Paid Members Fatty Facesitter Posted April 13, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted April 13, 2023 (edited) His ascension at the time seriously devalued the WWE title for me. He loved to crow about 'selling out' the arena for his Judgement Day main event with Eddie, but I think the majority of tickets had already been sold well in advance and most people had probably been hoping to see the newly-returned Deadman once he'd been announced. I will say that I warmed to JBL over time in terms of him being a serviceable heel champion towards the end of his reign who was a natural foil for babyfaces to challenge. But the stench and overwhelming sense of WTF at the beginning is hard to shake off. Man, 2004 Smackers really was smelly. Edited April 13, 2023 by Fatty Facesitter 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 14 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said: It's nearly twenty years on and I still can't take that JBL main event run seriously either. It gets worse before it gets better too. Again, “Honky his way out” with crap DQ or count out finishes may have worked to get heat for many guys past, but he didn’t actually beat anyone. And it lasted forever. Instead of, when they’re down main eventers, thinking “Maybe Cena’s ready” they had this loser carry the belt for nearly a year so when he lost the title to Cena the reaction was lukewarm because (a) he was a lame champion to beat and (b) Cena was tepid after wasting his last year with midcarders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted April 24, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 24, 2023 MAY 2004 THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW We’re still in the desert - 1st in Lubbock and 2nd in Yuma (AZ) it’s still Chris Benoit vs Triple H for the belt, 7th in New Orleans and 8th in Lafayette The Crippler and Edge defend the tag belts against Randy Orton & Batista. 9th in Fresno Trips is back, then 15th in Spokane and 16th in Everett (WA) Kane starts getting the shots though not yet number one contender on TV. 22nd in Philadelphia it’s loaded so that title match is before intermission with Shawn Michaels vs Triple H on last - no title so of course Hunter lies down for his mate. 23rd in Moline normal service resumes and Benoit closes the show before a huge British Isles tour - 26th on the first night in Dublin HBK pins Hunter again before Benoit vs Kane, next night Benoit vs HHH is on last above a big Evolution six man, 28th in Manchester it’s again Shawn beating Hunter and Benoit beating Kane, 29th in Brum Trippers tapping again. THE CARDS Chris Jericho vs Christian continues and the cage matches start but Captain Charisma gets a knock so Tyson Tomko substitutes in various cage or no DQ matches. Randy Orton vs Shelton Benjamin begins a month for RKO where though he also wrestles Shelton a couple of nights on tour, he gradually moves to Edge, his next and final challenger for the ICT, while it’s Batista next for Shelton. Kane vs Matt Hardy continues until Kane starts getting the title shots then Matt starts beating A-Train, has a couple of Kane/related losses or no contests with the increasingly invisible Test and also has to do a few jobs to Big Dave month end - Batista having started his month with Val Venis. The women’s match varies hugely starting with continuation of Victoria & Lita vs Molly Holly & Gail Kim, there’s a couple of nights where Lita is only there to be in Matts corner and Nidia is Vic’s partner, then there’s a title match of Vic vs Molly vs Gail vs Jazz in a eliminator while that classic rivalry Lita vs Trish Stratus is back on in earnest, I believe for the first time since Trish’s elevation to actual wrestler. At the close of month it’s usually Vic vs Molly except twice on tour it’s a three way with Lita. Hurricane & Rosey vs La Resistance happens most of the month, early month it’s a six man involving Eugene and Johnny Nitro. Also Chuck Palumbo vs Grandmaster Sexay runs for a while before Brian gets shitcanned then Chuckie starts beating Steven Richards, plus Garrison Cade vs Rhino is on and off with Cade also mixing it up with Yoshihiro Tajiri or it’s a threeway early and finishing his month with Venis. VARIATIONS Starting with the big guns, and there’s nobody bigger than HBK - in Fresno (a big city for Shawn) he and Shelton revisit their run with Ric Flair & Batista though because there’s no gold now, they win. In Moline, Shawn pins Dave in singles, and that six man I mentioned in Dublin has (real “stars aligning” shit here) Shawn, Edge and Y2J beat Slick Ric, Randy and Batista, then HBK pins Naitch at the NEC. Edge vs Kane gets another whirl too in Fresno, Kane beats Shelton the second night at The Point (Dublin) while Edge loses to Flair in Manc but pins Batista in Brum. Otherwise - lots of variation for Rhino who beats A-Train in Yuma and loses to Christian in Lafayette where Cade pins Val, then in Fresno Rhino loses to Orton and Cade beats Matt with help from Kane. Moline has Shelton beat Cade and Rhino pin Richards, night 2 of Dublin has separate singles outings with Grenier losing to Rhino and Conway to Eugene, Hurricane drop Nitro and mixed tag action of Matt & Lita vs Trish & Tomko and Birmingham has two oddball tags with Rhino becoming Litas partner after Kane (who doesn’t wrestle) attacks Matt, and Y2J & Eugene dropping Nitro and Cade. THE MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 2nd in El Paso (hometown!) and 3rd in Odessa it’s still Eddy Guerrero vs JBL with a pinfall finish, the El Paso show having the risible “Eddys mum heart attack” angle they used on TV - 8th in Charlotte and 9th in Columbia Eddy is therefore getting himself disqualified with a chair. 15th in San Bernardino and 17th in Palm Springs (either side of the PPV at the Staples Center) Eddys off so it’s a good old fashioned B show double main with John Cena vs Rene Dupree for the US title and on last the fun of Rob Van Dam & Rey Mysterio vs The Dudley Boys, either side of (sigh) a tiny teddy contest, plus Taker. 23rd in Green Bay and 24th in LaCrosse the title match resumes as a streetfight and Eddys winning again but 29th-31st in Kingston, St John and Moncton Latino Heat is off again - Cena vs Dupree on last, JBL finally recording decent wins over Rey underneath. 22nd in Evansville is cancelled. Maybe you’ll draw the same conclusion I did. THE CARDS The Undertaker vs Booker T continues up to the PPV, sandwiching the Carolinas during which Booker beats Billy Gunn. John Cena vs Rene Dupree starts with the same odd transition into a mixed tag with Torrie Wilson and Dawn Marie and also takes a break at Charlotte and Columbia on which Dupree beats Hardcore Holly. After Judgment Day Cena vs Booker starts up a couple of times in Wisconsin before in Canada Cena has to open with Luther Reigns and a DQ AND close with Dupree. Rob Van Dam & Rey Mysterio vs The Dudley Boys for most of the month sounds fun though a bit “match for the sake of a match” doing little for either babyface or the ailing tag division. In Wisconsin Rey is with Dupree and Rob has nights off before Canada where Rey has that program with JBL and RVD vs Bubba Ray takes place in singles. A tag title match with Charlie Haas & Rico vs Chavo Guerrero Jr & Chavo Classic in Texas is great for the locals then it’s Gunn & Holly most of the month except in the Carolinas - with those two in singles the champs beat Johnny Stamboli & Nunzio as they do in Wisconsin, where Bob n Billy get to beat the Dudleys. Come Canada, Rico/Haas v Gunn/Hardcore becomes a three way with the Basham Brothers. There’s very little consistency in CWT matches, this being the month Chavo loses it to Jacquelyn for a couple of weeks then wins it back for all of two days before his dad accidentally wins it off him, although Jackie vs Jr does happen twice with one no contest and one idiotic finish where she’s permitted to win by pinning Sr, then Classic is retaining against Spike Dudley through Canada. Otherwise in Texas it’s Shannon Moore beating Stamboli, Mark Jindrak finishing up with Holly, Billy Kidman vs Jamie Noble and Modecai vs Paul London, in the Carolinas and Wisconsin Jindrak beats Orlando Jordan (as he does in San Bernardino) and Mordecai squashes Moore (in Green Bay not not LaCrosse) and in Canada it’s Mordecai pinning Scotty Too Hotty, Jindrak over Sho Funaki, Torrie vs Dawn Marie in a singles and London & Kidman vs Noble & Nunzio. VARIATIONS Noble earns extra cheques in the Carolinas ; in Charlotte he jobs for Jackie with Chavo (Jr) only doing a run in, and in Columbia he loses to Funaki who doesn’t wrestle in Charlotte. San Bernardino is missing a few the night before Judgment Day - Booker pins Stamboli, Mordecai beats Funaki, Kidman & London beat the Bashams. In Palm Springs, Mordecai pins Orlando, Jindrak pins Funaki, Kidman & London beat both the Bashams and the FBI and Chavo Jr makes his lone successful defence over Noble and Spike. In Green Bay Classic retains over Spike and Kidman, in LaCrosse he beats Moore and Spike. TVs Nothing dark happens for the first 3 weeks of tapings though 17th Heat taping has Chad Wicks and Aaron Aguilera (who will briefly be Carlitos heavy Jesus) do a job to La Resistance. 25th in Milwaukee there’s finally a dark match - John Heidenreich teams with a Brad Cooper (no, not Rocket Raccoon) to lose to Jordan & Funaki. That’s about it. WHAT HAPPENED AT THE CLASH? This was undisputedly THE show to rival Judgment Day this month - a big name title fight set up two weeks in advance (as “Clash” title matches often were) which went nearly half an hour though the finish served for Triple H to remind everyone that regardless of who’s wrestling for the title, he’s top dog. SmackDown has Judgment Day - Raw 03/05 in Phoenix WHC : Chris Benoit vs Shawn Michaels Edge, Shelton Benjamin & Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Triple H, Randy Orton & Batista Non title : Victoria vs Gail Kim Kane vs Steven Richards Hurricane vs Rob Conway DEPARTURE He’s in and he’s out - Brian Christopher exits the company after merely one month back on the crew. Apparently the last hire of JRs time at the helm of talent scouting, I couldn’t find any info about this release among the myriad of obituaries but it was probably just Brian being himself. A sad case, his untimely death is the worst - he’s arrested for drink driving (not for the first time) and hangs himself in his cell, oblivious to the fact the county sheriff has started a dialogue with Jerry about releasing his lad to go to rehab rather than court. Truly one of most avoidable young deaths in an industry plagued by them. On 4/13/2023 at 9:13 AM, Fatty Facesitter said: He loved to crow about 'selling out' the arena for his Judgement Day main event with Eddie, but I think the majority of tickets had already been sold well in advance and most people had probably been hoping to see the newly-returned Deadman once he'd been announced. My theory is that the on sale likely coincided with their last visit to the Staples Center, which always seemed to be a great market for them (there’s a reason they did so many consecutive years’ SummerSlam there) - this case being the previous November which had local favourite Rey Mysterio opening, Eddy on the rise, and a main event scene of Brock and his clan of beasts as the mountain to climb for Kurt, Benoit and Cena. I’m sure they shifted a ton of tickets at intermission that night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted April 26, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 26, 2023 (edited) JUNE 2004 Welcome to a terrible month. The stretched-feeling roster puts on TWO underwhelming single brand PPV shows, TV continues to disappoint and there’s a title change which made me feel sick. THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW 5th at the Fleet Center it’s Chris Benoit vs Triple H vs Kane, 6th in Rochester it’s just Benoit vs Kane. Once Bad Blood is in the books - here’s a fun run - 18th in Spartanburg, 19th in North Charleston it’s Benoit vs Ric Flair, two former Horsemen meeting for the big gold belt in South Carolina! It repeats 20th in Fort Myers. 25th in Buffalo it’s Kane again, then 26th at MSG before a mere 10,000 and 27th in Salisbury MD the Crippler is back beating HHH. THE CARDS Early month we start with Edge vs Ric Flair and ICT of Randy Orton vs Shelton Benjamin then Orton vs Edge really picks up after Bad Blood. Chris Jericho vs Tyson Tomko, no DQ continues then Batista is a series of wins for Y2J that looks great with the benefit of history and hindsight. When Kane isnt main event he’s still usually crushing Matt Hardy. Early month tag title sees La Resistance vs Hurricane & Matt (subbing for Rosey) then vs Yoshihiro Tajiri & Rhino for most of the rest of the month. A women’s match is the tag of Victoria & Lita vs Gail Kim & Molly Holly then Trish Stratus vs Vic vs Molly for the belt after Trish regains it at the PPV, then three nights late month of simply Trish vs Victoria. Mid month we also pick up Eugene beating Garrison Cade, and late month Eugene is beating Coach in comedy matches and we get a run where Hurricane and Maven oppose Cade and Test in either two singles, a tag, or just Helms vs Cade with the other two in their corners. VARIATIONS In Boston and Rochester, Val Venis or Rhino go over Test and the corresponding babyface tags with Eugene to beat Cade & Coach. Mid month has some shuffling around the tag title match and singles for Tomko and Chuck Palumbo - Spartanburg has the only exception for La Res, going over Hardy & Venis, while Palumbo loses to Tajiri and Tomko to Rhino. In North Charleston Matt beats Palumbo and Val beats Tomko, in Fort Myers Chuck gets to win over Val, Tomko loses to Hardy. Jericho doesn’t wrestle in Buffalo when Hunter is also off so Batista beats Hurricane and Hardy pins Cade, otherwise it’s as you were. THE MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN With Raw having just left the British isles, the blue crew hit mainland Europe - its Eddy Guerrero vs JBL supported by The Undertaker vs Booker T 3rd in Milan, next night in Pesaro it’s Eddy vs Booker and Taker pinning JBL, then 5th in Munich it’s a fairly logical tag main, 6th in Obenhausen we’re back where we started. Munich of course being where Bradshaw goose steps down the apron to rile up the natives, which should have been the end of him there and then. The title match continues 13th in St Louis and 14th in Springfield IL which are the last reports before the Bash. 28th in Winston-Salem it’s an old fashioned cross-feud handicap as Eddy and surprise partner Taker beat JBL and the Dudley Boys. THE CARDS Our top matches underneath remain John Cena vs Rene Dupree and Rob Van Dam & Rey Mysterio vs The Dudley Boys on the tour. Mid month we move to Cena vs Booker T, RVD going 50/50 with Rene and Rey beating Mark Jindrak. Charlie Haas & Rico vs Billy Gunn & Hardcore Holly is our frequent tag title defence on tour. Chavo Guerrero Jr & Chavo Classic tag in Italy then in Germany Classic defends the CWT against Nunzio and Spike Dudley ; mid month Jr is losing to LSD when dad doesn’t show up. The rest of the tour most commonly has Mordecai vs Paul London, Billy Kidman vs Jamie Noble and Jindrak going 50/50 with Johnny Stamboli. Mid month also has Mordecai beating Sho Funaki and London & Kidman beating the FBI. Bikini contests are back and Sable is still doing the occasional road gig as well as very occasional TV match such as at the Bash with Torrie. VARIATIONS The Chavos tag has them beat Spike & Nunzio in Milan but lose to the FBI in Pesaro - bet that was popular. Other exceptions are Mordecai vs Spike, Kidman vs Jindrak and Noble vs London in Pesaro and Kidman & Torrie Wilson vs Noble & Dawn Marie in Munich. Right before they lose the tag belts Haas & Rico beat the Basham Brothers in St Louis where The Undertaker beats the Dudleys in a handicap ; Takers off next night so In Springfield there is a three way for the belts. Winston-Salem has several new matches, some of which repeat from the PPV and/or lead into Julys run through Canada - Billy jobs for Kenzo Suzuki, Bobcore for Mordecai and Haas for Luther Reigns (with Kurt in his corner), Jindrak pins Scotty Too Hotty, Rey, Spike & Funaki beat Chavo (Jr), Noble and Shannon Moore, and the FBI beat the Bashams, Kyo Dai and London & Kidman. Some of that sounds rancid. TVs 7th in Albany Venis pins Carlito Colon, next night at Nassau Carlito loses to Funaki. 14th in Dayton Rodney Mack is on the comeback trail and loses to Rhino then - here’s an odd one - a TV mandated five minute (!) promo for the second season of Joe Schmo (don’t ask) airs during the Raw broadcast, during which the live crowd sees A-Train do a job for Tajiri. Next night in Chicago Carlitos losing to Kidman dark. 21st in Miami Palumbo beats Norman Smiley and Hurricane & Rosey beat Wolf Hawkfield and Dave Heath - yes, Gangrel. Plus on Heat, Train loses his last televised match for many years to former stablemate Val. Next night in Orlando Heath tags with HIS former stablemate Dennis Knight (Mideon) to lose to the Bashams. 28th in Richmond Carlito loses to Hurricane and next night in Fayetteville to Moore. This being the show Mordecai loses for the first and last time on SmackDown to Mysterio. Of course, this is month where Great American Bash sees the culmination of the worst elevation of all time where having not beaten anyone to get into the title picture and not beaten anyone to become top contender, JBL becomes WWE champion by not even a tainted pin over Eddy, but by touching a turnbuckle pad. He beat fucking nobody to get to the title and he’ll continue beating nobody on TV for quite a while. DEPARTURES OK, I jumped the gun on this one previously - A-Train was drafted to Raw but never actually wrestles a televised match on the main show, sustaining a reasonably serious injury not long after his matches in June. Despite the company always finding a spot for him for the previous five years, his contract is cancelled in November while he’s recovering. He’ll eventually get back on the radar being dragged to decent matches by some of the best wrestlers of the 21st Century in New Japan and be brought back as the ridiculous Lord Tensai character. What a bad month for T&A - Test suffers a recurrence of the neck injury he never really recovered from earlier in the year and he’ll get booked in for the fusion surgery in July. Rapidly diminishing in status before this, it’s not a shock that he gets cut in November too. Once recovered he’ll see the world before returning - briefly - in 06/07. Chavo Classic no shows those shows on 13th and 14th so on the 15th taping in Chicago they have him drop the belt to Rey in less than two minutes then let him go. Honestly, seems fair to me. Famously Mordecai is aborted as a character and Kevin is sent back to OVW after his loss to Rey airs on the 1st July show. Widely reported at the time that they simply decided he wasn’t ready, there’s actually legal trouble hanging over his head too. He gets released in 2005 but he too will be back. Odd one this - Jacquelyn is finally released one month after being Cruiserweight champ when the company finally admits having nothing left for her, now she’s wrestled men in WWE as she always did back to her Miss Texas days. She always prided herself on the phrase “I’m a wrestler” and while she did the swimsuit/Diva stuff, it wasn’t really her. She wrestles again of course, most notably for TNA. Heres a Trish vs Vic ;  Edited May 6, 2023 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jm29195 Posted April 26, 2023 Share Posted April 26, 2023 Quote Hurricane & Rosey beat Wolf Hawkfield and Dave Heath - yes, Gangrel.  Never mind Gangrel, isn't Wolf Hawkfield Jungle Jim Steele? What a tag team! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted April 26, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 26, 2023 15 minutes ago, jm29195 said: Never mind Gangrel, isn't Wolf Hawkfield Jungle Jim Steele? What a tag team! Indeed he was. Though having failed to get signed tagging with his regular partner Mike Barton last time out, I wouldn't have fancied his chances with fangs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted April 28, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 28, 2023 JULY 2004 THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW 2nd in Vancouver, 3rd in Saskatoon, 4th in Regina and 10th in Worcester we continue Chris Benoit vs Kane for the belt, 16th in Wilkes-Barre, 17th in Reading and 18th in Frederick MD we revert to Triple H and still after TVs, 24th in Erie and 25th in Wheeling and 31st in Austin, though 30th in Albuquerque Benoit has his first defence against Randy Orton. THE CARDS Randy Orton vs Edge is the ICT match most of the month, you will not be surprised to hear, either side of the title change and Chris Jericho vs Batista continues until Vengeance (and reprises in Frederick and Austin) but thereafter Y2J picks up a run with Kane when he drops out of the main event - there is an interlude where Randy is off so it’s Edge vs Batista otherwise Dave’s killing time with Maven, and Kanes odd man out usually ends up as Hurricane when everyone else is engaged. La Resistance vs Hurricane & Rosey for the tag belts goes through Canada then La Res vs Yoshihiro Tajiri & Rhino goes the rest of the month. Victoria vs Gail Kim is an unplanned singles run in Canada as the champ misses the trip with her arm in a cast, thereafter Vic beats Molly Holly most of the month either side of Erie and Wheeling where’s its Jazz. Early month it’s also Batista vs Rhino because Jericho isn’t on the Canada run (??), William Regal back on the road with Steven Richards, continuation of Eugene vs Coach and usually Matt Hardy vs Tyson Tomko and Tajiri beating Mike Bucci. Mid month Val Venis swaps wins with returning Rodney Mack, Richards pins Bucci, Regal beats Chuck Palumbo and Tomko beats Maven. By Erie and Wheeling Helms & Rosey are with Palumbo & Bucci, Val pins Tomko and Richards does the other half of “mr and mrs” pairs of singles matches against Mack, continuing to Albuquerque where he finally wins one. Finally last two nights of the month the only match not covered above or below has Val over Palumbo. VARIATIONS I simply have to start with Albuquerque where several SummerSlam runs start - as well as Edge vs Y2J vs Batista, incredibly, HHH does a clean (jacknife cradle) job to Eugene. For completion, Hurricane beats Tomko and Regal jobs for Kane. There’s some irregularities through Canada - in Vancouver Garrison Cade & Palumbo beat Venis & Maven, in Saskatoon they swap opponents from the tag title match, in Regina Eugene pins Cade instead of Coach, Palumbo tags with Tomko to lose to Rhino & Tajiri, Regal does a job for Batista, partners Maven and Val wrestle each other, Matt pins Richards and Bucci has the night off. Maybe they wanted to do a shuffled card from Saskatoon in case people went to both? Worcester has several common matches with Canada but some people are off the night before the PPV - Batista pins Val, Rhino squashes Chuck and Orton actually wrestles Tajiri. Finally in Austin Richards starts beating Tomko and Regal beats Mack. THE MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN Blue brand also opens in Canada - 3rd in North Bay, 4th in Sudbury and 5th in Kenora (all Ontario) it’s JBL vs Eddy Guerrero in streetfights with loads of run ins. 10th in Hampton Beach NH 11th in Cohasset, 12th in Cape Cod (our old friend Melody Tent) it’s JBL against eventual successor John Cena with Kurt in JBLs corner, continuing the simmering enmity between the GM and Doctor of Thuganomics which in a remarkable bit of long term storytelling they won’t pay off for nearly a year in total. 16th/17th there are two huge nights at Budokan Hall that see Eddy first beat JBL by DQ then next night tag with The Undertaker to drop Bradshaw and Kurt Angle - first match back. 25th in Roanoke and 26th in Huntington the downtime for Eddy continues as it’s JBL vs Cena still but then 31st at the former Meadowlands it’s a huge double main - JBL vs The Undertaker for the belt then John Cena vs Kurt Angle on last. Well, comparatively huge. It’s still Bradshaw. THE CARDS - SMACKDOWN John Cena vs Booker T vs Rene Dupree for the US title runs through Canada as does Rey Mysterio vs Chavo Guerrero Jr for the CWT ; mid month when Cena is on top we get Rey vs Booker then late month it’s Rey back to defending the belt vs Chavo vs Spike Dudley. Rob Van Dam vs D-Von Dudley is an odd singles run in Canada, mid month both Dudleys swap wins with the forgotten men, Hardcore Holly & Billy Gunn, RVD has nights off then post Japan Robs back in the winners circle against Booker - in physical possession of the vacant US title but declaring it a non title match. Japes. Booker starts winning once he’s actually champ. Plus Paul London & Billy Kidman defend the tag titles against those damn Dudley Boys. If you’re desperate to know what Dupree did - Orlando Jordan mid month winning everywhere except Cape Cod, then swapping wins with Bobcore. Early month also features Nunzio & Johnny Stamboli vs Kyo Dai and some really depressing reading - Charlie Haas vs Luther Reigns (which goes most of the month) Billy vs Kenzo Suzuki (which resumes after Tokyo) and Kidman vs Mark Jindrak all see wins for the colourless heels. Mid month Sho Funaki beats Jamie Noble, Jindrak swaps wins (!) with Scotty Too Hotty, Suzuki drops Spike and the FBI beat the Basham Brothers. Month end Stamboli beats former WCW stablemate Jindrak (though Mark does beat him in Tokyo) and disaster strikes SmackDown as John Heidenreich has moved over and starts beating Scotty. Bikini contests are still a thing ; Scotty lands the host gig in Canada. VARIATIONS Weird one In Hampton Beach where Luther actually starts a match with Charles Robinson for reasons I imagine come out of TV, interrupted by Haas, which prompts Kurt to announce a match for them next week. Why this market only received that explanation after the original segment didn’t make air that week, I know not. Tokyo has some unique matches and storylines that build over two nights. Other than people wrestling their regular opponents ; on night one Funaki beats Spike, Gunn pins Jindrak, Rey & RVD beat Noble & Chavo, Dawn Marie pins Torrie Wilson, London & Kidman beat the FBI, Cena beats Dupree and Undertaker beats the Duds in another handicap match. Next night Spike & Torrie beat Nunzio & Dawn, Dupree pins Haas, Rey beats Chavo, Funaki and Noble, Cena pins Billy and Reigns beats RVD (wtf). At the Continental Airlines, Suzuki pins Scotty, Heidenreich pins Shannon Moore and incredibly Rene jobs to Nunzio. TVs There is hardly anything interesting early month. Dark matches continue for Carlito, Bucci and start for Antonio Thomas who you won’t remember as one of the Heart Throbs. Heidenreich vs Moore in Philadelphia would be the worst Coliseum Exclusive ever. 26th in Pittsburgh Mack beats Shawn Daivari and on Heat Rhino & Tajiri beat the two lads that eventually will be The Highlanders. Next night in Cincinnati Carlito loses to Holly dark. Also that night Bradshaw pinning Moore is only deemed worthy of being taped for Velocity- which makes sense, if they hadn’t inexplicably made him WWE Champion. WHAT HAPPENED AT THE CLASH? Raw has Vengeance - SmackDown taped 13/07 Plenty of stories develop include Kurt both continuing to stand in the way of John Cena AND build his inevitable rematch with Eddy. WWE title Cage match : JBL vs Eddy Guerrero Handicap elimination match : John Cena vs Booker T, Rene Dupree & Kenzo Suzuki Rey Mysterio & Spike Dudley vs Chavo Guerrero Jr & Jamie Noble Paul London vs D-Von Dudley Although there’s a month end show that’s massive too with a Cruiserweight title change, tag title rematch and 8-way for the vacant US title all preceded over by new GM - Teddy Long, playa. …. It’s worth noting that during this time Raw actually went mental with huge shows even when getting to do a title match on PPV, doing not just Benoit vs Shawn Michaels in May, but squeezing Benoit vs Kane in a submission match for the belt between Bad Blood and Vengeance then doing the Benoit vs HHH Iron Man match (plus contender battle royal) between Vengeance and SummerSlam. I’ll give them credit too - speaking as a Benoit fan at the time every title match created a powerful sense of dread that he was about to lose, but he always overcame, and that’s some good storytelling. If you ignore the help he had from Eugene. DEPARTURE At the completion of his one year, Ryan Sakoda does a TV job to Funaki then is let go. Kyo Dai had become aimless after being separated from Tajiri anyway, though they’ll try again with Jimmy Yang/Akio. Sakoda ends up part of the class action lawsuit regarding brain trauma and passed away in 2021 aged just 48 though damned if I can find a cause of death online. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Fatty Facesitter Posted April 28, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted April 28, 2023 I see Mike Bucci aka Nova aka Simon Dean was taking his first WWE steps at this point. Wonder if he’d already cut his hair by that point after being effectively told to by management because his hair was too similar to that of one HHH, or so the story goes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted April 28, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 28, 2023 1 hour ago, Fatty Facesitter said: I see Mike Bucci aka Nova aka Simon Dean was taking his first WWE steps at this point. Wonder if he’d already cut his hair by that point after being effectively told to by management because his hair was too similar to that of one HHH, or so the story goes! They were umming and ahhhing on him for years. He was on the road with the SmackDown roster as Nova in Jan/Feb 2003 (tagging with Rey a few times) and with the Raw crew in Jan/Feb 2004, doing a couple of tags with Heidenreich to lose to La Resistance and dark matches with Moore, Spike and Funaki. It was clear for ages that they knew there was a good wrestler there but nobody knew what to do with him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted April 28, 2023 Awards Moderator Share Posted April 28, 2023  Had Val Venis stopped appearing on TV by this point? I can’t remember seeing him past mid-2003. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted April 28, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 28, 2023 7 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said:  Had Val Venis stopped appearing on TV by this point? I can’t remember seeing him past mid-2003. Definitely not.  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davertfnewman Posted April 28, 2023 Share Posted April 28, 2023 4 hours ago, air_raid said: DEPARTURE At the completion of his one year, Ryan Sakoda does a TV job to Funaki then is let go. Kyo Dai had become aimless after being separated from Tajiri anyway, though they’ll try again with Jimmy Yang/Akio. Sakoda ends up part of the class action lawsuit regarding brain trauma and passed away in 2021 aged just 48 though damned if I can find a cause of death online. He had a problem with painkiller addiction at one point and talked about it, and enabling Mike Bell, in one of Mark Bell's documentaries, so don't know if it was a result of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted April 28, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 28, 2023 6 minutes ago, davertfnewman said: He had a problem with painkiller addiction at one point and talked about it, and enabling Mike Bell, in one of Mark Bell's documentaries, so don't know if it was a result of that. Thanks for that. I assumed it might be concussion/brain trauma related, as he'd claimed to have been coerced into wrestling injured and the medical advice when he was concussed was "don't go to sleep or you might die" from WWE's medical team. Which reminded me an awful lot of what happened to Bret in WCW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted April 28, 2023 Awards Moderator Share Posted April 28, 2023 7 hours ago, air_raid said: Definitely not.  Wow - way later than I remember him! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted April 29, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted April 29, 2023 12 hours ago, HarmonicGenerator said: Wow - way later than I remember him! Mate, he does 10 years solid service, a Heat regular to the end and doing his last job on Raw to Umaga in April 2008. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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