Emanating from the Spectrum in Worchester, MA

WWE Tag Team Championship Match: Team Angle (champs) vs. Los Guerreros [Smackdown match]

As the fans chant “Eddie”, Los Guerreros do some showboating to play to the crowd. Los Guerreros begin to make tags as they work on Benjamin’s arm. Haas knees Chavo from the apron to turn the tide. Now Eddie knees Benjamin from the apron. Tit-for-tat, I suppose. Chavo chokes Benjamin with the tag rope as the referee yells at Haas. With the referee still distracted, Eddie attacks Benjamin on the floor. Eddie continues to work over Benjamin, but then just lets him tag Haas. Interesting. Now Team Angle do some cheating behind the referee’s back to attack Eddie. The alley-oop splash by Team Angle allow them to get a nearfall on Eddie. Eddie stops the onslaught with a back suplex on Haas. Haas tackles Eddie to prevent him from tagging and then gets another nearfall. Eddie jawjacks Benjamin, but he grabs Eddie’s leg to keep him away from Chavo. A powerslam by Benjamin gets 2. Out-of-nowhere, Eddie catches Haas with a ‘rana. Then Eddie leaps over Haas and tags Chavo. Chavo comes in and knocks down everyone. Heel miscommunication leads to Chavo getting a nearfall on Haas. Benjamin grabs Chavo and plants him with a powerbomb, but then Eddie nails him with a missile dropkick. Now Eddie delivers the Three Amigos to Haas. Chavo crawls onto Haas and gets 2 ¾. Chavo dropkicks Haas and then Eddie follows it up with a frog splash. Chavo covers, but Benjamin pulls him off at the last second. Chavo attempts to suplex Haas, but Benjamin trips him. That allows Haas to fall on Chavo and pin him for 3, while Benjamin held Chavo’s legs.

Postmatch: As Team Angle celebrates by the photo, Eddie launches Chavo onto them. Then Los Guerreros grabs the tag titles and leave. The cameras follow Los Guerreros backstage where they get in a low rider and test out the hydraulics.

Bottom Line: A well-worked match, albeit a little on the dull side. You can’t help but love Los Guerreros’ cheating tactics. And seeing Team Angle try to keep up with them was fun too. However, the action consisted of too many restholds to keep the crowd interested. There were also some missed cues at the end by Team Angle that hurt the finish. Still, this was better than most openers. *** ¼

- Backstage, Test is trying to put the moves on Torrie Wilson (even though he’s dating Stacy Keibler), but she’s having none of it. Frustrated, he finally forces a kiss on her and she walks away disgusted. As she leaves, we see Sable spying on them. Yikes, who let that bag of bones back into the company?

Rikishi vs. Sean O’Haire [Smackdown match]

O’Haire recently gained some buzz with his new vignettes to introduce his new characters, which was sort of the devil’s little voice telling you what to do. However, all that intrigue disappeared when “Rowdy” Roddy Piper took him under his tutetlage. I love Piper, don’t get me wrong. But these two did not make a good match. Anyway, this match was made after Piper blasted Rikishi with a coconut on Piper’s Pit; just like he did to “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka all those many years ago. As Rikishi goes after Piper, O’Haire tries a sneak attack, but Rikishi catches him. Rikishi nails O’Haire with a Samoan Drop and then Piper gets on the apron. Another sneak attack fails, as Rikishi catches O’Haire again. Finally, O’Haire drops Rikishi with a big kick. As the referee admonishes O’Haire, Piper chokes Rikishi. Now O’Haire wears down Rikishi with some pretty vanilla offense. Something going on in the crowd has the audience distracted. Rikishi begins to make his come back. When he goes for the Stinkface, O’Haire boots him away. Piper comes in the ring looking to hit Rikishi with a coconut. As the referee tries to get him out, Rikishi and O’Haire hit each other with savant kicks. Again, Piper tries to attack Rikishi, but Rikishi stops him and then hits him with the coconut. As Rikishi celebrates, O’Haire hits him with his finisher, which is sort of a reverse DVD.

BL: What a mess this was. Piper was seemingly clueless as to what he had to do out there. As for O’Haire, his PPV debut was less than stellar. With all that time off, you would have thought he would have learned a few new moves. Lastly, we can’t forget to fault Rikishi, who didn’t belong on PPV in the first place since he became irrelevant about three years ago. ¾ *

- Sable catches Stacy by the catering table and reveals to her that she saw Torrie kissing Test. This news angers Stacy so much that she throws her plate of food down and leaves in disgust. Will somebody please think of the vegetables!!!

- RVD tells Kane that he thinks they’re in a no win situation with Chief Morley refereeing their match. Kane says that if they’re going down, they’re taking Morley and the Dudleyz with them. He really could have used a “….to HELL” to punctuate that thought.

World Tag Team Championship Match: Kane and Rob Van Dam (champs) vs. The Dudley Boyz with special guest referee Chief Morley [RAW match]

The Dudleyz have unwillingly become heels because Morley keeps threatening to fire them unless they obey him. Bubba jumps RVD from behind to start the match. RVD uses his speed to comeback. As RVD states his name, Bubba gives him a big clothesline. RVD kicks D-Von and then legdrops him. That gets 2. Kane is tagged in and picks up the attack on D-Von. A big boot by Kane gets a nearfall. D-Von drops Kane across the top rope from the apron and then Bubba bulldogs him. That gets a nearfall. Kane recovers and gives Bubba a spinebuster. RVD is tagged back in and he takes it to Bubba. RVD attempts a monkey flip, but Bubba shoves him off. With Morley distracted by Kane, the Dudleyz hits RVD with the Wassup Drop. The Dudleyz continue to wear RVD down in uninteresting fashion. A spinkick by RVD allows him to tag Kane. Kane manhandles his opponents with ease. A sidewalk slam by Kane gets 2. Kane thwarts the Dudleyz’ double-team and then tags RVD. RVD attacks both Dudleyz until D-Von slams him off the top rope. Kane catches D-Von with a top rope clothesline and then attempts to chokeslam Bubba, but Morley lowblows him. Bubba clotheslines Kane and covers, but can only get 2. Morley dumps Kane out of the ring and then tries to clothesline RVD, but hits Bubba on accident. D-Von comes over and attacks Morley. Suddenly, Lance Storm runs out and nails D-Von. Bubba comes over, however, and disposes of Storm. Morley attempts to beat up Bubba, but the Dudleyz come back and give him the 3-D. Kane comes in and chokeslams Bubba and then RVD gives him the Five Star Frog Splash. A new referee comes in and makes the 3 count. Somehow, the champs retain their titles.

BL: This one was a major yawner until the overbooked finish. If this had been some long-running angle, the extracurriculars to close out the match would have been exciting. Since it wasn’t, the whole thing just came off looking like a mess here. The RAW tag division is in serious disarray and this did nothing to help it. * ½

- Stacy enters the women’s lockerroom and confronts Torrie. Some miscommunication between the two leads to a catfight. The rest of the ladies are torn between breaking it up and letting it continue. Of course, the whole segment is ruined by Lawler’s horny commentary as it happens. God bless the mute button.

WWE Women’s Championship Match: Trish Stratus (champ) vs. Jazz [RAW match]

Jazz is now being managed by Theodore Long. Belee dat!! Jazz immediately goes after Trish’s back, which was injured a few weeks ago. It’s clear that’s the focus of Jazz. Trish briefly comes back with a clothesline and gets 2. Trish puts her head down and Jazz throws her to the mat. Then she sits on Trish’s midsection. Jazz goes over and tries to remove a turnbuckle pad. Trish gets a couple quick nearfalls on Jazz. Jazz slows Trish’s momentum by booting her in the corner. Trish goes for the handstand ‘rana, but Jazz blocks it and throws her to the mat. Jazz also manages to put Trish in a half crab as she sent her to the mat. Trish powers out of it and then puts on a Boston Crab herself. Trish turns it into a STF, but Jazz makes it to the ropes, thanks to Long’s help. Trish nails Jazz with the Chick Kick and gets 2. Jazz comes back and nails Trish with a dropkick. That gets a nearfall. Trish scores with the Stratusfaction and covers, but Long throws his shoe at her. Total LOL!! As Trish confronts him, he tries to blame it on a fan. When she turns back around, Jazz gets her in a small package for 2. Trish attempts a sunset flip, but Jazz sits on her, grabs the rope and keeps Trish down for 3. New champion!

BL: What a fun, little women’s match. I loved Trish doing some reverse psychology by using Jazz’s submission hold on her. I loved Jazz’s work on Trish’s injured body part. I loved Teddy Long’s antics. This is no mat classic, but it’s damn fine work from the women’s division. ** ¾

As Booker T, Shawn Michaels, and Kevin Nash prep for their match, they are seemingly on the same page. I guess we’re just ignoring Shawn and Nash kicking Booker out of the nWo less than a year ago.

Rey Mysterio vs. the Big Show [Smackdown match]

This came about as a result of Rey doing a number of things to embarrass Show in the past couple of weeks. We get a major stall by Rey to begin. As Show tries to attack him, Rey delivers a dropkick. Rey tries to mount Show and attack him, but he just hurls him off. Now we get Rey being a bump machine for Show’s power moves. This includes Show palming Rey’s head. Show press slams Rey, but he lands on his feet. Show knocks Rey all the way out of the ring with a chop to the back. As Show swats the referee away, Rey nails him with a chair. Rey jumps onto Show and gets 2. Rey gives Show a 619 to his midsection and then one to his knee. With Show on his knees, Rey hits one more 619 to his head. Rey goes for the West Coast Pop, but Show grabs him and chokeslams him to the mat. That easily gives him the 1-2-3.

Postmatch: Rey does a stretcher job. Suddenly, Show comes back and grabs Rey, who’s strapped to the stretcher board. He then swings Rey against the post and drops him on his head, unprotected. Wow, awesome bump!

BL: It wasn’t much of a match, but it was extremely entertaining. The diffrerence in size between the two was played up nicely and the crowd really believed Rey could pull off the win. Then the icing on the cake was the postmatch spot. It was so visually cool that I’m surprised it isn’t used in more generic video packages, like Mick Foley’s fall from the Hell in a Cell. ** ¼

- Lillian Garcia talks to Triple H, Ric Flair and Chris Jericho. Their attitude is, to say the least, cocky. Again, I guess we’re just forgetting about HHH and Jericho’s long-standing rivalry. I guess it’s true what they say…ignorance is bliss.

- The catfight between Stacy and Torrie continues backstage and ends when Torrie shoves Stacy and a crate falls on her head. Suddenly, Scott Steiner comes over and checks on her. Then Test enters and yells at Steiner to stay away from her. Wow, from the main event to slumming it in a low-level feud with Test. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

WWE Championship Match: Brock Lesnar (champ) vs. John Cena

Cena won this shot by winning an 8-man tournament. However, he has an issue with Brock, as it was Brock who put Cena on the shelf when he threw his knee into the post. Cena cuts a rap on past champions and wears a Yankees jersey to draw heat from the hometown crowd. Cena immediately jumps Brock to gain an early advantage, but Brock comes back and hammers away on him. Brock wears out Cena with a pair of suplexes. After press slamming Cena, Brock clotheslines him to the floor. On the outside, Brock whips Cena into the announce table. Back inside, Brock attempts to continue his attack, but Cena bails to the outside. Brock follows him and continues to beat him down. Cena finally ends the onslaught by whipping Brock into the steps. Brock’s forehead has been busted open. Inside, a back suplex by Cena gets 2. Cena continues his attack and gets a few nearfalls. Brock attempts to comeback, but can’t regain momentum. Back outside, Cena throws Brock into the post. Cena brings him back in and gets a 2 count. Now things slow way down with a chinlock by Cena. Brock escapes, but then Cena drops him with a DDT. That gets 2. Brock catches a charging Cena with a spinebuster. Cena jawjacks Brock and then clotheslines him. He gets another nearfall from that. Now Cena goes back to the chinlock. Finally, Brock gets to his feet and rams Cena into the turnbuckle. Brock starts to comeback with a series of clotheslines. Brock wears down Cena in the corner and then slams him for 2. Cena whips Brock and he almost nails the referee. The near collision allows Cena to lowblow Brock. That gets a nearfall. A neckbreaker by Cena gets another 2 count. Brock stops his momentum by ramming him into the corner. Cena grabs his steel chain, but the referee sees it. The referee takes it away from him, which allows Brock to grab Cena and give him the F5. Brock covers and picks up the victory.

BL: Considering Cena was an unproven main event player, this wasn’t bad. However, the action here warranted its third from the top spot. Brock did his best to make Cena’s offense look good, but two lengthy chinlocks really hurt the flow of this match. The bottom line is that no one viewed Cena as a credible champion yet, so they were just waiting for the inevitable finish to happen. ** ¾

6-Man Tag Team Match: Kevin Nash, Shawn Michaels, and Booker T vs. Triple H, Chris Jericho, and Ric Flair [RAW match]

This is basically a combination of Wrestlemania rematches. That is, with the exception of Nash. He made his big return a few weeks ago and was riding the fence in his allegiance for either Shawn or HHH. HHH made his decision for him when he attacked Nash from behind. Now Nash is poised to be HHH’s next challenger, while Booker takes a backseat to everyone. It looks like we’re going to start off with Nash and HHH, but then they both tag out and Shawn and Jericho kick things off. The two have a nice sequence where neither gains an advantage. Jericho blocks a dropkick and attempts the Walls of Jericho, but Shawn powers out of it. Shawn then tags Nash, who takes it to Jericho. Nash takes out Jericho and Flair and wants HHH, but Jericho attacks him before HHH comes in. Nash throws Jericho out again, but he skins the cat; only to be knocked down by Nash again. Booker is tagged in and he takes it to Jericho. Booker gets trapped in the heel corner and gets worked over. HHH is in now and he dominates Booker. Flair is tagged in and misses an elbow. That allows Booker to tag in Shawn. He manhandles Flair and Jericho, who came in for a sneak attack. Shawn nails Flair with Sweet Chin Music, but HHH comes in and gives Shawn a Pedigree. Flair manages to tag Jericho, who puts the beat down on Shawn. The focus of their attack is on Shawn’s left knee. An enziguri by Shawn on Flair gives him a breather. Finally, Shawn tags Nash, who takes it to HHH. Nash takes out everyone and gets a nearfall on HHH after a sidewalk slam. Flair tries to chop Nash, but he no-sells them. The match has broken down quickly with everyone brawling. HHH tries to Pedigree Nash, but he backdrops him. Nash now attempts to powerbomb HHH, but gets hit with a missile dropkick by Jericho. Booker and Jericho do an extended sequence which ends with Booker hitting him with the scissors kick and then doing a Spinaroonie. As Shawn and Flair fight in the ring, Nash brawls with HHH on the floor. Shawn sets Flair up for Sweet Chin Music, but Jericho bulldogs him. Now Flair puts Shawn in the figure four leglock. With Shawn in the hold, Jericho hits him with the Lionsault. Nash comes in and makes the save for Shawn. As he knocks down Flair, he also takes out the referee as well. HHH comes in and nails Nash with the sledgehammer. The referee is back up now and is able to count the pinfall as HHH covers Nash for the win.

BL: The match works well as a RAW main event, but not as PPV main event. They were smart in having the decent workers do the majority of the action. However, when all is said and done, nothing was advanced here. Yes, it looks like we’re moving towards a HHH/Nash program, but nothing here really gets me excited for that match. In the end, I feel like most of the guys could have been used more effectively than they were in this match. ***

Goldberg vs. The Rock [RAW match]

After Wrestlemania, we saw Goldberg makes his WWE debut. We also saw The Rock begin to brag that he had defeated everyone after beating Stone Cold at ‘Mania. Those events naturally led to these two being pitted against each other in this “dream match”. We get some major stalling to begin. As the crowd waits, they are mixed in who they are rooting for. When they finally lockup, Goldberg shoves The Rock to the mat. Again, they lockup and again Goldberg shoves The Rock down. The Rock tries to punch him, but Goldberg no-sells it. Goldberg knocks The Rock out of the ring and he does another major stall. When he re-enters, he drops Goldberg across the top rope. Now The Rock goes on the offensive. Goldberg comes back and hits The Rock with a Rock Bottom. Sacrilege! Goldberg goes for a spear, but The Rock sidesteps him and throws him into the corner. The Rock brings Goldberg back in and puts him in the Sharpshooter. Goldberg manages to grab the ropes. However, The Rock gives Goldberg a low blow behind the referee’s back. As The Rock sets Goldberg up for a Rock Bottom, Goldberg catches him with a spear. Goldberg starts to make his comeback. A slam by Goldberg gets 2. The Rock elbows a charging Goldberg. After two clotheslines, The Rock spears Goldberg, which draws a pop. The Rock hits Goldberg with the Rock Bottom, covers, but can only get 2. The Rock slugs away on Goldberg, but Goldberg comes back with a clothesline. The Rock nails the spinebuster and the People’s Elbow. However, he can only get a 2 count. Goldberg gets back up and spears The Rock. The Rock gets back up and gets speared again. Goldberg then gives The Rock the jackhammer and pins him for the victory.

BL: A rather blah debut for Goldberg. I’m thankful the MA crowd gave him the mixed reaction he deserved. I can’t believe the WWE felt that Goldberg was going to get an overwhelming positive response against the WWE’s own, The Rock. Despite The Rock being a heel, they should have realized that the fans’ loyalty runs deep with homegrown talent. The match was rather lackluster and you have to blame Goldberg for that, as we know The Rock can deliver the goods. They would have been better off having Goldberg’s debut be on the midcard against a mid-to-low card jobber. * ¼

Final Thoughts: I’ll say this…the show has its moments. But in general, this is a subpar effort. Most of the matches have their slow spots, which sucked the energy right out of the show. The worst offense, overall, was putting Goldberg in the main event. Yes, Goldberg vs. The Rock is a “dream match”, but when it isn’t anything more than a glorified squash, the crowd feels cheated. The good moments here weren’t significant, so this suffers a thumbs down from me.

Next time, Mr. America better pull his mask over his eyes because Roddy Piper just took off his shirt.