WWE TV Reports 5/9 Shore's WWE Smackdown Coverage: World Heavyweight Championship match announced for Judgment Day, Hardy vs. Punk By Chris Shore May 9, 2008 - 07:00 PM Email This Article | Printer Friendly Page Send Us News & Results | Back to Main Listing WWE Smackdown on The CW Network Taped May 6 in London, Ont. [Q1] A video recap aired of Vickie Guerrero stripping the Undertaker of the title and Taker crushing Khali. Vickie Guerrero was introduced and wheeled out by Teddy Long and accompanied by Edge. She read a prepared statement where she expressed regret over stripping the Undertaker. She announced the World Heavyweight Championship would be filled at Judgment Day in a match between the Undertaker and the winner of tonight’s chase for the championship. There will be four qualifying matches with those winners competing in a battle royal where the winner of that match would face the Undertaker. She mentioned that Edge was still not medically cleared to compete. Shore’s Slant: Five bucks says Edge gets into the mix somehow. It’s nice to see a theme for tonight’s show even if it’s from a title strip which I absolutely despise. Opening video and pyro was followed by Michael Cole, who welcomed us and Mick Foley to Smackdown. 1. Matt Hardy defeated C.M. Punk at 4:46. Early on Hardy played a small heel role by refusing to break an arm bar on Punk. Punk tried a double under hook suplex but was countered by Hardy but Punk held on to Hardy and kicked out of the two count while still holding Hardy and performed the suplex into a back breaker. Nice. Punk went for the GTS, Hardy reversed into the Twist of Fate but Punk reversed that. Punk went after Hardy who rolled Punk into a small package for the win. Shore’s Slant: Good solid opening match. The fans seemed a little confused about who to root for but I think Punk got the biggest pop… [C] [Q2] Back from commercial and MVP made his way to the ring. Foley and Cole talked at length about MVP getting back in the championship hunt. Finlay came to the ring next accompanied by Hornswoggle, who immediately went under the ring. 2. MVP fought Finlay to a draw in 14:50. Cole and Foley continued to talk about MVP’s new aggressive style and how that will help him in his quest for gold. A lot of slow, mat wrestling early until Finlay went through the turnbuckle and hit his shoulder. MVP put on a submission arm bar and Horny came out to cheer on dear old dad… [C] Back from commercial and Finlay is still in the arm bar. At 8:30, MVP kicked Finlay out of the ring. MVP went after him but turned his attention to Hornswoggle and got a double axe handle from Finlay. [Q3] Finlay slammed MVP’s leg into the ropes which allowed Finlay to work on the leg. After several submission holds that were reversed by each man, Finlay hit a back suplex. The referee counted the three on both men and called it a draw… [C] Shore’s Slant: Foley gave the ending away before the referee announced his decision. I don’t think it’s necessary to prove Foley is aware of what is going on to the point that he is calling special endings before they are announced. As far as the match, not bad, but not great. Fifteen minutes is a PPV time, but it was certainly a free TV performance. So are they both out of the battle royale? Back from commercial and Cole plugged the official song for Judgment day followed by Kelly Kelly’s ring entrance. Natalya came down with Victoria. Foley referenced Adamle asking “What rhymes with jelly, jelly? Kelly Kelly,” and then lampooned himself for using it. 3. Natalya (w/Victoria) defeated Kelly Kelly at 2:37. They showed Michelle McCool backstage a couple of times watching the match on a monitor. The match was mostly a squash match with Natalya powerhousing Kelly. After dragging Kelly from the top rope onto her back, Natalya slapped on the Sharpshooter for the win. Shore’s Slant: I’m so glad I got this gig because I didn’t watch Smackdown that much before now and holy crap Michelle McCool is hot! Sorry. Basic diva squash match that teased a McCool vs. Natalya match soon. That should be pretty good. The women continue to impress me… [Q4] The video of Vickie stripping the Undertaker aired again followed by fan reactions recorded outside of a coliseum. Nothing really funny or upsetting in the comments… [C] Back from commercial and the replay of the MVP vs. Finlay match played followed by Cole sending it back stage to Vickie Guerrero. Vickie said you could look at the match as both lost or both won. She said she was going to be “proactive” and allow both men to compete in the battle royal. Shore’s Slant: Well there you go. Both are in. That at least gets us more people in the ring for the battle royale. John Morrison’s music hit and he started to the ring with the Miz. About a third of the way down the ramp, Morrison took off his sunglasses, handed them to Miz, and after a heated exchange Miz headed backstage. Weird. Batista was out next to a huge pop. 4. Batista defeated John Morrison at 6:17. Morrison ran out of the ring a few times to start the match and got a couple of cheap shots in on Batista in the process. Morrison leap frogged over the top rope and turned to drop kick Batista through the ropes. After fighting outside the ring, Morrison pushed Batista into the steps and took control. [Q5] Morrison had Batista in the ring and climbed to the second turnbuckle for the ten punches to the head. Batista picked him up for the Batista bomb but Morrison reversed into a hurricarana. Morrison went for a spinning kick off the top rope but Batista speared him in mid air. He followed that with the Batista bomb for the win. Shore’s Slant: So far, my favorite match of the night. Morrison looked like a badass for most of this match by physically dominating Batista. That may sound funny, but both wrestlers did a great job of making it believable. The recap of last weeks ending aired again in case you forgot or just tuned in and have been living under a rock. Big Show was shown heading towards the ring… [C] Back from commercial and Big Show made his way to the ring. Tommy Dreamer followed, limping from his extreme rules match on ECW. 5. Big Show defeated Tommy Dreamer at 1:32. Cole and Foley spent the first minute debating rather or not Vickie had made a poor decision or not. They had to stop because Show suddenly hit the chokeslam for the win. Post match Cole asked who could beat Show. Shore’s Slant: Nobody expected Dreamer to win this, so why not let it go on for a few more minutes? We all know Edge is going to get into the match at Judgment Day somehow, so I’m guessing they’re still pushing Show as the immovable object to bring heat for his upcoming feud with Mark Henry… [C] [Q6] Back from commercial, and the final Chase for the Championship match was next. Chavo Guerrero came to ring side with Bam Neely. Bet you can’t guess who came out next. 6. Kane defeated Chavo Guerrero (w/ Bam Neely) in 6:20. Foley said it had been a long time since he was around for Kane’s entrance and he forgot how hot it was. At about 2:25 Chavo was working on Kane’s leg and I lost the next minute due to thunderstorm warnings. Back from that and Chavo was still working on the leg. Chavo hit a missile drop kick and when he went towards Kane, he sat up and my feed went out again for warnings. Back and Chavo kicked out of a pin attempt. Chavo went for a sunset flip and Kane straddled him for the win. Post match, he punked Neely and Chavo. Shore’s Slant: Sorry about not seeing the whole match. We had F2 tornadoes here last night so I guess no one is taking chances. I am the only one bored with Chavo and Kane. Neely should be fired, he hasn’t guarded Chavo at all. I hope this feud ends soon. Cole plugged the battle royale and all the participants: Hardy, MVP, Finlay, Batista, Big Show, and Kane… [C] [Q7] Back from commercial and a WWE.com exclusive aired of Duece and Domino dumping Cherry for Maryse. They mention Cherry doing her own thing as the reason. Maryse came back and talked trash to Cherry calling her a dog. Cherry bitch slapped Maryse to end the video. 7. Vladimir Kozlov squashed a local jobber. For those of you who missed this match, you can recreate it. Go find a little boy of about four and give him a Barbie doll and call him a girl. The next minute and a half would be an exact replay of this match. Shore’s Slant: Time for Kozlov to face a real opponent. Enough with the Goldberg run. Cole and Foley recapped the participants for the battle royale. They debated who had the advantage before showing Batista backstage. [C] Back from commercial and the battle royale was announced. Big Show was out first, followed by MVP, Kane, Finlay, Hardy, and finally Batista. 8. Edge defeated Big Show, MVP, Kane, Finlay, Matt Hardy, and Batista in a Battle Royale to determine who would face the Undertaker at Judgment Day. Yes, I said Edge. Keep reading. MVP spent the early part of the match rolling in and out of the ring and keeping a low profile. Typical battle royale action with very little double teaming on the big guys. Show laid out everyone at 4:45… [C] [Q8] Back from commercial and all six men made it through the break. Big Show managed to stop a double team effort from Batista and Kane. MVP hit Show from behind but ran when Show wheeled around. Hardy hit the Side Effect on Finlay. MVP quickly hit Hardy and eliminated him at 9:51. Show was dominating and gorilla pressed Finlay over his head but was speared by Batista. Finlay got the shilleglah and laid waste to everyone except Kane who punched Finlay over the rope at 11:53. MVP went for the head kick on Batista but missed and flew over the rope at 12:33. Batista turned and speared Kane. Kane got up and was clotheslined over the top rope 12:44. Batista went for the Batista Bomb but Show went for the backdrop. Batista held on, grabbed the ropes, and both went over but Batista held on for what appeared to be the win at 15:03. Suddenly Vickie Guerrero was on the ramp with Teddy Long and announced that Edge had just been medically cleared and would now compete in the match. Batista struggled to his feet as Edge ran to the ring and speared Batista through the ropes for the win. It was explained that since Batista had gone over the top rope and had never reentered the ring, he was eliminated. Post match Edge celebrated his victory. He made his way up the ramp when a bolt of lightning struck the podium the championship belt was on. The glass/plastic case was blown off and the podium burst into flames while the Undertaker’s lightning danced on the LED curtain. Shore’s Slant: Where’s my five bucks? Send it to Jason care of me and he’ll make sure I get it. The match was par for a battle royale, nothing amazing but mildly entertaining. Edge’s reappearance was expected, but I had it pegged as a triple threat match. The last two matches between Taker and Edge were really good so the next one should be as well. However, that should be the last one before this angle gets stale. I hoped you enjoyed my first report. I welcome your comments, criticisms, and of course your praise! Email me at cshore10@triad.rr.com. See you next week. 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