Report by: wrestlingobserver.com
Smackdown Taping
Tazz & Cole made their way to ringside coming out to Tazz's entrance music.
Ring announcer plugged Summerslam announcement from earlier in the day.
Smackdown began, the intro played and plenty of pyro this week!
---Booker T came to the ring and cut a promo on Undertaker. Some noteworthy items from this interview: Booker T did not abduct Paul Bearer. I cannot convey to you how funny it was hearing Booker T say the words "I had nothing to do with the abduction of Paul Bearer".
John Cena interrupted the promo to a HUGE crowd pop. He was wearing a classic Toronto Blue Jays jersey, with Cecil Fielder's name and number on the back. Booker is/was getting major heel heat, and he comes across as an upper tier guy or at least he sure was tonight. Cena too.
Cena was confronting Booker on the attack last week and just before they came to blows, Kurt Angle came out to stop them. He told John Cena to apologize to Booker T (for what?) and to get out of his ring. Booker jumped Cena from behind, a brawl insued in and all around the ring, until Cena took a bump onto the wheelchair bound Kurt Angle. The fans loved that. Luther was losing his mind trying to get Cena off Angle.
Just then Booker came running over with a chair and Cena moved at the last second and Booker hit Angle in the 'broken' leg in a cast. The fans again loved this, and Luther looked like he was ready to have a fit as his boss got destroyed. Speaking of fits, Angle threw one and told Cena he hated him, he couldn't wait to tell the WWE Board that Cena 'attacked' him, and to get out of the ring.
---During the commercial break, Earl Hebner's kid came to the ring to ref the following match. He was given a brief and not overwhelming "Your Dad Screwed Bret" chant. That made a lot of the crowd laugh.
---Eddie Guerrero came out to a good pop but frankly so soon after Cena, you could compare easily and Cena got the bigger crowd reaction on this night although Guerrero was very much over with the crowd none the less.
Eddie vs Danny Basham was the match, Doug was banished from ringside about 3 mins in for interfering and trying to use a chair on Eddie. The match was okay, but nobody was taking Basham seriously in there with Eddie. Plus when they did a ref bump on the 3rd of Eddie's 3 vertical suplexes, the ref bump was VERY sloppy, badly timed, and I imagine editing will clean up the otherwise bad moment when you could tell Eddie was calling the spot and everybody was waiting for something to happen.
Basham tried to use the belt on Eddie, but Eddie used it on him, played dead...normal routine and the fans loved it. Frog splash, 1, 2, 3....Eddie wins. Funny sign in the crowd read "Eddie stole my demons!"
---Mordecai came out next. That's one hell of a ring entrance. This was a great segment, or at least everybody around me loved it and found it really entertaining. Mordecai asked the ring announcer to ask the audience for a moment of silence so he could pray for our sins. What a great guy! He got on his knees and began talking to god. He said a lot of mean things about Toronto, the people in the audience, special mention that even the grandmothers are harlots, and he then finished up saying that while god can forgive us, he can't....and we're all damned to hell. Wow....I had no idea that I'd be damned to hell by nights end!
---Haas and Rico were with Jackie and she was showing them outfits. Haas again this week was looking down at her 'mid section' while Rico was looking a lot higher like her head/face.
---Billy Gunn & Bob Holly defeated the left overs of the F.B.I This was the snacks and washroom match.
---The ring was filled with beach towels, lawn chairs, and beach balls. The Bikini Contest was clearly up next.
Jamie Noble came out in a tux saying he had been hand picked as M.C. and went all out and got a tux. As is customary in wrestling, when you see a tux you know it will be soiled shortly.
Torrie, Miss Jackie, Dawn Marie, and Sable came out in that order. Torrie and Miss Jackie got huge ovations. Dawn Marie got a good hand too, but Sable got a lot of boos. Sable looked totally disinterested in being out there and it showed during her 'performance'.
The object of the contest was Jamie Noble got to choose what item each person would 'perform' with, and the audience would then pick the winner. It's not worth going into what items were used other than to say Jackie poured water all over herself and won with Torrie a close 2nd. Then Noble announced the special surprise was the winner got to 'smooch' him. Jackie asked him to close his eyes....like a dope he did, and all 4 girls poured buckets of water all over him and through him in a small pool filled with sand. I like half naked hotties as much as the next guy but even I had to sit back and wonder why a wrestling show had this long of a segment on it that had nothing to do with any current storylines, performers, or feuds.
----Funaki vs Chavo Classic for the Cruiserweight Title was up next. First of all Funaki gets more cheers than anybody as burried as he is should get. Secondly and much more importantly, "Chavo Classic" is a hit!!! He's over!!! I thought I was the only one sitting at home LOVING the name "Chavo Classic". But I was wrong. The fans did not exactly cheer for him, but they made a lot of noise for his intro, and during the match between his facials and the layout of the match, a lot of people in the crowd were laughing and cheering for him. A small group of fans began chanting "Cha-vo Clas-sic". Young Chavo was on commentary.
Chavo won when the ref was distracted and Chavo Jr. (or would that make him "New Chavo"?) pushed Funaki off the top rope. Chavo Classic (I even love writing the name!) then celebrated and left with 4 stripper...er....models in who jumped out of the crowd to hug him. He left and Chavo Jr. trailed 20 feet behind.
---Following the break, Chavo Classic and Jr. were in the back with the ladies celebrating. Jr. left and Classic paid the women with money from his tights. Jr. walked back in and demanded to be told what was going on. Classic said he just wanted Jr. to be proud of him as Cruiserweight Champ. They hugged and Jr. assured Classic he was proud of him. I LOVE Chavo Classic.
---Rene Dupree vs Rey Mysterio was up next. The very front row had about 10 guys holding up a big sign reading 'French Phenom". Dupree appeared to be cheered by 1/4 of the audience. The two had a pretty good match, and at the end when Dupree did that goofy little shuffle/dance, the crowd went nuts for it. Mysterio then won out of nowhere with a role up and I was left wondering why Dupree's push seems to have stopped? Mysterio was very over with the crowd but I found the result of this match odd. Mysterio isn't really involved in much right now and Dupree sure could use a win to keep him strong after his loss to Cena last week in the lumberjack match.
---A promo for the Great American Bash aired filled with lots of American imagry and patriotism. The problem was it was being shown in Canada, and was booed. Note to the WWE....use of the American Flag, the Statue of Liberty, and U.S. Soldiers has a very different impact outside the U.S.A
---J.B.L came out next. At first I wrote down "wrong kind of heat". But I had changed my mind by the end of the promo. He said he gets to choose the type of match at Great American Bash, and it is a bull rope match. He explained the rules while badmouthing Canadians. At one point the crowd got very into chanting "What" at him with every pause he took. He kept reminding us that America protects us and that we should treat him better. Great sign in the crowd read "Bradshaw kills PPV buyrates".
---Booker T vs Undertaker. Wow, I thought Cena and Eddie were big with this crowd, but the reaction Undertaker got was ludicrous. Very loud. Taker was moving around the ring quickly for the first few mins, I think his limited schedule helps his work considerably but towards the end of the match his knee/leg were bugging him (not an injury, just age and the normal limp he gets) and he was moving less quickly. Taker took a VERY scary looking bump when he went to the top rope for the "Old School" spot. Booker kicked out the top rope to make him fall and the way he hit the rope he was very close to toppling over backwards and landing on his head/neck. He somehow managed to land without dying. Taker went for the Last Ride after a very competitive match, Booker jumped out of it over the top of Taker's head....but Taker then caught Booker in the Choke Slam.
Before anybody was coming out of the back (and while Taker just kind of held Booker in the choke slam) a cameraman tipped off the entire crowd that something was about to happen because he went *running* into the entrance ramp/area just as (surprise) Paul Heyman came out.
Heyman told Taker that if he ever wanted to see Paul Bearer again, that he had better listen. Just as Taker went to choke slam Heyman, the Dudley's showed up on the big screen, said they had Bearer behind a door they were guarding, and said Taker had better listen to Paul E. Heyman told Taker to join the Dudleys and he in this new group, and that he had a week to think about it. Didn't Taker to just fine without Bearer for a number of years there?
Taker let go of Heyman, and I believe the Smackdown show will end with Taker looking pensive in the ring over the decision he has to make.
Then (this is when I suspect the cameras stopped rolling) JBL came out and insulted Canada again, asked Taker to join him....and as I was headed to the exit I heard a lot of noise and cheers so I suspect Taker beat the stuffing out of J.B.L but can't confirm that.
