Smackdown News (Page 10)

The most recent edition of WWE SmackDown! posted a 3.1/5 rating, according to Fast National data from Nielsen.

Although the performance did not propel The CW above fifth place among the major broadcast networks, it's a positive figure for both WWE and the network. WWE benefits from having increased exposure (one of its best SmackDown! numbers to date) going into WrestleMania 23 and The CW benefits from having a solid performance on its first Friday of the February Sweeps period.

The following report is courtesy of lordsofpain.net ...

Pyro goes off as Smackdown is now underway. First match was a U.S. title match with Chris Benoit vs. Finlay. Benoit wins after Finlay looks under the ring for "Little Bastard." Surprisingly, little bastard doesn't want to come out. After several attempts by Finlay to pull him out, lights go out, and Boogieman comes out. He distracts Finlay as he carries "Little Bastrd" to the back and Benoit retains the title. Good opening match with lots of action.

Second match saw Paul London and Kendrick lose to Deuce and Domino in a non title match.

Batista was shown on the screen talking to Teddy Long. He says he wants a decision tonight from Taker on who he wants to fight at Wrestlemania 23.

Third match saw Kennedy defeat Vito. Mostly Kennedy in this match, and after the victory he proceeded to choke Vito with the dress. The mic came down and he proceeded to talk trash his foe.

After the match, Teddy Long books Kennedy that his post match actions weren't necessary - and he's facing the Undertaker next wee.

Next up was a WWE Diva bikini contest between Kristal, Ashley, and Jillian; JBL was on commentary. Both Ashley and Kristal looked good, but when it came time for Jillian to strip down, she was wearing sweat shorts and a shirt.

She told JBL her talent is singing, and started to horribly sing "Baby one more time." JBL said it was horrible, and the fans cheared loudest for Ashley, the winner. After the decision, Jillian started trash talking, and Ashley and her started going at it.

Up next, The Miz defeat Matt Hardy after an attack on Hardy by Joey Mercury when the ref was distracted.

King Booker and Sharmell make their way to the ring with a thrown and podium in it. Booker talks about how it's about damn time someone like him from Houston succeeds. He says the Rockets are no longer good (with Dikembe Mutombo and Luther Head in the audience), and he approaches ZZ Top, who is also in the crowd and tells him to kiss his feet.

Pyro goes off and the lights go out, as Kane's music hits. Kane comes in the ring and beats down security. He then kicks down the thrown and podium, and starts beating on the former champ. Kane clears the ring, and does his thing with the pyro.

Up next Batista comes out and says he wants an answer. John Cena makes a surprise appearance, and says it can be him or Batista. Undertaker comes out and says nothing. Shawn Michaels then hits the ring and gets in Taker's face, saying he wants to finish off what happaned at the Rumble.

Vince comes out, and announces the main event at No Way Out will be Cena and Michaels vs. Taker and Batista.

The following report is courtesy of wrestleview.com ...

- World Heavyweight Champion Batista defeated WWE Cruiserweight Champion Gregory Helms.

- WWE U.S. Champion Chris Benoit defeated The Miz.

- Deuce & Domino defeated an unknown tag team.

- King Booker defeated Finlay via DQ.

- MNM (Nitro, Mercury & Melina) defeated WWE Tag Team Champions Paul London & Brian Kendrick & Ashley.

- An angle was started with a promo by Mr. Kennedy. Batista then came out and dared Kennedy to come out and slap him. Kennedy came out, but then the lights went out. When they came back on, Undertaker was in the ring. Undertaker then threw a big kick at Kennedy. Kennedy dodged it and Undertaker hit Batista instead.

- Kane defeated MVP via DQ with a steel chair shot. MVP tried to set Kane on fire after the match, but Kane stopped it.

- There was no winner in the 6 Man Over The Top Rope Battle Royal involving Kane, Chris Benoit, King Booker, Finlay, MVP and The Miz. The lights went out once again and Undertaker appeared, cleaning house on everyone to end the show.

The 1/19 edition of WWE Friday Night Smackdown drew a final 2.9 broadcast rating with a 4.9 share. That is up quite a bit from last week's 2.6 rating.

The following report is courtesty of lordsofpain.net ...

Show opens with a Mr. Kennedy promo talking up his Beat the Clock win. Teddy Long interrupts and says tonight Kennedy will face the Undertaker. Win, lose or draw, Kennedy remains in the Royal Rumble title match, but if Undertaker wins he gets added to make it a Triple Threat.

1. Matt Hardy b. Joey Mercury. Early in the match Matt delivers body shots and Joey backs off quickly when Matt goes for face shots. Mercury goes for a double underhook, Hardy double legs him and flips over for the pin. Post-match Nitro jumps Hardy and Melina shows up too. “We want Jeff” chants, but no Jeff. Matt gets a snapshot on the concrete floor with the pads removed.

Backstage: Miz talking up taking Undertaker to the limit to Ashley Massaro and Layla El, but Kane approaches from behind.

2. MVP/Regal/Taylor b. Vito/London/Kendrick. Heat segment on Vito, Taylor gives some stiff forearms. Kendrick gets the hot tag but the heels get the win.

3. No DQ US championship match: Chris Benoit b. Chavo Guerrero. Went about 10 minutes, Chavo quickly tries to use exposed turnbuckles, chairs, etc. Benoit goes for Crossface early and often but Chavo works over his left shoulder and arm with the chair. Benoit gets the tap-out victory with the sharpshooter. A bit underwhelming due to time but a solid match.

Backstage: Kristal interviews Batista

Backstage: Jillian suggests Kennedy should tell Long to call off the match with
the Undertaker.

Backstage: Kennedy talks to Long, but the match is on.

5. Kane b. The Miz in a squash

Backstage: King Booker talks to Long, he hasn’t gotten a rematch but the King
will win the Royal Rumble to reclaim his throne at Wrestlemania 23.

6. Mr. Kennedy b. The Undertaker by DQ. Also goes about 10 minutes. Finish comes as Kennedy is outside the ring and slaps Batista at the announce table. Kennedy runs back into the ring, Batista follows and spears him. Ref calls for the DQ so Kennedy wins and Undertaker isn’t added to the Royal Rumble World title match. Batista takes Kennedy to the back while Undertaker remains in the ring with a displeased stare at Batista.

The following report is courtesy of lordsofpain.net ...

A recap of the beat the clock challenge aired establishing that Kennedy had the time to beat.

(1) Finlay and Matt Hardy failed to beat the clock. The match ended with Finlay applying a leg lock submission to Hardy, but Hardy refused tap. After the clock ran out Finlay refused to break the hold and Joey Mercury ran out wearing a protective face mask. Finlay kept the leg lock on as Mercury hit Hardy with a chair. Mercury then set up Matt Hardy to smash his head inside the chair. Refs ran out from the back to stop Mercury before he could jump from top rope onto the chair.

Mercury then cut a promo (interview) from the back saying that Matt Hardy destroyed his movie star good looks and that he was going to continue to beat on Matt Hardy until Teddy Long makes a one on one match between the two of them.

(2) Tatanka defeated Jimmy Wang Yang. The crowd was dead for this.

(3) Kennedy defeated Chris Benoit in a non-title match. Kennedy got a lot of heat when he came out and then the audience said his name along with him. Benoit got a nice pop. This was an excellent match. The best work, in the ring, I've ever seen from Kennedy. Midway through the match Chavo Guerrero came down and joined JBL and Cole at the announce table. The match ended when Chavo interfered and Kennedy rolled up Benoit. Benoit delivered close to a dozen german suplexes in this match.

(4) London & Kendrick defeated Regal & Taylor to retain the tag titles. Decent match with a prolonged beat down of London and then a hot tag to Kendrick. There was a brief fight with all four in the ring. Kendrick rolled up Taylor.

(5) MVP and Vito failed to beat the clock. MVP was still selling his burns and came out taped up. They did a nice make-up job on MVP's back to show part of the burn. This match was what you'd expect.

Batista then did an interview back stage. I couldn't hear all of it but she essentially asked him what he thought about facing Kennedy or Taker. Batista said Kennedy talks too much but he wouldn't underestimate him. Batista then said if it were Taker... long reflective pause... that would be new.

(6) Taker and The Miz failed to beat the clock. There was a ref bump and interference from Kennedy. Taker finally tombstoned The Miz and missed beating the clock by half a second. This was a well timed finish. The show ended with Kennedy celebrating his title shot at the entrance and Taker staring him down.

Last week's Friday Night Smackdown Smackdown scored a final 3.0 broadcast rating, according to Dave Scherer of PWInsider.com. It was the highest rated Smackdown since it moved to the CW Network this past fall.

We apologize for the brief summary this week ...

Teddy Long came out to set up the Beat the Clock sprint over the next two weeks: sixteen wrestlers will compete and the wrestler with the best time will face Batista at the Royal Rumble.

Kane def. Chavo Guerrero

Paul London v. Brian Kendrick (7:53) fought to a draw

MVP promo about the Inferno match and the after effects

King Booker def. Gregory Helms (6:24) (Non-title)

Boogeyman came out after the match and attacked Helms

Ashley Massaro def. Jillian with a schoolgirl roll

Jimmy Wayne Yang v. Tatanka went to a 6:24 draw

Vickie Guerrero did a promo about her injured neck

Mr. Kennedy def. Chris Benoit in 5:07

It is currently being advertised that on the Best of Smackdown airing Friday, Teddy Long will be making a special appearance on the show to announce the Smackdown main event for the 2007 WWE Royal Rumble.

The most likely candidates to face Batista would be King Booker or Finlay. But it's unknown at this time in which direction WWE/Smackdown will go.

The following report is courtesy of wrestleview.com ...

Teddy Long is in his office with Booker T and Finlay. They want a rematch against Cena and Batista. He says no way. But since Kennedy hasn't been seen since the PPV, and MVP is still in a burn unit, they would take on the the Brothers of Destruction in the main event.

- World Champion Batista squashed Sylvan
Batista comes out and wishes everyone happy holidays. Santa comes out and throw shirts to the crowd, then attacks Batista. He walks up the ramp and T-Long comes out and makes it Santa vs. Batista "right now!" He ends up killing santa and it's Sylvan.

- Johnny Nitro defeated Matt Hardy
Mercury came out to the crowd applauding him, then shows the footage from the PPV. Then says he blames Matt and Jeff Hardy. Matt comes out and says they didn't mean to hurt him like that. Then Joey wants Matt to fight but Matt wouldn't do it. So he fights Nitro instead.

- Chris Benoit beat Chavo Guerrero
Pretty much the same match as the last 3 or 4. Benoit going for the sharpshooter a few times. He finally gets the cross face locked in and Vicky hits him with the belt and gets Chavo DQ'd. Chavo yells at Vicky. Maybe the end of that feud?

- The Boogeyman defeated Gregory Helms
Helms comes out and says he has beaten everyone put in front of him, and he's going to eat a lot during Xmas so he can go for the heavyweight title. Then Boogeyman's music hits and they go at it. Boogeyman ends up worming the announcer.

- Ashley Massaro & Layla El defeated Jillian Hall & Kristal

- Undertaker & Kane defeated King Booker & Fit Finlay