SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
WWE house show report
October 27, 2002
Sheffield, England
Report by Christopher Charlton, PWTorch.com correspondent
Show opened with a Stephanie McMahon promo. She basically hyped the main event as Rikishi and a partner of his choosing versus Lesnar and Matt Hardy. She told the fans that the Undertaker wouldn’t be showing due to the actions of Lesnar and Big Show on Smackdown. Either that or the insurance was too expensive on his motorcycle. On with the show…
(1) Funaki beat Albert. Funaki did his “number one announcer” promo. Fair bit of heat on Albert, with a strong chant of “shave your back”. Basic squash, but Funaki got a hope spot in with a good looking DDT. Funaki wins with a roll up, but is attacked after the bell with a Baldo bomb, then a second turnbuckle splash. An okay opener.
(2) Shannon Moore & Hugh Morrus & Chuck Palumbo beat Ron Simmons & D-Von & Crash Holly. Moore looks like a young Jerry Lynn and worked well during the match. Match soon broke down, Moore hit a top rope plancha on Simmons while Chuck worked on Simmons on the outside. Crash went for a top rope cross-body block, but Morrus rolled through for the win. An okay match.
(3) Billy Kidman beat Chavo Guerrero. Kidman sold his right arm throughout and Chavo responded with some great technical skills. Midway through, Kidman took a painful looking bump through the ropes onto steel steps, but won with a modified Bulldog.
(4) John Cena beat Big Valbowski. Lots of heat on Cena. Val missed a Money shot after controlling much of the match. Cena won with a powerbomb into a cover, using the ropes. A flat match.
(5) Jamie Noble (w/Nidia) beat Tajiri to retain the WWE Cruiserweight Title. Mild “ECW” chant from some smarks in the third row. Fantastic opening sequence of takedowns and armdrags got a positive response from the crowd Noble dominates, but Tajiri hits a tornado DDT for a believable nearfall. Noble wins with a rollup and a handfull of tights.
(6) Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit beat Edge & Rey Mysterio to retain the Smackdown Tag Titles. Rematch from No Mercy which started off with much the same spots from the PPV. Angle and Benoit played rock paper scissors to see who started while the faces got HUGE pops from the crowd on entrance. Rey hits great rear Huracanrana on Angle, then a stiff 619 early, before tagging Edge. Edge works well with the champs in a sequence of technical holds and reversals. Edge gets beaten down by Benoit and Angle before countering the Ankle lock, then the Angle Slam before hitting the Edgecution. Hot tag to Mysterio, who hits a great series of ‘ranas and kicks. Match breaks down, Rey gets an Angle slam, but is saved. Benoit hooks the Crossface on Edge near the ropes, and Mysterio hits the 619 on Benoit. Angle avoids an Edge spear, and the ref takes a great looking bump. While the ref’s out, Rey hits a huracanrana pin, but there’s no-one to make the count. Los Guerreros run in and hit Mysterio with the tag belts. Benoit crawls over for the three. Fantastic match.
(7) Torrie Wilson beat Dawn Marie in a bra and panties match. Standard T&A gumph. Torrie wins and no- one cares. The crowd was totally dead.
(8) Booker T & Rikishi beat Brock Lesnar & Matt Hardy (w/Rikishi). Special guest announcers were Tazz and Cole. Tazz got cheap pops by telling the crowd that Chimel was bad mouthing the town. mild chant of “choke him out”. Match was quite weak, Matt got repeatedly squashed by the faces while Lesnar managed to squash Booker and Rikishi. Rikishi reverses the twist of fate with a Rikishi driver for the win. After the match Lesnar walked out leaving Paul E in the ring (possibly teasing his face turn). Booker T asked Rikishi to do the stinkface on Heyman and did it. Rikishi called out Edge, Mysterio and Torrie. They each hit stinkfaces on Chimel before taking turns to hit Spineroonies and dancing to end a good show. Arena was probably a couple of hundred away from being full, but the trains were messed up due to the weather yesterday, and a lot didn’t make it.
Best Match: Tag title match
Worst Match: Bra and panties match
Loudest Pop: Edge
Most Heat: Chris Benoit.
QUICK TIPS FOR SENDING RESULTS
If you attend an arena event in future, either house shows or TV tapings, we encourage you to send us a report for publication. You can direct your reports to: pwtorch@pwtorch.com.
We accept reports in any format, but if it’s not much trouble, please format your report like you see above, with the matches numbered like this (1) , (2) , (3) , with the opening line of each match paragraph stating who beat whom (don’t just say Wrestler A vs. Wrestler beat with the result listed later; instead, state up front who won so those readers who don’t have time to read the entire report (i. e. their boss walks past their cubicle all the time looking beat their shoulder) can at least quickly assess the results.
Also, please list tag teams using the “&” symbol as opposed to stating “and. ” Reserve use of ” and” when listing results in a three-way or four-way match where there are no teams (i. e. ” Wrestler A beat Wrestler B and Wrestler C in a three-way match” ) so it is easy to differentiate a handicap match from a three-way match.
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