Schmozzes And Screwjobs 02.13.2007 The Montreal Screwjob

Man, this column has been through so many changes in the past week you actually wouldn’t believe it. Initially, I was planning a write up of one of my favourite No Way Out moments of all time, and that’s John Bradshaw Layfield “screwing” the Big Show out of the WWE Championship by winning a cage via crawling underneath the ring after being chokeslammed through it, but then I opted for the little gem we have further down. I only decided to go for the one I have because I happened to watch the whole event while sick in bed last week, and realised what a great screwing it was. That last sentence wasn’t supposed to come out that way but, alas. Not only that, but I had originally planned to talk about wether WWE has any faith in it’s B-Show, SmackDown, seeing as it’s latest pay-per-view is being helped out once AGAIN by some of Raw’s biggest stars. But due to one particular match being changed and the other involving WrestleMania main event participants, and thus that part is forgivable, I decided to chose something else to talk about which I suppose you will find out when you read on. So…

No Way Out is this Sunday so we have a Screwjob from that event 4 years ago that features the debut of everyone’s favourite French-Canadian jobber! This was a big pay-per-view for the WWE; it featuring the return of The Texas Rattlesnake Stone Cold Steve Austin! Not only that, this show was headlined by the rematch of THE dream match! A year ago at WrestleMania X8, The Rock and Hulk Hogan blew the roof off of the Skydome in Toronto and WWE would be looking for them to do the same to the Bell Centre. How did it all go down, you ask?! Read on…

The Screwjob

The Montreal Screwjob (No, the other one)
The Rematch: Hulk Hogan vs. The Rock
The Bell Centre – Montreal, Quebec
February 23rd 2003

In a unrelated side note, Evanescence’s “Bring Me To Life” was the theme for this event. Just thought I’d bring that up as Evanescence are one of my favourite bands, and no matter what Ben Czajkowski says in his music column All You Cannot Live Without, Amy Lee is awesome. And hot. Moving on.

Background Information
This goes back a whole year to No Way Out 2002. Hulk Hogan, along with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, arrived in the (then) WWF under the New World Order gimmick. They claimed they were there to be a part of the WWF, not kill it. Throughout the night, Hogan, Nash and Hall were seen having confrontations with several WWF Superstars, notably Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock. But later that night, the NWO interfered in the Undisputed Championship match between champion Chris Jericho and Stone Cold. They attacked Austin and “branded” him, spraying the NWO initials on his back. Rumour had it that Austin vs. Hogan was pencilled in for WrestleMania X8, but because of his problems with WWE management as well as Hogan himself, Austin opted out of the projected plans, and instead we got the first leg of Rock/Hogan in front of 68,000 in the Toronto Skydome at Mania. Despite Hogan being the heel leading to and during the match, those crazy cannucks were defiant as always and were split pretty much 50/50. Rocky got win after about 12 Rock Bottoms and 19 People’s Elbows, and after the bout, Rock and Hogan embraced and Rock left Hogan alone in the ring to receive a standing O from Toronto. But Scott Hall and Kevin Nash were not pleased and came out to spoil the party. They started to beat down The Hulkster, until The Rock returned to the ring and together with Hogan, cleared house! The next few weeks on SmackDown, Hogan went back to wearing the old Red and Yellow and became a full blown face again. Rock went off to Hollywood and began his career as a movie star, filming The Scorpion King, while Hogan was drafted to SmackDown and challenged Triple H for the Undisputed Championship, which he won at Backlash 2002! His reign however, only lasted a few weeks as he was defeated by The Undertaker at judgment Day in May, so Hogan went on to battle Kurt Angle at King of the Ring, which saw Angle force Hogan to submit for the first time in his WWE career. Hogan then left the company for several months after getting destroyed by Brock Lesnar in the Summer of 2002. Hogan returned in early 2003 and began feuding with Vince McMahon. McMahon wanted Hogan out of WWE so he brought in someone to battle Hogan at No Way Out – The Rock! Rocky seemed reborn in his new heel persona and heel Rock of 2003 made for some great T.V., but first he had Hogan to deal with at No Way Out! It was Rock vs. Hogan II only now the roles were reversed, Rock was a heel and Hogan was once again the most loved guy on the roster at the time. They were going back to Canada for Rock-Hogan II, but no-one expected this ending!

How It Went Down!
Would you look at that, we have new sub-titles! Well I couldn’t find a decent report in the 411 Archives, so I had to look further a field to find this report. By decent, I mean detailed match wise as opposed to opinion and entertaining writing, because everything written for 411 is quality (didn’t want to offend anyone there). This actually comes from 411’s Arnold Furious’ furiousrage.com where he has tonnes of reports from tonnes of feds dating back years and years. It’s ridiculous, you should check it out.

No Way Out 2003 – The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan II

Rock tries to jump but Hogan spots him so Rock bails. Rock suckers Hogan back inside and stomps away. Hogan no sells in the corner and bounces Rock’s head off the buckles. Smackdown punch sends Rock to the floor. Rock hangs Hogan up on the ropes and calls for the Rock Bottom, which he hits in incredibly sloppy fashion for 2 and I hate to say this but the crowd is dying here. Rock puts on the bandana and stomps. He takes the weight lifting belt as well and slaps Hogan with it. Hogan no sells and gets the belt for a strapping session. DDT from Rock and he poses to heat. Sharpshooter and you know that draws heat too. Hogan gets the ropes. Hogan super powers out of the sharpshooter. Outside and Rock hits a clothesline. Rock misses with a chair shot. Hogan connects to the back. Ref grabs the chair back inside and Rock goes low. Spinebuster from Rock and the crowd boo the hell out of the People’s Elbow. So Rock does it again for 2. Hogan hulks up. Rock mocks him and gets beaten down for it. Big boot. Leg drop but the lights go out. Huh? They come back up and the ref is bumped. Vinny Mac comes out looking confused. “You screwed Bret” chant breaks out again. The ref is a plant though and he gives Rock a chair. Oh, screwy. Hogan takes the chair to the head. That opens him up. Hogan staggers into a Rock Bottom. Ref counts Hogan down at 12.41. 1/2*. Vinny jumps in to celebrate with Rock post match. Rock and the heel ref leave but Vinny goes back to Hogan. Vince mocks Hogan in the most entertaining part of this match. No recovery for Hogan though and they just love pissing on Montreal don’t they?

Yes, Arnold, screwy indeed!

Analysis:
So what did this achieve? Well for one, the whole match set up the return of The Rock after his sabbatical to go film one of his first movies. And it also gave the perfect opportunity for The Rock to go heel. The other thing, of course, is setting up Hogan vs. Vince McMahon at WrestleMania that year, which they billed as “20 Years in the Making!” That match itself was all rather entertaining as it happens, and it even featured the return of the legendary Rowdy Roddy Piper! Hogan carried on to feud with Vince throughout the Spring of that year, even donning a new persona, Mr America that he used after McMahon fired Hogan. After another of their fallouts, Hogan would soon leave the company anyway and thus the Mr America angle was scrapped but that’s not the point.

From here, The Rock went to Raw where he feuded with another man who made his return at No Way Out, Stone Cold Steve Austin. At WrestleMania XIX, Rock and Austin battle on the Grandest Stage of ‘Em All for third time, and for the first time, The Rock came out victorious. Rock would then go on to feud with Bill Goldberg, culminating at Backlash in a match that Goldberg won. The Rock then temporarily left the company yet again to film another movie and would not return until December that year to help out Mick Foley. And here’s the ironic bit, The Rock helped Foley out when he was in trouble with La Résistance, the heel French tag team stable that was made up of combinations of René Duprée, Robért Conway and Sylvain Grenier! What’s ironic? You ask! Well the referee who was involved in the No Way Out screwing was a Mr Grenier, making his WWE debut! Oh hell yeah. Whodda thought, he’d go from kissing Mr McMahon’s ass and screwing Hulk Hogan, to getting his own ass kicked on a regular basis on SmackDown, while screwing…Pat Patterson? Nice career move son!

Half Time

Let’s have some early Reader Feedback. I got this piece a few weeks ago from a guy called “Matt.” He had issues with the layout of my column.

Hey dude, ur “half time” segment should b a little nearer the half way point of your column, don’t u think? As it is, its more after like a quarter of ur material and it makes no sense. That’s all I wanted to say, good column, keep up the good work!

Really? Huh, I have to say I hadn’t noticed that. I was thinking, just for jokes like, I should put it right at the beginning of the column. Or maybe even at the end! What can I say, I’m really a little rebel!

Moving on.

Other stuff around 411 to check out (but not until you’ve finished reading this stuff you fool!)

Ask 411 Wrestling discusses blood, ***** matches, Hulk Hogan and oh so much more!
Justin Pelletier and Stu Carapola go head-to-head in this week’s Fact Or Fiction
Bayani talks ECW in Truth Be Told
Michael Weyer Shines A Spotlight on racism and to what extent it exists in wrestling
Larry has his 3 R’s of Wrestling as usual, and I hear he is near 2000 now
Stuart Carapola has Part 2 of Hogan’s many friends in That Was Then
In this week’s Ripple Effect, Zac Calhoun re-casts Raw
High Road/Low Road this week sees Sat and Uncle Trunx discuss Taker winning The Rumble
Carapola has been busy again this week; he also has his Friendly Competition
Phil Feltham shares his random thoughts in The Quick Talkdown
Ari Berenstein has Column of Honor
MSD compares Tazz to Bobby Lashley in this week’s Hangover
The Triple Threat looks at a variety of topics with Sean, David and Alex
Ron Gamble has his Just S’Pose
The Shimmy and Andy Clark take at look at Batista’s time on Raw in Part 1 of his Report Card
JT and JP are back in a normal edition of Hidden Highlights
The whole crew came out for Wrestler Of The Week
Marsico and Sforcina have a Money In The Bank edition of The Fink’s Payload
And Julian Williams has his Top 10 matches from No Way Out!

And finally, special pimping goes to Jordan Linkous and everyone who helped on the WWE vs. TNA Roundtable! Part 1 is here, and yes it gets special pimping just because I feature in this little gem. Which reminds me, watch out for parts 2 and 3 in the coming weeks!

False Finishes And Fan Cams

So last week it was announced via wwe.com that at No Way Out, fans would be treated to a rematch from the goodness that was Armageddon last year when WWE Tag Team Champions Paul London and Brian Kendrick would defend their gold in a Four Team Ladder Match featuring William Regal and Dave Taylor, MNM, and The Hardy Boyz! Great, right? Wrong. Yesterday, also on wwe.com, this article was posted;

Proving truth to the old adage that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, Deuce & Domino have secured a match for the WWE Tag Team Championship at No Way Out.

After listening to their complaint, WWE officials ruled in favor of Deuce & Domino, naming them the rightful No. 1 contenders to the WWE Tag Team Championship. As a result, the Ladder Match pitting London & Kendrick vs. MNM vs. The Hardys vs. William Regal & Dave Taylor has been removed from the No Way Out pay-per-view.

So essentially, as my teaser line suggested clearly outlined, Deuce, Domino and Cherry > MNM, Regal & Taylor, Hardyz and multiple ladders. Sure. So what we are here to evaluate is, is this a smart move on the part of the WWE?

The Great No Way Out Tag Team Championship Debate

Four Way Ladder Match vs. Deuce and Domino

Match Quality: This really is not a contest. If we look back to last December and the Armageddon pay-per-view that featured the first Four Way Ladder match between these four teams, we can see it was a hell of a match and 411’s own J.D. Dunn rated the match at **** and I’ve heard other people rate it higher. I myself thought it probably deserved at least ¼* more than that but Dunn gets the final word.

Looking back to the past two recent non-title matches we’ve seen from Duece and Domino vs. the champs, Dunn’s match ratings come in at ** and *¼, so neither showing has been particularly bad, but not anything special either. So if you’re looking for a blowaway match, you, sir, have been screwed!

Continuity: Again, this one really isn’t up for debate; Deuce and Domino getting the title shot makes SO much more sense than the ladder match. Since debuting and beating two pairs of jobbers, the new duo have defeated the WWE Tag Team Champions on not one, but two occasions, and cleanly at that. Usually that would pretty much gaurentee a title shot at the next pay-per-view as we have seen with The Pitbuls and The Teachers Pets, as well as Regal and Taylor getting their shot after beating the champs clean, allbeit the title match not being on pay-per-view.

A ladder match would probably be the best next step for the on/off MNM vs. Hardyz feud, but where do Regal and Taylor, or the tag team champions for that matter, come into it? Yes, MNM own two non-title victories over London and Kendrick in recent months, but let’s not forget something; MNM WERE ONLY SUPPOSED TO BE A ONE TIME REUNION! Same goes for The Hardyz, Jeff is even Intercontinental Champion on Raw while Matt has been floating around in the mediocrisy pool for the last year. While I have no problem with MNM and The Hardyz feuding, I don’t think there is any need for them to be getting involved with London and Kendrick, or indeed the WWE Tag Team Championships. And as far as Regal and Taylor are concerned, how the hell did they earn another championship oppurtunity? The last time they were even seen on SmackDown, they were doing the job to London and Kendrick the week before the Royal Rumble.

So if you each and every one of your wrestling storylines to make sense, you should be pleased Deuce and Domino are getting their title shot!

The Road To WrestleMania: So we’re on the Road To Mania and therefore we should be expecting the biggest names in the biggest matches. So with that being said, shouldn’t No Way Out be stacked with matches leaving us druelling over what we’re going to see at WrestleMania? After what we witnessed at Armageddon, that ladder match on it’s own would draw thousands more buys for No Way Out. But saying that, No Way Out is usually a good draw anyway, just because it’s the last pay-per-view stop on the Road To Mania, so maybe it’s a good idea not to have this ladder match. Hell, they may even be saving it for the Showcase of the Immortals itself. No-one can possibly claim it’s not a good enough match to be featured on this or any WrestleMania card.

A Change of Plans?: Maybe WWE has decided that now is the time to take the tag straps off of London and Kendrick and give them to someone new and fresh. What with Deuce and Domino being the new team on the scene, and holding two non-title victories over the champs in recent weeks, they would have to be the obvious choice for a title switch. But really, what would be the point of having the straps switch hands this close to Mania when London and Kendrick are firm fan favourites, and have proven that they can carry just about any team to a decent tag team encounter? Will London and Kendrick get their rematch at Mania? If so, why bother with this match when you’ve already made plans for the pay-per-view.

A-ha, it appears there has been a change of plan! But not the one I’ve just been discussing. This news just came in as I’m typing this;

The reason that WWE pulled the tag team ladder match from No Way Out is because Vince McMahon decided over the weekend that the Hardy Boys and MNM will no longer be teaming and all four wrestlers will go back to singles. Stephanie McMahon then made the decision to scrap the ladder match and have Deuce and Domino challenge for the WWE Tag Team Titles against Paul London & Brian Kendrick. It should be noted that WWE has gone back and forth on whether to keep the Hardys and MNM together for awhile now.

OK. While I was indifferent to wether or not MNM and The Hardyz continued teaming or not, I don’t quite get this. If you want them to stop teaming and feuding together, why not use the already announced pay-per-view match to give the feud one final blow off and put the champs over at the same time. Not to mention putting on an awesome match at the same time. If it was me, I’d continue the Hardyz/MNM feud till Mania and have a big gimmick match, Cage, 2 Out Of 3 Falls, anything is better than just have them stop feuding cold turkey. If they want to give Deuce and Domino their shot, why not use this week on SmackDown and give the champs some momentum on the way into No Way Out? I can’t see the newcomers going over, so this whole thing, to me at least, seems like an unnecessary change of plans, and not very well thought through on the part of Mr McMahon and Mrs McMahon-Helmsley.

So my conclusion? We’ve all been screwed here, folks!

But what do you guys think?

So there you have it, results will be in next week, and we’ll see if the change effected buys for No Way Out on a small, 411 scale.

Reader Feedback

I only had one real piece of feedback from my column a fortnight ago about, wait what was my column about two weeks ago? Let’s just hope regular reader Samer knows…

Hello again..

That’s it for now, Take care..

First of all Samer, let me apologize for not getting back to you personally when you first sent me the feedback. I must’ve been really busy doing something and then I must’ve just forgot I got any feedback. Anywho…

Totally agree with you on the King Of The Mountain, the concept is just too complex to really get into. I also agree that it’s TNA’s main event scene that is holding them back, or at least was at that particular time. While they had their mid-upper card pretty much figured out and were putting out good matches, like the Joe/Styles/Daniels series you mentioned, their whole main event scene was an overbooked mess, and with Russo at the helm now, things aren’t going to be getting any better soon, just look at the Cage/Angle match from Sunday night. You have the potential for a **** match on it’s own, and you have run-ins galore, ref bumps coming out your ass, and the match quality suffers drastically from it. Ironically now, every other part of TNA is deteriorating and it’s all seeming to me like it’s going to be downhill until Russo gets his head out of his ass, or leaves altogether.

Yes, The Rumble was a great pay-per-view offering and much better than I think anyone expecting, mostly thanks to Cena/Umaga and the Rumble itself, as well as everything else being “fine” as it were. Test vs. Lashley wasn’t too bad and I thought it was the best of their mini-series, but the ending was pretty pointless. If Test hadn’t got his ass handed to him after the match, I might be able to see some sense in it all; WWE hoping people will tune it to ECW on SciFi to see the re-rematch, but Lashley beat Test up again after the match so, why would we want to see them go at it again? Batista/Kennedy was shaping up to be a nice little outing for both men, Kennedy looked great getting in nearly all the offence on The Animal and at one point he did have the match won, but the ref bump stopped My New Hero claiming his World Championship. Batista’s selling of the leg was good until, as you mentioned, the end where he forgot about it to perform the Batista Bomb, but as you say, it was decent and a sign of things to come from Kennedy. I too expected a good match from Umaga and Cena and it delivered beyond anyone’s expectations, including my own. I really liked the finish as it was inevative and original, and both men looked great coming out of the match. Great brawl and it wouldn’t surprise me to see these two lock horns again somewhere down the road later this year. The Rumble was good too, and I thought the last 8 minutes were awesome, but I really thought HBK was going to get the win, but now we’ve got our WrestleMania main events set and everythings looking gravy. I just hope they put HBK/Cena on as the main event as you know it’ll be the better match. It now appears MNM and The Hardyz is over, and I think it was just about running out of steam. WWE would’ve done well to prolong it a little bit and make it an on/off feud and have the big blow-off at Mania. Hope to here from you again, thanks for the feedback Samer!

Wow, long feedback is great.

Taking It Home