Paid Members air_raid Posted May 28, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted May 28, 2023 OCTOBER 2005 The Texas layover concludes and I can’t believe some of the names I get to type in this entry. THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW 1st in Odessa (because of course we’re still in Texas) it’s still John Cena vs Kurt Angle for the WWE title, same 8th in Hidalgo with the shitty DQ finish again. 14th-16th in San Bernardino, Honolulu (4000 is way down for the building) and San Jose - yes, they finally left Texas - it’s a no DQ match so Cena’s finally winning by pin. 21st in Albuquerque and 22nd in Salt Lake City it’s a combined roster show with Cena/Angle on top for Raw. 23rd there’s a Cali double shot, the evening has just 1800 in Stockton for Raw. However some good gates - 27th in Sydney there’s 15,000 and 9000 29th in Melbourne, in between 5000 are in Adelaide but they get John Cena vs Triple H. THE CARDS Big Show vs Edge continues through Texas, Hawaii and Cali (with Show winning them all), from the joint shows thereafter Shows stuck back with Gene Snitsky. ICT rematches of Ric Flair vs Carlito go on most of the month though in the big cities in Oz the Nature Boy is with Triple H non title - you can guess why (boooo). Shawn Michaels vs Chris Masters happens twice more in Hildalgo and Sydney. Kane vs Tyson Tomko runs through California and Honolulu and on the joint shows Kane wins the battle royals. Trish Stratus & Ashley Massaro vs Victoria, Candice Michelle & Torrie Wilson continues on and off with a straight tag vs Vic & Torrie, Trish vs Torrie happens twice for the belt Down Under, and on the cross brand cards it’s Trish, Ashley & Christy Hemme downing Vic, Torrie & Melina with Candice as a less than impartial ref. Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch vs Hurricane & Rosey continues for the tag belts until the deposed champs are split on TV then it’s Val Venis & Viscera challenging off the back of a program on Heat. Really. Shelton Benjamin vs Kerwin White and Eugene vs Rob Conway go pretty much all month. The Masterpiece goes over Yoshihiro Tajiri most nights he isn’t with Shawn although the Buzzsaw also loses to Snitsky more than once too at home and in Oz. VARIATIONS In Odessa, Masters is still beating Viscera. In Hildalgo Vis gets to beat Tomko, and Flair misses it so Shelton gets a nice revenge win over Carlito. In San Jose, interference from Nick Nemeth and Matt Striker turns Shelton vs Kerwin into a tag match. Top end exceptions in Australia see Shawn & Flair beat Angle & Carlito while Show pins Masters in Adelaide, then Shawn & Show beat Carlito & Masters in Melbourne, while undercard shuffling has one offs of Carlito v Eugene and Conway v Tajiri in Sydney, in Adelaide Shelton pins Snitsky and Kerwin beats Tajiri, and in Melbourne there’s uniquely Kerwin pinning Eugene and Shelton over Conway. MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN We’re finally back on the road 14th in Visalia (1000 in the Convention Center) and 16th in Bakersfield (2000 in a basketball venue which can hold nearly 9000) with Batista vs Randy Orton vs Eddy Guerrero for the belt. 21st in Albuquerque, 22nd the same bout is SmackDowns top contribution to Salt Lake, next day just 1300 come to Redding CA the afternoon before Raw in Stockton. Although there are 3 hours between the cities it was probably still dumb to split the market and run both on the same day. THE CARDS Rey Mysterio vs JBL is every night and Reys winning them all which I imagine was popular especially in Reys home state. Chris Benoit vs Ken Kennedy for the US belt happens twice in Cali then the cross brand shows have Booker T defending against The Crippler, still “oblivious” at this point to Sharmell interfering. John Heidenreich & Animal vs MNM for the tag belts is on all three West Coast shows including the Redding outlier. The rest of mid month thus ; Hardcore Holly vs Christian is a loss they definitely wouldn’t be putting on Captain Charisma if he wasn’t leaving. CWT is Juventud Guerrera vs Nunzio rematches and it’s still Psicosis & Super Crazy vs William Regal & Paul Burchill plus Bobby Lashley is now flattening Sylvan - those last two also happen in Redding. VARIATIONS Redding uniquely has Booker vs Benoit vs Kennedy vs Holly for the UST, Christian losing one last singles match to Matt Hardy, Juvi defending against Kid Kash, and OVWs Ken Doane pinning Sho Funaki - Doane will be Spirit Squad Kenny/Kenny Dykstra. TVs 3rd in Dallas (14,000+) the gigantic 3 hour first Raw back on USA Shelton vs Tomko opens dark then they throw everything at it (see below ). Next night  in Austin on SmackDown Roddy Piper beats Randy and Bob Orton Jr in a handicap by pinning Cowboy while Randy is distracted by Undertakers gong. 10th Raw in Corpus Christi I mention Heat because Shelton beats Kerwin by DQ when Nemeth interferes and Matt Striker makes the save - how far did Benjamin fall so quickly? One minute he’s having that match with HBK in Gold Rush, next he’s a Heat level nobody with a team leading into feud with Striker. Also on Raw there’s a show long McMahon oriented story which culminates in Linda turning heel and firing JR stemming from the previous weeks Stunners from Steve Austin which is an incredibly convoluted way to start build for Austin’s return to the ring against Coach - which is announced but doesn’t happen. Plus Conway beats Doink (Lombardi) to start a crusade against legends, and Mickie James makes her first appearance as Trish’s “number one fan.” Next night in San Antonio the MexiCools are attacking by unknown men - the Tolands that eventually will be The Dicks (ugh) and Benoit beats Orlando Jordan to force him to “quit the business.” Dark, Batista & Eddy beat the Ortons. 17th in Sacramento Robbie & Rory McAllister win dark against Deuce Shade (Jimmy Snuka Jr) and John Williams (Hawaiian Lion, not Ian Rotten under his real name!!) and Heat is incident packed - Cade & Murdoch lose non title (fucking booo) to Val & Viscera, White & Nemeth beat Shelton & Striker, and Conway beats Greg Valentine by DQ when Eugene interferes. Plus build to Mick Foley vs Carlito and Cena vs Angle dark in a streetfight. 18th in Reno (less than 2000 for TV!!!) Scotty Too Hotty beats Striker dark, the Tolands attack the tag champs on Velocity, on SmackDown Booker wins the US title from Benoit in shady manner, Matt resurfaces on the B show in shame, the Hardcore Holly v Sylvan run ends in a hardcore match and then dark, Batista pins Randy. 24th in Fresno Tajiri beats Doane dark, Conway beats Koko B Ware (fucking hell) on Heat, on Raw Gregory Helms sheds himself of “The Hurricane” abandoning Rosey and turning heel, and Angle beats Cena non title (boooooooooooo) with Bischoff shenanigans. Next night (just 3500 at the Cow Palace) Scotty pins Kenny dark, on Velocity Kash wins his first big televised match over Paul London and Jillian Hall pins the increasingly irrelevant Stacy Keibler (what a travesty) and SmackDown proper is huge - Booker turns full blown heel on Benoit, MNM win the tag belts back in a four way when the Dicks cost Animal & Heidenreich, and Batista, Eddy & Piper beat the Ortons and Kennedy via Piper sleeper on his old mate Bob. Oh, and a midget/“juniors” match. 30th a Sunday taping for SmackDown (to air after Taboo Tuesday) still attracts 10,000 to the Staples Center - Heidenreich & Animal are suddenly on dark match duty with Jordan & Simon Dean, and a really eventful Velocity has Kash pin Brian Kendrick, the Dicks make their in ring TV debut, and Sylvan beat Joey Ryan. Yes, that one. On the show proper Christian jobs to the Twist Of Fate as he and JBL lose to Matt and Rey in what will be the last of his matches to make air, Piper beats Orton Sr by DQ when Randy runs in, which is the end of Rods cameo, and dark Batista beats Orton and Eddy as he has been doing on the road. Finally Halloween night a poor 6500 at the Arrowhead Pond sees Ryan job for Rosey dark, Helms working heel on Heat under his real name, and Raw in which “an incident over the weekend” is the flimsiest reason imaginable for Austin no longer scheduled for the PPV and Batista coming out as a SmackDown rep to replace him, only to be jumped by Coach’s new goons, Vader and Goldust, Conway takes a drubbing from Jim Duggan, Jimmy Snuka and Kamala, plus Cena over Angle dark. What a circus, this reminded me of a bad Nitro. I need to point out that if the shitty DQ finish at Unforgiven hadn’t furthered the backlash against Cena - against Kurt Angle who’s right back at that point where he’s so good people are struggling to boo him - the Poundland version of Austin vs Vince they’ve decided to churn out with Cena facing multiple obstacles thrown at him by Bischoff looks even worse this month with actual Steve Austin appearing on the show. Actual Vince too for that matter. If things weren’t tough enough for John to get cheers, they’re now throwing Shawn Michaels in there too. WHAT HAPPENED AT THE CLASH? Timing is weird here because this is two weeks after Unforgiven and about four weeks before Taboo Tuesday which sneaks into the month of November (1st) in which the company also puts on Survivor Series - but timing is also perfect as it falls straight after the previous gigantic “Clash” style episode of SmackDown. The epic 3 hour return of Raw to the USA Network, with a feast of matches including Triple H returning to tag with then turn on Flair, Edge vs Hardy loser leaves Raw ladder match (where “loser” has never fit a loser more), HBK vs Angle 30 minute Iron Man, and a wealth of other jazz like Mick Foley on Pipers Pit which in turn draws Roddy Piper into conflict with the Ortons, Steve Austin giving Stunners to every McMahon, Hulk Hogan giving an interview where he’ll tease an Austin match that we knew even then was never going to happen, and the start of the Raw vs SmackDown enmity that will build to Survivor Series. SmackDown has No Mercy ; Raw 3/10 No DQ - John Cena vs Eric Bischoff Iron Man - Shawn Michaels vs Kurt Angle Ladder Match - Matt Hardy vs Edge Triple H & Ric Flair vs Carlito & Chris Masters Batista, Chris Benoit & Rey Mysterio vs JBL, Eddy Guerrero & Christian Handicap “bra & panties” match : Trish Stratus & Ashley Massaro vs Victoria, Torrie Wilson & Candice Michelle DEPARTURE OK, I’m going to talk about Steve Austin here. Yes, he’s only back a month or less, yes it’s not a long term falling out. But it’s a story more or less forgotten. The “19 years without a match” before Owens was nearly closer to 17, as WWE persuaded Steve to get back in the ring for what no doubt would have been a short, chaotic, fairly comedic match with Coach. They built a TV storyline around the McMahons and Austin’s pal JR and even announced the match on TV. At almost the last minute did they reveal to Stone Cold that the plan was for the shenanigans to result in him LOSING to Coachman. Austin tells them that Stone Cold Steve Austin, the biggest star of the last decade, absolutely should not be returning to the ring for the first time in two and a half years to lose to fucking Coach. He foregoes his cheque and walks away from the match. He was right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted May 29, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted May 29, 2023 (edited) NOVEMBER 2005 Tragedy strikes. MAIN EVENTS - RAW Afternoon of the 6th in Valparaiso there’s no WWE title match, the Ric Flair vs Triple H non title match goes on last. After the double taping in Minneapolis both brands are on tour so 15th-20th John Cena vs Kurt Angle in Leipzig, Manchester (a cage match) and a double shot of Coventry and night 1 of Dublin alternates night by night with vs HHH in Hamburg and streetfights at the NIA then night 2 in Dublin - 9000 at the MEN, Brum sells out. THE CARDS Shawn Michaels vs Kurt Angle and Ric Flair vs Triple H are both common matches on tour when one of the antagonists isn’t main event with Cena and otherwise Shawns usually with Chris Masters and Flair with Carlito. Commonly Shelton Benjamin vs Rob Conway and Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Nick Nemeth are on the undercard, mixed with Shelton beating Carlito, Tajiri losing to Masters or Conway beating Eugene, but after Nick Dinsmore is taken to hospital having taken too many somas and sent home (with a suspension) it’s often Shelton vs Conway vs Nemeth as a three way ; Tajiri trades a couple of wins with Carlito. Without the tag belts, Val Venis & Viscera vs Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch still goes on every night. Sometimes there’s a “best body” contest, otherwise Victoria & Candice Michelle vs Ashley Massaro & Maria Kannelis is a wrestling match - an awful one, I hazard a guess. Trish Stratus defends her belt against Vic only in Valparaiso and night one in Dublin, having helped SmackDown in Italy inbetween. VARIATIONS Valparaiso has a card obviously different to the tour ; Kerwin White has his last match in that character against Shelton, new tag champs Big Show & Kane beat Cade & Murdoch and Tyson Tomko & Gene Snitsky, Carlito beats Eugene stemming from Ashley Massaro as a guest on Carlitos Cabana, Tajiri pins Ken Doane and the Heart Throbs do a job to Mike Mizanin & Matt Cappotelli. Masters vs Eugene in Hamburg is unique. Coventry has a fantastic swap - Flair defends the ICT against Masters and Triple H does a pinfall job for his mucka HBK. In Dublin Raw gets its tag belts back ; first night Kane & Show beat Cade & Murdoch while Val & Vis put over Tomko & Snitsky, then next the champs beat the two big ugly lads. MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 5th in St Louis it’s a straight Batista vs Eddy Guerrero with The Undertaker vs Randy Orton underneath - ironic that Takers wrestling on bonfire night when he’s still off TV selling the fire from No Mercy! 6th-7th in Campaign and Lexington it’s the last two instalments of Batista vs Guerrero vs Orton. On tour 15th-20th Dave rests while Taker vs Orton draws in Rome (10,000 sell out), Milan, Bolzano, Ancona, Livorno and Helsinki. THE CARDS Booker T vs Chris Benoit kicks off the US title matches at home, on tour it’s split with Matt Hardy in the challenger role as Benoit doesn’t join the tour until Ancona. Rey Mysterio & Matt beat JBL & Orlando Jordan (umm, didn’t he “quit the business” on TV??) then Rey vs JBL as a singles match is a late addition to Livorno and Helsinki. Ken Kennedy vs Hardcore Holly goes on in the southern States then on tour Kennedy wins a fair few instances of the battle royal - although in Rome and Bolzano, it’s Vito. Huh. MNM vs John Heidenreich & Animal vs Super Crazy & Psicosis vs William Regal & Paul Burchill starts as the tag title match, abroad it’s usually MNM vs “LOD” as the others make up numbers in the battle royal - Milan and Helsinki only, it’s a 3-way with Regal & Burchill. Juventud Guerrera vs Kid Kash is the domestic CWT match then after the televised switch Nunzio giving Juvi the rematch - do I think they moved the title just so the Italian-American could defend the belt in Italy? Yes, I do. Bobby Lashley vs Sylvan goes all month home and abroad, and Christy Hemme vs Melina in (sigh) the dreaded bra and panties match is a bonus for the rednecks. Raw helps out the tour that’s missing headcount with Kane & Big Show vs Tyson Tomko & Gene Snitsky plus Trish Stratus defending her belt against Melina, both up until Livorno and Helsinki, where Christy pins Jillian Hall. While injured, Dave’s a guest on Pipers Pit. VARIATIONS Milan and Helsinki have extra bodies in tag title matches and amend the battle royal - in Milan a random clusterfuck 10 man happens instead where Hardcore, Kash, Paul London, Brian Kendrick & Sho Funaki beat Kennedy, Sylvan, Psicosis, Super Crazy & Orlando, plus Lashley squashes Simon Dean instead of Sylvan. Helsinki the battle royal goes ahead with 10 and they have UST as Booker vs Benoit vs Matt vs Jordan. TVs 7th in Fort Wayne Miz & Cappotelli beat Robbie & Rory McAllister dark, Colt Cabana jobs for Eugene on Heat, and Raw has Gregory Helms beat Rosey to start and end their feud, and Daivari returns as Kurt’s personal ref and eventual gopher. Dark Cena pins Angle. Next night in Indianapolis Sylvan beats Funaki dark, Eddy beats Kennedy by DQ in his last match, and the double chokeslam happens to Dave that tears his lat. 13th in Minneapolis is a double taping of both Eddy tribute TV episodes ; Kennedy pins Val before cameras roll. There’s little of note on the Sheffield tapings other than Juvi wins the belt back from Nunzio, nor of the Raw and SmackDown tapings after Survivor Series except the Boogey Man debuts. Ugh. DEPARTURES This is the last month of regular bookings for Rosey a/k/a Matt Anoa’i. He works a dark match in January with cousin/3MW partner Eddie Fatu in a bit of a tryout for the latter about bringing him back, which will land him the Umaga gig, but as Matts contract comes up in March, right before Umaga debuts, he decides not to sign a renewal to take some time out for family. I wonder if a new version of the Wild Samoans/Headshrinkers was the original plan? I’d have preferred that to the Spirit Squad to be blunt. Rosey will resurface as copyright-wary “RO’Z” in All Japan, as part of first RO&D and then Voodoo Murders, both home to a few ex WWE gaijin, and he’ll get shots at the Triple Crown, so he did alright for himself. In later life the vicious circle of weight gain giving him a knee problem leading to trouble exercising will affect him and sadly he’ll die of heart failure at just 47. He seemed a good lad, and looking and old photos you can see a fantastic resemblance to his little brother Joe, who I hear is doing OK for himself in WWE today. Secondly and more famously, Christian. He’s been on the fence about signing a deal for a couple of months with the company convinced it was a matter of time. Having got over to the point they let him have a program with John Cena where he was getting good reactions but still shoehorned Chris Jericho into it, the penny drops to Captain Charisma that they’ll never make him a main eventer in truth. He lets his contract wind down that expires 31st October but on goodwill still appears as advertised at Taboo Tuesday on 1st November, then becomes the first high profile name to leave WWE of their own volition while still a featured act on TV, for the explicit choice of going to TNA. He’ll debut later that month, be top contender by December and despite being a little overshadowed short term by Sting, win the NWA title from Jeff Jarrett in February, establishing that someone who might be ready to be at the top but hitting a glass ceiling could be allowed to make it on the other side. In years to come, of course, this will veer wildly too far in that direction and guys will be pushed far further than they should have been on merit just because they’re ex WWE, as part of TNAs almost perpetual inferiority complex, but in 2005 Christian going over by choice and not just because WWE cut him loose was a massive deal. Finally, tragically, Eddy Guerrero is found dead by nephew Chavo the day of the combined taping where he was scheduled to wrestle Batista and Randy Orton for the belt on SmackDown. Words aren’t enough when it comes to the sadness of his passing and certainly enough has been written about his legacy, but I’ll dwell on the booking plans briefly. Widely reported at the time, Batista was working with a muscle tear in his back that he REALLY could have done with time off for, and the dirt sheets at the time were reporting Eddy was pencilled in to win the belt, possibly turning heel and reverting to the “real” Eddy Guerrero in the process. Dave’s refuted that since and revealed it was Orton scheduled to win the title, with their feud set to reignite in time for a match at Mania 22 - which makes sense given they had a story around the belt going back to the night after Mania 21 and further back with Evolution, and given their status as two of the diamonds of the “OVW” generation that will (along with Cena) contest main events for years to come. Apparently in a phone call to Eddy, Batista opined that he thought Eddy deserved the title run but Eddy was gracious and said he felt it was Ortons time and agreed with Vinces decision. More than one source has suggested that at Mania 22, Eddy would have been opposite Shawn Michaels in one of two designated Raw vs SmackDown matches along with The Undertaker wrestling Kurt Angle - who in a planned scenario where Batista doesn’t do his triceps, is never moved back over from Raw, and was floated at the time by Taker as someone he’d be willing to lose the emerging “streak” to. What plans there might have been for Rey are unclear, let’s hope it was a spot in MITB and not working Mark Henry. Edited May 29, 2023 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted May 31, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted May 31, 2023 DECEMBER 2005 THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW 3rd in Baton Rouge its still John Cena vs Kurt Angle in a streetfight, 4th in Anderson SC its actually Cena vs Angle vs Chris Masters, which is a turn up. 17th/18th in Daytona Beach and Fort Myers its back to the streetfight, after Christmas 27th it becomes a cage match in Bethlehem and Pittsburgh, 29th in Wheeling Cena tags with Ric Flair to beat Masters and Triple H, 30th in Erie its another cage match with Kurt. THE CARDS Ric Flair vs Triple H is back on with DQ finishes by the end of the month, Trips is with Big Show in an impromptu match goes on early month as Naitch is off with a legal battle - Hunter does the job too! Kane vs Chris Masters goes on several times after Christmas, Show & Kane also defend the tag belts against Gene Snitsky & Tyson Tomko multiple times throughout the month and Trish Stratus vs Victoria for the belt is back on late month. Shelton Benjamin & Tatanka vs Carlito & Coach is a match I’d never have dreamed up. Mike Mizanin & Matt Cappotelli vs Rob Conway & Gregory Helms and Chavo Guerrero Jr vs Lance Cade are two pretty random matches that happen on both week 1 shows, Shelton trades wins (!) with Trevor Murdoch in Baton Rouge and Fort Myers. Chavo vs Conway is frequent after Christmas, where it’s usually also Murdoch vs Viscera, Snitsky & Tomko dropping Miz & Chris Cage, and Ken Doane vs Val Venis. VARIATIONS Yoshihiro Tajiri loses to Masters in Baton Rouge and Carlito in Anderson. Those two heels also “job share” in Florida as one then the other tag with Trips to lose to Flair and Shawn Michaels. The Heart Throbs work babyface in Florida, losing to Cade & Murdoch in Daytona, then to Snitsky & Tomko in Fort Myers while the champs work Armageddon. Trish vs Torrie Wilson is one on one in Daytona ; in Ft Myers they tag with Ashley Massaro and Candice Michelle respectively. Other exceptions are Shelton vs Conway, Chavo vs Doane and Matt Striker vs Danny Basham in Daytona, and Doane vs Basham and Striker vs Cade in Ft Myers. In Wheeling Val gets to beat Conway, as does Chavo Murdoch and Doane Vis, and underneath the main Kurt Angle vs Kane gets a unique 2005 revisit. Finally in Erie Mike Mondo, who has been serving as Doane’s second, gets to do the wrestling and goes over Val. THE MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 3rd in Savannah its Batista, Chris Benoit & Rey Mysterio vs JBL, Booker T & Randy Orton with guest ref Ricky Steamboat! 10th in Lewiston and 11th in Bangor The Undertaker vs Randy Orton goes on last, Boxing Day in White Plains its Batista & Benoit vs JBL & Orton, 28th in Jamestown/30th in Binghamton its Batista, Taker & Rey vs Orton & MNM, 29th in Buffalo inbetween its Rey & Dave beating MNM by DQ with Taker vs Orton underneath. THE CARDS Booker T vs Matt Hardy goes a couple of times, in White Plains Booker sustains the injury you saw on TV. Chris Benoit vs Orlando Jordan is back on month end. MNM vs Super Crazy & Psicosis continues until White Plains with or without the belts. CWT has little consistency early month but Kid Kash vs Juventud Guerrera vs Jamie Noble (he’s back too) and Kash vs Noble vs Sho Funaki happen twice each in New York state. John Heidenreich & Animal vs The Dicks is weirdly 50/50, Bobby Lashley beats Doug Basham in Maine then moves to a handicap with William Regal & Paul Burchill while Sylvan does jobs for Boogey Man and Matt picks up Aaron Stevens, finally once MNM move to main event it bumps the MexiCools to Nunzio & Vito. I should add that Stevens has his managers from OVW Beth (Phoenix) and Shelly (Martinez a/k/a Ariel) are on the road with him. We’re blighted in Maine due to a Rey Mysterio vs JBL run which doesn’t happen. JBL has asked for a lot of days off since Eddy died. VARIATIONS - FUCK In Savannah CWT is Juventud vs Nunzio, Matt beats Sylvan, Lashley pins Vito, Animal & Heidenreich beat Regal & Burchill plus Ken Doane pins Funaki. In Lewiston Sylvan pins Kash, Paul London beats Kenny, Scotty Too Hotty beats Jordan and CWT is Juvi vs Nunzio vs Noble. In Bangor they improvise around JBL not being there and Rey beats Booker best of three falls after which he’s given a birthday cake by the MexiCools! Plus tag title becomes MNM vs “LOD” vs Dicks, a scheduled CWT 4-way becomes MexiCools vs Kash, Noble & Nunzio, Matt pins Jordan, Scotty pins Doane and Sylvan beats London. In White Plains it’s Jordan pinning Stevens, in Buffalo there’s a few swaps - Matt beats Sylvan and Boogey pins Stevens, Lashley beats the FBI in a handicap and Regal/Burchill are back with Psicosis/Super Crazy. TVs 5th in North Charleston Doane beats Caprice Coleman dark and TV has “the trial of Eric Bischoff” plus stories start for Edge vs Flair and Shelton’s heel turn. 9th in Bagram they tape Holiday With The Troops notable for Mick Foley vs JBL in a Santa match and Hunter doing another job to HBK. 12th in Boston Cade pins Tomasso Whitney dark - Ciampa, yes - and after the show Angle beats Cena by DQ(zzz). Next night in Springfield Doane jobs to Sylvan, Tomasso makes it onto Velocity to do the comeback job for Noble, and Rey & Batista win the tag belts. Boxing Day in Bridgeport Miz jobs to Murdoch dark, there are some very odd Beat The Clock matches for the Elimination Chamber on Raw and dark Cena beats Angle by DQ (zzz). Next night in Uncasville Stevens beats Scotty dark, former ROH champ Xavier loses to Burchill and THE former ROH champ Noble beats London on Velocity, and MNM win the tag belts back with help from Mark Henry - still heavily in the “I can’t believe he’s still employed” era, after being off TV for about 2 years. WHAT HAPPENED AT THE CLASH? Bit of a stretch here but the Raw before  Armageddon has qualifiers for the Elimination Chamber which are much stronger than the Beat The Clock shit plus another contender being crowned for New Years Revolution. SmackDown has Armageddon; Raw 12/12 Non title/blindfold : John Cena vs Daivari Qualifier : Kane vs Triple H Qualifier : Shawn Michaels vs Big Show Qualifier : Ric Flair vs Kurt Angle Qualifier : Shelton Benjamin vs Carlito Qualifier : Chris Masters vs Viscera Mickie James vs Victoria DEPARTURES On 27th they tape John Heidenreich & Animal beating Nunzio and Vito for Velocity then big John doesn’t wrestle for the company again and is released in January. He was rubbish. After taping a loss to Helms in Boston, Yoshihiro Tajiri announces he’s going home, and you can’t say fairer than that. On November 30th Christy Hemme reports to OVW and tapes some matches for their TV, then on December 5th WWE release her, allegedly as a budget cut and because creative didn’t have anything for her - she’ll later say she chose to leave. The inferrence is that the company expected her to move to Louisville and she didn’t want to. Absolute madness - she was attractive, enthusiastic and a quick learner, and did everything the company wanted from her in a short run including showing her tits to the world. Why they had nothing for her when MNM were doing main events and the “foil for Melina” spot was vacant, you tell me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted June 3, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted June 3, 2023 JANUARY 2006 THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW Road reports dont start until after New Years Revolution - Edge vs John Cena sees the challenger beating the new champ by DQ 13th in Dayton (5000 sell out), 14th in Huntington (3500) and 15th in Roanoke (4500). 20th in Louisville (2500), 21st in Bristol TN (5000), 22nd in Asheville (3000) its more of the same. THE CARDS Some nice symmetry - before Raleigh TVs we have Big Show vs Triple H in a No DQ match, Shawn Michaels vs Carlito and Kane vs Chris Masters then post Raleigh we move to HBK & Show vs The Game & The Masterpiece, and Kane vs Carlito. Ric Flair vs Shelton Benjamin goes on in Louisville and Asheville, otherwise Shelts spends most of his month with Viscera. We have Trish Stratus vs Victoria pre TV then after it Trish & Mickie James are falling out every night losing to Vic & Lita - finally back from injury. Early month we have Val Venis vs Gregory Helms (nice to see Val winning again) and Chris Cage & Mike Mizanin vs Tyson Tomko & Gene Snitsky, after TVs it’s Chavo Guerrero Jr vs Rob Conway, usually Trevor Murdoch doing the job for Vis, and Brent Albright vs Aaron Stevens which In Louisville is for the OVW TV title and filmed for OVW television. Another treat in Louisville, Bristol and Asheville has Ricky Steamboat do an interview with Coach where he predicts Rey will win the Rumble ( umm, spoilers?) and then he and Coach come to blows with the Dragon naturally coming out on top. VARIATIONS In Roanoke Shelton beats Val and Vis gets to pin Helms. In Bristol Val makes up the numbers to lose to Conway and Chavo pins Murdoch. MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN Newell Memorial Dome in Ogdensburg, NY is a debut in the town on 7th and sells out - but its only a 2500 building for Batista vs Mark Henry (ew) which has Mizark win by DQ (ewwww) and same match next night at Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona (2000 sellout) has Dave win by DQ (why???) - this is the match with the lumbering oaf where Big Dave tears his triceps. Next night in Elmira (2000) Rey Mysterio subs, beating Mark by DQ. Massive business at Palacious de Deportes in Mexico City on 19th, new champ Kurt Angle beating Henry by DQ (??) underneath The Undertaker vs Randy Orton which clearly didn't really end in the Cell. Next night in Guadalajara there's 9000, Angle & Rey tag to beat Henry & Booker T under Taker/Orton again, 21st threre's 10,000 at Arena Mexico (Monterrey) where Angle and Chris Benoit reunite to beat Booker & Orton, with Taker pinning JBL on last. What’s with all the non finishes in main events?? Have we gone back to 1985? THE CARDS Chris Benoit & Matt Hardy vs Randy Orton & Orlando Jordan sounds a bit thrown together in New York. Rey Mysterio vs Mark Henry is on Kurt’s undercard at Arena Mexico as well as those subs. MNM vs Super Crazy & Psicosis continues every night and CWT is Kid Kash vs Sho Funaki vs Jamie Noble in both the States and Mexico. Nunzio & Vito vs The Dicks happens in Elmira and Verona. Early month it’s usually Boogey Man vs Simon Dean and Bobby Lashley vs Sylvan on occasion and in Mexico Bob ends up with Jordan, with Boogey vs Sylvan in Verona and two shows in Mexico. Also in Mexico the Dicks do jobs for Paul London & Brian Kendrick. Remarkable to think that in 2002 they initiated a roster split because they had so much talent to book and four years later these cards look bare bones. VARIATIONS In Ogdensburg it’s the last hurrah for (whoops) John Heidenreich & Animal vs the Dicks, Benoit beats Jordan, Lashley pins Vito, Matt pins Sylvan, Funaki vs Noble vs Nunzio ends on DQ when “injured” Kash interferes, Randy has the night off. In Verona Lashley pins Simon. In Mexico City Rey & Benoit beat JBL & Booker, in Guadalajara Benoit actually drops JBL in singles again plus a swap sees Boogey Man over Jordan. TVs 2nd at the former Meadowlands (14,500) Mike Mondo makes Heat, losing to Chavo. On Raw Cena loses a non title First Blood match (booo) to Kurt then dark wins a triple threat over Angle and HHH - oooo! Next night in Wilkes-Barre Tommy Suede gets a look, losing dark to Sylvan, there’s a rather contentious CWT match (see below) and MNM beat Batista & Rey in a cage match when Henry waddles in. 9th in Hershey Rosey & Jamal - one on the way out, one on the way back in - win a dark match against Bison Bravado about whom I know nothing and Trent Acid about whom I know far too much. Raw has footage of Stacy Keibler on Dancing With The Stars - irony being that they’ve forgotten she’s a star for some time - incredibly three Rumble qualifiers happen where the losers actually don’t get into the Rumble anyway, and Cena beats Angle by DQ dark when Edge runs in. Next night in Philly a loaded two match SmackDown has Dave emotionally surrender the belt and promise he’ll be coming for the new champ (what a shame Kurt won’t be there when he gets back), Orton pins Benoit to win the Best of 7 and US title for Booker, and Angle returns to SmackDown and becomes an instant hero winning Big Gold in a well crafted battle royal and saving us from a Mark Henry title reign. Sunday 15th in Florence Caprice Coleman is on Velocity again losing to Noble and MNM beat Brad Taylor & Jon Moxley - yes, THAT Jon Moxley. Plus Sylvan beats Scotty Too Hotty and we’re 4 for 4 with genuine Rumble qualifiers. An eventful SmackDown taping has Fit Finlay debut against Hardy, and Angle drop Daivari as his manager for a fuck up they haven’t even filmed yet. Next night in Raleigh Mondo & Ken Doane (Mikey!! and Kenny!!) beat Miz & Cage dark, and Kurt bows out of Raw with a forgotten match with HBK - the rubber match at last - which Shawn wins non title (boooo) by pinfall when Daivari fucks up. 23rd in Charlotte Deuce & Domino (with Cherry) beat Chris Hamrick & Brad Allen dark, on Heat Beth Phoenix & Shelly Martinez make a TV debut as girls “out of the crowd” dancing with the Heart Throbs before Romeo loses to Murdoch, on Raw The Spirit Squad debut costing The King his Rumble qualifier with Coach. Next night in Greenville unbelievably they give David Flair another chance dark, losing to William Regal, Benoit beats Orton no holds barred on SmackDown, and dark Angle beats Henry by DQ (???). Night after the Rumble in Orlando it’s a double taping - Rob Van Dam is back in singles beating Snitsky; similarly Goldust loses to Shelton. SmackDown has the start of Paul Burchill expressing his desire to become a pirate, and the detestable “Eddys in hell” stuff to drum up heat for Mysterio vs Orton. WHAT HAPPENED AT THE CLASH? It feels really weird to be doing this in a month where THE ROYAL RUMBLE happens but there’s no denying that they threw everything at this episode, filmed just two weeks after Armageddon and airing three weeks before the Rumble, like NYE. True, 10th episode was huge too with Dave forfeiting the belt and the battle royal to crown a new champ on top of “match 7”, but that was out of necessity. This one they planned. Also featuring the continuation of the aborted Batista vs Henry run (stemming from Melina accusing Dave of sexual harassment), and Simon debuting the Gymini in a segment with London & Kendrick. Also Kennedy returns on comms after a month injured. Raw has New Years Revolution ; SmackDown taped 3/1 TAG TITLE CAGE MATCH : MNM vs Batista & Rey Mysterio Best of 7, match 6 : Chris Benoit vs Randy Orton (sub for Booker T) Falls Anywhere : Matt Hardy vs JBL CWT : Kid Kash vs Juventud Guerrera Handicap : Mark Henry vs Rob Eckos, Jon Troske and Gus Harlacher DEPARTURE On 3rd in Wilkes-Barre Juventud Guerrera tapes a CWT rematch with Kash for SmackDown. Among the issues with it, allegedly, are Juvi not doing several high spots because he wasn’t keen on Kash kicking out of them, doing a missed 450 which apparently he’d been told not to do after injuring Paul London with it, and allegedly sandbagging Kash, for which Juvi blamed a knee injury and claimed to have exacerbated it missing the 450 - which they’d asked him not to perform. This is the final straw and he’s let go on the 6th. I’ve watched the match and 450 aside the complaints are bollocks. Internally it’s said that he’d had a massive ego and been difficult to work with backstage, his side is that his card was already marked when he got there through no fault of his own, that he had Visa renewal issues out of his control, that despite cleaning up his reputation for drug abuse damaged his chances, that he got heat for Psicosis (who he says WAS using at the time) being late to a show despite having nothing to do with it, and other things. I suspect the truth is somewhere in the middle, as it usually is. You want to see 20 year old Mox doing a job on Velocity? Of course you do. Check out the hair.    Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted June 3, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted June 3, 2023 BONUS TRACK - JANUARY 1985 Because I’ll be heading back one day. Here’s only the main events and there’s a ton because they’re running 2 or usually 3 shows a day, every day, often returning to the same cities inside a calendar month either with a different crew or using show to build some rematches for a few weeks time. MAIN EVENTS Hogans in New Japan early month but 13th the champ is back - Hulk Hogan vs Iron Sheik probably disappoints to draw 6000 in Phoenix, 14th about 3500 in Salt Lake City then 17th in Dallas is about 1700 which is disappointing even for the modest State Fair Arena (held 8500 for basketball) with ICT supporting, 1500 in Houston’s Astro Arena (about the same size) next night. The message is clear - the WWF still doesn’t have a great foothold in the South, the NWA is still king. 19th closer to home it’s 7000 in Indianapolis for Hogan vs Paul Orndorff, and 8000 21st is OK for the Hartford Civic Center, and while they throw a lot at the card for MSG same day, Hartford also sees the tag belts change hands. 2500 doesn’t sound a lot in Louisville on 23rd for Hogan vs Mr Wonderful but at least it was the Commonwealth (now Kentucky) Convention Center, not Louisville Gardens. There’s a cracking piece of business next night however with >10,500 sell out in St Louis for Hogan losing to Orndorff by DQ with Piper AND the ICT on the undercard. Before Hulk returns our big draw in the North East is Andre The Giant & Blackjack Mulligan vs Ken Patera & Big John Studd (The Brains lads) which goes on as a tag 2nd and 3rd in Glens Falls and Binghamton, having started 1st in Hartford with Andre vs Patera one on one and a battle royal won by Mulligan, then 4th at Nassau Coliseum Andre, Jimmy Snuka and Tony Atlas take on Studd, Patera and Roddy Piper. Every match ends in count out or DQ. 5th at Boston Garden nearly 16,500 see Andre and Junkyard Dog lose to Patera and Studd by DQ before 6th in Columbus OH it’s back to Andre & Blackjack tagging, still no finish. 8th/9th all crews run some small venues - in Pennsylvania it’s Andre vs Patera in Jaffa Mosque (Altoona) and Hempfield Senior High School Gym, 10th in Erie the tag resumes and 11th they try running the Omni in Atlanta but only 1500 turn up. It’s better news 12th in Detroit as Cobo Hall sells out for the first time in a decade for Andre & JYD vs Patera & Studd plus the ICT - neither have a pin or submission. 13th at Maple Leaf Gardens the regular Andre tag is a Texas Tornado match with an actual finish then next night in Rochester Andre, Atlas and Snuka beat Studd, Paul Orndorff and Bob Orton Jr. 15th in Buffalo a rare singles main for Andre - he goes to a double DQ with Studd then next night in Troy NY beats Patera by count-out. 17th in Salisbury MD Andre beats Patera by pinfall incredibly, Snuka vs Piper on last (DQ). Next night in Landover the same tag is the draw and 19th in Chicago nearly 10,000 turn up for it. 21st at Madison Square Garden is TV tapings which I’d tend to pass over in my regular post but I’m guessing a lot of the 16,000 turned up for the televised edition of Andre vs Patera (DQ) along with the ICT of Greg Valentine vs Tito Santana (count-out) and Piper & Orton beating Snuka & JYD with an actual pinfall finish. 24th-26th it’s yet again Andre & Blackjack vs Studd & Patera with various draws in Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver. 27th in Columbus OH they’re back for the tornado match, Andre & Mulligan go over, the same match is 29th in Minneapolis with the ICT underneath (3000 even with Mad Dog Vachon as the guest ref) and finally 30th in Cleveland Andre & JYD lose to Patera & Studd by count out. Greg Valentine vs Tito Santana rematches for the ICT and Jimmy Snuka & Tonga Kid vs Bob Orton Jr & Roddy Piper draw 9000 to LA Sports, over 11,500 to Oakland, about 5000 to San Diego 1st-3rd. None of the matches have proper finishes. 5th in Baltimore Snuka & Tonga go over Piper & Paul Orndorff (ICT moved to Andres card) then 6th at the Meadowlands (near 17,000) a card of mostly tag matches ends with a battle royal won by the heirs apparent, the US Express. 8th-10th in White Plains and New Bedford and Pittsfield (both MA) the ICT becomes Mania match Greg Valentine vs Junkyard Dog short term while in Southington CT and Scranton it’s Dick Murdoch & Adrian Adonis vs Windham & Rotundo for the tag belts. No finishes anywhere. 10th at Hersheypark Arena Snuka, Atlas and Windham beat the trio of Piper, Orndorff and Orton. 11th in Pittsburgh it’s a big one (5500) with Snuka & Atlas beating Piper & Orndorff in a tornado rules match, Murdoch & Adonis vs the Brisco Brothers underneath. 15th in Birmingham US Express vs Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff isn’t a tag title match yet but it might be the biggest match - Chief Jay Strongbow vs David Schultz goes on last - then next night in Nashville the same tag is supported by the ICT and Women’s titles. 26th the roster is split for B shows in Canton for Valentine vs Santana and Cincinnati with JYD & Ivan Putski vs Piper & Orndorff in a tornado match, 27th in Toronto Piper & Orton do a non finish with Snuka & Atlas. 29th in Miami (<3000) it’s Piper & Orton losing to JYD & Snuka plus the old “tag champs vs rivals in split singles” underneath which we usual draws 1-1 whereas 30th in Wayne NJ US Express vs Volkoff & Sheik now for the belts (double DQ) is the big match, Santana vs Orton goes on last. Finally 31st, tag belts go on last in White Plains (another non finish), Snuka & Atlas beat Piper & Orton at the Providence Civic Center (Lou Albano refs) and JYD vs Orndorff in Grand Rapids I might have moved to C shows but an 8000 gate suggests that would be wrong. Hey - Bret Hart vs Anvil is on the undercard! 4th in Oklahoma City it’s Junkyard Dog vs Iron Sheik. 13th they actually run a matinee in London, Ontario before half the wrestlers move on to Phoenix or Toronto - JYD and Blackjack beat Patera & Volkoff. There are incomplete C show reports 5th in Waterbury CT, 16th in Watertown and 17th in Oswego (both New York) - think jobbers, midgets and battle royals. Though of two matches reported from Waterbury, Bret at least clocks in, losing to Brutus Beefcake. 23rd in 2000s ROH stronghold Elizabeth NJ with Hogan in Louisville and most of the crew at Poughkeepsie, Blackjack Mulligan vs David Schultz is probably the biggest match, Women’s title goes on last. There are bare bones non-reports 29th-30th in Setauket and Middletown (New York) . Fun facts - MSG not only hosts the first matches and wins in the building for Bret (against Rene Goulet) and Anvil (against Tony Garea) but also the first ref gigs for the much discussed Rita Marie Chatterton. I’ll be back in the 80s when I finish WWE to the present day ; unless I decide to do WCW from the Turner buy out to the death, or NWA from the Flair era 83 onwards or something. Probably put it to the vote. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted June 5, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted June 5, 2023 (edited) FEBRUARY 2006 MAIN EVENTS - RAW 3rd-5th in Lakeland, Macon and Albany (GA) it’s straight back to John Cena vs Edge with Cena as defending champ and winning after Lita hits her own man with the belt - misguided attempt to give him the DQ win as they did on TV, or tiff not elaborated on? I couldn’t tell you. 10th-12th in Tallahassee, Dothan & Huntsville Cena has days off so it’s a tag main - in Alabama it’s Shawn Michaels & Big Show vs Triple H & Edge, Shawns also off 10th so Ric Flair partners Show and makes “Rated-R” submit to the Figure-4. 18th at Nassau to a decent near 11,500 and 19th in Poughkeepsie the afternoon of No Way Out it’s back to Cena vs Edge. 24th/25th it’s two giant 17,000 sellout gates in Manila, one’s a straight match refereed by Mick Foley, the second is a cage match. THE CARDS In Long Island & Poughkeepsie it’s a fun sounding Shawn Michaels & Ric Flair vs Triple H & Shelton Benjamin. Down in Georgia it had been Triple H vs Big Show in No DQ matches still (which resume night one in Quezon City) and Flair/Shelton for the ICT which resumes in Alabama and again in Manila once Shelton has won the belt. In Georgia it’s Rob Van Dam & Val Venis vs Chris Masters & Carlito, mid month it moves to RVD vs Carlito (which repeats in Manila) and Masters losing to Kane. A tag of Trish Stratus & Mickie James vs Victoria & Torrie Wilson week 1 changes to Vic & Candice Michelle for Tallahassee and Alabama, Trish and Mickie don’t get on. Trish also beats Torrie as a singles in Lakeland and first night in the Philippines. Chavo Guerrero Jr vs Tyson Tomko and throughout the first week it’s Kane beating Freakin’ Deacon (an audition for fake Kane?) and Spirit Squad (two thereof, I suspect Kenny & Mikey) beating Mike Mizanin & Chris Cage. Mid month Chavo beats Lance Cade, Miz & Cage return to upsetting Gene Snitsky & Tomko, and Mikey pins Danny Basham in singles. VARIATIONS Flair misses Lakeland prompting a shuffle - Hacksaw Jim Duggan (WTF) subs in to beat Tomko, RVD pins Shelton, Carlito pins Val and Masters beats Chavo. Shawn misses Tallahassee so with his rival bumped up to main, Shelton is added to Kane vs Masters. Unique matches night 1 in Manila have Masters beat Val, Viscera beat Snitsky and Eugene pin Tomko. Next night Eugene loses to Snitsky, RVD pins Tomko, Lita & Torrie beat Trish & Maria, and - check these two out - Mick Foley gets the flannel shirt out to beat Carlito, then Shawn & Show beat HHH & Masters. After which Flair gets a birthday cake from Trish, Maria and Eugene, and a character breaking hug from Hunter. MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN We’re on tour again! 1st on the first night in Bangkok then 4th first night in Yokohama there are tags, 3rd and 5th in the second nights in those cities it’s Kurt Angle vs Mark Henry for the belt and The Undertaker vs JBL - fun facts, Ricky Steamboat refs Angle/Henry in Japan, and the JBL spots here were supposed to be Randy Orton but he pulled out of the trip with illness. Reports resume 25th in Reading PA and 26th afternoon in Atlantic City, Kurt continues to pin The Worlds Strongest Man. THE CARDS Rey Mysterio beats Orlando Jordan nearly every night in the Far East then back home he’s with Randy Orton - and beats him. Chris Benoit vs Fit Finlay is common home and away. It’s usually MNM vs Psicosis & Super Crazy in Asia then vs Matt Hardy & Tatanka stemming from the “mystery partner” non title loss (booooo) at the PPV. CWT gets added as Gregory Helms vs Kid Kash vs Jamie Noble vs Sho Funaki after No Way Out. It’s usually Bobby Lashley vs Simon Dean, Noble beating Paul London, Funaki swapping wins with Kash and Matt & Animal beating The Dicks on tour, then Lashley vs Jordan, Boogey Man vs Sylvan and Mike Knox & Derrick Neikirk beating Nunzio & Vito domestically. VARIATIONS Second night in Bangkok Finlay beats London and Benoit beats Noble. Second night in Yokohama Finlay beats Simon, Lashley beats both Dicks in a handicap, MNM are with Matt & Animal, Rey with Kash, Benoit with Jordan and there’s a five way of Funaki vs London vs Noble vs Psicosis vs Super Crazy - won by Funaki. TVs 6th in Atlanta Tony Santarelli (who we’ve mentioned before) and Mike Taylor (aka Sandy Beach, though if you excuse a football joke he really should be in AEW with that name) beat Knox & Neikirk dark, on Heat near-forgotten Johnny Parisi loses to Chavo, and the Heart Throbs fail in a top contenders three way with Snitsky & Tomko and (winners) Val & Vis. On Raw Cena & Maria beat Edge & Lita with Maria actually pinning Lita after a wayward spear and dark Cena pins Edge after Foley interferes. Next night in Columbus (GA) Tatanka and Gymini both get minutes and wins on Velocity, Finlay assaults all four guys in a minis tag and dark Angle wins a three way with Henry and Taker. 13th in Greensboro Venis pins Danny dark, Kane pins Parisi on Heat but there’s no dark main. Next night in Norfolk makes up for that, Kurt wins a four-way with Taker, Mizark and Orton. Night after No Way Out in Trenton, Mike Kruel jobs to Snitsky dark, Raws fairly big time with Marty Jannetty becoming involved in Shawns story with Vince and saving him from Spirit Squad, and Cena’s pinning Edge dark again, next night in Richmond Paul Burchill tries out the embryonic form of his pirate gimmick dark with Jordan, and SmackDown has Boogey Man beat both Dicks in a handicap match, plus MNM beat Matt & Tatanka in a title defence rendering that non title match at No Way Out fucking pointless after 48 hours. Dark, Angle beats Henry, Orton and Taker again. Basically everyone of consequence apart from Mysterio. 25th in Washington - a decent 11,500 at the Verizon, formerly MCI Centre - it’s a double taping, with the table laid for several matches at Mania and Saturday Nights Main Event, including some Raw Money In The Bank qualifiers, and on SmackDown Animal turns heel on Matt (zzz) and Orton uses This Fire Burns by Killswitch Engage for the first and last time. MNM being used to both lose a non title match on a PPV AND put over a relic like Tatanka enraged me for how devalued the title belts had been during their runs. Any old guy with name value getting on TV like Tatanka, Animal and Duggan was some proper WCW shit. WHAT HAPPENED AT THE CLASH? The week prior did have the title rematch with Mick Foley refereeing but this was the bigger show, the night after after No Way Out, including a title change and the peak of Candice’s mini push, winning a title shot for the week after, a fourth glorious year of someone getting the push for showing their tits to Hefner. SmackDown has No Way Out ; Raw 20/2 Road To WMania Final : Triple H vs Big Show vs Rob Van Dam ICT : Ric Flair vs Shelton Benjamin Shawn Michaels vs Nicky Edge vs Hacksaw Jim Duggan Kane vs Chris Masters Women’s Title Contenders Battle Royal Carlito vs Nick Burke DEPARTURES That loss to Kane on Heat was the last use of Johnny Parisi and he’s cut from his contract in June. Never a good fit and seeming to miss something he had when he was “Swinger”, most of his run you’d have forgotten he was signed unless you were a serious devotee of Heat. The TV losses you read about above are the last cheques for The Heart Throbs and The Dicks who are both let go this month. I’m sure there must have been some talent in there but the launch of reasonably similar low rent gimmicks at the same time, closely to be followed by the God awful Gymini, rendered the tag team scene a non event for me at this time. Heres Cena vs Edge ;  Edited June 5, 2023 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The King of Old School Posted June 5, 2023 Share Posted June 5, 2023 On 6/3/2023 at 7:02 AM, air_raid said: I’ll be back in the 80s when I finish WWE to the present day ; unless I decide to do WCW from the Turner buy out to the death, or NWA from the Flair era 83 onwards or something. Probably put it to the vote. I'd love to see a similar format for WCW. I imagine it's pure chaos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted June 5, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted June 5, 2023 3 minutes ago, The King of Old School said: I'd love to see a similar format for WCW. I imagine it's pure chaos. Pure Alex Wright vs Silver King, you mean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted June 6, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted June 6, 2023 (edited) MARCH 2006 Welcome to the final month ever of Kurt Angle as a World Champion in WWE. Which is very weird to arrive at already. MAIN EVENTS - RAW 4th in Chattanooga, 5th in Knoxville, 11th in Waco (refereed by Ricky Steamboat) it's the neverending John Cena vs Edge, and again 19th in Jackson MS, 24th in Rochester MN, 25th in Spencer IA and 26th in Sioux Falls - these are all streetfights. THE CARDS Triple H vs Big Show in streetfights is back on, we've got Shelton Benjamin vs Rob Van Dam for the ICT and Kane vs Chris Masters. There's quite a lot of inconsistency around the top of cards early and mid-month, Carlito vs Chavo Guerrero Jr becomes regular near the end of the month. Trish Stratus & Mickie James vs Victoria & Candice Michelle early month in the dreaded bra and panties match is the only Trish match to happen twice, after the bitter divorce of bunny girls on TV it becomes Torrie Wilson & Maria beating Vic & Candice. Val Venis & Viscera vs Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch happens a couple of times early month, then later Val, Vis and Eugene are losing to Spirit Squad - or its Val & Vis vs Nicky & Johnny, plus Eugene beating Matt Striker. VARIATIONS In Chattanooga Shawn Michaels & Ric Flair beat Carlito & Masters, Kane & Show beat Spirit Squad in a handicap match and Chavo pins Tyson Tomko. In Knoxville, HBK, Flair & Show beat Kenny, Mikey & Johnny, Trish retains over Victoria, Shelton beats Chavo and RVD pins Carlito. In Jackson Flair, Kane & Show beat Triple H, Carlito & Masters, Trish beats Mickie on the road for the first time, Eugene's with Cade, Val & Vis beat old enemies Gene Snitsky & Tomko. MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 3rd in Sydney we've a massive near 16,500 sellout for Kurt Angle vs The Undertaker vs Randy Orton vs Mark Henry, then next night 19,000 in Wellington for Angle vs Taker vs Henry with a disappointing DQ finish - Rey Mysterio with Orton underneath, and 5th they're in Brisbane for Angle vs (battle royal winner) Henry with another DQ. 11th in Alexandria LA Angle & Rey beat Henry & Orton in a tag refereed by Steve Williams who's about to get picked up as a coach, next night in Lafayette its back to a four way - Angle vs Rey vs Orton vs Henry. 13th in Monroe its Angle vs (battle royal winner) Henry again for another DQ.. I don't get it. 19th in Nashville its again Angle vs Orton vs Rey vs Henry, 25th in Tulsa its Angle vs Orton with Ricky Steamboat disqualifying Orton for using the belt, but next night in Oklahoma and 27th in Joplin MO its a clean submission (again ref'd by The Dragon). THE CARDS The Undertaker vs Mark Henry gets added to Angle vs Orton shows, including some streetfights. Chris Benoit vs Booker T for the US title goes on for a few weeks then Benoit's beating JBL late month - who's been injured to this point. Booker does a good few matches with Boogey Man which end badly for him then wraps the month with Bobby Lashley which also sees him losing. Lashley also tags with Rey Mysterio early month for a few unsuccessful cracks at MNM - Rey does a few gigs with Fit Finlay month end, Lashley works Orlando Jordan too. The tag champs' month is otherwise split almost perfectly between Psicosis & Super Crazy, and Paul London & Brian Kendrick. There's no consistent CWT match - Helms breaks his nose in Brisbane, so then only works the next SmackDown taping before taking 5 weeks off (ummm, 30 day rule??). Sho Funaki vs Kid Kash vs Jamie Noble happens quite often in lieu of a title match. Boogey Man vs Jordan happens a couple of times early month. Matt Hardy vs Animal is happening most nights and worryingly, its usually Animal winning. Paul Burchill vs William Regal is up and running. Dr Death also referees a couple Benoit vs Booker matches in Louisiana, in Oklahoma he's confronting (and scaring off) Ken Kennedy in interview segments ; in Joplin that honor goes to Harley Race. VARIATIONS In Sydney, Gregory Helms & Kash lose to London & Kendrick, Funaki beats Noble in singles and Finlay works face to beat Sylvan. In Wellington its Helms vs Noble vs Kash as a three way, Funaki pins Sylvan and Lashley beats Finlay. In Brisbane Rey & Lashley beat Orton & Finlay and Helms, Kash & Noble beat Funaki, London & Kendrick, plus we have a return to a bikini contest - with the usual suspects all moved on or left, Melina (a heel) wins the vote over Jillian Hall and Kristal Marshall - who really doesn't get talked about it enough. In Alexandria Lashley pins Sylvan and Boogey pins Simon Dean, in Lafayette there is a swap. In Monroe Psicosis & Super Crazy beat Kash & Noble, in Nashville Super Crazy wins a cruiserweight battle royal, MNM retain over Lashley & Matt, and Finlay drops Tatanka - thats some 1998 Thunder shit right there. Boogey Man's torn his bicep in Oklahoma so Sylvan tags with Animal in Joplin to make a three way with MNM and London & Kendrick, Matt beats Booker by count-out when a non-wrestling Boogey scares Booker off. TVs 6th in Birmingham RVD beats Chuck Palumbo dark - they will have another look at Chuck come August. Raw has the unveiling of Candice's Playboy cover which ends in her and Victoria kicking Torrie to the kerb - ludicrously, Candice has a pop at Stacy Keibler for finishing third on Dancing With The Stars. How ironic. Next night in Mobile Chuckie jobs for Matt dark, Scotty Too Hotty sighting! - he and Funaki lose to Kash & Noble for Velocity, Burchill debuts the pirate look and beats Regal at the first attempt and Kristal has her first televised bra and panties "match" with Jillian. 13th in Beaumont Test pins old mate Val Venis dark (yes, a Test return is not far away) and next night in Bossier City he beats Sylvan - my suspicion is he worked one heel and the other face. Dark, Kurt vs Orton vs Menry vs Taker is happening again. 18th at a sold out Cobo Hall in Detroit Show beats Carlito dark before the loaded Saturday Nights Main Event which features Mick Foley on The Cutting Edge and Steve Austin doing a segment with JBL. 20th the increasingly invisible Vito loses to Matt dark before a big double taping, the Victoria vs Torrie grudge match goes 43 seconds, and Kurt loses non title to Henry (boooooooo) when Orton interferes. 27th Raw in Omaha Murdoch pins - one last chance - Sean O'Haire dark, Punk's trainer and mentor Ace Steele does a job for Cade on Heat, next night in Kansas City O'Haire loses to Scotty, Steele loses to Orlando for Velocity, and after SmackDown concludes with Angle vs Rey, Taker beats Henry dark. DEPARTURES The name Chris Cage suddenly disappears ; with him and Miz on the verge of being called up to the roster as Reality Check, they film some vignettes over Spring Break and Cage overindulges to the point he ends up in hospital. WWE, not amused, let him go. He’ll be back in a couple of years. It's fair to say Stacy Keibler had the last laugh here ; with a gradually fading profile in WWE for ages, I choose this month to mention her, absent from TV for a while but still mentioned on TV until her exist from Dancing With The Stars, she'd in actuality outgrown WWE and realized there were other avenues opening for her, which she'll get let out of her contract to pursue by July. She'll do a fair but of TV and film until 2013 (plus getting plenty of column inches on the arm of George Clooney for a while) before becoming a wife and mother to two kids, staying away from wrestling until her recent Hall Of Fame induction. Good for her. Some kind soul has uploaded the whole Wellington show which was broadcast domestically; https://youtu.be/oGpxI9gIdso   Edited July 1, 2023 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted June 7, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted June 7, 2023 APRIL 2006 MAIN EVENTS - RAW 7th in Des Moines and 9th in Cedar Rapids its John Cena vs Triple H in streetfights (Edge interferes) and in between in Rockford its Edge again for Big Match John. It's still Hunter 19th in Milan and 20th in Birmingham, 22nd in Nottingham, 23rd the first night in Cardiff, then next night its Cena & Shawn Michaels vs HHH & Edge - 25th in Belfast, and 26th in Brussels its back to the title match. THE CARDSRic Flair vs Edge is back on during the tour until Shawn Michaels is added for several nights of tags against Rated-R and Chris Masters. Early month tag title matches on the road have new tag champs Spirit Squad getting disqualified against ex champs Kane & Big Show when the rest of the Squad interfere. After London TVs though the goodies aren’t getting on, Kane, Show & Viscera beat the whole squad in a few handicap matches - although there are nights when Vis has the match alone (and loses) because the tall lads fight each other beforehand or are actually booked in a match. Shelton Benjamin vs Rob Van Dam for the ICT is into a second month. When the tour gets to Cardiff it switches to old enemy/new babyface Carlito challenging while RVD is down the card with Matt Striker. Mickie James defends the Womens title all month in battle royals against all the players - Trish Stratus as ex champ, flavour of the month Candice Michelle (yum yum) and cohort Victoria, their spurned former buddy Torrie Wilson and finally the wonderful Maria. The Carlito vs Masters run has started for the first three weeks, and to no surprise babyface Carlito is winning them - funny thing, at the time I considered Carlito miscast as the hero as I thought out of the two of them he was the easier to hate. Remarkable that I’d consider myself right many years later off, actually, what a great fiery babyface The Masterpiece makes. Carlito does also work with Striker a couple of nights before swapping opponents with RVD. Early month cards are finished with Goldust doing the honours for Lance Cade, Eugene swapping wins with Striker, and Umaga beating Viscera trying out various finishes including an inverted DDT and the currently contentious top rope headbutt. Nearly every night of the tour he’s pinning Eugene with the Samoan Spike, and there’s also the disgustingly odd pair of Goldie & Gene Snitsky vs Cade & Trevor Murdoch and occasionally Vis vs Striker before TVs. VARIATIONS In Cedar Rapids Goldust works Striker and its Eugene vs Cade. In Nottingham Kane & Show brawl with each other leaving Vis alone to lose to Spirit Squad in the handicap match, night 1 in Cardiff they have a match which Show wins by DQ, night 2 at least Vis has Kane for help - Show has a night off. In Cardiff night 2, it’s Shelton vs Flair for the ICT and Carlito is involved in some blindfold shenanigans in the wake of a Masterlock Challenge with Eugene. In Brussels only there’s a reprise of HBK vs Masters as a singles while Trish steps out of the battle royal to tag with Flair against (fun!) Edge & Lita. MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 8th-8th in Saginaw and Grand Rapids it’s a brand new title fight - Rey Mysterio vs Kurt Angle. 19th, 21st, 23rd, 25th and 26th it’s a three way with Mark Henry in Bologna, Newcastle, Cologne, Berlin and Belfast, 20th in Florence it’s a tag where Rey & Kurt beat Henry & JBL, 24th in Stuttgart Rey, Angle & Bobby Lashley beat Mizark, Bradshaw & Booker T. THE CARDSChris Benoit vs Mark Henry is a short term run in Michigan (you can guess who won) before The Crippler chases JBL for the US belt most nights of the tour. Bobby Lashley vs Booker T is also regular all month. MNM vs Paul London & Brian Kendrick continues for the tag belts, it’s Gregory Helms vs Nunzio for the CWT but also a few times where it’s a 3way with Sho Funaki, ruined by a certain useless giant waddling in - Nunzio vs Funaki singles matches on nights Helms is otherwise occupied are similarly blighted. Matt Hardy swapping wins with Fit Finlay, Animal pinning Scotty Too Hotty and London & Kendrick beating Kid Kash & Jamie Noble are the last regular matches from Michigan. Which of course only happen twice, like a fuckton of matches on the tour…. William Regal & Paul Burchill vs Orlando Jordan & Animal happens twice with Regal walking off but the pirate winning anyway, Burchill then loses a few to Finlay or wins a few vs Animal. Regal vs Finlay also happens, including David Finlay Sr helping “the Belfast Bruiser” win in, errr, Belfast. Matt ALSO works a couple of matches with Regal on the tour but otherwise he’s more all over the shop than our Willy is! Tatanka gets another tour out of this latest run (and from the 90s at least he was very popular across Europe) - he drops a couple of losses to Finlay but gets wins over Animal, and boy is THAT an early 90s clash that an episode of Thunder would have been proud of. Gunner Scott (Brent Albright) is added to the tour after London TVs, he beats Jordan most often. Kristal Marshall vs Jillian Hall is usually a match, in Saginaw it’s a bikini contest and in Bologna merely a scuffle that all starts with a t-shirt gun, Riveting. The Undertaker is having one of his periodic times out after his run in with Khali. Randy Orton is serving a Wellness violation suspension. Incidentally, a clickbait article has circulated that Orton was pencilled in to win the title originally at Mania 22, the interview this is gleaned from has Randy half-remember that he was going to win the title from Triple H but some bad behaviour put the kibosh on it. While it’s clear with “Triple H” he was thinking of Mania 21 which didn’t happen because they pivoted to Batista AND he needed surgery anyway, it’s impossible to know whether his misdeeds actually DID cost him a win at Mania 22 or he’s just confused two years of his Mania builds together. What IS known is that Kurt Angle vs Randy Orton as a singles WAS the title match planned after Dave got hurt, with Reys journey scheduled to end in heartbreak at No Way Out, before Pat Patterson convinced Vince to go all the way with Rey - out of JRs own mouth. And it’s fucking crazy that a guy they had such hopes for as Randy was made to wait more than three years between his first and second runs with either of the World titles. VARIATIONS 19th in Bologna Great Khali beats Matt, his only match permitted on the tour, same night Funaki actually wrestles the Palmer Cannon character. Other unique matches thus ; in Florence Benoit beats persistent rival Booker, Lashley pins Finlay and Khali ruins Matt vs Tatanka - like he ruined most of his own matches merely by being in them. In Newcastle Matt beats buddy Helms in a non title match although “non title” is a bit of a non-sequitur to be fair in respect to Hardy and “Cruiserweight” at this point. In Cologne there’s a unique tag where Benoit & Lashley beat shared enemies Booker & JBL. In Stuttgart Gunner beats Helms and Tatanka is landed with Jordan, in Belfast Tatanka pins Gunner. TVs You'll be pleased to know we have vignettes for the debut of The Miz this month!! 3rd in Chicago at the All-State the night after Mania (an identical 14,300 in the building/13,600 paid) - La Res reunite! Rene Dupree and Rob Conway under their new gimmicks lose to the lads we'll end up calling the Highlanders as a dark match, Colt Cabana tags with Brad James to lose to Snitsky & Goldust on Heat and we get the debuts of Umaga with Armando Alejandro Estrada, plus Spirit Squad win the tag belts. Next night in Peoria - what a team! - CM Punk & Sterling James Keenan (many of you will know better as Corey Graves) lose dark to the worthless Gymini, Cabana loses to Matt for Velocity, SmackDown has MNM lose to London & Kendrick non title (boooooo), Gunner debut pinning Booker with distraction from Boogey Man, Rey pin Orton who's shortly off on suspension, and Khali debuts to attack Taker. 17th in St Louis they do a double taping and get a very respectable 14,500 gate - Scotty pins Vito as a dark match, Angle beats Orton and “breaks his ankle” so he can go on suspension, Shelton loses non title  (boooooo) to old mucka Charlie Haas, King of the Ring quarters start and dark, JOHN CENA VS THE UNDERTAKER goes to a no contest when Khali ruins it, like he ruined everything. 21st at “sold out” Wembley Arena (8500), dark Show wins a handicap over The UK Kid and Alex Shane protege Charlie Rage who I remember dubbing “Poundland Rhino” at some Indy or another. Andy Simmons works a tag loss on Heat, merely a month before Lance Storm will end up referring to him as “Andy Local” which has stayed with me forever. Next night in the same building they somehow manage to “sell out” with only 7500 - either way, if you “sell out” Wembley Arena for 7500-8500 for wrestling, either your configuration is badly fucked, or you’re lying. Andy Local loses to Matt on Velocity, and Rey vs Kurt for the belt ends on a DQ when Henry waddles in, with Kurt seemingly having Rey at his mercy in the ankle lock. Hmm. A recurring trend will develop here. WHAT HAPPENED AT THE CLASH? The concept is faltering a little but even with the ropey finish you'd say the big title match in London had a one week build on top of several other high profile matches. Raw has Backlash ; SmackDown taped 22/04 World Title : Rey Mysterio vs Kurt Angle KOTR QF : Bobby Lashley vs Mark Henry US Title : JBL vs William Regal Super Crazy, Paul London & Brian Kendrick vs MNM & Gregory Helms Gunner Scott vs Fit Finlay DEPARTURE WWE severs ties with Tyson Tomko this month ; he'd been a little lost since being separated from Christian and to be fair after so long associated with Captain Charisma was always going to look a little bland on his own. Under his real name, Travis Tomko, he'll head to New Japan and tag with Giant Bernard a/k/a A-Train in the first iteration of a team that will morph through Bernard & Karl Anderson to, eventually, Anderson & Doc/Luke Gallows, sometimes known as the Good Brothers. Or perhaps some of you would prefer the "Good In Japan" Brothers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted June 7, 2023 Awards Moderator Share Posted June 7, 2023 (edited) I was at that SmackDown show in Newcastle! Got a ticket hoping to see Undertaker in person. Didn’t get him. Oh well, I watch The Wrestling Channel, I’ll take getting to see London and Kendrick. Nope, not them either. I do remember that three way main event happening but nothing of the match itself, Benoit vs JBL suffering from the only crowd noise being Eddie Guerrero chants, and Finlay having the best match of the night even if I cannot remember who he wrestled. I probably just read it above and have already forgotten. Not a great show and I don’t think I went back to a WWE event until the NXT tour in 2015. Edited June 7, 2023 by HarmonicGenerator Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted June 9, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted June 9, 2023 MAY 2006 MAIN EVENTS - RAW It's John Cena vs Triple H vs Edge 5th-7th to fairly middling crowds in San Jose (7000), Sacramento (8500) and San Bernardino, then again 12th-14th in Hidalgo, Wichita Falls and Amarillo - hope the wrestlers don't get trapped in Texas again! - 20th in Denver and 21st in Tucson, the afternoon of Judgment Day. 26th-28th we move to Cena vs Edge inside a cage in Boise, Kennewick and Yakima, refereed by Ricky Steamboat. Love those Washington city names. THE CARDS Four distinct cards this month! Early month ICT is the Rob Van Dam vs Shelton Benjamin rematch from Backlash, Robs off through Texas so we revert to Shelton losing to Carlito, after the switch Shelton gives Rob the rematch in Denver and Tucson before settling on Shelton vs RVD vs Carlito month end. Carlito vs Chris Masters continues early month and in Hidalgo before Carlito returns to Shelton leaving Masters back with Big Show - but they pick back up in Denver & Tucson. Tag titles have Spirit Squad vs new buddies Show & Viscera in actual handicap matches early month before Goldust & Gene Snitsky start challenging on the Texas loop, which they again do in Boise and Washington. There’s some convergence in Denver and Tucson where Spirit Squad then lose to the huge team of Show, Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair. Our early womens match is Torrie Wilson & Maria vs Mickie James & Victoria with Torrie getting the revenge pin on Vic, then in Texas it switches to Mickie & Candice Michelle (the most “history of being photographed nude” tag match ever?). Come Denver & Tucson, Vics back for the baddies but Torrie’s out and Beth Phoenix is in. Umaga vs Eugene rolls on most of the month, except in Denver and Tucson where the Bulldozer beats Charlie Haas and Eugene is back beating Rob Conway. Early month its also Haas vs Conway and Goldust & Snitsky vs Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch (which reprises in Denver & Tucson), in Texas Vis drops Conway, Matt Striker gets amusing victories over Hacksaw Jim Duggan, and The Highlanders go over Cade & Murdoch both in Texas and month end, and finally its Harry Smith beating Conway in Boise and Washington. Kane isn’t on the road, probably doing publicity for See No Evil. Trish Stratus, having spent ages on the shelf already, is out again with a dislocated shoulder. No wonder she fucking retires in September. VARIATIONS In San Jose Haas pins Striker and Conway does a job for Oleg Prudius - unfortunately this is Valdimir Kozlov. In Hidalgo with Carlito still with Masters, a straight swap sees Show pin Shelton. In Boise hometown girl Torrie is permitted to pin Victoria in a singles match! No womens match in Kennewick but in Yakima Torrie & Beth beat Vicky & Mickie (LOL). MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN We move to Rey Mysterio vs JBL 6th-7th in Reno and Fresno, and 13th-14th in El Paso and Odessa. Kurt's been diving in as guest ref when the original takes a bump but in El Paso Chavo does it and gives JBL a frog splash after the match before thanking the fans for keeping Eddy's memory alive. 27th-28th in Kelowna and Kamloops (British Columbia) there's approx 3500 fans combined only for Rey vs Mark Henry - again, Chavo helps Rey. THE CARDS The Undertaker vs Mark Henry lumbers on with Khali attacking Taker afterwards, in Reno and Fresno only. At least Marks got Matt Hardy in Texas, easy peasy. Bobby Lashley vs Booker T and Chris Benoit vs Fit Finlay have popular winners early month with the former becoming a streetfight in Texas, where Benoits off and Finlay does very popular jobs for Chavo Guerrero Jr. In Canada Lashley defends his newly won UST against Finlay. Tag title continues as MNM vs Paul London & Brian Kendrick then in Texas it’s a mixed six person with Melina and miscast babyface Jillian Hall added, in British Columbia the new champs defend against frequent rivals Kid Kash & Jamie Noble. CWT is only booked for Texas where it’s Gregory Helms vs Super Crazy. Early month sounding tags in Matt & Tatanka vs Gymini and hopes for the future in Paul Burchill & Gunner Scott vs Animal & Sylvan - how much are you learning about these kids saddling them with fucking Animal? Texas undercards are completed by Tatanka & Sho Funaki vs Simon Dean and one of Gymini - if you care about their names or why one is missing, you’re a bigger dork than me - and Great Khali squashing Scotty Too Hotty. Kristal and Jillian are having bikini contests in Canada. Yay. MNM are off the road after Judgment Day ; a completely out of the blue falling out and split triggers Nitro & Melina moving to Raw, because Mercury is off on a wellness suspension. VARIATIONS A swap shop in BC has Chavo pin Sylvan, Ken Kennedy over Psicosis, Gunner over Aaron Stevens and Matt vs KC James go no contest when Khali ruins it in Kelowna, next night in Kamloops Chavo pins Kennedy impromptu after Ken harasses Kristal after the bikini contest, Matt & Gunner beat James & Stevens, and Psicosis vs Sylvan has the Khali treatment. TVs 1st in Columbus OH dark Deuce & Domino are beating Eddie Perez & MVP (he had his gimmick already??) and on Heat - Akio is back already doing a job to Haas. On Raw Trish costs Mickie & Vicky (LOL) to Torrie & Maria - MARIA PINS THE CHAMP. Dark, Cena beats Edge and HHH inside a cage. Next night in Cincinnati OVW tag champs KC James & Roadkill (with Michelle McCool) do a job for (thrown together Thunder shit) William Regal & Sylvan, on Velocity Animal goes over Burchill... with Shelly Martinez in his corner in similar pirate gear?? Why do I not remember this? Plus Orlando Jordan jobs for Matt. On SmackDown itself Rey does a NICE CLEAN JOB BY PIN to Henry (booooooooo) in a non title match (boooooooooooooo) and then he's left flat on his back by JBL. Dark, Rey beats Henry and JBL in a three way title match, but TV viewers didn't know about that redemption. 8th in Anaheim (12,000 sellout apparently - I think you'll find there were more in the building for Mania 12) Mick Foley forces Edge into a three way with himself and Tommy Dreamer which ends in unexpected alliance between Foley and Edge, Beth debuts on the show proper attacking Mickie, and the slow burn towards DX reunion continues with HHH saving HBK from a beating from Spirit Squad in the wake of all five beating Shawn and Cena. Dark, its the triangle cage match again. Next night in San Diego (8000 "sellout") Funaki beats Sylvan dark, Jordan jobs to Gunner for Velocity and Rey is FUCKING FLATTERED NICE AND CLEAN IN THREE FUCKING MINUTES by Khali in a non title match. IN FUCKING SAN DIEGO. Dark he beats JBL and Henry again. 15th in Lubbock there’s a Hacksaw sighting on Heat, pinning Conway which is such weird backwards thinking booking. Next night in Albuquerque there’s a great Velocity match for guys with diminishing profiles - Nunzio & Vito beat Funaki & Scotty - and on SmackDown Rey goes to a non-finish with Kane when on the verge of defeat (OBVIOUSLY) Kane gets distracted by tron of his own voice/mask (sigh). This is the fucking payoff for the "May 19th" bullshit - the match airs on that day, the Friday of the release of See No Evil. Fucking bollocks, all of it. Dark.. you know who Rey beats dark. After looking a loser on TV. Judgment Day has a dark match - Matt pins Simon Dean. Next night in Vegas Striker beats a Shawn Osbourne dark, on Heat Vic beats Melissa Anderson who depending on your bubble you may know as Cheerleader Melissa or remember as Alissa Flash or Raisha Saeed (sometimes concurrently). Night after in Bakersfield Matts on dark duty again beating Sylvan, the aforementioned Osbourne graduates to Velocity losing to Helms and Funaki & Scotty lose to Kash & Noble, and JBL both loses the US title to Lashley in no time at all AND loses a “retirement” stop match to Mysterio - amusingly, this won’t be the last time Rey causes Layfield to quit. Say what you will (and I have) about the decision to move him into a main eventer, after his title run finished Bradshaw did what was asked of him and did a million televised jobs for the popular lads - Cena, Batista and Rey all benefited from beating someone so despised. 29th in Tacoma is laden with dark matches seemingly for a Heat that never aired - Sylvester Terkay (The Predator from Zero One, a Poundland Bruiser Brody) pins Wavell Starr, Eugene & Hacksaw beat Navajo Warrior & Caden Matthews, Haas beats John Williams (Hawaiian Lion), and Carlito vs Conway wouldnt have looked out of place on a Coliseum tape. On Raw, the fake Kane (Drew Hankinson/Festus/Luke Gallows) debuts attacking Kane, Beth makes her in ring debut tagging with Torrie to beat Vic & Candy, Johnny Nitro and Melina turn up after MNMs baffling split, and Nitro's singles push is over before it starts as he loses to Cena in 3 fucking minutes. Next night in Portland (OR) more dark matches - Terkay drops Scotty, Tatanka pins Williams, Helms pins Starr, and 48 FUCKING HOURS after winning the tag belts, London & Kendrick lose a non-title match to Psicosis & Super Crazy. Who's booking this shit???? On SmackDown Rey loses to Angle by count-out (what a loser this made him look), Ashley Massaro randomly turns up (why are so many people moving without a draft??) and is immediately confronted by McCool, and Caden loses to Finlay then gets beaten up more by the still-not-named Hornswoggle. Rey being treated like shit is part of a Vince directive that Rey should be portrayed as lucky to be champion, on account of his underdog status. Because he's small. So Pat persuaded him to put the title on Rey, and Vince reacted by treating his own asset and potential drawing card like shit, "to prove a point." Because that's always good when you're in business, to devalue your own product. Fucking hell. WHAT HAPPENED AT THE CLASH? I’m clutching at straws but the night after Judgment Day they do at least have a couple of big matches, set up the two biggest matches for One Night Stand, have Trish introduce properly and endorse Beth, and continue the slow build to the DX resurrection. SmackDown has Judgment Day ; Raw 22/05 Non title : John Cena vs Chris Masters ICT : Rob Van Dam vs Shelton Benjamin Handicap: Shawn Michaels vs Spirit Squad Non title : Mickie James vs Torrie Wilson Kane vs Trevor Murdoch DEPARTURES So, Animal has that win over Burchill on Velocity, that's the last they'll book him, and release him in June. No last job before leaving, typical Road Warriors. It was a rubbish run to be fair, he was a spent force. But then, this is the same company giving work to Tatanka and Hacksaw Duggan at this point. Finally... Orlando Jordan. He's let go after Judgment Day for a very specific infraction - for allowing "unauthorised persons" backstage. Hmm.... based on everything I know about OJ, and how it influenced his gimmick when he landed in TNA, I imagine he was guilty of turning the backstage area into a sex festival. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaitoRyo Posted June 9, 2023 Share Posted June 9, 2023 On 6/7/2023 at 3:26 PM, HarmonicGenerator said: I was at that SmackDown show in Newcastle! Got a ticket hoping to see Undertaker in person. Didn’t get him. Oh well, I watch The Wrestling Channel, I’ll take getting to see London and Kendrick. Nope, not them either. I do remember that three way main event happening but nothing of the match itself, Benoit vs JBL suffering from the only crowd noise being Eddie Guerrero chants, and Finlay having the best match of the night even if I cannot remember who he wrestled. I probably just read it above and have already forgotten. Not a great show and I don’t think I went back to a WWE event until the NXT tour in 2015. I was there too and I thought it was actually a really good house show overall. There was some dross there (Jordan/Burchill and Tatanka/Animal), but most of it was solid! In particular Benoit/JBL, Finlay/Regal, Booker/Lashley and MNM/Londrick (who were definitely there). I'm sure Helms/Hardy would have been decent as well, but I really can't remember any of it. The Angle/Mysterio/Henry main was pretty short and uneventful IIRC, but when you consider how knackered everyone in the match was at that time, it's hardly surprising. JBL cut a great pre-match promo and got the crowd very riled up (who didn't just respond with 'Eddie' chants), while Finlay also got a lot of heat for his match (which was class). I went to a WWE show in Newcastle every year from 2003-09 and I think this one might have been one of the better ones. Lacking in true star power, but everyone put a shift in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted June 9, 2023 Awards Moderator Share Posted June 9, 2023 2 hours ago, SaitoRyo said: I was there too and I thought it was actually a really good house show overall. There was some dross there (Jordan/Burchill and Tatanka/Animal), but most of it was solid! In particular Benoit/JBL, Finlay/Regal, Booker/Lashley and MNM/Londrick (who were definitely there). I'm sure Helms/Hardy would have been decent as well, but I really can't remember any of it. The Angle/Mysterio/Henry main was pretty short and uneventful IIRC, but when you consider how knackered everyone in the match was at that time, it's hardly surprising. JBL cut a great pre-match promo and got the crowd very riled up (who didn't just respond with 'Eddie' chants), while Finlay also got a lot of heat for his match (which was class). I went to a WWE show in Newcastle every year from 2003-09 and I think this one might have been one of the better ones. Lacking in true star power, but everyone put a shift in. I'm going to trust your memory better than mine! It's really faded into not-much in my head. Could recall Tatanka and Animal being there but not that they wrestled each other. Should definitely have remembered Regal being Finlay's opponent, and have absolutely no recollection of London and Kendrick at all, much less that they were against MNM as that match would have been right up my street. I do remember JBL's promo and hating having to listen to him because I was still annoyed about how they made him Champion in '04. Still am to be honest. But I do remember wondering during the match why people thought chanting for Eddie was the best way to support Benoit. Hearing that every night mustn't have helped his state of mind at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted June 9, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted June 9, 2023 1 hour ago, HarmonicGenerator said: Could recall Tatanka and Animal being there but not that they wrestled each other. Thats what the Observer and/or Torch had. They also wrestled in Berlin. 1 hour ago, HarmonicGenerator said: But I do remember wondering during the match why people thought chanting for Eddie was the best way to support Benoit. Hearing that every night mustn't have helped his state of mind at the time. Yeah. This is also not long after Johnny Grunge from Public Enemy died too which Benoit apparently also took hard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.