RAW REPORT 6/27
- 06/28/2005 (12:40:32 am)
- Jimmy
Review of RAW from Anaheim, CA on 6/27
Oh, that Brian Piccalo playing guitar while Gale Sayers reads...Oh yeah, RAW!RAW Opening, with no Vengeance hightlights. We are live in Anaheim, California.
Our Hosts are Jim Ross, Jonathan Coachman, and Jerry Lawler.
Kurt Angle joins us first tonight as the black ropes confirm a SuperShow. Kurt does the old "Tease a really good match and then say 'not tonight'" deal about Shawn.He moves on to Batista, but is interrupted by Ric Flair. Que? Ric tells Kurt that he's a mark for Kurt, and basically gives him the old HHH treatment. Flair says HHH won't be here tonight. Yeah! Kurt threatens Ric, and Ric threatens back until we get a match for tonight followed by a woo-fest. Not a bad opening segment, but there's about 6 other things I'm more interested in on RAW tonight.
We get a Vengeance DVD extra interview with Bischoff announcing Tomko/Jericho/Christian vs. Cena and two partners of Cena's choosing.
The Ring Announcer tells us the next match is a tag match with one of the participants being the 1st draft pick for tonight.
Edge (with briefcase and Lita) and Gene Snitsky vs. Kane and...?
Kane begins to fight with no partner. Kane grabs a chair and nails Edge in the back with it. Edge and Lita escape through the crowd, and Kane follows. Bischoff comes out and announces Snitsky will now face the new, "biggest" draft pick yet. Get who it is yet?
Snitsky vs. Big Show
Really plodding match. Lots of kicking and punching from Show, with almost no offense from Gene. Chokeslam finishes for Big Show. The idea here was to put him over as a monster, but I think we already knew that. DUD
Maria interviews John Cena, but forgets her question and Cena sends her off to remember. Cena reveals Shawn to be one of his partners. Maria comes back and asks her question, being "Who's going to be your partner?" Ha-ha-ha?
Backstage Lita and Edge run, but Kane gets to Lita and threatens her a bit.
Chris Masters is out for another thrilling MasterLock Challange. Tajiri comes out to accept the challange, and he's soon dead meat. Chris demands respect, but Tajiri mists him. Poor dope.
The WWE Intercontinental Champion Carlito Carribean Cool joins us for the Cabana. He tells us his guest is the last draft pick for RAW...Rob Van Dam! Mark out moment there. Carlito calls him a lemon, and RVD takes offense. RVD says he'll be returning soon, but Carlito kicks him in the knee to stop that. He works it over a bit, and then spits the apple in RVD's face. Good segment, although I should note that we're now almost an hour into RAW, and we've only had one match, and a squash at that.
Kurt Angle vs. Ric Flair
Ah, this should do nicely. Ric struts and backdrops Kurt out. Back in hammerlockery commences, and Ric pulls on Kurt's mouth. Kurt sends Ric to the outside, and we go to a commercial break. When we come back Kurt's working over Ric's arm. Kurt gets a back body drop for 2. They go outside again, but come back in shortly after. Flair gets an elbow drop, followed by a knee drop. He goes up, but get's caught, and it appears they blow a spot here and Ric lands on the outside. Back in, Kurt gets an Angle Slam for 2, and then he goes to the Anklelock. Ric uses the testicular claw to get out of that, which the referee oddly doesn't do anything about. He chop blocks the knee, gives Kurt another shot to the 'nads, and hooks in the Figure Four. Kurt gets out and goes to the Germans (Suplexes, that is) but Ric lowblows him again. Suplex gets 2 for Flair. Ric hits a knee-buster, but Kurt no-sells that and hooks in the Anklelock. Ric won't tap, but Kurt gets in the dealy Heel Hook, and Ric has no choice but to tap. A bit too much brawling on the outside, but still pretty good. **3/4
Coach and Christy now host the RAW Diva Search 2005 thingy. Viscera interrupts, and Christy gets the idea to have them all explain for 30 seconds why they should be picked, and they should do it in their bra and panties. And that's what they all do, except for a girl who informs us she's wearing no underwear and gets big heat for then not taking it off. Halfway through this the crowd TOTALLY turns on it, booing everything. Anyway, Vis proposes they all dance, and dance they do. Sgt. Slaughter than comes out, winning the award for most obscure apperance in my book, and says next week he will be holding a Bikini Bootcamp competition with the Divas. Didn't he have one of those with Pat Patterson?
Todd Grisham interviews Batista, who says nothing of note.
Christian, Jericho, and Tomko discuss the up coming match. They toss around ideas for who the mystery partner will be. Marty Jannetty? "He's probably in jail or something" counters Christian. Kevin Nash? "Nash would tear his quad just picking up the phone" replies Jericho. Tomko suggests they have reason to worry, being in "Hollywood" and all. They all worry for a few seconds, but then laugh it off.
Christian, Tyson Tomko, and Chris Jericho vs. John Cena, Shawn Michaels and...Hulk Hogan
Boo, I would prefered ANY of the guys they implied other than Hogan. Oh well. We go to a commercial and when we come back, the match is in progress. Cena beats down Jericho, and tags in HBK. Enzuiguri gets 2 for Jericho on HBK, and then Tomko gets tagged in. Running Powerslam gets 2 for Tomko. Jericho gets back in, and goes to the chinlock on Shawn. Christian comes in, but quickly tags in Tomko. Tomko just as quickly tags in Jericho, who gets the bulldog but the Lionsault misses. Tomko gets tagged in, and so does Hulk. Hogan cleans house, but then a pier 6 brawl commences. He Hulks up from the Christian and Tomko beatdown, and then double noggin-knocker on Christian and Jericho. Big Boot on Tomko, and the big Legdrop finishes. Fun tag match, even if I don't care for Hogan. Pose-down follows. **`1/2
Overall Thoughts: Started off pretty bad, but got okay by the 2nd hour. 2 solid TV matches, but nothing to write home about. SmackDown seems to be more of the show to watch this week, as now there's not only the question of the draft picks and who will win the SD World Title, but who (if anyone) will replace Big Show in the match.
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