On Monday, September 3, 2007 at 11:59 PM EST WWE RAW
September 3, 2007
Columbus, OH
Commentators: Jim Ross & Jerry “The King” Lawler
Reported By: Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com
A really great video package aired, recapping last week’s events, where Randy Orton punted John Cena’s father in the head.
The opening pyro hit and we were welcomed by JR and King. They ran over what’d be going on tonight, including Triple H in action, Orton’s explanation and of course, Vince’s family confronting him.
WWE Intercontinental Championship
Umaga v. Jeff Hardy
Hardy came right at Umaga and of course, came up on the short end of the stick. Umaga quickly pounced on the challenger and choked Hardy on the ropes. Jeff fought back with some punches to Umaga’s gut but after coming off the ropes, was hammered down to the mat by a back elbow. Umaga hit a head butt and stomped Hardy around the ring for a little while before the big man sent him careening sternum first into the turnbuckles.
Umaga sent the challenger reeling over the ropes and to the floor, leaving him in a heap as we went to commercial break.
****Commercial****
We came back to Umaga slapping Hardy all over the ring. He slapped on a claw move on Hardy’s shoulder, keeping him at bay on the mat. Hardy fought out of the hold somehow, but Umaga caught him coming off the ropes and planted him with a Samoan drop. Umaga scaled the ropes and went for a diving head butt, but no one was home.
Hardy began to make some inroads, hitting some flying forearms and the mule kick. He went for a sunset flip and when Umaga tried to sit out, Hardy avoided him and hit a baseball kick to the grill for a two count. Hardy kept it coming and went for a twist of fate but as Umaga pushed him off, settled for whisper in the wind instead for another near fall.
Hardy looked for a high cross body block, only to get caught in mid air and getting hit with a tilt a whirl belly to belly. Umaga scaled the ropes again but Hardy was able to cut him off and knock him to the mat, stunning him. Hardy jumped on top and BARELY grabbed the three count for the victory.
Winner and NEW Intercontinental Champion: Jeff Hardy via pin fall
An Undertaker promo video aired.
****Commercial****
Vince was in the back with Coach. He pointed out the best legal defense team money could buy. He said whatever his family could bring to the table would do no good. A best defense in his estimation, was a good offense.
Carlito came in and he looks like he’s cut his hair down quite a bit. He looks ridiculous. Vince went off about how Carlito maybe shouldn’t be out there tonight, that a savage lost something and he’d probably have some aggression to get out. He suggest Carlito team with Umaga tonight and help a friend out. Carlito said that helping friends was cool and walked off.
Santino was with Maria, whose getting ready for her match. Maria said it would have been nice if Santino would have asked her before asking for a rematch against Beth Phoenix. Santino said there wouldn’t be any problems and he promised her she’d be ok.
Melina was with Raw GM William Regal as he was gushing over Jeff Hardy’s big championship win tonight. Melina was explaining to him how it was a little weird that Vince’s family would be confronting him tonight, especially after what happened at a big meeting this spring. Regal asked her what happened and after she whispered the answer in his ear, he replied with a ‘that’s just disgusting!’ before looking up shocked
Melina turned around right into Stephanie McMahon’s face who feigned a slap in her direction. Melina cowered and turned around only to find herself nose to nose with Linda McMahon. Linda cuffed her and she and Steph walked off.
****Commercial****
Santino was in the ring with Maria. He was talking about showing Ron Simmons what he was made of, but not in the way that Senator wanted to make man boy love to a boy in the toilet. He hammered the crowd for fun and then Sandman showed up.
Santino asked him what the matter was before saying “Oh I know you’re jealous! I make-a love to a Maria! And you make-a love to you’re a stick!”. Sandman cracked him and chased him up the ramp.
****Commercial****
Maria (w/ Santino Marella) v. Beth Phoenix
Maria went right at Beth but Beth tossed her around like a rag doll. Beth hung her up on the top rope before stiffing her in the back. She hit a grizzly looking fisherman’s buster and that’s that.
Winner: Beth Phoenix via pin fall
Beth got on the mic and told us she’d be cashing in her title shot at Unforgiven. She said in case Candice wasn’t watching, this was how she rolled. She picked up Maria and gave her another fisherman’s buster before Candice came running down to make the save. Problem was when Candice slid into the ring, Beth didn’t go anywhere, and just stood there smiling, staring at her, utterly un-intimidated by her.
****Commercial****
William Regal and recapped the set up for the Orton-punt-Cena’s dad’s head angle. A video played putting the angle over and Regal was in the ring looking quite disgusted. He said by the nature of those events, he gave Orton the night off. He said he was here via satellite and welcomed him to Raw. Orton said if people wanted to call him sick, they could do it, but that John Cena did this to himself. He said his father’s blood was on Cena’s hands, not his. He said he could’ve avoided it all had he granted him his rematch. Orton wondered if he wanted that rematch now. He said he had a feeling he did.
Regal said they all did. He said at Unforgiven, it would be Randy Orton v. John Cena for the title. Orton thanked Regal saying he definitely deserved the opportunity. He said he hoped Cena’s father never forgave him for what he did last week. Regal went to continue his spiel before WWE Champion John Cena came out with no music playing, staring at Regal.
Cena made his way down to the ring as Regal advised him to not do anything foolish. Cena looked at his belt and backed off. He looked at his dog tags too and then decked Regal. Cena completely bombarded Regal with rights and lefts before spiking him off the announce table and slapping on the STFU. The officials finally pulled Cena off Regal and that’s that.
****Commercial****
#1 Contender’s Match for the World Tag Team Titles
Brian Kendrick & Paul London v. The World’s Greatest Tag Team
Haas and Kendrick started us off and Haas grabbed a front face lock. They traded a few arm bars before Kendrick gained the advantage and tagged in London who hit an axe handle. Quick tag back to Kendrick and then back London and they both uncorked stomps.
London hit some kicks before eating a boot in the gut and a nasty belly to belly overhead throw. Benjamin tagged in and hit a guerilla press into a gut buster before hitting a snap suplex and tagging in his partner, sling shotting him in on a lateral press for a two count.
Shelton slapped on an arm bar on the mat. London used the crowd to rally back and was able to reverse a back body drop but barely missed a hot tag. Haas tagged in and booted London in the gut before Haas went for a spine buster. London rolled out and then wiggled his way over to his corner where Kendrick tagged in and hit a step up enzeguiri and a super suicidal tope. Kendrick hit a top rope clothesline and a high cross body that was broken up by Shelton Benjamin.
Haas reversed an Irish whip but missed Kendrick in the corner. Kendrick grabbed a hold of him and hit sliced bread #2 for the win.
Winners: Paul London & Brian Kendrick via pin fall
After the match, Cade & Murdoch came in the ring to congratulate their challengers at Unforgiven. After some hesitation, they all shook hands.
****Commercial****
Carlito was in the back with Umaga, telling him not to take his aggression out on him, but on Triple H. He told Umaga that he heard the Game laughing about his losing his title. Umaga looks none too pleased.
McMahon was with Coach and his lawyers. He was devising his strategy as to how he was going to deal with his family.
****Commercial****
Jillian Hall was on her way down to the ring with Daivari. They
Mickie James & Cody Rhodes v. Daivari & Jillian Hall
Mickie andJillian locked up and Mickie backed her into the corner before Jillian begged her off of her because of her teeth. Mickie backed off and Jillian landed a kick to her face. She picked up Mickie and slammed her to the mat like tossing a Frisbee, but James fought back.
Jillian cried in the corner as Daivari tended to her before Cody came in and planted him with three or four arm drags. Daivari eventually backed Cody into the corner and hit some shoulder thrusts and a nasty lariat for a two count. Daivari body slammed him and gave us a ‘hurray for Allah’ taunt before slapping on the always reliable rear chin lock.
Daivari hit a back elbow, flooring Cody who kicked out after a two count. Daivari went right back to the rear chin lock. The crowd rallied Cody and the two began trading shots. Cody hit a nasty looking bulldog for a two count before Mickie came sailing across the ring to intercept the oncoming Jillian. Cody hit his DDT in the middle of the ring for the win.
Winners: Cody Rhodes & Mickie James via pin fall
Carlito is still psyching up Umaga in the back.
****Commercial****
Handicapped Match
Triple H v. Carlito & Umaga
Carlito jumped Triple H from behind before backing him into the corner and hitting an Irish whip. Carlito went for a follow up but Triple H hit a lariat before tossing him across the ring by the hair. Carlito hit a kick to the Game’s face before he was side stepped and went sailing to the outside.
Triple H egged on Umaga who came into the ring. Carlito, not the legal man, came in and caused a DQ after frolicking in the meadow a little too long.
Winner: Triple H via DQ
Carlito and Umaga took part in a big beat down after the match, but the Game was able to turn the tables, ducking out of the way of a steel chair bump butt attempt. He grabbed a steel chair and pounded Carlito in the noggin’ with it. Triple H hit Umaga with a chair about five times but the big man didn’t go anywhere. He went and retrieved his sledge hammer from ringside and plastered Umaga with it. Umaga was bleeding but still not staying down. Triple H let Umaga get to his knees and put a finger in his eyes before giving Umaga one hell of a sledge shot to the back of the head.
Carlito almost had tears in his eyes.
Vince and Coach are on their way to the ring with their legal team.
****Commercial****
JR and King ran down the Unforgiven card.
WWE Championship
John Cena v. Randy Orton
World Heavyweight Championship
The Great Khali v. Rey Mysterio
The Undertaker v. Mark Henry
Mr. McMahon’s music hit and he came down to the ring with his posse. He said this wasn’t about any of the fodder we’ve experienced in the past few weeks, it’s about the mooooonnnnaaaay. He said all these people wanted was a hand out.
Linda McMahon’s music hit and she came down to the ring. She ran down Vince a bit before he started complaining about working his fingers to the bone. He kept on ranting before Steph’s music hit and she came down to the ring.
Vince said he put a wonderful video together about their experiences together and that aired. Some funny memories of their I quit match at No Mercy 2003. Coach said that must’ve been sabotaged and Vince said You’re responsible for that before Triple H popped up on the monitor. He swore to Vince that he had nothing to do with that video. He said hi to Steph who looks smitten.
Steph said it didn’t matter what video played, that despite it all, she did love him, but he was sick and that he needed help, serious help. She thinks he should step down as chairman of the board if he doesn’t get that help.
Vince started rationalizing with her before Shane of Mac’s music hit and he came down to the ring. Vince looked excited to see Shane. He said Shane must be here because he didn’t think he should step down as chairman of the board. Shane said it depended on which Vince he was talking to, the fearless pioneer or the death faking, arm and grapefruit swinging ego-maniacal lunatic. The crowd started chanting ‘asshole’ and Vince said the next time the crowd called his wife that, he’d beat the hell out of them.
Shane said it was one thing to embarrass them, it was another thing to soil the family legacy. He said the change would be up to him. Vince asked them if he really thought they could change. Shane said as he and his sister knew, he always wanted a brother. Vince said before things carried on, he needed to make a confession. Vince said all the escapades never happened and it was all a big lie. He said he was saying those things to build his ego and he did it frankly because he had been unfaithful only once in his life and that was with the mother of the bastard son. He said he did feel like he could change.
He got on his knees to ‘humble’ himself before them. He said he’d be a better father and better human being. Mr. Kennedy’s music hit.
Kennedy came down to the ring and said he hated to cut them all off. Coach asked what he was here to do. He said everything happens for a reason, like there was a reason he came face to face with him the night he found out his kid was a WWE superstar. A reason his last name was Vince’s middle name. He said there was a coincidence he was announcing the identity of his son in his home town of Green Bay next week. He said he was Vince’s son.
Steph asked him for proof. He said he needed the undivided attention of his father. He told him he didn’t have to change for anyone and if it was up to him, he’d be more outrageous than he already is. If he wasn’t that lunatic, he wouldn’t have become the greatest WWE superstar in history because he inspired him.
He said he could listen to his old family or listen to his new family, his son who cared, MR… KENNEEDDDDYYYYY………………………………...MCMAHON. Kennedy went to hug him before someone butted in, an attorney. He said he represented the mother and the DNA tests were back and it was a superstar. He said it confirmed that it wasn’t Mr. Kennedy. He gave us a clue though as ‘things are looking up’.RAW THOUGHTSShow Thoughts-- Tonight’s Raw really felt like a throwaway show even though it probably never was intended to. Everything minus some of the bigger angles seemed really tossed together and the show as a whole just lacked the kind of energy the show’s had pretty much all year, even when the quality has been there.
To start, the Umaga-Hardy match was really bad. Atrocious even and that surprises me, as these two have worked so well all year. The ending was just totally awkward and with Umaga getting killed with like 20 million chair and sledge hammer shots, it looks even worse. Sure, Umaga’s up for suspension so they ran some angles but honestly, there are a million better endings they could’ve gone with that would’ve been better than this one.
The Vince love child angle for some reason, has lost a lot of steam. Nothing about it has been bad per sae, but it’s just lacked energy. When I found out it wasn’t Kennedy I was a little torn. On one hand I sort of dread who it’d be and on the other hand, I kind of like that the WWE’s going with a swerve here and not driving into the land of predictability for once. So I guess we’ll see.
The majority of the good in tonight’s show surprisingly came from the lower mid card. The tag match was short, but really good for what we got and I like how the three major teams on Raw all are distinctly different with the champs being the brawlers, TWGTT the wrestlers and London & Kendrick being the high flyers. Hopefully in the wake of these suspensions they use some of that free time to develop some fun stuff in that division.
The Santino stuff is really great every week and he was gold on the mic tonight. That segment rolled nicely into the Beth Phoenix show, which was awesome. I love how she didn’t BUDGE when Candice came sprinting into the ring. I totally dig Phoenix and Maria is the perfect punching bag for her.
From there we moved onto the mixed tag, which was surprisingly good. Maybe I’m in the minority, but I DO love the Jillian singing stuff. The stuff with the gold and then the Grease re-enactment with Daivari was pretty funny stuff.
And then there was that little tiff between Cena and Orton. God this feud is awesome. I think part of the problem this week was the fact that there’s all that uncertainty floating around with Orton, but regardless, his promo was absolutely awesome and Cena’s snapping was almost as good to follow it up. Easily one of the best programs of the year so far. I’ve enjoyed the heck out of it.
So overall, there wasn’t a single thing bad, even some stuff that was surprisingly great, but the show overall just lacked energy. Maybe it’s because of the fodder with the suspensions, maybe it’s something /*, but the show felt really meaningless, even though it quite obviously wasn’t.
Overall Grade: C+
Quick Results
Jeff Hardy def. Umaga to WIN The WWE Intercontinental Championship
London & Kendrick def. The World’s Greatest Tag Team
Beth Phoenix def. Maria
Cody Rhodes & Mickie James def. Daivari & Jillian Hall
Triple H def. Carlito & Umaga
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not?
Biggest Pops
1. Triple H
2. Jeff Hardy
3. John Cena
4. Cody Rhodes
Most Heat
1. Randy Orton
2. Vince McMahon
3. Umaga
4. Carlito
Match of the Night: London & Kendrick v. TWGTT **
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 (26-8-1, 68 points) (Last Week: WWE Champion)— Cena’s little snap tonight on Regal added more emotion to the feud than any promo he could’ve cut. I like intense Cena, so hopefully they keep building this all up as a blood feud. Cena could really use one.
Intercontinental Champion: Jeff Hardy 26-11, 52 points (Last Week: 3)— Sure, the title switch was done pretty poorly, but all in all, Hardy’s best off for it. With Carlito, Santino Marella, Snitsky and others swirling around the mid card, this makes a lot of sense. Sure this is his 10 millionth reign, but I’m all for repeat reigns in the mid card and they’ve shown a lot of parody in the division with these switches.
1. Randy Orton 12-18-2 28pts. (Last Week: 1) -- Orton’s been 110% awesome the past few weeks and tonight’s promo might have been his best to date. This kid is so molten and I’m praying to the good lord that his involvement in the pill popping is minimal so we can get a run with the belt.
2. King Booker 3-6, 6 pts. (Last Week: 2) -- Didn’t appear.
3. Triple H 4-0, 8pts (Last Week: 6) -- Triple H leap frogs Carlito and Umaga, thanks to beating them, and Kennedy was out of action.
4. Carlito 12-15-4, 21 pts. (Last Week: 4) — I’m having a hard time punishing him, as his work’s been good so I’ll keep him here for now. Kennedy’s stuff wasn’t anything special so #4 makes sense for now. On the other hand, I should bump him off the list thanks to the terrible hair cut.
5. Ken Kennedy 3-5-1, 6 pts (Last Week: 5) — So if Kennedy’s not the child then who is? While things may be looking up, they certainly aren’t for Kennedy these days.
6. Umaga 20-13-1, 43 Points (Last Week: IC Champion) — Two losses in one night and two sort of awkward turns plunge Umaga down to his lowest point in the rankings since god knows when.
7. Cody Rhodes 5-2, 8pts. (Last Week: 7)-- Rhodes puts on a fun match with Mickie James tonight, but still, I can’t possibly justify putting him much higher until he starts beating people not named Daivari.
8. Paul London 5-1, 6pts. (Last Week: 9) -- It’s nice to see these guys getting more of a rub in the tag scene. They’re the least used and most talented utility in the mid card, IMO.
9. Brian Kendrick 4-1, 4pts. (Last Week: 10)-- See London. I know. Boring.
10. Snitsky 4-1, 8pts. (Last Week: 8) -- Out of action.
OTHERS :
Trevor Murdoch 7-12, 12pts. (Last Week: NR)
Lance Cade 6-11, 10pts. (Last Week: NR)
William Regal 3-1, 5pts (Last Week: NR)
Santino Marella 5-5, 13pts. (Last Week: NR)
Shawn Michaels 10-7-1, 19 points (Last Week: INJURED)
Bobby Lashley 3-4 5pts. (Last Week: INJURED)
Super Crazy 4-7-1, 7 points (Last Week: NR)
JTG 5-6, 6pts. (Last Week: NR)
Big Shad 4-6, 4pts. (Last Week: NR)
The Sandman 1-5, 2pts. (Last Week: NR)
Shelton Benjamin 2-13-1, 2pts. (Last Week: NR)
Charlie Haas 2-11-1, 1pts. (Last Week: NR)
Rory 0-5, 0pts. (Last Week: NR)
Robbie 0-7 0pts. (Last Week: NR)
Jim Duggan 0-4, 0pts. (Last Week: NR)
Val Venis 0-3 0pts. (Last Week: NR)
Daivari 0-4, 0pts. (Last Week: NR)
Mick Foley 0-1-1, 0 pts. (Last Week: NR)
Sgt. Slaughter 0-2. 0 pts. (Last Week: NR)