Monday, January 17th, 2005
Air Canada Centre
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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We start the show with The Highlight Reel with Chris Jericho. Just as he starts talking about being in the Royal Rumble and all that good stuff, Muhammad Hassan and Daivari's music hits and out they come. Hassan of course insults Canada and the crowd eats it up. Jericho says he has been working on learning to speak Arabic and that Daivari was hyping the new Fozzy CD. Hassan says that Jericho is the worst of both worlds. He was born in America and lived in Canada. Jericho then knocks out Hassan and the Walls of Jericho, until the numbers game catches up to Jericho and he ends up in the Camel Clutch while Daivari yells in his face. Out comes Benoit to make the save.
Backstage with Triple H and Ric Flair. Flair tells Triple H that he and Batista are playing phone tag, which worries Triple H. Serious stuff here.
La Resistance & Maven vs. Shelton Benjamin, The Hurricane & Rosey
Shelton and Hurricane dominate early until Maven hits Hurricane running the ropes, which is enough to slow him down. I remember when Conway was supposed to be the up and coming talent. However, there was no doubt that Benjamin was the young talent to keep an eye on here. Still don't get how they couldn't find a way to use him better. La Resistance barely gets Rosey up for their finisher and the victory. This was your typical Raw throwaway match.
Match Rating: *1/2 (out of 5)
Stacy runs into Randy Orton backstage and gives him a kiss on the cheek.
After the break, Randy Orton is on his way to the ring to a pretty good ovation. He says that everything he worked so hard for was taken away by one man, Triple H. Cue Triple H's music and he says he has heard this over and over since he beat Orton at Unforgiven. Triple H says he is sick of young punks thinking they can stop him. Orton says to come to the ring right now, but naturally he retreats and Orton chases him, but Triple H nails him has he's heading through the curtains. Orton takes control and out comes Flair, but Orton takes care of him too. Orton has the chair and clears the ring.
Triple H is livid backstage and says he needs to talk to Batista, but then Batista is there and Triple H isn't so confident.
Coach is with Shawn Michaels, who is booed when his name is announced. He wants to qualify for the Royal Rumble and in walks Eric Bischoff. Bischoff says he doesn't need to qualify, but since he's dressed to wrestle he will wrestle Christian tonight to a good ovation.
Christian vs. Shawn Michaels
As Michaels enters the ring, Edge is now on the ramp. Man, they started the match during the commercial? That is all sorts of stupid. Christian starts hammering away until Michaels throws him out of the ring. Edge is now working his way towards the ring. Christian hits a nice tornado reverse DDT for a 2 count. Michaels regains control and Edge runs in to spear him, but Shawn throws him out of the ring. Elbow off the top rope and he's now tuning up the band, but Tomko distracts him and Christian ducks. Then out of nowhere, HBK hits it anyways for the victory. Still can't believe they started this match during the commercial. After the match, Edge comes in and spears Michaels to a loud pop and then puts him in a Sharpshooter-like hold.
Match Rating: **1/4
Batista vs. Viscera
It's your 1995 King of the Ring. Viscera actually is getting more offense in than I expected and then hits a big Samoan Drop. Viscera throws Batista into the turnbuckle and they apparently have a miscommunication as Batista drops to a knee and Viscera still semi-splashes him in the corner. Then out of nowhere, Batista pulls out a spinebuster and wins. Weird match.
Match Rating: 1/2*
Chris Benoit is walking towards the ring to face Chris Jericho.
Evolution is back and Flair and Triple H are congratulating Batista. Batista said Bischoff offered him a qualifying match next week for the Rumble. Triple H doesn't think it's a good idea.
Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit
Man, is this match off to a slow start. Jericho sets Benoit up for a superplex and nails it. Benoit dumps over the top rope and for some reason falls over as well. German Suplex time. Benoit goes up top for the flying headbutt, but Jericho rolls out of the way and both men are down. Benoit tries to get the Crippler Crossface, but Jericho tries to get him into the Walls of Jericho. Benoit goes for the Sharpshooter, but Jericho rolls him up for the 3 count. Disappointing match there, since we all know what they are capable of. They shake hands after the match.
Match Rating: **1/2
It's hype video time for the feud of the year, Snitsky and Kane. Then we get a vignette for Chris Masters.
We get a Trish interview in the ring, which basically only exists because we are in Toronto. This was pretty cringe-worthy thanks to the terrible storyline here. Kane's music hits and he chases after her. As he's about to chokeslam her he lets go. He then changes her mind and chokeslams her to some boos.
No Disqualification Match
Kane vs. Snitsky
They immediately start brawling. Snitsky starts whipping Kane with a belt and the fans start doing the wave. Not sure that Toronto was the place to have Kane/Snitsky as a main event. The crowd then starts chanting "Batista" as Snitsky attacks Kane with a chair. They are up on the entrance stage and Kane is teetering at the edge. But naturally, Kane regains control and chokeslams Snitsky off the stage and through a bunch of tables that are never normally there. Both men are out. The feud is terrible, but for a garbage match it was entertaining enough.
Match Rating: **
There is no way a show with Christian/Michaels and Jericho/Benoit should have been this bad, but here we are. Despite a pretty poor storyline, the crowd is very into Batista, which is a positive. The Michaels/Edge feud continues to be fun and I look forward to re-visiting that match soon. The rest though, yikes.
Overall Rating: 38%
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