Falls Count Anywhere EXTRA

03-26-03

nyaah nyaah.

Welcome to a Special Falls Count Anywhere. My name is Chris. Free Mumia.

Live SmackDown!
My ticket hook-up almost let me down, but not as hard as the fans who failed to bring Falls Count Anywhere signs to the show.

Where's the love? My Roommate and I got seats at the last minute and saw a show that is in the top half of live shows that I have been to of late, but not as good as the last two I saw at the Arena.

The Good- Fine wrestling from Jamie Noble and Funaki for Velocity. Really, this was a solid match that showed why Sho (Funaki) was the best thing to come out of Japan in years. Nidia was great in her role as well, and if it weren't for the fact that they rubbed folks the wrong way, they'd be doing much bigger things. The Jumping Swinging DDT that Funaki delivered was off the charts awesome!

Chris Kanyon had a fine match with Chad Collyer. This was a hot match, especially when Collyer got a near fall and some of the crowd thought it might have been a finish. Good heat, likely because the Chad was announced as from San Jose, even though the night before he was from Sacramento.

Johnny Stromboli and Tajiri had a fun match, and the crowd gave it up for Tajiri as he left. TAJIRAMANIA was running wild!!!

Rey Misterio and Brian Kendrick had a fantastic, Lucha-infused tag team battle with Matt Hardy and Shannon Moore. It was very clean, until a couple of missed spots in the end (don't worry…they'll fix it in post). Kendrick did an awesome Swinging DDT, and looked as good, if not better, than Matt Hardy, and just a notch below Rey. Matt got a great reaction, as did Rey. Should be a fine match at Mania.

My roommate wants to corrupt Brian Kendrick. She said the same thing about Hurricane, and look where that got him. I smell a trend.

A couple of Vince McMahon training videos were shown, each featuring the inspirational tones of Shane-o-Mac. Good stuff, including a Dr. Tom Pritchard sighting!

Hogan came out, talked a little, and then left. The whole while, every single person in the house, even the "retain an air of detached irony" crew in front of me were cheering so loud, my ears were ringing after the show. AMAZING, and I've heard some loud pops before. A really good, old-school face interview.

The better Guerrero.

Chavo took on Shelton Benjamin in a good match. Though Chavo got a chant early, the wind sort of went out of the crowd here. I am really thinking that Chavo is the better of the Guerreros at the moment, as it seems that Eddy's injuries have started to catch up to him. He's got charisma, talent in the ring, and is still young.

Angle and Lesnar had a backstage encounter that should be required viewing of any big program participants. The intensity was huge, Angle was perfect, and Brock was better than I have ever seen him in getting over the fact that this was a match of huge importance.

This sort of had the ring of a passing of the torch interview, the type you would see in 1989 in the NWA, and the crowd, after starting with "What!"s for everything that Angle said soon recognized that this was an important speech and by the end, gave Angle huge respect. This is the best interview of Angle's career, and if they cut the Whats, it should come off even more intense on TV. The graphic for Brock vs. Angle during the WrestleMania card rundown got the biggest pop, even bigger than Rock/Austin and Hogan/Vince.

John Cena came out and had a match with Rikishi. It wasn't a very good match, though the rap backstage that Cena did to call out Brock was fun.

The ending, one simple move, a Death Valley Driver by Cena on Rikishi, changed everything. He held him for a long time, and then dropped him. The crowd was stunned.

That one move made Cena for everyone in the building. I don't think it will play as amazing on Thursday, but it was incredible. The Cena fight with Brock after, which may not be on the show, was good, with Cena looking credible hanging with Brock, even though he ended up taking the F5. Done right, Cena vs. Brock could be real good.

The bad was there, too. Benoit and Rhyno had a match with A-Train and Big Show that wasn't classically bad, but did nothing for me. A run-in by Nathan Jones didn't help.

Eddy Guerrero had an off night working with Charlie Haas. They missed a few spots, and it wasn't a train wreck, but not what I was hoping for.

Nidia and Torrie wrestled. This was a classically bad train wreck.

On Velocity, Apollo Kahn and Bill DeMott had a match that was stiff, and ended with a KO finish. Kahn wasn't given an entrance, got very little offense, and as such, got no reaction. The crowd didn't know what to make of the finish, but they wanted DeMott to keep beating on the poor sap. This could have been real good.

Other- I got the last Cheat 2 Win shirt, which I am wearing right now. The Roommate picked up a Hurricane mask and a Rey Bobblehead. Ernest "The Cat" Miller got a big pop coming out and doing his dance. Taz got a good pop coming out to announce. The people in front of me laughed at my "ChavoMania is running wild!" cry.

The line to get in was huge. There was a lot of Jailbait. The WWE uses really nice DigiBeta cameras, but when they shoot in the crowd, they were too well guarded for sneak job. The opening to Velocity is much cooler than the opening to SmackDown!. Dave Meltzer was in attendance, and his analysis of the show will likely include two or three points I don't agree with.

There was more facial hair at the show than any other I've ever been to.

OK, that's that. More to come this week, including the big WrestleMania preview. Remember, the next time you get the chance, see a WWE taping in your town.

Chris Garcia