The Smackdown Breakdown 7.20.07

by J.D. Dunn July 20, 2007 From Laredo, Texas. Your hosts are Michael Cole and John Bradshaw Layfield. General Manager Teddy Long opens the show by announcing that Edge suffered a serious injury last week and will have to surrender the title. We get Edge’s life story and a cool-yet-over-the-top video package set to “Simply the Best” to celebrate Edge’s career. This falls under the “as you reap, so shall you sow” category as it was injuries to Kennedy and the Undertaker that allowed Edge to win the title in the first place. Edge tearfully surrenders the title, getting something of a face reaction in the process. Victoria vs. Torrie Wilson. This is a rematch from last week where Torrie got a cheap countout win. This time, Victoria shoves her down off the bat and starts working her over. Torrie rolls through to counter the spinning sideslam thing. I forget if Victoria ever had a name for it. Torrie hits a swinging neckbreaker for two, but Victoria quickly hits the Widow’s Peak for the win at 4:38. 3/4* In the back, a bunch of superstars bump into each other like it’s a Robert Altman movie or something. Vacant World Heavyweight Title, Battle Royal: Just about everyone not named Torrie or Victoria is in this thing. The only ones you need to care about are Batista, MVP, Finlay, Matt Hardy, Kane, Mark Henry and the Great Khali. Henry presses one Major Brother onto the other, and they both go over. Khali and Henry are about to go at, and the crowd pops huge, but Kane attacks Khali before it can happen. Everyone gangs up on Henry and throws him over. Actually, Henry would have been a better choice to go over than the guy who eventually did. At one point, Jamie Noble goes nuts on Batista and Kane, but then they realize that they’re Batista and Kane and he’s Jamie Noble, so they throw him out. Funny. Eugene wants to congratulate them, and he gets tossed. We take a few commercial breaks, and it’s just a war of attrition. Matt avoids MVP’s Kawada Kick and tosses him. Masters puts Yang in the Masterlock, much to the chagrin of JBL. Yang and Chavo take turns saving each other, and then Chavo turns on Yang. Yang eliminates him, though. Yang lands on the apron, but Hornswoggle yanks him to the floor. Finlay goes under the ropes. Hey, Matt Hardy would have been a great choice after years of hard work too. Instead, he gets booted out by Khali. See, Khali is a large individual. Hardy is a small individual. Therefore, Khali better. Well, he already has a date with MVP anyway. That leaves Khali, Batista, Kane and Finlay as your final four. Finlay grabs his shillelagh and nails Khali in the knee, allowing Kane and Batista to turn their aggressions on each other. They replay the Royal Rumble 1992 ending with Khali playing the part of Flair. He simply sneaks up and dumps both Kane and Batista to pick up the title at 24:06. I guess the idea is that Khali is a big guy without having to do ‘roids, so he gets to be the face of the brand. The thought of anyone other than Cena or Shawn Michaels trying to carry Khali to a decent match is shudder-inducing, though. Yes, I included Cena in there. How’s that for a compliment? ** The Great Khali gives his victory speech. He’s apparently the first Indian world champion. Don’t have a cow, man. Ha! Teddy Long is happy with the show, but Vickie Guerrero brings up a good point – who is going to face Khali since Batista is already signed to meet Khali, but Kane was the #1 contender. Teddy admits he hadn’t thought about it. And you wanna be my latex salesman. Teddy makes a Kane versus Batista match to determine the #1 contender. Nice touch: Teddy now has a portrait of him and Kristal on his wall. Superstar thoughts on Cena/Lashley. Matt Hardy vs. Kenny Dykstra. No idea what happened to Dykstra who seemed to be on the fast track to a push but has been jobbed out for the past few months. Matt tosses Dykstra to the floor and hits a baseball slide. Back in, Dykstra takes over and applies a chinlock. He hits an awkward dropkick for two. Matt comes back with the usual, but the Side Effect is blocked. He crotches Dykstra on top, though, and hits a rope-assisted Twist of Fate for the win at 8:11. See, he’s changing up the way he can hit the move, making it more interesting and giving him more depth as a wrestler. *1/2 Jesse & Festus are excited about the prospect of being on WWE Magazine. Elsewhere, MVP tells us that he is better than us. Well, obviously. #1 Contender’s Match: Kane vs. Batista. Power struggle early. Kane grabs a chinlock, but Batista counters to a backdrop suplex. Batista grabs a rear naked choke. They take it to the floor and knock each other out as we go to break. We come back to Kane in control. Kane goes up, but Batista powerslams him off the top! Kane rams him into the post to block the Demonbomb, though. He mounts Batista in the corner and nearly takes the bomb anyway, but he slips out of it. Batista sets up for the spear, but Kane blocks and hits the chokeslam. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Kane can’t believe it. He clotheslines Batista to the floor where Batista reverses a whip and sends him into the steps. Back in, Batista goes up and hits a flying clothesline. That brings out the Great Khali who attacks both guys for the DQ at 12:23. They eventually team up to clothesline him out. That brings out Teddy Long to make the inevitable Triple Threat match. This match was okayish. ** The 411: This brand is in a constant state of flux with all the injuries. I don’t buy Khali as a draw, but they apparently have confidence in him in the short-term, so we’ll see where it goes. Still, with all of the recent outside criticism that the WWE only pushes huge freaks, it probably isn’t a good idea to have your most pushed guys being Khali, Kane, Mark Henry and Batista while guys like Matt Hardy, Finlay and MVP are on the outside looking in.