World Wrestling Entertainment presents Velocity
Date: 3/29/2003
From: San Jose, CA
Matches:
1.) Funaki defeated Jamie Noble
2.) Bill DeMott defeated Apollo Kahn
3.) Johnny Stamboli defeated Tajiri
Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Noble puts a sleeper on Funaki and switches to a hammerlock. Funaki counters with a hammerlock, but Noble hip tosses Funaki and they have a standoff. Noble elbows Funaki followed by a forearm strike. Funaki hip tosses Noble followed by a drop toe hold and a dropkick to a kneeling Noble for a two count. Funaki rams Noble into the corner, but Noble delivers a neckbreaker. Noble stomps Funaki on the mat and works over Funaki in the corner with shoulder rams followed by a short arm clothesline for a two count. Noble hits a back suplex for a near fall. Noble keeps a sleeper on Funaki, and yanks Funaki to the mat. Noble locks in a single leg Boston Crab. Funaki kicks Noble away and gets a two count with a backslide. Noble knee lifts Funaki, but Funaki nails Noble with a kick to the head. Funaki ducks a clothesline and strikes Noble several times. Funaki forearms Noble, but is met with a snap powerslam for a near fall. Noble grabs Funaki, but Funaki catapults Noble into the corner chest first. Funaki bulldogs Noble out of the corner. Funaki covers Noble for a two count. Funaki continues looking for a suplex, but Noble coutners with a rollup. Nidia tries to help, but the referee saw it. Funaki almost wins with a rollup. Funaki kicks Noble and delivers an elbow in the corner. Noble chops Funaki on the top turnbuckle, but Funaki manages to hit a tornado DDT for the clean win. (**. Noble must have done something to be losing to Funaki cleanly on Velocity. It’s a solid TV match, though.)
2.) DeMott leg sweeps Kahn to the mat to begin the match with a wrist lock. DeMott wraps Kahn’s arm over the middle rope. DeMott clubs Kahn over the middle rope several times. DeMott chops Kahn in the corner a few times. Kahn boots DeMott in the corner followed by forearms in the corner. DeMott stops Kahn with a clothesline. DeMott destroys Kahn with a second clothesline. The referee calls for the bell as Kahn is knocked out. (NR. Obviously a complete squash. DeMott continues to be entertaining in this role, but viewers are kind of programmed into knowing that he can’t do this to anyone of substance on Smackdown.) After the match, DeMott plants Kahn with a powerbomb.
3.) Stamboli shoves Tajiri to the mat and Tajiri rolls to the floor attempting to kick Nunzio. Tajiri gets in the ring and handspring kicks Stamboli off the apron to the floor. Tajiri dives onto Stamboli and Nunzio. Tajiri elbows Stamboli followed by kicks in the corner. Stamboli catches Tajiri, but Tajiri manages to get the tarantula locked in until Nunzio gets involved. Stamboli stomps Tajiri in the corner. Stamboli yanks Tajiri out of the corner for a two count. Stamboli chokes Tajiri on the mat. Nunzio chokes Tajiri over the bottom rope as the referee is distracted. Tajiri forearms Stamboli several times. Stamboli tosses Tajiri overhead with a suplex for a two count. Stamboli snapmares Tajiri and puts a neck vice on Tajiri. Tajiri kicks Stamboli to the mat. Tajiri continues with kicks, but Stamboli hits a tilt a whirl slam. Stamboli misses a springboard leg drop and Tajiri nails Stamboli with a kick for a two count. Tajiri chops Stamboli against the ropes several times. Tajiri delivers a spinning heel kick and kicks Stamboli on the back of the head for a near fall. Tajiri kicks Stamboli and delivers a handspring back elbow. Tajiri decks Stamboli over the back and kicks Stamboli. Tajiri kicks Nunzio off the apron. Stamboli hits a press slam turned into a powerslam for the win. (**. I was not expecting Stamboli to win here, but this is important for FBI. Perhaps Stamboli has the biggest upside out of the group and that’s why he won the match? This was fine for what it was.)
Final Thoughts:
An average episode of Velocity this week as they didn’t have anything overly noteworthy in the ring, but the video packages promoting Mania were nicely done.
Thanks for reading.