That has to be the weirdest crowd I have ever seen. They:
-Start a wave during a WWE Championship match which I think is a WWE first. I do remember that happening during a ECW match with Cactus Jack, but never during a WWE match.
-Chant for the Spanish announce table! That is just funny for some reason.
-Boo just about every face on the card including Edge.
Overall though. I did like the PPV. The Kane-Hardy match seemed awfully short though.
(edited by Kane Is Ugly on 15.8.04 2148) I miss the GWF.
Seemed that a lot of heels won... Cena was the only pure face that won. Edge is technically still a face, but he's obviously being turned and the crowd booed him like crazy tonight. Orton won as a heel, but it looks like they're doing a face turn with him.
Dudleys over Kidman/London/Mysterio John Cena over Booker T Kane over Matt Hardy Edge over Jericho, Batista (Edge pins Jericho) Kurt Angle over Eddie Guerrero(submission) Triple H over Eugene Diva Search contestants over Team Diva JBL over Undertaker(DQ) Randy Orton over Chris Benoit
I don't know what was with the crowd tonight. I'm embarassed for my hometown.
Fairly "eh" show. Nothing was really all that bad, but there really wasn't anything incredibly memorable that's going to stand out two years from now.
Did one of the Diva search contestants disappear? Wasn't it the one everyone said was fixed to win? What's the story there?
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." ---George W. Bush
"I love shoot comments that aren't supposed to be shoot comments." ---Scott Keith
The Main Event was an excellent match with great psychology. Benoit is insane for taking those two head bumps, though, but they tied together Orton's groundwork and the RKO finish.
I'm digging the new submission oriented Kurt Angle. He's much more focused on telling a story instead of popping off suplexes. I dug the whole storyline of him fighting to remove Guerrero's boot because he's so obsessed with losing at WMXX.
It was surprising that Toronto turned on Edge so strongly. I figured they'd be behind Jericho more but not the outright hate for Edge. I wonder if he cut one of those "arena only" promos before the match?
Insensitive Funny Comment of the Week: "You don't buy prostitutes ... They're human beings! You rent them!" Artie Lange
Ya, apparently Carmella didnt care enough to show up for the dodgeball game. I dont remember, but I think Trish didnt play either, but she was at least there. So it turned into a 6 vs 6 game.
Can't say I blame her for not going thru with it. Even the crowd booed all the girls.
I dug the show ... I thought it seemed to have some actually good "wrestling" on it ...
That suicide dive Benoit took looked vicious ... Kudos to Orton ... I personally thought this may have been his best match (of course, having Benoit in there didn't hurt) ...
Where was Carmella during the Dodgeball thing? Maybe they caught onto her lack of enthusiasm and told her to take a hike.
Best match had to be Eddie vs. Kurt ... but that goes without saying.
You're a jive soul bro, a jive soul bro And you're always lyin' to you friends You're a jive soul bro, a jive soul bro And you'll never get nothin' in the end
*sigh*... All the heels win, except for Booker T? Send the crowd home happy much?
And yeah, I'm pretty pissed that Chris Benoit's World Heavyweight Title reign is over (particularly at the hands of Randy Orton), but he had one hell of a run, which is all I ever asked for. Hopefully he gets it back in the future.
“Do you believe in UFOs, astral projections, mental telepathy, ESP, clairvoyance, spirit photography, telekinetic movement, full trance mediums, the Loch Ness monster and the theory of Atlantis?” “Ah, if there's a steady paycheck in it, I'll believe anything you say.”
--Janine and Winston, Ghostbusters
Two-Time Wiener of the Day (5/27/02; 7/3/02)
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Thought the show was *alright*. Wasn't that impressed with the main event but it didn't tank or anything. The crowd was just obnoxious and terrible all night. I thought Angle/Eddie was excellent and in a completely different world than the rest of the matches.
I was bothered by them giving the undercard matches no time. I mean, six minutes for Cena and Booker? Come on. They don't have guys that the crowd recognizes as "guys who put on a good match" anymore. It was a lot like the Rumble in that they were just rushing through everything and it was going so quickly that it was hard to really invest anything into any of the matches. That possibly could have gotten the crowd restless, actually.
THOUGHTS: -The 6 man was a good choice for an opener. I dug it, and the right team won. -Odd choice to put the Kane/Hardy match next, but it was suitably short. I liked the little story they told. -Cena/Booker was good. Hopefully they can tell a good story. -3-Way was as good as it could've been, protecting everyone while delaying Heel Edge. -Angle/Eddie was an excellent follow-up to their WM20 match, using much of the same story and psychology. Rocking. -HHH/Eugene had only one way to go. HHH jobbing would destroy his edge. -JBL/Taker was too damned long. The psychology (JBL working on the knee & Taker working on the arm) didn't factor into the finish, so why was it there? -Meanwhile, all of the psychology in Benoit/Orton fed into the finish. I liked how they had Benoit job, but kept him strong and sewed the seeds of an Orton turn with one handshake.
Overall, strong show. Gotta see how it holds up after repeated viewings.
And Carmella no-showing dodgeball shows that they should scrap the whole thing, draw straws, and give the shortest straw a job.
CALGARY FLAMES: Your 2004 Western Conference Champions DVDs I Own
Off the top of my head, this is now 3 WWF/E World Title changes in Toronto. The first two were the Warrior run and Trip's face run, and both were disappointing/disasterous (should be 4th, because Orndorff should have gone over Hogan at Exhibition Stadium in '86). It will be interesting to see if Orton can break the streak of bad Toronto World Title victories. I strongly doubt that he will, but he at least should do better than Trip's brief face run and the ensuing disaster.
Still pondering why there was no public backlash for Jimmy Hart's advocation of self canibalism on the first Wrestling Album.
''We're in bizzaro world!'' - Jerry 'The King' Lawler
He couldn't have said it better, that was the most unpredictable crowd ever, even for Canada, I think the crowd was the only people not doing their job right however the mexican wave was one of the funniest things i have ever seen.
Orton winning reminded me or Lesnar winning in '02, youngest champ ever, you just don't believe it until it happens, overall solid show however the last few SummerSlams were better, Angle/Guerrero and Orton/Benoit came close to 4 stars each, opener was very good, Taker/JBL was solid but flawed, HHH/Eugene was ruined by the crowd, Dodgeball was worthless, Ms. Playboy didn't even show up, US title didn't have as much because it was non-title, Kane/Hardy was OK, nice chokslam spot though, suprised there was no HBK, Christian or Heidenreich run ins, Heyman said on Smackdown about SummerSlam but nothing happened, I.C. was also ruined by crowd.
Geez, and they say New York City and Long Island have hostile, smarky crowds. Based on tonight, Toronto has them all beat.
I hope the divas were told to job at dodgeball and let the wannabes win, because otherwise, that was utterly pathetic. (Although, of course, in another sense, it was pathetic from the get-go.)
Anyway, I agree: eh show. Nothing here I'm going to remember next week, except maybe Benoit/Orton -- which was a decent little match, but I'd have hoped for something more for the end of Benoit's era and the beginning of Orton's.
At least I was more right on my predictions than I usually am, including Taker's failure to lie down for JBL. Wish I'd also predicted that he'd also make JBL completely his bitch after the match.
I thought it was a decent show, but definitely nothing spectacular, not helped by the awful crowd.
The Dudley's match was decent, but not as good as I had hoped. The Kane/Hardy match was not too bad, but very anticlimactic, with an abrupt ending. I liked the Cena/Orton confrontation, pretty entertaining stuff.
I thought that Angle/Guerrero was good, and the phsycology was very good. I also thought that Taker/JBL was much better than many people expected, and I loved the leg work by JBL. The ending to this match, however, was absolutely terrible. It's as if they got together and decided to try and conceive the worst possible ending they could come up with.
Orton/Benoit was pretty good, and I thought that Orton held up his end nicely. The bump Benoit took to the guard rail was sick, by the way.
I loved that overhead backbreaker into a slam Orton did. I remember he did it against RVD on RAW. I just hope he doesn't kill the move by doing it every match.
Throw me in with the "eh" crowd, and Toronto sucks.
You think WWE now is bad? Some of us had to live through 1993-1996!
Originally posted by redsoxnationOff the top of my head, this is now 3 WWF/E World Title changes in Toronto. The first two were the Warrior run and Trip's face run, and both were disappointing/disasterous (should be 4th, because Orndorff should have gone over Hogan at Exhibition Stadium in '86). It will be interesting to see if Orton can break the streak of bad Toronto World Title victories. I strongly doubt that he will, but he at least should do better than Trip's brief face run and the ensuing disaster.
-January 1, 1963: Lou Thesz beats NWA Champion Buddy Rogers in one fall, disputed match led to birth of WWF title in March 1963. -April 1, 1990: Intercontinental Champion Ultimate Warrior beats WWF Champion Hulk Hogan in one fall. -November 21, 1999: Bret Hart beats Chris Benoit in one fall for vacant WCW Championship. -March 17, 2002: Triple H beats Undisputed Champion Chris Jericho in one fall. -August 15, 2004: Randy Orton beats World Champion Chris Benoit in one fall.
CALGARY FLAMES: Your 2004 Western Conference Champions DVDs I Own
I'm poking around the other message boards and it looks like a good number of people are blaming the Toronto crowd for its apathy and smarkiness for bringing this show down. I don't really disagree with that either.
(1) Poor Edge. Did they ever hate on him. Well, I think he is turning heel soon anyway just by recent mannerisms and the fact that he played up the boos.
(2) JBL and Taker have an OK match. Toronto doesn't care and does the wave and chants for someone to smash the Spanish Table. If you look closely, you can see Taker getting livid and frustrated b/c of this crowd.
(3) They booed Eugene. HHH performed about 7,500 tactics from the Heel Tactics Manual (using Lillian as a shield; feigning an injury) and they still boo Eugene.
For those who say the crowd doesn't matter, take a look at this show.
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