On Tuesday, May 1, 2007 at 12:15 AM EST WWE RAW
April 30, 2007
Nashville, TN
Commentators: Jim Ross & Jerry “The King” Lawler
Reported By: Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com
***Special Note***
I had some technical difficulties tonight kids, so I essentially lost the first 30 minutes of the show. The rest of the show is recapped in full. For those of you who missed it, here’s what happened in short:
-- McMahon, Cena and HBK cut an incredible promo. McMahon tried to out-rap John Cena before Michaels showed up and said to both that sometimes it was better to be lucky than good. He and Cena stared each other down before McMahon decided to go with a match between the two tonight. If Michaels defeated Cena, he’d get another crack at the belt. McMahon even said he’d come after the WWE title someday. That was before he said ‘peace out my brothers’. McMahon is nuts again and this time I actually love it. Long live the champ.
--Edge def. Randy Orton with a spear in a good match that started a little slow, but picked up in a big way.
--Cena-HBK III was plugged for later tonight.
--Rob Van Dam cut a promo about how disappointed he was that Vince McMahon was the ECW World Champion.
--McMahon and product of his semen Shane cut a promo about how annoying RVD was. They decided to have him face Umaga later tonight.
--Maria interviewed Edge who said he was fuming that HBK was getting the shot and not him, so he’d forcefully ‘insert himself’ (kinda weird) into the WWE title picture.
--Jeff Hardy defeated Johnny Nitro. Cade & Murdoch were on commentary and were putting over how they enjoyed the competition from the Hardy’s and generally speaking, were being very baby-face-ish. They went to shake Hardy’s hand after the match and Hardy refused.
And now the rest of the show….
Jim Ross put over Vince McMahon’s ECW world Championship victory from last night.
Shane McMahon’s music hit and danced his way down to the ring. Shane said it was his privilege to introduce to us the man responsible for helping his father win the ECW World title last night, the Samoan Bulldozer Umaga.
RVD made his entrance and the match gets under way over the break.
****Commercial****
Umaga v. Rob Van Dam
We came back to some pretty intense action. Van Dam came sailing off the top rope at Umaga who was near the security wall, but Van Dam managed to crash and burn. Umaga zeroed in on RVD and rolled him into the ring and dropped a nasty looking leg drop. Umaga hit a kick and a few clubbing blows on the thoroughly helpless Van Dam.
Van Dam fought his way out of the corner but quickly found himself snagged in the Samoan drop and planted through the mat. Van Dam tried to fight back and even attempted a body slam, but Umaga was far too big and crashed down across RVD’s chest. Umaga whipped Van Dam but Rob managed to avoid the move and jump on Umaga’s back with a sleeper hold.
Umaga sort of ‘hulked up’ and rammed Van Dam into the corners repeatedly, but Van Dam wouldn’t let go. Eventually, Umaga dumped Van Dam over his shoulder and up over the top rope to the floor. Umaga went to follow Van Dam but Rob somehow was able to piggy back Umaga again. Umaga looked for a few different ways to knock Van Dam off his back until he spotted the ring steps and just decided to ram Van Dam and himself into the steps in a pretty cool spot.
Both men made it into the ring just in the nick of time before Umaga regained the initiative and began pummeling Van Dam in the corner. Umaga got a happy look on his face before going for the running a$$ to the face, but RVD ducked out of the way just in time. RVD hit a quick kick to the face and went for a sunset flip but Umaga went for a sit out. RVD avoided the sit out and hit a rolling wheel kick and rolling thunder before ducking under a clothesline attempt and hitting a spinning back kick to the face. Van Dam went to the top rope and hit a kick to the face before hitting a second rolling thunder. Van Dam went for a cover but Umaga easily kicked out.
Umaga bullied Van Dam into the corner and went for a splash, but Van Dam avoided it and hit a drop kick. Van Dam smelt the blood and went to the top and delivered the five star frog splash but NO! Umaga caught him by the throat! Umaga raised Van Dam to his feet and gave him a grizzly spike to the throat. Three seconds later, it’s all over.
Winner: Umaga via pin fall
After the match Shane and Umaga went to the top of the ramp where Vince McMahon and his belt met them to celebrate.
JR and King put over last week’s Cena-Michaels match. Tonight, we’re seeing it again and it’s next.
****Commercial****
Carlito came in to talk to Ric Flair in the back. He told Flair he was sorry for last week and that he took his frustration out on the wrong guy. He said he booked a match tonight for the two against the World’s Greatest Tag Team. Flair said all he needed to hear was that Carlito was sorry and that he only had one more chance to prove to him he was a winner. Flair walked off and Torrie asked Carlito if the match tonight was a good idea.
Shawn Michael’s music hit but no one came out to the ramp. After about 30 seconds of now showing, we see Michaels in the back, slumped down with blood coming out of his head and EMT’s looking at him. Swerve. Yay.
****Commercial****
The back was in chaos. Coach was asking what was going on. Coach pointed a finger at John Cena who showed up. Cena grabbed him and stared him down. Mr. McMahon showed up and asked what happened. He was ticked off and said he wanted to know who did this because Michaels was in the main event tonight and he was losing money because of it.
Ric Flair & Carlito v. The World’s Greatest Tag Team
Carlito started things off with Haas. The two exchanged some chops before Carlito grabbed a headlock but was backed into the corner where Haas tagged in Shelton Benjamin. Benjamin worked over Carlito before almost getting caught with a back elbow. Shelton ducked under but Carlito was able to hit a hurricanranna. Carlito came off the ropes but was elevated high in the air and drop kicked in the face.
Haas tagged in and hit a forearm to the lower back of Carlito. Haas hit a series of knees to the face before scooping up his opponent and planting him with a back breaker for a two count. Haas slapped on a camel clutch before it evolved into a front face lock and tag to Shelton Benjamin.
Benjamin and Carlito exchanged some strikes before Carlito was cut off and flat backed by a Benjamin clothesline for a near fall. Shelton slapped on a rear chin lock as the crowd rallied Carlito. Haas tagged back into the match and the two hit their body slam-back breaker combo. Flair urged Carlito on on the apron and seemed to be getting agitated by not being in the match.
Benjamin tagged back in and the two exchanged rights and lefts. Shelton looked for a cross face, but Carlito managed to counter it into a neck breaker. Flair finally got the hot tag and it’s Chop City. He tossed Benjamin into the ropes and hit a back elbow before Carlito cleaned Haas out with a drop kick. Flair hit a back body drop and chopped Benjamin down. He and Carlito celebrated in the ring before Carlito turned around and nailed Flair in the face. Flair fought Carlito off with a rake to the eyes to Torrie Wilson’s shock. Flair ran outside the ring after Carlito and the two brawled all over the ring entrance ramp.
Winners: No contest
Coach was in the back looking for the culprit when he found Edge completely unconscious. He ordered Mike Chioda to go and find Randy Orton right now.
****Commercial****
We came back to A little recap of the non-sense happening back stage. I’m smelling Triple H if I’ve ever smelt it before…
The band Egypt Central is here tonight.
Mr. Kennedy’s music hit and he came out with his money in the bank briefcase laughing his keister off. This entrance is glorious. Kennedy let us all know he didn’t do what was happening back stage. He said he had a white Ford Bronco in the back and didn’t have any gloves. He said he didn’t need to do stuff like that because he had the MITB brief case. He said last night he put the fear of god into anyone who was competing for a championship. He said he could have easily walked out of Backlash but he decided not to. He said he didn’t because he wanted to ask the fans if they wanted to see him cash in the briefcase. Of course, the fans went nuts and he told them ‘no, sorry, too bad’.
Kennedy said what Edge did was an act of cowardice and flat out wrong when he cashed in the briefcase. Kennedy said he was going to be up front and be a man and tell us the time and the place where it would all go down. He told us all that in 300+ days, he would cash it in at the main event of Wrestlemania 24.
The Coach was in the back and found Randy Orton unconscious in the back as well. Kenny was with him and worried. Coach asked for a Doctor.
****Commercial****
Vince was talking to someone about his win last night. Coach ran in and told him that all the top superstars were being picked off. Vince said he figured it out, and told Coach to get Cena and head out to the ring and they’d find out who did this tonight.
Melina & Victoria v. Mickie James & Candice Michelle
Victoria missed a lariat attempt and almost got rolled up by Candice. She dragged Candice to the corner and tagged in Melina. Candice bum rushed Melina to her corner and Mickie tagged in.
The two tussled around the ring until Victoria tagged in but got tossed to the outside. Victoria ended up gaining the upper hand on the outside before hanging James upside down in the corner. Melina tagged in and did a leapfrog move off Victoria into Mickie’s suspended body and went for a cover. She slapped on a bow and arrow while Mickie fought out and hit a nice looking neck breaker.
Candice caught a tag and hit a lariat and then went a little bonkers before Victoria tagged her with a clothesline in the face. Victoria went for a body slam but Candice caught her with a roll up and scored the pin fall.
Winners:Mickie James & Candice via pin fall
****Commercial****
Tapes of the ECW originals aired of them in utter despair over Vince McMahon winning the ECW World Championship. Oh god, were those some awesome promos.
John Cena’s music and he came out to the ring to a pretty big pop. Cena grabbed the mic and said apparently someone was trying to make a statement. He said apparently someone was trying to get his attention, so whoever they were, they could have saved him the energy of three beat downs, and he never backed down. Cena said it he wanted some he could come get some. Cena took his shirt off and begged the person to come down and fight him.
The Great Khali’s music hit and he came storming down to the ring. Cena came right at Khali but didn’t get anywhere. He was tossed around the ring and then booted right in the head. Khali went for the big chop and got Khali up for the FU but Khali dropped a bow on him. Khali picked up Cena and slammed him down to the mat like yesterday’s meat. Khali grabbed Cena’s belt and posed over his motionless body.RAW THOUGHTSShow Thoughts-- Oh jeez. Mr. McMahon wins the ECW title and Khali is inserted into the WWE title picture in two days. The IWC may explode as we know it.
Well, the McMahon thing is actually an awesome idea for ECW and now that Lashley’s on the shelf, the angle will really help get over a lot of the bigger players over there. McMahon’s the ideal guy to do this sort of angle with. But that’s ECW.. I’m recapping Raw.
So we get a huge build all night for the Great Khali. Look, Khali is pretty terrible in the ring. He can’t sell worth a lick but man, I bought him tonight. Cena looked like he was going to cry when Khali’s music hit and to be honest, this isn’t as tunnel vision as one would think. Khali attacked all four guys. They’ll all have to have a response next week. With Umaga more or less being an ECW talent these days, Raw needs a monster in the title scene and as unprepared as Khali may be, IF they use him with the other four, it could be pretty awesome. I know a lot of people are going to be emailing me telling me I’ve really lost it, but Khali is in the ‘awesomely bad’ category. Use him well, he can be great. So long as this doesn’t end up being a lot of one on one stuff, this could be absolutely awesome.
The rest of the show was super-d-dooper good. Almost all of the promos were well done and Edge-Orton and Umaga-RVD delivered in spades. Hardy-Nitro was what it usually is, which is an entertaining spot-based match. They’ve finally pulled the trigger on Flair-Carlito, but like I said last week, they missed the boat on this feud by a few weeks. They waited way too long to break the ice.
And kudos for actually trying to build an interesting feud over the tag titles and make it look like you’ve really got a division. Hardy not shaking hands is pretty heel-ish and what an irony it would be for the Hardy’s to turn heel and Cade & Murdoch to actually really go face. I like it and it makes for interesting stuff.
Again, this was an excellent show, even though Khali was the mystery attacker. I actually kind of dug him and the angle, just because it’s so incredibly open ended right now.
Overall Grade: A-
Quick Results
Edge def. Randy Orton
Jeff Hardy def. Johnny Nitro
Umaga def. Rob Van Dam
Carlito & Ric Flair v. The WGTT went to a no decision
Mickie James & Candice def. Melina & Victoria
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not?
Biggest Pops
1. John Cena
2. Rob Van Dam
3. The Hardy Boyz
4. Ric Flair
Most Heat
1. Mr. McMahon
2. The Great Khali
3. Umaga
4. Edge
Match of the night: Edge v. Randy Orton ***1/2
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 (14-5, 35 points) (Last Week: WWE Champion)— Cena made the Khali ass-kicking tonight. He looked like he was going to cry when the music hit. Just great dramatic effect. Other than that, it was a quiet night for Cena, who’s being made to look super vulnerable and under attack from almost every angle.
Intercontinental Champion: Santino Morello 1-0, 5pts. (Last Week: IC Champion) — Meh, the promo did what it did. The whole Ameri…err Italian dream thing may be a little over done. We’ll really see what he’s made of soon.
1. The Great Khali, 9-0-1, 18pts. (Last Week: 1 )— Really, him playing a role in the main event picture is pretty smart. He’s squashed everyone worth squashing on the roster and it’s time to mix him in with the big boys and they did it in a great way tonight. The jury is really out on this guy in the ring, if it ever should have been out in the first place, but he plays the giant monster so well that I’m sure considering the guys he’s working with, that he’ll find his way.
2. HBK 9-5-1, 17 points (Last Week: 2) — Just when you think you know all the answers, they change the questions. Let’s see how HBK responds next week to the Khali attack.
3. Edge 5-8, 12pts. (Last Week: 3) — Edge really is pretty excellent in the ring. I thought he and Orton put on a solid match tonight. The two really have great chemistry together. They’ve been putting on good stuff together since 2004.
4. Umaga 9-5, 21 Points (Last Week: 5) — I don’t understand why they keep him on Raw at this point as I feel he’s tailor made for ECW right now as Vince’s enforcer. Regardless, he gets another very good win over RVD and is proving to be one of the company’s most consistent workers on the roster. He hasn’t really had a bad match since early September and has earned his keep. I think he’s got a real future as a main event guy on ECW.
5. Jeff Hardy 14-6-1, 29 points. (Last Week: 6) -- Save for John Cena and Khali, Hardy’s record is pretty darn good and there’s little doubt he’s the tipy-top of the mid card. Using him and his brother to re-establish a tag team division on Raw is a pretty slick move and keeps him not only busy, but in somewhat of a spotlight for the time being. I’d just like to see him work with someone besides Johnny Nitro.
6. Randy Orton 3-13-1 , 7 pts. (Last Week: 4) — Orton’s beginning to improve again and is putting on strong stuff, but the win-loss record’s utterly terrible. 3-13 gets you a pick right near the Raiders in this weekend’s NFL draft. I can’t rationalize having him in the top five right now with the record.
7. Chris Masters, 4-5, 8 pts. (Last Week: 8) —I really wish we got to see more of this guy. The little we do is pretty awesome stuff.
8. Carlito 5-8-2, 8pts. (Last Week: 9) — They pulled the trigger on his heel turn way, way too late. If anyone can dig a feud out of a hole, it’s Ric Flair, but this ‘turn’ tonight really lacked the kind of heat you would have figured it’d have had in the fall.
9. Ric Flair, 4-7-2, 6pts. (Last Week: 10) — Flair’s got a tough job ahead of him in terms of digging this feud out of the muck. I’m not too optimistic, but again, if anyone can do it, Flair can.
10. Johnny Nitro, (2-7-1, 4pts ) (last week: 8) -- Wow, has Nitro turned into jobber fodder in a big way. Again, here’s a guy with half the package. He presents himself well and can put on some great stuff in the ring but good lord, he can’t cut a promo for his life. The only reason he’s still in the top ten is because no one /* of note won.
OTHERS : Super Crazy 3-5-1, 5 points (Last Week: 9)
Kenny Dykstra 3-7, 6pts. (Last Week: NR)
Eugene 0-6, 0 pts. (Last Week: NR)
Lance Cade 2-8, 3pts. (Last Week: NR)
Trevor Murdoch 2-8, 3 pts. (Last Week: NR)
Shelton Benjamin 1-5-1, 1pt. (Last Week: NR)
Charlie Haas 1-4-1, 1pt. (Last Week: NR)
Viscera 0-2, 0 pts. (Last Week: NR)
Rory 0-3, 0pts. (Last Week: NR)
Robbie 0-4 0pts. (Last Week: NR)
JTG 3-5, 4pts. (Last Week: NR)
Big Shad 2-5, 2pts. (Last Week: NR)