Greetings once again! Before we get to the show proper, let’s get a few things out of the way.
Botter has all the news you can use as usual; particularly interesting are the WWE comings and goings. Sir Eric takes care of the ECW show with a short-form, so ya’ll are covered like a jimmy hat. And Slayer has an interesting look at No Mercy PPV from 2001, along with his Diva shots for all the fanboys. I had more, but the article I was going to talk about is roughly two weeks old, and I don’t think I want to put any noses out of joint. Yet. If this is the start of a “trend” that I’m beginning to see, I’ll make mention of it then.
For those that are unaware, I am indeed a producer of Machinima movies. Machinima (muh-sheen-eh-mah) is film making within a real-time, 3D virtual environment, often using 3D video-game technologies. I hope to be covering more Machinima related films during my stay at Inside Pulse (HAH!) to get people here more familiar with the incredible range of movies that are out right now.
Yah, like I’m NOT going to pimp my own stuff.
Anyway, one of the best (and recently, most popular) of these movies would be “Male Restroom Etiquette”, produced by Phil “Overman” Rice using the Sims 2. This has made a HUGE splash at YouTube recently, and the film itself is a very funny look at what you should NOT do while in the restroom. In addition to producing the semi-weekly “Overcast” podcast, he is also an accomplished musician (providing music for films like “The Fixer” and “The Days After”, along with helping my own show PEDS out with some musical numbers for our second season) and voice actor. Phil has a new mini-series in the works, which should see the light of day near the end of the year. A supremely talented and super nice guy, you can check out what Overman is up to by going to his blog or the Overcast homepage.
My own aforementioned series, PEDS (based on Grand Theft Auto) is gearing up for the second season premiere happening on October 13th, at the PEDS website. We have our own trailer up on YouTube, and you can check out all of the Season 1 episodes right from our homepage. I’ll have more on this series next week, but for now, enjoy!
I don’t consider myself TOO much of an impatient person, but for some reason, I HATE waiting for this show. No matter what happens, I wind up getting involved in doing something else and then forget to actually “watch” the show until about a day later. So for one night only, I actually built myself a time-machine, went forward and grabbed a copy of the show, came back and recapped it two hours ago. Amazing, no? You’d think I’d have a more of a substantial use for a time-machine. Oh well; guess it’s time, no matter WHAT time it is, for Friday Night SmackDown!
King Booker greets us to the show, and tonight, he selects DAVE as Bobby Lashley’s opponent. Lashley chooses Finlay for Booker. I would choose Pikachu myself, but that’s just me.
No opening, but we are still TAPED from Wichita KS, as Micheal Cole and JBL welcome us to the show.
Jerk that curtain, BABY! Rey Mysterio & Matt Hardy vs Gregory Helms & Chavo Guerrero.
Rey gives a fan a medallion. Rey is MEDALLION MAN. Vice City junkies will get that one. Sadly, Matt doesn’t give anything to anyone. Boo! Gregory gives us Chavo, who gives us more of Vicki’s ASS. Um, thanks. Chavo teases wanting Rey, but he bails and Helms starts. Rey goes after Chavo, so Helms attacks. Rey gets the advantage again with a rana and tags in Matt. He controls for a bit then tags Rey back in. Rey tries to fake him out, but Helms takes control with a HUGE spinebuster, tagging in Chavo. He pounds on Rey a bit drawing some jeers from the crowd. Helms is back in, but a drop toe-hold to the buckle gives Rey the chance to make the mildly spicy tag. Matt cleans house and gets a bulldog on Helms for two. Chavo breaks it up, so Rey comes back in to deal with Chavo, but he gets knocked off the apron. Matt knocks Chavo out of the ring but eats a shin-jacker by Helms. The crowd gets a decent “Hardy” chant going as Helms has Matt wrapped up in a headscissors/keylock combo. Looks kind of nifty actually. Matt squirms out, but Helms take control again, tagging Chavo back in.
Chavo pounds away on Matt for a bit, drawing an almost impressive “Chavo Sucks” chant. And what is with the director, cutting to the closeup crowd shots? I wish they’d stop that; it looks ridiculous. Helms is back in and he sets Matt on the second rope. Chavo tries to CHEAT TO WIN but the ref is clearly watching. Matt pushes Chavo away and EXPLODES with a clothesline on Helms. Chavo comes back in and gets a Side Effect for his troubles. Hot tag to Rey and it’s BREAKING LOOSE IN WICHITA. Nah, doesn’t really work here. Sorry guys. A seated senton for Helms and punches and kicks and other things happen that cause me to make a run on sentence like a teenage wrestling newsboard reporter. Helms waffles Rey from behind, so Matt comes back in to even the score. A double whip to the corner; VIVA POULTRY IN MOTION! Instead, Rey rana’s Helms into the 619 position on the ropes. Chavo is back up, and Matt goes for the Twist, but Chavo blocks. So Matt hits a droptoe hold on Chavo to put HIM next to Helms. Awesome. Double 619, and Chavo goes out of the ring. Helms gets nailed with the Twist of Fate, and Rey drops the dime for the finish. (*** 1/2 — Rey/Matt d. Helms/Chavo, Slingshot-Legdrop/Pin). Good TV match with a hot crowd and a GREAT finish.
Commercials.
Marysa welcomes us back to the show. Yah, thanks.
No, this IS going somewhere. Really! Elijah Burke vs Tatanka
We’ve seen Tatanka carry, that’s right, CARRY some watchable matches in the last few weeks. Can he do it again? This is mostly Tatanka at the beginnig, but Burke takes over with his crappy offense. That standing dropkick looked like it tagged Tatanka pretty good though. Burke nearly breaks his neck trying to do a headstand on the top turnbuckle into an elbow drop. Shame, really. Tatanka makes the comeback and hits the big chop from the top, but it only gets two. Even “I” thought he had it there. Side Russian Leg Sweep gets two, but Terkay is on the apron. Tatanka knocks him down but Burke hits him with body blows from behind. Terkay gets a cheapshot in, so Burke sets him up with the Stroke (Oh TAG) and gets the win. (* 1/2 — Burke d. Tatanka, Stroke/Pin) Burke really sucked in this, but Tatanka pull another one out. If not for the screwy finish, this would have gotten two stars easily. It’s no fluke, Tatanka is getting the younger guys over. I don’t think he’s got any “big” runs coming or anything, but what the heck, put him in there with Finlay or Regal and give ’em ten minutes.
Post match, Terkay hits a belly-to-belly on Tatanka, because he can. He and Burke say mean and nasty things as Cole cries about the injustice of it all. I couldn’t agree more.
Tonight: We’ve picked our poison!
Commercials.
More stuff with the Marine. Oh goodie. Meanwhile…
Backstage, King Booker holds court. Great little segment here that has Booker asking Finlay to do the “right” thing by laying down. Finlay says no way; “Let me remind you of something. My name is Finlay. And I LOVE to fight.” Awesome.
It’s next!
Commercials.
Pick Your Poison #1 — King Booker vs Finlay
They lock up and roll about for a minute while Booker yells “LAY DOWN FOR YOUR KING!” Finlay hops outside to warn off Sharmel, so Booker goes out an d attacks him on the floor. Back in, Booker is working over Finlay, but he drops his head and Finlay boots it to a BIG pop. A clothesline and some knees get two as the crowd cheers. Finlay is just laying all kind of hurt on Booker here. He rams Booker shoulder first into the STEEL post, but decides to be nice by only lightly kicking him in the head. Three times. By lightly I mean “really hard for anyone else.” Finlay gets a quick roll up for two. Booker escapes a side headlock with a jawbreaker, and it’s time to hold court. BIG spinebuster on Finlay gets two. Vertical suplex gets another two. Booker is still in control, but Finlay uses a thumb to the eye to escape. He escapes a Bookend attempt and ducks the axe kick, but Sharmel grabs Finlay’s foot on the way back and leads him right into a superkick by Booker. It’s the little bastard! He chases Sharmel up the steps with a dead white mouse. This distracts the ref and Booker, so Finlay grabs the shillelagh and waffles him in the back of the leg to get the pin. (** – Finlay d. Booker, Pin). Could’ve have been much better, but heel vs heel matches are tough to do right anyway, so props to these two for pulling it off at all. And dig that crazy Kansas crowd, CHEERING for Finlay. Wild.
Up next — DAVE vs Lashley!
Commercials.
Pick Your Poison #2 — Bobby Lashley vs Batista
They lockup and break. Rinse and repeat. They try a test of strength, but they wind up on the ropes and have to break. Side headlock by Lashley gets him sent to the ropes, when he runs over DAVE. He looks a little perturbed by that. Now DAVE just starts pounding on Lashley, and sends him for the ride. BIG shoulder block, and he’s going for the Demon Bomb, but Lashley backs off. They’re nose to nose now, so Lashley starts pounding away. DAVE blocks a slam attempt, and pounds him down into a body scissors with a headlock. Lashley fights out, but DAVE send him to the corner followed by a BIG clothesline and three shoulder attacks to the gut. DAVE whips him to the other side, but Lashley reverses and hits a BIG clothesline and a shoulder of his own. Copycat. I know, kind of funny coming from me. Anyway, they do some more reversals until a double clothesline puts them both down. Finlay comes in to attack and the ref throws the match out. (* 1/2 — DDQ/Interference) This was just “ok.” Kind of plain now that I think about it.
Post match, Booker follows Finlay down and goes after HIM. Now all four are going after each other, so our SD GM TL comes out to announce that the No Mercy main event will now be a fatal four way between these guys. Cripes, it’s Deano Machino, Ricky Steamboat and Mike Freaking Rotunda in the same ring. As agents of course, but that’s just damn cool.
Commercials.
Backstage, Booker its bitching about the match. Soon, all four are back there, when our SD GM TL makes another match for tonight: Booker and Finlay vs Lashley and DAVE.
Semi-Instant Replay – Jimmy Wang Yang vs Sylvan.
This is mostly the same match as last week, with the spots moved around a bit. It’s not like it’s really bad or anything, it’s just the SAME MATCH. Go read last weeks recap if you need details. Sylvan wins again by getting an arm around the ropes this time. (* — Sylvan d. Yang, Rollup/Pin) Next, please.
Up next, MVP makes an appearance.
Commercials.
Nice little package for Hardy vs Helms this Sunday.
As promised, it’s Montel Vontavious Porter, forever to be referred to in this column as MVP. He talks about himself a bunch, then leaves. Um, ok. Meanwhile…
Ken Kennedy chats about the Undertaker. This is sit down style, kind of like they do for “big” matches. Ken cuts a good promo here too. I’m kind of looking forward to this, only to see if they (the office) really lets Ken win.
Commercials.
Backstage, Michelle McCool along with Idol Stevens and KC James welcome us back to the show with some words for London and Kendrick. Tonight however, McCool has a “lesson” for Ashley…
They didn’t have Phys. Ed. like this when “I” was in school — Ashley vs Michelle McCool.
If you’re a fan of Mike Rotunda, you’ll appreciate the “sort-of” abdominal stretch Ashley applies around mid match. Sadly, that’s the most interesting thing about this contest, which is really more about the tag match on Sunday than anything else. McCool rolls trough Ashley’s high cross body for the three, grabbing the skirt. Much better than “grabbing them cakes,” or is it? (1/2 * – McCool d. Ashley, Pin) Papa Smark would probably NOT call this “Entertaining Crap,” but I think I will.
Commercials.
More Marine stuff, followed by a rundown of the No Mercy card, this Sunday.
Main Event — King Booker & Finlay vs
Commercials. I hate it when they do that. It screws up my formatting.
Bobby Lashley and Batista.
There we go. Finlay attacks DAVE to start, but DAVE quickly takes over. Finlay tries to bail, but DAVE follows him out, beats on him and sends him back in. DAVE gets a two count before tagging in Lashley. Finlay takes a BIG shoulder block to the gut before retreating to his corner. He tags in Booker, who doesn’t look too thrilled about getting in there. Booker beats the HOLY HECK out of Lashley for a minute, but gets caught in the powerslam position. Booker wiggles out, but winds up in a spinebuster for two, broken up by Finlay. Booker heads to the outside, so Lashley follows him out. Big mistake, as Booker takes over and shoves him into the STEEL steps. Back in, the reverse kick to the bicep gets two. Well, it was JUST the bicep Booker tags, and I mean TAGS Finlay back in. I’m thinking that’s not a very good idea. Finlay lays out some more punishment, but Lashley tries to make a comeback. Notice I said “tries,” since he’s shut down in short order.
Booker is tagged back in and takes over for a bit, trying a suplex, but it’s reversed by Lashley. Before Lashley can make a move to his corner, Booker tags Finlay back in (on the leg this time), who works over Lashley some more. Lashley almost makes another comeback, but Finlay hits a drop toehold and pounces on his back with a headlock. Lashley is trying to fight out of it, and makes the tag! Oh wait, the ref didn’t see it, back you go. Now Booker comes back in and looks ready to finish Lashley off. He calls Lashley a “peasant” and sends him for the ride, but Lashley ducks the kick and hits a spear on the way back! DAVE gets the tag, and he’s all fired up. Clotheslines for Finlay! Clotheslines for Booker! Clotheslines for Regal! Whoops. (** – ??? – DQ, Regal Interference) Not bad, not great, just ok. If they were that serious about Lashley, they’d have given HIM the hot tag spot and let him finish the show. It could have given Lashley more credibility so that the finish on Sunday isn’t quite so obvious.
Post match, DAVE hands out spinebusters to everyone and shakes the ropes like the Ultimate Warrior BUT WE’RE OUT OF TIME-
The Inside Pulse
Really good show leading into the PPV, considering the bomb (not the GOOD bomb either) shows we’ve had the last few weeks. Maybe they’re on an upward trend? Who knows. See you on Sunday for the No Mercy Round Table, and Friday for another edition of Smack THIS!
