House Show/TV tapings random happenings

[air_raid]

JUNE 2008

THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW

7th-8th in Redding and Stockton it’s Triple H vs Umaga for the title, 14th-15th in Boise and Ogden UT it’s John Cena vs Umaga no DQ - suddenly with Orton injured it’s good they have the Samoan Bulldozer. 20th-22nd it’s three ways in Las Cruces, Albuquerque and Amarillo. 27th/28th in Lubbock and Abilene there are two co-brand shows between the draft and the PPV - show-swapping buddies Triple H & Batista beat Edge & JBL.

THE CARDS

John Cena vs JBL supports Hunter title defences in California, mid month there’s added Shawn Michaels vs Gene Snitsky and Jeff Hardy vs Lance Cade in week 2, in week 3 HBK beats Snitsky in Las Cruces then loses twice to Chris Jericho while Snitskys back with his opponent from Redding - Hardy - then in Texas it’s back to Y2J vs Jeff, as they had in Stockton. Ken Kennedy is back in week 3 pinning Charlie Haas. Still Hardcore Holly & Cody Rhodes vs Carlito & Santino for the tag belts in Redding and Stockton then it’s a round of three ways with Cryme Tyme and Paul London & Brian Kendrick, followed by three straight tags where London & Kendrick challenge and play heel. Mickie James vs Beth Phoenix for the women’s title goes two weeks, in week 3 Beth beats Melina, in Texas Mickie defends against TV enemy Katie Lea.

The grudge match of Cade vs Trevor Murdoch (which happens everywhen but week 2), the handicap of Super Crazy vs Paul Burchill & sister Katie and Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs Ted DiBiase Jr complete Cali - how cool Jim does jobs for the son twenty years after he did them for the father, though Hacksaw gets revenge mid month where it’s also Murdoch beating Haas and Crazy pinning Santino. In week 3 Burchill pins Hacksaw and DiBiase beats Crazy (which continues in Texas).

VARIATIONS 

Two caused by Y2J working slightly fewer shows than others ; in Stockton there’s an extra body required so Snitsky is upset by Kendrick. In Las Cruces Hardy beats Burchill and Hacksaw has a night off.

THE MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 

Another tour! It’s Edge vs Batista 11th in Auckland, 13th-15th in Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney and 17th in Brisbane, 12th in Christchurch and 16th in Newcastle (Oz still) it’s Dave, The Undertaker and Matt Hardy beating Edge, MVP and Mark Henry. Texas before Night of Champions you know about.

THE CARDS

It’s most often The Undertaker & Kane vs MVP & Mark Henry on tour. Matt Hardy vs Chuck Palumbo is not a UST run you expected, then in Texas Matt tags with Big Show to beat long term rival MVP and The Worlds Strongest Man. CM Punk vs Chavo Guerrero Jr and Kofi Kingston vs Shelton Benjamin are good continuations, wrestling wise, though Punk also pins Chuck twice and Kane pins Chavo in Christchurch - which repeats in Texas as does Kingston vs Benjamin. 

The Miz & John Morrison vs Fit Finlay & Hornswoggle for the tag belts is a thing plus Finlay also gets a few more pinfall wins over The Great Khali. A tag of Michelle McCool & Kelly Kelly vs Victoria & Natalya happens a few times in Oz though more common on the tour is Michelle vs either heel in singles. There are some jumbled squashes but Vladimir Kozlov vs Shannon Moore or vs Sho Funaki happen the most.

VARIATIONS

In Auckland it’s Henry and Khali losing to Taker & Kane with MVP just hosting the VIP Lounge with Bushwhacker Butch and Tony Garea - which doesn’t end well for him. in Christchurch Kozlov beats Jamie Noble and Khali beats Funaki and Moore in a handicap. In Melbourne Kozlov beats Noble & Moore and Khali squashes Funaki. In Adelaide Miz & JoMo retain over Noble & Moore with Swoggle getting a well earned break. in Sydney Taker & Kane win a handicap over Khali, Chavo and Bam Neely, it’s Matt vs MVP revisited, Henry squashes Noble, Kofi pins Palumbo and Punk pins Shelton. In Newcastle Kane retains over Shelton, Morrison & Miz beat Noble & Funaki and Kofi pins Chavo, in Brisbane Khali crushes Moore and it’s Punk vs Chavo vs Noble.

TVs

I should probably add somewhere that Alicia Fox is on TV this month as Edge & Vickie’s wedding planner. She’ll end up quite high on my list for “long in ring career despite actually being crap.” 2nd in Bakersfield Ron Killings pins Robbie McAllister, Joey Ryan tries out in defeat to Super Crazy and on Raw Cade pins Murdoch and Cody & Hardcore lose non title to Carlito & Santino (FUCK). Next night there are 10,00 in the Staples Center, MVP pins Noble before TVs start, Shelton wrestles Matt Sydal (still called that) on ECW and dark main has Batista beat Edge and Vickie in a handicap match. 7th in Fresno Yang & Moore beat Jason Styles & Brian Cage dark, Evan Bourne wrestles as Evan Bourne for the first time, Cherry pins Maryse to end that feud and Deuce & Domino lose to Jesse & Festus then split up, and after the show Batista beats Edge & Khali. 8th in San Jose there’s a flicker of light for Elijah Burke as he pins Funaki before cameras. 9th in Oakland Cade does a submission loss dark to fellow HBK trainee - look who it is - Bryan Danielson. On Raw the hapless Cody & Hardcore lose non title to Umaga & Snitsky (SHIT). 16th in Salt Lake City London & Kendrick beat Santino & Snitsky dark, and an interesting tag has Kennedy & Mickie lose to the Burchills when Katie pins the champ. 23rd in San Antonio (huge 15,000+ sellout) it’s the 3 hour draft special ; Shad beats Domino in singles dark, next night in Houston (near 15,000 sellout) Tommy Dreamer pins Kevin Thorn dark, Miz & JoMo lose non to Punk & Matt AND Kane loses non title to Mizark (JUST. FUCK. OFF.) on ECW and Matt loses non-title champion vs champion to Edge (if you must…). Incredibly Jeff Hardy vs MVP is only a Coliseum Video Exclusive at the PPV - an eventful show where main eventer Y2J is liberated of the ICT (and requirement to lose non title matches on TV) by losing to Kofi in a finish that adds heat to the HBK run, Henry wins the ECW belt and in one of my least favourite bits of booking ever from a logic point of view, Cody is revealed as Ted Jr’s mystery partner and somehow is allowed to win the tag team title from Hardcore and himself. Next night in Oklahoma City - recognise! D’Lo Brown is back yet again, pinning Haas, which is far more interesting than London jobbing to Snitsky. He’s under contract too - I don’t remember this! D’Lo’s getting into Marty J levels of back and forth here! This is, famously, the episode where Punk cashes in to bring the World Heavyweight Championship back to Raw (Triple H having been drafted) and save the show from the ignominy of not having a champ. 

I can’t stress what a big deal this felt like at the time - as a lapsed fan this was one of the rare times I asked my mum to set the VCR and tape Raw so I could watch it when I next visited, which I did, more than once. It felt, briefly, like real “whole new era” thinking that Punk was allowed to just leap up the card and become figurehead of the show and win the belt that after the latest draft, Cena, Batista and Orton would all be gunning for, and theoretically HBK, Y2J, JBL, Kane and upon his return from injury even Rey too. My optimism was short-lived. SmackDown seemed to have been screwed again in the draft, with only Hunter, Edge and the deteriorating Taker around to contest main events, unless they bit the bullet and tried again with Jeff. Hmm.

DEPARTURE

Now he’s done the partners-split feud with Cade, you won’t read of Trevor Murdoch again on the road ; he loses dark to Kozlov in Tulsa on 1st July then they let him go.

[BomberPat]

11 hours ago, air_raid said:

Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs Ted DiBiase Jr complete Cali - how cool Jim does jobs for the son twenty years after he did them for the father

 

This would be a bastard to research, but Hacksaw might have one of the best records of competing against multiple generations of the same family, at least in high profile American wrestling.

As well as the two Teds, he's wrestled Dusty and Cody Rhodes (and teamed with Dustin), and Bob and Randy Orton, as well as facing Chavo Guerrero and tagging with Chavo Jr, and facing Bob and Brad Armstrong in the same match.

If you count battle royals, he has Ric and David Flair too, as well as various combinations of the Anoai family tree, and Jimmy Snuka and whichever of Deuce and Domino was his lad.

[air_raid]

BONUS TRACK! TNA 2008

Well, by weird coincidence I’d just done June 08 for WWE and been reviewing cards from the UK tour which I attended three out of the four shows and saw at least one edition of every match they put on. So fuck it, thought it might be fun.

THE MAIN EVENTS

6th in Poplar Bluff MO Samoa Joe vs Travis Tomko for the belt hardly screams “attraction” but 12th-16th we’re over here in Liverpool (2 nights), Coventry and Brentwood for two defences each against Booker T and Abyss. 20th in Bloomington IL Joe beats Scott Steiner, next night in Danville Joe tags with AJ Styles to beat Scotty and protege Petey Williams, before 22nd in Cincinnati Joe gives AJ his crack.

THE CARDS

AJ Styles vs Bobby Roode in Poplar Bluff, night one in Liverpool and Bloomington sandwich the shuffled tours three nights of Styles vs Jay Lethal vs Doug Williams which technically could have been for Lethals X Division belt but wasn’t. Rhino vs Abyss is a feud that hits hard and Rhino also picks up Booker T on tour nights where T doesn’t challenge Joe. LAX vs Motor City Machine Guns for the tag belts delights in Missouri and night 1 on Merseyside before Homicide and Hernandez beat Beer Money Inc (in their infancy) on night 2 and in Brentwood. The Guns beat Petey Williams & Sonjay Dutt those nights of the tour. Awesome Kong vs Gail Kim three nights on tour for the Women’s title is followed by two rounds month end of Roxxi Laveaux & Traci Brooks vs The Beautiful People. Month end we also have three rounds of Super Eric (Young) vs Kip James (Billy Gunn) and two of Consequences Creed (Xavier Woods) vs Johnny Devine.

VARIATIONS - OOF

Scottys circuit ends teaming with Maple Leaf Muscle to lose to the random team of Abyss & Kaz (Frankie Kazarian) in Cincinnati. Petey does get to defend the X title when he isn’t tagging with Big Poppa or Sonjay ; he beats Lethal in Poplar Bluff, wins a three way with Lethal and Dutt night 1 in the Olympia and another with Creed and Kaz in Bloomington. He and Sonjay also get a crack at LAX in Coventry while the Guns beat Beer Money. Chris Daniels is working the Curry Man schtick at the time, beating Devine in Bloomington, teaming with Traci to beat James Storm & Jacqueline in Danville, and incredibly beating Roode in Cincinnati. Also unique to Poplar Bluff, Dutt pins Devine, Rhino beats Storm in a streetfight and Kong retains over ODB. Unique to Liverpool night one is the very random tag of Gail & Doug vs Kong and Storm. In Bloomington Storm pins Shark Boy, in Danville Roode pins Kaz and Roxxi pins Velvet Sky in singles.

TVs

Ha! No, I’m not insane.

2 hours ago, BomberPat said:

This would be a bastard to research, but Hacksaw might have one of the best records of competing against multiple generations of the same family, at least in high profile American wrestling.

As well as the two Teds, he's wrestled Dusty and Cody Rhodes (and teamed with Dustin), and Bob and Randy Orton, as well as facing Chavo Guerrero and tagging with Chavo Jr, and facing Bob and Brad Armstrong in the same match.

If you count battle royals, he has Ric and David Flair too, as well as various combinations of the Anoai family tree, and Jimmy Snuka and whichever of Deuce and Domino was his lad.

HBK must be up there too. He worked a lot of the same guys as Hacksaw plus the Hart Smith progeny AND more famous elder generation (four thereof in the same night). If he hadn’t jacked it in right before Nexus he would have had a shot at a Rotundo connection too.

[air_raid]

JULY 2008

Welcome to a fascinating month - I say that because this was the first month that as it happened I was actively reading house show reports, dying to see how “CM Punk - World Heavyweight Champion” was presented on WWE live events.

THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW

And here it is! 12,000 gate in Santiago on 2nd for CM Punk vs Kane for the WHC followed by John Cena vs JBL on last, which repeats 4th/5th in Panama City and San Salvador, while 3rd in Lima 12,000 pay for 20,000 in the building for (pre-advertised, one assumes) Triple H vs Cena for the WWE title despite belt and champion both belonging to SmackDown. 11th-13th in Lexington, Charleston (WV) and Roanoke Punks pinning Batista in “fans text the stip” No DQ matches, though Dave’s leaving him laying afterwards and Cena goes on last. 19th at the joint-brand show in Springfield - Cena’s off. 25th in Youngstown Punk and Dave are still on last despite Cena underneath, 26th-27th in Wheeling and Altoona it becomes CM Punk vs Batista vs JBL.

THE CARDS

John Cena is front and centre, in singles with JBL in central/South America and then tagging with Cryme Tyme to face first Kane, Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase Jr in WCW country then Chris Jericho & Simply Priceless month end. On the tour Y2J vs Shawn Michaels is every night, mid month HBK beats - here’s a show of confidence - Jerichos new protege Lance Cade while Kane gets a couple of nights off, then month end he’s squashing Jamie Noble and it’s Shawn getting the rest. This won’t surprise you - Cryme Tyme challenging the tag belts every night on tour. Mickie James vs Beth Phoenix continues for the Women’s title (Santino refs it on tour) then month end it’s a tag with Kelly Kelly and Katie Lea as their partners. Kofi Kingston vs Paul Burchill for the ICT once they’re back in the States, I wasn’t expecting, including the sole Raw midcard contribution to Springfield.

The undercard of the tour is Cade beating Paul London (HBK connection and all) and Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs Charlie Haas. Mid month D’Lo Brown pins Santino and London swaps wins with Chuck Palumbo. Month end Duggan pins Santino, D’Lo swaps wins with Cade and FCWs Johnny Curtis pins Matt Striker - Curtis being 2011 NXT winner and eventual Fandango, not to be confused with James Curtis (KC/Kasey James) who’s on the way out.

On all legs of the tour but Lima, an injured Rey Mysterio is confronted by Carlito who then receives a powerbomb from Batista for his troubles. Easy payday for Dave there.

VARIATIONS 

In Lima only, Santino pins Haas and Carlito wrestles, jobbing for Duggan. Roanoke gets an extra match - Noble defeats Haas. In Youngstown only it’s a tag of Kofi & Kelly vs the Burchills. Wow, that was easy.

THE MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 

Taker and Edge are off, HHH and Jeff aren’t over from Raw yet so somehow Big Show & Fit Finlay vs Mark Henry & Chavo Guerrero Jr has to pass for main event 5th/6th in Albany GA and Pensacola. 12th-14th there’s no champ still but - hooray! - Jeff Hardy vs Edge on last in “fans choose the stip” no DQ matches likely sent them home happy in Savannah, Augusta and Asheville, then the same 26th-27th in Poughkeepsie and White Plains.

Wonderfully we also have some B shows 25th-27th! At Casino Ballroom in Hampton Beach, South Shore Music Circus in Cohasset and my favourite venue, Cape Cod Melody Tent in Hyannis, it’s Mark Henry vs Matt Hardy for the ECW belt.

THE CARDS

Matt Hardy vs MVP vs Umaga for the UST and Ken Kennedy vs Shelton Benjamin take place in week 1. Fuck me, surely there’s a better main event there somewhere? These are conflated to Matt vs MVP vs Shelton in week 2 and Fit Finlay secedes from main event to beat Carlito while Kennedy slums it with Mike Knox and we add Mark Henry vs Tommy Dreamer for the ECW belt, which also happens in Springfield. After the Bash those B shows have Finlay losing to Great Khali who they’re about to try AGAIN as a main event threat, and new US Champ Shelton defends against Jimmy Wang Yang. Also John Morrison & The Miz vs Jesse & Festus for the tag belts sure feels protracted at this point, at the PPV Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder win the belts so it becomes a three way in New York.

Week 1 also has Khali vs Ron Killings, Evan Bourne vs Knox (which repeats in Springfield) and Cherry & Maria vs Victoria & Natalya (good lord). Week 2 Khali pins Bourne. After the Bash, Michelle McCool vs Natalya in rematches for the new Divas (ugh) belt start up, Dreamers taking revenge on ECW GM Armando Alejandro Estrada, Umaga (lost in the shuffle???) beats Stevie Richards & Nunzio in a handicap and we add Vladimir Kozlov vs Shannon Moore and The Brian Kendrick vs Sho Funaki. Over on the B shows, Killings beats Nick Nemeth and Carlito pins Ricky Ortiz.

VARIATIONS 

In Springfield there’s a couple of star-laden tags with Triple H & Big Show vs Khali & Umaga and The Hardy Boys vs MVP & Shelton, as well as a dry run tag team four way with the usual suspects plus Finlay & Hornswoggle. Oh, and a Divas Dance Contest. In White Plains a swap has Moore in the Umaga handicap and Richards job to Kozlov. Bourne beats Bam Neely in Hampton, has Cohasset off, then pins Chavo Guerrero Jr in Hyannis.

TVs

2nd in Tulsa Kozlov beats Trevor Murdoch dark as I mentioned last time, Ortiz debuts on ECW TV and after cameras Triple H & Show beat Edge & Henry. 7th in New Orleans Duggan pins Striker to curtain jerk, on Raw Rey returns to the ring to beat Santino and they turn Kane heel yet again. Next night in Baton Rouge Kendrick beats Funaki dark, already with Ezekiel Jackson (as will be) in his corner. On ECW Estrada loses to (here we go) Braden Walker, Shelton beats Matt non title (give it a rest), then just two matches later MnM2 lose non title to Finlay & Horny (SHIT). 14th in Raleigh D’Lo pins Striker and Carl Ouellet is back knocking on the door, losing to Haas. D’Lo and PCO would have been a great grumpy tag team. After the show Batista pins Punk in about 2 minutes, non title, and you don’t need me to tell you what I think of that. I can see why Punk says he was set up to fail, they’ve treated him as lucky to be champ, lucky to retain every time, belittled him and beaten him up every week. Next night in Charlotte R-Truth (with the name, according to reports) beats Domino dark, on ECW the near worthless tag champs lose to the Hardys non title (GOOD SHIT PAL), on SmackDown the wedding angle goes off with Triple H revealing Edges indiscretion with “wedding planner” Alicia Fox, then dark H retains against Edge with an unlikely assist from the challengers estranged fiancée. At the Bash Umaga pinning Kennedy is a hell of a Coliseum Video Exclusive, next night in Uncasville CT D’Lo returns on telly and beats Santino, next night in Philly Bourne pins James Curtis (not Fandango) on ECW, and on ECW the first of a million Michelle vs Maryse matches happens and Vickie books Edge to wrestle Taker in Hell In A Cell at SummerSlam. 28th in Washington London pins Haas dark, both Raw and SNME shows are only notable for Mania XI participant Jenny McCarthy doing a charity appearance. Night after in Hershey, Nemeths jobbing for Funaki, Shelton vs Kennedy kicks off with the US champ doing a non title job (JUST FUCK OFF) and dark, Show beats Edge by count-out.

DEPARTURES 

No more to touch on this month. Next month is one of the biggest culls of all time.

Edited July 22, 2023 by air_raid

[air_raid]

AUGUST 2008

THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW

CM Punk vs Chris Jericho for the belt (no DQ) is not a run they did on TV but here we are, 1st-3rd in Springfield IL, Evansville and Bowling Green. 8th-10th it’s back to Punk vs JBL in Wildwood, Newark and Salisbury. 15th in Rockford is one of those big cross brand shows - Punk tags with John Cena and Triple H to beat JBL, William Regal and Great Khali. 22nd/24th in Bridgeport and Bethlehem it’s Punk vs JBL no DQ though a huge tag goes on last, but in between Punk and Bradshaw go on last inside a cage at MSG in front of an astonishing 19,068. 29th in Cedar Rapids and 30th in Peoria Punks back with Kane.

I need to touch on that 19,068. At MSG the company cries “sellout” at anything around 16,750 seats sold, which is one north of the number reported for Survivor Series 2011 where THE ROCK got back in the ring. 19,068 is a number Steve Austin would have been proud of, actually beats some of the attendances in the halcyon days of 98-99 including SummerSlam 98 by reportedly 2 bodies, and is within touching distance of the famed 19,506 from just before Fully Loaded 98… and I can tell you based on numbers of every other drawing card that main evented the building from Austin onwards, that number of hardcore wrestling came to the Garden to see CM Punk defend one of the World titles of WWE. The talking heads on the Network will always tell you New York is the yardstick and they’ll tell you who they like. Well, in August 2008 they spoke with their wallets and WWE didn’t listen.

THE CARDS 

Batista vs Kane pays off a TV angle in week 1 (and Rockford) and John Cena vs Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase Jr as a handicap is a senseless burial. Week after it’s back to Cena and Cryme Tyme beating Simply Priceless and Chris Jericho, plus Kane squashes Matt Striker. Third week of the month before they figure out how hurt Cena actually is, it’s him and Big Dave beating Y2J & Kane. Month end, Dave will hammer William Regal. From Rockford onwards it’s Cody & Ted defending the tag straps against Cryme Tyme. Kofi Kingston vs Paul Burchill for the ICT concludes week one then Kofi’s defending against Santino the week after, and rematches into week 3 after the switch at SummerSlam. Mickie James & Kelly Kelly vs Beth Phoenix & Katie Lea carries on early month (reprisal in Rockford) then it’s Mickie vs Katie for the belt second week, then having previously met in Springfield, Beth vs Mickie is back on with Phoenix defending after the PPV and month end “Glamarella” defend vs Mickie and Kofi - both titles at stake, per SummerSlam. Plus month end Mark Henry vs Matt Hardy for the ECW belt moves over from the other crew.

Week 1 we also get Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs Santino and D’Lo Brown vs Gene Snitsky - defeats D’Lo avenges the week after, along with Regal vs Jamie Noble (which stretches into week 3) and Johnny Curtis vs Charlie Haas. Week 3 D’Lo does jobs for Lance Cade which he avenges month end and newbie Primo rolls up Snitsky - which is also reversed month end. Finally, Noble beats Jake Hager - who we will come to know as Jack Swagger.

VARIATIONS 

In Springfield only in a reversal of the rest of their week D’Lo wins against Santino and Hacksaw jobs to Snitsky. In Salisbury D’Lo pins Haas and Snitsky goes over Curtis. At MSG it’s Regal losing to Primo and Snitsky tapping to Noble.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 

2nd-4th it’s the Jeff Hardy show, in Johnson City he beats Umaga then in Chattanooga and Macon it’s MVP in falls count anywhere matches. 9th/10th Hunters still off so it’s Big Show vs Edge in a streetfight in Syracuse and Binghamton. 23rd-24th it’s Triple H & The Undertaker vs Great Khali & MVP in Erie and Canton, 30th in Jonesboro Khali tags with Shelton Benjamin in surely Shelton’s first main event on the road for a good five years.

THE CARDS

Shelton Benjamin vs Ken Kennedy for the US title has started on TV but the luckless Kennedy dislocates his shoulder in Macon bringing that to a screeching halt. In New York Shelton gets DQd defending against Jeff Hardy but pins him month end. Big Show vs Great Khali must have been awful, Mark Henry vs Matt Hardy for the ECW belt runs until it’s moved to the Raw shows ; by week 3 Matts actually winning by DQ. Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder vs Jesse & Festus is our tag title match, sometimes in lumberjack matches.

Eve Torres & Cherry vs Maryse & Natalya sounds horrific, thankfully in New York it’s Michelle McCool vs Victoria for the belt then month end Maryse challenges. Fit Finlay vs Mike Knox and The Brian Kendrick vs R-Truth both run for two weeks - New York adds Evan Bourne vs Kenny Dykstra, month end Bourne beats Chavo Guerrero Jr (starting in Rockford), Truth beats Carlito and John Morrison starts getting cheques again beating Tommy Dreamer.

Tony Atlas is now a ringside presence with Henry on the road - hence those disqualifications.

VARIATIONS 

Because Umaga is main in Johnson City, MVP slots into the UST match. Rockford uniquely has Shelton vs Jimmy Wang Yang, Show vs Carlito and Henry vs Finlay.

TVs

4th in Knoxville D’Lo pins Phil Shatter, who to me is Gunner from TNA but you may remember Jaxson Ryker from NXT, though I’ll forgive you if you’ve Forgotten him. Heh. Also Cryme Tyme beat ex ROH Sal Rinauro and Adam Armor about whom I know nothing. On Raw Cena & Batista win the tag belts, cutting Simply Priceless off before they’ve really got going. 5th in Atlanta there’s a Dykstra sighting as he loses to Truth, on ECW Braden Walker beats James Curtis just three days before BOTH end up canned, then dark Triple H pins Vladimir Kozlov only to be attacked by Edge leading to another match, where upon Edge gets himself counted out like the chickenshit heel he is. Good stuff. 11th in Richmond Mickie loses to Santino - I can forgive that one being non title to be fair - the Highlanders do one last TV job to Cryme Tyme, and Legacy win the tag belts back. Next night in Norfolk the last chance of Elijah Burke has him pin Stevie Richards, on ECW Colin Delaney has his swan song losing to Dreamer via one of my favourites, the DDT on a stop sign, on SmackDown Scotty Goldman (Colt Cabana) jobs for Kendrick and Dykstra gets back on TV losing to Triple H, and Ryan Braddock (Jay Bradley under a new name) loses to Show. Dark at SummerSlam Show pins Bam Neely, next night in Chicago (near 15,000 sellout OBVIOUSLY) Hager loses to Regal and - what? - Takeshi Morishima, current GHC champ in Noah, accompanied by Harley Race and ostensibly representing Race’s WLW, pins Haas. Huh. A dreadful Raw for champions has Cena beat Simply Priceless by himself - not for the only time, as you’ve read - and Jericho pins Punk non title IN FUCKING CHICAGO. My stars and garters, how tone deaf are these fuckwits?? Next night in Moline Morishima (with Tony Atlas in his corner) pins Noble, “Gavin Spears” (yes, Shawn Spears, aka Tye Dillinger) debuts on ECW, Hunter causes Khali to lose by pin to Jeff on Raw (what a year Jeff had) before dark after the show Trips beats Khali to retain the WWE title in a brief streetfight after belting him with his sledgie. 25th in Wilkes-Barre D’Lo pins Hager dark, Primo debuts on TV beating Haas and Phoenix loses non title to Kelly Kelly (oh do fuck off). Next night in Pittsburgh (a poor 6500 including many comps in a building that can hold near 3 times that configured for wrestling) dark matches have future Big Gold Belt wearers meet with contrasting fortunes - Hager pins Noble but Nick Nemeth does a job to Sho Funaki.  On SmackDown Truth debuts pinning Dykstra and if the Women’s division wasn’t already a sea of mediocrity, Brie Bella debuts pinning the ever-under appreciated Victoria. Dark, Hunter pins Khali in another streetfight. Finally 31st in St Louis - huh?? - Go Shiozaki (with Atlas) does a job to Yang dark, a big double taping has Candice Michelle return from injury, and incredibly Jeff loses to Kendrick.

DEPARTURES - WOW.

A bunch of guys are let go as cost cutting measures this month. Regardless of talent, guys like The Highlanders, Nunzio, Shannon Moore and Stevie Richards have outlived their use, thanks in part to less emphasis on the various type of wrestling they do or abandonment of Cruiserweight style altogether. Domino and Cherry are deemed not worth another try or repackage and she in fact will retire altogether in October. Colin Delaney had a short shelf life but that was expedited when they turned him heel on mentor Dreamer ; there was nothing left to do with him. Kasey James, we hardly knew thee. Nick Patrick was a legendary and long serving ref but refs were not immune to the prune, ever, and due to tenure he probably earned more than those they kept. Coach, I had forgotten was still there at this point. With the comms spots locked up he was basically redundant once the “Bischoffs gopher” job ceased to exist. Chris Harris was brought in with great experience from TNA and potential as a fiery babyface but showed up not in the shape he needed to get in for such an opportunity but as a chubby guy in a singlet. Prichard has stated that he took more takes to do a taped promo than anyone he’d ever worked with so it’s no surprise they decided “Braden Walker” wasn’t worth the effort in next to no time. 

Mick Foley, having done various roles for WWE since 2005 (including occasional wrestler) having been the subject of much interest from TNA at the time, has been serving as colour man on SmackDown, and gets fed up of the way Vince talks to him through the headset and after getting beaten up by Edge to write him out of TV, lets his contract expire. TNA, of course, immediately book the part-retired broken down WWE has been as a serious main event player, going so far as having him win their World title from homegrown star Samoa Joe - himself having won it from the incomparable Kurt Angle in a dynamic match - to then lose it not long after not to someone who could use the rub, but to Sting, who pins Angle rather than him in a three way. Would have made a genuine difference in 2005 to get eyes on the product, but as World Champion in 2009 he felt like a step backwards.

Finally less than six months out of the ring, Ric Flair decides to say no to another extension. He believes he’s on the road as an “ambassador” more days than he was as a wrestler and furthermore is aggrieved that WWE stunts his chance to make extra cash such as (understandably) blocking him accepting an offer from the NWA to appear on their telly. Nature Boy needs downtime to concentrate on finalising his latest (third) divorce and potentially to write another book, and (falsely, I’d say) believes he can match his $500K WWE downside for fewer days work or eclipse it based on other wrestling ventures - he’s inundated with offers from ROH, Inoki and shoot video producers (I believe Highspots pay him 15K) and always has TNA interested - and mainstream projects. He’s living with Reid during the divorce and based off VH1 airing Hogan Knows Best he thinks there might be interest in a reality TV show following him - there’s not. In an amusing parallel, this will neither by Ric’s last marital divorce nor break up with WWE.

Edited July 22, 2023 by air_raid

[air_raid]

SEPTEMBER 2008

This one’s fucking depressing.

MAIN EVENTS - RAW

5th-6th it’s joint brand shows, in Rochester the World Heavyweight Champion is deemed surplus to requirements as Rey Mysterio teams with SmackDowns Big Show and WWE Champion Triple H to beat Kane, Great Khali & MVP. Next night in Jamestown on his last night with the belt CM Punk is in for Show. 12th in Texarkana new champ Chris Jericho wins a four way over Rey, Kane and JBL, 13th and 14th in Little Rock and Jackson (TN) it’s Y2J vs JBL vs Batista. Next there’s a European tour where Shawn Michaels and Punk beat Y2J & Lance Cade 24th-27th in Bilbao, Madrid, Barcelona and Paris. Partnering the real star, juxtaposed to lackey Cade, the last World champ.

THE CARDS

Rey Mysterio vs Kane kicks off mid month no DQ and happens every night in Europe. Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase Jr vs Cryme Tyme for the tag belts continues in New York and Texarkana and resumes on tour with a six man mid month with Manu and Kofi Kingston making up numbers. Santino & Beth Phoenix vs Kofi & Kelly Kelly is for both titles in New York then Beth vs Mickie James for the belt resumes while the worthless ICT is defended by Marella against Charlie Haas. Really? Overseas Santino vs Kofi resumes and it’s a tag of Mickie & Candice Michelle vs Beth & Katie Lea. Mid month it’s usually D’Lo Brown vs Jack Swagger, Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs Gene Snitsky and Jamie Noble vs William Regal which continues on the tour along with Duggan pinning Haas and D’Lo jobbing to Manu.

VARIATIONS 

In Texarkana only, D’Lo pins Snitsky, Hacksaw falls to Regal, Noble beats Swagger and Kofi pins Lance Cade. Otherwise, rigid.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 

By astonishing coincidence the same night Raw is in Jackson TN, Smackers are in Jackson MS (too hot, hot damn) for Triple H & The Undertaker vs Great Khali & MVP which repeats 15th in Montgomery, 22nd in Bowling Green OH and on tour 24th-26th in Lisbon, Barcelona and Innsbruck, 27th in Munich they wrap the tour with Triple H vs Vladimir Kozlov (ugh) for the belt with Taker vs Big Show underneath, 29th in Stevens Point WI Hunter is needed on Raw so Taker vs Show goes on last.

THE CARDS

Jeff Hardy vs Vladimir Kozlov goes down in Jackson and most nights in Europe, split between pinfall and DQ wins for Jeff. Shelton Benjamin vs R-Truth for the US belt goes down in Jamestown, Bowling Green and on the Euro jaunt. Mark Henry vs Matt Hardy No DQ for the ECW title happens in New York and the rest of the month new champ Matt is finally beating the big lug by pin. Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder vs Jesse & Festus continues, for the belts in Montgomery but non title in Bowling Green, then every night in Europe after the Edgeheads have lost the belts. Mid month Michelle McCool vs Maryse for their Women’s title is up and running then on tour Michelle tags with Maria to beat Maryse and Natalya. Fit Finlay vs Mike Knox mid month is a bit of a step down for the Belfast Bruiser considering some of his feuds, then on tour he works Jack Swagger which I expect was good wrestling. In New York it’s Evan Bourne vs Chavo Guerrero Jr (which repeats in Jackson) and Primo vs William Regal even though “the king” is on Raw, and on the tour The Brian Kendrick vs Jimmy Wang Yang goes 50/50.

VARIATIONS 

With Punk an extra body in Jamestown, Big Show pins Carlito, the latter having slotted into the UST match in Rochester. In Jackson Shelton defends against Yang and Hawkins & Ryder vs Jesse & Festus vs Carlito & Primo vs The Miz & John Morrison is a four way. In Montgomery Shelton vs Hardy, Chavo vs Yang and two tags so the Colons vs MnM2 is added to what you read above. In Munich Jeff pins Kendrick and both Yang and MVP are added to the US title match making it a four way, Finlay tags with Hornswoggle to beat Hawkins & Ryder, Festus pins Swagger and Jesse doesn’t wrestle.

TVs

Unforgiven on 7th actually has Morrison lose to Bourne in the dark match - and is a fucking perplexingly booked show. Matt Hardy wins Mark Henry’s ECW title in a scramble where he never pins Henry, Punk is made to look a pussy by never recovering from his beating by Legacy (including a debuting Manu) to defend his belt, Show turns heel AGAIN to start a program with Taker AGAIN, Triple H retains but sensibly they let Jeff look a real threat and actually score an equal number of falls as Hunter and come within seconds of winning the belt, then Y2J sneaks in the back door to win the WHC despite being beaten BLOODY by HBK earlier. Vince insisting that HBK vs Y2J destined for a ladder match needed the title. Even though ultimately everyone is fighting to keep the belt warm for Cena anyway. Next night in Fort Wayne D’Lo does a job for Hager dark and on Raw Manu debuts in the ring teaming with Simply Priceless to beat Kofi & Cryme Tyme. Next night in Milwaukee D’Lo beats Nick Nemeth, Jack Swagger debuts on ECW beating ex ROH Josh Daniels, Hawkins & Ryder lose non title to Carlito & Primo (because a week can’t pass without this tired trope) and dark, HHH & Taker beat Show & MVP. 15th in Memphis Eric Escobar beats Snitsky dark, next night in Nashville Johnny Curtis pins Armando Alejandro Estrada and on SmackDown Ryan Braddock debuts, and Truth beats Shelton non title (FUCKING HELL). 21st in Columbus OH Escobar jobs to Tommy Dreamer dark, Michelle loses to Maryse non title (STOP IT) and the Colons win the tag belts. 29th in Minneapolis Dolph Ziggler has his (atrocious) name and he’s pinning D’Lo dark, Phoenix loses non title to Kelly Kelly (FUCK SAKE) and Deuce reminds us he’s still employed, losing to Haas on Raw. Next night in Green Bay, Lenny Lane does a job for Swagger on ECW, and SmackDown has a series of non title brand vs brand matches which of course all have champions losing by pin. Fuck off.

DEPARTURES 

None this month. If anything, they could do with a few fresh faces at the top. On SmackDown that is, Raws loaded. No, Kozlov is not the answer.

[BomberPat]

Ryan Braddock, another guy that's not Roadkill, which I just had to check. I remember a story of them wanting to give Roadkill a serious push under the name "Braddock" at some point.

[air_raid]

OCTOBER 2008

THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW

New run of Chris Jericho vs Batista for the World Heavyweight title goes on 11th in Reno, 12th in San Bernardino. Both brands have tours, Raws is Puerto Rico - 16th in Arecibo it’s Dave & Shawn Michaels vs Y2J & JBL, next night in Ponce it’s a six man merged with the Rey Mysterio and Kane feud impromptu after Dave vs JBL goes to a no contest, 18th in San Juan (massive 17,500 sellout) it’s Y2J vs HBK for the belt.

THE CARDS

Rey Mysterio vs Kane no DQ is still going on in Reno and Arecibo. Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase vs Cryme Tyme for the tag belts happens three nights domestically and in Puerto Rico. CM Punk vs Manu revenge match occurs both nights in the States as does Lance Cade vs D’Lo Brown which will be Cade’s final matches for the company. Beth Phoenix vs Candice Michelle for the belt runs Reno, San Bernardino and Arecibo as does Santino vs Kofi Kingston for the ICT and Jamie Noble & Mickie James vs William Regal & Layla El borne out of Nobles TV pursuit of the muffin and her eventual rejection of him for King Regal.

VARIATIONS 

Rey & Cryme Tyme vs Kane & Simply Priceless combines two matches into one for the matinee in San Bernardino and Rey & Batista vs Kane & JBL is a big exception in San Juan, where it’s also Punk & Cryme Tyme vs Cody, Teddy & Manu. On top of those Punk pins Gene Snitsky in Arecibo and Regal in Ponce. Otherwise it’s Manu vs D’Lo in Arecibo, Kingston vs Snitsky, Manu vs Noble, Santino vs D’Lo and Candice & Mickie vs Phoenix & Layla in Ponce, and Noble vs Snitsky, D’Lo vs Regal, Mickie vs Layla one on one and “Glamarella” vs Kofi & Candice with both belts defended in San Juan.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 

Mexico way for Hunter and friends - 16th in Monterrey (14,000 sellout) we have Triple H vs Big Show for the WWE title, next night (10,500) it’s Triple H vs Vladimir Kozlov for the belt (eww), next night in Mexico City (15,000) their run is conflated with that of The Undertaker and Big Show into a tag, next night (12,000) it’s two singles again as it is back in the States 20th in Hidalgo. 

THE CARDS

Yes, The Undertaker vs Big Show is on nearly every night and getting tiresome to keep retreading after so many years. There are two rounds of The Hardy Boys vs Mark Henry & Chavo Guerrero Jr in Mexico and twice does Matt retain the ECW belt over Henry as does Shelton Benjamin vs Super Crazy vs MVP for the US belt go twice. Carlito & Primo vs Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder and Michelle McCool vs Maryse happen every night for the relevant titles. Fit Finlay vs Jack Swagger also occurs three times and Super Crazy beats Chavo twice.

VARIATIONS 

Night one in Monterrey Taker tags with Jeff to beat Kozlov and MVP and Shelton retains over The Brian Kendrick and R-Truth. Next night, Truth pins Swagger and Finlay pins Ezekiel Jackson. First night in Mexico City, Shelton beats Jeff and MVP, Chavo pins Truth and Kendrick pins Super Crazy, in Hidalgo Shelton vs MVP is one on one, Truth pins Kendrick and Jackson pins Kung Fu Naki.

Its glaringly obvious that with Edge in and out, Taker in and out and Jeff not quite there yet, relying on Triple H and leaving Cena, Batista, Orton, Shawn, Jericho, Rey, Kane, Punk and JBL all on Raw was a bit short-sighted.

TVs

Carlito & Primo beat The Miz & John Morrison dark at No Mercy, next night in Seattle Charlie Haas jobs to Dolph Ziggler before Raw then Batista & Rey  beat Y2J & Kane after it. Next night in Spokane TV has Brie Bella pin Natalya with the first instance of what they’ll later call “Twin Magic,” and Shelton loses non title AGAIN to Truth. “Gold Standard,” right? 13th in Anaheim Regal pins D’Lo dark, Jericho loses non title to Punk (FUCK!! Why couldn’t he win big matches WHILE HE WAS CHAMPION, you fucking clowns???) and dark Batista & Rey  beat Y2J & Kane again. Next night in Vegas Ricky Ortiz pins Gavin Spears, Joey Ryan and Matt Jackson do separate jobs to Show in different stip matches to build Cyber Sunday, Kozlov goes over Jeff (ugh) and dark Show loses to Taker. 21st in Laredo Tommy Dreamer pins Spears before cameras roll, Funaki becomes Kung Fu Naki on TV and ludicrously is allowed to pin MVP in a tag, and HHH vs Undertaker goes a depressing non finish when their depressing rivals Show and Kozlov ruin it. Shelton vs R-Truth is blown off on the wwe.com exclusive at Cyber Sunday, where Honky Tonk Man beats Santino by DQ and Batista pins Y2J to start a pointlessly short title reign. Next night in Tucson I’ve no idea what they learned from Noble vs Mike Knox as a dark match, Priceless lose the tag belts to Punk & Kofi, Evan Bourne gets on Raw and gives Rey a competitive match, then dark Dave beats Y2J in a sub 5 minute cage match. Next night in San Diego (just 4500) Funaki pins Hawkins dark, the Colons lose non title to Miz and Morrison (fuck off), and dark Raws Rey Mysterio vs Kane clearly was added to draw local interest and failed.

DEPARTURE 

Lance Cade is cut after a seizure on plane and they realize he's got serious drug issues. He's re-signed from Sep 09-Apr 10 but let go without being used on the main roster, getting work later on in All Japan in the Voodoo Murders, and while preparing for a tag title shot teaming with Rene Dupree, dies of an accidental overdose in August.

[air_raid]

NOVEMBER 2008

MAIN EVENTS - RAW

We’re straight back out on tour! Bonfire Night in Mannheim and 9th in Sheffield it’s a straight Chris Jericho vs Batista for Big Gold, 6th-8th in Milan, Rome and, umm, Minehead it’s a brief non finish then a tag of Dave and CM Punk beating Y2J and Randy Orton. 11th at the NEC it’s back to just the title match, 12th-14th it’s now Dave and buddy Rey Mysterio beating Y2J and RKO, finally 15th in Aberdeen it’s Y2J vs Dave vs JBL. After Survivor Series, 29th in Elmira the (new) Champ is back, and it’s once again and not for the last run John Cena vs Randy Orton (though for the other belt to the one they’d been synonymous with the year before and indeed will be the 2 years thereafter) and 30th in Reading, Johns giving Y2J the rematch.

THE CARDS

After Manchester the Shawn Michaels vs JBL feud gets added to several cities. Rey Mysterio vs Kane no DQ continues on tour and I’m shocked that Rey seems to have won every match of the feud. When Rey steps up to main event Kane beats familiar face D’Lo Brown. Late month Reys working Mike Knox which is an odd one, he’s still attacked by Kane which leads directly into “The Big Red Machine” pinning Kofi Kingston. Kofi & CM Punk vs Randy Orton & Cody Rhodes runs for the tag belts on tour when it’s not the tag main otherwise logically Kofi vs Cody is a singles, post TVs it’s Cody & Manu challenging. Santino vs William Regal for the ICT goes most of the tour either side of the title change, after Survivor Series Punk builds up for chasing the belt by going over Santino. We also get Matt Hardy vs Mark Henry back from SmackDown cards.

It’s seemingly equal numbers of Mickie James & Candice Michelle vs Beth Phoenix & Layla and Beth vs Mickie or Candice for the belt overseas with occasional Kelly Kelly as a ref for the tags and various other ref, ring announcer or timekeeper duties for whichever babyface doesn’t wrestle, after the PPV it’s just Phoenix vs Candy. Also on tour before TVs it’s D’Lo jobbing to Manu, Jamie Noble vs Knox or vice versa and Tommy Dreamer vs Chavo Guerrero Jr plus Charlie Haas swapping wins with Gene Snitsky throughout. Post Survivors Noble and Snitsky swap wins.

VARIATIONS 

In Milan only, Kelly wrestles as Mickies partner and Candice refs it. In Birmingham Rey pinning Orton is a hell of a unique addition while Kane’s with Haas, in Aberdeen the Viper goes down to HBK. Otherwise; in Minehead Cody goes over Regal and Santino wins another rematch with Kofi, in Brum D’Lo jobs to Snitsky, in Newcastle Kane pins Snitsky and Haas pins D’Lo, in Aberdeen D’Lo does a job for Noble. Poor bugger lost to fucking everyone! In Elmira Cryme Tyme lose to Cody & Manu ; with Y2J on hand for main event the night after Cody is ringside for Manu and boss Orton beating Shad & JTG, randomly. 

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 

6th-10th in Nice, Brussels, Luxembourg City, Cardiff and a sold out O2 (16,000) it’s still Triple H vs Vladimir Kozlov for the belt though sensibly The Undertaker vs Big Show goes on last. Post TVs Taker has a rest so 12th-16th it’s HHH vs Show in Nottingham, Zurich, Nuremberg, Berlin and Dortmund. 29th and 30th in State College and Johnstown - hooray! - Edge vs Jeff Hardy is back on and now it’s for the WWE title, leading to the old impromptu tag with Hunter and Kozlov jumping in.

THE CARDS

The Hardy Boys vs Mark Henry & MVP starts the tour then when Taker fucks off Jeffs having to carry Vladimir Kozlov, Matt defends the ECW belt against Henry or it’s a tag where he and Fit Finlay beat Mizark and Chavo Guerrero Jr. When Big Show secedes from main event after Survivors, he works Finlay. Carlito & Primo vs The Miz & John Morrison for the tag belts goes on most nights though on two nights where shuffles are required (see below) Carly finds himself beating The Brian Kendrick. Shelton Benjamin vs R-Truth vs Kendrick before Manc TVs gives way to a couple of three ways with Truth and Chavo before a few more straight singles defences against Truth which continue after the PPV.

Michelle McCool & Maria vs Maryse & Natalya happens every night on tour then you’ll be thrilled to hear The Bella Twins are on the road month end beating the two Canadiennes. Finlay vs Jack Swagger, Great Khali vs Ryan Braddock and Ezekiel Jackson vs Kung Fu Naki is quite a random undercard before Manchester, Finlay vs Braddock and Khali vs MVP or latterly Khali vs Braddock (when Finlay tags with Matt) plus Kendrick vs Funaki follow - Khali vs MVP carries on late month, and we pick up Tommy Dreamer vs Ricky Ortiz.

Ken Kennedy is still sidelined with a bad shoulder long term, if you’re wondering where Umaga is, he did his PCL.

VARIATIONS 

At the O2 several bodies are missing taping ECW TV in Manchester so Jeff and MVP work a singles and Primo is the third guy in the US title three way. In Dortmund the same missing men are on their way to Atlanta for domestic TVs so Primo works Braddock and Khali pins Chavo.

TVs

3rd in Tampa (12,000, decent) Knox pins D’Lo dark - three hour Raw has Mae Young wrestle in a sub 2 minute 16-woman tag, and Y2J takes the belt back from Dave in a cage match. Next night in Orlando (a less impressive 5000) Kizarny curtain jerks with Braddock and Primo vs Low Ki is not a match I expected to read about. Nikki Bella debuts on SmackDown; truly the rot has set in. 10th Raw at the sold out MEN Haas pins Snitsky dark then Regal relieves Santino of the ICT. Next night also in Mancunia Chavo beats Braddock dark, Shelton loses non title to Matt (ECW champ or not, that’s still bollocks), Jeff actually pins The Undertaker in a forgotten “extreme rules” (no DQ) match and on ECW the Colons lose non title to Kendrick & Jackson (FUCK THAT). 17th Raw in Atlanta JoMo and Miz beating HBK & Rey is quite a scalp. On ECW DJ Gabriel (I had to look him up) debuts vs Sal Rinauro, and dark - this is unique - Y2J wins a triple threat over Shawn and Batista. Dark at Survivors Kendrick pins Funaki again - this being the show Edge returns out of nowhere to screw over HHH and Jeff for the WWE title but save us from a HHH/Kozlov match which was the longest 10 minutes of your life, and Cena despatches Y2J for the WHC rendering any hint prior that Shawn might win it or the Batista hot potato completely pointless. Next night on Raw Melina returns from injury and Santino loses to surprise opponent Goldust, 25th in Albany two episodes of SmackDown are filmed which include Hurricane returning to the ring and that character and pinning MVP. 

DEPARTURES 

Paul London is let go for the second time this month, another victim of not knowing what to do with a talented cruiserweight without a cruiserweight division to work, they got some value out of his HBK connection then set him free. See also Super Crazy. They give up on Chuck Palumbo who was booked strong on SmackDown but was never a threat again after he lost all those matches to Jamie Noble. Armando Alejandro Estrada had a fun name to say but once he was separated from Umaga casuals like me forgot he was still on the books. Kenny Dykstra was just yet another victim of stop-start push and the most featured one of the Spirit Squad found himself completely forgotten and he’ll have to watch Nicky go a hundred times further than he managed. Gene Snitsky exits at his own request, apparently, and God help anyone who cared.

Heartbreakingly for me, D’Lo Brown works those matches on tour then isn’t booked again and he’s released as a cost cutting measure in January, and not for the last time I question the office that can’t find a spot for a hand like him. He’ll immediately get work in ROH and tour Noah tagging with Bull Buchanan before working as an agent for TNA and eventually one of Aces & Eights as well as touring the world including All Japan and over here including for PCW - one of my favourite memories of which involved him wresting Hardcore Holly on an afternoon hangover show with some brilliant storytelling of “old mates happy to be working each other, tempers eventually boil over.” Great wrestler, lovely bloke.

Edited July 26, 2023 by air_raid

[air_raid]

DECEMBER 2008

One of the most exciting months I remember living through for years at the time - the Jeff Hardy era is here, potential fulfilled at last. For a bit.

MAIN EVENTS - RAW

13th at Copps Coliseum the night before Armageddon a big cross brand show has all 3 World titles defended plus Rey, Kane and the tag belts defended (and changing) underneath and still only draws 3500 - ouch. On top it’s John Cena vs Chris Jericho, and still 26th-28th in Hershey, Trenton and at MSG (that one’s introduced by The Fink and inside a cage) then 30th our old friends in Portland ME are daring to be different as they always tend to be ; it’s the inescapable John Cena vs Randy Orton.

THE CARDS

Shawn Michaels vs Randy Orton is a hell of a semi main in Hershey and Trenton. Three nights of the month it’s still Kane vs Kofi Kingston. We’ve started William Regal vs CM Punk for the ICT and we have Miz & John Morrison vs Cryme Tyme for the tag belts. After Christmas it’s two rounds of Beth Phoenix vs Melina for the belt but at MSG and in Portland comeback kid Melina tags with Kelly Kelly to beat Beth & Jillian Hall. The ECW title with Matt Hardy vs Jack Swagger (starting in Hamilton) plus Fit Finlay vs Mark Henry are borrowed from the third brand late month.

VARIATIONS 

Hamilton is full of them ; most notably Punk & Kofi drop the tag belts to Miz and Morrison (on a house show), it’s the last of the random Rey Mysterio vs Mike Knox run and Kane pins Charlie Haas plus cross brand women’s action has Kelly Kelly & Eve Torres upset Beth & Maryse. At MSG only Rey and Kofi tag to beat Orton & Cody Rhodes while Kane loses to HBK. In Portland a few bodies are missing so Cody tags with Manu to lose to Cryme Tyme, Henry drops Ricky Ortiz, Swagger pins Tommy Dreamer and Santino loses to - back on the road - Goldust.

Oh, also in Hamilton Santino does an open challenge answered by Boogey Man but rather than wrestle him, Santino runs away.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 

5th in Greenville and 7th in North Charleston we’re already back to Edge vs The Undertaker with a DQ finish. 13th in Hamilton Edge vs Jeff Hardy is the WWE title match at the joint brand show, Boxing Day til 29th it’s Jeff vs Edge for the belt (Jeff defending now) followed by Taker vs Big Show in a cage in Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh and Richmond.

THE CARDS

Triple H vs Vladimir Kozlov supports Edge/Jeff/Taker every night, after Christmas it’s a streetfight. Shelton Benjamin vs Great Khali non title is early month then later Shelts defends his US title against R-Truth and Hurricane. Tag champs Carlito & Primo vs The Brian Kendrick & Ezekiel Jackson goes all month. Michelle McCool vs Maryse continues in South Carolina, month end Maryse and Natalya wrestle The Bella Twins. After the break Kizarny vs MVP is on the road continuing the losing streak that’s been Porters storyline on TV.

Early month it’s Matt Hardy vs Jack Swagger for the title and Fit Finlay vs Mark Henry representing ECW until those matches move to Raw shows after Christmas, plus Ryan Braddock vs Kung Fu Naki - after Christmas Braddock jobs to Khali.

VARIATION

In Hamilton only Shelton vs Hurricane is one on one.

TVs

Raw on 1st in Washington has Dolph Ziggler make his telly debut against Batista - generic tron and music but the smugness is already there and I never know why anyone tried to babyface him. Didn’t work for Curt either (cough). 8th in Philadelphia (11,000 is disappointing) the 3 hour Raw is packed so Benjamin vs Dreamer is only a dark match - non title but don’t worry, Shelton wins regardless. Next night in Bridgeport Kizarny curtain jerks beating Jamie Noble and dark after tapings Taker beats Show inside a cage. This episode that airs 12/12 also features an unnamed gentleman (Hade Vansen) doing a promo uttering cryptic words that are (not so cryptically) intended for The Undertaker. Dark at the PPV one day removed from winning Raws tag belts Miz n Mo defend against Jesse & Festus, on the show proper Matt jobs non title to Kozlov (boooo) and the main event has Jeff Hardy finally win THE belt pinning Edge to beat both him and Triple H. Next night in Pittsburgh Tyson Tomko, having recently left TNA, beats Paul Burchill but doesn’t earn a new deal. On Raw Deuce rebrands himself into Sim Snuka and has Cody and Manu interfere in his match with Rey (hmm), Ziggler pins Charlie Haas dressed as Santa with the ZigZag, Legacy lay waste to Dave to explain his absence with a storyline concussion and dark Cena beats Y2J in a streetfight. Next night in Baltimore Funaki loses to Lawrence Knight a/k/a Stu Sanders who eventually will settle on “Wade Barrett.” Gavin Spears loses to Finlay on ECW, on SmackDown Matt loses non title to Edge (I’ll let that one go) and Jeffs first match as WWE Champion is a DQ with Kozlov. 22nd in Toronto it’s a double taping - Kizarny beats Zack Ryder, on Raw Trish Stratus works a one night return (I don’t remember) tagging with Cena to beat Glamarella during which Rosa Mendez is shown in the crowd, for SmackDown Maryse beats Michelle for the Divas (ugh) title which for the Québécoise in Canada draws a mixed leaning towards positive reaction, after which they sensibly turn McCool heel on guest ref Maria. Ken Kennedy appears to plug his movie even though he’s still injured, Jeff beats Show by count-out and dark Cena beats Jericho again. 29th in Manchester Ortiz pins Dreamer dark, Sim beats Haas (dressed as Superfly) on Raw, Burchill and Katie Lea debut on ECW in a loss for Paul to DJ Gabriel, dark Cena drops Y2J again. Finally 30th an acceptable 13,000 attend the Izod Center (former Meadowlands, East Rutherford) Braddock jobs to Truth dark, Kennedy plus his movie again, MVP seems to be getting support/sympathy from the live crowd during his defeat to (TV debut) Kizarny and Shelton loses non title to Taker (forgivable?).

DEPARTURE

Here's the one we all love - the career that never was, Hade Vansen. Having signed a developmental deal in May 2007, he's spent nearly the whole of 2008 injured and at the tail end he's back in the ring in FCW, and they're sold on him as a talker to the point that he's going to be positioned against Taker in a "spooky bollocks" feud, apparently to peak at Mania 25, and that "The Prophecy" he mentions may be an allusion to the stable of followers he's going to have, lifted though it feels from Chris Daniels' Fallen Angel character and Prophecy group in early Ring Of Honor. So the story goes, that Vince saw Vansen (a legit 5'9) stood next to Taker (who's 6'6 even without his lifts) and canned it on the spot as not a believable fight. Rather than find something else for Hade to do, they simply release him in January. Can you imagine? Actually, it's WWE, and it's Vince, so of course you can.

Here's HBK vs Kane at MSG ;

 

Edited August 31, 2023 by air_raid

[air_raid]

JANUARY 2009

And just like that Jeffs dance with THE belt is over forever.

THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW

2nd-4th it’s still John Cena vs Randy Orton for the Big Gold Belt in Fort Lauderdale, Lake Charles and Baton Rouge. 9th-11th in Winnipeg, Rochester and Des Moines its back to Chris Jericho challenging. 16th in Oshkosh it’s again Cena vs Orton then 17/18 in LaCrosse and Madison it’s Big Match John and Rey Mysterio vs Orton, Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr in a handicap. 24th in Toledo a cross brand show has a cross brand main ; Cena & Triple H beat a reunited Rated-RKO. 30th-31st in Champaign and Hammond Cena’s off again but I’d say Shawn Michaels vs Chris Jericho more than compensated those fine folk.

THE CARDS

Shawn Michaels & Rey Mysterio vs Kane & Mike Knox is very thrown together early month, in week 2 Rey is with CM Punk vs Randy Orton & Cody Rhodes. After the Rumble, Reys with Knox one on one, and Orton Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr beat Kofi Kingston & Cryme Tyme. Continuing William Regal vs Punk for the ICT starts the month and resumes in Wisconsin though with a promoted televised title match on the horizon it’s non title - meaning Punk wins them (boo). After the Rumble Punk defends against Kane. Kofi vs Dolph Ziggler is on for the first and definitely not last time, second week there’s a Regal vs Kofi interlude and third week Kofi squashes Santino.

John Morrison & The Miz vs Cryme Tyme for the tag belts goes 3 weeks including a non title win (booo) for Cryme Tyme in Toledo, as does Beth Phoenix vs Melina for the belt go two weeks before Melons beats Candice Michelle in Wisconsin - Candy plays heel, which is the opposite to how I’d book it - then after the Rumble Mel defends against Beth. Matt Hardy vs Jack Swagger for the ECW belt goes two weeks before the switch (reprises in a Swagger defence in Toledo the night before Matt turns heel) then Jack defends vs Tommy Dreamer for the rest of the month and second week we also add Fit Finlay vs Mark Henry which into Wisconsin is a “Belfast Brawl.” Finally after the Rumble Mr Ziggles goes over Jamie Noble.

Early month were also repeats of Santino issuing open challenges then running away from Boogey Man.

VARIATIONS 

Cody isn’t in Oshkosh so it’s Rey vs Teddy in singles. Toledo has cross brand ladies competition as Candice & Eve Torres beat future regular partners Phoenix & Natalya.

THE MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 

3rd in Tyler it’s Jeff Hardy vs Edge for the WWE title supported by The Undertaker vs Big Show in a streetfight - that’s a cage match next night in Bossier City and goes on last, as it’s does 5th in Alexandria which Jeff doesn’t make so Edge issues an open challenge and gets his ass beat by Umaga. 9th-12th it’s still Jeff vs Edge in Hot Springs AR, Poplar Bluff, Springfield and St Joseph MO. 17th-19th in Charleston WV, Lexington and Muncie, Jeffs advertised but they announce he’s not there because of being hurt in the angle they did with misfiring/sabotaged pyro on TV which is major bullshit from a company renowned for bullshit - Taker vs Show in the cage going on last. Toledo you know about, 31st in Dothan Edge is back with the belt and back with Triple H and Vladimir Kozlov (fuck sake).

THE CARDS

The state of this : an impromptu Edge & Umaga vs Great Khali & Hurricane is the compensation for no Jeff or WWE title match right before the Rumble. Though they at least get Triple H vs Vladimir Kozlov in a streetfight. Prior, Umaga vs Helms has been easing the Bulldozer back first week and in week 2, he’s bulldozed Jimmy Wang Yang (which resumes in Dothan). Takers off that week so there’s a retread of Khali vs Big Show - Khali’s the face this time, Show still wins. Carlito & Primo vs The Brian Kendrick & Ezekiel Jackson for the tag straps and Shelton Benjamin vs R-Truth for the US title continue all month though in week 2 the latter is non title so Truth can get some wins (boo).

Kizarny vs MVP continues the losing streak for Porter for two weeks. Brie Bella pinning Natalya via Twin Magic and Kozlov crushing Yang (which repeats in Toledo) complete week 1, then Natties losing to Eve Torres and Kozlovs beating Hurricane. In week 3, Kizarny pins Eric Escobar (continues in Dothan) and Nikki Bella and her sister beat Nattie and Michelle McCool.

VARIATIONS 

In Alexandria only it’s another of last months Shelton vs Truth vs Hurricane three ways for the UST. Dothan is the only show of new runs ; Nikki pins Natalya, Khali pins Chavo Guerrero Jr and MVP pins Shelton non title (boooooo).

TVs

5th in New Orleans Ziggler beats Dreamer dark, Orton endorses Cody but (verbally) kicks Sim Snuka out of Legacy, and on ECW Boogey Man starts wrestling again and Alicia Fox wrestles for the first time on TV losing to Katie Lea. 12th in Sioux City DiBiase Jr returns apparently to join Snuka and Manu before turning and the streamlined, final version of Legacy batter the two island boys, Rosa Mendez (Melina Roucka) debuts and attacks Melina (Perez) - what’s in a name? HBK beats Cena non title with JBLs help, and Swagger relieves Matt of the ECW belt. 13th in Omaha Sho Funaki pins Ryan Braddock dark, Victoria loses to McCool in her last match in the company, Taker beats Shelton non title (WHY??? Can’t he beat someone who ISNT the US Champ??) and Miz and JoMo beat the Colons champion vs champion which of course is also non title. 19th in Chicago (11,600 - could do better) Ziggler pins Noble dark, after last weeks big win Miz and Morrison lose non title to Cryme Tyme in less than 2 minutes (FUCKING TWATS), and the third and final Regal vs Punk match has Punk finally win the Intercontinental title. He won’t hold it long. Dark, Cena beats Y2J for the millionth time. The Rumble has a dark match - Yang pins Burchill. Next night in Cleveland Ziggler pins DJ Gabriel and on Raw new title holder Punk loses non title to Jericho in a Chamber qualifier (you CUNTS). Finally 27th in Philadelphia Funaki pins Zack Ryder, a double SmackDown taping has Shelton lose non title to MVP (FUCCCKKKKKK!!!!) and dark Edge beats Show in a cage match to retain the WWE title.

DEPARTURES

Hacksaw Jim Duggan in the Rumble is his last match as a semi-regular, making a non-wrestling appearance on TV close to SummerSlam but only wrestling on odd occasions thereafter such as an occasional Rumble or nostalgia Raws. Bam Neely is let go, a bloke so memorable I've spent the last 15 years (per previous post) thinking he was somebody else. The beatdown of both Manu (Afa Jr) and Sim Snuka (Jimmy Snuka Jr) by the real stars of Legacy is the last we'll really see of either - the streamlined version of Orton, Cody and DiBiase tends to be all anyone remembers today. Manu is cut in February, and Snuka wrestles at Mania Axxess and is the cameraman in Taker's tope spot at Mania 25, then is released in June. As a total aside, I have no idea why “Deuce Shade, Dice Domino and Cherry Pie” weren't their main roster names, as they have quite a bit more character than the shortened versions. Little things. Either way, no great loss, either of them.

Victoria is told by writers they don’t really have any plans for her - stunning, considering how fuck awful the entire SmackDown women’s division is. With two years left on her deal, and fair play to her, she asks for her release, and is granted it after her TV loss to Michelle. She appears in the Miss WrestleMania battle royal like virtually everyone on decent terms, then by May, keen to wrestle, she’s signed with TNA. A professional by any standard she’s consistently booked there as a serious wrestler and threat to the title, befitting her talent.

Finally, Hardcore Holly. After not being used since losing the tag belts he’s finally released. A remarkable 15 year run with the company, far less lauded than you’d think and with long spells where he struggled to make ends meet, Bob was reliable if a polarising figure, probably not used well enough a lot of the time but also miscast to the ire of fans as a main event player for the 2004 Rumble and as a top guy in “ECW” especially replacing Sabu in a PPV main event. “Good hand” is the shoe that fits, and excellent comic timing which we seldom saw fully utilised.

[air_raid]

FEBRUARY 2009

What a fucking mess this is. With planned Cena vs Batista for Mania in the bin, they scramble to get what they want on the plate, swapping both belts manically at No Way Out so Edge leaves with a different title than he walked in with for.. I don't know, reasons? Because they needed a title on Triple H for Orton to be able to challenge him as Rumble winner and they wanted Cena to chase for the belt rather than defend it at the main show or suddenly none of the other Raw wrestlers were right for him to fight on the grand stage? Either way, with wrestlers and belts not sticking to the shows they're meant to be on, it's a bit of a cluster.

THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW

1st we wrap our Missouri trip with Shawn Michaels vs Chris Jericho in Cape Girardeau, after TVs 6th-8th we have John Cena vs Randy Orton vs Y2J in Vancouver, Victoria and Sacramento. 13th at the Staples Center an acceptable 12,000 turn up for Cena vs Jericho in a cage, 20th-22nd after No Way Out there's no belt but there's Cena vs Orton in Huntington, Bristol TN and Asheville. 27th at a joint show at Nassau Coliseum Cena tags with Triple H and HBK to beat Orton, Y2J and Vladimir Kozlov (one of these things is not like the others), 28th in Wilkes-Barre Cena misses so HBK tags with CM Punk to beat Orton and Edge.

THE CARDS

Rey Mysterio & Kofi Kingston vs Kane & Mike Knox continues early month with CM Punk vs William Regal as the ICT match (reprising at Nassau), then down South its back to Punk vs Kane and we pick up Kofi vs Chris Jericho which also happens in Wilkes-Barre. Tag team champs Miz & John Morrison vs Charlie Haas & Goldust is not what I expected early month. Third week former tag title run Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase Jr vs Cryme Tyme is reignited. It's still Melina vs Beth Phoenix for the belt in Cape Girardeau, LA and month end, inbetween Beth beats Kelly Kelly then it becomes Melons & Mickie James beating Beth & Jillian Hall in the Southern states. Jack Swagger vs Fit Finlay for the ECW belt is going to non starts or DQ finishes ("ECW") and Mark Henry beats Tommy Dreamer, third week of the month Dreamer drops Paul Burchill and Swagger's defending against Christian. Month end there's a couple more "Belfast Brawls" between Finlay and Henry and Knox is pinning Goldust.

VARIATIONS

Cape Giardeau is shuffled even from the previous nights on the loop - Rey pins Kane, Punk loses to Orton non title (boooo), Swagger pins Dreamer, Knox wins a battle royal to apparently win his way into the Chamber, and (LOL) Kofi pins Dolph Ziggler. In LA Rey & HBK beat Kane & Orton and Miz n Mo are back with Cryme Tyme, at the Nassau Coliseum Kane pins Kofi, and unique to Wilkes-Barre Kane squashes Santino.

THE MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN

2nd in Tupelo we're several stars light so its Edge vs Great Khali ; 6th-8th its Triple H & The Undertaker vs Big Show & Vladimir Kozlov plus a return to Edge vs Jeff Hardy for the WWE title in Kennewick, Yakima and Bakersfield. LA you know about, 18th/19th in Tijuana and Leon its HHH vs Kozlov for the WWE title and Taker & Jeff beating ex WWE Champ and new World Heavyweight Champ Edge & Show ; 20th/21st in Guadalajara and Lima its Hunter vs Show on top and Edge tags with Umaga, 22nd in Santiago Hunter & Jeff beat Edge & Show on first, Taker vs Umaga goes on last (wish I'd seen that one). 27th in Cornwall its Edge vs Jeff, 28th in Burlington there are a few stars missing so Jeff vs Kozlov has to pass for a main event.

THE CARDS

Umaga v Hurricane continues, no idea why the Samoan Bulldozer doesn't have anything meatier but meatier arrives two nights in Mexico - he's pinning The Great Khali before leaping back up the card. Shelton Benjamin vs MVP runs for the US title and Shelts avenges those annoying non title losses. Carlito & Primo vs The Brian Kendrick & Ezekiel Jackson has been running a while, hasn't it? In Guadalajara and Lima Jackson gets a couple of nights off so it's Shelton vs MVP vs Carlito and Primo vs Kendrick - in Santiago status quo resumes, then month end Shelton starts getting counted out against Khali, and Jesse & Festus resurface to get added to the tag title match. Month end we also gain Matt Hardy vs Sho Funaki with stoppage wins for Matt in his new heel role, and a welcome return to Jimmy Wang Yang vs Chavo Guerrero Jr to add some much needed match quality. Eve Torres & Maria vs Michelle McCool & Natalya and R-Truth vs Eric Escobar is the rest of the early month cards, two nights in Mexico Escobar loses to Funaki, Maryse finally returns to the road defending against Maria in Tijuana and Burlington, in Guadlajara, Lima and Santiago Khali beats Escobar and Kozlov pins Funaki, in Lima and Santiago Michelle and Nikki Bella swap wins, and month end Kizarny vs Escobar resumes hostilities from Tupelo.

VARIATIONS

Tupelo is mixed up - Umaga pins Yang, Eve pins Nattie in singles and Kozlov works babyface (!) and pins Chavo. In Leon Michelle loses to Brie Bella then in Guadalajara the Bella Twins lose to Michelle & Nattie. In Cornwall Maria hosts the show and Maryse defends against Eve.

TVs

2nd in St Louis (12,000 is decent) I've no idea why big Mark is on dark duty but he pins DJ Gabriel, on ECW Swagger loses non title (ALREADY) to Finlay and dark Cena pins Orton in a streetfight. 9th in Oakland a Taker vs Orton match on Raw serves as the backdrop for super Shane McMahon to play hero and lamp Randy with the Mac Terminator. Next night in Fresno Dragon Gate legend CIMA works a dark match losing to Jamie Noble for apparently no other reason than he was in the States and he didn't have a booking that day, on ECW Tyson Kidd debuts beating Bao Nguyen who under the name Ryan Tran will later be a ref, and Swagger loses non title (FUCKING AGAIN) to Christian. There's another pointless champions vs champions tag match where the Colons beat MnM2 but this time the prize is a double date with the Bellas, and dark - WHAT a Coliseum Exclusive this would be!! - Rey & Jeff beat Edge & Matt in a cage match! At No Way Out Melina vs Beth is actually the dark match, next night in Spokane Gabriel loses to Ziggler dark, Orton goes to a no contest with Shane then gives Steph an RKO and on ECW Swagger gets pinned by Christian again in a tag. Next night in Portland (OR) Yang pins Escobar dark, a double taping has Scotty Goldman lose to Umaga, Kozlov pins Taker clean (why, the fuck why...) and Shelton loses his millionth non title match, this time to Chavo (I FUCKING DESPAIR). 23rd in Nashville Kofi pins Ryan Braddock, little of note happens for TV but Cena beats Edge by DQ dark.

DEPARTURES

That's the end of Colt Cabana, known in WWE but not necessarily better known as Scotty Goldman. Never a good fit, that one. That dark match is the last we'll hear of Ryan Braddock (we hardly knew thee) - he's released on 8th March.

Here’s the finish to Punk vs Orton ;

 

Edited August 8, 2023 by air_raid

[air_raid]

MARCH 2009

Going into this I didn’t know what to expect and… it’s crackers.

THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW

1st in Poughkeepsie it’s the end of Shawn Michaels & CM Punk vs Rated-RKO which for me deserves a bigger audience than 2500, capacity house at the Mid-Hudson Civic. 6th in Albany GA John Cena & Rey Mysterio beat future tag champs Chris Jericho and Edge, next night in Tallahassee they beat Rated-RKO, 8th in Savannah Cena Rey and Kofi Kingston beat Edge, Y2J and a somewhat conspicuous Ted DiBiase Jr. 13th-14th in Odessa and Beaumont the show without a title rolls on - Shawn & Rey beat Jericho & Kane then 15th in San Angelo Shawn's off so it’s Rey & Punk. 20th in Rolla MO somehow Edge vs Big Show main events a Raw brand show, 21st in Topeka Cena is beating Rated-R by DQ, 28th in Laredo Edge defends the World title against Shawn, 29th in Hidalgo HBK & Rey beat future title rivals Edge & Kane.

THE CARDS

It's Chris Jericho vs Kofi Kingston in Poughkeepsie and Tallahassee. We get CM Punk vs William Regal back in Texas. In week 3 Punk's getting very decent wins over Jericho thanks to some legends shenanigans, but he's immediately brought back down with a bump losing to Mark Henry the week before Mania when you'll be pleased to know we resume Kofi vs Dolph Ziggler, Kofi vs Regal covers for absences in Albany and San Angelo. The Miz & John Morrison vs Cryme Tyme is an early month tag title match then in Texas second week Tyme are back with Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase Jr. From Topeka through month end MnM2 are tagging with Nikki Bella to face Carlito, Primo and Brie Bella, for reasons. It’s Jack Swagger vs Christian for the ECW belt all month plus Poughkeepsie, Texas, Rolla and Topeka get more of Fit Finlay vs Henry in the Belfast Brawl. Melina vs Beth Phoenix for the belt starts the month in Poughkeepsie and ends it Mania week. Cross brand women’s tag has Melons & Kelly Kelly vs Beth Phoenix & Maryse early month then Santino joins the fun as “Glamarella” and Rosa Mendes lose to Melly, Mickie James and Kofi. In Rolla and Topeka Beth pins Mickie one on one. Goldust vs Regal in the first week was probably a bit “banter” and Finlay vs Tyson Kidd is another early month regular, in Texas week 2 Mike Knox pins Charlie Haas which Charlie avenges in San Angelo, in week 3 Haas beats Santino, week 4 Knox loses to Evan Bourne.

JBL, who spends most of the month as Intercontinental champ, doesn't wrestle on the road.

VARIATIONS

Poughkeepsie has, uniquely, Kane squashing Santino. In Rolla Miz & JoMo face Carlito & Primo in non-title champions vs champions without Bella involvement. In San Angelo only, Melons & Mickie beat Beth & Mendes with no men involved. Only in Topeka does Kofi lose to Kane. In Laredo Rey Mysterio vs Kane reprises just the once.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN

1st afternoon in Glens Falls we're still short bodies so its again Jeff Hardy vs Vladimir Kozlov. 7th-8th in Augusta and Columbia SC it’s The Undertaker & Jeff vs Big Show & Umaga. 13th-15th in College Station, Beaumont and Waco there’s a fucking nutty double shot of Edge defending the World Heavyweight title against Jeff then Triple H defending the WWE title against Show - both champions being on SmackDown even though their Mania challengers are both on Raw. 21st in Little Rock, Edge is on the Raw show so Hunter and Taker tag to wrestle - of course! - Raw’s Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase Jr which repeats next night in West Plains MO and 28th-29th in Amarillo and Wichita Falls.

It makes me wonder in these years of drafts and cards being juggled for Mania how far in advance people bought tickets knowing which “brand” they were meant to see only to end up missing their favourite. Imagine being a fan of Edge or Orton and their show coming to your town but them being on the other crew on that night.

THE CARDS

Those last four shows have a big Jeff Hardy vs Big Show collision, Jeff only wins in West Plains. Shelton Benjamin vs MVP rolls on, mid month its again three ways with Chavo Guerrero Jr, by Little Rock MVP has won the belt and gives Shelton rematches for the next two weeks. Carlito & Primo vs The Brian Kendrick & Ezekiel Jackson goes on YET AGAIN before the champs disappear to Raw shows. In Little Rock and West Plains Matt Hardy vs Jimmy Wang Yang is on giving Matt vital wins before Mania - the whole world assumes he's losing to his bruv after all. Maryse retains their womens belt over Maria in Glens Falls and College Station, by third week of the month Gail Kim is finally back on the road having been back under contract since late 2008, tagging with Maria (what a lovely team) to beat Maryse & Michelle McCool, and week before Mania Gail's pinning Michelle in singles. Quite right. First week cards rounded off by The Great Khali vs Chavo (which repeats week 3), R-Truth vs Eric Escobar and Festus vs Yang - sounds toss, doesn't it? Mid month Khali beats Escobar and Truth jobs to the iredeemable Vladimir Kozlov for two weeks. It's telling that they gave Kozlov a push but in the end he's only a lumberjack in a dark match at Mania, because he's so shit. Mania week Kozlov pins Yang and Truth returns to winning, over Chavo.

VARIATIONS

Glens Falls is the end of several runs - Jesse & Festus added to the tag title match, Khali beating Shelton by count-out, Matt beating Sho Funaki, Yang pinning Chavo and Kizarny beating Escobar. The womens match is a constant state of flux ; in Augusta Michelle pins Eve Torres, in Savannah its the cross-brand tag of Melina & Kelly Kelly vs Beth Phoenix & Maryse, in Columbia Michelle pins Maria, in Beaumont Maryse beats Eve to retain.

TVs

2nd in Boston Kofi vs Regal is a curtain jerker, Boogey Man jobs to Kane on ECW and after tapings Cena beats Edge by DQ. Next night in Uncasville a noobs match has Escobar beat Kizarny, and Truth pins Chavo, and after tapings Edge wins a unique triple threat over the brothers Hardy. 9th in Jacksonville Knox pins Johnny Curtis dark, Punk loses the ICT to JBL and dark, Cena pins Show. 16th in sold out San Antonio (13,000 paid, 15,000+ inside) Knox pins Haas dark and on ECW Bourne returns from injury to pin Jamie Noble. Next night in Corpus Christi Yang pins Escobar before cameras, new IC champ JBL loses non title (OF COURSE HE FUCKING DOES) to Taker and MVP relieves Shelton of the US title and Maryse vs Michelle for the belt goes to a non finish when Gail runs in as a surprise return and leaves both laying. During the intros for Maryse vs Michelle, Taz mentions "our nameless referee" in reference to Jack Doan then asks JR "You remember his name?" which is a likely pop at the ridiculous edict that the refs don't get named on TV, which JR doesn’t respond to and I'm surprised made air - you can tell Taz is checked out already. Dark, Edge beats Jeff. 23rd in Kansas City, Melons pins Jillian Hall before TV tapings and Taker beats Show after them. 30th in Dallas (16,500 sellout) Cryme Tyme beat Regal & Ziggler dark and for SmackDown Rey pins JBL non title (WHAT THE FUCK??? THEY'RE WRESTLING AT THE PPV!!!). Nice to see the illness whereby winning a title instantly transforms you into a loser didn't start recently, re: JBL. Absolute joke. I'd actively campaign to NOT win a belt, you get to win more matches on TV!

DEPARTURES

Taz’ commentary on the SmackDown before Mania is his last work for the company and he asks for his release. Initially fairly amicable about it, in years to come he'll declare that he was fed up of the McMahons. Which is understandable. Kizarny (we hardly knew thee) no shows a house show so gets himself canned. That job to Kane is the end for Boogey Man, quite a while after I assumed he was already gone.

[air_raid]

APRIL 2009

WrestleMania 25 is in the books. Hunter and Orton are still the focus, Dave’s coming back and Cena’s taken the Big Gold off Edge temporarily, Shawn and Taker are about to fuck off for a bit as we creep towards the “part timers” era. With plans for the future tentatively pencilled in as Cena vs Orton, seeds sewn for a Batista heel turn on Triple H and one eye on an eventual Edge & Y2J vs DX run, sure feels like everyone’s going to just be working people they already have and the main event’s a private members club. But hey, if I told you that within the last year Jeff and Punk had won their first World titles and that they’d blooded Ziggler, Drew, Swagger and Kofi who all will win them, that Rey and Kane haven’t seen their last titles, that Christian, Miz and Mark Henry will move up to that level, that Cody will got on last at a WrestleMania and that they have really high hopes for Kennedy and Umaga, you’d think succession planning sounds really robust, right?

As an aside, labour of love now. Reports are often missing from obvious sources like HistoryOfWWE and WrestlingData so occasionally having to retrieve results posted from news sites from the time. Which thankfully, people have submitted.

THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW

After a couple of weeks off the road it’s time for the now-annual European tour and of course, sellout business throughout - John Cena vs Edge is back alive for Big Gold 15th and 18th on the first night in Dublin and Aberdeen, 21st in Cardiff and 23rd in Newcastle, or it’s a tag with Cena & Rey Mysterio vs Edge & Big Show 16th in Dublin, 17th in Glasgow and 19th in Nottingham then 22nd in Liverpool and 24th in Belfast either side of TV at the O2.

THE CARDS

It’s usually CM Punk vs Chris Jericho (big popular wins for Phil) apart from Y2J wrestling Rey Mysterio when it isn’t the tag main - in Aberdeen and Newcastle it leaves Punk losing to Big Show. We have Kofi Kingston vs The Miz or Santino before London, thereafter he’s back with Kane. Its Goldust vs William Regal or Santino, Charlie Haas picks up Miz on his nights spare. Kofi also works Regal once in Dublin and in Belfast either end of the tour, as does Goldust wrestle Miz those same two nights. It’s Carlito & Primo vs Kane & Mike Knox (huh??) for the tag belts before TV and Knox & Haas (huh???) afterwards. It’s usually Melina vs Beth Phoenix for the belt with Kelly Kelly as the ref or Melons & Kelly vs Beth & Layla. After TV Glameralla are beating Mel and Kel but it’s the “Santina” business occurring rather than a straight inter gender match. After London we add John Morrison vs Jamie Noble and Dolph Ziggler losing to Regal.

As an aside there’s some cool interaction between Punk and Ricky Steamboat after Punks wins with Jericho - they have history, from ROH.

VARIATIONS 

Odds and sods depending on who needed nights off. Punk vs Regal night 1 in Dublin, Santino vs Haas night 2 in Dublin, Regal vs Haas in Glasgow. Cardiff is a smaller card so it’s Rey vs Regal, Morrison vs Goldust and Cryme Tyme hang around just long enough before flying home to beat Knox & Haas. In Belfast only, Kane pins Ziggler.

THE MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 

Raw isn’t the only tour with a main event that doesn’t 100% belong to them - it’s Triple H & The Undertaker vs Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase in a straight run 16th-20th in Cologne, Strasbourg, Salzburg, Vienna and Cardiff then 22nd at the NEC ; Ortons off 23rd/24th in Glasgow and Geneva.

THE CARDS

Jeff Hardy vs Matt Hardy in streetfights is the midcard highlight, surprisingly even it is too. MVP vs Shelton Benjamin vs R-Truth for the US title is yet another round for the same three lads that have worked each other for months solid, even though it was probably decent. Jack Swagger vs Christian for the ECW belt is definitely not what Captain Charisma expected when he signed his new deal but Vince never rated him so YMMV. Fit Finlay vs Mark Henry in the Belfast Brawl I probably would appreciate more now than I would have then. Evan Bourne vs Tyson Kidd I can imagine gelling well. Gail Kim & The Bella Twins vs Maryse, Natalya & Katie Lea is the women’s match which based on the wrestling talent or gravitas of those involved I estimate was 50% watchable and 50% god awful.

VARIATIONS

Apart from Randys two nights off, it’s the same show every night. Can you imagine??

TVs

6th at Houston’s Toyota Center (14,000+ sellout, 11,500 paid) two belting Coliseum exclusives have Bourne pin Ziggler and Kofi beat Shelton. On the show proper, a fucking loaded 10-man has Cena, Rey, Punk, Jeff and Ricky Steamboat (!) defeat Edge, Show, Y2J, Kane and Matt, and Batista returns to help Hunter and the McMahons against Legacy. Next night in Austin the Colons lose non title to Simply Priceless IN THEIR FIRST FUCKING MATCH SINCE UNIFYING THE TAG BELTS. And dark, Cena pins Edge. 13th in Atlanta (near 16,500 they claim) Ziggler beats Goldust and Jimmy Wang Yang pins Curt Hawkins before the 3 hour draft special, during which when the draft separates Miz from Morrison, he turns on him. Oh, and when Trips is drafted to Raw it technically means SmackDown has gone from two to zero champions in 8 days. Next night in Knoxville Yang pins Kidd before cameras, and belt holders leaving for Raw get kicked out the door - Maryse loses to Gail and MVP to Ziggler. Seriously, FUCK this company’s treatment of titles and champions, I’m so glad I wasn’t watching every week. The shows last match is Batista vs DiBiase Jr and dark main is HHH vs Orton in a streetfight despite all four being Raw wrestlers. 20th at the O2 Regal pins Ziggler dark, and I can’t believe this… Rey says goodbye to Raw by jobbing non title to Show, and on the build up to Backlash Trips loses a non title no DQ match by pin to Orton. Cena pins Edge dark. Next night Umaga is on the comeback trail from his last injury setback, in the ring for the first time since March 8th, pinning Truth dark. On ECW Nattie does a job to Hornswoggle and a little later Horny gets to pin Kidd too in a tag for Superstars, Taker does a clean stoppage loss to Show, selling the effects of Mania still, before he’s going to disappear, and dark Triple H retains over Orton in a cage match. Dark at Backlash - are you keeping count? - it’s Kofi Kingston vs Dolph Ziggler. The PPV itself has Orton win the WWE title back via Legacy winning the six man but at least he does actually pin Triple H to win it, Steamboat acquits himself superbly in defeat to Y2J, Christian wins the ECW belt from Swagger, and in two stunningly backwards pieces of booking, current babyface and briefcase carrier Punk does a nice clean job to yesterday’s news Kane, and Cena loses the Big Gold belt back to Edge (and SmackDown) with a finish that precipitates ANOTHER feud between Big Match John and Show. Who cares at this point? Next night in sold out Bridgeport (6000 at Harbor Yard Arena, ahhh) Cryme Tyme curtain jerk with Regal & Ziggler, The Brian Kendrick debuts on Raw losing to Kofi and very little else happens, dark Batista and Shane O’Mac beat Orton and Edge - who’s got no real reason to be in the building. Next night they’re at MSG - they claim 17,000+ sellout, 13,000 paid. Knox pins Ricky Ortiz dark, Jeff wins an eliminator for top contender status to Edge over Kane, Y2J and Rey, including pinning Rey, then Intercontinental Champion… which of course, wasn’t on the line. Twats. Then the crown jewel on this pile of shit booking, Edge, who’s just rescued the World title for SmackDown, instead of looking like a mountain to climb, loses non title AS CLEAN AS YOU LIKE to Punk, before Umaga returns to TV to prevent Punker cashing in. Dark, Rey teams with Raws Cena and Batista vs Edge, Y2J and Raws Randy Orton for no apparent reason on a SmackDown taping. I may have to stop mentioning the detestable non title loss trope as it’s pissing me off so much - on this months TV they’ve pinned both World Champions, the US and Intercontinental champs, the tag champs and Maryse. They’d probably have found chance for Melons to lose non title to Phoenix, if the lovers’ tiff between Glamarella wasn’t more the focus of Raws women’s division than the belt. I can’t believe how little the belts mean at this point, they don’t actually represent being better than anybody else if the wearers are so easy to beat. Every goddamn one of them.

A final TV development I could mention - Tiffany, having been assistant to Teddy Long since June and JUST starting to have a couple of matches on TV, is promoted to GM of ECW. Not sure how many more mentions she’ll get here as all I remember is the manner of her exit, that TNA made an in-ring star of her, and that she was not unpleasant on the eye. Speaking of which….

DEPARTURES 

Candice Michelle has been on-and-off injured for a while and not wrestled since February. She presents “Santina” with “her” sash for winning the battle royal at Mania 25 and that’s her last use on TV - Candy is drafted to Raw but never appears on the show before she's released in June. Allegedly she discloses in an interview away from WWE that she won't be renewing her deal, so they release her early when they get wind of it.

JBL, who in truth hasn’t wrestled much in the road since returning anyway, quits after losing to Rey at Mania with remarkable symmetry to his first retirement. Apart from a handful of nostalgia appearances, usually in the APA, he stays retired this time.

Enjoy!

 

Edited August 31, 2023 by air_raid

[air_raid]

MAY 2009

Some big hopes for a big mouth disappear as the voices aren’t just in Randys head, but in Vinces ear too.

THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW

We finally resume main events featuring only guys that actually work on that show! It’s John Cena & Batista vs Randy Orton & Big Show - highly logical on the way to Judgment Day - 8th-10th in Erie, Youngstown and Wheeling. 16th in Bloomington (IL) it’s the now-traditional joint show the night before the PPV - the heroes team up with Jeff Hardy to knock off their rivals and Edge in another Rated-RKO reunion - also highly logical. Our tag continues 22nd/23rd in Boise and Salt Lake City, house show’s scheduled for 24th in Loveland and 26th in Colorado Springs get moved to August (see below) then we’re off to Mexico! 27th in Monterrey and 29th in Queretaro, Batista & SmackDown loanee Rey Mysterio drop Orton and Show, in between on the second night in Monterrey it’s Cena & Dave again then 30th in Mexico City, Rey challenges Randy for the big belt and beats him by DQ.

THE CARDS

Carlito & Primo vs Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase Jr has been a long time coming for the tag belts and goes all month. MVP vs William Regal for the US title sounds awkward and Kofi Kingston vs The Miz is underway - both of those run domestically and in Mexico - its MVP vs Kofi vs Regal in Idaho and Utah while Miz beats Santino. Women’s Champ Maryse vs Mickie James maddeningly is non title two nights out of three early month then mid month Maryse teams with Beth Phoenix to beat The Bella Twins - quite right - and in Mexico Beth & Rosa Mendes lose to Mickie & Kelly Kelly every night. Matt Hardy vs Goldust starts the month then mid month Goldie vs Chavo Guerrero Jr was probably fun. Otherwise early month it’s (state of this) Chavo vs Festus and - looks who’s coming through - Sheamus O’Shaunessy vs Jamie Noble. Mid month it’s The Brian Kendrick with Sheamus, then Chavo vs Santino (LOL) and Kendrick vs Noble occur in Queretaro and Mexico City. Kendrick vs Noble/Gibson was an awesome technical match in ROH, I doubt they were afforded the same time or freedom here.

VARIATIONS 

Big ones first - Night 1 in Monterrey has John Cena’s only exception, he silences TV antagonist Miz. Night 2 in Monterrey Rey Mysterio defends the ICT against Chavo which must have been special for both men, in Mexico City somewhat logically Big Dave beats Show in singles. Mad as it sounds, Cena is only booked for the first two nights. Otherwise in Erie only it’s Miz vs Festus and Kofi vs Chavo. Bloomington has cross brand fluff of Sheamus beating Jimmy Wang Yang plus Phoenix & Mendes losing to Bella bots. Night one in Monterrey Kofi beats Chavo, Santino upsets Kendrick, night two Santino beats Regal and MVP beats Kendrick, Noble’s off both nights. In Mexico City MVP has a rest and its Kofi vs Regal vs Miz to allegedly earn the next shot at him.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 

We’re all in again on Edge vs Jeff Hardy 9th-11th in Grand Rapids, Fort Wayne and Evansville, Bloomington has the six man you know about, they’re back to the title match 22nd/23rd in Las Cruces and Rio Rancho (New Mexico), 30th in Chattanooga and 31st in Bowling Green KY.

THE CARDS

Rey Mysterio vs Chris Jericho for the ICT for most of the month then Y2J working (and putting over) bright new star John Morrison month end when Reys south of the border, plus CM Punk vs Umaga throughout - Punk by DQ early month and pinfall later - really give a boost to blue brand shows that have looked anaemic for a few months. Really is the “wrestling” show again at this point. The aforementioned Morrison pins Shelton Benjamin every night until he ends up with Y2J. Early month only it’s Christian vs Jack Swagger for the ECW title which after interference becomes the old impromptu tag of Christian & Tommy Dreamer vs Swagger & Mark Henry which lasts til month end (Bloomington aside which is singles to a finish) as the announced match from the start. Early month it’s Gail Kim & Eve Torres vs Natalya & Layla, in New Mexico Nattie’s out and Alicia Fox is in, month end champ Melina is back to tag with Gail beating Natalya & Fox. It’s Vladimir Kozlov vs Fit Finlay early month and in New Mexico, Evan Bourne vs Tyson Kidd bookends the month and occurs in Bloomington. Otherwise in New Mexico it’s Cryme Tyme vs Mike Knox & Charlie Haas (looks odd having a tag match with apparently no tag belts on SmackDown anymore), and month end we add Drew McIntyre vs Jimmy Wang Yang and Great Khali vs Dolph Ziggler - Khali still hopelessly miscast as a babyface.

VARIATIONS 

At the cross brand show in Bloomington Punk pins Shelton and R-Truth pins Ziggler. It’s Punk vs Ziggler in Las Cruces, and Rey vs Punk vs Ziggler in Rio Rancho when Jericho has a night off.

TVs

3rd in Buffalo Goldust vs Chavo is the Coliseum Exclusive opener, Mickie pins Maryse non title (oh fuck off) in a match introduced by Subway paedophile Jared Fogle, dark main has Cena & Batista beat Simply Priceless. Next night in Pittsburgh Yang pins Paul Burchill dark, Haas returns to SmackDown and Shelton’s side but loses to Morrison and the debut of Starship Pain, and Jeff pins Y2J to reinforce his sole top contender status. 11th in Columbus OH Sheamus pins Noble again before the show and Cena & Dave beat Orton & Show after it. Next night in Dayton Sheamus vs Burchill opens, Chad Collyer does a job to Kozlov on ECW, Ricky Ortiz debuts on SmackDown and gets pinned by Jeff and dark Edge beats Jeff inside a cage. Judgment Day has some awful booking with Punk again looking like a loser by getting pinned by Umaga and Orton retaining on the lamest of lane DQs but it’s saved by Edge vs Hardy which is excellent, heated and with a great finish. Oh, and Ric Flair returns to help out Batista. Next night in Louisville Raw is not noteworthy except the ever selfless Y2J loses by pin to the floundering Punk taped for Superstars. Next night in Cincinnati David Hart Smith returns on ECW and immediately aligns with Kidd and Nattie, on SmackDown Umaga attacks Punk again AND SPEAKS thereafter, and Jeff pins Edge non title (oh DO fuck off) to win the right to choose the stip for the rematch. 25th in Los Angeles, an infamous night for multiple occasions, Ken Kennedy interrupts a confrontation between Orton and Flair then later Legacy, Show and Miz lose to Cena, Batista, MVP, Kennedy and The King. Little of note happens the night after.

The story goes - Raw was scheduled for the Pepsi Center in Denver but unfortunately this ended up double booked when the Denver Nuggets need their gaffe for a playoffs game against the LA Lakers. Fuming, Vince and co cancel Raw and the house shows in Colorado either side so they can get the Raw crew down to California then give them a day off before the Mexico tour - by wonderful coincidence the Lakers play at long term WWE stronghold the Staples Center so Vince reacts in the most Vince way imaginable, by moving Raw and SmackDown both to the Staples Center which luckily enough doesn’t host hoops again until Wednesday 27th. The Nuggets of course being owned by Stan Kroenke who also as a stake in the Arsenal so I think we know who the babyfaces are here. Being Vince of course he doesn’t leave it there with a terrible theme throughout the show laced with terrible McMahon humour including that dreadful WWE trope, fake celebrities, although I was a big fan of Vince claiming he had considered starting the XBA as a nod to his own notorious failure with the XFL. Furthermore the ten man tag has the babyfaces wearing Lakers tops and the heels Nuggets tops. Funnily enough there are other cancellations this month ; a couple of hastily booked shows in Alabama month end are pencilled in just in case the Mexico tour gets cancelled over the swine flu outbreak, but as you’ve read it goes ahead.

And now you know, if you didn’t before, why everyone’s wearing basketball vests in Mr Kennedy’s last match.

DEPARTURE

On the 25th Raw in his first match back from a lengthy time of the sidelines with his shoulder injury, Ken Kennedy both appears to injure his own hand and allegedly drops Randy Orton on his head on a back suplex, favouring his hand because Orton landed on him. Backstage Orton flips out on Ken saying he didn't look after him and that he landed wrong on his head and neck - the camera angle from the broadcast is inconclusive, Ken will tell you Orton jumped unusually high on the suplex and he did everything he could to bring him down safely. For only the second time in his career, Ken hears he's unsafe - the first having been from John Cena who had manged to tear his pec giving HIM a hiptoss. Tempers die down but nevertheless four days later Johnny Ace gives Ken the call that based on "how the match went" they're letting him go. Allegedly Orton asked Cena to go to bat for him with Vince and back up his claim that Kennedy was unsafe ; this being Randy Orton that Ken says he was close with, and their wives used to do Mania and go shopping together etc. As if Ken hadn't had enough bad luck with injuries of his own, he was bitten by the viper! This was definitely still the period where Orton's character was in question on a human level, and its further suggested that he felt his spot threatened by Kennedy coming back on a show that already had John Cena and Batista gunning for top spot. Either way, you'd have to make your own call as to whether Kennedy was unsafe - he'll point out that he worked with Undertaker for nearly a year giving him rarely-allowed piledrivers and never heard a word that he wasn't trusted to be safe, other than from Cena and Orton. Who, to be fair, you understand WWE would listen to. Either way, it's hard not to feel some sympathy for Ken. His TNA run for me will unfortunately be remembered for the over-the-top hype job that Hogan did, describing him (as a mystery newcomer on the way in) as someone who could just "walk in and take the World Heavyweight title" - making the whole roster sound like shit and a massive display of an inferiority complex regarding WWE when Ken turned up, despite having just swapped the belt in a banger between AJ Styles and Rob Van Dam and having marquee names like Jeff Hardy, Kurt Angle and Sting on the books. But he'll get his push and ultimately his title reigns.