Thanks to my good buddy, Bonto for sending this in.
WWE Smackdown! presents the Holla, Holla, Holla Tour.
Entire top level of the arena was not sold. Rest of the house was 2/3 to 3/4
full. Crowd was into the show most of the night.
I sat on the floor, 6 rows back next to the ramp. Wa snice to see superstars
entering and exiting the ring. Most were friendly, but some stayed in
character.
The card was changed in the few days prior to the show. Kurt Angle was
supposed to wrestle Big Show in a steel cage, but was changed to Big Show
vs. Mark Jindrak and Luther Reigns. John Cena’s opponent was changed from
Kenzo Suzuki to Rene Dupree. Suzuki was to now wreslte Rey Mysterio Jr. 3
titles were on the line at the show (none changed hands)
Show started with a Diva Body Contest with Miss Jackie v. Michelle McCool v.
Torrie Wilson. Torrie brought a little dog to the ring with her. Crowd was
loving the skimpy bathing suits they were wearing, but Heidenreich
interfered during Torrie’s part. Booker T comes down to save Michelle McCool
who Heidenreich had grabbed.
Booker T v. Heidenreich
Not an overly impressive match, but Booker T was over with the crowd.
Heidenreich has no wrestling skills, and no sells a lot. He isn’t that big
either. At one point, the Divas interfere, but Heidenreich knocks them all
down. Heidenreich ends up winning the match *1/2 (1/2 for the Spinarooni)
Rey Mysterio Jr. v. Kenzo Suzuki w/ Hiroko
USA chants start the match form the crowd. Kenzo made fun of Rey’s height,
at the beginning getting down on his knees to lock up and Rey dropped kicked
him in the head. Not a bad match, could use some work. Rey was over with the
crowd. He hugged a couple young fans, which I thought was classy. Rey wins
with the 619 into a springboard headbutt (Benoit style). **
Tag Team Titles Match
Charlie Hass & Hardcore Holly v. The Bashams (C)
The Bashams are more reatrded than the Bushwhackers. They try to leave 2 or
3 times, switch in the ring without tagging, ref never notices, getting very
old very quick. A switch behind the ref’s back gets the Bashams the win and
retension of their titles. *
Cruiserweight Championship Fatal 4 Way
Spike Dudley v. Scotty 2 Hotty v. Chavo Guerrero Jr. v. Funaki (C)
All 3 want a piece of Spike, but he decides to take a seat outside the ring.
Chavo and Scotty take turns locking up with Funaki. Finally Spike gets in
and he gets whooped on. Scotty eliminates Spike with the WORM. This was not
announced as an Elimination match, but turned out to be one. Chavo
eliminated Scotty while he was celebrating with a roll up. Funaki and Chavo
wrestle with some good moves. FUnaki reverses and pins Chavo to retain the
Cruiserweight Championship. **1/2 After the match, Funaki and Chavo shake
hands.
Orlando Jordan v. Nunzio
By far the dullest and worst match of the night. Orlando Jordan wins, but I
hardly watched. 1/2 *
United States Championship Match
John Cena (C) v. Rene Dupree
Crowd was so into Cena, it was ridiculous. Dupree comes out with a French
flag on proud display. Cena is also a pretty big guy, bigger than he look on
TV. Dupree gets on the mic and states how Cena is a thug and how he and the
people of East lansing suck. Crowd starts chanting “Cena!” and the match
starts. Actio was non stop, Cena was quick, while Dupree tried to slow it
down a lot. Action spilled to the arena floor and Cena grabs the French
flag, tears it off the stick and chokes Dupree with it to a huge pop from
the crowd. Cena gets a bunch of near falls, and finally hits the FU to win
and retain the title. ***1/2
Teddy Long comes out to address the crowd
Thanks the fans for their support. Says Smackdown! belongs to the people and
how he spoke to Kurt Angle who told him not to have a steel cage match, but
how he runs SD, not Angle, so there will be a cage match after intermission
with Big Show against Jindrak and Reigns. Crowd booed when it was announced
earlier Angle would not be there.
15 minute intermission
Cage is set up and t-shirts shot into crowd. Cage isn’t very tall, I’d say
about 8 feet high, maybe 9.
Steele Cage Handicap Match
Big Show v. Luther Reigns & Mark Jindrak
Big Show dominates the beginning of the match. During the middle, Jindrak
and Reigns double teams Show and keep him down and get a fair amount of
shots in on him. Once Show regains the momentum, he attempts to climb out
(which isn’t a challnge since he is taller than I thought) but Orlando
Jordan prevents him. In the cage Show gives Jindrak the Show Stoppa and pins
him. ***
After the match, the Bashams, Orlando Jordan, Jindrak and Reigns all beat on
Big Show in the cage. Cena and Rey come out to make the save. Someone gets
Choke Slammed and Fued (I can’t remember who). Show goes to leave and Cena
stops him. Cena tells him this is East Lansing and asks Show to lay down a
rap for the crowd. The end of it went liek this “Bradshaw’s the white girl,
and I’m Kobe Bryant” it was hilarious and the crowd loved it. Then Cena cut
a rap about this being the home of Magic Johnson and how it wa sncie to be
there, etc. Cena also made Show wear the chain while he rapped. Cena exited
into the crowd twice and the fans loved him.
End of Show
Overall: **1/2 I am not sure I would go see a house show again for SD, not
too many big names were there and I was only impressed with 2 or 3 matches.
Biggest Pops
1. John Cena
2. Big Show
3. Rey Mysterio Jr.
Biggest Heat
1. Angle not ebing there
2. Rene Dupree
3. the Bashams
Honorable Mention goes to Heidenreich, but only because he is the second
worst thing to happen to wrestling.
That’s my recap guys, if you need anything else, let me know. I took almost
a whole roll of pictures, but the 1 hour machine was down at Wal mart, so I
sent them out to be done. I will get them back on Wednesday. I may have
digital pics tomorrow if the guy form work I went with e-mails them to me.
Please feel free to post this on insidepulse if you would like.
Talk to you all later.
Bonto
