FOOTAGE! galore from last week's lottery, and from last week's Smackdown! where Angle trades HHH.
Fighting evil by moonlight, winning love by daylight, never running from a real fight, because it is time to WAKE UP! Rhyno, Edge, Trish and Christian, and Bald Molly grace our screens. It's time for Raw, live from Cinncinnati, OH...and a Fashion Report, too!
Evolution: Flair, in tan sportscoat, white shirt and khakis, Batista, in white shirt (top 3 undone) and khakis, and Randy, in black shirt (top 3 undone) and khakis, all carrying their respective Title Belts. Flair gets the mic and talks-up HHH. Then Flair goes nuts and talks-up Randy. Randy gets the stick, but Mick quickly interrupts. Book Mick vs. Randy (at Backlash) for the IC Title, in a hardcore match with Evolution banned from ringside. Man, Batista must've felt self-conscious just standing there for nearly 12 minutes.
In the back, La Resistance and Cade haze Tajiri. Coach gets green-misted. Oh, the hilarity!
Nidia, in neon-green tshirt and Daisy Dukes, vs. Bald Molly, in brunette permed with, black top with vertical blue stripes and black pants. Jack Doan officiates. Molly works Nidia's elbow, but a de-wigging allows Nidia to get a quick roll-up. An average match.
FOOTAGE! of Edge spearing Bisch for no reason last week. Presently, Bisch, in a tan sportscoat and burgundy shirt, and Johnny Weekly, in black shirt with vertical silver stripes, plot against Edge by booking him vs. Kane, at Backlash.
JR, in grey sportscoat, white shirt, tie and black hat, and Lawler, in sparkly black/gold shirt, commentate.
Hurricane gets punked-out by HHH, in black shirt (top 3 buttons undone) and black pants. He gets the mic and blabs. Bisch comes out to blow him (verbally) and re-book HHH vs. Shawn vs. Benoit, at Backlash.
In the back, Evolution hugs. Then they kick the snot out of a bypassing Shelton.
Lance, in electric blue tights with silver wrapping chevrons, already in the ring bemoaning his fate, vs. Rhyno, in black "Rhyno" singlet. Chioda officiates. Squash!
In the back, Tajiri visits Bisch's office to appologize. But Coach is there, stirring shit, so Bisch books Tajiri vs. Kane.
The WW gets a USO award.
Benoit, in black tights with blue slashes, wearing the Heavyweight Title, and Shawn, in black tanktop and black leather chaps over red "HBK" tights with sundered hearts, vs. Batista, in black undies with arcing red flame and Flair, in purple "Nature Boy" sequined robe over black "RF" undies, both wearing the Tag Titles. Lillian announces in a white tube-top, red miniskirt, red right armwrap, and white knee-high boots. Johnny Weekly, in striped shirt, is the special guest referee. Flair no-sells all of Benoit's kicks. Since Shawn and Johnny are just talking, AdBreak decides to do a run-in.
Cont. Johnny slow-counts, but Shawn and Benoit win anyways, thanks to a superkick. A nice match. Woah - post-match stuff goes down and the match is restarted, but it quickly ends in a DQ when Shawn punches Johnny. Stupid fuckin' Dusty Finish. Post post-match the faces shake hands.
In Bisch's Room of Fun, Shelton arrives to complain about HHH. Woman-beatin' Austin arrives on-the-scene to stir shit. Shelton wants a match vs. HHH - Bisch books it.
The Hilight Reel. Jericho, sans goatee, in checkered white/black open shirt and pants, hosts. Trish, in white zipper'ed sweater-vest and black bellbottoms, is the guest. Jericho wants an explaination; Trish delivers a narrative in a slutty-ditz/ditzy-slut manner. Ah - smart-alecky face Jericho - how I have missed thee. Oh, screw you all - "CLB" is NEVER, EVER getting over!
In the back, Trish vents to Christian!. He declares that Bisch has booked Jericho vs. Christian! at Backlash whilst he comforts Trish.
Tajiri, in black pants with yellow dragon on the right leg and flamin' left hem, vs. Kane, in black tights with red barbedwire stripes. Hebner officiates the match. WTF - Tajiri by countout? But I never even heard Earl counting. A bad match. Post-match, Edge, in black leather vest, white wifebeater and black jeans, spears Kane.
In the back, Benoit comes to pump-up Shelton. On the way to the ring, Hurricane and Mick both psyche him up. So I guess Shelton is gonna be a face here on Raw. I can dig that.
JR and Lawler introduce the "Smackdown! Rebound", which is nothing more than a bunch of FOOTAGE! from the Thursday show. FOOTAGE!, baby, FOOTAGE! Um, way to keep the brands seperate (not).
Meanwhile, in the back, Flair psyches-up HHH. (Okay, so they've referred to Trips as "The Franchise" three times tonight so far. I am sick of it.)
When was the last time you saw a Nike commercial where they focused on the shoe? When was the last time you saw a Nike commerical where you knew what it was about before they show the logo at the end? When was the last time you were able to sit through a Nike commercial? I can't remember, either.
HHH, in black iron-cross undies, vs. Shelton, in red singlet with silver slashes on the right and silver trim. Mike Chioda is the rferee, in the white/black vertical striped shortsleeves and black pants. Mid-match, Flair comes to ringside, but Benoit comes out to counter him. In the non-confusion, AdBreak cuts in.
Cont. Many near-falls for Shelton. Eventually HHH looks to Benoit and Flair outside. Shelton hits a splash in the corner and rolls-up HHH for the pin. A good, hard-fought match.
Overall: A nice show. Perhaps a bit much FOOTAGE (especially the Smackdown! stuff), but oh well. I like how they worked the new talent into the mix.
-- Presenting Shelton Benjamin, Your Next Intercontinental Champion.
-- I pray to god Triple H's sudden jobbing streak wasn't triggered by a promise to get the belt back at Backlash and embarass Benoit in his hometown...
If the WWF decided to use a Super Mario Brothers gimmick...
"Mah gawd, King! Garrison Cade just bounced a fireball toward Rene Dupree!" "And look, Mark Jindrak just jumped on top of Conway's head! I think he's out cold, JR!" "What're they up to now..where did that huge pipe come from?!" "They're going down in the pipe! They're..they're gone!" --Mike Sweetser
"Oh my god, JR. Cade just shrunk after he was hit by that chair!" "Here comes RVD, King. What's that he has in that bag?" "Are those Mushrooms, JR?" "Cade's eating the Mushrooms. BAH GAWD, KING! Cade just grew twice his size!" --Mr. Tuesday
Ah a lackluster show but the main event more then made up for it. Way to go HHH and same to you Shelton lets hope they don't just forget about this match ala Rock and Hurricane from last year.
I was all ready to come here and bemoan the overall treatment of the SD guys and do the usual smarkiness. The main event fucking changed all that. A great match and a match that had the crowd believing.
In fact, I stood up and cheered for the Shelton win. I haven't gotten that wrapped up in a single match in many years (damn smarkiness). An utterly fabulous job by HHH to give so much and then give Shelton the win as well.
Maybe it was just me, but the psychology of Shelton surprising Triple H, matching him move for move, taunt for taunt, had me really going.
Even though it had no real implications (no title, no #1 contender) other than being Shelton's first match on RAW, it really sucked me in, really had me hoping that he could pull it off. Lots of believable near falls, and a great ending that wasn't quite clean but pretty close.
Like someone mentioned in another thread, you often form your opinion of a show based on the last thing you see, and for me, that made RAW a very good show.
That's how you elevate a guy. Give him the pin AND have him portrayed as an equal throughout the match. I just have to hope the WWE continues with the SMARTNESS~ and makes sure to follow up on Shelton's win, rather than treat it as an anomaly.
A pleasant surprise ending to a rather boring show.
"I am the past, present and future of professional wrestling, and all of you player hating sons of bitches wanna be me, and all your girls wanna see me, and when your kids meet me, I greet thee with a smile, 'cause I go the extra mile" - TEDDY HART
Originally posted by Texas Kelly(Note to mods: You can delete the other thread.)
I got your back.
The main event - seriously. That was excellent. HHH is sending us all on a veritable rollercoaster of opinion, with his great performance at WM, then the junk last week, and now this? I mean, flukey or not, a win over a top guy is a win over a top guy and the live crowd ate it up.
Jericho's promo was really lame. Jericho is sort of like one of the women from the Oteri/Shannon/Gasteyer era of SNL where he might say something funny but then manages to go about thirty-five steps too far with it.
I'd be upset about Tajiri getting squashed despite the big countout win, but really, what am I expecting.
The tag title match was way off all over the place. Flair and Michaels both looked real bad, but the finish (the first one) was really hot so that saved it to some extent. I liked how ridiculous JR was being about the restart and second finish. That stupid hotheaded woman Michaels lost the tag title, Benoit should've broken his neck.
Batista gets top billing over Flair? Shame on you, Lillian....I was a bit surprised by Foley's return, but I guess he'll disappear again after Backlash....Alright, who brought the "Michael P.S. Hayes" sign?....Loved the Tajiri segment. I was hoping we'd see the debut of "Blind Coach"....Molly v.s Nidia was an okay match. Hopefully Nidia can inject some new blood into a stagnant division....Did Triple H say that RAW was the #1 show on TV? What rankings is HE looking at?....Finally, Storm renounces his gimmick. Then he gets squashed. Poor Lance....Another boring Trips promo....the tag title match was pretty good. And we get a Dusty Finish!!....
Is Johnny Nitro going to come out as Johnny Ace next week?....It's so awkward to see Michaels jump on 2 guys on the outside and the other five around them fall too, even though they weren't touched....That commercial with the Brock/Goldberg wrestlers HAS to be an inside joke....I called the "Jezebel" comment by JR seconds before it happened....I find her explanation poor- Jericho saved her NUMEROUS other times, while Christian just kicked her ass....And Jericho breaks out Steph's nickname for Trish....
Tajiri v.s Kane was, well, odd, but the Edge spear worked....Trips v.s Shelton was an AWESOME match. It reminded me of the matches he had on RAW with Taka and Al Snow in consecutive weeks- not title contenders, but he made them look good and look like they had a chance to win....SHELTON WITH THE UPSET!! BY GOD, I'VE SEEN IT ALL NOW!!....Okay, Trips is off the hook for a LONG while now.
Good use of the upset there. I was reminding myself of the Scott McGhee win over Ric Flair 100 years ago that immediately sparked a run for McGhee in Florida for awhile and did NOTHING to hurt champ Flair....someone finally using a bit of history...
If Trip had done what he did with Benjamin tonite (forget jobbing, just allowing him to look good) the past two years, most of the criticism of him would not have occurred. And, maybe I was reading to much into it, but as Ross babbled about if it was on a point system, I thought they were trying to start Sting/Flair between Benjamin/Trip for this generation. Flair is gold on the mic. Orton is not. Flair should speak. Orton should not. Usually wrestlers have sore throats like Orton after 'negotiating' for pushes in the back. And, something about the Foley/Orton match makes no sense. If its No DQ-Falls Count Anywhere, why have Evolution banned from ringside. Since its No DQ, what punishment is there for them to be at ringside? Johnny Nitro? Idiotic. And, since the Apprentice is on head to head with SD, why in any way promote an idea from that show? Did Flair recommend a 'Best of the Dusty Finishes' for the tag title match? I'd rather see heel Tajiri, but as long as he mists everyone, face Tajiri is ok. And, since he only was in 1 segment briefly, and didn't get to ride his ATV all around the ring for half an hour, was this punishment for bad publicity for Austin?
Why is TVLand stealing my ideas from DEAN's Workrate Report's? They had to be stealing, as I thought I had the only demented mind that could put Bea Arthur and Abe Vigoda in a sex scene.
What a great main event. Even if H had won, it would have been a great main event. Wow. Forget the surprise of the win, I’m surprised HHH WORKED a match at all.
This Foley/Orton match is FULL of holes. First, Evolution is banned from ringside…but there’s no rules? And even if that’s plausible, can’t Evolution attack anywhere the match might go away from the ring since it’s a “Falls Count Anywhere” type deal?
How pissed off is Shane Douglas tonight, and who cares?
Why was the Edge recap from last week dubbed with his old music, especially when they used the Zombie music during his Green Mist Kane run-in?
The win was nice, but I was more impressed with Shelton's backstage presence. I'm not ready to fly the guy's flag up the flagpole quite yet, but he's a brighter young star than I thought.
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I mean, sure I'd like to mock the WWF's "draft." But what's up with websites - namely 311 - doing "mock drafts?" Is there a point to it?
Jeepers, boys. It's predetermined anyway.