GSR

Single leg takedown by Faulkner and he goes to slam Grey's leg into the canvas but he hops up. Wristlock, and Faulkner is starting with his tricks early, motioning with his head for Grey to look up. He does, then Faulkner immediately headmares him but Grey holds on to the move. He tries again to no avail, so a nip up, forward roll and he propels himself backwards off the ropes to get the reversal and Grey rolls through to escape. Side headlock by Grey and Faulkner starts running on the spot, but in the process is repeatedly kneeing Grey in the base of the spine to free himself from the hold. Dropkick by Grey and they start criss crossing. Grey stops as Faulkner continues to run the ropes. He all of a sudden stops, points upwards to distract Grey then lunges at him but Grey ducks out of the way. Faulkner whips him into the ropes, leap frogs Grey then takes him down with a flying headscissors. Reverse double leg nelson and Faulkner bridges back to take the opening fall in just 2:35 of the first round. He then walks Grey back to his corner and towels him down. Faulkner with a Japanese stranglehold and he pulls it back into a surfboard. Top wristlock and Grey steps into the hold for the reversal before another random criss cross spot. Grey turns an over the shoulder arm lever into a crucifix, and Faulkner escapes a full nelson, comes off the ropes and over the top of Grey with a sunset flip. They criss cross again, Grey drops to the canvas, Faulkner leaps over him, Grey's up and goes 'whoa, whoa, whoa!' whilst signalling for Faulkner to stop running. He does, turns his back then Grey O'Connor rolls him to square things up. After being pinned, Faulkner lifts Grey's arm up and starts clapping him (Christ!). With both men now requiring just the one fall, a double fingerlock sees Grey go for the pin. Faulkner bridges up, monkey flip and rolls back to cover Grey. He then starts to work on the arm but Grey picks him up and sits him on the turnbuckle. Multiple double leg grab attempts by Faulkner and Grey spins him out on each occasion, before getting the winning fall with a backslide. Disappointing bout with Grey adopting some of the tricks and tactics of Faulkner. There didn't seem to be much structure to the match and whilst not as blatant as Saint vs Faulkner it did have its similarities. The first fall coming so quickly was also a shocker as you are almost conditioned for them to come later into the match. I've now seen three Faulkner matches (I also watched the Royals vs the Black Knights tag) and there is something about the guy to the point I'm disliking him the more I see. For a face he's so ungodly smug and smarmy; from the permanent grin on his face, to the patronising of his opponents, to a couple of his ridiculous trademarks spots (the criss cross and the 'look up'), that you get the sense he could have been a tremendous heel. Thing is there are plenty of glimpses that he could be a great wrestler. He's an infuriating (and probably a polarising) one for sure.

Plenty has already been wrote about this, but I will say that I don't think I've ever seen a crowd so into a match as they were this one. They are totally behind the undersized Veidor as he tries to dethrone Davies for the British Heavyweight title, and come unglued when Veidor gets the first fall to the point that Kent Walton even comments on it. The champion ties things up with his suspension hold, although when he goes for it again later in the match, Veidor escapes and maybe the upset is on? Davies gets a second and final public warning due to an illegal punch which Veidor does an incredible job of selling. All cocky, posturing around the ring and thinking he's got this in the bag, he then charges at Veidor and posts him into the turnbuckles. Veidor manages to reverse the situation though and starts unloading with forearms to Davies face who has amazing facials as he does so (also check out the facials when they have the double interlock and when Veidor has him in the wrist lever early in the bout!). The bout comes to a halt after Davies throws Veidor into the ropes but he goes head first through the top and middle, getting tangled up in them, and the referee stops the match. Veidor does a tremendous job post match, pleading and begging for it to continue but the official was having none of it. This was some match and showcases Davies is this big, bad ass, bullying heel and Veidor as the plucky undersized, sympathetic babyface. Heaven knows what the crowd reaction would have been if they had gone full on title change here?

Chris Jericho says that over the last month he has developed an intense hatred for Chris Benoit and he can’t wait for Summerslam where he’ll get the chance to settle their differences in a two out of three falls match. Y2J then recites a poem about ‘the Crippler’ while at the same time showing a bunch of badly photo shopped pictures of him on the big screen. I found this all pretty lame but Michael Cole was laughing heartily at it all. Benoit walks out, mockingly clapping what he just heard/saw and has a photo of his own, one of Jericho trapped in the crossface before promising to prove both tonight, and at Summerslam, that he’s the best wrestler in the WWF. Christian knows that the people here in Louisiana are putting down their alligator legs in anticipation for one of their five second poses, but explains that there will be no pose now until after Summerslam where, on retaining their tag team championship, they will unveil a new monumental 37 second pose! Jeff lands on his feet after a backdrop and dropkicks Christian in the mush. Tag to his brother and both drop the leg, Matt coming off the middle rope. Christian catches a swinging arm and then flattens Matt with a reverse DDT. Running elbow smash by Benoit for a two count. Edge telegraphs his backdrop attempt and Matt with a spinning DDT. Lots of quick tags in the opening minute or so with everyone getting involved. Flying forearm by Jericho who then nails ‘the Crippler’ on the apron and goes to do the same to Christian only for him to grab hold of him. Edge charges, however Y2J moves and he goes crashing into his own partner instead sending him sprawling to the floor. Jericho with a schoolboy, that brings in Benoit and he’s soon followed by everyone else as Mike Chioda has lost all control. Christian passes Edge a chair but Jeff jumps off Matt’s back and dropkicks it into his face. Enziguiri by Y2J to Benoit, Lionsault on Edge and the Hardyz and he get the win. The actions continues after the bell and we get a pre-cursor to Summerslam with the Dudley’s running out to attack E&C. Matt leaps from a ladder in the ring to the outside onto everyone, while inside Benoit and Jericho tumble from the top turnbuckle and through a table that the Dudley’s had previously just set up.

The Destroyer/Toyonobori title thread (2/65) needs to be amended in that case. A zero is missing from in front of the two throwing it all out of kilter (also not the first thread I've seen missing a zero before the month).

A cautious start with both throwing out tentative strikes as they look to find their range. Kandori bulrushes Hotta back into the corner where she unloads with rapid fire punches before dragging her to the mat. Hotta pulls guard but Kandori frees herself pretty quickly and moves to side control. She takes Hotta’s back, although doesn’t have the hooks in, allowing her to easily reverse her position and now she’s in Kandori’s guard. Kandori uses a combination of power and momentum from the bottom to regain top control, as the official then resets them in the middle of the ring as they were close to falling through the ropes. She survives the armbar, but is curled up with Hotta on her back and raining down blows. Soccer kick to the sternum, Kandori scrambles to her feet, however a swift kick to the knee makes her easy prey for a take down. Some more kicks from Hotta which don’t look like they’ve got much behind them. Guillotine choke by Kandori although you can clearly see that she doesn’t have that locked in tightly under the neck. Hotta forces the escape and delivers a short sharp head butt to her opponent. Straight armbar attempt, Hotta frees herself and quickly applies a knee bar/heel hook submission that leads to the tap. There are far more people qualified to talk about this match than me, but despite the ‘Vale Tudo’ rules this had to be a work right? It’s pretty clear from when Kandori had Hotta backed into the corner and she was swinging wildly that those punches were being pulled and not connecting; the same could be said about Hotta’s kicks. There were also glaring holes in the ground game such as the way they were easily reversing position due to the fact there wasn’t much of a struggle going on. They got me on the finish mind, which I thought was excellent, as was convinced Kandori was getting the win with that armbar, up to then though it had been pretty dull and uninspiring.

The final match in the XPW 2001 King of the Death match tournament. With barbed wire on two sides of the ring and no ropes on the other, both tease taking a spill to the outside before a Supreme hip toss sends Grimes out and into a bed of light tubes. Running lariat to the floor by Supreme. Grimes blocks the attempted suplex and counters with a suplex of his own, dumping Supreme on the bed of, now, broken light tubes instead. He picks up one of those tubes and grinds it into Supreme’s forehead, re-opening some of those cuts he’d sustained earlier in the night. Supreme no sells a frying pan shot to the head and repeatedly clobbers Grimes with an array of weapons he gets handed from the ringside fans. Both men get back in the ring, although not for long as Grimes slams Supreme from the ring back to the outside onto a barbed wire covered ladder that had been placed over the bed of broken light tubes. That was a painful looking bump. Rolling senton to the floor by Grimes, but Supreme moves out the way and he lands on that ladder. Grimes is hobbling about so every chance he legit hurt himself there. Crappy looking DDT onto the bed of glass followed by an only slightly better looking belly to belly suplex. As there are no turnbuckles, Supreme decides to use that barbed wire ladder, setting it up on the arena floor and then climbing to the very top of it. Even though he’s got the referee holding it, the ladder slips and Supreme comes up short on the dive, face planting into the apron and looking like he may well have KO’d himself. He hasn’t, but Grimes is clearly buying him a bit of time to recover. Supreme getting back to his feet after that awful botch and bump receives the loudest response of anything in the match so far. A pair of chair shots to the head of Grimes and still intent on using a ladder, Supreme grabs an even taller one, one that looks every bit of fifteen feet high. Not planning on making the same mistake as last time he positions this one in the ring. Three rungs from the top, owner Rob Black suddenly appears and pushes the ladder over sending Supreme crashing through a couple of barbed wire, light tube covered tables that had conveniently placed at ringside. Another hellacious bump by Supreme there as Kriss Kloss urges for “somebody (to) call 911, this is attempted murder damn it!” Grimes covers Supreme on the concrete and is the 2001 XPW King of the Death Match tournament winner. Black hands Grimes a trophy, which is a whopper, dwarfing him, as the commentators sell this tournament as being on a par with the ones from Japan that Mick Foley, Terry Funk and Abdullah the Butcher took part in (although I’m not too sure about that). Supreme, with a little help, eventually gets back up and the fans chant his name as he’s helped out of there and to the awaiting paramedics. This segues into a match for the King of the Death match championship against current title holder, The Messiah, where they do the finger poke finish with Grimes just lying down for him after initially hinting that he might not ‘play ball’ and go against what Black had planned. Fuck that shit! Balls to the rest of this but Supreme returned, is jumped by the entire ‘Black Army’ (including John Kronus, Kraq and Steve Rizzono) and New Jack makes the save leading to him challenging them to a tag match down the road. A fairly lousy death match highlighted by two crazy bumps, one planned, one not so. Rob Black clearly fancies himself as some Vince McMahon come Vince Russo hybrid but comes across as a low rent version of both. While I imagine if I was to watch the TV shows he’d be all over them, in multiple segments and interfering in matches just like he did here. No more XPW death matches for me, I’ll be sticking to the matches featuring their workers and lighter wrestlers from now, and where this is no chance of seeing Rob Black show his mug.

Yang has no luck whatsoever against Big Ron, even coming off on the short ends after a flying shoulder tackle as the size difference is just too great. The Dragons change tact, trying to outsmart their opponents, faring little better. Swinging neckbreaker/basement dropkick combination on Heavy D. Big Ron goes tumbling out over the top rope as Yang ducks out the way of his charge, but Kaz then walks into a Heavy D superkick. Pescado by Yang as the action spills to the floor, although that turns out to be a bad idea on the Dragons’ part with Yang getting whipped into the guard rail and Kaz being the recipient of a chair shot. A nice spinning side slam by Big Ron. Double press slam with the brothers dropping Kaz chest first to the mat. Belly to back suplex for a two as Kaz surprisingly kicks out. The twins whip Kaz into the ropes, but he flips over them and the Dragons with a double shoulder to the mid-section followed by a double hot shot as Yang gets involved from the apron. Hot tag and now Yang’s involvement is legal. A double clothesline sends Heavy D to the outside and the Dragon hit a double suplex on Big Ron. Double splash off the top and Don is back inside to break up the pin. He launches Yang over the top to the floor and an ‘H-Bomb’ on Kaz as the twins pick up the win. As Yang checks on his partner post-match the brothers grab him and Jeff Jarrett blasts him over the head with his guitar. I wonder how in advance WCW had decided on having a Cruiserweight tag team title? The first round actually commences on this coming Monday’s Nitro (Rey & Kidman vs Swinger & Lee) and I had a whole host that I was going to say about booking this match so close to it starting, until I checked my records and found that this was actually taped back in December, so there is every chance that they hadn’t made that decision at that point. That’s fair enough then, although the smarter idea would have just been to can this match altogether and not air it, as it automatically makes it look like a jobber belt when one of the likely favourites get handled like this. The Dragons got in a bit more offense that I expected and I was pleased to see Heavy D make the save on the top rope double splash as opposed to Ron just kicking out of both men covering him, but with the tag title tournament just around the corner, smarter heads should’ve prevailed and this should’ve just never aired.

I know the feud eventually transfers to MCW but it looks like Summerslam wasn’t the ends for Jerry Lawler and Tazz in the WWF either. We get a recap from Raw where Tazz took on Steve Blackman for the Hardcore title, although during the match bashed ‘the King’ over the head with a trash can lid. As he started choking him, JR picked up that lid and walloped Tazz with it, leading to Blackman getting the pin after a double foot stomp from the apron to the floor. Tazz bad mouths Ross, making fun of his Bell’s Palsy, and as he informs ‘the King’ that tonight he’s going to be “just another victim” he’s interrupted by Chris Jericho. Y2J jokes about how he’s challenged and been beaten by a couple of announcers that now the ring announcer, the camera guys and the popcorn vendor in the 17th row all want a piece of him too! The match has barely gone ten seconds and Jericho is already trying for ‘the Walls’. Tazz fights his way out and levels Y2J with a head and arm suplex. He catches a Jericho boot but Y2J then knocks him silly with an enziguiri as Lawler cheerleads from his commentary position. Flying forearm followed by a pair of hard knife edge chops, however Tazz counters the bulldog with a belly to back. He must’ve heard Lawler as he forgets about the match to duck outside the ring and slug him. ‘The King’s’ not taking that and as Tazz laughs about what he’s just done, he drills him with some punches of his own. Baseball slide by Y2J who then slams Tazz’s head into the announce desk. He throws him back inside but Tazz ducks the clothesline and slaps on ‘the Tazzmission’. The ref is having words with Lawler who’s still at ringside, so Jericho with a back kick low blow to escape. Bulldog, Lionsault and this losing streak that Tazz is on continues.

We get a brief clip from Raw when Edge & Christian had some midgets dressed up as the Hardyz and Dudleys to recreate what went down at ‘TLC’. What is it with Vince’s fascination in dressing up midgets to look like miniature versions of talent as a way to make fun of them? E&C get in some knocks in at the Hardy’s expense, saying how they always seem to come up a little short and that they don’t measure up. Yawn… Matt’s running rough shot over Christian, so Edge with a knee to the back as he bounds off the ropes. That has no effect and Matt responds by slugging him, however when he turns back around he walks right into a dropkick. Jacqueline tags herself in and gets a two count after a flying crossbody off the top. She misses an elbow drop and there’ll be no man on woman violence from Matt as he tags out to Lita (who receives a huge pop). Jacqueline reverses the Irish whip and dumps Lita with a side slam, although she spins her way past the horizontal with Lita practically taking the bump on the back of her neck. Float over DDT is countered with a sort of Northern Light suplex for a two count. Flapjack by Jacqueline and again she doesn’t take care of Lita who face plants to the mat. Tag to Edge, but Lita avoids the spear and he charges shoulder first into the ring post. Moonsault bodyblock by Matt for a two. Edge with a neckbreaker and Christian follows that up with a scoop powerslam. He runs into a back elbow and Matt then levels him with a clothesline. Jeff gets his first involvement (to an even louder pop than what Lita got) and takes it to E&C. A stiff missile dropkick to the back of the head by Jacqueline and that brings Lita back in. Reverse DDT by Christian on Jeff and Matt breaks up the pin with a leg drop off the middle. ‘Lita-rana’ on Edge, ‘Twist of Fate’ to Christian and Jeff with the ‘Swanton Bomb’ as the Hardyz pick up the win for their team, but more importantly get a clean pin on the tag team champions. Jacqueline is a random choice of partner for E&C. Stephanie would’ve been perfect considering their history over the past few weeks although guessing she’s tied up in the HHH/Angle storyline now, even Trish would’ve been a better fit thinking about it. I don’t know if she got excited that she was back on Smackdown or because she was getting to wrestle someone other than Ivory, but Jacqueline was super careless on pretty much everything she did. The side slam and flapjack could’ve easily injured Lita and there was no need for her to be as stiff as she was on the missile dropkick to the back of Jeff’s head.

Shane is the new Hardcore champion, having taken advantage of the ’24-7’ rule on Raw last Monday and getting a pin on Steve Blackman; a rule that was later suspended by Commissioner Foley so that Shane couldn’t worm his way out of this rematch. It looks like he wants to part of Blackman here, so the ‘Lethal Weapon’ throws him his own kendo stick and turns his back on him giving him the first shot. Somehow Shane O’ doesn’t realise that he’s watching on the big screen and when he swings Blackman is ready for him. McMahon takes off and Blackman follows him into the crowd where he clobbers him over the head with a garbage can. This is like your stereotypical ECW match where they fight amongst the fans. Blackman with a karate kick off the barricade. They return to the ring and he places a bin over Shane’s head which he plays a tune on it with his martial arts sticks. He hog ties Shane with a leather strap, choking him with it at the same time, when out runs Test & Albert to help Shane O’. ‘Baldo bomb’ by Albert and they then place a trash can lid over Blackman’s face which Test drops an elbow onto off the top rope. T&A pick ‘the Lethal Weapon’ up so Shane can pepper him with punches, but he spends too long dancing and when he grabs that lid to use, Blackman kicks it into Shane’s own face. He tries to free himself from T&A’s grasp but this is essentially a handicap match now. Shane wallops Blackman over the head with a sign and then uses that strap to drag him to the back of the arena. Test and he go to push a speaker on top of him but he moves out the way. Fortunately, as according to ‘the King’ it weighs over 1,000lbs! Albert accidentally nails Test with the kendo stick, Blackman snatches it away and then lays into T&A. Shane tries to escape, although for some reason thinks the best way to escape is by climbing the scaffold/rigging. Blackman follows him up and when Shane gets to the top there’s only one place to go. The ‘Lethal Weapon’ continues to crack him with the kendo stick until Shane falls from the scaffold to the (padded) floor. JR says that’s a 50ft drop (later exaggerated to 70ft) which I think isn’t that far off. Blackman climbs about half way down, flying elbow and he regains the Hardcore title. They replay the hell out of that fall as Shane is carted off on a stretcher. This is all about the fall as the rest of the match is just your generic hardcore action, hitting each other with weapons etc. and is actually fairly dull. I’m guessing that all of Shane’s other charges/friends were either busy or concerned with their own matches so that’s why we had T&A coming to his rescue.

Judging by the extensive highlights recapping what led to this, the build has been great. Tazz comes to the ring wearing a cowboy hat, shades and waving a white stick, mocking JR who, in storyline, had to have some glass removed from his eye after Tazz took a baseball bat to the window seat of a car that he was sat in. As he bangs on the commentary desk with his cane saying “where are you JR, I can’t see you?” Lawler gets up out of his seat and says “let’s see if he can see this” cracking him in the jaw with a right hand. A dropkick to the back of Tazz sends him chest first into the turnbuckles and ‘the King’ follows that up with a clothesline. Fist drop off the middle, but when he tries it a second time Tazz rolls out the way and Lawler punches the mat. He stomps away on ‘the King’ before throwing him to the floor in front of JR. Tazz runs his mouth at Ross, forgetting about Lawler who clubs him from behind. They return to the ring with Tazz now on his knees backing off, only to headbutt ‘the King’ in the groin. Scoop powerslam but he misses the somersault senton off the top. Lawler pulls down the strap, piledriver and Tazz is back to his feet almost as quick as ‘the King’. Awesome facials by Lawler on seeing that Tazz is already up. Referee Teddy Long gets bumped and Tazz tells JR “I’m going to choke him out and then I’m coming for you”. ‘Tazzmission’ and with Long still down, JR leaves his position at the commentary desk and smashes a candy jar over Tazz’s head. Lawler with the cover and he gets the win as Ross gives him a standing ‘o’ on his return to the table. It’s amazing how much spice an angle adds to something. This is very similar to the match they do in Jonesboro on 10/28 that’s filmed for MCW TV (same no sell piledriver, same missed somersault senton, same ref bump off a side headlock), although with the whole Lawler out for revenge on Tazz for what he did to JR, you care about this so much more. Perfectly enjoyable fare with Ross getting payback, Tazz his comeuppance and ‘the King’ the win.

A sombre Stephanie walks towards the ring looking like she’s about to break down at any second. She claims that she was robbed of her WWF Women’s championship last Monday night on Raw and holds Mick Foley responsible. He was hired by her mother to be a fair and just Commissioner of the World Wrestling Federation and had one assignment that night, to choose a fair, just and impartial referee, yet he couldn’t even do that, picking The Rock. If it wasn’t for the Rock she would still be the WWF Women’s champion; a title that she held with dignity, honour and pride and which is now held by a tattooed, low life, low class bimbo! She doesn’t want an apology or sympathy from Mick Foley, what she wants is a rematch and she isn’t leaving until she gets one. Steph is joined by Kurt Angle and while he’d expect nothing less from a no class character like The Rock, shame on Mick Foley, as choosing The Rock as an impartial official is about as ridiculous as a disgusting, filthy city like New Orleans calling it’s football team ‘the Saints’! That doesn’t go down with well with the fans and he gets some “asshole, asshole” chants aimed at him. He tells Stephanie that while she is right to blame Mick Foley and The Rock, there is one person who deserves as much, if not more, of the blame and that’s her husband Triple. If HHH wasn’t such a hot head, wasn’t so paranoid, insecure and was a better husband who would’ve just allowed her extra time...here comes the man himself and he’s hot! Triple H shoves Kurt who goes flying through the ropes, out of the ring, and is getting a huge face reaction from the fans. Both remove their shirts ready to fight when the Commissioner’s music starts. Foley tells them to stop bickering as Summerslam is coming up and this is not about them, it’s about Stephanie. While he didn’t think he was setting her up at the time, in retrospect, The Rock probably wasn’t the most impartial of referees. She may not want an apology or his sympathy, but she’s getting both. He heard he pleas for a rematch and is inclined to give her one, however he also understands that there is nothing more that Kurt Angle and Triple H would like than to get their hands on The Rock. Therefore he’s booking a mixed tag team match but, because this night is about Stephanie, he’s not going to decide whether HHH or Kurt Angle teams up with her against Lita & the Rock, she is. Triple H and Stephanie are in their dressing room and he thinks this is the perfect scenario; he gets to kick the Rock’s ass this close to Summerslam and she gets to beat on Lita. Hunter wants to talk strategy, but Steph thinks that Kurt should be here. He’s fed up of hearing about Kurt Angle but, even though she knows he’s going to regain the WWF World Heavyweight title at Summerslam anyway, believes it would be better if they were getting along and that way it would be two on one against the Rock and even easier for him. Stephanie goes to see Kurt and he’s putting himself over as the more suitable partner, what being an Olympic champion and the best wrestler in the world and all. He saw the rage and anger on Triple H’s face, says that he’s a hot head and how a man that angry is going to make mistakes. He believes that he should be her partner and will figure out a plan so that they can defeat the Rock and Lita. Ol’ indecisive Steph can’t make a decision and tells him that she’ll think about it. After Steph lets Triple H now that she’s considering Kurt as her partner “consideration my ass” and he storms off… …to Angle’s dressing room, laying down the law that he’s Stephanie’s partner tonight, her partner in life and to get that into his head. Kurt says he wants to do what’s best for the match and doesn’t want people to make mistakes due to high emotions. Hunter responds that they have to co-exist until Summerslam, but if he keeps pressing the issue he’s not going to make it to Summerslam. Right at the moment he’s telling him how “my wife doesn’t make the decisions” in Steph walks, “oh yes I do make the decisions”. Unable to make a decision though, she decides she’ll flip a coin. Backstage interview from the Rock who runs through some catchphrases and tells Kevin Kelly that it doesn’t matter who Stephanie chooses as her partner as he’ll whip their monkey ass all over the arena. Steph flips that coin, tails it is and that means Kurt Angle is her partner. Triple H is watching on a monitor backstage and the match gets underway with all four participants fighting it out at ringside. The women make it into the ring first and Kurt has to duck inside to break up a pin attempt after a Lita flying headscissors. Just as he’s about to powerbomb Lita, Rock with a clothesline saving his partner. ‘Samoan drop’ on Angle for a two. ‘Dragon screw’ leads into the Scorpion Deathlock and Stephanie is in there slapping Rock across the face. He lets go of the hold but before he can gets his hands on her is nailed from behind by Angle. Rock reverses the Irish whip sending Kurt crashing into Stephanie and she falls from the apron to the floor, hitting her head on the ring steps in the process. HHH runs out to check on his wife and carries her to the back. The action continues in the ring at the same time as Angle gets a near fall on the Rock after a suplex. We cut back to the dressing room to see Stephanie all groggy and Triple H calling for the EMT’s. She says that she’s okay, wanting to carry on with the match but ‘the Game’s’ having none of it, telling her to stay here and he’ll go help Kurt. As Rock and Angle fight on the ramp way, Rock is ambushed by HHH with ‘the King’ saying how he was the one who whipped Kurt into her. The pair of them double team the Rock and when Earl Hebner tries to pull Hunter off, he shoves him to the mat. That’s the DQ, for the shove not for the blatant interference I may add. Angle clotheslines Rock over the top rope to the outside and they then turn their attention to Lita, HHH dragging her into the ring. The Hardyz rush out to her aid and Rock is also quickly back to his feet. A right hand takes care of Kurt sending him out to the floor, Rock with a DDT to Triple H and he’s trapped between the three of them. Three becomes four as Lita is only too happy to put the boots in. Kurt looks as though he’s going to help HHH but when Rock gestures at him to “just bring it”, he decides against it and goes to check on Stephanie. He apologises profusely to her, saying how he didn’t mean to do it and that he really cares about her. When he says she doesn’t realise how much, he leans in for a kiss, one that Steph fights a little at first but then seems to enjoy. As they separate Kurt has got the mother of all grins on his face while it dawns on Stephanie what she has just done.

Kurt Angle is about to leave the building when Stephanie runs up to him and asks what he’s doing. He says how Triple H left him high and dry out there and he’s not going to stay anywhere he’s not wanted. Steph tells him that he is wanted, to forget HHH and that she needs his support during her match with Lita. That’s enough for him to change his mind telling her that he’d “love to stay” then. Kurt is teaching Steph some moves in the dressing room and right at the moment he demonstrates the go behind, in walks Triple H. He thinks he’s shown her enough moves and when Angle replies that he’s only shown her three, says that he must slowest damn teacher of all time as they’ve been in there half an hour! Despite Steph saying how the holds really work, Triple H isn’t putting up with any more and drags her away. Steph is flanked by Triple H and Kurt Angle and looks confident of her chances as she walks down the aisle. ‘The Rock’ is the special guest referee and he immediately orders ‘the Game’ and Kurt out of the ring as he looks to make this a more even field for Lita to compete on. Double leg take down by Lita who then throws some terrible looking punches from the mount. Huracanrana but Steph kicks out of the cover. Angle is up on the apron and as Rock goes over to him, Hunter trips Lita from the opposite side of the ring behind his back. That brings out the Hardy Boyz who attack Triple H and then decide to stick around to prevent any more interference. Steph with some forearms and a monkey flip. After a DDT only gets her a two she’s in Rock’s face complaining about the slowness of his count. Lita counters the side slam with a headscissors and hits a tornado bulldog. She climbs the turnbuckles when Angle shoves her backwards to the mat, leading to all hell breaking loose on the outside. Kurt reverses a whip on the floor sending Matt crashing into the ring steps as Hunter then hot shots Jeff across the barricade. The Rock catches Angle trying to pass Stephanie the belt to use and beels him into the ring. Triple H comes to help but gets accidentally clocked by Kurt with the title belt. ‘Rock Bottom’ on Angle and when Steph runs at him with the belt, he gives her a spinebuster. Rock signals for Lita to go upstairs, she lands the moonsault and we have a new WWF Women’s champion. A complete smoke and mirrors show as the actual wrestling here was pretty bad, but with The Rock, Angle, Triple H and the Hardyz here’s so much else going on that it’s a fun ride. Lita is so awkward in her movements and I’d actually say that Steph looks better than her here. I was also very surprised to see her taking a huracanrana, a flying headscissors and a tornado bulldog.

JR can’t wait for Summerslam, thinking that Jericho and Benoit will produce a 2/3 fall classic. We get a quick clip of Chris Benoit vs Steve Blackman from Smackdown where Y2J waffled Benoit with a horrific chair shot to the back of the head while he hand ‘the Lethal Weapon’ locked in the crossface. Jerry Lawler seems more concerned that there is no Terri for him to perv over as opposed to the match. Good aggressiveness from Saturn as he hammers away on Jericho in the corner. A very nice flapjack where he catches Y2J on his shoulders as he attempts a leapfrog and then pancakes him to the mat. Jericho ducks the clothesline and levels Saturn with a flying forearm (taking a spin bump off it in the process). Lionsault, but Saturn is right on him, snatching Jericho from behind as he leaps to the ropes and hitting a belly to back suplex for a two. Y2J blocks the superplex firing back on Saturn, reverse elbow off the top and here’s Benoit looking for some payback after what happened on Smackdown. The ref calls for the bell disqualifying Saturn due to the interference, before the WWF officials do their usual lousy job in trying to separate the wrestlers. Just as it looks like order has been restored and they’re dragging Benoit away, Jericho with a suicide dive over the top rope onto ‘the Crippler’ and wiping out a bunch of the officials too. A strong ninety seconds or so of action, before the Benoit interference, with Saturn looking great in everything he did and also highly motivated by getting to work with one of the top guys again for a change. Awesome dive by Jericho at the end out on to ‘the Crippler’ and all the officials.

The Rock is looking very dapper with his open shirt and slacks. He runs through some catchphrases, adapting them for the Louisiana crowd and then turns his attention to Triple H and Kurt Angle. He knows that they’re not united as both want to take away his WWF World title at Summerslam and both want to win the hand of the biggest piece of two dollar rancid slut meat the Rock has ever seen! He’s not thinking about Summerslam though, he’s thinking about payback and he’s thinking about it tonight. Here comes the ‘Commissioner’ and JR wonders if he’ll make the Rock’s wish come true? Foley says he knows exactly how the Rock feels, but with Summerslam only six days away and this much pent up anger, challenges can be issued, tempers can flare and titles can be lost. He’s therefore making an unpopular decision and giving him the night off. Needless to say that doesn’t go down well with the fans and also brings out Kurt Angle and Shane McMahon. Kurt says how Mick Foley tried to split him and the McMahon-Helmsley family apart last week. He tried to get him to turn his back on his friends and it almost worked, however when he came back for the Rock and HHH’s match and bashed the Rock over the head with a steel chair, that proved he was a man of integrity as he picked loyalty over selfishness. The Rock may have lost the match but he gained a friend, Triple H. Hunter says how Kurt showed him plenty of integrity Thursday night the way he stood by his side, while nothing will endear him more to someone than watching them wrap a steel chair around the Rock’s head! As he has his family problems behind him, he can now get back to doing what he does best, beating the Rock’s ass! He says that if he’s that upset by everything and feels like putting the title on the line, he would be more than happy to come down to that ring, kick his ass and once again become the World Wrestling Federation champion. It looks like Rock is about to accept when Foley interrupts and tells HHH that it’s unfortunate his ears aren’t as big as his nose or else he would’ve heard he gave The Rock the night off. As he and Kurt are buddies, like a team, he’s going to pit them against two other good friends, the Acolytes, before announcing two more championship matches for tonigh: Shane McMahon vs Steve Blackman for the Hardcore title and Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley will put her Women’s title on the line against Lita. Steph seems extremely confident that the official will raise her hand in victory so, Commissioner Mick, sensing how this is clearly going to be a pier six brawl that could get way out of hand, appoints a special referee to keep order and call it right down the line, The Rock. Triple H gives the family a quick pep talk about how they’ve got to have unity and have got to stick together. Kurt and HHH call the Acolytes on as they make their way down the entrance way, although immediately come out on the wrong end of things, Bradshaw clotheslining Hunter over the top rope to the outside and they then run through Angle with a double shoulderblock. Huge spinebuster by Faarooq and Kurt wants no more, crawling to his corner and tagging in ‘the Game’. Bradshaw with a fallaway slam and now its HHH who's crawling back to the corner. A big boot takes Angle’s head off and Bradshaw gets a near fall following a couple of elbow drops. Combination belly to back suplex/neckbreaker forces Hunter to break up the pin. The two of them look to team up on Bradshaw, having no success, while Faarooq is being held back from helping his partner out by the official. Kurt eventually clips his knee out and then goes to work on it. HHH with a figure four however, before he can fully lock it on, Bradshaw kicks him off sending him crashing into the turnbuckles. The backdrop is telegraphed though and Hunter with a facebuster for a two. Desperation shoulder tackle and he’s able to make the tag to Faarooq. Big powerslam on Angle but again HHH is there to break up the count. A Bradshaw right hand sends ‘the Game’ to the floor and he follows him out. Triple H reverses the whip sending Bradshaw flying into the ring steps. Faarooq has Kurt up for ‘the Dominator’ when Hunter boots him in the mid-section and hits the pedigree for the win. HHH and Kurt celebrate, showing no sign of dissension, as JR says how they look like they’re brothers in there. Angle celebrates for too long though and gets levelled with a clothesline from hell. Triple H doesn’t realise what’s going on at first then looks back to see the Acolytes giving Kurt a double spinebuster. He goes to help, then thinks better of it as Angle is left laid out after a double powerbomb. Kurt confronts HHH in the dressing room wondering what happened. He thought that they were in this together, he came back for him but he can’t do the same? Hunter pretty much fobs him off saying how they’ve got to think about Stephanie now as she has a big match coming up and he’s not going back to being selfish Kurt Angle who thinks all about himself is he? For the sake of Steph he lets it go but you can clearly tell it’s still bothering him.

We get a recap from last night’s Heat where Stephanie jumped Lita after she got accidentally bumped in the Matt Hardy/Kurt Angle match, kicking her in the ribs and then throwing her into the ring steps and finally onto the announcer’s table. Edge and Christian are out after the Dudleys to provide guest commentary and when ‘The King ‘ wonders if they’re going to be doing one of their trademarks ‘run-ins’, they say that they’re so far above a ‘run-in’ and tonight will introduce something called, ‘the swerve’. Flying crossbody by Jeff only gets a one count. Bubba misses a running splash in the corner, however he then catches Jeff as he leaps off the middle and dumps him with a back suplex. Christian now decides that they will do a ‘run in’ after all and are going to forget about ‘the swerve’. ‘Whisper in the Wind’ as Edge says how that will never work in the TLC match. Matt walks into a big boot and ‘the Wassup’ diving headbutt as E&C complain about it being illegal and calling the Dudleys “the masters of sneakitude”. The Dudley’s go to collect a table but Jeff takes them both out before they can get it with a running flip dive to the floor. ‘Poetry in Motion’ for a near fall. An ugly looking exchange between Bubba and Jeff as they mess up the sit-out full nelson bomb, getting it right at the second attempt. Bubba backdrops Matt over the top rope to the outside and he then wipes out a camera man, bumping into him after a Bubba running forearm. Bubba sidesteps an Edge spear that ends up connecting with Matt, before pulling D-Von out the way of a ‘Swanton bomb’. ‘3D’, but Christian is up on the apron distracting the official and Edge with a stiff chair shot KO’ing Bubba. Jeff drapes an arm over the unconscious Dudley and the Hardyz pick up the win.

TLC is now official for Summerslam, however Edge & Christian think that it’s a “heinosity” what Mick Foley has done to them and as far as they’re concerned ‘TLC’ stands for ‘Totally Lacking Coolness’! It’s such a “heinosity” that they’re not even giving us a five second pose tonight. We get a brief recap from Raw where Christian gave Matt Hardy the ‘tomokaze’ onto a chair and then E&C gave Bubba a ‘conchairto’, putting both out of action for this evening and leading to Jeff teaming up with D-Von to take on the tag team champions. Match goes less than two minutes although Jeff and D-Von show some good team work in hitting signature spots like ‘Poetry in Motion’ and the ‘Wassup’. Christian kicks Jeff low to stop their momentum but Edge then gets caught with a dropkick as he comes off the middle. D-Von takes it to the champs until walking into a spear. Jeff with a swanton bomb to break up the cover, however Edge sees it coming, moves out the way and he accidentally hits D-Von instead. Christian tosses Jeff to the floor, Edge re-covers D-Von and the champions retain. Jeff tries to apologise to D-Von but he wants no part of it, the Hardyz and Dudley’s coming to blows as E&C watch on laughing from the entrance way.

As a representative of all fifty states, Kurt Angle says it is a pleasure to be here in Rhode Island and while the rest of America may see them as the insignificant nothing state, he doesn’t. Speaking of insignificant, that brings him onto Triple H. What he did to him on Smackdown was gutless, cowardly and just plain wrong and reminds him of someone he had the displeasure of meeting in his Olympic days, Tonya Harding,. What Hunter did to him was the equivalent of what Tonya Harding did to Nancy Kerrigan. He’s asked himself “why me?”, what is it that he doesn’t like about him and why has he never liked him since day one. Kurt says that is can be down to just one thing, jealousy, as in the space of nine months he’s accomplished things that it took Triple H years to achieve. He’s a bitter, jealous man and it pains him to see his friend Stephanie be saddled with a loser like him! A pissed HHH has heard enough, storming to the ring. Shane McMahon sprints out after Hunter and tries to keep the two of them apart. He tells them that they’re killing Stephanie and because of their continued bickering she was almost chokeslammed by the Undertaker and was ‘Rock Bottomed’ by the Rock. Shane continues to play peacemaker telling Triple H that he knows Kurt Angle would never do anything to break up his marriage with Stephanie (all while Kurt has this smirk on his face). They have to get back on focus, and that focus is the Rock at Summerslam. Mick Foley joins them and says how he agrees with Shane, that HHH and Kurt should join together to take on the Rock and, because he’s the Commissioner, he’s going to grant them that wish. He sets up a six-man tag for later in the night with the three of them to face The Rock and the Dudley’s, and as he’s had enough of their constant bickering adds the stipulation that if either HHH or Kurt Angle walk out on the match they will automatically lose their number one contender’s slot for Summerslam. Kurt is outside with an umbrella, waiting for Stephanie to arrive. She pulls up in a limo and he collects her bags, saying how he appreciated her coming back for him on Smackdown. He tells her she did what a true friend would do and thanks her with a kiss on the cheek. Not only are we watching this but so is Triple H, on a monitor in his dressing room, and he’s not pleased! As Stephanie makes her way through the back of the arena she’s met by HHH who chews her out over what he just saw with ‘her friend’. She’s all upset and says that maybe she should just leave then, to which Hunter responds that maybe she should. Triple H tells Shane how he can’t deal with this truce any more, that Stephanie left here crying, how it’s that jerk’s fault and he’s going to finish this tonight once and for all. Shane tries to calm down saying that he’ll bring Kurt back here and they’ll sort everything out. Shane has a quick word with Kurt telling him that he doesn’t buy they’re “just friends”, he’s seen the way he looks at Stephanie and warns him not to interfere in her marriage. Angle can’t believe that Shane McMahon is questioning his integrity (“where is it written that a guy and a girl can’t be just friends?”) when in walks Just Joe who tells him that in around half an hour someone wants to meet up with him in the parking lot. Kurt immediately thinks it’s either Triple H or Shane but Joe insists that it’s not, although that’s all the information he has. Joe then goes to Triple H and tells him that someone wants to see him in ten minutes in the parking lot. Hunter thinks that it’s Steph and again Joe says that he’s only the messenger and can’t say. Kurt and HHH meet in the parking lot and as they argue, and it looks like Joe has set them up, another limo arrives. Vince McMahon is in this one and he warns them both if his daughter ever calls him up crying again neither will be in the WWF, let alone be the WWF champion, before advising them to look out for Shane in the upcoming tag match too. Triple H and D-Von kick things off, although Hunter seems more preoccupied with the Rock on the apron. Big back drop by Bubba followed by a clothesline for a near fall. HHH ducks a second clothesline and catches him with a neckbreaker, preferring to then tag out to Shane rather than Angle who also wanted in. Flying lariat by Shane but Bubba reverses the Irish whip and hits that full nelson bomb. Bubba tags the Rock and Shane immediately high tails it back to his own corner, tagging both HHH and Kurt who had their hands out. The two argue over who should be the one who gets to face him as Rock tells them to “just bring it”. Triple H stands aside to let Kurt go one on one with the Great One’, but maybe he wishes he had instead considering how poorly he does against the Rock. Russian leg sweep for a two. Kurt whips D-Von into the ropes and HHH pulls down the top one sending him sailing over it to the outside. Triple H and Angle continue to show great cohesion as a team when they’re not trying to tear each other apart. Shane dances and jabs until D-Von ducks the lariat and drops Shane with a flying forearm. Hot tag to the Rock who immediately takes it to the opposition. Belly to belly on Angle and Triple H is there to break up the pin. Bubba picks HHH up for ‘the wassup’ but Hunter’s flailing legs take out referee Tim White. The Dudley’s collect a table from under the ring and set it up on the floor. Rock tosses Shane out to them and just as Bubba is about to powerbomb him through the table, they’re jumped by Edge & Christian. ‘Conchairto’ on Bubba when Rock sees what’s going on goes to help his partners. He gets nailed by Shane and with the Dudley’s down it’s three on one. ‘Olympic slam’, pedigree and the three of them stand over Rock’s lifeless body as Shane’s music starts playing and with the match looking like it just ended.

We get a clip of what happened earlier when Chris Benoit arrived at the arena and was jumped by Jericho who was laying in wait for him in his locker room. Intercontinental title match and Jericho with those hard knife edge chops of his. Val runs into a back elbow but then catches Y2J in a sleeper. Jericho shoots him off and applies a sleeper of his own which Venis escapes out of with a ‘Blue Thunder Driver’. A vertical suplex for a two count and Val follows that with a ‘camel clutch’. Jericho blasts him with an enziguiri and comes off the top with reverse elbow for a near fall. He whips ‘the Big Valbowski’ into the corner but Val side steps the charge and a drop toe hold sends Y2J head first into the bottom turnbuckle. Jericho flips over on the belly to back suplex, hits a bulldog, lands the Lionsault when out runs Chris Benoit for the DQ. Y2J is about to put him in ‘the Walls’ when he’s nailed from behind by Val who then leaves ‘the Crippler’ to dish out a bit of payback for earlier. Benoit straddles him over the top rope, stomps away on him and shoves a couple of referees before leaving. He gets a few yards down the aisle and has a change of heart, returning to the ring where he ties Jericho up in an STF.

Good shout on Conti, she won a qualifying match at the Full Sail tapings last night and is now official. I hadn't thought about Jessamyn but it would be cool to see her in there and you're probably right about Xia, especially as she seems to have been appearing more than usual on the house shows recently. I don't follow him but regularly check out Casey's twitter feed as he tends to be on the button more than anyone else when it comes to stuff like this.

Here's a piece they did on him back in February when he had his try-out:

Deonna Purrazzo, Tegan Nox (guessing that injury can't have been too serious then), Reina Gonzalez and Jessie Elaban the latest additions.

When was I comparing the NXT Florida loop to how WWF was drawing in 1995? If you're going to compare the WWF of 1995 to the NXT of today you have to take into account all the shows, which includes those Florida ones which naturally drags the average attendance down and which was the point I was making.

I'm sure some of their shows do, especially the TakeOvers, but considering how small the crowds are on the Florida loop (less than 200) I doubt the average is anywhere close.

Shane is on the apron distracting the Undertaker so that Benoit can jump him from behind, but Taker’s wise to their plan, knows what’s coming and gets the first shot in anyway. After running into a big boot, ‘the Crippler’ kicks away at his mid-section having to be pulled off by the official as he was paying no attention to his count. That gives Taker the chance to reverse positions and he goes to town, alternating rights and lefts to the body. Running lariat in the corner followed by a side slam. Benoit avoids the elbow and then dropkicks the injured knee of Taker. As he tries to get back to his feet, a great enziguiri takes him right back down. Diving headbutt but Taker kicks out of the cover, much to Shane and ‘the Crippler’s’ disbelief. The Irish whip is reversed and Taker snatches Benoit for a chokeslam. He escapes his grasp only to be on the wrong end of a boot to the face. Taker has him set for ‘the Last Ride’ when Shane is in there to save his man, clocking the Undertaker in the back with a chair for the DQ. A further shot to the head and Benoit then locks on the crossface as Shane stomps away on the helpless Taker. Kane runs out for the save and Shane and ‘the Crippler’ get out of there before he arrives wanting no part of him. He lifts his ‘brother’ up, but then turns on him, chokeslamming him twice (the second time through a gimmicked part of the ring) before riding off on his motorbike. Just what the World needs, a regurgitated feud between Kane and the Undertaker. The brief bit of action between Benoit and Taker wasn’t bad at all, and I especially liked the aggression shown by both in the few minutes we got.