PRE-SHOW NOTES: We got to the arena about an hour before bell time, on a night where the temperature was about -20 degrees Celsius, or 0 Fahrenheit. Oshawa is a suburb of Toronto to the northeast. This is probably the smallest venue we have ever seen big-time wrestling (WWE, WCW, ECW) in. The building is the home of the OHL’s Oshawa Generals. I believe the venue holds about 3500-3600 fans for hockey. They had pretty much a full house tonight, as I’d estimate the crowd at about 4000. Crowd reacted well to the action tonight as well.
-The show utilized the arenas lights. They did not bring in the scaffolding spotlights they used in smaller buildings for house shows in 2003. It was scaled back tonight, as they did not even have a table for the ring bell. Howard Finkel used his mic (which cut out many times tonight) to mic the bell, which was laying on the floor. The speaker system was also erratic tonight, as many times the sound would come out from only one corner of the arena.
-Howard Finkel came out at 7:33pm. He read us the rules. After the anthem was played on the speakers, we were underway.
-The first match had Steven Richards vs. Test. Richards was wearing tights that looked like the late Crash Holly’s, only they said “Stevie Cool” on them. Before Test came out, Stacy Keibler came out and mentioned how we are in Test’s hometown tonight. Test is from neighboring Whitby Ontario. Test comes out to a good ovation and looked motivated tonight, turning in a better performance than usual. Oddly, Earl Hebner was the referee in this opener, and as a result gets greeted with the obligatory “You Screwed Bret” chants. Test gets the pinfall win after a Pumphandle Slam.
-The second match had Lance Storm & Val Venis vs. Travis Tomko & Kevin Fertig. This is the second time I have seen Tomko & Fertig, as I saw them back in November at the Raw house show in Toronto at the Air Canada Centre. Tomko & Fertig look more polished now than they did back in November, and had a somewhat long match against Storm and Venis who is also a local boy. At one point Venis looked like he may have injured his knee a bit (either that, or did a great job of selling it). Storm gets the pinfall win for his team after a superkick.
-The third match had Renee Dupree (with Rob Conway) vs. Spike Dudley. Mixed reaction for Dupree, and Dudley got cheered. Dupree looked good here turning in a good performance against Dudley. Dupree eventually gets the pinfall win after some help from Conway. After the match, Dupree and Conway work over Dudley, until the Dudley Boyz run out to make the save. As they helped up Spike, Mark Jindrak & Garrison Cade ran in and attacked them, which led into the next match.
-The fourth match was a Tables Match that had The Dudley Boyz vs. Mark Jindrak & Garrison Cade. Typical Dudley’s house show match that they eventually win by putting Cade through a table. After the match, D-Von goes to the floor to find a kid. The first kid cried and didn’t want to go in, so they found another. The kid posed with them, as Spike took a picture for the child’s parents.
-The fifth match was for the WWE Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship that had (Challenger) Christian vs. (Champion) Randy Orton. Jack Doan was the referee for this championship match. Orton came out first. He went up to some teenage girls in the front row in front of us. He asked them if they wanted to touch him, and they did. He got them to touch his nipple as well. Good match here, as both men fought hard. Orton eventually got the pinfall win after an “RKO” to retain his title. Batista ran in after the match, and Booker T came out to make the save. Booker got the mic and challenged Batista to a match, which led into our next match.
-The sixth match had Booker T vs. Batista. Booker gets the pinfall win after a scissor kick.
-Then they had a ten-minute intermission.
-The seventh match was an Elimination Match for the WWE World Women’s Championship that had (Challenger) Trish Stratus vs. (Challenger) Jazz vs. (Challenger) Lita vs. (Champion) Molly Holly. Mike Chioda was the referee for this championship match. Stratus got the mic before the match and mentioned how Oshawa is like her backyard as her house is only 30 minutes from here, and her nephews play hockey here. Lita was the first person eliminated, as Jazz eliminated her. This left Trish facing a two-on-one. Stratus eliminates Jazz by pin. From there, Molly rolled up Stratus, and put her feet on the ropes to get the pinfall win to retain her title.
-The eighth match had Matt Hardy vs. Hurricane Helms. Hardy was out first. He got the mic and mentioned how much he hates being up in Canada, thus making him a heel. Several comedy spots here. Hurricane eventually gets the pinfall win here, much to our surprise.
-The ninth match was the main event that had Kane vs. Chris Jericho. Earl Hebner was the referee here, and once again gets a “You Screwed Bret” chant, but louder. He climbs the turnbuckle and poses as fans booed him. Howard Finkel’s mic died here, and had to rush to get a backup hard wired mic out from under the ring. He didn’t get his announcement for Jericho off. Jericho got the mic as he got a good ovation tonight. They fight in and out of the ring. Trish Stratus ran out to help Jericho, as he defeats Kane. After the match, Stratus & Jericho hugged. Kane got a chair and tried to attack. However Stratus & Jericho retreated as the show came to an end at 10:05pm.