LAYETH THE`SMACKETH DOWN    or Should They Layeth the ECW Down…..Permanently

 By Scott Epstein

Since ratings for TV wrestling shows are not at the levels or even close to the Monday Night Wars I didn't anticipate the sold out + crowd for the taping of Smackdown and the live airing of Raw last night, especially Nassau Coliseum.  There were even “{Bench” seats sold for 78.00 each.  Bench seats are the actual seats the Islanders and their opponents use in their makeshift non dugout.  This afforded brilliantly at least 60 or more seats at 78 bucks a piece..you do the math…….nice extra take for the WWE

The show opened exactly at 7:30 PM with loud music hitting, the Major Bros. coming out, and a huge oxygen pop from the crowd for the beginning of their sports entertainment night.  Drew McIntyre and Dane Taylor were the other tag team for this dark match which went smoothly and kept a well rested crowd energetic for most of it.  There were even some HUGE USA chants for the Brothers Grimm, one of whom rolled up his opponent and got the pinfall.  HUGE POP

The visit to Iraq Video played on all of the house screens while the voice overs spoke about WWE going back.

JBL and Michael Cole are introduced and their is a tremendous pop for JBL

Music once again and its Batista, looking very ripped.  Batista comes to the ring, takes a microphone and it gets very quiet ……”Sunday I accomplished  something I never thought I would do,  beat the Undertaker”. “were 1-1 with 2 draws a mere even.

Lights Out, UT Music hits….Lights back on and UT is in the middle of the ring.  There is a stare down.

UT on mike responding to Batista asking to watch his back because they were a tag team tonight.

UT: “Rest assured I got your back”

No sooner said, Mark Henry music hits and

The large Olympian

Gosh is that really Mark Henry.  The same Mark Henry who became world famous in the Olympics for medals in weightlifting…..couldn't be MH…or maybe since he has the same initials as Missy Hyatt he has the same, maybe even larger BOOBS.

Speaking of BOOBS, out marches Great Khali………he’s such a lousy worker and doesn't come off to be the size WWE is working him for: 7’4”, 400+ pounds..NOT !

Now take Andre.  He was the true Giant and looked the part….chest, hands, neck, legs etc.

Somehow one of the guys tells us it’s gonna be a Hell in a Cell match.  Where are you Mick, it’s Long Island, come home tonight pretty please…………

These were actually good promos cut by all here but the crowd did not pop for them for some reason.  In fact, just the opposite, the 15,000+ fans were down and out quiet.

Deuce and Domino’s music hits next and the crowd pops like wild fever, however the boring match versus Festus (?) was so bad that one could hear a pin drop in the ring.

Festus was over by pinfall in short duration and I was glad.  I hope D & D are still OK working together as it looked as if they were green to their own stuff.

Next up: A nice pop for the entrances of Jaime Noble and of course Rey Mysterio.

Rey had a huge contingency of sign holders as well as 6-1-9 shouters.

Prior to these workers entrance, one Mr. UnFit Finlay, shellaigh in tow sat his green ass down as if to do color commentary.  The crowd, including my friend and I were waiting to see an incredible 619 and had yet to see one since Noble is a good worker and was able to counter and make Reys moves look even better.  When the 619 finally came, Noble took the bump, turned and countered nicely only to have Rey multi counter twist and shout for a reverse roll up and the 1,2,3………….Needless to say, Mr UnFit tries to better his mike skills at the expense of Rey by berating him and telling the world he watched Rey say “I quit” in a previous match.

Surprisingly, the pops, or lack thereof for Noble’s counter moves and escapes is sad.  I wonder how many of these fans are the kind that can actually tell who the better workers are and appreciate the high spots.  Can these same fans pick out a missed spot or two???  Ah, the business is just so different today…………

A lot of time was being killed off now and the monitors in the arena were showing many different promos and certainly pushing this Saturday’s on sale time etc for Wrestlemania 24

Unexpected Pyro a few minutes later started us back up with the intros of Kane vs. MVP.  Both of them got huge pops upon entering the ring but the match was dead weight and the arena was soooo quiet it was almost scary.Way too long and the post finish Viscera out after Kane gimmick is pretty poor

Hooray,  The ring announcer is saying from Long Island NY and I know its gotta be Foley and sure enough it is………in formalwear for Mick…a nice looking perhaps suede 2 piece workout/jogging suit.  Coach was his opponent and looked as if he has put on a few, but wait where’s the ref…………..announcer now calls out for the special guest referee….Mr. McMahon………….of course the smart marks next to us are saying “I can't believe Vince is in Long Island”……and as we all knew it wasn't that Mr. McMahon but the long lost son of a gun in green who assisted Mick with an Irish version of Mr Socko.

Coach is down and ready to get pinned and Tiny Finlay goes to the top rope to assist Foley and making sure Coach does not kick out…….1,2,3.winner Mick Foley.

Next up was Chuck Palumbo on his Harley with Michelle McCool in his corner vs. CM Punk with Victoria in his corner and somehow I think it may have been a 3 way dance because Dykstra was in there too.

  Considering the amount of fans wearing CM Punk T shirts and amount of fans having signs for CM Punk, and Punks good work ethic the crowd was dead and quiet . 

I can't imagine for what reason some guys  are let go and a guy like Dykstra is still with the company.  Additionally, Palumbo could not get a pop or anything going which I don't understand because I could not take my eyes of Michelle….she is hot hot hot…so you would figure that anyone who she is assigned to would be an instant over superstar.  NOT !!I was very bored by now but did pick up many missed spots and sloppy spots in the match and perhaps the other fans may not have realized it but they may have just been bored or tired too asa the match had no attention given to it by the crowd at all.

At this point, it was Bladdermania for me so up I went those inclined steps to find the Men’s Room, get some Cracker Jacks (7 bucks) and a bottle of water (4.95) and missed one match.  My friend Paul who was sitting with me told me it was actually a good match.  It was a tag team I believe that included UT/Batista vs……oh well watch it Friday night…gotta leave some suspense.

I am not going to report on the ECW since most of you reading this have probably seen it live last night.  Thank God that show is a swift 1 hour.  They were pushing today’s Halloween stuff and many of the boys were in irregular costume.  I don't know if Tommy Dreamer, who had the best one was saluting his buddy Paul Heyman or made to wear the alookalike outfit in effigy……..one can never read into the ominous symbols in this business.

The one thing you fans at home did not see after the final match of the 4 BIG BOYS was UT music hitting once again, lights out, UT is in the ring and cleaning house…upon UT having some difficulty, Batista comes out to make the save and they both clean house……Kane climbs back into the ring and this threesome, Kane, Batista, UT

Have a long stare down at each other….suddenly Kane and UT leave the ring jointly, then walk down the path slowly together, leaving Batista in the ring alone and fans wondering if this was a sly piece of WWE writers telling us what may be in days to come…perhaps a reunion of UT and Kane as possible heels and Batista left alone in the ring did get some major pops and considering the arena was half empty by now that was pretty good.

It’s all good !!