Reported by Keith Vinciguerra of WrestleView.com
» On Sunday, February 23, 2003 at 12:43 AM EST

The eve of No Way Out is upon us, but before every PPV there must be Velocity!! Don’t worry, I won’t bore you with my predictions for the PPV. In fact, I won’t even be watching the show. No Way Out? I thought of an easy way out: save my money and read Wrestleview’s live updates. But anyway, we’re here for the best B show in wrestling so let’s get to it.

VELOCITY RECAP

Billy Kidman vs. Shannon Moore, non-title match

The action starts out fast as the two wrestlers grapple a bit. Kidman hits a spinning leg scissors, but Shannon drops him stomach first over the top rope and then nails a back suplex. The MF’er keeps the momentum going with a suplex and a hard Irish whip into the corner that floors Kidman. The match slows down as Shannon slaps on a surfboard submission. The champ finally gets going by kicking a charging Shannon in the face and then drops him with a few clotheslines followed by his Death Valley neckbreaker. Shannon manages to counter an Irish whip into the corner with a springboard heel kick from the second rope, but only gets a two count. He attempts a Senton Bomb off the top rope and misses by a mile. Kidman nails a one handed sit out power bomb and the Shooting Star Press for the win.

Winner by pinfall: Billy Kidman

Bill DeMott vs. Funaki

Funaki catches DeMott with a dropkick as he’s trying to enter the ring. DeMott shrugs it off and destroys Funaki with some punches and a kneelift. He looks down at Smackdown’s #1 announcer and decides to leave, apparently because it’s too easy beating up guys 1/10th his size. Funaki has other ideas as he gets up, pulls Bill back into the ring, and hits an ensuguri followed by a sliding dropkick to the head and a bulldog. DeMott has had enough and takes over with a back suplex and then reverses a crucifix rollup attempt into a fall away slam. He climbs the ropes and misses a flying elbow. Funaki climbs the ropes and hits a high cross body for a two count. Bill gets up and ramshackles Funaki with a clothesline and then finishes him with a nasty power bomb. Funaki’s head hit the mat so hard that it bounced up and hit again. After the match, Bill is yelling at Josh Matthews and the Cat says “I think Bill wants to eat your ass like a pot of collared greens.” The Cat continues to amaze me with his poignant and intelligent commentary.

Winner by pinfall: Bill DeMott

Flashback to Smackdown

We see the feud building between Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar followed by the action from Smackdown leading up to their 6 man tag match at No Way Out.

Nunzio and Chuck Palumbo vs. Nova and Johnny Jeter

The newcomers beat up on Nunzio for awhile with armbars and armdrags until Nunzio manages to tag in Palumbo. The big man pummels Nova in the corner, but gets taken down with a spinning leg scissors and a dropkick. Palumbo catches Nova as he was trying a high cross body, throws him over his head, and nails a Samoan drop. Nunzio tags back in and hits the Sicilian Slice (second rope leg drop) for a two count. In comes Palumbo and he executes a spinning belly-to-belly suplex and a discus punch. Nunzio back in to work on Nova’s arm. Nova finally makes the hot tag and Jeter comes flying in to nail Nunzio, and then dropkicks Palumbo in his sack o’ plenty and hits an excellent reverse spin kick to Palumbo’s face. He makes the mistake of turning his back on Palumbo to beat up Nunzio and he walks right into a super kick. Match over.

Winners by pinfall: Nunzio and Chuck Palumbo

Flashback to Smackdown

We see the build up of Rock vs. Hogan.

Los Guerreros vs. Team Angle

Eddie and Haas begin with some grappling and ‘real’ wrestling. Chavo enters the match with a dropkick and then back suplexes Charlie in the corner. Uncle Eddie comes flying in and holds Charlie down so his nephew can dropkick him again. Haas finally tags in Shelton who immediately gets double teamed and choked by Eddie in the corner. Cheat to win!! Shelton takes control by dropping Chavo with a clothesline. Team Angle beats on Chavo for awhile until he hits a dropkick and makes the hot tag to Eddie. He cleans house with clotheslines and a back body drop (standard house cleaning maneuvers after a hot tag). Eddie executes three suplexes in a row on Haas and throws Shelton over the top rope. Double elbow by Los Guerreros (the Mexican Hat Trick?) and a tornado DDT by Chavo. Eddie wants to hit the Frog Splash, but Shelton drags his partner out of the ring to safety. Team Angle walks up the ramp and they get counted out.

Winners by count out: Los Guerreros

VELOCITY REVIEW

Billy Kidman vs. Shannon Moore

Great opening match!! Shannon got in more offense than usual and actually controlled most of the match. Kidman used his standard offense to get the job done and the fans seemed fairly into it. His title defense against Matt Hardy should be one of the few highlights of No Way Out.

Bill DeMott vs. Funaki

Again? They just had this match last week. Bill really is following in Albert’s shoes. Maybe he can become the B-Train and he can tag with Assbert as the D-Railers. Anyway, this match was better than their contest last week as Funaki actually got in some offense. Still nothing remarkable or interesting, but better than a straight squash.

Nunzio and Chuck Palumbo vs. Nova and Johnny Jeter

That’s Nova? I couldn’t have been any more wrong about what I thought he looked like. This was a decent tag team match because the news guys held their own. They both used some interesting offense. I like this new stable with Nunzio, Palumbo, and Johnny the Bull. Did you see the Bull press slam Rikishi on Smakdown?! Amazing. Too bad he lost a minute later, but that was an awesome display of power.

Los Guerreros vs. Team Angle

Okay, when I first saw the intro to the Guerreros ‘stealing’ segment I thought it was going to be really stupid. But then I realized that it was supposed to be sort of cheesy and it ended up being rather funny. Eddie and Chavo are hilarious, even though they are promoting a negative stereotype about Mexican people. Still, the idea of a face team (they are good guys now right?) being proud of cheating is totally creative and that’s always a good thing. Oh yeah, the match itself was way better than Velocity quality even with the cheap ending.

Overall, Velocity delivered big time this week. Kidman vs. Shannon Moore was solid, the main event was great, and the flashbacks were kept to a minimum. Even Bill DeMott’s match wasn’t awful this week because his opponent actually fought back. I would have liked to see Nova have a better debut, but the match was still decent. I really can’t think of anything to complain about. Great show leading up to the PPV.