Raw Report
Date: 10/23/06 from Chicago, IL.
The Big News: Kevin Federline was back, as was Ron Simmons, but the focus of the show was setting up Cyber Sunday.
Title Changes/Turns: Eugene may be turning heel.
Match Results: Mickie James b Melina; Shelton Benjamin & Chris Masters b Jeff Hardy & Shelton Benjamin; John Cena b Johnny Nitro; Cryme Tyme b Mikey Mondo & Nicky Nemeth; Kenny Doane b Ric Flair; Randy Orton b Triple H.
Show Analysis:
They started the show by hyping all the publicity they got for K-Fed’s appearance last week. K-Fed then came out to a strong heel reaction. Seriously, K-Fed is welcome any time he wants to appear on Raw in my book. If ever there were a natural heel, it’s this guy. He said he came for payback, and he had a couple people who will annihilate John Cena at Cyber Sunday. He introduced King Booker, who put over K-Fed’s album as a treasure. He said Federline is a trendsetter, and everyone will vote to put Cena’s title on the line. Booker said that he will win the title. Big Show came out and agreed Cena’s title would be on the line and Cena would lose, but said he would take the title rather than Booker. They argued about what K-Fed thought.
John Cena came out and made fun of them. This was some exceptionally lame comedy material even for WWE writers. Cena couldn’t even redeem it this week. He did get one good line in, as he said when Booker put over Federline’s album, he officially lost his status as a black man. Then Ron Simmons came out randomly, said “damn,” and left. This was absolutely hilarious, and it’s nice to know somebody finds that as funny as Mike, X and myself. This was a good enough segment, but it is counterproductive to have main event programs constantly revolve around goofy comedy.
Mickie James beat Melina in a semi-final match in the women’s title tournament. Thankfully there were no weird stipulations this week. They traded punches, and Melina hit some knees. Melina applied the dragon sleeper, but Mickie escaped and they traded forearms. Mickie went for a leaping DDT, but Melina got out and hit a swinging neck breaker. Mickie recovered with a huracanrana and DDT for the pin.
Shelton Benjamin and Chris Masters beat Jeff Hardy and Carlito. Fans can choose between the other three as Jeff Hardy’s opponent for Cyber Sunday. The heels worked over Hardy early on. Masters slammed Hardy on the floor and hit a butterfly suplex in the ring. Hardy hit the whisper in the wind on Benjamin and tagged Carlito. Carlito hit a springboard elbow and the flatliner on Benjamin. Carlito then gave both heels a springboard senton, and hit the quebrada on Masters. However, Hardy and Carlito were shoved into each other and Carlito was rolled up for the pin. After the match, all four fought with each other.
Backstage, Edge and Randy Orton said that last week was typical DX, but DX won’t pull the same antics this week or at Cyber Sunday. They debuted a new team name, Rated RKO, which is pretty lame. I really hope they come up with a different one. Edge also is really outperforming Orton right now, because he conveys so much more believability and intensity. Edge invited impartial observers to the ring: Vince McMahon, Jonathan Coachman and Eric Bischoff. Elsewhere, Johnny Nitro put over K-Fed as a better rapper and actor than Cena, and Federline said he would have Nitro’s back against Cena.
John Cena beat Johnny Nitro, who was accompanied by K-Fed. Cena hit a fisherman buster, but was distracted by K-Fed. Nitro threw him over the top and K-Fed slapped him. Cena was about to go after K-Fed when Nitro hit a pescado. Nitro slammed Cena into the announce table and applied a rear naked choke in the ring. Cena slammed him backwards and came back with the Cena slam, five knuckle shuffle and FU for the pin. Cena chased K-Fed away from the ring until of course Show and Booker jumped him. It was so obvious it made Cena look stupid. They attacked Cena while K-Fed talked trash. Show gave Cena a choke slam. Booker then gave Show the Book End, and gave Cena a scissors kick.
Cryme Tyme beat Mikey and Nicky. Mikey slammed JTG and gave him a suplex and drop kick. JTG tagged Shad, who came in with punches and clotheslines. He gave Mikey a side slam and clotheslined Nicky to the outside. Johnny came off the top but Shad caught him and threw him to the outside on Mitch. Cryme Tyme then hit their Samoan drop/neck breaker combination, called the G-9, for the pin. After the match, Kenny gave Mikey a leg drop off the top. He said he’s the youngest and best member of the Spirit Squad and he has had enough. He said he would beat Ric Flair by himself.
Eugene was shooting t-shirts to the crowd, when Umaga came out. Armando said that Umaga’s challenge had been accepted, and fans could choose Umaga’s opponent from Chris Benoit, Sandman or Kane. Eugene accidentally shot Armando in the groin with the t-shirt gun, so Umaga jumped a terrified Eugene. He gave him the Samoan drop, chops, and the butt drop. Backstage, Hacksaw Jim Duggan told Eugene he had to stop being so nice, and Eugene responded by attacking Duggan and going crazy.
After Kenny attacked his partners two weeks in a row and called them losers and inferior, they still accompanied him to his match with Ric Flair. This made no sense. I guess it was just an excuse for Flair to bring out Roddy Piper, Sgt. Slaughter and Dusty Rhodes. Flair will be teaming with one of them against the Spirit Squad for the tag titles at Cyber Sunday. That also makes no sense given Cryme Tyme has beaten them twice in non-title matches. In any event, Kenny hit a back drop, drop kick off the ropes and punches on Flair. Flair came back with punches. Flair was tripped coming off the ropes and Kenny rolled him up for the pin. The Squad went after Flair after the match. Kenny left while the legends took apart the other Squad members.
DX plugged their merchandise backstage. Shawn said that the guys who talk about being the best in the industry live up to it the least. I read that as a shot at Bret Hart. DX said they would take it to Edge and Orton, and did some weird visual gags. DX has fallen off harder than the Atlanta Braves. Vince spoke with Bischoff elsewhere. They agreed that they could help each other. Vince then received a phone call, and used this as an excuse not to come to ringside for the main event.
Randy Orton beat Triple H. HHH referred to Edge and Orton as the most dynamic duo since Siegfried and Roy. Coach and Bischoff were at ringside. HHH hit a suplex, knee drop and spine buster on Orton. Orton snapped HHH on the ropes, hit a drop kick, a DDT and a knee drop. He actually pulled out the old Garvin stomp. HHH came back with a high knee, but Lita interfered and Orton hit a back breaker. HHH went for the pedigree, but Edge came in with a spear on HHH. Michaels attacked Edge. Coach went to count the pinfall in the ring, but Michaels gave him sweet chin music. Edge went for another spear on HHH, but HHH threw him to the outside. Bischoff gave Orton a chair and Orton hit HHH with it for the pin.
Final Thoughts:
This was just a straight forward wrestling show, and that’s a good thing in my book. I don’t see Cyber Sunday drawing a good buy rate, however. There isn’t anything terribly compelling on the show to me, but there is still some time to hype it. Check out my coverage of the Pride show from Vegas elsewhere on this site or on my blog. There are a lot of important points there, as it was a very interesting night.
The Big News: Kevin Federline was back, as was Ron Simmons, but the focus of the show was setting up Cyber Sunday.
Title Changes/Turns: Eugene may be turning heel.
Match Results: Mickie James b Melina; Shelton Benjamin & Chris Masters b Jeff Hardy & Shelton Benjamin; John Cena b Johnny Nitro; Cryme Tyme b Mikey Mondo & Nicky Nemeth; Kenny Doane b Ric Flair; Randy Orton b Triple H.
Show Analysis:
They started the show by hyping all the publicity they got for K-Fed’s appearance last week. K-Fed then came out to a strong heel reaction. Seriously, K-Fed is welcome any time he wants to appear on Raw in my book. If ever there were a natural heel, it’s this guy. He said he came for payback, and he had a couple people who will annihilate John Cena at Cyber Sunday. He introduced King Booker, who put over K-Fed’s album as a treasure. He said Federline is a trendsetter, and everyone will vote to put Cena’s title on the line. Booker said that he will win the title. Big Show came out and agreed Cena’s title would be on the line and Cena would lose, but said he would take the title rather than Booker. They argued about what K-Fed thought.
John Cena came out and made fun of them. This was some exceptionally lame comedy material even for WWE writers. Cena couldn’t even redeem it this week. He did get one good line in, as he said when Booker put over Federline’s album, he officially lost his status as a black man. Then Ron Simmons came out randomly, said “damn,” and left. This was absolutely hilarious, and it’s nice to know somebody finds that as funny as Mike, X and myself. This was a good enough segment, but it is counterproductive to have main event programs constantly revolve around goofy comedy.
Mickie James beat Melina in a semi-final match in the women’s title tournament. Thankfully there were no weird stipulations this week. They traded punches, and Melina hit some knees. Melina applied the dragon sleeper, but Mickie escaped and they traded forearms. Mickie went for a leaping DDT, but Melina got out and hit a swinging neck breaker. Mickie recovered with a huracanrana and DDT for the pin.
Shelton Benjamin and Chris Masters beat Jeff Hardy and Carlito. Fans can choose between the other three as Jeff Hardy’s opponent for Cyber Sunday. The heels worked over Hardy early on. Masters slammed Hardy on the floor and hit a butterfly suplex in the ring. Hardy hit the whisper in the wind on Benjamin and tagged Carlito. Carlito hit a springboard elbow and the flatliner on Benjamin. Carlito then gave both heels a springboard senton, and hit the quebrada on Masters. However, Hardy and Carlito were shoved into each other and Carlito was rolled up for the pin. After the match, all four fought with each other.
Backstage, Edge and Randy Orton said that last week was typical DX, but DX won’t pull the same antics this week or at Cyber Sunday. They debuted a new team name, Rated RKO, which is pretty lame. I really hope they come up with a different one. Edge also is really outperforming Orton right now, because he conveys so much more believability and intensity. Edge invited impartial observers to the ring: Vince McMahon, Jonathan Coachman and Eric Bischoff. Elsewhere, Johnny Nitro put over K-Fed as a better rapper and actor than Cena, and Federline said he would have Nitro’s back against Cena.
John Cena beat Johnny Nitro, who was accompanied by K-Fed. Cena hit a fisherman buster, but was distracted by K-Fed. Nitro threw him over the top and K-Fed slapped him. Cena was about to go after K-Fed when Nitro hit a pescado. Nitro slammed Cena into the announce table and applied a rear naked choke in the ring. Cena slammed him backwards and came back with the Cena slam, five knuckle shuffle and FU for the pin. Cena chased K-Fed away from the ring until of course Show and Booker jumped him. It was so obvious it made Cena look stupid. They attacked Cena while K-Fed talked trash. Show gave Cena a choke slam. Booker then gave Show the Book End, and gave Cena a scissors kick.
Cryme Tyme beat Mikey and Nicky. Mikey slammed JTG and gave him a suplex and drop kick. JTG tagged Shad, who came in with punches and clotheslines. He gave Mikey a side slam and clotheslined Nicky to the outside. Johnny came off the top but Shad caught him and threw him to the outside on Mitch. Cryme Tyme then hit their Samoan drop/neck breaker combination, called the G-9, for the pin. After the match, Kenny gave Mikey a leg drop off the top. He said he’s the youngest and best member of the Spirit Squad and he has had enough. He said he would beat Ric Flair by himself.
Eugene was shooting t-shirts to the crowd, when Umaga came out. Armando said that Umaga’s challenge had been accepted, and fans could choose Umaga’s opponent from Chris Benoit, Sandman or Kane. Eugene accidentally shot Armando in the groin with the t-shirt gun, so Umaga jumped a terrified Eugene. He gave him the Samoan drop, chops, and the butt drop. Backstage, Hacksaw Jim Duggan told Eugene he had to stop being so nice, and Eugene responded by attacking Duggan and going crazy.
After Kenny attacked his partners two weeks in a row and called them losers and inferior, they still accompanied him to his match with Ric Flair. This made no sense. I guess it was just an excuse for Flair to bring out Roddy Piper, Sgt. Slaughter and Dusty Rhodes. Flair will be teaming with one of them against the Spirit Squad for the tag titles at Cyber Sunday. That also makes no sense given Cryme Tyme has beaten them twice in non-title matches. In any event, Kenny hit a back drop, drop kick off the ropes and punches on Flair. Flair came back with punches. Flair was tripped coming off the ropes and Kenny rolled him up for the pin. The Squad went after Flair after the match. Kenny left while the legends took apart the other Squad members.
DX plugged their merchandise backstage. Shawn said that the guys who talk about being the best in the industry live up to it the least. I read that as a shot at Bret Hart. DX said they would take it to Edge and Orton, and did some weird visual gags. DX has fallen off harder than the Atlanta Braves. Vince spoke with Bischoff elsewhere. They agreed that they could help each other. Vince then received a phone call, and used this as an excuse not to come to ringside for the main event.
Randy Orton beat Triple H. HHH referred to Edge and Orton as the most dynamic duo since Siegfried and Roy. Coach and Bischoff were at ringside. HHH hit a suplex, knee drop and spine buster on Orton. Orton snapped HHH on the ropes, hit a drop kick, a DDT and a knee drop. He actually pulled out the old Garvin stomp. HHH came back with a high knee, but Lita interfered and Orton hit a back breaker. HHH went for the pedigree, but Edge came in with a spear on HHH. Michaels attacked Edge. Coach went to count the pinfall in the ring, but Michaels gave him sweet chin music. Edge went for another spear on HHH, but HHH threw him to the outside. Bischoff gave Orton a chair and Orton hit HHH with it for the pin.
Final Thoughts:
This was just a straight forward wrestling show, and that’s a good thing in my book. I don’t see Cyber Sunday drawing a good buy rate, however. There isn’t anything terribly compelling on the show to me, but there is still some time to hype it. Check out my coverage of the Pride show from Vegas elsewhere on this site or on my blog. There are a lot of important points there, as it was a very interesting night.
posted by Todd Martin at 12:17 AM
5 Comments:
The Simmons cameo left me in stitches! I think that was the funniest thing on Raw this year. I really hope that's an act that will happen more than once, because the randomness of it was just hilarious.
I agree with you that Cyber Sunday isn't looking so hot. I think they picked the wrong time to do a Champion of Champions match. They should have waited until Batista or Undertaker had the Smackdown Title.
Is it just me, or are this year's vote stipulations absolutely terrible? Who cares which title is defended in the main event? There is no chance one of those titles is changing hands in that match, so the winner of the vote will essentially be the winner of the match. Also, who cares who the ref is for the DX match? They're all heels and whoever it ends up being will almost certainly screw over DX. And don't even get me started on the Umaga match. Who in their right mind would vote to see a ppv match with Kane or the Sandman instead of with Benoit? This is looking to be one of the worst ppvs in recent memory.
Who in their right mind would vote to see a ppv match with Kane or the Sandman instead of with Benoit?
It would depend on who they're matched up against. Kane, yeah, there's almost no chance I'd rather see him than Benoit, but there are a few matchups he could have (Abyss, maybe, probably none in WWE, though). I would have wanted to see Sandman/Raven back during their feud over a lot of what could be done with Benoit, or a full out, pull out all the stops Sandman/RVD or Sandman/Sabu match now. I'd generally prefer to see Benoit, but the others aren't without some merit.
The IC Title match has Nitro as a voting option, not Masters, along with Shelton and Carlito.
Simmons = Best. Cameo. Ever.
Shawn said that the guys who talk about being the best in the industry live up to it the least. I read that as a shot at Bret Hart.
I took this as a shot at Kurt Angle. Unfortunately, the ones who always claim to be the greatest never end up being the greatest. There was one, his name was Muhammed. There have been none since. The Hart arguement, whether gimmick or not, for all the best there is, best there was talk, according to the pro wrestling insiders and hardcore fans of the sport, Bret Hart doesn't hold a candle to Ric Flair or even Chris Benoit. Unless you're talking feuds, in which respect Benoit falters but Naitch passes Hart for sure.
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