No spoiler tags since I did warn yall
WWE Smackdown TV taping report
June 2, 2015
Houston, Tex. at Toyota Center
Report by James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor
The day of the event, only floor seats and upper-level 400 seats were available. 100 level seats were available on Monday night, but those seats were gone on Tuesday. So, WWE was expecting a full house for the latest Smackdown TV taping in Houston, which leads into the Night of Champions PPV in September.
Refresh tonight for updates from the taping. We'll have a more detailed rundown after the event is over...
***
Dark Match: A man identified as Braun from NXT beat a local jobber introduced from Houston. 2:30 on the squash. Braun looks like a bigger version of Bray Wyatt.
Main Event SPOILERS
JBL and Rich Brennan on the call. The healthy Uso joined them for guest commentary.
(1) Dolph Ziggler (w/Lana) beat Adam Rose (w/Rosa Mendes) at 3:30. Superkick for the win.
(2) Paige beat Alicia Fox via submission to the PTO at 7:32.
R-Truth joined commentary for the next match.
(3) King Barrett beat Jack Swagger at 8:43. Truth tried to distract Barrett by taking his crown at ringside, but Barrett still won with the Bullhammer.
A spot aired for Swerved premiering Monday, June 22 after Raw on WWE Network. Another spot aired for a SpongeBob DVD release.
The ring apron changed over to Superstars and Byron Saxton replaced JBL. Brennan and Uso stayed.
Superstars SPOILERS
(1) Harper & Rowan beat Los Matadores (w/El Torito) at 3:28 with the 3D. Indeed they did.
The crew switched over to Smackdown, which brought out Jerry Lawler and Tom Phillips to join Saxton on commentary.
Smackdown SPOILERS 6/4
WWE World Hvt. champion Seth Rollins opened the show sans title belt and by himself. Seth grabbed a chair for a visual aid explaining why he ended The Shield. Seth bragged about doing things by himself, ran down Kane, and bragged about WrestleMania. Rollins set the stage for Brock Lesnar coming back. Then he moved on to Dean Ambrose. He said he doesn't need The Authority to destroy Dean. Dean eventually interrupted from the videotron and called out Seth on his lies. He said he is the real World champ and he'll prove it in their ladder match at Money in the Bank. Seth seethed then left the ring.
Tonight: Roman Reigns vs. Sheamus and Kevin Owens's NXT Title Open Challenge.
First up was a three-team #1 contender match for the Tag Titles.
(1) Prime Time Players beat The Ascension and Lucha Dragons at 7:03 to become #1 contenders. They built to a Titus hot tag and he finished off Viktor with a pumphandle slam.
Backstage, WWE tag champs New Day reacted to the Players becoming #1 contenders, suggesting a Tag Title match at Money in the Bank. Suddenly Kane walked in. He put Kofi Kingston in singles action against Neville.
(2) IC champion Ryback beat Stardust at 2:22 in a non-title match. Total squash that the audience ate up.
The Rockets's Dwight Howard continued his streak of WWE appearances, appearing on the front row for TV. D-Mo sheepishly stood up next to him after Dwight did a big pose down routine.
On-stage, Paige cut a promo on the Bellas. She offered a speech on changing the world. In her case, the Divas division.
Backstage, Harper and Rowan talked about it being time to pay for sins.
A video for WM32 in Dallas didn't go over too well with the Houston crowd. Another SpongeBob spot aired.
Kevin Owens came out for the NXT Open Challenge. Big reaction split for and against. Owens ran down John Cena, calling him delusional. He vowed to end Cena's corruption polluting children's minds at MITB. The open challenge was then answered by Zack Ryder.
(3) Kevin Owens beat Zack Ryder at 1:10 to retain the NXT Title. Virtual squash. Owens won with the pop-up powerbomb, then delivered another one after the match.
Backstage, Sheamus took exception to Roman Reigns being considered the favorite to win the MITB match.
(4) Neville beat WWE tag champion Kofi Kingston (w/New Day) at 5:18. Neville avoided constant interference and eventually got a quick pin for the win. Xavier Woods tried to antagonize D-Howard during the match.
Backstage, The Miz got a touch-up before coming to the ring.
A Total Divas spot aired. Notably, a lot more females in attendance than usual. TD seems to be carrying over to live attendance.
WWE officially announced Night of Champions on September 20. The pre-sale password is Houston.
Next was Miz TV with Lana. Miz noted that Rusev is hurt right now. So how can Lana abandon Rusev right now? She said Rusev is the one who abandoned her. Miz welcomed out his surprise guest, Rusev, who limped down to the ring on crutches. Rusev wanted to sing about not knowing what you have until it's gone.
He begged her for one more chance. She turned down the offer and pushed the crutches into Rusev. He went from nice guy to super-mad Rusev, calling her names. You, you, you, grrrr. Dolph Ziggler's music interrupted and Dolph escorted Lana away from ringside.
A spot aired for Big Show in WWE Studios's new movie, Vendetta.
(5) Roman Reigns beat Sheamus via DQ at 8:28. Kane and J&J Security came down to ringside at the end. Kane then attacked Reigns for a DQ. Afterward, Kane took out Sheamus with a chokeslam too.
Kane took the mic and announced himself as the last entrant in the MITB ladder match. J&J freaked out, getting over the point of that putting Kane one step away from Rollins's WWE Title.
After the Smackdown taping ended, they did a wrap-up angle with Rollins running down to attack Reigns. But Ambrose made the save. He did a tug of war with Rollins over the belt, then let go. Rollins turned around and took the Superman Punch. Ambrose re-took the belt and did a victory lap with Reigns to close the show.
WWE Smackdown TV taping report
June 2, 2015
Houston, Tex. at Toyota Center
Report by James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor
The day of the event, only floor seats and upper-level 400 seats were available. 100 level seats were available on Monday night, but those seats were gone on Tuesday. So, WWE was expecting a full house for the latest Smackdown TV taping in Houston, which leads into the Night of Champions PPV in September.
Refresh tonight for updates from the taping. We'll have a more detailed rundown after the event is over...
***
Dark Match: A man identified as Braun from NXT beat a local jobber introduced from Houston. 2:30 on the squash. Braun looks like a bigger version of Bray Wyatt.
Main Event SPOILERS
JBL and Rich Brennan on the call. The healthy Uso joined them for guest commentary.
(1) Dolph Ziggler (w/Lana) beat Adam Rose (w/Rosa Mendes) at 3:30. Superkick for the win.
(2) Paige beat Alicia Fox via submission to the PTO at 7:32.
R-Truth joined commentary for the next match.
(3) King Barrett beat Jack Swagger at 8:43. Truth tried to distract Barrett by taking his crown at ringside, but Barrett still won with the Bullhammer.
A spot aired for Swerved premiering Monday, June 22 after Raw on WWE Network. Another spot aired for a SpongeBob DVD release.
The ring apron changed over to Superstars and Byron Saxton replaced JBL. Brennan and Uso stayed.
Superstars SPOILERS
(1) Harper & Rowan beat Los Matadores (w/El Torito) at 3:28 with the 3D. Indeed they did.
The crew switched over to Smackdown, which brought out Jerry Lawler and Tom Phillips to join Saxton on commentary.
Smackdown SPOILERS 6/4
WWE World Hvt. champion Seth Rollins opened the show sans title belt and by himself. Seth grabbed a chair for a visual aid explaining why he ended The Shield. Seth bragged about doing things by himself, ran down Kane, and bragged about WrestleMania. Rollins set the stage for Brock Lesnar coming back. Then he moved on to Dean Ambrose. He said he doesn't need The Authority to destroy Dean. Dean eventually interrupted from the videotron and called out Seth on his lies. He said he is the real World champ and he'll prove it in their ladder match at Money in the Bank. Seth seethed then left the ring.
Tonight: Roman Reigns vs. Sheamus and Kevin Owens's NXT Title Open Challenge.
First up was a three-team #1 contender match for the Tag Titles.
(1) Prime Time Players beat The Ascension and Lucha Dragons at 7:03 to become #1 contenders. They built to a Titus hot tag and he finished off Viktor with a pumphandle slam.
Backstage, WWE tag champs New Day reacted to the Players becoming #1 contenders, suggesting a Tag Title match at Money in the Bank. Suddenly Kane walked in. He put Kofi Kingston in singles action against Neville.
(2) IC champion Ryback beat Stardust at 2:22 in a non-title match. Total squash that the audience ate up.
The Rockets's Dwight Howard continued his streak of WWE appearances, appearing on the front row for TV. D-Mo sheepishly stood up next to him after Dwight did a big pose down routine.
On-stage, Paige cut a promo on the Bellas. She offered a speech on changing the world. In her case, the Divas division.
Backstage, Harper and Rowan talked about it being time to pay for sins.
A video for WM32 in Dallas didn't go over too well with the Houston crowd. Another SpongeBob spot aired.
Kevin Owens came out for the NXT Open Challenge. Big reaction split for and against. Owens ran down John Cena, calling him delusional. He vowed to end Cena's corruption polluting children's minds at MITB. The open challenge was then answered by Zack Ryder.
(3) Kevin Owens beat Zack Ryder at 1:10 to retain the NXT Title. Virtual squash. Owens won with the pop-up powerbomb, then delivered another one after the match.
Backstage, Sheamus took exception to Roman Reigns being considered the favorite to win the MITB match.
(4) Neville beat WWE tag champion Kofi Kingston (w/New Day) at 5:18. Neville avoided constant interference and eventually got a quick pin for the win. Xavier Woods tried to antagonize D-Howard during the match.
Backstage, The Miz got a touch-up before coming to the ring.
A Total Divas spot aired. Notably, a lot more females in attendance than usual. TD seems to be carrying over to live attendance.
WWE officially announced Night of Champions on September 20. The pre-sale password is Houston.
Next was Miz TV with Lana. Miz noted that Rusev is hurt right now. So how can Lana abandon Rusev right now? She said Rusev is the one who abandoned her. Miz welcomed out his surprise guest, Rusev, who limped down to the ring on crutches. Rusev wanted to sing about not knowing what you have until it's gone.
He begged her for one more chance. She turned down the offer and pushed the crutches into Rusev. He went from nice guy to super-mad Rusev, calling her names. You, you, you, grrrr. Dolph Ziggler's music interrupted and Dolph escorted Lana away from ringside.A spot aired for Big Show in WWE Studios's new movie, Vendetta.
(5) Roman Reigns beat Sheamus via DQ at 8:28. Kane and J&J Security came down to ringside at the end. Kane then attacked Reigns for a DQ. Afterward, Kane took out Sheamus with a chokeslam too.
Kane took the mic and announced himself as the last entrant in the MITB ladder match. J&J freaked out, getting over the point of that putting Kane one step away from Rollins's WWE Title.
After the Smackdown taping ended, they did a wrap-up angle with Rollins running down to attack Reigns. But Ambrose made the save. He did a tug of war with Rollins over the belt, then let go. Rollins turned around and took the Superman Punch. Ambrose re-took the belt and did a victory lap with Reigns to close the show.
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They can't emasculate Rusev like that.
