Report by: Jason Allen, rajah.com reader
WWE SmackDown House Show Results
Tampa, FL
Torrie Wilson starts the show by strutting herself out to the ring and asking us if
we've seen the latest edition of Playboy. Everyone of course says yes, but she
decides to offer us a sneak peek of what we are missing anyway. This brings the new
GM, and the greatest wrestler of all time, Kurt Angle to the ring. He snaps up every
drop of heel heat available in the no where near sold out Sun Dome by telling Torrie
to get the hell out of his ring. He says that he is honored to be the new GM and
that the amazing matches on SmackDown start tonight.
1.) Billy Kidman & Paul London over The Bashams. This was a slow starting match but
quickly picked up with some nice mat work by Kidman and Doug Basham. Midway though,
London hit the most beautiful spinning heel kick I think I've ever seen. The finish
saw Kidman set up Danny for the Shooting Star Press and then nail it after London
took care of an interfering Doug.
2.) Dennis Knight over Johnny Madison. Knight, formally Midion, has no hope of ever
joining the main SmackDown roster after the performance I witnessed tonight. I saw
him wrestle a dark match when Raw came to Tampa (Night of the Foley walk out) and he
has actually become worse. He spent more time jabbering with the crowd then he did
working the match and effectively made Madison look horrible in front of a crowd
that would have cheered him no matter what as long as he was shutting Knight up.
Mercifully, he got the 3 count after hitting a move similar to the Eye of the
Hurricane.
3.) Chavo Guerrero over Rey Mysterio, Spike Dudley, and Nunzio. The match was
announced as a four way elimination match with the Cruiserweight championship on the
line. Rey came out to the largest pop thus far with Chavo arriving to the loudest
boos thus far. The crowd chanted Eddie, Eddie, which Chavo played to with great
facials. One highlight featured each man hitting over the top rope splashes to the
outside. First it was one to one, then one jumping on two, then when it was Nunzio's
turn to jump on all three, the seas parted and hit met the floor. Nunzio and Spike
were both eliminated at the same time with Rey and Chavo pinning them, respectively,
and then the two of them had a great one on one contest with Chavo scoring the pin
with a school boy and a pull of the tights. Chavo Sr. came in to celebrate and Rey
gave them a double 619 to pop the crowd once again.
4.) Mark Jindrak over Billy Gunn. There's really not to much to say here as the
match was short and rather uneventful. About midway though, Jindrak settles into a
bear hug that seemingly lasts forever. He does have potential though. He showed a
few bright spots during the match, yet it seemed like he didn't want to be there at
times. Almost like his intensity had been zapped down to nearly zero. Could this
have been a match between two men that should have never left the tag team division?
We know this is true for Gunn, but Jindrak still has a chance. Finish came when Gunn
had Jindrak set up for the Fame-Ass-Er but Jindrak counted into his Rock Bottom like
finisher.
5.) Orlando Jordan over Charlie Haas. While Jordan came out to minimal response,
Haas came out to no response because he seemingly came out of no where. He attacked
Jordan from behind and looked fired up to no end. I think Haas is much more eager to
show everyone that he can make it as a single star than any other member of a team
that fell victim to a draft lottery separation. Jordan looked..well he looked like
Orlando Jordan. He wasn't bad by any stretch, but he wasn't amazing either. Yet he
was good enough to get the quick roll up pin fall and leave Charlie Haas fuming
angry.
6.) Undertaker over Booker T. Booker came out and rehashed his speech from SmackDown
this week about how this is the minor leagues and how he's better than anyone in the
back. He notes that when Raw was here in December, they sold out, now he looks
around and the arena is half empty. He then issued an open challenge which was
answered by none other than the Deadman. The place went electric for Undertaker. He
stood in the ring, looking ominous and huge. The Booker Man paced back and forth
with the mic in hand, trying to figure out his best method of attack. Why you
looking at me like that man? He finally asks. He asked the Undertaker if he was
scared. Taker just stood, only moving his head to follow Booker's movements. After a
few more tense moments Booker threw a few haymakers backing Taker up to the ropes.
He countered back with a big boot to the face and then set up for the Tombstone. I
thought for sure Booker T would escape. He didn't. Taker planted him for a 3 count
after 45 seconds. Out ran the Bashams and Dennis Knight. Danny got the Last Ride
(wait, is he still supposed to do that?), Doug got the Chokeslam, and Knight got a
tombstone. Someone finally shut him up.YES!
INTERMISSION
7.) Scotty 2 Hotty & Rikishi over The Dudley Boyz. Bubba grabbed some heel heat by
asking Scotty and Rikishi to save themselves some embarrassment and just hand the
titles over to them. Scotty and Rikishi weren't having it and the match started.
Nice tag action all around. I hear a lot of negatives about the Dudleys. Their
gimmick is stale and what not. While I agree that they could use some freshening up,
they are still the most consistent duo in the business. They haven't lost a step
since I saw them in 2000 and they never get hurt. Anyway, finish comes when Scotty
hits Bubba with the Worm and Rikishi nails D-Von with a rough samoan drop. They then
teased that they weren't going to dance with Rikishi hearing cheers when he took a
step up the stairs and boos when he took a step down. They brought three little guys
into the ring and to the surprise of everyone, Scotty the most, they could all do an
awesome worm. This segment looked like one of those WWE Live commercials we see
every week. Good feelings all around.
8.) John Cena over Rene Dupree. John Cena is amazingly over. The crowd went
completely nuts for him. He goes through his normal, "are we ready to represent"
shtick, and is interrupted mid-rap by Dupree. He says that he can rap too. "Your
name should be John Ceener, because your face looks like a processed Oscar Meyer
wiener." Crowd laughs and Cena makes fun of him. This was a shorter match, but very
effective in putting over Cena as a guy that can walk and talk and Dupree as a
threat to him somewhere down the line. Finish comes when John Cena hits (your guess
here).yeap the F-U.
9.) Eddie Guerrero over Big Show. How pumped was I to see Guerrero, in the prime of
his career, face the Big Show. Well.not very. I was hoping that Guerrero would get
to face someone that would allow him to show off his amazing mat skills and lighting
speed. Instead he got to showcase his ability to carry even the most lumbering of
oafs to a quality match. Show worked the arm for the majority of the first half of
the match. Referee Nick Patrick got sandwiched between 500 lbs of Show and the
turnbuckle shortly after that sending him to the outside to recover. Eddie then
walked into a Chokeslam, but found no ref to make the count. Angle comes sprinting
out and acts as though he might hit Show. He says no I'm here to count the pin. Show
pins but Guerrero kicks out. Guerrero then knocks Show down and hit a Frog Splash
but Angle is over in the corner looking at his shoes when Guerrero makes the cover.
They talk a little smack and the crowd eats it up as they anticipate a Wrestlemania
XX flash back. Eddie knocks Kurt out of the ring and hits Show with a low-blow. He
retrieves his WWE title and crowns the giant with it just as Nick Patrick is coming
back into the ring. He hit's a second Frog Splash and picks up the 3 count. Guerrero
closed out the night by picking two young girls out of the crowd to dance with him.
He asks their names and one says, "Cheryl Ann." "Cheryl Ann what?" he asks back. She
says her last name is Guerrero and Eddie introduces us to his daughters. Great show
with a great ending.
WWE SmackDown House Show Results
by Jennifer Kerstner, rajah.com reader
March 28, 2004 @ USF SunDome, Tampa, FL
The arena was nearly full with the exception of the third level. I had ringside
tickets, and was seated right in front of the middle of the ring. No Rob Van Dam,
and that was disappointing. I hope my pictures turn out well, I took three rolls
worth.
Torrie Wilsoncame out in the cutest little hot pink shorts and said how great it is
to live in Tampa. She is really beautiful up close! She said that she wanted to
give those who had not seen the Playboy with her and Sable on the cover a preview
