[MISC] Samoa Joe Returns, Trish Sings, Mama Goes Home

The event was held at the recently renovated Diddle
Arena on the campus of Western Kentucky University. A
good crowd turned out. Diddle has a capacity of around
6000 and by belltime the arena looked to be around 80
percent full.

The crowd was live and hot for whatever was in the
ring all night long.

The guy who announces for Heat was our M.C. The first
thing he announced was that due to HHH’s defiance this
week on Monday Night Raw, he was being pulled out of
the Triple Threat World Title match tonight. Many boos
for this statement. Instead, he’d be facing Kenny of
the Spirit Squad.

Match 1: Nicky, Mikey and Johnny of the Spirit Squad
v. Goldust, Snitsky and the Big Show.

The Spirit Squad may be a somewhat ridiculous gimmick,
but the crowd hates it with a passion. No other
superstar got as much heat as the Squad tonight.
Pretty entertaining match with some neat spots. At one
point, Mikey pulled down one of the straps on his tank
top and mocked the Big Show, goading him into a test
of strength. The Big Show won that one with one hand.
Match ended when Nicky and Mikey tied up Show and
Snitsky, allowing Mitch to hit Goldust with the
megaphone. Johnny then got the pin.

Match 2: Rob Conway v. Harry Smith. Amazing how much
Harry favors his dad when you see him in person.
Pretty standard match that saw the crowd get behind
Harry better than you’d think, given his relatively
unknown status. In a nice touch Harry hit Conway with
a Running Powerslam to pick up the pin.

Match 3:Trevor Murdoch and Lance Cade v. the
Highlanders. I’d heard of the Highlanders before
because of their OVW work, but had never seen them
wrestle. They gave a good account of themselves in
this one. Miscommunication between the heels allowed
the Highlanders to hit a rocket launcher for the win.
I was mildy surprised, given that this was twice the
rather unknown wrestler/s had gone over the
established WWE talent.

Match 4: As the Highlanders were leaving, they were
attacked and laid out by Umaga. Estrada(who is just as
annoying in person) cut a promo saying that Umaga laid
out the Highlanders simply because he could. This led
into Viscera entering the arena for the next match.

Umaga v. Viscera got started early when Umaga jumped
Vis after he stopped to look at the fallen
Highlanders. While Viscera got in a couple of good
moves, including his neat looking sideslam, Umaga took
the win after his token offense and terrible thumb
strike finisher.

Match 5: Johnny Nitro/w Melina v. Charlie Haas. I’m
ashamed to say I paid little attention to this match
and instead chose to watch Melina through the binocs I
brought with me. Gorgeous woman, pure and simple. I
thought the roof would come off the arena when she did
her ring entrance. I was so distracted that I only
know that Nitro got the three count somehow.

Match 6: Intercontinental Championship: Shelton
Benjamin v. Carlito

Before the match, Shelton cut a promo saying he hoped
we were all happy, that it was because of our repeated
chants of “momma’s boy” at him that he’d sent his
mother home for good. He was going to prove that he
was the best athelete on Raw. Standard match between
these two, although Carlito has come a long way in the
year since his jump to Raw. Match ended on a sequence
of roll throughs with Shelton eventually holding onto
the ropes to pin Carlito and retain. After the match,
there was a loud Carlito chant, after which Carlito
grabbed the mic and declared BG to be “pretty damn
cool”. I think that made the Carlito impersonator in
the front row extremely happy.

Interview Segment: Stryker’s classroom featuring your
teacher, Matt Stryker. Stryker bemoaned how he
expected enlightenment since he was on a university
campus, but then he should have known better
considering what passed for education in Kentucky. He
then said that his guest was supposed to be Kane, but
then asked why a movie star like Kane would want to
come to a small town like Bowling Green. Kane’s music
hit and he came and stared down Stryker. Strkyer
played kiss ass to the big man, praising his movie and
offering to be his teacher as well. He’d teach Kane
how to be an even better actor! Kane declined Strykers
offer then chokeslammed him. He started to leave, but
then came back and tombstoned Strkyer. After he left
Stryker sold the beating like a pro,being rolled out
of the ring in a heap by the refs who then helped him
to the back.

Intermission. John Cena merch selling VERY well, as
were standard programs for some reason.

Match 7: Bra and Panties Tag Team Match: Maria and
Beth Phoenix v. Victoria and Mickie James

Not much to write home about here, other than James
and Phoenix did the roll-over-Jack Doan spot. James
won the match for her team by stripping Maria, but
then Phoenix ran the heels off.

Match 8:Kenny w/the rest of the Spirit Squad v. HHH

There’s no doubt that HHH is getting over as a face,
he got the biggest pop of the evening. Match saw Trips
have to basically fight a five on one battle, but he
eventually tricked the rest of the Squad into taking
themselves out of the action. When Mitch bounced off
the Squad trampoline in an attempt to clothesline a
held HHH, Trips moved at the last second sending Mitch
crashing into the rest of the Squad. Afterwards, HHH
hit the Pedigree on Kenny for the pin. Post match, the
Squad beat down HHH and rolled him out of the ring.
Crowd chanted for “HBK” but no dice. While the Squad
was mugging for the crowd, HHH pulled a sledgehammer
from under the ring and cleared house with it. He left
after posing a few times for the crowd. The Squad sold
the beating, taking several minutes to clear the ring.

The m.c. announced that after tonights attendance that
WWE would be running a show in Bowling Green again in
the near future.

Match 9:Main Event: WWE Championship Match: John Cena
v. Edge

Edge got the second most heat of the night while Cena
got the second biggest pop.Crowd was pro-Cena
throughout this one, which was the standard match for
these two. Cena got the win with the F-U. More
noteable was that there was no Lita.

There were a few changes in matches that were
previously announced. Rob Van Dam, Candice Michelle
and Torrie Wilson were advertised but did not appear.

Despite this, the hot crowd seemed to fuel the
workrate and made for an enjoyable evening.

Biggest Pops

1.HHH
2.John Cena
3.Carlito
4.Big Show
5. Melina(for her entrance)

Biggest Heat
1. The Spirit Squad( crowd LOATHED these guys)
2. Edge
3. Matt Stryker
4. Shelton Benjamin

Thanks for your time,