The Smackdown! Report (01/13/06): Two New Champions Crowned
Submitted by Chad Matthews on Friday, January 13, 2006 at 9:49 PM EST








The Smackdown! Report (01/13/06)

The show opened with World Heavyweight Champion Batista coming down to the ring. Smackdown General Manager Theodore Long was standing next to him in the ring as he told us of his injury that he suffered over the weekend. Unfortunately, he said, it’s an injury that requires surgery that will keep him out of action for the time being, and that he’d thus have to give up the World Heavyweight Title. As he began to get a little emotional, Batista said that when he won the belt, his friend Paul (I’ll assume he was referring to Triple H) had told him to enjoy the ride. Well, Batista had enjoyed the ride, while representing the fans and those that had worn the belt before him, such as Harley Race, Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, and Triple H. He proceeded to hand the belt to Teddy Long with obvious reluctance, but gave a message to the next champion. Whomever wins the World Title, he said, is not the true champion until they beat him, and he’ll be back to reclaim his gold as soon as he can. (CMV1 note- emotional promo from a guy who really has shocked a lot of people with how over he’s been able to stay and frankly how long he was able to hold onto the belt. I’ve been critical of the guy at times, but I have the utmost respect for him after he worked through his lat tear, and actually requested to work through the triceps tear. He’s been a great champion, a genuinely likeable guy, and on the bright side to his injury, he’s going to come back absolutely on fire with the crowds. Get well soon, Big Dave).

Backstage (after a commercial break), Batista said his goodbyes to several superstars from the past and present, including Ricky Steamboat, Arn Anderson, Bobby Lashley, and particularly Rey Mysterio. Dave told Rey that he wants him to win the vacant title.

Teddy Long informed the crowd that the World title would not stay vacated for long, as tonight there would be a 20-man, Over-the-top rope Battle Royal to crown a new champion.

A highlight video package of the Best-of-Seven series aired.

Backstage (after Long had had time to get back there), Randy Orton requested to be a part of the Battle Royal, thus postponing the seventh match of the best-of-seven series, for which he was again scheduled to fill in for Booker T. Long denied him, though, and told him to go get ready for Benoit, who wouldn’t be allowed in the Battle Royal either. (CMV1 note- man, that takes away some serious star power in that Battle Royal by not having Orton, Benoit, or Booker T…whose gonna be in it? Scotty 2 Hotty?)


Match 1: Chris Benoit vs. Randy Orton (w/ Booker T and Sharmell) in Match Seven of the Best of Seven Series for the United States Championship
-(CMV1 note- Benoit and Booker are tied at three matches a piece). The two started off with a feeling out process. Then, after a lengthy lock-up to jockey for position, Benoit and Orton settled into some back and forth wrist and hammer locks. This continued for the first few minutes, as it seemed they were gearing up for a really long match. Benoit ended up on the outside after snapping Orton’s neck over the top rope to gain first strike points. While on the outside, Benoit spotted Book standing there with his crutch, and given that the last two match finishes have involved the stupid crutch, Benoit glanced to see the ref not looking, and then fell to the floor clutching his knee. Classic Eddie! The ref proceeded to turn around and see Benoit on the ground with Booker standing nearby, and decided to toss Booker from the ringside area. We then got a dreaded mid-match commercial break, but that was to be expected. Back from the break, Benoit and Orton were still going back and forth…and it continued for a few more minutes. Benoit eventually tried for the Crossface, but Orton countered into a rear chinlock. The Crippler escaped, though, and unleashed a few really load knife-edge chops. Orton finally gained some semblance of control when he tripped Benoit and sent him shoulder-first into the steel post. Randy then locked in a side headlock, but then Irish whipped him for a shoulder tackle. He tried to follow with a clothesline, but ended up nearly locked into the Crossface on consecutive occasions. Orton escaped, though, and headed outside the ring. Benoit brought him back to the apron and suplexed him into the ring. After another armbar, Benoit sat Orton the top turnbuckle and proceeded to chop the living hell out of him. He then went up for superplex, but Orton blocked it. The Crippler stayed on the offensive, though, and hit him with multiple headbutts that actually sent Randy off the top and crashing to the floor below. We then got a second mid-match commercial break, and if the match goes really long, then I guess maybe that was to expected, as well. Back from the break, Benoit was attempting to lock in the Sharpshooter, but was having some serious trouble. Randy finally battled out and hit two standing knee drops followed by a flying knee drop. The Crippler tried battling right back, but Orton gave him a quick barrage of right hands before settling into a rear chinlock. Benoit escaped the hold, but was soon after planted with a standing dropkick. Orton then settled into the rear chinlock again. Benoit then made a comeback, which was capped off by a perfectplex for a near fall. He then gave Orton several chops and went for the Sharpshooter again. This time, he was successful. Randy writhed in pain in the center of the ring, but eventually inched his way over to the ropes. The Crippler didn’t let up, hitting three consecutive German suplexes. He then went up for the Diving Headbutt, but missed on the attempt when the Legend Killer moved out of the way. A few moments later, the referee took a bump. Orton then hit his unique backbreaker and poised himself for an RKO attempt. However, just as he was about to strike Orlando “I friekin’ suck” Jordan came down and tried to interfere. OJ made it as far as the apron before Orton punched him off. The Legend Killer finally got his RKO attempt, but saw it countered into the Crossface. As Orton looked as if he might tap, Booker came back down to the ring and tried to interfere. He was as successful as OJ was, as Benoit released the submission hold and whacked the former 5-time WCW Champion. When Benoit turned around, though, he was met with a second attempt at the RKO…but Benoit countered into the Crossface again! Randy tried to escape, but tapped out! Unfortunately, the ref was still out of commission, forcing Benoit to release the hold and try to revive the official. The finish came when Booker’s second attempt at interfering worked like a charm, as he clocked Benoit with the title belt. Orton rolled over and made the pin for the win at 28:06, thus making Booker T the new United States Champion (CMV1 rating- ***). After the match, Booker celebrated excitedly with his US title belt, while Randy reminded him that he owed him one. (CMV1 note- this is a good move for a lot of reasons. 1st – Benoit scored a visual fall on Orton and was made to look strong against the guy who just main-evented their last PPV. 2nd – the US title is on the right guy, for whether or not Benoit moves up near the main-event again anytime soon, Booker probably won’t. 3rd – I want to see where this “Book owes Orton” storyline is now headed. As for the match, it was a good match, but it took so long to get out of first gear, that when they finally did start picking things up, the match was almost over. At least it got time, though, as the last of these Best-Of series back in 2004 ended in an 11-minute filler match)

Backstage, Rowdy Roddy Piper was walking around getting prepared for the Pit when he passed JBL and Jillian Hall. Piper acted like he’d seen the most horrible thing walking the earth when he spotted Jillian’s facial blemish, and made faces and hissing sounds at her. JBL brought us back to reality, as he thought he should be Piper’s guest on the Pit. Piper was apparently in an easy-going mood, for he agreed, but told him to put Jillian on a leash or something.

Highlights of Eddie Guerrero’s family receiving an award on his behalf were shown.

Piper then made his way to the ring for Piper’s Pit, which he said was debuted in Philadelphia (site of tonight’s show, by the way) nearly 22 years ago. At that point, JBL and Jillian made their ways to the ring. Bradshaw talked about how he was going to go into the Battle Royal tonight and win the World title again. All the while, Piper kept trying to intervene and ask a question, but JBL just kept on rambling about his second title reign and how he was going to celebrate and blah, blah, blah. Finally, though, Piper pretended to be a sleep on his stool, and started snoring. The snoring was enough to catch Layfield’s attention, thus causing him to stop talking and allow Piper to ask his first question. He directed his question at Jillian, though, as he pondered what in the world was on the side of her face. After putting on his reading glasses to gain a better a look, he determined that whatever it was had lungs. Out came Piper’s advertised guest for the event, the Boogeyman, to join in on the fun. Upon Boogeyman’s entrance to the ring, JBL hightailed it and pushed Jillian into him. As she stood there terrified, Boogey looked her blemish up and down, licked it, and then bit it right off her face. She went screaming and crying up the ramp, while Boogey caressed the ridiculous gimmick-piece in his hand before finally eating it. Piper mumbled a few things and the segment ended. (CMV1 note- everything was fine until Boogey showed up. Piper was hilarious as usual…for the sake of my Boogeyman fan readers, I’ll stop there).

Backstage, Melina was sitting around with WWE Tag Team Champs Mercury and Nitro, along with the World’s Most Incorrectly Labeled Strongest Man, Mark Henry. She essentially bragged for having gotten rid of Batista and costing him his World title, which she followed by saying that she wanted one of her three guys to win the Battle Royal and become the new champ.

The final hype video aired for the return of Fit Finlay, who makes his debut next week on SD.


Match 2: World Championship Battle Royal for the vacated title- Matt Hardy vs. Mercury vs. Nitro vs. Mark Henry vs. Lashley vs. JBL vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Psicosis vs. Super Crazy vs. OJ vs. William Regal vs. Paul Burchill vs. Simon Dean vs. Sylvain vs. Paul London vs. Brian Kendrick vs. Road Warrior Animal vs. Nunzio vs. Vito vs. KURT ANGLE
-With nineteen entrants already in the ring, everyone just waited to see who would be the 20th entrant. I don’t think anyone in the crowd had a clue it’d be Angle. As Angle made his way to the ring, JBL signaled to the others that he wanted to Angle. When the bell rang, Bradshaw went after Kurt as promised, but ended up on the receiving end of a German suplex for his troubles. Soon after, Angle tossed JBL out and eliminated him. Kurt continued to dominate by eliminating Vito just a few seconds later. At that point, the focus of the match became taking Angle out of commission, as several guys ganged up on him. Dean and Hardy nearly got him over the top, but Angle was able to narrowly avoid elimination. Eventually we saw Angle and Mysterio go at it, which is and always will be a treat. Meanwhile, we saw the third elimination of the match when Mark Henry eliminated Animal. We then got a dreaded mid-match commercial break, but I guess that was to be expected. Back from the break, Cole and Tazz aired footage of Regal and Burchill combining to toss out Simon Dean. The camera kept focusing on what Angle was doing, but in the midst they cut quickly to MNM combining to eliminate Nunzio. Back we went to Angle, who was in the process of taking out the trash, which by my definition means eliminating Orlando Jordan following a release German suplex. Kurt continued to dominate, as he went toe-to-toe with the tag team of Regal and Burchill. Regal never stood a chance, getting fairly easily tossed out by the Olympic Gold Medallist, but his partner, Burchill, faired a bit better. While Burchill didn’t do anything major offensively, he was certainly eliminated in dramatic fashion, as he took a belly-to-belly suplex up and over the top rope and down to the floor. Impressive! The camera then cut over to Lashley, who was busy doing a little two-on-one of his own with London and Super Crazy. Bobby eliminated them both and the camera cut back to Angle, who got knocked out of the ring by Henry (but only over the second rope). That was the point where Henry took over as the most dominant man in the match, for after tossing Angle to the outside, he press slammed him onto the announce table. Back in the ring, Mercury looked to have Mysterio eliminated, but the feisty little guy managed to stay in the match. Henry got back in the ring at that point and had a stare down in the center of the ring with Lashley. Bobby tried to take the big man down, but was unable to do so. Soon after, Henry eliminated Lashley in less than exciting fashion, and proceeded to toss out of Brian Kendrick, as well. The camera then cut to Matt Hardy’s elimination of Sylvain, another worthless talent. Hardy’s focus then became the World’s Strongest Man, who the announcers were constantly putting over as a monster and the guy responsible for Batista’s injury. V1 attacked the big guy and eventually tried to catch him with the Twist of Fate, but Henry countered and dropped him over the top rope. Meanwhile, MNM had their attention on Rey, who despite struggling was able to eliminate both halves of the tag team champions, leaving just him and the much larger Mark Henry in the ring. The two started off with some David vs. Goliath for a few sequences, but Rey gained the momentum soon after. In fact, he managed to drop Henry into position for the 619, and proceeded to give him not one, but two of his patented finishers. Mysterio tried to follow up with a Seated Senton, but Henry caught him and eliminated him. Thus, Mark Henry is your new World…Syke…Melina and Henry sure celebrated like they thought that was the result, though. Angle rushed back into the ring and surprised Henry with an Olympic Slam. Kurt tried to stay on the offensive, but Henry ended up overpowering him in the corner. Henry then gave Angle a powerbomb. With all the momentum he needed, he waited for Kurt to get back up and then tried to clothesline him over the top. However, Angle ducked the clothesline and delivered a release German suplex. Kurt then hopped up and applied a leg scissor on him, and leaned back over the top rope. The finish came when Angle’s momentum carried them both out of the ring, but Henry’s feet hit the floor first (clearly). Thus, Kurt Angle is your new World Heavyweight Champion after last eliminating Mark Henry at 24:01. (CMV1 rating- *** ¼). After the match, Teddy Long handed the World Title over to Angle no questions asked (which you’d have thought there would’ve been since Angle is still technically a Raw superstar). (CMV1 note- YES! Oh what a great way to end the show and what a fantastic thing for the Smackdown brand in this time of crisis. I’m thrilled with this move and with how the Battle Royal played out, as despite not having a whole lot of star power, it gave a lot of undercard guys a chance to compete for the championship. Angle really deserves this title win, man…I couldn’t be happier about them choosing to put the title on him rather than just giving it to Randy Orton, whom I’m a fan of but don’t think is ready for the title yet. Angle being a part of SD’s main-event scene really opens thing up heading onto the Road to Wrestlemania. Any of the following are options, and good ones at that, for the SD main-event at Mania: Angle vs. Benoit, Angle vs. Undertaker, Angle vs. Orton, or even Angle vs. Rey).


Order of Elimination

1) JBL
2) Vito
3) Road Warrior Animal
4) Simon Dean
5) Nunzio
6) OJ
7) Regal
8) Burchill
9) London
10) Psicosis
11) Super Crazy
12) Lashley
13) Spanky
14) Sylvain
15) Hardy
16) Nitro
17) Mercury
18) Mysterio
19) Henry



All in all…Oh, man does Kurt Angle winning the World Title turn an obviously terrible negative into a fantastic positive! While I feel really bad for Batista b/c the guy really earned his stripes by sticking with SD and working through his injury after Eddie’s tragic passing, I’m equally as thrilled for Kurt Angle, who truly deserves this run, however long it may be, as champion. Angle, along with HBK, carried the WWE in 2005, and as champion and with some continued luck in the health dept, Our Olympic Hero should be able to do it again in 2006. Congratulations Kurt! … And that’s good for a record-tying 7/10 rating…



This week in Smackdown history… Kurt Angle, Charlie Haas, and Shelton Benjamin took on Chris Benoit and Edge in a handicap tag team match on the January 16 edition of Smackdown in 2003. Haas and Benjamin, then known as Team Angle, had just debuted a week or two beforehand, and were essentially Angle’s back-up. At the time, of course, Angle was feuding with Benoit over the WWE Championship, resulting in a 5-star classic that some call one of the top five matches in WWE history at the Royal Rumble a few weeks later. On this night, though, these five guys put on a helluva tag match that ended when Benoit got DQ-ed for refusing to release the Crossface after Angle had already tapped out to it.



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