Smackdown taping tomorrow (6/25) in Columbia

[Bishblast]

Especially after the run of entertaining shows WWE has been putting on, I think I'm going to try to snag a last minute ticket to the taping. Jericho's being advertised as teaming with Sheamus and Orton to take on The Shield, which sounds like it could be a good match.

I remember this time last year WWE had a Smackdown taping in town (it was early June, though), and while the show featured some great wrestling, especially on the NXT and Superstars tapings, it was really hurting on star power (Sheamus was the biggest draw on the show, and a worthless cameo from HHH). The turnout for the show was very, very poor. As I recall, spoilers/results weren't coming in as quickly as usual, and I was unable to recall specific details after a long night. This time, (assuming I can make it, of course) I plan on taking better notes, and even if there is a spoiler thread already in progress, I will try to write up a relatively in depth review for here. Just for the hell of it.

I was unable to attend the last WWE show here in town, which was a Smackdown house show with another roster lacking in star power, but this one seems to have much more draw to it. I think this will be the first time Bryan has wrestled here, and the first time since early 2008 since Jericho has been here. I really hope I can get a ticket for this, as I'm unusually excited for the potential of this taping.

Anyone else in town (if there are any of you left here) going to this?

Edit: Sandow vs. Sheamus in a "Dublin Street Fight" is being advertised, as well as something called "Fiesta Del Rio"... via WWE.com.

[thegame415]

Given the recent crowds at Smackdown tapings,, you should be able to get some pretty good seats.

[Killah Ray]

I keep flip flopping whether or not I feel like driving to the Met or not....

[Bishblast]

Well, I'm in disbelief... I've tried to order tickets within the last few hours, and amazingly the bottom 3 tiers of tickets are all sold out. This includes the limited viewing seats up top. Cheapest tickets available are $50 after fees... yeah, I'll pass on that. It's amazing, because, yes, the SD houses are pretty poor right now, and last year as I said it was poorly attended.

I'll have to check the arena box office tomorrow morning to make sure... last year for the Prince concert, 45 minutes after tickets went on sale, they announced that the cheapest tier tickets were all sold out. When I got up to the booth, I asked for one of those tickets... sure as day, I got two. I thought the turnout for that concert would be huge, but when I got there, we were offered $100 upgrades, switching us from nosebleeds to 15th row from the stage. If I had to guess, when they announced that all of the cheap tickets were sold out (when in fact they weren't), people probably left and gave up on spending the extra dough on better seats... this lead to a bunch of better seats going unsold. I don't know if that is the case for this thing, but I refuse to believe they sold that many seats for a SD taping in 2013.

[Killah Ray]

Get to the box office in the afternoon after they set up and they'll probably have some floor seats open.

And f*** I wish I knew about the Prince concert because I was going to take my wife, but those floor ticket prices were crazy....

[Bishblast]

Yep, went to the box office a couple of hours ago... they added another section of limited viewing seats today (to the right of the stage on the hard camera side, doesn't look too bad for me). Plus, got the ticket for 17 bucks with no fees, as opposed to 22 online.

Yes! Excited... only thing worrying me is that Daniel Bryan isn't advertised on either the WWE site or the arena site... however, this doesn't necessarily mean he won't be there.

And, yeah dude, that Prince concert was amazing... best 20 bucks I've ever spent. But I was about to lose it when they announced there were no cheap seats left, and I was not about to pay price for the floor, or even the seats that I ended up getting as upgrades. Probably the best concert I've ever seen, and definitely the best concert I've seen in an arena.

[Bishblast]

Alright, here goes:

6:29 - I arrive in the parking lot. It has been a crazy day of weather in Columbia... lots of sporadic rain, very humid, and some crazy looking black clouds all over the place. Lots of people here, lots of signs.

6:54 - I go into the arena, finally, and there is a whole shit heap of people still trying to buy tickets.

7:06 - In my seat, the house is big, bigger than the usual SD shows that have been here... ever since the first in 2002, I have been to all but one, and this was definitely the most well attended. Not as full as the Raw shows, but that's to be expected. As usual, all top section seats are tarped off, and the vast majority of lower level seats are open (with the exception of a small boxed area where the hard camera was.

First match, dark match is Great Khali vs. Jinder Mahal... match is about exactly as you'd expect, if maybe not quite as bad. Hornswoggle bites Heath's ass to the biggest pop of the night so far, the child behind me yells out that he wants to see a real fight. Laughter. Khali wins in about 5 minutes... match was 2 minutes longer than it should have been. But, the crowd really hates 3MB and really loves Khali, so that works.

Next up is the Main Event taping segment, at 7:13

Chris Jericho (the f***, on Main Event?) vs. Cody Rhodes - This was probably the match of the night, and it was definitely the best match in terms of workrate. Back and forth match, crowd loves Y2J and are more or less indifferent to Cody... quite a few false finishes in the last 3 or 4 minutes (some of which really got us). Solid psychology throughout, Jericho is of course on fire in the ring on this run, and Cody is one of the most underrated workers in the company. Jericho makes Cody tap in 13 minutes of a damned good match, near PPV caliber.

That horrible The Call promo with Haley Berry, Kane, and Otunga airs... the children around me love it... as do some of the adults. Huh.

Antonio Cesaro and Zeb Coulter come out for a promo... pretty much pointless, just a time filler. Funny stuff from Zeb, and the crowd hated the guy... Cesaro really shouldn't speak when he's with Zeb. Not that he's not a good talker, but there is absolutely no back to back comparison. Once again, funny. Went about 6 minutes... could have been trimmed up.

Christian vs. Dean Ambrose - Match was very solid for the four minutes or so that it lasted... as has come to be expected, The Shield run in and beat up on Christian. Then The Usos come out for the rescue, this sets up the six man tag to come on SD. Good stuff, served its purpose. Ambrose and Christian work pretty well together and I'd like to see more from them.

Prime Time Players vs. Tons Of Funk - This was particularly baffling to me, and I haven't read any of the other arena reports, but The Funkadactyls came out with some other hot ebony chick. She was dancing and actually singing something to their song... once their intro was over, she just heads to the back. No clue who this was at all, confused me more than it probably should have... distracting. Anyway, Titus goes over Clay in a screwy finish I can't quite recall (sorry). 6 minutes.


Now, for the Smackdown taping:

Usual introductions and Lillian stuff.

Sheamus vs. Damien Sandow, Dublin Street Fight - Very fun match that turned into a relatively brutal hardcore match. Highlights include Sheamus throwing a beer keg at Sandow, then later dumping a bag of potatoes on him. Lots, and I mean lots, of stiff cane shots... looked nasty, Sandow actually broke one on Sheamus. Near the 14 minute mark, Sheamus sets up two chairs, which Sandow ends up sitting on leading to Sheamus kicking him out of the chairs and pinning him for the win. Very fun match, the crowd loved it, and the people here seemed to really dig Sheamus.

Bathroom break, but I thought I heard Vince...

Miz TV with Paul Heyman - Crowd hated Paul, loved Miz... it was just there. Nothing big. Curtis Axel comes out and Miz wants a match with him... Heyman says his typical no answer, and Axel beats on Miz to end the segment. Eh. 12 minute segment. Too long.

AJ Lee vs. Natalya - Kaitlyn comes out dressed as AJ like AJ did to her. Match goes about a minute, as Kaitlyn distracts AJ, and Nattie gets the win. Kaitlyn then spears AJ to decisively end the segment.

Teddy Long and Vince backstage - Teddy announces the MITB WHC lineup of Barret, Ambrose, Fandango, Swagger, Cesaro, Sandow, and Rhodes... and I can't remember who if anyone else. Ends with Teddy and Vince doing the Fandango pronunciation thing.

Kane vs. Randy Orton with Daniel Bryan on commentary - first off, definitely disappointed this is the second of both times Bryan has come here for a WWE show and not wrestled. Match started out pretty cool, the audience didn't care too much at first... then, the second half was on fire. Hard work in the ring from both guys, the crowd was hot and into it, and Daniel Bryan helped things by standing on the announce desk and starting both Yes and No chants. Kane gets knocked to the floor, and Bryan goes to check on him and tries to hurry him back into the ring so he can beat Orton. After Bryan pushed Kane back into the ring, Orton hits him with an RKO for the win at 15 minutes or so. Very fun match by the end.

Justin Gabriel vs. Ryback - Ryback wins, of course, in 2 minutes. Jericho comes out and teases Ryback, they then brawl for like half a minute before Ryback escapes to the back. Jericho introduces the nickname "cryback"... hey, it got over at least for tonight.

The Shield vs. The Usos and Christian - This match was a total blast, probably the crowd favorite of the night. Awesome work from all involved... The Usos are apparently over, judging my the reaction they got tonight. Christian pins Ambrose in about 10 minutes for his team's win. Just lots of fun, and this will probably come off best on TV.

People start to leave, haha.

Finally, we have the Fiesta Del Rio... Mariachi band comes out, lots of balloons, etc. This was your typical babyface crashes heel's celebration deal. I don't think the crowd is completely sure of Ziggler... he gets a pop when he comes out and when he hits a move or something, but in between it seemed like the crowd was sitting on their hands for this. A "salsa" chant starts up, so Ziggler tosses Rico into the salsa... Ziggler picks up a guitar to hit Del Rio, but Del Rio makes a run for it through the crowd. Ziggler then hits Rico with the guitar... Ziggler Plays around with the band, the balloons are released as people start filing out in droves.

Del Rio comes back out and quickly attacks Ziggler again, but Ziggler gets the upper hand, quickly.

Show's over, folks.

The advertised dark match did not happen.

I had a good time, but this was your usual WWE show where you had to take the good with the bad... but there was less bad on here, and more pointless or dull. As a live event, I'd probably give tonight's show a 6 out of 10, all things considered.