The Smackdown! Report (7/29/04): New GM, Three Championship matches
Submitted by Chad Matthews on Thursday, July 29, 2004 at 10:33 PM EST





The Smackdown Report (7/29/04)

A video recap aired of last week’s events involving Kurt Angle’s power trip and subsequent firing at the hands of Mr. McMahon, as well as the show closing shots of Eddie Guerrero and Vince McMahon driving away in the low rider while Angle looked on in disbelief over being fired and booked in a match at Summerslam against Guerrero.

The show opened with Booker T making his way to ring to discuss the promise that Angle had made to him last week, in which Kurt said he would crown Booker the new United States Champion. Booker demanded that the new General Manager come out and officially name him the new champion. Just then, Kenzo “I have no talent and should go back to Japan” Suzuki came out with his wife/translator. Booker said that he had asked for the new General Manager, not some owner of a sushi bar. Kenzo mumbled some words in Japanese and Hiroko translated them as something along the lines of Kenzo deserving to be the new US champ more than the Bookerman. Before Booker could come up with a comeback, though, Rob Van Dam, Luther Reigns, Charlie Haas, Billy Gunn, and John Cena came out to announce that they all deserved to be the new champion too. Gunn and Haas were, by the way, the only ones to not come out to their own ring music, as they simply just followed behind Rene Dupree. Cena made the point that the fans knew whom the real champ was and still is: the Doctor of Thuganomics. From there, all eight men started a huge brawl that was eventually interrupted by Vincent Kennedy McMahon. McMahon said that there was only one man who could determine the new United States Champion and that man was the new GM of Smackdown, Theodore R. Long. Long then came walking out and said that there was only one man who deserved to be the new champ. Booker T interrupted and tried to thank TRL for his generosity, but Teddy said that he wasn’t finished. In fact, TRL said he didn’t think Book deserved a thing since he had been hatin’ on Smackdown so much. With that, he announced there would be a new champion crowned tonight, but that no one would simply be named the champion (CMV1 note- you hearing this Triple H from 2002?). Rather, there will be an 8-man elimination style match (for the first time) and the winner will be the new champion. Believe that! (CMV1 note- Long is an interesting choice for the GM spot and I see no problem with it. He has obviously established that he will not be playing the extremely played out heel boss role, so that’s definitely a plus. I was actually surprised that he didn’t give the title to Booker due to all of Teddy’s racial issues in the past…good opening segment that continued to place importance on the US title as its being made out to be something that many superstars are striving for).

Michael Cole and Tazz hyped the three title matches for tonight, also including Kidman and London vs. the Dudleys for the tag titles, and up next, Rey vs. Spike for the cruiserweight title.

Clips were shown of Spike winning the triple threat match last week to become the cruiserweight championship’s number one contender.

Match 1: WWE Cruiserweight Champion Rey Mysterio vs. Spike Dudley
-This match had been built up as a title match between two very good friends that the Dudley Boyz had promised to not interfere in, virtually guaranteeing the eventual Bubba and D’von run-in. They started things out with some even, back and forth action and eventually started showing tension toward one another. The pacing of the match early on made it seem like it was going to last for a while. However, when Mysterio got Spike in position for the 619, D’von Dudley managed to distract the ref while Bubba ran in and tripped Rey. With that, Spike was able to recover and defeat Rey Mysterio following the Dudley Dog at 6:25 to win the Cruiserweight Championship. After the match when Spike learned that his brothers had interfered, he looked very upset and tried to apologize to Mysterio. (CMV1 note- right under my nose these four men, along with London and Kidman, have actually been having an entertaining feud that has finally put at least some meaning back into the tag titles and cruiserweight title. Now, I disagree with once again having the CW title change hands on Smackdown, but at least there was some hype behind it and a storyline was advanced in the process).

The RAW Rebound aired.

Cole and Tazz briefly discussed the match between JBL and Undertaker for the WWE Championship at Summerslam. They then showed a recap of the John Bradshaw Layfield and Undertaker confrontation from last week.

Backstage, General Manager TRL told Miss Jackie, Torrie Wilson, Dawn Marie, and Sable that they would no longer be underutilized (CMV1 note- dammit). He then made his way to his office, where Kurt Angle was sitting in the dark. He said he was in there to clean out the rest of his stuff, but he just assumed that Luther had already done it because it was all gone. Angle made a comment about Teddy being the first black General Manager, but Long said that kind of talk belonged back in 1985. You see, Mr. McMahon didn’t hire him because he was black, but because he was the best man for the job and a person who would make the right decisions so that SD would be better than it had ever been. He then tried to put Angle in a match tonight, but Kurt used every excuse under the sun to get out of it before finally getting by with “not having his wrestling gear.” TRL was not happy, but simply fined him $1000 for not being prepared for work and booked him in a match for next week. “Now get to stepping.” (CMV1 note- Angle acted more like dorky heel Kurt of the past then he had in many months).

Cole and Tazz quickly hyped the tag title match, which was coming up next.

Match 2: WWE Tag Team Champions Paul London and Billy Kidman vs. The Dudley Boyz
-(Before the match, a backstage segment aired from earlier where Kidman and London talked about continuing to prove the naysayer wrong by defending the titles successfully each and every night). Early in the match, a “We want tables” chant broke out, but Bubba quieted the crowd. Kidman and London did a nice double team maneuver soon after that was reminiscent of the Hardy Boyz. London ducked down on all fours while Bubba was in the corner, and Kidman came flying up and over London with a Stinger Splash. We did get a dreaded commercial break during this one, but that is to be expected. Back from the break, Kidman made a hot tag to London, and Paul proceeded to run wild on the Dudleys with his impressive dropsaults and a running enziguiri. Soon after, the champions executed a nice looking double-superplex off the middle rope to D’von. Billy then tried to do a springboard cross body on the outside to Bubba Ray, but he moved out of the way. Bubba Ray then attempted to smash Kidman with a steel chair, but Rey Mysterio came down through the crowd and drop kicked it into Bubba’s face (obviously for retribution for Bubba costing him the CW title earlier). The finish came soon after when D’von got distracted, allowing London to roll-up D’von for the win at 11:38. This was a good match with the right result that will hopefully allow the feud with these four to continue, while also fueling fire to the Spike-Rey-Dudley Boyz angle.

Footage from the Democratic National Convention was aired, particularly an interview with Mick Foley.

Eddie Guerrero then made his way to the ring in his low rider. He had something covered up in the seats of the car, but he left whatever it was and got into the ring. He then called out Kurt Angle and demanded a face-to-face confrontation between the two of them. Unfortunately, Angle did not come out, so Eddie told some of the SD crew to unveil what was in his low rider. True to his lie, cheat, and steal gimmick, he had apparently taken several items from Angle’s old GM office. Guerrero decided that he was going to auction off all these items on wwe.com to get Kurt’s attention. Angle still didn’t come out, but that didn’t stop Eddie from putting Angle’s stuff on display. Guerrero said that for those interested in the cast that Kurt wore during his “injury,” they might want to buy a can of Lysol to go with it. He then cracked a joke about the picture of Heyman and Angle with the WWE title (from 2002/2003), mentioning that someone should buy it and use it in their bathroom since it quite frankly makes him need to use one. He then turned his attention toward Angle’s wheelchair, took a seat in it, and put it up for auction, mentioning that if the buyer wanted, he’d call his cousin Chewie and they could put hydraulics on it. Eddie proceeded to draw a big mustache and the words “I suck” on a picture of Angle with his gold medals (shades of the 2003 Team Angle-Los Guerreros feud). Since Angle still would not come out to the ring, Eddie reached for Kurt’s gold medals and tried to sell them for a mere one dollar, prompting the former Olympic Gold Medalist to finally come out and join his Summerslam opponent. Kurt threatened Eddie by saying that if he did not give him his gold medals, then he was going to steal his car. Eddie laughed that off, making reference to the fact that his low rider had an anti-theft device. However, Angle blew off Guerrero’s advice and tried to steal it anyway, only to get a bunch of white powder in the face for his trouble. Latino Heat then said that the only thing that could make this night better was to steal the Olympic Hero’s music. Eddie then led the crowd in “You Suck” chants as Angle scampered back to the locker room. (CMV1 note- a fun segment).

Cole and Tazz announced that next week, Rey Mysterio and Spike Dudley would team up to face Bubba and D’von (which should be interesting) and also reminded us that Kurt Angle would be in action.

A promo video for JBL aired that was very reminiscent of a political television ad. It started out with a history of Bradshaw growing up a smart, athletic young man who worked two jobs to support his struggling family. It recalled his football career from being a high school All-American to a college standout to a member of the pro-ranks, before finding his calling with professional wrestling. Over the years, he became a self-made millionaire, as well as a wrestling champion of Europe, Mexico, Korea, and now the WWE. As WWE Champion, he has gone out of his way to meet the fans, go behind enemy lines to entertain our US Armed Forces, and be a courageous champion that we can be proud of.

Match 3: John Cena, Booker T, RVD, Charlie Haas, Kenzo Suzuki, Rene Dupree, Billy Gunn, and Luther Reigns in an 8-man elimination match for the US title
-(CMV1 note- in this match, two men were in the ring at a time while the rest were on the apron. It was much like the Fatal-4-way Intercontinental title match at Wrestlemania 15 was done, if you can remember back that far). This was a highly entertaining bout whenever Luther was not in the ring, as the rest played their parts well. Charlie Haas and RVD started out in the ring, but Dupree tagged himself in via slapping Van Dam’s shoulder. However, RVD and Haas used the top rope to sling shot the French Phenom, who was still on the apron, into the ring. Haas was very impressive in his short stint in this match, as he showed in flashes how impressive a wrestler he can be. He was also the first to go, as just before Haas hit the vertical exploder suplex on Dupree, Billy Gunn tagged himself in and delivered the Fame-ass-er for the initial fall. We then got a dreaded commercial break, but that was to be expected. Back from the break, Dupree hit a beautiful flapjack on Gunn. Yes, we then got to see the French Tickler. However, Dupree didn’t really have much reason to celebrate, as Luther Reigns tagged in and eliminated Rene Dupree via the Roll-of-the-Dice. Reigns then called out Cena and the only man in this match to hold the new version of the US title came and slugged it out with Angle’s former assistant. Luther hit a nice double-arm under hook suplex on the Doctor of Thuganomics, but Cena would quickly regain control and knock Luther to the outside. Cena gave chase, but ended up getting jumped by Kenzo Suzuki. Cena then decked Suzuki with a right hand and proceeded to lay a nice big kiss on Hiroko. An irate Suzuki then drilled Cena in the back with US title belt and got disqualified. We then got another commercial break and this time it was very long and upsetting. Back from the second break, Booker T was going to work on Cena, but when Cena tried to make a comeback, Booker scrambled over and tagged Gunn. Gunn proceeded to take control and hit a nice Perfectplex for a near fall. Cena quickly regained control and hit the Five Knuckle Shuffle that was good for a long two count. However, Gunn quickly turned the tide back in his favor with the seldom-used One-and-Only, but Cena once again gained the offensive and put Billy away with an FU. Luther then came back in and continued his assault on Cena, but was quickly disposed of by a quick FU from Cena. And then there were three…Booker T raced back into the ring to re-take control of the match. Booker hit the Bookend for a near fall and then tried to hit the axe kick, but when Cena tried to counter, Booker once again scrambled away and tagged out. RVD came in and took control, as a weary John Cena was dealing with being in the ring for the last fourteen minutes and enduring the assaults of five competitors. Van Dam hit some kicks and rammed Cena in the gut with his shoulder. He then executed a nice looking Northern Lights suplex pin for a near fall. He continued on the offensive with a split legged moonsault for another near fall. RVD then hopped up to the top rope and delivered a sidekick. Looking to put Cena way, RVD re-ascended the top rope, but Booker T tagged himself in. Mr. Thursday Night shrugged off the 5-time WCW Champion with a quick punch and proceeded to deliver the 5-star Frog Splash to Cena. However, before RVD could make the cover, Booker raced into the ring and stole the pin, eliminating the former champion. The Bookerman then drilled an unsuspecting RVD with a devastating axe kick. 1…2…3…new United States Champion Booker T at 23:25. The show faded to black with Booker T celebrating as he walked up the ramp with title, staring at a worn out John Cena.

Order and time of elimination
1)Charlie Haas- 3:05
2)Rene Dupree- 8:23
3)Kenzo Suzuki- 11:03
4)Billy Gunn- 19:14
5)Luther Reigns- 21:00
6)John Cena- 23:15
7)Rob Van Dam- 23:25


All in all…Another solid show from the Smackdown brand headed into the final weeks of Summerslam hype. All three of the title matches were rock solid, and hopefully the US title bout will lead to a one-on-one confrontation between Book and Cena at Summerslam…The Dudleys, Spike, Rey, and London/Kidman have an entertaining angle going right now, and the two titles involved are finally getting some good TV time because of it. I therefore applaud the WWE on that front…However, I cannot see how you justify not putting the number one contender for the WWE title on the show when the feud b/t Layfield and Taker obviously needs more than just a single confrontation to constitute as solid hype for a match that quite frankly has more people cringing than excited…Long as GM is an interesting choice, but I think as long as he doesn’t get as much airtime as Angle did in that role, then he’ll be fine…





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