On Monday, January 15, 2007 at 11:36 PM EST WWE RAW
January 15, 2007
Bossier City, LA
Commentators: Jim Ross & Jerry “The King” Lawler
Reported By: Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com
WWE Champion John Cena’s music hit and he came down to the ring. Jonathan Coachman was in the ring already with a table and two chairs set up. Coach introduced Umaga who came down to the ring with his manager, Armando Alejandro Estrada. Umaga got to the ring and tossed the chair aside wildly. Coach said he knew Cena wanted to get this over with, but he couldn’t allow that. He said their match at the Royal Rumble would be special. Estrada will get to choose the stipulation for the match.
Estrada said he was full of surprises. Estrada said Cena’s win was a fluke at New Year’s Revolution. In order to assure that it didn’t happen again, he was making the match a last man standing match. Estrada said there was no way Cena would win the match. Estrada signed on behalf of Umaga.
Cena took the contract and looked it over. He asked Estrada if he thought he was crazy enough to sign the contract. Cena said he was crazy enough to sign it and did. Cena said he, too, was full of surprises and jumped the table and went after Umaga. The action spilled to the outside and after a brief brawl, Cena murdered Umaga with a steel steps shot to the head before herding Estrada into the ring and FU-ing him through the table.
As Cena celebrated on the ramp, JR and King put over the 2 on 1 handicapped match between HBK and Rated RKO.
****Commercial****
Mixed Tag Team Match
Johnny Nitro & Melina v. Jeff Hardy & Maria
Nitro jumped on Hardy with some forearms to start the match before hitting his spinning leg drop. Hardy fought back with some punches and a kick to the gut. He went for a twist of fate before Nitro scurried away and tagged in Melina. Maria had to come in of course as well.
Maria gained the initial advantage, smashing Melina’s head into the buckles and hitting a running bulldog. She went for the cover but got nothing. Melina distracted the referee enough to allow Nitro to nail Maria in the back. Melina tied Maria up in the ropes and hit some stiff kicks to the back before cinching in a BRUTAL looking Camel Clutch. Melina broke the hold hitting some cross faces. Maria fought back briefly before getting caught with a side suplex, but Maria hit a hurricanranna to get out of it and a tag was made.
Nitro knocked Hardy to the mat but Jeff quickly rose up and hit some clotheslines an a flying forearm. Hardy hit an enzeguiri and followed it up with a whisper in the wind. Hardy went for the Swanton, but Melina came over to interfere. Maria cut her off but bought Nitro enough time to make a go at Hardy up top. Hardy knocked Nitro off hit perch and connected with the swanton bomb for the pin fall victory.
Winners: Jeff Hardy & Maria via pin fall
Coach was in the back with Vince. He said what happened with Cena wasn’t his fault. Vince got on the phone to call Donald Trump. The person on the other end made him spell his name. Vince obliged begrudgingly. Finally he got someone, but it wasn’t Trump. He asked them to tell Trump he called. He said it was a matter of ‘urgency’. He went to leave his number publicly before stopping. He said he was sure he’d call him back in a few minutes, he was probably just having coffee or something. Coach was chuckling on the couch.
****Commercial****
Rated RKO’s music hit and they came out to the ramp. DX’s ‘are you ready’ sounded before a heart monitor played and went flat. Orton asked the people if they thought that was DX. He said that was the sound of the death of DX. They played the sound again. He said the one reason he and Edge teamed up was to take out DX for good. He said tonight, they’d get the opportunity. He said tonight he and Edge will take on HBK 2 on 1. He said no one would be able to stop them from laying out DX for good.
Orton said Triple H couldn’t help them, because he was in a wheel chair. He said he got off easy compared to what would happen to HBK. Orton excused himself and went back stage to check on something. Edge said that is so happened that HBK’s TV debut happened here in Cajun Country. He said it was ironic that it would be the site of his final match. He said there were a lot of people in the back who wanted to do the right thing and check Shawn Michaels. Speaking of which, he said he needed to do the right thing and check on Randy Orton.
They re-emerged from backstage with Jim Duggan’s body. He was unconscious and bleeding from the mouth. They said Hacksaw was in the dressing room the night HBK made his debut and even gave him some advice. He said he knew HBK wasn’t here yet, and he wouldn’t get any ideas about getting someone to help him. He said in case anyone /* had any ideas, they should take a look at what they were going to do to Hacksaw. Edge nailed him with a conchairto. A horde of officials came from the back to aid Duggan while Orton and Edge waltzed off back stage.
****Commercial****
Ric Flair v. Kenny Dykstra
Flair rushed Kenny to the corner and hit some chops. He clocked the youngster with a big right to the face before flooring him with some more chops. Flair clamped on a headlock on the mat, and attempted to wear him down. Dykstra fought out and hit a drop kick to the knee.
Dykstra went to work on Flair’s leg before hitting a standing vertical suplex. He went for a pin fall, but Flair kicked out at 2. Dykstra went for the figure four and after a little bit of a fight, cinched in the hold. Flair reached the bottom rope and broke the hold. Kenny went for the hold again but got booted out of the ring by Flair.
Kenny dove back into the ring and was met with a right and two chops. Flair back body dropped his opponent and chopped him around in the corner some more. Kenny reversed an Irish whip but got overzealous and caught with a back elbow. Flair went to the top rope and after a little fight from Kenny, Came flying off with a flying axe handle. Kenny rolled Flair up and grabbed the ropes but the ref caught it. Flair reversed the hold and pulled the tights but Kenny kicked out. Kenny went for another roll up and again Flair countered it and got some feet on the ropes and pinned him.
Winner: Ric Flair via pin fall
****Commercial****
The Smackdown Rebound aired.
HBK has arrived in the building. Todd Grisham told him about Duggan. HBK said he only had one partner who was currently out for six months. He said he’d deal with them and he intended on doing it alone. Flair said he dealt with these guys in the past. He said he wouldn’t get in HBK’s business but he’d be out there to watch his back.
Vince was still waiting for Trump to call. Coach said it might be the batteries in his Cell Phone. Coach asked him why he needed to talk to him. Vince pulled out a letter allegedly from Trump. The letter said Trump felt ‘compelled’ to comment on the skit. He said it was poorly produced, inane, lame and quite frankly not up to his standards. It seems like his fans would rather watch in ring action then a poor attempt at comedic satire. He told him he wanted him to watch the Apprentice. Vince said he didn’t give a damn. He said if Trump wanted to see some compelling television, he’d give it to him.
****Commercial****
Vince McMahon’s music hit the arena and he came out to the ring.
He got on the mic and said that Trump wouldn’t come to the phone for him tonight. He said whatever it was, Trump claimed that fans would rather watch in ring action then a poor attempt at comedic satire. Vince showed a replay of the skit. He said it was brilliant. He said he required a little bit better response then that. So good in fact, he wanted to show everyone the skit in slow motion.
He said there were a lot of similarities and differences between the two. Vince said the biggest difference was he didn't ask the audience wanted, he told them what they want. He also added that we like it. He said Trump forgave Miss USA for her transgressions but he would have done it a little differently. He introduced Miss USA.
Miss USA was Torrie Wilson. She headed down to the ring. Vince cut the music. He said Miss USA wanted to tell him something. She took out a piece of paper and said that she had been a very bad girl. She asked what she could do to make it up to him, America’s favorite billionaire. Vince liked the sound of that. He also liked the sound of how she could make it up to him. Vince started to get a little naughty in the voice before Carlito’s music hit and he came down to the ring.
Vince asked him what he was doing. Carlito said he knew Vince was the boss and he was taking a risk coming out here, but despite what he might think, he wasn’t cool. He said the thing with Rosie and Trump last week ‘sucked’. He said this week that the stuff he was doing with Torrie was brutal. He said he didn’t know what these people want. He said they didn’t want to see stupid skits and they didn’t want to see him talk. He said they wanted to see people fight.
Vince said if they wanted people to fight, then they could fight. Vince said if he wanted to fight, that he could fight ‘this guy’. The Great Khali’s music hit and he came down to the ring.
Carlito ran at Khali before eating a Khali head butt. He came at Khali with some kicks but Khali decked him again and sent him to the mat. Carlito went for his spring board elbow but Khali knocked him out of mid air. Khali stomped away on Carlito on the mat before picking him up by the hair and slammed him hard to the mat. He posed over Carlito and walked off to the back.
Vince said that was ‘cool’. His music hit and that’s all she wrote.
****Commercial****
WWE Women’s Championship
Mickie James v. Victoria
The two circled up and locked horns. Victoria took her down by the hair before hitting a boot to the gut. She missed a whip follow up and got yanked down by the hair twice. Mickie sling shotted the challenger into the ring but then was met with a big boot to the face that sent her reeling to the outside. Victoria hit a baseball slide drop kick before gathering the champion and tossing her back into the ring.
Victoria pressed her advantage, tossing the champ like a rag doll across the ring before standing on her hair. Mickie went for a roll up but Victoria kicked out. Victoria clamped on a leg lock but was eventually booted off by James. Mickie hit a series of clotheslines before getting whipped into the corner. James caught Victoria with a back elbow and hit a tornado DDT off the ropes but only managed a two count on the cover attempt. Victoria mounted a comeback, hitting a tilt a whirl side slam and almost scoring the pin fall. Mickie ducked under a lariat attempt and cold cocked the challenger with a crescent kick to the face. One cover later, James was the winner.
Winner and STILL Women’s Champion: Mickie James
They played a replay of the Umaga-Cena incident from earlier tonight.
****Commercial****
Chris Masters was in the ring when we got back. He said it was Royal Rumble time. He said in two weeks, thirty men would be looking to earn the main event slot at Wrestlemania. He said he would be the winner. He said no one could break the Master Lock. He said what he had right here, was a signed document that said the Masterlock was never broken in Iraq when JBL interfered. With that being said, he challenged someone to a Master Lock challenge.
A Big “Damn” hit the arena and Ron Simmons came out to the ring. Masters said he wasn’t really referring to him, so if there was anyone in the back, they should step up. Simmons decked him in the face. Awesome. Simmons begged for the hold.
Masters locked in the hold and here we go. Simmons flailed around a little bit and began to fade. Simmons faded but then snapped to and was still kickin’. Super Crazy popped up out of nowhere and drop kicked Masters, breaking the hold. I guess Simmons has broken the Master Lock. Simmons climbed back in the ring over the fallen Masters and gave us a MLK-Edition of “Damn!”.
****Commercial****
HBK and WWE officials were tending to Ric Flair, who’s been knocked out.
JTG v. Shelton Benjamin
The two locked up and Benjamin grabbed a go behind before hitting a stiff clothesline. JTG ducked under a second attempt and hit a flying cross body but was kicked off. Shelton caught a nasty looking shoulder breaker on the newcomer, before laying the boots to him on the mat. Benjamin grabbed an arm bar take down and pounced on JTG’s body and clamped in a hammer lock.
Benjamin shoved JTG into the buckles and laid some more feet on his face in the corner. JTG fought back and whipped Benjamin, and hit a reverse elbow and drop kick. JTG went for a crucifix and Shelton attempted a Samoan drop but JTG wiggled out only to get killed with a big boot. Shaad undid the buckle in the corner.
Haas went to put the buckle back but that distracted the ref. Shelton went for a power bomb looking thing but Shad tripped him up, allowing JTG to score the victory with a roll up.
Winner: JTG via pin fall
Grisham said Ric Flair had been carted off by an ambulance. HBK interrupted and said if it was the end of DX, he was going to take everyone down with him before super kicking Grisham in the face.
****Commercial****
A video covering Triple H’s quad surgery aired.
Ha! Edge asked New Orleans if they were ready! The Orton did the ‘suck it’ thing. He had two words for us. He wanted the DX signs confiscated and brought to the ring via the order of Vince McMahon. Orton and Edge began tearing the signs apart. That’s awesome.
****Commercial****
2 on 1 Handicapped Match
Rated RKO v. Shawn Michaels
HBK came running into the ring and lay a beat down on both and expelled Edge from the ring. He back body dropped Orton before clotheslining him over the top rope and to the floor. He quickly pounced on Edge on the outside and tossed him back into the ring.
HBK landed a super stiff chop to Edge in the corner. He followed it up and laid the boots to Edge. HBK whipped Edge to the buckles but got caught with a shot to the jaw. HBK rebounded off the ropes and came back with a swinging neck breaker, desperately trying to keep the upper hand. Edge fought back however with a chop and tagged in Randy Orton.
Orton punched HBK into the ropes and whipped him only to miss a sit out drop kick. HBK mounted him and began to flail away on the Legend Killer. HBK landed a chop in one corner and Orton stumbled to the other. HBK went for a move off the ropes, but Edge grabbed the top rope and HBK clattered to the floor.
Edge killed HBK with a lariat on the outside before dumping him back into the ring. Edge tagged in and worked over Michaels in the corner. HBK desperately tried to fight out but Orton held him down while Edge distracted the referee. Edge resumed his beat down and left HBK a mess in the corner, bleeding everywhere.
Edge stomped him once and tagged in Orton. Orton clotheslined him three times and went for a cover but only got a one count. Orton hit his inverted back breaker and again went for a cover, and again HBK kicked out.
Edge tagged in and laid some more fists down on HBK’s head before tagging Orton back in in short order. Orton jaw jacked with the crowd and landed some more punches before HBK began to fight back. Michaels hit some chops in the corner but got whipped upside down in the corner, but on the rebound came out with a clothesline.
Orton tagged in Edge who quickly came in and lined HBK up for a spear but HBK dodged him and he crashed into Orton’s mid section knocking him to the floor. Michaels exchanged some chops with Edge before hitting his flying forearm. HBK nipped up and went into his victory sequence. He mounted the top rope and went for the flying elbow drop and connected. HBK rose to his feet and began to tune up the band. Orton came in illegally but HBK cut him off. He rose from tackling Orton only to get speared out of his boots by the legal man, Edge, leaving all three men down.
Edge gathered some steel folding chairs from the outside to set up a con hair to. The referee called for the bell ending the match.
Winner: HBK via DQ
Edge went for the con chairto but Edge booted the chair off his face. He hit a drop toe hold on Orton who crashed into the chair. He hit a low blow on Edge and then repeated it on Orton. He rolled out of the ring grabbed a sledge hammer. He snuck up on Edge and planted him with it in the gut. Michaels lined up Orton and plastered him in the face with the hammer.
HBK placed the chair on the mat and set up a con chair to. Edge tried to intervene but rolled out of dodge. HBK pointed at Edge as HBK killed Orton with a brutal conchairto. Michaels stood over Orton’s motionless body as Edge was beside himself on the ramp. RAW THOUGHTSThe Good-- Masters, despite coming out on the losing end of his segment tonight, was freaking great. He’s REALLY coming into his own and while the package has a long way to go in the ring, he’s an absolutely awesome heel right now. The letter was freaking priceless. Masters, IMO, is probably the next Intercontiental Champion. He deserves it.
Maria continues to impress me with the way she’s improving. I’d almost say she carried the brunt on the match tonight, bringing almost all the energy to it. She’s got a long, long ways to go in the ring yet, but I love her act right now. Nice to see a Diva really making an effort to improve. Hats off to her in a big, big way.
Flair-Kenny ended so appropriately tonight with Flair cheating to get the win and finally teaching the cocky youngster a lesson. I dug this mini-feud. Kenny worked it very well and continuing work with guys like Flair can only benefit him. He got the rub, Flair was protected, perfect.
The Bad-- I can’t say much other than the fact that I feel terrible for Edge and Orton, who’ve been squashed silly throughout their feud with DX, both now getting whooped up on by one man. I don’t understand the sense in it to be honest.
If Rated RKO had won tonight, they’d have really gained some serious momentum for not one, but two guys. HBK wouldn’t have lost a single shred of credibility as having him put up a hell of a fight only to get caught in the end would have made him look pretty damn strong, despite taking a loss. If Michaels is getting a push to face Cena at Mania, that’s one thing but even at that, there’s more than enough time to have him go over both Edge and Orton individually in the future to regain that momentum. It makes no sense whatsoever for him to be booked to be as strong as he did last night.
Frankly, other than each other, I haven’t the slightest clue as to what they will and should do with Edge and Orton in the future. I DON’T want to see a feud between the two, as they’re both horrendously bad faces and turning either one would be a serious mistake. I’m completely baffled by WWE’s decision here.
The Ugly-- The Vince self-love is out of control. When Carlito came out to do his Schick with McMahon, I felt as if it would have a good outcome, but alas, we get more Khali, who’s flat out useless.
Overall- D+ --- I can’t really give this Raw too much credit. The DX bit just left too sour of a taste in my mouth as it was built perfectly all night for a Rated RKO win only to make two of their top, well, correction, THE top two heels on the show get run over. The Vince stuff continues which doesn’t do much for me either. Umaga-Cena got a little build tonight which was nice and at least WWE bothered to mention their third biggest show of the year tonight. Signs of major improvement from Masters and Maria give the show some redeeming value however.
Quick Results
Jeff Hardy & Maria def. Johnny Nitro & Melina
Ric Flair def. Kenny Dykstra
Mickie James def. Victoria
JTG def. Shelton Benjamin
HBK def. Rated RKO
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not?
Biggest pops
1. John Cena
2. Shawn Michaels
3. Carlito
4. Ric Flair
Most Heat
1. Rated RKO
2. Chris Masters
3. Umaga
4. The Great Khali
Match of the night: Ric Flair-Kenny **
Power Rankings5 Points= Title Win
4 Points= Title defense
3 Points= Singles PPV Win
2 Points= Tag PPV Win
2 Points= TV Singles Win
1 Point= TV Tag Win
0 Points= Loss
I figured that’d be the most fair way to do it. Again, I won’t entirely be ranking guys based on their points, but it’ll give us an idea of how WWE is pushing their guys and how they view their own stars over time. More of an ‘interesting to see ‘ type thing than anything super official.
WWE Champion: John Cena (1-3, 4 points) (Last Week: WWE Champion)—I thought Cena looking strong tonight was a good call. They’ve got to make it look like he’s got some sort of chance to win, so that when he does, it doesn’t squash Umaga’s momentum. I really liked their NYR match upon a lot of further review and am looking forward to the title match at the Rumble.
Intercontinental Champion: Jeff Hardy (4-0, 11 points.) (Last Week: IC Champion)—Hardy’s still yet to lose a match and has the most match-based momentum of anyone on the card right now. I can’t help but feel like they’re keeping him strong to do a title switch though.
1. Umaga (1-1, 1 Point.) (Last Week: 1)—Umaga came out on the short end of the stick, but still, he’s the number one contender and despite the slight cold streak he’s on of late, I can’t rationalize moving him down quite yet.
2. HBK 1-1, 1 pt. (Last Week: 4))—Completely squashes the two top heels on the brand right now. Is there really any question at this point that he’s a runaway #2?
3. Edge 1-1, 4pts. (Last Week: 3)—Since Edge dominated his segments of the match, I’ll keep him ahead of Orton. Nothing really to speak of other than being a glorified squash-monkey for HBK.
4. Randy Orton (1-1 , 4 pts.) ( (Last Week: 2—Orton was the guy who was clearly the most to gain from this feud and ended up with the least again. I think it’s pretty much obvious WWE doesn’t see him as a top flight guy anymore. He’s one more squash from being mid card for life.
5. Chris Masters 2-1, 5 pts. (Last Week: 6)—Masters, after a very long hiatus, finally breaks the top five. I’d rank him at #3 if he had more quality wins at this point too. Alas, having Ron Simmons get the best of you doesn’t really help.
6. The Great Khali 1-0, 1pt. ( (Last Week: 9)—Flair did get a win this week, but Khali is being booked to be obviously stronger. Seeing as he’s the only one who’s consistently being put over to look strong in the mid card, I’ll put him at #6..
7. Ric Flair, 1-2, 2 pts. (Last Week: NR_ —Stops the cold streak v. Kenny and ends the feud. Seeing as he’s the only one in the bottom five that won a match, he gets the bump. .
8. Carlito (1-2, 2 Points) (Last Week 8)—Looked great in the Vince segment tonight but then got murdered by Khali. Dykstra lost, Carlito didn’t, so I suppose I’ll keep him here for now, although his character is in some serious need of direction.
9. Kenny Dykstra (2-2, 4 Points) (Last Week: 7) (Last Week: NR)— Dykstra wins some battles but loses the war. He’s still got a tremendous upside. This fall will be temporary.
10. Johnny Nitro (1-2, 1 point) (Last Week: 10)— Nitro can’t buy a single’s win these days. Thanks to Triple H’s injury, he sticks around, but by the skin of his teeth.
Dropping Out : Triple H (0-1, 0 pts.) (Last Week: 5)