Raw Results 4-17-06: St. Louis, MO (Charlie Haas Returns, Backlash)

Reported by Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com
On Monday, April 17, 2006 at 11:29 PM EST

WWE RAW
April 17, 2006
St. Louis, MO
Commentators: Jonathon Coachman, Joey Styles & Jerry “The King” Lawler
Reported By: Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com


Styles and company welcomed us to Saint Louis.

Mr. McMahon’s music hit the arena and Lillian introduced him as waltzed down the aisle towards the ring.

McMahon said the question was whether or not he’d go to hell. He aid that was exactly the same question Shane asked him last week when they left church for the first time ever. He said Shane may have been insulted last week and said maybe if Shane was upset, maybe others would be. He said the answer to his question was that he wasn’t going to hell. He said he had already been there, that it was east St. Louis.

He said he believed in all religions and that they were all the same. He said he was announcing a new religion, his own personal religion and he called it McMahonism. He said the concept was simple. He was the lord, master, and god of all sports entertainment. He said all that participated in any way, that they’d have to worship him. He said that was pretty harsh, but he wondered what would have happened if McMahonism had been around longer than forty years.

He wondered what it’d be like if he was around during the painting of the Sistine Chapel and a portrait of him on the famous painting was up on the titan tron. He wondered what it’d be like if He walked down Sinai with Mr. McMahon. McMahon put over his own Ten Commandments. He said he wondered what it would have been like had the Last Supper been around for McMahonism. He said he’d have been the life of the party.

He also put over Asia and said it was important to the global economy. A shot of McMahon with the Pope was shown. He said it was the theology of the future and the theology of the masses. He said people could boo him all they wanted. He said the point was that all of these folks in America had the freedom to practice any religion they wanted to. He offered everyone to come into his church and become disciples of McMahonism.

He said the one man he wouldn’t allow in was Shawn Michaels. He said at Backlash, when he and Shane get finished with HBK, he’d fall at his knees and worship him. He said if he was lying then he should be struck down. He said HBK’s god wouldn’t show him a sign, but Vince would. He said he was guaranteeing victory over HBK at Backlash.

McMahon began to rant and rave all over the place and got cold cocked by a Shawn Michaels super kick to the face. Michaels walked silently up the ramp as McMahon laid sprawled out in the middle of the ring.

HBK decided that he hadn’t had enough however and booted McMahon right in the grape fruits as he came to.

****Commercial****

Rob Conway came out to the ring and went nuts saying he had had enough of being someone’s punching bag. Just as he said that, Kane’s music hit.

Kane v. Rob Conway

Conway came at Kane at first but got flattened with two big clotheslines and a huge whip to the corner followed by a huge boot to the face. He grabbed Conway off the ground by his throat and put him away with a choke slam for the victory.

Winner: Kane via pin fall

Kane came out to the ringside area and got in Lillian’s face. He grabbed her and went to choke slam her through the table but Big Show’s music hit and he tossed Lillian aside.

Big Show got in the ring and tried to calm Kane down. Show asked him what the big deal was about May 19th. Kane immediately grabbed Show by the throat and Show followed suit and choke slammed Kane. Show looked to be upset at having to do that to Kane. Kane sat up and Kane laughed at Show as Show walked up the ramp.

****Commercial****

Chavo Guererro was in the back getting ready for his interview with Jim Ross. A video package aired that covered Chavo’s odyessy last week.

JR said he hoped Chavo had reconsidered his decision to quit wrestling. Chavo said he agreed. Chavo said he made a promise to his fans and Eddie and let them down. He felt he was going to be able to pull out the win. He said the loss summed everything up and showed that he made the right decision.

JR asked him if Eddie would approve. Chavo said the two always stood behind each other in wrestling and in life. He said Eddie would have been disgusted with his loss. He said it made him reconsider his whole life. Chavo said he thought other things were on the horizons for him. He said he wouldn’t be disgracing his family.

JR said it was one match and said he didn’t think Eddie would approve of Chavo quitting the family business. He said it was a monumental turn in his life. He said as much as it killed him to say it, he felt that his wrestling career had come to an end. He thanked JR and sat back in his chair.

****Commercial****

Charlie Haas v. Shelton Benjamin

If Shelton Benjamin loses the match, he must defend his title against RVD at Backlash.

Charlie went right at Shelton nailing a huge German suplex and then ramming Benjamin’s face off the turnbuckles. Haas hit two deep armdrags before Benjamin flipped out of a back suplex. Charlie caught him with a drop kick however, and sent the champion to the floor.

Haas followed him out to the ringside area and hit some chops and screamed at Shelton that he forgot about him. Haas hit a shoulder block but missed the sunset flip over the ropes and Shelton caught him with a knee on the way down. Shelton went to work on Haas punching him and then hitting a clothesline coming off the ropes. Shelton landed some knees to the back on the ropes before choking him out against the ropes.

Shelton landed another punch before dragging Charlie to the outside and whipping him into the ring steps. Shelton body slammed Charlie on the floor outside the ring. He dragged his former partner into the ring and slammed him to the mat. Shelton cinched in a rear chin lock on Haas who began to try and fight out of the hold.

Haas ducked the spinning wheel kick attempt and back body dropped Shelton to the mat. Haas fought out of the corner with some right hands to the face and hit another back body drop followed by two clotheslines. Haas landed some knees to the face but missed a drop kick.

Shelton hit a back suplex on Haas and taunted the crowd doing his own version of the rolling thunder senton. Shelton slapped Haas in the corner and went for the big splash and connected. He cold cocked Haas with a big kick to the head. Shelton went to the top rope and went for the five star but missed. Shelton came back at Charlie but Haas reversed the hold and rolled Shelton up for the pin fall victory.

Winner: Charlie Haas via pin fall

The announcers put over the Triple H-Edge & John Cena handicapped match later tonight.

****Commercial****

A video replay of Charlie Haas’ big win over Shelton Benjamin aired.

Alejandro Estrada asked Mr. McMahon for a match against Shawn Michaels. McMahon asked him why he should make a match like that? He said he’d put him back on the highway to hell. McMahon said they were on and the match would be on next.

Shelton Benjamin came in next and said he was thrown a curve ball out there. He asked him to help him out. Shelton said he saw a light after that match and he said he knew McMahonism was the light. He said only Vince could help him in his decision. He said he fell victim to a travesty of biblical proportions. Mr. McMahon said he knew he could help him and loved a man on his knees.

****Commercial****

Umaga (w/Armando) vs. Shawn Michaels

Umaga brushed off the early HBK chops and tossed him to the floor. Umaga pressed his advantage, working Michaels over on the outside before bringing him in the ring. McMahon came down to ringside.

Michaels came back with a boot and some chops, but Umaga cut him off and bull rushed him into two corners with some really hard Irish whips. HBK came back with his flying forearm and went to the top rope. He hit his elbow and then began to tune up the band.

McMahon distracted the referee while Armando held HBK’s leg. HBK was hung up in the corner and Umaga worked him over with some boots and then choked him. Umaga went to finish off Michaels, but HBK held up a chair, which was hit by lighting. It happened again. McMahon grabbed the chair and held it up on the ramp. He had second thoughts and came to the ring but as he went to move into the ring pyro blasted and a wall of fire shot up on the stage.

Winner: Shawn Michaels

****Commercial****

Matt Striker was in the ring with a ‘classroom’ set up. He said that the Austin-Rock segment that just aired demonstrated everything that was wrong about America. Carlito came out eventually and said that he was more concerned with being cool than smart when he was in school. He took a bite out of Striker’s apple and said he was expelled from school and that he was the coolest kid on his island. Carlito spat his apple in Striker’s face and beat him down. Chris Masters popped up out of nowhere and clamped on the master-lock on Carlito, leaving him in a heap in the middle of the ring.

****Commercial****

Rob Van Dam v. The Spirit Squad

Van Dam dodged all the members of the Spirit Squad. Eventually the Squad mugged RVD and stomped away at him. They hit high spirits on Van Dam and then Kenny hit a guillotine leg drop on Van Dam for the win.

Winners: The Spirit Squad via pin fall

Maria was in the back with Mickey James, or Trish Stratus… Trish Stratus. Trish said she’s got a really awesome surprise waiting for Mickey in the ring. That’s next!

****Commercial****

Trish came out to Mickey's music and dressed up like the women’s champion. There was a big package in the ring as well. Trish asked us if we remembered the really awesome present Mickey got her before Wrestlemania and called Mickey out to the ring.

Mickey stood in the aisle and asked her what she was doing. She said she didn’t want the present. Trish told her not to be ungrateful. In the chair, gagged and tied, it was Trish’s ex boyfriend Jack. She said she got her a ‘jack in the box’. Jack said he thought both ‘you bitches are crazy!”. Trish re-gagged him and sat in his lap.

Trish said if she was really her, she’d better be concerned over what was going to happen to Jack. She said if she knew she was Mickey, she’d know she had nothing to do with the man in the ring. She said she could stop being Trish altogether.

Mickey said she understood and then yelled at her to get her hands off her boyfriend. The two went at it immediately and Trish caught a nasty spine buster on James and left the ring. Mickey collected herself and tended to Jack. She told Jack everything would be okay.

Edge was in the back chatting with Triple H over the plans for their upcoming match.

****Commercial****

A video recap aired covering the events between Kane and Big Show. A video package aired putting over Kane’s new movie “See No Evil” which in case you didn’t hear the first fifty times, premiers May 19th.

The commentary team ran down the Backlash card.

WWE Championship
John Cena v. Triple H v. Edge

Shane & Vince McMahon v. Shawn Michaels & God

Women’s Championship
Mickey James v. Trish Stratus

Money in the Bank & Intercontinental Championship
RVD v. Shelton Benjamin

Kane v. Big Show

****Commercial****

Handicapped Match
Edge & John Cena v. Triple H


Triple H went right after John Cena. He stomped away at Cena before backing him into the corner with some punches. Cena reversed an Irish whip attempt and hit a suplex on the rebound. Cena caught a headlock take down on the game and cinched in the hold. Triple H tossed Cena off the ropes and Cena met him with a shoulder block before Triple H caught a back elbow to the jaw of the champion.

Triple H pounded away on Cena before hitting a suplex of his own. Triple H told Cena to suck it and hit a nice running knee, which got him a two count for his efforts. Triple H gathered Cena and whipped him into the ropes. Cena caught the game with a kick to the jaw and then three clotheslines. Cena went into his victory sequence and hit the protoplex. Cena signaled for the five knuckle shuffle but Triple H reversed the hold and hit a spine buster.

Edge took advantage of the situation and nailed Cena out of the ring. Edge and Triple H went at it face to face and Edge caught a kick but got nailed with a second Triple H spine buster. Triple H came at Edge hard with a clothesline then a neck-breaker, which got him a two count. Edge reversed a whip but got nailed with a face buster.

Edge planted Triple H with a shoulder block but Cena came in and knocked Edge to the side. Triple H loaded Cena up for the pedigree but Cena reversed into an FU. Triple H fought out and pushed Cena into the referee. Triple H gathered his sledge hammer from under the ring and scared Edge off with it.

Triple H nailed Cena with the sledge hammer but Edge came out of nowhere with the spear and got the pin fall win over Triple H.

Winners: Edge & John Cena via pin fall

The referee raised Edge’s hand in victory and he laughed as he walked up the ramp. Cena and Triple H looked on in disgust as we went off the air.

RAW THOUGHTS

The Good-- The Backlash build continued and I thought was done very well, at least in comparison to pay per views in the past. Every feud got the proper amount of attention.

First off, I haven’t seen a program with as much heat as this triple threat one has in a long, long time. You’re head is buried in the ground if you didn’t get mixed up in the main event tonight, even if it was predictable. The feud has great, great heat and if the match gives us what the feud has so far, this could be something special. It feels really good to say that again.

Big Show-Kane is unraveling slowly, but surely. They’re doing an excellent job establishing the roles between the two and although the match will likely be sluggish, the program is building very, very well.

Mickey James and Trish keep the good thing going with a great rehashed segment tonight.

Charlie Haas is back and is possibly a third element to the Shelton Benjamin-RVD program. Good to see Charlie back in a WWE ring.

P.S.—God made a ‘run in’ tonight.

The Bad-- Try as I may, I just don’t feel Umaga even though Michaels made him look like gold tonight. It’s just not a gimmick that can do much in today’s wrestling scene.

The Ugly-- Nothing all that ugly. This was a very, very, very solid Raw tonight. Maybe had we had a really great match, it’d have been a memorable one. Best structured Raw of the year though.

Overall B+ – The only thing this Raw really lacked was that definitive match. The handicapped match had some great heat but was more just ‘fun’ instead of good wrestling. Haas and Shelton had a good match, but lack of crowd heat killed it. The rest were just squashes. An excellently structured Raw tonight however and WWE should put on more TV shows like this one. See, it isn’t all that hard!

Quick Results

Kane def. Rob Conway
Charlie Haas def. Shelton Benjamin
HBK def. Umaga
The Spirit Squad def. RVD
Edge & John Cena def. Triple H

Who’s Hot, Who’s Not?

Biggest pops
1. Triple H
2. Rob Van Dam
3. John Cena
4. Shawn Michaels

Most Heat
1. Edge
2. Triple H
3. John Cena
4. Shelton Benjamin

Match of the night: Triple H v. John Cena & Edge *** (on crowd heat alone)

Power Rankings

WWE Champion: John Cena (Last Week: WWE Champion)—While Cena’s getting a mixed reaction, this program is going to really help him. He took more of the back seat role this week, but I think the crowd will eventually warm up to him again. This feud, no pun intended, is giving him is ‘edge’ back.
Intercontinental Champion: Shelton Benjamin (Last Week: Intercontinental Champion)—Surprisingly, Shelton’s thing with McMahon in the back wasn’t all that bad. Actually, he came off well. He didn’t appear to be forcing himself as much and it came off well. Letting the lines flow as opposed to forcing them out works for him.

1.Edge (Last Week: 2)—Pinned my #1 contender this week. Holy schmoley he’s getting some big time heat these days. Great performance tonight from Edge.

2. Triple H (Last Week: 1)—Triple H dips a shade taking the clean pin fall to Edge tonight. Triple H is flat out, the best in the company at getting feuds over. Period, end of discussion.
3. Shawn Michaels (Last Week: 4)—I thought HBK looked good tonight and surprisingly this god thing isn’t all that bad. I actually like it. It actually makes me laugh. Very sports entertainment. It’s going to be interesting however, to see where HBK ends up AFTER this is all done. Decent night for HBK and raises thanks to RVD’s getting squashed.

4. Kane (Last Week: 5)—Moves up and keeps looking strong. It’s hard for me to buy Kane getting a real genuine push given his history, but they seem to be laying the groundwork for a decent run by the big man. Squash win puts Kane up a spot.

5. Rob Van Dam (Last Week:3)—Falls two spots this week, but will likely move back into position in the coming weeks.

6. Big Show (Last Week: 5)—Stays put after a pretty neutral week for the big man.
7. Chris Masters (Last Week: 9)—Masters adds the ‘I’m not a meathead after all moniker to the feud and finally outsmarts Carlito. These two are getting reasonable heat in this program. Hats off to both. The build is a shade bland but doing the trick it needs to.

8. Carlito (Last Week: 7)—Very funny on the stick this week but comes out on the short end of his segment, therefore dropping a spot.

9.Mickie James (Last Week: 10)—That’s right, I moved her up a spot. She takes the beating but gets the character even more over than it already is by pulling the ‘you’re cheating on me’ thing. Such a fun program.

10. Charlie Haas (Last Week: NR)—This is what a clean win over the Intercontinental Champion gets you.

Dropping Out: Ric Flair (Last Week: 8)