WWE Smackdown on the CW Network
Taped April 15 in London, England

[Q1] The show began immediately with Chris Jericho's Highlight Reel. Michael Cole praised Jericho's presence as something special...

Jericho welcomed us to a special Smackdown edition of The Highlight Reel. He introduced Batista, who came out in his wrestling attire. Cole reminded us that Batista will face The Undertaker later in the show.

Jericho recapped everything that happened over the past four weeks. His delivery and tone of voice was very subdued. Jericho attempted to forge an "us vs. them" alliance with Batista vs. Shawn Michaels.

Batista was not having it. He told Jericho he wanted to handle Michaels himself. Jericho accused Batista of wanting to retire Flair himself. Jericho continued to antagonize Batista and did so very effectively...

Jericho called for a few fan polls. Batista hit Jericho, the sacrificial lamb in this feud, with a Batista Bomb... [C]

Twill's Two Cents: Jericho getting attacked was predictable, but this was a solid segment. Jericho's more serious tone was appropriate for the situation. Batista held his own as well. I wanted to see Batista vs. Michaels in a straight one on one match, but I also like the addition of Jericho to the feud.

Back from commercial, they plugged the King of the Ring tournament for this coming Monday by talking about past kings.

Matt Hardy came to the ring in street clothes and received a huge pop. Hardy joined Cole and Coach on commentary. He said the United States title was "coming home," even though he has never had it before. Odd...

[Q2] 1. MVP defeated Tommy Dreamer in 5:42. Hardy and the announcers gave us a history lesson of the Hardy vs. MVP feud. Dreamer started the match on the offensive with a series of armdrags before MVP gained the advantage.

Cole pointed out that Hardy has never won a singles title. I know the Cruiserweight title is now defunct, but to not even acknowledge the fact Hardy was the former champion, and that is a singles title, is ridiculous.

Dreamer was given a lot of offense here. He hit a few moves, including a neck breaker, for a near fall at 4:30. Dreamer reversed the Playmaker into his DDT, but MVP broke up the fall by grabbing the bottom rope.

MVP took over, hit the running boot to the face, and covered Dreamer for the win. After the match, MVP showed off the championship to Hardy...

Twill's Two Cents: This match was good for what it needed to do, progress the MVP vs. Hardy feud, which it did. Hardy is no MVP on commentary, but he was solid. Giving Dreamer some offense makes beating him credible. I love that they used MVP's running kick as a finisher, which should lead to a dramatic near fall at the PPV.

Backstage, Hornswoggle and Finlay got psyched up as Cole told us the little guy would be in action next... [C]

My TV screen pulled a "Sopranos" finale and went to black. Finally back from a commercial, they run a Backlash advertisement focusing on The Undertaker vs. Edge...

In the ring, Matt Striker said he was embarrassed by Finlay and Hornswoggle last week. He said the match tonight was going to be "1 vs. .5." Cute...

[Q3] 2. Hornswoggle defeated Matt Striker in 3:00. Striker wore new "Ken Patera" tights. Horny juggled and threw tennis balls at Striker. Cole said they were "$250 tennis balls." They must be dipped in diamonds.

Hornswoggle used about six water guns to squirt water at Striker. Striker went after Finlay before he was double teamed by the father-son duo.

Striker took over in the ring and mounted Hornswoggle, slapping him several times. Striker tried to use the shillegleh but the referee stopped him. Finlay nailed Striker with his shillegleh, and Horny hit the tadpole splash for the win.

After the match, the two celebrated as Cole pimped the kids magazine. Appropriate plug when Horny was still in the ring...

Twill's Two Cents: Like I said last week, at least Finlay is on TV. I am sure a lot of people would gladly trade spots with him. However, I would rather see him fighting for titles, but such is life. I wonder if Big Daddy V is going to come back and do to Hornswoggle what King Kong Bundy did to The Little Beaver at Wrestlemania III.

Backstage, Eve Torres interviewed The Big Show. They replayed the footage of Show knocking out The Great Khali last week.

Show said "offering me a goat and chicken is not how to win my affection." Not sure if that was supposed to be funny, but it was. Show plugged his match vs. Mark Henry for later in the show... [C]

Back from commercial, Cole thanked Kid Rock for singing the Backlash theme song...

3. Chavo Guerrero defeated Jamie Noble in 6:00. Chavo Guerrero came out with Bam Neely, who apparently is a former border patrol agent. That sounds better than a plumber or a dentist. They showed the footage from the contract signing.

Jamie Noble came out. I guess his "push" is over. They called Noble the former Cruiserweight champion. I guess it is okay to acknowledge it sometimes but not others. Ugh.

The first two minutes was very slow. Noble scored nearfalls on unique pinning combinations. Did Cole just call him "Dave Neely?" Did I hear that right?

Cole and Coach started to argue about Neely's facial expressions. Coach said, "I do not know anything." I guess you could enter a Mike Adamle joke here.

The match finally picked up a bit at 4:15 with Noble scoring a nearfall with a Northern Lights Suplex.

[Q4] Chavo went for the Three Amigos, but Noble reversed the third one into a neckbreaker. Chavo regained the advantage and hit the frog splash for the win.

Neely attacked Noble after the bell with a half nelson slam and raised Chavo's hand...

Twill's Two Cents: That match sucked. I figured they were going to try and make Chavo look strong going into the PPV, but even Randy Orton thought there was one too many restholds here. Neely's attack on Noble after the match created more of a fan reaction than the entire match did.

There was a split screen of Big Show and Mark Henry on their way to the ring... [C]

Back from commercial, they plugged the King of the Ring again. They speculated that Mark Henry or The Big Show could be the winner. Coach put his money on Henry. Is he even in the tournament yet? I would invite Coach to my poker game anytime...

4. The Big Show and Mark Henry fought to a no contest in 3:37. Coach says, "This isn't going to be pretty. No one is going to be jumping off of the top rope." Thanks Coach. Maybe Adamle fed him that line.

They exchanged a series of big man moves, including head butts, chops, and a Henry bearhug. The crowd responded with interest. Henry had the bearhug locked for well over a minute. Show took over with a big boot.

The Great Khali headed to the ring as Show hit a chokeslam. Show elected not to pin Henry and went after Khali instead. Khali threw Show into the steps and then into the ring.

[Q5] Khali hit the Khali Bomb on Show. Show did most of the work there. Cole said Show should have signed the peace treaty. Khali left up the ramp as Show lied motionless in the ring...

Twill's Two Cents: They called for the bell when Show went after Khali, so I guess a case could be made that Show won by DQ. Tangent point, but I hate when they do not announce match finishes. They do this a lot now. Anyway, the match was okay. They made Khali look strong but hell, he is still The Great Khali, so he sucks...

They plugged the main event and aired another Backlash commercial, this one focusing on the Fatal Fourway for the WWE Championship... [C]

Back from commercial, The Big Show struggled to leave the ring. This was a segway into running down the Backlash card. Cole called JBL the "odds on favorite" to win the title. Is anyone else buying that crap?...

They finally aired a video package of the amazing 2007 feud between The Undertaker and Batista... [C]

Twill's Two Cents: Great video package of the feud of the year in 2007, and one of the best in recent memory. WWE shines with their video production.

Back from commercial, they recapped Victoria introducing Natalya Neidhart. Upon further review, she still laughs like a man.

[Q6] 5. Cherry defeated Victoria in 4:28. Cherry came out with Michelle McCool. Cherry's music is a great 50s mix. I love that old stuff. Michelle wins the "shirt of the week" award. She also wins the "Titanic lips" award. She looked like she had just sat in a freezer.

Cole said Cherry was dressed for a sock hop. Victoria's smack talk throughout the match was awesome. "Where are Domino and Deuce?" Cherry started to cry. Cherry surprised Victoria with a rollup for a near fall at 2:00.

Victoria just played around with Cherry. She locked in a camel clutch. Victoria released the hold on her own. Coach said he loved Victoria's commentary. Cole replied with, "better than you." Nice.

Cole called the match "disturbing." That should have been code for "end it already." Cole then said just that. Michelle distracted Victoria and Cherry rolled her up for the win. Wow...

Twill's Two Cents: Well, it went about three minutes too long. Although the Smackdown women do not have a title to feud over, at least they have created a decent program for these four. Natalya is lucky to learn from someone as great as Victoria. Hopefully she is taking notes.

They plugged the main event one more time... [C]

Coming back from commercial, they played the video of Mick Foley's new movie. Willem Dafoe is in this movie. Is this movie even coming out in the theatres? Isn't Willem Dafoe better than this?...

6. Vladimir Kozlov defeated Leroy Kincaid in 1:56. I don't know why, but his "non entrance" entrance is cool to me. Kincaid received a huge pop, so maybe he was a hometown boy.

[Q7] Kozlov overpowered Kincaid for the first minute in a half, including using his head as a battery ram, before hitting a belly to belly overhead suplex. Cole called it a "throw." Kozlov then hit the body slam into a reverse DDT finisher for the win...

Twill's Two Cents: I actually like this guy. It makes sense for him to squash people since he is not going to be on the PPV. One thing though, why does he wear white tights instead of red?

They aired a video of Edge's desire to regain the World Heavyweight Championship. Cole reminded us that Vickie is trying to soften up Taker before Backlash. The video had contrasting images of Taker fighting and Edge relaxing...

They said the main event was next. Looks like they are getting a decent amount of time... [C]

Twill's Two Cents: Cole made a great point here. They have not emphasized enough that Vickie is trying to weaken The Undertaker for Edge.

The final King of the Ring commercial aired showing everyone on the roster, so no word on who is in.

Edge and the Rated R Entourage did the old "I have front row tickets" nonsense to sit at ringside. I wonder if they bought the tickets months ago or if they bought them from fans. By the way, I still have no idea which one is Hawkins and which one is Ryder.

7. The Undertaker and Batista fought to a double countout in 12:26. Batista came out first, followed by the champion. When Taker's music hit, Edge had that "deer in the headlights" look. Come on guys, it is 2008. You knew he was coming out next, so yes, his music is going to play.

By the way, I love how Taker, Kane, and MVP wear their belts. When Austin and Rock carried the belts, it was part of their gimmick. It made sense. It irks me that Randy Orton carries it over his shoulder before a match.

The bell rang at 9:42, so it looks like they are going to get a lot of time. I hope Batista came ready to work tonight.

They started at a quick pace from the start. As I wrote that, Coach just said it. Even Coach gets it right sometime!

Taker worked on the arm and shoulder. Cole said, "Vintage Undertaker." Come on Cole. By definition, if he is currently doing something, it is not vintage.

[Q8] Slowing it down, Taker wore down Batista before attempting Old School. Batista reversed it and took over, before both men went down at 3:20 following a double closeline... [C]

Back from the commercial, they had a camera shot from behind the point of view of Edge and his boys. Taker was in full control. Coach pointed out that Taker was still working on the left shoulder. I guess he doesn't know not to mention which side of the body is being worked on.

Taker went for Old School again but Batista blocked it. They traded blows until Batista hit a superplex from the second rope. Batista scored a nearfall at 8:51. Taker quickly regained the advantage.

Taker threw Batista to the outside and followed him just shy of ten minutes. He hit his signature leg drop across the apron spot. He threw him back inside and scored a nearfall.

Tombstone attempt by Taker reversed by Batista into a spear. Batista couldn't cover right away and as a result, did not get the pin.

They traded punches. Taker's punches received "Yay" chants and Batista's received "Boo" chants. They both fought to the outside again. They were both counted out but continued to fight...

Twill's Two Cents: Pretty good match. It was obvious neither man was going to lay down (and rightfully so), and Edge was going to interfere. However, if you realized that, this match was very enjoyable.

Cole made a stupid comment of "it isn't about hatred, it is about competition." Well, once the match is over, it isn't about competition anymore. Edge, Hawkins, and Ryder got involved.

In the ring, Edge punched Batista and regretted it. Taker had Edge ready for a chokeslam but Chavo and Bam Neely broke it up. The babyfaces cleared the ring.

Vickie was rolled out and unfortunately, she had a microphone. She said "her company" could have legal problems because Taker and Batista attacked Edge's crew, who were fans for the night.

Vickie announced The Undertaker and Batista would face each other again next week. However, this time, it will be for the title. The winner will then face Edge at Backlash. The show ended with Taker and Batista staring each other down...

Twill's Two Cents: Well, they are giving us a title match for free next week. However, Batista already has Michaels at the PPV, so nothing is going to change. There was a lot of wrestling and a lot of storyline progression on this show, so it was a solid effort. However, Vickie is terrible. I hope they do whatever they are going to do with Edge and Vickie while bringing back Teddy Long as the GM.

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