Monday, March 14th, 2005
Gwinnett Center
Duluth, Georgia
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We go right into the Highlight Reel with Chris Jericho. Jericho introduces Randy Orton who gets a nice reaction. Orton says that he wants to be a Hall of Famer and to do that, he needs to beat the Undertaker at WrestleMania. Jericho says that he has a surprise for Orton and it's Jake Roberts, who faced Undertaker at WrestleMania VIII. Jake looks better in 2019 than he does here in 2005. Jake and Randy shake hands. Jake says that he is here to do a favor for Randy by reintroducing his brain to his mouth. He tells him not to bite off more than he can chew. Orton asks Jake how he felt after he lost to Undertaker at WrestleMania. Orton says that when he beats Undertaker that he will make a bigger impact than Jake did his entire career. Jake reaches for his snake, but Orton grabs him. Roberts pulls off a short arm clothesline and is going for a DDT. Orton reverses it and gives Jake the RKO. This wasn't peak Jake Roberts, but this was a good opening and did a good job of making the match feel important. No complaints from me.
Kane vs. Christian & Tyson Tomko
Let's see how we can bury Christian this week. Christian was the original John Moxley, he just didn't have a cool organization to go to. Tomko distracts Kane, allowing Christian to attack him from behind. Of course that only works for about 5 seconds and Kane is in control. Christian and Tomko are taking advantage of the handicap by making quick tags. Christian hits an inverted DDT for a 2 count. Kane fights back and Christian begins to retreat up the ramp. Chokeslam by Kane on Tomko is enough for the victory. I'm not sure how that is supposed to help Christian?
Match Rating: *
After the match, Christian tries to sneak under the ring and grab a ladder. He gets it, but then retreats again. Kane then uses it on Tomko and stares down Christian. Tomko got busted open pretty good.
Ric Flair is backstage with Snitsky and is giving him a speech full of "It's not your fault's". Snitsky says when he hurts Batista tonight that it will be all his fault. What a gimmick.
Lita is talking with Christy and wants to go over kicks. Tajiri and William Regal are here to help. Regal gives her some tough love and then Christy accidentally kicks him south of the border.
Marty Jannetty and Shawn Michaels are on screen for the first time together for the first time in over a decade. Shawn says that he and Marty are going to take on La Resistance for a Rockers reunion.
Shelton Benjamin is on his way to the ring to have a match with Edge, but Edge attacks him from behind and is destroying him down the ramp. After a huge beating the referee asks Shelton multiple times if he is okay to start the match.
Edge vs. Shelton Benjamin
Edge instantly knees Shelton and he is on the floor as we head to commercial break. Shelton is able to fight back a little bit and gets Edge knocked down with a shoulder tackle. Shelton is now firing back with a flurry of right fists and follows it up with a running knee lift. Edge ducks Shelton's leap, but Shelton jumps and lands on the top rope and then hits a sunset flip for a 2 count. Shelton does a springboard, but Edge catches him for a body slam. That was a really nice sequence. Edge is getting ready for the spear, but Shelton leaps over him. Shelton goes for a roundhouse kick, but Edge ducks that and Shelton gets the referee with it. Edge hits a super stiff spear, but the referee is still down. Edge goes and grabs a ladder, but as he is bringing it in the ring, Jericho runs down and pulls down on it and it hits Edge in the face. T-bone suplex and Shelton gets the victory. That was a really enjoyable TV match that really made Shelton look good and did a good job of making Money In The Bank that much more interesting.
Match Rating: **3/4
The Rockers (!) vs. La Resistance
Even 14 years later, I am excited to see this reunion. Rockers are pretty much in sync, which is pretty incredible. They hit a lot of tandem offense, until Conway lowers the top rope while Michaels is running the ropes and it allows La Resistance to take over. La Resistance hit the Hart Attack, but Jannetty is able to break up the pin attempt. Michaels finally hits the hot tag to Jannetty and looks pretty good. Jannetty hits a Rocker Dropper and Michaels hits Sweet Chin Music and that's all she wrote. That was a lot of fun. It really is a shame that Jannetty wasn't able to have a better career, because he was always a really good worker.
Match Rating: **1/4
Triple H is back with his championship. Flair reminds him that it's been a year since he lost to Benoit at WrestleMania. Flair is acting weird tonight on both backstage spots tonight.
Trish tells Maria is going to eat Christy alive. Maria makes a comment about the Twist of Fate and Trish attacks her and throws her into some garbage cans.
Speaking of garbage, Flair is back with Snitsky. Flair continues to hype up Snitsky. Flair realizes that Snitsky isn't paying attention and it's because Batista is standing right behind him. Batista says he is going to take away Triple H's championship.
Triple H vs. Chris Benoit
Benoit gets the better of Triple H early on. Benoit goes for a couple of Crippler Crossface attempts, but Triple H is able to get to the ropes both times. Benoit tries to grab Triple H and pull him back in the ring, but Triple H gives him a big right hand. Benoit hits a few chops and a snap suplex and again Triple H goes to the outside. After the break, Triple H hits a big spinebuster for a 2 count. During the break, they show that Triple H threw Benoit into the steel steps. Benoit goes for the headbutt off the top, but is stopped by Triple H and he hits a nice superplex for a 2 count. Pedigree attempt is turned into a slingshot by Benoit and both men are down. Benoit hits the 3 German suplexes and is signaling for the Crossface. Benoit instead hits 3 more German suplexes. He is going up top and hits the diving headbutt and gets a 2 count that the crowd definitely thought might be the end. Benoit goes for the Sharpshooter, but Triple H counters into the Pedigree which Benoit then turns into a Crippler Crossface. Triple H gets out and Benoit hits a seventh German suplex. Triple H blocks the next attempt and goes for the Pedigree yet again and Benoit puts him in the Sharpshooter. Flair helps Triple H get out of it and he is sent to the back and gives us classic Naitch on his exit. While the ref is distracted, Triple H low blows Benoit and hits the Pedigree for the win. Man, that was just a really well executed match by two guys that have really good chemistry. Say what you will about Triple H, but he made Benoit look like a million bucks just a few weeks before headlining WrestleMania.
Match Rating: ****
Muhammad Hassan is ere with Daivari to complain about not being on the WrestleMania card. He doesn't only blame WWE, he also blames the racist fans.
Christy and Lita are back talking and Christy makes Lita promise that she'll show her how to beat Trish. Lita then runs into Snitsky and he promises to finish what he started with her. Make it stop.
Batista vs. Snitsky
Triple H and Flair are on their way to the ring. Triple H gives Snitsky some advice, but it must not have been good because Batista hits some shoulder blocks to Snitsky. Batista is distracted and it delays his charge and Snitsky is able to get his foot off. Snitsky slams Batista's knees against the ring post. Snitsky hits a few power moves, but then Batista is back in control. Then out of nowhere, Flair comes in and chop blocks Batista and ref immediately calls for the bell. Flair and Triple H come in and attack Batista.
Match Rating: 1/2*
All three men grab steel chairs and surround Batista. Kane is out to make the save on Snitsky. Batista Bomb on Snitsky. Triple H and Flair want nothing to do with him. Triple H then announces that Batista's opponent is going to be Kane, which draws a "huh?" reaction from the crowd as the show ends.
That was a really good episode of Raw. They did a nice job furthering the storylines for WrestleMania and had some good matches. The Triple H/Benoit match was one of the best of 2005 so far and definitely worth going out of your way to watch. Big time thumbs up and proof that SmackDown really needs to pick up it's game.
Overall Rating: 80%
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