Results for the RAW Brand "Tour of Defiance" House Show
Manchester Evening News Arena, Manchester, England
28th May 2004, 7:30pm GMT
by "Gentle" Ben Reed, rajah.com reader
Hi folks, well here I am sat at my computer after just attending my second ever WWE show here in the UK. I attended the Smackdown! House-show they had in October, and was relishing the chance to see some of the RAW superstars. I'm reporting these results off the top of my head, so apologies for any slight inaccuracies!
The MEN Arena was packed to the rafters, I'd say there was a good 12,000 people in there. Lots of "Wooooo" chants for about an hour and then the lights go out, plunging the arena into darkness......
Introduction
Howard Finkel is our ring announcer and he climbs in the ring to give us the usual rigmarole about camcorder tapings and breach of copyright etc, etc. He also asks us to avoid throwing items towards the ring area, for our safety and all that. He then asks us to welcome a member of the "WWE's first family of wrestling" or something like that, and at this point I've got visions of Jimmy Hart walking out with Meng, The Barbarian, Brian Knobs and Jerry Flynn! But no, my hopes are dashed and Stephanie McMahon makes her way to the ring.
Stephanie welcomes us to the MEN Arena, and says there's one thing about this UK crowd that she finds disappointing - they don't make nearly enough noise as the US crowds! Which prompts a raucous applause from the audience. The lights go out again, and a great pyro display kicks of the show and the first match;
Session 1
Match 1 : Matt Hardy Version 1.0 vs. Batista
Matt arrives to a huge pop, everyone giving the V-1 sign in the arena. Batista comes out to his original non-Evolution theme to a chorus of boos and attempts to win the crowd over with a series of muscular poses. A pretty solid match, with a few decent exchanges, including Matt hitting his trademark leg-drop from the middle rope. Boos aplenty for Batista, who ends up defeating Hardy with a big spinebuster.
Post-match, however, he decides that Hardy has not had enough and returns to the ring to deliver yet another spinebuster, which causes referee Mike Chioda to reverse his decision and awards the victory to Hardy (is that allowed?!). A now pissed-off Batista then delivers a third spinebuster to Hardy, who is then helped to the back by the ref to a round of applause.
Winner : Matt Hardy Version 1.0
Verdict : 7 / 10
This was a very solid opener, Batista is impressive - I really can see Batista competing at the top level in years to come. Hardy is impressive as well. Match would have been better if we got to see a Twist of Fate or a Powerbomb, but nevertheless, an exciting opener. Lots of boos for Batista, as you would expect.
Match 2 : La Resistance vs. The Hurricane and Rosey
La Resistance come out first to booing as you would expect, with Hurricane and Rosey getting a decent pop. Not the most technical of matches, with La Resistance applying a lot of headlocks and such-like to Hurricane, with Rosey getting the crowd behind Hurricane.
After much double teaming, Rosey gets the hot tag and cleans house on La Resistance, rolling out of a hammerlock and delivering a double clothesline, impressive stuff from Rosey. We then get an interruption from Eugene who starts "humping" Rob Conway to interrupt a pin. William Regal comes down to retrieve Eugene, and while the ref tries to restore order, Rosey puts Grenier in an airplane spin, with Hurricane nailing the neckbreaker from the second rope for an impressive double team maneuver, giving them the win.
Winners : The Hurricane and Rosey
Verdict : 6 / 10
I must admit, I did not have high hopes for this match, as La Resistance tend to bore me on TV and I'm not a hardcore fan of Hurricane and Rosey. As entertaining as H & R are, Hurricane really needs to be on Smackdown with the other cruiserweights, and Rosey needs the chance to showcase his 3-Minute Warning standard of wrestling, which is a lot better than the stuff I've seen him doing on TV recently. Despite this the match did not bore me as much as I thought it would and the crowd were really into it.
Match 3 : Garrison Cade vs. Rhyno
Garrison Cade, as you would expect comes out to a chorus of boos, while Rhyno gets a surprisingly big pop, most likely because he has come to put us out of our misery of seeing Cade acting like an ass-clown. Cade is wearing a brace on his knee.
Match starts of with Cade reluctant to get into a tie-up, instead preferring to lock up on the outside of the ring, along the length of the security rails. Back in the ring, Cade whips Rhyno into the ropes and proceeds to leap-frog over him, but Cade appears to have landed funny and slumps to the mat, clutching his knee. At first, this looks like a diversion, but the ref signals for assistance and a number of officials climb in the ring and attend to Cade, as it would appear he has sustained a legitmate injury.
He has now been lying on the mat for about 10 minutes, even Rhyno appears concerned, checking in on Cade. As refs help Cade to his feet, Rhyno showing tremendous sportsmanship, holding the ropes open, only for Cade to shrug off the referees and boot Rhyno in the face, sending him crashing to the outside. Cade rolls Rhyno back in and gets the 1-2-3.
Winner : Garrison Cade
Verdict : 4 / 10
While this match featured a grand total of about zero moves, it did do a good job of pushing Garrison Cade as a true heel. Feigning a serious injury for about 10 minutes did convince about everybody in the arena that it was legit. The finish was disappointing, I think they could have gotten more out of the match if they'd had some wrestling thrown in there. When Rhyno came out, everybody was expecting to see a gore.
Match 4 : WWE Intercontinental Championship
Shelton Benjamin vs. Randy Orton (Champion)
Big pops for both guys. Although the match is tainted from the start as it's a championship match - and championships never change hands on house shows, let alone one on British soil, so the result is a foregone conclusion. Nevertheless, I was intrigued to see how good a match these guys put on.
Orton is hesitant to lock up at first, seeking sanctuary at the ropes in the opening minutes. A few lockups ensue and we see a few basic maneuvers in the form of hiptosses and arm-drags. The general pace of the match is slow, with the crowd surprisingly divided, with alternating chants of "Shelton!" and "Orton!" Shelton's revolving calf-kick, and a quick powerslam for a near-fall is about as technical as it gets. Shelton is ultimately cheated out of the championship by an Orton rollup, with his legs on the TOP rope for leverage. Despite this, Orton leaves to a reasonable pop. Shelton, despite being cheated, heads to the back in good spirits to a big pop.
Winner, and still Intercontinental Champion : Randy Orton
Verdict : 7 / 10
I think if they play it right with these guys they should have a great rivalry. Would liked to have seen Orton win clean, but I suppose Shelton needs to be seen as having Orton's number. A good effort, tainted only by two things - making it a championship match, which made Orton the inevitable winner from the start - and two, they could at least have had him use the RKO to get a clean win to push him as a legitimate champ.
At this point we now have a break from wrestling, and the Fink asks to welcome one of WWE's premiere divas - Stacy Keibler! Stacy begins to dance (man she has fine legs) and almost immediately Eric Bischoff make his way down to the ring accompanied by Johnny Nitro.
Bischoff berates Stacy, saying that the Manchester crowd did not spend their "hard-earned money" to watch her dance. They paid to see wrestling! Bischoff orders Stacy to stand in the corner and mind her own business. Nitro then sucks up to Bischoff, saying that in the future, the words suave, sophisticated and charming etc, etc, will remind people of Eric. Bischoff then humourously remarks that what Johnny just said remind him of himself! Made me laugh, although I don't quite know why!
Eugene then comes out again and starts hugging Bischoff like a baby! Regal then comes down again to retrieve Eugene and gets berated by Bischoff for failing to keep Eugene under control. Regal then snaps and picks Bischoff up by the jacket and has a rant, while Eugene takes care of Nitro with a rolling Samoan slam, a la Fit Finlay.
As Regal sends Eugene to the back, Nitro calls Regal back to the ring, saying he wants to apologise for not showing the best wrestler to ever come out of Britain respect in his home country, which gets a big pop. Regal then returns to the ring, only for Nitro to attack him from behind. Regal then counters with punches, before ripping of his jacket and giving Nitro a back body drop. Regal gets respect and applause from the British fans before leaving to his old heel music.
Match 5 : Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels
Everybody could not believe it when HHH came down to the ring this early in the evening, let alone being followed out by HBK to face HHH. Both guys arrive to huge pops, HBK especially. I must admit that I expected this effort to be a "watered-down" version of the matches I've seen the two have on TV.
Anyway, both men start up with a traditional lock-up and the action quickly spills to the outside. HHH sends Michaels crashing into the ring steps, and when the action gets back in the ring, Michaels has been busted open, which I wasn't expecting to see. Punches and chops are traded back and forth, and eventually the action spills to the outside once more. An attempt at a pedigree on the outside by Hunter is reversed, with HBK launching HHH into the ringpost. HHH is now bust open. Unbelievable stuff.
Back in the ring, neither man appears to have the upper hand, as HBK gets locked in the abdominal stretch. With the crowd firmly behind HBK, he struggles out of the submission and after a whip into the ropes, gives HHH a taste of his medicine, locking in an abdominal stretch of his own. A facebuster and an Arn Anderson spinebuster by Hunter evens things up again, and this match could still go either way. Michaels goes on to counter two pedigrees, and after the second begins stomping in the corner, signalling for some Sweet Chin Music! Triple H grabs the leg and counters, put Michaels sends HHH down again! Out of nowhere the Sweet Chin Music connects and Michaels gets the 1-2-3.
I don't know if it was me, but I think the pin was botched, it looked like Triple H kicked out just a fraction too late, as the ref's hand hit the mat three times, but put his hand up with two fingers, as if HHH kicked out at the last second, but then decided to award the win to HBK. I was a little confused, but not enough to stop me celebrating Shawn Michaels victory, after an absolute classic encounter.
Winner : Shawn Michaels
Verdict : 8.5 / 10
Absolutely fantastic match, and best of the night so far. I don't know if the match was scheduled to end at the point it did, but the way the ref counted made it seem like the match was meant to go on. Might just have been me though. If it was botched they did a good job of recovering the situation. Great stuff from both guys - is it possible for them to not have a good match?
The Fink is back on the stick and announces WWE's RAW return to England in October, and that merchandise is for sale in the lobby. He goes onto announce that in the main event we will see Kane taking on Chris Benoit. On that note, we head into the intermission.
Session 2
Match 6 : No Disqualification Match
Tyson Tomko w/ Trish Stratus vs. Chris Jericho
Everyone gets excited when this match is announced as being no DQ, and Tomko and Trish make their way to the ring. Trish gets on the mic and says that the problems her and Christian have had with Jericho is why they have Tomko, the "Problem Solver". They also boast about putting Jericho through a table on Raw. She also adds that she is sick of being called a slut, and obviously this incites the crowd to chant Slut! Jericho makes his way to the ring with his ribs taped up and the match gets underway.
Tomko starts bullying Y2J around the ring, with Trish getting cheap shots in from ringside. Jericho starts to turn the match around and downs Tomko with a dropkick, and soon enough Trish is in the ring. Jericho takes Trish over his knee and starts to spank her, rendering her unconscious for the rest of the match in a ref-like fashion. Not much later Tomko goes for a chair and attempts to wallop Jericho in the face, who ducks and delivers an enziguri to Tomko, sending him crashing to the mat and his head into the chair. Nice move allowing Jericho to pick up the win and a measure of revenge.
Winner : Chris Jericho
Verdict : 6.5 / 10
Jericho was the firm fan favourite in this encounter, and Tomko certainly looks intimidating, but he needs to add moves other than the punches, clotheslines and big boots to his wrestling repertoire to be competing consistently at this level. For some odd reason he reminds me of Brock Lesnar in his early WWE days for some reason. Impressive showing for both guys.
Match 7 : Edge vs. Ric Flair
Edge comes out first to a huge pop, at this point it was more or less obvious who his opponent was to be - the Nature Boy! Flair makes his way out to a round of Whoooo's and a huge pop.
The two guys lock up, and Flair does his trademark strutting around the ring, which garners another chorus of Whooo!'s. This begins to piss Edge off, and he copies the Nature Boy's strutting, resulting in a lot of heat from the crowd. Edge grabs a mic, and rants that he is the future of the wrestling industry - what has Ric Flair got? He then proceeds to wind the crowd up by referring to us as "ungrateful British bastards!" A heel turn on the card for Edge perhaps?
The match now gets firmly underway with a typical Flair showing of knife-edge chops, stiff punches, more strutting, and even a stiff low blow for good measure. Flair makes the age-old mistake of heading to the top turnbuckle, only to receive the good old powerslam from the top. Edge then signals for the spear, and nails it perfectly on Flair, who manages to kick out at 2. A few minutes later and Edge finds himself tapping out to a textbook figure-four leg lock.
Winner : Ric Flair
Verdict : 7 / 10
Ric was respected in this match, to the extent that Edge had to resort to playing the heel. Heel turn on the cards for Edge? Who knows, but a very good match, with Ric Flair pulling off a convincing victory. Once Edge had nailed the spear, I would not have been surprised to see him get the pin, but the Nature Boy is showing he has many a good match left in him yet.
Match 8 : Triple-Threat Women's Championship Match
Lita vs. Molly Holly vs. Victoria (Champion)
Lita comes out to a reasonable pop, Molly gets heat and looks absolutely hilarious in that comical blonde wig, almost as bad as Kurt's headgear from the Edge/Angle feud. Victoria gets the biggest pop of the three. A very short match with Victoria pinning Molly after the widow's peak.
Winner, and still Women's Champion : Victoria
Verdict : 3 / 10
Victoria was expected to win, being a championship match and all, but I certainly think they could have done a lot better. Lita was hardly allowed any offence, being sent out of the ring for most of the match, as was Molly. The moves weren't particularly bad but you could just tell this match was slotted in to kill time and was just a token Women's match. If this match had featured any developments in the Kane/Lita angle, or had any bearing on the main event, I could have let this match off for being so bad.
Main Event
Match 9 : World Heavyweight Championship
Kane vs. Chris Benoit (Champion)
I must admit that Benoit has come a long way since I saw him make his entrance at the Smackdown house show last October as the first guy out to face A-Train in the opening match. Now he's the last guy out in the Raw main event, with two belts over his shoulder. Kane and Benoit both enter to huge pops. Benoit gets on the microphone, and asks Kane if he came here to take Benoit's World Heavyweight Championship. Benoit tells Kane that he came here to tap out, and to realise that he is for real!
Not the most technical of matches, but Benoit does get to hit the triple german suplexes, as well as two consecutive diving headbutts, to which Kane sits bolt upright after each. Kane's attempt at a chokeslam is reversed into the Crippler Crossface to which Kane subsequently taps out.
Benoit gets on the mic and says that Kane joined a very exclusive club tonight - the "you tapped out" club, which prompts the crowd to start chanting. He goes on to say that once again, he proved he is for real.
Winner, and still World Heavyweight Champion : Chris Benoit
Verdict : 7 / 10
Not the worst match I've seen, but it leaves a lot to be desired if they're going with this for the main event at Bad Blood. Then again, it could be that it didn't live upto HHH/Michaels earlier in the evening. I think their styles just clash too much, with Kane being a powerful brawler, and Benoit's superior technical prowess. Kane just can't compete with Benoit at the technical level. On another note, this is not doing Kane's character any good. When WWE had Kane unmasked, it was almost like playing a "Get of Jail Free" card, and I just can't help but feel as though they played that card at the wrong time, because at the time they had HHH/Goldberg/HBK filling the top spots. WWE is going to have to work hard if Kane is going to regain any of the status he had during the Attitude era. Fair enough, Kane is now a veteran who is more than likely enjoying his last years in the business, who they need to put over the talent of tomorrow, but they can't have him lose clean to Edge on PPV one minute, then possibly give him a last championship run the next. WWE needs to work out where they want to take Kane's character.
The Fink goes back on the mic to bring the show to a close, thanks us all for coming and reminds us that Raw will return to the UK in October.
End of Show.
Overall I'll give this house-show a solid 7/10.
Results Summary:
Matt Hardy Version 1.0 defeated Batista
The Hurricane and Rosey defeated La Resistance by pin
Garrison Cade defeated Rhyno by pin
Randy Orton defeated Shelton Benjamin by pin to retain the Intercontinental Championship
Shawn Michaels defeated Triple H by pin
Chris Jericho defeated Tyson Tomko by pin
Ric Flair defeated Edge by submission
Victoria defeated Molly Holly and Lita by pin to retain the Women's Championship
Chris Benoit defeated Kane by submission to retain the World Heavyweight Championship
Best Match of the Night : Triple H/Michaels
Worst Match of the Night : Women's Championship Match
Biggest Pops:
1 Shawn Michaels
2 Ric Flair
3 William Regal
4= Triple H
4= Chris Benoit
6= Rhyno
6= Stephanie McMahon
Biggest Heat:
1= Eric Bischoff
1= Johnny Nitro
3= Edge
3= Garrison Cade
5 La Resistance
Side Notes
- WWE needs to decide what they want to do with Kane's character. If they can't get firmly behind an angle for him then they will lose any chance of getting the audience to take him seriously
- As entertaining as Hurricane and Rosey are, I can't see any worthwhile angles coming up for them. Hurricane would be best going to Smackdown, and taking Tajiri back with him, the cruiserweight division on SD is in a shambles and these guys would be instrumental in the rebuild. Rosey is also capable of some impressive wrestling - the 6-Man Table Match he was in at the 2002 Survivor Series is evidence of that alone, in my eyes, anyway
- Would have been nice to see Orton getting a clean victory under his belt in the IC championship match. I've always found it difficult to accept Orton as the champ, and they blew a perfect chance tonight to gain him some credibility They didn't need to have any controversy over the decision, in my eyes Orton could have quite convincingly defeated Benjamin with the RKO, which would have cemented him as a credible IC champ, which is what he needs right now
- Where was The Rock? My all-time favourite wrestler? Tut.
- If house-shows are where they trial some new ideas then I think a heel turn for Edge is on the cards. The heat he got against Flair was tremendous, so I'm not sure if that's the reaction the WWE were looking for. It could just have been that you couldn't help respecting Flair and cheering him in this match, to the point that Edge had to resort to playing the heel
Well anyway folks, that's about all I've got to say, so many thanks for taking the time to read my report, I hope you've found it interesting to read, and I hope I get the chance to write a few more in the future. If anybody wants to drop me a line I can be reached at gentlebenny2002@yahoo.co.uk.
Until next time, take care.
"Gentle" Ben
P.S Rajah - the site rocks - keep up the good work!
Report of last night's Tour of Defiance Show at the MEN Arena Manchester, UK (28/5/04)
Report by: David "The Druid" Owen, rajah.com reader
Show starts at 7.30pm prompt. "The Fink" comes out to a good reception and he
introduces "from the 1st family of wrestling", Stephanie McMahon.
Short speech from Steph about how its great to be back in the UK because of how
great the fans are - yadda yadda yadda.
Then we're off with:-
Matt Hardy V1 v Batista
Matt gets a good pop as he comes down and reasonable heat for Batista. This set the
precedent for the rest of the night as the crowd was really hot, so even most of the
heels we're getting big pops (but more of that later).
Quite a good match, considering Batista was in it. Acrobatics from Matt and
power-offence from "Big Dave". Hardy eventually goes for the twist of fate but ends
up getting a massive spinebuster for his trouble and Batista gets the pin. After the
match Batista gives Hardy another spinebuster, so Mike Chioda "reverses the
decision" and gives the win to Hardy!! The marks go wild!!! To show how pleased he
is with that decision, Batista gets back in the ring and Hardy gets a 3rd
spinebuster for his trouble. Match score 6.5/10.
Hurricane and Rosey v La Resistance
Fairly standard fare from these 4. High flying from Helms, power from Rosey &
cheating from our "Quebecian friends" As I said, the crowd were very hot will a
sell-out of nearly 20,000 in the arena so the faces got a good pop and a nice chorus
of boos for Grenier and Conway. Hurricane gets the pin for the win after Eugene
comes down and distracts La Resistance, in the confusion, Regal belts Conway and
Hurricane covers him. Like in the US, the crowd love Eugene. Match score 5.5/10
Rhyno v Garrison Cade
I admit it. They got me. I was swerved. I may be 36 years old and cynical but I fell
for the oldest trick in the book. Rhyno gets a good reception, not much for Cade.
The match goes back and to for a few minutes then Cade goes down injured. He's
clearly in a lot of pain. Several refs and medical guys come down. Eventually after
about 6 or 7 minutes they get a knee-brace on him and try to carry a still screaming
Cade from the ring. Rhyno holds the ropes for him and...............Cade boots him
in the gut!! Stomps him down and get the pin. Did I feel stupid? Yes! Match score
7/10 for a great swerve.
Randy Orton v Shelton Benjamin (IC title match)
OK, this one is a foregone conclusion as no-one can see a belt being dropped at a UK
house show (although I suppose he could win it back on Saturday in Birmingham!).
Best technical match of the night. Crowd gives Orton a mixture of pop and heat (!),
I suppose they're just pleased to see him. Good reception for Benjamin too. Good
moves, well executed and a bit of aerial stuff too. Eventually Randy hits the RKO
for the pin - shock!! Match score 9/10 for the quality alone.
Promo time! Stacey comes down to the ring and the crowd goes berserk. "Anybody want
to dance with me?". More berserkness! Stace starts a dance for us but it lasts one
minute as Bischoff and Nitro come to the ring and tell Stacey that the fans don't
want to see her dance! Massive heat for these 2. He announces that the Jericho v
Tomko match later will be No DQ.
Eugene comes down chased by Regal and jumps in the ring hugging both The Bisch &
Nitro. Regal has a real go at Eugene then turns on Regal, shouting at him that he is
no good at controlling Eugene. Regal has had enough and grabs Bischoff calling him a
load of names including "a gobshite". My favourite term of abuse!! Regal and Eugene
leave but Nitro calls Regal back to get a big hand from his British fans, then
attacks him. Regal dishes out a right royal pasting to Nitro. Very funny section.
HHH v HBK
Trips gets a huge pop as he comes in but an even bigger one hits from HBK. Longest
match of the night with lots of near falls and attempted signature moves. HBK bleeds
early on, mostly over HHH's chest. It dries up a bit and then HHH is bleeding.
Missed pedigree, missed Sweet Chin Music, missed pedigree. Phlegm is flying
everywhere, the front 2 rows should have worn Sou' Westers. Finally Michaels hits
the SCM for the win. Good match with both wrestlers putting each other over well.
Score 8/10.
Jericho v Tomko (no DQ)
Good pop for Trish (I know!) but not much of anything for Tomko. She gets on the mic
and accuses British fans of calling her "a slapper". This does a good job of getting
the "slut" chants going. Jericho comes out to a huge pop. I have been looking
forward to this as I think Jericho is the mutt's nuts. Unfortunately its about the
worst match of the night. Jericho gives it his all as usual, but Tomko misses move
after move. Trust me, this guy will be back in OVW before you can say "creepy little
bastard". Jericho at least gets a spanking move in on Trish before getting the pin,
but what a disappointment. Match score 4/10 (thanks to Jericho).
Flair v Edge
Now it really gets weird. Flair comes out to a colossal pop (he's a heel, fellow UK
fans!). "You think you know me"...another pop takes the roof off the place.
Manchester loves Edge......for now. Matt grappling early and loads of "Woos" from
the crowd. Flair styles and profiles and Edge mimics him. Minor heat for Edge!
Brilliant thinking by Edge now. Grabs a mic and says "Who the hell is Flair? Edge is
the future of wrestling and we British should shut up as we're a "bunch of
yellow-teethed bastards". From now on Edge is the heel and Flair is the Face!! Spear
from Edge....heat! Flair sits up....huge pop! Finally Flair locks in the figure-4
and Edge taps out. Massive reception for both of them. Match score 7.5/10
Victoria v Molly Holly v Lita (women's championship)
Very quick match. Molly slaps the other 2 to start so they double-team her. Lita
gets thrown out of the ring and Victoria hits the Widow's Peak for the win. I'm
surprised to see that Victoria is very hot in the flesh, plus she did that little
dance that she seems to have adopted. Came out to the TATU music by the way. Match
score 4/10
Chris Benoit v Kane (World Heavyweight Championship)
Again, pretty much what you'd expect from these two. Great sign at ringside with a
small lad saying "Kane, kiss my Ass". Kane goes right up to him and smiles! I'd have
fainted with fear!! Benoit is going for a grappling match, Kane is using his power.
Flying headbutt....Kane sits up. Another flying headbutt....Kane sits up again!!
Great crowd reaction. Kane goes for the chokeslam, Benoit reverses, Kane reverses to
try another chokeslam. Benoit escapes and locks in the crossface and Kane taps out
for the win. Match score 7/10.
Really good line up of matches and the 19,500 or so fams present rocked the place. I
have to so I thought it was great, although Tomko made poor old Y2J look like a
turkey.
Top Pops
1 HBK
2 Edge
3 Flair
4 Benoit
5 Eugene/Regal
Big Heat (not much around though!)
1 Bischoff/Nitro
2 Edge (after abusing the crowd!)
3 La Resistance
4 Batista
5 Trish
Cheers
David "The Druid" Owen