Post by Head Booker on Jan 31, 2007 6:58:52 GMT -6
WWE Smackdown/ECW TV taping
January 30, 2007
Houston, Texas at the Toyota Center
Report by James Caldwell, Torch columnist
For the third consecutive night, WWE claimed a sell-out on their tour of Texas. There were a good number of empty seats in the lower bowl on the hard camera side, but every other section was nearly full with a few scattered seats. If the show was a true sell-out, WWE can thank a strong walk-up crowd. The box office line was wrapped around the arena halfway down the street an hour before the show started.
At the conclusion of the Smackdown taping tonight in Houston, Vince McMahon announced World Hvt. champion Batista & The Undertaker vs. WWE champion John Cena & Shawn Michaels as the main event of the February 18 No Way Out PPV.
The show was built around Undertaker having to decide on his WrestleMania opponent, with Batista forcing the issue in the main event segment. John Cena and Shawn Michaels then made surprise appearances, followed by Vince McMahon, who made the announcement.
Full details on the Smackdown/ECW taping will be posted later tonight.
CREDIT: PWtorch.com
Dark Matches
(1) Chuck Palumbo beat Funaki in 4:00. Palumbo is using a fallaway slam as his finisher now. He's been gone for a while, but he still hasn't found his charisma.
(2) Boris Alexiev beat Jamie Noble in 3:00. Boris, who's on the OVW roster, came out to Vladimir Koslov's ring entrance and Tony Chimel announced him as Koslov. Ya know, all Russians look alike. Boris had the evil foreigner music that you'd see in an old movie. Noble was picked for the match to bump around for Boris, but it wasn't very interesting. Boris won with a leg grapevine for the tap out victory. Chimel then announced him as Boris Alexiev and everyone was confused.
Smackdown
The show was focused on Batista demanding that Undertaker give him an answer of which title belt he was going after. They also started building up matches for the No Way Out PPV in three weeks.
(1) Chris Benoit beat Finlay in 15:00 to retain the U.S. Title. Finlay worked on Benoit's left knee for the most of the match. Benoit is so great at selling an opponent's offense, even at something as simple as his knee giving out before he could execute a snap suplex. Finlay then removed the turnbuckle to distract the referee and go for the shillelagh, but Little Bastard wouldn't budge from under the ring. Finlay couldn't figure out why L.B. wasn't co-operating. Boogeyman's music suddenly hit and we saw that Boogeyman had L.B. by the foot under the ring. This distracted Finlay and Benoit rolled up Finlay from behind for the win. Afterward, Boogeyman chased L.B. around the ring before leaving. Finlay and L.B. then provided comedy relief running around the ring after the match. Probable NWO match #1: Finlay vs. Boogeyman.
Kristal interviewed Vickie Guerrero backstage. She was without the neckbrace. Apparently, Chavo is no longer on the show. Vickie said she's going to call Teddy Long on unsafe working conditions. She then said she's looking forward to some new opportunities that have caught her eye.
(2) Deuce & Domino (w/Cherry) beat Paul London & Brian Kendrick (w/Ashley) in 13:00 in a non-title match. It was inevitable this match would occur considering there aren't any steps for Deuce & Domino to climb on the ladder between jobber tag teams and the tag champs. Deuce hit a Shining Wizard on Kendrick and Domino scored the pin. London was KO'ed on the floor after being hip tossed hard to the ground. Probable NWO match #2: London & Kendrick vs. Deuce & Domino for the tag titles.
King Booker and Sharmell came out for a royal procession. Booker received a mixed reception when he came out, but then Sharmell turned everyone against Booker with the "All Hail" chants. The storyline was that Booker was given the key to his hometown of Houston. Three independent wrestlers served as the Ancient Order of Royal Houstonians. For some reason, my application hasn't come in the mail yet. They then read a royal proclamation. King Booker then read his own statement placing himself above notable Houstonians such as Roger Clemens. He got the big heel heat for reminding everyone that the Rockets have won two NBA championships, while he's a five-time WCW champion. Booker forced the three men to kiss his ring, then he approached ZZ Top ringside. Billy Gibbons refused to kiss Booker's ring or feet, then Kane interrupted. He went through the three men before clearing Booker from the ring with a big boot. Booker and Sharmell then bolted through the crowd. Kane knocked over the set before leaving. Probable NWO match #3: Kane vs. Booker.
(3) Mr. Kennedy beat Vito in 3:00. Vito apparently did some shopping in the Galleria before the show, as he had a fur coat to complete his outfit. Kennedy came out to a face reaction and didn't do the usual intro before the match. He ripped off Vito's skirt and choked him with it, but the fans still didn't turn on Kennedy. He eventually won with the top rope forward roll. Afterward, Kennedy choked out Vito with Vito's skirt and announced himself as the winner. The fans still didn't turn on Kennedy for choking out Vito after the match. They simply didn't react.
JBL hosted a bikini contest. He said Mr. McMahon might have been making fun of Jim Ross on Raw last night when he ran down people who wear cowboy hats, but McMahon clearly wasn't talking about him. He introduced Kristal, Ashley, and Jillian for the contest. Kristal had a tiny leopard print bikini that wowed the audience. Ashley received a stronger reaction for her selection. Jillian then did the same thing she's done at house shows by stripping down to a t-shirt and gym shorts. JBL was indignant. Jillian then said she would show her talent through song. She began singing/butchering a Britney Spears song, and JBL cut her off when the audience could take no more. JBL with the line of the night: "I've heard Michael Hayes sing Badstreet better than that." The fan voting was won by Ashley, then she tackled Jillian and stripped her down. Jillian took off running.
Mr. Kennedy talked to Teddy Long backstage. He pointed out that he had Batista beat at the Rumble. After arguing back and forth, Teddy agreed to give Kennedy a title re-match. He booked it for next week's show.
(4) The Miz beat Matt Hardy in 6:00. Yes, you read it correctly. Miz has now beaten Matt Hardy. Mercury came through the crowd and smashed Hardy in the face with his facemask while the ref's back was turned. Miz then hit a swinging neckbreaker for the win. Hardy continues to get strong crowd reactions, even receiving a "Hardy" chant while being helped to the back by the referee. Everyone is holding out hope for Matt. Probable NWO match #4: Hardy vs. Mercury.
Batista came out in street clothes. He talked up Undertaker's streak and painted a picture of his title vs. Taker's streak at WrestleMania. He demanded a decision from Taker. Instead, John Cena's music hit and the placed erupted. One of the loudest pops I've heard in an arena. Cena recapped his trials and tribulations of the week, then talked about Undertaker mastering the art of winning WrestleMania matches. He was basically stalling for Taker to come out. He made his slow entrance, which led to a three-man staring contest in center ring. Suddenly, the second big surprise was DX's music and Shawn Michaels. Another big pop. He went straight to Taker and asked him if he thought they were done after finishing the Rumble against each other. The third surprise was Vince McMahon coming out. He stepped up to HBK and told him off before telling off the fans. McMahon then booked HBK & Cena vs. Taker & Batista as the main event of No Way Out. Taker didn't provide an answer to Batista or even utter a word. McMahon left, then everyone stared each other down before leaving the ring. Definite No Way Out match #5: HBK & Cena vs. Taker & Batista.
In between taping Smackdown and ECW, Tony Chimel announced a big eight-man tag match after the ECW taping to prevent fans from leaving during the ECW show. With Lashley-Test Part Too Many as the advertised main event, they had to keep that carrot dangling out there for fans to stick around.
ECW Live on Sci Fi
Vince McMahon bumped into Marcus Cor Von (Monty Brown) backstage. Marcus had to suck up to McMahon, who then found The Sandman reading the paper and downing beer. He questioned Sandman for drinking on the job and sang a little number about Sandman's name. McMahon said some changes were going to take place. Sandman wasn't impressed. He was popular with the live crowd here.
(1) Matt Striker beat C.M. Punk in 5:00. Basic match between these two. The crowd wasn't into the match thanks to all the special appearances in the final segment of the Smackdown taping and there being a 15-20 minute break in between shows. Striker rolled up Punk with a hook of the tights for the win. Punk is just another guy right now. This is complete Even Steven booking, and Punk certainly isn't benefiting.
McMahon hugged Rebecca backstage. We only saw the back of her head, which made it seem like McMahon was hugging Stephanie McMahon. He then walked up to Tommy Dreamer and questioned him on his name. He said he deals in reality, not in dreams.
(2) Hardcore Holly beat Rob Van Dam in 15:00. Very slow and uneventful in the middle of the match. The end picked up considerably and the fans came to life as RVD set up for the Five Star frog splash, but missed his finisher. Holly then botched an Alabama Slam before throwing RVD into the ringpost and executing his finisher on the second try. Based on the outcome here, it seems like they're building up Holly as Lashley's ECW Title match opponent at WrestleMania.
Vince McMahon approached Sabu and said he thought they were in Texas, not in Afghanistan. He then rattled off Sabu's nicknames, and stopped at "suicidal". He suddenly told Sabu to stay away from him. The basic premise of the booking is to show that Vince McMahon is above the ECW product, fans, wrestlers, and the entire brand.
On the way to the ring for his public address of all things ECW, McMahon found Balls Mahoney rocking out to some music. McMahon questioned his name and said Mahoney's probably not even Irish like him. He turned his nose down to Balls and left to the ring.
Kelly Kelly's troupe came to the ring and did a stripper dance to Christina Aguilera's "Dirrty" song. For a company that airs a 10-minute video package on "WWE Pop Culture" before every show, you would think they'd upgrade the pop music selections to be more current. McMahon interrupted the dancing and came to the ring for a promo on ECW. He said the ECW originals suck. The original ECW sucked. Anyone who liked the original ECW sucks. The fans chanted, "You suck" and McMahon paused before screaming at everyone to shut up. McMahon said he was going to turn ECW into something meaningful. He said he needs wrestlers who will get on the juice...oops...be physically imposing instead of misfits. He brought out Elijah Burke, who had no reaction before he started kissing McMahon's ass. The ECW wrestlers hit the ring and delivered a four-on-one beating on Burke. McMahon simply backed out of the ring and watched. They placed Burke on a table and Sabu hit an Arabian Facebuster directly onto Burke's face. Not pretty. Sabu was bleeding heavily across his back after the segment. Apparently, he cut his back on the edge of the table.
(3) Bobby Lashley beat Test in 8:00 to retain the ECW Title. It's amazing to think that someone can walk out of a title match and be willingly counted out, yet still receive another title match two nights later. Completely illogical, but with Lashley winning clean in the middle of the ring, this appeared to be the finale of the series. We can only hope. They went for a brawling type match early on before settling back into the ring for a typical big man vs. big man exchange. I'm not sure what's worse - watching the same match live for the second time in three nights, or the fact that Test used a submission hold that The Miz used earlier in the taping. When you're stealing moves from Miz, maybe it's time to reconsider your career as a professional wrestler. Lashley hit a running powerslam to win.
Afterward, Taker appeared in the ring from out of nowhere and stared down Taker to continue his "tour" of the three brands before making a decision. Test tried to hit Lashley with a chair, but Taker cut him off with a chokeslam. Lashley then slowly left the ring.
This led to...
Bonus match
(1) John Cena & Batista & Shawn Michaels & The Undertaker beat Mr. Kennedy & King Booker (w/Sharmell) & M.V.P. & Finlay in 10:00. The heels stormed the ring with Taker by himself after Lashley left. The faces then evened the odds and settled things down. Taker pleased the crowd with Old School walking the ropes on everyone except Booker, who kicked him off the top rope. The heels isolated Taker for about five minutes, which was very surprising. Not only because Taker was isolated, but because he had to sell a considerable amount of offense that he normally wouldn't sell. Cena then took the hot tag and the action broke down. Eventually, Kennedy went around the ring taking signature moves before taking the FU from Cena for the win. Entertaining match with everyone trying to take it easy. Roughly 80 percent of the fans stuck around for the bonus match.
Taker left, followed by HBK, who kept threatening to jump Cena in a playful way. This left Cena and Batista in the ring. You could tell that Cena is slowly becoming the leader of this promotion on the air. Maybe not so much backstage, but little things are adding up right now. He led the crowd in a "can you top this?" competition. He talked about the three straight sell-outs in Texas and claimed San Antonio and Dallas were louder than Houston. Cena riled up the fans one more time to prove him wrong, then he closed out the show with Batista following his lead.
January 30, 2007
Houston, Texas at the Toyota Center
Report by James Caldwell, Torch columnist
For the third consecutive night, WWE claimed a sell-out on their tour of Texas. There were a good number of empty seats in the lower bowl on the hard camera side, but every other section was nearly full with a few scattered seats. If the show was a true sell-out, WWE can thank a strong walk-up crowd. The box office line was wrapped around the arena halfway down the street an hour before the show started.
At the conclusion of the Smackdown taping tonight in Houston, Vince McMahon announced World Hvt. champion Batista & The Undertaker vs. WWE champion John Cena & Shawn Michaels as the main event of the February 18 No Way Out PPV.
The show was built around Undertaker having to decide on his WrestleMania opponent, with Batista forcing the issue in the main event segment. John Cena and Shawn Michaels then made surprise appearances, followed by Vince McMahon, who made the announcement.
Full details on the Smackdown/ECW taping will be posted later tonight.
CREDIT: PWtorch.com
Dark Matches
(1) Chuck Palumbo beat Funaki in 4:00. Palumbo is using a fallaway slam as his finisher now. He's been gone for a while, but he still hasn't found his charisma.
(2) Boris Alexiev beat Jamie Noble in 3:00. Boris, who's on the OVW roster, came out to Vladimir Koslov's ring entrance and Tony Chimel announced him as Koslov. Ya know, all Russians look alike. Boris had the evil foreigner music that you'd see in an old movie. Noble was picked for the match to bump around for Boris, but it wasn't very interesting. Boris won with a leg grapevine for the tap out victory. Chimel then announced him as Boris Alexiev and everyone was confused.
Smackdown
The show was focused on Batista demanding that Undertaker give him an answer of which title belt he was going after. They also started building up matches for the No Way Out PPV in three weeks.
(1) Chris Benoit beat Finlay in 15:00 to retain the U.S. Title. Finlay worked on Benoit's left knee for the most of the match. Benoit is so great at selling an opponent's offense, even at something as simple as his knee giving out before he could execute a snap suplex. Finlay then removed the turnbuckle to distract the referee and go for the shillelagh, but Little Bastard wouldn't budge from under the ring. Finlay couldn't figure out why L.B. wasn't co-operating. Boogeyman's music suddenly hit and we saw that Boogeyman had L.B. by the foot under the ring. This distracted Finlay and Benoit rolled up Finlay from behind for the win. Afterward, Boogeyman chased L.B. around the ring before leaving. Finlay and L.B. then provided comedy relief running around the ring after the match. Probable NWO match #1: Finlay vs. Boogeyman.
Kristal interviewed Vickie Guerrero backstage. She was without the neckbrace. Apparently, Chavo is no longer on the show. Vickie said she's going to call Teddy Long on unsafe working conditions. She then said she's looking forward to some new opportunities that have caught her eye.
(2) Deuce & Domino (w/Cherry) beat Paul London & Brian Kendrick (w/Ashley) in 13:00 in a non-title match. It was inevitable this match would occur considering there aren't any steps for Deuce & Domino to climb on the ladder between jobber tag teams and the tag champs. Deuce hit a Shining Wizard on Kendrick and Domino scored the pin. London was KO'ed on the floor after being hip tossed hard to the ground. Probable NWO match #2: London & Kendrick vs. Deuce & Domino for the tag titles.
King Booker and Sharmell came out for a royal procession. Booker received a mixed reception when he came out, but then Sharmell turned everyone against Booker with the "All Hail" chants. The storyline was that Booker was given the key to his hometown of Houston. Three independent wrestlers served as the Ancient Order of Royal Houstonians. For some reason, my application hasn't come in the mail yet. They then read a royal proclamation. King Booker then read his own statement placing himself above notable Houstonians such as Roger Clemens. He got the big heel heat for reminding everyone that the Rockets have won two NBA championships, while he's a five-time WCW champion. Booker forced the three men to kiss his ring, then he approached ZZ Top ringside. Billy Gibbons refused to kiss Booker's ring or feet, then Kane interrupted. He went through the three men before clearing Booker from the ring with a big boot. Booker and Sharmell then bolted through the crowd. Kane knocked over the set before leaving. Probable NWO match #3: Kane vs. Booker.
(3) Mr. Kennedy beat Vito in 3:00. Vito apparently did some shopping in the Galleria before the show, as he had a fur coat to complete his outfit. Kennedy came out to a face reaction and didn't do the usual intro before the match. He ripped off Vito's skirt and choked him with it, but the fans still didn't turn on Kennedy. He eventually won with the top rope forward roll. Afterward, Kennedy choked out Vito with Vito's skirt and announced himself as the winner. The fans still didn't turn on Kennedy for choking out Vito after the match. They simply didn't react.
JBL hosted a bikini contest. He said Mr. McMahon might have been making fun of Jim Ross on Raw last night when he ran down people who wear cowboy hats, but McMahon clearly wasn't talking about him. He introduced Kristal, Ashley, and Jillian for the contest. Kristal had a tiny leopard print bikini that wowed the audience. Ashley received a stronger reaction for her selection. Jillian then did the same thing she's done at house shows by stripping down to a t-shirt and gym shorts. JBL was indignant. Jillian then said she would show her talent through song. She began singing/butchering a Britney Spears song, and JBL cut her off when the audience could take no more. JBL with the line of the night: "I've heard Michael Hayes sing Badstreet better than that." The fan voting was won by Ashley, then she tackled Jillian and stripped her down. Jillian took off running.
Mr. Kennedy talked to Teddy Long backstage. He pointed out that he had Batista beat at the Rumble. After arguing back and forth, Teddy agreed to give Kennedy a title re-match. He booked it for next week's show.
(4) The Miz beat Matt Hardy in 6:00. Yes, you read it correctly. Miz has now beaten Matt Hardy. Mercury came through the crowd and smashed Hardy in the face with his facemask while the ref's back was turned. Miz then hit a swinging neckbreaker for the win. Hardy continues to get strong crowd reactions, even receiving a "Hardy" chant while being helped to the back by the referee. Everyone is holding out hope for Matt. Probable NWO match #4: Hardy vs. Mercury.
Batista came out in street clothes. He talked up Undertaker's streak and painted a picture of his title vs. Taker's streak at WrestleMania. He demanded a decision from Taker. Instead, John Cena's music hit and the placed erupted. One of the loudest pops I've heard in an arena. Cena recapped his trials and tribulations of the week, then talked about Undertaker mastering the art of winning WrestleMania matches. He was basically stalling for Taker to come out. He made his slow entrance, which led to a three-man staring contest in center ring. Suddenly, the second big surprise was DX's music and Shawn Michaels. Another big pop. He went straight to Taker and asked him if he thought they were done after finishing the Rumble against each other. The third surprise was Vince McMahon coming out. He stepped up to HBK and told him off before telling off the fans. McMahon then booked HBK & Cena vs. Taker & Batista as the main event of No Way Out. Taker didn't provide an answer to Batista or even utter a word. McMahon left, then everyone stared each other down before leaving the ring. Definite No Way Out match #5: HBK & Cena vs. Taker & Batista.
In between taping Smackdown and ECW, Tony Chimel announced a big eight-man tag match after the ECW taping to prevent fans from leaving during the ECW show. With Lashley-Test Part Too Many as the advertised main event, they had to keep that carrot dangling out there for fans to stick around.
ECW Live on Sci Fi
Vince McMahon bumped into Marcus Cor Von (Monty Brown) backstage. Marcus had to suck up to McMahon, who then found The Sandman reading the paper and downing beer. He questioned Sandman for drinking on the job and sang a little number about Sandman's name. McMahon said some changes were going to take place. Sandman wasn't impressed. He was popular with the live crowd here.
(1) Matt Striker beat C.M. Punk in 5:00. Basic match between these two. The crowd wasn't into the match thanks to all the special appearances in the final segment of the Smackdown taping and there being a 15-20 minute break in between shows. Striker rolled up Punk with a hook of the tights for the win. Punk is just another guy right now. This is complete Even Steven booking, and Punk certainly isn't benefiting.
McMahon hugged Rebecca backstage. We only saw the back of her head, which made it seem like McMahon was hugging Stephanie McMahon. He then walked up to Tommy Dreamer and questioned him on his name. He said he deals in reality, not in dreams.
(2) Hardcore Holly beat Rob Van Dam in 15:00. Very slow and uneventful in the middle of the match. The end picked up considerably and the fans came to life as RVD set up for the Five Star frog splash, but missed his finisher. Holly then botched an Alabama Slam before throwing RVD into the ringpost and executing his finisher on the second try. Based on the outcome here, it seems like they're building up Holly as Lashley's ECW Title match opponent at WrestleMania.
Vince McMahon approached Sabu and said he thought they were in Texas, not in Afghanistan. He then rattled off Sabu's nicknames, and stopped at "suicidal". He suddenly told Sabu to stay away from him. The basic premise of the booking is to show that Vince McMahon is above the ECW product, fans, wrestlers, and the entire brand.
On the way to the ring for his public address of all things ECW, McMahon found Balls Mahoney rocking out to some music. McMahon questioned his name and said Mahoney's probably not even Irish like him. He turned his nose down to Balls and left to the ring.
Kelly Kelly's troupe came to the ring and did a stripper dance to Christina Aguilera's "Dirrty" song. For a company that airs a 10-minute video package on "WWE Pop Culture" before every show, you would think they'd upgrade the pop music selections to be more current. McMahon interrupted the dancing and came to the ring for a promo on ECW. He said the ECW originals suck. The original ECW sucked. Anyone who liked the original ECW sucks. The fans chanted, "You suck" and McMahon paused before screaming at everyone to shut up. McMahon said he was going to turn ECW into something meaningful. He said he needs wrestlers who will get on the juice...oops...be physically imposing instead of misfits. He brought out Elijah Burke, who had no reaction before he started kissing McMahon's ass. The ECW wrestlers hit the ring and delivered a four-on-one beating on Burke. McMahon simply backed out of the ring and watched. They placed Burke on a table and Sabu hit an Arabian Facebuster directly onto Burke's face. Not pretty. Sabu was bleeding heavily across his back after the segment. Apparently, he cut his back on the edge of the table.
(3) Bobby Lashley beat Test in 8:00 to retain the ECW Title. It's amazing to think that someone can walk out of a title match and be willingly counted out, yet still receive another title match two nights later. Completely illogical, but with Lashley winning clean in the middle of the ring, this appeared to be the finale of the series. We can only hope. They went for a brawling type match early on before settling back into the ring for a typical big man vs. big man exchange. I'm not sure what's worse - watching the same match live for the second time in three nights, or the fact that Test used a submission hold that The Miz used earlier in the taping. When you're stealing moves from Miz, maybe it's time to reconsider your career as a professional wrestler. Lashley hit a running powerslam to win.
Afterward, Taker appeared in the ring from out of nowhere and stared down Taker to continue his "tour" of the three brands before making a decision. Test tried to hit Lashley with a chair, but Taker cut him off with a chokeslam. Lashley then slowly left the ring.
This led to...
Bonus match
(1) John Cena & Batista & Shawn Michaels & The Undertaker beat Mr. Kennedy & King Booker (w/Sharmell) & M.V.P. & Finlay in 10:00. The heels stormed the ring with Taker by himself after Lashley left. The faces then evened the odds and settled things down. Taker pleased the crowd with Old School walking the ropes on everyone except Booker, who kicked him off the top rope. The heels isolated Taker for about five minutes, which was very surprising. Not only because Taker was isolated, but because he had to sell a considerable amount of offense that he normally wouldn't sell. Cena then took the hot tag and the action broke down. Eventually, Kennedy went around the ring taking signature moves before taking the FU from Cena for the win. Entertaining match with everyone trying to take it easy. Roughly 80 percent of the fans stuck around for the bonus match.
Taker left, followed by HBK, who kept threatening to jump Cena in a playful way. This left Cena and Batista in the ring. You could tell that Cena is slowly becoming the leader of this promotion on the air. Maybe not so much backstage, but little things are adding up right now. He led the crowd in a "can you top this?" competition. He talked about the three straight sell-outs in Texas and claimed San Antonio and Dallas were louder than Houston. Cena riled up the fans one more time to prove him wrong, then he closed out the show with Batista following his lead.
