We get replays of the main points from the Rumble (between Raw and SD we must’ve seen these montages about 10 times).
Teddy Long comes out to start SD!. He addresses the high point of the Rumble being the return of the Undertaker and officially announces Taker vs. Angle for the title at No Way Out. He says another high point was a Smackdown wrestler winning the Rumble as the second entrant, Rey Mysterio. This brings Rey out in his lowrider, which they had a problem with since it took a while.
Rey says he has one thing to say: Thank you Eddie. Eddie definitely was playing with him giving him that number 2 spot, but he did for his friend and his brother. Rey talks a little more and out comes Randy Orton. Randy got a mixed reaction from the crowd. Orton says that what happened in the Rumble doesn’t mean anything because Rey can’t beat him in a normal match. He also challenges Rey for his title shot at No Way Out. He says that it wasn’t divine intervention because Eddie wasn’t watching him from up there. Eddie was watching him from hell. Wow. Lots of heel heat on that one. Between Orton using it, HHH using it, Eddie chants for Rey moreso than the 619 ones, it definitely looks like WWE wants to push Mysterio using Eddie’s memory. Rey takes out his anger by attacking Orton. The refs come out to pull Rey off of Randy. This also builds up to our already announced Main Event: Mark Henry and Randy Orton vs. Rey Mysterio and Kurt Angle.
We get our first wrestling match of the night as MNM defends the tag titles against the Mexicools, who was over in Orlando. Great dive over the ref onto both Nitro and Mercury, as well as a “Super Crazy” chant. MNM retains the titles.
JBL comes out and restates the fact that he is a wrestling god. He belongs in a ring, not a cage, and not with a crazy man. He shoots on all the gimmicky wrestlers back in the locker room and says that he’s above all of them because a gimmick only gets you so far. So very very true. Nice impassioned promo by JBL, hopefully it catches on TV. Lashley comes out as JBL looks confused since he’s in full suit and not wrestling. Instead, it’s a handicap match between Lashley and The Dicks. Make fun of that name all you want, but it looks like the humor is working as there were many jokes being thrown out there. Lashley squashes The Tolands, then gets hit by a Clothesline from Hell. Lashley’s character amuses me in that he doesn’t have one. In fact, his Titantron video even says, “soft spoken” yet the people pop for him. His physique looks way too much like Brock Lesnar’s (which btw there was a sign for in the audience).
We get a shot of masked midgets, one helping the other get a drink from a water fountain. Oh no…..
Booker T’s hurt, so the announced Benoit vs. Booker match for the US Title can’t happen. Long says Booker can assign a replacement like he did when Randy won the belt for him. But also, if the replacement loses, he loses the title.
The gong rings out and one of the biggest pops of the night goes to the Undertaker. Taker comes out and says that Angle has something he wants. And at No Way Out, he’ll become champion. Two sentences is all he gets as Angle comes out to another one of the biggest pops of the night. Angle stands face to neck with the Undertaker and says that he’s a wrestling machine and he’ll still be champion. And at No Way Out there is “no way I’ll be resting in pieces”. Taker says that Angle speaks the truth and has good intentions, but make no mistake about it. Come No Way Out you will rest in peace! The lights go out as Taker slips out of the ring leaving Angle wandering around in the dark. The black lights come on and Angle wants Taker but doesn’t get him as the lights return to normal. It’s interesting to note that when given the two, fans will boo Angle a little if it means to cheer Taker.
Sugar Shane Gregory Helms cuts a promo backstage saying that he is the Crusierweight Division and that nobody in there has achieved popularity like he has. Nunzio interrupts and says that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about when it comes to the SD crusier division. He challenges Helms to a title shot next week. Helms agress, then says “Forget about it” to which Nunzio corrects him. Wow, I guess they were listening to who got the biggest reaction in the invitational at the Rumble. Poor London and Noble….
As alluded to before, we get a Juniors Division match betwen midget in black with a red belt and red headband (he’s the heel) against one in all blue. The blue one tries to get the crowd to clap, but the black one knocks him down and mocks him. The blue one had a nice dive to the outside. Winner is the blue one.
Benoit is warming up when someone comes into the room. It’s Mr. Kennedy….Kennedy! He gets close to Benoit and says that he’s been having bad luck with losing the US belt series, and the Rumble. And a little birdie told Ken who his opponent was for tonight and ouch, it’ll be the worst luck of all. Benoit says that it would seem like he has been having bad luck, but if Kennedy gets that close, he’ll hit him in his arm. Benoit slaps it as he leaves and Kennedy winces in pain.
Benoit comes out for his match, followed by Sharmell who in the most annoying voice imaginable announces Booker T. Book says he has a man who likes to fight representing him tonight: Finlay. Ok match between the two with Sharmell hitting Benoit in the face with one of Book’s crutches (she kinda messed up too) and the ref catches it so we get a DQ. Afterwards Benoit gets beaten up by Finlay.
Backstage, Booker and Sharmell are celebrating when the Boogeyman appears. The crowd pops as he eats worms and holds the heart which scares the two off.
Palmer Cannon is with Long talking with Burchall and Regal about how the two of them don’t want to tag anymore. Palmer tells Long he’ll take care of it and decides that their characters are as thus: Regal is descended from Royalty and Burchill is ddescendedfrom…pirates. Pirates? Yeah, Paul Burchill is decended from a member of Blackbeard’s crew. So Raw has the Rated R superstar and now SD might have the Rated Arrrrgh superstar. Ha ha…I kill me.
Main Event time with Henry and Orton vs. Mysterio and Angle. Orton and Angle start the match in what could be a bit of foreshadowing. The two don’t even touch each other as Rey wants in so Angle tags him. Rey gives Orton a head scissors over the top rope to show that it can happen twice. As much as Rey was over, while he was getting worked the fans were chanting “we want Angle”. From their bit of interaction, I bet Angle and Orton could have a decent match if that’s what happens at Mania. Daivari goes for Angle on the outside who no sells and chases Daivari out of the ring area, through the crowd and away as Henry follows. This leaves Orton and Rey all alone. Orton eventually picks up the victory, then grabs a mic and tells Rey that he can’t beat him when he’s all alone. Rey answers by accepting Orton’s challenge for the match at No Way Out and we have a long distance stare down to end SD.
Overall it was an average night. Lots of Wooooos. Flair was the mo st over person in the building but only made a Titantron appearance. Triple H’s music hitting at the end of his promo as he goes right into his entrance was a nice touch. Yes, there were face chants for HHH. For the first time in a long time, people were calling for the Pedigree. It was the most over finisher of the night. If he’s gonna face Cena at Mania, they better think of something to curb it. Speaking of Cena, he’s always over in Orlando. Surprising, the crowd was about 70-30 on him. It grew as the main event went on, at one point there was a battling “Let’s go Cena, Let’s go Edge” chant. It’s not that the situation with Cena is getting better, it’s that not many people like Edge which is unfortunate. After the cameras went off, Edge snuck back into the ring and got FU’d. Even more surprising was this girl they showed on the Tron after Cena’s match dancing to his music. Cena walked over and made out with her after the cameras were off. K. The best part of the night in my opinion was the development in the Mickie-Trish angle. You could tell it was coming from seeing the balloons the whole night, but the confetti and the Spirit Squad coupled with Mickie finding out the truth and that vicious kick on Ashley picked the crowd up after an ok showing from everything else. Watch the kiss cam this week on Unlimited…two girls go at it. And this is the first time I’ve seen Joey Styles live. For his entrance, he runs to the ring. Pretty cool.
Biggest Pop:
1. Undertaker
2. Kurt Angle
3. All the wooooos
4. John Cena
5. RVD
Biggest Heat:
1. Orton’s comments about Eddie.
2. Edge’s entrance
3. JBL (somewhat)
4. McMahon not wanting to fight Michaels.
Credit: PWInsider.com
