Original Airdate: Friday, June 4th, 2006
WesBanco Arena
Wheeling, West Virginia
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In memory of John Tenta, 1963-2006. Ugh, this is still so sad.
The Miz then kicks off the show announcing Finlay vs. Rey Mysterio tonight.
William Regal is out now to show what happens when you don't hail King Booker. Regal announces Booker, but Lashley comes from behind and attacks Regal. Out comes Teddy Long and announces that Lashley will face Regal tonight and if Lashley wins, he gets a match with Booker.
Batista returns in 28 days.
Super Crazy vs. Brian Kendrick
Here's your reminder that the Mexicools still exist. As much as I really liked London and Kendrick as a team, I never really liked the masks or ring gear. It should be noted that Tazz is still the announcer here at SmackDown. I believe JBL will take over next week. We get some nice wrestling to start things off here. Crazy hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker to take control. Kendrick fights back with a kick to the face and a 2 count. Crazy hits a tornado sit down powerbomb and he gets a 2 count. Crazy works on the back of Kendrick, pulling out a surfboard. Kendrick is able to pull off a tornado DDT to shift the momentum. They battle up on the second rope and move up to the top rope. Super Crazy hits a Spanish Fly from the top rope and gets the victory. That was a pretty dominating performance by Crazy. Out comes Great Khali and he grabs Kendrick by the head. London hits him in the back with a chair, but Khali no sells it. He tosses out London and throws Kendrick onto him. Khali moves onto Super Crazy and destroys him, with Psicosis escaping the situation. This was a solid match that got more time than expected and Khali looked like a monster after.
Match Rating: **3/4
Finlay is with Kristal and she wants to know about about what's been happening in his matches lately, but Finlay grabs her by the mouth before she can get it out. Finlay wonders if Mysterio will go to ECW, but he doesn't care.
A bunch of the jobbers are all talking to Nunzio and in walks Vito wearing a dress. They all leave and Nunzio tells him not to dress like this. Vito says he doesn't care what people say because he's the toughest guy in the locker room. He says tonight he's going to show what kind of man he is.
Vito vs. Nunzio
I'm surprised they didn't save this for pay-per-view. Vito attacks Nunzio, trying to show off his aggressive side. Tazz tries to figure out the logic of Nunzio being Little Guido on Wednesday and back to Nunzio tonight. Nunzio catches Vito with an elbow, but then Vito catches Nunzio and drives him into the corner. Nunzio is able to hit a dropkick, but then gets drilled by a right hand. Vito hits a spinning DDT and that's all. It was pretty obvious that this wasn't going to get over, but Vito looked pretty decent here.
Match Rating: 1/2*
Queen Sharmell is here to introduce King Booker so that he can sit up on the ramp in his throne.
Bobby Lashley vs. William Regal
Regal attacks Lashley on his way to the ring and throws him into the guardrail. Regal continues the attack in the ring and we are officially underway. Lashley is hung up by the leg on the second rope with his body hanging over the apron and Regal takes advantage. Lashley fights back with a back body drop, but Regal hits him with some left forearms. Lashley's comeback attempts keep getting thwarted by Regal. Regal grabs a chair, but Lashley hits him with a Spear before he can use it. Regal is getting counted out and Booker tries to help Regal get back in the ring. He's unable to do so and Lashley earns his match with Booker next week. This was fine, but I'm really surprised that Lashley got dominated by Regal, who has been a jobber all year.
Match Rating: *1/2
The Miz is out and it's time for some Diva thing. It's a bikini contest between Ashley, Jillian, Kristal and Michelle McCool. Michelle cuts a heel promo about teachers or something. Ashley wins. It's not 1999 any more.
Mark Henry vs. Raymond Rowe
Raymond decides it's a good strategy to run right into a clothesline. He hits the World's Strongest Slam, but picks him up during the pin attempt and hits another for the victory. He gets on the mic and talks about Batista coming back being his biggest mistake.
Match Rating: 1/4*
Mr. Kennedy vs. Scotty 2 Hotty
Kennedy attacks him on his way back to the ring, but Scotty hits a hip toss. Kennedy dominates most of the match though, mostly with a couple of clotheslines. He then hits the Kenton Bomb for the victory. It seems like he is still over with the crowd after a long time off, which is always a plus for a newer star.
Match Rating: 1/2*
Chavo Guerrero and Rey Mysterio are backstage and Rey thanks him for getting his back at Judgment Day. Rey asks Chavo about coming back to the ring. Rey tells Chavo to never say never about coming back. They are also hinting at Mysterio possibly joining ECW.
Michael Cole is in the ring now to talk to Rey about the ECW situation and before he comes down, Tazz is in the ring. Tazz says that Rey hasn't probably made his decision, but Tazz has. He then says that he's going to choke Lawler out at One Night Stand. It's really interesting looking back at how hard Tazz and Lawler were pushing this mini feud. He then announces he's going to ECW and leaves. Out comes Paul Heyman and they embrace. It's amazing how long Heyman got a pass at having that ponytail and trench coat look. Heyman then comes to the ring and asks Cole to head out. Heyman talks about RVD, Angle and Tazz joining the brand. He talks about the offer he extended to Rey and he finally comes out. Rey respectfully declines, saying that these are his people. Heyman wishes him good luck against Sabu and also tonight against Finlay. Heyman joins Cole in the announce booth as Finlay comes out.
Rey Mysterio vs. Finlay
This is a non-title match. Finlay dominates the early going until Mysterio hits a spinning headscissors. They head out of the ring until Mysterio gets taken under the ring. Finlay drags him out with Hornswoggle hanging on his legs. Finlay wears down Mysterio with some submission holds until Rey makes his comeback and hits Finlay with a kick to the head. Sabu is in the to distract Rey and it allows Finlay to hit Rey with the shillelagh and picks up the surprising pinfall victory over the champ. These two would have much better matches down the line than this one. After the match, Sabu is in the ring and hits Rey with a chair. Sabu sets up Rey on a table out of the ring and hits a top rope leg drop.
Match Rating: *3/4
While this was much better than Raw this week, it was still kind of a ho hum show. The opening match was good and actually got some time and it was nice to see Mr. Kennedy back. The ECW stuff is interesting, even if it never really hit it's potential.
Overall Rating: 52%
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