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TNA
The Royal Treatment: RAW (8.09.04)
Posted by Peter Kostka on Aug 10, 2004, 00:08
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Man, it�s so nice to have football again. I can finally stop pretending I care about how the Red Sox will finish up (hint: it won�t be at the top). Look for some NFL-related material from yours truly and others here at TSM in the near future.
Mail Call!
Robert Schuschu writes in with some thoughts:
So this is what it's come to? A match where the winner gets to marry Lita? Geeze this angle is getting dumber and dumber all the time. I think it's obvious Kane is going to win since Matt Hardy is leaving to have Knee surgery. Why keep having the Divas on Raw? This contest they are having isn't getting over with the fans. If they are hell bent on doing this at least give them their own show instead of wasting a half hour each week on Raw. Not the best Raw I've seen but not the worst either. This is going to be Interesting; we haven't seen the Homicidal Triple H since his Summerslam match with HBK a couple years ago. I hope Eugene Kicks his ass at Summerslam. Randy Orton is probably going over for the belt so who do you see as his next challenger? I say Jericho or Edge. Good review this week keep up the good work.
If they had a half hour show for this contest crap, they run the risk of no one watching it, making the whole thing a waste of everyone�s time. Personally, they should have just dropped the idea altogether, but I�m not running a billion dollar entertainment organ. As for Orton�s possible opponent? I�d go with Jericho or Edge as well. Whoever loses the triple threat on Sunday will probably be it.
- Live in Cleveland, Ohio
Tonight: The Matt/Kane/Lita contract signing, Jericho faces Edge, and Benoit and Eugene face HHH and Orton.
Da Coach is with the Diva wannabes, ready to do some cutting, but Randy Orton interrupts, wanting to do it himself so we can get to what he wants to say. Chandra is gone. Orton tells her to hit the bricks and points out, come Sunday, Chris Benoit will be just like Chandra; a loser. He shows the finish of the 6-man tag last week, where he pinned Benoit with a RKO. It�s destiny that he will be the next champion, and no one can stop him. That, of course, draws out Benoit. Since we�re showing footage, how about we see the footage of Orton tapping out? When Orton points out that no such footage exists, Benoit slaps on the Crossface and forces Orton to tap, creating such footage that is shown on replay.
Thoughts: A brief, but effective segment. They�re doing a good thing letting Orton do most of the promo work, since that is one of his strong points, and having Benoit punk the cocky youngster out. They could be building this match a little better, though.
Stacy Keibler, Victoria, and Nidia vs. Molly, Jazz, and Gail Kim
Victoria and Molly start, with Molly working the arm. Victoria takes her down with a hiptoss, but Molly fights back and tags Gail. Victoria works her arm and tags Stacy, who does the only move she knows how to do (choking with her boot in the corner) before toppling out of the ring on a whip. Molly works her over on the outside, and rolls her back in for Gail to get two. Jazz tags in and takes Stacy down with a butterfly suplex for 2. She whips, but eats boot, and Stacy tags in Nidia. I sense by the complete silence the crowd really isn�t into this one. Nidia works Jazz over for a bit and gets a flapjack, but Molly comes in and hits a swinging neckbreaker, after which Victoria breaks the pin. Gail dumps Victoria while Nidia counters a powerbomb into a bridge for the pin at 4:08. Trish Stratus (sans cast) walks out and talks to all six girls, who follow her to the back, which seems like that was the point of the entire match.
Rating: 1/10
Thoughts: Is it bad when the number of people who you DON�T want to see in the ring outnumber the people you do? Completely pointless waste of four minutes that could have been better set up by Trish just approaching them in the back saying �hey, I want to talk to you guys.�
- Recap of the HHH/William Regal encounter last week.
- Eugene and William Regal are in their hotel room. Eugene wants to go to the arena, but wants Regal to stay in the room. Regal will have none of that, but wants to wait until Eugene�s match comes up, fearing an Evolution ambush Eugene whines, but Regal just tells him to watch TV and heads to the bathroom. Eugene thinks about it, and sneaks out of the room.
- Smackdown Rebound, and Lita sits alone in the back until Matt Hardy joins her. She asks him if he meant what he said last week about marrying her regardless who the father of the baby is, since she got the results of the paternity test�..the baby is Kane�s. Matt gets angry and pounds the table, leaving in a huff. Really, what�s stopping Matt now from just telling Lita to screw and dumping her ass?
- As Jim Ross moderates, everyone comes out for the �Till Death Do Us Part match� contract signing. Kane is all smiles after hearing the news, while Lita and Matt sulk. The stipulations sound even more ridiculous as JR explains them. Lita signs, Kane happily signs, and Matt begrudgingly signs. Kane grabs the mic and gloats about his manhood, which leads to Matt tipping the table over onto him and braining him with a briefcase. Kane sits up and glares as Matt walks off.
Thoughts:Oh, sure piss Kane off, smart move, Matt. Unless Matt is completely destroyed Sunday, this won�t be on my TiVo list.
This week�s task for the Divas is to make an ice cream cone. I thought this was the best moment to take a walk to the store, so don�t ask me what happened. I did catch Coach saying �that is some stiff competition�, which made me reach for the cyanide and just end it all.
Edge vs. Chris Jericho
They roll around on the mat to start, Jericho with the advantage. Edge elbows out, but Jericho stays on him and goes for the back. Edge comes back and fires off the corner punches, but Jericho shoves him off and a splash meets Edge�s knees. Edge works the ribs and lower back, as this match just limps along at a snail�s pace. Edge drops Jericho on the top turnbuckle and rolls him up for 2. Jericho goes for the eyes to rally and sends Edge to the outside. He goes for the springboard dropkick, but Edge ducks and sends Jericho to the floor, spearing him into the first row as we take a break.
Jericho is escaping a chinlock as we come back, but Edge stops him with a knee to the gut and goes up, but Jericho meets him halfway down with a dropkick. Slugfest, and Jericho controls with a spinkick and dropkick and goes for a bulldog, but Edge pushes him off and boots him in the face for 2. Jericho rallies with a hurricanrana for 2 and preps for the spear on Edge. Insulted, Edge meets him with a knee to the face and tries the Walls, but Jericho blocks it, so Edge catapults him into the corner and hits an Edge-o-Matic for 2. He whips and tries a dropkick, but Jericho puts on the brakes and goes for the Lionsault, but that meets knees and Edge preps the spear, but Jericho bails, so Edge just slides into him. Back in, Edge goes up, but Jericho meets him and they fight over a superplex, which Edge wins, sending Jericho face first to the mat and hitting a missle dropkick, but that only gets 2. He goes for the DDT, but Jericho counters into the Walls, which Edge counters into a rollup, getting 2. Edge charges, but Jericho takes him down with a drop sleeper. He goes for the bulldog again, but Edge crotches him on the middle turnbuckle and goes for the spear, which Jericho leapfrogs and rolls him up, feet on the ropes, for the pin at 18:30. Batista runs in and goes to town on Edge while Jericho watches, but doesn�t get involved. He walks to the back as Batista clotheslines Edge�s head off and admires the IC title.
Rating: 6.5/10
Thoughts: Sure picked up nicely once we came back from commercial, but that first 7 minutes or so were just dreadful, and I�m kind of getting sick of the whole �stealing finishers� approach. That aside, Batista can hold his own, so I think it should be a pretty good match Sunday.
- Eugene arrives in the arena.
- And here comes Eugene to the ring. He grabs a mic and calls HHH out, but no dice, until he appears on the Tron. He shouldn�t be mad at HHH, he should be mad at himself. He TOLD him that he doesn�t belong in wrestling and he didn�t listen. He sent him a message last week by beating up Regal, but he didn�t listen. Above all, Regal told him to stay in the hotel room, but he didn�t listen, which leads to the reveal of HHH in Eugene�s hotel room standing over a bloodied and tied up Regal. He pounds on Regal some more, ramming his head into the air conditioner before telling Eugene that he won�t have to listen anymore. At SummerSlam he will put Eugene out of the business for good. In tears, Eugene runs up the ramp.
Thoughts: When HHH flips on the �sick bastard� switch, look out. Again, a very good segment from HHH and Regal (he seemed to be banging Regal�s head pretty hard on that air conditioner). You can�t help but cheer for Eugene now.
2 Minute Tag Challenge: Rhyno and Tajiri vs. Rick Albright and Chris Cage
This is seemingly set up because of last week, where they destroyed La Resistance in a minute and a half. Apparently if Rhyno and Tajiri win in under 2 minutes, they get a title shot on Sunday. Sylvan and Robert walk down to the ring as the match progresses. Rhyno and Tajiri work over the jobbers and Rhyno hits the Gore on Cage with 10 seconds left, but the champs hop on the apron to distract the ref as time runs out.
Rating: 2/10
Thoughts: That was�.interesting. They seemed to forget about this for the rest of the show, so I don�t know if they will make the match on Heat or something. Still, Rhyno and Tajiri pounding on the poor guys for a few minutes wasn�t a total waste of time.
- The Diva wannabes prance around in bikinis as their voting numbers flash on screen. The real Divas walk out, and Trish grabs a mic. She talked to Eric Bischoff and he okayed a game of �Diva Dodgeball� between the 7 wannabes, and the 7 Divas at SummerSlam.
Thoughts: Well, so much for the SD Divas not getting overlooked anymore; I don�t think there is a single SD one involved in ANYTHING at SummerSlam while all the RAW divas (including Lita) have something to do. Unless this is a round of strip dodgeball, count me out.
- Speaking of SmackDown, Cole and Tazz run down SD�s SummmerSlam card, which now includes a match between Rey Mysterio, Billy Kidman and Paul London vs. The Dudleys. JR and King Lawler run down the RAW card. All in all, it isn�t that bad of a PPV on paper.
- HHH (with Regal�s blood still on his hand), Orton, and Ric WHOO Flair walk backstage.
After he enters, Chris Benoit grabs the mic and tells everyone that Eugene is back at the hotel, so he won�t be in the match, but that doesn�t matter to him; he�ll take them both on.
HHH and Randy Orton (w/Ric WHOO Flair) vs. Chris Benoit
Benoit goes to town on the heels, including a snap suplex on Orton and the triple Germans on HHH. He pops Flair when he hops onto the apron and heads upstairs, but HHH cuts him off and tags Orton. They take turns working him over, including HHH holding Benoit in a delayed vertical suplex for a good 10 seconds before dropping him and dropping a knee for 2. Benoit fights back, but HHH beats him down and tags Orton, who goes for the neck, locking in a chinlock and cranking it in to at least make it seem like something other than a resthold. Benoit grabs a chinlock of his own on Orton to break, but Orton gets a kneedrop and tags HHH. Benoit tries to fight back again, but HHH gets a spinebuster and tosses him for Flair to get in a few shots, including a low blow. Back in, HHH covers for 2. Orton tags in and puts his head down, which allows Benoit to roll him up for 2. Orton delivers a forearm and goes up, but Benoit crotches him. HHH comes in and Benoit tries the Germans, but HHH blocks it, so Benoit just shoves him into Orton and takes him down with a superplex. Benoit in control now, as he hits a back suplex on HHH and chops away on Orton. HHH goes for the Pedigree, but Benoit backdrops him to the floor and gets the Sharpshooter on Orton. Flair hops onto the apron again, so Benoit has to deal with him, which allows Orton a shot for the RKO, but Benoit counters it into the Crossface. Flair is tired of legal cheating, so he just jumps on Benoit and the ref calls for the bell at 10:44. Benoit backdrops Flair, but falls victim to a Pedigree. HHH goes for a chair, but Eugene runs down, nailing HHH with a spear and going after Orton and Flair while Benoit lies on the mat. HHH watches on at the top of the stage as Eugene kicks ass in the ring and we fade to black.
Rating: 6/10
Thoughts: Benoit can bump his ass off, and the heels brought their working boots, so this had some good stuff. I would have liked Benoit and Orton to brawl also to put more heat on their match, and not have Benoit lay unconscious while Eugene does all the work, though. But I guess having to deal with two (three, including Flair) guys whooping your ass for 10 minutes would wear me out as well.
Final Thoughts: Sure, you were expecting the hard sell for the PPV this week, but they threw in some good action and really put the finishing touches of hype on their matches well (even the Kane/Lita/Hardy stuff). RAW continues to trump SD in this department (including not using dumb comedy skits like SD has done with Eddie/Angle).
PPV fallout next week. See you then.
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