WWE Smackdown/Velocity taping
April 22, 2006
London, England at Wembley Arena
Report by John Bishop, PWTorch.com correspondent

VELOCITY

The show began with Tony Chimel coming out to the ring. There were big " Chimel" chants as he entered the ring as well as between the Velocity matches.

(1) Chris Benoit beat Vito by tap out: What a way to start the show! A tremendous, roof - shaking reaction greeted Chris Benoit as he arrived for the first match of the night with Vito. There were huge " Benoit" chants throughout the whole match, which was short but solid. Highlights included a top rope Vader Bomb from Vito and the triple Germans from Benoit. Diving Head butt and the Crossface ended Vito's night, causing the tap out.

(2) Matt Hardy beat Andy Simmons: Very quick win for Hardy over Burchill's  former FWA colleague, Simmons. Hardy won with the Twist of Fate.

(3) Paul Burchill defeated Nunzio: Burchill was spotted on the roof of the bus before his entrance, to a large cheer. Burchill was extremely popular and had a surprisingly competitive match with Nunzio. C4/Walk the plank made it two losses for the Italians, in a very bad night for the FBI.

(4) Orlando Jordan pinned Scotty 2 Hotty:  The crowd was a bit burnt out after the first three matches, but still gave Scotty a surprisingly decent reaction. There was a huge reaction for the worm, but Orlando dodged it, and executed a Famouser, for the one-two-three.

SMACKDOWN

Michael Cole and Tazz come out to Tazz's Cypress Hill theme and make their way over to the announce table.

Pyro went off for the beginning of the show. The graphics were shown for tonight's main event with Mysterio's image getting a huge pop.

JBL came out and cut a tremendous, anti- English pre-match promo, which generated the most crowd heat of the entire evening. The highlight was when Bradshaw mocked Tony Blair and received loud cheers from the crowd. William Regal then received a huge response when he arrived and castigated Bradshaw and Americans. He also called Tony Blair a "Muppet" for a cheap pop. Moments later, he attacked JBL and the match was on.

(1) JBL defeated William Regal: These two fought tooth and nail, in a back and forth match, with basic, but effective action. Regal got a great nearfall with an exploder suplex and nearly made JBL submit with a Regal stretch. JBL won after an eye gouge followed by a Clothesline from Hell.

Kristal interviewed a jovial Booker T and Sharmell about the King of the Ring and the title match tonight. Gunner Scott then crashed the party. Booker's mood soured, when Gunner reminded him of The Book's loss to him a few weeks ago. Gunner wanted a match, but Booker, claming to have a nasty chest infection, said he had an opponent lined up for Scott later on.

(2) London & Kendrick & Super Crazy defeated MNM &Gregory Helms: Good to see Gregory back, even though the crowd didn't seem to care. This was a rather short match live, but it may come across better on TV. The heels isolated Kendrick for most of the match and all six men brawled after the hot tag to London (who entered a spirited performance).There was a blown spring board amongst the chaos, which may be edited out later. Kendrick won with a cradle on Helms. Melina yelled at her men afterwards, but Joey and Johnny blamed Helms for their fourth loss in a row.

Backstage, a frustrated Melina scolded N & M, but they told her the loss didn't matter, because they were still the champs. Melina then took her anger out on a nearby Jillian Hall. Melina told her former " Fixer" that she could always be her new make up artist, since she was fired last week. Needless to say, a catfight soon broke out.


Next, Lashley, cut a basic, intense promo about his King of the Ring aspirations, saying tonight was the biggest match of his career. A good promo from Lashley, who showed some improvement on the mike since the last time he was allowed to talk. Wrestling needs more simpler, to the camera interviews like this.

In an interview, Rey Mysterio told Kristal that although he is the underdog, it will be a privilege to wrestle Angle tonight even if he loses. The men in the audience responded with some slight boos. I think they would have preferred trash talking over sportsmanship.

(3) Lashley beat Mark Henry by Count out (KOR): Lashley tried to knock Henry off his feet all match and eventually slammed him. He tried for the Dominator, but could not lift Henry's immense bulk. Henry charged and Lashley ducked, sending Henry flying to the outside. Henry was counted out and Bobby was declared the winner. Post match, Henry attacked " The Soft Spoken one" with an Avalanche against the ring post. I was dreading this match, but the crowd made it, with massive cheers for Lashley (and huge boos for Henry). A very traditional wrestling crowd tonight (until the main event).

(4) Finlay pinned Gunner Scott: The crowd was quite subdued for this match, possibly due to burnout from the Lashley match. Gunner tripped on his way to the ring, causing some " he fell over" soccer chants (definitely an edit there). Booker brought out Finlay who had a good technical match with the former " Shooter'.  Booker nailed Gunner at ringside with a kick at one point. Finlay then finished Gunner off with his version of the Kryptonite Krunch. A post match beat down by Booker and Dave was interrupted by Chris Benoit, who then left with Gunner.

Kristal came out to the ring, which caused the kid in the Rey Misterio mask, two seats down from me to get all excited. The Great Khali and Davari arrived for an interview. Davari made every effort to pretty good heat, until he gave the mike to the marble mouthed wrestler/thespian. No one could understand him. This led to some hilariously meaningful " what?" chants. Pointless promo, but worth it for the sheer comedy value.

(5) Kurt Angle defeated Rey Mysterio Jr by DQ: A very heated match with a mixed reaction from the fans. A lot of the men were booing Rey and loved Angle. However, there was still a lot of support in the crowd tonight for Rey and everyone cheered him afterwards. Rey hit a 619, after it had been countered with a clever elbow smash from Angle earlier. Rey went for the West Coast Pop, but Angle countered with the ankle lock. Rey was in trouble, when Mark Henry inexplicably ran in and attacked Angle causing the DQ. Henry threw Rey out of the ring, and then attacked Angle, eventually putting him through a table with a splash off the apron. The referees carried Angle out and Rey headed to the back afterwards. Both left to appreciative cheers from the crowd.

NOTES

-A very good wrestling show tonight, which was far superior to the taping in November (even though it had bit more star power with the Raw vs Smackdown! feud).

-Rey could be feuding with Henry as a result of his actions tonight, although Angle and Lashley may also want a piece of " The World's Strongest Man'.

- There was nothing that was really bad tonight and the show moved along at a brisk pace which made it a joy to watch. The DQ was a bad finish, but it was still a solid match to end a solid show.

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