WWE No Way Out (February 2004)

From San Francisco, California; Your Hosts are Michael Cole and Tazz

Opening WWE Tag Team Title Intergender Handicap Match: Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty v Shaniqua and The Basham Brothers: Scotty starts with Doug Basham, and works a side-headlock, but gets tossed. Scotty manages to skin-the-cat back in for a headscissors takedown, and both men tag. Rikishi hammers Danny Basham, and brings Shaniqua in hardway for the Stinkface, but the Basham's save her. Rikishi responds by slamming Doug, and Scotty tags back in for the Worm, but runs into a double-knockout during a criss cross, and Shaniqua takes a cheapshot. They cut the ring in half on Scotty, with Shaniqua manhandling him with ease. Were people really clamoring for Chyna 2.0? Because the first time worked out so well for everyone involved? Scotty manages to backdrop her to get the tag to Rikishi, and he's a Hall of Fame of fire! Brawl breaks out, and Shaniqua gets dropped like a Samoan, then hit with the Banzi Drop at 8:27. Not actively bad, but certainly nothing to write mama about. *

Intergender Match: Jamie Noble v Nidia: Because one Intergender match wasn't enough! Noble is blindfolded for this. Lucky him. And again, if we're going to dig into the vault for stuff, why not bring back something people actually, you know, LIKED the first time around? So, Nidia sticks and moves for a bit, and we get some comedy spots like Noble feeling her up and Nidia pantsing him. Right out of the Marx Brothers playbook, there! Nidia keeps sticking and moving, but Jamie pulls up the mask to allow him to slam her off the top, and the Dragon Sleeper finishes at 4:25. This was fine for a TV angle, but really had no place on pay per view. DUD

The World's Greatest Tag Team v The Acolytes: Shelton Benjamin starts with Faarooq, and takes him down in a waistlock, then cradles for two. Faarooq responds by calling for a test-of-strength, but when Shelton hesitates, Faarooq boots him, and adds a clothesline for two. Tag to Bradshaw with a swinging neckbreaker for two, but Benjamin swipes at the taped up arm, and tags out to Charlie Haas. Bradshaw sucks (it up) and corner whips Haas anyway, then tags back to Faarooq with a shoulderblock for two. He misses a corner charge, however, and the WGTT cut the ring in half - working the arm. You'd think Bradshaw would be the natural target, given his arm is taped up and all, but no. That's some odd booking, to say the least. Bradshaw gets the tag, and he's a newsroom of fire to ignite a four-way brawl! The APA dish out a whoopin', but Bradshaw hurts his arm while executing the Clothesline from Hell, and Shelton superkicks him for the pin at 7:22. The APA were pretty much done as a team, so the result was less than shocking here. *

Hardcore Holly v Rhyno: They trade wristlocks to start, and Holly controls with a mat-based side-headlock. A long criss cross ends with Holly tossing him over the top, but Rhyno pulls him out after him, and rams him into the apron a couple of times. Back in, Rhyno charges him in the corner, then adds a short-kneelift for two. Snapmare sets up a bodyscissors, as Rhyno keeps after the midsection. Rhyno forward suplexes him across the top rope for two, but he takes his time unloading some punches, and Holly manages a side suplex. Unfortunately, he's too hurt to capitalize, and Rhyno stomps him for two, then corner whips him a couple of times. Third one, but Holly levels him with a lariat on the rebound, then wins a slugfest. Holly with a pair of clotheslines and a dropkick for two, but Rhyno superplexes him for two. Holly keeps coming with an inverted DDT for two, but walks into a spinebuster - as Cole talks about 'shades of vintage Arn Anderson.' Oh boy. Goar knocks Holly out of the ring, and he uses the reprieve to recover enough to surprise Rhyno with the Alabama Slam on the way back in for the pin at 9:57. This was better than it had any right to be, with both guys looking motivated, though the crowd treated this as a bathroom break. **

WWE Cruiserweight Title Match: Rey Mysterio v Chavo Guerrero: They trade wristlocks to start, with Rey controlling, so Chavo tries ripping his mask off. That doesn't go so well for him, as Mysterio flips a shit, and beats his ass out of the ring. Back in, Mysterio controls a slugfest, and takes him down with a springboard headscissors, then hooks a victory cradle for two. Criss cross is won by Chavo with a flapjack, however, and he plants a seated dropkick on the champion for two. Pair of bodyslams get two, and Chavo grounds him with an overhead wristlock. Reversal sequence ends in Rey hitting the 619, but Chavo Guerrero Sr pulls him off of the apron to save the challenger from the West Coast Pop. That draws the ire of Mysterio's second, Jorge Paez, and Chavo Sr gets knocked out - the match grinding to a halt as the referee ejects Paez, and both guys react. Back in business with Rey diving at his challenger with a springboard bodypress on the floor, then hitting a springboard legdrop for two on the way back in. Seated dropkick and a schoolboy are worth two, but an attempt at a rana off the top is countered by Chavo with an exploding gutbuster. A bit sloppy, but still cool. Guerrero stays on him with some shots to the midsection, and he hooks an inside cradle for two, then slaps on an abdominal stretch. Rey counters out into a bodypress for two, but gets caught in the half-crab - Chavo rearing back so the pressure is applied to the midsection. Good stuff. Rey escapes, so Chavo starts stomping the ribs for a few two counts, but Mysterio manages to counter into a sunset flip for two. He keeps coming with a headscissors, but Chavo counters into a nice tilt-a-whirl stomachbreaker for two, then goes back after the arm with another overhead wristlock. Insulted at the lapse in psychology, Rey quickly escapes, so Chavo decides to punish him with another half-crab, but Mysterio counters with a wheelbarrow bulldog for two. Chavo fires back with a short-kneelift for two, but another gutbuster is countered into a spinheel kick by the champion. Headscissors sends Chavo shoulder-first into the post, and Rey adds a forward-Russian legsweep for two. Rey with a DDT for two, but a springboard bodypress misses, and Chavo immediately capitalizes with a sitout-forward suplex for two. Chavo goes for the mask again, but Rey elbows him off, and 'hits' a sloppy moonsault press for two. He had the elevation there, but none of the distance - forcing Guerrero to run into the press, rather than the press into him. Slugfest on the knees goes Guerrero's way to setup a gory driver for two, but he walks into a rana, and Rey quickly adds the 619. West Coast Pop, but Chavo rolls through into another half-crab - only for Mysterio to get the ropes! That really should have been the finish. Rey goes back up, but suddenly Chavo Sr wakes up from the knockout fifteen minutes ago (points off for the announcers not yelling 'HE'S ALIVE! HE'S ALIVE!'), and shoves him off the top - Guerrero rolling Mysterio up for the pin at 17:19. Ugh. Bad ending, great match - loaded with psychology and given tons of time, but marred by a terrible finish, and the unnecessary interruption for the Chavo/Paez stuff. *** ¼

#1 Contenders Triple Threat Match: Kurt Angle v Big Show v John Cena: First fall wins, and the winner gets a WWE Title shot at WrestleMania XX. Cena hangs out in the corner while Show throws Angle around, but both guys get annoyed at John's giddy excitement over Angle's punishment, and Show gives him a taste. Kurt laughs it up, so John decides to get in his face, and they slug it out - Kurt controlling with a release overhead suplex for two. Show breaks it up and hits Kurt with a sidewalk slam for two, and he casually bodyslams Cena a couple of times. Kurt dumps Show so he can have a mini-match with Cena, and they trade suplexes - Angle getting the best of that with the three-alarm rolling Germans, but Show breaks the cover. He goes after Cena's previously injured leg, but Show gets overwhelmed when both Angle and Cena hit him with moves off the top (missile dropkick and flying elbowsmash, respectively). John with the FU on Show for two, but he goes flying out as he tries following up on Angle. Kurt Olympic Slams Show for two, but John stops the Anklelock with an FU, so Kurt counters into an Anklelock on Cena instead! Show saves with a Chokeslam, but John schoolboys him for two. Show retorts with a Chokeslam on Cena for two, but Kurt breaks it up with an Anklelock on Show. Show escapes, so Cena spinebusters Angle, and hits the Five Knuckle Shuffle to setup the FU, but Show clips his bad leg to save. Show brutally slams him into the turnbuckles, but Kurt grabs Show from behind with a crazy Olympic Slam over the top, then slaps the Anklelock on Cena for the submission at 12:18. Didn't really care for the first third, but once they got into trading cool finisher sequences, it was gold. * ½

Main Event: WWE Title Match: Brock Lesnar v Eddie Guerrero: We're less than two hours into the show as the bell sounds, so settle in, this is probably going to be a long one. Brock easily overpowers him in the early going, and cross corner whips him to setup a well executed backdrop. Snap suplex, but a cross corner charge misses, and Eddie tries a flying rana, but Lesnar casually catches him in a giant swing, then flings him with a release overhead suplex. Brock adds another one for shits and giggles, and follows with a neat cross corner high knee. Guerrero ends up on the floor from another overhead suplex, and Brock takes mercy on him, allowing him to take the countout, but Eddie keeps coming. He manages to stun Brock by snapping his throat across the top rope, and tries to demobilize him by wrapping his knee around the post a couple of times. Brock puts a stop to that after two shots, however, and drags Eddie back in for a hanging fisherman buster for two, then slaps on a chinlock/bodyscissors combo. Eddie manages a stunner to escape, and then manages to block a press-slam with a knee clip, before Brock cuts him off again with a brutal lariat. The timing on that entire sequence was fantastic. Lesnar with a release German suplex, but another high knee in the corner misses, and Brock goes flying out to the floor off of it. Eddie is right on him with a plancha, but he's so battered that both guys nearly get counted out. Guerrero sucks it up and dropkicks the champions knee, and hits a side suplex. Brock is up before he can even cover, however, and he cuts his challenger off with a stungun for two. His knee is still slowing him down, however, and Eddie manages to grab him in an STF as Brock tries following up - the crowd totally buying it as the finish. Brock won't tap, so Eddie lets off, and goes ballistic on the knee with stomps, then slaps on a spinning-toehold. Lesnar escapes and overhead suplexes him, but takes too long following up, and Eddie counters a suplex into a nice headscissors, then dropkicks Lesnar's knee to setup a figure four. This time Brock can't escape, and the knee is bad enough that he's forced to use the ropes. Smelling blood, Guerrero keeps after the knee with a Texas cloverleaf, then shifts it into an STF to stop Brock from getting the ropes. Lesnar is forced to power out, and he summons a second wind to release German suplex his challenger. It buys him enough time to follow with a spinebuster, but Guerrero kicks out at two! Shocked, Brock hooks the leg again, but Eddie still kicks out at two, so Lesnar slaps the chinlock/bodyscissors back on. Eddie dumps him into the corner to break, but wipes out as he tries a missile dropkick, and Brock vertical suplexes him, then slaps on a front-waistlock. Eddie fights to a vertical base, so Lesnar drops him with a gutwrench suplex rather than allow him to escape, and then grabs a waistlock cradle for two. Back to the chinlock/bodyscissors, but a pair of headbutts breaks, and Eddie pops off another pair of dropkicks to the knee, then drops him with a crisp headscissors takedown. Three-alarm rolling vertical suplex finally puts Brock down long enough for Eddie to try the Frogsplash, but Lesnar gets out of the way, and the challenger wipes out again. F5 hits, but takes out the referee in the process, and the crowd knows a run-in is imminent. Brock grabs the belt to finish this little punk off for good, but indeed, here's Goldberg with a spear. Well, we all saw that coming. Eddie covers, but Brock gets the shoulder up at a dramatic two. Guerrero is running on fumes, but has the presence of mind to scoop up the title belt, only for Brock to counter into the F5 - Eddie managing to counter into a tornado DDT onto the belt! Frogsplash hits, and we have a new champion at 30:05. Good night for the Guerrero family here. Awesome match - given tons of time to tell their story, and delivering an exciting, psychologically sound war. The overbooking hurt the match a bit, but it was still terrific stuff, and seeing Eddie win the big one in front of a super supportive crowd (including his family) was a great feel good moment, that's all too bittersweet now. ****

BUExperience: Good show, with a solid (if unspectacular) undercard, and three strong matches on top – especially the excellent Lesnar/Guerrero main event, which runs a full half hour of the 150 minute runtime.

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