» On Tuesday, April 26, 2005 at 12:08 AM EST WWE RAW 4-25-2005
Commentators: Jonathon Coachman and Jerry “The King” Lawler.
Live! From Birmingham, UK
Reported by: Hunter Golden of Wrestleview.com
Batista’s music hits the arena and he comes out to some new machine gun like pyro. The coach and King put over his match at Backlash with Triple H as Batista played to the crowd. The crowd was really popping for him.
Batista grabbed the mic and after a brief interruption, Batista cited the fact that he was in England. He said he was there to honor a ‘great man’. He said the man’s accomplishments often went unrecognized and that he put his body on the line for the wrestling business. He said that the man did in one night, what took him two years, and he introduced Jim Ross.
JR came down to the ring with King giving him a standing ovation. A clip was shown of JR pinning Triple H on last week’s Raw. Batista hugged JR and put on his cowboy hat. Batista said that JR deserved the ovation that he got. He said that everyone knew how good an announcer he was, but that we didn’t know he had wrestling skills. Batista put over the fact that he beat a ten time World Heavyweight Champion. He went on to say it took guts to get in the ring, take the beating he did, getting in the ring with Triple H. He said that he deserved the ovation he got before Triple H’s music hit the ring. He appeared on the ramp with a mic shortly thereafter.
He said that he had it with ‘this crap’. Batista said that it was a real surprise to see Triple H as “a$$hole” chants reigned down. Batista said he wondered what took him so long as the crowd chanted his name. Triple H asked if he thought he was funny. Batista cut him off on the subject of backlash, that since JR beat Triple H last week, that he was the number one contender and that Triple H didn’t deserve the shot.
Triple H went to remind him who he was and Batista then cut him off again and showed a clip of JR pinning Triple H again. Triple H, obviously irate, stood there as Batista raised JR’s hand in the ring. Triple H went to speak again and Batista cut him off yet again, laughing at him and asked the tech crew to play the footage of last week’s match again.
Triple H on the verge of snapping, looked on again as Batista taunted him again, raising JR’s arm. Triple H then made his way to the ring looking to get it on with Batista. He got to the bottom of the ramp and paused while continuing to take his shirt off. Batista stood ready in the ring. After looking around, he left back up the ramp apparently being too intimidated to come in the ring and backed up while the Birmingham crowd chanted the ‘goodbye’ song.
Triple H told Batista that at Backlash, his ass was his. Batista said he didn’t think so and that at Backlash “this is mine”, holding up the World Heavyweight Championship belt. Batista stood in the ring raising the belt while Triple H talked trash from the stage.
King and Coach then put over the fact that there would be an interview with the ‘dream team’ of Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels coming up next!
****Commercial****
JR came back to the announce booth and put over the fact that this was a big week for Trish Stratus. They played a clip of last week’s interference by Viscera on behalf of the WWE Women’s Champion. JR talked about the date the two had this week. The clip of Viscera kissing Trish got a big chuckle from the crowd.
JR and King announced that at Backlash, Kane and Viscera would meet with Lita in Kane’s corner and Trish in Viscera’s corner.
A clip then showed Trish at a restaurant somewhere and Trish asked if the host had seen ‘a 500lb. Man’. Viscera then showed up in a suit and said he went to the drug store. Trish thought he was sick so they needed to postpone the date. Viscera said he didn’t go to the drug store to get a prescription, that he needed to get ‘these’ and pulled out a huge roll of condoms. He asked the waiter to seat them in a ‘very’ romantic place.
Chris Jericho’s music hit the arena to a big pop.
Chris Jericho v. Sylvain Grenier
JR and King put over Jericho’s match with Shelton Benjamin at Backlash this Sunday as Grenier made his way to the ring.
Grenier jumped Jericho and went to work on him in the corner with some stomps and then choked him out with his boots. He whipped him into the turnbuckle and hit a flap jack. Jericho then countered on the mat with a roll up for a near follow. Jericho followed up with some chops before getting caught in a back sumplex and a cover. Grenier then slapped on a rear chin lock with the crowd urging Jericho on.
Jericho fought out of it with some elbows but was countered with Grenier. He whipped Jericho into the ropes but Jericho caught a roll up. Jericho then headed into the ropes and hit Grenier with three shoulder blocks. He backed Sylvain into the corner and hit some chops before whipping Grenier into the corner and hitting his modified bulldog. He went for the Lion-sault and missed but his the running enzeguiri.
Jericho went for the cover but Rob Conway distracted the ref. Jericho hit is springboard dropkick on Conway. Grenier came at Jericho but he caught him in the Walls of Jericho and got the tap out victory.
Winner: Chris Jericho via submission
After the match La Resistance went after Jericho and Shelton Benjamin came in for the save. Jericho and Shelton then stared each other down and Jericho slapped Shelton. Shelton then grabbed Jericho and nailed him with the T-bone sumplex to surprising boos from the crowd as Benjamin looked down at Jericho saying “who’s the b!tch now!?”
****Commercial****
We came back to Viscera and Trish sitting at the restaurant with menus. Viscera complimented Trish on her hair and Trish said that the way he took care of Kane was great last week. The waiter then went to take orders and Trish made fun of him by mocking his accent and said something about mashing. Viscera laughed and said that he was the kind of guy who loved to ‘mash’ gyrating his hips. Viscera said that he enjoyed ‘eating’. Trish called him the horniest guy on the planet and then asked Trish if she was going to eat her rolls. Trish said he could have a bite and he took a roll and ate it.
Tyson Tomko was in the back psycing Christian up for his main event match. Ric Flair stormed in and said that Triple H was mad. He told Capt. Charisma that they had to beat Batista to a pulp tonight to soften him up for Batista. Christian said Triple H wouldn’t be doing anything that that it was going to be his match. He told Flair not to look at him like that in his dressing room. He said he might want to tell Triple H that maybe he would want to be drafted to Smackdown so that maybe he could beat Michael Cole. Tomko then removed Flair from the locker room.
****Commercial****
Christian’s music hit and he came down the ramp with Tyson Tomko.
Christian said that he was smarter then the Brits and complimented them on their teeth. He said that he told McMahon last week that he deserved to be in the main event and that tonight he was going to prove it. He said Triple H had trouble beating Batista with a pedigree and that he wouldn’t have any trouble beating Batista with a ‘real move’ the unprettier. He said it didn’t matter if he was on Raw and beat Batista or on Smackdown and beating that ‘Ali-G rip-off’ John Cena after the draft, he’d be carrying the torch because he was Captain Charisma.
Kane’s pyro hit the ring and Christian went darting off as Kane went to work on Tomko beating him up badly. He hit a huge choke slam and set off his pyro as JR put over the Kane-Viscera match on Sunday.
Lita was in the back putting over the Kane match with Maria and that Trish would be ‘taken care of’.
****Commercial****
Christian was in the back, knocking on Evolution’s locker room door. Christian went to apologize for the stuff that ‘Tomko said’ earlier. He wanted to talk more about things. Flair left Christian waiting in the locker room as Christian looked notably rattled. Triple H came out and Christian asked him how he was doing. “Michael Cole, huh?” was his response then he asked if he wanted to do some business. Christian went into the locker room as Triple H looked around then went back in the room and shut the door.
Chris Masters came to the ring as they showed a “disaster piece’ sign was shown in the crowd. Masters put over the fact that he put his $1,000 on the line, and that no one in the United States could break his master lock finisher. He asked if any of the Brits could break it. Masters taunted the crowd and pointed out a scruffy bearded guy in the crowd who came over the railing and into the ring. Masters noted he worked out a bit. The man said his name was Andy Baker and that he was from Birmingham. Masters put his money on the line and Baker sat down. He explained the rules then put the hold on.
Masters slapped on the lock and tossed Baker all over the ring. Baker tapped in about five seconds. Masters stared down at Baker’s body as the refs came into attend to him. He collected his money and left the ring.
A clip showed of HBK and Hulk Hogan last week.
****Commercial****
Jonathon Coachman was with HBK in the back. He said there was a pool going around about how long it would take Hogan and HBK to combust because of their egos. HBK and Hogan said the reason he and the Hulkster have big egos is because they’ve done everything there is to do. He tossed Coach aside and introduced Hogan to a massive pop. Hogan then introduced Mean Jean Okerlund to do the promo with him.Hogan did the whatcha gonna do promo and ripped his tank top. HBK then tried to emulate Hogan but couldn’t rip his shirt to end the segment. HBK did a ‘whatcha gonna do’ thing too when his t-shirt wouldn’t rip.
Christy Hemme came out to the ring with Maria and Rochelle. Christy said they were all there for a party, but before they got started, she wanted to invite a couple of friends out to the ring. She introduced the Daily Star ladies and out they walked. They then announced World Tag Team Champions, William Regal and Tajri while putting over William Regal’s new autobiography. Regal got a massive pop from the home town crowd and said he was proud he could write the book because he didn’t know if he’d be around after his addiction to pain pills. Some dance music played and Regal did his jig thing with the girls. Muhammad Hassan’s music then hit the arena.
Hassan said that it was a ‘sad site to see two grown men and an eight pack of international bimbos dancing around like mindless idiots. He said he wasn’t surprised though because he felt that it was obvious to most that the British were hypocritical and racist. He slammed Hogan and HBK some more and said that the best way to prove himself right was to beat up on the World Tag Team Champions. Regal egged on the fight and JR announced that the match would be on as soon as we returned from commercial break.
****Commercial****
Hassan and Daivari v. Regal and Tajiri
The match had started over the commercial break and Regal was cleaning house. Tajiri came in and went to work on Daivari, almost gaining a pin fall. Eventually, all hell broke loose and Regal and Hassan went fighting to the outside. Daivari ended up sneaking out a pin fall on Tajiri.
Winners: Hassan and Daivari via pin fall
****Commercial****
Back in the restaurant, Viscera had eaten a ton of food. Viscera wanted to Dance and ended up clattering into a waiter and broke a bunch of the plates. He then asked for the check and Trish looked disgusted.
Edge v. Val Venis
Edge controlled this match pretty much from the outset. Venis ended battling back and had Edge in position to hit the money shot, but Edge was ready for it and caught Venis with the knees. Edge followed up with a spear and the win.
Winner: Edge via pin fall
After the match, Edge stuck Venis in the impailer and then the sharpshooter. He put him in the crippler cross-face which prompted Chris Benoit to come out to save the day. Edge sauntered out of the ring and back up the ramp.
Jonathon Coachman was on the phone in the back on the phone with his agent and was complaining about being tossed aside in his own interview. Triple H showed up and told him he had some news, that he’d be the Special guest referee in the Christian-Batista match later that night. Triple H also added that tonight, he’d be Christian’s problem solver. Coach objected at first but Triple H told him ‘he had little patience for announcers these days’.
****Commercial****
Trish and Viscera were again at the restaurant and dinner was about over. Viscera pulled out some mouthwash and gargled it, turned to Trish and asked her if she was ‘ready’. Trish then smacked him and grabbed him. She talked about Kane and Lita being after her. She needed him to ‘destroy Kane’ at Backlash. She said that ‘we can do whatever’ after Backlash and that until Viscera ‘does the deed… we don’t’. Viscera said that he definitely would. He said it was cool if she pays him afterwards. Viscera however also insisted that he would take an advance. Trish gave it to him showing him her ‘headlights’.
Coach came down reluctantly as the special guest referee. Christian came out and we cut to commercial.
****Commercial*****
Triple H came out and stared down Jim Ross as he came out to be Christian’s one time only problem solver. Ric Flair came out as well to be the ‘time-keeper’.
Christian v. Batista—Special Guest Referee: The Coach
Batista stared down Triple H but was jumped by Christian from behind. Batista powered out of an Irish whip as Christian fled out of the ring. After consulting the Game, Triple H distracted Batista as Christian climbed the rope. Batista caught him and tossed him in the corner. He whipped him from corner to corner much to the delight of the Birmingham crowd. Batista landed some knees and fore arms before whipping him into the ropes and catching him in a sidewalk slam and a two count. Batista caught a thumb to the eye and Christian went to land some chops. The blows didn’t faze the Animal as he slung Christian into the ropes again and hit him with a huge clothesline. He picked him up and went for a back body drop but Christian countered with a kick to the face. Christian went after him again but got caught in a Batista power slam. The Animal went for a pin, but Coach refused to count. Batista went after coach before Triple H hit a low blow on Batista.
Christian recovered and went for a pin fall. He was working over Batista on the ropes as we cut to a commercial.
****Commercial****
We came back to Christian in total control and Triple H asserting himself. Christian pulled Batista back into the ring and hit a big splash and got a two count. Christian slapped on a rear chin-lock trying to wear down the Champion. Batista ended up picking him up and slamming him into the buckles. He came at Christian but caught a boot. Christian hit a springboard dropkick off the middle rope and got another near fall. Christian hit some stomps before putting Batista back into the corner and choking him. Christian distracted coach while Flair did his damage.
Batista caught Christian with a kick coming in and ended up knocking him down. Groggy in the corner, Batista fought back to his feet, but Triple H tripped him up. Christian went right back to a choke with his feet. Christian went for a neck-breaker but Batista fought it. Christian eventually hit it but could only get a two count. He went back to the choke and then played to the crowd a bit and bantered with Triple H.
Christian hit some punches but Batista ‘hulked up’ a bit. Christian went into the ropes but was flap jacked. He got up but got nailed with two clotheslines before getting hit with a huge Batista slam. Christian wobbled to the corner where he was hit with a running clothesline. Batista landed some big shoulders and then ran in with another big clothesline.
After being distracted by Flair, Christian tried to hit the unprettier but got hit with a huge electric chair drop. He went for the cover but coach refused the three count. He nailed Coach with a lariat and fought off an onslaught-ing Triple H and Ric Flair before catching Christian in a big spine-buster. He hit the Batista bomb after that and counted to three with an unconscious coach’s arm.
Winner: Batista via pinfall
Triple H came back into the ring and Batista fought off the Game. Flair came in with a chair but was thwarted. Triple H came in with a chair and also got caught with a lariat. Batista grabbed the chair but missed and Triple H hit the boot to the gut and a big pedigree. Batista moved a bit but then fell motionless as Triple H celebrated in the ring. JR put over the pedigree as we went off the air.
****End****RAW THOUGHTSThe Good-- Christian may be the best all around worker in the WWE and I seriously mean that. He’s absolutely in the top two or three as far as mic work goes and IMO, is in the top seven or eight as far as in ring work is concerned. He carried Batista to an excellent match tonight, IMO. His mic work was absolutely excellent and it was nice to see the creepy little bastard finally get the tv time he deserves.
Props to WWE Creative. In one week’s time I’ve gone from loathing the Triple H-Batista feud to actually looking forward to their Backlash match, which I’ll be at this Sunday. They played off the pedigree angle perfectly. And BTW, how ‘bout the sell job on the part of Batista on that pedigree. His selling isn’t normally that great, but tonight it was excellent.
Speaking of Batista, it was great to see him get some actual stick work and he wasn’t all that bad either. It’s progress so I’ll give it some good.
I gotta say I also love the Trish-Viscera shots. Very funny stuff and nice to see some decently done comedy spots.
The Bad-- Jericho stunk tonight. His match with Shelton Benjamin at Backlash will be good for sure, but I could care less. Jericho’s stick work has dropped off heaps and his match tonight was nothing special. Their interaction afterwards did little for me as well. It’s a shame because with Jericho’s personality, you’d hope it’d contribute to Shelton’s development as a character.
The Ugly-- Chris Masters just ain’t getting over. If Kurt Angle can’t get his invitational over, then there’s no way Masters can get his thing over. He’s an incredibly stiff worker, but works the mic well. They need to keep him in the ring, period to develop him a bit more.
Dear Vince McMahon,
The Diva stuff sucks. Please take this crap off of my television screen.
Hopefully,
Hunter Golden
Overall—B+- Tonight’s Raw didn’t produce the best matches in the world, but again, the WWE was outstanding in their build for Backlash. People will likely care about Batista-Triple H again, Christian got over despite losing, Jericho-Benjamin had at least something, same with Benoit-Edge, Trish and Viscera gave us some comedy, and Mean Gene Okerland showed up for some nostalgia. Great segments minus the diva search and Chris Masters and IMO, a great main event. It’s the best I’ve seen Batista look yet. He and Christian have chemisty. They should consider revisiting this in the future if the CLB remains on Raw. The ring work wasn’t good enough to put this show in the A range, but it’s the best use of time and best quality segments I’ve seen in about a year from WWE. Well done.
Quick Results
Chris Jericho def. Sylvain Grenier
Muhammed Hassan and Daivari def. William Regal and Tajiri
Edge def. Val Venis
Batista def. Christian
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not
Biggest Pops
1. William Regal
2. Hulk Hogan
3. Batista
Most Heat
1. Triple H
2. Muhammed Hassan
3. Edge
Match of the Night--Christian v. Batista ***
Backlash 2005 Card as of 4/25/2005
World Heavyweight Championship
Batista © v. Triple H
WWE Intercontinental Championship
Shelton Benjamin v. Chris Jericho
Shawn Michaels and Hulk Hogan v. Muhammed Hassan and Daivari
Last Man Standing Match
Edge v. Chris Benoit
Kane v. Viscera
Any Questions, comments, or feedback send email me at Raw@wrestleview.com