Monday, May 2nd, 2005
TD Banknorth Garden
Boston, Massachusetts
Batista and Christy Hemme are shown getting up close and personal until Eric Bischoff interrupts. Bischoff congratulates Batista on his title defense at Backlash and announces an 8 man tournament to name the #1 contender and it's called the Gold Rush Tournament. The 8 men in the tournament will know they are in the tournament, but they won't know who their opponents are. Bischoff offers Batista the night off, but Batista declines and wants a match with Bischoff. Batista was just joking and he walks away with Christy.
Gold Rush Tournament 1st Round Match
Christian vs. Kane
Christian gets up in Kane's face and talks trash and Kane tosses him through the ropes. Christian hits a drop toe hold on Kane into the steel steps and Tomko gets in a cheap shot. Springboard crossbody by Christian to the outside on Kane. Kane fights back and goes for the chokeslam, but Christian counters into a sleeper. It doesn't last long and Kane hits him with a sideslam. Kane goes up top, but Tomko pushes him off and Christian goes for the Unprettier, but Kane reverses that. Kane then gets a thumb to the eye, but Kane is able to push Christian into Tomko and then hit the chokeslam for the victory. There was a lot of action crammed into that last minute. After the match Tomko tries to attack Kane and he eats a chokeslam as well. It never mattered how much Christian was getting himself over, Vince was never going to give him a legit chance.
Match Rating: **
Christian is shown walking into the back and runs into Ric Flair. Flair brings up Christian's rap last night and says that Triple H will win the tournament.
Muhammad Hassan and Daivari make their way down to the ring. Hassan is complaining that he is excluded from the Gold Rush Tournament just like he was excluded from WrestleMania. Hassan then blames Daivari for his loss and slaps him across the face twice. Daivari then follows Hassan back down the ramp.
Viscera vs. Simon Dean
Before the match Viscera gets on the mic and says that he showed how physical he can be and his hunger for love. He then turns to Lillian Garcia and then makes a terrible Latino sexual innuendo, but is interrupted by Simon Dean? Simon says that women don't want out of shape men and that he should take the Simon System. He says that instead of a match, he will give him a Simon System. Viscera, who is somehow the face here, chokes Simon and throws him around the ring. Vis puts him in the tree of woe and then uses his backside to smash Simon. Viscera misses an elbow drop, but throws Dean off the pin attempt. Dean tries to go off of the second rope, but pushes him down to the mat in midair. That was pretty cool. He hits a big splash and that is all. That was about as good as Vis is ever going to look. After the match, he goes up to Garcia and lets her know that she is back on the market, the black market. He then grabs her butt. I really can't even believe I have to type this.
Match Rating: 1/4*
Candice Michelle and Stacy Keibler are looking at Stacy's photo spread in Stuff Magazine. Bischoff then says that they will get that on the show later. He then walks into his office and Triple H is there. He's upset about the tournament and he should be champion. Bischoff says that after what he did to his refs, he shouldn't even be in the tournament. Triple H tells Bischoff to tell Batista that he's on borrowed time.
Shelton Benjamin is back for an interview and says he isn't nervous about not knowing who his opponent is. Chris Jericho walks in and tells him that he respects Benjamin and Benjamin says that means something to him. They both say that they are in the tournament. Jericho says that he hasn't had a one-on-one title match in almost 3 years. Benjamin shakes his hand and offers him the best of luck. That was a pretty lame segment.
They show a picture of Chris Candido, who died a few days prior.
Gold Rush Tournament First Round Match
Shelton Benjamin vs. Shawn Michaels
We get some wrestling to start and Benjamin has frustrated Michaels. Shelton counters a back suplex off the top rope with a crossbody. After a series of moves, both men are down and then both men nip up. We get a couple of quick nearfalls and then Michaels slows it down with some chops. Shelton hits the splash in the corner and goes for the T-Bone suplex, but Michaels counters and both men are down again. Benjamin ducks the Sweet Chin Music attempt and then Michaels catches Shelton's leg and then spins around and hits him with a kick to the face. Benjamin is going for a superplex, but Michaels knocks him off and hits an elbow off the top rope. Michaels is going for Sweet Chin Music, but Shelton blocks it and then nails him in the head with a sweet kick, but it only gets him a 2 count. Shelton then leaps up to the top rope and hits a clothesline off the top rope, but it still is only good for a 2 count. 2005 Shelton is so good. Shelton goes for the springboard clothesline from the top rope, but Michaels nails him with Sweet Chin Music in one of the most iconic moves in Monday Night Raw history. They could have tried 1,000 more times and they would have never hit it any better than that. Awesome ending to a really great match. Shelton delivers 2 **** matches in 2 nights. Not a bad stretch for the youngster.
Match Rating: ****
Edge is backstage for an interview and Todd Gresham asks him why he is in the tournament when he already has the Money In The Bank briefcase. Edge says he'll get two chances against Batista and they bring up the fact that if he gets drafted to SmackDown that those will not be any good if he wins. He then walks up to Victoria and Lita and asks what they are looking at. He smirks and walks away. I think that's the first time him and Lita have interacted since the Matt Hardy release, but I could very well be wrong.
World Tag Team Championship Match
The Hurricane & Rosey vs. La Resistance
This is your tag team division in 2005. Hurricane and Rosey were actually a fun enough team, there was just no teams for the to work with. It really is kind of weird how small the rosters were during this time. La Resistance hits a Hart Attack on Rosey, but it's only good for a 2 count. Rosey hits a hot tag to Hurricane and hits a reverse Unprettier on Conway. Hurricanrana off the top rope by Hurricane but the count is interrupted by Conway. Hurricane sends him to the outside and Rosey picks him up and Hurricane hits their apparent finisher for a pinfall victory. This was a 3 minute TV match that existed to establish them. The only problem is they just beat the only legit team.
Match Rating: *1/2
Gold Rush Tournament 1st Round Match
Edge vs. Chris Jericho
Jericho gets a chopping, but leaps up on the second rope and Edge pushes him over the ropes to the floor. Edge goes to work on Jericho's back. We get a shot of Batista almost watching a TV at a normal angle, so good for him. Jericho makes his comeback and even hits a hurricanrana into a pinfall for a 2 count. Edge hits a big boot and then heads out to grab his briefcase. The official tells him not to and this allows Jericho to attack him to the outside. There is a small "Boring" chant going on and that I don't get at all. Jericho gets Edge in the Walls of Jericho, but Edge escapes to the outside and grabs the briefcase. He hits Jericho in the head with the briefcase and then hits a missile dropkick, but Jericho kicks out. Edge then hits the Spear and that is enough. The crowd didn't dig it, but it was a solid TV match.
Match Rating: **1/2
We get a pretty cheesy graphic wishing The Rock a happy birthday.
Chris Masters is here with more Master Lock Challenge greatness. He said it's been so easy so far that he almost wasn't going to have it tonight and makes a Boston joke. He makes his offer even bigger by making it $4,000 plus a Curt Schilling jersey and a Tom Brady autographed football. He picks his victim from the crowd and obviously he doesn't get out of it.
Gold Rush Tournament 1st Round Match
Triple H vs. Chris Benoit
These guys had one of the best matches of the year not that long ago here on Raw. Benoit starts out firing away until Triple H clobbers him in the back of his head after throwing him sternum first into the turnbuckle. Back from commercial break and Triple H hits him again in the head. Benoit's selling doesn't age well here. They are playing up the fact that Benoit may have a concussion after being hits with the briefcase last night. Benoit hits the three German suplexes and then a headbutt from the top rope. Benoit throws Flair into the ring and starts chopping. Triple H hits Benoit from behind to the back of the head and the ref is knocked down in the process. Batista's music hits and he and Triple H start slugging it out. He takes out both men and tries to encourage Benoit to get up. Benoit gets him in the Sharpshooter as Batista mocks him. Triple H tries to reach for the rope, but Batista pulls it away. After a long struggle, Triple H taps and Benoit advances. Good TV main event, even if it was somewhat uncomfortable with the concussion angle with Benoit.
Match Rating: ***1/4
Well, the Gold Rush Tournament certainly injected some life into what had been a little bit of a slump for the Raw brand. We got a great match out of Shelton/Shawn and the other three matches were entertaining. The Viscera character is absolute garbage and a total downer, but pretty much everything else was at least mildly entertaining.
Overall Rating: 71%
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