411's WWE Smackdown Report 07.24.09

Posted by Scott Rutherford on 07.24.2009

Two great matches continue the hard sell for Night of Champions!

Welcome one and all to your Smackdown recap. Obviously I'm not the usual guy as Truss was given his "future endeavors" marching papers and I was the most available spare body to do the fill in. Some of you may remember me form my previous fill-in run at the end of last year, which annoyed some because I used the word fuck on a few occasions.

So to get it all out of the way….fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

Mercifully I'm only here for this week, as we hopefully will have the new regular dude locked in for next week. I wonder if Scott Keith is looking for a new gig….

Anyway just quickly, this will not be a hugely in depth analysis of Smackdown! As circumstances meant I am watching and writing this at 3:30am Australian time as the original airing did not record for me. Since I've been up near 24 hours as it is, my sleep means more than full match recaps.

Anyway "LIVE" from Richmond, Virginia it's….



Highlight package of last weeks tag team main event setting up CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio as your main event for tonight.

First up is Jeff Hardy. CM Punk said he was going to be a statistic and a bad influence but Punk will hate it more when Hardy becomes World Heavyweight Champion. Punk preaches about the straight edge lifestyle and shoves it down everyone's throat. After the Night of Champions the preaching will be over. As for Chris Jericho, he better stop worrying about who's going to be his partner this weekend because tonight your walls will come tumbling down.


Match #1 - Jeff Hardy vs. Chris Jericho
Lock up to start comes up with Jericho on top. Hardy fights back and Jericho takes a powder but Hardy is right on him and runs him into the outside barricade twice. Back in and Hardy keeps control with kicks in the corner. Jericho fights back but an Irish whip is reversed into an elbow for Jeff. Hardy gets his own whip reversed but comes out with a head scissors, which propels Jericho to the outside. Jeff tries a drop kick threw the ropes but Jericho catches his legs and pulls him out and we head to a commercial break…

…back in and Jericho is in charge with a modified chinlock. Hardy fights up, Jericho attempts a clothesline but misses and Jeff gets a cross body block for 2. Jericho quickly gets the upper hand again with the running enziguri, which only gets a 2 count. Jericho goes all dick-ish and taunts Jeff with kicks to the head to keep him down. Hardy starts to fight back with some right hands and whips Jericho to the corner but misses the charge; Jericho with a 2nd rope elbow drop but his cover is broken because he has his feet on the ropes. Guillotine under the 2nd rope keeps Jericho in control but still only gets a 2 count. Rear chin lock keeps Jericho in control but Hardy fights back, clothesline, atomic drop, double leg drop on the crotch and a seated dropkick only get 2. Flapjack lays out Jericho for the swanton attempt but Hardy misses, Jericho nails the lionsalt but only gets 2. Wall of Jericho gets blocked; second attempt gets countered into a small package for Hardy, which only gets 2 again. Hardy nails his twisting reverse kick which knocks Jericho to the corner and Hardy goes for the rope assisted seated drop kick, Jericho blocks it into the Walls, Hardy makes the rope but Jericho keeps coming with a catapult to the corner but Hardy land feet first on the rope and nails Whisper in the Wind for a close 2 count. Twist of Fate gets countered into the Codebreaker but the impact sends Hardy to the floor. Jericho goes out to bring him back in and only gets a 2 count. Jericho starts getting frustrated and lays the big kicks to Hardy who hits the Twist of Fate and goes up for a Swanton but Jericho crotches him. Attempted 2nd rope suplex by Jericho gets blocked, Jericho crashes to the mat and Hardy nails the Swanton for the 3 count and the win. ***

(Winner: Jeff Hardy by pinfall - Decent match as you would expect from these two as they pulled out great blocks and reversals to the other mans big moves. If the rumoured Hardy time-off does happen post-PPV it will be a huge pity as he's crazily over and has finally started to erase the sloppiness form his ring work. )


- Out back we see Michelle McCool musing about her greatness. She runs down all the past champs before Melina interrupts and advises her that she'll take her rematch at Night of Champions.

- Highlights package of John Morrison making him seem like the second coming of Shawn Michaels.

Match #2 - The Great Khali vs. Mike Knox
Lock up as Khali quickly overpowers and makes Knox his bitch, Kane's pyro hits and Knox takes advantage of the distraction and pounds on Khali with some kicks and punches but Khali quickly recovers and nails the Punjabi Plunge for the win. Post match Kane makes his way down for the challenge but backs off before getting into the ring. DUD.

(Winner: The Great Khali by pinfall - Total squash as the usual complaints remain. The push for a broken down giant who can barely walk and the oft-pushed Kane who never goes above lower main event status while Knox, a big monster with a great look and decent skills gets murdered for storyline advancement.)


Cryme Tyme is out back with Eve Torres as they pimp the Allied Powers DVD with a little help from Jesse who reminds us that he indeed does come from Badstreet USA. The Hart Dynasty interrupts as Natalya tells Eve she'll take care of her later tonight.

- Dolph Ziggler with Maria is out to give us a heads up….after Night of Champion he will be the new Intercontinental Champion

Match #3 - Dolph Ziggler vs Finlay
Lock-up to begin as Finlay comes out on top and works Dolph into a corner for the clean break. Lock-up again and Ziggler this time goes behind to get an armbar but Finlay the veteran breaks that up with a vicious yank to the hair. Lock up again as Ziggler gets the side headlock working for a 2 count but a whip to the ropes goes astray as Finlay nails a big shoulderblock. Finlay tries a corner change but Dolph moves and Finlay posts his shoulder and Ziggler attacks the arm for the next few minutes/ Finlay finally gets the upper hand with a series of clotheslines and a cannonball for two. Finlay tries for the Celtic Cross but Ziggler blocks it and sends Finlay to the floor who quickly grabs Dolph and works him over the announce table. Maria gets up to check on Dolph and causes Fit to lose focus, ZigZag by Dolph helps him beat the count back in and claims the count out victory. *1/2

(Winner – Dolph Ziggler by count out: Not sure why they would be protecting Finlay other than planting the seeds for Ziggler's weekend match with Mysterio. Ziggler looks good and to compare him with Randy Orton, would not be out of place but with better ring sense and believability of ring work. I also like the pairing with Maria as he's a better fit for her than Santino personality-wise. )

- We see Jericho out back talking to Kane. We don't hear what they say but Jericho seems pleased enough.

- CM Punk is out to challenge the WWE Universe into seeing things his way. He's better than everyone in the audience because he's never touched a drug, popped up pill or drank any booze. People who cheer Jeff Hardy are slaves to the vices of his living in the moment. Punk feels sorry for you. He says its hard being straight edge and while it may be hard to quit, it's even harder to never do these things in the first place. Jeff Hardy is out now claiming that Punk's forgotten what its like to be human and that people can change. Punk refuses to be an enabler for Hardy and walks away from the confrontation.


Match #4 - Eve Torres vs Natalya
Eve takes control and quickly botches a side headlock takedown. Natalya keeps fighting back and nails an awesome power slam. They go up top as Natalya tries a belly-to-back suplex, Eve fights her off and gets a moonsalt for the win. DUD

(Winner - Eve Torres by pinfall: Putting chicks like Eve in with Natalya only makes it look completely stupid when she wins because you can plainly see Natalya slowing it down so Eve can keep up.)

- Jericho talks to The Great Khali about being his partner who counters it would be an honour to be unified world tag team champion but not with Jericho.

Match #5 - R-Truth vs. Charlie Hass
Haas gets no intro…should I even recap? Truth showboats before the lock-up and Haas shoves him down for being a freaky fag. Truth quickly goes on the offensive and when he does his showboating flippies from the corner he hurts his knee. Haas is like a shark to chum and doggedly attacks the knee at every chance and tries for a submission off a half-crab. Haas takes control towards the end only for R-Truth to hit the Rocker Dropper for the win. ½*
(Winner – R-Truth by pinfall: The annoying thing about this match was Truth's stop/start selling of the knee. He was convincing when he did it but would then hit his patent crazy stuff like nothing was wrong and then sell again. How hard would it have been for him to be grounded and use his other skills to get the win? )

- JR and Todd Grisham run down the card for Night of Champions.

Match #6 – CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio – Non-Title Match
Punk gets control of the lock-up early and works on Rey's leg applying a grapevine leg lock. Rey delivers some quick kicks to the head to get out but Punk quickly battles back and gets a front face lock. Rey turns it into a test of strength and counters this into a small package for a quick 1 count. They jaw with each other some and Rey quickly kicks Punk's knee out but CM rams Rey into the corner post to keep control and a 2 count. Side headlock keeps Punk in control as a Rey rally is stoped by a shoulderblock. Punk shifts the work to the arm, Rey tries to counter it with something off the top rope but CM drops him across the top rope and to the floor. Rey tries to get back in but a baseball slide keeps him down as we head to a commercial break….


…back to the action as Punk is still in control with the armbar. Rey fights out with some more kicks but Punk keeps on top with a corner run, snap mere and a sick kick to Mysterio's back for a 2 count. Rey tries a charge but gets nailed with a tilt-a-whirl slam and Punk takes things to the mat with a key lock-armbar. Mysterio works his way out and they trade leg strikes but Punk still comes out on top and focuses in on the arm once again getting a close 2 count. Punk applies a submission hold which I have never seen before and since it's not called by either announcer I have no clue as to what it is (would like feedback on its name if anyone knows). Rey counters out with an armdrag. Punk charges to the corner but Rey nails a drop toe hold and out walks Dolph Ziggler.

Punk and Rey start trading leg strikes again, Mysterio takes the advantage with a 2nd rope springboard cross body block for 2, drop kick gets another 2. Head scissors sets up the 619 but Punks aware and backdrops Rey over the top rope but Rey hold firm and lands on the apron, drop the dime, Ziggler distracts Rey long enough for Punk to get the upper hand, Rey slips out of a suplex but wear the running knee to the head. Punk goes for a bulldog, but Rey escapes, and a 2nd 619 gets stopped by a headbutt to the mid-section. Punk throws Rey outside but Rey rolls through, comes back in off the tope rope, caught by Punk who tries to hit the G2Sleep, gets counter by Rey into a bulldog, 619 hits, splash and the count is broken by Ziggler for the DQ. Post match, Ziggler goes to work on Rey as Punk makes sure Rey doesn't rally and get the upper hand for too long, Hardy comes out for the save but Punk stops him and nails a sweet G2Sleep as we fade out….***1/2

(Winner – Rey Mysterio by DQ: Good match that would have been made the better if the PPV hard sell didn't kick in at the end. These two have good chemistry and they have a great 30 minute match in them if given the chance.)


Final Thoughts: The go home show before the PPV. SD! has been firing for the last couple of months and every reason to watch N.O.C's pretty much comes from here. Two good matches bookend the show but the stuff in the middle lags as it has nothing to do with the PPV and has no direction. Still extremely entertaining but cracks are there if they don't start suring up the undercard.