The Wrath of Tito - WWE Backlash Review and more
Submitted by Mr. Tito on Monday, April 19, 2004 at 12:23 AM EST
Welcome to the BACKLASH edition of the Wrath of Tito. I'm coming to you with TWO columns this week, one right now and the other sometime on Tuesday, if not early Wednesday (which is my 24th Birthday, actually). Today, I'll discuss the WWE Backlash show, and also an independent show I attended earlier on Sunday...
In my career as a wrestling fan, I've probably attended around 10-15 independent shows. On Sunday, before I watched Backlash, I attended the Black Diamond Wrestling independent wrestling show in Moundsville, WV. From all of the independent shows that I've witnessed, this one was the ABSOLUTE BEST one that I've ever seen! Top to bottom, the show was well booked and the action was very, very impressive. This show had guys whipping out moves I've never seen before, and the heels acted like heels and the faces acted like faces (meaning they all played the crowd so well).
Hell, I'll quickly run through the matches, maybe you've heard of some of these guys? My thoughts are in parentheses.
-Mike Quackenbush, Gran Akuma, and Shane Storm defeated Hallowicked and the Wild Cards (Great opening six man match, featuring some fantastic spots including a DDT that 5 guys took! You'd have to see it to believe it!)
-Glenn Spectre defeated Jason Gory (Good match as well, and Glenn Spectre certainly had no respect for the fans, including that he hated "smart marks")
-Lance Dayton defeated Carlton Kaz (Another solid match, with Kaz playing a great heel. I believe Mr. Dayton broke his arm in this match, or at least hurt it? Best wishes to him)
-Kid Cupid defeated Justin Sane (Kid Cupid had one of the most interesting gimmicks or looks that I've ever seen!)
-The Tri Chi Fraternity defeated Shawn Blanchard and Anthony Alexander (Good tag match, with great heat given to the heels in the match, especially the manager)
-Jabari defeated Tony Galloway (Holy cow to this match! Before the bout, Jabari came out and we called him "Oprah" because he looked like... you get the picture. But man, can he work a match! Jabari destroyed Galloway, who also looked himself, with some nasty power moves. Jabari had tons of charisma, too. I didn't expect this match to be this big at first sight of "Oprah")
-Unknown and Virus defeated Justin Idol and Devin Devine (I'm a big fan of Unknown and Virus, as both are very talented Cruiserweight wrestlers. Very good tag bout)
BDW Heavyweight Champion Daron Smythe wrestled Dash Bennett to a draw when the referee counted both men's shoulders to the mat (This was supposed to be BDW champion Daron Smythe vs. Ricky Morton, formerly of the Rock N Roll Express. However, Morton was unable to make it for disclosed reasons, and Daron and Dash put together a solid main event to end the show on short notice.)
My sincere congrats go out to the BDW promoter, the booker, and all of the talent on hand at this event. What a show... Black Diamond Wrestling seriously impressed me and it gave me a sense of what wrestling should be, instead of what the WWE gives us now. I was actually partially bored with WWE Backlash last night after watching the indy show. I just didn't see the fire in the wrestlers or anything interesting, aside from a few things which I'll mention below.
But anyway, check out Black Diamond Wrestling at their webpage, http://www.bdw.vze.com/. I'm still in awe from what a great show that was!
On to Backlash!
BACKLASH is TITO
Good choice of openers with Ric Flair vs. Shelton Benjamin. I'm disappointed that the WWE dropped Benjamin's amateur wrestling tights and opted for the spandex shorts instead. The amateur tights gave Benjamin credibility as a wrestler, so to take it away from him is one step closer to depushing him completely. You watch! The opener was OK. As much as I like and respect Flair, he's getting too old to be responsible for putting over new talent. He just bumps the same way in every match now, and Benjamin's win won't help foward his singles push. So what if you beat an old guy way past his prime?
Next match was Johnathan Coachman vs. Tajiri. This match was pitiful, with Coach actually getting in offense. Since when did he have any wrestling training? Coach looked like he was training with Shane McMahon to wrestle, and that means looking amateur while Tajiri sells your weak moves like death (Kane would sell Shane's weak moves like they actually would hurt him). Tajiri actually lost this bad match, too, as Mr. Garrison Cade ran down to help out the Coach. Jindrak with Teddy Long? Cade with Johnathan Coachman? Talk about winning combinations. :rollseyes:
Christian/Trish Stratus vs. Chris Jericho was up next. The match was OK, but nothing that Jericho and Christian haven't done against each other already. Somewhat of a replica of Jericho vs. Christian, only with Trish added into the match. Chris Jericho would with the match with a roll up. Jericho's not motivated right now, thanks to bad WWE storylines and mishandling his unified championships in early 2002, and Christian just isn't impressive in the ring right now (in my opinion). End this storyline, NOW!
Next, it was Lita vs. Victoria. Is it just me, or has Lita given up on training lately? I don't want to knock her for anything that way, but she looked out of shape tonight and very slow in the ring. BAD women's match, as predicted, with Victoria trying to do her best. Good ol' Lita didn't roll out in time for the "missed" moonsault, thus blowing the spot and she ended up looking bad because Lita mounted offense immediately after that (despite getting hit partially with a moonsault). Victoria won the match, and afterward, Molly and the enhanced Gail Kim ran down for the attack. Dead crowd throughout the match.
Randy Orton vs. Mick Foley was up next. The WWE is hoping that this match will be good for Randy Orton, just as wrestling Foley at Royal Rumble 2000 was great for Triple H. Just remember that Randy Orton IS Triple H's understudy. This match was a total carry job by Mick Foley, with the exception of two bumps. I give all the credit in the world for his two bumps. One was his bare back on thumbtacks, the other was getting thrown off the side of the entranceway. Both HAD to have hurt. But other than that, Orton looked weak. Difference between Orton now and Triple H of 2000 is that HHH fought with more aggression and hatred towards his opponent, in addition to better brawling skills.
Pretty tacky of the WWE to advertise Stone Cold on the Fanatic series. Then again, maybe they had no choice? Then again, maybe they're just getting rid of Austin stuff as clearance and this is an example.
Next match was Edge vs. Kane, in what seemed to be a throwaway match. The match was somewhat short and nothing really special. Edge won the match after hitting Kane with the cast and then hitting the spear.
The main event was a Wrestlemania 20 rematch between Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H. SAME THING happened at Wrestlemania 20 as it did here in Edmonton. HBK and Benoit were having a great match together, and then Triple H would run in to drag things down. HBK is older and has had worse injuries than HHH (aside from blown quad muscle), but yet he's twice as fast with Benoit than Triple H is. Triple H should have never been brought into this match, for Shawn Michaels was so hated by the Edmonton fans... HBK vs. Benoit in front of this crowd would have been a HUGE 5-star match, no doubt. Instead, HHH drags the flow of the match down a tad bit. The WWE played up the Survivor Series 1997 stuff with Earl Hebner getting into exact position with HBK holding the Sharpshooter on Benoit. That was dirty. Later, HBK would tap out to Benoit's version of the Sharpshooter, and Benoit has been put over again. Awesome. I'm very happy that Benoit got to retain his title, namely in his hometown. Now, give us HBK vs. Benoit!!!!!!!!
LAST WORD: My opinion of this show may be biased due to the nature of watching a great independent show before watching this show on television. But other than the main event, this show sort of dragged. The Edmonton crowd seemed to notice that, too, as they were pretty quiet during a lot of stuff. Overall, I give this show a [ C ]. Give me HBK vs. Benoit only, or give me death!
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@That's all for today. Thanks a million for reading.
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