WWE Smackdown!/Velocity Tapings
Tuesday, December 27th, 2005
Mohegan Sun Arena * Uncasville, CT

Thanks to Dan Mirade

Dark:
Aaron "Idol" Stevens def. Scotty Too Hotty
Stevens came out with valets Beth and Shelly, finishing
off Scotty with a rocker dropper.

Velocity:
Simon Dean def. Brian Kendrick
Fast paced and sloppy in spots.

Paul Birchill def. "John" Xavier
Birchill had Regal in his corner and look impressive in
a match the crowd was into.  Birchill won with a knee
to the back from the top rope.

Jamie Noble def. Paul London via submission
Noble got a fairly decent reaction coming out

Legion Of Doom def. FBI
At least it wasn't LOD vs the Dicks from Springfield
two weeks ago

Smackdown:
Show opens with Chris Benoit, Booker T, Sharmell and
Teddy Long (no sign of Palmer Cannon) arguing in Long's
office.  Booker is injured and can't compete, claiming
he should therefore win the best of seven series and
become US Champion.  Long said that wouldn't happen and
he'd forfeit that match if he didn't wrestle.  Benoit
said he wanted to win in the ring so he'd let Booker
pick a replacement to wrestle for him.  Long asked if
Benoit if he realized that he'd lose the series if he
lost to whoever Booker chose.

Matt Hardy def. JBL via CO
JBL appeared to have the match in hand until the
Boogeyman's music hit and he slowly crawled to the
ring.  JBL bolted from the ring and was counted out,
knocking over Jillian Hall in the process.  They fled
thru the crowd.

Orlando Jordan offered to wrestle Benoit for Booker T.
Sharmell said Benoit squashed him everytime they faced
each other and had no interest.

Mexicools def. The Dicks
Super Crazy pinned a Dick with a moonsault

Booker T found a sad looking Randy Orton in the locker
room and said the best way to get past losing to
Undertaker at the PPV was to go out and beat someone
like Benoit.  Orton agreed.

In a horrible segment, Melina came to the ring with
what appeared to be her attorney.  She claimed that she
was raped by Batista a few weeks ago (funny, the camera
recording the incident didn't make it appear to be a
sexual assault) and she was going to sue him.  The
crowd was so sympathetic that they chanted "What?" and
boring with a segment that never seemed to end.

Legion of Doom made a New Year's resolution with a poem
from Heidenreich saying they'd win the belts in 2006,
all but foreshadowing what was to come.

Chris Benoit def. Randy Orton via DQ
Booker T and Sharmell joined Michael Cole and Tazz for
commentary.  No sign of Bob Orton.  Benoit and Orton
worked a very good match.  As Benoit had Orton in the
crossface ready to tap, Sharmell dashed into the ring
and hit Benoit with a really bad crutch shot.  As the
seven year old sitting next to me stated "why would she
get Orton DQ'd if Booker would lose another match in
the series?"  Orton RKO'd Benoit after the match.

In an old school Mene Gene/Superstars interview segment
with a podium in the back of the arena with the fans
and the empty ring in the background, Sho Funaki
interviewed Kid Kash about winning the Cruiserweight
Championship.  Nobody cared in the least.  Kash ragged
on Funaki and gave him a ghostbuster on the podium.

Bobby Lashley squashed Sylvain

A Fit Finlay promo aired that is apparently leading to
his return to the ring

Josh Matthews interviewed Batista to see if he was
worried about Melina's lawsuit.  He said to think about
who was making the claim and that he was focused on his
tag team title match.

MNM def. Batista & Rey Mysterio to win the tag team
titles
Very good tag team match with Mysterio doing the brunt
of the work and Batista getting his power spots in.
Mysterio hurrancanranaed Nitro from the top rope off
the apron to the floor.  With the ref knocked out,
Batista was setting up Mercury for the demon bomb when
"Sexual Choclate" Mark Henry made his long awaited
return and KO'd Batista.  When the ref was revived,
Mercury was covering Batista and MNM began another
reign as tag team champions.  Most of the fans either
didn't know who Henry was or simply didn't care.

*  Not sure what capacity was with the building scaled
but it appeared to be a full house with a lot of kids.

*  Show kind of reminded me of 1995/1996 WWF.  There
were 8 or so guys that were really over and their
merchandise moving.  But other than the guys on top
that are protected, there's nothing.  A weak tag team
division, no mid-card and the rest was just filler that
gets almost zero reaction.  A lot of the crowd wasn't
familiar with many of the guys on the show, which
clearly points to the poor job the company has done in
it's use of it's non-main event players.  There were
also a bunch of guys that the fans had no interest in
since they haven't been pushed or developed whatsoever.
Giving new talent a push or a chance to cut a promo
would likely result in a more interesting experience
for the fans.