(1) Val Venis beat Maven. This was just a warm-up to get fans in their seats before Raw actually began.
There were no Heat matches.
SMACKDOWN TAPING
Tazz and Michael Cole came out about three minutes after Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels left the ring after Raw. Smackdown started about five minutes later, even though about 10 percent or more of the audience left their seats treating it as an intermission.
Smackdown started with a clip from last week when Teddy Long announced a six-way elimination match for the new Smackdown Title. Smackdown's intro then aired.
Hassan and Daivari came out to the start the show. Hassan spoke about the 4th of July coming up, and what it purports to celebrate. He said he does not feel like a free man in our country. Amazingly, he then claimed he was "still undefeated." (Hey, maybe it's not his fault and the writers already forget about the job to Cena).
About five minutes into this, Undertaker came out. Hassan started backing up a bit, saying Taker was a legend who has beaten everyone... except him (Hassan). Taker went to choke Hassan, but Daivari came in with a chair. Eventually, Hassan and Daivari left, but before they got all the way to the back, two refs came out, and Daivari ended up back in the ring and took a chokeslam. I'm guessing he was supposed to be chokeslammed the first time and this will be cleaned up in editing.
(1) Paul London wrestled Chavo Guerrero to a no contest. The crowd seemed pretty dead; there were some boring chants. They only went about four minutes, when the "Mexicool's" music started up during the match and they came out with the match still in progress. They attacked both guys, making it a no-contest, but of course that was never announced. London even came back in the ring after getting thrown out, then beaten up again. Juvi did most of the mic work, continuously asking the crowd if "there were any Mexicans in the house." When the crowd responded yes, he said gringos think Mexicans are fat and lazy... and they're right! He then went on and on, saying nothing important really.
A graphic aired showing that tonight's main event would be a five-man Elimination match (since Big Show ended up on Raw).
Eddie Guerrero was interviewed in the back by Josh Mathews. He was asked why he was smiling after losing last week's match to Rey Mysterio, and Eddie said it's because he knows the truth, and Rey will beg him not to tell the truth.
Backstage, Melina was in her room with Nitro and Mercury. She said that Tom Kat (Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes), Nick and Jessica, and Paris were all there to watch her tonight, but Ashton wouldn't be, as he doesn't come to Anaheim as everyone knows it's just a wannabe L.A. She said she wouldn't need M or N's help though, as she planned to win on her own.
(2) Melina beat Michelle McCool in about two minutes. McCool was doing a ten punch spot near the corner on the ropes when Melina gave her a short powerbomb down. She then pinned her, and being a heel this month in WWE, of course Melina put her foot on the ropes since no lower card heels can win clean.
Nitro and Mercury came out and attacked McCool. Heidenreich made the save.
Eddie came out to the ring for his interview. He showed a cheesy, but funny, video of what was claimed to be Rey's son Domonique's day care. Eddie approached Rey's son, talking about secrets and bedtime stories. He then offered the kid candy, which got a good laugh out of the crowd. Rey's kid sat on Eddie's lap and Eddie told him he loved him. Video ended, then back live Eddie talked more about this secret, which brought Rey out (without music or an entrance). Eddie told him to get on his knees and beg him not to tell Dominique the secrets/bedtime stories/the truth. Rey got on his knees. Eddie took out candy, and ended up spitting it on Rey's face. It seems like they were building the secret to be that Domique is Eddie's son, not Rey's, but who knows where they're going with this. At the end of the segment, after Eddie left, the camera did a long close up of Rey to get his response and show his emotion, but the crowd was paying attention to security chasing down a beach ball, which led to many boos once it was taken.
Then it was the five-man elimination match for the new Smackdown Title. JBL came out first, followed by Hassan, Booker, Benoit... then Teddy Long. Long announced Christian as the sixth man, which got a pretty good pop. Then Undertaker came out last.
(3) JBL won the five-man match over Hassan and Undertaker and Booker T and Christian and Chris Benoit. This was almost a 35 minute match. Most of the key spots would consist of someone tagging in from behind when the other didn't expect it. Undertaker was the first man eliminated, although he was in there for about 10 minutes. He was DQ'd for hitting Hassan with a chair near the announcer's booth. He left, and Hassan ran away as well. He was never officially counted out, however. Benoit was eliminated about 20 minutes into the match, when JBL pinned him after a DDT. Booker and JBL then went at it for quite some time. Crowd chanted "we want Christian." When Christian tagged in, he got the face pop, but then used rest holds for quite awhile. JBL kicked out a lot from Booker's pin attempts, lots of nearfalls. Christian tagged out JBL and pinned Booker (about 32 minutes into the match). Christian and Booker argued, while JBL was sizing up Christian for awhile just waiting. When Christian turned around, he was hit with the clothesline from hell and pinned.
JBL celebrated by hugging Brian Hebner, but was never given a belt... as there was none. Teddy Long then came out and said he had some good news and some bad news. The Bad News (for JBL) is that he isn't Smackdown Champion, because there's no need for one because of who the new draft pick is. The Good News: JBL is now the #1 Contender. Batista then came out, got the best pop on the Smackdown Show, beat up JBL a bit, then the show went off the air.
This is really a one match show. There were only two other matches, and each lasted only a couple of minutes.
I play chicken with the train, play chicken with the train train, uh-huh uh-huh!
Not really sure I dig the whole Eddie/Rey thing. They had something good going & now it may get tarnished by what appears to be a crap storyline.
After Batista only did the small interview segment on RAW, I had a gut feeling that would be the last time we'd be seeing him on Mondays (for a long time, at least).
So now that we have the World Championship on Smackdown & the WWE Championship on RAW, has anyone else thought about a tag champs swap? MNM to RAW for Rosey, Hurricane & Stacy to SD?
That way the World Championship is on the same show as the World Tag Team Championship & same thing with the WWE Championship & WWE Tag Team Championship (even though the lineage is with the World tag titles).
Does anyone else get the feeling that this 'Eddie is the father of Rey's son' twist is someone in creative jealous over the fact that Eddie and Rey came up with his great storyline on their own and now they want to put 'their' touch on it? Since Eddie and Rey were doing just fine on their own.
I dunno about an MNM/Superheroes trade. Frankly, I think that MNM are the more interesting act, and Smackdown needs more help in terms of hot new wrestlers. Also, the edited show can help cover up any mistakes for the still somewhat green Nitro and Mercury. I don't think it's a big deal anyway about the names of the titles being different; enough people just refer to them as the 'Raw title' and the 'Smackdown tag titles' etc. anyway.
"You can look the other way once, and it's no big deal, except it makes it easier for you to compromise the next time, and pretty soon that's all your doing; compromising, because that's the way you think things are done. You know those guys I busted? You think they were the bad guys? Because they weren't, they weren't bad guys, they were just like you and me. Except they compromised... Once." -- Jack Bauer
Originally posted by Spaceman SpiffSo, Eddie is going to be revealed as the father of Rey's kid? Lame. Fans are going to crap all over that.
Nothing like wrestling in your own hometown and having your wife and kids in the front row as the fans chant "SLUT, SLUT, SLUT" at your wife.
It's just another bad decision by a bad creative team. I guess they felt they had to throw in another angle to disgust the fans after "losing" the Angle/Booker feud.
Originally posted by Spaceman SpiffSo, Eddie is going to be revealed as the father of Rey's kid? Lame. Fans are going to crap all over that.
Nothing like wrestling in your own hometown and having your wife and kids in the front row as the fans chant "SLUT, SLUT, SLUT" at your wife.
It's just another bad decision by a bad creative team. I guess they felt they had to throw in another angle to disgust the fans after "losing" the Angle/Booker feud.
Either that, or one of the Raw writers was sent to Smackdown in the draft.
Live from Anaheim ... (Sorry I'm late -- the Internet works better in some hotels than in others.)
That's generally a very good spoilers report. I just have a few additional things:
The crowd wasn't totally shot after Raw, but was definitely lower energy. This seemed to be particularly hard for the heels -- it's easier to rally up some energy to cheer for somebody you like, but mustering enough energy to boo the bad guys wasn't happening as much.
Hassan was getting some "Boring" chants. Shouldn't we really be chanting "Asshole" after Cena's "Asshole-American" comment?? He was pretty funny backpedalling to Undertaker's face: "Maybe you're not like the rest of these Americans." Taker totally no-sold the chairshot by Daivari, which got a good reaction.
What does Paul London have to do to get over?!? It's very annoying how underappreciated he is. However, he got several pops for the uber-cool spots.
This week the MexiCools came out on a fleet of 3 individual riding mowers, & circled around the ring a la Austin & his 4-wheeler toy. The prop for the week were inflatable Corona bottle bar decorations. They beat down Chavo, Paul *&* the ref. They formally introduced themselves, & Juvi is using either that or "The Juice" which comes out as "The Choos'".
Melina vs. Michelle was short, & wasn't as bad as it might have been. Melina can work some, & was selling like mad for Michelle. M & N came out afterwards to very carefully hit their finisher on Michelle, which is what prompted the Heidenreich run-in.
I got a much creepier, ickier vibe from Eddie's video piece at Dominic's preeschool. There were some mutterings of "Michael Jackson" around my part of the building. I wasn't hearing so much laughter as uncomfortable-ness. The video piece & the subsequent live segment were very strong & well done, but I don't know where they're going with this -- I didn't particularly get anything about Dom being Eddie's son. (We'll see, though...)
I was quite pissed off at the timing of the moronic beachball. Rey was working his ass off to emote distress, which is hard enough with chewed up Red Vine spit on your mask & one contact lens missing, but to have the entire, packed building cheering a beachball & booing security was bad.
For the 6-no-5-no-6-man, they had specifically outlined that any contact would be construed as a tag, & Hassan just kept getting caught. :-) Nobody seemed to mind sacrificing him repeatedly to Taker. I'm interested how this match reads on TV -- frankly there were some pretty boring parts along in the middle, but hopefully those were just slots for commercial inserts. Booker didn't seem at all on his best game (for whatever reason) & even Benoit was having trouble trying to keep it interesting. After Benoit was eliminated & it was down to just Booker, JBL & Christian, the Peeps started to wake up & get hopeful -- Christian hadn't really been in all that much , & Booker & JBL had gone for way too many near-falls. Much disappointment when it was JBL.
Batista got a great reaction from the crowd, who'd been disappointed that he'd only had the one video piece earlier on Raw. He spent a goodly amount of time posing & enjoying the appreciation.
So, we'll see how it reads on TV. I assume when they've done "supershows" on the east coast, they do SD first? Either way it's tough to keep up the energy for a 4-hour show (that isn't WM).
What does Paul London have to do to get over?!? It's very annoying how underappreciated he is.
Get consistent airtime on SD, be in some good feuds (Kidman/London was getting over), get some mic time. Y'know, stuff they don't let non-Rey cruisers do.
I thought the main even really came off well on TV, especially being 45 minutes long. Maybe my hearing is off in my old age, but it appeated that the crowd popped nearly as much for Christian as they did for Batista.
That Eddie Guerrero thing on the playground was sorta uncomfortable to watch.
Originally posted by emmaI got a much creepier, ickier vibe from Eddie's video piece at Dominic's preschool. There were some mutterings of "Michael Jackson" around my part of the building.
I got that same "Michael Jackson" vibe watching at home tonight.
"Here, have some candy." "Do you wanna know a secret?" "Do you want to hear a bedtime story?"
A very, very uncomfortable segment to watch. As to where they're really going with this angle, all I can see on the horizon is a Smackdown version of the RAW train wreck that was Katie Vick. What a shame that WWE Creative has chosen to shit all over what here-to-fore had been a compelling storyline featuring Grade A matches.
Originally posted by emmaWhat does Paul London have to do to get over?!?
Wrestling a match to decision on Smackdown would probably be a good start. Because, watching tonight, there was pretty much no doubt in my mind that his match with Chavo was again going to be interrupted by The Mexicools, in what was for all intents and purposes simply a repeat of the prior week's segment. The irony is that The Mexicools, having not yet wrestled a match on Smackdown are more over than the title-holder, whose matches keep getting interrupted and ending up as "no contests".
Watching it, I decided I could forgive the interruption (again) of London's match if, as appeared possible, they were gonna turn Chavo face and team him with London -- and hey, maybe they could find another partner and have a lucha trios match against the Mexicools. Of course, given that Chavo is going over to Raw, it looks like I'm wrong there. As usual.
The main event would have been more enjoyable without the stupid-ass Undertaker DQ -- he might as well have got on the mic and announced that no, he was not going to job to anyone. And of course I wouldn't be an IWC member if I didn't grumble about Benoit jobbing to a DDT.
Ling-Ling into battle go Fulfill destiny of the soul Sever skull of adversary Shove it in the poo-poo hole
All the children sing: Kill kill kill kill die die die Kill kill kill kill die die die....
Originally posted by Downtown BookieAs to where they're really going with this angle, all I can see on the horizon is a Smackdown version of the RAW train wreck that was Katie Vick.
Pessimist!
What a shame that WWE Creative has chosen to shit all over what here-to-fore had been a compelling storyline featuring Grade A matches.
Call me crazy, but I don't see "WWE Creative" being the driving force behind bringing Rey's young son into the mix here. Besides, Eddie's still-quite-excellent acting/facial performance still leads me to believe he's still heavily involved in the way this is being laid out ahead of time. (DISCLAIMER: I don't have any inside knowledge, either)
This thread - now that I've actually read it - sure looks like another one of those "I'm gonna be FIRST to complain about this, and MY complaints will be the FUNNIEST and SMARKIEST!" contests I reallllly love.
I thought the best part of this was the reactions Undertaker was getting, if I was the freakin Undertaker- I wouldnt job to JBL or Christian either so.. thats my opinion. Him getting DQ'd by beating the man who had been pissing him off since he got there was a perfect way to get Taker out of there.
The Mexicools are really over but their promo was embarassing to say the least, too much rambling in really bad english with bunch of non-coherent wrestling action phrases (join the revolution!)
I really dont like where this Eddie-Rey thing is going, and am hoping dearly that it will end with the whole thing being a lie by Eddie to make Rey look bad... but damn, it is looking like a train wreck in the making.
"I came to Earth with a simple dream... To kill all humans. And THIS is how it must end? Who's the real 700 ton monster here? Not, I... Not.. I..."
I really liked this Smackdown, eventhough it also had some rough spots.
Maybe I'm just easily amused sometimes, but I laughed out loud at the Mexicools riding out on lawn mowers with a "Juan Deere" label on them. However, as someone has already mentioned, the promo by the Mexicools was not done well.
The main event match was very good. I still don't understand the logic of why the wrestlers would want to tag themselves in, especially the heels, but I'll let that go because the match was done well.
I usually don't care about the women's matches on Smackdown!, but I must say that Michelle McCool in those very tight and very thin booty shorts kept my interest in the match. I've never really noticed her much before tonight, but I noticed her plenty tonight. ;-)
Originally posted by WhoTookMyHonor?The Mexicools are really over but their promo was embarassing to say the least, too much rambling in really bad english with bunch of non-coherent wrestling action phrases (join the revolution!)
Juvi came off like he was either really drunk, or really stoned.
"This just got a hell of a lot better." - Stifler, American Pie
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