Written 9/22/10 about the 9/21/10 tapings
Last night, WWE taped segments for last night’s NXT, next week’s NXT, and this week’s Friday Night SmackDown for their first TV tapings inside the US Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington, Illinois.
In a dark match, Tyler Reks pinned a local jobber, whose name sounded like Jesus Espinosa.
Since NXT aired last night, I’ll just hit some highlights (or lack thereof)…
I’m really excited to see this week’s show after I figured out CM Punk was going to be on commentary. I need to see that show.
The crowd was crapping all over the NXT Rookie Diva Talk the Talk Challenge that AJ won.
It’s true what they say – Vickie Guerrero gets so much heat squelching “Excuse me!” it’s hard to hear what she’s saying.
WWE Superstars spoilers for September 23
They changed the ropes and the apron for Superstars, and Primo pinned JTG right when JTG was on the cusp of winning. The crowd wasn’t too into it until JTG made his comeback.
WWE Superstars spoilers for September 30
Kofi Kingston d. Jack Swagger by DQ when Jack wouldn’t go of the ankle lock. He tried sinking this in a lot during the match.
WWE NXT spoilers for September 28
The NXT Rookie Divas came back out with Matt Striker , as did the NXT ring apron. They didn’t announce they were taping more NXT, but it was evident they were. “But the ropes are still blue,” shouted a guy in the row below.
The Divas completed a challenge where they had to push a wheelbarrow around the ring. To add weight to the wheelbarrow, Striker brought out Hornswoggle. Kaitlyn got it across the quickest. I haven’t seen this season of NXT, but it looks like they’re really pushing her to win the competition.
AJ won a Diss the Diva Challenge. Personally, I was rooting for Naomi since she kept asking when she was going to get to wrestle. At almost 9 p.m. during this taping, I was wondering when we’d get more wrestling too.
WWE Friday Night SmackDown spoilers for September 24
Kane defeated Chris Masters in what I thought was a long match for the World Heavyweight Champion against a guy pretty low on the totem pole.
After the match, he cut a promo on the Undertaker, calling him weak. He turned to the crowd and tried to tell them how they were weak, and decided to single out and scare a kid. My section was laughing.
Cody Rhodes cut a live Dashing Cody Rhodes grooming tip about accessorizing, unzipping his jacket to reveal the WWE Tag Team title belt. He brought out Drew McIntyre, who cut a promo.
WWE Tag Team Champions Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre d. The Hart Dynasty in a non-title match when McIntyre undid a turnbuckle to launch Tyson Kidd into, then hit him with the Future Shock DDT. Kidd’s head went right into McIntyre’s stomach, so they’ll probably try to hide that through editing.
In the back, Alberto Del Rio laid out Christian, saying now was the time he was picking.
Also in the back, The Dudebusters were wearing moving suits since they legitimately thought they had to move SmackDown to SyFy next week. They were trying to get Hornswoggle to talk, but Teddy Long came in and sorted everybody out. He told the Dudebusters to leave, so they packed up the Bragging Rights trophy and left. Long told Hornswoggle they’d continue his English lesson later.
Backstage, CM Punk was drawing red Xs on his tape when Luke Gallows came in. Punk said he was done with him, but Gallows shoved him up against a wall, and said he’d defeat Punk, then go out and celebrate with a beer.
Chavo Guerrero d. Kaval with a frog splash in what I thought was the most fun match of the night.
Alberto Del Rio cut a promo talking about Rey Mysterio and showed his attack from last month. Mysterio returns next week. The injured Christian comes out for a brawl, but Del Rio gets the best of him.
In a short handicap match, the Big Show d. Vance Archer and Curt Hawkins.
Jack Swagger cut a promo in the back, showing some stuff with his name on it from high school or college. Hornswoggle stole it.
CM Punk d. Luke Gallows with the GTS.
MVP d. Dolph Ziggler by countout. Early on, during NXT, Kaitlyn challenged Vickie Guerrero to a match. This story played out early in the match, as Kaitlyn shoved Vickie and left. Dolph, concerned for Vickie, left the ring to tend to his girlfriend. I thought the countout would be here, but Vickie left and Dolph got back in. They wrestled a few more minutes, with Dolph looking to the backstage area throughout. Finally, he grabbed his Intercontinental title and left.
Throughout the night, WWE had shown clips of the Undertaker in the back sitting on some steps looking sad and empty. This time, his head was down and apparently a figure showed up off screen. He told the figure to leave, until he looked up and was in shock. Undertaker stood up and rolled his eyes into the back of his head.
Kane comes back out to announce he will wrestle Undertaker at WWE Hell in a Cell. I don’t think he mentioned the title here, but he did bring up that he debuted at Hell in a Cell.
The Undertaker gong hit. Druids brought out a casket. The casket opened and inside was Paul Bearer with an urn! Kane was in a state of shock as the gong hit again. Undertaker appeared in the ring and brawled with Kane. Undertaker posed with Paul Bearer to end the show.
At this point, Teddy Long brought Kane back out to fight the Undertaker for the World title. I thought it was strange they hadn’t announced this match to the live crowd at any other point on the show until now. They had a nice brawl. The match ended when they both had each other in the chokehold and Undertaker was about to get the best of Kane. Kane gave Taker a low-blow. He left, and Undertaker posed in the ring once again.
He left doing his signature stare back into the ring and raising his arm.
