Smackdown on MyNetwork TV
Taped on 5/26/09 in Las Angeles, CA.

[Q1]The show opened with Rey Mysterio’s entrance as Jim Ross and Todd Grisham welcomed us to Smackdown. They plugged the Hardy/Mysterio vs. Edge/Jericho main event. Rey started out in Spanish to the delight of the LA crowd. Rey hyped the No Holds Barred match at Extreme Rules, saying it will be “off the hook.” He said he could hit Jericho with the 619 and named all the other LA area codes. He started to say more in Spanish when the pyro went off and Jericho made his entrance in his suit.

Jericho asked, “Off the hook?” He mentioned some terrible things that could happen in a No Holds Barred match and asked if those would be off the hook. He started down his rant and Mysterio screamed for him to shut up. Rey said Jericho’s word meant nothing. He said the last time he gave his word, that Rey wouldn’t hit the 619, he did. He said Jericho gave his word that he would beat up Mickey Rourke at Mania and he got knocked out. They showed Rourke who was in the audience.

Jericho went to the ropes and said Rourke was lucky Jericho was such a professional that he wasn’t going to come down there and slap him. Jericho turned back to Rey and asked him about his mask. He gave his word he would remove the mask at Extreme Rules and “expose the fraud you are.” Jericho tried to attack Rey, but Mysterio dropped him in the 619 setup. Jericho escaped the ring before Mysterio could hit it…

The announce team hyped the Mike Knox and Dolph Ziggler vs. Great Khali and R-Truth for next. The Great Khali was shown backstage heading towards the ring…[C]

Shore’s Slant: Good opening to Smackdown. That 10 minutes was better than the 120+ we got from Raw on Monday. This match should actually be “off the hook” as both these guys are able to do some serious spots. The tag match main event ought to be good as well. Man am I happy I don’t have to cover that show!

Back from commercial, R-Truth and The Great Khali made their entrance together to Truth’s lame ass song. Khali even said, “What’s up.” That was funny. Truth started a Go Khali chant. Khali danced. Oh God, please kill me. Truth let Khali get the “what’s up” at the end. Knox and Ziggler came out separately. During Ziggler’s entrance, a video package recapped the history between Khali and Ziggler…

[Q2]1. Great Khali and R-Truth defeated Mike Knox and Dolph Ziggler at 4:05. Ziggler and Truth started. Truth started out quickly and locked in an arm bar. He pulled Ziggler back to the corner and tagged in Khali. Ziggler escaped and tagged in Knox. Knox went at Khali and got his but kicked. Truth tagged back in and Knox clotheslined him almost immediately. Ziggler tagged back in and locked in a chinlock.

Truth fought out and he and Ziggler hit cross bodies on each other. Double hot tags and Khali totally punked Knox. Knox was beating on Khali and he just shoved Knox aside. Ziggler came off the top rope and Khali caught him for the Punjabi Plunge. Knox clubbed Khali and Ziggler escaped up the ramp. After staring at Ziggler, Khali turned around and hit the plunge for the win. Post match, Khali danced again…The announce team hyped the main event…Melina was shown backstage heading towards the ring…[C]

Shore’s Slant: They absolutely punked Knox. Holy crap. I can’t believe how bad they made Knox look there. I was so looking forward to Umaga/Knox but it will suck now for sure.

Back from commercial, the smack of the night was the Melina/Alicia Fox confrontation last week…Melina made her entrance. Fox was out next

2. Melina defeated Alicia Fox w/Michelle McCool at 2:32. McCool distracted Melina a few times to allow Fox to take a few shots. Other than that, all Melina. Melina hit her standing legdrop for the win…

[Q3]Backstage, Josh Matthews interviewed John Morrison. He asked him about the match with Umaga. Morrison called Umaga a moron, and then kind of went off the deep end like the Rock used to and then asked Matthews if he knew what that meant. Matthews looked confused and Morrison said he meant he was going to out think Umaga. Benjamin interrupted him and said they had unfinished business. Morrison said he had beaten Benjamin and the “other half of the World’s Most Forgotten Tag Team” twice. Benjamin said he was a former US champ and the gold standard. Morrison said he had better things to do than discuss gold hair dye with a former champ. He walked off and Benjamin looked crazy…[C]

Shore’s Slant: There was a women’s match. That’s about all the analysis I can give you on that match. Morrison is channeling Dwayne Johnson like a mug. He’s not the Rock yet, but he is definitely in that vain. I now announce my new man crush.

Back from commercial, a video package put over Jeff Hardy and the ladder match at Extreme Rules. Back ringside, Jeff Hardy made his entrance. He cut a promo on the ladder match. He said it was interesting that 10 years ago, he and Edge competed in the first tag team ladder match and their feud would end in a ladder match. He said his win would prove that his win last year was no fluke. His music hit and I think part of the promo was cut out. Jeff shook hands up the ramp. About halfway up, Umaga’s music hit and he made his entrance. He and Hardy stared at each other as they passed. Umaga had the strap and looked scarily in the ring into commercial…[C]

[Q4]Back from commercial, Umaga was stalking in the ring with the strap in his mouth. Morrison made his entrance to a decent pop as the announce team hyped the Samoan Strap Match at Extreme Rules…[C]

3. John Morrison defeated Umaga by Disqualification at 12:53. The ref made Umaga kick the strap to the floor. Umaga yelled insults in English at Morrison. Umaga worked power on Morrison. He charged at Morrison who ducked and pulled the top rope down. Umaga splashed to the floor and Morrison hit a springboard plancha on him. Back in the ring, Morrison hit a Sunset Flip. Umaga tried to sit on him, but Morrison moved and hit a running knee on a sitting Umaga. Morrison charged at Umaga who tossed him into the air, caught him on his back, and hit a Samoan Slam. Morrison rolled to the floor and recovered into the break…[C]

Back at 6:00, Umaga had a chin lock/arm bar combo rest hold locked in. Morrison fought out and tried to suplex Umaga. Umaga reversed and dropped Morrison on the top rope and superkicked him to the floor. So dude at ringside was popping his belt at Umaga, funny. Morrison tried to charge at Umaga, but got clotheslined so hard he cut a flip. Umaga locked in a nerve pinch at 8:20. Morrison fought out and hit a big kick, but Umaga caught his cross body attempt and hit his fall away slam. After a couple of head buts, Umaga locked in the nerve pinch again and the crowed booed.

Morrison flipped around through a lift attempt and hit a DDT. Morrison covered for two. Morrison hit several clotheslines and drop kicks and only managed to drop Umaga to one knee. Morrison ran in again and got punched to the floor. He whipped Morrison to the corner and charged in. Morrison moved, Umaga hit his head on the post, and Morrison hit a springboard kick he calls the Chuck Kick. Umaga spilled to the floor and Morrison followed. Umaga grabbed the strap and hit Morrison, causing the DQ.

[Q5]Umaga continued to beat on Morrison with the strap. He rolled Morrison back into the ring and tied him up in the corner like he did CM Punk last week. He continued to attack Morrison until Punk came out and hit Umaga with the MITB briefcase twice. Umaga was still standing so Punk set the briefcase down, hit the knee in the corner, and followed with a bulldog onto the briefcase. Umaga escaped and punk celebrated in the ring.

Todd Grisham used his magic powers to suddenly appear in the ring with a mic and asked Punk what his strategy was for the Samoan Strap match. Punk asked if he looked like a guy who strategized a lot. He put over Umaga as bigger and stronger and then said Umaga wasn’t CM Punk, and that made Punk just as dangerous. He celebrated as his music played into commercial…[C]

Shore’s Slant: A 12 minute match isn’t really a 12 minute match if half of it is rest holds. Still, the action between these two was goo and I’m glad to see Morrison wasn’t buried to put Umaga over. Punk looks great right now. If he wins the strap match, look for Umaga to get revenge next week.

Back from commercial, Cryme Tyme made their ring entrance. The World’s Greatest Tag Team made their entrance next. A video package showed how Cryme Tyme interrupted Benjamin and Haas last night on Superstars…

4. Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas defeated Cryme Tyme 11:16. Haas and JTG started out. JTG took control and tagged in Shad. JTG whipped Shad into Haas who was setup in the corner. Shad whipped Haas into the corner and charged in. Haas kicked him and tagged in Benjamin. Benjamin charged at Shad who picked him up in a gorilla press. Benjamin kicked him in the back of the head to escape, but Shad hot a big clothesline. He tagged in JTG and they hit their slingshot splash. JTG whipped Benjamin into the corner and ran into do a monkey flip. Shad distracted the ref for some reason and Haas and Benjamin hit a modified 3D onto the top rope. JTG banged the mat like he was really hurt and Benjamin locked in a headlock into commercial…[C]

[Q6]Back at the 6:26 mark, Haas worked power on JTG. He tagged in Benjamin who kicked JTG and covered for two. Benjamin worked very aggressive on JTG and then locked in a neck hold. Haas tagged back in and hit several knees to JTG’s neck. Haas and Benjamin remind me a lot of the old Arn and Ole Anderson team that would isolate a body part and work it the whole match. Benjamin tagged back in and JTG tried to make a tag, but Benjamin grabbed him and hit a belly to back with a bridge for two. Haas came back in missed a knee drop and JTG got the hot tag.

Shad cleaned house and covered Benjamin for two. Haas broke it up, but JTG used Shad as a springboard to kick Haas to the floor. Shad lifted Benjamin for a drop, but he landed on his feet and hit Pay Dirt for the win. Haas and Benjamin talked junk to Shad and then left…A video package recapped the Eve/Layla feud. Their match is next.

Shore’s Slant: Really good match from these guys. Cryme Tyme works well together, though I think Shad has the most upside. Benjamin is going to be a star. In five years we will be discussing the Morrison/Benjamin feud for the world title. You heard it here first.

[Q7]Back from commercial, Eve made her entrance. Layla made hers next. The announce team pointed out that this match has NBA history as each of these women have danced for a NBA team. Please, let it go…

5. Eve Torres defeated Layla at 3:10. Todd Grisham called this a hair pulling, nail scratching match. And it wasn’t even that good. The hot spot of the match was when they hit flying hair tosses on each other. Eve rolled through a cross body from Layla for the win. Post match, Layla tried to attack Eve, but Eve tossed her through the ropes to the floor…

Backstage, Jericho and Edge bickered over who should be in charge. Jericho told Edge to wrestle the match without him because he was done. He stormed off and Edge looked confused/concerned into the break…[C]

Shore’s Slant: I lied. Next time, put those three minutes into Umaga/Morrison rest holds. That’s more entertaining than that match was.

Back from commercial, Edge made his entrance. He got a mic and cut a promo on Jeff Hardy. He said if he could describe Hardy it would be “missed opportunities.” He said when Jeff had the chance to pick the match they would have, he picked a match that Edge excelled at. Edge agreed they had been in more ladder matches than anyone, and while Jeff always wowed the crowd and made the highlight reel, Edge always won. He said Jeff was a loser and he was a winner. He said Jeff was the perennial challenger and he would walk out of Extreme Rules the World Heavyweight Champion.

Pyro popped and Jericho’s music hit. Nobody came out. Jericho’s music stopped and he looked at the ref for an answer. The ref shrugged and Mysterio’s music hit. He came out with a weird mask on over his other mask. He touched heads with kids and gave one kid his covering mask. He touched heads with another person, and that person grabbed him and rammed him into the rail. He jumped the rail and took his mask off to reveal himself as Chris Jericho. Jericho worked over Rey and then tried to pull his mask off. Hardy ran down and made the save. Jericho ran off and flipped the cowl off of the announcers table. Refs came out and checked on Rey into the break…[C]

[Q8]6. Edge and Chris Jericho defeated Rey Mysterio and Jeff Hardy at 7:06. Back from commercial, it was announced that the match would be a two on one handicap match. Jericho started against Hardy and was wrestling shirtless in his suit pants. Hardy worked quickly on Jericho and set him up for a Swanton. Edge ran in and Hardy hit a double axe handle on him instead. He knocked Jericho back down and kicked Edge to the floor. He hit a diving plancha on Edge. When he tried to get back in the ring, Jericho hit a springboard dropkick.

Jericho went to the floor and tossed Hardy back in. He hit several power moves on Hardy and tagged in Edge. Edge worked on Hardy as JR told us that Jericho must have gotten a dictionary for Christmas. What? Edge locked in and armbar/chin lock combo. Jeff tried to escape, but Edge dropped him by his hair and tagged in Jericho. Jericho hit a splash for two and taunted Hardy. Hardy fought out and whipped Jericho. He tried for a dropkick, but Jericho held the ropes to stop. He tried for the Lionsault, but Hardy picked up his knees and Jericho sold a leg injury.

Edge tagged back in and Hardy took control with an immediate clothesline. He hit the mule kick for two and called for the fans. He tried for a Twist of Fate, but edge pushed him towards Jericho. Jericho went to punch Hardy, but Hardy stopped. Edge ran in and Hardy tossed him into Jericho. Jericho spilled to the floor and Edge rolled up Hardy for two. Jericho came back in and he and Edge worked double team on Jeff. They double whipped Jeff to the corner and he hit a Whisper in the Wind on them both. Jeff hit a Twist of Fate on Jericho and turned into a spear from Edge. Edge covered for the win.

Post match, Edge got a ladder and hit Hardy in the face with it. He laid it on its side and opened it. He placed Hardy in it and slammed it closed on Jeff. He placed one foot on the ladder and raised the belt to celebrate. Trainers came out and checked on Jeff to end the show…

Shore’s Slant: Wow. A good handicap match. Maybe the Raw writers should be watching. I’m not sure what, if anything, this means for Extreme Rules. The show as a whole was good and wicked awesome compared to Raw. Let there be no doubt, Smackdown is the A show. Other than the women’s matches and Khali’s dancing, this was how a show should be, top to bottom. Thanks for reading. I’m off to the beach for the week so you’re stuck with someone else next week. I know. I’ll miss you too. See you in two weeks for the post Extreme Rules Smackdown.

Questions? Comments? Anyone, anyone? Let me hear from you. Email me at css3238@gmail.com with whatever is on your mind.

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