For a full, easy-to-search archive of all my WWE DVD reviews, please visit World Wrestling Reviews.
Continental Airlines Arena – East Rutherford, NJ – Sunday, October 3, 2004
Michael Cole and Tazz are calling the action for this SmackDown brand pay-per-view.
~SUNDAY NIGHT HEAT MATCH~
Mark Jindrak defeats Scotty 2 Hotty at 2:47. Jindrak dominates with ease, using his superior size and strength. Scotty gets a small amount of token offense, but when he goes for the Worm, Jindrak ducks and hits a vicious left-handed punch to get the pin. Yep, a punch.
Rating: ½*
~MATCH #1~
Eddie Guerrero defeats Luther Reigns (w/ Mark Jindrak) at 13:13. Reigns has the size advantage, but he’s relatively new to the sport and Eddie is a wily veteran. Eddie tries to work a fast pace in the early going, and Reigns has to slow the match down. Reigns keeps Eddie grounded and uses multiple rest holds and power moves to work Eddie over. That goes on for a few minutes until Eddie makes the comeback and hits the Three Amigos. Eddie goes to the floor and slyly takes a weapon for one of the security guards. He brings a chair in the ring and uses it to take out both Reigns and Jindrak without getting himself disqualified. He’s so smart. Unfortunately, he then misses a Frog Splash. As the referee gets the chair out of the ring, Eddie uses the security guard’s baton to club Reigns, and he follows with the Frog Splash to get the pin. Eddie brought a lot out of Reigns that no one else probably could’ve at the time. It’s no masterpiece, but a serviceable opener thanks to Eddie.
Rating: **½
~MATCH #2~
WWE Cruiserweight Champion Spike Dudley (w/ Bubba Ray Dudley & D-Von Dudley) defeats Nunzio (w/ Johnny Stamboli) at 8:44 to retain the title. Spike has been the Champion since 7.29.04, and this is his fourth defense. These are two of the more boring Cruiserweight Title contenders in the history of the belt. Spike is going by “The Boss,” so take that Sasha Banks! They go back and forth, doing stuff and whatnot. D-Von tries to interfere and Stamboli takes him out. With the referee distracted, Bubba pulls Nunzio groin-first into the ring post, and that’s enough for Spike to get the pin. Well that was a whole lot of not much.
Rating: *¾
~MATCH #3~
Billy Kidman defeats Paul London at 10:33. This was a cool angle in which Kidman accidentally injured Chavo Guerrero with a Shooting Star Press and then started having doubts every time he went for the move, and it cost them the Tag Team Titles. London is the aggressor early on, attacking Kidman with ferocity. Kidman weathers the early storm and slows the match down, keeping London on the mat. Every time London fights up and looks to take control, Kidman cuts him off and slows him down. ‘Member when “You Can’t Powerbomb Kidman” was a thing? Well it’s a thing in this match. Kidman shows a little self-doubt, but after London hits nothing but knees on the London Star Press, he goes up and land the Shooting Star Press to get the pin. London is spitting up blood, and lots of it. Kidman chastises the crowd, and then flattens London with another Shooting Star Press while he’s strapped to a stretcher. Awesome. That was a tremendous back and forth match here, with a compelling storyline running throughout the match. The finish was perfect and lends itself to more matches between these two. Sadly, I think they wrestled on Velocity a few months after this and the whole thing was forgotten.
Rating: ***¾
~MATCH #4~
WWE Tag Team Champions Rene Dupree (w/ Fifi) & Kenzo Suzuki (w/ Hiroko) defeat Rob Van Dam & Rey Mysterio to retain the titles at 9:09. Dupree and Suzuki have been the Champions since 9.9.04, and this is their first defense. RVD and Dupree start it off, and the challengers control the early going with some creative double-teaming. The odd-couple champions soon take over and they isolate RVD in their half of the ring. When Mysterio get the hot tag he’s all over the place, and the referee loses control. Somewhere in the scrum, Mysterio goes for the West Coast Pop on Suzuki, but Dupree knocks him down. Suzuki then rolls Mysterio up with a hand on the ropes for leverage to get the pin. Standard, acceptable, tag team formula stuff here.
Rating: **¾
~MATCH #5~
Big Show defeats Kurt Angle at 15:06. Angle stalls a lot to begin, as Cole advises people to go outside and run into their house to simulate what it’s like being in the ring with Big Show. Yes, he really said that. He also talks about someone getting raped of their dignity a ton, and it’s off-putting. Angle gets fed up dealing with Show, so he bails for the countout. SmackDown General Manager Teddy Long comes out to tell Angle if he runs away he’ll be fired. Show continues to dominate until Angle counters a Chokeslam into the Ankle Lock. Eventually Show escapes, but Angle stays on the ankle. Angle gets desperate and tries to use the tranquilizer gun, but Show grabs it and breaks it in half. Show is angry now. He hits an Alley-Oop powerbomb, and then puts Angle on the top rope only to bring him down with a Chokeslam. That’s enough to get the pin. Fun enough stuff here, with Show looking like the monster WWE always wanted him to be.
Rating: ***
~MATCH #6~
John Cena defeats WWE United States Champion Booker T at 10:20 in the fifth match of a Best of Five Series to win the title. Booker has been the Champion since 7.29.04, and this is his first official defense. Cena shows some early fire, but Booker quickly cools him down and keeps his challenger grounded. Cena fights up several times but Booker consistently cuts him off. Booker gets frustrated and almost uses a chair but thinks better of, since he would lose the title due to the best of five format. Moments later Cena hits the F-U to get the pin and becomes the U.S. Champion for the second time. These two never had good matches together, and this was right in line with that. It was just a match.
Rating: **
~MATCH #7~
Charlie Haas, Rico & Miss Jackie defeat The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley & D-Von Dudley) & Dawn Marie at 8:44. This came about because Dawn insinuated that she was having an affair with Haas, who is married to Jackie. The Dudleys are there because they had nothing else to do. Bubba’s heel antics are actually pretty fun here. This is a standard formula mixed tag, and its card placement is perfect for that. In the end, Jackie takes Dawn out with a Spear, and Haas levels D-Von with a flying forearm from the top rope. Rico follows with a perfect moonsault to get the pin. Fun stuff here, and a good match for card variety.
Rating: **¾
~MATCH #8~
WWE Heavyweight Champion JBL defeats Undertaker at 21:02 in a Last Ride match to retain the title. JBL has been the Champion since 6.27.04, and this is his fourth defense. The object of this match is to stuff your opponent into a hearse and when the hearse drives away you win. Undertaker starts off dominating, and I get the feeling we’ll be seeing plenty of that. That’s pretty much how things go, but the Champion fights back just enough to stay in the match. A good percentage of the match takes place on the floor, and that’s where Undertaker delivers the Tombstone on the steel steps. That busts JBL open, and he’s bleeding profusely. JBL responds with a vicious chair shot. Undertaker comes back and chokeslams JBL from one announce table to another. Just as it looks like Undertaker is going to win the title, Heidenreich emerges from the hearse and helps JBL beat Undertaker up and throw him into the hearse. Bad finish to a boring match. Sure, Undertaker and JBL both pulled out some big spots, but the time in between spots was dull and lifeless.
Rating: *½
A2Z Analysiz
There are some highlights to be found here, but the two big matches (JBL v Undertaker, Cena v Booker) were not very good and that hurts the card quite a bit. London v Kidman is the definite standout, and the opener, mixed six-person tag, and Angle v Show provide enough to make this show the bare minimum of enjoyable.
