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The Dames' Diatribe on WWE Raw - January 26th, 2004
Posted by The Dames on Jan 27, 2004, 07:21
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The Dames� Diatribe on WWE Raw � January 26, 2004
My apologies if this Diatribe doesn�t go up on time. For some reason, I haven�t had a dial tone for two days now and I�m stuck with shitty dial up service until I move out in a few weeks. Just another of the many distractions I�ve had in the past few weeks.
Speaking of distractions, I�ve finally been able to sit down and work on the 2nd disc of the Flair DVD set, which I had hoped to do three weeks ago to no avail. I�m about 85% done and it should be up by the end of the week, barring any unforeseen problems�
I just jinxed myself though.
Raw starts with footage of last night�s Royal Rumble, where Mick Foley returned to WWE since walking out on a match with Randy Orton. Foley returned last night as an unscheduled entrant in the Rumble match and eliminated himself and Orton to the delight of everyone in Philly.
Chris Jericho comes out first to his cut off the WWE Originals CD, �Don�t You Wish You Were Me�. He goes into the ring and lets the crowd know that while he normally would be upset about the fact that he didn�t win the Royal Rumble and Chris Benoit did, Benoit is a Smackdown talent and therefore, the World Heavyweight Title shot is still open for Wrestlemania XX. Since Jericho was the last Raw entrant in the Rumble match and because Eric Bischoff owes him his Survivor Series favor still, he wants to cash it and get a World Title shot against Triple H�but he doesn�t want it at �Mania. He wants it TONIGHT.
Jericho is acting like a total babyface here tonight, even digging up his old �Raw�Is�Jericho� catchphrase for the crowd to sing along to. Out comes Bischoff to a chorus of boos and Jericho continues to play to the crowd by using Austin�s old line and letting Bischoff know that all of the people in the crowd are calling him an asshole. Bischoff lets Jericho know that he�s got his World Title match with Triple H tonight! However, he has another match scheduled for tonight. The graphic on the Titantron shows Trish Stratus vs. Kane for tonight!
He doesn�t care that Jericho was the last Raw talent in the Rumble, he�s embarrassed. For the 2nd year in a row, a Smackdown talent has won the Rumble. He then lets Jericho know that he can use his Survivor Series favor to keep his match with Triple H for the World Title tonight or cancel the Trish/Kane match. Jericho looks at Bischoff with disdain in his eyes, so Bischoff makes the decision for him. He cancels the Trish/Kane match and let�s Jericho know that he and RVD, the last two men from Raw in the Rumble, dropped the ball. So tonight, Bischoff makes a match between Ric Flair, Batista and Randy Orton against Jericho and RVD�and it�s next.
I hate to see the Survivor Series favor being wasted on something like this, but with Jericho acting like a total babyface lately, you just knew that Bischoff wouldn�t keep his word. I do like the train of thought by both men, however, as Jericho�s sights are still firmly on the World Title and Bischoff is enough of a spiteful dick to punish the Raw roster for not winning the Rumble.
Chris Jericho & RVD vs. Ric Flair, Batista & Randy Orton
The Match: Jericho starts out with Flair, nailing a dropkick and some mounted punches. Flair pokes the eyes and tags out to Orton after delivering a back elbow to Y2J. Orton comes in to face Jericho and gets nailed by a Jericho spinning wheel kick. He tags RVD in who nails Orton with a kick to the midsection and follows it up with a spinning legdrop for a two count. Orton connects with a knee to the midsection and whips RVD across the ring, but RVD comes back with a cross body off the 2nd turnbuckle for two. RVD works over Orton in the corner and connects with a running kick but Orton kicks out again. Jericho comes in and pastes him with some chops to the chest before connecting with a missile dropkick off the 2nd rope. Jericho lands a back suplex and tags out to RVD again who leaps off the top rope with a kick to Orton. Orton lands a few European uppercuts and starts showing some intensity again as he snap mares RVD down and begins beating on his face with right hands. Orton hits a fistdrop for a nearfall before tagging out to the Nature Boy.
Flair comes in and gets nailed by a spinning wheel kick by RVD and a back elbow off a blind charge. RVD nails a kick off the top rope and goes over to the Evolution corner to get a shot into the other two. RVD hits a somersault senton for a nearfall, but Orton makes the save. Jericho comes in and looks to go for the Walls of Jericho on him near the corner, but lets go as he sees Batista charging at him on the apron. Jericho ducks a clothesline and hits his springboard dropkick onto Batista, knocking him from the apron to the floor. Jericho gets on the apron and leaps onto Batista on the floor�but the big man catches him and hits him with a HUGE spinebuster on the floor! This leaves RVD at the mercy of all three members of Evolution as we go to commercial.
When we return, RVD is in the ring with Flair and rolls him up for a two count as we get a replay of Batista�s spinebuster on the floor to Jericho. Jericho is still on the floor, being attended to by the trainers as Flair begins working on RVD�s arm. Orton comes in and works on RVD�s arm as well with a short arm scissors. RVD tries to fight back but Orton takes him down with a drop toe hold and tags in Batista. The big man comes in and hooks in an armbar while holding a hammerlock on RVD�s other arm before tagging in Flair. Flair continues to work on the arm, wrenching in a deep armbar as Jericho crawls towards his corner. RVD tries to escape an arm wringer by getting into a brawl with Flair but the veteran drops down with a drop toe hold and tags in Orton who continues the assault on RVD�s arm.
Jericho is finally back in the corner, awaiting a tag from RVD as Orton continues to beat on his arm. RVD fights out of the armbar, but Orton hits his gorgeous standing dropkick to regain the advantage and tags out to Flair again. Flair continues to beat on RVD�s left arm, but RVD is able to get his step over wheel kick and makes the hot tag to Jericho. Jericho comes in and nails Orton on the apron before connecting with a dropkick to the knee of Batista. He follows it up with a bulldog and a back body drop on Flair. He clotheslines Flair over the ring and clips Batista�s leg from behind before attempting the Walls of Jericho. Batista powers out of it and looks to hit a spinebuster, but Jericho turns it into a DDT. Orton comes in to save Batista but Jericho goads Orton into a charge and Y2J elevates him over the top rope to the outside. Batista goes for his sit out powerbomb but Jericho gets out of it and puts on the Walls of Jericho to a pop. RVD comes in to cut Flair off and nails the Five Star Frogsplash on him.
Orton comes in and COMPLETELY MISSES the RKO on Jericho for what is unquestionably the Blown Spot of the Night. The crowd chants �You Fucked Up� as he redoes the spot and Evolution gets the pinfall.
Winners: Evolution
My Opinion: This was a decent handicap match that got more time that I expected. Jericho�s work was very crisp, but all of the arm work Evolution did to RVD was wasted by Van Dam�s poor selling. Batista�s spinebuster on the floor to Jericho looked excellent and I wouldn�t have been surprised if Jericho did come out of that match with one hell of a headache. Orton�s intensity is in the match was nullified by his blown RKO. One step forward, two steps back when it comes to Orton�s in ring work it seems. **
House of the Dead is already on DVD? That was a 3 month turnaround from theater to home video. I guess the worse a movie does, the quicker it�s released to the market. I just had to comment on that.
In Bischoff�s office, Randy Orton is yelling and screaming at him about Mick Foley costing him his shot at winning the Rumble. Bischoff tells him that he deserved to win the Rumble and Orton says he knows that because �I�m that good!� He says that he�s learned from the best (which is probably why he�s only one word away from ripping off Triple H�s catchphrase) and he wants Bischoff to give him the right to beat up Mick Foley the next time he sees him. Bischoff grants his request, but Stone Cold Steve Austin comes in to let Orton know that Foley showing up tonight on Raw isn�t a rumor, it�s a fact because he invited him here. Orton can try to beat up Foley if he wants, but Austin tells Orton that he will allow Foley to have proper time on the mic to explain himself.
In the locker room area, Trish Stratus goes in to talk to a beat up, tired Chris Jericho. She comes in to thank him for giving up his Title shot and using his favor to nullify the proposed Trish/Kane match. She tells Jericho that she�s glad that they�ve come to an understanding on how they feel about each other. Jericho asks what she means and she says that she�s glad that they�re really close friends�
Jericho goes along with it but he�s obviously disappointed with it, as would anyone who was one night away from tappin� dat ass. Trish lets Jericho know that although they�re friends, she�s not going to be the kind of friend that he can �go out on the town with and help score chicks� like Christian. When Jericho asks how she knows about that, Christian comes into the picture and pretty much tells Trish to get lost. Trish leaves and Jericho asks Christian what his problem is. Christian tells Jericho that he�s insane and stupid for giving up a title shot for a girl that doesn�t even care about him.
Jericho wants to know where Christian was when he was getting beat up by Evolution 3 on 2 earlier on tonight. Christian says that he didn�t go out there because Jericho threw him out of the Rumble (for the 2nd year in a row, mind you). Jericho reminds Christian that not only is it every man for himself, but Christian tried to throw him out last night first.
Christian lets Jericho know that he was really in Bischoff�s office trying to smooth things over with him since Jericho is on �thin ice� with him. He�s been able to get them a #1 contender�s match for the tag straps next week. He asks him if he can count on him to be his partner instead of dealing with some crush. �This is Raw, Chris. This isn�t an episode of The O.C. Straighten up and get your damn head out of your ass!�. Christian has become GREAT at these backstage segments with Jericho�
A clip of Victoria defeating Molly Holly with the Widow�s Peak in a non-title match on Heat is shown.
Lita & Victoria (w/Steven Richards) vs. Molly Holly & Jazz (w/Teddy Long)
Match Background: A couple of weeks ago on Raw, Victoria attacked Molly Holly after tagging with her in a match. Last night, she defeated Molly Holly in a non-title match. Lita and Victoria have never tagged before, but Jazz and Molly have been tagging for the past couple of weeks. Last week, Teddy Long cost Lita a match with Jazz after a distraction by him allowed Jazz to roll her up and pin her by holding the tights.
The Match: Victoria continues to look smokin� tonight and I�m definitely liking her new ring attire.
Jerry Lawler says that there�s a rumor that Playboy is looking for two WWE divas to do a spread together. I�ve actually heard that the two women will be former Playboy cover girls Torrie Wilson and Sable together.
Anyway, Lita and Molly Holly start it off and Lita takes Molly down to the mat and puts on a front face lock. She transitions it into a suplex and nips up. Victoria BEGS for the tag and Lita obliges, but Molly tags out to Jazz. They lock up and Jazz takes Victoria to the mat, connecting with crossface blows and a cradle for a nearfall. Jazz whips Victoria to the ropes, but she takes her over with a bad sunset flip for a two count. Victoria snap suplexes Jazz and hits her standing moonsault for a two count. Jazz nails a jawbreaker when she gets up, but Victoria pops right back up. She bounces off the ropes, only to get tripped up by Molly Holly and Jazz takes advantage with a dropkick, knocking her out of the ring. Steven Richards gets in Teddy Long�s face to make sure he doesn�t hurt his girl.
Jazz pulls Victoria back into the ring and nails a legdrop for two. She tags Molly in and Molly hooks on a neck vice as Steven Richards tries to get the crowd behind Victoria. Jazz comes in and hooks on a neck vice as well until Victoria powers out of it, but Jazz quickly takes her down again. She hits a Michinoku Driver on Victoria before missing a body splash and Victoria makes the tag to Lita. Lita comes in to face Molly and monkey flips her before nailing a dropkick. She takes Jazz down with a flying head scissors and suplexes Jazz down, only to get pulled down by her hair by Molly. Victoria tags herself in and nails Molly with a pair of clotheslines. She catches Molly with a powerslam, but the pinfall is broken up by Jazz. Jazz and Lita fall to the floor as Molly looks to suplex Victoria. Victoria blocks it and gets an inside cradle on the Women�s Champion for the pinfall, pinning Molly for the second night in a row. Steven Richards raises both Victoria and Lita�s arm in victory as Molly is upset in the ring.
Winners: Victoria & Lita
My Opinion: This certainly could have been better as a few spots were sloppy but for the most part, this was enjoyable. It�s obvious that WWE is leading towards a Victoria vs. Molly match up, which will have to take place on Raw since No Way Out is a Smackdown PPV. WWE has never come out and made Victoria�s babyface status very clear so I�m curious as to how they�ll try and have her win the crowd over. While I like Molly Holly a lot and I think she�s been an excellent Women�s Champion covering for the failed Gail Kim experiment, I�d like to see Victoria run with the title and see what she can do with it now that she�s supposedly a babyface. *3/4
In the back, Triple H arrives all bandaged up.
After the commercial break, the World Heavyweight Champion, Triple H comes limping down to the ring. He gets on the mic and puts over his battle with Shawn Michaels at the Royal Rumble. He says that despite Shawn saying it would come down to one second, Shawn wasn�t able to capitalize on that one second and that�s why he is STILL the World Heavyweight Champion.
HBK�s music hits and he comes down sporting a HUGE bruise around his left eye. He gets in Triple H�s face and Hunter asks Shawn �What do I have to do to you? Haven�t you had enough yet�? Shawn lets him know that they haven�t even gotten started yet.
The Glass Shatters and Austin comes down in his ATV. He lets them know that while he doesn�t have the right to make matches again, he believes that Shawn Michaels deserves a rematch. However�he didn�t win the Royal Rumble. Chris Benoit did. (YEAH!)
Austin tells them that the rules state that the winner of the Rumble goes onto Wrestlemania to face the champion. However, the rules do not state which champion he faces�so he invites Chris Benoit down to the ring! The crowd pops for Benoit as he comes down the rampway to his music and the announcers go NUTS!
Benoit comes down and stares HBK and HHH in the eyes�and then looks right at the World Heavyweight Title. The crowd starts a loud �Benoit� chant as he gets on THE STICK~! He says that both of them went through hell last night for the World Title�but so did he. He lasted 62 minutes in the Rumble last night and beat 29 men to get the opportunity to face the best at Wrestlemania. He doesn�t care if it�s Michaels or Triple H�but he vows to be the NEW World Heavyweight Champion!
My Two Cents: While I am MORE than ecstatic about the fact that Benoit won the Rumble, as was evidenced by my reaction in last night�s Diatribe, I�m not crazy about the fact that he�s on Raw at all. Austin says that the �rules don�t state which champion the winner faces�? That�s bullshit. Last year, they made it very specific that whoever won would go on to face their brand�s champion.
What bothers me most about this is the fact that all of the build up has been for Benoit to go after the WWE Title, especially after he was SO CLOSE from taking the title away from Brock on Smackdown a few weeks back. That was the whole reason why Heyman wanted to keep Benoit away from the title to begin with. Besides, he�s technically already won the Big Gold Belt when he was in WCW. I want to see him with the WWE Title, dammit!
When we come back from commercial, Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler are still in disbelief about Benoit�s wish to challenge for the World Heavyweight Title. They wonder how Paul Heyman is taking this news as Kane�s pyro hits.
Bubba Ray Dudley vs. Kane
Match Background: Last night, Kane was dominating in the Royal Rumble until the Undertaker�s old school gong hit. Kane was thrown off of his game and was eliminated seconds later by Booker T. The Undertaker wasn�t the next entrant in the match, Spike Dudley was and Kane took out his frustrations on him, chokeslamming him on the steel ramp way. Obviously, Bubba Ray Dudley is looking to defend his brother�s honor.
The Match: As Bubba comes down the aisle, he stares at Kane and says �You want to screw with my family?�
He gets in the ring and says �I�ll FUCK you up!� as he lunges at Kane with a forearm. He nails him with several forearms to the chest and head, ducking all of Kane�s shots. Bubba continues to beat on Kane with hard clubbing forearms and whips Kane to the ropes, but he bails out of the ring. Bubba goes out to follow him, only to eat an uppercut by Kane. Kane tosses him into the ring and begins beating Bubba with clubbing forearms as well. Kane ducks his head too early off an irish whip and Bubba nails him with a kick, followed by a clothesline that takes down the big man. He elbow drops Kane�s leg, but Kane fights out of the leg grapevine. Bubba continues to beat on Kane with clubbing forearms in the corner and Kane doesn�t do anything but cover up. The referee causes a break and Kane takes the opportunity to land a HARD right hand. Kane starts ripping at Bubba�s bandage (as a result of his table match at the Rumble) and then goes to the outside to retrieve the steel steps. Kane tosses them into the ring and nails Bubba in the head with it for the DQ.
Winner: Bubba Ray Dudley via DQ
D-Von Dudley comes running in, but he�s in even worse shape with taped ribs and quickly goes down at the hands of Kane�s Tombstone piledriver. Kane goes to blast his pyro but the Undertaker�s gong goes off again and the arena goes back. The Titantron goes all static until a video begins playing with quick cuts of Kane burying the Undertaker�and ominous images that hint at the return of the old school, Dead Man Undertaker. Kane freaks out as the video ends and he realizes that he�s in the blue spotlight of the Prince of Darkness�.
My Opinion: I like the reasoning for the match, since it keeps the continuity alive and well, but the match was atrocious. Wrestling? What is this�wrestling you speak of? It sure wasn�t in this match. All I saw was clubbing forearms everywhere. I would have given it a DUD, but Bubba brought the STIFF~! so I�ll give it a 1/4 *
Backstage, in Bischoff�s office, he�s speaking to Paul Heyman via a speaker phone. He says that he had no idea Benoit was going to show up and blames it on Austin. Bischoff tells Heyman that if Benoit wants to come to Raw because it�s a �superior product�, then he won�t be the one to stop him. Heyman, via speaker phone is CONVINCED that Bischoff and Austin did this on purpose to him. He tells Bischoff to �lawyer up�because I am going to SUE your ass!�
Heyman hangs up and The Coach walks in. Coach starts laughing and tells Bischoff that �if he doesn�t watch it, he�s going to kick your ass again like he did last night!� Coach goes as far as to say that they were running around the ring like two little girls�and Bischoff isn�t pleased. Coach tells him that he�s just playing, but Bischoff isn�t one to play around with so he books him in a No DQ match with Goldberg tonight.
Rico (w/Jackie Gayda) vs. Rob Conway (w/Rene Dupree)
Match Background: Um..None?
The Match: Conway comes in and gives the crowd a mock salute. Rico comes to the ring to a remixed version of his music.
They lock up and Rico takes Conway down with a drop toe hold. Rico gets on top of the downed Conway and slaps his ass a few times. Conway gets up and shoves him off, so Rico bounces off the ropes and jumps into his arms, kissing him on the top of the head. Conway freaks out and lets Rico go, allowing Dupree to distract him and Conway lands a hard forearm. Conway kicks him to the outside and Dupree rams him back first into the apron before tossing Rico back in. Conway nails him with mounted punches, but can�t get over the kiss gave him on the head. He whips Rico into the far corner and nails him with a hard clothesline for a two count. As Rico puts on a reverse chinlock, Jackie Gayda starts banging on the mat to rile Rico up�and falls out of her top again! The crowd pops as he fixes herself and the camera cuts to the in ring action. Rico gets out of the chinlock and nails an atomic drop before tagging Conway with a couple of rights and a clothesline. He back body drops Conway and hits a variation of the back suplex for two. Rico nails a spinning kick to the midsection and starts gyrating on Conway�s arm. Dupree gets on the apron to complain and Conway nails Rico in the gut. Jackie Gayda gets on the apron to distract Conway�and pulls down her top! Of course, we only see the back shot of this, but the crowd definitely reacts to it! Conway turns around into Rico�s spin kick and Rico gets the win!
Winner: Rico
My Opinion: Jackie does it again! Just when you think Jackie Gayda has no more uses�she pops her top again. That should keep her around for a few more weeks. This time, WWE capitalized on it and incorporated it into the storyline, but I�m sure they didn�t plan on her popping out of her top before the spot. The crowd cared more about those two milliseconds of breast shots than the entire match. Actually, whenever WWE plans this spot, they always have something covering the women�s nipples, like pasties, so there probably wasn�t any nipplage going on. 1/2 *
After the match, Stacy Keibler comes down to the ring and raises Jackie Gayda�s arm for some reason. Jerry Lawler seems to believe that they are the two divas chosen to be in Playboy together and flips out.
Tonight�s Wrestlemania Recall is Wrestlemania 9. There wasn�t anything truly memorable about that event, so they just show a bunch of clips to show how they had everyone dress up in silly togas.
Lillian Garcia comments on her track off the WWE Originals CD�which is a rock song, but after listening to a few bars, it doesn�t sound right at all.
Mick Foley walks into the arena at this point�
Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler talk about Brock Lesnar F5�ing Bill Goldberg during the Rumble and causing his elimination at the hands of Kurt Angle.
The Coach comes down to the ring with a long, sad look on his face. He gets on THE STICK~! and makes a heartfelt plea to Eric Bischoff to change the match. He says that in the past few weeks, he�s been superkicked, 3D�s and hurt again last night at the Rumble. �Eric, please. This is something that nobody wants to see.� The crowd pops to dispute that theory.
All of a sudden, Mark Henry�s music hits and he and Teddy Long come to the ring. Teddy Long comes in and tells the Coach that it�s unfair that Eric Bischoff dumps his problems on the black man. Long preaches to the Coach and tells him that in order to try and rectify this, he�s going to give him the services of Mark Henry tonight to help him out with Goldberg. Coach likes it�
The Coach (w/Teddy Long & Mark Henry) vs. Goldberg in a No DQ Match
Match Background: This match was made because Coach made a joke to Bischoff he didn�t appreciate. Long came out just now and offered Mark Henry�s services. Mark Henry and Goldberg have met in the past, when Goldberg was World Champion and Henry was able to get a lot of offense in on him. When Triple H put out the $100,000 bounty on Goldberg, Henry was one of the first to try and answer, going after Goldberg at every opportunity.
The Match: As Goldberg makes his entrance, Coach and Mark Henry make fun of Goldberg�s mannerisms.
Coach gets out of the ring when the bell rings and Goldberg locks up with Mark Henry instead. Henry comes off the ropes and knocks him down with a hard shoulder tackle. He talks trash in his face and tells Goldberg to try and knock him down again. �Go hit the ropes!� Goldberg fakes going towards the ropes and nails him with a clothesline, knocking him down.
Coach and Long go towards Henry for a quick pep talk and he goes back into the ring. Henry nails him with a knee to the midsection and begins to club Goldberg on his back. He clotheslines him down as Coach sits on the top turnbuckle, watching the match. Henry avalanches Goldberg in the corner and knocks him down again. Henry gets a bear hug on Goldberg and puts the squeeze on him. Goldberg fights out of it and powerslams Mark Henry!! Goldberg knocks Henry over the top rope to the floor and grabs Coach by the throat! He tosses him across the ring and sets up for the spear in the corner. Coach slowly gets up, holding his hurt ribs�and gets up to get SPEARED~! Goldberg hits the Jackhammer to end it, but chooses to pin Coach with one foot.
Winner: Goldberg
After the match, Teddy Long holds Mark Henry back and gets him to go up the ramp to fight another day. Goldberg looks into the camera and addresses Brock Lesnar. �I don�t care where you are�what show you�re on! I�m huntin� your ASS, cuz Lesnar�you�re NEXT!�
My Opinion: Technically, the match was against Coach, so since all Goldberg did was spear and Jackhammer him, it automatically gets a DUD. However, I do like the booking, putting Coach and Long together and hopefully, that becomes something long term. I have a feeling that eventually, Bischoff will be ousted as Raw GM for racial discrimination, storyline wise. Also, it gives Goldberg someone to contend with (Henry) until he�s able to hook up with Brock at Mania.
Mick Foley comes to the ring to a big pop and gets on THE STICK~! Jim Ross apologizes to the fans at home for calling Foley a coward last night and Lawler takes back his statement as well.
Foley says that he owes everyone an explanation as to why he walked out of a match with Orton. In order to explain why, he says, we have to understand how he got there. He says that everyone talks about his guts, courage, determination and the love for the business�but the main thing that drove him was hatred. He was able to channel his hatred, delve into his soul and take the darkness in him and channel it into the things he did in the ring. That was great when he was an active wrestler, but then he says, he started thinking about Pete Rose. Pete Rose played every game like he was angry and he thought it was great, but now he�s an old man, still mad at the world and Foley says that it�s sad. He says that when he retired, he let go of all of his hatred and he was truly happy with his life. He admits to making a mistake the night he walked out, but that wasn�t the mistake. The mistake was accepting the match because he realized that he was unwilling and unable to get that hatred back in order to channel it into wrestling.
Foley states that in the past few weeks, Orton has made his life very difficult and while he knows that he�s upset about Foley costing him the Rumble match, he wants Orton to come down to the ring and do him a favor. Orton comes down with a determined look on his face and quickly gets in Foley�s face. He�s LIVID about what Foley did to him, but he�s just curious as to what this favor is.
Foley tells him that it�s a little weird�but he wants him to spit in his face again. Orton is bewildered by the request�and seems a bit unwilling to do so. Orton: �Listen man, listen ��
Foley yanks Orton�s microphone out of his hand.
�Listen to me, you little bastard. I was spilling blood on six continents while you were still latched onto your mother�s breast!� He gets INTENSE on Orton and demands that Orton spit in his face! Orton seems to be getting scared here and reluctant to do so, so Foley slaps Orton across the face several times until Orton quickly spits on Mick�s face. Mick fakes hitting Orton and Orton looks TERRIFIED�downright shaking!
Foley stops himself and starts laughing. He tells Orton that he�s not going to hit him, he�s going to turn the other cheek. He�s going to turn the other cheek so Orton can spit on him AGAIN. However, Foley tells Orton that he knows he can spit better than that. He wants him to go DEEP into his lungs and get out a huge loogie, even prompting the fans to chant �Loogie� and they do.
Orton seems to still be a bit hesitant�but finally obliges Foley�s request. The camera focuses on Foley�s cheek, which has Orton�s white mucus on it�and Foley celebrates! Orton is COMPLETELY confused by Foley at this point�
Foley tells him that it�s still just spit. He�s got 4 kids and he�s been peed on, pooped on, thrown up on and spit on so being spit on by Orton doesn�t really mean anything to him. When Orton called him names, he didn�t care. However, he DID care when he was referred to as Randy Orton�s bitch in the ads because people were starting to believe him. Foley says that the old adage is true�if you tell a lie big enough, tell it long enough, the people will believe it.
Foley addresses the spit that he still has on his cheek�and says that it isn�t just spit anymore. When Orton spit on his face, he spat on his name, the business and everything he�d ever accomplished. He starts punching himself in the FACE, telling Orton that he cannot accept that! He actually begins to bleed hardway from the top of his eye off his own blows as he corners Orton and screams at him. He yells at Orton that he worked TOO hard to be spit on by a little punk like Randy Orton. Orton is SHIVERING in the corner as Foley tells him that he saw his ear thrown away in Germany, he�s seen his skin hanging off of barbed wire and bludgeoned in Nigeria. He tells Orton that he doesn�t have to wonder if the darkness is still in him�because it�s already here��and there is a time and a place for hatred Randy Orton�and the place is Hershey, PA�and the time�is NOW!�
He nails Orton with the microphone and starts beating the HELL out of him! He hits his running knee in the corner and gives the crowd a �Bang Bang� but Flair and Batista come down and nail Foley. They check on Orton, but Foley grabs a chair and nails both Flair and Batista with it! Orton runs away as Foley brandishes the chair and all of Evolution goes up the ramp. Foley vows that he is not done with Randy Orton just yet and smashes himself in the head with the chair several times as the show comes to a close�
My Two Cents: Holy shit! Since Foley walked out on Orton in December, I wondered if the explanation for it would be good at all. I didn�t expect it to be THIS good. Foley demonstrated his mastery on the microphone, turning his words into prose as he explained his feelings to Orton. His dedication to the sport of pro wrestling is unquestioned as he busted himself open with hard punches to the eye and didn�t even think about it. You can almost see Foley going through a metamorphosis during this speech and the end result was almost frightening.
I have to give major props to Randy Orton for this segment as well. If he had just acted tough throughout the whole segment, it wouldn�t have gone over nearly as well. He showed just enough of his unwillingness to take his actions to another level that it spoke volumes. By the end of Foley�s speech, Orton was a FRIGHTENED individual. After all of the SHIT that Orton talked about Foley, he came to the realization in that ring that not only was he wrong about Mick, he was wrong about his own fortitude.
This is an example of great storytelling in professional wrestling. Combine this with an excellent end result in the ring and it�ll show you exactly why I love professional wrestling.
Overall: I�d say that the Road to Wrestlemania is shaping up very nicely. Without question, the Foley/Orton segment at the end was not only my favorite non-wrestling segment tonight, but probably the best non-wrestling segment I�ve seen in years. Benoit�s jump to Raw had the intensity, but the storytelling is lacking and I really hope that�s something that�s improved on in the coming weeks. Jericho and Christian�s eventual split is also coming along very well as Christian is becoming absolutely excellent in the backstage segments and while the end result will most likely be a great Jericho push as a babyface, Christian is going to come out of this with more heat than ever before.
Goldberg and Henry are starting a placeholder feud which will only last until Goldberg does something about the Brock situation, so I�m fine with that. It keeps them busy.
Kane will continue to be stalked by the Undertaker and that�s going just as well.
Angle wise, I would say that this was a great show. In the ring, there�s always room for improvement and hopefully, they�ll get there sometime before March to make it all come together.
�Til next time,
The Dames, Damian Gonzalez
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