Monday, September 19th, 2005
Kay Yeager Coliseum
Wichita Falls, Texas
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Eric Bischoff is here to kick off the show and he is carrying a championship belt down to the ring. He then introduces Kurt Angle. Bischoff says that he strips John Cena of the WWE Championship and is about to name Kurt Angle the champ until Mr. McMahon's music hits. Angle tells Vince that he will represent the WWE with integrity, intensity and intelligence. Vince reminds Bischoff that he is unable to make a decision like that. Vince is here to announce that on October 3rd will be Homecoming including Mick Foley, Triple H, Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin. He also announces that John Cena will face Eric Bischoff. Vince then takes the belt away from Bischoff and heads to the back.
After the commercial, Bischoff is shown pleading to Vince about him not having to fight Cena. Vince says he'll think about it. He rolls down the window of the limo he got into and says that he thought about it and the match is still on.
Torrie Wilson vs. Trish Stratus
Victoria grabs Trish and throws her out of the ring and apparently that is okay with the referee. Ashley hits a double clothesline and JR reminds us that she is in training still. Victoria clocks Trish and Torrie almost gets the victory. Trish then rolls up Torrie and gets the victory. Well, that was a match that happened. Victoria comes in and attacks Trish. Trish ducks a clothesline attempt from Candice Michelle. They all start brawling. Torrie hits the X Factor on Ashley and Victoria hits the Widow's Peak on Trish. I was really, really into Raw in 2005 and I barely remember any of this ever happening.
Match Rating: 1/4* (out of 5)
Trevor Murdoch vs. The Hurricane
The story here is that Hurricane was injured last night and came back to the match to help Rosey out, but was defeated. This is the kind of story I appreciate. Hurricane starts out looking like he's doing all right with a headscissors. Murdoch then throws him head-first into the second turnbuckle. Murdoch goes to work on the injured neck. Hurricane fights back with a missile dropkick, but is still hurting. Hurricane starts hitting some right hands in the corner, but Murdoch is able to counter and drop Hurricane on the turnbuckle. Murdoch hits a DDT and that is all. After the match, Rosey comes in to check on his partner. Murdoch wasn't at his best here in the ring, but Hurricane did a great job of selling the injury and putting Murdoch over.
Match Rating: 1/2*
Carlito says he will be the Intercontinental Champion again.
Edge is with Eric Bischoff and is saying that Matt Hardy went too far at Unforgiven and demands that he should be fired. Bischoff says that he's not the only one who has problems around here. He says that he's tired of the two of them attacking each other, so at Homecoming they will face each other in a Loser Leaves Raw Match. He also says that it will be a Ladder Match with the Money In The Bank briefcase on the line. That's a lot of stipulations.
Tyson Tomko vs. Eddie Craven
Tomko hits a boot to the sternum of Craven, which sends him out of the ring. Craven looks like he is wearing Val Venis's trunks. Tomko hits a big boot and the ref calls it a knockout. The big boot looks impressive, but it's kind of hard to sell it as anything more than a high impact move when guys like Kane and Undertaker do it just as impressively. Plus, it doesn't really help that he loses every meaningful match.
Match Rating; 1/4*
Intercontinental Championship Match
Carlito vs. Ric Flair
I'm not a huge fan of doing a rematch the night after a pay-per-view. They start off a little slow, with Flair getting in some chops. Carlito gets in control and begins his heat segment. Flair gets hit in the eye and it is immediately swelling as he begins to make a comeback. Flair props Carlito up in the corner so that he can give him a kick below the belt, but the ref steps in and that allows Carlito to fight back. Flair goes out of the ring to grab Carlito's apple and spits it in his face. Being the old pro that Flair is, it seems as if the inflamed eye is motivating him here. During the commercial break, Carlito was walking towards the back and Flair went after him. It backfired and it allowed Carlito to throw Flair into the steps. Flair makes another comeback and in a great spot goes for an elbow drop, Carlito rolls, Flair catches it and follows him through his roll and hits it. Carlito slams Flair into the apron. Back in the ring, Flair turns the tide and slaps in the Figure Four. Flair uses the ropes and Carlito taps. I preferred the Unforgiven match, but I thought they did a good job of making this match feel different.
Match Rating: **1/4
Matt Hardy is with Todd Grisham. Matt is talking about fighting Edge again tonight and again in two weeks at Homecoming. In walks Shawn Michaels, who says that he stole the show. Big Show comes in and says there's only one show and it's him. This of course leads to John Cena to talk about the four of them taking on Kurt Angle, Snitsky, Chris Masters and Edge.
Maria is with Ric Flair and she asks why they call him the Nature Boy. He says it's because he can go "Woo" all night long. Carlito comes in yelling and they begin brawling. Then from behind comes Chris Masters and puts him in the Master Lock while Carlito kicks him. Masters throws him on the ground and Carlito spits out an apple at him.
Kurt Angle, Snitsky, Edge & Chris Masters vs. Shawn Michaels, Big Show, Matt Hardy & John Cena
The match starts during commercial break and when we come back Cena is working on Edge. The babyfaces dominate until Masters is able to turn the tide. The crowd is into this every step of the way so far and is proving my point that a multi-person tag match should main event a TV episode of wrestling at least once a month. Back from another commercial break and the heels are now working on Hardy. Hardy is able to hit a Twist of Fate on Snitsky and both men are down. Angle and Michaels get tagged in and Michaels explodes, but misses with a top rope elbow drop. Angle counters Michaels' sunset flip into an Ankle Lock in the middle of the ring. Michaels gets out and Angle then dumps Big Show over the top rope. We go into yet another commercial break with Edge working on Michaels. Michaels starts fighting back on Angle, but Angle hits the Angle Slam and Matt Hardy has to make the save. Michaels tries to make a tag, but Edge hits a Spear on Cena to the outside. Hot tag to Big Show and he unloads on all four of his opponents. He goes for a chokeslam on Snitsky, but Snitsky hits a low blow behind the refs back. Edge hits a Spear, but Big Show kicks out. All four men try to attack him, but he knocks the all away and his teammates come in and clean house. Big Show then tosses Hardy onto the opponents on the outside. Cena hits the Five Knuckle Shuffle on Edge and then Big Show takes him for a ride on a chokeslam. All four men then sit on top of Edge and they score the victory. If you like WWE's style of wrestling, this match is for you. This was absolutely non-stop entertainment for over 20 minutes. The only knock on it is that it had three commercial breaks in it.
Match Rating: ***3/4
Well, the first hour was a little rough, but this show ended with an absolute bang. Everyone involved in that main event looked to be having a blast and it paid off. The Flair/Carlito match was pretty good and I liked that they at least tried to make Cade and Murdoch mean something by using a veteran like Hurricane. This was a thumbs up from me overall.
Overall Rating: 69%
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