Friday Night Smackdown!
Florence, South Carolina
December 6, 2007
thanks to: wwe.com
December to disrespect
By Louie Dee
December 7, 2007
FLORENCE, S.C. – The legendary Michael “P.S.”
Hayes may have been a VIP for one night, but all he got for his trouble was a
world-class beat down from United States Champion MVP.
The Ballin’ Superstar brought the former Fabulous Freebird into the VIP Lounge
to talk about the upcoming Triumph and Tragedy of World Class Championship
Wrestling DVD, available everywhere on Tuesday, Dec. 11. But as one of WCCW’s
biggest stars tried to tell the story of one of sports-entertainment’s most
successful territories, the disrespectful MVP only wanted to talk about two
things: How great he is, and how great it is that he put Matt Hardy – a former
protégé of Hayes’ – on the shelf just prior to Survivor Series.
Hayes, not taking the disrespect lightly, vowed to teach MVP some respect by
“kicking your ass right now.” But before P.S. could even take off his jacket,
the U.S. Champion blindsided him. Hayes launched a brief counter-offensive, but
fell victim to The Playmaker and some taunting from the brash Porter.
At that point, Rey Mysterio – who earlier in the night was named as MVP’s
opponent for the U.S. Championship at Armageddon by Assistant General Manager
Theodore Long – rushed to the ring. The Master of the 619 got some retribution
for the fallen Freebird by attacking MVP, and after the two crashed through
parts of the VIP Lounge, the Ballin’ Superstar finally bailed from the ring to
escape the onslaught. It’s clear that the issue between Mysterio and MVP is far
from over; but now that Rey has his title opportunity, what else will happen on
the road to Armageddon?
Win a date with a Diva
That’s exactly what Jamie Noble did Friday night, as he defeated Chuck Palumbo
for the third consecutive time to earn a date with Chuck’s beautiful blond buddy
Michelle McCool. For the third week in a row, Noble hit on McCool before the
match, but this time he made the repulsed Diva an offer: “If I beat Palumbo, you
go on a date with me.” Having all the confidence in the world in her associate,
Michelle told Noble he was on.
That perhaps was only the second biggest mistake McCool made that night – at
least according to Palumbo. With Noble on a path to his third-straight victory,
she climbed the apron and removed her shirt, giving the love-struck Southerner a
good look at his potential future. Palumbo moved in to strike, but Noble moved
away quickly. While the revved-up Superstar stopped short of accidentally
slamming into his friend, that gave the wily Noble a chance to roll him up for
the surprise three-count, making it 3-for-3 against Palumbo.
Perhaps only Noble himself knows what will happen now that he has the one thing
he wants … and the one thing Michelle dreads. There may be even more trouble on
her horizon, as following SmackDown, WWE Mobile cameras caught a furious Palumbo
fuming backstage; when Michelle rushed in to calm Chuck, he uncharacteristically
dressed her down.
Shillelaghs and shenanigans once again
Finlay was also a winner on Friday night. Thanks to some shenanigans from his
little Leprechaun buddy Hornswoggle, the ornery Irishman defeated Deuce in
singles action. Deuce & Domino were still fuming over last week’s tag team loss
to the Irishmen, but instead of avenging that defeat, the former WWE Tag Team
Champions got another taste of stiff Irish medicine.
Before the match even started, Hornswoggle got under their skin by breaking the
antenna off Deuce & Domino’s car. Later, as Deuce had Finlay in a seemingly
compromised position, Hornswoggle was outside the ring spraying Domino & Cherry
with a fire extinguisher. Deuce managed to confiscate the contraband from the
pint-size prankster, but when the referee took it away from him, it gave Finlay
the chance to grab his own weapon – his trusty shillelagh. The Irishman cracked
Deuce in the head behind the referee’s back, and that was enough to gain the
three count.
After the match, however, Finlay ended up wilted like a neglected four-leaf
clover. Distracted by the sight of his Armageddon opponent, The Great Khali,
making his way to the ring, the Irishman fell victim to a 2-on-1 sneak attack by
the boys from the Other Side of the Tracks. Khali then swatted away poor
Hornswoggle, who could only watch in horror as the Punjabi giant crushed
Finlay’s head with his devastating Vise Grip.
The ornery Irishman says he’s always up for a fight, but after what happened on
Friday, will Finlay even be able to make it to Armageddon?
M&M make it happen again
WWE Tag Team Champions The Miz & John Morrison kept rolling, winning their
second match in two days by defeating Jesse & Festus. The ECW Superstars,
despite coming off a tough win over The Major Brothers in the Land of the
Extreme Thursday night, were able to overcome and conquer the Blue Crew’s
country boys in the back end of a two-night stand.
Jesse & Festus came up just short against Miz & Morrison on ECW last week in a
non-title match, and were hoping that facing the champions on SmackDown soil
would lead to a better result. Unfortunately, it didn’t, as a timely swat by
Morrison knocked Jesse off the top rope, leaving him easy prey for the Shaman of
Sexy to finish off with a vicious corkscrew neckbreaker.
When Animals attack
Another Superstar from the Land of the Extreme, Elijah Burke, didn’t fare as
well on Friday night, as World Heavyweight Champion Batista thrashed him in a
non-title clash. The Animal had said Burke was the “furthest thing” from his
mind earlier in the week on WWE.com – a slight that the self-proclaimed Guiding
Light took to heart. Burke promised to take down Batista, but his word was about
as good as the infamous “Dewey defeats Truman” headline back in 1945. Though
Burke put up a fight, the World Heavyweight Champion showed why he is the top
dog on Friday nights, derailing the Elijah Express with a punishing Batista
Bomb.
Rage and retribution
With Vickie Guerrero still incapacitated due to Undertaker’s attack two weeks
ago, Assistant General Manager Theodore Long took control of SmackDown and gave
Edge something he wanted: A chance at retribution against the man who put him
out of action back in July, the Big Red Monster, Kane.
For the second week in a row, however, SmackDown’s main event ended in
controversy. The referee threw the match out once Edge introduced a chair into
the proceedings, and things got really hairy once the Ultimate Opportunist got
control of Kane with it. Batista – stationed ringside doing guest commentary for
the bout – thwarted Edge’s dubious efforts, but with both of his Armageddon
opponents in the ring, an angry Undertaker made an appearance as well. Edge once
again escaped harm’s way, but this time, it was The Animal trumping The Phenom
in the end
Matches
WWE Tag Team Champions The Miz & John Morrison def. Jesse & Festus (non-title
match)
World Heavyweight Champion Batista def. Elijah Burke (non-title match)
Jamie Noble def. Chuck Palumbo
Finlay def. Deuce
Kane vs. Edge (No Contest)