It is the first Smackdown of September and the smell of college football is in the air. But there will be no talk of the BCS tonight on Smackdown! Instead we will focus on a great Intercontinental title match between Rey Mysterio and John Morrison as well as the return of the Undertaker!
The show opens with a brief video package from last week showing the temporary end of Jeff Hardy’s WWE career at the hands of CM Punk. When that ends Hardy’s music hits and CM Punk enters dressed (and acting) like Jeff. Great crowd shots of fans first thinking it is Jeff and then being disappointed that it is not. Punk calls Hardy the “charismatic enabler†and refers to himself as the choice of a new generation. The Champ steers his promo towards the Undertaker and their match in 9 days at Breaking Point but instead of Taker, Matt Hardy comes out to interrupt. A brief scuffle in the ring is broken up by officials and that ends our first segment.
When we return from break we are told that John Morrison has been granted an IC title match tonight vs Rey Mysterio. We also see CM Punk finding Teddy Long to complain about Matt Hardy interrupting his scheduled interview time. Teddy scheduled a match between the two of them for later tonight.
Finlay & The Great Khali vs Mike Knox & Kane: During the introductions we are “treated†to another pre-match video promo from Mike Knox and told that Kane vs Khali in a Singapore cane match has been added to Breaking Point. Knox and Finlay begin the match and after taking control of Fit with a powerslam, Mike tags in Kane. The Big Red Machine soon misses a flying clothesline and Khali is tagged into the match. Kane quickly tags out of the match but that doesn’t stop TGK from decking him anyway. Knox is quickly trapped in the clutches of Khali’s vice grip but Kane drags his partner out of the ring and we go to commercial.
When we return Khali is dropping Kane with a clothesline and soon does the same to Knox when he is tagged in. Finlay is tagged into the match and continues to control things for his team until he is shoved off the top rope by Kane. The team of Knox and Kane start to ground Finlay and the match working over his arm and preventing the tag. Knox misses a tag in the corner and Kane goes after Khali’s brother drawing the attention of both Khali and the ref. During the distraction Finlay lays out Knox with his shillelagh and gets the pinfall victory for his team.
When we return from commercials Eve and Maria are in the locker room discussing their tag-match later tonight. Michelle McCool enters for some trash talk aimed at Maria concerning her wardrobe and her boyfriend’s wandering eye. Melina then joins us to further her feud against the Women’s Champion. Melina annoys both McCool and Maria and that thankfully ends this segment. I continue to loathe this annoying attempt at a Melina/McCool feud.
Intercontinental Championship Match – Rey Mysterio vs John Morrison: During the introductions we are told that Dolph Ziggler still has his title shot and will face the winner of this match at Breaking Point. The two men trade quick roll-up attempts to start things off and Morrison wins the test of strength spot. Both follow that spot with a few more pinning predicaments and we seem to be at a stalemate for that sort of action and head to a commercial break.
We return to continuing back and forth action which quickly spills over the top rope on a Mysterio head-scissors attempt. There is no action outside the ring and both men crawl back in before the 10 count can be completed. Rey misses an attack in the corner and his shoulder hits the post. John briefly tries to take control by working the arm but it is short lived advantage as Rey is able to reverse an attack into a swanky around the world head-scissors. A nice reversal battle in the corner leaves John exposed and Rey hits a swift kick to the face and a springboard moonsault off the ropes. Mysterio tries to ground the bigger man with a series of holds but Morrison does an awesome reversal to a standing surfboard by Mysterio by flipping out of it and kicking him in the face!
John takes control following up a few attacks off the ropes with a standing moonsault for a 2.5 count. Morrison harshly tosses Rey out of the ring under the bottom rope but sends him back into the ring without incident. An immediate pinfall attempt gets only 2 and his break dancing legdrop gets a bit longer two count. Another reversal battle in the corner leaves Morrison set-up for the 619 but he realizes it and is up quickly. Both men run the ropes with another reversal sequence and collide with dueling flying crossbody attempts. The ref begins a 10 count and we head to another commercial break.
As we return Morrison hits a teardrop back suplex and are told that he has been in control of Rey during the break. Mysterio reverses a toss to the ropes and sends John to the outside. He follows him outside with a head-scissors but we get no further action outside the ring as he slides John back in. Rey hits a springboard legdrop and gets a 2.8 count from it. Morrison hits reverses Rey’s bulldog attempt into a facebuster for a long two count and follows that with a running knee on him for a 2.7 count. Mysterio reverses another toss into the ropes into a springboard crossbody for another 2.8 count and then rolls thru a roll-up attempt into a dropkick to the seated Morrison for another failed pinfall attempt.
Mysterio climbs the top rope but John catches him in mid-air with a drop kick. Morrison gets Rey set-up for Starship Pain in the corner but Rey moves out of the way and gets John set-up for the 619. It connects but Morrison is out of the way before he can Drop the Dime. John hits his springboard kick off the ropes but that is not enough to keep the champion down for three. Morrison hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker but lingers to long before going up top for the Starship Pain allowing Mysterio to get up. Rey tries to hit a reverse frankensteiner from the top, but John holds on and finally connects with the Starship Pain and gets the pinfall to become the new Intercontinental champion! Rey congratulates his opponent before exiting for his suspension and John celebrates with his newly won title. This was a great match.
R-Truth comes down to the ring for a match against an unnamed opponent and for the second week in a row is jumped during the festivities by Drew McIntyre. Drew complains that he wasn’t included in the show but Truth was and promises to ruin these “little parties†until he is treated like the superstar that he is. If McIntyre keeps this up he will quickly become one of my favorites on Smackdown.
Maria & Eve vs Natalya & Layla: We are reminded via replay that Natalya pinned Eve in the main event of Superstars last night. After a brief period of indecision, Natalya and Maria start the match. Maria briefly takes control but is distracted y Layla and dragged outside of the ring. We then see shades of the Brainbusters as Layla leads Maria right to Natalya who is lying in wait with a vicious clothesline. Maria is sent back in the ring and takes a beating for a bit as the heels get a few tags back and forth and dominate the action.
Layla gets cocky and Maria is able to get the hot-tag to Eve and we have a battle of former NBA dancers. Eve gains the advantage and runs thru her growing repertoire of offense but has a pinfall attempt broken up by Miss Neidhart. Maria rejoins the fun and she and Natalya scuffle outside the ring and Eve hits her handspring splash finisher on Layla for the pinfall. I enjoyed that quite a bit, it was fun and one of the better diva tag-matches I have seen in awhile. I’d much rather see Eve and Natalya in the women’s title picture than Melina and Michelle McCool.
CM Punk vs Matt Hardy: Punk starts the match by dodging Hardy and using the ref as a shield. Matt eventually gets his hands on the champ and takes control of the match. Hardy misses a charge into a corner and Punk tries to go up top, but Hardy stops the climb and is able to connect with a super-plex and that gets him a two count. Hardy has pretty much dominated the action thus far but Punk is able to drop him over the top rope with a forward vertical suplex and then sends him flying off the apron and into the ringside barrier. Matt is down outside the ring and we head to our final commercial break of the night.
As we return, Punk is in control with Hardy locked in an abdominal stretch. Take a drink of Pepsi every time the announce team says ‘Muay Thai†during a CM Punk match. Punk continues to work over Hardy focusing on the midsection as we are constantly reminded of his recent abdominal surgery. Punk misses a shoulder block in the corner and Matt hits a bulldog for a count of two. 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 outside and after Hardy misses a dive off the apron, Punk goes to work on him with a steel chair. But before the real fun can begin, the lights go out and when they return the Undertaker puts the champion thru the announce table and that is how the show ends.
