WWE Smackdown:
11/12/09
Houston, Texas
**NOTE: This review was written live at the time in December 2009. I recently found it in my writing archives and decided to post here**
With
just two days to go before he locks up with World Heavyweight
Champion The Undertaker at TLC, Batista takes on a returning Rey
Mysterio in a street fight whilst Luke Gallows makes his in-ring
debut and Intercontinental Champion John Morrison indulges in a bit
of racial stereotyping.
Such
fun.
Batista Speaks
As
he prepared to challenge The Undertaker for the World Heavyweight
Championship in a chairs match at TLC, Batista made his way to the
ring to speak his mind, and he had a lot to say.
Hyping
up his forthcoming battle with The Phenom, Big Dave also took the
time to play down his street fight later on in the show with Rey
Mysterio, insisting that the masked superstar did not deserve to be
in the same ring with him. Furthermore, The Animal insisted that not
only did he not need Rey, he didn't need the fans either.
CM Punk & Luke Gallows vs. Matt Hardy & R-Truth
Before
the match began, Hardy gave out copies of his brother Jeff's new DVD,
much to the chagrin of Punk, who urged the audience not to accept
what he called 'poison'.
It
was a fun way to kick things off and was followed by some equally fun
action between the ropes. A decent opening contest saw both teams
trade the advantage before Gallows picked up the win with his 12
Steps finisher.
Your Winners: CM
Punk & Luke Gallows
Backstage
in Teddy Long's office, the Smackdown General Manager was joined by
bitter ex-lovers Vickie Guerrero and Eric Escobar.
Escobar
laid into his former girlfriend in Spanish before helpfully
translating for Teddy to reveal that he was basically insulting her.
Not surprisingly, this resulted in Guerrero urging Long to book
Escobar in a match against Chris Jericho.
From the Vault: Kane
defeated US Champion MVP in a non-title match (June 2007)
Remember
when MVP was one of the hottest new superstars on the Smackdown
brand? When he was a larger-than-life, egomaniac heel and was thus
entertaining as hell?
If
not, this match showed the man also known as Montel Vontavious Porter
in a better light than his usual three-minute appearances on Raw
usually do as he battled Kane in a decent contest. The Big Red
Machine won after a chokeslam. Yep, that happened.
Mike Knox vs. Kane
As
Kane walked backstage with his music blaring (I wonder if he has his
theme tune randomly playing wherever he goes, like in the Supermarket
or at the hairdressers), he was stopped in his tracks by Mike Knox.
Knox insisted that he and The Big Red Machine were a lot alike, and claimed that he enjoyed fighting him on last week's show. Kane denied being anything like Knox, but admitted that he enjoyed their match too. Because of this, the two behemoths agreed to fight again later on in tonight's show.
Knox insisted that he and The Big Red Machine were a lot alike, and claimed that he enjoyed fighting him on last week's show. Kane denied being anything like Knox, but admitted that he enjoyed their match too. Because of this, the two behemoths agreed to fight again later on in tonight's show.
Eric Escobar vs.
Chris Jericho
Following
a short exchange of offence between the two combatants, Vickie
Guerrero interupted to change this into a handicap match, with
Jericho's partner The Big Show joining the fray.
What
followed was a mildly entertaining destruction of Escobar by the
Unified Tag Team Champions, resulting in a win for the pair with the
Walls of Jericho.
Your Winners: Chris
Jericho & The Big Show
Afterwards,
the champs took the microphone to hype their upcoming Tables, Ladders
& Chairs match against Shawn Michaels and Triple H, vowing to end
DX once and for all.
Drew McIntyre &
John Morrison face off
In
a final confrontation before they meet for Morrison's
Intercontinental Championship at TLC, the champion and his
challenger, Drew McIntyre, faced off in the ring.
McIntyre
began by bemoaning the lack of attention afforded to him by WWE
Magazine (his opponent features on the cover of the latest edition)
and liking the chances of Morrison retaining at the PPV to a Scottish
fable like the Loch Ness Monster.
This
brought out Morrison himself, decked in full Braveheart attire as he
claimed to be William Wallace (ask your history teacher) and
addressed his rival in a faux Scottish accent.
The Shaman of Sexy verbally put down McIntyre, made fun of Scottish background for a while then beat him up.
Racial
stereotyping aside, this was actually pretty fun.
Kane vs. Mike Knox
Smackdown's
resident giants collided in a decent rematch from last week's show
and faired slightly better than they did in their previous encounter.
The
two behemoths battled back and forth, yet even Knox's ever-impressive
flying cross-body block was not enough to secure victory as Kane
planted his foe with a chokeslam to earn the three count.
Your Winner: Kane
Please
let this go somewhere. As much as your reporter has always been
unimpressed by Kane, Mike Knox does appear to have a lot of potential
and it would be great to see him fulfil it.
Maria & Mickie
James vs. WWE Women's Champion Michelle McCool & Layla
In
what was probably the best match she's had at least since moving to
the Friday night show, Mickie James looked good as she teamed with a
returning Maria to take it to the woman she'll face for the Divas
title at TLC, Michelle McCool, and her best friend, Layla El.
As
short as most Divas matches usually are, this was nonetheless a good
show from all four women, resulting in a win for the Number One
Contender as James pinned Layla.
Your Winners: Maria
& Mickie James.
After
Todd Grisham and Matt Striker ran down the final card for Sunday
night's TLC pay per view, it was on to the main event.
Street Fight:
Batista vs. Rey Mysterio
Making
his return following a knee injury, Rey Mysterio looked to extract
some revenge from his friend-turned-foe, Batista in a good main
event.
Batista
looked better than he has in a while thanks to the efforts of his
diminutive opponent as Mysterio flew around the ring in the early
going before The Animal took it to the outside and proceeded to
demolish his foe with a series of heavy blows involving the ringside
furniture.
Not
surprisingly, Big Dave maintained his momentum as he headed into a
World Heavyweight Championship fight with The Undertaker by pinning
Mysterio following a brutal chairshot.
Your Winner: Batista
In
the post-match, The Animal continued to assault Mysterio before the
lights dimmed and The Undertaker arrived on the scene, sending his
upcoming opponent packing as Smackdown came to a close.
Final Thoughts: With
TLC just two days away, tonight's edition of WWE Smackdown did
everything it was supposed to do. Hype for three of the pay per view
bouts (the TLC tag match, Batista/Undertaker's chairs clash and the
Morrison/McIntyre bout) was played well and generated interest in the
matches, whilst the in-ring action ranged from decent to good.
Certain
parts of the opening to the Punk/Gallows vs. Hardy/Truth bout where
edited out of the UK broadcast (all we missed was Punk badmouthing
Jeff Hardy and his DVD again), but I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed
the intro to that match, with Hardy giving out the DVDs and Punk
doing his best to be heard over R-Truth's rapping, simply because it
was something different.
And
with that, I'm out of here and off to look forward to this Sunday
night and WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs.
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