Original Airdate: Friday, November 10th, 2006
Nationwide Arena
Columbus, Ohio
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King Booker and Queen Sharmell are out to kick off the show. They ramble on before Teddy Long is out to congratulate him on being the Champion Of Champions. He has some photographers take some pictures of him, but wants to talk about something else. He announces that Batista is going to get a title shot at Survivor Series. Booker is upset, but Teddy said he never mentioned that it would be against him, since he may no longer be the champion because right now he has to put the title on the line against Bobby Lashley.
World Heavyweight Championship
King Booker vs. Bobby Lashley
I'd say this is a bigger way to start the show than normal. They both get a little bit of offense in before Lashley clotheslines Booker over the top rope into the commercial break. Lashley goes for a Spear, but Booker avoids it and Lashley hits the post. Booker then crotches Lashley on the post behind the referee's back. Booker hits a superkick and gets a 2 count. Lashley makes a comeback and is able to catch Booker for a powerslam. This all leads to Sharmell making a distraction and Booker rolling him up for the victory. This match was much longer than my review, but nothing really noteworthy happened. It wasn't bad, but it was just middle of the road stuff.
Match Rating: **1/4
MVP approaches Teddy Long, but Teddy said he's about to watch See No Evil on DVD with bonus scenes. Seems like a good idea for the guy running the show to watch a movie during the only 2 hours his show actually needs him. Teddy says that next week, MVP will take on Kane in a street fight.
Chavo Guerrero is with Vickie and Chris Benoit comes in and asks what happened to them. Vickie tells him that all he needs to worry about is losing his title. He's facing Chavo at Survivor Series.
Matt Hardy & Jimmy Wang Yang vs. Gregory Helms & Sylvan
Yang gets in some fast paced offense to start, but Helms grabs his leg while running the ropes and Sylvan hits a big clothesline. Helms is in and hits a vertical suplex. They continue to isolate Yang with multiple tags. Sylvan gets some nice hangtime on a dropkick. Both he and Rene Dupree honestly aren't as bad as I remembered. Yang finally tags in Hardy and hits the Side Effect on Helms. Sylvan runs in he hits a bulldog/clothesline combo. Hardy props Helms on the top rope and goes for a superplex. Sylvan grabs him from behind, but Hardy tosses him over the top. Yang hits a dive to the floor and Hardy hits a Twist Of Fate from the top rope for the victory. That was a fun ending to a solid match.
Match Rating: **3/4
After some highlights of Batista/Finlay, Mr. Kennedy is down to the ring. Michael Cole and JBL reference that he has challenged Undertaker to a match at Survivor Series. He talks about why he wanted to leave SmackDown to expand his horizons and that Undertaker got in his way. He wants Undertaker to come out right now and accept his challenge. It takes a minute, but Undertaker's music finally hits. Kennedy tries to attack him but Taker grabs him by the throat. Kennedy eventually gets the better of him, using the microphone to bust Taker open. Kennedy talks some trash, but on his way to the back, Taker sits up and crawls to the ropes. This was pretty bloody for SmackDown.
Chris Benoit vs. KC James
I guess this is a measuring stick type of match here for James. James just looks like he was born about 20 years too late with his look and style. Benoit hits a lot of his signature moves, including the top rope headbutt before slapping on the Crippler Crossface for the victory. James did get to struggle a little bit with the application of the hold if that counts for anything.
Match Rating: 1/2*
Boogeyman vs. TJ Dalton
Dalton tries to escape, but Boogeyman is there to throw him back in the ring. This is every Boogeyman squash you've ever seen. Worms included.
Match Rating: 1/4*
Kristal confronts Miz about not getting rid of Boogeyman. Miz says that he has it covered because he's challenging him to a match next week.
Finlay vs. Batista
Unlike a lot of hyped up TV matches, this one looks like it will actually get some time. We get an early commercial break, as per usual and when we come back Batista is working on Finlay. He hits a catapult to the ropes and Finlay bounces back on Batista's knees. When Batista is getting back into the ring, out comes Hornswoggle and he hits Batista with the shillelagh in the knee. He comes out again and rakes the eyes of Batista this time. Finlay attacks the knee of Batista, despite Batista trying his best to battle out of it. Batista starts to mount a comeback and hits a running powerslam. For the time given, this has actually gone by quickly. Batista hits a spinning side slam and out comes King Booker. Batista throws Finlay into him and hits a spinebuster for the victory. This was pretty good for what it was, but I really don't think anyone was buying Finlay really being on Batista's level. He had been treated as superhuman for pretty much the last year or two.
Match Rating: **1/2
This was a good episode of SmackDown, which hasn't had a good episode in quite a few weeks. They did a good job of bookending the show with matches that mattered and the tag team match was the in ring highlight. They allowed Kennedy to get the best of Undertaker, setting up their feud for the next couple of months.
Overall Rating: 63%
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