by James Caldwell, Assistant editor

WWE Smackdown Report
January 23, 2009
Taped Jan. 13 in Omaha, Neb.

Smackdown is on the DVR for a little throwback to Saturday morning wrestling with Superstars in syndication. Following are my ongoing thoughts on the pre-Rumble Smackdown show...

Ringside: Jim Ross and Tazz quietly, but not solemnly, discussed Jeff Hardy's condition and questioned whether he should even defend the WWE Title at the Rumble. Creating the "out" if he drops the title on Sunday.

In-ring: Edge is out for a promo. Claims he wasn't behind the incidents surrounding Jeff Hardy because he doesn't need it to beat Hardy, nor does he want that to be a built-in excuse. Nice promo, then Matt Hardy stormed the ring and attacked Edge, setting off a brawl through the crowd.

[Commercial Break]

Recap: MVP broke his losing steak with the help of Triple H to ensure Hunter's entry in the Royal Rumble. Apparently that's all we're getting to celebrate MVP's victory.

(1) U.S. champion SHELTON BENJAMIN vs. THE UNDERTAKER. Looking forward to watching this based on Greg Parks's report, although I'm not a big fan of throwing out Taker matches on free TV without build-up. He needs the Shawn Michaels treatment of having his free TV matches treated like a huge deal to increase his PPV drawing power for the last stage of his career.

Shelton had a great counter at 8:00, taking Taker out of the chokeslam into a leaping DDT for a nearfall. Ross with a nice piece of commentary that he thought Shelton scored a three count based on the position of the ref's hand. Shelton then got caught on Taker, who locked in the Devil's Gate triangle choke out of nowhere for the tap-out victory. WINNER: Taker in 11:00. Very nice match. Shelton looked good in defeat to Taker with several close nearfalls. (**1/2)

[Commercial Break]

Umaga returns to Smackdown. ... Chavo Guerrero was in the ring for a promo. He hears it. All that stuff Triple H is saying about him being a gopher. But, he's a go-getter because he gets the job done. Out comes Khali to interrupt.

(2) GREAT KHALI beat CHAVO GUERRERO in 2:00. Khali has that "Ultimate Warrior" babyface vibe that fans react when he comes out (not to the level of Warrior), but then the match starts and people lose interest. Khali with the chokebomb for the pin and the win. Effectively built up Khali as a threat in the Rumble (like Taker) and showed that Chavo is a fool working for aunt Vickie if she's going to book him in an obvious squash. (n/a)

Backstage: Edge and Vickie expressed their marital concerns for each other. He asked Vickie if she really thinks he has something to do with Jeff's accidents. She said all she knows is he needs to man up tonight.

[Commercial Break]

(3) NIKKI & BRIE BELLA no-contest MICHELLE McCOOL & NATALYA in 2:00. New divas champion Maryse was out on commentary, making her first TV appearance since the house show injury in December. Couldn't understand half of what she said, but that wasn't the point based on the outfit. Suddenly, Maria stormed the ring to jump McCool, causing the match to be thrown out. Michelle eventually got the best of Maria and kneed her into the guardrail. More focus on Michelle, but disappointing use of Natalya.

[Commercial Break]

Ross and Hardy sit-down interview: Nice forum for Hardy to talk without the pressure of cutting a promo in front of the live audience. Hardy accepted a few questions from Ross, then turned to the camera to cut a direct promo to Edge. He reps the misfits and losers, living in his personal world of making mistakes. No guarantee of victory on Sunday. Just creating a second "out" if he drops the belt on Sunday.

[Commercial Break]

Koslov training video: They showed Koslov in a fast-paced training video. Koslov had a voice-over describing his sambo style of fighting, then demanded better competition. Nice package.

(3) MATT HARDY vs. EDGE -- No DQ. Weapons entered play at 3:00, bringing up an "E-C-dub" chant from three people near an arena mic. Crowd was hot for the vile exchange, which included a trashcan lid shot to the head. Why the continued use of weapon shots to the head in 2009? Crowd was hot for the brawl, which was interrupted by Mark Henry at 6:00. Hardy fought him off, hit the Twist on Edge, but ECW champ Jack Swagger interrupted and gutwrench powerbombed Hardy. Good to see Swagger in a position of strength on Smackdown this week. Edge with the spear on a lifeless Hardy for the win. WINNER: Edge in 7:00. Nice brawl to set up Edge vs. Jeff and Swagger vs. Matt at the Rumble. Putting those four together would be a heck of a tag match coming out of the Rumble, by the way. (**)

"The Wrestler" feature: After the match, Ross sent it to a video package on "The Wrestler," which was very surprising. Aronofsky and Rourke were shown talking about the movie. Very quick video package without the WWE wrestler comments currently on .com.

[Commercial Break]

(4) World tag team champions THE MIZ & JOHN MORRISON vs. WWE tag team champions CARLITO & PRIMO COLON. Tazz talked up his WWE debut at the 2000 Royal Rumble. No mention that Tazz beat Kurt Angle. Good, fast-paced action here. Morrison and Carlito exchanged great nearfalls with counters of roll-ups, then Morrison gave Carlito then high knee to the jaw. Miz made a blind tag and Carlito didn't see it when he gave Mo the backstabber. Miz then rolled up Carlito from behind for the win. WINNERS: Miz & Morrison in 12:00. Good second-half to the tag match. Primo doesn't jump off the screen like M&M, but he's effective in his secondary role to Carlito. Nice match. Much better undercard on Smackdown this week compared to recent shows. (**)

[Commercial Break]

Houston promo: Todd Grisham with another plug specific for the Houston market promoting the Hall of Fame tickets being on sale with Steve Austin as the headline recipient. Also, limited tickets available for WrestleMania 25. And the Axxess deal in the Reliant Stadium parking lot. Grisham brought in Tony Atlas to plug WrestleMania. Atlas purposely stuttered through a promo talking up Axxess.

Mark Henry interrupted to ask Atlas what he's doing making a fool of himself. Apparently Atlas's deal is that he's taken one too many blows to the head. Henry talked himself up, then intimidated Grisham. "Why would you want to be Tony Atlas? Tony Atlas don't even have his own music. The only way Tony Atlas is going to WrestleMania Axxess is if he's carrying his bags." He sent Atlas off to get something out of his car, then Henry brushed off a handshake from Grisham. Grisham wrapped up the promo, which replaced the Raw Rebound with "shocking footage" of McMahon taking the boot from Orton.

[Commercial Break]

(5) TRIPLE H vs. KOSLOV. Koslov's unbeaten record is on the line here. Two minutes into the deal, Vickie excused herself on stage to change things up. Someone is missing from the match. Now, it's a handicap match with Big Show as the other opponent. Apparently Vickie wasn't in the mood to watch another slow-down-drag-out between Hunter and Koslov from Survivor Series.

[Commercial Break]

(5b) TRIPLE H vs. KOSLOV & BIG SHOW. Hunter was on the defensive early on in this one. Koslov lost control for the heels, and Hunter gave him a spinebuster before Show KO'ed Hunter to block a Pedigree. Koslov then scooped up Hunter and gave him a modified Rock Bottom for the pin and the win. WINNERS: Koslov & Show in 7:00. Afterward, Vickie was very pleased with herself and clapped it up. Soft sell going into the Rumble without much excitement to close the show. Excitement is more important than "babyface in jeopardy" to sell the Rumble PPV, so I disagree with the tone to close the show.

We welcome your 0-10 score and comments on this show for a "Smackdown Reax" feature in the Torch Feedback section of PWTorch.com. To contribute your thoughts on Smackdown, email to pwtorch@gmail.com

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