Monday, July 11, 2022

SmackDown 8-25-06 Review

Original Airdate: Friday, August 25th, 2006
Wachovia Arena
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2

After a SummerSlam recap, King Booker, Queen Sharmell, Finlay and William Regal are out to the ring. Booker then knights Finlay and Regal in a touching ceremony. It all leads to a lot of "All hail King Booker" chants until Lashley attacks him from behind. They take care of him and then Batista comes out to make the save. Now it's time for Teddy Long. We haven't gotten this in forever. We're getting a handicap match featuring Booker, Finlay and Regal against Batista and Lashley.

Gregory Helms is out to join the announce booth.

Mr. Kennedy vs. Matt Hardy

If you didn't know that Helms was the longest reigning champion, you will after about 5 seconds. Hardy gets off to a hot start until Kennedy is able to hit a back suplex. Hardy fights back and hits a clothesline for a 2 count. Hardy hits a Side Effect and gets another nearfall. He follows up with a dive to the outside and we head into a commercial. When we come back, Kennedy throws Hardy into the steel steps. Kennedy continues to dominate, but makes the mistake of climbing the turnbuckles. Hardy gets there and hits a superplex. Hardy follows up with a boot to the head and the clothesline/bulldog combo. Hardy hits an elbow off the second rope and signals for the Twist Of Fate. Kennedy counters, but misses with a dropkick. Helms gets up on the apron and snaps Hardy's neck on the top rope. Kennedy hits the reverse neckbreaker and picks up the victory as Helms is shown laughing. This was a good TV match that surprisingly was designed to feature Hardy more than Kennedy. 

Match Rating: ***

Ashley is talking to Miz about how great it was when she won the Diva Search and how happy Layla must have been. Miz then talks about all his Mizfits and how they're going to go crazy when he comes out. Ashley isn't buying it.

Miz brings out Layla and he keeps interrupting her to start his heel turn. He announces the biggest SmackDown debut in history, as he's having his first match. 16 years later, he's still killing it.

They show Tatanka's bad luck over the last two weeks. 

Tatanka vs. Sylvester Terkay

I would have thought Tatanka would have been a pretty good opponent for Terkay here, but unfortunately this one starts out pretty dull. Tatanka tries to make a comeback and hits a clothesline and some chops, but Terkay is still standing. He hits a top rope chop to knock him down. After the failed pin attempt, Tatanka starts arguing with the referee. He gets hit with a boot and Terkay gets the win. This one wasn't very good. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

They show highlights of the disappointing Chavo/Mysterio match at SummerSlam. Out comes Vickie Guerrero to Eddie's music. She says that she loves this music, but it's the last time we will hear it. She hurt both Rey and Chavo and she apologizes. She brings out Rey Mysterio and apologizes. Rey takes a moment and hugs her. She brings out Chavo next and apologizes. They also embrace. Chavo attacks Rey while Vickie yells for him to stop. Chavo grabs a chair, but Vickie stands between them. Chavo throws the chair down and Vickie grabs it. She turns around and hits Rey with it and then Chavo hits the brainbuster on the chair. The crowd was pretty dead until the turn. 

Paul London vs. KC James

James hits a back body drop and backbreaker out of the gate. London battles back until Idol Stevens trips him up. Kendrick comes up and makes the save. London is ready to get back rolling until the Pitbulls come out and attack London. Stevens and James come in and start brawling with them. This was just to remind us that there are 3 tag teams. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

MVP is shown walking through the crowd. 

Kristal vs. Jillian Hall

I'm not quite sure what the point of cramming this one on here was. Anyway, Kristal basically controls the match and then gets a roll up by holding the tights.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Vito vs. Sylvan

Sylvan and his main event gimmick take it to Vito to start. He hits a nice looking missile dropkick and then continues to wear him down. Vito starts feeling it and hits the usual offense like he does in every match before putting on his finisher for the quick tap out. This show fell off a cliff.

Match Rating: 1/2*

After the match, Vito challenges MVP. MVP takes his time and then says "no contract, no contact".

Handicap Match
King Booker, Finlay & William Regal vs. Bobby Lashley & Batista

Despite the advantage, it's all Lashley and Batista until a Finlay distraction opens up an opportunity. Booker hits a Scissor Kick, but Batista is able to break up the count. Finlay gets Lashley outside of the ring and out comes Hornswoggle. Finlay tosses him off the apron and onto Lashley. He then goes over to Michael Cole and bites him. Batista gets the hot tag and takes care of Finlay and Lashley. Booker tries to use the scepter, but Batista ducks it and hits the spinebuster for the victory. They booked that more one-sided than expected. 

Match Rating: **

This show started off good enough, featuring a fairly lengthy match. From there on, it was extremely mediocre and even bad in spots. After SummerSlam, they haven't really found anything interesting for them to really expand on.

Overall Rating: 49%

No comments:

Post a Comment