WWE SmackDown Taping Results (09/25) *Spoilers*
 

Smackdown from Tulsa, OK

The show opened with CM Punk making his way to the ring. Fantastic heat-great crowd in Tulsa. Punk ran down a list of his accomplishments, figuring the alcoholic drug fiends in attendance probably couldn't remember them. Another mention of the "enigmatic enabler" Jeff Hardy. Punk had the crowd good and riled up. Suddenly the arena got dark and Undertaker's music hit. A team of druids carried a casket down to ringside. Punk poked around the coffin awhile, then finally ripped the top open. Surprisingly, a tied up Teddy Long was inside. Punk pulled him into the ring, and gave Long the mike. Teddy said that Taker's submission move was now legal. He also said Punk would defend his belt at the "Hell in a Cell" PPV against Taker in the demonic cage. Finally, Long announced a match this evening between the two. Punk played upset. I hope Vince knows what a great personality he has in CM Punk-great work all the way through this segment.

John Morrison & Finlay def. Dolph Ziggler & Mike Knox. (***) Morrison, shockingly, got very little reaction coming out...Finlay actually received a bigger pop! Thankfully, no chants of "Mr. Ziggles" this evening; I pray to almighty Jesus they've dropped that from the IC champ's repetoire. Fans were into the match; Knox was terrific. Too bad he's been buried so bad it's almost impossible to give him a legit push. Ending came when ref's back was turned while dealing with Ziggler. Finlay ran in and smacked Knox over the head with the shileleh. (SP.?) Morrison then broke out Starship Pain and got the win. Entertaining.

A backstage vignette with Crime Tyme and Slammaster J aired. It began as an attempt to sell DVD's; then Teddy Long appeared and told J that he would be in the ring tonight against a mystery opponent.

Before the next match, an ad for "Hell in a Cell" PPV aired.

Kane pinned Slammaster J. (no stars) Complete squash, maybe 30 seconds. Kane wins with the chokeslam.

Another backstage piece, this time featuring CM Punk confronting Vince McMahon about having to face Undertaker tonight. Vince said that's what he gets for conspiring with the referee and Long at "Breaking Point". Punk began to tell Vince "But it was your idea", but Vince cut him off and left him standing.

Vince McMahon came out to an enormous pop. Fans were bowing and going nuts for what they must have assumed was the "face" version of Mr. McMahon. The cheering turned to boos when Vince began running down "this godawful hillbilly state, Oklahoma." He ragged on the state a little, then poked some fun at JR. Actually, hilarious stuff. The heel McMahon, though somewhat stale, is miles above the nice guy routine, probably because even hillbillies know that's bullshit. They didn't mind cheering him on the way out, though. Vince also said next week was a 3 hour celebration of the 10th anniversary of Smackdown. He mentioned Steve Austin and The Rock. Of course, crowd started chanting "What?", which McMahon had some nice comebacks for. "Hillbilly says what?" "What?" "Exactly." He then introduced a man he said he personally signed, and a man who would someday be world champion. Out came Drew McIntyre. No pressure, Drew. Drew cut a promo, and of course the crown started chanting "USA!" since our biggest enemy is Scotland. McMahon quietly left during the Scot's speech, then R Truth came down one of the aisles rapping his masterpiece, "What's up?". For some strange reason, Truth received the 2nd biggest pop of the night, despite his frequent ass-kickings of late. Truth dove into the ring, brawling with McIntyre. 3 refs instantly, as if they were psychic, came running in from the back to break it up. Crowd ate it up; I decided everything Vince said was true.

Batista def Big Show by DQ (**1/2) Yes, that's kind of high for a Leviathan-Giant matchup, but thankfully Batista was on the defensive almost the whole match, while Show applied the standard bearhugs among other classics. None of it mattered, because Chris Jericho, who accompanied Show, was drawing heat by yelling at JR and trying to get involved. Has anyone else noticed Jericho is awesome? Thought so. Finale came when Jericho was caught interfering, drawing the DQ. While Show was catching a blow on his back outside the ring, Batista applied the Anglelock on Jericho, which he sold like a madman. The vendors probably heard his screams. Fun stuff, thanks to CJ. After the match, Batista was interviewed backstage. He said he had a partner, and they would challenge Jericho and Show for the tag titles at "Hell in a Cell". He said his partners number was "619" which got a loud ovation. They'll probably give them the belts to placate Rey over the suspension.

David Hart Smith def. JTG (**) Outside interference cost JTG the match. This team is a booker and marketer's dream (The Hart Dynasty). Hopefully they'll get a long title reign.

CM Punk def. Undertaker by countout (**) The crowd was insane for this match. Not surprisingly, Taker had by far the biggest pop of the night. Some decent back and forth, but Taker was obviously avoiding any big bumps. After a bit, both men ended up outside the ring. The Dead Man cleared the announcers table, teasing a chokeslam, which drove the fans bonkers. Some of us noticed that he never removed the TV monitors from the table, so the maneuver was highly unlikely. After slipping out of Taker's grasp, Punk ran into the ring and ran out the other side. Taker ran in also, and the bell rang. The match went to CM Punk by countout, which was unpopular, to say the least. Punk walked backwards up the aisle, pointing to his title and his unmarred by narcotics brain. Taker then did the jog up the ramp after CM disappeared to the back, and the show ended. Seconds after we were off the air, Taker dragged Punk back to the ring, where he sent the Okies home happy with a chokeslam and tombstone.

Wait, why can the midget come back so quick. I thought his suspension just started

I believe by the time HiaC rolls around, Rey's suspension will be up. He was suspended at the beginning of this month, IIRC, and his suspension was only of the 30-day variety, so Rey will have long since "paid the price" for his Wellness Policy violation by then.

His suspension started on September 2nd.

So is the Punk/Taker match a Hell in a Cell or is it just at Hell in a Cell?

I'm not sure yet. Maybe when another report is posted it will include a little more detail.

Don't think that 619 is just Rey Mysterio....

Why does FourFifty have a Ken doll in a bad wig and mask as his avatar?

It's a chick cosplaying as Kane.

.....The juxtaposition of our two avatars is quite delightful. You have a typical blond beauty, and a possibly psychotic brunet in a Kane mask. It makes me laugh.

That 'typical blond beauty' is my wife I'll have you know.

Attachment 6141

.............well, there is no squirming my way out of this one.

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Apparently Vince McMahon put over Drew McIntyre as a guy who will one day be World Champion.

Also, the non-title main event was a great way to put over The Undertaker and give him a win over Punk, so he can retain some momentum after Punk defeats him at Hell in a Cell.

Just curious, did DH Smith actually fight JTG as it says in the report, or was that Slam Master J, as it also said in the report that Slam Master J would be in action...?

The Slam Master J match probably got cut for time. Don't know.

Wouldn't hurt my feelings any if it did.

updated the original post with a more detailed report

I'll have to tune in this week. The show actually seems pretty good from the sound of it. It's a shame that THIS show, the far better show, isn't on RAW.

Smackdown has been superior in every way since the draft.

Even ECW has been better than Raw imo

It's just too bad that in the not-so-distant future, the brightest stars of both Smackdown and ECW will be shipped to RAW....where in all likelihood, they will be buried.

It's absolutely insane that RAW is the worst show despite the WWE's effort to make it the flagship. What have the ratings been like lately? Have Smackdown's ratings been higher than RAW's? If not - then the only logic that I can think of is that the WWE is simply using RAW to target a younger demographic....and are being somewhat successful with it. This would also explain the current characters of John Cena, DX, and Santino Marella.

RAW's ratings are much higher. SmackDown! has the disadvantage of being on a Friday night, and not really having the same big names. That was last time I checked, anyway. I wish SmackDown! would move back to Thursdays, or something.

Raw basically doubles Smackdown in ratings, which is unfortunate given the blaring differences between the two.

I hope that they do actually do what someone suggested, and have Rey Mysterio pinned at Hell in a Cell, only for Batista to turn on him and give him a Batista Bomb. A Rey Mysterio vs. Batista feud would actually be pretty cool.

I gotta say, I really enjoyed reading that report. Good writing by whoever that was.

Smackdown is entertaining as always.

Drew - OMFG! Talk about getting put over, good for him!

Bats heel turn would be great, I'm confused though, shouldn't he be in the main event?

Interesting that they are still talking about Hardy on TV after all the recent trouble, 'The charasmatic enabler' character could really take off :lol:

Generally, sounds like, yet again, another solid show

Yeah, I enjoyed reading that report aswell, written in alot more detail than usual.

stay classy, 450 :lol:

But the reporter sort of annoyed me. I always had an inclining that the powers that be had a thing for Drew McIntyre. Michael Hayes has done a good job with him -- pacing him out tremendously.

I hope this doesn't turn into an Elijah Burke situation.

:lol: at Punk saying the screwjob was Vince's idea and Vince cuts him off.

:nono: at Batista's 1st appearance on Smackdown and he's already guaranteed a title match.

See, Batista used his cheat code already!

I totally thought of Elijah Burke when Vince said he was signed personally by him and is a future World champion.

Due to the Red Sox/Yanks game being on MyNetwork tonight and me not wanting to wait until 11 PM to watch this thing, I found a copy of the episode online.

I didn't look up the spoilers before watching, so I actually watched more intently than I usually do. Very, very good opening segment with Punk and Teddy Long (and DRUIDS~!!), and the Punk/Vince interaction backstage was great. I'm surprised they're pushing McIntyre so hard so soon, but he's done well with it so far, IMO. As entertaining as JeriShow has been as tag champs, I almost wish they'd get back to using the tag belts to promote actual tag teams, and not main eventers moonlighting as a tag team while creative has nothing for them to do. Cryme Tyme and the Harts have been fighting each other every week for like two months now -- give one of them the damn titles already and let them fight over the straps.

And holy crap, don't look now, but John Morrison and the IC title are booked for a PPV. I'll believe it when they're actually making the introductions at the PPV, but they gave him and Ziggy a graphic and everything on SmackDown.

Looks like next week's show is going to completely ignore the brand split on account of the 10th anniversary. Vince announced DX and John Cena would be on the show, and I have no doubt they'll end up playing the same DVD promotional clips they've been running for awhile now (the Lesnar/Show ring collapse, 9/11 tribute, etc.) although I would still mark out for that clip of Rhyno goring Jericho through the set.

lol

This guy should get ryan clark's job.