House Show/TV tapings random happenings

[bbabba]

14 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 was at the Newcastle 2006 house show too and remember JBL getting extraordinary heat on his pre-match promo.  He was revelling in it, literally lying in the ring and rolling around at the crowd response.  It was also just before the 2006 World Cup, and he was taking shots at England, and the crowd were firing back with the Eng-er-land chant.

[air_raid]

JUNE 2006

THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW

We are back to John Cena vs Edge for the belt 3rd/4th in Bowling Green KY and Evansville and 6th in Toledo, which takes us up to One Night Stand. 16th-18th in Hartford, Kingston RI and Syracuse technically the belt and new champ have “gone to ECW” but Cena vs Edge rolls on in streetlights underneath Shawn Michaels & Triple H vs Spirit Squad. Only TVs and Vengeance until month end thereafter.

THE CARDS

Triple H vs Kenny first week of the month, I never dreamed was a singles run on the road. Kane vs Randy Orton after One Night Stand is a return to the road for both and to Raw for Orton ; with him on Raw and Kurt being gifted to ECW, the annual asset stripping of SmackDown occurs yet again. Shelton Benjamin vs Carlito rematches for the ICT plus Johnny Nitro beating Charlie Haas are both fixtures early month ; thereafter Carlito beats Nitro. Spirit Squad (well, the rest of them) start their month beating Big Show, Goldust & Gene Snitsky.

The bra & panties matches continue with (fucks sake, the Women’s Champion) Mickie James & Victoria vs Torrie Wilson & Maria before ONS and Mickie tags with Candice Michelle after it. Umaga vs Viscera continues all month and it’s Highlanders vs Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch every night and usually Harry Smith vs Rob Conway. There’s also some hijinx end of month with Hacksaw Duggan and Eugene as guests of “Matt Strikers Classroom.”

VARIATION 

In Hartford only Eugene is booked with Conway instead of baby Bulldog.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN

3rd-5th we still have Rey Mysterio vs Mark Henry for Big Gold in East Lansing, Kalamazoo and Fort Wayne. 17th-19th in Portland ME, Burlington and Ogdensburg NY it’s Rey and Batista (yayyyy!!!) over Henry & Booker T. 24th-26th in Louisville and Pikeville KY and Johnson City TN Fit Finlay subs for King Booker, 29th in San Juan 15,000 paid but near 17,000 squeezed into the Coliseo for the biggest gate in the building (yes, bigger than NYR’05) and next night 2700 at the far more modest Palacia De Los Deportes Virgillio Travieso Soto in (pause for breath) Santo Domingo - Rey vs Booker for the belt followed by The Undertaker vs Great Khali & Mark Henry.

THE CARDS

Bobby Lashley vs Booker T for the UST concludes early month then it’s Fit Finlay for Bob mid month then an interlude with old rival William Regal before back to Finlay in Puerto Rico. Paul London & Brian Kendrick vs Kid Kash & Jamie Noble for the tag belts has a false start as London has a knock so Kendrick wrestles either “pitbull” or both in a handicap but Londons back mid month and the match happens every night. Gregory Helms vs Super Crazy for the CWT runs for three weeks. Matt Hardy has a real mixed month - he’s losing the physical Finlay early month then jobbing to Great Khali mid month. Then he’s beating Ken Kennedy somewhat incongruously in Kentucky then beating buddy Helms in non title (LOL) matches in Tennessee and Puerto Rico. I know “body shaming” isn’t a thing anymore but I think “Fat Lardy” was a name used by every wrestling fan in the country when V1 wasn’t in, shall we say, fighting shape.

Kristal Marshall vs Jillian Hall continues as either a match or bikini contest despite Jillian turned face during her feud with Melina - Kristal plays heel in Puerto Rico. Early month also has Kennedy beating Gunner Scott (which he also does in Burlington and Johnson City), new team Aaron Stevens & KC James getting minutes swapping wins with Scotty Too Hotty & Sho Funaki, and Vito vs Nunzio. Mid month, Vito beats Funaki and the fairly useless Sylvester Terkay loses a couple to Tatanka. In Kentucky and Johnson City it’s Khali beating Tatanka, Vito beating Simon Dean, plus in Kentucky only, Sylvan vs Gunner. In Puerto Rico it’s Super Crazy vs Funaki, Kennedy vs Tatanka (revenge for Ken from a really bizarre loss in Portland) and Vito vs Regal - that’s quite the episode of Thunder right there.

Chris Benoit is off the road selling TV injuries from Mark Henry.

VARIATIONS

There’s a mid month merry go round - in Portland (hosted by Miz) debuting lug Terkay beats Gunner, in Ogdensburg Vito beats Gunner and Kennedy beats Funaki. Super Crazy vs Sylvan is the only match unique to Johnson City.

MAIN EVENT - ECW???

24th they run ECW Arena! Rob Van Dam defends (only, apparently) the ECW title against Kurt Angle, match refereed by Dean Malenko. I wish I’d been there.

THE CARD

Big Show vs Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman vs Justin Credible are both marquee for that market. Sabu vs CW Anderson you’d want to see because Sabu in that building. Danny Doring & Roadkill vs Little Guido & Tony Mamaluke is a nod to the latter days of real ECW, there’s a look to the future with Mike Knox over Balls Mahoney and CM Punk beating Stevie Richards, and a bikini contest with Francine (obvs), Trinity (ex TNA) and newcomer Kelly Kelly. I wish I’d been there. Not for bikinis specifically, just to have been there.

After Roanoke TVs Kurt takes a month off. He’s got his share of issues and the clock is ticking.

TVs

5th in Pittsburgh (near 9500 paid, 11,000 inside) Harry pinning Knox is dark and Colt Cabana is on Heat to lose to Murdoch, on Raw seeds are sown for Cena vs Sabu and dark Cena beats Edge in another streetfight. Next night in Wheeling Funaki beats Knox before the final Velocity taping which includes Cabana losing to Gunner and Sterling James Keenan tagging with a Jon Bolen to lose to the Pitbulls (Kash & Noble, not ECW or UK versions). On SmackDown Henry beats Raymond Rowe - yes, the one that eventually is half of War Machine or if you prefer, Erik in the Viking Raiders - and Rey loses a fucking non title match to of all people, Finlay. I’ll touch on “Rey the loser champion” again next post. Dark, Taker beats Henry and Khali. 7th in Dayton dark before a live Wednesday night special “WWE vs ECW” on USA, Shelton retains over Carlito, Bolen does a job for Matt, and Jimmy Yang (Akio no more) pins Tatanka. On the show, Rey (OBVIOUSLY) loses a non title match to former tag partner RVD. 12 at State College PA Harry beats Kenny Knievel about whom the wrestling world seems to know nothing, on Heat Mercedes Martinez loses to Vic, on Raw DX officially reunites. Next night in Trenton Funaki pins Simon dark, the first episode of ECW on Sci Fi is taped, and dark Taker beats Henry and Khali again. 19th in Rochester there’s a Val Venis sighting pinning Conway on Heat - which doesn’t really bode well for the Conman. On Raw Cena vs Balls Mahoney is a match you probably forgot, dark it’s Cena and Edge again. Next night in Albany Matt pins Terkay dark, ECW has a tag worth seeing with Angle and RVD against early days Rated-RKO - not too many meetings between Kurt and “main event level” Edge, I’d have thought - and dark after SmackDown Taker wins the same handicap he does every week. Vengeance has a dark match - Val pins Conway again. Next night in Fayetteville Trish Stratus returns to the ring and forges an alliance with Carlito against Nitro & Melina, Umaga beats Kamala and mercifully the fake Kane saga comes to an end. Next night in Roanoke RVD continues his short term elevation to genuine main eventer by pinning Angle on ECW no questions asked, and Lashley beats King Booker inside a cage on SmackDown.

WHAT HAPPENED ON THE CLASH?

Born out of a previous non title loss (of course) Reys big title defence ends meekly with a DQ caused by mischief and trickery of Chavo “like what Eddy would do” - amusing and a win in lean times but hardly one to make the champ look strong.

Raw has Vengeance ; SmackDown taped 20/06

World title : Rey Mysterio vs Mark Henry

Tag title : Paul London & Brian Kendrick vs Psicosis & Super Crazy

Non title : Bobby Lashley vs King Booker

Gunner Scott vs Fit Finlay

Tatanka vs Simon Dean

Ken Kennedy vs Sho Funaki 

DEPARTURES

Only one - Goldust manages to no show one gig and with an already chequered past, is let go. He’ll be back.

Edited June 15, 2023 by air_raid

[air_raid]

JULY 2006

Rob fucks it all up.

THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW

Greensboro (just 2500, ouch) and Norfolk (5500) 1st/2nd it’s still John Cena vs Edge in a streetfight followed by DX vs Spirit Squad in a handicap. After momentous TVs 7th-9th in Barrie, London (both Ontario) and Lincoln the streetfight goes on last and is non-title so new WWE Champion Edge can carry on losing. 16th in Abilene Shawns back right before San Antonio TVs so the handicap is back on last ; 22nd/23rd in Utica and Buffalo, Edge is defending the belt again and thus winning. 28th-30th with our old friends Cape Cod Melody Tent in Hyannis, Casino Ball Room in Hampton Beach (1200 sellout) and South Shore Music Circus in Cohasset, Cena’s winning by DQ when Coach pulls interference on ref Ricky Steamboat with Cena on the verge of triumph. 

THE CARDS

It’s Triple H & Ric Flair vs Spirit Squad in Ontario and Lincoln, plus Shawn Michaels tagging with Naitch in New York (and getting sung Happy Birthday to in Utica) depending on who’s having nights off, and I’m not thrilled that Flairs teaming with Hunter so soon after such a violent feud. Randy Orton vs Kane goes early month, in Abilene and late month but in London and Lincoln Randys with Harry Smith and then Gene Snitsky randomly replaces former enemy Kane in New York. Johnny Nitro vs Carlito vs Shelton Benjamin is on and off most of the month too except the last two shows of the month it’s just Nitro vs Carlito - Shelton’s losing a couple of eye-openers to Bulldog Jr.  Umaga beats Snitsky early month before dropping Charlie Haas in Abilene and Buffalo before ending his month beating Hacksaw Jim Duggan. A women’s title match of Mickie James vs Torrie Wilson sandwiches the month with many variations.

Early month cards have Haas beating Viscera, Smith beating Matt Striker and The Highlanders vs Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch - the latter runs on into Ontario, Lincoln and Abilene. In New York as well as that tag Smiths back with Rob Conway (as per Barrie) and Oleg Prudius (Vladimir Kozlov) beats Val Venis (which runs til month end) plus Vis interrupts Strikers “Classroom.” Finally in New Hampshire and Mass, Spirit Squad defend the tag belts against Robbie and Rory.

VARIATIONS 

There seems to permanently be a man light in Ontario and Lincoln so the card rotates a lot. In Barrie Orton actually beats Hacksaw (one more for the Legend Killer) and Mickie beats local hero Trish Stratus in singles. Next night in London Mickies off - Trish tags with Carlito to beat Nitro & Melina plus Snitsky beats Conway and Shelton pins old mate Haas. Then in Lincoln Snitsky upsets Shelton, Haas pins Hacksaw and there’s a three way where Trish & Carlito beat Nitro & Melina plus thrown-together Conway & Mickie. Snitsky is off Barrie, Hacksaw doesn’t work London. In Abilene Trish, Torrie and Maria beat Mickie, Victoria and Candice Michelle, finally Haas doesn’t make Utica so there’s a one night revisit to Umaga vs Eugene.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 

1st we’re in Panama City for Rey Mysterio vs King Booker for the belt followed by The Undertaker vs Mark Henry & Great Khali. 8th-9th in Winnipeg and Duluth, Henry & Khali are losing to Rey and Batista. 10th in Mankato is cancelled. 16th in Houston Taker vs Khali in singles is on last with Rey vs Booker AND Dave in a tag underneath. There are apparently no house shows between then and the end of the month.

THE CARDS

Bobby Lashley vs William Regal is the UST match in Winnipeg and Duluth. Paul London & Brian Kendrick vs Jamie Noble & Kid Kash continues for the tag belts every night. Matt Hardy is beating Gregory Helms in a non title match again in Panama City and Houston either side of more unlikely wins over Ken Kennedy. After a TV split Super Crazy vs Psicosis has become a short feud although Crazy also beats Sho Funaki in Panama and Houston. Kristal Marshall vs Jillian Hall is still alive.

Other stuff has Vito vs Simon Dean, Sylvan vs Scotty Too Hotty and Sylvester Terkay vs Funaki, all with the winners you expect.

VARIATIONS 

Overseas runs wrapping up in Panama are Kennedy vs Tatanka, Vito vs Regal and Lashley vs Fit Finlay. Batista & Lashley (oof) vs Finlay & Regal is the tag I alluded to in Houston.

MAIN EVENTS - ECW

1st and 2nd there are respectable crowds of 1150 in Belle Vernon PA and 1300 in Huntington for Rob Van Dam vs Big Show - Huntington being where it all goes tits up. Worth mentioning 1500 come to the ECW TVs 4th at the Wachovia Center then 8th 1200 sell out the Racine (WI) Civic Center for Big Show vs Sabu as a hastily rearranged title match which also tops Green Bay on 9th, Huntsville TX on 16th and Austin on 17th. 23rd/24th in Musgekon and Saginaw end up postponed until November. 29th at the Whittemore Center in Durham and 30th at the Wallace Civic Center in Fitchburg (both MA) it’s the same main but we’re already down to 650-750 fans. Shows used to that, he cut his teeth in WCW.

So…. early days there were numbers to suggest that a third brand could attract attendances to justify booking the shows, as long as the show had a distinct identity and didn’t try to run before it could walk. A model that a decade later they’d achieve to great success with NXT albeit at a huge financial deficit which gave it more in common with actual ECW than with WWECW. It seems walk up business was a big factor however and as soon as the fans, even in the smaller towns, realised they weren’t going to see RVD, they stopped turning up.

THE CARDS

The Sandman vs Justin Credible no doubt brought back memories, in week 2 it’s explicitly a Singapore Cane match. Tommy Dreamer vs Test is quite the reintroduction for the big lad. At month end a non finish to Sandy vs Credible leads straight into Sandman & Dreamer vs Test & Mike Knox. Initially Sabu vs CW Anderson kicks off the month before the title change. CM Punk vs Kevin Thorn exists early and late month to give Punk a win, Knox vs Balls Mahoney takes place within the weird aftermath of Kelly Kelly getting attacked by Jazz. I imagine Danny Doring & Roadkill vs Tony Mamaluke & Little Guido was fun enough. By Racine, Punks beating Roadkill, the FBI are saddled with the hardly extreme Basham Brothers, and there’s added Al Snow vs Stevie Richards. Yes, they dusted the cobwebs off Snow. By Texas the FBI are swapping wins with Derrick Neikirk & Ryan O’Reilly and CW is doing the job for Shannon Moore. Month end Knox is doing double duty beating Richards before his appearance in the impromptu semi-main, Balls is beating Eric Perez.

Might as well talk about Rob then. Leaving Huntington for Philadelphia in a car with Sabu they’re pulled over for speeding in Ohio which wouldn’t have been a problem if the copper hadn’t smelled weed - Van Dam is found with about 5/8 an ounce plus 5 Vicodin for which I believe he couldn’t produce a prescription and Sabu’s found with “drug paraphernalia” and testolactone - a drug that stops the body from producing oestrogen, and if you’ve seen Fight Club, you may guess why he’d want to take that. RVD gets suspended for 30 days, Sabu WWE lets off with a fine. This immediately prompts the bringing forward of Rob losing the WWE title from a scheduled triple threat on Saturday Nights Main Event, to that evenings Raw taping. No big deal, right? Except ECW was meant to be “his” brand and the show built around him, and having been politicked out of one reign with one of the big titles by Triple H in 2002, he now proved all his detractors right as falling afoul of the exact situation everyone considered a risk with him. It’s the end of RVD as a top player in WWE, of his own making, and soon ECW just comes across as WWE light, with Lashley winning the title from Show and losers like Hardcore Holly getting in the mix, making their title look on a par or inferior to the US or Intercontinental titles.

TVs

3rd at the Wachovia near 14,500 pay with near 16,000 inside for a great sellout and double taping ; Shelton pins Smith dark, the Highlanders debut, and Edge wins the WWE title from RVD on Raw. Nothing interesting happens on SmackDown. Next night in the same building for ECW Roadkill pins Mamaluke, Punk beats Anderson, Sabu pins Stevie and Dreamer pins Credible before on TV Test returns and beats Snow with not one of his established half dozen finishers but the TKO, and Show relieves RVD of the ECW title when Heyman turns. 10th in Sioux City nothing much happens. Next night in Minneapolis the spirit of ECW lives in, apparently, Ric Flair as he takes a terrible bump into thumb tacks wrestling Show, and on SmackDown Finlay wins the UST. 15th in Dallas they tape SNME ; London beats Rene Dupree dark, Hulk Hogan shows his face, Batista returns and pins King Booker to win a six man, and dark - didn’t know about this one! The Undertaker beats Great Khali and Umaga in a handicap by pinning the Samoan Bulldozer. 17th in San Antonio Cena pins Edge in another streetfight dark, next night in Corpus Christi Show vs Taker is the main for ECW (oh dear) and for reasons unknown Rey beats Booker non title a week before the PPV. Funaki pins Simon dark at the Bash where of course Rey loses his belt when Chavo Guerrero Jr turns. Next night in Cleveland it’s another non title streetfight dark. Next night in Detroit Thorn debuts with Ariel in his corner, Show vs Kane is a woefully tone deaf main for ECW, on SmackDown Terkay debuts (with Elijah Burke in his corner) and in Bash rematches Kennedy beats Dave by count out and Booker pins Rey with help from Chavo, again. Finally a massive sell out at the Continental Airlines in East Rutherford  for a double taping has Hardcore Holly return and beat Simon dark, Umaga pins HBK after interference from Vince & Shane, and on SmackDown Burke makes his in ring debut, Idol Stevens & KC James debut, Batista pins Kennedy and Taker beats Booker by DQ when Khali ruins it.

So… to summarise. In Reys short reign he’s pinned on TV by Mark Henry, Khali, Finlay and RVD, and was lucky not to pinned by Kane, he retained in title defences against Angle only because of interference from Henry and against Henry because of Chavo, and did TWO weak “can’t continue/get back in the ring” finishes against Sabu and Angle again. The only people of note he beat properly were Orton who was being punished and suspended, and JBL who while selfless, let’s be fair, has over the last five years been pinned on TV by everyone from John Cena to Christian to Crash Holly. Fucking awful.

WHAT HAPPENED AT THE CLASH?

It’s probably cheating as it’s split brand on a different night on a different channel, but the big night for Raw was always meant to be Saturday Nights Main Event with a scheduled triple threat match for the belt meant to restore Edge to the peak. Certainly would have been a shot in the arm for the revived SNME which started with promise only to again be abandoned or at least rebranded into a weekly jobber show.

SmackDown has Great American Bash ; Saturday Nights Main Event 15/07

WWE Title : Edge vs John Cena

Elimination : DX vs Spirit Squad

Carlito & Trish Stratus vs Johnny Nitro & Melina

Batista, Rey Mysterio & Bobby Lashley vs King Booker, Mark Henry & Fit Finlay

ECW rules : Sabu vs Stevie Richards

DEPARTURES

The losses to Super Crazy are the last bookings for Psicosis whose deal quietly expires in November. This is the last month wrestling for the company for Simon Dean as he takes over Dreamers old job as Talent Development Manager in OVW before finally leaving that post in August 2007.

There are bits and pieces up from the ECW house shows which are kinda cool rarities if nothing much of substance.

 

Edited June 12, 2023 by air_raid

[HarmonicGenerator]

Is Ryan O’Reilly the future Ryback, or am I getting confused? He was one of the lads in the Miz/Puder Tough Enough, wasn’t he?

[air_raid]

52 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

Is Ryan O’Reilly the future Ryback, or am I getting confused? 

A touch. O'Reilly is Konnor from the Ascension.

[Chili]

While we're at it. Chris Cage pops up here and there for tryouts and I have no idea.

[air_raid]

1 hour ago, Chili said:

While we're at it. Chris Cage pops up here and there for tryouts and I have no idea.

 

On 5/1/2023 at 1:15 PM, air_raid said:

Chris Cage (Caylen Croft)

 

[air_raid]

AUGUST 2006

I knew this day would come - some of the match info I gained for this entry came from local media reports when the usual sources had no reports from the shows.

THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW

Raw crew is on tour of Oz so it’s sellout business as expected 3rd-5th in Newcastle (5000) Sydney (16,000) and Melbourne (>15,000) where it’s Edge vs John Cena for DQ finishes for using the belt or Lita pulling out ref Ricky Steamboat, then a cage match, in that order. Between TVs its still crap DQ finishes 12th/13th in Johnstown PA and Charleston WV. 25th-27th in Canton, Youngstown and Erie Edge is back beating him ; Canton is a Last Man Standing match.

THE CARDS

Shawn Michaels & Ric Flair vs Spirit Squad continues in Oz and at home, then Shawn & Triple H are in the odd spot of semi-main again month end after some paternity leave for Hunter, winning a gauntlet match over (usually) a right rogues gallery - Charlie Haas & Viscera, Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch, and depending on the report, Umaga & Armando Alejandro Estrada, or Umaga just marching out by himself ; the result may or may not have really been a no contest because Canton's report has DX clearing Umaga from the ring but not actually pinning him. Randy Orton vs Kane continues on tour but just like last month Gene Snitsky is oddly Randys opponent mid month, before Randy has the last week of the month off. Johnny Nitro vs Shelton Benjamin vs Carlito continues early month then weirdly Nitro loses a couple of non title matches (boooo) to extended trialist Harry Smith mid month, then we get fresh blood when it becomes Nitro vs Carlito vs Jeff Hardy. Ladies wise Trish Stratus & Torrie Wilson vs Mickie James & Melina takes place in Sydney and Melbourne, month end new Womens Champion Lita vs Trish is back on!

Australia also get Harry beating Matt Striker and Haas vs Snitsky with Umaga attacking both after the match, mid month The Highlanders vs Cade & Murdoch is back on (and happens again in Youngstown) plus Oleg Prudius pinning Eugene, month end Spirit Squad are losing a non title match to the Highlanders and Hacksaw Jim Duggan is pinning Rob Conway. LOL.

VARIATIONS 

In Newcastle Mickie vs Torrie is a one on one while Trish & Carlito beat Nitro & Melina, leaving Shelton to beat Haas and Umaga actually getting a match, with Snitsky. In Canton, Trish & Torrie beat Lita & Melina. In Youngstown, Spirit Squad take Cade & Murdoch's spot in the gauntlet, still won by DX.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN

5th-7th in Mobile, Jackson and Tupelo we're getting The Undertaker vs Great Khali in (dreadful sounding) Last Man Standing matches atop King Booker vs Rey Mysterio rematches for the belt - yes, Chavo's still interfering. 12th-13th in Binghamton and Newark we graduate to Booker vs Batista for the gold, same 26th in Ocean City MD and 27th in Wildwood NJ - every one a DQ.

THE CARDS

Batista vs Ken Kennedy runs early month as rematches from the Bash, but Dave's crushing him. Rey Mysterio vs Chavo Guerrero Jr revenge matches land mid-month and go on until the end. When Dave heads to main event, Kennedy starts avenging those losses from earlier in the year against Matt Hardy - about time too. Fit Finlay is defending the US title against Bobby Lashley and William Regal for two weeks before month end its just Finlay vs Lashley. We have Paul London, Brian Kendrick & Jillian Hall beating Idol Stevens, KC James & Michelle McCool early month then its a straight tag title defence mid to late month. The CWT is back - Gregory Helms is beating Jamie Noble mid month then OVW's Seth Skyfire month end. 

Otherwise we have Scotty Too Hotty vs Chuck Palumbo (yes, another look at Chuckie) and Ryan Wilson vs Sho Funaki - long time of OVW, Wilson was also in Redshirt Security in early TNA and might be best known as the athlete behind the dreadful Trytan gimmick. Mid-month Wilson loses to The Miz, Scotty loses to Sylvester Terkay and Funaki beats Palumbo. Month end Terkay beats Tatanka and we're back to Vito vs Sylvan. Also - I bet Ashley Massaro is glad she was drafted now she's winning so many bikini contests.

VARIATIONS

Actually none.

MAIN EVENTS - ECW

5th in Poplar Bluff MO, 2000 people turn up to the Black River Coliseum - while you can get 5000 in there, thats still a gate some SmackDown shows would envy. The main event is still Big Show vs Sabu for the belt but underneath we've got - both back in action - Kurt Angle vs Rob Van Dam which you sense was the real draw. Unfortunately next night in Jackson TN they obviously didn't get the memo - 600 turn up. There's also a presence on the DSW show on 11th where Show gives RVD the rematch, a nice little snapshot of the future on the card that includes a fair few names that "made it" in WWE or TNA plus a certain Kenny Omega. 12th-14th in Elmira, White Plains (3000?? Is that right??) and Salisbury its the same title match and Angle vs RVD on the first two. We have the same main 21st in Altoona PA then 26th in Bethlehem (1000), 27th in Glens Falls (2200????) and 28th in Poughkeepsie (1600) - never let it be said that RVD didn't draw. He's keeping WWWECW afloat here.

THE CARDS

After we lose Kurt (see below) Rob Van Dam vs Hardcore Holly is our late month semi-main. The Sandman vs Mike Knox is the new feud plus Tommy Dreamer vs Test with an eye on Test as a player for the brand. CM Punk is still beating Kevin Thorn, the FBI are back with Derrick Neikirk & Ryan O'Reilly, plus Balls Mahoney beating Rene Dupree in the old "ECW original sticks it to the WWE creation" deal. By Elmira Thorn's beating Danny Doring, Punk's beating Stevie Richards and Dreamer & Sandy vs Knox & Test is back to being a tag, though it separates again month end. In Pennsylvania Balls loses a couple to Thorn while Punk beats Dupree, and Stevie starts losing to Matt Striker. Month end Dupree is back with Balls, Punk's beating Striker and Richards is jobbing to Thorn. Plus bikini contests.

VARIATION

In Salisbury Kurt's injured so has to work mere seconds with Doring (see below) while Thorn jobs to RVD in a competitive match.

TVs

1st at a sold out Hammerstein Ballroom inside the Manhattan Center (near church-like in its reverence among ECW fans and by proxy ROH fans) has one more hugely memorable night for hardcores. Dark, Balls curtain jerks by lamping Dupree (LOL), the FBI get to lose to London & Kendrick (I imagine the crowd enjoyed that one), Richards pins Roadkill and CW Anderson pins Shannon Moore. The TV itself is a game of two halves ; barbed wire finds its way into Test & Knox beating Sandy & Dreamer, Punk debuts to a great reaction topped only by a hero’s welcome for the returning Kurt Angle to barbecue local legend Brooklyn Brawler… then Show vs Batista (what were they thinking??) plays to deafening uncomplimentary chants including (but not restricted to) “You both suck.” Worse, they book a DQ finish. In ECW. 7th in Memphis there's a good 10,000 gate - Shad Gaspard & The Neighborhoodie (yes, JTG) beat Conway & Haas dark, on Raw Lita re-inserts herself into the title scene and Umaga pins HHH to add to previous weeks scalp of HBK, and dark Cena's beating Edge by DQ yet again. Next night in Nashville I simply have to mention Kurt Angle vs Sabu on ECW going to a non-finish when RVD interferes, Stevens & James beat London & Kendrick non-title on SmackDown (boooooooooo) and after cameras stop rolling Batista beats Booker by DQ. 14th in Charlottesville VA Lita wins the belt from fellow heel Mickie, Eugene & Hacksaw beat Spirit Squad non-title (fucking booooooooo!!!!) and Cena beats Edge by DQ AGAIN. Next night in Washington Helms pins the rechristened Jimmy Wang Yang dark, Kurt gets suspended on TV when, after they acknowledge his injury, he attacks Heyman's security guards and gets himself arrested, on SmackDown Taker drops Khali in a bloody Last Man Standing match rightly scrubbed from the SummerSlam card, and Dave beats Booker by DQ AGAIN after the show. Carlito beats Conway dark at SummerSlam, next night Cade & Murdoch beat Kofi Kingston & Tomasso Whitney (Ciampa) - about the only thing of note that happens on Raw is the end of the convoluted mess of a story Mick Foley tried to use to make Melina a bigger star, when she betrays him for reasons. 22nd in Wilkes Barre - what a signing this would have been! - Too Cold Scorpio pins Dupree dark, ECW has Torrie Wilson tag with Sandman and Dreamer to beat Test, Knox and Kelly Kelly (why do I not remember this??), on SmackDown MVP starts appearing, constantly talking to his "agent" on the phone about how much money he wants. 28th in Atlantic City I can't believe Orton is in an ICT contenders match and he loses to Jeff after Carlito interferes, and dark Edge pins Cena, finally in Reading Funaki pins Sylvan dark, Helms loses another non-title match to Matt but this one's televised, The Miz debuts pinning Tatanka and dark Batista beats King Booker by DQ for the hundredth time this month.

DEPARTURE

This is, shockingly at the time, the end of Kurt Angle in WWE despite making us all feel he was part of the furniture and Hall Of Fame bound (which of course he is, eventually). 13th in White Plains after virtually a whole year of stop/start and absence/returns, less than two weeks after returning from a wellness suspension (I believe the "bad prescription" kind) Kurt gets himself a serious groin injury. Next night in Salisbury his activity in his win is restricted to a headbutt and applying the ankle lock, and the night after they write him out on ECW TV. During this time off Kurt has a meeting with Vince, Shane and other officials about his state of mind, how hurt and knackered he is - his painkiller problem is out of control and he's been pushing himself to work hurt more often than he should and not take as much time off as he should. He's said since that at this point he was taking 65 Vicodin a day. The assembled office staff show him stacks of messages that he's sent to Vince during times of being out of out, angry in tone about perceived callbacks he hasn't had from Vince and threatening to beat him up and so on. Vince invites Kurt to beat him up there and then - Angle breaks down in tears and asks to be let out of his contract to try and sort himself out, and on 25th August he's granted it. Rather than be cleaned up to come home, come October he'll sign with TNA for decent money and fewer dates. Many matches and years later, of course, Kurt will be back, but at the time this was devastating to fans of his like me. Drafted to ECW to provide star power with the original plan being for him to be their champion by the end of the year, his serious, aggressive "wrestling machine" character was a highlight of shows he was on, and a clean Kurt Angle would have been an asset beyond description in the years he was gone. Never getting that proper match with Batista alone was bad enough, but there are so many wrestlers that would have benefited being in the ring with Kurt. Sometimes "the show" rides the horse too hard until it drops dead, but in this case the horse was riding itself into the ground.

[air_raid]

SEPTEMBER 2006

We’re very deep now into a near 3 year run of me not watching, so some of this is news to me, especially the weekly TV.

THE MAIN EVENTS- RAW

Edge vs John Cena is still on 1st-3rd in Huntsville, Dothan and Albany GA - a ladder ends up involved in the finish, I wonder why? 8th-10th is the same in Tampa, Fort Myers and Trenton. After Unforgiven and Cena winning the belt back it’s huge business down in Mexico - near 19,500 sellout in Mexico City, 4000 in more modest Guadalajara, 11,500 sellout in Tijuana and 13,500 sellout in Monterrey (Plaza Monumental De Toros, not Arena Mexico) - three of those four have more title matches but Tijuana is different for good reason. Cena has a night off and in the city he largely grew up in Rey Mysterio tags with DX to beat Edge, Randy Orton and nemesis Chavo Guerrero Jr.

THE CARDS

Triple H & Ric Flair (in for HBK) are winning a gauntlet over just Charlie Haas & Viscera and Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch in week 1 but week 2 Shawn Michaels returns - match and result otherwise unchanged. In Mexico DX twice face Cade & Murdoch as a regular tag. Rey Mysterio vs Chavo Guerrero Jr borrowed from SmackDown no doubt helped ticket sales in Mexico. Johnny Nitro vs Jeff Hardy for the ICT goes to an annoying DQ in the Deep South but second week Nitros allowed to win with his feet on the ropes, which he also does twice in Mexico. Kane vs Umaga starts and you might guess it’s more wins for the Bulldozer week one but into Florida Kane’s winning by DQ - they swap wins in Mexico in similar fashion three nights out of the four.

Carlito vs Rob Conway and Lita vs Torrie Wilson for the belt are both added second week. Early month I think there was a phantom turn - Candice Michelle & Maria vs Mickie James & Melina (bra and panties, ugh) is on even though by my count Candice is still a heel. In Mexico and relieved of the belt Lita loses to Mickie every night. The rest ; Spirit Squad still losing non title (ugh) to the Highlanders for two further weeks plus two more in Mexico, week one Harry Smith pinning Chris Masters in a backfire of asking for “five more minutes”, and Oleg Prudius vs Val Venis is back on. Into week two Masters is losing to newly traded Super Crazy off the back of their TV angle and Prodius is pinning Eugene who’s then rescued by Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Finally in Mexico there are two more instances of Highlanders vs Cade & Murdoch and two of Super Crazy getting popular wins over rapidly fading Shelton Benjamin.

VARIATIONS 

In Tampa only, Duggan saving Eugene takes the form of answering Olegs challenge for another match - which Duggan loses, obviously. Randy Orton has no consistent opponent in Mexico but consistently wins - he pins Carlito in Mexico City, Kane in Guadalajara and Hardy in Monterrey. Otherwise, in Guadalajara DX drop Spirit Squad in another non title match, Nitro retains the ICT over Carlito, Jeff pins Shelton and Umaga beats Super Crazy, in Tijuana Kenny beats Val and Johnny loses to Carlito in separate singles matches and in Monterrey there’s one more Nitro vs Carlito vs Shelton. If you’re wondering what Val did other nights - ref’d Lita vs Mickie.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 

2nd/3rd in Anderson SC and Chattanooga, it’s King Booker vs Batista for the belt with a DQ finish plus The Undertaker vs Ken Kennedy in a non title match - five of the men’s titles held by guys losing their matches this week, out of seven!! 9th in West Palm Beach Booker retains over Bobby Lashley, 10th in Mohegan Sun CT he gets DQd again vs Rey Mysterio thanks to Chavo. After MSG suddenly they switch to joint SmackDown and ECW shows - <1300 at Savings Bank Ice Arena 16th in Jamestown and <1000 at Niagara Falls Conference Center the afternoon of Unforgiven for Booker vs Lashley suggest it’s not going to help - same match 19th in Ottawa and 30th in Little Rock with more DQs.

THE CARDS

Bobby Lashley & Chuck Palumbo (really) vs Fit Finlay & William Regal goes on in week 1, Batista vs Regal is an odd one for New York, it’s Dave vs Dave in Ottawa and Little Rock. Ken Kennedy vs Matt Hardy for the UST picks up in New York and for the rest of the month, Paul London & Brian Kendrick are still retaining over KC James & Idol Stevens nearly every night but bad news for champions continues with Gregory Helms losing non title to Matt in week one ; though he’s retaining over Jimmy Wang Yang mid month and thereafter.

Early month we also have Kid Kash & Jamie Noble beating Ray Geezy & Damian Steele (Ray is Ray Gordy who will be Jesse in Jesse & Festus), Sylvester Terkay pinning Tatanka (which continues week 2 and resumed in Little Rock) Scotty Too Hotty swapping wins with the Miz (including in West Palm) and Sho Funaki upsetting MVP - what a start to life on the road for Porter!! In week 2, Ottawa and Little Rock, Vito beating Regal by submission is quite a scalp plus Ashley Massaro vs Jillian Hall in week 2 would hardly have Lita and Mickie worried about their spots.

Layla El makes her road debut at Mohegan Sun in a “Diva dance off.” Lovely bit of muffin.

Mark Henry is still (actually) injured, Chris Benoit still kayfabe injured and on personal leave.

VARIATIONS 

West Palm has the only editions of Kennedy vs Finlay heel vs heel and the Rey vs Chavo Guerrero Jr grudge match. Mohegan Sun has Kennedy vs Lashley vs Finlay with Chavo only doing a run in ; same show, Scotty pins Noble. Ottawa has a very odd tag - Miz & Sylvan play babyface to lose to Terkay & Elijah Burke. In Little Rock only the somewhat thrown-together Miz & Chavo are also in the title tag match - Chavo attacks Miz after they’re eliminated. Jillian vs Kristal Marshall isn’t over - a match in Ottawa, a bikini contest in Little Rock.

MAIN EVENTS - ECW

It’s still Big Show vs Sabu in Spartanburg and Greenwood 2nd/3rd, and 9th-10th in Toms River NJ and Schenectady NY. RVD doesn’t make Tyler TX 23rd because of weather so it’s rearranged to Sabu, Tommy Dreamer & The Sandman vs Show, Test and Hardcore Holly. Starting to look a bit “Velocity” here. Next night in Pine Bluff AR it’s Rob Van Dam & Sabu (reunited) vs Show and Bobcore which continues 25th in Fort Smith AR - 30th in Loveland CO Sabu vs Test is on last.

THE CARDS

Rob Van Dam vs Hardcore Holly runs most of the month and a highlight of those joint shows in New York is Sabu vs Test. Spartanburg and Greenwood have the last of the popular wins for Tommy Dreamer & The Sandman over Test & Mike Knox, in week two Dreamers beating Knox in singles while Sandy attacks Matt Striker after he’s MCd a bikini contest, leading to tags in New York and more wins for the hardcore icons. Sandman’s back to attacking Striker only in week 3 ; Dreamers back to losing to Test. CM Punk beats Shannon Moore in South Carolina, Stevie Richards on the joint shows and then Knox four shows in succession. The FBI are still with Derrick Neikirk & Ryan O’Reilly in South Carolina before losing to the Basham Brothers in week 2 and until the end of the month.

South Carolina also has Kevin Thorn pinning Balls Mahoney, dusty old Al Snow vs Rene Dupree and CW Anderson vs Stevie. Week two we move to Stevie pinning Dupree and Thorn pinning Neikirk, week three it’s Anderson beating Dupree and Thorn pinning Richards

VARIATIONS 

Punk beats Danny Doring in Toms River and Anderson in Schenectady. In Loveland RVD is with Knox, a new tag has Dreamer and Sandman beating Rene and Striker, Snow does a job for Eric Perez (who will later have a cup of coffee as Eric Escobar) and Richards pins - look who’s back - Rodney Mack.

TVs

4th in Atlanta - I can’t believe this - Perez does a dark job to Henry Godwinn - really?? On Heat Mickie attacks ref Candice after a match with Torrie which I guess turns Candy - even though Mickie herself just had to play face by proxy against Lita. On Raw Super Crazy debuts pinning Masters - that wellness violation really soured them on the Masterpiece! Dark, Edge beats Cena in a streetfight. Next night in Columbus - what kind of White Hole did I stumble into? - Godwinn pins Bull Buchanon which sounds the worst match ever. As part of the build for Unforgiven DX appear on ECW beating Show by DQ (yes) in a handicap when Bobcore and Heymans security run in. On SmackDown Rey does another job to Finlay who later costs Batista the belt and leaves him bloody - I had no idea Batista vs Finlay was a TV feud. 11th they’re at MSG (17,298 sellout is a very good number indeed) - Duggan & Eugene beat Haas & Viscera dark to pop the locals, on Raw Roddy Piper returns to tag with the Highlanders and beat the Spirit Squad in a six man, and Trish Stratus pins Mickie in her last match on Raw after which Trish and Mickie reconcile - I believe, officially starting to turn Mickie babyface. Next night in Worcester Kennedy beats Rey (fucking hell) and for ECW King Booker shows his face and beats RVD after interference from Bobcore - increasingly ECW is just another WWE show. Unforgiven has a dark match - Super Crazy pins Shelton. Next night in Montreal it’s a 13,500 sellout in Montreal for a double taping - Val beats the lesser spotted Rob Conway dark, Raw has Lita do a pinfall job to Candice after distraction from Mickie, and a massive SmackDown with all the names wrestling concludes with Undertaker beating Booker by DQ. Because a shit finish in the title match at SummerSlam wasn’t enough. 25th in Oklahoma City (10,000) Cryme Tyme beat Spirit Squad by count out dark in prep for their TV debut - straight out of Coliseum, that one. On the show the Women’s title tournament starts (Lita over Candice), SmackDown heels attack Cena as we start the crawl to Cyber Sunday, and dark Cena beats Edge yet again. Finally next night in Tulsa Helms pins Scotty in another Coliseum Exclusive, RVD beats Hardcore for ECW in the infamous match where Bob gets his back ripped open, on SmackDown Kash & Noble do the honours for James & Stevens and Cena tags with Batista and Lashley (oof) to take revenge on Booker, Finlay and Regal, after which Cena’s attacked by Edge. Not content with WWE wrestlers seen to be giving ECW the leg up, SmackDown now has to be bolstered by Raw’s big guns, apparently.

WHAT HAPPENED AT THE CLASH?

After clutching at straws for a couple of instances there’s no doubt they threw everything at the show after Unforgiven to bridge the gap between SummerSlam and No Mercy ; two titles are contested, many feuds are advanced and the table is set for No Mercy.

Raw has Unforgiven ; SmackDown taped 18/09

World Title : King Booker vs The Undertaker 

Batista & Bobby Lashley vs Fit Finlay & William Regal

Rey Mysterio vs Chavo Guerrero Jr

Tag title : Paul London & Brian Kendrick vs KC James & Idol Stevens

Non title : Gregory Helms vs Matt Hardy

Sylvan vs Tatanka

The Miz vs Sho Funaki 

DEPARTURES 

Kid Kash is by his own admission caught smoking weed backstage at Montreal, so they get one more TV loss out of him and partner Noble then let him go ; nothing more to say really.

Of greater significance Trish Stratus decides to retire after a series of injuries - she’s excused the “time honoured tradition” of going out on her back, beating Lita for the belt in hometown Toronto with the Sharpshooter (LOL) before going off into the sunset. Of course she’ll return a fair few times over the years, completely overshadowing everyone else in the ring, because you can’t learn star power. She just had it, and still does.

[CavemanLynn]

It feels like we're well into the name equivalent of alphabet soup at this point. In the 80s reports, I got a real kick out of seeing who was facing who on the road, imaging what some of those matches would have been like. In this early-2000s onwards period, when my interest admittedly fell to all but zero, these reports read like lists of filler. Just muscly guys in trunks, or lucha/indie guys trying to make the most of 5 minutes a week. Even some of the main event feuds lack that special sauce that stops them feeling like time-biders.

[air_raid]

6 hours ago, CavemanLynn said:

Even some of the main event feuds lack that special sauce that stops them feeling like time-biders.

Yeah. They basically grew three new top guys around the same time but obviously preserved serious programs between the three of them for later, but one had a serious injury and the other had a few injuries AND disciplinary problems, so once all three had a run with Triple H, we were left with a cycle of “heel champion loses by DQ to Undertaker” on and off or nine months of Cena vs Edge.

[air_raid]

OCTOBER 2006

THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW

1st they’re at Hammons Student Center in Springfield MO which sounds small but still sells 4500 tickets - John Cena vs Edge felt like it was running forever but 6th-8th in Daytona Beach, Pensacola and Greenville the afternoon of No Mercy John has a few days off so it’s Triple H & Shawn Michaels vs Edge and Randy Orton. 14th in Reno it’s Cena vs Edge and HHH vs Orton before they’re off on tour dragging ECW guys with them - 19th second night at Budokan Hall it’s a totally thrown together DX vs Big Show & Hardcore Holly, night before and next night in Honolulu they’re beating Rated-RKO. 27th-29th in Des Moines, Dubuque (still Iowa) and Rockford IL it’s a new title match - John Cena vs Umaga. DQ.

THE CARDS

Triple H vs Randy Orton is a quality semi main late month. Kane vs Umaga wraps early month and unbelievably Kane does pin the Bulldozer in Greenville - but he rebounds to beat Carlito one night at Budokan and in Honolulu before moving up. The ICT is usually Jeff Hardy vs Johnny Nitro plus a fair few triangles with Shelton Benjamin. Should not surprise you - Carlito and Shelton end up with each other month end. 

Spirit Squad continue to devalue the tag belts by losing non title matches scattered throughout the month to the Highlanders. Mid month they have a little break and lose to Cryme Tyme instead while the McAllisters return to Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch - who in turn wrestle Cryme Tyme month end. Mickie James vs Victoria is added month end too. Otherwise early month it’s usually Charlie Haas vs Gene Snitsky and Oleg Prudius vs Eugene plus Hacksaw Jim Duggan in the Masterlock Challenge, month end back to Chris Masters losing to Super Crazy and added Val Venis swapping wins with Daniel Rodimer.

VARIATIONS 

Springfield has the last of Hunter & Ric Flair winning the gauntlet over Haas & Viscera and Cade & Murdoch and Randy has his last match with Carlito, plus Harry Smith beating the Masterpiece. In Daytona beach Haas & Masters lose to Cryme Tyme, Kenny beats Snitsky in singles, two other Squad members retain over Highlanders and Cade & Murdoch and Duggan wrestles, pinning (!) Shelton. Umaga vs Snitsky is (thankfully) unique to Reno, as is one more of Mickie pinning Lita plus Cade & Murdoch beat Val & Harry. The Raw vs ECW theme night 2 of Tokyo throws up some true oddities - Highlanders vs Tommy Dreamer & The Sandman vs Spirit Squad, Carlito & Maria vs Mike Knox & Kelly Kelly and Jeff vs Kevin Thorn all make little sense, Sabu vs Nitro sounds wild and the finish is an Arabian Facebuster through a table, Umaga vs Balls Mahoney probably hit hard, Edge vs Rob Van Dam vs Test featured nobody who didn’t know the others, and most interesting Randy has his first ever match with CM Punk. Finally Vic isn’t in Des Moines so Mickie beats Melina.

THE MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 

1st in Jonesboro AR just 1500 turn up for another King Booker vs Bobby Lashley title fight with a DQ finish. 14th in Sacramento it’s a three way vs Batista and Fit Finlay, Booker pins his old rival, the expendable Finlay. 21st night one in Manila Batista beats Booker by DQ, clearly people think they’ll catch AIDS if they ask a babyface to job for the King. Next night Dave, Bob and The Undertaker beat Book, Irish Dave and Ken Kennedy.

THE CARDS

 Virtually everything falls under variations!! What happens twice? The Undertaker vs Ken Kennedy in Sacramento and night 1 in Manila. Matt Hardy beating Gregory Helms non title yet again in Sacramento and night 2. Vito vs William Regal in both Jonesboro and Sacramento. Even the usually reliable tag title match is muddied by women, a third team or being split into two singles!!

VARIATIONS LOL

In Jonesboro there’s one more of Batista vs Fit Finlay. In Sacramento Rey Mysterio pinning Chavo Guerrero Jr is the last road gig for Rey before he’s written out injured. Back on the card and immediately reinstalled as US Champ, Chris Benoit beats eventual successor MVP (by DQ) in Sacramento, then new enemy Chavo and Regal in consecutive nights in the Philippines. Having been off for Sacramento Bobby Lashley beats Regal night 1 in Manila. Helms beats Jamie Noble and Jimmy Wang Yang in Jonesboro and Yang in singles night 1 in Manila. The aforementioned regular tag title of Paul London & Brian Kendrick vs KC James & Idol Stevens actually only happens night 1 in Manila ; in Jonesboro it’s a three way with added Chavo & The Miz, in Cali a mixed six person with Ashley Massaro and Michelle McCool involved, and night 2 overseas it’s split into James pinning Kendrick and London avenging that by pinning Stevens - a house show trick from WWF history as far back as I know. Otherwise in Jonesboro it’s Sylvester Terkay pinning Tatanka and the inevitable bikini contest won by the equally inevitable Ashley, Elijah Burke pinning Yang in Sacramento, Finlay beating Matt and Vito beating Miz on night 1 in Manila and Yang beating Miz and Chavo pinning Vito on night 2.

MAIN EVENTS - ECW

1st at Colorado State Fair Events Center in Pueblo it’s still Sabu vs Test, likewise 7th at the Multi-Purpose Center in Hattiesburg MS - an impressive near 1400 - and 8th at River Center Arena in Baton Rouge (>2000) and it rolls on 14th at Pima Hall in Tucson before 15th at Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix (1600) it’s a cross- feud tag incorporating Sabus buddy Rob Van Dam and his rival Kevin Thorn. Night 1 of Budokan and in Honolulu the top ECW match is - FINALLY - title defences for Big Show against “homicidal suicidal genocidal” but 27th-28th in LaCrosse and Racine Paul Heyman has to sub and do actual matches with RVD. 

THE CARDS

Tommy Dreamer & The Sandman vs Rene Dupree & Matt Striker continues most of the month. It’s also still Rob Van Dam vs Kevin Thorn ; on tour Rob’s back with Hardcore Holly while Thorn loses to Dreamer then gets attacked by Sandy for not leaving things be with “the Innovator of Violence.” Month end on a mostly shuffled undercard, Bobcore picks up two wins over Test as he maintains a top spot.

CM Punk vs Mike Knox goes all month and The FBI vs The Basham Brothers runs for two weeks. Early month it’s also Rodney Mack beating Balls Mahoney (which repeats in LaCrosse), Jazz vs Trinity and - OMG!! - Brad Armstrong pinning Eric Perez (which also reprises in LaCrosse). Mid month Stevie Richards beats Perez and Balls recovers beating Shannon Moore. At Budokan and Honolulu Balls drops falls (lol) to Test while he’s out of the main event. We also have (sigh) bikini  contests involving Trinity, Kelly Kelly and Rebecca DiPietro - a former Playboy model and Diva Search also ran who will hang around until March - Amy Zidian will also appear until December as they try and figure out who’s worth a spot.

Every now and again I think they did some good stuff with the ECW concept and hiring a recognised brilliant wrestler like Armstrong is very in synch with what Heyman was great it. But too often they’re going to prostitute the product for what they want to do regardless of how it’s going to be perceived by the viewers.

VARIATIONS 

Pueblo has revenge wins in the final matches for Stevie over Mack and Perez over Al Snow. Someone’s missing in Tucson ; Dreamer vs Rene is a singles. LaCrosse has Sabu vs Richards, Guido pinning Dupree and Dreamer/Sandman beating Striker/Thorn, then in Racine Guido beats Mack, Balls pins Perez, Stevie pins Armstrong and Sabu pins Thorn.

TVs

2nd in Topeka Sgt Slaughter is dusted off to pin Spirit Squad Nicky - yes, that’s Ziggler - along with a bunch of big time matches including Cena’s cage match feud ended with Edge. Next night in Wichita London & Kendrick beat Gymini dark, and SmackDown has Booker continue his crap reign by - following Reys footsteps nicely - losing non title to Finlay. Night after No Mercy on “Raw Family Reunion” Booker loses AGAIN to RVD,  Kane drops a “Loser Leaves Raw” match to Umaga and John Cena vs The Undertaker happens on TV again but run ins ruin it. Next night in Jacksonville is a shocking night for champions ; Matt pins Helms yet again before cameras roll, Kennedy coughs up the US belt to Benoit and on the ECW taping Show loses non title to RVD Plus Kane arrives on SmackDown and does a non finish with MVP. 15th at the Staples Center (>17,000 sellout) a big double taping has Benoit beat Sylvan dark, Dave Taylor debuts as Regals new tag partner, Cena start a feud with Kevin Federline (really), Spirit Squad lose the hundredth non title match (boooooo) of their reign to Cryme Tyme, and Chavo put Rey on the shelf in an I Quit match. 23rd in Chicago Hacksaw Duggan pins Colt Cabana on Heat, Mikey & Nicky lose ANOTHER non title match to Cryme Tyme then Kenny proves he’s the star by pinning Flair, and dark Batista beats Booker by… DQ.  Next night in St Louis the ECW taping has RVD beat Show non title AGAIN in a ladder match (FUCK this booking, seriously!!), Taylor does his knee in, Tatanka turns heel on Lashley, and Cena & Batista beat Booker & Show when Dave pins The King. The disregard for champions is appalling right now. 29th in Milwaukee Daivari (with Great Khali in his corner) debuts in ECW beating Moore - and I’ve never felt worse about WWECW than I do right now. Nothing interesting happens on SmackDown. Next night in Moline nothing worth mentioning happens on Raw, and ECW taped for airing 7/11 already has qualifiers for the Elimination Chamber at December To Dismember and Terkay and Burke show up.

WHAT HAPPENED AT THE CLASH?

Would feel a bit of a cop out to go with the Family Reunion episode as though it’s pretty stacked, the week before in Topeka they do more for the stories running specific to Raw with issues wrapping, a title change, and at long last a line drawn under Cena vs Edge.

SmackDown has No Mercy ; Raw 2/10

WWE title Cage match : John Cena vs Edge

Handicap tornado : Shawn Michaels & Triple H vs Lance Cade, Trevor Murdoch, Charlie Haas, Viscera & The Highlanders 

Carlito vs Randy Orton

ICT : Johnny Nitro vs Jeff Hardy

Women’s title QF : Mickie James vs Victoria

Sgt Slaughter vs Spirit Squad Nicky

Umaga vs Gene Snitsky 

DEPARTURES 

The Basham Brothers are finally let go this month despite that string of victories over Guido & Mamaluke on the road. They needed two reinventions to stay relevant, first as JBLs goons then Heymans security. Regardless of wrestling skill they were never really given personalities to speak of and the fans never grew to give a shit about them one way or another.

Here’s Manila night 1 ;

Updates will be slow, I’m on holiday.

[air_raid]

NOVEMBER 2006

The non-title losses crap truly spirals out of control here. Glad I wasn't watching the weekly telly because my head would have exploded.

MAIN EVENTS - RAW

Tour time! 8th-12th in Glasgow, Newcastle, Nottingham, Minehead (really) and Birmingham the Raw crew (plus an ECW contingent) run cards topped with John Cena, Triple H & Shawn Michaels vs Umaga, Randy Orton & Edge - Cena pins Edge as he has for most of the year! After TVs in Manchester there are two nights in Aberdeen, where first night there’s a title match and (non title) tag then second night it’s reunited into the six man. 

THE CARDS

It goes back and forth between Jeff Hardy vs Johnny Nitro for the ICT plus Carlito vs Shelton Benjamin, and a four way dance. Ric Flair, Roddy Piper & The Highlanders vs Spirit Squad usually goes down as an 8-man as well as Cryme Tyme vs Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch. Women’s match is usually Mickie James & Torrie Wilson vs Lita & Victoria or just Mick vs Vic one on one. There are also bikini or best body contests some nights and I’m sure Maria, Ariel and Candice Michelle are glad they made the flight on top of various ref/ring announcer/cornerwoman gigs.

VARIATIONS 

In Minehead only, Candice swaps ref duty for being Mickies partner with Torrie. Aberdeen has variances to the Squads agenda ; on night one Flair & Highlanders beat them in a six man, next night Piper is in the Highlanders corner for dropping Cade & Murdoch - as the Squad lose to Cryme Tyme - and Flairs duties extend only to presiding over the bikini contest. Also first night Rob Conway does a job for ECWs Hardcore Holly.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 

4th in Flint and 5th in Cadillac the afternoon of Cyber Sunday have Batista vs Fit Finlay on last. 8th-10th in Nuremberg, Turin and Pesaro it’s Batista vs King Booker and Finlay in handicap matches, in Trieste Dave beats the champ by DQ then Booker retains in a three way with both Daves first of the customary two nights in Dublin, followed by Batista, The Undertaker and Kane beating Booker, Ken Kennedy and JBL - unretired for one night only, and finally 15th in Glasgow after Manchester tapings a similar six man with MVP in for JBL.

THE CARDS

The Undertaker vs Ken Kennedy, new rivalry Kane vs MVP and Chris Benoit vs Chavo Guerrero Jr for the UST are all going on at home and/or abroad. It’s most commonly Bobby Lashley vs Tatanka at home and vs William Regal on tour. Tag title is Paul London & Brian Kendrick vs KC James & Idol Stevens yet again. It’s still Matt Hardy vs Kennedy in Michigan and usually vs Gregory Helms in more non title matches abroad - Helms just come off a run vs Jamie Noble vs Sho Funaki vs Jimmy Wang Yang. Otherwise it’s Vito vs Sylvan in Michigan and Tatanka vs Funaki on tour.

VARIATIONS 

In Trieste only, Lashley, Benoit and Matt beat Finlay, Regal and Chavo, with Tatanka & Helms a thrown-together addition to the tag title match. Night one in Dublin Helms pins Funaki, Matt pins Tatanka and Michelle McCool vs Kristal Marshall happens. Next night Benoit beats Helms, Matt pins Chavo and as is customary, Finlay beats Regal. In Glasgow Helms beats Chavo and Funaki, The Miz gets added beating Tatanka and Benoit & Matt beat Regal & Finlay.

MAIN EVENTS - ECW

Rob Van Dam vs Test main events those rescheduled shows from July in Muskegon and Saginaw 4th/5th, 6th at the Kellogg Arena in Robs hometown Battle Creek he’s back to beating Paul Heyman - LOL. 20th in Williamsport PA is planned to be the final ECW house show but ends up cancelled - very on brand.

THE CARDS

Independent ECW shows have Sabu vs Rodney Mack, all month it’s CM Punk vs Mike Knox and early month “The Riot Squad” vs The FBI but at this point I’m not sure who Heymans goons were. Final ECW road shows round off with Matt Striker vs Stevie Richards, Balls Mahoney vs Rene Dupree and Brad Armstrong vs Eric Perez. On the Raw tour Tommy Dreamer loses to Test or pins Rene, Hardcore Holly pins Dupree or Kevin Thorn and Sabu loses to Test but beats Thorn. Draw your own conclusions about the pecking order of "ECW" from that lot. On SmackDown cards it’s RVD with Heyman, Punk with Knox and always some interaction between Striker and The Sandman - occasionally a Singapore Cane match.

VARIATIONS 

Battle Creek, the accidental final house show of ECW standing on its own, has unique matches ; Stevie upsets Mack, Thorn pins Balls and Sabu & Sandman fly the flag for the “originals” beating Test & Striker. Second night in Aberdeen Sabu teams with Holly to beat Test & Thorn.

TVs

6th in Columbus OH it’s a big double taping - Nitro wins the ICT back from Jeff and Eugene turns on Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Nothing notable happened for SmackDown. 14th they’re in Manchester for the first of two nights - Hardy regains the ICT, Piper & Flair drop the tag belts to Rated-RKO and Lita loses non title (boooooooo) to Mickie. They also tape ECW and Lashley shows up. Next night it’s ANOTHER woeful night for champions as Helms loses non title to Matt yet again and Booker drops a pin to Batista in a tag yet again. 20th in Baltimore mostly builds towards the three brand crossover tags at Survivor Series (including Umaga pinning Sabu), Dusty Rhodes (VERY Dusty) shakes off the cobwebs and pins Spirit Squad Nicky (Ziggler), and Kenny finds himself main event tagging with Big Show and Rated-RKO to lose to Cena, Flair and DX. 21st at Nassau is a 10,500 sellout, ECW has a big help from the reunited Hardy Boys beating the FBI, on SmackDown MVP beats Kane in a cage and Finlay beats Benoit in a non-title match (boooooo!). Survivors has a Coliseum Video dark match - Carlito pins Charlie Haas. Next night in Pittsburgh Eugene pins Duggan to win their feud in less than 2 minutes, The King pins a rapidly declining Chris Masters after interference from Carlito, the Hardys beat Rated-RKO by DQ, DX & Flair beat the Squad in a handicap which is the end of Spirit, and a proper dark main has Cena & DX beat Umaga & Rated-RKO when - here’s a shock - Cena pins Edge. Next night in Buffalo Yang pins Sylvan dark, the Hardys work ECW again, MNM reunite with no build or explanation to beat London & Kendrick non title (BOOO, FUCK SAKE BOOOOO) and Chavo pins Benoit non title (BOOOOOOO, YOU FUCKING LAZY CUNTS, BOOOOOOOO).

DEPARTURES 

SO, after than handicap match in Pittsburgh HHH belts the Spirit Squad with his sledgie and stuffs all the members into a crate bound for Louisville and gets an “OPS” guy to collect it, illustrating they’re headed back to OVW. Of course, Kenny/Ken Doane will be back very shortly and rename himself Kenny Dykstra, and they’ll eventually try again with Nicky/Nick Nemeth who will forge a relatively successful if somewhat unspectacular and disproportionately lengthy career as Dolph Ziggler, but this is the end on the main roster for Mikey, (Mike Mondo), Johnny (Johnny Jeter) and Mitch (Nick Mitchell) who will all end up released between 2007 and 2008.

And then there was Lita. Citing risks and injuries that (kayfabe) haven’t been worth the recent lack of respect and (legit) fed up of negative interactions from fans about her personal life for the last 18 months, she decides to walk away after Survivors. They will give her a notoriously ignominious exit involving Cryme Tyme selling off her belongings after she drops the belt to Mickie, though of course she’ll be back for numerous roles and in ring paydays to this day plus the Hall Of Fame. She can’t be THAT adverse to negativity - she’s dated CM Punk in the intervening years! Bazinga.

[air_raid]

DECEMBER 2006

THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW

1st-3rd in Knoxville, Asheville and Savannah it’s still John Cena vs Umaga with a DQ finish. We continue Boxing Day in Albany, 27th in Rochester, 28th at the Continental Airlines (a massive >20,000 sellout), 29th in Fayetteville and 30th in Greensboro. There are other shows but reports don’t show on any of my usual sources or local media archives.

THE CARDS

Triple H vs Randy Orton is a great semi main early month and segues neatly into a six man with Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair one side and Edge and Rated-RKO pledge Kenny Dykstra on the other after Christmas. Carlito vs Shelton Benjamin vs Kenny is an early month midcard filler, becoming Jeff Hardy vs Carlito vs Johnny Nitro for the ICT in a ladder match from Boxing Day and thereafter. Mickie James vs Victoria for the Women’s title goes all month.

The King vs Chris Masters and Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs Eugene are early month feuds based off TV and cards round off with Cryme Tyme vs Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch, The Highlanders vs Spirit Squad (Mikey & Nicky) and Daniel Rodimer vs Val Venis. End of the month, Duggan finds himself with Viscera, the Highlanders are back with Cade & Murdoch, Vals doing jobs to Vladimir Kozlov and Cryme Tyme are with a reunited Benjamin & Charlie Haas.

I included all but Dykstra & Ziggler of the Spirit Squad in November's departures but as you can see, Mikey escaped the crate long enough to do a few more gigs.

VARIATIONS 

There’s a few missing in Knoxville so it’s Carlito vs Shelton vs the Masterpiece, Cryme Tyme vs Mikey & Nicky and Robbie vs Cade as a singles. Duggan vs Eugene and Cryme Tyme vs Cade & Murdoch conclude in Albany so Haas teams with Vis a final time against the Highlanders and Shelton is added to the ladder match making it a four way.

THE MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 

We’re on tour again! 10,000 sellout in Lisbon two nights in a row 4th-5th for first Batista vs Ken Kennedy vs Fit Finlay then Dave vs (battle royal winner) Dave, 6th in Madrid (another 10,000) and 8th in Zurich it’s Batista vs Finlay vs Big Show. Boxing Day til 30th we’ve got Batista vs King Booker in the old school cage match run in Hershey, Cleveland, Dayton, Evansville and Gainesville (FL).

THE CARDS

Kane vs MVP & Ken Kennedy in a handicap match on the tour is an odd loss for two bright new heels ; night one in Lisbon and after Christmas its a straight singles with MVP including two Last Man Standing matches with Kennedy interfering, then The Undertaker teams up with his brother to make it a tag last two shows of the year. Chris Benoit vs Chavo Guerrero Jr for the UST goes all month. Tag title match is Paul London & Brian Kendrick vs William Regal & Dave Taylor. A match which I'm shocked to read happen a couple of times and definitely wasn't for the CWT is Gregory Helms vs Flash Funk - yes, WWE picked Scorp back up and made him be Flash Funk again. After Christmas Greg continues his neverending run of non title losses to Matt Hardy - I'm begging them to book actual Cruiserweights with the champ.

Other matches on tour are Jimmy Wang Yang vs Sylvan and Vito vs Tatanka plus Jillian Hall vs Layla El (lovely bit of muffin) usually refereed by Sho Funaki. After Christmas Scotty Too Hotty (remember him?) does two jobs for Deep South's G-Rilla (eventually to be Brodus Clay/Tyrus) then gets three wins over Sylvan, plus there's an ECW presence - new champ Bobby Lashley vs Test, a terrible sounding Great Khali & Daivari vs Tommy Dreamer & The Sandman, thankfully the right result in CM Punk vs Hardcore Holly and a nostalgia-fuelled Rob Van Dam vs Sabu. There are also bikini contests hosted by Sylvan and involving shenanigans with Big Dick Johnson disguised as Santa.

VARIATIONS

Something different for night two in Lisbon is Benoit vs Tatanka, with Chavo making up the numbers with the tag title guys, Flash on the other side, Helms vs Yang vs Funaki and Vito vs Sylvan. In Evansville only, after losing to Scotty Sylvan cuts a promo with words to the effect of never again being subjected to The Worm/worms, prompting Boogey Man to come down and beat him in an impromptu extra match. A shuffle in Gainesville has Dreamer lose to Daivari in singles, Lashley pin Holly and Punk beat Test.

TVs

2nd in Florence - what kind of WCW shit is this? - Ray Gordy & Henry Godwinn (prototype Jesse & Festus??) beat Tatanka & Rob Conway which makes no sense either as a dark opener. Three non title matches on SmackDown include Regal & Taylor beating London & Kendrick (FUCK SAKE) and dark, Taker & Kane beat Kennedy & MVP. December To Dismember has a dark match - Stevie Richards pins Rene Dupree. Next night in North Charleston Cena actually defends the belt in the Masterlock Challenge, making Masters submit to his own hold. What a fall from grace nice guy Chris had. On the ECW taping Lashley retains over Show in the latters last dance for a while. 8th in Iraq on Tribute To The Troops there are three non title matches including Jeff losing to Umaga (FUCK SAKE), an Undertaker vs Nitro match I wasn’t aware of, and Orton doing a pinfall job to Carlito that in another manner and setting might have proven a real shot in the arm for him. Oh, and Cena pinning Edge because some feuds never really finish. 11th Raw in Uncasville Jeff loses AGAIN to Umaga non title by stoppage (FUCK SAKE) and dark the Bulldozer again loses to Cena by DQ. Next night in Boston at the TD Banknorth (rechristened FleetCenter) to a pitiful 5500, Scotty jobs for Kevin Thorn dark and the ECW taping has the least ECW finish of all time when (here’s nice foreshadowing) ref Scott Armstrong DQs Hardcore against Punk for repeated punches in the corner. Armageddon has a dark match - Kozlov (still just “Oleg Prudius”) beats Scotty. Night after in Washington (nearly 10,000 paid, >11,000 inside) Christian York gets a trial and Mickie loses non title to Vic (FUCK SAKE). Tuesday in Hampton VA Yang pins Jamie Noble dark, ECW has Brad Armstrong appear on TV for the first time as a commentator, and little of interest happens on the last SmackDown to air of 2006.

WHAT HAPPENED AT THE CLASH?

Despite a relatively short gap between Survivor Series and New Years Revolution and the TV build to Cena vs Umaga already well underway, they still throw everything at the 3 hour Raw the night after Armageddon including Cena defending the belt against battle royal winner Edge, and impromptu six man main later, and Kenny finally getting both a last name AND the big win - which is definitely not fair to Flair.

SmackDown has Armageddon ; Raw 18/12

WWE title : John Cena vs battle royal winner

30 Man Battle Royal

John Cena & DX vs Umaga & Rated-RKO

Handicap : The Hardy Boys vs Johnny Nitro, Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin

Ric Flair vs Kenny Dykstra 

Non title : Mickie James vs Victoria

Carlito vs Chris Masters

DEPARTURES 

Brad Armstrong, wonderful wrestler that he was, after a brief in-ring run with WWECW, transitions briefly into a commentary role before long term, becoming an agent - a role he'll maintain until his tragic, untimely death in 2012. After Florence TVs Vince sends Paul Heyman home disappointed with the ratings of ECW but moreover there are fundamental disagreements with the long term direction of ECW ; robbed of the main event being led by the untrustworthy RVD and departed Kurt Angle, there’s a rift over who wins the title from Show in the Elimination Chamber with Heyman pushing for Punk and Vince insisting on Lashley. Furthermore Heyman thinks that on the way out Show should be eliminated by Punk to give a rub to the new guy - Shows on board and thinks it’s a good idea - but Vince disagrees and Punks the first one out. Realising they can’t work together, Paul and Vince come to terms on a release mid month - but he’ll be back, obviously, for his longest and most notorious run, managing more guys on top - Lesnar, Reigns and of course… Punk.

Which leaves only Big Show. Banged up after 8 years work he decides to take time off and quietly his contract expires in the new year. The company works to get him to sign for Mania to do a match with Hulk Hogan in the 20 year anniversary of Mania 3 - the second Mania in a row with drastic changes to what they hoped for - but when Hogan reneges over payoff, Show doesn’t commit to appear at all either though they eventually do the match in Memphis (hope the dollar was worth it, brother) and of course Show returns in 2008 for another, even longer run, with countless tag teams, even more turns, an on-off team with Kane that haunted us constantly and reprisals of feuds already done to death with Cena and Taker, to diminishing returns.

[BomberPat]

2 hours ago, air_raid said:

Which leaves only Big Show. Banged up after 8 years work he decides to take time off and quietly his contract expires in the new year. The company works to get him to sign for Mania to do a match with Hulk Hogan in the 20 year anniversary of Mania 3 - the second Mania in a row with drastic changes to what they hoped for - but when Hogan reneges over payoff, Show doesn’t commit to appear at all either though they eventually do the match in Memphis (hope the dollar was worth it, brother)

Just to add a note on this, the Big Show (or "The Great Wight") match with Hogan in Memphis was actually initially promoted as a Hogan/Lawler match, with WWE being sufficiently mardy with Hulk to pull Lawler from a show in Memphis, something that they have rarely ever felt the need to do. Show was the last-minute replacement, and WWE still weren't happy, and stopped allowing any of their wrestlers to appear in Memphis. This was also around the time Show decided he wanted to become a boxer!