Full Credit: Steve Khan, WrestlingObserver.com
WWE SmackDown! Report
By Steve Khan
email: sh2k3@yahoo.com
Air Date: May 19, 2005
Taped from the Tyson Events Center’s Gateway Arena in Sioux City, Iowa
Big News: None.
Turns/Title Changes: None.
Best Match: None.
Worst Match: Orlando Jordan vs. Heidenreich
Line of the Night: “Wouldn’t it be weird if I could do that?” – Tazz, about
Melina’s entrance to the ring
Well, a lot has been made of the Edge/Lita angle from RAW, so I thought I’d
give my thoughts on the issue. I for one think it was a bad idea to run this
angle for various reasons. Obviously the WWE is trying to turn the heat
towards Lita and Edge into something useful, but it can only be useful if
Matt Hardy was still with the company. Before they did the angle, I think
everyone would agree that the WWE’s main concern was having the Matt chants
disappear since it was getting in the way. The chants disappearing would’ve
been the best case scenario, and they would’ve disappeared eventually if the
WWE ignored it. That’s exactly what they were doing, and as every RAW
passed, the Hardy chants were dying down. Now the WWE has decided to heat up
the crowd and play off this situation that happened in real life, which will
more than likely get the crowd back into it. The reason this is a bad thing
is because it puts the focus back on a guy who isn’t even with the company,
and they won’t be able to turn it into something constructive. It’s a
similar problem to the You Screwed Bret chants. The WWE reminded its fans of
that situation for years, so it continued to bother the WWE every time the
(Canadian) fans would chant it. Edge has two title shots coming and these
You Screwed Matt chants will make it hard for Edge to move on. Can you
imagine the crowd chanting “You Screwed Matt” during an Edge vs Batista
title match? How does that help? The fans need closure and that can only
come if they play off the angle with Matt Hardy himself. Signing Hardy
brings up more questions like, can he contain himself in the same ring as
Edge. Well they could’ve avoided the whole thing by not doing the angle. The
person it was hurting the most was Lita. But she’s not an important
character like Edge, and she’s injured. All they had to do was take her off
TV for a while.
Show Details: They started the show with a recap of Angle beating down
Booker backstage. I find it funny that the Smackdown intro begins and ends
with the Undertaker considering he’s rarely on Smackdown, even when he does
have a storyline. They should probably change that to John Cena and/or Rey
Mysterio.
Carlito came out for the Cabana and showed the clip of Big Show being
poisoned. Carlito said Big Show challenged him to a match at Judgment Day,
which he had no problem accepting because he has some new muscle. He
introduced Matt Morgan as his backup, who stuttered in an attempt to accept
Carlito’s offer. Big Show came out and knocked down Morgan before going
after Carlito. Show had Carlito up for a choke slam but Morgan hit Show in
the back with a chair.
They aired a video package presented by the friends and supporters of JBL.
He was located in the innercity and said all rappers are thugs. He said
thugs use guns and they belong in jail, along with that “thug” John Cena.
Isn’t Cena from West Newbury, Massachusetts? JBL quoted some lines out of
Cena’s CD about him having sex with hookers. JBL didn’t appreciate that Cena
was having sex with someone other than his wife. I found this entire skit
hilarious.
JBL vs. Scotty 2 Hotty
Coming off the fight they had a few weeks back, they decided to pit these
two against each other again. JBL started with a big boot and clubbed Scotty
around from there. Scotty hit a superkick but JBL bounced off the ropes and
came back with a Clothesline from Hell. JBL teed off on Scotty in the corner
and the referee disqualified him after JBL refused to stop. JBL said he
didn’t care that he was disqualified because there will be no
disqualifications this Sunday against John Cena. He told Scotty to say “I
quit” but he refused. JBL decided to beat Scotty down and whipped him with a
belt. He started to choke Scotty with the belt and asked him again, but
Scotty still refused. After JBL repeatedly demanding he say “I quit”, Scotty
finally said it out of frustration and annoyance rather than pain. That’s
what it looked like anyway. This certainly did not make me want to see the I
Quit match Sunday.
They showed Cena at Fenway Park shaking hands with some of the players and
throwing out the first pitch. The pitch looked high and inside. Booker T was
in Teddy’s office livid about last week. He wanted Kurt Angle tonight. Long
banned Angle from the building but said Kurt would be issuing an apology via
satellite. Long reminded Booker of his match with Angle on Sunday, but
Booker said that wasn’t enough. After a commercial break, Mark Jindrak ran
into Sharmell. He said she shouldn’t take Kurt Angle’s actions personally,
because he has a fetish with gutter sluts. Booker came out of the locker
room and attacked Jindrak. They brawled out to the ring and the bell
sounded.
Booker T vs. Mark Jindrak
Jindrak was busted open and Booker was all over him. Jindrak fought back and
had control but Booker made the comeback hitting a flying forearm and side
kick. Booker hit a Book End and a Scissors Kick for the win. Backstage,
Teddy Long told JBL he would be fined if he lays a hand on John Cena
tonight.
Cole and Tazz put on their serious faces and talked about Eddie/Rey. They
said Rey would be medically cleared to wrestle this Sunday. The Eddie/Rey
video package from RAW showed. Eddie Guerrero came out and didn’t get a lot
of heat initially. Everyone was standing but they just weren’t reacting.
Eddie grabbed the mic and stared down the crowd, at which point he started
to get more heat and “Eddie sucks” chants. Eddie went into psycho mode
looking at Rey’s mask. He dropped the mask and wiped his feet on it.
Guerrero left the ring without saying a word.
Orlando Jordan vs. Heidenreich – Non-Title
Jordan came out to hip hop music as his new theme which can’t make his boss
JBL happy. Heidenreich went looking for a friend. Jordan said Heidenreich
wouldn’t keep the US Champ waiting, because nobody wants to be Heidenreich’s
friend. I guess he’s the new Eugene. The camera angles were changing about
every six seconds in an attempt to cover up this mess of a match. Jordan was
in control for a while before Heidenreich came back and hit a power slam
followed by a big boot. After Jordan mounted some offence, Heidenreich hit
the side slam for the win. Oh my. Heidenreich celebrated with a young fan
after the match.
They aired a video package for Angle/Booker which replayed Kurt’s sex promo.
What happened to abstinence Kurt? “The best sex is no sex.” They ran down
the card for Judgment Day which now includes MNM versus Holly and Haas for
the tag titles, which doesn’t make sense considering Holly/Haas lost in the
6-man tag last week. The predictable thing to do would be to have either
Holly or Haas beat Mercury or Nitro in a singles match to make them seem
like contenders overnight…
Mercury w/Nitro & Melina vs. Hardcore Holly w/Charlie Haas
Tony Chimmel didn’t announce Haas’ name as he accompanied Holly to the ring.
Mercury hit a few hip tosses but Holly came back with chops. Mercury hit a
Christian-like neck breaker and went to the top but Holly went up and nailed
a top rope superplex. Holly hit a back body drop and dropkick followed by a
full nelson slam. Holly then hit a top rope clothesline but Mercury kicked
out. The referee became distracted by everyone on the outside, which almost
opened the opportunity for Nitro to interfere, but Holly nailed a spinning
Alabama Slam for the win. I did a little digging. Last year, Hardcore Holly
beat Rico the Smackdown before Judgment Day, where Holly and Billy Gunn
fought Rico and Charlie Haas for the tag-titles.
The RAW Rebound aired a recap of the Edge/Lita swerve. It included JR’s
funny rant. They showed rapper Nelly giving his comments about Cena’s debut
music video. He seemed to enjoy it. I’m not sure if anyone should be
impressed because of Nelly.
Kurt Angle made his seemingly sincere public apology. After Sharmell and
Booker left their locker room unimpressed, Angle went on about Sharmell
being a gutter slut. Booker returned alone to see what Angle was saying.
Angle said Sharmell fondled his privates and she liked it. Yeah, I wonder
why everyone was shocked to hear UPN was moving Smackdown. I guess that’s
what happens when you don’t give them a reason to be optimistic about the
brand. One of the main concerns originally about the brand split was that
the networks wouldn’t like having half the stars on their show. It’s funny
seeing all the special appearances by guys like Rock, Austin and now Hogan
happen on RAW, and how almost nothing like that happens on Smackdown.
John Cena made some lame jokes about JBL and his book. They did some comedy
stuff with Josh Matthews, which was funnier than Cena’s jokes. Cena told
Matthews to leave. He said JBL should’ve reminded everyone how it was Cena
who stopped JBL’s reign in the first place.
John Cena vs. Basham Brothers w/JBL
Crowd chanted for Cena to open the match. Cena was in total control before
the numbers game caught up to him. He was distracted by Doug Basham allowing
Danny to hit a DDT. Cena started to come back but was stopped by a thumb to
the eye. As Doug Basham had Cena in a headlock, JBL grabbed the mic and told
Cena to quit. Cena fought out but was met by a power slam by Doug Basham.
Any time Cena would attempt a comeback he’d be cut off by the other Basham.
Cena started to fight back on both Bashams, as Nick Patrick looked on not
too worried about getting the illegal man out of the ring. Cena threw Danny
out of the ring himself and hit the FU on Doug for the win.
