WWE Smackdown Report for 4/22/04: Eddie Guerrero vs. D-Von Dudley
Submitted by Matthew Tremley on Thursday, April 22, 2004 at 10:22 PM EST


• WWE Smackdown
  Airdate: April 22nd, 2004
  
  Match 1: Rob Van Dam vs. Booker T
  
  RVD starts the match off quickly by attacking Booker T right off the bat, and getting a two count off a leg lariat. Booker gets sent to the floor via a spinkick by Van Dam, and RVD follows that up with another kick on the outside. Back in the ring, Van Dam gets another two off another leg lariat. Booker starts fighting back, connecting with a back kick of his own and then a clothesline. Booker goes for a cobra clutch, but RVD is able to suplex his way out of it. RVD connects with a springboard kick, then hits a series of legdrops before going for Rolling Thunder. With Booker down, RVD heads up top for the five-star frog splash, but Van Dam gets distracted when the opening pyro to Smackdown suddenly go off. Booker makes use of the distraction by rolling RVD up for the win. This match was semi-decent, but I liked their encounter last week more and I know that these two haven't even scratched the surface of what they can do against each other in the ring. Right now, I'm wishing that RVD & Booker stayed on Raw because at least they had something going for themselves as World Tag Team Champions over there.
  
  Winner: Booker T
  
  Right after the match, Paul Heyman's music hits and the former GM of Smackdown arrives on the stage. Heyman informs everyone that he's there to be "GM for the night", since Angle is off healing up from a fall that should have killed him. Of course, knowing WWE, he'll be back next week without a scratch on him. Heyman starts talking about how he built up not only Smackdown as his grand vision, but ECW as well. Paul accuses Van Dam of disgracing ECW's vision and starts running him down, but just then, the Dudley Boyz appear and head toward the ring. Heyman doesn't back down from them though, getting in their faces and saying that they are just caricatures of who they used to be on ECW and now they are just Vince McMahon's tame creation. The Dudleys respond by kicking the crap out of RVD. Ummm....huh? Bubba & D-Von beat Van Dam down, finally finishing him off when D-Von kicks him in the nuts. Well, I'm just taking a shot in the dark here, but I'm guessing that the Dudleys are now heels once again. Let's see if they actually can recapture the spirit of the ECW Dudleys, or if they'll just behave like they have on every other heel turn they've gone through in the WWE since they debuted back in 1999/2000.
  
  Match 2: World Wrestling Entertainment Tag Team Championship: Rikishi & Scotty 2 Hotty (Champions) vs. Charlie Haas & A Mystery Partner
  
  The mystery partner turns out to be Rico, who heads down to the ring with Miss Jackie. Rico starts the match off with Rikishi, freaking the big man out when he starts waving his ass around at him. Rico continues the gay antics while Rikishi continues to get even more freaked out. Rikishi tags in Scotty, who has no better luck as Rico blocks a hiptoss attempt by dancing with Scotty. Finally, Haas demands to be tagged in and we finally settle down into actual wrestling. Scotty gets a few two counts off of a couple of quick rollups, and then connects with some armdrags. Charlie tries a charge in the corner, but Scotty moves out of the way and crotches Haas into the steel ring post. Scotty fires off a few punches in the corner, but Haas gains control of the match with a hotshot. Scotty quickly comes back with an inside cradle for two, but Charlie goes right back to work by choking Scotty with his foot. Rico makes a blind tag and gets a super gay rollup for two. Haas tags himself back in, and goes back to choking Scotty out, but Scotty manages to break free long enough to tag Rikishi. The big man sends Haas to the match with a few clotheslines, including one in the corner which sends Haas down into position for the Stinkface. However, before Rikishi can do it, Rico pulls Charlie out and takes his place. Ewwwwwww! Rikishi seems fine with it, so what does that say about him? Scotty tags back in and faceplants Haas into position for the W-O-R-M, but never completes it as Rico stops him with a big kiss. Haas takes advantage of Rico's distraction by rolling up Scotty to get the win. We have new WWE Tag Team Champions. Haas celebrates in the ring, but then seems to remember that he's sharing the gold with Rico and that kinda puts a damper on the party. He does get a comfy hug from Miss Jackie though. Well, we went from one comedy team to another. I don't know what's in store for Haas & Rico, but at least they're actually USING Rico instead of having him job on Velocity.
  
  Winners: Charlie Haas & Rico (New WWE Tag Team Champions)
  
  Meanwhile, JBL thanks Heyman for pushing him in the right direction, but they then start talking about a confrontation that Bradshaw had with the Mexican World Champion El Gran Luchadore at the airport. Apparently, they are going to have a match tonight to settle the score. Ummm...yeah, and this is going to supposed to make me interested in Bradshaw why?
  
  Match 3: JBL vs. El Gran Luchadore
  
  El Gran Luchadore is actually Paul London under a hood. I wonder who he ticked off to get this assignment. I also love the fact that the belt he was wearing was just the Women's Championship with Mexican colors on it. This is a basic squash, as El Gran Luchadore only gets a few moves in, including a headscissors, a dropkick, and a moonsault for a two count. After doing the whole "picking the man up before the ref counts to three", Bradshaw finally kills El Gran Luchadore with the Clothesline from Hell for the win. God, I wish someone in the upper management in WWE had the balls to stand up to Vince McMahon and tell him that this whole JBL gimmick and push sucks the big one because not only will Eddie Guerrero be hard pressed to carry Bradshaw's large ass to a watchable match at Judgment Day, but I'm guessing the PPV will get one of the lowest buyrates for any PPV in WWE history. Maybe then Vince will open his eyes and say, "You know what, maybe pushing Bradshaw wasn't the best idea after all"
  
  Winner: JBL
  
  After the break, we get the first installment of Cafe De Rene, complete with a mini Eiffel Tower and an accordion player. Rene sends out some well wishes to Kurt Angle, and then brings out Torrie Wilson. Dupree acts charming at first, but then fires off a few "hard hitting questions" about the whole thing with The Big Show last week. Dupree starts getting upset with Torrie, since it was because of her that Angle was hospitalized. Torrie slaps Dupree, but Rene comes back by throwing a glass of wine into Torrie's face and gets set for a bodyslam. Thankfully, John Cena makes the save and sends Dupree running off.
  
  Match 4: John Cena vs. Chavo Guerrero & Chavo Guerrero Sr.
  
  Chavo starts off the match, getting Cena in a headlock but Cena escapes and gets one of his own. He hiptosses Chavo into slam, and then Chavo heads outside the ring to talk things over with his father. Back in, Chavo tries a charge but Cena moves and Chavo crashes into the turnbuckles. Cena keeps control until he tries to go after Chavo Sr. and Chavo takes advantage by attacking from behind. Chavo & Cena slug it out, with Chavo getting a dropkick for two after Chavo Sr. distracted John again with a cheapshot. Chavo Sr. tags in to get a few kicks in, and then tags Chavo back into the ring. Chavo sends John right into Chavo Sr.'s big boot, and then both Chavo's switch on and off to keep Cena in their corner. John starts to come back by nailing a spinebuster to Chavo, and then prevents a tag by dropping an elbow. Cena connects with a sideslam and the Five-Knuckle Shuffle, but the F-U attempt is broken up by Chavo Sr. John doesn't care which Chavo he gives it to, so Chavo Sr. ends up taking the F-U. Chavo quickly dumps Cena on the outside, and Rene Dupree takes advantage of that moment by sending John back first into the steel ring post. Back in the ring, Chavo finishes Cena off with a brainbuster for the win. Decent match, but I don't know why they are bothering with having Chavo fight Cena for the last two weeks when he should be getting set for his next Cruiserweight Championship match. I mean, isn't Nunzio the #1 contender anyways?
  
  Winners: Chavo Guerrero & Chavo Guerrero Sr.
  
  Meanwhile, Heyman finds Torrie and lets her know that he's booked her in a match next week against Rene Dupree. Well, I guess Heyman wanted to fuck with everyone now while he has the power, since he said he's only "GM for the night".
  
  Booker T heads back to the ring and gives us another speech about how Smackdown is the minor leagues. He finally stops when the Undertaker's music hits, and takes off before anything can happen. Man, is getting squashed by Taker at the next PPV really going to help Booker's new heel career?
  
  Match 5: Non-Title Match: "Latino Heat" Eddie Guerrero vs. D-Von Dudley (with Bubba Ray Dudley)
  
  D-Von attacks Eddie to start, pounding away and choking him out. D-Von connects with a backdrop, and then sends Eddie to the floor so Bubba can do some damage. Back in, D-Von gets two off of a clothesline that Bubba hit Eddie with on the outside, and then gets another nearfall off a delayed suplex. Eddie tries to fire back with a few elbows, but D-Von hits a clothesline for two. The two brawl on the outside, with Eddie sending D-Von crashing into the steel ring steps. D-Von fires back by sending Eddie into the ring post. While this is going on, the referee makes it to ten and calls for the bell. However, Heyman comes out and restarts the match. After the break, D-Von has regained control with a sleeper on Eddie. Guerrero suplexes out of it, and then hits a top rope rana for two. Eddie fires away in the corner, but D-Von takes Guerrero down with a neckbreaker. He hits another neckbreaker for two, and then goes back to the sleeper. Eddie escapes once again, but D-Von must really like that sleeper hold cause he goes right back to it. Maybe it's an EXTREME sleeper hold? Eddie fights out again, but runs into a big boot. D-Von heads to the top, but misses with an elbow. Eddie goes up, but gets crotched by D-Von, who follows that up by hitting a big superplex for two. D-Von goes up top for his flying headbutt, but misses when Eddie rolls out of the way. Guerrero finally starts making his comeback, as he nails D-Von with a back elbow and then connects with his rolling vertical suplexes. At this point, Bubba gets involved in the match and the distraction is enough to allow D-Von to get a rollup for the win (with Bubba helping by holding Eddie's feet down). After the match, JBL comes out to join in on the "Kick Eddie's Ass" fun as the show ends. Man, Eddie must really be depressed when he sees Benoit fighting guys like HHH and Shawn Michaels and the best the WWE can do on his end is Bradshaw. Decent match here, but there was just wayyy to many sleeper holds and the Dudleys didn't look any more EXTREME than the last time we saw them as heels.
  
  Winner: D-Von Dudley
  
  Match of the Show: D-Von vs. Eddie Guerrero
  
  Overall: Despite the fact that Paul Heyman returned to SD and did great as the GM for the night, the show once again had it's share of boring or slow spots. A heel turn for the Dudleys is fine and all, but for god sakes, let them do something different! If you're going to bring up ECW, let them be the ECW version of the Dudleys when Bubba used to be able to insight riots with one of his promos. The whole Eddie/JBL disaster in the making continues, but I'm just waiting until Judgment Day so we can finally get this over with and move Eddie onto a feud with someone who is actually talented in the ring. Cena/Dupree has heated back up, but why are they throwing Torrie Wilson into the mix? It was working fine without her, and she hasn't exactly helped many storylines over the years with that award-winning acting of hers. I'm also upset to see Chavo working against Cena, when he should be busy setting up his next defense of the Cruiserweight Championship at the PPV. RVD/Booker never really got off the ground this week, and now Booker is set to get squashed by the Undertaker in the upcoming weeks. Man, I'm hoping that the WWE leaves Heyman as GM, but even if they do, it's going to take quite a while for him to clean up the mess that SD has fallen into since Wrestlemania 20.
  
  Matthew Tremley
  E-Mail: tremley@wrestlingheadlines.com
  

  
  

  
  
  

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