Monday, October 25, 2021

SmackDown 5-19-06 Review

Original Airdate: Friday, May 19th, 2006
Tingley Coliseum
Albuquerque, New Mexico

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JBL is out in his limo and he announces that tonight will be a night that Rey Mysterio will never forget. The best part of this is that I just realized I watched Judgment Day out of order, confirming that I am indeed an idiot.

MNM vs. Brian Kendrick, Paul London & Jillian 

The women have to be held back as we go into an early commercial break to start off. When we come back, it's the tag teams going at it though. Despite a good start for the challengers, the champs are able to injure the knee of Kendrick. MNM does the heel thing until London gets the hot tag. They quickly slow down his momentum, but he hits a double dropsault for a 2 count. The women finally get in there and they brawl, which the crowd is very much into. Jillian hits a top rope crossbody and that gets the victory for a huge pop. That was a fun match overall and it is always a bonus to see the crowd react that way.

Match Rating: ***

They show the Judgment Day press conference highlights. This is because this show was before Judgment Day. Not after. 

After some clips of Mark Henry, Kurt Angle gives a backstage interview. Angle makes fun of Henry for not winning at the Olympics. 

Bobby Lashley vs. Jared Steele

This is obviously a tune up for Lashley here and he hits his usual offense. He hits the delayed vertical suplex and follows that up with a Spear for the victory. This accomplished what they were hoping to. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

As Lashley is celebrating on the top of the ramp, out comes Booker T and he's all upset heading into the commercial break.

Booker T & Finlay vs. Chris Benoit & Gunner Scott

Here's your reminder that Gunner Scott exists. It's kind of surprising he didn't stick around just because the roster was so shallow. Gunner gets the early portion of the match and looks pretty good. He makes a hot tag to Benoit after taking a beating from both opponents. Benoit actually is a pretty weak hot tag overall. Gunner gets beat up again, so we get another hot tag to Benoit. The action spills outside, which allows Finlay to use his shillelagh and regain the advantage. Booker slaps on the abdominal stretch and I have to say the crowd here has been really good all night. Gunner comes in and hits a second rope missile dropkick for a 2 count. Benoit and Finlay come in and start brawling. They end up spilling outside again thanks to a suplex from Benoit. Lashley makes his way out and sits in the throne on the stage. Booker and Sharmell are enraged, which allows Gunner to use a crucifix into a pin and steal the victory. This was actually pretty good even if it led to nothing for Gunner. 

Match Rating: ***

After yet another Tatanka vignette, Daivari is in the ring. He shows a video package hyping Khali and then brings him out. Khali yells and that's the segment. 

Mark Henry vs. Matt Hardy

Poor Matt is back to being a jobber again. Matt baits Mark to have him chase him and hits him with a dropkick on his way back in. Hardy throws Henry into the ring post and then hits his second rope leg drop. Henry makes a quick comeback and slaps on my favorite move, the bear hug. He hits the World's Strongest Slam and that is all. Hardy tried here, but it was just way too short to make it compelling. After the match, Henry squashes Hardy in the corner and calls out Angle. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

Vito and Nunzio are backstage and Vito is on the phone. This allows Paul Burchill to talk to Nunzio and let him know that he saw Vito in a dress. It's hard to get worse than this. 

Rey Mysterio vs. Kane

JBL comes out and gets Mysterio to say the date, which is May 19th. I'm sure this was great for the live crowd, as it wasn't May 19th. Out comes Kane and Michael Cole declares this a massacre. Kane destroys while we have to listen to JBL and Cole scream at each other. All of a sudden, the Kane mask comes on the screen and repeats "May 19th". This distraction allows Mysterio to hit the 619. Kane catches him with a chokeslam right after, but then Kane has a headache. JBL comes in and blames Mysterio for saying May 19th, which makes Kane give JBL a chokeslam. He uses his magical powers to make the ring posts explode and then walks away. What a bad ending to an otherwise good show. The match wasn't much.

Match Rating: 3/4*

This was a good go home show with a really invested crowd, but the ending was really stupid and did nothing to hype Judgment Day. If you just take that away, this was probably one of the stronger SmackDown shows of the year.

Overall Rating: 60%

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