Paid Members air_raid Posted March 21, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 21, 2023 (edited) JULY 2003 THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW Early month we have a little tour of Canada, a bit B show - two title matches plus (deja vu) Rob Van Dam vs Test - there's an attack on RVD afterwards by Kane who doesn't even wrestle - 4th in London, 5th in St John (New Brunswick) and 6th in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. 11th in Omaha we have a good old-fashioned cross-feud tag with Triple H & Kane vs Kevin Nash & RVD, though 12th in Green Bay its Kane & Ric Flair, then 13th in Terre Haute it's Flair & Randy Orton. 19th in Salt Lake City HHH vs Kev in the streetfight for the belt returns, 20th in San Jose we've got Hunter putting a loss on Bill Goldberg thanks to all the shenanigans. 31st we're just in time to catch the first night of a tour of Oz in Melbourne - Shawn Michaels back where he belongs, on last, as Two Dudes With Attitudes go over Orton and Chris Jericho. SMACKDOWN We start small here too - 5th/6th in Frederick and Ocean City MD, Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin vs Chris Benoit & Rhino for the tag belts is on last. 7th in Cleveland we're back to strength - its Brock Lesnar vs Kurt Angle vs Big Show for the belt, which then goes off on tour, 16th in Bangkok and 17th first night in Yokohama - 18th in the same building its Lesnar vs Show, 19th in Kobe it's Lesnar, Angle and Benoit (oof) vs Show, John Cena and Eddy Guerrero. THE CARDS - RAW Chris Jericho again doesn't wrestle often, Highlight Reel segments with Steve Austin are better than most of the matches. Booker T vs Christian is most nights for the ICT, other than their main event interactions Rob Van Dam vs Kane is pretty nebulous, going to a non-start in San Jose when Kane attacks Van Dam before the bell then a DQ in Melbourne. Worth noting in the chaos after Green Bays main event it takes a Stone Cold Stunner to subdue Kane. La Resistance vs The Dudley Boys is the tag title, Gail Kim vs Victoria vs Ivory is pretty B show for the B shows, then she's with Trish Stratus and Molly Holly back in the States. Test vs Scott Steiner happens a fair few times. Early month in Canada its Val Venis vs Randy Orton, Tommy Dreamer vs Rosey, Maven vs Rico and Hurricane vs Steven Richards. Later in the month there are a couple of instances of Rico vs Mark Jindrak, and Dreamer & Rosey are suddenly partners swapping a couple of wins with Rodney Mack & Chris Nowinski, then after Nowinski hits the bench (for good) with his post-concussion syndrome, Rosey beats Mack in singles matches. VARIATIONS San Jose has a fabulous exception - a mixed tag where Nash, Steiner and Trish beat Test, Richards and Victoria where Nash pins Test after the Jacknife which must have been quite a sight. In Salt Lake City its Gail & Trish vs Victoria & Molly, in San Jose Gail beats Molly one on one, which is the last reported defence before Molly unseats her on TV. Otherwise... a short-lived team of Orton & Lance Storm lose to Maven & Steiner in Omaha (where Spike Dudley beats Garrison Cade) and to Maven & Cade in Green Bay. In Terre Hauto Maven pins Rico, Jindrak tags with Mack to lose to Rosey & Dreamer. Orton pins Hurricane in Salt Lake and reunites with Storm to beat Helms & Maven in San Jose while Maven teams with Jindrak to beat Storm & Richards in Salt Lake. Finally in Melbourne Spike pins Richards, Hurricane pins Mack, Victoria beats Trish with help from Stevie and Val loses to Goldust. SMACKDOWN Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin vs Chris Benoit & Rhino is the most common tag title match. Billy Gunn vs John Cena is a consistent (domestic) win for Mr Ass, Ultimo Dragon vs Jamie Noble continues as well as two nights overseas, the APA vs Chuck Palumbo & Johnny Stamboli is every night early month, a Matt Hardy vs Shannon Moore "tough love" match, A-Train vs Orlando Jordan and the Basham Brothers vs Sho Funaki & Brian Kendrick round out early cards. There's a couple of matches in Japan where Matt swaps wins with Funaki. Plus those bikini contests involving Torrie Wilson, Nidia and Dawn Marie finally have Sable involving herself last minute when guest MC Cena declares her the winner. The tour is a constantly changing card.... VARIATIONS In Bangkok Eddy Guerrero tags with Yoshihiro Tajiri one last time to lose to WGTT, Rey pins Cena, Albert vs Kendrick, Gunn vs Sean O'Haire and Benoit & Rhino beat Hardy & Billy Kidman. First night in Yokohama its Hardy vs Kendrick, Funaki vs A-Train, Rey vs Kidman and an Eddy vs Tajiri grudge match. Next night its Kurt Angle tagging with Tajiri to beat Eddy & Cena, Benoit vs A-Train, the WGTT vs Rey & Dragon (!!), Rhino vs O'Haire, Kidman vs Kendrick and a mixed tag of Gunn & Torrie vs Noble & Nidia. Finally in Kobe its Rey vs Noble, WGTT vs Rhino & Tajiri, Gunn vs A-Train, Dragon vs Kidman and O'Haire vs Kendrick. TVs 1st in Rochester is where Zach Gowen wins his contract. 7th in Montreal we have a dark opener where local legend Pierre Ouellett beats Ontario native El Tornado who they’ve used a few times under his real name (Mark Bartolucci). Next night in Toronto Mark jobs to Tyson Dux - Bobby Roode tapes squashes for both weekend shows tagging with “Textbook” (Dux) to lose to La Res for Heat and losing to O’Haire on Velocity. 13th in Columbus there are dark matches for Carly Colon (Carlito) and Mark Henry - gearing up for the hundredth reintroduction and we’re still 8 years out from the Hall Of Pain. Plus Matt Cappotelli & Johnny Jeter (Spirit Squad) lose to the Bashams (now with Shaniqua, I forgot to mention last time) for Velocity. 14th in Indianapolis Cappotelli teams with John Hennigan (Johnny Nitro) to beat Horshu (Luther Reigns) and Aaron Stevens (Damien Sandow) and John Heidenreich (ew) pins Travis Tomko. Heat has Rob Conway and Nick Dinsmore (Eugene) both doing jobs. LA has Jindrak & Cade beat Sean Evans & Keiji Sakoda then next night in Fresno Evans jobs for Dragon. Raw the night after Vengeance not only has dark action for Jeter plus Dinsmore & Conway vs Cappotelli & Hennigan, but a full blown COLISEUM EXCLUSIVE dark main event as Triple H only retrains against Goldberg via DQ when Orton runs in. DEPARTURE Technically he isn’t released this month but Chris Nowinski wrestles the last match of his career this month. Promising as a heel, he’s been back in the ring a few months from a January concussion when symptoms of post concussion syndrome bench him for good in the end. He goes on to research concussions, writing a book about the effects on American footballers and completes a PHD in neuroscience in 2017. Every bit as smart as the gimmick made him out to be. On 3/20/2023 at 4:31 PM, HarmonicGenerator said: Those SmackDown cards definitely look more appealing than Raw... It’s not surprising considering the TV was exactly that way round. Stunning how so much talent was available to them but it went so badly. A big problem was that within six months of the first draft anybody that could have looked a serious threat to HHH either moved to SmackDown or stopped wrestling altogether leaving a procession of challengers that either never looked like consideration for champion seriously/long term (Kane, Shawn, Steiner, Nash) or the company clearly didn’t feel like elevating (RVD, Booker). So everyone looked midcard and it stagnated. Edited March 27, 2023 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted March 23, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 23, 2023 AUGUST 2003 Hunters fucked and so’s the Raw main event scene. Meanwhile SmackDown moves some pieces around, has a secondary title and some new guys knocking on the door to main event and is a completely different animal. THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW We have two nights in Sydney to start, Rob Van Dam vs Kane goes on last night one but perhaps the true highlight underneath is Shawn Michaels vs Ric Flair with Shawn putting his idol over again as he did at Bad Blood ; next night it’s HBK & RVD vs Flair & Randy Orton (tables match on last, see below). We move to RVD vs Kane in a cage match just like B show runs of yesteryear 10th in Des Moines, 15th-17th in Evansville, Lexington and Fort Wayne then post SummerSlam 29th-31st in Memphis, Hattiesburg (MS) and Biloxi though there is some great support - in Memphis Triple H guts his way through limited action tagging with Flair against Shawn and Memphis deity Jerry Lawler, then in Missouri it’s Shawn & Maven vs Flair & Orton. SMACKDOWN 2nd/3rd in Calgary and Edmonton post Vengeance it’s Kurt Angle vs Brock Lesnar in, for now, WWE title battle of the respectful SuperFriends. By 10th in Wichita Lesnars turned on TV and it’s a triangle match with Big Show which carries on through Kansas City, Minneapolis, Copps Coliseum and Sarnia (Ontario) before SummerSlam. Kurt has days off and misses shows at the FleetCenter and Nassau Coliseum 30th/31st but it’s still a proper main event - The Undertaker becomes the third man (and wins) that monster triple threat. THE CARDS - RAW There’s almost no consistency through Oz and Des Moines other than La Resistance vs The Dudley Boys for the tag belts (which is non title tables second night in Sydney) but mid month we find some footing - Goldust & Lance Storm is an odd pairing to add to that match, Christian vs Val Venis for the ICT begins, it’s Molly Holly vs Gail Kim vs Jacquelyn vs Ivory for the Women’s title, Scott Steiner vs Randy Orton is a decent scalp for the young Legend Killer, Test squashes Spike Dudley, Hurricane & Rosey (Super Hero In Training, remember?) beat Rodney Mack & Mark Henry (playa) and Mark Jindrak & Garrison Cade go over Steven Richards & Rico - those last two tags are combined into an 8-man in Fort Wayne and usually thereafter, and a recurrent theme is the seconds of Rico/Richards - Victoria and Jackie Gayda - getting into a fight. After SummerSlam Steiner vs Test (last seen in Sydney) resumes, Rob Conway starts tagging with La Res (soon to be Freebird rule) against all three Dudleys, Molly goes back to Trish Stratus and Jazz (Lance is reffing those and helps Trish afterwards). There’s also two instances in Des Moines and Memphis of Orton vs Maven in singles, the former contested under “10 minute challenge” rules with Maven succumbing to the RKO about 9:55. Part timers aside you already know 100% of Rob Van Dams month, and Chris Jericho is again only doing the Highlight Reel. One report (Biloxi) explicitly refers to Test and Steiner as his guests leading to Y2J doing botched interference in their match, but I’d bet money most of them were with Steve Austin. Des Moines has a story ; already a rough month for the revived ICT which is deemed surplus to a packed SummerSlam card, an enforced title change occurs - Booker T sustains a back injury doing his axe kick and they have little choice but for Christian to pin him so they can go home and he can get medical attention. VARIATIONS Fort Wayne has a cracker - Bill Goldberg ticks off one of his contracted dates, I expect it was meant to be against Hunter but since he’s injured Billy smashes the Nature Boy. Booker’s unfortunate month starts with tagging with old mate Goldust in Sydney to lose to C-Squared which explicitly leads to a defence against Y2J on night two before his reign and month ends with Captain Charisma. The rest of Sydney have night one as Spike vs Richards, Trish vs Victoria (those two combine to a mixed tag on night two) Orton vs Venis and Hurricane vs Mack, while night two is completed by Test vs Val, Steiner vs Christian and Kane vs Hurricane. In Des Moines Steiner beats Storm, Mollys four way is with Gail, Vic and Ivory (ref’d by Val) and there’s a six man of Goldie/Hurricane/Jindrak vs Rico/Richards/Mack. SMACKDOWN Chris Benoit vs Rhino (usually a submission match) and Eddy Guerrero vs Yoshihiro Tajiri for the revived US title are two grudge matches which become a tag nearer the PPV and late month it’s Tajiri vs Rhino (Eddy and Benoit are off), plus The Undertaker vs A-Train for most of the month and Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin vs APA is the usual tag title match. Billy Gunn vs John Cena starts early month before Billy starts beating Sean O’Haire and Cena’s with Orlando Jordan - month end Cena starts doing guest ref spots in the main event so Albert starts pinning Jordan. CWT has a few combinations but Rey Mysterio defends vs Jamie Noble in Alberta, Matt Hardy and Nunzio mid month and just Nunzio in Sarnia and the North East. Bikini contests are still happening, I don’t think it’s especially relevant which three or all four of the rotation of girls are involved. Other regular matches are Ultimo Dragon vs Brian Kendrick in Alberta (respectful hand raising afterwards), the Basham Brothers do a couple of strange defeats mid month to Kendrick & Zach Gowen, versatile Matt vs Gowen in Minneapolis and Ontario then Mortis in Boston/Long Island - yes, Kanyon revives his old gimmick and takes it on the road, Billy tagging with bed-swap buddy Noble losing against the Bashams mid to late month, and Billy Kidman & Kendrick beating Chuck Palumbo & Johnny Stamboli in the North East. A curious note I’d like to dwell on - in Boston and Long Island Lesnar gets in the face of special ref Cena after the main event which leads to a brawl which Cena actually wins! Testing who the crowd would favour, to see if Cena could get cheers, or just something fun in his local area? Speaking of which - Edge is the guest MC for the bikini contest in Hamilton. This is also the month where, at Nassau, a Tajiri vs Rhino match goes very badly - with the crowd already chanting “boring” Rhino keeps reapplying his rest hold, which he thinks will get him heat. Vince himself decides the match is so bad that he marches down and orders them to stop wrestling under the pretence of wanting to get the bikini contest started. I’ve always found the story a little heartbreaking on behalf of the wrestlers, both of whom I was fond of. VARIATIONS Calgary native Lance Storm appears on that show challenging and losing to Eddy, and on the same night Matt & Shannon Moore AND the Bashams are added to the tag title match ; in Edmonton it’s just WGTT vs APA vs Bashams, Eddy beats Matt by pretend belt shot DQ (what a rogue). In Minneapolis Rey beats Kidman and Nunzio then gets attacked by BK afterwards - which leads to nothing on TV - in Hamilton it’s a four way also involving Moore, plus A-Train beats Sho Funaki, finally in Sarnia Funaki pins Moore and there’s a six man with Gunn, Noble & Kidman beating Cena and the Bashams. TVs 4th in Vancouver and 5th in Kelowna there are more tryouts for Harry Smith. 11th in Moline Ken Anderson tapes a loss on Heat in a tag and 12th in St Louis he loses to O’Haire for Velocity. Detroit on 19th they have another look at Tyson Dux as he goes over Matt Cappotelli. Various other dark squashes of little note throughout the month for Dragon, Mortis and 26th in El Paso, Mortis & Funaki as a team. DEPARTURES SummerSlam is the end for now of Kevin Nash. Aware he needs to get a haircut for filming The Punisher, model pro Nash volunteers to lose it in the ring, dropping a hair vs hair match to Y2J which gets brought forward to the Raw before the PPV when Hunters injury necessitates as many bells, whistles and humans as possible added to the title match. With filming on his schedule, having already spent over a year of his two year deal on the sidelines and now in need of neck surgery too, Kev and WWE realize timings not right for a long term relationship and Nash quietly exits after getting his Heat back with Jacknifes to Jericho and Orton before leaving the Elimination Chamber, with one of Vinces famous handshake offers that the doors always open if he wants to come home. Which of course, eventually, he does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted March 24, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 24, 2023 (edited) SEPTEMBER 2003 Change is in the air on both shows. THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW Rob Van Dam vs Kane in a cage is still on top in Tallahassee, Savannah and certainly closes 7th in Chattanooga but the real main is underneath - Triple H vs Bill Goldberg goes to a brief non finish with interference (Hunters not fit) followed by an impromptu tag involving Maven and Ric Flair - Billy pins Slick Ric. The same goes down 12th in Nashville then a couple of matches which look utterly random without context. 13th in Knoxville Trips faces stablemates Randy Orton (in the city of his birth) and Flair, pinning Orton, then next night in Asheville, North Carolina (whoooo!) Hunter retains over Naitch after duelling interference from Randy (back on his side) and… Arn Anderson. Post Unforgiven we have a run I never knew about… 26th in Fargo and 27th in Bismarck it’s Shane McMahon actually on the road beating Kane in streetfights with the Mac Terminator - which he does 28th in Peoria too but that one is topped with Goldberg & Maven vs Flair & Orton. SMACKDOWN 7th/8th in Fort Lauderdale and Columbus (GA) we have Kurt Angle & The Undertaker vs Brock Lesnar & Big Show before 13th in Roanoke/14th in Richmond we return to THE match, Angle vs Lesnar for the belt, which reports have as justifiably long (40 minutes?) but Brocks had a minor knock so 15th at the improbably titled Minges Coliseum in Greenville they’re half way up the card (US title mess on last, see below) and there’s a ten man brawl long before the opening bell after which Kurt wins in two minutes. Merely two nights before the same two guys have to do 60 for TV. 20th at MSG less than 12,000 turn up - I can’t blame the card which has new champ Lesnar against Taker in a cage for the belt with interference from Vince. They threw everything at it. Next night in Binghamton it’s Lesnar vs Taker vs Show, likewise 22nd in Bethlehem, then 27th-29th in Winnipeg, Brandon and Valparaiso… it’s Brock Lesnar vs Kurt Angle. What a time to be alive. THE CARDS - RAW Rob Van Dam vs Kane in the cage runs to Unforgiven after which Rob naturally chases Christian for the ICT. A lovely twist in Florida and Georgia - Chris Jericho vs Ric Flair has Y2J actually play face in peril so the “dirtiest player in the game” can do his greatest hits before Jericho eventually prevails. On the same nights Christian vs Maven probably isn’t the marquee match you expect for the ICT, Christian vs Y2J vs Val Venis on the intervening cards is closer the mark. The Dudley Boys & Spike Dudley vs La Resistance & Rob Conway is a six man tag by design but Sylvan seems to be carrying an injury as it changes to a 2 on 2 non title table match. After the PPV the title defences for Bubba & D-Von are also table matches against any two of the three heels. Scott Steiner vs Test continues for much of the month. We have a run of Hurricane & Trish Stratus vs Rico & Jackie Gayda early month as Rodney Mack & Mark Henry carry on their run with Mark Jindrak & Garrison Cade, then mid month its Hurricane & Rosey swapping wins with Mack & Mizark for most of the rest of the month while Jindrak & Cade beat Rico & Steven Richards and Trish chases Molly Holly. Also Lance Storm beating Tommy Dreamer - with Lance playing awkward babyface on TV Dreamer works heel here. In Knoxville and Asheville Lance beats Rico, Maven upsets Test, and Dreamer tags with Richards to lose one match each to the two babyface teams you’ll read about above, both of which end when Dreamer pastes Stevie with a DVD and walks out on him. Orton pins Lance after the PPV,  it’s usually Spike vs Rico, Test beating Dreamer, and Trish & the returning Lita follow up their win at Unforgiven with wins over Victoria & Jacquelyn with Val as the ref. VARIATIONS Chattanooga has Maven do double duty as he’s in the ICT three way instead of Venis. Peoria has Storm go over Test after he’s attacked by Steve Austin before the match, and Rico pin Dreamer. That’s it! Tight month. SMACKDOWN Nearly all matches for the four guys contesting main events are listed above, Chris Benoit vs A-Train starts the month for “The Crippler” while Eddy Guerrero vs John Cena kicks off the month for the US title (so much for Eddy being a heel) and in the middle, it’s Eddy vs Benoit vs Cena before month end it’s Benoit vs Cena, Chavo is back and Los Guerreros defend their newly regained tag belts against the pair they’ll (tragically) lose them to, the Basham Brothers. The tag title match of Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin vs APA continues up until the big 16/09 taping then WGTT (especially Shelton) get time off the road. CWT has Rey Mysterio vs Ultimo Dragon for two nights then Yoshihiro Tajiri steps in (a heel now) and he runs with Rey til month end by which time he’s taken the belt on TV. Matt Hardy works babyface against Rhino first week then in Virginia beats Orlando Jordan before starting at MSG he teams with Shannon Moore against Paul London & Brian Kendrick for the rest of the month. We start those early shows with Billy Kidman, Kendrick & Jordan beating Nunzio, Chuck Palumbo & Johnny Stamboli plus Billy Gunn & Jamie Noble doing two last defeats to the Bashams, from Roanoke it’s Nunzio beating Sho Funaki all the way through to New York and Kidman & Noble vs the Bashams for two weeks then 20th-22nd it’s Noble & Dragon during which Kidman twice works Haas. Mid month Albert teams with Sean O’Haire against Kendrick and London, then against the APA later. Also month end it’s Noble vs Nunzio, Rhino vs Jordan and a handicap match where Shaniqua goes over Dawn Marie & Nidia. Bikini contest over for a week, at least. VARIATIONS MSG as well as a unique main event, has Benoit vs Show on first, and Benoit beats the only man that’s (briefly) broken a Lesnar/Angle duopoly on the big belt that runs nearly 18 months, in just under five minutes with the Crippler Crossface. I bet that went down well. Plus Eddy, also on the cusp of main event, beats Cena and Rhino, which I bet also was popular. Also in Binghamton Benoit teams with Kidman to take down Albert and his betrayer, Rhino. In Bethlehem Cena & Rhino unsuccessfully challenge Los Guerreros - two shows in a row there Eddy goes on last. Greenville has a total debacle - Eddy has transport problems which is why the crazy interference-laden WWE title match goes on before intermission. When they realize Eddy probably won’t arrive for scheduled Eddy vs Benoit vs Cena with Rhino interfering, they start Benoit vs Cena vs Rhino. With the match nearing a finish Eddy arrives and it becomes an impromptu tag with Guerrero pinning Cena simultaneous to Benoit eliciting a tap from Rhino. Reading some of these, I wish Rhino had been used on Team Lesnar at Survivors instead of (ugh) who they ended up with. Two exceptions for Orlando - he loses to Haas in Binghamton and beats Nunzio in Bethlehem. Finally someone’s missing in Manitoba, it’s Bradshaw vs Albert one on one. TVs 1st in Lafayette nothing dark but Jimmy Yang gets on TV, losing to Dreamer on Heat. 2nd in New Orleans Mortis tags with Altar Boy Luke (yes, the one from XPW) to beat John Heidenreich and Tyson Tomko - how fitting, an altar boy opposite a team straight from the 8th circle of hell. 15th in Columbia SC they have another look at Onyx from NWA Wildside and Joey Matthews works Heat losing a tag to Hurricane and the S.H.I.T. 16th in Raleigh - Coliseum Video Exclusive - O’Haire & Albert beat Kendrick & London before tapings, and here’s one I forgot ; Kendo Ka Shin jobs to Noble. 22nd in Washington Crowbar loses to Big Papa Pump for Heat as he does O’Haire for Velocity next night in Philly. An eventful Heat 29th in Chicago has Mack drop Ken Anderson and Dreamer beat local Sheik Shawn Daivari. Next night in Milwaukee Anderson is jobbing at home for London and Spanky, plus Chad Collyer tags with Kanyon. DEPARTURES None this month but they’re coming. Here’s Eddy vs Cena vs Rhino from MSG ;  Edited March 30, 2023 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted March 27, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 27, 2023 (edited) OCTOBER 2003 THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW We are in Canada for what I consider a double main event of Shane McMahon vs Kane in the streetfight and the new ICT match of Rob Van Dam vs Randy Orton which will run and run, although the tables match closes - 3rd-5th in Guelph (Ontario), St John’s (Newfoundland) and Moncton (New Brunswick). 10th in Louisville it’s Shawn Michaels & Booker T (back from injury) vs Orton & Ric Flair with a hell of a six man streetfight underneath, 11th in Norfolk and 12th in Wheeling it’s Bill Goldberg tagging with Shawn and a wild 8 or 10 man table match on last. 17th in Manchester NH and 18th in Providence it’s Goldberg & Booker with Shane vs Kane restored underneath, Portland on 19th the afternoon of No Mercy it’s back to RVD vs RKO as well as the streetfight with tables to close. 26th in Florence there’s no streetfight but Rob Van Dam vs Chris Jericho for the ICT now goes on last SMACKDOWN Brock Lesnar vs Kurt Angle vs John Cena is a fresh main event (which they never used on PPV) 6th in Trenton then we’re off to Europe for the Passport To Pain tour with rotating cards - it’s Brock vs The Undertaker for the belt in Turku (Finland) and Birmingham, and Angle & Taker vs Lesnar & Cena in Cologne and Manchester. After No Mercy in White Plains on 20th it’s Angle & Chris Benoit vs Lesnar & Cena then 26th-27th in Albany and Augusta “The Crippler” gets a shot at Lesnar 2/3 hours from his house which in US geography makes him practically a hometown hero. THE CARDS - RAW Rob Van Dam vs Randy Orton for the ICT and Shane McMahon vs Kane no holds barred (featuring the Mac Terminator) are two very common matches. RVD has two little runs while Orton main events, beating Rico then Scott Steiner. The Dudley Boys vs La Resistance in a tables match happens in some form every night, but a few scheduled six (or more) man versions involving Spike and/or others get changed because Sylvan is injured. Consistent booking in Canada has Mark Henry pin old mate Val Venis (as he does in Wheeling and Portland), Lance Storm pinning former stablemate Test, a tag where Tommy Dreamer & Steven Richards oddly play babyface to do jobs for Mark Jindrak & Garrison Cade, a decent set of wins for Maven over Rodney Mack, and Canadian fave Trish Stratus & Lita vs Molly Holly & Gail Kim with Jazz as the ref - later this will change to Lita tagging with Ivory, inbetween there will be a few title matches of Molly vs Lita plus two tags for Trish & Maven vs Victoria & Stevie. Other common later month matches have Henry squashing Dreamer, Lance pinning Rico and Val beating Richards. Beyond what you’ve read there’s lots of chopping and changing and some guys like Booker T, Chris Jericho or Christian don’t really have a settled, regular match. VARIATIONS Let’s start with those multi mans - in Louisville the tables match is separate to a six man where (Team Canada explodes!) Lance, RVD and Shane O’Mac beat Y2J, Christian and Shane’s eternal mate/enemy Test when said Test falls victim to a Mac Terminator and gets a broken foot in the process which rules him out of Survivor Series. Next night in Norfolk (a night where Mack too is injured) it’s the champs and little brother Spike teaming with Shane and former Alliance lieutenant Booker to beat C-Squared and all three La Res in the tables match which might be the last match before Grenier hits the bench - they’re dropping like flies! Next night in Wheeling Bubba, D-Von, Booker & Shane beat Y2J, the CLB and what’s left of La Res. A noted exception to tell you about in Portland - Booker & Maven beat Y2J & Steiner. Other exceptions in Louisville see Hurricane & Rosey vs Mark n Mack vs Jindrak & Cade, Val beat Spike and for the locals, Nova & Aaron Stevens beat Chris Cage & Tank Toland for the OVW tag belts. Regulars to the thread already know Nova becomes Simon Dean and Stevens is Damien Sandow ; Toland is later James Dick (ugh) on SmackDown and part of Sweet n Sour Inc in ROH, Cage is latterly (I struggle with “better”) known as Caylen Croft, the less successful of the DudeBusters. In Norfolk the aforementioned injury to Mack happens in a straight tag with Mizark losing to Helms & Rosey, while former tag champs Storm & Venis reunite to beat Cade & Jindrak, then in Wheeling Hurricane/Rosey beat Cade/Jindrak. Florence is the start of new runs - Maven upsets Steiner, Storm & Venis beat Rico & Richards and Hurricane & Rosey beat Travis Tomko & Kevin Fertig (a/k/a Mordecai/Kevin Thorn). SMACKDOWN Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit vs Big Show & John Cena is support for the title match in Turku and Brum, Benoit otherwise beats A-Train in Trenton, Cologne and Manchester and that’s his month. What a month this is for Eddy Guerrero! He defends the US title vs Rhino in Turku and at the NEC, teams with Chavo Jr to retain over the Basham Brothers in Cologne and Manchester, then two belts down the chase is on against Doug & Danny in Georgia with Los Guerreros not getting on afterwards, split on the horizon. Former champs Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin get back at it but sadly they’re losing in Georgia to Rikishi & Scotty Too Hotty - just a month removed from losing the belts we’re basically at the end of WGTT being a true threat. How I wish it had been them and Rhino as Lesnar and Shows partners at Survivor Series instead of the wastes of space they had. Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Rey Misterio for the CWT with the finish of mist/Ligerbomb counter to the West Coast Pop goes on in Trenton, Turku and Birmingham, plus an interference finish in White Plains, while in Cologne and Manchester Rey tags with Ultimo Dragon (ooo) to beat Tajiri & Nunzio. Rey beating Cena in Georgia is pretty big time even then - the CWT switches to Tajiri vs Dragon vs Jamie Noble. An interesting tour for Matt Hardy who swaps wins with Albert or with Show - pinning Show with Guerreros’ help in Cologne but losing by DQ because of them at the MEN. In Turku and Birmingham there’s also the Bashams doing two strange jobs to Noble and Billy Kidman, and Dragon vs Nunzio vs Sho Funaki won by Dragon in Finland and Funaki in the West Midlands. Kidman carries over that form into Georgia where he’s actually pinning Rhino in singles! Chuck Palumbo, Johnny Stamboli and Nunzio vs Paul London, Brian Kendrick and Orlando Jordan gets outings in Trenton and through Georgia where there’s also a tag of Sean O’Haire & Horshu (Luther Reigns) beating Matt Cappotelli & John Hennigan (Johnny Nitro). Yes, bikini contests still happen. Fun note from Turku - after the main event Rhino attacks Taker and Eddy makes the save prompting the locker room to empty. When it’s calmed down the wrestlers all sing happy birthday to Eddy then Lesnar comes back out to insult him and Eddy lamps him with a chair. Possibly the first true main event interaction for Eddy but definitely not the only city on the tour thinking that way about his future (see below). VARIATIONS Trenton, White Plains and Europe all have some one offs. In White Plains Eddy mounts a challenge to new US champ Show while Chavo picks up a win over previous challenger Rhino. The WGTT have some variation - Charlie beats Kidman in Trenton and Noble in Cologne, before Shelton is back in the ring in Manchester against Kidman & Funaki, then in White Plains they’re in a one off three way with the Bashams and (winners) the APA. Otherwise on tour in Cologne Rhino pins Funaki and Kidman has the night off, then in Manchester Rhino beats Noble - madcap month for the Man Beast who also did a job for Bradshaw in Trenton. He DEFINITELY could have taken A-Trains spot at Survivors, then! The six man tags for the FBI - in White Plains it’s London Kendrick and Kidman, and the rest of the card follows No Mercy nearly with Orlando tagging with Zach Gowen to beat Mattitude & Shannon Moore, O’Haire back tagging with Albert to beat Dragon and Noble, Dawn Marie pinning Torrie Wilson in an actual match with help from Sable, and while Tajiri vs Rey isnt novel, the finish involves interference from - the first time on the road - (Ryan) Sakoda & Akio (a/k/a Jimmy Yang). TVs 6th in Uncasville CT there’s some good value tryouts - ECW alumni Danny Doring & Tony Mamaluke lose to future ROH Pure champ John Walters and Chad Wicks, to later be Tank’s cousin Chad Toland in OVW and Chad Dick (ugh) on the main roster, and also Bobby Roode vs Tyson Dux. Next night in Hartford Mamaluke loses to Noble and Doring teams with Arch Kincaid to lose to O’Haire & Rhino. 13th in Pittsburgh Fertig & Tomko go over Nick Dinsmore and a Jimmy Vegas about whom I know nothing and next night Cappotelli & Hennigan lose to WGTT and O’Haire teams with Matt Morgan to beat Nova & Carly Colon (Carlito). 20th in Wilkes-Barre is eye opening - with SmackDown still delivering and even Raw improved, we see threats of the dregs of the 2004 roster to come - Gene Snitsky (ick) loses to Tommy Suede, and the hopeless Kenzo Suzuki goes over Chad. Although it’s not all bad news - Batista returns to attack Goldberg. Next night in Albany (NY) two decent sounding dark matches as Mortis pins Walters and Sakoda pins Roode, plus the sight of Rey relegated to Velocity for an altogether too-good-for-Velocity team with Kidman and Dragon to lose to the FBI. 27th Raw plays to a point I made above - John Heidenreich makes his tv debut as a deranged babyface who follows instructions of his invisible friend Little Johnny. Worth noting from Raw, Shane and Test ridiculously do a streetfight despite Test having a broken foot and ludicrously the Mac Terminator is still the finish. 28th in Atlanta Horshu pins Elix Skipper and Noble & O’Haire beat Cappotelli & Hennigan, Kanyon actually makes Velocity losing to Jordan, there are TWO matches that are non-televised due to time constraints somehow - what a fuck up!! Did someone get sacked? The WGTT beat all the FBI in a handicap and the Bashams retain over Rikishi & Scotty, and on the show proper we get the debut of Morgan and return to TV of Nathan Jones. DEPARTURES Nobody this month. Just injuries. A PERSONAL REPORT So, I went to Passport To Pain at the NEC. Fairly sure our very own dear @Liam O'Rourke went too as we seem to have a fair few shows in common. I went along with four mates who were fairly casual fans who just watched whenever we happened to put it on at uni, and @tsve (if he still lurks) - @jazzygeofferz did you attend the MEN show headlined by Taker & Angle vs Lesnar & Cena or am I thinking of someone else? Anyway… tsve bought the new V1 t-shirt and we were all pretty deflated when Matt lost to A-Train who we considered a bumbling oaf at the time, and I was personally miffed to see Dragon not win his match, especially with a loser like Funaki winning it. But really, this was the Eddy Guerrero show. He had an unfair advantage being in the first match but the response to him was sheer love, in based on all available reports what was his last successful US title defence. When he didn’t accompany Chavo for his match with Haas we knew what was coming, and the reaction to Eddy coming back out to negate Shelton’s interference was huge. One of my casual fan mates saw how popular Eddy was and asked “Do you think they’d ever make him champion?” and my immediate reaction was “No…” but then I thought about it and said “… maybe one day, if he gets this kind of reaction everywhere.” How little I knew! And on a non wrestling note, this date meant missing the crucial England qualifier away to Turkey but we did overhear “Beckhams missed a penalty” from behind us. And the football theme continued into Cena’s pre match rap where he used the line “your football teams singing the blues” - which got a pop from the Villa fans in attendance. Bully Ray wearing a Liverpool shirt in the MEN, it wasn’t. BONUS FEATURE - WHAT DID THE CLASH LOOK LIKE? So, I have a real soft spot for the “special” episodes of TV they used to do in months where the other roster had the PPV. Reminded me of Clash of the Champions and it was cool to reinforce something big could happen on the weekly TV. October 2003 - SmackDown has No Mercy Raw 20/10 (night after No Mercy) WHWC : Bill Goldberg vs Shawn Michaels TTT : Dudley Boys vs La Resistance Rob Van Dam & Lance Storm vs Chris Jericho & Scott Steiner Booker T vs Randy Orton Trish Stratus & Lita vs Molly Holly & Victoria Maven vs Ric Flair For completion - here are the previous ones! September 2003 - Raw has Unforgiven SmackDown taped 16/09 (week of Unforgiven) IRON MAN WWE Title : Kurt Angle vs Brock Lesnar TTT : Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin vs Los Guerreros Chris Benoit & Rey Mysterio vs Rhino & Yoshihiro Tajiri Shaniqua vs Torrie Wilson & Nidia July 2003 - SmackDown has Vengeance Raw 21/07 (week of Vengeance) Rob Van Dam vs Kane Shawn Michaels vs Chris Jericho ICT Booker T vs Test Trish Stratus & Gail Kim vs Molly Holly & Victoria Val Venis vs Randy Orton June 2003 - Raw has Bad Blood SmackDown taped 10/06 (week of Bad Blood) WWE Title : Brock Lesnar vs Big Show CWT : Rey Mysterio vs Matt Hardy Arm Wrestling : Zach Gowen vs Mr McMahon The Undertaker vs Johnny Stamboli Chris Benoit & Rhino vs The Basham Brothers Billy Gunn vs A-Train John Cena vs Sho Funaki … It’s a trend I enjoyed. Ready for Billy Gunn to return? Save it for the Clash. Edited March 27, 2023 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted March 28, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 28, 2023 (edited) NOVEMBER 2003 What a fun month this reads as with the build to Survivor Series taking precedence - lots of interesting regular main events but fun elimination matches too which I love. We also finally get some crowd numbers in the reports and it’s awful news, Goldberg isn’t moving the needle on the road. Mind you, nobody’s coming to see SmackDown either. Lots of gates between 1500<3000 in buildings that hold far more. New format - brand by brand instead of main events first followed by the rest. Only feedback will tell me if it’s better or worse than before. THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW 1st in Toledo-2nd in Columbus it’s still Rob Van Dam vs Chris Jericho for the ICT but Shane McMahon vs Kane on last has moved to cage matches. 7th in Toronto dire attendance news, less than 5500 drawn for the headliner as (like Cena would say at Survivors the show is “ass backwards -“) the main event is on first - Bill Goldberg & Booker T vs Ric Flair & Randy Orton with a mental tables match then Shane vs Kane, which also tops 8th in Springfield MA above a Survivors style eliminator then 9th In Burlington goes on before intermission so the eight man goes on last - Booker T, Rob Van Dam & The Dudley Boys vs Chris Jericho, Christian, Scott Steiner & Mark Henry. Hey, the babyfaces were all Alliance! 21st in Detroit and 22nd at the Tacoma Dome Goldberg & Booker face Triple H, Batista and Orton in a hell of a handicap, 23rd in Yakima Bills off so Booker & the Dudleys work Evolution in a six man, but 28th in Vegas and 29th in San Fran it’s Goldberg vs Kane for the belt. THE CARDS Rob Van Dam vs Chris Jericho (2/3 falls in Columbus) and Booker T vs Randy Orton (or Ric Flair as well in a handicap in lucky Columbus) are early month runs plus there is a brief reprisal of RVD vs Kane for the ICT after Survivors, then Robs defending against Y2J and Christian in triple threat matches, and a late month tag has Booker & Maven vs Orton & Batista. The Dudley Boys vs Mark Jindrak & Garrison Cade is a new tag title match early month and post Survivors either side of that eliminator and nearer December they defend a few times against Y2J & Christian. Orton vs Maven resumes mid month before Randy graduates to main event, and if I didn’t mention Jericho enough, he also has a couple of singles matches with Maven post PPV. Lita is really kept strong for Survivors beating Jazz & Victoria in handicap matches early month then it’s back to Lita & Trish Stratus vs Molly Holly & Gail Kim with Lita pinning the champ, then Lita & Trish vs Molly & Jazz after the PPV. Early month twin monster pushes have Mark Henry vs Lance Storm and Batista vs Tommy Dreamer (I swear that was happening this time last year). Fun development playing off a TV storyline after the PPV has new acquisition Matt Hardy losing matches to Hurricane after interference from tv ex/real life mrs Lita. Early month tags have La Resistance (Dupree/Conway) really on the slide, losing to Hurricane & John Heidenreich plus Val Venis & Maven beating Travis Tomko & Kevin Fertig. Mid to late month sees Steven Richards (and Vic) play face again vs Rico, Spike Dudley upsets Test and Heidenreich starts beating Nick Dinsmore, Dupree/Conway continue losing month end to Storm & Venis. Scattered throughout the month there are also instances where Cade & Jindrak beat Dupree & Conway or lose to Storm & Venis. VARIATIONS Our big tables match in Toronto has RVD & the Dudleys beat Y2J, Christian & Mizark - card padded out with Fertig pinning Dreamer with Tomko’s help then Maven pinning Tomko when Dreamer interferes. In Springfield Storm & Venis win a three way dance over Fertig & Tomko and Cade & Jindrak, Dupree beats Hurricane in singles. In Burlington Val & Hurricane are thrown together but beat La Res anyway. Detroit is unique - Rosey returns to tag with Hurricane against Brooklyn Brawler & Dreamer (Yonkers Yob?), Mizark pins former buddy Val, Hurricane pulls double duty and subs for Bubba tagging with D-Von against hometown boy Scott Steiner and Test, and most fun - Christian & Lita beat Matt & Molly. In Tacoma Hurricane & Rosey beat La Res, Henry pins Dreamer and Maven upsets Test. In Yakima Henry squashes Hurricane, Val beats Test, Rosey pins Dreamer and Ivory actually wrestles in singles and WINS against Jazz. THE MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN We have Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit vs Brock Lesnar & Big Show with a wholly unnecessary “Kiss My Ass” stip 1st in Kitchener, 2nd in Montreal Lesnar defends against The Undertaker and 3rd in Ottawa (merely 1600 attend) it’s a huge six man with A-Train making up the difference. 8th in Poughkeepsie is a rarity in that Angle/Lesnar/Taker/Show are all off - Benoit teams with Bradshaw and a returning Hardcore Holly to beat A-Train, Nathan Jones & Matt Morgan Survivors style (Holly sole survivor) followed by a streetfight of Rey Mysterio vs John Cena where Team Lesnar attack new babyface Cena thereafter. 9th in Worcester and 10th in Bridgeport Benoits challenging Lesnar with Kurt taking his place in the eliminator. 17th in Hidalgo TX it’s a huge handicap match where all of Team Lesnar lose to Benoit, Cena, Holly & Rey, 22nd in LA and 23rd in Portland (OR) it’s Lesnar vs Cena for the belt. THE CARDS You know most of Chris Benoits month but late month he teams with Bradshaw to win handicap matches vs Big Show, Nathan Jones & Matt Morgan - scheduled partner Hardcore Holly is “suspended” by Paul Heyman. Eddy Guerrero vs Chavo Guerrero Jr is already underway even though the split has yet to take place on TV ; the match is ordered by GM Heyman lest the Guerreros lose their forthcoming tag title shot. After Survivors the unsuccessful cracks at the Basham Brothers continue. John Cena vs A-Train builds to Survivors two nights in Canada but he’s also forced into a series of handicap matches against Rhino & Sean O’Haire - again, by Heyman. Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Rey Mysterio and Bashams vs Rikishi & Scotty Too Hotty are our title matches early with the CWT becoming a three way with Nunzio in the North East before Survivors and afterwards a three way of Tajiri vs Jamie Noble vs Ultimo Dragon when Rey moves on - to, usually, Nunzio in a one on one. Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin become tweener early card workhorses this month doing two runs, firstly with Paul London & Brian Kendrick in the North East before Survivor Series then Kyo Dai after it ; Akio & Sakoda had previously been losing to Dragon & Noble. All these matches I imagine were very worth watching. Another early month run has Sho Funaki upset Horshu (Luther Reigns), and late month cards also have Rikishi & Scotty move on to Johnny Stamboli & Chuck Palumbo, and former partners Rhino and O’Haire swap wins with each other. Bikini contests are over now they finally admit cold weather is here - it’s now a “tiny teddy” (underwear) competition. All three in Canada are MC’d by Edge. VARIATIONS Angle & Benoit vs Haas & Benjamin is semi main in Montreal and Rey pinning Cena in Ottawa is a hell of an exception if not a true one off - Tajiri works Billy Kidman instead, and Noble in Poughkeepsie. Rest of the Canada jumble thus ; Kitchener it’s Bradshaw vs Horshu (ew), Orlando Jordan upsetting Rhino, Haas & Benjamin vs Kidman & Noble and London & Kendrick vs Palumbo & Stamboli, followed by Rhino & Horshu vs Noble & Jordan, Kidman/Kendrick/London vs the FBI and Show vs Bradshaw in Montreal, and finally Rhino vs Noble, Jordan vs Horshu, Bradshaw vs Palumbo, London & Kendrick vs Stamboli & Nunzio and Bashams vs WGTT vs Rikishi & Scotty in Ottawa. In Poughkeepsie, Dragon beats Funaki, Kyo Dai beat London & Spanky (ooo) and WGTT drop O’Haire & Horshu. Finally in Hidalgo, Rikishi/Scotty/Kendrick beat the FBI, Jordan pins O’Haire, Rhino pins London and Shannon Moore beats Kanyon. TVs Heavy Canadian influence 3rd in Cleveland - Eric Young beats his will-be tag partner Bobby Roode, and Tyson Dux & Mark Bartolucci (El Tornado) loose to Fertig & Tomko. Plus by coincidence Dupree and Gail both win on Heat, the latter against the increasingly invisible Jacquelyn. Next night in Buffalo (only 3000 for TV!!) Roode jobs to Orlando and Dux & Jason Breeze lose to Rhino & Horshu while Young appears on Velocity losing to O’Haire. Also (fairly) local influence in Boston where only 6000 turn up to the FleetCenter, John Walters tags with Chad Wicks (/Toland/Dick) to lose to Fertig & Tomko and Bryan Danielson beats Arch Kincaid. Next night at the former Meadowlands (5500) Bryan & Walters tag to lose to London & Kendrick in 3:30 on Velocity - in the same calendar year as Epic Encounter, no less. 17th in Beaumont Masada (yes, of CZW/XPW) loses to Maven on Heat and same show Trish beats Gail which is not noteworthy as a match but why at this stage Trish isn’t guaranteed a match on Raw? Finally 24th in Salt Lake City we need to mention that on the live show “Legend Killer” Orton pins Sgt Slaughter. DEPARTURES Here’s a sad one - Sean O’Haire wrestles his last match on the main roster this month. He sustains injuries in a motorcycle accident and when recovered is sent to OVW to shake off rust and wait for the call up that never comes, contract expiring in April after 3 years of stop/start. Rudderless on TV without Roddy Piper (which wasn’t a good fit anyway) he’d nonetheless become a fixture on the touring crew, but not someone missed when gone. He could do some impressive things but like many before and since, feats of athleticism don’t actually get you very far of you can’t make the viewer care about your character. But then, I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know. Sean has a brief sojourn in New Japan and takes work where he can get it but gives up on pro wrestling after one last WWE dark match in 2006, retired having just turned 35. A troubled soul away from the ring plagued by drug addiction and depression, after a failed MMA career he spends the next few years bouncing between arrests for crimes of violence and stints in rehab before taking his own life in 2014 aged just 43. EDIT - Not all sources are accurate! O'Haire wrestles on three house shows in January before being sent to OVW in February. Sorry. Edited March 30, 2023 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted March 30, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 30, 2023 (edited) DECEMBER 2003 THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW Well, it’s a bit B to begin. 5th in Billings MT it’s an odd heel vs heel main of Kane vs Batista, support arrives 6th in Loveland (!) CO with Rob Van Dam vs Randy Orton for the ICT underneath, but 7th in Fresno it’s back to RVD vs Kane atop - holy shit! - Shawn Michaels pinning Big Dave in the city he won the 96 Rumble. 12th they’re at MSG and it’s fairly loaded - Bill Goldberg vs Kane for the belt with plenty of name talent underneath, then 13th in West Palm Beach night before  Armageddon it’s RVD/Orton and Kane/Batista again but the tag belts go on last. THE CARDS Rob Van Dam vs Randy Orton and Kane vs Batista plus a tag title match of The Dudley Boys vs Chris Jericho & Christian happen three times, the latter on last in West Palm and twice a tables match. The Duds also work twice with Mark Jindrak & Garrison Cade though their more frequent opponents are Lance Storm & Val Venis. In turn they wrestle fellow former stablemates Christian & Test on Y2Js nights off. Lita & Hurricane vs Molly Holly & Matt Hardy occurs a couple more times (Jazz referees) then Hardy starts beating Maven and Hurricane swaps wins with Test, as well as Women’s title four way with Molly vs Trish Stratus vs Lita vs Jazz refereed by Victoria. Otherwise happening repeatedly are Mark Henry vs Tommy Dreamer, Steven Richards vs Rico and John Heidenreich vs Nick Dinsmore (Eugene). No, Triple H doesn’t work the road this month. He’s fucked. Never fear, shortly he’ll drop a little muscle mass, become slightly doughy, and he’ll be less injury prone and the quality of his matches will improve - a phase that at the time my mates and I referred to as “fat happy Tripper.” Also of note, and I applaud the spirit of “use everything you’ve got” - at MSG hated heel Coach appoints himself ring announcer for the night giving Fink an enforced night off. VARIATIONS Shawn Michaels vs Ric Flair enhances MSG plus Booker T and frequent partner RVD beating Orton & Batista. Booker also pins Mizark in West Palm. Otherwise filling in the gaps it’s Orton vs Hurricane and Lita & Matt teaming despite being at odds, wrestling Molly & Jazz (that’s crackers) in Billings, Henry vs Maven in Loveland, Orton vs Maven in Fresno and Rosey vs Dreamer in West Palm. THE MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 4th-6th they’re in Seoul (South Korea) Kallang (Singapore) and Perth (Australia) for three very special nights headlined by Brock Lesnar vs Chris Benoit for the belt. 13th-14th in Chicago and Indianapolis, Benoit, John Cena & Rey Mysterio go over Lesnar, Big Show & Matt Morgan when Cena hits that awesome visual of an FU to Show. THE CARDS This should go in exceptions, I know - Ric Flair vs A-Train is an unexpected addition to the tour dates, no doubt a favour to Ric who loved seeing the world as an active wrestler. He plays babyface and wins every night. The Basham Brothers vs Los Guerreros happens every night both home and away otherwise there are essentially two cards. John Cena, Hardcore Holly & Bradshaw beat Big Show, Nathan Jones & Matt Morgan (mostly) on tour, Holly continues his momentum pinning Rhino in the States. Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Rey Mysterio vs Jamie Noble vs Nunzio is (usually) the CWT match abroad, back home Tajiri defends vs Billy Kidman. Billy also teams with Sho Funaki to beat (huh?) Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin on tour, who back home are then beating Paul London & Brian Kendrick. In Asia Rikishi & Scotty Too Hotty beat Chuck Palumbo & Johnny Stamboli, then Kyo Dai in Chicago and Indiana. Finally it’s Ultimo Dragon vs Shannon Moore on tour and back home Stamboli jobs for Orlando Jordan and Palumbo pins Matt Weiss (Horshu/Luther Reigns). Yes, lingerie contests are still happening. Kurt Angle is off the road again, The Undertaker is resting various knocks selling being “buried” at Survivor Series. VARIATIONS So…. in Perth it’s supposed to be Oz’s own Nathan Jones one on one with Palumbo, which never happens (see below) and the shuffle to allow that has Cena & Holly vs Show & Morgan as a straight tag, Rikishi & Scotty vs Stamboli & Nunzio, and Tajiri vs Rey vs Noble in a three way. And Bradshaw has the night off. TVs Chad Collyer tapes for both weekend shows in Cali including tagging with Kanyon to lose to London & Kendrick for Velocity. 8th in Anaheim they use Shawn Daivari again, losing to Richards for Heat. 9th in San Diego Noble pins Psicosis (hello!) dark, Kanyon loses to Jordan for Velocity and on SmackDown proper hometown hero Rey gives Lesnar a hell of a fight before succumbing to the short lived Brock Lock (stretch muffler). Tampa the night after the PPV has some notable tryouts, they have another look at Mideon (really!) as if they didn’t know enough as to if he was worth employing from his previous four years on the books. Also Brent Dail & Carly Colon (Carlito) contest a real international battle, losing to regular tag team in All Japan, Jim Steel & Mike Barton - many of you will know already, the latter is the former Bart Gunn. Of note on Heat the Shane Twins (Gymini) lose to Hurricane & Rosey and Ivory loses to Victoria in what’s said to be a top contenders match. Next night in Jacksonville Kevin Fertig & Travis Tomko beat Dail & Mideon, Carlito loses to Johnny Jeter (Spirit Squad Johnny) and Barton & Steel beat the Shanes. 20th they tape Tribute To The Troops at Camp Victory and while obviously televised it’s worth mentioning Steve Austin giving Stunners to both wrestlers at the end of Cena vs Show - largely ignored at the time but worth dwelling on physical interaction between Stone Cold and big match John. Nothing interesting dark any other nights but 30th in Laredo the Maximo twins aka Spanish Announce Team do a job for the Bashams for Velocity - wonder if Eddy put a word in for them? ALSO 4th the Spike TV Video Game Awards are taped in Vegas and WWE has a match featured - technically televised though I tried to track it down a few years back and couldn’t - a cross brand tag of Rey & Trish vs Y2J & Victoria, introduced by occasional dabbler in the world of pro wrestling, Jenna Jameson. WHAT HAPPENED AT THE CLASH? Raw has Armageddon - SmackDown taped 2/12 WWE Title : Brock Lesnar vs winner of… Contenders : Chris Benoit vs John Cena Non Title : The Basham Brothers vs Rikishi & Scotty Too Hotty Non Title : Big Show vs Shannon Moore Chavo Guerrero Jr vs Shelton Benjamin Jamie Noble vs Ryan Sakoda …. fucking show this was! Both Benoit/Cena and Benoit/Lesnar were great matches, fallout precipitates Benoits story going into the Rumble and they continue several other arcs such as Noble turning heel by exploiting his “blind” girlfriend Nidia and Chavo and Eddys slow burn split. DEPARTURES So, Ivory. She has one last PPV tilt at the title at Armageddon out of respect then loses on Heat to anoint Victoria apparently the next challenger, and that’s the last time they use her as a wrestler. Past her sell by date for basically two years to this point anyway, the phantom face turn was never going to work after years of generic prude bitch champion, RTC and being in the Alliance. Many miles on the clock (she was Tina Ferrari in real life GLOW) she hangs em up but this is LONG before the end of her on the payroll. They use her in many broadcasting and training roles (including Tough Enough) and keep her under contract until June 2005… but here we care about matches and this month the matches end. Goldust has his contract quietly expire this month despite some hints on Raw that he’s coming back to start something up with Booker. He’ll be back, of course. Chris Kanyon is used for the final time this month and released from contract in February after two years of injury and re-injury. A real sad story, after two retirements and returns, lawsuits, arrests and at least one previous suicide attempt (that we know of) Kanyon overdoses in 2010 aged just 40. A sufferer from bipolar who struggled to keep his orientation under wraps in a notoriously homophobic industry, he was cursed with great wrestling skills but a persona WWE either didn’t know or didn’t care what to do with. Finally, Nathan Jones. Timing is everything and WWE just happens to be in Australia around the time the Queensland native realizes he absolutely can’t hack the travel schedule and downs tools and goes home. One of the most stop-start careers you can imagine, he does the odd gig all over, wrestles his last match in 2006, manages to sign with TNA in 2008 but typically, due to injury sustained disconnected to sport, never actually wrestles for them. Heres Lesnar vs Benoit ; Here’s the Women’s title match from MSG ; I’ve just added video to January and Septembers posts too and retrospectively will add more when I get time. Edited April 1, 2023 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted March 31, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 31, 2023 (edited) JANUARY 2004 What an odd month to reflect on. I actually think late 03 and early 04 is a bit underrated as there were a lot of great matches going on. The Rumble itself I recall as a time of great optimism, for with Triple H and Lesnar holding the titles, the last 7 in the Rumble was full of wrestling talent and box office - Show, Goldberg, and a who’s who of my favourites at the time - Benoit, Jericho, Angle, Cena and RVD. Saying nothing of guys like HBK, Booker, Eddy, Orton, Rey and with Taker and Edge yet to come back. Underneath, Christian, Chavo, Rhino, the WGTT, Tajiri and his mates and many others could have great matches too. All sounds great doesn’t it? Well, the wheels are about to fall off, especially for the blue brand. A bunch of duffers are incoming, and maybe Hardcore Holly getting into the title scene was the red flag we all should have spotted. The only thing more unnecessary with all the talent at their disposal would be, I dunno, putting the belt on Bradshaw. THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW 3rd in Jackson MS (too hot, hot damn) Randy Orton vs Rob Van Dam for the ICT opens and Kane vs Chris Jericho closes with Kane by pin after getting an unlikely assist from Trish when she slaps quasi-babyface Jericho as he tries to use a chair ; next night in Tupelo Y2J is disqualified for actually using the chair on Kane as Trish is on the apron, and the two embrace after the match. It’s like the company is road testing what gets a bigger pop, Stratus rejecting him or them becoming a couple. 9th-11th in Oshawa Halifax and St Johns Canadian hero Y2J is getting the popular win. 16th in Des Moines RVD/Orton leads straight into Booker T vs Kane on last then 17th-18th here’s a treat! Shawn Michaels pins Batista in Madison and beats Orton by DQ in Milwaukee. The sight of HBK pursuing his old flame, the Intercontinental title, warms my heart. 31st in Dayton it’s Booker/Kane followed by Orton/Van Dam on last with a certain Crippler on the undercard. THE CARDS Early month ICT battle of Randy Orton vs Rob Van Dam which gives way to Orton vs Christian just for the Canadians! Tag title has Ric Flair & Batista vs Dudley Boys vs Mark Jindrak & Garrison Cade in an eliminator, then through Canada Batista usually squashes Hurricane (likewise in Des Moines) and the other teams contest a tables match, you can guess who wins. Also in Canada, Booker T vs Matt Hardy. There is some shuffling in Des Moines and Wisconsin but depending on who wrestled the “Show-Stopper” it’s most often Orton v RVD, Booker vs Kane and Dudleys vs Scott Steiner & Test, plus Chris Jericho vs Mark Henry. A four way Molly Holly vs Trish Stratus vs Lita vs Jazz is still the Women’s title match most nights until the Rumble. Lance Storm & Val Venis tag with Spike Dudley to beat Test, Steiner & Christian early month before beating Travis Tomko & Kevin Fertig through Canada and swapping the W with Cade & Jindrak in the Midwest. You’d think the team was going somewhere! Test, as a Canadian, works babyface vs Steven Richards in Canada and wins every night playing off a TV mini feud - in a callback, Stevie & Victoria thusly interfere in Test & Steiners matches on the next three shows! Rene Dupree beats Spike in Oshawa but loses the next two. First week cards have Rene’s partner Rob Conway over John Hennigan (Johnny Nitro), Henry pinning Hurricane, Richards pinning John Heidenreich, and Dupree beating Matt Cappotelli… bit beige, that. There is very little undercard consistency in Des Moines/Wisconsin. VARIATIONS In Oshawa opponent swap ; Booker pins Batista and Hurricane (not for the first time) upsets Version 1. In Des Moines it’s Maven that upsets Hardy, then they chuck out Spike vs Christian (time constraints?) by having Christian attack Spike, so then he’s added to Dudley Boys vs Test/Steiner which becomes a 2v3 tables match. In Madison LSD upsets Hardy (should I still be calling these upsets???) and Christian pins Hurricane. In Milwaukee Spike & Hurricane beat Steiner & Test with help from Stevie & Vicky, RVD wins a completely random handicap match with Christian and Matt before he’s attacked yet again by Kane, Flair & Batista defend against the Dudleys, Molly beats Lita one on one and Jericho & Trish team (ahhhh) to beat Henry & Jazz. Chris Benoit beating Batista is the big exception in Dayton, but also Christian pins Venis, Dudleys over La Res, Storm does a job for Hardy, Lita & Victoria beating Molly & Jazz (rematch from Raw as the slow burn face turn for Vic continues), Hurricane pins former partner Heidenreich and Spike pins Mike Bucci (former Nova, future Simon Dean). THE MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 3rd in Glendale AZ (same city as Mania 26) 4th in Albuquerque and 5th in Nashville it’s Big Show vs John Cena won by Show when Brock interferes - if you can tell me why the WWE Champion didn’t have a match despite being in the building these nights you know more than me. 10th-12th in Kalamazoo, Cadillac and Saginaw - I can’t believe this match - it’s Rey Mysterio vs Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Chavo Guerrero Jr vs A-Train … Chavo’s just turned on TV, for some reason Heymans allowed A-Train to challenge for the Cruiserweight title, and if that wasn’t bonkers enough, Kurt Angle is the ref. 19th in Duluth it’s Big Show vs Chris Benoit with both Lesnar AND Hardcore Holly only doing interference. Maybe Lesnar was injured. THE CARDS Chris Benoit vs Chuck Palumbo for two weeks is an odd choice for a submission match. After John Cena vs Big Show ends as a main event, mid month Cena works Sean O’Haire, back from injury but soon to be sent to OVW (oops!) The Basham Brothers vs Los Guerreros continues in three ways with Kyo Dai but now Chavo does the old fashioned walk off. In Michigan the challengers are Rikishi & Scotty Too Hotty, and Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin. A tag of Hardcore Holly & Bradshaw vs A-Train & Matt Morgan really isn’t the build for Hollys title shot at the Rumble that they think it is, in my eyes. Mid month Rhino subs in because Albert has moved up (down?) to those CWT main events. CWT month begins with Rey Mysterio vs Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Billy Kidman before it starts going on last. Haas & Benjamin start their month beating Paul London & Brian Kendrick - the latter then start working Akio & Sakoda. Early shows complete with Scotty vs Nunzio and Jamie Noble swapping wins with - CALL HIS MAMA! - Ernest Miller. Through Michigan Nunzio loses to Ultimo Dragon and Miller to Kidman. In Nashville and Duluth (which is generally all over the world place) Bradshaw vs Morgan is a singles match. Yes, there are still bikini or “tiny teddy” contests. Brock Lesnar doesn’t wrestle. Kurt Angle doesn’t wrestle. The Undertaker isnt back yet. Benoit goes to Raw. Hardcore Holly is considered worth a PPV title shot. It’s going to get worse before it gets better. VARIATIONS In Nashville A-Trains out and Johnny Stamboli is in so Benoit & “main event for a month” Bob Holly beat the FBI in a tag. Duluth stands alone - Cena’s back with Rhino, there’s the first of the Eddy vs Chavo matches, Rey vs Tajiri vs Noble, Miller jobs to A-Train, Palumbo to Orlando Jordan, and the tag title is a straight Bashams vs WGTT. TVs 5th in Memphis Rico vs Heidenreich is as bland a dark match as I can recall. Next night in Huntsville it’s Bradshaw vs Fertig which is downright offensive. This is the night Chavo turns on Eddy. 12th at Nassau Coliseum Storm & Venis beat Tomko & Fertig again, plus Steiner beats Richards for Heat with some afters courtesy of Test ; airing the 19th, it’s effectively the end of the feud that’s played/playing out on both TV and the road. Next night in Uncasville CT London vs Akio is my kind of dark curtain raiser - this taping, Chavo Classic first appears. Nothing dark 19th in Green Bay but local lad Ken Anderson loses to Rosey and the Dudleys beat Shawn Daivari and Milwaukee native Austin Aries on an eventful Heat. 20th In Minneapolis there’s not only London vs Lenny Lane on first but an old fashioned after hours dark main - Eddy pins Chavo Jr. 26th in Hershey Venis vs Test is more star power than we’re used to seeing here, and 27th at the MCI Center (spiritual successor to the Capital Centre/USAir Arena) Palumbo & Stamboli beat John Walters and former TWC fixture Mike Kruel - this episode of SmackDown had the SmackDown Rumble, won by Latino Heat. DEPARTURES Tommy Dreamer does one last job to Rico for Heat in a Rumble qualifier then is let go. Never a good fit, he will of course be back for several ECW revivals. Brian Kendrick is granted his release to go wrestle elsewhere (one eye on a return to Japan) but he’ll be back on multiple occasions, working with the company in and out of the ring as recently as November gone, when - ever the misfit - he hasn’t been working ROH, TNA, New Japan or almost anywhere that will have him. Finally, less than half way into his 3 year deal, it’s the end for Scott Steiner. Victim of the Rumble Curse, having had a title shot at a Rumble but then been an easy scrub for Mania (hey, just like Hardcore Holly!), WWE know they haven’t quite got the top guy they thought they were signing. Scotty works the Rumble but then gets injured and come August they let him go. Don’t worry, he has plenty left both in the ring and with a calculator. Edited March 31, 2023 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted April 2, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 2, 2023 (edited) FEBRUARY 2004 Viva La Raza! THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW 1st in Youngstown OH it’s still Randy Orton vs Rob Van Dam on last as two star studded title matches sandwich Booker T vs Kane with two blokes called Chris underneath ; even without Hunter, Shawn or Goldberg the cards are really looking up. They have nothing on the tour of Japan 5th-7th where Hunters back - it’s Triple H vs Kane in Hiroshima, Chris Benoit in Osaka, and Shawn Michaels in Saitama. 20th-22nd in Springfield (IL), Evansville & Valparaiso then 27th/28th in Montgomery and Birmingham (AL) and finally Leap Day in Chattanooga, it’s HHH vs The Crippler. THE CARDS There’s obviously lots of variation on tour but some matches happening on repeat are title matches of Randy Orton vs Rob Van Dam and Ric Flair & Batista vs The Dudley Boys plus home and Osaka we’ve started Chris Jericho vs Christian on the way to Mania, and Molly Holly vs Lita for the Women’s title. After Japan RVD & Booker T defend their newly won tag belts against Orton & Batista, there’s an Indiana reprisal of Y2J vs Kane who otherwise starts squashing Hurricane (as he had in Osaka too) - whenever Jericho is off or working Kane, Christian wrestles Val Venis and worryingly doesn’t always win. Plus a tag with Lita & Trish Stratus beating Molly & Jazz, then after TVs and Molly dropping the belt there isn’t a Women’s title match in Alabama but there IS cross brand action of Torrie Wilson & Sable vs Jackie Gayda & Stacy Keibler, to promote… well, you know. Depressingly down South after a mid month break the Dudleys record only losses to Garrison Cade & Mark Jindrak who’ve just come off beating the equally dynamic Travis Tomko & Kevin Fertig in Indiana and Springfield. Another mid month run has Test vs Steven Richards where remarkably Richards is winning every night ; stunning reversal of fortunes considering each of their records for the previous two years. Now without Stacy or direction, Test is in free fall, where Richards is hooked to a rising star and next Women’s champ. The rest of those cards are Lance Storm vs Nick Dinsmore and Rico vs Horshu. There’s quite an undercard jumble month end aside from Matt Hardy vs Dinsmore in Montgomery and Chattanooga, and Storm vs Rene Dupree in Birmingham and Chattanooga. VARIATIONS Most shuffling is on the tour so here goes ; in Hiroshima Chris Benoit gets another win over Batista, Shawn Michaels vs Ric Flair always stands out in a program, the Dudleys vs Hardy & Test and Hurricane vs Rico. In Osaka, an RVD/HBK dream team beats Test & Christian, Jericho challenges Orton and a supremely random Lita & Rico lose to Molly & Matt. Finally in Saitama it’s Benoit vs Jericho in a submission match which goes over so well they’ll do it again next year, Orton pinning Matt, Christian doing a job to Hurricane and Test REALLY must have pissed someone off, he loses to Rico. Otherwise… 1st in Youngstown Benoit vs Mark Henry is a one off, and we finish up Hurricane beating Hardy, both of La Res vs John Heidenreich & Mike Bucci, and Lita & Victoria vs Molly & Jazz with Vic pinning the champ. Jericho doesn’t make it to Evansville so Kane pins Val and Christian has the night off. Horshu loses to Rob Conway in Montgomery, Hardy in Birmingham and Val in Chattanooga ; it’s Venis vs Dinsmore in Birmingham. Finally 29th in Chattanooga Vic gets to defend her new belt against Molly and Jazz. THE MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 1st/2nd in Pittsburgh and Toledo we’re not pissing about - it’s Brock Lesnar vs Kurt Angle vs Eddy Guerrero in what’s scheduled to be one on one but Latino Heat is added at show open. 7th-9th in Regina, Saskatoon and Vancouver it’s Lesnar vs Eddy one on one. 16th in Stockton it’s a big six man the night after No Way Out on Kurt’s last night as a babyface - Eddy, Angle and Hardcore Holly beat the monster alliance of Lesnar, Big Show and A-Train with new champ Eddy putting another pinfall on Lesnar. Through month end it’s Eddy vs baddie Angle In Springfield and Joplin (both Missouri) then a tour of South Africa through Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg and East Rand. THE CARDS He’s back! Kurt Angle vs Hardcore Holly graces Saskatchewan with predictable results. Month end, unencumbered by the WWE title, Brock Lesnar is free to beat Holly too every night in South Africa. The month leading up to the Rumble feels like a fever dream for Sparky now. Title matches early month have Big Show vs Holly (Bob put back in his place promptly), Rey Mysterio vs Chavo Guerrero Jr, the newest bastard (which resumes in East Rand) and Basham Brothers vs Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin. By Canada new champs Rikishi & Scotty Too Hotty are giving Doug & Danny the rematch (which continues in Springfield & Joplin), Jamie Noble is added to the CWT match, and in Regina/Saskatoon Show defeats Bradshaw. In Missouri Show’s got that thorn in his side again - fit-again John Cena (which runs to month end), Rey’s off so it’s Chavo vs Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Billy Kidman. In South Africa CWT is now a four way with Chavo/Rey/Noble and Nunzio added, and the tag title too with Rikishi & Scotty vs Bashams, WGTT and the APA. Early month consistently is Bradshaw vs Rhino (run in from Cena who has a bad knee), Tajiri vs Nunzio vs Noble, Billy Gunn vs A-Train and Orlando Jordan vs Chuck Palumbo (which resumes in Missouri). Canada has Palumbo losing to Kidman (which continues in South Africa), all three of Kyo Dai trading wins with Jordan, Ernest Miller and his hype man Lamont (seriously), Ultimo Dragon pinning Shannon Moore and Haas & Benjamin beating Rhino & Matt Morgan. Missouri also has Noble beating John Hennigan, A-Train & Morgan beating Gunn & Matt Cappotelli, Holly swapping wins with Rhino, and both shows and Stockton all have the APA beating the WGTT. Only other match to add from South Africa is Nidia vs Dawn Marie. VARIATIONS Vancouver is slightly shuffled ; Show actually defends against (and pins) Angle - like Shawn last month, challenging for a secondary title on the road. Bradshaw & Hardcore (HardShaw?) beat the WGTT, Moore upsets Morgan, Rhino pins Dragon, and Torrie Wilson pins Dawn Marie in an actual wrestling match introduced by Sable. Stockton there are a few unique matches - Jordan does a job to Tajiri, Billy pins Morgan, Cena beats Rhino, Paul London & Kidman beat Akio & Sakoda, and tag title is Rikishi & Scotty vs Bashams vs Palumbo & Nunzio.  In Cape Town only, Bashams vs Rikishi & Scotty and WGTT vs APA are two separate matches, and in East Rand only instead of being in the CWT match Nunzio teams with Palumbo and Noble with Kidman respectively in a tag. TVs Bobby Roode works tags for both weekend shows in State College and Cleveland and at the latter Bucci works dark with Moore. On this show Angle beats Holly to ostensibly become top contender and realistically relegate Bob back to his natural spot, far away from title contention. 10th in Tacoma Lamont gets a match, losing to Akio. 17th in Fresno Jordan vs A-Train is a dark opener then (not for the first time with SmackDown) a match gets cut from the broadcast - Mr Ass does a job to Tajiri. This being the show Kurt turns heel on Eddy, and Show absolutely wallops Bobcore in less than 3 minutes. It’s another show where Rey oddly works Velocity as well. 23rd in Omaha Spike pins Bucci dark, and on Heat Lance has a confrontation with Test prior to the former finally decisively beating Richards, but that’s going nowhere for the former UnAmericans stablemates. Plus another huge Raw has Vic relieve Molly of the belt by last pinning Lita in an eliminator, and Vince McMahon vs Eric Bischoff (I have no recollection why they’re fighting goes to a no contest when Brock Lesnar attacks the ref… who happens to be Steve Austin. Drumming up a bit of interest around the match extraneous to Goldberg, who isn’t staying. Next night in Kansas City Bucci loses to Funaki and Haas & Benjamin beat Hennigan & Cappotelli and on the show proper - more and more of these are sneaking in - Rikishi & Scotty lose non title to the APA. WHAT HAPPENED AT THE CLASH? SmackDown has No Way Out - Raw 16/02, the night after… Shawn Michaels vs Chris Benoit Tag Title : Ric Flair & Batista vs Booker T & Rob Van Dam Chris Jericho vs Kane Trish Stratus & Victoria vs Molly Holly & Jazz Strong episode that furthers several storylines including Ortons spat with Mick Foley which plays a part in Evolution coughing up the tag belts, and HBK pinning Benoit to land a spot in the title match at Mania which even further reinforced my conviction that there was zero chance Chris was winning. DEPARTURES Despite having something of a “monster” push on SmackDown against their fairly limited female roster, No Way Out is the end of Shaniqua. Made a legal part of the match with her and the Bashams challenge to Scotty & Rikishi, she receives a Banzai Drop and gets pinned, and is never seen again. She was useless, to be fair. Edited April 2, 2023 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted April 7, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 7, 2023 MARCH 2004 Why do I get the feeling every month after this one is going to depress me for the best part of a year? Not for the first time a Mania filled me with confidence for the months to come then almost immediately dashed them with odd changes. And not the last. THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW 5th-7th in Syracuse, Elmira and Baltimore (at <5500, not even half full) Mania is on the road! It’s Triple H vs Shawn Michaels vs Chris Benoit for the belt. 21st in Fort Wayne, 27th in Cape Girardeau and 28th in St Louis (near 9000) it’s straight Benoit vs HHH with the new champ eliciting the tap from Hunter every night. THE CARDS - RAW Chris Jericho vs Christian is going on all month, Y2J wins before Mania but after it, Trish is providing the necessary distraction for Captain Charisma to win. Tag title begins with “Mr Monday Night” (for now) Rob Van Dam and his mate (for now) Booker T vs Garrison Cade & Mark Jindrak. Late month Kane vs Rhino (new JTTS from the draft) starts to rehabilitate Kane and Batista vs Hurricane is on and off. Victoria vs Molly Holly for the Women’s title continues then after the draft Vic, Nidia, Molly and Jazz is either a tag or a four way. The Dudley Boys vs La Resistance continues before Mania and the draft. Test vs Steven Richards confounds me - Tests doing the job every night. Early month cards round out with Matt Hardy vs Nick Dinsmore and Rico vs Horshu (which also happens in Fort Wayne). Post draft new matches have Yoshihiro Tajiri beating Matt, Shelton Benjamin vs Horshu, Cade pinning Eugene (yes, THATS started its dry run) and Chuck Palumbo pinning Conway. Randy Orton is carrying an injury. Raw gets violated in the draft ; yes, they’ve just had Benoit jump, Ortons getting there and Edge is on the way back, but the midcard is plundered in an attempt to cover the loss of Angle and Lesnar. It’s not particularly going to work, RVD Booker and the Dudleys aren’t going to do much of note on Thursdays for much of the next 12 months - the channel needs top heels. And BOY is there a solution in the works. VARIATIONS No Dudleys in Baltimore so it’s RVD/Booker vs La Res vs Cade & Jindrak. Fort Wayne stands alone - Batista smashes Val Venis, Kane beats Matt, Victoria vs Molly vs Jazz for the belt, Hurricane & Rosey win an apparent contenders eliminator over La Res and Cade/Jindrak, and Richards continues winning against the floundering Lance Storm. St Louis gets some added love - Batista and Ric Flair defend the tag belts against Hurricane & Rosey. I bet Ric asked for a match there. THE MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN Tragically there are no reports before Mania. I don’t know whether shows just weren’t scheduled, got cancelled or nobody who went sent results to anyone but, it’s a shame. In Manchester NH the night after Mania, every night of the British tour, then Tampa and Louisville month end, it’s Eddy Guerrero vs Big Show for the belt. Which is somewhat of a relief compared to what’s on the horizon. THE CARDS Tag title for Scotty Too Hotty & Rikishi is back and forth between the Basham Brothers and Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin on tour and no consistency elsewhere. Whichever team they don’t wrestle loses (Bashams) or swaps wins (WGTT) with Billy Gunn & Hardcore Holly - quite a fall there, Bob. US title has John Cena vs Bradshaw usually which obviously is going to happen again later for the big belt. He also beats Rhino in Manchester (NH) and Glasgow. Back home Cena is with new rival Rene Dupree which is a bit lame. CWT has Chavo Guerrero Jr vs Rey Mysterio vs Nunzio on tour and in Louisville. Tour has other regular matches of Nidia vs Jamie Noble with Noble blindfolded and usually losing, Orlando Jordan vs Rhino or Chuck Palumbo and Billy Kidman vs Palumbo plus Torrie Wilson vs Dawn Marie in a match - bikini contests finally over. Post tour and draft there are mixed fortunes for the drafted or reinvented ; JBL begins his march (or should I say goose step?) to the main event by pinning Shannon Moore, Mark Jindrak is pinning Gunn and new baddie Booker T is crushed by the dead-again Undertaker in about a minute. VARIATIONS Manchester stands alone - Holly goes over the shortly-drafted A-Train, the tag title has Scotty/Rikishi in a three way with both the Bashams and the WGTT, the APA ride a final time beating Kyo Dai, Tajiri beats Moore before HE’S drafted, Torrie vs Nidia happens, Ultimo Dragon makes the CWT match a four way, and Gunn teams with Kidman and Paul London to beat all three of the imminently disbanded FBI. Is ANYONE staying on the show???? There are variations on tour - in Newcastle Kidman pins Rhino and in Glasgow Cena beats Rhino and Kidman upsets Bradshaw (!). In Tampa the Bashams job to the future in London & Kidman, Dennis Knight gets ANOTHER knock on the door beating Steve Madison, Jordan pins Haas and the CWT is Chavo vs Rey vs Nunzio vs Spike Dudley, and the tag belts is Rikishi & Scotty vs the Dudley Boys. Finally in Louisville all three Duds drop Kidman/London/Jordan, Rikishi & Scotty beat Doug & Danny and Akio & Sakoda, “Mr Thursday Night” Rob Van Dam pins Haas, and an OVW showcase has Sean O’Haire (still expecting to be back on TV soon) & Johnny Jeter (one day of Spirit Squad) vs Nick Dinsmore (who’s about to be Eugene on TV) & Inspector Impact (another moniker of Horshu/Luther Reigns). TVs 1st in Duluth, GA (9500 sellout!) Lance & Venis lose to the Dudleys for Heat and fail to earn a berth in the four teamer at Mania - writings on the wall for Storm. Also this is the Raw that Johnny Blaze debuts. Next night in Savannah Ray Gordy (son of Terry) does a job to Shannon Moore - he’s going to end up being Jesse of Jesse & Festus and imagine having his pedigree and being the less successful of that pair! 8th In Bridgeport Kenzo Suzuki pins Dinsmore and Travis Tomko & Kevin Fertig beat Horshu & Mike Kruel - I can’t imagine how bad that must have been. Next night in Atlantic City Kenzo pins Gunn and Bradshaw beats Horshu. Night after Mania at the former Meadowlands Fertig pins Chad Wicks and night after at the FleetCenter Sho Funaki pins Horshu and Jordan pins Johnny Stamboli. 22nd in Detroit (a healthy 12,000) Tomko pins Lenny Lane dark and Joey Matthews is jobbing again on Heat. Next night in Grand Rapids Rico debuts in front of a SmackDown crowd dark with Noble, Tyson Dux jobs to Jindrak on Velocity and sadly this is the show where a promising first meeting between WWE Champ Eddy and new baddie Booker ends with the reinvented JBL interfering and the company pretending he’s a main eventer overnight despite losing a million matches in the last eight years. 29th In Cincinnati an interesting tag team of Brent Albright & Mike Mondo job to Rob Conway & Sylvan Grenier (newest and now permanent version of La Res) - Mondo will be Mikey in the Spirit Squad, Albright will be barely remembered as Gunner Scott but to the wider world will have an interesting run in ROH including relieving future GM Adam Pearce of the NWA World title (former the property to book of TNA) in the Manhattan Centre. Next night in Columbus (OH) Albright will lose to Jordan for Velocity and dark Carly Colon (yes, Carlito) beats London. DEPARTURES OK…. when the APA film their break up en route to turning JBL and leaving Farooq in the dirt, Ron has basically decided anyway it’s time to retire and is eyeing up an agent role. There’s been a communication breakdown somewhere however and the Thursday the TV episode airs the company releases him. He’ll be back with various appearances and in various roles as soon as 2006 and in the years to come they’ll force “Damn” down our throats even though it was never a thing while he was active. Bill Goldberg has been on his way out the door for months. They got the belt off him and “suspended” him on TV for nearly a month while negotiations took place but he decided their way of presenting him wasn’t what he wanted to continue doing. At the time, in the dark about the contract situation and in spite of the Lesnar interaction at Survivor Series I’d been convinced he was winning the Rumble to win the belt back from Hunter and they’d commit to him as top babyface. I was wrong. I don’t think they got Bill right short of his performance in the Elimination Chamber and they’d repeat their mistakes with Batista later, forcing the explosive strongman into slow plodding Triple H matches where he has to sell for far too long. Finally… Brock Lesnar. As his deal draws near to expiry he makes noises about signing a new deal but never does, then after the last SmackDown taping before Mania he tells them he’s leaving to try and make a go of it in the NFL. Maybe being left beaten and bloody at the hands of Steve Austin on the eve of Mania didn’t sit well with him? Maybe the planned revisit of the Undertaker feud left him cold? Or maybe the grind was too much and the lure of now having some money in the bank to support his football dream was something he just had to go for. Either way, his planned win over Goldberg got scrapped, he left, and it’s pretty insane to think he’s now been back (on and off) for longer that he was away. 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Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted April 7, 2023 Awards Moderator Share Posted April 7, 2023 I was at that Newcastle show! I remember the Kidman-Rhyno opener, Holly & Gunn teaming, Cena vs Bradshaw and the main event of Eddie vs Big Show. I had a great time - it was my first WWE show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted April 8, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 8, 2023 9 hours ago, HarmonicGenerator said: I was at that Newcastle show! I remember the Kidman-Rhyno opener, Holly & Gunn teaming, Cena vs Bradshaw and the main event of Eddie vs Big Show. I had a great time - it was my first WWE show. Seeing Eddy at the top must have been great, I always consider myself lucky going to Passport To Pain when he was on the cusp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted April 8, 2023 Awards Moderator Share Posted April 8, 2023 35 minutes ago, air_raid said: Seeing Eddy at the top must have been great, I always consider myself lucky going to Passport To Pain when he was on the cusp. It was - he rightly felt like the star of the show. He and Big Show worked well together, and it felt like a main event. In terms of reactions, nobody matched him on the night either (Cena might have come close if Bradshaw hadn’t killed off the crowd interest). He was great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dart Posted April 8, 2023 Share Posted April 8, 2023 On 3/30/2023 at 6:52 AM, air_raid said: ALSO 4th the Spike TV Video Game Awards are taped in Vegas and WWE has a match featured - technically televised though I tried to track it down a few years back and couldn’t - a cross brand tag of Rey & Trish vs Y2J & Victoria, introduced by occasional dabbler in the world of pro wrestling, Jenna Jameson.   Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted April 13, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 13, 2023 (edited) APRIL 2004 THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW 2nd in Hidalgo TX (6700 sellout), 3rd at Arena Mexico (near 11,000) 4th in Laredo it’s still Chris Benoit vs Triple H then in Peoria and two nights in Michigan it’s Batista getting shots with Johnny Nitro refereeing. 23rd onwards in St Paul, Wichita and Amarillo it’s back to Hunter, which is a hell of a lot more “big time” than what’s happening over the road… THE CARDS We still have Chris Jericho vs Christian all month with various results. A couple of early month tag title bouts of Ric Flair & Batista vs Shawn Michaels & Shelton Benjamin (hello!) give way to Shelton chasing Randy Orton for the ICT ; mid month going to a broadway in a 2/3 falls match with a 20 minute time limit, then late month it’s the old fashioned Orton by cheating. Plus after his main event run, Big Dave’s beating Rhino - might have been fun but it’s not as impressive on the marquee. Kane does two wins over Yoshihiro Tajiri either side of the border then works Rhino up to Backlash then starts working Matt Hardy in a feud that’s going to run and run. Women’s title four way of Victoria vs Lita vs Molly Holly vs Jazz up to Backlash and thereafter it’s a tag of Vic & Lita vs Molly & Gail Kim. Matt beats A-Train early month and Chuck Palumbo mid month. Hurricane beats Val Venis twice then tags with Rosey to beat La Resistance for the rest of the month. Rhino vs Garrison Cade is the sole early month match from the Raw roster I didn’t mention, mid month Cade bests Tajiri and Albert has to do jobs for Eugene, month end cards also have Tajiri getting those wins back from Cade and Venis over A-Train. Finally Hidalgo, Monterrey and Laredo have the wonderful bonus for the locals of Chavo Guerrero Jr vs Rey Mysterio for the CWT - Chavo Classic and all the brothers being bona fide legends in the area. Edge is not wrestling on the road but he’s saving Lita (eep) in the aftermath of Kane vs Matt matches. How ironic. VARIATIONS Laredo has a card of its own without Slick Ric ; HBK pins Kane, Shelton beats Batista, Tajiri returns to the winners circle against Hardy, Hurricane drops A-Train and Rhino wins a match!.. over Val and Cade in a three way. Amarillo has a couple of changes - Jericho misses it so Christian pins Venis, A-Train is out injured and Johnny Nitro wrestles! He and La Res lose to Helms, Rosey & Eugene. Plus special treat - hometown legend Terry Funk is the GM for the night and gets involved both caught in the Kane maelstrom and helping Benoit fight off Evolution at the finale. THE MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 3rd-4th in Mobile/Dothan, 5th in Dallas (best of 3 falls), 10th in Ames IA, 11th in Omaha and 12th in Terre Haute it’s Eddy Guerrero vs JBL for the belt. 19th in Medicine Hat, Alberta Eddy is off so the main begins as John Cena vs Rene Duprée with “GM for the night” JBL as ref but when it kicks off Hardcore Holly sticks his chequered flag in and it becomes a tag won by Cena and Bob. Tulsa and Wichita Falls pick back up the title match. After ages of main events being the preserve of Lesnar, Angle, Show, new champ Eddy and occasionally the over-like-Rover Cena, why people are suddenly expected to pay to see title shots for one of the Acolytes is beyond me. THE CARDS The Undertaker vs Booker T is continuing most of the month and is still very short. John Cena vs Rene Dupree is essentially all month but becomes a mixed tag involving Torrie Wilson and Dawn Marie end of month when Dupree interrupts their tiny Teddy contest - yes, that’s back. Rob Van Dam vs Charlie Haas gets minutes but you know who’s winning. Chavo Guerrero Jr vs Rey Mysterio continues for a couple of weeks then it becomes Jamie Noble and Spike Dudley in a three way. Month end Billy Kidman gets involved too. The Dudley Boys jump from Kyo Dai to Kidman and Paul London after their TV heel turn and keep on winning. Tag title carries on being the interminable Rikishi & Scotty Too Hotty vs The Basham Brothers then after the title change on TV we move to Rico & Haas vs Bashams, and Scotty & Kish vs the Dudleys. Rico vs Noble early month gives way to Rico vs Johnny Stamboli and we add Billy Gunn vs Horshu. Mark Jindrak vs Hardcore Holly moves into Jindrak vs Orlando Jordan which is equally one-sided then month end Jindrak drops some wins back to Gunn. Also month end Holly is slapping around Matt Cappotelli and London does jobs for Mordecai. Yuck. After what I wrote previously about the Rumble finale and talent roster, if you told me one side of a draft would have Eddy, Cena, RVD, Rey, Booker, Undertaker and the Dudleys but be unable to put on appealing cards or decent TV, I wouldn’t have believed you. VARIATIONS In Dothan Nunzio loses to Jordan, in Dallas he beats Hardcore. Medicine Hat is unique ; Rico beats Haas (with whom he is about to win the tag belts) by walk off count out, Kidman & London beat Noble & Nunzio, Chavo pins Spike one on one, Torrie vs Dawn Marie is a singles and Rikishi & Scotty retain over both the Bashams and the Dudleys. In Tulsa the Duds just attack Rico & Charlie when they win a three way over the Bashams and Rikishi/Scotty, Taker doesn’t do Wichita Falls so Booker pins Holly. TVs 5th in Houston the clock is ticking for both these guys : Palumbo beats A-Train dark. This is the night William Regal returns to TV as Eugenes handler. Next night in San Antonio Sho Funaki pins Cappotelli - SmackDown being the episode where JBL is declared number one contender by winning Kurt’s “Great American Award” i.e. he didn’t beat anyone - for which he qualified without beating anyone, unlike the other nominees. 12th Raw in Chicago has nothing dark but Grandmaster Sexay returns to get squashed by Kane. Next night in Indianapolis Cappotelli pins Noble and London beats Brent Albright - this being the show JBL has his title shot announced for Judgment Day, even though he hasn’t beaten anyone. In Calgary on 19th local favourite Lance Storm pins Steven Richards for Heat as a bit of a favour, next night in Kelowna Stamboli pins Bobby Roode and for SmackDown JBL wins a fucking match, beating El Gran Luchadore which happens to be London in a mask. On 27th he continues his “main event” form pinning Funaki on Velocity. Bullshit. Re-reading and writing about this stuff now makes me realize that how awful I describe the JBL elevation in retrospect isn’t hyperbole - they did fuck all to make you think he was a threat by Kurt just gifting him title contention or any of the follow up. I know “he doesn’t deserve it” is an acceptable story to garner heel heat, but this wasn’t Million Dollar Man trying to buy the title (even though it borrowed heavily from that) - DiBiase still won matches even if he was cheating to do so. JBL beat fucking nobody. He was an Acolyte in a different outfit, whose previous forays into singles resulted in spotty win/loss records and you simply couldn’t take seriously as someone the company might put the top title on. WHAT HAPPENED AT THE CLASH? There was another episode where Eddy beat Show non title “forcing him to leave SmackDown” writing him out until September (knee surgery) but this is just about the one where they do more in terms of storyline, blowoffs, a heel turn and of course, a title change. Raw does better next month. Maybe it’s a sign that nothing was OBVIOUSLY the “big” episode that something’s going terribly wrong with the show. April 2004 - Raw has Backlash, SmackDown taped 20/04 (2 nights later) John Cena vs Chavo Guerrero Jr & Chavo Classic Rob Van Dam vs Booker T Non title : Eddy Guerrero vs D-Von Dudley Tag title : Rikishi & Scotty Too Hotty vs Charlie Haas & Rico JBL vs El Gran Luchadore DEPARTURES It’s the end for Lance Storm - after three years his contract expires after the quiet dissolving of his team with Val and TV jobs to Spike, Matt and Rhino. After fairly decent heel runs with the Alliance, UnAmericans and Bischoffs team of choice with “Chief Morley” they seemed to run out of ideas or desire to persevere with Lance ; the face turn was always destined to fail and he probably knew he was due for the chop when he failed even to make the field for the Royal Rumble. Terri Runnels has her contract terminated as a cost cutting measure this month after years of being fairly irrelevant. She’s gone on to say that as a mark of respect for her years of service the company actually flew her to Stamford on the 1st to tell her the decision face to face, which she appreciated. Rare. Its widely known Ultimo Dragon in WWE wasn’t a good fit, and that after his trip at Mania XX he disappeared. What’s probably not talked about is that he learned they were planning on taking his mask off which is why he asked for his release. He taped two losses to Chavo and Nunzio in April that aired on Velocity and that was it. Finally despite retaining a decent push for years Rikishi stops getting booked on the road or used on TV the moment he loses the tag titles, ahead of his eventual release in July. It’s said your company kept asking him to lose weight and he didn’t. Odd situation when his whole gimmick was about being fat. Win some, lose some. He’d long outstayed his welcome and was never truly adored again like he was before that bonkers heel turn. Edited May 1, 2023 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted April 13, 2023 Awards Moderator Share Posted April 13, 2023 49 minutes ago, air_raid said: and for SmackDown JBL wins a fucking match, beating El Gran Luchadore which happens to be London in a mask. On 27th he continues his “main event” form pinning Funaki on Velocity. Bullshit. Re-reading and writing about this stuff now makes me realize that how awful I describe the JBL elevation in retrospect isn’t hyperbole - they did fuck all to make you think he was a threat by Kurt just gifting him title contention or any of the follow up. I know “he doesn’t deserve it” is an acceptable story to garner heel heat, but this wasn’t Million Dollar Man trying to buy the title (even though it borrowed heavily from that) - DiBiase still won matches even if he was cheating to do so. JBL beat fucking nobody. He was an Acolyte in a different outfit, whose previous forays into singles resulted in spotty win/loss records and you simply couldn’t take seriously as someone the company might put the top title on. ... Finally despite retaining a decent push for years Rikishi stops getting booked on the road or used on TV the moment he loses the tag titles, ahead of his eventual release in July. It’s said your company kept asking him to lose weight and he didn’t. Odd situation when his whole gimmick was about being fat. Win some, lose some. He’d long outstayed his welcome and was never truly adored again like he was before that bonkers heel turn. It's nearly twenty years on and I still can't take that JBL main event run seriously either. Always wondered what happened with Rikishi leaving. He always seemed to be well liked, always got a spot in the Rumble, etc. I know they HOFed him, but am very surprised they haven't brought him in for a cameo with all the Bloodline stories going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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