Monday, November 27th, 2006
Mellon Arena
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
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We start off with Ric Flair in the ring and he talks about being beat down by the Spirit Squad after his victory last night. He wants all of them to come out here because he has partners to take them on tonight. They come out and do a terrible cheer before heading down to the ring. They surround the ring and then DX's music hits.
Handicap Match
Spirit Squad vs. Ric Flair, Triple H & Shawn Michaels
Triple H tells us that this will be the last time we see the Spirit Squad. We get a lot of brawling and head into a commercial break after a Michaels dive. When we come back, the Spirit Squad have Michaels on the wrong side of town. Mikey gets up on Kenny's back, who is standing on the second rope, and they go for a flapjack that misses. Triple H gets the hot tag and he cleans house. He tags in Flair and then hits a Pedigree and Michaels hits a Sweet Chin Music. They slap on a triple Figure Four and they all tap for the easy victory. This was a little longer than my description, but it was exactly what you would think it was.
Match Rating: *3/4
They show some Hardy footage from when they would backyard wrestling ahead of their match with Rated RKO tonight.
We go backstage and they show DX shoving one of the Spirit Squad members in a crate and locking it. They put a sticker on it that says OVW Louisville, KY. The guy has a OPS shirt on, which Shawn Michaels says was a lot cheaper than the other guys. Michaels signs it as Mr. McMahon.
JR and Lawler remind us that this weekend is December To Dismember. Ugh. The Hardys have issued an open challenge to Johnny Nitro and we go backstage to them and they show that Joey Mercury is back for a MNM reunion. They accept the challenge for one night only.
#1 Contender For The WWE Women's Championship Battle Royal
Mickie James joins the announce team before the match. The competitors are Melina, Candice Michelle, Torrie Wilson, Victoria and Maria. Victoria and Maria work together for a second until Victoria clotheslines her and then dumps her over the top. Torrie is dumped next with Maria knocked out shortly after. We have Victoria and Candice left. Candice dumps her on the apron, but Victoria is able to battle her way back in. Victoria throws her through the ropes and that's all. At least it was short. Victoria throws Candice back in the ring and hits the Widow's Peak for emphasis.
Match Rating: 1/2*
They show the Hardy's debut as a team against Kaentai on Sunday Night Heat.
Eugene vs. Jim Duggan
I can't believe they are blowing off the hottest feud of 2006 on Raw. Duggan goes right after Eugene and hits a big slap to the face. Duggan goes for the finisher, but Eugene rolls out of the ring. Eugene is able to snap Duggan's neck on the top rope and then rams Duggan into the ring post. Eugene hits a swinging neckbreaker and that's all she wrote. Eugene grabs the mic and asks us to not make fun of him. He tells us that he is special and yeah, there's a reason this never went anywhere.
Match Rating: 1/4*
DX runs into Dusty Rhodes and Arn Anderson. DX tells them about the party they are throwing tonight that includes chips, dip and possibly a karaoke machine. Triple H comes back and says he's got two words for them: booze and broads. That leads to Ron Simmons doing what he does.
On This Week In Wrestling History for Stephanie McMahon and Test's wedding.
Edge is here for the Cutting Edge and makes fun of DX for beating up the Spirit Squad. He says it's almost as bad as how much he's beat up the Hardy's over the years. Randy Orton then comes out and says he has his guest here, but he wants Edge to come over and confirm it. Edge says that it's it and they drag out a bloodied Ric Flair. Edge says that this is the part where DX is supposed to come out and make the save, but they won't because they only care about themselves. Edge starts begging DX to come out and then hits him with a one man con-chair-to. Orton then takes his turn and there's still no DX save.
Jerry Lawler vs. Chris Masters
Now the second hottest feud is being blown off on Raw? I know that I kid, but it is nice to see that there has been a storyline to everything tonight. Masters throws Lawler from corner to corner, but Lawler avoids a charge. Masters puts Lawler up in the greatest move of all time, the bear hug. Lawler bites his way out and hits a dropkick. Lawler hits a trio of second rope fists. Masters fights back and hits a snap suplex. Masters tries the second rope fist, but Lawler rolls out of the way and hits some right hands to knock Masters down. Masters rakes the eyes and slaps on the Master Lock. Carlito's music hits and he's on his way down to the ring. Masters then breaks the hold to turn his attention to Carlito. Carlito spits the apple in his face, Lawler rolls him up and picks up the victory. I'm not sure why they felt they needed to put Carlito with Masters again. The crowd wasn't into it until the finish.
Match Rating: 1/2*
They show the Hardy's match with Edge and Christian that put all four of them on the map from No Mercy 1999.
Umaga is on his way down to the ring. Armando Alejandro Estrada says that Umaga was the only man at Survivor Series who was unstoppable. They show Umaga attacking his opponents with a TV monitor. Estrada says that no one has been able to present a challenge and now it's time for him to become WWE Champion. Out comes John Cena and we have a staredown. He grabs a mic and says he accepts Umaga's challenge. Estrada says not now and that's all. The crowd was into it, probably because it's not the usual suspects.
We now get a spoof of the racist rant that Michael Richards did around this time with Cryme Tyme attacking him and taking his wallet. I'm not really sure why they felt the need to do this. Keep in mind, it was just a year before this that Vince said what he said at Survivor Series 2005.
They show Edge talking to Jeff Hardy backstage. Jeff fires back and now their partners are here.
World Tag Team Championship Match
Rated RKO vs. Hardys
So they were announced as Team Extreme last night at Survivor Series, but the Hardys tonight. This is a very worthy main event, even if this should have been something that there was more hype for. Edge and Orton dominate Jeff the opening minutes of the match until he's able to hit a double DDT and tag in Matt. He hits the bulldog/clothesline combo, which Lawler says he has never seen before. If you needed proof that Lawler didn't watch SmackDown for some reason, there's that. They both go up top, but Jeff is shoved to the floor and Orton goes up to meet Matt. Matt shoves him down, but then misses the moonsault. Edge is setting up for the Spear and then we get a weird commercial break. When we come back, Orton has Matt in a rest hold. Matt finally is able to battle back and hits a moonsault on Edge for a 2 count. Jeff gets the hot tag and hits a Whisper In The Wind on Orton for a nearfall. We get some double teams and some close calls that the crowd is fully invested in. Jeff misses with the leap off the back of Matt's back, but he can't hit the RKO. Jeff hits the Swanton but before the referee's hand hits the mat for 3, Edge comes in and hits Jeff in the back with the belt. The ref calls for the bell and the Hardys win by disqualification. Orton hits a RKO on Matt onto a title belt before posing for the crowd. The match itself was pretty good, although most of that was because of the hot finish.
Match Rating: **1/2
This wasn't an all timer or anything, but this was definitely better than the typical Raw at this time. Just about everything meant something and a lot of stories were furthered. Sadly, it was a lot more entertaining than the show they made you drop 30 bucks on the night before.
Overall Rating: 66%
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