The Phantom Lays The Smackdown!

The Phantom

Last night WWE rolled into my home city of Cardiff for a Smackdown and ECW house show in front of a packed Cardiff International Arena. So I thought it a matter of duty that I go and report for my fellow Monkers and take some pictures.

Night kicked off with Teddy Long coming down to the ring and telling us who would be competing throughout the night.

Fist off was a US Title match between Chris Benoit and MVP. The match was much like their Wrestlemania encounter with a lot of technical stuff, and mat wrestling. Most of the crowd weren’t too happy, but I enjoyed this. I tried to get a few MVP chants going, but everyone was behind Benoit. MVP has a lot to offer and I see him being a big star in the future. Benoit picked up the win with a flying head but.

Next up was a pointless match… Jimmy Wang Yang and Nunzio vs. William Regal and Dave Taylor. Regal and Taylor got a lot of heat (not just because they were the heels) but because they were English. Us Welsh are not too fond of our English neighbours. Nothing much happened in this one. Taylor and Regal won with a roll up.

Cruiserweight Championship was on the line next with Chavo Guerrero defending against Gregory Helms. Lots of Hurricane chants aimed at Helms during this one. Chavo was the crowd favourite during this one, with lots of Eddie chants. But about half way through the match when he realised the crowd were behind him he shouted it’s not about Eddie it’s about Chavo… which instantly got him the heat he wanted. Chavo picked up the win here, but I forgot how.

Tag Team Titles were up next. This was my first real chance to watch Deuce and Domino and they weren’t as bad as I thought they’d be. Lots of high flying action as expected from London and Kendrick. Deuce and Domino double teamed the hooligans at the end, while the lovely Cherry distracted the ref, to pick up the win.

Finlay vs. Kane was our next match. Finaly got a big pop when he came out… which of course was not in the script, so he spent the next several mins walking around ringside slagging off the Welsh and getting the crowd to once again turn on someone they cheered. His lines were slightly amusing, however he said exactly the same thing as JBL had done 2 years earlier! Kane then came out and went straight after the Irishman. I have to say this is the third time I’ve seen Kane, but I never realised how big he is!! He really is a big red monster! The other times I’ve seen him in action he’s either been with or against The Big Show, so his size wasn’t really appreciated. Funny moment half way through when Little Bastard got into the ring and Kane just towered above him. Kane even got on his knees and was still taller! Little Bastard put his hat on Kanes head and ran off… hilarious stuff. Finlay picked up the win by attacking Kane with the shillelagh. A really entertaining match.

After the interval we had an ECW match… New Breed members Matt Striker, Elijah Burke and Marcus Cor Von took on the Original members RVD, Sabu, and Tommy Dreamer. Crowd was heavily behind the Originals with a lot of support for Tommy Dreamer. Some high flying stuff from RVD and Sabu as per expected and a decent match with the New Breed picking up the win. Another entertaining match. The Originals stuck around for a bit in the ring posing for the crowd. Nice touch.

Then we came to our Diva section… Krystal special guest refereed a match between Jillian Hall and Michelle McCool. We got the privileged of hearing Jillian sing… and my god is she awful. But she more than makes up for it with her looks… she was stunning! Typical divas match, but neither of them were too bad in the ring. Much better than Ashley. Jillian picked up the win with a roll up. As she was about to sing for the second time The Boogeymans music hit! He came down to the ring scared Jillian off by waving worms in her face and then proceeded to spit worms into the crowd! Eugh!

And now it was time for our main event of the evening… The Undertaker defended his World Heavyweight Championship in a fatal four way match against Batista, Mr Kennedy and Mark Henry! Big supprise seeing Henry there. I guess that once Dave and Taker are done after backlash Batista will move onto a feud with him. Batista got the biggest pop of the night when he came out for his entrance. Kennedy got a lot of heat. He like Finlay was ripping the Welsh, calling us sheep shaggers, which produced a “Who Are Ya?!� chant from the crowd. Kennedy handled it beautifully by telling us to wait a minute and he’d introduce himself properly. Awesome stuff from Mr. Kennedy. In what was a pretty short match compared with what I expected Taker picked up the victory after tombstoning and pinning Mr Kennedy. He then stuck around for a bit to pose for the crowd with his WHC.

Over all a very good show from WWE. I thought it was much more entertaining than the Raw brands show last year. I’ve now seen the Raw brand twice and Smackdown twice, and SD always deliver an entertaining show. I was a little pissed off that CM Punk wasn’t on the card, however I didn’t realize that a few ECW wrestlers were over with the Raw brand during their tour. Also Mick Foley was in town signing books, so I thought he might have made an appearance as a special guest referee, but he didn’t. I guess you can’t have it all!?

The Phantom

And Now For Some Pictures…

Blitzkrieg

Nice pics man. I haven't been to an event in so long now..

Crockerinho

Foley was doing an interview on Talksport last night