Zach Gowen notes and more from last night's WWE Smackdown tapings
Submitted by Matthew Tremley on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 at 12:31 PM EST


• Show sent in the following:
  
  In the first match of the night, local Detroit IWR wrestler "Leap of Faith" Truth Martini, who was Zach Gowen's trainer in the Michigan indies, opened the show with a great match against Mortis (Kanyon under his WCW masked gimmick). The crowd was solidly into the match. Mortis wore his old style WCW costume, but the green colors have been changed to purple.
  
  Zach appeared early on "WWE Zachdown" (that's what diehard Z fans and indie Detroit workers call it) to assist Rey Misterio in defeating Matt Hardy. He nailed Hardy w/ a wicked cane shot (Zach's walking stick). For his interference, Mr. McMahon gave Brock Lesnar a 'tune-up' match against Zach Gowen later in the night.
  
  About halfway through the show, Micheal Cole interviewed Zach's mother, Colleen, at ringside. She said that she didn't like to watch him wrestle in person because she didn't like to see her son get hurt.
  
  The irony is that back in Detroit, our home state, and in our local fed the "Independent Wrestling Revolution", Miss Gowen never approved of Zach working IWR shows because of the risk of injury. The WWE played up a real-life fact and actually convinced Colleen to go along with the idea and be involved in the match. Miss Gowen SERIOUSLY dislikes the
  fact that Zach has chosen this career, but fully supports him regardless. The WWE vignettes with her have been 100% complete shoots.
  
  Next up was "Tenacous Z" (Zach's original Detroit gimmick) versus "The Next Big Thing". Brock kept in control of Z most of the match until he leveled Z w/ a chairshot outside the ring. It was directly in front of Zach's mother. After the ref called for the bell and awarded the match to Z via DQ, Brock continued his assult on the bloody Zach Gowen. He gave Z a few F-5's into the ringpost until Zach's mother jumped the rail to prevent further punishment.
  
  WWE medical officials strapped Zach, who wore the crimson mask of blood, to a stretcher and wheeled him up the ramp. As it reached the top, Brock knocked it over.
  
  At about the 3/4 mark of Zachdown, they announced a tag match between the U.S. Title participants. Even though they were heels, Detroit's own Rhino & Eddy Guerrero got one of the loudest pops of the night. In the end, Rhino pinned Benoit to win the match for his team. If this is a
  preview of the Summerslam match, then the Fatal Fourway for the U.S. Title WILL be the match of the night.
  
  The 3rd row tickets on the main floor had a GREAT view, but I don't think that I'll be at another WWE event for a long time. For myself, I enjoy independent wrestling much more. You get more interaction with the wrestlers and they seem to put everything into their matches. As an example, Bradshaw just seemed to be on cruise control for his match,
  just kinda going through the motions. Whether it be IWR tickets for $15 or ROH front row for $30, I feel they give more bang for your buck. There were 2 dark matches, 3 Velocity matches & 6 Smackdown matches. For 3 hours, I expected more matches. I got bored by watching videos or
  backstage segments in between the occassional wrestling.
  
  Details are credited to Zach's local Detroit fed the IWR, found at www.PWRhotline.com.
  

  
  

  
  
  

  *NEW GALLERY* Very HOT Photos of Alicia Webb aka X-Pac's Sexy Girlfriend!

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