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WWC Smackdown - 05.24.07

rey619Posted on 08/13/06 at 00:01:36

Dover, Delaware played host to the final Smackdown before the superstars roll into our capital of Washington DC tomorrow night for the May edition of Saturday Night Main Event. Tonight, Group B of the Tag Team World Cup will wrap itself up, and we will find out who follows Italy and Canada to the semi-finals. Japan seems clear enough, but who will draw the final place? Team Europe, or Team Mexico? Tazz makes his in-ring return to wrestling in a warm-up match for tomorrow, and in our main-event, Rey Mysterio, Rob Van Dam and Chris Benoit tangles in an epic three way. But first, we have three entertaining matches for those following our webcast.

Aaron Stevens pinned Chris Cage with the Idolizer in 0:10:30.
Rating: ** 1/4
Making his first appearance on a Smackdown show, the OVW trainee surprised everyone when he defeated Cage here tonight. Cage has more experience on Smackdown, but was still taken out by Stevens, who was led to the ring by Beth Phoenix.

MNM (Joey Mercury and Merciless)w/Melina defeated
The Untouchables (Deuce Shade and Dice Domino)w/Cherry when Mercury pinned Deuce with the Future Shock in 0:13:36.
Rating: **
The OVW Tag Team Champions hold on for quite some time, and Mercury and Merciless' team-work is not without its chinks. Still, this would have been an extremely embarrassing loss going into SNME as champs. MNM wins.

[2007 Tag Team World Cup - Group B]
Team Japan (Dragon Kid and Genki Horiguchi) defeated
Team Scotland (Robbie McAlister and Rory McAlister) when Dragon Kid pinned
Robbie with the Dragon Rana in 0:08:14.
Rating: **
Nothing much to say here. the Dojo clears Group B, and the Highlanders are probably better off in OVW anyway.

CHAOS IN THE BACK

As Smackdown kicks off, we follow Josh Matthews who is frantically trying to find out what's happening in the back. We see some low-carders (Highlanders, Team Europe, Nunzio and Chris Cage) hunched over a big body lying motionless on the ground. Shane McMahon and some paramedics sprint over to them. Shane grabs Nunzio, asking what's going on. Nunzio goes into defensive mode, telling Shane O that he didn't do anything, and that it's not right to suspect him just because he's Italian. Shane pushes Nunzio away, and kneels by the big man. "Oh my god.. it's Lashley!" Shane turns to the rest of the gathering and asks if anyone knows what went on. The Highlanders said a big car ran him over. A big black car. Shane asked if they knew who drove it, but the Highlanders could only speculate. Since it was a pretty large car, it must probably have been the god damn Loch Ness monster. Shane calls them all idiots and shouts for an ambulance.

Team Mexico (Super Crazy & Psychosis) vs Team Europe (Emil Sitoci & Claudio Castagnoli)

The Dojo had sweeped Group B, but now we would find out which team would follow them to the semi-finals, to be held tomorrow at the Saturday Night Main Event.

The ever-so-smug Claudio Castagnoli tried to bitch slap Psicosis early on, but his trademarks "Heeeey" didn't elicit anything but boos from the crowd, who really loved the Mexicools. Super Crazy and Psicosis made short work of the Europeans. Psicosis had Sitoci trapped in a standing surfboard, as Super Crazy landed Castagnoli with a fireman's carry slam, before finnishing him off with a beautiful moonsault. After this short but sweet squash, Super Crazy promised his fans to bring home the trophy tomorrow night!

Mexicools (Psicosis and Super Crazy) defeated Claudio Castagnoli and Emil Sitoci
when Crazy pinned Castagnoli with the Moonsault in 0:02:29.
Rating: ***

CHAMPION MEETS CHAMPION

The OVW Heavyweight Champion, Mikey Batts (170 lbs), walked around backstage with a big smile on his face. He was obviously lost, as he stumbled upon Rey Mysterio cleaning his WWC Heavyweight Championship belt. Batts smiled as he showed Rey that he also got himself a title. They made some small-talk about being champs, power to the little people and all that, before Batts asked for directions to his locker room, as he had been called up from OVW to fight Tazz in his first match back from injury. Rey pointed him in his right direction, as Tazz himself wandered by in wrestling gear. Tazz told Batts to give his best, and to don't hold back. Noble won't be holding back tomorrow night, so neither should he. Batts said it was an honor to fight him. As Tazz leaves, Bill Alfonso walks by and laughs. "The belts weigh more than the both of you, suckers."

Tazz vs Mikey Batts

It seems as WWC is short on wrestlers for the time being. Not only did the OVW Tag Team Champions grace our webcast, but the OVW Heavyweight Champion Mikey Batts visited as well. He could have hoped for a better debut, though, as he was facing the wrestling machine, Tazz. The Smackdown announcer said he needed a warm-up match before squaring off against Jamie Noble, but Batts took it to the tazmanian devil just after the bell, and maybe Tazz would rather have announced this match instead. Michael Cole did not want Tazz to be up there, and was really pessimistic throughout the match, prompting Tazz to give his broadcast colleague the finger at some point during the match.

Tazz soon got the upper hand on his smaller opponent, suplexed him around a bit before clasping on the Tazmission to end the match.

Tazz made Mikey Batts submit to the Tazmission in 0:04:28.
Rating: *** 1/4

After the match, Jamie Noble came out with Dusty Rhodes. Noble asked Taz if he thought that was supposed to scare him. Dusty said that they had timed Batts falling unconscious to 34 seconds. Noble said he would beat that time, and jumped into the ring. He grabbed a hold of Batts (who by now was slowly getting back to his feet), and quickly locked in the Dragon Sleeper. Ref Korderas went to check on him, and called it pretty soon. Dusty clocked Noble in at 11 seconds. Michael Cole commented that this hardly seemed fair, as Batts was already extremely groggy. Tazz didn't say much, but as Noble turned around, Taz pounced on him as a cat, wrestled him to the ground and locked in the tazmission. Noble writhed like a madman, but couldn't break free. Dusty Rhodes stomped on Tazz repeatedly, and finally, the submission master broke his hold. Rhodes gave him a couple of bionic elbows, but that only made Tazz mad. Dusty and an angry Jamie Noble decided it was best to flee, and to save this showdown for tomorrow. Michael Cole was cheering like a teenager for his broadcast partner at this point.

SPUD IS NOT AFRAID OF ANYTHING!

In a dark, murky pirate cave (it's really a decorated locker room), Captain Burchill and First Mate Spud are having a peptalk before their match later on tonight. Burchill says that after that hypnotist cured Spud, he's not afraid of anything, pouring a bucket of ice-cold water on Spud, who shows no fear! Spud asks Burchill to bring on the boiling hot water, but Burchill smacks him in the face, saying that it's a fine line between fear and stupidity.

Hart Foundation 2G (Teddy Hart & Harry Smith) vs Brian Kendrick & Paul London

Brian Kendrick and Paul London did not enjoy success at all in the Tag Team World Cup, and tried to rectify that tonight as they faced the winner of Group A, Canada.

Unfortunately for the Americans, they just can't seem to catch a break. They dish out some tremendous high-flying, double teamwork and stiff moves that can make the toughest son-of-a-bitch cringe, but somehow, it's just not enough. Kendrick slipped when going for the Sliced Bread, landing him awkwardly on his neck. While he was lying in pain, Teddy Hart capitalized, and executed the Hart Attack SSP on Kendrick. Harry Smith took London down with the Running Powerslam, and the ref counted simulatenous pins. Hart Foundation is on a roll here, maybe they will win the World Cup tomorrow night, and get back in title contention?

Hart Foundation 2G (Teddy Hart and Harry Smith) defeated
Team USA (Paul London and Brian Kendrick) when Teddy Hart pinned B. Kendrick
with the Hart Attack in 0:12:58.
Rating: *** 3/4

After the match, London grabbed a mic. He told Kendrick that obviously, their tag-team didn't work out at all. He said that Brian was one of his best friends in the world, but maybe they should try their luck in singles competition. Kendrick agreed, and with a handshake and a hug, their tag-team is officially broken up.

JOSH TRYING TO GET SOME ANSWERS

Josh Matthews interviews the Dojo's interpreter, Robbie Dawber, about the possible Dojo involvement in Lashley's hit and run. Dawber says that the Dojo had nothing to do with it. Matthews keeps asking, as the Dojo and Chris Benoit had a pretty good motive for wanting to get rid of Lashley. Dawber gets visibly uncomfortable, and starts running while he shouts something in Japanese. Josh Matthews has no idea what's going on, before he's suddenly ambushed by Genki Horiguchi and a wicked kendo stick. Genki hits him a couple of times before handing the stick over to Naruki Doi, who is choking Matthews with it. Chris Benoit comes over and tells Matthews to not stick his nose where it doesn't belong. He then tells Doi to let him go.

Nunzio vs Test

Test has certainly changed his ways since his great showing against Burchill near two months ago. He's almost become the conscience of Smackdown, standing up against the corrupt schemes of Chris Benoit.

Nunzio is no slouch in the ring, and as he and Test started mat-wrestling (yes, really), he took the lead. Test was treated to wristlocks, leglocks and a swinging neckbreaker before he realized he was out of his game here, and that it didn't matter what the crowd wanted to see. Test demolished Nunzio with a big boot to the face before landing a flying elbowdrop for a close count. Nunzio enjoyed yet another period of domination as he crashed down on Test with a plancha. Test ate ringpost a couple of times before he reversed it, catapulting Nunzio into the hard post. Nunzio never recovered from that one, and was put down with the Test Driver a minute later.

Test pinned Nunzio with the Test Drive in 0:08:58.
Rating: *** 1/4

SECOND CITY SAINTS WITH A MESSAGE

CM Punk and Colt Cabana cut a promo in their dark locker room. Punk says that two weeks ago, Melina tasered them both into oblivion. Cabana threw up four times, and Punk had to go to the ER with a possible heart collapse. Punk says (shouts) that he thought he and Melina had something, but it is obvious that Melina doesn't know what's good for her. Why can't she see that Nitro and MNM are only using her for their own benefit? If she was Punk's girlfriend, he would never have let anyone have his way with her the way Nitro let Punk do. Punk says none of this matter now, as the Saints were only hours away from taking away the one thing that mattered to MNM. Their tag-team belts. The lights are switched on, and a grinning Cabana tells all the beautiful girls in the arena to move down to ringside, as he will pick out a pretty one to smooch a little with.

Scurvy Dogs (Cpt. Burchill & First Mate Spud) vs Second City Saints (CM Punk & Colt Cabana)

Final test for Second City Saints before they battle MNM for the tag team titles tomorrow night. Team UK has been renamed Scurvy Dogs, and the blood-thirsty pirates entered to a mixed reaction. I guess they really are heels, but they are so funny and good in their role that a lot of the fans are cheering and laughing even so. Colt Cabana came prancing down and found a pretty, buxom brunette in the first row to kiss. Cabana walks past a cameraman with a big smile on his face, saying "I love being me!"

Now that First Mate Spud's ringphobia is cured, Scurvy Dogs fared pretty well against the #1 contenders. Burchill used his power to keep the Saints at bay, while Spud used his superior agility and high-flying skills to use, drilling Punk to the mat with a high-speed DDT. Burchill made the tag, crashing Punk down with the C4. An upset was on its way, but Cabana made the save, thinking it would be bad karma to lose the night before their big title match. Punk finally made the hot tag to Cabana, who sent Spud tumbling with a crushing lariat. Burchill stood toe to toe with Colt for a while, before he and Punk started double teaming the pirate captain. Burchill was looking for a tag, but suddenly, Spud jumped off the apron, fear evident in his eyes as he retreated slowly to the back. Had Cabana's lariat jump-started his fear again? Cabana nonchalantly tapped Burchill on the shoulder and brought him down with a belly-to-belly suplex. Punk quickly clasped in the Anaconda Vice, and seeing that nobody would be coming to aid him, Burchill tapped out. Saints looking good for their upcoming title shot!

Second City Saints (CM Punk and Colt Cabana) defeated
Scurvy Dogs (Cpt.Burchill and First Mate Spud) when Punk defeated Burchill when
Burchill passed out in the Anaconda Vice in 0:10:52.
Rating: *** 3/4

Chris Benoit vs Rey Misterio vs Rob Van Dam w/Bill Alfonso

Big, big main event the night before the night, as the contenders for the WWC World Heavyweight Championship added the potential next #1 contender to the mix.

Benoit and Rey had a feeling out process early on, as Bill Alfonso told RVD to stand back and let them have a go at it first. Rey must by now have realized that Benoit was involved in the kidnapping of his family, and charged the Wolverine when he got tired of chain-wrestling him. This was exactly the way Benoit wanted him to wrestle, and took him down with a couple of german suplexes. When he was about to go for the third, RVD nearly took his head off with a spin kick. Alfonso tried to stop RVD from getting involved unless absolutely necessary, but RVD was on fire, landing a flying legdrop across Benoit's neck to score a nick two-count. This was by all means no alliance, as moments later, Rey missed a 619 on Benoit, only to receive a dropkick in the face by Van Dam.

Benoit continued his wicked ways, removing the padding on the top turnbuckle, causing RVD to crash into it. Benoit then started working on Rey's leg, keeping him grounded with a figure-four for quite some time. Rey did get out of it, but when he attempted the West Coast Pop moments later, his knees buckled and he crotched himself on the ropes.

The wonderful main event dragged on, and it was clear that Rey's legs were not 100 per cent. Still, the champ fought on, and managed to trip Benoit into a perfect 619 position. Rey fought the pain and hit his trademark maneuver, but as he landed, he buckled over again. RVD took the opportunity and went upstairs, executing a flawless Five-Star Frog Splash to earn himself an advantage going into the title match tomorrow.

Triangle Match:
Rob Van Dam defeated Chris Benoit and Rey Misterio when RVD pinned Benoit
with the Five Star Frog Splash in 0:20:25.
Rating: ****

After the match, Bill Alfonso urged RVD to continue the assault on Rey's knee, but RVD refused and left the ring a winner.

Card rating: *** 1/2
Snabbit888Posted on 08/16/06 at 09:14:43

The Loch Ness Monster ran down Lashley!  Yes!  And Raven in GLWF too! :)

Didn't expect Team mexico to do anything but win that match.

Liked the Mikey Batts bit.  An odd choice to be the one to test Tazz, but it worked.  The post-match stuff was good.  I look forward to this match a lot.

Hehe, Spud and Burchill have made a surprisingly entertaining duo.  Spud fears nothing!

Kendrink/London jobbing = not a fun time for me.  Bad, rey619, bad!

Benoit as the ruthless gang leader is different.  I'm not sure if I totally buy it just yet, but you've established the power structure very well.  Let's see where it goes from here.

For someone you seem to be wanting to push, Test took quite a ebating from Nunzio before winning.  Ah well, a win is a win.

I love the play off of Punk and Cabana.  Punk is so sinister, and Cabana is just a goofy ass.  The match with MNM will be good, though MNM do rule... so hard.

Very good tag match.  Scurvy Dogs is a tremendous tag team name.  The SCS needed this win though, and they looked good in getting it.

With how you seem to be pushing Benoit, I think it was too early in the angle for him to take a fall like this.  A great match, no doubt, but Benoit has lost some momentum in my eyes.  We'll see if he gets it back on track.
americamamushiPosted on 08/16/06 at 09:38:20

Haha.  THAT GOD DAMN LOCH-A NESS MONSTAH!  I bet he justed wanted to ask Lashley for about three fittay

Glad to see Team Mexico over Team Europe

Silly Fonze.  Like he's one to talk about how much something ways.  He can't stand behind cows because he'll get blown over by their "gusts of wind" if you get my drift.  (See what I did there?  A fart joke.  I'm classy like that)

No way Batts was going over Tazz.  Haha, Cole is Taz's ringrat.

Punk learned a hard lesson... you can't trust women cause they'll all screw you and not in the good way.  Hell, if he'd just asked me I could've saved him a lot of trouble ;)

The Pirate Express loses again, but SCS needed the win more than they did.

I still love what you're doing with Benoit.  It's different and unique for him.  Much kudos.  Benoit takes the fall though, proving crime doesn't pay.

Good stuff as usual
rey619Posted on 08/16/06 at 12:27:34

I did consider putting in that South Park joke, but feared it would be lost on many.

What I aimed for in the Nunzio vs Test match was that Nunzio, being the wily veteran he is, lured Test into fighting a kind off match he was most comfortable with. As soon as Test got back on track, a few simple power moves was all it took. Besides, Team Italy advancing to the semi-finals means that Nunzio isn't as jobber-ish as in ECW.

I do like London and Kendrick as well, but I have discovered I'm awfully short on jobbers.. so alas... someone must do it.

It seems as if I have a tendency to book a lot of matches where nobody can lose. Like with the Test vs RVD match a couple of weeks back, none of the three in the main event was an obvious choice. I could have gone with a DQ finish or something, but I really hate that...