Emanating from the Pepsi Center in Denver, CO

Your commentators are Michael Cole and Taz

him wait. Benoit finally knocks Eddie down, so he bails to the outside. After a bit of mat wrestling, Eddie knocks Benoit down with a shoulderblock. The two engage in a test of strength which Benoit wins. The two go through a sweet sequence where they exchange nearfalls. Eddie slows things down with a headlock. Eddie picks up Benoit and attempts a Tombstone, but Benoit reverses it and hits him with a shoulderbreaker. Benoit then immediately goes for the Crossface. Just as Benoit gets it on, Eddie puts his foot on the rope. Eddie heads outside, but Benoit dives through the ropes and tackles him. Awesome! Back inside, Benoit works over Eddie’s shoulder. Eddie elbows a charging Benoit and then gives him a top rope ‘rana. That gets 2. A back suplex by Eddie gets another nearfall. Now the two exchange some chops. Benoit starts to come back and hits Eddie with a top rope back suplex. Benoit gets 2/3rds of the Hat Trick, but when Eddie blocks the third one, Benoit changes course and puts him in the Crossface. Somehow, Eddie gets his foot on the ropes again. A backbreaker by Benoit gets 2. Eddie knees Benoit and then delivers the Three Amigos with the third one being a superplex. Eddie climbs up and goes for the frog splash, but Benoit avoids it. Benoit powerbombs Eddie and gets a nearfall. Again, Benoit gets the Crossface on and again Eddie grabs the rope. The referee pulls Benoit off Eddie, so Benoit argues with him. That allows Eddie to knock over Benoit, who collides into the referee. Eddie grabs the U.S. title and nails Benoit with it. Eddie then hits Benoit with the frog splash and covers. That gets 2 ¾. Eddie grabs the title again and hits the referee from behind. He then places the belt on Benoit and pretends to be knocked out. When the referee won’t get up, Eddie tries waking him to no avail. Meanwhile, Benoit is back up and puts him back in the Crossface. Eddie taps, but there’s no referee. Benoit hits Eddie with another German suplex and then goes up top. As Benoit comes down with the headbutt, Eddie pulls the referee into harm’s way. Suddenly, Benoit’s friend, Rhyno, runs out. He sets up to GORE Eddie, but hits Benoit instead. He leaves, so Eddie climbs up and gives him the frog splash. That combo is enough to keep Benoit down long enough for the referee to get up and make the three count. New champion!

Bottom Line: These two produced some solid work, but it was far from their best effort. The score gets weighed down a lot by the overbooked nature of the closing minutes. Leave that stuff for later down the line. Although, the Rhyno heel turn nicely provides a new player into the title mix. Ultimately though, this should have just been a display of athleticism between two guys who have a desire to be champion. Despite its problems, a bad Benoit match is still way better than a good Billy Gunn match any day of the week. *** ¼

- Backstage, Vince McMahon and Stephanie have a tense conversation that goes over all of the problems the McMahons have faced lately. Vince tries to extend an olive branch by giving her some flowers. Stephanie looks at the vase of roses and says they’re nice. Vince then says those are for Sable and then hands her a puny, dry collection of flowers. Somehow, I don’t think Steph will buy the line that “it’s the thought that counts”.

Indecent Proposal Match: Billy Gunn vs. Jamie Noble

Recently, Noble inherited some money and offered Torrie Wilson some of it to sleep with him. Torrie naturally turned him down. For some confounding reason, Torrie had been hanging out with Billy Gunn lately as well (See seems a little too femme for Billy’s type). When Noble wouldn’t stop harassing her about sleeping with him, she finally gave in and said she would if he could beat Gunn, which brings us to this match. Noble comes out with a briefcase full of sex toys. He tries to use it as a weapon, but Gunn boots it back in his face. Gunn hammers away on Noble, but when he goes for a corner splash, Noble moves out of the way. Noble then hits him with a weak dropkick that sends him to the floor. Noble launches himself over the top rope, but Gunn catches him. Then suddenly they both drop and it appears Gunn has hurt his knee. I’m not surprised. As Noble dropkicks Gunn into the steps, Nidia starts walking down to the ring. Inside, Noble works on Gunn’s knee. I guess it wasn’t a legit injury and just another blown spot by Gunn. Gunn starts his comeback and the crowd is silent, even with Torrie egging them on. Noble avoids a Fameasser attempt, but then Gunn hits him with a version of the Diamond Cutter. That gets 2. Gunn goes up top (idiot) and Noble crotches him. Noble then hits him with a top rope DDT. Noble covers, but Nidia puts Gunn’s foot on the rope. Noble confronts Nidia, but then Torrie comes over and tries to attack him. He blocks it and kisses her. That results in him getting slapped by Torrie and Nidia. Gunn brings Noble back in, but Noble dropkicks him in the knee. As Noble runs to the ropes, Torrie grabs his leg. Gunn grabs him and goes for a move, but Noble escapes and rams him into Torrie. Noble then rolls him up, grabs the tights and keeps him down for three.

BL: This match perfectly depicts everything that is wrong with Billy Gunn: blown spots, poorly executed sequences, lack of psychology, and a failure to connect with the audience. I’m no fan of Noble, but he certainly deserves better than this. You mean to tell me that there are no cruiserweights who could have played the role of Torrie’s defender? This match was just plain rotten. At least we didn’t have to endure watching Noble “sleep” with Torrie on this show. They saved that treat for the network TV audience. ½ *

- Funaki interviews the APA about their invitational match. The APA says everyone’s in for a hell of a fight and then invites Funaki to join the match. As Bradshaw is talking, he spots the Easter Bunny hopping past him. I’d chalk it up to a drunken stupor, but I saw it too and I’m sadly sober.

APA Invitational Match

There is a mock bar set up near the entrance of the arena with all of the low/midcard Smackdown wrestlers and some other “surprises”. Some of the notables include the Easter Bunny, Brother Love, Doink the Clown (played by former WWE star, Eugene), John Hennigan (better known today as John Morrison), and the Brooklyn Brawler. Bradshaw announces that the only rule is that the last one drinking is the winner. After Brother Love gives us a little prayer, the fighting commences. Everyone beats up each other and destroys the set in the process. After a few minutes of brawling and breaking stuff, it comes as no surprise that Bradshaw is the winner. There was no advancement of storylines and wasted a lot of decent talent. But there are certainly a lot less entertaining things they could have put here instead, I suppose.

- Jamie Noble is ogling a copy of Torrie’s Playboy backstage and then tells a tech worker that he can’t wait to sleep with her. When the worker asks Noble about Nidia, Noble says that she’ll get over it. Sadly, “getting over it” involved having her and Billy Gunn join their little sexcapade.

WWE Tag Team Championship Match: The World’s Greatest Tag Team (champs) vs. Rey Mysterio and Billy Kidman

When Kurt Angle returned as a face, Team Angle lost their name and got a new moniker. I’m not sure how Rey and Kidman became the #1 contenders, but I’m sure it involved winning some nominal match a few weeks ago on Smackdown. Rey and Benjamin start off and it’s Rey who gets an early advantage with his speed. Kidman comes in and also uses his quickness to work over Benjamin. Benjamin knees Kidman and tags Haas. Haas places Kidman against the ropes and tries to hop on him, but nobody was home. Kidman holds Haas so Rey can hit him with a top rope legdrop. Haas comes back with a full nelson slam and gets 2. Now Haas whips Rey HARD into the turnbuckle. Rey attempts a headscissors, but Haas blocks it and slams him to the mat. That gets a nearfall. A nice sequence between Rey and Benjamin ends with Rey escaping a roll up and then dropkicking him. Both men tag out and Kidman takes it to Haas. A BK Bomb by Kidman gets 2. The champs go for their alley-oop splash, but Rey trips Benjamin from the outside. Now Rey tries for the 619, but Benjamin trips him. Rey hits Benjamin with a senton splash on the floor and then Kidman backdrops Haas out there with them. Now Kidman hits a Shooting Star Press onto the champs outside. Nice. As Haas and Kidman battle on the apron, Benjamin comes over and throws Kidman into the post. The champs have now cut the ring in half as they work on Kidman’s back. Kidman manages to fight off Haas and throw him to the floor. Kidman crawls over and tags Rey, but the referee never saw it because he was tied up with Benjamin. The champs continue to beatdown Kidman, including giving him a powerbomb (which you don’t see too often). Benjamin goes for another powerbomb, but Kidman reverses it. He clearly got greedy there. Rey gets the hot tag and launches himself onto Benjamin. Rey hits Benjamin with a sweet standing enziguri and then dumps Haas to the floor. A DDT by Rey gets 2 on Benjamin. Kidman knees Haas from the apron and then Rey dropkicks him to set him up for the 619. Rey launches himself onto Haas and covers, but the referee is tied up with Kidman, which allows Benjamin to boot Rey. Haas covers Rey and gets a long 2 count. Everybody’s in now. Kidman sets Haas on the top rope and then launches Rey onto him, so he can do a top rope ‘rana. That gets 2 ¾. I thought that would be it. That generates a “bullshit” chant. As Rey goes for a victory roll on Haas, Benjamin makes a blind tag. Benjamin then comes off the top rope with a bulldog on Rey while he’s still on Haas’ shoulders. Benjamin then covers Rey and scores the 1-2-3.

BL: Just an absolute awesome match here. Anytime you get both faces doing a Ricky Morton sequence in a match, you’re usually doing something right. And for the crowd to do a “bullshit” chant on a nearfall…you know they’re into it. So, of course, this leads to nothing as Rey and Kidman would barely team up after this. An opportunity to rejuvenate the tag division gets squandered. But why dwell on the negative. The important thing here is that we got on hell of a match. **** ¼

Stephanie McMahon vs. Sable

Vince has been “hanging out” with Sable lately and then made her Stephanie’s assistant. Steph didn’t like any of this, so Vince made a match between the two of them. Somehow, I don’t think we’ll get the same result here as when they did this same storyline between Steph and Trish Stratus a few years ago. Steph meets Sable in the aisle and takes her down on the ramp. Steph wants to attack some more and Sable is trying to run away. Steph tosses Sable in the ring, but when Steph comes in, Sable dropkicks her. Sable works over Steph in the corner and then gets a nearfall on her. Sable kicks Steph down and then starts to flirt with the referee, which allows Steph to roll her up for 2. Sable whips Steph to the corner, but when she charges in, Steph elbows her. Steph takes Sable down and beats on her. Steph whips her by the hair and gets a nearfall. The fight heads outside where Steph grabs a chair. The referee takes it away from her before she can use it though. Back inside, Steph continues to abuse Sable and even does a Perfect neckbreaker. Wow! As they fight in the corner, Steph begins to rip Sable’s top. Steph wants to attack Sable some more, but the referee is trying to separate the two. The referee finally gets Steph to stop and then gives Sable his shirt so she can cover up. As he does that, A-Train runs out and levels Stephanie. The referee and Sable turn around and see Steph down. Sable covers and just like that gets the victory.

BL: As predicted, this was a far cry from Stephanie’s match with Trish from a couple of years ago. But I’m happy to report that this was better than anticipated. While no mat classic, they kept the action consistent throughout. Perhaps the most disturbing part of the match is that A-Train is now part of the McMahon storyline, which means a prominent role in the upcoming weeks instead of disappearing like we all had hoped. It’s pretty sad when Billy Gunn can’t have a better match than two female non-wrestlers. * ½

The Undertaker vs. John Cena

After accumulating a few wins, Cena started boasting that he was the most respected superstar in the WWE. Taker took offense to that and thus the feud was born. Taker backs Cena in the corner and Cena goes off and slaps him. Taker throws him back in the corner and works him over. Taker knocks Cena outside and then follows him out there. The two brawl, but then Cena gets a drink of water and spits it in Taker’s face. Taker quickly recovers and continues to attack Cena on the floor. This culminates Taker legdropping Cena in the apron. Taker attacks Cena some more and then tosses him to the floor. Taker brings him back in and delivers Old School. Taker chokeslams Cena and covers, but picks him up at 2. Uh oh. Taker attempts the Last Ride, but Cena escapes and hits Taker with a DDT. Instead of following up, Cena decides to remove a turnbuckle pad. That delay allows Taker to comeback. However, when Taker charges at Cena, he misses and runs into the exposed corner. The fight heads back outside where Cena goes on the attack. Taker appears to be bleeding from the mouth. Inside, Cena attempts to work over Taker’s midsection. Taker starts to comeback and clotheslines Cena for 2. Taker escapes a slam attempt and puts Cena in a dragon sleeper, but Cena grabs the rope. A spinebuster by Cena gets 2. The two engage in a slugfest, which is won by Taker. A big clothesline by Taker gets another nearfall. Both men escape the other’s finisher, but then Taker hits Cena with a big boot and legdrop. That gets 2. Taker chokes Cena in the corner, so the ref pulls him off. That distraction allows Cena to hit Taker with his steel chain in the midsection. Cena hits Taker with the FU and covers, but can only get 2. Cena starts a 10-punch count in the corner, but Taker grabs him and delivers the Last Ride. Taker covers and keeps him down for the win.

BL: Time has altered my opinions on this match. At the time, this felt like another example of Taker refusing to put another young talent over. However, as my dislike for Cena has grown, my feelings on this match have softened. Should Taker have given Cena more here? Probably. Does it bother me now? Not really. This is entertaining enough, but having it be a little more even-sided would have been preferable. ** ¾

Zach Gowen vs. Vince McMahon

With Hulk Hogan gone, Vince needed to take his aggression out on someone else. The decision was pretty easy, as he chose Hogan’s buddy, Zach Gowen. And it was an easy target as well, considering he’s missing one leg. Gowen managed to get a WWE by defeating the Big Show and is now out to prove he’s the real deal by beating the boss. We begin with a couple of lockups, which Vince wins. Now Vince begins to throw Gowen around the ring. Vince beats down Gown in the corner. Gowen manages to dump Vince to the floor. He then hits him with an Asai moonsault on the outside. As Vince comes back into the ring, Gowen hits him with a legdrop from the second rope. Vince recovers, however, and works over Gowen’s long leg. Mean? Maybe. Effective? Absolutely. Now Vince rams Gowen’s leg into the post. Vince puts Gowen in a half crab, but Gowen manages to grab the rope. Gowen starts kicking Vince in the leg to start his comeback. Now Gowen hits Vince with a pair of dropkicks. Gowen grabs Vince by the legs and crotches him on the post. He follows that up by ramming Vince’s leg into the post. Then Gowen comes off the top rope and bulldogs Vince. The combo of a missile dropkick and a moonsault by Gowen gets a 2 count. Vince rolls outside and grabs a chair (like father, like daughter). As he tries to use it, the referee stops him. Vince shoves the ref down, but then Gowen dropkicks the chair in Vince’s face. The chair was facing the wrong way and the seat smacks Vince in the head, causing him to burst a gusher. Gowen gives Vince another chairshot and Vince is busted open badly. Gowen goes for a moonsault, but misses. Vince rolls over, covers him and manages to score the 3 count.

BL: I’m not sure if I get the finish. I don’t necessarily have a problem with Vince winning, but I’m always a believer that you should win a match on your own move and not a miss by your opponent. Then again, maybe Vince’s head injury caused him to cut the match short. Before the flat finish, you had a pretty well worked match. As crude as it may be, Vince should be attacking Gowen’s one leg. While the effort was solid here, the match clearly indicated that Gowen would not have a long WWE career. When a 60+ year old man can easily hang with you, how do you expect to appear credible against legitimate superstars. The pairing worked here for an effective match, but it’s clear that this feud has no long term prospects. ***

- Josh Matthews asks Eddie Guerrero if his victory is tainted because of Rhyno’s involvement. Eddie says Benoit is a lousy friend and that’s why Rhyno did what he did. Eddie’s only friend is what is around his shoulder. That’s a noble gesture, Eddie, but can a championship belt pick you up from the airport or help you move? I didn’t think so.

Triple Threat Match for the WWE Championship: Brock Lesnar (champ) vs. Kurt Angle vs. The Big Show

Angle’s back from neck surgery and obviously wants a rematch for the belt, but Show’s not down with Brock, hence the triple threat match. Brock and Angle decide to go after Show to begin the match. Show recovers and knocks Angle out of the ring. Show then clotheslines Brock and covers, but Angle breaks it up. Angle goes for a German suplex on Show, bu