Original Airdate: Friday, February 24th, 2006
Richmond Coliseum
Richmond, Virginia
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Randy Orton is here to kick off the show and Michael Cole refers to him as a disgusting excuse of a human being. Cole and Tazz let us know that tonight we will see Rey Mysterio, Lashley and Chris Benoit against Randy Orton, Finlay and JBL. Orton then rambles on about being his family and then eventually Chavo Guerrero comes out of nowhere and attacks Orton. He hits the Three Amigos and then a Frog Splash. Chavo gets dragged through the crowd by security as we go into a commercial break. I definitely do not remember this happening.
WWE Tag Team Championship Match
Matt Hardy & Tatanka vs. MNM
So for those of you keeping score at home, the non-title match was at the event you had to pay for and the title match is on free TV. Hardy and Tatanka flip Nitro upside down, as we keep seeing more and more of his unique abilities every week. Mercury pulls down the top rope, sending Tatanka to the floor and MNM isolates Tatanka. MNM's double leg drop is a nice move that someone should steal. Tatanka fights off a double team and makes the hot tag to Hardy. Hardy hits his nice bulldog/clothesline combo and follows it up with a Side Effect. Nitro hits a kick behind the referee's back and it allows Mercury to hit a northern lights suplex into a bridge for a 2 count. Hardy and Tatanka hit a back suplex/neckbreaker combo and almost pull off the upset. Melina grabs Hardy's leg as he attempts a Twist of Fate. Mercury rolls up Hardy and they are able to squeak out a victory in an entertaining match. It would have been nice to see them get a few more minutes, but they packed a lot of action in a short amount of time.
Match Rating: **1/2
William Regal reads a letter from a fan to Paul Burchill saying how embarrassing he is as a pirate. Burchill hands him a bomb and lights it. It does nothing. They show the Eddie Guerrero Hall of Fame package again.
Booker T and Sharmell are here and they are not their usual joyous selves.
Two-On-One Handicap Match
The Dicks vs. Boogeyman
They sell this like it was a last minute change and Booker and Sharmell are freaking out. The Dicks aren't too happy about it either. The Dicks try their hardest (yeah, I know), but it's just not good enough. It only takes about a minute until they are eating worms. Boogey turns his attention to Booker and Sharmell and they bust out of there through the crowd. He then dumps a bag of worms on the announce table.
Match Rating: 1/4*
As they clean up the worms, out comes Rey Mysterio. He admits that Orton got in his head and he apologizes to everyone. Teddy Long comes out and says that he is going to add Mysterio to the match, making it a triple threat match at WrestleMania. This was kind of a weird segment, as it was really short and kind of just buried on the show.
Out comes Kristal to promote her photo spread in the new Divas magazine and is about to show it off. Jillian Hall interrupts, so Kristal tells her to show the crowd. Jillian doesn't want to, so Kristal strips her down. Kristal then shows off after. This got about as much time as Rey Mysterio being added to the WrestleMania main event
WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match
Gregory Helms vs. Psicosis
It's nice to see this title actually defended here regularly. After some quick action to start, Helms catches Psicosis and dumps him over the ropes. Helms slows things down back in the ring until Psicosis hits a spinning heel kick. Helms ducks the second one and he hits his variation of the GTS for a 2 count. Helms catches Psicosis on the top rope, but gets knocked down. Helms bounces off the ropes, knocking Psicosis down and then scores the pinfall with his feet on the ropes. I appreciate them putting Helms over as a heel, but this one just never clicked at all.
Match Rating: *
They show a big highlight package of the Kurt Angle/Undertaker match from No Way Out, with Cole hyping it as one of the greatest matches of all time. I definitely do not agree with that.
Teddy Long is back out and he announces that there will be rematch between Kurt Angle and Undertaker next week on SmackDown.
Randy Orton's music hits, but he's not coming out. Orton is yelling at Long backstage about Chavo, Taker and Mysterio. Long tells him that if he doesn't get out there now for his match, he's going to pull him from the WrestleMania main event.
Randy Orton, JBL & Finlay vs. Chris Benoit, Bobby Lashley & Rey Mysterio
Orton and Mysterio surprisingly start off and Orton quickly gets a clubbing blow to the back of the neck on Mysterio, but then eats a headscissors. He goes for a 619, but Orton is out of there and tags in Finlay, so Mysterio tags in Lashley. Things break down quickly and all six men are brawling into the commercial break. When we come back, Benoit puts the Sharpshooter on JBL, but it doesn't last long because JBL grabs the bottom rope. The heels have their heat segment on Mysterio until he finally hits a headscissor, throwing Orton into the ring post. Benoit gets the hot tag and takes care of all three opponents, hitting German suplexes on all of them. He hits the flying headbutt on JBL, with Finlay saving the pin attempt. JBL gets his hand smashed between the ring and the steps by Benoit. Mysterio hits the 619 and gets the pin on JBL. This one was actually more on the disappointing side. I thought they would tear it down, but instead they did a pretty basic match.
Match Rating: **1/4
SmackDown has been really good as of late, but this one just dragged. The matches seemingly delivered and there was a lot of fluff. I am hopeful that they will finally focus on WrestleMania.
Overall Rating: 46%
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