It’s Friday night and we are a mere 9 days away from the wrestling extravaganza that is Summer Slam. With two episodes of Smackdown to go before the grand event, what will tonight’s show have to offer? We’ll start with John Morrison vs CM Punk and then hope for more on one of the WWE’s last stops before Summer Fest!
After a recap of last week’s main event shenanigans, CM punk joins us for a chat. Punk reminds us that the TLC stipulations might not favor Jeff Hardy in their Summer Slam match, since he has one two Money In The Bank matches at WrestleMania. As Punks begins to debate the likelihood Hardy will even be able to compete in the match, Teddy Long joins us to offer his opinion. After Punk does a lap around Teddy, Jeff also decides to join the promo fun. Jeff is selling his beating from last week and loudly let’s his challenger know that he will be there to defend his title. Punk just laughs it off as he did Long’s comments and the promo ends without further incident.
We get a recap of Kane stealing Khali’s manager last week and are told all of them are in the building tonight. Thanks for the warning JR. Once Teddy has returned to his office he gets a call from Vince McMahon. The boss reminds him that he is on probation and forces him to put Jeff Hardy into a match tonight against the Hart Dynasty.
Dolph Ziggler vs Finlay: As you might remember from last week’s show Dolph pinned Fit in a semi-fatal fourway to earn a shot at the Intercontinental Champion ship at next weekend’s pay-per-view. Maria unfortunately does not accompany Ziggler to ringside. Finlay takes control briefly after a tumble outside of the ring. But Dolph rebounds with a nasty kick to Fit’s head while he is on the apron and against the turnbuckles. Mike Knox slowly makes his way down to ring side and we make our way to a commercial break.
As we return to the action, Finlay is down on the mat and Ziggler is in control. Finlay takes advantage of Dolph’s narcissism and makes an angry Irish comeback. Fit tosses Ziggler over the ropes and follows with a clothesline. But as he goes to climb back into the ring he and Knox cross paths which leads to Mike clubbing Finlay with his own shillelagh and that allows Ziggler to hit his finisher for the pinfall victory. Post match Knox beats down the Irishman and cuts a creepy promo about blunt trauma and the number of bones in a human body.
We are “treated†to an update on what Kane is up to with Khali’s little buddy but I still don’t care. We also get a video package about R-Truth where he asks the immortal question “What’s Upâ€. Melina and Maria are chatting about Dolph backstage which is interrupted by Layla to remind us she is a heel and will be facing Melina in a match later. That was three worthless segments in a row.
CM Punk vs John Morrison: I guess Vince’s phone call also bumped this match out of the main event slot. Morrison has a two match winning streak in this feud. Both men go back and forth to start the match trying to gain the advantage by working on the other’s left arm. Punk wins a test of strength and then stomps on Morrison’s hand before kicking him down. But this advantage is short lived as John takes to the air for a series of highflying moves for a couple of two counts. Punk bails outside to stop Morrison’s mojo from growing but quickly takes advantage of John’s impatience as he tries to follow him out. After a series of attacks by Punk while he’s draped over the apron’s edge, John hits the ringside mats and we hit a commercial break.
We return to action with Punk in control of Morrison on the mat. Take a drink every time JR says “Muay Thai†in a CM Punk match and another one every time Todd says John is a “rockstarâ€. Morrison gets a swank backbreaker and Russian legsweep but can’t capitalize on the cover. Punk says “that’s it†but walks right into more offense by Morrison. Standing moonsault by Morrison gets two, followed by a crossbody off the top for another count of two. Punk says it’s “nap time†and goes for the GTS but fights out only to get hit with the high knee in the corner and a running bulldog for a 2.7 count. Crowd starts up a decent chant for Morrison.
CM Punk tries the tilt-a-whirl off the ropes but Morrison counters it into a ddt. He tries to follow it up with Starship Pain but Punk moves out of the way. John follows with a knee off the ropes and tries to set-up for a second Starship Pain attempt but Punk counters again hanging him up in the corner. Punk lays into Morrison with the knees and then picks him up from where he hangs for the Go To Sleep and that’s all she wrote. Punk congratulates Morrison on a fine match by giving him an elbow to the face after the three count. Another great match between these two featuring a lot of nice reversals and I’m sure this won’t be the last.
Melina vs Layla: To change things up this is not a call back to last week’s episode but actually two weeks ago. The entrances to this match are interrupted by another video from Kane concerning an angle I still don’t care about. Every time Layla is on the show JR mentions that she has an NBA Championship ring from her time as a dancer with the Miami Heat. Why the hell does the dance team get a championship ring? Control of the match goes back and forth with both ladies getting their share of the offense in. The crowd doesn’t seem all that interested and honestly neither am I. Melina screams and hits her legdrop ddt finisher for the pinfall victory. Melina is more way more annoying as a face than she was as a heel.
Big Show (with Chris Jericho) vs JTG (with Shad): Cryme Tyme joins us for a pre-match promo which I guess means we don’t get a “Word Up†segment this week. After the commercial break Jericho joins us on commentary and the announce team suddenly gets a million times better. Big Show basically controls the entire match so let’s skip to the finish. Show grabs JTG during a clothesline attempt and chokeslams him over the top rope. Shad tries to come to his partner’s defense and eats some ring post for his trouble. Show rolls JTG back into the ring and another chokeslam ends the match with a pinfall win for the Big Show. As the champs leave Shad gets to his feet and knocks Show off the ring apron. He tries to coerce Show back into the ring for some further action but the champs just smirk their way up the ramp.
Our visits from Kane wrap-up for the evening with Khali finding his hiding place only to be ambushed by the Big Red Machine. Kane, “I’ve never been afraid of you, but now you know you should be afraid of me.†I’m just afraid this awful feud is never going to stop. Moving on to things that are not awful, we get a recap of Triple H’s adventure trying to get HBK to comeback to the WWE from Raw. Shawn superkicking random people (especially children) can save any segment.
Jeff Hardy vs The Hart Dynasty: Jeff is still selling his injuries. It looks like the Hart Dynasty has new t-shirts good move to debut them during the show in Canada. Natalya is at ringside but not involved in this handicap match under tag-team rules. DH Smith is quickly in control of that match with a series of power moves. Tyson Kidd is tagged in and controls hardy on the mat with a headlock for a bit. Smith continues to dominate Hardy by overpowering him but Jeff is able to dodge a rocket launcher attempt by the Dynasty for a brief comeback. The hometown team soon hits their version of the Hart Attack and Kidd gets the pinfall on Hardy.
As the Dynasty members celebrate, CM Punk comes down to the ring and starts wailing on Jeff. John Morrison comes to his aid but Kidd and Smith join the fight long enough for Punk to lay him out with a chair and regain control of Hardy. He has him set-up for another pillmanizing with the chair around his neck, but Matt Hardy rushes the ring to attack Punk. Matt and Morrison clear the ring of the heels and the Hardy brothers have a little chat in the ring. We take a peak inside Teddy Long’s office where Vince wants to know what his plans for next week’s show are. Teddy let’s us know the main event will be CM Punk and the Hart Dynasty vs John Morrison and the Hardy Boys. And that’s all folks!
