Wednesday, April 14, 2010

UPDATE ON SMACKDOWNS SYFY MOVE

The New York Times reports that WWE SmackDown’s move to the SyFy network is a two-year deal with an option for a third year. WWE will still have some exposure on broadcast TV with occasional specials on NBC. Dave Meltzer reports that SyFy is actually paying $35 million for SmackDown.

OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT OF SMACKDOWN GOES SYFY

SMACKDOWN GOES SYFY
World Wrestling Entertainment(R) and Syfy announced today a multi-year agreement that brings Friday Night SmackDown(R) to the “Imagine Greater” network beginning in October 2010. Friday Night SmackDown will premiere on its new home October 1st at 8:00 PM ET. The program, which debuted more than 10 years ago, is one of the longest-running, weekly episodic shows on television.
Syfy’s original Friday night drama series will move to Tuesday night, where hit series such as Warehouse 13 and Eureka have yielded unprecedented ratings success. WWE NXT(TM) will leave Syfy in October as Friday Night SmackDown joins the schedule.
“WWE(R) is the ultimate in imagination-based sports entertainment. The fantastical thrills of Friday Night SmackDown provide an ideal addition to the Syfy slate, as it targets the younger male and female demographics, which are the fastest growing categories for WWE,” said Dave Howe, President, Syfy. “With Tuesday night, a proven winner for our original drama series including Warehouse 13, there is bigger opportunity for series such as Stargate Universe, Sanctuary and Caprica to thrive on a night with a significantly larger number of viewers available to watch live.”
“Syfy is a terrific partner and we look forward to bringing our proven ratings winner and ten year television institution, Friday Night SmackDown, to the network,” said WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon. “With this move, WWE is thrilled to be expanding its long-standing relationship with the NBC Universal family.”
Friday Night SmackDown averages more than 3.4 million viewers a week and is currently the most watched TV program on Friday nights among Males under 55 and beats all Friday primetime programming on ABC, NBC, FOX and CW among Men 18-34*. The two hour television program will be presented weekly on Syfy and features a star-studded cast of WWE Superstars and Divas including Undertaker(R), Edge(R), Rey Mysterio(R), Chris Jericho(R), CM Punk(R), Michelle McCool(R), Beth Phoenix(TM) and Layla(TM).

NXT AS ON 4/13

We start off with a video package from last week’s Keg Carrying Challenge and Heath Slater’s wonderful reward of having to face Kane in the main event.
We are live on tape from London, England and your announcers are Josh ‘ ’ Mathews and Michael ‘Ianto’ Cole. Your host is Matt ‘Weevil’ Striker.
Matt Striker is in the ring and he brings out the rookies and they stand in a line behind a lectern. Matt says that everyone looks like the pressure is getting to them as the competition intensifies. Matt asks Tarver about his comments from last week and how he was disqualified and lost his match last week. Tarver says that he is the pressure and he is getting to the rookies. He says that whether he wins or lose, he will not lose.
Striker goes to Otunga and he talks about what Otunga said last week about not sharing the spotlight. Matt mentions that Otunga shared the spotlight with the WWE Champion. Otunga says that he did share the spotlight with the WWE Champion and nobody else has done it on Raw.
Matt mentions that Justin Gabriel defeated David Otunga just like John Cena and then Gabriel mentions that he lost last week in the Battle Royal. Matt asks how Gabriel would do against John Cena. Gabriel says that he would look forward to a match.
Matt reminds us what happens to the winner of NXT.
Matt says that the wrestlers need to connect with fans all over the world. Last week’s physical challenge was won by Heath Slater. Tonight, we are going test the mentality of the superstars. The judges are the fans in the crowd. Matt says that the winner gets to stand out because he will have his own entrance music and will have input on that music.
Matt says that he has a list of topics and he will give a topic to each rookie. They will have thirty seconds to talk about the topic and the crowd will judge on creativity and originality.
The first topic goes to Daniel Bryan and he will talk about passion. Bryan talks about the Daniel Bryan Manliness meter but Striker interrupts him and he says that passion is an eight on the meter and then he says that he loves England.
Wade Barrett is next and his topic is blasé. Barrett says that people talk about rookies who are blasé, but there is nothing blasé about him. He says that he is the number one bare knuckle fighter in Europe and he is the best rookie. He says that he has proven it every week.
Justin Gabriel is next and his topic is flowers. Justin introduces himself and he says that a lot of flowers grow in South Africa. He is a fan of the rose, which grows in England.
It is Heath Slater’s turn and his topic is cereal. Slater says that there are so many types of cereal and the crowd boos him. Slater says that he is not finished. He says that he doesn’t eat cereal because of his body. He talks about the types of milk you can use and then he says that it is a stupid topic.
Otunga’s topic is sleep and he says that sleep is something that he doesn’t get a lot of. His mind is always racing and that is why he is better than everyone. He talks about the amount of work that he does in the gym. He says that he can sleep when the competition is over.
Skip Sheffield is next and his topic is rainbows. Skip starts off by saying howdy to the people in London and then he gets them to repeat his catchphrase. Then he finishes a few seconds early.
Michael Tarver is next and his topic is itchy. Tarver picks up the mic but he doesn’t pull his mask off until half his time is up. He puts the mic down and then he puts his mask back up.
Darren Young is the final rookie and his topic is toothpaste. Darren says that he doesn’t want to be rude but that is something that a lot of people here don’t use. Young says that if there is a place that he would much rather not be is here. Young runs out of time.
Tarver takes the mic and he says that Young and Striker doesn’t know what they are saying.
They go through the rookies and there is a tie between Wade Barrett and Skip Sheffield.
Sheffield gets to talk about bubble gum. He talks about the different types of gum and he talks about how he should have won the keg carrying contest last week. He then says that he doesn’t chew bubble gum.
Barrett talks about wind. Barrett says that Sheffield should have talked about the subject. Barrett talks about the winds of change going through the WWE because Wade Barrett is going to be the first English WWE Champion.
Your winner is Wade Barrett.
We go to commercial.
We are back and it is time for the Raw Rebound.
We run through the card for Extreme Rules.
We go to a Smackdown recap of Darren Young backing out of his entry into the Straight Edge Society.
The Straight Edge Society is in the back with Darren Young and he apologizes. He thought he was ready but when he sat in the chair, he changed his mind. Punk says that Rey kept them from shaving him bald. Luke says that he manhandled Darren last week. Punk says that Darren had guts and you need to stand up for yourself to be in the Straight Edge Society. Punk asks Luke if he thinks he can beat Darren and Luke says he can. Punk tells Darren that if he can win tonight, his transgressions last week will be forgotten, but if Darren loses, he will have his head shaved in the ring tonight.
We go to commercial.
We are back and we see the highlights of Wade Barrett’s victory in the pro tag match due to Chris Jericho’s injury.
Match Number One: Wade Barrett with Chris Jericho versus Christian with Heath Slater
Christian with a waist lock but Barrett with a hammer lock and side head lock. Barrett with a shoulder tackle and Christian with a drop kick and side head lock. Barrett with a belly-to-back suplex and then he hits a slingshot atomic drop for a near fall. Barrett with a punch to Christian and then he kicks him in the ribs. Barrett with an elbow and choke in the ropes. Barrett charges at Christian and Christian drops down and Barrett goes to the floor. Christian with a springboard cross body and we go to commercial.
We are back and Christian with a slap but Barrett with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for a near fall. Barrett with an Irish whip and then he hits another backbreaker and gets another near fall. Barrett misses a punch but Christian does not miss. Christian with a running forearm and then he kicks a charging Barrett. Christian with an inverted DDT for a near fall.
We see Carlito and Michael Tarver in the locker room.
Christian with a slingshot into an uppercut on the floor. Christian goes up top and hits a cross body from the top for a near fall. Christian goes up top and Barrett avoids him and hits a big boot for a near fall. Barrett sends Christian into the turnbuckles and Barrett with a shoulder to the back. Barrett misses a charge and Christian with the pendulum kick and a back elbow from the turnbuckles. Christian starts to clap and Jericho distracts the referee and Barrett gets Christian up but Slater grabs Barrett’s leg and that allows Christian to hit the Killswitch for the three count.
Winner: Christian
It is time to take a look at David Otunga’s appearance on Access Hollywood.
The Miz is in the back and he yells at Bryan’s promo. Miz wonders if Bryan could ever be on Access Hollywood and he compares Bryan to Susan Boyle. Miz wonders if Bryan thinks he is doing something because he is number one, but it is because of the Miz. Miz tells Bryan to take his charisma and star power and he tells Bryan to try to win a match.
We go to commercial.
Match Number Two: Daniel Bryan with The Miz versus William Regal with Skip Sheffield
They lock up and Regal works on the arm and Bryan escapes and hits a drop kick and a running forearm. Bryan with a Tiger Suplex for a near fall. Bryan with a few European uppercuts followed by kicks in the corner but after the referee pulls Bryan off and he runs into a forearm. Regal with European uppercuts. Bryan tries for a guillotine choke but Regal turns it into a package suplex followed by a running knee to the head for the three count.
Winner: Daniel Bryan
After the match, Miz attacks Regal from behind. Miz picks up Bryan and then he hits the Skull Crushing Finale.
We go to commercial.
Match Number Three: Darren Young versus Luke Gallows with CM Punk and Serena
Gallows with kicks and punches followed by a head butt. Gallows with a body block and then he tries for a punch but Young blocks it. Young with a kick but Gallows blocks it and hits an uppercut for a near fall. Gallows with punches to the head and then he sends Young into the corner. Gallows with kicks and then he misses a charge after an Irish whip but Young misses a splash into the corner and he is on the top turnbuckle and Gallows with a kick and fallaway slam. Gallows gets a near fall while we watch Matt Hardy and Justin Gabriel in the back. Young gets a rollup for the three count.
Winner: Darren Young
After the match, Punk walks past Luke and Punk raises Young’s arm. Luke looks like he disappointed his daddy. Punk leaves the ring with Serena and Luke remains in the ring as we go to credits.

SMACKDOWN SPOILER OF 4/16

A Chris Jericho vs. Edge vs. Jack Swagger Triple Threat was announced at opening of the show.
1. Drew McIntyre defeated Kane by DQ. McIntyre is not going down well in England. Matt Hardy threw him inside the ring for a chokeslam, but Drew got win via DQ for Hardy’s interference. Kane also chokeslammed Hardy.
2. Dolph Ziggler defeated R-Truth. Ziggler used the sleeper to get the win. A Perfect Plex would have gone down better!
3. Michelle McCool beat Mickie James. Layla interfered for the win. Beth Phoenix came down for the save.
4. Hart Dynasty and Rey Mysterio beat the Straight Edge Society. David Hart Smith pinned C.M. Punk.
5. JTG beat a member of The Dudebusters. He furthered his feud with Shad to little or no heat.
6. Jack Swagger defeated Edge and Chris Jericho in a Triple Threat match to retain the World Hvt. Championship. Swagger pinned Jericho.

DOUBLE DUTY FOR JACK SWAGGER

WWE World Heavyweight champion pulled double duty on Monday, wrestling on a SmackDown brand houseshow in Nottingham, England and then driving two and a half hours to London so he could appear in the final segment of WWE RAW, which was taped from London.

WWE SMACKDOWN MOVING TO SyFy??

WWE SmackDown moving to the SyFy Channel this fall will spell the end of the company’s new NXT show on the cable network. While there was talk that the series was “canceled,” WWE is reportedly not ready to pull the plug yet and is currently seeking a new home for the NXT show.
According to PWInsider, WWE has had preliminary discussions with the Bravo cable network, which is also part of the NBC Universal family (along with USA Network & SyFy.) There’s also the possibility of airing the NXT show on WWE.com.