Guest bravesfan Posted January 4, 2003 Report Posted January 4, 2003 I'll give you the results, some of my thoughts on every match and angle, and a good description of most of the matches. Read on, my fellow Smarkees... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- While my 3 friends (2 guys, I girl) and I get into the Blaisdell arena at about 7:00 (30 minutes before showtime): shirts, gimmicks, programs, disposable cameras and posters are literally flying off the stands. I picked up the Divas magazine, the tour program, a disposable camera, a Stacy poster and a Hurricane shirt for myself at $50.00 Good deal. Our seats were the highest priced...about 30 feet away from the actual ring. After the intermission, I moved in closer during the introductions to get better entrance pictures. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Howard Finkel welcomes the crowd to the show (entitled "WWE RAW: The Ruthless Aggression Tour"), gives the usual "No laser pens or video cameras allowed" speech, and the security must be doing a great job, because I spot 3 video cameras in the front rows surrounding the guardrail. The National Anthem is played, and Fink starts the night off by saying "Welcome to RUTHLESS AGGRESSION!" in his best Vince impersonation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Opening Match: Rico vs. The Hurricane "Youuuuu Looooook Ssssso... Good To Me" and the crowd goes POSTAL. Rico gets booed out of the building. I really don't understand it. "Stannnnnnd Back, there's a Hurricane coming through!" and the arenas goes BANANA~! Those two had good chemistry going on, and the crowd was behind every spin-kick and bodypress they pulled off. "Rico is Gay" is the first chant of the evening. The finish sees Hurricane with a Shining Wizard and the 1-2-3. 4/10 for a good 4-minute opening match, complete with good heat and tremendous athleticism. Shane and Rico both deserve better than curtain-jerking, though. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fink shills about the Tower of Power giveaway after the intermission, and promises a reward for the Hawaii fans, regarding that night's ticket stub. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Match #2: Lance Storm vs. Tommy Dreamer "ECW" chants erupt at the sound of the bell, to my surprise. Storm works on Dreamer's leg, while Dreamer just works on finding a cup of Coke to drink. He succeeds, finding solace in the front row, but Storm keeps after him and finishes with the Sharpshooter. Match lasted about 4 1/2 minutes. After getting up, Dreamer posed to cheers from the crowd, takes another sip of coke, then (in a touching moment, BTW) takes off his shirt and gives it to a little boy in the front row. It's great to know that Dreamer is such a class act for the company. 4/10 for the technical work displayed by Storm, and the ability of Dreamer to sell his leg injury post-match. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Match #3: Dudley Boyz vs. Chris Nowinski, Steven Richards and D'Lo Brown The "Bombshell" theme kicks major ass live. JFYI, this was an all-comedy match. "Tables" chant at the beginning of the match. Buh Buh with the mic: "In case you didn't heard them, HONOLULU WANTS TABLES!". Spike and Steven Richards do a 4-minute test of strength(!) to start the match, surprisingly getting the crowd behind it.Steven wins, does his best Hulkamania pose, Spike responds and gets huge face heat. Buh Buh gets the first hot tag and cleans Steven's clock. Steven looks for the hot-tag himself, only to find his corner empty: Nowinski and D'Lo ducked under the ring. Buh Buh does the "bionic elbow-drop", complete with a hula dance and a moonwalk. D'Lo and D'Von get the respective tags, then do a "bobblehead-to-bobblehead" staredown. D'Lo controls most of the match with several heel tactics. At the 15-minute mark, Buh Buh gets the hot-tag again, clears house with the bionic elbow and the "flip-flop-and-fly", then sets up the "Wassup drop". "D'Von....gets the table! and the heels break that up. More brawling around the ring, Spike gets catapulted onto Nowinski and D'Lo from inside the ring to the floor, and the Dudleys get a table set-up outside. D'Lo's back into that heel role perfectly, as he WAFFLES Spike's head with a chair, then takes the win at about 18 minutes in. And the crowd is dead. I mean, the arena is SILENT. 5/10 for the crowd heat leading up to the finish, but the wrong team went over. Buh Buh, post-match: "Everyone in this arena saw you hit Spike with that chair, and you know what? You two (D'Lo, Nowinski) punk-ass bitches want a fight? You'll get one! Tomorrow night-[crowd groans] you two against me and D'Von- IN A TABLES MATCH [crowds goes crazy].Bubba turns to survey the crowd, possibly to change his mind "Well, screw tomorrow, let's do it tonight!"[crowd goes crazy again].Nowinski and D'Lo walk away to boos, but they accept the challenge for Friday's match. And Spike is still dead from the chair shot. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Match #4: Scott Steiner vs. Raven Steiner gets a MONSTROUS pop here. Top face of the night, at this point. The match plodded about for a few minutes, with Steiner working in his poses and push-up spot. Other house-show reports of Steiner being reportedly "blown-up" mid-match are not too evident here, but that's probably because Raven looks even worse out there. Scott's butterfly suplex got the crowd out of the in-match lull, with Steiner winning with the Recliner in about 3 minutes. I don't even think Raven got a punch in. Interesting note here, Steiner jawed outside of the ring with a punk (who we'll identify as "Dumbshit" from now on.). I don't know if this happens alot at house shows, but I would expect it with the intimate setting between the crowd and the wrestlers. 1/10 for the butterfly suplex. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Finkel came out and did a push for the Friday show, "rewarding" the loyal fans with this promotion (credit 411for summing it up.) Due to poor ticket sales for the WWE house show tonight on Honolulu, the promotion will allow fans who bought tickets to yesterday's Honolulu show to buy as many tickets as they want to tonights show for 50% off. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Match #5: *****This match is for the World Tag Team Titles***** Champions Goldust and Booker T vs. Challengers Chris Jericho and Christian The Blondes came out together to Y2J's theme, while the champs did seperate entrances to pop the crowd. "Fozzy Sucks" prompts Jericho to get on the mic, and cut one of the funniest promos of the year- truncuated for memory reasons... "What did you say? What?[A "What?" from the crowd]Tonight-["What?"]me and this sexy beast Christian-["What?"]are gonna take those tag titles back-["What?"]off this stinking sewage dump of an island["What?" filled in with boos]...and go back to the United States!" Umm, Chris? Hawaii is part of the United States. Right around this point, I had to step out for a few minutes to buy a disposable camera from the stand. Little did I know, I left my ticket stub under my seat and spent 10 minutes verifying my spot in the arena to the ticket "guard" (one was stationed by the entrance to the lower arena, one stationed at each entrance to the nosebleeds), so I missed both the Spinearoonie, and the lead-up to the finish. When I came back, Goldust was laid out on top of Christian, getting the 1-2-3. Jericho, already handling a chair, whacks Booker with it as well. The challengers leave, with no real fan-fare by the faces, except for a few poses. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INTERMISSION ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fink announces the winner of the "Tower of Power" arena giveaway. Lucky bastard. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Match #6: *****This match is for the WWE Women's Championship**** Champion Victoria (w/ Molly Holly) vs. Challenger Trish Stratus (w/ Jacqueline) Victoria is HOT. This was originally set to be a tag-team match, but was changed at the last minute. Imagine a typical match between the two, but horribly clipped. Did I mention Victoria was HOT? Quaint little 3-minute affair, with Victoria winning with a rollup, after Trish's rollup was reversed by a interfering Molly. Fortunately, Trish didn't get enough leverage for her roll-up and prevented falling back by "pulling up" Victoria's tights down around her...umm...WOOHOO! [/King]. 4/10 for the added ass shot. Trish receives a flower-necklace (a "lei") from a teenage boy in the front row, and SHE PLANTS A KISS ON HIM! Motherfuc- Yes, now that boy can boast to hs friends, that he "lei-d" Trish Stratus. GET IT? GET IT?!? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Finkel introduces a special guest as this point... "He's a multiple-time WWE Champion, pumped and psyched to return to the islands, a legend in his own era---" The Heartbreak Kid, SHAWN MICHAELS! The fans, although disappointed (everyone was expecting the Rock), went crazy for Shawn. The gyst of Michaels' promo, besides sucking up the crowd, was to not only verbally assault Jericho (so this feud is still on), but to warn HHH, "for in the main event, the Heartbreak Kid will make his prescence known!". Just as HBK goes to call-out Y2J to the ring... "I'm BAAAD, and better than ever!" gets the crowd HOT, but it turns out to be Chief Morley. He insults the crowd, the island, the educational system, the country, HBK. It was great. It builds up to Morley turning his back to warn HBK that if he is planning on interfering tonight, "your life will become a living hell". Superkick, face pop, theme music, prance around like a girl. Segment over. Morley seemed to take a legitimate shot in the face: he stayed down for over a minute after Michaels had left, the referees had a hard time picking him up, so they just rolled him out of the ring. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Finkel then introduces us to the "Premier Diva in the WWE", prompting the ENTIRE floor section to rush the guardrail at the same time... STACY! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Match #7: Test (w/ Stacy Keibler) vs. Rosey "Hello to all my Testicles in Hawaii!"...I love Stacy. She does a pre-match lapdance for Test, to be interrupted by Rosey, who comes out to a loud chorus of boos. Hmm...a hometown wrestler, getting booed? Hilarious, I tell you. Test tried his damndest to garner face heat here, but the WWE are at fault for pushing the turn so quickly after that "Un-Americans" gimmick. Nobody in the crowd knows how to accept him. Test's offense in the match consisted of a few body-slams, leg clips and clotheslines. Rosey did nothing of importance here. In a strange spot, Molly Holly comes out to distract Test, Chief Morley (sitting at ringside, following the superkick) follows suit and with Test distracted, Rosey finishes him off with a sick clothesline and the Vader Bomb .2/10 for the leg psychology employed by Test. NOTE: The "3 Minute Warning" theme was nowhere to be heard, either by Rico or Rosey. I guess the WWE still has licensing problems with that song. Stacy gets "lei-d" by that same kid. She and Test get back into the ring, do the "shaka" (closed fist, thumb and pinky extended outward, then flick wrist side-to-side) And BAH GAWD, Test is a face! ...but wait! Test gets on the mic(!) and wants a "inter-gender mixed tag match" tomorrow night between Rosey & Molly vs. Test & Trish Stratus. The match is on, so I'll spare you the rest of his mic work. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Finkel shills Friday's card, then introduces to "the MAN, RIC FLAIR!". Methinks Flair ain't considered a heel here in Hawaii. Flair does the verbal blow-job for HHH, but introduces Batista first... Okay, now this is where the fun REALLY BEGINS. Hebner, the referee for the ensuing match, gets into an argument with "Dumbshit", then gives him the crotch chop to an good pop. Batista makes his way to the ring in an un-eventful fashion and GOOD-LORD HE IS HUGE. HHH does the full entrance, with water pose. The faces out next...RVD is your new champion of the face-pop of the night, decimating Steiner's and Shawn's. Kane comes out, which leads to... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Match #8: Triple H & Batista (w/Ric Flair) vs. Rob...Van...Dam and Kane [Originally booked as two individual matches, they combined for the tag team: no reason given and I haven't figured it out yet.] As soon as the faces clear out the ring together, HHH and Batista do the usual tactics outside, until Trips makes his way around to where "Dumbshit" was sitting. It wasn't clearly audible as to what the guy said, but Trips did a complete 180 turn from the ring, motioned for Hebner halt the bell ring, then jawed at DS until he sat down. Not really face-to-face...YET. From what I remember, Flair came around and politely asked the guy to sit down. The guy stood up again, and said something to Flair. Flair does the slow-turn, gives the "glazed look in his eye" stare, grabs the house mic, and says... "Hey pal, step over that guardrail, maybe then we'll get a fair chance at kicking your white ass. To an immense pop. It was like DS was Meltzer or something; he knew some kind of personal information that enraged the workers... The match, after about 3-4 minutes of jaw-jacking, was still being held on by DS, who then proceeded to call HHH out again. Only this time, he was followed by Batista. As Trips started moving closer, DS pulls up his camera and starts clicking away. HHH, unfazed by this, lips out "You want a picture?" and gives the double-bird two-inches away from the camera to another huge pop. All this, with RVD and Kane impatiently waiting in the ring. Luckily, Batista gave a harsh look at DS, and he quickly sat down. FINALLY, the match started. I believe Batista and Kane started it off, another test of strength, with a few monster clotheslines by Batista had Kane reeling. Respective tags in to RVD and HHH, and HHH bumps around a bit. The corner headbutts into backflip scores here. HHH takes control and tags in Batista. Match starts slowing around here. RVD gets in a nice rolling roundhouse to Batista, then tags in Kane. Tags switch between heels, as Kane is isolated from Van Dam. Kane works in his signature spots, and gets the hot-tag to RVD. Top-rope backleg kick and the split-legged moonsault...the crowd is going wild. Ref bump, as Kane and Batista spills outside, while HHH brings in Finkel's chair, misses and then gets Vandaminated. Rolling thunder to no pin. From here, the details of the actual match spots are blurry. Batista back in, RVD goes for the pin, but new official Nick Patrick (?) is knocked out by Triple H. Kane's back in, but he's hit with an inadvertent kick by RVD (that part, I remember) and Kane is PISSED. RVD tries to apolgize, but Kane snaps...HEEL TURN!...and throws RVD halfway across the ring(!). Kane leaves the ring to utter shock from the fans, leaving RVD all alone with Trips, Flair and Batista. A beat-down commences for a good while, with the Sit-Out Powerbomb and Pedigree being used. Everyone expects a save, but HHH covers, 1-2-3. About a 20 minute match, rated at 6/10 because of the heat and commotion surrounding the match and heel turn, with the good ringwork attributed to Van Dam. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The beatdown continues, until.....[sirens blare, crowd goes wild]...Big Poppa Pump quickly clears the ring to a loud ovation. Chief Morley is out, and announces a tag-team ME between HHH & Batista vs. Scott Steiner & RVD...tomorrow night.[crowd groans] Steiner: I'm not waiting until tomorrow night, I'll want Triple H's ass RIGHT NOW![crowd goes wild] And the clusterfuck continues, as Shawn Michaels comes out again. He gets into the ring with RVD and BPP, and hypes Friday's Main Event. He verbally fellates Scott Steiner for his Royal Rumble encounter with Trips, points to Steiner and says... "You're looking at the next World Wrestling Federation Champion!" Yes, that's what he said. Show over, the 3 faces pose on the ropes, while "One of A Kind" sends us off out of the arena. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOP FACE HEAT:(excluding the Diva's) 1. RVD 2. Scott Steiner 3. HBK 4. The Hurricane 5. The Dudleys/Ric Flair TOP HEEL HEAT: 1. Rico 2. Triple H 3. "Dumbshit"- for holding up the Main Event. 4. Rosey - for interrupting Stacy. 5. Y2J/Christian, they're low because the fans WANTED to cheer them. Thoughts, discussions, feedback?
Guest Insane Bump Machine Posted January 4, 2003 Report Posted January 4, 2003 So Steiner sucks in the ring? and water seems to be wet, too. I can't wait for their Rumble match.
Guest bravesfan Posted January 4, 2003 Report Posted January 4, 2003 I don't know if it's ring rust or not, but he SUCKS. Definitely not dead-weight, though.
Guest geniusMoment Posted January 4, 2003 Report Posted January 4, 2003 You live in Hawaii. Damn you are one lucky dude. All people from Cincy have to look forward to is Great American Ballpark, but the reds will suck anyway. You get to live in paradise.
Guest Mr. Slim Citrus Posted January 4, 2003 Report Posted January 4, 2003 I wouldn't call being in Hawaii "lucky," but I will admit to being jaded about the subject...
Guest bravesfan Posted January 4, 2003 Report Posted January 4, 2003 I understand Slim's predicament entirely, though most of the time it does suck to live here, for several reasons. Thursday was my 1st WWE house show in 11 years....
Guest Insane Bump Machine Posted January 4, 2003 Report Posted January 4, 2003 I understand Slim's predicament entirely, though most of the time it does suck to live here, for several reasons. Thursday was my 1st WWE house show in 11 years.... So, did you feel like you got your money's worth?
Guest bravesfan Posted January 4, 2003 Report Posted January 4, 2003 So, did you feel like you got your money's worth? ABSOLUTELY. Everyone I expected from the Raw brand was there, and I got in close enough to get a few good shots of HHH, Stacy and HBK. Man, what a night. It does suck that the last 3 house shows in Hawaii have been affected by the brand split. It would've kicked soooo much ass, had we had the privilege of seeing Brock, Kurt Angle, Benoit, Los Guerreros and MATTITUDE~!
Guest humongous2002 Posted January 4, 2003 Report Posted January 4, 2003 TOP FACE HEAT:(excluding the Diva's) 1. RVD 2. Scott Steiner 3. HBK 4. The Hurricane 5. The Dudleys/Ric Flair TOP HEEL HEAT: 1. Rico 2. Triple H 3. "Dumbshit"- for holding up the Main Event. 4. Rosey - for interrupting Stacy. 5. Y2J/Christian, they're low because the fans WANTED to cheer them. Thoughts, discussions, feedback? I find it funny that in 1Bob.com they had HGH as #1 Top face heat, fucking HHH marks making shit up.
Guest bravesfan Posted January 4, 2003 Report Posted January 4, 2003 Well, his entrance got good face heat and his confrontation with the fan added a bit too, but everything beyond that were old heel tactics... --cheap-shotting Kane and RVD several times. --bringing a chair in to attack RVD. --teaming with Batista to beat the hell out of RVD, after Kane had left. --teasing a fight with Steiner post-match, then backing off.
Guest Anglesault Posted January 4, 2003 Report Posted January 4, 2003 Hurricane is using the running knee nudge as a finisher? And it's not the WWF's fault that test can't get over.
Guest Angle Armbar Posted January 4, 2003 Report Posted January 4, 2003 Did you take notes at the show? I always wonder how people can give such in-depth analysis at live shows. It's funny how going to a live show makes it seem so much less crappier.
Guest bravesfan Posted January 4, 2003 Report Posted January 4, 2003 Was that fan a Smark? I really believe so. Usually, the marks' comments just roll off of the wrestler's back. Trips, Steiner, Bautista and Flair all looked INFURIATED at this guy. Hurricane is using the running knee nudge as a finisher? In every match he's finished with the Shining Wizard, the Eye of the Hurricane and Chokeslam was reversed/prevented in some fashion. And it's not the WWF's fault that test can't get over. Don't know how to comment on that. The WWE should stop pushing Test in differents variations of his gimmick, let him find a "niche" with the crowd, then focus on getting him over there. If that fails, let him wallow on Heat... EDIT: Did you take notes at the show? I always wonder how people can give such in-depth analysis at live shows. No, it was all mental notes I made, until I typed up the report about 16 hours later. Match times were all estimated, and I held on to key spots from each match and how they factored into the finish. It was easy to replay the matches in my head, though my memory got fuzzy around the Main Event. It's funny how going to a live show makes it seem so much less crappier. The atmosphere made it all worth while. It was a decent card in hindsight, with Bookdust/Blondes being the MOTN according to my friend.
Guest Anglesault Posted January 4, 2003 Report Posted January 4, 2003 In every match he's finished with the Shining Wizard, How should I know. He never wins. I did see it on Nowinski. Don't know how to comment on that. The WWE should stop pushing Test in differents variations of his gimmick, let him find a "niche" with the crowd, then focus on getting him over there. If that fails, let him wallow on Heat... They've tried all that. He's a lost cause. FIRE HIM.
Guest dreamer420 Posted January 4, 2003 Report Posted January 4, 2003 In all fairness Steiner was wrestling Raven who hasn't been pretty well useless the past five years.
Guest bravesfan Posted January 4, 2003 Report Posted January 4, 2003 In all fairness Steiner was wrestling Raven who hasn't been pretty well useless the past five years. Hey! I WAS defending Steiner in my report! ...other house-show reports of Steiner being reportedly "blown-up" mid-match are not too evident here, but that's probably because Raven looks even worse out there.
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