On Monday, August 7, 2006 at 11:36 PM EST WWE RAW
August 7, 2006
Memphis, TN
Commentators: Jim Ross & Jerry "The King" Lawler
Reported By: Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com
Vince and Shane were in the back dressed in Elvis outfits. They were recounting the events of last week when Triple H and HBK were bested by the McMahons and Umaga.
The opening credits rolled and here we go.
JR and King put over the rest of tonight’s card.
WWE Women’s Championship
Trish Stratus v. Mickie James
The two locked up in the middle of the ring before Edge and Lita interrupted the proceedings. Edge said he was sick of taking backseats to people because he was WWE Champion. He declared the match over and said he was taking over Raw. He wanted Trish to stay out here. He wanted the world to hear that he was a 2 time WWE Champion. He was sick of getting no respect around here.
He said it wasn’t fair that he had to defend the title against John Cena at Summerslam. He didn’t think it was fair that he had to face him in Boston as well. He said no champion in the history of the company had ever had to put up with as much crap as he does. He showed the Summerslam poster up on the screen and pointed out that DX and Cena were front and center while he was nowhere to be found.
He pointed out Batista being on there before he gets injured again and he said he wasn’t too ticked off about it all. He said he thought for sure he’d be on the cover of WWE magazine coming out tomorrow but believe it or not, he wasn’t. He said he was passed over by someone who hadn’t won a match in a year.
Lita got in Trish’s face and they brawled around the ring before Lita nailed her with a spear. Edge went to land a spear of his own before Carlito came to Trish’s aid. Carlito briefly gained the upper hand before getting speared. Edge and Lita left up the ramp, while Trish and Carlito laid on the mat in pain.
****Commercial****
Intercontinental Champion Johnny Nitro and Melina came out to the announce booth for the next match.
#1 Contender’s Match for the IC Championship
Shelton Benjamin v. Kane
Kane made his return and the look on Shelton’s face was hysterical. As Kane went to pop the corner, Shelton came off the ropes at Kane. Shelton pounded the big man to the corner but found himself whipped to the opposite buckles. Kane caught him for a power slam, but Benjamin squeaked out of the hold and almost got a roll up.
Kane took the offensive who whipped Benjamin repeatedly to the buckles, following up with a clothesline and sidewalk slam respectively. Kane came flying off of the top rope and nailed his flying clothesline before going for his choke slam. Shelton countered out however into a beautiful looking DDT and almost got the pin fall.
Shelton continued to work Kane over and went for his T-bone Suplex, but Kane bullied him to the corner. Kane rushed Benjamin but missed him. Shelton leap-frogged him and came sailing off the top rope only to be caught in the choke slam.
Winner and new #1 Contender: Kane
A promo video aired putting over Summerslam.
****Commercial****
John Cena came out to the ring. He said he needed to be honest with people, Edge, he just didn’t like. He made fun of Edge for being whiney and then said WWE did some market analysis and found out that Edge’s face scares little kids. He said Lita got a job with Seven Eleven “Slurpies for herpes’. He said shame on Edge for whining about not being on the cover of WWE magazine because he was on the cover of “Crying Bitch Illustrated”. He said he didn’t care if Summerslam was in his hometown or not. He said instead of making demands, he said Edge should come out here and try to earn it.
The Coach’s music hit and he came out to the ramp. He said Edge would not be coming out to answer his challenge tonight because he was already in a match. He said Carlito and Trish would be taking on Edge and Lita later tonight. He said it was obvious that Cena was hungry for action. He said he personally found an opponent for him who was always hungry, Viscera.
****Commercial****
John Cena v. Viscera
Cena had yet to gain an advantage in the match before dodging a sit out. He came at Viscera, but got nailed with a Samoan drop. Viscera gathered Cena and whipped him to the buckles. He came rushing in with an avalanche and completely annihilated the former champion. Cena rolled out to the floor to avoid the cover attempt, but big Vis collected him and tossed him back into the ring.
Cena ducked under a clothesline attempt but was caught and planted into the mat with a front slam. Viscera climbed on the back of Cena and laid in with a modified camel clutch. Cena fought to his feet and booted Viscera in the gut. He swatted away at the big man with right hands and some knees to the gut. Cena came flipping over Viscera with a snap mare before calling for the five knuckle shuffle. He came off the ropes but got planted with a black hole-slam like move.
Viscera went for his big splash but Cena rolled out of the way. Cena quickly capitalized and FU'd Viscera for the win.
Winner: John Cena via pin fall
****Commercial****
Vince was in the back giving the cops a little pep talk. They put over how Triple H and HBK had been looking for a fight all day. Shane went to the bathroom and Vince told him to be careful.
Trish was in the hallway with Carlito ranting about how much she hated Lita. Carlito tried to calm her down then she kissed him and walked off.
Shane was looking for HBK and ran into the Highlanders, Candice Michelle, and Torrie. HBK was able to jump Shane from behind and knocked him into the McMahon locker room and into a sea of cops. The police pinned him down as we went to commercial.
****Commercial****
HBK was apologizing to the police officers outside when Triple H came in, asking what was going on. The Police said they didn’t care whether he hit the officer on purpose or not and took him off despite the protests of Triple H.
Carlito & Trish v. Edge & Lita
Carlito caught Edge coming in with a back elbow and then planted him to the mat with a clothesline. Carlito bull-rushed the champion into the corner and began swatting away with right hands before hitting him with a flat-liner.
Edge kicked out of the pin fall attempt and went on the offensive himself. He hit a clothesline and a solid looking body slam and barely missed a cover attempt of his own. Carlito began to fight back with a boot to the gut, back elbow and clothesline combination. Edge tagged in Lita and Carlito tagged in Trish.
Trish went right at Lita hammering away at Lita with some punches and some vicious kicks in the corner. Trish missed a follow up on Lita and was shoved off the buckles by Edge. Lita capitalized, cinching in a hard rear chin lock and eventually it evolved into a sleeper.
Trish tried to elbow out of the hold, but Lita tossed her to the mat by her hair. Lita continued her assault, choking Trish out on the ropes before planting some knees into the former Women’s Champion’s back. Lita went to work on Trish’s back some more before going for some sort of leg lock that got her tossed aside. Carlito came running in and he and his partner his a double drop kick, sending the WWE Champion and his ‘lady-friend’ to the floor.
****Commercial****
Edge had a tight arm bar cinched in on Carlito. Carlito eventually fought out of the hold but was rushed to the corner in time to come flipping off it and barely missing a back cracker. Edge baseball-slide drop kicked Carlito out to the floor, allowing Lita to get a few licks in. Edge jammed Carlito’s back into the ring apron before cinching in a butterfly clutch. Carlito broke the hold with a jaw breaker and a springboard back elbow. Both men were left laying on the mat before Trish and Lita were both tagged in.
Trish hit two clotheslines and a drop kick. She continued to hit some chops before it was broken up but a kick to the gut. Lita went for the twist of fate, but Trish kicked out and went for a move herself, but Edge blocked it. Trish went for a stratusphere and connected. Edge went for a spear on Carlito, but Carlito ducked out of the way in the knick of time only to have Trish get mauled with the move. Carlito chased Edge out of the ring while Lita sneaked over to make the cover for the win.
Winners: Edge and Lita via pin fall
****Commercial****
We learned that Hulk Hogan had a torn meniscus in his right knee, which puts his Summerslam match with Randy Orton in jeopardy. Gresham asked Randy Orton what his feelings were on the situation. Orton said Hogan was trying to get out of the match and that Hogan really did know best, because if he showed up, his legend would get killed.
Ric Flair came out to the ring holding a book. He said for those of us who didn’t know it, he said Memphis got a plug they deserved from John Cena. Flair put over his being born in the city. He said he had spent ten years trying to figure out how to make Mick Foley stand up and be a man and what makes a guy like him ‘tick’.
He said he didn’t wanna be like Mick Foley, dress like him, etc. He wondered how to get him to Summerslam. He said someone came up to him and told him to read his book “Foley is Good”. Flair held up the book, dropped it to the mat, stomped on it twice and gave it two elbow drops. He ripped it up and tossed it into the crowd. He said one page was worth it though. He said deep inside Foley was a fan of Flair’s. He said Foley idolizes “the Naitch”. On page 169, his #1 favorite wrestling match was Funk v. Flair in an “I Quit” match. He said it wasn’t a stunt fest, it was a real “I Quit” match. He said there were one of two reasons he wouldn’t wrestle against Flair 1.) he didn’t know if he could beat him or 2.) he KNEW he couldn’t beat him.
Foley’s music hit and he came out to the ramp. Foley said Flair was absolutely right. He said he idolized Ric Flair, that he was a Nature Boy fan. He said Flair was a better wrestler than he ever was. He said the two hate each other and it was no secret. But he said they also knew that if Foley-Flair is in the ring at Summerslam, the match would be a match for the ages, violent, wild and intense. He said it would put the name Ric Flair right back up on top of the mountain where it belongs. He said, however, he just couldn’t allow that to happen. He said 12 years ago, Flair was in charge of his career and he could have made him, but he stepped on Foley’s dreams by not jobbing to him.
He said how fitting was it that Foley was sitting between Flair and his dreams was Foley. He said Flair didn’t do a damn thing to help him out in 1994 and he would return the favor for him this year. He said unless Flair came back to him with something more than just a match, everyone could kiss his ass.
Flair asked Foley is he could be a man just one day of his life. He asked him if he was going to just walk away from all of his accolades like nothing. He said he was giving him a chance to rewrite history if that greatest hardcore match ever involved him. He said he should wrestle him at Summerslam. Foley said he would not go back on his vow, when Ric was ruining his life. He said for embarrassing him on Raw last week, how about he beats him up? How about he takes Flair on in an “I Quit” match at Summerslam. Flair ‘woo’d’ into the mic and smiled as Foley’s music played.
Foley told him that he wanted him to understand one thing. He said this match will be Flair’s greatest match of them all and he guaranteed it would be Flair’s last. Flair toasted Foley saying ‘may one of us bleed to death in Boston’.
****Commercial****
Randy Orton v. Jerry “The King” Lawler
Orton slapped King in the face before hitting him with a back body drop. Lawler fought back with a slap of his own before Orton raked his eyes and nailed him with a drop kick. Orton clamped in a rear chin lock. Lawler fought out of the hold and hit a scoop slam.
Lawler went for his fist drop but no one was home. Orton went for the RKO but Lawler tossed him aside. Orton hit a low blow, stared King down, and RKO’d him for the win.
Winner: Randy Orton via pin fall
****Commercial****
A video putting over the re-arrival of Jeff Hardy aired.
2006 Diva Search
Jen, Layla, Erica, Marlena, and JT were left standing. Miz pointed out that one of the ladies would be eliminated tonight. Miz did his usual sleazy ‘say the ladies name behind their backs’ before stopping at Erica who was eliminated from the competition. Miz also pointed out that the night was not over and they’d be participating in “Diss the Diva” shortly.
JR ran down the Summerslam card:
WWE Championship—If Edge loses via DQ, he loses the title
Edge v. John Cena
“I Quit Match”
Ric Flair v. Mick Foley
Hulk Hogan v. Randy Orton
D-Generation X v. The McMahons
Now it’s time for “Diss the Diva”. They would have 20 seconds to tell the other why they were better than the other contestants. Jenn talked about being a kitty, and Leyla played the hyper active one, Marlena said something that didn’t make sense, and JT was clearly lost in the chorus of boos reigning in from the crowd. Whatever.
A video putting over the build up to Triple H-Umaga aired.
****Commercial****
Triple H v. Umaga
Umaga came right at the Game, who ducked under and landed a few right hands. Triple H came back at Umaga and was planted with a headbutt. Umaga hammered away at the Game in the corner, before missing a follow up which Triple H was eventually able to work the big Samoan up and over the top rope.
Triple H hit a running clothesline on Umaga, but it didn’t phase the big man who nailed the Game with a spinning wheel kick. Umaga sat out hard on Triple H’s chest before dumping him into the corner upside down and planting him with his flying head butt. Triple H slumped into the corner and was met with the running bump-butt from Umaga.
Umaga went for his flying head butt but no one was home. Triple H fought to his feet and began throwing punches in Umaga’s direction. He hit a face buster on the big man and finally floored him with a clothesline. Shane jumped into the ring and Vince distracted the ref as well. Triple H fought them off and almost pedigreed Umaga, but was back body dropped. Umaga came charging at the Game but got caught in a huge spine buster.
Shane came running in to break up the fun but found himself spine-bustered as well. Triple H went for the cover but Vince pulled the referee out of the ring. Vince jumped in but was met by a HHH kick to the gut. Just as Triple H was going to hit the move, Umaga nailed him with a Samoan spike. The referee was tossed back into the ring and made the three count.
Winner: Umaga via pin fall
After the match, Vince thanked Umaga and loaded up Triple H for a pedigree and nailed the game with his own finishing move. He did some more impersonations of Triple H before leaving the ring triumphantly. RAW THOUGHTSThe Good-- First off, Flair-Foley is feud of the year. Another incredible feud, with perfect reasoning for an “I Quit” match, two guys who’ve revolutionized that style of match. Wow. Great reasoning for the match and the best build of any feud in the WWE in a long, long, long, long time.
I’m actually getting back into the DX-McMahons thing and who would’ve thought all it would take would be two weeks of the McMahons getting the better of DX two weeks in a row. It’s still not totally my cup of Tea, but at least I can deal with it.
Was it me or was the Cena-Viscera match pretty good tonight? The FU was cool, Cena was for the first time in a long time (since the Cabana promo last year with HBK drinking the margarita) Cena was legitimately funny. Hell, even Viscera looked really ‘on’ for Viscera.
Orton-Lawler was kept short as it should have been. Shame about Hogan’s injury. Orton can’t catch a break.
The Carlito-Trish thing is interesting and they killed two birds with one stone there building tension between the faces and restoring a bit of credibility to a WWE Champion who could really use some right now. Just a shame they couldn’t work Cena getting his ass handed to him somewhere in there.
The Bad-- I can’t say there was anything ‘bad’ tonight. I’m as surprised as anyone.
The Ugly-- The “Diva Diss” thing was tearfully bad. Not only did the girls not stick to the program, but two of them, flat out, couldn’t handle a mic for the life of them. A third didn’t know what to do when the boos rang down. Jenn was the only semi-coherent one and should probably win the thing, but Leyla is waaaay more irritating ala Christy Hemme in 04 and will probably win the thing. No more pixels wasted on the Diva search from here on out.
Overall B+– This was an incredibly solid Raw. Minus the Diva search segment, there wasn’t a single bad segment done all night. Everything had purpose and was marginally entertaining. While we certainly didn’t get any match of the year candidates, the ring work was the best all around effort Raw certainly this year and perhaps in the last two or three. Again, no great matches by any means, but even every match had something redeeming about it. If WWE could do this every week and put on two or three passable matches with one or two well done segments, they wouldn’t get half the criticism they get these days.
Quick Results
Mickie v. Trish Stratus ended in a No Contest
Kane def. Shelton Benjamin
John Cena def. Viscera
Edge & Lita def. Carlito & Trish Stratus
Randy Orton def. Jerry Lawler
Umaga def. Triple H
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not?
Biggest pops
1. Ric Flair
2. John Cena
3. Triple H
4. Jerry Lawler
Most Heat
1. Vince & Shane McMahon
2. Mick Foley
3. Randy Orton
4. Umaga
Match of the night: John Cena v. Viscera **
Power RankingsWWE Champion: Edge (Last Week: WWE Champion)—Every word he said in his promo tonight was the truth. That’s sad. He looks strong at least for one week. He’ll go back to being Cena’s punching bag next week.
Intercontinental Champion: Johnny Nitro (Last Week: Intercontinental Champion)—Very interesting Summerslam opponent for Nitro, if Kane is in fact the guy who gets the shot. They’re doing a great job of making Nitro’s title seem important again. Interesting first big title defense for the young champion.
1.Umaga (Last Week: 2)—That’s right. I put him here. He’s defeated John Cena, Shawn Michaels, and Triple H all in one month. Dirty or not, he’s got the wins to back the record. He’s defeated almost every man on the roster. Clearly a #1 contender despite being lightyears away from being a champion, let alone a believable main event act.
2. John Cena (Last Week: 2)—Cena was great this week but Umaga has been on more of a roll and has the win over Cena to break the tie. Cena was just as good on the stick as he was in the ring. Seems to be in coast mode until they give him his title back in two weeks.
3. Randy Orton (Last Week: 3)—It flat out sucks to be Randy Orton. You get pushed to the moon too early, turned face and squashed because you couldn’t carry a load you weren’t ready to carry yet. Then you finally rebuild your career and get into contention to be a top act again and get fried with a suspension that was probobly earned. Then you get the program of a lifetime upon return and the guy’s knee gives out. Ugh.
4. Ric Flair (Last Week: 4)—Ric Flair is the man. I’m looking forward to the Foley match more than any Flair match in the last ten years. Period.
5. Triple H (Last Week: 6)—Gets completely squashed by Umaga tonight. The DX thing just puts a guy who doesn’t work babyface very well anyways in an even weirder place.
6. Shawn Michaels (Last Week: 5)—Barely showed tonight so he stays put.
7. Carlito (Last Week: 8)—Despite coming up on the short end of two segments, Carlito is not only getting a big pop as a babyface, he’s looking like the real deal in the ring as well and is beginning to learn how to use his every expanding move set well.
8. Kane (Last Week: NR)—Kane comes out of nowhere and is now the #1 contender for the IC title, which I think is kind of interesting. I think this feud with Nitro could be interesting if they’re willing to give it a go, but it’d have to move past Summerslam.
9.Mick Foley (Last Week: 9)—Foley doesn’t wrestle and therefore doesn’t get moved up. Unreal promo yet again though.
10. Shelton Benjamin (Last Week: 7)—Squash City for Benji, but he’s showing genuine improvement in the ring these days.
Dropping Out: Matt Striker (Last Week: 10)