Falls Count Anywhere

12-17-04

Dan Puder is my new hero.

SmackDown!
Well, they opened the show with an over-the-top celebration in the ring by JBL. Bradshaw said that Amy Weber had done a great job. By merely standing there and looking hot she was doing as good a job as I would like. Kurt Angle came out with his crew and rightly pointed out that he invented the over-the-top post-title win celebration, which is a good point. The two faced off with Layfield pointing out that even though Angle beat five guys in that Hell in the Cell match, that was four years ago. Angle got his title shot for later in the show. This was good stuff, and a great way to open the show.

RVD and Rey Mysterio beat Akio (good to see him back on TV) and Kidman in a good little match. I really like the ReyVD team, and they did some fun stuff. RVD was way over and there were lots of chants. Mysterio did one of my favorite moves, where he sets himself up to be ChavoBombed only to turn it into an armdrag on Akio. Nice. Rey hit the Hurrancanrana and then a Five Star finished it off for the good guys.

Torrie Wilson came out dressed as Uncle Sam. She looked good. Almost Joy Giovanni good. They showed a video of their involvement with the troops. While Tazz and Michael Cole were talking about the visit next week, Heidenreich came out and read a poem, also scaring Cole away. Weird.

Eddie and Booker had one of their fightin’ friends moments. There were also ladies around.

Kenzo and Rene Dupree took on Eddie and Booker in a decent little match. Rene got busted open from an elbow early on. I watched part of this match picture-in-picture with a report on the As trading Tim Hudson for a bunch of nobodies. That sucks. Booker gave a great Spinebuster to Dupree. Eddie did the Triple Suplexes on Rene, and Rene took them better than almost anyone else I can think of. Hiroko tried to interfere, but was pushed out of the ring. Scissors kick followed by Frog Splash gives Booker and Guerrero the win. Solid, though unspectacular match.

Carlito did a backstage vignette with JBL, teased spitting apple at him, but didn’t. They showed the streetfight from Armageddon. It wasn’t a great match, but there were some nice spots. The spinning belt faceplate was a great touch. Cena beat him so bad that the screen went Black and White. Sweet. Cena won and it wasn’t a great match, but since Jesus can’t work, it was the only way to keep him and CCC on screen.

Now Sunnyvale has a wrestler of its very own...

Sunnyvale’s own Daniel Puder won Tough Enough. Hell, Yeah! The guy has a great look and could be what Ken Shamrock should have been if they build him right. The Miz, smarmy bastard that he is, looked truly devastated at losing. Face it, the only thing he had going for him was the method of choosing, as his fans from MTV are legion. Puder is in the Royal Rumble, which is a nice touch. It looked like he had no idea that was coming. Perhaps they’ll set up the Angle feud there. Hmmmm…

Joy, lovely Joy, came out to hand out candy canes. She got into it with Amy Weber. I’ll quote Jerry Lawler: the best reason to watch two girls fighting is that they might start kissing. Theodore R. Long then tossed out everyone leaving it One-on-One between John Bradshaw Layfield and Kurt Angle.

The match was solid. Angle is hurt, his brief career has taken its toll, but he still knows what to do to get the most out of anyone. The crowd was chanting ‘bucko’ at JBL. Leave it to Kurt to get the word bucko back into wrestling. The match moved really well, and Kurt worked a smart style. Kurt threw a couple of belly-to-belly suplexes, and JBL did a Vertical Suplex for a near-fall. Angle used a Reverse DDT, which I can’t remember him using before. Triple Germans also saw their way into the match.

Angle wins the wheelbarrow race.

This was the best JBL match not on PPV in a long time. JBL went for a powerbomb, which they showed him hitting in the video game simulation before the match, but Angle turned it into a Sunset Flip and an ankle lock. That was a nice touch. Team Angle and JBL’s Cabinet came out and brawled, but Orlando Jordan hit Kurt with the belt while JBL was tappign and the ref was distracted. This got a two count, which got a pop, and then Orlando interfered again for the DQ. Big Show came out and cleaned house, which I’m guessing is leading to Big Show vs. Kurt vs. JBL for the title at Royal Rumble.

Decent show that set up a lot. I’m hoping they pull the two big triggers at the Rumble by getting Puder and Angle together and then take the belt off JBL.

NEWS
HHH was a busy guy yesterday. He was on a couple of different radio shows in the morning and then hit the John McEnroe show. I saw some of the Johnny Mac program, where he talked about nothing in particular. A lot of folks think that his radio appearances will do nothing to help his image with the boys, even though he claimed that Vince shot down a lot of his ideas to not make it look like nepotism.

HHH mentioned that Brock will be back sometime, and there’s word that he really wants back now, but Vince and company are making him pay for walking out on them. It’ll be interesting to see if they bring him back now that ratings seem to have stabilized.

By the way, RAW did a 3.8 on Monday, a slight drop, but they maintained most of the increased audience.

No FlashBack today, but a brief discussion about awards.

We’ve got a good number of votes for the Garcias, and it’s looking close between a few guys for two of the awards and a big lead in the other. I thought I’d look at the ladies award and who is in the running.

Trish Stratus has won both the Woman of the Year Christopher J. Garcia Awards for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Wrestling Excellence. She’s a front-runner, as she had a pretty good year, especially considering her role for much of it. She held the title for a good long while, she continues to get good pops and she’s wicked hot.

She got more TV time, but have we shown her enough here?

Lita returned to form in recent weeks, and she has to be considered. She had a couple of good matches, got caught in a weird feud and pregnancy angle, and that’ll probably be the thing that most folks remember about her year. The fact that she headlined a RAW with a title win will be forgotten.

Victoria sorta fell outta sight, partly due to injuries, partly due to the fact that they ran out of ideas and fired so many other girls. She’s still highly talented, and her matches tended to be the best of all the women.

Molly Holly has quietly been a rock. She may be the most consistent worker that the WWE’s women’s division has ever seen. She had that great head shaving angle that led to her wearing a wig and a solid tag team with Gail Kim. I’d put her right up there with Trish and Lita.

In Japan, Woman’s wrestling has taken a nosedive, but Minami Toyota is always in the running. Xochiti Hamada, daughter of El Gran Hamada, also had a good year.

On the non-wrestling side, since it isn’t just for wrestlers, you’ve got to consider Christie Hemme for winning the Diva Challenge. She’s had a lot more TV time than a lot of the girls. Stacey Kiebler wrestled a lot this year, but she’s still mostly eye candy. The same can be said of Torrie Wilson. Hiroko is in the running, though sadly, Fifi the Poodle does not qualify.

It’ll be a close year…probably nearly as close as the voting in the Fanboy Planet’s favorite wrestler voting.

I’ll be back next week. Kisses.

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Chris Garcia