On Monday, September 18, 2006 at 11:27 PM EST WWE RAW
September 18, 2006
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Commentators: Jim Ross & Jerry “The King” Lawler
Reported By: Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com
Lillian Garcia introduced the NEW WWE Champion, John Cena, who came out to a chorus of boos.
Cena said the reaction just sounded like ‘chaos’. He said normally, tonight would be huge, but even when everything that’s been going on, he’s not himself tonight. He said he had to bottom line it for us and said that last night he was hit in the head a lot. He said he went through such a match that he didn’t even know what time it was or what his name was. He ‘came to’ though and realized that the champ was here again. The crowd really poured on the boos.
He told the “Jedis” to calm down. He said regardless of how we all felt was big. Cena said that after everything has happened over the last nine months, his taking nine thousand spears, cheap shots, chair shots, his father getting slapped, someone getting thrown in a river, and more tables ladders and chairs the law would allow. He said even after all that, the cinematic storyline between himself and Edge had come to an end.
Edge’s music hit and the roof blew off the old Molson Center. He came out to the ramp with the now former Women’s Champion, Lita. Edge stared down Cena and asked him if he believed all the crap he was talking about. He said his win last night was like his entire career, a fluke. He said Cena knew damn well he had a rematch clause in his contract and when he used it, he’d win back his title.
Cena said he saw something in Edge last night that he never saw before in his life. He said he respected Edge for that man-to-man. He said though, if Edge wanted to talk like that to him right now, he was left with two options: A.) because he was the R-rated superstar he could go screw himself. Option B.) Put some ‘balls’ behind his words and have a WWE title rematch right now.
Edge said he must have thought he had a giant desire to win his title back in Canada. Edge said Montreal wasn’t really Canada. He said this was the cheese-eating inbred cousin of Canada, Montreal. He said he wanted to make something clear. He said last night he took more physical punishment in one match than most take in their entire lives. Amongst other things, he took an FU through two tables. He could have raised the white flag like all the frenchies in the crowd, but he didn’t. He aid he’d take it back whenever he felt like it.
Cena said it took 30 seconds for people to go from cheering for him to hating him and the crowd popped big time. He asked Edge what he wanted if he wasn’t going to fight. Edge said it was the worst night of his life and he wanted payback. He said Cena took his title away from him and he had a back up plan. Trevor Murdoch and Lance Cade came out of nowhere and cleaned Cena’s clock right quick.
Edge continued the assault until DX’s music hit and they came out to the ring and cleaned house.
Coach came out to the ramp next and said he was McMahon’s executive assistant. He said he would do as Mr. McMahon would do. He said tonight in that very ring, we’d have a six man tag team match featuring Edge, Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch v. John Cena, Triple H, and Shawn Michaels. Triple H gave Cena a sneering look as we went to commercial.
Umaga will take on Kane next!
****Commercial****
Coach was in the back straightening himself out. He said the McMahons would be happy with the way he was running Raw tonight. He said so many of the superstars want to send on their best wishes for a speedy recovery. Shelton Benjamin came on first and went on about how he couldn’t believe McMahon wouldn’t put him on his hell in a cell team. Coach interrupted him and pushed him off camera.
Umaga v. Kane
The two started off pretty fast trading shoulder blocks. Kane came at the monster with heavy right hands before getting nailed with a belly to belly suplex. Umaga planted Kane with a kick to the chest but Kane sat up. Estrada handed a chair to Umaga but he never got the chance to use it as Kane cut him off with a flurry of right hands and added an exclamation point with a big DDT.
Somewhere in all this the referee took a bump enabling Umaga to finally hit a chair shot with some assistance from Estrada on the outside. Finally a referee made his way down to the ring to make the count, but Kane was able to kick out.
****Commercial****
The two were still going at it when we got back when Umaga hit a monster Samoan Drop on Kane. Umaga hit his modified flat liner. Kane crawled to the corner and was able to toss an elbow into Umaga’s side before he was hit with the big bump butt. Kane planted Umaga with a big boot but didn’t knock him downt. It took a clothesline and a shoulder block to get the job done, but finally the big man fell. Kane tried to whip Umaga but got tossed over onto the apron and quickly countered into a snap mare on the ropes.
Kane retrieved a steel chair from ringside but Umaga caught him with an upper cut when he made the attempt. Umaga missed a spear attempt in the corner and hit his flying lariat quickly thereafter. Kane picked up the chair, but Estrada jumped up on the apron and was punched in the face for his efforts. Kane pulverized Umaga to cause the DQ.
Winner by DQ: Umaga
After the match Kane hammered Umaga twice with the chair before dropping the Samoan.
****Commercial****
Kane was killing Estrada in the back. He grabbed a spike of his own before Umaga showed up and made quick work of Kane. Kane sat up as the segment ended.
Maria was next to give her wishes to Maria. She wondered what it was like when Show’s pants got pulled down. Like Batman in the bat cave? Like the Grand Canyon? Or really stank? An air horn sounded and the Spirit Squad showed up. They gave McMahon their best wishes and put over their tag title win. Johnny said he challenged Ric Flair to a match tonight and he was going to dedicate it to him.
****Commercial****
Ric Flair v. Johnny
Johnny sho’d his comrades off to the back, as he wants to go it alone.
Flair shot Johnny to the ropes and got floored with a shoulder block. Johnny continued to whale away on Flair in the corner before the Nature Boy came back with his trademark chops. Flair planted the youngster with a knee before chasing him to the outside and landing some more chops.
Flair charged Johnny but got back body dropped to the floor. Johnny worked over Flair in the corner before getting nailed with more chops. Johnny cut him off with a chop block though. Johnny worked Flair’s leg before going for a Figure Four leg lock. Flair scooted over to the ropes to break the hold. Johnny went to collect Flair on the apron and suplexed him back into the ring. Johnny hit two stomps before missing a spinning wheel kick off the top rope.
Flair returned the favor on the chop block and immediately went for the figure four . As Flair went for the move, Johnny rolled Flair up. Flair reversed the hold himself and scored the pin for the victory.
Winner: Ric Flair via pin fall
Lita was in the back talking about how bad she felt for McMahon. She wanted to talk about her for a little while. She said Trish was retired before Mickie James interrupted her. James dissed her pretty bad before getting slapped. Mickie looked shocked as Lita walked away.
****Commercial****
Orton asked for a mic upon entering the ring. He said besides the fact that he had stitches, he won his match last night at Unforgiven. His performance was one of the most courageous in wrestling history. He said he proved that not only was he the future of Raw, but the history of the wrestling industry. Johnny Nitro’s music hit and he came down to the ring with Melina.
Nitro questioned him being the future of the industry. He said if anyone was the future, it was him. He said for all the people out there who thought he was like watching paint dry, they should remember that he was the Intercontinental Champion. He said Orton had been coasting on his reputation for years and while he had been talking about being on top, He actually was on top. The two went back and forth before Chris Master’s music hit the arena. He came out and said he should be champion. Orton and Nitro laughed with Nitro telling him the ring was for grown-ups.
Carlito came out to the ramp. He said while Orton won last night that he forgot that he was a sore loser and went after all of the heels in the ring. Super Crazy and Jeff Hardy came down to bail him out.
Coach came out and announced that there would be a six pack challenge for the IC title right now. Nitro was livid.
****Commercial****
WWE Intercontinental Championship—Six Pack Challenge
Johnny Nitro v. Jeff Hardy v. Carlito v. Randy Orton v. Chris Masters v. Super Crazy
We came back to absolute mayhem in the ring. Orton kicked out of a Chris Masters cover attempt. Nitro and crazy went after each other on the outside while Orton asserted himself over Hardy on the inside, nearly getting a pin fall. Masters booted away at Carlito while Super Crazy nearly got a cover on the champion. Nitro tried to steal another one on Jeff Hardy with a roll up and yanking the tights. Orton and Masters double teamed Carlito in the corner while Super Crazy broke up the Nitro-Hardy affair. Hardy rolled up Super Crazy and nearly got the win. Masters took control of Carlito before Carlito began to fight back with some chops to the chest and a boot to the gut. Carlito hit what looked like his back elbow and almost got the pin fall.
Jeff Hardy in the meantime hit a nice front slam on the champion but his cover attempt was broken up. Orton hanged Hardy on the ropes before stomping away on his broken body. Super Crazy and Carlito fought over who would pin Nitro.
Action picked up once Carlito tossed himself over the top rope to hit a cross body block on Randy Orton. Crazy went for a wild move but was cut off by Johnny Nitro. Nitro went for a springboard move of his own, but all four competitors on the outside quickly moved out of the way and Nitro crashed and burned. Super Crazy popped in and hit a pretty moonsault to the floor, flooring everyone.
****Commercial****
Super Crazy broke up a pin attempt by Carlito as we came back. Orton hit a brutal powerslam on Johnny Nitro but again was thwarted by Super Crazy. Carlito worked over Nitro in the corner and flew off to cut off Orton with a cross body block and nearly got the pin fall. Carlito continued his assault on Nitro, hitting an inverted DDT. Orton broke up the pin fall attempt and drop kicked Carlito mid air to the outside of the ring.
Jeff Hardy cleaned out both Nitro and Orton before the two heels double teamed Hardy wit ha back body drop. Orton hit an RKO out of nowhere on Nitro before getting nailed with a Carlito back cracker. Masters took advantage and clamped on the master lock for just long enough to get smeared with a Super Crazy missile drop kick. Crazy went for the moon sault but was shoved off the top rope by Jeff Hardy who hit the Swanton Bomb on Orton. Nitro leapt to his feet, tossing Hardy to the outside and covering Orton for the win.
Winner and STILL Intercontinental Champion: Johnny Nitro
The Smackdown rebound aired.
****Commercial****
Another vignette aired for Cryme Tyme.
Coach said Edge and Cade & Murdoch would be coming in to extend their best wishes. Triple H and Shawn Michaels showed up rather suddenly. HBK said he was having Stockholm syndrome where he felt closer to his aggressors. Triple H said he was too. He said they put a video together about their time together.
A video aired recapping the feud between DX and Vince McMahon.
Triple H and HBK were ‘crying’ about how sad they were it was all over. They wrote a poem to explain their feelings:
Vince We know you’re angry you’re concern is valid. After all last night, you tossed big show’s salad. We beat you up you almost kicked the bucket. If you’re not down with that we’ve got just two words for ya, ‘suck it’. They spray painted DX on the camera and trotted off camera.
Candice Michelle made her way down to the ring for her match v. Lita which is next!
****Commercial****
Candice Michelle v. Lita
Lita shoved Candice and the two went at it. Lita clubbed away at the back of Candice. Lita pressed the advantage, spiking Candice’s face off the canvas. Lita choked Candice on the ropes before Candice came back with some forearms to the face. Candice caught Lita with a kick and a nice running lariat that sent the former champion to the outside.
Lita grabbed Candice’s leg and brought her to the outside slamming her into the ring apron twice. Back in the ring, Lita hit a snap mare and went for a cover. Lita hit some knees to the gut before hitting a nice vertical suplex into a cover attempt, which got a two count.
Lita clamped on a rear chin lock Candice fought out but was whipped back to the canvas by the hair. Lita hit a side Russian leg sweep that got her a two count. Lita continued the assault, slamming Candice into the corner and booted away at Candice’s mid section. She scored an Irish whip but Candice caught her with a back elbow and rolled her up for a two count.
Lita kicked out at two and socked the former Playboy Playmate right in the face. Lita taunted Candice before hitting a solid body slam. She scaled the ropes and went for the moon sault but Mickie James came out. The two exchanged words for a little while before Candice sneaked up on Lita and hit a power bomb off the top rope. Candice made the cover for the win.
Winner: Candice Michelle via pin fall
Lita was despondent in the middle of the ring.
Edge was shocked backstage that Lita lost. Cade and Murdoch said he needed to forget about. Murdoch said they beat the hell out of DX last week and said they weren’t in a hell in a cell this weekend. They said they were fresh and ready to knock em off. Edge psyched up the troops before heading out to the ring.
****Commercial****
Edge, Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch v. John Cena, Triple H & Shawn Michaels
All six began brawling immediately and DX and Cena expelled all the heels to the outside. Cade and Cena started things off and Cade went right to work on Cena hitting some clubbing blows to his back.
Cena fought back with some wild punches but got cut off. Cena was shot into the ropes and came off with a shoulder block and his patented inverted suplex. Cena hit the five knuckle shuffle but Cade popped up and nailed Cena as he went for the FU. HBK tagged in quickly before getting nailed with an inverted atomic block.
Murdoch tagged in and planted HBK with a big boot to the face. Murdoch tagged in Edge who floored HBK with a clothesline. Edge continued the assault, hitting a standing drop kick before tagging Murdoch back in. Murdoch hit some punches but HBK fought back with some chops. Murdoch mugged and taunted Michaels on the canvas before tagging in Cade.
Cade dropped an elbow before hitting a standing neck breaker. Edge tagged in soon thereafter and dropped some elbows before hitting a snap mare and clamping in a rear chin lock. HBK fought back with some chops but was cut off with yet another clothesline. Murdoch came in and hit a nice hatchet style blow to Michaels’ head and got a two count. Murdoch blocked HBK from getting the tag before ending up in the wrong corner of town and received a Triple H punch and a back body drop. Michaels caught Cade with a sweet chin music on the way in and crawled to get the tag.
Triple H tagged in and he and Edge went toe to toe. Triple H delivered some right hands to Edge, hit a high knee on Murdoch and a face buster on Edge. Triple H loaded Edge up for the pedigree but he got hit with a stiff lariat from Cade. Edge went to use a chair on the game but got nailed with a spine buster. HBK grabbed the chair and nailed Murdoch in the face but was caught by the referee for the DQ.
Winners: Edge, Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch
After the bell, Cade and Murdoch were cleaned out quickly. Edge got a sweet chin music from Michaels and a pedigree from Triple h. Cena celebrated with DX in the ring. Cena did a crotch chop round with DX as we went off the air. RAW THOUGHTSThe Good-- Hats off to Kane and Umaga, and believe it or not, WWE creative. Great feud so far. It’s been booked well and the matches haven’t been half bad either. A ways from good, but enjoyable enough and given entirely the right amount of time to progress.
The Six youngsters put on a fun exhibition tonight and made that IC title out to be important which is a step in the right direction. Nitro did alright for himself tonight as well.
Hats off to Candice Michelle as well who’s work has come light years in a short period of time. Not a lot of offence from her, but her selling was very solid tonight.
The opening segment was done very well and all in all, may have been the strongest one yet from Edge and Cena. They did a good job of turning the crowd against Edge and believe it or not, for Cena. Booking him with DX was good for the rub as well.
The Bad-- The main event tag match was certainly a let down. Very flat action, but in all fairness, these guys probably all wanted to pop some happy pills and hit the hay tonight.
We could have done without the well-wishing for the McMahons, which had little point other than to put over a feud that’s over, at least I hope so, for now.
The Ugly-- Nothing ‘ugly’ tonight either. Two in a row for WWE.
Overall B- - Overall, this was a pretty solid show for the most part. The Six Pack challenge was a nice showcase of the up and comers on the brand, etc. Kane-Umaga is shocking me in it’s quality. Never expected this from either guy. Cena-Edge looks like it’s headed for Cyber Sunday. Fair enough. I’ve actually enjoyed the feud since Summerslam and hopefully we get a loser leaves town match next. Nothing monumental occurred tonight in terms of story lines, but that’s to be expected a bit. Looks like Cyber Sunday will be geared more towards cleaning up loose ends than anything /*. The main event was a let down in a way, but given the beating four of the six took in the ring last night, it was to be expected.
Quick Results
Umaga def. Kane
Ric Flair def. Johnny
Johnny Nitro def. Jeff Hardy, Randy Orton, Super Crazy, Chris Masters, & Carlito
Candice Michelle def. Lita
Edge, Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch def. John Cena, Triple H & Shawn Michaels
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not?
Biggest pops
1. DX
2. Edge
3. Carlito
4. Kane
Most Heat
1. John Cena
2. Edge
3. Randy Orton
4. Johnny Nitro
Match of the night: Umaga v. Kane **
Power RankingsWWE Champion: John Cena (Last Week: 1)—Cena looked pretty solid tonight. The promo segment with Edge was arguably their best work together in a segment thus far in terms of working the crowd. Things are still up in the air though, as we really haven’t the slightest clue as to whether or not Cena’s got much to work with in the future. Looks like Edge one more time at Cyber Sunday, but that’s just a guess at this point.
Intercontinental Champion: Johnny Nitro (Last Week: Intercontinental Champion)—Nitro performed well tonight in the ring and improved in his stick work. Thing he needs to work on is to know when to say when speaking. He often goes too far in his promos in terms of content, not in an offensive way at all, but just in general gab. I’m glad WWE are giving him these segments though because he needs them.
1.Edge (Last Week: WWE Champion)—A great segment with Cena again but you can’t help but feel for this guy a bit. His work has been stellar all year and while he’s got two title wins to show for it, he’s yet to get that definitive win he needs to break that ceiling he seems oh so close to busting through.
2. Umaga (Last Week: 4)—Hats off. I’m officially converted. I had little confidence if any in this guy but he’s been great as of late and his feud with Kane has been done extremely well by big man standards. Let’s hope he keeps this up. I have a feeling if Cena gets through Edge at Cyber Sunday, that he may be the next man up for Cena for Survivor Series.
3. Randy Orton (Last Week: 3)—Solid on the mic and solid in the ring, but still seems to be heading nowhere. He’s high up and his win last night is cancelled out by taking the fall tonight. So no movement for right now.
4. Carlito (Last Week: 2)—Loses last night but like half the roster, seems a little (although expectedly) directionless. We’ll see what the coming weeks have in store for arguably the most over guy on the roster right now. Smart move by WWE in cooling down his push.
5. Kane (Last Week: 4)—Another solid week from Kane, who’s looked as good as he’s ever been in the last two or three years. Great feud with Umaga that’s still heating up yet. Neither guy has been booked to be stronger than the other. Good stuff.
6. Triple H (Last Week: 7)—I’ll bump him up a spot. I wasn’t wild about the HIAC last night, but a win is a win. We’re still waiting to see where they go with all this post-McMahons.
7. Shawn Michaels (Last Week: 8)—Admirably carried most of the bumping last night and played the babyface in peril tonight. Lumped with the Game, as lately, wherever Triple H goes, so does Shawn.
8. Jeff Hardy (Last Week: 5)—Took a loss last night despite a decent performance and tonight was a similar story. Two loses though drops him a good deal, but not entirely out of the IC title picture.
9.Ric Flair (Last Week: 10)—Flair picks up a win but more so than anyone on Raw these days, doesn’t seem to be heading anywhere.
10. Super Crazy (Last Week: 9)—Crazy has a few wins here and there, but overall cracks the top ten for his solid work in the ring since coming over to the Raw brand. I thought he was easily the best looking guy in the six pack challenge tonight.
Dropping Out: NONE)