By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

WWE's Smackdown brand ran two house shows over the weekend in Ocean City, Md. and Johnstown, Pa. Similar to the Raw brand, not much deviation from the basic outline of the matches. Following is news, notes, and analysis from the weekend shows.

-- WWE IC champion Rey Mysterio wrestled against World Hvt. champion C.M. Punk in each show's main event. Mysterio will begin his 30-day suspension on Wednesday barring a reversal by WWE after it appears he was not given enough time to provide a valid prescription for a drug he was taking. WWE obviously was not pleased with Mysterio speaking out against the company and the company's drug policy in an interview with a Mexican newspaper to save face in Mexico where he's a huge star.

-- WWE will make a decision on how to handle the IC Title during Rey's suspension at Tuesday's TV taping. In the meantime, WWE booked a match-up of Dolph Ziggler vs. John Morrison on the house shows. Morrison vs. Ziggler seems to be an inevitable IC Title feud if Rey is stripped of the title or if Dolph is booked to win the title at Tuesday's TV taping.

The storyline could easily progress where Smackdown GM Teddy Long's job continues to hang in the balance if he doesn't deliver some compelling TV, so he decides to book Rey vs. Ziggler earlier than Breaking Point and Ziggler wins the title on Smackdown. Pure speculation at this point before Tuesday's taping.

-- The ECW brand was featured in six-man tag matches with William Regal's Ruthless Roundtable facing the combination of Tommy Dreamer, The Hurricane, Yoshi Tatsu, and Tyler Reks. ECW champion Christian was off the weekend line-ups, so Dreamer replaced him in various six-man tag matches to continue the main event storyline from TV.

-- Looking at the direction of ECW storylines, Regal has his group of heels with Kozlov and Ezekiel Jackson. After Paul Burchill broke through the invisible ceiling of actually being booked to win a match on Superstars last week, he could join the group down the line. Christian could also assemble his own group of wrestlers, which could include Dreamer, Reks, Yoshi, and The Hurricane, who is feuding against Burchill.

-- Goldust was not on the line-ups, so Sheamus wrestled against Tyler Reks on Saturday and The Hurricane on Sunday. Shelton Benjamin and Zack Ryder were also off the weekend shows. The ECW brand could shake out with three main programs going into the fall: Regal's Group vs. Christian's Group, Goldust vs. Sheamus, and Ryder vs. Benjamin.

Match Results

August 29 SD/ECW in Ocean City, Md.: (1) Cryme Tyme (Shad Gaspard & JTG) beat Hart Dynasty (Tyson Kidd & D.H. Smith). (2) Mike Knox beat Jimmy Wang Yang. (3) Sheamus beat Tyler Reks. (4) Melina beat Layla. (5) John Morrison beat Dolph Ziggler. (6) William Regal & Kozlov & Ezekiel Jackson beat The Hurricane & Yoshi Tatsu & Tommy Dreamer. (7) Great Khali beat Kane via DQ. (8) World Hvt. champion C.M. Punk beat Rey Mysterio.

August 30 SD/ECW in Johnstown, Pa.: (1) Cryme Tyme (Shad Gaspard & JTG) beat Hart Dynasty (Tyson Kidd & D.H. Smith). (2) Mike Knox beat Jimmy Wang Yang. (3) Melina beat Layla. (4) Sheamus beat The Hurricane. (5) John Morrison beat Dolph Ziggler. (6) William Regal & Kozlov & Ezekiel Jackson beat Tyler Reks & Yoshi Tatsu & Tommy Dreamer. (7) Great Khali beat Kane via DQ. (8) World Hvt. champion C.M. Punk beat Rey Mysterio.

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