� On Monday, August 1, 2005 at 11:52 PM EST WWE Raw
August 1, 2005
Uncasville, CT
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry “The King Lawler”, and Jonathon Coachman
Reported By: Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com
Chris Jericho’s music hit the arena and he made his way out to the ring. Jericho sauntered around the ring receiving a chorus of boos from the crowd. He said being the pure genius that he was, he concocted a plan with Eric Bischoff that would end the embarrassment that is the championship reign of John Cena. He said the plan was going ‘swimmingly’. He cited last week saying that they exposed him as a fraud in and out of the ring. He made fun of Cena’s performance at the battle of the bands last week as well.
Jericho put over his ‘unbiased’ officiating that allowed Carlito to receive a WWE title shot tonight. He then showed footage of the Cena-Carlito match from last week. Jericho called his performance a thing of beauty. He said Cena was in a conundrum because he could lose his title to Carlito tonight. Jericho promised he’s walk out of Summerslam as the WWE champion no matter who won. He said the fans could boo him if they wanted to, but that he would beat the ‘brown nosing buffoon’, John Cena.
Cena ran down to the ring and the two went at it until Eric Bischoff came out and demanded that security break the situation up. Bischoff said if Cena wanted to buck Bischoff’s authority that he’d show him. He said that to make sure Cena didn’t wiggle off with the WWE championship, he would name a special guest referee, Chris Jericho.
Coach put over the WWE Championship later tonight between John Cena and Carlito. King announced that Vince McMahon, himself, would have a special announcement. JR put over the HBK career highlight package that will be shown later on tonight.
****Commercial****
Chris Masters & Snitsky v. Shelton Benjamin & Big Show
Benjamin came right at Chris masters and looked like he botched a springboard clothesline. Masters fought his way back to his feet but got nailed with a shoulder block. Big Show tagged in and Masters split to tag Snitsky. Big Show manhandled Snitsky hitting him with his frying pan chops across the chest and a big back elbow. Show jaw jacked at Masters before going back to work on Snitsky, hitting another huge chop. Show connected with a head butt and another chop. Show stuffed his big boot into Snitsky’s mug in the corner before shushing the crowd and hitting another chop.
He mocked Snitsky before whipping him hard to the opposite corner. Show got a running start and then clothes-lined the big man to the floor. Masters jumped him from behind but Big Show tossed him like a seventy-year-old sock monkey over the top rope and to the floor. Snitsky and Masters were trying to recover as we went to commercial.
****Commercial****
We came back to Shelton Benjamin working over Snitsky in the corner. Shelton whipped the big man to the corner but got distracted for a second by Masters, which allowed Snitsky to land a boot to the mug. Snitsky tagged in Masters who clubbed away at Benjamin. He landed a big back breaker followed by a side walk slam and a pin-fall attempt. He stomped away on the former Minnesota All American before clamping him in a bear-hug in the center of the ring. Shelton fought out of the hold but got caught in a BIG power-slam. Shelton kicked out of a cover attempt at two before Snitsky was tagged in. Snitsky stomped away on Shelton before hitting a big body slam. Snitsky dropped an elbow and barely missed getting the three count. Snitsky clamed on a modified cobra clutch but Shelton elbowed out of it. He came off the ropes at Snitsky but got caught in a spine buster. Snitsky got another near fall before tagging in Masters. The two smashed Shelton into the corner a few times before Snitsky got tagged right back in after a BIG double clothesline. Big Show jumped in illegally dumping the two men.
Shelton looked to have caught a break but instead was stomped into the mat by Snitsky. Snitsky tagged in Masters again who almost got caught with a Shelton roll up but he kicked out and hit a really big Master’s clothesline. Masters went for another pin-fall attempt and again, Shelton kicked out in the nick of time. Shelton fought out of a Masters rear chin-lock who turned it around to a front face-lock. Shelton ended up on the receiving end of some big right hands from Masters who choked the former IC Champion on the ropes.
Masters went for a suplex but Shelton reversed it into a neck-breaker. Show urged on Shelton to make the tag but he barely missed it, with Snitsky coming in. Benjamin hit an enzeguiri and finally got the tag. Big Show went to work on both Snitsky and Masters and hit a running avalanche followed by a big shoulder block. Shelton ran in and Show assisted him in a flying wheel kick. Snitsky eventually hit a big boot but it didn’t faze the big man who clamped him in a choke slam and got the pin fall for the victory.
Winners: Shelton Benjamin & The Big Show via pin-fall
The WWE rewind aired and recapped Eugene’s victory in the Angle invitational last week.
The Eugene Invitational is NEXT!
****Commercial****
Eugene Invitational
Christy Hemme got on the mic and introduced Eugene. Eugene asked Christy if he could play with her pom poms. Christy said no and that it was time to bring out his opponent.
Kurt Angle’s music hit the arena and he came to the ring.
Angle got on the mic and said that enough was enough. Eugene cut him off and asked him what his name was and where he was from. Angle frustrated said his name and said he was from Pittsburgh. Eugene said Angle wasn’t a hometown boy. Angle said it was different last week and Eugene said last week was just for pretend.
Eugene put the Olympic medal in his mouth while Angle asked who could possibly be a hometown hero, “Tanto?”. Out of nowhere TATANKA’S music hit and he came to the ring.
He did his big war dance to a huge ovation from the crowd. Eugene obviously looked excited.
The two locked horns and Tatanka backed Eugene into the corner but it was broken up. Tatanka put Eugene in a headlock but Eugene fought out and countered with an arm drag. Eugene clamped the native American in an arm bar before Tatanka countered it and did some arm work of his own. Eugene countered as well dropping the leg on the arm and throwing Tatanka into the buckles. Tatanka landed some big chops and an Irish whip followed up by a huge chop.
Tatanka hit a running punch before ascending to the top ropes and hitting a big tomahawk chop off the top rope. Tatanka picked up steam but went over the top a bit on the back body drop attempt. Eugene hit an angle slam and an ankle lock. Angle came into the ring and assaulted Eugene, landing a big European uppercut in the corner. Tatanka blasted Angle from behind and he and Eugene clothes-lined Angle over the top rope and to the floor.
Tatanka and Eugene celebrated in the ring with Christy Hemme to end the segment.
Winner: Eugene
A clip from Larry King earlier this week aired featuring Hulk Hogan who was putting over the Shawn Michaels match at Summerslam.
****Commercial****
Todd Grisham asked Kurt Angle how he felt about Eugene’s performance and his Gold Medal. Angle tweaked raving about how he was going to win his ankle back next week. Angle said Eugene may be special, but next week he was going to make him REALLY special.
A video package was shown of Kane driving away with Lita in an ambulance last week.
Jericho was in the back and Carlito came into the locker room. He said what Cena did was not cool. Jericho said he was going to expose him tonight. He said Carlito was going to walk out with the belt. Bischoff came in and said that it was Jericho’s job to make sure Carlito left with both belts at the end of tonight. He wanted Carlito and Jericho to come up with a plan to insure that it’d happen. Jericho said it was simple, that he could count fast.
Vince McMahon’s limo was shown arriving at the arena.
****Commercial****
Vince McMahon’s music hit the arena and he came to the ring.
McMahon said tonight was a special edition of Raw. He said the first edition was held in the Manhattan Center in front on 1200 people. He said tonight it was the 635th edition of Raw. He said it surpassed any weekly TV program in history. He said it beat Gun Smoke, Happy Days, etc. He said they were emanating from a sold out Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut.
He said perhaps the classy thing would be to thank WWE fans around the world, but instead he said rather than that he wanted to thank the individual with the great vision, that he wanted to thank himself.
McMahon said as big as his ego was, it wouldn’t get in the way of good business decisions. He said he had made a good decision and he said he was here tonight to talk us about it. He ran down the list of good business decisions and announced the latest one.
He said he that he had signed MATT HARDY and that he’d be facing Edge at Summerslam.
Hardy came out to a huge pop from the Connecticut crowd.
McMahon handed him the mic and left the ring.
Hardy thanked McMahon for bringing him back to Raw, and then thanked the fans. He said unlike McMahon, he DID thank all of them. Hardy wanted to catch everyone up to speed on his history. He ran down the history between himself, Lita, and Edge. He revealed their real names in the interview. He said that fans let the WWE know how they felt and the Matt Hardy movement began. He said from that point on he took matters into his own hands. He said that now, he was back.
He said that Edge ended his dream of having a family and having children. He said he came THIS close to destroying his dream of becoming a WWE superstar. Hardy said he was going to put Edge through so much pain that he’ll wish he was dead. He said he would not die and that he’d see him at Summerslam.
Coach put over the WWE Championship match later tonight between John Cena and Carlito.
****Commercial****
Vince and Kerwin were in the back. Kerwinn said he was contemplating moving near Vince in Greenwich, CT. He said he was a real middle class American. Vince said he had been a billionaire so long, he forgot what it was like to be middle class. He patted Kerwin on the shoulder and left.
Val Venis v. Rob “The Con Man” Conway
Conway put Venis in an arm ringer but it was reversed. Eventually Conway slapped on a side headlock but got tossed into the rope. Conway lost his glasses on the contact between the two and Conway lost it.
The two locked up in the ring and Venis clamped on a hammerlock. Conway backed him to the corner and hit a back elbow. He whipped Val off the ropes and hit a clothesline before hitting a Scot Steiner pump elbow. He chopped Venis in the corner a few times before having an Irish whip attempt reversed.
Venis back body dropped Conway as he rebounded off the ropes. He hit a punch on the Con Man before Conway retreated. Venis chased him to the outside and eventually Conway took the advantage, ramming Venis’ lower back into the ring apron and the barricade. He tossed Val into the ring and landed some stomps before ramming his head into the turnbuckle.
Conway landed a hard Irish whip and followed it up with a neck vice. Venis fought out of hit and hit a modified power-bomb but Conway kicked out of the pin fall attempt. Val landed some punches and a reverse elbow before tripping up Conway with a drop toehold into a modified figure four. Conway reached the ropes to break the hold.
Conway eventually knocked Venis off the top turnbuckle and hit a swinging neck breaker with Venis’s legs on the rope. It’s called the ‘ego-trip’. Conway got the pin fall and the victory.
Winner: Rob “The Con Man” Conway
****Commercial****
A spoof on the Larry King interview aired with HBK dressed up like Hulk Hogan. He said by Summerslam he’d be 102 years old. HBK said brother a ton and flexed his ‘pythons’ a ton. HBK shot on Hogan throughout the segment, knocking him on the towns he shows up to, to his behavior back stage. It was done obviously in the flavor of the “DX State of the Union” stuff of the late 90s. A video package of HBK’s career accomplishments aired. It was the same one from Wrestlemania 21, minus the super kick on Hogan, which was added to this one.
When it came back from the video package, HBK talked about Hogan’s back stage politicking and his entertainment adventures. He knocked Hogan’s work rate and laziness in the ring. He then did a muscle cramp thing before super kicking the Larry King impersonator in the face. He ripped his Hogan gear off and told him that he had his own reality show.
He said at Summerslam he was going to kick some reality into Hogan’s face.
The Diva Search contestants were shown coming to the ring.
****Commercial****
2005 Raw Diva Search
The Coach was standing at the top of the ramp. Summer was eliminated.
Rob Schneider will judge tonight’s event. He came out on the ramp trying to amp up the absolutely dead crowd.
The contest will be a jousting competition. Coach asked him if he had any advice for the ladies and he said that “you can do it”. He also told them to not be distracted by his boner. Seriously.
In the first match, Ashley won. Elizabeth won the second match. There was a scuffle after the second match and Schneider broke it up.
Ashley faced Elizabeth in the finals and Elizabeth won. Coach implored us to vote.
A video package aired documenting the brief history between John Cena and Carlito.
****Commercial****
It was announced that Kurt Angle would be challenging Eugene in the Eugene invitational next week. Also we’ll see Hulk Hogan and HBK come face to face.
WWE Championship
John Cena v. Carlito
Special Guest Referee: Chris Jericho
Eric Bischoff was ringside for the match.
Cena went right after Jericho but got cut off by Carlito who choked Cena with his own T-shirt. Cena fought out but Jericho helped Carlito regain the advantage. A REALLY quick count followed. Carlito worked over Cena in the corner before Cena eventually crumpled. Cena eventually fought back but got kicked in the gut and Jericho aided Carlito in throwing Cena into the ring post.
****Commercial****
We came back to Carlito holding Cena in a reverse overhead hammerlock. Cena was trying to fight out and hit some punches and a back elbow. Cena whipped Carlito into the ropes but caught a boot to the face and a neck-breaker. Cena kicked out of another fast count and Jericho dropped an elbow on him when the opportunity presented itself.
Carlito hit some back elbows in the ring with some kicks and stomps. Carlito went for a vertical suplex but Cena blocked it and attempted to counter the move, but Jericho pushed the weight back in Carlito’s favor. Carlito whipped Cena into the ropes but Cena caught a shoulder block and then went right for Jericho. Carlito cut him off though and began ripping at his eyes. The hold eventually turned into a rear chin-lock and then a sleeper. Cena punched away at Carlito’s mid section and back body dropped the challenger. He came off the ropes at Carlito but got caught in a modified flat liner.
Another fast count attempt and Cena kicked out. Carlito tossed the champion to the outside where Jericho exposed the security wall. Carlito threw Cena into the wall and then actually helped Carlito repeat the move. Another fast count and another Cena kick out. Cena again fought to his feet and hit some left hands on Carlito. He got some high impact clotheslines and a really big back body drop.
The proto-plex came next and was followed by the five-knuckle shuffle. Cena went for the cover but Jericho refused to count. He went right after Jericho again but Carlito recovered and came at Cena. This time, Cena capitalized and herded Carlito into the corner. He loaded up the challenger for the FU but Jericho kicked him in the gut. Cena recovered and dumped Jericho and Bischoff out of the ring. A new referee ran down to the ring. Cena gathered Carlito, and hit the FU for the 1, 2, and 3.
Winner and STILL WWE Champion: John Cena
After the match Jericho jumped Cena and nailed him with a WWE TV camera. The blow busted open Cena badly. Jericho slapped on the Walls of Jericho on the champion on the ring apron where Eric Bischoff came over and slapped Cena a few times before Cena passed out from the pain. Jericho again gazed at the WWE championship belt as Cena looked on, a bloody mess. RAW THOUGHTS
The Good- I have to be honest and admit that I’m really starting to get into Jericho’s new heel character. The feud has been done the right way, using wrestling angles to get the program over. Cena seems to be willing to take the beatings and Jericho is playing the bad guy perfectly. Kudos to both as this feud is gaining steam at the right time.
The Bad- There were so many things that were just bland about tonight. The Angle segment came off half-hearted, The Hardy thing seems to have lost steam, and even the HBK/Hogan spoof didn’t come off great either. There was just nothing completely or even remotely redeeming about tonight’s Raw. Vince brings back the HBK stuff, the Hardy angle which isn’t really his brainchild, Tatanka, etc. Stop living in the past, give the crowd wrestling and something to give a crap about.
The Ugly- The Diva search sucks. If Rob Schneider hadn’t said boner, the crowd would have crapped all over this.
Overall- D- Honestly anyone that watched tonight’s Raw, if they made it past the first five minutes, probably won’t remember anything about it. Quite possibly the worst two hours of ‘wrestling’ I’ve ever watched in my life. Again, this creative team is a joke. Vince McMahon’s product the last month has been a joke. Vince McMahon has turned himself into a joke. The Wrestlers know it. The crowd knows it. For a product that genuinely seemed to turn the corner around early July, we’re a month later and I think it’s regressed to below last fall’s putrid standing, just in time for SummerSlam buy rates to bomb. I won’t be buying SummerSlam. If you want to see the product improve, I say you force Vince’s hand and not buy it either.
Quick Results
Big Show & Shelton Benjamin def. Chris Masters & Snitsky
Eugene def. Tatanka in the Eugene Invitational
Rob Conway def. Val Venis
John Cena def. Carlito to retain the WWE Championship
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not?
Biggest Pops
1. John Cena
2. Rob Schneider saying ‘boner’
3. Matt Hardy
4. Big Show
Most Heat
1. Chris Jericho
2. Eric Bischoff
3. Carlito
4. Chris Masters
Match of the Night: Snitsky & Masters v. Shelton Benjamin and Big Show *
Power Rankings
WWE Champion: John Cena (LAST WEEK: WWE Champion)-- At least Cena is trying to take the bumps to get his feud with Jericho over. Honestly, Cena’s program with Jericho is the only thing worth giving a crap about. Doesn’t really move forwards or backwards this week.
Intercontinental Champion: Carlito (LAST WEEK: IC Champion)-- Of all of the draft picks, Carlito has not only benefited the most, but is getting what he NEEDS, which is ring time. Just wish we could see this guy do something other than cheat constantly. Hurts his credibility in the long run.
1.) Chris Jericho (LAST WEEK: 1)-- Jericho is really beginning to get me into his heel character. His stuff was so solid tonight and I’m really sold on his allegiance with Bischoff. Another solid week for Jericho and is quickly cementing himself as something to watch on this show. Scratch that. The ONLY thing to watch on a crap show at the moment.
2.) Shawn Michaels (LAST WEEK: 2)--The Larry King spoof thing just didn’t work for me tonight. I never thought I’d say this, but I’m so completely disinterested in the Hogan program I don’t know how /* to express it. HBK doesn’t drop, because no one /* is doing anything worth watching either.
3.) Big Show (LAST WEEK: 5)-- Big Show was WAY over in Connecticut tonight and seems to be doing all right for himself. He’s getting big reactions and doing what he does in the ring. Another pin fall in a tag team match for the big man tonight. Again, thanks to everyone /* doing nothing, Show moves up.
4.) Edge (LAST WEEK:3)-- Thanks to Hardy showing up, he gets a little heat despite not showing up. The Hardy match, given the right stip, could be huge for both of these guys. Hardy and Edge are known for their bumping, so I’d expect to see that at Summerslam.
5.) Kane (LAST WEEK: 4)-- I was surprised we didn’t see anything other than clips of last week from Kane tonight. IF Jericho wins the title at Summerslam, this is a guy you consider throwing at him in his first or second defense. He needs a program and we may soon forget about the last two years of Kane’s career. He’s back to where he needs to be as a character, let’s just get him on TV and see where he goes.
6.) Eugene (LAST WEEK: 8)-- Was I the only one who thought it was just ironic to see a retarded wrestler fighting an Indian with a bimbo looking on? I’m as Republican as they come and hate PC-ness, but wasn’t it just a LITTLE ironic? Nonetheless Eugene gets a ‘win’ and moves up.
7.) Kurt Angle (LAST WEEK: 7)-- Angle just isn’t going anywhere. I never thought I would hear the day wrestling fans and net nerds would clamor for the return of Triple H. It’s been a month and it sounds like people are beginning to miss him. Just ask Kurt Angle.
8.) Chris Masters (LAST WEEK: 6)-- Masters, slowly but surely, is starting to get good heat. Not the kind of ‘get the hell off my screen’ heat, but legit heat. His ring work is still green but it’s coming. Shelton and Mr. Masters looked good tonight. Still a ways to go though.
9.) Shelton Benjamin (LAST WEEK: 9)-- Shelton is obviously trying his ass off to get over. Without a program or a personality, I don’t care how many cartwheel kicks he can do, he needs growth as a character. Maybe they could give him a mask so we don’t have to look at the Eugene-like faces he makes while in the ring.
10.) Snitsky (Last Week: NR)-- Yeah he was on TV. He made a funny face, and I laughed.
Dropping Out: Viscera
Any Questions, comments, or feedback send email me at Raw@wrestleview.com.