Just got back from the WWE Smackdown tonight, and I had an really fun time. The show was almost a legit sellout. I suspect that ticket sales went up big time in the last two weeks when WWE announced that CM Punk, Triple H, and John Cena were going to be on the show. With all that said the Prudential Center made for a really good crowd and it should come out that way with all three shows they taped. I sat right by the entrance so I was not able to see all of the backstage promos, and for some reason, they did not have the screen board in the middle of the arena showing any of the picture from either show so that made it even harder to see. A minor note, wow that pyro is loud!!! So if you plan on siting near the stage in the future wear some ear buds.
Dark Match: Jinder Mahal defeated Alex Riley. The crowd gave Riley a huge pop due to him being the first face out. The match itself was not that bad and was kept short. Jinder won with the Camel clutch
Next up was the NXT taping. The crowd booed Regal at first, but then took it easy and threw in some cheers for him when they realized he was just announcing.
Justin Gabriel defeated Curt Hawkins. Gabriel won after about three minutes with the 450 splash. I still don't understand why they don't put Gabriel on Smackdown or Raw because he is super talented and he reminds me of a younger Lance Storm
Darren Young defeated Jey Uso. Young won the match with some type of knee buster. The crowd really liked the Usos entrance but couldn't care less about the actual match
Showtime Percy Watson defeated Tyler Reks. Maxine came out to sit at the announce table. To be honest, I didn't even know Reks was still on the roster, but the match was decent. Showtime picked up the win with a modified F5 in about five minutes. Showtime really impressed me and was really smooth in the ring.
Tyson Kidd defeated Michael McGillicutty. Since I don't watch NXT regularly, I'm guessing these two have been having some kind of feud on the show because they even gave them a highlight package. The match itself was very good, and I would recommend to go online and watch it if you get a chance. The match lasted at least 10 minutes with Kidd doing some sort of weird rollup.
Next Was Superstars
Titus O'Neal defeated Yoshi Tatsu. The match was just a squash match that lasted no more then 3 min.
Drew McIntyre defeated Ezekiel Jackson. I really want to know who Big Zeke pissed off because he has been on a big time losing streak as of late. Otherwise the match itself was decent with Drew picking up the win. After the match Drew picked up the mic and said that all of us were going to witness history because we will never see him lose again.
Out comes Triple H to a huge pop dressed in street clothes. He chatted with a couple of fans ringside right before he walked in the ring and gave McIntyre a pedigree. It was bit for bit exactly like the pedigree he gave the Miz about three weeks ago on raw that was not televised either.
Next was Smackdown. They did the whole Green Day music package and pyro, and as soon as it was over, Daniel Bryan and AJ came out. Daniel Bryan asked AJ to tell the crowd why and how much she loves him. Not sure how its going to come out on TV but it seemed that either AJ forgot her lines or was just really nervous because she stumbled big time during the promo.
Out comes Sheamus to a big time pop, During their exchange, Sheamus kept calling Daniel Bryan, Danny boy and it eventually caught on with the crowd saying it. He ended the promo saying he will kick Bryan's teeth down his throat at WrestleMania.
Mark Henry defeated R-Truth. This match just seemed like a way to get Henry his heat back after getting Rock Bottomed on Raw. The match was a squash that ended in about three to four minutes.
I'm not sure if they announced it before tonight, but they announced that Yokozuna will be getting inducted into the hall of fame which got a good round of applause from the crowd.
They showed Team Teddy backstage and Zack Ryder was trying to become a member. He said that he has a proposal for Teddy, if he got Hornswoggle to be the team mascot and he got the Great Khali to also become a member, Teddy would make him a member. They ended the shot with Khali in Ryder gear doing the Woo-Woo-Woo chant.
AJ (w/Daniel Bryan) defeated Brie Bella. It was short and quick, with the majority of the crowd going to the bathroom. AJ won with a little bit of distraction from Daniel Bryan.
Zack Ryder (w/Hornswoggle) defeated Jack Swagger. Vicki Guerrero came out to monster boos to introduce Jack Swagger. The match was decent for what it was. The match ended with Hornswoggle messing around with Vicki, which caught Swagger's attention, which then led to Ryder hitting his finisher on him.
After the match, they cut to Cody Rhodes saying he is not going to be here for Big Show's match next as he has to catch a flight.
The Big Show defeated Kane by DQ. The match was what you would expect with these two. After Show hit Kane with the choke slam, Rhodes came from the crowd and started attacking Big Show, but Show fought back and started chasing Cody out of the ring and into the crowd. I don know if it was security guards or fans, but Show ran over a bunch of people trying to get his hands on Rhodes. While that was happening, Randy Orton pops out from under the ring and gave Kane an RKO. Big Show and Randy celebrated in the ring for a couple of minutes and then eventually went to the back.
Brodus Clay defeated Heath Slater. Another squash match for Clay. I really hope they give Clay a match that lasts more then one minute soon.
The Great Khali (w/Teddy Long) defeated Dolph Ziggler (w/Johnny Laurinaitis and David Otunga) by countout. Before the match, Christian came out and sat at the announce table. During the match, Ziggler had Khali in the sleeper hold and Johnny rang the bell without Khali ever tapping....
Teddy got on the mic and said that if Ziggler did not get back into the ring within 10 seconds, then Khali would be named the winner. Ziggler never came back to the ring and Khali was named the winner. Kofi Kingston and Santino came down the ramp and grabbed Ziggler and threw him into the ring. Khali hit him with the chop. Man can Ziggler sell. Team Teddy celebrated in the ring and did Teddy's dance.
CM Punk and Sheamus defeated The Miz and Daniel Bryan. Punk got the best pop of the night. The match lasted about six t eight minutes, probably going to ten minutes if they add a commercial break in. Both Punk and Sheamus played the face in peril. The match ended with Bryan leaving after almost getting the Brogue Kick from Sheamus, so he hit it on The Miz instead.
Dark Match: John Cena defeated Kane in a cage match. The roof blew off when Cena came out. As I expected, nobody thought he was there. Cena was accompanied by Tony Chimmel and Zack Ryder for his entrance. Cena got on the mic and messed with Lillian Garcia about calling Zack Ryder, Jack Swagger before their match. The match was exactly what I expected it to be with the Rock vs. Cena match coming up soon and WWE probably taking precautions with Cena. It was about six min with Cena hitting the Attitude Adjustment to send the crowd home happy.
Other Notes
Expect a lot of promos from Raw or a lot of commercials because there was not one match taped that went more then ten minutes, but if you were at the show you probably didn't realize it.
I'm guessing that a lot of people didn't read the advertisements on WWE.com or on the Prudential Center website because as soon as the tag match was over people started leaving there seats and going to the exits. As soon as John Cena's music hit, the crowd went into a complete frenzy trying to get back into thir seats. When they realized that he was actually there, the kids in my section went absolutely berserk. It was cool to see though.
Biggest Pops
John Cena (By a Mile)
CM Punk
Randy Orton
Big Show
Most Heat
Daniel Bryan
Vicki Guerrero
Dolph Ziggler
