DrVenkman PhD

More detail: WWE Smackdown TV event, plus live thoughts on ECW February 13, 2006 Seattle, Washington at the Key Arena Report by Mike Roe, Torch specialist Dark match: Matt Hardy defeated Chuck Palumbo. Yes, this match seriously happened. Palumbo came out wearing a top hat. I actually thought for quite a while that Palumbo could win, and I wouldn't have been surprised whatsoever. Matt Hardy, wrestling dark matches! On the plus side, it probably shows faith that he can get the crowd fired up before they started the ECW taping. Not much to note that wasn't shown on TV during the ECW taping, except that Bobby Lashley is much, much worse in person, without the aid of quick camera cuts to help smooth out his matches. Also, Matt Striker had a great bit to get heat before his match. He started coming out, already to fairly decent heat, but then complained to the fans that the reaction that Elijah Burke and him were getting wasn't the appropriate reaction. Instead, he insisted on silent awe, and went back so they could do it again. His music hit again, and the fans did not give him silent awe. I believe he went back and did it a third time before giving up on the crowd and walking to the ring. After the ECW taping, they came and changed the ropes and set for Smackdown. Smackdown tapings: (1) The Boogeyman defeated Finlay. The ref was distracted and Little Bastard ran in. He used the shillelagh, but Boogeyman no sold it. Little Bastard was wondering what to do next when Mini-Boogeyman invaded. Well, I don't know what they're calling him, but he was a perfect little mini version of the Boogeyman, with the makeup, mannerisms, and everything. He tackled the Little Bastard and went to work! The crowd loved Mini-Boogeyman. Boogeyman took advantage of Little Bastard being taken out and defeated Finlay. (2) Deuce (with Domino & Cherry) defeated Brian Kendrick (with Paul London, without Ashley). No Ashley, because her talking about getting naked later in the show was far more important than helping the team that she manages. Kendrick was announced as coming from Olympia, Washington, and got the requisite hometown pop. Deuce and Domino's entrance is great live, and it really feels like a complete act. It also goes a long way toward covering up their shortcomings in the ring. Kendrick went up to the top rope to finish things off, but Domino shoved him off and Deuce hit his kick to the face finisher for the win. - John Cena came up to Shawn Michaels in the locker room. Michaels told Cena that, as he proved at Raw in their main event match, until WrestleMania, he has Cena's back. There was some tension teased, but it wasn't really overt. - Kennedy and MVP were shown walking to the ring through the hallways backstage. (3) John Cena & Shawn Michaels defeated Mr. Kennedy & MVP. Good match, though I was disappointed that Kennedy didn't get to do his ring announcing. I was also amazed at all the work the production crew has to do to set up MVP's entrance set. There was some teasing of tension between Cena and Michaels, but nothing broke out between them. There was a nice moment where Cena was staying in the ring a bit longer than Michaels, soaking in the cheers, and Michaels looked a little annoyed while waiting for Cena on the entranceway. Cena joined him and they left together. - Kristal was in Teddy Long's office, telling Long that she didn't know which of her talents she was going to show off at No Way Out in the diva talent show. Jillian Hall came in singing. She said that she wasn't sure what song she wanted to do, and was thinking that maybe she would rap. She started rapping. Teddy talked to her as if she was a small child and encouraged her to go practice some more. After she left, Kristal offered to show more of her talents to Teddy Long. She took off her clothes down to her bra, then we cut to a break. - When they came back to Teddy Long, Kristal was topless and Teddy was happy. Teddy thanked her and sent her on her way. Bobby Lashley came by and made pleasantries with Teddy (He'd changed into a suit after being in his ring gear earlier in the night on the ECW taping). In walked Kennedy, complaining about what happened in his match against Cena and Michaels. He then looked at Lashley and said that he wanted to challenge Lashley for the ECW World Championship. Teddy Long said that he'd have to talk to ECW officials to see if it could be done. Kennedy left. Lashley got a stern look on his face and told Long to make it happen. - Ashley came out to unveil her Playboy cover. She talked about her background, going to college for communications, etc. I couldn't hear much of it because the fans to my right were drunk and/or high and shouting "TAKE IT OFF!" in my ear for the whole thing. (4) Scotty Too Hotty versus WWE Cruisderweight Champion Gregory Helms may have ended in a no contest. It was unclear if this was a DQ or a no contest. Gregory Helms came out with new music that wasn't nearly as good as his old music. It ended when Daivari ran in and attacked Scotty, leading to the bell ringing. Afterwards, Funaki ran out for the save, attacking Daivari. Then Jamie Noble ran down to attack Funaki. Then Shannon Moore ran down and attacked Noble, so I guess he's not on ECW anymore. Gregory Helms then took out Noble. (My apologies if I got mixed up about the order of any of this.) Helms started to leave, but was stopped by Jimmy Wang Yang, who attacked Helms and sent him packing. Yang celebrated, doing his two step and getting the crowd behind him as his music played. I assume this will lead to some sort of cruiserweight battle royal/invitiational/etc. at the pay-per-view. - They aired a clip with Maryse telling us to stay tuned to Smackdown. We then saw a clip that began in a similar fashion, but then saw that it was Big Dick Johnson naked in the tub, welcoming us back to Smackdown. Yikes. They showed graphics running down the card for the pay-per-view, though the screen went black for a minute in the middle, so stuff may have been left out. They did show a graphic for Mr. Kennedy versus Lashley for the ECW World Championship at No Way Out. - Edge & Orton were in the hallway backstage, discussing their eeeevil plan for the main event in front of the camera for all the world to hear. They planned to turn the Undertaker and Batista against one another. Uh, great plan, guys. (5) The Undertaker & Batista defeated Rated RKO (Edge & Randy Orton). The plan did not work. Other notes: It was really obvious while watching this show why most of these guys are on the Smackdown roster, as there was a lot of stuff that definitely needed some serious editing. I don't know if this is due to them feeling like they were slumming it or something, but even most of the Raw stars who appeared seemed worse than they were at the Raw tapings. King Booker, Chris Benoit, and Kane weren't on the show, even though Booker and Kane have a match on the pay-per-view on Sunday. The fans here seemed to be more of the hardcore variety than at Raw. The arena was far from full, and apparently it's only the real hardcores who care to go to Smackdown/ECW tapings anymore. The ECW heels seemed to get much more heat than the Smackdown or even Raw ones, but I think it had a lot to do with the fans just hating ECW and wrestlers they thought were untalented, not really legitimate heel heat.

heh... "That's the way I roll".

I don't have a problem with all of them myself, but that's the crux of the reasoning. An entry for a poster who never even posted here? Come on now.

With special master of ceremonies (as I have no idea what else to call his involvement in the segment), Johny B. Badd! He's extra flaming in this one.

Some days I feel like going through every entry and removing every reference to The Pit, but then I don't. Someone else can feel free to take up the cause.

Rey is not coming back anytime soon. His appearance next week is to say hello to his hometown and maybe set up an angle. Sounds like picking Lashley in Fantasy paid off since he has a PPV match, although I had this feeling they would have Helms defend his title on PPV. Oh well.

Weekly 24/7 Round Up (ie 'This is what I see is new, so complain to your cable company or WWE.com if you don't have it OR let me know if I'm missing anything you have so I can do the same). Hall of Fame: 3 Sherri matches including the 1987 Survivor Series match featuring the Jumping Bomb Angels. Territories: Debut of WCCW. Big Ones: Spring Stampede 94, Survivor Series 2006 Prime Time: Prime Time Wrestling for April 27/87. Description notes a one on one match between Dynamite Kid and Bret Hart (!). I was expecting the 2/9/96 Monday Night War - is that maybe next week, or am I short changed? Specials: Divas Do New York, Legends of Wrestling: Ric Flair (this is the first time this show has appeared on my cable system since the debut, so I guess my e-mails paid off) Shorties: The other area I think I may have been short changed unless the plan is 3 this week and 3 more next, I only received 3 new segments. Trish/Ashley vs Victoria/Candice from January 2006, Kane/Shane confrontation (fire dumpster), and Missy vs Madusa in a bikini pose down from Beach Blast 92. --- I watched the Legends roundtable when I got home from work last night, it's pretty good. Hayes saying he won't forgive Ric Flair for making Luger a star was pretty funny.

The one where I had to contact City TV's Alex(is) Pierson to confirm the interview posted on a French website stating her and Trish were lesbians was false, or the more interesting deal with the pulled interview (want to say... Retro Rob).

Melina slips

Anytime the match had that 'film' quality, I was annoyed. It's a good effect for a highlight package, but in the middle of a match it was annoying.

Taker thought HBK hit him during the match, but Orton really shoved him into him. Also, Taker/Batista have a match against Cena/HBK so, yeah, angry attack before a match. I don't know where it started, but someone on an IRC channel I chat in started saying how Melina totally botched her entrance and fell on the floor... she like, barely slipped off the apron and jumped right back on.

Add in the fact that the style of match takes away the ability of those talented people to work any kind of decent match. That was kinda my point...

Hypothetically, if ECW ONS 3 had the same ticket prices as ONS 1, there might be some problems, although whether that would be more "killing the town / hardcore fanbase" thanks to that ECW TV taping in August, or just the gradual killing of the brand would be up for debate. I mentioned that example before but Hawk 34 just said "small arena, big WWE fanbase, no problems" and he's probably right.

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/5706/noavatarxi0.jpg Maybe there's something wrong with my settings, but I don't see Jimmy anymore. Edit: Well this was pointless, it was a problem on his end and he already fixed it. Good call, l u k e o.

Elevation X! Another brilliant idea. I really want to like this company, but making talented people work scaffold matches, comedy matches, 2 minutes TV matches, not work the PPV at all, or be ringside enforcers isn't helping.

Well, I can't argue with a Mountie action figure being the greatest, but damned if that Piper figure isn't awesome. I don't recall him having a "1 of 100" tattoo on his leg though.

"Claims he is a "knee slapping" reason to watch SmackDown" Subtle way of saying "fix your avatar".

At least it gives him more chance on TV. Which apperantly it doesn't. Well he did have that CW title match at Armageddon. And there was that big Tatanka feud before the mass firings. Maybe they just need to find something for him. "Will they bother to look?" is another matter.

Well it's after 7pm so I'll reveal my awesome team: Raw: Originally Cena and Michaels, now no one. ECW: Originally no one, now Bobby Lashley due to Extreme Rules match (and hopeful main event slot). SmackDown: After the ladder match was changed, it was something like Benoit (assumed he'd be at the PPV), Finlay, Kane. London, Deuce, Domino, and Teddy Long. It is now Batista (Raw, SD, PPV), Undertaker (Raw, SD, PPV), Kennedy (Raw, SD, and probably PPV), Deuce and Domino (possible title win on PPV), London (possible title retain on PPV), and Finlay (SD, PPV). So, yeah - 3 guys for Raw who aren't even Raw regulars. Nice week.

I knew being from England was the reason! It says so in your TSMpedia entry. Being an Asian Redneck doesn't really hinder his ability to wrestle in the ring. Whether he's Akio, Jimmy Yang, or Jimmy Wang, he'd pretty much be doing the same style working for the E. He just has a better chance to get over with the general fan base this way.

The biggest filler PPV of the year (right between WWE's two biggest shows, save the years where SummerSlam is bigger than the Rumble).

It is indeed from myspace.

I just saw a movie about this yesterday. I think it was called "Miracle Mile". At first I thought, "wow, the people of LA sure turned into a bunch of rapist murderers pretty quickly after hearing a RUMOUR (which turns out to be true) about nuclear missiles killing everyone", but maybe that was a social commentary. The guy that played Shao Kahn in the second MK movie is in it!

Buy a gun and publicly state a desire to kill other human beings?

Generic TSMeme