Report by: pwtorch.com
DARK MATCH
(1) Shannon Moore beat Carlos Colon in a dark match. Moore was billed as being from Fayetteville (normally billed as being from Raleigh) which the crowd loved
VELOCITY TAPING
(1) The FBI beat The Basham Brothers with their finishing with Nunzio coming off the second rope with the legdrop.
(2) Charlie Haas beat Mark Jindrak with a German suplex
(3) Billy Kidman & Paul London beat The Dudleys in a non-title match. Kidman hit the shooting star press on D-Von, but Bubba pulled the referee out of the ring before he could count three. The ref DQ’d the Dudleys for that.
SMACKDOWN TAPING
The show opened with Kurt Angle in the back going over what happened at the Bash. Then JBL came out to celebrate with the ring decorated with red white and blue and red decorations and a red carpet. JBL cut a promo celebrating his win and promised to defend the belt tonight against someone of his choosing.
(1) Booker T beat Rene Dupree and Rob Van Dam in a no. 1 contender’s match for the U.S. Title. won a three way #1 contenders match for the US Title. Finish came when RVD hit the frog splash on Dupree. Booker pulled RVD out of the ring then covered Dupree for the win.
JBL is in the locker room ready to choose his opponent for the night. He says he will fight “a Dudley.” The Dudley Boys were excited thinking it was one of them, but JBL then said it would be Spike Dudley.
Luther Reigns is in the back with referee Charles Robinson. He goes over what happened in the Torrie and Sable match from the Bash. He then says there will be trouble if Robinson doesn’t get things right for the rematch between Torrie and Sable later on in the show. (Note: Luther’s real potential shines through here, he is a good talker).
(2) Torrie beat Sable with a DDT without controversy. Angle then came on the big screens and said while Robinson did all right with the match, he was still not happy. He then tells Robinson he will be wrestling in a match against Luther, who comes out. Just as the match gets started Robinson tries to make a run for it, but Luther catches him. As they are getting back in the ring Charlie Haas runs down to make the save for Robinson. He fights off Luther and then helps Robinson to the back.
Paul Heyman then comes out. He explains how the Undertaker is in his control now. Pyros go off from the ring posts and the Undertaker comes up on the big screens. He explains his conscious is now gone and that if he was willing to do what he did to Paul Bearer who was one of the only things he cared about, then Heyman could not imagine what Undertaker will do to him. The segment ended with Heyman scarred to death.
(3) Rey Mysterio beat Mordecai with an huracanrana while getting out of Mordecai’s finisher.
D-Von and Bubba Rey are in the back with Spike talking about Spike’s upcoming title shot. They say they will help Spike win if he gives one them a shot at the title afterwards. Spike then says he will do it on his own, without their help.
Kenzo Suzuki comes out to his normal entrance and then cuts a promo in Japanese. The crowd chanted “WHAT” between everything he said. John Cena then comes out and cuts a funny promo on Suzuki. He does a bit where part of what Suzuki says is shown on the big screens, and then Cena translates. Of course, all the translations make Suzuki and Haroko look bad. I don’t know how much of it will make it on TV since a few the comments walked the line a bit.
Luther then came out from the back dragging Robinson with him. They redid the bit with Charlie Haas saving Robinson, apparently it did not come off well the first time around.
(4) Bradshaw beat Spike Dudley with a powerbomb to retain the WWE Title. JBL was able to get more heat from the crowd then I expected, but it wasn’t a good match.
Eddie Guerrero’s music came on right at the end of the match and he came out to fight JBL. Eddie set up JBL for the frog splash but JBL rolled out of the ring. Eddie then got on the mic and announced that since he won the WWE title before Kurt Angle became GM, he was able to put a clause into his contract that said he could get a rematch for the title and the match could be anything of his choosing. So in two weeks it will be JBL vs. Eddie in a steel cage for the title on Smackdown. This where the TV show ends.
After the Taping Stopped: When the show ended JBL came back to the ring and called out anyone in the back. Undertaker came out to huge reaction from the crowd. JBL then proceeded to cut one of the best chickens— heel promos I have heard in a long time. I was in shock at how good he was. I wish I could transcribe it. He was absolutely hilarious on the level of some of Kurt Angle’s funny heel promos. Undertaker almost broke character and laughed at JBL. Undertaker eventually laid out JBL with a chokeslam fallowed by a Tombstone and left he ring, JBL continued his funny heel promo after coming to from being knocked out. I was never a fan of JBL, but he won me over as a fan tonight with his great promo. It’s too bad it this will not be seen on TV. It was the highlight of the show and a good way to send the fans home happy.
Notes: The crowd was pretty good. They popped for most everything and JBL was able to generate some solid heel heat with the crowd. I went in with very low expectations considering how bad the PPV was. Things came off much better then I expected. The show came off well live, but it will probably not be very good on TV. It just seems like they are running shows that make great house shows but bad TV.
Moolah and May Young were in attendance with what looked to be some family members. They sat by one of the entrance ways bellow the hard camera position near where I sat. They were not acknowledged as being there, only the people sitting around them knew they were there. They seemed to have a good time and were very cordial with the fans that stopped and asked to take pictures of them. They left just before the JBL match.
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Thanks to Kevin Matthews for sending this in:
Here's the rundown:
Velocity:
FBI defeated Bashams - Stamboli held Danny in a backbreaker while Nuzio came off the top with a leg drop.
Charlie Haas def. Mark Jindrak - decent match, due to Haas. Won with a German bridge.
Kidman/London beat Dudleys by DQ - Kidman hit D-Von with the shooting star, but Bubba pulled the ref out for the DQ. Afterwards they laid them out. Not a bad match.
Smackdown:
Angle gloated about doing the right thing at GAB and justice being served
Show starts...
Layfield came in to celebrate his title victory. Ring was laid out with red, white, and blue decorations on the ropes and the canvas was red. Name drops Ronald Reagan, saying its "Morning in America" again and how he'll be a great champion to everyone. Says Angle allowed him to fight anyone who was at the Bash last night, except Eddie Guerrero.
Booker vs. RVD vs. Dupree - winner will be the #1 contender for the U.S. Title. Pretty good spots, with the crowd popping for the Spinaroonie and RVD's first frog splash and Rolling Thunder. Heat was given for the Dupree Shuffle. Finish was RVD hitting his second splash on Dupree (Booker caught one first), but Booker pulled him out the ring and covered Dupree for the win. Kind of a lame finish.
Bradshaw goes into the locker room, and says he picks "a Dudley". Of course, it turns out to be Spike. Cena, Rey, Dudleys (no Spike), and Booker were in the skit.
Luther Raines talks with Charles Robinson and reviews the Sable/Torrie match on a elevision... complains about some kind of controversy. Says if there are any problems with the rematch, there will be trouble.
Torrie beats Sable with a DDT. Terrible match, as you could have expected. Sable didn't wait 3 seconds to sell the DDT or anything. No controversy though. Afterwards, Angle comes on the Titan and says although there were no problems, he couldn't let Raines get away with last night, so he sends Raines to fight him in a match. Raines catches him and starts pounding him until Haas comes out for the save. The funny thing about this is that they did this spot twice. I guess whoever was booking didn't like the first one, so he made them do it over again just before the main event.
Heyman comes out, and gloats about getting the Undertaker to finish off Bearer. Says he is due for a thank you by the Undertaker and he will get that "with interest". Pyro explodes and Undertaker comes up on the Titan and tells Heyman if he's willing to do that to Bearer, the only person he cared about, imagine what he's going to do to him. Heyman acts like a scared rabbit.
Mysterio beats Mordecai - Disappointing, with Mysterio of course on defense most of the time. He did get in the 619, but the crowd didn't pop for it until right after he did it. Finish was Mordecai going for that Razor's Edge/crucifix bomb, but Rey was able to turn
it into the hurricanrana for the win. Is that his first loss?
The Dudleys talk to Spike. They accuse Spike of doing something to get the shot. They say they have his back, because they are family, and they "know" if he wins the title he's going to give one of them the first title shot. Spike says he'd rather do it on his own.
Kenzo Suzuki comes out, yells some jibberish in Japanese with the crowd saying "what" after every pause, then Cena comes out. He clowns him and his valet for a while, then has production replay the promo bit by bit and attempts to translate. Mostly gutter humor, talking about constipation and how Kenzo likes going to gay nude beaches. Funny spot on the valet, translating one statement as Kenzo taking her to see "White Girls" (clowning her because of all the white makeup on her face). Crowd loved it, but I doubt if it goes over on TV that well.
Main event...of course Bradshaw squashed Spike. Spike got in some offense, with the stomps in the corner and the Dudley Dog, which got a 2 count the crowd popped over, but Bradshaw gave him two short clotheslines (ala Jake Roberts) and a power bomb.
As soon as the bell rang, Eddie's music came up and he came to the ring. They fought, and Bradshaw bailed. Before he got back into his car, Eddie told him to hold on, and informed him that he had a clause in his contract when he won the WWE title saying he gets a rematch of a match of HIS choosing, and it will be a cage match in two weeks. Bradshaw ranting as the show ends.
After the show, Eddie left and Bradshaw came back out, called Eddie a "stupid Hispanic punk" or something like that, and clowned the crowd for a while for trailer parks and confederate flags. Typical stuff.
He challenged Eddie or anyone else to come from the back to face him so he'd kick his ass and the Undertaker came out with a loud pop. Once Taker got in the ring, Bradshaw played scared and tried to talk himself into fighting him, saying he was a Hardcore Champion and was a tough guy. Finally he tried to fake getting out the ring and tried to hit Taker, Taker blocked it, hit him a few times, chokeslam, and eventually the Tombstone. Taker then grabbed the title and laid it on Bradshaw and left. Bradshaw got
up after Taker left, doing a little selling, clowned the fans again, and left.
Crowd was alright. They popped for Cena, Mysterio, and Taker. After a little pop during the Sable/Torrie match, they went dead. And they really weren't that interested in Bradshaw/Spike...not that you can blame them. They loved the after show, so I suppose everyone went home happy, which is typical Vince.
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