Smackdown results from Fleetcenter in Boston, 10/5/04:
Dark match:
Shannon Moore pinned Akio with a somersault neckbreaker.
Velocity:
Luther Reigns defeated Matt Vega.
Torrie Wilson, raiding Sable's old closet and wearing a black vinyl outfit, was Velocity's ring announcer.
Rob Van Dam defeated Doug Basham with the Five Star Frog Splash.
The Dudleys (with Spike) defeated Nunzio and Johnny Stamboli. Stamboli was pinned with the 3D.
Smackdown:
Hometown boy John Cena comes home with the US Title. His promo is interrupted by the debut of Carlito Caribbean Cool. Carlito challenges Cena for the title, DDT's him on the belt, and spits an apple in his face.
Rey Mysterio (with Rob Van Dam) pins Kenzo Suzuki (with Rene Dupree) with a rollup.
John Bradshaw Layfield is interviewed by Josh Matthews backstage. We learn that JBL faces Hardcore Holly next.
Theodore R. Long comes out before the live crowd to announce that John Cena will defend the US Title against Carlito Caribbean Cool tonight.
Hardcore Holly defeats JBL by countout. Orlando Jordan returns and distracts Holly, allowing JBL to crawl to the back and escape. JBL was still nursing the gash on his forehead from No Mercy and it opened up and started bleeding early in the match.
Theodore R. Long confronts Paul Heyman backstage and informs him that though the paramedics used the jaws of life to open up the hearse Sunday night, the Undertaker was not inside. Heyman announces that Heidenreich will read a poem in the ring tonight.
Kurt Angle, Mark Jindrak and Luther Reigns converse backstage. Angle plans to be in Jindrak's corner as he faces The Big Show next.
The Big Show pinned Mark Jindrak with a chokeslam. Angle did commentary. Luther Reigns tried to get involved and was stopped by Eddie Guerrero. Eddie and Show cleaned house after the match.
Billy Kidman wrestled Charlie Haas (with Miss Jackie, soon to be Mrs. Haas.) Kidman was about to do the Shooting Star to Haas when Jackie entered the ring and covered Haas's body with her's. She tried to slap Kidman, who retaliated with a BK Bomb. Kidman mounted the top rope for the Shooting Star but decided not to do it. Kidman leaves while Rico and paramedics run in to help Jackie.
Orlando Jordan, running errands for JBL, runs into Booker T backstage. Booker angrily rebukes Jordan's overtures of friendships and busts out his catchphrase "Now can you dig that... sucka!" A babyface turn seems imminent.
Heidenreich (with Paul Heyman) tries to read a poem to the crowd. Tremendous heat for Heidenreich, who is unable to finish the poem despite three tries because of the crowd booing. Heidenreich jumps the railing and attacks a fan/indy wrestler plant at ringside.
Theodore R. Long announces that next week from Manchester, England, Smackdown's main event will be JBL defending the WWE Title against Hardcore Holly in a hardcore match.
In the main event, Carlito Caribbean Cool pinned John Cena to become the new United States Champion. Cena dominated the match. Carlito brought a chair into the ring, which Cena took. As the referee tried to get Cena to release the chair, Carlito took Cena's chain, rolled it up in his fist, and knocked him out with it.
No after show events. Cena is helped to the back, selling the chain shot. The crowd is shocked their hometown boy lost the title to Carlito.
If RAW is Jericho, then now Smackdown is Cool. I love this guy.
Very good show to see live because of the main event and angle surrounding it. Cena was the most over the entire show. RVD was second in crowd reaction. Heidenreich got the most heel heat of anyone. Kidman was second for not doing the shooting star, which was odd since choosing not to use his finish on a woman got him more heat. Undertaker chant broke out after the Heidenreich segment, but he was a no-show.
"Strong words. Strong words from a strange man." - Kent Brockman
You know, I love the vibe that Carlito was giving off in all of his promos so far, but was it the smartest idea to give the man the United States title his "first match" in the fed? I'll wait until I see it play out on Thursday, and hopefully he can run with it and make the title mean something (again).
I don't know if I see the point in turning Booker T back into a face this soon, but I guess it stands to reason that he always got better reactions as a face anyway.
Wow. Of all the young talent that WWE has been high on in the last few years, none of them have been given a major title in their very first match. John, did CCC look any good in the ring?
You know, it's kind of hard to evaluate Carlito in the ring even though I saw him live. The match was structured entirely to make Cena look like an asskicker who went down to a cheater. Cena destroyed Carlito. Carlito pretty much bumped for Cena the whole time and took punishment. He looked good bumping though. I think Carlito actually got in maybe three moves the whole match and worked a chinlock on Cena for a bit. We still don't know what Carlito's finish is. But what sold Carlito was the character, which is fully realized, hilarious, and played by Carly Colon in a note-perfect fashion. The Carlito character is tremendous. He's just fun to watch.
"Strong words. Strong words from a strange man." - Kent Brockman
The only time in recent memory I remember a rookie winning a title right off the bat was Christian winning the Light Heavyweight title in his first match.
Vince must have a huge hard on for this kid for him to beat Cena in his home town.
I guess this will explain why Cena is off to film his movie.
But JBL vs. Hardcore Holly? What is this the annual push the dumb bastard who's been around for ever portion of the booking year?
At least Booker T gets to be getting somewhere near a main event program, although he may just be relegated to feuding with Jordan... but, it doesn't seem like they're putting anybody else with JBL right now, so I wouldn't mind a Booker-JBL program.
Other than that, looks like they're staying the course for most of the storylines (RVD/Rey/Rene/Kenzo, Eddie/Show/Angle etc.) I really like what they're doing with Kidman, building up the SSP as a dangerous move and making it important when he does hit it. Triple C winning the U.S. title is pretty surprising, I'm wondering who he's gonna feud with.
I think it's great Carlito has arrived. Everyone was thinking maybe only Cena had a realistic shot at becoming the next main WWE money maker, but maybe the biggesgt draw of all is yet to come...CCC. I know it's ridiculuosly early to say, but I have a gut feeling CCC will be the guy to take WWE to that next level; they've may have found thier new Austin/Hogan/Rock replacement and successor. His character is believeble, no matter how campy his vignettes are.
There was a spoiler report from last week that described Carlito's finisher as a strange Rock Bottom, but I don't remember which site that was on.
(added) Ah-ha, from the Torch:
His finisher seemed to be almost a backwards Rock Bottom, if that makes any sense. Instead of falling forward to slam the guy like Rock would, Carlito lifted him and then fell back.
I would guess that it's maybe a faceplant type of move like Edge and Scott Steiner have done.
Originally posted by Phantom LordThe only time in recent memory I remember a rookie winning a title right off the bat was Christian winning the Light Heavyweight title in his first match.
Vince must have a huge hard on for this kid for him to beat Cena in his home town.
I guess this will explain why Cena is off to film his movie.
But JBL vs. Hardcore Holly? What is this the annual push the dumb bastard who's been around for ever portion of the booking year?
Its obviously not annual since they already wasted a world title PPV main event on Hardcore Holly. Now that Holly is getting another title shot, just more proof of how much Smackdown has declined and the WWE product in general really sucks right now.
"Don't compare my arm to your cheap arm!" -Edward Elric
Ah, great booking. On one hand, I like the booking of Carlito. On the other hand...IT'S HIS FIRST MATCH.
John Cena's second US Title reign lasts 2 days (4 if you count the airdate). This is how you treat the "Franchise Player"? That said, there is a good 5 or 6 weeks until Survivor Series, so Smackdown has the inenviable role of stalling...or creating interesting programs to fill the void. Guess which they'll do!
CALGARY FLAMES: Locked Out (September 15th to NOW) LOWELL LOCK MONSTERS: 1-1 in pre-season LAS VEGAS WRANGLERS: First game Oct 22 at Fresno DVDs I Own
Okay, let me get this straight: they had a best-of-5-series for the U.S. Championship, which went along for over a month with matches on 2 PPV's, making it seem as a big deal! And then all of a sudden, only 2 days after Cena won the thing, they decided to give it to a rookie in his first match? Someone please tell me what the meaning with this is, because I don't see any......
Isn't Carlos Colon pretty well experienced, though? He's been in the farm system for a while now, so it's not like this guy is hugely green or anything. Plus, his vignettes have been by far the most promising of the new breed, displaying a character that can be worked and moulded rather than, say, "white haired guy who doesn't like sinners". Putting him over Cena like this instantly makes him a big deal, which is always a good move, and he certainly sounds like he can carry his end of the charisma scale.
Once upon a time in China, some believe, around the year one double-ought three, head priest of the White Lotus Clan, Pai Mei was walking down the road, contemplating whatever it is that a man of Pai Mei's infinite power contemplates - which is another way of saying "who knows" - when a Shaolin monk appeared, traveling in the opposite direction. As the monk and the priest crossed paths, Pai Mei, in a practically unfathomable display of generosity, gave the monk the slightest of nods. The nod was not returned. Now was it the intention of the Shaolin monk to insult Pai Mei or did he just fail to see the generous social gesture? The motives of the monk remain unknown. What is known, are the consequences. The next morning Pai Mei appeared at the Shaolin Temple and demanded of the Temple's head abbot that he offer Pai Mei his neck to repay the insult. The Abbot at first tried to console Pai Mei, only to find Pai Mei was inconsolable. So began the massacre of the Shaolin Temple and all 60 of the monks inside at the fists of the White Lotus. And so began the legend of Pai Mei's five point palm exploding heart technique.
Originally posted by Phantom LordThe only time in recent memory I remember a rookie winning a title right off the bat was Christian winning the Light Heavyweight title in his first match.
Originally posted by UnsUweOkay, let me get this straight: they had a best-of-5-series for the U.S. Championship, which went along for over a month with matches on 2 PPV's, making it seem as a big deal! And then all of a sudden, only 2 days after Cena won the thing, they decided to give it to a rookie in his first match? Someone please tell me what the meaning with this is, because I don't see any......
Well, that best-of-5 was horrible and no one cared about it, and now that it's over, Cena badly needs a new opponent as they've kept him stuck at the secondary level for now. Carlito is obviously going to be pushed as a major new star, and going with Cena right off the bat is a way to (hopefully) take two guys from secondary title to main event at the same time. I think they are (again) rehashing 98-99 formula and trying to recapture Rock v. Helmsley summer of 98 stuff. Maybe it'll work. Cena has yet to find a really great rival. Undertaker just squashed him over and over, he only had one match with Angle, the Show feud was just a showcase to put Cena over, and the Eddie feud last year was too short, though pretty good. I would guess they're simply attempting to make a hot rivalry with fresh stars. A little lazily, perhaps, but why not? Everything stinks anyway.
Originally posted by Phantom LordThe only time in recent memory I remember a rookie winning a title right off the bat was Christian winning the Light Heavyweight title in his first match.
Show looks OK, but for the love of all things good, stop with "Bob Holly, Main Eventer". I loathe JBL, but hopefully he just squashes Holly next week. They booked Lesnar like a pussy against Holly, and they're doing the same w/ JBL. It's Bob freakin' Holly, nobody buys him as a World Title contender.
Like everyone else, guess I'd be better to wait till Thursday to see how it plays out. But I've got to think the Carlito character is definitely in 'sink of swim' territory now. But we shall see...
I do like the prospect of Booker T turning face. Was just watching the Raw X DVD over the weekend (I saw the DVD on sale for $7 at a used bookstore, okay?), and couldn't help but notice how Book was one of the most over people in the crowd at that horrid event. And now that he's had his brief heel run this year, it makes the character seem somewhat fresh again.
Wow, that sounds awful. I guess I'll be watching Fog of War instead of this piece of crap. They should have let Booker keep the belt. Carlito Cool just plan sucks, they should have just given it to Mordeci.
Originally posted by A FanWow, that sounds awful. I guess I'll be watching Fog of War instead of this piece of crap. They should have let Booker keep the belt. Carlito Cool just plan sucks, they should have just given it to Mordeci.
What's the difference? Mordecai sucked, too. The only difference is CCC at least has a decent character, as opposed to being a watered down Undertaker gimmick.
Theodore R. Long confronts Paul Heyman backstage and informs him that though the paramedics used the jaws of life to open up the hearse Sunday night, the Undertaker was not inside.
OMG, TEH MAGICAL POWERS! Seriously, what's the point? Just have him be injured, and then come back for revenge. Oh, that's right, that might make Taker look weak, can't have that.
Looks like there is more turmoil brewing in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA™). http://www.examiner.com/article/nwa-turmoil-annual-meetings-canceled?no_cache=1347221333