Original Airdate: Friday, April 14th, 2006
Resch Center
Green Bay, Wisconsin
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Tonight we will be getting a rematch between JBL and Chris Benoit and the return of the King of the Ring Tournament. The first matchup will be Kurt Angle vs. Randy Orton tonight. They have the throne, robe, crown and scepter in the ring. Out comes Booker T and Sharmell to the ring to check it all out. This may be a little bit too much foreshadowing for what's about to come. Booker talks about the restraining order he got from Boogeyman, which means SmackDown is a Boogeyman-free zone. He brings up "Gunner Something" and says that what happened last week will never happen again. Booker has definitely gotten his groove back compared to where he was when I started recapping 2005. It seems like a good time to remind everyone how good Sharmell is here too. Booker then asks that all of his subjects stand and bow down to the future king. He goes to try on the robe and crown and does a little dance to go with it. I am guessing they were trying to make it look too obvious here to try and swerve us? This is also the beginning of the "All hail King Booker". Out comes Lashley and he hits a Spear on him. This was a great segment by Booker, but I'm not sure I like the timing of it.
Johnny Nitro vs. Brian Kendrick
This is a match that I can get behind. Nitro snaps Kendrick's neck off the second rope and hits him with a series of fists to the face. Nitro does some showboating and it costs him, leading to a Kendrick missile dropkick. Nitro distracts the ref and Mercury then shoves Kendrick off the top rope for a 2 count. We get a bunch of shenanigans with London and Melina and it ends up with Kendrick getting a victory roll for the win. This was way too short, especially since they are building up London and Kendrick, but it was still good.
Match Rating: **
They show Paul Burchill outside of William Regal's locker room with Regal complaining about his outfit.
This week in wrestling history, ECW had it's first pay-per-view, Barely Legal. Tazz and Cole talk about One Night Stand tickets going on sale.
Paul Burchill vs. Rasche Brown
Before the match, Burchill introduces Lady Regal. Apparently Regal has to dress like this until Burchill loses. Regal tries to cheat, but it backfires and Burchill hits Walk The Plank for the quick victory. This was here only for comedy purposes.
Match Rating: 1/4*
Kristal Marshall is with Kurt Angle. Angle blames losing his title on Randy Orton and tonight he's taking out all of his rage on him tonight.
They show clips of Bret Hart vs. Bam Bam Bigelow to crown the "first" King of the Ring.
Matt Hardy vs. Road Warrior Animal
We see clips of Animal attacking Hardy after his match on Velocity. They start brawling in the entrance and Animal throws Hardy into the ring post. Animal tries to bring a chair in the ring, but Hardy knocks it away and the match starts. Hardy hits Twist of Fate and that's it. I'm not really sure what the point of this was?
Match Rating: 1/4*
They show a video package of Rey Mysterio's journey to the World Heavyweight Championship.
Palmer Cannon comes out and says that the network does not endorse this video of Mike Mizanin.
Steel Cage Match For The United States Championship
JBL vs. Chris Benoit
Before the match starts, Teddy Long comes out for no reason and makes this match in a cage. This doesn't seem like the feud to have a cage match, at least at this point, but it should make for a better match than we got at WrestleMania. JBL goes for a quick escape after a shoulder tackle, but Benoit runs up to grab his leg. They are battling on the top rope and Benoit is able to knock him off. Benoit tries climbing, but JBL hits a back suplex. Benoit tries to fight back, but JBL pushes him off the top rope. JBL hits two of the Three Amigos, but Benoit counters the third one. He goes for the Sharpshooter, but JBL kicks him in the face. Benoit hits the Three Amigos and then hits the top rope headbutt. Benoit starts to climb, but JBL meets him there and hits a side Russian leg sweep off the top rope. I'm not sure I've ever seen that before. JBL hits an electric chair and gets a 2 count. Benoit makes another attempted comeback and hits two German suplexes, before JBL hits him with an elbow to the face. JBL starts to climb again and Benoit hits a German suplex from the top rope. Benoit starts crawling to the door. Jillian and the referee are arguing over it and then she accidentally slams it on JBL's face. Benoit puts on the Crippler Crossface and JBL taps, but the referee doesn't see it. JBL is able to hit a low blow and then slides out of the ring through the door and gains the victory. Honestly, this was really disappointing. This was paint by the numbers and this feud just continues to not click.
Match Rating: **1/4
They show the clip of Steve Austin winning the King of the Ring and the birth of Austin 3:16.
They show the clip of the debut of Great Khali and he is then introduced to the ring. Daivari touts Khali as the new phenomenon in the WWE and then Khali starts making loud noises.
Mexicools vs. Gymini
So apparently Gymini is a thing again. They take it right to Psicosis to start things off. Super Crazy gets a hot tag and reminds everyone that he is one of the most underutilized stars on the roster at this time. He hits a springboard tornado DDT, but the pinfall gets broken up. They do some twin magic, hit a suplex and that is all. How quickly the Mexicools have fallen down the roster. I mean, as far as 2 minute squashes go, this was good enough. I just don't get why they don't do anything with Super Crazy.
Match Rating: *1/4
King Of The Ring First Round Match
Kurt Angle vs. Randy Orton
Angle gets off to a fast start, but Orton is able to throw Angle's shoulder into the ring post. He works on the shoulder of Angle, but when he goes for a sunset flip, Angle counters it into the Ankle Lock. Orton gets out and hits a dropkick to regain control. Angle charges at Orton, but Orton flips him over the top rope. Orton tries to suplex Angle back into the ring, but Orton is able to suplex him all the way to the floor. Angle gets the Ankle Lock in and Orton taps? That was quicker than I expected. Angle holds on to a little longer after the bell for good measure. After that he starts walking away and then goes back to the Ankle Lock. He walks halfway down the ramp and decides to go back again and slap on the Ankle Lock.
Match Rating: *1/4
This wasn't a particularly strong episode of SmackDown, but the roster is good enough to make mediocre entertaining. The opening segment with Booker was the highlight here, but it's an easy enough show to watch for fans of this era.
Overall Rating: 58%
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