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WWE Smackdown/ECW TV tapings
January 8, 2007
Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
Report by dlegend91, PWTorch.com reader

First, the place was nearly full, with about one-fourth of the upper area tarped off. When WWE was last here, with the 2007 draft/Vince goes Boom edition of Raw, it was a sell out. But compared to the last two Smackdowns that were taped here, it was a better crowd. Second, the merchandise selection sucked... no Jericho or John Morrison but Steve Austin, John Cena and Triple H...

DARK MATCH

(1) Kofi Kingston & Funaki beat The Highlanders. No idea why the Highlanders were here but the crowd didn't like them. The crowd didn't know how to take Kingston but when he got the hot tag and did some decent moves and had a lot of energy, the crowd liked them. The finish had Kingston giving a nice looking spinning enzuigiri/roundhouse kick to Rory McAllister. Kingston's taunt appears to be a version of DDP's self high five.

SMACKDOWN

Smackdown open with no pyro and with Vickie Guerrero and Teddy Long in ring and they bring out Rey Mysterio to congratulate him on his win last week. Mysterio confronts Vickie on Edge and sadly Eddie get mentioned when Vickie says that she can move on and have kids with Edge if she wants to. Edge comes out to defend his love for Vickie and confront Mysterio. Chavo comes out and says that the Guerrero family is disgusted by Vickie. Vickie gets angry and puts Mysterio and Chavo in the main event.

(1) Jamie Noble beat Chuck Palumbo (w/Michelle McCool) with a Crusafix. Chuck dominated the match but Noble got the win clean, McCool was not involved. Post match Chuck snaps on Michelle, forcing her into a corner before Noble comes back out to distract him allowing McCool to escape. This was followed by a backstage promo with Edge giving Vickie a backrub on assuring her that he loves her. Also Teddy was treated lousy, just like the beginning of the show.

(2) Batista defeated United States Champion Montel Vontavious Porter by countout. Prematch, MVP talked trash on Flair and said he would retire Flair at the Royal Rumble, Batista then inturupted. Good match with Batista actually pulling off a leapfrog and some decent mat wrestling. Finish had both fighting around the ring post with Batista hitting MVP to the floor just in time to win by Countout. Post match MVP tried to use a chair but Batista speared MVP before he could use it.

Before the next match, McCool came back out and apologized to Chuck, who came out and didn't accept it. It appeared to be a reshoot since the repeated the ending sequence from before except Noble came out and attacked Chuck briefly before fleeing, which allowed McCool to escape Chuck.

(3) The Undertaker beat Mark Henry and Matt Striker in a handicap match. Striker played chicken most of the match forcing Henry to fight Taker until Taker reversed a double team, tossed Henry out and Tombstoned Striker. Postmatch, Big Daddy V came out and with Henry got some offense on Taker before Taker reversed a double backdrop by clotheslining V out of the ring and chokeslaming Henry. Taker then did his usual celebration.

They then had a promo with Vince McMahon cheering up Hornswaggle for his arm wrestling match with Ranjin Singh. Hornswaggle left and Finlay showed up taking about sort of deal between the two, with Vince putting Finlay in the Rumble in order to watch Hornswaggle...strange promo since Finlay was oddly dominate over Vince.

(4) Hornswoggle (w/Finlay) beat Ranjin Sing (w/The Great Khali) in a arm wrestling match. Alright comedy with Finlay having a remote control to the table... apparently the table was electrified which allowed Hornswaggle to win. After the contest, Khali attacked Finlay with a big boot and was about to attack Hornswaggle until Finlay used a chair to run off Khali.

(5) Kane beat Domino (w/Deuce, Cherry). Domino had about 45 seconds of offense before Kane caught him off the top rope with a Chokeslam.

(6) Rey Mysterio beat Chavo Guerrero. Edge came out for commentary. This was a decent match but the crowd just wasn't into Chavo's offense at all. Finish had Rey hitting the 619 and then hitting what may have been a Frog Splash (after pointing to the heavens). Postmatch Edge jumped Mysterio, Rey held his own until Curt Hawkins and Zach Ryder came out and helped Edge lay out Mysterio to close out Smackdown.

ECW NOTES

The crowd was into the tag match on ECW but after that they seemed to run out of energy and the Punk/Chavo match didn't have the crowd at all. Maybe the crowd was tired of Chavo (to his credit Chavo changed tights between matches) or maybe they were burnt out but it was dead during that match. During two ECW commercial breaks they had Styles do Sign of the Night and had Tazz do Kisscam. That last sentence felt wrong to type, let alone experience it live. As a personal editorial, the Smackdown/ECW Talent Exchange sucks. It has made the ECW roster irrelevant. The last few months of ECW have sucked compared to the months before the Exchange.

DARK MATCH

(1) Batista beat World Champion Edge (w/Ryder, Hawkins) by DQ when Edge low-blowed Batista. A decent short match that ended when Edge lowblowed his way out of a Batista Bomb. The Edgeheads then helped Edge lay a beating on Batista before Mysterio broke up a Triple Spear. Batista then took out the Edgeheads, Mysterio then 619ed Edge into a Batista spinebuster. Mysterio stood over Edge with the World Title to close out the show.

A good show. If ECW had been done first, I think the crowd would have cared more for it...but it was a disappointment since I didn't get to see my All Time Favorite Tommy Dreamer or Elijah Burke.

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