World Wrestling Entertainment presents Smackdown
Date: 4/24/2003
From: Nashville, TN
Tonight, Roddy Piper will be in singles action against Rikishi. There will be the Sable Invitational. Smackdown World Champion Brock Lesnar in action against A-Train.
John Cena cuts a promo before the opening match. Cena is giving cliff notes on his life. Cena says he’s the number one contender at Backlash and recalls that he beat Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit to earn the title shot at Backlash. Cena believes he is going to be the next champion. Cena has footage that has never been seen before. Cena says the graphic footage is going to expose Lesnar. Cena doesn’t believe Lesnar deserves to be champion.
MATCH #1: JOHN CENA VS. RHYNO
FINISH: Cena avoids the GORE with a knee and takes Rhyno down with a sloppy rollup for the win.
Bob’s Take: Rhyno had the early advantage, but Cena cuts Rhyno off to hit a middle rope leg drop over the middle rope. Cena focused his attack on Rhyno’s surgically repaired neck. Part of me is not invested in this because there’s no way that Rhyno would beat Cena just a few days before Backlash if WWE wants Cena to be seen as any kind of contender to Lesnar. Cena’s rollup is one of the messiest looking rollups I’ve ever seen on national TV. I wouldn’t consider this any good.
Match Rating: *
Backstage, Roddy Piper and Sean O’Haire have arrived to the arena.
Earlier today, the FBI confront Chris Benoit. Nunzio reminds Benoit what they did to Undertaker a couple of weeks ago and took out Nathan Jones. Nunzio is upset with Benoit losing and thus they lost their bet. They want Benoit to pay for the loss. Benoit tells Nunzio he can collect in the ring. Nunzio can’t believe that Benoit is challenging him. Nunzio accepts the challenge.
Backstage, Josh Matthews is with Sable for an interview. Matthews asks about the Sable Invitational. Sable thinks the men come to see her and all the women want to be her. Sable asks if Matthews would come to see her. Sable also asks if he’s a good judge of the female body. Sable asks if Matthews knows what it is like to touch breasts and abs. Sable is hosting the hottest body in WWE. That’s essentially what she’s talking about.
MATCH #2: CHRIS BENOIT VS. NUNZIO
FINISH: Nunzio tries for a springboard arm breaker, but Benoit countered with the Crossface for the submission. After the match, Benoit puts the Crossface on Palumbo, but Stamboli stops the attack. Palumbo nails Benoit with a superkick. Stamboli hits a gorilla press slam into a powerslam. Benoit is held on the mat where Nunzio slaps Benoit across the face to leave Benoit laying.
Bob’s Take: I’m honestly a bit stunned that Nunzio would accept this challenge, but here we are. I guess Nunzio has more confidence since he’s got Palumbo and Stamboli with him. Of course, the FBI help get the cheap advantage before the bell because there’s no way Nunzio had any chance to win this match. Nunzio does hit a nice top rope leg drop for a near fall over the back of Benoit. The finish and aftermath were nicely done, but I don’t think there’s any part of me that is going to buy into the FBI as a serious heel threat.
Match Rating: *1/2
Backstage, Tajiri and Funaki are laughing at Big Show getting hit with the 619 recently on Smackdown. They stop the tape at Show’s face being mad, but Show enters the scene and destroys the TV out of anger.
WWE Cruiserweight Champion Matt Hardy introduces Rey Mysterio’s opponent tonight and he’s the newest disciple. Crash is introduced as the opponent this week. Crash comes out with Shannon Moore by his side and the trio head toward the ring.
MATCH #3: REY MYSTERIO VS. CRASH
FINISH: Mysterio hit the 619 and a top rope leg drop to pin Crash.
Bob’s Take: Crash got the early advantage, but just like the previous match it’s a bit of a tough sell to convince me that Crash has any shot against Mysterio. Shannon Moore cheap shots Mysterio his his book to help Crash at one point in the bout. This went exactly as you’d expect. It almost feels like we’re filling time just to get to the PPV.
Match Rating: *1/2
Backstage, John Cena is talking to A-Train saying he needs Train to beat up and hurt Brock Lesnar tonight. Cena wants to show Train what happened last time Train fought Lesnar. Cena shows Train being dropped on his head last night Lesnar fought him. Train grabs Cena by the chain and says he was almost killed. Train tells Cena that Lesnar will feel his pain tonight. Cena seems to have accomplished his goal.
MATCH #4: RODDY PIPER VS. RIKISHI
NOTE: This is Piper’s first WWE singles match since WrestleMania XII in 1996. Piper’s last WCW singles match has been December 13th, 1999.
FINISH: O’Haire clotheslines Rikishi from the apron to save Piper from the Stink Face causing the disqualification. After the match, O’Haire continued with a leaping kick to drop Rikishi twice to the mat. O’Haire drives Rikishi to the mat with a modified Death Valley Driver.
Bob’s Take: Piper started off with a low blow to gain the cheap advantage and continued with several jabs. Rikishi fights back and fights off O’Haire. Well, that is until O’Haire saved Piper from the Stink Face. Obviously, Piper was never going to do much here and this was designed to put heat on the feud between O’Haire and Rikishi.
Match Rating: 1/2*
Sable makes her way out to host the Sable Invitational. Sable says everyone has been telling her she’s the sexiest woman they have ever seen. Sable has heard she’s the hottest, sexiest diva in the WWE. Sable is hosting a bikini contest to see if she’s the hottest. Everyone other than Torrie Wilson accepted her offer. Sable has heard that Torrie is feeling fat. Sable introduces the contestants which are Nidia and Dawn Marie. I certainly thought there’d be more than just the two. Well, just as I say that, Torrie Wilson makes her way out to join the segment. Torrie doesn’t think Sable can have a contest without her. Nidia doesn’t get a lot of cheers or anything. Dawn doesn’t get much of a reaction either. It’s as if the crowd was waiting to go nuts for Torrie, which they do respond to more. Torrie shares her lollipop with Sable and teases her against the ropes. Sable awards the contest to Dawn Marie and Nidia. Torrie doesn’t appear to be too upset. Dawn and Nidia proceed to attack Torrie and hold her for Sable. Sable says Torrie is the only real loser and says it again, but this time in the microphone before leaving the ring.
Earlier tonight, Smackdown Tag Team Champions Team Angle say they follow the three I’s and they dedicate their victory at Backlash to their mentor, Kurt Angle.
MATCH #5: SMACKDOWN TAG TEAM CHAMPION SHELTON BENJAMIN VS. CHAVO GUERRERO
FINISH: Haas helps put Benjamin on top of Chavo and Benjamin uses the ropes for leverage to win the match. After the match, Los Guerreros attack Team Angle with Chavo dropkicking the champs to the floor.
Bob’s Take: Guerrero controls the match at the start and hit a springboard twisting senton before Benjamin got some momentum with an overhead suplex. Guerrero responded with a flapjack and a couple of dropkicks. There is a noticeable lack of crowd energy for this match and I think it shows how much the crowd isn’t invested in Chavo, but they do care about Eddie. For the most part, this was rather dull. Their tag matches are much, much better.
Match Rating: *
Backstage, John Cena cuts a promo about Brock Lesnar getting a lesson on A-Train. Train is pacing behind Cena during the promo.
MATCH #6: THE BIG SHOW VS. TAJIRI
NOTE: Rey Mysterio is seen watching the match backstage.
FINISH: Late in the match, Show chokeslams Tajiri, but Mysterio appears on the apron and causes Show to leave the ring and destroy the ring steps. Show is looking for Mysterio and gets knocked into the ring post by Mysterio from behind. Show tries to return to the ring, but ends up getting counted out.
Bob’s Take: Tajiri tends to be a guy that always stays over in the WWE when he’s a babyface. Tajiri tried to kick Show to gain control, but is cutoff by a clothesline quickly. When Show signals for the chokeslam, Mysterio’s music plays to distract Show, but Mysterio didn’t arrive. Tajiri delivers a few kicks and seemed to be on the cusp of an upset, but Show ended that fairly quickly with the chokeslam. Show losing by count-out is fine, and he’s honestly going to be so mad that he’s going to want to destroy Mysterio at Backlash.
Match Rating: *1/2
Backstage, Smackdown GM Stephanie McMahon has an announcement. McMahon is excited to announce the newest WWE superstar, Mr. America. Mr. America will be making his debut next week on Smackdown. We see a video package of various American moments to promote Mr. America.
John Cena makes his way out to the entrance aisle and does a freestyle rap focusing on Smackdown World Champion Brock Lesnar. Cena calls Lesnar a disappointment and that he’s not even a prototype.
MAIN EVENT: SMACKDOWN HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION BROCK LESNAR VS. A-TRAIN
NOTE: John Cena joins commentary for the match. This is non-title.
FINISH: Lesnar hits Train with the F5, but Cena slid into the ring and hit Lesnar with a chain. Cena plants Lesnar with a Death Valley Driver (not named FU, yet). Cena grabs the championship and decks Lesnar with it. Lesnar has been bloodied at this point. Cena leaves a bloodied Lesnar laid out to end the program.
Bob’s Take: Lesnar controls Train on the mat to start the bout and they trade blows in the corner. Train is made to look like a force as they collide in the middle of the ring and they have a standoff. The action is a bit slow as these two focus on power strikes. Train catapults Lesnar into the middle rope as an impactful move. Lesnar absorbs a beating for a bit before managing to take Train over with a powerslam and a couple of overhead suplexs. Train plants Lesnar with the Derailer, but couldn’t win the match. Moments later, Lesnar finished Train off with the F5, but Cena caused the DQ, which isn’t a surprise. This was a rather dull match, and the aftermath does what it needed to do to try and establish Cena as a threat to the title at Backlash in a few days.
Match Rating: *1/2
After the show goes off the air, John Cena returned to the ringside area and grabbed a microphone to taunt Lesnar some more. Cena asks if he’s getting any respect now. Cena reminds Lesnar he told him to take him seriously. Lesnar recovers and ends up hitting the F5 on Cena to send the crowd home happy.
Final Thoughts:
This is probably one of the worst episodes of Smackdown, which is a bit a shock to me. There isn’t a lengthy talk segment, which is nice. But, the action here is mostly extended squash matches. I think this has been a weak build for Backlash as Cena is far too new to the brand as a heel to be seen as a serious post-Mania challenger for Lesnar. Angle being out with injury is showing a major weakness for the main event scene right now as Lesnar doesn’t have a strong challenger to deal with outside of Big Show. So, this weeks episode gets a thumbs down, but I don’t foresee this being a regular occurrence.
Thanks for reading.