Monday, July 11th, 2005
Continental Airlines Arena
East Rutherford, New Jersey
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We are kicking off the show with Carlito's Cabana. Carlito introduces his guest as Shawn Michaels, but Jericho's music hits instead and he's out to Carlito's surprise. Jericho makes fun of Carlito's show and then Jericho tries to introduce his guest, Shawn Michaels. Carlito then rips on Jericho for his age and weight. Jericho fires back and then again tries to introduce Michaels, but this time out comes Roddy Piper. Does Piper always hang out backstage in his gear just in case a moment like this occurs? He says that we'll get Piper's Pit tonight with Shawn Michaels as his guest. All in all, that was an enjoyable opening segment.
Chris Masters vs. Tajiri
Masters attacks Tajiri as he's coming into the ring. This match was set up from a Master Lock Challenge. Tajiri starts attacking Masters' legs with some kicks and then hits a handstand kick to Masters, knocking him outside. He hits his signature elbow and continues to dish it out to Masters. It can't be said enough how underrated Tajiri was here. Tajiri goes for the Tarantula, but Masters picks him up and slams him face-first. He slaps on the Master Lock and that is all. Tajiri was firing on all cylinders in this one, so it would have been nice for them to get another 2 minutes or so.
Match Rating: 3/4* (out of 5)
They show Shawn Michaels in catering, hyping up his appearance again.
Edge and Lita are hanging out backstage and in walks Snitsky. They then show Snitsky that they are watching their wedding and the spot Snitsky picks to watch is at an almost impossible angle for him to see. Classic WWE. They then ask him for a favor in exchange for Lita's feet and he begins sniffing them. Wrestling makes me type some pretty weird things. Edge says that if he helps him tonight, her feet are all his.
They show footage of Triple H after the match with Batista at Vengeance.
Intercontinental Championship Match
Carlito vs. Shelton Benjamin
Shelton gets off to a fast start, getting a couple of 2 counts. Carlito ducks a clothesline and hits a dropkick. Shelton quickly gets up to the surprise of Carlito. He walks out of the ring and Shelton hits him with a baseball slide dropkick. When we get back from the commercial break, Carlito has Shelton in a sleeper hold. Benjamin gets out, but Carlito sidesteps him and Shelton tumbles out of the ring. I would say so far that Carlito has not aged that well on my re-watch of this era. After a lengthy heat segment, Shelton starts going for pinfalls and gets a couple of 2 counts. Carlito is able to counter with a DDT, but Shelton kicks out at 2. Carlito reverses a roll up, but still can't beat Shelton even with holding onto his tights. Carlito hits a superplex and they act surprised when he kicks out. Has anyone been pinned by a superplex in this century? Shelton hits a Samoan Drop on Carlito and Carlito tries to go outside again. Shelton grabs him by the hair and after battling over a suplex, Shelton hits a kick that knocks Carlito to the outside. Carlito picks up his championship belt and walks up the aisle, causing him to lose by countout. I'm not sure that they needed as long as they got if that was the ending they were going with. Not a bad match, but it felt pointless in the long run.
Match Rating: **1/4
They show Eric Bischoff and John Cena arguing backstage and Cena walks off.
The champ is here. He says Bischoff is treating him like his mom in junior high and that he and Jericho turned the Highlight Reel into Jerry Springer. Cena calls out Jericho, but Bischoff comes out instead. Bischoff says that Cena defends the title when he tells him to. Cena reminds Bischoff that they're in dirty Jersey and that he'll end up like Hoffa. Out comes Jericho, but Bischoff stops him. Bischoff announces that Cena will face Jericho at SummerSlam. Jericho applauds Bischoff and says that Cena is cheapening the WWE Championship by holding it. They go back and forth and Cena gets ready to fight. Jericho says that he knows that it's better to wait because he sees himself as the next WWE Champion. Jericho heads to the back, but Cena confronts Bischoff. He gives Bischoff a FU and welcomes him to the new Raw. Old Cena has not aged well at all. I actually prefer the PG version.
It's Diva Search time...Alexis is eliminated. Now the remaining Divas are here to show off their special talents. Leyla, in a somewhat amusing spot, does a dance for Earl Hebner and then gives him a low blow for disqualifying her last week. The rest are all pretty pathetic, with Simona's standing out as particularly pathetic.
Kurt Angle is here with security to hold his gold medal, so it must be an Angle Invitational. This week it's Matt Martel, but Angle says it's Matt Striker. He says he knows he is the teacher that called in to wrestle and that he's already wrestled him before.
Kurt Angle Invitational
Kurt Angle vs. Matt Striker
Angle goes right to work on his arm. Striker is able to get upright and Angle hits him with some forearms. Halfway through, Striker gets a few shots in, but Angle hits a belly-to-belly overhead suplex and now the straps are down. Angle goes for the Ankle Lock, but Striker kicks him and Angle falls out of the ring with a little over 40 seconds left. Striker attacks him as he comes in. Striker counters the Angle Slam and then hits a low blow with 10 seconds left. Angle somehow turns around and gets the Ankle Lock on and Striker taps right before the time runs out. That was pretty fun.
Match Rating: 3/4*
Todd Grisham stops Kane in the back for an interview. Kane just laughs maniacally and then walks away. Edge and Lita are then shown walking in the back and they are attacked by what looks to be Matt Hardy. Officials chase him away and Edge is livid.
We get a promo for the Boogeyman.
Edge vs. Kane
Edge is able to get Kane down and then hits a baseball slide dropkick. Edge goes up top but a right hand from Kane is there to greet him. Kane hits a sidewalk slam and now Kane heads up top. Kane hits a clothesline off the top rope and then goes after Lita. Snitsky comes down and attacks Kane and the ref rings the bell. Snitsky goes to attack Kane with a chair, but Kane gets his foot up to stop him. Kane and Snitsky begin brawling in the crowd and back in the ring Matt Hardy is in there and a huge brawl breaks loose. Somehow I do not remember the backstage segment occurring at all. I will say that when he came down here that it was the most I had marked out in a long time. He grabs the mic and gets a few words in before he is thrown to the ground and handcuffed. The match was obviously nothing, but the ending was fantastic.
Match Rating: 1/4*
Roddy Piper is back out for Piper's Pit and introduces Shawn Michaels. Michaels reminds us of all the moments and memories than he has and that he literally broke his back doing it. Michaels issues a challenge to Hulk Hogan to headline SummerSlam. Piper tells him that these fans made Michaels. He says that when Michaels was young he would often ask him what it takes to be in the main event and Piper said he would answer because he thought he was worth it. Now Piper doesn't understand why he would ruin his reputation and turn on Hogan like he did. Michaels says this is hard for him and that he has respect for Piper and tries to walk away. Piper goes nuts and calls Michaels a coward. Michaels hits him with Sweet Chin Music. Michaels looks down onto a motionless Piper and then walks away. Strong stuff here from Michaels and a good start on the build towards the big match at SummerSlam.
The first half of the show was pretty mediocre, but it sure finished strong with the Angle/Hardy/Michaels trifecta there in the last 45 minutes or so. It would have been nice to have a little bit more wrestling on the show, but they built nicely towards to hot feuds and continued to make Angle a top contender while he waits for his chance after Jericho. It will be fun to re-live the Hogan/Michaels build here 15 years later plus seeing the Edge/Hardy storyline unfold one more time. All in all, this was a very watchable and memorable episode of Raw, but you can probably just watch the second hour to save yourself some time.
Overall Rating: 60%
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