WWE Smackdown/ECW TV tapings
December 30, 2007
Richmond, Va.
Report by Rob Witham, PWTorch correspondent

Before I give any results, be forewarned, you will be stunned at what I type about Vince McMahon......  :)
 
We arrived during ECW dark matches.
 
(1) Nunzio defeated unknown with a roll-up.
 
(2) Great Khali manhandled Tommy Dreamer; wins via vise grip.  Crowd chants for Dreamer as he really sells the beating and slowly leaves.  He's the only "extreme" wrestler we'll see, too.  Good Lord.
 
ECW
 
They cut "sign" promo to air before show, then intro Tazz and Joey.
 
Armando Estrada in the ring to begin; quickly joined by Chavo Guerrero.  He goes on about his year ending early due to injury at the hands of Rey Mysterio (pop there); plus he had to watch TV and hear how CM Punk was the "future" of WWE and it makes him sick.  CM Punk's music hit to a big pop.  CM doesn't apologize for what pundits say; Chavo says he's not the future, he's a steppingstone to him capturing the ECW title in 2008. CM says he's no steppingstone and challenges him to a match.
 
Estrada intervenes, makes match that Chavo must win if he wants title shot; his opponent will be...CM Punk!
 
(1) Jimmy Wang Yang, Shannon Moore and Kelly Kelly defeated John Morrison, Miz and Layla.  Moore took the beating, hot tag to Yang who ended up against Layla, so he laid a big kiss on her.  Yang moonsaults onto Miz for the pin.  Crowd into it; plus, we got to enjoy the post-match hoedown with the winning team.
 
Tazz interviews Colin Delany, who looks 188 pounds rung dry and scared to death.  They show video of losing to Shelton Benjamin.  Tazz: "For your first match, how'd it go?"  Colin: "Ah, not so good".  He says his 2008 goal is to be a WWE Superstar.  Tazz wishes him luck and intros his opponent--Big Daddy V.
 
(2) Big Daddy V destroys Delany in under 2:00.  The usual power moves, the final being the elbow drop.  Part of crowd chanted "put on a shirt".  Mixed crowd reaction.
 
(3) Shelton Benjamin defeated James Curtis in 5:00.  Shelton aggressive in this one early, settles into leg scissors at 3:00 (boring chants begin); later power bombs Curtis on turnbuckle followed by leaping DDT for win.  More mixed crowd reaction.
 
Video of Chavo's attack on CM Punk replayed, then video of Kofi Kingston (he attacks a guy who knocked down a kid's sandcastle.  That's what he calls "trouble in paradise".  Made me think of Hulk Hogan circa 1995.)
 
NEXT WEEK, Miz, Morrison, Yang and Moore get their "15 Minutes of Fame".
 
(4) C.M. Punk defeated Chavo Guerrero in 9:00.  Combination of action and mat wrestling, as Chavo attacks Punk's knee and works on it hard.  Punk reverse kicks Chavo in corner, comes out with bulldog to a two-count; overtaken by Chavo again who dances in confidence.  He gets in two suplexes, on third, Punk slides out, attempts the Go To Sleep, Chavo reverses out and both end up on the floor.  For some reason, Chavo opts to hold Punk's foot hoping to keep him from getting back into the ring.  Punk gets free at "nine", and Chavo loses by countout.  Crowd wasn't close to "main event excitement" considering Chavo's return and attack storyline, plus Punk calling him out earlier in the night. Note: My wife noted Punk sold the wrong leg at least twice.  Oops.
  
T-shirt man gets crowd on their feet for the first time since ECW opened (that's not good).  Raw XV and Tribute to Troops videos air.
 
SMACKDOWN:
 
Teddy Long wheels out Vickie (to big heat), who tells Batista and The Undertaker not to lay one finger on Edge if they want another shot at the World Title.  She says there will be a "Beat The Clock Challenge", with the winner to face Edge at the Royal Rumble.  The participants are Finlay, Rey Mysterio, Batista, and The Undertaker.
 
Then she announces the new Smackdown analyst.....Jonathan Coachman.  Small reaction as he enters, stands on the table and poses for crowd.
 
(1) Finlay (w/Hornswoggle) defeated MVP in 9:46 in a BTC Challenge Match I. A lot of mat wrestling in this one (and thankfully the crowd didn't go into boring chants!!).  Usual ending with Hornswoggle getting the shillelagh to Finlay, who knocks MVP out for the pin.
 
Then, Vince's music music hit, and here comes the Chairman.  McMahon goes into the ring, hugs his son, raises his hand in victory, goes to the ropes, looks back in approval, exits the ring and leaves.  He never said a word.  I could not believe it!  Has Vince ever come into a TV show and left that quickly and silent??
 
---Smack of the Night is Jamie Noble's bad magic work at dinner with Michelle McCool three weeks ago.
 
(2) Kenny and Victoria defeated Chuck Palumbo and Michelle McCool (mixed tag). Final action saw Michelle tagged in, her foot held by Kenny when she goes to the ropes.  She turns around and kicks him in the head, but turns around to be met by Victoria's Widows Peak.  Palumbo stood in his corner just getting ticked. Chuck yells at Michelle, then leaves on motorcycle without her.
 
Backstage to Teddy and Vickie, who orders Teddy to get a better cup of coffee.  Chavo enters, accusing Vickie of tearing the Guerrero family apart, saying he wishes he "could turn back the hands of time", then walks away.
 
(2) Chavo Guerrero defeated Funaki in 6:02 in BTC Challenge Match II. Vickie didn't announce Chavo as being in the Beat The Clock Challenge, so this match came out of nowhere.  Chavo hits the Glory Bomb for the win and is now the man to beat.
 
--Batista is walking backstage!

--They show Richmond Coliseum (that got the fans going....)
 
(3) Batista fails to Beat Clock vs. Fake Edge I and II in BTC Challenge III. At first it was only Curt Hawkins, but Vickie appears on the screen and has Teddy announce this would be a two on one handicap match, as Zack comes ringside.  Batista hot early, then Curt and Zack take over for much of the match time. Batista rallies in last 90 seconds.  Around 5:00, it looked like a botch double team move on Batista, who later double clotheslines them.  Powerslams one, goes to Batista Bomb the other when his foot was held and time ran out.  Batista disgusted, gets big pop as leaves slowly walks away.
 
MVP is backstage on his cell phone, upset at how Finlay cheated to win; how he was going to break the glass ceiling by doing something even Triple H couldn't do, and that's beat Ric Flair.
 
Rey is backstage, says he doesn't know his opponent in the BTCC, but he's fast and ready; he wants the title again.  Needless promo other than for a pop??
 
(4) Jimmy Wang Yang & Shannon Moore defeated Deuce & Domino (w/Cherry). Crowd into Yang again, nothing notable in match; Yang gets pin via roll-up.
 
(5) The Undertaker fails to Beat Clock vs. Mark Henry in BTC Challenge IV. Huge pop as Taker enters.  Ring announcer intros Matt Striker as his opponent, but Striker enters with a ref shirt on, saying there was a mistake.  Vickie named him "special referee" for the match; the real opponent would be Mark Henry.  Taker sells Henry's fists early, takes over out of the ring, throwing Henry into the stairs (resulting in a MUCH bigger "thud" sound than usual).  Taker tries Old School, Henry stops it, does clothesline for two-count.  Second Old School attempt lands Taker in bearhug.  He fights out of it, lots of fists to Henry, catches him for chokeslam.  Time is almost up as Striker counts one, two,........many in crowd cheered a Taker victory, but Striker never counted three.  Taker stares him down and Matt slides out of the ring immediately as the timer sounds.  Taker then attacks Henry post-match in frustration; gets big pop leaving the scene.
 
(Special note: The drunk fan next to us who shouted "Hit him with a chair!" 81 times left.)
 
Matt Striker interviewed backstage, says Taker did not win, did not pin Henry in time and he could smack the taste out of Taker's mouth, as Big Daddy V appears on-screen.
 
NEXT MONDAY (Jan 7)---It's "Raw Roulette" from Mohegan Sun!  "Spin the Wheel to Make The Deal!"  Jake Roberts comes to mind....
 
(6) Rey Mysterio defeated Edge in 4:40 to capture title shot in BTC Challenge V. Rey gets BIG pop; all the Edges come out to a "pseudo-pop".  Edge goes out of the ring multiple times to waste time.  Rey finally hits West Coast Pop for a two-count with 4:30 to go.  Edge throws a sliding Rey out of the ring underneath the bottom rope face-first. Then, Batista appears and throws both Fake Edges into the crowd.  Edge now set for 619, but lowers head in time.  Some back and forth, then The Undertaker appears staring from the top of the set at 2:30 to go, lights down, then up and he leaves.  Head games.  Rey sets Edge up on ropes while he stares at Taker, delivers a 619, then a frog-splash to pin Edge with 1:12 to go.
 
Rey and Edge have staredown to end the TV show.
 
Batista beat Edge via DQ at 4:00.  Ending is Edge going for spear with Batista struggling in the corner; Batista catches him for a spine-buster instead.  Edge delivers low blow for the DQ. The Undertaker reappears as the Fake Edges finally come to and are in the ring.  Taker "shoves" one to Batista who delivers the Batista Bomb, while Taker chokeslams the other, then catches Edge for a chokeslam.  Taker surveys the damage, leaves the ring, but turns back while leaving to stare at Batista for a moment. This leaves Edge and Batista in the ring.  Batista has the belt, Edge asks for it and he obliges, even shaking Edge's hand.  Then he attacks Edge and delivers the Batista Bomb to make Richmond go home happy.
 
BIGGEST POPS:
 
1) The Undertaker
2) Batista
3) Rey Mysterio
 
BIGGEST HEAT:
 
1) Matt Striker
2) Fake Edges at end of Batista match
3) Vickie Guerrero
 
Good crowd; top level on side facing the ring tarped off; so about eight or nine thousand.  Not nearly as enthusiastic as the Raw crowd last June or the Armageddon crowd in December of '06.  The taping aspect dampened the pace tremendously.
 
Thanks, guys and happy new year!!!

 
 
 

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