Smackdown spoilers

[Guest BoboBrazil]

Here are some more spoilers from the show:

 

I attended the Smackdown tapings from Continental

Airlines Arena in E. Rutherford, NJ tonight. The show

was definitely not one of the better shows I've been

to, in fact I'd rank it as one of the worst, which is

really bad cause I was expecting good things from

Smackdown. Tons of filler matches, one really good

match, and one horrendous show long angle.

 

The attendance was not real good, but better than the

WWE has been doing lately. Half of the upper level of

the arena was tarped off, the side that faces the

camera was pretty well full. There were also a ton of

empty seats in the lower section on the camera side.

Pretty dead crowd overall, but then again they didn't

give us too much to cheer about. I'd say 7-8,000

people in attendance, could be off one way or the

other.

 

The show opened with a dark match featuring former ECW

talent Nova against someone's whose name I didn't

catch. Nova won, crowd was indifferent to the whole

match.

 

Josh Mathews and Ernest Miller came out for Velocity,

to little or no reaction. The first Velocity match

was Jamie Noble against "American Dragon" Bryan

Danielson, who was wearing these hideous white tights

that looked like a pair of tighty whiteys. Danielson

showed some nice moves in the short time he was given,

but the crowd didn't care, and Noble won in the end

with some kind of DDT type move.

 

Spanky wrestling under a mask as "The Jet", beat

Shannon Moore in the next Velocity match. This was

actually a pretty good match, got the crowd awake a

little bit. "The Jet" was billed as being from E.

Rutherford, NJ which is the gimmick I understand he's

been doing around the country.

 

The final Velocity match saw Chuck Palumbo defeat

Xavier, who I understand is the Ring of Honor

champion. Palumbo got a decent pop, and pretty much

dominated the match, he won with a very stiff looking

Super Kick.

 

Michael Cole and Tazz came out for Smackdown, the

loudest pops of the night up to that point, which

doesn't say much.

 

The show opened showing the Al Wilson/Dawn Marie

nonsense from the last couple weeks, ending with a

still shot of Al which I guess was supposed to tell us

that he died. Oh, it gets better, trust me.

 

Eddy and Chavo Guerrero defended the tag titles

against John Cena and B2. Cena did this anti-NJ rap,

which of course got him some decent heel heat. The

Guerreros were cheered as faces during the match.

Pretty short match, good when Eddy was in. Eddy did a

sick looking plancha over the top rope on to Cena and

B2, he must have legit hurt himself, cause they rushed

right to the finish. Chavo hit a Frog Splash on B2

for the win. After the match Cena and B2 got into it,

they exchanged blows, then another guy came out who I

believe was Red Dogg and attacked B2. Cena and Red

Dogg left together. Then after they cut away for a

commercial, a bunch of agents and referees came out to

help Eddy to the back. He got a nice ovation from the

crowd, hard to say what he hurt, looked like he may

have done something to his knee.

 

Dawn Marie then appeared on the screen, letting us

know that Al had died, and blah blah blah... She's

fulfilling Al's wish, and inviting us all to the

funeral service tonight. Aren't we lucky?

 

After this is when the show becomes a little blurry

for me, so some of this maybe out of order, I'm trying

to recall the best I can from memory.

 

Bill DeMott went against Rikishi. Not a good match at

all, at least two blown spots, which I guess will get

edited out. The end came when Rikishi was going up

for the Banzai Drop, and DeMott pulled him off the

ropes in sort of a Powerbomb type move and pinned him.

 

Stephanie McMahon came out, she stood on the stage and

ranted and raved for a few minutes, I'm sorry but I

blocked out most of what she said. What I got was

that The Undertaker was coming back at the Rumble,

which drew a nice pop from the crowd, and that Big

Show and A-Train were gonna team up later in the show

against Brock Lesnar and a partner of his choosing.

 

We saw more on the screen from Dawn Marie, she was at

the funeral home, and there was good old Al with a

bunch of makeup on laying in a casket. This whole

angle was drawing loud boos from the crowd, and not

the good kind either. Just terrible acting from

everyone involved.

 

Little Guido, er sorry, Nunzio appeared during the

commercial to do an anti-NJ promo for his next match.

Usual stuff about NJ being dirty, about the mob etc.

etc.

 

The next match was then Nunzio against Tajiri. Very

small ECW chant. Not a bad match, crowd was kind of

into it. Tajiri was laying in some nasty kicks.

Noble and Nidia interfered, Nidia got in Tajiri's

face, so he spit the green mist in her face. Nunzio

then did this move that looked like Trish Stratus'

finisher, a bulldog off the ropes, and pinned Tajiri.

 

Big Show, Paul Heyman and A-Train came out next for

their match. Heyman rambled on and on, he said his

clients Charlies Haas, Shelton Benjamin, and their

friend A-Train were gonna be in the Rumble. Brock

Lesnar came out to a huge pop, his partner turned out

to be a returning Rey Mysterio, who also got a big

pop. The match was very quick, Brock knocked Show

over the ropes, and gave A-Train an F5. Mysterio then

did a 619, and got the pin on A-Train. The heels

fled, while Brock and Rey shook hands, and posed for

the crowd a bit.

 

Another segment from the funeral home, a bunch of Al's

"family" has shown up. This stuff was beyond bad.

 

Matt Hardy defeated Funaki in the next match, very

unremarkable match. Billy Kidman was with Funaki,

Shannon Moore was with Matt. Funaki hit a wicked

reverse Tornado DDT on Matt, but the ref missed the

pin cover, cause he was worrying about Billy and

Shannon fighting on the outside. Matt recovered, and

hit the Twist of Fate for the win. After the match,

Matt slapped Shannon again on their way up the ramp.

 

Back to the funeral home again, this time Torrie has

shown up in a very revealing dress, that someone would

probably not want to wear to a funeral. Just as

Torrie and Dawn Marie are about to confront each

other, we fade to black.

 

During was seemed to be a 20 minute commercial break,

Team Angle did a promo running down NJ. I guess this

must be the WWE's new gimmick, to make sure people get

booed when they come out. Angle's music started, but

no one came out, I guess someone missed their cue.

The music started again, finally Team Angle came out.

Usual "You Suck" chants. Edge came out to a huge pop,

way louder than I would have expected, followed by

Chris Benoit.

 

This is gonna be a 3 on 2 match, yes Angle is going to

wrestle. Very good match that went a good 20 minutes,

Angle had a noticable limp, but otherwise didn't miss

a beat. Haas and Benjamin both looked pretty good.

The heels kept Edge in the ring, teasing a hot tag to

Benoit a few times, before finally getting the hot

tag. Benoit came in and cleaned house, place was

going nuts. German Suplexes for everyone! Benoit

ended up putting the Crippler Crossface on Angle,

after a few seconds Angle tapped, but the ref called

for the bell cause Benoit wouldn't release the hold

plus Angle was not the legal man. A big Brawl ensued,

mostly Benoit wailing away on Angle, eventually he got

a hold of Angle's crutch, and beat the tar out of him

with it. Not sure exactly where the cameras stopping

rolling, so I'll just continue on.

 

Eventually everyone cleared the ring, when Brock

Lesnar's music started playing, Team Angle ran back

into the ring. Brock came barreling down the ramp

full tilt, and just destroyed everyone. F5 for Haas,

and Benjamin. Kurt was trying to escape, but Benoit

fed him back into Brock, finally Brock F5'd Angle.

This got by far the loudest pop of the night. Benoit

dropped a Headbutt off the top on Kurt for good

measure. After the faces posed together for a bit,

they left, and Angle then cut a nasty promo on NJ. He

said we shouldn't boo him just cause we're mad that

the Jets lost. I'm a Giants fan myself, so I have

other reasons to be mad. Eventually they left the

ring, but there was more.

 

We cut to Dawn Marie and Torrie at the funeral home,

Torrie is doing some of the worst acting you'll ever

see. Dawn was basically saying that Torrie is

responsible for Al's death, she came over to Torrie

and slapped her. Torrie acted like she was gonna walk

away, then she turned around and slapped Dawn back,

and the two of them starting rolling around on the

floor like a couple hell cats. Dawn then took a

gimmicked lamp, and busted it over Torrie's head. All

this while poor Al is still laying in the coffin. I

don't know what the WWE was trying to accomplish with

this whole ridiculous angle, but it stunk, it was

atrocious. The live crowd hated it, I hope Paul

Heyman or whoever wrote the series of skits was

listening in the back, maybe they'll get the message.

I hope Sunday at the RR will finally put an end to the

whole thing.

 

That's about it. Very unremarkable show, too many

matches that seemed like filler matches, one really

good match. Way too much down time in between

matches, they have to do something about that, the

crowd was really getting very restless at points.

Very different atmosphere from a live Raw taping, and

not in a good way. I hope this show wasn't any

indication of what to expect for the Royal Rumble,

cause if that's the case than the WWE is in serious

trouble. No return date was announced.

 

Dan Wahlers

Roxbury, NJ

 

wrestlingobserver.com

[Guest Mole]

DUH, Raw X on Tuesday. I should of figured that out on my own.

 

Thanks

[Guest EternallyLazy]

Here's a thought... and I pray to God it doesn't go this way

 

but what if they're NOT planning on blowing the Dawn Marie/Torrie thing off at the Rumble? What IF they want to extend it to No Way Out or Mania?

 

Could they be THAT fucking stupid?

[Guest The Czech Republic]

I can't believe they're doing a death angle. After the shock I went through just about five years ago when I realized Brian Pillman was really dead, and wasn't pulling a Loose Cannon stunt where he'd walk onstage during the ten-bell salute and say "Dude, what the hell's going on?" I'm in no hurry to see this.

[Guest Kotzenjunge]

The Meadowlands is historically a very dead crowd anyway, much like Nassau. Oddly, MSG is between the two geographically, yet it's crazy mad hot.

 

And they just HAD to bring him back as Bikertaker. I hope the crowd shat on it completely. WE WANT THE DEAD MAN BACK, GODDAMMIT!! At least that way his selling (or lack thereof) makes sense.

[Guest The Czech Republic]

The Meadowlands is historically a very dead crowd anyway, much like Nassau. Oddly, MSG is between the two geographically, yet it's crazy mad hot.

 

And they just HAD to bring him back as Bikertaker. I hope the crowd shat on it completely. WE WANT THE DEAD MAN BACK, GODDAMMIT!! At least that way his selling (or lack thereof) makes sense.

Nassau Coliseum was so bad once that Paul Heyman scolded them on the house mic. Why do they keep going back there? They should be running a lot more shows in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and Canada. Maybe when the new arena in downtown Winnipeg opens they can host a PPV there.

[Guest nikowwf]

I can't believe they're doing a death angle. After the shock I went through just about five years ago when I realized Brian Pillman was really dead, and wasn't pulling a Loose Cannon stunt where he'd walk onstage during the ten-bell salute and say "Dude, what the hell's going on?" I'm in no hurry to see this.

I don't mean to be callous, cause Pillman dying hit me as hard too, but this is nowhere similar. Its AL - hes not a character we know or love. Its campy and stupid, and its obvious hes not really dead. I don't see this as offensive....stupid, beyond stupid, extremely incredibly stupid, yes...but not offensive.

 

niko

[Guest nikowwf]

question...did they announce anything else on the RR card? With the rumble having people entering every minute (which should make for a 45 minute rumble instead of a 65 minute one...) it would seem to be their are more slots available for matches.

 

niko

[Guest JMFabiano524]

I can't believe they're doing a death angle. After the shock I went through just about five years ago when I realized Brian Pillman was really dead, and wasn't pulling a Loose Cannon stunt where he'd walk onstage during the ten-bell salute and say "Dude, what the hell's going on?" I'm in no hurry to see this.

Well this IS the same place that gave us Big Show Extreme Casket Surfing. And on a heavier note, tried to use OTE'99 as a template to get angles over at least twice.

[Guest AlwaysPissedOff]

Wow... I just read the spoilers and can't believe they'd take the atrocity that is the Dawn/Al/Torrie storyline down that road. What the everloving FUCK were they thinking?

 

Oh, and the worst thing I saw during the spoilers = Eddy FUCKING Guerrero possibly injured. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Jeebus must hate me or something...

[Guest treble charged]

Anyone else think we're going to see Dawn Marie/Torrie become a Casket Match?

[Guest AlwaysPissedOff]

If that happens, I get violent...

 

 

[Guest The Hamburglar]

So, yet another dodgy death/necrophilia storyline. I wonder who Heyman will blame this one on? Because it certainly couldn't be the guy writing the shows now could it? Asshole Heyman. Between his shit writing and him CONTINUALLY fucking saying "Brock Lesnar can't beat the Big Show" with all the spittle that comes with it, I would laugh if someone severed his pony-tail.

[Guest AndrewTS]

Here's a thought... and I pray to God it doesn't go this way

 

but what if they're NOT planning on blowing the Dawn Marie/Torrie thing off at the Rumble? What IF they want to extend it to No Way Out or Mania?

 

Could they be THAT fucking stupid?

Whenever someone asks that, then they usually prove to be right.

 

I can see this angle going on until Wrestlemania easily.

[Guest bradolson]

How about if Biker-Taker enters the rumble at spot 4 or so, looks terrible (not hard to do), gets eliminated quickly, and then comes back towards the end as the Deadman-Taker. Not likely, but just a thought.

[Guest Brian]

Eddie's going to be back by next week. Meltzer said he might be wrestling by the weekend.

[Guest AndrewTS]

Eddie's going to be back by next week. Meltzer said he might be wrestling by the weekend.

YAAAAAAY!!!!

 

I was worried there, but that's great news.

[Guest Adrian 3:16]

Angle then says as a gold medalist he represents all 50 states, except for Jersey. Funny stuff.

As a Jersey resident, I have to say this is funny as hell. Kurt is the man.

 

But haven't we seen enough necro for one lifetime already? This is going way beyond trying for shock value, I think someone behind the scenes has a full-blown fetish...

[Guest Anglesault]

They killed Al off?

 

And isn't the pupose of a stable to stack the odds against Brock? How is that accomplished when brock Kills Angle or Team Angle EVERY TIME THEY MEET?

[Guest Mulatto Heat]

Well, this week Brock killed them when the cameras had stopped rolling, but I see your point.

[Guest Anglesault]

Oh, Okay, the first one seemed to indicate on-air. But still. They should take out Brock and he shouldn't get the better of them until Mania.