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WWE's Taboo Tuesday (10/19/04 Milwaukee) was a mixed bag show. I'm giving it a thumbs' up because the main event was great and there was enough good wrestling and booking to pull the show through. One bad match was passable because of entertainment value. Some of the show sucked, though.
After the usual opening formalities, Jonathan Coachman reported that the fans gave a whopping 53% of the vote for the schoolgirl outfits to be worn in the women's battle royal. That was a good thing.
Coach then reported that 37% of the fans voted for Shelton Benjamin to get the IC Title shot at Chris Jericho. That was a solid plurality considering that more than a dozen guys were in the running. Benjamin's closest rival was Batista at 20%.
SHELTON BENJAMIN defeated CHRIS JERICHO in 10:56 to capture the IC belt. Benjamin started with an armdrag takedown. Jericho hit some chops. Benjamin vaulted Jericho out for a big bump. Jericho came back with an enzuigiri and a suplex. Benjamin went for a dropkick and missed, prompting Jericho to go after his "hurt" back with kicks and stomps. Jericho hit a backbreaker. Benjamin hit a sunset flip. Jericho retaliated with a lariat. They were trading two counts throughout all this, but the crowd wasn't all that heated. This was one of those crowds that picked up as the show went along, and they were red hot by the main event. Benjamin hit a superplex, backdrop, and spinkick. Jericho hit the bulldog but missed on the lionsault when Benjamin rolled clear. Benjamin hit a lariat off the top. Jericho tried for the walls hold but Benjamin blocked it with an inside cradle. Jericho laid Benjamin out and successfully did the lionsault, but only scored two. Jericho came off the second rope, but was caught by Benjamin and suplexed into a clean pin. Good opener, though the crowd never really got into it. Jericho shook Benjamin's hand afterward. Good to see Benjamin getting a push, as at first it looked as if he was about to get lost in the shuffle during the build-up for this PPV.
Todd Grisham interviewed Shawn Michaels, Chris Benoit, and Edge, the three men in contention for the World Title shot against Triple H. Edge said his win over the other two last night in the three-way match on RAW proves he deserves the title shot and if there's any justice in the world, he'll win the fan vote and take HHH's belt. Benoit said he hasn't lost to HHH since returning to RAW, that he made HHH submit once, and he'll do it again. Heartbreak Kid denied HHH's allegations that he's faking a knee injury (his injury is legit). He asked fans to give him the shot, promising to take the belt. The fan vote was then revealed as 39% for HBK, 33% for Edge, and 28% for Benoit. This gave HBK the title shot, and also meant that Edge & Benoit would team for a run at the tag titles. Edge didn't take this well, storming off in anger. Benoit congratulated HBK and shook his hand.
TRISH STRATUS retained the Women's Title by winning a Battle Royal in 5:36. This one was pretty bad, though the main attraction here was the ladies in their schoolgirl outfits. Trish, Stacy Keibler, and Gail Kim especially looked pretty damn hot. Molly Holly was (deliberately) wearing a bland outfit. Jazz tore Nidia's top off and threw her out for an elimination. Victoria eliminated Jazz. She then eliminated Gail. Molly & Trish joined forces to eliminate Victoria. They struggled with Stacy for a while, but Molly eliminated her, only to be blindsided by Trish and eliminated. Trish thus retained her belt.
Grisham interviewed La Resistance. They were angry at having to face Edge & Benoit, claiming that the voting was corrupt. They claimed they were wrestling under protest.
GENE SNITSKY defeated KANE in a chain match in 14:15. The fans surprisingly voted 41% for the chain match. I had thought the lead pipe match would win since it was pushed on TV. This match turned out to be awful, and it was made worse by the lack of crowd heat. It was also way too long. Historically, a chain match is one where the wrestlers are chained together at the wrist. In this case, the chain was just lying in the ring. Kane got the chain first, but then nonsensically threw it out of the ring. They brawled, badly, for a while. Kane finally retrieved the chain and punched Snitsky with it. No juice. They brawled around slowly some more, not paying much attention to the chain. Snitsky eventually picked it up and used it to whip Kane. They brawled a little on the floor. Lita, who came out with Kane, picked the chain up but did nothing with it. Snitsky rammed a chair three times into Kane's throat in full view of the ref. Shouldn't that have been a DQ since the fans voted for a chain, not a chair, to be legal? I mean, if the match was an overall no-DQ match, why bother having fans vote to permit a particular weapon? Snitsky choked Kane out with the chain and then put his head through the chair. He did the exact same thing to Kane that Kane did to HBK a few months ago, namely, he jumped on the chair and "ruptured" Kane's windpipe, or whatever. Kane began spitting up blood. The ending was confusing as at first the ref seemed to signal for the match to be stopped. Snitsky started to leave, but then returned and pinned Kane. EMTs ran in as Lita looked all concerned over her "husband." Kane was strapped down to a gurney, still spitting up blood and gasping for air. This part was okay in that it was a standard angle of this type, but the match itself sucked. Jim Ross noted that this was the exact same injury that had befallen HBK at the hands Kane not too long ago, but then enigmatically claimed to have never seen anything like this in his life. JR seemed a little bit off throughout the show. Kane was carted out on the gurney, but of course Snitsky was waiting in the wings to turn the gurney over and stomp Kane a few more times. Kane will be taking some time off.
Edge was interviewed again. He was furious that the fans gave 39% of the vote to a broken-down has-been while giving him only 33%. He put over the tag titles as important but said he's held then ten times before and it's now time for him to win the big belt. He said it's his destiny to be World Champion but the fans let him down. He sarcastically thanked them.
EUGENE defeated ERIC BISCHOFF in 2:11. The proposed stips here were that the loser would be shaved bald, the loser would have to wear a dress for a month, or the loser would become the winner's servant. They held off announcing which stip won the fan vote until after the match for dramatic effect, and also as part of an angle. The match sucked. Bischoff sneak attacked Eugene before the bell with martial arts kicks. Eugene started a comeback. Bischoff faked an injury to get in another sucker kick. Eugene then did the Hogan comeback and pinned Bischoff after an airplane spin and a legdrop. Coach came down to the ring and revealed that the fans gave a whopping 59% of the vote to the head shaving stip. However, he then asked the live crowd which of the three they wanted. They popped huge for the head shaving, but Coach falsely claimed they popped for the servant stip. He then made some kind of convoluted claim that he had the authority to substitute the live crowd vote for the interactive fan vote. He thus announced that Bischoff would be Eugene's servant for five minutes, and that all Bischoff had to do was get Eugene a coke or maybe carry his bags to the car and the stip would be fulfilled. Bischoff was delighted to get off so easily, but Vince McMahon arrived to rain on his parade. Vince overruled Coach and said Bischoff would have to be shaved because that's what the fans voted for. Bischoff refused and started to walk out, but he came back when Vince threatened to fire his ass. He ordered Bischoff to sit his ass down in the barber's chair. Eugene grabbed the clippers. Bischoff balked again and started walking out. This time Coach ran after him and talked him out of leaving. Bischoff now seemed resigned to having his head shaved as the only way to keep his General Manager job. So Eugene began chopping away as Vince smirked. A few strokes with the clippers revealed that Bischoff has gray roots. Vince laughed at him for using hair coloring, calling him a phony son of a bitch. Coach tried to slink away, but Vince called him back. He forced Coach to put on the dress they had at ringside in case that stip won. He then called Coach a slut. Eugene chopped off about half of Bischoff's hair before it was announced that they would finish the job backstage so the show could go on. This was very entertaining, overriding the fact that the short match was bad.
Edge barged into HBK's locker room. He said HBK should have dropped out of the fan balloting due to his injury. Edge said he would have won the vote then and would have gone on to win the World Title. He told HBK he can't possibly beat HHH while wrestling injured and called him a selfish son of a bitch for not stepping aside. HBK listened in silence.
CHRIS BENOIT & EDGE defeated LA RESISTANCE in 16:14 to capture the RAW Tag Titles. Sylvan Grenier sang "O Canada". Frankly, I'd rather have seen some more of Bischoff's head being shaved. Edge and Rob Conway brawled to start things off. Benoit came in and suplexed Conway. Grenier suplexed Edge. Edge fought back with a lariat and a bodyslam. Edge went to the top, but then left the ring to argue with some heckling fans, allowing Grenier to recover. The story here was that Edge's heart wasn't in the match because he was disappointed at losing the World Title shot. Benoit tagged in and scored some twos on Grenier with a suplex and a backbreaker. Edge came back in but got beaten down and tied up in La Resistance's corner. They worked him over and scored some twos before he finally hot tagged Benoit. Benoit came in fast but got double teamed and tied up in the bad corner just as had happened to Edge. Benoit managed to fight his way out and tag Edge, but the ref didn't see the tag and disallowed it. Edge started to argue with the ref, but then seemed to get a "why am I wasting my time" look on his face. He turned and walked out, leaving Benoit alone. Edge walked to the back, got his bags, got in his car, and drove off. When Benoit realized he was abandoned, he grew furious and rallied. He fought both foes off, superplexing Grenier and then forcing Conway to tap to the crossface after two German suplexes. The victorious Benoit hoisted both tag belts as the crowd popped. The match was okay, but I really liked the angle.
Grisham interviewed HHH, who repeated his opinion that it's stupid to let the fans pick his opponent. He accused HBK of faking an injury to try and lure him into letting his guard down. He said it won't happen and that he'll remain champ.
CHRISTY defeated CARMELLA in a lingerie pillow fight in 1:48. This was awful as wrestling, though it was meant as a display of female flesh, and in that sense it was fine. The lingerie gimmick won with 57% of the vote, by the way. They had some of those silhouette screens set up on the stage so we could watch the gals change into their lingerie in silhouette. Christy had the hang of this but Carmella was too far from the screen for us to see much of her in silhouette. It took forever for them to change. They finally went down to the ring in their lingerie. Christy reached inside Carmella's top and pulled out a falsie, which was funny. They then just sort of hit each other with pillows. The pillows were gimmicked to bust open on contact so feathers were flying all over. Christy eventually knocked Carmella down and pinned her.
TRIPLE H defeated SHAWN MICHAELS to retain the RAW World Title in 14:04. HBK deserves a lot of credit for putting in such a good showing while injured. The injury was the story here as HHH immediately attacked the bad knee. He stomped, kicked, and wrenched the knee for several minutes as HBK sold the pain big time. HBK rallied by throwing chops but HHH just kept attacking the leg. HHH hooked the figure four. They did a great drama job here with the ref wanting HBK to give it up. HBK, in agony, begged the ref not to stop the match while HHH yelled for him to do just that. HBK made the ropes after a great struggle. HHH dragged HBK over to the post and was about to wrap the knee around it, but HBK managed to evade it and ended up posting HHH. HBK went on a brief offensive on one leg, and evaded a pedigree with a low blow. HBK hit a DDT, and despite the pain, he forced himself to climb to the top to deliver a flying elbow. HBK was ready to try for the sweet chin music. Batista ran out and got on the apron. HBK slugged him. HBK then hit the chin music as well as he could given the injury. Batista tried to get in the ring. The ref struggled with him. As the ref was distracted, Edge came from the other side and speared HBK. HHH crawled on top for the pin as the ref returned to action. The Edge run in was great. The match wasn't a classic HHH vs. HBK encounter, due to HBK's necessary limitations here, but they booked it great considering this and it was a good match.
Bischoff was shown leaving the arena. He wasn't totally bald, but almost was and what little hair he had was gray. He passed a bunch of tech crew guys and accused them of laughing at him. He threatened to fire all of them.
RANDY ORTON defeated RIC FLAIR in a cage match in 10:35. The cage stip won with a huge 68% of the vote. Coach, still wearing the dress, called 68% unanimous. Uh, no, Coach, 68% is a landslide. It requires 100% to be unanimous. They started off with brawling and chops. Flair was fired up, stemming from the Jimmy Kimmel deal. Orton backdropped Flair. Flair took full advantage of the no-DQ rules, hitting a low blow. Flair raked Orton across the cage and he juiced a gusher. JR said neither Bush nor Kerry could hope to get 68% of the vote. Jerry Lawler said Bush should get that much but he doubted he will. Considering that the biggest presidential landslides in history never came close to 68%, it's safe to say JR's prediction was right. Maybe the cage should run for president. Anyway, Orton brawled back and bloodied Flair on the cage. Both went to the top, with Flair getting crotched. Orton pounded the cut and caused Flair to bleed more. This was certainly a double juice bloodbath. Orton hit a bodyslam and a crossbody for a near fall. The crowd heat here was enormous. Flair pulled out brass knux and flattened Orton, but only scored a two count, which caused the crowd to get hotter. Flair tried to go out through the door. Orton dragged him back, but Flair managed to haul a chair in with him. Flair swung the chair and missed, and Orton then nailed Flair with a surprise RKO and scored the pin. The crowd popped huge for the finish. Great match and great heat! The post-match stuff was awesome as Flair and Orton first shook hands and then hugged. It put over the idea that Flair, though past his prime, could still hang in there in a dangerous cage match and he put a beating on the younger and stronger Orton before losing a close contest. Both kept looking at one another through all the blood as if to say they mutually respected the other. Flair, God bless him, put another young star over and, as JR noted, legitimized his "legend killer" claim. Orton seemed legitimately emotional over this. Each raised the other's hand as the show left the air.
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