Smackdown – October 7, 2005: It Might Be Time To Rethink Things
IMG Credit: WWE
Smackdown
Date: October 7, 2005
Location: Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Tazz
It’s the go home show for No Mercy and that means the show needs one more push towards the pay per view. Last week Eddie Guerrero may or may not have hit Batista in the back with a chair on purpose. That’s the kind of thing that could go either way for Eddie and that is making the story more interesting. We also need to deal with the fallout from Monday, when Smackdown and Raw got in a big brawl at Homecoming. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of the Raw vs. Smackdown brawl.
Opening sequence.
Here are Teddy Long and Palmer Cannon in the ring. Teddy announces that tonight, it’s the six man tag that Eric Bischoff wouldn’t let you see last night: JBL/Christian/Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio/Chris Benoit/Batista. Cannon grabs the mic to say Smackdown can fight Raw again anytime with the network’s full report. Teddy knows Bischoff is going to want some revenge so the Raw wrestlers can come to No Mercy and start something that Smackdown will finish.
Cue the Ortons with Randy asking Long and Cannon to leave. Teddy has something to say but Cannon says they’ll leave the ring for the future of Smackdown. Randy is hoping Undertaker is watching, because tonight another legend is being destroyed. The Ortons are going to destroy the legend of Roddy Piper in a handicap match. Bob talks about his time with Piper and they were friends, but this is family. Why did Piper get all the glory when Bob did all the work? Cue Roddy Piper, with a pipe, to take both of them out without much trouble.
Booker T. vs. Orlando Jordan
Sharmell introduces Booker. They lock up to start and the fans go straight to the YOU TAPPED OUT chants for Jordan. Some cheap shots in the corner put Booker down as I’m just waiting for Jordan to screw something up. A running elbow gives Jordan a delayed one and Booker strikes away without much trouble. Jordan is right back with a knee to the ribs and the chinlock goes on.
Back up and Jordan elbows him in the face before turning Booker inside out with a clothesline for two. They head outside and Booker kicks a chair out of Jordan’s hands and it’s time to go back inside. Jordan tries to suplex him back in from the apron but Sharmell trips him up (Booker couldn’t see it) so Booker can land on top for the pin.
Rating: D+. That might be the best one on one match I’ve ever seen Jordan have and I’m not sure how much of that is due to Booker being able to make anyone look at least passable. At the same time though, Sharmell continues to be annoying and drags Booker down more and more every time. What does it say when you need help to beat Orlando Jordan?
Post match Booker sees what happened on the Titantron and isn’t happy with Sharmell.
Hardcore Holly vs. Sylvan
Mr. Kennedy, in a suit, comes out to introduce himself as a guest commentator. Sylvan starts fast and hammers away in the corner as Kennedy makes Sparkplug references. Holly is back with chops and the dropkick, followed by a clothesline to the floor. Back in and Holly hits his kick to the rather low abdomen but as the referee checks on Sylvan, allowing Kennedy to hit Holly with a microphone. Sylvan is up with a vertical suplex into a DDT for the pin.
Post match, Kennedy announces Holly as the loser. In a match involving Sylvain, he’s always the loser.
Piper talks about his history with Bob Orton. See, Bob isn’t quite the sharpest guy in the world and complained about the light being in his eyes so Piper bought him his hat. Then he complained about being called Jr. so Piper called him ace instead. Then Orton broke his hand, but who really had the handicap? This was one of those Piper promos where he goes in one direction and then says something where you’re kind of left scratching your head. In other words, it was more coherent than almost anything he has said in fifteen fifteen years.
Animal/Heidenreich vs. Paul Burchill/William Regal
Non-title and Animal and Heidenreich have Christy Hemme in their corner. Burchill gets thrown around to start so it’s off to Regal, who sends Animal shoulder first into the buckle. The arm gets posted twice in a row but Animal uses the good arm for a backdrop. Heidenreich comes in and everything breaks down. Christy gets on the apron to call for the Doomsday Device but Melina comes out to pull her down as MNM comes in to jump the champs for the DQ.
Post match Animal and Heidenreich are sent outside, leaving Christy to take the Snapshot. That might make the six person tag a little unfair. I mean to MNM and Melina, as Christy being out can only help Animal and Smackdown.
Eddie Guerrero, in a Batista shirt, says he showed he had Batista’s back last week because they’re close.
Here’s Eddie for a chat. He’s the #1 contender and that means he has the privilege of facing someone he admires in Batista. Eddie shows us some footage from after Raw went off the air of….the Smackdown wrestlers slowly backing up the ramp. This proves that Eddie had his back so on Sunday, the two of them will still be friends after the match. With that faulty logic out of the way, here’s Batista, in the same shirt, with Eddie playing cheerleader.
Batista shows us a clip of the chair shot from last week and he’d like an explanation. He’d also like a chair from ringside, which has Eddie a bit nervous. Batista hands it to Eddie and turns around, saying we should bring it out into the open. Eddie throws the chair down and says he was wrong about Batista. He thought Batista was just like him, but if the roles were reversed last week, it couldn’t have been Batista hitting him?
Eddie goes to leave but Batista says he wants to believe he has changed. Batista has eyes in the back of his head and if Eddie tries to screw him, it’s going to mean pain. That’s what Eddie wants, because the Batista he knows could hurt someone. Eddie promises to prove himself on Sunday and he’ll show it tonight too. I’m getting into this more and more every week as the mind games have been pretty awesome.
Raw Rebound.
Randy Orton/Bob Orton vs. Roddy Piper
Piper bites Randy to start and pokes him in the eye so it’s off to Bob for the old man slugout. It’s back to Randy for a dropkick and some right hands but Bob begs his son to let him get the pin. Bob loads up an elbow and there’s the gong strike. No one comes out so Bob hits the elbow anyway….and the gong goes off again, this time with the lights flickering. The distraction lets Piper small package Bob for the pin.
Rating: D. This had a bit of history to it but mainly felt like Piper was brought in because he was around for Homecoming. They were very smart to keep this short as you don’t want these guys trying to have a long match. There’s nothing wrong with Piper pinning Bob so while the match was bad, it was all you could have asked for in this situation.
Post match the druids are here to bring out a casket built for two. Undertaker pops up on screen to dare the Ortons to look inside. The lid pops up and Orton mannequins are inside to freak out Bob and Randy. Then the lights go out again and Undertaker is in the ring to scare them off.
Bobby Lashley vs. Eddie Craven
Hold on though as here’s Simon Dean, with his hand in a cast, to interrupt. Lashley broke his hand last week because he needed to take away the strength advantage. On Sunday, Simon is going to win because of advanced cardiovascular conditioning. Therefore, he’s going to do squats during the match. Lashley sends Craven into the corner to start and puts Craven in a fireman’s carry for some more impressive squats. A clothesline sets up an overhead suplex but Simon grabs Lashley’s leg. That goes nowhere so Lashley finishes with the Dominator in a hurry.
Eddie Guerrero/Christian/John Bradshaw Layfield vs. Rey Mysterio/Chris Benoit/Batista
The match that would have been on Monday and Jillian Hall is here with the villains. Joined in progress with Benoit and Christian fighting over a lockup in the corner to no avail. Benoit gets serious and tries a Crossface but Christian goes straight to the ropes in a smart move. It’s off to Eddie for another version of a match that never gets old.
Neither can get anywhere with the technical stuff so they go to a test of strength with Eddie headbutting and kicking away. Eventually he flips forward into a hurricanrana for a rather unique way out. It’s off to Batista and Eddie isn’t sure what to do. A quick takedown attempt doesn’t get Eddie very far as Batista kicks him away and hits a gorilla press. JBL comes in and gets his knee dropkicked out by Rey, only to come back with a hard shoulder.
Rey goes to the apron but an Eddie distraction lets JBL knock him to the floor. Back from a break with Christian putting Rey in an abdominal stretch to keep him in trouble. Rey slips out and misses a springboard crossbody, allowing JBL to come in with a swinging neckbreaker. Eddie charges into an elbow in the corner though and Rey hits the sitout bulldog. The hot tag brings in Batista and it’s house cleaning time in a hurry. Eddie low bridges JBL to save Batista, allowing the spinebuster to finish Christian.
Rating: C+. Pretty standard main event six man tag but the talent involved is more than enough to carry it. Eddie vs. Batista has some potential on Sunday but a good build doesn’t necessarily mean a good match. The other matches were barely touched on but they have been set up well enough already. I can always go for mixing up a bunch of feuds into one match so this was as good of a main event as you could have had.
Post match Eddie hugs Batista but JBL and company jump both of them. Eddie and Batista clear the ring to end the show.
Overall Rating: D+. No Mercy isn’t looking great and this show didn’t do much to make me think otherwise. I like Eddie vs. Batista but the rest of the card is really showcasing just how weak the Smackdown roster is at the moment. The top talent is doing what they can but when you have Orlando Jordan, Hardcore Holly, Sylvan and Heidenreich getting pay per view matches, it might be time to rethink things a bit.
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