Anyone wishing to use this report on their site may do so as long as credit is provided to The Worm and Rajah.com for its usage.
WWE RAW Report
Aired LIVE! From New York City, New York
April 18th, 2005
Reported by: The Worm, rajah.com RAW reporter
Hey guys, I have something very important that I wish to share with all of you, so please stay tuned after the report to hear exactly what it is I have to say.
The commentary tonight will be provided by Jonathan Coachman and the King, due to JR having a "match" tonight with Triple H.
Tonight is also the RAW & Smackdown Supershow, which I'm hoping means that the draft is also tonight and they just wanna keep it a surprise.
RAW opens with JR and the Bisch backstage and Bischoff understands how JR feels about his match tonight and he knows that JR would like nothing more than to have his match called off. Bischoff decides he's gonna go through with the match because of its intrigue, but he is also going to make it a No DQ match. To make things fair, they know Flair will be The Game's corner, but in JR's corner will be the World Champion, Batista.
Scheduled for tonight:
Triple H vs. Jim Ross
Shawn Michaels vs. Muhammad Hassan
Edge's music hits and he is once again bringing that briefcase with him to the ring. Why he does it is beyond me. We know he won the Money in the Bank ladder match at Wrestlemania 21 and therefore we know he has a guaranteed title shot.
Match #1:
Edge vs. Chris Benoit
Edge assaults Benoit as Benoit climbs into the ring, but Benoit quickly gains control as he sends Edge backing into the corner. Benoit tries for the rolling Germans early, but Edge counters. Edge tries for a suplex, but Benoit reverses it into the rolling Germans.
Benoit wants to send Edge packing early as he connects with five consecutive Germans and he is now signaling for the flying headbutt. He heads up top, but as he drops off the top, Edge moves out of the way.
Benoit's arm is still giving him troubles as Edge is able to get up. Edge sets Benoit up for the Spear, but Benoit steps out of the way. Edge stops himself and delivers the Edgeomatic. Edge goes for the cover, but Benoit kicks out. Edge puts Benoit into a rear chinlock, but then switches it into an armbar of sorts to work on Benoit's injured arm.
Benoit gets up and he is punching and chopping at Edge until Edge rakes the face of Benoit. Edge tries for a back suplex, but Benoit rolls out and locks in the Crossface. Edge is so close to the ropes, and after a couple attempts, he is able to grab onto the bottom rope. Edge exits the ring, with Benoit still applying the Crossface. Benoit punches Edge, but as Edge tries to get away from Benoit, Edge surprises him with some offense.
Benoit ends up regaining control as he sends Edge into the security barrier and eventually into the crowd. Edge and Benoit are now fighting backstage as Benoit slams Edge's head into a beam.
Edge sends Benoit head first into a table and now they're in the hallways. Edge crashes Benoit's head into some equipment as the refs are now trying to separate the two men. They finally do so as we go to commercial.
Commercial Break
Backstage we see some divas reading the latest edition of the Divas magazine when Edge and Benoit burst onto the scene, still fighting and scaring off the divas. Bischoff breaks it up and he decides to make a Last Man Standing match for WWE Backlash
(I'm only guessing as he never officially said at Backlash).
Next out is the WWE Women's Champion, Trish Stratus. Why bother keeping the title around when there are only a couple of women left that are actually capable of wrestling?
She's got the stick and she wants everyone to hold their applause and sit down. You know, she just wanted to take this time to clear the air and make a fresh start between her and Lita. She proceeds to call out Lita to talk before things get too far out of control.
Lita comes out with a crutch under her left arm and a brace on her left knee. The crowd is booing the hell out of her as she made her way out and we hear "You Screwed Matt" chants. Trish calls everyone a bunch of idiots and she wants Lita to know that she's not out because of what Kane did to her last week, but because she did some soul searching. We hear some "Slut"
chants from the crowd and Trish continues to call the fans idiots.
Trish regrets some of the things she's done and the fans are continuing to chant "You Screwed Matt". Trish respects Lita (crowd boos) and she wants to let Lita know that she's like a sister to her. Now I'm hearing "We Want Matt" chants. Trish wants to know if Lita wants to accept her apology and I hear the crowd laughing before booing some more.
We get some sarcastic remarks from Lita and she doesn't believe one word that has been coming out of Trish's mouth and doesn't accept her apology. One more thing, like Trish, payback's a bitch. Kane's pyro and music hits. Lita nails Trish from behind as Kane comes down to the ring and as he gets into the ring, Trish hightails it out and she begs for Kane's mercy.
Kane has Trish in a choke hold until Viscera comes out to make the save on her behalf. Viscera assaults Kane in and out of the ring and drops him with a Samoan drop followed by a big splash. Trish laughs as she looks on and Viscera leaves the ring.
Viscera picks up Trish and it looks like Viscera has some other things on his mind as we go to commercial.
Commercial Break
The WWE made a very, very bad choice in releasing Matt Hardy on account of what happened between him and Lita and this is well evidenced by the chants I was hearing just a bit ago. I don't know if it'll happen since the WWE never thought highly of him anyway, but hopefully the WWE will realize what they did was wrong and bring back Matt Hardy.
Backstage, we see Trish congratulating Viscera on what he did a bit ago and she tries to leave, but Viscera stops her and lets her know that he's glad to be of service and he'll be even more glad when she services him. Viscera reminds her of the deal they made and next week, they'll go out. Trish clarifies her statement, and it's strictly bidness. Knowing Viscera, he likes to mix bidness with pleasure. Trish wants to take it slow, but Viscera wants to take it real slow, all night long.
Trish tries to leave again, but Viscera pulls her back by her hair and plants a big smooch on her lips.
Match #2 (Non-Title):
William Regal & Tajiri vs. The Heart Throbs (Romeo & Antonio)
Regal & Tajiri don't know what to make of these guys, but it's Regal and the blond guy starting things off. They lock up and the blond locks in a headlock. Regal whips him, but the blondie hits a shoulder block and quickly covers him, but Regal kicks out.
More offense from the blond dude until he dances around and Regal tags in Tajiri. Tajiri is mocked, and they lock up again. The blond dude locks in an armbar and Tajiri counters it into one of his own. The blondie knees Tajiri in the gut and tags in Romeo (thanks to Coach for referring to them by name). Tajiri monkey flips Romeo and hits a shot in the side before tagging in Regal.
They double team Romeo and Romeo is able to get on the offensive. Antonio gets in the cheap shot while the ref is distracted and Romeo tags in Antonio. They double team Regal and Antonio goes for a pin, but Regal kicks out. Antonio puts Regal in a surfboard stretch and eventually tags in Romeo. Romeo quickly goes for a pin cover, but Regal kicks out and Romeo begins to pound on Regal.
Romeo tags in Antonio and Antonio sends him back hard into his corner. Regal fights out and tags in Tajiri. Tajiri cleans house with Antonio and Romeo. Tajiri gets whipped and nails a springboard elbow. Tajiri goes for the cover, but it gets broken up. Tajiri is able to defeat the Heart Throbs by rolling up Romeo.
Winner: Tajiri & William Regal
Post-match, the Heart Throbs assault the champions. They single out Tajiri and finish him off with a double Russian leg sweep.
To make sure you guys know who is who, Antonio was the blond guy and Romeo is his black haired partner. They didn't do too badly in their official RAW debut, and I wonder how far they'll go and how long they'll last.
Commercial Break
The WWE Rewind is brought to by Wrestlemania 21 (Xbox), which comes out tomorrow, and it features Triple H kicking the Superheroes' asses last week.
Backstage, Mike Chioda and JR are talking and Batista has not arrived at MSG yet. We then go to Triple H and Flair and they're laughing at JR's little predicament. The Game sounds so confident as he says that Batista won't be able to get here.
He says that right now Batista should be on the ride of his life.
We then go to Hassan & Daivari and the Grish is the interviewer. He praises Daivari for beating HBK last week and then he proceeds to diss NYC. The Grish then asks them about the possibility of facing Hogan & HBK at Backlash. Hassan mentions that Hogan has not returned any of HBK's calls and then says Hogan is like everyone else that he so despises. I don't really care for Hassan right now as he's basically been saying the same thing every week. They eventually leave after Daivari spouts something out in Farsi and we go to commercial.
Commercial Break
The WWE Slam of the Week features Daivari defeating HBK after Hassan hits him with a low blow.
Match #3:
Muhammad Hassan (w/ Khosrow Daivari) vs. Shawn Michaels
HBK wastes no time getting into the ring and going after Hassan. Hassan exits the ring so HBK can remove his ring gear and then slowly reenters.
They lock up and they exchange blows. HBK has the upper hand until they lock up again and exchange blows again. Hassan gets sent to the outside. Hassan quickly tries to get back into the ring, but Daivari stops him to give him some advice.
Hassan gets back into the ring and they lock up. Hassan knees him in the gut and follows it with a punch to the head. HBK delivers a big boot to Hassan to get control and locks in a headlock. HBK gets whipped and he nails a knee to the face. HBK goes to run the ropes, but he gets stopped by Daivari. He chases Daivari around the ring and as HBK catches him, Hassan assaults him from behind.
Hassan suplexes HBK back into the ring, or at least he tries, as HBK floats over and hits some chops to Hassan's chest. HBK whips Hassan, Hassan reverses, and HBK grabs onto the ropes. Hassan charges, and he gets tossed out as we go to commercial.
Commercial Break
Back on RAW, HBK is in control of Hassan as he hits some chops. HBK whips Hassan, and Hassan clubs HBK on the back and follows it up with a modified bulldog. Hassan punches HBK in the head and hits a backbreaker. Hassan goes for a pin, but HBK kicks out. Hassan one hand chokes HBK and Hassan has some blood on his back. Hassan hits a hard swinging neckbreaker and he then poses.
Hassan hits an elbow drop and he goes for the cover, but HBK kicks out. Hassan puts HBK into a half nelson submission and he is struggling to get out of it. HBK punches Hassan in the gut, but Hassan kicks HBK in his gut. HBK whips Hassan, Hassan reverses, and HBK hits a flying forearm. Both men are now down and HBK is winded. HBK's legs are twitching as he kips up and assaults Muhammad Hassan. Daivari gets up on the apron and HBK knocks him down before setting Hassan up for the elbow drop.
It's now time to tune up the band! Daivari interferes as HBK gets ready for the SCM, but Daivari gets tossed up and it's time for another beatdown. Daivari and Hassan cause a disqualification as they assault HBK.
Winner by DQ: Shawn Michaels
Hassan wraps his towel (I think) around HBK's throat and sends him into a hangman as HBK goes over the top until all of a sudden, it's Hulk Hogan! Hogan is also assaulted by Hassan & Daivari as he gets into the ring. Hogan eventually begins to Hulk up and he takes it to Hassan & Daivari as they sends them headbutting each other. He delivers a big boot to Daivari and follows it up with a big boot to Hassan. HBK runs in to clothesline the two Arab-Americans out of the ring and HBK is thrilled that Hogan showed up to save the day. It looks like Hulk Hogan has accepted the invitation. HBK puts Hassan's towel on his head, climbs onto the turnbuckle, and does the nWo point to Hulk Hogan.
Hogan plays it up to the crowd like he always does and he eventually gets HBK to do the whole schtick as well. If you look closely at HBK's back, you can see a somewhat large bump sticking out. What's the deal with that? As HBK and Hogan head up the ramp, Hogan's pecs do a little dance as he does one last pose for the crowd before going to commercial.
Commercial Break
We go to the announce table as The Coach and The King share their thoughts on tonight's happenings.
Match #4:
Chris Masters vs. Roman:
I want someone in the WWE to let me come down there and show everyone that the Masterlock can be broken, because if it means Chris Masters will shut up, then it's all good.
Anyway, if someone can break the Masterlock, then you'll get $1000 of Chris Masters' money. Who'll take the challenge? He looks to the crowd, disses a fat guy, and he then brings in a guy wearing a white shirt (obviously a plant).
The dude's name is Roman and he's from Queens. He kinda looks like Christian. What's gonna happen is that Roman will sit in a chair and Chris Masters will apply the Masterlock. If Roman can break it, he wins $1000. Chris Masters starts to apply it, but the ref wants him to give up the money so he can hold onto it.
Chris Masters applies the Masterlock, but it's not too long before the ref calls for the bell. The ref checks on Roman and Chris Masters wants his money. Who in the fuck cares? Let me at him and I'll set the record straight.
Winner: Chris Masters
What a fuckin' waste of time.
Commercial Break
It's Simon Dean in the ring this time and before he competes tonight, he reminds everyone he is Simon Dean and that he made the Simon System.
Match #5 (Non-Title):
Simon Dean vs. Shelton Benjamin
We see a recap of the fight between Y2J and Shelton last week.
Before the match starts, Y2J is on his way out with a mic in hand. He just wanted to come out and say that it's official. At Backlash, it'll be Y2J vs. Shelton Benjamin for the IC Title. As a show of good faith, he wanted to come out and serenade him with a rendition of Fozzy's newest single. He calls out Fozzy's lead guitarist, Rich Ward and he begins to play. Maybe you guys like Fozzy, but this impromptu concert makes Jericho's singing seem awfully horrible. After taking all the punishment he can receive, Shelton tries to go after Y2J, only to be ambushed by Simon Dean.
Simon goes off the top with a flying clothesline and he continues on the offensive as Y2J looks in with interest. He's got Shelton in a rear chinlock and Shelton is fighting his way out. Dean gets sent into a corner and elbows his way out. Dean goes for a cover after clotheslining Shelton, but Shelton kicks out.
Dean has Shelton in an armbar and Shelton fights out of it. Shelton whips Dean, Dean ducks a clothesline and takes down Shelton. Dean goes for a pin, but Shelton kicks out. Dean tries again to no avail. Dean puts Shelton in a front face lock and switches into a criss cross hold. Shelton counters it with a Northern Lights and he quickly gets some momentum going.
Shelton whips Dean and hits a flapjack and follows it up with a knee to the side of Dean's head. Shelton has Dean set up for a Stinger Splash and he hits him in the back. Shelton sends a message to Y2J as he finishes Simon Dean off with a T-Bone.
Winner: Shelton Benjamin
Post-match, Y2J applauds his efforts and Shelton holds up his title.
The Smackdown Rebound recaps Angle vs. Guerrero that results in Rey Mysterio costing his tag partner the match (which you already knew before it even happened).
Commercial Break
Christian is coming out with Tyson Tomko, but it's not for a match. Next Monday RAW will be in Birmingham, England. I see more Peep signs and the crowd is actually CHEERING for Christian. He was expecting more from his Christian Coalition in NYC.
He heard the crowd popping for Hogan, but did Hogan beat Benoit last week? Nah, but he's not mad. He's not gonna swing out on us like Gary Sheffield. For whatever reason, Christian has been interrupted by Vince McMahon.
Christian looks a bit confused, and I am too. Vinnie Mac takes the stick and one thing he can't stand is people who talk and don't say a damn thing. This is Vinnie Mac's first appearance since the Rumble and Christian thinks he chose this moment because of him beating Benoit last week. Vinnie Mac agrees with Austin by saying that Christian is a CLB. Vince wants to make an announcement of something returning, but Christian interrupts him by thinking he's gonna mention the RAW Diva Search.
Vince announces the return of the WWE draft lottery, which will happen in a month. (Damn it all!!!) . Christian goes on to say he wants to kick John Cena's ass to take his title. Christian thinks he's championship material, and next week, Christian will be in the main event. He'll be taking on Batista! Christian looks awfully pleased with himself, although he's gonna have to work his ass off if he thinks he can beat Batista.
Commercial Break
We're back with The Grish, and he's interviewing The Game. I'm not recapping this interview as I could give a hoot and a half about whatever Triple H has to say. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm kinda tired and this would be a perfect time to take a nap. :-P
We get a video highlighting Triple H's career and everyone he's Pedigreed.
JR's wandering to the ring to get his ass royally handed to him.
Commercial Break
Main Event (No Disqualification):
Triple H (w/ Ric Flair) vs. Jim Ross
Triple H extends his hand, and JR decides not to shake his hand. He puts his hand on JR's shoulder and punches him in the gut. Triple H then punches him in the head and goes over to high five Ric Flair. Triple H picks up JR and punches him in the head again.
JR slowly gets up and he nails Triple H in the face with a punch. Triple H ain't smiling no more and he is now livid. He clocks JR and then mounts him to hit some fake punches. Triple H assaults the ref and gets in his face. Mike Chioda says it's not fair.
JR is busted open and Triple H opens up his wound some more by punching JR in the head. Triple H rips JR's jersey and continues to toss JR around like a rag doll and bust him open. If The King cares so much for JR, why isn't he going down to the ring to exploit the No DQ stipulation by nailing Triple H with a chair? Some friend he is. Triple H takes JR's belt and
chokes him with it.
FINALLY, The King can't take anymore and he runs down to the ring. He gets into the ring and pleads with Triple H to call it off. Triple H backs off, but Flair runs into the ring. Triple H holds him back as The King checks on JR. Triple H decides to punch The King and hit him with the Pedigree. The King gets tossed to the dogs as Triple H goes back to work on JR. We cut to backstage, where a limo speeds in and Batista gets out of the driver's seat looking pretty pissed.
Batista's music hits and he's ripping his clothes off as he comes out to the ring. The two exchange blows with Batista gaining the upper hand. Flair jumps onto the back of Batista and he is easily knocked off. Batista goes back on the assault of Triple H. Flair tries to get him with a chair, but Batista delivers a spinebuster. Instead, Triple H hits him from behind with a chair. Triple H sets him up for the Pedigree, but Batista flips him over and just lays out Triple H with a steel chair.
Batista smiles, looks at Triple H, and then looks at JR. Batista drags JR over to Triple H and puts his arm over Triple H to make the cover and pick up the win.
Winner: Jim Ross
Batista checks on JR, who can't even stand up. The refs attend to him as Batista looks down on Triple H and gives him the thumbs down. Batista takes to the turnbuckle and holds up his title to conclude the show.
END OF SHOW
Now for the important thing I need to say:
Dear loyal readers,
I regret to inform you that this may very well be the last RAW report I will ever post on Rajah.com. Recently, WWE released Molly Holly, Matt Hardy, and Rhyno. I was never a big Rhyno fan, but I thought he did well enough in the ring that he could have gone far, but sadly he was just another big guy who merely got lost in the shuffle. Rhyno was reduced from being a former ECW Champion to nothing but a mere jobber.
I was upset with the release of Matt Hardy because even though he decided to address the situation between him, Edge, and Lita on his website, I believe the WWE was out of line by getting involved with someone's personal life. What Matt did was clearly understandable. He was betrayed by someone who he had been dating for many years now and probably would have married some day and not to mention he was betrayed by someone who he thought was his best friend. He had all these feelings building up inside of him, and rather than just keep them bottled up, he decided to express them on his personal (and I stress personal) website. I can't imagine how Matt is feeling right now, but I hope he can get things straightened around. I just can't believe the WWE would release someone who has been as loyal & faithful to the company as Matt has been. But now that he's gone, maybe he'll reunite with Jeff by joining TNA. I would love to see how well the Hardy Boyz would fare against any other TNA tag team.
Now there's Molly Holly. Last Monday, she wrestled in a diva tag match with Trish Stratus against Christy & Victoria. Molly ended up being rolled up by Christy that cost her the match for her team. As some of you may or may not know, Molly was my favorite WWE diva and I thought it was a shame that she had to do the job for the rookie, because I felt Molly deserved more than to serve as a jobber. Later that night we learned that the RAW Diva Search would be making a return. It was okay the first time, but I groaned when I heard it'd be back. Molly was a class act, and she made that perfectly clear to me when I decided to write her a letter expressing how much I liked her (and I even commented on how good she looked with a bald head because at the time I was also sporting the same hairdo). I ended up getting a response back in the form of an autographed photo, and on the back she told me how much she appreciated the letter and that I looked better bald than she did (which wasn't true, hehe). She was the only WWE superstar that I wrote to that was actually kind enough to take time out of her busy schedule to respond. I realize it may have been someone else who wrote those things on the back of the photo, but it's just the thought that someone actually read the letter and cared enough to respond that really mattered the most to me. I'd give anything to meet Molly in person at least once so I can express my appreciation for everything she's done, but now that she's no longer with the WWE, I guess since that'll never happen. I'd settle for a mailing address to which I could write a letter to, but the only one I knew of was the one for the WWE HQ, where I had sent my first letter to Molly.
I read that Molly left because she was tired of having to job to Christy all the time and she was frustrated that the RAW Diva Search was making a return. I don't blame her either because I remembered reading that the WWE decided to release wrestlers in order to save money (and I was happy when they released guys like Scott Steiner, Test, Billy Gunn, etc.), but then they turned right around and started tossing it out by coming up with hackneyed things like the $250,000 RAW Diva Search and the $1,000,000 Tough Enough contests. Speaking of which, I haven't seen Daniel Puder anywhere on WWE TV since he won the contest. They also have the gall to keep on hiring big guys & hot chicks who have no talent or experience and offer them huge contracts while those who've been around a while are making less and they're the ones being released even though they've had to work their asses off to get where they're at now.
I'm sure I'll get emails from people thinking that what I just said would be a lame reason to want to quit doing the RAW report, but it is how I feel and unless the WWE can do something to redeem themselves (and I can't imagine what that would be), I am no longer considering myself a WWE fan and starting this Friday, I will be doing the TNA Impact report every week for as long as I'm able to do it. I sure hope TNA can build themselves up to be a worthy contender to compete with the WWE some day because anything's better than the WWE right now.
Sincerely,
Mike Van Wormer II
(The Worm)
Email: creeperkamikaze@gmail.com
