WWE House Show - Worcester, MA
11/09/03
I decided to brave the New England cold to see a Smackdown brand show at the Centrum, the first show in the building since Backlash ’03.
I don’t know if it was the 5:00 start, but the Centrum was empty tonight. I’m guessing maybe a 1,000 people, as the floor seats were full, the 100’s were half-full, and the 200’s and 300’s were virtually empty. Backlash was a full house of course, but the last house show was in May ’02 and drew about 2,000 to see a main event of Hulk Hogan vs. Chris Jericho for the WWE title.
My friend and I apparently had seats in the “Racist White Trash” section. I personally get the joy of sitting next to the trashiest family on God’s Green Earth, who apparently was never told wrestling isn’t real. There’s also this little kid behind us who screamed, “Go home!” at virtually every wrester (I wanted to tell him that insult really only applies to people who aren’t from this country).
I thought about buying a Matt Hardy shirt, but all they had was the girly purple ones. And still no FBI shirt…
Los Guerreros were introduced first. Paul Heyman followed them, and said due to their lying and cheating, he had mystery opponents for them: each other. And if they refused, they’d lose their shot at the belts this Thursday. Eddy said that’s fine with him, but Chavo disagreed and said Eddy isn’t in charge of him, so we have a match.
Eddy vs. Chavo: Good match sees Eddy get the win after a series of pinfall reversals. Chavo storms off afterward. Chances of this being acknowledged on Smackdown: a trillion to one. Crowd was behind Eddy, but he certainly didn’t get a superstar reaction.
Rikishi & Scotty 2 Hotty vs. The Basham Brothers: Lots of pre-match hijinks from Scotty, including mooning Shaniqua. Scotty went for the worm late in the match, but Shaniqua distracted the ref, which allowed a Basham to nail Scotty with the whip and get the pin. Shaniqua takes the Stinkface post-match and Rikishi and Scotty dance after teasing returning to the back.
Horshu vs. Funaki: Man, Horshu is one big sumbitch. No heat due to no one knowing who the hell Horseshu was. He dominated Funaki but was pinned when Funaki reversed a power move into a sunset flip.
TSPWGTT vs. Spanky & Paul London: Little heat, due to no one knowing who London and Spanky were. Does no one watch Velocity? Actually, I guess not. Good match, but it was short (under ten minutes, and this was the only match of the night where they announced that five minutes had gone). London was pinned by Haas after the powerbomb/top rope clothesline combo.
John Cena came out and rapped about Paul Heyman’s sexual preferences, plus the fact that he was a Yankees fan (Cena wore a Red Sox jersey, of course). Heyman came out and ranted, which allowed A-Train to sneak in and blindside Cena. A-Train was wearing this bright yellow T-shirt for some reason. Heyman chastised Train and sent him to the back, saying he wasn’t Cena’s opponent that evening. Heyman said he took the liberty of booking Cena in a handicap match against Rhyno and Sean O’Haire.
John Cena vs. Rhyno & Sean O’Haire: The heels pounded on Cena until Rhyno gored O’Haire by mistake, allowing Cena to hit an FU on the Rhyno for the pin. Lasted maybe three minutes. Cena was the most over guy on the show.
Jaime Noble & Ultimo Dragon vs. Yang & Sakoda (that’s how they were announced, not as the Yakuza or anything like that): A pretty good match, but not a lot of heat. Yang looked good, but I don’t think Sakoda made any particular impression. Noble ended up pinning Yang (I think) after a tiger driver.
Tajiri vs. Nunzio vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. (Cruiserweight Title Match): Nunzio and Tajiri tried forming an alliance, which predictably didn’t last too long. Lots of good spots in this one, and it was the second best match of the show after the main event. Tajiri pinned Mysterio clean after reversing a ‘rana attempt into a powerbomb. Nunzio attacked Mysterio after the match, only to receive a 619 for his efforts.
A-Train & Nathan Jones & Matt Morgan vs. Kurt Angle & Bradshaw & Bob Holly (Not introduced as Hardcore for some reason): This was an elimination match, I guess as a Survivor Series preview. Jones was gone first after a double team hotshot from Angle and Holly and a Clothesline From Hell by Bradshaw. Holly was eliminated after a pump kick from Train, and Bradshaw was gone after a Bossman slam from Morgan, leaving Angle two-on-one. Angle then got Morgan with an Angle Slam and made Train tap to the Angle Lock (with a heel hook). Pretty long match at 17 minutes and not half-bad, given some of the participants.
Next up was Sable vs. Dawn Marie in a bikini contest with Funaki doing double duty as the special MC. Sable declared no one in the arena was good enough to look at her, so she refused to participate. She then made a comment about Dawn Marie’s promiscuity, which triggered a catfight. Sable retreated to the back, and Dawn Marie disrobed and was declared the winner, I guess by forfeit.
Brock Lesnar vs. Chris Benoit: Brock stalled forever at the start of the match, which greatly irritated the crowd. Lesnar dominated most of the match, even pulling out a banned overhead belly-to-belly. Oops. Not much heat early, but the crowd got into the ending. Ref got bumped and Benoit locked in the Crossface, but Matt Morgan ran in and gave Benoit a sidewalk slam. Benoit kicked out of Brock’s pin attempt, but got hit with an F-5 and pinned. Best match of the night.
Afterwards, Morgan and Jones ran in and stomped Benoit, until Angle, Bradshaw, Holly, and Cena chased them off. All five wrestlers drank beer to end the show, even forcing announcer Tony Chimel to down a few by the magic of peer pressure.
There was also no intermission, so the show ended fairly early at 7:30. A pretty good show, but hurt by a lack of heat for some of the matches, plus the fact that the main event was the only match advertised that actually happened. That crowd size, though, that was just depressing. The WWE may seriously want to think about running smaller buildings if they return to the Worcester area.
Joe Gagne
joegagne17@hotmail.com