WWE TV Reports 5/16 Shore's WWE Smackdown Coverage: Vickie Guerrero faces Undertaker or she loses her GM job, Matt Hardy vs. Shelton Benjamin By Chris Shore May 16, 2008 - 09:49 PM Email This Article | Printer Friendly Page Send Us News & Results | Back to Main Listing Smackdown on The CW Network Taped on March 13 in Grand Rapids, Mich. [Q1] A video aired recapping the Undertaker being stripped of his title and the Chase for the Championship last week. I just realized Vickie said she gave Undertaker a spot in the title match "in the interest of fairness." It then showed Vickie back-dooring Edge into the match. Who’s cutting the videos? The video ended with the world title bursting into flames... The opening video aired followed by Edge’s music. He was introduced as the Next World Heavyweight Champion. The whole fam damly came down sans Teddy Long. Mick Foley called the Chase for the Championship a farce. Edge opened with, “Last week we witnessed a medical miracle.” He said through rest and support, he managed to get cleared just in time to be in the chase. He said Undertaker had never beaten him without the choke and so he would win at Judgment Day. Teddy Long’s music hit and he came to the ring and apologized for being late. Vickie chastised him and told him she would finish the conversation backstage. Teddy said the reason he was late was he was called to a meeting with the WWE board after Vickie blew them off. He said he had a message that was to be delivered publicly. The message said she had to compete tonight or she would be removed as General Manager. Teddy said he knew the perfect replacement. Vickie said over her dead body. She called Teddy a “Son of a” and then fired him. Teddy said she couldn’t fire him because he quit. Teddy’s music hit and he went up the ramp leaving the fam damly looking concerned. Teddy stopped at the top of the ramp and said Vickie’s opponent would be the Undertaker… [C] Shore’s Slant: Well, I never saw that coming. This could get interesting if anyone in WWE creative had the nuts to stand up and say, “Let’s actually let Taker beat the crap out of here to make Edge even crazier for Judgment Day. And then we have a readymade storyline for Edge after the PPV so we can get him and Taker away from each other for a while.” Oh well, a boy can dream. [Q2] CM Punk made his way to the ring. A video aired of Chuck Palumbo getting DQ’d for not stopping for the five count a couple of weeks ago on ECW. Michael Cole quoted Palumbo as saying he would knock out Punk the next time Punk got in his face. 1. CM Punk defeated Chuck Palumbo at 5:40. Early on Palumbo overpowered Punk every time Punk had any offense. Punk low-bridged Palumbo and dove threw the ropes. Palumbo was up first. Talk about no selling. Punk hit an enziguiri and walked four steps to the turnbuckle. Bad. Punk went for the GTS but Palumbo reversed out. Punk went for a crossbody, but Palumbo caught him and slammed him. Palumbo went for his finisher but Punk reversed and pushed Palumbo into the turnbuckle post. Punk hit the GTS for the win... Shore’s Slant: I was worried there for a minute. I thought they were going to punk Punk again. Palumbo lost nothing in this match. He still looks like a hard ass. Punk looked really weak though, even in victory. Backstage showed Edge, Vickie, and Chavo game planning. MVP came in to complain about the chase for the charade, followed by Finlay and Big Show. Vicki reminded them she was still general manger. Show asked her what she would be after the Undertaker got done with her. Vickie told MVP to find a partner and take on Show and Finlay. She said she hoped they beat the hell out of each other. Chavo asked if he was a pawn like everybody else was. Vickie said they couldn’t talk about it now, they had to make a plan. Chave said, “Yeah, together”... [C] [Q3] 2. Michelle McCool defeated Layla at 2:07. McCool took charge early and stayed in control most of the match. A lot of fast spots and high impact moves made for a great television match. McCool hooked on a heal lock and Layla tapped out... Shore’s Slant: W.O.W. I am sorry I cannot be more descriptive, I am numb from how good this match was. It was short and basically a squash, but it was the best Divas match I have seen since Lita blew a knee. I will do better next time, unless it is a better match... A video aired of the end of the Shawn Michaels vs. Batista match at Backlash. Cole plugged what Batista said about finding out if Michaels had lied and how Michaels would be sorry. He said Batista would comment now that we know Michaels faked it… [C] Back from commercial and Batista’s music hit. He came to the ring and said he thought he was done with talking about Michaels until he saw Raw. He showed Michaels knocking out Y2J and saying he was never hurt. He said that Michaels had a match at Judgment Day, and said he didn’t have anything to do this Sunday so who knows? He walked off... [C] Shore’s Slant: Uh, so he threatened Michaels again. What did that serve? He’s pissed. Big deal. Does this mean he is in the match? That was just really pointless. [Q4] Back from commercial and Big Show made his way to the ring to a Big Pop. Sorry, could not help myself. Finlay was out next followed by MVP. Mark Henry came out last as MVP partner. Hey, I forgot about that feud. 3. Big Show and Finlay defeated MVP and Mark Henry at 9:53. Finlay and MVP started first so it will be a little bit before we see Show and Henry. Foley gave Finlay’s family tree and mentioned that Finlay’s aunt and sister were referees. Seriously? That’s cool. Finlay tagged in Show and MVP skittered away. He took one shot at Show, ran, and tagged in Henry at 2:20. Collar and elbow tie up for about 20 seconds led to a push off. Back at each other and Henry came off the ropes and shoulder tackled Show who bounced off. Henry said, “Try it again.” Show did and knocked Henry down who tagged out to a surprised MVP. Show worked over MVP and tagged in Finlay. Henry distracted the referee which allowed MVP to regain control. [Q5] There was a lot of good team work between MVP and Henry. Show got the hot tag at 9:12. He worked over MVP and then got hit from behind by Henry. Henry went to clothesline Finlay who pulled the ropes down on Henry. MVP charged Show, who caught him in the chokeslam for the win... Shore’s Slant: Good solid match that teased Henry/Show again. MVP is still stuck in that “jobber around stars” position that the Hardys and Jericho find themselves so often. It is better than a mid-card but not quite main event. Limbo basically. I think all four of those guys are main eventers, but what do I know? I’m just an idiot on the internet. Backstage and Edge gave Vickie some words of encouragement and walked away. Vickie addressed the camera and the WWE board. She said she couldn’t cancel the match but she could change it. She said tonight the Undertaker would face the whole fam damily in a six-on-one handicapped match... [C] Back from commercial and Funaki was in the ring. I had no idea he was still wrestling. No music and dark lights can only mean one thing… GOLDBERG!!! GOLDB… uh, Kozlov... 4. Vladimir Kozlov squashed Funaki in 2:30. Funaki and his official Smackdown trunks got in one kick in the entire match. Kozlov hit his inverted DDT drop for the win... Shore’s Slant: Well at least Kozlov beat someone I had heard of this week. To be fair, he looks good offensively, I want to see him sell before I make a real judgment on him. [Q6] Back from commercial and the WWE Slam of the Week is a WWE.com exclusive from two weeks ago 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... Back ringside and Cherry made her way to the ring. Maryse came out next with Deuce and Domino. Cherry looked very hurt... 5. Cherry defeated Maryse (w/Deuce, Domino) at 2:16. Maryse started off pushing Cherry around. Cherry hit her and took control. Maryse regained control and threw Cherry into the turnbuckle. Maryse went for a corner clothesline, which Cherry blocked. Cherry hit the bulldog for the win… Shore’s Slant: See, told you I would do better next time. Not a bad match for Divas, but not what we had in the first match. Cherry has promise if she would stop wrestling in a half sweater… Cole and Foley teased the main event to commercial... [C] Back from commercial and Cole plugged Judgment Day and its official song. Looks to be a fair PPV if the Orton/Hunter and Edge/Taker angles end. A video aired of Triple H winning the WWE Championship at Backlash and a summary of the last month. [Q7] Backstage Kofi Kingston and Eve congratulated Matt Hardy on his U.S. Championship win and his DVD release. After they walked away, Shelton Benjamin came up and said the Hardys were in the past. Hardy said in the past Kofi had dropped Benjamin on ECW and that the “Gold Standard” had no gold except for the hair which doesn’t count. Benjamin said he was going through Hardy tonight and Hardy said Benjamin would see the real gold standard tonight was no joke… [C] 6. Matt Hardy defeated Shelton Benjamin at 6:31. A lot of good, quick mat wrestling early. Control went back and forth until Shelton hit a face suplex at about 2:15. Cole and Foley waxed on and on about how Benjamin has the future in his hands. At 5:30, Hardy had a flurry that included the side effect for a two count. Benjamin regained control and went for a suplex. Hardy quickly reversed into the Twist of Fate for the win… Shore’s Slant: Pretty good match. Benjamin and Hardy work well together seeing as how they have similar styles. In my audition, I mentioned how much I liked Benjamin and hated to see him reduced to jobber to mid-carders. I reiterate that here. Oh, and for all you shotgun totin’ toothless wonders out there, reiterate means repeat. (See Powell’s blog from May 14.) [Q8] A video aired recapping the opening events leading up to the main event… [C] Back from commercial and Edge’s music played and the fam damly came out. They started down the ramp and stopped halfway when Edge, Vickie, Hawkins, and Ryder realized that Chavo and Bam Neely were still on the stage. Chavo and Bam stared at the four for a moment and then walked backstage. Looks like a four-on-one match instead of six... 7. Undertaker fought Edge, Curt Hawkins, Zach Ryder, and Vickie Guerrero to a no-contest. The opening bell rang at four minutes before the top of the hour. Undertaker laid out Hawkins and Ryder first and turned on Edge who backed away. Taker turned on Vickie and got jumped by the Edge clones. Undertaker regained control and went after Vickie again but got hit from behind again. Taker threw Hawkins and Ryder out of the ring and kicked Edge out. He turned and gave Vickie a “grin.” I just crapped myself. He went after Vickie and the clones jumped him and got double chokeslammed. Undertaker finally grabbed Vickie by the throat and drug her from the chair. He went for the chokeslam and got speared by Edge, who grabbed Vickie while the clones grabbed the wheelchair. They all left ringside as the Undertaker glared at them… Shore’s Slant: Typical pre-PPV match that intensified a feud that was going stale. It still needs to end after Judgment Day, though. In all seriousness, that was the creepiest smile I have ever seen from ‘Taker. Nicely done. All in all, a solid but not spectacular show heading into the PPV. No real news stories or swerves for Judgment Day, but no letdowns either. I hoped you enjoyed my report. I welcome your comments, criticisms, and of course your praise! Email me at mailto:cshore10@triad.rr.com. Oh, and like Batista, I have no plans for Sunday so who knows? See you next week. 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