NYC House Show Report

[haVoc 0]

Credit: Mike Johnson, PWInsider.com...411mania

 

World Wrestling Entertainment returned to Madison Square Garden for the first time since Wrestlemania XX on Saturday 6/26 with a Raw house show.

 

The show opened with Howard Finkel introducing Lillian Garcia, who began singing the national anthem. La Resistance's music began to play and they came to the ring. This led to the first bout....

 

*WWE World Tag Team champions La Resistance defeated Rhyno and Yoshihiro Tajiri in a really good opener. Tajiri and Rhyno got a sizable "ECW" chant from the crowd when they hit the ring. This was a good back and forth bout, and probably the best match Resistance has had in the company thus far. Tajiri hit his trademarks including the springboard elbow off the ropes and the baseball slide kick in the corner. La Resistance knocked Rhyno off the top to set up getting a lot of heat on him. Tajiri finally tagged in and cleaned house. Resistance tried to bring in the flag, but Tajiri got it. The referee took it away, setting up a doubleteam on Tajiri for the pin. Really fun opener.

 

After the match, La Resistance began singing the Canadian national anthem, which led to Eugene Dinsmore (making his Garden debut) coming out and saluting while holding the flags. When they realized he was there, he got scared and accidentally hit Robert Conway with the flag pole while turning. Conway bumped off of it. La Resistance threatened Eugene but Eric Bischoff came out and calmed them down. La Resistance left. Bischoff told Eugene that he could have a match with anyone on the roster tonight that he wanted. Eugene picked.....Uncle Eric. If you had told me in 1996 I'd be watching Bischoff wrestle in MSG, I'd have asked you to tune into Reality FM, but here we were in 2004 with the in-ring debut of Uncle Eric. Eugene and Bischoff wrestled for several minutes with Dinsmore obviously outclassing Bischoff. This led to Jonathan Coachman coming out and taking Bischoff's place....

 

*Eugene Dinsmore pinned Jonathan Coachman. It wasn't an awesome wrestling match inside the ring, but the crowd was into it and really seemed to like the Eugene character. William Regal pulled Bischoff off the apron to stop him from interfering. Dinsmore finally scored the pin with the People's Elbow and hit a stunner for good measure after the pin. Cute. Eugene was originally booked to wrestle Garrison Cade, but they switched the show up and this worked.

 

Lita came out and said that after everything that happened on Raw, Matt Hardy won't speak to her. She said that she wasn't going to leave the ring until he came out and spoke to her. I know that when I need to have a private discussion, I always wait until I have 8,000 witnesses to have it. Hardy came out but before they could talk, Kane's music hit. He stepped into the ring and rubbed Lita's belly. Hardy attacked him leading to....

 

*Kane pinned Matt Hardy with a chokeslam. Hardy was working hard here, but the crowd has no emotional attachment to him whatsoever at this point. Hardy hit the Twist of Fate but Kane kicked out of it. Kane caught him coming off the ropes in the goozle and hit the chokeslam for the pin.

 

*Hurricane Helms and Maven defeated Test and Garrison Cade. With that haircut, Cade looks like Steve Austin in 1991 WCW. This was the first match on the show that the crowd seemed less than interested in. Hurricane got a nice reaction coming out but for the rest it was just filler time in the eyes of the crowd. They did a good false finish where Test hit the pump handle slam on Hurricane but he kicked up at the last second. Maven didn't seem to be very involved, so I am wondering if he was a little banged up. He was originally scheduled to work a singles match (Maven vs. Test, Hurricane was originally booked against Tyson Tomko.)

 

They did a bit where Eugene came to the ring to help them shoot T-shirts out of a gun into the crowd. It ended up with Eugene having trouble with the gun, setting up a T-shirt to the nether regions for Dave the T-shirt guy. Crowd liked it.

 

Chris Jericho pinned Batista with a rollup and a hook of the tights. This was a decent match with some good back and forth stuff. I don't think Batista gets as much credit as he deserves for his hard work. He'll never be Ric Flair but he does seem to be working hard. Jericho hit his old springboard dropkick onto Batista, who was standing on the apron. Batista sold that he was shocked he got pinned while Jericho scurried up the aisle.

 

*After intermission, WWE Intercontinental champion Randy Orton pinned Edge with his feet across the top rope. Orton has the look and the swagger, but something felt flat here. They did a bit where Orton tried to walk out but Edge attacked him in the aisle. This was decent but nothing that would stand out. Orton is really hit or miss in the ring, although his persona is awesome.

 

*WWE Womens champion Trish Stratus pinned Victoria with her feet on the ropes. The same finish twice in two matches? That was odd. Stratus tried to get heat on the ring mic before the match but the crowd didn't really seem to hate her. Victoria's new music is horrible but at least she stopped dancing. Steve Richards saved Victoria after the bout, wearing a red wig and a dress. Why ask why? This was OK. Tyson Tomko worked in Trish's corner.

 

*WWE World champion Chris Benoit forced Triple H to tap out to the Crippler Crossface in the main event. From entrances to exits, this was about 45 minutes total but it wasn't the blowaway match that I think a lot of fans would assume it was considering the names involved. H had both of his knees taped up under his kneepads. Triple H got a huge reaction while Benoit got a big respectful one. His current run reminds me of Bret Hart in 1993 in terms of crowd response. They did a lot of mic work and Triple H stalling for a good portion of the early minutes. In a funny moment, Ric Flair asked the crowd to show some respect for the best wrestler in the world, but instead of booing Triple H, they all serenaded Flair with a "Wooo." The fans were chanting "You tapped out" so they played off that for a long time as well. They did a lot of back and forth mat work with H escaping from the crossface. Mike Cioda got bumped after H accidentally clotheslined him in the corner. Flair and Batista interfered but Benoit kicked out. Benoit bumped them and finally locked on the crossface. Triple H tapped out in the middle of the ring. After the match, Benoit got on the house mic and declared he was, "For Real." I suspect this may have been a match that would have gotten over better on television, but live it was too much stalling for me for a lot of it. I understand it's just a house show and they had another few days on the road, but it's still MSG. That said, the crowd was into it.

 

Notes: The crowd looked to be in the 7,000-8,000 range....Perhaps as an effort to make up for lost revenue the night of the PPV (where they sold out of these), WWE was selling Wrestlemania programs for $10. In comparison, the official Raw program was $15. They also had the Eddie Guerrero Wrestlemania plaques marked down to $100 at the house show, plus Steve Austin merchandise as well....They aired that awesome Chris Benoit video on the big screen of the Garden during intermission. As I watched clips of Benoit wrestling in the ECW Arena, I realized how wild it is that more people were actually watching it right there then actually witnessed that bout live....They were pushing the 7/31 Smackdown house show at the nearby Continental Airlines Arena, but oddly enough not the Vengeance PPV in CT....Dave Finley sat at ringside all night watching the matches....If I had to pick best match, I'd go with the tag title opener, although the entire first half was entertaining overall. The show seemed to stall out a little after intermission.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

*Kane pinned Matt Hardy with a chokeslam. Hardy was working hard here, but the crowd has no emotional attachment to him whatsoever at this point.

 

Probably because everybody knew Matt had no chance of winning?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just as I suspected, it looks like Trish and Vikky are going back to their classic feud. Anyway, the card doesn't look too bad. I hope to have a similar one when I go to my house show at the end of next month in Albuquerque.

[Eclipse 0]

Man, this show sounded way better than the last one back in December. But of course, the last one had the Flair/HBK match.

[Aero 0]

I'd like Tajiri & Rhyno to keep going as a team. Raw needs the teams anyway. I can only think of La Rez, Hurricane & Rosey, and maybe pairings of Evolution.

[Guest TigerDriver91]

Trish and Victoria's feud was classic?

[Eclipse 0]

I actually liked that feud. It actually had a good reason for Victoria to hate Trish.

[Steviekick 0]

Trish and Victoria's feud was classic?

I wouldn't say classic, but it worked very well for the women's division.

 

The Rhyno/Tajiri teaming sounds cool, but I really don't think it would hold up more than once as far as character development is concerned. They should book Rhyno as a monster, more akin to the was he was in ECW. That way he'd be a really good mid/upper midcard tweener...a heel because he's evil, and over as a face to a certain extent because of his aggressiveness.

[Guest TigerDriver91]

I wouldn't say classic, but it worked very well for the women's division.

This feud right now might be alright if Trish looked like she was even interested in being champion.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

Trish and Victoria's feud was classic?

 

Well I meant in terms of the Women's division. It certainly smokes anything Trish did with Jazz or Molly.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

The House Show I just got back from today was about the same (except for the Hurricane/Cade match and the length of the ME).

 

La Resistance def Rhyno/Tajiri to retain the Tag Titles - La Res didn't interupt the National Anthem like everyone seemed to have expected, but they did interupt Finkle's speech about something (he didn't even get 2 words out). They started singing badly the Canadian Anthem and then Rhyno came out and chased them out of the ring and Tajiri followed. Actually a bit of comedy from Tajiri as he wiggled his ass at Conway who was on the apron. Silly crowd chant for USA despite the fact that the two people from the USA are on opposing sides. Tajiri hit all his spots (Tarantula, handspring elbow, baseball slide into the corner). Rhyno went for a Goar but missed and then Tajiri went to kick Grenier but was tripped up from the outside by Conway which led to La Res hitting the doubleteam finisher, whatever they call it and getting the pinfall in around 9 minutes. Decent opening match **

 

Eric Bischoff then comes out and gets Eugene to come out and grants him a match vs Anyone tonight. Eugene thinks about it and (with some crowd inspiration of a Bischoff Chant) has a match with Bischoff. Bischoff says you don't want any of me as he takes his jacket off, but The Coach slips in the ring and attacks Eugene...

 

Eugene defeated The Coach - Eugene was insanely over with the crowd. He rode The Coach halfway around the ring like a horse and then "peed" on him like Rick Steiner used to do. Bischoff tried to interfere but Regal came down and pulled him off the apron, and then Eugene hit the Rock Bottom/People's Elbow for the pinfall at 6 minutes or so. The Rock Bottom/People's elbow garnered almost as much reaction from the crowd as if the Rock would have done it. More of a comedy match than anything with a couple good spots (I love the Airplane Spin..) - * 1/2

 

Lita comes out to tell her sob story of how this has been a terrible week for her and she's all alone now since Matt won't talk to her. She gets Matt to come down to the ring to talk, but then Kane comes out. Kane stares at Lita and points to her stomach and then Matt attacks him..

 

Kane def Matt Hardy - Matt Hardy got a bit offense in at the beginning, hitting a Side Effect off the middle turnbuckle. Near the end, Matt hits one Twist of Fate but Kane kicked out of at 2, and then he tried for a 2nd Twist of Fate which Kane blocked and then he hit a chokeslam for the pinfall. The match seemed to go on longer than the crowd expected, about 7 minutes and it wasn't a total squash. *

 

The Hurricane w/ Maven def. Garrison Cade w/ Test - a ton of "Look, its Test" as he came out and I'm slightly worried were in for another gay gimmick as he slapped Cade on his ass twice and kept rubbing Cade's shoulders (similar to the stuff Billy and Chuck did). Cade dominated most of the match, with the help of Test interfering a couple times, but eventually Maven chased Test to the back and The Hurricane was able to hit the Eye of the Hurricane and get the pinfall in a short 5 minute match.

1/2* for not going much longer.

 

Chris Jericho def Batista - match was pretty slow paced early as Batista dominated Jericho. Jericho eventually got in some offense and the pace picked up until Batista hit a huge spinebuster. Batista called for the Batistabomb, but Jericho reversed it intoa roll up for the pin in close to 10 minutes. **, although early the match was a snoozer with Batistas slow paced offense. the pace picked up eventually and it was a pretty nice match.

 

INTERMISSION

 

Randy Orton def Edge to Retain the Intercontinental Title - another slow starting match, as Orton stalled on the outside. He was doing something to a young fan at ringside which prompted Edge to make a Kobe Bryant joke about it on the mic. Not as many Orton chants (I think the crowd was 80/20 Edge) as I expected given all the other reports. They did the criss/cross off the ropes (about 20 times) which the crowd did a small applause for (seemed as though they didn't know what else to do). Orton tried to leave about halfway through the match but Edge brought him back to ringside. Orton would eventually take the turnbuckle pad off and get the ref distracted by getting him to look at it although he didn't fix it (during which Jericho had Orton pinned in a rollup). Orton would eventually drop Edge face first on the exposed turnbuckle and then got the pinfall in the corner with his feet on the ropes. Match lasted 13 minutes but there was a lot of stalling and other non action, but all in all it was a decent but not great match **1/2.

 

Trish def Victoria to retain the Women's Title - Trish got on the mic and said that Salisbury was the best place she'd ever been (to which just about everyone applauded for, except me since I knew what was coming..) and the best part was that in about 2 hours she'd be leaving. Victoria did her convulsing backflip spot and then later Trish attempted to do the same thing, but Victoria grabbed her for a roll up and a 2 count. Victoria got at least one more near fall and then she missed a moonsault from the top rope (she almost fell off the top rope but grabbed the light stand thing in the corner) as Tomko pulled Trish out of the way and then Trish got the pinfall with her feet on the ropes. Afterwards, Tomko picked up Victoria over his head, but the person in the red wig made the save with a low blow. Standard 6 minute women's match, nothing special *1/2

 

Chris Benoit def HHH to retain the Heavyweight Championship - before the bell rang, the crowd ripped into HHH with a "You tapped out" chant that was surprising for the size of the crowd. HHH got so angry as to get out of the ring and get in a kids face for being chanting "You tapped out" and Benoit started the chant up again on the mic. HHH threatens to leave but Benoit went and got him and the match started. Match went back and forth several times early, and everytime HHH got the advantage there would be a huge "You tapped out chant". About 15 minutes in, Benoit went for a sharpshooter, HHH kicked out of it. He got up and went for a pedigree but Benoit countered that back into a Sharpshooter. Crowd with another huge "You tapped out chant" while HHH fought to get to the ropes. The ref gets knocked out as HHH sent Benoit into the corner where the ref was standing, but Benoit put on the breaks and then HHH went for a clothesline and hit the ref. Benoit then went to hit the rolling Germans and the flying headbutt, and then went for a cover but the ref was still down. In comes Randy Orton and Benoit tosses him akwardly over the top rope to the floor. Batista comes in and hits Benoit with a spinebuster. Orton got on the apron and handed HHH the IC belt and HHH went for a belt shot but Benoit ducked, grabbed the belt and hit HHH, Orton and Batista with the belt. Benoit then put the on the Crippler Crossface and HHH fought it for a good minute (as the crowd did another "You Tapped out" chant) before finally tapping out with the crowd going nuts. Benoit gets back on the mic and gets one last you tapped out chant going, before thanking the crowd and taking a bow in the ring. Easily the match of the night (err..day) as it went 20 minutes not including all the prematch stalling/crowd chanting with a lot of close falls, even with predictable Evolution interference although it backfired. ***

 

All in all this show was light years ahead of the Smackdown house show that was here 2 years ago, although the crowd was about the same (maybe 2,500 or so) but the crowd was really into most of the matches.

[Guest Your Olympic Hero]

I still say go with the Rikishi/Rosey tag team and pair Hurricane with Tajiri.