On Thursday, February 15, 2007 at 10:54 PM EST WWE RAW
February 15, 2007
Portland, OR
Commentators: Jim Ross & Jerry “The King” Lawler
Reported By: Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com
Vince McMahon’s music hit the arena and he came out to the ring to a chorus of boo’s. He thanks the fans for their ‘hospitality’ and introduced his (our) special guest tonight on Raw, Donald Trump. Trump’s ‘music’ hit the arena and he came out to and absolutely huge pop, and escorted by Torrie Wilson and Ashley. Vince excused them and told them to leave his ring.
Vince said he knew Donald was a fan of WWE and hosted Wrestlemania’s in the past, but he’s never actually stood in a WWE ring before, next to Mr. McMahon and he was willing to bet Trump was pretty intimidated by him. Trump said he definitely wasn’t intimidated by Vince. Vince said he doesn’t appreciate Trump stealing his catch phrase, his not being grateful for the great Rosie-Donald match, but most of all, he was pissed about Trump dropping thousands of dollars on the WWE audience on his show.
Trump said he was going to embarrass Vince some more because he was going to do it again tonight. Vince said the audience was undeserving and he had already put security on top of the arena to stuff any potential money drop. The crowd went berserk and chanted you suck while Trump encouraged them. Vince said Trump made reference to a business proposal so he suggested he get on with it.
Trump said he was taller than Vince, better looking than him and also a good deal stronger as well. He said he was challenging Vince to a match at Wrestlemania. Vince said he knew he had an ego but didn’t think it was that big. Trump said he was going to kick his ass. Vince said in his last match at hell in a cell, he broke a lot of stuff and his doctor said he couldn’t compete ever again inside a wrestling ring, so the answer was ‘no’. Vince said he had a counter proposal. He said since he couldn’t compete, he said he’d find a representative and he’d face Donald’s representative, one billionaire in each corner.
Trump said he didn’t like it. Vince was a rich guy, he was a richer guy. He said he was going to raise the stakes. Trump said Vince was scared of him. He said dealing in cash all the time got a little boring. He said if Vince loses, he’d get to shave his head, if Trump lost, Vince could shave his head. He said he wasn’t going to lose, so it wasn’t an issue. He said he had heard for a long time that Vince’s hair wasn’t really his and Vince had heard rumors about Trump’s hair not being real. He said they both knew they had wonderful locks and that at Wrestlemania we’d figure it all out. Vince asked the crowd what they thought and they popped big time in approval. Vince said ‘well then the answer is no”. Vince went to leave the ring saying he wasn’t up for the challenge and possibly being embarrassed by millions.
Trump said he always thought Vince had guts but turns out he doesn’t. He said Vince put on a match a few weeks ago with Trump and Rosie. He said he was upset because the female actress looked way better than Rosie did in real life, because Rosie is a complete and total dog. But he respected Vince’s guts for doing it. Now, he didn’t know if Vince was really a ‘man’.
Vince exploded and stormed into the ring and told us all that the match was on. Trump smiled at him and grabbed his hair and said ‘see you in Detroit’. He gathered his divas and left while McMahon gave us a bunch of McMahon looks in the ring. Great stuff.
****Commercial****
JR and King were shocked as they talked about the Trump-McMahon stipulation…
Mixed Tag Team Match
Johnny Nitro & Melina v. Super Crazy & Mickie James
Mickie and Melina didn’t waste any time while Super Crazy and Nitro tried to separate the two. Nitro and Crazy started off the match with Nitro getting a shoulder block take down to start things off. Crazy hit a monkey flip and rolled into the corner where Super Crazy pounced on him and hit 10 punches to the head.
Nitro caught Crazy and dumped him on the top rope and got a near fall from it. Nitro hit two leg drops before going for another cover attempt and again, the insane luchadore kicked out. Nitro shoved Crazy into the ropes and for whatever reason, into Mickie James. Crazy ducked under a clothesline attempt and hit a hurricanranna. Nitro tagged in Melina, which means we’re getting the girls now.
Melina whipped Melina all over the ring by the hair before Mickie hit her Lou Thesz press on Melina and hit a bunch of punches to Melina’s face. Nitro came running in once Mickie went for her implant DDT but Crazy dumped him to the outside. Melina shoved Mickie off her but ended up being tossed to the outside into Nitro’s arm. The faces hit a double baseball slide drop kick before chaos broke out on the floor.
Crazy ended up eating a ring post allowing Melina to get back into the ring with Mickie and hit a snap back breaker and score the pin for the victory.
Winners: Johnny Nitro & Melina via pin fall
A video recap aired of HBK winning a title shot against John Cena at Wrestlemania 23 last week in a triple threat match against Edge and Randy Orton.
JR and King announced a big 8-Man tag team main event later tonight.
****Commercial****
The Great Khali v. Eugene
Eugene offered a teddy bear to Khali but the big man would have no part of it. He decked Eugene before laying him out with a massive clothesline before picking him up by the throat and tossing him like a toy to the mat. He put his boot on the chest and scored the win.
Winner: The Great Khali via pin fall
We’re getting an interview with HBK next!
****Commercial****
HBK was in the back and shilled the new and improved DX dvd. He recapped his Wrestlemania history and said that tonight he’d show everyone in the crowd and in the match what he was all about. He said Mr. Wrestlemania has arrived.
Todd Grisham was with Ric Flair and asked him about what he meant when he trashed Carlito last week. Carlito interrupted the interview and said Flair owed him an apology and that what he said last week wasn’t cool. He said when he said that about Carlito, he was definitely wrong. Flair said he was a clown. He said Carlito was like half the locker room, all the talent, but no guts and no passion. Carlito challenged him to a match tonight. Flair said he was walking around WWE for two years with his head between his legs walking on his tip toes and for the first time in his life, he stood up. He said ‘let’s do it!’ and walked off giving a ‘wooo’.
****Commercial****
Chris Masters v. Jeff Hardy
If Masters wins, he gets a title shot against Hardy for the Intercontinental Championship.
Masters jumped Hardy at the outset and came after him with clubbing blows. Hardy fought him off and sent him to the outside of the ring. Hardy launched himself over the top rope and clattered into Masters. He quickly regained his bearings and went to beat on Masters in the corner, but the owner of the Master lock grabbed him by the legs and power bombed him hard to the mat.
Masters assaulted the lower back and put the boots to Hardy and capped off the work wit ha back body drop and a cover attempt. Masters sank a knee into the small of Hardy’s back and slapped on a chin lock. Hardy wiggled out with a jaw breaker and followed it up with some clotheslines and the cork screw mule kick.
Masters reversed an Irish whip but got caught with a boot to the face. Hardy leapt to the top rope but Masters pushed him and crotched him on the top turnbuckle. Masters sank the Masterlock in while Hardy was sitting on the buckles and dragged him off. Hardy fought back and was able to get himself into the ropes to break the hold.
Masters went for a suplex from the apron but Hardy wiggled out and rolled him up out of nowhere for the win.
Winner: Jeff Hardy via pin fall
****Commercial****
Jerry “The King” Lawler introduced Rowdy Roddy Piper as the man who ‘kicked cancer’s ass’. Piper came out to the ramp and looked sincerely emotional, not the usual Piper over play thing. The crowd gave him a standing ovation and Piper told them it was nice to be home. He said Portland was a place of class. He introduced us to the first inductee to the Hall of Fame this year. It’s Dusty Rhodes. A video played putting over Rhodes’ career before Dusty came out to the ring to another really big pop.
Rhodes said he was ‘humbled’ to be in the building and in the presence of Rowdy Roddy Piper. He said this was a celebration of life and living. He said it made his back crack, liver quiver, etc. He said he had a dream growing up and that was to tell people that dreams do come true. Umaga’s music hit and he came out to the ring.
Umaga stared down Piper who backed off a little bit. Piper distracted Umaga while Rhodes tried to assault him. Umaga hit Rhodes right in the throat and then lined Rhodes up in the corner for the running bump butt. Piper came at Umaga with a chair and it didn’t work. Piper got similar treatment and then the samoan spike. As Piper went into dream land, Umaga noticed Dusty Rhodes coming to so he gave him one too while the crowd boo’d big time.
****Commercial****
JR and King bemoaned how disgraceful Umaga’s actions were before the break.
Carlito v. Ric Flair
The two locked right up and Carlito pushed him into the corner. Flair reversed the hold and slapped Carlito before Carlito went a little spazzy and charged Flair to the opposite corner and hit some shoulder thrusts. The two went back and forth before Carlito planted Flair with a big drop kick and went for a cover.
Carlito went for the suplex but Flair kicked out yet again. Carlito pounded away at Flair on the mat before whipping to the corner. He dragged Flair out and something went awry in communication before Flair fought back with some chops. Flair was whipped into the ropes but put on the breaks and Carlito crashed and burned on the drop kick attempt. Flair chopped him to the mat and hit a back elbow coming off the ropes.
Flair hit some lefts and rights with more chops n the corner. Flair was whipped sternum first into the buckles and Carlito went for the back cracker but Flair held on and Carlito crashed to the mat. Flair rolled Carlito up for the pin fall and the victory.
Winner: Ric Flair via pin fall
After the match, Carlito reluctantly offered his hand to Flair and congratulated him on the win. He looked visibly upset after the match.
****Commercial****
Melina was complaining with Johnny Nitro about how there wasn’t any media to cover her announcement that she’d be facing Mickie James for the Women’s title next week.
Ashley was in the back with Todd Grisham and spent time putting over her Playboy cover girl shoot. She’ll be unveiling her cover on Smackdown this Friday. Todd Grisham asked her if there was just one word to describe her Playboy experience.
MVP and Kennedy were talking in the back before Rated RKO waltzed in and welcomed them to the “A-Show”. MVP said the A show was whatever show he decided to be on. Kennedy got in Orton’s face until Edge cut them all off. He said they all had what everyone in that room wanted and that was a title or a title shot. He said anything could happen between now and then. He said they may be have-nots right now, but they had the power to change that.
****Commercial****
A video recap aired of the Trump-McMahon confrontation.
8-Man Tag Team Match
Batista, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels & John Cena v. Mr. Kennedy, MVP, Randy Orton & Edge
We came back from commercial to see Taker making everyone his b!tch. He connected with old school on Kennedy before tagging in HBK who landed a few chops before gathering Kennedy in the corner and putting some punches on his teeth. HBK sent Kennedy into the ropes but got caught with his head down.
MVP tagged in and HBK’s going to get the beat down again. MVP put the boots to HBK before getting caught with a swinging neck breaker. HBK dropped a knee before getting caught himself with a back elbow. MVP scurried to the corner and tagged in Edge who put a pretty mean beat down on Michaels in the corner. He went for a spear, but put on the breaks when Michaels got out of dodge. Edge turned around just in time to get decked with an enzeguiri from HBK who managed to make the tag to Batista.
Batista began tossing Edge around and connected with a monster power slam. He whipped Edge to the buckles but missed the follow up. Edge mounted the buckles and came with a drop kick but Batista side stepped it and gave him a spine buster. Every heel came in to the ring and each one ate a spine buster. Batista gave the thumbs down before heading to commercial.
****Commercial****
We came back to Batista tagging in WWE Champion John Cena who was looking for a five knuckle shuffle on Edge. Cena went for the FU but Randy Orton pulled him over from the outside and Edge hit the Edge-O-Matic before tagging in Orton who went for the cover. Orton whacked away at Cena on the mat before tagging in MVP.
MVP hit some punches to Cena’s mid section before clamping on a neck vice and landed some knees to the solar plexus. MVP cinched in the neck vice even tighter and tried to keep the match on the mat. Cena fought out and hit a jaw breaker, but MVP tagged Kennedy before Cena could get to his corner.
Kennedy laid the boots to Cena in the corner before hitting a face wash. Kennedy went for the cover but Cena kicked out. Orton tagged in and hit a nice standing drop kick but Cena kicked out. Orton hit some punches in the corner before whipping Cena to the buckles. Cena got a foot to Orton’s face but Orton killed him with a lariat and went for a cover. Edge tagged in and Cena’s in some trouble.
Edge put the boots to Cena and put him in a reverse chin lock. The crowd got behind Cena who fought back a bit and managed to get a clothesline up but Edge was thinking the same thing. The two hit and laid each other out. Cena made the tag to Taker who came in and killed everyone. HBK tagged himself in and Taker didn’t like it. HBK wanted to show off a bit too and hit his elbow. All hell broke loose when he went to tune up the band.
Everyone was in the ring at once but Taker didn’t like HBK crossing him so he went to choke slam him. MVP came in so Taker decided to choke slam him instead and connected. Randy Orton, noticing the lack of friendliness on the face team, shoved HBK into Taker, sending Taker crashing to the outside. HBK reeled around quickly though and nailed Orton with sweet chin music for the win.
Winners: Shawn Michaels, Batista, The Undertaker & John Cena via pin fall
After the match Taker took exception to Michaels hot-shotting and choke slammed him stupid. Cena didn’t like Taker beating his partner around like that so he came at Taker fists flailing. Batista came in and cut his raping a$$ off and whipped him into the ropes so Taker could kill him with a big boot to the face. Batista gathered the WWE Champion and Batista Bombed him to the mat, leaving the Raw superstars in shambles in the middle of the ring. RAW THOUGHTSShow Thoughts-- To be honest, I’m really enjoying the Trump-McMahon ‘feud’ if you want to call it that. As cheesy as it is and as big a wash as I’m sure the match at Wrestlemania may be, it’s still been a fun program that gives Wrestlemania a ‘big’ feeling again. I’ve enjoyed nearly all the ridiculous segments.
--There wasn’t much in the way of development in the three main programs which was a little odd, but at least they broke the action at the end to hype the No Way Out show a little bit heading into the pay per view no one remembers this Sunday.
--Umaga is a total heat magnet and one hell of a worker but I hope to god they don’t waste him on the ‘legends’ at Wrestlemania. Umaga put on the best WWE title program with Cena in a few years at the Rumble and I’m hoping they don’t screw up the opportunity to capitalize on his momentum.
--I’m really intrigued to see which way they go with Hardy’s challenger at Mania as well. With Chris Masters and Super Crazy white hot right now, and Nitro and Carlito capable of turning it on when needed, I’d like to see some sort of round-robin tournament of sorts between the four to determine the challenger.
--Khali keeps looking strong but the monster quotient on Raw seems a little crowded with Umaga and Khali inhabiting the same brand. I thought Umaga’s segment with the legend was a much bigger heat magnet and took away a little from Khali’s total beat down of Eugene.
--The Flair-Carlito thing intrigues me, but there’s just not much more to comment on this week.
Overall- B- --- Overall this was a solid but not altogether spectacular Raw. Perfectly passable and a ‘fun’ night even though they really didn’t get anywhere story line wise. I loved the Trump-McMahon segment and the crowd seemed super hot for everything all night, which really added to the show. Portland crowds in general are sometimes a little dead but they were pretty into everything tonight. It was a fun show for what it was, so no real complaints.
Quick Results
Johnny Nitro & Melina def. Super Crazy & Mickie James
The Great Khali def. Eugene
Jeff Hardy def. Chris Masters
Ric Flair def. Carlito
The Undertaker, John Cena, Shawn Michaels & Batista def. Randy Orton, Edge, MVP & Kennedy
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not?
Biggest Pops
1. Shawn Michaels
2. The Undertaker
3. John Cena
4. Donald Trump
Most Heat
1. Umaga
2. Mr. McMahon
3. Kennedy
4. Rated RKO
Match of the night: Eight Man Tag Match **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 (5-3, 12 points) (Last Week: WWE Champion)—For the most part, Cena got a pretty relaxing night off with the exception of briefly playing the baby face who gets his head kicked in. That’s fun.
Intercontinental Champion: Jeff Hardy (8-1, 19 points.) (Last Week: IC Champion)— I’m kind of intrigued by this whole “He who beats Hardy can challenge him” stuff but I wish it was a little more structured. To be honest, Raw has the kind of talent that they could pull off a mid card tournament to see who gets a stab at him. Considering two or three guys haven’t been able to get the job done, it could create some interesting stuff. Masters, Super Crazy, Nitro and Carlito could all benefit from it a bit I think.
1. HBK 4-2, 6 points (Last Week: 1)—I loved the subtle “Top this” attitude between Taker and HBK tonight. Fun stuff. The angle at the end set up nicely for the No Way Out pay per view this weekend.
2. The Great Khali, 4-0, 7pts. (Last Week: 3 )— Khali gets his big pin and thus far is the only undefeated guy on the roster this year and appropriately so I guess. He still seems a little direction-less but I’d say he’s probably the running favorite to be Vince’s stooge at Wrestlemania. .
3. Umaga 3-2, 5 Points (Last Week: 2 )— I’m dropping Umaga this week not so much because he wasn’t great in his segment tonight, but I can’t rationalize his being higher than Khali having fewer wins, more losses and fewer points. That and he seems to have taken a bit of a back seat while creative figures out what to do with him. If they’re looking to pull a good match out of this Trump-McMahon feud at Mania, this is the guy they should be using.
4. Edge 2-4, 6pts. (Last Week: 4)— Edge definitely looked like the glue holding the heel team together tonight. It makes him look like the big dog in the yard. Nothing really cooking for him other than that tonight though.
5. Randy Orton (1-4 , 4 pts.) ( (Last Week: 5)-- In possibly the worst move of the night, Orton took the fall again this week and it makes the fourth time he’s taken one this year blatantly. Whenever Edge or Orton team, you can bet Orton’s laying down. It’s happening way too much. They had MVP who’s really a mid carder in there tonight and not on the brand. Having him take the fall would’ve kept Orton looking strong for his feud with Edge. He’s 1-4 and really hasn’t won or looked strong at all this year. They might want to keep a lid on it.
6. Ric Flair, 2-3, 4pts. (Last Week: 10) — Flair’s the biggest jumper this week thanks in part to the blood letting in front of him. Masters and Super Crazy both lost and Flair defeated Carlito himself. He holds a key win over a dormant Dykstra so he vaults all the way to #6 this week. Flair’s looking recharged again.
7. Super Crazy (3-3, 5 points) (Last Week: 6) —Crazy looked pretty darn on task tonight but suffers a slight set back losing a tag match with Mickie James. Most definitely not the end of the world, but breaks his unbeaten streak at three.
8. Kenny Dykstra 3-4, 6pts. (Last Week: 8) — Quiet night for the youngster who was kept off the air tonight.
9. Chris Masters, 3-4, 6 pts. (Last Week: 7) )— I’m kind of surprised Masters lost to Hardy tonight as he seems like the perfectly logical guy for Hardy to face at Wrestlemania. He’s working well lately and is the kind of guy who can carry a Mania feud on the stick, which is something Hardy can’t do. Unfortunately, they tossed him out there with Hardy, who couldn’t keep his feet off the gas tonight and made Masters look slow and pretty darn clueless until the finishing sequence. If it’s not going to be Masters who gets the title shot, I’m going to be interested to see who gets it.
10. Johnny Nitro, (2-4, 2pts ) (last week NR)— Nitro climbs into the top 10, but barely. He’s hanging on by a thread. Winning a mixed tag and not being the guy who gets the winning fall doesn’t exactly vault you up the rankings.
DROPPING OUT: Carlito 2-5, 4pts. (Last Week: 6)