On Monday, October 9, 2006 at 11:27 PM EST WWE RAW
October 9, 2006
University of South Carolina
Commentators: Jim Ross & Jerry “The King” Lawler
Reported By: Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com
John Cena’s music hit and he came down to the ring with his WWE Championship in tow. John Cena welcomed us all to the season premiere of Raw. He said we were part of the 698th episode of Raw and that we were still as strong as ever. He feigned leaving, before coming back. He said it felt good to say that the champ was still here despite all the crap he had to go through with Edge.
World Heavyweight Champion King Booker’s music hit and he came out to the ring with Queen Sharmell following closely behind. Booker said the champion of champions resided on Smackdown and his name was King Booker. He asked Cena if he remembered the last time he was on Raw and when he made him kiss his feet.
Cena spoke back in an English accent reminded the King of Cena’s trip to Smackdown. Cena said he walked into the snake pit here on Raw. He said he was more about being about it than talking about it and challenged Booker to a match right now. Booker and Cena began to circle it up when ECW World Champion Big Show’s music hit and he came down to the ring.
Big Show said he was the champion of champions. He said we had a white guy talking like he was black and a black guy trying to talk like a white guy. He said there was only guy here who said what he said he was. Cena said he was wrong because no one ever called him the Michelin man. He said he was the most dominant giant in WWE history and the most dominant champion in this ring.
Cena told him to think about Andre the Giant when thinking about dominating giants. Big Show said Andre wasn’t here and if he were, he’d kick his ass. He said he sold movies himself and put over his 42 seconds in the Water boy. Booker said he took longer morning ‘constitutionals’ than show’s part in that movie.
So Booker put over his spot on one of the extras on “Ready to Rumble”. Show and Cena stared blankly before laughing hysterically. Cena said this whole champion of champions thing was up in the air so why not just settle it right now. He jumped Big Show but Booker clocked him from behind.
Show hit both with a big boot, sending both champions reeling. The referees took off down to the ring to break up the fight.
Coach was in the back bickering with Paul Heyman and Teddy Long.
Kane v. Umaga is next!
****Commercial****
Heyman was in the back with the other GM’s and touting his champion being the pre-eminent World Champion in wrestling today. Coach said that was because he didn’t wrestle on Raw. Coach said why not have Big Show wrestle Intercontinental Champion Jeff Hardy? Heyman agreed so long as everyone /*’s champions wrestled. Heyman said that was a fine idea but he had a match for Smackdown’s champ. He booked Rob Van Dam v. King Booker for later tonight. Long also had a match for us, because tonight John Cena would face the Undertaker.
Loser Leaves Raw
Kane v. Umaga
The two started off exchanging blows in the middle of the ring. Kane got the upper hand and worked Umaga into the corner and planted him with a follow up clothesline. Umaga retaliated relatively quickly, laying Kane out with a lariat of his own.
Umaga stomped and booted away at Kane on the mat before chasing Kane to the corner and landing a hard chop. Kane responded with some blows of his own before Umaga regained the advantage with a big Irish whip. Kane sent Umaga’s head into the ring post sending the big man reeling.
Kane mounted the ropes but Umaga came to just in time to toss Kane off to the outside.
****Commercial****
Kane caught Umaga in a choke slam attempt but got a belly t o belly for his efforts. Kane sat up and fought back with hard uppercuts but got planted with a flat liner. After dropping a leg, Umaga went to the top rope and hit a huge big splash before signaling for the Samoan Spike.
Kane blocked the spike and went for the choke slam. Umaga fought out of it only to get caught in a sidewalk slam. Kane mounted the top rope and hit his flying lariat before turning his attention to Estrada on the outside. Umaga recovered relatively quickly and flattened Kane with a Samoan spike, getting the cover for the win.
Winner: Umaga via pin fall
Kane looked frustrated but took the loss like a man after the match and the crowd cheered him off for the last time on Monday Night Raw.
****Commercial****
Steve Spurrier, coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks was in attendance.
Kane was in the back walking down the hallway. The Highlanders stopped him and told him how honored they were to be on the same show. Kane beat the holy high hell out of them and left them in a heap before walking out the door.
DX was standing behind a podium. HBK said as a result of their actions last week they would be forced to apologize to the following people: the tag team division. HHH pointed out there wasn’t much of a tag division to begin with. The Spirit Squad we apologized to and made fun of. They kept throwing out their cards on all their apologies before stopping at Edge. HBK pointed out they hadn’t apologized to anyone yet. They said they’d beat the hell out of Cade and Murdoch tonight in a street fight but couldn’t apologize for it because it hadn’t happened yet. HBK didn’t realize they were on live TV. HHH asked him what they were going to do and HBK whipped out some merchandise and plugged it before giving us a ‘suck it’.
Big Show v. Jeff Hardy is next!
****Commercial****
Jeff Hardy v. The Big Show
Hardy came right at the ECW champ but was quickly tossed aside. Show followed him to the corner and planted him with a big chop before tossing Hardy like a frisbee out of the corner. He ripped Hardy’s shirt in the opposite corner chopped him and then stood on him near the apron.
Hardy fought back with some punches before he got clocked with a huge clothesline. Big Show slammed Hardy in the corner before Show mounted the second rope and went for a big splash but no one was home. Hardy flailed away with some punches and a drop kick to the knees before hanging Show’s head on the ropes and connecting with whisper in the wind.
Hardy hit a swanton bomb but Big Show kicked out in a big way. Hardy went to whip him into the ropes but Show caught him in the cobra clutch back breaker before hitting the showstopper for the victory.
Winner: The Big Show via pin fall
Johnny Nitro popped up out of nowhere and railed away at Hardy before Big Show showed up and hit the back breaker on Nitro before tossing him to the side like a rag doll. Big Show makes a statement.
The DX-Cade/Murdoch street fight is next!
****Commercial****
DX came down to the ring and did their little shpiel as usual. They said they got Vince something he’d love as an apology for their antics earlier. They said they finally got one big enough for Vince McMahon being as they were at the University of South Carolina. They showed “Cocky” on the big screen but apparently he couldn’t be with us tonight or something. Apparently the administration wasn’t thrilled about the idea of the cock being with them for the day. Triple H was frustrated saying he was in, out, in, out etc. He said Vince would have stroked it and kissed it and loved it. He said it was probably for the best. He said Vince got mad easily and he wouldn’t hesitate to choke a chicken. He said we’d never know the love Vince and Cocky could have shared. With that in mind, he had us all suck it.
Street Fight
DX v. Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch
Both teams went right at it with The Game hitting a face buster to start things off. Murdoch got slammed for his efforts while HBK climbed to the top rope. Cade cut him off though but was sent to the outside.
Triple H worked over Cade at ringside, while Murdoch worked over Michaels on the inside. Murdoch came outside to make the save and sent Triple H careening into the ring steps. Michaels brought a chair into the ring to even the odds a bit but was cut off and nailed with an inverted atomic drop followed by a big boot to the face.
Murdoch whipped him with his belt while Cade hit him with his cowboy boot. Triple H yanked down the top rope sending Cade back to the outside. Cade went for a suplex but Triple H countered and sent Cade crashing into the entrance ramp. Triple H followed it up with a big chair shot before Murdoch was dumped right in front of him thanks to an HBK back body drop.
Triple H set up a table on the outside while Cade came to, bleeding from the chair shot. HBK mounted the top rope and hit a flying elbow drop right through the table. Back in the ring, HBK tuned up the band and connected while Triple H hit the pedigree. Three seconds later this one was in the books.
Winners: DX via pin fall
Edge was in the back with Lita. Todd Grisham wanted his thoughts on DX costing him the WWE title. Edge said there was no argument. He said they cost him the title. He said tonight he was going to bring back his talk show “The Cutting Edge” tonight and he’d have a surprise guest.
A recap of Smackdown’s “No Mercy” pay per view aired.
****Commercial****
The commentary team recapped the events of the first hour before putting over the next two matches featuring a brand champion.
Shelton came out to the ring and said there would be no way there’d be a Raw without him on the card. He said he wasn’t leaving the ring until he got some competition out here.
Chris Benoit’s music hit and here we go.
Shelton Benjamin v. Chris Benoit
Benoit planted Benjamin with some chops before hitting a snap suplex. Shelton kept coming before getting snagged with a German suplex. Shelton clung to the ropes and fought out of the second one and turned the tide, hitting some punches and a nice Samoan drop.
Benjamin cinched in a nice rear chin lock on Benoit. Benoit fought out the hold and hit some chops before tossing Benjamin off the ropes and taking him off his feet twice with a back elbow then following up with a clothesline. Benoit went back into his German suplex streak and made the last one count.
Benoit signaled for the head butt and came soaring off the top rope only to find that no one was home. Shelton hit his splash in the corner before going for the T-bone. Benoit countered the T-bone with the crippler cross face and got Shelton to tap out to give him the victory.
Winner: Chris Benoit via submission
Teddy Long was putting over Benoit’s win to Paul Heyman. Heyman said Benoit was an ECW guy just on loan to Smackdown. Coach said everyone had been arguing all night and he decided to bring in a guy, Super Crazy, who had been on all three brands. He asked him if Raw was the best brand of the three. Super Crazy nodded in approval. Teddy Long and Paul Heyman both pandered to Crazy as well and he agreed with both. Crazy said all three provided something different for all the fans. The GM’s were shocked he spoke English.
The Smackdown six man tag is next!
****Commercial****
Michael Cole and JBL ran down last night’s No Mercy pay per view action.
Chavo Guererro, Finlay & William Regal v. Lashley, Rey Mysterio & Batista
Chavo and Rey started things off. The two exchanged strikes before Mysterio came off the ropes and used head scissors to take Chavo over the top rope. He hit a double head scissors on Finlay and Regal and almost dolled up a double 619 until little bastard grabbed him and dragged him underneath the ring apron where the heels pounded away on him.
****Commercial****
We came back to a hot crowd and Finlay bearing down with a rear chin lock on Rey Mysterio. Mysterio ended up fighting out of the hold but couldn’t quite make it to the corner. Finlay picked him up and hit a mean looking shoulder breaker on Rey Rey before tagging in Chavo Guererro.
Chavo came in and whaled away on Rey before Mysterio fought back with an Irish whip. Chavo tried to roll him up but Mysterio planted him with a kick to the face. Regal came running in to cut off the crawl but it didn’t work and Batista got the hot tag, but the official didn't see it take place.
Finlay took Mysterio to the outside and tossed him like a baby into the guardrail. Chavo stomped away on Mysterio on the canvas before Mysterio countered a suplex attempt into a bulldog.
Batista got the hot tag and cleaned house. Batista stacked Regal and Finlay in the corner before planting them with a spine buster combo. He nailed Chavo with a jackhammer but Finlay and Regal broke it up. Bobby Lashley came in and speared Regal and Finlay out of the ring. Mysterio hit a hurricanranna on Chavo and hit the 619. Chavo reeled back into Batista who hit a spine buster and allowed Mysterio to hit a frog splash follow up for the win.
Winners: Rey Mysterio, Batista & Bobby Lashley
The officials ran down the rest of tonight’s card.
****Commercial****
Moolah and Mae Young came out to the ramp to soak in some applause.
Another promo video for John Cena’s movie “The Marine” aired.
King Booker was in the back. He said when he was on Raw he sacrificed too much to make the people happy. He said he realized the errors of his ways on Smackdown and became World Champion. He said tonight he needed to dominate RVD and prove a point; that he was the champion of champions. Sharmell said she had the utmost confidence that Booker would come out on top tonight.
Melina came out for her match and snubbed us on her entrance!
****Commercial****
Women’s Championship Tournament — Lumberjack Match
Melina v. Torrie Wilson
Ashley, Maria, Trinity, Candice Michelle, Kelly Kelly and Kristal will all be lumberjacks tonight.
The two locked up and Torrie hit a nice arm drag or two before Melina took off underneath the ropes but she was quickly herded back into the ring by the ladies. Melina returned the favor by drop kicking her opponent to the outside who was also quickly tossed back in the ring.
Melina tossed Torrie by the hair across the ring before going for a cover attempt. Melina hit two rights before Torrie came back and hit a clothesline. Torrie got a boot to the gut and a suplex for a two count.
Torrie whipped Melina to the buckles but was met with a boot to the face and a got clocked with a face buster. Torrie countered out of a hold by hitting a neck breaker but was distracted by Kristal. Kristal bought a drop kick in the mouth but Melina capitalized and rolled Trish up with a yank of the tights and scored the pin fall
Winner: Melina via pin fall
After the match Torrie got revenge and gave a stink face to Kristal.
****Commercial****
King Booker v. Rob Van Dam
The bell rang and the two locked up. Booker rushed RVD to the corner and stomped away at his head. Booker missed with a back kick and RVD came back with some punches. RVD ducked under the champ’s kicks and rolled him up via the legs for a two count.
RVD pressed the advantage with some shoulder thrusts in the corner followed by his monkey flip out of the corner. Booker eventually caught a kick to the gut and tossed RVD shoulder first into the ring post. Booker hit another boot to the face before getting a two count on the cover.
Booker kept up the heat, hitting a back kick right to RVD’s mug. He slapped on a rear chin lock hoping to wear RVD down. Van Dam fought out of the hold though and almost scored the pin with a roll up. The two exchanged blows a bit before RVD cold cocked Booker with a kick to the face. He hit a series of clotheslines before going to the top rope, but Sharmell tripped him up.
King Booker capitalized on the situation and hit his scissors kick for the victory.
Winner: King Booker via pin fall
A promo for the new Brian Pillman DVD aired.
****Commercial****
A video putting over Cryme Tyme aired. They’ll be debuting next week.
Mitch was in the back. He said he sucked. He said he lost a few times but tonight that would change. He said he’d beat Ric Flair tonight here on Raw. He said he’d he would get a little help from his friends.
The GM’s were in the back and arguing some more before Vince McMahon walked in. He said hi to all the GM’s. He put over how excited he was for this season premiere. He said it wouldn’t be the same show without him. He said he considered everyone like his children. Vince said he assumed all the GM’s thought their champion was the best. He asked what would happen if we had all three champions in one match? He said he would do a triple threat match at Cyber Sunday to determine a champion of champions. All three GM’s certainly looked interested.
****Commercial****
Another video for “The Marine” aired.
It looks like Rowdy Roddy Piper made friends with Ric Flair and will be seconding him to the ring.
That wasn’t all though, Ted Dibiase and IRS came down to the ring as well!
And of course who could forget Arn Anderson. Looks like the odds are even.
Ric Flair v. Mitch
All five old timers stalked the Squad around the ring and eventually chased them away from ringside.
Mitch hit a thumb to the eye and was stomping away on Flair before gathering him in the corner and choking him on the ropes. Flair fought back with some chops finally flooring the youngster. Flair hit a nasty looking chop block before claming on the figure four leg lock and gained himself a quick tap out victory.
Winner: Ric Flair via submission
After the match Flair and co. strutted around the ring and celebrated his win.
****Commercial****
The Cutting Edge
Edge ‘welcomed’ us to the show and introduced his guest, Randy Orton.
Edge said Orton impressed him. He said he impressed him in 2004 when he became the youngest champ in WWE history. He said since then though, he’s done nothing. He pointed out that he had been involved in some big matches, but lost all of them. He said for two years straight he had dropped the ball.
Orton said he’d drop him if he didn’t get to the point in two seconds. He said it could all be traced back to one moment and replayed the footage. The footage of Randy Orton getting assaulted by Triple H and the rest of Evolution aired. Wow, they’re finally bringing this all together.
Edge asked him if he remembered it but that Triple H’s selfishness cost him everything. He said Orton had tried but facts were facts. He said he wouldn’t usually care but things come around in odd ways and they replayed the footage of Triple H and Shawn Michaels interfering in his championship match. He said HBK cost him the WWE Championship. He said he was the same guy who taught Triple H how to be so selfish.
He said DX made some cute little jokes a little while ago because they think Orton and him were jokes. He said he called him out here tonight because it was he and Orton who should own this show, have all the championships and be the present and future of the industry not a tired old act from a decade ago.
He said they could throw down right now, OR they could join up and take a stand against DX and take back their championships, lives, and careers. He said the ball was in his court. Orton paced for a little while, while the crowd chanted RKO. Orton said as far as DX running the show was concerned, he had two words for them; it’s over. He shook hands with Edge and the alliance has been formed.
****Commercial****
John Cena v. The Undertaker
The two circled it up and the crowd was hot. Taker hit a boot to the gut and rushed the champion to the corner and began choking the life out of him. Taker followed Cena to the buckles but got caught quick and Cena went to work on the dead man. Take grabbed hold and tossed Cena right back into the corner and chopped Cena to pieces with rights and lefts.
Cena began to fire back with some shots of his own before getting flattened by a Taker big boot. Taker worked over the arm of Cena and took him to the ropes for old school. Cena cut the Dead Man off before he could walk across the ropes and went fishing for a super plex but was shoved off. Cena, like a pit bull, kept at Taker and went to the well again and this time hit the spot. Cena went for the cover but only got two.
Taker whipped Cena into the ropes and caught him in a bear hug. Cena began planted a shoulder block after fighting out of the hold and went for the five knuckle shuffle but got snagged as soon as he bent over. Cena fought out of the choke slam attempt but got caught with a knee to the gut while in the ropes.
Taker went for the back body drop but got caught napping and Cena hit a DDT. Taker went for a power slam but Taker countered into a tombstone. Cena wiggled out and went for the FU but Taker grabbed the eyes. Taker connected with a big choke slam but had to head off King Booker and Big Show.
Winner: John Cena via DQ
Once he took care of those two, he rolled to the outside only to be met by Mr. Kennedy, whom he chased to the back.
Big Show and King Booker went to work over Cena but both got hit with an FU and Big Show got clamped in the STFU for their efforts. We went off the air with Cena celebrating as he left up the ramp. RAW THOUGHTSThe Good-- Lots of good wrestling tonight, which seems to be something Raw’s doing more of. There was a lot less DX tonight and a lot of the crap was filtered out. Granted the Smackdown and ECW guys made for a better show all being there, but really, this was an entertaining show.
Heck, I even found DX reasonably funny tonight. They were used far better.
Speaking of which, hats off to creative for using their heads for once. I wasn’t expecting them to really pull the whole Orton-screwjob thing from two years ago together. The Edge-Orton thing may single handedly save this program. Hats off. I’m genuinely excited for this program.
The usual GM banter was kept to a minimum as well and the few segments they DID do, came off well as I felt Heyman made Long and Coach look really good there.
The Bad-- I don’t know how wild I am about the three champions facing each other on pay per view. It’s cool for a pop and all, but I just don’t think anyone cares enough about any one of these guys to care about this match. You also get booking issues with one looking better than the other, etc. The ONLY viable winner, IMO, is the Big Show, who would really benefit, as would his brand, by winning that match. Other than that, they need to be really careful with this one.
The Ugly-- Nothing too ugly tonight. Everyone got a pretty good fair shake and everything came off looking pretty good.
Overall- A- --Well the homecoming, after all three hours, longer than most pay per views these days, is over. Good job to all involved. While there wasn’t a single match I’d call great by any means, all the matches were, on some level, entertaining. They didn’t get bogged down in dopey segments either. This was a well-done show in which everyone came out looking good. Nice to see WWE right the ship a bit and hopefully, this is the start of better times to come.
Quick Results
Umaga def. Kane
Big Show def. Jeff Hardy
DX def. Cade and Murdoch
Rey Mysterio, Batista & Bobby Lashley def. Chavo Guererro, Finlay & William Regal
Melina def. Torrie Wilson
King Booker def. Rob Van Dam
Ric Flair def. Mitch
John Cena def. The Undertaker
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not?
Biggest pops
1. Ric Flair
2. John Cena
3. Arn Anderson
4. DX
Most Heat
1. Edge
2. King Booker
3. Umaga
4. Big Show
Match of the night: King Booker v. RVD **1/4
Power RankingsWWE Champion: John Cena (Last Week: WWE Champion)—It seems a little lazy to book a three way champions match, but for what they’re doing, at least it was booked right with Cena looking like the initial strong champion on his own brand. I’m VERY iffy about this feud, but I’ll give it a chance.
Intercontinental Champion: Jeff Hardy (Last Week: IC Champion)—Jes-huss Hardy got pulverized tonight. The Nitro thing doesn’t seem to be totally over yet so we’re gong to have to sit on him for a week or so.
1.Umaga (Last Week: 1)—Umaga more or less gets a clean win and sends Kane packing to Smackdown or ECW. I thought these two, for two big oafs, but on some entertaining, short-but-sweet matches throughout their program. They did a nice job of protecting both of these guys and both gained from it. Novel concept these days. I just hope they can keep the ball rolling with this guy.
2. Randy Orton (Last Week: 2)—Joins up with Edge in easily the highlight of the night for me. The biggest issue on Raw right now is what the hell to do with DX and I think they hit the nail right on the head. It never hurts to study your past and I think WWE may finally have gotten things right booking this feud. Great for all parties involved.
3. Edge (Last Week: 3)—I’m really into this Orton-Edge alliance as a potential solution for the DX debacle creative has done to themselves. As long as they bill the two as equals, like they did tonight, this will get over and everyone could potentially win.
4. Triple H (Last Week: 4)—Same ole stuff again this week, maybe a little funnier, but I’m just thankful they’ll be in a feud I’ll care about.
5. Shawn Michaels (Last Week: 5)—See Triple H.
6. Carlito (Last Week: 7)—Surprisingly absent from tonight’s show.
7. Ric Flair (Last Week: 9)—Nice little walk down memory lane. A win’s a win, Flair’s got em, and no one /* does.
8. Johnny Nitro (Last Week 8)—Looks like we’ve got another few weeks of Hardy-Nitro. Ho-hum.
9.Kane (Last Week: 6)—Is off Raw altogether and likely headed to Smackdown, although ECW wouldn’t be totally out of the realm of possibility. This move is about a year over due for this guy but I guess it’s better late than never.
10. Super Crazy (Last Week: 10)—IN case you were wondering, he DOES speak English
Dropping Out: NONE