*Spoilers* WWE Smackdown! Taping Results

[OMEN]

Thanks to Ed Shirreffs & PWInsider.com for the report:

The show began with a bunch of Smackdown wrestlers coming to the ring for a Battle Royal to determine the #1 Contender to Rey Mysterio's World Championship and the right to face him in a match at the Great American Bash. The wrestlers who came out together were: Super Crazy, London & Kendrick, The Pitbulls (Noble/Kash), Ken Kennedy, Simon Dean, Scotty 2 Hotty, Psicosis, & Funaki. The show started with Finlay coming out to his own music, followed by Matt Hardy, and finally William Regal and King Booker.

The match was typical battle royal fare. Ken Kennedy got a pop for stopping the Worm. Booker T won when he dumped Matt Hardy and William Regal. Hardy was getting a lot of cheers for his offense when Booker, Finlay, and Regal were working him over. Post match, we get the 'All Hail King Booker' treatment.

King Booker is the new #1 Contender to the World Heavyweight Championship and will face Rey Mysterio at the Great American Bash.

Rey had an interview and apologized to Chavo for not being able to help him last week, and promised revenge on Henry.

Sylvan came out and got a lot of heat when he spoke of the virtues of Quebec in French.

Mr. Kennedy defeated Super Crazy with a Kenton Bomb after Psicosis distracted Super Crazy. Kennedy dominated the majority of the match and was very aggressive.

Tatanka was interviewed by Kristal and said he was afraid of the Great Khali. Daivari was then shown with a casket, ordering people to take it to the ring. Daivari then came out to the ring with the casket and introduced the Great Khali. They reiterated their challenge to the Undertaker. Tatanka came out next and the match started. Typical Khali squash, but when he went opened the casket to put Tatanka in it, smoke came out and Undertaker played his mind games. He accepted the Punjabi Prison Match challenge over the loud speakers, since he was not present at the show. The match itself was a No Contest.

Vito defeated Psicosis by submission when Super Crazy came out to distract Psicosis. Vito did a lot of spots like Rico would do. He kept showing his thong and was prancing around a bit. When Psicosis laughed at him, he kept snapping.

King Booker did a promo with Sharmell and Regal.

The Pitbulls, Jamie Noble and Kid Kash, defeated Funaki and Scotty 2 Hotty in a tag team squash with a double team maneuver.

Regal and Finlay were shown in the back. They are facing Bobby Lahsley in a Triple Threat match for the US Title at GAB. Regal started to talk about it, but the Little Bastard was humping his leg. Finlay tried to stop him, but LB bit Finlay's hand and ran away, as Finlay gave chase.

Bobby Lashley defeated Gregory Helms with the Bulldog Running Powerslam. Lashley got most of the offense and did his trademark spots.

Mark Henry cut a promo in the back on Batista, saying he would make his comeback the shortest in wrestling history.

Finally, the moment everyone was waiting for, the return of Batista. Batista got the loudest pop of the night to that point and immediately called out Mark Henry. As Henry walked to the ring, Rey attacked him, but Henry shoved him aside. At this point, Batista came out and started punching Henry. He threw him into the ring steps, beat on him some more, and then WHALED on Henry with a steel chair. He posed in the ring to end Smackdown.

Thoughts: The Battle Royal wasn't announced as being held to determine the #1 Contender to the live crowd, so people weren't as into it as they might have otherwise been...Booker T can't beat the US Champion, so his next program is with the World Champion?...Psicosis and Super Crazy interfering in each other's matches added some nice continuity to the show...The short Regal-Finlay-Little Bastard segment was hilarious....Obviously, Batista was over with the crowd in his return to Smackdown. Philadelphia, you'll recall, was also the city where he left the show...Smackdown got the Supershow taping off to a good start, but RAW was the superior show this evening.

Biggest pops:

1. Batista
2. Matt Hardy
3. Rey Mysterio

Biggest Heat:

1. King Booker
2. Mark Henry
3. Sylvan

[LionDen]

Good to see Batista back inaction, hopefully help bring SD back from its slow death with The Undertakers lead up to GAB as well.

[F4L]

FINALLY, WWE IS USING Booker T the way he should be used. GAB is actually turning out to look like a pretty good PPV surprisingly.

[Ethan Hunt]

^ even i couldnt say it beeter than Frankie4Life

[King Venomation - X]

Still, Smackdown is no where near the standards of RAW.