• ON THIS DAY IN WWE HISTORY (June 3, 2004) – WWE SmackDown!
On this day in 2004, World Wrestling Entertainment aired an episode of their weekly TV show ‘WWE SmackDown!’.
It was pre-taped at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and featured matches, interviews & storyline segments on the road to the ‘WWE The Great American Bash 2004’ PPV.
Here’s the card:
1. Eddie Guerrero vs. Danny Basham
2. Summer Bikini Contest
3. WWE Cruiserweight Title: Chavo Classic vs. Funaki
4. Rey Mysterio vs. Rene Dupree
5. The Undertaker vs. Booker T
• Daniel Bryan Reveals Which WWE, NXT & NJPW Wrestlers He Wants To Work With
While speaking to CM Punk on this week’s WWE Backstage, Daniel Bryan talked about some wrestlers being under-utilized in WWE, and also named some of the wrestlers he wants to work with.
Below are the highlights:
On which talents he wants to work with in WWE:
“It’s interesting because there’s already guys that are on TV that I would really want to work with, in singles programs with. Number one, who I think has been supremely under-utilized is Big E.
Big E, he’s just an entertaining guy, and he’s so big and he’s fast. I’ve had maybe about two or three singles matches with him. Every single one, when I’ve been in the ring with him, how is this guy so good. He’s so good.
Another one is Gran Metalik because I love Lucha, and to me, he’s one of the premiere Lucha guys in the world. We just don’t utilize him that often, guys like that who are already on the main roster.
It’s hard because when I look at NXT people, it’s guys that I want to see succeed because I know them, so it’s hard for me to look at them objectively. It’s like I want Roderick [Strong] to come up because I’ve known him for years.”
From NJPW:
“But I also look outside of WWE. I see somebody like Will Ospreay, and I just look at him and I’ll be like, how was I never that athletic?
I wrestled Zack Sabre Jr. maybe it was 2008. When I was an independent wrestler, I wrestled this very technical style just bend people and all that kind of stuff. I thought I was pretty good at it. Zack Sabre Jr. does it, and he does it so much better than I ever did it.
It was kind of demoralizing a little bit. Although, it’s inspiring when you go OK.”
From NXT:
“You see all of those kind of guys, but I want to wrestle a guy like Keith Lee, who’s fantastic. I never got to meet him before, and even like Dominik Dijakovic. I see things in him where I’d like to do six months of live events with him. He would be so good.
There are so many guys at the Performance Center that are just incredibly talented. For the first time ever, I think we have so many talented people that it’s hard to utilize them all.”
