RAW spoilers

Hanza

Hot crowd + hot main event = strong build for the PPV

The SmarK RAW Rant – April 12 2004

- Live from Chicago, IL.

- Your hosts are JR & King.

- Meanwhile, Shelton Benjamin gripes to Uncle Eric about getting beat up last week, but the rest of his team calm him down and prevent any baseball bats from getting shoved up Johnny Nitro’s ass. Oh well, maybe next week.

- Opening interview: Mick Foley and his bat come out with words for Randy Orton, and there shall be some romping and/or stomping later tonight, because he’s all fired up and stuff. However, he’s not sure that Mick Foley is the guy to put an end to the career of a guy as good-looking and talented as Orton, so he’ll have to leave it to Cactus Jack. He explains the differences for new fans, and then Orton makes an ill-advised run-in attempt and gets chased off.

- Kane v. Grandmaster Sexay. Rather odd choice for Brian Christopher’s return, as you’d think Smackdown would be the only logical place for him. Kane tosses him down and swats a dropkick aside, but misses the elbowdrop. GM gets a seated dropkick for two. Enzuigiri is no-sold by Kane, who comes back with the big boot and slugs away on the mat. Corner clothesline and sideslam set up the chokeslam at 1:58. Well, either it’s just a one-shot deal, or they have absolutely no intention of pushing him, because he’s dead in the water one match back in. ½*

- Meanwhile, Trish bitches about the PPV, but gets bugged by Eugene.

- Tajiri v. The Mysterious Five-Star Ninja. If Tajiri wins this grueling battle, he gets Coach at the PPV. The Ninja takes Tajiri down with a legsweep, but gets armdragged. The Ninja fires off some kicks, but gets hit with a handspring. The Ninja comes back with a back kick and stomps away in the corner, but Tajiri backslides him. The Ninja counters into the corner, allowing Tajiri to try the Tarantula, but Coach breaks it up with a cheapshot, and the Ninja gets two. Tajiri comes back with a pair of kicks for the pin at 3:47. To the shock of roughly no one, it’s Al Snow. They should have just called him Shinobi, since no one would get the joke anyway. *

- Meanwhile, Flair petitions for a match with Benjamin at Backlash. That should be good. He opens the door and promptly gets punked out by Shelton. That ruled.

- Highlight Reel time, as Jericho lays down the insults on Christian and Trish to lead up to the match on Sunday. He even pulls a clip of Trish barking like a dog for Vince in 2001. Anyway, the guest is Lita, but Trish punks her out, and we have an impromptu match after the break.

- Lita v. Trish Stratus. JIP with Trish firing away in the corner with kicks and choking away, but Lita slugs back until running into a bicycle kick that gets two for Trish. Lita monkey-flips her, but Trish punches her down and hits the chinlock. That goes on for a while. Lita fights out and works her over in the corner with weak knees, and then blocks the bulldog. They slug it out, which is pathetic to watch, and Lita gets her trusty monkey-flip again and a snap suplex. Clothesline gets two. Russian legsweep gets two. Corner clothesline, but Trish blocks another one and slugs her down. They manage to **** up an Irish whip and Trish gets dumped, valiantly bumping to try and save this mess, and Lita follows with a tope suicida. Christian sends her into the railing for the DQ at 6:05. ¼* The women’s title match is gonna be BRUTAL, especially if Lita is taking whatever drugs she seems to be on as of late. Jericho tries to get revenge on Trish, but Christian saves and it’s heel beatdown time. Good build for the match on Sunday.

- Johnny Nitro (now with Nitro-themed graphics) comes out with a statement on behalf of Uncle Eric, and calls out Edge. Looks like Edge’s old theme is back for financial reasons. Nitro informs him that using the cast against Kane is an automatic suspension. Edge delivers his own statement for Eric – a spear for Johnny.

- Sylvain Grenier v. Hurricane. Hurricane grabs a headlock to start, but Grenier makes the ropes and they slug it out. Hurricane tries a headscissors, but gets dropped on the top rope and stomped down. Grenier works on the arm and whips him into the corner, for two. Into the abdominal stretch, but Hurricane armdrags out of it. Grenier clotheslines him for two. Backbreaker gets two. Eugene saves the match by joining us at ringside with a stuffed bunny for Rob Conway, which is apparently connected to something that we didn’t see here in Canada, but Grenier abuses the bunny. Hurricane gets the Eye of the Hurricane for the pin at 4:13. So, so boring. ¾*

- We take a special look at Mick Foley’s history of violence, as he prepares to return to Cactus Jack against Orton.

- Backlash rundown:

- Foley v. Orton
- Christian / Trish v. Jericho
- Shelton Benjamin v. Ric Flair
- Edge v. Kane
- Tajiri v. Coach
- Victoria v. Lita.
- HHH v. Shawn Michaels v. Chris Benoit

- HHH, Randy Orton, Ric Flair & Batista v. Chris Benoit, Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley & Shelton Benjamin. Shawn starts with Flair and overpowers him quickly, playing some mindgames. Into the corner for a slap that triggers a Flair Flop. Flair comes back with chops, but so does Shawn, and it’s a backdrop that brings Foley in for more punishment to Flair. Kneelift and Flair gets pinballed in the face corner. Benoit gives him the chops until Flair finally tags HHH in, but Benoit is all BRING IT ON. To the corner, where Benoit fires at will and HHH has nowhere to go. Snap suplex gets two. HHH USES THE KNEE to come back, but Benoit keeps up the chops. That’s just sick. Benoit puts his head down, but HHH’s Pedigree attempt is reversed to the Sharpshooter. It’s BONZO GONZO, breaking loose in Tulsa and a pier-six brawl, and the heels bail, so Shawn hits them with a somersault plancha and we take a break. We return with HHH pounding on Benoit, as he appears to be YOUR face-in-peril. Flair pounds him down with chops for two. HHH switches in and chokes away. Batista powers Benoit down, and Flair comes back in with more chops. They slug it out and Benoit elbows him down, bringing Foley back in. He destroys Flair in the corner and Benjamin comes in with a flying clothesline for two. HHH saves, so Benjamin takes care of him, too, then goes back to Flair with a backdrop. Flair goes to the eyes and HHH low-bridges him to put him on the floor, and Benjamin is face-in-peril #2. Back in, Evolution switches off and pounds the neck, and Orton gets two. High dropkick gets two. HHH comes in and they slug it out, but HHH gets the MAIN EVENT SPINEBUSTER for two. Abdominal stretch, with Orton’s help, but Foley runs in and breaks things up, which allows more shenanigans from the heels. Flair comes in with a chop and he works on the previously-cut forehead of Benjamin. Shelton fights back and they slug it out in intense fashion, until Flair goes the cheap route and brings Batista back in. Gutbuster and he works on the abs with knees, but runs into a boot in the corner, which turns into the Dragon Whip. Hot tag Shawn, as he backdrops Orton and gives atomic drops to the rest. Flying forearm, but Batista kills him with a clothesline and it’s a huge brawl again. Benjamin gets the Stinger splash on Orton, and Michaels follows with the flying elbow to set up the superkick, but he stops to hit Flair with it and gets RKO’d. Orton gets two, but Benoit breaks it up with the flying headbutt. HHH tosses him into the post, but gets jumped by Foley. KICK WHAM PEDIGREE attempt, but Foley dumps him over the top to block that, and it’s the Mandible Claw for Orton. Batista saves him and kills Foley on the floor, but Shawn fights back up and superkicks Orton for the pin at 20:31. Good hot action throughout, great finishing sequence, and the scary thing is that most of the guys were hardly used and they could have gone another 20:00 if need be. ****

The Bottom Line:

While most of the wrestling outside of the main event was nothing to write home about, the angles all drove home the build for the PPV very well, and it was overall a very fun show with a super-hot main event that made me legitimately interested to see the show on Sunday. Which is good, because I’ll be there live and also in Calgary for RAW the next night. Not sure how that’ll affect the rant, but I’ll figure something out.

Good stuff this week.