Original Airdate: Thursday, May 5th, 2005
Sovereign Bank Arena
Trenton, New Jersey
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After a long video package on the Rey Mysterio/Eddie Guerrero storyline, Rey Mysterio is on his way to the ring. Rey calls out Eddie for lying to him and making him think that he was family. Eddie makes his way out to no music and some boos. After a long moment of silence, Eddie says that he has nothing to say to Rey. Rey says that since Eddie doesn't want to talk, maybe he'll want to fight and slaps him across the face. Eddie says that he never hit Rey like he did right now. Rey slaps him again and tries to get him to fight right now, but Eddie just stares at him and says that he won't fight him tonight or ever. Rey continues to try and get him to fight, but Eddie walks to the back. Rey asks Eddie if he's afraid that he's going to beat him again. Eddie pauses and then continues to walk to the back as we go to commercial break.
After the break, Rey is demanding a match with Eddie to Teddy Long. In walks Chavo and he reminds Rey of how well Eddie treated him. Chavo tells Rey that he will never be a Guerrero and they start brawling. This whole opening segment was really well done. Both Rey and Eddie hit it out of the park, especially Eddie in full on heel mode. It's refreshing to see an opening to this show mean something and actually feel important.
Matt Morgan vs. Rob Eckos
The stuttering gimmick continues. The match is essentially the same as the other ones which lead to him using his impressive finisher. I can't even remember if he gets to have an actual match or not.
Match Rating: 1/4* (out of 5)
They announce that we will now have Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo Guerrero in a street fight. We then get the same behind the scenes as last week for John Cena's music video, which they will debut tonight and show how Cena will face JBL at Judgment Day.
Orlando Jordan vs. Booker T
They continue to show Booker backstage with Sharmell getting pumped up before his matches. Jordan clotheslines Booker over the top rope and to the floor. Booker fights back, but Jordan pushes Booker into the ring post. Booker explodes with a leaping right hand and suplex. He heads up top, but Jordan knocks him down and goes for a superplex, but Booker drops Jordan face first and then hits a missile dropkick and gets a near-fall. Booker hits a scissor kick and gets the victory in a non-title match. Despite this being a competitive match, it's easy to see why Jordan was never taken seriously as a threat. Spirited, but short TV match.
Match Rating: **
They show Sharmell cheering her man on backstage and Kurt Angle comes up behind her. He said Booker stole his championship opportunity from him and he wants a match at Judgment Day.
MNM vs. Scotty 2 Hotty & Shannon Moore
Talk about two guys that lasted longer on the roster than most people probably realized, that would be Taylor and Moore. They are definitely a great choice for two guys to make your new tag team look great. They hit a double crossbody spot and it's pretty obvious this match isn't going to last long. Scotty almost gets the win, but Mercury breaks up the pin. Scotty goes for the worm, which is still over, but Melina distracts him and Nitro attacks him from behind and they hit the Snapshot for the victory. As far as 3 minute matches go, that was quite entertaining.
Match Rating: **
After the match, Rey Mysterio comes out with a lead pipe and attacks MNM. The champs retreat to the back. Rey is all over this episode.
JBL is here and he's already rambling on about quitting or something. JBL tells Cena that he will be forgotten and that his 15 minutes of fame are up. Out comes Cena. Cena makes some air quote jokes and says their match at Judgment Day will be an I Quit match. Cena goes nuts on JBL and JBL is speechless.
Chavo is backstage talking to MNM about Rey Mysterio.
Kurt Angle comes out and sends the competitor for the Kurt Angle Invitational out of the ring because he's in no mood for that tonight. He says he changed his mind and attacks him. Angle beats the snot out of him and hits the Angle Slam and puts him in the Ankle Lock. I hope they paid this kid well. Angle's music hits, but he stops the music and is waiting for Booker to answer his challenge. He says that the championship means more to him than his family. Booker and Sharmell are out and accept his challenge for Judgment Day. He insults Sharmell and Booker comes to the ring and attacks Angle. Booker holds Angle and lets Sharmell repeatedly slap him. Angle then hits a low blow and an Angle Slam. The straps are off, but he the turns his attention to Sharmell who runs out to the back, but trips on her way there. Angle then attempts to put her in the Ankle Lock, but referees and agents are able to pull him off before he can. Booker comes to the aid of his wife and carries her to the back. Angle really doesn't have to play this role, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't effective. They turned this into a heated storyline pretty quickly here.
We get a highlight video of the European tour.
Chavo walks into the locker room where Eddie is sitting staring into space. Chavo vows to get revenge for the whole Guerrero family tonight.
Carlito is shown walking backstage, who is getting ready to fight Hardcore Holly.
Carlito vs. Hardcore Holly
This is Carlito's return to in ring action. Carlito gets a few chops in, but that's a mistake because Holly gets his chance and it doesn't look like it feels very good. Not that this match is amazing or anything, but it's nice to see a few new faces on here. Scary moment where Carlito almost falls on his head on a back body drop. Not sure what happened there, but he was very close to knocking himself out badly. Holly hits a flying clothesline and then goes for the Alabama Slam, but Carlito reverses it and gets Holly with a backslide and puts his feet on the rope for the victory. After the match, he announces that Big Show will be on Carlito's Cabana and that he will make him an offer he can't refuse. Not much to the match here, but it was technically fine.
Match Rating: *1/2
Teddy Long is here to debut the music video for "Bad, Bad Man" by John Cena. As far as wrestling/music standards go, it's not terrible. It's just weird as he's quickly turning into the younger audiences favorite, but the album is pretty vulgar.
Street Fight
Chavo Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio
Rey comes to the ring with the pipe, but Chavo tells him to fight him like a man and he obliges. Rey hits a sliding dropkick south of the border and follows it with a split-legged moonsault. Rey hits a hurricanrana on Chavo to the outside, but then avoids a dive over the top from Rey. Chavo brings a chair to the ring. Rey jumps off the second rope, but Chavo counters with a dropkick to the midsection. Chavo now brings a ladder out from under the ring, but it gives time for Rey to fight back. Rey sildes into the ladder, which causes the other end to hit Chavo in the face. He then scales the ladder, which is leaning against the ring, and hits a moonsault to the floor. Rey goes up top with the chair, but Chavo knocks him off and smashes Rey face first into the chair. Gory Bomb by Chavo gets a 2 count. Chavo points to the back and out comes MNM. They hold up a ladder, but Rey dropkicks it into them. Chavo avoids a 619 and then turns a hurricanrana attempt into a facefirst slam. Rey hits a drop toe hold on Chavo right into the chair. Rey then hits a seated senton onto a seated Chavo and gets the victory. Rey is always good for unique offense and this match was no different. Good TV main event, even if the crowd was surprisingly not as good as I expected.
Match Rating: ***1/4
After the match MNM starts attacking Rey, but here comes Eddie and he takes out MNM. Eddie plays to the crowd and then attacks Rey. Rey's mask is ripped and he is bleeding from his head. Eddie then stands on the bottom steel step and hits a vertical suplex on the step. That looked painful. Having never seen this, I have to say this was quite effective.
This was one of the best episodes of SmackDown all year. The majority of the show was dedicated to Rey and Eddie and they knocked it out of the park. The Angle segment was out of character, and unnecessary for a character as established as Angle, but it was also effective. The rest of the action was fun and this was an easy show to watch. Good stuff.
Overall Rating: 78%
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