WWE Smackdown Taping Report (SPOILERS)

Credit: Justin James & PW Torch

Michael Cole came out pre-show, selling the effects of the attack on Raw. Massive heat on Cole.

Alberto Del Rio opens with a recap of his attack on Sheamus on Raw. Ricardo Rodriguez is missing. Sheamus’s music hits, but it’s Rodriguez dressed up like Sheamus, including bright white tights and shirt to emulate Sheamus’s skin. He does a hilarious imitation of Sheamus as Del Rio interviews him. The real Sheamus comes out, and they end up brawling up the ramp. Teddy Long appears, dressed in a normal (for him, not for the rest of us) suit but with the big nametag. He says that the show is in his hands tonight, per John Laurinaitis, and he’s booking Sheamus vs. Kane as the main event and Del Rio vs. Khali to open the show immediately.

(1) Alberto Del Rio beat The Great Khali via submission. Del Rio attacks Khali’s knees, then softens the arm, and Khali taps to the cross arm-breaker. Rodriguez interferes a bit, too. Typical “smaller heel beats Khali by attacking the knees” match. The crowd goers nuts for Khali, I don’t get it.

Baskstage, Naomi and Cameron dance for Teddy Long, and then Brodus Clay shows up. Long tells him that he is now permanently on Smackdown. Clay gets serious and says that he will treat his opponent tonight as if he is Big Show.

(2) Brodus Clay beat Derrick Bateman. Bateman gets squashed by Clay in a minute or two, then Clay dances with kids. I am a huge fan of both of these guys, but I was sad to see Bateman tossed out here like this.

(3) Sin Cara beat Drew McIntyre. This was basically a spotfest to make Sin Cara look good. McIntyre did his role like a pro. Sin Cara botched one move badly and McIntyre acted like it connected, very awkward. Sin Cara won with his DDT finisher.

Post-match (and not likely to go on TV from what I can tell), McIntyre cut a promo demanding that an authority figure come out and explain why he isn’t in the main event status. Triple H came out, hit a Pedigree, and left again.

(4) Ryback beat Two Local Jobbers. You’ve seen this match before. Of course, the jobbers were from Clemson to get the Columbia audience riled up. Ryback changed it up a bit to keep the match formula fresh. The crowd loves Ryback, lots of “Feed! Me! More!” and “Finish It!” chants.

The crew was setting up for the Peep Show, but deliberately didn’t finish in time so Cody Rhodes could come out and destroy the half-assembled set. He ranted about Christian, who then came out. Rhodes reminds everyone that Christian was last seen as a heel, and says that no one is buying it. Christian finally explains his turn, and says that when he inducted Edge into the HOF, he had a moment of clarity and realized that he wants to be remembered for being a winner of championships, not someone who always whined for “one more match.” Good for them to do this. Dolph Ziggler interrupted for his match with Christian.

(5) IC champion Christian beat Dolph Ziggler in a non-title match. Good, long match. Christian won at the end with the frog splash. The crowd struggled to get into it, though.

Raw Rebound.

Michael Cole got on the mic and asked everyone to “move on” past the mess from Monday. JR’s music hit and the crowd went NUTS. Hornswoggle came out dressed as JR, and people were pretty disappointed, actually. He bantered with Cole. Damien Sandow came out and verbally eviscerated Hornswoggle. Quote of the night: “I am the avenging sword of taste and decency.” I want a shirt that says that. Tyson Kidd saves Hornswoggle, and Sandow leaves the ring. As Kidd and Hornswoggle celebrate, Sandow sneaks back in and beats up Kidd, hitting his neckbreaker finisher and doing the lazy sprawl on Kidd, then a cartwheel.

Backstage, Striker interviews Kane. Basic “I’m going to get the title” promo from Kane. Striker asks about the look between Kane and A.J. on Raw, and Kane ignores it and stomps off. A.J. then appears from behind some crates. Wow, she’s stealing Johnny Curtis’s gimmick!

Teddy Long on the ramp introduces Antonio Cesaro and “his lover, Aksana.”

(6) Antonio Cesaro (w/Aksana) beat Jimmy Uso. Quick squash for Cesaro, who looked like a million bucks in victory. They forced Teddy Long to raise his hand at the end.

(7) World Hvt. champion Sheamus beat Kane via DQ. About what you’d expect, right down to the DQ finish as Del Rio cleared Kane from the ring and beat up Sheamus. Kane re-entered, cleared Del Rio, but then A.J. made eyes at him from the ramp, letting Sheamus beat up Kane and send him packing.

Close show.

After the taping, Teddy Long comes out and says there must be a winner, and books Sheamus–Kane in a steel cage match for the World Heavyweight Championship. After they set up the cage, Arn Anderson comes out in a ref shirt as the “guest enforcer” (more like a guest referee).

Dark Match: World Hvt. champion Sheamus beat Kane in a steel cage match with Arn Anderson as special referee. Back-and-forth, and Kane pushed Double A, so Anderson low-blowed Kane, letting Sheamus hit the Brogue Kick for the win.

Notes: Not much merchandise in the crowd. The merch tables were bland, and not many people were around them. There were a lot of open seats. I didn’t get my tickets until the weekend, and there were multiple blocks of seats on the floor, which never happens; in the past, I’ve tried buying ten minutes after they went on the pre-sale, and couldn’t get floor tickets! … A row away was the loudest, most obnoxious smart wrestling fan of all-time (wearing a Daniel Bryan shirt, natch). At one point, he actually lectured the crowd “That’s what real wrestling is!” when Del Rio was dominating Khali. He chanted “Claudio” at Cesaro, etc. Look, I’m a bit “vocal male,” myself, and I won’t deny it. I wore a Derrick Bateman “Chicks and America” shirt, I cheered for Natalya, and I knew who Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose were. But, this guy was just tough to be near. By contrast, the kids in front of my and even some older girls behind me were just going NUTS for the action, and they had a great time and totally bought into it. The guy sitting next to me was pretty well-read, he had a clue who Seth Rollins was, but he was able to get into it, too. I enjoyed myself.

My wife had a good time, she saw her three current favorites (Del Rio, Reks, and Sandow… I can’t say in public why she’s picked those three, but she has her reasons), but there was a definite lack of star power. Think about it…who in any of those matches has been with WWE for more than five years? Kane, Natalya, Khali, and JTG, that is it. Christian has a history, but has been back-and-forth. I was disappointed that Daniel Bryan wasn’t there (tons of his shirts in the crowd). I really wanted to see Maxine and Kaitlyn, though, and I doubt many others did, too. There were absolutely no heels with strong heat other than Cole and Del Rio, which is a bad sign.

Best Pops:

– Lilian Garcia (no lie, the roof blew off for her!)
– Triple H
– Great Khali
– Finish of the post-taping dark match
– Sheamus
– Ryback

Best Heat:

– Michael Cole
– Alberto Del Rio
– Damien Sandow
– Drew McIntyre

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