On Monday, October 29, 2007 at 11:59 PM EST WWE RAW
October 29, 2007
Philadelphia, PA
Commentators: Jim Ross & Jerry “The King” Lawler
Reported By: Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com
The opening pyro hit and here we go! JR and King welcome us and let us know that the main event is going to be WWE Champion Randy Orton & Umaga taking on Triple H in a handicapped match.
It’s time for a Diva costume thingy.
Diva Costume Battle Royal or Whatever
Maria, Mickie James, Victoria, Kelly, Brooke, Leyla, Melina, Jillian Hall, Michelle McCool
This plain rules. Honestly of all the Diva crap, you might as well just have fun. Victoria is in a sumo suit and can’t move. She falls over like 20 times, does a Yokozuna banzai drop, and… good god. Jillian is ‘dat Britney’ and still singing. Michelle is some sort of string bean while Melina is dressed up like a stork. Torrie Wilson also wears helmets and pads before throwing her helmet at someone’s head.
Moment of the match is Victoria taking on a helmet and pads. The collision shakes entire planets and of course Torrie wins. Kelly Kelly and Torrie team up on Victoria and dump her out and Victoria bounces into the announce table. Kelly bumps Torrie out of the win and scores the upset.
Winner: Kelly via pin fall
*************1/3.56. MOTY!~ No seriously, fun comedy match here.
After the match WWE Women’s Champion Beth Phoenix came out and tossed Kelly around for fun and we’ve got ourselves a fun segment with the Divas to kick things off.
A video putting over the HBK-Randy Orton from last night’s Cyber Sunday aired and wouldn’t ya know, Shawn Michaels is here tonight and we’ll hear from him a little later.
****Commercial****
Shawn Michaels’ music hit and he came out to the ring.
HBK said he was back in the saddle. He said he wanted to thank the fans for voting him into the WWE Championship match last night. He said that being said, there was some good news and some bad news. The good news was that he KO’d Randy Orton with sweet chin music yet again. The bad news was that he didn’t win the WWE Championship.
HBK called himself HBK-shizzle and said to hit his ‘grape fruits’, you needed to have pin point accuracy and it was obvious Orton did it intentionally. HBK said he was entitled to a rematch and that he wanted a WWE Championship match now.
Vince McMahon’s music hit and he came down to the ring and stared down Michaels before asking the crowd if they wanted to see HBK get a rematch. Vince asked HBK what he was doing. Michaels told him to stop the crap and asked him what he was getting at. Vince said he knew HBK wanted it bad and knew he could deliver. He said there was something /* he wanted just as bad as that championship and that was revenge. Vince said he knew HBK since he was 23 and he knew that deep down, there was a part of his soul that was rotten to the core. He told HBK to admit it.
HBK said “I Admit it”. He said he sat home for four months again, out of this industry on someone /*’s terms. He swore that wouldn’t ever happen again and the next time he left the business, it’d be when he said so. He said Randy Orton tried to change that and he admitted that he wanted to hurt him and make him suffer.
With that he demanded the rematch. Vince told him to be careful what he wished for. He said Survivor Series was an aptly named pay per view. He said HBK had it and asked him what he was going to do with it. HBK went to nail Vince with sweet chin music but Vince fell back JUST missing it looking scared.
****Commercial****
Hardcore Holly & Cody Rhodes v. The World’s Greatest Tag Team
The WGTT started off on the right foot controlling most of the early going against Hardcore Holly. The action really picked up with Holly and Haas totally stiffing each other with chops and cross facers. Haas, believe it or not, gained the upper hand and made Holly eat a drop kick. Holly fought back and hit one of his own and tagged in Cody who hit a nice flipping clothesline thingy before hitting a few drop kicks for a one count.
Rhodes went to whip Haas and it didn’t work out to well. Haas went to capitalize with a DDT but Cody held onto the ropes and hit one of his own to cinch a win for himself and Holly.
Winners: Cody Rhodes & Hardcore Holly
Holly didn’t give any love to Rhodes after the match.
Randy Orton’s psyching up Umaga in the back.
****Commercial****
Footage of the Candice injury from last week aired.
Todd was with the Women’s champion and he asked her about regretting what happened last week. Beth said she had no regrets. She said she made an example out of her. Beth said she’d do to all the other girls that liked to pretend that they were wrestlers and not just more pretty faces what she did to Candice. She said she hoped Candice went back to Wisconsin, had some kids, waited some tables and told everyone how her dreams were crushed. All that ‘earning respect’ crap for nothing.
Mickie James came across Trevor Murdoch in the back. She thanked him for the help last week in taking the clothesline. Murdoch told her ‘not to give him the key to the city’ yet because he just did it out of instinct. They bantered for a little while more until Lance Cade dropped in and dismissed Mickie. He told Trevor he had better be focused and in the game this week.
Vince asked William Regal where his son, Hornswoggle was. Regal went and retrieved him from outside the room. Vince excused Regal and had a ‘heart to heart’ with his bastard son. He told him what being a McMahon meant. About winning, about knowing how to take humiliation and how to win. He said the most important part was for him to learn to hate. Vince told Horny he wanted to see him hate tonight. Horsnwoggle’s pumped up and storms out of the room.
****Commercial****
Coach v. Hornswoggle
We’ve got a special guest referee apparently. It’s Mick Foley.
Hornswoggle was all over Coach, literally with bites, drop kicks and then a shining wizard, but Coach kicked out. Coach was eventually able to blindside Foley before getting a chair from ring side. Coach went to deck Hornswoggle before getting cut off by Foley. Foley went for socko but then pulled out a little one and Hornswoggle loaded it up. He grabbed Coach’s nuts and that’s that. Hornswoggle mounted the top rope and hit the frog splash for the win.
Winner: Hornswoggle via pin fall
Todd Grisham’s with Triple H. He told Triple H that he might be in some trouble tonight. Triple H joked around and thanked him for all his support. He said the one thing was for certain though, that he had an ace up his sleeve. He said if he went down tonight, Orton and Umaga were coming with him.
****Commercial****
Paul London v. Lance Cade
Cade controlled much of the early going with his usual nasty clubber and blubber offense. London eventually managed to hit a springboard to take him down before Cade ate an atomic drop and a standing hurricanranna. London tried some other flippy crap that Cade finally caught and tossed London to the floor like a sack of recycled beer cans.
Kendrick took Murdoch out for no real reason and everything’s crazy right now. London looks for a big flippy move again and wouldn’t ya know, Cade catches him and drills him with a sit out power bomb.
Winner: Lance Cade via pin fall
The Highlanders came out after the match and beat down London & Kendrick to ‘make a statement’ or something.
****Commercial****
Jeff Hardy & DH Smith v. Mr. Kennedy & Carlito
Hardy and Kennedy started things off and locked horns. Kennedy grabbed a side headlock and wrenched it in while Jeff worked to try and toss him off. When he finally did, he got flat backed but was able to block a hip toss and hit a nice looking lariat for a quick one count.
Kennedy thumbed the eye and dragged Hardy to the corner where Carlito tagged in and went to work. Hardy was too hot to handle though and eventually found himself hitting a pretty fun roll up combo on Carlito. Smith tagged in and grabbed some arm wringers, wearing Dad’s boots.
Carlito bullied him to the corner and decked him with a stiff chop before eating a big back body drop. All hell broke loose briefly and we ended up with Smith and Hardy in the ring walking tall as we went to break.
****Commercial****
We came back to Smith getting worked over by Carlito in the middle of the ring. Carlito slapped on the good old figure four in the middle of the ring while Smith struggled to get free. When he finally did, Carlito hit a chop block and tagged in his partner.
Kennedy stomped away at Smith’s leg before going for a quick cover attempt. Smith began to show some signs of life but Kennedy cheap shotted Hardy, cutting off any possibility of a tag. Eventually Carlito tagged back in and delivered a shin breaker to the youngster, leaving him laid out in the middle of the ring.
Kennedy tagged back in in quick order and hit a dragon screw before looking for a second. Smith hit an enzeguiri out of nowhere and bought himself some time.
Hardy got the hot tag and began cleaning house. Hardy hit his clotheslines before hitting whisper in the wind for a two count that was cut off by Mr.Kennedy. All hell broke loose and we’re left with Hardy and Carlito. Hardy hit the twist of fate and the swanton bomb for the three count and win.
Winners: DH Smith & Jeff Hardy via pin fall
****Commercial****
Santino Marella came out to the ring. This will rock.
Marella complained about the idiots at WWE Travel that they messed up his air plane tickets and he couldn’t get to Cyber Sunday and open a can of the ass whip on Stone Cold. He went on and on with brilliance before Stone Cold’s music hit...But it’s not Stone Cold.
It’s Santino dressed as Stone Cold going over how crappy he is. Hilarious stuff until Maria comes out and lets Santino know Stone Cold will be here on Raw next week. Santino laughs at her and tells the crowd that his Maria will believe anything. He said regardless, he’ll be there next week as always.
****Commercial****
It’s time to announce the winner of the 2007 Diva Search. The finalists are blonde Brooke and Brunette Eve. Eve wins.
The Save_US.222 stuff aired.
WWE Champion Randy Orton’s music hit and he’s making his way down to the ring.
****Commercial****
2-on-1 Handicap Match
Randy Orton & Umaga v. Triple H
Umaga and Triple H went right at it, just like last night. Orton sneaked up from behind and decked Triple H before getting dragged to the outside and smashed off the guard rail. Triple H decked the chasing Umaga to the outside before taking care of the champion in the middle of the ring. Umaga came running for a splash, but Triple H avoided it and Umaga crashed into Orton.
Triple H decked Umaga before loading Orton up for the pedigree, but Umaga was able to regain his wits fast enough to break up the party. Triple H fought back tenaciously, but Umaga was eventually able to kill him with a Samoan drop.
Umaga and Orton continuously hammered away on Triple H in the corner before Shawn Michaels showed up and caused the DQ.
Winners: Umaga & Randy Orton via DQ
Michaels and Triple H cleaned house and gave… ugh. Crotch chops.
McMahon and Regal are in the back. McMahon suggested for one night only, that we’d get the return of DX. Hmmmm.RAW THOUGHTSShow Thoughts-- All in all, another pretty solid edition of Raw tonight that left a TON of stuff left hanging for next week, which is nice for a change. If I were to name my TOP criticism of WWE programming over the past four or five years it’s been the fact that they leave very little open to the imagination like they did during their big run in the late 90s.
Those shows were always very episodic, not just wrestling shows that ran through their segments to ‘do what they needed to do’ to build to the matches. There was a flow, always a possibility of a swerve, and the pay per view match, while it might not have busted the star rating system silly, was always the culmination of that storyline.
To me, it seems like the WWE’s headed back in that direction. Good WWE-style wrestling shows always answer the questions of the previous week, but ask about 20 more. You walk away almost always knowing less than you did the week before.
Enter this week. We leave with more questions than we got answers. HBK gets a rematch but in what kind of match? Is it even for the title? DX a good thing or a bad thing? Is Vince actually warming up to Hornswoggle? Where are Cade and Murdoch headed? Is Y2J due back? All those are reasons to tune in next week if you’re an average viewer.
There was a lot of good, but the fact that the show as a general really just flowed off the pay per view much better than it has in recent months make it a solid show without really having to comment on the nitty gritty.
Overall Grade: B
Quick Results
Kelly Kelly won a Diva Battle Royal
Hardcore Holly & Cody Rhodes def. The World’s Greatest Tag Team
Hornswoggle def. Coach
Lance Cade def. Paul London
DH Smith & Jeff Hardy def. Mr. Kennedy & Carlito
Randy Orton & Umaga def. Triple H
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not?
Biggest Pops
1. Shawn Michaels
2. Triple H
3. Jeff Hardy
4. Hornswoggle
Most Heat
1. Randy Orton
2. Umaga
3. Vince McMahon
4. Santino Marella
Match of the Night: Beth Phoenix v. Candice Michelle **3/4
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: Randy Orton 17-24-2 41pts. (Last Week: WWE Champion) -- I’m surprised that Orton’s been booked to be as much of a chicken-sh_t heel as he has in his early reign here. With HBK I guess it makes sense, but it’s hard to totally buy when he basically kicked John Cena around like a he was a soccer ball.
Intercontinental Champion: Jeff Hardy 32-14, 62 points (Last Week: IC Champion)— Hardy’s definitely ‘the man’ in the Raw mid card and puts in some quality work again this week. Nice dynamic shift with him playing more of the surly veteran to Smith’s punching bag.
1. Shawn Michaels 13-7-1, 25 points (Last Week: 2) — HBK’s promo tonight was probably his best of the year so far. Better than any of the Cena promos, better than any of the old DX promos, just his best, most solid, get the point across without being whimsical promo he’s worked this year.
2. Triple H 11-4, 29pts (Last Week: 3) -- For anyone whose read my recaps for any length of time knows I’m not a fan of face Triple H, but it seems like he’s FINALLY ‘getting it’. He gets the big crowd pop, works off the heat better. He’s still a little too dominant and selling more than dishing out would probably help a little more, but he’s still heading in the right direction.
3. Umaga 21-16-1, 44 Points (Last Week: 1) — Sort of floating again, but still move for move, the best worker on this roster not named John Cena. Everything he does seems to be at least above average.
4. Ken Kennedy 5-10-1, 10 pts (Last Week: 7)-- I really just don’t get the love. The guy’s got the goods on the stick, but he’s so hit and miss in the ring, erring more on the side of miss, that I can’t get behind him yet as being that big ’future star’ everyone seems to think he is. He hasn’t done anything worth watching since the Royal Rumble title match with Batista, which as of now, is the only match I’ve seen him in that he’s carried himself well that doesn’t involve a worker nine times as good as him (Taker). They really need to put more focus on him OUT of the ring than in it.
5. Trevor Murdoch 9-15, 17pts. (Last Week: 8)-- This is more like it. A storyline. And Murdoch being the sucker for love is the right choice. Mickie James is an even better choice. Tension folks.
6. Lance Cade 10-15, 16pts. (Last Week: 6)-- It’s pretty surprising to see just how respectable these guys are booked. Both have better records that the WWE Champion and outside of the super top tier guys and Jeff Hardy, they’re probably the next birds on the totem pole.
7. Hardcore Holly 4-0, 7 pts. (Last Week: 10) — I just dig Holly when he’s being handled right. I enjoyed him during the early months of ECW and I like him better now on Raw. The surly vet who the young baby faces aspire to earn the respect of is a nice niche role for the guy. Don’t’ get me wrong, I’m not on the “Hardcore Holly for WWE Champion” bandwagon and never will be, but give credit where it’s due.
8. Carlito 13-17-4, 23 pts. (Last Week: 7)-- There isn’t anyone I care about less than Carlito on the Raw roster right now. No one. His mic work is pretty bad and no one phones it in on a weekly basis quite like Carlito. It took a year, but he’s effectively buried himself better than creative ever could.
9. Cody Rhodes 7-5 11pts. (Last Week: NR)-- On the right track. One really undesirable trait of the IWC these days is to latch on to a new kid and demand the WWE push them through the roof. Here’s one you take your time with. I mean REALLY take your time with. He’s a pretty decent baby face and for people who haven’t seen it, a way better heel. He’s still a green horn, but give him some time, a lot of losses and some guidance and he’ll be sensational.
10. Paul London 8-6, 10pts. (Last Week: 5) -- Seems to have surpassed Kendrick by leaps and bounds as the more solid of the two, but still is stuck in that ’guys we throw in mid card matches to pop the crowd’ spot.
OTHERS :
John Cena (28-9-1, 72 points) (Last Week: INJURED)
Brian Kendrick, 7-6, 9 pts (Last Week: 6)
Snitsky 5-1, 10pts. (Last Week: NR)
William Regal 3-1, 5pts (Last Week: NR)
Ron Simmons 2-0, 4pts. (Last Week: NR)
King Booker 3-6, 6 pts. (Last Week: RELEASED)
Bobby Lashley 3-4 5pts. (Last Week: INJURED)
Super Crazy 4-7-1, 7 points (Last Week: NR)
JTG 5-6, 6pts. (Last Week: RELEASED)
Big Shad 4-6, 4pts. (Last Week: RELEASED)
The Sandman 2-5, 4pts. (Last Week: NR)
Shelton Benjamin 3-18-1, 3pts. (Last Week: NR)
Charlie Haas 2-12-1, 1pts. (Last Week: NR)
Rory 2-5, 3pts. (Last Week: NR)
Robbie 1-7 1pt. (Last Week: NR)
Jim Duggan 1-4, 2pts. (Last Week: NR)
Val Venis 0-5 0pts. (Last Week: NR)
Daivari 0-5, 0pts. (Last Week: RELEASED)
Mick Foley 0-1-1, 0 pts. (Last Week: NR)
Sgt. Slaughter 0-2. 0 pts. (Last Week: NR)
Harry Smith 2-0, 3 pts. (Last Week:NR)