Here's a house show I wish I could have gone to...

[Guest Hitman Jebus]

Theatre of Pain

 

No-frills WWE still a solid show

 

 

By TJ MADIGAN -- Calgary Sun

 

Pro-wrestling house shows tend to be hit or miss affairs. Sometimes you get a TV-quality lineup from a roster that goes all-out to entertain.

 

Often times, though, you get a group of grapplers who barely bother to take semi-decent bumps, secure in the knowledge that their laziness will never be beamed to living rooms around the country.

 

When you take out the elaborate lights, fireworks and storylines that accompany a TV taping, untelevised shows can easily look like little more than muscley men with fake tans pretending to punch each other.

 

Luckily, the WWE boasts one of its strongest rosters ever and when the Tour of Defiance rolled into Calgary yesterday afternoon, the action was as intense as any house show I've seen.

 

The proceedings began with Tajiri taking on Funaki in a pretty standard curtain-jerker, which ran about five minutes. Tajiri eventually scored a clean pin after a lethal-looking crescent kick but surprisingly, they didn't give Funaki any mic time to play up his 'No. 1 announcer' gimmick.

 

Next up, Teddy Hart and Harry Smith, two of Stampede Wrestling's up-and-comers, gave a performance that was up there with the better matches on the show. The Saddledome crowd were really into the bout, popping big when Smith got the 1-2-3 after nailing Hart with a vicious powerslam. Hart has an excellent look with fantastic timing and mannerisms, while Smith (the son of the late British Bulldog) is a powerhouse with a great grasp of the fundamentals. Their familiarity with each other may have been an advantage but they still put on a hell of a show and raised a lot of eyebrows. I've seen these guys on Mat Rats, I've seen them at Stampede Wrestling, and having seen them in a WWE ring, I have little doubt the big time awaits.

 

Bull Buchanen was out next, losing to Val Venis in a filler match.

 

Tag action followed, with John Cena and OVW's Shelton Benjamin losing out to Shannon Moore and Billy Kidman. Cena is a natural heel and these house show matches should be his audition for a move to the bad guy ranks.

 

D-Von Dudley was up next, ripping on Calgary, the Hart family, and the Flames (cheap heat seemed to be the order of the day) before hometown hero Lance Storm cut him off. Storm was terrific in the ring, dominating D-Von while the Saddledome crowd chanted '403'. In an obvious tribute to a certain local legend, Storm put Dudley away by locking in the Sharpshooter. Needless to say, the audience erupted when D-Von tapped out.

 

WWE champion Brock Lesnar stormed to the ring next, insisting he wrestle immediately so he could get away from Calgary as quickly as possible. He may as well have worn a sign on his chest saying 'Please boo me'. Chris Jericho came to the ring to a monster pop, putting up decent offence before Lesnar went over with the F-5. It was the right result for business but almost sad when you consider it was 10 years ago this weekend that Bret Hart upset Ric Flair to win the WWF strap at a Saskatoon house show. Jericho broke character after the match to thank the fans.

 

Rey Mysterio (huge crowd pop for his Calgary debut) was up next, losing to Cruiserweight champion Jamie Noble in a carbon copy of their showdown the night before in Edmonton. Chris Benoit then beat Matt Hardy with the crippler crossface, before we got down to business with the bra and panties match. Torrie Wilson, again recycling the previous evening's action, beat Dawn Marie by stripping the ECW diva down to her bare essentials.

 

The penultimate event was the "one night only" reunion of Edge and Christian. They battled the Guerreros in a hot tag match, which ran a good 12 minutes. Eddie bumped like a maniac and ended up bleeding on the Saddledome floor after he was hardway cut while cracking heads with Chavo. He finished the match after a brief time-out, losing when E&C scored with a double-spear and pin. After the final bell, the Toronto duo allowed the Calgary crowd to capture a little bit of nostalgia by performing their infamous five-second pose.

 

It was a little surreal seeing all Canadians on the card in babyface roles but at least the WWE recognizes the crowd is happier this way and since it's not taking place on television, they never have to acknowledge it happened. Sadly though, the Saddledome was less than one third full, with all the upper decks completely empty. No return-date was announced, but it's likely they'll tape TV here again early next summer.

 

Hopefully by then, as Jim Ross might say, business will have picked up.

[Guest Hitman Jebus]

Teddy Hart and Harry Smith!

 

Storm sharpshooter!

 

Lesnar vs. Y2J!

 

E&C reunion! vs. the Guerreros no less!

 

Rey vs. Noble!

 

Heel John "Prototype" Cena!

 

...STUPID RAW WE GOT!!!!!

[Guest CA$H MONEY]

This raises the question of how can they book such a good house show yet stink up the joint for TV shows?

[Guest RenegadeX28]

The fact that house shows are better than the TV product pisses me off. Why can't they do the same for RAW and SD???? Lazy bums that work at the RAW team don't feel like doing a good job........

[Guest usmale]

if a handheld exists of this event then that would be the best tape ever.

[Zetterberg is God 0]

I was there and this was a damn good show. Just the way Eddie was interacting with ringside fans made this event worth it. Plus Rey's debut in Calgary and E and C together made this show ten times better than any Raw

[Guest AM The Kid]

I was there, awesome seats. Met Jericho, Moore, Christian and Edge before the show. It was the best show I've ever seen! Just great.

[Guest Repo Man jr]

In a few years there will be a new generation of the Hart family. So you can have you screwed my dad/uncle or whoever angles.

[Guest HartFan86]

I honestly don't get how they put on gay TV shows, but great house shows. Confuses the hell out of me.

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

House shows seems to be structured around a focus on the sports half of sports-entertainment, with the entertainment coming from the actual wrestling. For whatever reason the WWE doesn't think this'll work on TV, so they go for the big dopey angles and silly booking.

 

I consider watching Lance Storm make people submit to the Sharpshooter more entertaining than the retarded Brothers of Destruction soap opera time.

[Guest Phr33k]

I didn't attend, but one of my friends did. Apparently, it sucked ass and nobody was there. I'll have to take her word for it.

 

Also, I don't get his attendance estimate. The Dome holds just less than 20 000 for hockey, and about 15 000 for wrestling. Initial estimates showed the paid attendance as being around 3 000.

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

Tag action followed, with John Cena and OVW's Shelton Benjamin losing out to Shannon Moore and Billy Kidman. Cena is a natural heel and these house show matches should be his audition for a move to the bad guy ranks.

Who WAS the face here? Or the heel? I guess those who hate faces & heels would appreciate this match, but buh...

 

Of course, Cena is a natural heel to me but more because of his old push and lack of mic skill more than his wrestling.