Original Airdate: Friday, November 11th, 2005
Conseco Fieldhouse
Indianapolis, Indiana
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We start off with Teddy Long giving the SmackDown locker room a pep talk. He brings up the 5-on-5 match at Survivor Series and the main event tonight, which is Edge vs. Batista. He says that he will pick members of the team tonight. Randy Orton says that he should be on the team based on the fact that he has been the sole survivor two years in a row. He has a match to kick things off.
Team SmackDown Qualifying Match
Randy Orton vs. Rey Mysterio
Rey hits some nice arm drags and has Orton off his game a little bit. Orton regains his composure and hits an atomic drop and a big uppercut. Mysterio ducks Orton and he goes over the top rope and then Mysterio hits him with a corkscrew to the floor. Mysterio hits a bulldog off the second rope and gets a close call. Bob Orton grabs the ankle of Mysterio and then Randy rams him into the ring post from the apron. Mysterio makes another comeback and hits the flying headscissors. Mysterio follows it up with a dropkick and then gets a real close call off the roll up. Mysterio hits a crucifix and gets another 2 count. Mysterio misses the 619 and Orton nails him with a clothesline. Mysterio hits a bulldog though and then hits the 619. Bob Orton grabs Mysterio's leg on the springboard leg drop attempt and Nick Patrick calls for the bell. For some reason Bob Orton is surprised that this would be a disqualification when he does it in front of the referee. Orton takes out his frustration on Mysterio, but out comes Matt Hardy to make the save. Mysterio hits a headscissors and then Hardy hits the Twist of Fate. Minus the obvious ending, this was the entertaining match that you would expect these two to have.
Match Rating: **3/4 (out of 5)
Josh Matthews interviews Randy and he says that Matt Hardy messed with the wrong legend killer.
MNM is out to the ring and Melina shows how they won the titles. Melina then references Tyra Banks and America's Next Top Model. Talk about things that I forgot existed, this would be one. She introduces Michelle Leighton, who apparently was a runner up on the show. Melina makes fun of her, so Michelle slaps her. Melina is about to destroy her when the Mexicools come out and make the save. This was pretty stupid.
Team SmackDown Qualifying Match
Orlando Jordan vs. Lashley
I guess this is when they dropped Bobby from Lashley's name. Lashley hits a belly-to-belly suplex with a release. Jordan rolls outside, so Lashley throws him into the ring and hits a clothesline. Lashley hits the Dominator and gets the victory. Survivor Series will be by far Lashley's biggest opportunity so far.
Match Rating: 1/2*
Edge and Lita walk into Teddy Long's office. Edge is trying to talk Long into cancelling the match tonight. Teddy tells them to get permission from Batista themselves.
Team SmackDown Qualifying Match
Mr. Kennedy vs. Eddie Guerrero
Unfortunately, this is Eddie's last televised wrestling match. We get a lot of stalling to start things off. Kennedy offers his hand to Eddie and he then slaps him instead. Eddie hits him with a thumb to the eye and he starts stomping away on him. Kennedy comes back with a knee to the head of Guerrero and then puts him in a hammerlock. Eddie counters that with a back suplex and hits a couple of clotheslines. He hits the Three Amigos. He goes to whip Kennedy in the corner and he accidentally sandwiches the referee. Eddie gives us his famous smirk and goes and grabs a chair. Eddie sees the ref trying to get up, so Eddie smacks it on the mat and tosses it to Kennedy. Referee Charles Robinson calls for the bell and Eddie steals one. After the match, Kennedy hits Eddie in the head with a chair. Ugh. The match was too short to be anything special and the chair shot was unnecessary.
Match Rating: *1/2
They show Batista checking in on Eddie, who is being looked at by a trainer.
Pierrothito vs. Todd Stone
Stone reverses a hip toss and hits one of his own. Stone goes for a sunset flip and gets a 2 count. They do the gimmick where Pierrothito tosses Stone into the arms of the referee. Pierrothito hits a nice elbow drop off the top rope and gets the victory. Outside of the elbow drop, this was really poor.
Match Rating: 1/4*
Edge and Lita are talking about getting out of the match tonight. Edge goes to talk to Batista and Boogeyman comes up behind Lita.
I haven't really noted them, but I don't really get why they keep showing promos for the Undertaker returning at Survivor Series?
Edge approaches Batista and tells him that they shouldn't do the match tonight. Edge says they're too important to be involved in a petty fight between Teddy and Bischoff. Batista tells him that people paid to see a Street Fight, so he's going to give them a Street Fight.
The Dicks are backstage to talk about their debut match against Heidenreich and Animal.
Team SmackDown Qualifying Match
JBL vs. Chris Benoit
Benoit hits a snap suplex and starts chopping away. JBL is able to hit him with a boot to the face and follows it up with two swinging neckbreakers. Benoit makes a comeback and hits all three German suplexes. Benoit goes up to the top, but Booker T's music hits and both he and Sharmell are on their way down to the ring. We come back from the commercial break and JBL hits Benoit with a thumb to the eye outside the ring. Benoit finally gets out of JBL's bear hug and both men are down. Benoit hits another five German suplexes. Benoit hits a headbutt from the top rope and it gets a 2 count. JBL breaks up the Sharpshooter attempt with another thumb to the eye. JBL goes for the Clothesline From Hell, but Benoit counters it into the Crippler Crossface. That was pretty cool. Benoit gets the Sharpshooter on, but here comes Booker T. Since Benoit grabs him, Nick Patrick doesn't call for the bell. Benoit turns around and is hit with the Clothesline From Hell and JBL is joining Team SmackDown. Outside of the one counter move by Benoit, this one didn't really click for me. These guys never had great chemistry for whatever reason.
Match Rating: *3/4
They show Teddy backstage and telling Bischoff that he needs to leave. Chris Masters comes from behind and puts Teddy Long in the Master Lock. The SmackDown locker room comes to make the save and Masters jumps in the limo and speeds off. Back in the arena, Edge brings both Kane and Big Show out. Batista takes on all three men, but Kane and Show quickly turn that around. Out comes Funaki, who immediately is chokeslammed. Scotty 2 Hotty, Brian Kendrick, Paul London, Hardcore Holly, Heidenreich and Animal all come down get destroyed. I'm not a genius or anything, but their odds would have been a little better had they not run out one by one.
This show was a disappointment. SmackDown had a lot of momentum, but this was just really flat for me. The opener was good, but the rest just didn't have the energy that I have come to enjoy on SmackDown in 2005. They've had much worse shows, but I don't think I can give this one a recommendation.
Overall Rating: 48%
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