On Monday, March 19, 2007 at 11:36 PM EST WWE RAW
March 19, 2007
Indianapolis, IN
Commentators: Jim Ross & Jerry “The King” Lawler
Reported By: Hunter Golden of =WrestleView.com
Shawn Michaels v. JBL
JBL said he had just flown in from Wall Street in New York City. He said he was told he had a match with Shawn Michaels. JBL said someone didn’t get the memo. He said nobody, anybody tells JBL what to do and when to do it. He said no one told him when to come out of retirement and when and if he comes out of retirement, it’ll be in New York City, not in front of these Indiana bumpkins. JBL said the match was not going to happen. He said it wasn’t like HBK didn’t have enough problems. He said he didn’t need to worry about JBL kicking his butt tonight, that he’s going to be getting his butt kicked by John Cena at Wrestlemania. He said HBK had opportunity after opportunity to kick Cena’s head into the upper deck. JBL said he was the most egotistical prick he had ever met. He said he was also the showstopper and that he played mind games so well, that he had men beat before they got into the ring. He said this time though, HBK looked into the mirror and knew deep down he couldn’t beat John Cena.
JBL said he never took the shot and had Everest right in front of him and he wouldn’t climb it. JBL ran down him for being religious and being a ‘good man’. JBL said if he wasn’t in retirement right now, he’d beat his ass right now because he made him sick.
HBK grabbed the mic and said he didn’t know this was going to be a verbal spat. HBK said he came here tonight to fight. He said having said that, he had thrown a lot of accusations his way so he was going to counter. He said he earned all the accolades in his career and as far as mind games were concerned, maybe no mind games is the greatest mind game of them all. He said he can and will defeat John Cena at Wrestlemania for the WWE title. He said they could agree on one thing that they had one thing in common. He said like JBL, no one tells him what to do and when to deliver sweet chin music, he just does it whenever he feels like it. He said one thing he could tell JBL and everyone in the building… HBK super kicked JBL’s head off.
****Commercial****
Edge was in the back before Orton showed up and said he sold him out on ECW last week. Orton said he was left high and dry. Edge had a sip of coffee and Edge told him to calm down. Orton said Mr. McMahon said that Edge cost Rated RKO the opportunity to do something to Bobby Lashley. Therefore he lifted his spot in the money in the bank match and put it up for grabs in a money in the bank ladder match. Edge was beside himself.
Master Lock Challenge
JR and King put over the Master Lock challenge and talked about how no one’s broken it in two years.
Looks like ECW Champion Bobby Lashley will be giving things a go tonight.
Masters slapped Lashley out of frustration in not being able to get around Lashley’s shoulders. After a little scuffle, the two settled down and Masters put the hold on. Lashley kept on fighting, probably got a good three or four minutes. Lashley began to fade before tanking out of the hold like nothing.
Bobby Lashley is the first man to break out of the hold in the competition’s history.
Lashley celebrated with the crowd while we went to commercial.
****Commercial****
A video put over Ashley’s playboy shoot.
Lashley was in the back and came across Vince and a plethora of security guards. McMahon said Umaga would break him at Mania like Lashley broke the Maser lock. Vince said security would now escort him out of the arena and to the parking lot. Lashley looked at Vince and smiled at him. Maria was also hanging around the back and Vince commented on her earrings. Eugene showed up out of nowhere and accidentally spilled coffee on Vince. McMahon said he made a boo boo but that was okay, because he had a match later tonight. Eugene eagerly ran off to get ready. Vince told Coach to get Umaga. Ron Simmons showed up and looked at the spill on McMahon’s tie and gave us the weekly ‘damn’.
A video tribute to Arnold Skaaland aired.
****Commercial****
Last Chance Battle Royal—Final Spot in the Money in the Bank Match
Carlito v. Ric Flair v. Edge v. Shelton Benjamin v. Johnny Nitro v. Viscera v. Charlie Haas v. Super Crazy
Order of Elimination:
1. Viscera (Everyone)
2. Super Crazy (The World’s Greatest Tag Team)
****Commercial****
3. Val Venis (Johnny Nitro)
4. Charlie Haas (Carlito)
5. Shelton Benjamin (Ric Flair)
6. Kenny Dykstra (Ric Flair)
7. Johnny Nitro (Carlito)
8. Carlito (Ric Flair)
9. Ric Flair (Edge)
The Final two were Carlito and Flair with Edge on the outside tending to a knee injury. Carlito hit his springboard back elbow and then a knee to the face. Flair got clotheslined over the apron and was able to stay on the apron. A thumb to the eye won him the advantage. Flair whipped Carlito to the buckles and Carlito dodged the follow up and tried to eliminate Flair with a hurricanranna. Carlito charged at Flair and Flair ducked sending Carlito sailing over the top rope.
Flair thought he had won the match before Edge charged back into the ring and dumped him to the outside.
Winner: Edge
JR and King put over the new movie “The Condemned” starring Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Mr. McMahon’s music aired and they came out to the ramp with a host of security guards. They took the barber’s chair and brought them to the ring.
****Commercial****
Vince McMahon boasted a bit about the Battle of the Billionaires before introducing us all to Umaga.
Umaga (w/Armando Alejandro Estrada) v. Eugene
Umaga jumped Eugene before the bell and tossed him to the outside of the ring. Umaga followed him to the outside and tossed him into the ring steps before rolling him back into the ring. Umaga stomped on Eugene’s mid section a little bit before coming down hard on Eugene’s chest.
Umaga sat out on Eugene’s chest some more before mauling him in the corner. Umaga hit his running back side to the face, leaving Eugene awash in the middle of the ring. Umaga gathered Eugene and nailed him with the Samoan Spike for the win.
Winner: Umaga via pin fall
After the match, Umaga dragged Eugene to the outside of the ramp and hit him with a spike. They sat Eugene in the barber’s chair and whipped out the clippers. Umaga choked Eugene out and McMahon shaved his head. McMahon ran his mouth some more and gave Eugene a billionaire bitch slap before Umaga launched Eugene in the barber’s chair across the arena floor.
****Commercial****
Candice came out to the ring and said she had been reading Melina’s blogs on WWE.com and said she had something to say about Playboy cover girls not being able to compete with her. Candice called out Melina and here we go.
Melina came out to the ramp and Melina said the only reason Candice still has a job at WWE is because she can take off her clothes. She said the Playboy girls didn’t have any talent at all. She said she could prove it right now. She said Playboy had begged her month after month to do the magazine and Melina said she’s been turning them down.
Candice said she didn’t think Melina turned much of anything down and that Melina spent a lot of time beneath a lot of the men. Candice told her to forget about the title, they were on for a bra and panties match right now!
****Commercial****
Bra & Panties Match
Candice Michelle v. Melina
We came back from commercial with the match in progress. Melina hit a whip and Candice blocked the follow up attempt. Candice did her upside down hang thing and yanked off Melina’s pants. Melina regained her bearings and drop kicked Candice to the outside before putting the boots to her and tossing her back into the ring. Melina got the top off before getting caught in a leg scissors and nearly getting her own top yanked off. Melina hit a DDT enabling her to take off Candice’s bottoms.
Winner: Melina
Ashley’s music hit and she came down to the ring. After a little trash talking, Ashley yanked off Melina’s shirt causing Melina to fly the coop in embarrassment. Ashley celebrated in the ring before the Great Khali’s music hit. Melina jumped Ashley from behind leaving her as easy prey for Khali.
Khali grabbed her by the throat but King came running from the announce table to save the day. Khali picked him up like a baby and choke slammed him to the mat. King looked like someone shot him in the head.
Jeff Hardy v. Randy Orton is next!
****Commercial****
Randy Orton v. Jeff Hardy
The two locked horns and Orton quickly backed Hardy into the corner. Orton missed a punch and Hardy arm dragged him to the mat and slapped on an arm bar. Orton tossed him off with a whip but Hardy countered back with two more arm drags and then right back to the arm bar.
Orton pushed Hardy back into the ropes and hit some punches and his inverted back breaker to gain the advantage. Orton whipped through the Garvin stomp and went for a cover but only got a two count. Orton rolled Hardy over into a Boston Crab and sat down to put on some pressure. Hardy reached the ropes and Orton milked the five count.
Hardy fought back with some punches before Orton hit a kick to the gut and came looking for a clothesline but Hardy sidestepped and hit a clothesline. Hardy followed up with two more clotheslines and a cork screw mule kick before going for a cover. Hardy came off the ropes with whisper in the wind.
Edge came running down to ringside and distracted the proceedings. He threw a ladder into the ring that Orton used quickly to get himself disqualified.
Winner: Jeff Hardy via DQ
After the match Orton goaded Edge to come in the ring. Hardy snuck up on him with the ladder and cracked him in the ribs with it. Hardy climbed the ladder and came flying off with a flying leg drop. Edge watched with approval from the ramp.
****Commercial****
The preview for WWE Films newest movie “The Condemned” aired for the first time.
JR and Todd Grisham ran down the Wrestlemania 23 crowd. Vince was on the phone with someone and said that next week, Bobby Lashley would be taking on Vince next week. Coach said he couldn’t condone Vince stepping into the ring with him. Vince said not only would he win, he guaranteed a win.
The DX music hit and HBK came down the ramp. Looks like he’ll be watching the Cena-Benoit match.
****Commercial****
Eugene was in the back mortified about his shaved head.
John Cena v. Chris Benoit
The two circled it up and Cena and Benoit jostled all over the ring. The two traded some stiff shots before Benoit hit some vicious elbows and head butts to Cena’s face. Cena retreated quickly before Cena got his head slammed into the announce table.
Benoit was ALL OVER Cena before tossing him back into the ring and suplexed him. Benoit slammed Cena’s head into the buckles before chopping at him some more. Benoit picked Cena up and dropped him down to the mat with a back suplex before coming across his back with an elbow and looking for a cover.
Benoit hammered Cena in the corner with chops before whipping him to the buckles. Benoit charged the champ but ate a boot to the face. Cena fired back with some clubbing blows. Cena whipped Benoit to the opposite buckles but got caught himself on his way in. Benoit hit a dragon screw and slapped on the sharpshooter. Cena looked like someone stuck a hockey stick up his butt sideways. Cena nearly got to the ropes before Benoit dragged him to the center of the ring.
Cena eventually got to the ropes but Benoit still was on him like white on rice. Benoit exchanged a few blows with Cena before uncorking the three German suplexes on the younger WWE Champion. Benoit looked to the crowd and went to the top rope, looking for the flying head butt. Cena narrowly avoided the move, leaving both men laying in the middle of the ring.
Cena ducked under a clothesline and got hit with a forearm to the face and the inverted suplex. Cena connected with the five-knuckle shuffle and went for the FU. Benoit countered out and went for the cross face. Benoit cinched it in slightly before Cena countered it into the STFU and made Benoit tap.
Winner: John Cena via submission
HBK jumped into the ring right off the bat and went for Sweet Chin Music. Cena turned around just in time to see HBK looking for the kick. HBK smiled and pointed to his eyes, telling him he had his eyes on Cena. The two talked a bit before HBK offered his hand. Cena picked up HBK and went for the FU but then put HBK down and pointed to his eyes, letting him know he had his eyes on him as well.
JBL came out to the ramp and interrupted the proceedings. He said Cena and HBK better figure out a way to get along one more week, because they’d be facing The Undertaker & Batista next week in a tag team match.RAW THOUGHTSShow Thoughts-- This was a pretty decent Raw all around with A LOT happening. Eugene got his head shaved, the Master lock was broken, JBL got super kicked, Benoit tapped out, Khali squashed King, Edge lost and then summarily re-won his spot in MITB, then turned for the most part on Randy Orton, costing him a match to Jeff Hardy. McMahon also announced a No Way Out rematch for next week on Raw all while challenging Bobby Lashley to a match. Whew.
Since I really am quite tired tonight I’m not going to go into most things too in depth, but rather just highlight some rather random thoughts from the show.
First off, I hope to god we get to see Cena-Benoit go again in the future. For a short match, it ruled. Every second of it. It’s probably one of the better TV stretches of work that I’ve seen this year.
They took the first step to the ‘snap’ tonight, with Cena and HBK both feigning their finishers. Nice little touch. The entire feud’s been done beautifully.
Eugene gets his head shaved and it’s perfect. First, they can take him off the air and hopefully repackage the guy. Second, he’s the PERFECT guy for a monster to pick on. Well done segment. Khali’s segment was also done well in the pick on someone department. Great way to draw a little heat.
I don’t want to sound too alarmist, but I just feel bad that the Master lock challenge was wasted on Bobby Lashley. It’s not so much that it got broke. The reason it existed to begin with was for it to eventually NOT exist. But it’s the kind of thing you use as either a catalyst for a feud or to bring back a guy whose been long a while. Lashley popped the thing like it was nothing and then no sold it. That’s the big thing they’ve got to start working on with that kid, and that’s selling a beating. Long term selling doesn’t click at all with the big man. Regardless, I’m sure they’ll go with the whole ‘wasn’t broken for nearly 2 years’ thing, thus not doing much damage to Masters, but really, its wasting an ace in the sleeve rather meaninglessly.
Overall- B- -- My only real issue with this show is that I felt like it was kind of overload. For example: Vince confronts Lashley, Lashley leaves, Vince talks to Maria, then gets water spilled on him by Eugene, whom he rakes over the coals, only for Ron Simmons to show up and say “Damn!”. They over booked the show a bit much. It was fun, but I felt like they were really running through the show. Especially that Orton-Hardy match where it seemed like the two flew through their move sets as fast as they could and then called it a day. A little over the top in the booking department, but all in all a pretty good show.
Quick Results
Edge won a Last Chance Battle Royal
Umaga def. Eugene
Melina def. Candice
Jeff Hardy def. Randy Orton
John Cena def. Chris Benoit
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not?
Biggest Pops
1. Shawn Michaels
2. John Cena
3. Chris Benoit
4. Jeff Hardy
Most Heat
1. Mr. McMahon
2. JBL
3. Edge
4. Umaga
Match of the night John Cena v. Chris Benoit ***1/4
Power Rankings5 Points= Title Win
4 Points= World Title defense/win
3 Points= Singles PPV Win
2 Points= Tag PPV Win
2 Points= TV Singles Win
1 Point= TV Tag Win
0 Points= Loss
WWE Champion: John Cena (11-3, 25 points) (Last Week: WWE Champion)—Very cool short match with Benoit tonight. Nothing was overdone and I totally bought the whole ending and everything. Great little match. The tension with HBK continues to build.
Intercontinental Champion: Umaga 6-2, 15 Points (Last Week: IC Champion) — Decent squash match and a well done segment. Eugene was the perfect guy to pick on.
1. HBK 8-2, 15 points (Last Week: 1)— For the most part, another week of light work from HBK. They took that next step, making it look like both were going to go after each other tonight for real. I loved it. And HBK on commentary is something we need more of.
2. The Great Khali, 5-0-1, 9pts. (Last Week: 2 )— Again, nothing exactly heart stopping, but a well-booked segment with a monster heel picking on the clearly defenseless Ashley and King. Well done.
3. Jeff Hardy (10-3-1, 23 points.) (Last Week: 3 )— WWE keep booking Hardy strong. There’s really no reason to take him out of this slot.
4. Edge 4-5, 10pts. (Last Week: 4) — Sorry to be boring, but Edge really isn’t really on the move either. The accelerated hatred of Randy Orton seems to be building though. I’m utterly stunned WWE hasn’t dropped the ball with this feud yet.
5. Randy Orton 2-8 , 6 pts. (Last Week: 5)-- Like I said in the quick assessment of Jeff Hardy, I was a little surprised Orton didn’t go over but I don’t think it really hurt him in any measurable way. He’s just got a long ways to go to turn the ship around. A win in Money in the Bank or a program win over Edge would do wonders for him.
6. Ric Flair, 3-4-1, 5pts. (Last Week: 7)— Flair gets the slight bump tonight, but still hasn’t managed to really do anything that would cement himself a spot in the top 10. This respect thing from Carlito is cute and all but seems like it’s leading nowhere at the moment.
7. Carlito 4-6-1, 7pts. (Last Week: 6)—Gets bumped down despite a decent performance in the battle royal tonight. Flair dumping him and for the most part defeating him over the past couple of weeks keeps him a notch below.
8. Chris Masters, 3-4, 6 pts. (Last Week: 8) — I felt bad for Masters tonight. There was really no reason to dump the Master lock challenge tonight to Bobby Lashley, but what’s done is done. Hopefully they start actually doing something with him. Slow and steady wins the race I suppose.
9. Super Crazy 3-3-1, 5 points (Last Week: 9) )— Crazy got a lot of attention in the battle royal only to be eliminated rather early. Regardless, seems to be staying in a fairly sound spot in the mid card.
10. Johnny Nitro, (2-6-1, 2pts ) (last week: 10) — As has been the case this year, had an otherwise meaningless night, getting dumped from the MITB battle royal pretty quickly.
OTHERS : Kenny Dykstra 3-5, 6pts. (Last Week: NR)