December 2003 thru WrestleMania XX
Writing Began: November 17th, 2003 (Day after Survivor Series 2003)
Writing Finished: November 27th, 2003
iEvents Going on at the Time:i
Survivor Series 2003:
Goldberg beat Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship. Vince McMahon beat The Undertaker in a “Buried Alive” match when Kane interfered. “Team Bischoff” beat “Team Austin” in a 5-on-5 elimination match, when Batista interfered, costing “Stone Cold” Steve Austin his job. “Team Angle” beat “Team Lesnar” when Chris Benoit made Brock Lesnar tap-out to the Crippler Crossface and John Cena hit The Big Show with the F.U. Kane beat Shane McMahon in an “Ambulance” match. The Basham Brothers retained the WWE Tag-Team Championships against Los Guerreros, and Molly Holly retained the Womens’ Championship against Lita.
Other Notes:
“Smackdown!”: Hardcore Holly had recently returned, looking for revenge against the man who broke his neck, Brock Lesnar. Paul Heyman was the General Manager of “Smackdown!”, and would help his friend/client Brock Lesnar hold on to his [Lesnar’s] WWE Championship by rarely granting title-shots to others. Reigning Cruiserweight Champion Tajiri and his henchmen Akio and Sakoda were actively trying to recruit Ultimo Dragon into their group; at the same time, Noble is still seeking revenge against Tajiri for blinding his girlfriend Nidia. Vince McMahon had cut a promo a few weeks earlier, basically saying that he’s smarter than the audience; he was interrupted by John Cena, who responded that if it weren’t for the fans, there would be no WWE. Edge, who was side-lined with a neck injury in February 2003, would be returning in a few months. Kurt Angle took a few weeks off after Survivor Series 2003 to deal with a recurring neck-injury. The break-up of Los Guerreros was being teased.
“Raw”: It was announced that, at Armageddon 2003, Goldberg would defend his World Heavyweight Championship against Triple H and Kane in a “Triple Threat” match. Chris Jericho and Christian had recently made a bet as to which one of them would be the first to bed Trish Stratus or Lita respectively; however, Jericho began developing feelings for Trish, while Christian began to feel bad for Lita, who had recently been dumped by Matt Hardy. The team of Mark Jindrak and Garrison Cade begin making strides in the tag-team ranks. Shawn Michaels and Rob Van Dam are feuding with Batista and Randy Orton. Theodore Long is managing Mark Henry in an “anti-whitey” program.
Day after "Survivor Series 2003" until "Armageddon 2003"
SMACKDOWN
Holly is getting a high-card push, while Benoit is getting a push into the main-event slot. Smackdown’s “Free PPV” (namely, their “big” TV-episode) will most likely be headlined by Brock/Holly, while Benoit has to win some sort of “impossible-to-win” match to get his shot at Brock.
Starting with the Cena/Benoit match (and subsequent title-shot) next week, here's where I'd go with it: Cena and Benoit wrestle a clean match, only for Show to run-in and cost Cena the match. Benoit then goes on to wrestle Brock later that night; Benoit will have Brock in the Crossface, but, just before Brock taps, the members of "Team Lesnar" will run-in, causing the DQ.
Heyman won't grant Cena a rematch against Benoit or a shot at Brock, but he WILL give Cena a US-Title match against Big Show at their "Free PPV". Benoit will also get in Heyman's face, and demand a rematch against Brock; however, Brock uses his connection to Heyman to keep Benoit away for as long as possible. Just as it seems that Benoit will FINALLY get his shot at Brock at the “Rumble”, Heyman announces that Benoit WILL get his shot… and that all he has to do is win the Rumble.
Also around this time, Angle makes his return to TV; wanting a shot at Brock, Heyman says that he won’t grant him a match against the man who broke/injured his neck (in the storylines, Brock will get the credit for putting Angle on the shelf), but that Angle is free to enter the Rumble if he so wishes.
With Angle and Benoit both faces and both in the Rumble, some of their “professional competitiveness” will come back, sowing the seeds for the future. Seeing as only Benoit will be able to wrestle at this time, though (Angle won’t be able to wrestle until around the “Rumble”), Angle will serve as Benoit’s out-of-the-ring back-up against “Team Lesnar” beat-downs.
Tajiri will continue feuding with Noble, while at the same time, continue trying to recruit Ultimo. Ultimo will refuse.
Also at this time, Cena’s feud with Show will be in full-swing. During the “Free PPV”, Cena will face Show for the US Title; Vince will interfere (in retaliation for Cena interrupting Vince’s promo), costing Cena the match.
Lastly, TWGTT will get their title-shot at the Bashams.
SMACKDOWN’S “FREE PPV” {Dec. 2003}
- SD Title: Brock (c) defends against Bob Holly
- US Title: Show (c) defends against Cena
- SD Tag Titles: Bashams (c) defend against TWGTT
- Handicap: Benoit vs. Jones and Morgan
///
Benoit/Jones-Morgan – Angle helps Benoit win.
Bashams/TWGTT – TWGTT
Show/Cena – Vince, in retaliation to Cena interrupting his promo, runs-in and costs Cena the match.
Brock/Holly – Brock.
RAW
Kane continues interfering in Goldberg’s matches, while Evolution just kinda hangs back, getting a few cheap-shots in at Goldberg, but not being the main focus, instead letting Goldberg and Kane take each-other out.
Randy Orton will continue feuding with RVD (while having a side-feud with Maven), and Shawn will continue feuding with Batista (while having a side-feud with Jericho); this will, in turn, lead to a larger feud involving all of Evolution against Shawn, Maven, Jindrak, and Cade.
There is also more build towards Matt/Christian, with Lita, while appreciating Christian’s help, not being ready to date just yet (and not trusting him because he is still a heel aligned with Jericho), and Matt teasing Christian about wanting his “left-overs”.
ARMAGEDDON 2003 (Raw)
- Raw Title: Goldberg (c) defends against Kane and Trips
- Christian vs. Matt Hardy
- Shawn vs. Batista
- Raw Tag Titles: Dudleys (c) defend against Jindrak-Cade
- IC Title: RVD (c) defends against Orton
- Booker vs. Mark Henry
- Women’s Title: Molly (c) vs. Lita (Matt and Christian barred from ringside)
///
Molly/Lita – Lita wins the title, Christian celebrates with her.
Booker/Henry – Booker.
RVD/Orton – Orton wins the title cleanly.
Dudleys/Jindrak-Cade – Dudleys.
Shawn/Batista - Flair attempts to interfere, prompting Jericho to come out, and help Shawn. At the end, Flair gets into the ring, prompting Jericho to enter, too; Jericho will attempt to hit Flair, but Flair moves, and he ends up accidentally decking Shawn. Batista gets the win.
Christian/Matt – Matt cheats to win. After the match, Lita goes to comfort Christian, though her intentions and actions are merely those of a caring friend, and not of a loving girlfriend.
Goldberg/Kane/Trips - Evolution interferes, and begin beating on Goldberg; however, the plan backfires when, instead of paying attention to Kane, Trips instead focuses on the beating Goldberg is receiving. From there, Kane grabs the distracted Trips, tombstones him, and gets the three.
Day after "Armageddon 2003" until "Royal Rumble 2004"
SMACKDOWN
Heading into the “Rumble”, they continue with the “Benoit has to work for his shot” storyline, as well as teasing that the competitive natures of both Benoit and Angle will end-up breaking them apart.
Also, Vince will continue screwing Cena out of the US-title; Cena, fed-up, will go to attack Vince, but Brock will make the save, setting up SD’s main-event for the “Rumble”.
Zach Gowen returns, and announces he’ll be in the Rumble. Also, the team of Spanky and Paul London begin regularly appearing on SD.
Tajiri will continue feuding with Noble, while trying to recruit Ultimo.
Last major thing: Los Guerreros will get a title-shot at TWGTT at the “Rumble”, but, the week before the “Rumble”, TWGTT will attack Los G’s backstage, attacking Eddie’s knee with a chair, leaving him injured.
RAW
Being the resident “grizzled veteran” on Raw, Shawn gets in Kane’s face about his actions, thus setting-up the main-event for the “Rumble”. (Seeing as Trips will most likely be in Hollywood by this point, I’m leaving him out for now.)
Also, while Jericho is having success with Trish, Christian still won’t be able to woo Lita. During one episode, Lita defends her title against Molly; Matt Hardy runs out to be in Molly’s corner, prompting Christian to come out. However, Christian turns on Lita, costing her the match and the title. Citing how “ungrateful” Lita has been (basically, she wouldn’t sleep with him after all he’s done to help her), Christian “dumps” her, and forms an alliance with Matt Hardy. From here, to go with Matt’s “Mattitude” gimmick, Christian begins preaching the positives of “Christianity” (pronounced “CHRIS-chinnity”, so as not to be too blasphemous), and the two begin teaming.
Later, Lita finds comfort in the arms of RVD.
ROYAL RUMBLE 2004
- SD Title: Brock (c) vs. Cena
- Raw Title: Kane (c) vs. Shawn
- SD Tag: TWGTT (c) vs. Guerreros
- Rumble Contendors: Angle, Benoit, tweener-Jericho, and Goldberg
///
Guerreros/TWGTT – Taking Eddie’s worked knee-injury into account, this will be an exact copy of the Harts/Quebecers match from “Rumble ‘94”. Eddie will take a major beating during the match, with TWGTT focusing on Eddie’s knee; with Chavo on the ring-apron begging for a tag, Eddie instead opts to “fight his heart out”, until TWGTT put him in some sort of leg-based submission, and Eddie has no choice but to tap. After the match, Chavo wants to know why Eddie didn’t just tag-out; he accuses Eddie of being selfish, and then kicks Eddie’s leg out from under him.
Brock/Cena – Keeping with the Cena/Vince storyline, Vince interferes, and costs Cena the match.
Backstage: Goldberg cuts a promo about how he’s gonna win the Rumble; Brock walks by, and introduces himself as “Brock Lesnar, WWE champion”, over-emphasizing the word “champion”. He then laughs to himself, and walks away, leaving Goldberg staring at him in anger.
Kane/Shawn – Kane dominates the match, but Shawn fights his heart out and refuses to be pinned. After about fifteen minutes, the ref is bumped, and Evolution does a run-in, attacking both men; Orton attacks Shawn, while Batista attacks Kane (for costing Trips the title). As the ref begins to stir, Evolution leaves; Kane is the first to recover, and picks Shawn up, and Tombstones him. Just as Kane goes for the pin, the lights go out, and the “Judgment Day” video (the one with the little girls singing nursery-rhymes in front of a furnace) plays, followed by the Undertaker’s latest theme-song (“You done it now… you gone and made a big mistake…”) and video. Kane stands in the ring facing the entrance, but nobody comes out; he turns back around, only to take a Super-Kick from Shawn; 1-2-3, a beaten and bloody Shawn is the new champ.
Rumble – With 29 people entered, only Batista, Angle, Benoit, Jericho, and Goldberg are left in the ring. 5-4-3-2-1, buzz, the glass shatters, and Austin is a surprise-entrant at #30. Austin goes straight for Batista (in retaliation for costing him his job at “Survivor Series”), tossing him over the ropes, eliminates himself, and continues beating him all the way to the back. This leaves Angle, Benoit, Jericho, and Goldberg. Angle, Benoit, and Jericho team-up on Goldberg, eliminating him. Austin then storms back to the ring, Stunners Jericho, and leaves, allowing Angle and Benoit to eliminate him. Angle and Benoit then do a bit of chain-wrestling near the ropes, causing them both to come close to being eliminated. Finally, Angle goes for a hiptoss on Benoit, but Benoit reverses it, sending Angle out of the ring. While Benoit celebrates, Angle gets back in the ring, shakes Benoit’s hand, and leaves; Benoit continues celebrating as the show goes off the air.
Day after "Royal Rumble 2004" until "No Way Out 2004"
RAW
Shawn will cut the obligatory “New Champion” promo, when he is cut-off by the returning Triple H. Bischoff grants Trips a rematch on Raw’s “Free-PPV”, as the rest of Evolution psyche-up Triple H, talking about how “the leader has finally returned”, and how “it’s been too long since you last wore the championship”.
Also, RVD and Lita get closer, prompting a tag-match at the “Free PPV” pitting Matt Hardy and Christian vs. RVD and Jericho.
On the Austin-front, Vince will arrive on Raw, asking where the hell Austin came from. Austin responds that it was Linda that gave him his new contract, and he is once again co-GM of Raw, due to Batista’s involvement. Austin then signs Goldberg/Batista for the “Free PPV”. Later, Austin is backstage, and Jericho and Trish catch up to him; Austin is ready to fight, but Jericho, in an effort to impress Trish, sucks it up, and explains that he holds no hard feelings towards Austin for costing him the Rumble, and apologizes for costing him his job. Austin tells him he’ll “keep this conversation in mind”.
The week before the “Free PPV”, Orton will defend the title against RVD, and lose. Trips will then chew him out about “not getting the job done”, but allow him to redeem himself by getting Kane the next week, for costing him the title at “Armageddon”.
Also, Foley will return at this time; he will mainly be there “just cuz he wanted to”, but Evolution will interrupt him. Orton will mock him, citing that “he already killed the legend”, while Trips tells Foley about how he’s gonna win the title next week. Mick just brushes them off.
RAW’S “FREE PPV” {Feb. ’04}
- Raw Title: Shawn (c) vs. Trips
- Goldberg vs. Batista
- Kane/Orton
- Matt-Christian/RVD-Jericho
///
Tag match – RVD-Jericho.
Orton/Kane – Kane has Orton just about pinned, when the lights go out, and the “Judgment Day” video and Taker’s Tron-combo hit; Orton takes advantage of the distracted-Kane, hits the RKO, and wins.
Goldberg/Batista – Orton’s interference backfires, resulting in Goldberg winning. After the match, Trips chews both of them out for “not getting the job done”.
Backstage: Before the title-match, Foley will barge in on Evolution; he’ll laugh at Orton and Batista for “not getting the job done”, and sarcastically wish Trips “good luck”.
Shawn/Trips – Shawn narrowly wins. After the match, Orton and Batista come in to “console” Trips, only to turn on him, and beat the crap out of him, citing Trips being “unable to get the job done” as the reason; Flair, however, will plead with Orton and Batista not to continue, and the two will back off.
SMACKDOWN
The main-event for “No Way Out” is decided by a tournament; Cena is eliminated early when Vince costs him the match, with the eventual winner being Angle, making Brock/Angle the main-event for “NWO”, and setting-up Cena/Vince for the same card.
Elsewhere, the Eddie/Chavo feud grows, and Benoit feuds with the various members of “Team Lesnar” on his way to WrestleMania.
Zach Gowen is backstage, moping about not winning the Rumble; Sean O’Haire walks by, and tells him that it his elimination shouldn’t have counted. Gowen asks why, and O’Haire explains that the rules clearly state that “BOTH feet must touch the floor”; seeing as you ARE permitted to have one foot touch the floor – hell, that’s how Shawn won – he should have been allowed back in. O’Haire then tells Gowen that he should talk to Heyman; Heyman agrees with Gowen and O’Haire, and grants Gowen a (non-PPV) title-match against Brock. Brock will win that match.
Tajiri gives-up trying to recruit Ultimo, and instead, has Akio-Sakoda attack him, setting up a match between them for NWO.
A make-shift feud between TWGTT and the APA is also done, as well as a make-shift feud between the Bashams and Spanky/London.
NO WAY OUT 2004 (SD)
- SD Title: Brock (c) vs. Angle
- Cruiser Title: Tajiri (c) vs. Ultimo
- Cena/Vince
- Handicap: Benoit vs. A-Train and Show (Benoit’s WM title-shot on the line)
- Bashams/Spanky-London
- Eddie/Chavo
- SD Tag Titles: TWGTT (c) vs. APA
///
TWGTT/APA – TWGTT wins.
Eddie/Chavo – Eddie wins.
Bashams/Spanky-London – Spanky and London win.
Benoit/Show-Train – Benoit wins due to heel-miscommunication and outside-help from Angle.
Cena/Vince – Back-and-forth brawl, with Cena dominating, and Vince blading like crazy. Cena wins with the FU; after he wins, Cena leaves, while Vince continues to lie in the ring in a pool of his own blood. With Vince bloodied and only semi-conscious, the lights go out, and the “Judgment Day”/”Taker” (current version) combo play; when the lights come back on, Vince has mysteriously vanished.
Tajiri/Ultimo – Akio-Sakoda interfere several times during the match, prompting Noble to come out, and try to help Ultimo. However, Akio and Sakoda double-team Noble. Billy Kidman makes his surprise-return, helps Noble, and costs Tajiri the title.
Brock/Angle – In the end, Angle catches Brock in the “Angle Slam”, but Brock’s feet hit the ref, and Jones and Morgan run-in to beat-down Angle. Benoit then runs-in, hits all the heels with a chair, and revives the ref; one more “Angle Slam”, Angle pins, the groggy-ref counts the dramatic 3, and Angle wins the match and the title. The show ends with Angle and Benoit staring each other down, and then shaking hands; they’re appreciative of the other’s help, but also realize they’re on a collision-course for WrestleMania.
Day after "No Way Out 2004" until "WrestleMania XX"
RAW
Austin announces that, in being such a stand-up guy, he wants to award Jericho with a title-shot at Shawn at “WMXX”; Bischoff interrupts, saying that he can’t just go around “handing out” shots, and suggests they change it to a 6-way match with Jericho, Trips, Goldberg, Kane, Orton, and Batista, with the winner getting the shot at Shawn. During the match, Orton, Batista, and Kane triple-team Trips, eliminating him early. Trips then hits Orton with a chair, getting him eliminated; the two continue fighting to the back, while the match continues. Taker’s Tron-combo hits (still with the latest version of his music), distracting Kane, and getting him eliminated. This leaves Batista, Jericho, and Goldberg. Batista beats Goldberg, and then, from there, Jericho beats Batista to win the match.
With Jericho now having earned his shot, and a full-fledged face (with Trish by his side), they begin the hype towards Shawn/Jericho, with Shawn mentioning how Jericho “accidentally” hit him at “Armageddon”
They continue the Trips/Orton feud, with Flair attempting to bring peace between the two sides; Foley, however, will continue to egg both of them on. From there, Orton attacks Foley, and Foley, in retaliation, goes to hit Orton, but accidentally decks Trips. Trips vs. Foley vs. Orton is hinted at for WM.
Afterwards, on an episode of Raw, a 6-man tag match will be set-up, with Orton, Batista, and Flair vs. Shawn, Jericho, and Maven. During the match, Maven turns on Shawn and Jericho, allowing Evolution to win. After the match, Evolution and Maven beat on Shawn and Jericho with chairs, prompting Trips and Foley to make the save, but the young guys of Evolution take them out, as well. Flair, seeing that Trips is getting beaten by Orton, Batista, and Maven pleads with them to stop hitting Trips; the three young heels agree and begin to back-off, only to begin beating on Flair as his back is turned. Orton then grabs a mic, and says that the three of them were tired of living in the shadows of “these so-called legends, and that includes your beloved ‘Nature Boy’”. Orton, Batista, and Maven dub themselves “The Legend Killers”.
Backstage, Trips and Flair confront Foley, and Trips tells Foley that, while they don’t like him, they respect him; he says that “those punks want to take on some legends; let’s give them some legends”. Foley is hesitant to team with Trips, but, after talking with Flair, eventually agrees; “there’s nothing worse than punk-kids not respecting their elders.” Trips, Flair, and Foley take on “The Legend Killers” at WM.
At this time, Jindrak and Cade, fed-up with being unable to win the tag-titles “fairly”, will turn heel, attack the Dudleys, and align themselves with “The Legend Killers”.
Also, after getting the crap kicked out of him by Cena, Vince will return to “Raw”, and talk about what a horrible job Austin is doing as co-GM, while at the same time babbling about “the horror” he just endured (due to “disappearing”), setting up one last go-round of Austin/Vince for WM. Later, Kane catches up with Vince, and demands to know what is going on with Taker’s video constantly playing during his matches; Vince hints that, despite being buried alive, Taker might still be alive. Kane then demands to face Taker, and, after a week or two of Vince refusing (and explaining that, due to “what he saw after ‘No Way Out’”, it’s in Kane’s best interest not to go through with the match), he finally gives in.
The feud between RVD (with Lita) and Matt and Christian will continue, with Booker T moving into the IC-picture, first as “back-up” to RVD against Matt and Christian, but then as a contendor. Finally, Lita will get her rematch against Molly for the title.
SMACKDOWN
With Angle as the new champion, Smackdown will build towards a face-face Angle/Benoit showdown for WM; they due the usual “tension” storyline, where both guys try to get along, but just can’t.
Also, after being “one-upped” by Brock, Goldberg shows up in the audience of “SD” (using the “I bought a ticket” line), and badmouths Brock about losing the title on Brock’s way to the ring. Later, Brock responds to Goldberg’s badmouthing; he finds Heyman, and demands a match with Goldberg. Heyman, wary of what Goldberg could do to Brock, side-steps Brock’s request, until Brock threatens Heyman, to which Heyman will reply “Ok, ok… I’ll call Vince… I’ll see what I can do.”
With Vince off of Smackdown, Cena wins the US title from Big Show, only to be challenged by Eddie. However, Chavo still isn’t done with Eddie, and a 1-on-1 match between Eddie and Chavo is set-up, with the winner getting a shot at the US-title. During the match, Eddie will be attacked by a returning (and now brown-haired) Edge, turning Edge heel, and setting up a feud between the two. However, as nobody “won” the match, the US-title match at WM will be a 4-way match.
Tajiri sends Akio and Sakoda after Noble and Kidman, resulting in tag-matches between those four. Tajiri repeatedly interferes, prompting Noble and Kidman to seek out a third man to balance out the sides; that person turns out to be Shannon Moore, who is still trying to make a name for himself.
With Tajiri out of the picture, Heyman holds a cruiserweight battle-royal on SD, with the winner getting a title-shot at WM. Rey Misterio wins that when Tajiri and his crew and Noble and his crew are too busy beating the crap out of each other to pay attention to anybody else in the match.
Backstage, TWGTT are going on about how they’ve already beaten everybody (Los G’s, Bashams, APA), when they come across Spanky and Paul London; Spanky and London mention that TWGTT have never beaten them, to which Haas and Benjamin just laugh at them.
Also, Gowen will begin to question himself; he didn’t win the Rumble, he didn’t beat Brock… “what am I doing wrong”? Gowen wants to know why people are booing him; O’Haire, acting as his advisor, will tell him that, while people respect Zach for his ability, they’re sick of hearing about his courageousness, and that the only way to get people to respect him is to MAKE them respect him. Gowen asks if he should talk to Heyman; O’Haire tells him that he has to stop ASKING for things, and start TAKING them. When Gowen asks him how, O’Haire says he should attack somebody the fans love. At that moment, Scotty 2 Hotty is walking backstage; Scotty says hi to Gowen, the two exchange a few laughs and jokes, and then, as Scotty is walking away, Gowen attacks him with his prosthetic leg!
The APA make fun of Show and Train for losing a handicap-match to Benoit, as well as for Show losing the US title (“good thing, too; it didn’t even fit around your waist”), thus setting up programs for them.
Lastly (and this applies to both brands), an “Open-Invitation Hardcore Battle Royal” will be announced. It’ll last ten minutes, and is open to both Raw and SD; this will basically be used to get pretty much everybody on the roster that doesn’t have a match onto the card.
WRESTLEMANIA 20
- SD Title: Kurt Angle (c) vs. Chris Benoit
- Undertaker (returning) vs. Kane
- Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg
- Raw Title: Shawn Michaels (c) vs. Chris Jericho
- US Title: John Cena (c) vs. Eddie Guerrero vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Edge
- Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon
- SD Tag titles: The World's Greatest Tag-Team (c) vs. Spanky & Paul London
- Elimination: Triple H, Mick Foley, & Ric Flair vs. Randy Orton, Batista, & Maven
- Cruiser Title: Ultimo Dragon (c) vs. Rey Misterio Jr.
- IC Title: Rob Van Dam (c) vs. Booker T vs. Matt Hardy vs. Christian
- Big Show & A-Train vs. The A.P.A.
- Womens Title: Molly Holly (c) vs. Lita
- Zach Gowen (with Sean O’Haire) vs. Scotty 2 Hotty
- Open-Invitation Hardcore Battle Royal
- Tajiri, Akio, & Sakoda vs. Jamie Noble, Billy Kidman, & Shannon Moore
- Raw Tag Titles: The Dudley Boyz (c) vs. Mark Jindrak & Garrison Cade
///
[Sixteen matches seems like a lot, but keep in mind that the PPV is going to be five hours long; that translates into an average of over 18 minutes per “segment” (video-package, entrance, and match), and, considering several matches will obviously be much shorter, it should work out well.]
Dudleys/Jindrak-Cade – Dudleys retain.
Tajiri-Akio-Sakoda/Noble-Kidman-Moore – The faces win.
Hardcore – Rico busts-out his ninja skills to win.
Gowen/Scotty – Gowen cheats to win (such as using a chair on Scotty), and he and O’Haire beat Scotty down after the match.
Molly/Lita – It’s only right that Lita wins the title in a happy ending after the long, twisting storyline.
Show-Train/APA – APA.
IC Title – Booker wins the title.
Ultimo/Rey – Rey wins the title.
Legends/Killers – Maven is the first out, followed by Flair. Batista and Orton hit Foley with a chair, resulting in a nasty blade-job by Foley, and he’s eliminated, leaving Trips to fend for himself against Orton and Batista. They take turns beating on him for a while (resulting in Trips himself blading), until Trips catches Batista with a Pedigree out of nowhere. We’re down to Trips and Orton. Trips dominates for a while, until Jindrak and Cade run-out and chair Trips; an RKO later, and Orton wins.
TWGTT/Spanky-London – Spanky and London win the titles.
Austin/Vince – Vince bumps and blades like crazy; Austin stunners Vince several times, and gets the win.
US Title – Eddie wins the title.
Shawn/Jericho – Twenty minutes, and totally clean. The end is a repeat from last year, with Jericho going for a suplex, with Shawn reversing it into a roll-up, but, learning his lesson from last year, Jericho reverses THAT, and gets the three. Jericho is the new World’s Heavyweight Champion.
Brock/Goldberg – Brock kicks out of the Spear and Jackhammer, hits the F-5, and actually hits the SSP this time. Brock gets the 3, and Goldberg, with his contract just about up, leaves WWE.
Taker/Kane – Kane makes his way to the ring. The “Judgment Day” video is played, followed by Taker’s latest music/video combo (“You done it now”), but, when it gets to the line that says “This is gonna be your Judgment Day”, they loop the line “Judgment Day” several times (“Judgment Day… Judgment Day… Judgment Day…”), with each repeat getting more drawn out, like the tape is “wearing out”. The video cuts back to the “Judgment Day” video. The arena goes black, the familiar “gongs” are heard, and a remix of Taker’s music, circa 1998 (his “dark human” era, when he wore all-black with leather shoulders, and was a face feuding with Mankind) plays. Taker, bedecked in his 1998 attire (and possibly with hair extensions), makes his way to the ring. Taker wins after three Tombstones.
Angle/Benoit – Benoit wins the match and the title; after the match, Angle presents the belt to Benoit, shakes his hand, and the two share a manly-hug.
