WWE NXT (2/23/10)

 

WWE NXT

Bradley Center

Milwaukee, WI

February 23, 2010

Commentators: Michael Cole & Josh Matthews

Ring Announcer: Savannah

Host: Matt Striker

Its the debut episode of a new WWE show, NXT. With Vince McMahon mercifully killing off WWECW for good, we got a new "Tough Enough" style show but rather than insult the fans intelligence by having indy wrestlers "train" under Hardcore Holly, Al Snow, etc, this show format will take eight independent wrestlers and call them "rookies" with individual "coaches". This is still pretty absurd considering who some of the "rookies" are but we'll get to that soon enough. The show opens with a montage of the rookies and their coaches. Skip Sheffield is coached by William Regal (it was supposed to be MVP), Darren Young will be matched up with CM Punk, Justin Gabriel will be paired with Matt Hardy, Wade Barrett is with Chris Jericho, David Otunga will be coached by R-Truth, Daniel Bryan is matched with The Miz, Michael Tarver is coached by Carlito and Heath Slater will be matched with Christian. Before we do anything, we got a dark match.

Dark Match:

Jimmy Wang Yang & Slam Master J vs Tyler Reks and Vance Archer

With ECW biting the dust, a lot of the dregs of the roster had nothing to do so they put these guys in a tag match before the show went on air. Yang and J win.

Winners: Yang and J

We start the show after the opening montage with all 8 "rookies" posing for the camera. David Otunga looks Straight Outta Compton while Daniel Bryan looks like he's bored. The Miz sizes up all of them but singles out Bryan. Maz says he's US Champion and Tag Team Champion and calls Daniel an "internet darling" and a star of the "minor leagues". Miz asks if Bryan is ready and Miz says he has to expect anything. He wants Bryan to go to the ring, introduce himself, show charisma and to give the fans a reason to watch every Tuesday. Bryan says that's no problem and Miz says to use his music, Bryan counters with that's a problem (Ha!). Miz says to have a good catch phrase as Bryan leaves. Miz says what Bryan doesn't know is if Bryan doesn't show personality, he'll slap some personality into him.

Out comes Daniel Bryan as Michael Cole and Josh Matthews welcome us to ring side. Matthews sends us to our host, Matt Striker. Striker says he'll be waiting to get reactions from Bryan or Miz depending on how this goes. Bryan thanks the audience and shouts out The Miz to a chorus of boos. Bryan says "I'm sorry" because he wishes his pro was William Regal. He says he's been wrestling all over the world for 10 years and finally he has an opportunity here. Bryan says NXT is the next evolution but he's cut off by The Miz. Cole says he's not surprised since he dissed Miz and Miz says this is going to be a lot of fun. Bryan says to watch what he says or he'll submit him right now. Miz calls him cute and a submission machine but he needs charisma and personality. Bryan says he was going to go on a reality show, get a faux-hawk and act like an idiot...oh wait, that was Miz. Miz says that's fine and wants a catch phrase like "I'M THE MIZ AND I'M AWESSOMEEEEEE." Bryan says if Miz tries him, its "Tap or Snap". Bryan asks the crowd what they think and they love it. They cheer Bryan as Miz asks if he belongs in the same ring. Miz says Bryan failed and slaps him across the face. Bryan is barely fazed by it and smiles at him. Miz storms off and Bryan says "you got nothing on me" as we go to break.

I know they're going to explain it and I already covered Bryan a long time ago in his Velocity matches but what the hell. The reason this whole scenario is ludicrous is Daniel Bryan was born Bryan Danielson and he was trained at the age of 18 by none other than the "Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels. He made his in ring debut in December of 1999 and worked in both the US and Japan with school alums & future WWE stars Lance Cade and Brian Kendrick. In 2000, he was signed to a WWF developmental deal with Memphis Championship Wrestling and was given further guidance by William Regal (hence the name drop earlier) where he got the nickname "American Dragon". He was released in July of 2001 without ever being called up to Raw or Smackdown. He did make sporadic appearances on Velocity for the next two years while working in Japan or Ring of Honor. In Bryan's WWE Blu-Ray story, he said John Cena got heat for letting Bryan get some shots in rather than squashing him in their Velocity match. After a 7 year run with Ring of Honor, he was finally signed by WWE again who put him in their new developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling in early 2010. At first he wrestled under his own name but before he was to make his NXT debut he had to choose a stage name. Apparently he had to choose between Buddy Peacock, Lloyd Bonaire and Daniel Bryan. Once again, where Vince got his names I'll never know but thankfully Regal bailed him out by calling him Daniel Bryan. What makes this storyline more absurd is while Bryan was literally on WWE TV doing jobs and working with Cena, Miz was making his pro debut in 2003 after being an MTV star before becoming a Tough Enough 4 finalist (outlasting the very same Skip Sheffield we'll see later) in 2004. Not that the Miz didn't scratch and claw his way to stardom, but what the hell could Miz possibly teach the guy personally trained by Shawn Michaels and William Regal? That's basically the storyline here moving forward. 

Back from commercial, Bryan is still in the ring and he says he's going to slap him back someday. After an out of place Triple H vignette, Matt Striker asks what Bryan feels about being slapped. Bryan says he slaps harder than Miz does. Striker says Miz is his mentor and Bryan says he can say that because he's been wrestling longer than Miz has. Striker says not in WWE and Bryan says he can be a star on his own. That's rich coming from the guy who was still a teacher when Bryan was on Velocity working with John Cena. 

Before we get to the match, we're told that Daniel Bryan will go one on one with World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho tonight. As if you needed any more proof that Bryan is a bigger deal than he's being presented as. Carlito comes out with a mic and says let's introduce Michael Tarver. Carlito says with his skills, Tarver will be the next breakout star. The video montage shows Michael grew up in Akron, Ohio and is known as "Mr. 1.9 seconds" because he can knock out anyone just like that. His father was professional boxer Tyrone Evans who was Mike Tyson's sparring partner. He would join his father and Mike in 5 mile runs in the snow before school & church. He figures that it doesn't matter how big someone is, you take out the head and the body falls. He says he had it hard sleeping in cars and earning just $20 for indy shows but this is his way to prove what he's capable of. He wants the other rookies to bring their A game because the world is in front of him. So what did that montage not tell us? He started wrestling in 2005 and was signed to a developmental deal in 2008. Because of his boxing background, he was one of Floyd Mayweather's bodyguards at Wrestlemania 24 if you looked closely enough. He spent the next 2 years in FCW where he and Wade Barrett were a tag team managed by Byron Saxton. So this is no "rookie" either.

Christian and Heath Slater come out next. Slater apparently is a rock star without the instruments and likes to showboat a lot. He wanted to be a WWE superstar since he was born and we get a video montage of him in the 90's with wrestling toys and backyard wrestling belts. Slater says being a superstar is the only thing he's ever wanted to do. He came up with the party boy thing and his motivation is to prove everyone wrong. He's about to blow your mind! So, what WASN'T said? Slater was born in Pineville, West Virginia and really did grow up a massive WWF fan. He was trained by none other than Mr. Hughes and made his pro debut in 2004 under his real name of Heath Miller. In 2006 he was signed by WWE and put in their developmental territory Deep South Wrestling then moved over to Florida Championship Wrestling where he had been a mainstay ever since. Just a few months prior, he and Justin Gabriel feuded over the FCW Heavyweight Championship. Now in NXT, he wrestles under the name Heath Slater. Let's get to the match.

Match 1

Carlito and Michael Tarver vs Christian and Heath Slater

Slater is going to start with Carlito as Matthews says these guys are meeting each other for the first time. Slater and Tarver just came from FCW together and Slater was actually in a feud with Carlito's brother Primo. I'm sure they've met before. Slater gets a quick roll up for a two count and Heath shouts "Yeah baby" to no pop. Carlito goes to town with strikes then kicks away in the corner. Tarver tags in and punches away in the corner with body shots. Slater hits a springboard splash and a few arm drags to no pop again. Tarver hits a drop toe hold onto the bottom rope and Carlito gets a cheap shot. Christian distracts the ref long enough for Slater to kick out of the pinfall attempt at two. Cole says Christian told him he could do without the Slater hair flip. Carlito locks in a chin lock as Christian tries to start a clap for Slater. Cole then goes on to babble on about Daniel Bryan as Tarver tags in to lock in a chinlock as well. Slater does manage to catch Tarver with a powerslam as Carlito tags in. Christian gets the hot tag as Cole brings up Christian qualifying for the Money In The Bank ladder match coming up at Wrestlemania 26. Christian drops Carlito with a forearm and a second rope dropkick. Christian covers for 1...2..no. Christian goes for Killswitch but Carlito rolls out of it. Carlito jumps off the second rope but right back into Christian's arms. Carlito elbows Christian but is kicked in the corner. Christian hits a second rope sunset flip for 1..2....no. Tarver tags in and whips Carlito into an elbow by Christian, whoops! Tarver's charge eats boot as Slater pulls Carlito out of the ring. Christian hits a second rope elbow smash and hits the Killswitch. He covers for 1...2..3 to win the match. Kind of a short match but this whole episode is just an introductory showcase anyway. Christian and Slater celebrate as Christian does get a pop. Good, safe tag match to kick off NXT.

Time of match: 4:23

Winners: Slater and Christian by pinfall

CM Punk is joined by his Straight Edge Society members Luke Gallows and Serena with Darren Young babbling on inaudibly because Christian's music and Michael Cole's talking downs out whatever Darren is saying. Meanwhile R-Truth is talking to Otunga who looks like something out of an Eazy-E music video. Back from commercial, its time for our next match. The SES come out with Young who doesn't even get an introductory montage.....the hell?  Young was born Fred Rosser and he was trained in New Jersey back in 2001. He worked most of 2002-04 for local independents including Chaotic Wrestling. He actually got some WWE dark matches wrestling as Fred Sampson in 2005. I know this was still before the internet was as advanced as it is today, but how are you going to call someone who was wrestling on WWE TV in 2005 a "rookie" five years later when his "mentor" didn't even show up himself until 2006, no diss to CM Punk of course. Speaking of Punk, he gets his own mini-interview where he has no idea why he's here or who Darren Young is. Punk says he mentored Gallows and Serena so if Young wants in too, he has to live straight edge. Considering Young is trying to pass himself off as a "party boy" this isn't gonna work. Matthews wants to party with Young but we send it to a David Otunga montage.

Otunga says he's from Hollywood, California and he's a touch above everyone else. He's a very busy man and he's engaged to Jennifer Hudson. He's met President Obama, he's popular, nobody can touch him, you get the idea. He graduated from Harvard Law School and everyone's jealous of him. Great heel promo to be honest. Now for the real story....most of it is true. He really did graduate from Harvard Law school and passed the bar in Illinois. He made his name on the TV show I Love New York 2 where he came in third place. He really was engaged to Jennifer Hudson and they had a son together. He's not actually from Hollywood as he grew up in Illinois. He was signed to WWE in 2008 in a path similar to The Miz, cashing in on his ILNY2 fame. 

Match 2

Darren Young (with CM Punk, Serena & Luke Gallows) vs David Otunga (with R-Truth)

Otunga makes his entrance completely ignoring Truth's rapping at ring side during his entrance as the SES pretty much blow off Young as well. Bell's gone and Young gets in a knee to the ribs. Young drops Otunga with a back elbow smash and covers for a deuce. Otunga ducks a line, hits a few clotheslines of his own and damn near botches a Ron Simmons style spinebuster. Otunga covers for 1...2...3 to win the match. I know they were pressed for time since they had Jericho and Bryan later but that was ridiculous. That made Young look worthless. Otunga celebrates with Truth in the ring as the SES bails without showing any emotion. Otunga had the look and the charisma, but just could never do it in the ring.

Time of match: 38 seconds

Winner: Otunga by pinfall

We cut to earlier where Miz slaps Daniel Bryan and get a graphic for Jericho vs Bryan coming up. Back from commercial we get a Divas vignette and the "Raw rebound". John Cena on Raw complains that he won Elimination Chamber yet Vince McMahon forced him to wrestle Batista at the end of it. McMahon says he's going to face Batista in a match, and if he wins, he faces him again at Wrestlemania. Batista then demolishes Cena to earn a DQ but the beat down was to send a message that John couldn't take him. Its a shame it took damn near 5 years for Cena and Batista to get it on when they were neck and neck in popularity in 2005. Back to ring side where Cole says he's the mentor to Matthews and Josh fires back. A graphic saying Justin Gabriel will be making his NXT debut the following week.

Match 3

Daniel Bryan (with The Miz) vs World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho (with Wade Barrett)

As I said earlier, it was high praise to put Bryan in the ring with Jericho in his NXT debut when the others had to wrestle each other or in standard tag matches. We don't get an introduction vignette for either Bryan or Barrett so that might be coming next week. Before the match starts, Jericho grabs the mic and says he wants Barrett to introduce him instead. Barrett goes on about himself that he's a European champion and bare knuckles fighter. He says its an honor to be paired with Chris Jericho and tries to put him over, but Chris cuts him off. Chris says just introduce him as Barrett says "Have it your way." He introduces Chris and here comes The Miz and Bryan. Bryan runs right past him and gets in the ring, ha! Bell rings and Bryan wants a hand shake. Does he think he's in Ring of Honor? Jericho slaps his hand away and goes on about himself. He shoves Bryan and Daniel slaps him before dropping Chris with a dropkick. Daniel stops away in the corner but Jericho counters with a dropkick. Jericho kicks away at Bryan and delivers a back suplex. Chris gets a forearm to the back and a snap mare. Jericho locks in a half nelson but Daniel powers out of it. Daniel rolls him up for a two count and Jericho counters with an enziguiri. Chris slaps the back of the head and hits an elbow to the chest. Jericho hits forearms in the corner as Matt Striker sneaks ring side to ask Wade Barrett what he's learning. Wade replies that Jericho is quality and says he's going to get to his level. Bryan kicks Jericho int he chest, slides hunder him and goes for the dragon screw, but Jericho botches it by back bumping. Cole screams at Matthews for saying Bryan is a sensation and that he's wrestled in front of high school gyms. By the way, THIS was the start of the Michael Cole heel turn no one wanted. Bryan runs up the turnbuckle and backflips over Jericho and drops him with a clothesline. He covers for 1...2....no. Bryan nails Chris with a forearm against the ropes, causing Jericho to bail outside. Bryan goes for the suicide dive and it looks like Jericho countered with a powerslam against the announce table, but Bryan doesn't sell it. Jericho rolls inside and Bryan goes for a hurracarana but jumps right into the Walls of Jericho. Bryan rolls through and applies an Indian Deathlock. Jericho screams and barely makes it to the ropes. Jericho catches Bryan with the codebreaker out of nowhere to drop him. We're shown the "rookies" in the back all watching the match. Jericho locks in the Lion Tamer and Bryan taps immediately to end the match. Jericho gets the win but Bryan hit him with everything but the kitchen sink. In terms of the actual match, that was awesome. For damn near six minutes it was perfectly paced with Bryan pushing the action.

Time of match: 5:53

Winner: Jericho by submission

Post-match Miz gets in the ring and beats down Bryan. Jericho laughs and leaves with Barrett. Miz rams Bryan's head into the mat and screams at him that he disrespected him. We go to the replay and Matthews puts over Bryan while Cole uncharacteristically puts Miz over, what's that about? We're back with the seven "rookies" with Striker who says this is NXT before signing off. This was definitely the Daniel Bryan coming out party and the sad part was, this set the tone for the rest of the show's run. Bryan was clearly head and shoulders above everyone else and showcasing him first cast a shadow over everyone else. Still, there's still a long way to go and more matches to showcase the others. Even though this was glorified Tough Enough, the fact it was actual wrestlers will make the matches good at least. See you Thursday for Smackdown.

WWE Super Tuesday (11/12/02)

WWE Super Tuesday

Fleet Center and Verizon Wireless Arena

Boston MA and Manchester, NH

November 12, 2002

Commentators: Jim Ross, Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and Tazz

Ring Announcers: Lilian Garcia and Tony Chimel

Vince has always had an obsession with shows on Tuesday whether its Tuesday In Texas or the eventual Taboo Tuesday. The problem is fans just don't want to pay more money for a Tuesday ppv. With just five days before Survivor Series, Vince decided to just have a UPN special instead much like the old Survivor Series Showdown shows. The stars of Raw and Smackdown will both participate in this special although the Raw 10 men tag was filmed last week in Boston while the triple threat match and bikini contest was filmed in Manchester. Its going to be Triple H, Christian, Chris Jericho, Rosey and Jamal against Booker T, Kane, Rob Van Dam, Jeff Hardy and Bubba Ray Dudley. Also a bikini contest between Trish Stratus and Torrie Wilson. Finally, a triple threat match between Edge, Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero. Btw, Vince is an absolute moron for not making the tag match Survivor Series style. If they weren't going to have elimination tag matches on the card, this would have been PERFECT for that. Could have had Eddie, Kurt Angle, Chavo Guerero Jr, Benoit and Big Show against Edge, Rey Mysterio Jr, Rikishi, Billy Kidman and Brock Lesnar. Oh well...

We get a cool remix of The Beautiful People and Across The Nation for the intro. Both announce teams say their hellos with dueling arenas. This entire night was filmed in advance but we're going to pretend its on the same night. Cole and Tazz sends us to Stephanie McMahon's office. She says Edge and Rey Mysterio are the new tag champs and at Survivor Series it'll be a triple threat tag team match. Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit vs Los Guerreros vs Edge and Rey Mysterio. Because of that, the triple threat match tonight will be Benoit vs Edge vs Eddie. She's going to hold on to the belts so nobody steals them. In other words, this is the kayfabe reason why Edge and Mysterio aren't holding the title belts due to the fact they hadn't won them yet when this was filmed last week.

Match 1

Eddie Guerrero vs Chris Benoit vs Edge in a Triple Threat Match

Benoit makes his entrance last as Tazz says he's mad at Kurt for dropping the tag belts. Benoit attacks Edge at the start and boots him in the corner as Eddie hides outside.  Benoit rams Edge into the corner and chops away at him. Benoit rams Edge into the other corner and chops away. Edge sends Benoit sternum first into the corner and Edge hits a back suplex. Edge hits a leg drop and covers but Eddie slides in to break up the count. Eddie kicks away at Edge and hits a back elbow smash. Benoit nails Eddie from behind and hits a back suplex on him. Benoit sends Eddie in the corner and kicks away at him before landing some chops. Edge comes in and nails both of them with right hands. Chris lands a running knee to the ribs on Edge as Tazz says Rey Mysterio goes one on one with Eddie this coming Thursday on Smackdown. Benoit and Angle will also duke it out on Smackdown as Eddie cheapshots Benoit. Eddie sends Benoit off, ducks the line and they take each other out with a double clothesline. Edge then hits a on Eddie and goes to town on Benoit. Eddie from behind hits a back suplex on Edge. Eddie goes for the El Paso Lasso on Edge but Benoit hits a dropkick. Eddie slugs Benoit and he retaliates with right hands. Edge slugs Benoit and hits a flapjack on Guerrero. Edge hits the flapjack on Benoit as well. Edge goes upstairs but Eddie cuts him off. Benoit puts Eddie on his shoulders and Edge hits a missile dropkick on Guerrero. Edge covers Eddie for 1......2..nope. Chris ducks the line and hits a german suplex on Edge but Eddie hits a suplex before covering for a deuce.  Eddie misses the frog splash off the top and Edge hits another face plant on Eddie. Benoit catches Edge with the Crippler Crossface in the middle of the ring but Chris intercepts a diving Eddie, locking him in the Crossface. Edge dropkicks both men in the face then hits Benoit with a spear. Eddie runs right into the Edgecution and Edge covers for 1...2..nooo, Chavo Guerrero Jr runs down to pull referee Mike Chioda out. Edge hits a baseball slide to knock out Chioda, Chavo and the camera guy. Chavo sends Edge into the ring post but Rey Mysterio Jr runs out to counter Chavo. Rey hits a moonsault on Chavo outside as back inside Eddie gets caught in the crossface. Kurt Angle then runs out, throws the referee in on top of Benoit to break up the hold. Angle hops up on the apron as Eddie rolls up Benoit from behind for 1...2...3 to win the match. Eddie stole that one off the distraction. That was a pretty good match despite the run ins and it set up the triple threat this coming Sunday. Eddie and Chavo celebrate in the ring as Benoit and Angle yell at each other up the ramp.

Time of match: 7:29

Winner: Guerrero by pinfall

Cole hypes up the ten men tag as Big Show is coming out later. Back from break we get a video montage of Big Show and Brock Lesnar's feud up to this point. Again, if they didn't book Show out to be a goofus for a year straight, this might of worked. After that LONG montage here comes Show himself to the ring. Show says he's quoting Paul Heyman by saying Lesnar can't beat him. He brags about hurting Lesnar and this Sunday he'll be the next WWE Champion. His music hits and he leaves....what? The montage was longer than the promo. Kind of pointless but up next is Trish vs Torrie. Back from break we shift over to Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross for a moment to hype up Raw's events. We get the elimination chamber video from Raw. What's with the montages? You can put all this stuff on the pre-show on Heat. They could have easily had Bubba Ray vs D'Von for the amount of time they wasted on video montages. Anyway, let's get to the ring.

Match 2

Torrie Wilson vs Trish Stratus

Tazz is our MC for our bikini contest. Normally these things are a waste of time since the babyface wins every time, but we got two babyfaces here so I'll treat this as an actual match. Interesting to see who the crowd picks. Cole drools over Torrie as she makes her entrance. Tazz explains the rules, they got 30 seconds to show their stuff and the audience picks the winner. Trish goes first as Tazz says this is the biggest moment of her career....what? Trish shows off her bikini and gets a good pop from the crowd. Tazz tells Cole to get Stephanie to get Trish on Smackdown. Torrie goes next and gets a much larger pop for her skin colored bikini and booty shake. Tazz asks the crowd who wins and clearly Torrie gets the larger pop but all of a sudden Nidia hits the ring and pulls out Torrie. Nidia rushes Trish and both she and Torrie fend her off. Torrie and Trish raise each other's arms in victory. Torrie got the louder pop but everyone's a winner here apparently.

Time of match: N/A

Winner: Trish Stratus and Torrie Wilson

Cole sends it to JR for the Raw portion of the show, which has about 18 minutes left of showtime. We got an interview with Shawn Michaels next. Again, we want to see wrestling, you can save all this for Heat. We get a montage of Shawn vs HHH up to this point and finally JR asks Shawn "live" via satellite what Sunday will be like. Shawn "One word...Wild, crazy, chaotic....okay that's three words. He says his motivation is simple, keep HHH from winning and ruin his life. He admits its immoral but he's doing it anyway. He doesn't know who's going to win but HHH certainly won't. Time for the main event.

Match 3

Triple H, Rosey, Jamal, Christian and Chris Jericho (with Rico and Ric Flair) vs Booker T, Kane, Rob Van Dam, Bubba Ray Dudley and Jeff Hardy in a Ten Man Tag Match

Thankfully the heel entrances are cut in favor of a video showing Jericho decimating Kane and Rob Van Dam on Monday. JR and King ask how Hardy is able to walk after being put through the table "last night" which was funny since this is clearly filmed the week before since you can see the god damned Boston Celtics banners hanging in the Fleet Center during the camera cut to the ring. Hardy starts with Jamal and Jamal starts with right hands "sup boy!" Jamal hits a backdrop on Jeff "Get your ass up boy!" Jamal tags in Christian and Hardy slides under him, takes him down and hits the between the legs legdrop. Hardy tags in Bubba who punches away at Christian. Bubba chops Christian in the chest and looks over at Jericho "I got one for you two ya punk". Christian is whipped into the corner and Bubba hits a stinger splash followed by Dusty Punches. Bubba covers for 1..2...no. The crowd chants "we want tables" as Bubba hits a flapjack on Christian. Rob Van Dam tags in and Jamal tags in as well. Van Dam kicks Jamal but Jamal misses a charges in the corner. RVD hits the top rope dropkick and moonsault for 1...2..nope. Jamal clotheslines RVD down and HHH tags in. Hunter punches him in the corner but the ref gets distracted allowing the corner beat down. Jericho tga sin and hits a back suplex on RVD. "I'm the king of the world." Jericho misses a dropkick and RVD hits rolling thunder. RVD tags in Kane who cleans house of HHH and Jericho. Then he knocks everyone else off the apron. Jericho runs into a boot as Kane double clotheslins Christian and HHH. Kane sidewalk slams HHH and goes up to the top rope. Kane hits the top rope clothesline and covers for 1.2..no, Jamal pulls him off. Pier Six brawl outside with only RVD and Christian in the ring. RVD takes out Christian then heel kicks Jericho. Jericho turns a flip into the Walls of Jericho but Booker T hits the axe kick. Booker hits the scissors kick on Y2J and does the spinaroonie. Christian hits the reverse ddt but walks into the Bubba Bomb by Bubba Ray. Jeff Hardy hits the swanton on Christian but Rosey sends Jeff into Jamal for the samoan drop. Bubba cleans out Rosey but eats superkick from Jamal. Kane grabs Jamal and chokeslams him off the top rope. HHH runs in and goes for the pedigree, but is backdropped. Kane hits the chokeslam and covers for 1...2..nope, Christian breaks it up. Kane throws Christian on top of Rosey and Rico outside but turns around into a missile dropkick from Jericho. Rob Van Dam hits the five star frog splash on Jamal out of nowhere when Jericho grabs a chair. He rushes RVD with it but Rob hits the Van Daminator to take out Jericho. Rob somersault planchas the heels outside leaving Kane in the ring. Flair hits Kane with a chair and HHH hits the pedigree. HHH covers for 1...2....3 to win the match. Of course....once again HHH goes over to show that nobody else in the chamber match has a chance in hell. The heels celebrate outside as we go off air. Since the stupid video montages took forever, they only had 8 minutes to get their shit in and it was just spamming finishers.

Time of match: 8:23

Winners: HHH, Jamal, Rosey, Christian and Chris Jericho by pinfall

All in all that was a total waste of time. They could have had cut the video montages, Big Show's promo and Shawn's satellite interview to have two separate elimination matches in the spirit of Survivor Series. The opener was good but then everything else went south. The only drama going into the elimination chamber is will HHH or HBK win. That's not how you promote a six person match. If fans know that 4/6ths of the competition have no chance, what's the point of watching? At least Smackdown attempted to book Big Show as a monster to give Lesnar a roadblock for the first time in his career. The less said of "Super Tuesday" the better. Up next is the final Smackdown before Survivor Series coming at you from Columbus, Ohio. I'll see you there.

WWE Raw (11/11/02)

WWE Raw

US Bank Arena

Cincinnati, OH

November 11, 2002

Commentators: Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler

Ring Announcer: Lilian Garcia

We're six days away from Survivor Series with only two matches set, the elimination chamber and Victoria vs Trish Stratus for the Women's title. The good news is the Katie Vick saga is over and the better news is Shawn Michaels is coming back to active duty. The bad news is the rest of the roster is still a big bucket of meh with Randy Orton still out with injury. It was announced on Heat that tonight's main event will be Booker T vs Triple H. Whether the title was on the line or not wasn't given. Before we get to the shows, we have not only dark matches but the European Heat matches.

Dark Match 1

Rob Conway vs Nathan Jones

For those that don't remember, Conway was one of the top stars of OVW and had been there for 5 years just waiting for his big break. He has been on and off WWF/E TV doing jobs here and there. Tonight he does the job for Jones.

Winner: Jones

Dark Match 2

Chris Kanyon & Damaja vs Charlie Haas and Lance Cade

Kanyon was still on the comeback trail after suffering the devastating shoulder injury in July and he's got the OCW guys with him. Haas was just about to get his call but who are the other two? Lance Cade was trained by Shawn Michaels and was 21 years old at the time. He was getting a look after Heartland Wrestling Association bit the dust. Damaja is actually Danny Holliday who used to work Jakked years ago. He was rechristened "Damaja" in OVW and became a frequent partner with Doug Basham. Unfortunately down the road, they would both be called up but not as anyone wanted. Haas and Cade got the win.

Winners: Haas and Cade

Now for the European Heat matches. Since folks in the UK weren't getting the Survivor Series pre-show, they were getting their own cold matches.

Heat Match 1

Tommy Dreamer vs Justin Credible

ECW alumni Dreamer and Credible go at it for Heat. All that's written is Dreamer knocked Credible cold and Credible had to be carried out on a stretcher....uh oh.

Winner: Dreamer by referee stoppage

Heat Match 2

Jacqueline vs Ivory

The frequent partners of Trish Stratus and Molly Holly face each other here. Thanks to Youtube I was able to find the Italian broadcast of this match. Bell rings and Ivory starts with a kick to the ribs. Ivory gets in a headlock takeover but Jackie sends her off the ropes. Ivory drops Jackie with a clothesline but Jackie rallies with right hands. Jackie skins the cat and head scissors Ivory over the top rope to the floor. Jackie baseball slides Ivory down then throws her back inside. Ivory staggers as Jackie chops her into the corner. Jackie punches on the second rope but Ivory counters with a powerbomb and Flair Pin for 1..2...no. Ivory hits a dropkick and kicks Jackie before botching a gut wrench suplex. Jackie catches her with an inside cradle for a two count, ducks the line and hits a martial arts kick to the ribs. Jackie's charge eats boot in the corner but she still hits the rolling front slam and covers for 1...2..nope. Jackie goes for the tornado DDT but its blocked by Ivory. She slingshots Jackie into the second rope and schoolgirls her for 1...2...3 to win the match. Short and sweet as Ivory gets the duke.

Time of match: 3:05

Winner: Ivory by pinfall

Heat Match 3

Johnny Stamboli vs Raven

Probably a continuation of Raven's "masterpiece" but we don't get to see it. Raven wins with the evenflow.

Winner: Raven by pinfall

Finally we get started with Raw. We're shown Shawn Michaels reading a newspaper in the back to start the night. Having him play Batman and striking at any time is fun, but eventually he's got to work a match. Speaking of matches, let's get to our first.

Match 1

Kane and Rob Van Dam vs Christian and Chris Jericho for the World Tag Team Championship

Kane, RVD and Jericho are all in the Elimination Chamber match but Christian is not. Jericho comes out to the Salvia King of My World theme. Rob starts with Jericho to start and Y2J starts with a headlock and a shoulderblock but Rob uses his athleticism and hits a heel kick. Rob hits a rolling monkey flip in the corner and a moonsault for 1....2...no. Kane gets the tag and he kicks at Jericho's shoulder. He clotheslines Jericho in the corner but a second charge eats boot. Jericho gets dropped coming off the second rope and Kane hits a choke bomb. Christian gets decked and clotheslined over the top rope for getting in then Kane press slams Jericho over the top rope onto Jericho below. Rob Van Dam hits a somersault plancha on both of them. Rob hit his head on the ground as Jericho rolls in. Kane hits hits a chokeslam on Jericho inside but the ref is trying to break up Rob and Christian outside. Finally he rolls in but Christian also rolls in to stop the count. Kane grabs Christian but Christian kicks him in the gonads. Christian goes for the blatant choke first on the floor then in the corner. Kane whips Christian in the corner but a charge eats boot. Christian runs right into a sidewalk slam and Rob gets the tag. Van Dam knocks Jericho off the apron and hits a heel kick on Christian. He hits the step over heel kick and the rolling thunder before covering for a deuce. Jericho climbs the top rope but Van Dam crotches him. Christian charges but runs right into Jericho, Van Dam rolling up Christian for 1...2..nope. Christian charges into the corner but eats boot. Van Dam goes upstairs but Christian throws him off the top to the floor. Jericho puts the boots to him and strangles him with a camera cable. Christian throws Van Dam inside and tags in Jericho. Jericho hits a back suplex and covers for 1...2..no. Jericho locks in a chinlock then pulls Rob down by the hair when he tries to escape. Jericho does the Ali shuffle for some heat and chokes Rob on the second rope. Jericho jumps on Rob then tags in Christian. Jim gets excited about someone beating Triple H for the World title and one of them could be in the ring now. Van Dam rallies with heel kicks on both heels as the blood in the ring from the Dreamer/Credible match is still on the canvas. Kane gets the hot tag and he goes nuts on both Canadians. A big boot to Jericho is followed by a tilt-a-whirl slam on Christian. Kane throws Jericho over the top rope and goes upstairs. Kane hits the top rope clothesline and calls for the chokeslam. Jericho gets in and kicks Kane allowing both man to hit a double suplex on him. Van Dam hits a crossbody on both men and Jericho bails outside. Kane hits the chokeslam on Christian but Jericho grabs a title belt and clocks Kane with it. Van Dam kicks Jericho outside then goes up to the top rope. Rob jumps OVER Kane laying in the middle and hits the five star on Christian. Kane rolls on top for 1...2......CRACK! Jericho from out of nowhere hits Kane in the back with a steel chair to earn a DQ. Jericho unloads on Kane with chair shots then starts beating Van Dam with it too. Lawler correctly points out he's softening them up for this Sunday. Jericho shouts that he's going to be the new champion and he beats up the ring post with the chair as well. Good match for what it was and the ending was to get some heat on Jericho going into this Sunday with Triple H the only other heel in it.

Time of match: 9:15

Winners: Kane and Rob Van Dam by Disqualification (Champs retain)

Back from break, we get a highlight of Jericho going apeshit with the chair. Terri asks what Jericho is doing and he says he's softening up every single ass clown that's in the chamber match with him.  He says no one is winning that match but him. He walks off and Christian says if anyone can't make it, Bischoff told him he gets the spot. He says he doesn't care if he has to beat Jericho to win the title and out of nowhere Chris waffles Christian with the chair. Nobody but him is winning, NOBODY! Again, they had to do something to get some heat on Jericho.

Back to JR and King who says Jericho has gone nuts. We then cut to a highlight package of the Shawn Michaels and Triple H's recent history. Shawn says "don't hunt what you can't kill" Cut to Booker T in the back when ace reporter Gregory Helms comes in and asks him what he thinks about the elimination chamber. Booker says he's been thinkin more than Abraham Lincoln that he's going to kick Triple H's ass. Gregory turns around into Goldust and Goldust says Greg's microphone is as big as his. Goldust asks what green and gold and has victory written all over, Goldust and The Hurricane beating Steven Richards and Test. Goldust says "Beware of the testicles as they are becoming more powerful and stronger than ever." Helms says Test is dangerous but Goldust says he wasn't talking about him. He looks down at his own package and breathes at Helms. Yay, more dick jokes. Least we got a match out of it. We cut to Jeff Hardy getting prepared for a match with Lance Storm. Jeff heads to the ring as we cut to commercial. On to the next match.

Match 2

Lance Storm (with William Regal) vs Jeff Hardy

Kind of a filler match but oh well. Lance goes to work on Hardy but he immediately hits a mule kick on Storm, Jeff fakes out Storm and hits a second rope legdrop before covering for a deuce. Jeff goes for a crucifix but Storm counters with a front slam and covers for 1..2...nope. Lance hits a side backbreaker and covers for a two count. Storm lands knees to the back of Hardy and goes for an overhead backbreaker. Jeff rolls out and goes for a backdrop but Lance bridges out of it. Jeff still takes him down and hits a legdrop in between the legs. Jeff covers for a near fall but runs right into a powerslam. Lance covers for a deuce then sends Jeff into the corner. He tells referee Jack Doan to shut up then hits another side backbreaker. He covers for a dos then locks in a surfboard. Jeff mule kicks out of it then rallies with right hands. Lance is hotshotted off the top rope and Jeff hits a forearm. Jeff is sent to the corner but he runs up the ropes and hits Whisper In The Wind. He covers for 1...2....nope. Lance blocks a whip but Jeff hits a russian leg sweep then traps the legs for 1...2....no. Lance gets a thumb to the eye and hits a dropkick of his own, followed by a near fall. Lance hits a knee to the ribs but is backdropped over the top rope to the floor. Jeff runs the rails but slips off and just delivers a standard clothesline on Lance.  Jeff throws Storm in but the ref is distracted by Storm so Regal pounds away on Jeff outside. Regal throws him inside but Tommy Dreamer comes down and clobbers him to even the odds. Dreamer sends Regal into the ring post and Storm hits a baseball slide on him. Jeff from behind hits a reverse neckbreaker on Storm, goes upstairs and hits the Swanton Bomb. He covers for 1...2...3 to win the match. May have been a filler match but it was good for what it was.

Time of match: 5:14

Winner: Hardy by pinfall

We got back to last week where Victoria manhandles Terri and rips her clothes off. Back to real time, she is called into Eric Bischoff's office where Eric says he's very happy. He puts over the chamber match and Terri wants to know what he wants. He booked Terri in a match with Victoria after what happened las week. Terri says Victoria is a complete psycho and doesn't want to wrestle her. Victoria is already in the ring and calls for Terri to come out. Victoria compares Terri to Trish and cuts a promo saying since they have so much in common, she's going to annihilate Terri. Terri says she's not a wrestler and is an interviewer. Eric says she has two choices, either face Victoria and get her to let up or she's fired.

Back from break Terri walks out with a microphone She says she may be small in stature but she's big enough to say Victoria is the better woman. She says there's no need to fight and Victoria says fine, the match is off. Then she grabs Terri and says the match is off...but she's gonna rip her heas off. Victoria punches Terri down and rips her shirt open. Victoria throws Terri down as JR scoffs this isn't a contest and Bischoff should be ashamed of himself. Victoria sniffs Terri's shirt and Terri starts fighting back by beating Victoria with her shoe. She jumps on Victoria's back but is slammed off by Victoria. Victoria puts the boots to Terri and throws her outside. Victoria slams her on the steel ramp and throws her into the steel steps. JR "God almighty." King "I think the referee is afraid of Victoria." Victoria rolls Terri inside and kicks Charles Robinson right in the berries. Victoria throws Robinson out of the ring, goes under the ring and grabs a ladder. She throws the ladder halfway into the ring but Trish Stratus runs out and see saws the ladder up into Victoria's face. Trish hits the chick kick and throws her outside. Trish throws Victoria into the steps and pounds away on her until the refs separate her. King says to let her go and Victoria laughs maniacally at her as we cut. Glad they gave these two a segment like this since it makes the women's title seem important.

Backstage we see Batista walking in the hall when Ric Flair walks up to introduce himself. Batista refuses a handshake but Flair says he's very impressed with him since his Smackdown debut. Flair says he might be bigger than the champ, Triple H. He goes to pat him on the back and stops then says good luck. Batista says coldly "thanks" On to the next match.

Match 3

D-Lo Brown vs Dave Batista

Guess D-Lo is the sacrificial lamb this week. Lilian calls him "Dave" Batista so we'll go with that. D-Lo wastes no time with punches at the bell but gets backdropped by the big guy. Batista hits the rolling front slam but gets kicked in the head. D-Lo clotheslines him but Batista unfazed hits the 360 line on D-Lo. Batista crushes D-Lo in the corner with a running clothesline then goes for another one, but eats elbow. Batista hits the spinebuster and the sit down powerbomb. He covers for 1..2...3 to win the match. JR says that was the first Eurocontinental champion that Batista just annihilated. Total squash but that was the point.

Time of match: 1:31

Winner: Batista by pinfall

Backstage Shawn Michaels is walking around and looks like he's coming to the ring. Back from break we get a tribute to veterans video montage then Shawn Michaels comes out for a conference. Shawn's epic soliloquoy says he has a belief system. He believes in god, himself, his family and all the fans. He says he's human and wants retribution on Sunday. He doesn't know what an elimination chamber is but he also didn't know what a ladder or hell in a cell match was either. He won the HIAC as JR points out. He says a career ending back injury didn't stop him, he could win or he might not but he's going back to Madison Square Garden. He's not the heartbreak kid anymore or the showstopper (oh he would be again), he's just plain Shawn. He says he's known Triple H for a very long time but they ended up in very different places. He's a forgiving man but he can't forgive him for trying to put him out for good. He says he doesn't care if its Kane, Chris Jericho, Rob Van Dam or Booker T walking out in the end as long as he takes out Triple H himself. The word of God says all things are possible to those who believe and he believes this Sunday night he'll be the new World Heavyweight Champion. 

Suddenly Triple H's music hits and Hunter walks out for a rebuttal. HHH mocks Shawn for believing he can win and in this arena, HE is god (Hunter that is). Shawn raises his fist and the crowd cheers and Hunter repeats that he is God. HHH says he's gonna kick Shawn's ass and he heads to the ring. Shawn is ready as HHH takes off his warmup jacket. They get it on in the ring with right hands but Shawn gets dropped with a hard clothesline. HHH hits the pedigree and trash talks the fallen Michaels. HHH smiles and goes to the outside, finding his sledgehammer under the ring. The referees run out along with Terry Taylor, Arn Anderson and Sgt Slaughter to stop him. HHH is restrained from causing Shawn further damage but the message has been sent. Jericho and HHH have taken out Kane, RVD and Shawn Michaels tonight leaving just Booker T in the main event. Not only that but Shawn's mission is simple, above all else, keep HHH from winning. After we come back from break, we're shown a highlight of HHH's attack but Shawn walking off under his own power. On to the next match.

Match 4

The Dudley Boys (Bubba Ray and Spike) with Jeff Hardy vs 3 Minute Warning (Jamal and Rosey) with Rico

JR announces that this Sunday it'll be a six man tables match between all six of them this Sunday....FINALLY we have another match signed. We start with Bubba pounding away on Jamal in the corner. Bubba chops Jamal but Rosey provides the distraction for Jamal to escape. Bubba still hits the reverse neckbreaker on Jamal then tags Spike in. Spike hits the coup de gras and a running forearm. Spike gets backdropped over the top rope to the floor where Rico just throws him back in. Both Samoans hit a huge double face plant but the announcers are too busy yapping about Shawn Michaels to notice how high Spike was in the air. Rosey tags in and hits a leg drop as King still babbles on about HBK. Jamal tags in to pound away on Spike before hitting a press slam. Spike kicks Jamal in the head who no sells it and goes for a big clothesline. Spike ducks but is sent all the way to the outside where Bubba tags him on the way out. Bubba goes to town on both Samoans and hits the Dusty Punches on Jamal then moves as Rosey clotheslines his own partner by accident. Bubba hits a football tackle on Rosey as Jeff Hardy outside wipes out Rico. Rosey avalanches the distracted in the corner and Jamal hits the Samoan drop. Jamal covers for 1.....2....3 to win the match. The samoans win and they throw Bubba over the top rope to the floor. Jeff chases Rico into the ring and he hits a double dropkick on both samoans. He takes down Rico as well and goes for the Swanton, but Rosey pulls Rico out of the way. Rico hits a belly to belly suplex as Rico gets a table. They set it up as Spike tries to go for the Acid Drop on Rosey only to be thrown into the corner. Rosey avalanches Spike and sets him up on the table as well. Jamal hits the big splash off the top rope onto both Spike and Hardy. Lot of heels going over tonight. 

Time of match: 2:51

Winners: 3 Minute Warning by pinfall

Back from break JR shills WWE Confidential with "Mean" Gene Okerlund this Saturday night. After a Scott Steiner vignette, here comes Christopher Nowinsky for our next match. We get shown a highlight of Maven chasing off Nowinsky last week. Nowinsky comes out with a book and says Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame. He hypes up the crowd for Pete then stops and says "How stupid can you guys be?" Chris says the crowd deserves a hall of fame nod for stupidity. He's going to manipulate and defeat his mentor Al Snow. He goes to quote Dickens but Al Snow comes out for the next bout.

Match 5

Al Snow vs Christopher Nowinsky'

Nowinsky calls him "dad" before the bell and Snow takes him down instantly. Al restrains himself from beating up Nownisky and Al takes him down with technical wrestling holds. Al hits a fireman's carry takeover and applies an armbar before swinging him around. Al backs him in the corner and he begs off. Nowinsky gets in a cheapshot but gets dropped with an uppercut. Al hits a dragon leg takedown and a crossbody only for Nowinsky to roll through and put his feet on the ropes for 1...2...3 to win the match. Al after the match says that was a nice one and Chris goes to shake his hand, but is pushed away. Nowinsky then beats Snow down with the giant book he's holding. Maven runs in and chases Nowinsky away for the second week in a row. Once again the heel goes over. Nowinsky is great at being a cheap, chicken heel and he's got good size, maybe he'll be worth something some day.

Time of match: 1:33

Winner: Nowinsky by pinfall

Back from break here comes Eric Bischoff for a soliloquy. Eric says on Super Tuesday there will be a 10 man tag on UPN featuring Raw guys and the bikini contest between Trish Stratus and Torrie Wilson. Now he sends us to a vignette of the elimination chamber being built. Again, that's just the schematics. Eric then goes over the rules. Two men will randomly be chosen to start the match in the ring with the other four locked into individual chambers. Every 5 minutes a randomly chosen chamber will open. Elimination occurs at any time until one remains. The winner is the World Heavyweight Champion. Bischoff says he is the most dynamic force in sports entertainment today. 

We cut to a hidden camera of Steven Richards talking with Stacy Keibler. Steven says congrats on making Test a star and he wants her to make him a star too.  Stacy says her hands are full and Steven says to do him one favor to motivate him for tonight's match. Steven wants her to spank him with the singapore cane he's holding. Stacy is reluctant but then Test walks in with Steven unaware. Stacy silently hands Test the cane and he whacks him with it. Stacy then wants her turn as well...but Test drops the cane. 

Cut to RNN Breaking News with Randy Orton. Randy says the sling was chafing him but the doctors healed him. Since then his sling has been padded then plugs his Get Well email and he'll be back in no time. Bottom line is Randy will be back soon. Back from break, onto the next match.

Match 6

Steven Richards and Test (with Stacy Keibler) vs Goldust and The Hurricane

Richards comes out holding his ass after getting caned by Test but he's got no choice but to let it go since they got a tag match. Goldust crouches down as Test smacks Steven on the ass just to screw with him (hahahahaha). Test starts with Goldust and gets a knee to the ribs to start. Test pounds on Goldust but Goldust responds with the ass bump. Steven gets atomic dropped but Test hits a full nelson slam. Richards tags in but Goldust hits a choke bomb. Hurricane tags in who drops Richards with a clotheslines then rams his head ito the buckle. Hurricane hits blockbuster and then shining wizard the covers. Test pulls Hurricane off but Goldust hits an uppercut on Steven. Test tags in, backdrops Goldust to the floor and catches Hurricane in midair. Richards nails Test from behind by accident. And Hurricane hits Eye Of the Hurricane. Hurricane covers for 1....2...nope. Hurricane elbows Test, ducks under the big boot then goes for the chokeslam. Test hits Cross Rhodes and covers for 1...2...3 to win the match. After the match Steven grabs Stacy and jumps around with her and Test buries him with the big boot. Test grabs the mic and says not to ever touch one of his testicles. Great, another dick joke. Least Test is getting a push.

Time of match: 2:14

Winners: Test and Richards by pinfall

Backstage Booker runs up to Triple H and says his chances of walking out the chamber the winner are between slim and none and slim just left town. Also he doesn't have just Book to deal with but FIVE GUYS, FIVE GUYS, FIVE GUYS, FIVE GUYS, FIVE GUYS whooping his punk ass. Can you dig that? HHH says he's right that he does have five opponents. He then lowers his fingers until only his middle one remains up and says it'll be down to just you and him. Can you dig THAT? Booker has to be restrained and we cut here.

Match 7

Booker T vs Triple H (with Ric Flair)

Non-title match and the writing is on the wall. Jericho and HHH have taken out all the faces in the chamber match except Booker. Booker runs in hot to start, ducking the line and hitting an axe kick. Booker punches away at Hunter in the corner then axe kicks HHH over the top rope to the floor. Outside Booker continues the assault and suplexes HHH on the floor. Booker is sent into the ring steps and Flair throws him back inside. HHH punches Book and they slug it out inside the ring. Booker ducks the line but runs into the high knee. Hunter covers for a deuce then slugs away in the corner before dropping him with a forearm. Hunter hits a facebuster on Book and suplexes him onto the top rope. JR says HHH won't win at Survivor Series as Book knocks him off the rope. Booker hits a missile dropkick and rallies with right hands. Booker hits a forearm and punches him in the corner. HHH ducks the axe kick and kicks Booker in the ribs. HHH goes for the pedigree but Booker counters and slingshots Hunter into the top turnbuckle. Booker hits the axe kick followed by the scissors kick. Booker then gives the sign for the spinaroonie then slams Ric Flair off the top rope. Booker does the spinaroonie and hits a double clothesline on Flair and Hunter. Booker hits both of them with axe kicks but HHH hits the low blow while referee Earl Hebner rolls Flair out. HHH hits the pedigree and covers for 1..2...3 to win the match. Once again HHH goes over and there really is no one on Raw that can beat him.....except for Shawn Michaels who runs in. 

Time of match: 5:14

Winner: HHH by pinfall

Michaels blasts Hunter with right hands until HHH goes down. Shawn hits Sweet Chin Music on Flair but then Chris Jericho runs in. Shawn clotheslines HHH and Jericho down but Y2J starts pounding away on Shawn. Jericho rams Shawn in the corner and double team him until Kane runs in. Kane pounds away on HHH and hits the big boot. Rob Van Dam runs in to get him some of Jericho. Jericho throws Rob outside and Kane goes for the chokeslam. Rob hits the top rope dropkick on Kane and a heel kick on Jericho. Kane throws Rob over the top rope and Kane punches away on HHH. Kane runs into a spinebuster but HHH turns around into a Booker axe kick. Van Dam hits the five star frog splash on Kane but Booker hits him with a scissors kick. Jericho hits a missile dropkick on Rob and shoves HHH. Kane sits up and clotheslines both men. Kane clotheslines both men in the corner then hits a chokeslam on Jericho. Kane turns around into Sweet Chin Music and only Shawn and Hunter are left inside. Shawn tunes up the band but HHH blocks the superkick. Shawn backdrops HHH out of the pedigree and hits one of his own on Hunter. Shawn's music plays but then Jericho crushes Shawn in the head with a steel chair. Jericho is last man standing and he says he's going to be the new champ. JR signs off and we're done here.

This was a heel dominated show and it got a bit ridiculous. The babyfaces on Raw look like complete, incompetent buffoons except for Shawn Michaels. He seems to be the only one who can hang with Triple H but as Jericho just demonstrated, he's got a habit of rising to the occasion when people least expect it. Still, Shawn says he's going to take Hunter out no matter what and he might be the only one who can. Its very obvious Booker, Van Dam and Kane have no chance in hell. Its just a question of will HHH's reign of terror continue, Shawn wins or Jericho steals one again. Victoria and Trish Stratus is going to be a war and nobody gives a rats ass about the tables match because none of those guys in the tables match are getting high praise. Its on to Super Tuesday so I'll see you there.

WWE at Giant Center (11/10/02)

Giant Center

Hershey, PA

November 10, 2002

The stars of Raw continue their Pennsylvania tour here in Hershey. We got the same exact matches from Friday and Saturday so let's get to the action.

Match 1

Johnny Stamboli and Sean O'Haire vs 3 Minute Warning (Rosey & Jamal)

WCW vs the Samoans for the second day in a row. Also for the second day in a row, the Samoans win the match.

Winners: 3 Minute Warning

Match 2

Justin Credible vs Batista

You know the drill, Batista was the newest Raw prospect and Credible was wrestling out his contract. Batista takes it.

Winner: Batista

Match 3

Raven vs D-Lo Brown

Third day in a row for the Sunday Night Heat mainstays. Also third day in a row D-Lo wins.

Winner: D-Lo by pinfall

Match 4

Christopher Nowinski vs Al Snow

Snow won on Friday night, Chris won on Saturday night. Who takes the rubber match? Al Snow wins this one.

Winner: Al Snow

Match 5

Booker T and Bubba Ray Dudley vs Christian and Chris Jericho for the World Tag Team Championship

Same match from yesterday with the makeshift team of Booker and Bubba against the tag champs. Same result too, the champs retain.

Winners: Christian and Jericho (still World Tag Team Champions)

Match 6

Tommy Dreamer vs Steven Richards in a Singapore Cane Match

Once again the same match from the last two days with the same result. Dreamer wins it.

Winner: Dreamer

Match 7

Goldust and Spike Dudley vs William Regal and Lance Storm

Another makeshift team with Goldust and Spike taking on Regal and Storm just like yesterday. Same result, Regal and Storm win.

Winners: Regal and Storm

Match 8

Victoria (with Molly Holly) vs Trish Stratus (with Jacqueline) for the WWE Women's Championship

Same match from the last two days with the same result. Trish retains.

Winner: Trish (still Women's Champion)

Match 9

Kane vs Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship

Same match from the last few days with the exact same result. Kane goes insane and attacks the referees, security guard, peanut vendors, camera guys and methodists to earn the DQ.

Winner: HHH by disqualification (still World Heavyweight Champion)

Another standard house show just like the last few days. Maybe this coming Raw will provide new matches for next week's house show circuit. Still, we're one week out from Survivor Series so it'll be interesting how the final Raw will play out tomorrow night. The stars of Smackdown had their own Sunday house show in Peoria, Illinois going on around this time. I'll see you there.

WWE at First Union Center (11/9/02)

First Union Center

Philadelphia, PA

November 9, 2002

The stars of Raw have invaded Philadelphia just 8 days out from Survivor Series. Victoria takes on Trish Stratus in a hardcore match and of course the elimination chamber are set, but other matches have yet to be announced. Hopefully that changes in the next few days. On with the show.

Match 1

Sean O'Haire and Johnny Stamboli vs 3 Minute Warning (Rosey & Jamal) with Rico

The ex-WCW guys take on the Samoans to open the show. Jamal pinned Stamboli after a kick from Rico and a Samoan drop.

Winners: Rosey and Jamal by pinfall

Match 2

Justin Credible vs Batista

Once again, Credible is wrestling out his contract so he gets fed to Batista here. Batista takes it with the sit-out powerbomb.

Winner: Batista by pinfall

Match 3

Al Snow vs Christopher Nowinski

Last night Al Snow beat his student with the snowplow. On this night, Nowinski gets the Flair Pin for the victory.

Winner: Nowinski by pinfall

Match 4

Raven vs D-Lo Brown

The Sunday Night Heat mainstays go at it once again with D-Lo getting the duke after the sky high.

Winner: D-Lo by pinfall

Match 5

Test vs Rob Van Dam

Days out from elimination chamber, Van Dam beats Test with the five star frog splash.

Winner: Rob Van Dam by pinfall

Match 6

Booker T and Bubba Ray Dudley vs Christian and Chris Jericho for the World Tag Team Championship

Kind of an odd pairing but you got two of the six men in the elimination chamber on opposite sides here. Jericho pinned Bubba after the lionsault to retain.

Winners: Christian and Jericho by pinfall (still World Tag Team Champions)

Match 7

Steven Richards vs Tommy Dreamer in a Singapore Cane Match

The ECW alumni put on an ECW style match beating the hell out of each other with the cane. Dreamer wins it.

Winner: Dreamer by pinfall

Match 8

Victoria (with Molly Holly) vs Trish Stratus (with Jacqueline) for the WWE Women's Championship

Just like yesterday, we got Trish and Victoria going at it with backup in their corners. The end came when Trish got an inside cradle on Victoria but Molly rolled Victoria on top. Jackie then ran in and reversed it to give Trish the victory.

Winner: Stratus by pinfall (still Women's Champion)

Match 9

Goldust and Spike Dudley vs Lance Storm and William Regal

Man the tag team division was a mess. A makeshift team of Goldust and Spike take on Lance and Regal. Wouldn't it make more sense to have Spike with Bubba against Christian/Jericho and have Booker here with Goldust? Oh well, props for at least doing something different. Regal pinned Spike to win it.

Winners: Regal and Storm by pinfall

Match 10

Kane vs Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship

Same as yesterday, HHH wins when Kane goes berserk, attacking anyone that moves including the popcorn vendor and the camera dude.

Winner: HHH by disqualification

We're sticking with this card for a while with Survivor Series looming. The state of Raw was in bad shape with no one over besides the returning Shawn Michaels and the ratings told the story. Its one thing to have a beast like Brock Lesnar as your dominating champion but having HHH be unstoppable was laughable. We got Velocity up next, so I'll see you there.

WWE at Bryce Jordan Center (11/8/02)

Bryce Jordan Center

State College, PA

November 8, 2002

The stars of Raw invade State College, Pennsylvania for a Friday night house show 9 days before Survivor Series. The house show circuit this weekend should stem from last week's Raw so let's see if there's anything new & exciting or the same old, same old.

Match 1

Rico vs Raven

Kind of an odd match to start the show since these two really have no beef, not to mention Raven hadn't been seen on Raw in a while. Raven still gets the win though.

Winner: Raven

Match 2

D-Lo Brown and Johnny Stamboli vs 3 Minute Warning (Rosey and Jamal)

Kind of a hodge podge with D-Lo and Stamboli taking on the Samoan hit squad. 3 Minute Warning win this one.

Winners: Rosey & Jamal

Match 3

Justin Credible vs Batista

Once again they're feeding Justin Credible to Batista just like this week's Raw. Only this time he's made his Raw debut so the fans should start getting into him down. Batista wins it with the sit-down powerbomb.

Winner: Batista by pinfall

Match 4

Christian vs Bubba Ray Dudley in a Tables Match

Two weeks ago Bubba Ray Dudley and Jeff Hardy had a hell of a tag match with Christian and Chris Jericho on Raw so here we have half of that match against each other in a Dudley special tables match. Bubba won it.

Winner: Bubba Ray Dudley

Match 5

Test vs Booker T

Another random match with Test not having beefed with Booker T since the dissolution of the Unamericans. Still, Booker wins it with the scissors kick.

Winner: Booker by pinfall

Match 6

Steven Richards vs Tommy Dreamer in a Singapore Cane Match

The ECW alumni go at it for old times sake in a half-ass weapons match. Dreamer got the win here.

Winner: Dreamer by pinfall

Match 7

Christopher Nowinski vs Al Snow

Teacher vs pupil as Tough Enough graduate Nowinski takes on Al Snow. Snow wins it with a snowplow.

Winner: Snow by pinfall

Match 8

Spike Dudley and Rob Van Dam vs William Regal and Lance Storm

ECW vs the old Unamericans....actually its 3/4 ECW with Storm there. RVD pinned Regal following the five star frog splash.

Winners: Van Dam & Dudley by pinfall

Match 9

Victoria (with Molly Holly) vs Trish Stratus (with Jacqueline) for the WWE Women's Championship

A Survivor Series preview with Stratus taking on the demented Victoria, only both women have backup. Trish takes it with Stratusfaction.

Winner: Trish by pinfall (still Women's Champion)

Match 10

Kane vs Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship

Now that Kane has lost the unification match, nobody cares about him anymore with Shawn Michaels returning to active duty. Triple H wins when Kane goes apeshit on the referee, other referees and security. That's one way to end the night.

Winner: HHH by disqualification

I'd say this show was more or less what we had been getting on the houses give or take a few changes. No Chris Jericho on this card, maybe he or Jeff Hardy was nursing an injury so a tag match was changed to a single between Bubba & Christian. Either way it might have been an entertaining card to see live. Shawn still wasn't wrestling on the houses yet so they were running with Kane vs HHH which was probably stale by this point. Tomorrow is a double shot as both Raw and Smackdown are running Saturday house shows. Smackdown would be in Champaign, Illinois at the Assembly Hall. I'll see you there.

WWE at Springfield Civic Center (11/1/02)

Springfield Civic Center

Springfield, Massachusetts

November 1, 2002

The stars of Raw came to Springfield, MA for a Friday night house show four days after the return of Shawn Michaels to Raw. Tonight's card was advertised for 3 Minute Warning against Tommy Dreamer and Mark Jindrak, Justin Credible against Batista, Christopher Nowinski against Goldust, Bubba Ray Dudley and Jeff Hardy against Christian and Chris Jericho for the World Tag Team titles, D-Lo Brown vs Raven, Rob Van Dam vs Test, Trish Stratus and Jacqueline vs Molly Holly and Victoria, Spike Dudley and The Hurricane vs William Regal and Lance Storm then Kane vs Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship. Its almost the exact same card they've been running with for a week except the first couple of matches. Let's get to it.

Match 1

3 Minute Warning (Rosey & Jamal) vs Tommy Dreamer and Johnny Stamboli

This was supposed to be Dreamer and Mark Jindrak but Mark must have hurt his knee again so Stamboli took his place. Rosey pinned Stamboli after a Samoan drop.

Winners: 3 Minute Warning by pinfall

Match 2

Justin Credible vs Batista

Once again, Batista was sent to Raw for a real big push but hadn't been shown on TV yet. They were seeing how he did on the house shows first and clearly he was getting a buzz. Batista takes it with a sit-down powerbomb.

Winner: Batista by pinfall

Match 3

Christopher Nowinski vs Goldust

Nowinski has been a pain in the ass on Raw showing respect to no one including Al Snow or anyone else. Goldust would be his latest test. Unfortunately for the Harvard man, Goldust wins it with the curtain call.

Winner: Goldust by pinfall

Match 4

Bubba Ray Dudley and Jeff Hardy vs Christian and Chris Jericho for the World Tag Team Championship

These four had been tearing up the house show circuit and finally got to have a match on this past Raw, the only bright spot to an otherwise bad show. Jericho got the pin for his team after hitting Jeff Hardy with one of the belts.

Winners: Jericho and Christian by pinfall (still World Tag Team Champions)

Match 5

Test vs Rob Van Dam

These two had been going around the house show circuit with the exact same finish and tonight was no different. RVD wins with the 5 star frog splash.

Winner: Van Dam by pinfall

Match 6

Raven vs D-Lo Brown

Just like the previous match, this one has been on all the house shows leading up to this one. As usual, D-Lo takes it with Sky High.

Winner: D-Lo Brown by pinfall

Match 7

Molly Holly and Victoria vs Jacqueline and WWE Women's Champion Trish Status

Once again the exact same match that was on the mid-west trip only this time, Molly and Victoria come out on top.

Winners: Holly and Victoria

Match 8

Spike Dudley and The Hurricane vs William Regal and Lance Storm

Stop me if you've heard this, the same exact match that had been on all the house shows the past week. As always, Spike wins it with an Acid Drop on Lance Storm.

Winners: Spike and Hurricane by pinfall

Match 9

Kane vs Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship

The good news was the feud was coming to an end with Shawn Michaels returning to active duty but they still had to get through this round of house shows. As per norm, Kane went nuts with a chair on everyone and Triple H wins by disqualification.

Winner: Triple H by disqualification (still World Heavyweight Champion)

The final six matches had been on every card the past week but the first three were something new. As I mentioned, Shawn Michaels was coming back so they just had to get through this round with the exact same card before something different was coming. Still, Bubba and Jeff had a great match with Jericho and Christian on Raw so their house show matches must have been good as well. Batista is definitely in for good things in the future and eventually Kane vs HHH will end. Tomorrow is a double shot where both brands are holding shows. Smackdown's stars will be in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania while Raw will be in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I'll see ya in Halifax.

WWE Monday Night Raw (10/28/02)

Last week's Raw may have been the single worst in company history and that's saying something considering the boring as hell post-Manhattan center to pre-Nitro Raw's were from 93-95. One could argue that the Katie Vick angle Raws put Raw on a path of destruction they really never recovered from. One week ago we had to suffer through one of the most tasteless and idiotic segments in wrestling history when Triple H basically screwed a mannequin on live television pretending to be Kane. Now we have the continuation of his wretched angle as Kane kidnapped HHH at the end of last week's Raw. What could he have in mind for the World Heavyweight Champion? We're headed toward Survivor Series and the other headache HHH has to suffer is Rob Van Dam once again got one over on Ric Flair and is in hot pursuit of that title. To make matters worse, Shaw Michaels is ready to return to full active duty for the first time since March of 1998. This week's episode has ECW originals Rob Van Dam and Tommy Dreamer taking on William Regal and Lance Storm with Chris Jericho and Christian defending the tag belts against The Dudleys. When we last left off, Eric Bischoff promised something called "Elimination Chamber" while HHH was thrown in a trunk and driven off by Kane. That means this week's Raw won't be so bad.....right? 

Joe Louis Arena

Detroit, MI

October 28, 2002

Commentators: Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler

Before we do anything, we got some dark matches and a Sunday Night Heat taping. We'll only do the dark matches here.

Dark Match 1

Ernest "The Cat" Miller vs Johnny Stamboli

Miller was getting a tryout after sitting out his WCW contract during the Invasion. Then again, so was Stamboli. Eventually both guys would be making their debuts. Miller won this match.

Winner: Miller

Dark Match 2

Raven and Redd Dogg vs Tyson Dux and Larry Destiny

Raven and Dux we all know and Redd Dogg was being featured on house shows and dark matches before getting the eventual call-up. Larry was last seen on Jakked back in March of 01 and was primarily a Canadian local. Raven and Dogg got the win.

Winners: Raven and Redd Dogg

Now let's start the show. The show opens with a casket being wheeled to ringside....oh no, I forgot about this. HHH makes his way down to the ring as JR and King speculate how he's even here after last week. HHH says "Kane, next time you put someone in the trunk of a car, make sure there's no child safety hatch they can pull and jump out before you drive off".....well that's a lame payoff. HHH goes on to say that people were offended last week about the tape and people would never watch Raw again. HHH says he agrees that Kane was disgusting for doing that to Katie Vick. HHH says they need to hear from Katie Vick herself and HHH says he's gonna get her opinion. He then opens the casket and a mannequin is in there in a cheerleader uniform. Like I mentioned last week, RD Reynolds of Wrestlecrap.com bought the outfit on the mannequin. HHH introduces "Katie Vick" as JR says this is disgusting. I'm not gonna sit through this again so I'll just give the cliff notes. HHH does a ventriloquist act making horrible "dead" puns to almost no crowd reaction. Hunter then does say something noteworthy as he somewhat breaks character to say if you're offended, he doesn't give a damn because he's going to do what he wants. Finally The Hurricane hits the ramp to break up the monotony. JR "Thank God." Hurricane says HHH got humiliated and "whatsupwithdat!" HHH says nothing happened as he jumped out of the trunk and Hurricane says he's got proof that he's lying. He then shows footage of an equally tasteless skit where someone wearing a HHH mask is "operated" on with items being pulled out of his ass including a sledgehammer and his own head. JR "The tables are turned on the game." HHH then beats up the mannequin with a steel chair and heaves it outside. HHH continues to beat up the mannequin outside as a fan says "You're not funny!" After a minute of this, Kane hits ringside and drops HHH in the ring with punches. Kane mauls Hunter as security hits the ring to stop him. Kane disposes of security and Eric Bischoff then brings the officials in to break it up including road agents Sgt Slaughter and Terry Taylor. Eric Bischoff grabs a mic and says "That's the end of this!" He orders a casket match for the main event and HHH freaks out while Kane smiles. We fade to commercial and thank christ this angle is almost over. It was clear as day as no one wanted this angle and the big blowoff at No Mercy had Kane losing. Vince wanted to milk this feud no matter what cost when he had a fully functional Shawn Michaels ready to return to active duty.

When we get back from commercial we get a hidden camera of Trish Stratus on the phone with someone while she changes her outfit. King has an aneurism on commentary and at least that's an improvement over the first 15 minutes of the show, FINALLY we get to our first match

Match 1

Rob Van Dam and Tommy Dreamer vs William Regal and Lance Storm

ECW vs WCW a year after the Alliance angle ended and Regal gets on the mic in the ring. Regal says people fear for their lives walking the streets and they send their children out to ask for candy anyway, happy Halloween. They show footage of Dreamer vs RVD from 2 months ago at MSG to show how they respect each other. RVD start with Storm and they exchange go-behinds but Lance Storm misses a spin kick. RVD hits his own spin kick and counters for just a one count. Regal tags in and Van Dam brings him in the hard way before hitting shoulder blocks in the corner. Rob does a back flip, ducks under a clothesline and hits a second rope crossbody for a two. Van Dam hits another spinning heel kick to Storm but Regal counters with a suplex for a two count. Storm tags in and delivers a back elbow smash but the cover only gets two. Storm locks in a chicken wing as the crowd chants "RVD".  Rob hits a second rope dropkick and Regal tags in only to get kicked by Rob. Dreamer gets the hot tag with a hat on and he cleans house. A spinebuster on Regal only gets a two count and he goes for a ddt only to clothesline an interfering Lance Storm. Van Dam comes off the top with a dropkick on Regal and a double clothesline sends Storm to the outside. Van dam misses a top rope splash on Storm and Storm comes off the top with the Canadian flagpole on the back of Dreamer's head. Regal inside covers for 1...2..3 to win the match. Regal and Storm win it in a short three minute match.

Time of match: 3:13

Winners: Regal & Storm by pinfall

We cut to Eric Bischoff's office who gives 3 Minute Warning and Rico the business for blowing last week's match. Rico tries to talk but Eric says save it. Eric says his reputation goes in the toilet if Big Show beats Brock Lesnar for the WWE title. Eric tells Rico to shut up and says Spike Dudley told him to bite him two weeks ago. Eric says they all work for him and if they don't go out and make an impact, their 3 minutes are up. I wouldn't piss them off Eric, but that's just me. We go to footage of a public signing at Madison Square Garden the previous Saturday and say tickets are available for the next show there. We then cut to Test and Stacy Keibler on a date and Stacy is coming up with gimmicks for Test. Stacy bends over in front of the camera (thanks Dunn) and says Test's fans are called "Test-icles". Stacy says when she's done with him, his Test-icles are gonna be huge. Dick jokes aside, Test always did better with a manager whether its Stephanie or Trish Stratus. On to the next match where Bubba Ray and Spike Dudley are to meet Christian and Chris Jericho for the World Tag Team titles. JR and King show footage of the week before where Spike & Bubba beat Lance Storm & William Regal but was beat up with brass knuckles following the match. After Bubba and Spike enter they're suddenly attacked by 3 Minute Warning and Rico. Rosey hits a big splash on Spike and they double samoan drop the poor guy. Bubba is out cold and Spike rolls around in pain as 3 Minute Warning leave....so much for the tag match.

When we get back from commercial we get a vignette of Deacon Bautista coming to Raw only under the name Batista. Essentially Bischoff traded Big Show for Batista. We see footage of the attack from just a minute ago and we move on to the next match

Match 2

Goldust vs Test (with Stacy Keibler)

JR and King say next Monday night will be at the Fleet Center in Boston as Test and Stacy make their entrance. King drools over Stacy as Test grabs the mic and says "I'd just like to say hi to all my.....to all my....to all my Test-icles!" That gets a huge pop but Goldust is not impressed and attacks him at the bell. He sends Test off the ropes and right in to a reverse atomic drop....so much for the Test-icles. A lariat by Goldust almost takes Test's head off but Test crotches Goldust on the top rope. Test goes to work on Goldust in the corner as JR brings up that Scott Steiner was just signed to a contact.....remember that in a few weeks. Test goes for the pump handle slam but Goldust slides out of it and hits a clothesline. Goldust gets whipped into the corner but a charge eats boot. Goldust hits a second rope bulldog and covers for 1...2.., nope. Goldust goes for shattered dreams in the corner but Stacy interferes and gets kissed for her troubles. He sets her up in the corner and the crowd explodes when he teases shattered dreams on Stacy. He goes to kick Stacy but referee Jack Doane stops him. Test gets free but Goldust ducks under the big boot and hit a clothesline. Goldust goes for the curtain call but Stacy hits a lowblow allowing Test to hit the big boot. Test covers for 1...2....3 to win the match. Test picks Stacy up by the ass as King goes "woah WOAH!". We go to the replay and JR bitches Stacy should have been disqualified. Short match but it served its purpose as trying to get Test & Stacy over.

Time of match: 2:30

Winner: Test

Back to Eric Bischoff's office and an irate Bubba Ray Dudley barges in complaining about Eric sending 3 Minute Warning to jump them. Bischoff says his title shot is still on and to find another partner. Bubba says "Anyone I want?" Bischoff said sure and get out because he has business. When we get back from commercial we get a vignette of Scott Steiner coming to the WWE, way to ruin it JR. JR brings up last week showing Shawn Michaels is healthy and ready to return. After this Katie Vick garbage is over, HBK vs HHH round 2 is upon us. 

We then cut to RNN Breaking News with JR going "The hell is that?" Its actually Randy Orton who's arm is in a sling and he talks about how he wasn't even mentioned the previous week. He says he's rehabbing to return and wants the ladies to write to GetWellRandy@WWE.com. As ridiculous as this sounds, WWE had plans for him....oh did they have plans for him.

After that's over, Jonathan Coachman catches up to Kane and says the match is non-title with HHH. Kane says he doesn't care about the title, he wants to seal HHH in a casket. He says what he did to Katie Vick was an accident but what he's gonna do to HHH tonight won't be. Like  I said, thank god this is coming to an end. Before we got to commercial again, Chris Jericho and Christian are on their way to the ring. We come back from commercial with Jericho & Christian making their entrance. Bubba makes his entrance with a smile on his face and we go to a highlight of how Bubba suffered a concussion a few weeks earlier. Bubba's partner is......Jeff Hardy. Ha, we got 1/3 of TLC with Christian, Jeff and Bubba.

Match 3

Bubba Ray Dudley and Jeff Hardy vs Christian & Chris Jericho for the WWE World Tag Team Championship

King goes "What??" as JR says he'd never seen a Dudley and a Hardy team up in any capacity.....uh the 2000 Survivor Series? Jeff starts with Christian who's wearing the red singlet tights. Christian attacks Jeff with punches and kicks but Jeff slides under and take shim down with a double leg takedown. He does the legdrop between the thighs and tags in Bubba. Bubba works over Christian with open handed chops in the corner and hits a big splash in the other corner. Bubba does the Dusty Punches & Elbow then drops Jericho off the aprin. Jericho then grabs the leg to trip up Bubba allowing Christian to make the tag. Jericho puts the boots to Bubba and hits a rude awakening neckbreaker. Jericho dropkicks Bubba and drapes him across the middle rope. Jericho runs and jumps on Bubba before taunting the crowd. Christian tags in and they hit a double back body-drop. Christian covers for a 1 count and Bubba tries to rally with Dusty punches but Christian stops him with a kick. Bubba catches Christian with a face-buster and tags Jeff in who cleans house of Jericho and Christian. Christian quells the momentum with a knee to the head but Jeff rolls into a legdrop cradle for 1...2...nope. Christian ducks and Jeff hands a flying headbutt....on referee Nick Patrick. Whoops! Christian heaves Jeff over the top rope and Jericho hits a flying dropkick off the top rope on Bubba. Jericho tells Christian to get some chairs for a con-chair-to. Bubba ducks the attempt and hits a double clothesline on them. Jeff revives and uses Bubba to hit whisper in the wind then Bubba slingshots Jericho over the top rope onto Christian. Jeff uses Bubba as a springboard to hit whisper in the wind onto the floor. All of a sudden 3 Minute Warning hits the ring to attack Bubba and Jeff, but Jeff takes them out with a crossbody. Nick Patrick throws the intruders out but Bubba hits a flying crossbody off the top onto Rosey, Jamal and Jericho. We cut to commercial and when we get back Jericho has Jeff in an abdominal stretch as we're shown during the break the heels got the advantage by Christian low bridging Jeff to the floor. Back to real time Jericho goes for the Walls of Jericho but Jeff cradles him for 1....2....nope. Jericho dropkicks Hardy in the head, gets up and calls Bubba a son of a bitch to get him irate. Jericho fakes a tag with the ref dealing with Bubba to allow Christian to come in and execute a backbreaker. The cover gets two and Christian gets in a front headlock. Jeff tries to escape and makes his way to Bubba but Jericho distracts the ref to do the "face gets the tag but the ref doesn't see it" routine. Bubba gets chased out as Jericho and Christian double-team Jeff.  Jericho taunts the irate crowd and JR says "I guarantee there won't be any bad officiating in the casket match!" Jericho sends Hardy into the corner and unloads with right hands but Hardy fights back with rights of his own. Jericho charges into the corner but eats boot only to drop Hardy with a sleeperdrop. He covers but Bubba breaks up the count and Jericho protests. He drops Bubba off the apron as JR calls him a real jackass. Chris chops Jeff in the corner and whips him into the other corner where he stuns Jericho with a crossbody. Chris grabs his league but eats a mule kick. Bubba gets the hot tag and lays waste to Jericho and an interfering Christian. Jericho counters a Bubba Bomb but eats a sidewalk slam. The heels try a backbody drop but Bubba kicks Jericho and clotheslines Christian before tagging in Jeff. Bubba slams Chris and he and Jeff do the Wazzup Headbutt. Bubba shoves Jeff and tells him to get the tables. King "The tables???" Referee Nick Patrick tells Jeff not to do it as Bubba gets one. Before Bubba can set it up, Christian baseball slides him down only to get bumrushed by Jericho after Hardy moved. Hardy rolls up Jericho for 1...2..NOOOOOO. Jericho chops Jeff in the corner again and whips him to the other side only to eat a whisper in the wind. Jeff covers for 1...2...nope. Christian grabs a tag belt and goes to hit Jeff with it only for Hardy to duck. Bubba spears Christian but turns around to see Rico & 3 Minute Warning holding Spike Dudley upside down like high school bullies. Bubba leaves the ring and runs after the trio leaving Jeff by himself. Hardy hits a reverse twist of fate and goes up top for a swanton. Christian gets kicked off the apron but Jericho stops Jeff only to pushed off. Jeff hits the swanton and covers for 1...2....no, Christian pulls the ref out. Jeff dropkicks Christian into Patrick and Jericho waffles Jeff with the belt Christian brought in. Jericho hits the lionsault and covers for 1...2.....3 to win it. JR "Dammit!" King puts over the match and Jeff's effort as JR is irate that 3 Minute Warning took Bubba out of the match. Jericho and Christian celebrate up the ramp as King congratulates them. That was a hell of a match considering it was a makeshift team of Hardy & Bubba but all four of them made it work. Finally a bright spot to a lackluster time period for Raw.

Time of match: 15:44

Winners: Jericho and Christian by pinfall (Still World Tag Team Champions)

We're with Jonathan Coachman interviewing Triple H on his upcoming casket match. HHH sarcastically makes fun of Kane and subtlety calls him gay without actually saying so. "You just keep your little burnt up banana in its hammock and you and me will be just fine." Thankfully Coachman switches gears to something less embarrassing by asking about Shawn Michaels making his return. HHH says no way is Shawn is going to convince him that he's 100% and Shawn is a lot of hot air. A phone starts ringing and Hunter tells Coach he has to go. JR "Kane is going to kick Triple H's ass tonight I can feel it." The same hidden camera that filmed Trish changing now is filming Hunter taking a phone call. Its Ric Flair and HHH asks why he isn't at the arena yet. Apparently Ric's dealing with bad weather and can't make it. HHH vents that he's booked against Kane and sounds very nervous, the opposite of the bravado he showed just a minute ago with Coach. Basically the point is he's not as confident as he appears.

After commercial we're shown Al Snow confronting Chris Nowinski. Al said he stood up for Chris and stayed loyal during Tough Enough but he's not proud of his behavior. Al runs him down and says he made the right decision choosing Maven to win and Chris responds that he would have been successful without Tough Enough and his attitude is a reflection of himself, not Snow. Chris tells Al to get him an opponent of his choosing and to be at ringside to witness Chris winning. He calls him "dad" and leaves. Al Snow is the LAST person you want to choose an opponent for you because he knows everyone.

We cut to the arena where Eric Bischoff makes his appearance. He says Scott Steiner is coming to WWE (after sitting out his guaranteed contract). Bischoff says he traded Big Show for a lot of talent but doesn't mention who. Bischoff then says he was behind the hidden cameras which technically Trish could sue him for that. Bischoff then gets to the point and says he's going to debut the Elimination Chamber at Survivor Series. He says next week he'll give the details but says there will be six men involved. Its going to have elements of Royal Rumble, War Games and Survivor Series mixed in plus it'll be for the World Heavyweight title. He names the six as Chris Jericho, Booker T, Rob Van Dam, HHH, Kane and Shawn Michaels. Bischoff says he's gonna give Shawn his chance to get revenge on HHH and to get back to him by next week. All of a sudden Booker T comes out to give his two cents. Booker says "you damn skippy, hippie" about being in the match and tells Bischoff to shut his trap and get to the back because the five time, five time, five time champ is on the attack, jack. After Bischoff leaves, Booker calls out Chris Nowinski and tells him to get out there. Guess we know who Al Snow picked to face Chris. We cut to commercial here and its interesting how that segued from Scott Steiner to Elimination Chamber to Booker T vs Nowinski.

Match 4

Chris Nowinski vs Booker T

Al Snow is at ringside and Chris doesn't look too scared he's facing Booker as he bumrushes him to start the match. Booker gets the upper hand with right hands and drops him with a back elbow smash, Booker chops and strikes Chris who bails to the outside. Booker pulls Chris back in on the apron by the air, brings him in the hard way and drops him twice with clotheslines. A cover gets two and Booker locks in an arm wrench. Nowinski counters with knees in the corner as JR finally gives a shoutout to Rebellion the UK PPV that took place two days earlier. Nowinski hits a hot shot off the top rope followed by a spinebuster. Chris covers for a near fall as King says Oklahoma football is jealous of Harvard football which JR hilariously says King must be hallucinating. Chris hits a powerslam for a deuce, delivers a snapmare then locks in a chinlock. King tells Al to give Chris up and let go. Booker fights back with right hands but eats a boot to the head. Booker hits a spinebuster as JR says Booker may be the next champion on November 17th at Survivor Series. Booker chops, punches and hits an axe kick on Chris. Booker hits another axe kick and covers for 1...2...nope. Chris rakes the eyes but misses a clothesline. Booker lands a third axe kick as Chris goes outside and punches Al Snow. Al gets in and beats the crap out of Chris to cause a disqualification. JR figures out that was on purpose and King laughs that Nowinski outsmarted everyone. Booker drops Al Snow with a right hand and kicks the crap out of Nowinski after the bell hitting a backdrop. Booker hits the scissors kick and clotheslines him over the top to the floor. Booker's music plays as he does the spinaroonie despite losing the match. Why would you put Booker in the main event at Survivor Series and have him LOSE to Nowinski?

Time of match: 3:06

Winner: Chris Nowinski by disqualification

After the match we cut to Trish and King screams "Puppies!" as the women's title match is next.

Match 5

Jacqueline vs Molly Holly vs Trish Stratus for the WWE Women's Championship

King whoops it up for Trish to start and JR asks if he likes Lil Kim. King & JR hock X-Box, Lugz and the movie Half Past Dead as Jacqueline makes her entrance. Molly comes out last after King makes a tasteless breast joke as JR explains triple threat rules. Trish runs over Jackie but Molly kicks her off. Molly kicks Trish in a head but is clotheslined for her trouble. Jackie gets an Oklahoma roll for a two count on Trish then locks in a half crap. Molly grabs the other leg and Jackie elbows her in the head. They trade blows as Victoria in the back watches the match. Molly hits the Molly Cartwheel on Jackie and Jackie hits a tornado DDT on Trish. Jackie covers for 1...2...Molly stops the count. Jackie gets two nearfalls on Molly including a backslide and but Molly delivers a backbreaker. Trish grabs Molly and goes for the Stratusfaction and on the way down she grabs Jackie as well for the double Stratusfaction. Trish covers Molly for the 1....2.....3 to win the match and retain the title. Not a great way to showcase your only women's match to have it go 2 minutes while HHH gets to babble on and on about Katie Vick. All three women deserved better. Still, point is Victoria is hot on Trish's tail.

Time of match: 2:33

Winner: Trish Stratus by pinfall (still Women's champion)

Our final commercial comes after hype for the casket match, thankfully this is the end of the Katie Vick saga.....we hope.

Match 6

Kane vs World Heavyweight Champion Triple H in a Casket Match

The title is not on the line so Hunter has essentially nothing to lose. JR predicts comeuppance for HHH but King isn't so sure. King "Have you ever been in a casket?" JR "Why in God's name would I ever be in a casket?" King "Well I have, its horrible!" Kane has a smile as he enters the ring and he slugs Hunter to start. Kane drops HHH with a series of clotheslines and slugs away in the corner. Kane stomps away with Hunter as JR denounces Hunter's recent tapes and tactics. Kane throws HHH repeatedly in the corner and hits a pump handle slam and calls for referee Earl Hebner to open the lid. HHH fights back as King says you're never the same if you get locked in a casket. Kane shoves HHH into the casket but quickly squirms out. Kane brings Hunter in the hard way but he gets a thumb to the eye. Kane shakes it off and hits a powerslam as JR says he hates being around caskets. Kane heaves Hunter off the corner to the floor as JR says he'd rather be cremated. Hunter grabs the ring bell and waffles Kane with it as JR says its legal. King "Cremated, you want to make an ash out of yourself?" Hahahahahahaha! Triple H sends Kane into the ring steps and sends him into the ring. Hunter pounds away with right hands but Kane fires back with his own right hands. HHH hits a big spinebuster but Kane sits up causing HHH to fire away with more right hands in the corner. Hunter hits a facebuster then a DDT as King asks if Kane's gay without actually saying so causing JR to retort "What's wrong with that?" HHH drags Kane to the open casket and shoves him almost in, but Kane fights out of it. Kane drops Hunter with a big right hand and goes upstairs only to be crotched. JR says there hasn't been a casket match since 1998 and Hunter hits a superplex. King asks what Katie Vick saw in Kane and deducts it must have been a cool car. Wasn't the original Kane story that he was locked up in a mental institution for 30 years? When did he have time to date Katie Vick? Inconsistencies aside HHH tells Hebner to open the lid. Hunter rolls Kane into the casket but Kane's feet are sticking out. Kane then grabs Hunter by the throat but Hunter fights him off. Hunter misses a clothesline but he blocks the chokeslam. Kane counters a pedigree with a backdrop but Hunter applies a sleeperhold. JR tries to explain why a sleeper is effective in a match like this as Kane sits up again. Kane pseudo-hulks up as JR says he can't beat Kane in a fair fight. Kane hits a big boot and hits a clothesline in the corner. Kane catches Trips with a sidewalk slam then goes upstairs. Kane hits the flying clothesline then calls for the chokeslam. Hunter counters it with a forearm to the gonads then goes outside to grab a chair. Hunter blasts Kane in the head and poses for the irate crowd, but Kane sits up. Hunter hits him in the head again and asks for the casket to be open. The casket opens and OUT POPS SHAWN MICHAELS! HBK goes to town on HHH and hits a flying forearm before nipping up. The crowd goes berserk and he tunes up the band. Shawn buries Hunter with sweet chin music and gets out of the ring when Kane sits up. Kane finally lands the chokeslam and rolls Hunter into the casket. He slams the lid to win the match and FINALLY put an end to the Katie Vick angle. Unfortunately the ramifications were Kane needed Shawn Michaels to win a match against HHH. Kane leaves allowing Shawn to dance in the ring and on the casket to end the night's festivities. JR "You don't hunt what you don't kill" and says Hunter not finishing off HBK might prove to be fatal come Survivor Series. Casket matches are kinda blah anyway but it had a purpose, now we can move on.

Time of match: 11:16

Winner: Kane

Apart from the return of Shawn Michaels and the tag match, this show SUCKED. The Katie Vick saga was a disgrace, Booker T is announced as an Elimination Chamber contestant and loses to Chris Nowinski, the women got 2 minutes in the ring, Test vs Goldust was too short.....see a problem here? It was 2002 but this smacked of Vince Russo booking by keeping the matches short as possible to put over the extra garbage. Of course this was the problem with giving HHH too much power as Smackdown had their pecking order but had a core of 10 guys that could put on great matches while Raw basically has six and even then none of them besides Shawn Michaels has a chance to beat HHH. Raw was lacking in main event talent as it is but the stupid storylines made it even worse. Like I said before, Raw really never recovered to this day. Although if you want to focus on the positives, Shawn Michaels is back to full time duty, the tag match was good and the women's wrestling is actually good when given enough time. Hopefully next week's show will be better with everything gearing toward Elimination Chamber. As for the next show on the Timeline, its another Ruthless Aggression Smackdown which means good things in store. See you there.