would say it was very close to capacity. The arena is not very big. It holds about 10,000 for a full set up so with the wrestling set I would say about 6-7,000. I had friends who tried to get tickets a week from the show and all they had left were nosebleeds……..They showed a couple of cool WrestleMania videos before Tony Chimmel got on the mic.
DARK MATCH:
Akio beat Paul London using the ropes for leverage. They announced London was from Hartford so he’d get a good reaction.
VELOCITY:
Billy Kidman over Arch Kincaid with a shooting star press. Not good. I’ve seen Kincaid a few times and this was by far his worst outing. … Ultimo Dragon beat Shannon Moore. Decent. … A fan was wearing a homemade Mr. Socko. Pretty funny, but wrong show pal. Maybe he thought Mick would make the drive up from the island. … Tony Chimmel was throwing t-shirts to the crowd. He tried to get a couple to the upper deck and when he failed the crowd starting chanting, “You suck”. He then asked for the shirts back. … Matt Morgan used a sit down powerbomb to beat Orlando Jordan. Match was bad and way too long. … Bradshaw over A-Train with the clothesline from hell.
SMACKDOWN:
During the pyro opening they showed a graphic of a tag title match with the Bashams defending against Scotty and Rikishi. Paul Heyman starts the show in the ring. He talks about the Royal Rumble and because of the “inferior” brand Raw can only send 15 Smackdown superstars to the Rumble. So tonight he would have several matches where the winner goes to the Rumble and the loser busts. (Tying in his usage of the word bust to being at a casino.) A sign in the crowd says, “Heyman, put your hat back on.” John Cena comes to the ring and interrupts. He cuts a rap promo on Paul with a great line of, “I’ll bounce you quicker than an ECW check.” As he lifts Paul up for the FU, Rhyno makes the save and gores Cena. You know Rhyno will just be fodder for Cena later but this was good stuff.
Jamie Noble beat Tajiri to earn a shot at the cruiserweight title at the Rumble. Rey Mysterio was at ringside doing commentary. Akio and Sakoda were both out there and tried to interfere but Mysterio helped out. Noble then slammed Rey into the ringside barrier. Tajiri did a dive outside the ring but Noble pulled the “blind” Nidia in his way and she took the bump. Noble got back in the ring and hit a tiger driver for the win. He then helped Nidia to the back. I have a feeling that after Rumble, Nidia will be with Mysterio.
Heyman comes out on the ramp and says he’s tired of Cena corrupting the country’s youth with his foul mouth etc. He says he’s going to do to Cena what his mother should have done a long time ago. So he announces the first ever (at least in WWE) “Loser Gets His Mouth Washed Out With Soap Match”. It will be Cena vs. Rhyno. But if Rhyno loses Paul E. gets his mouth washed out with soap.
Josh Matthews is in the back interviewing Big Show, who has a cervical collar around his neck from the incident last week with Bob Holly. He is also surrounded by a group of cops and says he has a 50-foot restraining order on Holly. Brock Lesnar comes out and says he will also be by Show’s side.
Highlights of the Bashams-Guerreros match from last week are shown. Kurt Angle goes into Eddie’s locker room and tells him Chavo Jr. is not here tonight but his father and Eddie’s brother, Chavo Sr., is and that he wants to apologize on behalf of his son. He also says that Paul Heyman has signed Chavo and Eddie to face each other at the Rumble. Eddie goes off about not wanting to hurt his own blood etc. Kind of long.
Rikishi and Scotty come out for their tag title match. Dawn Marie then comes out to the ramp looking absolutely fantastic. She says that Paul Heyman says this won’t be a tag title match but a single match for a spot in the Rumble between Rikishi and Scotty. Rikishi wins with the butt drop in the corner. So Rikishi gets to be one of the guys thrown out.
A fan walked around the arena taking his life in his hands with a sign that said, “Let’s Go Colts”.
They showed some footage from the house shows over the weekend in Michigan. Puff piece. They could do so much more with these but they don’t.
Bashams come out to defend tag belts against Haas and Benjamin. Taz stands up at the announcers’ desk and says Heyman just told him in his headset that this isn’t a title match but a Rumble qualifying match. Haas pins Doug Basham to advance to the Rumble.
A stagehand tells Angle that Chavo Sr. has come to the building.
Chimmel intros Chavo Sr, who comes to the ring and says he’s sorry for the actions of his son. He calls out Eddie who comes to the ring. Chavo Sr. apologizes for Chavo Jr. Eddie asks why Chavo Jr. couldn’t do it himself. Chavo Jr. comes out. As he standing on the outside of the ring, Chavo Sr. attacks Eddie from behind. They double-team until Angle makes the save.
Shot of Guerreros leaving the building.
The FBI comes out to the ring. Dawn Marie comes back out and says that Paul Heyman has ordered a 3-man battle royal between them to determine a spot for the Rumble. After a few minutes of action, Chuck Palumbo kicks Stamboli off the apron and Nunzio then pushes Chuck over the top rope. Nunzio goes to the Rumble.
Eddie confronts Angle in the locker room and thanks him for helping him see the light and he wants to kick Chavo’s butt at Rumble.
A kid had a sign that said, “Vince = Steroids”. A WWE crony near the ring had security take it from him and then sent for the kid and admonished him near ringside. I would have loved to have heard that conversation. A******.
Big Show beat Funaki with a punch to the head. The cops and Brock were out with him. Show had great facials working his hurt neck. Holly came to the ramp and challenged Brock but Lesnar just laughed at him behind the wall of policemen.
They had a “Best Of Billy Gunn segment. Gunn said his number 2 moment was the 1999 King Of The Ring.
Cena beat Rhyno. Before the match Heyman told the ref that any minor infraction by Cena would result in him being disqualified. But Rhyno will work under ECW rules. Match was good but Rhyno ended up missing a gore in the corner and crashing into a table. Cena hit the FU for the win. Paul tried to escape up the ramp but Chris Benoit’s music played and hey dragged Paul back. He locked him in the sharpshooter and Cena badgered Paul and made him lick and eat the soap. Any time Paul would refuse, Cena said, “CHRIS” and Benoit would put on more pressure. This went very long and would assume at some point the cameras stopped rolling.
I would say this was an average show at best. Good buildup for the PPV and I like how on Raw and Smack they’ve done a decent job of keeping the guys away from each other. Good to see a fresh face in a big spot in Holly but is there anyone out there that really believes he has a shot of beating Brock??????
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