Apologies for the late recap. But whilst I was watching Mindless Self Indulgence, the world is watching SmackDown live via pre-record with a recap of the past few weeks of Edge/Undertaker programming. This leads to the introduction of Edge and La Familia - Chavo Guerrero, Bam Neely, Vickie Guerrero, Teddy Long (still in his babyface victim role) and The Edgeheads - in the centre of the ring. Vickie announces that The Undertaker will face Batista tonight in a No DQ match for the World title. Edge claims that he and Chavo will win their respective matches at Backlash, which brings out CM Punk. Edge and Chavo make fun of him, but Punk reitterates that he is Money In The Bank. The upshot is that Edge and Punk agree to a match later on in the night. At the risk of allowing my biasm to cloud my judgement, having tried to give Punk a chance, he is clearly not the money promo that many have claimed he is. Edge completely outshined him here in almost every conceivable way. Even Vickie entertained me more.

Shannon Moore beats The Miz with a revearsal of the Reality Check into a backslide pin. John Morrison joins Michael Cole and Coach at ringside, making fun of Mike Adamle and stating that Miz is a wrestlers' wrestler because his hair is steamlined to make him more aerodynamic. If WWE were willing to invest even more time into these guys, they could make a great post-millennium DX-style rebel tag team in the upper-midcard. Basically, what DX-2006 should have been. Post-match, Moore and Jimmy Wang Yang motion to their waists, implying that they soon will be tag team champions. At this point in time, it's a possibility.

The presidential promo videos from Raw air again, leading into Michelle McF'nCool dragging Cherry to the ring to face Natalya Neidhart. WWE sure do like their Mikey Whipwreck characters these days, between Cherry and Colin Delaney. I shouldn't find her so hot, but I do. I shouldn't find Michelle hot either, which is why I don't. Anyway, Neidhart destroys Cherry for most of the match, with the occassional retaliation from Cherry. The story is that Cherry can only take so much and eventually fights back before she bursts into tears, not even realising or understanding what she's doing (but not in the Festus way). Neidhart keeps reclaiming control though, eventually winning with the Sharpshooter.

A recap video is shown, chronicling The Big Show/Great Khali feud. From that, Michael Cole introduces Matt Hardy to the ring to remind him of what has happened so far in the feud with himself and United States champion, MVP. Hardy claims that he is 100% ready and the biggest threat to MVP's title. Hardy is interrupted by the champion himself, who kicks Cole out of the ring and tells Hardy that he tried to be his friend. Because of MVP, Hardy is an 8-time tag team champion, which makes Matt jealous, according to MVP at least. Hardy stats that he has confidence in his eyes and will become the new champion on Sunday. The champion responds by nailing Hardy in the head with the belt.

Edge defeats CM Punk. The story of the match, more important than in in-ring action, is that even Michael Cole is bored of Coach and just wants to make fun of him, which he does through-out. Punk works on the left-shoulder and arm of the Rated-R Superstar with various kicks and armbar variations, whilst Edge tries to avoid and weaken the back on the Straight-Edge star. I've worked out why Cole is so bad at commentary - every near-fall is a "huge upset", which always gives away the kick-out. Punk attempts the GTS but Edge reverses into an Edgecution. A spear attempt is countered into a successful GTS which sends Edge to the outside. Zack Ryder hits the ringside area and distracts Punk enough for Edge to land the spear in the centre of the ring and grab the pin.

A King Of The Ring tournament recap shows William Regal make CM Punk tap. I can't get enough of watching that. Vladimir Kozlov, minus music, then squashes Marty Garner. This won't get over. As boring as Kozlov is, he makes great noises whilst wrestling.

Backstage, Batista thanks Vickie Guerrero for the title shot and says he will beat the hell out of Edge at Backlash. That's if he makes it that far. Someone might have something to say about it - and I don't mean The Undertaker.

The following contest is for the World heavyweight championship. They do the whole post-entrance boxing intro deal, which I always love so much. The match starts with the usual collision of power spots, which soon degenerates into a brawl on the outside. Batista hits the spinebuster and attempts the Batista Bomb, but Taker reverses and falls straight into a powerslam. The champ brings the steel steps into the ring and attempts a Tombstone, but Big Dave escapes and spinebusters the Phenom onto it. Batista goes for his Bomb finisher but is kicked in the face with Sweet Chin Music by Shawn Michaels, sliding in "out of nowhere". The interference gives Taker the opportunity to drop Dave with the Tombstone for the win.

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