Smackdown!
Albany, New York
June 23, 2006
Family tradition
By Louie Dee
June 23, 2006
A helping hand never hurts, and for Rey Mysterio, a little help from Chavo
Guerrero and his family playbook helped Rey retain the World Championship on
SmackDown.
In the main event, Mysterio put his gold on the line against a man he has never
beaten: the World’s Strongest Man, Mark Henry. The last time they were in the
ring together, the massive Henry destroyed Rey in a match he was goaded into by
JBL. It seemed fitting that JBL was at ringside filling his new duty as color
commentator, but in the end, it wasn’t quite the ending he wanted to see.
Earlier in the night, Chavo told Michael Cole that he knew Rey had his work cut
out for him but that he had confidence that Rey would win…and that he wasn’t the
only Guerrero who thought so. Throughout the match though, it looked like Chavo
would have to eat his words. Henry dominated the World Champion, tossing him
around almost at will and methodically pounding him down.
Late in the match, Henry pulled a turnbuckle pad off the corner. When referee
Nick Patrick attempted to fix it, the World’s Strongest Man threw Mysterio into
him to knock him unconscious. But as Henry then scooped Rey up to finish him of
with the World’s Strongest Slam, Chavo ran to the ring with a chair to back up
his words.
Henry shrugged off Chavo’s blow with the chair, but the distraction allowed Rey
to nail Henry with a chair-assisted 619. Somehow, Henry was still able to catch
Rey’s Seated Senton attempt, but Chavo clipped his knee out from under him.
Seeing the referee recovering, Chavo bashed the chair against the ringpost and
tossed it onto Henry, telling Rey to act as if he was hit. Chavo stole an old
trick out of his late uncle Eddie Guerrero’s playbook, and it worked well for
Eddie’s nephew and best friend on this occasion.
Busta Rhymes
When Patrick stood up, he saw Henry with the chair and Rey on the mat; putting
two and two together, Patrick disqualified the World’s Strongest Man. Chavo and
Rey celebrated in the entrance aisle as an irate Henry bent the chair and stared
them down; unfortunately, the show of strength was too little, too late for him
as the champion had already lied, cheated and stolen his way to his first-ever
victory over Henry.
It was another bad night for King Booker as well. Once again matched up against
United States Champion Bobby Lashley, the King focused his attack on the
still-injured left knee of the champion. Somehow, the hard-hitting Lashley kept
finding the strength to come back from Booker’s methodical attack; in the end,
however, the odds caused Lashley to snap.
First, William Regal got involved by nailing Lashley with a cheap shot. Finlay
then also made his presence known, but the champion was able to fight off his
attack. As Regal distracted the referee, Queen Sharmell gave her King a chair;
Lashley was able to avoid his swing, grabbing the chair in the process. Regal
then ran into the ring, but was met by a hard shot from Lashley. The champion
then nailed King Booker as well to draw a disqualification, but he seemingly had
no choice. Against what was basically a 4-on-1 attack, Lashley did what he had
to do to protect himself.
He won’t have to worry about that next week, thanks to General Manager Theodore
Long. While King Booker complained that he never wanted to step foot in the ring
with “that peasant Lashley” again, Long gave an edict that the King disapproved
of. Next week, the King and the United States Champion will meet one more
time…inside a Steel Cage.
Earlier on SmackDown, Finlay was in a match of his own, coming out victorious
over Gunner Scott. Prior to the match, Little Bastard made his presence known by
throwing beer cans out from under the ring during Finlay’s entrance. And after a
hard-hitting match, it was the little man who helped Finlay to victory as well.
The fighting Irishman went to look for the Little Bastard late in the match, but
he ran into the ring from the other side carrying a large shillelagh instead.
Not wanting to get disqualified, Finlay tackled him to prevent him from hitting
Scott. As the referee dispatched of Little Bastard and the large shillelagh,
Finlay grabbed a shillelagh of his own; just like he had the previous week,
Finlay clocked Scott in the head with it and scored the pinfall.
SmackDown also saw the apparent implosion of the Mexicools. The duo had a chance
to face Paul London & Brian Kendrick for the WWE Tag Team Championship, but they
couldn’t seem to get on the same page at any point in the bout. The champions
kept Psicosis isolated for most of the match, but when he was finally able to
tag Super Crazy it looked like the challengers would take the gold home.
Instead, it was the beginning of the end. As Crazy climbed the ropes to attempt
a moonsault on Kendrick, Psicosis made a blind tag. He then climbed the opposite
corner, but when he missed a somersault legdrop Kendrick was able to cover him
for the winning pinfall. Psicosis and Super Crazy then argued, with Crazy
attacking his partner. For the past two weeks, Psicosis had abandoned Crazy as
The Great Khali manhandled him, and after his actions on SmackDown it appears
that Crazy has finally had enough. Have we seen the end of their partnership?
Speaking of The Great Khali, he made his presence felt as well. During a match
pitting Tatanka against Simon Dean, it looked like the Native American Warrior
was about to claim victory when Khali and Daivari made their entrance. The
massive Khali quickly dispatched of Tatanka before dropping Simon with a
devastating choke throw. With Dean down, Khali did the unthinkable; mocking
Undertaker’s signature pinfall, Khali crossed the fitness guru’s arms across his
chest and stuck out his tongue. The crowd firmly disapproved of the act, and
wherever he may be I’m sure the Deadman did as well…but will he ever show his
face again to do something about it?
Also on SmackDown, Mr. Kennedy…Kennedy also continued the roll he’s been on
since returning to SmackDown by defeating Funaki. Thanks to the move Kennedy
calls the Ken-ton Bomb, SmackDown’s No. 1 Announcer became just the latest
victim of the man who is single-handedly changing Friday nights.
Vito also tried to invite SmackDown Diva Ashley to dinner, but it seemed as if
Ashley thought the Sicilian may live another kind of alternative lifestyle.
After denying that, the toughest man to ever wear a dress instead asked the
drop-dead gorgeous Diva for some fashion and beauty tips.
In addition, Ambassador Sylvan once again tried to convince the great SmackDown
fans to visit his home province of Quebec. As much as Sylvan may have been
disliked in the past, I have to agree with his message, because in my opinion
Montreal is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Where else can you
blow your paycheck at numerous gentlemen’s clubs and blackjack tables and then
drown your sorrows in a delicious plate of French fries and gravy? Oh yeah, Las
Vegas. Sorry Sylvan, I’m staying in the States.
And of course, we’re now less than two weeks away from the return of Batista, as
the Animal will comes back to SmackDown on July 7 in Philadelphia. I’m glad I’ll
be there, because after six months on the shelf you know the Animal will be
amped up and ready to go in Philly.
Matches
WWE Tag Team Champions Paul London & Brian Kendrick def. The Mexicools
Tatanka vs. Simon Dean (No Contest)
Finlay def. Gunner Scott
King Booker def. United States Champion Bobby Lashley (DQ)
Mr. Kennedy def. Funaki
World Champion Rey Mysterio def. Mark Henry (DQ)