Original Airdate: Thursday, February 15th, 2007
Rose Garden
Portland, Oregon
Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2
This was still taped on Monday, but aired on Thursday. What a missed opportunity to call this Thursday Raw Thursday again. Not really.
We have a huge SmackDown and Raw tag team main event plus Roddy Piper is here.
Vince McMahon is out to kick off the show and he introduces Donald Trump. Ashley and Torrie Wilson come out with him. He's as big of an awkward doofus as he is now. Vince then makes Ashley and Torrie leave. Vince brings up how he dropped money on the crowd and Trump says that they're doing it again tonight. Vince says that this audience isn't deserving. Vince hired security to prevent it from happening tonight. Vince is having to walk Trump through this entire promo. He challenges Vince to a match in WrestleMania. Yes, "in" WrestleMania. Vince says that he's still injured from his last match, which was Hell In A Cell. Vince turns down his offer, but counters with them both finding a representative. Trump says he doesn't like it. He wants to raise the stakes and says that the loser has to have his head shaved. Now we get Trump saying he had an article written about how great he is, but that he wears a hairpiece. He shows his scalp and says he doesn't wear one. This is thrilling. The crowd likes the idea, so Vince declines. Trump says that he always thought Vince had guts and then starts insulting Rosie O'Donnell again. Vince then accepts and thankfully ends this segment. Putting my personal thoughts on Trump to the side, he was absolutely awful here as a performer. Obviously this went on to do huge business, so it didn't matter and that's all the goal is. On a personal level, this angle didn't interest me one bit and at the time, I really didn't have any opinion on Trump because I didn't watch The Apprentice or really follow anything to do with him. The whole Rosie O'Donnell thing was obnoxious and was just a preview of what was to come with him.
Johnny Nitro & Melina vs. Super Crazy & Mickie James
Melina and Mickie go right at each other and have to be pulled away by their partners. Nitro shoved Crazy into Mickie and she falls off the apron. Crazy hits a headscissors and then Nitro tags in Melina. Mickie has to come in and she slams her by the hair. Mickie hits the Thesz Press and a series of right hands. Crazy catches Nitro with some dropkicks when he tries to interfere. Mickie dumps Melina through the ropes and into the arms of Nitro. Mickie and Crazy hit a double baseball slide and the women go back into the ring. Nitro is able to throw Crazy into the ring post and then Melina throws Mickie's back into her knee and grabs the tight to steal the victory. This was a spirited match that was a good continuation of their stories.
Match Rating: *1/2
We get a recap of last weeks match between Shawn Michaels, Edge and Randy Orton.
Eugene vs. Great Khali
I do love that Eugene still uses the jacket and boots with the DX paint on it. Eugene tries to give Khali his Ric Flair bear, but he slaps it into the crowd. Khali obviously just manhandles Eugene here. He hits him with a chop and then the double handed slam for the squash.
Match Rating: 1/4*
Shawn Michaels is with Maria, but on the phone with Triple H. He plugs the new DX DVD and then runs down his 4 previous WrestleMania main events.
We go to Ric Flair and Todd Grisham. They show the highlight of him scolding Carlito and when we come back, Carlito is there to confront him. Carlito says he'll show Flair he has passion and he'll do it by challenging him to a match tonight.
Jeff Hardy vs. Chris Masters
Masters goes right after Hardy and we're under way. Hardy is super over here tonight. Hardy goes up top, but Masters crotches him and puts Hardy in the Master Lock. If Masters wins the match, he gets a title shot. Hardy goes for the Bret Hart finish, but can't make it happen. Hardy is able to make his way to the ropes and breaks the hold. Masters argues with the ref and Hardy rolls him up for the victory. I honestly kind of forgot Masters still worked here in 2007, so I'm thinking this story didn't do much for him.
Match Rating: *
Jerry Lawler comes out and introduces Roddy Piper, fresh off beating cancer. He comes out and then introduces Dusty Rhodes as the first inductee for the 2007 WWE Hall Of Fame. Dusty is cutting a promo and then out comes Umaga and Armando Alejandro Estrada. Roddy gets out of the ring, but Dusty decides to see what he's got. It doesn't end well. Roddy tries to help, but that doesn't end well either.
Carlito vs. Ric Flair
So when they book an angle like this, do the agents tell Carlito to wrestle like he normally does, but with passion? We get the usual rushed TV match here to start. Lots of chops until Flair gets thrown sternum first into the turnbuckle. Carlito dropkicks Flair into the corner and then goes for the Backstabber. Flair blocks it and then looks to try to use the ropes for pin, but mus have been too far away so he just pins him normally for the win. After the match Carlito shakes Flair's hand and walks out back.
Match Rating: 3/4*
Johnny Nitro and Melina are in the interview area and wondering where everyone is. Melina says she has a huge announcement that she will be facing Mickie James next week on Raw. She wonders who would be more important than her and they go to Ashley who is with Todd. She's going to unveil the cover on SmackDown but she's here tonight to give fans a sneak peak. We get a quick video package of the photo shoot. Ron Simmons interrupts the interview and does his thing after checking Ashley out.
Mr. Kennedy and MVP are in the locker room and approached by Randy Orton and Edge. They welcome them to the A show. They take offense to it, but Edge rallies the troops by saying that anything can happen between now and WrestleMania and encourages them to injure their opponents.
They recap the Vince/Trump segment and then hype up No Way Out.
Batista, Undertaker, Shawn Michaels & John Cena vs. Mr. Kennedy, MVP, Randy Orton & Edge
I do have a soft spot for these types of matches. Even though they are usually each guy hitting their big moves, it's a fun way to get a bunch of big names involved. For the most part, the faces get the better of the heels here in the first segment. After the commercial break, Cena hits the 5 Knuckle Shuffle on Edge. He goes for the FU, but Orton helps him escape and tags in. After a heat segment, Undertaker gets the hot tag. He goes for a double chokeslam, but Orton and MVP kick out. He hits them with a double clothesline and Michaels tags himself in to hit the top rope elbow drop. Everything breaks down and all 8 men are in. Michaels goes for Sweet Chin Music, but Orton ducks and almost hits Undertaker, but he blocks it. We get some tension and Orton shoves Michaels into Undertaker. Michaels hits Sweet Chin Music on Orton and that's all. As soon as the match is over, Taker hits a chokeslam on Michaels. Cena comes in and attacks him, but Batista comes to his side. Taker hits a big boot on Cena and then Batista hits the Batista Bomb. Like I said, I love these matches. The crowd is usually hyped for them and you get small doses of top performers. I wish the heels would have gotten a little bit more love here, but it is what it is.
Match Rating: ***1/4
The Trump/Vince segment was death and I still can't believe it even drew a dime, let alone as much as it did. Everything else was pretty standard Raw until the main event, which delivered a good go home segment for the otherwise meh pay per view coming up on Sunday.
Overall Rating: 52%
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