Report by: pwtorch.com
DARK MATCHES
(1) Faceless Indy worker defeated Lodi. Yep you read that right, there has been a Lodi sighting and it was good. Lodi came out with his usual sign. One side read "Lodi Hates Greenville" and the other read "Lodi is great" or something to that effect. I was trying in vain to pound my beer before it spilled all over the ground, plus the incredible buzz of pounding a sixteen ounce beer in a minute and I missed the other side. The FIW( faceless Indy worker) was announced as Greenville native so the crowd jumped on his side. The match was average with Lodi looking good as well as the FIW. FIW won the match with a neckbreaker but only after a very convincing near fall after a spike DDT by Lodi.
(2) Brunette Indy worker defeated Blond Indy Worker. I dubbed this the battle of the strippers. The blonde was announced wrestling out of North Carolina and the brunette from Colorado. The brunette Indy worker won the match after some sloppy and I mean sloppy exchanges. If it matters, the crowd ate up the blonde Indy worker. She has the WWE look about her save her chest. And we all know that can be fixed nowadays.
I believe this is where Velocity will take place. They lowered the arena lights so the near empty upper portion of the arena would not be seen. I need to mention the crowd capacity here. Monday afternoon I received an e-mail saying there was a link on Ticketmaster for free Smackdown tickets through the different large corporations here in Greenville. I went to the site and found that you could still get lower bowl seats for roughly $4.00. This is when I knew the WWE was in trouble. When I got to the arena the upper portion of the arena was entirely tarped off except for two sections. Those two sections had half of the seats tarped off. When I was here for Raw two years a go the arena was much fuller with only the upper deck on the hard camera side tarped off. This cannot be an encouraging sign for the WWE.
Anyhoo, the green Velocity hue came over the Smackdown fist and Kidman's music played.
VELOCITY TAPING
(1) Spike Dudley defeated C.W. Anderson.. C.W. looks a lot different than his ECW days. He looks older and thinner. I suppose that is a fair trade off. Spike came out to a loud chorus of boos and had his sweet goatee in full effect. This was an interesting contrast in styles since Spike can barely throw a kazoo around let alone someone who weighs three times as much as he does. So, C.W. grounded Spike but Spike countered with his quick strike offense. Near the end, C.W. caught Spike with the Anderson Spinebuster and scored a convincing near fall. By convincing I mean the entire crowd, myself included, thought it was over and we had an upset on our hands. But Spike kicked out and delivered the Dudley Dog from the middle rope for the victory.
(2) Paul London defeated Billy Kidman. Finally, I get to see Paul London live and in person and up close. Apparently I was the only person who gave a rat's ass about him since I was the only person cheering during his short intro. Paul ran in the ring and attacked Kidman before the bell so they rang the bell starting the match. If only the real world ran that way, sigh. This was a very good back and forth contest with London showing great fire and Kidman acting smug the entire time even when he was being whipped by London. The end came when Kidman missed a Shooting Star Press allowing London to hit his 450 Splash for the pin. This was easily the best match on the card. It made me want to catch Velocity for a change to hear the commentary and see how it plays out across the tube. After the match Melodie turned to me and said" Paul London is hot." So there you go, a ladies perspective and the first of many tonight.
(3) Luther Reigns defeated Hardcore Holly. Luther came out with a surprising amount of boos. Hardcore followed with an equally surprising amount of cheers. When did Bob Holly become a face? Did I miss an episode of Smackdown? I know he was a face when he fought Lesnar but who would cheer for that guy willingly? The two exchanged hard clubbing blows on each other's necks and backs and then exchanged chops. Reins got the upper hand at first and then allowed Holly to get back in the match. Bob gave him the kick in the gut through the legs move and Luther finished Holly off with his finisher for the clean victory.
After the match they must not have liked the finish so Luther came all the way back down the aisle and allowed Hardcore to kick his ass and give him the Alabama slam. Luther then rolled out again as Hardcore soaked up the audience's cheers. As he walked by I reminded Bob "You still lost. Rene Dupree put up a better fight than you did." He either ignored me or did not hear me. I figure he did not hear me.
I am getting the feeling I forgot a match for some reason. If so I apologize, if no, well then I have no idea what I am saying.
