411’s WWE Smackdown Report 06.10.04

WWE Smackdown Review by Yayowonder
June 10, 2004
Taped from Uniondale, New York and live from my living room.

My name is Yayowonder and I will be recapping WWE SD! tonight for your reading pleasure. In case you missed it, you can read my recap from last week can be found here, my Black column here, and where I put it in your mom here. And we’re off!

Opening Video
Shenanigans of the Dudley’s kidnapping Paul Bearer two weeks ago, and last week’s offer by Heyman to Taker to join him or he’ll never see Bearer again.

Smackdown video

Opening interview
The show opens with Kurt Angle in the ring, in his wheelchair. He reminisces of when he came to Rhode Island as champ, and would get booed out of the building. He didn’t care because he was the greatest athlete on the planet. But now he looks at himself and knows he can never wrestle again. He knows we love that, and demands the footage from last week of when Booker T and John Cena knocked him out of his chair during their altercation. He demands Booker T and John Cena apologize for what happened to him last week. Booker comes out first and lets Kurt know he would never do anything to intentionally hurt him, and apologizes to Angle five times (since he is the five time WCW champion). They shake hands and Booker walks to the back. Cena’s music hits and he comes down to the ring. He let’s Angle know if he meant to hit him last week, Kurt would still be in the hospital. Cena then thinks he should finish the job and wraps his chain around his fist. Angle gets Luther in the way and tells Cena he is on probation, and if he touches Kurt again he’ll be stripped of his U.S. Title. He then demands Cena apologize not only for last week but for who he is. Cena: “I apologize… for absolutely NOTHING!!!” He tells Angle he’ll do what he wants how he wants. Cena begins to walk up the ramp when Angle tells Cena that he has to wrestle Rob Van Dam, Rene Dupree and Booker T tonight in five minute matches (Called the Triple Play Challenge). The first one to beat him tonight would get a US Title match against Cena at the Great American Bash.

Kenzo Suzuki video
After a voice-over on the Japanese flag, Kenzo speaks “America. (Japanese gibberish). I will be victorious.” I assume the gibberish is retaliation for Bill Parcells “Jap plays” comment. His debut is next.

Commercials

Subway WWE Slam of the Week
JBL announcing his stipulation to the title match with Eddie.

Kenzo Suzuki v. Scotty Too Hotty
The debut of Kenzo Suzuki, who is carried out to the ring in “King Mabel” style with his wife trailing him. Lock-up and Scotty into the corner. Kick in the corner, followed by chops in the corner. Big chop brings Scotty down in the corner, and a kick to the shoulder. Kenzo pulls him up, hits him with a knee to the mid-section, and brings him down with the double chop. Another turnbuckle Irish whip and a straight kick to Scotty’s head. Scotty down and another kick this time to the back, and then the sternum. Vertical delayed suplex, but Scotty escapes. Punches and kicks by Scotty (including a beautiful superkick minus the band warming up), is stopped by a Vulcan death grip to Scotty’s chin. Jujitsu throw whose name I missed (grabbing/controlling your opponents head during a leg sweep) for the finish. Match: C. It was a squash for the most part and really didn’t give us any moves that differentiated Suzuki from any other SD! star, beyond his finisher.

Arnold/Rock segment
Access Hollywood package of Arnold handing Rock the “torch” as the face of After School All Stars.

Backstage segment
Angle and the three challengers in the Triple Play Challenge were in the back to draw straws to see who wrestled first. Luther closed the door on us. The suspense, oh the suspense. Damn that Luther!!!!

Commercials

Undertaker in the back
We see him contemplating his choice.

Bradshaw vignette
JBL is on the cover of SD! magazine. We then see Bradshaw going in and getting a manicure at a spa. JBL: “I knew immigrants were good for something.”, “Jose I wish all your people worked this hard.”, “The INS would have a field day in here.” HAHAHAHA!!! For those concerned no Jews were hurt in the filming of this vignette. Bradshaw’s limo is then shown arriving at the building. Bradshaw got out, then said he didn’t need to wrestle tonight, so he was going to head back to New York City. He got back into the limo, and we saw that Eddie Guerrero was now driving the limo. JBL can’t get out and Eddie promises it will be better than Disneyland. The limo then went driving into things as it took off into the night.

Commercials

Replay of what just happened.

Dudley’s Vignette
We see Paul Heyman with the Dudley’s at an “unknown location” where they were keeping Paul Bearer. They are drinking when Heyman tells the Dudley’s that they didn’t realize what kind of anger they had unleashed in the Undertaker. Heyman explains that Paul Bearer is Taker’s conduit to “our world”, and what keeps him from going buck wild. Heyman said he was going to go to Nassau Coliseum to talk to the Undertaker and get his answer.

Rey Mysterio v. Chavo Guerrero, Jr.
Classic is walking to the announce table with his hoochies. Rey-Rey jumps out the sky and makes his way to the ring. Chavo, Jr. walks to the ring and we’re off. They start off with a lock up, and Rey is dropped on his stomach. Chavo gets Rey in a side headlock, which Rey turns into an arm wringer. Chavo then sweeps Rey and they do some Mexican stuff that turns into an armdrag. Chavo in the corner runs out and is planted with a drop toe hold. Rey with a side headlock which is reversed by Chavo into a headlock of his own. Rey with blows to Chavo and another armdrag. They run the ropes with Rey getting a leapfrog, but on the way back gets hit with a nice clothesline. Kick to the back by Chavo. Chavo chokes Rey on the bottom rope. Rey in the corner comes out with a kick, Now they’re exchanging punches, when Rey is sent to the ropes. Chavo sends Rey to the ropes which leads to the springboard. Rey then follow-ups by armdragging Chavo out of the ring in one fluid movement from the sunset flip. Rey follows up with a crossbody to Chavo on the floor.

Commercials

We’re back to the action in the ring. Rey runs the ropes and hits a legdrop. Pin by Rey only gets two. Rey sends Chavo to the corner and follows with punches. Rey runs the ropes and goes for the springboard, which Chavo counters by dropkicking Rey. Sweet! European uppercut is followed by a pin attempt which only gets two. Back suplex by Chavo and the pin attempt only gets two. Snapmare followed by a Mexican surfboard being rode by Chavo. Rey goes headfirst into the turnbuckle and gets placed on top. Chavo climbs and gets knocked down and Rey follows with the MOONSAULT!!! Rey hits but only gets two off the pin. Chavo has Rey across his back and throws him throat first across the ropes. Chavo then gives a straight kick to Rey’s mouth piece. Chavo with la cerajera (a submission move), Chavo gets the sunset flip, goes for the roll through pin, but Rey counters by dropkicking him in the face. Kicks and punches, followed by a Rey head-scissors attempt. Chavo throws him over, but Rey lands on his feet and knocks him back. Facebuster begets a pin reversal sequence. Rey with the second rope moonsault but he’s caught. Rey manages to escape and armdrag Chavo. Rey runs the ropes, but gets hit with the Gory bomb special. Chavo with the cover but only gets two. Chavo has Rey draped across his back, but he makes his way out. Rey with the kick followed by the leg scissors that lay Chavo across the middle rope. Rey with the 6-1-9! Classic comes to his son’s aid, but instead collides with him. Rey with the roll-up, 1-2-3! Chavo Lite and Classic argue in the ring. A: This match had tons of action and a great flow.

Raw Rebound
Benoit v. La Rez, and how it then turned into Edge/Benoit v. La Rez and Kane. We also find out Benoit will be teaming with Edge for the Tag belts at the PPV against La Rez, and also has to fight Kane for the World Title. We then get HBK v. Orton, and how that turned into HHH v. HBK in the skybox.

Backstage, people are cleaning!!!
We then see the JBL’s limo drive back in and crash into more stuff.

Commercials. And now begins my commercial break coverage of the Detroit Pistons v. LA Lakers, Game 3 of the NBA Finals contest. I tune in to see the opening video montage. Boy do I not like the Black Eyed Peas, although that chick is pretty hot.

Replay of what has happened between JBL and Eddie tonight.
We now go live with the limo driven to ringside, and we see that Bradshaw is unconscious and covered in garbage, in the limo. Eddie makes his way to the ring and orales us vatos locos. JBL starts to get up and stumbles out of the limo in shambles. Guerrero said that at the Great American Bash, Bradshaw would be as banged up as his limo was. In a funny bit, Bradshaw tried to put the broken pieces back on his limo, and was very upset over what Eddie had done to his limo. Eddie laughs in the ring.

Commercials I get back to see the last two player introductions. Nothing impressive. My favorite Finals series Bulls vs. Suns, had much better intros (with the lasers and stuff). Then again being a Bulls fan helped, and that you could feel the vibe of the building through the TV meant a lot too. We then see ABC visually falate Kobe over his game winning shot in game 2. I puke in my mouth. I hate the Lakers, and hope the Pistons hold them to all new levels of futility in scoring the rest of the series.

Passport to Pain video
They visited Italy and Germany. But no JBL goose-stepping in the video, darn.

Angle comes out
Lex Luthor comes out to watch, followed by Cena making his way to the ring.

John Cena v. Booker T
Booker T is the first to go against Cena. Kicks and punches by Booker followed by a bodyslam. Cena into the corner, and Booker kicks him down. Booker with the armdrag and tried a pin. Booker sends Cena into the corner. Cena runs out of the corner with a clothesline. Cena with the suplex and a two on his pin attempt. Booker kicks Cena in the mouth, but only gets two on the pin try. Small package by Cena only gets two. Booker with the knee drop. Booker with the side kick, and another pin attempt that gets two. Booker with a rear naked choke hold. We’re at two minutes, and the ref begins to raise Cena’s arm to check for consciousness. Cena raises his arm at the third attempt. Cena stands himself up and hammers out of the hold. Whip leads to Cena on offense with punches and kicks. Booker sends him to the ropes and drops him He follows up with a heel kick. Booker bounces off the rope for momentum but gets Cena clothesline. Booker follows with a suplex, and a two count. Ten seconds and Booker kills the clock showboating. The match has ended in a five minute draw. C: Good match with back and forth action. But because of Booker standing around, and not trying to get that last second pin, ruined a little for me.

John Cena v. Rob Van Dam
Rob Van Dam was out next.

Commercials
Piston’s up 14 to 9 at 5:17 in the first. I’m amazed to see Malone out there playing. Since he was dead or something from the way Phil Jackson made it sound.

We’re back to RVD with a two count off the roll-up. Cena has RVD in a side headlock, RVD into the ropes and is knocked out. Head-scissors by RVD leads to a two count. Two count off the pin. Cena in the corner getting beat down. Cena thrown across the ring as RVD follows through but no-ones home. RVD comes off the ropes and gets hit with a wicked clothesline. Cena with a shoulderblock on RVD. Cena puts him in the corner but and climbs up, but is knocked down. Suplex by Cena leads to a two count. RVD with a missed clothesline leads to the FU attempt. RVD with the viscous side kick, pin attempt gets two at the two minute mark. RVD with the kick and climbs up for the splash. Cena makes his way up, RVD climbs back down and puts Cena down. RVD with the moonsault off the top rope. RVD climbs up for the frog splash, but is knocked down by Booker who was still at ringside. Booker is thrown out of ringside by Kurt. RVD climbs back up and throws Cena down after he climbs up for the superplex attempt. Sidekick off the tope rope. Ten seconds left. RVD climbs the tope rope and hits the frog splash!!! But time has run out before he made a cover attempt. So that match ended in a five minute draw as well. B: Match had great flow all the way through, and was being contested until the last second.

Commercials
Back to the game. The score is LA 13- Detroit 19. Rasheed Wallace is sent to the bench because he has 2 fouls in first quarter for the third game in a row. I guess it’s better than being out of the building because of technicals.

John Cena v. Renee Dupree
Angle calls down Dupree for his match. Dupree in and gets taken down with a press, and punches by Cena. Elbow drop by Dupree. Mounted and punching is Dupree. Cena into the corner and Dupree follows up with shoulderblocks. Dupree throws Cena across the ring and Cena drops from the impact of the opposite turnbuckle. Dupree with abdominal stretch. Cena gets out with a suplex. Dupree with punches, but Cena gets a two off the sunset flip. Dupree with the backbreaker on Cena, but only gets two. Cena follows up with punches. Dupree sends him to the corner, but gets hit with feet on the follow through. They knock noggins at the 2 minute mark. Cena with a clothesline, as he tells Dupree you can’t see me. Five knuckle shuffle. Cena is pumping up. THE FU, and Dupree floats out. Cena into the ropes, and Dupree gets the spinebuster. 5 pin attempts all kicked out at two. Dupree goes for the powerbomb but is blocked as time runs out.

Kurt Angle ordered an additional five minutes, after Dupree says he can beat him. Dupree with a spinning bodyslam. French Tickler! Dupree for the kick but gets spun around, FU! Cena pins Dupree and Angle said that the pin didn’t count. Booker runs out and attacks Cena. RVD comes in for the save and throws Booker out! Angle then ordered that Cena defend the U.S. Title against Rene Dupree, Booker T and Rob Van Dam at the Great American Bash in a Fatal Four way match. RVD made a gesture to Cena that he wanted the belt. RVD ended up laying out Cena with a kick before leaving. B: Another good match out of these two, even if the finish felt tacked on to get Cena some of his heat back.

Commercials
Big Ben with a rebound at the 11:36 mark of the 2nd quarter. The score is 24-16 Detroit.

Video from the opening is shown again

Heyman/Undertaker segment
Paul Heyman comes to the ring (For some reason his video still says he’s the GM. Bad WWE production crew.) with a bag, and tells us to hit the record button. This is a moment we’ll watch a year from now will know changed the course of wrestling. This is when Heyman will become the most powerful man in the WWE by taking control of the Undertaker. That or the Undertaker would make him rest in peace. He then calls out Taker because the course of history demands his answer now. Undertaker comes out, and begins to disrobe. In a show of great camera work Heyman pulls the urn out of the bag while Taker’s eyesight is blocked by his hat. Taker’s eyes are rolled back, and then sees the urn. We have a couple of minutes of Heyman standing with the urn and Taker standing there. Undertaker then drops to one knee in his classic “worshipping the urn” pose and we fade to black.

Show grade: B. Great show that furthered storylines, and didn’t have any below decent wrestling. Don’t let what others say scare you away. SD! is starting to find it’s groove, and with another one or two people stepping up in the mid-card, it isn’t the end of the world yet. Is it Raw? No. But last year, the exact opposite argument was being made that Raw should be taken off the air. And SD! doesn’t even have Rodney Mack wasting your time.

E-mail me at [email protected] with feedback or words of love. Let me know if you like the format, or if you’d like to see this reported differently.