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Attended this week's Smackdown taping here in San Diego. The show was the 600th episode of Smackdown, which the company played up throughout the night with clips from previous episodes. The arena was nowhere near capacity - I'd say that the upper deck was probably 2/3 tarped off, and the area near the hard camera was pretty sparse as well. Aside from tons of heat for Vickie Guerrero, the crowd was fairly quiet.
Superstars: Chris Masters defeated Tyler Reks with the Masterlock.
Smackdown:
Opened with a video package commemorating the show's history through 599 episodes.
We head right into our first match, which is the 12-person tag match. Each wrestler got his own entrance, which made the whole thing take forever. Heel team was Drew McIntyre, Wade Barrett, CM Punk, Kane, Dolph Ziggler and Sheamus; face team was John Cena, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, Edge, R-Truth and John Morrison. Rey spent probably more than half the match getting beaten down, but finally tagged out. A free-for-all between the teams resulted in every guy hitting his finisher on someone. Rey hit a double 619 on McIntyre and Ziggler, allowing Edge to come in and spear Ziggler for the pin. As Edge celebrated in the ring, Vickie came out, said he is not the champion, accused him of taking out Teddy Long, and then fired him. She reminded us that Dolph will be coronated as champion later in the show.
Following a recap of Rey Mysterio breaking Cody Rhodes' nose a few weeks ago, we go to Todd Grisham interviewing Cody somewhere in an "undisclosed location." Cody, wearing a clear protective face mask, said his doctors have approved him to travel, and he will be back next week to make an announcement.
The divas were up next, as Eve and Beth Phoenix took on Layla and Maryse (with Michelle McCool on commentary). Maryse started the match by offering a handful of cash to Beth if she'd go to the back. Beth slapped the money away, then went to work on Maryse. Before long, Michelle turned up on the apron to distract the referee, allowing a double-team that resulted in a pin for the heels.
Next match was Kofi Kingston vs The Miz. Back at Wrestlemania VI, the WWF champ vs the IC champ was the main event; nowadays, the matchup apparently just gets thrown into the middle of a free TV show, with no build or anything. Not a bad match. Kofi was on the verge of winning, but Alberto del Rio came to ringside to distract Kofi, allowing Miz to sneak up from behind and hit the Skull Crushing Finale for the win. Afterward, as Kofi lay on the mat, del Rio came into the ring and stood over him, putting the badmouth on him before leaving without anything physical happening.
The tag titles were on the line next, as Santino and Kozlov defended against Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater. The rest of the Corre came to ringside shortly after the match started. Santino hit the cobra, and Corre hit the ring. The ref DQ'd the Corre team, but the beatdown continued until the Big Show came down and cleaned house. Ezekiel Jackson teased getting into the ring with Show after everyone had been thrown out, but instead retreated to the back.
Crew members set up a red carpet inside the ring, meaning it was coronation time. Having come to the ring together, Vickie presented Dolph with the belt, but as he walked around the ring showing it off, Teddy Long suddenly appeared at the top of the stage. After coming to the ring, Teddy confronted Vickie, who repeatedly denied any involvement in his attack. Finally, she confessed by blaming it on Dolph. Teddy said he is back, and was immediately not only rehiring Edge, but giving him an immediate title match.
The match itself was good but fairly short, with Edge hitting the spear out of nowhere to pick up the pin. As he celebrated, Teddy Long came back out, and announced that Dolph Ziggler was officially fired.
Edge grabbed the mic, saying that he was on the first episode of Smackdown, and now won the championship on its 600th installment. He led the crowd in a "Hey Hey Hey Goodbye" singalong for Dolph, who went to the back as confetti poured down from the rafters. Presumably this is where the TV show will end.
Having gone to the back moments earlier, Vickie came out again and demanded an immediate rematch for Dolph. Teddy came back out and had four "security guards" (including indy wrestler Joey Ryan) escort Vickie out. Dolph refused to leave, so the Big Show came out, dropped him with one punch, and dragged him to the back.
Edge took the mic again, going for the cheap pop by proclaiming his love for San Diego. He reminded the local crowd that his best match (a no-DQ bout with Eddie Guerrero) and worst match (when he tore his achilles tendon during a 2009 house show) had taken place in this very building. He continued putting over the city, claiming he got all of his tattoos here in town, and even claimed he might move here after retiring. He concluded by reminding the crowd he had just won his 11th world title, which marked another memorable night for Edge in San Diego.
Curious to know how this show will come across on TV, with commentary. It didn't look like they were doing anything to push any of the matches at the Elimination Chamber, and barely did anything regarding a push to Wrestlemania, so maybe the announce team took care of things in that regard.
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