On Monday, December 17, 2007 at 11:37 PM EST WWE RAW
December 17, 2007
Buffalo, NY
Commentators: Jim Ross & Jerry “The King” Lawler
Reported By: Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com
Jillian sang the most mind blowingly awesome version of ‘Chestnuts roasting on an Open Fire’ ever.
Ever.
Jillian, Layla, Victoria & Melina v. Mickie James, Maria, Kelly Kelly & Michelle McCool
Jillian and Maria started things off and exchanged take downs before Maria hit a nifty split legged fist drop. Maria tagged in Michelle who hit a take down for a zero count, as our favorite singer countered out and dragged her to the corner to tag in Layla. Layla hit a take down for a two count before Michelle came firing back with some fantastic kicks before Kelly came in and chopped some boobs. Oh wait, it’s Michelle. As long as I do this I still figure out a way to suck every week.
Michelle is getting pummeled by Melina who looks like the most evil elf ever. She draped Michelle up in the corner and tagged in Victoria. They did a ditty and then hit a nice little fall out splash thing. Victoria went for a moonsault and that was stupid because Michelle got away and tagged in Mickie who looks like a snow cowgirl. Glorious.
After a cover attempt, Mickie went nuts and hit a flurry of moves on everyone and hit a hangman’s neck breaker for a two count but that was all. Mickie MASSACRED Victoria with an implant DDT for the win.
Winners: Mickie, Maria, Kelly & Michelle
A big old brawl happened and the girls celebrated but wait! Vince McMahon is coming down looking like someone crapped in his birthday cake. Vince is in pain.
He said last week he was supposed to celebrate one of his greatest creations, the fifteenth anniversary of Monday Night Raw. He said he was assaulted and humiliated instead. He said once more as he laid on the mat, every Raw superstar and person in the company came in to celebrate. He said he didn’t get it.
He said he didn’t understand how people could celebrate such a beating. He said he wasn’t an animal or a monster. He just didn’t get it. His feelings have been hurt. His heart is even broken. Dammit he’s a huuu huuuu huuuuman being. The crowd continued to boo him until Jeff Hardy’s music hit to a MONSTER pop.
He came down to the ring and stared McMahon in the face. Vince went to speak before Jeff took the mic from him. He said next week Vince was going to Iraq and asked him what happened when Saddam, a self serving control freak was toppled. He said they celebrated. He said no one gave him a choice and because he didn’t care about anyone, they don’t care about him in return.
Vince started to cry in the corner and we were left with that image as we went to commercial.
****Commercial****
We came back to Vince STILL in the ring pouting. William Regal and the referees are trying to get him out of the ring. Triple H’s music hit and here he comes. Vince is lip trembling crying now.
Triple H said he’d handle this. He said this was the closest thing he had left to family so it was all him. He said we needed to mark the time, Vince had officially flipped. He sat down in the corner with him and put his arm around him. Triple H apologized to him for ruining his portrait, making out with his daughter, then pouring beer on him, etc. He said it was ‘my bad’. He pleaded with him, for the love of god, to leave the ring before they canceled the show.
Regal interjected and told Triple H to leave the ring or he would…. Triple H got in his face. Regal said he’d get security to toss him from the building. Vince still has pouty face. Vince grabbed the mic and said he had a better idea in a hilarious voice. He told Regal to get Coach and the two of them would face Triple H and he hoped something bad happens tonight, something bad to Triple H and everyone in the crowd. The match is next.
****Commercial****
Triple H v. William Regal & Coach
Everyone’s in street clothes and button downs. This is hilarious.
So things started off and Coach got pelted right off the bat. Triple H hit a running knee on Regal before following him out to the ringside area and decking him on the announce table. Coach came flailing over but flailed to the mat in short order, but the distraction enabled Regal to capitalize.
Regal nailed a big boot on Triple H’s head up against the ring post before ripping and tearing at the game. Regal and coach kept on bringing the nasty stuff connecting with lefts and rights. Triple H hit a boot as Regal charged the corner and began cleaning house again.
Regal ate a face buster before Triple H tossed Coach into the corner and began bludgeoning him with lefts and rights. Regal has some brass knucks but it didn’t work out too well the first time and he got spine bustered. Coach grabbed the knucks but Triple H saw it the whole way.
He handed the knucks to Triple H while pleading with them. Triple H bounced them off of Coach’s head and pinned him with ease.
Winner: Triple H via pin fall
A video aired recapping the events between JBL and Chris Jericho in last night’s WWE Championship match.
****Commercial****
World Tag Team Championship
Cody Rhodes & Hardcore Holly v. Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch
Cade jumped Cody at the get go and began hammering him in the corner. Murdoch tagged in and subdued the feisty Rhodes in relatively short order but Rhodes flipped out of a back suplex attempt and tagged Holly.
Holly hit some big rights and some huge chops on Murdoch before Murdoch hit a boot to Holly’s face. Holly went for the Alabama slam before the ref got distracted and allowed the heels to hit a double team move on Holly.
Cade hit a pair of lariats before going for a quick cover attempt. Cade tagged in Murdoch and they hit their leg drop combo before Murdoch went back to work on Holly. Holly hit a drop kick and got the tag to Cody.
Cody cleaned house before planting Cade with a big bulldog for a two count. All hell broke loose but we finally ended up with Cody and Cade in the ring. Cade missed with a big lariat attempt and got laid out with the DDT and that’s all she wrote.
Winners and STILL World Tag Team Champions: Cody Rhodes & Hardcore Holly
****Commercial****
Flair’s on the mic and cuts a great promo. He puts over the guy in the back and says no matter what, we’re getting the Nature Boy every night because the night he gets beat, he needs to be the man. He says if he loses tonight…. Thank you.
****Commercial****
Career Match
Ric Flair v. Umaga
The two locked it up and Umaga tossed Flair aside but Flair just strutted. Flair came charging at Umaga with chops and slaps but it didn’t do him any good. Umaga tossed him into the corner and began pummeling Flair on the mat.
Umaga hit a series of head butts before kicking Flair’s head into the upper deck. He tossed Flair off the ropes and connected with a big boot before landing on the 16 time former champion with a splash for a two count.
Umaga slapped on the nerve hold and held the Nature Boy on the mat. Flair fought to his feet before buckling to his knees again. Umaga let go of the hold and clubbed Flair to the mat before Flair caught him charging into the corner. Umaga didn’t make the same mistake twice though, and connected with a lariat.
Flair fought back with some punches and chops but Umaga caught him in a Samoan Drop for a two count. Umaga hit a short belly to belly for yet another near fall and stomped on Flair as he rose to his feet.
Umaga kept up the pressure and hit a sit out splash on Flair’s best off the ropes and followed up with a second for good measure. He went back to the nerve hold and Flair’s getting beaten pretty badly. Umaga hammered away with head butts before hitting some big chops in the corner that flat backed Flair in short order.
Umaga smelled blood and went for the diving head butt, but Flair rolled out of the way to buy himself a little time to recover. Flair got to his feet first and unloaded with some chops before hitting a grizzly looking chop block on Umaga before hitting one more for good measure. Flair went for the figure four but couldn’t hold it in and was tossed aside.
Flair fell to the outside and got plowed into the ring post while Umaga hammered away on him. He set Flair up for the big running ass this time off the guard rail, but he missed completely and smashed through the barrier. Flair rolled to the ring and somehow beat the count, winning the match.
Winner: Ric Flair via count out
****Commercial****
Chris Jericho came out to the ring. He said he had Randy Orton beaten, but then JBL came in and stuck his nose where it didn’t belong. Jericho said he had some questions for JBL, but big surprise, he didn’t show up. He said since JBL wouldn’t show up here, he’d show up on Smackdown.
JBL popped up via Satellite. JBL said he was wasting his time. He said he couldn’t fathom his responsibilities and his life and he was nuts if he thought JBL would forgo all of that to come to Buffalo. He said Jericho put his hands on him, you play with fire, you get burnt. The two exchanged verbal niceties before JBL told Jericho he should only speak unless spoken to.
Jericho said he’d be at Smackdown on Friday. JBL said he makes deals. He said he talked to McMahon and while Chris had a heck of a match with Orton, he wouldn’t be getting a rematch. JBL saw to that. He said if Jericho showed up at Smackdown, Jericho wouldn’t be allowed to show up at the Royal Rumble. JBL mocked Jericho’s EVERRR thing while Jericho sat there.
Jericho called him a fat can, a guy who lost his edge. What happened to the most dominant WWE Champion in recent memory? What happened was that JBL wasn’t here because he became what he feared. He wasn’t a wrestling god, he was a wrestling afterthought.
JBL said he needed to sit at announce tables and put over matches with guys who couldn’t lace his boots. He said if he wanted to tug on Superman’s cape, JBL would be coming to Raw. He said if he wanted to save us, he needed to find out who would save him and Raw because he’s coming.
****Commercial****
Santino Marella (w/Maria) & Carlito v. London & Kendrick
Marella and Kendrick started us off. The two feigned kicks before Kendrick hit a slap to Santino’s face and connected with a deep arm drag. London tagged in and the two hit a double arm drag before London hit a standing moonsault.
London grabbed an arm bar only to eat and elbow from Marella breaking the hold. London started pinging around the ring and floored Marella with a drop kick, who tagged in his partner.
Carlito aggressively went at London in the corner and flat back him with an elbow. London his a crazy huricanranna before hitting a leap from tag combo to Kendrick who hit the rebounding Carlito with a cross body block. Santino used Maria as a shield on the outside, allowing Carlito to hit a BRUTAL back stabber on Kendrick for the win.
Winners: Carlito & Santino via pin fall
Santino put the ‘team’ over but Carlito didn’t look to be on board. Santino said he was Columbian. Then he said something about swapping spit with men and it being great. I’m for it. Santino keeps hugging him.
****Commercial****
WWE Champion Randy Orton is with Todd Grisham. Orton said he killed the virus of Chris Jericho last night. Grisham asked him about Jeff Hardy. Orton said he was pretty sure Hardy was pretty confident. But he’d defeated everyone he’d faced. He said he wasn’t the legend killer. He was the killer of hope. The killer of dreams. He said he’d find out that becoming the #1 contender was the worst thing that could have ever happened to him.
Triple H popped in on Ric Flair. Hunter said he wasn’t surprised in the least. Vince McMahon popped up behind Flair’s back looking deranged. On New Year’s eve he said, his career was going to be on the line. Against Triple H. Vince wished both a happy new year.
****Commercial****
Jeff Hardy & Shawn Michaels v. Mr. Kennedy & Randy Orton
Orton and Hardy surprisingly start this one off and Orton quickly hit’s a shoulder block but then ate a series of arm drags. Kennedy tagged in and locked horns with the number one contender and battered him into the corner.
Hardy hit a shoulder block and a front spinning leg drop for a quick one count but was able to hit a leg drop to the crotch to boot. Hardy slammed Kennedy into the buckles and hit a cross body for a two count but it was broken up by Orton. HBK came into aide his partner and we get a little high flying fun as we head to commercial.
****Commercial****
Hardy got a tag and exchanged whips with Kennedy before missing a whisper in the wind. Orton tagged in and he laid some seriously stiff junk down on Hardy’s head. Orton laid the boots to Hardy’s body before hitting a nasty knee to his face. Kennedy tagged back in and mocked Hardy while he hit some big boots.
Hardy hit a forearm off the rope before eating one himself and getting clothes lined. HBK hot tagged and started cleaning house. Orton hit a big flying forearm but got decapitated by a Kennedy clothesline. Kennedy got a two count before tagging the champion back in.
Orton laid a vicious beat down on HBK in the corner and flat backed him before slapping on the dreaded rear chin lock of doom. HBK got Irish whipped hard to the corner and flipped upside down and to the mat and almost ate a pin fall.
Kennedy tagged in and choked HBK out on the ring ropes before eating some chops. Kennedy retaliated and hit a BRUTAL face wash in the corner before going for yet another pin but it was broken up by Hardy. Kennedy slapped on a camel clutch while the crowd attempted to rally Michaels. Michaels hit a jaw breaker and some chops but had the super kick blocked. Kennedy went for the plunge but Michaels wiggled out and hit the enzeguiri.
Michaels got to the corner and tagged hardy while Orton got one as well. Hardy took out Kennedy and hung up Orton before flattening him with forearms. Hardy hit an inverted suplex for a two count but it got broken up by Kennedy. The two spilled over the top and it’s Orton and Hardy alone. Hardy and Orton exchanged finisher attempts but Hardy out countered the RKO and hit the twist of fate. Swanton bomb. End of match.
Winners: Jeff Hardy & Shawn Michaels via pin fallRAW THOUGHTS
Show Thoughts-- It was mostly a tale of two shows tonight.
The first hour wasn’t particularly bad, but it just had too much stuffed into one hour. We got like 20 people in various stuff and the crowd was just sort of caught off guard most of the hour. The Hardy appearance following the McMahon stuff followed by Triple H just seemed really awkward and sure, it was a pretty well done segment, but just didn’t flow well.
The tag match after that was well, an afterthought and almost TOO MUCH of a cool down. Once we got done with that though, the show really kicked up about six notches.
The Umaga-Flair match was very solid, basic stuff, with a great ending that keeps Umaga strong while keeping Flair alive. Well done. That transitioned pretty smoothly into the SEARINGLY good JBL-Jericho deal.
That feud right there is just good booking. JBL showing up on Raw gives it another strong heel dynamic while giving Jericho a feud that’ll draw well in it’s slot and serve as a good springboard for him in other endeavors once it’s over.
Jeff Hardy deserves a tip of the cap from me. I’ve been pretty harsh on him in the past and he’s won me over with an outstanding work ethic and a willingness to take advantage of every opportunity he’s been given this year. He won’t win the belt, but I’m confident he’ll manage something fun with Orton over the next few weeks and into the Rumble.
Vince’s depression thing is a re-hash of sorts, but I’m kinda happy they’re going back to it as we never really got to see how it all panned out. I mean heck, we already got Flair-Triple H out of it.
Speaking of mic work, it was all fantastic tonight. I can’t remember a night where this many folks cut this much quality stuff on the mic.
Again, there isn’t a lot to comment on. Just a super solid last two thirds of the show and in general a much hotter show than we usually get right after a pay per view. Certainly not one of the elite episodes, but a really good job on the part of the WWE by ripping some super solid stuff out of a show that didn’t start off on the best foot.
Overall Grade: B-
Quick Results
Mickie, Kelly, Michelle & Maria def. Melina, Victoria, Layla & Jillian Hall
Triple H def. Coach & William Regal
Cody Rhodes & Hardcore Holly def. Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch
Ric Flair def. Umaga
Santino Marella & Carlito def. London & Kendrick
Jeff Hardy & Shawn Michaels def. Randy Orton & Mr. Kennedy
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not?
Biggest Pops
1. Jeff Hardy
2. Triple H
3. Shawn Michaels
4. Chris Jericho
Most Heat
1. Vince McMahon
2. Randy Orton
3. Umaga
4. Mr. Kennedy
Match of the Night: HBK/Hardy v. Orton/Kennedy **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: Randy Orton 19-27-2 48pts. (Last Week: WWE Champion) -- Orton taking the loss is entirely appropriate tonight. It was needed to really establish Hardy as an absolutely legitimate threat to his title reign. Solid ring work and a great promo make for a strong night for the champion despite the loss.
Intercontinental Champion: Jeff Hardy 41-14, 77 points (Last Week: IC Champion)— Hardy’s record is ridiculously good and his push is finally reflecting that. A win over Triple H, a segment with Vince McMahon and a clean pin on the Wwe Champion translate into his strongest stretch ever.
1. Triple H 17-5, 38pts (Last Week: 1) -- Really his record and consistent string of good matches keep him in the top spot, even though it’s really secondary to Hardy’s hot streak these days. Just goes to show what a win over Triple H can do for someone.
2. Shawn Michaels 16-9-1, 30 points (Last Week: 2) —All in all, it was a really quiet night for Michaels. He carried the lion’s share of the main event work and transitioned nicely between his roles in the match, seeming to be more than willing to step aside and make Hardy look like the stud.
3. Chris Jericho 3-0, 6 pts. (Last Week: 5)-- Jericho is incredibly campy and cheesy, but he’s another guy whose been pretty darn solid since his return. The JBL feud is a potentially awesome piece of booking and works to his strengths in addition to getting him on track for some sort of concentrated push over time.
4. Umaga 21-23-1, 44 Points (Last Week: 3) The Samoan Bulldozer drops a spot, but the loss really doesn’t hurt him all that much. His character has a gimmick that’s really resilient but he’s in danger of floating a bit too much.
5. Ken Kennedy 6-15-1, 12 pts (Last Week: 4)-- While I wouldn’t go as far as to say the ship has been righted, they’ve at least stopped the bleeding. He put on a wholly solid match with Michaels last night and despite the hand, looked good tonight to boot. Keeping him around, but not in the main event is probably the best thing for him for now.
6. Hardcore Holly 7-2, 13 pts. (Last Week: 5) — For whatever reason, Holly and Cody isn’t really clicking with me although I can’t think of anything they should be doing with them that they’re not already doing. I dig the tag belts on Smackdown but on Raw the creative team just never can figure out where they want to begin. Case in point here again.
7. Cody Rhodes 12-6 21pts. (Last Week: 6) -- See Holly.
8. Ric Flair 4-5, 6 pts. (Last Week: NR) -- Is Flair even ON Raw? Do I care? I’m loving this streak oriented ending to his career. Totally the way for him to go out. Every new match up seems to be some sort of big question mark for him. I’m hoping on all hopes he gets a title shot out of this. Just one more time. Then I’ll shut up with the Flair man-love.
9. Santino Marella 6-11, 14pts. (Last Week: NR) -- I like this idea of a heel odd couple with Carlito. Gives both something to do and keeps their ring work more or less limited. Maria could be a good fulcrum here too, so here’s to hoping.
10. Carlito 14-21-4, 24 pts. (Last Week: 10) -- See Santino, mang.
OTHERS :
John Cena (28-9-1, 72 points) (Last Week: INJURED)
Jerry Lawler 3-1, 6pts. (Last Week: 10)
Lance Cade 11-19, 18pts. (Last Week: 8)
Snitsky 6-3, 12pts. (Last Week: NR)
Paul London 8-7, 10pts. (Last Week: NR)
Brian Kendrick, 7-8, 9 pts (Last Week: NR)
Trevor Murdoch 10-20, 19pts. (Last Week: 7)
Super Crazy 6-7-1, 9 points (Last Week: NR)
JTG 5-6, 6pts. (Last Week: RELEASED)
King Booker 3-6, 6 pts. (Last Week: RELEASED)
William Regal 3-2, 5pts (Last Week: NR)
Bobby Lashley 3-4 5pts. (Last Week: INJURED)
Big Shad 4-6, 4pts. (Last Week: RELEASED)
The Sandman 2-5, 4pts. (Last Week: RELEASED)
Ron Simmons 2-0, 4pts. (Last Week: NR)
Harry Smith 2-0, 3 pts. (Last Week: NR)
Jim Duggan 3-4, 5pts. (Last Week: NR)
Rory 2-5, 3pts. (Last Week: NR)
Charlie Haas 2-13-1, 3pts. (Last Week: NR)
Robbie 1-9 1pt. (Last Week: NR)
Shelton Benjamin 3-19-1, 3pts. (Last Week: NR)
Mick Foley 0-1-1, 0 pts. (Last Week: NR)
Sgt. Slaughter 0-2. 0 pts. (Last Week: NR)
Val Venis 0-5 0pts. (Last Week: NR)
Daivari 0-5, 0pts. (Last Week: RELEASED)