WWE Velocity Recap: June 29th, 2002

[Guest TSMAdmin]

Well, Edward Robins is out of town this week, so I’m on recap duty tonight (well, technically this morning, but you get the picture). WOOO!

 

The show starts off with a montage of former King of the Ring victors. Funny how the skip right over 1995 (Mabel), 1998 (Ken Shamrock, not a bad choice, but not memorable), and 1999 (Billy Gunn). The montage ends with frozen pics from KOTR of Brock Lesnar going over RVD. Too much too soon for Lesnar if you ask me.

 

As always, your announcers are Michael Cole and Taz.

 

Match 1: Tajiri vs. Albert

A little heel vs. heel action here eh? The match starts off with some brawling. Kicks to the midsection by Albert, Irish whip, and Albert does that chargy thing to Tajiri in the corner. Mismatch here, but it could be a decent contest. Albert whips Tajiri again, but is met with a series of stiff kicks. Enziguri by Tajiri after sliding between Albert’s legs. Albert gets up, and catches Tajiri with a clothesline, then hits a big splash a la the Ultimate Warrior. Albert goes for the cover, but instead elects to dish out some more punishment. He foot chokes Tajiri while arguing with the ref, he’s obviously playing the heel role this match. He picks Tajiri up powerslam style, and smashes him into the turnbuckle, and then to the other side, and finishes off the power sequence with a slam. 1… 2… kickout by Tajiri. Albert’s got his foot in Tajiri’s back, leaving him laid out on the ground, and hits a big elbow drop. No cover, he picks Tajiri up for a Gorilla Press Slam, but Tajiri reverses it into a Sunset Flip. Nice maneuver by Tajiri. Albert is too big though, and doesn’t go down, so he tries to punch Tajiri. Tajiri slides out of the way and Albert’s fist is introduced to the mat. Albert misses a left and a rig ht, and gets met with some kicks. Big karate kick in the corner… 1… 2… BIG kickout, sending Tajiri flying onto the second rope. He catches himself, and goes for the Tornado DDT, but Albert tosses him. Tajiri lands on his feet, so Albert charges at him, but Tajiri ducks, and Albert is met with a stiff kick to the kidney. Tajiri gets Albert in the corner, TORNADO DDT! Cover… 1…2…kick out by Albert. Tajiri goes for his finishing kick, but Albert grabs his leg, and tries for a Baldo bomb, but Tajiri wiggles his way out. Tajiri gets clubbed in the back of the head, and whipped off the ropes. Albert tries for the bicycle kick, but Tajiri holds onto the ropes. He slaps Albert, and the big hairy bastard is angry. Tajiri gets a boot to the midsection, and Albert hits some sort of Underhook Suplex type move. Nice maneuver, impressive for the big guy. Albert’s got some potential I guess, but I never saw much in the big lug. Anyway, back to the match… Albert goes for a Vader Bomb, but Tajiri kicks him in the face. Tajiri sets up on the kneeling Albert… and catches him right in the side of the head with a stiff kick! 1…2…3, match over. Sort of an upset for Tajiri. Not a bad match.

**

 

*Commercial Break*

 

Little vignette type thing for Mysterio, showing highlights of him with the mask on. It ended with an image of his mask, alternating in colors, and then saying; “He’s coming.” I marked. That was great, and I hope Mysterio gets a nice push in the WWE.

 

Match 2: The Hurricane vs. Christian

This should be a good contest. Taz calls Christian’s entrance the “Golden Showers” entrance. Not a good choice of words, me thinks. They shill for the new Canadian Hart Foundation-esque stable, which I’m loving personally. They especially shill for the refs screwing over great Canadians thing, where Storm made the Montreal comment to Brian Hebner, Earl’s son. Brian is the referee for this match. Christian has good heel heat, the crowd really gave it to him. Anyway, on to the match. They tie up, side headlock by Christian, off the ropes, and he plants the Hurricane with a shoulder block. He mocks the Hurricane to decent heat, and The Hurricane mocks Christian’s temper tantrums, to a good pop. While the Hurricane is kicking and screaming on the ground, Christian goes for an elbowdrop but misses. Irish whip by the Hurricane, reversal by Christian, monkey flip by the Hurricane. Back up, and he nails Christian with a flying forearm. Cover… 1…2… kickout by Christian. Kick to the midsection by Christian, and he sends the Hurricane to the corner. Hurricane hits him with an elbow, and climbs to the top. Christian knocks him down, and gets him up for a suplex to the rope. Hurricane is on the apron now, and Christian sends him to the floor with a shoulder block. Christian works on Hurricane back in the ring, with stomps and punches to the midsection. Stomachbreaker by Christian… cover… 1…2…kickout by the Hurricane. Back up with some kicks to the ribs by Christian. Christian goes for a belly to back suplex, but Hurricane flips over and lands on his feet, and hits a nice neckbreaker on Christian. He floors him a few times with some punches, and goes for the Chokeslam. Christian elbows out, but is hit with a shoulderblock, or “Bodyline” as Taz called it. Sugar smack… err Superkick by the Hurricane, and Christian is brought to his knees. Hurricane hits some strange kick on Christian, sort of like a bicycle kick, but he hit him with his hamstring. Strange, but cool. He gets a 2 count. Christian tries to send the Hurricane over the top, but Sugar Shane catches himself. He grabs his cape and puts it on Christian’s head. It’s supposed to blind him but he didn’t really put it on well, so Christian moved it around so it was blinding him. That just looked dumb. This allowed The Hurricane to hit a forearm off the top for a 2 count. Christian gets up and goes for the Unprettier, but The Hurricane rolls him up. Christian reverses the rollup, and gets the 3 count by pulling on the tights AND using the rope. Nice heel tactics to finish it. Good match, and nice to see it end with a rollup.

***

 

Cole and Taz shill for the Divas Undressed special later on. They show Torrie’s previews from this week’s Smackdown.

 

*Commercial Break*

 

Recap: Vince McMahon’s ruthless aggression

Recap from RAW where Vince addressed the troops of the RAW brand. Vince says what has made him so successful is RUTHLESS AGGRESSION. A little ego stroking by Vince discussing his triumphs in the steroids trial and the ratings war. He asks who else has it… Bradshaw says he does, as does Bubba Ray Dudley and Booker T. Vince makes a few matches. Whatever. Could this RUTHLESS AGGRESSION stuff be the basis for the new era in wrestling?

 

Recap: Kurt Angle vs. John Cena

Angle comes out and makes an open challenge to anyone who is good enough to face the best in the world. John Cena, also known as Prototype of OVW fame walks out and gets in Angle’s face. Cena challenges Angle due to RUTHLESS AGGRESSION. Angle and Cena pulled off a pretty good match and a great debut for John Cena. I see good things in this kid’s future. He used only basic maneuvers, but showed good psychology and outclassed most of the roster. The match also proved just how over Kurt Angle was as a heel, as he got the audience behind a virtual unknown. He sold for Cena well, and made him look like a real threat, which is what he can become if pushed right.

 

Match 3: Billy Kidman vs. Dr. Evil, Funaki

Funaki reeks of awesomeness, its great to see him on TV again. This should be a solid match as well. Hammerlock to start by Funaki, but Kidman grabs Funaki’s head and rolls him over and out of it. Kidman misses a clothesline and does that “I’ll put my leg on your neck and flip over” thing, and slides under Funaki’s clothesline after it. Waistlock by Kidman, which Funaki gets out of with some elbows. He’s met with a nice dropkick from Kidman. Funaki rolls to the outside, but Kidman hits him with a vaulting body press. Back in the ring, Kidman goes for a flying forearm, but Funaki moves out of the way and pulls the top rope down, and Kidman is sent to the floor. Funaki rolls to the outside, stomps Kidman and throws him back to the ring. Irish whip by Kidman back in the ring, reversed by Funaki. Funaki lays Kidman out with an elbow. Funaki taunts the crowd, with little heat. Snap suplex by Funaki for a 2 count. Sleeper hold on Kidman by Funaki, its rest time! Kidman gets out and jacks Funaki in the face a bit. Funaki whips him into the corner, but Kidman vaults off the top rope and catches Funaki with a hurricanrana. Kidman gets him back up, and goes for a sunset flip. Funaki rolls through and hits Kidman with a dropkick to the chin for a 2 count. Another pinning attempt for the 2. Funaki gets Kidman back up, and body slams him. He heads to the second rope, and misses a legdrop. Back and forth brawling here, Funaki gets sent into the corner, and Kidman misses a clothesline. Kidman goes for a kick to the midsection but Funaki catches it. Funaki gets hit with the other leg to complete the Enziguri for the two count. Bulldog in the corner by Funaki, 2 count. He Gets Kidman back up and plants Kidman with a DDT for the 2. Funaki heads to the top, but Kidman hits him with some rights. Hurricanrana off the top, and Kidman gets the 3. Another good match.

**3/4

 

*Commercial Break*

 

Recap: Edge’s return

First they showed clips of how Edge got put out of action, and how Jericho brutalized him with a chair afterward. Then they showed clips from Smackdown where Edge came out and interfered in Jericho’s match with Hogan. Edge came out to Jericho’s music and all, which was sorta cool. An Edge/Jericho feud would probably lead to some good matches.

 

Main Event: Cruiserweight Title match: Jamie Noble (BOY, WOOO!) (c.) w/ Nidia vs. Chavo Guererro Jr.

Does anyone else think the new Cruiser title is ugly? I know I do. Chavo comes out to his godlike entrance theme. I can’t decide whether or not I like Noble’s new gimmick… its so ridiculous that it’s funny. On to the match. Tieup to start up. Armdrag by Chavo to break it. Tieup again, into a waistlock by Chavo, reversed into another by Noble, who hits Chavo with an armdrag. Chavo smacks Noble and brawls with him a bit. Tilt-a whirl attempt by Noble, but Chavo lands on his feat, and hits Noble with a Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Noble is back up and gets some chops from Chavo. Chavo goes for a short arm clothesline, but Noble slides under, still holding onto Chavo’s arm. He overhead belly to belly suplexes Chavo, with the lock still in place. Nice. Some stomps from Noble, and he picks Chavo back up. He sends him to the corner, and does that chargy thing. Snapmare by Noble coming out of the corner, and he hits Chavo with a couple of elbowdrops. Chinlock by Noble, and some stomps before Chavo gets back up. He bodyslams Chavo, and hits him with a legdrop for the 2. Back to the chinlock. Chavo fights his ways to his feet, and gains the advantage with some brawling. Chavo whips Noble, and catches him with a pancake, nice power maneuver. Clothesline by Noble, followed by a powerbomb-like maneuver. Chavo set him up like a Crucifix Powerbomb, but instead dropped him behind himself, instead of throwing him forward. Hard to explain… Chavo’s on fire, but misses a clothesline in the corner. He knocks Noble down, and tries to go to the top, but Nidia stops him. Noble tries for a superplex, but Chavo shoves him off. Missile dropkick by Chavo! 2 count. Chavo goes for a scoop slam, but Noble shoves him into the corner. Chavo tries for a tornado DDT, but Noble catches him midmove, and lands on his feet, keeping the headlock intact, spins around, into a Northern Lights Suplex! That was a sweet reversal! Cover… 1…2…KICKOUT. Noble gets him back up, and tries for a powerbomb, but Chavo grabs his arm and armdrags his way out. Another nice reversal. Chavo goes for a kick to the midsection, but Noble rolls him through and locks in the Trailer hitch. Great ending, and a pretty damn good match.

***

 

Bottom Line: Good installment of Velocity this week, maybe even the best one yet. No bad matches to speak of… actually all of the matches were pretty entertaining, full of watered down WWE cruiser action! Seriously though, the matches were good. We also got the Mysterio vignette (which I think aired once before) too which was cool, and a nice way to set up for his debut.

 

“Longfellow couldn’t have said it better.”

 

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