The Smackdown Summary – 15th January 2010
15/01/2010
Hello and welcome the this edition of the Smackdown Summary.
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On with the show!
Quick Links
Opening Match: Chris Jericho Vs. John Morrison
Segment 1: The Straight Edge Society Expands
Match 2: Hardy & Khali Vs. The Hart Dynasty Vs. Cryme Tyme Vs. Punk & Gallows
Segment 2: Batista Interviewed
Segment 3: The Undertaker Speaks
Match 3: Mickie James Vs. Beth Phoenix
Segment 4: Dolph Ziggler Interviewed
Match 4: Kane Vs. Dolph Ziggler
Segment 5: Rey Mysterio Interviewed
Main Event: Rey Mysterio Vs. Batista
The Smackdown Summary
As you may or may not have noticed depending on how often you visit us here at WWEBlog, this edition of The Smackdown Summary is rather late.
I’ve not really had chance to get it done sooner due to personal reasons, and as a result I’ve fallen a little behind.
Never the less, here I am and although tonight’s write up might be a little slimmer in content than it usually is, I’ll try and deliver all the key points and more importantly get caught up so service can resume as normal.
Match 1
Singles Match
Chris Jericho
Vs.
John Morrison
Jericho is first to appear on tonight’s show, sporting a particularly fake looking bruise around the left of his mouth and cheek.
Don’t get me wrong, the shot Tyson delivered on Raw looked pretty brutal, but this ‘bruise’ looks more like a venereal disease than the results of a former World Champs right hook.
Jericho spieled off some dialogue about how he isn’t a broken man just because some ‘punch drunk former baddest man on the planet’ ruined his chances of being on Raw, how he’s still the face of Smackdown and how he’s going to win the Rumble and become a champion at WrestleMania.
As the match kicked off Matt Striker explained that Jericho may well have a broken jaw and that it is one of the hardest injuries to compete with as you are constantly aware of the throbbing pain.
I’d think there are worse injuries to wrestle with, but he knows best I guess.
Morrison focused on the injured jaw almost instantly, knocking Jericho to the outside after delivering a shot to the ‘bruise’.
Mere moments into the match Drew McIntyre’s music hit the speakers and the current I.C Champ began to make his way down the ramp as the show cut to commercials and had taken a seat at ringside when the action returned.
Jericho also took the upper hand around this point, with the commentary team only too eager to point out that McIntyre posed a big distraction for Morrison.
Morrison looked like he might have things sewn up as he hit the Flying Chuck out of nothing, but Jericho was able to kick out and locked in the Walls of Jericho a few minutes later.
McIntyre took this opportunity to goad Morrison, waving the I.C title in his face as he struggled to get to the ropes.
The title seemed to provide inspiration for Morrison, who made it to the ropes to break the hold. However, seconds later he became distracted by McIntyre and turned right into a CodeBreaker which cost him the match.
A fantastic opener that could easily have main evented the show.
Chris Jericho wins by Pinfall.
Segment 1
The Straight Edge Society Expands
As I expected, last week’s ‘Straight Edge’ recruit ‘James’ doesn’t factor into tonight’s appearance.
This could have been a great way to kick-start a faction.
I seem to recall absolutely hating ‘Right2Censor’ with a passion, and the ‘Straight Edge Society’ could have been even bigger than that.
Punk kicked the segment off by talking about how he was going to save another person tonight, then talked a little about his ‘first success’ Luke Gallows.
Punk says that he was just like everyone else in the arena when he first met Gallows, but with hard work he has been able to turn him into a respectable member of society.
Gallows takes the microphone and speaks a little about how much he owes to his leader C.M Punk.
Before choosing another ‘lucky individual’ from the crowd Punk guarantees that he is going to become the first Straight Edge Rumble winner.
Tonight’s candidate is ‘Trevor’, who has one of the best afro’s I’ve seen in a long while, which made the subsequent scenes even more upsetting.
Just like last week Punk asked his candidate a few questions then got him to confirm he wanted to join the Straight Edge Society by shaving his hair off.
As the crowd chanted ‘Shave him bald’ Punk removed Trevor’s perfectly groomed afro until he looked like someone with incredibly bad Alopecia.
Punk and Gallows then raised his hands in the air before Khali and Matt Hardy interrupted to lead into the next match.
Match 2
Fatal 4 Way #1 Contendership Tag Team Match
Matt Hardy & The Great Khali (w/Ranjin Singh)
Vs.
The Hart Dynasty (w/Natalya)
Vs.
Cryme Tyme
Vs.
Luke Gallows & C.M Punk
Yeah, it’s ANOTHER Cryme Tyme/Hart Dynasty match, although at least this one has been padded out with another couple of teams, even if one of them is a random matching of Khali and Hardy.
I don’t get why they’d throw Hardy and Khali together in this match when:
a) They could have used a slightly (and I mean slightly) more established team like Jimmy Wang Yang & Slam Master J
or
b) Put Hardy with R-Truth, as they have been doing for the past few weeks.
To be honest this match wasn’t too bad, but the ending was about as repetitive as they come.
Thinks broke down, Matt Hardy took out everyone but Punk, Gallows and JTG with a top rope Suicide dive to the outside, then Gallows got a blind tag and destroyed JTG seconds after he landed his finisher on Punk.
After the pinfall Trevor made his way back into the ring and celebrated with the new #1 Contenders for DX’s Tag Team Championships.
Luke Gallows & C.M Punk win by Pinfall and become the #1 Contenders for the Unified Tag Team Championships.
Segment 2
Batista Interviewed
So, after the quite frankly ridiculous end to last week’s World Heavyweight Championship #1 Contendership match, tonight Batista and Rey will meet inside a steel cage, where supposedly no one will be able to interfere and a #1 contender is 100% certain to be decided.
I’d like to go out on a limb here and predict that the two will somehow draw the match, perhaps with Rey exiting over the top and Batista crawling through the door at exactly the same time, but I could be wrong.
Anyway, backstage Josh Mathews asks Batista if he thinks he has a huge advantage over Rey in the cage match tonight and if he feels intimidated by The Undertaker.
Batista says that he has nothing to say about Mysterio and that he isn’t intimidated by Taker.
Mathews tries to ask another question, but gets cut off mid-flow and told in no uncertain terms that the interview is over.
Segment 3
The Undertaker Speaks
I love Taker, I always have. I love the atmosphere his entrance creates, I love the way you can hardly ever call what will happen in his matches and I even loved how he put Maven over in The Royal Rumble.
However, I have to question having the World Heavyweight Championship (arguably the most highly regarded title in the wrestling world) around the waist of someone who’s mere presence on a weekly show is classed as a ground-breaking marquee event.
Champions should be on each and every show, wrestling if possible, but at least showing their face.
Taker starts by saying that the dawning of a new decade brings new hopes and dreams to the Superstars of the WWE Universe, but the Darkness of The Undertaker will continue to dominate just as it has for the last two decades.
He explains that last week Batista and Mysterio experienced a warning that they will only get once, then says that it doesn’t matter who wins the cage match because he is hell bent on destruction and will not survive past the Royal Rumble.
With that out of the way, he moves onto WrestleMania and the challenge issued by Shawn Michaels on Raw.
He says that Shawn is the only one of his 17 Mania opponents that shined brightly and came close to breaking the streak, but still failed.
Taker wraps things up by saying that he will indeed be on Raw to deliver his answer and regardless of what it is, Shawn will ‘Rest In Peace’.
Match 3
Divas Match
Mickie James
Vs.
Beth Phoenix
Mickie and Beth have had somewhat of a tenuous friendship going on as of late, but if the opening moments of this match are anything to go by, any kind of coalition between the two has been well and truly severed.
Beth stormed to the ring and instantly set about James, wanting revenge for the cheap shot last week, which was in fact a revenge shot from the week before.
Are you keeping up?
Anyway, James never got started in this match and only ended up with a favourable result because of a disqualification.
After the bell Lay-Cool hit the ring. Phoenix initially stood between them and Mickie, but then decided to leave her to the wolves.
James fought back momentarily, but ultimately tasted the Faith Breaker which left her laying in the middle of the ring.
Just when it looks like a face turn for Beth Phoenix, we get hit with another twist.
Mickie James wins by Disqualification.
Segment 4
Dolph Ziggler Interviewed
Backstage Josh Mathews asks Dolph Ziggler how he feels about his match with Kane tonight.
Ziggler says that two weeks ago he brought The Big Red Machine to his knees and last week he came within touching distance of making him tap, so tonight he’s going to get the job done.
He then said that this would leave his path clear to roll into The Royal Rumble and pick up a spot in the main event at WrestleMania.
Match 4
Singles Match
Kane
Vs.
Dolph Ziggler
So far I’ve enjoyed this Kane/Ziggler rivalry, and I think that any other month than January (and possibly April) this feud would have made it onto the next PPV for the third meeting.
In my opinion this was PPV quality too, although I probably did have my Ziggler-Tinted specs on.
Much like last week Ziggler attempted to put Kane down on the outside with a Sleeper then pick up the win via count-out, but The Big Red Machine managed to break the count and the match continued.
Ziggler looked to be in control and set up for the Zig Zag, but Kane reversed it and moments later landed a Chokeslam to pick up a win and save some face against he cocky young upstart.
Kane wins by Pinfall.
Segment 5
Rey Mysterio Interviewed
Backstage Rey gets ready for his cage match against Batista tonight.
After putting his mask on and getting some good luck messages from the likes of Jimmy Wang Yang and Slam Master J, Rey is stopped by Josh Mathews who asks him about the upcoming match.
Rey says something about his dream being to fight for the title at The Rumble then heads off to the ring, where the cage begins to lower.
Main Event Match
World Heavyweight Championship #1 Contendership Cage Match
Rey Mysterio
Vs.
Batista
I’ve gone out on quite a limb predicting the outcome of this match, because I get the feeling they are building up to a triple threat at the Rumble.
It makes sense really, as Taker’s age is preventing him from doing a full program and Mysterio’s knee may play a factor in pulling off a PPV quality match, the smart thing to do would be to put someone else in there so they can take a break every now and then.
The cage gave Rey the chance to do some more of his fast paced, show-piece stuff, such as using Batista as a stepping stone to spring up the cage.
On the flip side it gave Batista a whole new way of exacting brutality on Mysterio, something he did in spades, often refusing to end the match in order to beat his rival a little more.
This tactic eventually came back to haunt Batista.
As he went for the Batista Bomb Rey grabbed the top of the cage and eventually broke free of The Animal’s grasp.
Rey shot onto the top as Batista attempted to exit via the door, but just as it looked like my prediction might be coming true, Mysterio kicked the door into Batista’s face and dropped to the floor to pick up the win.
I’m honestly surprised at this outcome. I thought that if anyone was going to take the victory and go on to face Taker one on one it’d be Batista.
Face Vs. Face at The Rumble? It’ll be interesting to see how they work it in the upcoming weeks.
Rey Mysterio escapes the cage and becomes the #1 Contender for the World Heavyweight Championship.
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