Velocity/Smackdown tapings

Anaheim, Ca

06-03-03

First off the highlights.

1-Kurt Angles return- Angle reminds us why we are all fans of his. It was awesome

2-Cruiserweight title change- Ray Mysterio is your new champ in an AWESOME match

3-Steph shoots on Daddy Mac- He hires Sable as her assistant and she mentions to him that she is the same person that tried to sue their company for millions of dollars n a sexual harassment case!

Velocity

I’m going to put this all in the Velocity category. It was mentioned beforehand that the Velocity tapings were starting. Josh and Cat came down after the second match.

1-Ultimo Dragon over Shannon Moore- Great ovation for Dragon when he first came out. He has some nice pyro also. Very good match that ended when Dragon got Moore into what looked like a reverse figure four (sorry im not good with certain finishers) then while in the hold went into a bridge also. Moore tapped out and the crowd went nuts.

Now this is the first time I have seen Dragon and I was very impressed.

2-Billy Gunn over Zolo (?)- Hearing the pop that Billy Gunn got reminded me of the old Norm MacDonald line when he was doing Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live. “Germans love David Hasselhoff”. Well folks, Wrestling crowds love Billy Gunn. Easily one of the top 5 pops of the night here. The match itself was so-so. It wasn’t bad, but not good either. Gunn wins with the “fame-asser”. Oh yeah, it looks like he will indeed be doing the “Mr. Ass” gimmick.

At this point Josh and Cat come out. Josh gets a mixed response. Cat really gets none at all.

3-Shawn O’Haire over Spanky- Great entrance music for both guys. I just wish the match was better. Pretty much your typical big man/little man matchup. Spanky sold O’Haires DVD looking finisher very well at the end. Blah match

This is where they filmed the opening for Velocity

4-Crash over Orlando Jordan- Semi-Dull matchup here. Jordan could have some potential but he is very green. Crash wins with the rollup pin aided of course by Shannon Moore who helped hold his arms for leverage.

5-A-Train over Funaki- Total squash here. Match lasted maybe a minute. Afterwards, Train proclaimed that he isn’t done and asked “who wants to fight” Out comes Bill Demott who cuts a lame “shave your back” knock-knock joke then hits the ring. Quick back and forth leading top Demott rolling up Train for the win.

Looks like Velocity has a new feud brewing!

That’s it for Velocity. I hope Ultimo vs. Moore makes the show! Other than that it was just ok.

Smackdown

Opening shot of Freddie Blassie was a nice move.

Then we see that unbelievable video of Kurt Angle. I missed it last week and am glad to have seen it tonight. It is simply the best video they have ever done.

Pipers Pit opens things up. Piper and O’Haire hit the ring and Piper starts talking about their guest Zach Gowen. Piper starts putting Gowen over a bit and even uses his “serious” voice for effect. He goes to call him out when Mr. Mcmahon comes to the ring. Once he hits the ring Mcmahon talks about how last week he said things were going to change and that was going to start here and now. He says Gowen deserves a chance and he will get it. He calls Gowen out. Out comes Gowen and Mr. America.  Mcmahon says nobody can give Gowen a contract but him. Not Piper, not “Hogan”, not O’Haire. He says next week Gowen will get his chance. There will be an arm wrestling challenge next Thursday in Florida. Representing WWE will be Mr. Mcmahon himself. Hogan then accepts the challenge and says how he will beat Mcmahon. Wait though! Hogan isn’t going to represent Gowen. Zach will face Mcmahon himself! Then Piper crawls behind Gowen and Mcmahon pushes him over. The heels then leave the ring. After all this it is pose time for Hogan/America and Gowen. I admit, it is fun to watch Hogan live! Even if he did screw up a bit (im sure when cameras were off) and talk about his Hulkamaniacs! OOPS!

I wont mention though Mcmahons two sad/stupid lines he used about Gowen. Im sure they will be loud and clear to all on Thursday.

On the video monitors we see that next week it will be Brock and Big Show for the heavyweight title.

A very good Freddie Blassie tribute is next. Right on par with others that they have done. J.R. does a lot of the voice over work here.

The Gail Kim promo is shown

Backstage we hear Matt Hardy tell his Shannon Moore and Crash about how he will “prove em all wrong again”. Nobody thought he could do everything he has done. Tonight he will prove em all wrong!

1-Eddie Guerrero and Tajiri vs. The Basham Brothers in a non-title match- Good match here. The Bashams look good in the ring. They should make some waves in the tag ranks. The finish saw Eddie hit a five-star on one of the brothers and Tajiri kick his head of and get the pin.

Next up is Kurt Angles return

Kurt comes out to a monster mix of cheers and “You Suck” chants. It was awesome. He first mentions, “You don’t know how good it feels to hear those words (you suck) again. Then he asks for his music again! Classic! Kurt was fired up. He talks about how “your Olympic Hero” is back. He is back for 1 reason only. He is a champion and wants to win the championship again. The “What” chants broke out here and Kurt did the unthinkable (with all apologies to Tim Whitehead who lives for that chant!!!) Kurt says, “I missed that word too”!!!!  (UH-OH) He then said he wanted to bring someone out and thank them for all their support while he was out. Big Shows pyro hits! Show says he isn’t out there to say how happy he is that Angle is back. He says angle hasn’t earned his respect then backs him into the corner where they are nose to nose. He tells Angle that when he beats Brock next week that “maybe” he will give Kurt a shot at the title. Angle then proves why he is the best. He offers Show a breath mint (LOL). He then climbs to up the rope (they are still in the corner) and gets eye to eye (kind of) with show and tells him “Listen to me you big overgrown son-of-a-bitch” Show tries to intimidate more and Angle comes up with another funny one when he says “excuse me if I don’t feel poopy in my pants right now” (Only Angle can get away with that) He then says “With all due respect to Stone Cold Steve Austin. If you want me to open a can of whoop-ass give me a YOU SUCK” show then grabs Angle by the neck. This gets Brock out there. Once he hits the ring, Show bails. Angle then puts Brock over as only he can by telling him that he can’t remember the last time anyone kicked his butt the way Brock did at Wrestlemania. Then he says how Big Show seems to have gotten the better of him lately. He says he wants Brock again. Brock responds by telling him ”When I beat Show, if you want a shot. Its on!” Much to everyones delight! Angle then thanks Brock for his support while he was out. They shake hands and hug and it looks like we will have a face-face rematch down the line.

The segment was awesome. I hope I did it justice here in this re-cap.

2-John Cena vs. Chris Benoit- Cena wins the match when after a ref bump he goes to grab his gold chains. Rhyno comes out and takes them form him. As Rhyno is trying to hit Cena with the chains, Cena ducks and Benoit is laid out for the three count. Hmmmm. Good match with an interesting ending. Who is going to turn?

3-Rikishi and Torrie over Nidia and Jamie Noble- I honestly don’t think I have ever seen Jamie Noble win a match since he lost his cruiserweight title. The guy works hard and is very good. I just hope he maybe is “paying his dues” in certain peoples eyes. He could be a player here as we have seen before. Finish saw Torrie hit a swinging neckbreaker on Nidia for the win.  I have to say that Torrie is getting a lot better in the ring. If she keeps this up she will end up on Raw as the next woman who wants to kick Trish Stratus butt! I also get a kick out of Nidia’s “character”

Blah match overall though. At least the crowd got to see a stinkface (Nidia) and Torrie and Rikishi dance.

Next we saw a Badd Blood promo for the HHH/Kevin Nash match. Earlier we saw the Jericho/Goldberg one and it got some reaction. Goldberg got booed. There was no reaction to this one whatsoever. It is scary.

Matt Hardy/Rey Mysterio tale of the tape is next

Josh Mathews then interviews Mysterio. Mysterio says “Im ready, Im here to win the cruiserweight title” Eddie Guerrero hen comes in and gets Rey all fired up. Eddie is even wearing one of his shirts. He tells him “Don’t even think about coming back into that locker room without that cruiserweight gold” Awesome stuff that pretty much showed everyone what was going to happen.

Next is a quick recap of the Pipers pit segment.

Backstage Steph tells Vince “I see your hanging around my office again” She then tears into Vince for the comments he made to Zach Gowen (again you will have to see them Thursday) and says that “If anyone deserves a contract it is him. If you don’t give him one, I will” Vince then threatens to FIRE Steph if she does that. He then questions her mental state and says he has hired her an assistant. He then introduces Sable!

Steph then goes off and surprisingly asks Vince “What position is Sable qualified for, DAD?” then asks “Does her body make you forget that she sued our company for millions and for what, sexual harassment?”

Vince then asks Steph something about if she was jealous of Sables looks? (I forgot to write that down, I was in shock over the lawsuit line)

4-Rey Mysterio wins the Cruiserweight Title over Matt Hardy- AWESOME match. Good back and forth with Rey really selling the groin injury like he was dying. There were numerous near falls and the crowd was into every one. Finish saw Rey win with a rollup. Post match his son came into the ring and celebrated with him.

It was simply a great match.

And a great show!

And before I forget the best crowd I have ever heard here in Southern California.