Wrestler of the Day – September 23: Rene Dupree
Today is the French Tickler himself Rene Dupree.
Rene Dupree vs. Gary Williams
Back in and Williams runs him over a few times, only to eat a nice dropkick, knocking Gary back to the floor. A suplex brings Gary back in and sends him rolling outside again as the stalling continues. Inside again with Williams taking over and hitting the running crotch attack to the back. We hit the chinlock on Dupree for a few moments before Williams hammers away in the corner.
Raw Tag Titles: La Resistance vs. RVD/Kane
You can more or less see the ending from here. The heels are Sylvan Grenier and Rene Dupree in case you didn’t know. To my complete lack of shock and dismay, this is nothing that couldn’t be on Raw. I mean there is nothing to note here at all. This could be at any house show or Raw but on PPV? Really? The heels are both on the floor and Van Dam dives, naturally hitting all three of them. A double flapjack ends this. It couldn’t have come faster.
Rating: D+. Again, WHY IS THIS ON PPV? That’s the problem with the whole first hour here. I could see an argument for the two title matches, but seriously, none of this has been PPV quality. The matches are ok, but that’s the problem: they’re just ok. Nothing at all here is making me want to watch this show at all and it’s never something I’m going to watch again. I just want to get to the end of this show and forget about it.
Raw Tag Titles: Dudley Boyz vs. La Resistance
With the tag division such a mess, the idea was to just throw four teams into one match at Wrestlemania XX.
Raw Tag Titles: La Resistance vs. Dudley Boyz vs. Garrison Cade/Mark Jindrak vs. Booker T/Rob Van Dam
Dupree would get a singles run and feuded with John Cena over the US Title over the summer of 2004. Here they are at Judgment Day 2004.
US Title: John Cena vs. Rene Dupree
Surprisingly enough Cena comes out first here. It’s amazing to hear Cena almost universally cheered. Cena rhymes a bit before the match starts and makes fun of the Spurs who had lost to the Lakers in the playoffs recently. To be fair to Dupree, he’s 20 here and was a champion at 19 which is a WWE record. Cena hammers him down but a boot in the corner stops him for what must have been a good four seconds.
We hit the floor for a bit where Cena hits the post. Again Cena misses a charge and hits the floor which has become a running theme in this match. He can’t get anything going here and Dupree keeps up the offense. Bear hug goes on by Dupree just to reaffirm that he’s evil. I know they’ve happened but how often does a face not named Sammartino use a bear hug?
This eats up awhile until Cena gets a jawbreaker to escape. Cena cranks it up a bit and a sidewalk slam puts Dupree down. Five Knuckle Shuffle misses as Dupree casually rolls out of the way. That makes me chuckle for some reason. Spinebuster sets up the French Tickler (don’t ask) and after a brief comeback Cena walks into a DDT for still no cover. FU is countered into a neckbreaker for two. A few pinning combinations by Cena get two each but the FU out of nowhere ends this.
Rating: C. This was just ok. I don’t think anyone ever bought Dupree as a threat here which hurts things a bit but not horribly. Cena needed a win like this on PPV as he only won the title a month or so earlier. Not a horrible match but really just one of those where it came and went with not many people buying into the hype of it.
Another title shot at Great American Bash 2004.
US Title: John Cena vs. Rene Dupree vs. Booker T vs. Rob Van Dam
wn so Rene is gay right? Booker and RVD go at it as do John and Rene to start us off. This is under tornado rules.
Rolling Thunder gets the same. Cena does something for the first time in about four minutes, picking up Rene on the floor, only to get flipped onto by RVD. Cena vs. Rob in the ring now and they exchange near falls. RVD slides to the floor and tells Booker to get in. They get in an argument so RVD throws Booker in for a beating. Cena slides to the floor and throws Rene in to replace him. Cena and RVD are just kind of chilling on the floor.
Team Cena vs. Team Booker T.
John Cena, Rob Van Dam, Charlie Haas
Booker T., Rene Dupree, Luther Reigns
Luther Reigns comes in next as another five minute period begins. He hammers on the downed Van Dam and we take a break. Back with a minute left in the period and Rob coming back with some right hands. A springboard kick to the jaw sets up Rolling Thunder but the delayed cover only gets two. Reigns nails a spinebuster but misses a knee drop as the period ends and Charlie Haas comes in.
Charlie goes after the leg and puts on a kind of Indian Deathlock to take over. He cranks on the knee even more but Luther fights up and hits a release butterfly suplex. A big belly to back suplex gets two for Luther and we take a break. Back with Dupree getting two on Haas before chopping away in the corner. Rene goes up but gets armdragged down to put both guys on the mat. A good looking series of Rolling Germans get some two counts for Charlie as frustration is setting in.
Rene would be paired with Kenzo Suzuki and win the Smackdown Tag Team Titles in late 2004. Here they are defending at No Mercy 2004.
Smackdown Tag Titles: Kenzo Suzuki/Rene Dupree vs. Rob Van Dam/Rey Mysterio
Rene Dupree vs. Matt Striker
A big clothesline drops Rene and he stomps Matt on the mat to take over. We hit the chinlock for a bit before a falling headbutt gets two for Dupree. He throws Matt out to the floor before taking it back inside for another chinlock. Striker fights up and nails a slam followed by a high cross body for two. Dupree punches him out of the air though and nails a cobra clutch slam for the pin.
get behind someone that small without anything interesting about him.
Dupree would go to the new ECW and appeare on the September 12, 2006 show.
Rene Dupree vs. Balls Mahoney
Dupree would head to Japan soon after this and appeared for the Hustle promotion on September 22, 2007.
Wataru Sakata vs. Rene Dupree
Rene Dupree vs. Tajiri
Keiji Mutoh/Rob Terry/Taiyo Kea vs. Masayuki Kono/Rene Dupree/Samoa Joe
Things settle down and Mutoh mostly misses a dropkick to Joe and the tag brings in Kea. A Russian legsweep gets two on Joe but he comes back with a powerslam. Off to Kono who gets caught in something resmbling a running DDT. Terry gets the tag and gets the crowd to clap a lot before hitting a slow motion Jackhammer. Kea rolls away and tags in Dupree who is quickly backdropped down.
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