Monday, June 20th, 2005
America West Arena
Phoenix, Arizona
Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2
John Cena is here to talk about Chris Jericho turning on him last week. Cena says he wants Jericho and Christian right here, right now. Instead, out comes Muhammad Hassan and Daivari. Hassan says that Cena is a typical American, complaining about things that don't matter. Cena says he came out here for a fight and since Jericho and Christian won't come out, he wants Hassan. Eric Bischoff is out and says Cena will take on Hassan for the title tonight and Batista will take on Kurt Angle for the World Heavyweight Championship. Cena is ready to go now, but Hassan says that he needs time to prepare.
After the commercial, Bischoff is still in the ring and he's going to announce the new draft pick from SmackDown. Bischoff brings out Shelton Benjamin and congratulates him for holding onto the Intercontinental title for longer than anyone the last 10 years. Bischoff says he beat Jericho in a match where he had no idea who he was facing. Before Bischoff can get to where he was going, Shelton says that he knows he'll be facing the draft pick and calls him out. It's none other than Carlito, which from a storyline point of view makes no sense since he just attacked Big Show on SmackDown.
Intercontinental Championship Match
Shelton Benjamin vs. Carlito
They go at it and Carlito retreats outside the ring. Shelton decides to take a leap over the top rope, but his foot hits the top rope and he takes an ugly spill right before the commercial break. Carlito is in control back from the break. Carlito's punches have to be some of the oddest looking that I can think of. They battle up on the turnbuckles and Shelton uses a headbutt to knock Carlito off. He follows it up with a flying clothesline and gets a 2 count. Shelton hits a Samoan Drop and gets another 2 count. The announcers keep selling Shelton's head injury from the dive. Carlito rolls up Shelton and holds onto the 2nd rope and steals the victory and the Intercontinental Championship to go along with it. Pretty standard match there and Carlito didn't seem to be particularly feeling it here.
Match Rating: **(out of 5)
Edge is getting ready for his big night. Billy Graham is then showed in the crowd.
Maria interviews Carlito backstage for a few seconds and walks away to get him an apple while he says he will be the best Intercontinental Champion of all time. He then spits the apple in Maria's face.
Viscera vs. Simon Dean
Dean cuts a promo while Viscera is on his way to the ring about how overweight he is. Viscera quickly starts going at Dean. Dean gets a few kicks in and then flexes his butt at Lilian Garcia. Viscera hits his rolling kick and follows it up with a big splash. He hits the Viscera Driver and gets the victory. Short and to the point.
Match Rating: 1/4*
After the match, Lilian comes in the ring and says that when they're in Vegas Sunday that Vis is going to hit the jackpot.
Chris Jericho is backstage with Todd Grisham. He talks about how he hasn't had a one-on-one title shot in nearly 3 years, so he took matters into his own hands. He says when he's the champ, Fozzy's record sales will go through the roof. Christian is here to interrupt him and says he's tired of being overlooked. Christian tells him that both he and Cena sucks.
Kurt Angle is backstage talking to Eric Bischoff. Angle says that he's going to make Shawn Michaels tap out a second time at Vengeance and dedicate it to Bischoff. They shake hands are all buddy buddy.
It's time for Edge and Lita's wedding. Props to the ring crew for getting the ropes taken off so quickly. Edge comes down with his Money In The Bank briefcase. Lita follows with a trashy looking wedding dress. They show a montage of their relationship. They then begin making out. The minister then says there is a large unusual man who insisted on coming down and it's Snitsky. He then reads a poem that is called...you guessed it..."It's Not My Fault". It ends with a tasteless joke about Lita's miscarriage. Edge starts reading his vows and the crowd starts chanting "Boring". It's kind of crazy because this all would eventually get over. Lita says her trashy vows and then Matt Hardy's music hits to a huge pop, but no one comes out. Lita and Edge laugh and say it was a joke. But then, out of the depths of Hell, it's Kane and he knocks out Edge. Now it's time for Lita, but Edge makes the save and carries her to the back. Kane then destroys the set. I wonder if wrestling Twitter would have been even harder on this than they were for Lashley/Lana? Kane then hits a Tombstone on the priest. This wasn't very good.
Back from the break, Kane says that he's back.
It's time for a Christy Hemme interview and they show the clip of Victoria attacking her 3 weeks ago and then her getting some revenge 2 weeks ago. Christy then cuts one of the worst promos you will ever see until Victoria comes from behind and breaks glass over the back of her head. She is bleeding and Todd Grisham calls for 9-1-1. Let's just say that his acting future is bleak. After the break they show the paramedics assisting Christy.
WWE Championship Match
Muhammad Hassan vs. John Cena
This is the first WWE Championship match on Raw since 2001. Cena goes right after him and quickly clotheslines him over the top rope. Daivari grabs Cena as he is getting back in the ring, which allows Hassan to gain the advantage. Hassan hits a few right hands to the face and follows it up with a suplex. Cena quickly recovers and hits Five Knuckle Shuffle despite Daivari's efforts to distract Cena. Cena hits the FU and gets the victory? Even nearly 15 years later that is pretty surprising. It was obvious that they were all in on Cena, but I can't believe they had Hassan do the job so easily there.
Match Rating: 1/2*
After the match, Jericho attacks Cena on the ramp. Then Christian comes out and joins in. After they lay out Cena, they start arguing a little bit. Jericho picks up the championship as they go to commercial break.
Christian is shown leaving the building and tells Stacy and Candice Michelle that they're looking at the next WWE Championship.
They show a video package of the 8 finalists for the Diva Search.
World Heavyweight Championship Match
Kurt Angle vs. Batista
It's a shame that we never got to see a proper feud between these two. Angle quickly gets Batista in the Ankle Lock, but Batista kicks out of it. He charges towards Angle in the corner, but he dodges it and Batista hits his shoulder on the ring post. Angle goes to work on Batista's shoulder, but again Batsita comes back. He sends Angle out of the ring and slams him into the steel steps. Next, out of nowhere, Triple H and Ric Flair come in and attack Batista, who is the winner by DQ. Bischoff comes out and says that's not how the show is going to end and orders a tag team match. This match was nothing but a set up.
Match Rating: N/R
Kurt Angle & Triple H vs. Batista & Shawn Michaels
We join in progress from the commercial break. Flair quickly gets involved and takes out Michaels
leg. Ross and Lawler are doing a nice job of hyping up the top two matches for Vengeance, while the heels continue to work on his leg. Triple H goes for the Figure Four, but HBK kicks out of it and sends him into the turnbuckle. Hot tag to Batista and he goes right after Triple H. Triple H hits a facebuster, but Batista quickly responds with a spinebuster to both Triple H and Flair. After he hits it on Flair, Triple H hits a Pedigree on Batista and gets the rare victory over Batista here. Triple H grabs the championship and then repeatedly tells Batista "Hell In A Cell". He celebrates as they go off the air. The match was a little on the short side, but it wasn't bad. Triple H winning here gave you that little bit of doubt that Batista may not hold onto the belt at Vengeance.
Match Rating: **
Last week's episode was a really good show, but I can't say the same here. The wedding was your typical wrestling wedding and didn't really make me want to see Kane/Edge. They did do a solid job of building up the three main matches to Vengeance, but not a whole lot more than that.
Overall Rating: 49%
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