No theme song tonight. No dedication to either Ernie Ladd
or Arnold Skaaland, although the video tribute to the former
is repeated from Raw later in the show.
We open with Miz TV. I guess they don't have anyone for
Mike Mizanin to feud with for now, so he goes back to being
a host. Talk show host, that is. This week's guest is World
Champion Batista. Miz sucks up to Batista, then has the
lights turned out as a prank. Not a smart move, and Big
Dave lets him know about it with a Batista Bomb. JBL would
say later he appreciated it. Batista's pinstriped suit looked
like he might've borrowed that from Triple H.
Mr. Kennedy vs. Matt Hardy. Easily your
match of the night. Hardy is coming off a disputed loss
to King Booker last week, and now faces another of his Money
in the Bank opponents. Hardy hit a double-sledge off the
top, but came up limping. Kennedy capitalized on that, and
at one point applied an Indian Deathlock. Hardy reversed,
and Kennedy forced a rope break. Kennedy made one critical
error, and that was going for the Kenton (Swanton) Bomb.
Of course Matt got out of the way! That's the last guy Kennedy
should be trying that move against. Despite continuing to
sell the knee, Hardy still hit the Side Effect for 2, and
countered a ground level Green Bay Plunge into the Twist
of Fate for the sudden pinfall. Winner: Matt Hardy. Post-match,
Kennedy tells Kristal that the loss doesn't bother him,
because he's still going to win the Money in the Bank match.
MVP vs. El Grande Latte. Total squash,
and they made it seem like Montel Porter hand-picked his
opponent, claiming that Latte (actually rent-a-jobber Mike
Deeg, who was on ECW on Tuesday) was the Honduran champion.
Porter debuted the Playmaker (Matt Striker's Golden Rule)
to end it. Winner: MVP. Post-match, Porter cut a promo claiming
that he'd bring some prestige back to the US title and called
Chris Benoit a coward. He had some nerve putting himself
over Harley Race, Dusty Rhodes, and Ric Flair. Teddy Long,
making his lone appearance of the evening, brought out Benoit,
and that led to a brawl. Porter made his escape to avoid
the crossface.
MNM (Mercury, Nitro, & Melina) vs. Ashley Massaro,
Paul London, & Brian Kendrick. It was supposed
to be a showcase previewing the women's title match at Wrestlemania.
It was anything but, because when Ashley was tagged in,
Melina refused to lock up, and immediately tagged out. However,
the poser princess got in some cheap shots on Kendrick and
hit a low blow on London to set up the Snapshot for the
finish. There was a catfight after the match. The selfish,
jealous champion needs to be put in her place once and for
all. Winners: MNM..
Kane vs. Daivari. Coming out of a break,
Daivari was already in the ring ranting in Farsi. The "Smack
of the Night" was Khali's latest confrontation with
Kane on Monday. Another squash, but instead of going for
the pin, Kane tossed Daivari out and chokeslammed him on
the steps, then pulled out the hook from "See No Evil"
and dragged Daivari to the back, where he told Daivari to
deliver a message to Khali. Winner: None.
King Booker & Queen Sharmell are backstage, and Finlay
comes in looking for Hornswoggle. Booker asks for advice
vs. Undertaker, which is lame in and of itself considering
he feuded with UT last year. Finlay tells him to run. They
leave, and Sharmell is left all alone. Hornswoggle finally
shows up with a mug full of beer, wanting Sharmell to kiss
him because he's Irish. She runs away screaming. Hornswoggle
finally speaks on national television!
Undertaker vs. King Booker Batista returns
to join the announcers for the main event. Not as good as
past meetings between these two. It was even almost from
the start, but nothing new. At one point, Undertaker paused
to glare at Batista, and that allowed Booker to knock him
off the apron and into the announce table. Undertaker came
back and regained control of the match. He set up for the
Last Ride, but then Finlay showed up and hit him in the
back with the shillelagh. Winner: Undertaker via DQ. Booker
& Finlay doubled on Undertaker post-match, but the Deadman
made his own save. He threw Booker back into the ring, then
sent Finlay crashing into Batista. Undertaker chokeslammed
Booker and left. Batista then hit the ring, taking off his
shades & necktie, but Undertaker continued on and raised
his arm at the base of the ramp to end the show. |