SAN ANTONIO – Last Sunday may have been Vengeance: Night of Champions, but this week’s SmackDown was truly a night for revenge.

Much to his disappointment, Edge was forced by acting General Manager Vickie Guerrero to face Batista in a Night of Champions rematch. Even though he is not eligible to win the World Heavyweight Championship, The Animal ran wild on Edge in the main event. After punishing the Rated-R Superstar throughout much of the contest, Batista foiled his plans for a spear when he turned it into a setup for an earth-shaking Batista Bomb, following by a three-count.

As Edge lay on his back, Batista raised the World Heavyweight Championship and then dropped it on the still body of the titleholder. The Ultimate Opportunist still has the gold, but does The Animal have his number?

In one of the night’s inter-promotional matches, WWE Tag Team Champions Deuce & Domino had their hands full with Cryme Tyme. Raw’s notorious thieves tripped Domino and popped him in the kisser, breaking his nose before Domino was able to roll up Shad for the pin. Cryme Tyme may have lost, but revenge was theirs when they drove out of the arena in Deuce & Domino’s ride. Porter didn’t look as sharp as he did when he retained the United States Championship against Ric Flair at Vengeance: Night of Champions. Capitalizing off of a missed kick by MVP, Kane sent the prosperous Superstar to the mat with a chokeslam. Fortunately for MVP, the title is still his and his contest with Kane wasn’t an Inferno Match like the last time they met at Armageddon.

Flair didn’t have the chance to get revenge on the United States Champion this week, though he was able to teach a lesson to his other young, disrespectful rival, Carlito. Raw’s self-proclaimed coolest Superstar suffered the infamous Figure Four Leg Lock before tapping out to his former mentor.

The Cruiserweight Championship was once again on the line when Chavo Guerrero faced Jamie Noble and Funaki in a Triple Threat Match. Proving once again that he deserves the gold, Chavo covered Funaki to earn the win. Perhaps nobody is quite on his level when it comes to SmackDown’s cruiserweight division.

Another chance for vengeance came when Matt Hardy took on one half the World Tag Team Champions, Lance Cade. Hardy hit him with a Twist of Fate out of nowhere and covered Cade, who didn’t have his partner in crime this time around to help him bend the rules.

In other SmackDown action, The Great Khali turned Eugene into his personal ragdoll and Mickie James spoiled Victoria’s first night in action as a member of the SmackDown roster.

Did Batista and company get enough revenge for their peace of mind or will they keep coming back for more? Be sure to watch Friday Night SmackDown at 8/7 CT on the CW Network to find out.

SAN ANTONIO – WWE.com has learned that during a hard-knuckled, in-ring war with Cryme Tyme on SmackDown, WWE Tag Team Champion Domino suffered a broken nose and a possible broken orbital socket.

Domino and his partner, Deuce, met the thieving Raw tandem on the greasers’ Friday night turf with heavy bragging rights at stake. Though the leather-coated champions scored the victory after Domino rolled up Shad for the pin, it wasn’t an easy night for the guys from the Other Side of the Tracks. During the match, JTG tripped up Domino, driving him face-first into the mat and instantly drawing blood from the tag champ’s nose. Following the match – and Cryme Tyme’s robbery of Deuce & Domino’s car – WWE medical staff tended to Domino where he was diagnosed with the injury.

Tune in to SmackDown next week to catch the WWE Tag Team Champions and for updates on Domino’s condition.

SAN ANTONIO – Just two days after seeing the ECW World Title slip out of his grasp at Vengeance: Night of Champions, CM Punk had one goal: to reestablish himself as “the man.” 
 
“It’s time CM Punk became the man in ECW,” Punk told WWE.com before heading to the ring Tuesday night. “I’ve kind of been the uncrowned man for quite a while, but I haven’t been able to nail it down and pull the trigger on the big one. Now is the time for me to make it happen.”
 
And did he ever. Taking on New Breed leader Elijah Burke, Punk scored the final two pinfalls in a best-of-three-falls match to be named the No. 1 contender for Johnny Nitro’s freshly-won ECW World Title.
 
With both Superstars splitting the first two falls and momentum on the Straightedge Superstar’s side, Punk went for the knockout blow, trying to catch Burke in a GTS. Burke elbowed his way out of it, and after a series of counters by the pair, Punk was able to stun Burke and hit the GTS for the pinfall win.
 
After the match, Nitro came down to ringside and posed with the ECW World Title, staring down Punk.  
Also, the AT&T Center crowd witnessed two special appearances by WWE Superstars on ECW on Sci Fi. 
 
First, WWE Champion John Cena visited Raw for the first time in more than a year, challenging the new ECW World Champion Nitro to a Champion vs. Champion exhibition match.
 
Allegedly suffering from a high fever and cold symptoms, Nitro took it to the WWE Champion. He showed traces of new-found hardcore improvisation, throwing the Chain Gang commander into the ringside steps.
 
Nitro’s attempts to grind Cena down just couldn’t close the deal, as Cena battled back, setting up Nitro for a FU, but Nitro was able to counter it by flipping out of the slam and sending a kick to Cena’s head from the second rope.
 
But Nitro could not capitalize. As he set Cena on the top rope for a superplex, The Champ shoved Nitro down to the mat, and caught the ECW Champion with a leg drop from the top rope. Cena quickly hooked Nitro in the STFU submission to score the victory.  
Nitro appeared later in the program to issue a warning to his ECW counterparts, saying that his loss to Cena was a fluke, due to his illness. He also said it didn’t matter who was named No. 1 contender to his title.
 
“I am the ECW World Champion, and no one can take that away from me,” Nitro proudly boasted.
 
Also, fans witnessed a meeting of the minds between former New York City schoolteacher Matt Striker and WWE Hall of Famer “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. 
 
Striker came down to ringside during Piper’s appearance with a birthday cake in hand. He told the “Hot Rod” of his admiration for the Scot and his storied career. Then he asked Piper to join in singing “Happy Birthday” to celebrate Striker’s recent birthday. Piper lead the San Antonio fans in a round of singing, then smashed the chocolate cake in the teacher’s face just before the final verse.
 
As Striker tried to clean the fudge frosting out of his eyes, Boogeyman appeared from a cloud of sulfur smoke at ringside, and headed after the former educator.
 
Striker’s escape was cut off by Piper, who tossed him back into the ring, where the pit dweller powerbombed Striker into his cake debris. Then, as a special birthday gift for Striker, Boogeyman fed the teacher a mouthful of nightcrawlers – no gift wrap required, and no gift receipt.