Monday, October 31st, 2005
Arrowhead Pond
Anaheim, California
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Eric Bischoff is out with Chris Masters to kick off this Halloween edition of Raw. They call out Rey Mysterio for the Master Lock Challenge and he is accompanied by Teddy Long. Masters makes fun of Mysterio's height and then Mysterio hits him in the head with the microphone. He then smashes his head into the chair and Bischoff is calling out his Raw guys. Long then signals to the crowd and out come the SmackDown stars. Again, this really makes no sense with JBL and Christian working with Matt Hardy and Rey Mysterio. Rey hits the 619 on Masters and Raw retreats.
Bischoff is livid backstage and says that they can't lose their match on a Raw pay-per-view.
Kurt Angle vs. Tajiri
I will never understand how the Raw roster can be so small and yet they never have anything for Tajiri to do. Angle hits a clothesline and then a vertical suplex. The Anaheim crowd is pretty into Angle here. Tajiri gets a boot up Angle and then he flips out of suplex attempt. He hits a superkick and gets a 2 count. Tajiri hits a seated dropkick and then his cartwheel springboard elbow. Angle is a machine and still puts him in the Ankle Lock and that is all for poor Tajiri. After the match, Angle grabs the mic and says that he doesn't care who the third man is tomorrow night because he is walking out the new champion. He shows the footage of him "beating" Cena last week. Out comes Cena and he unleashes on Angle. Angle heads to the back as we go to commercial.
Match Rating: * (out of 5)
We get a highlight package of the history of the relationship between Ric Flair and Triple H. They always do such a good job with these and this one is no different. Ric Flair is out and he says that the game has just begun.
Rob Conway vs. Eugene
Eugene comes running down the aisle and attacks Conway right away. Conway could not be any less over. Eugene starts hulking up and hits a Rock Bottom, but Conway gets his foot on the rope. Conway has a chair on the outside and destroys him with a nasty shot to the head. Out comes Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Kamala and Jimmy Snuka to make the save. Duggan does all the work since he can get to the ring the fastest. Kamala hits a splash and then Superfly hits the top rope splash. Meanwhile, Jerry Lawler with the Burger King King mask on hits a flying fist.
Match Rating: 1/2*
Todd Grisham, who is dressed up as Harry Caray, tries to interview Gregory Helms, but he just walks away. He then interviews Mick Foley, who says he prepared a surprise for Carlito in the TV production truck.
Carlito is in the ring to let us know that it doesn't matter which face of Foley he is facing, because he is going to win. They then show a promo of Foley doing all three personalities. It's crazy that Foley is only 40 years old here. This leads to Coachman, who is dressed like Austin, calling Austin out. Coachman then brings out Goldust and announces he will in his corner tomorrow night. 15 years later and Rhodes is still an active competitor. Out comes Vince McMahon to one of the smaller reactions I can remember for him. Vince announces that Austin was involved in an accident and that he won't be at Taboo Tuesday. Vince then announces Coachman as the winner of the match by a forfeit. Vince then announces that his opponent will be Funaki and brings him out. Goldust and Coach take care of him and they tell Vince that they can handle more than Funaki. Vince then brings out Batista instead and that wakes up the crowd. I know they were stuck in a tough spot here, but this makes no sense. They attack Batista and then out comes Vader. Batista makes a comeback, but Vader steamrolls him. Just because I seem to always want to mention ages on here, here are the ages of everyone involved in this bizarre angle.
Vince McMahon - 60
Funaki - 37
Steve Austin - 40
Goldust - 36
Vader - 50
Coach - 32
Batista - 36
Triple H vs. Viscera
The match you thought would never happened. Triple H kicks the top rope as Viscera is entering. Triple H keeps laying it in and then quickly hits the Pedigree and gets the victory. Yep. After the match, Triple H attacks Viscera with the ring steps. Triple H then cuts a promo on his match against Flair tomorrow night.
Match Rating: 1/4*
After running down the Taboo Tuesday card, Grisham is back with John Cena. We get the usual 2005 Cena promo here.
Texas Tornado Match
The Heart Throbs vs. Big Show & Kane
The big guys destroy the little guys. Classic Vince McMahon. They do a game of one upsmanship. Big Show hits a superplex, which leads to Kane hitting a top rope clothesline. They both hit chokeslams and that's all.
Match Rating: 1/4*
Next up it's a Diva costume party. Ashley is a dark angel, Maria is a traditional angel, Candice Michelle is Catwoman, Mickie James is dressed as Trish Stratus, Victoria is a baseball player and Trish Stratus is Wonder Woman. As Lawler is polling the audience, Mickie grabs the mic and tells the crowd to stop cheering because they need to save it for Trish. Victoria gets in her face, but Mickie kicks her out of the ring. They then team up on Candice Michelle. Victoria comes from behind and throws Mickie out. Trish then hits Victoria with a Chick Kick.
John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels
They are hyping this up as the first ever meeting between these two. They shake hands and Shawn begins chopping Cena immediately. Cena answers with right hands. We get a little bit of wrestling after that and it's pretty clear here that these two have some great chemistry together. I know most do have great chemistry with Michaels, but Cena is the perfect type of wrestler to face off with him. Cena goes for a FU, but Michaels is able to get out and roll out of the ring. Michaels hits a neckbreaker for a 2 count and then puts Cena in a sleeper hold. Cena fights out and hits a couple of clotheslines and a shoulder tackle. Five Knuckle Shuffle time. Michaels gets a second wind and hits the inverted atomic drop and heads up to the top rope. Cena moves out of the way and both men are down. Out comes Kurt Angle and he attacks both men, causing a double disqualification. Cena gets up Angle for the FU, but Michaels hits Sweet Chin Music on him instead. Michaels grabs the WWE Championship belt, spins it and lays it down on Cena's chest. This was more an interesting footnote than it was a match that really meant anything other than building for the main event tomorrow night.
Match Rating: **
Outside of having the first ever Michaels/Cena match and the bizarre makeshift angle involving Batista, Goldust and Vader, this was a complete nothing show. Keep in mind that this was on Halloween and also the day before a rare Tuesday pay-per-view event. While those are valid points, it doesn't make the show any more enjoyable. Raw continues to be in a slump. Let's see if the pay-per-view reinvigorates them.
Overall Rating: 36%
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