WWE Smackdown 1/6/06

1) John Bradshaw Layfield vs. Matt Hardy – Falls Count Anywhere Match – 4
2) Mark Henry vs. Rob Eckos, Gus Harlatcher, & Rob Trusky – Elimination Match – 1
3) Kid Kash vs. Juventud Guerrera – 6
4) Chris Benoit vs. Randy Orton – 3
5) Rey Mysterio & Batista vs. MNM – Steel Cage Match – 5

First match up was a rather uninspired brawl with JBL and Hardy. Liked the spot on the table where Hardy did a double leg takedown and the table just collapsed. JBL looked like hell, taking the easy way out by flat backing the majority of his bumps and throwing shoddy punches. As is the norm in any Hardy hardcore match, a ladder has to be used. Really? How many times have we seen this? I dare them to have a hardcore match with either of the Hardys and not use a ladder. Hardy looked pretty stupid at the end, looking over his shoulder before taking a goofy bump off the ladder onto the hood of JBL’s limo. Ha! I just noticed that the limo driver was still in the car for the whole match. I wonder what his thoughts were? Henry just completely devoured his helpless jobber opponents one by one as if he was eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I thought Eckos sell of Henry’s banzai drop was really awesome. Speaking of awesome, Kash and Juvi just tore the house down. My favorite part was Juvi doing a front somersault off the top onto the floor and Kennedy, who was doing guest commentary, asking him “that hurt a little bit”? I remember Benoit and Orton having a really good match on TV around this time, but this was not it. IT was only about ten minutes and was mainly used as a set-up to the seventh and deciding match in the Benoit/Booker series. Booker was on commentary and was really, really annoying. Really weird to see Orton with hair. Didn’t care much for the finish with Orlando Jordan interfering and costing Orton the match. The cage match was a fun way to close out the show. I’d forgotten how good a team MNM was. Melina was great with her facials at ringside, showing concern for her team. Mysterio did a really nice dive off the cage in the memorable spot of the match. Batista really didn’t provide much in the way of a memorable performance and I was in no way emotionally invested in his performance. Mark Henry did a run-in and looked like a dope trying to figure out how to get into a cage that had no roof on it. Instead, he ripped off the cage door, nailed Batista with it and in the process tore Batista’s bicep for real. I guess that saved us from experiencing that classic Batista/Henry series. Oh, how the world would’ve longed to see that.