Black History Month DAY 21

Rey Mysterio vs. King Booker
WWE - 7/23/2006
World Heavyweight Title Match

This was the peak of a roughly two-month period where everything on Smackdown was really just coming together perfectly. Preceded by Rey delivering awesome stuff in the ring while being booked as a World Champion jobber, and followed by Rey/Chavo Eddiesploitation-fest, here we see everyone firing on all cylinders. Rey's not doing meaningless jobs, and is still the best worker in the world. Booker - as Phil mentioned, the best black wrestler of the last decade - is as good as he's ever been, probably better due to the strength of his new gimmick. He mastered this one facial expression that I can only describe as "every picture I've ever seen of Jesus Christ where he wasn't being/about to be crucified", and he can just look right into the camera and whip it on you, and you want to see him get his teeth kicked in. His wife - also black, appropriately enough - is one of the better wrestling managers in recent years, mixing beauty queen theatrics with "Oh no you di'int" stereotypical sassiness and a sense of genuine concern for her man for maximum entertainment.

And then there's the announcing. JBL was such a breath of fresh air on commentary, and it really illustrates how good the guys in the ring were. Before coming out of retirement, I felt that he was starting to slip on commentary, and rewatching this match, it becomes apparent that the quality of his announcing is tied to the quality of what he's calling. Not that that's particularly unusual, but it's pretty striking to see that when Rey is the top face and Booker is the top heel, he's on fire, whereas Batista as top face and Edge as top heel doesn't seem to draw the same kind of reaction. Also worth noting that Bradshaw is at his best on commentary when he's outraged over something, which seemed to happen less over time. Angry JBL made Vito matches must-watch TV, for chrissakes. Angry JBL/quality JBL also seemed to make Michael Cole a better announcer. Cole says Mysterio represents America, which angers JBL, and they get into an argument over whether the big businessmen who made decisions or the laborers who carried out those decisions were more responsible for the greatness of America. Michael Cole, for all his flaws, was probably better than most WWF/E announcers ever at explaining/justifying morality as it was presented on the show, and JBL was masterful at providing the counterpoint.

So the stars were all aligned just right for this match to be awesome, and what do ya know, it was. This was a great showcase for Rey's surface-to-air offense, finding all kinds of ways to evade Booker's offense and turn it into offense of his own. Booker ducking the 619, and Rey hitting the mat, taking another spin, and nailing a roundhouse kick as Booker was reaching his feet was particularly impressive. But this is black history, and really, I should be talking more about how awesome Booker is. And he is. He attempts the Axe Kick at one point. It's a move that frequently (and rightly) gets criticized for how long it takes to set up. Here, he boots Rey in the gut, and just whips off the ropes lightning fast to hit it, although Rey still ducks out of the way in time. He also does a lot of nice throws when countering moves that Rey caught him with before. Rey goes for his flying bodyscissors into a bulldog thingy, and when he goes up for the bulldog part, Booker just falls back and drops him with a mean-looking back suplex.

The finish was what it was. I don't like the angle it led to, be the actual finish was executed pretty well. Both men were down, it was entirely conceivable that Chavo was trying to help Rey, and when he turns on him instead, he really blasts him with that chairshot. Post-match, with Booker in tears, Sharmell and JBL ecstatic, and Michael Cole in complete shock, is fantastic. A home run all around.