The Troublemaker
Wrestlers Ramblings.com wrestling blog

A barely tolerable WWE Smackdown! was made palatable tonight by the rabid fans in Montreal, Que. From the outset the French-Canadian crowd provided great energy despite the many missed spots that are more prevalent at an indy show where rookies go to learn - and legends go to . . . well, die - at least professionally speaking.

The opening match featured tag action between the team of Lashley and Batista vs Finlay and William Regal. Predictably, this bout ended with Regal taking the fall via a Lashley spear, while Batista and Finlay did battle outside the ring. Some great offence by Lashley early on set the tone, while Batista continued to trot out his same tired shtick. The repetitive nature of Regal’s recent jobs are making him a strong candidate to seek employment on a manufacturing line . . . A strange non-title tilt between Matt Hardy and Gregory Helms ended when Matt booted Helms low and inside while the ref was distracted . . . In a match that featured some lame self-promotion, Miz destroyed Funaki with a swinging neck-breaker in under five minutes . . . The Mysterio-Guerrero nonsense continued tonight and seemed to sap the positive vibe from the crowd. Mercilessly, the match ended abruptly, for no apparent reason when two referees stormed the ring right out of the blue . . . Perhaps just to irritate the Troublemaker, Teddy Long again hit us with another Triple Threat Match. And, of course wouldn’t you know it would have to be for a strap. This time around the tag titles were up for grabs as the feud pitting London/Kendrick vs. the Pitbulls vs. James/Stevens came to a head. Some typically (but entertaining I have to admit) confusing action ended rather tamely with Kendrick rolling up Stevens . . . Hometown boy Sylvan drew strength from a crowd that raucously showed their support throughout. After Sylvan used the ropes to get the duke, Tatanka once again spent too much time griping to the ref . . .  Kennedy’s appearance to do commentary on the main event between King Booker and Undertaker seemed more than a bit fishy after the announcement that he and Taker’ were signed to do battle at No Mercy. Oddly enough I guess he was just there to scout the competition. This match seemed a little awkward from the get go, almost like someone was working hurt. After losing by DQ, King Booker tried to split but was rounded up and heaved back into the ring by Lashley. Never shy to look a gift-horse, Taker’ proceeded to nail a choke slam followed by a monster tombstone to finish off the night. All in all a disappointing show that has this writer thinking that Smackdown! may soon be featured on an upcoming installment of “For whom the Bell Tolls.”

Above photo copyright Wrestlers Ramblings.com and Mr. Mal Occhio. All Rights Reserved.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 23rd, 2006 at 12:29 am and is filed under Everything Else Wrestling, Troublemaker's Tirades, WWE Smackdown review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.