WWE Smackdown! Tapings
Tuesday, January 4th, 2005
Mohegan Sun Casino * Uncasville, CT
DARK MATCH:
Paul London def. Chris Cage
VELOCITY:
Hardcore Holly def. Hurricane John Walters
Rene Dupree def. Nunzio
Orlando Jordan def. Chavo Guerrero
Booker T def. Spike Dudley
SMACKDOWN:
Prior to the start of the taping and the announcers coming out they replayed the end of the tag team title match from last week.
Rey Mysterio def. Eddie Guerrero
The crowd was indifferent during this match as if they didn’t know who to cheer from. Match was nowhere near as good as their Smackdown main event in Boston back in March. Eddie tried the same scam with the belt from last week, while the ref was knocked out he put the tag team title belt on Mysterio. Before the ref came to Rey put the belt on Guerrero. When the ref got up, Eddie was trying to hide the belt from the ref but he eventually saw it. As he was handing it back to the time table, Eddie was pleading with him in the ropes. Rey hit the 619 for the win.
Heidenreich thanked Paul Heyman for his help in getting the casket match stipulation taken off his match with Undertaker at the Royal Rumble.
Sho Funaki def. Akio in a Cruiserweight Title Match.
This match had some of the best action of the night but was used as a background for Carlito going around to fans, announcers, and others at ringside to get their signature on some kind of petition. Funaki won with a tornado DDT. Carlito spit in Joy Giovanni’s face (she was ringing the bell). The fans were chanting “Raw Is Better” after this one.
Heyman pleaded his case to Teddy Long. Long agreed to let Heidenreich pick the stipulation if he could win a match he ordered for tonight, Heidenreich & Heyman vs Undertaker in a handicapped match.
While Kurt Angle was meeting with Mark Jindrak & Luther Reigns, Amy Webber came onto him. She said she wanted to talk to Angle in private, so Angle got rid of Jindrak and Regins and they had their private meeting in front of the camera. She discussed business possibilities in the future with him. Angle said they should talk more later and she invited him to her private dressing room.
The “West Side Story” Royal Rumble ad aired. That got one of the better ovations of the night.
Kurt Angle def. Brian Black
This was another hometown challenge. Since it was in a casino, Angle said he was going to gamble by handing over his gold medals if he wasn’t able to win in under three minutes. Fans were back to chanting “what” everytime Angle paused. Angle got the tap in 26 seconds.
Torrie Wilson and Jackie welcomed Daniel Puder to Smackdown. He introduced himself as Tough Enough champion. Torrie said Jackie was a Tough Enough winner, as well. Puder said he remembered her begging to get back with her boyfriend after she cheated on him. The woman walked away in disgust. Puder said “all woman are alike, they all want my money.” Ted DiBiase, eat your heart out.
John Cena and Kenzo Suzuki had a “battle rap,” one of the worst segments Smackdown has ever had. Michael Cole was the host of the battle and they announced that next week on Smackdown in Tampa the two would meet for the US Title. Suzuki came out dressed up like Torrie Wilson on the Great American Bash DVD cover. He said Cena was about to be served and you couldn’t understand a thing he was saying. The fans chanted “what” again during each pause in his rap and they might have actually meant it. Cena’s rapped was filled with sexual jokes about Suzuki and Cole. He told Hiroko “If I get ya in the right place, I don’t do make up but I’ll help with the white face.” Suzuki said Hiroku liked him and had her sing “Crazy In Love,” which was popular last year. Cena had diva’s named Lauren, Rochelle and Michelle come out. Suzuki started making eyes at one of the divas and Hiroku jumped her. Cena tried to break it up and he punched Suzuki out of the ring. Nice to see them actually try to build to a match for next week but this segment went way too long and the fans hated all of it except for a few of Cena’s lines.
They announed a Tag Team Title Fatal Four Way for next week’s Smackdown, Mysterio & Van Dam vs Guerrero & Booker vs Jindrak & Reigns vs Basham Brothers.
Doug Basham def. Rob Van Dam
RVD came out with Mysterio, Doug had Danny and Orlando Jordan in his corner. Doug rolled out of the ring and Mysterio shoved him, the ref ordered Mysterio to the back. Danny started to distract the ref and Jordan handed Doug some kind of object. Van Dam kicked him in the face before he could use it and it fell out of his hand. Van Dam and the ref spotted it. While their backs were turned tossing the object out of the ring, Danny switched places with Doug. RVD went for a small package but Danny kicked out and gave him a Baldo Bomb for the win. Practically the same angle from the Mysterio vs Guerrero opener.
Angle went into Amy’s dressing room. He heard the shower running so he went in. He undressed himself as he waited for her to get out. Finally, the shower curtain opened and it was Joy, who was showering from Carlito’s spit. She decided that was less coool than being spit on and ran for dear life out of the dressing room. The fans seemed confused because they didn’t really seem to know who Amy or Joy were, nevermind that they’re different women. Angle chased her, telling her that it was Amy’s dressing room and they ran into Big Show. Show chased Angle to the ring where he cleaned house on Angle then Jindrak and Reigns.
JBL was walking through the back with Amy and Jordan. They walked over to the dressing room where Joy showered and removed the sign with Amy’s name, revealing Joy’s.
Heidenreich was punching a wall as Heyman told him to get ready for the match. Heidenreich said he wasn’t scared of the Undertaker, he didn’t like caskets.
Undertaker def. Heidenreich and Paul Heyman
Heyman wore a suit during the match. One of the better matches these two have had. In the middle of it, Undertaker got down on his knees and summoned druids from the back. They came out with two caskets and Heidenreich ran for dear life through the crowd. That left Heyman for Undertaker, who got tombstoned and put into a casket. Very similar to what the two did on the Smackdown in Boston from March. You get the feeling Heyman isn’t going to be around, at least on TV, by watching this match.
Undertaker def. JBL & Orlando Jordan in a casket match Pretty boring but the crowd was into it everytime they got close to putting Taker in the casket. In time he made his comeback and put both JBL and Jordan in the casket. It was never announced as a title or non-title match…there was just no announcement at all.
