RAW...
Hey everyone!
I just got back from the RAW and SmackDown! tapings in Anaheim and wanted to share a quick few notes.
Doors opened promptly at 4:30 and to be honest, the Pond security does a much better job than Staple Centers', as people were able to come in quickly.
WWE was really late on kicking things off tonight. They didn't start until about 5:40 PM PT (RAW goes live at 6 PM PT here so it's 9 PM in the east). The WWE history package has been replaced with a familiar one, only this was used to plug WWE 24/7 and it actually features footage from all the other wrestling organizations WWE has in its tape library. Lots of ECW shots, and plenty of WCW ones here.
Maven lost to Val Venis in a dark match that I suppose will end up on Heat? Val scored the pin after the Money Shot. Crowd was very hot for Venis, which was somewhat of a surprise to me.
I was impressed with tonight's attendance. There were very few empty seats one could spot. Very good turn-out.
Ross and Lawler and walked out to the usual applause. We were told we're about to go live in less than two minutes, when Coachman's music played and he was booed heavily on his way to the announce booth.
Flair recieved an amazing amount of cheers in his segment with Angle, as well as later in their match.
The footage from Vengeance had a funny screw-up. The opening shot stood still on the titantron for almost a minute with Jericho's mouth wide open. Funny. The segment got a lot of laughs.
Big Show got a decent reaction, but nothing over the line, to be honest. That match was ridiculously short. Crowd was mostly dead, but still reacted.
The Michaels/Cena/Maria segment backstage got over huge. Loud cheers for Cena, and then Michaels. Maria is pretty funny at her role. Michaels messed up as he said his "friend" is on the 405 driving down. The 405 leads to the LAX airport, and San Diego, and does NOT go to Anaheim or the Arrowhead Pond. It's I-5 that goes through Anaheim. Some people caught that in the arena, which caused a laugh.
I was a bit surprised, but Masters' entrance got over with the crowd (not sure if it was televized). He received lots of heat, although it was hard to tell if it was good heel heat, or X-Pac type of heat. People were waiting for the mist.
They set up for the Cabana, with lots of cheers for the set-up alone.
Carlito came out to a great response. Once he got on the mic, some boos could be heard, but people were mostly cheering for him. That kid's character is really working. HUGE ovation for RVD. It was pretty loud.
Angle and Flair was booked like a good ol' rasslin' fight. The mouth hooks, nose-picking, and balls-grabbing (yes, you did just read that) got over huge with the crowd. It was quite interesting, to say the least. The heat on Angle was big here. Flair was super over once again.
The SmackDown! Rebound did NOT air in the arena. The opening flash of the SmackDown! logo did, then the titantron went blank.
Up to this point, every backstage segment of the Diva Search contenders had gotten pretty decent pops and cheers. The Diva Search segment was not successfull, and based on how it started, this year might be worse than last. Anyway... Vis got a decent pop, but then the segment died again, until Slaughter kind of saved things at the end.
Grisham's interview with Batista god a huge pop for the champ. The Jericho/Christian/Tomko segment was absolutely hilarious and the fans bought it up. The Nash reference was priceless. As the segment ended, people actually were expecting The Rock. They didn't realize that the Hollywood reference was to Hogan. A Rocky chant broke out.
Vince McMahon walked out in the commercial break to remind us that there's two hours of WWE SmackDown! action coming up, with the crowning of the brand new SmackDown! Champion!
John Cena got the biggest ovation of the night, which was deafening. Wow. He is indeed becoming the man around here. Of course, his ovation was overshadows by Hogan. I'd say the cheers for him beat out the cheers Rock got last time when he returned to help out Foley against La Resistance in the same building. Sickening loud!
After Cena bowed down to Michaels and Hogan, the two posed a bit more and went to the back.
SmackDown...
After RAW, it took them literally five minutes to change the set for SmackDown! That caught a lot of people off-guard, including myself, as we headed to grab some food and drinks hoping there would be an intermission. I missed an Undertaker/Hassan/Daivari beatdown, but Undertaker's entrance got over huge (I was outside getting a drink and could hear it as if I were inside!) From what I understand, 'Taker just beat the two up, which was the reason we never saw Daivari again.
Paul London vs. Chavo Guerrero was next. It ended with Mexicool interfering and beating them up to a very loud ovation. These guys are amazing. They breathe so much life and heat into their segments, that you're affraid a riot will happen. They were pretty controversial, saying that Mexicans should start the revolution against "The Gringos." This trio has a lot of potential on SmackDown!. They were driving some hilarious ATV-like vehicles that looked like mawn lawers. They went as fast as 10 mph, perhaps. Pretty funny.
Backstage segment with Melina and MNM. Melina was stretching with Nitro and Mercury checking out her ass. She asked them to stop and then named celebrities that came to see her debut. Nick and Jessica are here, apparently. Ashlee couldn't make it. That was a fun segment.
Melina over Michelle McCool. Lame match. MNM came out afterwords to celebrate with Melina, who's very over. She demands a Snapshot on McCool. MNM does it. Heidenreich hit the ring for the save.
They played a video package from Be Cool. It was Rock's music video with the country outfit. It got over well. It was to plug the DVD, which comes out tomorrow. Also, throughout the night, they played plugs for the ECW DVD, which comes out tomorrow.
There was a segment with Guerrero where he showed a video of him with Mysterio's Son Dominick. He then said he has a secret to tell him, and asked if Dominick likes bed stories. He told him he had a bed story to tell him that he will never forget. The segment was very disturbing. Mysterio came out and begged Eddie not to say what the secret is. Guerrero said "Just as I thought" and walked out. Mysterio sat there depressed forever, until a beach ball started making its rounds in the crowd, and nobody cared. I believe they were going with a storyline where it turns out Guerrero is Dominick's real father. It was very disturbing, and odd. There was some horrible innuendo.
That was it. The Six-Men Elimination was announced next. JBL, Hassan, Booker T, and Benoit came out in that order. Long came out after them and said that since Big Show went to RAW, he's going to make the fourth draft lottery pick replace him. It was Christian, who came out with different tights to a loud ovation. 'Taker's music was next, with only two gongs, and the lights came out for him to show up in the ring. Everyone cleared the ring except Christian. Hilarious stuff here. Christian played it off great, being a wuss at first, then trying to laugh it off with 'Taker. He finally hit him, which lead to 'Taker throwing him around, but not for too long. Christian tagged in Hassan. Again, very funny spot due to Hassan's reaction.
This match lasted about 40 minutes. It was incredibly long. I have to say it was booked very well, although there were a very few boring spots.
Undertaker was eliminated first, after he went on the outside and hit Hassan with a steel chair (brutal chair shot to the head), then to the back. Hassan wasn't eliminated, technically, but never came back. I'm sure that will be used for storyline purposes next week.
That left Benoit, Booker, Christian, and JBL. Weird elimination was Benoit going out next. I believe JBL eliminated him, but I do not recall. At this point in the match, it came down to Booker, JBL, and Christian, with mostly Booker and JBL working since Christian had worked the RAW main event.
Awfully obvious here was that the crowd wanted Christian to win and he was the most over out of all six guys in the first place, perhaps except Benoit (he got a huge pop too).
Christian tried to play possom, tagging in and out after big moves, and trying to eliminate both Booker and JBL. It was fun to see him play heel and face at the same time. He was really over when he was in with JBL. Bradshaw went for a high-impact move on Booker and he connected, but before they landed, Christian slapped JBL on the back to tag in. Booker got up, and Christian quickly grabbed his tights, revealed Booker's ass, pinned him down holding the tights, and got the three. Booker, Christian, and the Ref were arguing, as JBL recovered and was behind Christian waiting for him to turn for the Clothesline from Hell. He did. JBL hit it and pinned him for the win.
Right after, Long walked out with a cover case for a championship that had the SmackDown! logo on the outside. He said he has some good news, and some bad news for JBL. The bad news is that he's not the new SmackDown! Champion. In fact, Long said, there's no need for a SmackDown! Championship in the first place. The good news is, that JBL has won the #1 contender spot and will fight the last pick for SmackDown! in the Draft Lottery - the World Champion, Dave Batista! Batista came out (same costume from RAW) with his belt, to huge pyro and a Cena-like ovation. I'd say just as loud. He posed with the belt in a corner, when JBL hit him from behind. Batista then got the #1 contender out of the ring and posed with the belt. End One Hell of a Night!
Eddie
TheBalrogsLair.com
