WWE: Friday Night Smackdown
June 1, 2007
London, ON, Canada
John Labatt Centre

The current Smackdown champions are as follows:
World Heavyweight Champion: Edge (5/11/2007)
WWE United States Champion: MVP (5/20/2007)
WWE Tag Team Champions: Deuce N Domino (4/20/2007)
WWE Cruiserweight Champion: Chavo Guerrero (2/18/2007)

Read along if you have the WWE Network!

Your hosts are Michael Cole and JBL.

• Chris Benoit & Matt Hardy vs. The Miz & MVP
  

Feeling out process with the good guys running wild to start. MVP saves Miz from a butt-kicking by distracting Benoit. Miz jumps Benoit from behind. Miz looks okay again this week, and MVP shouting instructions from the apron is a nice touch. I’m guessing the plan for Benoit going over to ECW was to get over a whole mess of guys like he has done with MVP. It just makes you wonder how many great matches on ECW we could have seen. Benoit is able to Snap Suplex his way out of trouble and hot tags Matt. Hardy and Benoit clear the ring as we go to break. When we come back, Miz is beating Hardy down in the corner. Matt crawls to the apron, so MVP boots him right in the head. Miz gets the Awesome Clothesline and holds Matt for a Helluva Kick from MVP. Cover, 1-2-NO! Matt elbows away a corner charge though and bulldogs MVP. HOT TAG TO BENOIT! Benoit cleans house and goes for the Sharpshooter on Miz. While Matt takes out MVP with a pescado, Benoit pulls down Miz into a CRIPPLER CROSSFACE for the win. (12:28 shown) Good formula tag and really gets my mind wondering how different 2007 and even the next few years ahead would have looked like had Benoit been around to help some of this new talent succeed. **½

In the back, Finlay uses some negative reinforcement to get Hornswoggle hyped to face the Little Boogey later. That dude is RABID. He should probably get tested.

Smack of the Night (brought to you by Auto Zone): Smackdown 5/25/07, Michelle McCool throwing Jillian Hall to the Boogeyman to get wormed.

• Michelle McCool vs. Jillian Hall
  

McCool channels the spirit of Kevin Von Erich (as mentioned by JBL) with a rolling body scissors to get a nearfall to start. Jillian tosses McCool to the floor to take control. Back inside, she kicks and chokes and pulls hair. The Handspring Elbow gets two. She bends Michelle with a backbreaker, but McCool fights back with a couple suplexes. She hits the BELLY TO BELLY! We needed David Crockett back on commentary just to call that one move. Jillian can’t believe her somersault double legdrop move doesn’t get the pin. Ashley comes out to ringside (who is now even MADDER at Jillian for reinjuring her leg) to distract Jillian into a spinning backbreaker from McCool for the win. (5:14) No one cares. Next. ½*

Elsewhere, we get the other side of the coin with the Boogeyman getting Little Boogey psyched for his match. Of course, worms are involved.

WWE DRAFT – LIVE IN TWO WEEKS!

• Little Boogey (w/The Boogeyman) vs. Hornswoggle
  

Little Boogey spits worms down into Horny’s hat and sticks it back on his head. Hornswoggle blames the ref over that and that allows Little Boogey to attack. He fights back with the GREEN MIST! AWESOME. That sends Little Boogey to the floor where Finlay attacks him. Boogeyman comes around to save him and gets mauled by Hornswoggle. That distracts the ref long enough for Finlay to knock out Little Boogey with the shillelagh. Hornswoggle hits the TADPOLE SPLASH for the win. (2:56) The Boogeyman revives his little friend with – you guessed it – more worms. JUST LIKE A BIRD WOULD DO! For a midget match, this was pretty fun. It’s only three minutes so you can’t really hate on it too much. **

Once again, Mark Henry tells us who he is. WE KNOW WHO YOU ARE!

• Kane vs. Mark Henry
  

They go back and forth to start with Henry heading to the floor every so often to rethink his strategy. Henry finally powerslams Kane (which seems more fierce than this finisher) and takes over with clubbing blows. Kane comes back with a DDT and hits the Flying Clothesline. Henry knows the Chokeslam is coming and rolls out to the floor. Kane goes after him though, but gets caught flying off the apron and driven into the ringpost. Henry rolls back inside the ring as Kane just lays on the floor seemingly allowing the countout to occur. (7:19) Kane pops right back up and chases Henry off, presumably to set up a “much-anticipated” rematch. You have to hate how WWE books heels sometimes. Heels are nine times out of ten cowardly instead of being able to back up what they say. ½*

In the back, Kristal asks Edge what we can expect from the first ever Smackdown installment of “The Cutting Edge” with Batista as his first guest. He will ask Batista the tough questions. If Batista’s past with microphones is any indication, he will give some very short answers no matter how tough the questions.

Some stranger I’ve never seen before gets an interview with the WWE tag champs Deuce N Domino with Cherry by their side. They aren’t worried about the WWE Draft where their team could be split up. They react to that question like stereotypical greasers. AAAAA! OOOOO! VOWEL SOUND!

Slam of the Week (brought to you by Click It or Ticket): Smackdown, two months ago. Deuce N Domino capitalizes on Paul London’s silly missed moonsault off the apron and defeated Brian Kendrick to capture the WWE tag titles in Milan.

• WWE Tag Team Championship: Deuce N Domino (c) (w/Cherry) vs. Paul London & Brian Kendrick vs. William Regal & Dave Taylor
  

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: they need some darker, grittier theme music. Buddy Holly and the Crickets aren’t going to cut it if they are going to be HEELS. London tags himself in over Deuce’s objections. Regal outwrestles him and comes up with the perfect counter to a monkey flip – just let go of him and let him fall back on his head. No real flow or story to the match. One guy controls another. The third team tags in and takes over on the guy that was in control. Rinse and repeat. You know, the old “rock, paper & scissors” formula. It’s like they just decided to do this match because they haven’t done it yet, but had no idea of where they wanted to go. Of course, with three of the six guys going over to RAW after the draft, it doesn’t really matter in the long run anyways. Kendrick takes Taylor to the floor with a crossbody and we go to break. We come back to Kendrick in control of Deuce. He tries to skin-the-cat, but Domino kicks him in the ribs. Kendrick plays face-in-peril as the conflict becomes which heel team will be able to finish him off. Regal and Taylor nearly let Kendrick get counted out and JBL points out how stupid that is. Back in, Taylor and Regal continue to work over Kendrick. When Domino tags in, Kendrick avoids a corner charge and makes the HOT TAG TO LONDON! London superkicks Deuce off the apron. He hits a standing SSP, but Regal makes the save. Kendrick thrust kicks him out and gives both Regal and Taylor a pescado. London goes up for the SSP, but Cherry shoves him off the top. Domino covers and gets the cheap win to retain the tag titles. (13:14 shown) Neither of the challenger teams are happy with that result. Started slow, but improved after the commercial break. ***¼

They run down the card for the One Night Stand PPV on Sunday.

In the back, Teddy Long gives his new assistant Vickie Guerrero credit for making that lumberjack match between Mark Henry and Kane for the PPV. Kristal sits there pouting because she’s worried she will be drafted to another show. It seems all Teddy can do as Smackdown GM is hope that doesn’t happen. Teddy says he is willing to give up being the Smackdown GM to go wherever Kristal goes. To do what exactly? Vickie assures Teddy if that happens, she will run the show with the highest possible standard. In order to show him what she’s capable of doing, she suggests Teddy and Kristal sneak out early tonight. Teddy decides to let his little peanut head to do his thinking for him tonight and takes her up on the offer. There’s only ten minutes left in the show – what could go wrong?

The Cutting Edge: Edge reiterates that he’s not afraid of Batista, but his quivering voice says otherwise. Edge suggests maybe Batista is the one who’s intimidated because he has the fear of choking again. They fall all over themselves wishing each other good luck. Batista finally just slugs Edge down. Edge licks his wounds staring at his belt while Bats walks out looking all cool to end the show.

Until next time, so long for now.