Raw Report
Date: 07/10/06 from Sioux City, IA.
The Big News: None.
Title Changes/Turns: None.
Match Results: John Cena b Shelton Benjamin; Melina b Trish Stratus; Highlanders b Rob Conway & Matt Striker; Viscera NC Charlie Haas; Randy Orton b Val Venis; Eugene Dinsmore b Vince & Shane McMahon.
Show Analysis:
John Cena beat Shelton Benjamin to start the show. Edge came out with the title, and unveiled an Edge announce table, which was a cool touch. He did commentary for the match. Cena went for the FU early, but Benjamin escaped and smacked him. Benjamin kicked Cena in the head, gave him a back breaker, a snap suplex and applied the sleeper. Cena got out with the electric chair. He went to the top but was distracted by Edge and knocked to the floor.
Benjamin applied a lengthy chin lock, until Cena came back with clotheslines and the five knuckle shuffle. He went for the FU, but Benjamin landed on his feet and hit the Samoan drop for a near fall. Benjamin went for the Stinger Splash but missed, and Cena hit the FU. He applied the STFU for the tap. He followed that by jumping Edge at the announce table, but Lita helped Edge fight back. Edge hit the Edgecution and spear.
Edge said that he would go back to his hotel room with Lita to watch the rest of the show. They announced Hulk Hogan will be at Saturday Night’s Main Event. They then aired a lengthy recap of last week’s DX antics. Eugene was laughing watching on the screen, until Vince and Shane McMahon arrived. Vince was angry at Eugene, so he announced Eugene would face Vince and Shane in a match later.
Melina beat Trish Stratus. Trish dropped Melina on her face, kicked Trish, and hit a forearm. Melina retaliated with a kick and went to Trish’s eyes. She went under the ring and jumped Trish from behind. She rammed Trish into the apron and hit a drop kick from behind. Trish responded with a suplex and the Stratusphere. Trish hit a whirly bird, but Nitro distracted Trish and Melina rolled her up for the win. Nitro went after Trish, but Carlito made the save. Carlito and Trish cleared the ring with Thesz presses and drop kicks. This match was better than expected, and both women did a good job.
Edge checked into his hotel and verbally undressed the concierge. He should have been suspicious when the cameraman followed him there. The Highlanders then defeated Matt Striker and Rob Conway. Striker did some nice mat wrestling early and tagged Conway. Conway was greeted with head butts, punches and other forms of brawling. The Highlanders hit the Scot Drop and scored the pin while Striker stood on the apron disgusted with Conway.
Ric Flair came out and said that in Charlotte he beat Mick Foley two straight, proving he’s better than Foley and Foley always takes the easy way out. Foley appeared on the screen and cut a really compelling promo. As to the contention that Foley always takes the easy way out, he noted that Flair put together a half-hearted ghostwritten book while he wrote his book by hand. He added that Flair was in charge when he had his ear ripped off, and he kept working.
He said that the guy accusing him of not being able to wrestle mainly gets by on low blows these days. Foley said that nobody has ever made Flair bleed as badly as he did, and after what he did at Vengeance, Flair no longer matters to him. Thus, there will be no rematch, and Flair is out of Foley’s life. Foley did a fantastic job here, and I like it when a wrestling promotion tells fans that they aren’t going to get something. It makes them want it more when you deliver.
Flair challenged Foley to a hardcore match, but Paul Heyman came out and introduced the Big Show. Show challenged Flair to an ECW title match tomorrow. Flair accepted, and Show gave him a back breaker. Yes, that’s right. Your ECW main event this week is Ric Flair vs. Big Show. The biggest problem with WWE’s ECW is that they named it ECW. What they are presenting in no way resembles ECW, and the ECW name pisses off old ECW fans and new WWE fans alike.
Vince and Shane McMahon backstage greeted Eugene. Eugene apologized for offending them. Vince and Shane said they weren’t mad or offended. They presented a DX shirt to Eugene as a gift, but then poured green paint on him. They jumped Eugene, rammed into the wall, and stuck his head in the toilet. Eugene did a really good job here making you feel sorry for him. Candice is coming to ECW tomorrow to dance with Kelly. They can’t even fill Kelly segments now without Raw help.
Viscera and Charlie Haas went to a no contest. Viscera slapped and stood on Haas. Haas came back with punches and clotheslines, and a drop kick off the top. Both were fighting for Lillian, and she didn’t know what to make of this. After Viscera hit a swinging tree slam and missed an avalanche, Lillian got on the microphone and yelled at them to stop. She said they didn’t have to do this, and only wanted to be friends with both. They were upset. Haas went to Viscera’s eyes, and Viscera accidentally gave Lillian the Samoan drop. Haas and Viscera began to laugh about this. Maybe they can tag team. That would be just delightful.
The diva search is back, and just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, Miz is now the host. Miz is not only more obnoxious than a trained monkey, but also dumber. He completely lost his train of thought about 15 seconds into a 25 second speech and started stammering. He introduced the divas, and they each got to speak. Many were booed. The segment sucked. I’m ready for this idiocy to be over already, but since WWE has no clue what is good and what is bad, we’re getting more diva search this year than ever before. They will be back on Smackdown.
Hacksaw Jim Duggan backstage confronted Shane McMahon, angry at Shane for picking on Eugene. He challenged Eugene, but Vince hit Duggan from behind with a chair, and Shane gave him another hard chair shot. Randy Orton then defeated Val Venis. Orton said he would introduce himself to Hulk Hogan on Saturday, and won quickly with the RKO.
After all this build for Edge and Lita going to their hotel, we finally got the payoff. Edge ordered room service and wanted champagne. Instead, he got John Cena, who jumped him in the hotel room and destroyed Edge. Cena said “the champ is here” like a Samoa Joe entrance in ROH. Cena hit Edge with the title belt and left. I have no idea why they did this drawn out hotel gimmick. It was obvious, boring, and just amounted to a lot of pointless filler. Why not just cut all this filler and give some time to a couple of guys that can have a quality wrestling match?
Eugene beat the McMahons. The Spirit Squad came to ringside as Shane beat up the green Eugene. Eugene hulked up and made a comeback, but the Squad grabbed his foot when he bounced off the ropes for the leg drop. The Squad gave Eugene the High Spirits twice. They set up Eugene to be put through a table when DX came out. Vince was planning to drop a net on DX, but DX saw it coming and Vince’s net dropped behind them. Eugene rolled up Vince from behind for the pin, and DX laughed.
Final Thoughts:
This show certainly didn’t break WWE’s string of bad programming, but this wasn’t all that horrible. It was just kind of bland and boring, which isn’t necessarily what you want when you are producing a whopping seven hours of new television this week. I would be shocked if this weekend’s Saturday Night’s Main Event isn’t the last. In fact, I think it’s entirely conceivable that it does below a 2.5 rating.
The Big News: None.
Title Changes/Turns: None.
Match Results: John Cena b Shelton Benjamin; Melina b Trish Stratus; Highlanders b Rob Conway & Matt Striker; Viscera NC Charlie Haas; Randy Orton b Val Venis; Eugene Dinsmore b Vince & Shane McMahon.
Show Analysis:
John Cena beat Shelton Benjamin to start the show. Edge came out with the title, and unveiled an Edge announce table, which was a cool touch. He did commentary for the match. Cena went for the FU early, but Benjamin escaped and smacked him. Benjamin kicked Cena in the head, gave him a back breaker, a snap suplex and applied the sleeper. Cena got out with the electric chair. He went to the top but was distracted by Edge and knocked to the floor.
Benjamin applied a lengthy chin lock, until Cena came back with clotheslines and the five knuckle shuffle. He went for the FU, but Benjamin landed on his feet and hit the Samoan drop for a near fall. Benjamin went for the Stinger Splash but missed, and Cena hit the FU. He applied the STFU for the tap. He followed that by jumping Edge at the announce table, but Lita helped Edge fight back. Edge hit the Edgecution and spear.
Edge said that he would go back to his hotel room with Lita to watch the rest of the show. They announced Hulk Hogan will be at Saturday Night’s Main Event. They then aired a lengthy recap of last week’s DX antics. Eugene was laughing watching on the screen, until Vince and Shane McMahon arrived. Vince was angry at Eugene, so he announced Eugene would face Vince and Shane in a match later.
Melina beat Trish Stratus. Trish dropped Melina on her face, kicked Trish, and hit a forearm. Melina retaliated with a kick and went to Trish’s eyes. She went under the ring and jumped Trish from behind. She rammed Trish into the apron and hit a drop kick from behind. Trish responded with a suplex and the Stratusphere. Trish hit a whirly bird, but Nitro distracted Trish and Melina rolled her up for the win. Nitro went after Trish, but Carlito made the save. Carlito and Trish cleared the ring with Thesz presses and drop kicks. This match was better than expected, and both women did a good job.
Edge checked into his hotel and verbally undressed the concierge. He should have been suspicious when the cameraman followed him there. The Highlanders then defeated Matt Striker and Rob Conway. Striker did some nice mat wrestling early and tagged Conway. Conway was greeted with head butts, punches and other forms of brawling. The Highlanders hit the Scot Drop and scored the pin while Striker stood on the apron disgusted with Conway.
Ric Flair came out and said that in Charlotte he beat Mick Foley two straight, proving he’s better than Foley and Foley always takes the easy way out. Foley appeared on the screen and cut a really compelling promo. As to the contention that Foley always takes the easy way out, he noted that Flair put together a half-hearted ghostwritten book while he wrote his book by hand. He added that Flair was in charge when he had his ear ripped off, and he kept working.
He said that the guy accusing him of not being able to wrestle mainly gets by on low blows these days. Foley said that nobody has ever made Flair bleed as badly as he did, and after what he did at Vengeance, Flair no longer matters to him. Thus, there will be no rematch, and Flair is out of Foley’s life. Foley did a fantastic job here, and I like it when a wrestling promotion tells fans that they aren’t going to get something. It makes them want it more when you deliver.
Flair challenged Foley to a hardcore match, but Paul Heyman came out and introduced the Big Show. Show challenged Flair to an ECW title match tomorrow. Flair accepted, and Show gave him a back breaker. Yes, that’s right. Your ECW main event this week is Ric Flair vs. Big Show. The biggest problem with WWE’s ECW is that they named it ECW. What they are presenting in no way resembles ECW, and the ECW name pisses off old ECW fans and new WWE fans alike.
Vince and Shane McMahon backstage greeted Eugene. Eugene apologized for offending them. Vince and Shane said they weren’t mad or offended. They presented a DX shirt to Eugene as a gift, but then poured green paint on him. They jumped Eugene, rammed into the wall, and stuck his head in the toilet. Eugene did a really good job here making you feel sorry for him. Candice is coming to ECW tomorrow to dance with Kelly. They can’t even fill Kelly segments now without Raw help.
Viscera and Charlie Haas went to a no contest. Viscera slapped and stood on Haas. Haas came back with punches and clotheslines, and a drop kick off the top. Both were fighting for Lillian, and she didn’t know what to make of this. After Viscera hit a swinging tree slam and missed an avalanche, Lillian got on the microphone and yelled at them to stop. She said they didn’t have to do this, and only wanted to be friends with both. They were upset. Haas went to Viscera’s eyes, and Viscera accidentally gave Lillian the Samoan drop. Haas and Viscera began to laugh about this. Maybe they can tag team. That would be just delightful.
The diva search is back, and just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, Miz is now the host. Miz is not only more obnoxious than a trained monkey, but also dumber. He completely lost his train of thought about 15 seconds into a 25 second speech and started stammering. He introduced the divas, and they each got to speak. Many were booed. The segment sucked. I’m ready for this idiocy to be over already, but since WWE has no clue what is good and what is bad, we’re getting more diva search this year than ever before. They will be back on Smackdown.
Hacksaw Jim Duggan backstage confronted Shane McMahon, angry at Shane for picking on Eugene. He challenged Eugene, but Vince hit Duggan from behind with a chair, and Shane gave him another hard chair shot. Randy Orton then defeated Val Venis. Orton said he would introduce himself to Hulk Hogan on Saturday, and won quickly with the RKO.
After all this build for Edge and Lita going to their hotel, we finally got the payoff. Edge ordered room service and wanted champagne. Instead, he got John Cena, who jumped him in the hotel room and destroyed Edge. Cena said “the champ is here” like a Samoa Joe entrance in ROH. Cena hit Edge with the title belt and left. I have no idea why they did this drawn out hotel gimmick. It was obvious, boring, and just amounted to a lot of pointless filler. Why not just cut all this filler and give some time to a couple of guys that can have a quality wrestling match?
Eugene beat the McMahons. The Spirit Squad came to ringside as Shane beat up the green Eugene. Eugene hulked up and made a comeback, but the Squad grabbed his foot when he bounced off the ropes for the leg drop. The Squad gave Eugene the High Spirits twice. They set up Eugene to be put through a table when DX came out. Vince was planning to drop a net on DX, but DX saw it coming and Vince’s net dropped behind them. Eugene rolled up Vince from behind for the pin, and DX laughed.
Final Thoughts:
This show certainly didn’t break WWE’s string of bad programming, but this wasn’t all that horrible. It was just kind of bland and boring, which isn’t necessarily what you want when you are producing a whopping seven hours of new television this week. I would be shocked if this weekend’s Saturday Night’s Main Event isn’t the last. In fact, I think it’s entirely conceivable that it does below a 2.5 rating.
posted by Todd Martin at 11:19 PM
4 Comments:
Three weeks now without RAW and I'm doing well. Watched reruns of the WSOP. Much more compelling that RAW.
Whenever the next PPV is, my money is on Edge to defeat Cena. The question after that will be who is there to challenge Edge for a title shot? Outside Cena, I don't see a viable challenger with HHH and Michaels locked up as DX.
Obviously, there is some buildup going on with Carlito/Stratus and Melina/Nitro, but what about Mickie James? She's still the Women's champion, right?
No Umaga? No Kane? Viscera and Charlie Haas? That sounds absolutely dreadful and what's the deal with their fixation on Lillian Garcia?
Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Rick Flair don't need to be wrestling. You can bet that Flair vs Show will not make my Tuesday night TV agenda.
Hulk Hogan coming back? Is he going to be battling the Iron Shiek? Oh, no, it looks like it will be Randy Orton.
No Spirit Squad action? When is the last time that there was a Tag team title bout?
One final note that I have been wanting to post for some time. I think that one big problem with today's wrestling is that every match is filled with incapacitating blows followed by a kickout on a two count.
Yah I saw a match with Hogan vs. Muta in Japan i'm pretty sure you saw this match too. Just wanted to say that Hogan wasn't that bad as a wrestler like everyone says he was. He is an ok wrestler even though I still think his ego is still too big.
The best thing about RAW last night was Mick Foley's promo. There is a time in wrestling when for a brief second you forget that it's...umm...fake and while Mick was shooting on Flair...it all seemed so real.
God, so much of this crap is killing me. That said, the Mick Foley promo was as good as anything I've heard on a WWE show in forever!!! I think it's amazing they are able to put personal feelings aside for this angle. Foley took some serious shots as Flair. I always thought Flair was way more out of line and personal in his shooting on Foley. Foley's criticism was of Flair as a booker etc, never as a worker (please don't call me out on this and make me dust off my copy of Have a Nice Day). I don't even remember thinking twice about his comments while when reading Flairs book it was obvious it was a personal shot at Mick. The unfortunate part is this angle can't possibly deliver physically to match up to the promos
Post a Comment
<< Home