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R-Truth came out to start the show at 7:30 and rapped through the crowd, but was ultimately squashed by Umaga. And I mean squashed. They must be trying to build Umaga back up again because poor R-Truth took all of Umaga's patented offensive moves ... Samoan drops, charging into the corner, the spike, etc.
Josh Matthews didn't get much of a reaction coming out, although Striker earned himself a small chorus of boos.
-Extreme Championship Wrestling; 4/21-
ECW kicked off with the traditional pyro display and putting the fans on camera. Why do people in the back of the very top tier bother bringing signs? They're never, ever going to get seen on television, even in HD.
Finlay came out with his son Hornswoggle and says that this will be Hornswoggle's last night on ECW before he moves to Monday Night RAW. Hornswoggle was given a mic and said he wants a match tonight. Tyson Kidd and "Jim Neidhart's Son" Natalya interrupted and called Hornswoggle a "little runt". She said that when her brother Bret said he is the best there ever will be, he lied, because that is Tyson's destiny. Whilst Natalya was waffling away on the mic, Hornswoggle grabbed her bum from behind, and she rolled out of the ring. The match is made by Tiffany, and it will take place NEXT!
Natalya pushed Hornswoggle around the ring for a bit, and pushed him against the ropes, where he rebounded with a spear and took her down. Kidd tried to interfere but Finlay pulled him off the apron. Hornswoggle rolled up Natalya for the 3. Finlay and Swoggle picked some kids out the crowd and brought them into the ring to dance around. We go to commercial, and it's a WrestleManiaVI music video!
We come back from commercial and Natalya is in Tiffany's office demanding Hornswoggle be fired for what he did. Tiffany tells her to gain some respect and sets up Finlay and Hornswoggle vs Tyson Kidd and Natalya on Superstars!
Evan Bourne wrestled Paul Burchill in a fairly long match which started getting a bit dull in the middle. Fans were chanting "We want Smackdown". The fans really came alive when Bourne almost hit the shooting star near the end but was knocked off by Burchill. Bourne finally did hit the splash off the top to a huge ovation, and won the match by pinfall. We go to commercial.
Vladimir Kozlov pinned an enhancement talent from right here in London in 20 seconds, showcasing his 3 moves.
Tiffany spent forever coming out for the Contract signing during a commercial break. She first announces Christian, and then Swagger. Both men signed the contract, cut a really dull promo, and then Swagger hit the powerbomb through the contract table to end ECW.
--Off-Air--
The severely damaged table was lifted from the ring, the aprons were changed, and the graphics around the arena switched to Smackdown - all done very quickly as usual, credit WWE's production team. There was no rehearsal run of the Smackdown opening like there was with ECW and RAW last night. Todd Grisham and JR receive a standing ovation.
--WWE Friday Night SmackDown!, 4/24--
Edge kicks off SmackDown to a chorus of boos and "We Want Cena" chants fill the building as Edge talks about how Cena called him a desperate man 2 weeks ago on SmackDown. Edge plays footage of last night's assault on RAW, and puts over the concept of Last Man Standing again. Edge says that if he loses on Sunday, he will have nothing, so Cena was right, he is desperate - and will do anything it takes to walk out of Backlash as the WWE Champion.
Kane and Matt Hardy fought CM Punk and Jeff Hardy in the opening match of SmackDown. A woman walking up the stairs to her seat near me dropped her drinks in surprise when Kane's pyro went off, which was hilarious. Jeff came out last and charged straight towards his brother, who dived out the ring to safety. Hardy and Hardy started the match out, and Matt immediately tagged out to Kane. Kane and Jeff had a good back-and-forth before Punk was tagged. Punk and Jeff kept tagging out every 90 seconds or so to stay fresh. Jeff hit a whisper in the wind to a great ovation. Punk did the knee in the corner on Kane, then dropped down as a springboard for Jeff to hit poetry in motion, which was pretty cool. The match went about 12 minutes, and was a very solid bout. Matt Hardy rolled up Jeff after he took a chokeslam from Kane.
WWE Womens Champion Maryse comes out to defend against Gail Kim. The fans didn't respond much to this match whatsoever apart from Gail hitting a cool huracanrana from the top rope. Maryse won the match clean via a pinfall.
The Big Show came out to say farewell to SmackDown, and to face The Undertaker as announced last night at the Raw tapings. Undertaker is easily the most over wrestler in the UK. Taker's entrance is absolutely amazing to witness live. The match itself was very good and of decent length, with both men kicking out each others chokeslams. Taker went for Old School but was punched by Show as he came off the ropes. Undertaker oversold the punch, but got up using the ropes. Show nailed him from behind with a second knockout punch, and Mikey Chioda ordered the bell.
After the match, Taker got up and punched Show a couple of times, but Show ran from the ring. We got a WrestleMania 12 video package, hyping up the already horribly over-hyped Ironman match.
Footage of MVP on The View is shown on the screen, and MVP comes out with the US Championship. MVP says that he is leaving for RAW. Chavo comes out to face him in his last Smackdown match, and while gaining more offense than last night, still gets beaten comfortably with the playmaker. MVP's "Ballin" elbowdrop thing is really over in London! Dolph Ziggler appears, who says that he is coming for MVP's United States Championship next Monday night on RAW.
Before the main event, they started taking off the ring mat and aprons, to everyone's bemusement. I'm guessing they put the Superstars ones on and then the Smackdown back over the top so they'd be ready for the switch after the main event without fans leaving the building.
Batista comes out with the most impressive pyro in the wrestling business, to an enormous ovation, followed by Shane O'Mac. England loves Shane-O! Priceless came out to absolutely no reaction at all. The match was a decent length, solid main event. Crowd popped big for Shane and Dave doing a double delayed vertical suplex on one of Priceless. Batista was working up crowd support by stomping the steps to get the clapping going, when Teddy DiBiase Debusey popped him in the face with a right hand. Shane's punches still look weak from the 4th tier of the building. Shane accidentally throws one of the priceless guys into Batista. Batista gets back in and teases hitting Shane, but pushes him aside and catches an incoming Cody in a sick spinebuster as he comes off the top rope. Shane scores the 1-2-3 to close SmackDown.
--Off-Air Stuff--
Batista and Shane did a lot of hand-shaking with fans walking up the ramp after the show. The top ring aprons were removed to reveal the superstars ones.
--WWE Superstars, 4/23-
Natalya and Tyson Kidd had another comedy match with Finlay and Hornswoggle. Hornswoggle was juggling some balls he found under the ring at one point. Hornswoggle hit the tadpole splash for the pinfall, but Finlay was great here again in his usurping of Kidd. Afterwards, Finlay tried to get the crowd to sing "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" to Hornswoggle, but none of the fans did, and the lyrics on the titantron didnt match what he was singing anyway.
--Finally--
WWE's ring crew set up and entire steel cage in 4 and a half minutes. That is impressive. Orton hears voices in his head. Triple H is massively over in England. The main event was a steel cage match between Triple H and Orton for the WWE Championship, a rematch from Judgment Day 2008. And like that PPV match, it featured Orton sitting on top of the cage for a minute waiting for Hunter to get up and pull him off, and Randy doing an incredibly long headlock. Hunter goes for the pedigree, but Orton takes him down and catapults him at the cage, then goes for the RKO. Triple H reverses the RKO throwing Orton into the side of the cage, nailing him with the pedigree as he bounces back. 1...2...3. Game Over.
WWE Thank us for attending and announce the Honey Monster prize giveaway. The password is "Feed The Fun", and you can win a trip to WWE Summerslam at the Staples Center by going to honeymonster.co.uk and entering.
--Finally II--
Coming out of the building, they had O2 Staff handing out flyers for the Behind Enemy Lines dvd release in the UK. Nothing to promote 12 Rounds though at all this week.
WWE's next European Tour is called the DX Invasion tour, and tickets go on sale this coming Saturday. The following dates have been announced:
November 9: WWE RAW Television Taping, Sheffield
November 10: WWE Smackdown/ECW Taping, Sheffield
November 11: WWE RAW House Show, The O2, London.
It's a shame WWE are not running the MEN in Manchester for television this year, but I'm sure Sheffield will be just as good.
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