Credit: PWTorch.com

-The show opened with highlights of last week's angle between Booker T and his Royal Subjects attacking Bobby Lashley, and Lashley's subsequent revenge with a clean powerslam win.

-After the Smackdown opening, The Miz screamed into the mic and said, "I'm your host, The Miz, hoo-rah!" I can't believe anyone actually accommodates his request to yell "hoo-rah" back at him. He plugged Lashley vs. Booker in a rematch, plus Rey Mysterio defending the World Hvt. Title against Mark Henry.

-Michael Cole and JBL introduced the show as the tag champs ran to the ring in their masks.

1 -- BRIAN KENDRICK & PAUL LONDON vs. SUPER CRAZY & PSICOSIS -- World Tag Team Championship

JBL praised Psicosis for being the brains of the team by abandoning Crazy last week rather than helping him against The Great Khali, "so he could live to fight another day." JBL called it "asset management." JBL praised Kendrick & London for being "like Michaels & Jannetty with high-flying moves they never knew." Glad to see comparisons to The Rockers for Kendrick & London, who have so much more potential to be marketed than they have so far, and with a thin Smackdown roster, there's no reason for WWE to not get more behind featuring them. A minute later, though, he contradicted himself by criticizing them for using high-flying moves rather than down moves, and quoted Kevin Nash saying "a good big man always beats a good little man." He parlayed that into a prediction that Henry would beat Mysterio later. Crazy hot-tagged in at 6:00 and went to work on Kendrick. London mistakenly kicked Kendrick. Crazy then played to the crowd and got a nice pop. Psicosis, though, tagged himself in and went for a spinning flip legdrop off the top rope and missed. Kendrick then covered Psicosis for the win. Crazy looked dismayed. Crazy attacked Psicosis a minute later.

WINNERS: Kendrick & London in 7:00 to retain the WWE Tag Team Titles.

STAR RATING: **1/2

-Cole and JBL plugged the Rey vs. Henry main event.

[Commercial Break]

2 -- TATANKA vs. SIMON DEAN

Simon Dean came out and complained to Tatanka about one of "his casinos" taking a bunch of his money and made other anti-Indian comments. Tatanka attacked him. After a couple of minutes of Tatanka on offense, he began to dance. Then Great Khali's music played. Tatanka went after Khali, but Khali easily fended him off and outpowered him. "I have never seen a national wonder like Khali," said JBL. Khali imitated Undertaker's pose when he crosses his fallen opponents' arms. As he stuck his tongue out, JBL said he's never seen that done.

WINNER: No contest in 3:00.

STAR RATING: n/a

[Commercial Break]

3 -- GUNNER SCOTT vs. FIT FINLAY

Cole and JBL talked about how impressed they've been with Scott (just days before he was sent back to developmental for more seasoning). Scott got in some sustained offense including a top rope dropkick at 3:00. Finlay yanked Scott neck-first over the top rope, then looked for the Leprechaun underneath the ring. Instead, he charged around the ring. Finlay met him in the ring and tried to fend him off. He shoved him under the ring apron and back under the ring. Cole said, "That's where he belongs. He's like a little troll." As the ref was distracted, Finlay hit Scott with the shillelagh for the pin.

WINNER: Finlay at 4:00.

STAR RATING: 3/4*

-Backstage, Vito approached Ashley while wearing a dress. He asked her out to dinner. She asked him, "Are you ffffff?..." He interrupted and said, "Absolutely positively not, don't let the dress fool you. You are sexy and so am I." He put his arm around her and they walked off. JBL wondered if he was going to take her a Cher concert. What was Ashley going to say, anyway? "Are you funky like a monkey?" Or "Are you fabulous?" Or "Are you fruity-tooty?" Or "Are you for the Iraq War?" Or "Are you fine with me being a natural brunette?" He answered the question before she could ask it.

[Commercial Break]

-Another Sylvan vignette aired with him promoting tourism in Quebec. He said a lot in French. Can anyone translate whether he said anything newsworthy? He again concluded, "An island of tranquility in a chocolate world."

-Cole interviewed Chavo Guerrero about Henry driving him spine-first into the ringpost last week. Chavo clutched his ribs and displayed labored breathing. He said no matter what the odds, Rey Mysterio always brings his A-game and he's 100 percent confident tonight he'll be the victory. He looked up and said, "I know I'm not the only Guerrero who thinks so."

-Kyrstal interviewed Mark Henry. He said Chavo just doesn't get it. "I could care less how many Guerreros support Rey Mysterio," he said. He talked about what it sounds like to crack a rib or tear someone's tendon from their bone. He said in two weeks Batista will hear those sounds again. The camera zoomed in on Henry as he said, "You wondered last week what I meant when I said I was going to split your head to the white meat. Tonight, you'll find out." Henry's promos have been one of the surprises of the year. Not great, but pretty good, and fitting of his more serious character.

-William Regal introduced King Booker and Sharmell. As Regal said over and over, "All hail King Booker," JBL stood and seemed to be moved to another world by the arrival of royalty. "It's like being in the presence of the Pope if you're Catholic," he said.

[Commercial Break]

4 -- BOBBY LASHLEY vs. BOOKER T (w/Sharmell)

JBL said Lashley is the Scotty Pippen to Booker T's Michael Jordan. Lashley had his left knee wrapped and favored it early in the match, which Cole pointed out. JBL said he had four knee surgeries, "which is why I am no longer playing professional football." Oh, that's the reason. Not being 40 years old? Wrestlers have been doing this for decades, and it's lame, where they say an injury forced them out of football or another sport so they turned to pro wrestling. How does one become a World Champion pro wrestler with knees too bad to play football? It totally cheapens what pro wrestlers do. Booker settled into a step-over toe-hold, which Lashley turned into a small package. Booker came back and kept kicking away at Lashley's bum leg. Booker choked Lashley over the top rope. Regal then punched Lashley. Booker followed up with a wheel kick for a two count. Cole did not shout "He's got him! This is it!" He toned it down to, "Booker's gonna do it again." It helped make the kickout less predictable. Finlay walked to ringside with his shillelagh as they cut to a break.

[START SECOND HOUR]

[Commercial Break]

Booker somewhat numbingly (to viewers) worked over Lashley's legs, then applied a figure-four at 17:00. Lashley eventually broke the hold and got into a slugfest with Booker. Lashley made a full-fledged comeback with two clotheslines and a belly-to-belly for a near fall at 18:00. Booker caught a charging Lashley with an elbow. Lashley set up the Dominator powerslam. As Regal distracted the ref, Regal entered the ring. Lashley dropped Booker to fend him off. Booker grabbed a chair. Lashley grabbed it and KO'd Regal and Booker. The ref turned around and DQ'd Lashley. Finlay's facial expression was great, as if to tell the ref, "You finally caught that cheater in action, see what I've been telling you?" JBL said, "That is not a champion. Lashley should be better than that. He robbed me, he robbed you, and he robbed the fans!"

WINNER: Booker via DQ in 20:00.

STAR RATING: **3/4 -- Above-average match. Not bad at all, but it dragged enough of the time to offset any temptation to rate it too far above average. The finish was fine for TV and forwarding the feud.

[Commercial Break]

5 -- KEN KENNEDY vs. FUNAKI

Kennedy introduced himself as usual. He also ripped on the fans and demeaned his opponent. He said, "Nice guys finish last, so thank God I'm not a nice guy." JBL on Kennedy: "This guy is the only superstar to ever come out of Green Bay." Cole mentioned Brett Favre. JBL said he's from Mississippi. Kennedy totally dominated and finished off Funaki with a flip splash.

WINNER: Kennedy in 3:00.

STAR RATING: 1/2*

-They previewed Henry vs. Rey again with clips of Henry destroying others.

[Commercial Break]

-The Raw Rebound aired. The midget/dwarf butts were covered with green stars.

-Backstage, Booker and Sharmell complained to G.M. Teddy Long about Lashley's actions. Booker said he had a royal declaration to make - that he'd never step foot in the ring with him again. Long said he doesn't make those decisions. He said next week he's going to face Lashley one more time. Sharmell said she's going to let Finlay and Regal know so they make their presence felt. Long said in that case, it'll be in a cage. Booker freaked out and said, "Hell no! Oh, oh oh, no. Hell no!"

-JBL accused Long of being racist. That's pretty funny considering the entire circumstances.

-They showed Henry heading toward the entry. Then Rey.

[Commercial Break]

6 -- REY MYSTERIO vs. MARK HENRY

JBL said of the 5 billion people in the world, Henry is the strongest. Henry, of course, outpowered Rey at the start. JBL said it's impossible for Rey to avoid a loss. Cole said he's called every Rey match since he got to Smackdown and he has seen him do amazing things. Rey ducked a Henry dive and Henry flew to the floor. Rey then dove off the top rope onto Henry with the move Cole usually incorrectly calls a "senton," but Cole just didn't name it this time.

[Commercial Break]

They showed that during the break, Rey dropkicked Henry off the ring apron, but when he dove at Henry, Henry moved, and since then Henry has been on offense. Henry beat and battered and outpowered Rey with chops and slaps and throws for a few minutes along with a couple bearhugs to remind us he's Mark Henry. Rey caught Henry with a boot to the face at 11:00 and then went for a sunset flip. Henry didn't go over, but when he sat down, Rey moved. Henry grimaced in pain. Rey then roundhouse kicked Henry to the side of the head. "I cannot stand this little Mexican jumping bean," said JBL, just in case we forgot it was JBL on commentary. Rey went for a moonsault, but Henry kicked out at two. Henry pressed Rey, but Rey slipped off of him and hit a springboard bulldog for another two count. Henry swatted Rey's crossbody attempt away, then ripped off a top turnbuckle. The ref tried to fix the turnbuckle. Henry threw Rey into the corner and crushed the ref in the process. Chavo ran to the ring and hit Henry with a chair from behind as he was about to powerslam Rey. Henry dropped Rey, turned, and KO'd Chavo. Rey dropkicked Henry from behind into the ropes, then hit him with a 619, knocking the chair Henry held into his face. Rey went for a Drop the Dime, but Henry didn't go down. Chavo clipped Henry from behind. Then he hit the ringpost with a chair, told Rey to feign being KO'd, and then handed the chair to Henry. The ref saw Henry with the chair and Rey knocked out and called for the bell.

WINNER: Rey via DQ in 16:00.