FRESNO, Calif. Indian music enveloped the Save Mart Center in Fresno Friday Night, as there was a Punjabi Championship Celebration for the new World Heavyweight Champion, The Great Khali. The giant, along with translator Ranjin Singh, plus numerous dancers and worshippers from India, partied Punjabi-style inside the ring that is, until Batista came to crash the party. The Animal who dominated earlier that evening in singles competition against WWE Tag Team Champion Deuce never took his rage-filled eyes off the 7-foot-3 monster as he challenged him to a one-on-one match for the World Heavyweight Championship. When Khali rejected his request, Batista exploded and speared the champion.
Another enraged SmackDown Superstar was Jamie Noble, who on Friday night was given another chance at the Cruiserweight Title and an opportunity for revenge against the newest and littlest champion to date, Hornswoggle. After the humiliation Hornswoggle had caused Noble at The Great American Bash, pinning him to win the title in the Cruiserweight Open, Noble was certain he would take the gold out of Hornswoggles miniature hands. But in the long run, Noble came up short again as SmackDowns leprechaun outsmarted him by winning via a count-out.
In other SmackDown action, North Carolinians Matt Hardy and Ric Flair were Ballin after defeating United States Champion Montel Vontavious Porter and Chris Masters in tag team action. After the loss, MVP pointed out that since he wasnt the one who was actually pinned by Matt, he still is better than him. The frustrated Hardy then made some demands of his own, telling SmackDowns Franchise Playa to put his money where his mouth is and grant him a rematch for the United States Championship. When the hotshot champion insisted that his title was off the table, Matt proposed another challenge:
I'll name the game, and Ill beat you
again and again and again and again
. Ill beat you so bad, youll have to defend the United States Championship against me. And when you do, I will prove Im better than you.
Meanwhile, dressed head-to-toe in cowboy boots, tight jeans and cowboy hats, the beautiful Torrie Wilson teamed up with SmackDowns resident redneck, Jimmy Wang Yang, for intergender tag action against Victoria & Kenny Dykstra. Catapulted to victory after an impressive moonsault by Yang, the two Superstars yee-hawed all the way to the locker room area.
Even though former Cruiserweight Champion Chavo Guerrero couldnt retain his title at The Great American Bash, he still has quite a mean streak, judging from the way he handled Eugene. Despite SmackDowns wrestling savant displaying some impressive in-ring maneuvers, in the end it wasnt enough to stop the methodically malicious Guerrero from scoring the pinfall.
Kane, meanwhile, showed our fans and Dave Taylor just how much he relishes inflicting pain, defeating the brash Brit in a matter of minutes with an emphatic chokeslam. Mark Henry picked up an even quicker victory, however, by viciously destroying Joey Blalock with one of his brutal bearhugs. The self-proclaimed king of the SmackDown jungle then roared to the crowd that no Superstar on the SmackDown roster could beat him.
