WWE No Way Out (February 2005)

Original Airdate: February 20, 2005

From Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Your Hosts are Michael Cole and Tazz

Opening WWE Tag Team Title Match: The Basham Brothers v Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio: Danny Basham starts with Eddie, and gets schooled on the mat, ending in Guerrero grabbing a modified anklelock. Tag to Rey for a springboard axehandle, and a snapmare sets up a swift legdrop for two. Tag to Doug Basham, and the champs abuse Rey in their corner, but Mysterio uses a springboard wheelbarrow armdrag to fight them off, then passes back to Eddie - Guerrero taking Doug down with a rana. Guerrero gets caught in the wrong corner as well, and Danny tags in to work a straightjacket, but Eddie side suplexes his way out. Doug cuts off the tag, however, and powerslams him for two, but misses a flying headbutt, and Eddie tags. Mysterio hits Doug with a springboard bodypress for two, and a wheelbarrow bulldog is worth two, but a cheap shot from Danny is followed by an illegal switch, and the champs cut the ring in half. Rey manages to block a side superplex and hit a flying moonsault press for two, but Danny gets the tag, and cuts him off again with a chinlock, as the referee earns his pay for the night by giving Eddie shit about holding the tag rope. Love it! Rey manages to fight off another double-team long enough to get the tag, and Guerrero is a casa of fire! That ignites the four-way brawl, with a bunch of great finish teases along the way, until Eddie gets his hands on one of the tag belts, and uses it for a knockout and pin at 14:52. This was good! It kinda reminded me of the tag division during the dying days of WCW, with guys going out there without any pressure and just focused on having a good match for the sake of having a good match. ** ½

Booker T v Heidenreich: Heidenreich overpowers him into a clothesline for two, but a whip into the ropes is countered with a savate kick by Booker. Superkick gets him two, but Heidenreich stops the effort with a bodyslam, and another clothesline. Overhead wristlock grounds Booker, and a big boot is worth two, but Booker counters another Irish whip with a spinebuster. He makes his comeback with a pair of clotheslines and the Harlem sidekick, but Heidenreich dodges the axekick. Booker tries for the BookEnd anyway, but Heidenreich blocks, and they spill to the outside for a brawl - Heidenreich using a chair, and getting disqualified at 6:49. Just going through the motions here. DUD

Cruiserweight Open: Funaki v Paul London: Funaki is the Cruiserweight Champion here, but the title is only on the line in the final match - regardless whether or not he makes it that far. Those boots are... not a good look for London, to say the least. It worked for guys like the Ultimate Warrior or Kerry Von Erich because they were huge, but all those tassels on such a little guy look weird, and only accentuate his small physique. London misses a charge in the corner and Funaki bulldogs him for two, but gets into an altercation with Spike Dudley, and schoolboyed at 1:37. Barely a match. ¼*

Cruiserweight Open: Paul London v Spike Dudley: Spike bum rushes him with a beating in the corner, but walks into a superkick from a still fuming Funaki, and London hooks the leg at 0:20. DUD

Cruiserweight Open: Paul London v Shannon Moore: Moore attacks with a flying headscissors for two, and a somersault cradle gets two. Backslide for two, but a charge misses, and London hooks a victory cradle for two. Shannon tries to keep control by whipping him hard into the corner a couple of times, but a flying somersault legdrop misses, and London advances with a 450 splash at 1:25. On it's way to being great, but not long enough to get anywhere. *

Cruiserweight Open: Paul London v Akio: Akio takes his head off with a surprise lariat for two, and he traps him in the corner with a hanging figure four necklock that's worth two. Chinlock, but London fights up, so Akio blasts him with an enzuigiri for two. Wristlock, but Paul kicks free, so Akio destroys him with chops in the corner to setup a superplex - only for London to counter with a swinging neckbreaker from the top rope! Nice! Chavo Guerrero hopes for a double knockout off of that, but only gets half of that, as London answers the count to advance via knockout at 3:30. I'd have preferred they'd given Moore an extra minute, and cut one off of this, but whatever. ¾*

WWE Cruiserweight Title Match: Paul London v Chavo Guerrero: London is still using the ropes to stay vertical as Chavo comes in, and Guerrero helps him take a load off by sweeping the leg. That's worth a series of two counts, as Paul keeps fighting. Guerrero with a bodyslam, so London counters into an inside cradle for two, but Chavo cuts the comeback off with a European uppercut. Neckbreaker, but London uses the ropes to block, and a bridging dragon suplex gets him two. London catches a second wind with a backdrop and an incredible looking dropkick for two, but a rollup gets reversed, and Chavo uses the ropes to leverage it into a pinfall at 2:42. Good drama, for the quickie little match it was, anyway. * ¼

The Undertaker v Luther Reigns: Undertaker blitzes him with rights at the bell, and hits a big boot for two. Ropewalk forearm and a reverse STO are worth two, but Reigns rebounds out of a cross corner whip with a lariat for two. Cross corner whip of his own is reversed into an exposed turnbuckle, and Undertaker delivers a guillotine legdrop. Reigns uses a mulekick to shake him off long enough to use the exposed buckle to his advantage, and they spill to the floor for a shot into the steps. Back in, Reigns vertical suplexes him for two, and an elbowdrop is worth two. Legbar, but Undertaker fights him off, and hits a clothesline for two. Jumping DDT is countered with a spear for two, and Reigns drops a forearm for two. Reign of Terror, but Undertaker blocks, and catches him with a jumping clothesline. Whip into the exposed buckle and a big boot setup a legdrop for two, and a chokeslam sets up the Tombstone. Luther counters into the Reign of Terror, but only gets two. Another one is countered into a DDT, however, and the Tombstone finishes at 11:45. Paint-by-numbers, but they were using the right colors. *

#1 Contender's Match: John Cena v Kurt Angle: Cena is the United States Champion here, but that title is not on the line, as this is a tournament final, with the winner getting a WWE Title match at WrestleMania 21. John hides in the ropes to avoid getting tied up on the mat by Angle out of the initial lockup, but ends up there in a side-headlock anyway on the second go around. Criss cross ends in Kurt taking him down with a belly-to-belly suplex, and he goes back to the headlock - Cena fighting to block it, but unable to. The ropes save him, but Kurt takes him back down with a drop-toehold, and he grabs a front-facelock. Cena surprises him with a clothesline over the top, and immediately follows to brawl with him for a bit, then snap suplexes him for two on the way back in. Lariat sets up the FU, but Kurt has is scouted, and manages to bail to the floor before John can execute it. Back in, Cena blitzes him in the corner, but ends up taking a release German suplex right into the turnbuckles. Well, that'll learn 'im. Kurt follows up with a snap suplex for two, and a backbreaker is worth two. Snapmare grounds Cena for a bodyscissors, but John fights out with a backelbow, so Kurt punishes him with a three-alarm rolling German suplex for two. He keeps after the back with a reverse chinlock (applied while kneeling on the spine, and wrenching back), but John escapes with a diving shoulderblock. John throws a pair of clotheslines and a spinebuster for two, but runs into another rolling German - only this time is able to block after the first alarm, and drop Kurt with a sitout powerbomb. FU, but Angle counters into a sunset flip for two, then pops him with a release overhead suplex. Olympic Slam, but Cena counters into a DDT for two. FU, but Kurt uses a victory roll to counter into the Anklelock - only for Cena to shove him out to the floor to escape. John catches him with a flying guillotine legdrop for two on the way back in, and the FU gets two. Kurt uses John's shock to swipe at the leg, and he hammers the ankle, then wraps it around the post multiple times. Olympic Slam is enough to nicely set up the Anklelock, but John makes the ropes. Kurt refuses to accept that, and keeps the hold applied - resulting in a referee bump as the official tries to intervene. Kurt takes advantage of the downed referee by grabbing Cena's chain, but John is able to counter with the FU for the pin at 19:22. As expected, this was really good, and I was very pleasantly surprised to see that Cena got it done alone, because once the referee went down, I was positive that was the cue for a Shawn Michaels run-in. *** ½

Main Event: WWE Title Barbed Wire Cage Match: John Bradshaw Layfield v Big Show: The wire in question covers the top perimeter of the cage, like at a junkyard. JBL goes right at him at the bell, but that strategy does not prove wise, and Show swats him off like a bug, then squashes him. Layfield manages a swinging neckbreaker, but Show catches a flying bodypress attempt, and turns it into a fallaway slam for two. Snap suplex, but a charge in the corner hits boot, and Bradshaw tosses him into the cage to draw blood. He tries climbing, but the wire prevents him from leaving, so Bradshaw reroutes with a flying shoulderblock on the bloody challenger. Bradshaw pummels him in the corner for two, and drops an elbow for two. He grabs one of the tag ropes to choke at Show with, but a whip into the ropes is reversed, and Show boots him down. Powerbomb follows, and a shot into the cage draws blood from the champion. A sloppy slingshot leaves Bradshaw for dead, so his goons show up with bolt cutters to try and get into the cage, but Smackdown GM Teddy Long evicts them. In the chaos, they are able to slip Layfield the cutters, however, and he cracks Show with them for two. Clothesline from Wall Street, but Show counters into the Chokeslam for two. Chokeslam: The Sequel, but Bradshaw blows him low to block, and grabs the cutters again to try and remove some of the barbed wire. That leads to an overlong slugfest on the top rope that fails to build the necessary drama, but ends nicely with Show Chokeslamming him off the top - Bradshaw breaking a hole in the ring on impact! Ah, so that's what was taking them so long to get to the point up there. Cool visual. Show then tears the chain off of the door to escape, but takes his sweet time in doing so, allowing Bradshaw to go through the hole, and crawl out from underneath the ring to retain at 15:12. This was decent, in a punchy-kicky sort of way. * ¼

BUExperience: Nothing earth shattering here, but an entertaining show, with a lot of solid – if unspectacular – stuff.

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