This is not the complete show because in trying to get the live show over early, they didn’t air any of the backstage segments.
Teddy Long announced a tournament for the Wrestlemania title shot at JBL, or perhaps Big Show. He brought up Batista saying that if Batista jumps, then Wrestlemania would be a three-way with the tournament winner, the champ and Batista. John Cena had already done a promo. Two tournament matches were announced for Saturday night in Saitama, with Kurt Angle vs. Rey Mysterio and Orlando Jordan vs. John Cena. JBL came out and did a promo with Long. Between JBL, Cena and Long, the promo work in this segment blew away anything else on the show. Matches were not good at all.
Kurt Angle b Nunzio with an ankle lock in the local challenge. Fans booed this bad. They weren’t booing Angle or Nunzio, and loud boring chants. Expect sound sweetener on this one.
Rey Mysterio b Mark Jindrak with a schoolboy after a 619. Jindrak is terrible live, but Mysterio was good enough that it was probably the best match on the show.
Big Show b Bashams with a choke slam on Doug. I think they are determined to prove to all doubters that grew up in the South that tag team titles can’t draw.
Undertaker DCOR Rene Dupree. Undertaker had it won when Jindrak and Reigns got involved. As they were fighting outside the ring, Jindrak held Undertaker from getting back in the ring and he was also counted out. He tombstoned Dupree after the match. I’m guessing Taker vs. Jindrak & Reigns coming up. Undertaker has lost weight and is in very good shape.
Booker T b Eddie Guerrero in a tournament match. Guerrero was super over, far more than anyone else on the show. Fans were chanting for him during every down period on the show. This was more like a house show midcard match than a TV main event. There were two ref bumps. Guerrero kept trying to fake a knee injury and fool Booker, but it never worked, and Booker won using the tights. Even though Guerrero was popular, people really only booed Booker when he did the spinaroonie, and when he won, and not that heavy. Post-match saw a Booker heel turn, as he attacked Guerrero, but Guerrero came back and frog splashed him. I think that part was just for the live crowd when they sensed how over Guerrero was.
Big Show b Jordan & JBL in the dark match with a choke slam in 3:00. Really horrible. People were filing out like crazy even though JBL did some nice mic work saying he was hung over from last night and putting him in the ring was festering an unsafe working environment. He also called Teddy Long a peanut head (early 90s WCW reference) George Jefferson. Unfortunately the match started and nobody had any intention of doing much.
Credit- The Wrestling Observer
