Well off the fresh heels of the 2009 WWE Draft, the WWE Universe saw the entire WWE Roster shaken up, mainly affecting the SmackDown! brand. As the road to WrestleMania 26 emerges, we can be sure to expect new/fresh rivalries that will undoubtedly garner a WWE fan’s attention. In the mean time, at the end of my report, I will list 15 predictions that I think will occur as a result of the WWE Draft over the next twelve months. Enjoy and feel free to comment on them however you wish!
Friday 8/7 ET
Knoxville, Tennessee
The SmackDown! opening “If You Rock Like Me” video package rolls featuring some of the draftees that were drafted to SmackDown! in the 2009 WWE Draft.
The charismatic enigma, Jeff Hardy, makes his way down to the ring to what JR described as a “rock star” like ovation. During Jeff’s entrance, we are shown clips from last week’s SmackDown! when Matt Hardy defeated Jeff in a stretcher match.
The World’s Largest Athlete, Monday Night RAW’s Big Show, makes his way down to the ring for our first match of the evening.
Match 1: Jeff Hardy v. Big Show
Match begins with Show trying to corner Jeff, but the rainbow haired warrior hits and runs behind the giant. Jeff tries doing the same again, but this time, he is clubbed in the back and then sent to the corner. Here, Show rips Jeff’s shirt off and slaps him across the chest. Show then lifts Jeff up and Jeff punches Show a few times, but Show quickly takes him down with a shoulder block. Following this, Show steps on top Jeff and proceeds to slap him across the chest once more. Show then head-butts Jeff right out of the ring. As Show attempts to grab Jeff, the charismatic enigma chokes the giant on the ropes. Jeff quickly gets in the ring and tries to capitalize on the stunned Show, but Show retaliates with another head-butt. Show then gives Jeff a big leg drop. After a 2 count, Show gives Jeff a side kick before capping off the punishment with a two handed choke bomb. With Jeff using the ropes to make it back to his feet, Show charges at him with a big boot, but Jeff dodges it and Show gets tied up on the ropes. Jeff then dropkicks Show and then does it again. Then, Jeff attempts a spear, but Show quickly gets off of the ropes and hurls Jeff straight onto the outside floor!
-Commercial-
Back, Show is in control as he has a nerve hold applied. The referee checks up on Jeff, but Jeff refuses to give up. Finally, with the crowd behind him, Jeff hits a stunner like maneuver to stun the giant. Jeff then attempts a Twist of Fate, but Show lifts Jeff and throws him down to the mat with emphasis. At this point, Show climbs onto the middle rope and attempts a body splash, but Jeff moves out of the way. Jeff then DDT’s the giant and it looks like Jeff is going to go up for the Swanton Bomb! However, Matt Hardy comes running down to the ring, but Jeff punches him back out onto the floor. With Big Show crawling to get back up, Jeff catapults off of Show and dives out of the ring and onto Matt, thus eliminating the older Hardy from the equation. Jeff then slowly gets back into the ring and tries for the Whisper in the Wind on Big Show, but Show catches Jeff and drills him unconscious with the KO Punch. Show pins Jeff and the match is over.
Post-Match: Show celebrates his victory and heads to the back. Matt Hardy then gets up and into the ring. He then slaps the downed Jeff several times and proceeds on hitting a leg drop on his younger brother at least eight times! Matt concludes the segment by standing on Jeff’s chest, raising his hand up.
Still to come: Triple H/Randy Orton Face-off & Batista vs. Ted Dibiase
-Commercial-
The Punjabi Playboy, Great Khali, is in the middle of the ring alongside his manager/translator, Ranjin Singh.
Singh states that Khali says he is very excited at the fact that he will have the opportunity to kiss Santina Marella on RAW next week. A picture of “her” comes up on the titantron and Singh describes “her” good looking features.
Singh adds, “Now in order to prepare for that heavenly moment next week, the Great Khali wants to lock lips with one of the University of Tennessee’s finest lady volunteers tonight right here on the Khali Kiss Cam.”
The camera selects a normal sized woman and she enters the ring. Khali and the lady eventually make out and the woman describes that it was great.
Singh adds that on RAW, Khali will make Santina feel the way a woman should feel.
Backstage, the WWE Divas Champion, Maryse, was shown heading down to the ring. Grisham adds that it could be her last appearance here on the blue brand.
-Commercial-
RAW’s Maryse made her way down to the ring. Soon afterwards, her opponent, Gail Kim, followed.
Match 2: Marsye v. Gail Kim
Bell rings and Kim attempts to get a hold of Maryse, but the Divas Champion backs off and poses with the ring ropes. Eventually, Kim charges at Maryse, but Maryse dodges her and tosses her through the ropes and onto the floor. Maryse slid out and whipped Kim into the apron. She climbed back in and stomped on Kim when she rolled back in. Maryse showed some impressive offense early with a face buster type move and a very cool back breaker. She covered for two and locked in a modified camel clutch. Kim rolled forward, dropping Maryse on the second rope. She kicked Maryse’s feet out from under her and hulked up. She hit several strikes and then her flip neckbreaker from the top. Maryse countered a top rope move and hooked Kim for a DDT, but Kim reversed it and drove her foot into the face of the Divas Champion for the win.
Post-Match: Gail Kim gets her arm raised and walks back up the ramp still eyeing Maryse.
JR and Grisham mention that on RAW next week, Triple H will battle Randy Orton.
Still to Come: Triple H/Randy Orton face-off.
R-Truth raps his way through the crowd.
-Commercial-
The former ECW Champion, John Morrison, makes his way down to the ring.
Match 3: R-Truth v. John Morrison
Bell rings and both men lock up. Truth quickly gets in a headlock takedown, but Morrison is quickly to deck Truth in the mouth to break to hold. Morrison then Irish Whips Truth into the turnbuckle, but as Morrison nears, Truth does a cartwheel split to move out of the way and eventually winds up kicking Morrison in the chin. As Truth then tries to lift Morrison, Morrison gets in a cheap shot and backs up towards the ropes where the referee tries to separate the two. While Truth is distracted with the referee, Morrison springboards off the middle rope and drills Truth with a kick to the head. Following a 2 count, Morrison applies a reverse chin lock. As the crowd cheers on, Truth tries to break free, but Morrison throws Truth into the ropes. Following this, Morrison attempts a suplex, but Truth reverses it into a jaw breaker. Moments later, Truth sends Morrison to the corner where he starts the 10 punches. Halfway through, Morrison grabs Truth and powerbombs him onto the mat. Truth appears to be out of it as Morrison goes on to connect with the Moonlight Drive for the win.
Post-Match: “I think 2009 will be a massive year for John Morrison,” claims JR as Morrison gets his hands raised. Grisham agrees and Morrison poses.
-Commercial-
“Game” hits and out comes the WWE Champion, Triple H. He receives a nice pop.
With Triple H waiting in the ring, Randy Orton’s music hits, but he doesn’t come out. Orton’s music plays again and this time his face is shown on the titantron.
“What Triple H? Did you come expecting a fight? Did you think for one second that I was going to show up there in that ring tonight with Backlash next Sunday? I am this close to getting what I want and that’s the WWE Championship. Why would I jeopardize that by coming out there tonight? I’ll leave that up to you.”
Orton said that he had made Triple H’s emotions over run his logic. He pointed out that Triple H won the handicap match and gets to face Orton on Monday. Orton also pointed out that the Game’s partners were now at each others throats. He said that Triple H would lose his cool within five minutes and get himself disqualified. The Game laughed. Orton asked if that was funny. He asked the Cerebral Assassin if it was funny when he RKO’d Stephanie, or when he DDT’d her. He asked if it was funny when he kissed her. He said the kiss keeps him up at night, thinking about her soft lips. He asked Triple H if that’s what he thinks about when he kisses his wife. He asked if the Game’s kids got the Easter basket he sent them. Every time he said something, Hunter looked pissed and then laughed. Orton finally snapped and screamed at Triple H to tell him what was so funny. The Gane said their match on RAW next week was a no disqualification match with no count outs, basically, no rules. Triple H concludes that while Orton thinks Triple H started everything, he was sure that he would be the one to finish it.
Undertaker in action next!
-Commercial-
Backstage, GM Theodore Long was with Matt Hardy. Long told Matt that at Backlash Matt would face Jeff once more, but this time it would be an “I Quit” Match. Matt looked rather satisfied claiming that he finally has the chance to “erase Jeff from the WWE.”
The Gold Standard, Shelton Benjamin, is already in the ring awaiting his opponent…
Gong! Light’s go out!
The Legendary Undertaker made his way down to the ring. It is his first appearance on SmackDown! since beating Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 25.
Match 4: Shelton Benjamin v. Undertaker
Bell rings and Undertaker takes it right to Benjamin with body punches followed by a body slam. The Dead man then immediately begins to work on the arm of the Gold Standard and eventually goes up to the top rope to connect with Old School. The Phenom then attempted a suplex, but Benjamin reversed it into a neckbreaker.
-Commercial-
Benjamin is in control as he is striking the Deadman with numerous elbow drops. “Undertaker!” chants emerge. Benjamin then applies headlock that he eventually releases as he decides to punch the Undertaker in the corner several times. Benjamin, who is still in complete control, then chokes the Phenom on the ropes before punching him in the head once more. Moments later however, as Benjamin tried to grab the Undertaker, the Deadman reached up and locked in a choke to get to his feet. The men traded blows, but Undertaker got the upper hand. He whipped Benjamin into the corner and ran into a kick. Benjamin hopped to the top, but the Phenom grabbed him out of the air in a Chokeslam tease, but Benjamin reversed into a DDT. Undertaker however sat up and Benjamin tried to attack. Undertaker reversed a whip into the corner and caught Benjamin when he bounced out. He picked him up for Snake Eyes, but Benjamin slid out and hit a belly to back suplex for two. The cocky Benjamin then signaled for the Tombstone Piledriver. As Benjamin lifted the Phenom on top of his shoulders, Undertaker reversed it for the Tombstone Piledriver and picked up the hard fought victory.
From this point on, my DVR stopped recording SmackDown! due to a very bad storm that messed up my Satellite. I thought the problem would go away, but it still hasn’t left and I don’t want to keep you guys waiting any longer for me to have the report up. As a result, the rest of the report is from Prowrestling.net.
Backstage, Dolph Ziggler tried to introduce himself to MVP. Teddy Long came up and interrupted him. Dolph tried a few more times and walked off pissed. Long said he was going to introduce MVP to one of the hags on The View and MVP seemed excited. Long told him to get his head straight, he had a match next. MVP agreed and left…[C]
[Q7]MVP came out to a silent crowd…
5. Dolph Ziggler defeated MVP at 4:44. JR said Dolph had introduced himself three times today. Funny. Dolph tried to introduce himself again to MVP but MVP ignored him. Ziggler pushed MVP in the face and MVP attacked. Ziggler escaped to the floor, but when he got back in, MVP went on the attack. MVP whipped Ziggler into the corner and ran in. Ziggler leaned out of the ropes and begged for time. The ref stopped MVP and Ziggler grabbed MVP’s arm and dropped in on the top rope. He then threw MVP through the turnbuckle into the post. He covered for one and locked in an arm bar.
Ziggler hit a jumping elbow for two and continued to work on the arm. He locked the arm bar back in. MVP fought out and hit several clotheslines and then a flip for two. MVP hit his Ballin’ elbow for two. He went back to work and whipped MVP into the corner and ran in for the Drive By, but Ziggler kicked him in the knee. He slammed MVP’s face into the turnbuckle and then rolled him up and hooked the tights for the win. Post match, Ziggler got a mic and said that now that he had MVP’s attention, his name was Dolph Ziggler…
Back from commercial, the announce team ran down the Backlash card. So far, only one of the four matches is not a gimmick. I thought it was Backlash, not Cyber Sunday…
[Q8]Batista made his entrance to a substantial pop. Ted DiBiase and his lack of a Legacy shirt made his entrance. A video recapped Super Shane getting DQed last night against Cody Rhodes…
6. Batista defeated Ted DiBiase Jr at 11:35. DiBiase drove Batista into the corner and broke his punches at four. Batista grabbed him and drove him into the corner and hit several tackles and punches. He hit a suplex for two. He picked DiBiase up and whipped him into the corner hard. He teased the Batista Bomb, but DiBiase punched the knee and worked on the leg into commercial…[C]
Back at 5:37 and DiBiase was still working on the leg. Batista tried to fight out, but DiBiase kicked him in the head and mounted for punches. He picked up Batista and Batista pushed him off and hit a big boot. Batista charged at DiBiase who ducked and Batista spilled to the floor. DiBiase stalked him outside the ring and tackled the knee from behind. He rolled Batista back in the ring and drug him to the post. He rammed Batista’s leg into the post. He climbed back in the ring and continued to work on the leg. DiBiase climbed to the second rope and jumped/stomped on Batista’s stomach. He did it again, except on the leg, and covered for two at 8:58. He locked in a leg scissors on the leg.
Batista fought out and managed to cradle DiBiase for two, but DiBiase kicked out and went back to work on the leg. Out of nowhere, Batista hit a spinebuster, a back flip, and a clothesline before DiBiase teased his finisher. Batista slid out and hit a huge spear. He stomped and held the rope and hit the Batista Bomb for the win. Batista celebrated as the show went off…A final video hyped the Hunter/Orton match on Monday…
Quick Match Results:
-Match 1: Big Show def. Jeff Hardy
-Match 2: Gail Kim def. Maryse
-Match 3: John Morrison def. R-Truth
-Match 4: Undertaker def. Shelton Benjamin
-Match 5: Dolph Ziggler def. MVP
-Main Event: Batista def. Ted Dibiase
Smack of the Night: Undertaker vs. Shelton Benjamin (Up until the point that I was able to see the show)
SmackDown! was shaping up to be good, so I am angered to have missed the last 45 minutes of the show. I guess I’ll catch it online or something.
Anyways, Here are my 15 predictions that I think will take place within the next year.
1. Chris Jericho will face Undertaker at WrestleMania XXVI
2. CM Punk will cash in MITB at Backlash to bring a World Championship to SmackDown!
3. Edge and CM Punk will engage in a lengthy rivalry for a World Title that may conclude at SummerSlam or even beyond that PPV.
4. Umaga will be elevated to a legit main eventer and then resume as a high mid-carder.
5. Umaga will engage in an intense rivalry with Undertaker.
6. Chris Jericho will engage in a lengthy rivalry with Rey Mysterio.
7. Shelton Benjamin will be a very high mid-carder/low main eventer.
8. R-Truth will be nothing more than a very high mid-carder and as a result will become the Intercontinental Champion.
9. Kane will eventually turn face.
10. Candice Michelle and Alicia Fox will turn heel.
11. Michelle McCool will win the Women’s Championship, thus becoming the first diva ever to have held the Divas Championship and Women’s Championship.
12. Ricky Ortiz, Jesse, and Curt Hawkins will be released of their WWE Contracts.
The next 3 predictions are highly unlikely but still has some potential to occur.
13. Jeff Hardy will NOT be a World Champion on SmackDown this year.
14. John Morrison will be elevated to a legit main eventer.
15. Christian will some how end up on SmackDown! to become involved in a storyline with Edge.
Do you have any questions, concerns, or comments? If so, feel free to email me, MIK, at mik123@ymail.com
