Pro Wrestling Ponderings

It’s time for another slab of Smackdown related action, this time eminating from Cleveland. Tonight we will witness the return of the Undertaker to the show and an intercontinental title match, with Rey Mysterio defending the title against John Morrison.

We start with a recap of last week’s cage match between CM Punk and Jeff Hardy, with Jeff Hardy’s subsequent exit from Smackdown following. Back in the arena Hardy’s music hits and the places goes nuts. The usual pyro goes off and, for a few seconds, in does indeed appear to be Jeff Hardy but on closer inspection it’s CM Punk, dressed to the hilt in Hardy gear, including face paint. CM Punk cuts a typical, yet still awesome, promo about him being straight edge and better than us. He mentions the Undertaker being an icon on Smackdown but that the audience should be looking up to the newest icon on Smackdown, Punk. Following a few more words (including an ‘anaconda’ reference, which I’m sure is planting a seed for when he whips out the Anaconda Vice in his submission match with Taker at Breaking Point), Matt Hardy comes out and engages in a brawl with Punk that has to be split up by a team of refs. A good segment, with Punk once again, delivering slices of fried gold on the mic.

Back from the break and Punk is protesting to Teddy Long backstage about Matt Hardy’s attack. Long says they can settle it in the ring in a non-title match later on in the program.

The Great Khali & Finlay vs. Mike Knox & Kane: Shortly before this match begins, JR hypes a singapore cane match between Khali and Kane at Breaking Point. Are you shitting me?! These two get a second PPV match in a row? Ridiculous. Knox and Finlay begin the match with Knox dominating (”his middle name is Lector” says JR. I’m not convinced). “Can you imagine the pre game talk between Kane and Mike Knox?” says Todd Grisham. “I bet there was a lot of diabolical laughter involved.” If that sentence was supposed to funny that Grisham is comedy gold. I get the feeling it wasn’t supposed to be though. Back to the match and The Big Red Machine is soon tagged in and misses a flying clothesline. Khali is tagged into the match and Kane quickly tags out. Knox gets caught in Khali’s vice grip but Kane drags his him out of the ring as we go to the adverts.

When we return Khali is dropping Kane with a clothesline and soon does the same to Knox. Finlay is tagged into the match and eventually is shoved off the top rope by Kane. Knox and Kane beat Finlay down, working the arm. Knox misses a tag in the corner and Kane goes after Runjin Singh (I’m sure I’m spelling that name differently every week), drawing the attention of both Khali and the ref. The distraction allows Finlay to nail Knox with his shillelagh and get the pinfall for his team.

Here in the UK, it was time for another “From The Vault” match, this time from a September 2007 episode of Smackdown that saw Batista go up against… The Great Khali?! Ooooh, go fuck yourself, WWE program director. This was when Khali was world champ too. Those were some dark days.

After the break, Eve and Maria are in the locker room discussing their tag-match later tonight. Michelle McCool enters talks some unconvincing trash at Maria concerning her relationship with Dolph Ziggler. Melina then joins in and gets on the tits of both McCool and Maria. This sucked.

Next up is the Intercontinental Championship match. Hooray!

Rey Mysterio (c) vs. John Morrison: The two men trade quick roll-up attempts to start things off, with Morrison winning the test of strength spot. More pinning predicaments follow, with neither man getting the advantage.

We return after the adverts and Mysterio and Morrison are engaged in some back and forth action which eventually spills out over the top rope with, Mysterio head-scissoring Morrison over, and taking a fairly hard knock to the back on the ring apron. attempt. Both men crawl back into the ring a second before getting counted out. Rey misses an attack in the corner and his shoulder hits the post. Morrison starts to work the arm but Rey reverses an attack into an awesome and well executed around the world head-scissors. A battle in the corner leaves Morrison open and Rey hits a swift kick to the face and a springboard moonsault off the ropes. Mysterio tries a few holds on Morrison but the “Friday Night Delight” performs a fantastic counter to Rey’s standing surfboard by flipping out of it and kicking him upside the chin. This spot was all sorts of awesome!

Morrison is in control and hits a standing shooting star press for a close two count. Morrison chucks Rey out of the ring under the bottom rope but helps him back into the ring without any outside action. Morrison hits his break dancing leg drop for a close two and following an exchange in the corner, Morrison ends up being set up for the 619 but he is up quickly to avoid it. Both men run the ropes and collide with flying crossbody attempts. We head to another break.

As we return Morrison hits a back suplex. Mysterio reverses a whip to the ropes and sends John to the outside. He follows up with a head-scissors and slides John back in. Rey hits a springboard legdrop and gets a 2 count. Morrison counters Rey’s bulldog attempt into a facebuster for a two count and quickly follows that up with a running knee on him for another close two.

Aftert some more back and forth action, Mysterio climbs the top rope and launches himself at Morrison but John catches him in mid-air with a drop kick to the gut. Rey is set up for Starship Pain in the corner by Morrison but he manages to move out of the way and gets placed for the 619. It connects but Morrison is out of the way before Rey can follow up with a springboard legdrop. John hits his springboard kick off the ropes and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker but gets caught by Rey as he goes up for Starship Pain. Rey tries to hit a reverse frankensteiner from the top, but John holds on to the top rope, sending Rey crashing to the mat. He finally connects Starship Pain and gets the pinfall to become the new Intercontinental champion. Rey congratulates his opponent before exiting and John celebrates. As loathe as I am to talk about things such as workrate and to give matches star ratings, I’d be a fool not to recognise how good a match this was. Easily **** in my opinion and it will almost certainly be Smackdown’s TV match of the year, barring anyone eslse pulling something awesome out of the bag in the coming months. Great stuff.

R-Truth comes out to face an unnamed opponent but is once again attacked by Drew McIntyre. Apparently McIntyre’s going to keep doing this until he’s recognised as the superstar he is. Go ahead, my Scottish comrade!

Maria & Eve vs. Natalya & Layla: I could barely control my apathy as this match began. It doesn’t turn out to be that bad though, with Natalya in particular looking great in the ring. Towards the end of the match Maria and Natalya scuffle on the outside of the ring and Eve hits her handspring splash finisher on Layla for the pinfall.

CM Punk vs Matt Hardy: Punk starts the match by using the ref as a shield to avoid Matt. Matt eventually gets his hands on the champ and takes control. Hardy misses a charge into a corner and Punk tries to go up top, but Hardy is able to connect with a superplex and that gets him a two count. Punk manages to take control of the match as he drops him over the top rope with a forward vertical suplex and then sends him off the apron and into the barrier. Matt is down outside the ring we go to the adverts.

We return and Punk is in control with Hardy locked in an abdominal stretch. Punk continues to work over Hardy focusing on the midsection, due to Matt’s recent abdominal surgery. Punk misses a shoulder block in the corner and Matt hits a bulldog for 2 count. Hardy follows with a legdrop from the top rope that gets him another long two count. Punk reverses out of a Twist of Fate attempt, but Matt continues the reversal into a roll-up but then walks right into a kick to the head. Punk goes up top for a flying clothesline, but Matt catches him and hits the Side Effect. The fight goes to the outside and Hardy misses a dive off the apron allowing Punk to go to work on him with a steel chair. I’m guessing Punk was disqualified but there was no bell or announcement. He wraps the chair around Hardy’s neck in the same way he did to Jeff. The lights go out and when they come back on the Undertaker is there. He grabs Punk by the throat and chokeslams him through the announce table as the show goes off the air.

Another great episode of Smackdown, almost purely because of the Morrison-Mysterio match which was better than most of the stuff that’s been on pay per view recently (apart from the Hardy - Punk TLC match at Summerslam). The upcoming feud between Taker and CM Punk should also be great, ensuring Smackdown maintains it’s status as WWE’s ‘A’ show, despite what the ratings may say.

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-Video package showing D-Generation X mocking the montage of matches. This is how you open the second biggest Pay-Per-View of the year? Comedy. No buys. Three world title matches and these goofs are in the video package.

-Your hosts are six former Ring of Honor wrestlers that got raided by WWE.

-Intercontinental Championship: Rey Mysterio (champion) vs. Dolph Ziggler

Ziggler starts out hot and heavy before Mysterio kicks and punches his back. Ziggler immediately starts going for covers. Considering he’s going for the belt, that actually makes sense. Nice moonsault by Mysterio. Hurancanrana from the apron to the floor. I’m now wondering where the hell Maria is. Didn’t they make a big deal of her presence? Bucklebomb by Ziggler, thus eliminating that from Tyler Black’s repertoire when he signs with WWE. Ziggler chinlock followed by a side suplex. Mysterio with a drop toehold only gives him the advantage momentarily. Right back to the chinlock, little modified this time. I’m sorry, but did I just turn on a Randy Orton match? Ziggler misses a Stinger Splash and Mysterio hits a seated senton. Sunset flip is reversed into a big kick by Rey Rey. Ziggler gets a good shot on the abomen and almost wins with a roll-up. Rey Rey just won’t die. Story of this match is similar to “Night of Champions,” but it’s slightly better. Kick to the temple by Rey Rey but Ziggler dodges the 619. 619? There goes the 61knee of Brent Albright when he signs with WWE. Right leg drop gets two for Ziggler. Mysterio almost wins on a roll-up of his own. Ziggler’s bodyslam attempt turns into a DDT for a two count. Dropkick into the 619 position. He hits it… but misses the Springboard. Ziggler gets 2.999999998. Stupid Los Angeles crowd chants for Ziggler. God, I hate Los Angeles. Ziggler kicks Rey Rey and goes to the second rope. Hurancanrana from the position ends Dolph’s night, Great opener.

Winner/Time/Rating: STILL Intercontinental Champion- Rey Mysterio/13:26/***1/2

-Ziggler is just getting better and better. You could see so much improvement, even in the last month. Ziggler will hopefully go over and be the champion by the end of the year, but I think it’s a positive to have Rey Rey hold the belt for a bit to establish a longish title reign.

-Josh Mathews interviews both MVP and Jack Swagger. This was somewhat unique. It’s a culture clash, and this was the interview that should have been done on Monday instead of having a lame 30 second match. Interviews six days before a Pay-Per-View work better then crappy matches. MVP’s delivery is probably the strongest it’s ever been for a babyface.

-Jack Swagger vs. MVP

Crowd is deadly silent to start. God, I hate Los Angeles. Side suplex by MVP but Swagger departs. MVP dives to the outside. Swagger throws MVP off the second rope and begins working over the back of MVP. MVP hits an elbow, but this only leads to an abdominal stretch. This match really should have opened the show cause the crowd could not possibly care less about what’s happening in the ring. Clothesline by Swagger gets a two. Camel Clutch. Trying make MVP humble there Swagger? MVP lifts him and slams him right on his back. Swagger misses rights, but MVP hits. Kneedrop. Time to go ballin’. Hooks the leg but doesn’t get two.Playmaker attempt is reversed into a roll-up. Tights held by Swagger but no diceSecond rope Vader bomb gets knees. Big boot by MVP. Playmaker. 1-2-3. If they wanted this feud to go on, this is an awful terrible way to start it. Even so, this match didn’t get near enough time to develop and the dead crowd certainly doesn’t help. Plus, Swagger is the better wrestler, and WWE desperately need new heels on RAW. They need faces too, but they desperately need new people on top as heels. Smackdown has done an excellent job with Punk, but RAW? Bad.

Winner/Time/Rating: MVP/6:24/*1/2

-A look back at the various guest hosts. Sure, let’s watch the various failures again.

-Nancy O’Dell is on camera now. I really really really want to make jokes, but she’s there for a good cause. Her mom unfortunately passed from ALS, and she’s helping to raise money along with WWE. The Los Angeles crowd boos this. Appalling. I hate Los Angeles. She interviews Freddie Prinze Jr. I’m surprised WWE didn’t ask him to remove the Jr.

-Chris Jericho and Big Show come out for their unified tag team title match. We even get a promo from Jericho. He calls all the celebrities hypocrites and parasites. Guess he forgot his thesaurus. He talks about how famous he and Show are. Someone needs to figure out this 40 title thing. Jericho calls himself the best in the world, thus eliminating Bryan Danielson from using that catchphrase when gets signed by WWE… What? He signed? Oh. Big Show is about to talk, but the spiteful sound guy plays Cryme Time’s music.

-Unifed Tag Team Championship Match: Chris Jericho and Big Show (champions) vs. Cryme Tyme (Shad and JTG)

Loud “Y2J” chants showing how over Cryme Tyme truly are. JTG and Jericho start and continue the goodness that started with their Smackdown match a few weeks ago.Walls of Jericho attempt but he turned into a slingshot. JTG then hits a sitdown senton for two. Grisham saying “flava” was a fail. Punch to the face and Show gets tagged in. He just stands on the leg of JTG. Man, did this match get boring in a hurry. Crowd died considerably too. Shad finally gets tagged in, and it’s at least a little bit more even. Shad lifts Jericho in the air and drops him. Show spears him in response. Now Shad is thug-in-peril. Jericho back in and he toys around with Shad. Big boot by Shad but as he’s about to tag, Jericho and Show cut the ring in half. Full nelson now. The hell year is this? 1987. Where’s Hercules? Jericho misses an elbow but prevents a tag with a double axehandle. Chinlock by Jericho. Both rise and Jericho is powerslammed. JTG is finally tagged in. Pace picks back up and a mugshot is hit. Modified facebuster. Big Show interrupts a cover but Shad clotheslines him. Roll-up on Jericho gets two. Jericho comes back and applies Walls of Jericho.JTG gets the ropes but Show punches him in the face. Jericho hooks the leg for three and they retain.

This match was decent when JTG and Jericho were in the ring together. Otherwise, this was nothing special. Show absolutely dragged this match down, and it’s time for this experiment to end. Jericho was having match of the year candidates with Rey Rey two months ago and now he’s wrestling Cryme Tyme at the second biggest Pay-Per-View of the year? No buys. Even seeing him both brands isn’t worth it, cause Big Slow is sure to follow.

Winner/Time/Rating: STILL Unified Tag Team Champions- Chris Jericho and The Big Show/9:45/**1/4

-Breaking Point promo. Well, the idea of the main events ending in submissions should be good for a laugh if nothing else.

-C.M. Punk interview. Greatest words you can possibly hear these days. Punk shows a screenplay about Jeff Hardy. Very creative. He calls himself the only real person and makes fun of the Twilight guy and Kate Gosselin. Fucking awesome.

Kane vs. The Great Khali

Highlight of this match is a sign that says “YOU CAN’T WRESTLE.” Kane wins with the DDT after five hours. That’s all this bullshit gets.

Winner/Time/Rating: Kane/5:57/-*

-They show a bunch of celebrities, including Robert Patrick. I kinda wish this show could get terminated at this point. Okay, that’s not fair since the show hasn’t been that bad. I really just wanted to make the joke.

-Long video package building up The Legacy/D-X match. So glad I fast-forwarded.

-D-X gets a ridiculously over-the-top entrance. I mean, even The Undertaker was telling them to cool it. Also, if you gave me that entrance, I’d get over too.I actually timed their entrance since it was so ridiculous. From the time the music started until the end of their promo, SEVEN MINUTES AND THIRTY-FIVE SECONDS. This does not even include the ridiculously long video package that went about five minutes too. Keep that in mind for later. Dibiase and Rhodes just walk out to the ring, thus looking like total jobbers.

-D-Generation X (Shawn Michaels and Triple H) vs. Legacy (Ted Dibiase and Cody Rhodes)

I’m dreading this match for a lot of reasons. See the Spirit Squad as Exhibit A. Hunter and Dibiase start things off. Exchange of right hands. Hunter hits a trademark knee, but not before using a crotch chop. Rhodes is tagged in and gets a high knee. Dibiase slaps Shawn. Well, that wasn’t very Christian of him. HBK tags in. He locks in with Rhodes, and Rhodes ends up slapping Michaels. This is off to a fairly good start. Michaels gets a Thesz Press and just punches him. Then a slap. Superkick set-up but Rhodes runs. Hunter send him back. Rhodes leaves. Legacy hangs out on the outside. Michaels goes to work with chops in Dibiase. Dibiase sends him flailing in the corner, then a lariat, thus eliminating Nigel McGuinness from using that move when he signs with WWE. Michaels is now a degenerate in peril. Crowd is chanting… “Suck it?” Neckbreaker by Michaels and a tag to Triple H. Right hands. Hunter gets slingshotted by Dibiase. No sold. Spinebuster on both members of Legacy. Pedigree stopped by Rhodes. All four men in briefly before Rhodes sent out. Hunter backdrops his partner over the top. Dibiase gets a ballshot. Hunter is now degenerate in peril. Rhodes and Dibiase go to work and actually offense in. Frequent tags made. Dibiase shows he’s learning from Orton since he uses the chinlock. Crowd gets back into it. Belly to back suplex by Hunter, but Dibiase gets a tag to Rhodes. Rhodes , who has looked the best he ever has in the ring, continues working on Hunter’s legs. Hunter counters out of it. Dibiase makes sure a tag is not made. Hunter and Dibiase get into a fist battle. After being thrown over the top rope, we’ve got duel tags. Michaels takes Rhodes out like he owns him. Michaels does the kip up, but Dibiase clotheslines him from behind. Hunter goes after Dibiase on the outside of the ring as Rhodes climbs up to the top rope. He tries to steal a flying elbow. Emphasis on try. Michaels goes up, but Rhodes knocks him off the top rope. Both men on the top rope. Michaels knocks him down. Elbow by Michaels is countered by the knees. Rhodes wants a tag but Dibiase is nowhere to ne found. Figure four by Michaels. There’s Dibiase. He ends the figure four. Pedigree attempt. Rhodes stops it. Lawler can’t believe Legacy has all these counters. Considering every major match is readily available on DVD, it’s not that difficult to figure out. Rhodes hits a crossroads (neckbreaker), but Triple H stops it. Pedigree. Dream Streets. Clothesline by Hunter. Now he and Dibiase end up on the outside and brawl over the announce table. Rhodes and Michaels are being counted out inside the ring. There’s the superkick and a three count. They had me for a second there. I thought WWE was about to show some guts and put Legacy over. But of course D-X gets over. Gotta get those merch sales. It really was a good match, but anyone who thinks the right team went over should consider themselves the biggest marks ever. And I mean that in the worst way possible.

Winner/Time/Rating: Shawn Michaels and Triple H/19:59/***1/4

-ECW Championship Match: Christian (champion) vs. William Regal

Josh Mathews apparently borrowed a picnic table table cloth to use as a shirt. Before I can even make the timemark, Christian wins with the killswitch in five seconds. Then Ezekiel Jackson and Vladimir Kozlov immediately beat up Christian followed by Regal hooking in the STF. Fuck you WWE. This was some dumb bullshit. WWE gives 13 minutes to D-X in video packages and entrances, another 20 to a match where the winner is never in doubt, but they can’t give these guys even eight minutes.

Winner/Time/Rating: Christian/:05/N/R

Someone e-mail me the name of the people at the Peace Corps. Some palms need to be greased on behalf of one Bryan Danielson to insure he doesn’t get stuck in garbage like this. I’d rather not see him then see what happened to Regal and Christian happen to Danielson.

WWE Championship Match: Randy Orton (champion) vs. John Cena

Considering who’s involved, it doesn’t look like a four star match is happening. Crowd splits about 50/50 for each guy. Orton controls the early portion of this match but Cena quickly comes back with a flurry. Elbow by Orton. “RKO” chants. Orton works Cena over with his usual exciting i.e. boring offense. I’ve never been a fan of Orton. Ever. And after six years in WWE, I just don’t see it happening. Backbreaker (or Freddie Prinze Jr. killer) before the chinlock. Dueling chants. The hell is this, TNA? Is Russo going to start booking now?

Cena makes things a little more palpable with a modified suplex. He goes for the five knuckle shuffle and actually hits it. He prepares for the Attitude Adjustment, but Orton belly-to-belly suplexes him. He misses a knee drop. Cena dives after Orton but lands on the outside. Kick and the DDT as Cena tries to come back in. Two count. Orton prepares to strike. He pounds the mat a bunch of times because I guess that makes him a better worker. Punt attempt fails. Cena comes back with a legdrop from the second rope. Another two count. As he prepares for the AA once again, Orton holds the ropes and clotheslines him. Exchange of right hands while the crowd does the yay/boo thing. Least this match has heat. Back bodydrop. Orton just pushes the referee for a disqualification. Lillian Garcia fucks up the announcement and calls him the new champion. She says Vince wants the match re-started and if Orton is disqualified again, he loses the belt.

Orton back inside the ring and he gets side suplexed. Cena throws him into the corner and to the outside. Orton rams Cena into the stairs and puts him back in the ring. He insists on covering Cena, and Cena insists on not staying down. Orton goes outside and gets the belt. Count-out. Of course, the match gets started once again by Vince McMahon. If Orton gets counted out again, he will lose the championship.

Cena and Orton try to go for various finishers. Orton then gets a roll-up with his feet on the ropes for a three count. Another referee sprints into the ring. Guess what? Match starts again. Vince Russo really is booking. Why do I make these jokes?

Cena hooks an STF. Orton hangs on. Cena re-positions himself when a “fan” runs in. It’s Brett Dibiase but the announcers don’t acknowledge it so I guess it will come off as real. This is the dumbest match ever. Orton hits an RKO on the ropes, then an RKO in the ring, Finally, it’s over.

I don’t even know what to say. This was one of the dumbest, most poorly booked matches ever. After the disqualification and count-out, this was at least somewhat acceptable. Then they have the whole foot on the ropes pinned and then a “fan” running in. Forget the fact that having a plant run just encourages others to do the same. Unless there’s going to be a payoff, then this was useless. Dumb dumb dumb. Even worse than the match starting over three times was the fact that John Cena looked like the biggest idiot and geek ever.

Endings like these are why people would rather pay 50 bucks for a UFC show rather than 40 bucks for a WWE show.

Winner/Time/Rating: Randy Orton/19:59/DUD

TLC World Heavyweight Championship Match: Jeff Hardy (champion) vs. C.M. Punk

Punk not only needs to win the match, but he’s got to also save the show. Good luck Punker. Pretty basic lock-up. Punk aggressively hits knees, rights, and kicks. Punk introduces a chair and hits him in the stomach. Shot to the back. Punk goes on the inside with the ladder. Hardy stops him, goes for the twist of fate, gets countered, and ends up beating him down in the corner. Punk sent outside now as Hardy sets the ladder up. He heads upstairs, but Punk kicks the ladder out from underneath him. Go 2 Sleep attempt leads to Punk being rammed into the ladder. Hardy charges Punk in the corner, but he gets dropped on to a steel chair. Punk grabs the ladder now and hits Hardy with it. More usage of the ladder. Punk kicks him and deposits him outside. Dive between the top two ropes. Table set up on the outside. Punk has the chair. He puts his neck, but Hardy wants no part of that. Instead we get Punk missing a chairshot and hitting the post. Punk about to get rammed into the stairs, but he climbs them up. Hardy has a chair ready. Hardy moves furniture and throws another chair. Punk is set up on a table as Hardy splashes… and misses badly. Ow. Bet he’s glad he’s taking time off after that bump. Punk carries another ladder into the ring.

Punk climbs up the ladder, but Hardy follows and almost gains possession of the belt. Punk with a Go 2 Sleep attempt on the ladder doesn’t work as Hardy reverses it into a powerbomb. Hardy climbs the ladder gingerly, but Punk pushes him off. Another nasty bump as Punk hits the turnbuckles legs first. Suplex attempt from the top. Another ouch as Hardy is rammed on to the ladder. Punk doesn’t look much better either. Hardy hits a twist of fate, but he hits the knees of Punk. These guys are having a match that no one else has even touched all night. Bulldog… WOW. Hardy tosses Punk on the bulldog attempt right through a table. Oh my. Both guys look the worse for wear. Hardy sets up the gigantic ladder while Punk slowly climbs up the ropes. Springboard clothesline by Punk. Hardy thrown outside again as Punk takes a steel chair. Like a noose around the neck, Hardy almost gets rammed into the stairs. Hardy stops this and hits Punk with a chair of his own three times. Another table set up . Now Hardy is clearing the ring announce table and gives Punk a good monitor shot. Chairshot to the head. Hardy grabs another huge ladder to set up for a dive through the announce table. He takes off his shirt for a cheap pop. Referees hold the ladder at least. Yeah, it’s kind of stupid, but considering what might happen if Hardy falls off the ladder, I’ll take my chances. Hardy jumps and does indeed put Punk through the table. Incredible. Medical folks come out to check on both guys. They try to put Hardy on a stretcher, but he refuses. Punk can’t even climb the ladder. He sees Hardy and limps up the ladder. Both men at the top of the ladder now. Each men gets their hands on the belt. Punk gets one good right hand and it’s over. CM PUNK WINS THE MAIN EVENT OF SUMMERSLAM!!!!! WOOOOOO!!!!! Pardon me while I get a Pepsi to celebrate.

Winner/Time/Rating: C.M. Punk/21:35/****1/4

-We’re not done yet. Punk celebrates over Hardy until… the lights go out. The Undertaker is ready to make his return. Punk doesn’t seem scared. UNTIL UNDERTAKER COMES FROM UNDER THE RING. CHOKESLAM. Sending the crowd happy is all well and good, but you could have just had the bong and brought back ‘Taker on television so Punk could celebrate.

Final Thoughts: Congratulations to Punk and Hardy for saving Summerslam. This was a thumbs down show until the main event. Thanks to their effort, I give this show a thumbs in the middle. I’d recommend going out of your to see that match and the opener. The RAW portion of this show hurt the show a lot, but that should come as no surprise. Orton and Cena may not have technically been a DUD, but the booking did a lot of the work. Just a horrible way to end a world title match for the Wrestlemania of the summer. Christian and Regal could have had a nice three star match if they had ten minutes, but Kane and Khali has to settle their precious feud. In fact, Kofi and Miz could have been on this show as a way of pushing new talent. But that would require the creative team to be… creative.

Thumbs in the middle for Summerslam, but I just don’t know about WWE sometimes.

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JR welcomes us to Edmonton for this week’s edition of Smackdown and hypes the main event of John Morrison vs. CM Punk for later on in the show. Sweet.

We then get a recap of last week’s events when Hardy faced Punk with Matt Hardy as the guest enforcer. We get reminded of Matt Hardy’s spray tanning error too. Too much tan doesn’t look good in HD that’s for sure.

The show proper being with CM Punk walking to the ring. He grabs the mic and claims that he is better at TLC matches than Jeff Hardy, putting over his two wins in the Money in the Bank ladder match and the incident last week when he rammed Hardy into the ring post with a chair around his next. He calls the audience “slaves” and gets all righteously straight edge again before saying that he’s going to “end Jeff Hardy”. Good stuff from Punk on the mic once again here.

GM Teddy Long comes down to the ring and announces that Jeff Hardy is in the building and that Hardy will be able to compete against Punk at Summerslam, despite injuries sustained last week. Hardy’s music hits and he walks to the ring, selling his injuries. He grabs the mic and cuts a 15 second promo that basically repeats what Long had announced before he came out. Hardy still sucks on the mic. I thought he was getting better but I’m still cringing before he’s even opened his mouth.

We get a recap of Kane abducting Runjan Singh last week. JR tell us that Kane has Singh with him in the building tonight and is holding him captive in the bowels of the biulding. For some reason, I start to fear we’re going to see a similar episode to the Heidenreich incident from a few years ago. Michael Cole’s lucky he got moved to RAW.

Teddy Long takes a call from Vinnie Mac in his office next. McMahon makes the match of Jeff Hardy vs. The Hart Dynasty in a handicap match. He also apparently tells Long that he’s still on probation several times. Jeez, give a guy a break Vin-man!

Finlay vs. Dolph Ziggler - The match begins with Finlay as the agressor wh0 takes it to Ziggler with some hard strikes. He catches Ziggler between the ring skirt and apron following Ziggler’s attempted baseball slide and pounds on Dolph’s back. Ziggler manages to catch Finlay with a brutal looking kick on the apron. Mike Knox comes down to ringside and observes before cheap shotting Finlay in the knee with the Irishman’s own shillelagh. Ziggler hits his finisher for the three count. After the bell, Knox beats down on Finlay, administering a back breaker on the steel ring steps. He then cuts a short promo telling Finlay about the correct bone to punish to cause a lot of pain. Wow. Knox seems to know a lot about anatomy. Damn you, educated heels!

We next see Kane’s lair on the arena. Runjan Singh is tied to a chair and Kane is evidently filming him. This looks like it might be worse than the Heidenreich episode. Singh tell the camera that he is being punished for his association with the Great Khali and that he is being treated fairly. This is weird. It’s not creepy, but it’s slightly unsettling.

A promo video for R-Truth is played next. Awesome. I hope this means the Pretty Ricky experiment has been deep sixed.

Maria and Melina are backstage talkng about Ziggler and Summerslam before Layla enters and tells Melina that Michelle McCool is back next next week. Thrilling stuff.

John Morrison vs. CM Punk - Main event time. The match starts off with some back and forth action before Punk takes control by hitting Morrison with double knees from the top rope to the outside. He then follows this up with a figure four around Morrison’s neck. Morrison get some offence in and makes a couple of attempts to hit Starship Pain but Punk counters each one. After Morrison makes some counters of his own out of Punk’s GTS, the straight edge superstar finally hits it for the three. Another strong match featuring Morrison and Punk. You can pretty much count on a good match every time these two are involved and this was no different.

Melina vs. Layla - Layla’s entraince is interrupted by more footage from Kane’s home video collection. Runjan Singh gets pushed over in his chair with Kane asking him whay Khali  is such a “freak”. Steady on Kane. Scarily huge, big chinned men have feelings too. Singh eventually announces the revelation that the Great Khali is in fact his brother. Shit just got soap opera.

Back to the match and it’s typical WWE womens wrestling fare. Not necessarily a bad thing however, as I’ve noticed a marked improvement in a lot of the female wrestlers in the company. So it’s a decent match, with Melina grabbing the victory after hitting the Primal Scream. The bendiness of Melina continues to impress me.

Big Show w/ Chris Jericho vs. JTG w /Shad - Cryme Tyme cut a promo on the Unifed Tag Champs before the match, hyping the Summerslam match between the two teams. .Jericho joins JR and Grisham on commentary for this match, which is basically an elongated squash. I think JTG gets two punches in the whole match. Show chokeslams him and submits him. Some of Jericho’s commentary is funny stuff however. When justifying his loss to JTG last week Jericho says “Hey, I had a sore throat last week. Do you have any idea the toll that can take on a man?!”

We next head back to WWE’s Funniest Home Videos and Kane attacking Khali when the Punjabi playboy came to Kane’s lair to save Runjan Singh. I can’t wait for Summerslam purely because after that event, this fued will hopefully be over.

Jeff Hardy vs. The Hart Dynasty - Hardy starts off the handicap match facing Tyson Kidd while DH Smith waits in the corner. After some early offence, Hardy starts to sell his injuries, seemingly unable to fight due to his pain. As a result DH Smith and Kidd dominate the match, eventually getting the win a modified version of the Hart Foundation’s old finisher, with the clothesline being administered in a spring board fashion from the top rope. After the bell CM Punk walks to the ring and starts beating on Hardy. John Morrison runs in to make the save but ends up getting clobbered with a chair by Punk. Punk puts Jeff Hardy’s neck in a chair and looks to ram him into the ringpost just like last week but he is cut off by Matt Hardy. Morrison and the older Hardy eventually clear the ring. Matt and Jeff stare at each other before Matt helps Jeff to his feet. So, Matt’s a good guy again then? There’d better be sensible reason for this.

We cut to Teddy Long watching the monitor in his office. Vince McMahon enters and asks Long what he has in mind for next week’s main event. Long responds by booking The Hart Dynasty and CM Punk vs. Jeff & Matt Hardy and John Morrison. Vinve looks like he approves and, one more time, reminds Long that he’s still on probation. The two teams for the main event next week stare each other down as the show goes off the air.

A pretty good show all round, although not quite up to the standards of recent weeks. The best thing about tonight’s show was the fact that there was no “Word Up” segment from Cryme Tyme. Not even a hint of it! Hooray! For that, WWE should be congratulated. The face turn of Matt Hardy continues to bother me though but I’m an optimistic chap so hopefully the reasons for Matt’s sudden change of heart will be sensible and believable. Or maybe I’m just being ridiculously naive.

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Smackdown this week begins with a video recapping last week’s fantastic heavyweight championship match between Jeff Hardy and John Morrison. Tonight we will have Jeff Hardy defending his belt again, this time against CM Punk.

The proper begins with CM Punk walking down the ramp to the ring. Apparently the world heavyweight championship match is opening the show. I sense tomfoolery afoot. Punk cuts an awesome promo chastising drinkers, smokers, stoners and other drug users. We also get to see the footage again of CM Punk laying that intense beating on Jeff Hardy at the end of last week’s show. This was good stuff.

CM Punk vs. Jeff Hardy (c)

Jeff Hardy makes his way to the ring and goes right after Punk before the bell rings. Punk and Hardy brawl on the canvas for a while before Teddy Long and a group of agents and officials come down to restore order. Vince McMahon comes out and blames Teddy Long for the situation getting out of hand, reminding Teddy that he is on probation. Vinnie Mac goes on to say that the title match will take place later in the night and that he will appoint a special enforcer to keep things under control. He doesn’t mention whom it will be, saying he’s going to make us all wait to find out.

John Morrison vs. Tyson Kidd

Back from commercial and we have a rematch from Superstars between Morrison and Kidd, which was a pretty good match. The two men lock up and exchange holds before Morrison takes control hitting some of his awesome offence. Morrison is eventually dumped outside where Natalya and DH Smith get their shots in on the “Friday Night Delight” as Kidd has the referee distracted. After a competitive few minutes with both men hitting their respective moves, Morrison hits a springboard kick and then Starship Pain (hitting Kidd squarely in the face it would seem) for the win. Another good match from both these guys.

Hey, it’s my favourite time of the week; when I go and make a sandwich and a cup of tea while Cryme Tyme’s “Word Up” is on. From the kitchen, I hear that this week’s word is “Pretenda” and that Jesse has a match tonight. Oh. Great.

Slam Master J vs. Charlie Haas

So, Jesse is now Slam Master J. A stroke of creative brilliance there, I’m sure you’ll agree. I never want to hear Todd Grisham say “He is the Mac Daddy, and the Daddy Mac” again, but I know I’ll hear it from now on, whenever Jesse is present on Smackdown. I find myself enjoying Haas during this match. He seems a little bit more intense and his cobra clutch into a back breaker was pretty sweet. It’s a shame he has to put over this gimp. Slam Master J hits a splash from the top rope for the pinfall victory. Underwhelming to say the least.

Dolph Ziggler vs. R-Truth vs. Finlay vs. Mike Knox

Rey Mysterio is heading down to the ring as we return from commercial. He’ll be joining JR and Grisham for commentary on this match, which is for an Intercontinental title match at Summerslam. This was a decent match for it was but I think everyone knew who was going to win and, sure enough, Ziggler hits his finisher on Finlay to get the pin and the title shot.

We next see a brief backstage segment with Maria explaining to Melina why she is dating Dolph Ziggler, She says a whole load of stuff about him being “different on the inside” and other such bollocks.

Chris Jericho vs. JTG

Chris Jericho comes to the ring with the Big Show in tow. WWE has mashed Jericho’s and Show’s music together and it sounds freakin’ terrible. Shad is also out with JTG. Jericho and Show land some cheap shots and Jericho works the ribs for a while. JTG eventually comes back until Jericho hits the surprise Codebreaker. JTG is in the ropes so the ref won’t count the pin. As Jericho protests to the ref, he gets rolled and JTG gets the win. Well, who would’ve thunk it?

The Great Khali vs. Ricky Ortiz

Khali beats Ortiz in about 30 seconds after two moves. The phrase “short and pointless” never rang so true. After the match Kane appears out from under the ring, shoves Khali out of the ring and then drags Runjun Singh out of the arena. What a dark, terrifying twist this mammoth feud between Khali and Kane has taken. And, yes. That’s sarcasm.

World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Hardy vs. CM Punk

So it’s time for the main event and time to find out who the special guest enforcer is. Hey, it’s Matt Hardy! With a bizarrely tanned face. Or did the make up department out a whole load of bronzer on him? It looks strange, either way. Jeff enters the ring and tries to talk to Matt before the match but Matt does even look him in the eye. We get the big match introductions Hardy sets out to take control early as he clotheslines Punk outside of the ring. Punk counters and chucks Jeff off the apron to the floor, with Hardy landing in a twisted heap. Some work on the ribs by Punk and some covers follow, with Punk only getting two counts. Jeff counters out of the corner with the Whisper in the Wind and a drop kick. Following a two count, Punk takes control of the match with a superplex. Punk hits Matt accidently with a baseball slide aimed for Jeff on the outside. Matt doesn’t look too chuffed about that. Jeff eventually goes for the Swanton but Punk gets his knees up and goes for the cover. Matt pulls the ref out of the ring before he can even start counting and he enters the ring to face off with punk, complaining about the baseball slide that went astray. Jeff suddenly rolls Punk up and Matt is quick to count the 3, giving Jeff the win. Following the count, Matt leaves the ring and heads up the ramp, showing very little emotion.

Since he can’t get to Matt, Punk returns to the ringside area to give Jeff another beatdown. He rams Hardy’s head off the announce table multiple times before driving his neck with a steel chair around it into the ring post. This looked awesome. Punk starts to leave but Teddy Long comes out to tell Punk he will have a championship rematch at Summerslam but only if Jeff is able to perform. If it does go ahead, it will be a TLC match. We see Jeff being tended to by medical staff as the show goes of the air.

Not an amazing edition of Smackdown it has to be said but the Morrison-Kidd match was solid and Punk-Hardy was consistent too. The idea of a TLC match between the two men gets me very excited indeed. Matt Hardy’s return was welcome, but confusing. Is he going to turn face again? I certainly hope not. But, if so, what was the point of all that guff leading into Wrestlemania this year? I guess we’ll find out soon.

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Jim Ross welcomes us to Smackdown, taped in Miami this week. He hypes tonight’s main event, which will see Jeff Hardy teaming with Rey Mysterio to take on the duo of Chris Jericho and Dolph Ziggler. We will also be hearing from Edge tonight following his Achilles tendon surgery.

-Jeff Hardy makes his way to the ring and addresses CM Punk’s comments from last week, saying that everyone makes mistakes and he is no different. CM Punk comes to the ring and challenges Hardy’s words, once again bringing up his Wellness Policy violations and stating that the fact Jeff Hardy is a role model for children worries him. Eventually Jeff shoves Punk down and Punk exits the ring, saying that as he has a match next, he’s going to take the higher ground. This was an excellent segment for Punk, with his promo coming across particularly well. Jeff’s delivery on the other hand seemed a touch forced and…well, cheesy. Slightly disappointing, but Punk more than made up for Hardy’s shortcomings on the mic.

-CM Punk vs. John Morrison (non-title match)
This was a great match, featuring some great striking and athleticism from both men. Punk worked on Morrison’s back for much of the match, after Morrison was dragged out onto the floor, taking a rough blow to the back. Punk delivers a backdrop and locks on the body scissors on a couple of occasions. He also delivers an awesome double underhook backbreaker to the “Friday Night Delight”. At the end of the match, Punk attempts to hook Morrison in the magistral only to have his shoulders pinned to the mat and Morrison getting the clean victory over the heavyweight champion for the second time. A tremendous showing from both men and Morrison’s work continues to justify his gradual elevation to the main event.

-Next Layla comes to the ring in a Miami Heat outfit. JR tells us that she was previously a cheerleader for the team in her pre-WWE days. I think I see where this segment is going. And I’m not sure I like it. Yep, she’s going to dance for everyone. I went to make a cup of tea while this nonsense was going on and returned to see Ricky Ortiz entering the ring, dissing the Miami Heat and telling Layla that the people need some inspiration and to Rally Up. He gives Layla one of his towels and she’s feigns enthusiasm for a few seconds before dropping it and leaving back up the aisle. Memorable stuff I’m sure you’ll agree…

-And the hits just keep on coming, with Cryme Tyme’s “Word Up” segment next. My apathy with this tag team is slowly morphing into straight up contempt. They announce this week’s word is “Championized”, to “engross oneself at a champion level”. I actually quite like this word and feel myself softening for Cryme Tyme a little. That quickly disappears however, when the duo (and Eve Torres) are joined by NFC Champion, Antrel Rolle and Jesse makes his traditional weekly cameo.  Not as painful as usual, granted, but still no fun.

-Kane vs. R-Truth
Hey, R-Truth’s taken his buck teeth out following last week’s Pretty Ricky experiment and he back to normal. This match is what you’d expect, with Truth taking a beating for most of it while getting in occasional offence. Truth was hit by a nasty looking big boot from Kane as he came off the top rope and Kane picked up the win. Following the win, Khali and Ranjin Singh made their way to the ring. The distraction results in R-Truth hitting Kane with a missile dropkick. Kane then leaves through the crowd again rather than face off with the Punjabi Playboy.  This feud appears to revolving around Kane running away from Khali every week. I have absolutely no interest in what the pay off to this is going to be. However, I do know it will be, as J.R might say, “bowling shoe ugly”.

-Well, would you believe it, R-Truth’s put his buckteeth back in and gone to the beach in another “Delicious” Pretty Ricky vignette. This whole thing is bizarre to a degree that sort of makes me interested in it. Don’t get me wrong, the whole Pretty Ricky thing appears to be horrible but I just want to know what the reasons for this alter ego for R-Truth are.

-Hart Dynasty vs. Cryme Team and Eve Torres
A fairly solid effort from both teams in this one, nothing spectacular. I can’t help but notice Eve Torres’ improvement over the past few weeks though and the cartwheel standing moonsault she hit on Natalya really took me by surprise. The Hart Dynasty picked up the win when Natalya hit Eve with a spinning clothesline for the three count.

-Following a short backstage segment with Maria kissing Dolph Ziggler’s bicep and telling him to be careful, it’s time for the post-surgery interview with Edge. Edge cuts a seemingly heartfelt promo and stresses that he will do everything in his power to heal and be back to compete. The live fans are behind Edge. Chris Jericho’s music hits and he makes his way to the ring, where he calls Edge “pathetic” and “frail”, chastising Edge for pandering to the masses. Edge tells Jericho that when he returns, he will prove Jericho, and everyone else, wrong. Good mic work on this one from both Edge and Jericho, as we have come to expect.

-Jeff Hardy & Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho & Dolph Ziggler
Before the match begins, CM Punk makes his way to ringside to join Michael Cole and J.R on commentary.

Jericho and Hardy start the match, with some back and forth offence culminating in Jericho hitting his springboard dropkick that sends Jeff to the floor. Jericho and Ziggler continue to dominate Hardy until he finally gets the hot tag to Mysterio. Mysterio hits some quick offence on Jericho. Rey eventually hits a hurricanranna, setting Jericho up for the 619. As Rey has his back turned preparing to run the ropes, Ziggler gets a blind tag. Rey hits the 619, but as he goes for the West Coast Pop, Ziggler pulls him off the apron and Rey takes a hard bump against the security wall. Ziggler continues to hold the advantage over Mysterio until both men tag out. Jericho goes for a bulldog, but Jeff escapes and hits a Whisper in the Wind. He then attempts a hurricanranna, which is countered by Jericho with the Walls of Jericho. Hardy escapes and hits the Twist of Fate followed by the Swanton Bomb. Ziggler runs in to break the count.

Following a Mysterio dropkick to Ziggler which sends him to the floor, all four men end up on the outside. Hardy tosses Jericho at Punk who moves but when Hardy turns his back on Punk, the straight edge superstar pushes Jericho into Hardy who hits the steps, causing the ref to call for the bell, throwing the match out as a no contest. Rey is then caught by Ziggler, who hits a dropkick and follows it up with his finisher on the floor. Jericho rolls Hardy back into the ring, hits a Codebreaker and locks in the Walls of Jericho as Punk looks on and then makes his way up the ramp. The show goes off air with Hardy suffering in the middle of the ring from the effects of the Walls. This was another good match featuring half of the Smackdown Six (with Dolph Ziggler perhaps being a prime candidate to take Edge’s place in the Six while he’s out injured) and the respective stories between Hardy and Punk and Mysterio and Ziggler were carried on nicely.

A strong show from Smackdown this week, which once again delivered on the in ring action but not so much on the segments and vignettes. With Night of Champions just over a week away now, things are looking healthy on the Smackdown side of things, with the Intercontinental title match between Mysterio and Ziggler and, in particular, the world championship match between CM Punk and Jeff Hardy sure to be quality matches. Following this week’s show however, I find myself more excited over the seemingly eventual feud that will occur between Jericho and Edge, upon the latter’s return to the ring than the current angles. I think we can all agree that would make a tremendous Wrestlemania 26 match so here’s hoping.

See you all next week for more hot, Smackdown action.

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-Todd Grisham welcomes us to the show, tonight coming from Fresno, California. Tonight we have the Smackdown fallout from the Bash.

-The show begins with CM Punk coming the ring to explain his kicking of the referee at the Bash. Judging by the reaction of the live crowd, Punk’s turn fully to heel is imminent. After explaining how the errant kick he threw at the referee on Sunday night at the Bash was due to him being unable to see because of an eye injury, Punk admonishes Jeff’s actions after the match and asks him to come down to apologize.

-Teddy Long enters the ring and says that Jeff and Punk will have a rematch at Night of Champions later this month. He also states that Vinnie Mac liked his shaking up of things so much at the Bash that he’s decided to team Punk and Hardy up to face the new unified tag team champions, Edge and Chris Jericho tonight as the main event. Hardy and Punk then face off, with Hardy calling bullshit on the whole eye injury thing. Punk then tells Hardy that instead of hitting him, Jeff should “Just say no.” All in all, a pretty good segment and Punk’s sign off line was a nice touch. Hopefully we’ll have the fully-fledged, straight edge, heel Punk in our lives again soon.

-Finlay vs. Ricky Ortiz
Barely five minutes long, this match ended with Finlay hitting the Celtic Cross for the three. Short and pointless, but no harm done.

-We see Dolph Ziggler and Maria backstage, reminiscing about their date the previous night. Ziggler’s attempting at acting cool around Maria give me the impression he’s going to be gold at some in the future. I was laughing just by looking at him.

-J.R tell us that Rey Mysterio will be facing Kane tonight in a non-title match tonight. Could have done without knowing that.

- Dolph Ziggler vs. R-Truth
A short, pretty entertaining back and forth match ends with Ziggler hitting his finisher for the win. Looks like Dolph’s getting a bit of a push which could be pretty good. He seems to have quite a lot of potential for entertaining shenanigans.

-Next it’s Cryme Tyme’s “Word Up” segment. I enjoyed making a cup of tea and sandwich at this point during Smackdown last week but now I actually have to watch it. This was an unforeseen hardship. Tonight, Cryme Tyme hide behind some large pot plants and spy on Layla. More unnerving than that is the fact that, while they’re doing that, Shad appears to have his hand on his genitals for the duration. Then Jesse, formerly of Jesse and Festus fame, showing up and talking shit. This was total balls.

- Kane vs. Rey Mysterio
After his tremendous matches recently with Chris Jericho, I’m sure Rey Rey was just as disappointed as the viewing public when he found he was going to be competing against Kane tonight. Still, the match isn’t bad. Kane destroys Mysterio for the most part, eventually picking up the win with a chokeslam after a nice ending sequence. My initial thoughts were that WWE had made the I.C title look terrible by having their champ beat in a meaningless TV match but it appears as though they’re trying to build Kane again, and J.R did put over the fact that Rey competed in a great match just a few days prior at the Bash so it wasn’t that bad. Just as Kane’s about to unleash a post-match beating on Mysterio, The Great Khali lumbers down to the ring with a chair and breaks it up.  So it has come to pass. Khali and Kane are going to feud. And I have to watch it all unfold. Someone up there really likes me.

- Next up is Josh Matthews in the back with Jericho. Jericho once again delivers an awesome promo, even slipping the word ‘obsequious’ in there. Not only is this man the best heels in WWE, he has a tremendous vocabulary as well. Jericho is all kinds of awesome. He goes on to say that he’ll be invoking his Intercontinental Title rematch clause next week on Smackdown next week, so we’re in for some more Mysterio-Jericho greatness in a week.

- Cryme Tyme vs. The Hart Dynasty
Cryme Tyme twice in one night? Smackdown, you are truly spoiling me. Pretty solid match on the whole though, just standard tag team fare. Cryme Tyme pick up the win.

- Melina vs. Maria vs. Michelle McCool vs. Layla
Cryme Tyme’s win was quickly followed by some diva related action. This was a good match overall, with only Layla being slightly hard to watch in the ring. Not that she was sloppy or anything, she just didn’t look especially smooth. Michelle McCool and Melina did some great work though, with McCool working more of a ground game and throwing some holds into the mix and Melina being…well… just really bendy. Melina pins Layla after hitting the Primal Scream and gets the three count.

-Next up we see a segment with John Morrison and Teddy Long in Long’s office. This basically revolves around the two of them singing Michael Jackson songs and then Morrison interpreting the lyrics to fit the situation last week when he pinned CM Punk clean. It was entertaining for about 20 seconds but got old pretty quickly. The segment didn’t end with any resolution to Morrison’s issue either, over being rewarded for his victory over Punk. He just basically sang some songs, talked about beating Punk and left. Strange. I was loosking forward to seeing more of Morrison this week but alas, it was not to be.

- Edge and Chris Jericho vs. C.M. Punk and Jeff Hardy
It was now main event time for this week’s Smackdown. Punk and Hardy took control of the tag champs early on, with Punk being visibly hesitant to tag Hardy in. Shortly after this, Jericho takes control and Hardy goes for the tag. Punk acts as though his eye injury is bothering him and doesn’t tag in. After some more action Jeff hits the Twist of Fate on Edge and tags Punk before he notices. Following Punk battling with Jericho, he goes to tag Jeff but Jeff falls to the arena floor feigning an eye injury. Punk manages to hit the GTS on Jericho but not before Jericho blind tags Edge who runs in and hits the spear on Punk for the win. Hardy continues feigning injury until he gets to the top of the ramp, where he reveals it was all just a cunning ruse as the show goes of the air. Another good match involving these four men with some sound story telling throughout.

-Final thoughts
A good Smackdown certainly, but Morrison’s limited involvement damaged my enjoyment of the show a touch. The Cryme Tyme segment I could also have lived without but hey, you’ve got to take the rough with the smooth. Talking of rough, as I said before, the prospect of this Kane-Khali feud is going to haunt me. I have absolutely no interest in Kane and Khali’s terrible in the ring. This is a recipe for disaster is you ask me. Or, at the very least, some fucking horrible PPV matches

More interesting though is the man event scene. With news breaking last night that Edge injured himself during a house show match with Jeff Hardy (a suspected Achilles tendon injury) it will be interesting to see where this takes with regards to the tag team titles and the main event stories. Look for some sort of development on RAW addressing this on Monday, with a possible title change in the works.

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