By Greg Parks, PWTorch Contributor

WWE Smackdown review
September 7, 2007
Taped 9/1/07 in Cincinnati, OH.
Aired on The CW
Report by Greg Parks, Torch Team Contributor

-My 23rd birthday present? Spending the waning hours of the night watching Smackdown!

-We started with highlights of last week’s championship competition.

-Smackdown Open.

-Michael Cole and JBL plugged the main event, Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo Guerrero in an “I quit” match and Kane/Batista vs. Finlay/Khali. That should be a thing of beauty.

-MVP was in the ring for his talk-show segment, “In The V.I.P Lounge.” He is one of the guests on the lounge, as well as the “incomparable” Matt Hardy. MVP told Hardy he should show him more appreciation. MVP showed clips of him winning the tag match from last week. Hardy rolled clips that MVP didn’t want to see of what happened AFTER the match, backstage. Porter was on the phone to his agent. Hardy approached him and after having some words, decked his partner and took his belt. Hardy suggested MVP switch his catchphrase from “better than you” to “better than who?” Hardy said he was happy being one-half of the tag champs, but what he really wanted was to have a match at Unforgiven for the U.S. Title. Porter called for a ref and for everything to be cleared out of the ring. He said he didn’t want to fight, but that Deuce ‘N Domino wanted a re-match at Unforgiven, and Porter granted it. MVP said he got Hardy a match tonight (which, apparently, he can do) with Deuce. That match will begin after the break.

[Break]

1- MATT HARDY VS. DEUCE
Oops, I lied, we’re joined in progress. Hardy is in jeans, as he wasn’t expecting a fight. Deuce has over-powered Matt in the beginning. Cover for one by Deuce after a back-elbow. Matt came back with a clothesline. MVP is still at ringside, by the way. You don’t think he’d factor into the finish.....do you? After a brief come-back, Deuce hung Matt throat-first on the top rope. Deuce was literally walking all over Matt. Deuce set Matt up on the top rope, but Hardy head-butted Deuce off and hit the elbow to the back of the head. Side-Effect hit for two. Clothesline in the corner, but bulldog was avoided and both men came off the ropes, resulting in a double-clothesline. Domino got on the apron to distract, and MVP pushed him into the ring. Deuce got tripped up by MVP while the ref was distracted, and Matt hit the Twist of Fate for the win.

WINNER: Hardy, 5:50 shown. Well, MVP factored into the finish, but not like I thought.

-Some Ashley, Survivor China clips were shown.

-Jamie Noble was backstage in front of an “AKME” leprechaun trap. He demonstrated for Shannon Moore. Lucky Charms are the bait. Noble and Moore hid behind a wall, waiting to trap Hornswaggle.

-Clips of Rey’s 2002 Smackdown debut were shown in anticipation for his match against Chavo Guerrero tonight.

[Break]

2- KENNY DYKSTRA VS. CHUCK PALUMBO
Dykstra had Victoria at his side, and was “currently in the ring.” Palumbo rode down to the ring with Michelle McCool. After some fisticuffs by Dykstra, Palumbo too over offensively. He missed a charge in the corner, and Dykstra went back to work. Kenny went to work on the left arm as Cole used two JR-isms in once sentence to describe Dykstra, “tremendous upside” and “potential.” I think that means he’s losing here. Palumbo caught a jumping Dykstra in mid-air and slammed him. Michelle and Victoria proceeded to go at it in the aisleway as Chuck was in full control. Running boot by Chuck, followed by his finisher, “The Full Throttle” for the pin.

WINNER: Palumbo at 2:56.

-Kristal and Vickie Guerrero were backstage. Kristal said she was very nervous for the wedding, just two weeks away. Teddy Long came into the room and gave her a gift. A “Jagged Edge” CD that doesn’t come out for two weeks. They’ll be performing their song at their wedding. Kristal’s mom then called and she left the room. Teddy said she calls all day every day. A seed planted? Vickie suggested Teddy give a copy of the CD to Vince, as it’s titled “Baby Making Project.”

-Another Rey/Chavo moment, from 2006, Rey vs. Booker, where Chavo turned and hit Rey with the chair.

[Break]

3- GREAT KHALI & FINLAY VS. KANE & BATISTA
Finlay and Batista began things for their respective teams. Slow start that saw Batista take down Finlay after a tie-up. Batista used a side-headlock to wear Finlay down early. No clean break from Batista in the corner, as he laid in some right hands, then hit some shoulders to the gut. Inverted atomic drop by Batista, who then propelled Finlay into Khali in the corner. Match continued after a break.

[Break]

Batista and Finlay were still in there out of break, but Kane quickly tagged in. Kane worked over Finlay with some high-impact offense, including a suplex. Finlay avoided a charge in the corner and tagged Khali. Kane got deposited to the outside, where Finlay hit a DDT on the floor. Short-arm clothesline by Khali. Khali hit a headbutt, then the deadly (boring) nerve-hold. Kane came back and tried a chokeslam, but Finlay distracted. Enziguiri then caught Khali, but Finlay shoved Batista kidney-first into the apron. Kane crawled to make the tag but Batista was still down. Finlay tagged in and Kane worked his way out of the heel corner. Finlay almost got a pin when Kane went shoulder-first into the post. Runjin Singh caused a distraction as Finlay tried to use the shillaleigh, but Batista interfered. After all was said and done, Kane hit the chokeslam on Finlay for the win.

WINNERS: Kane & Batista at 15:10.

-Backstage, the Dynamic Duo of Noble and Moore were waiting for Hornswaggle. Hornswaggle went for the Lucky Charms, but the rope that Noble needed to pull to catch him had broken. When Noble went to see what went wrong, Hornswaggle tipped the box over onto Noble and trapped him inside. I hope he gets out in time for their match, which is next!

[Break]

-October 8, 2006 was the final installment of the Chavo/Rey clips.

-Festus and Jesse were walking backstage. Noble was still trapped in the box as the two came upon them. Jesse proclaimed that they even had talking boxes on Smackdown. He said it was only a matter of time before Festus got a talking box named after him.

4- HORNSWAGGLE VS. JAMIE NOBLE, CRUISERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
When Noble was announced, he didn’t come out. Ref Charles Robinson gave him until the count of ten to get to the ring. He ran out at the last second, but didn’t make it in.

WINNER: Hornswaggle at :10. Noble got mad and ran into the ring at Hornswaggle, but fell on marbles that Hornswaggle had scattered on the mat.

[Break]

-Clips of the last segment of Raw aired, and while Cole and JBL were going to talk about this week’s Raw, another Undertaker video interrupted them. In the ring stood a solitary druid. This brought out Mark Henry. He didn’t know how to take down the still man-in-black. As soon as Henry put his hands on him, the lights went out and the bell tolled. As the lights came back on, Henry had hold of nothing but air and the black robe.

[Break]

-Cole and JBL ran down the Unforgiven card.

-Chavo came out for the main event and did some pre-match mic work.

[Break]

5- CHAVO GUERRERO VS. REY MYSTERIO, “I QUIT” MATCH
The two went after each other quickly to start, but Chavo took the advantage and told Rey to quit. Rey went to the outside. After coming back in, he took Chavo down with a pair of headscissors, including one that sent Chavo over the top rope. Chavo used the steel chair he brought to the ring on Rey. Rey used the chair on Chavo as well, then sprinboarded himself off the chair and gave Chavo a hurricanrana that sent Chavo over the announce table. Back in the ring, Chavo went on offense, going after that recently-repaired knee. Chavo tried to send Rey knee-first into a chair, but Rey reversed it for a bulldog that brought Chavo’s skull down on the seat. 619 by Rey with the steel chair. Rey tried to go off the ropes onto Chavo, but Guerrero put the chair up to block him. Both men were down as they went to commercial.

[Break]

Chavo was stretching the leg of Rey out of break. Chavo tried to powerbomb Rey on the chair, but Rey fought out. Chavo reversed a whip and sent Rey sliding to the outside. Another chairshot to the knee followed. Chavo put the chair around Rey’s throat and sent him into the post on the outside. Rey reversed a couple holds by Chavo and hit a drop-toe hold on the chair. Rey hit a straight kick to the head of Chavo, then came off the ropes onto Chavo, who was seated on the chair. Seconds later, Chavo hit the Gory Special on Rey onto the chair. Chavo rammed the chair into Rey’s knee again. Chavo went to the top to hit a frogsplash, but Rey countered by hitting the ropes, crotching Guerrero on the top. Rey hit Chavo with the chair, and Chavo got hung up on the top in a tree-of-woe, only outside the ring with his legs hanging inside, in a scene eerily reminiscent of the last I Quit Match. Rey saw his chance and kept swinging the chair at the knee until Chavo cried uncle.

WINNER: Rey at 13:48.

-With Rey celebrating in the ring, Khali came down. Rey went after Khali, but the champ booted him down. Khali put his huge hands around Rey until blood (or possibly brain goo) started seeping out from underneath Rey’s mask. Batista came out to make the save, using the belt and a spear.

-As Khali went backstage, Teddy Long informed him that Unforgiven is now a triple-threat match. Batista tended to a fallen Rey in the ring as the show went off the air.

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