SmackDown! Taping Results from Laredo, TX (SPOILERS)
 

Yeah, just got back from the tapings like half an hour ago. I'll run down the event for you to prepare you for what's in store for Thursday.

Velocity and Dark Matches:

Jeremy Lopez def. some other nothing jobber
Russell Simpson (local dude) def. Eddie Craven
Orlando Jordan and Shannon Moore def. Akio and Sakoda
Jamie Noble def. some nothing jobber
A-Train def. Funaki
The Basham Brothers def. The Maximo Brothers

SmackDown! results:
Rey Mysterio def. Tajiri to win the Cruiserweight Championship. Afterwards, Big Show interrupts the celebration to shill his new T-shirt in a funny segment. Mysterio steals the shirt and tosses it to the crowd which prompts an assault on Mysterio. Hardcore Holly comes in for the save and dropkicks Show which leads to a 6-1-9 on the U.S. Champion. Backstage Paul Heyman makes Big Show vs. Hardcore Holly.

Bradshaw def. Rhyno in a nothing match

John Cena and Chris Benoit def. The F.B.I. in a handicap match. Crowd was hot for Cena and Benoit especially after their pre-match rap which is hilarious.

Kurt Angle comes out to talk to the crowd. He goes on for about 6 minutes about Iraq and the soldiers there and a bunch similar stuff that I don't really give a shit about. He finally catches my attention by announcing his entrance to the Royal Rumble match.

Backstage, Chris Benoit is verbally bitched at by Paul Heyman. Heyman makes Benoit the first man in the Rumble match. Benoit looks to break Heyman's finger and promises victory.

Back to the ring, the Bashams assault Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty in what was supposed to be a Tag Team Title match. One highlight of this: Shaniqua blows a powerbomb on Scotty....TWICE. They refuse to give the dancing duo a shot.

Backstage, Rey Mysterio celebrates with some other wrestlers including Eddie Guerrero. Eddie teases entering the Rumble which prompts Chavo to pull him out and get him focused on the team and their match for the night.

The World's Greatest Tag Team def. Los Guerreros. Chavo refuses to tag Eddie in the first part of the match but Eddie forces it by dragging his carcass to the corner and tagging himself in. Chavo tags himself back in right before Eddie looks to go for the Frog Splash. He tries one of his own which fails, and Shelton super kicks him for the win. After the match, Chavo gets on Eddie's case claiming he's sick of all the chants for Eddie and he's sick of Eddie himself and slaps him. Kurt Angle comes out to interject and holds back Eddie.

Back in the locker room, Kurt tells Eddie to calm down and look in the mirror to find the problem between him and Chavo and to think about what's really important.

The Big Show def. Hardcore Holly by DQ. Naturally this is non-title making it over 2 months that Big Show has not defended his U.S. Title. Holly just gets squashed which little offense getting in. The end comes when Rey Mysterio tries an assault on Show with a chair but he gets shut down. Holly grabs the chair and just beats on Show with it. End of show as Big Show growls all bloody.

It was watchable and put SmackDown! in a direction for the Rumble but the geographical booking got on my nerves a tad. I mean, they totally were there just to cater to the largely Hispanic crowd without emphasizing much else. The challenger to Lesnar's title was made to look weak and there wasn't much done to put over the *cough*magnitude of the match. They did the same thing the last time they came anyway so it shouldn't surprise me although I'm afraid of what will happen when they go Brock's hometown. They'd probably have him single-handedly destroy the entire roster and have them cut a promo on how great and manly he is.

An average SmackDown!.

Looks like Benoit really has a tough job at the Rumble. Traditionally, the first man there has the toughest job...

*praying that this is a sign of Benoit winning the Rumble*

Hopes Benoit actually does something in RR. Watch though he'll probably get eliminated really early.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but won't this be Benoit's first ever Royal Rumble?

I'm pretty sure it will be Benoit's first attempt at the Rumble itself. Debuted in WWF after the Rumble in '00, '01 was the Ladder Match with Jericho. Then was injured and missed the '02 Rumble, then of course the title match with Angle this past year.

Dude! The Maximos wrestled?! Shannon Moore won a match?! Awesome!

Rey Mysterio looking like a bitch in order to put over Hardcore Holly? Not awesome in the least. :'(

Seriously, what the hell is the deal with pushing the shitty wrestlers and burying the good ones? It's not just the Hoss thing, either; Rhyno and Sean O'Haire, f'rinstance, are awesome big-man wrestlers, and they get jobbed out like it's Vince's religion. Meanwhile, Mark Henry gets to beat the crap out of one of WCW's best workers on a weekly basis. I honestly cannot find one possible good reason for that.

To Bradshaw. I think Vince legitimately hates us smarks, and buries all of our favorite wrestlers just to piss us off. Oh, you may think Benoit's finally in line for a Title run, but by Wrestlemania, he'll be jobbing to Matt Morgan in a Loser-must-wear-a-tutu match.

There can't be any doubt now... Benoit is a lock to win the Rumble.

<font color=#33ffff>Rhyno on SmackDown!...:)
Rhyno jobbing to Bradshaw...:mad:</font>

I hope to hell they're pulling a Flair on Benoit.

what better way to make Benoit look like an unstoppable badass than to have him win the Rumble from position 1?

AH!!! They did it an F'N gain.

Give away draw no 1.

Oh well Benoit will finally be in a Royal Rumble :D Can't wait.

And no A-Train on smackdown http://e.deviantart.com/emoticons/b/boogie.gif

yes it will but you now what would be ansome if he did the same thing HBK did begin in the number 1 spot and made it all the way to 30 then won the thing

dude Mark Henary is going on his 9 th year with WWE gave the man a break and beside they might get rid of Many expect Ultimo Dragon to ask for an early release from his contract as his frustrations with the WWE grow as well as those of other cruiserweights. He feels that he isn't receiving the push he deserves and while he has reached one of his goals of working Madison Square Garden, he has pretty much given up hope of working WrestleMania XX, another long time goal. The way things are looking, Edge will be medically cleared in time to possibly work a match at WrestleMania XX. However the latest plan is to have Edge return the week after the PPV. The creative team has contemplated a feud between Edge and HHH, but they aren't near any serious storylines as of yet. With Steve Austin's return at RAW this week, the idea of a possible match involving the Rattlesnake has resurfaced. As of this report, Austin is NOT planning to work in an in-ring capacity however he will definitely be involved in ongoing storylines, just not wrestling.

where was Lesnar in the card, I think I missed him.

Secondly, I do hope that Benoit does get somethin out of bein #1 in the Rumble. I believe he does have the stamina to last the entire match. Flair came in at #3 to win it in '92. The Austin/McMahon Rumble doesn't really count cause they missed over half of the thing so I asy let Benoit finally get what we have been waiting for.

overall it sounds like a decent card. Just Bradshaw winnin again? Over Rhyno? That just sucks.

I thought that said Jennifer at first :o

:eek: :naughty:

LMAO! I love how he defended Henry in his bad English then pasted that uncited news source he posted a couple of days ago. Obviously, he doesn't know Henry is still with the company after so long because he was signed to a 10 year contract (and why I don't think we'll ever know).

What I don't understand, is that if they were going to give Rey the CW title, why couldn't they have done it in his hometown a few weeks ago, and have the Lesnar squash another week?

Because the hometown hero always has to get humiliated. Don't ask me why. I think Vince just gets off on pissing off his own viewers.

They consider all the border towns in Texas and California as Rey and Eddie country, so having Rey win in Laredo is almost as good as him winning in San Diego in their minds. I kinda agree with that logic. You dont want to limit all of Rey's big wins to just his hometown. If they can make people in Laredo feel like Rey is "their boy" go ahead, because it will likely lead to people coming back to buy more tickets.

However, I dont think they should have Rey getting killed in San Diego either, because that is counter productive.

As for Lesnar, somoene brought him up. He had some surgery if memory serves me correctly and there were some complications so they are keeping him off the road whenever possible. At this time he will still be able to work the Royal Rumble, but they want him to take it easy so he doesn't make the injury any worse.

Frankly, Rey put on one heck of a match in San Diego was nowhere near killed. That match did so much to elevate him, at least in my eyes.

Jeremy Lopez :y: :y: