» Reported by Adam Martin of WrestleView.com
» On Tuesday, July 20, 2004 at 1:58 AM EST

WWE RAW – July 19th, 2004
Location: Washington, D.C.
Commentators: Jim Ross & Jerry “The King” Lawler
Report by: Jason Patton of WrestleView.com

The show begins as Triple H comes out. He said he wasn’t proud of what he did last week. He said he got a bad feeling inside about what happened and felt rotten. He then said he farted and it felt great, just like how it felt when he beat up Eugene. He looks in the camera and tells Eugene that he hates him, Evolution hates him and everyone hates him. He says Eugene is an embarrassment and even Eugene’s own mom is ashamed of him. He said he did the world a favor and that Eugene was pathetic. Footage was then seen of Eugene being taking away on a stretcher as William Regal and Chris Benoit cried. Triple H said that was pathetic when Eric Bischoff came out. Bischoff said HHH was right and heard that Eugene is gone forever. Eric went onto say that HHH deserves to be awarded so next week, he will face Chris Benoit in a 60 minute Ironman match for the World Heavyweight Championship. He then gave HHH the night off and put Benoit in a match against Batista. William Regal came out and said he was frightened of Triple H and then attacked him. Security eventually came out and escorted Regal out of the building.

-COMMERCIAL BREAK-

WWE Sting of the Night is then shown featuring Rhyno’s victory over Robaire Conway last week with the help of Tajiri.

Robaire Conway is in the ring and says he is in the nation’s capital and they have the right to freedom of speech. With that Sylvan Grenier gets on the mic. and sings the Canadian national anthem in French. Tajiri comes out with Rhyno and interrupts them and Tajiri leads a U.S.A. chant.

Sylvan Grenier vs. Tajiri
Tajiri starts off explosive with a series of kicks to Grenier, followed by a roundhouse heel kick. Conway distracts the ref from the cover and allows Grenier to fight back. Grenier hits a dropkick to Tajiri for a near fall. After some slow action, Tajiri fights back with a few kicks and then a springboard back elbow to Grenier. Tajiri then locks in the tarantula and as the ref is distracted by Rhyno, Conway hits a cheap shot on Tajiri. Grenier capitalizes and hits a facebuster to pick up the win.

Winner: Sylvan Grenier

Footage of multiple house shows over the weekend is shown with some wrestlers commenting on the live events. The highlight reel with all 10 diva finalists is next.

-COMMERCIAL BREAK-

Chris Jericho starts off the Highlight Reel by bringing out all 10 RAW Diva Search finalists. Jericho tells them that the diva with the least amount of votes is eliminated next week on RAW. Each diva then introduces herself and the crowd boos at the cities they are from. Jericho says that in the WWE, anything can happen. He says that in General Manager Eric Bischoff’s office, there is an immunity envelope to keep them from being eliminated. The divas go into his office and ransack the place, looking for the envelope. They tear the office apart until Eric Bischoff comes in angry. He yells at the divas and learns that Chris Jericho put them up to it. He said the immunity envelope didn’t exist and kicked them out.

-COMMERCIAL BREAK-

Tyson Tomko vs. The Hurricane
Stacy Keibler accompanied the Hurricane to the ring for this match. Hurricane mocked Tomko and ran off. Tomko got distracted by Stacy, who was bent over, and got a baseball slide dropkick from the Hurricane for it. Tomko fights back using his power and throws Hurricane chest first into the ropes. Hurricane fights back and hits a reverse neckbreaker off the top rope. Hurricane continues the attack with a dropkick into the gut of Tomko until Trish distracts him. Hurricane turns around and is hit with a big boot to the face for the loss.

Winner: Tyson Tomko

After the match, Trish and Stacy got into a verbal battle on the outside. Trish sucker punched Stacy with her cast into Stacy’s stomach. Tyson Tomko took advantage of this and got Stacy up for a military press, but Rosey (in a new and improved superhero costume) attacked Tomko to save Stacy.

Backstage, Ric Flair and Batista are walking down the hall as Flair pumps Batista up for his match. Triple H brings Batista into a lockerroom and appears he wants to talk about Batista’s match with Chris Benoit.

-COMMERCIAL BREAK-

Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler are seen talking about Ric Flair’s new book “To Be The Man”. Lawler says that Flair acknowledged that Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan and even himself drew big money and audiences, but Bret Hart did not. Flair went on to say that Mick Foley was nothing but a glorified stuntman.

Non-Title Match
Chris Benoit vs. Batista
Benoit comes out strong with multiple hard chops on Batista, but Batista merely overpowers Benoit. Benoit ends up fighting back and hits three consecutive German suplexes. Batista gets to his knees and Benoit dropkicks him in the face. Batista uses power to his advantage and fights back with a backbreaker. He works on Benoit in the corner until Benoit fights out and hits another German suplex. Both men roll to the outside and Batista goes for a clothesline, but hits his arm on the ring post. Benoit grabs Batista by the arm, but is thrown back first into the steel pole. Batista rolls Benoit back in the ring and works at him with more power moves. He hits a vertical suplex on Benoit, shortly followed by a spinebuster. Benoit then gets his foot caught in the ropes and Batista kicks him in the head multiple times until Earl Hebner calls for the bell and a disqualification.

Winner: Chris Benoit

After the match, three referees help Benoit out of the ropes until Batista scares the refs off. He grabs Benoit and hits a Batista Bomb and leaves the ring.

-COMMERCIAL BREAK-

WWE Slam of the Week is shown from the Highlight Reel last week with Lita confronting Kane and saying she suffered long enough.

Lita is seen walking backstage until she finds Matt Hardy. Matt says he doesn’t mind speaking to Lita after all, but just doesn’t know how to handle the whole situation. Lita tells Matt to take as much time as he needs and that she loves him, but she continues to say she will have the baby with or without Matt.

Randy Orton is then seen with Todd Grisham. He gloats about being a legend killer and shows off his list of legends he’s killed. He says Edge is a fluke and got lucky. Edge shows up and says he isn’t some statistic for the back of a shirt. Edge goes on to say that Orton has self confidence issues because his dad was Roddy Piper’s bitch. Orton says that after he wins, Edge will be his bitch.

-COMMERCIAL BREAK-

Chris Jericho vs. Kane
Kane starts off the match quickly by rushing an attack on Jericho in the corner. Jericho fires back with a boot to Kane’s face. Kane stumbles backwards, but charges back in with a running clothesline. Jericho gets to the top rope and hits a reverse elbow on Kane. Jericho continues the assault with a chop block to Kane. He goes for the Walls of Jericho, but Kane uses his power to kick Jericho away. Jericho comes off the ropes and hits a bulldog. He then goes for a Lionsault, but Kane moves out of the way. Kane tosses Jericho to the outside. Jericho pushes Kane into the ring post twice and then hits a running inziguri, knocking Kane out cold. Jericho slides in the ring and wins via countout until Eric Bischoff comes out and announces a no disqualification, no countout falls count anywhere match to continue.

-COMMERCIAL BREAK-

Action picks up as Jericho tosses Kane to the outside. Jericho gets to the top rope and comes off with a cross body for just a two count. Jericho tosses Kane into the crowd and follows as he punches Kane. They fight back into the crowd until Kane fights back and throws Jericho into a hockey wall. He then covers for a near fall. Kane attacks Jericho, but Jericho fights back. Jericho grabs the camera crane and rams it into the skull of Kane. He rolls over to cover, but Batista comes out and breaks up the count. Batista throws Jericho into the wall and then hits a running clothesline, knocking Jericho out. Kane eventually crawls over and covers Jericho for the win. Batista stands over a motionless Jericho after the match.

Winner: Kane

-COMMERCIAL BREAK-

The troops of the U.S. Armed Forces are shown. Jim Ross recognizes them and their accomplishments and then mentions that Linda McMahon took part in the Democratic National Convention. Lawler, however, can’t take his mind off of the Diva Search.

Footage from the RAW Diva Search Thursday in New York City was shown. Randy Orton, Triple H, Edge and Chris Jericho are special judges until it is narrowed down to the final ten contestants.

Coach then brings out the divas one last time, but this time in bikinis. They all spin around slowly and the viewers are told to vote by phone or on wwe.com.

SmackDown! Rebound is shown with JBL vs. Eddie in a steel cage. Eddie hits a frog splash off the top of the cage, but El Gran Luchadore ultimately screws Eddie out of the title. The mask is taken off of Luchadore to reveal Kurt Angle.

-COMMERCIAL BREAK-

WWE Intercontinental Championship Match
Edge (c) vs. Randy Orton
The two men exchange blows in the early going until they both go for a dropkick, but kick each other’s feet. They get up quickly and stare each other down until Edge snaps Orton’s arm against the ropes. He goes to work on Orton’s seemingly hurt arm until Orton fights back and throws Edge throat first into the ropes. Orton hits his modified backbreaker and Edge rolls out of the ring in pain. Orton then hits an elevated backbreaker on Edge, who collapses on the barricade.

-COMMERCIAL BREAK-

Action picks up with Edge in a chinlock (I looked down momentarily to write this and missed how both men were down). Both men get up and exchange punches until Edge knocks down Orton. Edge hits a Russian leg sweep for just a two count. Orton fights back and hits a dropkick on Edge. He covers, but gets a near fall. Orton tries to capitalize by going to the top ropes for a cross body, but he misses. Edge rolls him up for another near fall. Orton rests on the ring apron until Edge spears him in the back, sending Orton flying face first into the barricade. Edge gets Orton back in the ring and goes to the top rope. He hits a missile dropkick for yet another two count. Edge misses a spear, but ends up going back to the top rope. He misses a cross body as well, but takes out the ref in the process. Orton hits a thumb to Edge’s eye and grabs a steel chair. Orton goes to hit Edge with the chair, but is instead met with a spear. Edge covers, but the ref is down. Orton hits a low blow on Edge, quickly followed by an RKO. Orton covers and the ref slowly counts for just a two. Edge hits another spear and covers Orton, but Orton somehow manages to get a shoulder up. Orton goes for an RKO, but Edge uses a backslide pin with his feet on the ropes to pick up the win and retain his title.

Winner & still WWE Intercontinental Champion: Edge

Match Results:

Sylvan Grenier def. Tajiri via pinfall

Tyson Tomko def. The Hurricane via pinfall

Chris Benoit def. Batista via disqualification

Kane def. Chris Jericho via pinfall

Edge def. Randy Orton via pinfall to retain his WWE Intercontinental Title

Food for Thought

I for one thought RAW was great and the opening segment showed the crowd that they were in for something good. Triple H elevates himself to the biggest heel level more and more each week and this week was his best. Involvement by Regal and Bischoff were awesome as well and was a good way to kick off the show.

Someone pointed out to me last week that the Diva Search wasn’t necessarily a search for a lady wrestler. Well, what the hell are they doing in WWE then? The key letter in WWE is W for Wrestling. How am I supposed to vote for the best wrestler when all they did was wear bikinis like grinning idiots? You tell me.

Rosey has been promoted from S.H.I.T. to Superhero. Good your you citizen! Uh…his costume was cool. Hurricane and Rosey could be a great face tag team if they got the chance. I like the use of the Hurricane more, but not in the jobbing way. Lady Blossom’s daughter will smile even wider one day when Hurricane gets the gold he deserves.

Eric Bischoff is definitely taking a role of power. He yelled at the divas, signed a HUGE main event for next week, gave Triple H the night off (not Benoit though) and changed the Jericho vs. Kane match to a falls count anywhere match. He is a great heel and leader and he entertains me on nights like these.

Honestly, I’m glad Eugene is gone. I don’t mind him coming back in a different gimmick, but the one he currently has is just ridiculous.

The main event was great, but I don’t like when faces cheat. It always has been and always will be a heel thing to do, but with faces doing it, it seems to take the meaning away from the word “cheating”. None the less, it was an exciting ending to an exciting match. Real solid effort on Edge and Orton’s part.

With all the controversy fluttering through the air about Flair’s book and the comments made towards Hart, I think it was an awful idea for WWE to mention it. However, I do agree with Flair that Foley is a “glorified stunt man”. I respect the guy, but I don’t think he could wrestle his way out of a cardboard box.

Ironman match next week!! This should be great. I’m expecting a lot of great stuff and a very face-heel match. Maybe this match will prove to everyone that Triple H is valuable to this company and deserves the main event spot.

Cheap name spot: ozzy, I promised!

That’s it for me this week and maybe for a while as far as reporting on WrestleView goes. Chances are I may have to step down as Experience recapper, so this is my last report for a while or ever. It’s been fun though should that be the case. Feel free to drop a line by clicking here.