Smackdown!

Sacramento, California
September 2, 2004

ANGLE WINS
Sept. 2, 2004

The most bitter of WWE rivalries was supposed to end Thursday night on SmackDown!


Kurt Angle faced Eddie Guerrero in a best-of-three falls match.


No championship was at stake. There was no special prize for the winner. The one and only purpose of the clash was to prove, once and for all, who was the better wrestler.


Somebody forgot to tell all of this to Luther Reigns.


The Olympic Champ’s meddling henchman drilled an unsuspecting Guerrero with a chair to the back of the legs, sending him to the canvas and making him easy prey for the clinching ankle lock.


Latino Heat would tap out moments later as Angle earned the deciding fall in the exhausting and entertaining match-up at Sacramento’s Arco Arena.



Angle and Guerrero were in the midst of a classic battle before Reigns got involved in the main event.


The first fall would go to Angle, who played on Guerrero’s notorious temper and provoked him into delivering a low blow right in front of the referee. The resulting disqualification put Angle up 1-0.


But Guerrero was resilient. After Angle connected on three straight suplexes, Latino Heat stole back the momentum of the match by reversing the Angle Slam and securing the second fall to even the battle.


Guerrero would go on to nail Angle with his Three Amigos Suplexes and was poised for the finishing Frog Splash when Reigns arrived and knocked him off balance. Latino Heat then rolled out of an ankle lock by pushing Angle into referee Brian Hebner.


With Hebner down and slightly out, Guerrero grabbed a chair and nailed both Reigns and Angle. Keeping with his deceitful nature, Latino Cheat then slyly laid the metal chair right next to Angle before playing dead.


When Hebner came to his senses, Angle feverishly talked himself out of a disqualification as Guerrero looked on nearly doubled over in laughter. Seconds later he was doubled over in pain, as Reigns got in the final shot and added a swinging neckbreaker after the bell for good measure.


Earlier in the night, Rey Mysterio, Rob Van Dam and John Cena defeated Kenzo Suzuki, Rene Dupree and Booker T in an impromptu six-man tag match. Cena could certainly use the confidence as we learned at the top of the show that Booker T had beat Cena in Australia, surging ahead 2 to 1 in the best-of-five series for the U.S. Championship.


We also had another frightening appearance by Heidenreich. After GM Theodore Long fined the unstable giant $5,000 for last week’s attack on Josh Mathews, Heidenreich got loose again; this time annihilating Paul London after London and Kidman lost a non-title tag team match to Nunzio and Johnny Stamboli. He even went after Michael Cole before Heyman finally arrived to restrain his pet project.



One side note on the FBI win, Kidman, who last week injured Chavo Guerrero with his Shooting Star Press, actually passed up the chance for his patented move late in the match. He wore a pensive look as he opted to come off the top rope and tag out.



MATCH RESULTS:

Kurt Angle defeated Eddie Guerrero in a best-of-three falls match

Rey Mysterio, RVD and John Cena def. Booker T, Kenzo Suzuki and Rene Dupree

Orlando Jordan def. Charlie Haas

FBI def. Billy Kidman and Paul London in a non-title match

The Dudleys def. Hardcore Holly and Billy Gunn with some help from Spike