15 YRS AGO – WWE in Johnson City, Tenn.: Cena calls fans “stupid rednecks,” “idiots,” and “f-gs” during a pre-match heel rant before tag match against Rey & Brock

The following report was originally published on PWTorch.com 15 years ago this week…

WWE house show report
May 19, 2003
Johnson City, Tenn. at Freedom Hall
Report by Wes Holtsclaw, PWTorch.com correspondent

I just got back from the Smackdown! brand house show in Johnson City, Tennessee. After attending Judgement Day in Charlotte the night before, I knew not to expect too much from the show, but there were some guys who really delivered for the small crowd tonight. Freedom Hall is a small venue (7,000 including floor) that was mostly utilized by the NWA/WCW from the 70’s through the mid-90’s and hadn’t seen a WWE event in 13 years. There was an estimated 4,700 people there according to the people in charge of the gate.

Here’s what went down:

(1) Matt Hardy (w/Shannon Moore) defeated Jamie Noble (w/Nidia) to retain the WWE Cruiserweight Title. The crew didn’t open the arena until 30 minutes before show time so fans were still piling in during this one. It was a decent match as Noble was hurt, seeing Hardy play off Nidia before pulling out the win.

(2) Nidia beat Torrie Wilson with help from special referee Dawn Marie. Wilson retaliated by ripping Nidia’s top and Dawn’s pants. It was a crowd pleaser as the fans were hot since Sable came out as the ring announcer. After the match, Sable posed for the fans and stared down with Torrie.

(3) Rhyno defeated A-Train in a good match with the Gore. There were plenty of ‘Shave Your Back’ chants, which prompted Rhyno to grab the house mic and told Albert to ‘Shave his back’ and asked the people if they wanted to ‘see him gore his ass.’

(4) Chris Benoit defeated Sean O’Haire. A match that told a good story. Benoit pulled it out with the Crossface. The match was followed by intermission.

(5) The FBI beat Bill DeMott & Kanyon & Rikishi. Brian “Spanky” Kendrick and Rikishi were supposed to take on the FBI, while Kanyon was to face Bill DeMott. However, Kendrick was given the night off due to an injury at the pay-per-view. This was a great match, and the faces all got great reactions. The FBI pulled out the victory when Palumbo pinned Kanyon, but it was what took place after the bout that really got the people’s attention. Rikishi, Kanyon and DeMott cleaned house and set up a stink-face at each of the corners. Rikishi got Nunzio and Palumbo, when DeMott set up Stamboli. However, Kanyon interfered and pulled his pants down sticking his bare ass in Johnny’s face. All three danced afterwards and did a special solo dance in the middle of the ring as the crowd really ate it up.

(6) Tajiri & Eddie Guerrero beat Team Angle to retain the Smackdown Tag Titles. Team Angle were obviously tired and looked sore before the show in the back, but really came through. Charlie Haas came out and cut a good promo about not being the tag champions and “getting the hell outta Johnson City” after they became the two-time champs. Eddie followed up by talking his “homies” about bashing Haas with the ladder. Good stuff. The new tag champs won with a buzzsaw/frogsplash combination.

The crowd was informed that the WWE was returning in the near future before we were given our main event.

(7) Rey Mysterio & Brock Lesnar defeated John Cena & Big Show. It was a great match and made me realize how talented John Cena really is. Before the match, Cena came out and got the crowd fired up by talking about the crowd being ugly the town being a joke. “You stupid rednecks cashed in for your tickets with your welfare checks,” Cena said. “You idiots can put away your rebel flags, because the state of Tennessee is full of fags. You all give me the middle finger, while the crowd looks like people from an episode of Jerry Springer. So go ahead, get trashed and drink your beer. I hate tennessee and especially the Volunteers!” That was the highlight of the night as the fans really popped for Mysterio and Lesnar. The crowd was high on Big Show when he first came out, but gave him heat throughout the match. Mysterio hit the 619 on Cena, which Brock followed up with an F5 for the win.

All in all it was a very good show considering it was the night after a pay-per-view. The crowd was into it and considering they haven’t seen pro wrestling much in this area since WCW went down the toilet, showed up.

Biggest Pops:
1. (Tie) Rikishi, Kanyon and Bill DeMott after match
2. Brock Lesnar
3. (Tie) Sable and Torrie Wilson
4. Rey Mysterio
5. (Tie) Big Show, Matt Hardy and Chris Benoit

Biggest Heat:
1. John Cena (by far)
2. Team Angle
3. FBI
4. Jamie Noble and Nidia
5. A-Train

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