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TNA
The Royal Treatment: SmackDown (3.17.05)
Posted by Peter Kostka on Mar 18, 2005, 20:29
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Previously recorded in Savannah, Georgia. We see a clip of John Cena giving the FU to The General Playah last week, and Michael Cole says that Long will address that this week
Kurt Angle vs. Marty Jannetty
Angle grabs the mic and commends Shawn Michaels on trying to prepare Marty for this match with the Rocker Reunion on RAW, but �you can�t prepare for an Olympic Gold Medalist�. Marty at least ditched the fugly outfit he wore Monday. Angle gets a takedown to start, but Marty counters with a headscissors and gets a hiptoss. Angle looks displeased that Marty is actually putting up a fight. Headlock takedown from Angle and he goes back to it after squashing a brief rally, shifting his weight to get a couple of 2 counts. He tries again, but Marty shifts his own weight and gets a two of his own. Marty gets to his feet and shoots Angle off, taking him down with an armdrag and drops a knee on it. He wrings it some more, but Angle picks his leg to escape and goes for Marty�s arm, but Marty counters and works Angle�s arm, but Angle gets to the corner to force a break . Good back and forth mat action so far, I must say. Angle gets a facelock and takes him over for 1, but Marty spins free and goes back to the arm, to which Angle gets a snapmare and chinlock, but Marty quickly escapes back to a hammerlock. Angle picks him up and tries to dump him out, but Marty hangs on, locking his feet around Angle�s head and yanking him to the floor. He goes up and nails him with a double axehandle as we go to a break. Slow pace, but Marty is keeping up with Angle very well, with good counter wrestling from both guys.
Angle has a reverse bearhug as we come back, bunching Marty up for 2. We see that during the break, Angle sent Marty into the ringpost to take control. Marty elbows himself free, but gets kneed in the gut for 1. Suplex gets 2 and a backbreaker gets another 2. He locks in a bodyscissors, using his free arms to bully Marty around before adding a chinlock in. Marty gets to his feet and escapes with a jawbreaker but gets caught with a belly to belly. Angle goes for the Slam, but Marty counters with an armdrag and controls. He whips, but Angle avoids the charge and hits a German, but can�t seal the deal. Angle wraps him up in a kind of reverse bearhug/headscissors combo, but Marty does a headstand and shifts his weight onto Angle for 2. Angle tries a double chinlock with his knee in Marty�s back before going to the arm and getting a couple more two counts. Back to the reverse bearhug, but Marty elbows free again and starts the rally, countering a backdrop attempt with a DDT and scores with a flying elbow before eating a boot off a charge, but returning the favor with a spinning heel kick to a charging Angle. 10 punch in the corner, and Angle tries for a powerbomb, but Marty counters with a hurricanrana before going up and hitting a crossbody, but almost getting himself pinned afterwards. Angle quickly fires off a German and drops the straps and going for the Slam again, but again Marty escapes and tries a rollup, but only gets 2. He kicks, but Angle catches it and tries for the Anglelock, but Marty escapes with a spinkick and another rollup for a CLOSE 2. Marty argues which allows Angle to take him down with an Anglelock, but Marty escapes again and sends Angle into the corner. He tries for the Rocker Dropper, but Angle takes him down once more in the center of the ring. Marty tries to kick himself free, but that only makes Angle add the legbar to it, leaving him no choice but to tap.
Rating 7/10
Thoughts: Excellent, excellent TV match, maybe the MOSD for 2005 so far. Good chain and counter wrestling, with restholds that actually went somewhere (trying to get pins off headlocks, Angle getting a leg scissors and using his free arms to punish Marty some more), something that is sorely lacking in WWE right now. Marty looked like a million bucks here, able to keep up with Angle, but just not able to get the upper hand long enough to finish him off. If he can still go, why not keep him around? Improves the mid-card with one signing.
- Theodore Long is in his office, saying that he will never allow John Cena, or any SD superstar, to lay their hands on him in any way. JBL interrupts, since he is the champion and this is his audience, telling Long that Cena in no way represents SmackDown and is waiting for Long to permanently suspend him for what he did last week Au contraire, says Long; Cena isn�t being suspended, but he will not be able to lay a hand on JBL until Wrestlemania, or he will lose his title shot�.unless he is in a match with JBL because �bell to bell�, he�s fair game�which happens to be tonight, since JBL will team with The Bashams to face Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio�.and John Cena.
Thoughts: Ah, the old �zero tolerance� routine. Well it should work here, since both guys are very strong in the promo department and can sell the match that way. The �bell to bell� provision does throw a bit of a wrinkle in there and makes it seem like Long isn�t playing favorites.
- Eddie slicks up his hair, and Chavo Guerrero approaches, asking Eddie �What happened to you?� Chavo used to look up to him, but now he seems like an embarrassment to the family. He�s half of the tag champs now, but this time last year, he was top of the heap, WWE champion. Eddie thinks Chavo is just stirring the pot, but Chavo thinks that Rey is holding Eddie back, and �If you can�t beat em�, join em��, referring to the victories Rey holds over Eddie. Chavo tells him �If you want to keep acting like this, don�t call yourself a Guerrero.� Eddie throws some chairs around in anger, and then stares at himself in the mirror.
- Torrie Wilson is in the crowd, taking pictures with the fans.
Booker T vs. Luther Reigns
We see that Booker�s wife Sharmell is in the crowd. Heidenreich makes his way down to the announce table, smelling and biting the headset before he puts it on. Booker controls to start, but Reigns takes control with a hotshot and clothesline for 2. All Heidenreich is doing is breathing heavily and grunting. Reigns wrenches the neck and hits another clothesline for 2 before getting a chinlock. Booker counters out with a suplex and goes wild on Reigns, finishing with the scissors kick for the pin. Heidenreich gets on the table and reads Booker a poem, thanking him for helping him see the light and reveal �the true Heidenreich.�
Rating: 1/10
Thoughts: A glorified squash for Booker, as Reigns for some reason is being totally jobbed out right now (how else do you explain Mark Jindrak going over him last week?) As far as Heidenreich? I don�t WANT to know the true Heidenreich.
- Theodore Long is in the ring for the contract signing and begins to talk about Wrestlemania, but Eric Bischoff interrupts. Bischoff is confident that RAW will dominate the inter-promotional matches at Wrestlemania and introduces Randy Orton. He starts to introduce Undertaker, but Long decides to do it himself. They stare each other down, and Bischoff nervously slides the contract between them. Taker signs right away, but Orton hesitates. He grabs the mic and says that he has nothing but respect for Taker, but soon he will not be 13-0, he�ll be 12-1. Unlike Taker�s previous opponents, he�s not afraid, and is nothing like Taker has ever faced. Orton signs the contract and adds a slap to the face, which pisses off Taker enough for the lights to flicker and Orton to retreat to the aisle, but Taker just shoots lightning around him. Orton walks to the back, perhaps not very un-afraid anymore.
Thoughts: The only way this would be worth anything is for Orton to win and jump to Smackdown, because it�s set up perfectly for him; he can brag that he broke the streak and gives Cena (if he becomes champ) a good heel to feud with.
- More Divas take more pictures in the crowd. I put the over/under on feels copped at 5.
Paul London vs. Billy Kidman
London won a #1 contenders match on Velocity this past week to earn a Cruiserweight title shot �sometime soon� (according to Cole). If you�ve forgotten, these two were actually feuding about six months ago before Kidman got injured. London gets a quick rollup for 2 and controls in the opening minutes. He goes to the apron and tries a springboard, but Kidman meets him with a dropkick, sending London to the floor in a nice spot/bump. Back in, Kidman gets 2 and works the back for a bit, slowing things way down. London catches Billy with his head down and gets a hurricanrana and dropsault for 2. Billy backs London into the corner and puts him on top, but London pushes him off. Billy goes right back up, but ends up dropped on his face and hit with the 450 splash for the pin.
Rating: 3/10
Thoughts: Not enough time to really get anything going, and Kidman ground the match to a halt midway through, but it�s good that these guys are back at it, since they had some solid stuff going last October.
- At a concession stand, a worker frantically keeps up with orders while Carlito reads USA Today. The worker reminds him that Long wanted Carlito to sell some hot dogs tonight, so Carlito springs to work. He gives a kid a hot dog, opens the register, and pockets his $20. When the kid asks for his change, he gets ketchup squirted at him and when another customer objects to that, Carlito spits hot dog on him before shooing everyone away and going back to the paper.
- Cole intros Big Show who talks about his sumo match with Akebono. Next.
- JBL paces, and Orlando Jordan tries to give him a pep talk. JBL realizes what Long said earlier and has a plan, with Orlando being his witness.
- RAW Rebound, and Dawn Marie poses for photos in the crowd, but Michelle McCool gets in her section, which leads to a catfight that needs to be broken up by the refs. As they do so, Cole and Tazz run down the Wrestlemania card so far.
- JBL and Orlando walk, and JBL finds Cena. He tries to provoke him into hitting JBL and forfeiting his title shot by talking about Cena�s mother. Cena won�t take the bait, however, but thanks JBL for the motivation.
JBL and The Bashams (w/Orlando Jordan) vs. Rey Mysterio, Eddie Guerrero and John Cena
Cena has a new theme and Titantron video. I prefer �Basic Thuganomics�. Cena pounds on Danny Basham and gets a slam for 2. He tries to make him tag JBL, but JBL wants nothing to do with him, so Cena tags Eddie, who comes in with a hilo and then takes out both Bashams as we go to a break.
Eddie gets a knockdown on Doug and tags Rey, who comes in with a crossbody for 2. Doug rakes the eyes to control and tags Danny, who gets a few stomps in before tagging JBL, and this is someone he�ll tag in for. JBL pounds, but Rey dropkicks him in the knee and rushes to tag Cena, causing JBL to bail and tag Doug. Rey tags back in and works on Danny, tying up the ref so Eddie can choke him with the tag rope. Danny tries a powerbomb, but Rey counters and headscissors him into position, hitting the 619, but Doug afterwards yanks him off the apron and into the barrier. JBL tags and hits a neckbreaker for 2 before hitting a fallaway while taunting Cena. The Bashams take turns working Rey over and cutting off any tag opportunity. Eddie jaws with Orlando, drawing the ref over and allowing Cena to come in and lay a beating on the Bashams and then JBL, sending him to the outside. Cena tries to send him into the steps, but JBL reverses and Cena eats them. Back in, Eddie hits the Three Amigos on Doug and takes out Orlando, allowing Rey to Drop the Dime for the pin. Outside, JBL tries to take Cena out with a chair, but Cena ducks and takes it away, leaving JBL cowering, but the bell had rung, so Cena can�t touch him anymore. He cracks one of the Bashams with it and struggles not to hit JBL while he smiles up at him. Cena composes himself and unfolds the chair over JBL, sitting on it and giving him the �You Can�t See Me� gesture.
Rating: 4/10
Thoughts: Not bad, but about the same kind of match we�ve seen from these guys over the past few weeks, with the �JBL wants no part of Cena� wrinkle thrown in. The post-match stuff was good though, with Cena one-upping JBL in the mind game department.
Final Thoughts: Good show this week, with a really good opener and 2 other solid (if unspectacular) matches. SD�s Wrestlemania card seems a little on the light side, and I can�t see much else from this show that I�d like to see outside of a London/Chavo match. I CERTAINLY don�t want to see Dawn and Michelle slap each other around unless they�re both topless and wrestling in lettuce.
That�s it for me, see you next week.
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