SmackDown 3-2-07 Review

Original Airdate: Friday, March 2nd, 2007
HP Pavilion
San Jose, California

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Batista is here to kick off the show. He says that he was honored that Undertaker chose him and it will be the match of his career. He says that he will not be intimidated and is interrupted by the bell. We get a video of Taker at a cemetery. He's shown shoveling dirt into a grave and he tells Batista that his reign as champion will rest in peace. We go back to Batista, who takes off his shades and shakes his head. We go to commercial break with no rebuttal.

King Booker and Queen Sharmell are out to join the announce team.

Money In The Bank Qualifying Match
Matt Hardy vs. Joey Mercury

Hardy hits a gutbuster, as the announcer build up how important this match is for both men. The momentum shifts when Hardy runs into the ring post and we go to a commercial break. Mercury is starting to get frustrated, as he's not able to put Hardy away. Hardy fights back and the referee gets some boos when he hits the Side Effect and Mercury kicks out. Hardy rips the mask off of Mercury. Mercury is up top and he hits a RKO from the top rope and that's enough for the victory. There was no other choice here, as Hardy has had a nice year and they have done nothing with him outside of the Hardy reunion. This was the usual solid match from these two.

Match Rating: **1/4

We have 6 of the 8 slots filled for Money In The Bank now. The 7th will be either Chris Benoit, Finlay or the man with Kristal right now, MVP. He says when they signed MVP, they signed money in the bank. I guess the burns have healed now. 

The WrestleMania Recall is Butterbean knocking out Bart Gunn. One of the truly bizarre moments in WrestleMania history. 

Maryse welcomes us back to SmackDown. 

Scotty 2 Hotty, Shannon Moore & Jimmy Wang Yang vs. Gregory Helms, Daivari & Chavo Guerrero

Moore hits an inverted atomic drop on Helms and follows it up with a second rope flying headscissors. Helms tags in Chavo and he's able to get in some offense on Scotty. I'm really not sure why the WWE didn't put any emphasis on actually hiring cruiserweight wrestlers during this time, but no one really cares about any of these guys. Obvious statement, I know. The heels cut the ring in half with Scotty. Yang gets a tag and picks up the pace. He hits a kick to the back of the head and a nice backflip kick in the corner. Helms comes in and attacks him from behind and Scotty comes in and wants to do the worm, but is escorted out. We get some shenanigans and now everyone is involved. Moore hits a somersault dive over the top and appears to hit Chavo in the head. Yang hits a moonsault on Daivari and picks up the win for his team. This was a fun match and they got the crowd invested by the end, which is a minor miracle.

Match Rating: **1/2

We get a recap of Rey Mysterio's nightmare of a homecoming last week on SmackDown. 

Vince McMahon is out now and gloats about what Umaga did to Mysterio last week. He calls this match the biggest match of his career. Sure. We then get a bunch of recap videos of Raw and ECW. He's then interrupted by Bobby Lashley. Vince offers Lashley twice as much as whatever Trump is paying him. Lashley declines, so Vinces slaps him. Lashley doesn't like that, so Vince bails and we head to commercial. 

Mr. Kennedy is shown backstage with Vince and he says he wants Lashley tonight. Vince makes it No Holds Barred for Mr. Kennedy only and it's for the ECW Championship.

Ashley vs. Jillian

Jillian tries to sing before the match, but Ashley attacks her instead. She tries for a crucifix, but Jillian drops her on her back. To their credit, they are trying to cram in a lot of moves in a short amount of time. Ashley hits an inverted DDT and a second rope elbow drop to earn the victory. Like I said, this was short, but at least they packed a lot in here.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Triple Threat Money In The Bank Qualifying Match
Finlay vs. MVP vs. Chris Benoit

Before the match, Hornswoggle jumps up on the announce table and it leads to Finlay officially declaring that his name is actually Hornswoggle. The first notable spot is when MVP dumps Finlay out of the ring. MVP goes after Finlay and it leaves an opening for Benoit. He hits a dive on MVP, but Finlay wisely moves out of the way and we have a commercial break. When we come back, we get some teamwork from MVP and Finlay to take out Benoit. It's Finlay, so you know that doesn't last long and he clocks MVP with a clothesline. Benoit goes for the German suplexes, but Finlay does make the save. Benoit then dumps Finlay with a German. Benoit slaps on the Sharpshooter on MVP. Finlay breaks it up, but Benoit slaps on the Crossface. MVP runs in and hits a dropkick to the face of Benoit to break the hold. Benoit hits Finlay with a German suplex outside the ring. Back in the ring, Benoit hits a trio of German suplexes on MVP. Benoit signals for the headbutt, but MVP Is able to move out of the way. Out comes Hornswoggle and he distracts the referee. Finlay sneaks in and takes out both men with the shillelagh and picks up the win. With it being a triple threat, did he even need the distraction? THis was another good match here tonight. The last slot for Money In The Bank will be determined on Raw. 

Match Rating: ***

We see the Jerry Lawler Hall Of Fame package from Raw. 

Next week it will be Finlay vs. Undertaker and Batista will take on Kane.

No Holds Barred Match (For Mr. Kennedy) For The ECW Championship Match
Mr. Kennedy vs. Bobby Lashley

Lashley interrupts Kennedy's intro after Kennedy removes some of the turnbuckles. Let's see if they can top their awful match at No Way Out here tonight. They really have lost their way with the booking of Kennedy ahead of WrestleMania. It's standard stuff until Kennedy hits a low blow and then shoves Lashley's head into the exposed turnbuckle. Lashley kicks out at 2 and we get a commercial break. Kennedy throws Lashley into the steps and for some reason asks the referee for a countout. You have no DQs, why would you not just hit him with a chair? Lashley gets in the ring and takes the tape off his wrist to choke out Lashley. Kennedy then nails Lashley with a chair to the head. Lashley blocks one of the chair shots and has it in his hands, but he can't use it. Kennedy tries to take out Lashley's leg, but he jumps over it. He gets him up for the running powerslam and picks up the victory. They are obviously trying to build Lashley as unstoppable and it has mostly worked. This was better than No Way Out, but these two just don't have good chemistry for whatever reason. 

Match Rating: *1/2

This was a good episode of SmackDown and built towards WrestleMania nicely. SmackDown just for whatever reason has a better knack for filling 2 hours without it dragging right now and they are sticking to what works. Next week should kick the Batista/Undertaker feud into the next gear and we should see the start of Benoit/MVP as well. 

Overall Rating: 64%