[Mentalcase]

Ok, play nice childrens.

[Seraphina]

Okay....as some peeps know, The Sera One, Talon, and a couple of our friends were at the WWE house show in Braehead on Sunday and, as promised, here is a brief commentary, and what I thought of the show, and the WWE's handling of it.


Match 1: Orlando Jordon vs Chuck Pulumbo

Crowd was great in this match, really into it...also 100% behind Mr Jordon. I haven't seen a lot of this guy on tv, but what I have is pretty impressive....tonight wasn't an exception, as actually ended up being my favourite match of the night. Some very nice wrestling from both guys, with Orlando eventually winning with a role up. Great match, and has actually made me want to see more of Orlando Jordon on tv...the WWE's been grooming a few up and comers lately, and I'd like to thing he'll get his turn at being one of them some time soon.

It was probably a good idea to put this match first; the crowd were really into it, and it warmed everyone one. Although my friend tried to get a "where's my pizza?" chant going, and nobody joined in except us


Match 2: Hardcore Holly and Billy Gunn vs The World's Greatest Tag Team

Wasn't a great wrestling match by any stretch of the imagination...Billy Gunn is just uncarriable. A majority of the crowd seemed to be marking out for TWGTT though (especially me), which sat just fine with me. They happened to win at the end, pinning Hardcore Holly after Shelton's really quite amazing Super kick.


Match 3: Bradshaw vs Billy Kidman

The crowd was very hostile to Bradshaw from the outset, and with good reason...with a very loud "You suck" chant going, Bradshaw got on the mic, and said something along the lines of "Shut up! Everyone knows that Scotland is England's b*tch!"....now that might be cheap heat, but it still got the loudest pop so far when Billy pinned him

It wasn't a pretty match...Bradshaw blew a few spots, and hit one hell of a sloppy big boot, but Billy made up for it with some very impressive stuff. Not a standout match by any means, but not a bad one. After losing, Bradshaw recieved a very nice "na na...na na na na...hey hey hey...goodbye!" chant

Nobody messes with Scotland!

Shouted "learn to wrestle!" to Bradshaw as he left; unfortunately, he didn't hear me.

Jamie Noble (blindfolded) vs Nidia

Huge waste of Jamie Noble, but it was a fun match. The crowd actually seemed to be behind Noble in this one, with a sort of pantomine "She's behind you!" type thing going. I was a bit disappointed that the ending was the exact same as their tv match, with Noble peeking underneath the bag when the ref wasn't looking, and locking Nidia in a hold, from which she promptly tapped.

However, after the match, Noble got on the mic and, after saying someone that not a person in the building understood because of his accent, challenged Fit Finley (the WWE trainer of celtic decent, who taught the Divas in the wwe how to wrestle....looking at what Trish started at, and what she went to, he must be pretty good). Finley, to a huge pop, promptly destroyed Noble in a two minute squash match, for that cheap "home town boy" pop.

Made me want to download some of Finley's old matches...he was pretty impressive, and makes me think he must have been damn good in his prime...was a bit irritated by Jamie Noble (probably the best all round cruiserweight in the company after Tajiri) get wasted like that though.


John Cena vs Rhyno

I don't need to tell you what happened here, because apparantly it's going to be aired on Smackdown I did feel a bit robbed with it though...was looking forward to this match the most...but oh well, you'll see what I mean. John Cena was great on the mic, as was Paul Heyman (everyone marked out for Heyman ), and with any luck, they're setting up for a tv fued between Cena and Rhyno...should be awesome.

Rey Mysterio vs Nunzio vs Chavo Guererro

Bit slow for my taste...but Nunzio got a good 10 minutes in the ring! Which is 10 more than he gets on tv! Nunzio was eliminated first, bringing it down to Chavo and Rey, where it actually picked up. Good match, with Rey eventually getting screwed by a run in from Nunzio. Wasn't the show stealer I was expecting though...towards the end of the card, they really did start rushing things, with each match lasting only some 5-15 mins.


Brief intermission here, during which some weird guy kept talking to me in the queue for something to drink...he found it rather funny that the last announcement given was that "Ladies and gentlemen, the WWE is pleased to announce that you can see us live again this year..." big cheer "...at Manchester and Birmingham"...big boo....where the heck do they think Glasgow is compaired to Manchester and Birmingham, geez?


Rikishi and Scotty vs The Basham Brothers

Got a laugh from the people nearby by saying, as the Bashams came out: "WWE, episode 2, attack of the clones!"

Not the greatest of matches, but Scotty himself was pretty impressive...I'm still wondering when the Bashams are going to pull out these "classic matches" the WWE keeps claiming they're capable of. So far, I haven't been impressed by anything they've done.

Torrie Wilson vs Dawn Marrie

Wish I could report on this match (yeah right), but as my friend said before this match began "this is the best toilet break you'll find on the card." Went to the bathroom, and got something to eat...timing was excellent, as I arrived back JUST as it finnished, with Torrie Wilson getting a role up.

Eddie vs The Big Show

You know on tv, the Big Show looks just "big"? Well, in reality, he's a mammoth. There aren't actually any words to decribe just how big he really is...but geez, the ropes were shaking just by him walking down the ramp

Match wasn't very good though...The Big Show did his "I've big, and I'm going to squash you" skit. When Eddie eventually got the advantage though (the ref had been knocked down by the Big Show), Chavo ran down to the ring to attack him! When Eddie started pounding on Chavo, the Bashams came down too and started attacking Eddie...followed by Rikishi and Scotty to help out...and finally John Cena who, after throwing the heels out of the ring, gave an F-U to The Big Show (looked like a child lifting a really fat adult), followed by a Frog Splash from Eddie, and the pin.

All the while, although I was entertained, I was thinking "what the hell?" given not one of these guys has anything to do with each other, except Chavo and Eddie (and to a lesser extent, John and the Big Show)...still, it was for the cheap pop, heels vs faces, and it was very funny.

What followed was a twenty minute long segment, where every face on the card did a dance routine with Rikishi and Scotty...wasn't what I paid to see, but was good nonetheless....two lessons learned though...

1 - Cena can't dance, but makes up for it in being the funny guy

2 - Eddie can't dance either, but covered it up by dancing with Dawn Marrie, who apparantly can.

Was actually pretty enteraining, all things considered.



Overall, it was a good show...and I was interested to note a VERY different format from the tv version. It was run almost in the same manner as a pantomine or a play than the telivion program, and was a good night was had by all, BOYAKA

Bit feel a bit robbed that Eddie and Jamie weren't used to their fool potential....one was squashed, and the other was in a match with Nidia for crying out loud, but it didn't put a huge damper on things.

My one major complaint was the seating...

Basically, we paid for the most expensive seats in the building, which we assumed would mean closest to the action (front row, or at least a few rows back). Instead, we were seated on the balcony which, although it probably afforded the best veiw of the ring compaired to anything from five rows back, did leave us a little far away from the action...still, it could have been worse, we did get to see everything, and still enjoyed ourselves.

Overall, I'd recommend that, if there's a house show in your area, go It's a very good experience, and I promise you'd enjoy yourself. It's an alotogether different experience watching things on tv, and actually being a part of it, chanting alongside several thousand people, being among an ear splitting pop for the hero, and hearing what those bumps REALLY sound like (brutal, btw).

Was a good night, and I want another one

[Dementia]

Uh..from what iv seen on smackdown!..most of these matches have already been done in the past, for a second i actually thought this post was a month old (no offence though).
WWE, is serious trouble in regards to their storylines which have become really weak over the years. With the recent loss of Brock, Rock(wont be making any appreance this year), Goldberg(who cares), Farooq, and a few others, the rosters for both shows are weak, especially smackdown!.
This was probably the very reason why Vince called for redrawing both the rosters.

[Seraphina]

House shows are usually used to "test the water", and find out what works, and what doesn't. Probably one reason why Bradshaw was working heel, and John had his skit with Ryhno.

But yes, I agree, the reshuffling of the roster has a lot to do with the talent deficit right now. I don't think things would be so bad if Smackdown hadn't lost Benoit to RAW, and Kurt wasn't injured; but at the moment, Eddie, and to a lesser extent John Cena, are carrying the torch all alone in the main event scene on that show, and there's no doubt he does need someone else in there; as much as I love Eddie, I wouldn't want to see Hardcore Holly getting pushed to the main event again and fueding with him *shudders*

RAW, in fact, is overflowing with big names (and great wrestlers) now...Chris Jericho, Shawn Michaels, Chris Benoit, Rob Van Damn....and of course it has "over dead weight" like Kane. With Edge coming back (never been a big fan of Edge though) they'd have one more on the list...reshuffling the card should even things out a little, as well as mean that RAW won't have the same people hogging the spotlight all the time.

[LisaMHD]

Sera, I saw Raw last night and I could give you the results of the roster change if you like. Please let me know.

[Seraphina]

It's up on the WWE home page. The only people who changed brands were

(going to RAW)

Shelton Benjamin
Nidia
Rhyno
Tajiri
Edge
Paul Heyman

(going to Smackdown)

Rene Dupree
Mark Jindrak
Triple H
Rob Van Dam
Theodore Long
Spike Dudley


It's hardly an earth shaking change to be honest....the only difference is that now Triple H'll be hogging the spotlight on Smackdown instead of RAW

I just hope to god that thing about Heyman quiting is just so he can come back as a manager...Heyman is one of the most entertaining things on Smackdown...although it would be kinda cool to say I saw his last ever skit with John Cena

But noooo...Heyman can't go!

They'll probably announce more people moving later...otherwise, it was sorta pointless

This post has been edited by Seraphina: 23 March 2004 - 03:48 PM

[Seraphina]

Oh well, let's look at them one by one...


RAW

Shelton Benjamin - I've been wanting him to get a singles push for a long time. He's by far the more talanted member of that tag team and, with any luck, they'll give him a ball to run with. I don't, however, think that Charli has everything he needs to have a good singles run...at the end of the day, these guys have had very little personality, and some real work is going to need to be done to give them that nudge....on the other hand, I can say I saw their last ever match as a tag team

Nidia - Who cares, honestly? With Stacy on RAW, no guy is going to look twice at her, and no girl is going to care one way or the other (that being me). She can be on whatever show she wants, doesn't matter to me.

Rhyno - RAW suits him slightly more I feel...should suit his in your face, smash mouth style, and with any luck, give him the elbow room for a decent push. Rhyno's a damn talented guy...although, granted, much of his best work was in ECW, thanks to the genius booking of Paul Heyman.

Tajiri - I'm sorry to say, but the most talented cruiserweight in the WWE (one of the most talented wrestlers in the world) is going to go the way of all cruiserweights on RAW....carrying huge guys, and doing the job to get them over, then getting seen on tv about once a month.

Edge - Edge'll get a monster push, who's kidding who? I don't mind too much...he's not bad on the mic, and he's not bad in the ring, but he's no Kurt Angle...shoving one of the greatest wrestlers to have ever lived down our throats is one thing, but I hope they don't do the same with Edge.

Paul Heyman - I really hope he comes back as a manager...I really do....



Smackdown

Rene Dupree - Not ready to go it alone, far from it. Waste of time.

Mark Jindrak - Not bad, but really needs experience. He should probably be put in a tag team with a more experienced guy to 1) get him over, 2) coveru p his mistakes until he's able to handle himself in the ring better.

Triple H - Let's be honest, Smackdown is about to turn into the Triple H show, until he leaves to make Conan 3

Rob Van Dam - With luck...a lot of luck...we might see a singles push for him. He's the one I'm actually most excited about, and with any luck we'll see a bit more of him. Desperately needs a manager though to handle his mic work...really quite desperately...

Theodore Long - Again, don't care

Spike Dudley - We're not even gonna be seeing him on tv, so what does it matter?



To be honest, some of the draws really are bum deals Some of them have potential though...Rhyno and RVD in particular, if booked correctly, could be really good assets.

Very annoyed about Paul Heyman thought...

[Moonfairie]

I wish I could see just one time in my life smackdown. Here in Switzerland I only have RAW. So it's been a long time since I saw Kidman (was my favorite with Sting).
Hope you will keep this up !

[gonzowalker]

Sera, I read that Vince is thinking about bringing back ECW. Do you think that is whats going on with Heyman? Heyman quits and revives ECW?......it could happen.

[Seraphina]

[The Krow]

Wow...an OFFICIAL wrestling thread... too cool man, too cool

anyway...Didn't heyman quit so this leaves smackdown to Stephanie???

I hope vince brings back ECW with Heyman in control...

Spike Dudley...we may see him competing with the lighter guys on smackdown instead of the big giants on RAW...

Rob Van Dam??? whats going to happen with the Tag Team Titles???

unless they lost them...which I'm not sure of...but hell, anything can happen

[LisaMHD]

They lost em, , Rick Flair and Batista are back in the saddle again. Which proves, IMO, that the "lottery" was set, but the choices were made ahead of time on who was being switched. Bishoff and Hayman were reading blank sheets of paper.

Anyone know the lowdown on Brock Lesner?? Is he gone for good or just temporarily??

[Dementia]

Brock's left for an indeffinate period of time!
Booker T's profile was posted on the Smackdown! website..before it was taken down..so i guess he would be moving too.
Since Heyman quit (as it was said when the show ended) and with the rumours that ECW comming up, i wont be suprised if heyman gets to be incharge of that show again. Also it was reported Vince wanted another Invasion angle..and that was one of the reasons for the revival of ECW.

A side note..Theodore Long became one of my favourite characters when he threw a shoe at trish in a match with Jazz...now thats entertainment!! (it was just so unexpected and funny! )...its got the nostalgic old school feeling where the managers used to get involved in storylines. With him moving to smackdown! and with the return of paul barer...its gonna be awesome! :

Btw what happened to Sean O'Hare?

This post has been edited by Dementia: 24 March 2004 - 12:02 AM

[Seraphina]

[The Nameless One]

All I know is that Kurt Angle rules It's true oh it's Darn true.

Kurt Angle and Randy Orton need to team up.

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