WWE: Smackdown
November 23, 2007
Tampa, FL
St. Petersburg Times Forum

The current Smackdown champions are as follows:
World Heavyweight Champion: Batista (9/16/2007)
WWE United States Champion: MVP (5/20/2007)
WWE Tag Team Champions: The Miz & John Morrison (11/16/2007)

Read along if you have the WWE Network!

We start the show with an EPIC video package highlighting the Hell in a Cell from last Sunday between Batista and the Undertaker – including the finish where Edge made his return and screwed over the Undertaker to help Batista win.

Next thing we know, we’re in Smackdown GM Vickie Guerrero’s office where she lays down the law with Edge about his actions – and then punishes him with a world title match next week. HUH? OHHHH, it seems Vickie has a thing for tall, skinny, long blonde-haired Canadians and she makes out with Edge real big. That’s a hop, skip, and a jump from the usual short, muscly-armed, mullet-wearing Mexicans she’s typically attracted to.

Your hosts are Michael Cole & JBL.

In the ring, JBL introduces MVP so he can present to him a “U.S.” championship ring from the United Nations. They take us back to last week when MVP turned on Matt Hardy real good and destroyed his left knee. MVP sucks up to JBL and puts down the crowd. It seems MVP wants to emulate his career after JBL – JBL turned on Faarooq and became world champion, after all. JBL then remarks that MVP will one day be a world champion. MVP says he feels so much better not having to carry Matt Hardy around. MVP thinks he’s half man – half amazing while Matt Hardy is just plain and average like all the people in the audience. JBL is stealing Jeff Jarrett’s laugh here. Time to put on the ring. JBL runs down the stats of the ring. With all these foreign countries he’s mentioning, it feels we’re slipping into a Kevin Sullivan promo. As MVP starts to talk about himself some more, Rey Mysterio has had enough and comes out to the ring to call MVP a rookie, a punk, and afraid to face Matt Hardy. Since those are fighting words, they start to brawl. They tease a 619 as MVP slips out the back door to end the segment.

• The Miz & John Morrison vs. The Major Brothers

Here is Brian and Bret Major – or Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder – in their first gimmicks in WWE. We get one of those old WWF Superstars pop-up promos from the Major boys. Morrison gets caught in the wrong corner to start. Bret fights out of the tag champs corner, but then Morrison yanks him by the hair to crash and burn. Miz catapults Bret’s throat to the bottom rope and then Morrison slingshot dropkicks him to the floor. Back in, that gets two. Bret comes back with the Rough Ryder and hot tags Brian. Morrison runs in and gets dumped on the floor, but then Brian misses a crossbody out of the corner allowing Miz to hit the REALITY CHECK for the win. (3:12) Looks like somebody got cut open because Morrison has a quite a bit of blood on his chest and he’s holding his head. High energy little tag match here. They need to start getting over the Major brothers more since there’s about to be a big change to their careers here very soon. *

Elsewhere, Vince McMahon finds Finlay in the locker room and wants to discuss Hornswoggle’s match tonight with Mark Henry. Since Vince doesn’t want any surprises, he adds Finlay to the fray as Horny’s partner to make it a handicap match. Finlay doesn’t seem to mind until Vince slaps him on the shoulder very hard. Finlay smiles and slaps him back on the chest and on the jaw. Once Finlay walks away, Vince makes sure all his teeth are still in place.

• Kane vs. Big Daddy V (w/Matt Striker)

This just happened on ECW on Sci-Fi three days earlier with Matt Striker added in a handicap match. Kane runs wild on BDV for about ten seconds before he comes back and hits an avalanche. Big Daddy V chops Kane down and lays on top of him. When he lets up, Kane punches back only to run into a clothesline. Kane avoids a diving headbutt and a low dropkick keeps BDV down. Elbows and leg drops keep the big fella down. Kane heads up top and here comes Striker with a chair in the ring to eat the Flying Clothesline for a DQ. (2:28) Well, it is what it is. ¾*

Hey look, it’s WADE BOGGS in the audience.

• MVP vs. Rey Mysterio

Rey has his San Diego Chargers gear on tonight. MVP tries to alpha Rey to start, but Rey keeps him down with a headscissors. When MVP escapes, Rey tries to charley horse the left thigh. Cole says Hardy will miss 2-3 months of action due to the real reason he’ll be gone: an appendectomy. Mysterio surprises MVP with a springboard crossbody and tries to roll him up a few times until a frustrated MVP escapes to the floor. COMMERCIALS! When we return, MVP hits the DRIVE-BY KICK for 1-2-NO! Rey tries to fight his way back. Rey runs into a big boot though, but kicks out at two. JBL said MVP looked like a “young Frank Brody”. That’s interesting. MVP continues to keep Mysterio grounded because he’s obvs less dangerous on the mat then up moving around. MVP shoots him off into the ropes though and Rey counters a slam with a swinging DDT. Rey comes back with his own Drive-By Kick. Another roll through into a dropkick to MVP gets two. Mysterio delivers a Springboard Molly Go Round followed by a Buzzsaw Kick for 1-2-NO! MVP shocks Rey with a tilt-a-whirl uranage for two, but then Mysterio avoids the Play of the Day and drills MVP with a pair of 619s. MVP sees the West Coast Pop coming and drops Rey with a powerbomb. He’s near the ropes and keeps Rey pinned while grabbing the top rope for leverage to get the three-count. (10:52 shown) If you think about it, I don’t see how that really helped him gain extra leverage, but he’s breaking the rules and hoping to get extra heat. The match was solid, but this crowd sucked. Considering how loud they got for the opening segment with MVP and Rey, this should have been a fiery crowd. ***

We go over to Smackdown GM Vickie Guerrero’s office. Batista comes in with his head bandaged. He already knows Edge is getting a world title match next week, but he doesn’t seem to know that Edge is banging Vickie. She reveals to Bats the real reason Edge is getting the match next week: SHE LOVES HIM. Batista looks as confused and disgusted as all of us are. Vickie then yells at Bats to get out of her makeshift office.

Jesse and Festus plugged the John Cena: My Life DVD, which you can find a review for right here on PDRWrestling.net. Festus was dressed as Cena. This entertained me, and that’s all that matters.

Jamie Noble met with Michelle McCool backstage. He wants to hook up with her, so he slapped him. The slap did nothing but make him even more attracted to her. He told her he was going to go beat up her friend Chuck Palumbo, and afterwards they could go do the deed. Jamie Noble rules.

• Finlay & Hornswoggle vs. Mark Henry

Vince McMahon is conspicuous by his absence here. Horny is used here for comic relief. Finlay catapults him into Henry’s balls, which is pretty funny. Once Finlay gets the big man down, they start jumping on his body. When Finlay gets slugged down, that leaves Horny all alone with Henry. Bad news bears, for sure. One shillelagh gets pulled out to distract the ref and then Finlay pulls out a second shillelagh to knock out Henry. A terrible looking rocket launcher puts Hornswoggle on top of Henry for the win. (2:42) Remember when Mark Henry was a MONSTER? Anyways, the Great Khali waddles down to distract Finlay. Henry drills him from behind as Khali comes in and gives Finlay the TREE SLAM. There’s a little payback from Survivor Series. Oh boy. ½*

• Chuck Palumbo (w/Michelle McCool) vs. Jamie Noble

I wonder if Taker saw McCool as a biker chick and thought – yeah, I want that. Palumbo does some power stuff to start and gets a nearfall off a stalling suplex. Crowd gets behind Noble as he avoids a corner charge and flies off the top with a knee to the head. He wears down Palumbo with a headscissors and moves over to a hammerlock. Noble is AGGRESSIVE here tonight. Oh wait, Palumbo shut him down with a right hand. He runs Noble into the corner a few times and throws him around, but misses another corner charge and runs his shoulder into the post. Noble gets on Palumbo’s shoulders and then delivers the victory roll for the upset win. (3:22) He blows McCool a kiss hoping to get him some tonight. If Noble prefers blondes, I think I’d be going after Torrie Wilson, but that’s just me. ¾*

• Torrie Wilson vs. Victoria

So this feud is still happening. Torrie gets off a few chops, but Victoria fights back with the Spider Web side slam. She misses a flying moonsault though to set up a Torrie comeback. Clotheslines, suplex, and a dropkick. Torrie comes off the top rope for a flying bodypress for two. Victoria shuts her down and tries the Widow’s Peak, but Torrie escapes and hits a Rude Awakening neckbreaker for the win. (2:41) Torrie is improving since coming over to Smackdown, I’ll give her that. ½*

The Cutting Edge: Huge response for the return of Edge to Smackdown. He brings a clearly smitten Vickie Guerrero with him to the ring. Edge refers to Vickie as the “love of his life” and that this has been planned for months now so that next week on Smackdown, he can get the world title back. Tonight’s guest is the world champ Batista. This could get spicy. Big Dave is PISSED. He doesn’t exactly know what’s going on here, but he knows Edge doesn’t deserve a world title shot. Edge does in fact deserve every bit of the ass whipping he’s going to give him next week and Bats shoves Edge down before walking away. AWESOME. Simple and effective.

Once Batista is gone, we hear the BONG and the lights go out. When the lights come on, Taker is in the ring and scares away Edge. Vickie gets goozled. Edge is begging Taker not to hurt her. Taker then lifts her up on his shoulder and gives her a TOMBSTONE. Blood is dripping down the top of his head. His eyes are wide open and he’s staring right at Edge. Seems SUPER early since now you’re thinking about Edge and Taker and not Edge and Batista. Taker showing up after Edge gets screwed out of the belt next week would be fine, but he didn’t need to show up this week. Plus, that tombstone to Vickie didn’t need to happen yet either.

Until next time, so long for now.