WWE Smackdown house show report
May 24, 2004
Lacrosse, Wisc. at the Resche Center
Report by Chris Vetter, PWTorch.com reader

We have 900 to 1,200 people tonight. Floor is not sold out. Only two of the nine matches advertised on the WWE Website actually happen. I’m disappointed that Paul London and Matt Cappotelli, who were both advertised, are not in attendance. I arrive a half hour early and buy a ticket. The floor is not sold out. We get underway right at 7 p.m.

(1) Hardcore Holly & Billy Gunn defeat Nunzio & Johny The Bull at 11:01. This is the sort of match that does well live but would be flat on TV. Nunzio is doing his part, refusing to tie up with the bigger men, ducking out of the ring. Holly and Stamboli are really hitting each other hard. Gunn gives the FBI a D’X crotchchop, which gets a big pop. Holly pins Nunzio after a flapjack. Very good match, and I’m not a fan Gunn or Holly.

(2) Mark Jindrak defeats Billy Kidman at 6:59. Teddy Long comes down first, runs down Wisconsin, and says this state is nothing but “crackers & cheese.” Funny. This is actually pretty good. Both guys hit nice standing dropkicks. Jindrak hits a plant DDT on Kidman. Kidman gets the upper hand, and heads to the corner to attempt a shooting star press. Long distracts him, and Jindrak recovers in time to hit the Mark of Excellence suplex for the win.

(3) Mordecai defeats Orlando Jordan at 3:09. Just awful. I can’t say how much myself, and the rest of the crowd, hated this match. Mordecai obviously went to the Bradshaw school of wrestling, with restholds, punches, kicks and no-selling opponent’s offense. Just lethargic action. I can’t blame Jordan, because he wasn’t given any offense, and the stuff he did land was no-sold anyway. Mordecai wins with a razor’s edge.

Kurt Angle comes out in the wheelchair and runs down La Crosse. He pushes the big matches later tonight. He says Eddie vs. JBL is a no-DQ match.

(4) Chavo Classic defeats Shannon Moore and Spike Dudley in a three-way dance by pinning Moore at 6:07 to retain the cruiserweight title. Chavo Jr. comes out with his dad, then heads to the back, giving his dad the “you got this one by yourself” sign. The match is decent when Moore & Spike are in the ring. After some double-team offense, Classic runs over on his knees and hugs the ref’s legs, like I’ve seen Eddie Guerrero do so many times before. Crowd jeers Classic. Chavo Jr. comes down and brawls with Spike on the floor. This leaves Classic, who weakly rolls up Shannon from behind. Crowd groans at the three count because it was such a weak cover. (I would have booked this as a tag match. Get Chavo Jr. in the ring, and have some doubt over who would win the match.)

(5) Rico & Charlie Haas defeat the Dudleys at 15:27 to retain the tag titles. Dudleys come down to no music. (Smart; the music always pops the crowd.) They jaw with fans and pretend to hit young kids on their way to the ring. Bubba hits Tony Chimmel and takes the mike. Rico is ridiculously over, doing a danceline routine against the ropes. When Bubba does his Dusty Rhodes bionic elbow routine and grabs his crotch, Rico drops to his knees in front of Bubba with an excited face. Later, Rico encourages D-Von to give him the ‘Wasssup’ dive onto his crotch, but D-Von declines. Bubba gets on the mike and calls Jackie Gayda a “stupid blonde slut.” He later attempts to kiss Jackie. Haas comes up behind, hits a German suplex on Bubba, and Rico covers Bubba for the win. Ok match. While I don’t care for the gay humor, the crowd seemed to enjoy it.

(6) Eddie Guerrero defeats John Bradshaw Layfield at 2:42. Only 20 seconds into the match, the Dudleys hit the ring, and it’s a three-on-one beatdown. This brings down Gunn & Holly to even the odds. Then out come the FBI. Then Cena & Rey Mysterio, so we have 10 guys brawling in the ring. Pretty wild for a few seconds. Suddenly, there is only Eddie and JBL in the ring. Eddie hits JBL with the title belt, goes to the top rope and hits the frogsplash for the win. I don’t know how I feel about this… 2:42 is too short to be much of a match, but it’s not like I wanted to see JBL wrestle for 15 minutes, either.

The faces celebrate in the ring, goofing around. Gunn and Holly (gasp!) both peel down their trunks for the ladies in the crowd.

Intermission. Really, really short intermission.

(7) Rey Mysterio pins Rene Dupree at 11:18. Decent match, second best of the night. Rene gets on his knees to mock Mysterio’s height. Later in the match, Mysterio does a nice dive over the top rope onto Rene on the floor. Rey hits a West Coast Pop for a believable nearfall. Dupree comes back with a spinebuster for another believable nearfalls. Rey wins after hitting the 619 to a huge pop.

(8) Torrie Wilson ‘defeats’ Dawn Marie in a bikini contest. Same as every other contest; Wilson gets the louder pop, and Dawn Marie attacks her from behind and leaves her in the ring. Kurt Angle comes back out and blames Torrie for ending his career. He is going to send Luther to the ring to now end her career. Before Luther makes it to ringside, John Cena comes out and beats up Luther.

(9) John Cena defeats Booker T at 10:55 after an FU slam. Easily the best match of the night. These guys worked so well together, I hope these guys get a feud in the near future. Mostly good, stiff brawling, but the crowd ate it all up. Booker T hits a standing side kick, but Cena ducks an axe kick. Cena then hits the FU for the win. Very good action; it saved a subpar show.

Final thoughts: Only a handful of good matches. I’ve now attended four WWE events in the past three years in La Crosse, and this is smallest crowd yet. The only name advertised on the TV commercials during Smackdown was Undertaker, who was not even booked. Chavo Classic and Mordecai do not belong in a WWE ring. Show ended at 9:30 p.m. Cena and Mysterio were incredibly over… Cena’s pop topped Eddie’s tonight.


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