Original Airdate: Thursday, April 28th, 2005
NEC Arena
Birmingham, England
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Carlito's Cabana is going to kick things off here tonight. He naturally insults the crowd and then introduces his guest, Kurt Angle. Angle reminds us that he made Shawn Michaels tap out at WrestleMania and beat Eddie Guerrero on SmackDown. He's going to win the fatal four way match tonight and beat John Cena for the WWE Championship. Angle is then interrupted by a guy who introduces himself as Steve Lewington from Great Britain and he wants to take on Angle in an Angle Invitational match. Angle doesn't want to risk injury and tells him to come back once he hits puberty. As he walks away, Angle attacks him and tosses him out of the ring. Angle says it's the American way to insult them and attack them from behind. Good stuff. Lewington is back in and hits a dropkick, but Angle fights back and puts him in the Ankle Lock. Apparently Lewington is DJ Gabriel. I thought he looked familiar.
Torrie Wilson is here to do the ring announcing to help you care more about the Cruiserweights.
WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match
Paul London vs. Chavo Guerrero
Chavo's WWE run is pretty interesting if you look at it as a whole. There are a lot of ups and downs. Back and forth to start things off. London climbs up top, but Chavo pushes him off and he hits the post on the way down to the floor. The referee counts to 10 and that's it? And somehow Chavo was good with this? He grabs the belt and acts as if he won the championship. Jimmy Korderas takes the belt away from him and has Torrie Wilson make the announcement that London is still the champion. Chavo, who grew up in the wrestling business, then hits a Gory Bomb to London and grabs the belt again. This was just kind of weird logic here to me. London doesn't exactly look better and Chavo comes across more dumb than heelish.
Match Rating: 3/4* (out of 5)
We get a video package of the Rey Mysterio/Eddie Guerrero and MNM story. Then we get the Daily Star girls again.
Sharmell is hyping Booker T up backstage and in walks Heidenreich. He reads a poem about the fatal four way match and then Sharmell tells him she can dig that, sucka. Heidenreich thinks he made two friends tonight.
Eddie is in the locker room with Rey. Eddie's trying to act like everything is cool, but Rey isn't saying anything. Eddie begins to apologize, but in walks Chavo. Chavo reminds Eddie that they are family, not Rey. Eddie says that Rey has been more of a brother than his own family. Rey tells Chavo to shut up and he and Eddie are back on the same page.
WWE Tag Team Championship Match
Eddie Guerrero & Rey Mysterio vs. MNM
We get some fast paced action with the faces starting off strong until Joey Mercury pulls Eddie off the apron. I remember there being a lot of people saying Mercury was the star of the team, but it was always clearly Johnny Nitro. The heels work Eddie for awhile until Eddie makes the tag and Rey almost accidentally hits Eddie. Rey does then accidentally hit Eddie with a crossbody. Rey recovers and almost gets a 3 count while Eddie is on the outside. Rey sets up Mercury for the 619, but he sees Eddie walking down the ramp and he stops. Nitro then hits Mysterio with a powerbomb. Eddie is contemplating what to do while the crowd chants "Eddie". Eddie finally makes his way back to his corner as we go to commercial break. Rey rolls through and hits the sit down dropkick, but is unable to make the tag. Rey finally fights back again and he and Nitro are both down. Nitro tags Mercury, but Eddie refuses to reach and make the tag to Rey. MNM hits the Snapshot and retain their titles. This was a good match that furthered the saga of Rey and Eddie. After the match MNM continue to beat down Rey and Eddie just stands in the corner and watches.
Match Rating: ***
Rene Dupree tells the English crowd that he hails from the greatest country in the world. As he's about to go on a rant, John Cena's music hits.
Rene Dupree vs. John Cena
Dupree jumps Cena and hits a spinebuster. Cena tries to make a comeback, but gets hit with a knee to the gut. This has already gone on longer than I would have guessed. Cena makes the comeback this time and hits his weird looking hip toss. You Can't See Me time and he's already pumping up and hits the FU for the victory. This was a match that most wrestlers could have in their sleep, but it was here for the crowd to be able to see Cena.
Match Rating: 1/2*
Matt Morgan vs. Mikey Whiplash
Morgan tries to tell us that he never stutters while stuttering through the promo. It's gold, Jerry. Gold, I tell you. You can't help but feel bad for Morgan being stuck with this garbage. Morgan takes out his frustration on Whiplash. He hits a few power moves and then his suplex type finisher. He looked good, but the gimmick was death.
Match Rating: 1/4*
Cole and Tazz are interviewing JBL, who is backstage wearing the old WWE Championship belt. He wants to destroy Cena and he's a wrestling god. This is every promo from JBL during this era until Big Show walks in. Even Big Show says that he says the same thing every week. Big Show tells him that his losing streak is going to continue.
Christina Aguilera is on the set of Cena's music video set for some reason. Next week they are going to debut the video.
Fatal Four Way Match To Become #1 Contender For The WWE Championship
Booker T vs. Big Show vs. Kurt Angle vs. JBL
Big Show is cleaning house and to my complete surprise, both Cole and Tazz are predicting Big Show is going to win this match. Big Show sets up all three men in the corner and squashes them. Show goes for the chokeslam on Angle, but he counters it into the Angle Slam. Booker then hits a scissor kick to the back of the head. JBL then hits him with a Clothesline From Hell. He kicked out of all three attempts. All three men knock Show over the top rope and then start clearing off the announcer table. God forbid they break a TV monitor. Angle Slam through the table and apparently you can get counted out in this match. So of course that is how Big Show is eliminated. Back from commercial break to JBL and Angle double teaming Booker. JBL gets thrown into the steel steps outside the ring. Booker hits the Book End on JBL, but he gets his shoulder up. Angle hits two German suplexes on Booker. Angle hits an Angle Slam and Booker kicks out again. Referee Brian Hebner makes Orlando Jordan leave and JBL brings in a chair to the ring. Angle gets a hold of it and nails Booker with it and gets the pinfall on Booker. JBL instantly attacks Angle and hits him with some really stiff shots to the face as they head into the last commercial break. JBL has a cut on his eyebrow and hits a fall away slam. JBL goes for the clothesline, Angle ducks and he hits the ref instead. Angle puts JBL in the Ankle Lock. The Bashams are down to the ring, but Angle takes them both out. Angle hits three Germans on JBL, but still no ref. The straps are down and we are back into the Ankle Lock. JBL begins to tap, but again, no ref. Booker T then comes in and hits Angle with a chair to the face. The Bashams roll in Hebner and that is all. To no one's surprise, JBL is the #1 contender. This was decent enough, but it never felt like anyone in here was trying to have a great match. It was always obvious that JBL was going to win this match. Other than Angle, no one in this match was really producing great matches at this time.
Match Rating: **3/4
Well, it certainly was better than this week's Raw. This wasn't a huge slam dunk or anything, but it was one of the better SmackDown shows in the last month or two. We know we are going for Judgment Day, which should help make the next few weeks of the show interesting. In terms of action, we were treated to couple of good matches and some filler.
Overall Rating: 59%
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