WWE Smackdown event, Helsinki, Finland
October 24, 2002
Hartwall Arena
Report by PWTorch.com reader Starbuck, www.stonerkings.net

(1) Billy Kidman over John Cena with the shooting star press. Cena plays heel, nothing special, a few high spots, Okay overall.

(2) Funaki and Shannon Moore over Albert and Crash Holly when Funaki pins Crash with a cradle. Just did not click well and dragged in spots but the Finnish crowd was into the Albert big man stuff. Albert turns on Crash after he loses and the face team makes the save.

(3) D-Von pinned Bill DeMott after a charging Hugh Morrus crashed into an exposed turnbuckle head-first when D-Von evaded. Feet on the ropes to make for a cheap finnish. Bad match. Ron Simmons interfered throughout. "I see there's 90 percent white people in the audience..." claimed Reverend D-Von. No sheezit, we be up north brother! Way north.

(4) Jamie Noble pinned Tajiri to retain the WWE Cruiserweight in the second best match of the night. Cruiserweight title on the line, and the finish comes after Tajiri attempts a move that Noble turns into a cradle hold for the pin. Lots of chain-wrestling early, well executed, solid storyline. Tajiri's kicks looked rather pulled in many spots. Nice tornado DDT by Tajiri near the end. No valets or managers at ringside tonight.

(5) Brock Lesnar over Booker T with the F-5 in a match for the WWE Championship in under 10 minutes. Brock takes the mike and claims scheduled opponent Undertaker is not here tonight because he put him out of commission at Hell In A Cell. Not a lot of substance in this match, but Booker was over. Poor looking ax-kick by the Book tonight and a botched spinaroonie! Lots of Booker T chants.

(6) Eddie & Chavo Guerrero Jr. over Big Valbowski & Chuck Palumbo in a match that DRAGGED early on. Tons of CHEAP heat. Way too much stalling and posing for a 15-plus minute match. Match picked up when Latino Heat started working over the leg of Big Val. Val attempts the money shot on Eddie but Chavo clips his leg on the top rope and Val catches his leg between the ropes on the way down. Eddie applies a leg lock and yanks back on the limb in a move that really is not a move and Val submits. Lots of cheap heat playing with the Swedish and Finnish flags.

(7) Rikishi over Matt Hardy in a Kiss My Ass match. Crowd was WAY into Rikishi and absolutely everything he did. Literally every motion garnered a response. Riksihi is the next Dusty Rhodes at this pace, especially with his flip/flop/fly jabs and body language charisma. Inverted cradle piledriver by Rikishi puts away Matt Hardy in an entertaining comedy match. Finish looked great. Asinine comment of the night by the ref: "Matt Hardy, if you don't come back to the ring (and kiss Rikishi's ass) I will suspend you indefinitely!" Since WHEN do referee's have the authority to suspend wrestlers? Hello! Matt comes back and gets the stinkface.

(8) Torrie Wilson defeated Dawn Marie in a Bra and Panties Match. Quick match with Torrie losing her top and Dawn losing top and bottom. Bad looking action, but T&A is what this is about and so it doesn't really matter. They would have been better off doing a bikini contest between the two. Torrie was super-hot as always. I had to mark out for Ms. Wilson, as she gets my vote for the best eye candy out there. Lucky guy, that Kidman fellow.

(9) Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit beat Edge & Rey Mysterio Jr. to retain the WWE Tag Titles in the match of the night in about 20 minutes. Tag straps on the line. Edge was in most of the way. Great stuff, solid house show main event and most certainly the tightest match of the night. Good psychology, flowing action, showmanship kept to a bare minimum. Not a PPV calibre match, but a satisfying finale at least for this spectator. Angle nails Rey in the head with the tag belt to allow Benoit to pin him after a springboard Mysterio huracanrana. Not the best heat for the match as fans were more into the gimmickry and showmanship vs. the actual wrestling content. It's no surprise these guys are in the position that they are in.

After the main event the heels beat down the faces and they send Rikishi out to make the save. The locker room empties out and for a second we have a free-for-all that subsides with Cena being left in the ring to be fraternized. Crowd eats it up as all the faces in the ring take turns rubbing their asses into Cena's mush before a couple of heels pull him out prior to the Rikishi stinkface. Crowd loved it but I found it too homoerotic for my tastes. Granted, if Torrie would have been giving stinkfaces I would have volunteered!

This was the first show ever for the WWE in Finland and we had 11,000 people showing up in a 14,500 capacity arena. Tickets were ridiculously expensive, ranging from 60 Euros to 30 Euros to 20 Euros. Super hot crowd reacted to everything, like a virgin experience (as it was). To close shop the faces all danced in the ring like the Backstreet Boys and took turns showing their moves and even inviting some fans into the ring to have some fun. Seems everybody went home happy even though the heels dominated tonight.

BIGGEST POPS
- Rikishi (loudest pop, best heat)
- Booker T
- Edge
- Kurt Angle (LOUD intro music YOU SUCK chants)
- Ring announcer (after mugging to the crowd after rolling around on the mat with Torrie and Dawn)

The author is a former pro wrestler on the indie circuits in Canada, the USA and UK, having been trained by WWE Superstar Lance Storm at the Hart Bros. School in Calgary in 1993. Currently Starbuck is the vocalist for one of the top stoner rock bands in Europe known as Stoner Kings. More info at www.stonerkings.net

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