Report by: Ben, rajah.com reader
We walked in right as the National Anthem was playing - recording, no Lillian. The crowd was pretty decent - I'd guess around 5500 peeps.
MATCH 1 - Viscera over Tyson Tomko
Vis was way over - even more so than just being the first "face" of the night. He got the humping in and got the win with a powerbomb.
Earl Hebner came out to a good pop and we go to MATCH 2 - Kerwin White over Tajiri. Loud chants for Tajiri and it was a good match, but half the people didn't recognize Kerwin as Chavo. Kerwin wins with his feet on the ropes. Kerwin's new intro is Frank Sinatra's "The Way You Look Tonight," but they only played it after the match.
MATCH 3 - Maria comes out and introduces Victoria against Christy - Christy was over with the crowd and wins with her feet on the ropes. Victoria attacked her and Maria made the save by grabbing her leg and then double teaming her.
MATCH 4 - Hurricane/Rosey retain the tag titles over the Heart Throbs. Good crowd interaction in an otherwise regular match.
The Coach comes out and announces the main events have been changed (for the better) and then brings out Rene Dupree. Blah, blah, blah.... and then Eugene is back. Coach yells at Eugene and then Rock Bottom on Coach and Stone Cold Stunner on Dupree. Eugene got a huge pop.
MATCH 5 - Big Show wins by DQ over Edge - Lita tries to interfere with the briefcase as Snitsky comes down. Edge & Lita get out of dodge while Snitsky takes the chokeslam.
Intermission. MATCH 6 - Carlito over Shelton Benjamin to retain the IC title. Better than their last match on Raw and Carlito wins with his feet on the rope. The rope cheating in so many matches was the most annoying part of the night.
MATCH 7 - HBK over Ric Flair - great match that went over 20 minutes. HBK pulled Flair's trunks down at 1 point and nothing was left to the imagination. All the usual spots and just a wonderful match up to see.
MATCH 8 - Cena over HHH to retain the WWE title. A much better match than I expected and Tripsy put over Cena clean. Earl jumped off the apron to stop HHH from landing a chairshot on Cena, and it appeared that Tripsy and Cena were trying to have a spitting contest on their sells - one of HHH's landed in about the 5th row behind him.
Great show - it may have been the best of the 10 or so events I've seen live.
Lexington,KY Raw Brand @ Rupp Arena
By: Tim Epperson, rajah.com reader
1st Match- Viserca Vs Tyson Tomko
Viserca defeats Tomko in a squash match...i was in line still getting my merchandise and it wasnt but a 3-5min match it was over time i got to my seat
2nd Match- Tajiri Vs Kerwin White
Kerwin came out to no music fans really didnt seem to care for him or the whole match itself...Kerwin showed nothing new worth seein and Tajiri did his usual kicks and other moves...Believe Kerwin won by cheating with the ropes ...he left to music and appluaded the sound guys when he walked by them...crowd cheered Tajiri to the back with a good ECW chant
3rd match-Christy Hemme Vs Victoria w/ Special Announcer Maria
Christy wins after about 5mins ...she was in the turnbuckle Victoria came in at her and Christy jumped up and did the spilts on the top ropes and fell over and rolled her up for the 3count..Christy didnt really have any offense ...Post Match Victoria takes Christy out ..Maria comes in to help and they double team Victoria out of the ring and pose for the crowd
4th Match-Tag Titles..Hurricane & Rosey vs Heart Throbs
Crowd was really into this match was the first actual match that went a good 10mins with plenty of action....Hurricane wrestles most of the match...Rosey comes in cleans house and they hit the Splash off of Roseys shoulders from the top rope by the Hurricane for the 3 count
Next up Coach comes out talks about Eric Bischoff changing the matches for the night due to Cena's actions on Raw this past Monday...Orginally we were to have big show vs Snitsky,Shawn Micheals vs HHH w/Flair and the main event Cena vs Edge for the WWE Title...but as i said Coach says Eric changed the matches so we had Big Show vs Edge...said HBK wanted to take out another legend so we had him fighting Flair and to punish John Cena Eric has HHH fight him for the WWE Title...after all this is said and done Coach welcomes Renee Dupree out plenty of boos for the frenchman....they run their mouths about how he is the best and nobody could beat him etc....Eugenes music hits he comes down to a great ovation from the crowd carrying a monkey...Coach and Dupree pick on Eugene take his monkey away and play keep away then Renee Dupree rips it up in pieces and attacks Eugene...He fights back with some wild punches and gets the Rock Bottom on the Coach and Stunner on Dupree then leaves the ring waving by to everyone
5th Match-Big Show vs Edge w/ Lita
On the Way to the ring Big Show stops for fan in the front row and had to raise his hand as high as he could to give this guy a high five he was pretty tall himself...Basic match for Big Show...gets his usual moves in...Edge tries moving him around but gets nowhere....plenty of we want Matt chants in the crowd...finish comes with Lita coming in the ring with the briefcase but acts like she wasnt gonna do anything Edge comes in with chair and whacks Big Show in the left thigh that he worked on all match...Snitsky then comes down only to get a chokeslam and Edge & Lita leave to the back
Intermission For 15Minutes
6th Match IC Title-Carlito Vs Shelton Benjamin
Carlito is starting to get over with the fans even though he is playing a heel....the Lexington crowd loved this guy b/c he is so "coo" but that changed after Shelton made his way to the ring to a nice ovation....slow match at first plenty of chasing around the ring by Shelton..finally they wrestle a good 10-15mins match thath as been better than some of their TV matches...during the match Shelton ducks a clothesline jumps flat footed onto the top rope and jumps back into a cross body onto Carlito but not sure if his feet slipped or Carlito wasnt in postion but it looked nasty when they hit each other but both were ok and the finish came with Carlito pinning him with his feet on the ropes as usual
7th Match-HBK vs Ric Flair
HBK comes out to a mixed reaction based on his actions the last 2 Raw's but he got more cheers than boos and played to the crowd like he always has nothing changed...Flair came out to all the woooo chants got in the mic making fun of the big boy i told you about with the Big Shower earlier callin him fat and making remarks about the UK basketball team sucking b/c he was a Tar Heel when he really is a Gator fan but the fans i think kinda agreed with the sucking comment about UK basketball....your basic match between these two here...chop battle...plenty of work on the leg of HBK by Flair...finish comes with HBK trying to roll up Flair pulling his tights down and holding them there for a good 10-15seconds almost putting the whole thing down but Flair had a good grip on it all...then he goes to the top turnbuckle and for the millionth time gets thrown off then sweet chin music and its over
8th Match-WWE Title John Cena vs HHH
HHH comes out first to alot of cheers fans really love this guy even though we see way too much of him...Cena came out to the biggest pop of the night of course fans love this guy Hebner checks them for weapons in their pads....when he goes to search Cena he puts his hands on his head and turned around like he was being arrested good laugh from the crowd...something was found in HHH not sure what it was looked like a flapjack....the title is shown to HHH and he starts spinning the belt like a turn table having a good laugh with it....match starts with alot of headlocks and rolling around on the mat...match goes outside a few times with each guy hitting their usual spots except no pedigree...match ends with HHH going for the pedigree but getting back dropped then a FU for the win from Cena...good 15min match they work well together....Cena gets on the mic thanking the crowd saying we were wild and on fire all night then he posed for the fans and that was the end of the show
Pretty good crowd about 5,000 if i had to guess.....first time they been here since Aug 16th of 2003 so hope they dont wait forever to come back hopefully they do for a live Raw sometime
Just got back from the house show in Lexington, KY. Thought Rajah readers might me
interested in the card. I didn't know who
would be there, considering all the releases and draft picks changing the roster and
half those originally scheduled to appear not even being on the RAW brand anymore.
So for those interested:
Tyson Tomko vs. Viscera - winner Viscera
Kerwin White vs Tajiri - winner Kerwin White (I think)
The Heartthrobs vs. Hurricane and Rosey - winner Hurricane and Rosey
Christy vs Victoria (Maria announced them as they were entering and then helped
Christy win) - winner Christy
Big Show vs. Edge with Lita (Snitsky did a run in) - winner Big Show
Coach came out and announced who would be appearing in the last matches. Then Rene
Dupree came out (to much heat) Eugene then came out and interrupted them. Rene stole
Eugene's stuffed monkey and Rene and Coach played "monkey in the middle with it" and
then Rene tore it up. This made Eugene cry and then he beat up on both of Rene and
Coach.
Carlito vs Shelton Benjamin - winner Carlito
Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair winner - Shawn Michaels
Triple H vs John Cena winner - John Cena
Biggest Pops:
1. Shawn Michaels (Crowd went wild when he came out, tons of HBK chants during show)
2. John Cena
3. Triple H
Biggest Heat
1. Rene Dupre (chants of USA)
2. Edge and Lita (chants of "you screwed Matt" "you screwed Lita", "Homewrecker",
"We want Matt")
3. Tyson Tomko
Notes: Even though Flair dogged us and said University of Kentucky basketball sucked
(got boos for that) he got big pops. "Woooooooooos" resounded through out the arena
before the show, during the show, after the show, from cars going down the street
while we were walking in and leaving the show.
Earl Hebner got some "you screwed Bret" chants.
HIghlight of the evening: Shawn pulled Ric Flair's shorts down completely exposing
his butt for quite some time.
It was a great show!
Love your site,
Purplepoints
