Smackdown June 6th 2008

SMACKDOWN

    As we all know by now, Edge "ended" Undertakers 20 year reign of terror at One Night Stand. To avoid the countless comments that could possibly arise under this article from irate Taker' fans, this departure is merely a storyline. The Dead One is taking time off to rest and heal some nagging injuries he has been suffering from. He is on a long big money contract and will, I repeat, WILL return in the near future.So no comments about that situation on my first ever report. Please and thank you:) Also at ONS, Batista lived up to his promise to "hurt" HBK defeating him in a stretcher match. That should hopefully put this rivalry to bed.Whats next for the animal?

(Opening Video)

    Lights, Camera, Action. La Familia are in the ring. And its party time! Champagne is flowing and there are hugs all around.Vickie "the champ" Gurrerro is receiving almost unheard of heat from the crowd.The last time I seen this kind of heat was after a terrorist attack.It is almost deafening.She introduces the "New World Heavyweight Champion & the man who banished the Dead One from the WWE, Edge". Edge and Vickie exchange saliva while the fans are chanting "You Suck" at Edge.Yeah he sucks alright, Vickies toungue! He then uses the corny yet simple "you complete me" line to Vickie and thanks Chavo etc for having his back. Its all too much.Edge then goes on to call himself the best superstar in WWE history. Edge then makes a toast to The Dead One, rest in peace. The lights then flicker off, signalling..... nothing. Just a cruel prank by Edge! Fooled me! This angle is great! Laughs all around! Vickie announces that in 5 weeks on July 11, Edge & Vickie will get married on Smackdown! Great, another wedding. Cue Batista! Aww man, I was enjoying the party. Shame on you Dave. He mentions how they both make him sick and that he hopes they both make each other miserable bla bla bla. He wants a title match. Obviously. And he'l get one if he and 3 partners of The Chimps choosing, can defeat La Familia tonight.STIPULATION: Should Batista's team lose, Batista will never get another title shot as long as Edge is champion. Wait...wasnt that stipulation done before, and Batista lost? Its a vicious circle.

    This was a decent segment, but I think it ran a little too long than was necessary, the Undertaker prank was good as it succeeded in making the fans hate La Familia all the more for rubbing it in the fan's faces that the Undertaker is gone (for now). I think the wedding in 5 weeks should at least be a bit entertaining, because it is after all, another WWE wedding, I wonder how this one will get ruined. Draft interference? Undertaker's mind games? Someone else crashing it? Who knows?

*Santino is warming up in the back. Bit of a sketchy warmup actually.*

    Has Finlay done anything the least bit constructive since his feud with JBL? And why is Chuck Palumbo, a "tough guy" biker, wearing a top hat? As Palumbo makes his way to the ring, Hornswoggle jumps onto the back of Palumbo's bike trying to get a ride. As Palumbo tries to attack Hornswoggle, Finlay attacks Palumbo & takes control in the beginning of this match. Palumbo reverses an Irish whip into the steps, sending Finlay into them & gaining control. He then goes under the ring & retrieves a trash can. As Palumbo comes back in, Finlay hits a drop toe hold onto Palumbo sending him face first into the trash can & regaining control. Palumbo regains control by hitting a stiff looking right hand, and nailing belly to belly suplex on Finlay, on the outside. Palumbo removes one of the turnbuckle pads as Finlay sneaks up on Palumbo with his shillelagh but gets caught with a big boot. Palumbo then goes outside to his bike to retrieve his chain. Hornswoggle runs in before Palumbo has a chance to use it and delivers a low blow to Palumbo and Finlay nails Palumbo with his dropped chain and picks up the win.

*We see MVP in a private box looking rather down and depressed. Poor thing.*

(ads)

    The Big Show (with an enormus shiner on his left eye) is on the mic and is saying that he is the #1 Contender and is going to have a big challenge winning the title from Kane as he is the champion for a reason. Before he can elaborate though, he is interrupted by "the world's fattest...sorry...strongest man" Mark Henry. He has a mic and tells the Big Show that he does not have the right to challenge anyone as the Big Show challenged Mark Henry weeks ago and did nothing about it and tells him that he is not championship material. Big Show then calls Mark Henry out.Henry declines the invitation. I think the WWE really should have focused on this feud before Big Show had a title shot, now it is almost a certainty that Mark Henry will cost Big Show his title shot, thus making the Champion & Championship look weaker. They should have finished their feud a few weeks ago after it started and then the Big Show should have moved on. This storyline is also quite similar to the Show/Khali one. This is just lazy booking in my opinion.

*Backstage, Roddy the Piper is in preparation with Cousin Sal for tonights match with Santino.Other than a few laughs here & there, this feud has been nothing but a waste of TV time, I am sure the WWE writers could have found a better way for Santino & Piper to feud, as well as a better way to get Jimmy Kimmel on WWE TV.*

    Deuce+Domino are no longer acompanied by their eye candy cherry. Suppose I could call her an eye cherry. They were announced as being "from the other side of the tracks". I laughed for 10 mins. So the Great Khali is back from India & now supposedly a face, complete with a pop from the crowd, but I cannot honestly say if it was edited in or not. This was nothing more than a squash match used to get Khali back on TV & make him look dominant again after getting demolished by The Undertaker last time he was on Smackdown. Khali made easy work of the former Tag Team Champions with D&D getting in no offence with the exception of a few punches. The finish comes when Khali hits his "Khali Bomb" on both Deuce & Domino before picking up the win.

    *The Chimp gathers all the smackdown and ecw divas together in the back and announces a first ever "Golden Dreams" tonight with the winner getting the chance to become the new Diva Champion. About time the smackdown divas got a title of their own because their only purpose has been to provide eye candy (or eye cherry).*

    While I still say that this was nothing but a waste of time, the match itself was a lot better than I expected. Cousin Sal makes his way to the ring, complete with Piper like kilt, after he takes it off he has on a traditional wrestling singlet. I am unsure whether Santino or Sal's high school wrestling history helped make this match more bearable. Luckily this match was short and comedic as expected with lots of posing from Santino. The finish comes when Jimmy Kimmel trips Santino, allowing Sal to roll up Santino for the pin.

*We see MVP still watching Smackdown alone (poor thing) from the skybox.*

    *Backstage Eve is attempting to interview Cousin Sal but Jimmy Kimmel keeps interrupting.Kimmel then brings in; who he claims is Sal's next opponent, The Big Show. Sal then hooks a headlock on Jimmy before the Big Show breaks it up.I am a little nervous about this, is Sal & Jimmy done with the WWE or will we see them again in the future, personally, I hope not.*

*WWE tag champions Morrison & Miz are bullying Hornswoggle. Finlay steps in and intimidates Morrison & The Miz; they stop teasing him and leave as Hornswoggle sprays them down with a water gun. A nice little comedy bit, short & sweet.*

*Edge says to Chavo that he is going to become his Uncle Edge & asks him to be his best man at the upcoming wedding. Chavo accepts, but when Edge begins to rant on about how he and Vickie will have a lot of kids (who will be Chavo's cousins) and create another wrestling dynasty, Chavo begins to look very hesitant..hmmmm.*

    The match rules are that the first diva to grabs up a post in the corner and retrieves a golden star hanging from it will be one of the two participants to compete in the Diva's Championship match at Night Of Champions. It seems they are teasing some dissention between Victoria & Natalya as Natalya brings down Victoria as she goes for the star. Kelly hits a nice looking hurricanrana on Victoria as Victoria tried to power bomb her. The finish comes when Natalya hits a power bomb on Victoria as Victoria is hitting a superplex on Michelle McCool.

*Ads for the Draft.Lets hope Smackdown dont get another raw (pardon the pun) deal again this year.*

    A squash match (what else?) Kozlov has done nothing but beat up jobbers & cruiserweights since his debut. While I am impressed with his in ring work, it's time to give him some entrance music, turn some lights on and give this guy a match against someone who might have a chance at beating him. The finish comes when Vladimir dodges Yang's Moonsault attempt and nails a belly to belly suplex for the 3 count.

*Eve conducts your typical batista interview*

    Wow, Batista gets to team up with the J.O.B Squad 2008 and Batista is not happy. On a side note, before the entrances Mick Foley made a comment about McMahon's Million Dollar Mania, saying that he hasn't thrown away so much money since he signed Goldberg, a bit of a cheap shot, but couldn't help laughing.This will probably be the only time Delaney, Funaki & Nunzio will ever main event Smackdown. Batista stays in the ring for most of the match for his team as La Familia keep tagging in & out, almost afraid to get into the ring against the animal. Batista dominates in the early going as all of his partners ask to be called in, with Batista being very hesitant.Chavo gains control when Bam Neely attacks Colin why he is on the outside. La Familia make frequent tags, completely dominating Colin. Edge gets tagged in and continues to beat down Colin, all the while staring at Batista with a cocky smirk, and taunting Batista while toying with Delaney, almost allowing Colin to tag Batista. Edge then forces Colin to tag in Funaki after hitting Batista with a cheap shot. La Familia they start to beat down Smackdown's #1 announcer. La Familia continue to beat down Funaki as the fans try to get behind Funaki and cheer him on. Funaki manages to make the hot tag to Batista when Hawkins misses a spear allowing Funaki time to get the pin. Batista gets in and starts to beat down all of La Familia. The finish comes with Batista hitting a double spear on Hawkins & Chavo, a spine buster on Edge & catching Ryder off of the top turnbuckle and delivering a Batista Bomb for the win.

    A decent edition of Smackdown considering its the first since the "departure" of The Dead One. I am all for the idea of a Smackdown Diva's title and hope it will help elevate the divas. What im not for though is 2 squash matches on one show (Kozlov/Khali matches). And main event wise, while Batista Vs Edge has been done before, they always manage to put on a good feud with a good end match.

"You Complete Me"- Edge to Vickie (is it wise to quote Tom Cruise with all the controversy surrounding scientology etc.Edge thinks so!)

"The man who banished Undertaker from the WWE and your NEW World Champion...Edge!"-Vickie (Edge is the top dog now)

"Mr.McMahon hasnt thrown this much money away since he signed Goldberg"- Mick Foley (talking about McMahons Million Dollar...yawn...Mania)

*Thats me for this week. Hope you all took the chance to read my report as well as enjoy it. Im hoping to keep delivering reports and articles on smackdown like this every week so your feedback is essential and comments are much appreciated, be they positive or negative!

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