WWE Fantasy Universe S1 Ep.1: Shut Your Mouth!
WWE Fantasy Universe S1 Ep.2: The Inaugural WWE Draft
The Raw after Insurrextion opens with The Rock and Hulk Hogan. Hogan says that The Rock helped him see the light, brother. Hulkamania is bigger than WWE and it is bigger than these fans, dude. The Rock and Hulk Hogan are Hollywood mega stars and they demand to be treated as such.
The Rock calls them Team Hollywood and they are ready to layeth the Smackdown on any jabroni who gets in their way. Hulk Hogan drops a tease, saying that whenever he is a part of a group, there is always a third man. The Rock starts bragging about putting Steve Austin into an early retirement, but he is interrupted by The Undertaker. He says that there is still life in his soul and he will continue to torment Team Hollywood until vengeance has been delivered.
Road To Judgement Day
The Third Man
The Rock and Hulk Hogan took over commentary at the start of an episode of Raw, making a mockery of the show and throwing insults at almost everybody in sight. The first match of the show sees Billy Kidman challenging the Hurricane for the Cruiserweight title. Midway through the match, Hogan and Rock have seen enough and decide to get involved with the match. Hogan grabs the referees attention whilst Rock drops the Hurricane with his title. Kidman takes the pin and wins.
Hogan and Rock close in on Kidman and prepare to jump him, but they don’t. The 3 men all laugh together and embrace. This was all a set up! Billy Kidman is part of Team Hollywood. The 3 men prepare to beat down Hurricane, but The Undertaker comes out and he is not alone. His brother Kane joins him and they clear the ring. Also on this show, we see Team Hollywood and the nWo cross paths backstage. There is tension. The Rock and Shawn Michaels stand face to face but The Rock says they have no problem with them and are not trying to cause them trouble. HBK warns Rock to keep it that way.
Over on Smackdown, Chris Benoit is cutting a promo about his win at Insurrextion, but The Rock interrupts. Rock takes Benoit lightly, he does not consider him as a serious challenger and predicts that he could beat him in under a minute. Benoit asks if Rock is so confident, why don’t they wrestle right now. The Rock seemingly accepts, he tries to cheap shot Benoit but he gets caught in the crossface and he ends up tapping, begging for Benoit to release the hold. Benoit does and Rock rolls out. The Rock leaves and says he isn’t wrestling on TV, he gets paid too much for that. He will see Benoit at Judgement Day.
Also on this show, The Rock approaches DDP backstage. Rock tells him that if he joins Team Hollywood, then he will make sure that the IC title falls into his hands. DDP doesn’t even think that he qualifies. Rock says “Sure you do, why do you think Billy Kidman is all in? He was part of the blockbuster success that was Ready to Rumble. Remember that? You were in that too.” The Rock says that DDP can have anything he wants, but DDP says that he will not sell his soul, he is not that desperate. The Rock says “You are, you just don’t know it yet.”
Whilst The Rock is preoccupied with Benoit, Kane and The Undertaker set their sights on Hulk Hogan and Billy Kidman, setting up a tag match between Brothers of Destruction and Team Hollywood.
Unbeatable?
Backstage at Smackdown, Eddie Guerrero is congratulating Chris Benoit for his win and again explains that lying, cheating and stealing is kinda his thing. Benoit holds no resentment, he won the match didn’t he? In walks Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar. Heyman says that Benoit’s victory has a significant asterisk next to it, because everyone knows that the only reason he won is because Guerrero knew that he couldn’t beat Brock. That is why he didn’t splash him. Guerrero thinks that he could beat Brock, he can beat anybody if he executes the right plan. Heyman goes to talk but Brock stops him and says to Eddie “prove it”.
Guerrero is already scheduled for a match against Maven, but the match never gets underway as Brock attacks Guerrero during his entrance. Lesnar F-5’s Guerrero off the stage. The next week, Eddie Guerrero ambushes Lesnar backstage and they are separated from security. Paul Heyman goes to Stephanie McMahon asking for Lesnar vs Guerrero, but she makes him aware that Guerrero has already requested the match and it has been approved.
Recruitment
Raven brings an end the the 24/7 rule of the Hardcore title. (I just personally cannot be bothered to keep up with all of those shenanigans.) The Hardcore champion Raven spends several weeks trying to lure Spike Dudley to become his follower. He talks about Spike being the “runt of the litter” and how he was always overlooked and underappreciated. Not only by his family, but by Tazz too.
Raven claims Tazz does not respect Spike, he feels pity for him. Tazz is protecting Spike when Spike doesn’t need protecting, he needs the right encouragement. Raven offers Spike to follow him, but Tazz interjects and calls Raven a crazy son of a bitch. Spike tells Tazz that he doesn’t need him to fight his battles, but Tazz refuses to back down. Tazz challenges Raven for the Hardcore title at Judgement Day, Raven accepts. Spike feels like he should be the one challenging Raven, but Tazz wants to deal with Raven for Spike. He wants to back him up, but Spike says he is holding him down.
Making Enemies
The nWo see Stephanie McMahon gloating about their loss at the PPV, so they refuse to leave Smackdown alone. They ask Vince McMahon if they can go pay them a visit and Vince says with a smile on his face “do whatever you please to those inferior losers”. Kevin Nash, Shawn Michaels and X-Pac invade Smackdown again and just cause minor trouble backstage, being generally annoying. Eventually, they cross paths with Triple H.
HBK says he knows Triple H has been doing things solo at the minute, but what if they got the band back together and reformed The Kliq. Triple H isn’t too sure, especially since they are all on Raw and they are pissing off the Smackdown locker room. Whether he is a member or not, Nash tells him that they will always have his back. Later in the show, Triple H faces Edge. Edge is the underdog but he shows a lot of fight against Triple H. Whilst he builds momentum, the nWo start emerging through the crowd and distract him, allowing Triple H to hit the pedigree and win. They all celebrate together but Triple H doesn’t seem all that pleased about it.
Edge then invades Raw and trashes the nWo locker room. The nWo chase him but Edge manages to escape. Edge challenges any of the nWo to come meet him for a match at Judgement Day.
Run It Back
The Dudley’s are confronted by Booker T and Goldust backstage, who want another shot at the tag titles. Their match was a close one and they think that it could have went either way. The Dudley’s resist, but they cannot deny them a shot when Booker T & Goldust win a contender match.
Team Hollywood walked past Booker T and Goldust. The Rock shakes hands with Booker and asks Billy Kidman if he was in the same movie as him, Kidman nods. The Rock tells Booker he would be a fantastic addition to Team Hollywood. Booker T says he doesn’t have any interest currently. Goldust interjects and says Booker should join and talks about himself being a Hollywood star too. The Rock pokes fun at Goldust the way only he can, he says there is absolutely no chance Goldust can ever be in Team Hollywood, him standing here is even too close to them. The Rock tells Booker T that he will change his mind and they will meet again very soon.
Conscription
Christian and Lance Storm continue to pester Chris Jericho and blame him for the loss at Insurrextion. If Jericho was a true Canadian, he would have came and supported his countrymen. Christian and Lance try to denounce Jericho as a Canadian but Jericho takes them out. Christian beats Jericho on Raw thanks to Lance Storm interference.
Jericho now has a personal reason to fight them and he wants a match at Judgement Day. The Un-Americans refuse unless a stipulation is put in place. If Jericho loses, he is forced to join the Un-Americans and fight for his country. Jericho has no issue with that, because he is confident that he will be victorious. Lance Storm attacks Jericho from behind and uses his own Liontamer move to wear him down. Jericho says if Storm likes to steal his submission so much, he can try it again when they meet in a submission match.
Judgement Day
Our opening match is Chris Jericho vs Lance Storm in a submission match. If Jericho loses, he must join the Un-Americans faction. Just like Insurrextion, a Christian opening match is the highlight of the show. Jericho and Storm wrestle a clinic as they try and make each other submit. It is the Liontamer vs the Single-legged Boston Crab.
Jericho spends quite a chunk of this match in control, hitting the Lionsault numerous times but not going for the Liontamer. Jericho seems to be relishing the punishment too much and he gets caught out by Storm who had been working over the leg and back of Jericho whenever he got offence in. Storm traps Jericho in the single-legged Boston Crab and forces Jericho to submit.
Lance Storm wins in 11:53.
After the match, Chris Jericho looks disappointed in himself. Christian and Lance Storm celebrate and they hand Jericho an Un-Americans t-shirt to wear. They forcefully hug their new stablemate. Y2J is an Un-American.
Next up, our first title match is for the tag titles. A rematch from Backlash, the Dudley Boyz vs Booker T & Goldust. Whilst not quite as good as their Backlash clash, this was still an incredibly competitive tag match. D-Von tries to win the match the same way as last time with a piledriver, but Booker T breaks it up with a somersault leg drop. Booker T takes out Bubba Ray with the Book End whilst Goldust hits the Final Cut on D-Von to win the match and the tag titles.
Booker T & Goldust win the tag titles in 7:20.
Next is Edge vs a member of the nWo. It turns out to be X-Pac, but Shawn Michaels and Kevin Nash are at ringside. HBK and Nash try to get involved, tripping Edge up and giving X-Pac the advantage. However, Edge perseveres against the odds and pulls out what I would consider an upset victory, trapping X-Pac in a schoolboy pin to win.
Edge defeats X-Pac in 5:13.
After the match, the nWo get their heat back by beating Edge up. A sweet chin music into a jackknife powerbomb leaves Edge in a heap. They spray paint nWo across his back and pose over him.
We a No Holds Barred match for the Hardcore title, Raven vs Tazz. This doesn’t go very long, nor does it need to. Tazz brings a table into this match and they take turns beating the crap out of each other with the wooden object. They counter each other on top of the table, eventually Raven drops Tazz with a DDT through the table. Raven then hits the Raven effect to win the match. Afterwards, Raven gestures to Spike Dudley to come into the ring. He does and Raven hands him a chair, offering a place by his side if he takes Tazz out right now. Spike takes the chair, and beats Raven across the skull with it instead, choosing to stay loyal to his friend Tazz.
Raven retains the Hardcore title in 2:59.
The main event for Raw is Team Hollywood (Hulk Hogan & Billy Kidman) vs the Brothers of Destruction (Kane & Undertaker). The brothers are dominant, easily overpowering Hogan and Kidman, but Team Hollywood utilise underhanded tactics to find openings. At the finish, Kidman hits Kane with a Shooting Star Press whilst Hogan simultaneously hits the leg drop.
Team Hollywood win in 8:17.
Next up is Brock Lesnar vs Eddie Guerrero. This was an absolute mauling. Eddie Guerrero tried his tricks, but Brock wasn’t here to play. Brock is on offence 99% of the time. Guerrero sends Brock into the turnbuckle and has a chance to hit a frog splash, but Lesnar picks him off in midair and drops him with the F-5.
Brock Lesnar wins in 3:01.
The main event sees The Rock defend the Undisputed WWE Championship against Chris Benoit. The Rock is loud-mouthed and overconfident as always, but Benoit surprises him with a series of suplexes and submission attempts. Rock is on the backfoot, Hulk Hogan and Billy Kidman come out onto the ramp but the brothers of destruction are out to fight run them off. The Rock has the WWE title and goes to hit Benoit with it, but outcomes DDP and he snatches the title from Rock’s hands! DDP stares the Rock down, before blasting Benoit with the belt. The Rock hits the people’s elbow and wins.
The Rock retains in 3:32.
DDP looks remorseful, but he continues the assault after the match, aggressively pummelling Benoit whilst telling him he is sorry. Benoit’s friend Eddie Guerrero rushes to the ring and takes out DDP, but he is hurt from his match earlier in the night. Eddie is blasted from behind by The Rock. Rock stacks Eddie on top of Benoit. He tells DDP to raise his hand whilst Rock puts one foot on top of them both. A show closing victory for Team Hollywood.
Team Hollywood is now at four members. How will the WWE superstars combat the growing force of The Rock, Hulk Hogan, Billy Kidman and DDP? Find out next week in episode 4 as we head towards the King of the Ring!
You must be logged in to post a comment.