Monday, August 15th, 2005
Bell Centre
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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No Raw intro this week (thank God). Instead we get Shawn Michaels in the best possible arena for him to be in ahead of his match against Hulk Hogan on Sunday. It's crazy to think that nearly eight years later the entire arena is still chanting "You screwed Bret". Shawn breaks out his version of "O Canada". Shawn says that he screwed Bret once and he'd do it again. The heat is off the charts here. Shawn says he would tell Bret to his face and then Bret's music hits and the place explodes. Bret doesn't come out and Michaels says that we will never see Bret in a WWE ring again. He turns his attention to Hogan and then his music hits. Once again, Hogan doesn't come out and Michaels is on the floor laughing. Michaels says that no one in this industry can touch him and then says that the fans heroes don't even arrive to the show until it's already started. The crowd starts singing "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye", so Michaels sits down in the ring until they're done. He says that there isn't a realistic bone in Hogan's body. At SummerSlam, Hogan is done. This was just phenomenal and the type of promo most wrestlers dream about.
Handicap Match
The Heart Throbs vs. Big Show
The Heart Throbs in ring entrance still holds up as one of the worst I've ever seen. This Montreal crowd is all fired up tonight, treating Big Show like he's greatest wrestler of the decade. Show pushes both men around to start until they are able to finally figure out a way to take advantage of the fact that there's one more of them. Show throws them both in the corner and hits them with a splash and a double back body drop. He hits a double chokeslam and that's all. If you were wondering what the WWE thought of their tag team division in 2005, here is your answer.
Match Rating: 1/4* (out of 5)
Eugene Gold Medal Invitational
Eugene vs. Rene Dupree
About five seconds into the match, Angle runs in and throws Dupree out of the ring and then attacks Eugene. He hits an Angle Slam on Eugene. He cuts a promo and tells Eugene that the joke is over. What he does to Hogan tonight will only be half of what he does to Eugene at SummerSlam. It's kind of interesting to see Angle put such intensity into a feud with Eugene.
Match Rating: No Rating
They show highlights of the Chad Patton and Chris Jericho match.
The Divas are out now and Elisabeth is eliminated. Honestly, looking back at this stupid contest, I probably would have picked Elisabeth, as she appeared to be a little more athletic than the others.
We get a long recap of the entire Matt Hardy/Edge/Lita saga.
Eric Bischoff is now back with Carlito and Chris Jericho in his office. Bischoff tells them that they're all going to say they are Canadians. Jericho explains that he's from the west side of Canada, which is way better than the east coast. Bischoff tells Carlito to tell them he's from southern Canada.
Handicap Match
Chris Jericho & Carlito vs. John Cena
Bischoff accompanies them and is waiving the Canadian flag. Jericho teases starting the match, but naturally tags in Carlito. Jericho quickly distracts Cena and allows Carlito to take advantage. Cena ducks under a pretty lazy clothesline attempt from Carlito and Cena eventually tosses him over the ropes. During the commercial break, Bischoff grabbed Cena's leg and allowing Jericho to attack him from behind. Jericho is able to maintain control and is showing off a definitive difference in how he executes his offensive moves, which is truly the mark of a great pro. Cena once again tries to make a comeback here, but Jericho hits a step up enzuiguri. He goes for the Walls Of Jericho, but Cena powers out and causes him to ram into Carlito. Cena goes for the FU, but Carlito makes the save. Instead, Cena hits the FU on Carlito and Jericho doesn't make the save. Cena gets the victory but is immediately greeted with a sickening unprotected chair shot to the head. When will it stop? If you're going to do the handicap match and actually have the solo performer win, I guess this the best way of doing it. Jericho chose to lose and make a statement rather than take a victory.
Match Rating: **1/2
It is finally time to find out the Diva Search "winner". Layla looks like she already knows what is about to happen, while Ashley is shaking. Coach unveils the winner on the Titan Tron and of course it is Ashley, which gets a pretty good pop. By all accounts, Ashley seemed to be a well-liked person, but as a performer she never made it as far as they had hoped. Meanwhile, I am genuinely overjoyed that I don't have to talk about this contest any time soon.
Edge vs. Val Venis
Venis looks away for a split second and Edge aggressively attacks him. There is quite a bit of irony that just six days before wrestling the guy who he legitimately stole his girlfriend from, he wrestling the brother of his first wife. The action spills outside the ring and Edge throws Venis into the apron. Edge continues to work on the back of Venis as the crowd begins to chant "Hardy". I didn't expect this match to go this long. Edge charges toward Venis, but he gets his knee up. Venis sends him off the ropes, but eats a big Spear. Edge then puts him in a Sharpshooter type submission hold and Venis taps out. That probably should have been about 2 minutes shorter to get over Edge's aggression a little bit more effectively. Regardless, he looked good here.
Match Rating: *1/4
Rob Conway steps in front of Stacy getting ready. Stacy tells him she's taken and Hurricane steps in. He can't have a bad match with Hurricane, can he?
Rob Conway vs. The Hurricane
Conway is definitely showing a bit more personality here, but the crowd is already tuned out. Conway hits Hurricane with a boot to the head and it sends him through the ropes to the outside. He follows that up by driving his back into the barricade before sending him back in the ring. Conway hits a nice swinging neckbreaker and tries three pin attempts, but Hurricane kicks out. Hurricane is able to start fighting back, but misses the Shining Wizard. Conway hits the Ego Trip and then goes up to the top rope and hits an elbow drop for the victory. The crowd still isn't buying it, but that was at least an improvement over the last couple of matches.
Match Rating: 1/2*
Kurt Angle vs. Hulk Hogan
In my nearly 30 years of being a wrestling fan, I have never liked Hulk Hogan. However, I'd be totally lying if I don't get pumped every time I hear his entrance music. Hogan quickly takes the action out of the ring and slams him into the steps and ring post. The crowd is awake again and chanting away. Back in the ring, Angle gets in some forearms and some big right hands. He hits a back suplex for a 2 count. Angle puts in a headlock and we get the arm drop routine. Hogan gets his arm up on the third drop and puts Angle in a sleeper hold. Angle hits another suplex and then hits the Angle Slam. Hogan gives one of his worst kick outs that I can remember and is starting to Hulk up. Hogan hits a big boot to the chest of Angle. He goes off the ropes after a delay and he is greeted by a leaping Shawn Michaels, causing a disqualification. Michaels acts as if he's going for Sweet Chin Music, but stops short and puts Hogan in the Sharpshooter instead. JR is going crazy here and I love it. What a great ending to the show. The match was nothing great and Hogan looked really stiff here. However, the last segment was a great last minute sell for the show in six days.
Match Rating: 1/2*
Shawn Michaels gave a legendary Raw performance here tonight with a fantastic promo to kick things off and a major heat segment to close the show. The Cena/Jericho feud was also intensified even if the chair to the head was sickening. Can you imagine even thinking of doing something like that just six days away from SummerSlam? The rest of the show was just filler, but that's nothing out of the norm. This show is a definite thumbs up thanks to Michaels.
Overall Rating: 70%
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