WWE RAW Report (6/7/04) - Albany, New York

WWE RAW Report
Aired LIVE! from Albany, NY
June 7th, 2004
Reported by: The Worm, rajah.com RAW reporter

Welcome to another edition of the RAW report. The show has started, so get ready for some exciting, fast-paced action! Just be sure to click Refresh every few minutes to get the latest updates.

The crowd is all pumped and raring to see the first match. Tonight we will see Batista vs. Shelton Benjamin as well as Shawn Michaels vs. the IC Champ Randy K. Orton.

Stacy's music hits and she's looking as sexy as always as she makes her way down to the ring. What I wouldn't give to tap that ass. :-)

Stacy Keibler Promo:

She comes out to remind everyone of the $250,000 RAW Diva Search. It's almost over, and if you would like to be a TV star, you have to have your entry in by tomorrow night at 12 AM. Check WWE.com for all the necessary information. There is another aspect of being a diva, and that is having your own ring entrance. Stacy shows off her ring entrance as an example, but she is then interrupted by Gail Kim. Tonight we will see Lita go one on one with Gail Kim.

Gail Kim swipes the stick from Stacy.

Gail Kim Promo:

Stacy, you can show everyone how to be a WWE diva, but tonight I'm going to show Lita that I'm going to be the next Women's Champion.

Lita's music hits and she makes her way down to the ring.

Match #1 (Singles) - Gail Kim vs. Lita:

Lita wastes no time going after Gail Kim as she hits a hurricanrana. She throws Gail into the corner and splashes her. The crowd is hot and she tosses Gail to the opposite end and splashes her. She goes hit the DDT, but Gail counters and throws her into the ropes.

Gail pounds on her back and rams her head into the turnbuckle. She whips Lita to the opposite end, and Lita tries to kick out, but Gail catches her and slams her leg down to the canvas. Gail continues to work on the leg of Lita and she then picks her leg up and slams her knee down. Gail goes for the cover, but Lita kicks out. Gail tries again, but Lita still manages to kick out.

Gail continues to twist Lita's leg and Lita is struggling to get out of it, so Gail drags Lita to the apron to slam her leg on it. She then drags her to the turnbuckle and wraps her leg around the post. Lita falls out of the ring and Gail kicks her and then gets into the ring to taunt Lita.

Lita manages to get into the ring as the ref counts 7. Gail goes right back to the leg, but Lita finally manages to gain some offense by connecting with an enziguiri. Lita goes the for the cover, but Gail kicks out. Lita tries to roll Gail up, but she still kicks out. Lita hits a snap suplex on Gail and you can see that the leg is bothering Lita. Gail tries to attack, but Lita lifts her up and lets her fall onto the turnbuckle.

Gail now has Lita in a unique leg submission (kinda like a reverse figure four), but Lita manages to get to the ropes. Lita drops Gail into the ropes and finally hits that devastating DDT for the victory.

Winner, and the #1 contender to the Women's Title: Lita

Lita hobbles out of the ring and heads up the ramp to celebrate her victory.

Backstage Action:

Nitro and Bischoff are talking, but just then they're interrupted by the Coach. Bischoff makes a match at Bad Blood, so now it'll be Jonathan Coachman vs. Eugene. Nitro has a laugh, but the other two don't find it funny. As punishment, Bischoff makes a match for tonight, and since the Coach will be facing Eugene at Bad Blood, it'll be Johnny Nitro vs. Eugene. If Nitro loses, he's fired. The Coach ends this segment by saying "Looks like the joke's on you" as we go to commercial.

The WWE Cool Color of the Night recaps Shelton winning an opportunity to face Randy Orton for the IC Title.

Match #2 (Singles) - Batista (w/ Ric Flair) vs. Shelton Benjamin:

Okay, guys, we get that you have excellent physiques that other guys wish they had, but it disgusts me when they come out heavily oiled and show off their body by posing for the crowd. To make things worse, the camera has to get a close-up shot of their body.

Shelton looks around to be sure Flair doesn't try anything stupid. Batista tosses Shelton into the corner and works him over with punches and chops. Batista throws him in the opposite corner and clotheslines him. Batista whips Shelton into another corner, but this time Shelton fights his way out. He punches Batista, but Batista comes back with a knee to the gut. He goes to slam Shelton, but Shelton wiggles his way out and comes back with a cross body. Shelton tries to pin Batista, but Batista kicks out.

Shelton bounces off the ropes and Batista connects with a power slam. Batista goes for a pin, but Shelton kicks out. Batista hits a vertical suplex and it appears that he is choking him (it was hard to tell exactly). Batista tries for another suplex, but Shelton floats over and grabs Batista in a sleeper hold. Batista fights out of it with a sidewalk slam. Shelton comes back with a jawbreaker and then hits him with rights and kicks. Batista tries to reverse a whip, but Shelton dropkicks him in the knee. Shelton manages to hit the corer splash, followed by another corer splash and Flair tries to get involved. Shelton hits him with a cheap shot, which allows Batista to hit a spinebuster.

Orton runs down to the ring and Batista goes for the sit-down powerbomb, but Shelton fights his way out. Shelton goes up top and hits a flying clothesline. Shelton goes for the pin, but Orton is distracting the ref. He hits Orton, which allows Batista to hit a huge clothesline. Batista wins this one with the sit-down powerbomb.

Winner: Dave Batista

Post-match, Orton enters the ring and slaps the hell out of Shelton. He then picks him up, but Shelton tries to fight back. It's time for a good ol' fashioned Evolution beatdown. Orton nails him with the IC title, and stands on him with his belt raised, victorious as we go to commercial.

As we return, the King recaps what happened just moments before the commercial break. We then see officials helping Shelton back to the backstage area.

Backstage Action:

Benoit is taping up and then Edge comes in. Edge says he tried to go to Bischoff to get a rematch for the tag titles, but Bischoff is currently "unavailable". Benoit would love to see Bischoff get speared, but Edge takes offense by thinking he said that because Benoit was speared last week by Edge. The Coach comes in to give an interview. Edge has the night off, but Benoit will be in a 2 on 1 handicap match against La Resistance.

The announcers take us back to last Saturday where The Rock was at the MTV Awards, where he was nominated for the best fight scene. He was also a presenter for the best action sequence award. Normal Rock humor ensues before they name the nominees and he talks about the energy and stuff that was present throughout the entire ceremony.

Backstage Action:

Bischoff is talking on his phone, and he has some pressing business to attend to as we see Tomko and Trish standing in his office. At Bad Blood, Chris Jericho will be facing Tyson Tomko. Tonight, Jericho will be in action, bruised ribs and all. Trish has a little problem with Lita being the #1 contender for the Women's title and she wants to prove that she should be the #1 contender at Bad Blood. Kane barges in and he stares down Tyson Tomko, and he needs to talk to Bischoff alone. Tomko and Trish leave as Kane slams the door behind them to go to commercial.

Match #3 (Singles) - Chris Jericho vs. A-Train:

As Jericho comes down to the ring, we see a clip of Tomko powerbombing Jericho through the announce table 2 weeks ago. Another clip is shown where Jericho tries to take out Trish & Tomko last week.

This will be A-Train's debut match on RAW. He wastes no time getting down to the ring.

A-Train charges and locks up with Y2J and then rams him into the turnbuckle. A-Train delivers a hard slam followed by some stomps. Jericho comes back with a couple of flying forearms, but he is unable to take the big man down. A-Train catches Y2J as he goes for another forearm and press slams him. A-Train is showing a lot of intensity tonight as he puts Y2J in a backbreaker submission. Jericho kicks his way out and A-Train gets caught on the ropes as Y2J jumps out of the way.

Jericho drop toe holds the Train into the ropes and then Jericho knees him in the back. A-Train hits a sit-down powerbomb, but Jericho kicks out of the pinning attempt. A-Train continues to stomp on Y2J and A-Train tries for the Derailleur (could be the Train Wreck, I forget), but Y2J sidles out and hits an enziguiri. Jericho tries to put A-Train in the Walls of Jericho, and he does so. A-Train doesn't want to do it, but he eventually taps out.

Winner: Chris Jericho

The Smackdown Rebound shows off the bikini contest that Miss Jackie won and then JBL comes out to name his stipulations for his match at the Great American Bash. Later, we see Heyman coming out during the Undertaker's match and offers him the chance to join him and the Dudleys or he will never see Paul Bearer ever again.

I thought that RAW and Smackdown were separated in order to create "competition"? How is WWE going to continue doing that if they keep recapping the other show every week?

Triple H's music hits and he makes his way down to the ring in a suit, but we have to go to commercial.

Here's the time that my damn college internet connection chooses to go out, and I apologize for it.

Triple H Promo:

In a few minutes, he's going to cut through the crowd and sit in the skybox and have a grand old time as he watches the beginning of the end for Shawn Michaels because he's going to watch Orton tear him apart. This Sunday, HBK enters his world and he has never lost a Hell in the Cell match. Unlike HBK, he has no remorse, he has no conscience and he'll stop at nothing to end HBK's career. He knows that HBK's faith is strong, but like the lyrics say, even Jesus Christ had a moment of doubt and pain. He's going to look in HBK's eyes when he has his. This Sunday, they'll both go straight to hell.

Whoa...The King is not wearing his normal King clothes. He's in a pinstripe shirt.

We see a vignette of all the matches HBK and Triple H have been involved in as they waged their bloody feud since HHH turned on HBK just before SummerSlam a couple of years ago.

We see Triple H taking his seat in the skybox and then we see a vignette of all the times HBK kicked Triple H's ass.

Triple H is served by one of the caterers with some champagne and some food and Triple H has her put food in his mouth. Don't forget tonight we'll see Shawn Michaels go one on one with Randy Orton and up next will be Chris Benoit vs. La Resistance in a handicap match as we go to commercial.

I had to reboot my computer to get my connection back, but I didn't miss anything I couldn't remember.

The WWE Slam of the Week recaps La Resistance celebrating with their new tag titles last week.

Match #4 (2 on 1 Handicap)