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Credit http://www.BostonWrestling.com  - the home of the Millennium Wrestling Federation and history of New England wrestling super-site

WWE Smackdown / ECW Taping
Tuesday, September 12th, 2006
DCU Center * Worcester, MA
Att:  est. 2,500

This was without a doubt one of the worst tapings WWE
has ever held.  It began at 7:30PM and didn't end until
11:21PM

Dark match
Sylvan def. Andrew Reichter

Smackdown

Fit Finlay came to the ring with the midget (whatever
he's referred to as this week) under a sheet.  He said
he humbled Batista last week and we'd never see him
again.  Bobby Lashley made his way to the ring,
followed by Teddy Long, who announced the two would
face off in a number one contenders match for No Mercy
later on in the show.  Lashley pushed Finlay on top of
the midget, and the midget attacked Finlay because he
couldn't see out of the sheet.  There was no
explanation of why he had the hood on, unless he was
getting ready to dress up as an Irish ghost for
Halloween a little early.

After the break, William Regal asked Finlay what would
happen if he wound up facing the king they loved at No
Mercy.

WWE CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE MATCH
Gregory Helms def. Matt Hardy
Hardy ran through the crowd and attacked Helms from
behind.  Probably the best match on the show.

The Miz def. Scotty Too Hotty
Horrible match with a few missed spots.  The finish was
similar to a Honky Tonk Man shake, rattle and roll,
only without the shake and rattle.

Brian Kendrick def. Kid Kash & Idol Stevens
The personification of "nobody cares."  A diva that
looked like Ashley came out with Kendrick and Paul
London.  Not a bad match, but nothing has been done to
establish any of the three teams to the point where
fans would have an interest in them.

WWE US TITLE MATCH
Mr. Kennedy def. Rey Mysterio
Lots of botched spots in this one, a surprisingly poor
Mysterio showing.  Finish saw Mysterio go for a
springboard off the middle rope only to see Chavo &
Vicki Guerrero and a little kid that may have been
Rey's son Dominick at the entrance way.  Kennedy rolled
up Mysterio for the win.

MVP cut a promo backstage about how his agent is
bending over backwards trying to work out a contract
with Teddy Long.

Vito def. Sir William Regal
Regal was introduced as a Sir.  Another brutal match,
finish was an attempted sunset flip from Regal from
outside the ring but Vito held onto the ropes and
pinned up with Regal's face up his dress.

Sylvester Terkay def. Handsome Johnny via submission

Bobby Lashely def. Fit Finlay to face Booker T at No
Mercy
Another nothing of a match.  Crowd went back and forth
from chanting "this match sucks" to "Yankees suck."
Booker T, Sharmell and William Regal joined JBL and
Michael Cole on commentary.  The three joined Finlay in
beating down Lashley after the win.  Batista charged
the ring in street clothes, followed by a ton of
referees and officials.  Finaly ran back into the ring
and rolled out the other corner then to the back as the
officials tried to block Batista.  Booker T vs Lashley
has buy rate written all over it, which they need,
especially a few weeks after a Raw PPV with Hell In The
Cell and a TLC match.

Following Smackdown was the most interesting part of
the night, watching the crew change the set from
Smackdown to ECW.  It was amazing that they could get
it done so quick and transform the arena into another
set for TV like they did.  The crew should be proud of
their hard work.

ECW Taping for 9/19

Sabu & Tommy Dreamer & Sandman def. Test & Mike Knox &
Matt Striker via DQ
Sandman was taken to the back early in the match after
being pushed from the apron to the guardrail by
Striker.  Test pushed the ref and was DQ'd, followed by
Sandman returning like he was Andre The Giant at MSG
for the cane swinging save.

Kevin Thorn def. Balls Mahoney
Balls was managed by Francine, who most of the crowd
didn't even know was under contract.  After Thorn's
vampire valet at ringside tripped Balls, Francine hit a
Lou Thesz press off of the ringsteps onto her.  Thorn
got the win with a razor's edge.

CM Punk def. Shannon Moore
The crowd took to Punk as a star, as he got one of the
better reactions of the night.

There was a show long angle where Booker T & Sharmell
were Paul Heyman's guests to add class to ECW.  He
introduced them to various wrestlers until running into
RVD, who challenged him to an Extreme Rules Match for
the main event.

The show went to hell from here, as Paul Heyman came
out for a promo that went almost a half hour that
doesn't appear to be airing on TV.  He went on and on
and on about basically nothing other than Booker T
showed up and challenged RVD.  He insulted the fans,
threatened to throw them out.  He saw a few fans
wearing ECW original t-shirts, and he said after seeing
them he was glad ECW went out of business in 2001.  He
loves ECW owned by Vince McMahon and that the McMahon's
were going to kick DX's asses on Sunday.  If this isn't
airing until September 19th, I don't know how that part
could air, or air at all without being heavily edited.

WWE HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Booker T def. Rob Van Dam
Hardcore Holly interfered.  What a surprise. 

Dark Main Event
Batista & Bobby Lashley def. Booker T & Fit Finlay
Quicky in just over four minutes.  The crowd was
pouring out after the RVD match.


Overall, just a long, boring show that was reminiscent
of old WWF Challenge tapings (not a good thing if you
never attended one).  There were a lot of kids there
that were attending their first event, so the main
players were over big.  That being said, why continue
to push half naked diva's to eight year olds with
parents that don't want them to see that kind of trash?
If adult men wanted to see it, they could go to a
strip club. 

ECW desperately needs to be taped by itself, this event
dragged and then some.  The tapings could move faster
if they edited the programs in-studio instead of going
live to tape.  Four hours on a school/work night is way
too long, they would be better served to tape Sunday's
on non-PPV weeks and start a little earlier to keep the
crowd fresh.

On a positive note, the show seemed to draw better than
the last event in Worcester (a Smackdown taping in July
2005 with Batista vs Orlando Jordan as the main event
along with the big return of Road Warrior Animal).  The
entire bottom section was open, while last year almost
the entire side of the hard camera was blacked off.