From TheSmartMarks.com TNA 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 - 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. Send feedback to [email protected] © Copyright by TheSmartMarks.com |