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WWE Smackdown- Apr. 25, 2008
by Sassy

The audience sees a video of The Rated R Superstar Edge losing his WWE World Heavyweight Championship to The Undertaker and the matches Undertaker has had to endure due to Edge’s loss.

Smackdown is broadcast on the CW Network

Ringside announcers: Michael Cole and Jonathan Coachman

Ring announcer: Justin Roberts

Edge, Theodore Long, Vickie Guerrero, Chavo Guerrero, Bam Neely, Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder are in the ring. Edge and Vickie are greeted with chants of “you suck” and I agree with the live audience. Vickie Guerrero informs the audience that the WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match scheduled for tonight with The Undertaker defending his title against The Animal Batista is now a No Disqualification Match. Edge then informs everyone that this Sunday at Backlash, Edge will win the title no matter who wins the match tonight and that Chavo Guerrero will win the WWE ECW Championship. CM Punk Mr. MITB, who appears at the top of the entrance ramp, briefcase and mic in hand, interrupts Edge’s speech. Edge tells Punk he got a tough break at King of the Ring match when he lost to William Regal. Punk says that he has a briefcase and they can call him Money in the Bank. Edge asks Punk if he thinks that briefcase is his ticket to the top and Punk says that he thought that was a much better way than, say, sleeping with the boss. Edge says he doesn’t understand that Punk says that that’s gross and he doesn’t even want to understand. Punk says he is there to let everyone know that he has the MITB match to turn in and it could be anytime, either this Sunday at Backlash or it could even be tonight. Edge tells Punk that he’d better think twice before he turns the briefcase in for a match against Edge but Punk says he wasn’t thinking about Edge, he was thinking about Batista and The Undertaker because both of them can beat Edge. Punk says that he could be Edge, too. Edge threatens Punk with a match tonight and Punk says that’s a good idea. Vickie Guerrero takes the mic and says that Punk will face Edge in a match tonight.

The Miz from Cleveland, OH, weighing 231 lbs.
One half of the WWE Tag Team Champions
Accompanied by John Morrison, the other half of the WWE Tag Team Champions
Vs.
Shannon Moore from NC, weighing 204 lbs.
Accompanied by Jimmy Wang Yang
 Morrison seats himself at the announcer’s table to do color commentary which usually means the audience at home will miss a lot of the in ring action because the camera will keep going back to Morrison seated at the announcer’s table. The bell rings and Miz takes a moment to show off for the audience before taking Moore down in a side headlock. Moore back to his feet but Miz delivers a kick. Moore takes Miz down with an arm drag, Miz back to his feet and he has Moore against the ropes. Moore takes Miz down with two arm drags and then flips him over to the mat and goes for the cover. Moore gets a two count. Miz runs into Moore’s boots but manages to grab Moore by the hair and pull him off the second rope. Miz goes for the cover but doesn’t get the three count. Miz tries for a submission hold and outside the ring, Yang is pounding on the mat to get the fans involved. Moore goes for a small package and gets a two count. Miz delivers a clothesline then delivers a series of fists to Moore’s head before the referee makes him stop. Miz takes Moore down to the mat and again goes for the pin. Miz gets a two count. Moore takes Miz down with a back body drop. Miz charges with a boot, Moore gets out of the way and Miz gets caught on the ropes. Miz body slams Moore to the canvas and goes for the cover but only gets a two count. Miz comes off the ropes, Moore catches him with a backslide and gets the win. Time: 5 minutes

Winner: Shannon Moore with a backslide

After the match, Morrison leaves the announcer’s table and is in the ring yelling at Miz because of his loss while Moore and Yang celebrate on the entrance ramp. In my opinion, Moore is a greater talent than Miz in the ring. Moore and Yang deserve to hold the WWE tag team titles.

Cole introduces a video of the Presidential candidates that made announcements on Monday Night Raw. While I have no objection to the candidates speaking on WWE but I was a little unhappy that it seemed to push the King of the Ring tournament into the back seat.

Cherry from the Other Side of the Tracks
With Michelle McCool
Vs.
Natalya Neidhart from Calgary, Alberta, Canada
With Victoria
I have to admit that Cherry has the build to be a good wrestler, however, what I have seen thus far has not impressed me. I do hope that at some point Natalya will be able to show WWE fans how much wrestling talent she has but when it comes to WWE’s “divas”, I never get overly excited about any of their matches. Natalya begins the match with wrestling moves and even though Cherry is working as a scared newbie, Natalya’s moves are impressive. Natalya goes for a cover but only gets a one count. Natalya certainly works with some mean expressions in the ring. Natalya switches to slaps to the face but Cherry comes back with a blow that drops Natalya. The referee has to get in the middle to back Cherry off of Natalya. Natalya goes after Cherry’s left leg and uses the ropes to continue to work on the legs. Victoria works her way around the side of the ring to help out if she gets a chance. Cherry goes for a roll up and goes for the pin but she can’t get the three count. Again Cherry goes for a cover and gets a two count. Natalya goes for a sharpshooter and Cherry taps out. Time: 5 minutes

Winner: Natalya Neidhart with a sharpshooter

Natalya does know wrestling moves. Between Natalya and Victoria perhaps WWE will follow a concept of women’s wrestling versus Playboy divas.

The audience sees a video of the feud between Big Show and The Great Khali. They will face each other in a one on one match at Backlash.

The audience sees a video of the feud between Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels and The Animal Batista. They will face each other one on one at Backlash with Special Guest Referee Y2J Chris Jericho who seems to have issues with both Michaels and Batista. Cole is in the ring and he informs the audience that this Sunday at Backlash, M.V.P defends his WWE United States Championship against Matt Hardy, who Cole invites to the ring as his guest. Hardy enters the arena to a very loud pop from the live audience. The audience delivers a few “Hardy” chants. Cole introduces a video of the injury that Hardy suffered at the hands of MVP. (In reality, the four months that Matt Hardy was out was due to an attack of appendicitis, which put Hardy in the hospital.) Cole says everybody wants to know if the Hardy’s knee is one hundred percent. Hardy says that he is a hundred percent and that Hardy is the biggest threat MVP has ever had. MVP’s entrance music begins and MVP appears at the top of the ramp and heads to the ring. MVP walks around Hardy and take Cole’s mic and tells Cole to leave the ring. MVP asks Hardy why he has to distort the truth. Hardy says that he isn’t distorting the truth. The two men have an argument about who is wrong and who is right and MVP keeps bringing up the fact that it is because of MVP that Hardy was an 8 time WWE tag team champion. MVP tells Hardy that he is jealous of MVP. The fans begin to chant “Hardy” while MVP is talking. MVP says he sees jealousy in Hardy’s eyes but Hardy says that it isn’t jealousy in his eyes, it is confidence and at Backlash Hardy will prove once and for all that he is better than MVP. MVP says that he was hoping that they could become friends and get past this. MVP takes off his title belt and tells Hardy that this Sunday at Backlash Hardy will have his opportunity to become United States Champion and then MVP kicks Hardy in his bad knee and then attacks Hardy with the title belt. Hardy is down on the mat and MVP exits the ring.

CM Punk is backstage heading toward the ring.

Rated R Superstar Edge from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, weighing 250 lbs.
Vs.
CM Punk from Chicago, IL
Mr. MITB
Shall we guess how many ways Edge or his cronies will cheat during the match? Edge came to the ring alone, minus Hawkins & Ryder, which makes me wonder what Edge has up his sleeve. The bell rings and the two wrestlers lock up in the center of the ring. Punk backs Edge up in to the corner and the ref gets in the middle and makes him break clean. Edge comes out with a shove to Punk and Punk shoves back, sending Edge to them mat. Edge back to his feet and he applies a wristlock to Punk who reverses it. Edge takes Punk down to the mat but again Punk reverses it and has Edge’s shoulders down. Punk gets a one count before Edge gets a shoulder off the mat. Punk goes to work on Edge’s left arm and shoulder, using knee drops to add extra pressure. Edge is back to his feet but Punk again goes to work on Edge’s shoulder. Edge backs Punk up into the corner and delivers an elbow before moving. Punk comes off the ropes and receives a knee to the midsection. Edge delivers a kick to the side and a knee to the back. Edge has Punk in the corner and the ref has to make him break. Punk comes off the ropes and delivers a roll up. Punk gets a two count. Punk goes back to work on Edge’s shoulder with Edge down on the mat. Punk releases his hold and delivers kicks and boots to the shoulder before going for a cover. Punk gets a two count. Again Punk goes to work on the shoulder and arm of Edge but Edge gets back to his feet, picks up Punk and drops him to the mat. Punk doesn’t release his hold on Edge’s arm. Punk comes off the ropes and delivers a kick to Edge’s midsection and goes up to the top rope but Edge is back to his feet and he climbs up to the second rope. Punk fights back, Edge falls off the top turnbuckle and back into the ring but Punk falls off the top turnbuckle out on the floor and we go to COMMERCIAL BREAK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MATCH! Back in the ring, Edge goes for a cover and gets a two count. Edge has Punk in a leg scissors. During the commercial break, Edge delivered a baseball side to Punk out on the floor. Punk’s shoulders are down and the ref counts but Punk gets a shoulder up before the two count. Punk is trying to get to the ropes but he is in the center of the ring. Punk gets turned around and he catapults Edge into the top turnbuckle. As Punk goes for the high knee, Edge gets out of the way and Punk nails the ring post. Edge goes for a cover and gets a two count. Punk comes off the ropes and the two men meet with a double cross body block in the center of the ring. Both men are down but they both come back up swinging. Punk nails Edge with several kicks and sends Edge into the ropes, delivering a high kick. He goes for a cover but cant’ get three count. Punk goes for the GTS but Edge counters with a roll up, Punk kicks out. Punk delivers a high knee in the corner, nails Edge with the bulldog, goes for the cover and gets an almost three count. Punk goes for another kick but Edge manages to slam Punk down back first to the mat. Edge goes for the cover and Punk kicks out. This is one heck of a match. Edge charges at Punk, Punk moves out of the way and Edge nails the corner post. Punk comes off the top rope and goes for the cover. Punk gets a two count. Punk tries for the GTS but Edge counters and goes for the cover. Punk kicks out at the count of two. Edge backs up and waits for Punk to get back to his feet. Edge goes for the spear but Punk delivers the GTS and Edge rolls out of the ring. Punk goes out of the ring to get Edge back in the ring. Punk rolls Edge back in and as he comes up on the apron, Edge is on his feet. Ryder comes running up being Punk, Punk stops to back Ryder up and goes back into the ring. Edge delivers a spear, goes for the cover and gets the three count. Time:13 minutes.

Winner: Edge with a spear

You may not have liked the way this match ended but both of these wrestlers put on a great show for their fans. I have liked CM Punk in the ring since he showed up but Edge had been iffy lately. Even winning the match with a little help from one of his pals didn’t take away what Edge accomplished in the ring.

Vladimir Kozlov from Russia, weighing 300 lbs.
Vs.
Marty Garner, from Greensboro, NC, weighing 192 lbs.
Kozlov has been repeating squash matches for weeks on Smackdown. I was hoping that perhaps WWE had decided to allow him to have a match against one of the Smackdown wrestlers but not only is that not going to happen, Kozlov again is in the ring with someone much smaller than he is. The bell rings and Kozlov immediately sends Garner to the mat, picks him up and again takes him down with a side headlock. Garner gets back to his feet but Kozlov backs Garner into the ropes. Garner comes off the ropes but Kozlov nails him with a head butt to the abdomen. Kozlov delivers a boot and than slams Garner to the mat, a kick to the chest. Kozlov picks up Garner, takes him down with an inverted neck breaker, goes for the cover and gets the win. Time: 2 minutes

Winner: Vladimir Kozlov with an inverted neck breaker

Coach and Cole introduce a video of The Undertaker and the new submission hold he has been using.

The official theme song for Backlash is “All Summer Long” by Kid Rock. Cole and Coach recap the matches that will be held at this Sunday’s Backlash:

Coach reminds the audience that if Batista wins tonight, he will not be facing Michaels at Backlash, he will be facing Edge to defend the WWE title.

Batista is backstage with Vickie to thank her for giving him the opportunity to win back his title belt tonight from The Undertaker. Batista says that he is on to her and knows that she is hoping Batista and Undertaker will tear each other apart before Backlash on Sunday but that he will then beat the hell out of Edge at Backlash.

The audience sees a recap of the farce match of Hillary Clinton with Bill Clinton versus Barack Obama from Monday night Raw. Umaga was kind enough to come out and clear the ring for the fans.

WWE World Heavyweight Championship Title Match
The Animal Batista from Washington, DC, weighing 290 lbs.
Challenger
Vs.
The Undertaker from Death Valley, weighing 299 lbs.
Champion
The Undertaker has been very active in the ring since his title win at Wrestlemania XXIV. I’m not complaining by any means. I enjoy seeing Undertaker in the ring although they could shorten that entrance thing. I’m sure that diehard Undertaker fans would complain about the removal of the long entrance that The Undertaker has made famous.

The bell rings and Undertaker begins with a side headlock. Undertaker comes off the ropes to take Batista down with a shoulder block. Batista has Undertaker in a headlock. Batista comes off the ropes and takes Undertaker down with a shoulder block. Batista goes for a leg but Undertaker gets out of the way. Undertaker applies a wristlock. Batista backs Undertaker into the corner. Batista doesn’t break clean instead going after Undertaker with fists. Undertaker retaliates and again has Batista in a wristlock. Undertaker goes for a cover but only gets a one count. Undertaker goes to work on Batista’s left arm and shoulder, Batista comes out of the corner and nails Undertaker with a spear and goes for a cover, but Undertaker switches around and goes for his submission move, Batista makes a hasty retreat and rolls out of the ring and onto the floor and we go to COMMERCIAL BREAK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MAIN EVENT!

Back to the action, Undertaker sends Batista into the steel steps, shoulder first. Undertaker has Batista up on the ring apron and delivers a kick to Batista’s head. Undertaker delivers a leg drop and Batista goes down to the floor. Undertaker rolls Batista back in the ring, goes for a pin and gets a two count before Batista kicks out. Undertaker goes old school but Batista trips Undertaker on the top turnbuckle and then climbs up to the second rope. Undertaker fights back and sends Batista back to the mat. Undertaker, still sitting on the top turnbuckle, delivers a boot to Batista’s face when Batista charges and then Undertaker goes old school. Undertaker comes off the ropes and Batista delivers a Batista bomb, goes for the cover and gets the two count before Undertaker kicks out. Batista goes for a Batista bomb again but Undertaker delivers a back body drop and Batista is down on the canvas. Undertaker tries for a choke slam but Batista counters it. Batista delivers a power slam and goes for the cover but only gets a two count. Batista charges Undertaker and Undertaker delivers a boot then nails Batista with a choke slam. Undertaker goes for the cover and gets a two count before Batista gets a shoulder off the mat. Undertaker gives his it’s finished sign but Batista delivers a spear and goes for the cover. Batista gets a two count. Batista goes after Undertaker with fists to the skull and the audience counts along with Batista. Undertaker picks Batista up and delivers the last ride, goes for the cover and again undertaker gets a two count. Undertaker goes out of the ring and grabs the steel steps, sliding them into the ring, then climbs back in. Undertaker picks up Batista and picks him up, Batista counters and delivers a spine buster to Undertaker on the steel steps. Both men are now down on the mat. Batista gets to Undertaker and picks him up to set him up for the Batista bomb but Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels enters the ring and delivers a super kick that drops Batista. Michaels leaves the ring as Undertaker is trying to get back to his feet. Michaels goes over the guardrail and through the audience as Undertaker picks up Batista to deliver the Tombstone pile driver. Undertaker pins and gets the three count. Time: 10 minutes.

Winner & Still WWE World Heavyweight Champion: The Undertaker

I was surprised Michaels was the one who showed up to put a stop to Batista winning the WWE title, otherwise it was a decent match for the time allotted. The look of surprise on the ref’s face when Michaels nailed Batista was priceless.

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