September Week 2 | Uncasville, CT
Show Opener Promo: The Rock
The Rock kicked off Smackdown! by calling out the recently crowned #1 contender for his WWE Title, Macho Man Randy Savage, to come down to the ring and face him. Savage told him that he may be from an older era of the WWE, but he has a few tricks in his bag The Rock will never have and he will use those to defeat him for his title. The Rock reiterated that he reformed the Nation of Domination precisely because of people like Savage. Old, white superstars who want to keep themselves at the top, The Rock said this is his time now and he's not giving up his spot to anybody. The Rock lowered his mic and got in Savage's face and started talking trash to him inaudibly, and Savage finally had enough and headbutted The Rock before the two got into a full on brawl in the ring. Eventually the referee had to try to break things up as several other officials stormed in from backstage to separate the two and stop them from causing any more chaos.
Match #1: One on One Normal | Kane w/ Undertaker vs. Mark Henry w/ Papa Shango
Mark Henry came out like a house on fire, showing a serious display of power against Kane and dominating the match from the outset. When he hit the World's Strongest Slam on the Big Red Machine, it looked like it was all but over but Kane kicked out of Henry's finisher at 2 and three quarters. Henry, enraged by the referee's perceived slow count, turned his attention to the official and that was his mistake. By the time he was done with that discussion, Kane had recovered and started to mount some offense of his own with a series of big boots. Henry eventually rallied, but then seemingly out of nowhere, Kane whipped Henry into the ropes and on the rebound, popped the 400 pound start into the air, caught him by the neck and chokeslammed him. Henry was not getting up from that as Papa Shango could only look on in horror as the Nation of Domination took their first loss.
Winner: Kane by pinfall.
Match #2: One on One Normal | Eddie Guerrero (3) vs. Christian (6) | King of the Ring Quarter-Final
Eddie Guerrero came into this as the favourite, as both a higher seed and the more experienced singles competitor, with Christian only recently having left his tag-team partner ship with Edge. But Christian looked perfectly comfortable in singles action, holding his own against Eddie, and even taking advantage when things spilled to the outside of the ring. Christian looked set for a big momentum swing in his favour when he went for a diving splash off the top rope, but a game Guerrero got both knees up into Christian's chest to counter him before hitting the Three Amigos and getting a near-fall. Despite the kick-out, it looked like things were done for Christian, but when Eddie dragged him to his feet and to the ropes, Christian was able to bounce his neck off the ropes to get back in the match. A series of reversals was followed by a Killswitch from Christian, but that was only enough to keep Guerrero down for two on the pin. The two wrestlers exchanged blows, and Christian once again took advantage. Then he went for the unexpected, climbing the top rope and hitting Eddie with his own move, the Five-Star Frog Splash and pinning him for a three-count and surprise upset victory. After the win, Guerrero looked disappointed, but offered his hand to a suspicious Christian, who eventually reached out his own and the two exchanged handshakes. Display of good sportsmanship from Eddie Guerrero or is there something more to this?
Winner: Christian by pinfall.
Main Event: One on One Normal | X-Pac (7) w/ D-Generation X vs. Kurt Angle (2) | King of the Ring Quarter-Final
X-Pac came into this match as a major underdog, but he did have two of the best players in the game, Triple H and Shawn Michaels in his corner. Angle looked to put away X-Pac early, locking him in a sleeper hold that nearly incapacitated him, but Pac was able to break out. X-Pac mounted a bit of offense from there but then Angle started putting on a technical wrestling clinic. Belly to belly suplex, german suplex and a wrestling takedown to ground the usually high flying X-Pac. Just as it looked like Angle was going to roll on to victory though, X-Pac was able to counter him and hit a tornado DDT off the top rope to get back in things. Unfortunately for him, Angle didn't stay down for long and followed that up with a tornado DDT of his own and then a series of german suplexes. Rather than go for the Angle Slam to finish, Angle just pinned X-Pac right there for three to move on to the next round. Post-match, X-Pac looked upset at having lost to Angle without even eating one of his finishers, but his D-X buddies helped to cheer him up.
Winner: Kurt Angle by pinfall.
Show Closer Promo: Shelton Benjamin
Before the show could come to a close, Shelton Benjamin called out Randy Orton, demanding a rematch for the Intercontinental Title. When Orton came down to the ring he smirked, and said just a few words, "You want it, you got it. You're just going to have to do one thing first. You'll need to beat an opponent of my choosing next week. If you can do that, you get a shot at my belt at Backlash, if you can't? Well maybe your opponent will be the one who gets the title shot." Orton dropped the mic and walked off and Shelton nodded his head confidently, ready for the challenge awaiting him next week.