"WWE Friday Night SmackDown" Talkback (Spoilers)

[The Penguin]

The epic battle between Ken Kennedy and Finlay & Hornswoggle has been changed by Theodore Long. As all three brands get ready for Backlash, we have a blockbuster tag match and No Way Out rematch for the WWE Tag Team Championship.

Eyes on the prize
April 13, 2007

SmackDown’s General Manager Theodore Long has changed Friday’s main event.

No longer will Finlay & Hornswoggle team up in a Handicap Match against Mr. Kennedy. Instead, Finlay and Kennedy will team together to face the team of World Heavyweight Champion Undertaker and his partner, former World Champion – Batista.

Tune in Friday night to The CW Network at 8/7 CT to see how this main event change will affect SmackDown.

The WWE Tag Team Championships will also be on the line when Paul London & Brian Kendrick put their titles up for grabs against Deuce & Domino. Can London & Kendrick continue their historical run as the WWE Tag Team Champions, or will Deuce & Domino dethrone the champions to claim their first taste of WWE gold?

Also, General Manager Theodore Long will kick off SmackDown with a huge announcement regarding the tri-branded pay-per-view Backlash. What will Long have in store for the Superstars of SmackDown?

[SirLemming]

"A HA HA HA HA HA! A HA HA HA HA HA!"

This just in: Ashley will soon retire to start her acting career. Lord knows she hasn't started it yet.

[VCXZX]

That was some of the worst acting I ever saw with Ashley laughing instead of crying. Though from what I heard in the rumor mill, Ashley had no problems crying after her mania match with Melina.

[Djm912]

Another good MVP/Benoit match. I'm turning into a fan of MVP as each week passes, and of course, Benoit is God.

[SirLemming]

That really was a stellar match between MVP and Benoit. London/Kendrick vs. the Dominos was excellent as well, and for some reason I like how the DQ was implemented.

[VCXZX]

I'm relieved they're not having Taker and Batista pin the tag champs. I don't want both shows to have their stars be the tag-champs (In raw's case up till last week) and the titles be barely defended./ Although I rather have them be champs before Deuce and domino which seems to be the new plan.

overall, a decent smackdown I guess.

[The Penguin]

I hate when WWE.com wrecks events on SmackDown! in the name of a better preview for the episode. I was looking forward to Kennedy vs. Finlay & Hornswoggle and then I didn’t even get to be surprised it wasn’t taking place. I was just waiting for the match to somehow not happen.

So Jillian attacked Ashley because of what happened last week with Timbaland? Somebody tell me if I should care, but I don’t think I do.

Kudos to Mickey Henson for being a hard ass! Great seeing a referee stick up for themselves and the rules. It sucks to see a great match end in a DQ, but I liked how it came about. Plus this keeps the belts on London & Kendrick without ruining the boys from ‘the wrong side of the tracks.’ I liked how even JBL was on the side of the referee.

So I just came up with something else not to like about Teddy Long and Kristal. He’s setting up dates and flirting with her when he is supposed to be executing his duties as the General Manager of the SmackDown! brand of World Wrestling Entertainment. Where’s Carlito’s petition, now I’m tempted to sign it.

He shoots, he scores! By hook or by crook, Montel Vontavious Porter will forever be the winner of this week’s excellent match with Benoit. Early on though I don’t think MVP’s performance suit protected him much against those chops from Chris Benoit.

I’m not sure what Daivari and to whom to find himself getting beat up by Kane again, but at least he was back on SmackDown! Regal and Taylor are surprising not giving up.

Beware of Mark Henry, SmackDown! Hopefully The World’s Strongest Man can stay healthy, because there is a lot of potential in him if he does.

Well there were a little too many mind games and a little too much posturing in the main event for my tastes. The part where Batista and Undertaker were playing “can you top this” and “I’m in the match now” made the match drag so much I could hardly take it. These two don’t like each other, but they don’t hate each other either—it’s tiresome.

[Ahiru-kun]

Kennedy seems not long away from a face turn.

What happen with the WWE's plan to have Ashley be their top Diva? And when did Michelle become a face?

MVP/Benoit was the equivalent of Raw's Orton/Michaels match.

It was strange that there was no pre-match promo by Batista or Taker.

Not very spectacular week for the WWE.

[Supernovametalstar]

Dang. I missed the good part of the show (Benoit/MVP and the tag match) and only got to see the bad part. That main event did drag on way too long. And what's with the WWE doing the bait and switch on both shows now? On Raw it was the hair vs title match (Shane lost via DQ, so he should be bald now) and now the main event tonight. Considering how big of a pop Hornswaggle gets, I'm betting there were people that wanted to see him and his antics tonight.

[Hyper Shadow X]

The MVP vs Benoit match was good.

[Jin Kazama]

I love how the Raw Rebound was nothing but ECW. Expecially since they announced a WWE Title match on the same show.

I'm still not quite sure if MVP is getting better of if Benoit is just that good. Because I'm starting to think both may be true. And I hate MVP.

[hobbyfan]

Last week, the fans popped when they heard Finlay's name mentioned as a partner for Hornswoggle vs. Kennedy. Kennedy then gets a chant as he comes out, but mans up to keep his heel heat and calls off the fight with the Irish. Hindsight being what it is, maybe Kennedy was better off if he did fight Finlay.....!

Add Ashley to the DL. Ankle injury. And, yes, Michelle McCool is suddenly a babyface again. Looked like she went back to her 2005 look. They do need another female face anyway. Michelle & Kristal were on the heel side of a women's tag two weeks ago, but now at least Michelle is a pure face for the duration. Kristal is a tweener, I think.

Two weeks, two Smackdown stars are on the DL. Yesterday being Friday the 13th has nothing to do with it.

Can someone explain why Daivari had his head shaved? Did Vince cut his hair off-camera?

Not that it matters, since Daivari was fed to Kane---again---while the cruiser title isn't being defended. Where was Chavo, anyway?

I think we're seeing the maturation of MVP right before our very eyes. It'd have been better if MVP won clean instead of taking a cheap-ass shortcut that ruined the match of the night. Tag title match came a close second. Nice way to explain the rationale behind the DQ. I guess Mickey Henson is now senior ref since Nick Patrick hasn't been seen in weeks (down at Deep South; no explanation for why he hasn't been on TV).

Please tell me Teddy is NOT planning to propose to Kristal next week in Milan.

I guess someone doesn't want Batista going full heel. Meanwhile, I think we'll see the Brothers of Destruction vs. Regal & Taylor next week.

[EinBebop]

London and Kendrick are about nine or ten days away from becoming the THIRD longest reigning tag champs in WWE history, beating Toru Tanaka and Mr. Fuji (337 days). Meaning they just need to survive Smackdown this Thursday. How cool would it be if Fuji were to manage some team this Friday to try to protect his record?

In case anyone is wondering, the top two are the Valiants (370 days) and Demolition (478 days).

[Supernovametalstar]

Add Ashley to the DL. Ankle injury.

I'm not surprised. Really, what purpose does she serve? I'm not trying to be overly mean (since she seems like a good kid), but if she can't wrestle, and her playboy stint is done, and she doesn't really add anything to the tag team of London and Kendrick like a Melina does, then what use do they have for her? I fear she may be "wished well" soon.

I guess someone doesn't want Batista going full heel. Meanwhile, I think we'll see the Brothers of Destruction vs. Regal & Taylor next week.

JBL made a comment either last week or this week that Regal and Taylor love to fight. Cue Finlay. I would love to see Regal and Taylor in a backstage segment recruit Finlay to take on Kane. The three of them are beating him down, when Undertaker shows up. After that, Kennedy does something to screw both Finlay (since he's involved with him currently) and Taker (the inevitable match).

[EinBebop]

...if she can't wrestle, and her playboy stint is done... I fear she may be "wished well" soon.

Hencefoth we shall refer to it as "being Hemme'd".

[Frank Castle]

I'm pulling a Terry Funk and coming back to the board! Yes my retirement lasted as long as Amy Zidan's whole wrestling career!

As far as Smackdown goes, I really liked the undercard and hated the main event. Batista is about as charismatic as Joel Gertner when he's run out of dirty rhymes. I'm in favor for just making Londrick tag champs for the rest of their careers, these guys are just way too talented to not be the champs and after almost a year of them having the belts, that's really saying something. I too was disappointed at the lack of Little Bastard this week.