Smackdown

Card Information:
 Held in: KAISER CONVENTION CENTER
Location: CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
          on May 2005 at 8:00pm

Interview:
Shane O Mac's Generosity...
Click here to see highlights.

Shane McMahon gives Hollywood Hogan the night off, before running afoul of the
Million $ Man.


Billy Kidman and Shannon Moore defeated Brian Kendrick and Paul London when
Moore made London submit to an armbar submission in 0:02:49.
Rating: *** 1/4

Kidman's team got the victory, but neither he or Kendrick were involved in the
decision.


Tazz pinned Spike Dudley after a bridging back suplex in 0:12:01.
Rating: **** 1/4

Spike fought his hardest, getting busted open in the process, but he could not
defeat Tazz.


Interview:
A shocker for Spike...
Click here to see highlights.

D-Von announces an extra stipulation for Sunday's tag match, and tells Spike
that he's surplus to requirements.


Tajiri made Booker T submit to a double chickenwing submission in 0:13:57.
Rating: **** 1/4
(Tajiri won the WWE Intercontinental Championship.)

In a shocking turn of events, Tajiri captured the IC title from Booker T.  For
the entirety of the match, Christopher Daniels was at ringside, but he didn't
get involved once.  This does beg the question as to what happens to Daniels'
title shot this Sunday.


Two-out-of-three-Falls Match:
Shawn Michaels, Cactus Jack, Edge and Val Venis beat La Resistance (Rene Dupree
and Sylvan Grenier) and The World's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas and Shelton
Benjamin) 2 falls to 1:
         x S. Benjamin beat Cactus Jack via the Money Clip in 0:14:43
         x Venis beat S. Benjamin via the Money Shot in 0:22:45
         x Michaels beat S. Benjamin via the Sweet Chin Music in 0:35:53
Rating: *** 1/2
Click here to see highlights.

Pretty good match, with Shelton Benjamin being involved in all 3 decisions. It
was the Tag Champs and their Canadian cohorts that emerged with the win though.


Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho defeated Evolution (Ric Flair and Triple H) when
Benoit made HHH submit to the Crippler Crossface in 0:25:43.
Rating: *** 1/2
Click here to see highlights.

Another good match, in which Triple H tapped out for the second time in a 
couple of weeks.  The joy for Benoit and Jericho was shortlived though, as Kane
made his way down to the ring to cause havoc.  Terry Funk arrived on the scene,
but was held off from getting into the ring by Flair and Helmsley.  Eventually
Funk was thrown in for a choke slam as well.


Interview:
Stone Cold...
Click here to see highlights.

Austin shows that he's not afraid of Vader.


No-Countout-No-DQ-Handicap-Match:
Vader, Randy Orton and Ted DiBiase defeated Steve Austin and Sting when Orton
 pinned Sting after a flying forearm in 0:21:42.
Rating: *** 1/4

Orton pinned Sting, but the battle didn't end there.  The Legend Killer gave
the Stinger the RKO, while Stone Cold fell victim to the Vader Bomb.  Vader
covered Austin, while DiBiase counted a fall, and then the big monster ended
the show by parading around with the title belt.



Card rating: *** 1/2


Match observations: 

Plenty of action tonight, on the last stop before Judgment Day.  Though the
post-match count tonight was unofficial, could we see the real deal on Sunday?
If so, then we'll be crowning Vader as the new WWE Champion.  And if Stone Cold
can't stop the big Mastadon, you have to wonder if anyone can.

Ted DiBiase may well have kissed goodbye his chances at victory at Judgment Day
after knocking Shane McMahon out with the Million $ Dream.  We know that Shane
has no love lost for either man in the match that he's refereeing, but it's
fair to say that right now he hates DiBiase that little bit more.

With a new Intercontinental Champion crowned tonight, a slight change has been
made to the title match on Sunday.  It'll now be Tajiri defending the title
against both Booker T and Christopher Daniels in a triangle elimination match.
Can Tajiri retain his gold, will Booker T get the belt back, or will the Fallen
Angel taste WWE Gold for the first time?

We witnessed a disgusting act by D-Von Dudley here tonight, as he witnessed
his brother Spike get decimated by Tazz, only to then inform him that he won't
be needed as a partner on Sunday, and therefore had no reason to be in the 
match tonight at all.  Let's hope that Thug Life uses the no DQ rule to their
advantage in kicking some Dudley ass.

Can anybody stop Kane?  He created further devestation tonight, and it's going
to take a lot of work from Benoit, Funk and Jericho to bring him down on Sunday
night, especially with his added support from Evolution.  All in all, it should
be an amazing PPV event.

Next Show: Judgment Day