SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
The following report originally published 20 years ago this week here at PWTorch.com…
WWE Smackdown review
April 28, 2005
Taped 4/25/05 in Birmingham, England
Aired on UPN
Report by Paul Madavi, Torch Team Contributor
This Week’s Episode: Four Way in UK
Welcome to Smackdown! Tonight’s show was taped in Birmingham, England, and features a main event fatal four way. We begin the show with Carlito’s Cabana. Carlito say he’d like to invite the Queen to the Cabana to have tea and biscuits, and then spit in her face . . . because she is queen of a country that is not cool. “God save the Queen? God save Carlito a seat on the first plane out of here,” says the most charismatic wrestler on Smackdown. Carlito introduces his first guest, Kurt Angle!
Kurt swaggers to the ring, as the “You Suck!” chants come pouring in from the crowd. Kurt says he agrees with the comments made by Carlito. He doesn’t know why they call it Great Britain, “because there’s nothing great about it.” He also says there’s nothing cool about England. Cool is beating Shawn Michaels and Eddie Guerrero. What’s even cooler is winning tonight’s fatal four way, defeating Cena, and becoming a five time champion.
God save the Queen plays and a British wrestler comes out to the ring. The wrestler introduces himself as Steve Lewington (from Great Britain), and he wants to take part of the Kurt Angle invitational. Kurt says there’s no way he’s wrestling on the night of his no. 1 contender’s match. Kurt runs the guy down in a bad British accent, and when the kid turns around to leave, Angle pounces on him. He whoops him and tosses him out of the ring. “Insult their intelligence and attack them from behind, that’s the American way,” says Kurt. Lewington gets back in the ring and starts taking it to Angle, until a low blow and Angle Slam take care of him. He then taps like a woodpecker to the ankle lock.
[Commercial Break]
Torrie Wilson makes her way to the ring, as the special guest ring announcer. Her voice is like a screwdriver being driven into one’s ear.
(1) Chavo Guerrero defeats Paul London. Paul London sprints to the ring sans fur coat. He does sport the tasseled boots, however. Chavo Guerrero makes his standard entrance. The belt is on the line!
The match begins with an elbow and collar lock up, immediately turning into strikes by Chavo. London reverses with an arm drag. However, Chavo is able to hang London up on the ropes to gain control. The opponents trade blows for about a minute, until London surges with clotheslines. He then hits a spin kick for a two count. He follows with a Dropsault. Chavo tosses London into a corner, but eats elbow, and then boot when he charges at London. London climbs the ropes, but is shoved off the top by Chavo. London hits the top of the ring post with his chest, and cannot recover. London is counted out. However, you cannot win the title on a count out.
Chavo tries to get away with the belt, but the ref stops him, and instructs Torrie to announce his decision. Chavo drags the injured London back in the ring and performs the Gory Bomb for good measure. Chavo holds up the belt, and poses over London’s prone body.
The Breakdown
Psychology: The match itself had back and forth psychology that didn’t really establish either wrestler as superior. It’s interesting to see them sell the effects of the ring post, and actually finish the match with a count out.
Action: Good solid action, in what was a very short match. London and Guerrero are such crisp workers, you wish they’d be given more time on a weekly basis. They also have great wrestling I.Q. and could put together some great finishes, if allowed the time to build up a strong match.
Entertainment: Pretty entertaining for what it was. London and Guerrero blend well considering their differing styles. They both exude good personality, and work very hard in the ring.
They show a recap of MNM winning the tag belts from Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio.
[Commercial Break]
The Page Three Girls say some stuff. Who cares . . .
Backstage, Charmelle and Booker T pump each other up with some trash talking. When Heidenreich shows up, Booker T jumps between the madman and Charmelle. Heidenreich emulates Booker T’s cadence and reads him a poem by Heidenreich (which extols Booker T’s virtues). Charmelle tells Heidenreich that she can dig that tonight. Heidenreich says he’s made two friends tonight, and two is better than one.
Further backstage, Eddie enters Rey’s locker room and pretends nothing happened last week. He tries to pump up Rey for their up coming tag title match, but Rey is still upset from last week’s fall out. Just as Eddie begins to explain himself, Chavo comes in and stirs up some sh*t. Eddie say Rey is more family to him than Chavo is. Rey looks upset through out the segment. Rey tells Chavo to shut up, and that “this is between Eddie and me, and there is no third person, so why don’t you just leave.” Rey says that even though Eddie might not be 100% in his head, he is 100% in his heart, and that is what matters to Rey. They get pumped to take their tag titles back from MNM.
[Commercial Break]
(2) MNM defeat Eddie Guerrero & Rey Mysterio. This is a title match. Eddie and Rey make their way to the ring first. They come out in a Jaguar convertible, which is nowhere near as nice as the low-riders Eddie usually comes out in. I rejoice at the lack of the 6-1-9 camera. Melina, Nitro, and Mercury come out with paparazzi and the red carpet. Their entrance is seizure inducing.
Guerrero and Nitro start the match. Guerrero begins the action with a thumb to the eye. Mysterio tags in. He applies a snapmare take down, and follows with a moonsault. Eddie tags in with a springboard splash for a two count. Some rope work leads to Eddie taking a header off the apron to the outside of the ring. Nitro then tosses Guerrero into the steel post. Mercury tags in and works Eddie over in the MNM corner. Nitro tags in and connects with a high knee. The heels work Guerrero over in their corner for some time. Mercury applies a bear hug. Guerrero pushes Mercury into their corner, and tags in Guerrero. Mysterio accidentally takes out Guerrero going for a kick on Mercury. Mysterio surges on Mercury with a series of high flying moves. Guerrero is leaving ringside just as Mysterio is going for a 6-1-9 on Mercury. Nitro sneaks in a power bomb, and Rey kicks out of the pin by Mercury. Eddie finally returns to his corner after much deliberation.
[Commercial Break]
When we return, Mysterio is being worked over hard by Nitro and Mercury. Rey rolls through a sunset flip and hits a drop kick. Nitro tags in before Mysterio can tag in Guerrero. Nitro hits a handstand/spinning leg drop, a pretty cool move. Nitro then applies a pectoral stretch. Mysterio leverages out and kicks Nitro in the head. Nitro recovers with a back breaker for a two count. Nitro then applies a rear chin lock with knee. Rey gets Nitro with spinning head scissors. Mysterio almost tags in Eddie, but Eddie makes no effort to reach for Mysterio. MNM hit their tag finisher and get the pin on Mysterio.
Eddie just stands in his corner as MNM pummel away at Mysterio after the match. This looks awfully familiar. This is, what, the third similar angle that Guerrero’s been in the past two years? Rey cries for Eddie to help him as Guerrero walks away slowly from the ring.
The Breakdown
Psychology: They definitely solidified the Guerrero heel turn. It’s also very effective to remove the commentary during the walk away by Eddie. Both Eddie and Rey played their parts convincingly. Well done. The match itself was by the number tag action.
Action: Decent action bolstered by Mysterio and Nitro, who showed good ability in the ring. Mercury has yet to impress me, but Nitro has the goods. He showed good charisma during his run on Raw, and now has shown good wrestling ability.
Entertainment: An entertaining match. The prolonged beat down on Mysterio was a much more solid component of this tag match, given the storyline development. Otherwise, they peppered the match with enough cool wrestling moves to make it exciting as well as interesting.
[Commercial Break]
Cole and Tazz sell the betrayal by Guerrero, who apparently walked right out of the arena.
(3) John Cena defeats Rene Dupree. Dupree makes his way to the ring with plenty of boos egging him on. He grabs the microphone, and runs his mouth about how French he is. Cena comes out to huge pops. He’s ready for a squashing.
Rene begins the match by unloading with punches and stomping kicks. He hits an off-the-ropes spinebuster, and follows with mounted punches. Cena battles back with punches, but Dupree retains control and drives Cena head first into opposing corners. He then applies a half camel clutch. Cena rises to a vertical base and elbows out of the hold. Dupree regains control with a high knee. He follows with a mounted rear head lock. Again, Cena rises to a vertical base and elbows out. He unloads some punches, and begins to surge. He hits a dropping hip toss, and follows up with a side slam. Cena hits the Five Knuckle Shuffle, and the FU for the clean pin.
The Breakdown
Psychology: A pretty straight forward match, with Dupree getting the jump, but getting out toughed and out hit by Cena’s flurry. A very Hoganesque match for John Cena.
Action: This was nothing different than what we’ve seen from Cena in well over a year now. Also, a match this short shouldn’t have two separate rest holds. Everything looked good, but nothing looked special.
Entertainment: I appreciate WWE filling this time with some wrestling, rather than, say, a Big Show interview. While it wasn’t spectacular, it was nice to see two consecutive matches.
[Commercial Break]
(4) Matt Morgan defeats Mikey Whiplash Matt Morgan grabs the microphone and says that last week for the very first time, he stuttered. He says, stuttering all the while, that he’s never done that before. “I d-d-d-d-d-don’t st-st-st-st-stutter,” say Morgan.
The Breakdown
He demolishes Whiplash, very, very quickly. He hits his impressive vertical lift STO.
Psychology: No real psychology of which to speak.
Action: Morgan’s finisher is cool.
Entertainment: Morgan’s finisher is cool, but his gimmick stinks.
Backstage, JBL cuts some promo with the defunct championship belt. Big Show interrupts his promo to cut some of his own. Show say “the wrestling ‘god’ has fallen from grace.” Show says JBL is on a losing streak which will only continue tonight.
[Commercial Break]
Christina Aguilera and her two little brothers introduce a segment on the creation of Cena’s music video, which is based on 1980’s TV clichés. It looks pretty funny, actually.
(5) JBL (with Orlando Jordan) defeats Kurt Angle, Big Show, and Booker T This is NOT a fatal four way match. It is an elimination match, the winner of which will become the no. 1 contender. Booker T makes his way out to the ring first. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I love Booker’s entrance. It’s one of the best in all of wrestling. Big Show then makes his entrance. Kurt Angle makes his way to the ring, with the usual fan fare. John Bradshaw Layfield and Jordan make their way to the ring, after exiting the long horn limo.
The action starts with JBL opening up on Kurt Angle, and Big Show works over Booker T. Big Show takes turns taking out all the other competitors. He catches a JBL splash attempt, and slams him. He follows with a leg drop. It was an impressive spot. Big Show continues to dominate the competitors for several minutes. He stacks the men in the corner and splashes them. Show attempts to choke slam angle, but it is reversed and turned into an Angle Slam. Angle gets a two count. Booker T hits a scissors kick for a two count. They clothesline Show out of the ring. Angle then Angle Slams Big Show through the announce table. Big Show is counted out and eliminated.
[Commercial Break]
JBL and Kurt Angle team up on the remaining face, Booker T. They take turns pummeling away at him. Booker T is taken outside of the ring, and tossed by JBL. However, he reverses the whip and tosses JBL into the steel steps. Back in the ring, Kurt Angle starts to beat the hell out of Booker T. Just as soon as Booker T gains control of Angle, JBL goes to work on Booker T. Booker T back elbows Kurt Angle, and hits the Bookend on JBL, who kicks out of the pin. Kurt then runs back into the ring and hits three consecutive German suplexes on Booker T. Angle follows with a very nice vertical suplex. Angle and Booker T reverse out of each other’s finisher two consecutive times before Angle hits the Angle Slam. Booker T kicks out after two. Kurt Angle then runs over an attack JBL. Booker T and Angle neutralize each other. Orlando Jordan slides a steel chair into the ring, and while Brian Hebner takes time out to remove Jordan from ringside, Angle nails Booker T with the chair and gets the pin and Hebner turns around just after the chair is thrown out of the ring. After the pin, JBL stiff kicks Angle.
[Commercial Break]
Back on Smackdown, JBL and Kurt Angle take turns punching each other in the face. JBL misses a big boot, and Kurt Angle begins to attack the leg. Kurt locks in the ankle lock, but JBL turns into the lock and kicks Angle off. Angle unloads with some right hands. JBL catches Kurt off the ropes and hits a fall away slam. JBL goes for a clothesline, but Kurt ducks, and Referee Brian Hebner takes the hit instead. Kurt applies the ankle lock, but the Bashams run in and break up the lock. Kurt dispenses with the cronies, and begins to suplex JBL. He hits three in a row. Angle then applies the ankle lock and JBL taps, but ref Hebner is still out. Booker T then runs in and plasters Kurt with a huge chair shot. JBL covers and Hebner crawls in to make the three count.
The Breakdown
Psychology: This is some of the best psychology I’ve seen in a four way match. Big Show is a great tool for these kinds of matches, because he allows there to be a singular focus in the beginning of the match, when it could easily be disorganized and clustered. After that, they went to the heels working over the lone face Booker T, and occasionally turning on each other. The booking of this match made perfect sense right down to the Booker T run in at the end. Kudos to the bookers of this match.
Action: Excellent action was showcased in this main event. The wrestlers were quick, crisp, and hit all their spots within reasonable error margins. The match itself was so well paced and action packed that it was in no way harmed by the two commercial breaks.
Entertainment: This was easily the most entertaining WWE segment since the Kurt Angle versus Eddie Guerrero TV classic two weeks ago. The psychology was not only sound, but actually impressive. The action compliment the psychology very well. The match did everything to push all the wrestlers in the right ways. Kurt Angle came off as a bad ass. JBL came off as an opportunist and cheater. Booker T came off as a wrestler who is not to be messed with. And Big Show came off as a dominant force that requires more than one wrestler to take out. I can’t say enough about how good this match was.
Overall Breakdown
Psychology: Excellent psychology peppered tonight’s show. Carlito managed to continue to get himself over as a legit wrestling personality. The Eddie Guerrero versus Rey Mysterio feud was solidified and executed so that it’s sure to be a money angle. MNM got themselves over in a good match, and the main event was a TV match classic in terms of booking.
Action: Five matches on one show? I can get behind that. Even though two of them were squash matches, the show was packed with action from beginning to end. All of the matches were well executed, even if they were not particularly long or impressive. The two matches that were long, were also impressive. Tonight was a big hit for WWE fans who love good wrestling action.
Entertainment: This was the best installment of WWE television in several months, possibly longer. There was plenty of action, built on a solid psychological foundation. The storylines were all pushed in a logical manner. And everything blended into what was a very good show. Kudos to WWE for putting together two solid hours of entertaining pro wrestling.
Paul Madavi writes his reviews from Madison, WI where the beer is fresh, and the cheese is aged. If you’d like to respond to any of the content above, please email him and make eventful his otherwise boring existence. And make sure to check out The Submission Position tomorrow in The Lounge!
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.