*SPOILERS* WWE Smackdown (1/9/09) Taping Results from East Rutherford, New Jersey Submitted by PainLord on Wednesday, December 31, 2008 at 12:25 AM EST
A lot of people are leaving before the second taping begins. Most of the seats behind the hard camera are empty.
Justin Roberts announced that Jeff Hardy will defend the WWE Title tonight. Probably the post show dark match.
Match 1 - Triple H vs John Morrison in a Tables Match
Average match early on until a crazy spot where Triple H threw Morrison off the top rope to the floor where he was supposed to land back-first into the table, but he grazed the table and it flipped over, not breaking. After a few minutes they set up a new table on the floor in the same spot and re-did the throw with the table breaking this time. Poor Morrison. I'm sure the first throw will be edited out. After the match The Miz came out and distracted H while Chavo snuck in and put H through a table in the ring.
Match 2 - The Undertaker vs Shelton Benjamin
After Shelton's entrance they cut backstage where Vickie confronted HHH and told him he still has 2 more matches tonight. Undertaker's entrance never gets old. Really good match. Shelton escaped the last ride, but was caught in the tombstone and Taker got the pin.
They started to show a video of Tazz interviewing Edge "earlier tonight", but we couldn't hear anything and it got cut off. A minute later they showed the Bella Twins walking backstage on their way to the ring.
Match 2 - The Bella Twins vs Michelle McCool & Victoria
Short match, ending with Victoria missing a moonsault and Bella #1 rolled her up for the pin. After the match Michelle was PO'd and attacked Victoria from behind and then hit the styles clash. Michelle walked away to loud boos.
The lights went out for another Tribute To The Troops video. A bunch of ring crew people came down to the ring in the dark and placed someone under the ring.
Match 3 - Triple H vs The Miz & Chavo Guerrero in a Handicap Match
Nothing match. Chavo walked out on Miz at the end and H hit the pedigree on Miz for the win. After the match Vickie appeared on the screen and told HHH that his Last Man Standing match tonight is with Big Show.
The ring crew brought the couches and tables in the ring for the VIP lounge.
MVP's VIP Lounge - Guest: Mr. Kennedy
They argued back and forth with Kennedy making fun of MVP losing week after week. MVP responded by saying at least he's wrestling every week unlike Kennedy. At this point my nephew had to go to the bathroom so I missed a little bit, but it ended with Kennedy leaving and The Boogeyman coming out from under the ring and fighting with MVP. Boogeyman celebrated with his worms.
Match 4 - Carlito & Primo vs The Brian Kendrick & Ezekiel Jackson
Ok match. Carlito & Primo retained with Carlito pinning Kendrick with the backstabber.
They went over the Royal Rumble matches on the screen. Nothing new added.
Match 5 - Triple H vs Big Show in a Last Man Standing Match
Just like most of the other Last Man Standing matches WWE has put on over the years. Dramatic counts of 9 on both guys before they get up. Included Show getting up from a pedigree, Show reversing another pedigree into a celtic cross, a chokeslam on HHH on the announcers table, but it didn't break and finally a knockout punch from Show outside the ring and HHH is counted to 10. Big Show wins. After the match Vickie GUerrero walked out on top of the ramp and just stared at HHH while he was helped up.
This is where the taping ended and it was time for the dark match main event.
Match 6 - Jeff Hardy vs Edge for the WWE Title
Edge walked passed HHH on the way to the ring while the refs were helping HHH to the back. By this point it's been over 4 hours of wrestling tonight and a large chunk of the audience on all sides of the arena have emptied. About a 6 minute match with Jeff hitting the twist of fate and swanton bomb for the win.
The idea of taping 2 shows in one night to save money is a good idea, but if they're gonna do that they should tape Raw and SmackDown in the same night instead of 2 of the same show. Seeing a lot of the same people wrestle twice, or in HHH's case 3 times, really burns the audience out. At least with Raw and SmackDown being taped together you'll get to see all the wrestlers on one show and not the same people over and over. This show tonight lasted 4 hours and 20 minutes. Way too long for a tv taping. Not a bad show mind you, it just drained the fans.
