About halfway into me writing the coverage, I get called into work. And I missed the first part of SmackDown up until the Undertaker promo, right up until the Weigh In. Everything else was done when I was really tired on Saturday Night after work. I can’t wait for two weeks time when Class is over and I can just relax and work.
Recap of some Batista and Mark Henry feud. This feud has been going on for almost two years and still hasn’t had a pay off. Anyone else notice that? Tonight it’s Batista vs. Mark Henry in a No DQ match. If they’d had some actual strong build to this match, then one of them most likely would’ve gotten injured.
Finlay vs. Jeff Hardy
Hardy with a headlock on Finlay, but Finlay takes Hardy into the corner. Hardy goes after the arm of Finlay, but Finlay gets the upper hand easily. Hardy sends Finlay outside and nails a baseball slide, following up with a vaulting body press. Back in the ring, Hardy covers for a failed pinfall attempt. Finlay sends Hardy shoulder first into the steel post. Kick to the skull by Finlay gets him a two count. Finlay applies a rear naked choke, but Hardy fan favourites out of it only to run into a clothesline by Finlay. Finlay drops some elbows for a failed pinfall. Short arm clothesline, and Finlay follows up with another rear naked choke hold. Hardy turns the rear naked into a jaw breaker, but Finlay keeps the advantage with a low dropkick. Finlay covers Hardy for a two count.
Finlay reapplies the rear naked again, before sending Hardy down onto the canvas using the top rope. Finlay drops the knees for a two count. Again, Finlay locks in the rear naked. Hardy tries to make an escape but Finlay slams Hardy down using the hair. Finlay sends Hardy into the corner, but Hardy nails the Whisper in the Wind! Hardy with dropkicks. Finlay goes to use the shillelagh on Hardy, but gets disqualified simply because he was about to use it.
Winner: Jeff Hardy
Hardy sends Finlay out of the ring post match. Alright match, served it’s purpose, but nothing to write home about. Three out of ten.
Up next: The Undertaker. Recap of Shawn Michaels / Undertaker in Hell In A Cell.
Undertaker promo time! Undertaker decides to call Hell In A Cell the Dead man’s Playground. Undertaker says that Batista will not survive HIAC, but he will rest in peace. Your usual Undertaker promo, but I can’t recall the last time he did a lone promo in the ring.
Still to come: Batista vs. Mark Henry in a No Disqualification match.
Commercials.
We’ve still got the Hornswoggle and Great Khali weigh in for Survivor Series, as well as Rey Mysterio vs. Mr. Kennedy.
Torrie Wilson and Mickie James vs. Victoria and Beth Phoenix
I fucking love Beth phoenix’s music. I think Phoenix could become the new great diva; she has the look, a style which stands out over the other divas, and a hella cool nickname in the Glamazon. Lock up between James and Victoria; Victoria works the arm but James reverses it. James with a wheelborrow roll up for a two. James wioth a snap mare, James runs into a Phoenix attack. Victoria tags out to Phoenix. Phoenix and Victoria slams james down; Phoenix gets a two count. Phoenix with a nice running spear to James in the corner, and another attempt smisses. Wilson is tagged in. Wilson with forearms to Phoenix, and Wilson gets a two count off of a school girl. Wilsomn tries for the neck breaker but Phoenix turns it into a backbreaker. Phoenix with the good old Jazz Bitch Clamp Slam for the three count.
Winners: Beth Phoenix and Victoria
Not the match I was hoping for between these four, but oh well. If they had swapped Wilson and McCool’s places for the tag matches, then this probably would’ve been quite good – but Phoenix wouldn’t have looked as strong then. Sigh. One out of Ten. I really hope the diva’s match gets some good time at Survivor Series. I’m becoming a big Beth Phoenix fan, and I think she’s a great combination / possible love child of Jazz and Trish Stratus. Any chance of moving the Women’s Division to SmackDown, and the Tag Team Division to Raw?
The Hardy Boyz are backstage. Jeff has a date or something, and Matt is going to be a guest on the V.I.P Lounge, which is next.
Recap of Undertaker / Mankind in Hell In A Cell
Commercials.
Matt Hardy on MVP’s V.I.P Lounge. The pair hype up the Survivor Series match, and MVP says that being champion with Hardy is one of his greatest achievements. Matt gets pissy about what happened to Jeff on ECW, but MVP explains it by saying it was a wrestling match and he beat Jeff in the spirit of competition. MVP says it was his choice to keep Kennedy from attacking Matt post match. Matt questions the last time MVP defended the United States Championship against Matt; Matt goes back to calling it a smoke screen and then challenges MVP for the title right here tonight! MVP reminds Matt that they’re friends now, but Matt says otherwise. Matt still wants the United States Championship and challenges MVP again, but MVP says he can’t take the match Because he’s organised a Tag team title match! And it’s right now!
Tag Team Championship: John Morrison and The Miz vs. Montel Vontavious Porter and Matt Hardy (Champions)
Porter and Miz begin. Lock up and Miz puts Porter in the corner but the referee gets them out of the corner. Porter with a single leg take down, Porter clubs at Miz. Porter with knees to the head of Miz before nailing the running big boot. Porter sells a leg injury he suddenly gained, and Hardy is tagged in. Morrison in and gets hit with a clothesline bulldog combo for a two count. Morrison tackles hardy into the corner for some clubs, Miz sets Hardy’s leg up on the ropes and Morrison begins going after the knee. Miz back in, and he continues going after the knee of Hardy as well, sending it into the steel post and covering for a one count.
Morrison in. Hardy gets a clothesline but Morrison shortly follows up with a leg whip. Hardy avoids a running attack in the corner, Miz tagged in. Hardy goes for the Twist of Fate on Miz, but Morrison chops the leg of hardy and Miz covers .. For the three count?!
Winners and NEW tag Team Champions: John Morrison and The Miz
Yeah, that was climactic. Post match, Porter cashes in the rematch clause. We head to a commercial as Miz and Morrison return to the ring.
Commercials.
We’re back and Porter is taking it to Miz. Porter with a series of rights and lefts, and it doesn’t take too long before Porter reinjures his leg. Hardy tagged in, and Miz goes right back to the injured knee of Hardy. Morrison tagged in, and he comes in with clubs to Hardy. Miz back in, Hardy tries fighting him off but Miz nails a neck breaker for a two count – Hardy getting his foot on the rope. Morrison back in with a single legged boston crab to Hardy, who gets to the ropes after some time. Morrison gets a leg scissors on the weakened leg of Hardy, which makes Hardy tap out!
Winners and Still Tag Team Champions: John Morrison and The Miz
Morrison and Miz celebrate post match. I suppose there goes the thought of either of these guys becoming ECW Champion at Survivor Series, but it adds a hell of a lot more interest to the triple threat. Four out of Ten. Not my favourite way for these two to lose the belts, but it was still pretty interesting. Also post match, Porter helps Hardy up before turning on him! Porter goes right after the knee of Hardy, and removes Hardy’s knee brace. Porter uses the steel post and steel steps against Hardy’s knee post match, even dropping Hardy knee first on the steel steps! Emotional crowd shots follow. It’s hard to care as much about the turn because it happened almost out of nowhere – I was expecting that there would be a fair bit of build towards the match where they finally lost the belts. Having said that, though, Porter getting the instant rematch just to further weaken Hardy was pure class.
Also (this is one of the bits I did Saturday Night); I read that some people aren’t happy about this because it goes from one enemy team to another. Here’s something: Morrison and Miz posed, celebrate, and worked together. They didn’t bicker, they didn’t do anything to suggest that they were a team of enemies. If anything, they worked too well as a team, right down to seemingly having their signature pose already, which was a problem but not a biggie. There isn’t a single actual team on the roster which, at the moment, could have been seen as legitimate threats to Hardy / Porter, so why not actually make the ECW top contenders look better by beating them? This also adds another level of intrigue to the ECW Championship match at Survivor Series, since if they work well together, why wouldn’t they do the smart thing and make sure one of them wins the belt at Survivor Series? Maybe that’s accidental booking that part, since I think Punk has this match in the bag for sure, but you get my drift. This win also makes Miz look good, since he’s never had a title in WWE. The sole problem of real note with this, I think, is that it sort of puts Morrison back down into tag team territory – like all those Edge pushes, where you think he might go somewhere but ends up as another half of the Tag Team Champions. See: Hulk Hogan, Rey Mysterio, Chris Benoit, Randy Orton.
Commercials.
Recap of Porter turning on Hardy. During the commercial break, Hardy was helped backstage by a group of referees.
Recap of Undertaker sending Rikishi off the Hell In A Cell.
Cole and JBL run down the Survivor Series Card. The Traditional Survivor Series Match could get a fair bit more interesting now that Matt Hardy might be out of it. Survivor Series looks like a definite buy.
Still to come: Rey Mysterio vs. Mr. Kennedy
Commercials.
Mr. Kennedy vs. Rey Mysterio
It’s been ages since I recapped a Kennedy match. Lock up and Kennedy goes after the arm of Mysterio. Mysterio turns it into an arm drag. Mysterio with a head scissors takedown on Kennedy. Mysterio elbows Kennedy and sets up for the 619, but Kennedy exit’s the ring.
Commercials.
We’re back and Kennedy has Mysterio in a headlock. Kennedy gets pushed into the ropes and comes back with a shoulder block before trying to remove Mysterio’s mask. Mysterio stops Kennedy, but Mysterio comes off the ropes into an Alley Oop power bomb by Kennedy! Kennedy covers for a two count. Kennedy sends Mysterio into the turnbuckles hard for another two count. Kennedy applies a body scissors, Kennedy turns it into a pinfall for a two count, and Mysterio stops the body scissors by getting to the bottom rope. Kennedy sends Mysterio back first into the barricade and the ring apron, sending Mysterio back in the ring for a two count. Kennedy applies a Torture Rack on Mysterio, but Mysterio turns it into a sunset flip for a two count! Mysterio gets a springboard moonsault buy gets caught by Kennedy, and Mysterio nails a tornado DDT! Mysterio with a head scissors and springboard cross body for a two count. Kennedy runs into a high boot by Mysterio, and Mysterio nails the Seated Senton! Mysterio kicks Kennedy in the head for a two count, almost a three. Mysterio off the ropes into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker by Kennedy for a two count! Kennedy tries for the flipping Samoan but Mysterio escapes, Mysterio flips over a low dropkick attempt and sets Kennedy up for the 619! Mysterio connects with the 619 and waits for Kennedy to get to his feet, but Kennedy doesn’t. Mysterio checks on Kennedy, who sends Mysterio shoulder first into the steel post! Kennedy sets Mysterio up for the Green Bay Plunge, but Mysterio stops it and nails a top rope Hurricanrana for the three count!
Winner: Rey Mysterio
Now that was a very fun match. Seven out of Ten.
Commercials.
Hornswoggle and Great Khali weigh in. My money’s on Hornswoggle winning via count out, although I‘d love to see the McMahons / Regal come to his save or something, just so Khali has someone to destroy. Is anyone else still amazed that these two have been around as long as they have been? Hornswoggle weighs in at 138 pounds. Khali breaks the scale he’s so big, but Cole says he is over 420 pounds. Khali squashes Hornswoggle’s hat while Hornswoggle cries. Awwww. Layfield gets a bit emotional even, but still keeps being funny.
Still to come / up next: Batista vs. Mark Henry in No DQ.
Commercials.
No Disqualifications: Batista vs. Mark Henry
Batista goes right to Henry with offence, quickly getting spears in the corner. Henry runs into a boot by Batista. Batista uses the steel post on Henry, before taking the action back to the ring where Batista gets Henry in an arm bar. Henry reverses the arm bar by throwing Batista away, but Henry shortly after walks into a Spinebuster. Batista grabs the World Heavy Weight Championship from ringside and sends it face first into Henry for the three count?
Winner: Batista
So Henry gets squashed. That’s a new sight. Batista sends Henry into the steel steps post match and continues the attack. Batista chokes Henry out, sends him into the steel post, before taking Henry down with a spear. Batista goes chair crazy on Henry before celebrating in the ring until the lights go, the bells go, and Undertaker’s eyes are on the titantron. Undertaker rolls his eyes into the back of his head as SmackDown ends. -Five out of Ten. A squash is a squash.
The Inside Pulse
Jeff Hardy defeats Finlay: 3/10
Beth Phoenix and Victoria defeat Torrie Wilson and Mickie James: 1/10
The Miz and John Morrison defeat Montel Vontavious Porter and Matt Hardy: 4/10
Rey Mysterio defeats Mr. Kennedy: 7/10
Batista defeats Mark Henry: -5/10
SmackDown 16/11/07: 10/50
One thing I do like about Survivor Series, is that it follows the WrestleMania build up this year. Throw all these people around onto different shows for a week or two, and make some fun shows while hyping up a big show. The idea of cross-branded shows maybe a lazy and autopilot way of booking, but it’s still a lot more fresh than the usual episodes. The episode may not have been great, but it did it’s job and was never a bore along the way. A good and solid thumbs up, even if the wrestling came up short. It usually does, anyways. Until next week!
