SmackDown 3-23-07 Review

Original Airdate: Friday, March 23rd, 2007
Quicken Loans Arena
Cleveland, Ohio

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Oh good, more Vince McMahon. God, how many times can you just cut the same promo over and over? He talks about him wrestling Bobby Lashley on Raw, but also says he has a match tonight. He brings out his opponent, Mr. Kennedy. Then he brings out his other opponent tonight, Randy Orton. Vince kind of gets feisty with Kennedy about him not getting the job done one on one. He announces that it will be a handicap tables match tonight. Great.

WWE Tag Team Championship Match
London & Kendrick vs. MNM

This is obviously just a backdrop for the highly anticipated Melina/Ashley match at WrestleMania. Why would the team that has been the champions for almost a year get a spot on the card when you could give it to Great Khali? It seems like they could have just done a 6 person tag match and made both titles on the lie in that match instead. We get a lot of quick action here, which means they're trying to cram a lot in. MNM goes for the Snapshot, but it's interrupted and Paul London gets a good nearfall. Mercury goes for a superplex, but London knocks him off. Melina tries to shove London off the top, but Ashley is there to make the save. This allows London to hit the top rope crossbody for the win. This was a good match, but deserved at least another couple of minutes because they were cooking.

Match Rating: **

Kane shows off his hook again. Kane is garbage.

Maryse welcomes us back to SmackDown.

Chavo Guerrero vs. Jimmy Wang Yang

Yang hits a missile dropkick and a series of other kicks. Yang then hits a baseball slide outside. He goes for a top rope crossbody, but Chavo hits him with a dropkick to the midsection. Chavo works on the abs of Yang by dropping him on the top rope. Yang attempts a comeback, but misses with a kick. This opens the door for the Three Amigos to some groans. Yang gets out of the third one and hits a moonsault for the victory. This was a non-title match, so we are getting the usual crappy WWE booking for championships that no one cares about. The work here was solid though.

Match Rating: *3/4

Michael Cole and JBL talk about how much of an impact Arnold Skaaland had on them before showing the video tribute. 

MVP vs. Cedric Von Haussen

Tonight, MVP is facing the Lichtenstein Champion here. Von Haussen is none other than the great Johnny Gargano. MVP clotheslines him while shaking his hand. MVP hits the ballin' elbow drop, but picks him up before the 3 count. He hits the running boot in the corner before hitting the Playmaker for the victory. Since they aren't actually doing any building with the two competitors, this is at least making the feud something. MVP grabs the mic after and says that he's going to his first WrestleMania and going to win his first championship. He talks about Benoit having the honor of being the loser of the first title to MVP and that he'll be featured in video packages and documentaries because of that. He couldn't have been more wrong if he tried.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Randy Orton and Mr. Kennedy are looking at a table like it's the first time they've ever seen one. 

We get the same celebrity video about Vince/Trump from Raw.

Handicap Tables Match
Randy Orton & Mr. Kennedy vs. Bobby Lashley

Michael Cole tries to sell us on this match being nearly impossible to win for Lashley. This is exactly what you would expect from this type of match. An Attitude Era brawl with the heels mostly dominating. Vince is out to watch a little closer. They get Lashley on a table, but while Kennedy is going up top, Lashley battles his way off of it. Lashley catches Kennedy and spinebusts him through a table set up in the corner. He then lifts up Orton and hits a running powerslam through another table and that's all. The match was quick, but at least it was entertaining. However, they really are pushing Lashley to be superhuman and it's to the point where I don't think anyone believes Umaga is going to win. 

Match Rating: **1/4

We're backstage with Batista and they show him the highlight of Undertaker throwing Finlay into Batista. Batista says that he thinks he and Undertaker will get along just fine...during the match.

Chris Benoit vs. Gregory Helms

We join the match just as it is beginning with Helms getting no entrance. Helms catapults Benoit's throat into the second rope. That doesn't last long and Benoit quickly shifts the momentum. He hits the top rope headbutt and slaps on the Crossface for the fairly easy victory ahead of WrestleMania.

Match Rating: *

They talk about the Hall of Fame inductees and give us another one in the Wild Samoans. After they talk about them, JBL says he has something to do and walks abruptly to the back.

Teddy Long is with Kristal and gives her a rose. JBL interrupts and says he wants to interview both Batista and Undertaker on SmackDown. That was worth leaving your position for?

They show Batista heading to the ring and Booker walks up to him. This allows Finlay to attack him and they manhandle the champ. 

King Booker & Finlay vs. Undertaker & Batista

We start the match without Batista, as he didn't make his way down due to the attack. Taker hits Old School on Finlay and then clotheslines Booker over the top. Finlay clotheslines him over the top, but Taker lands on his feet. When we come back from commercial, Taker is going for the leg drop, but Booker clubs him first. I'm not sure this match needed a second handicap match. Undertaker makes his comeback after being beatdown for a few minutes and in comes Finlay with the shillelagh. He hits him in the gut and we get a DQ. They continue attacking Taker and Batista's music hits. He destroys both Finlay and Booker. The numbers game is about to catch up with him, but Taker pulls Finlay off. Batista sets up Booker for a Batista Bomb and Taker sets up Finlay for the Last Ride. As Taker gets Finlay up in the air, Batista throws Booker into Taker and knocks him down before heading to the back. This was a pretty good main event and continued what has been a pretty well built main event match.

Match Rating: **1/4

Well again, this was lightyears better than Raw and ECW. It's just not even close right now. We're close to being done with the Trump stuff, so maybe that will help out. Until then, the blue brand has been reigning supreme with another good episode.

Overall Rating: 61%