WWE Velocity

Plot

2002: A new enhancement show

Tupelo, Mississippi, May 25, 2002. Velocity premiered on TNN that night, replacing the long-running WWF Jakked/Metal as WWE's new weekend companion show for the SmackDown brand.¹³ With Michael Cole and Al Snow on commentary, the debut opened with Billy Kidman defeating Yoshihiro Tajiri in a cruiserweight match that got real time and used it well.¹⁴ Hardcore Holly beat Val Venis, and Trish Stratus retained the Women's Championship over Stacy Keibler in a Bra & Panties match that lasted one minute and fifty-four seconds.¹³ The formula was set: four matches an episode, a mix of mid-carders, cruiserweights, and rising names, plus highlights from SmackDown.⁸

Through 2002, Velocity carried real title matches. Billy & Chuck retained the WWE Tag Team Championship against Randy Orton and Mark Henry on June 15, 2002, and Jamie Noble defended the Cruiserweight Championship repeatedly, including against Chavo Guerrero.¹⁵ The September 14, 2002 telecast, announced by Cole and Marc Loyd, opened with D-Von defeating Shannon Moore.¹⁶

2003–2004: The cruiserweight laboratory

Velocity became the place where WWE's smaller, faster wrestlers got long matches they could never get on SmackDown. Ultimo Dragon, one of the most decorated junior heavyweights in the world, made his WWE debut on Velocity, defeating Shannon Moore.⁸ In May 2004, Rey Mysterio met Jamie Noble. Noble went for a Tiger Bomb; Mysterio reversed it into position for the 619 and won, giving a Saturday B-show a genuine main-event finish.³ A Fatal Four Way cruiserweight match with a Cruiserweight Title opportunity on the line ended when Nunzio caught Billy Kidman with a DDT off the top rope.³

The show also became an audition stage. Bryan Danielson, years before he would become Daniel Bryan, wrestled Jamie Noble and lost when Noble countered his roaring elbow into a spinning neckbreaker.³ WWE officials invited him back a month later anyway.

2004–2005: London vs. Akio, and the move online

The run people still remember is Paul London against Akio, a series of Velocity matches in 2004 and 2005 that turned a filler show into must-see television. WWE's own retrospective names the series among the best Velocity bouts ever.³ The two high-flyers kept escalating: Akio's kicks against London's speed, counters answered with counters, matches given more time than a Saturday B-show was supposed to spend on anyone. The February 2005 installment ended with London hitting his 450 splash, and Pro Wrestling Torch graded it an A, calling it "a must see match" and the perfect culmination of the three-match series; the same reviewer graded the entire episode a B and possibly the best edition he had covered.¹⁷

By then the show itself was changing shape. Ratings had slid into the 0.4–0.6 range through late 2004, with a low of 0.3 on July 3, 2004,¹⁸ and in 2005 Velocity left television entirely, becoming a webcast: a new episode uploaded to WWE.com each Saturday, available for a week, with the final televised episodes that September drawing roughly 0.5–0.6.^{18 • 19} The show kept running in webcast form until June 10, 2006, when WWE aired its last episode to clear the schedule for the relaunched ECW brand.²⁰

Characters

• Paul London (himself): the high-flying cruiserweight whose 2004–2005 series against Akio gave Velocity its artistic peak, capped by the 450 splash finish.¹⁷
• Akio (himself, later known as Jimmy Wang Yang): London's rival across the show's best matches, a striker whose kicks gave the series its rhythm.
• Sho Funaki (himself): the diminutive Japanese veteran so associated with the show that a 2005 column crowned him the joke-official "Velocity World Champion," and named his program with A-Train the show's best feud.⁸
• Jamie Noble (himself): the Cruiserweight Championship workhorse, defending the title across 2002 and later providing the opponent's role in both Mysterio's 619 reversal and Danielson's audition loss.^{3 • 15}
• Michael Cole (himself): the lead announcer of the debut era, calling the show alongside Al Snow and later Marc Loyd.^{14 • 16}
• Rey Mysterio (himself): the biggest star willing to work the B-show, delivering a SmackDown-quality finish on a Saturday telecast in May 2004.³

Interpretations and controversies

Velocity's legacy is a running argument among wrestling fans: was it a dumping ground or a hidden gem? The contemporary InsidePulse column leaned toward dumping ground, mocking its 0.5 and 0.7 ratings and crowning Funaki its imaginary champion.⁸ WWE's own retrospective and reviewers like Pro Wrestling Torch leaned the other way, treating the London–Akio series as proof the show could produce genuinely great wrestling when given the chance.^{3 • 17}

Sequels, spin-offs, and adaptations

Velocity replaced WWF Jakked/Metal in the weekend slot and was itself replaced in 2006 by the relaunched ECW brand, which took over WWE's third-show real estate.² Its sibling show, Sunday Night Heat, served the Raw brand in the same enhancement role.¹³