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TNA
The Royal Treatment: Smackdown (3.03.05)
Posted by Peter Kostka on Mar 4, 2005, 15:07
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I caught the premiere of Law and Order: Trail By Jury last night, and I urge any fan of the L&O franchise, or anyone that likes legal dramas really, to tune in. The �all-access� look into a trial is a great, well-executed premise, and the cast is pretty good.
- Previously recorded in Albany, New York. The opening video focuses on JBL�s ceremony last week, and how Big Show and John Cena played the role of party crasher.
- Speaking of Cena, here he comes to the ring. So JBL�s Cabinet wants answers after what happened, do they? His answer: He�s sick of JBL throwing parties for himself to tell everyone how great he is. JBL�s been around money for his whole life, he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Cena? He�s just like the fans; saving their money to buy tickets to wrestling events, making signs, and �eating those WWE ice creams with Doink the Clown on them.� He doesn�t throw parties, he just wants to fight and the fans don�t want to watch parties, they want a fight. To prove that he�s a fighting champion, he�ll face Orlando Jordan for the US title tonight and afterwards, JBL can throw another party to celebrate being �the WWE�s Biggest Bitch.� It�s not about how many days JBL has held the title; it�s about how many days are left until he loses it, because �we� are taking the title at Wrestlemania.
Thoughts: Great promo by Cena to illustrate the differences between him and JBL. Connecting with (and playing to) the fans (although that�s one of the main complaints people have about Cena�s character) worked very well here, and firmly cements him as the face in this feud. This is the type of promo Cena has to cut to really get over.
Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio � vs. Mark Jindrak and Luther Reigns (Tag title match)
A video clip points out how Jindrak and Reigns weren�t exactly on good terms last week. Eddie and Reigns start, and Reigns powers him into the corner to control, but Eddie gets a knockdown and tags Rey, but Reigns clubs him down and tags Jindrak. He tries a clothesline, but Rey ducks and snapmares him for a dropkick to the face. Rey goes for the pin, but the ref is busy yelling at Eddie for something which allows the heels to double team and take control, fighting off multiple Rey comebacks. Reigns whips and charges, but Rey gets a couple of boots and dropkicks him into position, but Jindrak knees him in the back as he hits the ropes. Reigns moves in for the kill, but Rey slips through his legs and tags Eddie. Eddie goes to town, hitting a dropkick on Reigns and a headscissors on Jindrak. They try stereo 10 punches, and Jindrak tries to counter Rey with a powerbomb, but Rey uses his momentum to send both of them over the top. In the ring, Eddie starts the Three Amigos on Luther, but Reigns blocks the third and tries a powerslam, but Eddie wriggles free and Rey takes him down with a seated senton, allowing Eddie to hit the third suplex and the frog splash (with Rey hitting a weak-looking 619 under the bottom rope to cut off a save from Jindrak) to retain. Reigns and Jindrak argue again, and Jindrak knocks Reigns cold with one punch.
Rating: 3/10
Thoughts: Paint-by-numbers tag match that didn�t really totally get going. I really hope that we really aren�t going to see a Wrestlemania angle regarding Jindrak and Reigns, either. Reigns looks like a complete wuss getting knocked cold from one stupid punch. I guess that the ref being distracted by Eddie thing was supposed to cause tension between him and Rey, but I didn�t catch it until the second time I watched the match.
Tonight: A No Mercy rematch as Booker T faces Heidenreich
- Michael Cole tells us that Kurt Angle will show the �brutal, graphic footage� of his beatdown of Shawn Michaels later tonight.
- The useless Divas converse, and Dawn Marie enters, playing a carbon copy of Trish Stratus� character and telling the girls that she�s sick of them, especially Joy. Michelle gets in her face, so Dawn challenges her to a mixed tag match. But I thought she had the biggest beef with Joy?
- Theodore Long talks to someone on his cell about Wrestlemania, and Carlito enters. Long gives him a shovel because there�s a lot of snow outside right now, and he doesn�t want the fans slipping and falling when they leave tonight. Carlito bemoans the lack of coolness in that, and Long agrees: �It�s not cool, it�s coooooooold.�
- The same clip of the Be Cool premiere from RAW.
Booker T vs. Heidenreich
Booker jumps him to start and controls, hitting a suplex and a bunch of kicks, forcing Heidenreich to bail. Booker follows and tries to send him to the post, but Heidenreich reverses and Booker eats it instead. Back in, Heidenreich gets a keylock, but Booker counters with a jawbreaker and unleashes another flurry of offense before eating a boot off a charge and getting clotheslined. Heidenreich goes for a chair, but Booker thrust kicks it back in his face and DDTs him on it to draw the DQ. Booker hits a scissor kick and does the Spinaroonie anyway.
Rating: 1/10
Thoughts: Ugh. If this is all they are going to do with Booker, and he�s never going to sniff a big title again, he might as well retire. He�s been jerked around way too much ever since he came to the WWE, and having to feud with an insane lisping poet would be the last straw for a lot of us.
- We see the awesome JBL/Cena A Few Good Men WM spot. It really has some good acting, especially on JBL�s part, as he definitely pulled off the look of a military officer.
- Out comes Kurt Angle for the Invitational, but first, he shows the footage from RAW. It�s in black and white, of course, because apparently they want us to think that�s really dark sweat on HBK�s head. It�s actually not much of a beat down, and the blood came from his match with Edge, so implying Angle �brutally beat� him is disingenuous. He didn�t even slap the Anglelock on him! Anyway, he can�t stop smiling after that. He�s always heard that Shawn Michaels is �the greatest athlete in the WWE�, but Angle embarrassed him on RAW �his home turf� and, at Wrestlemania, will give Michaels his biggest embarrassment of all. This week�s victim comes out, and it�s a guy in a hoodie with his face obscured. Naturally, Angle assumes that it�s Michaels, but it isn�t�.but the cameraman behind him who just put down his camera and removed his disguise is. They brawl, and Shawn superkicks one of the cops before a bunch of security pulls Michaels off.
- During the break, we saw that Shawn was tossed by security on the order of Long, but Shawn only wanted a little piece of Angle, so he�s cool with Long about this.
- The mixed tag is next, and I don�t want to waste words on this crap with a proper recap, so suffice to say that Rene Dupree was Dawn�s partner, and Big Show was Michelle�s. Michelle screwed up a springboard elbow (it was more like a springboard, pause, back into Dawn, elbow) Show imitated the outrageous, inhumane French two-step and chokeslammed Rene for the pin. Next.
- Carlito, not wearing a coat or gloves or anything, shovels with one arm. A car slowly drives by, and afterwards, someone throws water on Carlito. I guess those two events were supposed to be connected somehow, but it sure didn�t look like it.
- JBL heads out. He doesn�t understand why he can�t throw a party for himself and why he doesn�t deserve to be honored, only to have it ruined while the fans cheer. You may like him, love him or hate him, but you have no choice but to have respect for him. Cena doesn�t respect anything; he made a mockery out of the US title. He hates Cena for everything he stands for and it makes him sick that he has to go to Wrestlemania and be in the same ring with him. He may have been born into money, but there�s a reason he is a champion while the fans are in the stands: a wrestling god doesn�t pay to see the fans, they pay to see HIM. He is proud that his parents had class and he�ll bring up his kids in private schools where they won�t be influenced by Cena and people like him. The fans have no idea what JBL is, because if they did, they would not cheer him; they would worship him. But the fans are too stupid to give him respect, and if he doesn�t get some RIGHT NOW, Albany will never see JBL again, and it would be their loss. The fans are rabidly booing him at this point, so he walks up the ramp. We go backstage to see him with the Bashams heading for the limo. Jordan goes with them, but JBL tells him to win the US title tonight �or you�ll be back in the hood with those people.�
Thoughts: Actually, one of JBL�s strongest promos to date. He is now fuller of himself than ever before and really got the fans pissed off with his promo. A great complement to Cena�s promo to open the show, which plainly showed the difference between the two and told you who was the face and who was the heel in this feud. Of course, whether the actual MATCH in LA will be any good is up for debate.
- Rey kisses his title in the locker room, and Chavo Guerrero approaches. He wants to talk to Eddie about something, but won�t tell Rey what. Rey prods, so Chavo reminds him that Rey has beaten Eddie a couple of times already and that Eddie hates to lose. He tells Rey that Eddie is just tagging with Rey to �keep his friends close, and his enemies closer.� He warns Rey to watch himself because �You can never trust a Guerrero.�
- Joy and Show talk about Show�s match, and Funaki runs up to him. He asks Show about the rumors in Japan about him facing Akebono in a match and Show replies that it would be an honor to face him.
- RAW Rebound
John Cena � vs. Orlando Jordan (US title match)
Cena controls to start and gets a couple of near falls, reminding Orlando of his predicament after every one. He whips and runs into a boot, but catches a charging Orlando with a sideslam and 5 Knuckle Shuffle. A frustrated Orlando bails and kicks the steps as we go to a break.
Coming back, Cena gets a hiptoss for 2 and hits the chinlock. Orlando fights out, but Cena ducks a crossbody and drops a leg for a couple more two counts before going back to the chinlock. Orlando gets to the corner to force a break and pokes Cena in the eye before rolling him up and putting his feet on the ropes, but it only gets 2. He goes up and hits a crossbody, but Cena rolls through for 2. He goes for the 10 punch in the corner, but Orlando counters and hits a powerbomb for 2. He slugs and gets a couple more two counts before hitting the chinlock himself. Cena tries to rally, but Orlando knocks him down and drops a leg for 2 before going back to it. Cena gets a backdrop suplex to counter, but charges into an Orlando powerslam for 2. Cena gets a flying shoulderblock leading to a double KO. Orlando goes for Cena�s chain, but Cena knocks it away and goes to town. He pumps up and hits the FU, but the Bashams run down to distract the ref while JBL emerges from under the ring and hits Cena with the WWE title and Orlando covers for the pin and the title. JBL and Orlando mock Cena from the aisle as we fade to black.
Rating: 4/10
Thoughts: Too heavy on the restholds, but not bad from these two. The ending was kind of predictable and weak, but they had to get the US title off of Cena somehow, and this was the best way to do it and put heat on the JBL/Cena feud at the same time.
Final Thoughts: Blah show, with the JBL/Cena promos the brightest spots this week. Both brands are building to Wrestlemania fairly well about now and it seems like they both have a main event that will draw some interest, which is good.
That�s it for me, see you next week.
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