» On Friday, February 4, 2005 at 12:09 AM EST WWE Smackdown
DATE: February 3, 2005
LOCATION: San Jose, CA
ANNOUNCERS: Michael Cole and Tazz
Now four days past the Rumble, we are now on the road to No Way Out, 17 days away. With that in mind, may we present the happenings of tonight's Smackdown!
Tonight's show opened with John Cena coming out and doing his usual promos to the crowd, pretty much along the lines as every week before this. There was a few comments about his being 'controversial,' along with the 'chain gang' references here and there.
Theodore Long then came out and said Cena was right, Batista did win the Rumble, but what title will be going after--RAW or Smackdown's? He said that he didn't have time for Batista to make up his mind whether to come to Smackdown or not, then announced an eight-man tournament to determine the #1 contender for the WWE Championship at Wrestlemania 21. Long added should Batista decide to join the Smackdown roster, Smackdown's WM main event will be a Triple Threat Match between the winner of No Way Out's Steel Cage Barbed Wire Match on February 20, the winner of the tournament and Batista.
JBL then came out with Orlando Jordan, glaring down at Long and telling Cena to back off, the real champ was here! JBL then went on a rant, complaining about the stipulations of the match at No Way Out. JBL credited himself on the reason why arenas were full and told Long to "screw himself" and call off the tournament.
Long then said he is neither for nor against JBL, but does what he does for the Smackdown audience and the tournament was still on! Long then announced that next week in Japan would be John Cena vs. Orlando Jordan and Kurt Angle vs. Rey Mysterio. JBL then went on about Cena not making it past the first round and not being in the same league as JBL. A couple more verbal exchanges then were traded between JBL and Cena before Jordan then sneak attacked Cena from behind, Cena then threw Jordan over the top rope and gave JBL an FU. Fun times.
Match #1: Kurt Angle Invitational: Kurt Angle vs. Nunzio
Kurt Angle came to the ring and did a speech about his part in the Rumble and how he beat the hell out of HBK and how he made Michaels tap out. This week for the invitational, we got treated when Nunzio came out and confronted Angle, with wondering why Nunzio was there since he's not from San Jose. Nunzio responded that tonight, he will be from San Jose and he wanted some revenge on Angle for stealing his number at the Royal Rumble and wouldn't sleep until he wrestled Angle right now!
Angle dominated Nunzio for the large part of this short match, taking down Nunzio almost right away at the beginning of the match. Nunzio obviously wasn't taking any crap, as he got in a few impressive moves of his own before having a wheelbarrow suplex countered by Angle and Angle Slam put on Nunzio, then Nunzio tapped out at the ankle lock.
Winner: Kurt Angle
Promo aired for No Way Out and its Barbed Wire Steel Cage Match.
Highlights from last month's announcement of RAW and Smackdown's shows coming to Japan were shown.
Angle, Jindrak and Reigns were backstage discussing Angle's win over Nunzio and how it set him up to wrestle Rey Mysterio next week, and telling Jindrak to 'soften up' Rey in his own match tonight. Angle and Luther then went off to discuss strategy while Jindrak left to prepare for his own match against Mysterio.
In Long's office, Carlito came in and Long wondered what he was smiling about. Carlito said Long won't be GM anymore and he had sent in his petition and instead of going to Japan, Long would be defending his job in Connecticut to the Board of Directors.
Match #2: Rey Mysterio vs. Mark Jindrak.
Lots of great back and forth action here. As big as Jindrak is, Rey no doubt still held his own with a lot of very quick moves and some high-flying action (including a couple of impressive springboards). Jindrak caught Mysterio during the 619 and counted it with a side slam of his own. For a few moments, it looked like Mysterio may have been done, but the resilient guy Mysterio is, he came back yet again, bringing the giant up for another 619, connecting this time, getting Jindrak with the head scissors and rolling him up for the win.
Winner: Rey Mysterio
Backstage, we got another pointless sniping session between Amy and Joy. Amy presented Joy with a dry cleaning bill for her 'ruined dress' (with a few catty words about that traded back and forth) and Amy added how the Bashams would take out Joy's boyfriend Big Show in their match.
Match #3: 2 on 1 Handicap Match-Big Show vs. The Basham Brothers.
Show came in full force in in this match and tossing both Bashams all over the place The massive chops Show gave were also brutal. For the most part of the match, Show was dominant throughout, though the Bashams also managed to go on the attack for a while during this match before Show finished off with a choke slam and pin on Doug Basham.
Winner: Big Show
Hall of Fame Inductees for 2005:
"Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff
Iron Sheik
Nikolai Volkoff
Cowboy Bob Orton
"The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart
The induction will take place at the Universal Ampitheatre the night before Wrestlemania 21.
Match #4: Rene Dupree vs. The Undertaker-Quarter Final Match for the #1 Contendership
Taker came out strong after the initial lockup, knocking Dupree outside of the ring. Taker was working over Dupree and had control of the match when Mark Jindrak and Luther Reigns came out before the match went to a commercial.
Back to the match from the break, Taker was still in control and even got in some old school action on Dupree. Outside the ring, Jindrak and Reigns were up to their old tricks, distracting and attacking Taker while the ref wasn't looking.
At some point, Jindrak and Reigns managed to spark a fight between Dupree and Taker outside of the ring. Both managed to get back into the ring, with Taker having control over Dupree yet again before Dupree saw an opening and began working on the knee of Taker.
The ref began the countout, and despite Taker being closer to the ring, he wasn't able to re-enter because his leg had been attacked during the match. Taker fought back quick, delivering some right hands to Dupree and Dupree answering with a drop kick and a cover, Taker kicked out and gave more right hands to Dupree, followed to a boot to the face of Dupree.
Taker was then down while Dupree did the French Tickler, but Taker was back up and in control again! Deadman then went to the choke slam, but Dupree caught him with a knee to the midsection, followed by a DDT, but Taker rose again and connected with a second choke slam attempt and the hold, but Luther got up on the apron, distracting Taker and having him break the hold on Dupree.
Outside the ring, a brawl broke out and the ref began the count. Though Taker was near the ring, Luther had hold of Taker's leg, and a double count out was made by the ref.
Winner: No Contest
Aftermath:
Undertaker finished off Dupree with a Tombstone after Dupree came back for more. Not a smart move on Dupree's part.
Another promo for the cage match at the coming PPV, No Way Out, was aired in the Pittsburgh viewing area.
Backstage, Josh was interviewing Show about the cage match at No Way Out. Show said that it would be poetic justice on JBL and he would be the new WWE Champion. Josh asked if Show wins, what it would be like to face Batista. Show responded that Batista was a small fish in a big RAW pond, but Show only had the match at No Way Out in mind at the present.
In the locker room area, Booker and Eddie were going back and forth about their upcoming match and how Booker was going to win that match and get that shot at Wrestlemania.
Match #5: #1 Contender Quarter Final Match-Booker T vs. Eddie Guerrero
Winner of this match will face the winner of the Cena-Jordan match that will take place next week on Smackdown.
This was slow-paced for the most part, with several rest-holds being used throughout the match.
Booker dominated the majority of this particular match, despite Eddie getting in some good moves of his own, including the frog splash, which he missed when Booker got out of the way as the match went to commercial break.
Another promo for the cage match for No Way Out aired during the break in the Pittsburgh viewing area.
Upon returning to the match from the commercial break, Eddie was delivering some chops to Booker and seemed to have taken control of the match with a body slam to Booker followed by going off the top rope onto Booker for the cover; Booker kicked out.
Both were at the top rope, with both going off in a super plex and both down and the ref starting the count. Booker did cover Eddie, but Eddie kicked out. Not long after, Booker had control of the match once again.
Booker had gotten in a sleeper hold and it appeared that Eddie was fading away fast; but Eddie managed to come back and get out of the hold and get in a standing drop kick before getting put off the top rope and outside of the ring.
Booker got in the Book End and a cover, but Eddie got a leg on the bottom rope, breaking the hold.
Once again, Eddie came back with some moves, including connecting with The Three Amigos on Booker, but missed another frog splash when Booker got out of the way yet again. Both men were down, but Booker got in a Spineroonie, knocking out the ref.
At one point, Booker had Eddie pinned after a scissors kick, but once the ref regained consciousness, Eddie kicked out. After going back and forth again, Eddie pushed Booker into the ref. Eddie, in his usual style, also attempted to lie, cheat, and steal his way to victory by faking a knee injury but Booker wasn't distracted in the least, getting Eddie in a suplex and pinning Eddie for the victory.
Winner: Booker TPOST-SHOW NOTES:
Lots of early touting for the coming No Way Out PPV on tonight's show.
And speaking of which, my ticket for No Way Out came today; I haven't heard anything about press clearance for me just yet, but the ticket is here! I will be covering the show live for the site, so keep on the lookout for my full coverage on February 21 (hey, I need to do a full write-up of the thing first.lol).
Who's predicting Angle vs. HBK at Wrestlemania?
Another pointless diva segment. Will someone PLEASE fire these bimbos already and put us all out of our endless suffering with them? Save for Amy, none of them can act, can't wrestle and are downright useless!
The Wrestlemania commercial with Eugene doing a Forrest Gump take. Don't you just love it?! I can't watch this ad enough, and I don't impress easily.
It's been confirmed that the cage for No Way Out's JBL vs. Big Show match will indeed be a steel cage topped with prison-gate type razor barbed wire, making escape from the top somewhat impossible.
If the Dupree/Undertaker match ended in a double count out, who advances to the semi finals? During the break, GM Theodore Long announced that neither will advance. Therefore, the winner of the Angle/Mysterio match next week will automatically advance to the finals.
If you are either located in or visiting Pittsburgh for No Way Out and have $200 to spare, that will get you a prime floor seat as of this date. The cheaper floor seats have been sold out, and the rest are going just as quickly.
Who saw the clips of "Wrestlemania Goes Hollywood?" The one with HHH and Flair particularly cracked me up, especially when HHH fell off the horse!
Next week, we come from Japan, so until then, enjoy wrestling!