Dark Matches

 

Couldn't hear the name as the Philly crowd was really

into it. Kanyon receives nice big "we remember you" pop. back and forth

and closer then expected but Kanyon pulls out the win.

 

(2) Nathan Jones defeated Julio Dinero. Nice ring intro and music for Jones. This guy is huge but in a tall and lanky sort of way... not real wide. Sort of looks like Baron von Rashke on roids. some power moves by Jones but simple. Did a awesome looking powerbomb like finisher.

 

Velocity

 

(1) Nunzio beat Funaki. Simple match. Crowd seemed bored. who could blame us?

 

(2) John Cena defeated Brian Danielson. No problem for Cena who came out

without Red Dog in bright yellow. Cena signed autographs in the club at the FU Center before the show started. I missed him but my friend got his autograph. Very nice guy.

 

(3) Bill DeMott beat Bill Wall. Complete squash. Nice "babyface" pop for DeMott.

 

(4) Edge defeated A-Train. A big match for Velocity here. Huge pop for Edge. Your basic match. Edge wins in about 5 minutes.Nnothing special but Edge was way over.

 

Smackdown Tapings

 

A huge crate was brought to the ring via crane. It had a red ribbon on it with a note on that said "to the Undertaker from the Big Show" The crate was then put on top of the ramp.

 

(1) Rey Mysterio defeated Jamie Noble. Huge pop for Mysterio. Cool looking 619 on both Nidia and Jamie followed by a sunset roll up from top rope for the win.

 

The Rock comes on via satellite and a la Green Bay makes sure he tells all that he's not in Philly. He said he can't come there and eat those horrible Pat cheesesteaks because he's Lactose intolerant . He proceeded to make farting noises proving his point. He said he'd rather eat Tampa Tofu. Which of course got a huge booo from the Eagles fans. He stated that Hogan should be more worried about Wrestling him then doing 1-800 commercials with Terry Bradshaw and "that Muppet" hahaha. Rock said he will always be the peoples champ but would win at No Way Out.

 

(2) Rikishi defeated Nunzio. Total squash. Rikishi wins with the splash from the

corner in about 2 min's. He proceeds to dance after the match. "kish" is then interrupted by Nunzio who says "are you disrespecting me?" and threatens him that he won't disrespect someone else who he is going to bring very soon... Who could it be?

 

Paul Heyman comes to the ring as the crate is lowered back in the ring. During the break Paul rips into the Philly crowd . Undertaker comes to the ring to see what's in the crate and out pops BROTHER LOVE!! Love reminds him that he was his first manager and the Undertaker knew what love was all about by being with him. he urged Taker to use that same love to forgive the Big Show. Taker chokeslams love and then gives him the TOMBSTONE PILEDRIVER and leaves.

 

Hogan shown backstage and runs into Brock Lesnar. Lesnar just smiled and said "Welcome back" Hogan walked away and Brock gave an "evil laugh."

 

(3) Kidman beat Matt Hardy. Surprise roll up by Kidman in what was a good match. Hardy looked totally shocked that he lost. he went over to the announcers desk and screamed for about two minutes.

 

Kurt gave Team Angle a pep talk before their match and told them to soar like an Eagle... not like the football team who lost in their own building two weeks ago.

 

(4) Team Angle defeated Los Guerreros. Very good match. a missed spot or two but they seem to be by The Guerreros. Amazing that Haas and Benjamin could have this good of a match so early in their WWE run. Great things to come from them. Lots of near falls. Paul heyman was at ringside and prevented Eddie from doing his frogsplash. Haas rolled up Chavo for the win and the celebration.

 

Hogan came out to a huge pop but before he could speak he was interrupted by The rock via satellite. Rock informed him to not to bore the fans with his usual "saying your prayers and drinking your protein shakes or whatever you tell the fans" He said he would just sit back and listen. Every time Hogan talked The Rock would interject telling him that he was bored. He eventually said he was going to eat his tofu and Hogan should continue on without him. Hogan said he would defeat the Rock at No Way Out and then focus on getting his hands on Vince McMahon.

 

In the back the whole locker room was watching the Hogan interview on the monitor. Sean O'Haire approached Brian Kendrick . The live crowd couldn't hear what O'Haire was saying over the pop Hogan was getting but evidently was trying to persuade Brian to do something.

 

(5) A-Train defeated Shannon Moore. During the match Brian Kendrick ran to the ring butt naked (except the front part of him was covered--thank god) with sneakers and scarf a la the new commercial that is out. He ran around avoiding officials and ran into the crowd only to come out from the crowd after the match again with officials chasing him. He did his dance with the ringpost as the guy in the commercial did with the flag pole. actually kinda funny but visions of Mideon ran threw my head. I guess this was done to get O'Haire over as being someone who could influence others but an original idea here or there wouldn't hurt.

 

After the break they chased Kendrick into the backstage area and he ducked into Stephs office. He said he was excited to see Steph and Steph replied, "I can see that."

 

John Cena came out and did a great rap and challenged Brock to a match next week.

 

Benoit was doing a sitdown interview (similar to his one that he did a few weeks ago) this time he said he was honored by the fans ovation after the PPV match and he feels he will one day defeat Angle for the belt for himself and his family. Angle stuck his head in the interview and said he was married to his belt and his medals were his children. Benoit said "then i'm going to take away your family from you"

 

(6) Kurt Angle defeated Chris Benoit in a non title match with the Angle Slam. Good match with both wrestlers countering their submission holds several times. really cool to watch. Benoit bled ( I think hard way). Angle asked Benoit to shake his hand after the match. Benoit did and he was jumped by Team Angle. Edge came down to help and was eventually triple teamed...then Brock Lesnar came down and F-5'd Team Angle and cleared the ring. The show ends

Sounds really good, Benoit vs. Angle and Team Angle vs. The Guerreros should both be fantastic, and Kidman vs. Hardy and the opener should be good too. Lets just hope this promising show doesn't dissapoint on TV.

Who's this Kendrick guy?

I'm pretty sure its Spanky.

I'm pretty sure it is too.

 

I think Sean O'Haire's jump to SmackDown can be mainly contributed to a promo he cut on the Raw/Heat tapings. Apparently, he kept laughing a lot during it, so if he's on SmackDown, any promo he cuts can be edited.....

Brian Kendrick is (Leonardo) Spanky, formerly of ROH and Zero-One. He also worked under a mask on Velocity as The Jet, Diamond Back and a few more names, playing the Chilly Willy style Hometown Hero gimmick. Incidentally, on last week's Velocity, Josh and THE CAT~! were trying to say that Mike (Nova) Bucci was similar to the guy who was under the mask. Maybe he'll take over the gimmick, or seeing as how it's WWE, it's more likely to be dropped completely.

 

Anyhoo, the show looks fairly enjoyable. A couple of PPV size matches in the shape of Team Angle Vs Los Guerreros and Kurt Vs Benoit, a few cruiserweight matches and Rock cutting a promo. Still, I'm pretty shocked that Edge was demoted to Velocity duty. I expected his punishment for not getting A-Train over to be nothing bigger than maybe feuding with another midcarder, or just not featuring in so many high profile matches. But demoting him from TV Main Eventer to working on a show that struggles to get a 1.0 rating is a bit drastic.

 

I too noticed that O'Haire's switch to SD! may be due to his poor promo during the Raw tapings. Maybe this will mean Jones will head over to Raw?

Edited February 5, 200321 yr by Russ

Benoit vs Angle as main event? I know they put on great matches, but it's getting repetative and it's obvious that the Smackdown bookers dont have enough ideas. But not a bad show, the usual Smackdown stuff really.

Even though i always enjoy SD,i too think some of the matches are geting too repetative,even though some of these matches have been excellent and i have enjoyed them,i still find myself thinking they need to mix the bag up a bit,(so to speak),a few new feuds would help.

Im very happy to see Spanky getting some proper air time.

Even though they keep pulling out the great matches, Benoit vs. Angle is getting stale, I can't see why they don't turn Benoit heel again and let him feud with Edge, while Angles busy feuding with Brock, Benoit could have a feud with Edge, and while it would be reletively fresh material, the match quality would also be good.

 

At least Team Angle vs. The Guerreros is a new, fresh feud, and should provide some interesting wrestling and segments. Demott was doing Velocity duty too, surely a good thing.

I'd imagine we'll be seeing Benoit/Edge/Lesnar v Angle/Haas/Benjamin at No Way Out. It would be nice to see Benoit v Edge at Mania for a title shot at Backlash, in a face v face clash. WWE is so driven by heel v face, it would be good to just see 2 faces go at it just cause they want a title shot, and not cause one electrocuted his friend or something like that. As shown by Benoit v Angle, and Eddie v Edge, the crowd will cheer good action. Benoit v Edge is fresh, and would be a darn good contest.

 

I don't think Benoit should turn heel at all, as it's his strongest point as a face at the moment, if anything Edge should turn, cause there is really nowhere for his character to go as a face. Plus him being a heel, would give him the chance to bring back his awesome promo ability, and actually give him a character.

This weeks SD! only did a 4.1 in the over night ratings (so the final rating will be way lower than normal) which is down it going head to head with the first US showing of that Michael Jackson interview that was on ITV during the week which pulled in a huge 18.7 rating.

I think we're all missing the main point:

 

Kanyon was in a dark match~!

Shame my mate can't tape the show this week as it seems like a really good one. I will never get tired of watching Benoit and Angle go at it. I agree with Jung - Benoit shouldn't turn heel again as he is getting good reactions lately although I do think he is best as heel.

Shawn O'Haire is starting to develop an uncanny resemblance to ECW's Sinister Minister.. when he starts doing that evil finger thing and presents his promos while Brian Kendrick struggles Mikey-style in bondage at his side, it'll be complete. For his part, The Artist Formerly Known As Spanky did a great turn with his streak, I like where this is heading; any guesses on what he'll get put up to next week? Whatever it is, by the time he actually gets around to wrestling he should be well over as a comedy face.

 

Two squash matches; woo-soddin'-hoo. Happily the stinkface seems to be dead and buried, though Rikishi looks close to following it before long.

 

Brother Love's appearance from the crate was priceless. And he took a stiff tombstone at the end of the segment.

 

Good Smackdown, this week, I enjoyed it.