Friday Night Smackdown!
Fresno, California
July 27, 2007
thanks to: wwe.com
FRESNO, Calif. - Indian music
enveloped the Save Mart Center in Fresno Friday Night, as there was a Punjabi
“Championship Celebration” for the new World Heavyweight Champion, The Great
Khali. The giant, along with translator Ranjin Singh, plus numerous dancers and
worshippers from India, partied Punjabi-style inside the ring – that is, until
Batista came to crash the party. The Animal – who dominated earlier that evening
in singles competition against WWE Tag Team Champion Deuce – never took his
rage-filled eyes off the 7-foot-3 monster as he challenged him to a one-on-one
match for the World Heavyweight Championship. When Khali rejected his request,
Batista exploded and speared the champion.
Another enraged SmackDown Superstar was Jamie Noble, who on Friday night was
given another chance at the Cruiserweight Title – and an opportunity for revenge
against the newest and littlest champion to date, Hornswoggle. After the
humiliation Hornswoggle had caused Noble at The Great American Bash, pinning him
to win the title in the Cruiserweight Open, Noble was certain he would take the
gold out of Hornswoggle’s miniature hands. But in the long run, Noble came up
short again as SmackDown’s leprechaun outsmarted him by winning via a count-out.
In other SmackDown action, North Carolinians Matt Hardy and Ric Flair were
Ballin’ after defeating United States Champion Montel Vontavious Porter and
Chris Masters in tag team action. After the loss, MVP pointed out that since he
wasn’t the one who was actually pinned by Matt, he still is better than him. The
frustrated Hardy then made some demands of his own, telling SmackDown’s
Franchise Playa to put his money where his mouth is and grant him a rematch for
the United States Championship. When the hotshot champion insisted that his
title was off the table, Matt proposed another challenge:
“I'll name the game, and I’ll beat you…again and again and again and again….
I’ll beat you so bad, you’ll have to defend the United States Championship
against me. And when you do, I will prove I’m better than you.”
Meanwhile, dressed head-to-toe in cowboy boots, tight jeans and cowboy hats, the
beautiful Torrie Wilson teamed up with SmackDown’s resident redneck, Jimmy Wang
Yang, for intergender tag action against Victoria & Kenny Dykstra. Catapulted to
victory after an impressive moonsault by Yang, the two Superstars “yee-hawed”
all the way to the locker room area.
Even though former Cruiserweight Champion Chavo Guerrero couldn’t retain his
title at The Great American Bash, he still has quite a mean streak, judging from
the way he handled Eugene. Despite SmackDown’s wrestling savant displaying some
impressive in-ring maneuvers, in the end it wasn’t enough to stop the
methodically malicious Guerrero from scoring the pinfall.
Kane, meanwhile, showed our fans and Dave Taylor just how much he relishes
inflicting pain, defeating the brash Brit in a matter of minutes with an
emphatic chokeslam. Mark Henry picked up an even quicker victory, however, by
viciously destroying Joey Blalock with one of his brutal bearhugs. The
self-proclaimed “king of the SmackDown jungle” then roared to the crowd that no
Superstar on the SmackDown roster could beat him.