Smackdown Recap 09.05.08

Smackdown Recap from St. Louis, MO:,

Smackdown began with the WWE champion, Triple H coming to the ring to discuss the Unforgiven Pay Per View, and his Championship Scramble matchup. Shelton Benjamin came out to interrupt, discussing how he took the Game to the limits in their match a week ago. Triple H reminded him that he still won the match. Next, MVP came out and began to get in Shelton's face about hitting his finisher on him last week. Shelton said it was retaliation for the Drive By kick that MVP did to him. The two kept arguing and Triple H interrupted them, explaining how a PPV promo should be done.

Brian Kendrick came to the ring next along with his bodyguard, Ezekiel. Ezekiel got in the ring staring down HHH and looked ready to fight him. With the Game distracted, Kendrick took the opportunity to dropkick HHH down from behind. Ezekiel landed a punch on HHH's face, and then MVP, Shelton and Kendrick all began attacking HHH in the ring corner.

Jeff Hardy rushed down to Triple H's aid, helping him knock down the other opponents. Jeff climbed to the top rope for a Swanton on Shelton, but Kendrick's bodyguard Ezekiel knocked Jeff off balance. Jeff fell to the mat and Ezekiel got in the ring to further beat up Jeff. Triple H re-entered the ring with a chair and hit Ezekiel over the back, but it barely caused a reaction. Eventually, Kendrick pulled Ezekiel back and had him leave the ring before it got worse.

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MVP vs. Shelton Benjamin

A great matchup went down between the former US champ and the current title holder. Prior to the match, Shelton had a promo video shown up on the Titantron, saying there's no talent more precious than him, the "Gold Standard". Shelton had control of the match with MVP down to the mat. As Shelton jumped up to the corner ropes, he saw MVP rolling away, so Shelton hopped down. MVP got up fast and ran at Shelton with a serious boot to the face. MVP tried for the pinfall win, with Shelton escaping. MVP pulled Shelton up his feet and prepared for another move, but Shelton shoved him away. Shelton quickly caught MVP with the Paydirt finisher, slamming him face first to the mat.

Winner: Shelton Benjamin wins via pinfall over MVP.

Backstage, Maria was getting makeup done as Maria came up to her. Maryse insulted the outfit Maria had on saying it was poorly made. Maryse said she could get Maria the clothes she gets specially made in France but it might be too big for certain body parts. Maryse left and Maria seemed peeved by the remark prior to the match.

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Maria vs. Maryse

Maryse seemed to dominate most of the matchup. Maria eventually started to make a bit of a comeback. Maria got whipped to the corner, but was able to deliver a kick into Maryse as she charged at her. Maria then climbed the turnbuckle, but as she tried to jump at Maryse, Maryse ducked and avoided her, going to the corner. Maryse regained her composure then delivered a DDT finisher to win the match.

As Maryse was posing on top of the ramp, all of a sudden Michelle McCool came out from backstage. Michelle and Maryse stood face to face, with Michelle smiling as Maryse backed away and went backstage.

Winner: Maryse wins via pinfall over Maria.

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Jeff Hardy vs. The Brian Kendrick

In the matchup, Jeff began to gain serious momentum as he knocked Kendrick out of the ring. Kendrick stood up, but Jeff swung into him with a dropkick through the ropes. Jeff followed with a leap over the top rope landing on top of Kendrick. As Jeff threw Kendrick into the ring, bodyguard Ezekiel Jackson came over, grabbed Jeff and flung him back against the crowd barrier. Jeff fell against the side apron, half in the ring. Kendrick pulled Jeff into the ring, then did his running DDT move off the corner ropes to finish the match.

Winner: The Brian Kendrick wins via pinfall over Jeff Hardy.

A man was shown pushing a wheelchair backstage just as a black limo arrived. Smackdown GM Vickie Guerrero got out of the back of the limo and walked over the man. Vickie yelled at the man saying she didn't call for the wheelchair, because she doesn't need it. Vickie walked perfectly fine and screamed at the lim driver to get the cars out of there.

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Super Crazy vs. Bryan Braddock

Super Crazy whipped Braddock to the corner, causing the newcomer to hit hard, then fall to the mat. Crazy finished with his trademark Moonsault flip off the corner ropes.

As Super Crazy was celebrating his victory, all of a sudden, Vladimir Kozlov came marching down the ramp to the ring. Kozlov stared down Crazy with a mic in hand, yelled some Russian then kicked Crazy hard down to the mat. Crazy fell to the mat rolling out of the ring, as Kozlov said he wasn't competition. Kozlov got up on the corner ropes and began yelling "no more games, I demand better competition". After a moment's pause, Big Show's music hit with the Big Show coming down to the ring.

Show told Kozlov that Vickie made an oversight before, so they probably should just take it upon themselves to fight. Kozlov and Show dropped their mics and got into fighting stance. Before any punches were thrown, Vickie Guerrero came storming out from backstage, yelling for Kozlov and Show to get out of the ring. Vickie got into the ring and yelled for Kozlov to leave the ring. Vickie then turned her attention to Show and told him he better not cause any more distractions on her show. Vickie told Show to leave the ring and head home or she'd fine and suspend him. An angry show looked at Vickie then took off out of the ring and up the ramp.

Winner: Super Crazy wins via pinfall over Bryan Braddock.

In the ring, Vickie demanded that the crowd quiet down because she had an announcement for Undertaker. Vickie said she reinstated him and apologized to him for her prior actions, yet Undertaker threatened her life. Vickie declared that she's been to tough places before and she's not scared of him anymore. Vickie proclaimed that at Unforgiven she'll get what she wants, Undertaker to apologize to her.

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Brie Bella vs. Victoria

In a rematch from last week, new WWE diva Brie Bella faced off with Victoria. Last week Brie got a surprise victory when she rolled up Victoria into a small package, after crawling under the ring to recuperate. In tonight's match, Victoria started off dominating the new diva, using a headlock for a while until Brie escaped. Brie was able to pull Victoria's arms back down on the mat, causing Victoria to yell in pain. Brie delivered a kick to Victoria causing her to spill out of the ring. Outside the ring, Victoria regained control of things and brought Brie in to finish her. Victoria got Brie up on her shoulder using a backbreaker, then dropped her to the mat.

Brie tried to fight back against Victoria, but Victoria punched her out of the ring. Once outside the ring, Brie crawled under the ring. Victoria pulled up the apron cover looking for her, but it seemed Brie came out on another side of the ring. Victoria went after her, but Brie kicked Victoria in the gut, then tossed her in the ring. Brie scored a pinfall to finish off Victoria two weeks in a row.

Winner: Brie Bella wins via pinfall over Victoria.

Footage was shown from the Republican National Convention with Josh Matthews along with WWE superstars Mickie James and Mr. Kennedy.

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The Raw Rebound showed footage of the ongoing feud between Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels. Things got further incited at Summerslam, where Shawn Michaels came to the ring with his wife to tell fans his time was done wrestling. Michaels said he would follow doctor's advice and stop wrestling due to his injuries. Jericho came out and demanded that Michaels say the reason he was leaving was because of Jericho. Michaels told Jericho to go home and tell his family he'll never be Shawn Michaels. Jericho got infuriated and went to strike HBK, but missed, knocking down HBK's wife Rebecca.

Weeks later on Raw, Shawn Michaels came to the ring and demanded Jericho give him a match. Jericho came on the Titantron and agreed, and the two went to sign a contract for an unsanctioned match last week. In the end, Jericho's protege Lance Cade came down to the ring and tried to attack HBK. Jericho escaped up the ramp as Michaels beat up Cade in the ring and stared out at Y2J. The two meet Sunday at Unforgiven despite Michaels' suffering a recent injury.

Jim Ross and Tazz ran down the lineup for this Sunday's Unforgiven Pay-Per-View including all 3 Scramble matches, and the Shawn Michaels vs. Jericho Unsanctioned match.

Backstage, Eve interviewed Triple H about Sunday's Championship Scramble and tonight's Lumberjack match against Great Khali, defending his WWE title. As HHH spoke about overcoming challenges, Jeff Hardy came up to interrupt. Jeff told HHH he has a big problem this Sunday, him. Triple H reminded Jeff he has 2 strikes against him and "with 3 strikes, he's out of the Game".

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WWE Slam of the Week showed the Triple H vs. Shelton Benjamin match from last week. Great Khali came down the ramp trying to distract HHH, and as Shelton tried to blindside the Game, Triple H was able to deliver the Pedigree. As Triple H stared down Khali up the ramp, Shelton knocked HHH down from behind. Khali came into the ring and picked up HHH with a double-chokeslam move.

Triple H vs. Great Khali
Lumberjack Match

In this bout, the ring was surrounded by Triple H's Championship Scramble opponents: Jeff Hardy, MVP, Shelton Benjamin and The Brian Kendrick with bodyguard Ezekiel. Early in the match, Triple H tried to punch away at the giant Khali. Khali soon overcame Triple H with his power. After beating Triple H around the ring, Khali knocked Triple H to the outside. Kendrick & Ezekiel, MVP and Shelton all got in their shots and rolled Triple H back into the ring as Smackdown went to break.

Smackdown returned with Khali applying a vice grip on the shoulder muscle of HHH in the ring. Triple H fought to muster up strength to get to his feet and punch Khali in the gut. Khali hammered his forearm on HHH's back and took him to the corner. Triple H avoided Khali coming at him in the corner, but as HHH went off the ropes Khali was ready with a boot to the face. Khali clotheslined HHH out of the ring, and the heels went to attack.

Jeff Hardy ran over to assist Triple H, but he was soon grabbed by MVP and Shelton. The duo tossed Jeff shoulder first into the crowd security wall, causing him to crash down. Ezekiel rolled Triple H back into the ring for Khali to finish off. Khali did a double chokeslam and went for the pin, but HHH kicked out at 2 1/2. HHH was able to smash Khali's face into his knee, then jumped off the corner for a shoulder block. Triple H got pulled out of the ring by Shelton, MVP and Ezekiel and they all started beating on him. Jeff Hardy had recovered, got into the ring and ran across to jump over the rope, crashing down on the 3 heels. Brian Kendrick came over and grabbed Triple H to attack him.

As Kendrick tried to whip HHH into the steel steps, HHH reversed sending Kendrick crashing into the steps. Triple H got onto the side apron and yanked Khali down against the top rope. Once back in the ring, Triple H went for a Pedigree, but Khali flipped HHH over his back. Khali applied the Vice Grip squeezing HHH's skull for a while, but HHH managed to generate the power to get out. Khali headbutted the Game down to the mat, but Triple H recovered, then avoided Khali trying for another Vice Grip. HHH finally kicked Khali in the midsection and delivered a winning Pedigree. Jeff Hardy got into the ring and applauded Triple H's effort. HHH turned and patted Jeff, but out of nowhere Jeff hit a Twist of Fate, slamming HHH to the mat.

Winner: Triple H wins via pinfall over Great Khali.