20 YRS AGO – WWE SMACKDOWN REPORT (3-10-2006): The episode where Boogeyman’s treatment of worms became a topic with references to PETA and Worms Digest

The following report originally published 20 years ago this week here at PWTorch.com…

WWE Smackdown on UPN
March 10, 2006
Taped March 7, 2006 in Mobile, Alabama
Report by James Caldwell, Torch columnist

– We pick it up at 7:45 p.m. CT with Paul Burchill beating William Regal in his first match on Smackdown as a pirate. Burchill hit a flip-over front face slam out of the Rock Bottom position for the win. Decent reaction. The first match was Fit Finlay and Bobby Lashley wrestling to a No Contest in a Money in the Bank qualifier.

[Commercial Break]

– Sharmell blamed Teddy Long and Boogeyman for Booker’s poor treatment. Sharmell pulled out “bags and bags” of letters from fans all over the world complaining about Teddy and Boogeyman. Booker pulled out a letter from the Prez of the NAACP. He wrote Boogeyman is a poor role model for minority children. PETA wrote that Boogeyman treats worms with cruelty. No crowd response.

Worms Digest wrote the same, confirming PETA’s endorsement. Now all we need is Pamela Anderson to complete this storyline. Booker continued reading letters about worms. Teddy appeared on camera. He said he wouldn’t come out there. He announced Booker vs. Boogeyman at SNME. Booker’s mailbag filled with red smoke in a not-so-special effects moment. Boogeyman crawled out of the backstage area to the entrance ramp. Booker and Sharmell scrambled out of the ringside area.

– Raw Rebound highlighted Shawn Michaels’s taste of death on Raw, thanks to Stephanie McMahon and her baby.

– Kristal Marshall was shown walking backstage to the ring for her first match on Smackdown. Michael Cole hyperventilated.

[Commercial Break]

– Smackdown followed up on Raw’s Hall of Fame announcements with the second helpings of Sherri Martel’s announcement. Cole continued to refer to Mean Gene as “my idol” in a disingenuous manner. As Mike Roe and I discussed in last week’s VIP post-Smackdown audio, it would be nice if Smackdown could get a firsthand HOF announcement.

3 — JILLIAN HALL vs. KRISTAL MARSHALL — Bra and Panties match

Jillian attacked Kristal before the bell. They rolled around for a few seconds before Jillian stripped off Kristal’s top. Kristal took a phantom eye gouge. Jillian punted Kristal in the stomach. Kristal turned a sunset flip into an opportunity to strip Jillian of her skirt. Jillian went for a scoop slam, but Kristal turned it into a small package. She quickly stripped Jillian of her top to win the match. Afterwards, Kristal teased stripping the remaining portion of her outfit. The camera focused on random fans ogling at Kristal.

WINNER: Kristal at 2:13. Plenty of over-selling. Nothing specifically bad like an Ashley match. It just wasn’t good.

[Commercial Break]

– Batista was shown at an juniors amateur wrestling convention. Rulon Gardner spoke about competition. Batista shook hands with Arnold Schwarzenegger, who discussed health and fitness through bodybuilding. Yikes. In any event, good way to keep Batista on television. Of course, it was a total P.R. move to show that WWE is all about promoting health and fitness. A good segue would have been to have Michael Cole go section-by-section through the new drug policy.

4 — CHRIS BENOIT vs. HELMS

Helms is back on the show, but WWE dropped the angle of Helms defending the Cruiserweight Title against a new challenger each week on Smackdown. No surprise there. Tazz compared Benoit to Dynamite Kid after a series of suplexes. (Just don’t make that comparison with Davey Richards.) Michael Cole compared Benoit to Bret Hart. Helms took control and went for a rest hold, except it wasn’t a chinlock. Instead, he applied a modified chicken wing, but Benoit fought out of it. He went for the Sharpshooter, but Helms powered out. Okay, Helms applied the chinlock after regaining control for the second time.

Benoit fought back to his feet and hit an arm drag. Helms answered with an elbow to the face. Benoit ducked a clothesline and hit a single release German suplex. Helms regained control and called for the Shining Wizard. Per the formula, Benoit ducked the SW after Helms called his shot. Benoit went for the Sharpshooter, but Helms reached the bottom rope to break the hold. Helms slipped out of the ring at 5:45. The cruiserweights appeared and shoved Helms back into the ring. Benoit hit a German then a top rope diving headbutt. He applied the Crossface and Helms tapped. Jamie Noble, Kid Kash, Paul London, and Spanky stared from the top of the entrance ramp.

WINNER: Benoit via submission at 6:23. Basic wrestling. It’s always good to see Benoit in a singles match. Helms held his own, but he nothing more than that. Noble and Kash are supposedly heels, but WWE has lumped all the CW’s together so there’s no way to tell.

– The WrestleMania “big time” moment was WM 15 in 1999 when Butterbean knocked out Bart Gunn in the finals of the Brawl-for-All faster than you could say, “Career ender.”

[Commercial Break]

– We saw the video from Raw on Candice Michelle’s Playboy shoot. Talk about strategically placed light fixtures.

– We saw a replay of Animal’s attack on Matt Hardy last week. Cole and Tazz discussed the heel turn. Cole said Hardy issued a challenge to Animal for a match on Smackdown next week. Cole asked Animal a question then we went to a pre-taped promo. Animal said Hawk was too busy partying when they were on the road together. “Without me, there would be no Legion of Doom,” he claimed. Talk about taking the “heels always lie” booking strategy to the extreme.

He said Heidenreich turned out to be a bigger screw up than Hawk. He called out Hardy for telling him to go up top during their match last week. Animal said he was tired of being a “team player” and doing the tag team wrestling bit. He said he was on his own and he accepted Hardy’s challenge for next week. “I am the Road Warrior,” he claimed. The promo was forced and Animal stayed on one level of screaming into the camera the entire time. The sad part is this “grudge” match isn’t even good enough for SNME.

– Mark Henry came to the ring for the main event tag match of Angle & Rey vs. Orton & Henry.

[Commercial Break]

– They showed a replay of the Finlay-Lashley brawl from earlier in the show. Thank goodness for replay. Although, I believe they should have held off on advancing the angle by focusing on last week’s awesome brawl and doing promos. We saw Lashley turn over a vehicle and nearly crush Finlay in the parking lot. Cole announced Finlay-Lashley in a Lumberjack match next week on Smackdown.

– Randy Orton made his entrance for the main event. Rey Mysterio made his entrance and he stared down Orton. Kurt Angle capped off the introductions to a strong applause. Angle “looks slimmer.”

ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…

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5 — KURT ANGLE & REY MYSTERIO vs. RANDY ORTON & MARK HENRY (w/Daivari)

Randy and Angle started things off with mat-based wrestling. Rey tagged in and worked on Randy’s arm. He went for the 619 at 2:25, but Henry pulled Randy out of the way. Rey held up and returned to the center of the ring. Henry and Randy regrouped on the outside

[Commercial Break]

Rey landed right hands out of the break before Randy hit a drop kick to the chest. Henry and Randy exchanged tags working on Rey in their corner. The crowd tried to rally with a casual “Eddie” chant. Rey’s false comeback ended when Henry caught him in mid-air off the top rope. Henry press slammed Rey to the mat. Rey dropped Henry to his knees with a side kick to the head. Angle took a hot tag at 10:40. He dropped Randy with a clothesline. They teased the Angle Slam and RKO before Angle locked in the Anklelock. Henry broke it up. Rey took a tag and drop kicked Henry in the chest. Rey hit the 619 on Randy followed by a seated sentaun splash.

Referee Nick Patrick took his time making the count so Henry could run back into the ring to break up the pin attempt. Speaking of Nick, Henry squashed him in the corner on purpose. Daivari rolled a table into the ring. He set it up in the ring. Henry placed Rey on the table then climbed up top. Angle made the save and went for a slam on Henry, but Randy made the save. Randy hit the RKO on Angle. He placed Angle on the table and asked Henry if he was feeling him. Henry licked his lips then hit a top rope splash on Angle through the table.

Randy screamed at Angle. They replayed the table spot several times. Back in the ring, Henry celebrated with Daivari. Undertaker’s music came on and the lights went out. Undertaker did a voice over challenging Henry to a WrestleMania match. Henry nodded as if that was cool with him. Undertaker added, “…in a casket match.” Henry wasn’t so cool about the challenge and showed a little fear. However, he thought it over for a few seconds before he nodded affirmatively. “You better be ready,” Henry screamed.

WINNER: No Decision at 16:40. Oh wait, there was a match going on and we never received word on a finish. The inconclusive match was basic tag wrestling. The match did nothing to advance the babyfaces in the Smackdown WrestleMania main event. Angle was squashed by the guy who isn’t even in the main event. Rey was nowhere to be found after Angle made the save.

Randy benefited from getting over his cocky heel character. However, Undertaker remains the #1 babyface on Smackdown because the focus is squarely on his WrestleMania opponent. Last week, WWE was more concerned with protecting Undertaker. This week, Undertaker isn’t even on the show and he ends up significantly better off than Angle and Rey. Undertaker > Angle and Rey = weak Smackdown Mania main event.