WWE Smackdown - Live Report From Nashville - September 16, 2008

I attended the Smackdown and ECW tapings in Nashville, TN. Here is my live report on the happenings of the show. Pre show notes. We arrived at the arena around 5:30 and ended up parking over on the backside of the building where WWE keeps their equipment trucks. The last time that I had seen the WWE semi trucks, they just had the logo on them. They have since seen a major overhaul with WWE superstars covering the trailers with each trailer having different superstars. The trailers really do look incredible!! Also on that side of the arena was a banner advertising Hulk Hogan’s Celebrity Wrestling. The wait in line wasn’t long as the lines were going in when we walked up. Merchandise stand had a decent selection. Cena, Hardy, Undertaker, and others had shirts. I haven’t been to a TV taping since they debuted the high definition set. It was even more impressive than I thought it was. I knew it looked amazing but seeing it in person is even better. They have the high definition screen and the live video has never looked better. In the past, the screen always had a bit of a blur to it but this thing is crystal clear. It looks amazing!! WWE wanted this common stage for all the shows as a quicker way to make set changes. All they have to do is change all the graphics and colors and then it is a new look. A win, win for them.

I’m bad at estimating crowd size but the upper levels on the opposite side of the building from us and to the left were empty. The crowd as far as noise was all right. I’ve definitely heard louder in that building but it was a fine live crowd. The show opened with WWE running the WrestleMania 24 highlight music video up on the screen which was the video that ran at the end of the WrestleMania 24 PPV. I always think that is a fun way to start live shows with running a video like that. They had the sound system cranked!! So, it sounded incredible. The matches started at 6:30 with a dark match that had Johnny Curtis defeating Armando Alejando Estrada following a clothesline from the top rope. It was then announced to us that they were about to tape the “cut in” that would air minutes before the ECW broadcast on Sci-Fi. That was fun and we did get shown on it as I saw us up on the screen.

A few minutes later, it was time for the taping of ECW which started around 6:45 but wouldn’t air until 9:00. Lights go out, opening runs, pyro goes off, and Matt Hardy’s music hits. Hardy takes on Mike Knox to open ECW. I loved seeing Hardy again especially as the champion. Hardy ends up winning a good length match after the twist of fate. Good solid match with Hardy having to battle against the bigger man. Next was Evan Bourne taking on The Miz. Ricky Ortiz was in Bourne’s corner while Morrison was in Miz’s corner. This wasn’t as high flying impact of a match as I was hoping but it was definitely good enough for me!! Bourne is incredible with his moves including amazing height on an arm drag and a standing moonsault. When watching Miz, all I could think was how I I had last seen him live in the same building in a dark match at Raw three years ago. He really has improved a ton. Bourne ends up getting the win when he did this awesome roll up from the corner. Next was Jack Swagger taking on someone that I thought I recognized when he came to the ring. The person in question did not get introduced until after Swagger made his way to the ring. I kept trying to figure out if the opponent was Chase Stevens and sure enough it was. This was Swagger’s second ECW match so I know nothing about him. Swagger won a squash winning with the thunder bomb. Main event of ECW was Mark Henry taking on Finlay. Atlas in Henry’s corner and Hornswoggle in Finlay’s corner. Finlay was pounding Henry’s head as he had it pinned into the apron when Atlas shoved over Hornswoggle. Finlay went after Atlas and then Henry went after Hornswoggle. Finlay ran and nailed Henry in the arm with the shilleighlie or however you spell it. LOL. Finlay worked on the arm quite a bit but Henry ended up winning with a powerslam. Really enjoyed the show and I keep debating on whether the in ring action was better on this show than it was on Smackdown. Lots of good in ring action and Mark Henry has really improved. I may have to start watching this show. It’s funny that this is the first ECW show that I’ve watched in probably almost two years after I boycotted it.

That brings us to Smackdown. WWE took about ten minutes in between show tapings to get Smackdown set up. They replaced the ring ropes and banners. To distract us from watching the ring crew and make the time go by faster, WWE aired a promotional video on the screen that lasted probably eight minutes. It was very good as it showed the things that the company does including the troops show, celebrities involved with WWE, media appearances, and live events. The video had superstar highlights set to “I Dare You” and then also had “Boom” included in it as well. Interesting moment in it with them including politicians in it as well showing McCain and Obama on the screen. I knew that would be interesting to get an immediate fan poll on who fans were liking. I hope WWE uses that video a lot to help promote themselves cause it really was good. After the video and the set up, it was time to tape Smackdown. JR’s Oklahoma music hit and he walked to the ring to an ovation. I was wondering which music Tazz would use whether it be his Forceable Entry music like normal or if he had switched back to his old ECW music. Forceable Entry it was and I was happy to cheer for Tazz upon his arrival into the building. Lights go off and the opening comes up. They ran the recap video of last week which looked incredible on the stage screen. So good that I had to get a picture of it.

The show opening runs and the pyro goes off. I always love the moments of the show beginning cause it always gets you pumped up. The show opened with a Divas Championship match with Michelle McCool defending against Maryse. Solid opener with Michelle winning with what I believe is called the wings of love. It’s kind of an odd pedigree/flapjack combination looking move. Michelle took a move on the apron during the match that looked a lot nastier in person than it did on TV. We then see Vickie and Big Show up on the screen where Eve shows up asking if Undertaker was there tonight. Eve ends up mentioning that she is training to wrestle which they laugh at. They then show her a video of Show beating up The Undertaker at Unforgiven which makes them say that Taker won’t be there at Smackdown. Next is Festus taking on Ryan Braddock. Jesse and Festus arrived with their bubble wrap and duct tape. Match doesn’t go very long when the DQ occurs cause Jesse and Festus decide to wrap up Braddock just like Kenny last week. Tazz mentioned on the broadcast that maybe they were wrapping everyone up for moving to the other network. Ok??!! It sure beats any explanation that I have. It was weird last week and it was weird in person as well. Just a bizarre out of nowhere gimmick with them wrapping people up and carting them off. I questioned watching live if they would take a commercial while the wrapping was occurring and it turned out to be true. When the commercial was over, Braddock was being carted out. Next was Shelton Benjamin taking on R Truth. I was curious as to where Truth would walk through the crowd at cause we were right on an aisle. We were looking all over the place trying to figure out where he was coming from. Well, he walked down one section over to the right of us. I thought it was hilarious with the look of disgust that Shelton had on his face watching Truth rap. The fans have caught on to the “what’s up” gimmick. Funny moment with this guy up from us yelling “what’s up” and then these kids would yell it right back at him. Shelton went for a german suplex and it was countered into a rollup for the pinfall with Truth getting the win.

Next was Jeff Hardy making his entrance. Big pop for Jeff and his pyro is LOUD!! His music sounded great in the building as well. Hardy spoke before the match saying how Triple H had motivated him with his speech last week. Hardy’s opponent was Kendrick with Ezekiel in his corner. Match ends with Hardy running to the corner for the whisper in the wind but sees Ezekiel walking up on to the apron and stops. Kendrick goes for the Kendrick but Hardy counters it into a backslide for the pinfall. Hardy celebrates going up the ramp. Hardy turns around and gets kicked by Kozlov on the stage. Kozlov then stood over Hardy and walked off. Officials helped up Hardy. We then cut to the back where we see Show telling Vickie that The Undertaker has arrived. We then see a first person view of the person walking into the room. Vickie demands an apology and for Undertaker to kiss her feet. A voice says “I’m sorry” but it is revealed to be Chavo doing an Undertaker impression. WWE played the Tribute To The Troops recap music video set to Daughtry’s “Feels Like Tonight” during the break as they set up the ring for Carlito’s Cabana. I always love seeing that video and there was applause after the video for the troops. Next is the return of Carlito’s Cabana. Primo was the guest. He and Carlito had a funny exchange where Primo said that he was the co-host but Carlito said the Cabana was his show. Ryder and Hawkins end up interrupting the show. Funny stuff during this with Carlito and Primo asking who Hawkins and Ryder were followed by them laughing that they were the tag team champions. Hawkins and Ryder point out that they’re part of La Familia to which Primo is excited that they speak Spanish cause he thought they were Canadian. Carlito ends up stopping Primo’s Spanish comment at them saying that Primo basically was saying that “they’re not cool”. They ask if the Colons want a title match to which Carlito has a good line of “duh, that’s what I’ve been saying the whole time”. The match is on for next week. Carlito wraps up the Cabana saying that the set needs to be taken away and calls out Jesse and Festus to help. Hawkins and Ryder attack the Colons but then Jesse gets in the ring. Primo runs to ring the bell to get Festus involved. Festus proceeds to grab one of the palm trees and chase Ryder and Hawkins up the aisle with it. This was hilarious in person and I really didn’t think it would make it on the broadcast but it did. Next was Scotty Goldman making his way to the ring. He would wait after his entrance as the divas segment aired up on the screen with Victoria and Natalya challenging Brie and Maria for a match next week. Funny that Brie was asking Maria to use her fashion sense to design her an outfit but to make one exactly like it in case something happened to the other one. Back to the ring with Goldman. If I had some people around me that were ROH fans, I would have tried to start a Colt Cabana chant but I really didn’t feel like going by myself. LOL. The Great Khali was Goldman’s opponent and you guessed it, squash match. Khali wins with the tree slam which didn’t have a lot of height to it. Speaking of height, Khali really is just a huge human being. There was a fan in the crowd that had a “Goldman’s #1 fan” sign. That was funny. They then aired up on the screen that it would be Khali vs. Kozlov on next week’s Smackdown. Next was a backstage segment with Chavo kicking La Familia out of the room cause he wanted to watch the Undertaker/Show video again. The video runs but then gets scrambled with Undertaker appearing on the screen. His eyes roll back and Chavo turns around for the first person view as Undertaker chokes Chavo to the floor. The arena went nuts for this live when we saw it on the screen. The bell tolling got the initial big reaction but there was definite hope that he would make his way into the arena.

Main event time for Smackdown with Triple H taking on MVP. Triple H was the first to enter and he got a big reaction. I was up on my feet immediately when his music hit. His entrance is still so great live. I was already thinking that his turnbuckle pose would likely be in our corner and it was. I looked down at this security guy who was in the crowd right by that corner. Even he was looking up with a smile on his face as he watched Triple H standing on the turnbuckle getting the fans all pumped up. MVP’s entrance is very cool live with the pyro. Match itself went for a while. The commercial time on the broadcast had you not missing much. Lots of rest holds during that break. They showed what you missed of importance on the replays after the break. Match ends with MVP sending Triple H into the table. MVP goes for a move off the top but Triple H kicks MVP for the counter into the pedigree. Triple H gets the win. Kozlov’s music hits and he stands up on the stage. I loved the faceoff with Triple H and Kozlov live. It just had this really intense feeling especially with Triple H calling him to the ring. MVP jumped up causing the distraction on Triple H. Kozlov attacked Triple H. Triple H was able to fight back but then got caught by the headbutt from Kozlov. Kozlov stood over Triple H as the show portion ended.

What happened after the Smackdown broadcast ended. The show ended with Kozlov standing over Triple H. I believe that I remember them playing his music as he walked back up the ramp. Triple H laid on the mat and then staggered to his feet. He then started playing to the crowd and to the refs. Triple H pointed over to the military guys at ringside. His music played and he went into the opposite corner of us to pose. He made his way back up the ramp and then posed again on the stage. Immediately afterwards, the bell rang and it was dark match main event time. I figured that they would get the match started immediately so people didn’t start leaving and they did just that. Introduced first was The Big Show. After his music ended, there was a long pause on who the opponent would be and that was when I was for sure it would be The Undertaker. The bell tolled and the lights went out. Big reaction from the arena. Undertaker made his entrance to the ring. Words can’t describe his entrance. I’ve seen it many times before but it is even more impressive with the new staging and all. The lights flickered like lightning, the flames came up through the stage which we could feel the immediate heat off of every time, and I looked at my arm to see goosebumps all the way down it. Undertaker raised the lights and then stepped in the ring. The lightning crashed when he took his hat off. Stare off and then the match was on. This was a slugfest that didn’t take long to get to the floor. The match ended up back in the ring and was a back and forth match. Undertaker hooked the choke on to Show and he looked ready to tap out but Undertaker was then jumped by La Familia. Undertaker was getting beaten up for a little bit but then made the comeback destroying all of them. He laid out Hawkins and Ryder with chokeslams. Big Show got knocked out of the ring and left. Undertaker then posed for the crowd afterwards. Such a cool moment. As he made his way up the ramp, he turned and looked back at the crowd which looked incredible. He then did the one arm pose as the flames shot up in the air. Wow, what an image!! That was how the show ended with Undertaker walking to the back.

Other random live notes from the event. The show went by really fast especially with commercials not being a factor like a live show. One match would end and they would start the next not long after. It made quite a bit of difference time wise. My biggest reaction of the night was probably for Undertaker cause I haven’t seen him live in that character since 1998. I’ve seen him since with the biker gimmick but nothing is like the dead man gimmick. I had both arms up quick when the bell tolled. There was a woman one row in front of us that was a diehard Undertaker fan and I hadn’t heard her make much noise through the night until the Undertaker match. She was cracking me up with her yelling “take his soul” and then La Familia made their way out, she was yelling “take their souls too”. Funny stuff. I was obviously very disappointed as the weeks went along realizing that there would be no Edge on this show. The music got turned up every time Triple H would pose. It was cranked up on the apron pose and then on the turnbuckle pose as well. They switch that MVP entrance very quickly. They had it set up before I even realized it. Then, they had it out of there in no time as well. JR was really selling that Kozlov beating on Triple H. I knew it and I couldn’t even hear him. I was watching JR and he was very animated with his commentary as he watched the monitor. I like watching the TV end of the show as I noticed a couple of camera men talking to each other on their headsets at one point. They were also getting Khali’s attention at one point to make sure they got the stand over pose that they wanted at the end of the match. WWE aired their Smackdown vs. Raw video game promo in the building. First time I’ve seen it in a while as they haven’t been airing it on TV. The show had a lot of families in the crowd. It definitely shows how the product has tamed over the last couple of years. I enjoyed talking to this dad and son sitting in front of us. They were cool and big fans. The dad had been watching since way back and the son knew his stuff as well even with as young as he was. The kid was a big Jeff Hardy fan and they had a good time. I did catch that Hurricane Helms was shown up on the screen at one point during the show but we never was able to hear what he was saying. I barely caught it cause it was so quick. I assumed that it had to be about his return and it was. Definitely wishing him a great comeback cause he has had a very tough time with that neck injury. People were definitely standing up looking to catch the apples that The Colons were throwing out after the Cabana segment. Triple H mocking MVP’s pose followed by the DX chop got a big pop in the building. MVP definitely had fans in Nashville including him getting chants of “ballin” when he did the basketball pose. WWE aired the Red Cross donation clip for victims of Hurricane Ike several times throughout the night in the building. I loved the shot that WWE did showing the arena from outside during the show. They had a camera inside of Tootsie’s across the street where live music was going on. They showed that and then walked the camera out the door showing the building across the street. I definitely reacted to that when I saw them show it in the building cause it was such a cool idea. They didn’t have audio for it though live when we saw it in the building but I still loved it. They like using Tootsie’s for live shots showing off Nashville. I did call the “go to commercial” spot in the Hardy/Kendrick match when Hardy went crashing to the floor. Seriously WWE, get a new go to commercial spot. LOL. You know what song sounded good on that sound system? Biscuits and gravy. LOL. It sounded incredible. Biggest pops of the night went to Undertaker, Triple H, Jeff Hardy, and Matt Hardy.

Live vs. broadcast. I didn’t notice many changes from what we saw live. WWE was running promos in the building and on TV promoting the network change for Smackdown. The Triple H authentic merchandise commercial did not air in the building but we did see the Hardy one. Kendrick’s mic wasn’t working when he first began talking on the stage but it was fixed after about two seconds. The Raw Rebound segments on Smackdown and ECW did not air in the building either. There really wasn’t a point for it to air for us anyway. It had nothing to do with us watching Smackdown or ECW. We also did not see the Goldman promo making fun of Khali.

So, there you go. If you’ve never been to a live show especially a TV taping, you really need to do yourself a favor and go. You’ll love it!! I know I’ve loved all the ones that I’ve been to over the years. Take care and God bless!!