WWE RAW
September 14, 2009
Toronto, ON
Commentators: Michael Cole & Jerry ?The King? Lawler
Report by: Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com
Batista came out to the ring to say ‘thank you’ to the crowd. He said his announcement was that he was saying good bye. He went on for a little while before Randy Orton’s music hit and he came out to the ring. Orton said he was upset over losing the WWE title last night, but he was really thrilled that Batista, the big bad Animal, was going out with a wimpier. He said Dave could save it, because no one cares.
He said Batista wasn’t retiring because of his health, he was retiring because of him. Batista started laughing at him. He said Orton was very predictable. He said the second thing, was that he knew something he didn’t. Batista took off the cast on his arm and unloaded on Orton, chasing him from the ring. He said he wasn’t retiring… he was going to Smackdown.
He said Trish Stratus, the interim GM, gave him a match tonight, and it’d be no holds barred… against Randy Orton.
****Commercial****
Guest host Trish Stratus came out to the stage. She put over the job Bob Barker did last week. She said she knew Randy Orton was owed a rematch. She was thinking, at the next pay per view, Cena should face Orton in a Hell in a Cell match.
Primo & Kofi Kingston vs. Jack Swagger & The Miz
The two locked up only for Miz to take a cheap shot at Kofi. Primo jumped him and hit some lefts and rights before going for a hand stand hurricanranna only to get face planted to the mat. Miz stomped away on him on the mat before tagging in Swagger.
Swagger hit a big body slam before working a bow and arrow. The hold turned into a half nelson before Swagger started hammering away on Primo’s back. Eventually Primo caught the hot tag and Kofi came in a house of fire.
Kofi flat backed Swagger a few times before dodging some Miz interference and hitting an inverted leg sweep for a two count. Kofi hit ten punches in the corner, but got distracted by the Miz making off with Kofi’s US title belt. Swagger tossed Kofi off and hit a doctor bomb for the win.
Winner: Jack Swagger & The Miz via pin fall
****Commercial****
#1 Contenders Match ? Divas Title
Alicia Foxx vs. Gail Kim
The two started off brawling before Kim hit a series of hurricanrannas that send Alicia to the outside. They ended up back in the ring where Foxx hit a tilt a whirl back breaker for a two count. Alicia slapped on a half nelson as Gail fought to her feet. Alicia cut her off with a northern lights suplex for a two count before working a body scissors.
Kim fought out of the hold again only for Alicia to spike her head off the mat. Alicia went for a big kick only for Gail to duck under and hit a neck breaker. Gail followed up with two big lariats before hitting a splash in the corner and a cross body off the top rope for a two count. Alicia shoved Gail off her only for Kim to go for a missile drop kick and whiffed completely. Alicia hit a HARD kick to Gail’s head for the win.
Winner: Alicia Foxx via pin fall
****Commercial****
Beth Phoenix is confronting Trish Stratus about not being in a #1 contenders match. Chris Jericho comes in and starts running down Trish, referencing their feud in 2004. Beth calls her a coward for retiring. Trish says she’ll get a partner and face both of them tonight.
****Commercial****
The Legacy came out to the ring and gave us an ‘are you ready?’. He said this was the dawn of a new era in the WWE. He said the truth was that they didn’t just beat DX, they made them submit. They made DX tap out. Cody asked Ted if he knew who hadn’t made DX tap out. The McMahons, The Undertaker, Rated RKO, The Rock, Steve Austin… the only people who did, were them.
They said what they did was truly historic, and something no one else could do. They said they were no longer their father’s sons. Their father were now their parents. DX is watching in the back, not looking happy.
****Commercial****
Shawn Michaels vs. Ted Dibiase
The two brawled around the ring until Michaels was able to hit a back body drop and a stomp. Dibiase connected with a running powerslam. Dibiase pounded away on HBK’s face before sending him into the ropes and hitting a back body drop.
Michaels fled to the outside of the ring to catch a breather. Dibiase brought Michaels in hard way before dropping a pair of fists for a two count. Dibiase slapped on a side headlock as the crowd rallied Michaels to his feet. Michaels punched his way out of the hold and connected with a chop, only to eat a standing drop kick to the face. Dibiase went for a pin fall but only got a two count.
Dibiase slapped on a rear chin lock, and again, HBK fought out. Dibiase went for the drop kick again, but whiffed. HBK tried a figure four, but Dibiase grabbed small package for a two count. HBK kicked out and went for the hold again and cinched it in, only for Dibiase to fight out with a poke to the eye.
Michaels seemed to be favoring his eyes, only to connect with a wild right to buy himself some time. Dibiase looked for a million dollar dream, only for Hbk to desperately fight out. Michaels looks effected.
HBK began to fight back and hit a flying forearm and then kipped up. He tackled Dibiase and went for rights and lefts, before hitting his top rope level. When he hit though, he obviously hurt his eye. He lined up SCM, but Cody cut him off, causing the DQ.
Winner: Shawn Michaels via DQ
A brawl broke out afterwards, as the four brawled all over the ringside area. Michaels and Dibiase ended up in the crowd, while Triple H and Cody fought around the ringside area.
****Commercial****
Chavo Guererro & Carlito vs. Evan Bourne & Hornswoggle
Hornswoggle head butted Carlito in the nuts and tagged Bourne for a roll up near fall attempt. Bourne hit a drop kick to the head before Chavo tagged in. Bourne hit a drop kick for a near fall.
Carlito dropped an elbow on Bourne for a one count. Carlito pounded away on him in the corner before tagging in Chavo. Chavo hit some stomps before getting flung across the ring with an arm drag. Chavo hit a back elbow on Bourne only to get killed with a wheel kick. Carlito made his way into the ring only to eat a knee to the face.
Hornswoggle tagged in and went to the top rope. He chewed on an apple while Bourne took out Carlito. Chavo cut him off up top only for Hornswoggle to spit the apple in his face, hit a frog splash and win the match.
Winners: Hornswoggle & Evan Bourne via pin fall
After the match, Chavo admitted defeat.
****Commercial****
Josh Matthews is with WWE Champion John Cena. He puts over the Hell in a Cell match in a few weeks.
Trish Status comes out to the ring for her match. MVP is her mystery partner.
****Commercial****
Chris Jericho & Beth Phoenix vs. Trish Stratus & MVP
Beth picked up Trish with ease and planted her in the corner before uncorking a huge body slam. Trish fought back with some hard elbows to the face and some chops. Trish ducked under a Beth charge and went for a cover until Jericho shoved her. MVP came bounding in, and hit a clothesline that took him and Jericho to the outside. Big Show ran down to help causing the DQ. Mark Henry ran in and we’ve got a brawl.
Winners: Trish & MVP via DQ
Trish was upset after the bell and said if Show wanted to join in, he could, but so would Mark Henry.
****Commercial****
Trish Stratus, MVP & Mark Henry vs. Beth Phoenix, Chris Jericho & Big Show
We came back to Big Show working over MVP. Jericho tagged in and began stomping away. Jericho missed a lion sault as Trish and Mark Henry got the crowd into things. Jericho drop kicked Henry before there was an opportunity for things to get much nuttier for him. He slapped on a rear chin lock, holding on as again, the crowd rallied him.
Beth tagged in and tried to get MVP to fight her, but MVP just caught her kick. Trish tagged in and Trish jumped her, reigning down big right hands. Trish and MVP hit a double ballin’ elbow drop. Jericho came bounding in only for MVP to intercept him. Trish went for something off the ropes, only for Show to trip her up hard. Mark Henry came bounding around the outside of the ring and hit Show with a huge shoulder block, taking him out.
Beth tried to take advantage and go for a pin, but Trish kicked out. She went to the top rope only for Trish to hit the Statusphere. Trish loaded up Statusfaction, and nailed it for the win.
Winners: Mark Henry, MVP and Trish Stratus via pin fall
****Commercial****
No Holds Barred
Randy Orton vs. Batista
Orton went for a chair, but Batista cut him off. Orton fled for the ring and looked for the DDT, but Batista kept coming through the ropes. He attempted some strikes only to eat a big clothesline. He chased the former champion to the outside and hit Orton hard to the floor before tossing him back into the ring and giving chase. Orton hit a thumb to the eye and an inverted back breaker to gain the initiative.
Orton went into the Garvin Stomp and then went back to the chair. Batista hit a massive spear before chasing Orton to the outside yet again. Batista slammed Orton’s head off the announce table multiple times before throwing him over the table and hanging him up on the barricade.
Batista slammed Orton into the ring steps, before stepping on Orton’s face. Orton took a side slam before leaving for the back. John Cena came out to the ringside area and clotheslined Orton to the floor. He threw Orton back into the ring who ate a spine buster and a power bomb.
Winner: Batista via pin fall
Show Thoughts– All things considered, tonight’s show was OK stuff, if not a little unspectacular.
Usually they like to go a little more angle-heavy in their shows hot off a pay per view, but tonight it didn’t make much sense to have as how like that, especially considering they’re up against Monday Night Football on the first night of the season. So the toned down nature of the show didn’t surprise me much at all. What we did get though, was OK.
I for one am very happy to see Batista moved off the brand. Not only does Smackdown need him right now, but the Raw main event scene is a total log-jam. Every month its a virtual lock that SOMEONE is going to be left dwadling, and really with the WWE being at the point its at creatively right now, they can’t afford that. It was an OK bait and switch to re-establish Batista and ship him off the brand still looking strong.
The rest of the show was just somewhat ‘there’. The Michaels-Dibiase match was a welcome reprieve from the usual Michaels ‘work my back’ or ‘top this’ formula, and instead had Michaels working as the aging ‘great’, which I enjoyed quite a bit. He’s still good, but far more vulnerable. I like that. Heading forward, a vulnerable DX is so much more interesting to me than the usual squash stuff. I has really down on this when they originally decided to do it, and to be honest, they’ve won me over as this time, the angle has been handled a hell of a lot better. The six-man intergender tag was a lot of fun, especially snow plow Mark Henry. Trish looked like there was a little rust, but once she settled in, she was far and away the best performer in the match.
The surprise of the night from my perspective, was Alicia Foxx. Foxx really seemed to have incredible potential as a baby face coming off her brief run with DJ Gabriel, and I’m still a little tepid on this idea of pushing her as a heel, but holy smokes she brought the goods tonight. Lots of back work, a nice little repretoir of holds and that axe kick is money. Though Kim is widely considered to be the better wrestler, that match tonight was the Alicia Foxx show in a big way.
Overall, a show that was just ‘there’. Nothing wrong with that. All things considered, it was better than I thought heading in.
Overall Grade: C+
Quick Results
The Miz & Jack Swagger def. Primo & Kofi Kingston
Alicia Foxx def. Gail Kim
Shawn Michaels def. Ted Dibiase
Hornswoggle & Evan Bourne def. Chavo Guererro & Carlito
Trish Stratus, MVP & Mark Henry def. Beth Phoenix, Chris Jericho & Big Show
Batista def. Randy Orton
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not?
Biggest Pops
1. Trish Stratus
2. DX
3. John Cena
4. Evan Bourne
Most Heat
1. Randy Orton
2. Chris Jericho
3. Big Show
4. The Legacy
Match of the Night: Trish/Henry/MVP vs. Beth/Jericho/Show **
Points
4 Points= World Title defense/win
3 Points= Singles PPV Win
2 Points= Tag PPV Win
2 Points= TV Singles Win
1 Point= TV Tag Win
0 Points= Loss
WWE Champion: John Cena 21-11-4, 47 points. (Last Week: 1) — Quiet night for Cena in his first night back with the belt.
United States Champion: Kofi Kingston 19-5-1, 37 points (Last Week: US Champion)— Kofi’s offense works well in tags, but I’m a little cold on him as a singles wrestler. Sure the match went longer last night, but I think he looked better tonight,.
1. Randy Orton 13-14-5, 34 pts. (Last Week: WWE Champion)– Orton’s so locked in with this character right now its hard not to get caught up in things, even while he’s getting jobbed out.
2. Big Show 8-11-1, 15 Points (Last Week: 4)— Quiet in the last few nights, but has been on the winning end of things. That’s good enough to move him up the ladder.
3. Triple H 7-7-3, 10 Points (Last Week: 2)– Again, he seems to be the fourth wheel in this Legacy feud. Cody’s impressed me. Ted’s impressed me. Even Michaels has shown a little something different. Triple H just seems to be more or less ‘around’.
4. Cody Rhodes 12-12-3, 17 points (Last Week: 5)–Cody’s looked fantastic the last week and a half. I swear he’s got a whole stack of Buddy Roberts tapes he watches on a loop when get gets to his room at night.
5. Ted Dibiase, Jr. 11-10-3, 13 Points (Last Week: 6)–See Rhodes.
6. Mark Henry, 10-2, 18 Points (Last Week: 3)— His work has been good, its just that the wins haven’t. I love the steamroller on Big Show tonight.
7. MVP 11-8-2, 19 Points (Last Week: 7)–This tag feud has done a lot for him. Jericho and Show have really helped center him, building a lot of their tag matches around MVP selling a lot. He needs work on this, so its good to see him in there with real pros like Show and Jericho who can show him how.
8. Shawn Michaels 10-4, 15 pts. (Last Week: 8)— I really liked the switch up with Michaels tonight from using his traditional formula to becoming an aging, old man. Something about it was just way more compelling.
9. The Miz 6-9-2, 10 Points (Last Week: 7)— OK night for him tonight. I’m intrigued to see where the Kofi program heads from here.
10. Evan Bourne, 4-5, 7 Points (Last Week: 10) — Solid performance again tonight. With Batista switching brands, it seems they’re trying to free up some space. If the Miz wins the US title, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Bourne get a shot.
OTHERS
Chris Masters 0-2-1, 0 Points (Last Week: NR)
Santino Marella 4-3, 9 points (Last Week: NR)
Jack Swagger, 4-7, 7 Points (Last Week: 10)
Carlito Colon 5-9-1, 7 Points (Last Week: NR)
Primo Colon 4-9-1, 4 Points (Last Week: NR)
Brian Kendrick 1-6-0, 2 Points (Last Week: NR)
Hornswaggle 7-0-0, 10 Points (Last Week: NR)
Jerry Lawler 1-0, 1 points (Last Week: NR)
Festus 1-1-0, 1 Points (Last Week: NR)
Chavo Guerrero 1-14-0, 1 Points (Last Week: NR)
Jamie Noble 0-3, 0 Points (Last Week: NR)
Jim Duggan 0-0, 0 points (Last Week: NR)
Eugene 0-1-0, 0 Points (Last Week: RELEASED)
Batista 9-4, 18 Points (Last Week: MOVED TO SMACKDOWN)
Matt Hardy 3-8-0, 4 Points (Last Week: TRADED TO SMACKDOWN)
William Regal, 3-10, 4 points (Last Week: TRADED TO ECW )
Goldust 2-1-0, 2 Points (Last Week: TRADED TO ECW)
Kane 7-7, 12 Points DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN
Mike Knox 3-3 4 points (Last Week: DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN)
JTG 2-4, 2 points (Last Week: DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN)
Big Shaad 2-3 2 points (Last Week: DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN)
Charlie Haas 0-0, 0 points (Last Week: DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN)
Dolph Ziggler 0-3, 0 Points (Last Week: DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN)
CM Punk 9-7, 17 Points DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN
Rey Mysterio 11-6, 22 Points DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN
Chris Jericho 6-7 13 pts. DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN
JBL 1-6, 4 points (Last Week: 7) RETIRED
Mr. Kennedy 1-0-0, 1 Points (Last Week: RELEASED)
Sim Snuka 1-0, 1 Point (Last Week: RELEASED)
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