WWE Taboo Tuesday (October 2004)

Original Airdate: October 19, 2004

From Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler. This is a concept show, where fans get to vote for various participants or stipulations in the matches

Opening WWE Intercontinental Title Match: Chris Jericho v Shelton Benjamin: Benjamin is voted in as the opponent, with 37.48% of the vote over fourteen other candidates. The wide camera angle reveals that the building is almost empty on the non-TV side, which isn't a good sign. In fact, the official attendance is 3,500, which is terrible. Though that was sort of par for the course during this period. They trade armdrags to start, and Benjamin controls with an armbar on the mat, but gets chopped. Shelton manages to backdrop the champion over the top, and follows with a baseball slide, then rolls it in for two. Chinlock, but Chris escapes, and plants a gorgeous enzuigiri on him for two. Side suplex sets up a pair of elbowdrops, and Jericho vertical suplexes him for two. Shelton tries throwing a dropkick, but Chris stomps short to dodge, and puts him in a backbreaker submission. Shelton escapes and hits a sunset flip for two, but walks into a clothesline for two. Benjamin is doing a good job of timing his comebacks, but they're just not clicking, for whatever reason. Chris goes up to the top, but Benjamin manages to bring him down with a superplex, and hits a jumping clothesline, then a backdrop. Spinheel kick gets two, but he gets reversed into the corner, and Jericho bulldogs him - only to miss the Lionsault. Shelton capitalizes with a flying clothesline for two, but a corner-splash misses, and Jericho goes for the Walls - only to get inside cradled for two. Chris responds by hitting the Lionsault anyway for two, but gets caught in the T-Bone while coming off of the middle rope, and we have a new champion at 10:54. Both guys were trying hard, and it heated up towards the end, but the first half felt really disjointed - likely owed to the fact that they didn't even know they'd be wrestling each other until moments before the bell. * ½

WWE Women's Title 7-Woman School Girl Battle Royal: All the women wear school girl outfits, which wins the vote with 53.10% over French maid and nurse. Trish Stratus is the defending champion, and we've got Molly Holly, Stacy Keibler, Victoria, Gail Kim, Jazz, and Nidia in there with her. The usual battle royal junk here, though apparently some genius decided to waive the standard 'over the top' rule that's worked for, like, a hundred years, and simply falling out of the ring counts as an elimination. It comes down to Trish, Molly, Stacy, and Victoria, and Holly teams with the champ to tandem slingshot Victoria out. They gang up on Stacy next to get rid of her, but Molly makes the mistake of turning her back, and Trish shoves her out to retain at 5:38. It served its purpose. ¼*

Chain Match: Kane v Gene Snitsky: Chain is voted as the weapon of choice with 40.84% of the vote over chair and lead pipe. It's just kind of 'there,' however. As in, not connected to their wrists in any way. And, as you'd expect, that's a problem, as they drop it almost immediately. Kane chases him to the floor to try using the chain, but gets ducked, and Snitsky tries using it, but also gets ducked. They slug it out, and Snitsky grabs a piece of the chain to pull Kane into the post with, then whacks him with it on the way back in. He whips Kane with the chain (not quite Starrcade '83 level, but definitely not the love taps from Extreme Rules '15 either - a happy medium), and he chokes Kane with it. Like, for a long, long time. After what feels like an hour of Snitsky pounding him, Kane finally starts slugging back, and a double-big boot leaves both men down. Lita steals the chain away, but Snitsky blocks a chokeslam for Kane, so Kane settles for tossing him out of the ring instead. He follows out to abuse him with the chain, but Snitsky uses the steps to block, and hits him with a chair. You know, the whole point of the match is that the fans get to vote for the weapon of choice. If they're just going to use every other weapon at will, why even bother with the vote? Snitsky beats Kane down with it in the ring, then wraps the chair around his throat, and dives off of the second rope onto it - Kane immediately spitting up about a gallon of (fake) blood, and Snitsky covers at 14:18. This was really long for what they were going for, and boring as all fuck, but the finish was really unique. If they'd cut this down to about five minutes, then run that finish, it would have been a lot more impactful. ¼*

Hair v Hair Match: Eric Bischoff v Eugene: Haircuts on the line is voted over the loser wearing a dress, or the loser becoming the winners servant with 58.73% of the vote. Eric blitzes him with kicks in the corner, but Eugene no-sells a series of turnbuckles smashes, so Eric tricks him into thinking he's hurt, then fires off a big roundhouse kick. Eugene no-sells that as well, and delivers an airplane spin, then hits a legdrop for the pin at 2:08. Total junk, but at least it was quick. DUD

World Tag Team Title Match: La Resistance v Chris Benoit and Edge: Edge and Benoit are given the shot because they both lost the three-way vote for a World Heavyweight Title shot later, and thus are a team. Robert Conway starts with Edge, and gets destroyed in the corner, as Edge blitzes him. Tag to Benoit, and he crack Rob with a few chops, then short-clotheslines him. Snap suplex gets two, but Conway manages to tag out to Sylvain Grenier, and the champs turn the tide on Edge. Grenier vertical suplexes him, but misses an elbowdrop, and Edge clobbers him with a clothesline, then hits a vertical suplex of his own. He goes up, but gets distracted by some fan, and stops to go after him, until Benoit calms him down. When Chris Benoit is your voice of calm and reason, you've got problems. Benoit tags in and takes Grenier to school for a bit, but the champs manage to get the best of Edge with a double-team, and they cut the ring in half, as JR notes that Milwaukee is what America is all about, because they make Harley's and cheese. He fails to note that both challengers are Canadian, however. Edge manages to block Grenier in the corner to get the tag, and Benoit comes in hot, but quickly walks into a double-team. The champs go back to work on their new victim, but Conway gets caught in a release German suplex after missing an elbowdrop. The referee misses the tag, however, so Edge completely flips out, and decides to walk out on the match, since he feels he should be wrestling for the world title anyway, and doesn't want to waste anymore time with this. Now left alone, Benoit gets destroyed, as the camera follows Edge backstage, and shows him getting into a running car, and leaving. Well that's unprofessional, not to mention a huge waste of fuel. Chris fights back with the rolling Germans on Conway, and he slaps on the Crippler Crossface to score the title at 16:03. I feel an Eric Carmen song coming on. This was okay, but felt disjointed, and went on for a bit too long. *

Lingerie Pillow Fight: Christy Hemme v Carmella Descanre: Lingerie Pillow Fight beats Evening Gown and Aerobics Challenge with 56.48% of the vote. Carmella was actually Playboy's Playmate of the year for 2004 - I'm surprised she even got involved in wrestling, honestly. So, it's a literal pillow fight, until Hemme spears her down, and they roll around in the feathers. Hemme beats her down with a pillow for the pin at 1:46. This wasn't a wrestling match. DUD

World Heavyweight Title Match: Triple H v Shawn Michaels: Shawn is voted in as the opponent, with 38.72% of the vote over Edge and Chris Benoit. Don't encourage them, guys! Luckily, we're already over two hours into the show, and there's still another match to go after this, so this likely won't be another forty minute snooze fest. HHH tries overpowering him to start, but Shawn holds his own in a slugfest, and grabs a headlock, so Hunter immediately starts targeting his previously injured knee, and takes his challenger down. HHH works the part, and uses a leglock, then slaps on a figure four, but Shawn won't quit - really hamming it up with the facial expressions here. Shawn gets the ropes, so Hunter tries punishing him by wrapping the leg around the post, but Shawn pulls the champ face first into it to block. Shawn manages a series of three inverted atomic drops, but that does as much damage to him as it does HHH. I guess he was counting on Hunter's groin area not being hard. HHH kicks at the knee again, and tries the Pedigree, but Shawn blows him low, and hits a DDT. That sets up a flying elbowdrop, and it's Superkick time, but here comes Batista. Shawn manages to fight him off and hit the Superkick, but turns around into a surprise Spear from Edge, and Hunter retains at 14:08. A bit slow at times, but the knee made for good drama, and it didn't overstay its welcome this time. * ¼

Main Event: Cage Match: Randy Orton v Ric Flair: The cage beats out Falls Count Anywhere and Submission matches with 68% of the vote. Orton's finally done away with the pesky elbow pads that always slid off of him, it seems. He goes right after Flair with a backdrop, so Ric tries climbing. Orton follows, but gets chopped up there, and Flair blows him low, then tosses him into the cage to draw blood. Ric works the cut with some punches, then scrapes Orton's face across the mesh, and hits a kneedrop. He keeps working the cut until Randy's blood is literally on his hands, then smacks him around with chops in the corner, but Orton fires back, and launches Flair into the cage. Flair tries climbing to get away from him, but Randy follows, and we get exposed ass spot when he accidentally tugs Flair's tights. I hated that spot in the old days, and I definitely didn't need to see it make a comeback in Ric's fifties. The referee's reaction to it is pretty funny, however. Orton busts him open with some mesh scrapes of his own, and hits a dropkick. Ric tries climbing again, but gets slammed down off of the top rope, and Randy hits a flying bodypress for two. Ric was out of position there, but they made it work. Orton adds an inverted headlock backbreaker for two, but Flair throws chops, and goes for the door - Orton stopping him. Ric responds by knocking him out with a set of knux, but it only gets two. He goes for the door again, but Randy grabs an ankle - only for Flair to pull a chair in with him as he's dragged back. He swings, but Orton ducks, and counters into the RKO for the pin at 10:35. Everything it needed to be, with Flair leading him through his classic cage match routine from the old days, and Randy hanging with him like they're working a double at the Omni. Definitely better than Orton's cage match main event at Extreme Rules this year. **

BUExperience: It’s notable for being the first non-Sunday WWE pay per view in some ten years, and for the concept (which would eventually become Cyber Sunday), but it just didn’t work as a show. The concept is neat, but this generation of wrestlers aren’t really ‘call it in the ring’ style workers, and the guys who are were matched up against guys who aren’t – leading to a lot of disappointments that might otherwise have been good bouts.

DUD