2/6 CO-BRANDED WWE SHOW RESULTS FROM ANCHORAGE, AK
by Shane in Alaska @ 9:28:00 AM on 2/7/2005
I just came back from the WWE Supershow in Anchorage Alaska!
We hosted the show at the Sullivan Arena and after the show I was told by some workers that around 6,500 people turned out for the event. Since the Sullivan holds about 8,500 the show was only about 75% sold out. People were spread out all the way up through the cheap seats, I even took a picture of the crowd before it went dark.
The show was great and everybody worked hard despite all the travel and work leading up to this event. WWE really put on a great show for us.
To start we had Lillian Garcia sing the National Anthem to start things off. Lillian did not pander much to the crowd (for pictures or anything) although she came out several times through out the night.
Eric Bischoff came out to the ring next and got loudly booed. He badmouthed Teddy Long and cut a little promo about what we would be seeing later on in the show. He was pretty good for the short time we saw him.
Shelton Benjamin vs. Edge for the I-C title was first. It was a nice opening match and Shelton is really amazing to see in person. He won the match with a T-Bone powerslam.
Victoria came out next, followed by Trish Stratus with the Women's title. Victoria ran around the ring and took off the gear (black pants and jacket) she wore over her ring outfit while Trish made her way out. Trish had her neck in a soft collared neck brace like she did on Raw. The match was short with Victoria starting out in control and Trish taking over. Once Trish had control of the match she pulled the soft collar off and pranced around the ring so all the fans could get a picture. She helped Victoria up to her feet and when Victoria was almost up Trish planted her with a "Chick-Kick" to the head. It was well timed and got the 1-2-3. The fans were crazy about Trish up here. Victoria got some attention too.
Next we had Doug & Danny Basham come out. As they posed and got into the ring a low-rider came in with Eddie and Rey in it. The fans really popped for it as you could expect. Eddie got deafening "Edd-EE" chants throughout the match and even after it was over. He was possibly the most over person in the building. These four had a great match up. Rey went for some "6-1-9" chants and got the fans going too. The Bashams really had their timing down during this match and did several very cool switch outs that were very well timed. At one point Doug Basham (who was the illegal man) popped into the ring out of nowhere and clotheslined Rey out of his boots and hopped back out of the ring all in one motion. It was a great match and the crowd was really into it. Rey went for a 619 on Danny Basham only to get hit in the knees by Doug with a chair (I think... I couldn't see it too well from my seat). Rey limped around in the ring while the ref DQ'd the Bashams and declared Eddie & Rey the winners. All four guys get in the ring and Eddie & Rey get the upper hand... Eddie gets both Bashams down on the ropes and holds them in place while Rey gives them both the 619! Eddie and Rey thanked the crowd on the mic. Eddie through a shirt to the crowd and it landed into the lap of the guy sitting next to me!
Next out came Jonathan Coachman... and the fans booed him pretty bad. A guy sitting a row behind me yelled "You suck" and The Coach stopped dead in his tracks and glared right at the guy. It was pretty funny. Coachman introduced Maven... who made his way to ringside while being heavily booed. Suddenly Batista's music hit and the fans went crazy! Batista made his way to ringside and climbed in. Maven hightailed it leaving the Coach in the ring with "the Animal" Batista. Batista knocked the stuffing out of the Coach with a massive clothesline in the corner. Maven made his way back into the ring to get a clothesline, a huge spinebuster, and then "Batista-bombed" nearly through the mat. It was the shortest match of the night with Batista easily scoring the 3 count and getting the fans to pop huge. He wasn't on the show long enough IMO.
The gorgeous Joy Giovanni came out followed by The Big Show. Big Show got a bigger pop than Batista and was probably only second to Guerrero in popularity with the crowd. On a funny side note, Show turned his back and leaned back to hit the ring ropes without seeing that the ring announcer was making his way out of the ring and Show bumped into him sending the announcer to the floor. Show turned around with a huge smile on his face and started laughing and mouthing something to the announcer about staying out of his way. JBL and Orlando Jordan made their way out to face Show for a handicapped match. I expected a limo with longhorns, but no such luck. Did I mention how hot Joy Giovanni is in person? At one point Big Show was grounded on the mat and JBL had him in a leg lock while Orlando had Show in a reverse chinlock and they both cranked down for a couple minutes. It looked pretty cool. Show eventually got the upper hand on both of them again and crushed them in the corner together. He then kicked JBL in the face and picked up Orlando for the Chokeslam and the win. After the match Show and Giovanni walked around and posed.
Ric Flair made his way to ringside and everyone was screaming "wooooooooo!" The Nature Boy was over in Anchorage. So was his opponent, Shawn Michaels. When both guys got into the ring Flair grabs the mic and starts to bad mouth... Bret Hart?!? Flair tells the crowd that Hart always wanted to be just like the Nature Boy but never could be and is jealous because of it. Flair then goes on to say that unlike Hart, HBK is one of the greatest wrestlers that ever lived and that Flair was going to kick his butt.. "H-B-K" chants kept starting up, and so did "Nay-Chur-Boy" chants. HBK got more attention though, and did more for the fans than anyone else. I would say that HBK slapped hands with probably about 70% of the fans that made it to the barrier. I'm talking all the way down the ramp, around the ring and back up the other side. He even went into the crowd and ran around the cheap seats a bit. I was really impressed. These two had a great match too. They went for the old HBK exposes Flair's butt routine... but it is a sight to see in person. Flair let his rear hang out for several minutes while the fans all yelled at him to pull his trunks back up. It was awesome. Flair got HBK in the Figure Four, and HBK eventually got out & hit the Superkick for the win.
Christy Hemme & Maria came out with a shirt gun to shoot t-shirts into the crowd. Hemme is even hotter in person... what a little body she has. I got some great pictures of her, but overall it was a boring segment that took 10 minutes or so to do.
As if seeing Trish, Joy, Christy, & Maria wasn't enough out comes Torrie Wilson and Stacy Keibler. Torrie looked especially hot, but Stacy oddly didn't. Torrie did all the talking and Stacy just kind of stood there. Wilson announced there would be a battle royal and listed the contestants as they made their way out to the ring.
Spike Dudley, Akio, Funaki, Paul London, Mark Jindrak, Luther Reigns, Hardcore Holly, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Orlando Jordan, Rene Dupree, Rhyno, Charlie Haas, Val Venis, Chavo Guerrero, Kenzo Suzuki, Tyson Tomko, Christian, Hurricane, Rhyno, William Regal, Tajiri, Simon Dean, Robert Conway, Sylvain Grenier, Muhammed Hassan and the last competitor... the BIG SHOW!
Everyone stopped for the Big Show to come out and enter the ring. Once he got in several guys jumped him and the eliminations started. Val Venis went first, and Paul London took a high bump over the top to the floor. Hassan was eliminated and Hurricane right after him. Hurricane kicked Hassan in the chest on the way out of the arena. It got to a point where 5 Raw stars faced down 5 Smackdown stars. Then it got down to the last 5 (Christian, Jericho, Benoit, Holly, & Show). Show gorilla pressed Christian and through him over the top. Show got in the middle of the ring and then fought off Jericho, Benoit, & Holly. Show eliminated Holly. Jericho dropkicked Show's knee and Benoit took Show down. Benoit & Jericho turn on each other with Benoit tossing Y2J over the top. Jericho skins the cat though and comes back to almost eliminate Benoit. Show gets up and takes out Jericho. Benoit and Show are alone in the ring. Show starts to toss Benoit over the top, but Benoit is tenacious and holds onto Show (like last year's Royal Rumble). Benoit drags Show over the top rope and out to the floor to win. The fans went wild! Show got back into the ring to raise Benoit's hand, which also got a pop from the crowd.
John Cena came out to the ring to a good pop. Then Kurt Angle's music hit and the crowd erupted with "you suck" chants! Kurt was easily the most over heel. Angle and Cena had a great match. Angle is amazing to watch in person. He is so fluid in the ring that it is scary. He was all over Cena. Cena managed to kick out of the Angle Slam and then come back and hit the F-U for the win. After the match Cena grabbed the mic and talked for a few minutes (no rap). He invited a small boy (maybe 6 or 7 years old) into the ring and let him hold up the US title for having the best John Cena sign. Cena was pretty over with the crowd at that point.
Snitsky and Heidenreich came out next. The two hugged in the ring before Kane & Undertaker came out. Kane and Taker came out to separate entrances and Taker was over almost as much as Big Show. Kane worked a majority of the match versus Snitsky, with Heidenreich taking over every once in a while. Kane was kept at bay mostly, saving the Undertaker for clean-up duty. After about 8 or 9 minutes Kane made it over to tag UT and the crowd went nuts. UT cleaned house of course and took out both Snitsky and Heidenreich at the same time. UT went for a double chokeslam but got caught and beaten up by Snitsky & Heidenreich. Kane & UT both received bodyslams at the same time. Then while Snitsky & Heidenreich were mouthing off to the crowd with their backs turned Kane & UT both sat up. Twin chokeslams and then twin tombstones ended this match up. After the match Kane went down on one knee and put his hand up and out towards the Undertaker paying him homage. It was cool. UT took his time leaving the ring and posed a bit under the purple/blue lights.
The main event was next with HHH facing Randy Orton for the World title. Both guys were pretty over, but HHH was over moreso. He was getting more cheers than boos and the reaction to him was probably just shy of what UT and Big Show had gotten. The match was pretty good, with the action going back and forth. HHH resorted to cheating of course and took a plastic banner (with the logo of the local radio station that was sponsoring the show) and blatantly choked Orton with it for several minutes. The ref could see it and didn't seem to care much. It was sort of odd, but funny. HHH brought a chair in after that, and had Orton end up using it on him instead. HHH bladed and bled for us up here! It was pretty cool. We saw failed attempts at the Pedigree and the RKO. HHH finally got the win, leaving Orton laying in the ring. Fans really wanted to see HHH win this match and cheered him on throughout. Orton was still very over though, and even kissed a female fan at ringside after the match. This of course started the other young female fans to start screaming... thank goodness the show was over. Orton went around to all the fans and shook hands then the crowd started to disperse.
I stayed around a little bit and talked to Charles Robinson who was taking down the ring apron. He was pretty cool and we talked about the "Little Naitch" angle in WCW. He said that it was a fun time and that he wishes he could do it again. Overall it was a great show and we hope WWE comes back again soon (it had been 2-3 years since the last time).
