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AUGUST 2004

Welcome to the month they try and launch a new top babyface for Raw and botch it beyond belief.

THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW

Chris Benoit vs Randy Orton is naturally our title match 8th in Toledo which somehow is the only report before SummerSlam. The two are suddenly great mates for tag main events against Triple H & Batista 20th-22nd in Bismarck, Fargo and Palm Springs (originally scheduled as three ways for the belt) then 27th-29th its two singles with Orton pinning Hunter in Colorado Springs, Salt Lake City and Stockton, and usually “the Crippler” vs “the Animal.”

THE CARDS

Pretty easy with so few reports. Chris Benoit vs Batista as above after Benoit drops the belt. Edge vs Chris Jericho is a regular ICT match until Edge gets injured in Salt Lake City. La Resistance vs William Regal & Eugene is the tag title match mid month then it’s back to Rhino & Yoshihiro Tajiri with Eugene & Regal vs Christian & Tyson Tomko late month. Victoria vs Molly Holly is a swap of wins most of the month before moving to Trish Stratus vs Vic vs Molly month end - Trish having been a factor in the ones Molly won.

Third week of the month regularly it’s Val Venis vs Maven, Shelton Benjamin vs Tomko and Rhino & Tajiri vs Chuck Palumbo & Simon Dean who’s finally got that new name plus Rodney Mack gets a few wins over Rosey. Not a lot of consistency on the undercard late month but Maven vs Palumbo happens twice in CO and Utah and in a nice bit of symmetry Venis vs Mack bookends our month in Toledo and Stockton, as does Steven Richards vs Bucci/Dean almost, in Toledo and Colorado Springs.

VARIATIONS 

Toledo has Eugene beat Ric Flair and Kane slum it with Maven, plus the last Edge vs Jericho vs Batista and Shelton over Palumbo. Bismarck has Venis vs Palumbo, Maven vs Dean and Batista pins Tajiri earlier before his impromptu insertion into the main event. Big Dave then has Colorado Springs off so there’s a one night reprisal of Benoit vs Kane, plus Shelton vs Mack and Y2J is also off so Edge defends against (by now) former brother-in-law Val. In Salt Lake another shuffle has Kane vs Shelton and Mack over Dean, then in Stockton Benjamin & Maven beat Palumbo & Dean and the injury to Edge leaves Jericho and Kane with each other.

THE MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN

We’re continuing with JBL vs The Undertaker before intermission then John Cena vs Kurt Angle on last 1st in Bridgeport, 7th in Baltimore, 8th in Hershey and 9th in Fort Wayne. 16th at Bayshore Community Centre (sounds a bit BritWres) in Owen Sound, Ontario Eddy Guerrero is back to feud with Kurt. 21st in San Diego they’re without doubt the biggest match, JBLs injured and resigned to cornerman as Cena has to go on last with Orlando Jordan. They close out the month with three huge nights in Australia -  27th in Sydney and 29th in Melbourne it’s JBL and Taker with more bullshit DQ finishes and Eddy vs Kurt, 28th in Brisbane Bradshaw gets another tainted win over Guerrero and Taker pins Angle to close.

THE CARDS

Rob Van Dam vs Booker T rolls on, playing off their acrimonious split after the draft - sometimes it’s for the US title but often it’s non title so Rob gets to beat him. Paul London & Billy Kidman vs The Dudley Boys for the tag title continues early month and in Oz, plus Spike Dudley vs Rey Mysterio for the CWT in Sydney and Melbourne, and for numerous domestic shows and Brisbane it’s a six man. Charlie Haas wraps up with Luther Reigns, doing one last job in Bridgeport but finally beating him in Baltimore before moving on to (usually) beating Kenzo Suzuki.

Billy Gunn sees his role as sacrificial lamb continue ; he’s losing to John Heidenreich. Nunzio & Johnny Stamboli vs Rene Dupree & Jamie Noble is a thrown-together feeling tag after the Dupree/Stamboli singles finish ; Rene has fallen far in a short time! A varied month for Sho Funaki both in opponents and form but he too does two losses to Heidenreich, In Ontario and Sydney.

VARIATIONS

The biggest exceptions are Cena’s - at Owen Sound he tags with RVD and Haas to beat Booker, Dupree and Reigns, in Sydney it’s singles with Booker which is actually counted towards their most televised Best Of Five. In Brisbane John & RVD beat Booker & Dupree, and in Melbourne Cena & Haas beat T & Reigns. In Bridgeport the CWT match is a threeway involving Chavo ; in Baltimore it’s Noble and in Owen Sound it’s a four way.

Otherwise…. Bridgeport has the last of Heidenreich wins over Shannon Moore and Suzuki over Scotty Too Hotty. In Baltimore Kenzo pinning Nunzio is the second half of an odd pair of singles between the next tag champs (ugh) and the FBI. In Owen Sound a rare outing for Orlando Jordan has him beat Moore, there’s a welcome win for Billy over Mark Jindrak, and Doug Basham does a favour for Stamboli. In San Diego Heidenreich beats Scotty, Stamboli pins Jindrak, RVD goes over Luther and - Hardcore Holly gets work! Bob teams with Billy to drop Chavo and Noble. Sydney has one more unique match - RVD & Billy beat Reigns & Dupree. In Brisbane Funaki loses to Reigns but upsets Rene next night in Melbourne where RVD pins Kenzo and Torrie Wilson pins Dawn Marie.

TVs

Worth noting on 2nd August Raw the poor fortunes of champions - Benoit is pinned by Orton in a six man which isn’t so bad but La Res drop a non title standard tag to Tajiri & Rhino - a lazy trope that’s gradually sneaking in more and more. 3rd in Houston Carly Colon drops another dark match to Funaki. 9th in Cleveland Shelton beats Simon Dean and on live Raw Edge loses non title to Y2J - fucks sake! 10th in Detroit Heidenreich beats Funaki. Night after SummerSlam in London (Ontario) Shelton beats Rory McAllister and next night in Hamilton Heidenreich drops Funaki yet again and 24th some good news at last for Scotty - he pins Akio.

DEPARTURES

After some good form beating Moore and Scotty on Velocity Jamie Noble hits the bench with a staph infection and then tests positive for steroids. He asks for his release for some time off and is granted it in September with the door open for a return. After wrestling in New Japan and a stint in ROH where he wins their belt from CM Punk and eventually loses it to Bryan Danielson, he’ll back in 2005 and never leave, between roles in the ring, as an agent and in “J&J Security” returning to the ring one last time last year in Huntington in an eight man where he pinned fellow ROH alumnus Sami Zayn. His time in ROH coincides with….

Matt Hardy has been off the road with an injury, guts out his loss to Kane at SummerSlam then goes on the DL. While he’s off, he learns that real life mrs Lita is having an affair with Edge, and goes public with it, for which the company lets him go. Nobody comes out of it looking good. He’ll be back and forth a few times of course, and prostitute his principles to work with Edge and Lita. Speaking of principles…

Sable asks for a release this month having been on TV right up until July to spend more time at home with family. It was nice that she was able to come back and leave on good terms.

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SEPTEMBER 2004

The big gold belt finally makes its way home.

THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW

Randy Orton vs Triple H continues 4th in Beaumont & 5th in Dallas before Hunter relieves Orton of the belt at Unforgiven. The same match with Hunter defending 17th-19th in Bossier City, Waco and Tyler. 24th in Sioux Falls Hunter has a night off and Benoit has transport trouble so after pinning Batista earlier, Randy comes back and wins a show closing battle royal (last eliminating Kane). 25th in Sioux City & 26th in Columbia MO we return to Randy Orton & Chris Benoit vs Triple H & Batista which will continue into October but tellingly Ortons pinning Dave rather than Hunter to win the match this time round.

THE CARDS

Chris Benoit vs Batista continues early month in Texas and thereafter it’s Benoit & Shelton Benjamin vs Dave and Ric Flair. An unexpected bonus to Dallas and late month cards (no DQ) is Shawn Michaels vs Kane. ICT starts the month vacant but after Unforgiven it’s Chris Jericho vs Christian which segues into either Hurricane vs Tyson Tomko or a tag. 

The tag title match early month is La Resistance vs Eugene & William Regal vs Christian & Tomko ; after the PPV it’s once again Rhino & Yoshihiro Tajiri. Women’s match has Victoria, Nidia & Stacy Keibler beat Trish Stratus, Molly Holly & Gail Kim in a six woman with Stevie’s help before we start Trish vs Nidia for the belt with Val Venis as the ref. Undercard is jumbled early month to accommodate one night of HBK but Regal vs Rodney Mack usually happens after the PPV.

VARIATIONS

With no HBK in Beaumont Kane pins Shelton, Flair pins Maven and Val pins Chuck Palumbo. In Dallas, Flair pins Shelton, Maven beats Chuck and Venis is off. In Tyler Regal and Val swap assignments - Venis pins Mack and Regal refs the Women’s title match.

THE MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 

We’re back in Canada already - 11th/12th in Edmonton and Calgary it’s JBL vs Eddy Guerrero vs Kurt Angle. 19th in Memphis we’re back to JBL vs The Undertaker with a shitty non finish with Eddy and - he’s back - Big Show vs Kurt and Luther Reigns on last, it will not shock you who’s jobbing there. 26th In Springfield (MA) and 27th in Joplin MO it’s two singles with Eddy on first and Kurt on last, JBL now defends against Booker T (even though he's still a heel on TV) and is actually allowed to win.

THE CARDS

Tag title is new champs Rene Dupree & Kenzo Suzuki vs Rob Van Dam & Hardcore Holly in Canada, then a reunited Charlie Haas & Rico. CWT has Spike Dudley vs Rey Misterio continue in Alberta and Memphis, then Spikes tagging with D-Von Dudley to lose to Johnny Stamboli & Nunzio when Rey gets a week off. Haas is back jobbing to Luther Reigns in Canada before unexpected promotion to main event for the latter. Paul London vs Billy Kidman grudge match  starts in Canada too but by late month it’s a non start to facilitate John Heidenreich attacking London before he beats Hardcore Holly in “impromptu” matches.

Canada also sees the FBI vs The Basham Brothers, wins for Scotty Too Hotty over Mark Jindrak, and Heidenreich carries on squashing Sho Funaki. Late month Jindrak is rehabilitated beating Shannon Moore and Funaki tags with Chris Cage (Caylen Croft) to upset the Bashams.

VARIATIONS

Memphis has the last of Booker T dropping non title matches to RVD. Suzuki & Dupree defend the tag belts against the FBI, Bubba Ray Dudley makes the show to tag with D-Von and lose to Charlie & Rico, and Scotty does a job for the fully christened Carlito Caribbean Cool.

TVs

21st in Phoenix is the first dark action of note ; Stamboli beats Tony Santarelli who really should have been in the FBI with a name like that, and Carlito beats Moore. 27th in Kansas City dark squashes start for Muhammad Hassan, next night in Wichita Carlito beats Cage.

WHAT HAPPENED AT THE CLASH?

As the awful JBL vs Undertaker feud where nobody will be allowed to pin the other limps on towards No Mercy, the week of Unforgiven they air an episode where the finish of the grudge match main event serves as a backdrop for the return run-in (well, stroll-in) of Big Show. He’s always the answer, right? Plus the tag titles are moved onto two duds as a promising young babyface tag team are separated. The CWT match devolving into an impromptu six man was fun though.

Raw has Unforgiven ; SmackDown taped 07/09

Lumberjack Match : Eddy Guerrero vs Kurt Angle

Tag title : Paul London & Billy Kidman vs Rene Dupree & Kenzo Suzuki

Rey Mysterio, Rob Van Dam & Hardcore Holly vs Spike Dudley & The Dudley Boys

Non title : JBL vs Charlie Haas

DEPARTURES 

I just tidied up April's entry to add Ultimo Dragon who I'd forgotten about, and there’s about to be plenty, but I don’t think anyone left in September.

Edited by air_raid
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OCTOBER 2004
It's a transitional time as several turns happen, some of them phantom, titles change and the roster is about to experience a huge cull.

THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW
We continue Randy Orton & Chris Benoit vs Triple H & Batista 1st in Portland (ME), 2nd in Burlington then 3rd the afternoon of No Mercy in Binghamton its a six man with Shelton Benjamin and Ric Flair added to the teams but the same finish - Orton pins Batista. We're off on tour then and we're back to the same tag 6th in Helsinki, 7th in Sheffield we get the HHH vs Orton title match, then 8th at Wembley Arena its Orton, Benoit & Shawn Michaels beating Evolution - yep, Dave takes the fall. 9th in Frankfurt its HHH vs Orton, 10th the six man is back in Cardiff before the first ever Raw from Manchester. After Taboo Tuesday we've got RKO, Benoit & Chris Jericho over Evolution 22nd in Green Bay, 23rd in Madison and 24th in Cedar Rapids, and Orton's pinning Hunter now. 30th and 31st a couple of small afternoon shows in Evansville and Champaign have Orton & Benoit beating Flair & Batista in no DQ matches.

Do you want some attendance figures? Of course you do. Routinely between 1300 and 3000, only 4500 both with TVs in Des Moines and apparently fewer still (3500) come to Milwaukee for the PPV. Tuesday not going to be a big night for PPV, is it?

THE CARDS
Chris Benoit & Edge vs Batista & Ric Flair gets a few whirls on tour despite Benoit and Edge not really being mates. Early month title matches have continuation of Chris Jericho vs Christian plus La Resistance vs Hurricane & Rosey vs William Regal & Eugene. Y2J & Shawn Michaels vs Christian & Tyson Tomko is exactly the kind of "catering to the boys" match you get on tour, on nights where he hasn't got Shawn its Y2J vs Edge vs Christian, and La Res defend every night against either Regal/Eugene or Rhino & Yoshihiro Tajiri, with the corresponding team beating "heels for the night" Helms & Rosey. Back home new ICT match is Shelton Benjamin defending against Captain Charisma after he wins it booked on the fly at Taboo Tuesday. Kane vs Gene Snitsky is going on every night with Kane winning or getting DQd. Victoria vs Molly Holly is back on early month, on tour Trish Stratus & Molly swap wins with Vic & Nidia. After the tour, Trish & Molly are losing to Vic and sometimes-wrestler Stacy Keibler when Molly has to job to the former Duchess Of Dudleyville. Last week of the month we have battle royals featuring the whole roster - the names mentioned above plus Gail Kim and (winner) Jazz. That's going nowhere, as you'll read in November's entry.

Shelton vs Simon Dean is an odd choice early month and Shelts vs Val Venis happens a fair few times on the tour. It's usually Tajiri & Rhino beating Steven Richards & Chuck Palumbo early month and Snitsky beating Val both early and mid month. Maven vs Palumbo is often a card-filler on tour, mid month Maven usually lands on Dean. We also usually get Hurricane & Rosey vs Rodney Mack & Palumbo and an eliminator where Regal & Eugene beat La Res (now former champs) and Rhino/Tajiri, La Res vs Regal & Eugene continues month end. Those two mini cards also have Maven with Mack, Snitsky over Hurricane, Simon over Rosey and Tajiri over Palumbo.

VARIATIONS
Helsinki has one of the most common exceptions of the era - HBK beats Flair. Also same night Shelton drops Tomko and Val gets a night off. In Sheffield Shelton and Val swap opponents and drop Palumbo and Maven respectively. At Wembley there's a random reunion of Tough Enough winners Maven & Nidia to beat thrown-together Palumbo & Molly, to facilitate Trish vs Vic as a title match. Slight shuffle in Portland - Snitsky pins Richards and Chuckie tags with Venis. In Madison there's one more swap - Val jobs to Simon and Snitsky pins Maven. Similarly in Cedar Rapids Rhino & Tajiri take a turn at the pay window with Mack & Chuck, Hurricane & Rosey make up the numbers in the three way.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN
SmackDown get a simultaneous tour to Raw - its Eddy Guerrero & Big Show vs Kurt Angle & Luther Reigns 7th in Belfast (JBL vs The Undertaker for the belt underneath) with Eddy & Taker vs JBL & Orlando Jordan 9th in Florence, 10th in Turin its JBL vs Eddy, 11th in Nottingham its Eddy & Show vs JBL & Angle. Back home 18th in Minneapolis JBL vs Taker goes on last with Taker pulling double duty (Booker's flight's cancelled), 23rd in Ottawa, 24th in Montreal and 31st in Louisville we've finally got JBL vs Booker T for the belt.

THE CARDS
Big Show vs Kurt Angle is on constantly whenever neither is in the main, so too (ugh) The Undertaker vs John Heidenreich on the way towards Survivors. The tour has the brand new US champ (out of nowhere) Carlito defending against either Hardcore Holly or Rob Van Dam - Holly stays his usual challenger back home. CWT is inconsistent by Spike Dudley vs Sho Funaki happens a couple of times then in Minneapolis and Canada its a three way with Shannon Moore. Tag title is most often Kenzo Suzuki & Rene Dupree vs Nunzio & Johnny Stamboli vs The Dudley Boys (with Dawn Marie in their corner), in Minnesota and Canada its against the Duds, RVD & Rey Mysterio AND the Basham Brothers. On the tour Rico vs Billy Kidman happens twice. In Canada Stamboli goes one and one against Reigns, Heidenreich pins Rico (as he did in Florence) and on those shows plus Minneapolis, Chavo Guerrero Jr beats Kidman in apparent heel vs heel matches.

John Cena is off filming The Marine. Only 4000 come to Montreal, 25th in Topeka is cancelled.

VARIATIONS - FUCKING HELL
CWT in Belfast is Spike vs Rey vs Kidman, the FBI actually go over the Dudleys, Funaki upsets Mark Jindrak, tag title is Suzuki/Dupree vs Charlie Haas & Rico, and Heidenreich actually loses to Bobcore. In Florence RVD pins Jindrak and Rey beats Kidman. In Turin, RVD & Rey Rey beat Jindrak & Reigns. In Nottingham Spike beats Nunzio, the Dudleys are the only challengers in the tag title match, Holly pins Stamboli, and Rey teams with Funaki to beat "the new Team Angle." Hell of an exception in Minneapolis - Carlito turns back Eddy by DQ when Guerrero hits him with John Cena's chain (which Carlito is in possession of). Also, tag title is Dupree & Kenzo vs Rey & RVD vs Dudleys, Holly goes over Orlando Jordan and Jindrak & Reigns beat the FBI. A six man on the Louisville midcard has Show, Eddy and Rey over Angle, Reigns & Jindrak, and Spike defends against Nunzio, Kidman and Funaki, Stamboli loses to Heidenreich, a tag title match of Dupree & Suzuki vs Dudleys vs Haas & Rico is followed by an impromptu Rico vs Dupree match which Rico wins, the Bashams beat - OH BOY - Matt Morgan & Chris Masters, and as if that doesn't sound ropey enough, Jackie Gayda pins Dawn Marie is what I believe would only be generously called a wrestling match.

TVs
I realized I forgot to mention Diva Search in last months entry, and I'm fine with this. 4th they're at MSG for Raw and Val beats Muhammad Hassan (with Daivari) dark, and Danny Doring appears on Heat tagging with Arch Kincaid to lose to Tajiri & Rhino. Next night at the Boston FleetCenter Moore pins Akio. This being the night that after spending 2 months figuring out that John Cena is the US Champ after a best of five series with Booker, he drops it to Carlito after one night. Is it any wonder fans turned on Cena? What a crock of shit that was. 17th taping in Rockford is notable because a ton of names actually work Velocity (including Show, against Akio, and Angle vs Hardcore) and Booker earns his title shot by pinning JBL to win a six man where he, RVD and Rey beat JBL and the tag champs which I mention because phantom turn regardless, the continuity here is bullshit that Rob would tag with Booker again without issue so soon. There's an amazing dark match in Milwaukee before Taboo Tuesday - Sgt Slaughter beats Hassan by DQ when Daivari interferes. 25th in Des Moines Hassan gets revenge on Val, and for Heat Ken Anderson and Lenny Lane are doing a job for La Res - talk about generations colliding there.

I’d also like to stress that in a period chock full of bad TV decisions, the playing of clips of Undertakers title wins throughout No Mercy just managed to make it even more obvious that JBL would be weaselling out with the belt. I loved, of course, the Hearse stip - having not pinned anyone to become top contender, win the belt OR retain at SummerSlam, Bradshaw was now in a match where there would explicitly be no pinfall required to win. I was starting to wonder if he would be the first WWE Champion ever to never really beat anyone.

DEPARTURE
That job to Heidenreich on the last day of the month is the last work in WWE for Johnny Stamboli, and who can blame him - he ends up in Voodoo Murders in All Japan, who we will mention again next month.

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NOVEMBER 2004

The fat is trimmed.

THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW

5th in Laredo, 6th at Arena Mexico (8000) and 7th in Hidalgo (6000 sell out) we have Randy Orton & Chris Jericho vs Triple H & Batista in a cage. 19th-21st it’s a straight tag in Detroit and Kingston and Barrie (both Ontario) and Orton’s still pinning Hunter. Things don’t get better for Trips or the gates 26th in Hershey (2000) or 27th in Philly (4200) where Maven and Ric Flair are added to the teams, result the same, and again 28th in Bethlehem.

THE CARDS 

Chris Benoit vs Edge is on early and late month, Benoit misses Detroit and Canada (blasphemy) so Edge kills time with Maven. Shelton Benjamin vs Christian (IIRC now augmented with his awesome Waterproof Blonde theme) is the ICT match all month. Tag title is a continuation of La Resistance vs William Regal & Eugene vs Rhino & Yoshihiro Tajiri until Regal & Eugene win the belts then its a straight 2 on 2 rematch for the rest of the month. Trish Stratus vs Lita title matches continue before Survivors then its Victoria vs Molly Holly mid month, then Lita vs Molly end of month as the push to Lita winning the belt back ramps up. We start the month with Val Venis vs Steven Richards in a war of former RTC buddies. Maven starts his month beating Coach, the awful Gene Snitsky pinning Hurricane, and Simon Dean vs Rosey goes all month. In Detroit and Ontario Tajiri pins Tyson Tomko and Rhino's beating Coach. The month wraps with Tajiri putting over Chris Masters and Val losing to Snitsky. Between roster cuts and loaded main events, its a small card.

Kane is off filming See No Evil.

VARIATIONS

Late month there is some shuffling with the undercard matches. In Hershey Snitsky drops Maven, Val loses to Masters and Rhino & Tajiri tag to beat Muhammad Hassan & Shawn/“Khosrow” Daivari. Rhino then loses singles to Hassan in Philly and Daivari in Bethlehem.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN

1st in Cape Girardeau we have another six man of Kurt Angle somehow leading Mark Jindrak and Luther Reigns to victory over Eddy Guerrero, Big Show & Rey Mysterio atop JBL vs Booker T for the belt. 6th in Miami and 7th in Fort Myers (<3000) the title match is JBL vs Mysterio with The Undertaker vs John Heidenreich on last - talk about sending them home happy. 20th at the DC Armory and 21/22 in Syracuse and Elmira it’s JBL vs Booker vs Eddy no DQ with fewer than 5000 COMBINED attending those three shows, then 28th in North Charleston (3000) and 29th in Raleigh (2200) it’s Eddy & Booker vs JBL & Orlando Jordan facilitating a finish where JBL neither loses nor has to beat anyone - the hallmark of his shit reign.

Fun fact : our report has 1500 in Washington and WCW drew 7500 to the same building for Capital Combat in 1990, so I guess RoboCop was a bigger draw than JBL.

THE CARDS

Eddy Guerrero & Big Show vs Kurt Angle, Mark Jindrak & Luther Reigns as a handicap match supports a couple of times, when Eddy moves back up its Show, Rob Van Dam and Rey Mysterio as a six man tag, then with Kurt on reduced dates it’s often Show vs Reigns & Jindrak. The Undertaker vs John Heidenreich unfortunately is a run that goes on and on. Carlito vs Hardcore Holly for the US abruptly ends in Fort Myers when Carlito suffers an injury - at the end of the month Bob will pick up with Jesus, Carlito’s new heavy. Tag title has Kenzo Suzuki & Rene Dupree retaining over first the Dudley Boys, then Holly & Charlie Haas, and finally they’re back with RVD & Rey - Syracuse being a famous show where things don’t go swimmingly between Bob and Rene which carries over into backstage.

CWT starts with Spike Dudley vs Billy Kidman vs Chavo Guerrero Jr (Christ, who’s the face there??) then Spike beats Sho Funaki a couple of times mid month then it’s a four way with Kidman, Chavo and Shannon Moore. We get Orlando Jordan vs Nunzio throughout and Chavo vs Kidman mid month make up numbers. Jackie Gayda vs Dawn Marie runs all month. When Taker isn’t around Heidenreich squashes Paul London, and London & Nunzio losing to the Basham Brothers is a bit random month end. That’s about it.

John Cena works Survivors and relieves Carlito of the US title two nights later but is off the road most of the month filming The Marine. Then, now, forever, together.

VARIATIONS

Cape Girardeau stands alone with old programs - Spike vs Nunzio vs Funaki vs Kidman, Rene & Kenzo vs Bashams vs Haas & Rico, Dudleys vs Matt Morgan & Chris Masters. Washington also has a unique card - Haas & RVD is an irregular team to get a title match, Spike vs London vs Kidman is unique, Heidenreich squashes Nunzio, Funaki upsets Orlando and Chavo vs Jesus is unbelievably random. Especially because the “dangerous bodyguard” loses.

TVs

1st in Peoria has a ludicrously interesting Heat - Rodney Mack does a job to Val, Chuck Palumbo loses to Rosey and Jazz & Molly beat Victoria & Nidia - across three matches FOUR wrestlers are on their way out, plus Regal beats Ken Anderson who eventually will be on the way in. Live on Raw Viscera makes a planned one night return subbing for Tomko both in the corner of Christian and losing to Shelton, though he’ll land a new deal out of it, plus the wonderful Maria Kanellis starts doing interviews backstage. Next night in St Louis (just 5500 attend) Masters beats Funaki dark and Rico jobs to Kidman for Velocity. This episode of SmackDown has the infamous fuck up where Kurt nearly has to shoot tap to Daniel Puder when he’s supposed to be embarrassing the Tough Enough contestants - it speaks volumes of the arrogance of the company and Angle himself that this wasn’t 100% worked, especially with the cameras rolling. 8th in Austin Hassan beats Val again, 15th in Indianapolis Johnny Nitro is tagging with Chris Cage to lose to Matt Cappotelli & Johnny Jeter, 16th in Dayton Masters pins Aaron Stevens and… here we go! Nitro tags with Joey Matthews with Melina in their corner to lose to Cappotelli & Jeter. This being the SmackDown where Cena is attacked by the debuting Jesus and also - fuck sake - RVD & Rey beat the tag champs non title. 22nd Raw the fans go mental when Evolution trick everyone into thinking Batista has beat up Hunter - accidentally, this is the genesis of Dave as a top babyface. Next night in Rochester Masters pins Hardcore and 29th in Baltimore he beats ECW alumnus Julio Dinero.

DEPARTURES - HOLY SHIT

Jazz, Nidia, Chuck Palumbo, Rodney Mack and Rico are all cut after that one last TV job as part of a huge cost-cutting drive on 4th November. I imagine this must have been twice the shock for real life couple Mack and Jazz, who having been stablemates under Teddy Long the previous year were starting to get traction as a pair appearing regularly on Heat. Nidia was never much of anything without Jamie Noble in fairness, and Rico was over 40 when he finally got his national break, probably riding that gravy train as long as he could - Dallas Page he wasn’t in the charisma stakes. Palumbo is given up on too after stints as a fake gay AND a fake Italian - he hooks up (no, not like that) with former Natural Born Thrillers AND FBI stablemate Johnny Stamboli in the Voodoo Murders in All Japan, where they will feud with RO&D comprising a fair few WWE alumni. 

Gail Kim also gets let go, being given (she would later claim) the flimsy excuse that they were taking the Women’s division in a “different direction.” Fucked from the start with a cold intro and rushed heel turn, they never knew what to do with Gail, and they proved it second time round too. Matt Morgan is pulled off the road this month and sent to OVW for more development, during this time he starts using the moniker “The Blueprint” which he eventually will take to TNA with him, and even wins the OVW title. He’ll be back on TV briefly next year as Carlitos second but won’t join him when drafted to Raw, and after one match back on the roster gets released in July - this is the last we’ll mention him in regards to the road. 

Finally Billy Gunn is deemed surplus to requirements after over 9 years as a regular, which at the time I believe made him the longest serving active wrestler on the roster after Taker. After a couple of botched singles runs and ten tag team title reigns with three different partners, this year he was a victim of what was openly referred to on SmackDown (but not limited to the blue brand) as the “new talent initiative.” That being where guys with tenure and any name value were used to try and get over new characters - Gunn, Hardcore, Rikishi, Scotty, even Haas to an extent with 18 months with Shelton to his name - were sacrificed for the sake of “new”. Unfortunately in terms of Dupree, Kenzo, Mordecai, Jindrak, Reigns, Heidenreich etc this usually translated to incredibly limited - even the Bashams who were put on the map (kind of) by Eddy & Chavo get a reinvention in the Cabinet to eke out another six months on TV then they like by and large all them end up at the end of their use, meaning all the talent WWE sacrificed in the name of “new” were done so for very little return. It wasn’t just the losses, Undertaker, Eddy, Rey, Cena, RVD and Kurt had to work with them too in a futile attempt to create new stars resulting in awful TV. Keep reading, there’s far more to come in terms of ring results to shock, if not necessarily releases. As for Billy - he’ll kill some time in TNA having a forgettable feud and eventual embarrassing reunion with old buddy Road Dogg where they’ll publicly slag off their mates, the company that made them stars, and Vince himself. Before eventually coming back for one last run. Because wrestling.

Edited by air_raid
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DECEMBER 2004

The big gold belt is vacant! Time for Hunter to do more jobs, obviously. Can’t wait to see what the bold new direction for the title is.

THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW

3rd in Augusta it’s Randy Orton, Chris Benoit & Edge vs Triple H, Batista & Edge. Next night in Savannah Y2J and Rated-R are off so it’s a straight tag, 5th in Asheville it’s Orton tagging with Jericho with Benoit vs Edge in singles. 10th-12th Hunters off so in Columbus, Macon and Chattanooga it’s Orton & Benoit vs Batista & Edge. 28th-30th in Glendale, El Paso and Houston we’re back to Randy Orton vs Triple H and again Ortons beating him every night.

THE CARDS

Chris Benoit vs Edge starts up again, this time as a submission match. When Chris Jericho secedes from main event - I can’t believe this - mid month he’s doing jobs to the irredeemable Gene Snitsky, before mercifully ending up with Batista month end in last man standing matches. ICT is still Shelton Benjamin vs Christian early month, mid month it’s a triple threat with addition of newly heel Maven, after Christmas for Shelts it’s a three way with Snitsky and the returning Kane. Women’s title has a sandwich of Trish Stratus vs Lita early and late month, inbetween Lita’s first title defences are against Molly Holly. The tag title continues with William Regal & Eugene vs La Resistance until month end Regal & Eugene are back with Christian & Tyson Tomko.

The awful Snitsky starts his month with Hurricane and Simon Dean vs Yoshihiro Tajiri opens, Muhammad Hassan vs Rhino is a sandwich month, Chris Masters vs Val Venis runs until Christmas. Mid month Hassan beats Tajiri, Simon beats Rosey and Rhino trades wins with Tomko, thereafter it’s Dean beating Helms and Tajiri pinning Val.

VARIATIONS

There’s no Val in Columbus so Dean and Masters work a tag with Hurricane & Rosey.

Jericho, Kane and Snitsky are all off on 30th so in Houston Shelton retains by DQ over megastar in waiting Batista.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 

4th in Worcester it’s still JBL vs Booker T for the belt then 5th at MSG (<6000? Surely not) and 6th in Johnson City TN it’s a three way with Eddy Guerrero - Kurt on early, Taker on last. 29th in Albuquerque and 30th in San Antonio Big Show is going for the belt and we return to Eddy vs Kurt Angle.

THE CARDS

Big Show vs Kurt Angle, Mark Jindrak & Luther Reigns continues to Armageddon as does The Undertaker vs John Heidenreich, after Christmas - WTF - Heidenreich is going over Booker T. Tag title is Rene Dupree & Kenzo Suzuki vs Rey Mysterio & Rob Van Dam until the break. Good news, John Cena is back to defend the US title after Christmas, bad news, his challenger is Kenzo. CWT is Spike Dudley vs Sho Funaki vs Nunzio vs Shannon Moore early month (and doesn’t the division look pale since they decided Rey was above it) with Chavo Guerrero Jr vs Billy Kidman making up the numbers, after Christmas it’s new champ Funaki (!) vs Spike vs Chavo.

Charlie Haas vs Jesus gives the “bodyguard” minutes and wins in front of an audience before Armageddon, then at the worst possible time in Johnson City he injured himself getting tangled in the ropes and gets through Armageddon with what he finds out is a torn groin muscle AND two herniated discs. Ouch. Jackie Gayda vs Dawn Marie as a wrestling match continues in their love triangle story with the hopelessly miscast Haas, after Christmas it’s a slightly more politically correct “best body contest.” Finally Paul London does jobs for Dupree late month.

The Dudley Boys haven’t been on TV since Big Show put them both through tables on the show that aired 4th November nor wrestled a match since 7th November. That's the status quo for many months now and I've never heard it explained why they suddenly had no value despite being under contract.

VARIATIONS

In Albuquerque RVD & Rey defend against Jindrak & Reigns while Haas and Hardcore Holly wrestle the Basham Brothers in a rematch from the PPV ; in San Antonio, the other way round.

TVs

6th in Charlotte, Masters pins ex ECW CW Anderson and Snitsky pins occasional ROH talent Caprice Coleman. Next night in Greenville Brad Attitude pins Lodi (yes, that one) and Krissy Vaine (latterly of Deep South and FCW) pins Jenny Taylor in what cagematch has down as the penultimate match of the latter's career, and CW gets onto Velocity doing a job for Spike. On SmackDown the ill-fated Amy Weber debuts with the Cabinet. 13th in Huntsville Nick Sinn (a/k/a Sinn in Disciples Of The New Church/Gathering a/k/a Sinn Bodhi/Kizarny) does a job dark for Masters and there's another Chad Collyer sighting for Heat, losing to Val. The 4000 in attendance then get a full blown COLISEUM VIDEO EXCLUSIVE dark main event - Orton knocks off Triple H again! Next night in Nashville Collyer loses to Nunzio dark (potentially a very tight technical match) and Sinn gets on TV tagging with Tony Santarelli to lose to Holly & Haas for Velocity. Plus - COLISEUM VIDEO EXCLUSIVE - Taker drops the pathetic WWE Champion and henchman Orlando Jordan in a handicap casket match. 27th in Biloxi is where they tape the Flair vs Venis match I posted previously @HarmonicGenerator and - COLISEUM EXCLUSIVE dark main, Randy is pinning HHH again, this time Shawn Michaels (on the comeback trail from a knee injury) is the ref. Next night in New Orleans, I would like to mention RVD & Rey vs the short-lived Eddy & Booker T team, for the belts, from SmackDown, as a colossal waste of a lot of talent that should have been chasing the big belt. The title scene could have been vibrant and exciting, imagining the potential meetings around a six way series between those guys, Angle and Cena, except they're making Cena stand still when he's already ready and these four are fighting for the tag belts.

Mick Foley shows his face as Santa at Tribute To The Troops. That's nice.

WHAT HAPPENED AT THE CLASH?

There’s a really good case that 29/11 was THE big episode of Raw between Survivors and year end, opening with the contenders battle royal and closing with the controversial HHH vs Benoit vs Edge which precipitates the title vacancy. But they delivered the week after too, with the first Women’s title main event on Raw and continuing to build suspicion that Big Dave is getting fed up of Hunter. Oh, and a limbo contest. Hello, Candice Michelle.

SmackDown has Armageddon ; Raw 06/12

Women’s title : Trish Stratus vs Lita

Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho vs Triple H & Batista

ICT : Shelton Benjamin vs Christian

Eugene vs Maven

Hurricane vs Simon Dean

DEPARTURES

The curse of John Cena strikes Aaron Aguilera (Jesus) just as it had Carlito the month before. This luckless lad has been flirting with opportunity forever, back to being a Conquistador in 2000, and gets injured during his first month on telly. He’s released in April and flits around before landing a regular gig, joining All Japan in 2007 for an eventual five years on board, initially under a mask as Zodiac in Voodoo Murders.

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JANUARY 2005

After six weeks without a World Heavyweight Champion after a controversial defence for Triple H, we finally end up with a new champion. It’s Triple H.

This month several matches on the house shows have the risible “Royal Rumble qualifier” stip - because the rosters THAT large? - which leads to the laughable situations of many guys qualifying multiple times and the losers often ending up in the Rumble anyway.

In general I think of this month as being one where things start picking up a real sense of excitement as there are finally new top babyfaces knocking on the door to take both shows forward and the year ends up being one I look back on as being a bit of a recovery time in times of show quality, especially on PPV, with the brand split coming into its own three years later with highly anticipated matches becoming possible between both newer stars and established main eventers (plus the occasional returner) who’ve been on separate shows. The industry in general was on fire in the ring in 2005.

THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW

4th in Poughkeepsie and 5th in Wilkes-Barre it’s yet again Randy Orton vs Triple H with Randy enjoying two final wins. 14th in Minneapolis we’ve two big singles with Orton vs Batista followed by Shawn Michaels vs Ric Flair (HBK return from injury) then next night in Grand Forks ND, 16th in Winnipeg it’s a tag match. 21st in Abilene, 22nd in Tyler and 23rd in Tulsa HHH vs RKO for the belt is back on.

THE CARDS

Chris Benoit vs Edge carries on all month, often a submission match, and won by “The Crippler” everywhere except Minneapolis where Edge wins by pin after a bizarre finish involving Coach chasing Christy Hemme into the ring. Chris Jericho vs Batista continues sandwiching the month, mid month the dreaded “new talent initiative” has Y2J actually doing jobs for Muhammad Hassan - except in hometown Winnipeg where Chris wins a “Rumble qualifier.” You may recall, Hassan gets in anyway. Kane vs Gene Snitsky continues with double count-outs before the PPV then Kanes winning in hardcore matches. Shelton Benjamin vs Maven for the ICT goes most of the month until Shelts picks back up with Christian at the end of the month. Tag title run is Captain Charisma & Tyson Tomko vs William Regal & Eugene to NYR where Eugene does his knee ; there are a couple of shows where Regal drops singles to Christian while Hurricane & Rosey vs La Resistance is going on before they switch the belts back in Winnipeg, thereafter La Res are back with familiar challengers in Yoshihiro Tajiri & Rhino. 

The women’s match is still title defences with Lita vs Molly Holly before the PPV then after Lita does HER knee and drops the belt Victoria beats Molly for the rest of the month. I believe Trish isn’t 100%. Hassan is also sandwiched, starting and ending his month with Val Venis, although here and there Val also jobs for Chris Masters - the Masterpiece wraps up with Hurricane who he usually beats, except… when it’s a Rumble qualifier in Tulsa.

VARIATIONS

Here’s the big one - in Winnipeg there’s a swap to the announced matches, Christian and Tomko beat Hurricane & Rosey, and Coach informs Regal that HE is going to be Willys partner defending the tag belts against La Res. The outcome you probably could predict, and it’s interesting that they did the switch on the road. Not the first time they tried to remind fans that you might see something big on a house show, not the last either. Otherwise; early month Rhino does one job each to Hassan and Masters on nights the other is beating Venis. Abilene has no Jericho so Big Dave is shoehorned into Kane vs Snitsky ; won by Kane but he’s battered by Batista afterwards.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 

We start how we left 2004 - JBL vs Big Show for the belt, Undertaker vs John Heidenreich on last but now in a casket match 3rd in Manchester NH and 5th in Chicago (a decent 9000 for the times). 9th-10th in Orlando and Fort Lauderdale is largely the same except Heidenreich suffers a flight delay to Orlando so Kurt Angle subs and gets put in the box. 15th in Kitchener, 16th in Halifax the title match remains but support is now John Cena beating Kurt. 22nd in Amarillo and 23rd in Tupelo we dry run the Rumble with JBL vs Show vs Angle.

THE CARDS

John Cena vs Kenzo Suzuki unfortunately remains the US title match either side of the Canada trip. We start off with a continuation of Rob Van Dam & Rey Mysterio vs The Basham Brothers for the tag belts and Eddy Guerrero & Booker T vs Mark Jindrak & Luther Reigns before Rob does his knee (what a fucking month) eventually forcing a title change and him missing WrestleMania AND One Night Stand. Short term Eddy & Rey tag against the Bashams which continues as a title shot in Canada after the switch - they’re already showing dissent too if you can imagine - while Charlie Haas subs as Bookers partner. Month end Rey & Eddy are beating Reigns & Jindrak, the Bashams face Haas plus one, and Bookers back jobbing to John Heidenreich. CWT match is jinxed with changes but through Florida and Canada it’s Sho Funaki vs Spike Dudley vs Chavo Guerrero Jr.

Hardcore Holly vs Daniel Puder (oh dear) takes place early month. Orlando Jordan beats Bob in Florida and Scotty Too Hotty late month, Paul London is allowed wins over Rene Dupree in Canada and Tupelo. If it’s killing you to know who Luther and Jindrak wrestled in Canada - it’s Scotty and Nunzio. We still have Jackie Gayda vs Dawn Marie, often Torrie Wilson as ring announcer, sometimes match, sometimes “best body” contest, though In Jacksonville there’s a full blown “Miss SmackDown” contest featuring Florida native Michelle McCool (I wonder if anyone knew who she was at this point??) - understandably won by Torrie.

VARIATIONS

A lot about Charlie Haas here! In Kitchener Haas loses to Suzuki and Holly to Heidenreich, in Halifax there’s Holly over Kenzo and Haas losing a Rumble qualifier to Jordan (don’t worry, Charlie already qualified more than once). In Amarillo Charlie tags with Chavo against the Bashams (CWT Funaki vs Spike vs Nunzio) and in Tupelo it’s Haas & Holly reunited only AFTER Bob pins Danny in another (LOL) qualifier (CWT now a four way). As for other CWT matches - in Manchester the battle royal with the whole roster goes as planned but in Chicago it’s just Funaki vs Chavo vs Nunzio vs Akio in a (pinfall) four way - Billy Kidman and Spike have transport problems. Finally in Amarillo London loses a Rumble qualifier to Kenzo so Cena’s back with Rene for one night only. Yes, London still makes the Rumble.

TVs

3rd at Nassau Masters pins Chris Cage dark and Danny Doring gets on Heat losing to Rhino. Next night in Uncasville CT London pins Cage dark, John Walters loses to Hardcore on Velocity. I should add that on the weekly SmackDown, in their quest to give jobs to as many Diva Search contestants as possible (when they just cut a load of wrestlers) Amy Weber from the Cabinet is feuding with Big Shows friend Joy Giovanni - but that’s about to hit the skids. In Tampa the Shane Twins beat Shannon Moore & Steve Madison ; after the show a Coliseum Video dark main has Taker beat JBL & Jordan in another casket match. Just like the good old days of squash matches, they’re having to advertise a proper main to get people to come because what passes for TV just isn’t drawing. 17th in Toronto a respectable 9600 come to Raw, Masters pins Tyson Dux dark - next night in Montreal Dux loses to Spike where only 3500 attend the SmackDown taping. We have another casket match dark - I’m stumped as to why the roster with the revered WWE Champion is doing so poorly at the gate. 24th Raw in Oklahoma I need to mention quasi face Batista beating tag champs La Res in a handicap match (booo), and a belting dark main of Orton, Benoit & Jericho vs Evolution. Next night in Little Rock there are TWO bonus matches - the handicap is Show vs Bradshaw & Jordan, the casket match is Taker vs Heidenreich. Bet that put asses in seats. Finally 31st in San Jose Tajiri beats Psicosis dark, then they do a frankly mental double taping (as both rosters are needed in Honolulu night after) chock full of star power matches and stuff set up for next weeks Raw in Saitama, continuing build for later matches including a HBK/Edge rematch and several stories for Mania, Hall of Fame announcements, vignettes and in ring highlights including Orton pinning HHH again in a tag where Batista seems to get himself ejected from ringside on purpose, Kane finishing Snitsky in a cage match, Sgt Slaughter doing a job for Hassan, Jindrak & Reigns getting Taker eliminated from the contenders tourney so Kurt gets a buy, and Show beats tag champs the Bashams in a handicap match.

At this point the Rumble and TV had me convinced that Mania would have Taker & Kane vs Heidenreich & Snitsky (ewwww), an Edge vs Shawn rematch, and Benoit and Jericho left with each other in a matey respectful tie break match after their swapping wins on Raw. Compared to what we got, I’m glad I was wrong. Presumably I’d have eventually guessed Orton would stay babyface and be shoehorned into a match with Kurt, but there was really only room at the top for one and that was clearly going to be Big Dave.

DEPARTURE 

Daniel Puder makes his last appearance on the main roster at the Rumble. Short of a LOADED OVW show in July where every match features wrestlers that either ended up “making it” or already had, we won’t be mentioning him again. Clearly the Tough Enough winner pissed the wrong people off or wasn’t a good fit from the start ; thankfully they’ll get more than their moneys worth out of the losing finalist, a chap named Mike Mizanin.

Oddly quiet for Rumble month.

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FEBRUARY 2005

As Roads to WrestleMania go, I think this is decent.

THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW

We start the month with what reads like absolutely one of the best house shows of all time in Honolulu, with the combined roster putting on a card of near Mania strength, with all the bells and whistles you could imagine - five title matches, a star studded battle royal, a last four matches full of some of the biggest names in company history and a special appearance from local legend Don Muraco - on last it’s Triple H vs Randy Orton, technically still the big feud on Raw even if all eyes are on Dave. 5th at Jamsil Indoor Stadium in Seoul they pack in a 10,000 sell out with the same match on last, 6th in Anchorage for SuperBowl Sunday an identical card runs to that in Hawaii. Much the same through Ohio and Michigan, 12th in Steubenville (no, me neither) and 13th in Toledo Hunters still pinning Randy, 18th-19th in Cadillac and Kalamazoo they add the “streetfight” stip, likewise 20th in Erie. 25th they’re at MSG for a vastly improved 12,000 paid (14,000 inside) - double the numbers SmackDown managed on their last visit. Definitely a night to be there, the Evolution imploding match during the brief window of Dave and Randy both being goodies - Randy Orton & Batista vs Triple H & Ric Flair in a cage match. With RKO and Naitch taken out virtually simultaneously half way through it leaves HHH and the new hero Dave to slug it out in the cage for ten minutes alone, and Batista goes over, which I imagine went down a treat. They repeat this the next two nights In Springfield and in Boston - the landscape has changed!

THE CARDS

Shawn Michaels vs Ric Flair is a top meeting in Hawaii and Alaska, then in NYC and Mass Shawns back on the road taking revenge on Edge. Quasi babyface Batista is usually crushing Maven until his turn proper. Through Michigan and Erie Chris Benoit is beating Edge in submission matches then at MSG and Springfield he’s with buddy Chris Jericho with the same stip and a handshake afterwards - those battle royals on the supershows are also won by The Crippler. Maddeningly in Seoul and Michigan Y2J does more jobs to Muhammad Hassan though he has a few nights off too. This being the time that Edge vs Benoit vs Jericho submission match is still the plan for Mania before CJ pitches the “Hollywood Dream” ladder match that ends up becoming Money In The Bank. Shelton Benjamin also beats Edge abroad and in Ohio, then for the rest of the month he’s back with Christian. We continue Kane vs Gene Snitsky in hardcore matches except on the big cross roster shows it’s a monster tag with Undertaker and his little brother beating John Heidenreich and the foot fetishist. 

Trish Stratus vs Victoria is our title match in Honolulu, Seoul and Anchorage then the rest of the month it’s a three way with Molly Holly - in Boston at least there’s interaction between the champ and Christy Hemme right before the Diva Search winner is supposed to ring announce Kane/Snitsky. That’s right, Kane - saviour of damsel in distress. Of course much of this feud including the title match at Mania was meant for Lita, but I guess that’s how the ACL crumbles. Battle royal participation aside, Christian beats Hurricane in Ohio, and Helms fills in for Batista against Maven in MI and Erie. Post Saitama, William Regal & Yoshihiro Tajiri vs La Resistance is our tag title match. Hassan beats Rhino in Steubenville and late month, Chris Masters vs Val Venis runs all month.

VARIATIONS

It’s not all good news for Benoit this month, he does a job for Batista in Seoul, but otherwise he’s flawless, also beating Hassan in Boston when Jericho is off. Other exception in Seoul has Christian dropping Rhino. In Toledo there’s an identical swap of opponents from the usual, like last month - Hassan beats Val and Rhino loses to Masters.

THE MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN

In Honolulu and Anchorage either side of Saitama TVs, the two top SmackDown-only matches are again Big Show vs JBL & Orlando Jordan in handicap matches and John Cena vs Kurt Angle. 12th-13th in East Lansing and Valparaiso Kurt’s booked but doesn’t make it so plumbing the pits, Show beats Luther Reigns & Mark Jindrak in a handicap cage match while Cena’s back with Rene Dupree underneath. After the PPV 21st in Baltimore JBLs now pinning Show, Undertaker & Booker T vs Angle & Reigns earlier, Cena still with Rene, tag belts on last - now he’s a face Bookers mending all sorts of bridges! 26th in Auburn Hills Shows beating JBL by DQ and underneath one of the oddest tags I’ve ever heard of… post Jindrak and Reigns dissolving on TV, Jindrak vs Dupree (zzz) has Luther interfere, then Teddy Long makes it the most Teddy Long match imaginable - a tag team match playa, where Jindrak tags with da Undertaker, playa! Two teams I’d have never put together. It happens again 27th in Columbus (OH).

THE CARDS

John Cena continues to waste time on a belt AND opponents beneath him ; month end he’s with Orlando Jordan who of course will eventually relieve him of the US belt. The Basham Brothers vs Eddy Guerrero & Rey Mysterio continues early month and will resume after No Way Out and the title change ; inbetween the Bashams defend against Hardcore Holly & Charlie Haas while Reys with Kenzo Suzuki. We’ve covered that cross brand tag above but up until the PPV Booker T is still made to put over John Heidenreich - after No Way Out they’ve sussed big John is worthless so Bookers permitted to beat him.

CWT is Sho Funaki vs Spike Dudley vs Scotty Too Hotty vs Chavo Guerrero Jr mid month, after No Way Out Chavo defends against Funaki, Spike and Paul London. Orlando pinning Nunzio rounds off East Lansing and Valparaiso, late month Haas & Holly are beating a new team - Johnny Nitro & Joey Matthews, yes, with Melina. There are still “best body contests.” I despair.

VARIATIONS 

Baltimore has some one offs - Holly pins Jindrak, Haas loses to Jordan, the CWT eliminator is a five way with Chavo vs Spike vs Scotty vs Funaki vs Shannon Moore.

TVs

Weirdly Saitama sells out for SmackDown - 18,750+ to 16,650 or so for Raw. Must be the draw of Akio, Funaki, Kenzo and the promise of a kimono match. Or maybe it was Taker, actually. He does a 17 minutes with Heidenreich (ugh) after the taping finishes. 14th in Cincinnati Masters beats Chad Wicks before tapings, on Heat the Heartbreakers (who will be eventually rechristened Heart Throbs) lose to Hurricane & Rosey, and after Raw goes off the air HBK & Orton beat HHH & Flair. Next night in Cleveland Scotty & Matt Cappotelli lose to the Shane Twins and a dark six man main has Taker, Cena and Show beat Angle, JBL and Heidenreich. Mike Mondo (Spirit Squad Mikey) jobs to Heidenreich on Velocity too. 21st in State College the OTHER Mamaluke Big Vito gets a tryout, almost no time after JTB left. On Heat Hurricane & Rosey beat Shawn Spears & Mike Yamaha - yes, THAT Shawn Spears who eventually becomes Tye Dillinger. This is the night Chris Masters debuts on TV and famously destroys Steven Richards’ orbital bone with wayward arms.  Next night in Philadelphia Vito tags with Nunzio to lose to Moore & Frankie Kazarian. 28th in Providence Vito loses to Val for Heat ; this being a pivotal Raw where Jericho lays the table for Money In The Bank, Superstar Billy Graham encourages Randy to challenge Taker for Mania, and HBK beats Edge in a streetfight then is immediately attacked by Angle, accepting HIS challenge for Mania.

WHAT HAPPENED AT THE CLASH?

Undoubtedly the biggest Raw was the one in Saitama with name value battles, a one week build for some thereof, title matches including a change and basically everything you could ask for. No idea if show run time (including Heat) was near five hours like the previous years visit but it wouldn’t surprise me. Massive.

SmackDown has No Way Out ; Raw taped 4th February 

World title : Triple H vs Edge

Submission match : Chris Benoit vs Chris Jericho

Shawn Michaels vs Ric Flair

Randy Orton vs Tyson Tomko

Batista vs Maven

Tag title : La Resistance vs William Regal & Yoshihiro Tajiri

… if interested, they did Snitsky vs Hurricane, Hassan vs Rhino and Shelton vs Venis on Heat.

HAWAII & ALASKA

I need to summarise the cards here because I don’t think broken down as above you’re going to fully grasp how loaded they were ;

(1) ICT : Shelton Benjamin vs Edge

(2) Women’s title : Trish Stratus vs Victoria

(3) SD Tag title : Basham Brothers vs Eddy Guerrero & Rey Mysterio

(4) Batista vs Maven

(5) Big Show vs JBL & Orlando Jordan

(6) 24 Man Battle Royal won by Benoit ; other participants included Y2J, Show, Regal, Tajiri, Haas, Holly, La Res and the CWT division among others.

(7) Shawn Michaels vs Ric Flair

(8) US title : John Cena vs Kurt Angle

(9) Undertaker & Kane vs Gene Snitsky & John Heidenreich 

(10) World title streetfight : Triple H vs Randy Orton

DEPARTURES

Here’s a controversial one where the story took 15 years to come out - Amy Weber jacks it in during the Alaska trip. The story goes that she takes a hard landing from an unplanned fall practicing for a match with Joy, and takes painkillers and goes for a lie down. She claims she’s woken by Randy Orton intentionally knocking her to the ground than saying “You’re gonna learn, bitch” then later has a drink poured on her while asleep by Edge, who denies it despite still having the rest of the drink in his hand. She’ll cite bullying and a “frat house” environment for her reasons for deciding it’s not for her. Sounds about right. On TV they write her out by having JBL fire her for apparently being at fault when JBL ends up accidentally tranquillised - remember those couple of months where everyone was shooting each other with tranquilliser darts? Man, that was great wrestling TV…

Kenzo Suzuki tapes a loss to Booker T which turns out to be his last in the company - he misses a ton of ring time with a collapsed lung and despite him and Hiroko being drafted to Raw, before he’s back in the ring they’re both released in another big cost cutting cull in July. He continues wrestling, in 2010 he’ll show up as KENSO in All Japan and join the Voodoo Murders, reconnecting funnily enough with Rene Dupree. He’s still going today as a freelancer, and it warms my heart to tell you that despite earning something of a cult following, as he wrestler he’s never really been better than “the drizzling shits.”

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1 hour ago, air_raid said:

Kenzo Suzuki tapes a loss to Booker T which turns out to be his last in the company - he misses a ton of ring time with a collapsed lung and despite him and Hiroko being drafted to Raw, before he’s back in the ring they’re both released in another big cost cutting cull in July. He continues wrestling, in 2010 he’ll show up as KENSO in All Japan and join the Voodoo Murders, reconnecting funnily enough with Rene Dupree. He’s still going today as a freelancer, and it warms my heart to tell you that despite earning something of a cult following, as he wrestler he’s never really been better than “the drizzling shits.”

Regardless of the quality of his wrestling, because I think he already had a stinker in TNA with Perry Saturn or someone like that, I always wonder who saw this big, jacked guy in cool gear and decided to put him in some grandad pyjamas with a goofy gimmick. I can imagine the initials V... K... M.

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I know there was a story that they were interested in Hiroshi Tanahashi who was Suzuki's tag partner at the time. Johnny Ace was supposedly sent to hire him but hired Suzuki by mistake because he assumed they must be after the big one. I don't believe it for a second, but pretty amusing to think about. 

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1 hour ago, gmoney said:

I know there was a story that they were interested in Hiroshi Tanahashi who was Suzuki's tag partner at the time. Johnny Ace was supposedly sent to hire him but hired Suzuki by mistake because he assumed they must be after the big one. I don't believe it for a second, but pretty amusing to think about. 

Well Johnny did hire the wrong one legged man instead of Zach Gowen so it’s very possible 

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2 hours ago, gmoney said:

I know there was a story that they were interested in Hiroshi Tanahashi who was Suzuki's tag partner at the time. Johnny Ace was supposedly sent to hire him but hired Suzuki by mistake because he assumed they must be after the big one. I don't believe it for a second, but pretty amusing to think about. 

Probably as big a blunder as Spurs signing Rebrov instead of Shevchenko.

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Wanted Bret, got Neidhart.

 

Kinda would've wanted to have seen that team in the States. As I said before, Suzuki might've sucked, but he at least looked like something. But then this is the same company that had Rene Dupree as big as a house as his partner and sticking boot polish through his hair and over his eyes and under his nose.

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46 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

Was this around the time of Tanahashi’s run in TNA or was that a bit later? I remember him against AJ Styles on one of their early monthly PPVs and that might have crossed over with Kenzo in WWE.

A fair bit before. AJ wrestled Young Hash at Final Resolution 2006. About six months before Tana was due to get his crack at Brock for the big belt, before New Japan decided to screw Brock over and anoint Tana in a tournament instead, going over ummm Giant Bernard a/k/a A-Train/Tensai in the final. Yeah.

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