Saturday, April 4, 2020

SmackDown 8-4-05 Review

Original Airdate: Thursday, August 4th, 2005
Harbor Yard Arena
Bridgeport, Connecticut

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2

Rey Mysterio is here for The Peep Show with Christian. Christian takes a few jabs at Rey about the Eddie situation. Rey tells Christian to bring Eddie out like he promised. Christian calls Eddie out to read chapter 2 of his story, but Eddie is on the video screen instead. Rey keeps interrupting and Eddie says that he isn't going to finish the chapter right now, but he promises he will by the end of this show. Christian then attacks Rey with a microphone to the head and hits the Unprettier.

Jillian Hall says she has carried a burden her entire life. She has a blemish on her face, but she carries herself with dignity. She shows the thing on her face and asks if it makes us uncomfortable. She says she is a fixer and she is here to work for MNM. She walks past Sharmell and Booker T, who then talk about the blemish.

MNM vs. Booker T & Chris Benoit

This should be a nice test for MNM, as there currently hasn't been much of a tag division for them to work with so far. We get some nice back and forth action to get started. Benoit goes for the Sharpshooter, but Nitro pulls Mercury out of the ring going into the commercial break. Booker gets a reverse kick in on Nitro and a neckbreaker for a 2 count. Benoit hits some German suplexes and then places Nitro on the top rope. Melina distracts the ref, allowing Mercury to knock Benoit off the second rope. MNM cut the ring in half. Benoit fights back and hits a German suplex on Nitro. Benoit hits an enzuigiri and makes the hot tag to Booker. He hits the Book End on Mercury, but Nitro makes the save. Benoit puts Nitro in the Crippler Crossface outside the ring and Nitro taps, but it doesn't count of course. Booker is grabbed by Melina, causing Sharmell to chase after her. Jillian Hall takes out Sharmell. Booker pulls her off and checks on Sharmell. Mercury rolls Booker up and holds on to the ropes for the victory. I'm not sure why Benoit decided to just keep hanging outside the ring for that long, but other than that this was a pretty good tag match.

Match Rating: **1/2 (out of 5)

Christian is backstage with Teddy Long and he naturally makes Christian vs. Rey Mysterio for tonight.

Randy Orton is interviewed backstage and says he will make his intentions clear tonight.

Teddy Long is in the ring and has the contract for the World Heavyweight Championship match at SummerSlam. He brings out both JBL and Batista for the always classic contract signing. Batista takes one of the horns off of JBL's limo on the way to the ring and places it on the table. I sometimes find JBL's promos to be too long for no reason, but I do think in these face-to-face situations he does really excel at just being a good heel. Batista isn't quite as comfortable as he would become on the mic. JBL checks the contract and says that Batista left the stipulation blank and mocks Batista for it. Batista wants him to pick it. JBL decides to make it a no holds barred match. Is this the first contract signing in history that didn't end in a brawl?

Heidenreich tells Animal that he's feeling it with the new haircut. Animal now tells him to start using the face paint.

Michael Cole and Tazz run down the SummerSlam card and man are the match graphics awful for this show.

Heidenreich & Road Warrior Animal vs. Josh Daniels & Damian Adams

I think it would have done Animal a lot of good to wear a vest of some sort here during this run. This one goes a little bit longer than last week's squash, but not much. They hit a few impact moves and then the Doomsday Device, which is really awkward with Heidenreich going off the top rope.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Randy Orton is here to address the Undertaker situation. Orton says WrestleMania 21 was supposed to be his night, but fate intervened. Now he's on SmackDown and he's able to get what he needs, which is to beat Undertaker. He says that he will not rest until he beats him and he challenges him at SummerSlam and he wants an answer right now. Taker's music hits and RKO goes up on the screen. All we hear is Taker's voice and the letters change to RIP as Taker accepts his challenge.

Eddie is back and opens a limo door for a woman. He says there is no chapter 2 without her.

Rey Mysterio vs. Christian

Mysterio goes right after Christian as he's climbing into the ring. He then launches himself over the top rope. Rey throws him into the ring and the bell rings. Rey hits a spin kick, but Christian then throws him out of the ring. Rey lands on his feet and hits a springboard senton. Eddie and the woman walk out as we head to commercial. During the break, Christian avoided a 619 and was able to take control since. Cole claimed that Christian had eyes in the back of his head or, you know, was just looking at the large television screens that he was facing. Rey gets a 2 count out of a small package, but Christian immediately kicks him in the gut. Christian dumps Rey on the top rope and then hits him with a high knee, causing Rey to fall to the outside. Rey goes for a springboard senton again and Christian hits him with a dropkick in midair. Rey counters a gutbuster into a pin attempt for 2. Rey is able to make a little bit of a comeback, until he misses a springboard crossbody. Christian goes for the Unprettier, but Rey slips out and dropkicks him and hits the 619. Rey hits the springboard leg drop and gets the victory. When you put two of your top performers in there, you're going to get a good match. They are capable of better, but this was a good TV main event.

Match Rating: ***1/4

Rey then calls Eddie to the ring, but Eddie instead introduces Anna to Rey. Eddie tells Rey to read chapter 2 or else he will. Anna hands him the book. Rey finds a blue piece of paper in there and Rey is in disbelief. Eddie says those are official custody papers and next week Rey has to bring  Dominik because Eddie is his true father. Eddie says that if Rey can prove how much he loves his son, Eddie says he might let Rey keep him. Rey says that Dominik is his son and that he has raised him for 8 years. He says that he was going to eventually tell Dominik the truth when he was old enough to understand. He says that Dominik is so depressed right now that he hasn't spoken since last week. Rey begs Eddie to stop hurting Dominik. Eddie mocks him and then says that Anna is his attorney. Dominik is the son he has always wanted and that he will be the one to carry on his Guerrero legacy. Eddie says to stay tuned to chapter 3 where Dominik comes home to his papi. Again, this whole storyline is just so over the top in a bad way, but both men have done the best they can with it.

Well, two of the three matches got a decent amount of time and were both pretty good. Orton's short segment was also solid and it set up a worthy rematch at SummerSlam. The Jillian Hall thing continues to be ridiculously stupid and I can't wait for the Dominik angle to end. So in other words, SmackDown is a real mixed bag right now. This show runs somewhere right in the middle.

Overall Rating: 54%

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