What a great way to end 2004 with one super Raw. This show had so much going for it that you could almost ignore the negatives of the show. Naturally I’ll mention the two things that kept Raw from being perfect, but really Raw totally rocked last night. Making the Elimination Chamber match the theme of Raw definitely worked and made for an extremely exciting show. And how can I leave out the Biloxi crowd? They were HOT just about all night.
Again I am enjoying the new and improved Eric Bischoff. He’s in that tweener category and I like that a lot. I was also very into Eric’s announcement about all the participants in the Elimination Chamber match taking part in Beat The Clock. That meant that Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Edge, Triple H, Randy Orton and Batista would each wrestle an unknown opponent and while the match was going on they each would be timed. The man with the fastest time would be the last man released from the chamber. And should one of these guys lose then they are out of the chamber match and their opponent is in. This really did set the tone for a really good show. A show that really kept your interest. Especially giving us Chris Jericho vs. Christian for the first Beat The Clock match.
Sure I’m tired of watching these two go at it. But Jericho and Christian came through with a nice match. These two have terrific chemistry with each other and watching them in the ring makes you forget just how many times they have wrestled in the past. Of course Tomko was there to do what he could for Christian but even he couldn’t get in Y2J’s way. I am not a fan of Tyson Tomko’s wrestling but I have to say as Christian’s “problem solver” his character appeals to me. Jericho won in 10:47 after making Captain Charisma tap out in the Walls of Jericho. As I said a very good match and things only got better. There was a backstage segment with a very nervous Triple H complaining about the beat the clock deal. He’s all upset and Ric Flair is trying his hardest to calm him down. And then things pick up. While Triple H is basically a nervous wreck there’s Batista relaxed and calm. He tells Ric and Hunter that he is confident and not worried at all. All of a sudden a very upset Hunter tells Batista that he is also confident. In fact Hunter is so damn confident that he makes a $100.00 bet with Batista that he will win and be the last man out of that chamber. This was just the tip of the iceberg. You can see Batista is really getting the best of Triple H and this short segment was just the beginning of more to come with Hunter and Dave.
Randy Orton was interviewed by air head Maria. I won’t even get into her lack of mic skills. No I will just say that Randy was ready for his match and ready to beat Jericho’s time. He talked about how brutal it is to wrestle in the chamber match and how he’s waited three long months to get this title shot. I was very glad to see Randy not try to be the Rock and just focus on the chamber match and his beat the clock match that was coming up. And that was against Maven. Like Eric Bischoff I like the new and definitely improved Maven. These two young studs as JR would say looked good out there and maybe in the future could have one hot feud. Maven did all he could be Randy won and he also beat Jericho’s time at 6:14. So Raw has given us two hot matches and Lita and Molly kept things going. It’s so sad that Vince found it necessary to dump so many of the diva’s that could wrestle, because Lita seems to have the fans quite interested in what she does. Her match against Molly came off so well. And as I said it was nice that the fans were so into this one. Lita was anything but shy. She was definitely the aggressor and let Molly have some nice hard shots. Lita won, and after her victory Gene Snitzky came out and Lita ran. The camera’s followed her to the back and I really thought Kane would pop out but that didn’t happen. Lita escaped and Eric stopped Snitzky and then informed him that he would be facing Kane at New Years Revolution. Snitzky looked a teeny tiny upset. But the crowd seemed happy about their rematch.
Okay the worst match of the night? Simon Dean vs. Rosey. There’s definitely something missing here. Is it the lack of a storyline, or is it because there is no chemistry between these two? Or is it a combination of both? Whatever the problem is this match just didn’t cut it. So I call this the filler of the night. Things got back on track when Edge had to face Eugene. This one was booked beautifully. Here’s Edge with one thing on his mind, beating Randy’s time. But Eugene had other things on his mind. Not only was Eugene there to wrestle but he wanted to have fun too. As the match was going on and the clock kept ticking away, Eugene decided to leave the ring and greet the fans. This was hysterical. Watching Edge’s reaction was great. He needed the win and he needed it immediately. So he chased Eugene around the ring and Eugene ran under the ring. Then Eugene with a big smile came up and Edge kicked him in the head and brought him back in the ring. The match continued with Eugene doing the Rock Bottom and trying to do the Stunner. This was done as I said so well and Edge finally won when Eugene tapped out to Edge’s modified clover leaf. But Edge did not beat Randy’s time and the suspense continued.
I forgot to mention when Eric made the Beat the Clock matches at the beginning of the show he also announced that there would be a special guest referee for the Elimination Chamber match. And that he would make that announcement at the end of the show. So after the Edge/Eugene match Coach thinking that Eric still worships him brought Bisch a Christmas present. And then Coach wanted to know who the special ref was. Eric refused to tell him and then said that when he the announcement is made, all six guys in that chamber match aren’t going to be happy when they find out who it is. Okay right off I’m figuring it’s HBK, however that little line about all six guys has me wondering. So even though I think it’s Shawn Michaels I’m wondering could I be wrong? Nah, me wrong? Now it’s back to the matches and I also failed to mention or maybe I did it on purpose that Christy was the time keeper for all the matches last night. And between matches she made a wardrobe change and then would do some obnoxious moves as she headed toward the table. See there WAS a reason I left that all out.
It’s now Chris Benoit vs. Viscera. Poor Chris. He’s got his work cut out for him. And I again figure with Vis out there that Benoit will definitely beat Randy’s time and end this fast. And I’m right. The match ends at 5:43. But I’m going to say this. Benoit did one hell of a job against Viscera and because of this Vis looked okay out there and this was another match that I liked a lot. So now it’s Benoit’s time to beat. And unfortunately the mood is about to change. Did you all know that Stacey was named the 2004 Diva of the year? I didn’t know that but congrats to Stacey. It’s so obvious that they have nothing for her to do that poor Stacey had to come out and just talk about her victory as the new 2004 Diva and about bending over backwards and forwards. Pathetic is how I would rate this part. But things got much worse when Hassan and Daivari came out. Now with Hassan dressed in trunks I thought finally he’s going to wrestle. But that wasn’t the case. After he and Daivari demanded Stacey to get out, these two guys just went on and on about America being crap and some survey from a college showing that more than half of Americans feel that Arab Americans should have their civil liberties taken from them. The talking just kept going and this segment was almost longer than any match on the show. This just came off so irritating. The time spent on this could have been better spent watching Hassan wrestle. And just when you think it’s over, Daivari is standing with Lawler and JR. And he calls Hassan over and they talk about them spewing propaganda to the fans every week. And they start roughing up Lawler and JR. Finally it ends with Lawler and Hassan face to face. I would have hated to sit through any of this live in the arena. Talk about crap.
Batista was next up and his opponent was Rhyno. Now with all the talk between him Batista and Hunter didn’t you just know that Batista would beat Benoit’s time? This match was good but short because Dave did win and Dave did have the fastest time at 3:02, and you just knew that this was going to set up even more tension between the two Evolution members. But before we could see things build up between Batista and Hunter. Hassan and Daivari stormed into Bischoff’s office bitching about Lawler and JR and demanding a match with them. So get this no match but next week oh I can’t wait for a debate between Daivari/Hassan and JR/Lawler. I’m counting the days until next week’s show. Okay finally that’s done and now we see Hunter fuming and yelling at Batista for beating Benoit’s time. How dare Dave do that to TRIPLE H. Batista then tells Hunter that he is starting to piss him off and the fans love it you can hear the cheers. Flair tries to cool things down and the Batista/Triple H almost feud is getting better and better week after week. It’s now time for the main event with Triple H and his opponent. Before the match stars we see Benoit, Jericho, Orton and Edge sitting by the ring. Then Hunter’s music hits and Hunter along with Flair and yes Batista hit the ring. Batista goes to sit with the other guys. Hunter’s opponent is announced and it’s none other than Shelton Benjamin. The five guys at ringside are laughing that’s right even Batista is smiling knowing that Shelton has beaten Hunter twice before. Hunter isn’t smiling and a look of panic is on his face. Hunter gets things going and dominates the first few minutes trying so hard to beat Batista’s time, and as time is running out the crowd is counting down and Hunter can’t do it. Although he thinks he did. He has Shelton in a sleeper hold and as Hebner is counting at the count it’s three, Shelton’s arm is limp but he was able to get his foot on the rope. So as the clock goes off Hunter thinks he has the victory. But he’s so wrong that he starts screaming at Hebner that he won that he beat the clock and he continues. Shelton then splashed Hunter as he was screaming at Hebner and rolled him up but Hunter kicked out. This was a fun match not as intense as their first two but still good and the crowd was so into this probably feeling like so many of us that Shelton could get the victory. But Hunter did win and Flair and Batista came into the ring with Batista holding up Hunter’s hand. Hunter still didn’t seem too pleased with Dave. Eric then came out and announced the ref for the Elimination chamber match was HBK. Shawn came out dressed like a ref and danced his ass off. Okay Hunter was pissed, Edge was pissed, and Batista seemed mildly pissed. But Jericho, Orton and Benoit took it well. So I ask you why would ALL six of these men be upset about Michaels?
See they wouldn’t be it was a way of swerving the fans and to some extent I guess it did keep us guessing.
Beat the Clock Raw was awesome and I’m looking so forward to next week’s show and it’s not because of the debate. And now it’s on to Impact and Smackdown. I have to say that Smackdown in Iraq was done beautifully. Just like last year this was done with so much class and I can’t say enough good things about what I saw. I will try to do an Impact/SD column on Friday, but since it’s’ New Years Eve I can’t promise you that I will do it for sure. If not I want to wish you all a very Happy and Safe 2005.
Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com
