Monday, February 7th, 2005
Saitama Super Arena
Saitama, Japan
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Right off the bat this show has an awesome feel to it, as the Japanese crowd is clapping in unison. Very cool.
Out comes Eric Bischoff. He has a translator next to him. Bischoff promises one of the biggest Raws you will ever see because Ric Flair will be taking on Shawn Michaels, who gets a huge pop. The Triple H vs. Edge match gets a mild pop, but the Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho announcement is met with a big pop as well and that match is now.
Submission Match
Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho
They lock up and take it all the way outside before the ref has to break it up. We get some realistic wrestling that draws an applause from the Japanese crowd. Jericho goes for his springboard dropkick, but Benoit pushes him off the ropes. We come back from commercial break and both men have blood on their foreheads. Benoit hits a German suplex, but Jericho fights out of the second one. Jericho is the one that is busted open. Jericho puts Benoit into a half crab, which I'm not sure I can ever recall him doing. Benoit hits his three German suplexes and Benoit now signals for the diving headbutt and hits it. That will forever be one of my least favorite moves. Jericho battles back with a jawbreaker and goes for the Lionsault, but Benoit gets his knees up and Jericho grabs them and goes for the Walls of Jericho, but has to settle for a slingshot. Benoit now gets him in the Crippler Crossface but Jericho grabs the bottom rope. Benoit gets him back in the Crossface and this time Jericho taps. That was a good match until the ending. It just kind of came out of nowhere as if they were told to go home.
Match Rating: *** (out of 5)
We get a video about the tour to Japan. One of these years I will get over to Japan.
Triple H is backstage with Ric Flair talking about how Evolution runs the wrestling world. Triple H is now second guessing that Batista should go to SmackDown, but Ric Flair talks him out of it.
Christian and Tomko are backstage and Christian says that he calls his fans in Japan his "Jeeps". They walk into Stacy Keibler and the interviewer asks Stacy about Randy Orton instead of Christian. Christian says that Orton isn't a legend killer because he hasn't beat Christian. Christian tells Stacy to let Randy know that he'll meet him in the ring, but then tells Tomko that it will be him instead.
Batista is walking to the ring as we go to commercial break.
We get the Braveheart WrestleMania commercial again.
Maven vs. Batista
Maven says everyone is wondering why Maven wasn't in the Royal Rumble. He says it's because if he was in it, he would have won. Cue Batista's music. Maven immediately attacks Batista, but he eats a spinebuster. Batista Bomb and that is all.
Match Rating: 1/4*
After the match, they show Big Show's comments about Batista on the big screen.
After the break, he is backstage talking to Bischoff. Bischoff says he will get to the bottom of it. He then tries to convince Batista to stay on Raw. 3/4
World Tag Team Championship Match
La Resistance vs. William Regal & Tajiri
Tajiri naturally gets a big pop here. Regal and Tajiri start out hot. It's too bad the tag team division was a joke back in 2005 because Regal and Tajiri could have been a good team had they had the roster to work with. Tajiri hits a nice enzaguri, but the 3 count is broken up by Conway. Tajiri then hits his springboard double elbow and gets the Tarantula locked in. Grenier tries to hit Tajiri with the flag, but Tajiri blocks it and sprays the green mist for the victory. I can't believe Vince McMahon let this happen. That was way more of a squash than I expected.
Match Rating: *3/4
They show Regal and Tajiri celebrating in the crowd after the match.
It's now time to unveil some of the Hall of Fame inductees and they are the same ones announced on SmackDown.
Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels
Flair hits Michaels with a cheap elbow and then starts chopping away. Michaels reverses and hits some chops back and then hits him with a back body drop, which will never not look painful on Flair. Michaels then gives him one on the outside of the ring. I feel like that's not a bump he should have been taking in 2005. Flair lures Michaels in and gives him a thumb to the eye. Michaels fights back with some fists and Flair does his famous fall, much to the delight of the Japanese crowd. Chop block by Flair and he starts going to work on HBK's knee. Flair puts Michaels in the Figure Four and gets a couple of 2 counts. HBK is able to reverse it, but Flair gets the ropes. Michaels gets a nearfall with both a cradle and backslide. Enzaguri by Michaels and both men are down. They go back and forth with chops before Flair kicks Michaels knee. Flair goes up top, which gets a big pop and Michaels slams him off. Michaels goes up top for the elbow drop and is now tuning up the band. Sweet Chin Music and that's all for Flair. That was like an 8 minute greatest hits album. They hit the notes they needed to to please the live crowd.
Match Rating: **1/2
Jerry Lawler is in the ring to announce the All-American Diva Fashion Show. Out first is Maria sporting a cowboy outfit. Victoria is out in a biker outfit I guess? Last is Christy Hemme in a bikini. As Lawler is about to go over the fashion show rules, Simon Dean interrupts to talk about his Simon System. God, I wish Dean would have been around for the 1992 Superstars. They show Akebono in the front row. I forgot just how big that guy was. Dean then goes around insulting the women with fat jokes. Lawler distracts Dean and Christy hits him with a low blow from behind. That segment accomplished nothing except filling 10 minutes of airtime.
Evolution is in the locker room. They rehash the whole Raw/Smackdown stuff again. I still don't get why people look back on this fondly.
Coach is back with Edge and he's mad about being overlooked by people talking about what brand Batista is going to be on. He tries his best to make people think he's going to win the title tonight, but no one is buying it.
We get another WWE in Tokyo segment.
Randy Orton vs. Tyson Tomko
They are claiming that Orton was concussed at the Royal Rumble and then it was re-aggravated at Raw last week. Christian then drags out Stacy and Tomko takes control. A whole bunch of nothing happens and then Orton wins with a rollup and Orton sells a head injury. That was pretty awful.
Match Rating: 1/2*
After the match, Christian attacks him and hits the Unprettier while Stacy is in shock.
World Heavyweight Championship Match
Edge vs. Triple H
Despite being on the roster together for years, these two never seemed to have many one on one matches with one another. Triple H hits Edge three times into the ring post shoulder first. During the break Edge got some offense in and now both men are down. If they had to do a heel vs. heel match on Raw, doing it in Japan was probably a pretty good idea. Edge goes up top and hits a missile dropkick and gets a 2 count. Big time spinebuster by Triple H and gets a 2 count. Edge puts on his reverse Sharpshooter submission move that I truly just don't remember. Edge goes for the spear, but Triple H moves and he hits the ref. Did this match really need a ref bump? Flair is in and he gets a spear. Edge now has the steel chair, but misses and hits Edge with a suplex. Both guys are now going for the chair, but Batista pulls it away and out of the ring. Edge is distracted and Triple H hits him and when he falls off the apron, he hit Batista in the back. Edge is back in and hits the Edgecution, but the ref is still down. Edge goes for the spear again, but Batista comes in out of nowhere and hits him with a spinebuster. Kick to the gut and the Pedigree finishes Edge off. That was a good little match with a little too much of the shenanigans we usually get in a Triple H match.
Match Rating: ***
After the match, Triple H poses, but Batista grabs his arm as he is holding up the title belt.
Well, they tried for a home run and only came up with a base hit. This wasn't a bad show, but looking at the card it could have been better. There was a little too much filler, but we did get two good matches to start and finish the show. Kudos to the Japanese crowd for giving the show a WrestleMania atmosphere.
Overall Rating: 58%
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