Results from MSG

[Guest wildpegasus]

From the Torch website:

 

WWE Smackdown house show

September 20, 2003

New York City, N.Y. at Madison Square Garden

Report by Michael Barrett, PWTorch.com correspondent

 

Stephanie came out, starting cutting a promo to a lot of boos. The crowd was really low. The building was about 40% full, about 7,500 people in the Garden. Pathetic.

 

(1) Chris Benoit beat the Big Show with tapout to the Crossface. Benoit was very over with the crowd,

 

(2) Matt Hardy & Shannon Moore defeated Spanky & Paul London. Matt pinned London with the Twist of Fate. Spanky and London are an excellent team.

 

(3) Funaki pinned Nunzio in a decent match. Huge ECW chant for Nunzio, which for some reason seemed to make the referee nervous.

 

(4) The Basham Brothers beat Ultimo Dragon & Jamie Noble. Unfortunately, no one seemed to care.

 

(5) A-Train defeated Orlando Jordan. People cared even less. This is the show they bring to the Garden?

 

(6) WWE Cruiserweight Champion Rey Mysterio pinned Tajiri in a spectacular, but short match. The show seems very rushed for some reason. Maybe Vince needs to get to Hershey. Maybe they're embarrassed by the lack of people in the Garden. Either way, the lack of matchtime is pissing off the crowd by this match.

 

(7) Charlie Haas pinned Billy Kidman after Kidman missed a Shooting Star Press. Really good match. Hey, guess what? Too short!

 

(8) U.S. Champion Eddie Guerrero defended the title in a Triple Threat Match when he defeated John Cena and Rhyno when Eddie pinned Cena with frog splash after Tazz came out and slapped the Tazmission on Cena, who had knocked Tazz, NY, Brooklyn, and everyone in the Garden before the match.

 

In some sort of Lingerie or "Teddie" contest, Torrie Wilson beat Dawn Marie and Sable.

I have to say, from a man's perspective, that Sable has absolutely positively no bodyfat, and doesn't look natural. Torrie sometimes looks a little worn. But Dawn Marie was smokin'. In the meantime, my favorite line of the night happened here as right behind me, a guy was with his wife and son, and the guy's wife says, W"Wat does this have to do with wrestling?" and the kid answers, "This is the Tits and Ass portion the show, mom!" Ah, from the mouths of babes!

 

(9) WWE Champion Brock Lesnar, with help from Vince McMahon, beat The Undertaker in a cage match when Brock climbed out of the cage in the only match with any time devoted to it, yet it still didn't go 20 minutes. After watching last year's Hell in a Cell between these two, in which Brock took a sick beating, Undertaker gave a career-best performance, and even Paul Heyman was covered head-to-toe in blood, I can honestly say this match was a great disappointment. The blame goes to Vince McMahon, because Brock bumped all over the place trying to get the crowd solidly behind Undertaker. But between the rushed show, and Undertaker not being able to sustain heat after his entrance, this was not worthy of being a Madison Square Garden cage match.

 

I can't believe how low the crowd was. I'm sure all their concerns will just go away when they sell out Wrestlemania just on the pre-sale, but their problems are avalanching and it's getting to the point where even the densest fan can see it easily.

 

****

 

WP-Interesting that the crow booed Stephanie in the WWE's beloved hometown. Hopefully the fans did the same for Vince. It's time to let the talent shine. Has this been happening anywhere else? The New York fans seem to be like the Canadian fans in that they don't swallow everthing that's given to them.

[Guest The Real Nosferatu]

I can't wait for WM after reading that.

 

Usually MSG crowds eat up everything WWE feeds them.

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

Here is a more deatailed report form wrestlingobserver.com

 

by Tim Lauria

 

We kick off with Stephanie coming to the ring.

Before she can speak, Vince comes out with Sable.

Vince tells Stephanie that she should just quit now.

She says never. Vince is mad that she booked Brock

Lesnar vs. Undertaker in a cage match for tonight's

main event. He says he's going to send someone out

here to get her out of his ring. The Big Show's music

hits, & he comes out. Right when a chokeslam is about

to happen, Chris Benoit runs in to make the save,

which leads us to our first match.

 

1) Chris Benoit vs. The Big Show

Nice short match. The Big Show is very huge in person

if you haven't seen him before. He was out of breathe

pretty early. No matter what the critics may say about

him, he does what he's supposed to do, and that's look

like a dominant big man. Benoit ofcourse was Benoit.

The match ended after Show tapped out to the

crossface.

Winner: Chris Benoit

 

2) Spanky & Paul London vs. Matt Hardy & Shannon Moore

This was a pretty exciting tag match that really got

the crowd into the show. London looked really

impressive in this one especially. His back flips he

does on his dropkicks will really get him over well

once he's on TV. Match ended with a Twist of Fate by

Matt to London. London & Spanky got a decent ovation

when leaving.

Winners: Hardy & Moore

 

3) Funaki vs. Nunzio

Nunzio played to the crowd a lot in this one, which

really got them fired up. Semi-comedy match that saw

Funaki get the win after a fluke rollup.

Winner: Funaki

 

4) The Basham Bros. vs. Ultimo Dragon & Jamie Noble

No Nidia or Shaniqua tonight. Dragon got a really good

ovation. Match ended after a Basham's double team.

Once again, another good ovation for the losing team

when they left.

Winners: The Basham Bros.

 

5) Orlando Jordan vs. A-Train

This was a total squash match. Albert did his job of

being the bruiser heel, & won it with a devistating

pump kick.

Winner: A-Train

 

6) Rey Mysterio vs. Tajiri - Cruiserweight Title Match

Mysterio got a huge pop from the crowd. Nice cruiser

match that looks to be a preview of this weeks

Smackdown title match. Mysterio won it after a 6-1-9

to a West Coast Pop.

Winner: Rey Mysterio

 

-INTERMISSION-

 

Tony Chimmel pumped the fans up with the T-shirt gun

guy coming out as well.

 

7) Charlie Haas vs. Billy Kidman

Haas comes out and tells the fans to respect the

greatest. He says that Shelton's surgery was a

success, so he'll be back in no time. In the mean

time, he's here to take care of business. Nice short

match, with Haas getting the pin after Kidman missed a

Shooting Star Press.

Winner: Charlie Haas

 

8) Eddie Guererro vs. John Cena vs. Rhyno - US Title

Match

This match got the biggest pop of the night to thsi

point in the show. Eddie was his usual self with his

sneaky ways. After the ref was knocked out, Rhyno

gored Cena into the belt, knocking them both out.

Guererro looked at the crowd & shrugged, threw the

belt out of the ring, & gave Cena a frog-splash for

the pin.

Winner: Guererro

 

SUPRISE OF NIGHT came when Cena got on the mic after

the match. He said he just got his BUTT kicked, so he

does a free style knocking New York & praising Boston.

All of a sudden, Tazz's music hits, & Tazz comes to

the ring. Cena is a little scared, & Tazz ends up

giving Cena the Tazzmission to a massive pop from his

home town crowd.

 

9) Bikini Contest - Sable vs. Dawn Marie vs. Torrie

Chimmel introduces Funaki as the special guest

announcer. Funaki then announces two butthole DJ's

from some crap station as the hosts. Sable coems out &

taunts the crowd about not having to be here tonight.

Dawn Marie comes out to a huge pop, being that she's

from Woodbridge, NJ, close to my home of Piscataway,

NJ, by the way. Torrie then comes out, & all three

stripped down. Torrie ofcourse got the win, but Dawn

Marie came in at a very close second. Personally, I

think Dawn looked the best tonight, although Sable

wasn't bad herself. Sable attacks both ladies after

the match.

Winner: Torrie

 

10)Cage Match - Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker -

World Title Match

This is under escaping rules. Brock & Undertaker both

came out to good pops. Lots of exciting spots in this

match, as these two guys shocked me by putting on a 25

minute PPV-caliber match. I was surprised they gave us

that much. Vince came out & caused the Taker to lose

by holding his boot as Brock escaped. I left after

that, so whatever happend afterward is a mystery.

Winner: Brock Lesnar

 

Overall, a definatly great house show. I couldn't

really judge the pops, so I'd just say Mysterio, Tazz,

Taker, & Brock got the biggest pops, while Cena got

the most heat.

[Enigma 0]

Stephanie getting booed was great. Since WWE treats MSG like God, maybe the percentage of them finally realizing something is wrong has gone up from 0% to 0.1%?

 

And, if I ever heard my son say that (assuming this kid was young), I would slap the shit out of him and go home immediately. Hey, it'd be a great excuse to get out of this pathetic excuse of an MSG show early.

[Guest The Real Nosferatu]

WWE listen to their fans? NEVER!

[Guest Coffey]

Usually MSG crowds eat up everything WWE feeds them.

Since when? Everytime I've seen a show from MSG, or read a report of a show from MSG, the crowd has seemed very "smart." They prefer wrestling talent usually too. A lot of New Yorkers appear to be smarks. At least that's how it seems to me.

[Damaramu 0]

Yeah MSG is a great crowd. Remember when the booed the hell out of Angle/Benoit being eliminated first from the Tag at Survivor Series?

[Papacita 0]

Didn't HBK get booed at SS 96 when he faced Sid?

 

And this Steph thing worries me some, because Vince could interpret the reaction as a need to turn Steph again...and I somehow think that will end up being worse than the situation we have on Smackdown right now.

[Enigma 0]

Didn't HBK get booed at SS 96 when he faced Sid?

Yes, HBK was practically booed out of the building. MSG popped like wildfire when Sid hit Jose Lethario with the video camera and beat Michaels.

[Guest The Real Nosferatu]

That was Los Guerreros v. ANgle/Benoit v. Mysterio/Edge right?

 

All three teams were pulling **** matches out of their asses in that time frame. I was routing for Angle/Benoit myself, but really, going by that means nothing.

 

The whole show wasn't booed out of the building like this House Show seemed to be and that was the main point.

[Guest Coffey]

Well, the MSG crowds don't like to be insulted either. They will cheer for the person that is either the better worker or if they are 100% sure he's going to win. At least that's how I've perceived it.

[TheOriginalOrangeGoblin 0]

Plus they always cheer Hogan.

[Guest thrall585]

The Royal Rumble 92 arena, not MSG, but an arena in NY, booed Hogan.

[Guest Anglesault]

They brought this show to MSG?

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

They brought this show to MSG?

It's not like the WWE had a choice, that is practically the entire Smackdown roster. The only guy they were missing was Angle.

[alfdogg 0]

The Royal Rumble 92 arena, not MSG, but an arena in NY, booed Hogan.

That would be the Knickerbocker Arena.

[AndrewTS 0]

Yeah MSG is a great crowd. Remember when the booed the hell out of Angle/Benoit being eliminated first from the Tag at Survivor Series?

They also booed the shit out of Rock's "live via satellite" appearance at Raw X.

[LaParkaYourCar 0]

The Royal Rumble 92 arena, not MSG, but an arena in NY, booed Hogan.

Knickerbocker Arena.

 

EDIT: Oops Alfdogg beat me to it

[Guest Mulatto Heat]

Pretty sad, huh. When you look at the big picture SD has a few shining stars and a bunch of nothingness. Just look at this show. You got A-Train vs. Jordan, a match that's been on TV at least 3 times, in addition to countless house show matches, none of which seem to get any better. Funaki vs. Nunzio? Neither have been made to be taken seriously, since... well, ever. The Bashams give no one a reason to care about what they do, with Dragon it goes without saying, and Noble is right back to where he was before the "rich" angle - except now he's a heatless face instead of heel.

 

And I'd bet that the matches were short because the wrestlers didn't want Vince running in.

[Ed Wood Caulfield 0]

I was at the house show last night. I had a blast.

 

-Steph was in fact booed, but not as much as Vince was.

 

-There were boring chants during the Ultimo Dragon/Jamie Knoble vs. Basham Brothers match.

 

-A-Train slipped off the top rope during his match with Orlando Jordan.

 

-The only people who didn't get any heat were Orlando Jordan, Billy Kidman, Charlie Haas, the Basham Brothers, Jamie Knoble, and Ultimo Dragon.

 

-Best match of the night was the Eddy/Rhyno/Cena three-way match. Eddy was MEGA OVER. Like Stone Cold-size over. Cena's rap after the match was great as he said he wanted to "Take a dump on the Statue of Liberty". And then finished it by saying "The Yankees are the Real choke artists/I'm a Boston Red Sox fan." The crowd exploded when Tazz gave Cena the Tazzmission.

 

-The crowd went insane during the Undertaker/Brock Lesnar cage match whenever Taker climbed the cage. They were very disappointed when Brock won.

 

It was a fun night for me, personally. The only downside was this woman who kept SCREAMING the LOUDEST SCREAM I EVER HEARD. It sounded as though someone was hurting her. That's how loud it was.

[Guest wildpegasus]

Quote Michael Joel Benoit

-A-Train slipped off the top rope during his match with Orlando Jordan

 

WP-I've never seen him go to the top rope. Do you have any idea what manuever he was trying to do?

[Guest Anglesault]

They brought this show to MSG?

It's not like the WWE had a choice, that is practically the entire Smackdown roster. The only guy they were missing was Angle.

Cruiserweight title match

 

1. Rey vs Tajiri vs. Noble vs. Funaki

 

2. Chavo and Kidman vs. Rhyno and Charlie Haas

 

3. Ultimo Dragon vs. Shannon Moore.

 

US Title Match

 

4. Matt Hardy vs. Eddie Guerrero

 

Big Show MC's a quick bikini contest/intermission type thing

 

5. Spanky vs. Nunzio

 

6. Undertaker vs. John Cena

 

WWE Title

Specia Referee: Tazzl

 

7. Brock Lesnar vs. Chris Benoit.

 

I think that's a much better show than what they did.

[haVoc 0]

The Royal Rumble 92 arena, not MSG, but an arena in NY, booed Hogan.

That would be the Knickerbocker Arena.

I was there. I was 16, hated Hogan and was there to see Ric Flair. I went nuts when Flair won. Maybe because I was there, but that is still my favorite Royal Rumble.

[Ed Wood Caulfield 0]

Quote Michael Joel Benoit

-A-Train slipped off the top rope during his match with Orlando Jordan

 

WP-I've never seen him go to the top rope. Do you have any idea what manuever he was trying to do?

It looked like A-Train was going for a Vader Bomb, but he slipped. The top rope was causing everyone promblems last night. Paul London almost slipped off, and Brock fell back first onto the cage in a spot which got the crowd laughing.

[Guest The Real Nosferatu]

I coulda sworn a Vader Bomb is off the SECOND Rope, but I wasn't there so I can't say anything.

[Guest Anglesault]

I coulda sworn a Vader Bomb is off the SECOND Rope, but I wasn't there so I can't say anything.

Your feet are on the middle rope, but You kind of brace yourself on the top rope. Most of his weight was probably being supported by his arms.

[Guest The Real Nosferatu]

Oh Ok, I thought someone said he was climbing to the top, so I was thinking either A-Train is a dumbass or the person said it wrong.

[Ed Wood Caulfield 0]

Anglesault's right. I made a mistake, sorry. His arms were on the top rope and they were shaking alot then he slipped. That got the crowd laughing.

[Ed Wood Caulfield 0]

Here's some more observations:

 

-Nunzio was VERY over. He got huge heat throughout his match.

 

-The emcees for the lingerie "teddy" contest were these two DJs from a morning show on KTU, a dance music radio station in NYC. I think their names were Goomba Johnny and Shorty? I seem to be the only one who DIDN'T know who they were.

 

-During the intermission, a girl in a bikini modeled the offical WrestleMania XX t-shirt (which I got, btw), and a man used a rocket launcher to shoot t-shirts to the audience.

 

-The people who were sitting in the upper section of MSG were told to move to the lower section because there was a camera filming the event and I guess Vince McMahon wanted MSG to appear to be sold out for some reason.

 

-They played the Kurt Angle "Clocks" video during intermission.

 

-Brock had trouble getting up after recieving a Tombstone Piledriver from the Undertaker.

 

I had fun but I had alittle more fun at a SmackDown taping I went to at the Nassau Coliseum back in July of 2000.

Edited September 21, 2003 by Michael Joel Benoit

[The Czech Republic 0]

Bah, if they were really a smart crowd they'd get up and leave.

 

Where in NY is this Knickerbocker Arena? Is it still around?