R-Truth debuts on Smackdown, female developmental wrestler debuts, wrestler needs help getting backstage after a dark match

The entire level E and F sections were tarped off. I don't ever recall a taping in Pittsburgh where those sections were completely tarped.

Dark Matches

1. Jake Hager beat Jamie Noble. The crowd gave Noble a pretty good reaction. The match ended abruptly after what looked like a botched German suplex from Hager. The ref quickly counted to three and Jamie had to be helped to the back. Hager looked really sloppy.

2. Funaki beat Nick Nemeth. Funaki got a big pop. Nemeth looked completely different from his Spirit Squad days.

ECW Taping

(Editor's Note: See the main page for the report on next week's ECW show, which was taped tonight in Pittsburgh.)

Smackdown Taping

The Undertaker kicked off the show with an in-ring promo saying he was going to take Vicki Guerrero's soul. Taker got a monster pop coming out and his entrance alone is something to watch for Friday. The promo was short and to the point.

1. R-Truth beat Kenny Dykstra R Truth got no reaction at all for his entrance. Dykstra came out and ran down Truth. The match was really sloppy. They will need some post production for this one. Truth danced after the match to complete apathy from the crowd.

2. Maryse and Natalya beat Michelle McCool and Maria. Maryse pinned Maria. After the match, Maryse and McCool got into a brawl in the ring.

3. Jeff Hardy beat MVP. This match was really, really good. It was a nice long match and the crowd was into the match with a lot of duel MVP/Hardy chants. This is a MUST SEE match and hopefully they won't edit it down for TV. I believe it is one of the best TV matches WWE has put on all year. Hardy got the pin. After the match, Shelton Benjamin laid out both MVP and Jeff Hardy.

4. Curt Hawkins and Zach Ryder wrestled Jessie and Festus to a no contest. Once again the tag division gets buried, as not even a minute into the match Big Show came out and cleaned house. Festus was not attacked, as he stayed outside in a trance during the beatdown. Big Show cut a promo and said he's being overlooked.

5. Bri Bella beat Victoria. No clue who Bella was. The crowd completely shit on this match. Large boring chants and boos throughout. Poor Victoria has really fallen down the ranks. They will need a lot of canned heat for this one because the crowd just was restless through it. (Editor's Note: Bri is one-half of the Bella Twins act from Florida Championship Wrestling.)

Backstage Vicki Guerrero was trying to call someone.

Backstage, The Brian Kendrick cut a promo regarding the Championship Scramble match. No reaction for it.

6. Triple H beat Shelton Benjamin after a Pedigree. It was billed as champion vs. champion match. This was a good match, but the crowd just wasn't into it. Hunter got a loud pop for his entrance, but the actual match had very little heat. The finish came after The Great Khali came out and tried to distract Hunter. However, he still was able to finish off Benjamin clean with the Pedigree.

Dark Match Main Event

1. Triple H beat The Great Khali in a street fight after hitting him with the Sledgehammer. It was only a street fight by name as the entire match was Khali applying a nerve hold to Hunter before Hunter got outside to get his trustee sledgehammer.

Final Thoughts: The crowd just never really got into the action much aside from Hardy vs. MVP. The crowd pretty much slept through ECW. There was no reaction for anything on that show besides the main event.

Hardy and MVP put together a great match and it was honestly one of the best matches on WWE television this year. I believe it was better than their SummerSlam match.

There was a nice sized crowd, but as stated earlier there were two whole levels completely tarped off. I attend every taping in Pittsburgh and I don't ever recall that much of a tarp off.

Overall, the crowd was uninspired and didn't pop for anything outside of entrances for the top stars.