Monday, September 28, 2020

SmackDown Special 11-29-05 Review

Tuesday, November 29th, 2005
U.S. Bank Arena
Cincinnati, Ohio

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Match Two In A Best Of Seven Series For The United States Championship
Booker T vs. Chris Benoit

Booker T took the first match at Survivor Series to go up 1-0. Benoit wastes no time and goes right after Booker. Benoit hits a snap suplex and follows it up with a German suplex. Booker rolls out of the ring, but Benoit is right after him. The first match in the series was a pretty disappointing match, especially when you throw in the fact that it was the opening match at a pay-per-view. Booker is able to dump Benoit on the top rope to slow him down. It doesn't last long, as Benoit is right back in with a backbreaker. Benoit then hits a nice looking Northern Lights suplex into a bridge for a 2 count. Booker hits a nice roll up out of the corner out of nowhere for a close call. Benoit goes right back on offense. Booker goes for a heel kick, but Benoit holds onto the rope and then dumps Booker over the top rope. Benoit goes for a dive to the outside, but Booker is able to move out of the way into the commercial break. Booker is working on the back and then hits a nice heel kick for a 2 count. Benoit strikes again this time with three overhead belly-to-belly suplex and gets a 2 count. Sharmell distracts both Benoit and referee Nick Patrick, but Benoit still hits a suplex. He connects with the flying headbutt, but Booker kicks out. Booker snaps Benoit's neck over the top rope. He goes for a suplex to the floor, but Benoit lands on the apron. Benoit then attempts a German suplex off the apron, but Booker hangs on and Benoit goes crashing to the floor. Yikes. Booker rolls him back in for a pin attempt, but Patrick says that Benoit got his shoulder up. That was a little strange. Benoit snaps up and hits a German Suplex. Booker comes right back and hits the Scissor Kick for the victory. That was a much better match than the first one, but that finish was just strange. 

Match Rating: ***1/4

We get some Eddie Guerrero highlights. No complaint there. They then show Rey Mysterio praying earlier in the day to make Eddie his guardian angel tonight. He then dedicates the match to Eddie. This leads into a big hype video for Rey/Big Show. In case you didn't get the hint, this is a real life David vs. Goliath story.

Big Show vs. Rey Mysterio

Mysterio comes out to Eddie's music and in the low rider. Rey goes right after Big Show's legs, but Show just shoves him away. Big Show chases Mysterio on the outside, but Mysterio hits a dropkick on the outside. Big Show no sells it as we head into a commercial break. When we come back, Show hits an open palm slap to the chest and then walks on his chest for good measure. Mysterio comes off the top rope to the floor, but Show catches him and he powerbombs him on the low rider. When we come back from commercial, Mysterio is being checked on by officials. Show tells them to move out of the way and he carries him back in the ring. Tazz is begging for the match to be stopped. So just to recap, on Monday Big Show stands up to the biggest heel on Raw, Triple H. On the very next night, he takes out the biggest babyface on SmackDown, Rey Mysterio. I'm not sure how this makes any sense and as we all know, this is the biggest theme of Big Show's career. Referee Charles Robinson gets squashed in the corner by Mysterio getting thrown there. Big Show brings in a chair, but Mysterio snags it and starts striking his legs with it. Rey then hits two unprotected chair shots to the head of Show and hits the 619. Robinson is still down, so Mysterio slams the chair against Show's chest. Mysterio hits a Frog Splash  in honor of Eddie and then Kane's pyro and music hits. They hit a double chokeslam and then the lights go out and Undertaker is in the ring behind them. Kane sees him and walks to the back. Show and Taker start slugging it out and of course Undertaker gets the best of him. He hits a leaping clothesline on Show and then Kane comes back in. Taker gives him a chokeslam and then gives Show a boot to the outside. In comes Randy Orton and he hits a RKO on Undertaker. Taker attacks Orton as he is passing by the low rider, but Orton gets the better of him. Orton then takes the car, puts it in reverse with Taker on the back of it and drives it through the SmackDown stage. We get explosions and fire as the show goes off the air. The match itself was pretty good, but this was obviously more than just a match.

Match Rating: **1/2

Well, when this happened there were a lot of people who were not happy with them using Eddie's legacy in this way. From their perspective, they are right. It felt too soon to be doing something like that to further a story that really didn't have anything to do with him. If you take all of that out of the equation, which probably is not fair, this is the type of cliffhanger that makes sense in the world of Undertaker. A frustrated Orton being driven to extreme lengths after he is unable to get rid of his opponent time and time again. The stunt itself looked impressive as well and it was something that hadn't been done. It's just a shame they had to drag Eddie into it. The show as a whole was entertaining and a strong reminder of how good a 1 hour wrestling show can be. 

Overall Rating: 69%


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