Full Credit: Todd Martin, wrestlingobserver.com
WWE Raw Report
By: Todd Martin
Email: MartinT2007@lawnet.ucla.edu
Date: 03/14/05 from Atlanta, GA.
The Big News: Triple H beat Chris Benoit and Batista beat Gene Snitsky, as
their collision approaches. Also, the Rockers reunited and Jake “The Snake”
Roberts appeared on a fun episode of Raw.
Title Changes/Turns: None.
Match Results: Kane b Tyson Tomko and Christian; Shelton Benjamin b Edge;
The Rockers b La Resistance; Triple H b Chris Benoit; Dave Batista b Gene
Snitsky-DQ.
Show Analysis:
The show started with the Highlight Reel. Chris Jericho said he would win
his match at WrestleMania, and then introduced Randy Orton as his guest.
Orton got a large quantity of boos, and even more after he gave his crappy
“I’m a young guy and want to prove I’m great” speech. Orton has the complete
wrong type of heat, and it’s no wonder given what a loser he has been
portrayed as. He talked about surprising people by beating Mick Foley and
winning the WWE championship, and promised to have some more surprises at
the contract signing Thursday. Jericho said he had a surprise of his own,
Jake “the Snake” Roberts.
Roberts got a great reaction, and it is nice to see WWE bring back older
stars like Superstar Billy Graham, Danny Hodge and Roberts. Sadly, Roberts
looks significantly worse than either of them, and that speaks volumes given
what Graham has put his body through and how old Hodge is. Roberts was
haggard, horribly out of shape, and his distinctive voice was gone. I’m not
overstating the point when I say Roberts looked in worse shape than many of
the homeless people here in Westwood. Still the crowd chanted “Jake the
Snake” and he said it was good to be back. He cut a good promo, but not on
the level that one might hope from one of the best talkers of all time.
He said he knew Orton’s father, but doesn’t know Randy that well. He said
timing is everything, and that while Orton won the title, he no longer has
it. He wanted to do a favor for Bob Orton, Jr., and offered to reintroduce
Orton’s brain to his mouth, because he was talking out of his ass. Roberts
offered to shut Orton’s mouth, and told Orton not to bite off more than he
can chew. Orton mocked Roberts for losing to Undertaker, so Roberts went for
the snake. Orton cut him off, but Roberts gave him the short clothesline.
Roberts went for the DDT but of course Orton reversed into the RKO. They
showed a number of clips throughout the show to build parts of WrestleMania,
such as a video of Benoit making HHH tap last year, as well as clips of
Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan.
Kane beat Tyson Tomko and Christian in a handicap match. Tomko and Christian
tagged back and forth working on Kane, until Kane sent Christian into a
post. Christian left, and Kane beat Tomko with a clothesline off the top and
choke slam. Christian came back to get a ladder, but Kane cut him off and
hit Tomko with it. Ric Flair talked up Gene Snitsky backstage, pumping him
up for a match with Batista. Snitsky is no longer even perversely
entertaining. He’s just awful, and I want him off my TV.
Speaking of which, Christy Hemme was working on her kicks backstage with
Lita, William Regal and Tajiri. Christy lacked confidence, but Regal pumped
her up and she accidentally kicked Regal low. Lita was pleased. Shawn
Michaels told Marty Jannetty backstage that he should return to Raw, and
they decided to team up again. Marty looked to be in good shape.
Shelton Benjamin beat Edge. Edge jumped Benjamin coming out, and gave him a
horrible beating all over the place. Despite this, Benjamin consented to the
match starting, and Edge went back to work. Benjamin fired back with shots
and they did the “Benjamin is going back to the street” sell, with all its
racist undertones. Benjamin missed the Stinger splash, but landed on the top
rope and used a sunset flip off the top. That was a really nice spot. Edge
came back with a power slam for a near fall. Edge went for the spear but
Benjamin used a leap frog over. He then went for a kick but hit the referee.
Edge hit the spear, but the referee wasn’t available, so he brought a ladder
into the ring. Jericho stopped him and Benjamin hit the T-Bone for the pin.
This match told a very good story.
The Rockers beat La Resistance. They played the old Rocker music. I really
like this idea. It is nice for nostalgic value, it was an entertaining
match, and it also means there is more at stake when Jannetty wrestles Kurt
Angle. This is a minor point, but given the Rockers’ storyline break up and
long feud, they should have had a small explanation of why they are on good
terms again. The crowd chanted “Marty.” Michaels and Jannetty did a bunch of
double team moves, which was nice to see considering there really aren’t
many of those in today’s WWE with tag team wrestling so de-emphasized. The
timing was a little bit off on their moves, but it was still pretty good.
Resistance worked over Michaels, who made the hot tag to Jannetty. Jannetty
came in with drop kicks on Resistance, and hit the Rocker dropper on
Grenier. Michaels hit the super kick on Conway to keep him out of the ring
and Jannetty covered for the win. This was another fun match.
Ric Flair was gloating to HHH about unleashing Snitsky on Batista, and still
having Pick Your Poison next week. Trish was interviewed backstage. She said
she ended Lita’s career, and will eat Christy alive. Trish then beat up the
talentless interviewer and threw her into some garbage, rightfully so. Fit
Finlay helped the interviewer out. Flair continued to talk Snitsky up
backstage. Batista was looking on, and Batista said hello to Ric. Flair went
nuts, calling himself Mr. Nature Boy. He said Batista can’t take away HHH’s
movies and books, and called Batista an idiot. Batista laughed, and
rightfully so, because this was absolutely hilarious. Flair is comic gold.
Triple H beat Chris Benoit in a great match. They used basic mat wrestling
early, with Benoit unsuccessfully going for the crossface twice. Benoit
fired chops, hit a snap suplex, and followed with knees. HHH hit a spine
buster and superplex for near falls. Benoit gave him six German suplexes and
a head butt off the top, but HHH kicked out. Benoit hit two more German
suplexes, then chops and punches. HHH threw Benoit chest first into the
turnbuckle. HHH went for the pedigree, but Benoit reversed into the
crossface. HHH was in the crossface for a while, but punched his way out.
Benoit then gave him the ninth German suplex. HHH broke out of an attempt
for a tenth and went for the pedigree, but Benoit reversed into the
sharpshooter. Flair got on the apron but Benoit knocked him off. The referee
ejected Flair, but in the midst of this HHH hit a low blow and the pedigree
for the pin. This was one of the best Raw matches of the year.
They aired a new video of Kurt Angle and Christy parodying When Harry Met
Sally. It was pretty lame, although Linda McMahon delivering the line of
“I’ll have what she’s having” was funny. Muhammad Hassan complained about
not being a part of WrestleMania. He blamed the fans and said it wasn’t
over. Christy went to see Maria backstage. Lita ran into Snitsky, who did
the whole Snitsky thing. I would like to see those four in a junior high
school spelling bee. I’ll take Lita. Well, that is if I can’t take one of
the junior high kids.
Batista beat Gene Snitsky via disqualification. After a very good night,
this was a really stupid conclusion. They did some big man spots, with HHH
and Flair looking on at ringside. Snitsky controlled Batista for basically
the whole match. He hit the pump handle slam but Batista kicked out. Batista
was coming back when Flair came in with a chop block and all three worked
him over. Batista fought them off, so they came at him with chairs. Kane
made the save, and they beat up Flair and Snitsky. Batista gave Snitsky the
demon bomb. HHH told Batista he would have to wrestle Kane the next week. I
don’t understand why Batista didn’t pin Snitsky here. After all, Shelton
Benjamin was able to beat Snitsky clean. For that matter, I don’t know why
Snitsky even got any offense. He’s a talentless waste of space and air time,
and Batista is your top rising superstar. This should have been a complete
squash, and booking Batista to look relatively weak doesn’t help the build
for Mania.
Source: Todd Martin
