Smackdown

Card Information:
 Held in: CHARLOTTE COLISEUM
Location: NORTH CAROLINA, UNITED STATES
          on March 2005 at 8:00pm

Interview:
The Orton Explanation...
Click here to see highlights.

Randy Orton denies conspiracy with Evolution, and receives a challenge from
Booker T, which is swiftly accepted.


Elimination Match:
The Dudley Boys (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley), Tajiri and Funaki beat The
World's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin) and The Basham Bro
thers (Doug Basham and Danny Basham) 4 falls to 2:
         x Tajiri beat Haas via the Stiff kick to the head in 0:17:42
         x Doug beat Tajiri via a flying cross body press in 0:18:28
         x D-Von beat S. Benjamin after the Dudley Death Drop in 0:36:49
         x Danny beat D-Von via the Brain Damage in 0:39:30
         x Funaki beat Danny via countout in 0:49:57
         x Bubba beat Doug via the Buh Buh Bomb in 0:55:34
Survivors: Funaki, Bubba Ray Dudley
Rating: *** 1/4
[Shaniqua interfered against D-Von Dudley.]
[Shaniqua interfered against Funaki.]
(Taka Michinoku no-showed.)

Tajiri replaced an unavailable Taka Michinoku, but it was Funaki and Bubba who
survived the match.  They'll be enemies this Sunday though.


Ted DiBiase pinned Maven after a gutwrench suplex in 0:07:26.
Rating: **** 1/4

The Million Dollar Man taught Maven a lesson.


Interview:
The fate of the nWo is in his hands...
Click here to see highlights.

Ted DiBiase sends a message to Bret Hart.


Thug Life (John Cena and Tazz) and Goldberg defeated
nWo (Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Scott Steiner) when Tazz made S. Steiner
 submit to a single-leg takedown into a leglock in 0:01:30.
Scott Steiner injured his left knee. He will be out for approximately 1 card.
Rating: **

Tazz made Steiner tap out, but in doing so caused another injury to Big Poppa
Pump, which means he'll now miss Wrestlemania.  No word yet on who will step
in to replace him against Goldberg.


No-Countout-No-DQ-Towel Match:
William Regal (w/Steven Richards) defeated Shawn Michaels (w/Cactus Jack) with
the Regal Stretch in 0:14:59.
Rating: *** 1/4

Cactus had to throw in the towel for HBK, potentially leaving Shawn and Jack as
the least-deserving contenders for the tag titles ever.


Interview:
Brock's anger...
Click here to see highlights.

Brock Lesnar wants attention, and is prepared to get some.


Edge defeated Lance Storm by disqualification in 0:09:18.
Rating: *** 1/4

After Edge's DQ win, he was attacked by Rhyno.  Val Venis ran down to help, but
was cut off by Lance Storm.  Storm and Rhyno ended up laying into Edge with a
steel chair.


Randy Orton pinned Booker T with the RKO in 0:14:24.
Rating: *** 1/2
Click here to see highlights.

After Orton was disqualified, Booker persuaded the referee to continue the 
match.  He did, and then T fell victim to the RKO.  After the match, Orton was
surprised by Chris Benoit, who came through the crowd and locked the challenger
in the Crossface.

After Smackdown went off the air, Triple H ran down to ringside and hit an
already injured Booker T with the Pedigree.



Card rating: *** 1/4


Match observations: 

And so the Road to Wrestlemania is finally drawing to a close.  The show will
take place in just three days time, with rivalries heating up to boiling point.
It was Chris Benoit who got the better of Randy Orton here tonight, but can the
Crippler successfully defend the gold when it gets down to one-on-one?  The 
same goes for Triple H, who put an exhausted Booker T down with the Pedigree
tonight.  The Booker man wants the IC gold back, and he intends on taking it
on the grandest stage of them all.

Goldberg will now have a mystery opponent on Sunday, after Scott Steiner picked
up another injury tonight, at the hands of Tazz.  We won't find out who will
take up the challenge until a few moments before the match.

The nWo may be just a few days away from ending forever.  Bret Hart and Ted
DiBiase are set to clash, with the fate of the nWo on the line.  If Hart wins,
the nWo is gone, but if DiBiase wins, Shane McMahon will resign from his post 
and walk away from WWE.  And speaking of Shane O Mac, he will have his hands
full with Brock Lesnar, who is demanding respect.  

Wrestlemania is sure to be an amazing event, with plenty of superb matches,
and the potential for a new era to dawn in WWE.

Next Show: Wrestlemania