WWE Smackdown/ECW TV taping report
November 29, 2009
Hampton, Va.
Report by Belinda Elliott, Torch reader

-During the three-way women's match, Michelle McCool and Layla sat ringside in t-shirts that read "Piggie James." After Mickie won the match (and got a huge pop from her home state crowd), she cut a promo on both McCool and Layla and then attacked them both. The heels eventually got the upper hand via double team. Mickie was rescued by Maria. This whole Piggie thing is ridiculous. Mickie looks healthy.

-It was announced that Batista would face Rey Mysterio in a street fight next week on Smackdown. But Rey did not do anything on tonight's show.

-Biggest heat of the night went to Vickie Guerrero hands down. She demanded that Escobar apologize to her. He came out and said he was sorry that they ever met. He then added that he was sorry he ever saw her in her lingerie. Then she punished him by putting him in a handicap match with the Hart Dynasty. The match didn't do anyone any favors.

-Paul Burchill begged Tiffany for his job back in ECW. She said she wouldn't go back on the stipulations and he was gone from ECW. Burchill later appeared during the Superstars taping wearing a mask and attacked Hurricane, causing the disqualification in Hurricane's match with Zack Ryder.

-ECW opened with the Abraham Washington show. Zack Ryder and Eva Mendes were the guests. Zack read Eva a love poem he wrote for her. Eva read a poem she wrote about herself. Then Zack jumped up and down on Abe's couch like he was Tom Cruise on Oprah. Terrible.

-C.M. Punk and the former Festus did a promo in the back during Smackdown talking about how people should turn their lives over to Punk. They played it up like he was starting his own religion and the former Festus claimed that Punk could be our savior. I have been a big fan of Punk's work since arriving in WWE, but this does not amuse me.

-Goldust actually defeated William Regal on ECW because Ezekiel and Kozlov argued with each other causing Regal to be distracted.

-Christian walked up on Shelton Benjamin playing video games in the locker room. He was playing the new WWE game and had a video game ladder match between himself and Christian. He told Christian it was a preview of their actual ladder match in a couple weeks on PPV. They talked about how they had to work together as a team on ECW so they could stay healthy and steal the show at TLC. Christian asked if he could join in on the video game and Shelton offered him a controller. Christian asked, "What does this button do?" as he shut off the game system. Christian added that we'll have to wait until TLC to see how the match ends. Christian and Benjamin got along fine in their tag match, which ended with Ezekiel Jackson abandoning his partner, Vladimir Kozlov.

-Throughout Smackdown, they promoted that the "main event" would be Undertaker "calling out" Batista.

-My favorite match of the night was the first: Kaval (Low-Ki) defeated Paul Burchill in a dark match. They only had like five minutes, but Low-Ki is awesome. Why is he not on TV?

If I could summarize this whole taping in one word, it would be boring. My husband and I left as Undertaker came to the ring to call out Batista. By the time we left, we had already sat through a tedious three hours and 15 minutes of taping and we decided to tap out. There were a couple of okay matches. But nothing we haven't seen before on Smackdown. The whole thing was underwhelming. The show felt like a never ending mid-card. We bought expensive floor seats and I do not feel it was a good investment.

The arena was mostly full with what appeared to be 95 percent of the available seats filled. Not sure how much was papered. But it was the first WWE show in the Hampton/Norfolk, Va. area all year, so I doubt they had to give away too many seats.

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