VISITING JAPAN

FEB. 10, 2005

 

The special 8-man No. 1 Contender Tournament will continue overseas as SmackDown! heads to the land of the rising sun.

 

In quarterfinal action, Orlando Jordan will take on United States Champion John Cena and Rey Mysterio will face Kurt Angle.

 

The Cena/Jordan winner would face Booker T in the semifinals at No Way Out. The Mysterio/Angle winner will get a bye straight into the final match, also at No Way Out, since Undertaker and Renee Dupree ended with a double countout last week.

 

Meanwhile, will Carlito?s petition finally come back to haunt the embattled GM Theodore Long? Don?t miss the first-ever SmackDown! produced in Japan.

 

Tune in on Thursday (8/7) CT on UPN.

 

Picture of the current tournament brackets

 

As much as I love Kenzo's goofy shiteating grin, I really hope they gave Cena-Suzuki a rest for the Japan show. Probably won't luck out though.

 

Obviously looking forward to another Mysterio and Angle match. It's been refreshing how Rey's been pushed as of late, winning a few matches against Eddie Guerrero by outwitting him. There'd be more complaints about Eddie's losses though if it wasn't known he was caving under the main event pressure before, but neither man can complain much about anything right now and wouldn't anyway. The IWC does all the senseless complaining for them with full knowledge of being tuned out

 

Anyway, I hope their being in Japan has the same if not more influence on SD! as Raw was under, matchwise. *thinking of the opening and closing matches*

If they don't show Japanese fans trying to say "Word Life" or "Thuganomics" at some point in the show, it'll be a crime.

So, how was Angle/Rey, for anyone who saw it? I was intrigued that they gave it 17 minutes.

The ME was good. There were a lot of counters and near falls, Angle won the match with the ankle lock after what I think was the 3rd attempt and only after wising up to Rey's counters and also locking the leg. Both Angle and Rey looked strong coming out of it, which I recall was a concern in their past matches, Angle or Rey looking weaker after facing eachother.

 

Also, Luther needs to promo more. I know he already did his prison life schtick a few times before but it was pretty damned moving, this time especially.

Also, Luther needs to promo more. I know he already did his prison life schtick a few times before but it was pretty damned moving, this time especially.

Luther Reigns = Nathan Jones 2?

Yeah, I guess that's one of very few things they have in common. Of those, not being in-ring and mic skills. And Jones's lactating nipple. And Reigns's horse shoe hair. And... well. Yeah.

Booker vs Nailz vs Nathan Jones vs Luther Reigns in a redux of the Bossman vs Mountie night in jail match = BUYRATE GOLD.