World Wrestling Entertainment 2004

[Quasar]

When I heard about EWB and all of the good fantasy wrestling that it had here, I had no idea that it could be this good.

Fitzy, you are a great writer. One of the best that I've ever seen do this actually. As someone who's looking to do an EWR diary, reading something like this certainly gives me a great deal of information as to what is needed to have a good one.

What I Like

- Johnny Nitro, I loved it when John Hennigan did this in real life. Nitro has witty lines and his egotism is so over the top that it's hysterical.

- The amount of detail that you put into your matches. I've read a lot of efed writeups and other fantasy wrestling items and these have to be some of the best writeups that I've ever seen. I can read one of your matches and get deeply lost in it.

- Your booking, I can't wait to see what happens with Triple H and him getting back in the World Title picture. Chris Benoit as World Heavyweight Champion is awesome and of course, it happened at the time so I can't credit you with that. Benoit keeping the belt was great and I like how you are booking him as being the focus of your shows as opposed to making it "The Triple H Show" like WWE did. I love seeing Chris Benoit reign supreme as champion and I hope that Benoit gets to have another successful championship defense at Bad Blood. Booker T going to SmackDown will be interesting, especially finding out as to whom RAW will get in return.

- Unlike some others, I am actually interested in seeing the Kane and Undertaker storyline advance. Kane losing at Backlash could turn out to be good, depending on how well you execute the angle. The Undertaker wouldn't make a bad addition to Randy Orton's killed legends list.

- Lance Storm's push, I'm interested in finding as to whether or not Orton will respond. Randy Orton vs. Lance Storm would be interesting match. Only problem is that you may accidentally turn Storm back into a face by doing it in the States. I also like seeing Val Venis getting a serious air time as well. Good job on spotlighting these underutilized talents.

- I also like seeing Jerry Lawler fired and replaced with Don Callis. Don Callis is a great color guy and clashes well with Jim Ross.

You know, I can't find anything that I'll bash you on. Honestly, I've seen and read a lot of fantasy wrestling as well as looked around here. I want to start an EWR Diary here and I was told that this was the place to do so and by reading these diaries here, I can see that this place has a high volume of good writers here. Good job guys and good job Fitzy. So far, Fitz, you are the best writer that I've seen. Good job dude.

I have to ask, where did CM Punk (The Writer) go?

[Fitzy]

RAW

LIVE! Monday, April 26, 2004

Kansas Expocentre

Topeka, Kansas

Who’s The Number One Contender?

The show opens up with Eric Bischoff and Johnny Nitro standing in the middle of the ring. No pyrotechnics, no opening video, no recap of last week, just Nitro and Bischoff standing in the center of the ring.

Eric Bischoff: Last week on Raw, both Edge and Triple H made claims that they are the number one contenders. But the fact is, neither one of them are. Neither one has earned the right to be called the number one contender to Chris Benoit’s World Heavyweight Championship. But tonight … right now, I will make a match that will determine the number one contender. [The crowd cheers as they assume the match is happening tonight.] In two weeks … [The crowd boos as they know realize they are not getting the number one contenders match.] Yup, that’s right. In two weeks, in San Jose, there will be a battle royal. Fifteen of the best Raw superstars will step into the ring and the last match standing will go to Bad Blood and will take on Chris Benoit for the World Heavyweight Championship. Now, I will name the participants. And the first wrestler to be entered? It’s you … Johnny Nitro!

Johnny Nitro looks completely shocked. He is wide-eyed, yet ecstatic. He quickly snatches the microphone from Eric Bischoff.

Johnny Nitro: EB, dude, this is AWESOME! I told you before, I should be the World Heavyweight Championship because I am the most popular Superstar to ever step foot inside this ring. [“Johnny Sucks” chants start and Nitro is completely unfazed. He just stands there, smiling, posing for the camera.] Chris Benoit, I am going to outlast the fourteen WWE losers and I am going to take what belongs to me, ’cause I am Johnny Nitro~!

Eric Bischoff takes the microphone back from Nitro and begins to speak.

Bischoff: And now, as for the other Raw Superstars, we will see “Y2J” Chris Jericho [The crowd cheers and chants “Y2J.”] And now, all you peeps will love this, Christian is entered in the battle royal. [surprising, a good portion of the crowd actually cheers that. Is there that many peeps out there? But the majority is booing Christian.] Christian’s Problem Solvers will also get a chance to shine as Johnny Swinger and Simon Diamond have been entered. Shawn Michaels is also going to be involved. [A loud pop for HBK.] And both Edge and Triple H will be put into the match to earn their spots. [The crowd first cheered for Edge and then booed for Triple H.] Now, before I say the next name, let me first say this. Booker T, I don’t know how your contract slipped by, but my legal team is looking this over and SOMEONE will be fired over this situation. But if you don’t want to be part of Raw, and you think Paul Heyman and Smackdown is the better place, you are missing out of a huge opportunity like this, but that’s your loss. Now, as for your former partner, Book, Rob Van Dam will get a huge opportunity now. He is going to be the ninth Superstar to be entered in the battle royal. [The crowd first chanted “Booker T sucks.” Then with the announcement of RVD making the battle royal, the fans chant “RVD.”] That leaves six more left. The tenth Raw Superstar to be entered is the Hurricane. [Not as loud of a cheer as any of the other faces, but a good reaction non-the-less.] Also, the World Tag Team Champions, Batista … [The crowd boos Batista.] … And “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair are both participating. [The crowd chants “WOOOOOO!” with that announcement.] And the fourth Evolution member, the WWE Intercontinental Champion, “The Legend Killer” Randy Orton is also going to be involved! [“Randy Sucks” chants begin in the crowd.] The fourteenth participant is a man who has been making waves here since being drafted, and in fact is going to be getting a huge match tonight. That match is when he takes on the World Heavyweight Champion Chris Benoit tonight. It may be a non-title match, but it’s a huge match for him. His name is Jamie Noble! And now, I had two guys in mind to take the fifteen and final spot and I cannot name either man the rightful spot. So, next week, we will see these two guys wrestle. But at Backlash and last week on Raw, they both battled in two really good matches. They both won each match. So next week will be the rubber match as Lance Storm takes on Val Venis with the winner being the fifteenth and final participant! [The crowd boos Lance Storm and some cheer for Val Venis, but not a whole lot cheer for him.] Thank you for your time and good luck to all involved!

Johnny Nitro once again takes the microphone from Bischoff.

Nitro: They will need all the luck in the world, EB! You are looking at the next World Heavyweight Champion right here, baby!

(83)

The crowd boos as Nitro smiles, runs his hands through his hair, and then poses for cameras, yet none go off. Again, he looks unfazed, still smiling and posing. Bischoff shakes his head and walks off. Nitro soon follows behind. And now the WWE opening video takes place, ten minutes past the usual spot, and the pyrotechnics display goes off.

Jim Ross: What a huge announcement we just heard, Don! A battle royal to crown the number one contender. Fifteen of Raw’s best will collide in that battle royal in two weeks! And not only that, but we have a huge main event to announce. It’s going to be all of Evolution taking on Shawn Michaels, Edge, Hurricane, and Rob Van Dam in eight-man tag team action!

Don Callis: I call Eric Bischoff on his discrimination against all Canadians. Why isn’t my boy Lance Storm involved? Why does he need to win a match? Why doesn’t that piece of crap Shawn Michaels need to earn his spot? Why doesn’t Hurricane need to earn his spot? Why doesn’t Jericho or even Edge need to earn his spot? This is unfair!

Ross: While there is no doubt in my mind that BOTH Lance Storm and Val Venis deserve to be in the match, it’s all up to Eric Bischoff who gets in and who doesn’t. But I liked both matches theses two athletes put on at Backlash in Edmonton and on Raw the next night in Calgary. This is the third in what is now a best of three series. It should be just as good, Don! But I can agree with you on one thing. I’d put both of these two in there instead of Johnny Nitro. What’s going on with that? He certainly doesn’t deserve that spot.

Match One – “Y2J” Chris Jericho vs. Johnny Swinger with Christian, Lance Storm, Simon Diamond, and Trish Stratus

“Just Close Your Eyes” by Waterproof Blonde begins to play and Johnny Swinger, along with Christian, Lance Storm, Simon Diamond, and Trish Stratus all make their entrance.

Ross: Oh, give me a break! The referee cannot allow Christian, Lance Storm, Simon Diamond, and Trish Stratus all down at ringside for this match! It’s unfair to Chris Jericho! This should be a one-on-one contest!

Johnny and Simon pull up on the middle rope while pushing down with their foot on the bottom rope to allow Trish Stratus to enter the ring. They then hold the ropes open by sitting down on the middle rope, lifting up on the top rope with their arm to allow Christian and Lance Storm to enter and then they both get into the ring. Johnny Swinger takes off his trench coat and black shades and tosses them to the outside just as the countdown begins. “Y2J” flashes on the screen over and over.

“Come on, Jericho, you know I got ya. Yeah. One. Break The Walls Down!”

“Break Down The Walls” begins to play and Chris Jericho is shown with his arms spread wide apart on the stage as the crowd goes nuts for him. Jericho suddenly turns around and walks down the rope. He isn’t about to enter the ring, though as it’s basically four on one right now.

Callis: Even though I use to be a huge Jericho fan, what a baby he has turned into these past few years. Beating on women, afraid to get into the ring. What’s next, cry after a loss?

Ross: I think you boy, Christian, already has the crying after a loss part covered. As for Jericho not entering the ring. Are you kidding me? It’s already unfair. It’s basically four on one. It’s like he is being feed to the wolves right now. He can’t get into the ring without being outnumbered. Referee Brian Hebner needs to do something about this damn unfair situation! Folks, we need to takes a quick commercial break. I hope, for Jericho’s sake, that when we return Brian Hebner will order Christian and his Coalition members out of the ringside area!

[Commercial.]

We are back from the commercial break and Chris Jericho has Johnny Swinger down in a pin. One … Two … kickout by Johnny Swinger. A quick pan to the right shows that referee Brian Hebner did not remove Christian, Lance Storm, Simon Diamond, or Trish Stratus, but they haven’t done anything, yet, to warrant removal. Jericho picks up Swinger and whips him into the ropes. Jericho catches him in a sleeper hold and goes to drop him for the Flashback, but Swinger manages to escape the hold before Jericho could drop down. Jericho runs for Swinger, but Swinger pulls down the top rope and Jericho goes over the top rope. Much to his luck, he was able to hold on to the top rope and landed on the ring apron. Swinger charged in and Jericho ducked down and shoulder blocked him through the top and middle ropes right into the midsection. Jericho flipped over the back of Swinger. Turning around now, he grabbed Swinger by the left shoulder and swung him around only to have Swinger land a solid right to the face. Jericho staggered backwards, but he returned with a stiff chop to the chest. Swinger punched Jericho again only to have Jericho once again retaliate with a devastating chop. Jericho backed Swinger into the corner and then grabbed him by the left arm and whipped him into the opposite corner. Swinger ran in, back first, into the corner and Jericho charged at him only to have Swinger lift up his right boot right into the face of Jericho. Jericho, clutching at his face to see if any blood had appeared, then charged back into the corner only to have Swinger grab him by the neck and switch places with him. Swinger punched him again and then hooked him up and placed him on the top rope. Swinger got onto the middle rope and Jericho tried to push him off, but Swinger held his balance and slapped Jericho across the face and then hooked him up and brought him down to the mat with a nicely executed Superplex. Swinger floated over for the cover, but didn’t hook the leg. One … Two … kickout by Jericho.

“Y2J” chants broke out as Swinger sat across the chest of Jericho and held his head up with his left hand while he punched him with the right. Johnny picked up Jericho and whipped him into the ropes and upon the return hit a back body drop and made another cover. One … Two … kickout by Jericho. Swinger picked up Jericho, locking up with him. Swinger grabbed Jericho by the neck and slowly twisted the neck only to have a sudden drop to the mat hitting a beautifully neckbreaker. Swinger made the cover, again, failing to hook the leg. One … Two … kickout by Jericho.

Johnny Swinger picked up Chris Jericho and whipped him into the ropes. He took Jericho down with a nice deep armdrag. Holding onto the arm, Swinger now had Jericho in a standing armbar. With his free right arm, he began pressing down on the neck, tilting it to the right. Swinger began to dig his right knee into the spine of Jericho, all the while still holding onto the arm in and neck. But Swinger broke the pressure on the neck and quickly grabbed Jericho’s right arm and began pulling both his arms towards himself. Jericho’s arms were now stretched out, horizontally behind his back. Swinger finally broke the hold only to drop down onto Jericho and he made the cover, this time actually hooking the leg. One … Two … Th … NO! Kickout by Jericho to a loud pop!

Swinger, frustrated, began kicking Jericho while he was down, but Jericho began to move. He was slowly getting onto his knees, but Swinger ran off the ropes and hit a nice dropkick to the face. He made another pin on Jericho. One … Two … Th, no! Kickout by Jericho. Swinger punched Jericho back down. One … Two … T, no! Kickout again! One … Two … kickout by Jericho. Swinger, enraged now, picked up Jericho and tried to whip him into the ropes, but Jericho reversed it, and tried his own. But Swinger finally reversed it back and this time sent Jericho into the ropes. But upon Jericho’s return, he went right down to the legs and rolled up Swinger. One … Two … kickout by Swinger.

Jericho got a quick roll up on Swinger, but it wasn’t enough to put one half of the Problem Solvers away. Jericho got up and whipped Swinger into the ropes. He ran off the ropes himself and hit a nice flying forearm on Swinger and then ran off the ropes. He leaped up to the middle rope and flipped backwards, but he landed on his feet as Swinger rolled out of the way. Swinger was up and went to punch Jericho, but Jericho blocked the punch and landed a punch of his own. Jericho quickly brought Swinger down onto his back by pulling the legs out from under him. Swinger squirmed on the ground as Jericho tried to turn him over for the Walls of Jericho. The crowd was cheering for Jericho as he finally turned Swinger onto his stomach and sat on his back for the Walls of Jericho. “Tap, Tap, Tap” chants were directed at Swinger but he reached for the ropes to force Brian Hebner to break Jericho’s submission. As Hebner forced Jericho off of him, Simon Diamond reached into his trench coat pocket and pulled something out of it and handed it to Johnny Swinger.

Johnny got up and Jericho pushed Hebner aside. Hebner staggered to the side, slightly shaken up, and this gave Swinger just enough time to nail Jericho straight in the forehead with something. Swinger quickly tossed it aside and Jericho crashed to the mat. Swinger made the cover just as Hebner got finished shaking off the push to the side. He made the count. One … Two … Three! And Johnny Swinger just got not only his first victory in his WWE career, but a victory by cheating. The camera zoomed in just as Simon Diamond was about to pick up the object. It was a roll of Canadian quarters. Diamond quickly put them back into his coat pocket as he, Lance Storm, Christian, and Trish Stratus all got into the ring.

Winner: Johnny Swinger in 13:23.

(93, 87, 85) *** ½

The Coalition is in Full Force!

Ross: Ah! Come on! I knew this would happen! The referee made a very bad call in allowing the Canadians to stay at ringside. I knew they would make this unfair for Chris Jericho to get the victory! Damn them to hell!

Callis: Tremendous! Johnny Swinger gets the big victory over Chris Jericho and he did it all on his own! Well done, boys, well done!

Ross: How can you even say that? It was clearly not a victory all by Swinger. He needed to use the foreign object, more specifically, the roll of Canadian quarters, to get the victory! This is a tainted victory and you know it!

Simon Diamond helps his partner and fellow Problem Solver, Johnny Swinger. Lance Storm gets behind Jericho, holding him up by the arms and Christian grabs Jericho’s jaw, talking to him. Christian slaps his chest and then kisses his right index and middle finger and raises it to the crowd before slapping Jericho across the face with that very same hand. Trish Stratus steps up and slaps Jericho right across the face as well. But she adds a second slap, just as hard as the one she just delivered. Christian points to Diamond and Swinger and motions to them to take Jericho down.

“Hello, Ladies!” is heard and Val Venis comes running down. But what a mistake that was because as soon as he slides into the ring, Simon Diamond and Johnny Swinger quickly put the boots to him. But Storm tells them to back off and he grabs Val Venis and runs off the ropes and hits a beautiful leg lariat on him and then he grabs the left leg of Val Venis and puts him in the Straightshooter to tons of heel heat. Christian slaps Simon and Swinger both on the chest and tells to them finish off Jericho. Simon Diamond lifts up Jericho and Johnny Swinger grabs his neck, hitting the elevated DDT, the Problem Solver! Christian drops down to the mat and begins to talk trash to Jericho as he is motionless on the mat. Christian stands up and slaps his chest repeatedly.

“I’m Back!” is heard and sure enough, Raw’s General Manger, Eric Bischoff is back out.

Bischoff: As I see it, this issue between you, Christian, and Chris Jericho is far from over. But in order to settle the score between you two, we need one more match. One more match that should put and end to all of this and send you two on your separate ways. This has been going on since WrestleMania XX and I want it to come to a head. So next week, Christian, in order to make it all far, their will be no one at ringside. Trish, Lance, Simon, and Johnny will all be barred from ringside. [The crowd cheers that announcement.] But that’s not all. In order to make it fair and to ensure that no one interferes, this match … this match will be in a STEEL CAGE! [The crowd pops huge for that match and Christian looked completely shocked, some might even say afraid. Simon Diamond and Johnny Swinger a flipping out that they won’t be allowed at ringside. They are both heard yelling “You can’t do this, Bischoff! You can’t do this!”] This war between you and Jericho will end next week on Raw! Thank you once again for your time!

“I’m Back” begins to play as Bischoff leaves and Christian, Lance, Trish, Johnny, and Simon all look on in shock over that announcement.

(92)

[Commercial.]

Michaels Rallies Up The Troops

As we return from the commercial break, the cameras are focused on Shawn Michaels who is standing on the left of the TV screen and the camera pans to the right where Rob Van Dam, Edge, and Hurricane are sitting down.

Shawn Michaels: Tonight … tonight we have a huge main event match. Tonight, the four of us have a chance to take out Evolution in one big swoop. You … [HBK points to RVD. RVD stands up and stares at Michaels.] You, my friend, you just lost your tag team partner last week. You also lost your shot at regaining the World Tag Team Championship. You have a lot of angry to release and you’ll be able to get revenge on Batista and Ric Flair tonight.

Rob Van Dam: Dude, it’s all cool. I mean, c’mon, man. Booker T left, am I supposed to sit back and think about the past when I can just as easily go into that ring and do my thing? Dude, HBK, I am not everybody’s favorite wrestler for nothing. Just hear those fans. I am “Mr. Monday Night.” I don’t need Booker T to be anything on Raw. I am already a Superstar. Tonight is just my first step in regaining my place at the top of WWE.

Michaels: That’s the kind of attitude I am talking about. Just get out there and kick some Evolution ass! Now, you … [Michaels points to Hurricane. Hurricane now stands up.] Hurricane. You have dealt with Triple H in the past. He beat you. But tonight is your chance. Tonight is your biggest chance to make a big name for yourself. Tonight, Hurricane, you can become a big time star when you step into that ring and help take out Evolution. And you … [shawn Michaels points to Edge, who at this point was already standing as he knew what was coming. Edge steps in front of Hurricane and RVD.] Edge, we know your history with Triple H. You have unfinished business with the man, just like myself. Just like RVD. And just like Hurricane. We all want to beat the hell out of Triple H and the rest of Evolution. Randy Orton, Ric Flair, Batista. They are all going to go down to the hands of the four of us. We will not let Evolution beat us. You see, because in two weeks the four of us all have a shot to become the number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship. Last month, at Backlash, I was this close to becoming the new World Heavyweight Champion. But Chris Benoit beat me. Tonight, I have something to prove. Tonight, you, Edge, you have something to prove. Hurricane, you have something to prove tonight. And RVD, you have something to prove tonight. We all have to prove to the world that we DESERVE the right to be in that match and that we DESERVE the right to become the number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship! Let’s get out there and kick Evolution’s ass up and down that ring!

Shawn Michaels slaps all three of them on the chests as the show cuts to a commercial break.

[Commercial.]

Ross: Shawn Michaels is looking to get his team of more than capable wrestlers ready for tonights main event.

Callis: Michaels was just stroking his own ego as usual. The man wants to be the center of attention and now believes he is the leader of the team of himself, RVD, Edge, and Hurricane. Why isn’t Edge the leader? Why not Van Dam? Hell, why not Hurricane? Why Michaels?

Ross: I’ll tell ya why, Don. It’s because he is the most established veteran on that team. He has been around a lot longer than them young fellas. But “stroking his own ego?” C’mon, Don. Don’t start that now, will ya? He’s just rallying up the troops for tonight’s battle with Evolution. Is that too much to ask for?

Match Two – Victoria vs. Trish Stratus with Christian, Johnny Swinger, and Simon Diamond

“Haha, I don’t care what y’all say! Whoa! It’s time to Rock ‘n’ Roll!”

Lil’ Kim’s “Time to Rock ‘n’ Roll” begins to play and Trish Stratus comes out onto the stage with Christian by her side and the Problem Solvers, Johnny Swinger and Simon Diamond are following right behind them.

Ross: Aw, come on! We already saw that keeping Christian and his partners out there during any type of match is going to make it real unfair! Give me a break! Send them all to the back and let this be a fair match!

Christian is talking with Johnny Swinger and Simon Diamond and he actually leaves the ring just as Victoria’s theme music begins to play and she comes out onto the stage. Christian, walking up on the stage looks right at her and does a stutter step, like he wanted to attack her, but Victoria didn’t even flinch while Christian just laughed at her. Christian went over to sit down with Jim Ross and Don Callis as Victoria walked down the ramp. Callis stood up.

Callis: Stand up, Jimmy! You are in the presense of awesomeness!

Christian puts the head set on and shakes hands with Don Callis.

Christian: Haha! Yo, what up Donnie, my man? How’s it going?

Callis: I am doing just fine, Christian. But there is something I need to tell you. Jimmy over here has been talking real bad about you and your guys being at ringside. He thinks you’re out here to cause trouble.

Christian: What? Are you kidding me? JR, I am simply out here to do my job and that is protect my girl. Look at her. Isn’t she just the greatest thing you have ever seen? That’s why I pay Johnny Swinger and Simon Diamond top dollar to watch her while I am not there. JR, if you don’t keep your mouth shut you might need to hire someone before I so totally kick your ass right here in front of mah Peeps!

Christian slaps his chest as he says that and then kisses his index and middle finger and raises it in the air. As he does this, the camera focuses back at ringside where Victoria is talking with referee Billy Silverman, telling him to get Swinger and Diamond out of the ring.

Silverman forces Swinger and Diamond out of the ring, but just as he does this Trish Stratus runs with at Victoria and he calls for the bell. Just as Trish lunges towards Victoria, she side steps Trish and she runs into the corner. Trish stops herself and turns around only to be taken down with a double leg takedown by Victoria. Victoria mounts Trish and begins punching her in the head as the fans count along. One … Two … Three … Four … Five … Six …and just as they begin to say seven, she stops and picks up Trish and whips her into the ropes. Victoria attempts an armdrag, but Trish accidentally slips out of the hold but Victoria quickly gets up and stomps on Trish to make up for it.

Victoria stops stomping on Trish and picks her up. Victoria whips Trish into the corner and Victoria charges in with a knee lift. Victoria grabs Trish by the head and runs out of the corner trying for a bulldog, but Trish manages to push Victoria forward right as Victoria jumped in the air. Trish picked up Victoria and hit a Suplex on her and made the cover. One … Two … kickout by Victoria. Trish picked up Victoria and whipped her into the corner and hit a chop to the chest of Victoria. She licked her hand and then slapped the chest of Victoria and then applied another chop. Trish grabbed Victoria by the arm and hip tossed her to the mat. Victoria was seated, but bent over and Trish ran for her, leaping into the arm and grabbing a hold of Victoria’s head in the process hitting a nicely executed jumping next snap that probably would make Curt Henning proud. Trish made the cover. One … Two .. T, No! Kickout by Victoria.

Trish complained to Billy Silverman about a slow count, clapping on her hands three times and pointing to Victoria. Trish says she won the match but Silverman tells her otherwise. Trish ran off the ropes and hit a basement dropkick to the face of Victoria just as she was trying to get up and Trish made the pin attempt again. One … Two … T, no! Kickout again by Victoria. And again, Trish complains. Trish picks up Victoria and grabs her in by the neck and runs for the ropes. She leaps up and pushes off the top rope with her feet and tries for the Stratusfaction, but Victoria actually dumps her to the outside, landing right on her back in the process! The crowd lets out a huge “OHHH!” Johnny and Simon quickly rush over there to check on her. Silverman tells them to back off once Victoria stands on the apron. She looks behind her just as Johnny and Simon where lifting her up. Trish, holding her back in obvious pain now, looks up just as Victoria is leaping into the air with a nice Asai Moonsault landing right on Trish Stratus, bringing her back down to the ground in pain. The referee begins to count them out: One … Two … Three … Four … and Johnny Swinger and Simon Diamond move in to check on Trish Stratus causing Silverman to stop the count and he warns them to step back. He restarts the count: One … Two … Three … Four … Five … Six … and again Diamond and Swinger try to help Trish up, but Billy Silverman forces them back. Victoria begins to move and gets up on her own and she lifts up Trish and rolls her in. Silverman jumps back into the ring and Victoria makes the cover. One … Two … Thr, NO! Trish actually kicks out!

Victoria picks up Trish and places her on her shoulders. Victoria spins her around in the fireman’s carry position into a spinning side slam in a move she calls the Spiders Web and makes the cover. One … Two … Thr, NO! Foot on the ropes by Trish! Victoria, a little frustrated picked up Trish and placed her in between her legs. She lifted her up onto her back and had her in the Widow’s Peak position when Johnny Swinger got up onto the apron and was distracting Billy Silverman. Victoria placed Trish down and began arguing with Silverman to get Swinger down. As she did this, Simon Diamond got into the ring and Victoria turned around Diamond grabbed her by the hair. Victoria slapped Diamond across the face and this pissed off Simon. Simon went to grab her again, but Victoria ducked and kicked him low in the crotch, knocking Simon down and out to a loud pop from the crowd. As she bent over looking at the fallen Simon Diamond as he rolled to the outside, Trish Stratus tapped her on the shoulder and she turned around. Trish Stratus nailed her in the side of the head with her boot, the Chick Kick and Swinger got down off the apron and Silverman turned around just as Trish made the cover. One … Two … Three!

Winner: Trish Stratus in 7:45.

(78, 86, 61) *

Ross: Once again, Christian, your guys are the difference makers in the outcome of a match. First Simon helped Johnny win early with the roll of quarters. And now, with Swingers distracting and Simon getting into the ring, it led to Trish getting a much needed rest in order to get the win. This is unfair and Bischoff REALLY needs to do something about it!

Christian: Ya know what, JR? I am getting sick of hearing you run your mouth. How about I just kick your ass right now? Huh? Would ya like that, JR? My Peeps sure would.

Callis: I would love to see it, Christian!

Jim Ross seems to have shut his mouth and Christian tosses the head set down and grabs Jim Ross by the shirt collar. Instead, though, he just grabs the cowboy hat and tosses it to the hat and jumps up and down on it, stomping all over it looking extremely goofy in the process, but it doesn’t seem to both Christian in the slightest he just stomps away as Don Callis laughs Jim Ross. Christian finally stops and walks down the aisle to check on his girl. Just as he gets down the aisle someone runs right on by him and it turns out to be Molly Holly. Molly slides into the ring and grabs Victoria. She begins to beat on her right there as Christian grabs Trish Stratus and pulls her out of the ring. He instructs Simon Diamond to carry her to the back while Johnny Swinger follows them behind.

Back in the ring, Molly has Victoria in an awesome looking STF, stretching her real good when some real small female from the crowd hops over the barricade and slides into the ring. She forcefully pulls Molly off of Victoria and slams Molly to the mat. She picks Molly back up and whips her into the ropes. She sits on the top rope and grabs Molly by the neck and swings out of the corner for a nice swinging inverted DDT. She helps Victoria up and raises Victoria’s arm to a respectable applauds from the crowd. The new woman helps Victoria to the back.

Sorry About Your Damn Luck – Two Weeks

Thunder and Lightening is heard and on the screen the flashing images of lightening and thunder lighting up the dark sky. The sky goes black due to no lightening striking, but when it hits a shadowy image of a man with long hair is shown, facing at the camera. The screen goes black again. Lightening strikes the sky once more and another man’s face, with shorter hair, but still long, shows up on the right side.

The lightening stops and the screen goes to a white background. The sounds of footsteps are heard. They are at a distance. Lightening strikes again and the white screen appears once more. The footsteps are closer. More lightening and they get closer. Two guys dressed in black jeans and black t-shirts appear. Both noticeable big. The one on the right standing at 6’1” and the one on the left standing at 6’3.” The screen quickly cuts out the man on the right and the video editing fades him away. The one on the left also gets faded away. The lightening strikes.

A “Wanted” poster is shown. Underneath the “Wanted” logo is “America’s Most Wanted.” The two men appear on the screen. “Wildcat” appears under the man on the left and “Cowboy” appears under the man on the right. The screen fades to black.

“Sorry About Your Damn Luck” is show on the screen and it quickly fades away when “In Two Weeks” shows up stating that they will debut on Raw in two weeks.

(72)

[Commercial.]

Strategy Talk By Evolution

As we return from the commercial break, the camera is in the locker room of Evolution where Triple H is standing next to Ric Flair and beside him is Randy Orton and beside Flair is Batista. Both Flair and Batista have their World Tag Team Championship belts seated on a chair behind them while Randy Orton is shown wearing the Intercontinental Championship.

Randy Orton: Lance Storm wants a shot at this title? Who is he kidding? Who did he beat to earn a shot at the title I worked far too hard to retain? Did he go through hell and back with Mick Foley to retain this belt? Did he go through legend, after legend, after legend in order to make a name for himself? No. He was stuck in go-no-where tag teams with a freak and a wannabe porn star. Come back once you earned your shot, Lance.

Triple H: Forget him, Randy. Forget about Lance Storm for now. Forget about defending the Intercontinental Championship. Tonight we have an eight-man tag team match to deal with. If you don’t get your head into this match, we will end up in a tough situation. Get your head straight, now. Do NOT wait until you get into the ring to deal with the match … get your head into the match NOW!

Ric Flair: Orton, you need to do what “The Game” tells ya to do. We got bigger things to worry about than defending that title of yours against the Canadian. Batista, big man, Animal, we forced Booker T to leave Raw. We did good, big man. But we still have RVD to deal with.

Batista: Naitch, leave it to me. RVD won’t be able to walk come the nights end. He wants to be a singles star now? He wants to make a name for himself on the singles scene? He needs to go through ME first.

Triple H: That’s the kind of attitude I am talking about. Randy, we lost last week. Edge and Benoit beat us. You got the Spear. Edge pinned you. DON’T let it happen again!

Orton: H, man, why are you getting all upset about last weeks match? We almost had them beat. I had the RKO on Edge but Benoit was able to make the save just at the last split second. Tonight, though, the outcome will be different, but it will be Edge, HBK, Hurricane, or even RVD getting the RKO from me to put them away for the three count. Bet on it.

Flair: There you go, champ! Keep your mind focused on the match at hand and we will take down Michaels, Hurricane, RVD, and Edge tonight! WOOOOOO! We’ll show ’em why we are the best four WWE has to offer. Triple H will grab Edge. He will lock in Edge’s arms and wham! Pedigree. It’s all over. Finished. WOOOOOO! The end of Edge! He’ll be down for the three count. Batista will take RVD and he will break him! Batista Bomb! Finished! WOOOOOO! [Flair begins to dance and then strut around the locker room floor yelling “WOOOOOO!”] And myself and Orton will take care of HBK and Hurricane and we will get the job done! WOOOOOO!

Triple H: That’s why I can always count on you, Naitch. You always know how to fire up a bunch of guys. Orton, Batista, we will get the job done, and we will walk out as the winners. Edge, you can forget about winning that battle royal in two weeks. It’s mine. Orton, Batista, and Flair all know it’s mine. It’s us four versus the eleven of you. You can’t keep us apart. You can’t break us apart. They know their role. I know mine. It’s to be the World Heavyweight Champion again. We have the Intercontinental Championship with Orton. We have the World Tag Team Championship with the Nature Boy and the big man over here, Batista. Evolution will be back on top, once again when I win that battle royal and go onto Bad Blood and defeating Chris Benoit for MY BELT!

(81)

[Commercial.]

Match Three – Non-Title Match – World Heavyweight Champion “The Crippler” Chris Benoit vs. “The Redneck Messiah” Jamie “By God” Noble

Jamie Noble’s music begins to play and he walks out from behind the curtain to a decent enough of heel heat from the crowd. This man has managed to cheat Hurricane out of two victories. Clips of Heat before Backlash where he pinned Hurricane with Hurricane’s foot under the ropes air. And the next night on Raw, last week, he rolled him up, holding the tights, for a cheap victory. Noble gets into the ring and raises his arms before standing in the corner, arms on the ropes, leaning forward, stretching his arms on the ropes waiting for his opponent. “Whatever” by Our Lady Peace begins to play and the World Heavyweight Champion comes out to a standing ovation from the Kansas fans. Chris Benoit goes to the right side of the screen, un-strapping the belt from around his waist and raises it in the air as he pounds his chest with his right hand and then raises that fist into the air along with the belt. He then places the belt over his shoulder and walks to the left side of the screen near Callis and Ross. He pounds his chest, raises his fist and the belt together and then puts the belt back over his shoulder. Benoit walks down the ramp and gets into the ring. He looks at Noble before going to the ropes and standing on the middle rope raising the belt. He walks directly across the other side and does the same. He then goes to the side across from Noble and raises the belt before going to Nobles corner, where Noble is forced to move out of the way by referee Todd Sinclair, and Benoit looks at him before climbing the ropes. Finally, Benoit hands over the belt to Sinclair and Benoit and Noble go to their corners.

Todd Sinclair calls for the bell and Chris Benoit and Jamie Noble circle each other. Benoit makes the first step to grab Noble for a collar and elbow tie up, but Noble backs off. The crowd boos as Noble circles Benoit and Benoit goes in for another try only for Noble to back off. Benoit finally secures the collar and elbow tie up and they jockey for control. Noble breaks the tie up and executes a standing switch. Jamie has Benoit in a waist lock and tries to lift him up and over for a German Suplex but Benoit blocks it and executes a standing switch of his own. He lands a nice forearm into the back of Noble and tries to lift him for a German Suplex but Noble blocks it. Noble switches again and locks in a full nelson only to lift him up and over for a beautiful Dragon Suplex with a beautiful bridge. One … Two … shoulder up by Benoit.

Noble breaks the Dragon Suplex hold and picks up the Rabin Wolverine and whips him into the corner and Noble runs in with double forearms to the throat. Noble makes a quick cover. One … Two … kickout by the champion. Noble picks up Benoit and runs off the ropes and dropkicks the right leg right out from under Benoit. Noble makes another cover. One … Two … kickout by Benoit.

Jamie Noble picks up the World Heavyweight Champion again and whips him into the corner. Benoit runs in back first and Noble charges in but Benoit lifts up his left leg and kicks Noble in the face. Benoit grabs Noble and switches positions with him. Benoit backs off and then goes in full force with a devastating chop to the chest making it red upon impact. Noble clutches his chest in obvious pain from that chop and Benoit delivers another brutal knife-edge chop to the chest of Jamie Noble. The fans “WOOOOOO!” for each chop Benoit hits. Noble fights back with a kick to the right leg of Benoit. “The Crippler” backs off slightly, grabbing his right leg in slight pain, but fires back with a third chop to the chest. Noble again fights back with another kick to the leg of Benoit and charges out with a double leg takedown that would score him two points and quickly grabs the left leg and stepping over it and locking it behind his own right leg and went to turn him over for the Trailer Hitch which would see Noble apply tons of pressure to the right leg had it been executed correctly, but Benoit was able to reach up and pull down on Noble’s head and he rolled him up in a small package. One … Two … kickout by Noble.

Benoit stands up and grabs Noble and whips him into the ropes. Benoit drops to the mat and Noble leaps over him. Benoit stands up and grabs Noble and executes a nice belly-to-belly Suplex and makes the cover. One … Two … kickout by “The Redneck Messiah.” Benoit grabs Noble and stands him up and goes behind him and tries to lift him up for a German Suplex again like a couple minutes ago in the early moments of the match, but Noble blocks it with a leg placed firmly behind Benoit’s. Benoit tries pounding away at the back with rapid fire forearms, but Noble won’t allow him to get the German. Benoit runs forward, pushing Noble with him right into the ropes, but Noble grabs the top rope and when Benoit tries to roll backwards, only Benoit goes and rolls through. He goes to stand up, only on his knees right now and Noble turns around and runs right at him with a dropkick to the face. Noble quickly grabs the right leg and begins kicking at the shin, stomping away at it. Noble places the mat on the ground and with both hands, he does a hand stand on it and then swings forward with both knees connecting onto the injured right leg of Benoit. Noble exits the ring and goes to the apron. He climbs to the top rope and leaps off with a single stomp of his right foot onto the left foot of Chris Benoit. Benoit writhes in pain, clutching at the right leg. Noble makes the cover again. One … Two … kickout by Benoit.

Jamie “By God” Noble, looking a tad bit frustrated, picks up the champion and whips him into the ropes again. Noble takes Benoit down with a nice Japanese armdrag and then crawls over and grabs the right leg and applies a half Boston Crab. The crowd is chanting “Benoit” as Benoit reaches for the ropes to break the submission hold. Noble quickly stands up and begins to kick the leg. He moves his focus up to the head and kicks Benoit right in the face to knock him down. Noble drags Benoit away from the ropes and applies the single leg Boston Crab again. Referee Todd Sinclair checks on Benoit and he won’t answer him. He raises his arm once. It falls. Sinclair raises the arm a second time. It falls. The crowd is still chanting Benoit’s name. Sinclair picks the arm up for the third and final time and he lifts it drop but it doesn’t quite hit the mat and Benoit begins to reach for the ropes. Noble tries to sit back further to tighten the hold, but Benoit manages to move forward to break the submission up again. Noble drags Benoit away from the ropes and makes the cover, hooking the leg in the process. One … Two … Th, NO! Kickout by Benoit.

Noble picks up Benoit and tries to whip him into the ropes, but Benoit manages to reverse it, sending Noble into the ropes and Benoit takes Noble down with double forearms to the throat, and both Noble and Benoit crash to the mat. The fans are clapping and chanting “Benoit.” Noble is actually the first one up, but as he is so close to Benoit, just as Noble begins to run for the ropes, Benoit grabs Noble’s right leg and trips him up and he crashes onto his face. Benoit drags himself over to Noble and makes the cover. One … Two … kickout by Noble. Benoit picks up Noble again and whips him into the ropes. Noble ducks a lariat attempt by Benoit and bounces off the ropes. He returns with a swift basement dropkick right to the right leg and Benoit’s legs are kicked right out from under him and he sails into the air before crashing stomach and face first onto the mat. Noble places an arm on him for the cover. One … Two … kickout by Benoit.

[Commercial.]

On the return from the commercial, Noble is still in control having been able to keep Benoit grounded. Noble has Benoit’s right leg grapevined right now. One … Two … Benoit gets his shoulders up off the mat, but falls back down. He tries to kick Noble with his left leg, but Noble swats it away. One … Two … shoulders up again by Benoit. He finally uses his arms to hold himself up this time, but Noble breaks the grapevine for a quick second to kick the chest of Benoit to cause him to fall back down. Noble gets the grapevine again and Sinclair makes the count. One … Two … shoulders back up by Benoit. Benoit tries to inch his away over to the ropes, but he is having no such luck as Noble is not about to let that hold go any time soon. Benoit manages to catch Noble off guard, slightly, by kicking him in the chest with his left leg, but it doesn’t cause Noble to break the hold. Noble just applies more pressure to the grapevined right leg and Benoit falls back down. One … Two … shoulders up by Benoit.

Benoit looks in some obvious pain and sits up. He reaches out to Noble and tries to grab him by the head, but Noble breaks the hold again and kicks Benoit, but this actually proved to be a mistake on Noble’s behalf as Benoit saw this coming and immediately, with his left leg, kicked Noble away and this caught Noble off guard. Benoit was able to slip his foot out from Noble’s grasp and he stood up, favoring the right leg in the process. Noble went to dropkick the right leg again, but Benoit side stepped him and picked him up. Benoit went to whip Noble into the ropes, but Noble reversed it, sending Benoit into the ropes. Noble dropped to the mat and Benoit ran off the ropes and Noble lifted his back up off the mat and Benoit tripped right over him. Noble rolled him up. One … Two … Th, NO! Kickout by Benoit. Noble picked up Benoit and ran with him to the ropes and tossed him through the top and middle rope to the outside. Noble grabbed the top rope and slingshot himself over the top rope right onto Benoit and Benoit’s right leg gave out causing them to crash to the ground. Todd Sinclair began the count. One … Noble got up and began attacking Benoit, Two … Noble grabbed Benoit’s leg, Three … And Noble smashed it up against the barricade, Four … He did it again, and again, and again, Five …Noble rolled into the ring and rolled back outside to break the count. Todd Sinclair come out and warned Noble about that.

Noble picked up Benoit and went to steel steps, but Benoit somehow managed to switch it and send Noble, left shoulder first into the steel ring steps to a huge pop from the crowd. Benoit crawled over to Noble, sat across his chest and began punching the hell out of Noble. Todd Sinclair tried to pull Benoit off of Noble. Benoit was having none of that. Finally, Sinclair forced him off and told him to take it back into the ring. Benoit rolled into the ring, as did Sinclair, but Benoit quickly rolled out to a big pop from the crowd. Sinclair was arguing with Benoit to get back into the ring. Benoit grabbed Noble and hit a nice Russian Leg Sweep that caused Noble to land his neck right on the top of the barricade, which had to have hurt, badly. Benoit finally agreed to enter the ring as he grabbed Noble and rolled him in. He made the cover. One … Two … kickout by Noble.

Benoit, favoring his right leg, still, picked up Noble and whipped him into the corner. Benoit turned Noble around and placed him on the top rope, facing the crowd. Benoit forearmed the back of Noble and then climbed to the middle rope, but Benoit fell, clutching his right leg, in obvious pain. He shook it off, hammered away at the back of Jamie Noble, and got back up on the second rope, quickly, and grabbed Noble, flinging him off the ropes in an amazing looking top rope German Suplex that caused Noble to flip upside down and land right on his stomach to a standing ovation from the crowd. As Benoit did this, falling backwards to execute the move, Benoit’s right leg got caught on the turnbuckle, causing him to hang upside down in the Tree of Woe! Benoit was screaming in pain as Todd Sinclair rushed to help him, but he couldn’t get the leg unhooked. The crowd was chanting “Benoit” as he and Todd Sinclair tried to free himself.

Noble, somehow, began moving on the ground. He got to his feet, but staggered into the corner. He braced himself with his arms on the middle rope, to keep him from falling to the ground. He pulled up on the top rope to help him stand and he noticed Benoit directly opposite him, hanging in the Tree of Woe. Noble smirked evilly. Todd Sinclair turned around and tried pleading with Jamie Noble, but Noble ran full force into the corner and slid right into the face of Chris Benoit so forcefully that Benoit’s head was busted open, bleeding badly, as if this was ECW and Tajiri just busted Steve Corino open with that chair in the Tree of Woe. “Holy Shit” chants rung out throughout the Kansas Expocenter in Topeka. The force finally did unhook Benoit and he toppled over and fell face first onto the mat.

Noble dragged Benoit away from the corner and the blood from Benoit’s forehead made a trail along the mat. Noble rolled him over. One … Two … Thre, NO! The camera zoomed in and the cut was a deed gash on the eyebrow of the World Heavyweight Champion. It looks like what a boxer would look like from a huge punch to the eye. The crowd chanted “Benoit” and clapped for him as he kicked out in the last split second! Noble tried it again, as he was obviously shocked Benoit could continue. One … Two … Thre, kickout again! Noble, frustrated, got up and grabbed the left leg. With his own right leg, he placed the left leg behind it, and then grabbed the injured right leg over the left foot of Benoit. Noble turned to his stomach and then pushed up against the injured right leg for the Trailer Hitch. Noble had his patented finishing submission hold on Benoit! This had to be the end! Benoit was screaming in pain as the blood trickled down into his mouth, covering his teeth red in the process. Benoit reached for the ropes. He was too far away. Noble pressed down harder. Benoit, in huge amounts of pain was looking like he wanted to tap, but he couldn’t. He reached for the ropes. He began moving. He made one last effort to reach the ropes and lunged forward and grabbed the ropes and he wasn’t letting go. Todd Sinclair forced Noble to break the hold.

“The Redneck Messiah” broke the hold and dragged Benoit away from the ropes. One … Two … Thre, NO! Oh my god! He kicked out again! The crowd popped big time for that. They haven’t sat down in quite sometime now. Noble grabbed Benoit and stood him up. He was behind him, hitting forearms to the back of Benoit. He locked in the full nelson and was about to lift him backwards, but Benoit blocked it! Benoit somehow escaped the hold, dropping to the mat and backed up underneath Noble’s legs and then stood up, grabbed Noble in a waist lock. He tried lifting once, but Noble broke it. Benoit pounded away and lifted up and over for a German Suplex! He rolled through, German Suplex for a second time! He rolled through again, the third consecutive rolling German Suplex! Benoit made the cover. One … Two … Thr, no! Kickout by Noble!

Benoit grabbed both of Noble’s legs and locked in the Sharpshooter. As Benoit sat down on Noble’s back, his right leg gave out and he crashed to the mat, causing the move to be broken. Without hesitation, Benoit grabbed Noble’s left arm and tucked it in between his legs and then grabbed Noble’s neck and yanked back for the Crippler Crossface to a huge pop from the crowd. “Tap!” chants began and Noble began reaching for the ropes. He was too far away, but it wasn’t stopping him from reaching. But the Russian Leg Sweep into the barricade and the three Germans plus the many forearms to the neck and back area was far too much for the “Messiah for an Entire Trailer Park Community” to withstand and he tapped out. The blood soaked face of Benoit showed his emotion as he was not letting go of the hold until Sinclair stepped in and pulled the arms apart.

Winner: Chris Benoit in 27:03.

(91, 82, 100) **** ¾

Ross: Benoit did it! He made Jamie Noble tap to the Crippler Crossface. For nearly thirty minutes we just witnessed this young kid, Jamie Noble, put up a hell of a battle with one of, if not the best in the world today, Chris Benoit! There is no shame in losing to Benoit! You did good, kid, real good! My hat is off to the both of them!

Callis: Jimmy, my boy, I have to fully agree with you. Jamie Noble put up a hell of a fight. He was right there with Benoit every step of the way and nearly had him beat on more than one occasion, including making Benoit bleed in the ring.

Benoit Shows Respect

The crowd is still on their feet, chanting “Benoit” as Benoit looks to be passed out on the mat, blood all over his face along with sweat. Todd Sinclair placed the World Heavyweight Championship over his waist. Benoit began to move, getting help from Sinclair, but Benoit was able to stand on his own, though still favoring his right leg considerably. He hobbled to the ropes to keep him standing and called for a microphone.

Chris Benoit: Jamie Noble, we just went at a war for nearly thirty minutes. For nearly thirty minutes, you beat me, and I beat you. You nearly had me beat. You blooded me. You nearly made me tap to the Trailer Hitch. You nearly pinned me with the Dragon Suplex. Nearly. But if there is one thing you did tonight, it’s made a name for yourself. If there is one thing you did tonight, it was you earning my respect! You earned these fans respect. [The crowd claps for Noble as he is now trying to stand up. The actually chant “Noble” now.] You hear that, Jamie? They are actually chanting your name. You earned their respect tonight. For many years you tried to make a name for yourself, and in thirty minutes in one night you finally did that. You made it. You did it tonight. And I extend my hand in respect to you. [benoit extends his hand and Noble, as he is standing up now, looks at it and the crowd. Tears in his eyes from the ovation he was just getting and for the hard fought battle he just had.] In two weeks, Jamie, you can earn yourself a shot at this belt. You are part of that battle royal. You have a chance to face me again at Bad Blood. I am actually looking forward to facing you once more. Could we even top ourselves like we did tonight? I wouldn’t doubt it, my friend.

Benoit still has his hand out, waiting for the hand shake. Noble sticks his hand out and looks into the crowd for support. They cheer him on and he finally shakes the hand of someone he looked up to for many years. Benoit and Noble embrace. The crowd is giving them both another standing ovation and they break the embrace. Noble picks up the microphone and it looks like he is going to talk, but no! He just nailed Benoit in the head with it! The crowd quickly stops clapping and boos the hell out of Jamie Noble.

Callis: Tremendous! What a guy this Jamie Noble is, eh, Jimmy? He just tricked all you stupid people! I stand and applaud this mastermind!

Ross: Aw, give me a break, Don! What he did is just wrong! He has the fans supporting him. He had Benoit’s respect. He had my respect! But that is all out the window now! He is just a bastard! A real bastard!

Callis: Do you think he cares about your respect? Or Benoit’s? Or even the fans? Of course not, Jimmy. He is doing this for himself! That’s what it’s all about! Let’s let him speak his mind, now.

Jamie Noble: I don’t need you stinkin’ support. I can git it done in the ring without you stupid fans chanting my name. I don’t need support from nobody. I don’t need your respect neither, Benoit! I had you beat. And come the time we meet again, I’ll finish the job I started! My name is Jamie Noble and you better ’member it! In two weeks, Benoit, I will walk into that there battle royal and I will walk out as the number one contender! I will get the title shot at Bad Blood and this here title of yours … [Jamie Noble grabs the World Heavyweight Championship and looks at it. He raises it above his head.] This here title will be mine at Backlash, Benoit! There ain’t nobody that can do anything about it, neither!

Jamie Noble tosses the belt down to the ground and picks up Benoit. He stands behind him and locks in the full nelson and lifts him up and over for a beautiful Dragon Suplex. He rolls out of it and breaks the hold and picks up Benoit in a Vertical Suplex position, but places the feet of Benoit on the top rope and hooks him around the neck for a DDT position and drops him down, forcefully, on the mat for the Deadline DDT to huge heel heat from the crowd. Noble quickly escapes the ring. The camera zooms in as Benoit is still bleeding pretty badly with the World Heavyweight Championship lying on his chest.

(80)

[Commercial.]

Women’s Tag Team Match Next Week

As we return from the commercial break, we see Victoria and her new female associate. They walk down the hall and turn to their right where it reads “Raw General Manager” on the door. They quickly open the door to find Johnny Nitro, blow drying his hair in the mirror.

Victoria: You’re clearly not Eric Bischoff. Where’s Bischoff at? I … we need to talk to him.

Johnny Nitro puts the blow dryer down and walks over to Victoria and the other woman. He actually touches both women’s hair.

Other Woman: What do you think you’re doing? Don’t touch me like that.

Nitro: You two should take lessons in hair care from me. Just look at my hair. It’s so perfect. Anyway, EB’s not here. I’m in charge for the night. He’s off dealing with his lawyer’s about Booker T. And who the hell are you, anyway?

The small woman walks up to Nitro and looks rather pissed off.

Alexis Laree: Look. My name is Alexis Laree, but that doesn’t matter. Since Bischoff isn’t here to make this match, and he has left you in charge, we want a match. Me and Victoria against Trish Stratus and Molly Holly!

Nitro: Heh, speaking of women with bad hair. Look at Molly. Okay, okay. You want your match with them? You got it. Next week, it will be you Victoria, and you … Alexis, against Trish and Molly. I have more important business to deal with so leave.

Victoria: His hair obsession needs to be checked out, real quickly.

Victoria and Alexis give each other weird looks due to Nitro’s hair obsession and walk out. Nitro closes the door behind them.

(76)

[Commercial.]

Edited May 12, 2005 by Fitzy

[Fitzy]

Match Four – Main Event – “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels, Edge, The Hurricane, and Rob Van Dam vs. Evolution: “The Game” Triple H, WWE Intercontinental Champion “The Legend Killer” Randy Orton, and the World Tag Team Champions “The Animal” Batista and “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair

“Evolution!”

“Line in the Sand” by Motorhead begins to play and all four Evolution members come out onto the stage. Triple H leads the way, holding his usual bottled water. Standing to his right is the Intercontinental Champion, Randy Orton. Orton does his cocky, arms spread wide apart, arrogant smiling pose. Ric Flair stands next to Triple H and Batista, doing his bodybuilder pose, stands next to Orton. Flair does his usual spin around once and Triple H takes a sip of his water before all of them head to the ring. Triple H hops up onto the ring apron Batista runs up the steel steps followed by Ric Flair. Batista gets in and Flair forces referee Mike Chioda to hold the ropes open for him. Orton hops up onto the ring apron and gets into the ring and goes to the right hand side of the screen and does his pose again. Triple H takes his water and tosses the bottle into the crowd and then spits out the water. He joins the rest of Evolution in their corner.

“One of a Kind!”

“One of a Kind” by Breaking Point is heard and the pyrotechnics go off on the stage and Rob Van Dam makes his entrance. He stands in the center of the stage and points to himself as the fans chant “R – V – D.”

“Stand Back … There’s A Hurricane Coming Through!”

Hurricane’s theme music plays and he makes his entrance. He high fives RVD at the stage and waits for his partners.

“You Think You Know Me?”

“Metalingus” by Alter Bridge begins to play and Edge comes running out through the smoke filled entrance way. He runs to the right of the screen fights, hyping up the crowd and then runs to the left side of the screen, near Callis and JR, and hypes them up on that side. He runs back to the middle and high fives Hurricane and RVD.

“Oh, Oh, Shawn!”

“Sexy Boy” begins to play and Shawn Michaels makes his way out onto the stage. RVD, Hurricane, and Edge separate with Edge on the left hand side of the screen and RVD and Hurricane on the right and Shawn Michaels comes out in between then and kneels down on the ramp way and prays before hoping up and calls Edge, RVD, and Hurricane down the aisle to join him. They all meet at the bottom of the stage and enter the ring together. Mike Chioda gets in the middle of each team as Evolution looks like they want a fight, but he won’t allow it, just yet. He forces all of Evolution out of the ring except for Randy Orton, who looks to start for his team. The faces talk over who will start and it turns out to be Rob Van Dam.

Rob Van Dam and Randy Orton go to lock up, but Orton ducks underneath the arms of RVD and goes behind him and slams a forearm into the back of RVD. RVD turns around and gives a punch to the face of Orton. Orton quickly backs off, putting his head underneath the top rope. Mike Chioda forces RVD away. RVD pushes Chioda aside and charges into the ropes near Orton, but Orton pulls his head back out and rams his shoulder into the mid section of Van Dam. Orton grabs RVD’s arm and whips him into the ropes. He drops down and RVD jumps over him, bouncing off the ropes. Orton gets back up and tries for a hip toss, but RVD blocks it. RVD leaps up and pushes Orton off into the air with his legs for a nice monkey flip. RVD quickly covers Orton. One … Two … kickout by the Legend Killer.

Van Dam grabs Orton by the left arm and drags him to his half of the ring and Hurricane tags him on the back. Hurricane leaps over with a Hilo into the left arm as RVD held onto it. RVD and Hurricane picked up Orton and they whipped him into the ropes. They take him down with a double back body drop and then Hurricane quickly runs does a double spring board off the middle rope to the top rope and then right onto RVD shoulders. RVD lifts Hurricane off of his shoulders and Hurricane comes crashing down upon Orton for a nice double team elevated senton splash. Hurricane remains with his back on Orton’s chest and reaches over for a hook of the leg. One … Two … Orton rolls his shoulder off the mat.

Hurricane quickly picks up Orton and tosses him up into a neutral corner. Hurricane climbs to the middle rope and looks around, holding up his right fist in the air. The crowd counts along as Hurricane punches Orton. One … Two … Three … Four … Five … Six … Seven … Eight … Nine … Ten! Hurricane jumps down and Orton staggers out of the corner. He doesn’t fall down, though. He tries to keep his balance by spreading out his legs. Hurricane quickly exits the ring and onto the apron. He climbs the ropes and is perched on the top rope. Orton turns around, still staggering, but Hurricane leaps off and hits the Blockbuster. One … Two … kickout! Hurricane drags Orton to his corner and tags in Shawn Michaels to a huge pop from the crowd.

Shawn Michaels comes in and picks up Orton. He punches him twice and whips him off the ropes. Orton ducks a clothesline from HBK and runs off the ropes and comes back with a cross body block that takes himself out and Shawn Michaels in the process. Michaels and Orton get up at the same time and Orton tries to punch HBK, but Michaels ducks a punch and lands a right hand jab to the face of the Legend Killer. Orton is sent into the ropes and Michaels charges in with a Stinger Splash move. He tags out to Edge.

Edge comes in and makes the cover on Orton. One … Two … kickout by Orton. Edge picks him up and backs him into the corner. Edge grabs his arm and whips him into the opposite corner and Orton goes in hard and drops down fast to the mat. Edge walks over to Orton and goes to pick him up, but Orton grabs a hand full of tights and pulls down on them, sending Edge flying through the top and middle ropes to the outside. Triple H, Ric Flair, and Batista and yelling at Orton to make the tag. Ric Flair quickly runs down the ring apron towards the other ring post where Edge is laying near and Mike Chioda runs over to get Flair to go back. Flair keeps Chioda’s back towards the ring so he doesn’t see Triple H entering the ring. Triple H grabs Orton’s left arm, which was worked on early, so this must be hurting him as Triple H pulls on it, and Triple H exits the ring. Flair finally walks back to his own corner and Chioda turns around as Triple H grabs Orton’s arm and tags himself in.

Triple H drops off the ring apron and walks around to where Edge is. He picks up Edge and whips him into the steal steps right underneath Shawn Michaels. Shawn Michaels drops down, telling Triple H to fight him, but Triple H will have none of that and rolls back into the ring. Chioda tells Michaels to get Edge back into the ring. Michaels picks up Edge and rolls him into the ring and hops back up onto the ring apron. Triple H grabs Edge and whips him into the ropes and Triple H catches him and hits an Arn Anderson-like Spinebuster. He makes the cover. One … Two … T, NO! Kickout by Edge to a huge pop from the crowd. Triple H tags in Batista and the Animal gets into the ring.

Triple H holds Edge up and Batista begins to use him as a punching bag. Chioda forces Triple H out and Batista grabs him and tosses him into his own corner. He rams his shoulder right into the mid section of Edge and then grabs Chioda. He is arguing with HBK, RVD, and Hurricane, trying to get them to come into the ring, but Chioda holds them back. As he is doing this, Triple H and Ric Flair double team Edge in the corner as Orton is still laying on the apron, out cold from the beating he took. Triple H was in the ring shoulder blocking the mid section of Edge while Ric Flair used the tag rope to chock the life out of Edge. Triple H exited the match and Batista came over with Chioda. Batista dragged the helpless Edge out of the corner and made a cocky cover, with just his left arm pressed down on the chest of Edge. One … Two … T, Kickout by Edge!

Batista picked up Edge and had him in a bear hug. He turned his back to his corner and backed up, allowing the Nature Boy to make the tag. Naitch came into the match and Batista planted him onto the mat with a Spinebuster of his own. Flair made the cover on Edge. One … Two … Th, NO! Kickout! Flair grabbed the legs of Edge and locked in the Figure Four Leg Lock. Chioda got down and checked on Edge to see if he wanted to tap. When Chioda wasn’t looking, Flair reached up to grab Triple H’s hand and Triple H yanked back, pulling as hard as he could. Flair broke the hold when Chioda sensed he was cheated. Flair played innocent and Chioda went back to check on Edge. Edge looked like he was about to tap, though. Edge fell to the mat. One … Two … Thr, NO! He sat right back up just in time. Flair chopped the chest of Edge. One … Two … Th, Edge gets back up and Flair chops him down for a second time. One … Two … Th, and Edge returns to an upright position. Flair quickly breaks the hold, knowing Edge won’t end up tapping and begins to stomp on Edge. He runs off the ropes and does his strut and then drops a knee to the throat of Edge and makes the cover. One … Two … kickout by Edge. Flair tags out to Triple H.

Triple H comes in and H tells Flair to stay in. Triple H picks up Edge and he and Naitch double team him, both using their own chops and punches on the chest and face of Edge. Chioda, though, finally forces Flair out of the ring. Triple H whips Edge into the ropes and Triple H follows right behind him. When Edge bounces off the ropes and turns around, Triple H is right there and clothesline him right over the top rope and he stumped backwards, landing right on his back near the ramp.

[Commercial.]

Upon the return from the final commercial break of the evening, Edge is back in the ring and Triple H has him in an abdominal stretch in the corner of Evolution. Triple H reaches over to his corner and Orton, who must have gotten back to his feet during the commercial break, reaches out and grabs the hand of Triple H. He pulls back on the hand of Triple H to tighten the pressure of the Abdominal Stretch. They stopped cheating once Chioda caught on to what they were doing. He warned them. Triple H reached back and Orton grabbed the hand. Flair actually dropped off the mat and grabbed Orton’s right arm and pulled down on that to give them even more added pressure on Edge. Chioda got up to check on them again. Flair just began arguing with some random ran and Orton and Triple H broke their grasp. Chioda warned them again. Triple H just broke the abdominal stretch on his own. Triple H made the cover. One … Two … Thre, NO! Kickout by Edge to a huge pop from the crowd.

Edge looked like he wanted to crawl to his corner, but Triple H grabbed him by the ankle and began pulling him back until Edge kicked Triple H in the face to break free. Randy Orton tagged Triple H on the back and leaped over the top rope and dove for Edge but Edge quickly tagged in Shawn Michaels to a thunderous pop from the crowd. Shawn Michaels came in, arms waving in the air like he was pumped up. Orton looked shocked and backed off, running for his corner, but Shawn Michaels grabbed him by the trunks and pulled him towards him and punched him down. Ric Flair came running in and Shawn Michaels knocked him down. Orton got back up and Michaels body slammed him and Triple H came in. Michaels caught Triple H running for him and tossed him to the outside. Batista came into the ring and RVD and Hurricane came running into the ring and tackled the Animal as he tried to get to Michaels. The three of them rolled to the outside just as Ric Flair got up and Michaels tossed him into the corner. Flair turned himself upside down and fell onto the ring apron. He began to run for his corner and ran right up the ring post. And looked like he was going to leap off, but Michaels tossed him to the mat with Flair falling on his hip. Orton got back up and tripped up HBK.

Randy Orton picked up Michaels and whipped him off the ropes. Michaels returned and hit the flying forearm! Orton went down and so did Michaels. Edge was lying in the corner and RVD and Hurricane were working over big Dave on the outside. Triple H was down and out, too, having hit his head on the ramp. And Flair wasn’t about to move, either. Michaels kipped up to a loud pop from the corner and Randy Orton got to his feet. Orton charged at Michaels and HBK punched him. Orton went down and when he got back up, he was met with another solid right punch that knocked him to the mat. Orton got back up and Michaels hit the atomic drop on him. Orton grabbed his crotch in pain, staggering around the ring and turned around and Michaels body slammed him and looked psyched up again. The crowd was getting electric and he got to the ring apron and began climbing to the top rope. Triple H was up now and he dove to the ring apron, grabbing the left ankle of Shawn Michaels. Michaels tried kicking him, but he had no such luck. Edge got up, and without thinking dove into the corner with an awesome looking Spear that knocked Triple H off the apron, and nearly caused Michaels to lose his balance. Michaels, however, recovered and jumped off hitting his elbow drop to a big pop. Michaels got into his own teams corner and was tuning up the band. The camera banned to the right hand side where RVD was climbing the top rope. Hurricane had Batista on the ground, holding him in position when RVD leaped off, hitting an impressive Five Star Frog Splash to the outside onto Batista to a huge “Holy Shit” chant. Orton got to his feet and Shawn Michaels ran for him, but Orton ducked the Sweet Chin Music and thought he was safe. He turned around and Edge Speared Randy Orton straight to the mat and Shawn Michaels made the cover. One … Two … Flair tries to make the save but he is too late, Three!

Winners: Shawn Michaels, Edge, Rob Van Dam, and The Hurricane in 25:45.

(83, 85, 80) ***

The show comes to an end with RVD and Hurricane rolling into the ring and celebrating with Edge and Shawn Michaels over the fallen Ric Flair and Randy Orton. The camera pans to the right showing Batista down and out next to the ring announcers table and then the camera pans to the left where Triple H is trying to get to his feet, but he falls right back down from that Spear off of the ring apron.

---------------------------

Overall: 83

TV Rating: 4.4

---------------------------

Heat – May 2, 2004 – Kansas Expocentre – Topeka, Kansas

1. Match One – Garrison Cade and Mark Jindrak defeated Aaron Stevens and Joey Matthews in 2:54.

2. Highlights of Johnny Swinger beating Chris Jericho on Raw are shown.

3. Highlights of a possible Match of the Year Candidate match between Chris Benoit and Jamie Noble are shown.

4. Match Two – Rico Constantino with Matt Morgan, defeated Orlando Jordan with Tommy Dreamer in 10:02. After the match Rico and Morgan beat on Dreamer and Jordan. After Constantino and Morgan left, Dreamer made a challenge to Rico next week on Heat.

5. Highlights of the Evolution vs. Shawn Michaels, Edge, Rob Van Dam, and Hurricane eight-man tag team match are shown next.

6. Match Three – Val Venis defeated Rob Conway with Rene Dupree in 8:30. After the match, Venis made mention to Lance Storm that he can forget ever challenging Randy Orton for the Intercontinental Championship ever again or even seeing a chance to challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship because on Raw, he will defeat him in the third and final match in their best of three series to get into that Battle Royal for the number one contenders spot to Benoit’s championship.

---------------------------

[The Third Dukes]

The SmarK RAW Rant (04-26-04) -- Scott Keith

Stop the presses -- I think a Benoit match is overrated!

- The SmarK RAW Rant for Apr. 26 / 04.

- Live from Topeka, KS.

- We skip the opening and go straight to the ring, where Eric Bischoff announces that only one man can name a #1 contender, and it ain't Edge or HHH. Eric? Showing a spine? Since when? So in two weeks, in San Jose, we will get a 15-man battle royal to determine who will face Benoit at Badd Blood. Your entrants are Johnny Nitro (who seems overly elated at the news), Chris Jericho (who gets a chant -- ARE YOU LISTENING WWE?), Christian (surprisingly mixed reaction), Simon Diamond, Johnny Swinger, Shawn Michaels (HUGE pop), Edge, Triple H (duh), Rob Van Dam (with a nice rant about Booker T jumping ship included), The Hurricane (why?), Batista, Ric Flair, Randy Orton (major heel heat), Jamie Noble... and a player to be named later. Either Val Venis or Lance Storm will be added, depending on who wins a qualifier on next week's show. Nitro declares himself the next World Champion, guaranteeing he'll be the first one tossed. Nice way to gauge crowd reaction, though I don't see it going anywhere because I'm sure WWE's booking plans are set in stone.

- Your hosts are Jim Ross and Don Callis.

- Opening match: Chris Jericho v. Johnny Swinger. Let's see, Swinger has Christian, Simon Diamond, Lance Storm, AND Trish Stratus at ringside with him. You think there MIGHT be a little interference? Jericho decides to wait until a commercial break to start the match so that he can convince everyone to leave. JIP after the break with a two-count on Swinger. Flashback is blocked, and Jericho charges only to get dumped to the apron, where he vaults over Swinger only to get sucker-punched. Chop battle, won by Jericho, but a blind charge hits boot. Swinger reverses, and a superplex gets two. BAAAAAAACK body drop gets two. Rude Awakening, but Swinger doesn't hook the leg so it's only two. Armdrag/armbar combo, which eventually gets twisted into a surfboard and a drop for two. Rather awkward sequence. Dropkick gets two. Right cross gets a pair of twos. They fight over a whip, and Jericho goes flying, but comes back with a rollup for two. A second try gets another two. Flying forearm and he fakes the Lionsault, slugging down Swinger and hitting the Walls instead. Swinger makes the ropes, so Jericho pushes the ref away (?!?), allowing Swinger to blast him with the CANADIAN QUARTERS OF DEATH for the pin at 13:00 or so aired. Christ, 13 minutes for that finish?! **1/4 The Canadian Mafia starts a beatdown, and Val Venis tries to save but gets nowhere. This brings Eric Bischoff out, and he declares Jericho and Christian will end this once and for all in a steel cage next week, with everyone banned from ringside to prevent cheating. See, I would've had a LOT more cheating in that match to hammer the point home, but that's why I'm just a best-selling author.

- A little pep rally reveals it's Evolution taking on Four Random Guys in our main event, with Shawn Michaels, Rob Van Dam, Edge, and Hurricane (Hurricane?) playing the roles. I mean, really, Hurricane? Jamie Noble's bitch? A main eventer? WHAZZUPWIDAT?

- Callis stirs shit up, claiming Michaels doesn't deserve to be the team leader, and JR claims Callis is making too much out of what we saw.

- Trish Stratus v. Victoria. Hm... Lance Storm has disappeared, but everyone else is back. Odd. Christian goes to the announce table to up the Canada factor a few dozen notches. Simon and Swinger leave the ring as Trish gets a sneak attack that fails. Victoria goes for the punches (sort of -- she hits like a girl) before the two blow an armdrag. A fucking ARMDRAG. And you wonder why the Women's Division is in the shitter. Victoria stomps away and adds a kneelift before trying Trish's bulldog, but Trish shoves her off. Suplex gets two. Corner whip and some CANADIAN VIOLENCE follows. Hiptoss leads to a Hennig necksnap for two. Basement dropkick gets two. Trish is getting rather pissed. Stratusfaction try, but Victoria sends her FLYING out of the ring unprotected to the floor! THAT'S MY GIRL! Victoria adds a quebrada for good measure, and Trish is ripe for the countout, but Simon and Swinger drag the count out to about 20 to allow the girls to rest and get up. Back in, Victoria gets two. Spider's Web gets two. Widow's Peak try, but Swinger and Diamond start shenanigans and Trish gets her Chick Kick in for the pin at 7:45. Your usual women's match -- nothing to see here. 3/4* By the way, if you had switched the amount of cheating in these first two matches, you'd probably have been MUCH better off. Molly Holly runs in and stretches Victoria some before a plant -- er, fan -- er, wannabe wrestler -- screw it -- before the newest WWE talent races in from the crowd for the save.

- America's Most Wanted. Two weeks. Jeff Jarrett is kicking himself.

- HHH tries a pep talk, but he's no Shawn Michaels. Just more obsessed with the belt. You know, combine HHH's receding hair line, funny-looking nose, and obsession with a golden fashion accessory, and you should REALLY have him start acting like Gollum. Well, I would, because it would mean HHH loses credibility. Which is the goal, ultimately.

- Speaking of credibility...

- Non-title: Chris Benoit v. Jamie Noble. Noble fakes a lockup a couple times before first contact. They fight over a German suplex before Noble busts out the DRAGON SUPLEX~! for two. That's the first offensive move? Okay, the captain has just turned on the "no bathroom break" sign. Running forearm by Noble gets two. Dropkick to the knee gets two. Blind charge misses and Benoit brings the CANADIAN VIOLENCE~! Noble kicks the leg to stop the flurry, then tries the Trailer Hitch, only to get rolled up for two. Belly-to-belly by Benoit gets two. Then a beautiful series of reversals, as Benoit's German is blocked so he goes for a rolling cradle, only Noble hooks the ropes, but Benoit rolls to his knees and gets BLASTED with a dropkick to the face. Nice ovation for that. Noble works the leg, kicking away and landing knees to the calf. A flying single foot stomp on Benoit's leg gets two. Okay, quick issue here, for those who will ask about the rating at the end: why the HELL is Noble going for a pin? His attack is so pinpointed there's no way it could result in a pin. It's not like working the back or the neck, where you could cause spinal damage to prevent a kickout. Working a limb doesn't affect the muscles needed to get out of a pinning predicament. Sigh. ANYway, Japanese armdrag by Noble and a half-crab, as Noble suddenly is using the RIGHT leg, even though all his previous work was on the LEFT leg. Benoit gets near the ropes, so Noble breaks the hold, beats up Benoit, and re-applies it. Nice. Benoit teases a KO before making the ropes. Noble covers for two, and that actually makes a small amount of sense, since a half-crab does as much damage to the back as to the leg. Whip, reverse, and a double KO. Noble up first, but Benoit trips him on the run and gets two. Noble nails another dropkick to the leg for two as we go to break. Leg grapevine by Noble when we come back gets a few two-counts, which is silly because Noble's not actually holding Benoit's shoulders down, but hell, it's accepted for the figure-four. It's the right leg, by the way. So this goes on for a while, as Benoit sits up, they kick each other, Benoit falls down, we get a two-count, lather, rinse, repeat. FINALLY, Benoit anticipates the kick and breaks the hold. Dropkick misses by Noble, who's apparently been studying some Mutoh recently with this repetitive legwork. I mean, really, it's dropkick, leghold, etc. Noble whips Benoit and trips him awkwardly for two. Noble dumps Benoit and follows with a slingshot plancha before trying to bugger up Benoit's leg in the barricade. A trip to the STEEL steps is reversed by Benoit, his first real offense in about 15 minutes, and Benoit goes ballistic with shots to the head. Russian legsweep into the barricade, and here's some attention to detail: Benoit is standing to Noble's left, so he can power him back with his left leg, rather than on the right, where he'd get no push. Anyway, it gets two. Back superplex try, but Benoit's leg gives out. Take two is more successful as he gets a MONSTER spot: a release German superplex that would be a finisher in any other match, but unfortunately Benoit's leg is caught in the turnbuckle! The referee's of course no help in the Tree of Woe, but Noble is, PASTING Benoit with a Tajiri baseball slide. Benoit blades, and Noble gets two. Benoit's at about .4 Muta easily. Noble tries again for another two. NOW the Trailer Hitch hits, as Benoit works the cut, jumping to .65 Muta. Benoit... slowly... reaches... the... ropes. So Noble covers for two. Crowd is having a heart attack. Dragon suplex try, but Benoit blocks into the rolling Germans for two. Sharpshooter, but Benoit can't put any weight on the leg and the hold is easily broken. Fortunately, Benoit has a Plan B: the Crossface. And Noble taps at 27:03. Benoit absolutely puts Noble over as the almost-champion, and Noble thanks him by clocking him with a mic.

- Well, that was long. The thing is, Benoit either has way too powerful an arsenal or Noble isn't in the condition to go a long time. Either way, the leg stuff in the middle was pretty inexcusable -- the grapevine/two-count sequence ate up something like three minutes on its own. This match could've been more evenly balanced, and it DEFINITELY could've lost ten minutes. As it stands, it really makes Benoit look like he pulled a victory out of nowhere. JR of course tries to make it sound like this is Noble's coming out party, which it is, but not to the extent JR makes it seem, if you catch my drift. I mean, yeah, Noble went half an hour with Benoit, but it wasn't the half-hour you got from Michaels and/or HHH -- there was WAY too much dead time.

- Still, it was an outstanding match, and definitely PPV-quality, with Benoit being crazy over enough to actually keep the crowd interested through 15-20 minutes of legwork -- contrast to WMX8 and how Jericho and HHH can't keep the crowd for that long in a similar match. Plus, that release German superplex spot just absolutely rocked.

- Oh, a rating? Call it ***3/4.

- Johnny Nitro is off practicing hair-care (a necessary quality for all main eveners) when Victoria and the other girl (how the hell did she get backstage -- who's running security in Kansas?) demand a tag match. Ah, the girl is Alexis Laree, recently of NWATNA's Gathering. I thought she looked vaguely familiar. So Nitro grants it, because Bischoff doesn't get out of the office for less than an I-C title match, I guess. This was there.

- Main Event: Shawn Michaels, Edge, Rob Van Dam, and Hurricane v. HHH, a guy, a guy, and another guy. Tell it like it is. RVD and Orton start, and Orton goes clubberin' before ducking out to prevent retaliation. RVD charges, so Orton jams his gut and tries some rope stuff, only to have RVD get a monkey flip for two. Hurricane in with a flip onto arm, and we get some double-teaming, including Hurricane with a triple-jump elevated senton on Orton for two. You had to see it to get it. Ten punch countalong as Orton is heel-in-peril. Overcastle gets two, and enter Michaels. Michaels misses a clothesline and eats a crossbody from Orton, but it doesn't slow him down enough as Michaels gets a Stinger Splash. Edge gets two off of it. This is strange booking. Orton collapses on a corner whip, but manages to send Edge out of the ring. HHH and Flair run interference, and Hunter gets what would be the hot tag. Edge visits the steps to cement him as face-in-peril while Michaels yells at HHH. Michaels helps Edge in, but HHH catches Edge in a MAIN EVENT SPINEBUSTER for two. Batista in, and he slugs away mightily. Corner shoulder thrusts and he starts yelling at the face corner. No one bites, but Chioda holds them back anyway like a good little idiot. HHH and Flair double-team (Orton, for the record, is still out -- that must have been one HELL of a corner whip). Batista gets two off of it. Into the bearhug, and Flair comes in as Batista hits a MAIN-EVENT SPINEBUSTER for two. It's figure-four time (what, not even a courtesy kick to the leg?), but Edge won't tap. Flair gets HHH's help for a while, earning a few two-counts. Flair breaks voluntarily and gets a strutting kneedrop for two. HHH and Flair brutalize Edge some before Flair exits. HHH clotheslines Edge out onto the ramp as we go to break. We come back with Edge in an abdominal stretch of HHH, who gets help from Orton (about damn time he woke up). Orton, in turn, gets help from Flair, and when Chioda looks, Flair turns and acts like he's arguing with the crowd while HHH and Orton break contact. HHH finally just covers for two. HHH pulls on Edge, who kicks away and gets the hot tag to Michaels. Wait, just like that? No big move, double KO, staggering around? The hell? Michaels nails any Evolution member in a five-foot radius. RVD and Hurricane (say, there's an idea for a team -- a superhero and a stoner! You can even call them Bluntman & Chronic! Oh, wait...) take out Batista and it's BONZO GONZO. Flair Flip and he goes up top so he can get slammed off. Orton trips Michaels to return to the match (hey, after a 10 minute nap I'd be pretty fresh too), but Michaels hits a flying forearm and kips up. Michaels punches Orton around into the atomic drop and slam. Michaels goes up, but HHH blocks, so Edge re-appears and spears HHH to the floor! Meanwhile, Orton is FUCKED, and the big elbow, Five-Star, and Swee... no, wait, SPEAR finish at 25:45. Kind of an awkward middle portion, but once Michaels got the hot tag it was hotter than a Trish Stratus Playboy spread. **3/4

The Bottom Line:

Well, not much in the way of stories here, since everything's building to the battle royal in two weeks. Jericho/Christian is going to take over next week, and if they don't get at least *** something is wrong with the world. As for this week, some REALLY long matches -- almost too long for the point. This show could've stood to add another match, since some of the stuff was dragging to fill time.

If this is any indication what the battle royal will be like, I'll pack a lunch.

*****

Nice show, Fitzy, BUT... a lot of the stuff seemed rather superfluous. You write with a sense of drama, but at the same time, drama is more than mere words. For example, when reading Benoit/Noble, I wasn't thinking "Holy shit, Benoit's dead meat now"; I was thinking "Okay, okay, enough with the leg stuff already". Take out the Dragon suplex and Randy Orton could've easily been in Jamie Noble's place.

I also didn't buy Hurricane as Booker T's replacement -- and I do mean replacement. You ran essentially the same match as just before Backlash, only with Booker T and without Foley interference. Was it better? I don't think it was -- this one seemed like it was trying too hard to fit the time you gave it, rather than the time being a function of the participants. In particular, beating up Orton just seemed like an excuse for you to avoid using him.

That said, there was some very good stuff to come out of this. Jamie Noble is well on his way to being a main eventer the way things are going, and it's obvious to me he's your pet project. In that regard, your booking is fine. Alexis Laree's debut was handled decently enough, and I have to admit, I got a chuckle at Johnny Nitro all evening -- the hyperexcitement at being in the battle royal and the women's tag segment were great.

Still, you blew it with the Jericho/Swinger match -- Jericho is way, Way, WAY above Swinger in every sense of the word. That match should've been Jericho whomping ass but falling to rampant cheating whenever there was a chance. As it was, Jericho goes 50/50 with a no-name flunky tag wrestler and jobs to a roll of quarters? Did HHH start booking? And why were Christian, Storm, and Trish even at ringside? Photo-ops?

Overall, this episode gets a C. Tres disappointing, given the buildup in your sig. It's not that the matches weren't good, but you have people involved who can't help but put on great matches -- it's like with 2002 SmackDown. What you can control, as a booker, is the finish, the story, the timing, and the interest level. There, I think you fell flat.

[Guest SquadBoy]

I like the way you do the "Smark Review" thing, it makes it intresting, i'll be reading more

[Fitzy]

Caged Fury!

May 3, 2004

Last week we heard from Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff that there will be a huge match taking place on Raw this week. Chris Jericho and Christian will step into the ring against each other in the brutal steel cage match. Careers have ended in this match. Stars have been born. Legends were made. Can these two Superstars go all out and solidify their status as top competitors in WWE? Who will walk out as the winner in this brutal encounter? Don’t miss a single moment of Raw as this is starting the show off with a bang!

Also during last week’s broadcast, Jamie Noble and Chris Benoit put on a wrestling clinic that went nearly thirty minutes. This saw Jamie Noble rise to the top here in WWE as he went toe-to-toe with one of the worlds best in Chris Benoit and nearly beat him. Will Noble demand a rematch? Will he get one? Or does Bischoff have something else in mind for the two of them? Benoit is still waiting for next week when the Number One Contenders Battle Royal takes place. Who will challenge Benoit at Bad Blood?

Two more matches have been announced for Raw this Monday Night at 9/8 CT only on Spike TV. It will pit the Intercontinental Champion Randy Orton taking on Rob Van Dam. But Orton is lucky, as he doesn’t have to defend his Championship during this match. RVD is sure going to go all out, regardless of a title or not, because he wants to prove he deserves to be recognized as a top Superstar in WWE. Also, you can guarantee that Raw GM Eric Bischoff will reward RVD with a title shot should he gain the victory over the Champion.

And also, in a math to fill the twentieth spot in next weeks Battle Royal, Val Venis takes on Lance Storm to settle their feud. For weeks, Storm and Val have battled it out. Backlash saw Storm capture the victory over his former partner and friend. And the following night, Val scored the victory over Storm in Storm’s hometown of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. This Monday night the third and final match will take place. The final spot in the Battle Royal goes to the winner. With the chance to become the Number One Contender, you can count on both giving it there all to earn that spot.

All this and much more! Tune in at 9/8 CT only on Spike TV!

Edited May 30, 2005 by Fitzy

[Naraku]

This is a pretty damn good diary. The match times really bother me though. Noble vs. Benoit and the 8-Man tag both went over 20 minutes which is crazy. In your average RAW it's not that often you'd get one 20 minute match let alone two that go over it.

Aside from that minor gripe however I am enjoying this diary so far. Good job.

[NobBe Nobbs]

It makes sense though. Here, it looks like Fitzy's trying to push Jamie Noble as a legitimate technical wrestler, so allowing him to have a 20 minute match against the best around is the best way of doing so. I agree on the eight-man tag match though, those things aren't usually more than ten minutes long.

That's pretty much the only criticism I can make of this; it's too damn good. The HBK/Benoit match and the aftermath is a particular favourite of mine.

[Fitzy]

RAW

LIVE! May 3, 2004

Phoenix, Arizona

America West Arena

This weeks Raw opens up with “Across the Nation” by Union Underground playing. The video comes to a close and the pyrotechnics display goes off. No recapping of last week as the camera zooms in on the steel cage being lowered as the flashing lights on the cage give off an ominous feel to it.

Jim Ross: Welcome to WWE Raw! I am Jim Ross, and of course this is Don Callis.

Don Callis: Jimmy, mah boy, this is a great way to start off Raw! A Steel Cage Match to finally settle the differences between Christian and Chris Jericho. Just who is the better man? Well, I can already tell you it’ll be Christian.

Ross: We’ll find that out soon enough because here comes Christian!

Match One – Steel Cage Match – Chris Jericho vs. Christian

“Just Close Your Eyes” by Waterproof Blonde begins to play and Christian comes out wearing his oversized tracksuit-esque pants and ring jacket. He is holding hands with his girl, Trish Stratus and immediately the fans break into a chant of “Slut” towards her. Christian quickly blocks her eyes, but she shrugs off the fans. Simon Diamond and Johnny Swinger, the problem solvers of the Coalition quickly begin looking for a fight with anyone in the audience who hurls insults towards the woman they are paid to protect. Referee Todd Sinclair tells Christian only he is allowed in the ring so Christian grabs Trish and plants a huge kiss on her before she goes and stands with Diamond and Swinger in the corner next to Lillian Garcia. The lights go out.

Five … Four … Three … Two … One … “Break the Walls DOWN!”

The pyrotechnics go off and “Break Down the Walls” begins to play. As the lights return with Jericho quickly turning around from his pose. He looks pumped up for this huge match he is about to get into. He walks down the aisle way and points towards Diamond and Swinger. They point back at him and make a motion with their hands as if they will break him. Jericho walks up to them and points at Trish, but Diamond pushes her behind him, keeping one hand back to hold her there while Swinger is yelling at Jericho to stay back. Swinger moves forward and Jericho goes up to him but he is blind sided by Christian, who has exited the cage.

Christian quickly grabs Chris Jericho and goes to push him into the steel cage, but Jericho blocks it and grabs Christian and punches him. He lifts up Christian and plants him in an inverted atomic drop. Swinger goes up behind Jericho and tries to hit him, but Jericho turns around and kicks Swinger in the mid section and tosses him into Simon Diamond. Todd Sinclair quickly gets out of the ring and gets in between Jericho and the problem solvers. He tells them to back off and tells Jericho to get into the ring. Jericho grabs Christian off of the ground and tosses him inside the ring. Jericho climbs up the ring steps and enters the cage. Sinclair follows behind him and closes the door upon entry. He singles for the bell to officially start the bout.

Christian is getting to his feet, but Jericho grabs him and whips him off the ropes. Upon the return, Jericho grabs him by the head and tosses him towards the cage, but Christian quickly puts his right foot up and grabs the cage with his hands to block himself from hitting the cage. Christian looks ecstatic to not have hit the cage full force like that, but that quickly fades away as Jericho grabs him by the hair and turns him around. Jericho punches Christian, but Christian returns the favor. Jericho slaps Christian and Christian slaps Jericho back. Christian lunges forward with a lariat, but Jericho ducks it and grabs Christian by the neck during the duck under for a neckbreaker. Jericho makes the cover. One … Two … kickout by Christian.

Jericho walks over to the ropes and gets himself between the ropes and the cage (what little space there is), and climbs the turnbuckle. He gets to the top rope and waits for Christian to get up. Christian gets to one knee and finally gets up just as Jericho leaps off, flying towards Christian back-first, and delivers a solid right elbow to the face of Christian to knock him down to the mat. One … Two … kickout by Christian. Jericho picks up Christian and twists the left arm of Christian. Jericho grabs the twisted arm with his left arm and lifts Christian straight up into the air and drops him down to the mat. He makes a cover, making sure to hold down the left arm with a lot of pressure. One … Two … foot on the ropes by Christian. Jericho quickly hooks that leg and makes the cover again. One … Two … kickout by Jericho.

Chris argues with Todd Sinclair that he had him beat. The fans are solidly behind Jericho as he begins to stomp on the left arm of Christian now. Jericho picks up Christian and grabs him by the left arm and whips him into the ropes. Jericho takes him down with an arm drag and continues to work over the left arm. Trish is yelling at Christian to get up. Jericho applies more pressure to the arm and even digs his knee into the spine of Christian, too. Christian, though, manages to turn his body so he can kick at Jericho and breaks free. Jericho gets up from the kick down and picks up Christian. He whips Christian into the ropes. Jericho charges in and Christian gets a boot up, square in the face of Jericho. Jericho quickly charges back in and Christian ducks down, crawling through the legs of Jericho. Jericho notices no one is in the corner and turns around to see Christian on his feet behind him. Jericho charges for Christian, but Christian hits a nice drop toe hold that sends Jericho face first onto the bottom turnbuckle.

Christian grabs Jericho and picks him up. He grabs a handful of hair and runs with Jericho to the cage and tosses Jericho, face first into the cage. Jericho went flying into the cage, sideways and fell between the cage and the ropes. Christian pulled him out from there and grabbed him by the hair again and tossed him in the opposite side of the ring right into the cage. Chris Jericho fell again in between the cage and the ropes. Christian picked him up, and left him in between the cage and the ropes. Christian grabbed him by the neck and dug both of his knees into the back of Jericho, while still pulling back on the neck while he was against the ropes. Todd Sinclair told him to break the hold. Christian, though lost his grip when his left hand began to hurt him from holding himself up with it and fell to the mat, but quickly got up and dug only one knee into the back of Jericho while pulling back on his neck to keep from falling again. Todd Sinclair told him to break it, again.

As soon as Christian broke the hold, he grabbed Jericho by the head and rammed it, as hard as he could, into the steel cage. He grabbed the head and pulled it back and rammed it full force, again, into the steel cage. Then, Christian took the head and began rubbing it into the cage. He was tearing at the flesh on the forehead and backed off. Jericho fell to the mat. The camera zoomed in and the blood was flowing on Chris Jericho. Christian picked up Jericho and wiped some of the blood from the forehead onto his own right hand and slapped Jericho’s chest. This left a bloody hand imprint on Jericho’s chest. Christian slapped Jericho’s chest again and then chopped him. Christian whipped Jericho into the ropes and when Jericho returned, Christian applied a drop toe hold again onto him, sending Chris Jericho, face first into the cage between the second and top rope. Jericho was resting on the middle rope now, after getting his head smashed into the cage. Christian looked at him and began moving like Jericho would if Jericho was in Christian’s position, getting a full head of steam and bounded off the opposite ropes and ran right for Jericho, leaping up and crashing down upon the back of Jericho. Christian got off of Jericho and slapped his chest a few times. Jericho was still on the middle rope, face full of blood. Christian took this opportunity to stand on the back of Jericho, pulling up on the top rope with his right hand while he slapped his chest with his left. He quickly went back to pulling at the top rope with both hands while standing on Jericho’s back. Todd Sinclair told Christian to get down. Christian dragged Jericho’s body off of the ropes and made the cover. One … Two … T, NO! Jericho rolled his shoulder for the kickout. Trish, Simon, and Johnny looked outraged and screamed at Sinclair from the outside that it was a slow count. Christian, on the inside, clapped his hands three times and raised three fingers. Sinclair raised two and motioned that he rolled the shoulder to break the count. Christian picked up Jericho and whipped him into the ropes, and locked him in a headlock. As Jericho and Christian went down to the mat and Sinclair went to check on it to see if it was a headlock, the show quickly cut to a commercial break.

[Commercial.]

Upon the return from the first commercial break, Christian was still holding Jericho in the headlock, but he was lying on the mat with his feet wrapped around Jericho’s body. But he began to move. He picked up Jericho off the mat and he hit a back body drop that sent Jericho flying over him and his legs caught the bottom rope. Christian ran up to Jericho and sat on his chest and held up Jericho’s head. Blood was flowing into Jericho’s eyes. Christian began pummeling the forehead, making his fist all red with Jericho’s blood. Christian, upping the gross factor in the match, actually licked the blood off of his own knuckles. He quickly went back to beating on Jericho while he was down and out. Christian made another cover. One … Two … Th, NO! Kickout by Jericho. Christian quickly hooked the leg for another cover. One … Two … Th, NO! Kickout, again, b Jericho! “Y2J” chants rang throughout the America West Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. Christian made the third cover in a row. One … Two … T, NO! Kickout by Jericho!

The crowd popped and began clapping. “Y2J, Y2J, Y2J!” yelled the fans as Christian grabbed Jericho by the hair. Christian went to whip Jericho into the ropes, but he quickly pulled back on the head of Jericho, and slapped Jericho’s head bounced off of the mat. Christian applied a headlock onto Jericho. Christian quickly broke the hold under his own power and went to the corner. He looked at Trish, who blew him a kiss from the outside and he began climbing the ropes. He stood on the top rope and looked over his shoulder. Jericho was still down, in the center of the ring. He looked like he wanted to drop off of the top rope right there and make the pin, but he felt he could win the match right here and now. Christian began climbing the cage, but as he leaped up to the top of the cage to pull himself up, his left hand began to hurt him and he nearly fell. But, luckily for him, he was able to hold onto the top of the cage with his right hand. Christian pulled himself up by only his right hand and stood on the scaffolding that held the cage together on the top. He looked down at Jericho and then turned around and looked at Trish from down below. She was yelling at him, waving for him to get down from there. But he didn’t, for some reason. He quickly jumped backwards and a beautiful looking moonsault and crashed down onto the mat! Chris Jericho was able to move! The crowd popped huge for that.

Chris Jericho and Christian were both still out, though. But the impact off the moonsault to the mat hurt Christian long enough for Jericho to make the move first. He got up and tried picking up Christian, but he Jericho’s back seemed to have a slight problem. Jericho, though, managed to fight through the pain and picked up Christian and whipped him into the cage, face first. Christian stumbled backwards and Jericho grabbed him by the neck and hit the Flashback. Jericho looked around and ran towards the ropes and leaped backwards for the Lionsault, only problem was that Christian moved out of the way. But Jericho scouted it and landed on his feet. Christian got up and began punching Jericho. Jericho fought back. Jericho hooked Christian’s arm and attempted a Vertical Suplex, but Christian fought out of it, landing on his feet behind Jericho and then planted a knee right into the lower back, knocking Jericho to the mat. Christian ran off the ropes and dropkicked Jericho to the mat. Christian was down, but he began moving towards the ropes. He pulled himself up and began climbing again. Christian was having a tough time climbing, especially know with the moonsault knocking the wind completely out of him, not to mention his left arm not being strong enough to pull himself up. Trish, however, told Simon Diamond and Johnny Swinger to climb the cage and pull Christian out. They got to the top, and Todd Sinclair was telling them to get down, but they wouldn’t. They were pulling Christian up to the top of the cage. Christian was nearly at the top when Jericho began to move. Jericho ran for the cage and tossed himself into it, shaking the cage, causing Diamond and Swinger to lose their footing. Jericho began climbing the cage and got to the top where he punched Swinger in the head and Swinger fell off the top of the cage onto the ground below. Diamond was able to get Christian to get on the top of the cage, as he was now lying completely horizontal on the top of the cage. Jericho, though, grabbed Diamond by the head and banged it against the top of the cage and Diamond began to fall, but he grabbed the cage with his hands. Jericho went back down the cage and was eye level with Diamond on opposite sides, and he began to bite Diamond’s fingers, causing Diamond to lose his grip and he fell right next to Johnny Swinger to a loud pop. Trish Stratus went to check on them as Jericho climbed to the top of the cage.

As Jericho got to the top of the cage, he looked around at the crowd standing on there feet. They were chanting “Y2J” over and over and clapping for Jericho to win the match. Jericho was sitting on the scaffolding as Christian was lying on it. Jericho was right neck to his feet and quickly stood up and applied the Walls of Jericho on the top of the cage! This got a huge pop from the crowd. Jericho wasn’t applying it too hard, as he didn’t want to end up losing his balance, but he had it on long enough. Jericho began climbing down the opposite side of the cage. Trish Stratus quickly forgot about Diamond and Swinger and began climbing the cage. She hit Jericho in the back with a forearm, and then quickly sat on his back, in a piggy back position, trying to scratch at his eyes with his fingernails, but Jericho pushed her off of him, and she landed on top off Diamond and Swinger. Jericho jumped off and the bell sounded to a huge pop from the crowd!

Winner: Chris Jericho in 22:35

(93, 97, 87) *** ¾

Ross: Jericho just beat Christian! What a helluva match that was, huh Don?

Callis: Christian and Jericho beat the crap out of each other. Jericho bled like a pig in that match. But, the wrong man won. Christian is worlds better than that wannabe rocker.

Todd Sinclair called out officials to help get Christian down so he wouldn’t hurt himself by falling.

Ross: Here come officials to get Christian down from the top of the cage. What are you talking about, Don? Christian almost won the match, but Jericho was able to get the victory. He deserved to win, whether you’d like to admit it or not.

Callis: You’re right. I won’t admit it. It’s because Jericho is a piece of crap and I will never respect a thing he does.

Chris Jericho stepped on top of the backs of Simon Diamond and Johnny Swinger to get to his fans and slapped his fans hands sitting right behind Diamond and Swinger.

Callis: Come on! Will someone do something about this guy? Get him out of there. What right does he have stepping all over the lovely Trish Stratus’ problem solvers!

Ross: You need to stop showing favoritism to your Canadians. They brought that upon themselves by trying to pull Christian out of the match. This cage was designed to keep them out of the ring and let the two men settle it in the ring. They felt the need to get into the ring. It was there own fault.

Jericho walks around the whole ringside area celebrating with his fans as officials begin to not only check on Christian, but also check on Diamond, Swinger, and Trish, too.

[Commercial.]

Nitro Books Big Tag Matches

“It’s time to play the game! Time to play the game!”

“The Game” by Motorhead begins to play and Triple H comes out with Evolution members and World Tag Team Champions Ric Flair and Batista. Randy Orton is not with them, for some reason, but it is known that Orton and Triple H are seemingly on the outs right now due to Orton not getting his head on straight. Triple H believes it is Orton’s fault they lost last week. They walk down the aisle and Batista runs up the steel ring steps and gets into the ring. Flair follows behind and gets into the ring. Triple H walks around to the side where they camera is and takes a sip of his water and then tosses it into the crowd. He pulls himself up to the ring apron and then spits out his water and gets into the ring. He takes the microphone from Lillian Garcia just as his music fades out.

Triple H: Ed… [Triple H isn’t even able to speak before the crowd cues up the “You Taped Out” chants. The fans will never let him forgot that night he tapped to Chris Benoit at WrestleMania XX.] You’ll never drop it, will you guys? Always living on the past. Forget about what happened then. Just wait until next week when I walk into that Battle Royal and toss out sixteen other guys to get what is rightfully mine. Yes. I said sixteen other guys. That’s because Ric Flair, Big Dave over here, and Randy Orton know what their role in Evolution is. It’s to get the belt back around my waste. So when the final four is Evolution, you two, and Orton will jump over the top rope and onto the floor, forfeiting your spot to give me the win.

Batista looks at Triple H. He steals the microphone right out of his hands. This draws a big cheer from the crowd. Ric Flair looks like he believes Batista made a big mistake, while Triple H looks shocked.

Batista: You really believe that is what’s going to happen, huh, H? You really think that I am just going to step over the top rope and forfeit a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship? What are you on man?! [A loud “Batista” chant rings out. Batista cracks a smile. He knows he has the fans in his hands right now.] Do you really think I am that stupid, Game? I mean, come on. It’s the top prize in this business. Something every wrestler dreams of having and I am just going to hand it over to you? Bullshit on that, H. You want that title shot that badly? You need to go through ME!

Batista drops the microphone at Triple H. He does a stutter step like he is going to pounce on him, but he doesn’t and walks out of the ring. Ric Flair picks up the microphone.

Ric Flair: Dave! Come on! What you are doing?! We’re Evolution, man! You can’t just abandon this! Get back here, Dave! Do what the Game tells you to do! He made you a star, get your ass back here, now!

Batista walks with his back to the Titantron, looking right at Triple H when “You Think You Know M!?” is heard and sure enough “Metalingus” by Alter Bridge begins to play. The smoke fills the entrance way and Edge comes running out in his wrestling tights and long black trench coat. He doesn’t run to the side of the stage like he normally would to hype up the crowd. He comes out, big grin on his face, and a microphone in hand. His music stops. Batista turns around and sees Edge standing on the top of the ramp. Batista walks up the ramp, looking at Triple H and keeping an eye on Batista. Edge steps to the side and lets Batista pass him. Triple H is standing with one foot on the bottom rope and one on the middle rope, pointing at Edge, yelling something at him.

Edge: Triple H, it seems like you have something else to worry about. Not only do you have to worry about me kicking your ass and tossing your ass out of the Battle Royal, but you now have your own teammate, Batista, turning his back on you. You are a targeted man, Triple H. I guess your claim to the number one contendership is lessening by the day, eh, Game?

Edge begins to walk down the ramp. But he stops halfway to the bottom.

Triple H: Wait right there, Edge! Don’t move any further, unless you want me to kick your ass right here and now. Edge, I don’t give a damn what you think. The fact that you think you can even eliminate me is funny. Wait ’til next week, Edge. It’s going to be a quick end to your night. Within seconds, your ass is going to be on the ground looking up at me after I just tossed you out, laughing. Edge, you’ll never amount to a damn thing, like I told you before. It’ll all come crashing down, come next week. As for Batista, he knows his role. He might have said otherwise, but I will deal with him later. But you, Edge, you won’t even be around past next week. I will end your career with one shot. Just you wait.

“I’m back, and better than ever!”

“I’m Back” begins to play, but it is not Eric Bischoff, Raw General Manager, who comes out. It is his apprentice, Johnny Nitro, who comes out. Nitro comes out onto the stage throwing his arms out to the side in a pose similar to Randy Orton, but not exactly. He shakes his head up and down letting his hair flow and then whips his head back, hair flying over his head and back behind him. He brushes it off his shoulder and then off his other shoulder before beginning to speak.

Johnny Nitro: Dude! Triple H, looks like you have made another enemy for next week. [Nitro laughs. Triple H kicks the bottom rope and tells Nitro to get down to the ring.] But, seriously, dude. You come out here and demanding that your own guys give you the win? I got something better for you. Watch your own back because Johnny Nitro’s taking the world by storm! Dude, I AM the next World Heavyweight Champion! [And surprising, the crowd joins in with a “Next World Champ! Next World Champ! Next World Champ!” chant. This looks like a pro-Johnny Nitro audience.] And I will toss your big ass out of the ring! Your’s, too, Flair! Hell, even Batista’s, too! Toss in Randy Orton, even! I will own Evolution!You can count on it! But I didn’t come out here to brag about being the next World Champion. I came out here to make a couple of matches while EB who is out sick with the cold, H, it’s going to be you and your new friend Jamie Noble taking on the man I will beat come Bad Blood for the World Heavyweight Championship, Chris Benoit, and his partner, that goof, The Hurricane. And as for your, Flair. You and Batista will be defending those titles against this man… [Nitro points to Edge and the crowd pops.] Edge, and his partner, the man who sooooo wishes he was me, Shawn Michaels!

The crowd pops for those two big tag team matches and “I’m Back” begins to play again as Johnny Nitro bangs his head up and down, again, letting his hair flow. He flips his hair to the back when he turns and leaves, head held high. Edge and Triple H argue while the show cuts to a commercial break.

(86)

[Commercial.]

Ross: Can you believe that pompous ass, Johnny Nitro? He actually believes he will be the next World Heavyweight Champion.

Callis: Jimmy, my boy, what did I tell you? Do I need to have a talk with Nitro about replacing you? Don’t insult your boss. You got that? But onto other business. The greatest wrestler to ever come out of Calgary is coming out next, Jimmy! Lance Storm! The greatest wrestler in WWE today!

Match Two – Best of Three Series – Match Three – Val Venis (1-1) vs. Lance Storm (1-1)

Lance Storm’s theme music begins to play and Don Callis is standing up, clapping for Lance Storm.

Ross: Oh will you sit down?

Callis: Stand up and show this man the respect he deserves!

Storm is entering the match alone as he told Simon Diamond and Johnny Swinger to take Trish and Christian back to the hotel. He gets into the ring and stands on the middle rope facing the camera and raises his arms in air. Some of the crowd booing him (the crowd was really into the previous match and this one suffered because of it), but not a whole lot.

“Hello, Ladies!”

Val Venis’ music begins to play and he comes out with his towel wrapped around him. But Val quickly takes the towel off and runs down the ramp, tossing the towel to the ground and he slides underneath the bottom rope. Referee Mike Chioda calls for the bell.

Val quickly gets up and tackles Lance Storm, bringing him down to the mat. He begins punching the hell out of the Calgary native with rights to the face. Storm pushes Val Venis off of him, and Val rolls through and quickly gets back on top of Storm. Storm pushes him off and rolls over to the corner, grabbing onto the ropes to keep Val back. As Val Venis goes to grab Lance, referee Mike Chioda steps in tells Val to back off. Val pushes Chioda aside and grabs Storm by the ankles. He pulls him up, but Storm still has the ropes. Val yanks hard and forces Storm to break the hold on the ropes and slams him hard onto the mat. He makes a cover. One … Two … kickout by Lance Storm.

Venis picks up Lance Storm and whips him into the ropes. Storm leap frogs over Val Venis and stops himself. Lance turns around as does Val, and as soon as that happens, Lance dropkicks the left knee out from under him, knocking Val to the mat. Lance Storm quickly gets up and grabs the left knee and stomps on it. He drops it to the mat and drops his own knee right across Val’s knee. Lance Storm continues to work over the leg before going for a pin fall, hooking the leg in the process. One … Two … kickout by Val Venis.

Storm dropkicks Val in the face to knock him back to the mat. When he does this, he turns Val onto his stomach and then grabs the left leg and lifts it into the air and plants it, hard, onto the mat. Storm picks it up again and drops it onto the mat for a second time. He does it for a third, time, too. Storm makes the cover. One … Two … kickout. Storm isn’t satisfied with that and makes the cover again, hooking the leg times time. One … Two … kickout. Again, not being satisfied with the kickout, he hooks the leg for the third time. One … Two … kickout.

Lance picks up Val and locks up with him. Storm goes behind Val and drops him with a neck breaker. Val sits up, in a seated position and Storm, standing behind Val, runs for him and grabs the neck and hits a jumping neck snap, ala Curt Hennig. Storm then runs for Val and dropkicks his face to force him to the mat. Lance gets up again and runs off the ropes and dropkicks the left knee and then stands above it, stomping down right on top of it. Storm drops outside and grabs Val pulls him into the corner, crotching him against the ring post. Storm grabs the left knee pad and rips it down to the boot.

Callis: Tremendous! He is going to injury that knee even more by doing that! That-a-boy, Lance!

Mike Chioda tells Storm to get inside. But Storm won’t listen and grabs the left leg and smashes the unprotected knee up against the ring post! Val Venis screams out in pain, clutching at his knee. But Storm doesn’t care. He is in this match to get into that battle royal. Storm pulls a page right out of Bret Hart’s book as he grabs the left leg, pulling down on it, as he applies a ring post figure four. Chioda rushes outside, threatening to disqualify him, and Storm finally breaks it. The crowd boos Storm as he rolls into the ring. Val Venis pushes himself out of the corner, clutching at the injured left knee. Storm makes the cover. One … Two … Thr, NO! Val got his foot on the ropes just in time!

Storm picks up Val and whips him into the corner. Storm charges into the corner and Val gets his right boot up and smacks Storm in the face! He used the ropes to balance him so he didn’t apply any pressure to his left knee. Storm staggers out of the corner and then charges back in. Venis moves out of the way and Storm runs into the corner. Val grabs Storm by the head and repeatedly pounds his forehead into the top turnbuckle. The crowd chanted along with him as he did this. One … Two … Three … Four … Five … Six … Seven … Eight … Nine … Ten! Storm staggered out of the corner and Val took him down with a lariat. Val made the cover. One … Two … kickout.

Val got up and was waving his arms up and down, waiting for Storm to get up. Storm got up and Val charged at him with a lariat. He staggered Storm and then Val turned Storm around and nailed him with a solid right. He then gave Storm another solid right hand and grabbed him and slammed him down onto the mat with a nice Blue Thunder Driver. Val motioned to the ropes. He exited the ring, and began climbing, but his knee is really hurting and he hops up onto the top rope with just one leg. When he stands on the top rope, he is shaky, like he is going to fall, but he quickly leaps off, hitting the Money Shot to a nice sized pop from the crowd, but the impact of hitting the ring directly on the unprotected knee cap hurt him far too much to be able to make the cover! This gave Storm ample about of time to recover. Storm got up, grabbed the left leg, and applied the Straight Shooter single-leg Boston Crab. Val quickly taps out!

Winner and final entrant into the Battle Royal: Lance Storm in 8:48.

(70, 60, 80) ** ¼

Callis: Tremendous, Jimmy, tremendous! You are looking at the next World Heavyweight Champion! Come Bad Blood, it’ll be Lance Storm and Chris Benoit in a classic encounter with Storm beating Benoit to win what is rightfully his!

Ross: How can you condone those actions he showed in the ring? He was out to purposely injure Val Venis as evident by him pulling down the knee pad and directly hitting the knee cap with the ring post! He doesn’t deserve to be in that Battle Royal next week, Don! This is sick! There is no denying his in ring ability is there, but for someone like Lance Storm, who is one of the best technical wrestlers in the game today, to do that, he doesn’t deserve it. What’s sad is that Lance doesn’t even need to do that to win his matches. He is more than capable of winning without resort to a tactic like that. This is sick!

[Commercial.]

The Hurricane and Chris Benoit are Ready for Noble and The Game.

When the show returns from commercial, the cameras are in the locker room of the Heavyweight Champion of the World, Chris Benoit. A knock is heard on the door.

Chris Benoit: What? Who is it?!

Benoit, not having a clue who it is, waits for the person to answer.

The Hurricane: It’s me. The Hurricane. I wanted to talk about our match tonight, if that’s okay with you.

Benoit: Of course it is! [benoit walks over to the door and opens it up, letting Hurricane into the room. A loud “SWOSH!” is heard as Hurricane appears in the room. Hurricane shakes Benoit’s hand. Benoit shuts the door behind him.] What’s on your mind, Hurricane?

The Hurricane: Well, as you know, Jamie Noble and you went for nearly thirty minutes in an absolute classic. I loved it. But as you may or may not know, I have some problems I need to finish with him. On Sunday Night Heat, prior to Backlash, I had my foot underneath the ropes, but the referee counted the three. The next night on Raw, he beat me with him holding a handful of tights. As you can tell, he already has two up on me. I want to get even with him.

Benoit: There is no denying that he is a helluva talent. That’s for damn sure. But after he laid me out with the microphone and took me down with that Deadline DDT of his, I want to get even with him too. We have a lot in common. We both hate Jamie Noble and Triple H. I remember what he did to you a few months back. He beat you like there was no tomorrow. He could have ended you right then and there. But he didn’t. There is no love lost between you two, and I can understand that.

The Hurricane: You made the guy tap at WrestleMania XX. What a sight that was. Tonight, we will kick both Jamie Noble’s and Triple H’s asses. Will Triple H tap once again? Will Noble tap again? I don’t know. But what I do know is that at the end of his match, we will have Noble and Triple H right where we want them. Lying on the mat so we can beat the crap out of hell out of them!

Benoit: Hurricane, tonight, like I always say, it is time for you to prove them all wrong! Do like I did, and prove all the critics wrong. Show them you deserve to be where you are today, my friend. Show them that the Hurricane is not someone to look over!

Benoit and Hurricane both punch each others knuckles as the camera cuts away.

(82)

Sorry About Your Damn Luck! One Week Away!

Thunder and Lightening is heard and on the screen the flashing images of lightening and thunder lighting up the dark sky. The sky goes black due to no lightening striking, but when it hits a shadowy image of a man with long hair is shown, facing at the camera. The screen goes black again. Lightening strikes the sky once more and another man’s face, with shorter hair, but still long, shows up on the right side.

The lightening stops and the screen goes to a white background. The sounds of footsteps are heard. They are at a distance. Lightening strikes again and the white screen appears once more. The footsteps are closer. More lightening and they get closer. Two guys dressed in black jeans and black t-shirts appear. Both noticeable big. The one on the right standing at 6’1” and the one on the left standing at 6’3.” The screen quickly cuts out the man on the right and the video editing fades him away. The one on the left also gets faded away. The lightening strikes.

A “Wanted” poster is shown. Underneath the “Wanted” logo is “America’s Most Wanted.” The two men appear on the screen. “Wildcat” appears under the man on the left and “Cowboy” appears under the man on the right. The screen fades to black.

“Sorry About Your Damn Luck” is show on the screen and it quickly fades away when “NEXT WEEK!” shows up stating that they will debut on Raw next week!

The cameras cut to the back where Johnny Nitro, interim General Manager, is standing by with La Resistance members Rene Dupree and Rob Conway as well as Garrison Cade and Mark Jindrak. The two teams are fighting. Both sides say they will be facing AMW next week on Raw.

Nitro: Dudes! DUDES! Stop it, or I will fire your asses right here! [They stop arguing.] Now, as you both know, with EB gone and all, I am in control. What EB had planned for either of you two is not my business. I don’t care. I will do what I want tonight, as EB said I could. So, Cade, Jindrak. Neither of you will be facing AMW in their debut next week. [Garrison Cade and Mark Jindrak get up in Johnny Nitro’s face. Cade grabs Nitro by the shirt while Jindrak stands behind Nitro.] Whoa! WHOA! Easy! Watch the hair! You touch the hair and your both gone! You got that?! Let go of me, right now! [Cade lets his grip go. Nitro fixes his shirt.] Now, as I was saying. Cade and Jindrak, I just haven’t been all that impressed with you. I mean, EB gave you guys a chance and you didn’t run with it. You just sort of where there. I mean, seriously, dudes. If you get a chance to be on Raw, to face a debuting team and make a name for yourselves, shouldn’t you at least true and look into it? But no. Whatever. That’s why you won’t be getting a shot. So, if you don’t mind, leave the next World Heavyweight Championships office, NOW!

Cade and Jindrak begin to leave, but Cade gets in Conway’s face.

Garrison Cade: You pieces of crap may have gotten the Raw match next week against AMW, but all I can tell you is to watch your back. We will be gunning for you! Just watch your sorry little French-Canadian asses!

Cade and Jindrak go to punch La Resistance, but they hide behind Johnny Nitro. Finally, Cade and Jindrak leave.

Nitro: Now, obviously, you two dudes have the match next week. If you have a good match, you might be back on Raw again. Good luck. You’ll need it. I heard AMW are two tough Southern wrestlers. You’ll be in for a good old-fashioned match. Now, like I told Cade and Jindrak … get out of the next World Heavyweight Champions office before I fire your asses!

La Resistance leave as Nitro looks in his mirror, admiring his hair.

Nitro: Wow. Great looks. Awesome hair. And the next World Heavyweight Champion! Live is so good, isn’t it?!

(76)

[Commercial.]

Match Three – World Tag Team Championship Match – World Tag Team Champiosn Evolution: “The Animal” Batista and “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair vs. Edge and “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels

“You Think You Know Me?!”

“Metalingus” by Alter Bridge begins to play and the smokes fills the entrance way once again as Edge comes running out from behind it. He runs to his left on the stage and hypes up the crowd and then runs back across the middle to the right side and hypes up the crowd. Edge runs to the middle and crouches down, looking at the entrance way.

“Oh, Oh, Shawn!”

“Sexy Boy” begins to play and Shawn Michaels comes out spinning around as he gets onto the stage. He high-fives Edge and then kneels down on the stage and raises his arms to the sky. Michaels hops right back up and he and Edge get into the ring waiting for their opponents.

“Evolution!”

“Line in the Sand” by Motorhead begins to play and the World Tag Team Champions make their entrance. Ric Flair comes out in his robe and does a little spin on the stage while Batista comes out and does the machine-gun like taunt before doing the body builders taunt while the gold pyrotechnics display rains down behind them. Batista runs up the ring steps and gets into the ring and goes to the ropes, standing on the middle ropes as he raises up the World Tag Team Championship in the air. Ric Flair gets up onto the ring apron and tells referee Brian Hebner to hold the ropes open for him. He does so and Flair enters and removes his robe and hands over the title, as does Batista. Hebner calls for the bell.

Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair look to start things off. They circle each other and lock up in the center of the ring. They jockey for position for a couple of seconds only to have Flair back off, running his hands through his hair and shouting “WOOOOOO!” at Michaels. Michaels quickly grabs Flair in another collar-and-elbow tie up and then applies a side headlock. Flair pushes Michaels off of the ropes and pushes him towards the opposite side of the ring. Edge makes a quick blind tag and waits on the apron as HBK bounces off the ropes and slides through the legs of Flair. Flair turns around and goes to grab Michaels when Edge suddenly springboards himself onto the top rope and hits a beautiful missile dropkick on the legendary Nature Boy. Edge makes a quick cover on Flair. One … Two … kickout by Flair.

Edge picks up the sixteen time World Heavyweight Champion and whips him into the ropes and ducks down. Flair is pushed up and over him for a back body drop. Flair lands right on his hip and gets back onto his feet, slowly. Edge grabs Flair by the hair and applies a side headlock, punching him in the forehead. Hebner warns Edge about the use of the fist. Telling him to use open hand slaps. Edge pushes Flair off the ropes and rams his shoulder right into Flair. Flair puts his hands up like he wants a fight and begins swinging and suddenly drops, face first, onto the mat to a huge pop as Flair executes his own Flair Flop. Edge even cracks a smile before picking up Naitch and applying an arm wringer. Edge reaches over to Michaels and tags him in.

HBK enters the match, again, and takes the twisted right arm of Flair from Edge and keeps it twisted. Michaels jumps up and down, yanking at the arm, trying to pull it out of its socket. Michaels pushes down on the back of the knee of Flair, bringing Flair to one knee now, and elbows Flair’s shoulder. Michaels picks him back up and whips him into the corner. Flair flips upside down and runs with at Edge and kicks him in the face, causing Flair to fall onto the ground outside. Michaels exits the ring and grabs Flair and rolls him back into the ring and covers him. One … Two … kickout by Flair. Michaels tags Edge back into the match.

Edge picks up Flair again and punches him in the face. Edge then chops the hell out of Flair’s chest, causing Flair to stumble back and the crowd yells out “WOOOOOO!” Edge chops Flair again, and once more causing Flair to back up into the corner. Edge goes to give Flair one more, but Flair quickly grabs Edge by the head and switches positions with him. Flair chops Edge to a loud “WOOOOOO!” chant and gives him another. Edge grabs Flair by the head, just like Flair did, and switches positions and chops Flair three more times. As Edge goes for a fourth one in a row, Flair thumbs Edge in the eyes. Edge stumbles out of the corner, grabbing at his own eyes. Flair charges at Edge and chop blocks the legs of Edge, taking him down. Flair sits on Edge and holds up his head and punches him, repeatedly. Flair drags Edge over to the corner and tags in Batista.

Batista comes in and grabs Edge and lifts him off the mat. Batista whips Edge into the rope and lifts him up and slams him down onto the mat for a Spinebuster. Batista makes the cover. One … Two … kickout by Edge. Batista grabs Edge and stands him up. Batista punches him and grabs him by the arm and whips him off the ropes and takes him down with a huge power slam. Batista gets down behind the seated Edge and begins to hammer away at Edge’s head with forearms to both sides of his head. Batista then applies a chin lock on him.

[Commercial.]

When we return from the commercial break, Batista is down on top of Edge making the cover. We come back just as Edge kicks out at a real near fall. Batista picks up Edge and is now squeezing the life out of him. Batista is thrashing Edge around in a brutal bear hug. The lifeless body of Edge begins to fall helplessly to the mat, but Edge quickly tightens the grip, causing Edge to jolt back up and try to reach for the ropes. Michaels is on the apron, pounding the mat with his foot while getting the fans to clap for Edge to make his comeback. Batista won’t allow it, though. Brian Hebner finally steps in and raises the right arm of Edge. It falls once. Hebner raises it again. It falls for a second time. Hebner raises it for a third time, but it doesn’t fall and the crowd pops. Edge begins to pound on the top of Batista’s head, and it nearly breaks Batista’s strong grip. Edge continues to pound away and Batista almost breaks the hold but quickly tightens it once more. Edge reaches for the ropes, but is too far away. Michaels runs into the ring and dives for Batista, nailing him right in the forehead. Hebner quickly grabs Michaels and forces him out of the ring. The punch didn’t cause Batista to break the hold at all. But under his own power, Batista broke the hold and dragged him to his own corner where he let Flair illegal choke him. Batista moved over to taunt Michaels who was being restrained by Brian Hebner. Flair gets down on his knees on the ring apron and begins to choke Edge, but Edge grabs Flair by the head and pushes him off and quickly runs to make the tag to Michaels. He leaps into the air, but Batista turns around and catches Edge, mid air, and drops him with another Spinebuster. Batista tags out to Ric Flair.

Flair comes into the match and makes a cover on Edge. One … Two … Thr, NO! Kickout by Edge! Flair is shocked that a second Spinebuster couldn’t finish off Edge. Flair picks up Edge and chops him, receiving a “WOOOOOO!” from the crowd. Flair chops Edge down to the mat and grabs the legs of Edge and applies the Figure Four Leg Lock. Edge tries to fight it, crawling for the ropes. He is close to the ropes and reaches and breaks the hold. He wasn’t in for that long, which is a good thing. Edge tries to get up, but Flair grabs him first and whips him into the ropes. Edge ducks Flair trying to clothesline him, and bounces off the ropes. Edge runs full force towards Flair. Spear! He just Speared Ric Flair to a huge pop from the crowd! Edge and Flair are both down! A desperate Spear by Edge and it might have just saved him the match. Edge begins to move. He is closer to his corner than Flair is. But Flair is now beginning to move, too. Edge makes a dive for his corner and he tags in The Heartbreak Kid to a huge pop from the crowd.

Michaels comes into the match, finally, and runs for Batista, knocking him off with a punch to the forehead. Batista goes down onto the ring apron, and he quickly gets up, trying to get in, but Hebner forces him out. Michaels grabs Flair and picks him up. Flair attempts an illegal low blow, but Michaels closes his legs, capturing Flair’s arm in between his legs. HBK grabs that arm, and pulls up Flair. Michaels backs him into the corner and begins to chop and slap Flair’s chest to many “WOOOOOO!” chants from the crowd. Michaels whips Flair off the ropes and runs off the ropes himself. Michaels dives for Flair, but Flair managed to duck out of the way and Michaels connects with the flying forearm on Brian Hebner! The crowd quickly boos this, though. Michaels kips up and notices that Flair is close to tagging out to Batista, but Flair quickly drags him out of the corner. He picks him up and body slams him to the mat. Michaels looks around and exits the ring and begins to climb the turnbuckle. He leaps off with a beautiful elbow drop from the top rope and makes the cover. The crowd begins to count. One … Two … Three … Four … Five … Six. The crowd is about to count seven, referee Todd Sinclair quickly runs down to the ring and slides into it. One … Two … kickout by Ric Flair!

Batista comes into the match, without being tagged in, and Sinclair tells him to get out. Batista, of course, doesn’t listen to him and grabs Michaels off of Flair. He pulls him up by his hair and is about to lift him up for a Spinebuster, but Edge runs into the ring and Spears Batista down before he could even lift up HBK. This gets a huge pop from the crowd. Michaels runs into the corner and begins to bang his foot on the mat. He is tuning up the band. Edge and Batista roll to the outside where Edge tosses Batista head first into the steel ring steps. Flair begins to move. Once he is on his feet, Flair turns around and Michaels moves towards him with one swift motion and hits the Sweet Chin Music! The crowd goes crazy! One … Two … Three! New Tag Team Champions! The crowd is going insane!

Winners and New World Tag Team Champions: Edge and Shawn Michaels in 16:12.

Ross: Yes! Yes! Bah Gawd Yes! Michaels and Edge beat Evolution! Finally! Evolution is no longer the World Tag Team Champions!

Callis: This is completely unfair! Todd Sinclair is not the referee of this contest! This cannot happen! Evolution is still the tag team champions!

Todd Sinclair hands Michaels the World Tag Team Championship belts and Edge comes in and Michaels tosses him the other belt. Sinclair raises there arms, but all of a sudden, Brian Hebner gets up and stands in front of them both, pushing their hands down. The crowd boos loudly. He takes the belts from the two of them. Hebner converses with Lillian Garcia.

Lillian Garcia: Referee Brian Hebner has just informed me that due to Shawn Michaels knocking him out with a flying forearm, your winners, and STILL World Tag Team Champions, Batista and Ric Flair!

Winners and Still World Tag Team Champions Due To Reverse Decision: Evolution: Batista and Ric Flair in 16:12.

(90, 92, 88) *** ¾

The crowd is all over this finish. They are booing the hell out of Brian Hebner for this call. Hebner quickly hands the belts over to Flair and Batista. Batista gets up from outside, a little shaken up from getting his head rammed into the steel steps, but drags Flair out of the ring and helps him to the back. Edge and Michaels are arguing with Brian Hebner. Hebner, fearing for his live, quickly escapes. Sinclair follows behind, too. Edge and Michaels are upset in the ring.

Callis: Now that’s what I call justice! Evolution are the rightful champions! I am saddened by the fact that you would even suggest they become champions, Jimmy.

[Commercial.]

Jamie Noble and Triple H are Ready for The Hurricane and Chris Benoit

The show returns from the commercial break and we are in Triple H’s locker room. Jamie Noble is also in there. Neither Ric Flair, Batista, nor Randy Orton are around, through.

Triple H: Jamie, I respect your abilities, my friend. You went thirty minutes with Chris Benoit. That’s not a thing any simple man could do. He put me through hell plenty of times. He’s put a lot of people through hell, and you toughened it out. That’s why I respect you, kid. You showed you deserve to be here instead of on Velocity. You earned your spot, kid. Good job.

Triple H offers his hand to Noble. Noble accepts and shakes it.

Jamie Noble: If there is one thing we have in common, it’s are pure hatred for that Chris Benoit. I kicked his tail from corner to corner. I almost beat that there Canadian piece of crap. But I didn’t. I will pin him in that there ring tonight, though. You can bet on that!

Triple H: This Hurricane guy … you embarrassed him two times already and he doesn’t give up. I’ve beaten him many times, too, and he still doesn’t give up. He may have heart, but he is stupid. Forget about heart, that’s for sure. When you are as dumb as Hurricane, having heart won’t mean a damned thing.

Noble: You can say that again! I whipped his tail and I hadn’t figured on having to face him anymore. I figured he’d run away like a scolded dog. But he keeps coming back. I’ma fixing to give him a swift kick in the tail when he steps into that there ring tonight. Hey boy, I will keep kicking your tail around the ring for as long as you keep trying. You got that, boy?! Huh?! You got that?!

Triple H: Benoit, Hurricane, myself and Jamie Noble will not rest until the two of you are beat down tonight. Noble is ready. I am ready. This is one step closer for me, Benoit, to getting that title back. Keep it warm for me, because come Bad Blood, after I win the battle royal, I WILL take what is rightfully mine!

They shake hands again and Jamie Noble leaves Triple H’s locker room to allow H to get ready for the match and for Noble to get into his wrestling gear as well.

[Commercial.]

Match Four – Non-Title Match – WWE Intercontinental Champion “The Legend Killer” Randy Orton vs. Rob Van Dam

“One of a kind!”

The pyrotechnics shout off as “One of a Kind” by Breaking Point begins to play. The crowd instantly pops out of their seats and points to themselves with their thumbs as RVD makes his way out. RVD points to the crowd and then points to himself using his thumbs as Lillian Garcia introduces him. RVD walks down the aisle, slapping the fans hands along the way. He rolls into the ring and springs to his feet, spinning around and again pointing to himself with his thumbs.

“Evolution!”

“Evolution” by Motorhead begins to play again and the Intercontinental Champion Randy Orton makes his entrance. He does his arms tossed out to the side pose while the wall of gold pyrotechnics is on display in the background. Orton, smiling arrogantly walks down the aisle. He un-straps the Intercontinental Championship and raises it above, mouthing to RVD that he’ll never get the belt. Orton’s theme fades out and he hands the belt over to referee Billy Silverman. Silverman calls for the bell.

RVD and Randy Orton lock up in the center, but Orton quickly knees Van Dam in the midsection. RVD backs off and Orton charges at him and punches him right in the side of the mouth. RVD clutches at his face only to have Orton kick him in the stomach and grabs him in a side headlock. Orton backs RVD up against the ropes but RVD manages to push Orton forward. Orton, however, quickly regains composure and grabs the neck, slowing RVD down to a snails pace and brings him to the mat. Orton is on one knee while Van Dam is down on his ass, seated. RVD is locked in the rear chin lock. Orton tightens the grip on the chin lock. RVD begins to bang the mat with his foot, rallying up the crowd to get on his side. The crowd begins to clap and also chant “R-V-D.” RVD begins to shake his arms up and down, working his way up to a standing position. Orton, trying to keep the pressure on the chin lock is forced to stand up with RVD. RVD begins to elbow at RVD and he breaks free to a pop from the crowd. But sadly, the crowd is deflated when Orton quickly grabs him by his hair and pulls him back down. Orton is now lying on the mat in a rear chin lock. RVD is also lying down, but unlike Orton, he is on his back.

The crowd lets Orton have it by chanting “Randy Sucks” over, and over, and over again. Orton yells at Billy Silverman to check on RVD. “He’s passing out! Ring the damn bell!” yells Orton as he reaches behind him with his feet and places them on the middle rope. All of his weight is being pushed right onto Rob Van Dam. The crowd boos this as Silverman looks around and Orton quickly drops his feet off the middle rope. Silverman didn’t catch him and goes back to checking on the chin lock, making sure it is not an illegal choke (but even if it was, when was the last time they ever called for a DQ because of it?). Orton quickly places his feet on the middle rope again. Silverman raises RVD’s arm. It falls once. He again checks to see if Orton isn’t doing anything illegal. Orton quickly drops his feet off the middle rope. Silverman goes back to checking on RVD. Orton places his feet on the middle rope again. Silverman checks the arm. It falls for a second time. Orton drops his feet. Silverman checks him, warning him this time to not do anything, even if he didn’t catch him doing anything illegal. Orton places his feet on the middle rope and Silverman checks on RVD. He raises it. It doesn’t fall. It stays up and checks Orton and catches him with his feet on the middle rope. One … Two … Three … Four … and at five Orton gets his feet off the middle rope. He broke the hold at this time and picked up RVD. He whipped him into the ropes. RVD leaped at Orton, jumping up and having his feet land on the thighs of Orton and grabbed his neck, spinning him around and executing a monkey flip. Both were down, but Orton rolled to the outside.

Orton went to roll back in but RVD just got up and ran full force at RVD and hit a nice baseball slide on him that cause Orton to crash up against the barricade. RVD stood up in the ring and grabbed the top rope and hit a nice plancha onto Randy Orton. “R-V-D” chants rang out through the arena. RVD picked up Orton for a Vertical Suplex but instead he placed him on the top of the barricade and rolled into the ring to break the count. RVD got back out and stood on the ring apron and he leaped off, spinning around and hitting a drop kick across the back of Orton. Orton crashed to the mat on the outside and RVD rolled into the ring pointing at himself to a pop from the crowd.

[Commercial.]

Back from the commercial and it looks like Orton has taken control once again. They were back on the outside and Orton. Orton grabbed RVD by the neck and tossed him into the barricade. RVD flipped up and crashed into the barricade back first and fell to the ground right on his neck. The slip screen showed that when RVD rolled Orton back into the ring, Orton low blowed RVD when Silverman had his back turned. It also showed Orton trying for a pin, but the split screen ends right there. Orton grabbed Orton and rolled him into the ring. Orton made the cover. One … Two … Th, NO! Kickout by RVD. Orton picked up RVD and took him down with a Vertical Suplex. Orton tossed his arms out in his cocky pose again and RVD began to move. But Orton grabbed him and draped him across his back, pulling down on the neck for the 3.0. One … Two … Th, NO! Kickout again by RVD. The crowd was clapping for Van Dam.

Orton grabbed RVD and picked him up. He punched him and went to grab him by the neck for the RKO, but RVD turned Orton around and punched him in the face and went for a kick, but Orton caught it. RVD tried to punch him, but Orton wouldn’t allow it. He went to spin RVD around, but that didn’t happen as Orton stepped over his own foot and caught him in a sort of mule kick. Orton went down and RVD began crawling. He finally made the cover. One … Two … kickout. RVD quickly got up and looked around. He ran to the ropes and rolled along with mat, leaping into the air and crashing down with the senton for the Rolling Thunder. He made the cover. One … Two … Orton reverse it into a roll up. One … Two … kickout by RVD. RVD quickly gets up and grabs Orton and punches him. He whips him into the corner and charges in with a shoulder block. RVD back flips out of it and charges in again, full force knocking the wind out of Orton. He pushes Orton to the mat and the crowd flips out. He leaps to the top rope. He looks around from his perched position. Five Star Frog Splash! One … Two … Three! RVD just pinned the Intercontinental Champion!

Winner: Rob Van Dam in 10:30.

(86, 82, 91) *** ¾

RVD got his hands raised as his music began playing. He celebrated with his fans by slapping their hands along the ringside area. The camera focused in on Orton as he was down and out as the show cut to another commercial break.

[Commercial.]

[Fitzy]

Edge Is More Than Upset.

The show returns and Edge and Michaels are standing in the hallway, right behind the entrance way. Edge is tossing things around, knocking over a couple of monitors off the table onto the ground.

Shawn Michaels: Edge! Edge! Easy! Calm down! You need to get over this.

Edge: Get over this?! You’re telling me to get over this?! I … we just got screwed out of being the new Tag Team Champions. And you’re telling me to get over it?! What’s with you, man? We should be tag team champions right now! This sucks!

Michaels: You have all the right to be mad. Hell, I am mad, but I am just not going to show it right now when I have more important things to worry about. Like next week. Edge, my friend, you need to get over this because we are both in the twenty man battle royal next week to crowd the number one contender. For weeks you have been clamoring for a title shot. You said you were the rightful number one contender. Instead of getting all worked up over getting screwed tonight, when we will get our chance again at some other time, how about putting all that angry, all that frustration, all that rage into winning the battle royal next week? Huh? You got that?

Edge: Shawn, with all due respect, don’t tell me how to live my life. I know exactly what’s going down next week. I know that I have the battle royal to worry about. But right now, I am sick and tired of not getting what I deserve. First it was not being named number one contender. This stupid battle royal shouldn’t be happening. It should be ME getting that title shot against Chris Benoit at Bad Blood in the first place. But that’s beside the point. Tonight, right now. I should be celebrating. We should be celebrating being the new tag team champions. But now – now Evolution walks out with the belts again!

Edge begins to pull his hair out as he is so frustrated and angry over losing the match on a reverse decision.

Michaels: What the hell are you doing? You are really beginning to freak me out, man. We will get another chance down the line. I can guarantee it!

Edge: Why don’t you just get over yourself? Stop trying to be this savior – the voice of reason. Just be Shawn Michaels and leave me the hell alone!

Edge walks off leaving Shawn Michaels shocked at what just went down.

(94)

[Commercial.]

Ross: Welcome back folks. We are moments away from the main event featuring Chris Benoit and The Hurricane taking on Jamie Noble and Triple H. But Don, can you believe what Edge just did? He snapped!

Callis: Of course I can believe it. He is finally showing his true meanings. Who does Edge care about? Certainly not Michaels. He is like everyone else. He is sick of Michaels trying to be the voice of reason. Or the center of attention. Michaels is nothing. Edge is the future. I, for one, respect Edge now more than ever!

Ross: Of course you would, now.

Match Five – Main Event – World Heavyweight Champion “The Crippler” Chris Benoit and The Hurricane vs. “The Redneck Messiah” Jamie “By God” Noble and “The Game” Triple H with “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair

Jamie Noble’s music begins to play and he makes his entrance to boos from the crowd. He raises his arms on the entrance and walks down the ramp arguing with fans along the way. He jumps up onto the ring apron and gets into the ring. He stands in his corner waiting for his partner.

“It’s time to play the game … Time to play the Game!”

“The Game” by Motorhead begins to play once again and Triple H comes out a mixed reaction. The crowd popped for his music, but once he got out onto the stage, the “You Tapped Out” chants began. Triple H is followed by the one half of the World Tag Team Champions, Ric Flair. Batista, still rather angry at “The Game” over being told to help him win, hasn’t been seen with him since walking off. He worked the match with Flair, but won’t be seen with Triple H. Triple H walked down towards the ring and Flair walked to H’s corner, standing on the outside while Triple H took a sip of his bottled water and then tossed it into the crowd. He jumped on the ring apron and raised his arms in the air while spitting out the water and then entered the ring. He shook Noble’s hand and was talking some sort of strategy with him.

“Stand back, there’s a Hurricane coming through!”

Hurricane’s theme music begins to play and he comes out onto the stage to a nice reaction from the crowd. He gives them a thumbs up before going into his pose while looking at the entrance way and “Whatever” by Our Lady Peace begins to play. The World Heavyweight Champion, Chris Benoit, makes his entrance to a standing ovation from the crowd. Benoit walks to the left of the stage and holds up the World Championship and pounds on his chest. He walks past Hurricane and goes to the right and raises the belt and pounds his chest. He places the belt over his shoulder and tells the Hurricane to follow him to the ring. They rush to the ring and slide underneath the bottom rope and Noble and Triple H escape the ring and stand on the outside. Referee Earl Hebner checks on Benoit and Hurricane and then takes Benoit’s title. Benoit and Hurricane talk strategy and Hurricane is starting the match off. Noble and Triple H play “Rock, Paper, Scissors” and Triple H wins and chooses to start the match.

Triple H and Hurricane lock up. The circle around the ring in the collar-and-elbow tie up, backing up against the ropes. They continue to trade places, Hurricane against the ropes, Triple H against the ropes, Hurricane once again on the ropes and Triple H on the ropes until they get to the corner where it is Hurricane stuck in the corner. Earl Hebner steps in and separates the two, calling for a break. They part ways, Triple H raising his arms into the air but quickly punches Hurricane in the jaw. “The Game” grabs Hurricane in another lock up and hooks the arm and gets him in a delayed Vertical Suplex. He holds him up for five seconds before dropping him again. H floats over for the cover. One … Two … kickout by Hurricane. Triple H tags in Jamie Noble.

Jamie Noble gets into the ring and kicks Hurricane while he is down. Hurricane begins to get up, but Noble kicks him back down. Hurricane sits up and Noble kicks him directly in the spine. Hurricane rolls to the mat, placing an arm on his back in pain from the kick. Jamie picks him up and whips him off the ropes. Noble runs at him and hits a nice leg lariat on him and makes the cover. One … Two … kickout by Hurricane. Noble stands Hurricane up and goes behind him and hooks the arms in a full nelson position. He tries to lift him up for the Dragon Suplex, but Hurricane blocks it and breaks free by sitting down on the mat and backs up through the legs of Noble. He stands up and quickly hooks his own full nelson and tries for the Dragon Suplex of his own. Noble blocks it and breaks free. He goes to lock up with Hurricane, but Hurricane ducks out of the way and punches him and then grabs him by the arm and whips him into the corner. Hurricane charges in and Noble quickly moves out of the way. Hurricane runs face first into the corner, but stops him self, looking around, wondering where Noble went. He turns around and sees Noble standing in front of him. Noble tries to grab him but Hurricane pokes him in the eye to a pop from the crowd. What usually is reserved for a heel, Hurricane took it and used it and it worked. Hurricane grabbed Noble and lifted him up and hit an Atomic Drop. Hurricane bounced off the ropes and grabs him by the neck, hitting a nice neck breaker. One … Two … kickout by Noble.

Hurricane looks a little frustrated that that didn’t do much of anything to help him get the win, goes to tag out to Benoit, but Ric Flair jumps on the apron just as Hurricane made the tag, thus screwing him out of making the tag to Benoit. Jamie Noble began to move and got to his corner and Flair stopped distracting the referee so he could see Noble tag out to H.

Triple H came in and grabbed Hurricane by the ankle and dragged him to his part of the mat and continued to hold onto the left leg and dropped and elbow into the thigh. Triple H stood back up and dropped another elbow into the thigh and stood up again and delivered a third elbow to the thigh. Upon completion, he remained on the mat and made his grip on the left leg tighter as he pulled it closer to him. He began digging his elbow into the thigh while holding the leg in a seated position and then made the cover. One … Two … kickout by Hurricane. Triple H got up and whipped Hurricane off the ropes and hit a back body drop on him. Triple H sat Hurricane up and applied a kneeling chin lock on him. The show quickly cut to a commercial break.

[Commercial.]

When the show returns, Noble is now in the ring. Noble ran off the ropes went for the dropkick. He dropkicked Noble right on the neck. Hurricane was down and Noble picked him up and grabbed both arms and crossed them over Hurricane’s own neck and then dropped him, neck first, right onto his own right leg. The head just bounced right off the leg and Noble made the cover. One … Two … T, kickout by Hurricane. Benoit was getting the crowd into the match by banging on the top turnbuckle. He needed this tag or else it could be the end, real soon.

Jamie Noble waited for Hurricane to get up and when he did, he quickly kicked him in the midsection and went behind him and hooked him in the Dragon Suplex position. Noble lifted him up and over, but no! Hurricane somehow managed to evade landing on his neck by flipping instead out and landing on his feet. He did stumble back, but luckily the ropes held him up. Hurricane charged at Noble with a lariat and knocked him down, but Noble got right up. He charged at him again and hit a second lariat and Noble still got up. He charged at him once more and took him down with a third lariat. Hurricane quickly went to the outside and climbed the ropes. He was on top and Noble was moving. He hit the Blockbuster off the top rope and he and Noble were both down and out! Earl Hebner began counting. One … Two … Three … Four … Noble is the first to move, Five … Six … Hurricane is moving towards his corner, but he is closer than Noble is to his own corner, Seven …Eight … Noble dives and actually makes the tag first and Triple H comes charging in, trying to grab Noble by the legs but he rolls through and tags Chris Benoit to a huge pop from the crowd.

Benoit comes in and chops Triple H down to the mat. Noble gets up and he chops him down. Triple His back up and Benoit grabs him by the neck and hits a beautiful Snap Suplex on him. Noble gets up and Benoit hits a Snap Suplex on him, planting Noble right on top of Triple H’s body. Triple H, though, pushes Noble off of him and stands up and goes to punch Triple H, but Benoit ducks him and goes behind him and hits a German Suplex to a huge pop! He rolls on the mat and stands up, bringing Triple H with him and hits another German Suplex. And he hits a third German Suplex, releasing Triple H. Benoit drags his finger across his throat and goes to the top rope. He looks like he is going for the Diving Headbutt … no! Jamie Noble got up and crotched Benoit on the top rope. He turns Benoit around on the top rope and grabs him in the full nelson position. He is going to try the same move he did last week, which was successful, the top rope Dragon Suplex, but Hurricane runs over and leaps to the top, grabbing Noble by the neck and pulls him off for a beautiful neck breaker. Almost as if Hurricane was floating in mid air as he did it.

Triple H was getting up and went over to Benoit on the top rope. He grabbed him in a back body drop position and was going to dump him in the ring, but Benoit rolled off of him and landed on his feet. He clubs the back of Triple H and tries for another German Suplex on him, but Triple H blocks it and turns Benoit around. Benoit ducks a punch and chops Triple H. He chops him again. And chops him for a third time. Benoit grabbed Triple H by the left arm and dragged him to the mat. He hooked the face for the Crippler Crossface to a huge pop from the crowd. Earl Hebner was busy forcing Hurricane and Jamie Noble out of the ring just as Triple H was tapping. The crowd was going crazy as Triple H was tapping out again to the Crippler Crossface, just like WrestleMania XX.

Once Hurricane was finally out of the ring and Noble was on the ring apron already, Triple H stopped tapping out just as Hebner turned around. Hebner went to check on him to see if he was going to tap. But he wouldn’t as Noble got into the ring and ran off the ropes directly behind Triple H and Benoit and ran across the ring and bounced off the ropes in front of them and hit a basement dropkick to the face of Benoit, breaking Triple H free from the match. Noble exited the ring and tagged himself in by picking up Triple H’s hand and slapping it. He entered the ring and Benoit charged at him but Noble jumped up and caught him in a nice looking submission. He hooked the head with his left arm and wrapped his legs around the body of Benoit. He calls this Pay Dirt. Benoit was still standing, though, but he was carrying Noble around with him just as Benoit was trapping the flow of oxygen. He wasn’t letting him breath as the arm around the face was pretty much like a sleeper. Benoit began to stagger around the ring, and finally he became almost lifeless and he fell to the mat. Benoit was seated with Noble sitting, too, with his legs still wrapped around Benoit’s waist. He won’t let with the leg lock or the neck lock go. Earl Hebner made sure it was not a choke hold and raised the arm of Benoit. It fell once. He raised it again. It fell for a second time. Hebner raised it once more. It stayed up. The crowd popped. But Hurricane came running in. Noble broke the hold and ducked a lariat from Hurricane and grabbed him by the head and tossed him out of the ring.

Benoit gets up and chops Noble just as he turns around. Noble backed off and Benoit chopped him again. Benoit goes behind him and tries for the German Suplex again. He lifts Noble up. No! Noble flipped through it and charged at Benoit. He grabbed him from behind and locked his arms in for a full nelson. He lifts him up. Dragon Suplex! He hit him with the Dragon Suplex again. He holds on for the bridge. One … Two … Thre, NO! Kickout by Chris Benoit! Noble looks pissed. He grabs him by the head and goes for a Vertical Suplex, but changes his mind and places the feet on the top rope. Noble quickly drops down, hitting the Deadline DDT. Noble quickly applied Pay Dirt on him again. He knew that after a Dragon Suplex and a Deadline DDT that Benoit would need to tap out or risk being injured. But Benoit wasn’t tapping out. He reached over and broke it by placing his foot on the bottom rope. Noble, pissed, picked up Benoit and went behind him. He hit a second Dragon Suplex. He couldn’t get the bridge right and broke it and made the regular cover. One … Two … Three! Noble actually pinned the World Heavyweight Champion!

Winners: Jamie Noble and Triple H in 19:52.

(85, 83, 87) *** ½

Ric Flair helped up Triple H, who was still out of it from the Crippler Crossface. Noble shook Triple H’s hand while Earl Hebner helped Benoit out of the ring. Hurricane got up and he helped Benoit to the back. Noble is kind of shocked that he got the win, and it only took him less than twenty minutes this time to score a pin. He almost had him beat in thirty minutes last week, but this week, when he finally wins, it is in a short amount of time. Noble is happy with himself. Pinning the champion should offer him something. Perhaps a title match is in his future if he wins the battle royal or not? The show comes to an end with Noble raising his arms in the arm.

---------------------------

Overall: 83

TV Rating: 4.3

---------------------------

Heat – May 9, 2004 – Phoenix, Arizona – America West Arena

1. Matt Morgan with Rico Constantino defeated Scott Lost. Morgan defeated Lost with ease, hitting him with a Powerbomb and pinned him in one minute.

2. Alexis Laree made her in ring debut when she and Victoria teamed up to take on Trish Stratus and the WWE Women’s Champion Molly Holly This match was scheduled for Raw, but due to no time, it got put onto Heat. Victoria had Trish Stratus up for a Vertical Suplex, but Johnny Swinger grabbed her leg, pulling her down to the mat and Trish landed on top of her. He held Victoria’s leg down while Trish pinned her.

3. And in the main event, the Tommy Dreamer and Rico Constantino feud continued. Orlando Jordan was in Dreamer’s corner while Matt Morgan was, of course, in Rico’s corner. Orlando Jordan and Matt Morgan ended up brawling through the crowd allowing Dreamer and Constantino to have the match all to themselves. Dreamer hit the Dreamer Driver, but Rico got his foot on the ropes. Rico ended up hitting his roundhouse kick and then followed it up with a moonsault to pick up the victory over Tommy Dreamer.

---------------------------

[Fitzy]

Battle Royal

May 10, 2004

The day has finally come. Tonight, on Raw, we will crown the new number one contender. For weeks, this was what the Raw Superstars have been waiting for and it is finally upon us. Fifteen Raw Superstars including: Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho, Triple H, Batista, Ric Flair, Randy Orton, Christian, Lance Storm, Simon Diamond, Johnny Swinger, Edge, Jamie Noble, Rob Van Dam, The Hurricane, and … Johnny Nitro?! Yes. Johnny Nitro was entered by Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff. And if you actually believe his apprentice, Nitro believes he has a chance to win this. Yeah. Sure you do, Johnny. Who will head into Bad Blood to face Chris Benoit? Find out tonight, only on Spike TV!

Also on Raw we will witness America’s Most Wanted in their debut match. Several weeks back, Mr. Bischoff granted Garrison Cade and Mark Jindrak the chance to face AMW during their debut match, but during Mr. Bischoff’s absences last week, Johnny Nitro took it upon himself to chance things up and gave La Resistance the chance to prove themselves. This caused a little bit of tension in the room between those two teams and Johnny Nitro himself, but Nitro sorted it on his own. La Resistance takes on AMW on Raw.

Alexis Laree will make her in ring Raw debut, to, as she takes on Trish Stratus. Trish will not want to be upstaged by this young Diva, so you can beat she will give Laree a lot of punishment in that ring as she is known to do from time to time to several of the Raw Divas.

And to round out the show, Chris Benoit will also see action in non-title action. We don’t know of his opponent, but we do have word that it is one of the fifteen Raw Superstars that are entered in the battle royal. Who is going to get this big match against the World Heavyweight Champion? Even though it isn’t a title match, a win over the champion could come in very useful for the possible winner.

Tune in at 9/8 CT only on Spike TV!

[Krazy_K]

Bitchin'

Just read through it all. Easily the best diary I've read all year.

Keep pushing Noble and you will have a reader in me forever.

[Fitzy]

RAW

LIVE! May 10, 2004

San Joe, California

HP Pavilion

This weeks Raw opens up with a recap of the Steel Cage match. It shows Jericho getting tossed into the cage by Christian and then it shows Jericho’s forehead get rubbed into the steal mesh and the screen goes block and white due to the blood. It shows Christian standing on Jericho’s back. It shows Jericho making his comeback and it then goes to Christian hitting the moonsault off of the cage but he hit the mat and not Jericho. And then it shows Christian beginning to climb the cage and Simon Diamond and Johnny Swinger climbing the outside and helping Christian to the top by pulling him up. It showed Jericho moving and diving into the cage causing Swinger and Diamond to lose their footing. Jericho then tossed Swinger’s head into the top of the cage and he fell off. Diamond got Christian to the top of the cage and he was resting at the top when Jericho grabbed Diamond and tossed him into the top of the cage, head first and he fell to the ground. Jericho then applied the Walls of Jericho on Christian on the top of the cage. Jericho began climbing down when it showed Trish jumping onto Jericho’s back while he was climbing down and tried to scratch at his eyes, but Jericho just tossed Trish to the group on top of Diamond and Swinger to win the match. “Across the Nation” by Union Underground playing. The video comes to a close and the pyrotechnics display goes off.

Jim Ross: Hello everyone and welcome to WWE Raw! I am Jim Ross and I am joined as always by Don Callis.

Don Callis: I still cannot believe that Jericho won last week. It’s a travesty. Not to mention the footage still shows that Jericho loves to beat on the women. We need to do something about that, eh Jimmy?

Ross: Give me a break. Heck, your boy Christian should have escaped instead of trying for a moonsault that ultimately cost him the match. It’s that move that gave Jericho the advantage to win the match.

Callis: Whatever you say, Jimmy. But one thing there were two other things that were tremendous last week. First off, Edge going off on Shawn Michaels. Finally, someone stood up to that egomaniac. And second was seeing Jamie Noble pin Chris Benoit. Give this young man a title shot, now!

Ross: Edge sure did seem angry last week and speaking of Jamie Noble, I tip my hat to the man. He has impressed me in these past few weeks. Tonight just might be his tonight. Who knows? And speaking of the title, here comes the World Heavyweight Champion!

Benoit Can’t Wait To Find Out His Opponent For Bad Blood

“Whatever” by Our Lady Peace begins to play and the World Heavyweight Champion, “The Crippler” Chris Benoit makes his entrance to a nice reaction from the crowd. Not one that he has been use to lately, but still a good reaction. He takes off the belt and walks to the right hand side of the screen and raises the belt with one hand and pounds his chest with the other. He walks to the other side and does the same, raising the belt and pounding his chest. Benoit goes back to the center and places the belt over his shoulder as he walks down the aisle way. Benoit gets into the ring and takes the microphone from Lillian Garcia. His music fades out.

Chris Benoit: Every since Eric Bischoff announced this battle royal two weeks ago, I waited in anticipation to finally see who deserves a shot at this belt that I hold with pride over my shoulder. There are too many top contenders and finally, after waiting for what seemed like an eternity, we will crown just one top contender to challenge me for this belt. Shawn Michaels, it’d be a pleasure to have another match with you. I loved our match at Backlash. Edge, you are another one who has proven time and again that you deserve a title shot. Chris Jericho, the first Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion. You have been waiting a long time, my friend. Tonight you get your chance to prove you deserve it. As much as it pains me to say it, Triple H … [The crowd boos Triple H.] You, too, are looking for a shot at this belt. And the man who pinned me last week, a man who went nearly thirty minutes with me two weeks ago, Jamie Noble. You have shown you deserve to get a shot, too. But in less than two hours, we will find out who challenges for my belt. To tell you the truth, I don’t care who it is. This belt isn’t going anywhere. I have worked eighteen long, hard years for this title and I am not going to let it go without a fight. But that fight just won’t be enough to take it from me. You’d need to kill me first in order to take this belt. From HBK to Edge, from Triple H to Chris Jericho. Christian to Lance Storm. Randy Orton to Jamie Noble. All of you will walk into that match as contenders and one will walk out. Good luck, as getting past me is going to be one tough obstacle. I will be scouting each and everysingle one of the fifteen guys who step into that ring tonight. I will be watching from right up there. [benoit points to the top of the stage.] I’ll stand on that stage and I will watch until fourteen other wrestlers are tossed out and one remains in the ring on his own. Now, I also have some other business to take care of tonight. Simon Diamond, you may have a chance at tonight’s battle royal, but you are also facing me in a non-title match tonight. Do you have what it takes to beat me? Do you have the ruthless aggression that Eric Bischoff always goes on about? Can you earn yourself a spot here in WWE by defeating me? Prove me wrong, Simon, prove me wrong. Good luck. You’ll need it.

Chris Benoit’s theme music begins to play again and he holds up the World Heavyweight Championship to cheers from the crowd.

(71)

[Commercial.]

Match One – America’s Most Wanted: “Wildcat” Chris Harris and “Cowboy” James Storm vs. La Resistance: Rene Dupree and Rob Conway

La Resistance’s theme music begins to play. The crowd boos as Rob Conway and Rene Dupree come out waving the French flag. Dressed in their French flag colored robes, they walk down to the ring together and place their flags in stands next to their corner. They get into the ring and give each other a hug while waiting for their debuting opponents.

“We Find The Defendants Guilty!”

Some generic rock music begins to play and two guys come out dressed in long black trenchcoats with the American flag stitched into the back of the coats. Chris Harris is wearing sunglasses while James Storm is wearing his cowboy hat. Their jackets each read “Wildcat” and “Cowboy” going down the right hand side of their respective jackets. They get into the ring and stand on the corners, raising their arms. They get a decent enough reaction due to the video build ups over the past several weeks and some know them from TNA, too. Their music stops and they remove their trenchcoats. Harris removes his glasses and Storm removes his hat. Referee Earl Hebner calls for the bell.

Chris Harris and Rene Dupree start things off. They lock up in the center of the ring and Dupree breaks free and ducks underneath another try at a lock up by Harris and grabs him in a waist lock. Dupree tries to lift Harris up but Harris blocks him and breaks free and punches Dupree right in the check. He grabs Dupree and whips him off the ropes. Harris leaps for him, trying for a Left Arm Lariat, but Dupree had scouted Harris it seemed and quickly held onto the ropes to keep him from getting anywhere near a lariat from Harris. He quickly tagged out to Rob Conway.

Harris motioned for Conway to get into the ring and Harris grabbed Conway and tried to whip him into the corner but Conway reversed it and sent Harris into the corner, back first. Conway charged in and Harris moved out of the way. Conway turned around and Harris stood in front of him and he tried to kick Harris, but Chris grabbed the leg and slammed it back to the mat and punched Conway in the face. Harris grabbed Conway and lifted him up onto the top rope and Harris stood on the middle rope, hooking the arm and hitting a nice superplex. Harris didn’t even bother with a cover and picked up Conway. He dragged him to his own corner and Harris tagged out to James Storm.

Storm came into the ring and grabbed Conway and twisted his arm and elbowed that left arm. Storm whipped Conway off the ropes and took him down with a hip toss. Storm ran off the ropes and hit a jumping neck snap, an odd to one of his all time favorites, Curt Hennig. Storm made the cover on Conway. One … Two … Rene Dupree came in and stomped on Storm’s head. Hebner told Dupree to leave but he moved Hebner aside and grabbed Storm. He held him from behind and took him down with a back Suplex and exited the ring. Rob Conway got up and made the cover. One … Two … kickout by Storm.

Conway grabbed James Storm and began punching him. Conway ran off the ropes and dropped down, chop-locking the back of the legs of the Tennessee Cowboy and turned him over onto his back and made the cover. One … Two … kickout by Storm. Conway dragged Storm to his corner and Storm began kicking Conway, trying to get the tag to his corner, but Conway tagged Dupree. Dupree came into the ring and he and Conway each grabbed a leg and pulled back, lying flat out on the mat, tearing the legs apart from each other. Dupree stood over Storm’s head and began dancing side to side for the French Tickler. Dupree picked up James Storm and had him up for a Michinoku Driver II position but Storm backed out of it and pushed Dupree into the ropes. Dupree bounced out of it and bumped back into Storm. Storm lifted him up and down for a back Suplex of his own. Storm and Dupree were both down. But Storm began moving first and made it to his corner and got the tag on Chris Harris.

Harris came in and so did Rob Conway. Harris picked up Conway and body slammed him. Dupree got up and charged at Harris. Harris spun him around and hooked him in a full nelson and then lifted him up and dropped him for the Full Nelson Driver. Conway got up and Harris whipped him off the ropes. Harris ran off the opposite ropes and ran full force at Conway and hit the Left Arm Lariat. Harris grabbed Conway and tossed him out of the ring. Dupree began to move and Harris lunged at him with a Lou Thesz Press and began punching him with several lefts. Harris got up and tagged out to James Storm.

Storm returned to the ring and picked up Rene Dupree in a bear hug position. Harris ran off the ropes with a Left Arm Lariat for the Hart Attack. Storm held onto Dupree, lifting him up, bending over so that Dupree is horizontal with the ring. Chris Harris got up to the top rope and leaped off for a top rope leg drop. The crowd applauded this move, which they call the Death Sentence. Storm jackknifed the legs for a pinning combination. One … Two … Three!

Winners: America’s Most Wanted in 7:33.

(72.5, 75, 70) ** ½

AMW both exit the ring following the win and head up the aisle when two guys jump over the barricade right next to where Lillian Garcia is sitting. It’s Garrison Cade and Mark Jindrak. They both slide into the ring and attack Rene Dupree. Rob Conway goes to attack Jindrak from behind but Cade, out of the corner of his left eye notices Conway beginning to run towards Jindrak. He tackles Conway and Jindrak grabs Dupree. Jindrak grabs Dupree in a full nelson position and tosses him up into the air and turns himself around and plants him with a uranage Suplex, the Mark of Excellence, he calls it. Cade picks up Conway and finishes him off with a Powerbomb.

Ross: I’ll be the last one to defend La Resistance, but c’mon. This is ridiculous. Dupree and Conway just got beat by the debuting AMW and now these two, Cade and Jindrak, are finishing off the scraps.

AMW, who had already left, come back running down the aisle way and slide into the ring. Cade and Jindrak try to defend themselves, but Storm and Harris talking them, respectively, and begin punching them. Storm allows Cade to get up and he blasts him with a Superkick while Harris picks up Jindrak in a fall away slam position and swings him out to the side and plant shim on the ground for the Catatonic. The crowd cheers them on as they raise their arms again in the middle of the ring.

Ross: And AMW just takes care of Cade and Jindrak, too. I doubt it was to help out La Resistance. It’s more of a making a statement sort of thing with these guys. They are two guys making a name for themselves and they just showed what they could do to four guys in that ring tonight. What a way to debut!

[Commercial.]

AMW Isn’t Through Just Yet.

Back from the commercial, America’s Most Wanted are walking down the hall when The Coach runs down the hall catching up with them.

The Coach: Whoa, whoa, WHOA! Just where do you think you two are going? Huh? You think that The Boss, my boss, is going to let you get away with what you did? You just beat two of his favorites in that ring and then took out the hottest young prospects on WWE in Mark Jindrak and Garrison Cade. I don’t know what has gotten into Johnny Nitro, but that was supposed to be Jindrak and Cade in that match tonight beating your stupid cowboy asses from pillar to post!

Chris Harris slaps James Storm on the chest with the back of his left hand and then points to Coach, smirking. Storm begins to laugh, too.

Chris Harris: You really believe that don’tcha? I mean, we just finished off Cade and Jindrak in less than a minute and you’d expect us to believe you that Cade and Jindrak are the future of this company? Forget that. You ARE looking at the future of WWE right here standing in front of you.

James Storm: We are America’s Most Wanted and we proved to the world tonight that we don’t play games. We came out here to prove ourselves to the best in WWE. So far, we haven’t faced a single team that has challenged us. La Resistance? Uh-uh. Garrison Cade and Mark Jindrak? Nope. Just who is there to face America’s Most Wanted?

Harris: There is only one team that AMW wants to face right now and that’s Batista and Ric Flair. The top tag team on Raw and we have come here to prove that we are the best tag team in the world today. Batista, Flair, we want them title belts you wear. Them belts belong to America’s Most Wanted whether you like it or not. Oh, and one last thing. Sorry about your damn luck!

AMW walk past the Coach, heading towards their locker room.

Coach: Who do they think they are? They don’t put their hands on the Coach. Just wait until Mr. Bischoff hears about this one!

(73)

Christian and Lance Storm Can’t Wait For The Battle Royal.

The scene cuts to Christian and Lance Storm standing in their locker room. Simon Diamond and Johnny Swinger, standing with their arms folded, are in the far back. Trish Stratus stands before them with Christian and Lance in the forefront.

Lance Storm: Tough loss last week. You almost had it.

Christian: My concern is no longer with Chris Jericho. I am through with him. What my mind I focused on now is becoming the next World Heavyweight Champion. If Jericho is the one to stand in my way, so be it. I’ll take him out. If it’s Triple H, he’ll go down, too. If it’s Rob Van Dam or Batista, they’ll all go down to me. I’m doing this for all me Peeps out there. They need someone who is actually good to be the World Heavyweight Champion.

Storm: If I can be serious for a moment, what makes you so sure you’ll walk out as the winner? While you lost last week, I at least got the win for us Canadian’s.

Christian: Lance, please, don’t talk like you’re better than me. We all know it isn’t true. Man, you know I brought you into the Christian Coalition so I could have someone halfway decent watching my back. But in no way are you on my level of awesomeness. It’s a simple fact, really. Tonight, if you just so happen to get in my way, I am sorry, but your ass is being tossed out.

Storm: Is that so, eh? Christian, the only reason you brought me in to the “Coalition” was so you could keep me within close range so you’d never have to lose to me. You talk about simple facts, but the only fact of the matter is I am better. You’ll toss me out? Ha. Don’t kid yourself, Christian, my man. You get in my way, you’ll be tossed out. There is only one place that belt belongs. And that’s around my waist. You heard Calgary chant my name when I said I’d go after Randy Orton and his Intercontinental Champion. Now, just imaging them when I actually win the World Heavyweight Championship.

Christian steps right up into Lance’s face and quickly Trish stands in between them.

Trish Stratus: Guys! Quit it. You two are the best of friends. You go back to the days of the Un-American’s and the Canadian Horsemen. Don’t let this battle royal destroy a friendship. You two an you two. [Trish turns around and points towards Johnny Swinger and Simon Diamond.] You four need to work together and dominate the match tonight. And the better man shall win the match. Whether its you … [Trish points to Lance Storm.] Or whether it is you… [Trish points to Christian.] Or whether it is one of you two… [Trish points to both Diamond and Swinger again.] I don’t care who it is, as long as one of you four win it, that’s all that matters. This Coalition will hold every single belt in record amount of time. One of you will go on to face Chris Benoit at Bad Blood. The other needs to get the belt from Randy Orton. And you two will need to challenge for the tag team titles. Myself, I will become Women’s Champion real soon. You can count on that. Now, shake hands and let the best man win tonight.

Christian and Lance Storm, still staring each other down, reluctantly shake hands, but they quickly trap Trish in between them when they draw each other closer to each other’s chests. Trish looks like she wants out of it, as she is being squished, but neither man is about to break the grip of the hand shake as the show cuts to a commercial break.

(74)

[Commercial.]

Match Two – Alexis Laree vs. Trish Stratus with Simon Diamond and Johnny Swinger

Alexis Laree’s theme song begins to play, which sounds like a rip off of “Seven Nation Army” by the White Stripes and she comes out to virtually no reaction at all. The fans haven’t really witnessed her wrestle yet. She had a brief match on Heat, but in all seriousness, who watches Heat? The last time she was on Raw was when she debuted, saving Victoria from Molly and Trish. She slides into the ring and waits, hands on her legs facing the aisle way.

“I don’t care what y’all say. Whoa! It’s time to Rock ‘n’ Roll!”

“Time to Rock ‘n’ Roll” by Lil’ Kim begins to play and Trish Stratus comes out onto the stage. She stands in the center of the stage, Johnny Swinger to her right and Simon Diamond to her left. She does a cocky little bow, smiling, and then walks down the aisle way. Diamond and Swinger follow behind her and they quickly get in front of her, hoping up onto the ring apron. They reach down, each grabbing a hand and helping her up. They sit down on the middle rope, holding it open as Trish gets into the ring. She does another cocky bow and Simon and Johnny get off the ring apron and stand in her corner as referee Mike Sparks calls for the bell.

Trish Stratus and Alexis Laree lock up in the center of the ring and Trish quickly grabs a handful of hair and tugs her to the mat, bring Alexis to the mat. Trish straddles her chest and grabs her head and slams it down onto the mat, repeatedly. Trish picks up Alexis and whips her into the ropes, but Alexis ducks a lariat attempt and she bounces off the ropes. Trish quickly grabs Mike Sparks, pointing something out in the crowd that seems to be distracting her while Simon Diamond grabs Alexis’s left leg to try and trip her. She stumbles, but she doesn’t fall. She turns around and sticks her head between the middle and top rope, arguing with Simon Diamond when Trish comes over and jumps onto her back, accidentally sliding out onto the mat. She stands up, dusting herself off and does another cocky bow, acting like she meant to do that. Trish slides into the ring and grabs Alexis and slams her again to the mat. One … Two … kickout by Alexis.

Trish grabs Alexis and body slams her and goes to the ropes, stepping out through the middle and bottom rope and proceeds to climb to the top rope. Trish waits, perched, on the top rope with a double axe handle waiting for Alexis to stand up. Alexis gets up, not facing Trish, and turns around. Trish jumps off, but Alexis slams her own forearm into the midsection of Trish, causing her to double over and flip onto the mat. Trish got up Alexis charge, taking her down with an absolutely horrible looking spear. She makes the cover. One … Two … kickout by Trish.

Alexis picks up Trish and hits a Northern Lights Suplex, which actually didn’t come out that bad looking. She holds the bridge for a count. One … Two … Trish slams her first down upon the chest of Alexis to break the pinning predicament. Alexis gets up first and picks up Trish but Trish slaps Alexis in the face and then applies a chop to the top of the chest, nearest to the throat almost. Alexis stumbles into the corner and Trish slaps her again, and again, and once again. Trish grabs Alexis by the head and lifts herself up onto the ropes to bounce herself off of for the Stratusfaction. One … Two … Th, NO! Kickout by Alexis Laree.

Trish, with her hands on her legs waits as Alexis Laree gets up to her feet. Trish takes a swing with her right leg for a Chick Kick, but Alexis manages to duck out of it. Alexis charges for Trish again and Trish ducks and Johnny Swinger quickly jumps up onto the ring apron. Johnny grabs Alexis by the arms and Mike Sparks argues with him, telling him to get down, but he won’t listen as he continues to hold Alexis in position. Trish takes another swing for the Chick Kick, but connects with Johnny’s head instead and she looks shocked. Alexis had ducked out of the way and rolled up Trish as she stared down at Johnny. One … Two … Three!

Winner: Alexis Laree in 5:02.

(60, 64, 52) DUD

Simon Diamond rolls into the ring and grabs Alexis by the hair and won’t let go when Molly Holly runs out. Simon Diamond hands her over to Molly. She grabs Alexis and slams her head first into the top turnbuckle and then tosses her to the mat where she turns her to her stomach and locks the leg in position and yanks back on the chin for a beautiful STF. Victoria comes rushing out from the back. Victoria slides into the ring and goes to stand up when Trish, who just got up, pounces on her back and slams her, face first, into the mat. Trish yells at Simon to pick her up. Trish goes to the corner and sits on the top rope and Simon hands Victoria over to her and she begins choking the life out of Victoria. Neither Victoria nor Molly are letting their holds go until Arn Anderson, Johnny Ace, Fit Finlay, and Steve Keirn come running out from the back and they force both women to break the hold. Molly tries to go back to attacking Alexis Laree, but Arn Anderson grabs her in a waist lock and rolls her out of the ring, still holding onto her as he walks to the back. Simon Diamond helps up Johnny Swinger and Trish joins them as they walk out. She is pointing at Victoria and Alexis, lying on the mat and laughs at them.

[Commercial.]

Nitro is the next World Heavyweight Champion?!

As we return from a commercial break, Johnny Nitro and Eric Bischoff are standing in the back. The Coach is also in the room.

Eric Bischoff: Coach, AMW are not my concern right now. I don’t care if they beat up La Resistance or Garrison Cade and Mark Jindrak. I don’t even care that my apprentice put La Resistance in the match instead of Cade and Jindrak while I was sick last week. I gave him full rights to book what he wanted and I trusted him. He did a damn good job. Coach, I like you and all, but Cade and Jindrak are the least of my worries.

Coach: But, boss—

Bischoff: Coach, I understand you like them, but they really aren’t any concern to me right now. I believe we found our answer to match the skills of the World’s Greatest Tag Team from Smackdown in AMW. I think I have struck a gold mine with them and could top Smackdown’s tag team division. I mean, with teams like the, Simon Diamond and Johnny Swinger, and Batista and Ric Flair, who needs Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas? Who needs The Basham Brothers or Rikishi and Scotty Too Hotty? Not Raw.

Johnny Nitro: Dude, Coach, get the hell out of here. You’re making yourself look like a fool in front of EB.

Bischoff: Johnny, I’ll handle this. Coach, if you’ll excuse us, we have some business to take care of.

Coach: Sure thing, boss. I’ll catch ya later!

Coach walks off and Bischoff closes the door behind him.

Nitro: Dude, I thought he’d never leave. Now, tonight is the night that the entire world finally realizes that Johnny Nitro is the real deal here on Raw. Tonight, Johnny Nitro not only goes into that ring to prove he is the best, but Johnny Nitro walks out as the number one contender. Great hair and a great wrestler. Nothing can match that. I mean, dude, come on. Just look at the greatness that is Johnny Nitro.

Bischoff: Johnny, the next World Heavyweight Champion? I like the sound of that. My very own apprentice as the World Heavyweight Champion. That can lead to so many great opportunities in your career.

Nitro: Dude, great things in my career? Without or without being champion, Hollywood has been calling my cell phone non-stop. My voice mail is completely full, man. I have movie lineups, commercials. Oh, EB, you need to here this one! Next month, I will need to take a week off. They didn’t give me the exact date, but, the show must go on without me either way. Yes, the show will be lacking the excitement that a superstar such as myself brings to the table, but hey, I can’t always be there on hand with the popularities that I have.

Bischoff: Where will you be heading off to, Johnny?

Nitro: Why only the best for the best, of course. I am getting a feature role in a top hair-care product commercial. How awesome is that, dude? Seriously, how awesome is that?

Nitro runs his hands through his hair and then flips his hair over his eyes and then shakes it up and down to flip it back over his head. He flips back what exact hair remains on the front. Bischoff looks at him strangely.

Bischoff: A shampoo commercial? Johnny, are you really that excited for that? I mean, it’s fine if you are.

Nitro: When you have perfect hair like myself, you need to teach the rest of the pathetic balding men … [Nitro stands on his toes and looks down upon the head of Eric Bischoff.] You could learn a thing or two. You might be heading for baldness yourself in a few years. But when you have hair like me, other people need to take lessons from someone such as myself. It can only need to great things! Life cannot get any better. The Next World Champion and a commercial just for myself. It’s perfect, like me and my hair.

Bischoff just shakes his head at Nitro as the show cuts to a commercial break.

(76)

[Commercial.]

Match Three – Non-Title Match – World Heavyweight Champion “The Crippler” Chris Benoit vs. Simon Diamond with Johnny Swinger and Trish Stratus

“Just Close Your Eyes” by Waterproof Blonde begins to play and Simon Diamond comes out. He is accompanied by Johnny Swinger and Trish Stratus. They walk down to the ring and Simon and Johnny, once again, hop up onto the ring apron and help Trish up onto it by pulling her up. They sit down on the middle rope and Trish enters and does her cocky bow again. Simon Diamond waits in his corner as Johnny Swinger helps Trish out of the ring. “Whatever” by Our Lady Peace begins to play and the World Heavyweight Champion, Chris Benoit, comes out to a loud reaction from the crowd. He takes the belt off of his waist and goes to the left side of the stage (his left) and raises the belt and pounds on his chest. HE walks past the middle of the stage and raises the belt and pounds his chest on that side and then places the belt back over his shoulder and walks down the ramp. Benoit gets into the ring and hands the belt over to referee Mike Chioda. Chioda calls for the bell.

Chris Benoit and Simon Diamond lock up and circle around the ring with each other. Neither man can get the advantage, but Simon quickly breaks the hold and kicks Benoit in the mid section and grabs him in a side head lock. Benoit pushes Diamond off of him and sends him into the ropes. Benoit drops to the mat and Diamond jumps over him, bouncing off the ropes. Returning, Benoit stands up and goes for an arm drag on Diamond, but Diamond manages to block it and hip tosses Benoit to the ground. Benoit quickly stands up and runs for Diamond. Diamond applies his own arm drag and holds on to Benoit’s left arm in an armbar. Benoit gets up onto his feet, but Diamond won’t let the hold go and quickly drops him to the mat with a Divorce Court. Simon turns Benoit onto his stomach and sits on his back, left arm in between his own legs and he pulls back on it for a nice looking arm bar. Benoit tries reaching for the ropes, but with Diamond sitting on his back, pretty much in the center of the ring, Benoit isn’t about to get the ropes any time soon. Benoit begins to get up, onto his knees. He is trying to over power Simon Diamond. He finally pushes upwards and Diamond falls off, but he holds onto the arm in the process and now has him in a cross arm bar. Benoit, though, is able to reach for the ropes.

Diamond picks up Benoit and whips him into the corner, hard, and Benoit goes in back first and quickly falls to the mat. Diamond picks up Benoit by the neck, hooking it with his arm like he is going for a suplex but Diamond places him on the top rope. Diamond stands up on the middle rope and tries to hook him again for a superplex it seems, but Benoit nails Diamond in the head with a headbutt. Diamond stumbles to regain his balance, and does, and goes for the superplex again, but Benoit nails him with another headbutt. Benoit hits a third headbutt and pushes Diamond off of the ropes. Benoit, shaking his left arm from some slight pain, goes to jump down, but Diamond lifts up his boot and tries to kick Benoit in the face, but Benoit doesn’t allow it, grabbing the boot in the process. He lifts up the left leg, too, and tries for the Sharpshooter but Diamond quickly grabs the ropes to break the hold. Benoit drops the legs and backs off when Chioda tells him to.

Benoit, though, goes right back on the attack when Diamond is still in the ropes, stomping upon him while he is down. Benoit, with his right boot, begins choking Diamond while he is in the ropes. Chioda steps in counting: One … Two … Three … Four … and Benoit breaks. Benoit grabs Diamond out of the ropes and pulls him up. Benoit whips Diamond off the ropes and Benoit charges at him, hitting a double forearm into the throat. Diamond goes down and Benoit picks him back up. He whips him into the ropes and Benoit charges and takes him down with a vicious looking lariat to the throat, too. Benoit makes the cover. One … Two … kickout.

Chris Benoit picks up Simon Diamond and lifts him up and takes him down with an inverted atomic drop and takes Diamond down with a dropkick to the face. Benoit grabs the legs again and tries for the Sharpshooter. Benoit has the legs crossed, and he is now trying to turn Diamond over. Diamond, though, twists his body to the side causing Benoit to flip out of the hold and breaks it. Benoit gets caught against the ropes but stands up and grabs Diamond. Benoit whips Diamond into the corner and begins chopping him. Benoit delivers a solid knife-edge chop, reddening the chest of Diamond. Benoit applies another, and another, and another. Trish slaps Johnny and tells him to do something. Johnny quickly obliges and gets on the ring apron and points at Benoit, screaming at him. Benoit goes over to Swinger and he grabs him by the head and headbutts him to a nice reaction from the crowd.

Simon Diamond, though, was able to recover rather quickly and stands behind Benoit. Benoit turns around and sees Diamond standing behind him and Diamond punches him and delivers his own chop to Benoit. Benoit fights back with a chop of his own, again, but Diamond is quick to retaliate with a pair of fingers to the eyes. The referee warns him about that and Diamond grabs Benoit and hits the Northern Lights Suplex. Diamond, though, rolls around and lifts Benoit up. Diamond hooks the head and gets Benoit up and over for a snap suplex. Diamond rolls through and gets Benoit up for a third suplex, but instead of actually hitting a snap suplex or a vertical suplex, he hits a sitout front suplex. This is called the Simon Series by Don Callis. Diamond rolls Benoit onto his back and hooks the leg. One … Two … kickout by Benoit. Simon begins to argue with referee Mike Chioda that that was a three count as the show cuts to a commercial break.

[Commercial.]

As the show returns from a commercial break, Diamond has Benoit on the outside. Diamond grabs Benoit by the head and rams him, left shoulder first, into the steel ring steps. (A quick double screen shows what happened during the break as Benoit tried to fight back after the kickout, but Diamond picked up Benoit in a Fireman’s Carry and then dropped him, hooking the head for an Inverted DDT, which Don Callis calls the Simonizer for another two count.) Back to the live action, Benoit is hurting with the injured leg arm. Diamond picks up Benoit and drops him, straight down, arm first, into the steel steps. And Diamond picks Benoit back up and forces him into an Irish Whip, and Benoit connects right into the steel ring post, twisting around it and landing on the other side of the ring. Diamond goes over to grab Benoit and rolls him into the ring. Diamond makes the cover. One … Two … Th, NO! Kickout by Benoit to a loud reaction. “Benoit” chants ring out in the building.

Diamond picks up Benoit and goes to hook him in the head for what could be the Gem Cutter (Diamond Cutter, but won’t use that name) but Benoit pushes him out of the way. Diamond comes back and Benoit kicks Diamond and hooks the arm and hits a snap suplex. Diamond, though, quickly gets up and Diamond charges for Benoit ducks out of the way and stands behind Diamond. He hooks him in a waist lock and lifts him up and over. German Suplex! The crowd pops. Benoit rolls through and stands up and hits a second German Suplex! The crowd on their feet as Benoit rolls through for a second time, standing up, and hitting the third consecutive German Suplex. Benoit, through, hangs over, holding his left arm with his right. Using his left arm to lift Diamond three times seems to have hurt him a lot. But Benoit seems to be feeding off the energy of the crowd, and with his right thumb, he drags it across his throat and exits the ring. Johnny Swinger rushes over to that side of the ring as Benoit stands on the top rope. He quickly grabs Benoit’s leg and tries to keep him from going off the ropes, but Benoit, bending over to balancing himself on the ropes, kicks with his free leg to knock Swinger off the apron onto the floor. Benoit stands himself back up and dives off right onto Simon Diamond for a beautiful Diving Headbutt. Benoit makes the cover. One … Two … Thr, NO! Kickout by Simon Diamond!

Simon got his much needed rest as he was able to kick out just in time. Benoit, through, doesn’t stop to argue with the ref. He picks up Diamond and takes him down with a gutwrench suplex and goes for the cover. One … Two … Th, kickout again by Diamond. Benoit, not satisfied, picks up Diamond and whips him into the ropes. Benoit lifts him up and over for a back body drop and runs off the ropes and hits an elbow drop onto Diamond. Benoit makes the cover. One … Two … Th, no kickout again! Benoit, getting frustrated, goes to pick up Diamond and Diamond rolls him up for an inside cradle. One … Two … kickout by Benoit. Diamond rolls to the outside to get a much needed breather. Johnny helps up Simon and they look up to find Benoit running across the ring. Benoit dives through the middle and top rope with a nice suicide dive and takes out both of the Coalition’s Problem Solvers. Benoit, though, landed on them with his left arm, hurting it even more. But at this point, Benoit doesn’t care. He holds it, obviously in pain, but shakes it off and stands up to get a standing ovation from the crowd as he grabs Diamond and rolls him back into the ring. Benoit grabs Diamond by the legs and applies the Sharpshooter on him! The crowd is chanting “Tap, Tap, Tap” to Diamond, but he is trying to reach for the ropes. Diamond is actually close to the ropes, but Benoit stands up and walks towards the middle of the ring and sits down, further on the back and Diamond is forced to tap out!

Winner: Chris Benoit in 16:25.

Benoit gets his hand raised and Chioda hands him the World Heavyweight Championship. Benoit raises it in the air and then walks out of the ring just as Johnny Swinger gets back up and into the ring along with Trish Stratus to check on Simon Diamond. The cameras cut to the back for a promo by Jamie Noble.

(79, 76, 83) ***

The Redneck Messiah Is The Next Champion?

Jamie Noble is standing by with Heat commentator, Al Snow.

Al Snow: Jamie Noble, you go from being on Smackdown, winning their Cruiserweight Championship to begin a draft pick during the Lottery. Many didn’t take notice of you then, but they sure have no. How does it feel being about to wrestle for nearly thirty minutes with one of the best in Chris Benoit, to teaming with Triple H and pinning Benoit and now getting a chance in tonight’s battle royal?

Jamie Noble: Al Snow, I ain’t gonna lie to you or anyone else. It does feel good. But you gotta be kiddin’ me. I mean, I pinned Chris Benoit last week. I pinned the World Heavyweight Champion. I deserve to be the number one contender right here. I dun need to win no stinkin’ battle royal to be crowned number one contender. You got that boy?

Snow: You sure did pin Chris Benoit in that match last week, but Bischoff is not going to just hand over the title shot to you. Thirteen other guys … yeah, Johnny Nitro too … have a shot at that belt. They have just as much claim to it as you do.

Noble: That there title shot belongs to me and you know it. What as Chris Jericho done to deserve it? What has Christian done to deserve it? What has Rob Van Dam, Randy Orton, Simon Diamond, and Johnny Swinger done to deserve it? And what in the heck has The Hurricane done to deserve this? They ain’t pinned Chris Benoit. I did. I am the rightful number one contender. But since it ain’t gonna end that way I ain’t gonna to waste no time. I’ma gonna walk into that there ring tonight, and I’ma gonna to toss out fourteen other guys. You get in Jamie Noble’s way and you’ll remember my name. These fans will remember my name. I’m Jamie “By God” Noble and you better remember it!

Noble pushes Al Snow aside and walks down the hallway as the show cuts to a commercial break.

(84)

[Commercial.]

Edge Comments On His Actions From Last Week

We are back from the commercial break and Todd Grisham is back again. This time he is standing by with Edge.

Todd Grisham: Edge, everyone has been wondering, what got into you last week? Why did you stay yelling at your tag team partner like that?

Edge: You can stand there and look like the moron that you always do, Todd. Has anyone ever told you that you ask some of the most ridiculous and stupid questions?

Grisham: I … I don’t know how to answer that.

Edge: Good. Like I said, stand there and try to look important. I’ll handle this myself. In fact … [Edge takes the microphone right out of Grisham’s hand.] Go over and stand in that corner, I can hold this on my own, thank you very much. Now, before I was so rudely interrupted, you see, Shawn, last week when I told you to stay out of my business, I meant it. I don’t want anything to do with you anymore. You try and act like everything is okay, and we will get another shot. We got screwed out of the belts, Shawn, and you are standing around, acting all calm, telling me to act all calm, too. I don’t get it, Shawn. It’s quite obvious that winning those belts didn’t mean anything to you. But it meant a whole lot to me, and now I am without something I needed. Something I wanted. But that is gone. Shawn, you try to be this voice of reason. This person who always tries to be the center of attention, too. You try and act calm and keep people at a “level head” but it isn’t like that with me, Shawn. I take this thing far too seriously to “calm down.” I can’t. It’s just not in me. Shawn, you can take your holier than thou attitude and shove it. Shawn, just watch your back in the battle royal tonight. You better hope someone else takes your ass out of the match tonight because if they don’t, I will. Tonight, I will walk out of that match as the new number one contender. Now you, get back over here.

Todd Grisham walks slowly back over to where Edge is standing. Edge then slams the microphone back into the chest of Todd Grisham and walks off. He actually gets a round of boos from the audience.

(85)

[Fitzy]

Match Four – Main Event – Number One Contenders Battle Royal – Featuring Triple H, Batista, Ric Flair, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, Edge, Shawn Michaels, Christian, Lance Storm, Johnny Swinger, Simon Diamond, Jamie Noble, Rob Van Dam, The Hurricane, and Johnny Nitro

“Whatever” by Our Lady Peace begins to play and Chris Benoit comes out with a steal chair in hand. He gets a nice reaction from the crowd and unfolds the chair and sits down in it, World Heavyweight Championship hanging over his shoulder.

“Evolution!”

“Line in the Sand” by Motorhead begins to play and out walks Triple H, the World Tag Team Champions Batista and Ric Flair, and the Intercontinental Champion Randy Orton to tons of heel heat from the crowd. Triple H and Randy Orton stand in the center with Orton tossing his arms out to the side, smiling arrogantly while Triple H takes a sip of his water and spits it out on the stage. Batista does his bodybuilders pose while standing next to Randy Orton, distancing himself from Triple H while Ric Flair stands next to Triple H, spinning around in his robe. Behind them is the gold pyrotechnics display raining down. All four walk down the ring with Triple H getting into the ring and standing on the middle rope, taking another sip of water and spitting it out. Orton stands on the middle turnbuckle and throws his arms out to the side in his cocky pose again. Batista runs up the stairs and gets into the ring and then Ric Flair enters after him. Batista walks to a corner of his own while Triple H, Ric Flair, and Randy Orton stand in the corner right next to him, standing right in the corner in front of the ring announcers table.

“Just Close Your Eyes” by Waterproof Blonde begins to play and Christian, Johnny Swinger, and Simon Diamond, all accompanied by Trish Stratus, make their way down the aisle. They all stand in the corner opposite of Triple H, Ric Flair, and Randy Orton.

Lance Storm’s music begins to play and he makes his entrance. He enters the ring, standing away from Christian.

Five … Four … Three … Two … One … “Come on, Jericho. You know I gotcha. Yeah, one, break the walls down!”

“Break Down the Walls” begins to play and Chris Jericho comes out a loud reaction from the crowd. Jericho, back towards the audience, quickly turns around and pumps his fist. He is ready for the match and walks down the aisle. He enters the ring and stands in the corner facing Batista.

“Oh, oh, Shawn!”

“Sexy Boy” begins to play and “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels comes out a loud pop from the crowd. As he comes out, he kneels down on the ramp, praising and then hops up onto his feet as the show cuts to a commercial break.

[Commercial.]

Back from the commercial break and Michaels, Hurricane, and Rob Van Dam are shown in the ring standing in the same corner as Chris Jericho. Johnny Nitro is also in the ring. He stands in between Batista and the Christian Coalition.

Jamie Noble’s music begins to play and “The Redneck Messiah” Jamie “By God” Noble comes out to the fans booing him. Noble raises his arms, both index fingers pointing up and walks down the aisle. Noble gets into the ring. Noble stands nearby Triple, but not in his corner.

“You Think You Know Me?!”

“Metalingus” by Alter Bridge begins to play and out comes Edge in his long black trench coat, emerging from the smoke filled entrance way. Edge doesn’t even both to run to the sides of the stage anymore. The crowd boos him again. He has a straight face on, looking straight at Shawn Michaels. Michaels, turning around to face Edge begins shouting at Edge. Edge shouts something back at him, but doesn’t enter the ring. The bell rings to signal the start of the battle royal, even if Edge doesn’t enter.

As soon as the battle royal begins, Johnny Nitro grabs Batista by the head and tries to toss him out of the ring, but Batista won’t budge. Nitro tries again and he still won’t budge. Nitro looks like he just shit himself from fear as Batista grabbed him by the throat and tossed him up and over the top rope.

Elimination: Johnny Nitro by Batista in 0:35.

The match continues as Chris Jericho, Shawn Michaels, and The Hurricane are trying attacking Triple H, Ric Flair, and Randy Orton. Edge, still on the outside, has his eyes set on Shawn Michaels. Jamie Noble grabs Hurricane away from Triple H and begins pounding on him. This allows Triple H, Flair, and Orton to gain the advantage in the corner against Jericho and Michaels. Edge is shown laughing at Michaels getting his ass handed to him. He would love to see Triple H and Michaels beat each other up. Lance Storm and Christian, staying away from each other. Randy Orton has Michaels hanging over the top rope. Triple H and Flair keep Jericho busy while Michaels tries to fight back. Christian, though, rushes over to the corner and tosses Orton aside. Lance Storm, who just punched Rob Van Dam down to the ground, rushes over and helps Christian eliminate Shawn Michaels.

Elimination: Shawn Michaels by Christian and Lance Storm in 2:25.

Christian looks at Lance Storm. He seems happy that Storm is back on his side and smiles. Christian turns his back on Storm to go attack Randy Orton, but Storm grabs Christian by his tights and hauls him out of the ring.

Elimination: Christian by Lance Storm in 2:30.

Christian looks at Storm from the outside, completely shocked that his supposed friend would toss him out. Trish is shown wondering why Storm would do that. The crowd actually popped big for Storm tossing out the leader of the Peeps. Shawn Michaels, still not yet gone, grabs Christian and Trish pleads with him to let him go, but Shawn fights Christian to the back. Rob Van Dam is up and grabs Johnny Swinger from behind by the hair and turns him around. RVD punches him and then kicks him in the thigh. Diamond comes up behind RVD and RVD ducks out of the way and spin kicks Diamond in the chest. RVD turns around and goes to kick Swinger, but Swinger catches his foot. RVD steps over his own foot and back kicks Swinger, sending him up and over onto the ring apron, landing on it, and he quickly rolled back into the ring to save himself. Jericho looks to be on the verge of elimination as Flair and H have him on the ropes, but Storm grabs Flair and pulls him aside. Storm chops Flair and Flair chops back. Storm continues to chop Flair in the corner and Flair stumbles out of the corner, fighting back, but hitting only the air and hits the Flair Flop. Storm picked up Flair and tossed him out, just as Orton gets up, trying to make the save.

Elimination: Ric Flair by Lance Storm in 4:56.

Hurricane dove at Orton with a leaping lariat, taking him down to the mat. Orton got right up and Hurricane went for the Shining Wizard on him, but Orton ducks and Hurricane ended up running right into Batista. Batista, who was attacking Simon Diamond, turns around and sees Hurricane at his legs. Batista picks him up by the throat. Batista lifts him over his head in a press slam position and tosses him to the ground near the ramp in one sick looking bump. The crowd chanted “OHHHHH!” as a loud thud ran out from the fall.

Elimination: The Hurricane by Batista in 5:28.

Triple H, who couldn’t eliminate Jericho, had him pressed in the corner and Jericho began fighting back. Jericho pushes Triple H way and Jericho dives at him with a spinning leg lariat, taking the Game to the mat. Noble, though, grabs Jericho from behind, pounding on his neck and hooks him in the full nelson and lifts him for the Dragon Suplex, slamming in hard on the mat. Simon Diamond and Johnny Swinger begin pounding away at Batista, actually bringing him down to one knee, but Batista springs up, pushing them off of him, Swinger to his left, and Diamond to his right. They both bounce off the ropes, but Diamond is smart to grab the ropes to protect himself as Swinger bounces right back into Batista and Batista grabs him by the hair and runs for the ropes, tossing him out onto the mat.

Elimination: Johnny Swinger by Batista in 6:30.

Simon Diamond goes up to Lance Storm. Simon tells him that he forgives him for eliminating Christian and wants to work with him, but it is short lived as RVD comes up and takes them both down with a dropkick. Jamie Noble grabs Simon Diamond and RVD takes Lance Storm. These two pairs are fighting in one corner while directly across the ring, Triple H is getting up after a short rest on the mat and goes to grab Jericho, while Edge, sliding into the ring for the first time, grabs Triple H from behind and tries to eliminate him, but Orton pulls Edge off of him. Edge pushes Orton aside and tries to toss out Triple H again, but Orton grabs Edge by the waist and tackles him to the mat. Triple H and Orton double team Edge. Batista takes Jericho away from Simon Diamond and Diamond quickly evades Batista. Orton picks up Edge and props him in the corner and Orton then grabs him by the neck and goes for the RKO, but Edge pushes him off of him, sending Orton crashing to the mat. Triple H, though, runs into the corner and hits the high knee onto Edge. Triple H tosses Edge down to the mat and grabs him by the legs and lays down, slingshotting Edge into the ring post. Edge comes back and Triple H kicks him in the mid section. He sets him up for the Pedigree but Jericho pushes Batista backwards and the two of them collide, back to back and the crowd erupts once the two turn around. Batista’s eyes light up. He looks pissed. He wants Triple H and he points at him. As this goes on, Jamie Noble tosses Simon Diamond out of the ring.

Elimination: Simon Diamond by Jamie Noble in 10:01.

The crowd won’t settle down as Batista goes to nail Triple H. He looks like he is going to hit him with the brutal lariat. He runs for him, but Batista pulls his arm back, not even hitting Triple H with the lariat, instead hits Edge with a lariat to boos from the crowd. They wanted to see Triple H and Batista go at it. Triple H runs right for Jericho and these two pairs go at it. Storm grabs Jamie Noble and the two of they begin trading punches in the corner. Noble tries to whip Storm across the ring, but Storm reverses it, sending Noble, forcefully into the corner, back first, and Noble falls to the mat. Storm walks over and applies the Straight Shooter, the half Boston crab, on Noble while he is down. Orton just sits in the corner, taking a long rest, waiting for the right moment to strike. Batista picks up Edge and Edge tries to fight back, but Batista is having none of it, pushing Edge off the ropes and Edge is about to bounce back, but Batista, screaming, runs right at him. Edge ducks the lariat attempt and Batista runs right into the ropes. Edge lifts Batista by the legs and tosses him to the mat.

Elimination: Batista by Edge in 12:05.

Edge sits against the ropes, looking around. He notices Orton in the corner. He notices Noble still in the Straight Shooter. And he sees Jericho as he whips Triple H into the corner. Jericho runs off the ropes and tries to take Triple H down with the running bulldog, but Triple H stops, and turns around, lifting up Jericho and planting him, head first, right into his knee. Triple H whips Jericho off the ropes and Jericho springboards to the middle rope and leaps back with a springboard missile dropkick, staggering Triple H. Triple H charges for Jericho and Jericho grabs him by the head and tosses him to the outside. Triple H holds onto the top rope, saving himself, but before he can reenter the ring, Jericho goes to run, but Edge quickly runs over, pulling Jericho down by the head in the Edge-O-Matic, drawing nice heel heat from the crowd, in the process. Edge quickly gets up, just in time, and spears Triple H off the ring apron, sending him crashing into the barricade.

Elimination: Triple by Edge in 12:50.

Jericho gets up and shoves Edge just as the show cuts to a commercial break.

[Commercial.]

Back from the commercial and the final six remain in the ring. It’s Jericho and Edge paired off in one corner while Noble has Storm down, and Orton is working over on RVD. Orton picks up RVD and puts him on the ropes, but RVD grabs the top rope, kicking his legs to keep from going over. RVD forces himself down and kicks Orton and then punches him. RVD grabs Orton and places him on the top rope and Orton does the save, grabbing the ropes, forcing himself down. They begin trading punches again and Orton finally gets RVD on the ropes where he wants him. Storm, through, pulls Noble down by the tights, sending him head first into the bottle turnbuckle. After catching his breath for a moment, he rushes up, seizing the opportunity and grabs Orton by the legs, tossing him, along with RVD, out of the ring, drawing a mixed reaction from the crowd.

Elimination: Randy Orton and Rob Van Dam by Lance Storm in 15:56.

Storm drops to the mat to catch his breath again, and rest while he is now down to the final four of himself, Jamie Noble, Chris Jericho, and Edge. But it doesn’t look like the final four will last long as Jericho has Edge on the ropes, looking to eliminate him, but Edge manages to drop onto the ring apron and he saves himself, rolling back into the ring. Jericho, though, quickly grabs him again and tosses him into the corner, chopping at his chest and then gets him in position again. Jamie Noble shakes off the effects of the head smash into the bottom turnbuckle by Storm and helps Jericho eliminate Edge.

Elimination: Chris Jericho and Jamie Noble eliminate Edge in 16:32.

And we are down to the final three. Lance Storm gets to his feet and Jamie Noble backs away from Jericho and each of them are in their own corner now. But neither man moves as the camera pans to the outside as fans are screaming. It’s Triple H and he has a sledgehammer in his hand! He goes right up to Edge and smashes him right in the face, blooding Edge. Blood flows from the forehead right into the eyes. It also flows into his hair and onto the mat. Triple H laughs. Jericho, turning around to witness this, doesn’t notice Noble hitting a knee lift right into the back of Jericho, pushing him into the corner. Noble lifts Jericho up onto the top turnbuckle, facing the crowd. Triple H, laughing at Edge, leaves just as Noble begins climbing to the middle turnbuckle. He clubs at the back of Jericho, grabbing him in a full nelson. He looks like he is about to hit the top rope release Dragon Suplex, but Storm clubs Noble in the back and hooks him in a waist lock and lifts him off the ropes for a German Suplex and Noble flings Jericho off in the Dragon Suplex, flipping him inside out, landing face first, sliding crotch first into the corner. The crowd bursts out in a “Holy Shit!” chant as all three men are down. Storm is the first one to get up, as he took the lesser punishment from that triple decker suplex. He grabs Jamie Noble and pulls him up, but Noble quickly leaps up, wrapping his legs around Storm and hooking him in a front chancery submission (arm around the neck, pushing down). He has him in Pay Dirt. Storm falls to the mat, and Noble won’t let go. Noble finally lets Storm go and gets up, picking him up and tossing him out of the match. He wore him down just enough for the elimination.

Elimination: Lance Storm by Jamie Noble in 18:45.

And we are down to the final two and the crowd claps for both men as they lasted nearly twenty minutes so far in the match. Noble goes over to the corner and grabs Jericho out of it. Noble whips Jericho off the ropes and Noble charges at him with double forearms to the throat. Noble picks Jericho up again and brings him back down with a nice back drop suplex, right on Jericho’s neck. Noble picks Jericho up like he is going for a vertical suplex, but Jericho knee strikes Noble in the head, twice, and Noble drops him. Jericho chops Noble and picks him up in his own vertical suplex and looks like he is going to toss him out of the ring, but Noble fights him, and falls to the ring apron, and quickly pulls Jericho towards the ropes and wraps his legs around Jericho while both are on opposite sides of the ring ropes and applies Pay Dirt to Jericho. The crowd is chanting “Y2J” in unison, wanting Jericho to win this match.

Noble, knowing he cannot win, so he breaks the hold and reenters the ring. Noble grabs Jericho and places him on the top rope, hooking the head and dropping him for the Deadline DDT. Noble picks him up and drags him to the ropes and tries to eliminate Jericho, but Jericho fights it to stay in the match. He won’t go down. Jericho hangs onto the ropes and Noble breaks it. He is frustrated and begins to viciously kick Jericho while he is entangled in the ropes. Jericho still won’t break his hold to keep him in the match. Noble tries to pry his hands apart from the ropes, but he won’t. Noble even resorts to biting the fingers of Jericho to force him to break it, but he won’t. He racks the eyes – still nothing. Noble kicks Jericho in the back of the neck three times in a row and that finally does the trick, sending Jericho to the mat, clutching at his neck. Noble tries to pick up Jericho, but he is dead weight. Noble goes to kick Jericho, but Jericho was acting like he was out cold, and grabs Noble by the legs, taking them right out from under him and he tries for the Walls of Jericho which gets a pop from the crowd. Noble fights it, but Jericho finally gets the Walls of Jericho on him to a huge pop from the crowd. Jericho breaks the hold and tosses Noble into the ropes. Noble falls to the second rope, dangling across it and Jericho runs in place and then runs off the ropes and runs for Noble, leaping on his back. Noble falls backwards and Jericho springboards off the ropes for the Lionsault, but Noble manages to roll out of the way. Jericho landed on his feet, though, and when Noble turns around, Jericho chops him. Jericho exits the ring and climbs the ropes and jumps off, hitting a backwards elbow to Noble. Noble goes down and Jericho gets up. Jericho runs off the ropes and connects with the Lionsault this time. Jericho picks up Noble and runs with him to the ropes. Jericho tosses Noble over the top rope, but Noble hangs on, trying to skin the cat, but when his feet are almost back into the ring, Jericho runs for him and dropkicks him in the stomach, sending Noble crashing to the mat right on his back.

Elimination and Winner: Jamie Noble by Chris Jericho in 24:57. Chris Jericho is now heading to Bad Blood to face Chris Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship!

(80.5, 85, 76) ***

Ross: Chris Jericho just eliminates Jamie Noble! He is going to Bad Blood! We have a new number one contender!

Callis: Yeah, yeah, yeah, big deal. Chris Jericho won. Who cares about Jericho?! No one does!

Ross: Listen to these people cheer him on, Don. How can you even say that?

The crowd pops as “Break Down the Walls” begins to play. Jericho shakes the ropes in joy and raises his arms. The camera pans towards Chris Benoit. Benoit is standing on the stage wearing the World Heavyweight Championship over his shoulder, and he claps for Jericho. On the TitanTron it shows Jericho looking right at him.

Ross: The World Heavyweight Champion, Chris Benoit, is showing appreciating to his long time friend, and sometimes rival! What a sign of respect. This is going to be a classic in the making, Don! We are out of time! Join us next week right here on Spike TV! Goodnight!

---------------------------

Overall: 80

TV Rating: 4.2

---------------------------

[Guest SteveBoobs]

Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic.

Jamie Noble getting the push of a lifetime brings a smile to my face. I always knew there was the potential for him to become a credible superstar and you've proved it. Good work.

After all of the hype, the America's Most Wanted debut delivered. They definitely proved they are on even ground with Batista & Ric Flair with the way they were able to hold their own against La Resistance and Jindrak & Cade.

Your Coach and Johnny Nitro write-ups are priceless. The Coach talking to AMW was a dead-on impression, IMO. You've made Johnny Nitro a star, that's for sure, his interaction with Bischoff nearly had me in hysterics.

I didn't really care for the Coalition promo. I didn't find Trish very believable trying to fire them up. It seemed a little forced, I don't know. To each his own, though. I was also a little disappointed Christian left the battle royale so early, but it could set up a program with Shawn Michaels or Lance Storm based on what went down during his involvement, so it is perfectly acceptable.

This is a solid body of work, I am impressed.

[Krazy_K]

Elimination and Winner: Jamie Noble by Chris Jericho in 24:57. Chris Jericho is now heading to Bad Blood to face Chris Benoit for the World Heavyweight Championship!

←

Edited June 15, 2005 by Krazy_K

[therockbox]

Awesome show there Fitzy.

- The battle royal was extremely well written, and I'm glad that Jericho won. It's also good that Noble got to the last two, I love his push and hope it continues.

- Like SteveBoobs said, the Nitro/Bisch writeups are excellent. I can imagine Nitro standing on his toes to check out whether Eric's balding, and you've got his character down to a tee.

- I like the Benoit character, respecting all the other challengers and why they should have a shot.

- I suspect we'll see a Christian/Storm feud, which can only mean good things. I didn't have a problem with Trish trying to fire the two up, it served it's purpose well.

- Nice way to debut AMW, I look forward to the eventual match with Batista and Flair.

Aside from the odd typo, there's nothing I can see that's wrong with this diary. Fantastic stuff, keep it up (Y)

[Greg The Smooth]

Great work Fitzy, I just read through most of this and I have really enjoyed it.

Jamie Noble's push is being done excellently.

Great debut for AMW. You made them instant stars in a rather weak tag team division.

The Battle Royal was nice too, Nitro going out so quickly was great.

[Fitzy]

Benoit vs. Orton

May 17, 2004

Last week we witnessed Chris Jericho go through fourteen other guys to become the new number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship. Chris Jericho has requested air time to talk about this match at the start of Raw. He said he won’t be using the Highlight Reel this week, but he will be talking about his win at the battle royal last week and his up coming match with the World Heavyweight Champion at Bad Blood.

Can Benoit make it to Bad Blood as the Champion? We will find out as he is set to defend the World Heavyweight Championship against the WWE Intercontinental Champion Randy Orton. Orton’s Intercontinental Championship is not on the line. Orton made it a point to get Bischoff to not agree to not having his belt on the line.

Edge will not be in attendance this week, and I am sure there are quite a few fans out there who are happy about this. But it was Triple H who did the damage. He took a sledge hammer right to the face of Edge, bloodying him in the process. He has been checked for a possible concussion, but their was no sign of one, so that’s good news. When Edge returns, he will be looking for a fight.

Speaking of Edge, a few weeks back, Edge blamed Shawn Michaels for the lose of the tag team title match against Ric Flair and Batista. He says Michaels only things of himself and tries to be the center of attention and has a hollier than thou attitude. You can beat that Shawn Michaels will eventually get his hands on Edge, but on Raw this Monday night, HBK will step into the ring with Captain Charisma himself, Christian. The Leader of the Peeps and the Christian Coalition has a lot on his mind. This match and Lance Storm. Storm is also going to see action this night as he and Rob Van Dam will be squaring off. Both of these matches are can’t miss matches, that’s for sure.

All this and much more, this Monday night, live from San Diego, California!

Tune in at 9/8 CT only on Spike TV!

Edited July 1, 2005 by Fitzy

[Fitzy]

RAW

LIVE! May 17, 2004

San Diego, California

Sports Arena

This weeks Raw opens up with highlights from the battle royal last week. It shows Nitro trying to toss out Batista only to get tossed out within seconds of the match starting, Christian tossing out Shawn Michaels and Lance Storm tossing out Christian and Michaels attacking Christian on the outside. It also shows Triple H and Batista nearly coming to blows only to have Batista grab Edge and Triple H grabs Jericho. But it is Edge who eliminates Batista and then pushes Jericho aside to eliminate Triple H, too. It shows Lance Storm eliminating both RVD and Randy Orton simultaneously. Then it show Noble and Jericho teaming up to take out Edge. And it is down to the final three with Storm, Noble, and Jericho. Noble looks like he is about to hit the top rope release Dragon Suplex, but Storm clubs Noble in the back and hooks him in a waist lock and lifts him off the ropes for a German Suplex and Noble flings Jericho off in the Dragon Suplex, flipping him inside out, landing face first, sliding crotch first into the corner. It shows Storm getting tossed out by Noble and then shows clips of Noble on the ring apron and applying Pay Dirt to him while tied on the ropes. It shows Noble beating on Jericho, but Jericho coming back and tossing Noble over the top rope only to have Noble hang on, skinning the cat but Jericho dropkicks him in the stomach, sending Noble out to give Jericho the win.

Union Undergrounds “Across the Nation” begins to play and the opening video to Raw plays, which now includes the triple decker German/Dragon Suplex combo from the battle royal. As soon as the Bischoff and Nitro photos fade away, the pyrotechnics display goes off.

Jericho, the Number One Contender

Five … Four … Three … Two … One …

“Come on, Jericho. You know I got ya. Yeah. One. Break the Walls Down!”

“Break Down the Walls” begins to play and the man who will head into Bad Blood to take on the World Heavyweight Champion makes his way out onto the stage. Jericho, with his back turned to the ground and arms stretched wide apart turns around, pumping his fist yelling “Come on, baby!” Jericho walks down the aisle and gets into the ring, shaking the top rope like he is the Ultimate Warrior or something. He takes the microphone away from Lillian Garcia just as his music fades out.

Chris Jericho: Last week, heading into that battle royal, I didn’t expect to go through all that work, to be quite honest with you. I thought, for me at least, that it’d be much simpler, but I underestimated a lot of my opponents in that. Who am I talking about, you ask? Lance Storm and Jamie Noble. Now, you see, I know Lance and his abilities, but he seemed to be distracted with Christian lately as well as Randy Orton. I thought he wouldn’t make it this far, never mind giving up a helluva effort in the process. But he did, and that triple decker suplex that he and Noble gave me still hurts me. And the one who has been on fire lately, Jamie Noble. Jamie, you can be someone in this business someday if only you get your head out of Triple H’s ass! Can’t you see he is only keeping you close so you are not a threat to him? How can you not see that? These fans can see that. Hell, you could have won them over following your match with Chris Benoit had you accepted his hand in respect instead of attacking him. But last week wasn’t you night, pal. You put up a tremendous fight.

Jericho stops talking as the fans chant “Y2J.”

Don Callis: Hey! I call gimmick infringement! Tremendous is my word!

Jericho: Jamie, just think about it. If you were not so far up Triple H’s ass, you might be getting this type of reaction like me. You see, I have earned these fans respect throughout the years. You could have earned the respect even much quicker than me. But whatever. The day you leave Triple H is the day you become a star. Believe it. Now, onto more important business. The World Heavyweight Championship! [The crowd pops for this announcement.] Yep, that’s right. Me and Chris Benoit, two long time friends and long time rivals stepping back into the ring again against each other for the richest prize in the business. You see, Chris, I want you out here to hear what I have to say. [Chris Benoit’s music doesn’t start right way.] Come on, Benoit, I need to tell you to your face. Ben…

And before he can finish saying Benoit, “Whatever” by Our Lady Peace begins to play and the fans pop big time for the entrance of the World Heavyweight Champion. Benoit, holding the belt over his right shoulder, comes out and raises it in the air at the center of the stage. Benoit walks to his left, raises the belt with his right and pounds his chest with his left hand. He walks to his right and does the same, raising the belt and pounding his chest. Benoit walks back to the center and down the aisle. Jericho stands near the ropes and actually sits down on the middle rope, holding the top rope open. Benoit, standing on the ring apron, looks at Jericho for a moment and then accepts his graciousness. Benoit takes a microphone of his own.

Jericho: Chris, you know what I called you out here. It’s because I want to say that come Bad Blood, even though that I respect the hell out of you as a world-class wrestler, all of that will not matter a single thing to me because that belt is going to be mine.

Chris Benoit: Oh, is that so?

Jericho: You’re damn right that’s so.

Benoit gets up in Jericho’s face and the crowd cheers them both on in a dueling chant. Half the arena is pro-Jericho, chanting “Y2J” while the others are chanting “Chris Benoit.” Jericho is the first to back off, though. Benoit doesn’t move an inch.

Jericho: Easy there, Chris. I didn’t come for a fight tonight. Hell, I didn’t come for a fight anywhere. Not even Bad Blood. I am out to prove that I am just simply the better man … the better wrestler than you. That’s all. Like I said, I respect you, my friend. We go back a long ways. Japan, ECW, WCW. Hell, we had the same trainers in the Dungeon. But if there is one thing that I haven’t accomplished, it’s beating you for that World Heavyweight Championship.

Benoit: Like I told Shawn Michaels, respect is thrown out the window the minute I step foot into the ring with anyone. No matter who it is, I will out wrestle anyone. No one will be able to escape my submissions. Triple H tapped to the Crippler Crossface at WrestleMania XX, Shawn Michaels tapped at Backlash. And you, Chris Jericho, you’ll tap to anyone of those come Bad Blood.

Jericho: You truly believe that, don’t you, Benoit? You expect to see me tap out to your Crippler Crossface or your Sharpshooter? Hell, bring any submission you want, it won’t matter a thing to me, Benoit. The only tapping out of the night will see you tapping to the Walls of Jericho. You might’ve beaten Triple H and Shawn Michaels, but you won’t beat me, Chris Jericho, at Bad Blood. It is just not going to happen. I think you might be forgetting the last time we fought each other for titles. It was back in 2001 at both Royal Rumble and No Way Out. At the Royal Rumble I beat you in a ladder match, and at No Way Out, I beat you and Eddie Guerrero in a triple threat match. History will certainly repeat itself this time, Benoit, as I force you to tap out once again and take a title away from you.

Chris Benoit stands there, clapping.

Benoit: I can see you remember what happened three years ago. The fact of the matter is, I have done what you couldn’t do in the past three years. I am the World Heavyweight Champion. How many times have you tried and lost, Jericho? Elimination Chamber at SummerSlam in 2002 and against Goldberg in 2003. Now, you’re not the only one who can give a quick history lesson, Jericho. I don’t care what you have to say, the fact remains, I am the World Heavyweight Champion, and come Bad Blood, whether I respect you or not, I will make you tap.

Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho get in each others face again, but “Whatever” by Our Lady Peace begins to play and Benoit turns around and leaves. Jericho attempts to attack him, but holds himself back. Benoit turns around and points to Jericho and the two exchange words as the show cuts to a commercial break.

(89)

[Commercial.]

Lance Storm Arrives … Alone.

We return from the commercial break and it shows Simon Diamond running into the Coalition’s locker room.

Simon Diamond: Christian! Hey, where’s Christian?

Trish Stratus: He’s in the bathroom. Why aren’t you doing what you’re supposed to be doing? Go watch for Lance Storm to show up. We need to get him back on the same page as the rest of us!

Diamond: That’s why I was running here. I saw him pull up and get out of his car.

Stratus: So, instead of talking to him, you ran to tell us? You’re really no good, you know that? Ugh. What do I pay you for, anyways. Go get Lance and bring him here.

Before Simon can leave, the toilet flushes and Christian opens the door to the locker room. Johnny, standing near the door, begins to speak.

Johnny Swinger: What the hell did you just eat? It smells like someone died in there.

Christian: Don’t make me send you back down to Hicksville! Keep your unnecessary comments to yourself. You got that?

Swinger: Yes sir, sorry boss. It won’t happen again.

Christian: Good. Now, what the hell are you doing here? Didn’t I send you on a job?

Stratus: That’s what I told him. These two don’t seem to like doing their jobs.

Diamond: I thought you told me to come get you when Lance showed up?

Christian: I told you to bring him to me. Whatever. Let’s go. Might as well talk to him myself.

Christian, Trish Stratus, Johnny Swinger, and Simon Diamond exit the room and don’t end up walking very far as Lance Storm is right in front of them, only a few feet away. Storm, dragging his luggage behind him, stops as he notices the four of them standing in front of him.

Lance Storm: Can’t you see I want nothing to do with you four? Step aside; I need to get ready for my match tonight.

The Canadian’s don’t budge, and just stand there, looking at Storm. Christian finally speaks.

Christian: What I want to know is what got all up in you to actually force you to toss me out of the match? Huh? Where did you get that “great” idea from?

Storm: It’s more to do with the fact that you think this whole thing is all about one man, Christian, and that’s you. It’s quite obvious that you don’t even care about anyone else that you surround yourself with. It’s all about you, isn’t it?

Christian: You know that isn’t the truth. You told me yourself you’d watch my back when I told you I was going for the gold and you had no problem with that.

Storm: Like hell I didn’t. It’s always about you and never about me. That isn’t going to happen anymore because I am through. I don’t want you … [Lance points to Trish Stratus] Or you two … [He now points to Diamond and Swinger.] In my corner, ever again. I don’t need my problems solved like you, Christian. I can achieve things on my own, and it began last week. If you don’t like that, I don’t really care. Leave me out of your plans and out of your business. I don’t want to concern myself with that anymore.

Christian: What is next for Lance Storm? To go back dancing for the fans? Huh? Is that it? You know damn well that without me you’d be still stuck forcing yourself to lower yourself to dancing to get these fans to cheer for you. Without me, you’d be nothing, Lance.

Stratus: Easy, Christian, easy. Don’t get all worked up over this situation. Myself, Johnny, and Simon will handle this for you, babe! We need you focused on tonights match, though. You have Shawn Michaels. We know you can get it done, but you just need a level head going into it. Keep your mind off Lance for tonight. We will set Lance straight, but it’ll take some time. Worry about HBK for tonight.

Lance Storm and Christian get in each other’s faces, but Johnny Swinger and Simon Diamond get in between then, with Trish standing in between those two. Diamond is holding Lance back and Swinger is holding Christian back. Trish has here arms stretched open, keeping the two distanced from each other. Storm, though, pushes Diamond off of him, telling him to get away from him. Diamond, though, keeps his arms up, to tell Storm to stay away from Christian. Storm grabs his bags and leaves.

Christian: Lance! Lance! I am giving you one more chance, Lance, to come back! Without me, Lance, you’re nothing, and you’ll never be nothing!

(79)

The scene cuts back to the arena where JR and Callis are sitting.

Jim Ross: Whoa, Don, it looks like we have some major dissension in the ranks of your fellow Canadians.

Callis: Never, Jimmy, never. We Canadians can settle our differences. Lance listens to me. I am going to have to talk to him on behalf of my good friend Christian. Then we will see Lance back where he belongs, him and Christian side by side like old times.

Ross: Whatever you say, Don. But even bigger news is the announcement of Shawn Michaels versus Christian for tonight. This is going to be a great match up, Don.

Match One – “Cowboy” James Storm with “Wildcat” Chris Harris vs. One Half of the World Tag Team Champions “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair with the other half of the World Tag Team Champions “The Animal” Batista

“Also Sprach Zarathustra” begins to play and one half of the World Tag Team Champions, “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair comes out onto the stage with the other half of the World Tag Team Champions, “The Animal” Batista standing behind him. Ric Flair spins around on stage, showing off his robe as Batista does his body builders pose. Ric Flair and Batista walk down the aisle and Batista runs up the ring steps and enters the ring, walking towards the corner and standing on the middle rope, raising his arms in the arm. Flair, though, waits on the ring apron for referee Billy Silverman to open the ropes for him. Silverman holds the ropes open and Flair enters and takes off his rope and hands the World Tag Team Championship belt over to Batista for save keeping.

“We find the defendants guilt!”

America’s Most Wanted’s theme music begins to play and out walks “Cowboy” James Storm and “Wildcat” Chris Harris to a nice reaction from the crowd. AMW, dressed in their long black trench coats with “Cowboy” going down the left hand side of the front part of the jacket on Storm’s jacket, and “Wildcat” going down the left hand side Harris’ jacket. On the back is the American flag. Storm has his usual cowboy hat while Harris has his sunglasses on. Harris, though, instead of wearing his blue trunks with “Wildcat” on the front and “AMW” on the back has on regular jean pants and cowboy boots while Storm has the blue trunks with “Cowboy” and “AMW” on them. They get into the ring just as their music fades out.

James Storm and Ric Flair engage in a collar and elbow tie up, and Ric Flair applies a side headlock on Storm. Flair backs Storm up into the ropes and Storm pushes Flair off of him. Flair bounces off the ropes and returns ramming his shoulder into Storm’s shoulder. Storm doesn’t budge and motions for Flair to try it again. Flair runs the ropes and ducks under Storm’s lariat attempt and stops in his tracks, turns around quickly and chop blocks the legs out from under him. Flair grabs Storm by the left leg and begins to kick at the knee. He starts attacking the back of the knee and then twists around it and applies the Figure Four Leg Lock on him. Referee Billy Silverman checks to see if Storm wants to give up, but he won’t. Storm, making a fist with his hands, begins to pump it aggressively and Chris Harris on the outside begins to slap the mat, getting the fans to clap along. Storm turns over onto his hands and knees, reversing the pressure of the Figure Four onto Ric Flair and Flair quickly grabs the ropes to break the reversal. Silverman unlocks the legs and both Flair and Storm are down, clutching at their legs.

Flair, though, is up first and grabs Storm. He goes to punch James, but James blocks it and punches Flair. Flair tries for another punch but it is blocked again and Storm punches Flair. Flair tries for a third time and it is blocked, for a third time, and Storm punches Flair, and Flair backs off into the corner. Storm goes to mount the ropes. One … Two … Three … Four … Five … Six … and as the fans go to chant seven, Flair grabs Storm and lifts him up, dragging him out of the corner for an inverted Atomic Drop, but Storm blocks it and Flair runs to the corner to escape Storm. Storm charges in and Flair pokes Storm in the eyes. Flair grabs Storm and reverses positions with him, sending Storm into the corner and Flair lights him up with a brutal knife-edge chop to the chest with the crowd yelling out “WOOOOOO!” Flair chops again, and again, and again, and again. Each time the fans would chant “WOOOOOO!” Flair grabs Storm by the arm and whips him into the ropes and clotheslines him over the top rope.

“The Nature Boy” grabs Billy Silverman and distracts him by bringing him over to the corner where Chris Harris is. Flair taunts Harris, causing Harris to try and enter the ring, but Silverman gets between the two and won’t allow it to happen. Meanwhile, on the outside, Batista has Storm up in a bear hug and rams him, back first, into the ring post and tosses Storm to the mat. Batista grabs Storm by the head and rolls him into the ring. Flair turns around and makes the cover, yelling at Silverman to turn around. Silverman turns around and makes the count. One … Two … Th, NO! Kickout by James Storm.

Chris Harris begins to bang on the mat again, rallying up the crowd to get behind James Storm. The crowd claps along to the beat of Harris banging on the mat and Flair grabs Storm in a rear chinlock. Silverman checks to see if it is not a choke and raises the arm of James Storm. It falls once. He raises the arm of James Storm a second time. It falls for a second time. And Billy Silverman raises the arm for a third time and it falls, NO! It stays up. Storm begins to fight back, getting on his knees and elbowing Flair in the midsection. Storm is on his feet, elbowing Flair again. He finally breaks free to a pop from the crowd and goes to run towards the ropes, but Flair grabs him by the hair and goes to pull him down, but Storm, being close to the ropes, is able to hold onto the ropes allowing himself to stand up. Flair breaks the hold and goes to charge in with an elbow to the back, but Storm turns around and grabs Flair and tosses him over the top rope. Flair lands on the ring apron and rolls back in. Storm picks him up and whips him into the ropes and hits a back body drop on him. Flair gets up and charges at Storm, but Storm grabs him by the arm and whips him into the corner. Flair flips up and over and begins running along the apron right in front of Chris Harris and all of a sudden Flair flops right onto the ring apron and rolls to the floor. Harris picks up Flair and rolls him into the ring. Storm covers him. One … Two … kickout by Flair.

Batista gets up onto the ring apron and James Storm begins to argue with him. Silverman argues with Batista and tells him to get down, but Batista won’t. Flair begins to get up, but Harris yells at Storm to turn around and does and nails Flair right in the jaw with a Superkick. James Storm makes the cover, but before one can be even counted, Batista rolls into the ring and goes to grab Storm when Harris runs in and Spears Batista down to he mat! The crowd pops and Harris rolls Batista to the outside. Storm gets back up, lifting Flair up onto his shoulders and swings him around into an Ace Crusher for the TKO, or what he calls the Eight Second Ride (not the same as his old TNA finisher of the same name), and makes the cover. One …Two … Three!

Winner: James Storm in 8:39.

(72, 85, 74) ** ¼

Chris Harris rams Batista, shoulder first, into the steel ring steps and gets back into the ring with James Storm and raises his arm. Harris motions for “belts around his waist” as the show cuts to a commercial break.

[Commercial.]

Last Man Standing …?

Back from the commercial break and we are in the office of Eric Bischoff and Johnny Nitro.

Eric Bischoff: I cannot believe you even insinuated last week that I was going bald. I am not. I have a full head of hair and you know it!

Johnny Nitro: Come on, dude. Going bald is nothing to be ashamed about. [Nitro cannot keep a straight face and laughs.] Okay, okay, I cannot say that without laughing at all. I am sorry, but you really are going bald. It’s true, EB. I don’t lie. You know that. I cannot lie about such things as hair. When you have something as perfect as I do, I think … no I know I know a thing or two about hair. I am sorry that I said it, but, dude, it’s true. Here. Take a look.

Nitro pulls out a mirror from his bag and brings Bischoff over to his own personal wall mirror. Bischoff stands before it, trying to see for himself.

Bischoff: See, I told you. I am not bald, so can we please forget this was ever said?

Nitro: Not so fast, EB. Dude, check it out.

Nitro places the mirror a little above the back of the head of Bischoff, a place where Bischoff cannot see it while looking in the mirror.

Nitro: See, right there. [Nitro points it out.] That’s where you’re going bald. Sorry to be so truthful, EB.

Bischoff looks pissed off now and shoves the mirror out of Nitro’s hand. Just then, Triple H barges into the office.

Triple H: Bischoff! I want Edge and I want him tonight! Don’t give me any crap either! Me versus Edge TONIGHT! Make it happen, Bischoff! Make it happen!

Bischoff: Who the hell do you think you are? Really. You don’t come into my office and make these demands. I am the Raw General Manager and only I make the matches around here. You know damn well that Edge is not here tonight. You took left him in a pool of his own blood last week with the sledgehammer. I was not allowing him to come to tonight’s show because if, too.

Triple H: Get him on the phone and force him to this arena, right now! I don’t care where he is. I want him tonight! Before the show ends or after, tonight, I am not leaving this arena until I face him!

Bischoff: He is back home, and in his words “in a place better than San Diego, California” up in Toronto.

The crowd boos at the mentioning of their hometown being worse than Toronto.

Bischoff: But I can tell you one thing, Triple H, this is one match that I have been saving until Bad Blood. We all know you two have a huge hatred for each other, so the only way this can be settled is during a Last Man Standing Match! The last man standing will indeed be the better man and will walk out as the Number One Contender to the World Heavyweight Championship, too.

Triple H: Bischoff, do not be surprised when this match doesn’t happen. Before Bad Blood, I am taking Edge out of action … for good!

Triple H begins to leave.

Bischoff: Triple H, wait. I just wanted to inform you that you do not have the night off due to not getting Edge tonight. I have another match planned. It’s you and Jamie Noble teaming up to take on The Hurricane and the returning Val Venis. Good luck.

Triple H: Good luck? You just signed Hurricane’s and Val’s death warrant! Tonight, they are getting what Edge would’ve gotten handed to them. Good luck for me? I say good luck to them.

Triple H storms out of the office.

Nitro: Dude. At least there is one thing normal about him … his hair. Though, it’s not nearly as perfect as mine.

Eric Bischoff shakes his head as the show cuts to a commercial break.

(78)

[Commercial.]

Ross: Folks, during the commercial break, we witnessed an appalling attack by Jamie Noble to the Hurricane.

Callis: Appalling? Appalling? I say it was tremendous!

Ross: You would say that and that is appalling in and of itself. But folks, you need to see this attack.

The cameras are rushing down the hallway and stop at a closed door. Behind it is a lot of noise being made and the door flings open and Jamie Noble, hands, body, and pants are bloody. Noble comes out laughing and he bumps into a pissed off Triple H, just coming from his meeting with Bischoff. Triple H looks like he is going to punch the person until he realizes it is Jamie Noble and sees him full of blood.

Triple H: Whoa, what the hell happened to you?

Jamie Noble: Why don’tcha find out for yerself?

Triple H peeks in, the camera, though, cannot see over Triple H to witness what went on. He turns around and he has a huge smirk on his face. He and Noble clasps hands together in a sign of Triple H loving what just went down.

Noble: Let’s go kick Val Venis’ tail in!

Triple H and Jamie Noble walk off and the camera man opens up the door and focuses in on the person lying on the ground. It turns out to be the Hurricane, face a completely blood mess, but most of his face is covered due to his half torn mask, lying on top of a broken table and a bloody chair next to him. The camera zooms into the face of Hurricane and his mask has been nearly torn in half, but his face is bloody as hell.