Smackdown Review 11-21-08

Go home show for Survivor Series!

R-Truth and Matt Hardy v. Shelton Benjamin and Mark Henry. Why is Matt still working when he's hurt as badly as he is? Anybody else from his team could have filled this slot. Shelton and Truth in a slugfest to start, which Truth wins, then takes Benjamin down with an elbow. Hardy in, and a double elbow gets one on the U.S. champ. Hardy and Truth work the arm, but Shelton fights up and gets a heavily edited possibly double-sledge on Truth to take over. It gets two, and Shelton hits the chinlock. Truth nails him in the abdomen with some elbows, then a dropkick leads to the two count. Hardy back in, Benjamin gets tossed, and we go to break.

Back in with Matt still working the arm. Benjamin fights back, but it gets nowhere as Hardy nails him with some more elbows. Matt calls for the Twist of Fate, but gets pushed off into Henry's waiting fist, and Shelton gets two off of that. Matt having a bad knee really shows, as he's totally changed his style, and not for the better. Henry in, and the big man offense begins. Matt with some weak punches to the gut leads to a headbutt and throat stomp by Henry, and Benjamin is back in. Right hand by Shelton into a modified Camel Clutch gets him two, and Henry tags back in. Punch/kick/stomp/bodyslam leads to another two count. Matt ducks a clothesline and Jesus god, we get a bearhug. It doesn't last long, though, as Henry dumps Matt back-first into the turnbuckle. He tries it again, but Hardy goes for a sunset flip, leading to the "big man tries to squash the little guy, but little guy gets out of the way" spot. Benjamin and Truth tag in, and R-Truth is A HOUSE AFIRE! Breakdance dodge, spin kick, and flapjack DDT leads to a pin attempt, which Henry breaks up. Truth dances a little too much and falls victim to a Samoan drop. Henry tries to get in for some reason, so Matt retaliates with a baseball slide to the knees that knocks Henry off the apron. Splash by Matt onto Henry from the outside, while Benjamin misses a Real Estate Steve splash, R-Truth hits the corkscrew elbow, and an ax kick ends this with three. Hammered home Survivor Series, but with Matt being injured and Henry being Henry, this gets *3/4.

Same Cena package we got on Raw.

HHH is backstage with Eve Torres. HHH is channeling DX Hunter, doing a goofy bit about Eves' breasts, when he's really talking about her pearl necklace. DROLL. Anyway, Jeff Hardy and Vladimir Koslov think they're the best, but he knows he's the best. Speak of the devil, Ivan Drago himself joins us for no point, really. HHH makes another "funny" and we're off...

...to even MORE bad comedy, as it's a sketch between Maria and Festus! Festus is a great listener, apparently. Luckily for me, Miz and Morrison show up to save the segment, playing every jock douchebag you ever knew in high school. Good stuff.

The Miz and John Morrison v. Jesse and Festus. I get the feeling Jesse is going to have a very Owen Hart-esque career. He's good and works hard, but won't be appreciated for his abilities. Let's hope he gets a different end to his career, as well. Bell rings and Festus goes nuts. Morrison attacks from behind and gets a boot, but Festus responds with an Appalachian uppercut. Punches in the corner, and Jesse is in. Clothesline misses, and Morrison knocks Jesse down with a springboard spin kick. Miz is in with a clothesline in the corner and an elbow to the back of the head. Chinlock city, but a suplex is deflected and Festus gets the tag. Butt splash in the corner and flying shoulderblock knock Miz down, and Morrison gets a punch on the apron just because. Bicycle kick on Miz, but Morrison rings the bell and Festus of course goes limp. Jesse gets tossed by Miz, and the Reality Check on the comatose Festus ends this. Good storytelling, mediocre wrestling. Call it *1/2. Jesse gets the Moonlight Drive as a bonus, and WWE's best tag team take the ring bell with them as future insurance. For some reason, they ring it once more, Festus gets crazy again, and chases them to the back.

Jeff Hardy v. Triple H. If Hardy wins, he gets added to the title match at Survivor Series. Crazy Evil Dark Jeff feigns a handshake, and turns it into kicks and punches in the corner. Irish whip into a hurricanrana, and HHH bails. Jeff hits a flying clothesline on the outside and tosses HHH back in, who runs the ropes but gets caught in a double-leg takedown and groin legdrop by Jeff. Sitting dropkick leads to two. I like Jeff's psychology here. Pendulum legrop in the corner misses, but a Pedigree attempt by HHH gets turned into a slingshot to the post and a Russian legsweep. HHH dodges a flying bodypress, and Jeff falls to the outside as we go to break.

We're back with HHH in control. A couple of corner whips get two for HHH, as does a backbreaker. Jeff fights back, but gets nailed with a lariat for another two. Abdominal stretch time, as Jeff again fights out, but puts his head down for the high knee and another two count. Jawbreaker counter by Jeff, and both guys are down. HHH gets the spinebuster, and the fans boo! Pedigree is countered by a backdrop, and Jeff tags HHH with a version of the Whisper in the Wind. He hits another one for a count of two. Punches for HHH, and a neckbreaker gets another two. The crowd is in favor of Hardy, but he's not getting the pop for his comeback I would have thought I'd hear. Of course, this has been edited, so what am I really hearing? Anyway, another two for Jeff, as he gets frustrated and tosses HHH. Jeff follows him out, and slams his head on the announce table. Jeff back in the ring with a legdrop, and again gets two. Twist of Fate doesn't connect, but a front facelock suplex does, and Jeff goes to the top. Swanton Bomb misses, and Vladimir joins us. HHH punches him off the apron, and Jeff lays him out with a tope. HHH tries to suplex Hardy back in, but Jeff turns it into a rollup and gets the three! ***1/4. Great match, especially for a TV match. Jeff and HHH shake, but both get taken out by Koslov. He works HHH's ribs in the corner and Jeff tries to fight him off, getting a fall away slam for his effort. HHH goes for a comeback, but a headbutt ends that pretty quickly. Great build for what hopefully won't be a stinker of a match.

Ezekiel Jackson and THE Brian Kendrick get hassled by some loser backstage, and deal with it appropriately. I love these guys.

The Colon Brothers v. THE Brian Kendrick and Ezekiel Jackson. This is non-title. Shane Helms joins us for his weekly douchebag comment, and I'm looking forward to his return. Primo and Kendrick to start, and Primo gets some punches in the corner. Primo has some choice words for Big Zeke and Kendrick takes advantage, but Primo fights back. I get a kick out of Primo's 70's babyface style, simply because no one else does it. Carlito comes in with some kicks in the corner, an elbow, and Kendrick tags in Big Zeke. A flurry of punches and a kick go poorly for Carlito, as Zeke just shoulderblocks him down. Big bodyslam and THE Brian Kendrick is back in with some brutal looking knees. Carlito with a knee of his own, and Primo is back in. He nails both heels, and Kendrick gets a flying elbow, a dropkick, and a monkey flip with extra monkeys. Irish whip leads to a badly botched flapjack, but they turn it into back suplex instead, which gets two until Zeke saves. That was pretty innovative. Zeke tosses Carlito, drags Kendrick to the corner, then legally tags him. Awesome. Uranage slam gets Zeke the pin to set up a future tag title shot. **. I could really get to like this tandem.

Kizarny is coming. Maybe his manager can be Kay Fabe.

MVP v. James Mason. MVP gives Mason a chance to leave in a nice little spot. MVP takes Mason down and rides him into a pinning sequence for a one count. Drive By kick is interrupted by Khali, and Mason gets the surprise roll up. DUD. This feud is stupid beyond words.

The Bella Twins v. Victoria and Natalya. Nikki Bella and Victoria start. Victoria wins a test of strength, and a standing wristlock sequence leads to some nice acrobatics by Nikki. Brie tags in to help execute a pointless double-team move (seriously, I have no idea what it was supposed to accomplish, much less how to call it), but whatever it was, it gets a two count. Victoria powers Brie into her corner and Natalya is in. Natalya drags Brie's throat across the rope, and they trade slaps, leading to a sunset flip pin attempt by Brie that gets one. Firewoman's carry and Nikki is back in for more pointless acrobatics before tagging Brie again. Brie runs the ropes, but gets kicked in the head by Victoria, pissed due to her credibility evaporating from having to carry the Bella twins. Nikki runs in and attacks Victoria, leading to the ref breaking it up and Natalya running Brie into Victoria's boot. Tag, and Victoria hits Arachnaphobia for two. Brie tags Nikki, who bumps Natalya and gives Victoria a couple of dropkicks, a monkey flip, and a corner clothesline. Victoria is able to hit the Widow's Peak, but Brie stops the count. The twins do the switch behind the ref's back, and get the pin to ends this. 3/4*. Still not as bad as the TNA women's tag match this week.

Time for the Undertaker show. Oh, joy. Usual Mark Calloway promo, although he sounds a little horse tonight. Taker is actually a little too attached to the giant casket, reminding me of Gollum and his Precious. Big Show interrupts before I fall asleep, accompanied by the Human Heat Magnet, Vicky Guerrero. Show's not scared, mister! He believes in the power of his fist. Taker than uses his magic powers to turn out the lights, and when they come back on, he's got Vicky by the throat! Into the casket for Vicky, as Chavo tries to save and gets slaughtered. While Taker works Chavo in the corner, Show rescues Vicky, so Taker tombstone's Chavo and he goes into the casket. And we're out.

Well, we got another great HHH-Jeff Hardy match, and the show built Survivor Series pretty well. The problem is I don't know if the matches they've built are worth while. We'll see on Sunday I suppose...