WWE SmackDown SPOILER Results
Before Smackdown:They're showing Hall of Fame '09 highlights while the ring crew changes the aprons and announce table for Smackdown.
Dolph Ziggler d. Jimmy Wang Yang with a sleeper hold. They showed highlights of Rey Mysterio winning the '06 Royal Rumble match afterwards.
Smackdown:
Finlay d. Batista by DQ when Batista refused to break the referee's 5-count I guess. Then he cut a promo saying Finlay represented the other Royal Rumble competitors and that he would win the Rumble and end Taker's undefeated streak at Mania.
Finlay beat Batista by DQ. Batista beat down Finlay by throwing him into the steps and slamming him on the floor. Batista said what he did to Finlay is the same thing he would do to HHH, Michaels and Cena at the Royal Rumble and will end the Undertaker streak at WM.
Match 2: Dolph Ziggler beat Jimmy Wang Yang with a rear naked choke hold.
CM Punk and Luke Gallows come out saved another fan. This time it is a hyper fan named Serena (Mia from FCW) and Punk shaves her long hair off till she is completely bald!!!
Handicap match: Chris Jericho & Drew McIntyre vs. John Morrison. Teddy Long comes out and makes it a tag team match. Morrison's tag partner is R-Truth.
John Morrison & R-Truth win when Truth pins Jericho after a scissor kick. Great match!
They show highlights of Rey winning the world title at Mania 22 while the ring crew sets up food and balloons for the next segment... Involving McCool & James.
Michelle McCool and Layla make fun of Mickie James with a buffet of food. Maria interferes and calls them morons. Mickie comes out and says Michelle and Layla think they are great but really they are nothing. She points at the audience and says this is what real women look like. She says Michelle will never run her off Smackdown. Michelle says the WWE fans get to watch Animal Planet and WWE at the same time when Mickie is on TV. Catfight ensues. Beth Phoenix runs in and helps Michelle and Layla. They shove a 'Piggie' cake into Mickie's face and dump punch on her. Actually a great segment, believe it or not!
Mike Knox & Charlie Haas (he still works here too!) vs. Cryme Tyme gets interrupted by Kane, who lays everyone out. I guess he wants to win the Rumble too...
Matt Hardy & Great Khali (there's an odd team for you) d. The Hart Dynasty when Hardy rolled up DH Smith.
Rey calls out Taker. He says he is not afraid of him. Taker says he admires Rey's bravery but at the Royal Rumble he will defeat Rey and Rey will rest in peace. As Taker walks out, Batista lays out Rey and runs away through the crowd. Show ends here.
Vickie Guerrero comes out and makes Rey vs. Batista for tonight. This was a dark match.
Randy Orton In New Movie
-- According to Variety, Randy Orton will star in the WWE Films production of Big Red. There is no word on what role Orton will play yet. Here is the description of the film… "In 1965, as the world changes all around him, 12-year-old Andy Nichol comes of age when he's asked by his favorite teacher, Mr. Simon, to partner with school outcast Big Red for an English assignment."
-- The Hart family DVD will be released in April, and will be officially titled Hart and Soul: The Hart Family Anthology.
-- WWE The Music: A New Day will be released on January 28th.
What You Didn't See On WWE RAW This Week
* Dark MatchSkip Sheffield def. Chavo Guerrero with a backpack stunner.
* Superstars Match
Kelly Kelly def. Jillian with the K2
After the show ended Sheamus came out and stated that'd if any of the guys there won the Rumble they'd be better off challenging Undertaker and then challenged Cena to a match for the WWE Title.
Cena won by disqualification after Sheamus bumped the ref before Cena put him in the STF and the bell rang. After that Cena got the mic with Sheamus holding up the title poised to attack Cena with it. Cena said he had something to say to Sheamus and told Sheamus to lay down the title but Sheamus charged Cena and whiffed as Cena popped him with the mic over the head. Cena then said he knew Sheamus was the palest member of the roster but he just vaulted past the Miz as the stupidest because he was just gonna ask Sheamus to sing "Rocky Top" with him. After Cena sang "Rocky Top" with the crowd Sheamus got up and got an Attitude Adjustment.
Vince Takes Control Of WWE Films, Major Changes
According to Variety, Vince McMahon is personally taking control of WWE films. WWE has cut ties with Lionsgate and 20th Century Fox, and have signed new deals with Samuel Goldwyn Films to oversee theatrical releases, while Vivendi Entertainment will handle films across various home video formats in North America.The company plans to produce a total of 9 films through 2012, while they also are hoping to retain the rights to all the films. This is because WWE still has designs on their own TV channel, and the films would be a part of the programming.
The article mentions that WWE Films will now focus on family films and comedies, instead of films like The Marine 3.
Updated List Of Upcoming RAW Guest Hosts
WWE has announced that talk show host Jerry Springer will guest-host the February 15 episode of WWE Raw.
The following is an updated list of the confirmed Raw guest hosts:
- January 18: Jon Heder and Don Johnson
- January 25: Actors James Roday and Dule Hill (stars of the USA show Psych)
- February 1: Actor William Shatner
- February 8: Not Yet Announced
- February 15: Jerry Springer
- March 15: “Stone Cold” Steve Austin
Backstage RAW News: Bret Hart & Undertaker?
Tonight’s RAW will take place from the Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, TN with The Undertaker and Bret Hart scheduled to make appearances. Tonight’s guest hosts will be actors Don Johnson and Jon 'Napoleon Dynamite' Heder. Sheamus vs. John Cena for the WWE Title is being advertised locally.As noted earlier, WWE creative has been writing this week’s RAW and SmackDown! to heavily push the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, which is less than two weeks away. The plan was to add one more match to the card at this week’s TV tapings and announce 15 of the Royal Rumble match participants by the end of the week.
The new rumor going around is that Bret Hart will not be appearing on tonight’s RAW from Knoxville but will rather make his return on next week’s show from Columbus. However, this isn’t confirmed and the last we heard is that he's scheduled for tonight. There should be more on this story later this evening.
WWE Releases SmackDown Star
The following is from WWE.com:"WWE has come to terms on the release of Smackdown superstar Eric Escobar as of Jan. 17, 2010. WWE wishes Eric all the best in his future endeavors."
We should have more on this story shortly.
RVD On Whether He Thinks TNA Or WWE Is Better
During an interview with Empire Wrestling Radio, Rob Van Dam said he feels WWE's product "is king" and the only real selling point for TNA is "saying they're not WWE.""I think when you talk about the product, you have a lot to consider. WWE is king. A lot of fans are turning toward TNA just because TNA's strongest point is 'Hey, we're not WWE.' When you see WWE arenas packed all the way to the roof and when you see TNA's crowd, you know who is king," Van Dam said.
He also took shots at WWE's version of Extreme Championship Wrestling, saying they will have to change the brand name soon because they "made it suck."
"They took a product that was superior in originality and they watered down to make it mean the same as one of their lesser show, and then eventually mean even (less)," he said. "It has no connection or affiliation now whatsoever with the original ECW. In fact, I heard they're going to stop doing it real soon because they made it suck so bad."
Big Backstage News On Bret's Return
Bret Hart first contacted WWE in February of 2009 to let them know that he was open to returning for a storyline. Hart’s girlfriend was going to school in Calgary and he would be based out of Calgary for a few years instead of Hawaii, where he had been. Bret was getting bored with retirement and thought of getting back into wrestling.Bret notes that there were times when WWE seemed interested and other times when they really didn’t seem interested in his return at all. He told them a few times that if they weren’t that interested, he was fine with that and then he would always hear immediately back from them with interest. Talks for this year’s WrestleMania angle got serious last September.
There is a storyline in place through WrestleMania between Hart and Vince McMahon with hope for some sort of street fight or at least a showdown between the two at WrestleMania. Due to concussions from the past and his stroke in 2002, Hart is very limited to what he can do in the ring. He can’t take a traditional flat back bump. Obviously challenges like these could affect what happens between Bret and Vince. The original script for the RAW angle a few weeks back was for Vince to slap Bret in the face. Because of the concussion issue, they changed it to a kick in the stomach. It actually ended up being a kick to the groin from Vince, a miscue that Bret felt made the segment better.
Both Bret and WWE have laid out the basic details of the storyline and agreed on them. Each side has veto power regarding minor details. Hart is scheduled to return at next week’s RAW and is scheduled to be a regular on RAW through February. Bret’s contract with WWE is for through April and is only for this storyline. Bret is said to be open to ideas if WWE is interested in using him past that point and is open to signing a longer contract. If no contract would be offered, he is still open to appearing on the occasional show for the next few years while he’s mostly based out of Calgary.
Other sources report that revealing Bret’s stroke from 2002 in the storyline has been talked about. Apparently it will be a significant part of the angle at some point. Bret’s concussion issue is less likely to be brought up because it’s such a sensitive issue right now.
On the plane trip from Hawaii to RAW, Bret’s sciatic nerve in his lower back was acting up badly, causing concern that he would be limping to the ring. Bret rested after the trip and was pain free by the time RAW came on Monday night.