Ace Rockola
Everett, Washington
Everett Events Center
WWE RAW House Show 5/16/04
My friend and I got to the arena a good 15 minutes before the show started. Oddly enough there was nobody taking tickets. We walked right in and nobody looked twice at us. Very odd. We hit the merchandise stand and I got an Eddie Guerrero t-shirt, a Chris Benoit t-shirt and a Matt Hardy pendant. $55 well spent.
We got to our seats just as Coach was running down this afternoon's card. This place was empty. Seriously, it was shocking. It was maybe 1/3 full. The floor wasn't even sold out. I've seen episodes of TNA where the Asylum was more packed than this.
The Hurricane and Rosey vs. La Resistance
Good God, how many times will we have to see this match? Heat, PPV, RAW, hell, I saw this match at a house show back in November (though it was Dupree instead of Grenier). Rosey and Hurricane were pretty over with the crowd. Why Helms isn't given more to work with is beyond me. La Resistance look to have it won until Eugene (!!!) came out. The people went nuts for Eugene. He's so much fun, I can't believe this gimmick got over as well as it has. He screws around with the flag causing the distraction for Hurricane and Rosey to hit a double team move for the 3 count.
Christian/Trish/Tomko/Jericho segment
Coach introduces Team Christian. Christian is in street clothes and says he won't be able to wrestle tonight cause of back injuries from the cage match on RAW Monday night. He even has a doctor's note to say he can't wrestle. Out comes Jericho who goes through the normal dirty, disgusting... bit with Trish which still gets huge pops after all these years. He says that he has a doctor's note of his own, it says Christian is a CLB. He calls Tomko Christian's boyfriend. Says that CLB doesn't just stand for Creepy Little Bastard, it also stands for Christian Likes Boys. Johnny Nitro comes out and breaks all this up and says that Christian won't wrestle, but Jericho will. In a 15 foot high steele cage Jericho will take on Tyson Tomko! Damn, I was looking forward to a rematch from Monday. Tomko boots Jericho in the face and heels walk off.
Chuck Palumbo vs. Stevie Richards
It's a shame Stevie doesn't get pushed harder. He's a cult hero in the crowd. I was even able to get a small "b.W.o" chant going. Palumbo just kills the crowd every time he works. Nobody cares. The people were dead for this match. I felt bad for Stevie cause people were in to him, but Palumbo killed it. A few "Hey Chuck, where's Billy?" yells for him. But that's it. The only pop for the match was when the GM of Heat rolled Palumbo up for three count.
Matt Hardy vs. A-Train
A-Train got a "hey, he's still alive" reaction from the people. People didn't really care about him. Not even any "shave your back" chants. V1 got a nice reaction. The people just love this guy. He got the win after a quick roll up with the tights. Match went maybe 3 minutes. Too bad Matt didn't get more of a chance to shine. But he won, and you can't bitch about that.
Garrison Cade vs. Val Venis
People just don't care about Cade, and Val gets a pity pop cause his gimmick used to be cool in 1999. I was into this match, but I like both guys. At the start for no reason Eugene came back out which got the loudest reaction in the match. He just walked to the ring and walked back. Gold! Eugene is gold people! Coach caused a distraction and tossed Cade some knucks. Cade clocked Val and got the 3. People didn't even boo for the cheating finish.
Victoria vs. Molly Holly vs. Jazz vs. Gail Kim - 4 corners elimination match
Victoria was qute over, though she was more over last time they were in Washington and she came out with Stevie. Molly and Gail attacked Victoria before Jazz came out. Jazz saved Victoria from the beating and they teamed up for all of a minute. Jazz turned and they fought. Jazz ended up ripping off Molly's wig, her hair has grown back a lot, it's not funny. She doesn't even need the wig anymore. Victoria school girled Molly as Gail did Jazz and they both were eliminated. Gail and Victoria had a nice one on one exchange. Gail locked on that submission of her's and got Victoria down. Victoria fought her way back to her feet and broke the hold with that move that Jerry Lynn does often. No idea what the name is. They fight over to the corner and Gail goes up top but Vicky knocks her down. Victoria then hooks her for the Widow's Peak and hits it for the three. Up to this point it was the match of the night.
Batista vs. Shelton Benjamin
As soon as Evolution's music cued the crowd cheered, they saw it was Batista and they died down. Batista said that all of Evolution has had their shot to beat on Benjamin, except him. Shelton comes out to a decent pop. They really need to start working on this guy again. After the Triple H wins he was set as a top face, now he's looking like he might be forgotten about. Which would be a damn shame. The crowd was really in to this cause they wanted to see Batista get his ass beat. Shelton almost beat him a few times. Right before hitting the Dragon Whip he yelled out, "FUCK YOU" really loud. That got a nice pop. Shelton went for a sunset flip, but Batista sat down and grabbed the ropes. 3 seconds later and Shelton's done. I believe that was his first loss since coming to RAW. The crowd gave him a standing ovation for his efforts afterwards.
10 minute time out to set up the cage. Man, the house show cage sucks. Nitro said it was 15 feet high. If it was 9 I'd be shocked. Very flimsy. It looked like it was going to fall apart before the match.
Chris Jericho vs. Tyson Tomko - Steele cage match
While I was looking forward to Christian vs. Jerichio this match wasn't too bad. Tomko didn't impress me, but he didn't make me want to run to the bathroom. He really looks like a jacked up Christopher Daniels. Too bad he doesn't have the Fallen Angel's talent or charisma. Jericho got tossed in to the cage a few times and the whole thing shook. I can't believe it didn't fall apart. Jericho went for the door, but Christian stopped him. He got kicked out and the crowd did the "Na na na na" chant. Trish stuck around. Finish came when Jericho was spanking Trish when she tried to bring a chair in. Tomko climbed, but Jericho caught him and smacked him with the chair Trish brought in. Jericho went up and over and won. Fun match.
When the cage was being taken down the t-shit cannon guy came out. He fired a few off, and Eugene came back out for the third time. The crowd doesn't tire of him. He's so loveable. He's wearing a few things you can get at the merchandise stand. Hurricane mask, some pendant, little kids title replica. He gets the t-shirt cannon and shoots a few off. Johnny Nitro tries to stop him. He says Regal has been suspended, and Eugene will be too if he doesn't leave the ring right now. Eugene then fires the t-shirt cannon at Nitro's balls. Nitro goes down and screams like a girl in to the mic. Pretty funny stuff.
Randy Orton vs. Edge - IC title match
Randy might not be a great wrestler yet, but he's a fantastic heel. The people hate his guts. He's got his act down perfectly. Edge is very over as well. Decent match, slow at parts, but nothing to get a "boring" chant. Batista plays the part that Flair played on Monday. Edge went for a spear and Randy clocked him with Edge's tag belt when the ref was yelling at Batista. Randy hit the RKO and that was the end of that. Edge, like Shelton, got a standing ovation for his efforts.
Trish Stratus came out next and said that this whole week has been awful. Christian lost on Monday, Tomko lost tonight. The crowd chants "slut" and she says if she was a slut she'd have screwed all of us, which she'd never do. She then said that tomorrow things will be all better, cause she's going to beat Lita's ass! Cue up Lita's music. Lita comes out to a huge pop. She grabs the mic and asks Trish what happened? She used to be a nice, caring slut. Now she's just a bitchy one. They cat fight for a bit till Johnny Nitro comes out. He says he likes what he's seeing and that he doesn't want to wait till tomorrow night. He wants to see Lita and Trish go at it right now!
Trish Stratus vs. Lita
Shockingly good match. Not match of the night, or even top three. But solid none the less. Lita didn't botch a single move or hit anything poorly. Trish spent most the match on offense and Lita sold like mad. Lita was able to fight back though and hit a russian leg sweep followed by a DDT for the 3 count. If their match tomorrow is like this it'll be a solid little TV match.
When Lita was walking to the back Kane's music cued. She once again proved to be a freakin' moron and walked towards him. Once he got really close she ran back to the ring and couldn't find her way out when she got inside it. Matt Hardy came out and made the save. They ran off and Kane grabbed a mic and told Lita that she has 24 hours to give him her answer. Uh, it's like 3:30 on the west coast. She has 26 and a half hours if you ask her at the top of RAW tomorrow. Anyway, he says he doesn't care about Lita this afternoon. This afternoon he came for the world's title. Cue Benoit's music.
Chris Benoit vs. Kane - World title match
Chris Benoit came out with the world and tag team titles and he's never looked better. Give him the IC title while you're at it. The man needs more gold. The more the better. He got on the mic and told Kane that tonight he's going to be just another victim of the crossface and he'll be tapping by the end of the show. If this match was a test for Kane to challenge Benoit at Bad Blood (which it might be cause there were cameras taping this show) I'd say he passed. They had a nice little styles clash going. Benoit hitting the 3 germans on Kane got a huge pop. After that he cut his throat and went up top for the head butt. Hit it and Kane sat up. Benoit said fuck that shit, and gave him a basement dropkick. He went up for a second head butt. Kane sat up after this one as well. Benoit went to pick him up, but Kane grabbed his neck for a choke slam. He went for it and Benoit reversed it to a crossface, but Kane got the ropes. Kane fought back and went up top for the clothesline. Benoit caught his arm and locked the crossface on again. They did this spot perfectly. Kane stood up while Benoit still had the Crossface on. Benoit pulled him back down to the mat in the center of the ring. Kane tried to roll over Benoit, but he couldn't so he tapped out.
After the match Benoit got on the mic and said Kane got in to a not so exclusive club, the "you tapped out" club. He then turned and looked at Coach. I guess Coach was laughing or something. I couldn't tell cause his back was to me. Benoit called him in to the ring. Coach said Benoit can't touch him cause Bischoff would suspend him. He said Benoit will lose his belts soon. He got lucky at the Rumble, he got lucky at WrestleMania, he got lucky at Backlash, he got lucky when he and Edge won and retained the tag belts, he got lucky when he beat HBK and he got lucky tonight. But no one man can be lucky forever. And his luck will run out soon. Benoit looks at him like, "hey, no hard feelings." He offers his hand to Coach. They shake hands, and Benoit locks him in the Crossface. Coach tapped like a drunk man as JR might say. Benoit let go, held his much deserved world title high and walked off.
Very enjoyable show. It's shocking that the RAW roster can pull off a show this good without a lot of their top stars. Triple H, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Tajiri and Rhyno weren't anywhere to be seen. But it didn't effect the show. Sure, they could have made it better, but it worked well without them. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to send a couple of them to that other show that had a piss poor PPV tonight. Easily the best WWE show on the 16th of May 2004. Beat out JD by a mile, IMO. Hope next time they don't come back to Everett. They always sell out Tacoma and Seattle. Or at least come close to it. This was a poor showing attendance wise. Too bad too, you didn't even need a ticket to get in. Whoever was in the area and could have gone should have. You wouldn't have regretted it.
Top face pops,
1. Chris Benoit
2. Chris Jericho
3. Lita
4. Eugene
5. Edge, Benjamin, Hurricane, Rosey, Victoria and Matt Hardy were all about even. Benoit, Lita, Jericho and Eugene were the only people who got massive pops. The others were all about the same.
Top heel heat,
1. Christian, Tomko, Trish
2. Randy Orton
3. La Resistance
4. Batista
5. Coach and Nitro