WWE Smackdown on The CW Network
Taped 8/5/08 in Atlanta, GA

[Q1] Footage was shown of last week's edition of The Cutting Edge where Edge decimated Mick Foley and in the process, may have sent Foley out of WWE...

Twill's Two Cents: Foley will eventually come back, but if he is gone for awhile, he certainly went out memorably.

The opening video aired and fireworks lit up the stage. Jim Ross welcomed us to the show. He introduced Foley's replacement for tonight, Tazz. JR plugged Shelton Benjamin vs. Jeff Hardy and the arm wrestling contest between Triple H and The Great Khali...

1. Natalya, Maryse, and Victoria defeated Michelle McCool, Cherry, and Maria in an Olympic divas match in 2:35. All of the divas came out in various Olympic event outfits. Maryse came out in tennis gear and Tazz said he played a lot of tennis in Brooklyn. Funny. Cherry came out in boxing gear so she wins for best outfit. Maria wore a skiing outfit representing Greece even though the Summer Olympics are beginning...

Twill's Two Cents: Is it the best idea to remind everyone that the Olympics are on right now?

After some nice action with Michelle and Natayla, Victoria hit the Widow's Peak on Cherry and the ring cleared out. The finish came when Natalya made Maria tap out with the Sharpshooter...

Backstage, Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder found Bam Neely laid out. Chavo Guerrero and Vickie Guerrero came into the shot as they all found a black rose next to Bam. Vickie shook her head as she looked at the rose... [C]

[Q2] Did you know? Last Friday, more males watched Smackdown than any program on any of the major networks...

2. Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder defeated Jimmy Wang Yang and Shannon Moore in a non-title match in 4:12. Hawkins, during an Irish whip, fell funny on his face/neck. He is lucky not to have been hurt from that. Yang scored a nearfall after some nice teamwork between him and Moore.

Ryder tagged in and looked very impressive on offense. Wang took the majority of the offense before Moore received a hot tag. The champions won the match after hitting a double Impaler DDT...

Twill's Two Cents: Decent match and I guess the last one for Shannon Moore.

Backstage, the amazingly hot Eve Torres interviewed MVP. MVP made the announcement that he would be facing Jeff Hardy at Summerslam. They watched the footage of Saturday Night's Main Event when Porter cost Hardy his match with Edge. MVP said he did not have to beat Hardy because he would beat himself. MVP would just be himself and better than everyone else... [C]

Twill's Two Cents: Good promo by MVP and it looks like Eve may have had a surgery.

[Q3] JR plugged the Indian broken glass arm wrestling contest. Tazz said shards of glass would be spread around the arm wrestling table. Fantastic...

3. Jeff Hardy defeated Shelton Benjamin by disqualification in a non-title match in 17:57. The match started slowly with Benjamin grounding Hardy with mat wrestling holds. Hardy gained the advantage at the three minute mark but kept the match on the ground with an armbar.

Benjamin took over again and applied a chinlock. You would think they were having an ironman match. Hardy hit a mule kick, sending Shelton to the floor. Jeff followed with a successful crossbody plancha. Hardy missed a Swanton and barely kicked out of a Benjamin pin attempt... [C]

[Q4] Shelton nearly choked out Hardy with another rear chinlock. Hardy saw an opening and went for a Whisper in the Wind, but Shelton pulled Hardy's foot out from under him and he tumbled backwards to the mat. Shelton began to work on the leg of Hardy with a single leg lock. He followed that up with a single leg Boston Crab.

Hardy fought back after recuperating on the floor for a few moments. Hardy successfully hit the Whisper in the Wind for a nearfall at the 16:40 mark. Hardy tried the delayed dropkick in the corner but Shelton stood up and countered it into a powerslam. Nice.

Hardy countered a Benjamin Paydirt attempt into a Twist of Fate and Swanton. MVP interfered before Hardy could score the pinfall, causing the disqualification. MVP exited up the ramp and stared down Hardy...

Twill's Two Cents: When Shelton base jumps to the top rope, I am impressed every single time I see that. Awesome. The match started out slowly but affectively. It progressed into a great match. It was not what most would expect from these two but I enjoyed seeing both men employ different styles and was thoroughly entertained. The finished made sense although I would have liked to see a clean finish.

Backstage, Chavo told Vickie he thought The Undertaker was behind Bam Neely's attack. Curt Hawkins came in and said he had no idea where Zac Ryder was. The three worried that he may have been attacked... [C]

They showed the arm wrestling table. It does look pretty cool but I hate stuff like this. Triple H came out first, followed by The Great Khali...

[Q5] 4. The Great Khali vs. Triple H in an Indian broken glass arm wrestling match ended in a no contest. Khali cut a promo before the contest to a chorus of "What?" chants. Triple H responded with, "That's a really good point... Honestly, I have no idea what he just said." Ranjin Singh translated and said although Triple H has beaten some of the biggest names ever, he has never been in the ring with Khali.

Triple H replied, "That is what I thought he said." Triple H cut a good promo saying he was going to break Khali's legs and when they were the same height, he was going to beat him. He called Singh "Funyun" and "Onion" throughout the interview. He said if Khali was not down with that, he had two words for him...

Referee Mickie Henson started the contest and both men nearly won. Fearing he was about to lose, Khali gave Triple H a headbutt. Triple H fought back and attempted a Pedigree, but was unable to hit it. Khali knocked out Triple H with the vice grip.

With Triple H lying face down on the mat, Singh said, "At Summerslam, The Great Khali has two words for you, 'Game Over.'" Khali celebrated as he retreated up the ramp... [C]

Twill's Two Cents: Game over? That is a new one! That reminded me of Family Guy when Olivia said, "You are the weakest link, goodbye." to Stewie and he went off on her about how bad of a comeback that was. That was actually one of the better segments of this nature that WWE has done. Nice job.

[Q6] Backstage, Curt Hawkins was unconscious with a black rose on his chest...

JR introduced another R-Truth video vignette. Truth was shown playing basketball at a neighborhood park. He said to win the game, you have to be in the game...

Twill's Two Cents: Insert your own Triple H joke here.

Chavo pleaded with Vickie to allow Edge to help them out because they could be the next to be attacked. Chavo went to get Edge and Vickie told him to be careful... [C]

A short video of Vladimir Kozlov's overwhelming success thus far was shown...

5. Vladimir Kozlov defeated Jesse (with Festus) in 1:41. Before the match, Kozlov spoke in Russian and followed it by saying, "I am undefeated. I demand better competition." I am not sure why, but when Jesse and Festus came to the ring, the referee came with them. I guess he missed his cue. When the bell rang, Jesse had to explain to Festus that only he was wrestling.

Kozlov hit a series of headbutts followed by an overhead belly to belly suplex. Jesse scored what JR called "a rare one count" after a dropkick. Jesse flew at Kozlov from the top rope but Kozlov countered with the battering ram for the pin. After the match, Kozlov stopped and stared at the catatonic Festus before heading up the ramp... [C]

Twill's Two Cents: Kozlov vs. Festus? I am cool with that.

[Q7] The Raw Rebound aired, showing John Cena and Batista becoming the World Tag Team Champions. JR and Tazz ran down the card for Summerslam...

Chavo told Vickie that Edge agreed to come see her. Chavo told Vickie to be nice, cordial, and civil. Vickie tore the black rosebud off of its stem... [C]

JR thanked the male fans for making Smackdown the number one watched show by males last week. Tazz said he had a huge male following. Tazz is on fire tonight...

The Brian Kendrick and his "advisor" Ezekiel Jackson made their ring entrance. Kendrick said knowledge is power, which makes him the most powerful man in WWE. Super Crazy came out with an ECW shirt on. Huh?

6. The Brian Kendrick (with Ezekiel Jackson) defeated Super Crazy in 4:36. Kendrick hit a very impressive running kick to the feet for a long two count.

[Q8] Kendrick utilized ground submissions to go along with his impressive kicks. Tazz made mention to Crazy wearing an ECW shirt by saying he did not get the email about getting traded. After Crazy hit some of his signature moves, a Jackson distraction allowed Brian to hit The Kendrick for the win...


Twill's Two Cents: If Mike Adamle announced a Kendrick match, would he leave out "The" at the beginning of his name, or would he call him "The The Brian Kendrick?" Sorry. It is Friday night. Kendrick continues to impress.

After the match, Ezekiel applied a Torture Rack on Super Crazy...

Edge joined Chavo and Vickie backstage. He and Chavo exchanged a hug. Edge had his hair pulled back like a broad. Vickie was pissed at Edge but Edge calmed her down by saying he had a plan to ensure what happened to the rest of La Familia would not happen to them. Edge asked if Vickie would agree to do things her way. She reluctantly said yes... [C]

Edge, Chavo, and Vickie came out to the ring. Edge and Chavo had chairs as Vickie sat in her wheelchair in the middle of the ring. Edge screamed for The Undertaker to come out. He wanted Taker to use his powers to strike him down with lightning or turn out the lights. Edge wisely had Chavo relinquish his chair to him.

When Chavo turned his back, Edge hit him in the back with a chair. As Vickie screamed, Edge smiled at her and hit Chavo with a conchairto. Edge pulled Vickie into the middle of the ring and teased her. He relented for a moment and tipped her over.

Vickie slumped into the corner as Edge got in her face with a microphone. Edge said he agreed with what Mick Foley said last week and that this Edge was the only one who could defeat The Undertaker. He said he was going to hell and he was taking The Undertaker, the family, and especially Vickie, with him...

Twill's Two Cents: Normally I prefer a match to close the show, but Smackdown has hit homeruns two weeks in a row with these end of the show segments. I smell a Vickie face turn but Edge received a huge reaction when he tipped Vickie over. It should be interesting.

Smackdown was another solid two hours tonight. What did you think? Let me know by shooting an email to dotnetrich@gmail.com.

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