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Smackdown Taping
Peoria, Illinois
Dark Matches:
1. The Gymini (w/ Simon Dean) defeated CM Punk and Sterling James Keenan by pinfall.
2. Matt Hardy defeated Colt Cabana after the Twist of Fate. The crowd popped huge for Hardy's music. I guess the sound guy took notice, because he accidentally started playing his theme at the count of 2. My friend Justin thought he heard it before that time, but I didn't. After the match, Animal came out and destroyed Hardy with a chairshot against the ringpost.
Matthews and Romero come out, so I assume that this is Velocity. They'd had the side Trons with the Velocity logo on them since I'd walked in the building.
Velocity:
1. Fit Finlay defeated Psychosis by pinfall. Since I haven't really ever seen much of Finlay, I was pleased and shocked with how stiff he works. After the match, I believe it was Johnny Ace who drove the Juan Deere backstage. So if any of you were wondering who did that, it's him.
2. Kid Kash & Jamie Noble defeated Scotty 2 Hotty and Funaki with a spear/clothesline combination on Funaki, scoring the pin. There were a lot of boos for Scotty.
3. Bobby Lashley (Chimmel kept his first name here, not sure about Finlay) defeated Vito after his version of the Dominator.
The SmackDown pyro went off after a few minutes and we were set for our first match...
1. Brian Kendrick & Paul London defeated MNM by pinfall after a quick roll-up. This match had a lot of near-falls and was pretty fast-paced, compared to the rest of the night.
Backstage, Booker T and Sharmell bounded into Teddy Long's office after Teddy got off the phone. Long inquired as to why Booker was so happy, and Booker said that they'd gotten a restraining order against Boogeyman. Long wasn't too happy.
2. Gunther Scott (maybe Gunner, I don't know. But if Chris Kanyon is looking for a stunt-double, this is the guy) defeated Booker T by a roll-up after Boogey's music started to play. No Boogeyman in Peoria, though.
After the match, Teddy Long came out and made fun of the "music miscue." Once again, Long announced the winner to rub it in Booker's face.
Backstage, Benoit pumped up this Scott guy.
3. Chris Benoit defeated Simon Dean after using the Crippler Crossface.
Still with Benoit in the ring, a promo aired for JBL about how he's going to have some "Great American" celebration next week. After this, Teddy Long announced there would be a cage match to close out the show, and I assume that won't be on television.
Backstage, Kurt Angle stares down Randy Orton pumping up. A video played before the break with Orton in it, too, so I thought that was kind of weird. I also thought it was odd that Orton was still on the show, despite his 60-day suspension. Anyway, Orton gets bitch-smacked by Kurt Angle and Angle screams "YEAH!" two times.
4. Rey Mysterio defeated Randy Orton after using two consecutive 619s and a West Coast Pop leg drop. The first was on the ring post, and then the other on the ropes. This was honestly a slow match. Slow-paced with quite a few restholds, I thought.
On the screen, Palmer Cannon says the network does not endorse the following...
A Miz promo!
Backstage, Kristal interviews Rey. Rey says he wants to say "thank you." My suspicion was correct in that I HAD heard boos during the title match when Mysterio came out, because they booed him a lot during this promo. He brought in his family too.
More backstage - William Regal goes up to Pirate Paul and tries to smooth things over. He wants to give Paul another chance. They argue over Paul's choice of attire and Paul makes a deal - if Regal wins, Regal can make Paul wear whatever he wants. If Paul wins, Regal would "make for a buxom wench."
5. Pirate Paul defeated William Regal after the C4. I'd never seen the C4 since I rarely have a chance to watch SmackDown, and I missed most of it because I was fiddling around with deleting the crappy pictures off my camera.
In Long's office, several members of the roster were assembled. Long said that the KING OF THE RING!~ tournament would be coming back, and that our first match next week would be...Kurt Angle vs. Randy Orton!
Mark Henry cut a promo. I really couldn't tell you about what it was, since I was too busy starting a successful "WHAT?!" chant. But with respect to Henry, he ran with it and let us have our fun after the frustration went away.
6. Undertaker vs. Mark Henry goes to a no-contest, I guess. Undertaker had taken Henry outside and was doing some damage until Daivari marched to the ring with Dalip Singh from Deep South Wrestling, who puts a beating on the Undertaker. The Deadman stays down as this monster raises his arms and holds them, sets them down, holds them up again, and repeats the process a few more times. Why? I don't know. Finally they leave, and Undertaker slowly walks back.
While they set up the cage, they aired videos on the troops and on the Divas.
DARK MATCH:
JBL defeated Chris Benoit to retain the United States title in a steel cage match. I couldn't believe all the people that had left while setting the cage up, and the little reaction the whole match got. A few minutes into the match JBL did the little Eddie dance and pointed up, but the fans booed what I thought was a nice little tribute. JBL put the 3 Amigos on Benoit, and Benoit came back with 3 of his own. A FINE-looking Jillian Hall got involved by distracting the ref as JBL tied Benoit to the top of the cage with the tag rope. Benoit struggled, but JBL ran out the door and back to his limo, which I think passed me a few minutes away from the arena (sans horns & insignia). After JBL's music played, Benoit's played as he sucked in more adulation from the fans.
Overall, it was a pretty good show. I think that there could have been a promo or two to keep some Wrestlemania steam, at least from Angle anyway. And speaking of Angle, I'm surprised he wasn't involved in the show more than he was. If you see me, I'll be holding the "www.EWCOMMUNITY.com" sign off from the far right corner (on the screen). I think I might be on a few times.
Some notes about the Peoria Civic Center in Peoria, Illinois...
-Not a lot was tarped off - about 6 sections to the right of the hard camera (if you're standing at the camera).
-More people were in the upper bowl on the side the camera was facing. I assume they might've moved some people around beforehand.
