Jan 4, 2006

Rage In The Cage



WWE Velocity and Smackdown TV Taping
Wachovia Arena - Wilkes-Barre, PA
This was kind of a last minute decisions so my seats weren't too great, but I did get to see my first WWE cage match.  Also, two wrestlers from WXW in Hazleton appeared on the show: "Smooth" Tommy Suede and Supreme Lee Great, who worked under his real name, Jon Trosky.  It was also the debut of The Shane Twins from OVW who were promoted and repackaged as The Gymini.  The matches were decent, but the show was centered around a dopey soap opera storyline in which Melina has accused Batista of sexual harassment.

The Smackdown matches were recorded to air on the UPN Network this Friday, January 6th.  The Velocity matches will be streamed on WWE.com as of Saturday, January 7th.

WWE Velocity results

Singles MatchSylvain Grenier defeated "Smooth" Tommy Suede

Tag Team MatchThe Dicks (Chad Dick and James Dick) defeated Fred Sampson and Scotty Charisma

Singles MatchJamie Noble defeated Scotty 2 Hotty

Singles MatchBobby Lashley defeated Havoc

Tag Team MatchThe Mexicools (Psychosis and Super Crazy) defeated The Full-Blooded Italians (Big Vito and Nunzio)

WWE Smackdown results

Falls Count Anywhere
Singles Match
John Bradshaw Layfield defeated Matt Hardy

One On Three
Gauntlet Match
Mark Henry defeated Rob Eckos, Jon Trosky and Gus Harlacher

WWE Cruiserweight
Championship Match
Kid Kash defeated Juventud Guerrera

WWE United States
Championship Match
(Best of 7 Series - Match 6)
Chris Benoit defeated Randy Orton*
*substituting for Booker T

Tag Team MatchThe Gymini* (Jake Gymini and Jesse Gymini) defeated Paul London and Brian Kendrick
*Simon Dean introduced The Gymini, who were making their WWE debut in this match

WWE Tag Team
Championship Steel Cage Match
MNM (Johnny Nitro and Joey Mercury) defeated Batista and Rey Mysterio Jr
Mark Henry ran in, ripped the door off of the cage to attack Batista and Mysterio to cost them the match.



Update: This was Juventud Guerrera's last appearance in the WWE.  He had a number of backstage altercations, and he performed moves that he was told not to do (including the 450 Splash) in his match against Kid Kash.  He was fired from the company after the show.

One of the jobbers on Velocity (Fred Sampson) would go on to become a member of the Nexus and a WWE Tag Team Champion, Darren Young.  Also, one of the jobbers who faced Mark Henry on Smackdown (Rob Eckos) would go on to become Robbie E, a TNA Tag Team Champion, Television Champion and X-Division Champion.