SmackDown! Taping Results from Laredo, TX (SPOILERS)

[M-A-G]

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!.