8/2 WWE Smackdown in Johnson City, Tenn.: Jeff Hardy vs. Umaga, refunds offered due to Triple H missing the show, Shelton Benjamin improvises during a three-way with Mr. Kennedy and MVP

WWE Smackdown house show
Johnson City, Tenn.
Thanks to an anonymous Dot Net Reader

Triple H announced as a no-show. A few boos, and they offered a refund before the end of the first match.

1. Finlay pinned Mike Knox. Didn't see this match, as the venue double-booked my front-row comped seats for some dude who bought the same three for his family the morning of the show. Oops! After the match, Hornswoggle brought some kids into the ring and raced them.

2. Kendrick pinned R-Truth with Sliced Bread No. 2. My dad yelled "SPANKY!" at Kendrick right before the match began. He didn't seem to like that. Really basic match, considering who was involved. Finish came when Ezekiel and R-Truth got into a staredown outside the ring, and as R-Truth started back into the ring, Kendrick kicked the middle rope, crotching him and leaving him easy prey for the finisher.

3. Mark Henry pinned Matt Hardy with the World's Strongest Slam to retain the ECW Title. Pretty paint-by-numbers, but the finishing sequence was nice, with Hardy countering the Strongest Slam into a Twist of Fate try, only to have Henry shove Hardy off, catch him on the rebound and hit his finisher. No doubt a rehearsal for the PPV.

4. Hawkins & Ryder beat Jesse & Festus to retain the WWE Tag Titles. Decent little tag match here. Festus is something to watch live. Really good big man, as he also showed with his great match against Taker a few months back. Jesse also plays his role well. Hawkins or Ryder won with a roll-up on Jesse.

5. Shelton Benjamin beat Mr. Kennedy and MVP in a three-way to retain the U.S. Title. Kennedy was super over. Another fairly basic match which was pretty sloppy from time to time. Kennedy looked rough in my opinion, but I'll be the first to admit I am not a fan of the guy: "Look, I say my name! Then I say it again!" Maybe WWE will bring back the Cactus Jack amnesia gimmick one day: Kennedy gets kicked really hard in the head, comes in to do his schtick... and draws a complete and total blank.

Where was I? Oh right, the match!

One highlight: Shelton gets sent to the outside right in front us, where there's a bag of popcorn lying ringside. He opens it, stands there and starts eating some. Nice little ad-lib. And that's why I love me some Shelton Benjamin. Finish came when Kennedy hit MVP with the Mic Check, but Benjamin caught Kennedy with a rolling cradle as he went to make the cover.

Intermission: Buy some stuff!

6. Maria & Cherry beat Natalya & Maryse when Maria beat Maryse. I can't remember many of the details from this one. Front row... divas... do the math. Cherry played the face in peril, Natalya didn't do terribly much, Maria gets the hot tag and wins. Huzzah! Maria and Maryse are very, very hot in person.

7. Big Show beat Great Khali with the chokeslam. Quick and painless. There's no way Khali is 7-3 or 7-5, or whatever they bill him as, but he is taller than Show. This was a spectacle just because of how big they are, but Khali does absolutely suck in the ring. He applied one resthold/chinlock/quasi-choke that looked more like a hug than anything. Khali just wants to hug. Awww... Show blocks Khali's two-handed choke throw with the chokeslam and gets the duke.

8. Jeff Hardy pinned Umaga with the Swanton in a No-DQ match. Fans decided the stip via texting. Falls Count Anywhere and 2 out of 3 falls were the other options. Sweet Jews for Jesus, Hardy is over. Best match of the night. They took it into the crowd even though it wasn't FCA, which was pretty cool. That also allowed ringside security to show their Inner Douche, which was... not so cool. Back in the ring, Umaga went for a diving headbutt off the top, missed, and was favoring his right knee the rest of the night, flexing it in between moves and bumps and what not. Jeff finally won with the Swanton after some very good near-falls. You can tell these two work well together, and after all the matches they've had, why wouldn't they?

Notes: Fairly short show. Less than two-and-a-half hours, counting the intermission. It was entertaining to me, but my seats were good and free. Not sure how paying fans felt. I don't think I would've been blown away if I'd laid out $30 or $40.

Biggest Pops:
Jeff Hardy
Matt Hardy
Big Show, Kennedy and Finlay also got big reactions.

Biggest Heat:
Khali
Mark Henry
MVP and Umaga