WWE at Baltimore Arena (11/16/02)

Baltimore Arena

Baltimore, MD

November 16, 2002

One day out from Survivor Series and the stars of Smackdown are in Baltimore. Unlike the past week we got all new house show matches. Either this is going to be the circuit matches for the next week or this was a one night thing with Survivor Series tomorrow. Either way let's get to the action.

Match 1

Billy Kidman vs Jamie Noble (with Nidia) for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship

A Survivor Series preview as the number one contender for the Cruiserweight title gets a title shot the night before. Kidman's had his number on TV but Noble got the win after Nidia interfered.

Winner: Noble by pinfall (still Cruiserweight champion)

Match 2

Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin vs Redd Dogg and Doug Basham

Its the birth of the world's greatest tag team. Unbeknownst to anyone watching on TV, Haas and Benjamin were put together as a tag team for a future run on TV. For what? I'll reveal another time. They take on Dogg and Basham from OVW here. Haas forced Dogg to submit to win the match.

Winners: Haas and Benjamin by submission

Match 3

Funaki vs Chavo Guerrero Jr

One half of Los Guerreros takes on SMACKDOWN NUMBA WUN ANNOUNCA Funaki. Guerrero wins it with the brainbuster.

Winner: Chavo by pinfall

Match 4

D'von Dudley, Bull Buchanan and Sean O'Haire vs Chuck Palumbo, Crash Holly and Shannon Moore

Talk about a hodge podge of randomness. O'Haire hadn't been on TV in a year but D'Von and Bull weren't really partners. Same with Crash and the others. You could have had any random drawing of these six and no one would have known the difference. Palumbo got the pin on Buchanan though.

Winners: Palumbo, Holly and Moore by pinfall

Match 5

Val Venis vs Albert

This match may seem random but it was done with purpose. Big Show came out and laid out both guys then demanded Brock Lesnar face him. Lesnar ran out and they had to be separated. They had been doing this on the circuit for a week now.

Winner: No one (no contest)

Match 6

Matt Hardy vs Rikishi in a Kiss My Ass Match

Same match for weeks now. Rikishi wins and hits the stinkface on Matt, next.

Winner: Rikishi by pinfall

Match 7

John Cena and Dawn Marie vs Tajiri and Torrie Wilson

Mixed tag action but....wait a minute. I thought Torrie and Tajiri hate each other after Tajiri started mistreating her in the Spring. Guess she forgives him just enough to team with him against Cena and Dawn. Torrie pinned Dawn to win the match.

Winners: Tajiri and Torrie by pinfall

Match 8

Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle vs Edge and Rey Mysterio Jr for the WWE Tag Team Championship

One day before the triple threat tag match, Kurt and Benoit ends the show with a title shot against the champs. Mysterio hit Angle with the 619 and Edge hit the spear to get the pin to win the match. Champs retain and send the fans home happy.

Winners: Edge and Rey Mysterio by pinfall (Still tag team champs)

A little bit of some new matches with some standard like the Kiss My Ass match. Watch for Haas and Benjamin in the future and the other OVW guys who were on the verge of getting the call. As some of the Velocity and Heat jobbers start to faze out, you'll be seeing new guys soon. As for the rest of the card, it definitely sounded interesting on paper. Chavo vs Funaki could have been a sleeper and Edge & Rey vs Angle & Benoit was always good. We're inching closer and closer to Survivor Series but we have one last piece of business first....tonight's Velocity. I'll see you there.

WWE at Landon Arena (10/25/02)

Landon Arena

Topeka, Kansas

October 25, 2002

The superstars of Raw invaded Topeka, Kansas for a Friday night house show. After the God awful Raws the past two weeks, fans could breathe easier knowing the tasteless skits wouldn't be on house shows....right? Anyway we got some ex-WCW guys in Johnny Stamboli and Mark Jindrak take on ECW alumnists Justin Credible and Steven Richards. Deacon Bautista has been rebranded simply Batista and he takes on Redd Dogg, another OVW guy looking for a break. ECW aluminst Tommy Dreamer takes on Rico of 3 Minute Warning and more WCW alumni Lance Storm and William Regal take on ECW star Spike Dudley and WCW guy The Hurricane. Test takes on Rob Van Dam, D-Lo Brown goes one on one with Raven and the tri-main event has the titles on the line. Women's champion Trish Stratus takes on Molly Holly with Jacqueline in Trish's corner and Victoria in Molly's corner. The tag straps are on the line with Chris Jericho and Christian taking on the makeshift team of Jeff Hardy and Bubba Ray Dudley. Finally, World Heavyweight Champion Triple H defends the title against Kane in the main event. Let's get to it.

Match 1

Mark Jindrak and Johnny Stamboli vs Justin Credible and Steven Richards

WWE wanted to take a look at Jindrak and Stamboli, the ex-WCW guys and they put them against the ECW guys in Credible and Richards. Probably due to seniority, Credible and Richards won the match.

Winners: Credible and Richards by pinfall

Match 2

Redd Dogg vs Batista

OVW alumni Batista takes on another OVW guy in Redd Dogg. Batista was transitioning from Deacon Bautista to simply, Batista. They had BIG plans for Batista and he beats Redd Dogg here.

Winner: Batista

Match 3

Tommy Dreamer vs Rico

This entire house show is basically OVW, ECW and WCW guys as Rico takes on Dreamer here. Shockingly, Rico got the duke.

Winner: Rico

Match 4

Lance Storm and William Regal vs Spike Dudley and The Hurricane

And once again we got ECW and WCW guys with the remnants of The Unamericans taking on the motley crew of Spike and Hurricane. Apparently the babyfaces were victorious after Spike hit the Acid Drop on Storm.

Winners: Dudley and Hurricane by pinfall

Match 5

Raven vs D-Lo Brown

Believe it or not, D-Lo was about to be brought back on mainstream TV for a push and he needed a few wins on the house show circuit to be taken seriously again. Raven was wrestling out his contract and Brown got the victory.

Winner: D-Lo Brown

Match 6

Molly Holly (with Victoria) vs Trish Stratus (with Jacqueline) for the WWE Women's Championship

Molly gets the title shot but has the insane Victoria in her corner, but Trish has backup of her own in the form of Jacqueline. Trish won the match....hooray!

Winner: Stratus (still WWE Women's champion)

Match 7

Jeff Hardy and Bubba Ray Dudley vs Christian and Chris Jericho for the World Tag Team Championships

We got 1/3 of TLC with Hardy, Bubba and Christian so this must have been an interesting matchup. Jericho pinned Jeff with the lionsault to retain the titles.

Winners: Christian and Jericho by pinfall (still World Tag Team Champions)

Match 8

Test vs Rob Van Dam

If it wasn't for Brock Lesnar, this would have been the King of The Ring Finals. Kind of a random match but RVD takes it with the 5 Star Frog Splash.

Winner: Van Dam by pinfall

Match 9

Kane vs Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship

Raw on Monday raked the eyes of all the fans that watched it with the god awful Katie Vick garbage and it continued with Kane getting another title shot in Topeka. Apparently this match was full of mayhem. Kane went nuts with a steel chair on Triple H, the refs and some of the boys before HHH made his getaway. Why couldn't they just do that on Raw instead of the god awful storyline? Ah well, HHH retains.

Winner: Triple H by disqualification (still World Heavyweight Champion)

House shows were known for featuring guys that weren't on television as either a sub or for a tryout. Guys like Redd Dogg, Jindrak and Stamboli hadn't been on TV yet while they were grooming D-Lo and Batista for future roles. Like I said, most of the time the terrible storylines on television didn't carry over to house shows and watching Kane take a steel chair to a bunch of hapless referees would have been far more entertaining than what HHH did on Monday. Still, if you can get past the crap, matches featuring Chris Jericho, Christian, Lance Storm and Rob Van Dam at least on paper look good. Unfortunately this show has been lost to time, too bad there weren't smart phones back then. Now this show was Raw's midwest outing, the soliders on Smackdown had a show on this night in Belfast, Ireland as apart of their European tour. Once again Vince McMahon splitting up the rosters allowed him to promote two shows a night.....and people wonder why so many people died young or got burnt out. I'll see you in Belfast for the Smackdown show.