WWE Smackdown TV taping report
January 18, 2011
Tulsa, Okla.
Report by Adam Richmond, PWTorch reader

In-between the NXT and Superstars taping, a trailer for Triple H's "The Chaperone" movie aired.

Superstars taping for January 20

JTG vs. Chavo Guerrero. Not a whole lot to say about this match. The crowd wasn't sure who to cheer for and wasn't invested in the match.

Chris Masters vs. Curt Hawkins. Decent match. Masters looked impressive and the moves were clean. The crowd warmed up to Masters late in the match and moderately popped when he locked in the Masterlock.

Smackdown taping for January 21

No pyro to open the show? The Old Nexus = The Corre.

Enter Wade Barrett, Slater, Gabriel, and Jackson. Barrett explains he wanted to make an impact, so he took out Big Show. He went on to explain what he and Nexus accomplished and that on Smackdown he wants something different. He wants to continue to revolutionize Smackdown and revealed his new groups name is The Corre.

Enter Teddy long to a nice pop. Teddy warns Barrett that he will not allow him to terrorize Smackdown like he did on Raw. Barrett said this is different and Nexus was about himself and his selfish whims, the Corre is about the group and that they want to work for Teddy, not against him. Teddy asks if he looks like he was born yesterday and says he's not buying anything Wade is saying. Exit Teddy and enter Alberto Del Rio.

Alberto basically puts Corre on notice that he will be the one to win the Royal Rumble.

(1) Alberto Del Rio beat R-Truth via submission. Fair match with good ups and downs with several cuts to backstage where Vickie and Dolph find Teddy unconscious. Meanwhile, the match continues with another cut to backstage after a few more minutes of EMS tending to Teddy saying he's stable. By this time, Del Rio has regained momentum and gets Truth in an armbar for the submission win.

Cut to shot of Teddy being loaded into an ambulance and transported while JTG watches in shock.

(2) Beth Phoenix beat Layla. Standard Divas match with Layla at her usual performance quality. Phoenix is amazing in the ring, especially when compared to the other Divas. I could have watched five more minutes.

Cut to backstage with Vickie and Dolph walking into their office where The Corre is waiting to offer their services. She agrees to let them help with her Edge problem.

(3) Rey Mysterio beat Cody Rhodes. Enter Rey to the biggest crowd pop of the night. Cody comes out to moderate heat. Good match all around with a crowd-pleasing 619 finish. Cody worked an injured (possibly broken nose) and was helped out by a ref and ringside trainer.

The Miz has a promo basically saying he's in the building. Riley is a jerk to the announcers.

Backstage (for the live crowd only), Jim Ross is welcomed to Tulsa. Before he can speak, enter fellow Oklahoman Jack Swagger to steal JR's spotlight and say he'd rather be from Houston, Texas. He says "Hook 'em Horns!" drawing big heat from the crowd.

(4) Jack Swagger beat Kofi Kingston on points in an amateur wrestling challenge. Swagger is in wrestling head gear and issues an open challenge. Enter Kofi to major pop. This match was extremely uninteresting and confusing to those who aren't familiar with this type of match. Not being able to hear the ring announcers made it completely boring. Swagger wins then proceeds to beat down Kofi until the refs urge him to the back.

Edge-Dolph recaps from previous shows.

(5) Drew McIntyre beat Trent Barreta. Fair match with ups and downs. Trent had the crowd support but no real pops. Drew had heat constantly. After Drew wins and continues with his assault in the post-match, Kelly comes to the ring to stop it and basically takes Trent's side.

Promo: Miz and Riley come out to major heat. Miz works his usual rhetoric of general awesomeness. Enter Edge to a major pop for a battle of dirty looks and hype with no real quotable digs. Edge starts to challenge Miz, who retreats as the crowd begins to call for the spear. Miz bails and Alex starts to follow, but starts to turn to Edge like he's going to man up and is interrupted by a spear to a major crowd pop. Exit Miz and Riley.

The Corre comes out to their own music and graphics as a unit and enters the ring. They volunteer Gabriel to fight Edge. This is interrupted by Vickie with her usual deafening heat. She introduces the special guest commentator, Dolph Ziggler.

(6) Justin Gabriel beat World Hvt. champion Edge in a non-title match. This match was fair with a clear face vs. heel to keep the crowd interested. Gabriel was impressive. The Corre has the ring surrounded the whole match and doesn't interfere until the very end when Jackson catches Edge from the ropes for Gabriel to get the upper hand for the win.

Post-match: The Corre then swarms the ring for a Nexus style beat down topped with Gabriel's 450. Exit Corre. Enter Ziggler from ringside for a pose on top of the beaten down Edge.

Post-Smackdown taping happenings

Kofi and Rey come down to clear the ring as everyone else heads to the back. Kofi and Rey remain in the ring as Del Rio makes his entrance, followed by Kane's music and entrance minus pyros to mild heat. Then, Jim Ross is introduced as the special referee to a decent pop.

Bonus Match: Kofi Kingston & Rey Mysterio beat Alberto Del Rio & Kane with Jim Ross as special referee. Good, strong main event match with Kofi coming out on top. Rey worked most of the match for Kofi to come in and clean up. Exit Kane. Del Rio re-enters the ring to bully JR. As he corners JR, Kofi and Rey position themselves behind Rio for JR to push Rio down for a big pop. Exit Alberto. Rey and Kofi circle the ringside area for pictures and high fives to send the kids home happy.

Biggest Pops:

-- Rey Mysterio
-- Kofi Kingston
-- Edge
-- JR

Biggest Heat:

-- Alberto Del Rio
-- The Miz
-- Vickie Guerrero

Overall Review

As an occasional Smackdown viewer who primarily follows Raw, I was left disappointed overall. It's obvious Smackdown's roster is dwindling faster then they can recover. Ziggler and Rio were over-exposed between the NXT taping and Smackdown, although Ziggler was the only one heard from on NXT as far as Pros went.

Smackdown's roster seemed empty with (not including The Corre) Rey, Kofi, Edge, Drew, Cody Rhodes, Ziggler, Kane, Lay-cool, and Beth Phoenix being the only stars there. There was no Big Show and, with Undertaker and Christian out on injury, Smackdown's roster was weak. Not to mention there was minimal pyros and the entrances were just not satisfying. It feels as if WWE is scaling back production costs. On top of all this, there was no ring commentary that the audience could hear, so we had no idea what was being said. This shouldn't be a big deal, but that has become a major part of WWE as of late. Without this, it was way too quiet and the crowd just didn't seem like they were drawn in to the show.

The teen and older portion of the crowd was left feeling unsatisfied. If JR didn't make his appearances, this would have been nearly a total waste of ticket money for many fans. This was my first live WWE show and I must admit, I don't think I’ll be going back. And if I do, it will be for Raw.

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