On Saturday, June 17, 2006 at 5:06 AM EST Royal beating
By Ed Williams III
June 16, 2006
Results courtesy of WWE.com
Is United States Champion Bobby Lashley indestructible?
That’s the question everyone was left with when Friday Night SmackDown went off the air. After defeating William Regal last week, General Manager Theodore Long granted Lashley with a match against his nemesis, King Booker. But early in the evening, it looked as if the match might not take place after all. King Booker and his court tried to take Lashley out before the match even happened. Regal, Finlay and King Booker all attacked the U.S. Champ as he made his entrance, with the King specifically targeting the knee. Luckily for Lashley, Matt Hardy and Gunner Scott, who would be facing Regal and Finlay later in the night, made the save before any further damage could be done. For the time being the match appeared to be called off, but Lashley would not go down so easily.
While Lashley was being tended to by medical officials, and they tried to tell him that there was no way he could go on with the match. Lashley, however, had other plans. He implored the medical officials to tape up his knee, because come hell or high water, he was going to go one on one against King Booker.
Lashley got his wish, but for a while it looked as though he made the wrong decision. King Booker methodically worked over Lashley’s injured knee. By taking out one of Lashley’s legs, King Booker was seemingly able to cut down on his foe’s immense power. But Lashley kept courageously fighting back. A lesser man would have thrown in the towel and lived to fight another day, but there is no quit in the young Lashley. His perseverance paid off, and he somehow maintained the strength and power to catch King Booker in a thunderous powerslam for the huge victory. Lashley was somehow able to persevere, and in the end, the so-called peasant was the one who reigned supreme. After being on such a high as the new King, how will King Booker react to being defeated by Lashley?
There was also a brand new color commentator on SmackDown this week – none other than JBL. After losing a match to Rey Mysterio and being forced to retire just weeks ago, Mr. SmackDown was back, but this time behind the announce booth. From listening to the first two hours of JBL on commentary, one thing is certain. Sports-entertainment has never had a more controversial color commentator. JBL has never been afraid to speak his mind in interviews while he was an active Superstar, and he is carrying that same attitude and way of thinking into his new job as an announcer. And he didn’t waste much time before stirring the pot.
The first match of the night was a Champion vs. Champion match in which World Champion Rey Mysterio faced Cruiserweight Champion in a non-title match. Mysterio was fresh off the heels of an all-out hardcore war from One Night Stand against Sabu. The match was so extreme, that it had to be stopped after Sabu DDT’d Rey through a table and neither man could continue. Helms took advantage of Rey’s weakened state and came up with several near falls. But just as he has done time and time again over the past couple of hellacious months, Rey Mysterio endured the punishment and was able to come up with a big win. During the match, color commentator JBL voiced his displeasure for Mysterio and even threw his hat at him, as he was still very bitter over being forced into retirement by the World Champion. Perhaps JBL’s antagonistic presence at ringside helped motivate Mysterio in his match.
Mysterio’s good friend Chavo Guerrero was also on SmackDown this week, but unfortunately for him, he didn’t have nearly as good a night as Rey. A poll was conducted all week long on WWE.com asking fans if they would like to see Chavo come out of retirement. Nearly 350,000 fans responded, and the results were quite conclusive. About 80 % of the fans voted that they would like to see Chavo step back into the ring, but Guerrero stood pat on his decision to remain retired. Before Chavo could finish his interview, though, he was interrupted by the World’s Strongest Man Mark Henry. Henry said that it was a shame that he was retired, because he’s been having a good time lately knocking Superstars out of action. He’s already put Batista and Chris Benoit on the shelf, and he claimed that the World Champion has been ducking him. Then, even though Chavo is retired, Henry brutally attacked Guerrero. He laid him out with a pair of World’s Strongest Slams and viciously rammed his back against the steel ring post. Can anyone stop Mark Henry?
After being run off by Gunner Scott and Matt Hardy earlier in the night, Regal and Finlay had a chance to get back at the duo in tag team action. Scott and Hardy worked well together as a team, but the members of King Booker’s court were too much for them to handle. With the referee distracted, Finlay used his shillelagh to knock out Scott for the victory. It also didn’t help that Hardy and Scott had to contend with Finlay’s Little Bastard. Not only did Little Bastard get involved during the match, but after the bell rang, he went on a rampage like a rabid pitbull. Little Bastard even got so caught up in the moment that he attacked Regal. After doing his damage, Finlay grabbed Little Bastard and threw him back under the ring.
Plus, one week after being destroyed by The Great Khali, Super Crazy was set to team up with his partner Psicosis to try and get revenge in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match. Last week, after seeing how destructive Khali was, Psicosis retreated, leaving his partner laying in the ring. But this week he promised to have Super Crazy’s back. Unfortunately for Super Crazy, Psicosis is not a man of his word. Psicosis tried to combat Khali early on, but after seeing that they were no match for the monster, Psicosis again retreated, leaving Super Crazy to fend for himself. What does this mean for the future of The Mexicools? And how can the monstrous Khali ever be stopped?
The toughest man ever to wear a dress, Vito, was also in action and picked up an impressive victory. SmackDown also had some exclusive footage of Vito working out in a nearby gym. Although Vito is finally comfortable being himself and proudly wearing women’s clothing, it was clear that the people at the gym were not.
And Mr. Kennedy was back in action as well. Kennedy picked up a second-straight win since returning from an injury, looking like he hasn’t missed a beat while sitting on the sidelines.
Also, the SmackDown fans were almost treated to a Bikini Contest for a second straight week. After Michelle McCool refused to show off her A+ body to the crowd last week, Ashley caught up to the Diva backstage this week and challenged her to an impromptu Bikini Contest to be judged by the Trenton, NJ fans. McCool once again refused, and Ashley told her that instead of talking about teaching a class, she should go out and get some class instead. Is it just a matter of time before this war of words gets physical between the Divas?
And a video was shown of Sylvan, who is now an ambassador of Quebec, trying to convince the fans to visit the province of Canada.
Matches:
* World Champion Rey Mysterio def. Cruiserweight Champion Gregory Helms (non-title)
* Mr. Kennedy def. Nick Berk
* The Great Khali def. Mexicools (Handicap Match)
* Finlay & William Regal def. Matt Hardy & Gunner Scott
* Vito def. Scott Wright
* United States Champion Lashley def. King Booker