RAW and SD house shows for 4/10-11/04

[JoeDirt 0]

We're talking in the WWE Landscape here...He has no idenity as a face in WWEland...

 

Make him a heel...give him and Kidman that Heel Rocker run.

Heel...face...

 

It doesn't matter if they don't give you any chance to get some sort of a character over.

 

I don't care what the hell London is as long as they PUSH HIM.

[Guest Anglesault]

I hope Lady Bird at least made an appearence. Maybe she managed Eddie?

[SuperJerk 0]

I hope Lady Bird at least made an appearence. Maybe she managed Eddie?

I doubt it.

 

Everyone knows LBJ was only over because of the rub he got from Kennedy.

 

His heel turn on the first episode of "VietNam is War" was a classic, though.

 

Walter Cronkite > Jim Ross, IMO.

[AndrewTS 0]

We're talking in the WWE Landscape here...He has no idenity as a face in WWEland...

 

Make him a heel...give him and Kidman that Heel Rocker run.

Kidman sucks as a heel and a face, because Kidman just plain sucks and couldn't cut a good heel promo to save his life.

 

Although Kidman sucks a little less as a face, at least.

[Toxxic 0]

(8) Matt Hardy, who also was popular with the crowd, defeated Chuck Palumbo who was taunted with chants like "You Have No Gimmick" and "You Suck, Billy told us."

 

Gold.

[Guest Mulatto Heat]

What's ironic is that for years people have said that Benoit shouldn't be pushed because no one wants to see submissions and "10-minute armbars" despite Benoit changing his style to suit WWE's demands for a main event player.

 

But Randy Orton is today, without a doubt, the WORST offender of putting on submissions that are just showing off, that don't get the crowd into it and are time-killing borefests. However, since he's WWE talent through and through, he gets a free pass. OK.

 

(Disclaimer: this isn't your AS-type 'Orton hate' for those that get their period over that kind of thing. This is from closely watching Orton matches for the last several months, and which was first stemmed from Armageddon against RVD. In fact, I remember criticizing Team Angle for the exact same thing a little over a year ago.)

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Cosidering that the crossface is amongst the most over finishers, I'd say those people are eating their words right aboot now.

[Guest Anglesault]

But Randy Orton is today, without a doubt, the WORST offender of putting on submissions that are just showing off, that don't get the crowd into it and are time-killing borefests. However, since he's WWE talent through and through, he gets a free pass. OK.

Remember the RVD Raw match with the poorly done leg scissors applied like four times so he could finish with a DDT?

[AlwaysPissedOff 0]

Wow Cena outpopped the Champ. What a shock.

Not too hard when the Champ doesn't get any promo time whatsoever. Hell, at the show I went to last Sunday, both Bradshaw and Cena got like 10 to 15 minutes to yak while Eddy just came out, did the match and left.

[Guest Mulatto Heat]

 

But Randy Orton is today, without a doubt, the WORST offender of putting on submissions that are just showing off, that don't get the crowd into it and are time-killing borefests. However, since he's WWE talent through and through, he gets a free pass. OK.

Remember the RVD Raw match with the poorly done leg scissors applied like four times so he could finish with a DDT?

Actually, no, but thanks for reminding me, that's just more material.

 

Aside from the Armageddon match, the tag match w/ Batista vs. Benoit and HBK stood out too. Orton was going from a leg scissors to the Brock bodyscissors to the CHINLOCK? (Of course, Benoit is selling all of them like Orton is killing him. *exasperated sigh*) Anyone who uses the chinlock is automatically on my shit list. What a fucking useless resthold. It's just very very clear to me that whenever Randy is in a match is more than 6 minutes, he does these annoying time-filling things and is clearly not ready for long matches. Again, it's not about the moves themselves, but how they're used and how the other guy takes them (which of course doesn't make Randy completely to blame, but he still is the worst offender). When you think about it, it's shit like this that makes it all the harder for those who WANT to get this type of style over and know how to do it.

[JoeDirt 0]

WWE SMACKDOWN Presents WrestleMania Revenge

Qwest Center, Ames, IA

Easter Sunday, 11-Apr-2004

 

WWE's SMACKDOWN crew brought a house show to the fabulous new Qwest Center in Omaha, Nebraska. It was an identical card to the show in Ames last night, but a much more solid show thanks to a hot crowd of, I'm guessing, just approaching 4,000.

 

Your ring announcer is Tony Chimel.

 

RICO (w/Miss Jackie) d. JOHNNY STAMBOLI (w/Nunzio)

 

Jackie is tonight's Easter Bunny! She has a pink outfit, rabbit ears, and pigtails. Rico is sporting a white bow ribbon as a cottontail, which apparently was supposed to be Jackie's. She took it back before the match began. Miss Jackie gets a forced kiss from Nunzio and one attempted from Stamboli. Stamboli got one from Rico. Rico wins.

 

Torrie Wilson comes to the ring and hypes the Tag Team Championship match (Rikishi & Scotty 2 Hotty vs. Dudley Boyz), but she is interrupted by Kurt Angle. Angle tells Torrie to leave or she's fired. She does, but flashes us some backside before going. Angle disses Omaha women, then complains of the Dudleys not being thankful for being traded from RAW. He says he's going to make the Dudleys earn a title shot. The Dudleys come out all mad, Angle takes off, and here comes Billy Kidman and Paul London.

 

DUDLEYS d BILLY KIDMAN AND PAUL LONDON

 

This match got significantly more time than last night. Dudleys win via 3-D. Can't remember to whom.

 

BILLY GUNN d HORSESHOE

 

"Horseshoe" was billed on wwe.com as Matt Weiss. Again, he got a "Horseshit" chant. He got really hot with some of the ringsiders who were really giving him...shit...Gunn gets his Fameasser to win, then teases flashing the crowd. Referee Brian Hebner won't allow it, so Gunn finally thanks him, shakes his hand, sends him on his way, and pulls his pants down.

 

CHAVO GUERRERO (w/Dad) d SPIKE DUDLEY and JAMIE NOBLE in a WWE CRUISERWEIGHT TRIPLE THREAT MATCH

 

Jamie Noble was announced by Chimel as "Jamie 'By God' Noble, The Redneck Messiah". This one seemed a little shorter than last night's. Noble does the job.

 

MARK JINDRAK d ORLANDO JORDAN

 

Teddy Long comes to the ring first and cuts the same promo as last night about how we all think he's prejudiced because we've been drinking the Haterade and that the one color he cares about most is green. He then introduces "what sounds like "Michael J" (I thought he said "Marky J" last night), who shows off his beautiful body at the behest of Long. Chimel still announces the winner as "Mark Jindrak".

 

RIKISHI & SCOTTY 2 HOTTY d THE BASHAM BROS

 

In celebration of Easter, Scotty did a little pre-match gag where he appeared to pull a red egg out of Rikishi's ass. Rikishi thought that was a good one. Scotty did the same "rope fumble" as last night in Ames. Scotty hit his worm and Rikishi is denied sticking his BUTT in a Basham face when they do the old switcheroo and a low blow, but the champs win anyway. Post-match, a Basham comes back in, gets caught by Scotty, falls into position, and gets stink-faced..

 

GUY WITH T-SHIRT GUN SIGNALS INTERMISSION

 

Eddie's shirt is featured tonight.

 

ROB VAN DAM d CHARLIE HAAS

 

Three RVD fans brought one letter each to spell out "RVD", but actually spelled out "DVR". Two guys rooting for Haas kept screaming for him to use the "Haasinator". Right.

 

Kurt Angle returns to the ring. He says he's here as General Manager to make the fans happy, and he will with a US Championship match and a WWE Championship match, in which he guarantees that "John Bradshaw Layfield will win the WWE championship" (no use of pesky initials tonight!). Kurt is interrupted by Dawn Marie, who essentially repeats last night's "jobless" promo, then Torrie runs in, catfight ensues, then Dawn leaves in a pink thong because Torrie has her pants.

 

JOHN CENA d RENE DUPREE

 

Last night was a Cena win by count out because Dupree walked out after Cena incited a "Rene is Gay" chant. Tonight, Dupree came out first. He told everybody that he was having a good time in this country until he came to Omaha. Then he called out Cena to show everybody how he defined what was wrong with the youth of this country. Cena comes out and does his rap, incorporating that he loves being the champion of the USA, the Nebraska Cornhuskers, and that Rene is Gay. But this time, they actually have a match. Dupree does a lot of posing and prancing that partly comes off as gay, and partly comes off as copying Ric Flair (as does his new ring robe). Cena wins with the F-U.

 

EDDIE GUERRERO d JOHN "BRADSHAW" LAYFIELD to retain the WWE CHAMPIONSHIP

 

Bradshaw comes out and says that he's discovered research that shows Omaha is overpopulated by gays. He understands why...It's because of the "hideous creatures" they call women who live here. I believe he also went after the Cornhuskers. Eddie's ride tonight was a beautiful pewter Buick convertible of, I'd say, mid-sixties vintage. I saw no evidence of hydraulic capability, but may have missed it because it rode so low you couldn't see it above the ringside fans once he got towards ringside. But MAN was it beautiful. Two significant differences in this match up from last night. First, the crowd was totally into it. Second, some idiot jumped the rail mid-match and headed for the ring. Referee Brian Hebner saw him coming and got him on the apron, hitting him once in the head then kicking him several times to the groin. He fell off the apron and into the hands of Security, who had quite a time escorting him out as he fought BIG time all the way back (and they had to get around Eddie's ride). The match was effectively stopped until he was gone. Bradshaw looked as if he was going after him at one point, but Hebner held him back. The match restarted after Bradshaw grabbed the mic and started yelling at Eddie. I overlooked writing up the ending of this match last night, which they repeated tonight...Hebner gets speared accidentally and is down. Bradshaw hits the Clothesline from Hell and covers, but nobody's counting. So Angle comes back out with Charles Robinson, who counts a 2. Angle pulls Robinson out from under his feet and knocks him out cold, then throws the belt to Bradshaw. Bradshaw fires at Eddie, who ducks, runs the ropes and hits Bradshaw. Eddie takes the belt, clocks Bradshaw. Angle jumps into the ring. Guerrero then tosses the belt to Angle and drops to the canvas as if He'd been hit by the belt just in time for Hebner to come back to life. Hebner sees Angle standing there with the belt and points. Angle tosses the belt out and throws up his arms like "What?!?" Hebner kicks Angle out as Eddie slowly rolls over and covers Bradshaw for the pin. Funny stuff.

 

 

*******************************

 

Stacy Keibler comes out, to much appreciation from the (male portion of) crowd. She

gets the crowd fired up until the old WCW Nitro music hits and out comes… Johnny

Whatever-His-Name-Is-This-Week. He tries (and fails miserably) to mack on Stacy.

Stacy has nothing to do with him and leaves. Johnny says Eric Bischoff has given him

the power to make sure the show goes smoothly tonight. Great. Grand. Wonderful.

Onto…

 

Match 1 - La Resistance (Rob Conway & Sylvan Grenier) vs. The Hurricane and

Rosey, Super Hero In Training

 

Decent match. Big “USA” chant from the crowd gets La Resistance riled up. Conway on

the outside talking trash. At one point Hurricane socked Conway in the face and the

spit goes flying. Fit Finley, seated outside the ring next to The Fink, manages to

dodge the spit nicely. We yell “Fit Finley Rules!” to which Finley acknowledges with

a wink and a smile. La Resistance double-team Hurricane and work him over for the

better part of the match. Hurricane manages to tag in Rosey, who cleans house with

clotheslines, knockdowns, and bodyslams. End comes when Rosey picks up Conway in a

Fireman’s Carry and Samoan Drops him at the same time that Hurricane gives him a

neckbreaker. Sweet tag team move for the 1-2-3.

 

Winners: The Hurricane and Rosey by pinfall

 

Match 2 - Garrison Cade vs. Tajiri. Cade is wearing some goofy-looking cowboy boots,

which I point out by saying, “Nice cowboy boots!” to which Cade replies, “These

boots cost more than your house!” Ha! I don’t OWN a house! Shows how much he knows.

Cade stays in control for most of this match. Tajiri scores some wicked kicks

though. Tajiri wraps Cade up in the Tarantula. Tajiri goes for that nasty roundhouse

kick while Cade is on his knees, however, Cade ducks, rolls up Tajiri, and holds on

to the ropes to score the (cheap) pinfall victory.

 

Winner: Garrison Cade by pinfall

 

Match 3 - Four Way Elimination Match - Women’s Championship

 

Jazz vs. Molly Holly vs. Lita vs. Victoria©

 

Great match. Molly Holly and Jazz team up for a while and this strategy works well

until Molly attempts to cover Victoria. Jazz will have none of this and pulls Molly

off. Molly and Jazz get into it, and while they’re arguing, Lita and Victoria

simultaneously roll them up and the referee counts the double-pinfall! Now we are

down to Lita vs. Victoria. Crowd seems to be split here. Lita and Victoria go move

for move here, until Lita scores a nice looking hurancanrana. Lita seems to have the

edge here but Victoria comes right back. I don’t remember how it exactly went down

but Victoria ended up getting the pinfall. Victoria and Lita hug after the match.

 

Winner and STILL Women’s Champion: Victoria

 

Oh no, here comes Eugene, Bischoff’s nephew! He is carrying a giant pink stuffed

rabbit. He gives a small pink stuffed bunny to a little girl in the front row. He

also has some marshmallow peeps, which he hands out to Victoria and Lita, as well as

some of the people in the row in front of me. Regal comes out to try and rein in

Eugene, and here comes A-Train, leading to…

 

Match 4 - Eugene w/ William Regal vs. A-Train

 

Poor Eugene seems outclassed in this one. Lots of “Shave Your Back” chants. My God,

A-Train is a large hairy ape. A-Train pummels him for the duration of the match,

which thankfully, is short. A-Train grabs Eugene’s bunny and rips its head off,

sending fluff flying everywhere. Somehow during this match one of the turnbuckle

pads was removed. A-Train attempts to splash Eugene in the corner but at the last

second, Eugene bends over to pick up some fluff, sending A-Train squarely into the

unprotected turnbuckle. Eugene covers A-Train and gets the “W” much to his, and the

crowd’s, delight. Regal seems pleased as well. Absolutley hilarious segment.

 

Winner: Eugene by pinfall

 

Match 5 - Rhyno vs. Kane

 

AH! If you ask me, this match could break the “Beef-O-Meter”. Rhyno gets in more

offense than I would have thought, however, none of it seems to faze Kane. Kane

wears Rhyno down with sleeper holds. Kane scores the big flying clothesline off the

top rope. That looks quite impressive in person. Rhyno attempts the gore, only to

run into Kane’s rather large boot. Kane with the Chokeslam, and the pin.

 

Winner: Kane by pinfall

 

Match 6 - Intercontinental Championship

 

“Legend Killer” Randy Orton© vs. Shelton Benjamin

 

Great match here. However, before the match can even get underway, here comes that damn Johnny Whats-His-Face again. Johnny announces that Shelton has only 10 minutes in which to beat Orton. Ok, 10-minute time limit on this match. I can live with that. Orton and Benjamin lock up and muscle each other around the ring, out of the ring, and into the railing. They go back and forth, neither man can seem to get the upper hand. Benjamin scores a sweet-looking flying roundhouse kick and pins Orton with a funky-looking roll up move. 1-2-3 and YOUR NEW INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPION, SHELTON BENJAMIN!!! Crowd is going nuts!! But wait, here comes that rotten Johnny

Nitro. Johnny announces that this is now a 2 out of 3 falls match. Orton quickly

takes advantage of a distracted Benjamin and drills him with the RKO. Nasty! 1-2-3

and now each man has scored a pinfall. Orton immediately attempts to pin Benjamin again but cannot. Once again, they go back and forth, move-for-move, but neither man can get the advantage. Benjamin nails Orton with a Stinger Splash but cannot cover Orton in time and the 10-minute time limit is up. The Fink announces that the match is a draw, and that Orton retains his title, which draws the ire of the crowd.

 

Winner: DRAW

 

At this point we have a 10 minute intermission, before which The Fink hawks WWE

T-shirts. There is a T-shirt cannon guy who has HORRIBLE aim. He launches several of

the t-shirts into the empty upper deck areas where virtually nobody is sitting.

 

Match 7 - Christian vs. Chris “Y2J” Jericho

 

There had been rumors running rampant this week that Jericho’s band, Fozzy, was

going to put on a concert after the show ended. This did not happen, unfortunately.

 

This match was excellent. Lots of Jericho fans here in Peoria. Lots of “CLB” and

“Y2J” chants too. Yet again, here comes that damn Johnny Nitro! Man this guy is

annoying!! He states that Christian does not have to abide by the rules but that

Jericho does, making it half a NO-DQ match. OOOOOOk. Jericho says that Johnny Blaze,

Johnny Nitro, your name should be Johnny Assclown! The crowd roars at that. Great

back-and-forth matchup here. Jericho goes for the Walls early but Christian gets to

the ropes. Christian nails his front-facelock DDT but gets only a 2-count. Christian

then hits the Unprettier but still only gets 2. Jericho hangs up Christian in the

ropes and knees him in the back hard. Y2J locks Christian up with the Walls, and

Christian has no choice but to tap out.

 

Winner: Chris “Y2J” Jericho by submission

 

After this the crowd mercilessly taunts Christian, chanting “You Tapped Out” at him

till he runs away. Ha-ha!

 

Match 8 - Matt Hardy V.1 vs. Chuck Palumbo

 

Crowd is mostly pro-Hardy here. Only drawback of a house show: NO Matt Facts! Damn!

Hardy seems to be the wiley veteran here, staying away from most of Palumbo’s power

moves. Palumbo does get in a nice looking fallaway slam a la Scott Hall. Hardy hits

the Side Effect but only gets a two-count. Hardy goes for the Twist Of Fate but

Palumbo picks him up and rams him into the corner. However Hardy manages to get out

of it and nails the Twist Of Fate out of nowhere. Hardy covers Palumbo for the

1-2-3.

 

Winner: Matt Hardy V.1 by pinfall

 

Match 9 - World Heavyweight Championship

 

Batista vs. “Crippler” Chris Benoit©

 

Another excellent match. You were expecting less from the master of the Crippler

Crossface? Puh-leaze. HUGE pop for the Champ. Ah geez, here comes that irritating

Johnny Nitro yet AGAIN! This time he’s in a referee’s shirt and apparently is going

to ref this match. Benoit gets on the mic and tells Nitro that if he doesn’t call

the match right down the middle, he’s going to knock Nitro’s ass out. Crowd loves

that. Great matchup here, despite Batista only having about 4 or 5 moves in his

repertoire. Batista can’t get the edge on Benoit early, causing Batista to bail out

of the ring. He appears headed to the back when Benoit gets on the mic and tells

Batista to get his ass back in the ring. He’s going to make Batista tap out, just

like he did on TV, and then the crowd will tell him… “YOU TAPPED OUT!” This gets

Batista riled up and he gets back in the ring. Batista is much more aggressive now

and ends up busting Benoit’s mouth open. Batista keeps putting the wear-down holds

on Benoit, but Benoit always manages to find a way out of them. Benoit lays into

Batista with super-mega-stiff backhands. SMACK! WOO! SMACK! WOO! Oh yeah, I’m lovin

that! No matter what Batista does, Benoit just keeps coming, and he is relentless

until he gets Batista into the Crippler Crossface. However, referee Johnny Nitro

helps Batista to the ropes, and that pissed Benoit off. He did just what he said he

was going to do, he decks Johnny Nitro, sending him flying out of the ring.

Crossface applied to Batista again, and here comes Earl Hebner! Hebner gets in the

ring just in time to make the call as Batista taps out!!

 

Winner and STILL World Heavyweight Champion: “Crippler” Chris Benoit

 

Orton comes out to help out Batista and they double-team Benoit till Shelton

Benjamin hits the ring. He takes out Orton, but here comes Garrison Cade! Cade takesout Benjamin and starts to put the boots to Benoit until Tajiri comes in for the

save. Tajiri and Benoit take care of Cade, and they celebrate in the ring to end the

show. All in all, very enjoyable. The WWE always puts on a good show whenever they come to Peoria, and you can tell the crowd loves it.

 

Biggest Pops:

1. Benoit

2. Jericho

3. Benjamin

4. Hurricane / Rosey

 

Biggest Heat:

1. Johnny Nitro (Definitely!)

2. La Resistance

3. Evolution

[JoeDirt 0]

A few random thoughts...

 

Batista busting up Benoit's mouth = not good.

Marky J? Uggh.

Jame "By God" Noble "The Redneck Messiah". Awesome.

Shelton still doesn't have a finisher, it looks like. Hope he gets a good one soon.

[Brett Favre 0]

The RAW show kills the Smackdown! show.

 

And see, Benoit gets the biggest pop of the night.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

Wow Cena outpopped the Champ. What a shock.

Not too hard when the Champ doesn't get any promo time whatsoever. Hell, at the show I went to last Sunday, both Bradshaw and Cena got like 10 to 15 minutes to yak while Eddy just came out, did the match and left.

Bullshit.

 

Eddie has the entire WWE promotional machine behind him trying to get him over as a mainstream star. He's in commercials, featured on posters, goes over pretty much every player on SD!, is involved in two or three segemnts a week, and is always treated like a World Champ. And his pops are DWARFED by a guy the WWE treats with kid gloves. A guy with ONE win over a major SmackDown star (that wasn't even clean). A guy many on this forum bitch about as bland and boring, yet constantly outpops their favorites.

 

Why is it so hard for you to accept that Eddy can't touch Cena in the charisma department and will likely never get the same level of reaction as he does? Hell, the loudest the crowd popped last week was for the results of the poll showing him as the winner.