Smackdown – June 9, 2006: That’s A Tempting Offer

Smackdown
Date: June 9, 2006
Location: WesBanco Arena, Wheeling, West Virginia
Attendance: 2,900
Commentators: Michael Cole, Tazz

It’s the go home show for One Night Stand, which will have quite the WWE presence. In Smackdown’s case, that means Rey Mysterio defending the Smackdown World Title against Sabu, but we have a full show to get through first, meaning he could lose again before we get to New York. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

In Memory of John Tenta.

Miz welcomes us to the show and runs down the card, including Rey Mysterio vs. Finlay. He’s going to lose again isn’t he?

William Regal comes to the ring, which has the red carpet and a throne waiting for him. Regal throws us to a video on last week’s main event, plus King Booker and company beating Bobby Lashley down after the match and making him kiss Booker’s boot. With that out of the way, Regal hails King Booker but here’s Lashley to jump Regal from behind. Referees can’t break it up so here’s Teddy Long to make the match for later tonight. Short and to the point here.

Batista is back in 28 days.

See No Evil video.

Super Crazy vs. Brian Kendrick

Psicosis and Paul London are here too. We go to the quick feeling out process to start into a test of strength. Kendrick is flipped over and they wind up on the mat with their hands locked and pop up their shoulders at two each. After that gymnastics routine is over, it’s off to an exchange of front facelocks for a bit more of the grappling. A tilt-a-whirl backbreaker gives Crazy two but Kendrick kicks him in the face for the same.

Crazy’s helicopter bomb gets two more and we hit the surfboard. With that broken up, Crazy kicks him in the face and cranks on both arms for a bit. Crazy hits a hard clothesline for two and it’s off to something like an STF. That’s broken up as well and Kendrick is back with a tornado DDT for two of his own. Kendrick heads up top but Crazy pulls him back down with a super C4 for the pin.

Rating: C. This was a weird one as Crazy basically squashed him with Kendrick only getting in a little offense here and there. That being said, there’s a big difference between a Tag Team Champion getting pinned in a singles match so it’s nowhere near as bad, but champions are having a really hard time around here as of late and they might want to work on something new.

Post match here’s Great Khali to wreck everyone.

Paul Heyman has offered Rey Mysterio a lot of money to jump to ECW. More on this later.

Finlay doesn’t want to talk about his leprechaun because he’s ready to fight Mysterio tonight.

Vito, in his dress, comes into the locker room and everyone but Nunzio clears out in a hurry. Nunzio doesn’t like this but Vito says he’s the toughest man in the locker room and the toughest man to wear a dress. He has protected Nunzio for years but tonight he’s beating him up. Points to Vito for selling it but I don’t see this being a big positive for his career.

Raw Rebound.

Vito vs. Nunzio

Vito is in a dress and knocks Nunzio outside in a hurry. Back in and Nunzio gets stomped down in the corner, setting up a chinlock. Nunzio fights up with a middle rope dropkick but it’s a big right hand into the implant DDT to give Vito the easy pin.

Mr. Kennedy is back tonight.

Bobby Lashley vs. William Regal

Non-title and King Booker is watching from the throne. Also, if Lashley wins, he gets Booker next week. Regal jumps Lashley during the entrances and they head inside with Regal hammering away, only to get run over with a hard forearm. The suplex puts Regal down again but Lashley gets sent into the ropes, with his leg getting tied up. The chinlock doesn’t last long so Regal knocks him down again and puts on….well it’s not near the chin and there is no locking so it’s more like a nuzzle of the jaw.

Lashley fights up and hammers him down in the corner, even with Booker shouting to DO IT FOR THE QUEEN. Regal forearms Lashley against the ropes and hits a dropkick of all things for two. That’s fine with Lashley, who snaps off some suplexes but has the Dominator countered. Regal grabs the chair but gets speared down, which is enough to bring Booker to ringside. That doesn’t do much good though as it’s a countout to give Lashley the win.

Rating: D+. There’s nothing wrong with a classic “you have to beat him to get to me” though I’m a bit surprised that Lashley can’t pin Regal. At least they set things up well though and this could be the kind of match that fits in on one of those bigger non-pay per view cards. Then again we’ve seen the same match twice in a few weeks now so it doesn’t feel all that special at the moment.

Lashley grabs a mic and says “you’re mine”. Yeah there’s a reason he didn’t talk much.

Miz is in the ring to host a Divas bikini contest between Ashley, Jillian Hall (Miz: “She’s buoyant!”), Kristal and Michelle McCool. The first three disrobe, Miz makes jokes, and Michelle stands up for teachers who are being accused of having inappropriate relations with students because the teachers have needs too. Anyway, she leaves because no one should see her A+ body. Ashley wins.

Mark Henry vs. Raymond Rowe

Rowe charges into a clothesline and Henry hits some splashes in the corner. A pair of World’s Strongest Slams are good for the pin in a hurry. Rowe was beaten down so badly that he would wind up thinking he was a viking named Erik. Putting on a bunch of muscle and not looking like a chubby nineteen year old helped too.

Post match Henry promises to be coming for Mark Henry in 28 days in Philadelphia.

Mr. Kennedy vs. Scotty 2 Hotty

This is Kennedy’s return after six months away and gets to hit his catchphrase before the match. Kennedy jumps him during the entrances but Scotty is back with a hiptoss. A heck of a clothesline gives Kennedy two as Tazz rants about Jerry Lawler. Kennedy runs him over again and finishes with the Kenton Bomb in a hurry.

Post match Kennedy hits the catchphrase again, showing off quite a bit of charisma, which makes up for a fairly lackluster match.

Chavo Guerrero checks on Rey Mysterio before his match and they swear their friendship again. Guerrero isn’t getting back in the ring though, even with Rey telling him that wrestling is in his blood.

We recap WWE vs. ECW Head To Head, with the main story being Big Show joining ECW. That was a better show than I was expecting.

Michael Cole is in the ring to talk about Paul Heyman’s offer to Rey Mysterio but Tazz gets in the ring to cut him off. Tazz has made his decision about going to ECW but first of all, he’s going to choke Jerry Lawler out on Sunday. For now though, Tazz is going home and is walking out on Smackdown, meaning he’s done with commentary.

Cue Heyman to hug Tazz as Cole looks stunned. With Cole back on the floor, Heyman talks about the offer to Mysterio, who can be back in ECW beyond a one night stand. Cue Mysterio to say that this is his home and this is where he’s saying. Heyman respects that and wishes him luck, which he’ll need.

Finlay vs. Rey Mysterio

Non-title with Heyman joining Cole on commentary. Finlay powers him into the corner to start and hits a quick gutbuster. The hard clothesline sets up the nerve hold as Heyman thinks Finlay would work well on ECW. Back up and Rey snaps off a headscissors but it’s way too early for the 619. Instead Rey drives him into the announcers’ table but someone pulls Rey under the ring. The leprechaun comes out and tries to go after Rey until Finlay sends him back underneath the ring.

Back in and Finlay drops some elbows for two as Heyman talks about how many wrestlers got their starts in ECW. The camel clutch goes on, followed by a hard backbreaker to keep Rey in trouble. Rey gets sent to the apron and hammers away from the top (that’s a new one), followed by a kick to the head for two. A hurricanrana looks to set up the 619 but here’s Sabu with a chair. Rey kicks him down but Finlay gets in a Shillelagh shot and the Celtic Cross is good for the pin.

Rating: C. Have you ever seen a joke that just keeps going long beyond the point where it’s funny and then keeps going until it gets funny again? That’s not the case with Rey losing over and over, as he is now losing multiple matches in a week. The match itself was fine enough stuff because these are two talented people but Rey losing is now just a thing you deal with and that’s sad.

Post match Sabu puts Rey through a table to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. This show was all over the place and not in a good way. It felt like they were trying to figure out their top story and it got lost on the way to wherever they were going. You have the continuing saga of Rey losing all the time, King Booker’s rise and ECW. That’s quite a bit to get through and it feels like they’re jumping around a lot without any one big thing. ECW got the most focus, but that doesn’t exactly make me want to watch Smackdown. Not an awful show, but getting back to some structure is going to do it a lot of good.

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