Friday, October 22, 2021

Monday Night Raw 5-15-06 Review

Monday, May 15th, 2006
United Spirit Arena
Lubbock, Texas

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WWE Championship Match
Triple H vs. John Cena 

Mr. McMahon's music hits instead of Cena's and he says that he's changing the main event for tonight. He says that both the WWE Championship and Intercontinental Championship will be up for grabs in the first ever 3-on-2 Texas Tornado Handicap match. It will be John Cena and Rob Van Dam vs. Triple H, Shelton Benjamin and Chris Masters. 

Texas Tornado Handicap Match For The WWE Championship & Intercontinental Championship
John Cena & Rob Van Dam vs. Triple H, Shelton Benjamin & Chris Masters

Cena comes out first and he starts going at it with Triple H. For some reason the bell rings, even though none of the others are down yet. This is one of those matches that I have no recollection of ever happening. RVD hits a somersault dive onto Masters, Triple H and Cena going into the commercial break. When we come back, Shelton levels RVD with a kick to the back of the head. Triple H pulls Shelton off RVD and while they argue, Masters puts on the Master Lock. They break it up and it allows RVD to make a comeback. RVD hits Rolling Thunder and goes up top, but Triple H shoves him off the top and to the floor. Cena is back in and he takes out all three opponents. He hits the Five Knuckle Shuffle, but then Triple H goes for the Pedigree. Cena back body drops him to the floor and puts on the STFU on Shelton. Shelton gets saved by Masters, but then RVD hits the Five Star Frog Splash on Shelton. Triple H hits the Pedigree on both RVD and Cena. He and Shelton both make pinfalls, but Shelton was on RVD first and we have a new Intercontinental Champion. Triple H Pedigrees the ref in protest. I really enjoyed this match. It was chaotic and had a super hot crowd. This was a really good way to kick off the show. 

Match Rating: ***1/2

Trish Stratus is out to the ring and calls out Mickie James. Mickie attempts to attack Trish, but she ducks with the Matrix. Then out of nowhere Beth Phoenix attacks Mickie. Trish says that her new friend Beth is an old friend of Mickie's. Beth said she won't forget what she did to her. 

Triple H is furious in the locker room and in walks Shane McMahon. Shane says that he's the guest referee of Kenny vs. Shawn Michaels tonight. Shane informs him that Triple H will be in the corner of Kenny to make sure business is taken care of. 

World Tag Team Championship Match
Spirit Squad vs. Snitsky & Goldust

Johnny and Nicky are in there for the Squad tonight. One thing I can say about this is that it is a match. A tag team match to be exact. Anyway, no one really is into it. Snitsky and Goldust try to make a comeback, but Mikey does a flying bulldog off the trampoline behind the ref's back. That's enough for the victory. The match was meaningless, but the flying bulldog was pretty sweet. 

Match Rating: *

Mick Foley is here and bragging about hanging out with Melina. He brings out Terry Funk and he wants to know why Mick did what he did to Tommy Dreamer. Terry tells Mick that he's like a son to him. Mick questions why he wasn't at WrestleMania to watch his match and he lets everyone know that it was because he wanted too much money to be there. Funk keeps taking verbal jabs at Foley until he finally attacks him. Funk makes a comeback, but Funk takes care of him too. In comes Lita and she hits him with a low blow. No save from Dreamer here and the heels celebrate. I really didn't remember this angle not being that over, but that's two weeks in a row that it just isn't clicking with the live crowd. 

Matt Striker vs. Eugene

Striker makes fun of the crowd and Eugene comes out in a large cowboy hat. Striker dominates the early going until Eugene makes his comeback with the airplane spin. He hits a big boot and a leg drop for a 2 count. Striker hits his finisher basically out of nowhere and that is all. At least it was short. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

Carlito is backstage for an interview with Maria. This leads to some terrible sexual innuendo joke and from there we go to Vince and Candice Michelle about to make out. This show sure is falling off the cliff quickly. In comes Triple H and they talk about back scratching. 

Umaga vs. Chris Wellman

Umaga's tree of woe headbutt gets a nice reaction from the live crowd. Wellman does a nice job of getting tossed around. This leads to the Samoan Spike for the easy victory. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Kenny vs. Shawn Michaels

Shane McMahon is the guest referee here and the other Spirit Squad members are banned from ringside. Triple H is at ringside though and he brought his sledgehammer. After some brawling, Michaels goes up top, but Shane pushes him off the top rope. Kenny follows up with a big reverse elbow and Shane tries his best for a fast count. Obviously this match is full of shenanigans and it leads to Shane attacking Shawn. He calls in Triple H and he accidentally hits Shane with the sledgehammer. Out comes Vince to check on Shane and he calls for medical help. Triple H says it was an accident and walks to the back as Vince holds Shane and we are off the air. There is no finish to this one. This wasn't much of a match despite them getting a few minutes. It was kind of a flat finish for the show overall.

Match Rating: *1/4

Well the show started off with a bang and just sort of whimpered along for the rest of it. I appreciated them doing something a little different to mix it up, but the depth of the roster isn't super strong right now and it showed here. I guess with all of that being said, it wasn't anything bad, just not something you needed to see. 

Overall Rating: 49%

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