Original Airdate: Thursday, January 20th, 2005
Bell Centre
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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Teddy Long is in the ring to start the show. Kurt Angle will be forced to issue an apology to Joy Giovanni. If he doesn't, he will remove him from the WWE Championship match at Royal Rumble and he will also not have another title match in 2005. He also told Kurt Angle that no one will lay a hand on him so that he can issue the apology. Once he gives the apology, anyone who wants a piece of Angle, can come and get some.
WWE Tag Team Championship Match
Eddie Guerrero & Booker T vs. The Basham Brothers
The Bashams just won the titles last week and are thrown right into the fire. They announce Rob Van Dam is out with a torn ACL. I know they were on last week, but I really have no recollection of Eddie and Booker teaming up. I know everyone says this, but man do I miss watching Eddie. Eddie hits an airplane spin and then a thumb to the eye for a fun spot. That is followed up by a double team that sees Eddie hold up whichever Basham and Booker nails him with a kick. The Bashams do the switcheroo, which is basically all they do. Booker T breaks out of the full nelson, but Danny slams him. We get another full nelson. Booker gets out and a hot tag to Eddie. We get the Three Amigos from Eddie. Orlando Jordan gets on the apron and Eddie hip tosses him in the ring. Doug Basham has one of the tag titles, but Eddie ducks it and ends up using the belt on Doug. The ref sees him standing there with the belt and Eddie tries to convince him that he didn't use it. Nick Patrick isn't buying it and he calls for the DQ. Fun opening match though.
Match Rating: ***1/4 (out of 5)
After the match Eddie and Booker argue and Eddie walks away. Danny Basham then attacks Booker. Orlando Jordan joins in. Eddie thinks about it and decides to help out Booker. They clear the ring after hitting a scissor kick and frog splash on OJ.
JBL and Amy Weber are backstage. JBL says that Kurt Angle crossed the line. He says that he and the Cabinet are going to destroy Angle.
Big Show and Joy Giovanni are now backstage. Big Show doesn't care what Teddy Long says, he wants to beat the apology out of Angle.
Royal Rumble Qualifying Match
Akio vs. Scotty 2 Hotty
It's kind of crazy that Scotty was still on the roster in 2005. This is apparently his return match. Both of these guys are pretty underrated in the grand scheme of things. Scotty hits the worm and gets the victory. That was pretty paint by the numbers and the crowd wasn't really buying it.
Match Rating: *3/4
John Cena is backstage now. This was basically just a time killer to get Cena to say "If you want some, come get some."
Big Show is still waiting by the door for Kurt Angle. I have to believe there is more than one door in the entire arena that Angle could walk in through. Teddy Long tries to talk him out of it.
Carlito is now coming down the aisle with his sling and petition. He has some fans sign it. Carlito cuts a promo that seems to go on forever until Heidenreich interrupts. Heidenreich signs the petition and says he wants Long gone too. God, this is awful. He is complaining about how afraid he is of caskets, but not of Undertaker. Then the lights go off and Taker is on the screen. He opens a casket and Heidenreich is in there. Taker says Heidenreich will rest in peace. This was a terrible segment.
Big Show is still waiting for Angle. The door opens and Show is up and ready, but it's just two girls who I have no idea who they are.
Royal Rumble Qualifying Match
John Cena vs. Rene Dupree
I forgot about Fifi. Dupree is dominating Cena here with his boring offense. Cena finally makes his comeback. Big clothesline by Cena and an elbow. The announcers are doing everything in their power to make the Royal Rumble important. Cena misses the Five Knuckle Shuffle, but ends up hitting it anyway. Cena hits the Pumps and gets Dupree up for the FU and hits it after a brief counter by Dupree. It's pretty easy to see why Dupree wasn't in a big role for long. Out of nowhere, Kenzo Suzuki attacks Cena.
Match Rating: *3/4
Big Show is still waiting...and now JBL comes up to him. He proposes that he and Big Show team up for one night only and attack Angle so that he's out of the match at Royal Rumble. Big Show says that is the first time that JBL has actually made sense and he'll think about it.
Royal Rumble Qualifying Match
Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo Guerrero
These two guys have had to have wrestled each other a couple hundred times. It's kind of crazy to think that in a few months I will be watching Kerwin White promos. They do a nice segment out of a monkey flip. During the break Mysterio missed a baseball slide and Chavo caught him with a clothesline. Chavo kicks the knee of Mysterio causing him to do a 360. Chavo misses the next kick and Mysterio hits a springboard moonsault. I just realized that I have hardly even paid attention to Michael Cole and Tazz this entire episode. Rey rolls through a sunset flip and hits a dropkick. Mysterio goes for a springboard crossbody but instead gets a dropkick to the gut. This is one of the more 50/50 matches you will ever see. Chavo ducks a 619 and then gets a face first sitdown powerbomb for a 2 count. The crowd loved that one. 619 and this time Rey hits it. Springboard splash and Mysterio wins. There was never a doubt that Rey was going to win, but they did a good job of making Chavo look like his equal. This was a really fun match.
Match Rating: ***1/2
Kurt Angle is coming through the crowd in dress clothes. Angle is in the ring and calls out Joy. He apologizes for any anguish he may have caused. Out comes Big Show and he sends Joy back to the locker room. Big Show comes to the ring and Angle says he will see him at Royal Rumble and tries to escape until JBL's music hits. The entire Cabinet is out. JBL says that Angle's going to get what he deserves and so is JBL. They then shake hands and out comes Jindrak and Reigns. They are now all surrounding Show around the ring. After a few failed attempts at sending a couple people at a time, they finally realize they should all go in there. Big Show still fights that off until he gets a low blow from Orlando Jordan. JBL then hits Show with a rough looking shot to the head. This beatdown is going on for way too long. Show is busted open now and Angle and JBL drill him with the steps through the ropes.
That is a hard show to rate. It two really fun matches and the other two were passable. The whole Amy/Joy stuff was pretty bad and just seemed so forced. Rey and Eddie continue to be the MVPs of this show, not that it should surprise anyone.
Overall Rating: 62%
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