Results from this week’s WWE SmackDown! tapings; a final spoiler for Thursday’s WWE Superstars episode is also included. Advertised for this week’s episode was a match between CM Punk and rising star John Morrison.
Report courtesy Adam D of PWTorch.com:
There were no dark matches before ECW and after ECW we went right into the Superstars taping.
Superstars taping for Thursday’s show
(1) Goldust def. Sheamus via pinfall. It was actually not a bad match. Good back and forth action. Goldust won via pinfall, but I can’t remember which finisher he used.
Smackdown taping for Friday’s show
Tonight’s advertised matches include C.M. Punk vs. John Morrison and JTG vs. Big Show.
First, C.M. Punk came out and cut a promo telling us that TLC was not Hardy’s specialty, but Punk has proven he’s good with ladders, tables, and after last week, chairs. He assured us that Jeff Hardy would not make it to SummerSlam. Theodore Long came out and assured us Jeff would make it to SummerSlam and that he was here tonight (although unable to compete). Jeff Hardy came out to a huge pop and told Punk he’d make it to SummerSlam and that was the end of segment. Punk got tons of heat and Hardy as usual got a lot of cheers.
Backstage, Theodore Long received a call from Vince McMahon warning him that he was on probation. McMahon told Long that Hardy was to wrestle tonight.
I believe the first vignette of Kane and Rajin Singh aired here. I forgot to jot them down, but there were three vignettes of Kane talking in the camera similar to Joker in Dark Knight. The vignettes ended with Kane attacking Khali. They were forgettable.
(1) Dolph Ziggler def. Finlay via pinfall after the Jumping Russian Legsweep. Big pop for Finlay. Mike Knox came down to ringside during the match and distracted Finlay during the end. At a point during the match, Ziggler did a baseball slide and actually got caught in the ring apron that drew a good laugh from the crowd. After the match, Knox attacked Finlay and gave him a side suplex on the steel stairs. He then grabbed a mic and blabbed about the spinal cord and how it hurts to be dropped on it. Go figure.
Backstage, Maria and Melina were talking about Ziggler and SummerSlam weekend. Layla then entered and Melina said they would settle something in the ring. Not really sure where it all came from.
(2) C.M. Punk def. John Morrison via pinfall after the G.T.S. Crowd was alive for Morrison the whole match. Back and forth action with a lot of nearfalls. Punk did more heelish tactics which drew a lot of heat. He did a very impressive counter into the GTS to pick up the win.
A graphic aired which said Jeff Hardy would be wrestling in a two-on-one handicap match against the Hart Dynasty tonight.
(3) Melina def. Layla via pinfall after the Primal Scream. Crowd wasn’t into this match at all. A “Let’s Go Oilers” chant broke out in the whole arena during the match. I wonder if they’ll edit it out. Layla looked a little sloppy, but the match in general wasn’t very good.
Next, Cryme Tyme came out and cut a promo against JeriShow. They said something to the effect of, it doesn’t matter how many titles they’ve won, as it won’t matter at SummerSlam.
(4) Big Show (w/Chris Jericho) def. JTG (w/Shad Gaspard) via pinfall after a chokeslam. The match was the typical outing from both. Neither doing anything overly special or out of the ordinary. The crowd was chanting for Jericho the entire time anyways. Jericho did commentary for part of the match and then he pushed Shad into the steel post. After the match, Shad attacked Big Show and the two teams did a stare down. Crowd was chanting for Jericho the entire time anyways…
(5) The Hart Dynasty (Tyson Kidd & David Hart Smith) (w/ Natalya) def. World Hvt. champion Jeff Hardy via pinfall when Kidd pinned Hardy. Shocking to see the Dynasty go over Hardy cleanly. Hardy milked the chair attack from Punk last week all night. The crowd was hot for both sides, but mostly for Hardy due to all the kids there.
After the match, Hardy was down and C.M. Punk came down to deliver another beat down to Jeff. He grabbed a chair and was going to repeat last week when Matt Hardy came down to the ring to make the save to the biggest pop of the night in my opinion. Hart Dynasty got involved. A huge brawl started. John Morrison came down to help the Hardys. Dynasty and Punk stared down the Hardys and Morrison as Smackdown ended. Great brawl at the end. Good to see Matt as a face again.
Post-show Dark Match
(1) World Hvt. champion Jeff Hardy def. CM Punk in a steel cage match to retain the World Heavyweight Championship via pinfall. Short match. Hardy hit Twist of Fate and Swanton for the win in about three minutes.
Other notes from the show
– During ECW, I read a lot of people said the crowd was chanting “Rip His Head Off” during the Kozlov squash, but most people were actually chanting “You Can’t Wrestle.”
– Crowd was huge into Shelton Benjamin.
– Most people hated the Abraham Washington Show until Christian got there.
– Jeff Hardy was easily the most over of the night, followed by Jericho, Christian, and the Matt Hardy save.
– The most hated were C.M. Punk and William Regal.
– Goldust got a lot of chants.
– Most people didn’t react to the Kane/Khali vignettes. Ranjin Singh revealed that he and Khali are brothers.
