WWE Smackdown TV taping report
December 29, 2009
East Rutherford, N.J.
Report by Mike Omansky, Torch reader

-- Superstars SPOILERS for 12/31

It was pretty much a full house at the Izod Center. If not sold out, it was close. The crowd was very subdued for most of the night, though. Smackdown was a solid show, but we saw no backstage segments during Smackdown. It was whatever was in the arena.

Smackdown taped for January 1

The show opened with a video review of the Undertaker-Mysterio-Batista bouts of recent weeks.

C.M. Punk and Luke Gallows came to the ring to discuss "New Year's" resolutions and how fans don't keep them. He wants a "straight-edge" society.

From here, they began a series of four "Beat the Clock" matches to determine the #1 contender at the Royal Rumble to face Undertaker.

(1) C.M. Punk beat Matt Hardy at 7:20, which established the time. Go 2 Sleep for the pin.

(2) Kane vs. Dolph Ziggler went 7:20 and was stopped in a second "Beat the Clock" match.

(3) Great Khali (w/out Ranjin Singh) squashed the Carolina Panther in less than 20 seconds. Panther attempted punches, but he was choke-slammed and Khali pinned him with one foot.

(4) IC champion Drew McIntyre beat John Morrison via DQ; McIntyre retained the IC Title. Pretty good match. The finish was McIntyre shoving Morrison, who in turn bumped into the ref, who called for a DQ on Morrison.

Women's champion Michelle McCool, with Layla, came out for commentary.

(5) Mickie James beat Beth Phoenix in a quick match due to backfire interference attempt by McCool. After the match, McCool attacked James; Phoenix then attacked McCool and Layla. Once McCool and Layla were cleared, Phoenix slapped Mickie's hand, started walking away, and turned around to attack her too.

Chris Jericho came to the ring and vowed to win the tag belts back Monday night on Raw. He also vowed to win all the titles in 2010, as he's bigger than WWE.

(6) Rey Mysterio beat Chris Jericho in a "Beat the Clock" challenge at 7:19 to beat the time by one second. Excellent match -- best TV match of the night.

(7) Hart Dynasty (Tyson Kidd & D.H. Smith & Natalya) beat Jimmy Wang Yang & Slam Master J & Maria in a six-person tag when Wang was pinned. The women were not in the actual match, but Natalya attacked Maria afterward with a Sharpshooter.

Rey Mysterio came out to do commentary for the next match.

(8) Batista vs. R-Truth went 7:19 in the final "Beat the Clock" match. Batista finished off Truth with seconds to go, went for the pin, but Mysterio dragged the ref out of the ring. It was announced that Batista failed to "beat the clock," and Mysterio is the #1 contender.

Rey rang off to the stage, but Vickie Guerrero appeared. She told Rey that they follow the rules on Smackdown and Rey cheated Batista. The only fair thing is that Rey should face Batista next week and the winner gets the title shot. Smackdown then went off the air.

Dark match main event: Rey Mysterio beat Batista in 8:00 in a Street Fight. Loads of interference in the match. The wild finish went: Jericho runs down to the ring, attacks Mysterio, Matt Hardy runs in and attacks Jericho, Punk and Gallows run down and attack Hardy, Kane runs in and attacks Punk and Gallows, Batista spears Kane, Mysterio 619's Batista, and Kane recovers and chokeslams Batista for Rey to score the pin.

Next date at the Izod Center: Raw on Monday, April 19. Tickets on sale January 20.

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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