmick.

Kane & Dave Taylor fought to a No Contest in a "I know Britain has a large Indian community, but this is ridiculous..." match

From that, we got straight to seeing Taylor in the ring with a suited William Regal.  Kane came out, and the heels tried to double team Kane before the match began, but Regal got dumped into the crowd.  As Kane punched away at Taylor, Regal smacked Kane in the back with a chair.  Kane didn't sell it for a second and knocked down Regal once again.  Taylor was then thrown over the announce table.  Kane got back in the ring and blew his pyro.  And that was that.

I know that I gave this a match title, but there is no way I can rate this as a match, but it was a funky brawl.

It gets worse...

Booker caught up with his wife, who was in tears.  Booker apologised and said he got caught up in the moment, and that he cared about her.  He promised her he'd do better (Yeah, Booker's gonna lose his next few matches).  They hugged, but then, as Booker moved in for a kiss, Sharmell slapped him square in his chops.

We then saw a video featuring Mark Henry.  He's coming back for another run, before he gets injured again...

Paul London & Brian Kendrick def. Chavo Guerrero & Gregory Helms in a "I take it Helms is fine with Chavo having the CW belt then..." match

And the matches continue!  Spanky & London came out first, with Ashley.  Chavo & Helms followed, and very subtlety, Helms gazed at Chavo's belt.  Just as the match was about to get underway, Deuce & Domino's music kicked in and they made their way out in their car.  Just watching though.  Helms ambushed London to start, before tagging in Chavo.  They cheated for a minute or so, before hitting a double suplex, bringing Helms back in, as Cole gushed about called some of Wrestlemania.  Chavo got London in a wrist lock, and the escape was met by a dropkick for 2.  London hit a flying headscissors, managing to tag in Kendrick.  The high flyers then took it to their opponents, diving through the ropes onto the bad guys before the TV audience took a break.

Things didn't seem to have gone well for the Champions, as Spanky was down as we came back, but we saw that the heels cheated again, which is how they got to that point.  Helms & Chavo continued to work on Spanky, and his back in particular, cheating whenever they possibly could.  Chavo put on a front facelock, and even when Kendrick escaped, Chavo held onto the leg, preventing a tag.  Helms was brought back in, but Spanky countered a double team and made the tag!

London was a house of fire, taking both opponents down with flying kicks, before hitting Chavo with a very cool inverted atomic drop followed right up by a headscissors.  Helms got a surprise roll up for 2, before hitting the old "Eye Of The Hurricane".  Chavo went up top, but Kendrick stopped him.  Helms went up too.  London then joined them.  Chavo got shoved off, and that allowed the champs to hit a great double team move.  With Helms in a powerbomb position on London's shoulders, Spanky hit the Sliced Bread #2 while London hit a sit-out powerbomb.  That, so obviously, got three.  Deuce & Domino made signals that they wanted a shot.

Thoughts - 7.5/10 - A good, fast paced match right here, with 2 "heat" segments.  It was nice to see the champions wrestle a different match than they normally do (i.e. the same fast tag opening part before one of them gets isolated).  That finisher was awesome too.  Also, for a team who have ostensibly only teamed together twice before (before Wrestlemania began and on RAW in the Battle Royal), Helms & Chavo worked well too.

After one of those patented no-commercial breaks the UK "enjoys", we were told that Deuce & Domino would indeed get a shot next week, we saw King Booker talking to himself, trying to figure out what to do.  Cole & JBL then sent it to a Hall Of Fame recap.

That really is a capper, isn't it?

We saw the Undertaker "Wrestlemania Countdown" video again.  Only this time, there was a new addition.  Batista.  Back live, here he was.  The new World Champion, the Undertaker.  And just to put a point to that fact, he got the full entrance with the druids carrying the fire.  If you missed Wrestlemania, think this, but bigger.

However, someone wanted to crash the party.  Undertaker got to do bugger all but soak up the cheers.  He even went to speak (with a microphone and everything!) but Batista made his way out, at speed.  Walking, but fast.  They stared at each other, before Batista gave Taker his congratulations and that he wanted his rematch.  Taker very slightly seemed to nod, at which point, Batista's music hit again, and he left.

But there was someone else.  That's right.  King Booker.  He tired ambushing Taker form behind, but the champ was very quickly on top of him.  It spilled to ringside, where Taker stripped the announce table, headbutted Booker a few times, Put Booker on the announce table and gave the King a Tombstone.  The table didn't break, but then, that may not have been a bad thing, as it allowed Taker to stand on the table, holding his title aloft, before taking his leave.  Sharmell suddenly popped up at ringside, looking utterly distraught, as medics attended to his highness as the show ended.

OVERALL - 7/10 (- 1.5 on last week) - Yeah, this was a pretty good piece of episodic television, based around the tension between Sharmell & Booker, but with other issues advancing as well.  You have Finlay in, what must surely be, a face turn and Kennedy.  Those could be good matches.  Then you have Deuce & Domino re-emerging as challengers for the belts.  Could they win them next week?  The form says no, but then again, it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that they could toss a surprise win our way.  And then you have Batista wanting his rematch, but Booker running in.  You’d think that he might have just moved himself to the top of the class.

The interesting thing about Smackdown (and ECW as it goes) at the moment is that, with the PPV’s going “tri-brand”, Backlash is interesting to see how much involvement there will be from each brand.  My thought is that it will still be heavily RAW based, but with 2 or three matches from Smackdown and/or ECW, where there would otherwise be pointless filler.  Based on tonight, I would imagine that Backlash will see Taker vs. Booker, holding off the rematch for the Smackdown-based Judgment Day.

That’s all I got for now, but if you have something to say about this week’s Smackdown, you can e-mail me at dedicated e-mail address, or come hunt me down on the WWI Forums!

OR, you can find me along with the rest of the dribbling masses on MY OWN MYSPACE PAGE!

Well, I’ll be back soon enough, but for now, I believe I’ve fulfilled my contractual obligations.  For reading this, And continuing to support World Wrestling Insanity, you’re cooler than the other side of the pillow…

I’m out.