Original Airdate: Friday, September 29th, 2006
Tulsa Convention Center
Tulsa, Oklahoma
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John Cena is here to kick off the show. He does the whole "I'm so glad to be back on SmackDown", as if there's really any difference. He then says that he's here to take care of Finlay, William Regal and King Booker tonight.
Rey Mysterio vs. Sylvester Terkay Elijah Burke
I don't really get the switching with these two. Burke is able to shift the momentum early on by hitting a powerbomb into the turnbuckle and hitting a side suplex. Burke goes for a top rope elbow drop, but Mysterio is able to move out of the way. Mysterio quickly is able to trip up Burke into the middle rope and then hits the 619 for the victory. I expected this to last a little bit longer. Terkay comes in and attacks Mysterio, hitting a Musclebuster. This was a spirited squash, but not much more than that.
Match Rating: *
Ashley introduces a highlight package of London and Kendrick.
#1 Contender Match
KC James & Idol Stevens vs. Pitbulls
The Pitbulls are a legit good team, but since there is no tag team division, they are just a footnote in history. They are stuck with a pretty dead crowd due to them both being heels, but the Pitbulls are mostly dominating the match. Kash hits a moonsault that gets a reaction, but then gets hit with a DDT for a 2 count. All 4 men are in the ring now and it provides a distraction for Michelle McCool to reverse the inside cradle and pick up the victory for her team. This was short and had little interest, but it was fine.
Match Rating: *1/4
Matt Hardy vs. Chavo Guerrero
Michael Cole announces that Hardy will face Gregory Helms at No Mercy. JBL accuses Michael Cole of working for CNN because of his biased reporting, just in case you weren't sure where JBL stood. Meanwhile, Hardy hits a back body drop and a clothesline in the corner into the bulldog. The problem with this Chavo push is that he was such a jobber for so long, that it's hard to really buy in. Hardy hits a second rope leg drop despite the distraction from Vickie Guerrero. Out comes Gregory Helms and Hardy knocks him off the apron. Vickie hits a low blow and Chavo hits the Frog Splash for the victory. Lots of short matches here tonight, but they all have been spirited, so I'll take it. After the match, Helms hits the Shining Wizard on Hardy.
Match Rating: *3/4
Mr. Kennedy is out dressed in black and is here to pay tribute to the Undertaker. He shows a highlight package and talks about how Undertaker has accomplished everything there is to accomplish. He decides that he shouldn't be the one to end it all and decides to not face him at No Mercy. Undertaker's music hits and he is out to tell him that he will rest in peace. Kennedy goes to grab his microphone and it starts sparking.
William Regal, Finlay, King Booker and Queen Sharmell are backstage and say they will make Cena bow tonight.
Tatanka vs. Miz
Miz comes down with a mic trying to be as annoying as possible. It's the odd heel where the heel announcer hates him and the face announcer likes him. Miz mocks Tatanka's heritage, which of course would and should never happen today. Tatanka goes for a backslide, but Miz's head is under the ropes, so the referee doesn't count. It distracts Tatanka and Miz takes advantage. Miz goes for a chop, but Tatanka beats him to it. He hits a side Russian leg sweep, but Miz kicks out at 1. He starts hitting the chops to the head, but it leads to Miz rolling him up off of the ropes and picking up the sneaky victory. Miz was still extremely inexperienced here and Tatanka isn't the guy to carry him to a good match.
Match Rating: 1/2*
Teddy Long is here to tout SmackDown's success on CW. He then announces that next week where Lashley and King Booker will pick each other's opponents.
Jimmy Wang Yang lets us know that he's glad to be in Oklahoma for his first match on SmackDown.
Sylvan vs. Jimmy Wang Yang
I truthfully forgot that Sylvan was around this long, but I guess that just proves how little of an impact he had in his time here. They show his crowning achievement from last week where he was the most over guy on the show. I definitely did not recall Yang's jacket having the confederate flag on it. Michael Cole bragging about having Miz and Yang is classic. Yang is definitely a fun competitor, but his high risk style backfires when he misses a dive to the outside. Sylvan hits an interesting variation of the spinebuster for a 2 count. Yang comes back with a big clothesline and hits a reverse corkscrew off the top rope. Yang runs into the corner, but Sylvan catches him and slams him down, puts his feet on the ropes and picks up the victory? They really had him job to Sylvan on his debut? Whatever. Yang looked good here.
Match Rating: *3/4
Vito is backstage to tell us that it's the man that makes the dress.
Michael Cole announces that MVP has finally signed a contract with SmackDown and they show the WWE.com exclusive footage. He will debut at No Mercy.
Bobby Lashley, Batista & John Cena vs. King Booker, Finlay & William Regal
Cena runs down the ramp and attacks the heels on their way down, which explains why the faces were announced first. We go to commercial break and when we come back the match has started and it's Batista and Regal. The faces dominate the early going and it's a little hard to believe that Booker's team has a chance here. Lashley catches Booker off the ropes and hits a nice powerslam. He caught him kind of funny and the move was even more impressive as a result. Cena now gets his turn and hits the Five Knuckle Shuffle on Regal. He slaps the STFU on Finlay, but Booker breaks it up. Hornswoggle hands the shillelagh to Finlay and he hits Cena with it behind the referee's back. They now go to work on the injured arm of Cena, as the announcers remind us of his cage match with Edge coming up on Monday. Cena finally makes the tag and it's to Lashley, who gets to clean house. He hits the running powerslam on Booker, but the pin attempt is broken up. In comes Batista and it clears out to just him and Booker. Finlay trips Batista up when running the ropes and then goes for the Scissor Kick. Lashley must have been a second late, because he stops short of it and then gets hit with a Lashley Spear and that's enough for the victory. Out comes Edge and he hits Cena with the Spear before running back through the crowd. Like I said, I'm not sure anyone was buying the heels winning here, but this was a good main event and Lashley in particular looked really good.
Match Rating: ***1/4
This was one of those shows where the locker room for the most part was all feeling it. They all didn't get a lot to work with, but they made the most of their opportunities tonight. The roster is pretty thin on the blue brand, but the top stars are firing on all cylinders enough to make you forget about guys like Tatanka, Vito and Sylvan.
Overall Rating: 62%
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