Original Airdate: Friday, January 13th, 2006
Wachovia Center
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2
Serious question...are there people that are nostalgic for this era of SmackDown intro music?
Batista is here to start the show and Teddy Long is right behind him. Batista announces that he was injured in a match with Mark Henry on Sunday and it's one that will require surgery. He will be sidelined indefinitely and forfeits his title because he knows it is the right thing to do.
They show Batista talking with Ricky Steamboat backstage. Lashley, Animal, Arn Anderson and Rey Mysterio all join in wishing him well. Batista then points to Mysterio and tells him that he can become World Heavyweight Champion.
Back in the ring, Teddy Long is still there to announce his plans for the title. The main event tonight will be a battle royal for the World Heavyweight Championship.
After a lengthy highlight package, Orton approaches Long. Orton says that he is going to be the World Heavyweight Champion tonight, but he needs him to postpone his match with Benoit tonight. Orton makes a pretty good point that Booker should be out there and not him.
Match Seven In A Best Of Seven Series For The United States Championship
Randy Orton vs. Chris Benoit
Things start off slowly and eventually Benoit snaps Orton's neck on the ropes and goes outside. Booker is at ringside with Sharmell and he raises his crutch at him. When the ref isn't looking, Benoit pulls an Eddie Guerrero and falls to the ground and starts selling his leg. Nick Patrick sees him on the ground and sends Booker and Sharmell to the back. After to the commercial, we still have a slow-paced affair going on. Benoit hits a vertical suplex and gets the first 2 count of the match. They battle up on the top rope and Benoit eventually headbutts Orton off and he lands on the barricade outside the ring into the second commercial break. Benoit finally is able to lock in the Sharpshooter and then hits the three German suplexes. Benoit goes up top for the flying headbutt, but Orton is able to move out of the way. Nick Patrick gets knocked down and out comes Orlando Jordan. Orton takes care of him. Booker and Sharmell are back out and Benoit knocks him out of the ring. Benoit counters the RKO into the Crippler Crossface, but Patrick is still down. Orton starts tapping. Benoit tries to wake up Patrick and then puts the Crossface back on. Booker comes in from behind and hits Benoit with the United States Championship and Orton covers Beonit for the victory. This of course leads to them announcing Booker as the new United States Champion. Booker celebrates and Orton somewhat reluctantly shakes his hand. That was kind of a long match for that finish and nothing particularly interesting really happened.
Match Rating: **1/4 (out of 5)
Roddy Piper is shown walking backstage and he bumps into Jillian Hall. He of course is grossed out by the growth on her face. JBL comes in and tells Piper he should be on the Pit tonight. He insults Piper and Piper agrees.
After a Eddie Guerrero video, out comes Roddy Piper. JBL comes out before Piper introduces him. JBL rambles on and Piper pretends to fall asleep. Piper then confronts Hall about the growth. JBL argues back and Piper goes on a quick rant and then introduces his real guest, the Boogeyman. I still can't believe his entrance was him smashing a clock on his head. JBL pushes Hall into Boogeyman and leaves the ring. Boogeyman starts licking the growth and then eventually bites it off her face. He plays with it a little bit and then starts eating it. Ratings gold. Piper starts praying and Boogey leaves the ring.
They go back to Melina with MNM and Mark Henry. Melina instructs them to bring her back some more gold.
Finlay debuts next week.
Battle Royal For The World Heavyweight Championship
Kurt Angle is the surprise entrant here. JBL gets eliminated almost immediately and then Vito. After that, it's a typical battle royal start. Undertaker, Booker T, Chris Benoit and Randy Orton are all not involved. Mark Henry eliminates Animal as we go into a commercial break. During the break, heavy favorite Simon Dean was eliminated in a shocking turn of events. MNM now launches Nunzio over the top. Angle dumps Jordan out of the match and then throws Regal out as well. Angle then hits a belly-to-belly suplex on Burchill and he is eliminated. Henry throws Angle out of the ring, but he went under the ropes. Henry starts setting up the announce table. Angle attacks him and goes for the German suplex. Henry counters it and backs him into the ring apron and then hits a gorilla press slam on Angle through the table. Lashley and Henry now start squaring off. Henry gets rid of him and then Brian Kendrick. Matt Hardy eliminates Sylvan. Hardy it then quickly thrown out by Henry. Mysterio takes out both members of MNM and it's down to him and Henry. Mysterio hits a few dropkicks and then hits the 619. Henry overpowers Mysterio and throws him out. Angle is up now and it's really weird that he's the babyface here when Daivari is still involved here. Angle pulls down the suspenders and starts wailing on Herny. He runs off the ropes and runs into Henry and gets knocked down. Angle counters a powerslam and hits the Angle Slam. Henry backs Angle into the corner, but Angle puts a scissorlock on Henry. Henry hits a German suplex on Henry and both men are down. Again, Angle puts on the scissorlock. He eventually gets him over and he falls over with him. Henry's feet hit first and Angle is our new SmackDown champion. We get a big firework and confetti celebration. The match was pretty good for a battle royal, even if it's not my favorite way for them to crown a new champion.
Match Rating: **3/4
This was a wrestling-heavy show and featured a rare two matches that lasted over 20 minutes. I appreciate the focus and we now have two new champions crowned on the show as we build for Royal Rumble. I wish I would have enjoyed the matches a little better, and I'm sure some did, but this was a decent show overall.
Overall Rating: 55%
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