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Submitted by Damon Faulkner on Saturday, July 1, 2006 at 9:47 PM EST
We start off the match with Super Crazy tackling Helms down to the mat, but Helms gets to the ropes rather quickly. Super Crazy then hits an arm drag followed by a Springboard dropkick. Helms picks up some momentum as he catches Super Crazy on the top ropes, and pulls him down, hanging him up on them followed by a quick swinging neckbreaker for a nearfall. Soon, Super Crazy gets out of a headlock as he hits a Tilt-a-whirl Head scissors followed by a Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for a nearfall of his own. Helms eventually sets Super Crazy up on the top turnbuckle, but quickly gets dispatched of to the mat, which Super Crazy follows through with a missile dropkick. But Psicosis runs in, costing the match as he immediately attacks Super Crazy, only to get attacked back in return. Super Crazy gets the upper hand as he drop kicks Psicosis in the face, sending him out of the ring. (A nice, fast paced match which held some potential between these two. I like the angle being run as the Mexicools are quickly turning on each other. I wouldn't be surprised to see a match between them next week.) Booker is then shown in the locker room, complaining about his match against Lashley and rants about how a King shouldn't be put in a cage. But TRL says the match is still on for tonight, and leaves a furious King Booker and Sharmelle to think about it. Now, our tag team match featuring the Pitbulls. The Pitbulls attack the jobbers as Noble quickly hits a Scoop slam before tagging Kid Kash in. Kash hits a slam of his own, getting a 2 count for his efforts. Kash tages Noble back in and they execute some nice double team moves on their opponents. Nobles hits a headlock, and knocks the jobber down before they can build up any momentum. Another tag made, as Kash comes back in and hits some knees, tagging Noble in once again. Marty (One of their names.) gets to the top ropes, but Noble Scoop slams him off and hits a powerslam quickly. Noble then lifts him up as Kash hits a clothesline off the top ropes for the win. (A weak showing my The Pitbulls, in my opinion. They focused on tags, more than the actual wrestling. Hopefully these two get better, I believe they have potential. As for the jobbers, I'm not sure what their names were, but send me an email and let me know. I'd appreciate it.) We come back from another series of breaks, showing the WWE Diva contest which is being hosted by Mike Mizanin and Ashley Massaro as the eight finalists are announced. As Krystal interviews Ashley, she calls her a bitch for underrating her as "Just an announcer". (This just isn't doing it for me. The diva search would've been more efficient on Raw, than it is on Smackdown. Oh great, an Ashley/Krystal rivalry?! I'm so pumped. .) Lashley is being interviewed as he admits that Booker has the experience in a steel cage, and that he's never been in one in his life. But he's still determined to beat the King right here tonight to retain his U.S Title. (I like how they're booking Lashley. He looks good in a suit and tie, not to mention he speaks rather well for his voice being so soft. He has me hooked right now, and one of the only reasons I watch Smackdown.) We have Hardy vs Finlay next, as the Leprechaun is shown popping out from under the ring before the match even begins! Both men start off this match with a tie up, with Finlay getting the upper hand using a headlock before following with an arm wrench. Finlay then gets in a cheap shot on Hardy, hitting him in the midsection then a clothesline for a nearfall. Hardy comes back with a few rights and lefts, hitting an elbow to take Finlay off his feet and onto the mat. Finlay then fakes an eye injury, showing the ref his eye and out of nowhere he throws some cheap punches at Hardy. Hardy counters with some punches though, and a boot. When Hardy goes for a baseball slide, Finlay catches him in the ring apron and adds on even more damage before tossing him into the ring. Eventually, Hardy hits the Side Effect for a 2 count, but gets caught on the top turnbuckle. Finlay gets knocked off, as Hardy hits his signature leg drop, before attempting the Twist of Fate. Finlay suddenly gets pulled under the ring by mistake by the leprechaun and tosses JBL a beer in the middle of the action. Eventually, Finlay tosses Hardy head first into the turnbuckle he had exposed earlier in the match then hits a rather unique slam to pick up the win. (A well drawn out match with a lot of various moves used by both wrestlers. I would like to see a rivalry build up between these two as both of their styles clash very well together.) Next up, is our match featuring Mr. Kennedy.....Kennedy. Kennedy and Scott start off with a tie up, before Mr. Kennedy hits a right hand along with some overhand shots. Kennedy then kicks Gunner in the ribs followed by driving in some elbows and punches. Soon, Kennedy hits his Kenton Bomb to pick up the easy victory. (A boring match, what happened to Gunner Scott? I heard they demoted him, but I think he is loaded with potential and talent. Yet another bad mistake by the WWE.) After the match, Khali comes out to the ring as Mr. Kennedy takes off wisely. He picks up Gunner Scott and choke drops him to the mat. Daivari then announces that Khali challenges 'Taker to a Poonjami Prison match at the Great American Bash. Next up in our Singles match is Vito vs Simon Dean. (I missed bits and pieces from here and the rest of the show due to UPN going out on me, bear with it please...) When it finally comes back on, Vito had clotheslined Dean for a nearfall. Then he hits a suplex and an elbow off the tope rope. To end the match, he uses his unique submission hold, involving an armbar of sorts to pick up yet another win, this time over the Fitness Guru. (They're really pushing Vito now, aren't they? Good. They need to make use of their midcarders for once.) Finally, the main event for the United States Championship determined in a Steel Cage is next! (UPN went out here for about half the match, so I'll try to keep everyone informed from what I saw.) Finlay slams the steel cage door into Lashley's head as he was about to escape, but Lashley grabbed King Bookers foot just as he was crawling out of the cage, to pull him back inside. Booker misses a spinning heel kick, only for Lashley to hit a devastating spinebuster on the King as we go to commercial. When we return, Booker hit a drop toe hold on Lashley as his head bounced off the bottom turnbuckle. Booker started to climb the cage, but Lashley showed his determination by grabbing his leg once again and pulled him down. Booker eventually hits a scissors kick, and it looked like we had a new United States champion, but Lashley came out of nowhere and raced up the cage to fight Booker right back down. In the end, as Lashley tried climbing down one side, Finlay and Regal were there to meet him. But he didn't see Booker climbing the other side, so he amazingly caught him in time and knocks him down, to escape the cage and retain the U.S Title! (I loved the excitement, and the anticipation of this match. Definitely the highlight of tonight and it just proves that Lashley deserves to be the Champion that he really is, and shows how much talent he is capable of.) All in all, a very entertaining week of Smackdown. They didn't load it down with Batista promos like they did last week, surprisingly. The matches for the most part were fast paced and fun to watch. An 8/10 from me. If you have any questions, comments, or feedback, feel free to email me. Shoot_till_you_kill@hotmail.com Until next time.
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