By Dana Petty, rajah.com reader
Just got back from the tapings in Albany, NY tonight. Here's what went
down.
Things started off bad for me. Security came to me outside before they even
opened the doors and took my " Lil' McBastard" sign from me. Guess you can
say Bastard on TV, but not read it. OH Well. The only people I saw outside
the arena before the show was Khalis translator, Brooke walking her dog and
a chain smoking Balls Mahoney.
The Times Union Arena was pretty full for the most part, about 75% of the
upper level was taped off, mostly on the non-camera side.
First dark match was Kenny Dykstra vs. Johnny Jeter. Decent match back and
forth. Johnny Jeter won via pinfall.
Second Dark match was Dave Taylor and Paul Burchill vs. The Daltons. Daltons
win via pinfall. Not a very good match.
Wierd theing before the tapings start. Micheal Cole and JBL come out. Then
out comes Teddy Long. JBL goes around the ring and over to Long where he is
pointing and yelling at him. JBL was pissed about something. Couldn't here
what from where I was at.
Smackdown tapings begin.
Teddy Long and The Great Khali in the ring. Long starts off by saying
welcome to Albany, GEORGIA. He got major heat from the crowd for that as we
are in NEW YORK. Long tells Khali tonight we will have a Championship
Competition where the winner will face Khali at Unforgiven for the title.
Participants will be Kane vs. Finlay and Batista vs. Rey Mysterio.
The competition starts now. Kane vs. Finlay up first. Back and forth match.
End of the match Hornswaggle distracts the ref allowing Finlay to hit Kane
with the sheleighly and pick up the victory. Your Winner and onto
Championship Competition Finals - Finlay
Next match is MVP and Matt Hardy vs Deuce and Domino for the Tag Team
championship. Hardy pretty much fought the entire match. MVP in a couple of
times and quickly tags back out. Hardy attempted to tag MVP a couple of
times, first time MVP was distracted by Cherry outside the ring and the
second time MVP just refused to tag. In the end Matt decks MVP and hits the
twist of fate one Deuce (I think, coulda been Domino. Don't like them well
enough to know which one is which). MVP rushes in and throws Matt from the
ring and scores the pinfall himself. Winners and NEW Tag Team Champs - Matt
Hardy and MVP. After the match, MVP leaves with both belts.
We go to Batista and Vince backstage. Vince asks Batista if its possible
that he is Vince's son. Bastista tells Vince if he is his father and he grew
up poor without ever receiving financial help from a billionaire that he
would beat Vince unmercifully.
Next out is Eugene with the T-Shirt cannon. Mark Henry comes out and enters
the ring. A scared Eugene shoots Henry below the belt with a t-shirt. Henry
proceeds to demolish Eugene. He then gets on the mic and says the Undertaker
will return at Unforgiven. He says he has bloodied him before and he will
do it again. LIGHTS OUT! GONG! Video is showed hyping the return of the
Dead Man at Unforgiven.
Next up is match # 2 in the Championship competition. Batista out first,
then Rey. Both men start off with a handshake. Back and forth to start,
Rey's speed vs Batista's power. Batsista eventually tries to hit the Batista
Bomb near the ropes, but Rey grabs the ropes and hangs on. He counters with
the West Coast Pop. He then tries to hit the "619" but Batista counters it
into a spine buster. Finlay comes out with a chair but Batisita stops him
and takes the chair from him. The ref comes over and tries to pull the
chair away from Batisita and gets shoved to the mat for his efforts. Ref
calls for the bell and disqualifies Batisita. Your Winner and onto
Championship Competition Finals - Rey Mysterio
A video of Ashley on the Survivor airs.
Mr. McMahon out next with Coach by his side. Vince denies sleeping with any
of those women from Raw. Coach then tells everyone that he knows Vince only
has relations with women of the Highest Quality. He brings us the proof.
First out is Cheryl whom Vince was with after a show from Madison Square
Garden in 1983. Cheryl tells us the no other man has ever compared to Vince.
Out next are 3 women who Coach refeered to as Vince's ménage 'e tra PLUS ONE
from New Years Eve 1977 in New Haven, CT. The three ladies thank Vince for
helping them bring in the New Year with a Bang. Out next is Mary Kate, who
is now know as Sister Mary Catherine. She says that since the night she
spent with Vince there has been only one other man in her life, GOD. She
then repeatedly says OH GOD! Vince thanks the ladies for coming. Onto the
subject of next weeks Raw, Vince tells us he hates attorneys and he is
starting to hate his family. Vince hopes his Bastard child shows up next
week so his entire family can embrace him and show him the love.
Chris Masters out next for a Masterlock Challenge. His victim this week is
Chuck Palumbo. Masters starts by acting like he is going to apply the
Masterlock but ends up hitting Palumbo from behind. Palumbo quickly
recovers and Masters runs for cover to the back.
We know see Jamie Noble and Shannon Moore out back. Shannon wishes Jamie
luck next week as he goes against Hornswaggle for the Cruiserweight
Championship.
Main Event time as we have Rey Mysterio vs. Finlay for the # 1
Contendership. Back and forth to begin. Both men end up on the floor.
Hornswaggle out from under the ring and he trips Rey up. Finlay then jumps
on Rey's back. The beatdown continues back in the ring. Finlay is working
over Rey's bad knee. Rey finally mounts a comeback. He hits a "619" to the
back of Finlays head and gets the pinfall. Your winner and # 1 Contender
for the World Heavyweight Championship at Unforgiven is Rey Mysterio.
After the match Rey is still in the ring and The Great Khali comes back to
the ring. He shoves Rey to the mat. While he is waiting for Rey to get back
up Batisita runs in for the save. Batisita beats on Khali and gets him set
up for Rey to deliver the "619" to him. Rey hits it and Batisita follows up
with a spear for good measure. Khali retreats and Rey and Batisita
celebrate in the ring.
End of Smackdown.
I don't know how it came across on TV, but the crowd was almost on life
support for ECW. The only time they got into it was during the Balls/Elijah
Burke match. After ECW, it was announced as Batista vs Khali for the World
Heavyweight Championship. I have read the reviews of this match on this site
and deemed it the perfect time to beat traffic so I left.
Biggest Pops:
1. Rey Mysterio
2. Batista
3. Matt Hardy
4. Tie between Balls Mahoney and MVP (Albany likes MVP, me too)
Biggest Heat:
1. Khali
2. Finlay
3. Mark Henry
4. Teddy Long (for the Georgia comment)
Dana Petty
By Aaron Noray, rajah.com reader
Before the first match took place at the SmackDown! Tapings, a Video package of
WrestleMania 23 was shown. The bottom section and upper deck is pretty much sold
out. There is probably around 9000 people in attendance to tonight’s tapings.
-- Kenny Dykstra vs. Jonny Jeter
-- The Daltons defeated Dave Taylor Paul Burchill
-- Before SmackDown! Iraq tribute to the troops.
-- JBL on his way to the ring.
SMACKDOWN START
-- Opening video plays
-- Summer Slam Highlights
Show starts off with Teddy Long and the Great Khali in the ring. Teddy Long says
that tonight they are going to determine a new number one contender for the World
Championship title. Their will be a tournement to decide. Kane will face Finley and
Batista will face Mysterio. The winners of those two matches will face each other
next week on SmackDown! Teddy then says, lets not wait until next week, lets get it
started now!
Kane vs. Finley
Kane dominates first half of match. Match ends when Kane hits Finlay with a
clothes-line off the top rope. Kane then hit’s the choke slam on Finaly but the
little bastard runs in and distracts Kane. Finlay rolls him up for the win.
Matt Hardy & MVP vs. Deuce and Domino
Matt Hardy was in the match the whole time and got dominated. MVP got the tag and
through Hardy out of the ring and MVP got the win. So we have new tag-team
champions. After the match MVP was in the ring celebrating with both titles while
Matt looks on from the outside.
Backstage Vince tells Batista that he could very well be his son. He’s got the
looks, and everything. Batista says, If I was your dad, id kill you.
In the Ring
Mark Henry on the microphone. Mark says the Undertaker is coming back at Unforgiven
and that he is going to break his back. The lights go out and The Undertaker’s music
plays. On the screen the video that they played ask week shows. The Undertaker
didn’t come out but states that he will make his return at Unforgiven. Mark Henry
stands in the ring while this is happening.
Video package shows of Mysterio’s return.
Batista vs. Rey Mysterio
Back and forth match. Rey Mysterio goes for the 619 but misses.At the end, Finlay
runs down, hits Rey Mysterio. Mysterio wins by DQ and Rey advances to the finals.
Vince McMahon up next….
Vince McMahon Segment
Vince comes to the ring with coach. Just like on Monday, Coach says he has a list of
people Vince has slept with and he would like to bring them out. The first girl that
comes out is from New York. Her name is Sheryl. Vince says he remembers that night
because she is hot.
Next Coach brings out a 3-girls from Connecticut. He said he had a 3-some with them
and he remembers them because it was New Years of 1997. Vince says he remembers that
night because they are hot. He said he brought in the new years with a big bang.
Another female comes out by the name of Sister Merry. She is dressed like a nun.
Sister Merry gets on the mic and says "Our one night together, who could ever
satisfy me in the way you did in 1991 in the parking lot." Vince says Merry gave her
a new direction for church. He then comments that she is second to nun.
After that, Vince says next Monday on RAW, he has to confront the other members of
the McMahon Family and he is not worried.
Chris Masters vs. Chuck Palumbo
Masterlock challenge
The set the chair up, as Palumbo was about to escape, Chris Masters let off the hold
and ran out of the ring. On Palumbo’s way back to the back he has problems starting
his bike.
-- Krystal Marshall and Teddy Long - Invitation to their marriage shows up on the
screen.
-- The Dalton aired a promo that they are coming to SmackDown.
-- Finlay vs. Rey Mysterio tonight, winner gets match at Unforgiven.
Rey Mysterio vs. Fit Finlay
Winner gets match at Unforgiven.
During the match, Khali comes down and gets in the ring and takes Mysterio and
throws him. Rey Mysterio advances by DQ. After the match, they beat on Mysterio and
Batista comes down to make the save on Mysterio.
-- Rey Mysterio vs. Khali for the title at Unforgiven.
-- After the match is over, they disassemble the ring and the announcers leave as
they now set up for ECW.
