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TNA
The Royal Treatment: RAW (2.28.05)
Posted by Peter Kostka on Mar 1, 2005, 00:12
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Haven�t pulled double duty for a while, have I? Well, let�s get to it.
- Live from Providence, Rhode Island, at the arena with the stupidest nickname in the country (The Dunkin� Donuts Center aka �The Dunk�)
- The opening video focuses on Batista�s decision last week, where he stayed on RAW and drove HHH through a table. The audio is screwed up, so we don�t hear any speech, but it conveys the events of last week well enough without it.
- Speaking of HHH, here he comes, clad in his battle gear. He stares down some fans at ringside while a �Ba-ti-sta!!� chant breaks out. So the fans think, after the events of last week, that he�s scared of Batista, don�t you? Let him remind you of who he is (no thanks Hunter�really�.we know already). He is the Game, the best, blah blah. Because Batista sat under the learning tree for two years he�s suddenly going to beat him? Batista is �a child; a 300 pound child� and HHH is his father. What happens when the son tries to disobey his father? The father beats some sense into him (so will he Pedigree his kid if he gets a bad grade?) Batista has been doing pretty good as of late, but at Wrestlemania, HHH will show the difference between �doing good� and just plain �being good�. Hurricane heads out, apparently for our first match.
The Hurricane vs. HHH
�..and he promptly gets his ass beat. HHH Pedigrees him on the ramp before heading back into the ring and tells Batista that when he shows up tonight �the lesson will begin.� He walks up the ramp as apparently we have a no-contest.
No Rating
Thoughts: Actually a good promo from HHH, as he got to the point fairly quickly and psycho HHH is always entertaining. And, for once, HHH is against someone that the fans buy as being an equal (or better) than HHH. But doesn�t he squash Hurricane every time he gets pissed off now?
Chris Benoit vs. Mohammed Hassan (w/Daivari)
Benoit controls to start and Hassan gets himself tangled in the ropes off a whip. Benoit takes him down with a suplex. Hassan gets an elbow and catches Benoit with his head down, but Benoit counters and tries the Crossface. Daivari hops onto the apron to distract, and Benoit stupidly goes after him, allowing Hassan to get a clothesline on the outside and ram his back into the apron. Back in, Hassan focuses on the back for a bit, getting a backbreaker for 2 and putting on a body scissors, but Benoit rolls Hassan into a prone position and slugs himself free. He starts the Germans, but Hassan grabs the ropes on the third one and elbows Benoit into the ref. Daivari takes advantage of the opportunity and gives Hassan the belt, but Benoit sneaks behind and hits another German. He goes up, and it was supposed to be Benoit headbutting the bell (which Hassan was still holding), but Hassan screws up the timing badly and Benoit clearly misses the bell completely. I guess that was supposed to be the finish, but they change it on the fly and Benoit awkwardly gets his shoulder up at 2. Benoit tries a German and Hassan low blows him for the DQ. Hassan walks up the ramp either injured, really unhappy with himself, or both.
Rating: 1/10
Thoughts: Yeesh, this just wasn�t Hassan�s night. Very awkward, and Benoit tried to keep things together, but Hassan was just horrible with his timing and everything. Let�s just hope this was an off night and not the start of a trend.
- An ad for Stacker 2 starring Trish Stratus airs. You know, I�m ALMOST sold on the product, but I think I�m going to need more footage of Trish working out and swimming, thanks. In fact, maybe she should come by and pitch the product in person. I�ve got a bunch of Tae Bo tapes that were never used.
- The newest inductee to the Hall of Fame: Hulk Hogan. A complete no-brainer, no matter how you feel about him.
- Batista arrives, looking svelte in his winter trench coat (seriously, where does he get his clothes?) and Da Coach fills him in on HHH�s plans. Batista mockingly shows fear (�Was he MAD when he said it?�) and tells Coach that if he runs into HHH, he will thank him �for unleashing the animal.� We cut to HHH watching Batista on a monitor and Ric WHOO Flair steps in, ready for HHH to whoop some ass. HHH has a better plan, however.
- We take a look at some behind-the-scenes footage of Christy Hemme�s Playboy shoot. She doesn�t look that bad.
Shelton Benjamin � vs. Snitsky (Intercontinental title)
What, AGAIN? This time, after Shelton brained Snitsky with a chair last week, GM Eric Bischoff has made it so if Benjamin gets DQed again, he loses the belt. Snitsky controls to start and blocks a sunset flip by yanking Shelton off the mat by his throat and hits a tilt-a-whirl off a Benjamin charge (struggling to not drop him on his head) for 2. He gets a keylock, and cuts off the rally with a powerslam. He tries the pumphandle, but Shelton counters into an inverted DDT. Snitsky boots Benjamin down and grabs a chair, but he swings and misses like Scott Rolen in the World Series and counters a backdrop with a DDT, following that with a Stinger splash and the Exploder for the pin. JR says that this should settle this issue. Well, I HOPE so.
Rating: 2/10
Thoughts: Kind of a surprise to see Shelton win cleanly, since the stipulation usually means the heel winning the title in the cheapest way possible. Still, it�s a sure sign of the complete lack of credible challengers in the IC chase when friggin� GENE SNITSKY gets THREE title shots in a row. No idea where the hell the IC title is going to fit in the Wrestlemania plans, and I doubt the bookers have any idea either.
- Smackdown Rebound, and a �major announcement� for Wrestlemania is teased for after the break.
- That �major announcement� turns out to be the return of Piper�s Pit (with Rowdy Roddy Piper). His guest? Stone Cold Steve Austin. Should be decent time filler, although it will probably just be a way for Austin to pimp his movies and Piper to get some mic time.
- Chris Masters squashes some jobber. Poor Steven Richards got his nose bent to the left because of that guy and will be out for a while. Look, it�s painfully evident that no one cares about him, and there isn�t really much thought being put behind him by the bookers, so just get him off my TV screen.
- Video of The Rock at the premiere of Be Cool. Looks like an interesting flick, especially with the cast involved.
- We see the opening video again, this time with the sound corrected. Jim Ross is in the ring and introduces Batista. Why did he stay on RAW? Ever since he was in Evolution, RAW was all about HHH. He didn�t mind that�.until Randy Orton won the World Title and it was STILL all about HHH and when he won the Royal Rumble, it was STILL all about HHH. So, last week, he made a decision to do something about that. Does he have any second thoughts? No, he knew he wanted to stay and face HHH ever since the Rumble. He�s not taking HHH lightly, mind you, it�s just that he knows that he�s bigger, better, and smarter. �It�s just evolution. Ric Flair says �To be the man, you got to beat the man� so at Wrestlemania, I will officially become �The Man.��. Out come HHH and Flair, who surround the ringside area. They both carefully step into the ring, and Batista knocks down Flair, but HHH changes his mind and steps back to the floor. Batista spinebusters Flair, drawing HHH back to the apron, but he steps off again. Batista gives him the double thumbs down and finishes Flair off with a �Tistabomb to bring HHH back once more, but again, HHH waffles and walks up the ramp. He flips out at his decision as Batista poses for the crowd.
Thoughts: Well, not a bad promo from Batista, but, though it was implied, Batista could have come out and say that he�s been stringing HHH along the whole time. I guess the image of Batista smiling after hearing HHH and Flair last week probably said it all, but he could have told Hunter that he�s been wary of HHH�s mind games since he�s been with him for so long, and that he knows HHH�s every weakness. Good promo, but he could have done more.
Unfortunately, I had to go help someone try to get his car up our driveway at this point (it's snowing like hell right now), so I missed almost the entire second hour. Here�s what happened, courtesy of the Torch:
- Chris Jericho beat Maven with the Walls, further making Maven a complete joke. Jericho went on the mic afterwards and pretty much challenged five �elite� Superstars to a match at Wrestlemania to a match involving a ladder. Interesting�
- Christy unveiled the cover of her Playboy and Trish punked her out.
- Superstar Billy Graham gave Orton a pep-talk about Wrestlemania, and Orton implied that he wanted to face Undertaker by showing a WWE magazine with a cover story about his Wrestlemania streak.
- I caught the end of the Edge vs. Shawn Michaels street fight, and it was a typical Michaels match: the bleeds like a pig, struggles to move for most of the match until the flying forearm and the nip-up, where he suddenly acts like he�s completely fresh, Edge gets a spear and a near fall (which should have been the finish), but Michaels kicks out and hits Sweet Chin Music out of nowhere for the pin. I really can�t grasp why the hell Michaels had to win there. This was essentially the blowoff to their feud, so why the hell not give Edge the rub? Kurt Angle comes through the crowd afterwards to lay a beating on Michaels (to a lot of cheers, by the way), and accepts his challenge for Wrestlemania. So where the hell does this leave Edge? Involved in Jericho�s match, I guess.
Final Thoughts: From what I saw, it was a below-average outing this week, with a pretty good, but horribly predictable main event. The Wrestlemania build continues to roll, so we should see some more developments next week.
See you Thursday for SmackDown, folks.
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