SmackDown! Holla Holla Tour - December
4th, 2004
DCU Exhibit Centre, Worcester, MA
by Joe Gagne
I was unsure about attending this show—I have not watched an episode of Smackdown in months. But hell, I live ten minutes from the arena and just won the football pool at work so I had some extra bucks, so I round up some friends and off we go.
They used to run shows in the Worcester Centrum Centre (now the DCU Centre), but with dwindling attendance they moved to the smaller Exhibit Hall (there was actually a minor league hockey game booked for the DCU Centre that night). The good news is that it looks like they drew a larger crowd than the Raw house show in July, around 1600-1700 total. The crowd was pretty hot all night. There were a good amount of signs, and I think “Hey morons, we’re not on TV, so what’s the point?” But there was a TV camera filming stuff, maybe to show clips on Smackdown.
Eddy Guerrero was never listed as appearing, so I guess he had the night off. Carlito was absent due to injury, which was a bummer. Hardcore Holly was advertised, but wasn’t on the show for whatever reason. Make of that what you will. I was bummed we were denied the opportunity of seeing Bob kook out on some unsuspecting rookie, maybe for not returning Bob’s library book on time.
Kurt Angle opened the show, badmouthing the crowd and saying it was time for the Kurt Angle Invitational. Rather than a local guy, Big Show came out and said he paid the local guy a few grand in exchange for letting him take his slot, and asked if Kurt was man enough to put up his gold medal against him. Then Mark Jindrak and Luther Reigns jumped Show from behind, but Show was able to fight them off. Angle and Co. took a powder, until Show goaded them into coming back to the ring. Angle agrees to a match if it’s three-on-one. So we get:
Big Show vs. Kurt Angle & Luther Reigns & Mark Jindrak: Heels played pinball for a while, until Kurt was able to work over Show’s leg to give his team the advantage. Heels had the advantage for way too long, as the match got pretty boring in the middle. Mark should have at least done his Smackdown vs. Raw flying clothesline special. Show came back by suplexing Reigns and Jindrak at the same time. Kurt got the Ankle Lock on, but Show was able to kick him out of the ring and hit a double chokeslam on Reigns and Jindrak for the simultaneous pin. No mention was made of Kurt’s medal, but since Angle was not pinned I guess Show did not win it. Match was mainly to have Kurt wrestle on the show and not take any bumps, so it worked in that regard. Show was definitely over with the crowd tonight.
Jesus (w/suspenders) vs. Charlie Haas: Jesus doesn’t have his own theme yet, so he gets stuck using Carlito’s. It’s weird watching the Hardcore Kidd on a bunch of UPW and Pro Wrestling Guerilla DVD’s, and now he here is in WWE. Haas’ ribs were taped up from the attack on the past Smackdown. He controlled the early part of the match until Jesus went to work on the ribs. During a rope assisted abdominal stretch some kids explain to me that Carlito’s a traitor because he attacked John Cena. While that doesn’t qualify him as an upstanding citizen, I don’t think it makes him a traitor either. Hass made a comeback but Jesus was able to get his knees up on a Vaderbomb attempt and won with a rollup with his feet on the ropes. We wonder if the WWE has the balls to give Jesus a crucifix powerbomb for his finisher. Charlie got a “Haas” chant as he left the ring.
Spike Dudley [c] vs. Nunzio vs. Shannon Moore vs. Funaki (Cruiserweight Title Fatal Fourway): Funaki was supposed to referee the Jackie/Dawn Marie match, so I leave it to you if being placed in this match was a lateral move. Fast paced match that saw the other three triple-team Spike for the beginning of the match until Nunzio turn on the other two. From there it was everyone hitting their big moves and someone else breaking it up. They also repeated the “Spike dives but no one catches him” spot from Survivor Series. Moore hit the Moorgasm on Funaki, but while he was on the mat Spike pinned him with a double leg rollup. Short at five minutes or so, but still the second best match of the night.
Torrie Wilson came down and through out some T-shirts (no T-shirt gun needed with such a small building).
Chavo Guerrero vs. Billy Kidman: I love Billy’s faux DMX theme song. Solid, if unspectacular match. Billy drew some good heat—five guys would chant “Biiilllllly” (like Daaaarrryyylll or Goooooollldddbeeerg) and the rest of the arena would then yell “sucks.” Chavo gets revenge for his loss on Velocity later that night by picking up the win with the Gory Bomb.
Theodore Long came down and thanked us for our support, and ran down the rest of the card. He mentioned the Bashams were not booked, er, banned from the arena for JBL’s match tonight, which brought out John Bradshaw Layfield and Orlando Jordan. JBL made fun of Ted Kennedy and John Kerry (guess that’s what happens when the Red Sox win the World Series and the heels have no more cheap heat up here) and said he didn’t want to compete in a toilet like “Wor-chester.” He demanded his title match start now so he could get counted out, but was stopped by Booker T.
John Bradshaw Layfield [c] (w/Orlando Jordan) vs. Booker T (WWE Title Match): Not too bad a match, as both guys worked hard to keep it interesting. Orlando Jordan liberally interfered in the match, including clotheslining Booker on the floor in front of the ref on the floor, then running into the ring at the end of the match (remember when things like that would get you DQ’d automatically?). Booker caught Orlando with a Bookend, which allowed JBL to hit a low blow behind the ref’s back and a rollup for the pin. What, no beltshot? I’m stunned. After the match Jordan said something completely incomprehensible on the mic and ran back into the ring, where he received an axe kick for his troubles.
Intermission. The played tracks 1-4 of the new Themaddict CD, so you can figure out yourself how long it lasted. I bought the new ECW shirt, since it was a nice design and only $15. Funny thing is, there’s a small Wrestlemania XXI logo on the back near the collar. There was a girl in front of me, maybe 13 years old, who orders a bunch of sweatshirts and a pendant. I’m thinking, “Must have Dad’s credit card.” Then she pulls out this huge stack of 100’s. I was wondering about that all night.
Kenzo Suzuki & Rene Dupree (w/Hiroko) [c] vs. Rey Mysterio & Rob Van Dam (World Tag Title Match): RVD and Rey were the second most over act of the night. Of all the signs in the crowd, maybe 90% were for Rey and/or RVD. Hey, I just noticed the champs use an amalgam of Dupree and Suzuki’s solo themes. Suzuki and Dupree do a good amount of heel heat, and this was the best match of the show. Rey got beat on for a while until he made the hot tag to RVD. RVD was about to hit the 5 Star Frog Splash on Suzuki, until Hiroko hopped up on the apron and through powder in his eyes (and she took her sweet time doing it, too, leaving RVD to dawdle on the top rope like a dope). Suzuki hit the Claw STO on Van Dam for the win. Hopefully RVD and Rey win the belts at Armageddon, because they make a good house show act.
Miss Jackie vs. Dawn Marie: Hey, this sucked ass. They mixed the usual catfight spots with some lame-ass wrestling. Jackie won with a standing blockbuster type move. Short and offensive. Dawn got a brief “ECW” chant as she left.
The Undertaker vs. Heidenreich: Did Heidenreich lose his first name? He came out first and did not want to get out of his straitjacket for whatever reason, even when the match started. Can’t say I support that strategy. Taker easily got the biggest pop of the night. Anyway, this match was brutally bad, maybe the worst I ever saw live in my life. Total punchfest for the first couple of minutes, until Heidenreich took over and worked over Taker’s arm for a while with a liberal amount of restholds tossed in. Crowd was quiet except for Taker’s big spots. You know that dumb spot where a wrestler jumps off the second rope like he’s going to give his prone opponent a double axe-handle, only to get a boot in the face? Heidenreich did that, only he just stuck his hands in the air, so I don’t know what he was trying. Taker made a comeback and won with a chokeslam and a tombstone. So Heidenreich’s so dangerous he needs a straightjacket, but when he loses he’s free to go to the back? OK then.
Last two matches blew, but everything else was pretty good. It was fun in the way live wrestling usually is. No return date was announced, so I’ll be back with the January Ring of Honor show.