Thanks to PWInsider.com for these:
Just getting back from the show the Special wasn’t “live” and was taped earlier in the day it was very enjoyable but made me mad:
Velocity:
*Orlando Jordan defeated some jobber with a version of The Lungblower. Trademark fast paced OJ matchup featuring his brand of innovative offense.
*Mr. Kennedy defeated Kid Kash with The Lambeau Leap. Strange choice of a matchup but worth it’s hand in cards.
Friday Night Smackdown:
*Randy Orton promo talking about deading The Undertaker once again and demanding a shot at the World Strap.
*The Mexicools (Psicosis and Super Crazy) win a tag team Battle Royal. A fun matchup with lots of cool moves and teamwork. MNM were on commentary and possibly scouting.
*Chris Benoit defeated William Regal with The Crippler Crossface. Worse than their usual encounters. Boring and by the numbers but worked well even with the lame hardway juice.
*Randy Orton defeated Matt Hardy with the RKO. Possibly the MOTNC and I feel alive and full of hope after seeing this dream match. Afterwards Undertaker spoke over the loudspeaker and used all types of crazy firewalls and caskets to make Orton hear him and fear him. Hell in the Cell is scheduled now. Randy Orton tried to get Teddy Long to stop the match from happening but Teddy declined and spookeriffic stuff happened.
*Simon Dean was interviewed by Diva Search loser Kristal about his match against The Boogeyman. Can’t miss segment here. Funniest stuff since SNL.
*The Boogeyman defeated Simon Dean with The Supernatural Driver Total and complete squash but Mr. Boogey was over and his entrance is like a combo of Kane, Mordecai and Chris Masters all in one.
*Lashley defeated Sylvan with the Dominator. Lashley is big and powerful but he doesn’t leave anything to the imagination, Sylvan was his usual great self.
*WWE World Tag Team champions Big Show and Kane defeated Rey Mysterio and JBL. Ref miscue and Tries as might couldn’t help Smackdown in this one. Batista makes the save when things get hectic.
Massive celebration for Eddie Guerrero afterwards between the two.
SECOND REPORT FROM Jason Head
The Smackdown Special was “sort of” live in that it was actually pre-recorded. They began that show at about 7:50 (70 minutes before TV) most likely due to the fact that they had the car explosion seen that they likely wanted time to edit. Speaking of which, it was extremely loud in the arena, but it was clear that explosions were being set off in various locations in that area behind the screen. The cheezy part was when we finally saw just the fire after the big explosions and they played a fire-crackling sound affect really loud over the speakers until it was clear that they were done filming, then the fire sound slowly died down….
THIS WEEK’S SMACKDOWN SHOULD MAKE HISTORY!!!
Why? Because they didn’t repair the damaged entrance screen that they hit with the car. During the one Velocity match taped, they tried to repair the screen but it must have truly broke in some way because they had to take that panel down again. All throughout the rest of the show, that section was gone and instead covered with caution tape. Why historical, though? Because this will be the first time that WWE has blatantly recognized on TV that Smackdown is taped!
MATCHES
There was one dark match although I entered the arena as it ended so I missed the local guys.
Of course, the Smackdown Special pre-recording was next. Then they taped one match for Velocity. It featured Ken Kennedy defeating Kid Kash.
SMACKDOWN TAPING
Tag Team Battle Royal – Winner gets a title shot against MNM For the match, MNM watched from the announcers table, although they didn’t talk. Melina did her infamous entrance on top of the announcers table. Mexicools won. In no particular order, Nunzio & Vito, “Road Warriors”, Scotty 2 Hotty & Funaki, and The Dicks were all elimintaed. (There was one other team involved although I cannot recall which).
Chris Benoit over William Regal.
Randy Orton over Matt Hardy.
After the match, Undertaker’s music hit and Randy acted scared while Undertaker was talking over the PA psyching him out. Randy tried to escape the arena by going through regular entrance but there was explosion there. He eventually went through the crowd to a small exit mostly used just for hockey that is in the middle of the stands. He pulled down the curtain there and there was a casket standing up. He ran away to the end of the arena bowl opposite the Titan Tron entrance where there is another large opening but an explosion occurred there as well (in the middle of the audience!). He made his way back to the ring and Undertaker announced over the PA that they would have Hell In A Cell at Armageddon!
Next was Boogeyman over Simon Dean.
This was really funny to start with. Simon didn’t want to come out for the match so there were like six security guys that dragged him to the ring. Then out came Boogeyman. His entrance had so much fog in addition to smoke from some pyro that the ring was completely in a white cloud for a couple minutes. There was a funny spot here. I think it was before the break before this match that they showed a promo of Boogeyman in the back where Simon Dean opened the lid on a dinner plate and inside was Boogeyman with a mouth full or worms. Anyway, during the match, he had a container of worms in his pocket like you buy at a fishing shop and he threw them on Simon and then he ate some… After that match, the break was a little longer because a guy had to wipe that section of the ring with a towel to clean up worms and worm guts. One of the production guys put a worm on Chimmel’s shoulder and he kind of freaked out. funny…
Bobby Lashley over Sylvan.
A nice display of strength and stamina by Bobby. Sylvan didn’t do much at all in this one.
Big Show & Kane over JBL & Rey Mysterio.
JBL ended up abandoning Rey part way through the match. Show & Kane won of course but they chokeslammed Rey on a chair after the match. Batista came out to make the save. A little bit of posing on the ropes by Rey and Batista and that was it.
