DARK MATCHES
(1) A scraggly, dark-haired guy with a beard beat a guy they announced being from Wichita. I believe the winner was called “Bradley”, no idea on the other guy’s name.
(2) Carlito Carribean Cool beat Chris Cage. Carlito got a big pop, as did most everyone. The crowd was pretty amped. His finisher seemed to be almost a backwards Rock Bottom, if that makes any sense. Instead of falling forward to slam the guy like Rock would, Carlito lifted him and then fell back.
VELOCITY
Torrie Wilson did the ring introductions for the first bout.
(1) Johnny the Bull beat Akio with a press slam into a shoulder catch into a front powerslam. He and Torrie seemed to interact afterwards. Based on Johnny and Nunzio later in the show, I assume the FBI turned babyface one week when I wasn’t watching Velocity.
(2) The Basham Brothers beat two guys whose names I didn’t catch. They were billed as being from Emporia, Kansas, making Kansans 0-2 on the night.
(3) Rene Dupree & Kenzo Suzuki beat Shannon Moore & Funaki. The tag champs did a pre-match promo that saw Kenzo launch into a rendition of Living In America, complete with Kenzo dancing and doing the James Brown “oww!”‘s throughout. Surprisingly funny.
SMACKDOWN
Kurt Angle opened the show by showing clips of what he did to Big Show last week. He brought Luther and Jindrak to the ring and talked about how he was grooming them in his own image. They were all dressed up but no faction name for them was given, at least not that I heard.
Teddy Long interrupted him and mentioned that Big Show wasn’t in the building, to the disappointment of the many who wanted to see Wichita’s favorite son (Barry Sanders has nothing on him). Maybe I should clarify that Show’s not actually from the area, but he did play a year of college ball in Wichita. Anyway, Teddy also announced that Luther and Jindrak were barred from ringside at the PPV, and anyone who interferes in the Show-Angle match will be fired.
The screen showed that the main event would be Luther/Jindrak vs. Eddie Guerrero and a mystery partner.
(1) The Dudleys beat Rico & Charlie Haas. Dawn Marie came out to do commentary as they showed clips of what happened to her last week with Moolah and Mae, and she ended up brawling around ringside with Miss Jackie at the end of the match. Panty shots galore! Rico went to break them up, leaving Charlie to get caught with 3D.
I don’t entirely recall the exact point where most of these promos ran, so here’s a rundown of the various taped spots that were spaced throughout the show:
– Undertaker did a “rest in peace” promo standing next to a hearse.
– A Carlito promo aired.
– Big Show was shown so that you could only see his shadow, until the end of the promo when they zoomed in on his face and the camera lit up. You gotta buy the PPV if you want to see him bald.
– John Cena did a backstage interview with Josh wearing a Kansas City Royals jersey, but never appeared in front of the crowd so I’ll take a wild guess and say he wasn’t in the building.
(2) Booker T beat Paul London in a non-title match. Fairly short, Kidman stood in the aisle to observe, and London missed a 450 splash that allowed Booker to hit the ax kick and get the pin. Afterwards, Booker grabbed a chair and was going to hit London until Kidman made the save and ripped the chair away. Then, you guessed it, he hit London with it himself.
Heidenreich showed up with no introduction, standing on the top of the fist on the Smackdown set. A cool visual. He talked but nobody could hear him, so someone slipped him a microphone. Referees were rushing around underneath the fist like they thought Heidenreich might jump, which the crowd was urging him to do. Paul Heyman was also out there. Heidenreich read a poem and left.
JBL did a backstage interview that was interrupted by Bob Holly, his opponent for the night. Bob showed up out of nowhere and decked him.
(3) Bob Holly beat JBL by DQ. No Orlando Jones anywhere, but that would be explained. Holly kept hitting most of his big moves and JBL kept escaping. When Bradshaw tried the “put a cigarette out on your back” powerbomb, Bob countered into the Alabama Slam and JBL rolled outside. He ended up nailing Holly with the ringsteps, Bob started bleeding, but the DQ wasn’t called until later when JBL attacked Holly as he tried getting back into the ring.
JBL pounded Bob around ringside, threw him onto the announce table, gave him a big chairshot. He put Bob and the ringsteps inside the ring and then the lights went off. Undertaker’s entrance started, but he only appeared on the video wall and counted off his victims… Gangrel, Viscera, and now Orlando.
A big explosion went off and a ragged Orlando was hanging off to the right of the video screen, crucified on the Undertaker’s symbol. Huge crowd pop. “And then there was one.”
(4) Nunzio beat Spike Dudley in a non-title match. Johnny the Bull and the Dudleys were at ringside and started fighting before the finish, and Nunzio rolled Spike up for the pin. Spike was quite unhappy.
(5) Luther and Jindrak beat Eddie and his mystery partner Rob Van Dam. The finish came after Eddie hit the frog splash but the pin was broken up. Luther gave Eddie his finisher behind the ref’s back, RVD knocked himself and Luther out of the ring, and Jindrak crawled over and got the pin on Eddie.
It’s hard to tell when the show ended because the video wall showed everything, but I’d imagine it ended after the match as Luther and Jindrak were getting away. When they reached the top of the aisle, Angle’s music played and all 3 came down to the ring to gang up on Eddie and RVD. Kurt got the ring bell, accidentally hit both his guys, and then took frog splashes from both guys. Eddie and RVD played to the crowd and the show ended.
NOTES
A fun show but no live appearances from Taker, Big Show, and Cena was disappointing. No Rey Mysterio, either. Building was probably 85%-90% full.
Biggest pop was probably for Eddie, then for Orlando on the symbol, Undertaker’s music starting, and RVD. Kurt Angle got the most heat by far, followed by JBL. Most everyone else on the show was cheered.
Credit:PWTorch
