WWE Smackdown TV taping report
October 25, 2011
Houston, Tex.
Report by James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

Update - more details filled in on the taping...

Pre-show demographics: usual families and kids everywhere. Kids in Cena merchandise. Teenage/adult males wearing C.M. Punk merchandise. 

Attendance: The entire upper deck is tarped off, so they're set up for about 7,500. Half of the crowd was present at the start. It filled up to about 6,000-6,500 by the meat of the taping. Smaller crowd than recent Houston TV tapings. WWE didn't do enough to advertise Cena, as many people left before the final main event featuring Cena, plus it was a school night.

Dark Match: Drew McIntyre beat Johnny Curtis at 3:48. Face pop for McIntyre as the first person out. Curtis got a "who are you?" reaction. Drew worked heel, but was cheered when he hit Future Shock for the win. 

NXT SPOILERS 10/26

Matt Striker, Titus O'Neil and Percy Watson, and Derrick Bateman & Maxine & JTG came out before Chimel gave the formal announcement for the start of the taping. It made it seem even more rehearsed than NXT typically comes across.

Striker put on his happy smile to introduce the show, noting only Titus and Bateman remain as NXT Rookies. Titus hyped the audience with some Houston references before the first contest: Talk the Talk. Bateman did a football promo and put over the Dallas Cowboys to boos. Titus, in pink tights, responded with a Breast Cancer Awareness babyface promo. Strong finish to the promo talking up his journey, which got him the Challenge win via crowd response. The men came to blows, setting up two matches for the show, per Striker. 

(1) "Showtime" Percy Watson beat JTG at 6:12. Basic back-and-forth that Watson won clean. 

Backstage: Striker handed Curt Hawkins a legal document. Apparently Hawkins has suspended from in-ring action as the kayfabe write-off for his injury. Striker, the NXT booker?, also announced Kidd vs. Jey Uso tonight. 

(2) Tyson Kidd (w/Curt Hawkins) beat Jey Uso (w/Jimmy Uso) at 4:33. Kidd won with a spinning facebuster. The heels attempted a post-match attack, but Yoshi Tatsu made the save. 

Raw Rebound. The set-up for the main event that set up Cena & Rock at Survivor Series. 

Advertised for Raw: Will Rock accept Cena's offer to team at Survivor Series?

Backstage: A.J., Kaityn, and Tamina had an exchange to set up a match. 

(3) Kaitlyn beat Tamina at 2:57. One person on the floor did a three-minute promo on ref Scott Armstrong. Oddly, Kaitlyn was not announced from Houston, which could have helped crowd interest.

(4) Derrick Bateman (w/Maxine) beat Titus O'Neil (w/A.J.) at 4:40. Maxine and A.J. joined commentary, which should make for interesting dialogue between Regal and Maxine sharing Useless Maxine Facts. Bateman won with an Oklahoma Roll for the surprise clean win. 

Afterward, Bateman said this was the greatest night of his career. He brought Maxine into the ring for an important question. Will you marry me? Maxine choked up, then slapped him. Then, they made out. Apparently that was good for a yes. The crowd had no idea what to make of this other than it was bizarre. NXT closed with Bateman wrapping his arms around Maxine, who sold shock and awe. And now another NXT wedding has to be coming.

Superstars SPOILERS 10/27

(1) IC champion Cody Rhodes beat Ted DiBiase at 10:08. How did this feud end up on Superstars? Rhodes won with Cross Rhodes. Rhodes is an amazing performer and DiBiase needs to work on his babyface comeback. Nice nearfalls at the end that the crowd was invested in. Probably the second-best match of the entire taping.

(2) Ezekiel Jackson beat Jinder Mahal via submission at 3:53. Zeke with the Torture Rack for the easy win. 

Smackdown SPOILERS 10/28

Booker T out to the biggest pop thus far in his hometown. Huge heat on Cole, who play-argued with ring announcer Tony Chimel ringside. 

Teddy Long was in the ring to start. He claimed the future of the World Title would be determined tonight. Christian interrupted and claimed he will fill the void. He promoted his "One More Match" campaign and claimed to be the leader of Smackdown. C.M. Punk interrupted and Long noted he arranged for Raw stars to be part of Super Smackdown tonight. Punk and Christian went back-and-forth, including a bit that went over well live where Punk shouted "bitching" every time Christian tried to raise the mic to his mouth to complain. After some more arguing, Long booked a singles match between them in the main event.

(1) The Miz & R-Truth beat WWE tag champs Air Boom (Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne) in a non-title match at 5:43. Truth scored the pin on Kofi following their double team finisher. It was discovered many moves can be re-named using "Boom" e.g. Boomdog, Boompress, Enzi-boom-ri.

Afterward, Miz and Truth cut a promo that they will take out Cena unless the one man who hates him more than they do, The Rock, does it first. Basic planting seeds of dissension before Survivor Series. This came across like the build-up to a basic tag match on an off-brand PPV, not Rock's return match seven years in the making. WWE has to pick up the pace in the weeks to come.

After a DVD plug for Bret vs. Shawn, WWE cut backstage to the locker room where a group of mid-carders were assembled. Justin Gabriel noted to Daniel Bryan that he (Bryan) was trained by Shawn Michaels. Tyson Kidd interrupted and argued with Bryan over who was better - Shawn or Bret. Santino decided they should settle it in the ring tonight. Kidd said that "clown" has a good idea and the match was set.

Raw Rebound: Nash breaking Hunter's heart, then trying to break him physically via sledgehammer. 

(2) Wade Barrett beat Trent Barreta at 2:30. Trent kept it close for a few innings, but Barrett easily finished him off with Wasteland. 

Up Next: Orton continues his mid-card non-title quest vs. Ziggler. 

(3) Randy Orton beat U.S. champion Dolph Ziggler (w/Vickie Guerrero) at 12:28 in a non-title match. No pre-match "Excuse Me" from Vickie, with focus on Ziggler. Before the match started, IC champ Cody Rhodes came out for commentary, so perhaps WWE sets up something with Rhodes and Booker T. Couldn't hear anything Rhodes was saying, but his facials were spot-on when they showed him on the big screen. No ring collapse on a superplex spot halfway through. After a teased RKO and a teased Zig-Zag, Orton hit the RKO for the win. Rhodes simply stood up and threw down his headset before leaving. Orton and Rhodes stated each other down, indicating the feud is continuing.  Very strong TV match with good heat.

Backstage, Striker brought in an unmasked fake Sin Cara. He was dressed like a member of Mexican America. Hunico cut a promo about being disrespected by Sin Cara and closed in Spanish.

(4) Daniel Bryan beat Tyson Kidd via submission at 2:44. Yes, less than three minutes for "Bret vs. Shawn." The finish was Bryan turning the Sharpshooter into the LeBell Lock for the tap out. Of note, they have to change Bryan's theme music; it generates zero emotional response.

Michael Cole stood up at the announce table and re-did the Michael Cole Challenge complete with JR photoshopped pics from Raw. He announced Ross has accepted the challenge for Raw, with rules to be revealed on Monday. 

Big Show, in a suit, was out next to address the World Title situation. Show put over the fight Mark Henry brought to him at Vengeance and noted Long has assured him of a title re-match in the near future. Cue up Henry for the interruption. Henry said he handled his business at the PPV, so he's done with Show. Henry talked more trash and Show told him to come fight. After Show ripped off his jacket, Henry teased the ring, but backed out when he sold a back injury, which drew boos. A stare down to conclude the bit. Not much here.

(5) C.M. Punk beat Christian at 10:50. Lots of shenanigans here. Del Rio and Ricardo interrupted halfway through when Punk had Christian set up for the G2S. After Del Rio interfered, Sheamus came out to distract Christian. That led to Punk hitting the G2S for the win. Punk did a victory lap and apparently that was it for Smackdown despite no resolution to the World Title situation advertised by Long. 

Chimel then announced one of tonight's main events: a 41-man battle royal with a Raw vs. Smackdown theme.  Wrestlers came out in a relaxed setting with Mac doing crotch chops and Orton doing Sheamus's pose. Punk was back in the ring for the match. William Regal and Matt Striker also competed. Cena, Del Rio, Show, and Henry were not in the match.

Bonus Match: Sheamus won a 41-man battle royal at 10:00. During the early fracas, Orton came up bleeding slightly from the forehead, which he pointed out to a ref ringside. Apparently the blood rule doesn't count anymore, as Orton kept on wrestling. As for the match, Sheamus cleared out a ton of folks. There were plenty of skin-the-cat or elimination teases played to comedy. The Final Four was Miz, Truth, Orton, and Sheamus. Orton dumped Truth, then Miz dumped Orton. After a battle, Sheamus eliminated Miz via Brogue Kick for the apparent win, but Christian re-entered from the outside. Sheamus then eliminated Christian with a Brogue Kick for the win. 

After the match, Christian declared he deserves one more match. 

For the match the crowd was waiting for all night if they didn't leave beforehand due to the late hour, John Cena came out to a typically strong reaction. Del Rio was out next to defend the WWE Title. 

Bonus Match #2: John Cena beat WWE champion Alberto Del Rio via DQ at 5:45. Del Rio stalled for all 5:45 by bailing out of the ring several times, frustrating Cena and drawing boos. Del Rio then took the mic and said he's going to talk. He said there's no way he's putting the title on the line in Houston. He then brought out Mark Henry and they beat down Cena for a DQ. Big Show made the save and Teddy Long came out to book the Teddy Long Tag Team Special.

Bonus Match #3: John Cena & Big Show beat WWE champion Alberto Del Rio & World Hvt. champ Mark Henry at 8:38. Del Rio took an early stink face from Show to a pop. Cena and Henry then came face-to-face for attempted Hulk and Andre moment. The heels isolated Cena, who tried a powerslam out of the Henry Hug in a Show of Strength, but Henry fell on top of him. Cena eventually made the hot tag to Show, who cleaned house. Simultaneously, Cena with an Attitude Adjustment on Del Rio and Show with a chokeslam on Henry led to a double pin for the win.

Cena and Show then did a victory lap to conclude the near-four-hour taping.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Good show live with a lot of elements for the arena crowd, but the actual Smackdown episode felt like a completely filler show promoting Raw items or Raw's Survivor Series items. Just not a lot of advancement unless more is included on commentary during the show.

BIGGEST POPS:

-- John Cena
-- Randy Orton
-- C.M. Punk (needs more time to get to Orton's level with the general WWE audience)
-- Booker T
-- Big Show

BIGGEST HEAT:

-- Michael Cole
-- Alberto Del Rio
-- The Miz
-- Mark Henry
-- Cody Rhodes/Dolph Ziggler

We suggest these recent related articles...

WWE NEWS: Superstars SPOILERS - Results from Chicago Raw

WWE NETWORK: Monday, Oct. 12 Schedule - Raw pre-show, Sting DVD preview

WWE NEWS: Lana & Rusev reportedly engaged - follow the interesting 2015 timeline