Here's this week's lineup, courtesy of the Observer:
They opened with a Wrestlemania XX video. Biggest pop was for Hogan. Sigh. I noticed a disturbing juxtaposition of scenes in the video with a shot of Michaels riding the harness from the rafters to the ring, immediately followed by a shot of Owen Hart.
Opened with a dark match between Lenny Lane and Paul London. Crowd was semi-into the bout with decent work by both men. Solid support and relatively loud "Lenny" chants by the crowd. London won after catapaulting himself into the ring and rolling up Lenny. Didn't seem like many people had much of an idea of who London was, while a number of fans recognized Lenny because he's from the area and his exposure in WCW.
Next, they introduce Josh Matthews and Bill DeMott to begin Velocity.
Haas and Benjamin over Rikishi and Scott 2 Hotty. Decent support for the heels, probably given Benjamin's history at the UofM. Heat segment on Scotty ends with him tagging in Rikishi who cleans house. Scott hits the worm but H & B eventually win after the Benjamin hits Scotty with a superkick while he's held by Haas. Ok match.
Bashams over Funaki and Ultimo Dragon. Heat on Funaki before Dragon is tagged in and gets some offense. Shaniqua distracts the ref while Danny-not-the-legal-man sneaks in (as if they were the Conquistadors) and rolls up Dragon with the tights for the pin. Eh match.
Orlando Jordan beats Matt Wolftime(?) (aka a jobber). Only notable part of this match was the peanut gallery behind me describing Jordan as WWE's answer to Billy Blanks.
Smackdown begins with introduction of Tazz and Cole and pyro.
They begin with a nice intro video recapping the Guerreros controversy and Angle's involvement. Essentially announce a main event of Chavo Jr. & Chavo Sr. vs. Eddie and Angle.
Mysterio defeats Chuck Palumbo after reversing a fireman's carry slam into a sunset flip. After the match the FBI beat up Mysterio. Cousin Jamie Noble's music and video begins playing. He holds the cruiserweight belt while standing over the beaten Mysterio.
Backstage Promo airs where Heyman continues to shove his character's head completly into the McMahons' proverbial [behind]. He repeats the story of the McMahons taking wrestling from dirty, smoky clubs to "modern day arenas".
Yeah, but they also made "wrestling" a dirty word, remember?
He wants to lift Smackdown above the thuggery exhibited by Cena and Benoit last week so he books a 2 on 4 handicap match of Benoit and Cena vs. Lesnar, Show, Morgan and Rhyno.
Backstage Chavo Jr & Sr are lectured by Kurt Angle.
Tajiri defeats Kidman. I was getting (more) beer. But said to be a good match. Must have been short.
Backstage Promo where Lesnar makes fun of Show and says the only reason he's been hanging around him is to protect him from Bob Holly (as if). Otherwise, Big Show's gas problems would have driven him away long before. Interesting.
A-Train comes out. Dawn Marie comes out and announces that the winner of the next match will get a spot in the Royal Rumble and that A-Train's opponent is a man who has beaten him before. An aside: I obviously missed the episode where Dawn Marie became Heyman's proxy. It must have happened though right? In any case, the opponent was Shannon Moore. During the match The Cat came out and distracted no one but Train. I think Moore got a near fall before his squash. A-Train is in the Rumble. Well, that just downgraded my purchase of the PPV to the web cast.
Heyman gives a pep talk to the four man team backstage--except Show is absent. Lesnar surmises (jealously it seems) that Show is hanging out with his "cop buddies".
Handicap match is next. Cena comes out to a big pop. He raps about how his opponents are all homos and about how Show has a neckbrace from bobbing for Heyman's apples. The crowd loves it. Though I don't think they caught on to the subtle compliment. Benoit comes out. Sometime during this a judges/lifeguards' chair is set up at ringside for Heyman. The heels are introduced. Lesnar gets a good hometown pop that is soon forgotten in the face of Cena's popularity. And the crowd was even into Benoit not a little bit. Show is the last to be introduced and doesn't come out. Seems some thugs have parked a forklift or something in front of his locker room door. One does feel sorry for his cop buddies given his alleged flatulence problem.
Match was decent until the end. May be better on TV. Lesnar and Rhyno do virtually all the work for their team. Which was good. Lesnar ends up walking out on the match but Holly stops him in the aisle and they brawl. I think Lesnar just clonked Holly with the belt and left anyway. See ya at the Rumble Brock. Rhyno works the rest of the match alone despite Morgan's presence. Heat segment on Benoit ends with hot tag to Cena. He pumps his Reebok pumps before ascending to the ropes and hitting a standing elbow. Cena wins with the DVD. He and Benoit clear the ring leaving Heyman alone. They tip his chair and he tumbles into the ring. They prepare to beat him down before Show struggles to ringside to squash them both with chokeslams. Great. Fabulous.
I may have missed something in my notes but the next match appears to be the main event. At some point Angle is blinded for some reason and accidentally hits Eddie with the Angle slam. The refs do a fake X sign to sell the eye injury. Chavo the Younger hits a frog splash on his uncle for the pin. Again, a decent match. Chavo Sr. took a few bumps.
Afterwards (probably after the cameras stopped rooling) Eddie calls Chavo II out for another match and they have a short one-on-one match with Eddie winning. Eddie gets a huge pop as he did all night.
Not a bad show. May come off better on TV but I don't understand squashing Cena and Benoit to Show's chokeslam.
Kelly Lucas
(edited by Ringmistress on 21.1.04 0645) After a quarter of a century on this planet, there's three things I know for sure... 1)Ain't nothing like a Dirty Pair marathon on New Year's Eve. 2)I'd make a fine Mrs. HHH II. 3) I'd make an acceptable Mrs. Orton. 1400 reasons to luv me!
Originally posted by Mr ShhWe look to the Torch (pwtorch.com) for the missing pieces...
Tajiri / Kidman was a Rumble qualifier
Missing match: Bradshaw def. Akio and Sakoda in a triple threat Rumble qualifier
So, "officially," there are two open spots left for the Rumble.
Billy Gunn's #1 moment: the wedding to Chuck, cause of the publicity
So who could these open slots go to?
Ralph: [whispering] Lisa, what's the answer to number seven? Lisa: [whispering] Sorry, Ralph. That would defeat the purpose of testing as a means of student evaluation. Ralph: [pauses] My cat's name is Mittens.
Wow. Worst reporter ever. I like how they consistantly tried to remind us how smart they were during THE WHOLE THING! Cena does a DVD? Well, blow me over with a feather!
I'd like to take this time to apologize for the reporter's use of the English language. Hopefully, if I'm lucky, I'll find a report that's more sober next time.
After a quarter of a century on this planet, there's three things I know for sure... 1)Ain't nothing like a Dirty Pair marathon on New Year's Eve. 2)I'd make a fine Mrs. HHH II. 3) I'd make an acceptable Mrs. Orton. 1400 reasons to luv me!
Originally posted by Super Shane SpearWow. Worst reporter ever. I like how they consistantly tried to remind us how smart they were during THE WHOLE THING! Cena does a DVD? Well, blow me over with a feather!
Originally posted by RingmistressI'd like to take this time to apologize for the reporter's use of the English language. Hopefully, if I'm lucky, I'll find a report that's more sober next time.
Now both of you take that back!
When was the last time we had a recapper who was worried about the 'disturbing juxtaposition' in a WWE video package. Hmmmm?
The chaps a veritable genius. Someone give him a scholarship already I say.
As for the show, never been a fan of the 'confused wrestler accidentaly hits finisher on partner' as it always comes off looking way too contrived, and screams HEEL TURN as loud as can be.
Other than that though, Rhyno's on telly in a reasonable spot, Cena's being built up nicely, Brock's running scared of Hardcore Holly....
RUMBLE PARTICIPANTS RAW: Booker T, Goldberg, Jericho, Kane, Steiner, Christian, Henry, Rico, Hurricane, Hardy, Spike Dudley, Test, Dupree, Orton & Van Dam. SD: Angle, Cena, Benoit, Gunn, Rikishi, Benjamin, Haas, Nunzio, Big Show, Morgan, Bradshaw, Tajiri & A-Train 2 spots left open 8 former World Champions in Rumble 12 former IC Champs in Rumble Strangely enough, no former Rumble winners in Rumble
Originally posted by Super Shane SpearWow. Worst reporter ever. I like how they consistantly tried to remind us how smart they were during THE WHOLE THING! Cena does a DVD? Well, blow me over with a feather!
I went last night as well, and I wish I would have brought a Notepad or something to take note of all the matches, as every report I have read today is missing a lot of pieces.
The Cena/Benoit Match was ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS in person. Seriously. I don't know how it'll sound on TV but in person the fans were RABID for Cena (especially me!)
I don’t go to sleep at night, I job to my blankets.
When my mom dies I'd like to know it was peacefully in her sleep, and not fucked to death by 38 men with AIDS.
I'd think one of the open slots would definitely go to Rhyno... the other has a lot of open possibilities, but I have a hunch it'll just go to a Smackdown regular instead of a surprise entrant. I was thinking Sean O'Haire, but he hasn't been on TV in forever... I thought he recovered from his car accident, but apparently I was wrong. He should at least be on Velocity.
RUMBLE PARTICIPANTS RAW: Booker T, Goldberg, Jericho, Kane, Steiner, Christian, Henry, Rico, Hurricane, Hardy, Spike Dudley, Test, Dupree, Orton & Van Dam. SD: Angle, Cena, Benoit, Gunn, Rikishi, Benjamin, Haas, Nunzio, Big Show, Morgan, Bradshaw, Tajiri & A-Train 2 spots left open 8 former World Champions in Rumble 12 former IC Champs in Rumble Strangely enough, no former Rumble winners in Rumble
BIg Show kinda won the 2000 Rumble. The only person he proved it to was HHH, though.
Originally posted by Hurrikane757kI'd think one of the open slots would definitely go to Rhyno... the other has a lot of open possibilities, but I have a hunch it'll just go to a Smackdown regular instead of a surprise entrant. I was thinking Sean O'Haire, but he hasn't been on TV in forever... I thought he recovered from his car accident, but apparently I was wrong. He should at least be on Velocity.
Except he's being sent down to OVW. They wouldn't plop him in there when they have other regulars sitting around, especially considering the whole OVW bit.
DEAN's Nuggets of Wisdom:
"A-Train could wear a Vampirella outfit and I would toast a load to it."
I went to Smackdown too and I was ABOUT to write a report here last night, but if you guys thought that reporter was bad, you would have hated me! I felt kinda bad for London...he was getting booed about half the time when he's supposed to be face! On another note, I decided that London has the BEST hair.
Oh, and Brock probably got the biggest amount of cheers in the arena (with the exception of Cena) which is probably due to him being from the same area. And I SO want a chair like Paul Heyman had.
Signs to look for during the show (mine, of course):
"Come Back Spanky" "Paul Heyman RULES" "Hardcore Holly -SUX-" "Ultimo Dragon" "| Renegade Raine" v
Originally posted by drjayphdExcept he's being sent down to OVW. They wouldn't plop him in there when they have other regulars sitting around, especially considering the whole OVW bit.
Hm, I was wondering where the hell he's been... of course, I'm expecting some sort of surprise last night and I see the Cat's mug in the Rumble lineup. Oh well.
He and HBK are so good that they'll have us convinced so many times throughout the match that it's over when it's not. Whatever the outcome, it's sure to be a classic.