» Reported by Adam Martin of WrestleView.com
» On Tuesday, April 6, 2004 at 2:41 AM EST

Full WWE RAW Results - 4/5/04
LIVE from: Houston, Texas
Commentators: Jim Ross & Jerry "The King" Lawler
Report by: Peter H. of WrestleView.com

Video recap of last week’s main event when Shelton Benjamin defeating HHH (In my opinion, best match of 2004)

Raw pyrotechnics go off as we are live from Houston TX.

JR and the King announce a 7 woman battle royal for the #1 contendership for the women’s title.

HHH comes out before his music plays. He enters the ring and recaps what happened last week and calls it a “fluke”. HHH focuses on the main event at Backlash saying that Benoit will not walk out of Backlash the World Champ. Before he can continue out comes Shelton Benjamin and he is dressed to fight. He introduces himself to HHH as the guy who pinned HHH last week. He challenges HHH to a rematch tonight. HHH says he is doing him a favour and declines. Shelton asks again and HHH accepts. Shelton says that after tonight when he beats HHH for a 2nd time, HHH can refer to him as Mr. Benjamin.

Commercial

Recap of the WWE trip to Mexico

Chris Benoit comes out for our first match (billed as now residing from Atlanta, GA. “my comments to follow”)

Chris Benoit vs. Ron Conway

Conway and Grenier both come out for this match and out comes Johnny Nitro as the referee (with Nitro music). Nitro grabs the mic and introduces himself as Johnny Nitro. If Benoit touches Nitro, he will be stripped of the World Title. We see some interference by Grenier on the outside giving Conway the advantage. Conway in control using a reverse neck breaker submission move on Benoit, he escapes and gives Conway a huge German suplex. Benoit outwrestling Conway (duh) and gets a really slow two count. Benoit suplexes Conway and Conway knocks out Nitro in the process. Both members of La Resistance use an awesome double team move on Benoit. Another ref runs down and counts to two. After Conway is thrown into the ropes, Benoit puts him in the Crossface for the win.

Winner: Chris Benoit

Bischoff is in his office when William Regal comes in. Apparently Bischoff wants Regal to manage Bischoff’s nephew, Eugene Dinsmore (Nick Dinsmore from OVW, one of the greatest OVW Wrestlers ever) Regal accepts and leaves in search of him

Commercial

Countdown clock reaches zero and out comes Chris Jericho for our next match.

Chris Jericho vs. Matt Hardy

Christian and Trish come out with a recliner and it looks like they will be watching from the ramp. Hardy gets the early advantage and uses his speed to land a few nice moves to start the match. Jericho fights back and hits a few signature moves before Hardy fights back. Jericho catches a Matt Hardy kick and applies the Walls of Jericho for the victory.

Winner: Chris Jericho

Christian and Trish make out at the top of the ramp to piss off Jericho

Commercial

JR and the King announce that the HHH/Benjamin will have everyone banned from ringside. They introduce a pre taped promo from Mick Foley

He is sitting in a rocking chair with a yellow rose and a present. He cuts a promo on Randy Orton defining the term Hardcore. Foley’s promo is one of his best, definitely a must see (reminds me of his infamous “Cane Dewey” promo) Foley opens the present which is his baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. He describes what he is going to do to Orton as he destroys the set with the bat

Orton is seen in the back watching the monitor extremely nervous. Flair and Batista try to cheer up Orton while HHH says “watch this”.

HHH vs. Shelton Benjamin is next

Commercial

Triple H vs. Shelton Benjamin

Ric Flair is in the ring talking to Lillian Garcia. She introduces Flair as the special guest ring announcer. Flair says that anyone not on official business that comes down to the ring will be punished by Bischoff. Batista is announced as the guest time keeper. Randy Orton is announced as the official trainer. He is carrying his IC Title along with a stool, metal bucket, and a bottle of water. He introduces the two combatants and here we go. HHH uses his strength to gain the early advantage. Benjamin uses his quickness to get the advantage back and lands a couple of quick pinfalls. HHH uses a reversal and throws him to the outside. Batista attacks Benjamin on the outside as HHH distracts the ref. Benjamin crawls back in at 9 and HHH goes on the offense. Back and forth moves now with Benjamin getting thrown outside this time with Orton beating on Benjamin. He gets back in at 9 and HHH goes on the offense yet again. Benjamin lands an insuguri then a big splash in the corner. HHH falls outside so Benjamin takes the fight outside. They brawl until HHH goes down. Benjamin slingshots HHH into the ring post and then crawls back in the ring, but before HHH can get back in the ring the ref calls for the bell. HHH has been counted out and Benjamin has been awarded the count out victory.

Winner: Shelton Benjamin

Evolution is upset and lays down a 4 on 1 beat down leaving Benjamin a bloody mess. After a couple of minutes Foley, Benoit, and HBK run down for the save but the damage has already been done

Commercial

Lita comes out and it looks like its battle royal time. Before the match, Bischoff says that Foley, Benoit, and HBK will be punished in the middle of the ring tonight for their actions

Women’s Battle Royal (Lita, Jazz, Nidia, Molly Holly, Stacy Keibler, Gail Kim (announced as being from Korea), Trish Stratus)
- Winner getting a title shot at Backlash vs. Victoria

Before the bell can ring, we go to a

Commercial

We come back to see Lita eliminate Jazz leaving herself and Trish left in the ring. During the commercial everyone /* was eliminated. Lita and Trish go back and forth until Jericho comes down to ringside. As Jazz is being helped by both referees Jericho trips up Trish which allows Lita to toss Trish from the ring

Winner: Lita

We see a Smackdown Rebound showing the Kurt Angle Great American award nominees and how everything went down.

Regal is shown in search of Eugene and finally finds him. Eugene appears to be legally retarded. Regal and Eugene are going to talk to Uncle Eric.

Commercial

Out comes the Coach as he joins the announce team. Coach recaps what happened to him by Tajiri last week. Out comes Tajiri for our next match

Tajiri vs. Christian

Before this match, Christian tells Trish in the back to not worry about the battle royal and to inform her that the match at Backlash is a Handicap match.

As for the match, Tajiri uses a couple of stiff kicks to get going. Christian gets going with a couple of nice punches and heel tactics before the Coach comes down to the ring. Good back and forth match with Tajiri hitting the tarantula. Coach trips up Tajiri which allows Christian to hit the un-prettier for the victory.

Winner: Christian

Commercial

JR and the King recap the Backlash Card

Edge vs. Kane

Randy Orton vs. Mick Foley
- IC Title Match
- Hardcore Match

Victoria vs. Lita
- Women’s Title

Christian & Trish vs. Chris Jericho

Chris Benoit vs. HBK vs. HHH
- World Title Match

Regal goes to talk to Bischoff to complain about Eugene. Bischoff says that if Regal wants to be on Raw, he will manage Eugene. Bischoff wants to see him and Regal says he is outside. Bischoff says that you can’t take your eyes off of Eugene. They go to check on him and he is gone. Johnny Nitro who was in Bischoff’s office says that he is out with JR and King. King comments that Eugene is wacky, Eugene says wacky….bushwacky……..bushwhackers and proceeds to lick the King bushwhacker style. Regal gets Eugene and apologizes and takes him to the back

Commercial

Kane comes out for our next match

Kane vs. Rhyno

Kane gets on the offensive real quick and tries to work on the shoulder area of Rhyno. Rhyno throws Kane into the ropes and the middle rope actually breaks off. Rhyno goes and hits the gore for a two count. Kane regains the advantage and hits the choke slam for the quick victory

Winner: Kane

Out comes Edge wearing a cast and he attacks Kane. Kane tries to break the other hand of Edge but Kane gets the cast right between the eyes

Benoit finds HBK backstage and they talk about last week and Backlash. Foley joins them with his bat and the three walk down the hall but Johnny Nitro cuts them off. He says to Foley no weapons, so Foley gives him the bat but not before giving Nitro a stiff warning.

Commercial

Recap package of the Walking Tall Premiere with the Rock

Out comes Eric Bischoff and he is pissed. He enters the ring and demands that Benoit come out right now. Bischoff then calls out Mick Foley next. Bischoff then calls out HBK and we are all set to go here. Bischoff announces a 8 man tag match next week

Evolution vs. HBK, Foley, Benoit, Shelton Benjamin

HHH’s music plays and out he comes with a sledge hammer. He signals for the other members of Evolution to come out but no one comes out. They sneak through the crowd and the numbers game is played with the heels ending up on top leaving the faces laying to end the show

Results
- Chris Benoit defeats Ron Conway via submission
- Chris Jericho defeats Matt Hardy via submission
- Shelton Benjamin defeats HHH via count out
- Lita win the 7 Diva battle royal eliminating Trish to win
- Christian defeats Tajiri
- Kane defeats Rhyno


Thoughts
- What the hell is WWE doing by billing Benoit from Atlanta, Conway from Quebec City and Gail Kim from Korea?
- Also they advertised the Rundown contest during the commercial but the entry deadline was 4-1-04

See ya next week

Peter H.