WWE Smackdown/ECW taping
November 11, 2008
Manchester, U.K.
Report by Alex Roberts, PWTorch.com reader

WWE held a double Smackdown taping tonight in Manchester, England - the same location that both Raw and ECW were taped last night. Once again it looked like a legit sell out to me, and it's probably fair to say that for the most part everyone was a little more consistently engaged tonight than they were during the Raw and ECW tapings, where things went a bit dead during the matches themselves.

Having said that, the back-to-back tapings format felt far too long and people were pretty burnt out by the end of the night and the final parts of the second show. I don’t think the running order for the night helped nor did weirdly stacking the second set of tapings with tag matches. Anyway results from the tapings for the next two weeks of Smackdown.

Dark Match: Chavo Guerrero beat Ryan Braddock.

Smackdown - November 16

The Undertaker opens the show in the ring with a casket to discuss his Casket Match with Big Show at Survivor Series. Jeff Hardy interrupts to hype his match with Taker tonight and promising to put his all into the match. Taker ends the segment by telling Hardy that he’ll rest in peace.

(1) Matt Hardy beat Shelton Benjamin in an enjoyable match.

(2) The Brian Kendrick beat Carlito. Kendrick got the win when Ezekiel Jackson attacked Primo to distract Carlito.

(3) Kozlov and Triple H had a contract signing for their World Title match at Survivor Series, which was not exciting viewing. Jeff Hardy eventually interrupted and attacked Triple H before he could sign the contract.

(4) Jeff Hardy beat The Undertaker. A really good TV match here that furthered Hardy’s new/re-found extreme edge nicely. Big Show ran in and attacked Taker, which left Hardy free to land a leg drop off the top of a ladder to score the pin. It was then announced that Jeff Hardy would face Triple H on the next show.

Smackdown - November 23

(1) R-Truth/Matt Hardy beat Shelton Benjamin/Mark Henry. Not sure if there’s any significance to Henry being Hardy’s opposite number here. Anyway, R-Truth got the win for his team by pinning Benjamin.

Backstage, Maria was interviewing Jesse and Festus only for Miz and Morrison to interrupt to set up a match between the two teams.

(2) Miz/Morrison beat Jesse/Festus. Miz pinned Festus after Morrison rang the bell on the outside to send him ‘normal’ again.

Vickie Guerrero announced that Triple H vs. Jeff Hardy would be a non-title match and that Hardy would be added to the Survivor Series title match if he beat Triple H.

(3) Jeff Hardy beat Triple H. Jeff pinned Triple H with a roll-up only for Kozlov to come out and lay out both Hardy and Triple H out.

(4) Local Jobber d. MVP. The Great Khali distracted MVP to keep his losing streak alive. Not sure if this was just hype for the Survivor Series match both men are part of or an attempt to start a feud between the two.

(5) The Brian Kendrick/Ezekiel Jackson beat Primo/Carlito in a non-title match. Seems likely a title re-match will happen shortly.

(6) The Bella Twins beat Natalya/Victoria. The crowd was dead for this match.

The Undertaker closed this set of tapings as he opened them: in the ring with a casket. This time, he delivered the Last Rites to Big Show. Vickie and Show interrupted this only for the lights to cut out, when they came back up Taker had Vickie and threw her into the casket bringing the tapings to an end.

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