WWE Smackdown 1/18/2008

Written by: Bob Colling

World Wrestling Entertainment presents Smackdown
Date: 1/18/2008
From: Birmingham, AL

Matches:
1.)The Great Khali defeated Finlay
2.)Jimmy Wang Yang & Shannon Moore defeated Deuce & Domino
3.)Batista defeated Mark Henry
4.)Michelle McCool defeated Layla
5.)ECW World Champion CM Punk & Rey Mysterio defeated WWE World Heavyweight Champion Edge & Chavo Guerrero by disqualification

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.The Undertaker opened up the show saying that at the Royal Rumble twenty nine other men will fall to him. Matt Striker and Big Daddy V make an appearance. Striker tells Taker the only reason why he won last year was because his man, Big Daddy V, didn’t compete in the match. They come down to the ring and have a brief brawl with the Undertaker. Undertaker is able to hold his own and sends the heels fleeing to the backstage area.

2.Khali and Finlay opened up the action this week. It was a rather rough match since Khali is one dimensonal and a brawler like Finlay just makes for a rough match. Khali is able to drive Finlay down to the mat with the Khali Bomb late in the match. That allowed him to put the vice grip on Finlay to win the match.

3.Backstage, Edge is chatting with Vickie Guerrero. Vickie tells Edge that he would be a great father. Chavo Guerrero comes into the room and says he was wrong about Edge. He wants to be one big happy family now. That’s sweet.

4.Yang and Moore were able to pick up an impressive victory this week. Yang pinned Domino after hitting a top rope moonsault.

5.Backstage, Vince McMahon books Finlay in a match with Great Khali. Next week, they will compete in a street fight.

6.Batista controlled Henry early and often during their match. The turning point of the match was when Henry missed a middle rope big splash. Batista hit two spears before going for the Batista Bomb, which Henry countered with a backdrop. Moments later, Batista drove Henry down to the mat with a spine buster to win the match.

7.MVP hosts his talk show segment, the Lounge up next. His guest this week is the man he will be wrestling, and in his words retiring at the Royal Rumble, Ric Flair! Flair doesn’t believe that MVP has what it takes to beat him at the Rumble. MVP counters that by mentioning that he beat Flair back at Vengeance. Flair considers MVP to be a younger him, but MVP doesn’t want that consideration. He wants to be better than Flair. Flair ends up chopping MVP on his couch to end the segment.

8.Michelle McCool was able to pin Layla after hitting a Tiger Driver face buster.

9.Backstage, Jamie Noble is telling McCool that she did a good job tonight. McCool ends up getting some flowers from Chuck Palumbo, who came over to make it clear he got those for her. McCool is able to convince Noble and Palumbo to get along.

10.Punk and Rey get the early advantage in the main event by hitting stereo dives onto the floor onto Edge and Chavo. Punk is worked on for a few moments after he got distracted. Chavo connected with a back breaker before tagging in Edge. Edge misses a spear and Punk makes the tag to Rey. Chavo also got the tag and is soon hit with the 619. Edge returned to the ring and hit Rey with a chair to cause the disqualification. After the match, Edge, Chavo, Ryder and Hawkins leave Punk and Rey laying in the ring.

Final Thoughts:
I thought it was a below average Smackdown this week. The segment with MVP and Flair was enjoyable and set up their match nicely, I thought. The wrestling just wasn’t entertaining to me. I was kind of disappointed with the main event and the Batista/Henry match was pretty much a squash match. This one gets a thumbs down from me.

Thanks for reading.