Friday, January 5, 2024

SmackDown 3-16-07 Review

Original Airdate: Friday, March 16th, 2007
Sovereign Bank Arena
Trenton, New Jersey

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World Heavyweight Champion Batista is here to kick off the show. He is the guest on the second episode of MizTV. Miz mocks Batista for calling himself unstoppable and thinks Undertaker could take him. The lights go out and Batista gets ready. Miz starts laughing and said he got him. Batista shakes his hand, kicks him in the gut and gives him the Batista Bomb. 

Mr. Kennedy vs. Matt Hardy

We get a pretty standard TV start here and we head into a commercial break with Hardy tackling Kennedy through the ropes and to the floor. Kennedy is able to capitalize on a Hardy mistake and then uses the ring post on Hardy's knee. Kennedy gets Hardy in the tree of woe and works on the knee some more. Kennedy then hits the back suplex off the second rope for a 2 count. Kennedy goes for the Kenton Bomb and misses, giving Hardy an opening. Hardy hits the Side Effect, but Kennedy kicks out at 2. Kennedy gets Hardy up on his shoulders, but Hardy counters and hits the Twist Of Fate and picks up the surprising victory. Hardy has been jobbing for awhile as a singles outside of his feud with Joey Mercury, so he could use a big victory going into WrestleMania. This was a solid match and a good way to kick off the show. 

Match Rating: ***

Mr. Kennedy is interviewed backstage and he says that he is still going to win the Money In The Bank match and have a title match any time, any place. 

MVP vs. El Grande Latte

MVP announces his opponent, who is making a rare appearance here from Honduras. MVP attacks him right away and then he puts him in the tree of woe. Him and Kennedy apparently are still on the same page there. He hits the Playmaker and that's all for the Honduran champ. This fit his gimmick and at least adds some flavor to his match at WrestleMania. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

MVP gets on the mic after the match and he says that it has been 7 long days since he asked Teddy Long for a title match against Chris Benoit. He thinks it's because Benoit wants nothing to do with him. Teddy is out and tells MVP to be careful for what you wish for. He brings out MVP's WrestleMania opponent and they start brawling. Benoit goes for the Crossface, but MVP is able to block it. He rolls out of the ring and heads to the back. 

Ashley, Brian Kendrick & Paul London vs. Melina & MNM

London and Kendrick have seemingly just become less and less important as their title reign continues to grow. Mercury grabs Nitro by his leg and pulls him out of the ring, which proves to be a stupid idea as the champs both hit dives on them after. MNM does gain control and they get a pretty good amount of time on their heat segment. Ashley gets knocked off the apron and appears to have hurt her knee. London gets the hot tag and he hits a series of moves on both opponents. He hits the dropsault, but Melina breaks up the count. Ashley is up and distracts the ref and that allows Melina to hit a low blow. MNM hits the Snapshot and gains the victory. Ashley immediately starts attacking Melina and the tag teams pull the women apart. The match was the usual entertaining match that you would expect even if the women hardly did anything.

Match Rating: **1/2

They show the Ernie Ladd tribute. 

Maryse welcomes us back to SmackDown.

King Booker and Queen Sharmell aren't happy about having to face Undertaker tonight. Finlay comes in looking for Hornswoggle. Booker asks Finlay for some pointers on facing Taker and he says "Run!". Booker leaves and Sharmell hears some noises. She opens a door and he scares her and wishes her a happy St. Patrick's Day. Sharmell runs away and he drinks some beer.

We get a bunch of battle of the billionaires crap.

Daivari vs. Kane

Kane attacks Daivari quickly and uses moves like punching his own hand. They go outside and Kane uses the steel steps. He goes under the ring and brings out the stupid hook and wraps it around Daivari's neck. He then drags him up the entrance ramp. We go to commercial break and when we come back, they are in the locker room area. He drags him in the boiler room and we go back to Michael Cole and JBL. This was stupid and no one cares.

Match Rating: 1/4*

They show the Mr. Fuji Hall Of Fame vignette.

Batista is out here to join the announce team for our main event.

King Booker vs. Undertaker

These two never did much for me as a pairing. Taker dominates the entire beginning of the match and they are pushing me to my limit for bedtime. After a chokeslam attempt, Booker escapes and then misses with the scissor kick. Taker levels him with a clothesline, but then Booker hits a running cake. Taker goes for the Last Ride, but then out comes Finlay and he attacks him with the shillelagh. That obviously makes for a DQ ending. They keep attacking Taker outside the ring, just a few feet from Batista. Taker fights back and tosses Finlay into Batista. Taker hits a chokeslam on Booker and heads to the back. For these two, this was pretty good even if I had to rewind because I fell asleep. As Taker's music is playing, Batista runs in the ring and he's furious. Taker looks back and continues his walk to the back.

Match Rating: **

SmackDown continues to mostly dominate Raw by seemingly always giving us more wrestling and less stupidity. This wasn't perfect, but it was a good show.

Overall Rating: 60%

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