Raw Report 1/7/08
Submitted by Donny Anderson on Monday, January 7, 2008 at 11:08 PM EST
Raw Report 1/7/2008
We begin with a recap of Ric Flair's retirement angle, and what occured last Monday, with HHH being DQ'd after Regal's interference. Flair is still alive, and HHH is out of the Rumble...
After the recap, Regal is in the back, and Mr. McMahon approaches him. McMahon says it's the first Raw of 2008, and fans are expecting something big. Tonight, Vince has wrestlers who don't even know they're wrestling, and the stipulations are unknown. Tonight, it's Raw Roulette. Regal says it's a wonderful innovation, and apologizes for not hitting Hornswoggle, but he DID take HHH out of the Rumble. Vince says he likes that, and wants him injured in addition tonight. Vince books the match on the spot against Regal, and spins the wheel. Looks like it's a First Blood match!
As soon as Regal leaves, HHH attacks him in the back, throwing him against walls and onto tables before the stagehands break up the fight. As they're holding HHH back, the Raw credits roll...
As soon as the credits end, HBK's music hits. As he makes his way down the ring, we get a recap of his loss to Mr. Kennedy last week.
Shawn Michaels v. Mr. Kennedy
Roulette wheel says: Strange Bedfellow's Match (they won't be competing against each other, they'll be teaming together!)
-commercial break-
We come back, and Kennedy is in the ring with Haas and Trevor Murdoch. Kennedy is in control, until Michaels tags himself in. HBK throws Kennedy out of the ring, and then throws Haas out of the ring. Haas climbs underneath the ring and grabs something, pulling out a mask. Haas starts acting funny, but gets an uppe rhand on Michaels and begins posing. Murdoch cheap shots Michaels, and Haas grabs him and tags in Murdoch. Murdoch gives a big boot followed by a 2 count, and then tags in Haas again. Murdoch hits a backbreaker followed by a delayed elbow drop from the top rope by Haas. Michaels gets out of a pin attempt and tries to tag, but Kennedy backs away. Michaels then grabs Haas by the mask, ripping it off, and hits him with a series of inverted atomic drops and punches. Haas is down, and Michaels mounts the turnbuckle and delivers an elbow drop. HBK superkicks Murdoch on the apron. Kennedy attempts to tag himself in, but Shawn catches it. Shawn then superkicks Haas, but Kennedy tags himself in successfully, hits the mic-check on HBK, and then covers Haas for the win.
Your Winners: Kennedy and HBK
Match Rating: B (Solid competition with some weird Haas stuff in there. The ending was a bit predictable but enjoyable nonetheless. I love this feud).
-commercial break-
Lilian Garcia announces a Trading Places match: the opponents must dress as each other.
Carlito dressed as Hardcore Holly vs. Hardcore Holly dressed up as Carlito
Santino comes down with Carlito, and Cody comes down with Bob Holly. Bob Holly looks hilarious, and he's smiling and having fun with it while tossing an apple around.
Holly removes the afro wig and Carlito T-shirt, but then puts the Carlito wig back on. Carlito opens up on Holly, knocking the wig off. Carlito in control, devleoping stomps into Holly, followed up with a suplex for a 2 count. Carlito puts Holly into the corner, Irish whips him to the other side, and hits a back suplex before locking in an arm stretch. Carlito then puts Holly in the corner and gives him a few knife-edge chops. Carlito misses though, and Holly returns chops and hits a clothesline and a backdrop. He goes for a second backdrop, but misses, only to counter a charging Carlito with a dropkick. Marella starts arguing with the Ref, allowing Cody to toss the apple to Holly. Holly grabs the apple and spits it in Carlito's face before hitting the Alabama Slam. Holly picks up the win and celebrates while wearing Carlito's wig.
Your winner: Hardcore Holly
Match Rating: B (Holly looked like he was having fun out there for the first time since he wore racing stripes.)
Maria and VKM are in the back. Vince tells Maria she can spin for the match that all the Diva's will be in tonight. The wheel lands on Submission. VKM tells her to close her eyes, and spins the wheel to "Lingerie Pillow Fight."
-commercial break-
After the break, there's a recap of Jeff Hardy's recent rise to prominence and his feud with Randy Orton, culminating in Orton kicking Matt last week.
Todd Grisham introduces Jeff Hardy in the back. Grisham asks Matt's status; Jeff says Matt's in the Hospital. Jeff says Matt has been there since day one, and he's got a message for Orton: he's not only going to take his title, he's going to take him out.
JR and King then announce that the wheel was spun, and Hardy will face Umaga in a steel cage tonight.
In the back, Vince is talking to Hornswoggle. The sound is messed up, but it sounds like Vince is letting Hornswoggle into the Rumble.
-commercial break-
They replay Vince's conversation with Hornswoggle. Vince basically says that Hornswoggle must qualify for it tonight in a tag team match with a partner of his choosing. Both winners of the match will qualify for the Rumble.
Lingerie Pillow Fight
Entries include: Melina, Jillian Hall, Maria, Mickie James, and Ashley, making her Raw debut!
Melina and Jillian are jumping on the bed, until the faces jump on and everyone starts beating each other with pillows. The heels grab the blanket and hide under it, but the faces pull off the blanket and start beating the girls with the pillows. Maria hits a bronco buster on Jillian. Ashley got kicked in the face pretty hard, and is down for awhile, and then gets backdropped onto the bed by Melina. The heels start attacking Ashley, but Maria and Mikcie come to the aid, picking up Melina and throwing her into Jillian. Maria and Mickie then hold Jillian while Ashley mounts the turnbuckle and hits an elbow splash for the win.
Your Winner: Ashley
Match Rating: D (pointless and a total debacle).
-commercial break-
Hornswoggle picks Super Crazy as his partner tonight.
HHH v. William Regal - First Blood Match
HHH starts out in control, punching at Regal until they brawl out of the ring. Triple H slams Regal's head into the announce table, and into the stairs. Triple H grabs the steel steps and throws them at Regal, but Regal ducks. Regal pulls HHH into the ringpost, and goes to kick HHH, but the Game moves and Regal kicks the ringpost. Regal slams HHH's head into the steps, and puts HHH into the ring before delivering a big side slam. Regal removes the turnbuckle pad as the Game fights back. Regal puts HHH head first into the exposed turnbuckle, and starts punching Hunter's head. Regal tries to put in him the corner again, but HHH counters and puts him into it several times before hitting a facebuster. He attempts the pedigree, but Regal reverses and seesaw's HHH into the turnbuckle. Regal kicks HHH in the face, and he's getting HUGE heat from the crowd. Regal leaves the ring and gets his brass knuckles, but catches a spinebuster as soon as he gets back in the ring. Triple H mounts Regal and starts hitting Regal with several right hands until Regal starts bleeding. AFter the bell rings, HHH delivers the pedigree.
Your Winner: HHH
Match Rating: A (Holy crap, Regal's still got it, and this was an absolutely BRUTAL match. Very, very fun to watch.)
-commercial break-
Hornswoggle asks Marella who says they might as well put him in the looney bin with Britney Spears if he said yes. Marella declines, saying that little people creep him out.
Recap of the JBL/Chris Jericho feud.
Jericho's music hits, and he comes down to the ring as Vince spins the wheel.
-commercial break-
Vince reveals that the match is indeed a Handicap match!
Chris Jericho vs. Snitsky and JBL
Snitsky starts pounding on Jericho, but Jericho dodges some blows and hits a few forearms before being hit with a clothesline by Snitsky. Snitsky stomps Jericho a few times before throwing him by the throad across the ring. Snitsky goes for a big boot, but Jericho dodges and Snitsky racks himself on the ropes. Jericho hits a springboard dropkick, knocking Snitsky out. JBL attacks, knocking Jericho out of the ring before hitting him with the ring bell. The ref tries to stop JBL, but gets tossed to the ground and knocked out. JBL then starts choking Jericho with a cable, dragging and throwing him by the cable. JBL pulls the Jericho by the cable and hits the clothesline from hell. JBL then drags Jericho down the aisle and back towards the side of the stage. JBL continues his assault by kicking him along the way, and ramming Jericho headfirst into the scaffolds. JBL then runs the cable throught he scaffolds and attempts to hang Jericho before officials come out and stop him.
Your Winner: No Contest
Match Rating: C+ (Not bad by any means, but for the return of JBL and Y2J, this feud is underwhelming. Even this, while extreme, didn't seem to add much to it. I just don't sense much chemistry between these two).
-commercial break-
Royal Rumble qualifying match:
The Highlanders vs. Hornswoggle and BK Jordan
Who the hell is BK Jordan? Oh wait, Mick Foley's music hits, and he comes out and sends BK Jordan to the back. Foley gets a massive pop, and starts against Robbie. Robbie gets control with an armlock, and punches Foley for a bit until Foley fires back with a series of fists of his own. Foley tags in Hornswoggle, who dropkicks and big splashes Robbie. Robbie tags in Rory, and Hornswoggle gets caught with a slam to the mat. Foley interferes, but the ref forces him out. Finally Hornswoggle gets free and tags in Foley, and Foley dominates Rory and gives the "Bang! Bang!" Foley hits a kneelift, but Robbie grabs Foley's hair, distracting him, and allowing Rory to get the upperhand. Rory tags in Robbie and they hit a double team battering Ram, with Robbie tagging Rory back in. Another double team battering ram leaves Robbie the legal man in. The Highlanders go for a double back drop but Foley catches it, dumps Rory out of the ring, and breaks out Mister Socko. Rory comes off the top and Foley hits Mr. Socko. He then hits a double underhook DDT to Robbie and tags Hornswoggle. Hornswoggle hits the Tadpole Splash for the victory!
Your Winners: Foley and Hornswoggle
Match Rating: B+ (I marked out a little bit here with Foley acting like Cactus Jack. This was fun, and it'll be interesting to see Foley join the Rumble.)
-commercial break-
Jeff Hardy v. Umaga in a Steel Cage
Orton comes down after both men, ready to watch the match with his own eyes.
Umaga starts off dominating until he misses a splash, with Jeff Hardy hitting a chinbuster. Umaga comes back after that with a kick that sends Hardy straight down. Umaga hits a punch that sends Hardy down in the same fashion. Umaga sends Hardy into the turnbuckle, but misses the splash as Hardy moves. Hardy hits a double stomp into a seated Umaga. Hardy begins pounding away on Umaga. Umaga tries to back body drop Hardy into the cage, but Hardy grabs the cage and almost escapes. Umaga pulls him back in, as Orton stalks Hardy outside of the cage, watching intently.
-commercial break-
Umaga has Hardy down with the nerve hold, and we get a recap of Umaga hitting the blackhole slam on Hardy during the break. The nerve hodl continues for about 3 minutes until Hardy finally gets to his feet. Jeff Hardy bounces off the ropes, but catches a back body drop that dumps him against the cage and between the ropes and cage onto the apron. Ouch. Jeff is stuck between Cage and rope while Umaga slams Jeff into the cage. Umaga hits a big splash on Hardy against the Cage wall. Umaga goes for a cover, but Jeff puts his leg on the ropes. Orton asks Umaga if he wants some help, and throws 3 chairs into the ring. Umaga smacks Hardy with a chair, sending Jeff to the floor again as Orton cheers. Umaga covers and only gets a 2 count! Hardy is hanging tough! Umaga climbs the ropes, but Hardy meets him and racks him on the ropes. Hardy sets up a chair and leaps off the chair into Umaga, sabu-style. Jeff goes for the twist of fate, but Umaga pushes him away and hits a big uppercut that sends Hardy down again. Umaga puts Hardy into the corner, and Umaga sets up for the wrecking ball, but misses. Hardy hits a few fore-arms and spinning wheel kick. Then, Hardy grabs a chair and chucks it at Umaga. Jeff DDT's Umaga on the chair and covers him, but the Samoan Bulldozer kicks out! Jeff calls for the door to be open, but Orton slams it shut, knocking Jeff Hardy back into the ring. Umaga covers, but Jeff still gets his hand up at the last minute. Umaga sets up for the Samoan spike, but Hardy kicks it away and hits the twist of fate to a HUGE pop from the crowd. Hardy goes to the top of the cage, but GOOD LORD he hits a Whisper in the Wind from TOP OF THE CAGE on Umaga and picks up the victory. Orton looks amazed as Jeff Hardy celebrates with the crowd.
Match Rating: A. (This one goes on the Jeff Hardy DVD, if the WWE ever makes one. Highly dramatic, and really stood out. Match of the night, undoubtedly.)
Final Grade: B
It was a good Raw. The whole Roulette angle seemed to have been a fraud. If they're going to give us unpredictability, give us the real thing, not just one or two unpredictable matches and ask us to "trust you" when you tell us what the wheel has given for every other match. Wrestling is a "see it and believe it" form of entertainment, so I feel a little bit swindled. Regardless, the matches, other than that Diva's debacle, were exceptional.
Happy New Year! 2007 was a landmark year in Wrestling in alot of ways, and 2008 should be no different. Questions, comments, or concerns can be sent to DonnyAnderson@gmail.com. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week!
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