15 YRS AGO – WWE in London, England (5-9-03): Cena vs. Benoit, Show vs. Lesnar, Mysterio vs. Matt vs. Noble, Torrie vs. Nidia, Team Angle vs. Los Guerreros

The following was originally published on PWTorch.com 15 years ago this week…

WWE Smackdown! brand ‘Tour de Force’ house show report
May 9, 2003
London, England at London Arena
Report by Ben Smith, PWTorch. com reader

I arrived at the arena just over an hour before bell time. There were thousand of fans packed outside the arena, some were outside the merchandise stalls, but most were queing up to get in. Once inside the arena I bought a programme for 10 and Tour De Force poster, a Tour De Force t- shirt for 18. Most of the merchandise was overpriced, I saw a Tour De Force baseball cap for 18. I entered the arena and took photographs of the ring from different parts of the arena before taking up my seat which was next to the entrance ramp.

(1) Matt Hardy (w/Shannon Moore) beat Rey Mysterio and Jamie Noble (w/Nidia) to retain the Cruiserweight Title. Rey Mysterio came out to a huge pop. Matt and Jamie tried to double team Rey Mysterio early on but to no avail. Nidia and Shannon Moore kept interfering. At one point Shannon clocked Rey with the cruiserweight championship for the victory. Matt Hardy retained his championship, after delivering the twist of fate on Jamie Noble. After the match Rey Mysterio delivered a double 619, so you could call it a 1238.

(2) Sean O’Haire beat Brian “Spanky” Kendrick. Sean O’ Haire came out to mixed reactions from the crowd. This could easily be considered a squash match. Sean never sold hardly any of Kendrick’s moves and Kendrick hardly had any offense in the match. During the match O’Haire botched a nip-up, to chants of “You F*cked up”. Sean won the match.

(3) Rhyno pinned A-Train. Rhyno got on the microphone before the match and tried to get a pop from the crowd by saying “i love England” and then after looking at A-train saying “shave your back, bitch”. Throughout the match fans were chanting “shave your back”. Rhyno picked up the victory after delivering a gore to A-Train.

(4) Torrie Wilson beat Nidia with special ring announcer Sable. Nidia first made out she would flash to the crowd and then flipped us off. It had all you would normally expect to see from smackdown diva’s tag team match (not much). Torrie Wilson picked up the pinfall. Sable declared Torrie the winner before Sable and Nidia double teamed Torrie.

(5) Brock Lesnar beat Big Show to retain the WWE Title. This match was not that entertaining, can anybody have a good match with The Big Show?. Part of the match was on the outside of the ring. Lesnar got the pinfall after using the F-5 on the Big Show. Big Show did not chokeslam Lesnar even once in the match, which I was shocked by, as I would have thought that they would have both used their finishing maneuvers at least once.

15 minute intermission.

(6) Team Angle beat Los Guerreros to retain the WWE Tag Titles. Easily the best match of the night, when I went to Rebellion 2002 in Manchester, the Guerrero’s were in the best match of the night there too, so I believe the wwe tag team championship at Judgment Day in the ladder match. The were not able to get it tonight though. Both teams put on a good performance, with a mixture of comedy and great pure wrestling in the match. Eddie kept getting told by the referee to hold the tag rope so he tied it to his hand and was able to drag it half the way around the ring, which everybody found funny. Eddie also hit the frog splash but were unable to get the three count. Team Angle won the match and retained their titles – sort of. The Guerrero’s stole their tag team championship’s again.

(7) John Cena pinned Chris Benoit. I saw John Cena at Rebellion in Manchester last year and he really has come a long way since then. Cena got good crowd heat, after he came out rapping about how ugly the people are in England, and goes on to say that “England sucks”. It was a good match which had Benoit countering John Cena’s finishing maneuver into the crossface, Cena made it to the ropes. Cena won the match with a rollup pin.

(8) Rikishi & Tajiri beat The Full Blooded Italians. This match was not that entertaining, Tajiri used the tarantula as well as all his other signature moves. Rikishi won his team the match with the Bonsai Drop. After the match their was a mass brawl. Rikishi, Torrie Wilson, Rey Mysterio, Rhyno, Benoit, Tajiri, Chavo Guerrero and Eddie Guerrero busted-a-move.

Biggest Pops:
1)Brock Lesnar
2) Rey Mysterio
3) Torrie Wilson

Biggest heat:
1) John Cena
2) Team Angle
3) A Train/Big Show

NOW CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS 15 YRS AGO FLASHBACK: 15 YRS AGO – WWE SMACKDOWN REPORT (5/8/03): Hulk Hogan plays Mr. America character, plus Cena vs. Rhyno, Guerrero vs. Hardy, Torrie, Dawn, Team Angle, Stephanie