Tuesday, July 13, 2021

Monday Night Raw 4-3-06 Review

Monday, April 3rd, 2006
Allstate Arena
Rosemont, Illinois

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2

John Cena is out to kick off the show hot off his WrestleMania 22 victory over Triple H. He rambles on for a little bit and then out comes Triple H to a big ovation. Then it's time for Edge and Lita, who informs Triple H that he lost. Edge and Triple H take turns exchanging jabs. Cena then suggests that Edge and Triple H square off tonight to determine the #1 contender. Edge counters that by saying he and Triple H should take on Cena in a handicap match. After some debate, Cena accepts the offer for tonight. 

WWE Tag Team Championship Match
Kane & Big Show vs. Spirit Squad

We get Kenny and Mikey here for the Spirit Squad. Kenny is able to avoid Kane in the corner thanks to help from his other Spirit Squad members and Kane hits his shoulder on the post. Their offense doesn't last long, but then Big Show accidentally hits the ref with Mikey and this lets them cheat and win the titles. That was a pathetic ref bump and there is no way he was dazed enough to not notice there were 5 guys in the ring. I'm willing to go along with some stuff, but that was just terrible. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We go backstage to the new champs celebrating and they give us a "cheer". 

Out comes Mr. Money In The Bank, Rob Van Dam. He cuts a quick promo just to remind us who he is. 

Chris Masters vs. Eric Priest

After his loss at WrestleMania, Masters gets a squash here tonight. He skips his normal entrance and runs right into attack Priest. He slaps on the Master Lock and that's all. After the match is over, out comes Carlito. He spits in the face of Priest and raises Masters' arm. After that he hits a Backstabber and attacks him, leading to him spitting in his face. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Out comes Shawn Michaels and he says that his match last night against Mr. McMahon was everything he said it would be. Out comes Shane McMahon and he brings out his dad, who is sporting a neck brace and bandage. Vince talks about how humiliating it was for him and his family last night and he tells Shawn there will be no title shot for him. He then says he has two words for him, which Shawn laughs at and then gives him his famous two words. Vince says that his two words are divine intervention and that Shawn had help from God. Vince then announces that he and Shane are going to take on Shawn and God at Backlash. We're over halfway through the show and we've had less than 5 minutes of wrestling. 

Trish Stratus & Torrie Wilson vs. Candice Michelle & Mickie James

Surprisingly they give each lady their own entrance here. I bet they are longer than the match. Mickie is dressed like Trish and Trish is baffled. Trish hits a tilt-a-whirl headscissor on Candice and tags in Torrie. In comes Mickie, who gets a chant from the crowd. She knocks Trish off the apron and hits the Chick Kick on Torrie for the victory. This was the continuation of the Trish/Mickie story, but the match wasn't very good. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

They show highlights of the Hall of Fame ceremony. Chavo Guerrero comes out and says that he has never been more proud than he was last night at WrestleMania. He thanks everyone for helping keep Eddie's spirit alive. He brings up Rey Mysterio's title win last night, he now is getting his chance for the Intercontinental Championship tonight. He dedicates the match to Eddie. 

Intercontinental Championship Match 
Chavo Guerrero vs. Shelton Benjamin

Chavo gets a little bit of a hot start until he gets a big knee, sending him to the outside. Shelton's offense doesn't last long, as Chavo hits a nice dropkick to the face. He hits a pop up dropkick and a tilt-a-whirl headscissor. Chavo hits the Three Amigos and heads up to the top rope. Shelton rolls out of the way and then hits the exploder suplex for the victory. Shelton's lucky he didn't get knocked silly because he decided to roll closer to Chavo instead of away from him. This was a spirited match, but it was a little too short. Chavo is frustrated and looks up above before heading to the back. 

Match Rating: *1/2

They show an interview of Eddie during the commercial and he is crying. He then announces that he quits. 

Out comes Ric Flair and he thinks he has a 17th championship run in him. He is then interrupted by Armando Alejandro Estrada. Estrada rambles on about loving the expensive things in life, which leads to Flair ripping off the suit jacket. He then announces Umaga and he comes down and destroys Flair. I remember watching this live and thinking this gimmick was dead on arrival. Credit to how good of a performer Umaga was, as he really was the one who made this work. On a side note, I prefer his hair here. 

Ozzie Guillen is shown in the crowd before going backstage to Edge and Triple H burying the hatchet. They then try to get each other to do the dirty work before agreeing on working together. As Edge and Lita leave, Triple H shows he isn't to be trusted. 

Handicap Match
Edge & Triple H vs. John Cena

Edge starts things off with Cena and the "Cena sucks" chants start. Edge is able to hit Edgecution on Cena for a 2 count, while Triple H sits on the top turnbuckle. Triple H tries to sneak up on Cena, but Cena sees him. Edge goes for a Spear, but Cena moves and he hits Triple H. Cena makes his comeback and then Triple H throws Cena out of the way and starts wailing on Edge. He hits the spinebuster while Cena smiles. Cena goes for Five Knuckle Shuffle, but Triple H hits him with the Pedigree and gets the victory. Just listening to the crowd, I really miss having a performer that the crowd cared about as much as they did Cena. Much like everything tonight, this was short and more for storyline purposes. 

Match Rating: *1/2

This show in no way felt like a Raw after WrestleMania. Outside of the Umaga debut, nothing really of note happened. No, the Spirit Squad winning the meaningless tag titles doesn't count. It wasn't necessarily a bad show, just not must see TV.

Overall Rating: 49%

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