The Smackdown Breakdown — 06.23.06

WWE Smackdown — 06.23.06

From Albany, NY.

Your hosts are Michael Cole and John Bradshaw Layfield.

WWE Tag Team Championship: Brian Kendrick & Paul London vs. The Mexicools.
Lots of Amerilucha stuff to start with the Mexicools teasing dissension. Kendrick whirls into a nice Octopus Stretch on Crazy. Psicosis comes in and brags about showing Crazy how it’s done, but he winds up playing heel-in-peril. Crazy tags in and cleans house on the champs. London accidentally hits Kendrick with a dropkick, setting up the moonsault from Crazy. Before that can happen, though, Psicosis tags himself in and misses a somersault senton. Kendrick covers and gets the win at 6:24. After the match, Crazy gets pissed because Psicosis is a selfish prick, and the two come to blows. **

Tatanka vs. Simon Dean
APACHE! JUMP ON IT! Dean runs down Tatanka for selling Manhattan to the Pilgrims after they landed at Mt. Rushmore. Tatanka chases him down and opens up the wampum power. Great Khali struts down and destroys both men. Indian vs. Indian! He even does the Undertaker cross-armed pin on Dean. [NR]

Fit Finlay vs. Gunner Scott
Scott takes Finlay down with a double-leg shoot, but Finlay shrugs him off and knocks him around. Finlay comes off the second rope, but Scott blocks with a boot. Scott hits a pair of backdrop suplexes and goes up for a missile dropkick. He takes too much time trying to capitalize, though, and Finlay snaps his neck on the top rope. The Leprechaun tries to interfere, but Finlay tackles him and shoves him back under the ring. The ref gets distracted by the little bastard, so Finlay knocks Scott out with the shillelagh and picks up the win at 4:24. Disappointing. 3/4*

In the back, Big Vito asks out Ashley, who wonders about his sexual orientation.

Sylvan is still pimping Quebec. It actually does look very inviting.

Chavo Guerrero voices his support for Rey Mysterio tonight. Mark Henry rebuts with “nuh-uh.” Actually, a pretty good promo from Henry as he talks about snapping people’s tendons and things.

Non-Title: Booker T (w/Sharmell & William Regal) vs. Bobby Lashley.
Lashley is coming in with his leg taped up from the shillelagh attack. Lashley gets some shoulderdrives in the corner, but Book hits him with a cheapshot. Lashley explodes with a clothesline but gets hung up on the top rope. Booker methodically goes to work on the injured knee. Lashley counters a spinning toehold to a small package and comes back with clotheslines. Booker cuts him off by going to the eyes and hits a low dropkick. He uses a single-leg crab. PSYCHOLOGY~! Regal even gets in a cheapshot on Lashley, enabling Booker to get a heel kick for two. Fit Finlay returns to ringside as we take a commercial break. We come back to Lashley busting out power moves as Finlay and Regal look worried. Lashley spills to the floor on a charge where Finlay blasts him with the shillelagh. Back in, Lashley blocks a suplex and counters to one of his own. Lashley bashes Booker’s head into the top turnbuckle with the crowd counting along, which I can’t recall seeing for a long time. Booker drop toeholds him and actually busts out a figure-four leglock! Lashley is able to power over, though. I was hoping he’d pass out from the pain. Lashley fires back again, hitting a powerslam. Booker thumbs the eye to avoid the Dominator. Regal distracts the ref while Finlay jumps in and attacks Lashley. Lashley knocks him to the outside, but now Booker has a chair. Lashley blocks the chairshot and takes the chair away. He swings away, but William Regal runs in and jumps in front of Booker to take one for the team. That was pretty cool. Lashley knocks him aside and hits Booker anyway for the DQ at 20:38. One of Lashley’s better matches that was, not surprisingly, carried by Booker. The antics of Finlay and Regal only added to the match. Lashley was made to look like the babyface of the next generation. ***

Mr. Kennedy vs. Funaki.
Kennedy insults the fans to get some heel heat. The problem with doing that when the fans want to cheer someone is that they rarely go from face heat to heel heat but face heat to no heat. Kennedy clubs Funaki in the face and locks in an armbar. Funaki fires back but runs into the Rolling Slam and the Kenton Bomb at 2:55. 1/2*

Backstage, Booker and Sharmell proclaim to General Manager Theodore Long that they’re not setting foot in the ring with Lashley again. Long corrects him and makes a rematch…in a cage! See how easy that was to book? Babyface won’t fold in a one-on-one, so the heel brings in backup. Then, the fair-and-balanced authority figure makes a match that’s designed not to have interference. Good, solid old-school linear booking.

World Heavyweight Title: Rey Mysterio vs. Mark Henry.
Rey targets the legs, but Henry shrugs him off and squashes him in the corner. Henry misses a charge to the outside, and Rey hits a seated senton off the top as we go to break. During the break, Rey apparently gets a flurry of offense in before missing a dive. Back in, Henry cuts off a charge with the boot. Henry grabs a bearhug and rams Rey against the buckle. Rey sunset flips him and avoids Henry trying to squash him. Rey hits the split-legged moonsault for two. Henry catches Rey and tries to press slam him over the top, but Rey springboards back in with a bulldog for two. Rey tries a springboard, but Henry just swats him out of the air. The ref stops to repair the turnbuckle and gets squashed when Henry tosses Rey into the corner. Chavo Guerrero runs out and hits Henry with a chair, but Henry no-sells it and knocks him down. Rey hits Henry with the 619 and goes for the West Coast Pop, but Henry catches him. Chavo clips Henry’s leg, grabs the loose chair, and smacks it against the ringpost. The ref hears it as he’s recovering, thinks Henry used it on Rey, and disqualifies him at 15:29. I like the Eddy-finish, but Rey continues to look like a paper champion. *3/4

Final Thoughts: A resurgent Booker T really carried the show (as well as Lashley) this week. I like the little Court he’s assembled. Give ’em an irritating jester, and they’re set. The Chavo stuff is pretty clearly leading to a heel turn, but if it means more Rey/Chavo, so be it. Kind of blah show this week. Not bad. Just kind of…there.

J.D. Dunn