SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
The following report originally published 20 years ago this week here at PWTorch.com…
WWE SMACKDOWN
APRIL 14, 2006
TAPED TUESDAY IN GREEN BAY, WISC.
REPORT BY WADE KELLER
-After the opening, Michael Cole and Tazz introduced the show as Booker T and Sharmell made their full ring entrance for the opening ceremony for the start of the King of the Ring tournament. Booker and Sharmell bragged that they got a restraining order against Boogeyman. That meant Smackdown is a Boogeyman-free zone. They turned their attention to “Gunner Something” beating him last week. Booker said that would never happen again because he is great and he is going to prove it at the King of the Ring tournament. Booker noted past winners Bret Hart and Steve Austin. He said, while looking at the king throne in mid-ring, he standing in front of a Chair of Greatness. He ran down the list of tournament participants.
Sharmell said he was born to be royalty, wear a crown, and be a king. Booker said there is no one in the tournament who can beat him. He told the fans to stand up and bow down to their next king. Sharmell draped the robe over Booker’s shoulders. Then he put a crown on and had a mini-orgasm. Sharmell has added so much to Booker’s character; he’s so much more interesting and entertaining when playing off of her. This segment did a good job setting the stage for fans cheering to seee someone else in the tournament dethrone Booker’s preemptive crowning of himself. Bobby Lashley charged into the ring and speared Booker. Sharmell tended to him as Lashley raised his arms on his way to the back.
-Cole and Tazz plugged that the new giant would be by later, plus there’d be a special feature on Rey Mysterio.
[Commercial Break]
-Cole did a Howard Cosell impersonation (how many years does Al Michaels have to host that show before someone will imitate him instead of dear Howard?) as they showed the outside of the arena in Green Bay. Then they cut inside to the front row where several Green Bay Packers were posturing for the camera.
1 — NITRO (w/Mecury, Melina) vs. BRIAN KENDRICK (w/Paul London)
They showed a clip before the match of Kendrick & London upsetting MNM last week. Cole said Kendrick & London told him earlier they are confident and believe they can beat anybody. Nitro threw Kendrick out of the ring early in the match; Mercury and Melina slapped him around a bit. Nitro did a little breakdance type celebration in mid-ring, which opened the door to a missile dropkick by Kendrick followed by a flying forearm. He followed with a knee driver to the face, then knocked Mercury off the ring apron to the floor. Kendrick went to the top rope, but Mercury shoved him to the mat. Nitro made a cover, but Kendrick kicked out. You knew he would because Cole declared the match was over as the ref began to count. A seconds later, Kendrick victory rolled Nitro and you knew it was over because Cole said Kendrick “may have him.” Perfect example of that predictability that ruins all false finishes for me in WWE. Right before the victory roll, London dove through the ropes onto Mercury to keep him from interfering.
WINNER: Kendrick in 4:00.
STAR RATING: *1/4 — Serviceable short TV match.
-They recapped the William Regal vs. Paul Burchill angle with the kinky “if I win, you’ll wear what I want you to wear” stipulation.
-Backstage, Burchill knocked on Regal’s locker room door and asked if his buxom wench was ready yet. He laughed at the sight of Regal in drag. The camera didn’t show what Burchill saw, though.
[Commercial Break]
-“This Week in Wrestling History” showed a clip of the Tazz vs. Sabu “Barely Legal” PPV from Apr. 13, 1997. This was nine years ago this week, but it seems odd that WWE would give such publicity to Sabu, whose booked against one of TNA’s top stars, Samoa Joe, in the next TNA PPV X Division title match in a cage. WWE did a much better of showing Sabu’s signature spots than TNA did last night on Impact. Tazz did win, and Sabu raised his arm in the end, so in a sense it “hurt” Sabu to have him losing, but not much. Mostly, it raised Sabu’s recognition factor among WWE fans who might be tempted to buy TNA’s event.
2 — PAUL BURCHILL vs. RASHEED BROWN
Before the match began, Burchill introduced Regal. He called him “the most beautiful woman since Queen Elizabeth., Lady Regal.” Regal swung onto the stage and fell over while wearing high heels and a strange dress and wig. Cole said, “Is that Dolly Parton.” Tazz said it looked like Gene Simmons on a bad diet. Cole suggested Dee Snyder (of Twisted Sister). That’s probably the closest. Burchill held the top and middle rope apart so Lady Regal could enter the ring. Cole said Regal has to remain dressed this way until Burchill loses a match. Regal stood on the ring apron with brass knuckles, but it backfired as Burchill shoved Brown into him on the apron. Burchill insisted on leading Lady Regal to the back by the arm. Cole had to make like this was the funniest thing he’s ever seen. Tough job.
WINNER: Burchill in 1:00.
STAR RATING: 1/4*
-Krystal Marshall interviewed Kurt Angle about his match against Randy Orton scheduled for later. Angle congratulated Rey Mysterio for becoming the new World Hvt. Champion. Angle blamed Orton for costing him the title. “Tonight, you’re going to see how much that title meant to me. I’m going to take out all of my rage, all of my frustrations on you, Randy Orton,” he said.
[Commercial Break]
-A clip aired of Bret Hart winning the 1992 King of the Ring, beating Bam Bam Bigelow in the finals. Jim Ross and Bobby Heenan made the call.
3 — MATT HARDY vs. THE ROAD WARRIOR
Before the match, they showed a clip of Matt Hardy beating Colt Cabana on Velocity, then Road Warrior attacking him after the match with a chair. Hardy favored his battered shoulder before the match. Hardy attacked Animal in the aisle. After a ringside fight, they entered the ring to officially start. Hardy hit a sudden Twist of Fate for a quick clean win. Tazz and Cole commented that Hardy was on a roll headed into the King of the Ring tournament.
WINNER: Hardy in 1:00.
STAR RATING: 1/4*
-A three minute video feature aired on Rey Mysterio’s path to “the top of the wrestling world.” Tazz referred to Rey as the biggest underdog champion in the history of the industry.
[Commercial Break]
-Palmer Canon introduced another video on Michael Mizanin. He said his antics are not endorsed by the network or any of its affiliates. They showed more footage of Miz utilized WWE headquarters as “his playground.” He said there’s nothing like being The Miz. If he gets a babyface pop when he wrestles after these videos, I’ll be surprised. Tazz softened his endorsement of him this week, just saying that it appeared Miz was making friends.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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4 — JBL (w/Jillian Hall) vs. CHRIS BENOIT — U.S. Hvt. Title match
Cole said JBL used his rematch clause for the U.S. Title this week, derailing JBL’s plans for his big celebration. G.M. Teddy Long walked out and said he was changing the match to a cage match. He said the only way to win was by pinfall or submission or leaving the cage. The cage lowered around the wrestlers. They showed a clip of JBL beating Benoit for the U.S. Title at WrestleMania 22 two weeks ago. JBL climbed the side of the cage in the first minutes, but Benoit yanked him back to prevent his escape.
JBL beat on Benoit for a few minutes, then Benoit made a comeback and hit some stiff chops to the chest. As JBL sat on Benoit and threw punches, Benoit went for a Crippler Crossface. JBL blocked it, then rolled out of Benoit’s grip. Benoit hit a series of snap suplexes, the Three Amigos. Benoit hit a diving headbutt at 9:00. Tazz said the match was over. Benoit opted to climb the cage rather than go for a pin. JBL recovered and raced to the top to meet Benoit. JBL gave Benoit a russian leg sweep off the top rope as they cut to a break.
[Commercial Break]
JBL held onto Benoit’s feet as he attempted to climb out of the cage. JBL gave Benoit the electric chair drop to the mat and onto his “surgically repaired neck.” JBL applied a sleeper. A minute later JBL hit Benoit with a big boot to the face. When JBL climbed to the top rope, Benoit german suplexed JBL to the mat. Cole and Tazz did a nice job selling it as a huge move that could do major damage to not just JBL, but also Benoit. Benoit crawled toward the opened cage door. Jillian tried to slam the door shut. JBL yanked Benoit out of the doorway. Jillian mistakenly slammed the door on JBL’s face.
Benoit then put JBL in the Crippler Crossface. JBL tapped out, but the ref was distracted by Jillian. JBL rolled Benoit back onto his shoulders. The ref counted. Benoit kicked out before three. Nice sequence, with several believable false finish instances. JBL crawled toward the open door. Benoit grabbed JBL for a suplex, but JBL grabbed the ref. JBL then mule kicked Benoit between the legs and then slinked out of the cage through the doorway to the floor for the win.
WINNER: JBL in 20:00 to retain the U.S. Hvt. Title.
STAR RATING: ***1/2 — Good cage match with a well executing finishing sequence.
[Commercial Break]
-A clip aired of Steve Austin beating Jake Roberts in 1996 to win King of the Ring followed by the post-victory speech that launched the “Austin 3:16” catch phrase.
-A clip aired of The Great Khali attacking Undertaker at the end of last week’s show. Then he came out to the ring with his manager, Daivari. He towered over Daivari in a way that made him look absolutely mammoth. Cole said Daivari is a normal sized human being. Daivari uttered the usual mumbo jumbo that accompanies the introduction of someone like this. “The Great Khali has stared into the great abyss and the earth trembled at his gaze,” and so on. Khali then uttered a few sentences of non-English.
[Commercial Break]
5 — PSICOSIS & SUPER CRAZY vs. THE GYMINI (JESSE & JAKE w/Simon Dean)
Cole announced tickets go on sale tomorrow for the May 21 Judgment Day in Phoenix, Ariz. Tazz played the Killers Bees game that Bobby Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon always played where they made a big deal out of the two members of Gymini being indistinguishable. Psicosis and Crazy bumped around for them early. Crazy got a hot tag at 3:00 and got in some offense including a tornado DDT for a one count, ending when Jesse saved Jake, or was it Jake saving Jesse. Oh, the confusion! An illegal member of Gymini gave Crazy a vertical suplex to win the match. Yes, a vertical suplex won a match in WWE.
WINNERS: Gymini in 4:00.
STAR RATING: *
[Commercial Break]
-After recapping the show so far, they reviewed the King of the Ring brackets. Then Kurt Angle’s ring entrance took place.
6 — KURT ANGLE vs. RANDY ORTON — King of the Ring match
Tazz called Orton a punk, but also the real deal. In a boost of credibility for Mysterio, Cole pointed out that Angle never lost the title himself, but rather Mysterio beat Orton in a three-way match. Cole ran down many past KOTR winners, but left out Mabel/Viscera. Orton applied a wristlock early, then took Angle down with a nice dropkick.
At 4:00, after Orton had Angle grounded with various mat holds the majority of the back, backdropped a charging Angle over the top rope to the floor. They showed on replay that Angle landed awkwardly on his leg and twisted his knee. Angle blocked Orton’s attempt to suplex him into the ring and instead suplexed Orton to the floor. Orton was nearly counted out. Angle gave Orton three german suplexes at 6:00. Angle went for an Angle suplexed, but Orton countered and drove Angle’s back across his knee, scoring a two count afterward.
Orton went for an RKO, but Angle countered with an Anklelock. Orton looked for a rope, but couldn’t reach it. He tapped out rather quickly, after just ten seconds. Angle was slow to release the anklelock, then celebrated briefly, then applied another anklelock. He held it for a few seconds, then released it again and walked toward the back. Then he returned to the ring again and applied another anklelock. Orton clutched his ankle as Angle left the ring for good.
WINNER: Angle via tapout in 8:00.
STAR RATING: **1/4 — Average match.
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