On Monday, May 8, 2006 at 11:39 PM EST WWE RAW
May 8, 2006
Anaheim, CA
Commentators: Jim Ross & Jerry “The King” Lawler
Reported By: Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com
It’s been a wild two weeks, and it’s good to be back!
A video package aired of the main event from last week, which involved The Spirit Squad, John Cena, and Triple H guest refereeing.
The opening credits rolled and the pyro hit and here we go with Jim Ross back in the announce booth. Triple H’s music hit and here we go.
Triple H walked out to the ring and said he didn’t come out here to be the special referee or to fight for what he deserved. He said he wanted the WWE Championship. He said he didn’t give a crap about the rumors that he had all the chances he deserved and that he was the exception to the rule. He demanded that John Cena come down to the ring and fight him for the belt.
Cena’s music hit and he came out to the ramp. He stepped into the ring and cut off his music. He said he was going to try and explain something to HHH. He said Triple H had 10 championships. He said the NY Yankees had 27 championships. He said that didn’t mean at the beginning of the year that they got a free pass to the World Series. He said the championship wasn’t about what Triple has done. He said everyone respected that. He said the title was what he had done lately. He said in two championship matches he pinned him and made him tap out. He said that wasn’t a reason for Triple H to demand a shot.
He said though, if he ignored him, he’d eventually have to deal with him anyway. He said there were two options, one of which involved them wrestling for the title. He said right now they’d wrestle for the title.
Triple H said it was on. Vince McMahon’s music then hit the arena and he sauntered down to the ring.
He said there was no reason to have a referee down here right now. He said there wouldn’t be a championship match here tonight. He said Triple H kept defying him week after week in expectation that Vince would roll over and give him what he wanted. Triple H said he knew him that he was upset that Kenny didn’t win the title last week. He said the fact was that if Kenny became champion, he would just be replacing a poser with a cheerleader. Cena said there was nothing wrong with being a poser and struck into his victory poses.
Triple H told Vince that it was a proven formula. He made him money when he won championships. Vince replied with a big shut up. He said his name wasn’t Vince, it was Mr. McMahon. He said if Triple H thought he was his friend, it wasn’t his case and that he was the boss. He said he was appreciative for everything both had done in the past. He said to show his appreciation, he’d give them their match, just not tonight. He said he’d give him one in the future. He told Triple H he had the rest of the night off. Triple H slowly left the ring.
McMahon said Cena would be in action tonight. He said he and HBK were mixing it up with the Spirit Squad last week. He said it’d be all five members of the spirit squad against HBK and John Cena. McMahon told him to leave the ring as well.
Cena told him he could do him a favor and… McMahon cut his mic. He said there would be a championship match right now, and it’d be a fatal four-way match.
Van Dam came down to the ring. He said before he defended his title, he needed to say something. He said the way everything went down with Joey Styles last week was a load of crap. He said he agreed with everything Styles had to say about sports entertainment. He said, he loved hearing his initials. He said for the spirit of Joey though, he wanted to hear three other letters; “E-C-W”.
****Commercial****
WWE Intercontinental Championship—Fatal Four Way Match
Rob Van Dam (c) v. Charlie Haas v. Chris Masters v. Shelton Benjamin
All four went right at each other with Masters dumping RVD to the outside. Masters and Benji worked over Haas in the corner before hitting a stiff double shoulder block, flooring him. Masters held Haas while Benjamin clubbed away at him. The two hit a double vertical suplex and Shelton went for a cover but Masters broke it up and tossed Shelton to the outside. Masters went for a cover, but Van Dam broke it up.
Masters whipped RVD into the corner but RVD caught him with a boot and a spin kick off the top ropes. Haas came in the ring but got nailed with a heel kick on him and followed suit with a second one on Benjamin. Van Dam stood alone in the ring as we went to commercial
****Commercial****
We came back to Masters being ripped off a cover attempt by Shelton Benjamin. All four were in the ring and Haas barely missed a roll up. Masters nailed Haas into the corner and whipped him hard in to the corner but missed as Haas countered with a two-count roll up. All three men went to work on Masters and RVD hit rolling thunder on Masters as Benji dumped Haas to the outside. Shelton choked away at Van Dam on the mat before gathering him and hitting a back suplex.
Haas broke up the cover attempt and went to work on his former partner. Haas hit a middle rope lariat and planted RVD with a crisp looking drop kick. Haas hit a double under-hook suplex and got a near fall. Haas nailed RVD with three hard kicks to the back but couldn’t get a three count.
Masters came back in but was quickly dumped by Haas. Shelton CLOCKED Haas with a huge kick to the back of the head, but RVD barely broke up the count. Shelton went for a power bomb, but RVD reversed into an inside cradle but only again got a two count.
Shelton hit an inverted back-breaker but only got a two count on the cover thanks to Haas breaking it up. Haas whipped Benji to the buckles and hit him with some high knees. He went for a big boot, but Benji ducked under and hit a fall-away slam. Shelton went to the apron looking for a sling shot move, but Masters tripped him up and nailed him with a clothesline.
Masters leapt into the ring and clamped the master lock on Haas. RVD came out of nowhere and flipped over Masters, rolling him up and dragon suplexing Haas for the pin fall victory.
Winner and STILL Intercontinental Champion: Rob Van Dam
The announcers put over the tag match between HBK/Cena and the Spirit Squad.
****Commercial****
The announcers put over Kane’s new movie “See No Evil”.
Todd Grisham was in the back with some of the stars of the movie. He asked them about Kane’s attitude. She said Kane had a terrible attitude and never smiled once during the entire movie. He asked one of the actors about May 19th. That prompted Kane to come out and choke the hell out of the actor.
The announcers put over the hardcore rematch between Mick Foley and Edge.
****Commercial****
Matt Striker v. Carlito
Striker came right after Carlito but got nailed with a drop kick. Striker countered a backdrop attempt into a neck breaker. He mounted Carlito and hammered away before tuanting him. He continued to club away before putting him in a rear chin lock. Carlito fought back with lefts to the head and countered a whip follow up with an elbow. The two exchanged blows in the ring before Carlito gained the upper hand and hitting a springboard reverse elbow.
Out of nowhere, Eugene came out and assaulted Matt Striker in the corner.
Winner: Matt Striker via DQ
Striker hit a jawbreaker on Eugene, but Carlito hit a face buster on Striker. He helped Eugene to hit feet before hitting him with a major back cracker.
****Commercial****
Hardcore Match
Edge v. Mick Foley v. Tommy Dreamer
Foley introduced Dreamer in a real surprise and announced the match as a triple threat. As he and Dreamer intimidated Edge, Foley came out of nowhere and nailed Dreamer in the back with a barbed wire bat. He handed over the bat to Edge who then nailed dreamer with the bat. Foley took the bat back and drove the bat into Dreamer’s skull. Edge took the bat back himself, and nailed Dreamer where it counts with it. Dreamer was bleeding badly. Edge and Lita held Dreamer down as Foley clamped on socko to end the match.
Winners: Edge & Mick Foley via submission
****Commercial****
Mickie James v. Maria
Mickie quickly dispatched of Maria using her implant DDT to end the match.
Winner: Mickie via pin fall
After talking some trash to Trish, who was sitting ringside for the match, Trish finally had enough and came in to the ring. MMickie quickly gained the advantage however, and as she began to finish the job, another blonde showed up out of nowhere and she jumped Mickie. Security separated the two and Mickie seemed shocked to see the woman and screamed at her “What are you doing here? You always ruin everything!”
****Commercial****
Umaga vs. Two Jobbers
This was a total squash. They did a good job of making Umaga look completely unstoppable.
Winner: Umaga via pin fall
****Commercial****
Kane v. The Big Show
The two stared each other down in the middle of the ring before Show extended his hand to Kane. Kane accepted and the two circled before locking up. Kane got the advantage with a go behind before Show reversed and took Kane down but Kane escaped. The two locked up again and Kane snagged a headlock.
Show shot him off the ropes but they ran into each other with neither man going anywhere. Kane came at Big Show again and got snagged in a drop toehold. Show challenged Kane to a test of strength and Show eventually got the advantage and almost bridged out but Kane came back. Big Show elevated him up and over his head.
Kane came back and got an arm bar take down until Show hit a single leg takedown. The two locked up again and Kane slapped on a hammerlock. Show reversed out into a hammerlock of his own. Kane reversed back and Show countered with yet another drop toehold. Show went back to the headlock before Kane wiggled out and clamped on another hammerlock.
Show whipped Kane to the buckles but Kane hit a drop toehold of his own and sent Show into the middle turnbuckle. He went to scale the ropes and then the May 19th stuff started playing again. Kane went nuts and retrieved a chair from ringside.
He came into the ring and clocked Big Show with the chair 13 times, leaving Show in a heap on the mat.
Winner by DQ: The Big Show
The Spirit Squad was in the back hyping themselves up for their match with Cena and HBK.
****Commercial****
The Spirit Squad v. John Cena & Shawn Michaels
Kenny and HBK started off the match. The two locked up and Kenny backed HBK to the corner and slapped him and HBK returned the favor. Michaels wrang the arm and tagged in Cena.
Cena and Johnny locked up and he got a go behind on the champion and took him down. Johnny took him over trying to roll him up but got slammed with a clothesline. Cena promptly took out the entire squad before dragging Kenny in last and propelling him to the outside onto his friends.
****Commercial****
Cena was completely cleaning house. He hit a five-knuckle shuffle before he went to nail the rest of the Squad but got caught by Johnny. Johnny tagged out to Mikey who worked Cena over in the corner. He hit a few knee lifts and followed with a punch. The third punch sent Cena to the floor. The squad distracted the referee and set up the trampoline and used it to nail Cena with a clothesline.
Cena almost got pinned in the ring before he was dragged back to the corner and Kenny was tagged back in. Kenny went for a cover but only got a two count. Kenny sent Cena to the ropes and hit a flying back elbow before getting yet another near fall on the Champion. Cena fought back but missed a flying splash and was dragged back to the corner where Nicky was tagged in and went right back to work on the Champion.
He went for the cover but Cena kicked out yet again. Cena began to fight back a bit but got caught in a sleeper hold. He dragged Cena back to the corner yet again and Mickey came in and went to work on Cena with some knee lifts. He went for a cover but only got a two count before he went for a rear chin lock.
Cena fought to his feet and broke out of the hold with some fists to the gut. He came off the ropes but got cheap shotted on the ropes. Michaels came in again but that gave the squad the opportunity to quintuple team Cena. They hit a double team vertical suplex again before getting nailed with a head butt. Cena kicked out yet again.
Mickey went for a moonsault, but missed. HBK cheered on Cena to the corner and he made it. HBK came in and cleaned out the entire Squad with right hands. He tossed Kenny to the outside and nailed Johnny with a flying forearm. Cena was tossed to the steel steps on the outside. The Squad distracted the referee while Nicky nailed HBK with the tag team title belt. Kenny made the cover for the win.
Winners: The Spirit Squad
After the match the Squad nailed the referee and took his belt. They whipped the hell out of Michaels on the ground. They kept beating him and Cena jumped in trying to do something. Triple H was coming down the aisle as if he was going to save them, but pedigreed Cena and crotch chopped him and HBK and left the ring. RAW THOUGHTSThe Good-- God I haven’t seen this much wrestling on Raw in as long as I can remember. Seven matches only two of which served to be useless. We got two pretty good ones in fact. The Big Show-Kane one was slow, but not all that bad either. I’m shocked that we’ve seen a wrestling show the last two weeks. Maybe WWE is finally getting something.
The Spirit Squad are really coming along nicely and the four-way Intercontinental Championship thing, while mostly a time killer for RVD, has been fun. It’s provided some decent action.
Cena’s boos are almost coming common place but so are the cheers he receives by the end of the show. Not a bad place to be. I HATE the constant DX talk, but it looks like we’re going to get it. Whose thinking Cena heel turn and a tag match main event at Vengeance?
The Bad-- We’re a week away from “May 19th” yet there’s been ZERO indication of what that is supposed to entail. Liked the path the Show-Kane feud is going though.
The Ugly-- Again, I’m shocked to say that there wasn’t much ugly this week, aside from the usual Umaga appearance.
Overall B+ – This has probably been the best string of Raw episodes in a long, long time. The matches have been at least fun, every scene has a point, and the show’s are not only constructed around building up for the pay per view, but also building the show from within. Great stuff again tonight.
Quick Results
RVD def. Charlie Haas, Chris Masters, & Shelton Benjamin
Matt Striker def. Carlito
Edge & Mick Foley def. Tommy Dreamer
Big Show def. Kane
Mickey def. Maria
Umaga def. Two jobbers
The Spirit Squad def. HBK & John Cena
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. The Spirit Squad
3. John Cena
4. Mickey James
Match of the night: HBK & John Cena v. The Spirit Squad
Power RankingsWWE Champion: John Cena (Last Week: WWE Champion)—Cena looked good and again, won over an initially hostile crowd. Good stuff from the Champion tonight.
Intercontinental Champion: Rob Van Dam (Last Week: 5)—Van Dam is merely holding this as a trinket before he challenges for the title in a few weeks. So far, his reign has given us some good action on Monday Nights. I’m not expecting much more than that.
1.Triple H (Last Week: 2)—The Game looked good this week and keeps hinting at the face turn. I’m expecting a possible Cena heel turn in the works and a reuniting of sorts with HBK, although I wouldn’t go as far as to call it a DX thing. This keeps getting more interesting.
2. Edge (Last Week: 1)—Drops a spot but that’s not to any fault of his own. He’s performing well and this Foley alliance could bring on some interesting stuff for him in the near future. I’m not sure where they’re going with this, other than obviously something in the ECW show, but it’s still interesting.
3. Shawn Michaels (Last Week: 3)—Staying put for now. He’s in limbo between the championship picture and the upper mid card.
4. Carlito (Last Week: 8)—With a quality win over Chris Masters and two weeks worth of good performances, Carlito is starting to finally hit his stride as a face.
5. Kane (Last Week:4)—Another guy who, despite not having many wins, is looking fresh again. Can’t say that’s a bad thing. They’re building him up as a believable monster again. Hopefully it goes somewhere this time.
6. Big Show (Last Week: 6)—I can’t make the jump and put him high up on the rankings, but he can’t be very low either. He and Kane are linked for the time being.
7. Umaga (Last Week: NR)—Undefeated but only one quality win, that coming over Flair at Backlash.
8. Shelton Benjamin (Last Week: Intercontinental Champion)—Not all that bad really and to be honest, he continues to impress in the ring but I’ve yet to see anything from him on the stick that makes me think he can make the jump anytime soon. Look for another IC title run in the near future, hopefully this one will have some real longevity.
9.Chris Masters (Last Week: 9)—Seems totally lost in the shuffle right now, or perhaps more on the back burner. He was really starting to hit a stride too.
10. Charlie Haas (Last Week: NR)—Looking impressive in action thus far, but hasn’t really MOVED per sae.
Dropping Out: Mickie James (Last Week: 9)