5/23/2004: Moline, Illinois (The Mark of the Quad Cities)
WWE Raw Brand House Show Results
Stephen D. Brown - Wapello, Iowa, rajah.com reader
Walking into the arena, I remembered vividly how excitied I was the first time I
went to a wrestling event. It was the 1996 WCW Great American Bash pay-per-view in
this very arena. All the seats were packed with fans anxiously anticipating the
action in the ring. DDP and Randy Savage had their 2nd of 3 No-DQ brawls, Harlem
Heat faced the Steiner Brothers, and The Outsiders faced the team of Roddy Piper and
Ric Flair just to name a few of the matches. The fans were great and the wrestling
was exciting.
Flash forward 8 years to the Raw Brand House Show. The arena seemed so much smaller,
the ring in the middle of it smaller still. No entrance ramp of any sort for the
wrestlers. It just reminded me of the arenas ECW used to wrestle in. Not that I am
badmouthing the home of our beloved Quad City Mallards hockey team and our
Steamwheelers Arena Football 2 team. All right. All right. Enough with the cheap
pops for the local crowd.
The show started at 6:55 PM with the Coach coming out and announcing that he would
be the Guest Ring Announcer for the evening. We then rose for the National Anthem.
Two-Thirds of the way in, the Anthem is interrupted by ... La Resistance. Immediate
heat from the crowd. Chants of 'France is Gay' go up instantly. It didn't help
matters any when Rob Conway and Sylvain Grenier hugged each other before realizing
what they had done.
Match #1 - La Resistance vs. The Hurricane & Rosey. A good match overall. The teams
went back and forth. A lot of double-teaming by La Resistance and constant heat for
the French Duo. The Hurricane and Rosey eventually won with their Samoan Drop into a
Reverse neck-breaker maneuver.
After the ring was cleared, Trish Stratus's music hits and out comes the little
vixen with a much taller and much more tattooed Christian. No wait. That's Tyson
Tomko. Trish announces that Christian isn't there due to medical reasons and she is
sorry to disappoint us after we spent our hard-earned welfare checks to see them.
Kind of funny but major heat and chants of "Slut" went out. Stacy Keibler's music
hits, and the legs-for-days Diva comes out to the ring. She announces that by the
orders of Vince McMahon, Tyson Tomko will replace Christian in the Steel Cage match
with Chris Jericho. While Stacy is talking, Eugene wanders out and climbs into the
ring. He makes like he is going to hug Trish, but then runs past her and out of the
ring to hug a couple of fans at ringside. Also very funny. William Regal comes out
and tries to corral the "special" superstar. Moments later, Garrison Cade comes out
and clocks William Regal, then attacks Eugene. Who oh who will save them? Why it's
Superman himself, Shelton Benjamin.
Match #2 - Shelton Benjamin vs. Garrison Cade. Another good match. Lots of
submission holds and general mat wrestling. Shelton Benjamin pins Garrison Cade
after his Taz-Plex into a Powerslam.
Match #3 - Victoria vs. Molly Holly for the WWE Women's Championship. One of the
better women's matches I have seen in a while. Looked like Victoria hurt her back or
knee when she got thrown to the outside. Back in, they went back and forth until
Victoria was able to fake a punch at Molly long enough to yank her wig off. Then it
was the Widow's Peak for the pinfall.
Match #4 - Randy Orton vs. Edge for the WWE Intercontinental Championship. A lot of
fan support for Randy Orton. Every week I become more impressed with Randy's in-ring
prowess and tonight was no exception. Both competitors laid it all out there for the
fans inside the ring in this one. The ending came when Batista came down and
clotheslined Edge on the top rope before Orton hit the RKO for the victory.
Next was a 15-minute intermission while they set up the steel cage for the Chris
Jericho vs. Tyson Tomko match.
Match #5 - Chris Jericho vs. Tyson Tomko w/ Trish Stratus inside the Steel Cage.
Chris Jericho was good inside the ring as usual. Tyson Tomko did a good job keeping
up with Jericho and the action overall was pretty quick. A note to Tyson Tomko: Try
not to act like it hurts if your head is supposed to be bouncing off the top of the
cage and it is instead clearly 6 inches or more away from the impact zone. Anyway
back to the action. Trish Stratus comes in with a steel chair and gets the Walls of
Jericho for her troubles. After some more back and forth action, Chris Jericho gets
the advantage and climbs the cage for the victory.
While the cage is being torn down, they start shooting tee-shirts into the crowd.
Eugene comes out and persuades the crew member to allow him to shoot some. The Coach
sees this and immediately jumps into the ring. William Regal comes out again and
gets berated on why he is allowing Eugene to run around unsupervised. After some
arguing between the two, the Coach takes a tee-shirt shot in the groin. Johnny Nitro
comes out and orders William Regal to remove Eugene from the ring. Subsequently,
'Johnny-Boy' also took a shot in the groin. To make matters worse, Eugene had an
inflatable Triple H sledgehammer, which he took and with a bounce off the ropes,
gave 'Johnny-Boy' another shot in the berries. Huge crowd response for this segment.
Match #6 - Batista vs. Shawn Michaels. Huge pop for Shawn Michaels. I don't believe
many people expected him to be there competing. A lot of slow mat wrestling early
on. HBK was his usual self playing to the crowd every chance he got. Fans in the
front-row should have brought ponchos, as the spit was really flying. Batista tried
to end it with a powerbomb, but it was countered and turned into a superkick by HBK
for the victory.
Match #7 - Rhyno vs. Steven Richards. A good crowd reaction for both competitors.
Early on, Steven Richards got thrown into the corner, where he used the middle rope
to jump over a charging Rhyno. Landed badly as his left leg seemed to give out on
him. Instantly replays of Sid Vicious came into my mind of the time when he snapped
his leg jumping from the middle rope against Scott Steiner. In pain, Stevie Night
Heat frantically unlaced his wrestling boot as several referees and Fit Finlay
entered the ring. After several minutes, the refs helped up Steven Richards to his
feet with a worried Rhyno looking on from the ring apron. All of a sudden, Steven
Richards pushes the refs away and attempts a big-boot on Rhyno, missing his target
and disorienting himself enough for Rhyno to climb back in and hit the Gore for the
victory. Match of the night? Not quite, but GREAT acting on the part of Stevie Night
Heat.
Match #8 - Test vs. Matt Hardy Version 1.0 w/ Lita. Huge pop for Test. Fans
continued to cheer for him throughout the match. Both competitors seemed to be in
top form. Good match overall. Test hit the Pump-Handle Slam and just as he went for
the cover, Kane's music hit and out came the Big Red Machine. After pummeling Matt
for a while, Kane went to chokeslam Hardy but was persuaded not to by Lita. After
stalking her around the ring, Chris Benoit's music hits and out comes the Rabid
Wolverine.
Match #9 - Chris Benoit vs. Kane for the World Heavyweight Championship. Benoit and
Kane both put on a good match considering their very different wrestling styles.
Back and forth between the two with many chops to the chest by Benoit. Benoit hit
two flying headbutts off the top rope, with Kane sitting up after each one. Kane got
up after the second one and attempted to chokeslam Benoit, only to have Benoit
counter and apply the Crippler Crossface. Kane battled out of the move and hit a
sidewalk slam on Benoit. The Champ recovered and applied the Crippler Crossface
again after Kane attempted a to chokeslam Benoit again. After a lengthy torture,
Kane finally pounded the mat and the match was over.
After the match, Chris Benoit thanked the crowd and then asked Kane to come back out
for the fans to give him an ovation as well. The Champ then goaded the Coach into
the ring where he quickly applied the Crippler Crossface on him as well to an
overwhelming chant from the crowd of "Popcorn Fart!"
End of Program
Overall, a very good show. Being in the 5th row from the ring really added
excitement to the matches as the wrestlers were almost battling right in front of
me. Surprisingly, there were only a couple thousand people there to watch the show.
Maybe because it was on a Sunday night.
Anyway, thanks for reading the report. Until next time, this is the BROWNDAWG
signing off!
