| From WorldWrestlingInsanity.com Smackdown After seeing “Impact” on Thursday, WWE had a tough act to follow, but of the two shows, Smackdown had the better chance. The show opened playing up the arrival of MNM to Smackdown in their “hometown,” Hollywood. It wa portrayed as a major event with photographers, press, screaming MNM fans, the whole nine yards. Long came out and told MNM that they would be defending the title against Batista and Eddie Guerrero. Their “fans” cheered like crazy, but MNM seemed far less than thrilled. Rey Mysterio and Matt Hardy pinned JBL and Christian (guest referee Hardcore Holly) This, of course, was Christian’s last WWE match and he went out like a profession. He worked hard and put his opponents over. If Matt Hardy can come back, there’s no reason that Christian cannot do the same one day. Hardy knocked both heels from the ring, then dove from the ring to the floor on them. They caught him, but Mysterio hit another dive and knocked them all down. Hardy later hit Holly accidentally and the two got into an altercation. During the commercial, the heels took over on Rey Mysterio. After a few dropkicks, Rey took over until JBL hit a clothesline. Rey tried for a 619, but Christian pulled JBL out of the way. Christian distracted Holly while JBL took Rey out of the ring. After several minutes of a beatdown, Rey hot-tagged Hardy, who got a two count on Christian, but couldn’t hit a Twist of Fate. Hardy hit a legdrop for a two count. Hardy went to all fours and allowed Rey to dive off him onto both heels. Christian tried to use a chair, but Holly grabbed it. Christian hit Holly from behind and Holly hit an Alabama Slammer. This set up Rey’s 619 and Hardy’s Twist of Fate for the win as JBL walked away. Backstage, Teddy Long said that Eric Bischoff was on the way to the arena as his guest. Sharmell came to the ring to her own music to introduce Booker T, and continued to crow about him beating Benoit and setting him up. She demanded respect from the fans. Booker T called the fans “a bunch of suckers” and “a bunch of fools.” He also said the fans were colorful and frankly, that worried me a lot. It’s way too easy to play the race card here and it’s unnecessary. He said he knew what Sharmell was doing all along and said he should have got an Emmy. The two introduced and laughed at several replays of Sharmell’s interference. Sharmell alone is annoying enough, but Booker T joining in to sing his own praises is just too much. If Booker T thinks that 90 percent of the fans didn’t know what the payoff was going to be, he’s the biggest sucker out there. But at least they didn’t try to put race into it. Teddy Long came out and Booker demanded Long shake his hand. Long said he thought Booker T was an honorable competitor and said that he stopped Benoit from attacking Booker. He then said that Booker was going to defend the title immediately against Benoit. Sharmell and Booker were visibly upset. Chris Benoit beat Booker T by countout. Benoit came out looking almost bored, but the announcers played up how Booker was unprepared for Benoit that night. Benoit started off strong, sending Booker out of the ring until he got a temporary reprieve by throating Benoit on the top rope. But Benoit came back quickly for a two count. Sharmell grabbed Benoit’s leg and distracted him temporarily, but he saw Booker sneaking up on him. This makes Benoit the smartest wrestler in history, since no one else ever seemed to figure out what was coming in that situation.. Booker dropped Benoit on the top rope and went after his ribs and back. Benoit fought out of a chinlock, but Booker whipped him into the corner and further hurt his back. Benoit recovered and hit Booker with the “hat trick” of German suplexes. Benoit went to the top rope for a headbutt, ignoring Sharmell, but missed. He still recovered and hit Booker with two more German suplexes, but Booker blocked the third one. Booker grabbed the rope to prevent a crossface, then just left the ring. If the point of the match was to portray Booker as a coward who can’t win without his wife, they did it. I never bought Booker as a heel before, but now I can buy into it. A video recap of Smackdown on Taboo Tuesday. Great to hear Joey Styles again, and I was thrilled to not have to see another Edge-Matt Hardy match-up. I was also pleased to see Batista get put over so well. Rowdy Roddy Piper beat Cowboy Bob Orton by DQ Orton came out and said that Piper put him to sleep last week. Well, Orton did it to us for years, didn’t he? He complained that Piper can’t fight his own battles and that he did Piper’s dirty work while Piper got the glory. Orton seems oblivious of the fact that Piper knew how to cut a promo and Orton counldn’t convince Superman to avoid kryptonite. Piper’s music interrupted him and Hot Rod came out. Orton wrapped a belt around his fist while the referee checked Piper and then clocked Piper with it. Piper fought back, but Orton hit him with a rake to the eyes and an atomic drop. Orton stayed on Piper in the corner and put him in a rear chinlock. Orton followed with a kneelift and a lousy backbreaker. Piper slapped on the sleeper, and Orton was going out again until Randy Orton came out and attacked Piper. He continued to heat on Piper while Cowboy held off the referee. Orton the younger grabbed the mike and said that without his father Piper would have been nothing. He said he used to look up to Piper, but now he was ashamed of him. Piper told him to go to hell. Orton said Piper may be a legend but that he is…all together now…that’s right…and bragged that he killed the Undertaker before hitting the RKO. After a commercial, they recapped what happened about four minutes ago! Bobby Lashley defeated Nunzio and Big Vito in a handicapped match. Well, I guess some ethnic groups are still OK to mock. Nunzio and Vito came out as Tazz and Cole made references to the Sicilian Silencer and piasans. Because after all, all Italians are thugs and uneducated criminals and…you know, it’s just easier to call this stupid, isn’t it? The two started off well enough, knocking Lashley down but failing to pin him. Lashley quickly recovered and manhandled them both. He knocked Vito from the ring and then picked up Vito into his still-unnamed finisher, even taking a second to knock Vito back off the ring apron before finishing him off. Backstage, Eric Bischoff pulled into the building in his limo and encountered The Boogeyman. “Welcome to Friday Night Smackdown, Mr. Bischoff,” Tazz mocked as Bischoff walked away, obviously thinking that maybe the situation on Raw isn’t as bad as he though. Well, actually it’s probably worse, but that’s beside the point. Long came out to welcome Bischoff. Well, what he did was ask the fans to give him an “appropriate” welcome. He got it, as fans booed him and Tazz dissed him. Bischoff came out dressed in a grey suit that looked like it was poured from concrete, with several security guards. Bischoff said the Raw vs Smackdown feud was out of control. He admitted that Long took the fight to Raw, like he brought the fight to WWE when he ran WCW. Geez, even Matt Hardy would tell this guy to let it go! Bichoff challenged Long to a Raw vs Smackdown ten-man elimination match at Survivor Series. Bischoff called Smackdown the B-show with second-rate talent, management and fans. My fiance’s observation of the night: “Eric, aren’t these the same fans that go to your shows?” Long said that Bischoff “B” talking out of his mind and that he was going to lose to Smackdown like he did to McMahon. Bischoff got upset and told Long not to mention that. Then why does he keep bringing it up? It reminds me of a basketball player that used to brag that he and another guy combined for 48 points one night, but got mad when people pointed out that he only scored four of them. Long challenged Bischoff to another Raw vs Smackdown match: Long vs Bischoff. Bischoff looked as if was about to pee himself, but accepted. Long then told the security to remove the “cracker” from the show and mocked Bischoff’s alleged martial arts prowess. Why does Bischoff seem to forget that he knows karate when people challenge him to a fight? A promo for the Undertaker followed and concluded with a verse from the book of Matthew in the Bible. Where’s the significance, did Jesus dress in black and chokeslam people? Ken Kennedy pinned Scotty 2 Hotty. Kennedy will be one of those guys in the Survivor Series match, that’s for sure. This was pretty much a squash, and Kennedy took time to taunt the fans at ringside. The fans were otherwise dead. At one point, Tazz said Scotty was about to pull out the worm. He does and I’ll call the FCC! Kennedy hit the Magic Bullet and was bleeding from the forehead after the match.
MNM (with Melinda) defeated World Heavyweight Champion Batista and Eddie Guerrero to retain the WWE Tag Team Titles MNM came out to their typical Hollywood entrance, and the faces came out in Eddie’s new lowrider. The announcers marveled at Batista battering Coach at Taboo Tuesday and said Smackdown has established itself as the flagship show of WWE. Why do they even bother to have the World Champion go for the tag team titles? When the top champion wins another belt, doesn’t he always have to give it up anyways? Melina tried to distract the referee, but it backfired and Batista sent both MNM members over the top rope with a clothesline while Eddie chased Melina. After a commercial, Eddie choked Mercury with the tag rope while Batista distracted the referee in an interesting reversal. Eddie spent most of the match acting like a heel, which makes sense. Why do heels always forget all their tricks when they turn face? Eddie tried a nice trick, hiding the ring bell hammer in his tights while carrying a chair into the ring. While the referee was distracted with the chair, Eddie tried to use the hammer but Melina grabbed it from him. Eddie almost got Melina, but Nitro hit him with a bodypress outside the ring to take control for his team. Up to then it was kind of plodding as everyone seemed to be killing time between Eddie’s antics. The interesting part of the match actually happened at the end when Batista tagged in and took over on both of MNM. Eddie came back in and went for the frog splash and crushed Melina, who came into the ring to hand Mercury a set of brass knuckles, which he used to cold-cock Eddie for the pin. Afterwards, Batista seemed disgusted at the result.
Three stars of the night: Number three star: Booker T Number two star: Christian Number one star: Chris Benoit
Check me out online at: http://www.geocities.com/bobbyknightmare/megaweaponsgarage.html, for “The Starfighters,” which features Congressman Bob Dornan and the worst line in movie history, and http://www.geocities.com/bobbyknightmare/ulcbedford.html, with a tribute to Rosa Parks, a woman who knew when to stop talking and start doing.
And if you’re in the southern Pittsburgh area on Saturday, check out the Championship Wrestling Federation’s November Reign show at the Monessen Civic Center at 7:30 p.m. For more information, check them out online at www.cwf-online.com. Order
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