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TNA
The Royal Treatment: Smackdown (5.26.05)
Posted by Peter Kostka on May 27, 2005, 20:31
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Previously recorded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Stills of the I Quit match from Judgement Day (with all shots involving blood in black and white, of course) open things up.
Carlito and Matt Morgan head out to kick things off with another edition of the Cabana. Carlito declares that Judgement Day was cool and says his guest this week is someone who made a big impact Sunday, someone who earned the respect of the locker room because of his performance���himself. He was able to beat Big Show all by himself, with the support of Morgan helping him through. We see a clip of Morgan hitting Show with an F-5 and Carlito confirms that it was, like they both are, �cool.� The General Player heads out to interrupt things and mention that, since the draft lottery starts in two weeks, next week will be the last Smackdown for one Superstar. In that case, tonight there will be a Winner�s Choice battle royal where the winner will be able to choose his opponent for next week�s show. Carlito�s game, already choosing a WWE title match with John Cena, but Long tells him he has a match tonight, a JD rematch against Big Show. Carlito doesn�t like that one bit, and is consoled by Morgan.
Thoughts: I�m a bit of a mark for battle royals, so bring it on. I really hate them always having PPV re-matches on the following shows however; makes the people that plunked down cash to watch the show feel cheated.
Rey Mysterio gears up while Josh Matthews asks him about the battle royal. Rey says that Eddie Guerrero should have taken his life on Sunday because, after the battle royal, he�ll make Eddie pay.
MNM � vs. Hardcore Holly and Charlie Haas (WWE Tag title match)
See what I mean about PPV rematches on free TV? Holly and Mercury start with Holly hitting a suplex for 2. They trade chops and Holly gains control with a kick to the �lower abdomen� (so says Cole) and tags Haas who works the arm for a bit. Nitro tags and kicks the leg of Haas but Hass comes back with a monkey flip. Nitro decides to go airborne but Haas nails him with a dropkick. He hits an inverted atomic drop, but is tripped up by Mercury as we take a break. Not a bad start to this one.
Coming back, Nitro comes in on a blind tag during a Haas sunset flip attempt and controls with a chinlock. Haas breaks it but is kneed in the back by Mercury which leads to a Nitro rollup for 2. Mercury tags and hits a double team gutbuster followed by a sloppy northern lights for 2. Nitro back in with a chinlock, but Haas escapes with an armdrag, but Nitro cuts off the tag. They double team Haas in the corner and even Melina gets into it which leads to a Benny Hill chase by Holly. The ref settles things down and Hass makes the comeback, hitting a belly to belly on Mercury and tagging Holly, which gets a pretty strong reaction I must say. Holly clears house and dumps Nitro, but the ref gets in the way of a Holly flying clothesline leading to no one to count after he hits the Alabamaslam. Nitro grabs a chair and nails Haas before entering the ring and hitting Holly to draw the DQ from the revived ref. MNM quickly beat a path up the aisle.
Rating: 4/10
Thoughts: Sound tag match that had the crowd pretty into it (though why Holly of all people is so over baffles me.) Haas and Holly are carving themselves a nice little niche in the tag ranks since it seems like Holly�s aggressiveness is rubbing off on Haas.
Booker T and Sharmell revel in Booker�s win over Kurt Angle on Sunday and Sharmell�s post-match revenge. She wants her man to win the battle royal tonight.
John Cena heads out to a huge reaction from the crowd. He pauses before speaking to take it all in before thanking everyone that didn�t quit on him. There was a lot of talk that he wouldn�t be able to cut it as champion, but two words that never escaped his lips changed all that, which is why �the champ is HERE!� Sure, JBL was right on a few things: Cena went through the most brutal match of his life and JBL made him bleed, but when it came to JBL owning his soul, he was dead wrong. JBL probably feels sick to his stomach, a shell of a man (which of course, JBL is), but Cena has something for him. JBL�s music hits and he comes limping to the ring, unable to even put his cowboy hat on because of his injuries. JBL�s been successful because he�s never made excuses. Cena was the better man, and JBL isn�t sure if he�ll ever be able to beat him. He admits that Cena�s on a roll right now with the title, his CD and his movie and acknowledges that he�s the man��for now. It�s tough to be great forever; because people like Cena tend to burn out (he uses Mike Tyson, Kurt Cobain and James Dean as examples) and when he does, JBL will be there to pick up the pieces and continue his legacy. Cena tells him that the people decide what JBL�s legacy will be and Cena doesn�t care about any legacy. If he does go down, it will be in a blaze of glory. Speaking of legacies, Cena made a tribute video for JBL showing all the good things he has done, but since JBL got so uppity, he won�t show it. JBL insists, so Cena rolls it. It starts off nice�..but five seconds in it turns into repeatedly playing the clip of JBL saying �I quit�. And I mean repeatedly. Cena tells him that JBL�s legacy will be of being the �Most celebrated quitter in WWE history!� JBL fumes as he walks up the ramp while Cena poses with some fans.
Thoughts: Very loooooong promo, but once again JBL nails it by being humble but still not beaten. I thought this match might have done some serious damage to JBL�s character, but his promo helped salvage it nicely. Oh and Cena was good as well.
Carlito (w/Matt Morgan) vs. Big Show
Show dominates to start and Morgan gets involved leading to him being ejected from ringside. Carlito tries to leave with him, but the ref brings him back and Show pulls him back in. Carlito rakes the eyes and hits a missile dropkick but walks into a chokeslam for the Show victory. Morgan charges back in and kicks Show to the outside. He sends Show into the post before hitting a sloppy F-5 (though Show is 500 pounds). Cole and Tazz exclaim that no one had ever done anything like that to Big Show.
We recap the �ECW Funeral� from RAW that probably hyped the ECW PPV better than anything else they could possibly do. Angle watches on a monitor, disgusted.
Kurt Angle heads out for the Invitational. He�s ashamed of what happened at JD, calling Sharmell attacking him a joke, but an even bigger joke is that Vince McMahon decided to bring back ECW. That�s not wrestling, that�s garbage. He attended an ECW event once and was so disgusted by what he saw that he left halfway through and vowed never to return. Like Eric Bischoff, he�s going to bring a bunch of Smackdown �volunteers� to the PPV to ruin things. What, are they trying a new version of the Invasion here? Angle dispatches his opponent (Robert) as usual and, since he�s warmed up, wants the battle royal to start right now. Heidenreich, Carlito and Matt Morgan head out as we take a break. Guess that blown finish got the Chavo Guerrero/Paul London match yanked off the show.
Winner�s Choice Battle Royal
As Rey makes his entrance, Eddie attacks with a chair until officials pry him off and help Rey to the back. Eddie decides to stay on the outside as the festivities begin. London is the first to go and Funaki and Mercury follow via Angle. Morgan stands on the outside, pushing Chavo back in when he starts to go over (uh�.that�s against the rules, right?) Booker tosses Akio and Mark Jindrak goes out via Heidenreich as Eddie watches and we take a break.
We learn that Nitro got tossed during said break and Kidman goes via a Holly suplex. Heidenreich charges Angle, but ends up on the floor for his troubles. Nunzio tries to dump Doug Basham but brother Danny saves. Chavo decides to work over Scotty 2 Hotty, but Scotty ends up tossing him while Angle tosses Haas (who gets his legs tangled in the ropes a bit and seemingly pulls a groin muscle). Shannon Moore and Nunzio try to dump Carlito, but Morgan pulls them both out. Booker takes the opportunity to dump Carlito himself. Eddie slips into the ring and dumps Scotty before helping Angle with Holly and dumping him as well. Rey comes charging in and gets into it with Eddie. They keep countering each other while heading towards the ropes and Eddie wins the battle, but Rey hangs on the apron. Eddie charges, but Rey backdrops him out, following up with a seated senton which should have eliminated him as well, but the refs invoke the old �He had to be thrown out� rule and let Rey back in as we take another break.
Rey battles Orlando Jordan and Doug Basham as Angle and Danny work over Booker. Rey tries to send Orlando out as Angle tries to dump Booker, but both hold on. Booker clotheslines Angle and fights off the Cabinet while Angle goes after Rey. Booker avoids a double team and dumps Orlando and Doug before eliminating Danny as well, but Angle sneaks up and tosses Booker, leaving it down to him and Rey. Angle tries to toss him, but Rey hangs on. Angle uppercuts him and gets a sunset flip, but Rey rolls through and dropkicks Angle in the face. He tries to toss Angle, but Kurt hangs on. Rey dropkicks him and Angle hangs on the apron but doesn�t hit the floor. Rey tries the 619 but Angle avoids it and picks the ankle for the Anglelock. He drapes Rey on the ropes and slaps it on again, but Rey pulls him into the ropes and they both topple over but don�t hit. They slug it out on the apron and Angle tries to suplex Rey off, but Rey lands in the ring and snaps Angle�s throat on top, leading to another near-elimination. Angle rolls back in the ring and puts Rey on his shoulder, but Rey pushes off and the momentum sends Angle almost out once again. Rey slugs, but Angle shoulders him in the gut and steps on the second rope to try something but Rey once again slugs Angle to the apron. Slugfest in the ring and Angle reverses a whip into a belly to belly. He charges, but Rey trips him into position and hits the 619. He goes for the springboard, but Angle low blows him out of the air and Angle Slams Rey out to win. Angle grabs a mic and says that Cena�s in luck since Angle�s giving him the night off next week. Next week Angle will face�..Booker T�s wife Sharmell.
Thoughts: The ending is the only good part of this, as it was the typical �bunch of guys hitting each other� for most of the match. Some good elimination teases by Angle and Rey, but beyond that, nothing special. And if THAT�S the match we get from it, they shouldn�t have had the damn thing at all.
Final Thoughts: Decent Smackdown this week with a good tag match and strong JBL/Cena promo, but nothing much else aside from the last 5 or so minutes of the battle royal.
I�ve got the week off next week, so see you June 6 for the start of the Draft Lottery on RAW.
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