JULY 15, 2004 - SMACKDOWN!
Just ten days away from Vengeance, and the SmackDown! participants are all in action tonight!
Up first, it's one-on-one action pitting the runt of the Dudley litter Spike, against Teddy Long's Harvard grad protege Chris Nowinski. Decent throwaway match that Nowinski wins with a double-arm DDT.
The Cruiserweight division is on display next as two men who are looking to get themselves in the title hunt go toe-to-toe. It's Jamie Noble against Nunzio! Good technical match that has several near falls. In the end, Noble fires off a neckbreaker, a tornado DDT, and his trademark Tiger Driver for the win.
"Folks, for whatever reason, the next segment isn't showing up in my rundown. Apparently, since we're still without a General Manager after Stephanie McMahon's injury, nobody fille--"
GLASS SHATTERS! The crowd goes absolutely bugshit as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin makes his way down the aisle. He slides under the bottom rope. Even though he's on RAW, you can almost hear Jim Ross ejaculating all over himself. Austin cuts the same promo he's been cutting for the last five years blah blah blah swear word blah blah blah McMahon blah blah blah hell yeah blah blah blah. Somewhere in there, I think he said something about being the new General Manager of SmackDown!, but I honestly tuned him out. I hate this guy.
Last week, Randy Orton laid out The Blueprint during his match with Mark Henry. Tonight, he makes his first SmackDown! wrestling appearance in over a year as he takes on Blueprint's Superfriends partner Aaron Stevens. Stevens puts on easily his best match since being called up to the Blue Brand, and Orton once again reminds everyone why he's the future of the industry. Orton picks up the win with an RKO. After the match, Billy Gunn hits the ring to try and enact some revenge on Orton for bloodying his partner Chris Kanyon on RAW, but Orton steals Gunn's chair from him and lays him out with the chair! Randy Orton cannot be stopped! Does The Hurricane stand a chance at Vengeance?
Up next, the top tier of the Cruiserweight division tangles in a triple-threat tag match. It's Cruiserweight Champion Rey Mysterio teaming with Eddie Guerrero against Paul London and Rico and the duo of Christian and Tajiri! The heels let the faces beat each other up through most of the match, but Tajiri cleans up at the end of the match, hitting his Vengeance opponent Mysterio with the Kick of Death! Tajiri is building momentum going into his title match!
Backstage, Austin is having one of those "I'm backstage and talking to random jobbers" segments when he's approached by Vince McMahon. "What the hell do you think you're doing? I never named you the General Manager. The Board of Directors never named you the General Manager. You have no authority on this show. So GET THE HELL OUT!!!" Austin looks at him for a long beat. "What?" For some reason, the crowd goes bonkers at that word, and Austin walks off.
Up next is a match that was supposed to be the main event of RAW but was cut due to time constraints
It's World Champion Kurt Angle against the dominant rookie monster Damien! Even when Angle is phoning it in, he puts on high-quality matches. Sean O'Haire takes out Angle with the Prophecy, allowing Damien to get the cheap pin. Shelton Benjamin makes the save with a chair.
The deranged "Nature Boy" Dave Batista has dominated the singles ranks on SmackDown! since becoming Intercontinental Champion. So, tonight, he tries something different - defending the title in a fatal fourway against three top tag stars! It's Jeff Hardy and those damn Dudley Boyz against Batista for the Intercontinental Title! Decent overall match that Jeff Hardy pretty much carries. In a bit of a surprise, Jeff catches D-Von with the Swanton Bomb to win the Intercontinental Title! Going into Vengeance's fatal fourway for the WWE Title, Jeff now has gold of his own!
Backstage, the new World Tag Team Champions John Cena and The Rock cut a promo on the Hardy Boyz. At Vengeance, it's going to be every man for himself, but isn't this interesting? Four men. Four contenders to the title. And every one a champion. Never has every champion been in one fatal fourway match, but that's all going to change in ten days. Matt, at Vengeance, one of us is taking your WWE Title, and Jeff had better not get complacent, either. Because he's next, if ya smeeeeeeeelllllll what The Rock is cookin'! Word life!
Earlier this year, the rivalry between The Hurricane and the WWE Champion Matt Hardy Version 2.0 was almost a guarantee to provide the match of the night. Both men have other things on their minds tonight, but you just know that they're looking to make a statement. The match is everything the fans (and the IWC) hoped for and more. Hurricane looks like a legitimate threat to the gold during a tremendous contest before Matt manages to put him away with his middle-rope legdrop. After the match, Randy Orton returns to the ring with the chair he swiped from Billy Gunn and lays out Hurricane! This Hurricane/Orton match at Vengeance is going to be red-hot!
And now for our main event... Right? Okay, yeah. It's actually happening. It's a non-title match pitting the World Tag Team Champions John Cena and The Rock against Paul Heyman's duo of Brock Lesnar and Billy Kidman! Very good match that gives Kidman a pretty solid rub being in the ring with the three main eventers. Eventually, though, the Hardyz have heard enough as Jeff blasts Cena with a steel chair while the ref is distracted by Matt, allowing Lesnar to hit the F-5 for the win. The WWE and Intercontinental Champions stand over their Vengeance opponents as SmackDown! goes off the air.