Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
Pretty decent show again tonight. Surprisingly small crowd, the entire top bowl was closed and probably two thirds of the camera side was empty. Everyone was really into the show though, staying active for pretty much everything.
Big "YES! NO!" chants before the show started. No dark matches, they started right into Superstars.
Superstars
Wade Barrett v. Tyson Kidd - Barrett wins with the Souvenir. Tyson got a really big reaction when he locked in the Sharpshooter.
Antonio Cesario v. Justin Gabriel - Antonio wins after crotching Justin on the top rope and lifting him off the turnbuckle into the Gotch-style Neutralizer.
Main Event
Recap of the Big Show / Randy Orton issues.
Big Show v. Sheamus - Show wins with the choke slam.
Kofi Kingston v. Michael McGillicutty - Kofi hits a nice SOS for the win. Miz comes in the ring and they argue, setting up a match next week on Main Event for the IC title.
Saturday Morning Slam
Brodus Clay v. Cody Rhodes - Brodus wins with a big splash. Some fun comedy from both guys.
Smackdown
Starts with a Brogue Kick vs KO Punch power contest. There's a carnival style punching bag machine set up on the stage. First up is Sheamus, who kicks for a reading of "1322 force per square inch". After some goading, Big Show blasts the punching bag, scoring "1809 force per square inch". Tensai then ran out on the stage and jumped Sheamus.
Sheamus v. Tensai - Sheamus nails the Brogue kick for the pin.
In somewhat of a letdown, they showed on screen that up next would be an executive decision related to the Punk and McMahon incident on Raw, but apparently that's being added to the show after the taping because it didn't happen.
Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal v. Santino and Zack Ryder - The Band wins when Heath pinned Ryder.
Kane v. Dolph Ziggler - Vicki distracts the ref so Dolph can grab his MITB briefcase, but the ref sees him hit Kane with it and gets DQ'd. Kane gets control of the situation but Daniel Bryan runs out right at the end and acts as if he's the one that ran Ziggler off. Matt Stryker comes in the ring to interview the Tag Team Champs, asking Bryan about rumors that Kane is the reason they're champions. Bryan responds by dropping Stryker and putting on the No Lock. Kane then tries to one-up Bryan and hits Stryker with a choke slam.
Kofi Kingston v. Big Show - Big Show wins with the KO Punch after blocking Trouble in Paradise. Miz had joined commentary and came in the ring to talk trash to a knocked-out Kofi.
Sin Cara v. Damien Sandow w/ Cody Rhodes - Cody gets ejected for interfering which leads to Sin Cara getting the win.
Main Event of Smackdown: Daniel Bryan v. Alberto Del Rio - Bryan taps out to the Cross Arm Breaker. Afterwards, Del Rio starts running down Randy Orton, railing on the fact he isn't there after the beatdowns from the past couple shows. As Del Rio starts mocking Orton's mannerisms again, surprise, out from under the ring he comes and a brawl kicks off. Del Rio narrowly escaped and left poor Ricardo to take a RKO on top of the announcer's table.
Post-Smackdown wasn't much. Big Show comes down (again...) in a sweatsuit, saying he wants to talk to the audience and set some things straight, so Orton needs to leave his ring. Of course this starts another brawl, with Del Rio joining in and Sheamus running down to even the odds. A quick Brogue Kick and RKO ends the scuffle and the crowd goes home happy.
So nothing mind-blowing, but all 4 tapings were solid shows that everyone should take the time to check out this week!
It's certainly interesting watching WWE tape four different shows in a single night. A side effect of this though is that the crowd loses some of the excitement for the guys that come out repeatedly throughout the entire tapings. By the third time Big Show came out, for his match versus Kofi, he still got an ok reaction but not nearly as loud as the first ones. And as much as I like the guy, when he came out yet again for the post-show shenanigans, we just kind of groaned.
Another unavoidable fact with taping all 4 shows is that the show ran over 3.5 hours long and a handful parents, families and kids near us ended up leaving before the show was over.
Biggest live reactions
1. Vicki Guerrero
2. Randy Orton
3. Sheamus
4. Daniel Bryan
They announced a return to San Jose for the Monday Night Raw on January 21st and again let us buy tickets right after tonight's show. The pre-pre-sale code for this one is RAWSANJOSE, probably valid for about a week or so like Sacramento's pre-pre-sale.
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
Bang On Casino
