WWE King of The Ring 2015 (4/28/15)

Free of the constraints of network television, WWE decided to have the 2015 King of The Ring finals as a 1 hour WWE Network special. Rather than hold the semi-finals on Smackdown and the Finals on a PPV, we got the semi-finals and finals on this special. For those that didn't bother to read the Raw recap, Bad News Barrett defeated Dolph Ziggler, R-Truth defeated Stardust, Sheamus defeated Dean Ambrose and Adrian Neville defeated Luke Harper. Barrett takes on Truth and Sheamus fights Neville tonight. Let's get to it.

IWireless Center

Moline, Illinois

April 28, 2015

Commentators: Michael Cole, JBL and Jerry "The King" Lawler

Ring Announcer: Eden Stiles

We open the show with a graphic honoring the late Verne Gagne who had passed away the day before before the opening vignette. Jerry Lawler opens the show thanking the fans and giving us a montage of what's to come tonight and how we got here. Then we cut to Byron Saxton who interviews Sheamus about his semi-final match. He says he's going to be the two time (TWO TIME) king of the ring but has to get past the "English elf" Neville. He may defy gravity, but not while he's unconscious. He says it don't matter who's in the Finals against him because he's going to become king. Then he'll make every little fella including Dolph Ziggler in WWE kiss his arse. We cut to Renee Young who's with Adrian Neville and he talks about how he was one of NXT's greatest champions and now he's in the KOTR semi-finals. He said even he can't believe it and no one gave him a chance to win. He's going to defy the odds and gravity. He's going to show Sheamus what a "little fella" like him can do.

Match 1

Sheamus vs Adrian Neville in a King of The Ring Semifinal match

Size vs speed here as we kick things off with Sheamus and Adrian Neville. Sheamus makes fun of Neville's height and calls him an elf. Sheamus backs him in the corner and tells him to come on. Sheamus and Neville trade punches then Neville goes up and over. He goes for a boot, ducks the line, kicks Sheamus in the ribs and runs into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Neville looks legit hurt but Sheamus knees him in the ribs anyway. Sheamus hits another backbreaker and a running knee to the head. Sheamus "Are you not entertained????" Sheamus kicks Neville in the corner and locks in a bear hug. Cole names some Kings of the past and JBL says don't forget King Booker. Sheamus misses a clothesline and Neville hits two running forearms. Neville kicks at Sheamus but Sheamus sends him to the apron. Sheamus goes for 10 Beats of the Bodhran, but Neville blocks it. Sheamus shoves Adrian off the apron straight into the announce table. Neville takes the nine count outside but slides back in. Sheamus slugs away in the corner and throws him across the ring. Sheamus says he doesn't belong in his ring and goes for White Noise. Sheamus hits it but then Dolph Ziggler comes out with a microphone. Ziggler points to the titantron and a highlight of Ziggler beating Sheamus distracts him. He turns around and misses the Brogue Kick, getting kicked in the back of the head but Adrian. Neville goes up to the top rope and hits the Red Arrow. He covers for 1...2....3 to win the match. Kind of cheap to have Dolph distract Sheamus but Neville gets a big win regardless. Good match for what it was.

Time of match: 5:47

Winner: Neville by pinfall

After the match Dolph grabs a microphone and raises Neville's arm. Dolph then says he has unfinished business with Sheamus. He was supposed to kiss Dolph's ass at Extreme Rules and now he's come to collect. He charges the ring and drives Sheamus back with punches, but Sheamus bails. Only when the referees come out does he try to charge the ring. Don't tell me this is going to be a running gag of Dolph chasing Sheamus around to kiss his ass. Sheamus has a nasty cut over his eye and he's bleeding quite a bit. Apparently Dolph hit him with a live round. 

Then we cut to Renee Young who's with Wade Barrett. She says that Neville beating Sheamus is one of the biggest upsets in KOTR history and and asks Wade what his confidence level is. Wade gets offended and says Truth shouldn't have arachnophobia, he should have Bullhammerphobia. Wade says when he's finished with has-been (Truth) he's going to beat the "Neville-will-be.". Neville will be the "man that nobody remembers because Bad News Barrett will be King of the Ring. We go to Byron Saxton with R-Truth who says everyone knows he's afraid of spiders, but he has a plan. He's going to win King of The Ring, declare that spiders are banned from wrestling. Including the "nephew spiders" He'll build a castle, a drawbridge and a moat then he stops. He asks if there are water spiders and Byron looks at him funny. Byron asks about Barrett and Truth says Barrett won't be invited into the castle unless he can kill spiders. Truth says he's going to take care of the water spiders right now. Yeah Truth's pretty out there....anyway, on to the next match.

Match 2

R-Truth vs Wade "Bad News" Barrett in a King of The Ring Semifinal match

Winner faces Adrian Neville in the Finals so logic dictates Barrett will win. Bret Hart and Booker T apparently chimed in on Twitter and Lawler says "I remember when Bret was crowned king of the ring, I crowned him." Hahahaha! Bell rings and they circle to start and Truth gets a quick roll up to a deuce. Barrett punches Truth in the solar plexus and backs him to the ropes. Truth dances and elbows Barrett in the face. Truth hits the O'Connor roll for a deuce but Barrett hits a big boot, covering for another two. Barrett chokes Truth on the second rope then knees him in the head. Wade boots Truth out of the ring and rams his head against the apron. Barrett throws Truth inside and covers for 1..2...no. JBL talks about Roman Emperor Nero as Barrett locks in a chinlock. Barrett gets knees to the ribs but a charge in the corner eats boot.Truth rallies with clotheslines and a kick to the ribs. Truth hits a faceplant and covers for 1...2...no. Truth misses a scissors kick but Barrett runs into an axe kick. Truth covers for 1..2....no. Truth looks at the ref in disbelief as Lawler says Truth needs to fill his moat with bug spray. Truth ducks the line and hits a sky twister elbow. He covers for 1...2..no. Lawler and Cole asks if Barrett looked past R-Truth as Barrett shoves him down. Truth runs right into Winds of Change and covers for 1.....2....nooo. Wade rams Truth's head into the buckle and stomps a mud-hole in him. Barrett misses a charge and Truth hits Lie Detector. He covers for 1..2....no, Barrett got the foot on the rope. Truth can't believe it as JBL says Truth is our last hope to have an American king....ha, he's right. Barrett bails to the outside but Truth grabs him, only to get a thumb to the eye. Barrett turns his armpad around, rolls inside and buries Truth with a Bullhammer. Barrett covers for 1....2....3 to win the match. Its gonna be the two Brits, Neville and Barrett in the finals. Fitting for the two Brits to battle over who's king. Match was okay as JBL says we're one win away from having King Bad News.

Time of match: 4:38

Winner: Barrett by pinfall

Over to the announce table who Michael Cole solemly announces Verne Gagne passed away the day before. We go directly to a video tribute of Verne Gagne of his life. Fun fact, Gagne started the AWA in 1960 because he wanted to be the NWA Champion but the NWA turned him down. Gagne started his own promotion and made himself champion. Three years later, Verne's friend Vince McMahon Sr wanted Buddy Rogers to be the NWA Champion but he too got turned down. Vince, just like Verne, broke off Capitol Wrestling from the NWA and formed the World Wide Wrestling Federation, which we know today as WWE. After the video package, Lawler says everyone who met Gagne has fond memories of him. Michael gives his condolences to the Gagne family.

Then we cut to Renee Young with Dolph Ziggler of all people. Renee asks why he helped Sheamus advance last night only to cause him to lose tonight. Dolph couldn't take it anymore because Sheamus bullied people who can't defend themselves. Dolph called Dean Ambrose to apologize about costing him the match. He promises to inflict more pain on Sheamus and its not about kissing his ass, its about kicking Sheamus'. 

Now we get tonight's WWE Network schedule then to a highlight of Adrian Neville defeating Barrett at Extreme Rules before sending it to Byron Saxton with Wade himself. Saxton says he's got good news, Barrett is up next in the Finals. But he's got bad news, he hasn't beaten Neville yet. Way to telegraph the ending Byron. Barrett says he hates fighting twice in one night but Neville is in trouble because he plowed through Truth. Barrett says he has all the momentum and from here Barrett will be king. On to the Finals.

Match 3

Adrian Neville vs Wade "Bad News" Barrett in a King of The Ring Finals match

This is the Finals and its definitely going to be interesting how they book this. Is the push going to the high flying Neville to cement his rising star status or is Barrett going to get the duke after being booked horribly as the Intercontinental Champion going into Wrestlemania? Bell's gone and immediately Barrett bails outside. JBL says he just wrestled minutes earlier as Lawler says Neville did as well. Barrett starts with right hands and boots to the ribs. Barrett whips Neville in the corner who ups and overs then sends Barrett flying with a headscissors. Neville hits a dropkick and kicks away at Barrett but Wade clotheslines him over the top rope to the floor. Barrett scoop slams Neville on the floor and sends him ribs first onto the apron. Barrett sends Neville back inside and covers for a 1 count. Cole brings up Barrett's loss to Neville at Extreme Rules and kicks Neville in the ribs again before covering for a deuce. Barrett hits a slingshot backbreaker on Neville and covers for a deuce. Barrett locks in an arm-bar and turns it into a surfboard. Neville kicks out of it but Barrett goes for another suplex but Neville rolls out of it and hits a series of kicks on Barrett. Neville clotheslines Barrett over the top to the floor then hits a top rope asai moonsault on Wade. Barrett rolls inside and Neville hits a missile dropkick back in the ring. Neville goes to town with kicks and a dropkick again. Neville hits a german suplex for 1...2.....noooo. Nevvile splashes Barrett in the corner but runs into Winds of Change. Wade covers for 1...2...noooo. Bad News goes for Wasteland but Neville rolls out of it. Barrett counters a kick with a successful Wasteland. He covers for 1....2...nope. JBL wants the Bullhammer and right on cue Barrett load sit up. Neville ducks under it and hits the O'Connor roll for 1.....2...noooo. Neville hit a standing enziguiri to drop Barrett and goes up top. Neville goes for Red Arrow and misses but lands on his feet. Neville turns around and runs right into the Bullhammer. Barrett covers for 1...2.....3 to win the match. JBL says "All hail King Bad News" and Wade gets some heat back by winning the King of The Ring. Good match and arguably better than their Extreme Rules match but this time Barrett gets the duke.

Time of match: 7:06

Winner: Barrett by pinfall

Now its time for the coronation. Jerry Lawler is at the entrance ramp where the throne, cape, crown and scepter are. Wade has the referee put the cape on but he puts the crown on his head himself. He picks up the scepter as Lawler says congratulations are in order for the new King of The Ring. Wade says he's got class and elegance to call himself king. He will be ruling his kingdom with an iron fist and a bullhammer....boom! Michael Cole signs off and says goodnight everyone as Barrett sits on the throne.

Well the show served its purpose to get Barrett over and still give a shout out to Neville for getting this far. As I said earlier, Barrett needed the rub after being a horribly booked IC champion and a stooge for Sheamus the last month. It was doubtful he was beating Daniel Bryan at Extreme Rules before Bryan was ruled out with a concussion so this was the next best thing. Just like with Sheamus five years earlier, they're going to call him King Barrett moving forward. The next show after this is the upcoming Smackdown, I'll see you there.

WWE Extreme Rules 2015 (4/26/15)

We've made it to Extreme Rules and what a month its been. After Seth Rollins pulled off "the heist of the century" at Wrestlemania 31, he created a lot of enemies. Brock Lesnar went insane on Raw the night after Wrestlemania and got suspended leaving Seth without a number 1 contender. Director of Operations Kane fixed that by having a triple threat match between Randy Orton, Ryback and Roman Reigns to see who faces Rollins first. Big Show interfered in the match to take out Reigns leaving Orton victorious over Ryback. Big Show then chokeslammed Reigns on top of a car in London and challenged him to a Last Man Standing match tonight. What about Orton and Rollins? Orton and Rollins got to chose stips for their title match and Rollins took out Orton's best weapon by barring the RKO. Orton then figured to keep The Authority out by making it a steel cage match. Triple H then stacked the deck against Orton by having Kane the guardian of the door.....until Rollins started running his mouth about Kane for weeks leading to Kane wanting to strangle him. So now can Orton beat Rollins without the rKo or will Kane turn face and cost Rollins the title? In other matches, Rusev wants revenge on John Cena for beating him for the US title and challenged Cena to a Russian Chain match, which Cena accepted. Sheamus returned after Wrestlemania and inexplicably turned heel saying WWE is full of small dudes and he's a "real man". Basically if wrestling Twitter at the time was a real person. Naturally Dolph Ziggler took offense to this but Vince McMahon Jr decided to turn back the clock ten years and make it a "Kiss Me Arse" match where if Ziggler loses, he'd have to kiss Sheamus' arse but Ziggler said he'd make Sheamus kiss his own arse if he won. Speaking of little dudes, Adrian Neville finally made his main roster debut as a high flying cruiserweight and naturally Sheamus took exception to him. Sheamus made a call to Wade "Bad News" Barrett and Barrett will face Neville. Where's Daniel Bryan? More on that later. In Divas action, Naomi turned heel on Paige after she won a Divas battle royal to determine the number 1 contender so it'll be Naomi vs Nikki Bella for the Divas title. Ironically Paige is the only babyface diva on the roster but that's for another time. After being powerbombed through a ladder at Wrestlemania by Luke Harper, Dean Ambrose will slug it out with the demented Harper in a Chicago Street Fight. Finally, the New Day had turned heel and cheated to beat Los Lotharios to earn a title shot at the champs Tyson Kidd and Cesaro. Ironically it was announced on TV that New Day would face Kidd & Cesaro on the pre-show but they switched it last second to have the match on PPV and Neville/Barrett would be on the pre-show. Let's get Extreme!

April 26, 2015

ALLSTATE ARENA

ROSEMONT, ILLINOIS

Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry "The King" Lawler and JBL

Ring Announcer: Eden Stiles

Match 1

Adrian Neville vs Wade "Bad News" Barrett

So here's the problem. It was originally advertised as Barrett vs Daniel Bryan for the Intercontinental title but then after Daniel Bryan and John Cena defeated Sheamus and Barrett, Bryan simply disappeared. He wasn't mentioned on TV, he just disappeared. In his place, Adrian Neville started teaming with Dolph Ziggler against Sheamus and Barrett so we have this match instead. Poor Barrett, goes from a PPV match with Bryan to the pre-show with Neville. Sadly, the reason Bryan was removed was he suffered a bad concussion and would be out of action for a long time. Barrett grabs the mic on the way to ring and says he was going to Bullhammer Daniel Bryan but he's got some bad news, Bryan isn't medically cleared. Barrett says Bryan isn't man enough to face him but may have half a brain for not going out here. Barrett says he's the Michael Jordan of England without the gambling addictions so he'll face Neville instead. Cole says Neville is a former NXT champion as they lock up to start. Barrett takes the head then drops Neville with a shoulderblock. The crowd chants for Neville as Barrett takes the head again only this time Neville drops down and goes for the hiptoss. Barrett blocks it but Neville counters into a roll up for a deuce. Neville takes the head but Barrett backs him into the corner before punching him. Barrett stomps Neville then whips him into the corner. Neville backflips into the other corner and catches Barrett with a crossbody for a deuce. Neville ducks the line and head scissors Barrett down. Barrett goes to the apron and Neville dropkicks him off. Neville goes for the plancha but Bad News catches the feet and slams Neville on the apron. Wade sends Neville into the barricade and taunts the crowd. We cut to commercial (yes, even on the DVD there's a tape cut) and back inside Barrett catches Neville in mid-air and hits Wasteland. He covers for 1.....2....nope. JBL says Barrett brought a bag of Bullhammers and right on cue Barrett loads his armband up. Neville ducks under it and hits a standing enziguiri. Neville drags Barrett to the corner and goes for Red Arrow but Barrett crotches him. Barrett swings the Bullhammer but Neville dodges it, jumps over Wade into the ring and kicks Bad News in the head. Neville once again goes upstairs and this time hits Red Arrow. He covers for 1....2....3 to win the match. Cole says that may be the biggest win of Neville's career to knock off the former IC champ. Good match and it definitely showcased the size difference, yet Neville held his own. Barrett continues to fail to pick up meaningful wins so the writing is on the wall for him to be Sheamus' lackey moving forward, especially with Bryan gone.

Time of match: Officially 10:36 (3:48 on the DVD)

Winner: Neville by pinfall

Now let's get to the main show. The opening montage says they're going "extreme" with various clips of tonight's feuds. On to match 1....

Match 2

Luke Harper vs Dean Amrbose in a Chicago Street Fight

The Shield vs The Wyatt Family....sort of. During the Wrestlemania 31 ladder match, Luke Harper powerbombed Ambrose through a ladder. Then the two kept attacking each other on the weekly shows leading to this being a Chicago Street Fight. Cole before the match says both of these guys belong in straight jackets. Ambrose doesn't wait around, he attacks Harper outside before the bell even rings. Ambrose gets in a right hand and sends Harper in the ring. They run the ropes and referee Charles Robinson calls for the bell. Ambrose drops Harper with a jumping clothesline and Luke bails immediately. Ambrose catches Harper with a suicide dive then sends Harper into the ring steps. Ambrose pulls chairs out from under the apron then tosses them in the ring. He stalks Harper with a singapore cane as Harper reaches for a chair. Dean steps on the chair and waffles Harper with the cane. Ambrose goes to town on Harper with the cane then picks up a chair. He sets the chair down and sits in it to taunt Harper. Ambrose goes to suplex Harper on the chair but Luke reverses it and suplexes Ambrose on the chair. Harper covers for 1...2...no. Harper sheds his ring jacket and its his turn to fire away with the cane on Ambrose. JBL talks about the Chicago Cubs curse (which would be gone in just over a year) as Harper sets a chair up in the corner. Harper blocks a tornado ddt then launches dean head into the chair. Harper covers for a deuce and continues to hit Ambrose with the cane. Ambrose rallies and scoop slams Harper on a chair. Ambrose sends Harper outside who gets back in and runs into a boot from Ambrose. Dean finally hits a tornado ddt as the crowd chants for tables. Ambrose hits a jumping elbow drop and covers for a deuce but Harper counters Dirty Deeds (done dirt cheap) with a right hand and a big boot. Ambrose counters a powerbomb by lowbridging Harper outside. Harper blocks a suicide dive but Ambrose does a 360 on the apron and drops Harper with a clothesline. Ambrose grabs the cane and chases Harper to the back....they brawl into Gorilla Position and they fight in the backstage area. I don't remember this being falls count anywhere. Lawler says this may spill out into the actual street. Ambrose hits Harper with one of the lightposts. Harper climbs into an SUV and goes to drive off when Ambrose dives in. Harper speeds off with Charles Robinson running after them.....guess this will be continued. For continuity purposes, I'll post the conclusion in this portion here when it comes up. Until then....we're moving on.

If you're following along with the show, we return here after the New Day backstage promo. New Day picks up Harper and Ambrose dives off the top of the car....onto New Day as Harper gets out of the way. Ambrose and Harper brawl their way back to the ring. JBL makes a funny line that Harper was the one driving out of the arena and Ambrose was the one driving back. Hahahahaha I guess when they went to go get dinner or something they forgot who was supposed to be driving. Ambrose and Harper brawl back into the arena and back to the ring. Harper gets back in the ring and catches Ambrose with a superkick. Ambrose barely sells it and drops Harper with a clothesline as Charles Robinson runs into the ring. Imagine if he had to run after them outside? Harper goes under the ring and grabs a chair as Ambrose pulls his own out. They throw a bunch of chairs in the ring together before getting inside. The crowd starts a small ECW chant as Ambrose throws a chair at Harper then punches away at him. Harper powerbombs Ambrose on a chair and covers for 1...2...nooooo. Harper can't believe it and shakes his head no. The crowd chants "we want tables" as Harper stacks chairs on top of Ambrose. Harper goes upstairs but Ambrose gets out of the pile and slams Harper off the top onto the chairs. Harper staggers right into Dirty Deeds. He covers for 1...2....3 to win the match. Somebody actually made a staggering discovery that this was Dean's first ever solo ppv victory. He jobbed to Seth Rollins and Bray Wyatt before losing the ladder match at Wrestlemania after The Shield broke up. Harper lost a ton of heat by losing this match but it definitely launched Dean.

Now if you're following the show, jump ahead to the segment after New Day's interview.

Time of match: Technically 56:10

Winner: Dean Ambrose by pinfall

If you're reading this after I typed "we're moving on", good. The announcers are totally confused as the match is interrupted with the two guys not even in the building. The crowd is mad and start a CM Punk chant. We cut to the back with Triple H pulling Kane aside and telling him to go find Ambrose and Harper. Trips is worried about what they're gonna do in the streets of Chicago. Seth Rollins walks in and Triple H tries to play peacemaker by saying they need to get on the same page. He says to stop being childish and patch things up. Rollins bitches about Kane letting him get speared on Smackdown by Reigns and RKO'd on Raw. Kane calls him an ungrateful little punk and Triple H again has to play peacemaker. Triple H says Rollins has a point that Kane dropped the ball and he doesn't want to regret making Kane the gatekeeper. Kane assures them both that he'll do what's best for business as the crowd chants "boring". Onto the next match.

Match 3

Dolph Ziggler vs Sheamus in a Kiss Me Arse match

Oh boy, where do I begin? Sheamus returned after a five month hiatus only to turn heel and declare war on "underdogs" claiming to be a real big man. As mentioned earlier, imagine if wrestling Twitter was a person. Sheamus attacked Ziggler and Daniel Bryan during his turn and Ziggler didn't take kindly to it. After having back and forth encounters for weeks, Sheamus challenged Ziggler to a Kiss Me Arse match right out of 2002. Sheamus wants Ziggler to kiss his arse while Ziggler claims he's gonna make Sheamus kiss his own. As absurd as the stip is, its still big man vs little man. Bell's gone and Sheamus taunts him in the staredown. Ziggler unloads with rights and lefts in the corner then tries a headbutt which doesn't work. Ziggler kicks Sheamus in the head then hits a dropkick. Sheamus stays on his feet and Ziggler tackles him through the ropes to the outside. Sheamus sends Ziggler into the ringpost then a european uppercut stuns Dolph. Dolph counters with a tornado ddt off the ring steps. Back inside Dolph eats a knee to the side of the head. Sheamus clubs away at Ziggler on the apron then inside locks in a chinlock. Sheamus hits a sitdown powerbomb for 1...2...nope. Sheamus stalls to anger the crowd then floors Dolph with a clothesline. Sheamus hits another clothesline and taunts Ziggler that he doesn't belong in his ring. Sheamus locks in another chinlock before Ziggler powers out of it. Dolph ducks a line and starts unloading with running forearms on Sheamus. Dolph hits two Stinger Splashes in the corner but Sheamus drops him with a double chop to the throat. Sheamus blocks a superkick and locks in a Texas Cloverleaf. Dolph turns it into an inside cradle for a two count then hits the superkick. Dolph covers for 1....2.....noooooooo. Sheamus drops Dolph throat first on the top rope then executes a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. He covers for a deuce then turns a suplex into a slam then calls for the Brogue Kick. Dolph counters it with a roll up for a deuce before Sheamus hits another tilt-a-whirl slam. Ziggler counters a suplex with an inside cradle for 1....2....THREE! He got him! JBL and Sheamus can't believe it as now he has to kiss some arse. Sheamus claims it was only a two count and goes outside to protest. A fan says "YOU LOST, FELLA!" Sheamus goes to leave through the crowd but the referee stops him. Ziggler starts pulling his tights down as the women in the crowd cheer. Sheamus tells Ziggler to get it over with already and freaks out. Ziggler tells Sheamus to do it and he keeps stalling. Sheamus starts begging for forgiveness as the crowd gets into it. Ziggler pulls his tights up and Sheamus drops to his knees. Ziggler said it was his idea anyway and Sheamus low blows Ziggler instead. Sheamus buries Ziggler with the Brogue Kick and laughs as the crowd boos. Sheamus shouts "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINEDDDDDD?" and grabs the mic. Sheamus "Did you really think I was gonna kiss your arse, Ziggler?" Sheamus pulls his own tights up and buries Ziggler's face in it as Lawler is disgusted. Ziggler wins the match and Sheamus keeps his heat, guess that's what's best for business.

Time of match: 9:16

Winner: Zigger by pinfall

After a commercial for WWE Network shows and a plug for a Roman Reigns special we go back to the commentary team to announce that the King of The Ring tournament returns this year. Onto the next match.

Match 4

The New Day (Big E Langston and Kofi Kingston) with Xavier Woods vs Tyson Kidd & Cesaro (with Natalya) for the WWE Tag Team Championship

Oh how the tables have turned. After Kidd and Cesaro successfully defended the tag belts at Wrestlemania, we had a slow double-turn. With The Uso's on the shelf due to Jey's shoulder injury, a team had to step up to face Kidd & Cesaro. For some reason WWE fans turned on the goody two-shoes New Day and started chanting "New...Day sucks! New.....Day sucks!" New Day then began a slow heel turn first by telling the fans to stick it without saying so, then cheated to win a number 1 contenders match with Los Lotharios. With their "new" attitude, Kofi Kingston beat Cesaro in a singles match due to interference from Woods and Langston. Since fans were cheering for Kidd and Cesaro anyway, mostly Cesaro, it looks like the teams are reversing roles for basically no reason. Cesaro does get a huge pop during introductions. Kofi and Langston will start with Woods on the outside, Kofi in the ring with Kidd. They chain wrestle to start with Kofi getting the upper hand with a splash. Lawler calls Woods the cheerleader as Kidd and Kofi exchange go-behinds. Kidd caters to the crowd to put over the fact he's working babyface as Kofi retreats to tag Big E. Surreal seeing Kofi acting heel and Kidd points to Cesaro for a big pop. Cesaro tags in and locks up with Big E. E floors him with a shoulderblock but Cesaro catches Big E mid-air on a leapfrog and effortlessly slams him. Cesaro does a standing coup de gras then tags in Kidd to stomp Big E. The crowd chants "New...Day sucks" and Natalya encourages it. Big E retreats to tag in Kofi as Kidd tags in. Kofi throws Kidd outside and knocks Cesaro off the apron. Kidd comes back to throws both members outside the other ring then somersaults onto Kofi....but walks into a clothesline from Big E. The crowd chants again as Woods shouts "What? What did we do? We're winning!" He's got a point, they did nothing wrong. Big E throws Kidd inside and puts the boots to him before Kofi tags in to continue the onslaught. Big E launches Kofi into a dropkick on Kidd but the cover only gets two. Kofi gets a chinlock on Kidd as Natalya gets a Tyson chant. A dropkick and cover by Kofi gets a deuce before Big E tags in. Big E claps then misses a big splash. Kidd moves out of the way and Big E sends himself through the ropes to the outside. E tags in Kofi but Cesaro gets the hot tag. Cesaro heaves Kofi into the corner then rallies with uppercuts. Cesaro drops Kofi with a big clothesline and covers for a deuce. Cesaro goes for the giant swing but instead slingshots Kofi into the corner...who lands feet first on the buckle. Cesaro catches the crossbody attempt and turns it into a backbreaker. He covers for 1....2...nooooo. A charge by Cesaro eats boot but Cesaro counters with an uppercut. Kidd tags in as Cesaro hits a superplex and Kidd slingshot elbows Kofi for 1...2...NOOOOO. Kidd can't believe it and goes for the sharpshooter but Kofi kicks out of it. Kofi tags in Big E who spears Kidd all the way out of the ring to a big pop. E throws Kidd inside then hits a back body drop on the floor to Cesaro. E tags in Kingston and they hit a double team move only for Cesaro to literally dive in and headbutt Kofi off of Kidd. Cesaro and Langston fall out of the ring together and Kofi starts clapping. Kofi goes for Trouble in Paradise but Kidd catches the foot and locks in the sharpshooter. Kofi crawls but Big E gets in and hits an overhead suplex on Kidd. Kofi runs into the feet of Kidd who tags in Cesaro. Cesaro uppercuts Big E out of the ring and hits the giant swing on Kofi. Woods hops up on the apron and Natalya slaps him off. Big E sends Kidd outside and Cesaro clotheslines E over the top to the floor. Kofi rolls up Cesaro out of the nowhere and hooks the tights for 1....2....3 and we got new champions! New Day wins the tag straps and celebrate together. HHH loves heels with belts so with New Day drawing more heat than Kidd & Cesaro, it made sense to do a double turn and give the straps to New Day. Kofi as a heel just doesn't feel right although Big E was a natural with Woods playing along. Still, New Day are the new champs and congrats to them for getting over as heels without really doing anything wrong.

Time of match: 9:47

Winners: New Day by pinfall (New Tag Team Champions)

We cut to the Extreme Rules kickoff panel which included Byron Saxton, Booker T and Corey Graves. Saxton asks Corey what he thinks and he calls Ambrose & Harper two maniacs. We got new tag team champs and Booker is happy for them. Love the unopened bottles of Mountain Dew in front of them. Saxton does reveal that doctors wouldn't let Daniel Bryan compete but Bad News Barrett would face Adrian Neville instead. We go to highlights of Neville winning before cutting to Renee Paquette backstage with New Day. Renee asks if their positivity got them to this point and Woods says today is the dawn of their new day. Big E shouts they're tag team champions and Kofi starts a chant. All of a sudden the SUV from earlier pulls up and Luke Harper is thrown out of it. If you're reading this, go back to the Ambrose/Harper match from earlier to continue.

If you're reading this while following the PPV, we return here after the conclusion of Ambrose vs Harper to a commercial for WWE Payback coming up on Sunday May 17th. That's just three weeks from this date, that's 3 Raws and 3 Smackdowns away. We then get a promo package for our next match, Rusev vs John Cena in a Russian Chain Match. Let's get to it.

Match 5

Rusev (with Lana) vs John Cena for the WWE United States Championship in a Russian Chain Match

This feud has been going on for months now but this should be the conclusion. Rusev hadn't been pinned since making his main roster debut the year earlier and was the unbeatable US champion going into Fastlane. Rusev beat Cena and refused a rematch until Cena brutally attacked Rusev, prompting Lana to give him a rematch at Wrestlemania. Cena won the title at Wrestlemania and started doing "open challenges" to random guys to show he was a fighting champion. During that span, Rusev appeared and laid out Cena with a chain, challenging him to a rubber match at Extreme Rules in a Russian Chain match. The rules are both men are tied together to the chain and whoever touches all four corners first wins the match. It sounds like a silly concept but that's wrestling. Ironically there's less "John Cena sucks" chants coming from the crowd, guess Chicago has no interest in cheering for Rusev. Cena and Rusev are strapped together and they start with a tug of war. Rusev gets the upperhand with an avalanche in the corner and he touches two corners but Cena rallies with a scoop slam. Just to show the fans what's going on, they have two sets of lights in every corner, the green is for Cena and the red is for Rusev. That's convenient. Cena touches three corners but Rusev kicks him in the ribs to reset the lights. Rusev tags two corners but Cena stops him, only to be thrown over the top rope. Rusev uses the chain as a pulley system and picks up Cena for a kick to the ribs. Rusev continues with kicks to the kidneys as the "Let's go Cena/Cena sucks" chants start. Rusev suplexes Cena back in the ring and touches two corners, but John whacks him with the chain. Rusev blocks an FU attempt and clobbers Cena with the chain. Cena pulls the chain outside and sends Rusev into the ring post. Cena does it again and goes to tag the corners. He gets two but Rusev blocks him from getting to corner three. Cena runs into a spinning heel kick and Rusev nails Cena in the ribs with the chain. Rusev whips Cena with the chain. Rusev tags three corners and goes for the fourth but Cena stops him. Rusev kicks Cena in the ribs but the lights reset, here we go again. Rusev punches Cena in the face with the chain and goes upstairs. Cena pulls Rusev off who lands on the chain. Cena clotheslines Rusev and tags two corners and drops Rusev with a shouldertackle. Cena gets caught and overhead press slammed by Rusev who then savate kicks Cena in the face. The crowd chants "We want Lana" and she waives to the crowd. Rusev gets jealous and kicks Lana out of ringside, sending her to the back. JBL says this isn't a Moscow beauty pageant. Cena takes advantage with a back suplex and the five knuckle shuffle. Cenna goes for the FU but Rusev blocks it and hits the Alabama Slam. Rusev then stomps on the back of Cenna then goes for the Accolade. Cena blocks it and locks in the STFU with the chain for help. After Rusev fades, Cena goes and touches three corners but Rusev rolls out of the ring to stop him. Back inside Rusev blocks another FU and drops Cena with a kick. Rusev locks in the Accolade but Cena stands up with Rusev on his back. Cena rams Rusev into two different corners but they count. Rusev quickly touches the third corner but Cena spins Rusev around with the chain and hits the FU. Both men are down but get up and touch a corner. They each get three corners and have another tug of war in the center of the ring. Rusev goes for the final corner but again Cena spins him around into an FU. Cena touches the fourth corner to win the match. Cena wins and retains the title, so much for Rusev's push. JBL "big match John has done it again" as Lawler laments losing Lana. The firework goes off and the US flag falls from the rafters and even the heel JBL says that's a good sight. Kind of a bad match since strap/chain matches with four corners are usually cucka but it served its purpose. This wouldn't end the feud officially but the writing was on the wall.

Time of match: 13:35

Winner: Cena (still US Champion)

After a Mountain Dew commercial and a Talk Is Jericho plug, we cut to Renee with Roman Reigns. Reigns says he can get knocked down but he won't stay down. Reigns says Big Show put him through hell and Reigns kept getting up, he'll be the last man standing. Onto the next match.

Match 6

Naiomi vs Nikki Bella (with Brie Bella) for the WWE Divas Championship

Here's an interesting dichotomy in WWE lore, there was just one babyface diva at the time. AJ Lee had retired after Wrestlemania and Naomi turned heel on Paige after Paige had won a number 1 contender's battle royal. Naomi took her spot and challenged Nikki for the Divas title. Summer Rae had turned on Damien Sandow on Raw and combined with Nikki, Brie, Cameron, Alicia Fox and Natalya, WWE had no babyface Divas apart from Paige who was out. Go figure. Naomi leapfrogs over the top rope during the entrance as she debuts her new entrance music. They lock up to start and Naomi piefaces her to start. Nikki hits a snap mare before locking in an armringer. Nikki turns it into a Fujiwara arm-bar but Naomi makes it to the ropes. They slug it out on the apron before Noami takes over with aggressive rights and stomps. Naomi hits a nice snap suplex and covers for a 1 count before locking in a chin-lock. Nikki powers out of it but eats a shoulderblock. Naomi covers for a two count before Naomi squeezes the neck with Brie on the outside screaming "LET'S GO NIKKI." Brie gets a clapping chant for Nikki going as Naomi starts dropping elbows. Guess Nikki is the defacto babyface by default for.....no reason I guess. Between the New Day and Kidd/Cesaro double turn and now this, WWE writers didn't know what the hell they were doing and fans had to just go along with it. Nikki rolsl up Naomi for a deuce and bulldogs Nikki into the middle buckle. Naomi covers for a deuce and goes for the Rear View, but misses. Naomi gets thrown into the corner who spingboard drop kicks Nikki down before taunting the crowd. Naomi covers for 1...2..nope. Naomi starts punching away on Nikki before kicking her outside the ring. Brie checks on Nikki and Naomi kicks her down. Naomi rolls Nikki inside and slowly makes her way inside. Nikki kicks Naomi down then clotheslines her. Nikki rallies with dropkicks and gets a babyface pop before hitting the Alabama Slam. She covers for 1......2....noooo. Naomi ducks the line and does the Hurricane elbow drop....haven't seen that in a while. Naomi goes for the split legged moonsault but Nikki moves out of the way. Nikki gets a knee to the face and covers for 1...2...and no. Nikki goes for Rack Attack but Naomi counters with a full nelson slam and roll over for a two count. Nikki gets a springboard dropkick and covers for 1..2...nooo. Nikki grabs the leg but Naomi kicks her off. The ref pulls Nikki away and Brie uses the distraction to kick Naomi in the head. Nikki hits the Rack Attack and covers for 1...2.....3 to win the match. Had to remind the fans the Bellas are still heels despite Naomi being one. Again, the writers have no earthly clue what they're doing right now. Brie and Nikki celebrate as we go to the replay of Brie kicking Naomi in the head. Thankfully NXT was loaded with the next generation so the Divas era was coming to an end, still a good match though.

Time of match: 8:10

Winner: Nikki Bella by pinfall (still Divas champion)

In the back Rusev is screaming at Lana in Bulgarian and tells her to take a walk. She knocks on The Authority's door and walks in....guess this feud has one more match left. Lawler takes a swig of Mountain Dew and clearly doesn't like it as JBL goes to open his bottle as well. Guess they heard me about the unopened bottles earlier. In my less than humble opinion, Mountain Dew tastes like fire hydrant so I don't blame Lawler. We get a promo package for Reigns vs Big Show before we head to our next match.

Match 7

Big Show vs Roman Reigns in a Last Man Standing Match

These two had been at each other's throats since Roman returned from hernia surgery after Survivor Series and this was the culmination. Reigns was famously hoodwinked by Seth Rollins at Wrestlemania 31 and Big Show cost Reigns the number 1 contender's triple threat match on Raw weeks earlier. Big Show then chokeslammed Reigns on top of a car in London and declared he was going to make it his life's mission to keep Reigns from ever reaching his potential. Show challenged Reigns to a Last Man Standing match and Reigns accepted. Vince was rolling with Orton's babyface momentum and had to keep Reigns active until it was his time to rise again. Bell's gone and Big Show bum rushes Reigns in the corner with right hands. Reigns rallies with right hands of his own but Show throws Reigns into the other corner. Both men are swinging right hands before Show dumps Reigns with a shoulderblock. Reigns recovers with right hands but runs into another shoulderblock. Show and Reigns slug it out more until Reigns clotheslines Show over the top rope to the floor. The ref starts the count but Show gets up at a count of five. Reigns pulls out a table but Show kicks Reigns in the ribs. Show puts the table away but Reigns send him into the ring post. Reigns runs over and dropkicks Show, who goes down to one knee. He gets up rather quickly as Reigns sets the table up from earlier. Show heaves Reigns into the barricade and smashes the table with his bare hands. Reigns grabs the singapore cane from Ambrose's match and waffles Show with it. Show gets made and heaves Reigns into the ring post. Reigns is down for a six count but gets up, only to be tossed into the ring. Show grabs the cane and snaps it in half before throwing it at the broken table. He says "I'm a giant!" to show he doesn't need weapons. Reigns rallies with right hands and a series of clotheslines. Reigns jumps off the second rope into a right hand from Big Show. Reigns is down for a six count but rolls outside on his feet. Show pulls Reigns to the apron who snaps him off the top rope. Reigns grabs a steel chair and waffles Show in the back with it. Reigns continues to clobber Show with the chair and then hits a ddt on it. Show is down for a seven count but gets up as Reigns grabs two more tables, putting them both in the ring. Roman runs right into the knockout punch by Big Show. JBL says that's the ballgame as Reigns is down for an eight count but staggers to his feet. Show sets up a table and calls for a chokeslam. Reigns counters with a samoan drop through the table. Both men are down for an eight count but they both get up. Reigns goes for the spear but Show spears him instead. Reigns is down for a seven count but gets up....only to get dropped with a headbutt. Show goes for the Vaderbomb and hits it, keeping Reigns down for nine. Show goes up to the top rope for some ungodly reason and Show crotches himself on the top rope. He screams loudly and Reigns breaks character to laugh at it. Reigns sets up a table outside and goes to superplex Show through it....get real, Reigns. Reigns gets shoved off but he does manage to slam Show off the top rope into the ring. Both men are down for an eight count but Reigns gets up and hits two Superman punches. Show then grabs Reigns and chokeslams him from inside the ring all the way through the two tables on the floor. The crowd pops even though Show is the heel as Cole says that's gotta be it. Reigns somehow gets up at nine and Show can't believe it. Reigns falls down again after beating the count as Show looks for something else to use. Show then grabs the steel steps and sets them up next to the announce table. Show then takes apart the announce table as the announcers clear out. Big Show grabs JBL's notepad and says "Big Show needs to lose weight? Who wrote that you dumbass?" He tosses it to Cole as Cole says its actually JBL's. The crowd chants "JBL" as Show gets back in the ring. He goes to spear Reigns through a table but Reigns moves and Show crashes through it. Both men get up at eight as Reigns finally hits the spear. Show rolls outside to break the count but Reigns runs around the ring and spears Show through the barricade. The ref counts to nine as both men get up. Show goes to chokeslam Reigns through the announce table but Reigns elbows out of it. Reigns runs up the steps and spears Show through the Spanish announce table. Show kind of telegraphed the spot by looking behind him to break the fall but it was still a cool spot. Show gets up at nine but Roman literally picks up the English announce table and throws it on top of Show to bury him. The ref counts all the way to 10 to end the match with Reigns counting along. Cole "Roman Reigns has arrived tonight!" Didn't he set the Royal Rumble eliminations record the year before and win the Rumble this year? What do you mean he arrived? Either way Reigns gets arguably one of his most important singles wins post-Shield breakup by knocking off Big Show. Last Man Standing matches are usually big spotfests but this one was very entertaining. If Reigns has to go through The Authority one by one to get to Seth Rollins, he took a giant step tonight....no pun intended.

Time of match: 19:56

Winner: Roman Reigns

We go to a Marine 4 trailer starring The Miz and Summer Rae before we cut to backstage with Kane walking around. Randy Orton of all people stops him and says they go back a long way. Orton says once the Authority is through with Kane they're going to throw him out like garbage. Orton "I know who you are, Kane, even if you've forgotten." Kane looks confused as we cut back to the mess of the announce table. Cole then plugs Tough Enough on June 23rd. The only noteworthy thing about the promo videos is one of them is a young Maxwell Jacob Friedman of AEW.

Back to ringside Bo Dallas comes out to cut a heel promo just to waste time before the main event. Dallas runs down Chicago and says they're not going to grow as people unless they Bo-lieve! Right on cue Ryback comes out and hits the ring. Dallas cuts him off with right hands and we got an impromptu match apparently. Why couldn't have this been an official match? Anyway, Ryback rallies with a spinebuster and a meat hook clothesline. Ryback hits the shellshock as JBL calls Dallas Tony Robbins. Ryback gets the obligatory pop.

Back from commercial we have this week's rundown with Raw followed by Jerry Springer (yes I'm serious) then Tuesday will be the King of The Ring tournament. Wednesday will be a Mick Foley special and Thursday features Stephanie McMahon on Talk Is Jericho. Friday will be a Floyd Mayweather vs Big Show lookback.....where the hell is Smackdown and NXT? Apparently Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao was coming up.

Back to Byron Saxton who's with Rusev. Rusev says Cena hasn't beaten him yet and yells at Lana some more. Lana says the final chapter of this feud will be at Payback in an I Quit match. Rusev says America used to be full of fighters and now its full of quitters. Payback will be his payback for the American champion. FINALLY the cage begins to lower and we get our promo package for our main event. This is a long standing feud that goes all the way back to before Survivor Series. When Team Cena was preparing to face Team Authority, Randy Orton couldn't get along with Seth Rollins leading to Rollins curbstomping Orton and putting him out of action. Orton returned at Fastlane then appeared to have rejoined The Authority. Then he famously turned on Rollins and challenged him to a match at Wrestlemania. Orton won the match and Rollins famously cashed in his Money In The Bank later that night to win the WWE Championship. Orton then won a number one contender's triple threat match to set up this match. Both men got to choose a stipulation and Rollins had the RKO banned and Randy countered by making it a steel cage match to theoretically keep The Authority out. Naturally Triple H made Kane guardian of the door. The only flaw with stacking the deck is Rollins was acting like a spoiled brat and incurred the wrath of Kane for weeks. Was Kane going to turn face and help Orton or would he do what's best for business? Let's find out.

Match 8

Randy Orton vs Seth Rollins for the WWE Championship in a Steel Cage Match

Kane walks out in a coat and tie first before the others make their entrance. Lawler asks what Kane is REALLY thinking as Orton comes out next. Rollins comes out without Joey Mercury and Jamie Noble, which is weird but somewhat understandable since they won't be able to do much since its a cage match. Bell rings as JBL brings up Hulk Hogan vs King Kong Bundy as Rollins tries to escape the cage early. Orton stops him but Rollins gets the upperhand by stomping Orton in the counter. Orton counters with a clothesline and throws Seth into the cage. Rollins climbs the cage but Orton throws him down to the mat. Orton european uppercuts Seth then rams him head first into the mat. Rollins Flair flips into the corner then Orton knocks him down. Orton stalks Rollins and slingshots him into the corner. Seth goes to escape the cage again but Orton stops him. JBL says Rollins is made of velcro as Seth counters with a buckle bomb. Rollins covers for a deuce and asks Kane to open the door. Kane does but Orton stops him. Seth rams Orton face first into the cage and covers for a deuce. Rollins stalks Randy and stomps him in the corner. Rollins throws Randy into the cage again and taunts him. Rollins throws Randy into the cage another time then punches him on the ground. Rollins uses a running neckbreaker and covers for 1....2...no. Rollins avalanches Randy in the corner and starts taunting Kane for some stupid reason. Rollins charges Orton and Randy sends him into the cage. Orton looks at Kane then starts trading punches with Seth. They trade strikes before Orton sends Rollins into the cage then drops him with two clotheslines. Rollins goes to escape but Orton stops him and they start battling on the top rope. Orton drops down and Rollins nails him with a jumping kneelift. Rollins covers for 1....2....no. Rollins goes to escape again and gets to the top but Orton catches him. Orton is on top of the cage with him and they trade punches. Randy brings him back to the top rope where Rollins knocks Randy off but jumps into a powerslam. He covers for 1...2....nope. Orton goes for the second rope ddt but Seth rolls through for 1...2...nope. Seth hits a savate kick and covers for 1...2....no. Seth goes to escape again and makes it to the top of the cage. Rollins jumps over the side but Orton catches him. Joey Mercury and Jamie Noble hit the ring to pull Rollins down but Orton brings him back to the top. Orton superplexes Rollins off the top of the cage and covers for 1..2...nope. Mercury and Noble go over to Kane and demand to be let inside and Kane chases them off. Mercury and Noble take their jackets off and try to climb both sides of the cage. Orton knocks them both off by simply launching Rollins into each of them. Orton hits an overhead powerslam and goes for the second rope DDT again, only to be countered by Seth. Seth tries to climb out of the cage again but Orton grabs the foot and crotches Rollins on the top rope. Rollins looks at Kane and decides not to go out the door. Instead Orton hits a top rope DDT and caters to the crowd. Lawler says we're gonna have a new champion and gives the sign for the rko. Instead Orton hits the pedigree and covers for 1...2....nooooo. Cole says that was a direct message to The Authority. The crowd starts a random "YES" chant as Orton looks at Kane. Randy then goes for the punt but Rollins moves out of the way. Rollins dropkicks Randy down and calls for the door. Kane opens it and moves out of the way. Rollins crawls but Orton catches him and delivers a backbreaker. Randy looks at the open door but Kane closes the door on him. Rollins goes to dropkick Orton but Randy moves and Seth ends up kicking Kane off the steps and the door open. Rollins goes for the door but Orton catches him and tries to crawl over him but Kane slams the door on Orton's head. Kane rips his coat and tie off then enters the ring with Mercury and Noble. Noble and Mercury end up getting double chokeslammed. Rollins begs off from Kane and Kane ends up grabbing Orton and chokeslamming him. Seth crawls over to the door but Kane grabs him and chokeslams him too. JBL and Lawler are totally confused as Kane pulls Rollins on top of Orton for 1....2...NOOOOO, Orton kicked out. Logically where the hell is Ryback, John Cena or Dolph Ziggler from Team Cena that's supposed to battle The Authority? Kane goes to tombstone Randy but Orton pushes him off and HITS THE RKO! Technically the RKO is banned on ROLLINS, not on Kane. Rollins then hits an RKO on Orton and crawls out the door to win the match. That was a pitiful blowoff for Orton since he basically had to fight 4 against 1. Lawler says Rollins should have lost because he used the RKO but JBL mentions what I said in that only Orton was banned from using it. Either way The Authority wins against Rollins grabs the belt and celebrates. Cole says the bottom line is Rollins has won and JBL adds that the future is now. In terms of a cage match it was decent but the cage is supposed to keep people out, having 100 people run in defeats the purpose. Then again Kane was the guardian and we all knew he was going to make an impact anyway. Rollins walks out of Chicago still the WWE Champion.

Time of match: 21:02

Winner: Rollins (still WWE Champion)

Well, that ending extended Orton's babyface run for at least another month.. A decisive victory by Rollins would have rendered Orton essentially useless as a babyface since Roman Reigns in the chosen one, and its toon soon to do another Team Cena vs Team Authority storyline. Its going to be interesting moving forward to see how things develop. We got new tag team champions in New Day and Cena is still the US Champion. Cena and Rusev will meet one last time but there's no chance in hell Rusev wins now. Daniel Bryan may relinquish yet another title if his concussion doesn't heal and Nikki Bella is somehow still Divas champion. Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns are finished with Luke Harper and Big Show respectively so it'll be interesting to see if either one of them goes after Rollins. Speaking of Rollins, with Orton essentially screwed by Kane you know there's going to be a rubber match next month at Payback.....or they may just have Orton battle Kane. Monday Night Raw tomorrow night will be in Green Bay so I'll see everyone there. As for the show as a whole, it was pretty good all things considering.

WWE Raw (9/9/02)

WWE Raw

Hilton Coliseum

Ames, IA

September 9, 2002

Commentators: Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler

Ring Announcer: Lilian Garcia

Last week on Raw the World Heavyweight Championship was brought back and immediately was handed to Triple H. HHH dispatched Ric Flair in his first title defense but foolishly challenged Intercontinental Champion Rob Van Dam to a tag match where Van Dam pinned the champ. With Brock Lesnar now exclusive to just Smackdown, Raw is severely lacking in talent thanks to the roster mostly being ECW and WCW castoffs. Rob Van Dam might be the odds on favorite to main event Unforgiven against Triple H, but we'll see. Before we do anything, we got a dark match,

Dark Match 1

Doug Basham vs Mark Jindrak

The OVW guys get their shot to show what they can do here. Both men deserved be on the main roster but were just waiting for their opening. Jindrak got the win here.

Winner: Jindrak by pinfall

Now let's get on with the show. We don't waste any time, we go right to our first match.....but not before Bradshaw grabs a mic and says the "jackass bastards" better get down there because he's out there to win the tag belts AND defend the honor of America. 

Match 1

Kane and Bradshaw vs Lance Storm and Christian for the WWE Tag Team Championship

The makeshift team of Kane and Bradshaw against the Unamericans might be interesting. The heels attack at the bell but Kane and Bradshaw double shoulderblock Storm. Bradshaw rips Storm's shirt off and throws it at him before delivering a scoop slam. Bradshaw drops an elbow and covers for a two count then drops Storm with another shoulderblock. Bradshaw suplexes Storm from the apron and covers for two before Kane tags in. Kane punches away at Storm who makes the tag to Christian. The heels double team Kane who nails a double clothesline. Kane tags Bradshaw who hits a back suplex on Christian. He covers for two and Storm clubs him in the back. Christian backdrops Bradshaw but walks into a big boot. Bradshaw covers for two then tags in Kane. Lawler says the biggest announcement of all time is coming up and is overly excited for it....oh great. Kane chokebombs Christian but misses the big elbow drop. Storm gets knocked off the apron and Kane hits a sidewalk slam before covering for a deuce. Storm grabs the foot of Kane and drags him nad first into the ring post. Christian stomps away on Kane and Storm chokes him with his boot as well. Referee Jack Doane turns around to see Christian with a blatant choke as the crowd chants USA. Bradshaw grabs his bullrope but the heels choke Kane outside. Back inside Storm tags in and punches away in the corner. Kane fights off Storm with a tilt-a-whirl slam and tags in Bradshaw. Bradshaw drops Christian with a shoulderblock and a back elbow then catches Storm in mid-air. Bradshaw hits a fallaway slam on Storm and powerbombs Christian. Bradshaw covers for 1...2...no, Storm breaks it up. Storm hits a superkick on Bradshaw and is pulled outside by Kane. Christian covers Bradshaw for 1...2...no. Bradshaw blocks the unprettier with a powerslam for 1...2....no. Bradshaw gets knocked to the outside by Lance but Kane hits the top rope clothesline on Storm. Kane big boots Christian and Storm comes off the top with a missile dropkick...into referee Jack Doane. Whoops! Kane hits the chokeslam on Storm but here comes Test out of nowhere to catch Kane with the big boot. Bradshaw hits the clothesline from hell on Test but William Regal also comes in from out of nowhere with brass knuckles. Regal clocks Bradshaw with the knucks and Christian covers. The ref comes to for 1..2....3..to win the match. The numbers game caught up to Kane and Bradshaw as Regal has officially joined the Unamericans. Match was okay but we got some bad news, Bradshaw tore his bicep on the Saturday house show and managed to gut out this match before having surgery. He'd be out a long time.

Time of match: 6:49

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

Eric Bischoff is walking in the back as Lawler says the biggest announcement ever is coming up. Back from commercial here comes Bischoff. He says tonight's main event is a fatal-four-way elimination match for the number one contendership. Chris Jericho vs Jeff Hardy vs The Big Show vs Rob Van Dam. The winner gets Triple H at Unforgiven. Ross says that is big news but Lawler says that's not what he was talking about. Eric says Stephanie McMahon is going to have a commitment ceremony while Eric calls it a publicity stunt. Eric says this got legit press from the New York Times, New York Post, Hollywood and ESPN. He holds up that day's New York Post that has the infamous story of a WTC survivor demanding money for interviews along with the New York Jets and tennis pro Pete Sampras returning to glory. Eric says he's going to counter their publicity stunt with one of his own. Eric says for the first time in the history of Raw or WWE, he's going to have HLA. As in Hot Lesbian Action.....yup, that's where the meme comes from. Jerry Lawler cheers as JR scoffs. If you want to say the Attitude Era was edgy, Ruthless Aggression held its own. The camera shows the article WWEdding ring in the Post before Ross tries to talk about the fatal-four-way. Poor JR, Jerry Lawler is wearing sunglasses to boot.

JR sends it to Terri Runnels who says she herself has a match later. She brings in Chris Jericho holding an apple and asks what his chances are to be number one contender. Jericho calls Triple H an assclown while eating the apple and says he was the first Undisputed Champion and he's formulating a plan to insure him becoming number one contender. Jericho accidentally/on purpose spits the apple in her face and we cut to Coach with Triple H himself asking if he has a preference of who he'd face. Coach says RVD already pinned him and HHH asks if he's supposed to be scared of Rob. HHH says he's The Game, World Heavyweight Champion and it doesn't matter who he faces at Unforgiven. Bubba Ray Dudley comes from out of nowhere and says HHH is facing Spike tonight, does he not have the balls to face him instead. HHH says he doesn't have to do anything but he'll do it anyway. He says Spike is more competitive than he is and Bubba is lucky. Bubba says he has Steven Richards tonight and after taking care of him, HHH is next. Suddenly Richards superkicks Bubba out of nowhere. Richards and HHH laugh and Steven says forget about Hunter, better concentrate on the match instead.

Back from commercial Terri and Trish Stratus walk down the hall with a big sign on a door saying "Lesbians".  Trish and Terri smile and walk by. On to the next match.

Match 2

Steven Richards vs Bubba Ray Dudley

Bubba bumrushes Richards at the entrance and throws his hat on him. Bubba pulls him in the ring and Bubba unloads with right hands. He backdrops Steven and delivers a suplex before dropping an elbow on Richards. Bubba drops another elbow on Richards and covers for 1...2...no. Lawler starts babbling about the Hot Lesbian Action and its gonna be Stacy Keibler coming out of the closet. Lawler said he KNEW she was a lesbian....which makes no sense. That would mean she doesn't have any attraction to Lawler, why would he theoretically care? The fans chant for tables as Bubba ties Steven in the tree of woe. JR tries to stay on topic as Bubba pounds away on Richards. Bubba bumps out of the corner and Lawler simply won't shut up about HLA. Some blowhorn goes off as Richards hits a running neckbreaker. Richards covers for 1...2...no. Richards kicks away at Bubba as Ross hypes up the fatal four-way tonight. Vince had to have been in his ear to mention that out of nowhere, but its better than Lawler. Ross tells Jerry to get ahold of himself as Bubba sunset flips Richards for 1..2...no. JR drops Richards as Ross says not ever being champion is eating at Bubba. Richards and Bubba slug it out as Lawler continues to babble on. Bubba hits a released german suplex and rallies with a clothesline. Bubba armdrags Richards and delivers a suplex. He covers for 1...2....no. Ross finally yells at Lawler to shut up as the crowd chants for tables. Bubba hits the Dusty Punches and tells himself to get the tables. Richards superkicks him and covers for 1....2...no. Bubba football tackles Richards and covers for 1...2...no. Lawler starts ranting about Stacy Keibler's legs as Bubba goes for a top rope Bubba Bomb. Richards blocks it and kicks Bubba in the face. He gets caught with a sit down powerbomb off the top rope and Bubba covers for 1...2....3 to win the match. Trying to push Bubba is a choice but there aren't many options. The match was good but Lawler ruined it by his non-stop comments.

Time of match: 5:53

Winner: Dudley by pinfall

Sure enough, here are the legs of Stacy Keibler and King goes insane again. Good grief, on to the next match.

Match 3

Stacy Keibler and Victoria vs Trish Stratus and Terri Runnels

This stems from last week when Stacy hit Terri with an alarm clock after the Lingerie Pillow Fight then tarred & feathered her. Trish and Victoria weren't friends either and before Trish even takes her coat off, Terri bumrushes Stacy out of the ring. Trish has to pull Terri off Stacy but Victoria kicks her in the head. Victoria gets clotheslined by Terri in the ring but Victoria drops her with a forearm. Victoria scoop slams Terri as the crowd wants puppies. Victoria covers for 1...2..no. Victoria sends Terri into Stacy's boot as Stacy tags in. JR tells Lawler to say what HLA means as Stacy rams Terri's head into the buckle. Stacy chokes Terri with her boot as Lawler cheers. JR "My GOD will you give it a rest?" Yeah really.  Stacy scoop slams Terri as Victoria hits a slingshot legdrop for 1...2...no. Lawler is legit watching with binnoculars as Victoria stomps Terri. Victoria totally botches a flapjack and covers anyway for 1..2...no. Victoria gets an overhead backbreaker but Terri slips out, slaps Stacy and Victoria botches yet another spot when she winds up and decks Stacy with Terri nowhere near her. Terri rolls up Victoria for 1....2...no. Victoria scoop slams Terri but misses the top rope moonsault. Terri finally tags Terri who pounds away on Victoria. Trish hits a backdrop, two clotheslines and a neckbreaker. Trish covers for 1....2...no. Trish sends Victoria in the corner but a charge eats elbow. Trish hits Stratusphere anyway and covers for 1...2...no. Victoria stun guns Trish and hits a modified spinebuster. She covers for 1...2..no. Victoria holds Trish for Stacy who kicks Trish in the stomach. Stacy hits a heel kick and covers for 1...2..no. Stacy and Victoria goes for the double team but Trish fights out of it. Trish bulldogs Stacy and tags in Terri. Terri hits a flying crossbody off the top rope for 1..2....3 to win the match. Lawler wants some HLA from the winners but Ross says no dice. The match was awful since Terri and Stacy aren't wrestlers and Victoria messed a few things up. Things did pick up once it was Victoria and Trish but the other two just don't have the skills. Still, Vince and Johnny Ace wanted "divas" and that's what they got.

Time of match: 4:56

Winners: Trish and Terri by pinfall

Christopher Nowinsky is with William Regal who's now donning an Unamericans shirt. Nowinsky is mad that Regal is leaving him to join the Unamericans. Chris says that's fine because he's ready for some HLA. He goes to talk about the lesbians and Regal scrunches his face before slapping him. Regal says "Listen to yourself, man. Don't be daft. You're the smartest man here, and all you can think about are some scrubby lesbians or Rogering Molly Holly? You're an embarrassment, lad." Regal says to start acting like a Harvard graduate. Regal basically was saying what we're all thinking. I bet Ross wishes he could slap Lawler right about now.

Speaking of Nowinsky, here he comes for a soliloquy. Nowinsky says "Iowa State is being graced by an actual Harvard graduate." Nowinsky says they're one yard short of being a legitimate university. That was a shot at the Iowa State Cyclones that was stopped on the goaline to lose 38-31 to number 3 ranked Florida State two weeks earlier. Future star receiver Anquan Boldin was on the Seminoles as well as future New England Patriot PK Sam. Speaking of Patriots, cornerback Ellis Hobbs was on the Cyclones. Chris says Harvard has Rhodes Scholars while Iowa State has dirt roads. He then says "That's alright, that's okay, you'll work for us someday." and "Five, ten, fifteen bucks, we'll own the company and you drive the trucks." Finally here comes Tommy Dreamer in the obligatory Iowa State shirt and says "Roses are red, violets are lame, how about I beat you with my singapore canes?" Chris says 95% of the people here don't know where Singapore is and face him like a man. Dreamer rushes the ring and hits Chris with a spinebuster. Dreamer hits a neckbreaker and Nowinsky bails. Nowinsky hits Dreamer with the cane but Dreamer recovers to hit a White Russian leg sweep and starts caning Nowinsky all over inside the ring. Nowinsky finally retreats and we cut here. Another rookie/veteran situation looming.

We cut to Spike Dudley in the back getting ready for his title match and walks by the "lesbians." They say hi and he looks uncomfortable while saying hi. They introduce themselves as the lesbians and he goes to walk away. They wish him luck and ask why he's not wishing them good luck. He asks for what and they say for HLA as they kiss. Spike does a spittake with his water bottle as Lawler shrieks. Can we get this over with? On to the next match.

Match 4

Spike Dudley vs Triple H

Non title match for god knows what reason. Lawler is more concerned about Spike getting to meet the lesbians rather than this match as usual. HHH goes for a handshake and Spike takes it. Hunter backs Spike into the corner and patronizes him by turning his back to him. Spike gets a headlock and HHH throws him down. Spike gets a left arm ringer but HHH reverses it. Spike victory rolls Hunter and HHH brings him to the corner and backs off with a smile before slapping him. Spike slaps him back harder and then plays cat and mouse, ducking the line and dropping unter with forearms. HHH gets knocked to the outside and he looks shocked. HHH pulls Spike outside and heaves him into the barricade before sliding inside to stop the count. Hunter throws Spike in but Dudley gets a headbutt to the midsection and a neckbreaker. Spike covers for a deuce and HHH boots him in the head. Hunter unloads with right hands and a blatant choke. HHH hits a side backbreaker then hits another one as the crowd tries to rally Spike. Dudley hits a headscissors to send HHH dazed to the outside. Spike hits a plancha before climbing to the top rope with HHH sliding back in. Spike hits a whoopie cushion and covers for 1...2...no. Spike flies off the top into a forearm and Hunter hits the pedigree. Hunter doesn't cover him, instead he just stands there and laughs. HHH slaps Spike on the ground but Dudley hits a low blow after Hunter piefaces the referee. Spike hits the Acid Drop and covers for 1..2....nooooo, Hunter gets the foot on the rope. Spike beats his chest and tells him to come on. Spike goes for another acid drop but HHH throws him into the corner and hits a sleeperhold. Spike fades and the ref checks the arm....and calls for the bell. What???? When was the last time someone lost to a damn sleeperhold? The match itself was a good story but what's with the ending? That's even more humiliating than a simple pedigree and cover.

Time of match: 7:39

Winner: HHH by submission

Post match HHH kicks an out cold Spike until Bubba Ray Dudley hits the ring to back HHH down. HHH puts the belt on his shoulder and slowly leaves to a chorus of boos. JR says someday The Game and Bubba are going to find out who the toughest is. We cut to Coach with Jeff Hardy. He asks Jeff about his chance to be the number one contender and Jeff says it was his childhood dream to be champion. He doesn't feel 100% and sees someone off screen. Jeff spots Eric Bischoff talking with one of the producers and the Brooklyn Brawler of all people. Eric tries to sweet talk him and say don't worry about last week and Jeff cuts him off. Jeff yells about his time on Raw and threatens Eric that if he ever pulls a 3 Minute Warning on him again, he'll show Eric how to be extreme. JR hypes our main event as we got to break.

Back from commercial, Jericho is talking to Big Show. Jericho says "think about it" and leaves. Johnny Stamboli just happens to be standing there and Big Show reveals Jericho wants to team up. Wait about 8 years for that. Stamboli says if he was Big Show, he'd take the deal. Big Show grabs him and says to keep his mouth shut before throwing him across the room.

We cut to Coach and Booker T now. He asks about William Regal joining the Unamericans and now Booker and Goldust have to face Regal and Test. Booker goes to say what's great about the US when Goldust walks up wearing a Kane mask. Goldust pretends to be Kane and says they're going to win tonight. The real Kane shows up and takes the mask off Goldust and Goldust says he didn't see him there. Goldust asks about the Oakland A's, which was a reference to their 20 game win streak. Booker tries not to laugh. Bradshaw shows up and tells them to kick their ass and lets go watch some HLA. Goldust is aghast but Kane raises his hand to say "I'll go." Booker says this is what makes this country great. Booker "Where else can you find a beer drinking Texas cowboy, a big red freak like this, a gold freak like this and the five time (5x) WCW champion kicking some Unamerican and STILL have time to check out some hot lesbian action." Bradshaw likes it as Booker says "Can you dig that suckkkaaaaaaaa". Coach is laughing as Lawler screams "HLA!" On to the next match.

Match 5

Booker T and Goldust vs William Regal and Test

As if Summerslam wasn't bad enough, they got Regal and Test representing the Unamericans against B & G. The crowd is either chanting HLA or USA although Lawler finally comes up with something funny. He says he'd like to see things from The Unamericans' perspective but he'd have to get his head out of his ass first. Test slugs at Booker in the corner but a charge eats knee. Test runs into a superkick and Booker covers for 1...2...no. Goldust tags in who comes off the second rope with a forearm to the left arm. Regal tags in and Goldust hits the ass bump as Lawler once again starts babbling about HLA. Ross completely ignores him as Goldust is sent outside. Test punches away outside and Goldust is sent back inside. Regal gets a cover for 1...2..no. Test tags in and clubs Goldust in the corner as Ross says Regal could be an x-factor for the Unamericans. Regal tags in and kicks away at Goldust but G rallies with right hands only for Regal to drop a knee on him. Regal punches away on Goldust and kicks him down to the first rope. Regal chokes him against the rope and tags Test in. Goldust eats a knee to the ribs but rolls out of the pump handle slam. Goldust hits a neckbreaker and gets the hot tag to Booker. Booker cleans house of both heels, axe kicking Regal. Goldust kicks Test outside as Regal uppercuts Book. Booker hits the scissors kick and does the spinaroonie. Booker ducks the big boot and hits the axe kick on Test. Regal hits Booker with the brass knuckles as Lance Storm, Christian, Kane and Bradshaw all run in for a brawl. Bradshaw is favoring his left arm but the Unamericans retreat. The official decision is a double DQ but Kane hit Regal first. Now this mostly likely was going to lead to an 8 man but the problem was Bradshaw would be out. Oh well.

Time of match: 5:50

Winner: No one (Double DQ)

The camera shows the "lesbians" as Lawler cheers again. The two ladies hold hands and walk to the ring. Ross must be wanting to eat his own hat by now. After commercial, Eric Bischoff is in the ring as he calls the wedding on Smackdown a cheap publicity stunt. Eric introduces the lesbians and they get their own entrance graphic which would become a meme 22 years later. Lawler watches with binoculars as Ross isn't thrilled at all. Eric says the fans want to see the lesbians with each other and gets the crowd to chant HLA. Yeah wonderful, they gonna do anything? Eric asks Jenny (the tall one) if she wants Tanya (the blonde) and she says yes. He asks Tanya what she wants and she wants Jenny bad. They start fondling each other up with Eric narrating like a creep. Lawler continually shouts and screams as Ross says "I can't believe this." Jenny and Tanya strip down and feel each other up as Lawler continues to whoop it up. The lesbians go to kiss and they kind of block the view of the camera and it doesn't look like they're actually kissing. I know they were hired to do a job, but they couldn't even do it right. Eric says "Sex and violence always sells"...uh oh. Eric says the show has gone on long enough....and here comes 3 Minute Warning. Jim Ross "Oh my god, you gotta be kidding me." Jenny and Tanya turn around and Jamal superkicks Jenny in the ribs for real. Woah. Rosey grabs Tanya by the hair and goes to press slam her out of the ring. Instead he throws her into Jamal who hit a Samoan drop. At least they can bump. Rosey throws the girls on top of each other and Jamal splashes them off the top rope. Bischoff laughs as the crowd is more apathetic than anything. Bischoff complained about Stephanie doing a publicity stunt and he just pulled one of his own. 3 Minute Warning leave as the great RD Reynolds over at Wrestlecrap.com (cheap plug) pointed out that supposedly Kane, Goldust, Bradshaw and Booker were watching and could have easily stopped this. The lesbians get stretchered off and are never seen again. Ross plugs our main event as we go to break.

Back from break Rob Van Dam, the Intercontinental Champion, is walking in the back when he shakes hands with Ric Flair. Flair says Rob's win last week was off the charts and RVD says it was just another night. Flair says the game was over when Rob hit the frogsplash and he'll be the next WHC if he can win tonight. On to the final match.

Match 6

Chris Jericho vs Big Show vs Jeff Hardy vs Rob Van Dam in an Elimination Fatal-Four-Way Match

Winner goes to Unforgiven and its elimination rules. They kind of telegraphed the ending by having Rob win the week before, otherwise the illusion if Jeff Hardy winning might have more merit. Rob enters wearing a Lugz t-shirt as the bell rings. The future Jeri-Show attacks the others but Jeff backdrops Jericho to the floor. Big Show misses a charge and RVD drops down for Jeff Hardy to try Poetry In Motion, but Show catches Hardy and heaves him over the top. Jericho drops an elbow on Rob as JR brings up former 400 pound Iowa olympic wrestler Chris Taylor who won the Bronze in 1972 while saying Big Show is bigger than him. Unfortunately Taylor died in 1979 at age 29. Big Show rocket launches Jericho but Van Dam moves out of the way. Hardy and Van Dam both go upstairs and hit missile dropkicks. Jeff hits a swanton bomb and covers for 1...2...no, Show heaves Jeff from the cover to the floor. Rob Van Dam hits rolling thunder and covers for 1...2..no, Show bench presses Rob onto the referee Earl Hebner. Jericho gets a chair and waffles both Hardy and Rob with it. Show punches the chair out of Jericho's hand and picks it up. Jericho fakes being hit and Hebner disqualifies BIG SHOW. You think Eddie Guerrero started that? Think again. Anyway, Show in a rage chokeslams Jericho, Hardy and Van Dam. Show throws a tantrum as we go to commercial. 

Back from break, Show is gone and Jericho stomps away at Van Dam. Jericho hits a heel kick on him but misses a springboard to the floor. RVD hits a somersault plancha to Jericho on the floor but Hardy baseball slides Rob down. Jeff runs across the barricade and hits a flying double clothesline. Back inside Jericho goes up to the top rope but Van Dam kicks him. Jeff and Rob hit a double top rope superplex. Both faces hit a double heel kick on Jericho but Rob clubs Hardy. Hardy hits the rolling slam and moonsault for 1...2..no. Jeff turns an armdrag into a tornado DDT that damn near broke Rob's neck. Jeff covers for 1..2.....no. Jeff is pushed off the top rope by Jericho and Chris hits the lionsault for 1...2...3..to eliminate JEFF HARDY.

Down to RVD and Y2J, Rob hits a heel kick and covers for 1..2....no. Jericho hits a released German suplex that also looked like Rob broke his neck. Jericho covers for 1..2...no as even the announcers are concerned for Rob's health. Jericho locks in a surfboard but Rob powers out of it. Jericho sends Rob into the corner but the charge eats ring post. Rob kicks Jericho and a monkey flip sends Chris halfway across the ring. RVD covers for a deuce as one of the turnbuckle pads is missing. Rob goes for rolling thunder but Jericho got the knees up. Jericho for 1...2...no. Jericho calls Rob a sonovabitch and chops him in the corner. Jericho misses a plancha and Rob hits the split legged moonsault for 1..2...no. A charge by Rob eats boot and Jericho hits the bulldog. Jericho misses the lionsault and Rob counters with a heel kick. Rob goes up to the top but misses the five star frog splash. Jericho hits the lionsault for 1..2...nooooo. Jericho goes for the Walls but Rob cradles him up for 1...2...noooo. Rob hits another heel kick as HHH comes down to scout the winner. Rob is rolled up with Jericho's feet on the ropes for 1..2...no. Jericho is slingshotted into the exposed turnbuckle and Rob hits a springboard dropkick. Rob goes up to the top and hits the five star frog splash. Rob covers for 1..2...3 to win the match. JR "VAN DAM! VAN DAM IS GOING TO UNFORGIVEN!" HHH looks concerned as Rob trash talks him inside the ring. Things picked up once Big Show was gone and as usual, Y2J/RVD was a great segment. Its gonna be RVD vs HHH at Unforgiven.

Time of match: 15:43

Winner: Rob Van Dam by pinfall

That was one of the worst Raw's of all time both in terms of content and ratings. The HLA stunt backfired as they did a 3.4 cable rating, their lowest number since the spring of 1998. Not to mention it was tasteless and made women feel like nothing but sex objects to be beaten up by heels. Lawler wouldn't shut up for two seconds the whole night and it got annoying. Regal joined the Unamericans to give them another body for the stable matches with Booker & Goldust although say goodbye to Bradshaw for awhile. Still, the main event was the only match truly worth watching and Rob winning punched his ticket to Unforgiven. The IC Champ vs the WHC champ is the Raw main event at Unforgiven, although we only have one Raw left to establish some other matches. The next show after this is Smackdown on Thursday. I'll see you there.

WWE at US Cellular Arena (9/8/02)

US Cellular Arena

Cedar Rapids, IA

September 8, 2002

The stars of Raw head to Cedar Rapids, Iowa for a house show on this Sunday evening. Raw's main event for the upcoming Unforgiven pay-pew-view might be Intercontinental Champion Rob Van Dam vs World Heavyweight Champion Triple H. Let's see what else Raw has to offer on the house show circuit.

Match 1

Spike Dudley vs Johnny Stamboli

Same match from last week with the same result. Spike wins with the Acid Drop.

Winner: Dudley by pinfall

Match 2

Justin Credible vs Shelton Benjamin

Same match from last week and Benjamin wins it with the dragon whip.

Winner: Benjamin by pinfall

Match 3

D-Lo Brown vs Raven

Same match as all week and this time D-Lo wins it with the Lo Down.

Winner: D-Lo by pinfall

Match 4

Steven Richards vs Bradshaw

The ECW alumni gets his head taken off by the clothesline from hell. Bradshaw wins.

Winner: Bradshaw by pinfall

Match 5

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

Stacy Keibler was the special guest referee and Molly wins it with the Flair pin on Trish.

Winners: Victoria and Molly by pinfall

Match 6

Bubba Ray Dudley vs Chris Jericho

Same match as last week with the same result. Jericho wins it with the Walls of Jericho.

Winner: Jericho by pinfall

Match 7

Test vs Jeff Hardy

This was an interesting match as Test got physical with referee Charles Robinson. Test pushed Charles and Charles pushed back....right into a Hardy roll up for the win.

Winner: Hardy by pinfall

Match 8

William Regal and Christopher Nowinski vs Booker T & Goldust vs Lance Storm & Christian for the WWE Tag Team Championship in an elimination match

Elimination match meaning one team survives. Booker T took out Nowinski with the scissors kick but Test interfered to hit Goldust with the big boot, aiding Storm & Christian to victory.

Winners: Storm and Christian by pinfall (still tag team champions)

Match 9

Tommy Dreamer vs Big Show in a No Disqualification Match

Years later this would be an "extreme rules" match but for now its simply No-DQ. Show wins it with a chokeslam on a garbage can.

Winner: Big Show by pinfall

Match 10

Rob Van Dam vs Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship

As was the standard, the main event of a ppv would be on the house show circuit to build chemistry for the two involved. Rob's IC title was not on the line in this match. Triple H hit a low blow then the pedigree for the victory.

Winner: HHH by pinfall (still World Heavyweight Champion)

If you're wondering why this was the same card as last week, the internet was in its infancy and camera phones didn't exist. Facebook and Myspace didn't exist so unless you had a Geocities or Angelfire page, nobody knew these matches existed. They could run the same card on each house show and nobody would be the wiser. Still, a 10 match card featuring almost the whole roster is nothing to sneeze at. The stars of Smackdown were in the Gund Arena in Cleveland on this night for their own house show. I'll see you there.

WWE at Rushmore Plaza Civic Center (9/7/02)

Rushmore Plaza Civic Center

Rapid City, SD

September 7, 2002

The stars of Raw were in Sioux Falls, South Dakota last night and now they're in Rapid City for Saturday night's house show. We have a new World Heavyweight Champion in Triple H but Intercontinental Champion Rob Van Dam is hot on his trail. Let's get to the matches.

Match 1

Johnny Stamboli vs Spike Dudley

Same match as yesterday with the same result. 

Winner: Dudley

Match 2

Shelton Benjamin vs Justin Credible

Same match as yesterday but Shelton wins this one.

Winner: Benjamin

Match 3

Goldust and Bradshaw vs William Regal and Christopher Nowinski vs Christian and Lance Storm in a triple threat elimination tag match

Bradshaw was subbing for Booker T who was either sick, hurt or on assignment in this match. The faces eliminated Regal and Nowinski but Storm and Christian beat Goldust and Bradshaw to retain.

Winners: Storm and Christian (still tag team champions)

Match 4

Steven Richards (with Raven) vs D-Lo Brown

A mini Raven's Flock reunion has Raven in the corner of Steven against D-Lo Brown. Raven hit the Evenflow on Brown so Richards got the pin.

Winner: Richards by pinfall

Match 5

Chris Jericho vs Rob Van Dam for the WWE Intercontinental Championship

Finally a new match as RVD takes on Y2J for the IC strap. Van Dam wins it to retain.

Winner: Van Dam (Still IC Champ)

Match 6

Trish Stratus and Jacqueline vs Victoria and Molly Holly

Stacy Keibler is the special guest referee and she fast counts Trish and Jackie to give the win to Victoria and Molly.

Winners: Victoria and Molly Holly

Match 7

Tommy Dreamer vs Big Show in a Street Fight

Rematch from Raw only with ECW rules. Big Show still got the win.

Winner: Big Show

Match 8

Bubba Ray Dudley vs Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship

Usually house show matches are practice for a TV match coming up or a rematch from the prior week. In this case, we may be seeing Bubba vs HHH on TV. HHH wins this one.

Winner: HHH (Still World Heavyweight Champion)

Seems like a solid show even if Booker T was out. HHH as the champion at least gives the rest of the roster something to fight for. Jericho vs RVD should be on TV soon, same with Bubba vs HHH. All in all it doesn't seem like a bad show. Next up on the list is tonight's episode of Velocity. I'll see you there.