Nowhere Man
01-07-2004, 12:46 AM
Hey, everybody! I just got back from this week's SD tapings, so I figured I'd give you guys the low-down on what happened. These may be a bit out of order, but hopefully I got most of them straight.
1/06/2004, from the Von Braun Center, Huntsville, AL.
Dark Match: Bradshaw def. some random jobber (whose name I didn't catch) with the Clothesline From Hell. Bradshaw actually sold really well for the local guy, who worked on his arm the whole match. Afterwards, Bradshaw mugs for the troops in attendance (since the Redstone Arsenal is only a few miles away)
Veloccity:
Billy Kidman def. Sakoda with the Shooting Star Press. Your standard cruiserweight fare, which is to say a pretty damn fun match, marred only by a slightly blown spot early on. Look for Kidman to give Sakoda one of the sickest-looking dropkicks I've EVER seen in this match.
Rhyno def. Funaki with the Gore. The usual big-man-vs-little-man type of match, except that since Rhyno and Funaki are both good wrestlers, this match was enjoyable to watch. Matt Morgan, start taking notes.
The World's Greatest Tag Team def. Paul London and Spanky with a Manhattan Drop/Superkick combo. Why the hell aren't these four guys on the main show?!?! These guys put on a kickass match.
Matt Morgan def. Shannon Moore with the Sit-out Powerbomb of Doom. Yawn. I feel sorry for Moore, who played his role of the cruiser-in-distress to perfection, while Morgan was just sort of there.
On to Smackdown:
The show opens with KURT ANGLE~!, who wants to try and make amends between Los Guerreros. Chavo refuses to apologize because he said he was giving Eddie "tough love" and trying to keep the family together. Kurt tries to get them to shake hands, but neither one will. Kurt reminds Eddie that Chavo was always there for him during his battle with alocholism, and Eddie begrudgingly shakes Chavo's hand to end the segment.
A Street Fight is announced between The Big Show and Hardcore Holly. Joy.
Also tonight, Jaimie Noble will take on Tajiri in a #1 Contender's match, and the Bashams will take on Scotty 2 Hotty and Rikishi for the tag team titles.
Chris Benoit (OH GOD YES!!!) comes out for his match, but Heyman interrupts him. He says that since Benoit was able to pull a fast one on him and enter into the Royal Rumble, he'd give Benoit a warm-up "Mini Rumble" against all three members of the FBI. Same rules as the usual Rumble, except instead of every man for himself, "it's every man for Chris Benoit."
Chris Benoit def. the FBI to win the 3-on-1 Rumble. More or less a total squash for Benoit, but Benoit makes it look goooood. He controls pretty much the entire match, decimating the FBI with his usual awesomeness, including making Palumbo and Stamboli tap out to the Sharpshooter and the Crossface (although submissions didn't count, but it was still a nice touch)
Rey Mysterio def. Akio with the West Coast Pop. Great match, as the two of them really seem to work well with each other. Nothing too out of the ordinary considering the contestants involved, but Rey did a couple of moves he usually doesn't do.
Scotty 2 Hotty and Rikishi make their way to the ring for their match, but the Bashams come out from underneath the ring to ambush them. The Bashams beat the living hell out of them, and are about to leave, when Kurt Angle comes out. He says that "Hell must have frozen over," because he and Paul Heyman just made an agreement. If you advertise a Tag Team Title match, you'd better have the Tag Team Title match (tell that to the folks who advertised Foley vs Orton) So since Scotty and Rikishi are out of the picture, he found two replacements....Los Guerreros.
The Bashams def. Los Guerreros when one of them reversed a Sunset Flip by Chavo by sitting on him and hooking the leg. The match had its high points, but was really bogged down by all the rest holds the Bashams used. Eddie did most of the work in this match, although Chavo did get his choice moments. Anyways, it did its job of telling the story, that the Guerreros' reunion was going to be short-lived.
After the match, the Bashams start double-teaming on Eddie. Chavo goes for a chair, but instead of running the Bashams off with it, he just sits down and watches them pound on his uncle. After they leave, Chavo helps Eddie up, then punches him back down and starts beating on him himself. Finally, Chavo leaves Eddie in the ring, a bloody mess, and drives off with the Low-Rider.
John Cena def. A-Train with the F-U. Honestly, I missed just about all of this match, since I decided to get some nachos at the first sight of an A-Train match. I didn't fiund out his opponent was Cena until I was in the line at the snack stand, and by the time I got back into the arena, A-Train had just gotten F-U'ed and pinned. Sorry, folks.
Backstage, Kurt apologizes to Eddie for misjudging Chavo. Eddie seems to be on the verge of tears and unbelievably pissed off both at the same time.
Paul Heyman approaches Nidia, asking why Noble's late for his match. Nidia says he'll be there soon, but Paul says the match is next, so he has to find a replacement to fight Tajiri. That opponen? You guessed it! Nidia.
Tajiri def. Nidia with a Russian Leg Sweep. Yeah, yeah, Heyman's an evil little bastard. Yeah, yeah, Tajiri's a scary little Asian man. The match was about 2 minutes long, making it about 1 and a half minutes too long to get the point across.
Tajiri sets Nidia up for his big Stiff Kick of Death, but Rey Mysterio (who's inexplicably changed masks) run his off and helps Nidia down. Noble finally makes the scene, consoles Nidia, and, being the grateful gentleman that he is, socks Rey for touching his girl. I smell a Triple Threat at the Royal Rumble.
Backstage, Hardcore is being interviewed about the Street Fight against Big Show. He says that Show isn't very smart; he should know better than to play a man at his own game, and especially not in his own back yard (big pop). Tonight, he's going to give the Big Show an "Alabama Ass-Whoopin'" (MAJOR pop)
Brock Lesnar comes to ringside fr commentary.
Hardcore Holly def. The Big Show by choking him out with a steel chair. Zzzzzz......And why exactly do we Big Show as the US Champion if he never defends the damn belt? Well, since the whole point of the match was in order to build up Holly as a legitimate threat, I'll give it points for relevance to the storylines, but following the story doesn't make up much for the match sucking.
After the cameras stopped rolling (I think), Brock stands up to face Holly, but Holly charges at him and Brock escapes through the crowd. Holly then goes back into the ring and finishes off Big Show with another chair shot to end the show.
Well, with the exception of the main event, this was a really fun show. Just about every match served a purpose, and even Bradshaw had a good match (too bad it was untelevised)
1/06/2004, from the Von Braun Center, Huntsville, AL.
Dark Match: Bradshaw def. some random jobber (whose name I didn't catch) with the Clothesline From Hell. Bradshaw actually sold really well for the local guy, who worked on his arm the whole match. Afterwards, Bradshaw mugs for the troops in attendance (since the Redstone Arsenal is only a few miles away)
Veloccity:
Billy Kidman def. Sakoda with the Shooting Star Press. Your standard cruiserweight fare, which is to say a pretty damn fun match, marred only by a slightly blown spot early on. Look for Kidman to give Sakoda one of the sickest-looking dropkicks I've EVER seen in this match.
Rhyno def. Funaki with the Gore. The usual big-man-vs-little-man type of match, except that since Rhyno and Funaki are both good wrestlers, this match was enjoyable to watch. Matt Morgan, start taking notes.
The World's Greatest Tag Team def. Paul London and Spanky with a Manhattan Drop/Superkick combo. Why the hell aren't these four guys on the main show?!?! These guys put on a kickass match.
Matt Morgan def. Shannon Moore with the Sit-out Powerbomb of Doom. Yawn. I feel sorry for Moore, who played his role of the cruiser-in-distress to perfection, while Morgan was just sort of there.
On to Smackdown:
The show opens with KURT ANGLE~!, who wants to try and make amends between Los Guerreros. Chavo refuses to apologize because he said he was giving Eddie "tough love" and trying to keep the family together. Kurt tries to get them to shake hands, but neither one will. Kurt reminds Eddie that Chavo was always there for him during his battle with alocholism, and Eddie begrudgingly shakes Chavo's hand to end the segment.
A Street Fight is announced between The Big Show and Hardcore Holly. Joy.
Also tonight, Jaimie Noble will take on Tajiri in a #1 Contender's match, and the Bashams will take on Scotty 2 Hotty and Rikishi for the tag team titles.
Chris Benoit (OH GOD YES!!!) comes out for his match, but Heyman interrupts him. He says that since Benoit was able to pull a fast one on him and enter into the Royal Rumble, he'd give Benoit a warm-up "Mini Rumble" against all three members of the FBI. Same rules as the usual Rumble, except instead of every man for himself, "it's every man for Chris Benoit."
Chris Benoit def. the FBI to win the 3-on-1 Rumble. More or less a total squash for Benoit, but Benoit makes it look goooood. He controls pretty much the entire match, decimating the FBI with his usual awesomeness, including making Palumbo and Stamboli tap out to the Sharpshooter and the Crossface (although submissions didn't count, but it was still a nice touch)
Rey Mysterio def. Akio with the West Coast Pop. Great match, as the two of them really seem to work well with each other. Nothing too out of the ordinary considering the contestants involved, but Rey did a couple of moves he usually doesn't do.
Scotty 2 Hotty and Rikishi make their way to the ring for their match, but the Bashams come out from underneath the ring to ambush them. The Bashams beat the living hell out of them, and are about to leave, when Kurt Angle comes out. He says that "Hell must have frozen over," because he and Paul Heyman just made an agreement. If you advertise a Tag Team Title match, you'd better have the Tag Team Title match (tell that to the folks who advertised Foley vs Orton) So since Scotty and Rikishi are out of the picture, he found two replacements....Los Guerreros.
The Bashams def. Los Guerreros when one of them reversed a Sunset Flip by Chavo by sitting on him and hooking the leg. The match had its high points, but was really bogged down by all the rest holds the Bashams used. Eddie did most of the work in this match, although Chavo did get his choice moments. Anyways, it did its job of telling the story, that the Guerreros' reunion was going to be short-lived.
After the match, the Bashams start double-teaming on Eddie. Chavo goes for a chair, but instead of running the Bashams off with it, he just sits down and watches them pound on his uncle. After they leave, Chavo helps Eddie up, then punches him back down and starts beating on him himself. Finally, Chavo leaves Eddie in the ring, a bloody mess, and drives off with the Low-Rider.
John Cena def. A-Train with the F-U. Honestly, I missed just about all of this match, since I decided to get some nachos at the first sight of an A-Train match. I didn't fiund out his opponent was Cena until I was in the line at the snack stand, and by the time I got back into the arena, A-Train had just gotten F-U'ed and pinned. Sorry, folks.
Backstage, Kurt apologizes to Eddie for misjudging Chavo. Eddie seems to be on the verge of tears and unbelievably pissed off both at the same time.
Paul Heyman approaches Nidia, asking why Noble's late for his match. Nidia says he'll be there soon, but Paul says the match is next, so he has to find a replacement to fight Tajiri. That opponen? You guessed it! Nidia.
Tajiri def. Nidia with a Russian Leg Sweep. Yeah, yeah, Heyman's an evil little bastard. Yeah, yeah, Tajiri's a scary little Asian man. The match was about 2 minutes long, making it about 1 and a half minutes too long to get the point across.
Tajiri sets Nidia up for his big Stiff Kick of Death, but Rey Mysterio (who's inexplicably changed masks) run his off and helps Nidia down. Noble finally makes the scene, consoles Nidia, and, being the grateful gentleman that he is, socks Rey for touching his girl. I smell a Triple Threat at the Royal Rumble.
Backstage, Hardcore is being interviewed about the Street Fight against Big Show. He says that Show isn't very smart; he should know better than to play a man at his own game, and especially not in his own back yard (big pop). Tonight, he's going to give the Big Show an "Alabama Ass-Whoopin'" (MAJOR pop)
Brock Lesnar comes to ringside fr commentary.
Hardcore Holly def. The Big Show by choking him out with a steel chair. Zzzzzz......And why exactly do we Big Show as the US Champion if he never defends the damn belt? Well, since the whole point of the match was in order to build up Holly as a legitimate threat, I'll give it points for relevance to the storylines, but following the story doesn't make up much for the match sucking.
After the cameras stopped rolling (I think), Brock stands up to face Holly, but Holly charges at him and Brock escapes through the crowd. Holly then goes back into the ring and finishes off Big Show with another chair shot to end the show.
Well, with the exception of the main event, this was a really fun show. Just about every match served a purpose, and even Bradshaw had a good match (too bad it was untelevised)