On Tuesday, September 5, 2006 at 12:10 AM EST WWE RAW
September 4, 2006
Atlanta, GA
Commentators: Jim Ross & Jerry “The King” Lawler
Reported By: Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com
Edge was in the middle of the ring setting up a table to go along with the ladder and chair. Edge said the “John Cena gets out of my life forever” countdown was on and that it was two more shows until he sent Cena over to Smackdown. He said Unforgiven would be taking place in his hometown, Toronto Canada. He said Cena couldn’t win because he always wins this match. He said TLC didn’t cater itself to Cena’s strengths, which were swinging his hands around like a retarded guerilla. He said winning this type of match was about smarts. He rolled a clip of his tables ladders and chairs record.
Edge said Cena should get used to wrestling men in dresses and Michael Cole resuming his man crush on him, because he’d be winning at Unforgiven. Cena popped up from under the ring and FU’d Edge through a table. He went nuts for the crowd before leaving Edge in a heap in the ring to end the segment.
****Commercial****
Jeff Hardy was in the back painting. Maria asked him what he was doing and he said he was watching the press conference from last week put on by Melina and Nitro. He asked her what she thought he was doing and she said ‘looks like watching paint dry”. Hardy said that was exactly what he was doing.
WWE Intercontinental Championship
Johnny Nitro v. Jeff Hardy
The two circled up and attempted a lock up but Nitro caught a quick drop kick and a single leg take down for a quick pin fall attempt. Hardy attempted an inside cradle and got a one count. Nitro grabbed Hardy’s leg but was mule kicked to the outside. Melina tended to Nitro as we went to commercial break.
****Commercial****
We came back to Nitro clamping down on a reverse chin lock on the challenger. Hardy fought back but got nailed in the face with a running knee lift. Nitro converted the hold into a reverse back-breaker, which got him a two count. Nitro pummeled the challenger, hitting some hard shots to the kidney area before following up with a big back suplex. Nitro stretched out the back before kicking away at it on the ground.
Nitro went for his spinning leg drop but no one was home. Hardy charged the champion, but was hanged up on the top ropes by the champion. Nitro kept up his now seemingly relentless assault, focusing in on Hardy’s back. Hardy finally hit a back elbow and got some feet to Nitro’s face but was caught in a double back breaker/ Russian leg sweep combination that nearly gave Nitro the win.
Nitro clamped in a bear hug on Hardy. Hardy elbowed his way out but was rushed to the corner and perched up on the top rope. Hardy fought it all off and flipped over and delivered a big electric chair drop. The two exchanged blows in the middle of the ring before Hardy caught Nitro with three clubbing blows in a row and a back body drop. Hardy hit a side Russian leg sweep and a leg drop/roll up combo that got him a two count. Nitro caught Hardy with a boot to the face and went for a cross body block but Hardy rolled through and got a two count. Nitro planted hardy with a standing moonsault but only got a two count. Hardy came back and hit a corkscrew senton off the top rope and he got a two count.
Hardy went for the Swanton bomb but Melina jumped on the apron just long enough to enable Nitro to interrupt the hold. Hardy however, quickly countered into a twist of fate. Hardy went for the cover, but Melina jumped in the ring and hammered the referee to get her man the victory.
Winner: Jeff Hardy via DQ
****Commercial****
Trish ran into Lita in the back and Trish said she was going to call Lita out. Trish said she wanted to face Lita at Unforgiven. Lita said she was on and it’d be a pleasure to end her career in her hometown.
A promo video aired putting over John Cena’s new movie “The marine”.
Lita wanted her situation fixed. She was pounding on Mr. McMahon’s door. Shane McMahon opened up the door and listened to Lita. He said tonight, we’d see John Cena, Trish, and Carlito take on Lita, Edge, and Randy Orton.
****Commercial****
Chris Masters was in the middle of the ring. He said since there was no one in the back that could beat him, and then was cut off by Super Crazy’s music.
Super Crazy v. Chris Masters
Masters hit a big bodyslam and followed up with a hard Irish whip. Super Crazy tried to come back, but got nailed with a big boot. Masters clamped in a stiff key lock before Super Crazy attempted to fight out. Masters held him down quickly before getting caught with a big bicycle kick which sent Masters to the floor. Crazy flipped over the top rope and hit a plancha. Back in the ring Super Crazy tried to do a sunset flip but only got a two count out of the hold. He again attempted to roll up Masters and again failed. Masters whipped him to the buckle but missed the follow up and clattered into the middle buckle.
Crazy quickly capitalized and nailed a beautiful looking moon sault for the victory.
Super Crazy via pin fall
A video aired recapping the events of the last two weeks with DX and the McMahons.
****Commercial****
Mr. McMahon’s music played and Vince and son Shane came out to the ring. Big Show’s music and he came out in street clothes and his championship belt to the ring to join his tag team partners in the ring.
Shane got on the mic and said DX’s antics wouldn’t be tolerated. He said last night he had the most fun he had in years after beating the hell out of DX. He said that was just an inkling of what would happen in hell in a cell.
Big Show got on the mic and said that nothing about DX was funny and they paid the price. He said tomorrow night there would be a little handicapped match tomorrow night and the only ones who would leave handicapped would be DX. He said at hell in a Cell, they would find out what he and the McMahons were capable of doing together.
Vince said he felt like something was missing tonight. He pointed out that it was because the fans weren’t laughing at him tonight. He said the fans did in the past, but they weren’t laughing now. He said the old expression was right ‘he who laughs last, laughs loudest’. He said he was laughing loudly and at each and every one of the fans. He said he left DX in a quivering mass in the ring last week. He said that was nothing compared to what they’d do to them in hell in a cell.
DX’s music hit and they came to the ramp sledge hammers and steel chairs in tow. Triple H said it had been a long time since someone had made them taste their own blood. So for that he said, he had two words for Vince, which were ‘thank you’. He thanked him for reminding him who the hell they were. Security stopped them before they got to the ring but he got clocked with a chair. DX rushed the ring and cleaned house, landing sweet chin music and the pedigree for the exclamation point. The two parties jaw jacked at each other from the ramps to end the segment.
****Commercial****
#1 Contender’s Three-Way match
The Highlanders v. Cade & Murdoch v. Viscera & Charlie Haas
All hell broke loose right off the bat and eventually we ended up with Haas and Cade. Viscera broke in and eventually cleaned everyone out before tossing Robbie into the corner and tagging in Haas who hit a nice drop toe hold followed up by a big Viscera leg drop. Viscera hit his running splash and then somehow ‘fell’ out of the ring on his own. Robbie came catapulting into the ring and rolled up Haas for the win.
Winners: The Highlanders
Carlito was in the back complaining about Randy Orton. He said HE, not Orton, was the king of disrespecting people. Tonight, he’d ‘respectfully spit in Orton’s face’.
****Commercial****
Maria was out in the ring trying to get folks to kiss before Ric Flair came out and joined her. God help us all. Flair said it was great to be back in Atlanta and that the only thing that would make the night better was a kiss from Maria. She gave him a smooch and Flair flopped for her. He said he wanted to say that even though at Summerslam he made Foley quit, what happened to him two weeks ago was wrong.
Armando Alejandro Estrada came out and interrupted Flair. Estrada came out and demanded that Flair pass the torch to Umaga. Flair looked right in Estrada’s face and said ‘no’. Estrada told him to get ready for a beat down, and Umaga came out. Kane quickly followed him and the two went toe to toe in the middle of the ring. Kane cleaned Umaga out of the ring quickly Kane tossed on his pyro to end the segment.
****Commercial****
Smackdown GM Teddy Long walked into the arena.
Vince and co. were in the back. He asked Big Show how confident he felt that he could win his match tomorrow night and Big Show said he was very confident. Vince said that next week he’d take DX down himself in the arena at which he built his company, Madison Square Garden. He said he would take on Triple H 1 on 1.
****Commercial****
John Cena, Carlito, & Trish Stratus v. Edge, Randy Orton, & Lita
Orton and Cena started the match off and Orton hit a boot to the gut before getting nailed with a flying shoulder block. Carlito tagged in and he and Orton exchanged blows. Carlito hit a back elbow, but Orton quickly regained the advantage and tagged in Edge. Edge got caught with a drop kick who tagged in Lita. Trish tagged in and the two went at it hard.
Trish broke from combat for a second to smack Randy Orton, which prompted him and Edge to rush the ring at which Cena and Carlito jumped in to make the save. The two sides stood jaw jacking as we went to commercial.
****Commercial****
Lita cinched in a rear chin lock on Trish in the middle of the ring. Trish tried to fight out and hit a nice neckbreaker to buy herself some time. Both made tags to Orton and Carlito respectfully. Carlito caught the legend killer with a springboard back elbow and some punches to the head, but found himself dumped to the outside. Edge and Lita accosted him on the outside before being tossed back into the ring and getting worked over by Randy Orton.
Edge tagged in an kept working over Carlito whipping him to the buckle and spearing him into the corner. Orton tagged in and hit some stiff European uppercuts off the apron. Edge tagged in and Carlito mounted a brief comeback, but Edge cut him off with a hard clothesline. Orton tagged right back in and stomped away Carlito before tagging in Lita who stomped away at Carlito some more. Orton tagged right back in and cinched in an abdominal stretch.
Edge tagged in and clamped on a rear chin lock. Carlito crept back to life but was cut off. Randy Orton tagged in and put Carlito back in the headlock. Carlito fought out however and hit an inzeguiri. Edge blocked Cena from the tag but Trish got her tag. She jumped Lita and before Edge could snag her Cena made the save.
Trish hit the stratosphere before Edge attempted a spear but was cut off by Carlito. Randy Orton snuck in however and planted Trish with an RKO and a ‘you can’t see me’ to the ref while his back was turned and enabled Lita to get the pin fall for the victory.
Winners: Lita, Randy Orton, & Edge via pin fallRAW THOUGHTSThe Good-- Randy Orton’s “you can’t see me’ schtic after planting Trish’s pretty little face with the RKO. I enjoyed the main event quite a bit tonight and was a good way to pack in heat for al three of these feuds. Mission accomplished.
Other than that, there just wasn’t much that tripped my trigger tonight or made me give a crap either way.
The Bad-- Please god, after Unforgiven please end the DX stuff. Triple H looked great but HBK again looks like he’s going through the motions and/or struggling to play this part with any hint of sincerity. This has just been a dreadful feud and I can’t wait for it to be over and done with.
The Ugly-- I hate knocking the kid, because he’s got a lot of talent, but Nitro stunk out the joint tonight, big time. If you’re looking for a match that typifies all that’s wrong with today’s worker, then look no further than tonight’s awful Jeff Hardy-Johnny Nitro match which completely lacked psychology, had moves whored out to the point where it just became a stunt show. No psychology, just a lot of moves tossed together and even those the crowd could have cared less for. Awful, dreadful match.
If you’re still not sold, watch the tag team whatever it was because no one bothered to tell us the stipulation before the match match. What a train wreck.
Overall C- -- Again this week, I felt that the show just kept on losing me at points. I’m really happy that this card for Unforgiven has been built to be a full show instead of the usual half-assed effort by WWE but in all reality, this show still just seems to be lacking. I like the fact that they’re at least making the effort to make Cena-Edge not look so completely predictable this time around, but oh well.
Oh, btw, who at WWE POSSIBLY thought Super Crazy would be a good addition to this show? What does he bring to the table that the show’s lacking? Honestly. Just a completely mindless move, IMO.
Quick Results
Jeff Hardy def. Johnny Nitro
Super Crazy def. Chris Masters
The Highlanders def. Cade & Murdoch and Viscera & Charlie Haas
Randy Orton, Edge, & Lita def. Carlito, John Cena & Trish Stratus
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not?
Biggest pops
1. Carlito
2. DX
3. John Cena
4. Ric Flair
Most Heat
1. Edge
2. Vince and Shane McMahon
3. Randy Orton
4. Chris Masters
Match of the night: Six-man Tag Match **
Power RankingsWWE Champion: Edge (Last Week: WWE Champion)—Edge is getting plenty-o-heat right now and the feud with Cena has improved greatly, but right now seems to be carrying the entire brand. The rest of the show is just that bad.
Intercontinental Champion: Johnny Nitro (Last Week: Intercontinental Champion)—Two horrible weeks in a row for the young IC champ. One on the mic, one in the ring. No questioning Nitro’s talent, but WWE may have to back off this push because it’s becoming a little obvious he may not be ready for it.
1.John Cena (Last Week: 1)—Cena’s finally getting heat again and now that we’re not getting overload, the fans seem to be getting behind him again.
2. Umaga (Last Week: 2)—Hasn’t lost, but is finally getting pushed in a real feud. So far, so good. WWE is keeping this one simple stupid, but unfortunately not very entertaining either.
3. Randy Orton (Last Week: 6)—Putting on a decent feud with Carlito, but really moving up because everyone /* is so bad right now.
4. Carlito (Last Week: 7)—Gaining some major league face heat nowadays. Improving in the ring every week too. One of the very good things happening on the brand right now.
5. Triple H (Last Week: 4)—Honestly, at this point, who cares. This DX stuff just flat out sucks. End it and we’ll talk.
6. HBK (Last Week: 5)—Wish I could give you a reason to give a crap.
7. Jeff Hardy (Last Week: 9)—Maybe it’s me, but I just can’t stand anything this guy does in the ring. When I hear old grumps like Harley Race talk about how guys nowadays go in the ring and toss moves together, I think of Jeff Hardy first and foremost. Brother Matt has some mileage, Jeff is just a flip-fest and a mediocre one at that. You could hear crap plunking in the toilets in Atlanta tonight that crowd was so dead.
8. Kane (Last Week: 8)—not really going anywhere as usual. He’ll job in this feud too. Can’t justify tossing him any higher up the rankings.
9.Ric Flair (Last Week: 4)—Comes off the feud of the year and what do they have planned for him!? NOTHING!
10. Super Crazy (Last Week: NR)—I guess he’s on the show now. Why I don’t know but he’s on the show and I need someone who didn’t lose tonight.
Dropping Out: NONE)