SmackDown! Spoilers

[TheFranchise 0]

Show opens with Justin Roberts announcing the chairman, Mr. McMahon. Comes down, starts off kind of like a babyface, then starts complaining about the stench. Talks about cheeseheads, cutting the cheese. Then he figures out what it is: the stench of fear. Runs down the fans, says most would get fired if they were graded solely on performance. Brought out General Manager Teddy Long, asked him what was planned for the show. Teddy said there was a tag match, Jeff/Rey against Edge/Jericho. McMahon said that wasn't good enough, Teddy said it's a cage match, and the ref will be CM Punk. McMahon decided to put Teddy on probation.

 

Opening match saw R Truth beat Shelton Benjamin in 8:52. Pre-match, Shelton cut a promo talking down to Truth for not getting a proper education, making fun of the lyrics in Truth's song ("You can be..."). Looked like they headed to commercial around the 2 minute mark. At one point, Truth seemed to botch a jawbreaker on Shelton, and they re-did it better. Furthermore, Shelton did the old German-Suplex-into-a-near fall combo, but he didn't bridge it. As a result, both of 'em had their shoulders down. *shrug*

 

Backstage, they did a segment with Vince, Teddy and Rey Mysterio. Vince talked about the mask and Rey's match with Jericho, Rey responded in Spanish. Vince was mad, asked Teddy what Rey said, and said Smackdown would be English-only.

 

Later tonight: Punk vs. Morrison

 

Next match was Divas tag action, Alicia Fox and Michelle McCool defeat Gail Kim and Melina in maybe 6 or 7 minutes (forgot to time this one) Melina got kicked in the mouth early, and sold it for a little while. Gail finally got the hot tag after at least 5 minutes, and had a pretty good counter while on the apron; Fox (I think) went for a shoulder to the gut from inside the ring, Gail jumped it and came down on her back. Gail hit a cross body block off the top after that, but then McCool got a blind tag and hit the Styles Clash (or whatever it is she calls it) for the pin and the win.

 

To the back, with Punk, Teddy and Vince. They talk Money in the Bank and Straight Edge. Vince talks down to Teddy some more.

 

Dolph Ziggler/Great Khali at The Bash, No DQ.

 

For the top of the hour main event, John Morrison beat world champion CM Punk in 14:36. Morrison made his entrance, then I think they'll take a break, as he posed for a while, and even pointed out a "Shaman of Veggies" sign in my section. First 3 minutes were quite slow, but it picked up after that. Punk hit a German into a bridge pin on Morrison for 2 (unlike Shelton, Punk actually DID bridge), and John seemed to be shaken up from landing high on the German. Punk tried a sunset flip powerbomb to the outside, Morrison countered by dropping a knee across Punk's neck. Back in the ring, Punk countered an attempted running knee from John into a single-leg Boston Crab. After escaping from that, Morrison hit his springboard kick for a VERY long 2 count, then went up top for what seemed to be a moonsault. Punk cut him off first, and hit a second-rope reverse suplex for a 2 count. Morrison rolled Punk up for 2, Punk countered for a 2 count of his own, then Morrison countered back into another pinning combination for the 3 count and victory. Crowd was surprised by the suddenness of the finish. Post-match, Punk offered Morrison a handshake, then got him up and hit the GTS.

 

Josh Matthews interviewed Jericho in back, who said he knows what's best for Rey. Pretty typical Jericho promo, and not half-bad in my view.

 

Then, time for the typical "stand in the ring and go over the PPV card" segment. Whee.

 

They played the cage lowering music, then went to the back where Teddy and Vince were with Jeff Hardy. Vince said he didn't want Jeff to win because of his past... doesn't want Jeff to be representing the show. Now time for the main event, Jeff and Rey against Jericho and Edge in a tag-team cage match, with special guest ref CM Punk.

 

Punk came out first in his ref shirt, and was booed. Both Jeff and Rey got big pops for coming out. Jeff, after coming out first, climbed up on top of the cage and hung out up there while Rey made his entrance. The two did some posing on top together, then climbed down while Jericho was coming down. Bunch of loud pyro for this match. Jeff and Rey hit Poetry in Motion early, eventually Rey went for an escape. He was stopped, so hit a cross body block from the top rope.

 

At one point, Jericho was sitting on the top turnbuckle, and Jeff and Rey knocked Edge's head right into his crotch. By my count, there were 3 crotch shots this match; one low dropkick by Rey, the head-to-crotch one, and one more that I didn't see very well, but I certainly saw Edge's face afterward. Right after that, Rey hit a hurancanrana from the top. Jericho regained control, tried to rip of Rey's mask while on the top rope. Rey pushed him off, then jumped at him. Y2J countered with a dropkick.

 

Rey finally got the hot tag to Jeff at the 12:30 mark in the match. Edge went for a spear on Jeff, but he moved and Edge speared CM Punk instead. A couple near-falls later, the finish came about. Jeff went for a Twist of Fate, Edge pushed him away, towards Punk. The two glared at each other, and Jeff turned around into a spear from Edge. 1-2-3, it's over.

 

Post-match (and post-show, I believe), Punk got on the mic and told us to give it up for Jeff, before saying that he's still better. He got in the ring, then Jeff hit a Twist of Fate and Swanton to send the crowd home happy. After Jeff left and the cage was raised, Punk was left in the ring alone. For some reason, there ended up being a replica world title belt put in the ring, and Punk kicked it onto the floor, looking angry. Kind of weird.

[Masked Heel 0]

great match with Punk and Morrison. I think the heel turn for Punk is happening for sure, the Vince endorcement makes it official