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The following report originally published 20 years ago this week here at PWTorch.com…
WWE Smackdown WrestleMania Revenge tour results.
March 19, 2004
Newcastle, England.
By Kevin Malton, PWTorch.com correspondent
(1) Billy Kidman defeated Rhyno. Both Kidman and Rhyno did a good job at getting fans into the match. They really worked the crowd.
(2) Hardcore Holly & Billy Gunn beat Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas. Good pop for Gunn. He came across very charasmatic. So-so match.
(3) Chuck Palumbo pinned Orlando Jordan. Zero reaction from the crowd. Many opted to leave their seats to go to the bathroom. Both wrestlers did little to get fans interested in their match.
(4) Nidia pinned a blindfolded Jamie Noble with a roll up. Pretty much their No Way Out match with a different finish.
(5) Chavo Guerrero retained the Cruiserweight championship by defeating Nunzio and Rey Mysterio in a 3 way elimination match. Mysterio was super over. Lots of heat for Chavo. A standard cruiser style match. Mysterio first eliminated Nunzio. Later, Nunzio and Palumbo tripped up Mysterio to allow Chavo ot get the win. Mysterio did his 619 on Nunzio and Palumbo afterwards.
Paul Heyman came out to cut a promo. He’s a really, really strong promo guy who comes across even better in a live environment. The crowd chanted “What!” at him and Heyman ad-libbed a few insults. He then ripped on Newcastle. Cena came out to a great reaction. Cena cut a pro-Newcastle rap and challenged Heyman to a match. Heyman said that if Cena touched him, he’d shut the whole show down there and then. Heyman then said that he would fight anyone else in the back as he isn’t scared. Bradshaw came out, teased going after Heyman but turned on Cena.
(6) John Cena pinned Bradshaw to retain the US Title. A short but solid match. Bradshaw did a good job of playing the heel but Cena really got over on him; this was really a showcase of Cena’s moveset. Clean win after the F-U.
(7) Rikishi & Scotty 2 Hotty defeated The Basham Brothers to retain the WWE tag titles. The faces were really over. Scotty played to the crowd and did a great job of entertaining the fans – in fact he got a great reaction to just about every step he took in the ring. A standard match which was more comedy based. The faces and two kids from the crowd danced.
(8) Torrie Wilson beat Dawn Marie. Good initial pop for Torrie. Both worked pretty well – Wilson has come a long way in the ring. No crowd reaction however and many fans left their seats which was quite frankly a bit rude.
(9) Eddie Guerrero pinned The Big Show to retain the WWE Title. An fairly good match but not really main event material.
Notes: After the last match, Guerrero cut a promo on how he was proud to represent WWE and thanked the fans. He then brought John Cena out. Cena got the crowd to clap, wave their hands etc. He got Brian Hebner in the ring who did his beatbox on the mic spot. Cena then did an amazing freestyle rap, claiming he made his raps up on the spot and proceeded to cut an amazing rap on various fan signs in the crowd. The crowd were dead for Orlando/Palumbo and Torrie/Marie. Mysterio was very much over, lots of heat for Chavo. Surprised that not a great reaction to Guerrero. Cena was without a doubt the star of the show; he has amazing charsima that is better shown in person at a live event. Heyman stood out as having great charisma too. The standard of actual wrestling wasn’t too great, it did seem that they were going through the motions at times and not a lot of risk taking. No mention at all of Kurt Angle.
It was a sellout of 11,000.
Lots of Mysterio and Taker shirts sold.
RECOMMENDED NEXT: 20 YRS AGO – WWE Live Event Report (2/28/2004): Jericho vs. Christian, Booker T & RVD vs. Orton & Batista
OR CHECK THIS OUT AT PROWRESTLING.NET: Trish Stratus on working as a heel during her WWE return and why Vince McMahon didn’t think it would work, feuding with Becky Lynch
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