411’s WWE Smackdown Report 12.01.06

Posted by Arnold Furious on 12.01.2006

Hey, wrestling! I like this show already

Hey, it's me again. Seeing as there was no one around to recap Smackdown I volunteered to cover it for the time being. I watched Smackdown last week to prepare for this dubious honour to my surprise the show was actually really good. The wrestling was at times exceptional and the whole show felt like a welcome break from the monotony of RAW. You know what they say – a change is as good as a rest. Forgive me if I have no clue about ongoing storylines as I've not followed Smackdown in a long time. Not since the heady days of the Smackdown Six. That was what – 3 years ago? I'm a little out of touch.

We're in Buffalo, New York. Hosts are Michael Cole & JBL.

PROMO TIME – Teddy Long is out here to remind us that Survivor Series was "off the chain". Your opinion, not mine. He says Armageddon will be even hotter. He starts booking matches. Kane v MVP in an Inferno match, Undertaker v Mr Kennedy in a Last Ride match and he finishes things off by bringing out THE MIGHTY DAVE~! He's the new world champ. JBL calls him a cheater and rags on Cole for being biased towards the new champ. Cole brings up JBL's cheating during his 10 month reign as champion, which JBL denies. Dave says that "all is right in the world". He reminds us of his promise back in January that he'd reclaim the title he never lost. Dave says it's only the beginning but he's interrupted by KING BOOKER with QUEEN SHARMELL. "All hail King Booker!" The Book compares Dave to all the peasants in the crowd. Booker calls Dave a thief and Teddy Long his accomplice. Booker points out the stipulations changed right before the match, which is unheard of and Booker didn't have time to prepare. But that's besides the point because Dave cheated to beat him anyway. Booker invokes his royal rematch clause right here tonight. DAVE~! is happy to go right now but out comes FIT FINLAY. He tells Booker he doesn't deserve a rematch because he never beat Finlay while he was champ. Finlay threatens to smack Booker around if he steps up to him. Teddy decides to make his decision and books a triple threat match for the title. TONIGHT!

MNM w/Melina Perez v PAUL LONDON/BRIAN KENDRICK w/Ashley Massaro

MNM's first match together since May. Cole stops off to plug December to Dismember, which is this Sunday. MNM v the Hardyz is one of only four matches booked for said card so far. This is obviously non title. JBL puts the Smackdown tag champs over. Nitro jumps London from behind but gets beaten by pace. Kendrick in with an armdrag. London in and they're working over Nitro's arm. Isn't Nitro a RAW talent? What's he doing here? Wasn't he publicly fired by Teddy Long? The champs wipe out MNM with a double dive. Nitro avoids Kendrick's high crossbody. MNM double team Kendrick in a heat segment. He escapes a double back suplex though and London comes in off the top with a double clothesline. Dropsault for Mercury gets 2. Everyone in and London gets thrown outside. He lands hard on his back and out comes WILLIAM REGAL & DAVE TAYLOR to beat London down some more. I believe Regal scored with a running knee. MNM will take it – SNAPSHOT at 5.50 finishes it.

Winners: MNM via pinfall after the Snapshot. Replay shows it was a sweet running knee that did London in.

TONIGHT – Undertaker v MVP.

BACKSTAGE Mr Kennedy is sitting but in comes MVP. Kennedy seems a little pissed off about MVP "having his back". MVP points out he won the match and it was down to MVP. He blames Kennedy for the chair shot saying he shouldn't have gotten MVP chokeslammed by the Brothers of Destruction. MVP points out that Kennedy is getting the same matches he is so he needs to stop crying about it. Kennedy says he might have MVP's back. MVP says he isn't fazed so Kennedy calls him an idiot. MVP leaves saying they could have each others backs.

World title – THE MIGHTY DAVE~! (C) v KING BOOKER w/Queen Sharmell v FIT FINLAY

Sharmell has started to get quite aggressive with her "all hail King Booker". Finlay has his shillelagh. Dave finds himself fending off both heels to start and then bouncing them off each other. Finlay begs off so Dave elbows at him in the corner. Dave with the rolling Fireman's carry slam. Where did that come from? The heels try to double up but Dave cuts them both down with clotheslines. Finlay gets elbowed clean out of the ring and Booker gets clotheslined out the other side. Inserted in the USA would be a commercial break, I don't have one so my match time will be screwy. We see that during the break Dave got laid out. Now Finlay has the upper hand and he stomps on the fallen Dave. Finlay stops off to bash Booker's head off the ring steps. Finlay pops around to Dave and posts his arm. Dave tries to come back in through the ropes but Finlay DDT's him as he does so for 2. Finlay works a chinlock only breaking it to boot Booker off the apron. Dave powers his way back up to an equal standing before driving some shoulders into the gut. He smacks Finlay around some more then lifts a weak version of the Muscle Buster for 2. JBL calls it a fisherman suplex but he had both legs. Dave gets clocked with a scissors kick from King Booker but that only gets 2. Booker uses the bottom rope to clothesline Dave. That gets 2. Finlay tries to steal a pin. Now Booker and Finlay have issues. Booker tries to argue it's his match so Finlay headbutts him. Booker boots him down though and lays in the size 14's. Meanwhile Sharmell is choking Dave to make sure he can't get back into this. Booker hits Dave with a jumping sidekick for 2. Booker ties Dave up in the ropes and hauls away at the neck. Finlay puts the boots in as well. Booker suggests an accord with Finlay and they put the boots into the champ. Booker tries to sneak a pin in but Finlay reminds him what they're doing here. Finlay hooks up a slightly more vicious chinlock than usual. Dave is in no mood to tap out though. He IS mighty after all. He just hauls Finlay up into a Samoan drop for 2. Finlay grabs his shillelagh but impartial referee Nick Patrick orders him to put it down. Dave and Booker end up duking it out. Here comes LITTLE BASTARD. He runs off as soon as he sees the size of Dave but its enough distraction for Finlay to bash Dave in the knee with the shillelagh for 2. Finlay kicks away at that now injured body part but Booker kicks him in the face for his troubles. Dave ducks the scissors kick and hits a spinebuster though. He seems particularly upset with Finlay and goes for the Demonbomb but Finlay shoves him off. Dave spears him and hits the DEMONBOMB for the pin at 17.32.

Winner and still champion: The Mighty DAVE~! via pinfall after a Demonbomb on Finlay. ***1/4 and probably the best TV match I've seen all year. Although I've not been watching Smackdown. Maybe I should have been.

BACKSTAGE Booker blames Finlay and Teddy Long for his failure to win the title. He also tells Finlay to stay out of his business. Teddy books a tag match at Armageddon pitting Booker & Finlay v The Mighty Dave and a partner of his choosing.

ELSEWHERE Chavo Guerrero has an interview where he berates Benoit for hitting Vicky at the PPV. She's now selling her neck BIG TIME. Chavo says that Benoit was part of their family but now he's done "this". Vicky moans it's like a car accident. Chavo challenges Benoit to come and put his hands on him.

CHRIS BENOIT v CHAVO GUERRERO w/Vicky Guerrero

This is not a title match. I guess that gives away the finish. Chavo tells Benoit to look at Vicky and when he does Chavo jumps from behind. HEEEL! Benoit backs him up and throws a chop. Backdrop and Chavo got pretty high up on that. High angle back suplex gets 1. Benoit with a whirl backbreaker for 2. Rolling Germans! The third one is a release. Chavo bails and hides behind Vicky. Ad break! We come back with Benoit throwing his knee into Chavo's stomach. Slam and Chavo gets his head run into the buckles. Benoit misses a shoulder charge though and Chavo dumps him stomach first on the ropes. Saito suplex and Chavo hauls Benoit up for a second one. Make that a trio for a near fall. Shades of Wilbur Snyder from Chavo but he's nowhere near the ropes so there's no cheating. He does throw some punches into the ribs on the ref's blind side though. Benoit turns it and armdrags out. Chavo dropkicks the knee out though to stay on top. Chavo slams Benoit and puts the boots in. Benoit comes back and backdrops Chavo again. This time he follows up with chops. Snap suplex gets 2. To the top rope and Benoit hits a superplex. Thought he was going for a floatover but he stays down selling the neck instead. To be fair Benoit landed a lot harder than Chavo did. Benoit blocks Chavo coming back at him though and looks for the Sharpshooter. Chavo kicks him off so Benoit goes for the Crossface instead. Chavo is too close to the ropes. Benoit blocks a suplex into the Three Amigos. Vicky is so upset about the WWE dredging up the memory of her dead husband she jumps on the apron. Chavo tries to kick Benoit into her again but Benoit stops himself. Chavo takes advantage with a roll up and he grabs a handful of tights to secure the pin at 12.47.

Winner: Chavo Guerrero via pinfall after a roll up. Another good long match. I like Smackdown.

BACKSTAGE Dave is on the phone to his partner at Armageddon. He doesn't name him as yet.

Krystal Marshall v Layla El

I'm in mocha paradise. Layla has sure mastered a hammerlock. Krystal gets into the ropes. They do another waistlock to hammerlock spot and Krystal gets the ropes again. Layla hits a few clotheslines so Krystal bails. Krystal back in with a slam, which gets audible heat. Krystal stands on Layla's hair and then kicks her back. Flipping hair snap from Krystal gets 2. Krystal grabs the hair again and hauls Layla over for the pin at 2.36.

Winner: Krystal via pinfall. That wasn't so good but there sure was a lot of eye candy.

BACKSTAGE Dave chats to Teddy Long and lets him know that his partner at Armageddon is WWE champion JOHN CENA.

RAW REBOUND – The Spirit Squad taking the triple tap out to the three Figure Four's of Flair & DX. The planned DX party never comes to pass because Edge & Orton put a savage beating on Flair, bust him open and hit a pair of solo Conchairto's. We also get footage of the Hardyz failing to get the tag belts in RAW's main event.

MVP v UNDERTAKER

MVP apologises profusely for Survivor Series, which gets him thrown into the corner and beaten down. Then picked up and beaten down again. Taker takes it to the ropes Old School style. MVP stays down selling that until Taker drags him back up. Taker sets too early so MVP kicks him. No sold. Taker with a flying clothesline. Taker blocks the referee and exposes a turnbuckle. MVP blocks it and fights back with punches. Taker comes out of the corner with a clothesline. Snake Eyes and a big boot. Taker is after pay back here and he bails for a chair. Jimmy Corderas is too scared to take it off him so MVP bails in order to not get killed. MR KENNEDY is out here to throw him in but MVP is too quick and he throws Kennedy inside instead. He laughs and goes to leave while Taker decimates Kennedy but out comes KANE. Taker hauls MVP back into the ring. The heels get a beating. Pair of big boots. The heels bail to avoid chokeslams and Kennedy heads straight out through the crowd. I guess that's a no contest at 5.51.

Winner: no contest

That's the show and I'll be back covering December to Dismember early Monday morning. TTFN.