Raw Brand House Show
St. Paul, Minnesota
April 23, 2004
By: Jason Jakes, rajah.com reader
I got there about 7 PM and seen my seats were on the first row of the lower
level so we were about 30 feet away from the ring. Only six rows about 4
feet below. The arena was about half full.
The show starts off with the Coach coming down to the ring and telling us
that we should be thrilled because he will be our host for this evening. He
tells us our rules, and informs us of the national anthum. La Resistance
ends up interupting it and coming down to gives us there speech on America
and it's injustices. Thus taking us to our first match
Match 1: Hurricane and Rosie defeated La Resistance via their double team
move.
-This match was filled with lots of "USA" Chants and a guy held up a sign
saying S.H.I.T. Head I laughed my ass off and so did the S.H.I.T. himself
Rosie. This was an exciting match from start to finish. Before the match the
Hurricane gave a kid in the front row his mask.
Match 2: Batista defeated Rhyno via a spinebuster.
-Before the match Batista gets on the mic and says what happend on Raw
should have never happend. Rhyno runs out and the match is underway. This is
the shortest match of the night but it was the most intess. After the match
Rhyno has to get helped to the back by the two guy at ringside all night
(Michael Hayes, and Fit Finley).
The Coach enters the ring and says the next person coming out is his hero,
the Raw GM Eric Bischoff. Somehow Bischoff is able to rip into the crowd and
keep a straight face. He says the Edge vs. Kane match that was scheduled for
tonight wont happen, instead it will be Kane vs. Matt Hardy. He says to
prove Raw is the better of the two brands, tonight will be the best Raw
House Show ever. When he heads to the back he gives the Up Yours signal.
Match 3: Lita and Victoria defeated Molly Holy and Gail Kim.
-Towards the end of the match Lita pulls off Molly's wig and Lita puts it on
her head. That left Gail all alone in the ring. Victoria and Lita get the
easy win here. Let me tell you that in person Gail Kim is really hot.
The Coach is back in the ring. He's putting himself over by saying he beat
Tajiri 1,2,3 in the middle of the ring at backlash. Tajiri steak in to the
ring and kicks The Coach when he turns around. But he doesn't get to long.
Before Garrison Cade runs down and helped The Coach. Then The Coach and Cade
double team Tajiri.
Match 4: Val Venis defeated A-Train via a School Boy roll up.
-Val makes it about half way to ring in his entrance before A-Train steaks
one in from behind and pummles Val to the ring. Lots of Shave Your Back
chants. Up and down battle from Venis all match but he comes out on top
anyways. A-Train gave a lucky fan a souvenier during the match, his own spit
when Val kicked him in the gut.
Match 5: Chris Jericho defeated Christian via a Walls of Jericho.
- No pyro which was disapointing. Christians new manager was kicked out of
ringside, but Eric Bischoff came out and said that the ref abused his power.
So he's making the match NO DQ. Lots of CLB chants. Great matchup. Right
after Jericho made Christian tap out, Christian's new manager came out. They
double teamed Y2J for quite a while.
The T-Shirt bazooka guy came out. Not to far behind is Eugene he shoots off
some shirts before Regal catches up. Eugene acts like he's going to shoot
Regal in the balls again, but Regal backs off this time. All of a sudden out
of nowhere he shoots the actual T-Shirt bazooka guy. Pretty funny stuff.
Eugene from the ring to the back and to the ring again like an airplane.
Coach then announces a 10 minute intermission.
When intermission is over Coach is back out to announce our next match.
Match 6: Kane defeated Matt Hardy via chokeslam.
-One thing that I noticed is that Kane is one big guy, he looked about a
head higher then any wrestler there that night. After the match was over
Kane beat up Hardy some more. Then Lita came down. Just as Kane was about to
chokeslam her, Eric Bischoff came down. He said Dont Chokeslam a women, you
have to Tombstone her. Kane gets her up and as soon as he's about to
tombstone her, Edge comes from in the crowd and he Spears Kane. Then he
spears Bischoff. He poses for a little bit and then goes to the back.
Match 7: IC Champ. Randy Orton defeated Shelton Benjamin via putting his
legs on the second rope during a pin.
-This is a long match it was probably 30 minutes at least. It was for the
Intercontinental Title. Benjamin was said to be from the University of
Minnesota, even though he lives in like North Carolina or something. After
the match Benjamin is given a standing ovation by everyone inside the Xcel
Energy Center. I did not see a person that wasn't standing and clapping. He
truley deserved it too.
Match 8 "The Main Event": World Champ. Chris Benoit defeated Triple H via a
Crossface.
Lots of You tapped out chants before and after the match. When they were
entering I couldn't help myself from cheering for Triple H. He the biggest
name Raw has right now. I held up my sign that said "Gameover for Chris
Benoit". Another match that was really good. At one point Triple H spit
accross the ring right on the ref by accident. Both started laughing. At the
end Evolution tried helping Triple H get the win. But Benoit still got the
win in the end. But then it was a 3 on 1 attack from Evolution to Benoit.
First 2 wrestlers that came down for the save were Hurricane and Rosie, but
they didn't do to well. They got thrown out of the ring. Next 2 out were Val
Venis and Rhyno, they too got thrown out of the ring. The last 2 that came
out were Shelton Benjamin and Edge. The started to get the upperhand, then
the other four wrestlers that were thrown out came back in and all 7 cleared
the ring of Evolution. Then the all held Benoit on there shoulders an
celebrated again. Benoit stayed in the ring and got a standing ovation, just
like Benjamin.
After this The Coach thanked us and told us to watch Raw on Spike TV. It got
over at about 10PM or 10:15.
Cheers:
1. Chris Benoit
2. Shelton Benjamin
3. Edge
4. Chris Jericho
5. Tie: Eugene, Hurricane, and Rosie
Boos:
1. Triple H
2. La Resistance
3. Randy Orton
4. Kane
5. Coach and Bischoff.