Monday, April 30th, 2007
Gaylord Entertainment Center
Nashville, Tennessee
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The new ECW Champion, Vince McMahon, approaches John Cena being the piece of trash that he is. Cena makes fun of him and then Shawn Michaels reminds Cena of how lucky he is to be champ. Michaels wants a rematch now and Cena agrees. Vince says Shawn has to win tonight to in order to get his title shot next week.
Edge vs. Randy Orton
This sure seems like a throwaway, but I'm sure it will end up being more of a storyline device than anything. After some pretty standard stuff, we get a commercial break. When we return, Edge hits a Spear to Orton on the apron and that sends him crashing onto the announce table. Edge throws him back in the ring and gets a 2 count. The crowd is actually chanting for Randy. Edge goes off the top rope and gets hit with an Orton dropkick. Both men get to their knees and trade right hands. Orton gets a couple of nearfalls and then we get a double crossbody spot. They trade a couple of close calls and then Edge counters a RKO into an Impaler. Orton is busted open pretty big here. Edge goes for a Spear, but Orton leapfrogs him and gets ready for a RKO. Edge blocks it and hits a Spear for the victory. I did not expect that here. I figured it would just be some sort of DQ finish and a 5 minute match, so this was a pleasant surprise.
Match Rating: ***
We get a sit down interview with Santino Marella and Todd Grisham. They show the highlights of Marella winning the Intercontinental Championship and he plays the character a lot cheesier than he would eventually. He's making his first title defense next week.
They show an interview from Backlash with Rob Van Dam talking about how stupid it was for Vince McMahon to win the ECW Championship.
We go to Vince and Shane backstage. Vince thanks Shane for last night and Shane tells him that he loves him. He lets Shane hold the title.
Maria is with Edge and Edge is angry. He's not happy that Michaels has another title shot against Cena. He's going to get himself in the title picture whether anyone likes it or not.
Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch are joining the announce team for the next match.
Jeff Hardy vs. Johnny Nitro
Cade and Murdoch are acting like good sports about their loss, even complimenting Jeff. We get a pretty even battle to start and then Jeff hits a back body drop off the top rope. He hits the Swanton and that's all for Nitro, who is basically just a jobber at this point. After the match, Cade and Murdoch help announce Jeff as the winner and ask the crowd to give it up. They then say they have all the respect in the world for him after last night and ask to shake Jeff's hand. Jeff doesn't take the bait and heads to the back. This was essentially a squash.
Match Rating: 3/4*
We get exclusive still photos of the WWE Championship match last night at Backlash.
We see clips of Vince winning the ECW Championship and that leads to Shane coming out to the ring. He brings out Umaga.
Umaga vs. Rob Van Dam
We join the match in progress here and RVD hits a running spin kick in the corner. He goes up top, but Umaga shoves him into the barricade. These two could probably have had a great match under the right circumstances. Umaga hits the Samoan drop, but RVD battles back to put on a sleeper hold. He keeps it on for an extended amount of time and it spills outside. Umaga finally breaks it by slamming RVD into the steps. Umaga misses with a splash and RVD hits Rolling Thunder, but Umaga is able to kick out with authority. RVD then hits the 5 Star Frog Splash, but Umaga caught him in the throat with a chokehold. He picks RVD up and hits the Samoan Spike for the victory. That was a clever finish and looked better on the replay than it did live. This was a pretty good match after the slow start. This has to be one of the better in ring Raws in some time not including the Michaels/Cena Raw that was a one match wonder.
Match Rating: **3/4
Carlito apologizes backstage to Ric Flair about last week and tells him that he got them a match with The World's Greatest Tag Team tonight. Torrie Wilson questions Carlito if it's a good idea.
Shawn Michaels' music hits, but then we see him backstage leaning against a wall with blood coming out of his ear and being checked on by officials.
When we come back from commercial, there are more people around Shawn and they are trying to figure out who did it. Jonathan Coachman accuses John Cena, so Cena lifts him up by the neck. Vince comes in and wants to know who did this.
Ric Flair & Carlito vs. The World's Greatest Tag Team
I guess it was nice of these four guys to be ready early. Shelton tries a variation of a Codebreaker, but whiffs with the boot to the face. Regardless, it's enough for them to gain the momentum and go to work on Carlito. Flair gets a hot tag and it leads to the obvious heel turn for Carlito. He levels Flair and then attacks him while Torrie looks on in horror. Carlito walks up the ramp and Flair chases him and attacks him from behind. Every time I see Flair from this era, I have no idea how he wrestled recently. This was all storyline.
Match Rating: 1/2*
We then go back to Edge who is knocked out and being checked out by officials.
Mr. Kennedy is out now and asks the crowd who would like to see Mr. Kennedy cash in his briefcase right here tonight. He then shuts it down and says that it's not going to happen. He then tells us that he is going to cash in at WrestleMania 24. I bet he won't.
We go to the back and this time Randy Orton is laid out. The mystery continues.
Coach runs in and interrupts Vince. Vince tells him to bring Cena out to the ring.
Melina & Victoria vs. Candice Michelle & Mickie James
We eventually get to a brawl between Melina and Mickie, with Melina getting the better of it. Mickie knocks Victoria off the apron though and then starts brawling with Melina again. Victoria trips up Mickie and throws her back in the ring. Candice gets a hot tag and they are trying really hard to convince us that she's good. It leads to a spot where Victoria and Melina are going to double suplex Candice, but Mickie comes in and breaks it up and it leads to a roll up victory for the heroes.
Match Rating: 1/2*
John Cena is out and says that if you want some, come get some. After a long wait, out comes one of the biggest letdowns of all time, the Great Khali. Cena runs out and attacks him and Khali is just terrible at it. Khali then destroys him until Cena gets him up for the FU. Khali gets out of it and he hits the double chokeslam. He stands on top of Cena and celebrates before heading to the back.
This was a good episode, even with the Khali reveal. The pacing was good and we got a couple of good matches. I like when the episodes have some sort of storyline beyond the usual and this one fit the bill.
Overall Rating: 64%
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