Smackdown News (Page 9)

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

- Smackdown GM Teddy Long came out and announced that The Undertaker would defend the World Heavyweight Title against Batista at WWE Backlash in a Last Man Standing Match.

- Finlay and Mr. Kennedy make their entrances. Kennedy apologizes for Finlay for his actions against Hornswoggle and they call off the scheduled Handicap Match tonight. Teddy Long comes out and announces that since Kennedy and Finlay don't want to fight, they will then team up tonight to face The Undertaker and Batista.

- Backstage, Ashley Massaro appears to have been attacked.

- Paul London & Brian Kendrick defeated Deuce & Domino via DQ to retain the WWE Tag Team Titles.

- MVP defeated WWE U.S. Champion Chris Benoit in a Non-Title Match.

- Kane defeated Daivari. After the match, William Regal & Dave Taylor came out to attack Kane, but Kane fought them off.

- World Heavyweight Champion The Undertaker & Batista defeated Mr. Kennedy & Finlay. Lots of blind tags by Undertaker and Batista on each other. The finish saw Taker about to give Kennedy the Tombstone Piledriver, but Batista gets in a blind tag and hits the Batista Bomb for the win

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

Mr. Kennedy hit the ring to open the show. He put over his WrestleMania win and that he was Mr. Money in the Bank. He said the Kennedy era had now began. This led to a match with Jeff Hardy, which was a really cool match with some good spots. Kennedy got the win after a neckbreaker.

After the match, Finlay attacked Kennedy, which led to Teddy Long making Kennedy vs Finlay and Hornswoggle for next week’s show.

Backstage, Timbaland (showing about as much enthusiasm as he did on WWE RAW) and Ashley Massaro are talking. Jillian Hall interrupts him, and they make fun of her.

The Miz beat Chris Benoit in a non-title match after MVP interfered. Looks like Benoit vs MVP is on the cards for a rematch at some point soon.

Matt Hardy pinned King Booker. Afterwards, Sharmell went crazy and turned on Booker, which surprised most people in the building.

Kane beat David Taylor. Not sure if they announced this as a no-contest or not. Regardless, Taylor got destroyed by Kane, who the crowd were totally into.

Paul London and Brian Kendrick beat Chavo Guerrero and Gregory Helms. Match of the night by far, and this wouldn’t have looked out of place on Sunday’s PPV. Deuce and Domino (with Cherry) watched on at ringside.

The Undertaker came to the ring, with a big entrance complete with druids. The crowd loved this. Batista hit the ring, and congratulated Undertaker on his WrestleMania win. Then he left. King Booker jumped into the ring and attacked The Undertaker from behind. They brawled around ringside with Undertaker getting the upper hand. He set Booker up for a Tombstone on the announce table, but the table failed to break. The cameras will stop around here as Booker is seen to by officials and paramedics, and taken out on a stretcher.

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

- The show kicked off with MizTV featuring an interview with World Heavyweight Champion Batista. Miz played a joke on Batista by having the lights go out and pretending The Undertaker was coming out. Batista then gave The Miz a Batista Bomb as a result.

- Matt Hardy defeated Mr. Kennedy.

- MVP defeated El Gran Latte. After the match, MVP continued his challenge against Chris Benoit for the WWE U.S. Title at WrestleMania 23. Teddy Long made the match and Benoit came out. Benoit and MVP had a brawl to end the segment.

- Backstage, King Booker and Finlay argued about who would win the "Money in the Bank" Ladder Match at WrestleMania 23.

- The Undertaker defeated King Booker via DQ. Batista was at ringside on commentary. Finlay hit the ring to cause the DQ. Both Booker and Finlay attacked Undertaker. Batista stood up like he was going to help, but didn't do it. Undertaker fought off Booker and Finlay and threw Finlay over the announcers table onto Batista. Undertaker and Batista had a staredown.

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

- Jillian Hall came out and sang badly.

- Kane vs. Daivari never saw a finish as Kane dragged Daivari out of the arena with his chain/sickle that he used in "See No Evil."

- King Booker defeated Matt Hardy.

- Backstage, Kristal was with World Heavyweight Champion Batista. Footage was shown of The Undertaker's winstreak at WrestleMania.

- Another promo for Maryse airs.

- Backstage, MVP requests a match against WWE U.S. Champion Chris Benoit at WrestleMania with Smackdown GM Teddy Long.

- World Heavyweight Champion Batista defeated Kane.- The Miz comes out to debut "MizTV." His first guest is Ashley Massaro and adds that he has another guest - WWE Women's Champion Melina. Ashley challenges Melina to a match at WrestleMania for the WWE Women's Title.

- Mr. Kennedy defeated CM Punk.

- Backstage, Kristal interviews Finlay.

- Backstage, The Great Khali attacks Kane.

- The Undertaker defeated Finlay. After the match, Batista comes out and gives Undertaker a thumbs down. Undertaker does the throat slash and signals he is taking the title from Batista.

• WWE SmackDown did a 2.9 fast national rating with a 5.0 share. This makes the second week straight that SmackDown has finished fourth, beating FOX each time.

• Thursday’s edition of TNA iMPACT did a 1.1 cable rating, with 1.4 million viewers tuning in. Samoa Joe vs. Tomko headlined the main event.

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

Smackdown opened with Batista doing an interview. Fans were with him except when he made Undertaker references, and then he was booed. Same stuff as before, talking about how he's not intimidated but still being a face. Undertaker's music played but he only appeared on the screen cutting a promo. Undertaker's reaction was far bigger than Batista's.

Money in the bank qualifier: Matt Hardy b Joey Mercury with a twist of fate off the ropes in 10:48. Booker was doing commentary and Hardy made the same climbing the ladder motion that Punk did during ECW.

Jimmy Yang & Shannon Moore & Scotty 2 Hotty b Chavo Guerrero & Gregory Helms & Daivari when Yang pinned Daivari with a moonsault bodyblock. Helms and Yang were a solid level or two above everyone else here. Good match.

Vince McMahon was out and had red hot heat. They showed the clip of Lashley doing the flying tackle through the cage on Umaga from ECW. He plugged they would announce the special referee on RAW on Monday. Lashley came out and got in Vince's face. Vince told Lashley he'd pay him double whatever Trump was paying him to back out of the match. Lashley of course declined. Vince slapped him in the face and as Lashley got a crazed look, Vince ran away.

Backstage, Mr. Kennedy wanted a shot at Lashley. Vince ordered a match where Kennedy couldn't be DQ'd or counted out, but Lashley could, and the title was at stake.

Ashley b Jillian with an elbow off the middle rope in 2:26. No matter how hard they push her, Ashley Massaro just isn't that popular. Jillian did her Brooke Hogan impersonation before the match.

Fit Finlay won the Money in the bank qualifier over MVP and Chris Benoit in 9:04. Benoit was excellent here, doing all his signature stuff and carrying the match. It wasn't Benoit vs. Finlay level, but MVP didn't hurt the match either. Finish saw Hornswoggle (before the match Finlay explained that was his name) distract the ref. Finlay hit both men with the shillelagh and pinned Benoit.

Lashley b Kennedy with the Oklahoma Stampede. Kennedy used a low blow, tights, chair to the head all to no avail as Lashley kept kicking out. Lashley really didn't look so hot, but they'll probably be able to cover for him in post-editing. Lashley isn't quite as popular as he should be given his push, but he was the at the level below the top guys.

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

- World Heavyweight Champion Batista came out to the ring and talked about his actions against The Undertaker at No Way Out and the World Title Match at WrestleMania 23.

- WWE Tag Team Champions Paul London & Brian Kendrick & Matt Hardy defeated Joey Mercury & Deuce & Domino.

- Backstage, Vickie Guerrero made another appearance.

- WWE Cruiserweight Champion Chavo Guerrero defeated Scotty 2 Hotty.

- King Booker defeated Kane in a "Money in the Bank" Qualifying Match - Booker now joins Edge and CM Punk for the match at WrestleMania 23. The match had No DQ and Falls Count Anywhere stipulations. The finish saw The Great Khali interfere and take out Kane, allowing Booker to get the win.

- Finlay & The Little Bastard defeated The Boogeyman & The Little Boogeyman in a rematch from No Way Out.

- A video package about this year's WWE Hall of Fame - Class of 2007 was shown featuring Dusty Rhodes and Curt Hennig.

- Rey Mysterio made his return to Smackdown and got a big reaction from his hometown crowd. Mysterio said his rehab was ahead of schedule and will be returning soon. Vince McMahon's music hit to interrupt Mysterio. McMahon talked about his match with Donald Trump at WrestleMania 23 and asked Mysterio who he thought would win. Mysterio calls Vince a loser, so Vince brings out Umaga.

Umaga attacks Mysterio and then finishes him off with a splash from the top rope on his legs. Mysterio is carried off on a stretcher.

The CW Network released the following press release:

February 20, 2007 (Burbank, California) - "Friday Night SmackDown" delivered its highest-rated performance of the season, giving The CW its best Friday to date in the target demos of men 18-34 (2.4/9) and men 18-49 (2.3/9), according to Live Plus Same Day Nielsen ratings for Friday, Feb. 16. "Smackdown" matched last week's season highs among adults 18-34 (1.9/7).

"SmackDown" lifted The CW to first place on Friday (8:00-10:00 p.m.) among adults 18-34 (tie), men 18-34 and men 18-49.

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

The the pyro hit and crowd went crazy.

Then the Boogeyman's music hit, and halfway through his entrance Finlay attacked him from behind. Pretty good match, mostly offense from Finlay the little bastard came from underneath the ring and started attacking the Boogeyman, then out of nowhere here's a little boogeyman and started doing the body shake that the boogeyman does and he attacked little bastard. Finlay gets up and the boogeyman grabs his stick and hits Finlay in the stomach and goes in for the cover and picks up the win, The crowd was really into this match.

Winner by pinfall: The Boogeyman

Deuce and Domino's music hits and the crowd instantly booed these guys, then London and Kendrick's music hits and the crowd instantly stood up and went crazy because Brian Kendrick is from Olympia, WA the crowd was really into the very beginning of the match, then got really bored because the match was really really boring. Deuce hit Kendrick with a running boot to the face and got the pinfall. Kendrick got a standing ovation.

Winner by pinfall: Deuce

DX music played and the crowd went absolutely nuts, Shawn Michaels came to the ring and then John Cena's music played and he got a really loud ovation although there were some booing but not much. Then Mr. Kennedy came out and then MVP. The match was decent, mostly Shawn getting beat up. Finally Cena got in and hit the FU and picked up the victory. Crowd was really into this match.

Winners by pinfall: HBK and Cena

Gregory Helms came out to the ring and then Scotty 2 Hotty came out and that kinda had the crowd confused, because we all thought he was on RAW, but he got a good ovation. Very bad match! Then Scotty was about to go for the worm and right when he was about to get it Davari interuppted and attacked Scotty and the Funaki came out and then Jamie Noble, Shannon Moore, then Jimmy Wang ran out to the ring and hit a moonsault on Helms, then Helms got out of the ring and all six of the guys left in the ring went to the ropes and stared down the champ.

Winner by DQ: Scotty 2 Hotty

ECW Champion Bobby Lashley made an appearance. Mr. Kennedy came into Teddy Long's office and demanded a match between Lashley and him at No Way Out for the ECW title.

Ashley Massaro unveiled her Playboy cover! One word to describe it: WOW!

Rated RKO came out to a lot of heat, then Batista's music played and the crowd went absolutely nuts! Then we all stood up and went crazy because we knew the Undertaker was about to come out and then we heard the DONG! and I swear everyone in the arena went crazy! and Taker's music started to play and he made his was to the ring and the match got started, pretty good match a lot of offense from both teams, but Batista and Taker had control throughout the match then the Taker hit the toombstone and picked up the win for him and Batista, then HBK and Cena ran back out to the ring and Shawn hit the Undertaker with some sweet chin music, then Cena got Batista up and hit him with the FU, then Taker sat up and Shawn got him again with the sweet chin music. Show ends after that.

Winners by pinfall: Batista and the Undertaker

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

- The Undertaker defeated The Miz. After the match, Undertaker gave Miz a Last Ride through the announce table.

- Deuce & Dominio defeated WWE Tag Team Champions Paul London & Brian Kendrick in a Non-Title Match.

- King Booker goes to Teddy Long and demands that Kane be suspended. Long instead announces a match between the two for No Way Out.

- Finlay defeated The Boogeyman after Little Bastard distracted Boogeyman. A rematch was announced for the No Way Out PPV.

- A promo aired saying Rey Mysterio would be back in two weeks.

- Joey Mercury defeated Matt Hardy.

- Smackdown GM Teddy Long announced that a Diva Talent Competition would be taking place at the No Way Out PPV in two weeks with WWE Divas from all brands.

- Daivari defeated Gregory Helms in a Non-Title Match.

- Batista defeated Mr. Kennedy to retain the World Heavyweight Title. After the match, The Undertaker stared down Batista to close the show.