Smackdown!
Trenton, New Jersey
June 16, 2006
Royal beating
By Ed Williams III
June 16, 2006
Is United States Champion Bobby Lashley indestructible?
That’s the question everyone was left with when Friday Night SmackDown went off
the air. After defeating William Regal last week, General Manager Theodore Long
granted Lashley with a match against his nemesis, King Booker. But early in the
evening, it looked as if the match might not take place after all. King Booker
and his court tried to take Lashley out before the match even happened. Regal,
Finlay and King Booker all attacked the U.S. Champ as he made his entrance, with
the King specifically targeting the knee. Luckily for Lashley, Matt Hardy and
Gunner Scott, who would be facing Regal and Finlay later in the night, made the
save before any further damage could be done. For the time being the match
appeared to be called off, but Lashley would not go down so easily.
While Lashley was being tended to by medical officials, and they tried to tell
him that there was no way he could go on with the match. Lashley, however, had
other plans. He implored the medical officials to tape up his knee, because come
hell or high water, he was going to go one on one against King Booker.
Lashley got his wish, but for a while it looked as though he made the wrong
decision. King Booker methodically worked over Lashley’s injured knee. By taking
out one of Lashley’s legs, King Booker was seemingly able to cut down on his
foe’s immense power. But Lashley kept courageously fighting back. A lesser man
would have thrown in the towel and lived to fight another day, but there is no
quit in the young Lashley. His perseverance paid off, and he somehow maintained
the strength and power to catch King Booker in a thunderous powerslam for the
huge victory. Lashley was somehow able to persevere, and in the end, the
so-called peasant was the one who reigned supreme. After being on such a high as
the new King, how will King Booker react to being defeated by Lashley?
There was also a brand new color commentator on SmackDown this week – none other
than JBL. After losing a match to Rey Mysterio and being forced to retire just
weeks ago, Mr. SmackDown was back, but this time behind the announce booth. From
listening to the first two hours of JBL on commentary, one thing is certain.
Sports-entertainment has never had a more controversial color commentator. JBL
has never been afraid to speak his mind in interviews while he was an active
Superstar, and he is carrying that same attitude and way of thinking into his
new job as an announcer. And he didn’t waste much time before stirring the pot.
The first match of the night was a Champion vs. Champion match in which World
Champion Rey Mysterio faced Cruiserweight Champion in a non-title match.
Mysterio was fresh off the heels of an all-out hardcore war from One Night Stand
against Sabu. The match was so extreme, that it had to be stopped after Sabu
DDT’d Rey through a table and neither man could continue. Helms took advantage
of Rey’s weakened state and came up with several near falls. But just as he has
done time and time again over the past couple of hellacious months, Rey Mysterio
endured the punishment and was able to come up with a big win. During the match,
color commentator JBL voiced his displeasure for Mysterio and even threw his hat
at him, as he was still very bitter over being forced into retirement by the
World Champion. Perhaps JBL’s antagonistic presence at ringside helped motivate
Mysterio in his match.
Mysterio’s good friend Chavo Guerrero was also on SmackDown this week, but
unfortunately for him, he didn’t have nearly as good a night as Rey. A poll was
conducted all week long on WWE.com asking fans if they would like to see Chavo
come out of retirement. Nearly 350,000 fans responded, and the results were
quite conclusive. About 80 % of the fans voted that they would like to see Chavo
step back into the ring, but Guerrero stood pat on his decision to remain
retired. Before Chavo could finish his interview, though, he was interrupted by
the World’s Strongest Man Mark Henry. Henry said that it was a shame that he was
retired, because he’s been having a good time lately knocking Superstars out of
action. He’s already put Batista and Chris Benoit on the shelf, and he claimed
that the World Champion has been ducking him. Then, even though Chavo is
retired, Henry brutally attacked Guerrero. He laid him out with a pair of
World’s Strongest Slams and viciously rammed his back against the steel ring
post. Can anyone stop Mark Henry?
After being run off by Gunner Scott and Matt Hardy earlier in the night, Regal
and Finlay had a chance to get back at the duo in tag team action. Scott and
Hardy worked well together as a team, but the members of King Booker’s court
were too much for them to handle. With the referee distracted, Finlay used his
shillelagh to knock out Scott for the victory. It also didn’t help that Hardy
and Scott had to contend with Finlay’s Little Bastard. Not only did Little
Bastard get involved during the match, but after the bell rang, he went on a
rampage like a rabid pitbull. Little Bastard even got so caught up in the moment
that he attacked Regal. After doing his damage, Finlay grabbed Little Bastard
and threw him back under the ring.
Plus, one week after being destroyed by The Great Khali, Super Crazy was set to
team up with his partner Psicosis to try and get revenge in a 2-on-1 Handicap
Match. Last week, after seeing how destructive Khali was, Psicosis retreated,
leaving his partner laying in the ring. But this week he promised to have Super
Crazy’s back. Unfortunately for Super Crazy, Psicosis is not a man of his word.
Psicosis tried to combat Khali early on, but after seeing that they were no
match for the monster, Psicosis again retreated, leaving Super Crazy to fend for
himself. What does this mean for the future of The Mexicools? And how can the
monstrous Khali ever be stopped?
The toughest man ever to wear a dress, Vito, was also in action and picked up an
impressive victory. SmackDown also had some exclusive footage of Vito working
out in a nearby gym. Although Vito is finally comfortable being himself and
proudly wearing women’s clothing, it was clear that the people at the gym were
not.
And Mr. Kennedy was back in action as well. Kennedy picked up a second-straight
win since returning from an injury, looking like he hasn’t missed a beat while
sitting on the sidelines.
Also, the SmackDown fans were almost treated to a Bikini Contest for a second
straight week. After Michelle McCool refused to show off her A+ body to the
crowd last week, Ashley caught up to the Diva backstage this week and challenged
her to an impromptu Bikini Contest to be judged by the Trenton, NJ fans. McCool
once again refused, and Ashley told her that instead of talking about teaching a
class, she should go out and get some class instead. Is it just a matter of time
before this war of words gets physical between the Divas?
And a video was shown of Sylvan, who is now an ambassador of Quebec, trying to
convince the fans to visit the province of Canada.
Matches
World Champion Rey Mysterio def. Cruiserweight Champion Gregory Helms (non-title)
Mr. Kennedy def. Nick Berk
The Great Khali def. Mexicools (Handicap Match)
Finlay & William Regal def. Matt Hardy & Gunner Scott
Vito def. Scott Wright
United States Champion Lashley def. King Booker