Original Airdate: Thursday, June 30th, 2005
Arrowhead Pond
Anaheim, California
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Muhammad Hassan and Daivari are here to kick off the show. He talks about the 4th of July and how he has no freedom in his own country. He says that tonight all of that ends. Tonight he will become SmackDown Champion and get to look down on all of us. He says that the Undertaker doesn't deserve to be in the match tonight after losing to JBL two weeks ago. Out comes the Undertaker and 25 minutes later he's in the ring. Hassan sucks up to him and tells him that Undertaker has beaten all of the greats, except Hassan. Daivari comes from behind and hits him with a chair, but Taker no sells it. Hassan retreats as Daivari takes a beating.
Cruiserweight Championship Match
Paul London vs. Chavo Guerrero
London gets a boot up on a charging Chavo and then hits a mule kick, sending Chavo outside. Chavo outsmarts him and is able to regain control. Chavo counters a slingshot by landing on his feet in the corner, but London hits him with a dropkick. The Mexicools are out now on their lawnmowers. They come in and the ref calls for the bell. They knock both men out and get on the mic. Juvy and the gang introduce themselves. This wasn't received well in 2005, let alone 15 years later. The match was good for the short amount of time given, but obviously it only existed to put over the Mexicools.
Match Rating: *
They show a Mysterio/Eddie video and then they catch up with Eddie backstage and says that Rey will pay tonight.
MNM is backstage and they namedrop celebrities who are coming tonight to see Melina's first match.
Melina vs. Michelle McCool
Compared to last night's Raw, the crowd is noticeably less enthusiastic. McCool jumps Melina and chases her up the entrance ramp and back into the ring. Melina is begging for McCool to show mercy and she of course hits her with a cheap shot. Melina goes nuts on her, but then McCool gets a rough looking kick in. Melina kind of hits a powerbomb and then tries using the ropes to get the cheap victory. It came across as both of these ladies not being ready to be in a featured match just yet. After the match, MNM hits a Snapshot on McCool. Heidenreich comes down and MNM retreats.
Match Rating: 1/4*
Eddie Guerrero is here to talk about his loss last week. He said despite the loss, he is a winner at life. He then shows a video of him at a playground with Rey Mysterio's son Dominik. Eddie gives Dominik a hug and tells him that he's going to tell him a bedtime story that he'll never forget. Rey Mysterio is here now and isn't happy. He pushes Rey down and tells him to get on his knees so that he doesn't tell Dominik the truth. Eddie starts eating a Twizzler and then spits it out and shoves it in Rey's face. This feud had been really well executed, but with it running so long they now have run out of good ideas. This part of the story just wasn't a good idea.
6 Man Elimination Match For The SmackDown Championship
JBL vs. Muhammad Hassan vs. Booker T vs. Chris Benoit vs. Christian vs. Undertaker
Christian is the first SmackDown draft pick tonight. Undertaker is the last to enter and he is immediately in the ring and behind Christian. Christian tries his best, but Taker hits Snake Eyes and a leg drop for a 2 count. Christian makes a tag to Hassan, as they go into commercial break. Undertaker continues his early match surge and hits Old School on Hassan. Benoit and JBL both get tagged in. Benoit gets a close 2 call on JBL and he then tags Hassan. Benoit hits a Northern Lights suplex for a 2 count. Hassan and Taker have a stare down as Hassan pulls himself up. Hassan hits him with a right hand and Undertaker comes in and unleashes the fury on Hassan. Taker takes him out of the ring and starts wailing away with a chair and is disqualified. Apparently Taker doesn't care about the championship that won't exist in like 15 minutes. Booker and Benoit start chopping away at each other. Benoit hits a knee to the midsection for a 2 count. Benoit hits an enzuigiri and both men are down. Booker gets up and hits a hot shot on Benoit across the top rope. He misses with a scissor kick and Benoit goes for a Sharpshooter in the middle of the ring. Booker crawls to make a tag to JBL, but he backs away. Benoit goes for the Crippler Crossface and then JBL tags himself in, hits a few moves and then Benoit tags himself in. Benoit hits a superplex on Booker, but JBL tags himself in. JBL hits a DDT on Benoit and eliminates him. I guess Hassan was eliminated as well already? Back from the commercial break and Booker hits a spinning kick on JBL. Christian finally tags in here and goes to work on Booker. Christian hits a dropkick for a 2 count. Booker catches Christian off the second rope and hits a flapjack. Booker misses a scissor kick, but misses but then hits him with another kick for a 2 count. Christian tags in JBL and he hits him with a series of clotheslines. Christian makes a blind tag and hits a forearm off the top rope on JBL for a 2 count. Christian hits a tornado DDT and again gets a close call. The crowd is starting to get behind Christian here. Booker tags in and takes down JBL and then hits a missile dropkick from the top rope for yet another close call. Booker hits a Book End and gets a 2 count as we go into a commercial break. JBL goes off the top rope, but Booker catches him and hits a body slam. Christian made a blind tag and rolls up Booker while he's going for a scissor kick and Booker is eliminated. Booker is not happy and Christian is celebrating. He turns around and JBL nails him with a Clothesline From Hell for the victory. Teddy Long is out to present JBL with the new championship while JBL hugs the referee. Long says he has good news and bad news. The bad news is that he is not the SmackDown Champion because there is no need for one because the newest draft pick is Batista. JBL is the #1 contender however. Batista is in the ring as we go off the air. Kind of a weird ending there. The match itself was pretty good, but was booked poorly. JBL came off pretty strongly, but everyone else looked kind of weak. It sets up feuds for Booker/Christian and Hassan/Undertaker, but not in any particularly exciting ways.
Match Rating: ***
Well, the entire show was dedicated to a championship that never came to be thanks to the addition of Batista. It would have been nice to see Christian make a stronger statement on his new show, but instead it's kind of easy to see why he left. JBL was kept strong to feed to Batista at the next pay-per-view and we also get to see the beginning of the end of the Muhammad Hassan character. All in all, it was a decent show, but one that could have been booked stronger in my opinion.
Overall Rating: 53%
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