Source: PWTorch.com
-Smackdown Opener
1- M.V.P VS. MATT HARDY
M.V.P gets on the mic and disses the hometown teams until Matt Hardy’s music hits. M.V.P grabs a side headlock, then knocks Hardy down with a shoulderblock. Michael Cole called Matt Hardy arguably the M.V.P of Smackdown, yet later, said a win here would put him in the U.S. Title picture. What does that say when the M.V.P of the show isn’t even considered to be in the secondary title hunt? After another side headlock, Porter slams Hardy down. Test of strength is next. Hardy back-drops him while their hands are still clenched together for a near fall. High hip-toss by Hardy. Side headlock again, this time by Hardy. M.V.P. misses a corner charge, and gets hit with a bulldog out of the corner. Interesting reversal by Porter and now he’s got Hardy in an arm-bar. Hardy fights out then hits a back elbow as Porter was coming off the rope. Elbow is dropped onto M.V.P and a cover gets two. Slam and fist-drop by Hardy for a two-count. Matt misses a legdrop, and M.V.P goes to work on the left leg of Hardy. Matt fights out with some fisticuffs until M.V.P goes to the outside to stall and we go to break.
[Break]
M.V.P turns the tide when we come back. Back to the arm-bar for Porter. Hardy gets out of it and hits the elbow off the middle rope for a near-fall. Porter with another counter, and Hardy ends up getting knocked off the apron and onto the outside barricade. M.V.P throws Hardy back in and gets a two-count. Abdominal stretch into a leg-scissors by M.V.P, but again, Matt Hardy WILL NOT GIVE UP. M.V.P puts some body shots into Hardy in the corner. Matt fights out and hits some left hands, before a single right hand by Porter puts Hardy down like a sack of manure. After a rest-hold, Hardy gets on the advantage and hits the Side Effect for a near-fall. Porter is back on his feet first, and he slams Hardy into the turnbuckle. Matt gets a boot up on a corner charge, then goes to the top. Porter runs up the ‘buckle though and belly-to-belly’s him off the top. Porter is slow to cover, and thus only gets two. Both of them throw forearms at each other in the middle of the ring, but Matt catches M.V.P with a clothesline. Twist of Fate blocked, M.V.P puts Hardy on his shoulders, then just drops him. Kick to the skull by Porter, and Hardy again kicks out. M.V.P stalks Matt again, but misses the boot in the corner. Hardy’s bulldog is blocked, and Porter gets another kick in the corner but again, it doesn’t get the three-count. Hardy, from out of nowhere, hits the Twist of Fate for the win.
WINNER: Hardy at 18:46.
Very good match, except they’re not really getting M.V.P’s big kick over as big as I thought they were going to. Hardy just seemed to shake it off a couple times.
-Flair vs. Finlay is coming up tonight!.
[Break]
-Michelle McCool goes shopping! Uh….yeah, that’s it.
-Kristal and Teddy Long discuss who to invite to the wedding (apparently, cousin Bubba is out), and Edge barges in. He’s not doing anything for Teddy, so he’s just come in to say goodbye. Teddy allows him to do the Cutting Edge tonight, and Teddy is going to select a guest for him tonight, and yes, it WILL be the biggest star ever on the Cutting Edge. As Teddy leaves with Kristal, Vickie is left behind to man (or, woman) Smackdown.
2- CHRIS MASTERS VS. JIMMY WANG YANG
Masters powers out of a lock-up, then uses his strength to just drop Yang off a side headlock. Masters military presses Yang and sends him down. The Masterpiece drops the elbow into the neck of Yang. The Asian Cowboys comes back with some punches, but gets clotheslined out of his shoes off the ropes. J.B.L says, “that’s what happens when cruiserweights get in there with heavyweights.” I guess Wade was right, weight classes ARE needed. Nah, I still don’t like the idea. Anyway, Yang works back, trying to go after the legs of Masters, then catches Masters with a side kick to the head and a kick in the corner. Yang gets caught coming off the top and Masters turns it into a MasterLock and that’ll do it.
WINNER: Masters at 2:51.
Wow, from Cruiserweight title match to little offense against Chris Masters. You’re telling me they couldn’t have fed Funaki or Moore to Masters?
-After the match, Great Khali’s music hits. Masters does the smartest thing he’s ever done and leaves the ring. Yang gets the brunt of Khali’s punishment. He grabs the mic, blabbers on, and his translator takes over. Khali wants an opponent for the Great American Bash, and he’s issuing an open challenge. Until someone accepts, he’ll continue on his path of destruction.
[Break]
-Jesse and Festus discuss traveling. Apparently, they don’t need a GPS because Festus is a navigational wizard. Yikes.
3- THE MAJOR BROTHERS VS. JEREMY YOUNG & MIKE FOX
Brian and Fox start things off. Arm-wringer and a tag out to Brett. Fox tags over, but Brett uses his athleticism to counter and hip-toss Fox. Tag into Brian, who comes in with a sunset flip for a two-count. Another arm-bar. Fox with a side headlock, blind tag and the Majors do a double-leap frog and double hip-toss. Distraction allows Fox to tag out to Young. Brian comes in with some forearms and a left hand. Bodyslam follows that up, and he knocks Fox off the apron. Tag to Brett, and they do a double-Russian leg sweep type move for the win.
WINNERS: The Major Brothers at 2:25.
The Majors’ showed some good athleticism, but little else.
-Who is Edge’s surprise interview tonight? And Flair/Finlay is coming up as well. In fact, it’s next.
[Break]
-Rey Mysterio makes his return to Smackdown soon.
4- RIC FLAIR VS. FINLAY
Flair does a little posturing to start and Fit seems none too pleased. On a tie-up, Flair backs Finlay into the corner, but backs off. Another lock-up, into a side head-lock, then a knockdown by Finlay. Flair and Finlay trade working the arm, then Flair gets Fit down and works the right leg. In true Finlay fashion, he gets out of that predicament by kicking Flair in the face. Finlay rams the shoulder right into Flair in the corner and lays in some uppercuts. The Irishman must be inebriated, because he starts trash talking Flair. Finlay applies the Yokozuna Memorial Nerve Hold on Flair. Back in the corner, Finlay slams another forearm into Flair’s chest. An eye poke by Flair gets him out of trouble. It’s gotten me out of trouble a number of times, too. Ric goes to the chops, then hip-tosses Finlay (which Cole has the audacity to call a “big” hip-toss when Finlay barely got off the ground). Finlay applies a half-Boston crab and was RIGHT THERE to use the ropes for leverage but didn’t. He drags Flair back to the middle of the ring, and Finlay puts it on again. Finlay puts all his body weight right on that right leg, working the Indian Death Lock. Flair gets to the ropes to break the move. Finlay hits a Vader bomb on Flair, but when he tries to back to the leg, Flair pushes him over the top rope to the outside. Flair follows him out with some chops, then throws him back in. Whip into the buckle, and Flair chop-blocks Finlay. Figure-Four is applied by the Nature Boy. Finlay nearly gets the ropes, but Flair drags him back. He goes for it again, but Finlay small-packages him for a near-fall. Hornswaggle enters the ring, and Flair, on his knees, chops the little man. Finlay, from behind, nails Flair in the leg with the Shillaleigh, then applies the Celtic Knot (his version of the Indian Death Lock), to which Flair submits.
WINNER: Finlay at 10:19.
Good match, and it had a different feel than the first match.
-Who is Edge’s special guest? We’ll find out later.
[Break]
-Torrie is backstage doing a SummerSlam photo-shoot, when she’s interrupted by Victoria. Torrie says people think Victoria is acting crazy. Victoria throws a beach ball at Torrie, and Torrie slaps Victoria. It’s on, as the two go at it until they’re restrained.
-Great Khali and his interpreter walk backstage. They find a scared stage-hand and Khali’s interpreter asks why he won’t look Khali in the eye. The interpreter suggests he wants to be Khali’s challenger at G.A.B. The stage hand apologizes and tries to walk away, but Khali grabs him and throws him into the wall.
[Break]
5- KENNY DYKSTRA VS. CHUCK PALUMBO
Dykstra’s pre-match mic work (where he proclaims himself a future hall-of-famer). Cole bills this as Palumbo’s Smackdown debut, and he makes his entrance on a motorcycle. Apparently, he makes his own bikes. Palumbo hits a back elbow and then runs right over Dykstra. Dykstra doesn’t clean break in the corner, but Palumbo ends up hitting a belly-to-belly throw in the middle of the ring. Dykstra though hits a crossbody off the middle rope. Dykstra works the left arm. Palumbo charges Kenny in the corner, but Dykstra gets the boots up, then hits a dropkick. Kenny continues working the left arm. Arm-breaker by Dykstra for a two-count. Big powerslam by Palumbo, followed by a right hand. He catches Kenny in mid-air, then hits a swinging Rock Bottom (the “Full Throttle”) for the pin.
WINNER: Palumbo at 4:38.
Interesting finish. The match wasn’t so good.
-Edge and his surprise Cutting Edge guest are coming up later.
[Break]
-The RAW Rebounds airs.
-A Mark Henry video package follows. Man, I thought we’d stop getting these once he returned to the ring.
[Break]
6- DEUCE VS. EUGENE
Eugene gets distracted by Cherry’s roller skates right off the bat, allowing Deuce to go to work. He slugs Eugene in the corner, then wants Cherry to plant a kiss on him, but Eugene was ready to come at him. The two run into each other, knocking Deuce down in the ring, and Eugene out. The Great Khali then comes back out and chops Deuce down. The tag champs throw Eugene in the ring, and he gets chokeslammed.
WINNER: No Contest, about 1:30.
-Khali gets on the mic, saying he’s still waiting for an opponent. His interpreter says no one wants to step in the ring with Khali. Cue Batista’s music. The Animal enters the squared circle and the two go toe-to-toe. Batista takes off his jacket and steps right up to Khali. The interpreter backs the giant off and convinces him to exit. I assume that’s a challenge accepted.
-The biggest guest in the history of the Cutting Edge will be revealed, next!
[Break]
-In case you missed it earlier, yes, Rey Mysterio, IS coming back.
-Edge comes out for The Cutting Edge. He’s not in a good mood. Edge says since he’s the Rated R Superstar, he’s going to ask the tough questions and get right in this guest’s face. He signals for the guest to come out. Out comes Kane. Wow, that’s a major let-down. Edge was obviously not ready for this. He brings up Kane’s decade of dominance in WWE. Edge runs down more of Kane’s accolades, including the Inferno Match. He says the decade of dominance doesn’t roll of the tongue like the Rated R era. Edge builds himself up as having had more gold than Kane. Hilariously, he then declares that we’re out of time and as he walks away, Kane grabs his arm. Kane finally speaks: “I….don’t….like….you.” He then takes Edge out and throws him over the top rope. Edge then breaks Kane’s heart no doubt, by saying he’ll never be a guest on the Cutting Edge again, and even says that he’ll never get in the ring with Edge either. This brings out Teddy Long. At Great American Bash, Edge will face Kane.