Since you want to know the spoilers, what y'all really want to know first:
The Al & Dawn Marie story continues; however, we get a cliffhanger that may portend the end of it !!!
There may be an opening for a new #1 MF-er.
Los Guerreros are assigned to attempt to get heel heat for Cena & B2.
Much Team Angle wrestling goodness -- Charlie & Shelton both get matches, & Kurt breaks 2 crutches.
Taking it from the top ...
Dark Matches (I'm wide open to help on who some of these guys might be -- I'm not at all good at the indy people ...)
Tag team match : I believe we announced Doug Basham & somebody, def. Red Dog & (something like) Horseshoe? (They've got to get these guys names on the Titantron!!!) Not a bad opening match.
Nidia def. Gail Kim: Pretty decent match. (They really are the cruiserweights of the women's division though!)
Josh & Cat wander out to pretend to do commentary. (I'm unclear whether that makes the next 2 matches Velocity candidates or not.)
Nunzio def. Crash: So-so match from where I was sitting.
Funaki vs. (??) Diamondback (?maybe?): Picture your 11 year-old brother cutting the top off his knit ski mask so his hair tufts out the top. That's the look we had here. The boy gets really pretty air, although the match overall wasn't really quite on.
VelociPyro
Bill DeMott squashes somebody in a dense fog of pyro-smoke.
Palumbo def. Sakoda? (according to his tights): Not a particularly good match. Our mystery man got the referee-X signal after the match was done & needed trainer help getting up & out.
SmackDown Pyro
Big Show squashes Rikishi, who didn't even have a chance to use the Ass of Death.
Taped piece with Cena & B2 to give them heel heat over Chavo & mullet-free Eddie.
Cena def. Chavo, but not cleanly, after Eddie is tossed for interfering.
Dawn Marie / Al Wilson taped piece #1: The good news is that this was relatively short. The bad news is that there were several of them sprinkled through the show.
Billy Kidman def. Matt Hardy v1.0: This was really fun live. Number 1 MFer Shannon was there to help, but managed to screw up, costing Matt the match. We weren't sure how Matt was going to take this, but Mattitude overcame all & all was forgiven.
Dawn Marie / Al Wilson piece #2: Backstage, Josh gets Torrie's reaction. Guess what! Torrie vs. Dawn Marie at the first ever (evil) stepmother/stepdaughter match at the Royal Rumble!! (I know you're all thrilled.)
Tajiri def. Jamie Noble: no significant Nidia contribution, & no sign of Nunzio. Hmmpf. Don't know why, but the crowd was totally dead for this -- no love for cruiserweights in Tucson, I guess.
Bill DeMott def. Shannon Moore, with Matt Hardy v1.0 helping out on commentary: There is only so much forgiveness that Mattitude will allow for screwups, as Matt takes out Shannon. We'll have to wait til next week to see if this is just tough love, or the end of the #1 MF-er.
Cena & B2 do another heel promo from the ramp, & get jumped by Eddie & Chavo. Eddie def. B2, while I was distracted wondering what the hell Cena was doing wearing that cute little Red, white & blue doggie collar! (I'm pretty sure that where my mind went was not what the writers intended. But then again, you never know.)
The Team Angle Super-Segment: (I'm thinking this block contained at least 2 commercial breaks, but they did an excellent job of keeping things going for the live audience.) Start off with a monologue by Kurt, while Charlie & Shelton listen intently. (In person, it was actually too long, & got some "boring" chants from the crowd. I'm sure they'll fix that in post.) The match is Charlie vs. Edge, but Chris Benoit saunters out just to make sure that things don't get too lop-sided. Lotta good, fun wrestling, with Charlie over Edge due to Kurt's interference. (One crutch down, one to go.) Benoit jumps into the resulting melee, which eventually morphs into an actual Benoit vs. Shelton match. More actual wrestling goodness for quite a while, before devolving into general havoc. Kurt destroys the other crutch (clearly his knee is healing well), Edge runs back in to spear anything that moves, Benoit gets the win on DQ. Wheeee.
DeMott taped heel promo on Tucson, probably just for the house.
Dawn Marie / Al Wilson taped piece #3: Al & Dawn Marie getting squeaky clean in the hotel room shower. Thank god for opaque shower curtains!
Something that I can't begin to decipher in my scribbled notes.
Dawn Marie / Al Wilson taped piece #4: Now they've moved to the bed, as Dawn is attempting to wake a "sleeping" Al. "Al??" (We can only hope! Its not necrophilia as long as he was alive when they started, right??) Tune in next week to see whether Dawn Marie has truly screwed Al's brains out. (Note: No brains were thrown during the taping of this segment.)
A-Train backstage with Show & Heyman, preceeding A-Train's match with Brock.
Brock & A-Train are big guys. I realise this is a "duh" statement. But I mean, they're really, really big. And they were doing some serious banging around out there. Wow. Damn impressive, especially from the second row. Brock def. A-Train.
Brock then calls out Show & Heyman, who seem to be coming out, before taking that jump to the left that takes them to the parking lot. Brock is annoyed & decides to take his frustration out on A-Train, who is just rallying.
I'm not sure if they'll leave it in for TV, but at the very end, things start to get legitimately ugly. Brock can't get Albert picked up, they have to go around again, & A-Train ends up getting dumped on his head in the scariest thing I've ever seen in an athletic event. They go ahead & close up the show. The refs give the "he's OK" fist, but you can tell that nobody in the back is too convinced of that -- I have the sense that Vince was in the back asking over & over "are you sure he's OK?" Eventually Albert got up & walked out with minimal help, although very slowly. Very, very scary, & I hope he's really OK -- eeeeeesh.
Originally posted by emma (something like) Horseshoe?
Horshu had a cup of coffee in WCW, appearing primarily on WCW Saturday Night & Worldwide/Pro, primarily as a jobber with a gimmick. His claim to fame was having a horseshoe shaved into the top of his head.
Originally posted by emma Benoit jumps into the resulting melee, which eventually morphs into an actual Benoit vs. Shelton match. More actual wrestling goodness for quite a while, before devolving into general havoc.
That's classic Heyman for ya. I can't wait for that part of the show.
Dawn Marie/Torrie match on a Live PPV could be the early frontrunner in the 2003 Jackie Gayda Awards. I know being with Linda all these years has caused Vince to become familiar with it, but what is his fascination with sex with the dead (if they have Al die). Will Torrie go casket-surfing? Will Al come back to life, and think he's Paul Bearer, thus providing a segway for the return of Taker as the Dead Man? Time to do a little think ahead towards Mania matches on the SD side: Angle/Lesnar: If it doesn't happen, everyone will be shocked. Taker/Big Slug: Redemption for killing Biker Taker. Benoit/Edge: The new variable will be the heel Edge, seeing if he can work as a top card single wrestler as a heel. Thats the final step they need to see. Los Guerreros/Team Angle: Makes sense.
(edited by redsoxnation on 8.1.03 1013) Please help control the McMahon population. Have your Triple H's spade or neutered.
Tajiri def. Jamie Noble: no significant Nidia contribution, & no sign of Nunzio
Hey, wasn't Nunzio supposed to get Knoble back on the winning track? Didn't they hype it up for like a month? SO WHY IS KNOBLE STILL JOBBING??? (no offense to Tajiri)
Arrrgghhh!
Oh, and Los Guererros better not be jobbing the belts to C-Note & Bling-Bling...
EDIT: on a positive note, at least Rikishi gets squashed
(edited by Spaceman Spiff on 8.1.03 0810) Matthew: You would've loved it, David. A week in a foreign country, strange people, strange customs... Dave: Oh, I know what you mean. I've been to Canada.
Dawn Marie / Al Wilson taped piece #4: Now they've moved to the bed, as Dawn is attempting to wake a "sleeping" Al. "Al??" (We can only hope! Its not necrophilia as long as he was alive when they started, right??) Tune in next week to see whether Dawn Marie has truly screwed Al's brains out. (Note: No brains were thrown during the taping of this segment.)
Thanks Emma, I just finally mastered the repression of that memory too, thanks a lot...
What? No Stephanie! I know most of you don't like her, but one segment wouldn't hurt. Bischoff was all over Raw. Dawn Marie gets 4 segments and she doesn't even have a role. What exactly does Dawn and Torrie get paid to do in the storylines?
HomerJFong: I found a picture for Horshu, & believe you are correct. Thanks for the info.
tomvejada: I can't think of anybody (or didn't hear it), but that doesn't mean it didn't happen. (Sorry.)
Ringmistress: "Thanks Emma, I just finally mastered the repression of that memory too, thanks a lot..." No problem! Any time! Glad I could help! :-)
Patrick: I've seen Spanky once before (from the back row of the arena), & couldn't decide if that's who it was. He definitely has that same 11 year-old brother look. I remember Spanky getting the same kind of really pretty big air that this guy did, but the match overall was more ragged than I'd expect, given what I've heard about Spanky. Don't know. (One thing: If that is Spanky, he is skinny!! I'm not used to seeing ribs on professional wrestlers!)
Has anybody seen anything about A-Train/Albert? (No news is good news, as they say.)
How could Brock F5 the massive Big Show, but have trouble tossing Albert? Was he struggling to do it the entire time or did Albert just slip off since he's so hairy?
"You won't see that on Everybody Loves Raymond!" -J.R. after Trish gets pasted with a chair
Originally posted by El PescadoHow could Brock F5 the massive Big Show, but have trouble tossing Albert? Was he struggling to do it the entire time or did Albert just slip off since he's so hairy?
Brock had already F5'd Albert at least once in the match, so it wasn't an intrinsic problem. Throughout most of the match, neither one had had any problems moving the other around. I can't really say what went wrong, whose fault it was, or even for sure what they were trying to do. (Sorry to be so un-reporter-like,but I was seriously shocked.) They certainly had been banging solidly for the whole match. (Did I mention that it was damn impressive!) Even after the short rest (while Brock called out Show/Heyman), either or both of them may have been exhausted or rattled.
Brock went to pick up Albert as though for an F5, & Albert didn't leave the ground at all. My thought was "missed call", & that Albert just wasn't expecting that move. Brock goes for the lift a second time, & struggles to get him up, not quite all the way. I couldn't tell if it was Albert not being able to help as much as he normally would, or if it was Brock having a problem. As my startled brain recalls, from about 80% of the way up, Albert ended up going over the side of Brock's shoulder, head first. Albert basically landed on the top-back of his head, forcing his neck way over, with every bit of his weight coming down on the severely bent neck. Seriously, seriously scary.
Originally posted by El PescadoHow could Brock F5 the massive Big Show, but have trouble tossing Albert? Was he struggling to do it the entire time or did Albert just slip off since he's so hairy?
Maybe the chest and back hair was slippery.
:)
From the infamous Wrestleline SS interview:
DTD: If you were to make changes in WCW, if you were in charge and not Ric Flair, what would they be?
SS: I'd get rid of all the old guys, and push the talent that has waited to get the push. The things they are doing, it's back in the 1980s. It's just bad, man. Flair doesn't even deserve to be on the show. You've got to get rid of all the old guys. Like what Vince did, they started pushing guys. Nobody knew who The Rock was 2 years ago. He made The Rock. Now The Rock just did Saturday Night Live. You've got to start with the young talent, talent people can relate to. Who are we trying to relate to if we've got a 50 year old man out there? Are we trying to relate, so a 50 year people and above will go out and buy a f*cking little toy? That ain't gonna happen. It's a f*cking joke.
Originally posted by emmaFunaki vs. (??) Diamondback (?maybe?): Picture your 11 year-old brother cutting the top off his knit ski mask so his hair tufts out the top. That's the look we had here. The boy gets really pretty air, although the match overall wasn't really quite on.
I've gotta say that the match looked much tighter on TV than from where I was live. (Could be me; could be Memorex.) That could very well be Spanky. Spanky fans? Well ?
Originally posted by emmaJosh & Cat wander out to pretend to do commentary.
Fun factoid: indeed it was Josh & Cat who were present at the live show, but it was Michael Cole & Cat who did the commentary for the actual broadcast. (Things that make you go "hmmm".)
Originally posted by emmaDawn Marie / Al Wilson taped piece #4: Now they've moved to the bed, as Dawn is attempting to wake a "sleeping" Al. "Al??"
The announcers are indeed reporting that Al is in a coma. From our perspective, this will cause a difference in Al's performance ... how?
Originally posted by emmaI'm not sure if they'll leave it in for TV, but at the very end, things start to get legitimately ugly. Brock can't get Albert picked up, they have to go around again, & A-Train ends up getting dumped on his head in the scariest thing I've ever seen in an athletic event.
In fact they did not air that segment -- that was a very good call. Thanks to Droz over on wwe.com for reporting that A-Train/Albert did go to the hospital for assessment, but seems to be truly OK, although damn sore. And that's a good thing. (TM DDP)
Only people under contract to TNA are prohibited from working ROH. AJ Styles, Jerry Lynn, Raven and the others signed two year contracts. Punk is on a paid-per-show deal, so no restrictions apply.