Monday, January 24th, 2005
Ford Center
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2
Tonight we are getting Randy Orton vs. Ric Flair and we are also getting an update from Steve Austin.
Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho & Chris Benoit vs. Edge, Christian & Tyson Tomko
Somehow Tomko lucked his way into this one. Edge was still finding his way as a heel here in 2005. Christian was always awesome and it still is a shame that they never did more with him. Christian and Michaels start things off. Lots of quick tags to start off. In terms of hairstyle, this was not peak Jericho here. They are wrestling like this is going to be a 3 minute match, but that will not be the case. Back from the commercial break and the heels are working on Benoit. Christian throws Michaels over the ropes to the outside and tags in Edge. Will there ever be a better wrestler at taking a beating and getting sympathy than Shawn Michaels? The only current wrestler that I can think of that comes close in WWE is Johnny Gargano. Michaels fights back, but Christian holds onto his leg to prevent him from making the tag. I completely forgot that Tomko actually had a pretty solid career after this run was over. Double clothesline spot allows Michaels to get the hot tag to Benoit and he takes care of all 3 of the heels. Jericho hits his springboard dropkick on Tomko while Benoit hits 3 German Suplexes on Christian. He hits the diving headbutt, but Edge breaks up his attempt to put on the Sharpshooter. Benoit ducks a big boot from Tomko and Michaels hits him with Sweet Chin Music for the 1-2-3. You will never hear me complaining about Raw starting off with a match, especially one of this quality. This was a very good TV match.
Match Rating: ***1/2 (out of 5)
Stacy Keibler is on her way down to the ring. She announces that the Governor of Oklahoma announced that today is Jim Ross Day. She introduces Danny Hodge to the ring as a special guest and then of course Jim Ross. They show a highlight of him giving his speech. JR starts tanking everyone and then Triple H's music hits and he is accompanied by Ric Flair. They remind the crowd that the Sooners were destroyed by USC in their last game. Triple H tells "Father Time" to leave. Triple H grabs Stacy by the wrist and tells her to stay, but JR stands up to him. Flair comes up behind JR and gives him a low blow. Danny Hodge comes in and clubs Triple H, but Flair attacks him from behind. Hodge was over 70 here. Triple H then is going to force Stacy to kiss him, but then decides to try and give her the Pedigree. Randy Orton comes down and makes the save. So he was good with everything up to then, but drew the line at the Pedigree apparently.
Triple H and Flair are walking in the back and Triple H lifts up Candice Michelle's skirt, which causes her to run. God, this is terrible. He then walks into the locker room to tell Batista what just happened. Batista isn't impressed. 2005 me thought this was stupid. 2019 me is even more insulted than this. Batista then tells them that he will be taking a qualifying match for the Royal Rumble. Batista says that way just in case Orton beats Triple H, he can beat Orton and keep the title in Evolution.
Eric Bischoff, Coach and William Regal are in the back. Regal wants a spot in the Rumble. Bischoff says he is giving that spot to Coach. La Resistance is now asking for their spot in the Rumble. Batista steps ahead of them. La Resistance challenges Batista for a spot in the Rumble. Batista says he'll beat them both.
Royal Rumble Over The Top Rope Challenge Qualifying Match
Tajiri vs. Viscera
Coach announces the match and Viscera gets zero reaction from the audience. Tajiri blows the green mist in the face of Vis, but it essentially does nothing. After like three moves, Vis throws out Tajiri for the win. Cool.
Match Rating: 1/4*
Just in case you haven't gotten your fill over the last month, we get a highlight package of the Trish/Lita/Kane/Snitsky saga.
Maria attempts to interview Tajiri until William Regal comes up to Tajiri and tells him that he has a way to get back at Bischoff.
Royal Rumble Qualifying Match
Batista vs. La Resistance
It's still weird to see Batista do the machine guy entrance without the pyro. Batista is 36 years old here. La Resistance attempts to sing "O, Canada", but Batista attacks him. Batista makes the Tag Team Champions look like a bunch of jobbers and pins both of them after just about a minute. After the match he grabs their flag and sticks it by Conway's butt. 2005 ladies and gentlemen.
Match Rating: 1/4*
After the match they show Ric Flair and Triple H backstage. Flair is impressed, but Triple H says he has to go do something impressive of his own.
Royal Rumble Qualifying Match
Muhammad Hassan vs. Val Venis
The suspense is killing me on who is going to win this match. Daivari begins yelling at Lillian Garcia and then distracts Venis, which allows Hassan to attack him. Daivari continues to yell on the mic during the match. Venis is selling every move as if it was coming from Brock Lesnar. After a hot start to the show, they have absolutely killed the crowd. With Hassan's in ring skills, they might as well have called him Tiger Ali Singh 2.0. Venis finally fights back and even gets a sit down powerbomb in for a 2 1/2. Venis goes up for the Money Shot, but Hassan moves. Hassan then hits his finisher for the pinfall. After the math he puts Venis in the Camel Clutch.
Match Rating: *
Flair is backstage pumping up Batista. Triple H then tells Batista that he was right about Evolution covering all of it's bases. That's why the last spot in the Rumble is going to Ric Flair. Just in case for some reason Batista gets eliminated, Flair will win it.
Maven tells everyone that Bischoff was nice enough to get a second chance of being in the Rumble. He calls out anyone who has already qualified for the match so that he can take their spot. Out comes Kane, who is limping and has his left arm wrapped up. Maven says that he meant anyone but Kane. Snitsky is now coming down with a bruised face and his right arm and ribs wrapped up. Kane is in disbelief. Garcia announces that this is now a triple threat match.
Royal Rumble Qualifying Match
Maven vs. Kane vs. Snitsky
Kane and Snitsky start slugging away at each other and then do a double boot spot. Kane hits a chokeslam on Maven and gets the victory. Man, these qualifying matches sure are good.
Match Rating: 1/2*
They show a clip of a press conference where Steve Austin was recently at. Their big announcement is that he has signed a 3 movie contract with WWE Studios. That's one that didn't work out so well.
Todd Grisham is with Edge. He says that he has sat back and watched the last two WrestleManias with a broken neck. He says he is going to win the Royal Rumble the same night that he beats Shawn Michaels.
We get a Chris Masters vignette.
Ric Flair vs. Randy Orton
After about a minute, Orton is already bleeding. Orton fights back with some fists and we get the famous face first fall from Flair. Orton knocks Flair into the laps of some front row audience members. Orton gets his leg grabbed by Triple H, which then allows Flair to throw Orton over the ropes. The ref then sends Batista to the back. Batista is disappointed that Triple H isn't owning up to it. Back from commercial and Flair is chopping away at Orton. Orton fights back and hits a big suplex for a 2 count. Orton misses a dropkick and Triple H gets up on the apron, which allows Flair to kick Orton south of the border. Triple H then gets a couple shots as Flair distracts the ref. Flair is hitting Orton with more chops, but this time they aren't phasing Orton. We get a ref bump and Triple H nails Orton's knee with the belt. Flair immediately puts on the Figure Four. A new ref comes in and gets a 2 count on Orton. Orton then reverses the move and Triple H grabs the referee and throws him to the outside and starts attacking Orton's right leg more. Orton fights back and then hits a RKO out of nowhere and the ref slowly makes the 3 count. Orton then grabs the belt and tells Triple H to come and get it. Triple H thinks about it, but decides not to as Orton holds it over his head. Pretty solid TV main event match.
Match Rating: ***
Well the beginning and the end were entertaining, but everything in between was absolute garbage. Raw really seems to have no direction outside of Triple H/Batista and it's hurting the show. It's easy to see why the Money In The Bank match was created, because they had nothing for so many guys to do.
Overall Rating: 56%
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