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» Reported by Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com
» On Monday, May 26, 2008 at 11:28 PM EST
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WWE RAW
May 26, 2008
Denver, CO
Commentators: Jim Ross & Jerry “The King” Lawler
Reported By: Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com
A video tribute to the troops aired before the opening credits and pyro hit.
Vince McMahon popped up on the titan tron. He put over the firing of William Regal and what WWE fans deserved. He said they deserved something called appreciation. He said tonight, he’d show us appreciation unlike they’ve ever seen before. He was even going to ask the superstars for feedback on it. He said he would have to do something that’s never been done in the business before and it would happen tonight.
Todd Grisham is in the ring and we’re going to get a face off between WWE Champion Triple H and Randy Orton. Grisham asked Orton what made him think he can beat Triple H this Sunday after digging on Orton for winning their last encounter at No Mercy in the same match for only wrestling two matches to Triple H’s three.
Orton said his accomplishments are downplayed. They’re all accompanied by an asterisk. He said this Sunday, people would stop laughing.
Triple H interjected and said people were laughing at him because he was an A--. Triple H said he knew Orton was great, but he knew that more than Orton. He said every time he saw Randy talk about how he was the best he knew Orton was just displaying his insecurities. Triple H said he needed to thrive on competition and rise to the occasion.
Orton cut him off and said when someone becomes a threat to Triple H, he makes them a threat or he eliminates him. He said he didn’t like Shawn Michaels, but he knows HBK can beat him, so he keeps him close. He said lucky for him, HBK is dumb enough to not realize what was going on. Evolution was the greatest organization in the history of the business, but Triple H broke him to pieces as soon as he became a threat.
Triple H said they took a small fish to swim in the ocean, but once he got there, the sharks were his to deal with. When it comes to the WWE Championship, it’s every man for himself. Triple H asked him if he expected him to hand the keys over to him and just not care. He said the law of the jungle was that the lion rules until a bigger, badder lion came along and ate him.
Orton said that Lion was coming on Sunday. He said he’d beat him within an inch of his life.
Triple H said that wasn’t the last word. The last word would be Sunday and not spoken. He said the Age of Orton would either go on, or the last seven months would mean nothing. He said this Sunday, it’d be like the Age of Orton never even existed.
Triple H posed in front of Orton and walked off, up the ramp.
Jeff Hardy & John Cena will take on Umaga & JBL later on tonight!
****Commercial****
Jillian Hall is in the ring and YES! SONG TIME! There’s air guitar and good god, that ruled. Beth Phoenix is on commentary.
Jillian Hall v. Melina
The two went right at it from the opening bell. Jillian whipped Melina to the buckles and hit her hand spring back elbow before bulldogging Melina. She kept up the pressure with a few hair pulls and tosses.
Melina grabbed a headlock take down, but Melina came back with some baby face-ish drop kicks and a back kick. She hit a bulldog of her own but found herself quickly scooped up on Jillian’s shoulders. Melina rolled through into a submission hold and got the tap out win.
Winner: Melina via submission
Beth and Melina stared each other down after the match.
Jericho and Vince McMahon in the back. Jericho requested a match tonight with Shawn Michaels. Vince loved the idea and the match is on. Jericho also recommended that Vince maybe consider changing up his theme music. Maybe with a more metal edge to it or even a scat theme. Cryme Tyme showed up and after a little choreographed singing with Vince and Jericho, took William Regal’s stuff off the walls for auction.
****Commercial****
Apparently over the commercial break, we had an auction of William Regal’s stuff and Ron Simmons even showed up to ‘damn’ us all.
World Tag Team Championship
Hardcore Holly & Cody Rhodes v. London & Kendrick
Rhodes and London started us off exchanging some headlock reversals before Cody uncorked an impressive drop kick on London’s face. London flipped out and tagged in Brian Kendrick who met Rhodes with a drop kick of his own. The two brawled around a bit before Hardcore Holly tagged in and laid some in on Kendrick.
Kendrick tried to get a flurry going but got turned inside out with a Holly lariat before Cody grabbed a tag and a scoop slam. Kendrick fought out of a headlock and almost hit sliced bread #2 but Cody fought out.
Holly and London snagged tags before London grabbed some head scissors before al hell broke loose. Kendrick and Rhodes ended up on the outside of the ring. London almost spilled over with the other two but caught the top rope and skinned the cat. Unfortunately for him, Holly was there waiting and caught him in an Alabama Slam and that was all she wrote.
Winners and STILL World Tag Team Champions: Cody Rhodes & Hardcore Holly via pin fall
All of a sudden The Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase’s music hit and he came out to the ramp. He put Holly and Rhodes on notice. He said last week he made a deal with Vince McMahon to bring a new talent onto the roster, his son, well, Ted Dibiase. He came out to the ring and said like his father, he’d hold Tag gold. He said everyone had a price except for him. Because he’s priceless. Great catch phrase.
****Commercial****
We came back to a training video with Roddy Piper and Our Cousin Sal. Jimmy Kimmel showed up to coach and Sal’s taking a real beating. Pretty funny stuff.
Mickie James is with Vince McMahon. Mickie thinks schools should send in tapes of why they love the WWE so much and if they win, maybe they get a Diva for a day or something. JBL walked in and said basically what she was proposing would be an escort service. JBL figured he’d give out some of the ring canvas especially that with Cena’s blood on it. JBL made a quip about Cena and Mickie and she’s pissed.
****Commercial****
A few video messages from the troops aired.
Jeff Hardy & John Cena v. JBL & Umaga
Umaga and Cena are starting things off here. The two started throwing some bombs before Cena went for an early FU, only to face plant under the weight of the Samoan. Umaga laid the boots to the former champion and beat him into the corner but missed a splash attempt. Cena went for a cross body only to get caught and slammed hard to the canvas for a near fall.
****Commercial****
We came back to Hardy getting a hot tag and he went straight at Umaga. Umaga caught him in the corner only to miss a splash attempt. Hardy fought off JBL on the outside before leaping into the ring, only to get knocked out of mid air and clatter down to the floor.
Back in the ring Umaga hit a big splash for a two count. JBL tagged in and hit a big boot to the mid section before laying in some nasty knees in the corner. JBL hit an Irish whip before gathering Hardy and clamping on an abdominal stretch. Hardy broke the hold barely before JBL picked him up and smashed him down to the canvas with a forearm smash and bit boot, earning himself a two count.
Hardy fought back with right hands and hit whisper in the wind to buy himself some time. Hardy got the hot tag to Cena who began dropping shoulders and a side slam. He knocked Umaga off the apron before lining up the five knuckle shuffle and connecting. Umaga stopped the party and took Cena to the outside but hardy grabbed a tag. He fanned on the Swanton bomb. JBL quickly recovered and smoked hardy with a clothesline from hell for the pin and the win.
Winner: JBL & Umaga via pin fall
Shawn Michaels was with Vince McMahon and he’s heard of the big announcement tonight. He said it was hard for him to grasp Vince doing something ‘decent’. Vince said by the end of the night, even HBK would have to give the devil his due. Michaels said Vince would know all about that.
****Commercial****
Kennedy’s out in the ring introducing himself to all of us.
Mr. Kennedy v. Carlito
Carlito came right at Kennedy and dropped some forearms on his back before whiffing on a back elbow. Kennedy went for a mic check, but Carlito fought out and hit his swinging neck breaker for a two count.
Carlito kept up the heat and booted Kennedy into the corner before snap maring him and slapping on a neck vice. Kennedy fought out of the hold and Kennedy hit a shot to the mid section and a Green bay Plunge for a two count. Kennedy ran at Carlito but got power slammed for a two count.
Carlito went for a back stabber, but Kennedy hit a knee lift to get out of it and then a quick mic check for a three count.
Winner: Mr. Kennedy via pin fall
Katie Lee came out to the ramp and began running down Kennedy for getting William Regal fired. Paul Birchall came out of nowhere and attacked Kennedy, telling him there’d be serious repercussions. Birchall curb stomped him, leaving him in a heap.
****Commercial****
Vince McMahon wants Trevor Murdoch to make sure every WWE superstar is out at the ring when he makes his announcement.
JR and King ran down the One Night Stand card.
A highlight video putting over the Randy Orton-Triple H saga aired.
****Commercial****
Chris Jericho v. Shawn Michaels
The two traded some headlock take downs before we get another stare down. Jericho grabbed an arm wringer but got tossed into the ropes and taken over with a hip toss. Jericho caught HBK with a hard elbow in the face of Michaels, before Jericho went for some springboard fun, but no one was home and he crashed to the outside of the ring.
****Commercial****
We came back to Jericho holding onto a rear chin lock on Shawn Michaels. Michaels fought back with some chops before reversing a clothesline into a back slide attempt for a two count. Jericho hit a step up enzeguiri for a two count before bullying HBK to the corner and hitting some shoulder thrusts. Jericho laid the boots in on the mid section of Michaels and once he got the licks in, whipped HBK and went for a bulldog, but HBK pushed him into the corner crotch first.
Michaels hit an inverted atomic drop before hitting his flying forearm. Michaels nipped up only to get caught by Jericho and almost found himself in the Walls of Jericho. HBK rolled through and rolled Jericho up for a two count, only for Jericho to fire back with a lion sault. Jericho missed the move but HBK topped him in the whiff department, completely missing his flying elbow drop.
Jericho ushered HBK to his feet before going for a code breaker. Michaels held onto the top rope and Jericho fell to the mat. HBK went for sweet chin music but Jericho ducked under and hit the walls of Jericho. Michaels almost tapped out and barely got to the bottom ropes. Jericho, frustrated, laid some boots in on Michaels. He went in and Michaels feigned a sweet chin music, but Jericho avoided it and kicked HBK to the outside. Jericho followed him to the outside and slapped on the walls until the referee counted both men out of the ring.
Winner: Double Count out
After the match, Jericho kept coming at Michaels and almost beat him with a chair. At the last moment, Jericho got hold of himself and helped Michaels to his feet. Jericho looked disappointed in himself as he walked to the back.
Vince is on his way to the ring to make his big announcement.
****Commercial****
All the superstars are on the ramp awaiting the arrival of Vince McMahon and here he comes.
Earlier tonight he said he had an idea. He wanted to show fans their appreciation for watching Raw. He said they deserved new superstars, rivalries, etc. He said we deserved to see everyone come here for the WWE Draft. But that’s not all.
We deserved something epic and monumental, and it may take a week to figure things out, but he always tells us it’s all about the money. He said what if every week he’d give away cash money? What about $1,000 every week or $10,000 every week? Why not $100,000? He said it wasn’t a hoax or a trick, but it was from his own personal bank account. He said each and every week he’d give away cash money in the sum of one million dollars. His music hit and, uh, that’s it?
RAW THOUGHTS
Show Thoughts-- So I’m kind of at a loss for words with this Raw as it was as weird a show as I can remember seeing in quite some time.
First thing that struck me as odd was the sheer quantity of segments we got tonight. It was like 2004 popped up all over again. And segments that were disjointed and frankly, just odd. McMahon acting happy? Is everyone acting like a tweener these days? Nothing really built to anything.
Maybe the Mexico trip took something out of the roster, but the matches weren’t so much bad as they were just ‘off’. Melina and Jillian were working on a five second delay with each other, same with the tag match and Jericho-HBK was really bizarre, especially the finish. Everything just seemed really strange tonight.
Even the blow off ‘epic’ announcement was meant with a collective ‘wha..’ by the crowd. Then the show just ended but not without such a casual announcement of the draft, if you hadn’t been listening, you’d have missed it. To an extent, especially on Holiday shows, you sort of expect WWE to pull their punches a bit, but tonight was frankly one of the stranger shows I’ve seen in some time.
That being said, there still was some good stuff here and there. The opening segment between Triple H and Orton was really good stuff from both and Ted Dibiase’s kid has himself one hell of a catch phrase but I’ll be damned if he doesn’t look more like an Orton.
All in all, just a strange show and hopefully after this weekend and the draft, we’ll get back to business as usual and pretend today didn’t happen.
Overall Grade: D+
Quick Results
Melina def. Jillian Hall
Cody Rhodes & Hardcore Holly def. London & Kendrick
JBL & Umaga def. John Cena & Jeff Hardy
Mr. Kennedy def. Carlito
Chris Jericho v. Shawn Michaels ended in a double count out
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not?
Biggest Pops
1. Triple H
2. Shawn Michaels
3. John Cena
4. Jeff Hardy
Most Heat
1. Randy Orton
2. JBL
3. Umaga
4. Carlito
Match of the Night: Chris Jericho v. Shawn Michaels **
Power Rankings
5 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: Triple H 11-7, 24pts.(Last Week: WWE Champion) --Pretty strong promo work from the Game tonight and it looks like he’ll probably be the guy who is standing after this Sunday.
Intercontinental Champion: Chris Jericho 9-10-1, 19pts. (Last Week: IC Champion)-- Just seemed off tonight. The ending sequence was fantastic but everything up to that point was full of stutter steps and dodges. Didn’t seem to be in the driver’s seat tonight.
1. Shawn Michaels 15-2-1, 20pts. (Last Week: 1) -- See Jericho. In fact, what the hell is Michaels doing after this weekend? I’m going to rumor monger here and say that Michaels might be the ’big name on the block’ to go to Smackdown.
2. Randy Orton 10-8-2, 20pts. (Last Week: 2) -- Decent promo work from Orton this week, but other than that, was pretty quiet.
3. JBL 9-10, 16 points (Last Week: 3)-- He was fantastic and one of the bright spots tonight, but it looked pretty obvious he and Hardy were lacking in communication. Anyone see the hesitation in the clothesline from hell tonight?
4. John Cena 9-7, 14 points. (Last Week: 4) -- Decent stuff from Cena tonight, but again, just seems to be killing time it seems.
5. Umaga 6-8, 11 points (Last Week: 5) -- First week in forever that Umaga looked a little iffy in there. Both him and Hardy looked like they were dragging.
6. Ken Kennedy 8-6, 17pts. (Last Week: 6)-- He’s the one guy who seems to just be clicking lately. I know I’ve been tough on the guy, but as a face he’s been entirely more entertaining for whatever reason and even managed to pull a decent little squash match out of Carlito.
7. Jeff Hardy 7-6-1, 14pts. (Last Week: 7)-- Stays put this week after taking the fall in the tag match. Another guy whom I feel could end up on Smackdown in the draft.
8. Santino Marella 4-3, 4 points (Last Week: 9) -- Moves up by default. Regal’s tumbled out of the top 10 and Carlito lost, opening up the way for Marella to move up.
9. Hardcore Holly 5-4, 5pts. (Last Week: NR)-- Moves back into the top 10 scoring the pin fall in the title match tonight.
10. Cody Rhodes 4-3, 4 points (Last Week: NR)-- A win gets him back in.
OTHERS:
Carlito 8-6, 12 pts. (Last Week: 10)
William Regal, 3-4, 9 points (Last Week: 8)
Paul London 3-4, 3 points(Last Week: NR)
Jerry Lawler 0-1, 0 points (Last Week: NR)
Lance Cade 0-5, 0 points (Last Week: NR)
Brian Kendrick, 3-8, 3 points (Last Week: NR)
Trevor Murdoch 0-7, 0 points (Last Week: NR)
Super Crazy 0-3, 0 points (Last Week: NR)
Paul Birch all 3-0, 6 points (Last Week: 10)
Harry Smith 0-1, 0 points (Last Week: NR)
Jim Duggan 0-1, 0 points (Last Week: NR)
Rory 0-2, 0 points (Last Week: NR)
Charlie Haas 0-1, 0 points (Last Week: NR)
Robbie 0-2, 0 points (Last Week: NR)
Mick Foley 1-0, 1 point (Last Week: NR)
Sgt. Slaughter 0-0. 0 pts. (Last Week: NR)
Val Venis 0-1 0pts. (Last Week: NR)
Snitsky 1-5, 2 points (Last Week: NR)
JTG 1-1, 3 points (Last Week: NR)
Big Shaad 1-1, 1 point (Last Week: NR)
Back To WrestleView.com
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