by James Thake
WWE Friday Night SmackDown – 18th August 2007
Report by James Thake (comments and questions to slimjim316@gmail.com)
The News:
The search for Vince’s bastard child continues as The Great Khali tries to pop Batista’s head like a ball.
What Happened:
The show is already brilliant as it begins with MVP’s VIP Lounge. The ring is decked out with a black carpet and some leather couches. MVP tells us he challenged Matt Hardy to a boxing match at Saturday Night’s Main Event at MSG. If you haven’t seen that video, it should still be on WWE.com, definitely worth seeing. MVP says his doctor wont let him do the match so they were both allowed to chose replacements. Hardy chose himself and MVP chose Evander Holyfield. MVP invites Matt to sit down as the crowd chant for him. Matt says he beat MVP in the arm wrestling, and wrestling matches they had. Hardy says MVP’s heart condition is "lack thereof." Hardy says he’ll fight Holyfield and accept any challenge MVP makes. Cue Chris Masters for the Masterlock Challenge. MVP taunts Hardy as he is taken to his knees by Masters. As soon as Matt starts to fight back, MVP kicks him in the stomach and slaps him. MVP then hits the Playmaker on Hardy.
The opening segment of Raw is recapped as Vince and Coach arrive at the arena. Vince is wearing a lovely salmon pink suit. Coach said Big Daddy V was the only ECW guy who didn’t check out. Vince likes the idea. He says they have to check out everyone on SmackDown.
Jesse and Festus discuss Mr McMahon. Jesse says he wishes it was him, but he thinks Festus has the face of a McMahon.
Deuce and Domino vs The Major Brothers
Cole and JBL speculate whether either of themselves is Vince’s child. Brian starts with Domino. Brian takes control working Domino’s arm using arm drags. They use quick tags with springboards onto the arm. Brian gets a one from the half nelson cover. Brett gets a 2 count off a double team flapjack on Domino. Deuce tags in and beats up Brett. He stamps on Brett’s head for 1. Cole and JBL talk about WWE Idol. Cole says they are the new APA and JBL says Cole came in too early. Brett gets a 2 count from a rollup in the corner. Deuce and Domino continue to work on Brett’s neck. Domino gets 2 off a neckbreaker. Deuce gets a 2 off a running fist drop. Brett hits a back suplex allowing him to make a luke warm tag. Brian hits a dropkick on Deuce. Brett clotheslines Domino over the top rope as Brian gets a 2 count off a spinebuster. Deuce avoids a middle rope cross body and hits the Crak Em In The Mouth for the 3 count on Brian Major.
Winners – Deuce and Domino. The Major’s best match so far.
Vince congratulates Kristal and Teddy Long. Khali and his translator come in to complain about fighting Batista at SummerSlam. Teddy says he’ll be fighting Kane tonight. Coach reminds Vince of the time he went to India. Vince seemed pleased at the prospect of Khali being his son.
We get a recap of the Kane/Finlay stuff from last week.
Finlay vs Jamie Noble
Noble catches an early advantage on Finlay before he gets driven knee first into the ring steps. Finlay then works the knee including a scoop slams knee first into the ropes. Noble can’t kick out of a half crab but he manages to get to the bottom rope. Finlay uses the Indian Deathlock on Noble until Kane’s pyro and music hits. He comes out with taped ribs. Finlay takes a big boot. Kane goes for the chokeslam on Finlay, but Hornswoggle runs in and shoves Noble into Kane. Noble pays for it with a chokeslam. Finlay then bails.
Good match for what it was. Could have done with a few more minutes before Kane arrived.
Chavo Guerrero vs Shannon Moore
Guerrero comes out with a black Rey mask in his hand. Reminiscent of the Eddie/Rey feud. Chavo puts the mask on the ring post. Chavo takes it right to Moore with suplexes. Chavo taunts the mask getting him kicked in the face. Moore uses the headscissors to take Chavo through the ropes. He follows with a baseball slide but misses and gets thrown knee first into the ring post. Chavo works the knee until Moore can hit an enziguri and a spinning heel kick. He hits a corkscrew moonsault for a 2 count. Chavo kicks Moore in the knee to take control. He attempts the Gory Bomb but Moore reverses into a rollup for 2. Chavo then catches Moore with the Brainbuster for the pinfall.
Winner – Chavo Guerrero. Good match. Even better in it’s use as one man build toward the SummerSlam match.
Post match, Chavo puts the Rey mask on Moore and hits a frog splash on his knee.
Batista comes out in a very tight shirt. He talks about him and Flair being clawed last week. The crowd don’t seem to care at all. He’s about to make a promise to himself and the fans, but Khali appears on the Tron. He gets translated to say that he’s going to put the claw on Batista at SummerSlam twice as hard as last week. He says Batista’s head is going to pop like a basket ball, which Khali proceeds to pop with his hands. Batista continues the basketball metaphor saying they don’t hold a grudge, but he does and Khali isn’t facing a basketball at SummerSlam.
Vince thinks that Khali will retain the title at SummerSlam. Coach says Vince is biased because Khali might be his son. He then says Batista could be his son due to them both having great physiques. Vince likes this as well. Coach says that anyone could be his son which cues Big Dick Johnson dressed as a baby. Coach joins in the dancing.
Mark Henry vs Greg Gardona
Usual Henry squash. He picks the jobber up at 2 after the World’s Strongest Slam and ends it with the Bearhug.
Winner – Mark Henry by TKO.
After the match Henry says last week’s druid didn’t intimidate him. He says Undertaker is gone. He says we’re in for a treat because he’s going to show us what he did to the Undertaker again. This time the "he keeps coming back" voice over is there again as well as some druids in Death Valley. Henry says he isn’t scared when the gong hits and two druids appear in the entrance way with the lights on blue. In a terrible bit of editing the lights come back on and the druids just disappear leaving a pile of sand.
Kristal makes Michelle McCool and Torrie bridesmaids. Victoria enters at the time and thinks she’s one too. Kristal lets her down but says she can come to the wedding. Victoria says it’s just so she can get a gift. McCool stands up to her and gets slapped. She then goes to slap Victoria, but she ducks and Kenny gets slapped. CATFIGHT.
Coach and Vince meet Jimmy Wang Yang and Funaki backstage. Yang says "I’m your boy" and Funaki says she’s just come back from Japan where his mother has loved Vince "longtime". Kane comes over, laughs and says "Dad."
Michelle McCool vs Victoria
McCool throws Victoria out through the ropes and follows with a baseball slide. Back in the ring Victoria reverses a suplex and starts to work on Michelle. She hits a women’s hair toss of doom and rubs Michelle’s face on the canvas. Cole thinks Victoria and Kenny are like the Beckhams while JBL thinks they are like Britney and K-Fed. Michelle uses some arm drags to take control and get a 2 count on Victoria. Kenny passes Victoria the spit bucket which gets kicked in her face. Michelle comes off the top with what might be described as a clothesline for the 3 count.
Winner – Michelle McCool by pinfall. Rubbish. The must have been the retake as well.
Vince and Coach are about to leave. Coach says he’ll have an answer by tomorrow night as Howard Finkel walks over. Vince says Finkel was Vince’s first employee. Coach looks from Finkel to Vince and laughs before Vince pushes The Fink away.
The Great Khali vs Kane
This is going to be fun. Kane punches Khali over and over to no effect. Khali throws him over the top rope. On the outside Kane punches Khali in the face an rolls him back in. Kane comes off the top rope to a club by Khali in the injured ribs. Khali attacks the ribs including a claw on them. Khali kind of hits a scoop slam and a big boot before going back to the ribs. Khali puts the claw back on the ribs for what seems like an hour before Kane uses the turnbuckles to break out of it. Kane bounces Khali’s head off the top turnbuckle before clotheslining him in the corner. He calls for the chokeslam but Khali locks in the claw to Kane’s head. Kane puts his hand around Khali’s throat but the claw takes Kane down.
Winner – The Great Khali by pinfall. Terrible.
Post match Finlay attacks Kane’s ribs again until he get’s a spinebuster by Batista. He goes for the Batista Bomb but Khali locks in the claw from behind. Presumably there’ll be a tag match next week.
Thoughts: Good show for the most part, but the bad bits were not good at all. Having Khali wrestle is not the way that you make people want to see Khali wrestle again. Batista vs Khali at SummerSlam is not a match I want to see. Matt Hardy vs MVP is.