Raw Report 1/14/2008
Submitted by Donny Anderson on Monday, January 14, 2008 at 11:17 PM EST
Raw Report 1/14/2008
After a recap of last week's main event, Jeff Hardy's music hits, and the Rainbow Haired warrior makes his way down to the ring to a massive pop. Hardy grabs the microphone and says he's excited because at the Royal Rumble he has the chance to become WWE Champion. He's thrilled, but he's also angry. Last week, he wasn't able to take Orton out. Tonight, it will. Hardy asks for Orton to come out now, or, if not, he'll come back and find him. After a slight pause, Orton's music hits and the champ comes to the stage. Orton says if Jeff wants him that bad, he's got it... but with one condition: only 2 men have ever held both the IC and WWE title have held it at the same time. Orton wants to be the third. Therefore, at the Royal Rumble, they'll fight for the WWE title. Tonight, however, they'll fight for the Intercontinental title. Hardy accepts. Orton says good, because Jeff is out of brothers to kick in the head. Jeff makes himself clear that tonight he's taking out Orton.
-commercial break-
Six Diva Tag Match: Ashley, Maria, and Mickie James v. Melina, Jillian, and Beth Phoenix
Jillian and Ashley start off. Jillian with a takedown, followed up by a few shots to the head. Jillian gets Ashley into the corner, but Ashley kicks her in the gut, and leaps from the top rope with a crossbody. Jillian kicks out at two, and tags in Melina. Melina does some damage before Ashley tags in Maria. Maria starts with a decent offense of some shots to the body and head, but is eventually brought down by Melina and is caught in the ropes. Melina pulls on Maria's hair and tags in Beth Phoenix. Beth starts to destroy Maria, but Maria manages to tag in Mickie James. Mickie starts strong, putting up a decent fight against the Women's champ. Mickie hits a nice head scissor's takedown, and the gets on the top rope. Mickie hits a Thesz Press from the top, but is caught by Pheonix soon after. Beth lifts her into the air, but Mickie counters and lands on her feet. Mickie hits a kick to the head, but the ring soon goes into pandemonium as all six divas go at it. Beth takes advantage of the distraction and hits Mickie with the delayed Fisherman's Suplex for the win.
Your Winners: Melina, Jillian, and Beth Phoenix.
Match Rating: C+ (Standard fare. Beth and Mickie can at least put on a somewhat entertaining divas match.)
Vince and Regal are in the back. Vince says that he has confidence that Regal can beat Flair. Regal says that he'll do what HHH, Umaga, and Orton couldn't do, and that's end Flair's career. Vince says that if God were to give the US an enema, where would it be performed. Regal says in Mobile, Alabama. Snitsky comes up and says that he's tired of waiting, and that he wants his shot. Vince says that tonight, Snitsky will face HHH. Vince hands the enema bag to Regal and we go to a break.
-commercial break-
Shawn's music hits. He comes down and complains that he has to fight in a Rumble qualifying match. He says it's ridiculous - he came in second last year, and has won 2 rumbles before. He came out here to challenge Mr. Kennedy, so why not make that a Rumble qualifying match... however, Shawn's music gets interrupted by Trevor Murdoch's music. Shawn doesn't look too happy.
Royal Rumble Qualifying Match:
Shawn Michaels v. Trevor Murdoch
HBK starts off with an armlock, but Murdoch quickly takes over with a few blows to the head and an inverted atomic drop followed by a big boot. Murdoch continues delivering punishment by throwing Shawn into the turnbuckle hard, and getting a 2 count. Murdoch locks in a neck vice, but HBK starts to power out of it by kicking, punching, and slapping his way out of it. Michaels with a big thesz press, followed by a big flying forearm. Michaels hits an inverted atomic drop, followed by a few fists and a body slam. Michaels gets to the top rope and hits a flying elbow drop, and starts tuning up the band. Before he can hit sweet chin music, Murdoch falls backwards. Shawn grabs his legs and appears to try to lock in a sharpshooter, but twists the legs differently and locks in an inverted figure four. Murdoch submits and this is over. Sick looking leglock.
Kennedy appears on the jumbotron, and Kennedy starts talking about how he's better than HBK, and that Shawn's ego is stil las large as ever. Kennedy says he has nothing to prove to Shawn, but out of the kindness of his heart, he'll give him his final moment in this business when he steps into the ring with the present and the future of sports entertainment: Mister Kennedy.
HBK looks on, while Murdoch gets back in the ring only to catch a superkick out of nowhere. Ouch.
Your Winner: HBK
Match Rating: B+ (Yes, this was basically a squash, but that leglock is AWESOME and the promo by Kennedy was amazing. HBK continues to be better than ever.)
-commercial break-
Vince is in the back talking to Hornswoggle, telling him he's proud, but concerned. As one of the 30 men in the Royal Rumble, he has no prior experience. Therefore, VKM is going to give him some: a mini-royal rumble match. Hornwoggle will start, and the first person to compete will be Mr. Kennedy followed by Mankind followed by Batista... and maybe a surprise or two. If Hornswoggle is successful tonight, he's got a real shot at winning the real thing, and going to Wrestlemania... but that's not too likely is it? Vince grabs Hornswoggle by the throat and tells him his last name is McMahon, and anything can be done. Hornswoggle looks frightened, but Vince lets go and tells him that he's proud of him.
-commercial break-
Triple H's music hits and the Game comes out to the ring for his match tonight with Snitsky.
Triple H v. Snitsky
A "Triple H!" chant from the crowd starts the match out. A collar-elbow tie up between the two ends with Snitsky in the corner getting pounded on by HHH. Snitsky turns the tables with a few right hands, and then starts to work on HHH. Triple H manages to fight back, but takes a back elbow from Snitsky. Snitsky runs to capitalize, but HHH launches him to the outside.
-commercial break-
We come back to see both men in the ring, and Triple H getting hit with a big boot. Snitsky is now looking to do some damage, and punches and stomps HHH in the corner. Triple H takes a shoulder block in the corner, followed by two more. Triple H gets thrown into the opposite turnbuckle, and Snitsky hits a sidewalk slam. Snitsky covers, but HHH kicks out at 2. Snitsky bodyslams the Game, and hits a standing elbow, covers, and gets another 2 count. Triple H starts to get up and meets Snitsky's punches with his own. Snitsky quickly grabs HHH in a bearhug, and starts to put the pressure on. Another "Triple H" chant breaks out. HHH starts to hit some elbows to Snitsky's head, but the hold doesn't break. Triple H starts to fight back again, and forces a break in the hold. Snitsky kicks HHH in the gut and goes for the Pumphandle slam, but HHH reverses with a DDT. Both men slowly get up, but Triple H hits a facebuster, followed by a spinebuster. Triple H goes for the Pedigree, but Snitsky backdrops him over the top rope to the floor. Snitsky tosses HHH into the ring steps, and places HHH over them. Snitsky goes to crush HHH on the steps, but Triple H moves and grabs a chair. HHH gets disqualified by beating Snitsky senseless with the chair. Snitsky rolls in the ring, but HHH follows after grabbing the sledgehammer. HHH hits Snitsky with the hammer, and follows it with a Pedigree. HHH lost, but he is standing tall.
Your Winner: Snitsky by DQ
As Triple H walks back up the ramp, Vince shows up on the screen. Vince says that HHH has become more violent every week because he's not in the Rumble. Vince advises HHH to calm down, take a chill pill, and...Vince is interupted by Triple H destroying the Titan Tron with the sledgehammer. Awesome
Match Rating: A- (who knew that Snitsky would ever put on a match this good. He and Triple H both put on a great show. Triple H's matches have been more brutal than ever over the last few weeks, and it's only served to help both him and his opponent.
-commercial break-
Vince asks HHH what he's trying to prove. He asks what else is he going to do? Vince says he can't trust him, therefore HHH is back in the Royal Rumble... not because he's intimidated, but simply because HHH must win his match next week to get back into the Rumble.
JBL's music hits and he comes down to the ring amidst a ton of red and black balloons. Balloons are literally covering the ring. There are thousands of them. JBL says that for several months, someone was going to save us, and that was Chris Jericho. Jericho stuck his neck out to save us, but how is his neck? JBL shows a recap of last week when he obliterated and hanged Chris Jericho. JBL asks us where our savior is now? He says he's at home where he should have stayed. JBL says he loves domination and power, and when he was dragging Jericho, it was like dragging everyone who looked to Jericho to be their savior. Chris couldn't make it tonight, but JBL knows he's watching. JBL tells Chris to move over, he wants to talk to his children. "Do you see what I did to Daddy's neck? Daddy just realized that there are people better and stronger. Your Daddy is gutless, spineless, and had all the fight taken out of him by me." JBL says he doesn't want to make this personal, but he wants Jericho to look at his kids and tell them that JBL's just better than him. He says if Chris comes to the Royal Rumble, the savior will need to be saved. Awesome promo and incredible mic-work.
-Commercial break-
There is a ton of smoke from JBL's pyro, and you can hardly see anything. Hornswoggle's music hits and it's time for the mini-Royal Rumble.
Royal Rumble teaser
First entries:
Hornswoggle
Kennedy
HAHAHA, it's a midget Kennedy that looks JUST like Mr. Kennedy. The mic drops, but little Kennedy can't reach it. The bell rings and Kennedy tries to throw Hornswoggle out, but Hornswoggle hits the ropes and comes back trying to throw him out. Kennedy gets Hornswoggle in the corner and hits several kicks. The music hits and the next comptitor is mini-mankind. Kennedy immediately attacks him, and goes back after Hornswoggle. Mankind then attacks Hornswoggle and brings out mr. Socko. Hornswoggle blocks it and throws him out. Then he grabs Kennedy and gorilla presses him over the top rope! Big show of strength by Hornswoggle. The music hits and mini-Batista comes out. He looks more like Paul Simon than Batista, but he's got the motion down. He spears Hornswoggle and goes for the Batista bomb but Hornswoggle flipped out of it. Hornswoggle almost gets tossed out but hangs on. Kane's music hits, and mini-Kane comes out. Kane clears house until Batista hits the spinebuster. Batista hits the Batista bomb, but Hornswoggle comes up, kicks him a few times and throws him out of the ring. Kane sits up and stares down Hornswoggle. Kane gets on the second rope and hits a flying clothesline, setting up for the chokeslam. Hornswoggle blocks the chokeslam and hits the Celtic Cross on Kane, and kicks him out of the ring. Khali's music hits, but this time, it's the real thing. Mini-Batista comes in and attacks Hornswoggle, taking him out, as Khali gets in the ring. Batista runs while Khali grabs Hornswoggle. Finlay comes out with a Shillelagh, taking Khali out. Singh tries to get involved but Finlay takes him out too. Finlay and Hornswoggle celebrate.
Your Winner: Hornswoggle
Match Rating: B+ (Only because I can't justify giving a "little-person match" an A. This was a lot of fun though. I didn't see it coming.)
-commercial break-
Vince thanks Finlay, but Finlay grabs Vince by the collar. Vince says he had nothing to do with it, but Finlay calls him a liar. Vince says that if Finlay wants to blow of some steam, he can blow it up against Khali on Smackdown. Vince tells Finlay to never put his hands on him again. Finlay refers to a deal, but Vince tells him not to say anything about the secret deal.
-commercial break-
Ric Flair v. William Regal
William Regal's got new music, and it's great. Very evil sounding.
We come back from a commercial and Regal's already got Flair on the ground in a submission move. Flair gets to the ropes though, breaking the hold. Regal stomps away at Flair, but the ref calls him off as Ric jumps out of the ring. Flair grabs Regals legs and slams them against the apron and post. Flair crawls back into the ring and hits a chop block, and a knee drop before locking in the figure four. Unfortunately, Regal grabs the ropes, forcing Flair to break the hold. Regal uses this to his advantage, and rolls up Flair. He grabs Flair's tights, but the Ref sees it and stops counting. Flair gets behind Regal and rolls him up, grabbing Regal's tights. The ref doesn't see this, so Flair wins.
Your winner: Ric Flair
Match Rating: B (And the saga of Flair continues for another week. This seemed very rushed. These two are capable of much, much more with enough time, but that's okay. It was good for what it was.)
-commercial break-
Jeff Hardy v. Randy Orton
THe two go right at it, with Orton landing a low blow to start things off. The ref says to ring the bell, and Hardy wins by DQ. Orton grabs a mic and says that the show is not over, and that we do not want to miss this. Orton picks up Hardy and lauches him to the outside. Orton exposes the concrete on the outside, and goes for an RKO. Hardy pushes the champ away, and the two begin to brawl up the ramp. Orton slams Hardy into one of the big screens. Hardy is hurt, and Orton continues to pound away at the fallen IC champ. Orton backs up and goes for the head punt, but Hardy sees it and turns it into a MASSIVE back body drop off the ramp, through a wooden structure, to the concrete. Hardy jumps on the scaffolding and goes up a long way. He's really high up. Hardy leaps off and lands a massive swanton. Both Orton and Hardy are down, and the officials are frantically trying to strap both men to stretchers. The crowd starts a "Hardy Hardy Hardy" chant. Raw goes off the air with both men being carried out on stretchers with Hardy raising his hand, giving the Matt Hardy symbol, having taken revenge for his brother.
Your Winner: Jeff Hardy by DQ
Match Rating: A (On principle alone. The match was only a second long, but the segement itself was like nothing else. Just when you think Hardy can't top himself, he goes from a Whisper in the Wind off the cage last week to doing a massive swanton off the scaffolding. Jeff giving the Matt hand symbol at the end was a very nice touch as well. I can't wait for this match at the Rumble.
Final Grade: B+
Pretty good Raw, and personally, I can't wait for the Royal Rumble. Not much else to say, but 2008 is off to a great start so far. Match of the Night goes to the HHH and Snitsky, followed by Hardy/Orton. Snitsky surprised the heck out of me tonight.
Next week, RAW is in my backyard, right up the road in Hampton, VA! Unfortunately, I haven't had the time to get tickets (hint, hint, anyone that has any that might be reading this). Anyways, it should be an exciting show, as it always is when it comes to this area. Thanks for reading, and I'll see ya next week!
As always, comments and questions can be sent to DonnyAnderson@gmail.com!
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