WWE Friday Night SmackDown Results– February 23, 2007
Credit: James “Slim Jim” Thake of PiledriverWrestling.com
Big News: Umaga and Vince were in the house and the Samoan destroyed the returning San Diego hometown hero, Rey Mysterio. Khali attacked Kane allowing King Booker to advance to the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania.
Show Report:
The show begins with a recap of the road to WrestleMania so far from the Undertaker giving a chokeslam to Batista on Raw to Batista giving a spinebuster to Undertaker at No Way Out.
The shot goes to the ring where Michael Cole (accompanied by his voice) introduces Batista to a mostly positive reaction. Cole is about to talk to Batista but he sends him back to the desk. Batista talks about respecting the Undertaker. He says he can’t apologise for attacking Undertaker as payback is a bitch. He says he and the Undertaker are even and they can go to WrestleMania and give a match the crowd will never forget. Batista says he respects the Undertaker but he isn’t intimidated by him. He says it doesn’t matter who you cheer for and he’s walking in and out of WrestleMania the World Champ.
Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero’s tag team title win is highlighted. Maryse by the fireplace tells us SmackDown is heating up. The Money in the Bank qualifier is hyped.
6 Man Tag Team Match – Matt Hardy, Paul London and Brian Kendrick vs Joey Mercury, Deuce and Domino
Hardy and Mercury start the match. In the early part of the match Mercury’s lower arm is the target of Hardy and then London and Kendrick who make frequent tags to keep the advantage. The momentum changes when Kendrick is pulled off the top and Deuce gets tagged in. Deuce and Domino make frequent tags targeting Kendrick’s stomach getting a few 2 counts in. Back from the commercial Mercury is back in continuing to work on Kendrick’s stomach. Hardy punches Mercury as he goes for a cheap shot allowing Kendrick to roll over and get the hot tag to Hardy. Hardy gets a 2 from a side effect on Mercury. He then hits bulldog on Mercury while dropkicking Deuce. He hits the middle rope drop kick for a 2 broken up by Deuce. London and Kendrick send Deuce out of the ring and both dive through the ropes into Deuce and Domino. Hardy then blocks a shot from Mercury’s face mask and hits the Twist of Fate for the win.
Winners: Matt Hardy, Paul London and Brian Kendrick. Really good match. It’d be nice if there is some sort of tag team title match at WrestleMania between the four teams represented in this match.
Kristal is with Vickie Guerrero. Vickie says her little thing has been taken care of and she hugs Kristal. A recap video plays of the Edge/Orton match and they hype the MITB qualifier. A video then plays of Rey’s Royal Rumble victory.
Chavo Guerrero vs Scotty 2 Hotty
Chavo started with the advantage. Scotty fights back and Gregory Helms is shown watching as Scotty takes Chavo out of the ring with a head scissors. Scotty gets chucked to the floor while doing mounted punches in the corner on Chavo. He gets back into the ring at 8. Chavo uses a kind of inverse STF with him bridging over Scotty. He continues applying submissions to Scotty who reverses into a roll up for 2. JBL says Scotty invented the worm in a match against the APA. Chavo works on Scotty’s lower back with submissions and a backbreaker. Scotty makes another comeback leading up to an attempt at the bulldog. This gets him a kick in the stomach and hits the two and a half amigos. Scotty reverses the third and hits the bulldog – and the Worm! Chavo rolls to the outside before Scotty can do anything, but Scotty hits a rolling dive on Chavo from the apron. The finish comes when Chavo reverses a rollup with one of his own using his feet on the ropes for the win. Helms watches from the back.
Winner: Chavo Guerrero. Another good match and it’s nice to see a cruiser match on TV. It’s a pity Helms just lost the belt without any build just a day before a year of his run.
Another Rey video plays – this time with him winning the World Title.
Money In The Bank Ladder Match Qualifier – Falls Count Anywhere – King Booker vs Kane
Booker gets the initial advantage stopped soon by a big boot. Kane sends him to the outside and drops him onto the barrier for a 2 on the floor. They fight in the ring for a while trading the advantage and 2 counts. Booker sends Kane through the middle rope. He bounces his face off the steps and table before rolling him back in the ring. He misses a ring bell shot on Kane and gets a big right hand. Kane chases the King to the outside hitting him against the crowd barrier moving up the ramp. Booker uses kicks to get the advantage back and gets a 2 count from a DDT on the steel floor by the set. Kane misses a Scissors Kick onto the steel and gets punches back down the ramp. Booker gets whipped knee first into the steps for 2. Kane sends Booker back into the ring after sending him into the ring post. Sharmell distracts Kane who gets a sent off the apron with a big ring bell shot.
Back from commercial both men are trading offence in the ring a Samoan Drop from Kane and Booker hitting his heel kick for a 2 count. Kane gets sent through the second rope and Booker gets a chair. Kane kicks the chair into Bookers face for 2. Back in the ring, Kane does his top rope clothesline for 2. He also gets a 2 from his sidewalk slam. Booker sends Kane over the ropes. He jumps off the apron to get caught in the chokeslam position by Kane. Khali comes out and breaks it up. He chops and headbutts Kane before throwing him through the crowd barrier. Khali’s offence looks as bad as ever. Booker pins Kane in the front row for the win.
Winner: King Booker. Not a bad match at all and the gimmick allowed it to be much more entertaining than Sunday’s effort. I really hope Kane isn’t going to face Khali at WrestleMania.
The WrestleMania commercial plays with only 37 days left to the big event. Backstage King Booker and Sharmell celebrate. Khali comes into the scene and takes up Booker’s offer of a handshake. A video recap of last weeks Playboy unveiling plays. It’s out March 12th. We are then shown the debut of Little Boogeyman on last weeks show and a rematch from No Way Out is announced for next.
After the ad break we are reminded of being in San Diego (sold out show), and we ar shown a video of Rey forcing JBL to retire.
Finlay and Little Bastard vs Boogeyman and Little Boogeyman
This my friends, is the main event. During the introductions JBL is angry with Cole for cheering on Rey in his their match. He says he’s going to make a comeback bigger than the resurrection.
The match is underway when the show comes back from break with Boogeyman back dropping Finlay. Finlay bashes Boogeyman’s arm against the ring post. Finlay then grabs the bag of worms and Little Boogeyman comes in to try and stop him. The crowd boo lots as Finlay kicks the midget out of the ring and stamps on the worms. He then kicks some into the front row followed by chucking them at Michael Cole. This distraction allows Little Boogeyman to give Finlay a low blow. Little Bastard runs in taking his hat and jacket off. Little Boogeyman spits in Little Bastards face and takes him down with a clothesline. Finlay then kicks Little Boogeyman in the face, but Big Boogeyman kicks Finlay in the face. Boogeyman grabs Little Bastard but Finlay hits him in the back with the shillelagh. Boogeyman falls to his knees allowing Little Bastard to hit a huge DDT on him! This gets the three count. The crowd love Little Bastard.
Winner: Finlay and Little Bastard. This match was pure comedy and while some might like it, I thought it was quite entertaining. A lot better than the No Way Out match.
JBL doesn’t want to pay for catering for the Hall of Fame as the Dusty graphic is shown. The Mr. Perfect video then plays. Rey is up after the break and Maryse wearing not much speaks to us in French. Batista’s promo is recapped and we are told that Undertaker will speak next week.
The crowd go crazy for Rey Mysterio who is wearing a suit with his mask and walking with a cane. Rey says it’s great to be back in the ring and even better to be in the 619. He says his rehab is ahead of schedule and he’ll be back soon and better than ever. The party is ended abruptly by Mr. McMahon. He is followed by lots and lots (I count 20) of security guards who surround the ring. Vince takes the mic from Rey and says “I hope you didn’t think I was going to shake your hand”. The crowd chant unpleasant things at the chairman. Vince says he didn’t realise how big he was, but Rey is kind of cute. He moves on to WrestleMania and it’s too bad that Rey can’t make it. Vince assures us that Mr Trump will be humiliated, humbled and emasculated in the Battle of the Billionaires match. He says his representative is going to beat Trump’s and we’ll see a bald billionaire in Donald Trump. He says after he wins the match he’s going to personally strap Trump into the barber’s chair and make him squeal for the first time in his life. He says he might pull Trump’s hair out by its roots. Vince asks Rey’s opinion and the crowd chant more unpleasantries at Vince. He’s not sure if Rey can hear him “down there” so he asks him again this time on one knee. Rey calls Vince a loser. Vince doesn’t mind his opinion and he doesn’t care what these people think as it’s America and everyone is entitled to their opinion. He then introduces to Rey and the crowd – Umaga. Estrada stays in the entrance way as Umaga enters the ring leaving his Intercontinental title by the steps. Vince asks Rey if he’s going to change his opinion. He then gives Rey the mic, but grabs his cane. He hits Rey with the cane and chucks him to Umaga who hits a big Samoan Drop on him. The crowd of course go mad with boos. Vince then directs traffic making Umaga put Rey in the corner. Rey receives the big butt-whip. They tease leaving but Vince changes his mind with some more traffic direction with Rey being left lying face down in the middle of the ring. Umaga goes up top and hits a Frog splash on to Rey’s legs. The show ends with Umaga and Vince leaving and EMTs entering and setting Rey up on a stretcher.
Overall Thoughts: Another really good show from SmackDown and the WWE in general. There were only 4 matches on the show, and one of them had 2 midgets and Boogeyman, yet the show still satisfied in the wrestling department.
There are the two big angles I want to talk about briefly:
With No Way Out this week they had the big moment between Undertaker and Batista, so it’s good that they are taking things slowly from here giving each a change to speak separately. Batista isn’t the best on the mic, and while I agree that the fans should be left to choose who they want to face, it would have been nicer if he had upped the intensity a bit and made it a little more heelish (especially having just cost him the huge match).
The closing segment was good and both a well used opportunity and a missed opportunity. They have put over Umaga well as a monster heel, and it’s a better time than ever to further this with the big publicity match at Mania drawing near. While Rey has been squashed by a lot of big guys since getting to the top, it was worth it here having the home town crowd really hot on Umaga. The missed opportunity here was not revealing Trump’s rep. I know they are advertising the announcement for Raw, but this would have been the perfect time. They could have had Lashley run in to save Rey, ploughing through all 20 security members and having a big pull apart with Vince just escaping out of harms way. This would have gotten Lashley the big face heat they have so far failed to get from him despite shoving him down our throats when he’s not really ready.
