Fighting evil by moonlight, winning love by daylight, never running from a real fight, because it is time to WAKE UP! And wouldn't you know that it's time for Raw, live from San Diego, CA...and a Fashion Report, too!
Lita, in black winged "Lita" heart tanktop, pink mesh armwraps, and pink capris, vs. Trish, in black tanktop and black pants. Jack Doan wears the stripes. Mid-match, Kane's face appears on the TitanTron. Trish uses the distraction to get the rollup. Average match. Post-match, Kane says he'll want an answer later tonight. Lawler Annoyance Level: 3.5.
Randy, in blue "Orton" undies with black hip scrawls, the IC Title over his shoulder, comes to the ring and gets the mic. Apparently Evolution's goal is to guarentee HHH wins the battle royale. Shelton, in red rolled-down singlet with silver trim, is out to take umbrage at Randy's words, and to ask for a Title match. Randy declines. So Shelton takes it to Randy.
In the back, Evolution meets.
Meanwhile, Eugene and Regal hang. Bisch arrives on the scene. Eugene asks for a match; Bisch says no. Bisch pulls Regal aside and reveals that the new plan is to humiliate Eugene (is that a look of shame on Regal's face at this heinousity?).
JR, in grey sportscoat, blue shirt, black hat and tie, and Lawler, in black/gold shiny scale shirt show FOOTAGE! of Michaels' suspension.
Kane, under the towell, in black tights with red barbedwire stripes, vs. Val, in a towell, purple "V" undies thereunder. Dark-haired ref is the official. Squash. Post-match, Mattitude comes down to attack, but it's Kane who delivers the beating.
Benoit, in red tights with black slashes, Heavyweight Title and Tag Title over the shoulders, and Edge, in white "Edge" splat tights, wearing the Tag Title, vs. Randy, in same as before, and Batista, in black undies with arcing red flame, with Flair, in black suit and white shirt (top two buttons undone). Mike Chioda is the referee, in stripes. Do you think Randy all naturally male enhances? Evolution is dumped to the outside, so AdBreak decides it's his time to shine.
Cont. Batista whips Benoit right into Chioda. Somehow Randy has the IC Title belt so, when Benoit comes with the headbutt, Benoit's face lands square on it. Edge delivers a double-spear to Randy and Flair (who dives off the apron). Benoit makes Randy tap to the Crossface. A good match.
In the back, Regal is having a battle of conscience as he sends Eugene out, alone, to face his destiny.
FOOTAGE! of Eugene's win last week. At least Lawler picks-up Regal's conflicting motivations.
Todd Grisham, in black, announced Eugene, to new music, in red-trimmed white jacket and shiny blue undies. Coach, in white shirt with a solitary vertical black stripe and black pants, sends Todd to the back, and he proceedes to conduct the interview (more of a dressing-down, really) in a smarmy heelish mode. The jist: Eugene is a joke, has no friends, is only there because of his Uncle (true), and the ladies loathe him. Eugene cries on his way out. But, lo, The Great ONe, The Rock, in white/black zipper'ed warmup jacket and warmup pants, struts out and down to the ring, an elated Eugene in tow. Rocky talks-up Eugene and disses the Coach. The crowd eats it up (with a spoon!). Eventually Cade comes out with violent intentions; the faces clean-up.
God help us; it's the Smackdown! Rebound.
HHH, in black iron-cross undies vs. Maven, in black "M" fullcuts vs. Jericho, in red silhoutte tights with pink/black rays vs. AdBreak.
(Introductions Cont.) vs. lots more vs. Shelton, in same as before, vs. Kane, in same as before, vs. Edge, in same as before, vs. Randy, now in red "Orton" undies with silver hip bolts, vs. Batista, in same as before, vs. Flair, in purple "Nature Boy" robe, black "RF" undies thereunder.
Evolution stands in one corner to start, and the rest of the men (excluding Kane) rush them. Stevie is eliminated. Rosie is eliminated. How 'bout a little more AdBreak?
During the Break: Conway was eliminated.
Cont. Maven and Val are eliminated, followed by Sylvan, Cade, Rhyno, and Hurricane. And it's time for another AdBreak.
Cont. Eight men are left: Evolution, Edge, Shelton, Jericho, and Kane. Flair is eliminated. Jericho, landing on the ringsteps (ow - that's an injury) is eliminated. Kane chokeslams everybody. Batista is eliminated. Edge is eliminated. Shelton takes on HHH and Orton, refusing to be eliminated, hanging onto the ropes many times. Orton is eliminated. Shelton is eliminated. Shawn Michaels runs-in and eliminates HHH. Kane wins and is the New Number One Contender.
Overall: Wow, that last half-hour was just jam-packed with AdBreaks. I swear, it's like we couldn't have seven minutes of action before another interruption. Other than that, it was a good, entertaining show. The Rock's surprise visit coupled with good in-ring action more than overshadowed the bad (the Kane/Lita/Mattitude crapfest).
"ScreamingHeadGuy, don't fear the wang. Know the wang. Embrace the wang. BE the wang....." - heed the wisdom of DEAN
AT approximately 10:20 EST, I missed Austin and his SUV driving and What screaming idiocy for the first time. At least that would have had the potential of him flipping the Austinmobile over and the humor that would have resulted. During the Battle Royale, they almost accidentally turned Kane into a face with the choke slam-a-thon. Wasn't Christian promised a spot in the battle royale? Maven was gone? Maven is back? Still don't care. As long as Ric Flair is on the payroll, don't let Randy Orton speak. Nice tag title match.
These are desperate times. And desperate times call for desperate measures. Thus, its time to break out the Cubs/White Sox/Red Sox call to put the Kaiser back on the throne.
Originally posted by InYourMouthAny man that can get a crowd chanting "Popcorn Fart" is a fuckin genius.
Ever since Rock has been doing these random appearances he has gotten pretty shotty on the microphone. Each time he has brought out a bad one time only catch phrase... eh at least this kind of served a purpose (getting Eugene over).
Good, hot crowd....Lita v.s Trish was tolerable, and Lita's punches looked 73% better....Good Orton interview, but again with the "you people"?....Kane/Venis was a squash, but a squash that accomplished something....Real good (duh) tag match.....Continued great acting by Regal....The Rock segment=AWESOME. He really is electrifying. It's unbelievable, and the crowd was behind every second of it....
I'm amazed at how well WWE has done with the Eugene gimmick....The two commercials so close in the Battle Royal was a bit of overkill. Can't they plan them a tad better than that?....A good battle royal, that left the right guys in at the right times (in my opinion). Another feather in the cap of RAW.
"Wasn't Christian promised a spot in the battle royale?"
He was in the match originally but J.R. mentioned that due to last week's cage match he wouldn't be able to compete tonight. Same went for Matt Hardy.
The Rock showing up was a huge, and welcome, surprise for me tonight. I heart Eugene so that segment made my night what with Rocky coming to save the day.
Correct me if I am wrong, but I SWORE I saw a black and silver sign of a giant SWASTIKA during the Orton/Shelton interview. That got a chuckle out of me.
The Rock/Eugene/Coach stuff rocked. The Triple H reference was funny. They need a Eugene/Triple H match sometime. It would rule.
Originally posted by HrdCoreJoe"Wasn't Christian promised a spot in the battle royale?"
He was in the match originally but J.R. mentioned that due to last week's cage match he wouldn't be able to compete tonight. Same went for Matt Hardy.
That's probably the one down side in attempting to block out what Ross says. Once every few months, he states something cogent.
(edited by redsoxnation on 17.5.04 2325) These are desperate times. And desperate times call for desperate measures. Thus, its time to break out the Cubs/White Sox/Red Sox call to put the Kaiser back on the throne.
Originally posted by InYourMouthAny man that can get a crowd chanting "Popcorn Fart" is a fuckin genius.
Ever since Rock has been doing these random appearances he has gotten pretty shotty on the microphone. Each time he has brought out a bad one time only catch phrase... eh at least this kind of served a purpose (getting Eugene over).
His "comedy" was way overrated even before he became a part-timer.
Lita is far & away the worst wrestler on the roster. I'd prefer a Nathan Jones/John Heidenreich 60-minute iron man match to watching Lita "wrestle".
And what was up w/ the 10 seconds (or so) of the Batista/Tajiri match from last week being shown?
Opening match was rotten. Orton promo was strong except for the racist stuff. I'm impressed with his ability to sell. Most of the time when they do a promo interrupt beatdown it looks unrealistic. I credit Randy for making it look good. Eugene/Rock was gold. Kane/Matt/Lita was not. Tag match was solid. Randy has taken all the pins lately in the Evolution tag matches. Is that saying something? Battle Royale was great until HBK. Ugh. I'm okay with Kane winning though.
Originally posted by Kane Is UglyCorrect me if I am wrong, but I SWORE I saw a black and silver sign of a giant SWASTIKA during the Orton/Shelton interview. That got a chuckle out of me.
Is it just me, or does Benoit have the longest introduction in WWE history? "Originally from Toronto, Canada, now residing in Atlanta, Georgia, weighing in at 229 pounds, he is one half of the World Tag-Team Champions, and the World Heavyweight Champion, Chris Benoit!"
THANK GOODNESS they changed Eugene's entrance music!
The Rock is incredible. He can tell the fans what he had for breakfast this morning and they'll cheer him.
Despite who won, I think the battle royal served it's purpose well. Edge got to look strong spearing Evolution, Benjamin just wouldn't say die and Orton and Batista both had strong showings.
I really dug the tag title match. The entire crowd bit on the belt shot false finish and Benoit continues to look very strong as champion.
I was pleasantly suprised with Rock showing back up. I'm glad the spoiler on WO went up after I'd last looked at the site. Regal and Eugene are really getting themselves over. When Regal fully supports Eugene, the crowd is going to go nuts.
I'm also thinking that Orton's mention of being the longest reigning IC champion in 7 years is probably the prelude to Benjamin taking the belt off him. They certainly set things up in the interview and battle royal for it.
Good show overall. And yes, that was quite the adbreak-fest there at the end. Yeesh...
Edit: Yes, I saw the swastika too. Last week Gumby, now this. The weirdos are really coming out to play, aren't they?
(edited by HairRaiser on 17.5.04 2332)
(edited by HairRaiser on 17.5.04 2334) March 22, 2004 - Finally the WotD!
Yup, I had the same thought about Eugene's music. His old music was doltish; this new one is reminiscent of Rocky and paints him as the underdog.
I saw the swastika too. Hopefully they got that out of there quickly.
Benjamin's got the moves, but holy cow does he need help with the mouth part. He's just got such a nerd voice. lol. And isn't this the second or third time he's done the "did I hear you right" bit? Are they going with a partially deaf routine for him?
Originally posted by The Great ThomasIs it just me, or does Benoit have the longest introduction in WWE history? "Originally from Toronto, Canada, now residing in Atlanta, Georgia, weighing in at 229 pounds, he is one half of the World Tag-Team Champions, and the World Heavyweight Champion, Chris Benoit!"
THANK GOODNESS they changed Eugene's entrance music!
The Rock is incredible. He can tell the fans what he had for breakfast this morning and they'll cheer him.
The full introduction is: "Born in Montreal, raised in Edmonton, trained in Calgary, now residing in Atlanta..."
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I feel dirty admitting this, but I marked out a little when Kane no-sold the facebuster.
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse a persona che mai tornasse al mondo, questa fiamma staria senzu piu scosse. Ma per cio che giammai di questo fondo non torno vivo alcun, s'i'odo il vero, senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.
Thread ahead: you superdrunk WWE SMACKDOWN WORKRATE REPORT- 5/20/2004! Next thread: Eugene as the world champion? Previous thread: WWE/F Nostailga Observations (Pointless)
I believe they're coming in with partial creative control, but certainly nothing on the scale of what they (particularly Hogan and Nash) had in WCW. But I haven't heard anything definitive yet on that, so I'll keep you posted.