WWE House Show Results-November 26, 2004-Hershey, Pennsylvania
by Erik Beaston, rajah.com reader
I just got back from the Raw house show in 'Chocolatetown' USA (Hershey, PA) and thought I'd send in the results.
Giant Center might be about half-full, which is pretty good for a show twenty-four hours after Thanksgiving. Massive RKO and Legend Killer shirts in the crowd. Anyway, the deep-voice service announcement starts the event before the young 'sometimes Smack Down' announcer makes his way out. Kid's OK. He tells us to stand for national anthem but, midway through it, Muhammad Hassan and Shawn Davairi come to the ring. After five minutes of calling us, the fans, racist and discriminating, Rhyno and Tajiri hit the ring and we have our first match.
1) Rhyno & Tajiri def. Muhammad Hassan & Shawn Davairi
Ok tag match with Rhyno playing Ricky Morton. Tajiri eventually gets the hot tag before giving Hassan the Tarantula and giving him one of the patented stiff kicks to the face for the W. Huge heat on Davairi and Hassan.
Note: Dean Malenko is sitting down on the floor right beneath my buddy and me. Pretty cool to see the man of a thousand holds.
2) Chris Masters def. Val Venis
What can I possibly say about this? Absolutely wretched. The only good thing to say about Masters is that, if the WWE wants another poor-man's imitation of Val, then he's their man. Other than that, this was definitely the worst match of the night. No heat whatsoever.
3) Simon Dean def. Rosey
Being in Hershey and having a town that's full of nothing but chocolate, you knew as soon as Simon walked out to the ring he would have something to say about the 'fat, out of shape city that is Hershey'. Luckily for us, he wasted very little time talking before calling out Rosey. The match was pretty forgetable until Rosey took the Hershey's bar and rubbed it in Simon's mouth. The finish saw Dean use a low blow to pin Rosey.
4) Lita def. Molly Holly
Lita may not be the skilled wrestler she once was but, damn, her pop was huge. Most of the match saw Molly working on Lita's back until Lita made the comeback and floored Molly with the DDT for the win. pretty OK/good women's match. Molly still is the best pure women's wrestler around, though
5) Gene Snitsky def. Maven
With the exception of a few mixed 'baby killer' chants, the crowd was pretty dead. Go back and watch Raw from Monday night. Same match.
6) World Tag Title Match- Eugene & William Regal def. La Resistance
Big heat for La Resistance as Sylvain Grenier attempted the Canadian national anthem. Then Eugene's music played and the crowd went nuts. After a bunch of stalling, Eugene, much like Rhyno in the opener, played Morton until Regal made the hot tage and went to town. After a knee to face from Regal to Grenier and a Stunner from Eugene to Conway, the champs retained. Huge pop for Eugene. (He'd be outdone later)
After this, the ring announcer introduced Stacy Keibler (huge pop), who came out and shot off t-shirts. After about two or three, however, the Coach's music played and he came to the ring amongst a chorus of boos. He told Stacy she should be just like all the other women and shut her mouth. He then hyped the battle royal for the World title on Raw Monday. Stacy then took the shirt cannnon and aimed at Coach's 'boys.' She missed, however. Coach then told her she couldn't hit him if he let her. She did, he went down, and she shot out more shirts before leaving to another big pop. After a short intermission, the ring announcer came back out and the next match was underway.
7) Chris Benoit def. Edge
Awesome match. Pretty big pop for the second biggest heel on Raw in Edge. Benoit's pop, though, is even bigger. Back and forth match between the two with Edge working on the back/neck area of Benoit before the rabid wolverine made the comeback. After a sharpshooter and the triple German, Benoit went up top for the diving headbutt but Edge moved. Edge then set Benoit up for the spear but Chris caught him coming in and applied the Crossface for the win. Awesome match.
8) Intercontinental Championship- Shelton Benjamin def. Christian
After some stalling and Benjamin getting the entire center to call Christian and asshole, the match got started and, once again, was pretty awesome. The format was much like the Survivor Series match but with Tomko being more involved. After the referee was knocked out, Shelton hit the dragonwhip kick but no one was around to count the three. Tomko then slid Christian the title belt but Shelton countered him with what looked like it was going to be the Exploder suplex. Tomko got in the ring, though, and delivered one of the most stiff kicks I think I've ever seen. The referee made his way back up and counted but Benjamin kicked out right at three. After a little heel miscommunication, Benjamin finally hit the Exploder and retained his title.
9) Main Event- Randy Orton & Chris Jericho def. Batista & Triple H
Absolutely defeaning pop for Triple H, who comes down separately from Batista for some reason. Jericho's pop is nice but the biggest of every pop tonight, Orton's, is absolutely amazing. More stalling to begin the match, which seems to be the benchmark for a couple of the matches tonight. After they get started, Jericho and Batista begin with Jericho outsmarting Batista until tagging in Orton. Batista finally makes the tag to Trips and we have the first Orton/HHH exchange of the night. After a nice back and forth, Orton tries for the RKO but HHH slips out and takes a breather. Back in, Jericho and Batista once again get going with Batista overpowering Y2J. A nice 'Jericho gets his ass kicked' sequence goes, maybe about six, seven minutes until Jericho takes Batista down with an enzugiri before tagging in Orton (big pop one more time). Triple H gets the tag from Batista and it's Orton/HHH part two. Nice encounter here before Orton hits the wierd neckbreaker/backbreaker thing he does. Batista interferes and tries to clothesline Orton but he ducks and, with Jericho, slotheslines Batista over the top and out to the floor. Orton stands around, badmouthing Batista while Triple H slowly gets up and stands behind Orton, waiting for him to turn around. Once that happens, Trips sets him up for the Pedigree but it's countered into the RKO for the win. After the match, Orton and Jericho shake hands, sign autographs, and take pictures with kids until the show is over.
-Now I realize the WWE is pushing John Cena and Randy Orton as the next young stars and their trying to do it relatively even but, after seeing Cena in August here in Hershey and Orton now, I can tell you from experience that Orton is far and above more popular than Cena. is pop blew Cen's away. Orton may have started slow as a face but he is definitely the top favorite and will be for years to come.
Most Cheers
1) Randy Orton (No Doubt)
2) Triple H
3) Stacy Keibler
4) Eugene
5) Chris Benoit
Honorable Mention- Lita
Most Jeers
1) Muhammad Hassan & Shawn Davairi
2) Christian
3) La Resistance
4) The Coach
5) Gene Snitsky
Honorable Mention- Whoever decided to put Val Venis vs. Chris Masters on the card
*Sorry about the length of the results but I figured I'd put as much detail as possible into them. If these get posted, thanks for posting them. The show was great.
