Full Credit: Todd Martin, WrestlingObserver.com
WWE Raw Report
By: Todd Martin
Email: MartinT2007@lawnet.ucla.edu
Date: 04/04/05 (my birthday) from Los Angeles, CA.
The Big News: Randy Orton challenged Batista to a match, and paid for his
insolence. Also, Steve Austin returned to Raw, and beat up on the nearest
available warm bodies.
Title Changes/Turns: None.
Match Results: Shelton Benjamin b Christian and Chris Jericho; Chris Benoit
b Edge; Dave Batista b Randy Orton.
WrestleMania Thoughts:
Since WrestleMania came before Raw, I thought I would stick in a few
thoughts on the live event before the report rather than after. Overall, it
was a really entertaining event. It had some very good matches, a
star-studded roster, and all the bells and whistles one would expect from
the biggest show of the year. I had a great time.
I thought Angle-Michaels was the best match of the night, narrowly edging
out the Money in the Bank match. A significant portion of the crowd
preferred Angle, and it was somewhat discouraging to see some of those fans
disrespect Michaels in the midst of a great performance. The one negative is
I think Michaels should have tapped earlier. There was a palpable moment
when the crowd intensity for the ankle lock went down, because fans were
ready for Michaels to tap and had been waiting forever. The MMA fan in me
also finds a credibility problem in the application of that hold for such a
long time. The highlight of the ladder match for me was Shelton Benjamin. It
is a shame in a sense the WWE style has been toned down so much, because
Benjamin is capable of some amazing spots when given the opportunity.
The worst match was a tossup between Akebono-Show and Stratus-Hemme. I was
surprised the crowd was as charitable towards Akebono-Show as it was. Real
sumo is boring, but fake sumo is much, much worse. Thank God Hemme didn’t
win the title is all I have to say about the latter match.
The largest reaction of the night easily belonged to Hulk Hogan. Steve
Austin’s response wasn’t even close, and Austin got a tremendous response in
his own right. It’s tough even presenting Hogan and Austin on the undercard,
because the crowd loves them so much it can take the intensity out of the
main events. In that sense the end of this show somewhat mirrored the end of
WrestleMania X8. Overall, it was a great show.
Show Analysis:
After a WrestleMania package, HHH came out to start the show, and said this
is not the start of the Batista era. He said Batista was great one night,
but HHH is great every night. He said he has a rematch clause for Backlash.
He concluded by yelling right in the face of a ringside fan, who seemed
genuinely intimidated. We have heard this interview from HHH many times
before, and the problem is he’s a heel that always ends up back with the
belt just like he says he will.
Shelton Benjamin retained the Intercontinental Title, defeating Christian
and Chris Jericho. All three sold their injuries from the night before.
Benjamin and Jericho took turns on Christian, until they ended up fighting
with each other over who would get to beat him up. They then did the
alternating spot where one man is outside the ring while the other two
wrestled. This ended with an impressive spot where Jericho gave Benjamin a
power bomb and Benjamin gave Christian a superplex simultaneously.
They had a series of rollups, including a double pin by Jericho on Christian
and Benjamin. Benjamin went for the Stinger Splash on both, but caught only
Jericho. Benjamin gave Christian the hot shot for a near fall broken up by
Jericho. Benjamin hit the T-Bone on Jericho, but Tomko pulled Benjamin out
of the ring and gave him a clothesline. Christian then covered Jericho, but
got only two. Jericho came back with a springboard dropkick to knock Tomko
off the apron, and applied the Walls to Christian. Christian teased tapping
for a while, until Benjamin came from the outside with a springboard bulldog
on Jericho for the pin. This was a simply fantastic opener.
Backstage, Edge signed the contract for a world title match. Edge said he’d
take the title match when he is good and ready. Bischoff responded that Edge
would be facing Chris Benoit on Raw. Randy Orton came out, so they could job
him out twice before his hiatus. He was nearly in tears, and said he came
close to winning. He blamed a shoulder injury for the loss, and said the
status of his shoulder is uncertain. He said he was disgusted by Batista’s
win, and that he doesn’t respect Batista. He said he was supposed to be the
future star of Evolution, and he has pinned Batista twice in the year. He
challenged Batista for later in the night, and Bischoff made the match.
They said Trish had requested a rematch for the women’s title, but she gave
Christy the chick kick before the match even started. She proceeded to kick
Lita in the leg and use a half crab. All hail the women’s champ. They aired
the Hogan/Eugene/Hassan angle. Once again, Hassan did his new gimmick where
he pantomimes beheading his opponent. Given that is obviously playing off
the decapitation of Americans in Iraq, it’s such a morally reprehensible
tactic that I can’t believe even WWE would touch it. Hopefully they drop it,
and drop it soon. As soon as people pick up on what he’s doing, I sense
there will be a strong backlash. It didn’t come across on television just
how hot the crowd was for Hogan live.
Shawn Michaels came out to thank the crowd for supporting him. He promised
to do everything he can to get a rematch with Kurt Angle. Muhammad Hassan
came out and said Michaels didn’t steal the show because he lost. Hassan
said people are afraid of him. He added Michaels proved he is a loser, but
noted the people will still cheer for him because losers love losers.
Michaels decked Hassan and Daivari, but they took over. Hassan gave him the
downward spiral and camel clutch, but no throat slash this time.
Chris Benoit beat Edge. The story of the match was Benoit had an injured arm
and was fighting the odds to beat Edge. Edge worked over Benoit’s arm for
most of the match, eventually tearing off his bandaging. Benoit came back
with three rolling Germans, and a superplex. Benoit applied the
sharpshooter, but Edge got to the ropes. Benoit applied the crossface, but
Edge got out of that as well and used an arm bar DDT. Edge missed a spear,
and Benoit rolled him up for the pin. After the match Edge sent Benoit into
the steps and attacked him with a chair. Great. Now everyone in that match
lost in the space of two days. Parity booking sucks. WWE does realize that
someone has to challenge Batista after the second HHH match, right?
Simon Dean and Maven were insulting the crowd, when Steve Austin came out to
an electric reaction. Simon tried beer and Austin tried the Simon system.
Neither seemed impressed. Simon accidentally spilled one of his shakes on
Austin, and Austin proceeded to attack Maven and Simon. I thought the attack
was a bit unwarranted, myself. Backstage, Kane told Orton that he told him
so and laughed at him.
Batista beat Randy Orton quickly and easily. It’s really time to give
Batista a new entrance. Batista injured Orton’s shoulder by hurling him into
the ring post, and beat him with the demon bomb. HHH applauded Batista after
the match, but signaled he wants the title back.
Final Thoughts:
This was kind of a talk heavy show, and it dragged a little at times. That
said, there was basically nothing bad on the show, and plenty of good
points. It did a good job following WrestleMania. No draft lottery was
announced. Hopefully that means they have done away with that idiotic
concept.