Jeff Hardy entered the ring wearing an eye-patch on his right eye  making fun of CM Punk’s faked eye injury, surely furthering their rivalry.

Jeff Hardy vs. Kane – Either Hardy is a good match-up for Kane as they’re both experienced wrestlers. Early in the bout, the daredevil had Kane reeling, but Kane grounded him.  Some other highlights of the match included Kane throwing Jeff at a turnbuckle causing him to slide back first into a ring post. He followed up quickly with a baseball slide into the back of Hardy sending him gut first against the post. Jeff Hardy hit the Whisper in the Wind followed by a Twist of Fate on the Big Red Machine. As Hardy went to the top-turnbuckle, CM Punk’s appeared on-stage distracting Hardy long enough for Kane to apply the choke-slam and gain the pin-fall. Punk smiles and walks backstage.

Word Up with Cryme Tyme - I absolutely love these segments …. today’s Cryme Tyme Institute of Higher Hooducation word is : “Bromance” : Bro-mans – (noun): 1) A close relationship or man-crush between two bros to such a point where they start to seem like a couple.

The next segment with Teddy Long and John Morrison is painful. They need to leave Michael Jackson’s death out of wrestling. It’s a tragedy, not a money making experience. Nuff said? On with the show.. Dolph Ziggler comes out of a broom closet with Maria…hmmm

Dolph Ziggler vs. John Morrison - Morrison certainly makes his matches exciting by adding his “twist” to a regular wrestling move. As the match progressed Morrison hit Ziggler outside the ring with a spinning cross body, Dolph countered a running knee by picking up Morrison and slamming him head over heels onto the mat for a near pin-fall. After a series of counter moves, Ziggler rolled up Morrison for the pin-fall while holding his tights for the win.

R Truth cut a new promo as alter ego “Pretty Ricky“. Very strange, yet, somewhat entertaining.

Melina Perez and Eve Torres vs. Michelle McCool and Layla – Layla and Eve started the match, both are former Diva Search winners. Torres took control early on until Layla distracted the referee and McCool kicked Eve in the head outside the ring. Michelle entered and pulled some wicked looking moves on Torres. Melina’s performance was outstanding, never taking her eyes off McCool. As Perez and Layla continued the bout, Layla found herself way out-wrestled by Melina. The win goes to Melina as she defeated Layla in a quick roll-up. All hell broke loose after the match as McCool attacked Perez but ended up running up the ramp to escape.

Jeff Hardy joins the WWE Friday Night Smackdown Announcers

CM Punk still tried to make his eye injury case to Hardy, citing a “prescription”. He accused Hardy of being a drug user and told him he had no chance of beating him at Night Of Champions.

CM Punk vs. The Great Khali – While Khali is huge and looks formidable he’s slow and clumsy and his matches are hard to watch. Thankfully, Kane appeared shortly with steel chair in hand and hit Khali. Khali retaliated and Kane’s next chair shot was met with Khali’s fist. The chair was knocked out of Kane’s hands and he took a chair shot from Khali, reconsidered his position, and left the ring.

Cryme Tyme vs. The Hart Dynasty - Cryme Tyme made a great showing until the match spilled out of the ring and Natalya Neidhart interfered, quickly hitting the ring apron and distracting the duo. What happened next was a flurry of confusion that wound up with David Hart Smith getting the pin-fall on Shad Gaspar with Kidd and Smith hitting the hi-low. Good showing from both adversaries, but the match should have been longer.

WWE Friday Night Smackdown Main Event

Intercontinental Championship Title Match

Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio – Jericho started (classically) with microphone in hand, listing his accomplishments, and bragging he will gain the title for an unprecedented tenth time. Some highlights included Mysterio being vaulted over Jericho, landing on the outside ring apron, and being unceremoniously thrown into the ring post, falling off the apron. Another absolutely killer move by Jericho showed him being setup for the “619″ and countering into a spinning “torture-rack back-breaker” for a very near pin-fall.  After an already failed six-one-nine attempt, Jericho countered by ducking sending Mysterio crashing to the floor. Mysterio countered Jericho while being tied upside-down in a corner by lifting himself out of the way sending Jericho crashing shoulder first into the ring post. Another exciting offensive move Mysterio performed was a springboard moon-sault off the ropes to the outside of the ring, landing on Jericho. Approximately fifteen mintues into the match, Jericho countered Rey’s springboard move with a “Code Breaker”, but Mysterio kicked out. The winner? Rey Mysterio after hitting the six-one-nine and falling on Jericho from the top rope for the win. While the end was kind of lame, this match was incredible and definitely worth watching.

Edge appeared immediately after the match chasing Rey out of the ring, but Ziggler caught him and threw him back in. Mysterio was Speared by Edge, then lifted by Edge so Jericho could perform the Code Breaker on him. Friday Night Smackdown faded as Dolph Ziggler finished the job delivering his finisher and Mysterio was left lying in the squared circle.

Remember, WWE Friday Night Smackdown is available FREE in it’s entirety here.

This Smackdown (06-26-2009) broadcast begins as Vince McMahon appears threatening to fire general manager Teddy Long. Long makes a few matches that appeal to the fans so Vince puts him on probation. *yawn* On to the first match….

R Truth vs Shelton Benjamin

Truth comes out wassupin’ as usual. Benjamin comes out and insults Truth’s ghetto language to get in his head but it backfires. As the bell rings, Truth dominates the first half of the match. *commercial break* As the match returns, Truth has lost momentum and Benjamin has grounded him gaining 2 near pin-falls. R Truth hits a Jawbreaker, but cannot get the upper hand on Shelton. Truth throws Benjamin off his game with a series of moves leading to 2 separate pin attempts including: a side Russian leg-sweep and a full body slam. Shelton answers with a beautiful belly to back suplex into a pin attempt. The match ended as R Truth flew off the ropes into a corkscrew elbow shot (called the Lie Detector) to the jaw pinning Shelton Benjamin and winning the match.

*backstage*Vince, with Teddy Long in drag, cracks bad jokes on Rey Mysterio and advises him that losing his mask may be a good thing for his career as Jericho has continually insisted. Rey says something in to him in Spanish and walks away. Vince turns to Teddy and announces Smackdown’s official language is now English.*announcer fodder*

Michelle McCool and Alicia Fox vs Melina Perez and Gail Kim

The bell rings, Melina and Alicia start the match. Outmatched, Fox doesn’t last long and tags to Michelle McCool resulting in a hair pulling contest to the corner for a referee breakup. McCool just side-kicked Melina viciously in the jaw leaving her on the map clutching her face. Melina is then constantly assaulted in jaw by McCool who makes the first pin-fall using a side Russian leg-sweep. Melina kicks out, but is clutching her jaw as Michelle drags her to the corner and tags in Fox. Alicia distracts the referee as McCool does the dirty work, softening up Melina even more. Fox is *obviously* still training and Melina managed to tag in Gail Kim. Within approximately 30 seconds, Gail hits 3 clotheslines and follows up with a flying backward cross body block into a pin attempt. McCool illegally enters, breaking the count, and is thrown out by Kim. As she continues her assault on Fox, a blind tag is made allowing Fox to help McCool set Kim up for the Faithbreaker. Michelle McCool and Alicia Fox are victorious.

*backstage* Vince and Teddy appear with CM Punk.  McMahon suggests Punk isn’t really all that “clean”. Punk sets him straight. Cryme Tyme is back with Word Up….today’s word is “jackin‘: ja-kin – (verb): 1) To rob a person of their possessions such as clothes, jewelry, or personality  (ie.. swagger jackin’ is when someone tries to rob your style).. this is funny stuff….

CM Punk vs John Morrison

This is a non-title match, and the two tie it up. Both Morrison and CM Punk are VERY quick and athletic wrestlers, to try and call this match play by play would take pages. So, only in the interest of brevity I can only write that this match is a MUST SEE for any wrestling fan. Some highlight include: Punk going for a GTS on Morrison that gets reversed, and reversed again into a beautiful bridging suplex. Putting Morrision on his neck (similar to RVD) getting a near pin-fall. During a failed attempt at a sunset-flip on the outside ring apron, Punk, using his unique strategy, sweeps Morrison’s foot and John takes a nasty looking fall. Morrison returns the favor performing an A+ moon-sault from the top ring post onto CM Punk, landing perfectly, throwing him into the ring for a very near-fall. Morrison attempted a Moonlight Drive on CM Punk who turned it into a backward-flipping neck-breaker for another near pin-fall. The match ended as Morrison pinned CM Punk after two small package roll-ups into a bridging suplex. After the match, CM Punk extended his hand and as Morrison shook, Punk threw Morrison over his shoulders and gave him a GTS. CM Punk immediately looks conflicted about what he’d just done.

Jeff Hardy and Rey Mysterio vs Edge and Chris Jericho

(special guest referee CM Punk)

- Rage In A Cage Match -

Starting the match, Jeff Hardy gains the upper hand and tags in Mysterio. The duo throw Edge in a corner and Hardy springboards off Rey’s back smashing Edge into the steel cage, Mysterio gets a one count.*commecial break* Mysterio and Edge are still going at it, Mysterio hits Edge with a hurakinrada (setting him up for the 619) and runs up Edge’s back climbing the cage and almost escaping. Kicking Edge off his foot, Mysterio drops down, bouncing off the top rope into a cross-body block getting a 2 count. Jeff Hardy is tagged in, he bounces of a rope coming at Edge only to be flipped over Edge’s back upside down into the cage. Edge tags Jericho who begins his assault on Hardy, grounding him for a few minutes until Jeff escapes and tags in Mysterio who goes to the top turnbuckle and jumps right at Jercho, knocking him down. Jericho performs a sunset flip that Mysterio rolls through and kicks Jericho in the head for a near-fall. Mysterio begins a series of moves on Jericho including a hurakinrana into the corner and a nasty baseball slide to Jericho’s nuts. Rey throws Jericho into a corner and Jericho, climbing, tries to escape the cage. Mysterio turns him around and pulls his legs out from underneath him leaving Jericho seated in the top turnbuckle. Edge interferes to try and save Jericho. He puts Rey on his shoulders and Hardy comes in for the save. The duo throw Edge into Jericho’s groin. Running from the far side of the ring, Mysterio springboards off Edge and lands on Jericho (who’s still seated on the turnbuckle) and hurakinranas Jericho off the turnbuckle onto the mat for another near pin-fall. Mysterio winds up landing face first into the cage as Jericho counters another hurakinrana attempt.*nother commercial break* We return to see Mysterio’s neck being catapulted into a bottom ring rope by Jericho. Edge is tagged in, kicks Rey in the head and poses? Mysterio uses the ring ropes to try and climb to his feet, but Edge gets a running start, bouncing off the ring ropes, into a flying cross body block causing a very near pin-fall. Then Edge begins kicking Mysterio and throws him into the opposite corner of the ring. As he follows through Mysterio grabs him by the neck with his legs and performs another hurakinrana that sends them both scambling to tag their respective partners. Edge tags in Jericho who stops Rey’s tag with a kick to the head. Jericho puts Rey on a turnbuckle and tries to de-mask him. Rey fights him off and tries a flying cross-body, but met Jericho’s dropkick to the gut. The two get to their feet and Mysterio tries to tag as Jericho holds his foot. Rey uses his other foot to kick Jericho square in the face and the two are both down. Jericho tags Edge who picks Mysterio up and uses his head as a battering ram into the cage. Edge tries again but Rey blocks and swings to counter with a DDT just planting Edge. Jericho is tagged in and bitch slaps Mysterio’s head a few times while talkin’ trash. Jericho throws Rey into the ropes and catches him off the bounce into an overhead suplex, but Mysterio grabs the cage and starts climbing. Jericho grabs his leg, preventing escape, but is kicked in the head. Mysterio performs a standing dropkick off the top rope knocking them both down. Hardy and Edge are simultainously tagged in and Hardy get best of Edge on the outset. Edge bounces of the ropes to spear Hardy, but Jeff jumps it and Edge winds up spearing the referee. Hardy performs the “whisper in the wind” but CM Punk is unable to count due to the spear. Edge again tries to spear Hardy, but is blocked. Jericho runs in to help Edge and Hardy-Mysterio team up performing a “619″ while holding on to Hardy for leverage knocking Jericho out. Mysterio is then kicked in the face by Edge taking him out. Hardy tries the Twist of Fate, but is blocked by Edge and for some reason he stops to look at CM Punk. He is then speared by Edge for the pin-fall.

*backstage*Vince congradulates Teddy on a great show but warns him “I want you to perform as is your job depended on it”.

IMHO, CM Punk vs John Morrison match was the best in this Smackdown broadcast.