JoeDirt

Velocity (won't air in US because of Hall of Fame stuff): 1) Akio vs. Nunzio 2) Billy Kidman vs. Mark Jindrak 3) Luther Reigns vs. Biohazard 4) Haas/Holly vs. Jared Steele and Russel Simpson Smackdown: 1) Battle royal for cruiserweight title 2) Eddie Guerrero vs. Doug Basham 3) Booker T vs. Luther Reigns 4) Rey Misterio vs. Danny Basham 5) Akebono vs. Eddie Vegas 6) John Cena vs. Carlito Carribbean Cool

I like how everybody completely forgets that Vince Russo booked the WWE for the two best years they ever had, storyline-wise. He'd probably just leave WM alone, build up a heel while Batista finished off HHH again at Backlash in a stip match, and then set up hot feuds for Batista throughout the summer. Umm, his storylines for those years were shitty. They were just better than the crap the 3 retarded monkeys who booked WCW created. WWF storylines in 2000 showed how bad they were in 1998-9. -=Mike I liked Austin vs. McMahon...

I heard on a recent radio interview that Show quit (not sure if he started up again) about two months ago.

[email protected] We'll have a more detailed report up later tonight. Dark Brent Albright & ? b Eddie Craven & Mike Fox Velocity for overseas only Akio b Nunzio Mark Jindrak b Billy Kidman Luther Reigns b Biohazard under his real name Bob Holly & Charlie Haas b Russell "Psycho" Simpson & Jared Steele Smackdown Paul London is the new cruiserweight champ. They had a Battle Royal instead of a match since Chavo can't work because of his eye injury. Chavo was in the match and thrown right out. London skinned the cat on Kidman to win. Others involved were Nunzio, Funaki, Akio, Spike and one other guy. Doug Basham b Eddie Guerrero - Mysterio tried to help when Danny was intefering. He screwed up and Eddie was mad Booker T b Luther Reigns. This was a backdrop to get Sharmell over more than Booker Bob Orton Jr. came out and got on his hands and knees and begged the Undertaker not to destroy his son. Undertaker had no such mercy. Of course, Randy came from behind and RKO'd him. Bob laughed. Danny Basham b Mysterio - I'll bet you can figure out the drill by now Kurt Angle did the Angle slam and ankle lock on poor Josh Matthews since Josh apparently was a fan of Shawn Michaels growing up. No Shawn on this show. Akebono and Big Show had a weigh-in. The worked weights were 493 and 504 respectively. Akebono b Eddie Vegas. This was his first pro match,and it wasn't even in Japan where it would mean big ratings. 58 seconds and short enough that it wasn't bad. John Cena NC Carlito. JBL came out with police officers in the middle of the match to arrest Cena for vandalism. He was taken out. Well, hopefully he can raise the bail money by Sunday. Of course, in Houston, he made bail in seconds, and Teddy Long gave the people Wrestlemania early in a dark match. They went 15:00, non-title, FU and it's over. People were super into Cena, more than anyone else on the show, and were on their feet the entire match. However, I was also told without a hot crowd, this match is terrible.

I found a recent post on the WC board by Meltzer where he says that Dibiase was indeed originally booked to win this tournament, and it was changed to Savage like rumor had it. The original plan was to set up for Hogan vs. Dibiase at Wrestlemania 5. He says he knew this change happened when they changed the original brackets they had announced on Superstars. I'm wondering what those original brackets were, and if the original booking had happened, who would have faced Dibiase in the finals of the tournament? It obviously wouldn't have been Savage (who would have won the IC title instead) or Hogan (same double DQ with Andre, I'd assume), so would it have been somebody like Steamboat or Bam Bam Bigelow? And does anybody know what the first brackets they announced were?

Yeah, there will be a webcast. Same price, but with the bonus matches, and you can rewatch for a week.

It's like they just couldn't come up with anything more for Angle to do... DX, anybody? They should have done SOMETHING with that.

JBL vs. Undertaker, WWE title match, Summerslam 2004: The match actually starts outside the ring as JBL bails, then tries to cheap shot Taker but gets busted. They go into the ring and JBL cuts off an "Old School" and they work a slow opening. Unfortunately the crowd isn't really buying it tonight, but let's ignore the crowd and look at the match. I actually like some things early. JBL hits a sideslam, then goes to the top rope (!) and hits a flying shoulder block! Awesome. Taker cuts off a charge in the corner but instead of doing it with the usual boot to he face, he steps into JBL and hooks a Fujiwara arm bar. Pretty cool. He then hits the usual Old School move which I've never been a fan of but at least he gets it out of the way early. Taker then hits a Novacaine/Flatliner type move which is cool for a two count. He then goes back to the arm of JBL, stretching him out with a nice submission. This stuff is great to see, but of course since the crowd isn't conditioned that this is a dangerous move, they just see it as a rest hold and are silent. Orlando Jordan puts JBL's leg on the bottom rope. Taker boots Jordan off the apron, but JBL takes advantage and chop blocks Taker's leg, and proceeds to start the leg work he does for a lot of the match. JBL does some nice leg work to start things out, as he first posts the knee. Jordan then distracts the knee and JBL grabs a chair and drills Taker in the leg/knee with it. Very cool. Taker even sells it, and proceeds to hobble a little bit as he tries to fight back. Taker then goes to walk up the steel steps and JBL punches his knee, causing him to drop knee first onto the steps. The announcers put over how impressive JBL has been so far in the match. In the ring, JBL starts to work over the knee as the crowd starts doing the wave. Oh well. They fight over a leglock and Taker does a really nice reversal into a single leg crab. Then Taker works over JBL's knee, rolling through into a nice leglock after each guy blocks a hip toss. Taker ends up hitting his apron leg drop on JBL, but sells the knee quite well after he hits it. JBL fights back and heads up top again, but gets cut off and Taker hits a superplex for 2. Another good solid move set up by the fact that JBL hit a flying shoulderblock off the top earlier, so him heading up there this time made sense. Taker then goes for a powerbomb but JBL punches the knee and works it over and works a spinning toe hold. Taker then catches him and tries a chokeslam but JBL stomps the knee to again put Taker down. JBL ends up getting caught in a spinebuster for 2, though. Good sequence that establishes JBL knowing he has to go to the knee to save himself when Taker goes for his big moves (chokeslam, Last Ride powerbomb). Taker comes off the ropes with his usual flying clothesline, but can't cover because of his knee. He hits a series of clotheslines, a Snake Eyes, and another clothesline for 2. Nothing wrong with that, as Taker is using all upper body to do these moves because of his knee. He sets up a chokeslam and hits it this time...for 2. He goes for the Tombstone and Jordan distracts, allowing JBL to hit the Clothesline from Hell, which of course only gets 2. It's really too bad that hasn't been built up enough as a Murder Death Kill finisher for JBL. The ref gets bumped and both guys knock each other down. Jordan tosses the belt into the ring and JBL drills Taker with it. We get a dumb spot as Jordan uses Nick Patrick's arm to count the pinfall, but for some reason stops when Taker kicks out. If you're going to cheat, HOW DOES THAT MAKE ANY SENSE? JBL obviously didn't do much scouting for the match (heh) as JBL does punches in the corner, which is a setup for Taker to hit the Last Ride like he has done on PPV to HHH, Cena, Booker T, and others. Slow count by the ref for 2. Jordan comes into the ring, Taker steals the belt from him, and then hits JBL for the DQ at about 17:30. We get a post match brawl to keep the fans at least somewhat happy, as a bloody JBL gets slammed on the limo, and then chokeslammed through the top of it, setting up a rematch. Final thoughts: People say that JBL "needs to bleed a gusher" to make for a good title match, but he only bleeds at the end of this match in the post match brawl. I actually liked this match more than I thought I would, as it had good psychology and was solidly worked and well laid out. The problem comes from the fact that JBL wasn't established as a legitimate champion, so any nearfall on the Taker wasn't going to be believed. The ending was also unsatisfying, and I don't understand why they booked it for JBL to win by DQ instead of just having him lose by DQ to have the title saved. And of course the crowd didn't help things at all either. Anyways, JBL working the knee of the Undertaker was nice, and there were some nice little things in this match that actually made me want to see a rematch between the two. Unfortunately, a match where you have to put a guy into a hearse doesn't really come to mind. Anyways, this match was better than a lot of people give it credit for, but could have been better. It doesn't come close to touching JBL vs. Eddie from Judgment Day, but that's not really a surprise either. **3/4

WMXVI was a pretty damned good show. -=Mike It really doesn't hold up. At least that's what I thought when I watched it last week.

I missed the show who got eliminated?

That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard.

Well with HOF and Piper's Pit and lots of backstage stuff and video packages, plus matches getting a lot of time, I think they'll fill up the time pretty easily. And really, Christy/Trish and Big Show/Akebono is shit and hopefully are kept short, so it's really more like 6 matches in four hours.

Going into Mania we've heard so much about Batista and debates on whether he will be able to carry the WWE as the lead babyface. Back in late 1997/early 1998 when the Austin push was full on, were there the same kinds of questions about him, or was he so crazy over at that point it was clear he would be nothing but a success? Also, was there ever a plan to do anything other than Hogan vs. Warrior at Wrestlemania 6? And was there ever a plan to do a rematch at WM7? You'd think Hogan would have pushed to get his win back.

For some reason I want to say Terri. I could have sworn she said that on commentary during the Terri Invitational Tournament. Mike tenay during his heal run during 2000. to Stacy Keibler. One of my favorite quotes from that year. Yep, you got them both right.

I really liked the Undertaker countdown video tonight on RAW. That was pretty cool. I'm excited for the show. It hasn't been built to perfectly and won't be the best Mania ever, but it should still be a lot of fun. And really, the build to a lot of the stuff has been pretty damn good. Besides, with Angle vs. HBK and Rey vs. Eddie, their are at least two guarnateed really good matches.

Taker liked to mention that "Armageddon is here" when they beat people up though.

Wow, Red Roostermania running wild. Even using the Scorpion Deathlock. Cool find. Had they done KOTR tournaments at house shows prior to this?

Hell I could see them hyping it all the way to Summerslam. Nation's capital (so it makes sense with a Hogan/Hassan feud and for a "retirement" match for Hogan), gives Hogan time to get into shape for it, and plenty of time to hype it to get a big buyrate. Definitely don't do an impromptu return match with Hogan at Mania, that just doesn't make sense.

How was Bigelow brought in? It seems to me like he'd be an easy heel choice, so I was surprised going back to watch WM4 when I saw he was a babyface. After WM4, when did he leave and where did he go?

Russo. Its just the kind of cocky BS he would say. You are correct. This was in TNA, talking to Dusty Rhodes about Dustin Rhodes and making him Goldust. "You know what they say... all is fair in love and sports entertainment!" "You know what I like? When children look forward to christmas morning, then they wake up and there's no presents under the tree...that's what I like." "I'll tell you one thing...Pete Rose is betting on ME." "Yeah, and save those tears for somebody who gives a damn. Boy, she's gonna make a terrific mother."

Nash. Nobody has gotten "I make chicken salad out of chicken shit" yet.

Kane. Well he probably said it, but it wasn't who I was thinking of. Not that that helps any. "And the guys down there that aren't dinosaurs are my friends, and they are going to beat the HELL out of you one day" "It's brother versus uncle!" "I hate Chinese food... I hate the fact that you put too much MSG in my food and ten minutes later I'm still hungry... I hate the fact that you put too much starch in my shirt... and I hate the fact that you've taken over all of the convient stores and I can't get a fresh sandwich... Don't you understand? I HATE YOU!" And an easy one: "Ladders could care less about a person's anatomy!" You guys were correct with the guesses of HBK (post Survivor Series 97), Corino (berating Tajiri) and JR (during the Hardy/Taker ladder match). That leaves "It's brother versus uncle!"

I also thought maybe a Dibiase/Roberts final since Roberts went on to feud with Andre anyways.

Yeah, and apparently is gimmick is that he's a "Futuristic Caveman"...I think.

Kane. Well he probably said it, but it wasn't who I was thinking of. Not that that helps any. "And the guys down there that aren't dinosaurs are my friends, and they are going to beat the HELL out of you one day" "It's brother versus uncle!" "I hate Chinese food... I hate the fact that you put too much MSG in my food and ten minutes later I'm still hungry... I hate the fact that you put too much starch in my shirt... and I hate the fact that you've taken over all of the convient stores and I can't get a fresh sandwich... Don't you understand? I HATE YOU!" And an easy one: "Ladders could care less about a person's anatomy!"