Schmozzes & Screwjobs 04.17.07: The Madison Square Screwjob
Posted by Daniel Wilcox on 04.17.2007
Why, Paul, Why?
Morning all, read on.
Curtain Jerkin'
This is a new section where I give any random thoughts I've had about wrestling or anything else over the last week. It will most likely be wrestling, but could also include music, sport, gaming or politics, but I wouldn't hold your breath on the politics part. So what's been going through my head this week?
- It was weird watching Raw last night thinking that this time next week, I would be there in attendance watching all the action from just a few feet away. That's right, next week when Raw emanates from London, England I will be at a WWE Television taping for the first time ever as I make the four hour coach trip with my family and a few friends to Earls Court to watch Raw. Look out next week for some thoughts on the show.
-After the match on SmackDown last week it seems as if everyone is jumping on the Montel Vontavious Porter bandwagon and I have to say people; it's about damn time. The guy has been around approximately six months and it didn't take him long to start impressing people with his unique look, decent promo ability and competence in the ring. While his look maybe somewhat "power ranger-esque" it is also loud and arrogant which are both key traits to being a good heel. His promo work has come on nicely in the time he has been around; I recall the first promo he cut which was a press conference or something along those lines and quite frankly it was like listening to Rob Van Dam and Shelton Benjamin having a conversation or in other words, boring as fuck. But now with his "ballin'" and his cockiness down to a tee he is one of the more competent guys on SmackDown when it comes to mic work. Finally, it's good to see his in-ring product has come a long way, too. When he came here he was a pretty plain guy and his moveset was typical for your cocky newcomer heel, see Dykstra, Kenny. Now he has his own unique style and is capable of having great matches with a range of opponents as was the case at WrestleMania and last week on SmackDown against Chris Benoit. It probably helps that Benoit and MVP have been going thirty minutes on the house show circuit, and that has me thinking they may have some longer match for the United States title in the future, 2 Out of 3 Falls or a 30 Minute Ironman match being possibilities. One thing is for sure, Montel Vontavious Porter has a bright future in the WWE. Ballin'!
-About what I said on America's taste in music, I didn't want to offend anyone. There is a huge difference in British and American music tastes and to me it just seems like there are so many great bands that are immensely popular over here, but completely undiscovered in the States.
-Back to the soccer talk and both Man United and Chelsea advance to the FA Cup final which has got me quite nervous now. It's looking more and more likely that all three main trophies will be contested between United and Chelsea which is not a good thing because I think 3 times out 5, Chelsea will beat us. United have Sheffield United tonight and that should be an easy 3 points to put pressure on Chelsea tomorrow who face a West Ham side fighting for survival. For those Americans out there who don't watch soccer, here's what you're missing;
Wayne Rooney vs. Watford at Villa Park
-Wilcox's Top 5 Played This Week;
1. Thnks fr the Mmrs - Fall Out Boy
2. Parallel Worlds - Elliot Minor
3. What I've Done - Linkin Park
4. I Don't Love You - My Chemical Romance
5. House of Cards - Madina Lake
Background Information: Brock Lesnar debuted in the WWE the night after WrestleMania X8 in March and had been on a reign of terror ever since. On Raw, he destroyed guys like Rikishi, The Hardyz and Maven in a matter of minutes and put them all on the shelf. In June of 2002, Lesnar captured his first major honour by beating Rob Van Dam to become the King of the Ring and in the process earning himself a WWE Championship opportunity at Summerslam against the Brahma Bull, The Rock. In the weeks leading up to Summerslam, Lesnar was indestructible. To put into perspective the kind of push he was getting, Lesnar handed Hulk Hogan his most convincing defeat ever when Lesnar knocked him out with a bear hug. When Summerslam rolled around, in an extraordinary turn of events, the hot Summerslam crowd slowly turned on The Rock and were routing for Lesnar who defeated Rock to become the youngest ever WWE Champion at just 25, a record which he still holds today.
There were two main things that propelled Lesnar to the fulfilling his label as "The Next Big Thing." One was his viciously devastating finishing manoeuvre, the F5. The name of this move was taken from the Fujita scale which ranks the intensity of tornados with F5 being the strongest. Lesnar would lift his victims up into a fireman's carry and quickly throw the opponents legs out in front of him to spin them out and quickly fall backwards causing the head to be driven in to the mat. It would be a whole year before anyone ever kicked out of this move (Kurt Angle) and it had put down great foes such as Mark Henry, Rock and Rob Van Dam. The other factor was Lesnar's "agent" Paul Heyman. It was Heyman's guidance that led to Lesnar becoming King of the Ring and WWE Champion. Without Heyman, it seemed, Lesnar was nothing.
In September of 2002 Lesnar's first ever title defence was against the Phenom the Undertaker at Unforgiven. The pair had an immense brawl which ended in a double disqualification when the referee lost control and had to stop the match. They would have a rematch at No Mercy in October only this time the bout would take place inside Hell in a Cell, the first time Lesnar had ever wrestled in such a violent match which was of course known as one of Taker's specialties. This would no doubt be Brock's toughest test but he gained an advantage in the weeks leading to the match by breaking Taker's wrist on an episode of SmackDown. During the match, both wrestlers and even Paul Heyman were given the proverbial crimson mask as both men bled buckets but Lesnar took advantage of Taker's injury to eventually gain victory using a devastating F5. This match is widely considered Lesnar's best ever and the moment that he truly "arrived" in WWE. It was this performance that was the beginning of Lesnar's face turn.
On the SmackDown after No Mercy, Undertaker came out onto the stage and received a standing ovation for his performance in Hell in a Cell but was attacked by SmackDown's newest signing from Raw, the Big Show. Show manhandled Taker and press slammed him off the side of the stage and through several tables on the floor. This would put Taker out for several months. Show was then made #1 contender for Brock's WWE Championship for Survivor Series, but Lesnar had several broken ribs as a result of the Hell in a Cell and this caused Paul Heyman to believe that Brock could not beat the Big Show, even though no-one had pinned Brock or made him submit to this point. Heyman would repeatedly tell Lesnar that "you can't manhandle Big Show, you can't suplex Big Show, you can't get him up for an F5. You can't beat The Big Show." Leading to Survivor Series, Show would continue to get the better of the WWE Champion, even chokeslamming him through the announce table and tossing him off the stage the same way he destroyed Taker. On the final SmackDown before Survivor Series, despite Heyman's warning Lesnar went to the ring to call out Big Show and Heyman reluctantly followed although he continued to try to dissuade Lesnar. Brock then told Heyman to "shut up." This was the first time Lesnar had ever spoken out against Paul Heyman. Lesnar proceeded to attack Show at ringside with a steel chair and bust open the challenger for Survivor Series prompting us to think; "maybe Brock Lesnar can beat The Big Show."
How It Went Down: No use of the 411 Archives or furiousrage.com today as for the first time you will get the match report from… ME! I was watching the Survivor Series 2002 this weekend and thought I might as well get some practice in case I ever want to transition to TV Recapper.
WWE Championship: Brock Lesnar vs. The Big Show
Show enters and has a bandage on his right arm which Michael Cole states is a result of the aforementioned steel chair attack from Brock Lesnar on SmackDown. Heyman looks more than nervous as the champ and his agent make their way to the ring. Cole states the three questions that they were asking at the time. Can Lesnar suplex Show? Can Lesnar F5 Show? And can Lesnar beat Big Show? Lesnar gets right up in Show's face and pie faces him. They lock up then break. Lesnar has taped ribs from Hell in a Cell. Elbow tie up again and Show shoves Lesnar off as the fans chant "Let's go Lesnar!" Lock up and now Show forces Lesnar back into the corner and delivers a chop and a big beale out of the corner. Show charges and crushes Lesnar in the corner as Show looks to pick apart the ribs of Brock. Big Show pauses to celebrate but turns around into a spear from the champion and there are some right hands off the skull of the challenger! Big Show bails but Lesnar follows and hits some more shots. Lesnar goes to take Show into the steps but Show pulls him in and rams Lesnar back first into the steel ringpost. Back in and Lesnar comes back with an elbow and some right hands. Show grabs him round the throat but Lesnar breaks it and gets a side suplex on the Big Show! Brock takes Show back into the corner and hits some shoulder tackles. Whip to the opposite corner reversed by Show but Lesnar avoids another charge and delivers a big German suplex to the Big Show! Brock stalks his opponent and goes for the F5 but can't get him up. Lesnar charges, ducks a clothesline and bumps the referee right out of the ring. Lesnar ducks a big boot and hits a belly-to-belly throw to the amazement of the MSG crowd! Paul Heyman slides a steel chair into the ring but as Brock goes to pick it up Show grabs him round the throat again. Low blow by Lesnar, chair, blocked by a fist from Show, chair off the skull! F5! He hits it! Crowd goes nuts. Cover, a new referee… one…two…Heyman pulls the referee out of the ring! Lesnar realises what happened and chases Heyman around the ring. Heyman slides in and as Brock follows gets caught with a chair to the ribs, and one across the back. Chokeslam on the chair and the original referee is rolled back in and counts 3 as we have a new WWE Champion. Heyman celebrates as both men quickly leave to the back. We then see them getting in the back of a limo and leaving Madison Square Garden as soon as possible. As Michael Cole said, Paul Heyman has screwed Brock Lesnar, but why?!
Can't believe what you just read? Then watch it!
The Fallout: This is a new part of my overall Screwjob analysis where I basically state what happened after the screwjob went down and essentially, the fallout. In addition, this section is brought to you in association with Chicago rockers Fall Out Boy
The next week n SmackDown Paul Heyman informed us that Lesnar had got too big for his boots. He declared that all of Lesnar's success was down to Heyman and Brock had to find that out the hard way. Heyman put a no rematch clause in Brock's contract before Survivor Series. Brock comes out and destroys Show and chased Heyman to the back. After Lesnar attacked Matt Hardy V1.0 backstage, General Manager Stephanie McMahon warned Brock that if he interfered in Show's match with Edge that night, he would be suspended and alas, Brock showed up to F5 Show. So next week Steph did indeed suspend Lesnar, indefinitely. Show's next challenger would be Kurt Angle. Angle made a deal with Lesnar to get his suspension lifted if Lesnar agrees to be in Angle's corner for the title match at Armageddon. Lesnar agreed and helped Angle win the WWE Championship at Armageddon, only for Angle to reveal he has a new management team led by Paul Heyman. Angle then did everything in his power to avoid facing Brock Lesnar, but Brock won the 2003 Royal Rumble and took the title off of Angle at WrestleMania 19 in a match that featured this little gem;
Analysis: The entire build for the Show/Lesnar match was that Brock Lesnar could not beat the Big Show, and when it looked like that was exactly what he was about to do, Heyman screwed him anyway. That may not make a whole lot of sense, but I think Heyman just wanting to be with Big Show makes up for it (how gay did that sound?) If you look at it from Heyman's perspective, Brock had been through a hellacious couple of months and had several injuries, most notably the broken ribs suffered in the Hell in a Cell match against Undertaker, an injury that was aggravated when Show tossed Lesnar to the floor from the stage. Big Show on the other hand was on the role of his life; he was unstoppable and aligning himself with Show was an opportunity Heyman couldn't pass up on even if it meant tossing his pet project Brock Lesnar to the side. One thing that was well documented was that Heyman was obsessed with the WWE Championship as was shown by the way Heyman carried the title when he was with Lesnar and later Show. This obsession would also explain Heyman quickly losing interest in Show and becoming the agent of new champion Kurt Angle.
It would be several more months until Lesnar finally got his hands on the man that originally screwed him, Paul Heyman. With Heyman managing Angle, they brought in Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin as Team Angle whose basic role was to protect Angle from Lesnar. Lesnar had several great matches with both guys in Team Angle in the build to Mania, partially thanks to working with both guys for years in Ohio Valley Wrestling. After beating both Haas and Benjamin in a handicap match, as per the stipulation Lesnar was allowed to face any member of Team Angle in a Steel Cage match. While Team Angle thought Lesnar would choose Kurt Angle himself, he instead chose to meet Heyman in the cage and wait until WrestleMania XIX to fight Angle. In the cage match Lesnar destroyed Heyman and hit his F5 to put him on the injured list for several months and then went on to defeat Angle for the title at Mania in another great match.
The only way I think this feud could have been done differently, is having Angle be the original guy to help screw over Lesnar at Survivor Series and not use Show at all. But then again that would mean taking Angle out of the SmackDown Six early (Eddie, Chavo, Benoit, Angle, Mysterio and Edge) and it would have been harder to play up "Brock, you can't beat…" angle. It would also have meant blowing the WrestleMania main event early so all in all I think the way things panned out was the best possible way things could have gone so congrats from me to the E for that one!
Have your say!
The Schmozz Count
Schmozz – A match that has no clear winner, either a no contest or a (double) disqualification or count out.
Raw – 2, Michaels vs. Orton, and Lashley vs. Shane O Mac
ECW – None
Impact – None
SmackDown – 1, London/Kendrick vs. Deuce and Domino
Lockdown – None
Raw let the side down this week with two schmozzes and Impact continued on its schmozzless run and thankfully there was no funny business on the pay-per-view.
The Schmozz Count: 37 + 3 = 40!
Half Time
Other stuff that you need to find time to read;
This weeks Can They Be Champ?looks at the participants in last Sunday's Lethal Lockdown match.
Going into Raw last night all we knew was that there would be a handicap match pitting WWE Champion John Cena against two of his three challengers for Backlash in Randy Orton and Edge. I'm assuming most of you saw Raw last night but I thought it'd be fun to give you my thoughts on last nights show.
Ah the opening segment. First of all let me say that I have never seen this guy wrestle but the majority seem to think he is a great talent. Good enough to be immediately given the Intercontinental Championship? I have to say I'm doubting it. In OVW he was supporting a Russian street fighter gimmick under the name of Boris Alexiev but knowing WWE he will be told to tone down the street fighter gimmick and what will he be left with? I don't know but I have to say at this point I'm not too optimistic. On the bright side, this was a good way to get a new guy on the roster and establish him early as now this guy already has a story behind him and now they need to develop his character. I suggest a sit down interview last week where he tells us what he does, hopefully keeping the street fighter gimmick and then give him a few squash matches. Then give him his first title defense against a guy like Chris Masters where he gets a clean win and that's when they try to put him over as a legit threat. Put him in his first feud with a guy like Johnny Nitro and we're good to go. That or take the belt off him next week and put it on a debuting Harry Smith.
Up next we had the dissension between Ric Flair and Carlito and the match pitting them against The World's Greatest Tag Team. I'll first just say that the match was the epitome of "fine" but it was nice to see Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas pick up a win as they need should be built up to become the next challengers for The Hardys. Now as for the tension between Flair and Carlito, I'm liking the slow build which I'm sure will eventually lead to a heel turn for Carlito which is much needed. Hopefully when he does turn it'll be in a big way like giving Ric Flair and bloody beatdown and giving Torrie a Backcracker. Then he needs to cut a long promo about how they were holding him back and now he is ready to move up the card but first he would have to have a fairly long program with Naitch who would of course have the lovely Miss Wilson in his corner. See, it's really not that hard to book these angles.
Johnny Nitro vs. Eugene was a squash but it's good to see them starting to re-establish Nitro after he has had a shaky couple of months. Remember that great series of matches he had last year with Jeff Hardy? The awesome Raw ladder match, the cage match, all great matches that as well as bringing Jeff back into the spotlight after his return, made Nitro into a star. Now it seems creative are more interested in pushing Melina than Nitro and that's just wrong. Nitro has a ton of talent and it needs to be utilised. Good to see they're giving him a new finisher because that twirly shit just wasn't cutting it for me. Not sure if the neckbreaker is the right way to go but it's a lot better than the roll of the dice so I can't complain too much.
The Diva Fashion Show. Well I would say that those girls looked extremely fashionable. Maria was stunning as always and the return of Mickie's jeans was much needed and welcomed. The others were all kind of blah to me. Torrie looked good but not the best, that was Maria. I'm sure many were disappointed and the lack of clothes removal but this was a fashion show, a classy event and you should all appreciate it as such. One thing is obvious and that's that Raw needs another heel diva. I would suggest Jillian because she can wrestle but Raw is only for the pretty people, sorry Jillian.
Jeff Hardy vs. Lance Cade was just adding build to the upcoming tag team title match at Backlash. It made sense for Cade to go over here and Trevor Murdoch will probably beat Matt Hardy next week in London, which means the Hardys will retain at Backlash. And by the way, assuming that happens, that is the laziest of lazy booking. I'm already bored of them using the same scenario for London and Kendrick on SmackDown; I don't need to see it on Raw as well.
Wow, Chris Masters winning a match on Raw? Is it 2005? No? Holy shit. Nice to see he now has a second finishing move. I think every wrestler should have two finishers just because things would be that much more interesting, even if it's a secondary finisher like a Jeff Hardy Twist of Fate, a move that can still put people away just not as often as the primary finisher. Anyway back to the match, it was decent and Masters looked more competent than he has in the last year tonight. I'd like to see him and Kenny Dykstra as a tag team but Kenny is still stuck on the treadmill known as Val Venis' dance partner on Heat for this month.
The main event handicap match was like two different matches. The first half was really bad and boring as fuck but then it came alive in the last couple of minutes, basically from when Shawn Michaels came out. It's good to see that Michaels is actually showing he is against Cena now and not teaming with him which is what they should be doing with Taker and Batista right now. Cena stood tall tonight and with Michaels facing Cena next week I expect Edge and Orton to be standing tall heading in to Backlash. I'd love to see either Edge or Orton winning at Backlash but I'm afraid it's not going to happen. Spoiler: Cena wins.
Overall I'd say that this was a very hot and cold edition of Raw. The opening and closing segments were great and the stuff in the middle was kind of just on cruise control heading to Backlash or building future angles. Looking forward to Cena/HBK II next week which Ii will be there to see live, baby! Can you tell I'm excited?
Reader Feedback
The only feedback I got last week was from Chris didn't like what I had to say about America's music tastes but I stand by what I said last week. Anyway, seeing as there's nothing noteworthy to fill this section up with, I figured I'd do this instead.
5 Things I'm Praying To See On Raw Next Week!
It should be noted that it is highly unlikely any of these will happen, even if just because I put it on paper.
5. The return of the Ayatollah of Rock ‘n' Rolla! If Chris Jericho felt like hopping on a plane to the UK, I would mark out like a little girl.
4. Shane O Mac. He's probably going to be there but I'm hoping he gets his own music played at some point because "Here Comes the Money" is money.
3. Umaga and his Samoan drop. It's freakin' awesome damn it and I want to see it live!
2. Any ECW superstars not named Lashley. RVD, CM Punk, Thorn, Sabu, Cor Von, Burke, Sabu, Sandman, whatever, I would just mark.
1. Mr Kennedy jumping ship and cashing in,
…Kennedy!
Taking It Home
Next week we'll have another screwjob, a detailed report of my trip to Raw and with a bit of luck, some reader feedback. Look out for me on your TV screens next week (I think I'll be on the right hand side of the ring, in the corner) and feel free to send me any suggestions you have for signs because at the moment I don't think I'm bothering because all I've got is "Bring Back A-Train." See you all in 7!
