Smackdown Results - May 23, 2008

One Night Stand Announcement

Vickie Guerrero makes the huge announcement that Edge and the Undertaker will square off at One Night Stand in a TLC match. If the Undertaker loses the match, then he'll be force to leave WWE.

On the mic, Vickie Guerrero seems to be going downhill. Then again, it's probably just easier to notice now that she's getting more time on the mic. As bad as she is, though, she's still generating tremendous heel heat from the audience. Probably the biggest heel in the company now that William Regal has been suspended.

Just the crowd heat alone was enough to bump the rating for this segment up to 8/10.

Deuce, Domino, Maryse vs Jesse, Festus, Cherry

Decent match here. Kind of sucks that Jesse and Festus are only used to help the feud between Maryse and Cherry. They'll probably be forgotten again next week. Vicious kick from Maryse on Cherry to end the match.

Winners: Deuce, Domino, Maryse

Batista Invades the VIP Lounge

Nice way to get some heel heat for MVP here. He berates Theodore Long, who is rumored to be heading over to Raw to become the general manager there. Batista comes out to make the save. He proceeds to trash MVP's interview set.

Would have ranked this segment a lot higher if I felt that they're actually going to do something with MVP after this.

Finlay vs Chuck Palumbo

Decent match here between Finlay and Chuck Palumbo. Finlay gets the win after Hornswoggle steals a page from the Great Muta, the Great Kabuki, and Tajiri by spitting green mist into the face of Chuck Palumbo.

The ratings for this match was definitely hurt by the fact that neither man is actually being used by the writers in a feud. Here's an idea. Put these two into a feud. That'd be better than just having them float around.

Winner: Finlay

MVP vs Batista

Good match between these two guys. Basically, MVP demanded a match against Batista for destroying his interview set. I still think MVP needs to feud with Batista to gain some credibility before moving up into the main event scene.

Then again, anything would be better than MVP just floating around. I don't understand how this guy is not involved in a feud right now.

Winner: Batista

Vladimir Kozlov vs Nunzio

Apparently, WWE has absolutely no interest in making Vladimir Kozlov into someone that the audience actually gives a damn about. We're still stuck in a meaningless winning streak against random jobbers and low level wrestlers.

I rated this a 2/10 instead of a 1/10 simply for the fact that we at least know who Nunzio is.

Winner: Vladimir Kozlov

Kofi Kingston & Matt Hardy vs Shelton Benjamin & Elijah Burke

I like this match for several reasons.

Aside from being a good match, it was a brilliant move pairing Kofi Kingston up with Matt Hardy. The US champion has a huge fanbase. Putting the younger wrestler with him should help him pick up a few new fans.

Another reason I like this match is because we get to see Shelton Benjamin and Elijah Burke in a tag team. These two guys need to team up more often. They don't have to be a permanent tag team, but they can still be used to add depth to the tag team division. Actually, anything to get Elijah Burke on TV more would be good. The guy is a talent performer.

Winners: Kofi Kingston & Matt Hardy

Undertaker vs Chavo Guerrero

The match itself wasn't anything out of the ordinary. It's nice to see Chavo Guerrero in the main event, though. Plus, the involvement of La Familia was a nice touch.

The thing with the Undertaker is that he's such a powerful character that one single man isn't going to seem like much of a threat to him. As entertaining as Chavo Guerrero is in the ring, he doesn't seem like a threat to beat the Undertaker. That's why I like the involvement from La Familia. It even things out a bit.

Winner: Undertaker

Very good episode of Smackdown. Much better than what they normally do. Some great segments helped to keep the show entertaining.

They just need to get some feuds going for the midcard wrestlers that are being wasted. Plus, they need to do something with Vladimir Kozlov. His involvement really hurts the overall rating for the show right now.