Dark Matches, Sunday Night Heat Spoilers and Off-Air Notes from Baltimore
Submitted by Calvin Martin on Tuesday, November 30, 2004 at 8:41 PM EST





Report sent in by Devin Payne/Cavalou from http://www.lopforums.com

I made the more than two-hour drive from the Richmond, Virginia area up
to Baltimore to attend last night's RAW, and it was a fun evening as
usual. Let's cover the Dark Match and Heat first, then we'll get to
off-air notes and so on....

Howard Finkel was absent for the night, leaving Jason Roberts to
announce the pre-Raw activities. He made his way out to the ring and
did the usual pre-show routine(welcoming the audience and so on) after
the WWE Desire video played. Nothing unusual about crowd reactions
during the video, as those who you'd normally expect to get good
reactions did and vice versa.

Dark Match

"The Masterpiece" Chris Masters defeated a "local" wrestler(name was
hard to make out) via pinfall after a Running Powerslam. Masters is
well-built and worked the mic before the match. He introduced himself
and then slowly disrobed almost a la Ravishing Rick Rude to good crowd
heat. The crowd was solidly behind the "local" wrestler, and the two
worked an okay match. If Masters gets a bit more polished, he could
turn into something valuable. He has a marketable look and what appears
to be decent charisma, but is quite young(about 20 or 21 I believe) if I
am not mistaken. He somewhat reminded me of Rene' Dupree' in his look
and build.

Sunday Night Heat

Jonathan Coachman and Todd Grisham never did come out to the Announcer's
Table, nor were any in-ring pyrotechnics displayed as they normally are
for Heat.

Christian & Tyson Tomko defeated Rhyno & Tajiri via pinfall after
Christian hit The Unprettier on Tajiri. Decent little tag match here.
Christian got a great reaction as he was the first "Superstar" out
through the curtain for the evening. Rhyno and Tajiri also received a
great face reaction, although Christian seems to have quite a few fans.
After a four-man melee broke out and Rhyno and Tomko ended up on the
arena floor, Christian ducked Tajiri's Buzzsaw Kick and scored with The
Unprettier for the win.

Val Venis defeated Viscera via pinfall after a Schoolboy Rollup.
Viscera came out to brand-new entrance music, and several "Mabel" chants
were directed at him throughout his entrance and the match. Val got a
nice pop, and I still wonder why this guy, who is very talented, doesn't
get more time devoted to repackaging his character and giving him a good
push. He has all the skills to be a top-tier guy in my opinion. I
guess there's just too many Superstars to focus on and someone has to
get lost in the shuffle. Typical "David vs. Goliath" matchup here, as
Val tried repeatedly to cut the big man's legs out from underneath of
him. The ending came when Viscera charged Val for an Avalanche in the
corner but missed, allowing Val to roll up the stunned former rapper for
the victory.

Gene Snitsky defeated a "jobber"(didn't make out his name) via pinfall
after a Pumphandle Slam. Good crowd heat for Snitsky, who I think WWE
has done a fine job of building up as somewhat of an old-school heel
with a bit of an edge. He flat-out dominated the match, as the
conclusion was but a mere formality.

Shelton Benjamin defeated Steven Richards via pinfall after a T-Bone
Suplex. Decent match between two talented guys, both of whom got decent
crowd reactions in their face and heel roles. Stevie got some nice
offense in, including a modified Neckbreaker that looked great. In the
end, though, it was Shelton who caught Big Stevie Cool off the ropes
with a T-Bone Suplex for the duke.

Lilian Garcia made her way out to the ring to a great reaction from the
crowd, then sang a typically-beautiful rendition of the National
Anthem. Good ol' J.R. and The King then made their way out to the
Announcer's Table for RAW to a great pop of their own. They were soon
followed by practically the entire RAW Locker Room, which was a sight in
itself. Now we find out why "The Coach" didn't appear for Sunday Night
Heat....he's been preparing to win the World Heavyweight Championship!!!!

Off-Air Notes

Contrary to what some "journalists" in the IWC say, Randy Orton is quite
over with the fans. Anytime he appeared in the arena or on the
TitanTron, he got a great reaction from the fans. And I can't blame
them, cause I really like the guy myself. A Battle Royal, Lingerie
Fashion Show with Stacy Keibler in it and screwing Triple H out of the
title had me marking out huge for him. And hell, I liked him to begin with.

The ending to the main event was quite a moment. I thought Edge had
tapped out and Benoit was champion at first, but then the referee
counted to three and proclaimed Edge the winner and the new champ. What
a way to end the show. I thought Triple H would retain hands-down for
sure, but boy was I surprised. The crowd was solidly behind seeing
Benoit as the new champ, but also seemed stunned that not only was there
a cliffhanger finish, but that Triple H did not retain the title. This
was a hot topic of conversation among fans on the way out of the arena.

Speaking of the show's ending, the beginning was great too. Not only
did we get to see Vincent Kennedy McMahon himself(who got a huge pop),
but the Battle Royal was great. The crowd was so into it, much like the
main event.

Batista has the fans in his favor, and it is my opinion that if he were
to turn babyface the crowds would eat it up. They were behind him in
the Battle Royal and popped huge when he eliminated Flair and was
eliminating Superstars left and right. And my God that Spinebuster is
devastating.

I have to say that it was an honor to watch two legends, Ric Flair and
Jerry "The King" Lawler, wrestle one another. I was entertained by this
match, and wish both men nothing but the best at their ages of 55 years
young.

The World Tag Team Championship Match was shorter than I expected. But
I must say, Eugene is loved by the fans. It almost seems like you can't
help but like the guy. And as for Maven, he got some scant crowd heat
for his post-match attack on Eugene. I think the fans didn't expect to
see Maven do something like that even if he was frustrated about the
Battle Royal. Everyone is so used to him being Maven, the nice guy from
Virginia who won the first Tough Enough. By the way, he drove out right
in front of me after the show in an SUV. I was walking to my car and he
drove right out from where all of the fans were gathered near the
Hopkins Street side of the arena. I tried, but because of the way the
building is set-up, I was unable to get any autographs.

After the show went to commercial after the Lingerie Fasion Show, the
Divas posed in the ring for a bit. Then Orton, who was standing on the
ramp still in possession of all of their clothing, told them that they'd
have to "come get" their clothes if they wanted them. They all emptied
out of the ring and chased him backstage, with Stacy bringing up the
rear and waving goodbye to her hometown fans.

After the cameras stopped rolling, the debate over who the winner of the
match and the new champion was continued amongst WWE Officials Earl
Hebner and Mike Chioda, as well as Orton, Benoit and Edge. No
conclusion was reached, and as the officials were in possession of the
title belt, Edge attacked Benoit from behind. They fought up the ramp
and out of sight behind the curtain, with Chioda and Hebner following.
Orton, who had exited the ring himself, was then attacked from behind by
Triple H. After some punishment on Orton outside of the ring, H tossed
him back inside and grabbed the very steel chair that Orton had used to
cost him the World Heavyweight Championship during the match. He then
entered the ring and prepared to hit Orton with the chair, but Orton
recovered and shot a boot into H's gut, then RKO'ed him. Orton's music
then played, and after playing to the crowd, he waited for Triple H to
struggle to his feet.

I'd say the 1st Mariner Arena was about 2/3 full. The Floor and Lower
Concourse was all filled up, and the Middle Concourse was close to it
with the exception of a few sections that were blocked off on the hard
camera side. The Upper Concourse was MAYBE 1/4 full. The end opposite
the TitanTron was tarped off as was the side above the hard camera. All
in all, I'd consider the crowd to be pretty hot. I liked the energy
they had throughout the night.








*NEW GALLERY* The VERY CREEPY Pix of Hulk Hogan Rubbing His Daughter Brooke!

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